Nightfall: Blood Magic Book 1 Read online

  “Why not?” I asked, frowning.

  “Because it will put a target the size of Everest on your head. The vampires will hunt you to drink from you. The magical families will capture you to use your blood in their spells. And the slayers will kill you so that no vampire can ever get their fangs on the power your blood can provide.”

  Just like that, the weight of the world settled itself on my shoulders.

  “Fuck.”

  “Yeah,” Alvie agreed. “Fuck.”

  I glanced between the two of them. “You can’t tell anyone any about this.”

  “Of course not,” Rita replied fervently. “You have my word.”

  “And mine,” Alvie echoed.

  I grew even more tense. “But you both practice magic. Don’t you want my blood for your spells?”

  “I already told you, we only practice benevolent magic, and the kind of spell that needs your blood is the kind cast to gain power.”

  “And that’s not what we’re about,” Alvie added. “We’re the good guys.”

  I hoped they were telling the truth. I suddenly felt like fleeing the city and going to live in a cabin in the woods where no one would ever find me. I stared blankly out the window for a moment, information swirling in my brain.

  “Your mother must’ve been a formidable witch,” Rita said, distracting me from my panicked thoughts. “As far as I can gather, she created a spell that would hide your blood from predators. I think she used her own blood as the seal, too, so the only way to break the spell may be with her blood.”

  “But she’s dead,” I said.

  “Yes, and not to sound insensitive, but you’re lucky she is. Now the spell can never be broken. Most likely, anyway.”

  “If my mum had never hidden my blood, would the vampires know what I am simply by smelling me?” I asked.

  “I can’t say for certain, but they would probably be incredibly drawn to you.”

  “I think they already are,” I said as I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. “But if my mother managed to hide this thing in me, why couldn’t she have hidden it in herself, too?”

  “A witch can’t cast a spell on herself. She’d need another witch to do that for her. If your mother was in hiding from her family, she likely had no one to help her.”

  My heart ached as I thought of her all alone with this stupid blood and nobody to help her hide it. Did my dad know about any of this, or had she kept it a secret from him, too?

  I looked between Rita and Alvie, feeling desperate. “Nobody can ever find out about this.”

  “We already promised we won’t tell a soul,” Alvie reassured. “We’re outsiders. We don’t align ourselves with any of the divisions in this city, and we certainly wouldn’t sell you out.”

  Rita tilted her head, her expression thoughtful. “Yeah, but how does she know that? Tegan needs something more than a simple promise.” There was a pause as she thought some more. “How about a pact spell that seals the information between the three of us, so that we couldn’t tell another soul even if we wanted to?”

  Alvie nodded, smiling. “I like that idea. What do you think, Tegan?”

  “Anything that will put my mind at ease. I suspect it’s going to be a while before I can sleep at night.”

  Rita shot me a sympathetic look as she and Alvie began clearing the table in preparation for the pact spell. Several minutes later, we were sitting in a circle again holding hands. Thankfully, this spell was a lot less complicated than the last.

  Rita set a pestle and mortar down in front of her. Into it, she added some cloves of garlic. “To safeguard our secret, I use garlic.” The second she crushed the cloves I felt the air thicken around me, the magic coming alive.

  “To preserve the strength of our pact, I add frankincense resin,” she continued grinding in the next ingredient. “And thirdly, to bring an extra sense of trust and extra strength to our agreement, I add galangal root. This is a secrecy pact. We three vow never to repeat what was revealed in this room tonight to any other person, even on our dying day.” She paused, glancing between us. “Repeat after me: We promise to keep this secret forever unspoken until she to whom it pertains wishes this pact to be broken.”

  We repeated her words and smoke rose from the ingredients, a heady aroma filling the room. I jumped when several sparks went off, like a sparkler at Halloween. Then they vanished, and the smoke disappeared.

  “Well, that’s that then. Your secret’s locked up tight,” Rita confirmed.

  “Thank you. Both of you,” I said. “What you did for me tonight, I’m not sure how to repay you.”

