My eyes narrowed when I realised who I was facing. I probably should have found the time to at least flick through one of those vampire books.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Aubrey?”

His blood red eyes stared at me, unblinkingly, and he laughed without humour. “I’m looking for a pet. I thought maybe a hamster would do.”

I tightened my grip on the dagger, judging where it would be best to throw it. As a vampire I knew I would find it nigh on impossible to kill the prick, short of staking him or ripping his head off, but I was confident I’d be able to do him some damage at the very least. Sure, I’d ripped off Tryyl’s head when I’d been in dragon form, but that was a route I wasn’t prepared to go down unless I really had to. Not that I was even convinced that I’d be able to shift at will; I hadn’t ever tried. Still, without looking, I was happily aware that my familiar green fire had already sparked up at my fingertips. Maybe I could barbecue the bastard.

I kept talking, trying to distract him. “You know I’m not actually a werehamster, right?”

“No shit,” Aubrey drawled, without a trace of tension in his voice. “Even if I hadn’t already whetted my lips on a drop of your blood, the fact that you’ve had the beasts, the wizards and the faeries watching you would suggest that there’s more to you than meets the eye.” He bared his teeth. “I knew if I was patient enough they’d eventually disappear though.’

I decided that I could probably aim the dagger straight at his jugular. That would incapacitate him long enough for me to then light him up with fire.

“So that’s what this is about? You want a drink?”

He ran his tongue around the edge of his very sharp and very white teeth. “I’ve been able to think of little else since that morsel I had of you back in February. Now I’m going to have a lot more.”

The obvious hunger in his low voice sent a shiver down my spine. I’d have to kill him now. What a shame.

I opened my mouth as if to retort further, then let the dagger fly, too quickly for him to react. Unfortunately, with my senses dulled as they were by the overdose of TemperSoothe, my aim was off by just a fraction. It was enough though to miss his throat entirely. I flicked my wrist instead, in order to send out a stream of lethal flame towards him, and then watched, my stomach dropping, as the fire fizzled out in a cloud of smoke. Oh shit. A wave of lightheadedness spun through me and, for one single heartbeat, I stared at Aubrey while he stared at me. Then I spun round and ran.

When I wanted to, I could sprint as fast as any human. I knew that the bloodsucker would be faster than me eventually though, so I’d just have to reach the safety of the village before he caught up. My heart was pounding in my mouth and adrenaline was burning through my system. I’d just have to hope that it burnt through the lingering traces of the skullcap pretty fucking quickly too. There were few trees around now – not that either they or the dryads would be much use against the might of Aubrey. I was on my own. Long grass whipped against my calves as I forced myself to go full pelt. The lights of the Vale of Heath flickered into view and I put my head down and gave it everything I had, faint relief sinking through me at the impending safety that the potential human witnesses could offer. It might be the dead of night but it was just possible that someone was awake. Even Aubrey in his current mode of absolute predator wouldn’t risk being seen by someone.

The letters on the sign proclaiming the village entrance became visible just as I heard a whooshing sound right behind me and Aubrey careened into my back, knocking me painfully to the ground. The breath was slammed out of my lungs and, just when I was about to twist and find some way to defend myself properly, sharp pain lanced through my neck as he sank his teeth in. I struggled against him, but it was all in vain as the dizziness in my head increased and nausea rose up in my stomach. I kicked out and tried to yell, but it was too late and my cry was swallowed up. With nothing else left to try, I opened up the Voice connection in my head, managing to force out Corrigan’s name. My vision, however, was already dimming around the edges, and I faded away into an ever spiralling darkness.

Chapter Seven

When I woke up, I knew without opening my eyes that I was where I shouldn’t be. There was a lingering smell of familiar spicy citrus in the air, not strong enough that its owner was present, but enough of it to suggest that he’d definitely been in the vicinity. My neck, at the spot where Aubrey’s teeth had latched on, throbbed dully. It was a good sign; it meant I was still alive. Oddly, I felt more embarrassed than annoyed that I’d allowed the red-eyed wanker to get the better of me. Still, it just added one more tally to the list of my grievances against the bloodsuckers. I’d make sure that eventually Aubrey in particular paid back tenfold what he’d dolled out. Right now, however, I had other priorities.

