Safe Hex With a Vampire

by Cassandra Lawson

Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “How did you find us?” I wanted to know who I needed to kill. I was pretty sure I knew the answer already, but I needed confirmation.

  “Alessandro Sorrenti came to me,” he responded with a laugh. “The fool offered to lead me to Claudia if I let him have Sofia.”

  “So, he and Sofia made a deal with you?” I asked, not at all surprised.

  “Sofia isn’t foolish enough to make such a deal, and she won’t be happy Alessandro tried.” His eyes took on a look of twisted anticipation. “Sofia will wish she’d never been born when I get my hands on her.”

  Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

  Tempest’s head was pounding, and her eyelids were heavy. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious, but her mouth was dry and her tongue was thick and heavy. For a moment, she almost smiled, thinking Aiden had kidnapped her again. That happy thought didn’t last long. Her foggy brain took in the room slowly. It looked like a warehouse. Her arms were secured using the same restraints they would use in hospitals. In fact, she was in a hospital bed. Her weakness wasn’t caused by Aiden this time. There was an IV hooked up to her arm. She was drugged. When she tried to reach out her mind to release the restraints, the energy around her wouldn’t obey.

  “You’re finally awake!”

  “Brian?” Her voice came out slurred. She looked up and there he was. The man she’d once believed she was in love with. A shiver ran through her body as fear took hold of her. There wasn’t much Tempest feared, but she was suddenly very afraid.

  Brian laughed when he saw her tremor. Reaching down, he stroked her cheek tenderly, like a lover. The surgical gloves made the act seem creepy. “I’ve missed you more than you can imagine, Tempest.”

  Tempest moved her head as far from his hand as she could, but it was useless. It was hard to avoid someone while tied to a hospital bed.

  He laughed at her attempts to avoid his touch. “Don’t try to fight me, sweetheart. Those drugs are enough to incapacitate even you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Her tongue was so heavy, it was hard to get the words out.

  He laughed again. There was something twisted and unnatural about him now, but she was guessing he’d always been that way. At one time, she’d found him extremely handsome. Now, it seemed his mask of humanity had completely faded. What stood before her was some twisted creature who enjoyed his power over her.

  He still had carelessly tousled golden hair. She knew from living with him, his carefree look took nearly twenty minutes and several styling products to achieve. His eyes were still the same sparkling shade of green that had once made her heart quicken. He still had the same almost angelic features, even if small lines had started to form around his eyes. He was no longer quite as fit, but she was sure he would still be described as a beautiful man to those who missed the sinister gleam in his eyes.

  “Beautiful,” she murmured to herself. “Oh my God! It was you.” Her sudden adrenaline rush seemed to push some of the drugs out of her system.

  “Can’t have you recovering too much,” he told her as he pulled out a syringe and injected something into her IV line.

  The added drugs were hitting her fast. “You killed them,” she accused.

  “I had to keep myself distracted until I could get my hands on you again,” he explained as if he were discussing the weather. “It wasn’t easy to get to you. They were good practice. At first, I’d planned to let you go. I figured if I looked for women who resembled you, I might find a relative. In the end, the others were never enough.” His lips curled into a sadistic smile. “Well, not completely useless. I enjoyed pretending they were you. I enjoyed it so much, I realized a relative of yours would never work. It had to be you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked, fighting to stay awake.

  “For the same reason I dated you,” he replied as he trailed his fingers down her body. His hand cupped her breast, and she fought the urge to try to squirm away. She would not add to his pleasure by giving him the reaction he wanted. “I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re not human. I saw you move something with your mind.”

  Tempest tried hard to remember when she could have been so careless. She rarely did anything that would reveal her hidden abilities. He’d asked her out the first time shortly before they’d started medical school. Then it came to her. “The anatomy lab. You were spying on me in the anatomy lab.”

  “Smart girl,” he murmured. “You were quite the diligent teacher’s assistant, staying late to clean up the lab. I was watching you. I liked the idea of watching you in an empty building, knowing I could have cornered you when you left.” His voice was becoming raspy with arousal. “I saw you look across the room at the one tray of tools you’d left behind. You looked at them, and they floated across the room to you. I didn’t have time to discover what you are before that whore came between us. This time, no one can come between us. I have every intention of finding out all your secrets, even if I have to slice open that sexy body of yours.”

  Tempest gasped.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll probably make sure you’re asleep if it comes to that. At one time, I’d hoped to see if you could breed with a human.” He intentionally brushed his erection against her hand. “That’s still tempting. When was the last time you had a man, Tempest?”

  She smiled sweetly at him, knowing she was about to piss him off. “Are you offering to get a man for me, Brian? Because all I see in this room is a little bitch who can’t get laid unless he has a woman drugged and tied up.” Her voice still sounded slurred, but she was proud of herself for making each word coherent.

  Tempest wasn’t surprised when the back of his hand made contact with her cheek. Having never been hit by a man before that day, it was surprising how much it hurt. Tears burned the backs of her eyes.

  He pointed to the IV in her arm. “That’s keeping a constant stream of the tranquilizer going into your arm. I gave you an extra sedative. No one is ever going to find you, and you are completely powerless.” He jabbed a needle roughly into her vein to draw blood. After he filled five vials, he smiled viciously. “I’ll be back soon so we can finish getting reacquainted.” He was just about to leave when he turned and pulled a scalpel off the table. He used it to cut her shirt down the front, exposing her bra. “Much better,” he murmured as he stared at her. “Oh, yeah, we are definitely going to see if you can breed with a human. I can’t wait to have you spread those legs for me again. This time I won’t have to be gentle with you.” On those words he walked out of the room.

  He wanted her frightened, and she was. She had to find a way to escape or she was as good as dead. If she couldn’t find a way to escape, she was going to have to make him mad enough to kill her.

  Tempest reached out her mind, hoping she still had the strength. She called out to the one person who could find her no matter where she was. She still wasn’t sure how she’d been able to communicate with him during the ceremony, but when she reached out her mind, she found the path to his immediately.

  Aiden! Help me! Please, I really need you.