Safe Hex With a Vampire (6 page)

He paced around the small confines of his
cell for a while but he was still weak and hungry. So he finally
laid down on the uncomfortable cot, feeling like an idiot for
throwing away food when he was hungry. Then he tried to figure out
why he hadn’t drained the witch when he’d had his hands on her. He
knew why he hadn’t tried to drain Ivy. She was just too innocent,
and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Finally, he laid there and
tried to figure out why he was so aroused when Tempest was in the
room. He fell asleep to that thought and it certainly affected his
dreams. Well, that and the fact that he was starving. Among his
favorite dreams were the one where she was delivering a pizza to
him naked and the one where he was eating chocolate cake while she
gave him a blow job. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to eat
chocolate cake without that image playing through his mind
again.

After waking up hard, hungry, and moody a
few times he decided to give up on sleep. Without windows, he had
no idea what time it was. Unfortunately, other than brushing his
teeth there wasn’t a whole hell lot to do. He was so bored that
when the door at the top of the stairs opened, he practically
lunged at the bars of the cell to get closer to any activity.

Ivy smiled when she got to the bottom of the
stairs. “Good morning.” She was carrying a tray with his breakfast
on it.

“I’ll at least agree that it’s probably
morning,” he grumbled.

She balanced the tray in one hand and
unlocked the cell with the other. “A little help might be nice,”
she said cheerfully. “Hopefully, you won’t throw this one against
the wall. I don’t have time to clean up after you today.”

He took the tray from her and set it on his
cot. “I guess that I’d better help you or you might use some of
that voodoo stuff on me.” He sat down and started eating.

She came into the cell and sat beside him on
the cot. “Voodoo?” There was a great deal of amusement in her
voice.

“Whatever you call it,” he replied with a
mouthful of food. His tray had a ham, mushroom and cheese omelet,
fried red potatoes, a blueberry muffin, and a slice of cantaloupe.
It was heaven and he didn’t care about manners. He was
starving.

“I’m not sure one would call my talents
voodoo. I’m an empath with some minor telepathic abilities. I pick
up on the emotions of others really easily. I can only read
people’s thoughts if they project them. Tempest practiced it with
me when we were growing up. She would think of something and try to
send the thought to me. Now she can do it without too much effort.
It comes in handy when she wants to tell me something that she
doesn’t want anyone else to hear. When we were kids, we used it to
get our stories straight when we were in trouble. Sadly, it only
works when we’re close to each other and our parents quickly
learned to separate us right away.”

“So you two talk to each other with your
minds?” he asked. It seemed hard to believe, but after the last
couple of days it was much easier to accept.

“Sort of. Tempest has no telepathic
abilities. She not very empathic either. It’s funny because she’s
the most powerful woman in our family, but she doesn’t possess the
only two abilities that I have.”

Aiden stopped eating. There was so much to
learn from Ivy. He knew there were women with psychic abilities.
Those were the women his family could mate with. Ivy and Tempest’s
abilities went far beyond anything he’d ever seen.

Witches
, he thought.

“We are not witches!” Ivy said firmly.

Aiden looked shocked, and then offended. “I
thought you said you couldn’t read minds.”

“Except when the person projects the
thought,” she explained patiently. “You were without a doubt
projecting that thought. Actually, you project most of your
thoughts.”

He shrugged, not really sure what he did to
project his thoughts but aware that he needed to watch what he was
thinking around her.

“What about your men? Is Tempest more
powerful than them as well?” he asked and then felt a little
embarrassed at how sexist that sounded. “I really didn’t mean that
to come out sounding like men are always stronger than women. I
mean usually they are, but I suppose your sister proves that’s not
always true.” Now he was babbling like an idiot.

Ivy laughed and shook her head. “It might be
best if you stopped now before I have to get Tempest down here to
surgically remove your foot from your mouth. We don’t have male
children. Obviously, we need men to father our children but they
don’t usually have any special abilities.”

That was ironic and he chuckled.

“Why is that so funny?” she asked.

