Page 23 of Taming His Vampire Mate

“Shortly before this meeting, a piece of troubling information was brought to my attention by the young mister—” She broke off, frowning at the mystery warlock at the table. He shrank down, beet red, like he’d rather be anywhere else.

It was the man beside him who spoke. “His name is Oscar.”

“Right,” Tatiana said smoothly. “Oscar is a powerful warlock, recently freed from a terrible curse that left him imprisoned in stone for nearly a hundred years. He is gifted with true dreaming, a rarity for our kind. And the vision he reported having last night is something each of us needs to hear.”

She looked at the warlock expectantly.

Oscar swallowed, sweat beading on his brow. He glanced at the man beside him, his eyes wide. “Lark, I don’t know if I can do this.”

Lark put a hand on his back and met his gaze steadily. “You can. Pretend you’re in our group, with the others. You share there, right? You can here, too. I’ll be right next to you the entire time.”

Oscar nodded, eyes drifting shut. He let out a long, shaky breath.

It clicked into place who they were. Eighty years ago, Dahlia, a talented but evil witch, had created a curse that turned living beings to stone—exactly like the ancient Greek myth of Medusa. She’d used it freely on her enemies. Deemed unbreakable, the Seattle coven had stored her victims in the basement of their stronghold. Ethan’s blood, however, had proven strong enough to shatter the curse, and he’d been waking them in small groups. The coven had even arranged a support program to help them reenter modern society.

Interesting. Somehow, Oscar had crossed Dahlia. And Lark was the human therapist helping him—and the others—adjust.

“You can do this,” Lark said softly. “Just talk about what you saw.”

“Okay.” Oscar’s voice was low. I saw his pulse jump as he began. “Uh—well, there was this abandoned town. And I saw a sign that said ‘Welcome to Rookwood…’”

For the second time in minutes, my stomach dropped.

The town from my dream earlier—the one drowned in a sea of red, with Godric standing in the center—was called Rookwood.

This couldn’t really be happening.

Oscar went on, his voice a little surer even though his eyes stayed screwed shut. “But there was no one there. The whole town was just… empty. Lifeless. And I saw… blood. There was so much, and at the end, it was like there was an ocean of it…”

I stared at him, feeling as if I had been encased in ice.

This hadn’t been an ordinary dream. Oscar had somehow had the same dream I’d had.

He let out a shuddery breath and opened his eyes. Fear shadowed his features. “I got the sense that something very… evil… was nearby,” he whispered. “Something that could wipe out an entire town.”

He sounded afraid. And he should have been. Because I knew exactly what this evil was.

Godric.

The ancient vampire hadn’t been a dream, either. He was alive and well. And apparently, spending his time murdering entire towns.

Everything in me went cold, sharp-edged, and clear. He had done this to Rookwood. Maybe Poppy’s spell had connected us, letting me see his work? The how didn’t matter. What mattered was that now I knew he still walked the earth. That he had done this.

And I could no longer allow him to live.

I had to kill Godric.

One of the tech CEOs at the other end of the table whipped out her phone, typing furiously. Then she frowned. “There’s a town called Rookwood in southern Oregon, near the California border.” She hesitated, as if wary of offending the extremelypowerful creatures in the room. “Though I’m not sure why this should be our concern. It’s hundreds of miles away.”

Lark looked at her sharply. “Then you’re extraordinarily short-sighted. What can cause an entire population to vanish? Nothing good. You don’t think that’s worth investigating?”

“If it’s even true,” the CEO said, leaning back—but unease crept into her face, as though Lark’s words had landed.

Even Wynn and Poppy exchanged a nervous glance.

Beside me, Nathaniel’s expression deepened into a frown. “It is troubling,” he agreed slowly. “And yes, it must be investigated. However, the council should not become unnecessarily alarmed until we know more. If anything actuallydidhappen.”

“It could have been bleeds.”