Prologue
New York City, New York
Ten years ago
Getting involved with humans never ended well for vampires. We all knew it, but some things just couldn’t be helped.
I cradled the unconscious human child in my arms, tucking her face into my chest to protect her from the harsh wind as I ran. I knew I shouldn’t have done it. I should have minded my own business. She was just a human. She’d be dead soon anyway—whether that be within days or ninety years from now.
Mortals were fragile creatures that didn’t last long. The girl’s mother was a prime example. She’d fallen for a bad man and had paid the price for that decision with her life. Granted, I made sure he paid with his life, but that wouldn’t bring her back. Nor did making that scumbag my dinner make the child I carried any less of an orphan.
I reached my destination within minutes which was impressive considering the distance I had covered on my mad dash across the city and in a high-heeled boot, no less. I shifted the girl to free one of my hands and began ringing the doorbell to the hulking Brooklyn brownstone incessantly.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered to myself.
“What?” Rhiannon, or Rhea as I called her, shouted as she ripped the door open. I didn’t answer. Pushing past her, I kicked the door to her home shut behind me and made my way down the hall to her living room. I set the human down on the couch before turning to face my best friend.
“I need your help big time,” I said as I walked over to the liquor cart she always kept fully stocked beside her fireplace.
“Clearly. What the hell is going on and why do you have a human with you?” She asked, arms crossed over her chest.
After far more than two fingers of bourbon filled the crystal glass I grabbed, I stopped pouring. The first sip set a warm blast through my chest. It didn’t do much to halt the panic that consumed me, but it was a familiar feeling at least.
“I messed up,” I began. After another sip of amber colored goodness, I continued. “The girl and her parents were my neighbors.”
“Scarlet,” she shouted my given name in a horror filled tone. “Don’t tell me you killed her parents?”
“No, I didn’t kill her parents,” I paused. A sigh escaped me as I raked my fingers through my long, blonde hair. “I just killed her father. And, she saw. She knows what I am.”
There was no point in dragging it out. I needed Rhea’s help and beating around the bush wasn’t going to do any good.
“Explain.”
Draining the glass of bourbon, I began to refill it as I explained. “Her father was an abusive asshole. I tried staying out of it, but tonight the scent of blood was overwhelming. I heard the girl screaming for help and ran over. He had stabbed the mother repeatedly and was yanking the kid around by her hair. I didn’t think. I just acted.”
Rhea cursed under her breath and looked over at the child’s sleeping form. “What do you need me to do?”
I bit my lip. “You know the rules. She knows what I am.”
“You can’t turn a little girl!” She shouted at me.
“I know, I know, but I can’t kill her either.”
Her dark complexion turned ashen as she realized what I was getting at. “What about a memory spell?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, Rhea. I’m not going to leave her alone and orphaned with no recollections.”
“What happened to ‘humans are fragile’ and ‘it’s best to stay away’?”
I shrugged noncommittally. She was right. I had said both of those things in the past but, for some reason, I couldn’t walk away. It was hard to explain how I felt, but I needed this kid to have a good life. I couldn’t shake the memory of the resigned look on her face as she stared at her dead mother.
It was devastating, and I felt personally responsible for not stepping in to help her before it reached this point. I’d thought about killing her father before, about making sure he never came home to harm them again, but I’d told myself to mind my own business. It was my fault her mother was dead and she was alone.
“I want to raise her, Rhea. I want to make sure she’s happy and no one hurts her again, but to do that I need your help. If the elders find out, she’ll be killed.”
“I just got settled in New York,” she whined in a way not befitting a centuries old sorceress. I remained silent, my eyes locked on the sleeping child. Her dark curls fell across her face as she rolled in her sleep. She looked so peaceful, so innocent. I couldn’t be the one to snuff that out.
“You owe me,” Rhiannon said before walking over and snatching the glass from my hand. She shot it back, polishing off the remaining liquor in a single swallow before slamming the empty crystal back onto the cart.
“I’ll help you hide her, but only until she’s eighteen. Then she can decide if she wants to turn or not. Eighteen, not a day more, and then I’m out, deal?”
“Deal,” I agreed.
“Alright. Grab,” she paused. “What’s her name?”
Chagrin caused a blush to color my face. “I… uh… I don’t know.”
“Seriously?” She shrieked. “You’re risking both of our lives for a human child and you don’t even know her name?”
I smiled sheepishly. “I told you I tried to stay out of it. I don’t make it a habit to socialize with humans.”
It was true. I didn’t. I made sure to watch them, to study their culture so I could fit in when I was hunting, but I didn’t associate with them. It was just easier to blend in at a club and convince a man to come home with me than it was to snatch someone off of the street.
That was the largest flaw older vampires had—refusing to change. They clung to the way things were in their human years. I was smarter than that. I’d been turned in the seventeenth century but you didn’t see me running around wearing a manteau. Adapting made it easier to avoid detection.
Rhea shook her head at me. “You are a giant pain. You know that, right?”
A grin split my face. “And you’re amazing!”
She chuckled wryly, instructing me to pick up the sleeping child. “Why isn’t she waking up? Did you knock her out?”
“She’s a kid! Of course I didn't knock her out!” I exclaimed. “But, I may have used my power to make her sleep”
Rhea snorted out a laugh. “You’re breaking all sorts of vampy by-laws tonight. Naughty, naughty.”
I laughed and picked the child up as my friend began to work her magic—literally.
Items began to swirl around the room, loading themselves up in boxes she conjured. I ducked as a candelabra flew at me in an attempt to pack itself. The entire process lasted all of five minutes but, no matter how many times I saw it, it was impressive to watch.
If I had a choice, which I didn’t, I would have been a witch instead of a vampire. They didn’t have to worry about killing people, or outliving their loved ones. They chose when they aged and when they didn’t. They could even conjure whatever they wanted. So much cooler than sucking blood.
“Alright. Where to?” Rhea asked. I shrugged. Our destination hadn’t even crossed my mind.
Getting away from the Elders had been my only concern. New York City was where they were based. It was easy to find a meal in a city where so many lived and died each day, and the Elders took advantage of that. The fact that no one noticed when the homeless went missing, never to be seen again, worked in their favor. Even if someone did take notice, no one did anything about it. It was the perfect set up for them.
“Big city or little town?” She asked.
“Small town near a city. I need to be able to feed.”
“Alright. Hold on tight to the girl. If you drop her in the void... Well, let’s just say you won’t have to worry about the vamps coming after you.”
I clutched the child closer to my chest in a firm grasp. “I’m ready.”
Rhea’s eyes fluttered shut as she began to chant which was a sign that she was working some major magic. We’d been friends for nearly eighty years and I could count all the times she used verbal spells on one hand. Normally, it was as simple as a flick of the wrist for the sorceress. I didn’t comment on it for fear of distracting her.
Her hands gripped my shoulders tightly, the only warning she gave before we were sucked into the void. The air swirled around as if it were trying to pull the girl from my grasp while simultaneously trying to squeeze the life out of us. The push and pull of the void was nauseating. Colorful light swirled around us at dizzying speeds, shining so bright my eyes burned even behind closed lids.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, my feet met solid ground. I stumbled, nearly dropping the girl, before I righted myself.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Welcome to Granville, Illinois,” Rhea said before she began chanting once more.
I frowned, looking around the empty plot of land we’d arrived in. The area was deserted and even my vampiric sight couldn’t pick up any homes nearby. Concern for my ability to find food immediately nagged at my mind, but I decided to put some trust into my friend. She’d just uprooted her entire life to help take care of a human child just because I asked her to. I was going to take whatever she was willing to give.
