Free Heirloom Magic: Every Witch Way by Megan Berry

girl?” the vampire demanded, pinning her in place.
Harper knew a vampire had to be strong, but she was shocked by just how much
strength he had. She shook her head and tried to squirm away, but he was
immoveable and she only succeeded in smearing the blood across her face, making
her splutter and spit.
    Harper panicked
and the self-defense training she had taken last year at her company’s team-building
retreat kicked in, and she brought her knee to the vampire’s groin as hard as
she could. She didn’t know if it would work on a vampire, but she was glad when
he groaned and stepped back, cupping his family jewels, and bent over.
    The thrill of
victory quickly turned to gut-clenching fear when Jasper looked up at her with
eyes that glowed red. He was obviously pissed. “Hey!” she yelped, holding her
hands up in surrender. “Take it easy. You’re not allowed to kill me!” she
reminded him as she scuttled past him. He caught her wrist and pulled her back
towards him, his fangs drawn and his eyes still shining blood red. “Please
don’t hurt me!” She threw her pride away and finally begged. Jasper stopped in
his tracks as her words sunk in, and he blinked, his eyes returning to their
regular vivid blue.
    “That was not very
nice,” he told her succinctly told her as he retreated a couple steps away to
put some much needed distance between them, and Harper winced.
    “Neither is trying
to force-feed someone your blood,” she pointed out, never knowing when to keep
her mouth shut. His eyes flared red again for a minute before he got control of
himself. He surprised her by grinning at her finally, though it wasn’t a very
nice smile at all.
    “Go ahead and
suffer through your burns, healing the old-fashioned way, see if I care.” He
gave her a nasty look. “It could be fixed in minutes, but if you’d rather
suffer for a week or more, be my guest.” He burst out laughing as he surveyed
her. “It will be much longer before your hair grows back though,” he informed
her, not sounding the least bit upset about it, and Harper felt her heart thump
painfully within her chest.
    “My hair?” she
asked, her voice going all high and squeaky as fear creeped into her belly. Her
eyes went wide as she dashed to the bathroom and let out an angry yowl.
    The woman staring
back at her was a stranger. Her skin was red and blistered, so much that she
resembled an angry crab, and her hair—. Harper winced. Her hair was never going
to be the same. Large chunks had been burnt off, leaving her singed scalp
exposed—and that was just the part she could see. The rest of her head and body
were covered in fluffy white foam from the fire extinguisher, but everything
ached, so she knew instinctively that she was burnt there as well.
    “Your blood…it
could fix my hair?” she asked, trembling as she turned to the vampire who had
followed her into the bathroom to enjoy the show.
    “Good as new,” he
agreed, examining his fingernails casually as he leaned against the door jam.
    “Will you help
me?” she asked, nearly choking on the words, and the vampire gave her a
thoughtful look.
    “Of course,” he
said at last. “I already told you I would before you rudely kneed me in the
balls.” He managed to say this with only a hint of anger tinging his words this
time, and Harper hesitated.
    “Why would you
still help me?” she asked, unable to leave it alone, and the vampire frowned.
    “I’m not helping
you. I’m helping myself. What if one of your foolish blisters gets infected?
You could catch sepsis and die, selfishly taking me along with you.” Harper
eyed him suspiciously, not believing his excuse for a minute.
    “Thank you,” she
said, meaning it. She could handle a lot of pain, but her vanity would not
allow her to walk around with singed, bald patches of scalp for all the world
to see.
    “Pride go-eth
before the fall,” the vampire quoted as he bit into his wrist, and Harper swallowed
visibly at the sight of the