  “No thanks needed. Magic is my passion. I always welcome the opportunity to practice it,” Rita replied as she rose from her seat. “I have something I’d like to give you.”

  She disappeared upstairs, and I glanced at Alvie. “So, how did you two get into practicing magic in the first place?”

  “Rita’s mum taught her, then Rita taught me. I’m nowhere near as adept as she is. I can do some basic spells but nothing even remotely like what you saw her do tonight.” He paused then, chewing his lip as he glanced at the door and leaned close, lowering his voice. “Don’t mention I said this, okay?” I nodded, intrigued. “Rita’s always been against the belief that you need to be from a magical family to become a witch. She says she’s a prime example of the fact that anyone can practice magic with a little study and determination. But sometimes, well, sometimes I wonder.” He rubbed his chin.

  “What do you wonder?”

  “Well,” Alvie went on. “I’ve been practising for years, but I’ve never been able to even fractionally reach her level. I think that she might be related to the families but doesn’t know it. She’s never met her dad—doesn’t even know his name. He could be a warlock for all we know.”

  “It’s certainly possible,” I replied, thinking of my mother at the same time. Which magical family had she come from?

  Before Alvie could continue with his theory, Rita re-entered the room carrying a silver locket on a chain.

  “You’ll need this,” she said, handing it to me.

  “What is it?” I rubbed my thumb over the indentations carved on the locket.

  “It’s been magically infused with saltwater. You’ll need to be wearing it whenever you go to work because it’ll block Marcel’s magic if he tries to unlock your spell. As long as you’re wearing it, whatever he tries won’t work, which means your secret will be safe.”

  I smiled at her in thanks. “That’s really thoughtful. I seriously owe you one.”

  She shrugged me off, looking surprisingly abashed. “Like I said, it was no trouble.”

  At this, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I glanced at the screen, not recognising the number.

  “Hello?” I answered curiously.

  “Tegan, it’s Delilah. I need you to come and meet me at the club.”

  Delilah was calling me? Weird. Ethan must’ve given her my number. I glanced at the time. I didn’t have long before I had to be at Hagen’s for my shift.

  “Um, I don’t have a lot of time. I have to be at work in two hours.”

  “I’ll make sure you get to work. Please come. It’s urgent.” The desperation in her voice took me off guard.

  “What’s wrong? Is Ethan okay?” I asked, worrying Finn Roe might’ve come after him again.

  “Ethan’s fine, for now. I’ll tell you the rest when you get here. Now hurry.”

  She hung up, and I found Rita and Alvie staring at me expectantly. “That was a, uh, a friend. I have to go.”

  Gathering my coat and bag, I said my goodbyes and headed for the bus that would take me to Crimson.

  15.

  True Power.

  The name my mother used kept echoing in my head. I had so many questions, but it wasn’t like I could do a Google search for this stuff. I thought of all the dusty old books Gabriel had at Indigo and wondered if I might find some answers in those.

  The club wasn’t too packed w
hen I got there, probably because it was a weeknight. I sent Delilah a text letting her know I’d arrived, and moments later she appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. I wondered if that was a dhampir talent.

  “Come on. We can talk in the staff room,” she said, leading me to the back.

  We passed by the door to Ethan’s office, and I noticed someone was standing outside keeping guard. At first, I thought it was a man, but as I got closer, I saw that it was a woman. She was markedly stunning in an androgynous sort of way, reminding me of a young Leonardo Di Caprio. Her hazel eyes met mine, and I looked away, but not before I caught her smirking.

  “Delilah, who’s your friend?” she called out as we passed. Her voice was husky and deep.

  “She belongs to Ethan, Dru, so you can keep your eyes to yourself,” Delilah warned.

  Belongs to Ethan? Um, okay. Delilah shot me a look that said I shouldn’t argue, so I kept my mouth shut and my head down.

  Dru gave a low chuckle. “Fair enough.”

  “Who was that?” I whispered when we entered the empty staff room.

