Read Online Bound to Me by Jocelynn Drake - Free Book Online

first time, the apprentice looked genuinely amused. “I wish you luck with that.”
    “You would not mind me getting rid of your source of valuable knowledge?”
    “There are other sources,” he shrugged.
    I opened my mouth to say something but quickly swallowed it. I sensed a new surge of power quickly approaching us and it was not Valerio. “You should go. Your master is coming.”
    “And what if I said it was my duty to help him destroy you?”
    “That would be a shame, because I really have no desire to kill you. Besides, leaving now would work more in your favor if you wish to continue to disobey him.”
    He smiled at me wide enough that his one good eye narrowed to a slim golden slit. “You make a good point. Good luck.” He nodded once to me before rolling off the tree and walking across the park in the opposite direction of the approaching warlock.
    I think it would be a good time for you to return , I mentally sent to Valerio, wishing he was already there. The ball of energy seemed to surround me and I couldn’t guess as to where the warlock was going to appear.
    Do you have unwanted company? Valerio inquired, feeling no closer than when I had spoken to him last.
    Yes , I hissed silently as a short figure stepped out of the darkness before me.
    All of my muscles clenched, waiting for the first volley. He was shorter than his apprentice, with a thin covering of gray hair spread across the top of his head. He was dressed as if he had just come from the opera, a cape draped loosely over his narrow frame. If I had seen him on the street, I would not have taken any notice of him beyond the wave of power that washed off of him and crashed into me.
    “Vampires are not welcome in Madrid,” he said in Spanish, but his accent was all wrong. If I had to guess, this warlock was actually from France, making his invasion of Madrid even more curious. Warlocks did not frequently leave their home territory. Something had not only driven him out of France, but was making him destroy my people as well.
    “Madrid does not belong to you,” I replied in French, earning me a surprised look. “You have no rights here.”
    “I have taken Madrid,” he proclaimed proudly. As if to punctuate his claim, fire sprouted out of the ground in a circle around me.
    Any other nightwalker would have been quaking with fear. They would have screamed and tried to leap free of the flames as terror gripped them. I made a show of yawning while patting my hand over my mouth, causing the warlock’s look of triumph to crumple in confusion.
    With a brief wave of my hand, the flames were immediately extinguished, plunging the park back into darkness. “I’m afraid that you haven’t.”
    “The Fire Starter,” he gasped. “I thought you were just a silly myth the vampires created.”
    “No, I’m afraid that she’s quite real.” The magic user twisted around to find Valerio standing several feet away from him, looking quite at ease with the whole arrangement. And why wouldn’t he? We had the warlock outnumbered and had taken away one of his greatest weapons: fire.
    “And she’s been assigned to be your executioner,” I said with a smile. With only a thought, a ring of fire sprouted out of the ground around the warlock, who flinched at the sudden fiery threat.
    “I do not think so,” he growled. The warlock instantly disappeared from sight.
    “Valerio?” I called, extinguishing the flames. I should have burned the bastard the second I saw him, catching him by surprise. It probably wouldn’t have been that easy, but it would have been smart if I had tried.
    “He’s close,” the nightwalker replied in a tense voice. It was one of the rare moments when Valerio wasn’t his usual jovial, easygoing self. But powerful warlocks could be damned tricky to kill.
    Without warning, a surge of energy slammed into my chest, throwing me backward into a thick tree trunk. As I hit the ground with a heavy thud, I saw an explosion of flames where I