Embrace the Magic (The Blood Rose Series Book 2) (3 page)

Holy fuck, the woman wasn’t just human, she was part fae.

And he’d bet his last Goddess be-damned farthing that she didn’t know, or hadn’t known until this very second, that she carried realm-blood in her human veins.

*** *** ***

Samantha reached to either side of her and grabbed hold of the bar, anchoring herself. She didn’t understand the sensations that now poured over her, a strange vibration accompanied by images that began commanding her mind.

An entire scene came to life as though she was watching a movie, the colors rich and vivid. An event was taking place at night, a kind of fair, she supposed, with tables laden with food, trinkets, musical instruments, stuffed animals, the usual kind of carnival-ware.

At one end of a wide, playing field, lively, round canvas tents lined the grounds. They were painted with all kinds of pictures, some of woodland settings, some of animals, some of children playing games.

The vision caused her to pan to the right and over to a distant hillside, up which a beech-wood climbed to the top. But the trees grew red with what looked like fire at first, but couldn’t have been since the foliage didn’t catch and burn.

No, the red seemed to be a kind of wind and then she remembered from her studies that when the enemy attacked, the wraith-pairs called the Invictus, a kind of red aura would appear, followed by the fighting pairs.

As though she stood in the middle of everything, Guardsmen suddenly flew past her in their strange levitated-flight, some high in the air, others just a foot above the ground, Mastyr Ethan in the lead. On they raced in the direction of the hill, the trees, and the red wind.

The vision took her with Ethan, something that made sense since his appearance in front of her at the prave had set the strange vision off in the first place.

She watched the men, maybe fifty of them altogether, join in battle though she stayed back, yet found herself levitating high in the air. Her gaze was drawn to whatever place Ethan seemed to be as he moved up and down the line.

Pairs of strange beings, joined in some mystical, powerful way, appeared in the red wind. Jolts, like an electrical force, moved from the pairs to each individual Guardsman. A light show emerged of red and blue sparks and streams of energy, from one side to the other, back and forth.

Daggers and other weapons emerged as well, thrown, sometimes connecting. At intervals, Guardsmen rushed the pairs and brought them down screaming.

The Invictus.

She knew what made up the battling pairs: a wraith and some other enslaved realm-folk. She’d even heard that sometimes humans could engage in the same way, which made her shudder. Other than being bitten by a vampire, she couldn’t think of a worse fate.

The vision suddenly tunneled down to Ethan. She could sense him faltering as he called out for Finn, his second-in-command. She could feel their bond, that they’d been brother-warriors for decades.

Finn took charge as Ethan fell to the ground.

She hovered over him now, within the body of the vision. She felt how weak he was and that it had to do with a lack of blood. Mary had told her about the mastyr vampires, those men of stature in the world of the Nine Realms who served as leaders. Something about their natural power used up donated blood at light-speed so that they constantly needed their supplies replenished but were never really satisfied.

Yes, another shudder.

She drew closer and felt herself moved to offer up her vein, because she could feel that he was close to death. Once more, her heart pounded and she touched her neck.

“He’s dying. By the Goddess, we need help here. Mastyr Ethan is dying!” Finn’s panicked voice rose above the sounds of the battle.

In the vision, Ethan’s eyes closed. His skin paled out. Somehow, from deep within her mind, she heard him call to her,
Help me, Samantha. Only you can save me. You’re a blood rose and you can help me.

Samantha struggled to leave the confines of the vision, but Ethan was so desperate. She felt, she knew, she held his life in her hands because she was something called ‘a blood rose’.

She placed her wrist over his mouth.

She heard him groan.

She saw his fangs and felt him clutch at her wrist holding her fast.

Maybe it was the force of his touch or that she could feel those sharp fangs penetrate her skin, but she somehow wrested herself from the powerful hold of the vision. She held both hands up as though warding something or someone off.

Slowly, the club came back into view, still silent.

Ethan stood in front of her, just a few feet away, but he was blurred as though the strange vision had affected her eyesight. She breathed in heavy gulps and dizziness threatened to pull her to her knees.

