Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Read online

  As an added perk, if you could call it that, the schedule allowed MES to know exactly when and where vampires would be feeding. It made it easy to track them. If a vampire were to turn someone else into a vampire or a dhampir – which was a crime punishable by death – it would make it incredibly difficult to try and secretly integrate them into our world because using the blood drives would immediately raise red flags.

  Assuming that Charlotte did not have a bunch of personal donors, the fact she wasn't on the schedule often enough meant that she was either underfed, and potentially in danger of making herself sick, or she was feeding from innocent people without permission. Not just against the law, but also punishable by death. The magic world didn't tend to be very forgiving of vampires.

  “She didn’t seem very thrilled about it,” Thomas continued. “We had a little chat about how much blood she should actually be getting, versus what she is. And I, you know, tried to feel her out a little bit, and make sure that she's not feeding from anyone she shouldn't be.”

  “Do you think that's the case?” I asked in concern.

  He shook his head. “No, it seems like she just genuinely isn't into it. Can't really blame her for that. It's hard. Especially if you don't even know vampires exist to begin with.”

  I nodded in agreement. I remembered how hard adapting to feeding had been for Shannon and she was a huge fan of vampire books and things when she was a non-magic. I used the lull in the conversation to open the chips and salsa, trying not to think too hard about how my cousin’s transition to life as a magic had started out. Shannon had been able to lean on my friends and I as she adjusted, I doubted Charlotte had gotten that sort of support.

  “Do you think maybe Charlotte could use a friendly face?” I offered. “I could sign up.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “I don't think that would be necessary.”

  “You know, I was a blood donor in Maryland,” I reminded him.

  “I wasn't thrilled about it then, either. Besides, I wasn't the one responsible for actually putting your name on the schedule.” It was sweet, if not slightly over-protective.

  I rolled my eyes fondly at him. “How many people are actually hurt by vampires during blood drives?”

  “Not many,” he grudgingly admitted. “You know I'm the last person who holds those stupid prejudices about vampires. But…” He shrugged. “It's not all entirely untrue. Not a lot of blood donors get hurt, but it happens, and I would be pretty upset if it happened to you.”

  “Maybe,” I teased gently. “You're just afraid that I'm going to end up meeting some cute vampire guy.”

  “You got me,” Thomas laughed. “That's exactly what I'm worried about. Or at least I would be if I wasn't the one doing the scheduling,” he added.

  “So, maybe I need to check that schedule and make sure you're not giving yourself any cute witches,” I countered. I dunked a chip in the salsa and took a big bite, as if I was done talking.

  “Worried about that, are you?”

  “Should I be?”

  Quick as lightning, he spun the top of my stool partway around, so I was facing away from him. He gave it a tug, yanking me off balance, and I fell back against him. Before I could even think about adjusting myself, he wrapped one arm around my chest, pulling me tightly to him. With his other hand he brushed my hair off my neck and caught it up in a loose ponytail, then tugged gently to urge my head to the side. He paused, just a beat, so that my brain could catch up with what was happening. Then slowly and deliberately he dragged his tongue up the side of my jugular. I couldn't resist a shiver.

  “Tell me,” he breathed in my ear. “Do you honestly think there are any cute witches you need to be worried about?”

  I sighed contentedly and arched my neck to him. “I suppose not.”

  His chest vibrated against my back, as he chuckled while nuzzling my neck. I felt him inhale, followed by a shudder.

  “Regretting stopping for that pint?” I asked.

  He nipped me gently. “I have plenty of room for dessert.” I could almost see his expression before he even pulled away. I turned partially and, sure enough, he was wincing with embarrassment. “Was that over the line?” he asked.

  “I thought it was clever,” I told him. “And you know, kind of romantic. In a vampirey way.”

  “I think the word is vampiric.”

  “Shouldn't you know?” I teased. Instead of answering, he plucked the forgotten chip from my hand and popped it in his mouth. “There’s garlic on that.”

