Free The Vampire's Seduction by Raven Hart

Two hundred years ago, when Lalee had refused my offer of immortality, I’d had no idea how fortunate that refusal would be for me. But Lalee had known her own mind and her own destiny.
    “Make it a strong one,” I said, not wishing to go into too much detail. Melaphia stopped fussing with my clothes and looked up at me. “Is he that powerful?” she asked.
    No use hiding the unpleasant truth. “Yes, I’m afraid so. He’s my sire.”
    “Has he come to kill you?”
    “No, he’s come to destroy me—a subtle difference.”
    She dropped her gaze to my cuff, which she’d been busy straightening. “I’ll need to call upon the bones and blood of Maman Lalee.”
    This was the first time in Melaphia’s lifetime we’d discussed using Lalee’s personal powers, but I didn’t hesitate. Melaphia knew best about these things. “Yes, of course. Go; fetch your key.”
    The vault within a vault was set into the wall behind the smooth stone near the mantel. The two matching keys that unlocked the secret locks were made of the purest gold. In the mortal world a lock requiring golden keys would seem to hold treasure beyond description, much like a pharaoh’s tomb. But my most valuable possession was not golden or jeweled.
    It was blood.
    After a chant of reverence, Melaphia brushed away the cobwebs and removed the ancient vial with the care of one who’d been entrusted with the Holy Grail. Lalee’s gift to me and her descendants looked innocuous enough: a vial filled with brown liquid. It was an old piece, surely, but nothing more. Yet in the right hands this living legacy could harness the power of the voodoo loas into a formidable weapon.
    “I believe we’ll need all the help we can get,” I said.
    Melaphia nodded. “I will see to it.”
    I placed my cool hand over her warm one, feeling a strum of power from the vial. “I know you will.”
     
    Jack showed up within the hour. I’d just come upstairs from the office with my now human companions when he walked in bold as you please and demanded the keys to my Jag. Deylaud glanced at me for permission before handing them over.
    “Huey’s outside. He’ll take it to the shop and give it the once-over.”
    “Make it a twice-over,” I said. “The leather smells like a swamp.” I nodded to Deylaud and he tossed the keys to Jack. “Tell him to go straight there and back. No joyriding. And make sure they don’t use any imitation scent. You know how I hate that.”
    Jack gave me a mock salute. “Back in a sec.”
    Reyha was waiting just inside the door when Jack returned. As he stepped over the threshold, she flung herself into his arms like an amorous linebacker.
    “Ooof!” he huffed, teasing her. Then he swept her up, holding her against his chest. “I think you’re getting fat,” he added as he carried her into the study ahead of me. It always amazed me to watch the two of them together. Around me, Reyha was graceful and timid . . . submissive, but let Jack show his face and she became a hoyden who demanded to play. I hoped Jack’s unruly nature wasn’t catching on, for even Deylaud always looked happy to see him.
    Jack dumped Reyha unceremoniously on the leather couch, shoving her over to sit next to her. She immediately twisted around to rest half in his lap.
    “I should be careful if I were you,” I said. “After all, the two of you are from different species. People will begin to talk.”
    They looked at me as though I’d spoken in a foreign tongue. I guess it had been awhile since I’d tried to make light of anything. Of course Jack took me seriously.
    Pushing Reyha upright with one hand, he said, “I’d like to meet the human who had nerve enough to look in any of your grand windows. Or are your neighbors investing in night-vision goggles?”
    I shook my head. No use trying to explain. That I felt the need to joke at a time like this was unusual to say the least. And for the first time in several centuries, I was experiencing fear. Reedrek had