Page 38 of The Vampire's Seduction

Andrea handed it to Olivia. “The spell is here. In this book.”

A sense of recognition, of deep longing, rushed through Olivia, like she’d found a long-lost childhood blanket. Olivia turned it over in her hands. The leather was soft and well-taken care of. On the front cover, a round circle was sewn in golden threads. Within it, thick, thorny rose vines twined around a staff topped with a red jewel. The symbol called out to the part of her that’d always wondered about her origins—who were her parents? why did they abandon her?—and followed by the accompanying guilt. What did it matter where she came from? Her true family was the Rodriguezes, who’d raised her. Not her blood relatives.

“See the clasp? It needs a key to open.”

With her index finger, Olivia traced the metal clasp. Intricate, curlicue patterns swirled around the dark keyhole no bigger than a thin paperclip.

“A key?”

“Right, and you have it,” Andrea said.

Olivia glanced at her before looking back at the notebook. She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off it. It felt right in her hands, like it belonged.

“But I haven’t seen this before.”

“Your bracelet. It’s the key.”

Doubting Andrea was impossible when she spoke with such self-assurance. Olivia unhooked her bracelet and watched with fascination as the air shimmered around it. Slowly, the glowing shape of a key formed and solidified, hanging on the bracelet like it’d been there all along.

Tiny, no bigger than the pad of her thumb.

She turned her wide eyes to Andrea, who nodded with an encouraging smile.

Before she could plug the key into the clasp, Marek placed a restraining hand on her wrist. “Olivia, don’t.”

Since it didn’t sound like an order, she looked at him. He wasn’t being arrogant or domineering. He looked genuinely concerned about all this.

“You don’t know her. You don’t know what this means,” he said. “Wait until we can get a second opinion.”

He was right. Andrea came out of nowhere with a solution to her problem. She even had the notebook ready.

It was too convenient. Too easy.

But… Olivia didn’t know how to explain it, but Andrea was telling the truth. She knew it as surely as she knew Marek wouldn’t hurt her. An absolute certainty in her blood contrary to the scientist side of her.

She should study this from every angle. Ask Andrea more questions. Hold off until more witches either confirmed or denied Andrea’s words.

Yet, the beeps of Betsy’s EKG machine reminded her that every second she waited, she might lose Betsy.

For once, she trusted her gut.

“I have to do this,” she said and twisted her wrist out of Marek’s grip.

Not giving him another chance to protest, she inserted the key and turned.

The lock clicked. The key heated to a scalding degree, but her fingers were stuck. Her surroundings blurred into a foggy sheen. An invisible force yanked at her insides, trying to drag her very essence out of her body. Pain, gut-wrenching, and bone-splitting pain exploded from her chest and spread elsewhere.

Stop. It hurts. Stop it!Olivia screamed, or she tried. When she opened her mouth, no sound came out. More of her was leaving, torn out of her body.

In the distance, she heard Marek shouting her name, but she was frozen and voiceless.

The force kept pulling, kept tugging.More. I need more,it whispered.

Her world turned black.

Marek caught Olivia before she hit the ground, his heart thumping in his throat. Holding her in his arms, he leaped back and growled at the witch.

“What did you do to her?”

---