Page 34 of Midnight Enchantment

He waited until she was a block ahead of him and then, thanking his lucky stars, he followed her.

Had she lingered inside one more day, it would have cost him his life.

Lost in thought, Lily didn’t realize she was being followed until it was too late. She froze when a hand closed on her upper arm. She whirled around, her instincts taking over when she saw the stranger behind her. When he lifted his other hand to press a cloth over her nose and mouth, she uttered a quick enchantment. Too frightened to concentrate, the spell meant to turn her assailant into a cat malfunctioned and the man turned into a fat, brown rat, instead. Before she could undo the spell, the creature darted under a hedge.

Focusing her magic, Lily murmured the words of undoing, but the rat must have continued running because the man didn’t appear.

Shaking badly from the experience, she turned and ran back into the house and slammed the door.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” Ava exclaimed. “You’re white as a ghost.”

“A man … on the sidewalk … he accosted me … and … ”

Ava’s gaze ran over Lily from head to foot. “Are you hurt?”

“No, but … ” Still shivering, she wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Lily, calm down and tell me what happened.”

“I was so scared, I tried to turn him into a cat to make him let me go, and … and I used the wrong word and he turned into a rat and ran under a hedge.” Lily paused to catch her breath. “I chanted the words of undoing but nothing happened. I think he ran farther than my spell could reach.”

Ava blew out a breath. “Serves him right,” she muttered. “Had you ever seen him before?”

“No. But, Granny, we have to do something.”

“What would you suggest?”

“Can’t you find him and reverse the spell?”

“Not without knowing his name or where to find him. I can’t just unleash a spell and hope it finds the right culprit.”

“Who do you think he was?”

Taking Lily by the hand, Ava pulled her toward the sofa and sat down. “My best guess is he was under the compulsion of the vampire hunting you. His name is Varden and he seems determined to … to have his way with you.”

Lily stared at her great-grandmother, wide-eyed with fear and disbelief. “You really think this Varden sent the man who approached me?”

“I’m almost certain of it.”

Lily sat back, too stunned to reply. The vampire she yearned to be with didn’t want her, but a stranger did. How bizarre was that?

“Lily?”

“Would it work?”

“What?”

“If the vampire had managed to get me in his power, would he have been able to father a child?”

“No.”

“Why not? Aren’t both kinds of vampires basically the same?”

“You know they’re not.”

Lily shook her head. “They aren’t that different. They both need blood to survive. Both are capable of killing, changing shape, turning into mist. Both prefer the night. It seems to me the only real difference is that my father’s kind can consume mortal food and be awake during the day. And after a few hundred years, even some very old Transylvanian vampires are able to endure the sun’s light for a brief time.”

“The other very big differences are that your father’s kind only kill out of necessity and they can impregnate mortal women. No Transylvanian vampire has ever accomplished the latter.”

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