Shaman - An Enchantress Novel Book 2

Chapter 10

Adie breathed a sigh of relief when Rick’s family safely boarded the helicopter and flew out of sight, hopefully to be reunited with Rick in the relative safety of the nearest large town.

She didn’t trust the apparently unruffled vamp leaning casually on the back of the sofa, intently watching her with interminable silence as she paced back and forth between the windows of the sitting room, waiting for the call from Joel to say everything was fine. The shrill ring of the land-line phone interrupted the silence, making her jump even though she’d been waiting on it for close to an hour.

“Yes?” Devon enquired, he then handed the receiver to Adie. “It is for you.”

Relieved, she snatched it from him. “Joel? Is everyone okay?”

“It’s me,” Rick’s angry voice rang through the earpiece.  “We’re all fine, but what the hell do you think you’re playing at, agreeing to be a human servant to a vampire? You’re not even human for Christ’s sake. Do you have any idea what will happen when a witch joins with a vampire?”

“Not a clue, but I’m about to find out. Listen, I’ll be fine. He needs me, so he’s not going to do anything to jeopardize my life.” Facing Devon as she said it, she saw him grin like a child who’d just been given the biggest and most expensive toy in a store.

“Dad’s rounding up some reinforcements. We’ll come and get you as soon as…”

“No, you won’t,” she interrupted. “I gave my word that I would give him two months and I intend to keep my word.”

“Two months! Adie, this isn’t even your fight. How do you know he’ll even keep his word and not send his people after us again, huh?”

Looking Devon in the eye she replied, “Because if he doesn’t keep his word then I will kill him without a second thought.”

Devon nodded once, maintaining eye contact, his grin still in place.

“I can’t let you do this…”

“It’s too late. It’ll be done before you can do anything to stop it.”

“Please Adie, we don’t even know if it can be und…” the line went dead.

Devon released the disconnect button on top of the phone. “You have your proof; they are out of harm’s way. Now, we have a ceremony to perform.” He gestured for her to precede him out the door. “An area has been set up down by the lake. It is lovely this time of night.”

Gentle music, the type you hear in an elevator, played from hidden speakers somewhere on the long, wooden jetty, the soft soothing tones meant to lull and induce a sense of wellbeing. That in itself put Adie on edge. Cushions and selection of finger-foods sat neatly on top of a blanket. Two cut crystal flutes and a bottle of wine chilling in an ice bucket took up the centre space. Adie frowned wondering what he was up to.

“I thought perhaps you would care to eat first,” Devon explained. “You will need the energy for the ceremony.” Her stomach chose that moment to voice its agreement at the need of food. He chuckled. “Please help yourself to whatever you like.”

They sat in silence while Adie ate her fill and sipped the champagne Devon poured for them. Water lapped gently at the jetty posts giving the evening a serene feel. The full moon dancing on gentle ripples caused diamond-like sparkles to shimmer on the surface of the lake. Had she been with someone other than Devon, she may have considered it romantic.

The music faded into the background as he took her empty glass and helped her to stand, turning her so she faced him.

“You will serve me willingly?” he asked, staring into her eyes. Holding her hand in his against his chest, he drew her closer until their chests were almost touching.

“I’ll willingly serve you for two moons and no more,” she clarified, unable to pull her gaze from the inky depths of his eyes. He snaked an arm around her waist to hold her still. Immediately, Adie felt herself falling into an abyss of seemingly never-ending darkness. Down, down she fell, deeper into a pure and utter blackness. A void that she knew instinctively had once housed his soul. Disorientated and dizzy she fell to her knees, the vampire letting her slide gently from his arms to rest on the cushions beneath her.

He smiled with victorious satisfaction as he felt her power rise into him. Spreading his arms out to his sides, he gloried in the sensation of a million tiny, blue sparks of electricity transferring from her to him, causing pinpricks of heat and light to dance eerily across his skin.  The fiery tingles ignited spasms within his muscles. He jerked and twitched, collapsing to the cushions just as Adie managed to move out of the way.

She felt no difference or ill effect in either her mind or her body as she watched him twitch several times more before his body finally stopped glowing from the little neon embers, a soft sigh escaping his open lips. He lay unmoving, eyes fixed, staring at the moon. His bodyguards lingered on the periphery of the jetty.

A strange sensation niggled at the edges of her mind, a feeling of urgency, almost panic closed in on her at the same time as the shifters moved to lift Devon’s prone body from its resting place.

“What’s happening?” she begged of them. “Where are you taking him?”

“Dawn’s coming and he needs to be laid to rest for the day,” one of the trailing men answered.

She stopped in her tracks, confusion at the sudden worry for the vampire in front of her, made her question both herself and the urgency she felt. The feeling continued to grow, building in pressure until finally she spun to face the first rays of the sun as it broke the horizon, bathing her in its soft radiance. Tension left her instantly, as if turned off by the flick of a switch. Flinging her head back, she closed her eyes and gloried in the gentle warmth.