Page 14 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

I caught her hand, not really registering the too-fast movement as my skin tingled with awareness. I knew what I’d find before I even looked down. Was this what Cal had been able to sense? This… prickling energy, like pinpricks against my skin?

“It’s addressed to you,” Emerson said, glancing down at the hand I still hand on hers. I gently tugged her back and away from the door before I let go and pulled out my phone. The camera made a fake shutter sound as I snapped the photo and sent it to Cal with the simple caption—Novalie’s room.

The curse on the other letter I’d received had faded, expiring in the time it had taken me to actually find it. But this aged envelope was fresh and I couldn’t help sticking my head out of the doorway and looking both ways. My room was directly opposite Novalie and Emerson’s. They could easily have dropped it there, but somehow they’d known I was here. I couldn’t see anyone in the hall, only the lingering scent of something sharp and floral left behind of the messenger. Though, I doubted the person feeling so murderous would bother to drop their own letters off. But then, how did the messenger touch it without suffering the ill effects of whatever had been etched into the paper?

A pop of sound signalled Cal’s arrival, the familiar static of his magick brushing over me in a wash that was surprisingly soothing. “Did you touch it?”

I shook my head and Cal moved to stand next to me, pushing his hair back and out of his face and then scrubbing the same hand over the stubble on his jaw. “I caught Emerson before she could.”

He squatted down, looking at the envelope in the same way one might a bomb. “I doubt it would have mattered,” he muttered and Emerson gasped as he reached out and plucked the letter up from the floor with his bare hands. “It’s been keyed to your magick.”

“And that means?” Novalie said, voice dry but her face a little paler than usual.

“It means that this is personal. They don’t want collateral damage.”

“What exactly would it have done if I’d touched it?” My voice sounded calm even as my vision narrowed into darkness. Rage could be a powerful tool, but lately it often made me act first and think later.

Cal’s gaze was shrewd as he watched me, like he could tell I was battling to keep my emotions in check. “I don’t know.”

I bit my tongue, counting to ten before I responded so I wouldn’t snap unnecessarily. “What can you tell?”

“That it was supposed to kill you, nobody else.” He reached for my hand and I jerked back, surprised, before letting him take it and guide my palm into the air next to the letter. “Can you feel that?”

“It feels… uncomfortable,” I said, closing my eyes to better focus on the sensation before I opened them again to see him nodding.

“Everything is made up of energy and if you focus, you can get a read on its purpose, even the maker’s signature.”

“You grabbed me,” Emerson chimed in, nodding. “Before I could touch it, before you knew what it was.”

“It felt wrong,” I murmured and Cal looked pleased, a warmth in his eyes that might have been pride.

“We’ll make a mage out of you yet,” he mused and I rolled my eyes. “Do you want me to open it?”

I blinked. I’d been so busy thinking about what it was that I hadn’t even considered what might be inside. “Yes.”

The rustle of the paper felt loud as we watched Cal, tension rising to palpable levels when his face smoothed out and the muscle in his jaw popped. “It’s blank.”

“Hard to read when you’re dead, I suppose.”

Cal threw me a look that I ignored. I wasn’t happy with this, but making a sarcastic comment and remaining calm was better than what the other part of me wanted to do. Something a lot bloodier that involved a lot less talking and a lot more screaming.

“Leonora—”

“I’m fine,” I bit out and pushed down the urge to go and kill something. Slowly. “It’s fine. Thanks for coming.” He blinked and then gave a stiff nod. Fuck, had I really been such an arse to him that a simple thanks was enough to shake him? “I’m going to my room.”

“Do you want company?”

I couldn’t turn around, didn’t want to see the concern in Emerson’s gentle eyes, so I just shook my head as I stepped outside. “No. Thanks.” I closed the door behind me before they could say anything else and walked the short few paces to my own room. I just needed to get inside, before I lost it.

The handle turned and the cool air hit me at the same time as his scent. The door thudded closed and I couldn’t help the growl that escaped me as I took in the form lounging on my bed. I could only assume Cal had brought him along after receiving my text.

“Anyone would think you aren’t happy to see me, love.”

Chapter Eight

Leonora

“What are you doing here?”

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