Page 27 of Enchant the Dawn

* * *

The smell of freshly spilled blood led Claret to a dark alley. There was no sign of a body, only a telltale stain on the ground. Dominic’s scent was also there, along with another scent she didn’t recognize. She frowned into the darkness. It was unlikely Dominic had killed one of his own. Had a new hunter come to town? Was that the scent she didn’t recognize? She followed it until it suddenly disappeared.

How was that possible? She drew in a deep breath, and then she knew. Mingled with the hunter’s scent was the faint signature of witchcraft.

She backtracked to the alley, hoping to follow the blood scent. But after a foot or so it, too, disappeared. So, who had taken the body? Dominic? Or the hunter? And where had they gone?

Dominic. Just thinking about him filled her with the desire to taste him again. To lock him up as she had done his father, to be able to drink his blood and his power whenever she wished. She didn’t really care about dead vampires—Transylvanian or Hungarian. She didn’t care about hunters. But Quill’s son? He dominated her every waking moment.

She wanted him.

And one way or another, she intended to have him.

Chapter 12

Maddy dreamed about witches. Dark witches who rode on the wings of the night sowing evil. In one instance, she was Dorothy fleeing the Wicked Witch of the West. In another, she was Snow White hiding from the Evil Queen, and in still another sequence, she was herself, running from an unseen terror that snapped at her heels. And always, lurking in the shadows, dressed all in black, was Dominic, appearing in the nick of time to save her from certain destruction.

She woke in a cold sweat, relieved to find it was morning and she was safe in her own bed. “If I had to dream about witches, why couldn’t they have been good ones?” she muttered as she tossed the blankets aside and headed for the bathroom.

She felt 100 percent better after a shower and a cup of coffee. Scrambled eggs and toast served as breakfast. With nothing better to do, she grabbed a book and sauntered outside to sit by the pool and soak up some sun.

But, instead of reading, she thought about her future. Sooner or later, she needed to find a job. And eventually a new apartment to replace the one she had given up to stay here. She had to admit, her parents’ home was a lot nicer than her old apartment. The house had everything anyone could possibly imagine. It wasn’t going to be easy, living in a one-bedroom apartment again, having to take her clothes to the laundromat, without a pool, probably without a dishwasher, and no Jacuzzi jets in the bathtub.

She shook off her dreary thoughts. Her folks wouldn’t be home for months. Until then, she was in the lap of luxury—no bills to pay, no worries about rent.

Maddy closed her eyes and Dominic immediately sprang to mind. She had never known anyone like him. Or his great-grandmother, the witch. Maybe Ava could give her an amulet to turn away nightmares. Or concoct a love potion to make Dominic fall in love with her . . .

What was she thinking? Annoyed by the turn of her thoughts, she picked up her book and tried to concentrate on the story. But it was no use.

Closing the book, she padded into the kitchen, grabbed a soda from the fridge, and booted up her computer. In the search bar, she typed “what is a witch” and got over six million hits.

According to Wikipedia, witchcraft was the practice of magical skills, abilities, and spells. According to The Atlantic magazine, witchcraft was on the rise due to increasing instability in the country and a growing mistrust of the government. There were links to articles on the occult and how to become a witch, and on Wicca and paganism, as well as numerous sites explaining what a witch was and how to spot one. Some of it was interesting. Some amusing. And some just utterly ridiculous.

She soon became bored with the search and clicked on a random site called Supernatural Creatures and How to Find Them.

Maddy perused the “Table of Contents” and saw chapters devoted to “Fairies—Good and Evil,” “Ghosts and Spirits,” “Imps,” “Ogres,” “Trolls,” “Werewolves,” “Witches and Warlocks,” “Vampires,” and “Zombies.”

Remembering her nightmare, she signed off. She didn’t really need to fill her mind with more scary creatures, that was for sure.

Forcing everything else from her thoughts, Maddy went back outside and picked up her novel. After forcing herself to concentrate, she soon lost herself in the story.

* * *

Dominic rose with the setting sun, his first thought for Maddy. He told himself he had no business seeing her when he was supposed to be hunting for the Knights’ new stronghold, but if Ava couldn’t find them, what chance did he have? Besides, Maddy was much more interesting. And if Ava was to be believed, somewhere down the road Maddy might be his wife—a thoroughly pleasant prospect.

He showered and dressed, told Ava not to wait up, and left the house whistling. He couldn’t remember ever being this eager to see any of the other women he had dated. And likely never would be again. He had never believed in love at first sight, or that certain men and women were destined to find each other. Until he met Maddy, Dominic had scoffed at that idea. But no more.

* * *

Claret prowled the city streets, her senses searching, always searching, for Quill’s son. It frustrated her that she couldn’t find him. She had taken his blood. She should have been able to locate him with no trouble at all.

And then she frowned. His mother was a witch. Had Callie Falconer woven some kind of protective spell around Dominic, one that hid his presence from her kind? It was a distinct possibility. Witches! Good or bad, she despised them all.

Scowling, Claret stormed through the night. She almost pitied the young man who crossed her path. In no mood to be gentle, she backed him against a wall, buried her fangs in his throat, and drank and drank, inwardly cursing all the while because his blood didn’t give her the same sense of power and invincibility as Dominic’s. But she would find him, she vowed. One day, she would find him again.

* * *

Maddy smiled as she opened the door. “Hi!”

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