Page 64 of Visions of You

Keegan opened the door to the lounge. Usually the room would be deserted at this time of day, but a couple of vampires had woken up and abandoned sleep today, no doubt because of what had happened to Apollo. The mortal wasn't officially a part of the coven, but since he belonged to Mordyn, he might as well have been.

Vitra approached Keegan while Keegan went straight for the fridge and grabbed the first bottle of blood his fingers touched.

"What's going on?" Vitra asked. "Do you know who took the mortal?"

"No," Keegan said a little more sharply than he'd meant to. "But I intend to find out." He uncapped the bottle and emptied it in huge gulps. It was mage blood. AB negative.

Not Keegan's favorite, but at this point, he didn't care.

He grabbed another bottle while Vitra watched him with an expression of mild concern. "Are you even tasting anything?"

"Nope." Keegan emptied the second bottle as well.

There, that should get him through one or two sessions.

He wiped his mouth and handed the empty bottles to Vitra. "Put these away for me, will you?"

"Are you going to look at the future?"

"Yes, and I'm going to lock my door. Please spread the word that I don't want to be disturbed for any reason at all."

"What if the club's on fire?" Vitra asked.

"Then put out the fire instead of bothering me with it."

Vitra shot him a disbelieving look but accepted his response after another minute. "What if that dragon of yours shows up again?" she asked just as Keegan was about to leave her standing there.

"Thenyou may knock."

"So that's how it is."

"Yes," Keegan confirmed. "That's how it is."

CHAPTER 15

Keegan settled on the floor of his room, with his legs crossed beneath him. The scent of sandalwood and frankincense from the candles he'd lit filled the air, and although he didn't really believe they gave him clearer visions the way the woman who'd sold them claimed they would, he liked the way they smelled. At this point, he'd take any extra focus he could get.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching for the place inside himself where his power resided. It came to him slowly, sluggishly. He frowned but didn't let that deter him. Instead, he pushed harder, calling Apollo to mind and inspecting all the threads of the future that were connected to him.

The visions that came to him were faint and blurry like someone had smeared Vaseline over a camera lens. Either someone was trying to interfere with his ability to see clearly or he was far more tired than he'd thought he was.

A headache began to build in the back of his skull as he tried to force the images into focus, but he ignored the pain and kept pushing.

Finally, the vision cleared enough for him to make out Apollo in a room with the other victims. All of them had their hands bound behind their backs, and some of them were wearing anti-magic collars around their necks. Apollo's eyes were closed, his head lolling to the side. Keegan couldn't tell if he was unconscious or just sleeping.

He tried to take in more details about the room, but the vision wouldn't cooperate. It kept slipping away from him, fading back into blurriness no matter how hard he strained to see it clearly.

He caught a glimpse of a symbol painted on the floor in what looked like blood before the vision dissolved completely, leaving him gasping and clutching at his head as pain lanced through it.

"Fuck," he gritted out, massaging his temples.

That symbol… Hadn't he seen it in one of his books?

He had to write it down and do some research. As he got up, though, his head was pounding and his stomach contracted in a way that let him know, if he'd still been mortal, he would have thrown up.

He cursed again, making his way to his desk where he grabbed a piece of paper and hastily scribbled down what he'd seen.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.