I wasn’t quite under her spell. It hurt more than anything I’d actually ever felt from a vampire bite. It was the only thing that kept me from getting swept away in the lust and power drain. I thought at her as she drank down my life in furious gulps. Stop!
I was feeling lightheaded. My heart was slowing. It had been racing before, now I felt it draining of blood. I mentally yelled Stop! and the little vampire’s eyes rose to meet mine and I pulled my arm from her grip. The look on her face was no longer hunger. Almost apologetic. She bit her finger. The tiny pin prick from her fang and held it close to me. I smiled as she offered me what she could of her life.
The small finger smeared blood on my lips and I could smell the copperly liquid as it gelled on my lips. I couldn’t help my natural reaction to lick them. It was the first time I had felt the surge of magic that went through us both when I made a connection. I knew what I was doing when I started this. I knew that the vampire who had control of this child didn’t have control. They starved her. I fed her. I bonded with her in that moment. I saved her. Like I had saved Drake, and Fae and even Matt. Matt…
I looked around and found my fallen boy crawling towards me. He pressed his head to my chest and I cradled him against it in an attempt comfort him, but I suspected he was trying to comfort me.
There was power all over the room, and Matt was taking it all in. Grounding us in his warmth. He looked up at me and I saw a glow in his eyes I’d never seen before. His voice was low and awed, “So much power.”
Ant knelt down next to us and the little girl vampire growled at him and I reached out to pet her head and she curled against my head. “It’s alright, he’s a friend.”
His voice was soft and slow as he whispered in my ear. “Call her pets home. You are her master now, and that means every vampire she’s ever sired is yours. She’s not strong enough to protect them. It will end the threat your father is fighting.”
“But not the bigger battle.” I said as I called out to the rest of the vampires through my little friend now.
She whispered. “Morana.” She curled closer, following Matt’s example. The Venatori boy who I loved like a brother and a son put his arm around her and she curled in between us. Safe. Loved. I knew the feeling I wasn’t sure who’s feeling I was feeling but I knew the feeling as my own as well.
Ant stood up. “I will call your father and I will tell Mother that we have incoming baby vampires to evacuate the Night Life building until we have them all safe.”
I nodded. “Can you help me up?”
He nodded. “Anytime.” He offered me a hand and I gratefully took it. “One crisis averted.”
The Mind of Nox 