Chapter 15
I watched as Victoria sashayed across the room to that marked door, pressing her palm to the wood before easing it open.
I sipped my coffee, and it couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes before she emerged with a larger book in her hands.
The leather was cracked, the pages yellow and nearly falling out, so Victoria handled it with care.
She placed her book on the table between us, opening it to a red-stained pentagram that spanned both pages. Hand-written phrases faded in and out of the symbol, but I didn’t understand them. They looked to be written in Latin.
“Your ancestor was a blood witch,” Victoria explained.
“It’s exactly what it sounds like: They use blood to give their magic a boost—their own, or that of their victims. The fact that this is your maternal bloodline only makes it that much more potent.
And with Suzannah Martin’s spellbook, you could be unstoppable. ”
“If I can figure out how to open it,” I muttered.
“Oh, that’s easy. Like anything a blood witch does, the book only needs an offering.”
“An… offering?” That sounded ominous.
“Yep.” Victoria picked up the spellbook and held it under the light. “See those marks?”
I looked closer, and she was right: Deep brown splotches decorated the edge of the faded pentagram, the deepest one in the middle. The realization of what those spots were churned my stomach. “Let me guess: blood?”
Victoria chuckled. “I didn’t take you for the squeamish type.”
“It’s not the blood,” I explained. “It’s the whole ‘sacrifice’ thing.”
“You don’t need much. Just a prick of your finger will do.” She flashed a wicked grin. “Or anyone else’s.”
I decided to ignore that. “What will happen if I become a vampire/witch hybrid?”
Sighing, Victoria sat back in her seat and stirred her tea.
“Male humans might not become witches, but male vampires… you’ll be one incredibly powerful creature, Ryder.
You mentioned sacrifice earlier, and that’s an important element to magick: You might even say vampiric feeding is the ultimate one.
Which means every time you feed, it’ll fuel your witchcraft.
Not only will you have the strength and speed of a vampire, but you’ll have the ability to use magick.
What we call the craft. Augmented with blood magic, you’d be able to manipulate reality, to bend anyone and anything to your will. ”
“But that won’t happen to Hannah?”
“Your daughter?” Victoria shook her head. “Not unless you plan to turn her too.”
“Absolutely not. Not after what I’ve learned today,” I muttered, running my fingers over the ancient book in front of me.
Too worried I’d ruin it if I flipped the book shut, I slid it in her direction and let her close it.
“If I’m supposed to be some sort of super witch-slash-vampire, why won’t the venom work? ”
“Witches are immune to a vampire’s venom, and your DNA is half witch, half human. It’ll take more venom to turn you than what a vampire can release in a single bite.”
“But he’s already given me multiple bites, and I haven’t turned yet.”
Furrowing her brow, Victoria crooked her head. “You still want to turn after learning what you just did?”
“Yes.” I tamped down the spike of fear in my chest. I wanted to be a vampire with James, and I wasn’t going to be frightened away from committing to that decision.
If James was still willing, then so was I.
Instinctively, my fingers went to the band on my left ring finger, spinning it around.
The simple act of touching it grounded me, and my lips quirked into a smile.
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life.
I love James, and I love my daughter. I’ll do anything it takes to be there for both of them for as long as I can. ”
“Even if turning might kill you?”
I deserved a medal for the way I was banishing these panic spikes. All it took was another rotation of my ring and the support James was pouring through our bond. “I trust him not to let that happen.”
“Wow… you’ve come a long way from banging incubi in bathroom stalls, haven’t you?”
“Banging… what?”
Victoria’s smile widened. “Does the name Connor ring a bell?”
Heat flooded my face, burning all the way up my cheeks and to my ears. I could practically hear the record scratch in my head. It did, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how she knew about a hook up from two years—and thousands of miles—ago. And he was an… “Incubi?”
She nodded. “Mmhmm. Witches can summon demons to work for them. My asshole of an ex cheated on me, so I sent an incubus to get my revenge. I had to keep an eye on him, but don’t worry; I didn’t see anything after you pulled him into that bathroom.”
“An incubus?” I echoed like some clueless fucking parrot. “Like… a sex demon?”
“That’s right. Don’t look so nervous, they only feed when you’re asleep. He was just having fun with you.”