“My family only produces male children,” he
explained. “I wonder what would happen if one of my cousins took
one of your family members as a mate. Maybe I should fix you up
with one of them. Of course, I can only think of a couple of them
that aren’t total douche bags.”

Ivy looked uncomfortable. “Does Tempest know
about this male offspring thing? And do you really call the women
in your family ‘mates’? Seriously, that is kind of creepy.”

“Why would Tempest know that we only have
sons?” he asked.

She shrugged and avoided his gaze.

He decided to let it go. “Yes, we use the
term ‘mate’ to describe the women in our family. When I’m around
humans, I remember to say ‘wife’ but you aren’t human so I figured
it was okay. Are you ready to tell me what you are?”

She looked down at her watch, and then
quickly stood up. “I have to go. I’m late for an appointment.”

“Wait!” he called out as she moved to his
cell door. “Tell me why I’m here, Ivy. I’ve been in this cage long
enough. Tell me what it is you want and when you’re going to let me
go.”

She hesitated and shook her head. “It really
isn’t my place to tell you, Aiden. Tempest will be down here to
talk to you soon. She probably would have told you yesterday but
she was a little upset with you.”

“She mentioned wanting a daughter with me,
but that doesn’t make any sense. The witch hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you. I promise that she’ll
explain today. Things have been very hectic around here,” Ivy
explained. “She’s really not a bad person but she’s under a lot of
stress. Also, you throw her off balance. I’m sure you’ll like her
once you get to know her.”

“I like you, Ivy, but your sister is a
bitch.”

She gave him a knowing smile. “I’m an empath
so I am well aware of how you feel about my sister.”

“Enlighten me then,” he said as he waved his
fork in the air.

She locked the door to the cell first and
stepped back. That was when he knew he wasn’t going to like what
she said. “You like me, but in a protective sibling like way.
As for Tempest, you like her in a very different way.”

“Different how?” he asked cautiously.

“Well, it certainly isn’t platonic,” she
said with a sweet smile. “I think you find powerful women more than
a little attractive. You like making her mad. I think you like it a
lot. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re already looking forward to
arguing with her today.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it
and closed it again. Then stood up and walked closer to the bars.
Finally, he turned away from Ivy and cursed under his breath.

“I didn’t mean to make you angry,” she said,
reaching through the bars to put her hand on his arm.

“I’m not angry,” he insisted as he looked
over his shoulder at her. Then realized how stupid it was to argue
about his feelings with someone who’d just told him that she could
read them. “I’m not angry with you, is what I meant. I am
thoroughly pissed off at your sister,” he said and turned toward
her. “Well, mostly I’m mad at myself for wanting to pick a fight
with your sister so much.”

“Would it make you feel better if I told you
that I think Tempest likes you too?”

She was teasing him. He could tell by the
way she was smiling.

He shrugged but wouldn’t meet her eyes. The
truth was that it did make him feel better. “Who taught you and
your sister to do all of this psychic stuff?” he asked as he sat
down and started to pick at his breakfast again.

“No one taught us. We were just born this
way. My mother says that it’s better if you learn to use your
abilities on your own because everyone’s power is different.”

“So it’s genetic?” Just like us, he added
silently. “You’re entire family is born this way?”

She nodded. “Some are more powerful, like
Tempest, and some are weaker than me. It’s strange that you and I
share DNA but are still so different.”

“I don’t understand. We aren’t related.”
Then his eyes went wide with the realization. He suddenly
remembered Tempest telling him that they shared genetic anomalies
when he’d first spoken to her. His head injury is likely the reason
he’d forgotten that conversation until now. “You’re related to
Claudia. Is she your mother?” He sure hoped that wasn’t the case
because it would be more than a little disturbing to admit that
he’d been flirting with a close relative. He didn’t even want to
think about admitting to the dreams he’d had about Tempest if they
were closely related.

“The only Claudia in our family history died
more than three hundred years ago,” Ivy said.

“So she’s dead?” He cringed when he realized
how relieved he sounded.

