Bound to the Vampire Chapter 17

---

CHAPTER 17

Kayla

The brief relief Kayla had while watching the shifters flee, vanished the moment Garrick mentioned the vampires.

Injured, he hobbled as he ushered her away from the onslaught she couldn’t see.

“You’re hurt.”

He straightened as if he didn’t know what she’d meant. “I’ll heal.”

That was for her benefit. He wasHe was in bad shape and they needed to get someplace safe.

“Wait,” the redhead called to them, her magic shooting toward them. Both she and Garrick backed away from it, but it caught her legs and wrapped around her hands. Kayla’s magic fought back. It thrust from her palms and burst through the woman’s hold and pushed her back.

Garrick’s eyes, the color of the night sky, zoned in on the woman. In a flash, he was in her face, hands around her throat. The mage’s magic pulsed, forcing his hand away with a zap. When Garrick reset his attack, a near-transparent dome appeared around her preventing it. Garrick slammed his fist into it, but it bounced back without injury.

“Touch her again and I will end you,” Garrick hissed, his fangs popping from his skull in warning.

“I’m not trying to hurt her, vampire. I’m trying to help her. I need to get her magic under control so we can leave before they come.”

“You can see the vampires coming?” Garrick’s gaze trained on the darkened shadows above the five-story buildings lining the street in the distance.

“No, but they hunt us this late at night. And they will hunt her. I can help you, but you have to let me.”

They were between a rock and a hard place. Behind them a drove of vampires marched toward them, and in front, a mage who’d been party to hurting Garrick and trying to steal her magic, offered them salvation. But could she be trusted?

She’d appeared out of nowhere to help her retrieve her magic and fend off the shifters. She and her council had been dead set on torturing them in the cathedral.

When the woman’s magic appeared, Kayla’s magic responded. Instead of spreading chaotically through the street it became more focused and charged at the woman with a vengeance. It burst through the dome, and it took a moment for the redhead to reorient herself. Their magic met on the sidewalk, battling it out in the open street.

“I’m here to help you,” she grunted as Kayla’s magic pushed her back a step. “Your magic will get us all killed if you don’t let me help.”

“Like you tried to help Garrick on the cathedral. Or me when you tried to take my magic?” Kayla drew forward and the woman’s magic backed away just a touch. A second later, the defensive dome was back around the woman and it caused hers to scatter.

“I’m not trying to take your magic. I’m trying to hide it. And about the vampire… All I can say is I’m sorry about that. We were caught off guard by a vampire’s presence in our sanctuary. We hadn’t realized you’d allowed him entrance. We don’t want to harm you.”

“The one called Theo didn’t seem to agree,” Garrick reminded her.

“He will be spoken to about that. He knows better. We are sworn to protect magic. We don’t harm those of our own kind and I don’t want to harm you now.” Her voice was firm and assured.

The redhead may have believed her own lies, but Kayla didn’t. She glanced at Garrick. He was injured because of them and she needed to get him away from the danger that had become her life.

The woman caught her indecisiveness. “We got off on the wrong foot,” she said. “I’m Carissa. I’m part of the Council of Elders here and…”

“I don’t care.” Kayla forged forward. Her magic pushed around Carissa’s.

“We must go now.” Garrick guided her to sidestep the mage. Good idea, if they could get out of her radius, maybe they had a chance to make a run for it. Garrick could get them the five blocks they needed to get to the human traffic jam.

“If you go now,” Carissa said, “We’ll be held in violation of the treaty law.”

That sounded like their problem, not hers. Even in its out-of-control state, her magic diverted its energy to the mage, the most palpable threat at the moment. Kayla took another step.

“You have to understand,” Carissa grunted, pushing back. “They have ways of finding the mages who use their magic this late into the night. Right now, I’m blocking your signal so they can’t find it, but I can’t hold it forever. See?”

As if spiking a ball on the ground, Carissa threw a stream of her magic to the pavement. It shot out from under her personal protective dome and scattered around the much larger one circling the city block. It was the shield that protected them from the wolves.

