Page 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

T he lights above us flicker as my power thuds through me, the music skips a beat, and a shot of electricity passes from my outstretched hand into the vampire’s chest in the spot where I smack my palm against it.

Power as sharp as a blade shoots into him, a cutting pain that will make him feel as though I stabbed him from the inside.

At the same time, I inhale with a single sharp pull, dragging his energy into my lungs and sucking away a little of his life. Not enough to kill him, not even close, especially since I can’t kill anyone in this protected environment, but it will be enough to scare the fangs off him.

I snarl at him. “Get lost!”

His mouth drops open, his arms shoot wide, and he lets go of the lavender-haired witch before he stumbles backward, clutching his heart and narrowly avoiding knocking into the couple dancing behind him.

The shock will have given his heart a nasty kick. That’s if it’s still beating. I’ve always lumped vampires in with the undead, so it’s hard to be sure.

Unsteady on his feet, he staggers away through the crowd, no doubt in search of a willing blood donor now that I sapped his energy and killed his high.

Satisfied that he isn’t coming back, I spin back to the witch.

She gives me a wide-eyed smile, smoothing her dress as if she’s wiping off the contact of his grimy hands.

He’s damn lucky he didn’t try to grab me , or The Proprietor might have had a murder on her hands.

Alexei was the first man I ever allowed to get close to me physically, and even then, our relationship didn’t progress beyond that one near-kiss.

After my aunt tried to steal my power, I learned that nobody could be trusted.

To take my power requires touching me, so physical touch is to be feared.

I return the witch’s smile with an apologetic shrug. I’m suddenly worried in case he was a friend of hers. “I hope you don’t mind; I saw him sucking blood from a woman’s neck earlier.”

“Good call,” she says.

I grin, relieved that I didn’t freak her out.

She’s cool and calm, a lot calmer in the face of my power than many magical beings would be.

Every other witch I’ve met has looked on my power as a thing of envy—something to be stolen, sucked out of me just like I sucked a little of the vampire’s life away.

All my life, other witches have been coming after me, trying to steal my power.

But this woman considers me in a way that tells me she’s confident in herself, even if the sense I get from her is that she’s seeking something elusive like I am.

“I’m Tansy,” I say.

“Sabine,” she answers, melting back into the beat of the music as if nothing happened.

The way she casually assesses the room while keeping me within her sights reminds me of the assassins. I’m sure she isn’t one, but the way she calculates the distance between us and remains conscious of the location of the other magical beings around us tells me she’s ready for anything.

Oddly enough, that makes me more comfortable with her. I’m used to being around people who know their own strength.

I let the music wash over me, soak it up, and twirl, the gauzy dress swirling around my legs.

As I turn, I catch sight of a tall man in the distance near the entrance next to the fluffy beanbags.

He’s half-turned and focused on the seats nearby. His broad shoulders and commanding presence make me miss a beat.

For a heart-stopping second… I think it’s Alexei.

That isn’t possible. He isn’t magical. He’s pure human.

So human, in fact, that his witch mother abandoned him at birth.

Out of respect for his human father, he didn’t go looking for her until his father died.

When he finally tried to find her, he sought help from the wrong witch, a woman who promised to take away his pain.

Her promise was twisted—she cursed him so that he can’t feel any emotion. Even if he wants to.

Because he’s human, he can’t be here even if everything inside me wishes he was.

I stumble backward, and Sabine reaches out a hand to steady me. “You okay, Tansy?”

“Yeah… uh… I’m sorry… I have to…” I gesture to the other side of the room near the bar, not really pointing at anything as I veer away from the dance floor, needing to escape the things I want and can’t have.

I clamber up the rainbow stairs as fast as I can, kicking myself.

I thought a strategic path would work best—check each level carefully—but I need to start thinking like Mother Kadris. She’s as old as the hills. She wouldn’t waste her time bumping hips on a dance floor.

She would keep to the shadows.

I don’t kid myself that I’ll take her by surprise. She’ll sense me coming a mile away. I need to find her before she locates me first and puts me on my ass.

Taking a deep breath, I tell myself to put fear into action. It’s time to use my magic.