She heard Ethan saying something like ‘back off’ or ‘get back’, she wasn’t sure. Even her hearing needed to catch up with the present.

She blinked several times and finally he came into focus. Her heart once more thudded and she found it hard to breathe. He was the one she wanted, had always wanted, would desire until the day she died.

A vampire.

Ethan.

Mastyr Ethan.

The remnants of the vision drifted away. A calmness came over her. He held her gaze steadily, looking both worried and angry, almost outraged as though she’d done something wrong.

But what had she done? What the hell had just happened to her? What was it she’d seen? Was this something that would soon happen and if it was, what responsibility did she have in this situation?

Her chest ached and she planted a fist against her sternum and rubbed. In the vision, he’d called her ‘a blood rose’. What did that mean and was this why her heart beat so hard in her chest? Ethan’s gaze fell to that fist and he shook his head back and forth as though he couldn’t help himself.

My God, did the vampire actually expect her to donate? Was that what it meant to be a blood rose? Well, if it did, he’d be waiting a really long time.

“I need to go home.” She pressed her lips into a resolute line making sure he understood her intention, despite the fact that something so outrageous had just happened.

His lips parted and he swallowed hard. He dipped his chin and looked away from her. “Yes. You should definitely leave and it would be best if you didn’t come back.”

“Wait, I don’t intend to return, but why would you say that?”

He lowered his chin. “Because I won’t be responsible for what happens to you next time.”

Her temper flared. “You weren’t responsible
this
time, Mastyr Ethan. I can take care of myself.”

His gaze shifted back to her and an odd light flitted through his eye, something close to respect. “Fine. Then come back as often as you like.”

“I will.”

He glanced around, his hard gaze landing on one male vampire after another. He watched as each faded into the crowd, never again looking at her yet at the same time avoiding Ethan’s glare.

She wasn’t sure, but she sensed a wave of possessiveness flow in her direction from Ethan, as though in some realm-like way, he’d staked his claim on her, warning other vampires to keep their distance.

In one sense, that wasn’t a bad idea since vampires gave her the creeps in the first place. But in another sense, the same possessiveness clung to her like a velvet cloak, and against all instinct, she wanted more.

If he glared, she returned his expression in full, which made her think that he didn’t like the situation any more than she did.

She said nothing more, but turned and headed back through the crowd, toward the entrance. Time to head home.

But had she actually had some kind of vision, a foreshadowing of the future? How the hell was that possible?

*** *** ***

Ethan watched the woman move in the pathway that led through the crowd all the way to the front door. She held her head high, but he sensed the depth of her confusion. She didn’t know what she was and no doubt she’d never had a vision before.

He’d wanted to detain her, to talk to her, even to offer some sort of reassurance that she wasn’t out of her mind, but some instinct held him back, a serious warning that the woman was trouble on all fronts.

Sweet Goddess, a blood rose in Shreveport.

Despite knowing that none of the realm-folk would return to their fun until he’d given permission, all he seemed capable of doing was watching her walk out of the building.

Then, with the disappearance of his blood rose, his current need for blood roared back to life and he listed on his feet. Nausea swept over him and he gasped. A female vampire came up to him, one of his
doneuses
, thank the Goddess.

“Mastyr?” she asked quietly.

He nodded and took her by the elbow.

She knew the drill. She stepped up on his left foot, with her left foot, slid her arm around his neck, and the crowd made an even bigger pathway.

He flew her swiftly from the building rising higher into the air to breach the cars in the parking lot.

As he did, he felt a call on him, down and to the left. As he flew forward, he glanced into the dark parking lot below, and as his vampire vision warmed, he saw Samantha turn and look up at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. Maybe she didn’t frequent the prave so she probably hadn’t seen a vampire in flight before, or maybe not flying quite this high.

At the same time, his personal frequency vibrated and her thoughts were suddenly in his mind.
That should be me. I should be feeding Ethan. Oh, what the hell am I thinking? What’s wrong with me?

So, she was capable of pathing, of telepathic communication. She probably didn’t know that either, but it was one more indication the woman had fae blood.

