First Thirst (Craving 1)

The vamp dropped the woman and put his hands to his head as agony filled every nerve ending. He screamed as he knelt beneath the weight of the pain.

I have always been good transporting myself short distances. I call it my poof thing. Would I be able to transport both the woman and myself back into my car?

I poofed in a cloud of violet smoke, took the young woman’s limp hand, and poofed us back into my car.

Whew! Done. Wow. I would have patted myself on the back, but I had no idea how long I could keep the vamp in pain.

I had never shut off the car, so I simply put it back in drive and sped past the vamp as quickly as the car would take us.

I knew as soon as I was out of range, the pain I had inflicted on the vamp would stop, and he could, with super-speed, follow us.

I had to be ready because we still had to make it into the castle from the courtyard. What I planned to do with the poor woman then, I hadn’t yet figured out. One thing at a time!

Sure enough, I saw him or rather a flash of him in my rearview mirror. He was taking a shortcut through the woods. Apparently he knew MacLeod woods very well. I knew he meant to intercept me at the castle courtyard.

I was going to have to kill this thing…this murdering, inhuman thing. Was I ready to do that? I have never been good at killing things. Even when I kill a spider in the house, I have nightmares about its family mourning it. Crazy shit.

I looked at the poor young woman limply lying beside me. Oh yeah, this was a do or die, or rather, kill or be killed moment in my life. This vamp was going down. No regrets afterwards.

I reached the courtyard and parked as I speed dialed Jeremy. He answered at once.

“Bobbie…where the devil are you?”

“Outside in the courtyard. Attacked by a vamp. Have a woman he nearly killed with me. Can you help me distract the vamp while we get her inside?”

“Damn! I’ll be right there!” Jeremy snapped and a moment later, the vamp that had arrived at my window was now backing up as he stared at the warlock coming at him, stake in one hand, fireball in the other.

The vamp tried to use super-speed to escape, but Jeremy already held him in place with a spell.

I stopped dead and watched, thoroughly impressed.

Jeremy charged him and took him down flat on his back with very little effort, it was as though he was controlling the vampire with his mind.

He screamed with ferocious anger as he drove the stake into the vamp and then lit him on fire with the fireball of magic.

Only ash was left behind.

In the blink of that proverbial eye, only ash where once a monster had been.

The next thing I knew, Jeremy was at my side, picking up the unconscious woman I was still holding up with some effort. I have some extra strength that is derived from my magic, but have never really had to draw on that strength before today.

I followed Jeremy into the house and then into the library where he laid the woman on one of the sofas.

He fetched a cloth and some whisky, drank a shot and then put another to the woman’s lips.

She spluttered over the strong brew.

Jeremy put his palm over the woman’s wound and whispered something I couldn’t quite hear. However, my eyes opened wide as I watched the vampire bites heal right before my eyes. Jeremy Ascot was a healer!

The woman’s eyelids fluttered and she whispered, “What…what happened?”

“You tell us, dear child,” Jeremy said, patting her hand.

“I…I am not sure,” the woman said.

Our eyes met and I returned my attention to the woman. “Can you sit up?” I asked.

She answered by doing just that and said, “Who are you? Where am I?”