“Betrothed not married. My father hadn’t permitted even a blood bond before I travelled, allowing me to keep Vic by my side for protection. The match was only to satisfy my mother’s request. She comes from the Western Water clan, too. They wanted to introduce fire to the bloodlines to strengthen their ties to the king. A princess was an unheard of gift for them, but my father always indulged my mother’s requests. She gave him twins and his last-born children,” Victoria said, obliging Jill’s curiosity.
Victoria made it sound like she was a piece of merchandise to buy and sell, like the chalk they were trying to purchase.
What kind of relationship did she have with her parents?
The king had plenty of children. Most Maerenian nobles did, due to the harem system.
Did they really treat their excess progeny like objects to trade for a favour?
The seller came out, pulling Elizabeth from her private thoughts. She could smell old tobacco and sweat, before she saw him.
He carried a parcel wrapped in gold-coloured cloth. It was at least as long as a school ruler and three fingers thick. It looked like he was carrying a gold brick in his hands.
More tobacco flew towards the tureen.
He named an outrageous price.
Elizabeth put her hand over Victoria’s own, covering the coins, and shook her head.
They didn’t have enough marks.
“You can’t afford that chalk,” Geer slyly picked up.
Or maybe he was just trying to discourage them. It might be very useful indeed.
Victoria eyed the spotless cloth wrapping the chalk like it was a lifeline.
“That chalk is the only thing he keeps clean in this whole stall. It’s worth it. We need stronger chalk to reinforce the protective glyphs, especially with your claim’s interference,” Victoria insisted.
Elizabeth let the few coins they had left chink together in Victoria’s pocket, brushing against their slight weight with her knee.
The seller’s eyes lit up as his keen ears picked up the sound of money.
Elizabeth pointed to the table. She wanted to see the goods.
The box he unwrapped was also gold-coloured. Inside was a single, thick piece of chalk and a silver holder, bundled into the velvet lined interior. It was displayed to them like a piece of fine jewelry.
Elizabeth reached a hand out to touch the chalk, but the seller snatched the box back out of reach.
“No touching. This, here, is virgin chalk hand-milled under a moonless night by young witches that haven’t bled yet. You can’t be contaminating it,” the seller said.
He had just told them it was produced by child labour.
How was that a selling point?
“He has to be joking. Look at how filthy he is,” Jill said, dismissing the chalk and the seller together.
Her sister was practical. She knew they couldn’t afford the chalk.
“It’s superstition. Buy it!” Victoria still insisted, not dissuaded by price.
“It’s a cheap fake. Don’t waste your marks,” Geer suggested with a sneering tone.
Oh, that was it.
He couldn’t have convinced her to buy the chalk by begging her, but this sour attitude had her intrigued.
Victoria took her hand off of the coins. She scooped what was left from her pocket and put it on the table as well. Then, she pulled the pocket inside-out to prove she wasn’t hiding any more money.
“That’s not the price,” the seller said closing up the box, but his eyes greedily focused on the coins.
There was still a decent sum sitting on the table.
Victoria pushed the pile of marks closer to him.
“You need to pay more. I’m not running a charity here,” the seller insisted.
Elizabeth reached to take back the coins.
“Wait,” the seller said.
Elizabeth let her hand hover over the coins.
“Mute witches like you probably aren’t worth the gold they’d pay for your blood, but you have to have some magic, to be wanting chalk like this,” the seller said, looking them all over like pigs for slaughter.
“I forbid you to sell your blood!” Geer shouted.
He spoke as the dizzying height he was flying at dropped. He was rapidly explaining the situation to someone else. It had to be Victoria’s dragon.
Didn’t Geer realize forbidding her to do something was waving a red flag?
He didn’t want her to get her hands on that chalk. It seemed to be worth its weight in gold, or more accurately, witch blood.
“No way. Mom would never allow this,” Jill said, nervously.
“Why not? We all know I need a vampire or two to take a drink, if I want to get this tattoo off my shoulder. This guy’s offering to pay me for the privilege,” Elizabeth argued back.
“Don’t you remember what Kim said about taking the chance of awakening Daemon’s familiar if you trigger his claim?” Victoria countered, but she still gazed longingly at the chalk.
“You’re the one that told me that a claimed witch could feed another vampire if she wanted it. I desperately need this ink gone,” Elizabeth said.
“Think of something else while he bites, if you insist,” Jill suggested, realizing Elizabeth was determined to do this.
Elizabeth pointed to herself in front of the seller. The chalk was for her, so she could be the one to pay the price.
She lifted the coins they had originally offered to pay for the chalk so they floated in the air with her magic. She shot them forth, with a targeted gust, that hammered them a quarter inch into the wooden post, by the seller’s head.
He flinched.
“Temper, temper, oh, wicked witch,” Jill commented.
“As I said, you could totally hire out for protection work. Forget this back alley blood donation and let’s find some more respectable action,” Victoria tempted her.
“Another poor witch donating blood to a desperate vampire isn’t going to be talked about tomorrow,” Jill added, leaping onto this new idea.