  Thomas snorted. “Don’t you start with that nonsense. I get enough crap from Dani.”

  I chuckled and our eyes met for a moment. “I love you,” I blurted.

  He grinned at me, then eased my stool back onto all four legs. “You are something else, Jen.” He said it with a fond smile; it was a phrase he frequently used to express his disbelief at stumbling upon a witch who didn't run screaming from him. I supposed there was a plus side to being raised as a non-magic and enjoying a good vampire romance novel now and again. Certainly better than the witches who were raised to hate them.

  He brushed a lock of hair back off my cheek, green eyes gazing into mine. “I love you, too.” Then his nostrils flared. “Were you burning a candle?”

  “No, why?”

  “You smell vaguely smoky.”

  Oh. Now it was my turn to be embarrassed. “I was burning paper.” Thomas just regarded me skeptically and I knew he wasn’t going to leave that one alone. I sighed. “I was writing a letter to Rachel and kind of got carried away and started writing stuff that, you know, I can't tell her. So, I set it on fire.”

  It didn't take him very long to figure out what stuff I was implying. Keeping our existence a secret from non-magics was our number one Most Important Law. It was also pretty much the reason MES had been founded.

  It was possible to apply for a permit to tell non-magics about us, but the process was lengthy and complicated, and my odds of approval weren't very good. Since Rachel was my stepmother and I was an adult, at least by non-magic standards, she had a very slim chance of getting a permit. I had a better shot with my little half-sister, Emily, since she was at least biologically related to me. Not that it mattered. I would never be able to apply for a permit for either of them.

  As if he had read my mind, Thomas bowed his head and looked away from me, unable to meet my eyes. “I'm sorry,” he said heavily. “Jen, I'm so—”

  I put my finger over his lips, knowing he was apologizing for far more than just the fact I wanted to tell Rachel and couldn't.

  “Don't be sorry,” I said firmly. “You saved Shannon's life. That's worth more than a permit. Don't ever be sorry about that. Got it?”

  He kissed the tip of my finger and nodded solemnly, before one corner of his mouth twisted into a weak smile. “I'm still sorry though,” he added softly.

  I leaned forward and rested my head against his chest with a sigh. A few years ago, my cousin Shannon, still a non-magic, had nearly died. Thomas was forced to make the split-second decision to save her life: by turning her.

  The daring move had worked, but it also meant that if anyone ever found out what Thomas had done he'd be executed, no questions asked. Since a truth potion was part of the process for applying for a permit, I could never, ever risk it. Being able to tell Rachel and Emily about magic wasn’t worth trading Thomas’ life for. But, not being able to apply for those permits was still really tough sometimes, especially when it came to being forced to lie to Rachel about my life.

  Thomas wrapped his arms around me. We sat like that silently for some time. It felt so good, so right, that I could practically feel myself falling asleep, lulled by the comforting sound of his three steadily beating hearts; a normal more human heart, a larger stomach-heart for holding blood, and a heart-like organ for filtering blood. Once the strange beating had sounded quite strange to me. Now, the sound had not only become familiar, but I found that if I paid attention I could actually hear the difference between th
e stomach-heart beating when it was empty, versus full. It sounded like he had actually gotten more than one pint on the way home.

  I yawned and he turned the embrace into a tighter hug.

  “Tired?”

  “A little,” I answered. “But I'd rather stay up, if you want to watch a movie or anything.”

  “Actually, I think I'd rather turn in early with you.” He stood and started rolling up the bag of chips, shooting me a sly look over his shoulder. “I think there was talk of dessert?” he teased.

  “I still haven't gotten ready for bed,” I said, “I was thinking of showering, but…” I let it hang.

  “If that’s an invitation to join you, I’m going to take out the trash and be right there.”

  “Beat you there.”

  “We’ll see.”

  I headed out of the kitchen. The upstairs bathroom, where our room was, was being renovated. So, I headed down to the basement. The bathroom there was better than the original one upstairs anyway. Thomas' first roommate, Dani, was a water elemental. And when it comes to renovating a bathroom water elementals seemed to have their priorities in the right place.

