Page 5 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

The Vampyr Council

It was a summons. The vampire council was putting Elowen on trial—despite the fact she had vanished from Ashvale and was nowhere to be found. It was hard to take a letter like this seriously when it was full of the pomp and bluster that I found so grating about vampire culture.

Adrian had been here at Ashvale, he knew just as well as me what had gone on, and yet I'd been summoned to give testimony anyway. It wasn't worded as a request, and maybe it would be interesting to go to the court, who knew what I could learn? My thoughts flashed back to Hayes and the heritage I could only guess at before I reigned my thoughts back in.

At the very least, a trip to court would mean that I had a legitimate reason to get out of Ashvale, and that alone sold the trip to me.

I promise I won't leave you behind again.

I supposed this would give me a chance to make good on my vow to Emerson and Novalie, too. But first, I needed to talk to a mage.

Chapter Three

Leonora

“Are you going to let me in? Or just stare at me all day?” I folded my arms across my chest and cocked out one hip as I watched the mage standing in his doorway. Cal held open the small door and stepped aside to let me in, muttering something under his breath that I chose to ignore. “Thanks,” I said, keeping my face blank as I strolled inside. Parking around here was a bitch, and the journey even worse, but it was an irritating necessity to speak to the mage.

Cal was another person I'd ignored after going AWOL from Ashvale. Our lessons in magick were abandoned and any familial bond we’d been building had suffered, too. I was pretty sure Hayes didn't know that Cal had tracked me down a time or two. If he'd really wanted to bring me back to Ashvale, I was sure he could have. I may be a vampire, but Cal had magick and, unlike me, he actually knew how to use it for more than a few cursory spells.

Of course, it was hard to use said magick when you were knocked unconscious.

“I'm surprised to see you here,” he said, footsteps heavy behind me as I walked into his sitting room. “Given how we left things.”

I shrugged. “It wasn't personal.”

Cal snorted. “Right. Of course. Well, if you're not here to apologise, then I'm guessing you need something.”

“Maybe,” I allowed and froze when we found ourselves inside his living room and a scent in the air washed over me. “He was here.” I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. If Hayes wasn’t at Ashvale, then of course he was here with Cal.

Cal made a vague hum, but didn’t bother to reply further as I stood in the middle of the room, arms folded across my chest as I breathed out sharply, trying to get the scent of Hayes out of my mouth, my mind. Was he stalking me or was it the other way around?

“You’ve seen him?”

“Is that what you’ve come to ask me? Whether I’ve seen Hayes?”

The sound of his name on someone else’s tongue was a hundred times worse than hearing it in my head, like little pins sticking into my skin in a wave of irritation that woke up the bond. “No.” I shook my head in an effort to clear it and smiled tightly. “I have a question about magick.”

Intrigue lit Cal’s eyes and he nodded to one of the chairs behind me, curiosity overriding his annoyance at the way I’d chewed him out and then knocked him out when he’d tracked me down before. “What is it?”

“Is there a way to claim a vampire from another family so that they’re physically connected to a new bloodline? Through magick, I mean.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

“Will you tell me how to do it?” I pressed, raising an eyebrow at the sudden tension that lined the mage’s body.

“No.”

“Why not?” I leaned forward, propping my elbows on my knees and moving forward in a blur of speed when Cal made to leave the room. I knew it was rare for a vampire to be claimed by a House that wasn’t their bloodline, but I also knew that it could be done.

“There are some things I can’t tell you, Leonora. Oaths I’ve had to take to prevent certain spells from falling into the wrong hands.”

“Don’t you trust me?” I batted my lashes and he chuckled, the sound short and rough like he hadn’t laughed in a long time. “People break oaths all the time.”

“Not like these.” He shook his head and rolled up one sleeve of his cotton top, revealing thick black lines that wrapped around one bicep and disappeared further up towards his shoulder. “These oaths are the magickal kind. The magick in these markings binds me. If I were to open my mouth and try to tell you the secrets of my kind, nothing would come out.”

I inspected the lines closely, startling when I looked up and found his face close to mine, watching me with something like fondness. I dropped his arm quickly and stepped away, fighting the urge to wipe my hands on my jeans. “I’m sure you can tell a fellow mage.”

“You’re not a mage.” His words were curt but the softness in his eyes was an apology. I didn’t need his pity. I already knew I was too much of a vampire to be a mage, and too much the latter for the former if they ever found out. “There’s a formal training process and many would not take kindly to your… condition.”

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