“I know.” Sophie cuddled up next to her on the bed.
“They sent me a warning.”
“What kind of warning?” Sophie stroked Katie’s hair, consoling her as best she could.
“To keep my powers to myself. That they’d be coming for me.”
“Who would be coming for you?”
“They didn’t say! They just warned me to be careful. I’m scared, Soph.”
They wrapped their arms around each other, Sophie and Katie trying to gain comfort, but both knowing that their lives had changed forever.
Robert allowed the images and the years to flicker. He realised that he’d seen Sophie at around seventeen. He searched her memories, hating himself but knowing it was what he needed to do in order to keep her safe. He’d made an oath and a blood bond to protect her and her friend. He would make certain he stuck to it.
“I can go to the Council,” Sophie argued.
“Council? You mean the Vampire Council? You know what they do to people like me.” Katie moved towards the window of her parents’ old house.
“We don’t even know what you are, Katie.” Sophie moved to stand beside her friend. She placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Katie shrugged her off, moving away.
Sighing, Sophie said, “Me going to the Council and requesting a blood bond—”
“Do you even know what a blood bond entails?” Katie yelled, her voice angry and scared. “You have to perform a ritual of blood swapping, Sophie! You could die! Do you even know how powerful and dangerous vampires are?”
Katie covered her eyes, trying to stem the tears.
Robert could sense, through Sophie, the burden of emotion that Katie had been under. It had been as if her powers were draining her of common sense. Consuming her until there was nothing left.
“You have to calm down.”
“I am calm!” The lamp beside her exploded.
Sophie didn’t move a muscle, almost as if she had been expecting it.
The years that had passed should have helped Katie to gain control of her power. Yet it seemed as if all she had done was lose more and more control over herself.
Katie fell to her knees. Her sobs filled the air, echoing off the walls. “I just want to be normal.”
Sophie stood watching her.
“I’m going to the Council.” Her voice allowed no room for argument.
“They’ll kill me.”
“Do something to lock my memories away. Create something that means my parents have to ask and I’m the payment.” Sophie went over to her and, taking her elbow, she pulled her over to the sofa.
“I can’t do this to you.”
Sophie grasped Katie’s chin. “Look at me. You’re my best friend and I know you would do the same for me. Do a spell or whatever it is you do to keep my memories locked away so I can’t speak them and so that my parents need this meeting—or believe they do.”
“What happens if I get it wrong?”
“You won’t get it wrong. Look at me, Katie…look at me. I trust you.”
Robert came out of Sophie’s memories with all the answers he needed. That was why Katie’s face kept appearing in front of his eyes with no explanation. Katie was a full-blown witch, but with no guidance she wasn’t able to understand the magic she possessed. She was out of control.
During the process he drained Sophie of all of her energy, catching her in his arms. Gently, he laid her naked on the bed. He stroked her hair away from her face.
She was in so much danger and she wouldn’t even be able to comprehend what he had to do. His stomach tightened at the thought of what was to come, but first he needed to take care of business.
If only the vampire rumours about witches hadn’t been spread. Rumours were the most powerful source of propaganda. Word reached out and, before anyone knew what was happening, people were believing the ghost stories. After the last witch hunt, the Vampire Council had formed and decided that, for their own protection and that of the remaining witches, it would be best to allow the world to believe vampires were behind the death of witches.
At the time, it seemed sensible to say that the vampires were taking out Earth’s natural creatures, rather than to place the blame with the humans or the wolves. Witches were powerful, but vampires deadly—it would drive the few surviving witches underground, which would protect them from the real threat—the wolves. Except, like all rumours and ghost stories, it had backfired and not a single witch had been seen in centuries. They were rare and powerful beings. Katie was certainly powerful—even within Sophie’s memories, Robert had been able to feel it.
He glanced down at his mate. He could feel the pull in his heart. Robert would do anything he could for this woman. He just hoped she would trust him enough to let him into her heart.
Chapter Three
Katie yelped at the sound of the door banging. The loud music did nothing to drown out the noise. It had been years since she’d last opened the door to a stranger. The knocking was hard and insistent. She hesitated at the top of the stairs. So long since she’d had any visitors. Sophie was the only person who visited her now, and she had a key.
She glanced anxiously at the clock. It was nine-thirty. Maybe if she ignored it, whoever it was would go away. She moved up another step, stopping as the knocking came again and the pounding of her heart hindered her movement. She pressed a palm against her heart, praying for the calm and peace she needed. Once the knocking stopped, her heart rate slowed and she took a couple of steps.
The knocking came again, but this time it didn’t stop—it was just a constant noise. She covered her ears to try to keep out the dark. Katie was scared, and when she was scared she couldn’t control her powers. She could feel the stirring of fire in the pit of her stomach. The sick, acrid taste in her mouth. Her body broke out in a sweat and she was shaking all over.
