Page 63 of Midnight Enchantment

“I will be, thanks to you.”

“Please don’t ever refuse him again. It’s not worth it.”

“Come on,” Mason said, tugging on Ava’s arm. “I don’t think we’re needed—or wanted—here.”

Before Ava could protest, Mason urged her out of the room and up the stairs.

Raedan blew out a sigh, thinking he would rather cut off his arm than endure such pain again.

Rising, Lily offered him her hand. With a wry smile, he let her help him to his feet.

“I am sorry,” he said again. “Are you sure you are all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“You are a brave girl, to tempt a vampire like that,” Raedan murmured, drawing her into his arms. “Or maybe just a very foolish one. But I love you the more for it.”

“And I love you.”

For a moment, he simply held her close, unable to believe she hadn’t thrown him out of the house. Not only that, but she had willingly cut into her own flesh and offered him her blood to ease his pain and appease the demon. He didn’t know where they were going from here, but for this moment, he didn’t care. All he wanted to do was hold her close.

As the seconds ticked by, he realized that, although Liliana’s blood had made the demon stronger, it had somehow done the same for him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lily woke smiling. Raedan had stayed with her until almost one in the morning. Sometimes they had made idle conversation, sometimes they had been content to just sit quietly close holding hands. He had told her a little of his more recent past, how he moved from town to town, state to state, every twenty years or so, partly so the few people he associated with wouldn’t notice that he never aged, partly because of boredom.

It had never occurred to her that vampires might get bored with life, but it made sense when she thought about it. What would it be like to have been everywhere, seen everything? It must be a lonely life, too, she mused. You could never tell people what you really were, never confide in anyone for fear of betrayal. If you married, you would either have to trust your spouse with the truth, or pick up and leave when they started aging and you didn’t. She tried to imagine what it would be like to never see the sun, to live only at night, to survive on a warm, liquid diet. Yes, it would be nice to never age, never get sick, heal in an instant, move faster than lightning, but when she thought of all she would have to give up, it just didn’t seem worth it. How much worse must it be if you were turned against your will? And you were also infected with a blood-demon?

She would have to sacrifice a few things if she stayed with Raedan. Like having children. That would be hard. Even adoption didn’t seem like a viable alternative. Being a witch, she would likely live much longer than average and if she didn’t want to look old, well, she could always alter her appearance, the way Ava did. But she would never live as long as he would.

But that was a worry for another day, she thought as she threw the covers aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She wasn’t going to let what might or might not happen in the future ruin the present.

After breakfast, Lily followed Ava and Mason up to Ava’s workshop, where they spent the entire morning studying spells and incantations, leafing through Ava’s numerous grimoires and spell books, experimenting with fire magic and air magic, earth magic, and even a bit of dark magic.

“Don’t we need demon magic?” Lily asked at one point.

But Ava shook her head. “I’m afraid demon magic might only make the creature stronger.”

They took a break at noon and Mason decided to go search the voodoo stores in hopes of finding something new to try.

“You really like him, don’t you, Granny?” Lily asked as they prepared tuna fish sandwiches for lunch.

“I guess it shows.”

“I guess it does. Is it serious?”

“You could say so. He asked me to marry him.”

“He proposed? And you didn’t tell me?”

“It just happened last night.”

“What did you say?”

“Yes, of course,” Ava said, with a laugh. “I wasn’t about to let him get away from me a second time.”

“Is he as old as you?”

---