  “I'm going to shower,” I told Rak, as I headed through the living room to the basement. “Will you be okay up here?”

  “I will if you make sure to block me if Thomas is “showering” with you,” he said, referring to our ability to prevent information from passing through our bond. Thanks to that bond, I could feel his amusement.

  “I will,” I promised.

  He jumped off the couch and vanished. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could sense exactly where he was and turned to see that he had landed on the radiator behind me. Almost immediately I started feeling the heat from it through him.

  “Go have fun,” he purred. “I'll be fine.” He started cleaning his paws.

  Nodding, I turned and carefully made my way down the steep staircase that led to the basement. I was almost to the bathroom door when the sliding glass door to the backyard opened. I sprinted, but there was no outrunning a vampire. Thomas beat me by a mile.

  “Cheater,” I snorted, following him into the bathroom.

  ~~~***~~~

  “Jen,” Thomas groaned, stirring me from a sound sleep. “Your alarm is going off.”

  I fought back a yawn. “Sorry!” I could just barely hear my morning alarm coming from somewhere.

  I carefully worked my way out from under his arm, stopping to give him a quick peck on the cheek, and escaped the bed. We hadn’t even made it out of the basement last night. Luckily, there was a nice big bed down here. I followed the sound to my bathroom and found my phone in the pocket of my discarded pants.

  After dismissing the alarm, I grabbed the nearest shirt, which turned out to be Thomas’, and pulled it on before heading up the stairs to start my coffee. I made it to the living room and stopped short; there was a huge wolf sprawled on the couch.

  Well, the wolf itself wasn’t surprising. The shock was the ball of black fluff curled contentedly on top of it. Rak and TS maintained a feline-canine feud, but clearly all bets were off when it came to somewhere warm and cozy. For a moment, I stood and took in the amusing sight. TS was so large in his wolf form that he was practically falling off the couch. He was on his back, with all four legs jutting out at different angles. One paw, and the large tail dragging on the floor, were twitching slowly like he was dreaming. His massive jaws were open wide, revealing a ferocious set of teeth and fangs bigger than my hand. The imposing picture was ruined by the large tongue comically lolling out between them. That, and the cat sleeping on his chest.

  Chuckling to myself, I headed into the kitchen and started the coffee. The sun would probably be up soon and TS would shift back. Sure enough, by the time I had the coffee brewing and returned to the living room, Rak was sleeping on a much smaller human. Not that TS could really be considered small, regardless of what form he was in.

  TS was still sprawled on his back with his tongue hanging out and I bit back a laugh. He could shift with clothes, provided they were treated with a potion first, but he had obviously gone to sleep in only boxers. I supposed I was lucky he had on anything at all. It seemed TS, well, all werewolves so he claimed, had a tendency to forget clothing now and again. In just a few short months I had been subjected to a fully naked roommate several times. Thomas seemed unfazed after decades of living together, so I was trying to just roll with it.

  Rak opened his eyes, looked around in confusion, then froze.

  “Morning,” I teased. “Comfortable?”

  He slowly stood, just as TS rolled to his side. I sensed alarm and felt a tingle in my fingers as Rak dug in his claws for balance. TS yelped like a dog and jerked upright, looking around in confusion.

  “Bloody hell! What was that?!” Sleep made his baritone voice even deeper than usual and thickened his Irish accent.

  “Sorry,” Rak said. He had jumped to the table and was innocently licking his paws. No doubt cleaning off wolf.

  TS examined his chest. “You scratched me,” he said indignantly. In all honesty, I was impressed Rak’s claws had gotten though the absurd amount of chest hair.

  “I said sorry,” Rak repeated.

  “You rolled over and he lost his balance,” I said in defense of my familiar.

  “What were you on top of me for?” TS asked.

  I sensed embarrassment. “It was cold last night and… your fur… was warm,” Rak admitted.

  “Fair enough,” TS conceded. He grinned and arched an eyebrow at me. “I’d ask why you weren’t with Jen, but that’s clear.”

