Blood Magic (After Dark Book 7) by Sarah Bailey (ereader for android txt) 📗

She looked up at the sky when she stepped out of the portal. It was beginning to lighten. She had to be quick. Summoning her own magic, she created another portal. One which would take her directly to Jamie. Stepping through, she landed just outside his flat. Dani hurried down the steps and banged on the door.

“Jamie, please open up.”

There was only silence beyond. Had she been too late? She banged again, harder this time.

“Jamie, it’s me. Please, you have to let me in. I know it’s almost dawn, but this is an emergency. Please.”

Chapter Seventeen

Dani stood outside Jamie’s flat for what felt like a lifetime. Her heart sank. She was too late. How could she have thought her father wouldn’t have moved against them and informed the Vampire Council?

She tried one more time, banging against the door with all her might.

“Please, Jamie, please.”

The next moment, it was wrenched open. Jamie looked like he’d practically staggered from his bedroom to the door. He kept back in the shadows. The sun was coming up. She flew in immediately and slammed the door shut behind her. Throwing herself into his chest, she couldn’t help the tears falling all over again. His arms came around her.

“Dani,” he said, his voice groggy. “I can’t… I have to sleep.”

She let him lean on her, wrapping her arm around his waist and helped him back into the bedroom. Tucking him up under the covers, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had got here in time. Nothing would happen to him until the sun went down.

“What happened?” he whispered.

She could see he could barely keep his eyes open. She stroked his hair back from his face.

“I’ll tell you when you wake up.”

He reached out, taking her hand and kissing her palm.

“Tell me now.”

Shaking her head, she slipped off the bed. Undressing as quickly as she could, she crawled in next to him in just her underwear. Jamie wrapped her up in his arms.

“Tell me,” he whispered against her hair.

“My father happened. He tried to keep me in the house, but Novy helped me get to you. He doesn’t know who you are yet, so we’re safe… for now.”

His arms around her tightened.

“It’s okay, Jamie. We’ll deal with it when you wake up.”

“Okay, I trust you.”

The next moment, she felt him go utterly still and she knew he was dead to the world. She never knew how helpless vampires were when it came to the dawn. They couldn’t go out in the sun, but she hadn’t expected Jamie to be so unable to resist the urge to sleep.

She’d keep watch over him and hope that no one would find out she was here. Her father would likely go mental when he discovered Novus had helped her escape. There was nothing else they could’ve done. She had to protect the man she loved.

It had taken her so long to admit it, but she knew she’d been in love with him for weeks. Her affection for him had grown and grown. Every moment they spent together cemented her feelings.

Looking up into his face, her heart fractured. Did Jamie feel the same way? He told her he’d go against his own kind for her. And she’d just done that for him. It was a question she couldn’t have answered until he woke up. Cupping his face with her hand, she ran a thumb over his lips.

“I’m never letting you go. Not now. Not ever.”

She watched over him for the longest time before her own eyes drooped. She hadn’t slept all night. If they were going to survive the next twenty four hours, then she needed to.

Jolting awake, Dani had no idea where she was for the longest moment. Then she felt a cold chest pressed into her face. That could mean only one thing. She was with Jamie. Pulling away from him, his arms dropped limply on the bed. He was still asleep. Dani shuffled out of his bed and pulled one of his t-shirts out of his chest of drawers, shrugging it on. It smelt like him and that comforted her.

Wandering into the kitchen, she opened his fridge and found he’d left food in there. He’d started doing it not long after they’d first slept together. She’d been around his flat a few times and had got hungry on more than one occasion after their sexcapades.

She made herself something to eat and sat at the breakfast bar of his kitchen. Looking up at the clock on the wall, she found it was only late afternoon. She’d slept most of the day away. The emotional toll had gotten to her. She’d have to wait until Jamie rose, although she wasn’t quite sure what time that would be.

After she washed up, she went back into the bedroom and sat with her sleeping vampire. When she pulled out the book Alistair had given her, she flipped to the page which contained the instructions on how to perform the blood bond. Reading it over, she realised several ingredients were required. Mostly herbs, although some of them were rarer than others. How on earth would she get hold of these at such short notice?

Then she remembered. She grabbed her phone and dialled Alistair’s number. They’d exchanged them yesterday before she’d left his house.

“Hello, Dani,” he answered on the second ring.

“Hi… I need your help.”

She heard him chuckle.

“With the bond?”

“Yes, the ingredients aren’t common and I need them… it’s sort of urgent.”

“Give me a list and I’ll see if we have them in stock.”

She rattled off ten items including bloodroot, deerstongue and honeysuckle. She heard Alistair murmuring them to himself as she told him.

“It’s your lucky