Page 77 of Of Fate & Forbidden Desire

“It sounds like something I need more of in my life.” She called back, before shutting the door and I left her to get ready.

I’d had no signal on my phone since we’d arrived, the spells used to keep the Coven hidden interfered with them, or so I’d been told. The nearest place you could use a phone was the car park where we'd left my car. So I had two reasons for leaving this evening. I needed to feed or find a blood bank—vampire’s had established one of our own in most of the major cities— and I had to update Tilly on our progress here. I’d let her know about the bad reception on our first nighthere, but if I didn’t contact her soon, she’d be on her way here to find out what was going on and I had the feeling that wouldn’t go down well with Agnes.

I heard the water shut off in the bathroom and went to the kitchen to fix Charleene some breakfast. The witches had stocked our kitchen with everything we could possibly need in the days after our arrival, so I grabbed everything to make pancakes and fruit. I had them ready and on the small coffee table in the living area as Charleene walked out our bedroom.

“So what’s your plan for today?” I inquired as she sat down and dragged the plate towards her.

“Not much, I’m meeting with Aradia and Angelinia to go over what to expect tomorrow, then I was thinking of seeing some more of the village.” She answered around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Would you like me to join you?” I was envious of her ability to eat human food, it was the one thing I missed about being fully human.

“You can if you like.” She answered diplomatically, giving me the option of declining, which I wouldn’t do. I was beginning to see our time together as precious and fleeting.

“I’d love to.” I said, giving her a smile and going to wash the pots and pans I’d used.

We spent the morning with Aradia and Angelinia, hearing more about the Winter Solstice celebration and how they usually went. This year would be slightly different with having two Ancients here, but it would mostly run the same.

Lilah had explained the block on Ally’s mind a little more while she’d still slept after her stabbing. It served a couple of purposes; one being to keep her looking human and blocking her magic. The other was to suppress her memories of her own past, it was this last element that was now causing her pain. It had been designed to allow her to remember things naturally but if things were revealed too quickly or before the weaving thought she was ready it would cause sharp pain to stab through her head. She’d also told us a little about the reasons behindthem coming here to hide Ally and while I understood their reasons the spell itself seemed a little barbaric.

“Do you think Ally will be ok with having her block broken?” Charleene asked, voicing simpler thoughts to my own as we walked casually down one of the many streets.

“I don’t know. I suppose it will depend on how complexly the block is woven in her mind.” I said, thinking out loud. I didn’t understand much about magic, either Witch or Fae.

“I hope she will be,” she went on, chewing her lip worriedly.

“Me too.” I agreed, mainly for Charleene's sake. She’d become close to Ally during our travels and I didn’t want her to feel responsible for anything that happened to her friend. Silence reigned as we turned another corner and began walking around the outer perimeter of the village.

Birds chirped, happily filling the air with their songs, while wild rabbits darted across the fields and the shadows cast by the houses lengthened as we wandered. Our peaceful day together was quickly turning into late afternoon and I knew I’d have to leave soon if I wanted to make it to Glasgow and back again before morning.

With a heavy heart I walked Charleene back to our combined house and waited until I heard Sophia’s cheerful humming approach our door. Then, after placing a quick kiss on her forehead, I left them both to their evening of movies and sped to my car.

The drive back to Glasgow didn't take too long thanks to my car's powerful engine and the fact that there were hardly any cars on the road. I pulled into the small parking lot of the private blood bank around eleven and walked slowly inside. The blonde vampire behind the white desk looked up as the automatic doors opened.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, politely with a sincere smile.

“Yes, it should be under Adrina.” I informed her, falling back into the monotone voice I used to use all the time.

The woman typed on the keyboard before looking back at me with a smile, “Please take a seat, the doctor will be out momentarily.”

Giving her a nod, I retreated back to the row of five chairs and tapped my foot. The clock on the wall ticked by slowly as I waited for the doctor, being virtually immortal made vampires less aware of how long a minute actually was, so I wasn’t too surprised when it took him fifteen minutes to appear with a small cooler in hand.

“Adrina, I was told you needed a week's supply.” He said by way of greeting, handing over the red and white cooler.

“Thank you,” I replied, liking him more for his lack of small talk, as I flicked open the lid and checked that there were in fact enough blood bags to last me another week. Happy with the contents, I closed it and gave the male “Doctor” a nod.

Taking my phone from the front pocket of my jeans I thought to kill two birds with one stone and dialled Tilly’s number while walking back to my car.

“Hello sunshine,” she said by way of greeting, making my eyes roll at just how happy she sounded.

“Well someone’s happy.” I grumbled back, storing the cooler in the boot of my car, tucking it in the middle of a coil of rope to keep it steady.

“Certainly happier than you. What’s got your knickers in a twist?” she pushed in true Tilly fashion.

“Nothing. The Coven are going to attempt to help the Fae woman tomorrow night.” I said, slipping into the driver's seat and closing the door to keep our conversation more private.

“And has the rogue been seen again?” Tilly replied, meeting my business-like tone.

“No, it worries me that he hasn’t attacked. It wouldn’t have been that hard for him to trail my car.” Voicing it didn’t make it any less worrying.

---