Vampires Seduction #1 (The Paranormal Town Romance Series) (7 page)

She stepped forward revealing the slit in her brown
leather skirt, going from her ankles to her hip. Her raven black hair was
streaked with red and green lines; it appeared that she had taken her hands and
loosed her hair so it resembled a mane. "Perhaps I can help. But
Andraste
, how do we know that the two of them won't turn on
us? I agree with Emil that unleashing the wizard probably would be a mistake.
None of us have enough power to overcome a wizard."

Andraste
put his hands on the glass wall and his face was inches from Emil's face.
"Because, I will decapitate him with my jaws if he even moves
one inch when that wall goes down."
He growled deeply.

Alda
raised her arms. Several multi-colored bracelets fell from her wrist to her
elbow. She began to hum softly as she stared at Emil. She transfixed her eyes
on his and she had an amused smile on her lips. "
Că
a
crescut
,
acum
trebuie
să
vină
în
jos.
" (That which
went up, must now come down.
Romanian.)

"What are you saying?"
Emil pressed his palms into the glass as he saw her turn three times in a
circle. "Don't release the wizard!"

"Nu
vă
temeţi
că
ceea
ce
nu
intelegi
."
(Never fear that which you do not
understand)
"
Perete
vine
în
jos
pentru
a
descoperi
omul
.
Femeia
în
piatră
devine
acum
piele
şi
OS." (The wall
comes down to reveal the man. The woman in stone becomes now skin and bone.)
Alda
let out a screech that oscillated her voice. The
barrier came down and Emil fell to the floor. From his knees he looked up at
Alda
, "Thank you!"

Alda
stepped back and turned to look at
Anca
. Chips of stone began to fall from her, gradually
forming a pile of small stones at her feet.

"Oh
my gosh
,
thank you, thank you."
Anca
ran her fingers over
her face. The tear that had been suspended there ran down her cheek, followed
by many more. "Oh, I am forever in your debt!" She reached out toward
Alda
who stepped away from her quickly.

Alda
growled. "Stay away from me
woman."

Anca
spoke quickly, "Of course, of
course. You don't know who I am. I am not a wizard, or a witch or a vampire. I
am human."

"I knew that. You stink just
like a human."
Alda
sneered and walked backwards
until she was close to the others.

Emil tried to stand but
Andraste
put his booted foot on his back. "Who are you
really
?"

Emil looked toward
Anca
, hoping she would not speak, "I am a half-human
vampire."

Andraste
sniffed Emil's shoulders.
"Give me your hands," he commanded. He sniffed each one, but they
both smelled of the woman. The man certainly
looked
human. "Stand up.

Who is he?" He pointed to the
frozen ice statue of
Haasinholf
Grendlekin
.

Anca
spoke quickly, "He is a
terrible wizard who has come to capture me."

Andraste
spoke slowly, "And why
you?"

Anca
shook her head, "I don't know.
Everything has been so confusing to me. First
Tapio
is murdered by hunters."

"Murdered!"
One of the women cried out, the one
called
Epona
. "No!" She screamed and her
scream echoed throughout the chamber.
Alda
put her
arm protectively around her friend.

"
Tapio
was her mate."

***

Gunnar went to the only witch who he
felt might be sympathetic—Embla. He recalled how she had been enchanted by him
when he went to see Calypso. He realized that she was petrified of Calypso, but
she was also very ingenious and could hide
things
from the old crone when she needed to. Worst case scenario, he would have to
appeal to
Zucar
Kendlesmith
if Embla refused. All of them certainly had much to lose if
Haasinholf
Grendlekin
were to take over in Lompoc! Embla could
be an ally.

Embla was alone sitting on the
porch. He decided it was best to nonchalantly walk up to her, rather than
streaking to her side. "Hello Embla."

Her cheeks immediately flushed pink.
"Calypso is not here, Gunnar. She is in the rotunda preparing for the
celebration." Embla shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know why. There
is no bride."

Gunnar coughed. "I've actually
come to speak to you."

Her eyebrows raised and it seemed
her cheeks became even more crimson. "What could you want to talk to me
about?"

"Well, my friends have been put
into a spell by a wizard. I am just hoping you know how to undo it." He
came right out with it.

She shook her head, "Oh, I
wouldn't ever interfere with a wizard's spell!" She was adamant.

Gunnar leaned in and took her hand
in his, "Even for me?"

Her eyes blinked and she pushed her
lower lip forward, "I—" He didn't let her finish.

"I would be ever-so grateful,
Embla."

"Why did the wizard put the
spell on your friends? What were they doing that made him angry?" Embla
was suspicious.

"Embla, honestly, we were just
minding our own business, in our own area of town and this wizard just popped
in."

Embla's eyes narrowed. "What
did he look like?"

"Well, he had this green…."
Before he could finish she gasped. She shook her head no and said, "I
can't. I absolutely can't! For one, if Calypso even suspects, oh, I don't even
want to think about it!"

Gunnar touched her arm gently,
"She would never know."

Embla tightly closed her eyes,
"She would! She knows everything, absolutely everything."

There was a loud "bang"
and the front door swung open. Embla almost jumped off the porch chair.

"Everything," Calypso
repeated, her eyes wide open, "And I do mean everything." She seemed
to glide over to Gunnar, her feet off the floor. "Hello, Gunnar, how may I
help you?"

