Bound to the Vampire Chapter 14

---

CHAPTER 14

Kayla

Golden light shot from Pellan’s fingertips, then into Garrick. Half a second later, Garrick was on his knees. Then, a pain, sharp like the tip of a knife, shot through her head. The world went black for a second and when she came to, the pain worsened. It was as though Pellan cleaved a machete into her skull.

“Stop,” she screamed.

Pellan only eased briefly. Instead of a searing knife, it dulled like someone pressed the blunt end of a hammer into her brain. Realization flashed in Pellan’s eyes.

“So, you do have magic, vampire.” Pellan’s boyish face set with deep lines as a scornful frown encroached onto his cheeks.

“I am no mage.”

“No, you are not. She’s bound herself to you.” The look of disgust on his face made her cower.

“My daughter’s magic is gone.”

“Clearly not. Her magic is inside of him. Is this how he can walk in the day without burning under the sun? Answer me, girl.”

“No… I don’t know. I didn’t bind myself to anyone.”

“We will soon find out.” He motioned to the sandy-haired kid behind him. “Unbind them, Theo.”

“Wait,” her father said, taking a step toward the altar. Both he and Marnie were skirted to the pews before being forced to sit.

“Please don’t do this,” her father urged. “Her magic is dormant. If you…”

“If her magic is not bound to him, then nothing will happen to her,” Theo cut him off.

Her father struggled in his seat, then took to pulling at the invisible binds across his body with his own magic.

Before Kayla could blink, a shot of green mist burst in their direction. She tried to back away, but her feet were stuck to the carpet.

“What are you doing?” Fright made her gut somersault.

The mist blew into Garrick’s face, then wrapped around his body, but didn’t do much else. It soaked into her skin like lotion, but she didn’t feel anything.

Well, that was a non-starter. Just as the thought left her mind, her feet became warm inside her shoes. Then, the warmth traveled up her calves, then up to her chest where it burst into every corner of her body like someone had turned up the temperature.

“Dad.” Her voice wavered. “What’s happening?”

The heat grew uncomfortably high before quickly crossing over into unbearable. Fire burned across her body, searing her into place. She was hot. Much too hot.

Tugging at her t-shirt, she forced it over her head, uncaring that she was stripping in front of a crowd. She tried to wave her shirt like a fan in front of her face.

“Her magic isn’t back yet. This will kill her.” Flashes of her father’s magic dug and fought against the binds wrapped around him, but another council member’s magic slithered across the floor and suffocated his out. Her father turned to them desperately. “We came here for help.”

“And we will help you as soon as we unbind them,” Theo said, watching her vigorously fan herself.

Sweat broke out across her body, but it was as though Theo had placed her on a stove to boil her blood.

“Stop! Please.” She gasped for breath, but the fire scorched her lungs, burning them until it was too hard to talk.

Yet, it was Garrick who fared worse. He’d been on his knees, clutching at his chest. When he looked at her, his eyes pooled to black, his fangs stretched into points, his face contorted in pain.

“Stop.” Her tears burned a trail down her face. “Leave him alone. We’re not bound. We’re not bound.”

She repeated it as more boiling tears leaked from her eyes. She stared apologetically at Garrick. He’d only been trying to help her. “I’m so sor-so—”

She couldn’t finish as a wave of pain split through her skull, then raced down her back. She screamed as it made her toes curl inside of her shoes and forced her to the floor.

Then, something inside of her changed. It was almost unnoticeable at first. The fire boiling her blood started to ease. Her entire body then cooled like someone had let the breeze in.

The fire in her lungs dissipated. She gulped down pockets of air as soon as the heat in her body eased. Then she saw her own purple essence crawl up her skin. Her magic was back.

Her father leaned back into his chair, visibly relieved, but a groan to the side of her forced her to turn.

Garrick clutched at himself, his arms blackening like they were roasting his flesh on a barbeque.

“What are you doing? We’re separated,” she breathed.

Theo waved his hand like he was swatting a fly and her body was forced into the pew behind her, knocking the wind out of her, and continued on.

“Tell me, vampire, how did you get around the Blood Oath?” he asked, cocking his head to one side as he watched Garrick writhe on the floor.

“He doesn’t know anything about—” A gust of wind circled her head, then settled into her mouth, rendering her mute.

“Tell me,” Theo said to Garrick. The vampire warrior shot Pellan a look that said over my dead body. He wouldn’t give into coercion.

“Theo, that’s enough,” Pellan said firmly, but Theo didn’t stop. His eyes lit like electrified emeralds as he pushed his magic into Garrick.

Garrick thrashed under the weight. Just like she’d done when the syste fished for her magic at the hangar. She couldn’t feel Garrick anymore, but she knew his pain. Blood trickled from his nose; his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

“Theo, we gave them our word. Release him.”

Pellan’s order went unanswered. Instead, Theo’s green magical essence merely constricted around Garrick’s body until he choked and his body convulsed.

She tried to plead for him to stop, but the strong gusts of wind forcing their way into her mouth prevented it.

Morbid memories from the night of her abduction flashed against the back of her eyelids. Garrick’s contorting body was a mirror match to her bodyguard’s when the syste used his magic to choke him to death. Pain boiled in her chest. Her lungs seized as if someone had sucked all the air out of the room.