“A witch offering protective detail will be remarked on when most private guards are males. Only demons are given female handlers, and even they have male guards to back them up,” Elizabeth said, knowing she had to follow through, now she had made the offer to the seller.
They could risk his anger by reengaging on a deal. This was the closest place for them to shop for supplies and all of the stall owners gossiped.
The seller tried to pluck the coins out of the post, but they were wedged. He looked back over to Elizabeth with a bit more respect and wariness.
“I’ll get the thirsty vampire and see if we can come to terms for an air witch,” the seller said, ducking back through the curtains.
Did he just keep hungry vampires back there, with the rest of his merchandise?
Geer had landed, while they had debated the deal. He was staring at his shifted friend.
It had to be the big grey, although he had his back turned to her.
The other shifter was speaking low to Geer, something about changing direction.
She quickly tried to see around the shifter to the periphery of Geer’s sight, in order to try to figure out where the dragons had landed.
Were they attempting to track Victoria and Elizabeth already?
It had only been a few hours since the failed spell and attempt to dream trace Victoria.
They should have needed time to recover from such big magic, even if it hadn’t worked.
Besides, the witches coming over to Maeren had been spontaneous. No way they could have expected or planned for it.
What disturbed her now was the idea that Geer may have sensed when she crossed realms.
Perhaps he really could track her easier here.
Big grey changed again, right before her eyes—well, Geer’s eyes, technically.
Geer clambered up on top of the huge dragon.
That must be why he could talk to her while it looked like he was flying. He was riding a dragon.
The other dragon had to shift to speak to Geer. They had landed to facilitate their communication. Geer had been able to talk to him dragon form, but the other dragon hadn’t been able to respond until he landed and shifted.
Something else about the situation niggled. Elizabeth wondered, again, if there was something wrong with Geer.
Why would he choose to fly on his friend, instead of beside him?
“Are you sure about this?” Jill asked, interrupting Elizabeth’s focus on Geer’s vision of the climbing horizon again as his friend took flight.
“Yes,” Elizabeth answered.
She didn’t like the thought of the dragon shifters tracking them down. They needed better protections. Glyphs that would even block the dragons from sensing her when she crossed over to Maeren.
Although blood deals were technically outlawed, they were common enough, especially at the edge.
She had heard of the occasional vampire down on his luck and desperate for blood. Usually after doing something stupid to waste their power away, like a duel or a drug addiction that would tank their health and blood, just as it did in humans.
Blood was the ultimate feel better medicine for their kind. Many a vampire in desperate straits had been known to buy a pint off a witch to get out of a rut.
“As long as I can do it without triggering the claim,” Elizabeth said, still nervous about that risk.
She wasn’t ready to face Daemon or his familiar.
It was too late for second thoughts, but as she anxiously waited for the seller to return with the third-party buyer, it also was difficult to not question her decision.
They could run out. It wasn’t as if the seller could chase after them, hounding her for her blood.
“As long as it’s just a nip at the wrist and you have enough pain tolerance, it should be fine. I doubt a vampire that has to buy his blood knows how to prime a witch or dull his bite,” Victoria commented.
Elizabeth could handle pain. Slayer training had resulted in accidental injuries plenty of times while she’d been learning to fight without relying on her magic.
Pain was part of learning.
The seller returned to the front, a sickly looking vampire trailing behind him.
Jill seemed concerned for the vampire when she saw his emaciated frame and pale skin. The healer in her was unable to ignore any signs of illness.
He was dressed in secondhand clothes, as evidenced by their baggy fit. Blond hair was too long and greasy, hiding his eyes, except for quick flashes of brown as he darted his gaze hungrily to assess each of the three witches waiting.
“Absolutely not, sparks!” Geer yelled at her, although the wind from his flight muffled it.
“I’m not sure it’s safe. I don’t care what kind of antimicrobial like stuff is in vampire saliva. Feed that one and you might lose your whole arm to gangrene,” Jill commented with a gagging sound in her thoughts.
“Something is seriously wrong with him, Liz,” Victoria agreed.
They were worrying over the details. All Elizabeth saw was a weak vampire. She could overpower him on her own, if he gave her trouble.
“He’s starving and needs a bath. Think of it like a lost, hungry, and dirty puppy,” Elizabeth encouraged.
She could do this.
She pointed to the chalk in the seller’s hands, demanding her price and prize first.
Her sister had fed two hungry princes to help their family. Only God and their mother knew what else Jill had done to get them out of the castle safely.
Elizabeth could manage to feed one vampire, no matter how revolting she found his appearance.
“I know you aren’t deaf or mute, but if you persist on ignoring me and let this guttersnipe of a male at your wrist, I will find him and I will end him,” Geer warned her, growling.
The vampire quickly reached into his threadbare pocket and pulled out a rich purse.
It hit the table with a thump.
Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the fine silk sack, bulging with coins. It looked like something he’d pickpocketed from one of the nobles.
Her black market chalk was going to be paid off with a back alley deal, sealed with stolen coins.
Okay, she was having second thoughts.
Geer’s threat had sounded cold and steely. He never took that tone with her.
