He needed to go back to his motherland and stay there until he’d regained a sense of reality. With immortality came immense powers and influence, and he needed to focus on those instead of a weak human, despite how delectable and fascinating she was.
As Finn threw money on the table and stepped out into the mild spring evening, he looked around one more time. He wouldn’t go back to Sanctuary, and he headed toward the main street where he could catch a cab to the airport.
As he turned the corner, a deep unease spread through his body, surprising him. He was about to dismiss it when unexpected pain sliced through him, and a heart-wrenching scream reverberated through his head. Blood rushing, Finn felt fear for the first time in centuries as he recognized the voice. Violet.
Chapter 2
Breath sliced through his lungs like sharp steel. The pain was like a tide as it ebbed and flowed, he couldn’t think as it was crested. In his unending haze, Finn moved on autopilot. Find where he’d parked his car, drive it on the road, avoid the trees, and head to Sanctuary, the only place that would know where Violet was.
Part of him didn’t want to go there. The panic in him was a scream, and the fear he felt for Violet, for what was happening to her, like a bleeding wound.
Finn forced himself to focus as his car swerved into the opposite lane. A horn sounded, but he didn’t see the car; instead, he saw the sign he’d been searching and turned the wheel.
When he hit the brakes on the Sanctuary road, another scream tore through him, and this time the pain didn’t compare to the flood of fear that came directly from Violet.
The witch was in pain, tortured, felt such a paralyzing dread, it twisted his heart. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he barely had time to open the car’s door before nausea overtook him, and he started retching blood.
He didn’t see the dirt or the blood, his vision was filled with Violet’s beautiful face, and he couldn’t stand what she was currently living through.
“Finn!!!” How he wished that voice was another’s, but he immediately recognized Valeria, even if he couldn’t see her clearly. He sensed someone else, a man, just behind her, but he couldn’t speak as pain gripped him again, and he almost passed out.
When the agony finally receded and he could draw a breath, Finn found himself crawling in a pool of his own blood mixed with mud, but for the first time in an hour, he wasn’t twisting in agony, his thoughts finally clearing.
Through the red blur, he saw Valeria hovering over him, and her father and his best friend, Soren, by her side. The weredragon, an old member of the High Council, had been the only steady presence in his life, and seeing him with worry on his bearded face almost broke him in two. Soren must have sensed his fragility as he sent his daughter away. Valeria hesitated, but obeyed, quite a feat in Finn’s opinion.
Weak and hungry, Finn sat up and looked around, surprised he had indeed reached his destination.
Soren crouched in front of him, his golden eyes analyzing his face. “What happened? Were you attacked? You’re bleeding everywhere!”
Wiping his face, he saw his tears were tinged with blood. “I’m not wounded… It’s… Violet.”
Anybody other than Soren, the person who knew better than anyone else, would have believed the worst at his words. A vampire’s reputation was one of legend, one of a seductive animal that had gained a reputation of being ruthless. It was one of the reasons Finn had dissociated himself from his race after so many centuries.
“What do you mean, Violet? I only smell your blood, not hers.”
Regaining his ability to breathe normally, Finn looked around, seeing the fading sunlight through the trees. Spring was taking over. Despite patches of snow that still remained, leaves were beginning to bud, making the branches shimmer with green. The same green he saw when he looked in the red-haired witch’s eyes. “She’s in trouble. She’s in fucking pain, and I feel it too.”
Soren nodded. “You took her blood. Man, I can’t remember the last time you did that. It’s opened a portal between you.”
He wanted to return with a snide remark but snorted instead. “I wasn’t thinking. I acted on instinct when I did that to her. I was in need of blood, and she willingly offered it. Twice. And now I feel what she feels, probably because of how strong the sensations are.”
It was obvious his friend was surprised. Hell, Finn couldn’t believe it himself. Over the last few years, since he’d decided to stay longer in America and make Easthallows his temporary home, many things had happened, but the most unexpected had been the fiery witch with the sharp tongue insinuating herself into his blood, making him curious again.
He knew very well the implications of drinking blood from another being, something he’d stopped doing decades ago. Now he only feed on animals as a way to make sure he didn’t become attached to anybody.
“Listen, what’s done is done. I won’t explain anymore. And maybe what I did wasn’t such a stupid move after all. Through that link… I felt… It’s unspeakable, Soren. I need to find her. Quickly.”
The weredragon groaned but offered him his hand. “Nothing is ever simple with you, O’Malley. And since your arrival at Sanctuary, my greatest fear has been that you’d get yourself in trouble, but I’ve got your back, and I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
Despite the dread still pulsing through every cell of his body, knowing Soren was always on his side, ready to support him, was more than he could ask.
Although he wanted to jump into his car and search for Violet, Soren held him back, telling him he’d be more useful if he cleaned up and ate first. Determined to be quick and avoid