She took deep breaths with her hands covering her ears, but it was like the pounding was happening inside her head. She couldn’t stop the noise. Once it had started, she must wait until it ended. Driving her crazy, constantly crazy.
“Please, stop it,” she whispered.
Nothing. The pounding continued. She collapsed on the stairs, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, her hands shaking from the effort. Her head felt like it was being smashed against a brick wall.
Katie felt the burning, the fear—she wasn’t in control of herself.
“Stop!” she screamed the word.
Silence landed.
“Open the door, Katie.” The voice sounded from the other side of the door.
She couldn’t be sure at first whether she had really heard it.
“Open the door, Katie,” it came again.
“Who is it?” Her voice was hoarse from screaming.
Katie could hear movement on the other side of the door.
“Sophie Ford sent me.”
Katie flew down the stairs, a smile of relief on her face. She pulled open the door…and screamed.
This was no human.
He stood tall and scary on her doorstep. A sense of anger radiated off him.
She went to slam the door, but he stopped her, the brute force shocking her. She tried with all her might to push the door closed, but he just opened it all the way, then calmly shut it, observing her.
“You shouldn’t be able to come in here without an invitation,” she accused.
“Guess what, sweet cheeks—you’re not human. The rules don’t apply.” He shoved her out of the way, heading for the window where she’d spent the entire week twitching the curtains. “I guess that answers one question I’ve got. You’re not normal.”
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded.
How dare this strange man bombard his way into her home and treat it like his own, telling her she wasn’t normal?
“Stop the screeching. Yep, there they are—a full pack.” He turned to glance at her. “You must be something special.”
“What? N—no. You’ve got the wrong girl,” she stuttered. “And I
am
human.”
Katie was shaking inside.
“Guess again, sweet cheeks. You’re not. You’re not a vampire, and you’re certainly not a wolf, but there is no way in hell you can be what I think you are, sweet cheeks.”
“Don’t call me that,” she told him.
“Okay, what about doll face?”
“Be serious. Who the hell are you?”
He circled around her. “We can deal with the introductions later, darling. First, we’ve got to get you out of here. They’re circling like a hungry pack and I’ve got a feeling you’re on the menu. Let’s get out of here in case the menu is raw, non-human female, shall we?”
Her thoughts were running in all different directions. He wasn’t making an ounce of sense and she was confused.
“What?”
Then she heard the growl, moments before her front door disintegrated as a giant wolf crash-landed in her porch.
She screamed, lifting her hands to defend herself. The wolf blew up.
Like all the times before, when she was afraid or angry, things went poof.
“Ah, so you can defend yourself when you’re scared. Good to know,” the stranger commented.
He seemed impressed.
“Incoming!” he shouted.
Another wolf came in to the house.
Before she could attempt to use her magic, he shot it.
“Silver bullets are handy, but not deadly. Has this place got a back exit?” he asked.
She nodded, leading the way. As they went she heard several more shots. Her hands were shaking so badly that when she got to the door, she couldn’t turn the key. She threw her hands up and the door blew open. The first time she’d ever aimed at anything and blown up the right thing.
Her powers were so unpredictable. One of the reasons she didn’t want Sophie living with her full time.
They ran out into the night. He grabbed her elbow, circling along the dirt path. She noticed that he took them along the edge, back to the front of the house. He beeped open the car she recognised as the one that had been stalking her.
She stopped.
“Get in,” he ordered.
“I’m not getting into a car with you.” Okay, so he’d just saved her life, but the idea was ridiculous. She would not get into a car with a vampire.
“Look, get in the car with me or go with the furry wolf. Your choice. I imagine they’ll want to carry you away with their teeth, rather than in the nice little car I’ve got.” He got into the car and waited.
She looked over at her house, seeing one of the wolves clock her. Crying in frustration, she jumped into the car with him and they roared off into the night.
She glanced behind her. The road appeared clear. Katie sank down into the seat. Strangely, she felt comfortable, the smell of leather overriding any fear she might have felt.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” The stranger glanced in the rear-view mirror and took a sudden right. He seemed calm and collected.
“What’s your name?” she asked. A sense of safety and peace came over her.
“William Valentine.”
Katie gasped.
“That’s right. You and my brother’s mate are in a heap of trouble. Actually, from what I’ve just seen, you’re in a heap of shit. That is the only nice way I can say it. ”
Katie remained silent.
“Keeping the fact that you’re a witch quiet was a really stupid idea, just so you know,” he mocked her.
“I’m not a witch and, anyway, I thought witches didn’t exist. All you vampires wiped them out.”
They turned left this time. She grabbed onto the handle to keep herself from being flung across the car.
“Fact one—up until twenty-four hours ago, all known witches were presumed dead, their lines killed off generations ago. I guess that what with you being able to throw fire and blow things up with your bare hands, I’ve decided to rethink that assumption. You’re the first witch I’ve met in a long time. Fact two—vampires never killed witches. We always worked in sync together. It was the wolves and the humans who killed off the witches.” He pulled up and parked the car.