Page 3 of Kiss of Magic

He lashed out, maybe trying to slap her, maybe punch her. She didn’t wait to find out. Stepping inside his wild swing, she raised her knee and drove it firmly into his crotch. He dropped like a stone and curled into a foetal position.

The groom was leaning against the car cradling his damaged nose and whining like a girl. The remaining three were confused and too drunk to really know what was going on. Dani cursed under her breath.

Lately, her temper had been getting worse. It was as if something dark was lurking inside her head. Something feral, prodding her. Provoking her. Stress, she supposed. It was no excuse.

She should have been alert, she should have spotted the men in the parking lot and avoided them altogether. Now she was going to have to take care of her mistake. When was she ever going to learn?

Darting a quick look around to make sure they weren’t being watched, she let energy filter into her body. Energy stolen from the flickering neon light, from the drifting dust-motes in the night air, from the residual warmth of the tarmac. Energy she siphoned into her cells and converted into magic.

The words she murmured were saturated in power, though the charm itself was simple. An amnesia spell, inducing forgetfulness. It took hold immediately. The men sank to the ground in a stupor, beer bottles rolling from their hands.

When they regained their senses, they’d assume they’d been so drunk they’d passed out. One of them would wonder how he’d broken his nose, another why his balls ached. But of the waitress with the blue-green eyes and the azure hair, they wouldn’t remember a thing.

Tabula Rasa.

With a final check to make sure no-one else was around to witness what had happened, Dani walked off, heels clicking on the sidewalk. If only she could wipe away her own unwanted destiny so easily.

Two

Blake walked into the bar like he walked into every place. As if he owned it.

His eyes swept the clientele. Usual crowd. Most of them hunters, like him. He nodded at an acquaintance in the corner but he wasn’t there to make small talk.

She was sitting at the bar. He hadn’t seen her in a long time and he took a second to enjoy the view. Petite, shapely, long honey-blonde hair spilling down her back. Damn, he’d forgotten how pretty she was. You’d never know she wasn’t human.

Down boy.She wasn’t his, never had been. Except for that one drunken night… he shoved the memory away. He knew she and him were firmly in the friend zone now.

He made his way over, pushing irritably past a guy who’d had too much to drink.

“Sorry, bro,” the guy slurred as he stumbled away. Blake ignored him.

He slid onto the stool next to the blonde and accepted the whisky she nudged towards him with a non-committal grunt.

“Hey,” she said. He didn’t reply.

He sniffed the glass, took a small sip, realised it was the expensive stuff and took a bigger one. He put the tumbler down and glanced over at the shaitun.

“You pushing the boat out for me, Blondie?”

Tala shrugged.

“I figured I still owed you one, seeing as the last time I saw you, you were being rushed to hospital. How’s the leg, by the way?”

“Healed perfectly. The doctors said it was a miracle. I couldn’t exactly tell them it was down to vampire blood.”

“Glad there’s no permanent damage.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Blake scowled. “I’m mentally scarred from the wet dreams I had about your guy. Every damn night for two weeks. Like living in a gay porn movie. It was humiliating.”

Tala tried not to laugh at his outraged tone.

“That’s the price you pay for drinking Vetali blood. You should be grateful. Darian saved your life.”

“I’d almost prefer the limp.”

“Quit whining. You’re here aren’t you? And you don’t look any the worse for it.” She gave him the once-over. “Have you been working out?”

Blake had always been striking – tall, broad-shouldered, and with a scar over one brow that gave him a devilish charm. But his physique had become more honed since she’d last seen him. She ran her eyes over his biceps appreciatively and he gave her a smug grin.

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