Page 31 of Sleeping With the Vampire

I told her I was here to see Lucca but would wait until he could see me later. In the meantime, I wanted to know how he was.

“Oh, he is much better. May I offer you some refreshment?”

I accepted even though the woman seemed odd somehow. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Some tea or cordial perhaps? We have a very good water from the mountains,” she said.

“Anything, really.”

Now that I was here, I could feel him somewhere in the castle.

It was an odd sensation, this pull from inside the building. It was like he was calling me, drawing me to him. I wanted to go to him, but I wasn’t sure that this was entirely the right thing to do. What if he wasn’t well and I caught him in a vulnerable position? He’d be resting and I could wait. The fact that it felt like he was calling me didn’t mean that was what was happening. I could be imagining it, being worried, the way I was.

At least he seemed better.

The old lady was back before I had realized it. She moved very quietly, I had barely heard her. It was disquieting. She was obviously not a vampire, being able to move around in the light of day without it affecting her in the slightest, but there wassomething else. Perhaps she was a witch of some sort? Lucca had told me about his closest confidantes and he said he trusted them implicitly.

“Here, have some tea,” she said, pouring me a cup of something that smelled bitter. She handed it to me and I put down the cup.

“Have the tea,” she insisted and her voice sounded less friendly now.

My instincts kicked in and I jumped out of the chair as she lunged the cup at me, trying to throw it at me. The contents of the cup spilled onto the chair, burning a hole into the upholstery.

What the fuck!

I moved out of the way, lightning fast, grabbing my dagger and throwing it at her. But for an old lady, she moved like the wind. My knife flew through the air and hit the wall.

“You don’t belong here!” the witch shouted at me.

I was shocked by the venom in her voice.

“This is not your fight!”

She came flying through the air towards me and I stepped out of the way at the last minute, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back, but she nimbly turned around and scratched my face.

“Ow!” I yelled as I punched her in the stomach, expecting her to fall, but she recovered remarkably quickly as if I’d barely touched her. She threw the saucer at me and I dodged it, lunging forwards with my small silver dagger and stabbing her in the side.

She staggered back.

In that moment, a great sword pierced the air and pinned her against the wall, killing her instantly.

I turned to the door and saw Lucca standing there, holding his bandaged side.

“Izzy! Are you okay?”

I looked at him. “What happened to you? I came as quickly as I heard!”

He shook his head, there was clearly too much to tell.

“Come upstairs,” he said.

He glanced at the dead witch and shook his head.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “She had always been so loyal to me. I would never have expected this. But then…lately…” he shook his head.

It was hard going up the stairs, but Lucca said his injury wasn’t serious, that he just needed to rest.

“I’m sorry if I interrupted,” I said.

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