He shut down the accompanying flow of frustration and disbelief. His power was ebbing and thank the Goddess that the tree-line wasn’t far away.

As soon as he reached the first row of pines, he descended swiftly, the woman hopped off his booted foot, pulled her hair to the side and he was on her, his fangs nipping quickly, setting the blood to flowing. As he sucked down what was so necessary to him, but which he knew would barely satisfy his needs, his thoughts turned to Samantha, and he sucked harder, groaning against the woman’s neck.

After a minute, however, of being lost in the dream of drinking from Samantha, he realized his
doneuse
was pushing against him.

He drew back appalled to see tears in her eyes. “Anita, I’m so sorry.”

“It was just…rough. Mastyr, are you all right?”

Shit, because he’d been thinking about the blood rose, he’d gotten carried away. “Who the hell cares if I’m all right? Are
you
okay?”

“I’m fine.” She rubbed her neck and as his vision warmed again, he saw the bruising.

“Sweet Goddess, I’m so sorry. A thousand apologies. Do you want me to summon one of the fae healers?”

But at that, she smiled. “No. I’ll be fine in an hour or so, I was just surprised. You’ve never been like that before. Was it the woman, the human?”

He waited for her to say more, to mention that Samantha had fallen into a vision, but she didn’t say anything. And he really didn’t want to reveal the truth to her. “No, I was stupid. I let my blood starvation reach a critical level.”

“Stupid is right when you know we’re all here to serve you.”

“I know that.” His
doneuses
were a real blessing in his life. Early on he’d used them as much for sex as for blood, but the combination had caused too many bonding issues so that in recent decades he had a non-involvement policy with the women who donated. “How’s your mother?”

“She’s fine. One of the fae healers gave her a poultice and the ulcers on her legs went away within a week.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear it. Do you want to go back to the prave? I’ll take you back if you like.”

“No, that’s okay.” She chuckled softly and once more rubbed her neck. “I think for now I’d better head home.”

“Oh, Goddess, I’m sorry.”

“Stuff it, Ethan. You’re a good guy. We all think so and you’re allowed to make a mistake now and then.”

With that, she headed north, away from Shreveport and toward Bergisson. He turned and glanced through the trees, noting that his Guard had returned and now hovered above the ground at the edge of the parking lot, waiting for him.

Time to go kick some Invictus ass.

But as he sped in their direction, he wavered slightly and almost tipped into the pavement which would have sent him crashing into a nearby Ford truck. At the last second, he righted himself.

Well, that had never happened before.

As he landed close to his Guard, Finn called out, “What the hell was that?”

“I think I took the draw too quick.”

A chuckle went through the men. What vampire hadn’t been a little tipsy after slaking a blood-thirst too fast?

Of course the trouble was, Ethan knew that wasn’t the real problem at all.

The real problem was that his blood rose had arrived in a half-human woman who didn’t know she was part fae, and whose blood would finally ease his starvation, but for many reasons she was off-limits.

When he’d handed out orders for the next few hours, he took Finn aside and told him about Samantha. He needed at least one other person in on his current conundrum.

“What do you plan to do?” Finn kept his voice quiet. “I mean, will you take her on since she could resolve the starvation?”

“That she could take care of my blood-needs permanently is the only part of the equation that tempts me. The rest has the appearance of a nightmare waiting to happen. I felt her power, Finn, she’s on Vojalie’s level, or if not hers then some of the more powerful fae in the Bergisson Guild.”

Finn whistled. “And she has no idea.”

“Well, she does now, but she seemed pretty shocked out when she left here.”

Finn’s phone rang, one of the Guard lieutenants informing him of an Invictus-pair sighting not far from Caldwell in the northwest, about thirty miles from the realm’s wastelands. “Are you coming with?”

Ethan frowned. For one of the few times in his career, he didn’t have a quick answer. Something about Samantha held him back. He shook his head. “I think I need to sort things out here first. You get the Guard on this, but if you need me, call right away. In the meantime, give me updates.”