Garrick pivoted on his feet as he watched Carissa’s magic fizzle into the top of the larger dome. Kayla wished she could read his mind to gage his thoughts. She was set on running to get them to safety. But from the way he walked, he might not make it.

If what Carissa said was true, with her magic the way it was, she’d be a homing beacon for the danger that lurked beyond the redhead’s protective bubble. Carissa could also be lying, but Kayla wasn’t sure if she wanted to take that chance.

Carissa used their mutual silence to her advantage.

“Using magic after nightfall is forbidden here. They can tell when we do it and it violates a very old treaty that has kept the vampires at bay for centuries. Helping you keep it contained is imperative for us all.”

“We’re losing time,” Garrick murmured, staring off in the distance. When she looked, she finally saw them. Several shadows jumped from building to building, racing toward them. They were only a handful of blocks away and gaining speed.

They were running out of time to figure out what to do.

“Please, let me help you.” Carissa’s shoulders softened and her eyes became more pleading. She let her personal magical dome shield dissipate, but her magic moved in Kayla’s direction.

Garrick was just as quick. Even hurt, he went to war for her. Dodging the onslaught of the redhead’s magic, he moved in a blur behind her, then locked her in the cage of his arms. His fingers dug into her throat but he didn’t draw blood.

“You won’t touch her unless she lets you.”

Carissa’s magic changed course, reversing back before whirling around his body so he couldn’t move.

As soon as he flinched, Kayla’s nervous system went into overdrive. Her vision blurred. Her heart raced, sending her essence from her hands spiraling. It scattered across the pavement and up Garrick’s body breaking him free of Carissa’s hold before chasing her magic away.

“Leave. Him. Alone.”

A whoosh of air blew her back, slamming Carissa into the wall of a nearby building. Finished with its attack, Kayla’s magic recoiled back, then slid slowly up Garrick’s frame.

“Holy foremages,” Carissa said in awe, tousling a hand through her long windblown hair, studying the tendrils of magic protecting Garrick. “How is this possible? Your magic… it’s protecting him.”

Well, how could it not when they’d just had him in a magical chokehold inside the cathedral, and now, she tried to restrain him from protecting her under the guise of helping her control her magic.

She looked down at her hands. The magic was gone from her palms and circling steadily around Garrick in gentle waves up and down his body.

Just a second ago, her magic was a raging uncontrollable hellfire, but now it anchored itself around Garrick’s body, protecting him.

“Three blocks,” Garrick said, his gaze turning to the secondary threat. “We need to go if we’re going to flee them.”

“You won’t be able to run. Like I said, as soon as my protection spell wears off, they’ll be able to sense her magic. If you come with me, we can save each other.”

Garrick tugged her shirt and grabbed her hand. When they moved, a forcefield appeared directly in front of them as if Carissa moved her protective dome tighter.

“We have a safe place we can take you. You’ll be safe for the night and it’ll help keep your magic contained.”

Kayla shared a look with Garrick. The shadows were three blocks away now. It was clear what threat they faced on their own. Two dozen bodies slinked through the darkness toward them.

“Carissa!”

Down the street, Theo materialized out of a plume of mist. Immediately, Kayla’s magic coiled tighter around Garrick to shield him they watched the mage draw closer.

When Theo bumped into her protective dome, she opened it a sliver to let him in. He ran toward to Carissa. Standing an inch taller, there was no mistaking they shared the same familial bone structure. Like her, his face was wide and flat, his nose thin and slightly crooked. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“There you are. Pellan was able to control the fire, but we need to go. The vampires…”

Garrick moved toward her, then murmured in her ear. An indescribable feeling cascaded down her back, but she needed to focus on his words. “They come from all sides. We have to go now, they’re only a few minutes out. We will find another car to take and make a run for it. Can you divert your magic to the opening to get us out?”

Was he serious? Her magic never listened to her on a good day, but focusing on the fact that they were surrounded by enemies helped. Her magic slithered down his body and punched the barrier.

To the side of them Carissa groaned, then doubled over. It seemed her magic forcefield was down.

