Page 50 of Midnight Enchantment

Must be nice, she thought, to be able to go where you want when you want with the one you love, and have the time and the means to fulfill your every dream. J. D. would probably be walking and talking before her brother decided to come home.

She gazed up at the sky. Hours until the sun went down. Scooting under the shade of a willow tree, she fell back on the grass and closed her eyes …

And Raedan was there. Dressed all in black, he loomed over her, his normally dark eyes blazing red, the fangs he usually kept hidden clearly visible when he smiled at her. A predator’s smile.

She willed herself to move, to run, but his gaze held her immobile.

“I knew this day would come,” he said, a thin layer of regret in his voice as he slowly knelt beside her and trapped her in the prison of his arms. “I cannot fight the demon any longer.”

“Please, try,” she gasped, her heart pounding with terror.

“Forgive me,” he whispered, and sank his fangs into her throat.

There was no pleasure in his bite this time, only pain unlike anything she had ever known.

Just when she thought he was going to take it all, he bit into his wrist and held it to her lips. “Drink, Liliana!” he commanded, and she lacked the strength to refuse.

His blood was hot and thick and more repulsive than anything she had ever tasted. And just when she thought nothing worse could happen, she felt it … an alien presence that slithered into her, bringing darkness and an icy chill like death.

“No!” She screamed the word until her throat was raw …

“Liliana! Liliana, wake up!”

She woke abruptly to find Raedan kneeling beside her. With the nightmare still fresh in her mind, she scrambled to her feet and darted away from him.

He stayed where he was, his expression troubled. “It was just a bad dream,” he said quietly.

Lily lifted a hand to her throat as she glanced around. The sun was still overhead. She could feel no bite marks on her neck, there was no blood on her skin. Just a dream. Pressing a hand to her heart, she dissolved into tears.

Rising effortlessly to his feet, Raedan moved slowly toward her, but not too close. “Do you want me to go?”

She shook her head, but when he started to move closer, she put her hand out to stop him.

“It was awful,” she said, her voice shaking.

“It must have been, to rouse me. Do you want to talk about it?”

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she wiped her tears away. “I dreamed that you came here. Your eyes were red. You … you drank from me. Drank and drank. And then … and then you … you forced me to drink from you.”

A muscle throbbed in his jaw as he listened to her, afraid he knew what was coming.

“And then … ” She began to tremble with the memory. “I felt the blood-demon crawl inside me. It felt vile and dark and cold … ”

He knew exactly what it felt like. He longed to hold her, to comfort her, but he was afraid to touch her, afraid she would reject him. “Just a dream,” he repeated quietly.

“But it could happen, couldn’t it?”

He wanted to deny it, to assure her that it would never happen, that he would neverletit happen, but how could he, when the very same fear haunted him whenever they were together? He remembered all too well his own nightmare. He squinted against the sun’s light as it began to burn his flesh. He had left his lair in such a hurry, he hadn’t taken time to grab any protective clothing. “I have to go. Can I see you tonight?”

She nodded uncertainly, and he was gone.

Lily’s parents were seated at the kitchen table when she went back into the house. She glanced from one to the other. From their expressions, she wondered if someone had died.

“Sit down, Liliana,” her father said.

She did so, reluctantly. Had they decided she couldn’t see Raedan again? Were they sending her away? Had something happened to Dominic?

Folding her hands on the table top, her mother said, “I had a call from Ava.”

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