Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Charlie hisses, and I hear the sound of sizzling skin as the silver burns his flesh.
“We can go on all night. Hell, we can go all week. Eventually, you’re going to tell us where your pretty little fairy is.”
“Fuck. You.”
The vampire strikes Charlie across the face with the silver cup, leaving another terrible burn.
I cover my mouth to hold back my scream.
Charlie catches sight of me, and his eyes widened. Before I understand what’s happening, my belly lurches sideways, as if he was hypnotizing me. He doesn’t complete it, however, because in the next instant, his torturers also see me, and the leader blurs directly in front of me.
I keep my gaze away from his, hitting him with a ball of light. My powers have increased; this time my weapon knocks him back on his ass.
Charlie roars, struggling against his two captors. “Aurelia, get out,” he yells. “Leave me!”
I send another flash of light at one of the vampires holding Charlie, and all four vampires in the room bellow in pain.
An idea occurs to me, but before I can move, the gloved vampire blurs behind me and picks me up by the neck, slamming my face up against the wall and pinning me there.
Pain explodes in my cheek and nose.
Charlie roars with anger.
I try to cast another ball of light, but the radiating throb in my face consumes too much of my energy.
The vampire twists my arms behind my back, holding both my wrists in one of his, the other hand pressed against my nape.
“Aurelia!” The anguish in Charlie’s voice brings me back.
He cares.
And I came here to fight for him. The ape holding me thought I needed my hands for magic, but I don’t. I picture Charlie and surround him in a black bubble, its walls too dense to penetrate.
“Aurelia, what are you doing?” he shouts.
I flash the brightest light I can imagine into the room—light as bright as the sun.
Terrible screams filled the air, and my skin grows hot where the vampire had been holding me. I squeeze my eyes closed, my own vision blinded by the intensity of the flash. I spin around, but can’t move, my retinas burning from the light.
“Aurelia! What’s going on? Get me out of this damn bubble!” Charlie’s furious protests bring me back, and I release him from the black sphere.
He rushes forward, then stops, looking at the piles of ash where the vampires were. I stare, round-eyed.
“Did I...kill them?”
Charlie looks at me, a grim expression on his face. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry,” I say inanely.
He wraps me in his arms, squeezing too tightly. “I’m not.” But then he releases me again, as if remembering who I am. Who I was. “I told you not to follow me.”
I draw a breath and shut his front door. “I know, but I just had to talk to you. Please, Charlie—you can’t hold me accountable for something I did in a past life.” When he doesn’t speak, I say, “Or maybe you can, but I’m telling you I'm sorry.”
He continues to say nothing, just looks at me with the same expression—as if I’m dead to him. But no, I know he cares. He just refused to give me up under torture. He must feel something for me because he isn’t the gallant type.
I try to explain my thoughts. “I don’t know how karma works, but I think we met again, so I could fix this, to heal the rift between us.”
He swallows and nods once.
“It’s not going to happen again... is that what you think? I would never hurt you.”
A muscle in his jaw twitches like he doesn’t believe me.
“Please, Charlie, I need you. I never wanted to be magic. You came along and showed me my power and turned my world upside down. I can’t do this without you.” My eyes fill with tears. “I want to be your little fairy again. Please?”
Nothing in his expression changes. “Come here,” he beckons.
I walk to him. He wraps my hair in his fist and pulls my head back, his fangs lengthening as he looks at my vein. As if in slow motion, he lowers his head to my neck, trailing a sharp fang along my vein. My breath comes in quick pants, my heart racing.
Fork, how well do I really know Charlie? Would he drain me to get even with Anka? Maybe he didn’t turn me over to the other vampires because he wanted to destroy me himself.
He lifts my head and releases me all in one swift motion. “Take off your clothes.”
My gaze snaps to his, heart leaping. Has he forgiven me? Or is this an evil torture? It doesn’t matter. I just begged to be his. I wanted to prove my faithfulness, my trust. To be his submissive. I shuck my clothes, dropping the articles at my feet one by one.