“You are very much alive my dear,” Ms. Ozland said. My hand went to my heart as relief washed all over me.

“What happened?” I didn’t know why I was so shocked, I mean I was warned that it would be painful, but I expected maybe a stomach ache or a headache. I hadn’t expected it would feel like I was being burned from the inside out. The only evidence that I’d just been tortured by magic was the thin layer of sweat that lined my forehead and the rats’ nest that sat atop my head. I conjured a rubber band and ran my fingers through the knots; then drew it back into a ponytail.

“Your magic was in a foreign place, a dark place so to speak. Magic is from nature, the energy that makes up everything, you see. It’s not natural for it to settle into something so dark, such as vampire. We all know that the vampire virus is the devil’s work, whereas magic is Mother Nature’s. The dark and light cannot coexist together harmoniously. When you accepted the magic back into you, it was angry and had to reconnect within yourself,” Ms. Ozland explained. In the grand scheme of things, it made sense, but to think of my magic as something capable of having feelings, such as being angry, was tough to swallow. It made it seem like I was possessed by my magic.

“Is he cured?” I asked, nodding towards Aiden. He had been unusually quiet since I came out of my torture. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and looking down at his feet with ire burning in his eyes.

“You took your magic away from him which I suspect was the strongest he’s had?” She asked and I nodded my head. “The rest of the magic is weak and will be out of his system by tomorrow night. He’ll have to feed on regular blood tonight and tomorrow but should be fine afterwards.” I shot him a look to get his approval but he wouldn’t look at me. I sent him a glare that went unnoticed and then glanced back at Ms. Ozland.

“Thank you for helping us and I’m sorry we bothered you so late. I’ll be happy to pay you for your time.” She waved off my attempts at paying her and ushered us to the door. Aiden pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and placed it on the coffee table and then walked out the door. Ms. Ozland looked at the cash and then up at me. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled and then followed Aiden outside. Before Ms. Ozland could close the door, I turned around and said, “The other vampires, the ones who are addicted to our blood, would the same process work on them?” It was painful, sure, but it’d be worth it to clean up a horde of vampires to prevent them poaching on witches anymore.

“No,” she said sadly. “Those witches aren’t alive anymore to reclaim anything. I’m sure the NAWC is working on solving this problem, we’ll just have to leave it in their capable hands.”

“The NAWC knows about this?”

“Of course, dear. The NAWC knows everything where witches are concerned.” I bit my lip and nodded my head, wondering what the North American Witches Council had planned for cleaning up the mess. I was also hoping word about Aiden’s small trip down brew alley didn’t get out.

“Goodnight Ms. Ozland and thank you again.”

“’Night, dear.”

I walked down the small pathway and out through the gate to where Aiden waited for me. He didn’t look at me when I reached him and when I grabbed for his hand he pulled away and walked over to his car after opening the passenger’s side door for me. I hopped inside and he appeared in the driver’s side almost instantly, starting the car and pulling away.

“What’s wrong?” I thought he was feeling guilty about what I had endured, that maybe he needed time to forgive himself. I thought that maybe losing my magic had put him in a bad mood, like an addict getting all pissy when they’re without their drug. What I didn’t expect was him pulling the car off to the side of the road and hopping out, slamming the door behind him. I turned in my seat to see where he went and noticed he was leaning against the back of the car. I opened my door and climbed out of his sporty Cadillac coupe, walking toward the back.

There was a full moon, high in the sky that cast a silver glow on our little town. In the distance, I could hear the werewolves howling as they hunted their dinner. They didn’t need a full moon to change, but they couldn’t fight the change during one. I kept far away from Micah during that time, it left him moody.

“Aiden?” I whispered. He looked up at me through a strand of his dark hair, his eyes showing that whatever he was about to say, was going to be bad. I lifted my hand to put on his shoulder but he pushed off the car and walked a couple feet away from me.

“Gwen,” he began. I crossed my arms across my chest, needing the security they offered as I waited for him to say whatever he needed to say.

“I’m so sorry that you had to go through that tonight. I’m sorry that I was the cause of it and most of all, I’m sorry I let you down.” I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his slim waist, resting my head on his shoulder. I loved the way his arms seemed to comfort me, the way no others could. One of his hands played with the strands of my hair while the other one rubbed my back. I closed my eyes, pausing a second to absorb the moment.