Above them, a figure dropped into the dome. When it rose to its feet, a vampire, hunched as he stood. His eyes blazed red-black as his fangs protruded from pale pink lips. The vampire looked feral. His head whipped in several directions, but Garrick didn’t wait for him to make a move.

He attacked, slicing through the vampire like it’d been a stuffed pillow before grabbing its neck and twisting.

“Carissa, put the barrier back up,” Theo ordered when another vampire jumped off the building next to them. She did. The top of the dome emerged, slicing the vampire in half.

“My barrier’s weak,” Carissa said to Theo. “We need to go.”

Good, that still gave her and Garrick a chance to flee. Kayla backed away from the duo when Theo bent and placed two fingers on the ground. Colorful streams of magic pulled from the asphalt and joined Carissa’s protective dome. Before it could close fully, Garrick grabbed her forearm, then pulled her into a run.

“No. Watch out,” Carissa shouted. A second later, they bounced off an invisible shield as though they’d ran into a giant beach ball.

Just in front of them, three vampires dropped from the sky. Kayla’s adrenaline spiked as she came face to face with one of them. The vampire slammed into the barrier. On impact, the barrier pulsed, a spray of bright blue light rippled around the dome and Kayla saw just how weak it had become.

The vampires realized this too, as they each took turns slamming into the barrier with the full force of their bodies.

Kayla tugged at Garrick’s shirt as she backed away, but Garrick didn’t follow. Instead, he pulled her behind him, but that proved worthless. On the other side of the street, several more vampires landed just outside the dome.

“I thought they were three blocks away.”

Garrick looked around the street. “This is a scout team. They lead the group and report back the threats they they find.”

Some threat. Three mages and a hurt vampire against the horde that was coming, was nothing.

“They’re surrounding us. I won’t be able to shield all of them for long.”

Several sprinkles of light flashed around them like they were jet landing on a runway, as the other vampires started to pound against the barrier.

“Teleport us out of here,” Theo grabbed both of Carissa’s arms, but she snatched one back and reached out to them.

“Come on.”

Theo pushed her hand down. “We can’t take a vampire back with us.”

“I won’t leave him here,” she said fiercely. Something she couldn’t describe changed in Theo’s face. Compassion, anger, and regret folded the soft skin around his mouth as he stared earnestly at Carissa.

Kayla looked to Garrick, although she didn’t have to. For the briefest moment, fear ghosted his full lips as he pressed them into a hard line. They were outnumbered, outgunned and out of options.

Garrick straightened, before his head darted in the direction of the horde. “There are too many vampires to defend against,” he told her, then glanced at the duo. “Our options are few.”

Just beyond Carissa’s dome, several more vampires dropped to the ground. Their postures were more animal than human. Their skin near-translucent as it wrapped around sharp fangs. They looked like humans who hadn’t seen the sun in ages and monsters who were looking for their next kill.

When they didn’t move quickly enough, Theo grabbed both of Carissa’s hands again.

“We can’t make them come with us. We need to go before they get through.”

“Stop, Theo,” she rushed out and snatched back again, then turned to them.

“Besides, Carissa, you don’t have enough power to transport all of us.”

“I can. If I let my shield drop, I can get us all out.”

“Are you crazy? They’ll catch us before your magic can wrap around us.”

“I can do this Theo.”

More sprinkles of light flashed on the outside of their dome barrier, much more frantically than before. The vampires were tearing through it.

Garrick’s hands interlocked with hers and squeezed. They were thick and rough, and reassuring. A signal to her of all that they survived and still would.

They’d take their chances with the crazy duo. At least then, they’d have a fighting chance. Against the vampire horde, they’d surely die. The lights around the barrier flashed with fervor.

Garrick moved without hesitation, pushing her toward Carissa’s outstretched hand. Kayla reached out and grabbed Carissa. “Let’s go.”

Her limbs locked in place as Carissa’s magic weaved up their bodies. The shield destabilized before Carissa let it drop completely.

And the vampire army charged inside.

Author’s Note: Ack!!!! These moments tie my stomach up in knots. What about you?