Page 28 of How to Dump a Vampire

Power arcs to my outstretched palms as I seize it, funneling the volatile energy into the brew. “Give me the power to defy even you, oh fates,” I grit out through clenched teeth. Sweat beads my brow fromthe forces amassing around me. “Let no bond withstand this unveiled might!”

With a final thunderous shout, I unleash the spell in a concussive blast. The windows rattle violently as objects around the cottage shake and lift into the air. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the fox familiar Luna leap atop a floating chair, furiously keeping her balance.

The magic continues building, slipping beyond my efforts to rein it back. Cold realization washes over me. Fate has played me for a fool. This spell has taken on a life and will of its own. What have I done?

I reach desperately for control, but wayward tools and jars continue swirling around the room in the grip of chaotic power I can no longer contain.

“No, stop this!” I yell to no effect. The unleashed ritual will run its explosive course now.

Gritting my teeth, I focus every fiber of my will on guiding the wild magic away from anything irreplaceable or sentimental. The swirling vortex of energy slowly shifts course, sucked into the standing cabinet where my most hallowed artifacts are secured by enchantments.

With an immense blast, the tornado of magic and debris funnels into the cabinet. I wrench the double doors shut with a resounding slam, the carved oak frame shuddering violently. As the dust swirls down, I sink to the floor, lungs heaving and head spinning. Silence gradually settles around me.

Thorn? Are you hurt?The fox’s concerned voice filters through the ringing in my ears.

I lift my head to see Luna padding cautiously toward me, picking her way through the disordered wreckage now littering the cottage floor.

“I’m all right,” I rasp out, accepting her shoulder to lean on as I shakily rise.

Truthfully, I’m drained in every way, but nothing a good long rest won’t mend. Physically at least. My bruised ego may take longer after this magical fiasco.

Luna makes a sympathetic noise as we survey the cottage interior. The space looks like a localized hurricane blew through, scattering everything that wasn’t secured down. I grimace at a conspicuous scorch mark now marring the center of my favorite rug. So much for no damage to valuables.

“Some mystical liberation spell that turned out to be,” I mutter, righting an overturned chair with anirritable swipe of telekinesis. “I’ll be fortunate if I haven’t cursed myself somehow.”

Luna nudges me gently.You need sleep to recover strength. The cleaning can wait.

My fox companion is right. Magical exhaustion pulls at my limbs, the adrenaline of the ritual wearing off.

11

Draven

The sound of my chamber doors banging open jolts me from a daze. Before I can react, a whirlwind of glittering skirts and unbound ginger curls barrels across the room and launches onto my bed.

“Draven, you’re back!” my little sister Kira exclaims, sprawling atop the silk coverlet. “We all thought you’d been eaten by wolves or something, but nope! You just took the longest winter nap ever!”

I suppress a groan as she playfully smacks my leg. Barely one hundred and sixteen, Kira assumes anything and everything is proper teasing fodder.

“Yes, yes, I’ve finally awakened from my eternal slumber, oh wise one,” I reply drily.

Leave it to Kira not to stand on decorum, even with a prince of the realm. With her, everything is laughterand games. Normally, I indulge her antics, but today, my spirit remains too burdened for such lightness.

Oblivious to my mood, Kira props her chin on both palms, gazing up at me eagerly. “Spill! What happened out there after you got lost? Did some grizzled old trapper save you? Ooh, or was it a wandering wizard with a magic sled?”

I shift against the headboard, avoiding her shining emerald eyes so like our mother’s. “Nothing quite so dramatic, I’m afraid. Just a minor mishap during my travels. Nothing more.”

“Nothing more?” Kira flops onto her back incredulously. “The whole castle thought you’d died! You gotta give me more than that. Pretty please?”

She bats her lashes, somehow making her freckled face look doleful. I snort. As if such transparent manipulation ever worked on me.

“A lady does not wheedle and pout,” I chide.

She responds by sticking out her tongue. Yes, the picture of courtly manners, this one.

“Fine, keep your secrets for now, you crusty old bat.” Kira hops nimbly off the bed, skirts swirling. “But this isn’t over. I’ll get the gossip from you someday!”

With an impish wink, she darts back out the doors, leaving blessed silence in her wake. I sink against the velvet cushions, eyelids already drooping again. Peace never lasts long around here, though.

---