I slowly lifted up one eyelid and took a peek, just to be sure. I was in a huge bed, smothered by a soft duvet, and in the centre of a large mahogany panelled room. I’d been here before. I pushed myself up onto my elbows to get a better look and confirm my suspicions. Fuck it. I was in Corrigan’s own bedroom. No doubt he’d be off gloating somewhere at the fact that he’d had to come galloping in and rescue me from the clutches of the evil vampire. I’d never live it down. Scowling, I sat up properly, then looked down at myself. Bloody hell. I was wearing some kind of frothy pink lace concoction that was as far removed from the muted plain t-shirt I’d had on when I’d originally left home as it was possible to get. My eyes narrowed. Had he undressed me?

I heard the muffled sound of voices from the other side of the door, and the clink of some china. Standing up quickly, and wrapping myself in the duvet like a giant marshmallow, I prepared to tell him exactly what I thought of him. Saving my sorry skin did not give him carte blanche to take off my fucking clothes.

I opened my mouth to tell him in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought, then snapped it shut again when I realised who it actually was bustling into the room.

“Hey, Mack.”

I beamed at Betsy, letting the duvet drop, and rushed over for a hug, mindful of the tray she was carrying.

“I’m so happy to see you, Bets,” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe you and Tom have finally gotten around to setting a date.”

She blushed slightly and grinned at me. “I know! Can you believe it? I told him that having the ceremony in Cornwall would be a bad idea but he insisted. He wants Julia to be able to be there without being made to travel. And it’ll be lovely to be back at the old place again.” She grimaced for a moment. “I just wish it meant that we didn’t have to invite Anton too.”

I dismissed that and smiled at her. For a moment we both stood there like idiots, grinning at each other with the unspoken memories of times gone by. Although I’d always been closer to Tom, Betsy and I had been friends for a long time. In fact, she’d been the first person who I’d ever told about my bloodfire. The best friends are the ones who you can be away from for months or even years, but then when you meet up again it’s like you just saw them that morning.

She nodded towards my neck. “What the hell happened anyway? Lord Corrigan had the whole keep up at three o’clock in the morning out hunting for you. It wasn’t until the mages got some kind of tracking spell out that we found you.” She frowned at me. “How many of the bloodsuckers were there?”

I coughed. It wouldn’t do my badass reputation much good if I told her there had just been one. “Er, forget about that and tell me how the fuck I ended up wearing this thing?”

Betsy glanced down at my frilly night dress and giggled. “Suits you. Pink is really your colour.”

“Fuck off.”

She laughed again, and put down the tray on the edge of the bed. “It belongs to one of the shifters who’s here from time to time.”

Would that be a dark-haired shifter who enjoyed the company of Corrigan from time to time too? I thought about asking Betsy but, given her proclivity for gossip, decided it might not be such a good idea if I wanted to keep my pointless jealousy to myself.

Fortunately she didn’t seem to notice my inner turmoil and gestured down at the food instead. “Here, you should eat something. I got you some good coffee too.”

My stomach growled, and I grabbed a roll and started nibbling away at the edges. “It’s great to see you, Betsy, it really is, but I need to get my clothes and get out of here. I’ve got a hundred and one things to do.”

Betsy stared at me. “You can’t go.”

I stopped chewing. “Oh yes I can.”

“Mack, Lord Corrigan gave strict instructions that you were to be kept under guard at all times. He was all for storming straight round to the vamps in fact, but this old wizard guy convinced him that it would be better to wait till you came round to find out what actually happened and who it was.”

I figured that the ‘old wizard guy’ was the Arch-mage. Brilliant. As if I wasn’t being pestered enough by the lot of them already.

“So where is his Lord Furriness now then?”

“He stayed with you until it was clear that you were going to be alright then he left to go up north.” She wrinkled her nose. “There’s been a lot of bother with a group of rogues recently. He’s gone to try and sort it out.”

Score one to me. It would be a hell of a lot easier to get out of here if Corrigan wasn’t hanging around.

“And the Arch-mage?”

Betsy looked confused.

“The old wizard guy?”

Her expression cleared. “Oh, him. I think he’s downstairs talking to Staines.”

I chewed my tongue and thought for a minute, then looked over at my old friend. I hated to do this, but I didn’t have much choice. I really did have things to do. “You know, Betsy, you’re right. I should stay. In fact, I’m actually starting to feel a bit ill again. Maybe I should lie down for a few more hours.”

She looked worried, which made me hate myself. “Are you okay? Should I go and get someone to have a look at you?”