Enchant the Night - Amanda Ashley Page 0,50
The answer was obvious—he had come looking for Quill and found Vivian instead. Quill had told her the Knights didn’t hurt people and she wanted to believe that. But the man on the phone had sounded deadly serious when he’d threatened Vivian’s life. And Viv had sounded scared to death. Was her life really in danger?
Heart pounding, Callie ran down the hall and into the bedroom where Quill took his rest.
He sat up when she entered the room. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a phone call from Vivian, but it didn’t come from her cell.” Too nervous to sit still, Callie paced the floor beside the bed. “When I said hello, I heard Viv’s voice say my name and then a man came on the phone and said if I didn’t bring you to him by tomorrow night, he would kill Vivian. What are we going to do?”
Quill swore under his breath. With a shake of his head, he muttered, “You never should have answered that call.”
She stared at him a moment in confusion. And then she broke out in a cold sweat. In this day and age, it was all to easy to track someone’s whereabouts using their cell phone. And then she frowned. “Whoever it is, he can’t find us, can he? I mean, isn’t the town warded against intruders?”
“It is, but only against those seeking to do us harm.”
“Doesn’t that include the Knights?”
“Unfortunately, no. The Knights all possess a degree of power in the medallions they wear. It allows them to penetrate wards and spells that repel ordinary mortals.”
“So, who do you think was on the phone?”
He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, then scrubbed a hand across his jaw, his expression thoughtful. “It had to be one of the Knights.”
Callie felt the color drain from her face. She had unwittingly put her best friend’s life in danger when she’d asked Vivian to house-sit. Dropping the phone on the bed, she gripped Quill’s arm. “He wouldn’t really kill her, would he?”
“I don’t know. The Knights take a solemn oath to protect humanity from my kind. I’m not sure how far they’re willing to go to find us. To find me.”
Quill raked his fingers through his hair. How far would the Knights go? He was one of the oldest of his kind. Whoever destroyed him would be seen as a hero, his name forever enshrined on the Wall of Memory as the Knight who had destroyed Quill. The Brotherhood would sing his praises, stories would be told of his bravery. Dammit!
“Quill?”
“We have to warn the others to get out of here.”
Callie pulled a chair away from the desk in the corner and sank down on it. She felt terrible. Quill had said she shouldn’t have answered the phone. And yet, there was no telling what might have happened to Viv if she hadn’t. “What are we going to do?”
“Call the Knight back. Tell him we’ll come to the house tonight on the condition that he frees Vivian when we get there.”
“But . . . is that a good idea?”
“Do you have a better one?”
She shook her head.
Quill laid his hand on her shoulder. “Cheer up. We’re not helpless. Remember, we have a lot of power between us.”
But was it enough? Callie wondered.
Quill slid his arm around her waist and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Make the call while I go warn the town.”
* * *
Callie had just finished making arrangements to meet with the Knight when Quill returned.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Almost.” She slipped her grandmother’s pentacle over her head and tucked Ava’s wand in her jacket pocket. “Were you able to warn everyone?”
“Yeah.” He shook his head. “Some of the vampires are refusing to leave.”
“What? Why?”
“Just stubborn, I guess. I think most of them will send their human companions and kids away.”
“What about the ordinary people who are just passing through?”
“There were only three. I compelled them to get out of town and to forget the place existed.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body close to his. “Here we go.”
* * *
Callie was trembling from a sudden onset of nerves when they reached her house. It was after midnight. The neighborhood was quiet. All the lights in her house were on, all the curtains drawn.
Standing across the street, Quill opened his vampire senses. “As far as I can tell, the only people inside are Vivian and the Knight.” Unfortunately, there could be a dozen more hiding under one of their invisibility