Read Online Stealing Magic (Vampire Primes) by Susan Sizemore - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Susan Sizemore
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you know. I’m here on holiday while my shop moves location. One doesn’t like to keep the same address for long, now does one?”
“Best not to,” Grace agreed.
Traveler witches—all witches—had long ago learned it was safer to remain secretive and elusive. If they were really needed, fate had a way of making sure they would be found.
Granny ran a tea shop. She sold not only fine teas but tinned biscuits and herbal concoctions—such as tisanes, philtres, and spells—and took the occasional fortune telling client. Grace had learned her own skills at reading palms and tea leaves at Granny’s knee in her various tea shops.
“Now, finish your tea, Grace, and let me take a good look at the dregs of the leaves. Even if they only tell me you’re pining for a vampire you cannot have.”
* * *
Julien paced the windowless room of the London house. It was lit only by the fire in the hearth.
“I think I am going mad, Matri, since she disappeared. I know how melodramatic that sounds, but the hole in my being grows and grows.” He had explained about meeting, making love to, and then losing Grace. “I am sorry to sound so weak over a mortal woman, but I cannot deny these feelings. Or the pain.” Pain that was as physical as it was mental. “My head aches all the time. It feels like I am repeatedly running into a wall.”
“Perhaps you should stop trying to find this mortal girl.”
Julien whirled to face the head of his Family. She was his great-grandmother. She sat in a chair so ornately carved, gilded, and upholstered it might as well be a throne. And why not? Considering she was Matri of the Family, the female vampire whose word was law, whose every decision was instantly obeyed by the females and Primes of every Weaver House. She was the one they went to for help, and advice. After three months of hell Julien had finally come to her.
The Matri folded her hands in her lap and gazed at him serenely. Serene, but stern. Any protest he might have made died in his throat at her look.
“Do you truly want to continue this liaison with a mortal, even a psychic one? Think and answer clearly, my dear boy.”
Thinking clearly had not been what he’d been doing lately. He took a seat on the edge of a sofa. Beneath the steady gaze of the head of his family, Julien made himself go through all the implications and complications of the situation.
“Yes,” he said at last. “I cannot want anything else.”
She nodded. “I suspected as much. You are bonding with the mortal.”
Julien thought he should be surprised at her words, and deeply ashamed. He was neither. Of course he had suspected psychic bonding. “It began the first moment I caught her gaze,” he said. “It was the most wonderful moment of my life.”
She nodded again. “I have a bondmate. I recognize the feeling. I think you came here hoping I would order you to give up your quest to find the mortal. You hoped I would telepathically make you forget her.”
“I—”
She lifted a finger to silence him.
“Bonding with a mortal is rare, but not forbidden. Find your mate. Bring her into our world. I welcome her into Family Weaver.”
Relief flooded him. The Matri was wrong in supposing he wanted to forget Grace, but one did not contradict the head of the Family. “But how do I find her when she does not want to be found?”
“Do not suppose she is the one who does not want to be found. If you are bonding, so is she. There may be others who think they are protecting her from a vampire.”
It had not occurred to him that others might be involved. She was a witch. What did he know about mortal witches? If he wanted to find Grace he had better find out.
He stood and bowed to the Matri. “Thank you for your help.”
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and the barest of smiles. “Bring your mortal to me when the bond is secure. I would like to meet her.”
* * *
Julien recognized the carriage waiting before his townhouse door as he
“Best not to,” Grace agreed.
Traveler witches—all witches—had long ago learned it was safer to remain secretive and elusive. If they were really needed, fate had a way of making sure they would be found.
Granny ran a tea shop. She sold not only fine teas but tinned biscuits and herbal concoctions—such as tisanes, philtres, and spells—and took the occasional fortune telling client. Grace had learned her own skills at reading palms and tea leaves at Granny’s knee in her various tea shops.
“Now, finish your tea, Grace, and let me take a good look at the dregs of the leaves. Even if they only tell me you’re pining for a vampire you cannot have.”
* * *
Julien paced the windowless room of the London house. It was lit only by the fire in the hearth.
“I think I am going mad, Matri, since she disappeared. I know how melodramatic that sounds, but the hole in my being grows and grows.” He had explained about meeting, making love to, and then losing Grace. “I am sorry to sound so weak over a mortal woman, but I cannot deny these feelings. Or the pain.” Pain that was as physical as it was mental. “My head aches all the time. It feels like I am repeatedly running into a wall.”
“Perhaps you should stop trying to find this mortal girl.”
Julien whirled to face the head of his Family. She was his great-grandmother. She sat in a chair so ornately carved, gilded, and upholstered it might as well be a throne. And why not? Considering she was Matri of the Family, the female vampire whose word was law, whose every decision was instantly obeyed by the females and Primes of every Weaver House. She was the one they went to for help, and advice. After three months of hell Julien had finally come to her.
The Matri folded her hands in her lap and gazed at him serenely. Serene, but stern. Any protest he might have made died in his throat at her look.
“Do you truly want to continue this liaison with a mortal, even a psychic one? Think and answer clearly, my dear boy.”
Thinking clearly had not been what he’d been doing lately. He took a seat on the edge of a sofa. Beneath the steady gaze of the head of his family, Julien made himself go through all the implications and complications of the situation.
“Yes,” he said at last. “I cannot want anything else.”
She nodded. “I suspected as much. You are bonding with the mortal.”
Julien thought he should be surprised at her words, and deeply ashamed. He was neither. Of course he had suspected psychic bonding. “It began the first moment I caught her gaze,” he said. “It was the most wonderful moment of my life.”
She nodded again. “I have a bondmate. I recognize the feeling. I think you came here hoping I would order you to give up your quest to find the mortal. You hoped I would telepathically make you forget her.”
“I—”
She lifted a finger to silence him.
“Bonding with a mortal is rare, but not forbidden. Find your mate. Bring her into our world. I welcome her into Family Weaver.”
Relief flooded him. The Matri was wrong in supposing he wanted to forget Grace, but one did not contradict the head of the Family. “But how do I find her when she does not want to be found?”
“Do not suppose she is the one who does not want to be found. If you are bonding, so is she. There may be others who think they are protecting her from a vampire.”
It had not occurred to him that others might be involved. She was a witch. What did he know about mortal witches? If he wanted to find Grace he had better find out.
He stood and bowed to the Matri. “Thank you for your help.”
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and the barest of smiles. “Bring your mortal to me when the bond is secure. I would like to meet her.”
* * *
Julien recognized the carriage waiting before his townhouse door as he
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