Ivy’s obvious confusion reinforced what he
already suspected. These women wouldn’t live forever. It also made
him realize that Tempest hadn’t shared all of her findings about
him with Ivy.

“Sorry, that was a dumb question,” he said
quickly.

“It’s okay. Tell me about your Claudia,” she
said. “Maybe I have another cousin that I’ve never met.”

He shrugged. “I really don’t know anything
about her.” It was the truth. “Tell me about your ancestor. Maybe I
can figure out how we’re related.”

Suspicion clouded her eyes. “I know that
you’re fishing for information, and that you’re trying hard to fill
your mind with mundane thoughts so I won’t accidentally pick up on
anything,” she accused.

“Why should I share all of my secrets with
you and your sister when all you do is hide things from me?” he
asked.

“Fair enough,” she said with a nod. “Claudia
is the first woman listed on the family tree. According to the
family journals she was a healer. Her daughter, Romana, is the one
who started the journal. Claudia’s daughter described her as a
loving woman with a bit of a temper. She was involved with a
wealthy man who sent her away after he got her pregnant. Romana’s
journal says that Claudia never spoke ill of the man, but she
insisted that it would be dangerous to go back to him. I think
Romana was speculating about what had happened.”

“She named her daughter after him,” Aiden
said quietly, mostly to himself.

“After who?” Ivy asked. Then her eyes
widened. He must have projected his thoughts again. “I never knew
his name. It’s not in the journals. Claudia kept that information
to herself. She said it was safer that way. So we are related?”

Aiden nodded. “It would seem so, but I don’t
know how that’s even possible. It’s a pretty distant
relationship.”

She looked at her watch again. “I really do
have to go. I’m late as it is. Is there anything that would make
you more comfortable in here? I know this must be terrible for you,
but I can get you anything you’d like.”

“Television, books, or magazines would be
nice. Anything to keep me from being bored.”

“How about video games?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t really like them.”
Then a thought occurred to him. “I would like a sketchbook and some
pencils for drawing.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she assured him
and then started up the stairs.

Then it occurred to him that she’d admitted
she wasn’t as powerful as her sister. She had told him what she
could do. He could have drained her energy and been on his way. No,
he’d been right before; he would have felt too guilty doing
something like that to Ivy.

She laughed from the top of the stairs. “If
it makes you feel any better, you project your thoughts so well
that I would have known what you were planning before you tried
anything.”

“Some predator I am,” he grumbled.

I smiled down at her. She was lovely and
delicate. Her calloused hands really were the only sign that she
had worked hard her entire life. “I’m glad you’re here.” I said
simply, and began to walk with her at my side.

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

Tempest was in a foul mood when she finally
went downstairs to have her talk with Aiden. It had been a very
difficult day. The police had informed her that there was another
victim. She had failed to protect another woman. This attack had
occurred only three days after the last one. For some reason the
attacks were becoming more sporadic and closer together.

The guy was also becoming less particular
about his victims. They still had similar features but this one had
been blonde. His preference was normally dark hair, usually black.
While he had killed the first few victims, after that point it was
rare. In the last month, he had killed two women. She needed to
stop him soon.

The police had been unable to find any
leads. They sent out extra patrol cars in the areas where the
attacks were occurring and he changed locations. The guy usually
struck in broad daylight so it shouldn’t have been this hard to
catch him. The few witnesses they had to the abductions said that
the women appeared to leave willingly. They said it looked like
they were walking away with their boyfriend. The descriptions they
got were conflicting. His hair and eyes were always covered.

Since she was such a close match to his
victim profile, Tempest had decided that it would be easier to let
him find her. This was not a detail that they had shared with any
of their law enforcement contacts. Of course, the police hadn’t
exactly meant to share all of the details they had. It helped to
have a telepathic sister in a room full of police officers who
projected their thoughts well. Ivy was also able to see images from
the attacks when she was with the survivors. Tempest often wondered
how Ivy managed to avoid needing therapy herself.