I gazed back to my drink, which was still only half finished. “I should have asked you to meet at the bar. I don’t think caffeine is strong enough for this conversation.”
“Imagine my surprise when I got my powers with no warning.”
I grabbed the lukewarm coffee, intending to finish it if for no other reason than I didn’t want to be rude. Besides, it gave me something to do. “You didn’t know before then?”
“Nope. I was a foster kid. I bounced around from home to home until I got sick of it.” Victoria waved around the room.
“But I’ve been a barista since I was old enough to work.
I love it, but I didn’t always love the people I worked with.
During a stressful morning rush at a chain coffee shop, I blew up an espresso machine.
” At my widened eyes, she waved me off with her hand.
“No one was hurt, unless you count the stuffed toy we kept on the counter. I went home that night and started researching, and I found a forum that explained what was happening to me. I reached out to someone, and that’s how I found my coven. ”
Coven. As if my brain hadn’t caught up to a literal witch sitting in front of me, that word solidified it. “Will I need one of those?”
Victoria shrugged. “Sounds like you already have one. They don’t have to be exclusively witches.
A coven is… a family. You know the saying ‘it takes a village?’ They’re your village.
If you don’t already understand how powers work, they can be an amazing support system.
But Gabriel raved about you and James. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was jealous—but don’t tell him I said that. ”
“Aw, come on. You can’t give me something juicy like that and expect me not to use it against him.”
Victoria smiled. “Stick around long enough, and maybe I’ll give you something even better.”
I’d finished my drink, but between the caffeine and the venom buzzing through my system, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to ask for another. “What’s going to happen to Hannah?”
Victoria didn’t answer right away, stirring what was left of her tea with a tiny silver spoon and watching me with one brow raised.
I counted the scrapes against the ceramic mug.
Eight of them before she spoke. “I can’t promise you anything, but what I can do is tell you that she won’t be alone. ” She set her spoon down. “I’m in.”
“In?”
“Yeah, if you’ll have me. Your circle—and your daughter’s—is full of vampires, who can only teach you how to be a vampire.
Gabriel can study all the lore he wants, but he’ll never know what to do with it.
I can teach you how to curb your powers.
How, every time you drink, you’ll need to work that much harder to keep your magick at bay. ”
Fucking hell. Magick. As if learning how to manage hyper speed and drinking blood weren’t enough.
“Don’t overthink it,” Victoria said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
She laughed at my expression. “It doesn’t take a witch to read someone’s face.
If you’re still on the fence about it, I’d encourage you to talk to your mate.
You’d be surprised what a little reassurance from your partner can do for you. ”
At the mere mention of him, my chest warmed from the inside out, and I felt the color rushing to my cheeks. “Do you have any idea of why I’m not turning? The last time… I was sure that was it. I could hardly stand afterward.”
“There could be more to it than simple quantity. It’s tough to know without much research. Hybrids are rare. Most of us have never heard of them before and if we have, they’re sort of an urban legend like Nessie or Sasquatch.”
I shifted in my seat. The word “hybrid” didn’t sit right with me. It made me feel like some sort of science experiment. I stared into my coffee.
“I could do a reading on you.” She shrugged. “Maybe that will reveal something that we can’t see.”
What the hell did I have to lose? A “reading” didn’t sound dangerous. “Sure.”
“Come with me.”
I polished off the last of my cappuccino and rose from my seat. Victoria led me to the door off to the side of the dining area. Only instead of pressing her hand to the pentagram, she stood to the side. When I looked at her in confusion, she gestured at the door. “Go ahead.”
I returned my attention to the aged wood in front of me. “I can open the way? I thought this door was…”
“Protected,” she finished for me. Then she indicated the front door that I’d come through when I arrived. “But so was that one. Only a witch could have opened it. The venom is already activating your powers. Try it.”
I gulped. If I could open a protected door without even trying, what could I do after I turned? As thrilling as it was, I had to admit that it was intimidating.
Raising a shaky hand, I pressed my palm to the wood like I’d seen Victoria do earlier. My skin tingled. Then the lock gave a soft click, and the door swung open.
“Sit down at the table,” Victoria said.