Page 44 of Midnight Enchantment

“Did you bite him?”

“Of course not!”

Callie breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, thank the good Lord for small favors.”

“What’s the big deal? I know Dad drank your blood. For all I know, he still does.”

“But your father isn’t possessed by a demon. Liliana, you areneverto take Raedan’s blood, do you understand? It could be fatal. You may think Raedan’s in control of the demon, but I’m not convinced that’s true.”

Lily moved to the sofa and sat down, hard. Fatal? She had never even considered that possibility. But then, she had never considered drinking Raedan’s blood, either.

“Have the two of you been intimate?” Callie asked after a moment’s hesitation.

Lily stared at her mother, her cheeks flaming. “Of course not!” But they had come darn close. They might even have done the deed if Raedan hadn’t backed off.

Callie sank down beside her daughter. It had been a mistake to let Lily date that man, she thought. Nothing good could come of it. If Lily drank from Raedan, there was a chance the blood-demon might infect her, too.

Or worse.

“It’s late,” Callie said after a moment. “Let’s get some sleep.”

Lily kissed her mother’s cheek, then ran up to bed.

Callie stared after her, then picked up her phone and called Ava. She needed advice and consolation, and she needed it now.

Ava answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

Just hearing her grandmother’s voice made everything seem better. As succinctly as possible, Callie explained her fears about letting Lily continue to see Raedan. “I don’t know how to stop it. My magic isn’t strong enough to thwart him, and neither is Quill’s power. I’m not sure even Andras could defeat him. What are we going to do?”

“Perhaps what we need is a way to destroy the blood-demon,” Ava suggested. “If Raedan were just an ordinary vampire, he wouldn’t be so powerful or so dangerous.”

“Have you ever encountered a blood-demon before?”

“No. Let me do some research. It might take a while.”

“Thanks, Grams. Have you heard anything more about the vampire hunting Lily?”

“All I know is that he’s searched the city from top to bottom. He’s questioned Claret a couple of times, but so far, she hasn’t told him anything.”

“I don’t trust her.”

“I don’t think she’ll betray us,” Ava said, a grin in her voice. “You know she has an insatiable thirst for Quill’s blood.”

“Yes, I know,” Callie muttered. “And Dom’s, too.”

“Her obsession with Hungarian blood is our insurance,” Ava said. “Try not to worry.”

“Right. What’s there to worry about? Except maybe the fact that Raedan bit Lily tonight. And will want to do it again as sure as the sun will rise in the morning.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

Callie smothered a yawn with her hand. “Let me know if you discover anything,” she said. “I love you, Grams.”

“I love you, too, honey. I know it’s hard, but try not to worry.”

Good advice, Callie thought as she disconnected the call and went up to bed. But quite impossible for a worried mother to do.

Ava frowned as she put her phone aside. Going upstairs, she went into the room where she kept her spell books and magical implements and closed the door. She had rearranged the room not long ago for no other reason than she’d been bored. A long, narrow table stood in the center of the room. It held a variety of objects—a black cauldron, an athame, a silver dagger, a scrying mirror. Shelves held a number of beakers and bottles in assorted shapes and sizes. She had fashioned a new wand of elderberry wood. It rested beside a silver candelabra.

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