Page 45 of Of Fate & Forbidden Desire

“Why not?” Ally questioned, her eyes narrowing as they met mine.

“Because your magic is completely different to Charleene’s.” I said flatly, not thinking she would need any more explanation than that. She was Fae and their magic, although similar to Witches, was also completely different. While Charleene had been on her ‘walk’ this morning, I’d been to the Coven and had Antonious find any and all information they held on the Fae. I’d wanted to be prepared as well as I could be, before letting Charleene anywhere near them.

“It’s ok Ally, I can teach you when we’re at a safe place,” Jace interjected, trying to calm his friend's temper, which had risen in regards to my simple statement.

“Ok,” she finally grumbled, turning back to the window and giving me the back of her head.

“How long’s it gunna take to get us to this Gladys person?” Charleene asked, filling the awkward silence.

“About another hour or so.” Jace and I say in unison, drawing identical groans from the two of them.

Chapter Eighteen

Protectiveness comes easily when I look at her, even while battling my conflicting feelings -Dina

The car lapsed into silence as Ally turned her face back towards the window, effectively cutting off any further conversation. Movement caught the corner of my eye as Charleene began picking at the side of her thumb, pulling at the skin over and over. Without thinking about it my hand snapped out, covering both of hers and squeezing them gently to stop her from making herself bleed.

“What’s wrong?” I mumbled, keeping my voice quiet, so as not to disturb the two Fae.

“It makes no sense Dina,” She said back in a whisper, “Who am I, for that Vampire to be so insistent?” Her question was valid; it was very strange that he hadn’t just moved on to a new target and left her alone.

“I don’t know, babe,” I told her honestly, instantly regretting it when a tear rolled down her cheek. “It could be that his ‘master’ is looking for something specific, or it could just be that you escaped him and his bloodlust is calling for him to dominate you.” I quickly rambled, reasoning it out for myself at the same time. “All we know is that nothing this rogue has done so far has made any sense.”

“What do you mean?” Her question was timid and showed how scared she was.

“Normally a rogue who is on a killing spree doesn’t hide their actions, because they just don’t care. The bloodlust takes over their rational minds, forcing them to take more and more lives in the quest for sating the thirst raging within them.” I said, quickly explaining what we usually dealt with in blood-addled rogues. “However, this one has been very clever; we don’t know how long he has beenkilling or where he began. The only reason we’ve found him now is because he’s become cocky and sloppy.”

“But why now?” Charleene asked, her eyes wide and locked on mine.

“We don’t know, the only contact we’ve had with him was when he cornered you in York.” I told her, frustration over mine and Tilly’s failings when chasing the bastard bubbling to the surface. Charleene offered me a small smile, that barely turned her lips up at the corners and didn't reach her eyes, before pulling her hands from mine and losing herself within her thoughts as the miles flashed by.

Paying no attention to anyone, I pondered everything I knew of the rogue. He first came to the Council’s attention six months ago, when the Scottish papers in Glasgow began reporting about four different murders where all the victims had lost all of their blood. After the third victim, news began being covered in the UK media; at first it was small sections in the big newspapers then, after the fourth victim, the news programmes had picked it up and they suddenly stopped. Tilly and I had been sent to Glasgow to see what we could figure out about the murders, and to see if we could determine if it was a sick human responsible for the killings or a supernatural being.

Glasgow had been a bust, neither of our contacts in the Glaswegian police force could tell us if the murderer was human or super. All they knew was that the bodies had been found in different areas of the city, with their throats cut but no blood had been detected on their clothing. Nothing connected the victims.

Four weeks later, Tilly received a phone call from her contact in the Edinburgh police force: a student had gone missing, turning our attention south. Low and behold, a day later, the student’s body had been found, with their throat slit and again completely drained of blood. Puzzled, we headed there hoping to catch whoever it was in the action, yet we couldn’t find him. Witches in the city scried for the perpetrator with no luck, we searched the streets every night for a week, until two more bodies later we were no closer and they stopped again.

“Where’s all the traffic?” Ally’s voice dragged me from my thoughts. Glancing around I recognised the long winding drive, lined with tall trees and breathed a sigh of relief. “Is it protected?” Her voice continued, making me wonder just how she knew, noticing the curious glance Jace gave her.

“Yes, its reality is protected like in Hampsted Alyssa, it’s how you’ll both stay hidden from our pursuers.” I answered, frowning over at the red-haired woman.

“So what the general public see isn’t what we’ll see, right?” Charleene asked, drawing my attention from the strange fae.

“Correct,” I answered.

“Oh thank God, because I was thinking how can a person live in a bunch of ruins in England of all places.” Charleene’s response almost has me cracking a smile, at her naivety when it came to anything supernatural. After three hundred years her innocence was refreshing, allowing me to see our world with new eyes.

“Wait, this place is a ruin?” Ally shouted in surprise, turning in her seat so she could look at Charleene.

“Yeah,” she answered, passing her smartphone over so Ally could see the pictures she’d obviously been looking at.

“Impressive,” Ally stated after a few moments and handing the phone back, before flashing me a curious look, “and your friend Gladys owns all of this?”

“Technically the National Trust owns it, Gladys rents Kirby Hall out to them and receives a cut of the profits.” I rambled, my gaze fixed on the house as it came into view at the end of the lane. The route I’d taken would keep us away from any early tourists and take us to the back of Kirby Hall. I watched Charleene’s mouth drop open as she got her first look at the pale stoned building. Even I had to admit it was impressive, and had been since it’d been built. My foot tapped on the car floor as Jace drew his car to a stop next to Gladys’ tiny black Fiat.

“Is everyone you know rich as hell?” Charleene asked, her wide eyes pinned on Kirby Hall as she stretched, arching her back and pushing her breasts out, making me swallow as desire punched me in the stomach.

The sound of hurried footsteps inside the house distracted me as I replied, pushing down the surge of desire, “Not everyone.”

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