If she’d had her chaos magic then, she could have stopped the syste. But she didn’t and it rendered her useless. She couldn’t save Derrek or help Breanne.

It set this morbid chain of events in motion. And now in front of a council of mages who her father thought could help them, things were different.

Now, she could help Garrick. If she didn’t, Theo would kill him just like the syste killed Derrek. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again. No one else would die because she was helpless to stop it.

Her purple essence weaved up her arms, before concentrating in her palms. Her magic teetered, threatening to explode. Instead of holding it back, she let it break free.

The purple fissure veins in her arms became more pronounced as her palms warmed and her hands glowed. Every inch of her body heated. Then, something deep in her chest, behind her heart, buzzed with electricity. A dark force inside her brewed, filling the available space in her body before exploding out through her palms.

It’d been a long time since she’d felt her magic in its rawest uncontrollable form. It terrified her, but she welcomed it and focused it on Theo.

Theo’s binds against her shattered. Her magic forced her onto her feet. Then a lightning bolt charged from her hand, bounced off the high ceilings, then crashed down onto Theo.

His reign over Garrick was over. But her magic was not. It was pooling out of her hands. Erupting like a steady stream of lava onto the carpet at her feet, setting it on fire.

The council ducked back when it burst, then a girl with red hair and deep dimpled cheeks forced a current of mist across the floor to extinguish the blaze.

For a moment, it worked. Then like a phoenix, the ashes burst again, resetting into worse flames. The fire whipped higher. Smoke filled the air.

“Pellan, stop this,” another member shouted.

“I can’t get to her.” Pellan tried to throw his magic at her, but it rebounded, splattering flames across the room.

The scattered flames traveled up the carpeted aisles and onto the pews, setting fire everywhere it went. If Theo had left them alone, none of this would have happened. As if she’d commanded it, a fire ball formed in the flames in front of her, then went for Theo’s dazed body like a cannon.

Theo was thrown back, body scorched and smoking as it flattened on the floor. But her magic was no where near finished. It was back with a vengeance. It roared hot and glowed red as it traveled to the council who’d allowed Theo to put his hands on Garrick. He’d saved her from that warehouse of shifters. Now, she’d save him.

Her fire magic burned hot, flashing and scorching on its way there. In its wake, embers lit and sprawled across the room, worsening the destruction.

They’d asked for this. Now everyone would see the terrifying devastation of her magic. The fire inside her boiled over and when Theo’s hand moved, another gathering of lightning formed at her palm.

“Kay-Kay. Don’t,” her father choked out from somewhere beyond the flames.

She looked for him, but found Garrick swatting at the embers igniting his shirt. The sight of him brought her feet back to the earth and felt like he’d dumped ice water across her shoulders.

Flames ate at his clothing, burning a trail up his body in its wake. If he hadn’t been healing fast, she would’ve burned him alive.

Oh shit.

She’d let her magic consume her. Her fire palms glowed red-hot. Streams of her magic spiraled everywhere and she didn’t know how to stop it from hurting him.

This wasn’t what she wanted. She’d only wanted Theo to stop hurting Garrick. Mission accomplished, but now it was her magic causing him and maybe even her father harm.

The realization of the devastation she’d caused came crashing in. She’d wanted to protect the people she cared about, not hurt them.

Another council member jumped from the altar, then rushed her like she was on the twenty-yard line trying to score a touchdown.

A circle of flames encased her and Garrick, creating a wall of protection around them. When the man tried to puncture a hole in her flame wall, the gathering electricity above her palm unlatched and struck him with a bolt that buzzed through the room. He bounced high in the air before landing hard on the floor. Smoke sizzled from his body.

Shit.

“Stop coming for us,” she said. The warning sounded bad ass coming from her lips but it was fueled with terror.

“Kay-Kay. You have to calm down,” her father started, but devolved into a coughing fit.

She looked down at her hands spewing hot lava magic all over the place. He coughed again. She had to calm herself. Letting her emotions go haywire made her magic do the same, but calm was the last thing she could be.

A smoldering piece of the ceiling crashed a few meters away. Garrick crossed the flame circle to be next to her. “We must leave, the structure is no longer sound.”

She looked up. The ceiling looked ready to cave in at any moment.

“Come on.” Garrick grabbed hold of her wrist. A new sensation shot through the terror. One she couldn’t allow herself to focus on, but with him so close, the tingles erupting from their skin-to-skin contact ricocheted through her.

Behind her, a window shattered. She jumped. Flames traveled up the walls.

“Kayla,” Garrick fished for her attention. “We need to go.”

“But my dad.” She pulled back. She couldn’t leave her father behind. Bright white-hot flames burst in every direction as her flame wall rose higher.

“He’ll be fine. He can jump.”

She looked at Garrick, then back through the flames and nodded. Her father was a teleporter. He would be fine. She hoped.

She followed Garrick’s lead to the back corridors of the cathedral, but the fire had traveled there too. Paintings on the walls, furniture in the halls, all set ablaze by her magic.

Magic—that had barely calmed.

Magic—that was fire-hot, billowing at her feet, and completely out of control.

Author’s Note: Don’t mess with her vampire. Kayla should come with a warning label.