Jamie Stevens, and the room where she was keeping me. Both were small with no windows, so there was no way to know where in the world I was.
I was standing there staring at him when a familiar tingle rose in my core and expanded through my body.
Magic.
Impossible. When witches became vampires, they lost their magic. Whatever I was feeling couldn’t be real. It had to be a phantom feeling, like when people lost a limb and felt like it was still there.
But I’d know my magic anywhere…
There was only one way to find out.
I closed my eyes, then teleported from one side of the room to the other.
I was still looking at the man on the ground—but from the opposite direction.
A thrill shot up my body, and it took everything in me not to spin around and cheer with victory.
I still had my magic. And I didn’t intend on staying in this cramped, creepy room for a moment longer.
I hurried over to the man, took his hands, closed my eyes, and focused on teleporting to my destination.
Nothing happened.
Of course not. Like most places where supernaturals lived, Lilith had a boundary spell cast around her lair. I could teleport within this room, but I couldn’t teleport out.
I reached for Hecate’s key around my neck. Then, I looked sadly at the human man nearly passed out on the floor.
Because the keys only worked for their owners.
I wouldn’t be able to bring him with me.
But I needed to get out of there. I had no idea what Lilith and Lavinia wanted with me, but they wouldn’t have turned me into a vampire for no reason.
I thought back to Jamie Stevens and her red, demon bound eyes…
I refused to let them make me a slave to Lilith. I’d be of no help to anyone if that happened. I’d be able to save more people by leaving—even though it meant leaving this human man behind.
I had to do it. Because this was war. There were always casualties in war.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him, and then I walked over to the door and took a deep breath.
Please don’t reject me, I prayed to Hecate, since even though I still had my witch magic, I didn’t know if she’d accept me now that I was a vampire.
I steadied myself and stuck my key into the lock. It glowed with magic, and I clicked it open, then stepped into the ivory hall of Hecate’s Eternal Library.
The door shut behind me, and I could breathe again.
I was safe.
And I was definitely still a witch.
How?
As I thought it, Hecate walked through the door on the opposite end of the hall. She wore a long purple dress that glimmered like a galaxy of stars. Her long black hair flowed down to her waist, just like mine.
Other than the different eye color, the resemblance between the two of us hadn’t passed my notice.
“Harper,” Hecate greeted me. “You’ve changed.”
I almost sarcastically said, You noticed? But I stopped myself.
No way was that going to be my one question.
“I almost died back there,” I told her. “I would have died. But Lavinia had me changed into a vampire.”
“She did.” From the way Hecate spoke, it sounded like she was already aware of my situation.
“I shouldn’t be able to use my witch magic,” I continued. “I shouldn’t still have my witch magic.”
Hecate said nothing.
And I knew exactly what I wanted to ask her.
“Why do I still have my witch magic?”
“Come with me.” She spun around and walked toward the doors that led to the never-ending hall of bookshelves. As always, a few people dressed in clothes from different decades wandered around, examining the shelves and occasionally taking a break to grab food or drink from the long banquet table in the center.
I followed Hecate to the podium at the start of the hall.
She stood in front of it, stared forward, and released starry mist from her eyes. It crawled through the hall, tendrils snaking along the shelves and brushing against the blank spines of the books as they searched for the one that held the answer to my question.
It didn’t take long before the mist retreated, bringing a book with it. The book landed in Hecate’s hands, flipped magically through the pages, and settled on one near the back. Once it did, the goddess’s eyes returned to normal.
As she read what was on the page, she held the book at an angle so I couldn’t see its contents.
“A book you’ve seen before,” she finally