Page 16 of Brushed By Moonlight

I was there, but I wasn’t there.

I concentrated hard, maintaining the illusion while the real me hunched silently in the corner. My great-grandmother had claimed it was easy, but I could only pull it off with head-splitting focus.

Shadow-walking,she’d called it. But if you weren’t careful, you risked distancing yourself too far from the illusion. In that case, the illusion could crumple, or the real you would — in the most final way possible.

Death by crumplingdidn’t sound too painful, but I’d ventured too close once, and it had scared the hell out of me.

I held still, minimizing each breath, staring at the illusion in bed, then up at the ceiling. Was it working? Had I fooled him?

I exhaled, because those buzzing hornets kept circling over the illusionary me in bed.

Then, shit. The buzz took on a puzzled note, and instead of humming close to the sheets, the hornets started spreading out. They ventured farther and farther away, seeking.

My heart pounded. I could sense, if not see or hear, that imaginary cloud move. More angry than puzzled now, the hornets searched the room, buzzing over the clothes in the chair…the wardrobe…the book on the bedside table…

Holding my breath, I inched quietly along the wall, working my way over toward the bathroom. I crouched, sensing that force invade the space I’d just vacated.

The buzz intensified.

Ice formed in my veins. But maybe that was a good thing, helping conceal my body heat.

My hopes rose, then plummeted as the buzzing crept along the wall, tracking me to my new hiding place.

I balled my hands into fists, desperate enough to consider Option One again.

The wordsFuck, off,andHenrikformed on the tip of my tongue.

But the curtains billowed inward on a sudden gust of wind, and the moonlight was blotted out by something huge. Shutters rattled, and a mightywhooshsounded overhead. Dead leavestumbled over the roof. The attic floorboards creaked for the first time, and I heard a man curse under his breath.

The buzzing sensation evaporated, and moments later…

I searched the ceiling with my eyes, though it wasn’t sight I was relying on. Was he gone?

A full minute later, I decided yes, he was.

The human-shaped blanket on the bed fell flat as I sat down hard, gripping my head with both hands. Damn, did my head ache.

The vampire was gone, and my shadow-walking had worked, so I should have been glad. But I was too busy shaking — and nursing a pounding migraine — to celebrate.

I curled into a ball on the floor, whimpering, and stayed there for a long, long time.

Chapter Five

MINA

“So, uh…breakfast?” Bene waved at the empty sideboard in the dining room.

Madame Picard had set out plates and silverware the previous evening, but it was my job to set out breakfast. At least, it was until my sister and cousin arrived or until I found someone from the village to take over the task. For now, I was juggling a dozen daily tasks on my own.

And boy, did I feel alone as the men filed into the dining room one by one. I patted the garlic cloves I’d stuffed in my pockets and took a deep breath.

“Good morning,” Roux said, entering the room shortly after Bene.

I crossed my arms and glared. Sometime in the early hours of morning, I’d decided my best tactic was to go on the war path and attack my vampire problem head on.

“Maybe not such a good morning,” Bene mumbled.

Roux stopped in his tracks, frowning at the empty platters on the sideboard.