“Little beast, do you wish to come with your mistress or should I leave you here? She’s safe with me, and so will you be.”
The vermin makes a hissing noise at me, before grabbing Ember’s wand, and following me out the house.
Achille waits for us there, his dark eyebrow raised as he takes in Ember’s lulled head.
“Poor thing passed out when she removed the stake from my gut. She’ll be staying with us from now on. Alert the others that she’s mine and if they value their life, they won’t harm her in any way. It’s probably best that they don’t even look at her.”
“The Slayer?” he asks, not even questioning my orders.
“Injured or dead, hopefully dead.”
Achille opens the back door and I place Ember in the back. Her familiar scurries up the back, guarding her. I’d send Achille in to gather her things so I don’t have to leave her, but I don’t like the idea of another vampire touching her belongings, plus he hasn’t been invited in.
“I’ll be back with her things shortly,” I say, using my speed to rush into her home, collecting her clothes and things of importance.
The fairies are quivering somewhere near the floorboards. Maybe they’ll learn how to treat their gracious host better now that she’s gone.
Once the vehicle is filled with her things, I take the passenger’s seat and hope she doesn’t wake until she’s safely nestled away in her new home.
A ridiculous grin spreads across my face. As big of a menace as this Slayer may be, he sure has helped me exponentially with pushing Ember right into my desperate, immortal arms.
Chapter 9
My head pounds as I shift on my bed.
Wait…
I tap around the bed, feeling way more pillows than I usually have, not to mention the linens feel like butter under my fingertips.
I blink open my eyes, staring at the blush pink comforter. This isn’t my bed, it’s far too opulent. I scratch my cheek and the last thing I remember is pulling the stake out of Warin’s stomach.
“Yup. You really fucked up big this time,”Gus says, and I turn on my side. My familiar is lounging on a deep green chaise, his hand deep into a Pringles can.
“What happened?”
Gus laughs, but it’s not humorous at all.“Oh, what happened after you saved the vampire who has you in this shitty ass predicament? I told you to negotiate, to get out of the arrangement, and yet, you still saved him. Guess what, witch? He’s kidnapped you. We’re at the dead man’s house.”
“What?” I sputter, blinking at Gus.
“You just had to do the right thing and couldn’t let him die. Now we’re stuck here. He has your wand. He’ll probably drain you dry and make a Davy Crockett hat out of me.”
“He vowed not to harm us,” I tell him, mostly to get rid of some of this guilt weighing on my chest.
But I couldn’t just let him die. Not just because he promised to protect me, but I couldn’t be the reason he lost his life, the thought of it felt abhorrent to me.
Maybe if he hadn’t crawled his way into my cabin begging for help, he would have died in the woods…but even that’s a lie. Something keeps pulling me toward Warin, something I can’t even describe.
The thought of him dying felt like a piece of me dying too, and I’m not sure how to come to terms with that thought. I barely know him, but there’s something there, something I’ve never felt with anyone else.
If I’m being honest, it’s the reason I haven’t told anyone about him. I don’t know how to explain this feeling or if anyone would ever understand it.
Gus crunches loudly on a few chips, staring me down.
“I’ll get everything set straight. We’ll be home in no time.”
He rolls his eyes at me, grabbing a remote and putting onCourage the Cowardly Dog. I have to swallow down my irritation as I lie in bed.
I can’t believe I passed out. My plan is to find Warin, and what? Give him a piece of my mind when a vampire Slayer is stalking me and nearly killed him? Run with my tail between my legs and tell my coven how bad I fucked up?