  “Dru works for Governor Herrington. She’s one of his security guards. Probably the most personable of his bulldogs but also the most lethal. Don’t let her charm you.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “You took your sweet time getting here, by the way,” Delilah complained as she pointed to a seat. “Sit down.”

  I just about managed to keep my snappish reply to myself. I rode the bus here for you, bitch.

  I sat while Delilah started to pace in agitation, arms folded, face deep in thought. She wore a pair of sky-high red stilettos that almost matched the colour of her hair and a tight black mini dress that seemed painted on. Finally, she stopped pacing and stood facing me. “There’s trouble coming, and I need your help.”

  I tilted my head. “What sort of trouble? And what kind of help?”

  Her expression turned grave. “There was an attack on Governor Herrington last night and every high-ranking vampire in the city is under suspicion for it. I need you to give Ethan an alibi.”

  Say what?! I stared at her, stunned.

  “He was with you last night, wasn’t he?” she went on.

  “Yes,” I replied. “But not all night. What time was the governor attacked?”

  “Just before dawn.”

  “Ethan left a little before then.”

  “That doesn’t matter. He didn’t attack Herrington. That’s all you need to know.”

  “Who did?”

  She made an exasperated hand gesture. “Obviously, I don’t know that. Herrington is particularly paranoid about other vampires trying to overthrow him. I wouldn’t put it past certain individuals to do it, but it wasn’t Ethan. I know that for a fact. The only problem is that Ethan was alone in his house after he left you, therefore nobody can vouch for him.”

  Alone in his house? My imagination ran amuck as I wondered what sort of house Ethan Cristescu lived in. “Can’t you or Lucas just lie and say you were with him? I don’t get why you need me to do it.”

  Delilah sighed heavily. “That would work fine if it weren’t for the fact that Herrington’s people already questioned us before telling us why. In ignorance of their true intentions, we told them the truth. So now there’s nobody left to say Ethan was with them. Do you understand?”

  My gut twisted. I didn’t want to get involved in this. I had enough on my plate already after what Rita’s spell revealed. Not to mention I was edgy around vampires in general given what I now knew about my blood. I couldn’t stand in front of their governor and tell a bare-faced lie.

  “Don’t you have any human employees who haven’t been questioned yet who could give Ethan an alibi?” I asked hopefully.

  “You really don’t get it,” Delilah burst. “We can’t just get any old human to vouch for Ethan because Herrington will be able to compel them to tell the truth. But with you, he won’t be able to do that. Of course, you’ll pretend his compulsion is working on you all the same.”

  So, I didn’t just have to provide an alibi, I had to put on an act as well? My insides turned to ice as I imagined what would happen if Herrington somehow spotted that I was pretending.

  “It’s too risky.”

  “Do you want to see Ethan put on trial for a crime he didn’t commit?” Delilah asked archly.

  “Of course not,” I replied, a pain in my stomach at the very thought. There was no denying that, for some inexplicable reason, I cared about him. And I certainly didn’t want him put on trial. Vampire court was likely even scarier than the human variety.

  “Then please do this. Ethan cares about you, Tegan. I know him better than anyone, and I’ve never seen him go out of his way to befriend a human. If you care about him, then help him. Winning my brother’s trust is a very valuable thing. He goes to great lengths for those he allows into his inner circle.”

  As I listened to her speak, a trickle of guilt crept in. Would Ethan still trust me if he knew I’d gone to Rita to unravel my spell? I stared at Delilah for a long moment, worrying my lip.

  “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  She smiled brightly. “I promise you won’t regret this. Now, we just need to get both of your stories straight. I think the easiest route is to tell them that Ethan stayed at your place all night, and also that he remained there today until sunset.”

  For a moment I was captured by the idea of Ethan spending the entire night at my apartment and what exactly that would entail. I coughed, reminding myself the alibi was fictional. “All right. But where’s Ethan now? Isn’t he in his office being questioned already?” I figured that was the reason Herrington’s guard was standing outside.

