Page 99 of Midnight Enchantment

“Liliana,” Raedan said. “Go inside.”

“No.”

His gaze caressed her. “Please, do as I say.”

“Oh, all right.”

“Ask your father to come out.”

With a nod, she opened the door, stepped into the house, and closed the door behind her.

“I think you should make yourself scarce while I talk to Quill,” Raedan suggested.

“As you wish.” A wave of her hand, and she was gone.

Raedan paced the porch as he waited for Liliana’s father. Five minutes passed. Ten, before he came outside.

“What do you want?”

“Let us take a walk.”

Quill raised one brow, but followed him down the steps to the sidewalk. “What’s this all about?”

“When I fought to destroy the demon, it weakened me badly. I needed blood … ”

“You didn’t!” Quill hissed.

“No. I knew Liliana could not give me what I needed. I needed the blood of a vampire so I sought out the only one I knew.”

“Claret.”

Raedan smiled faintly, not at all surprised that Quill could sense he carried the blood of the other vampire. “She agreed to help me, for a price.”

“And did it help?”

“I am standing here, am I not?”

“So the price wasmyblood,” Quill said flatly.

Raedan nodded. “She has come to collect.”

“And if I refuse?”

Before Raedan could reply, Claret materialized beside them, radiant in a gown of ice-blue silk. “You would not refuse an old friend, would you, Quill?”

A slow smile spread over Quill’s face. He had no love for her. She could be ruthless, cruel, totally without a sense of right and wrong. And yet he harbored a mild affection for her that he could neither understand nor explain.

“It seems our paths keep crossing,” Quill remarked.

She smiled at him as she raked her nails lightly down his cheek. “May it ever be so.”

Raedan glanced from one to the other, bemused by the obvious love-hate relationship between them. He wondered what had happened in the past to bring them together.

In a move too quick to follow, Quill pulled Claret into his arms. “Let’s get this over with before Callie comes looking for me.”

Raedan watched as Quill canted his head to the side. Claret’s eyes went red as her fangs extended. She stroked Quill’s neck with her tongue before she bit him. A minute passed. Two. Three, before Quill said, “Enough!” and put her away from him.

Raedan felt an odd sensation as the two vampires parted.

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