  I automatically reached up with one hand to cover my neck. Not that it mattered. Even if the physical evidence had already healed, they both knew.

  “I’m going to get ready for work.” I didn’t need to feel embarrassed in front of them, but I did anyway.

  TS stretched and followed me. “Don’t mind me, I’m heading up to my room.” He paused and added, “You’re welcome to join me, Rak. If you like.”

  Rak nodded in thanks and TS and I headed upstairs.

  “Night, Jen,” TS said with a chuckle as he headed into his room. The door closed and I heard a foomf as he flopped onto the gigantic beanbag he used as a bed.

  I stopped by the bathroom to check the mirror. Sure enough, there were several faded bruises, each with two scarred punctures in the middle, on my neck. I pulled off my shirt and wasn’t surprised to see a few on my shoulders too. Hazard of dating a vampire. I grabbed a healing potion from the medicine cabinet and slathered it on. Perk of being a witch. The marks would be gone long before I got to work.

  Chapter Two

  Jen

  I was right. By the time I was out on the front porch waiting for my ride, the evidence of a fun night with Thomas was gone. Rak could hear the car coming before I could and returned from a hunting jaunt in the field, just as Charlie drove into view. I met him partway down the driveway and opened the back door. Rak hopped in and I slid into the seat next to him.

  “Morning Charlie, morning Ember,” I said.

  “Good morning,” they chorused. Charlie’s voice was just a bit deeper and his accent, leftover from growing up on a ranch in Arizona, a bit more pronounced than Ember’s. They turned around to greet me with wide, identical smiles.

  They could have easily passed for twins and usually claimed that around non-magics. As it happened, Charlie was almost thirty years older than Ember. It wasn’t a huge age gap for magic siblings; but they weren’t siblings, Charlie was Ember’s father and it was considered an extremely small age difference for a parent and child. In fact, since he had been under thirty, Charlie was still a minor by magic standards when Ember was born. It was one of those things that still made my head spin sometimes.

  “Brought you coffee,” Charlie added, handing a travel mug back to me.

  “Thanks,” I said gratefully. “Really.”

  The morning coffee Charlie always brought me was more than just a nice gesture; as a fire elementa
l, he didn’t drink liquids. Although Ember periodically sipped hot drinks for fun, I knew she didn’t make a morning pot of coffee for herself. Charlie insisted it was no problem and he was making coffee for Dani anyway, but I knew Dani usually slept in after working the night shift. That meant Charlie was going out of his way to make me coffee, which pretty much was Charlie in a nutshell; taking care of people was how he showed he cared. I supposed part of it was the dad in him.

  “Not a problem,” Charlie said, catching my eye in his rear-view mirror.

  I smiled back at his reflection. Like all elementals, his eyes changed color with his moods and the colors were constantly in motion. Right now bright reds and oranges were flickering away like merry flames, licking along the edges of his irises and around his pupils. Even the whites of his eyes had a faint red-tinge, although that never changed. He absently reached up and brushed his colorful hair out of his eyes, as he eased the car out of the driveway. His hair started off deep, dark red at the roots, then faded out to orange as it grew. If his hair hadn’t had the tendency to curl and stick up it probably would have been long enough to cover his ears.

  Ember’s hair fell just below her shoulders when she straightened it and barely brushed them when she didn’t. Since hers was so much longer than Charlie’s the last couple of inches changed from orange to yellow. I knew if she grew her hair even longer, it would eventually turn white.

  She turned and grinned at me. “How are you?” Unknowingly mirroring Charlie, she brushed her own hair out of her eyes, drawing my attention to her one lock of hair that stayed the same shade of scarlet from root to tip. Charlie had one in the exact same spot.

  “Doing good.”

  “Aren’t you almost done with your ninety days?”

  “Yes! Just a couple more weeks.”

  “Toasty!” Ember said.

  “Told you it would go by fast,” Charlie chuckled.