I needed that first sip more than my next breath. I’d do anything to get it. Crawl through glass. Kill. Anything.
My desire for it was worse than any human inspired addiction, and it was one I could never walk away from. I might get better at controlling myself, but the need would always be there. Worse than crack. Worse than meth.
I bolted the drink, nearly choking as I guzzled it down. I gasped as I lowered the glass. A bead of blood slid from the corner of my mouth. I caught it with a thumb and sucked it off. Mustn’t waste any. This stuff cost a pretty penny to get from the local blood bank.
“Do you have any idea how gross that is?” the sorcerer asked.
I had some inkling.
“How did you get in my place?”
He sighed. “Why must you waste time asking such pointless questions? Weren’t you listening to anything I said?”
Not really. I’d been laser focused on the blood and had lost track of everything taking place around me.
He didn’t wait for my response, holding his wrist up and shaking it. “Get rid of this abomination. You’ve had your fun. Time to fix this.”
A tall and gangly teenager, Peter Barret was the sorcerer who owned my mark. His plan to make me hunt down the draugr and claim its treasures had backfired when I decided to give its possessions back to it, ensuring the mark stuck around for the next hundred years.
That was partially my intent as the mark prevented the vampires from claiming me for a hundred years. It was fortunate that I’d already slipped the cuff onto Barret, or I’m pretty sure my ass would have been toast after I pulled my little stunt.
To say he wasn’t pleased was a bit of an understatement. He’d been blocked from his powers, courtesy of the cuff, for the last few months. I was pretty sure removing it without having some type of leverage over him would result in my prolonged and grisly death.
His eyes were chips of green as he glared at me.
I tilted my head. Something was different.
I stepped closer and ran my fingers down his cheek. Stubble. Scraggly stubble.
He smacked my hand away and ducked away from me. “What are you doing?”
“Feeling your beard. I’ve never seen you with even a hint of one before. It’s cute. A little sparse but cute.”
“Don’t be absurd. I don’t get beards.” He rubbed his chin. A thoughtful look came over his face as his fingers paused on the few hairs.
“Whatever you want to tell yourself, pipsqueak.”
His eyes flared. If they hadn’t belonged to such an annoying pain in my ass, I’d say they were pretty. Beautiful even. But then I could say that about him as a whole too. The sorcerer was caught in that weird time between puberty and adulthood where his parts didn’t quite go together right.
Eventually, if he had the opportunity to grow older, he’d probably break a few hearts with his looks. I couldn’t imagine being stuck in that awful phase for decades. Guess he had a reason to be so grumpy all the time.
“Are you going to answer my question of how you got in here?”
The information was important. I wanted to make sure I discouraged any future urges to visit me while I was sleeping by him, or anyone else. I was totally defenseless when asleep. Someone could come in and cut off my head, killing me true dead. I’d like to prevent that.
He rolled his eyes, looking every inch the teenager in that moment. “I used an unlock charm.”
Magic. I came alert, my hand moving to my holster in reflex. How? He shouldn’t have access to any of his magic.
Seeing my movement, he gave me a nasty smile. “Oh, did you think I couldn’t do any magic? Guess again.” He held up his arm again. “Might as well remove this before things get nasty.”
I studied him. Contrary to popular belief, accomplished liars often give away very little in terms of nonverbal cues. They are just as likely to meet your eyes as a non-liar. Most are versed in the nonverbal indicators of a liar and have practiced avoiding those traits when lying.
Nothing about Peter said he was lying. There was a slight tightness to his shoulders but other than that he looked calm. As if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
I wasn’t buying it.
“Bullshit. No way you can do magic. Maybe charms other people brewed or one you had on hand already, but not stuff you did yourself.”
