Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
He nodded, lifting his mug again. “Take it easy. Your magic seems to have grown a bit today, and it will take some time for you to get the hang of it. Don’t overdo it, or you might end up ill and drunk again.”
I made a face. “Couldn’t we have found a better descriptor?”
“Why? I think it works just fine.”
“Good night, Uncle.” I waved and made my escape up the stairs.
Entering my room, I fell face-first onto my bed, and the moment I did, I realized how hungry I was, but I didn’t want to go back down and face him.
I lifted my head from the sheets, and with a wave of my hand, I used my magic to open my bedside drawer and float a king-size Snickers bar toward me. Dropping it in my palm, I rolled over and unwrapped it, then took a bite as I stared up at my ceiling. The longer I stared and chewed, the more I thought about the one good thing that had come out of today…
Theseus.
That name.
Talking to him in general.
What had he meant when he said that I had saved him first. When?
Since when had he started watching me exactly?
What was his reason?
Why did he simply watch from the shadows even when he knew I was hunting his own kind down?
I had no answers.
But I did have a name, and that was a start.
I have to meet him again, talk to him again. But how?
* * *
The how came to me in the form of blood. How to get that blood, even if it was my own, was not as easy as I thought it would be. It was not as if I could go to a blood drive and ask them to give me back the blood. So, problem one—how to get the blood. My solution, I figured I’d…well, I’d do it myself, on myself. I bought a blood drawing kit from the medical supply store for less than twelve dollars and also got myself a box of orange juice and a protein bar, gloves, and napkins.
Problem two—finding a place to do this where I didn’t get caught. My solution was to use magic to cloak myself, so the rest of my circle couldn’t trace me, and go to the one place a little blood was never really out of place or where people seemed to do stupid things—the forest, of course.
Problem three—finding a freaking vein in my bloody arm!
“Ouch!” I winced, pricking my arm for what had to be the ninth time. I hated needles, so I tried not to look, but of course, I needed to look! I knew it was stupid, but I kept going anyway! “Ouch! Dammit,” I snapped, ready to toss the whole thing. Couldn’t I use magic for this or something! “Come on, Druella, you can do this. Just look at the vein.”
I focused on the one untouched vein I had left in that arm and watched intently as the tiny needle went toward my brown skin, but just before it pierced the top, I looked away like an idiot, and—“Ouch! Screw it!” I cried, tossing the damn thing and grabbing my orange juice.
I’d just stuck the straw in the juice box when I felt him.
I turned to my left, and there he stood at the fallen, moss-covered log wearing a black V-neck shirt, jacket, and dark pants. The sun shone over his head as if he’d come from some magical realm beyond here. His gray eyes shifted first from my face to my blood and tender arm, to my disregarded blood bag beside me before returning to my face, and the look of utter anger made me want to sink into the earth and never come out. In a blink of an eye, he was beside me, reaching to pick up the bag. Because my brain had gone on holiday, I believed for a split second that I could beat him to pick it up—that was an absolute fail, just like this whole idea. When he picked it up, I looked down the opposite row of trees, brushing my hair off my face with my good arm.
“Tell me there is a logical reason why you are trying to draw blood on yourself in the forest?” His stern voice came from behind me.
I sucked on my straw, feeling superbly moronic. What the heck was the matter with me? Why was I even thinking about how stupid this was now? What happened to all my rational thought before buying the bag? It was like I had on blinders and was running full steam ahead. At the moment, it had felt smart. Hey, he’s a vampire. He drinks blood. You have blood. We could have a lunch date.
Druella, smack yourself.
“How could you do something so foolish?” he snapped at me. “Your smell is already dangerously intoxicating! Are you mad? Sure, you must know even a few drops of blood from you can attract surrounding vampires!”