Embla stood and backed up until her
back was up against Gunnar's chest. She bit her lower lip as she held her eyes
fixed on the other witch.

Gunnar placed his hands gently on
Embla's shoulders. "I was just asking Embla to help me, but perhaps you
would be more knowledgeable, Calypso?"

Calypso was many things, but one of
them was not 'humble'. "Of course I could! That empty head can't even make
a decent soup, let alone help with a spell."

"How did you know
I
—" Gunnar began again.

She interrupted him, "I know
everything. Embla explained to you quite emphatically that I most certainly do
know everything." She glared at Embla who was pressing herself tightly
against Gunnar's chest as she began to tremble.

Calypso cackled, "She is wise
to be afraid."

Gunnar smiled, "But Calypso,
you are a white witch, certainly not someone to fear, right?"

The crone cocked her head to one
side, not unlike a parakeet trying to figure out who is in the mirror. She had
known Gunnar for two hundred years; his wit was never lost on her. What was HIS
angle? She knew he had an angle.

"It all depends on who my enemy
is. You know that, Gunnar." She seemed to be emitting an effervescent
green aura. She raised her nose into the air and pointed her chin at him.
"We have much to discuss Gunnar
Laenas
Sulla." He nodded.

***

Emil pulled
Anca
along as they wound through a narrow path between tall oak trees.

"Where are we?" She asked
through puffs of much needed air.

"This is the valley where the
sun people live." He stopped to allow her to catch her breath.

"Who?"

"You
know,
those 1970s brain consciousness people?" He posed the statement as a
question.

She answered flatly, "Before my
time."

He laughed softly, "Everything
is before your time! Come on before those wolves catch our scent and decide
that it was a mistake to let us go."

"Why DID they let us go?"
She touched his arm lightly and an arctic shiver ran up her spine. She hastily
drew back her fingers.

"We have a common enemy now—the
hunters." He smiled, "Not that you have any
need
to worry. You're human."

"They won't know that when
they're taking aim." She was right. From a distance everyone looked like a
target now in Lompoc. Emil knew that they would be crossing open ground soon.
The drought in California had left the ground parched and most of the trees and
undergrowth had either died or been burnt away, leaving nowhere for human,
vampire, or varmint to hide.

He would have to leave her behind.
He saw a patch of low lying brush. She could lay low in the brush until he
returned. Unlike Gunnar, he could not carry her to their destination, though he
gladly would. "
Anca
, I can fly and get some
other vampires to help us and be back before you miss me."

She wasn't happy, but she also knew
he was right, but why couldn't he carry her
like
Gunnar had? She shivered involuntarily remembering that speed through light
that happened in the blink of her eyes. She blurted, "Why not just carry
me?"

He cast down his eyes. "I'm
younger than Gunnar. I don't have that kind of strength." She sensed his
discomposure at her words.

"Alright, leave me if you must,
but don't forget where you've left me." She smiled hoping that her attempt
at humor would dispel the awkward moment.

He wrapped his arms around her and
pulled her close to his chest. "I could never forget you." He kissed
her forehead,
then
he gently lifted her chin to look
into her eyes. She seemed to be able to make him remember how it felt to have a
beating heart and warm blood surging through his body. She made him feel alive
again, no, even more than that, when he touched her soft warm
skin,
she made him feel human again.

She watched him lift up into the sky
in a whirlwind tornado. It seemed to her as if his body had become liquid,
whirling in a blender, churning him up to the heavens in a multi-liquid vortex.

The higher he flew, the more she
looked to him like a defenseless rabbit huddling in the underbrush…

***

Gunnar was furious. "What do
you mean you left her hidden in some bushes? Are you crazy? She'll be devoured
by a wolf, or worse, found by the witches, or a wizard!"

Emil glared back at Gunnar. "At
least I got her out of the caverns, which, by the way are now inhabited by
wolves!"

Gunnar shrugged his shoulders,
"So who knew?"

Emil's voice was loud and almost
shrill, "One hundred displaced vampires! Where in the hell are they?"

Gunnar was not thinking of vampires.
He was thinking about one defenseless, scared, beautiful woman hidden in a
patch of tall grass and bushes. He locked his eyes on Emil. His pupils were
beginning to rim in crimson. It would do no good to become angry with his
friend. Sluggishly, his eyes turned back to gray. He ran two fingers over his
moustache, smoothing any unruly hairs. "We have a problem. Someone has
made a hole in the protective barrier around Lompoc. Calypso swore to me that
she didn't do it, but trophy hunters are seeping through it like blood through
a gash."

"How do they know where the
hole is?" Emil's eyebrows furrowed.

"Someone told them, Emil. There
is no other answer."

Both men scanned their memories in
an instant, trying to flush out who in Lompoc's various co-inhabitants would
rat out the whole community of vampires, wolves, shape shifters, and witches.
Emil shook his head. "For money, there are a few that I have come up with
that might sell out."

"True, but even they eventually
would be vulnerable. Hunters do not stop killing at just vampires when they can
have shape shifters, and they definitely don't like witches, either."

Emil shook his head, "Then who
is the fool?"

"Someone with nothing to
lose."
Gunnar put his hand through his hair, "Emil, see if you can find where our
comrades have hidden themselves.
Round them up.
I feel
we are going to have a battle on our hands.
Soon."