“If you were a smart woman, you’d run as far away from me as possible and never look back,” he said softly into my ear. I smiled and silently laughed, more to myself than for his benefit.

“I‘d rather be dumb, if it means I get to be with you,” I said. “What happened tonight was as much my fault as it was yours. If I hadn’t fed you blood, then I wouldn’t have had to go through the pain of getting it back.” I pulled away from him so that I could look into his eyes, a sudden thought demanding attention. “Is Ian a brew addict also?” Even though Fiona hated me, I still wanted to make sure she was safe.

“Ian who?” Aiden asked casually.

“Ian Despereaux, your friend. The one you sent to pick me up for the Gala when you stood me up, which I haven’t forgiven you for, by the way.” I was smiling because I knew that there wasn’t much Aiden could do that I wouldn’t forgive him for, but I quickly lost my humor when he looked at me with confusion.

“You know, Ian,” I said again, hoping the third time would knock some sense into Aiden’s memory. When he didn’t reveal that he knew the name, a sudden dread snaked its way through my body and settled into the pit of my stomach.

17

Aiden and I headed to Vain. That was the only place I could think of when it came to finding Fiona. I tried her cell but she wasn’t answering my calls. If something happened to her, I’d never forgive myself for allowing her to leave with Ian. I knew I should have trusted my gut feeling and now, because I didn’t, something bad could happen to my best friend.

We made our way through the back door and I rushed ahead of Aiden toward the front of the club to search for Fiona. Vain was really busy with visiting humans wanting to experience a real life vampire club. I heard moaning coming from a curtained room. Vain allowed feedings, and while vampires could glamour humans into doing almost anything, Vain had strict consent rules. The vampires that wanted to feed off any humans had to check in with a receptionist and only after confirming that the human was willing and not under the vampire’s hypnosis, could they feed in a private room.

I stood up on my tiptoes to see if I could see any blondes that resembled Fiona, but none of them looked familiar. Pushing through the club goers, I scanned everyone’s face in hopes of finding either Ian or Fiona. A man with a large beer gut slapped my ass and before I could zap him, he screamed out in pain. I turned to see that Aiden had his hand twisted behind his back.

“Apologize to the lady,” he snarled. The man winced with watery eyes and looked like he might piss his pants.

“I…I’m…sorry…I didn’t…mean to offend you,” The man stuttered. I nodded. I really didn’t have time to deal with a human who had had too many drinks and was feeling frisky. Aiden released the man, who collapsed in a nearby chair with shaky hands.

“That was a little extreme,” I told Aiden.

“I happen to hold you in very high regard. Have you seen Fiona?”

I shook my head. “No. What if we don’t find her? If something happens…” Tears began to fill my eyes and threatened to spill as thoughts of the worst case scenario played through my mind. I had seen, through the memories of Bridget, exactly what the brew dealers were capable of. I couldn’t deal with the idea of Fiona going through that.

“We’ll find her,” Aiden said.

“How? How are we supposed to find her when she won’t take my calls?” I knew he didn’t have the answer but was just trying to make me feel better. Right now seemed like a good time to be optimistic. I had to believe that Fiona was okay and that Ian wasn’t who I feared he was.

I saw a head of blonde hair near the private rooms and dashed like a madwoman across the dance floor. I got a lot of curses and snide remarks from the partiers but I didn’t care. I reached the private rooms and pulled back the curtain of the room I had seen the blonde enter. A tall black man was sitting on the couch while the blonde stood in front of him. When she turned around, she gave me a fang-filled smile.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else.” I left the room feeling completely lost. I tried Fiona’s cell phone one more time but my call went unanswered again. I never really knew what hopelessness and despair felt like until now; my optimism had clearly hauled ass out the window.

My phone went off and I quickly tried to flip it open but my hands were too excited and it dropped to the floor and slid down the hallway. I ran in a bent over position to retrieve my ringing cell phone and swiped it up, opened it, and pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?” I said, my voice breathless. “Fiona?” I hadn’t looked at the caller I.D. in my mad dash to answer my phone.

“Gwen, it’s Micah,” his voice was somber at best.

“Micah?” My eyebrows pushed together with my confusion. I had been anticipating Fiona on the other end, so Micah’s voice caught me off guard. I gripped the phone tighter. Micah only called when he needed me to read a dead body. I silently prayed he hadn’t called about Fiona.