  “That’s the problem. He’s been gone all evening, and I can’t get hold of him. Herrington and his wife Antonia are in the office waiting with all their bastard bodyguards. Ethan isn’t going to have a clue what’s going on when he arrives.”

  Well, that did make things a little more complicated. Delilah rubbed her temples before grabbing her phone from the counter. “I’m going to try him one more time.”

  I sat still and waited. It appeared Ethan answered his phone because Delilah began an angry tirade in a language I didn’t understand. Romanian, maybe? After a full minute of verbal abuse, she finally calmed down and hung up the phone.

  “You got him then,” I said.

  She gave a curt sniff. “He’ll be here in five minutes. Come along, we’ll meet him outside.”

  Delilah didn’t seem bothered by the frosty temperatures as we waited for Ethan at the back of the club. I, on the other hand, was absolutely freezing despite wearing my winter coat. I flipped up the collar and pulled it tighter around me. Delilah shot me a look like I was being dramatic.

  “You guys must run hot,” I said.

  “Not really. We just don’t feel the effects of temperature change as much as humans.”

  “Must be nice, living in this city.” Tribane rarely experienced nice weather aside from a couple of weeks during summer. A minute later, I spotted Ethan’s SUV pull up. He smoothly slid from the car and immediately approached his sister. Again, the two spoke in hushed foreign tones. I was growing a smidge impatient with all the drama and intrigue, especially considering I had a shift at Hagen’s to get to.

  My annoyance drifted away when Ethan came forward, placing his hand on the small of my back. I remembered how worried I’d been about him when he went after Finn Roe last night, which was ridiculous since he’d survived almost three centuries without me worrying over him so far.

  “Are you cold?” he asked, his focus zeroing in on me as his hand came to rest on my shoulder.

  “A little.”

  “Let’s get you back inside. I appreciate you doing this,” he said, a warmth in his eyes.

  “It’s no problem.”

  “All the same, I owe you one.”

  I glanced at Delilah then back to Ethan. “So, I just need to say that you spent last night and today at my apartment?”

 
“Yes.”

  “Seems doable.”

  Delilah gave a sharp, derisive laugh. “You haven’t met the Herringtons yet.”

  We returned to the club, and Dru was still waiting outside Ethan’s office.

  “Finally decided to drop by, did we?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “I was unaware of the circumstances,” Ethan answered her, his voice neutral as we approached.

  I glanced at Dru briefly and noticed her nostrils flaring. Oh, great. She was smelling me.

  “Your human smells … fascinating, Ethan.”

  “Yes, she does, but I’d appreciate it if you refrained from salivating all over her,” he clipped dryly, and Dru scowled. He ushered me into the office, Delilah heavy on our heels. Inside there were two stocky male guards, who I presumed were Herrington’s other security personnel. Both wore all black, just like Dru outside. Then I saw Herrington and my eyebrows shot right up. He wasn’t at all what I expected. Not a hair over five feet tall, with a round head topped with sparse black hair, he was the spitting image of Danny DeVito.

  His wife, Antonia, on the other hand, was tall and slim with pale blonde hair styled into a neat bun at the top of her head. They made the quintessential odd couple. If you didn’t look into the cold, cruel jade eyes of Antonia Herrington you’d almost wonder how her husband managed to gain a position of power. I sensed she was the driving force behind the couple.

  “Howard, Antonia, so good to see you,” Ethan greeted.

  Antonia’s eyes immediately darted to me. She turned her head to the side, as though sniffing the air. “Why is there a human present?” Her voice was as sharp as a razor blade and I managed not to wince at the sound of it.

  “This is Tegan. She’s a companion of mine.”

  “She smells rather—”

  “Interesting, yes, I know,” Ethan finished for her.

  “Where did you find her?” Howard asked, his sharklike eyes taking me in. It was then that I saw past his miniature stature to the wise, possibly scary person who lay beneath.

  “We met here at the club,” I lied, and Howard shot me a smile that didn’t show much kindness.