She’d bet that Daemon would have sounded exactly the same. A little spanking wouldn’t be the only punishment he’d give her, either, if he caught her breaking the king’s laws.
He was the dark enforcer, after all.
She wasn’t going to be caught.
How could Geer find one vampire, in all of Maeren, without anything to trace?
Geer couldn’t even find her! It was an idle threat because Geer was powerless at the moment. He was an opinionated asshole, who she mostly beat at every turn.
This was an opportunity to prove to Geer that she wouldn’t let him dictate to her.
It was also her chance to prove Daemon’s claim had its limits. Her life would not be dictated by these mates!
Victoria grabbed the purse before the greedy seller got his grimy fingers on it. She counted out the coins remaining in the outrageous price the seller had demanded to hand over, and not a mark more, pocketing the rest of the heavy purse that was more than half full.
Jill held her hand out for the precious chalk.
With reluctance, the seller handed it over, glancing at Victoria’s dress for the bulge that the pocketed purse made as he realized he should have asked a higher price.
“Sparks, you are going to learn not to test me,” Geer said in one last attempt to dissuade her.
Instead of a threat this time, it almost sounded like a plea. Geer didn’t want to show her his ugly side.
She almost changed her mind, if it wasn’t for the quick, lustful glance Victoria shot the chalk in Jill’s hands.
They needed this power to keep their family and her blood bonded Lasier safe. This was a price Elizabeth was willing to pay.
The vampire eagerly came forward. Her time to decide was over.
Elizabeth dutifully proffered her wrist to the sickly vampire.
His grip was surprisingly strong, like iron, and just as cold. His fingers dug into her soft skin as he yanked her closer to bite—
“Stop!” the seller hissed at them, horrified.
The vampire ignored him, sinking his fangs into her wrist.
Hot needles of pain shocked Elizabeth.
Witches were crazy to fantasize over the bite of different vampires like kisses. This was as pleasurable as getting a bikini wax.
Hopefully, her skin would numb to the pain soon.
The vampire’s fangs were ripped out of her a moment later, which was only marginally less painful than when they pierced her skin.
“You can’t feed here,” the seller said, giving the vampire a shove as he separated them. “I have a business to run. I can’t have you bringing the law here, with that kind of behaviour,” he complained, like he hadn’t been the one to suggest the illegal exchange.
Her wrist was bleeding profusely, blood getting all over the stall floor. It still hurt, even without the vampire’s fangs sunk into her flesh.
This was going to be decidedly unpleasant, much more than she’d anticipated.
How much worse was made clear when another voice entered her mind.
“Where are you?” Daemon demanded.
Voices in my Head
Daemon’s thoughts in Elizabeth’s mind pulled her out of her shock from being bit so ruthlessly.
The claim must have joined her to her other mate when the vampire hurt her, despite her being willing to feed him.
She had been warned.
Throwing up every mental barrier she had to keep out Daemon’s thoughts, she debated running, as Kim had suggested.
Stupid risk to take for chalk, but how was she to know the male the seller had to feed on her would be the equivalent of a vampire shark?
&nb
sp; Her claim felt quiescent, cool and undisturbed on her shoulder. Daemon never should have felt it.
“Who was that, sparks?” Geer asked.
Geer wasn’t blocked by her lightning shields. His connection was different, along this mate bond thing.
How had he even heard Daemon? Her telepathy and thoughts should be separate from the mate bond.
Suddenly, she questioned everything she thought she had learned about her unwanted dragon mate.
Would Geer have been reading her thoughts and kept quiet about it all this time?
“Liz, are you okay?” Victoria asked, her tone quite worried.
Blood continued to pour out of Elizabeth’s wrist as she looked down. She was chewed upon, bleeding so much worse than a simple, clean bite would have done.
Even the seller noticed the rich scent of her blood in the air, his fangs starting to protrude.
Jill grabbed her wrist and wrapped the gold cloth that had been covering the chalk box around it, like a bandage. She secretly used earth to heal the bite underneath the fake dressing.
“No wonder he had to pay for it,” Jill said in disgust.
“He’s just hungry. I’m sure now that he’s taken the edge off of his appetite, he’ll be a gentleman when he takes the rest of the payment,” the seller said, switching his anxious tone for a more soothing one.
He didn’t want to give the money back. The coins the vampire paid were for much more than he’d gotten so far.
The vampire growled, almost under his breath, a quiet, rumbling warning that made the hairs stand up on the back of Elizabeth’s neck.
He was the most uncivilized male she’d come across so far in Maeren, and she highly doubted the second bite would be better than the first, but a bargain had been struck.
“Come with me,” the vampire demanded.
He walked around the seller’s table to grab Elizabeth, thoughtlessly yanking her by her bandaged wrist behind him.
She dropped her lightning shield on her thoughts, startled.
Luckily, Daemon didn’t pounce on her.
Geer did.
“You will not take your eyes off of him. I want you to follow my directions and attack when I order. This is just another vampire for you to slay,” Geer counselled her, suddenly calm, although just as bossy as usual.
No Witch Way Out (Maeren Series Book 2) Page 13
