Page 11 of Immortal Hunter
“Then help me find the creature and either end him or convince him to flee far, far away.”
Cupping her hands in front of her, Vesper bowed her head as her lips moved in a silent incantation. Wisps of light started to glow around her fingers, and as her hands twisted and turned, the light formed a ball.
With a percussive force, a burst of energy washed over Kára, and she stumbled back as a thin chain with a pearlescent charm wrapped around her wrist. She clutched at it, trying to yank it off, but she couldn’t break the delicate links. “What the hell?”
“This is a beacon.” Vesper smoothed back her white hair. “When you find the rogue vampire, touch the moonstone. It will connect you to all members of the coven, and we will come to your aid.”
“A beacon? Hardly. You mean this as a tether. Or a dog collar,” Kára snapped. “So you can bring me to heel. What else does it do besidesconnectme to you?”
With a sigh, Vesper shook her head. “You must learn trust, vampire. I know many in your life have proven…unworthy. But we are not like them. The ancient one we sense…one of your kind…is far older than you, and stronger. You will need us, in the end.”
“And what of my mate?” She seethed, hating the idea of anyone being able to track her again. She’d spent too many years under Hagen’s control to relinquish an ounce of freedom. Once she could escape the witches’ circle, she’d tear the fucking chain from her wrist and crush the stone into dust.
The coven took a deep breath as one, and Vesper answered for them all. “He will be safe from us. For as long as you wear our beacon.” The witch offered Kára a smile, and her beating heart skipped.
Of course. They’d invaded her mind only minutes ago. Why had she thought she could possibly keep her intentions from them? They’d found her one weakness—the one she’d never counted on—her mate. By threatening him, they’d effectively ensured her obedience.
What the hell was she going to do now?
Chapter Five
Kára
Freed from the gathering,Kára ran as fast as she could towards her mate. She had to warn Ewan about the coven. The moonstone bracelet felt like a heavy weight around her wrist, but she couldn’t take it off. Not if it would keep Ewan safe.
Get a hold of yourself, Kára. You have known him all of a couple of hours. Focus.
But she couldn’t. Her heartbeat was this constant presence, this sensation she couldn’t ignore. A few blocks from the pub, a solid weight slammed into her and knocked her halfway into the alley. Her head hit the cobblestones, and her vision started to tunnel.
Kára fumbled for her silver-tipped blades in the sheaths at her hips but could only get one free before cold fingers wrapped around her wrist and forced her arm over her head.
“Hello, daughter.”
That voice. An involuntary shudder wracked her body, and she blinked hard as she stared into the cold, dead, black eyes of her sire.
With his knees on her thighs, one hand around her wrist and the other at her throat, Hagen bared his fangs. “It has been too long.”
Frozen, she fought against the memories of two centuries of his torture and control. The pain. The scars. All the times he’d forced her to drink his blood and her mind had fogged, become his rather than her own.
He released her throat and slashed at his wrist. “Would you like a taste?”
Kára grabbed his arm with her free hand, wrapping her fingers around the twin puncture marks. “Never again.” Her voice shook, but she glared at him and tried to force strength into her tone. “You are not welcome in this town. Leave now, and I will not have to kill you.”
His laugh raked down her spine. “As if you could. Imadeyou. And I can end you.”
Kára bucked her hips, sending him off balance, and when she got one leg free, she brought it up between his thighs, hard. Her sire howled as his hands reflexively went to cover his crotch, and Kára sprang to her feet, freed her other blade, and spun both in her hands.
With the speed of his extra three hundred years of existence, Hagen recovered and got to his feet. They circled one another, his fangs glistening in the streetlights. Kára kept her legs loose, her knees slightly bent, ready to attack. “I have learned much since I escaped you. Would you like to wager your existence on your memories of the frightened girl you tortured for two centuries? I am no longer that creature.”
“I do not wish you harm, daughter.”
“Donotcall me that!” Kára’s emotions flared, distracting her, and he lunged, sweeping her legs out from under her.
Wrenching one of her blades from her hand, Hagen pressed the silver tip to her throat.
“Do it,” she spat. The end of her existence would be better than falling once more under Hagen’s control.
Her sire muttered a curse in his native tongue, dragged the silver along her skin hard enough to expose a thin line of blood, and then drove the blade into the ground, crumpling the dagger into a mangled lump of metal. Rising in a single, fluid motion, he stared down at her.
