Page 76 of Enchant the Dawn

“Maddy!” Pulling her close, he kissed her ever so gently.

He had kissed her before, she thought dreamily, but never like this. It was warm and tender, filled with a promise of love and forever.

* * *

Maddy was still thinking about forever later that night in bed. Dominic could live for another century or more. And no matter how long he lived, he would always look much the same as he did now. What would happen when he didn’t age and she did? If they had children, they would all outlive her. That just didn’t seem right.

Among my people, there are ways to prolong human life. She heard Dominic’s words whisper provocatively through the back of her mind. When she had asked how it was done, he’d said he didn’t know how, just that it was possible. Would she have to become a vampire? The thought chilled her. She had no problem with Dominic’s being one. He had been born that way. For him, it was natural.

How did the Hungarian vampires prolong a human life? Some kind of antiaging serum? A dose of their blood? Magic?

The thought kept her awake until dawn, when she finally fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

Ava woke to a quiet house. Slipping out of bed, she pulled on her favorite fluffy robe and padded up the stairs to the third floor. A wave of her hand unlocked the door. Stepping into the room, she closed and locked the door behind her.

It was here that she kept the tools of her trade—a cauldron, a scrying mirror, a variety of incense and oils, a wrought-iron candlestick, a number of candles of various colors, a jeweled dagger, a silver pentacle, and a wand made of ebony, numerous vials filled with herbs, and other, less ordinary things.

She had nothing of Jasper’s, which would make summoning him difficult. She tried several different spells. All failed.

Was he dead? That was the only logical answer. Still, she tried one more incantation, one that had never failed. Until now.

Brow furrowed, she left the room and locked the door behind her.

Had she done something wrong? Was Maddy’s burgeoning magic somehow interfering with her own? Ava thrust the thought aside as unlikely. The girl’s powers were no match for her own. There was only one answer that made sense—Jasper had met an untimely end, likely at the hands of the Elder Knight.

Chapter 31

Jasper took refuge under a pile of discarded boxes behind a tattoo parlor. He had thought being a vulture was the worst thing that had ever happened to him, but being a toad was far worse. The vulture had been a bird of prey. The toad was prey. Had he been able, he would have screamed his rage against the Elder Knight, but all that emerged from his throat was a weak croak.

For a time, he had considered trying to hop to the stronghold in hopes that the Knight would remove the spell, but after encountering dogs, cats, and a snake in the first mile, he had decided his chances of making it that far alive were less than zero.

His only other hope was Claret, and that was a slim hope at best.

He waited until dark, then hopped toward the city. With luck, he would find the vampire in her favorite haunt. But even if he found her, how was he going to identify himself before she stepped on him? Or tossed him through a window? He had no concept of time, but it seemed to take hours before he reached the Crimson Rose.

All he had to do now was wait for someone to open the damn door.

* * *

Claret was in the midst of feeding on a rather handsome man she had picked up when she was distracted by a croak that seemed to come from under the table. Curious, she released the man from her thrall and sent him on his way, then bent down to see what was causing the noise. And came face-to-face with a large, ugly, brown frog. She was about to kick it out of the way when she noticed its eyes. They were not the eyes of a toad, but human eyes. Eyes she had seen before. “Jasper! What the hell?”

Reaching down, she picked up the ugly creature, then slid out of the booth and left the tavern.

At home, she set the toad on a chair. Focusing her power, she picked up the scent of witchcraft. So, who had the wizard angered this time?

“Who did this to you, Jasper? Was it the Elder Knight?”

The toad’s head bobbed up and down.

Well, that made sense. She knew Jasper had been playing her against the Knight.

Jasper croaked, the noise sounding like a plea for help.

“Sorry, I can’t help you. I don’t have that kind of power. You need a witch.”

His head bobbed again.

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