Page 9 of His Eternal Temptation

Seriously? In this hostile environment?

The massive Felix stood guard at the door as if a threat had indeed been identified. Lane was no match for Rowan or any vampire in strength or speed, let alone three at once. Did they really expect him to attack with magic? To attack at all? He was the one in danger.

Rowan didn’t move a muscle as they waited, his expression melding from murderous to indifferent so subtly, Lane might have missed it if not for the resulting contrast. Vampire stillness was unnerving at the best of times, but the sheer control it took to sit perfectly still and hide all emotion scared Lane more than Rowan shouting.

What would Rowan decide to do with him?

“It’s too bad I don’t keep more equipment here,” Hunter said to no one in particular, or perhaps to himself. “I’ll process this sample and see if it shows anything.”

“Thank you, Hunter.” Rowan sounded painfully professional. “You may stay and see what Nicole discovers, if you wish.”

“Thanks.” Hunter sealed Lane’s blood sample in a bag and put it aside. He wore a faded T-shirt of a nineties B-horror film about vampires and looked completely out of place compared to Rowan and Felix. “Now that you’re conscious,” he said to Lane, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his distressed jeans, “and the situation has, uh, shifted, are you okay with me telling Rowan what I find in your blood?”

“Sure.” Lane couldn’t care less about confidentiality. He was surprised Hunter remembered at a time like this. Maybe he was a real doctor, despite appearances.

“I don’t imagine you’ll suffer any lasting effects,” Hunter said with all seriousness. “Vampire blood heals exceptionally well, even if it didn’t stop the second attack.”

Lane nodded. Lasting effects wouldn’t be an issue if Rowan deemed him a threat.

Would the curse return before then? Could he escape if it didn’t? Lane needed to be in control of his fate, not stuck here without any say in what happened to him.

A dark-skinned woman of about Lane’s age burst into the room wearing a heavy coat and pajama pants. “Apologies I couldn’t get here sooner. What’s the situation?”

The bouncer who’d been sent to fetch Nicole trailed behind. Presumably, this was her. Lane sensed Nicole’s magic, just as he sensed magic in the three vampires. The difference between witches and vampires wasn’t obvious, so she could be either.

Nicole listened with keen attention as Rowan explained the situation. From the way Rowan spoke, she must be a witch. She was clearly one of Rowan’s people and showed no emotion when Rowan accused Lane of spreading the curse on purpose.

He wasn’t sure why he’d hoped she’d be offended on his behalf.

“I’ll take a look,” Nicole said to Rowan when he’d finished. “You’re right about vampire blood not stopping the curse on its own, but if you sucked the magic out, the curse should have died when it contacted your vampire magic, or at least run its course. Maybe that’s why your heart nearly stopped. The curse you ingested could’ve been working to kill you, and your vampire magic defeated it in the end, just not as instantaneously as you initially thought.”

Rowan’s face released the smallest amount of tension, the serious line of his mouth relaxing. “That doesn’t explain why Lane almost died a second time.”

“One thing at a time.” Nicole set about examining Rowan with magic, then moved on to Lane without saying a word. She worked purposefully and without asking permission, like she had no doubt the vampires in the room trusted her completely.

Must be nice.

Eventually, Nicole returned to Rowan and reinspected him. She gave a decisive nod and addressed the room. “I won’t sugarcoat it, this is a mess. Lane, the curse hasn’t been removed. It’s clearly not hurting you at the moment, and I can’t say why with one hundred percent certainty.”

“But you have a theory,” Rowan prompted, the picture of a man at ease.

“Of course I have a theory.” Nicole gave a tiny smile. “The curse is running through you, too, Rowan. It’s not hurting you either. Not surprising since you’re a vampire.”

“Why hasn’t my immortal magic destroyed it?”

“I’m not sure. What I can say with confidence is that the curse is linked between you. The same curse runs through both of you at once. This isn’t two castings of the same spell or a case of contagious spreading.”

Lane was momentarily stunned. He’d never heard of such a thing. “How’s that possible?”

“Blood sharing must have created a bridge. Rowan took the curse on himself, but didn’t remove it from you. The magic is now working through you both as if you are one being. Rowan’s vampire magic likely cancels out any damage caused, but it seems that if you separate, the curse fractures. I’d say the reason you had simultaneous cardiac events was something to do with proximity and the single curse being unable to span a great distance.”

Lane’s body went ice cold. “So all that’s keeping me alive is Rowan’s vampire magic? Because the same curse runs through both of us?”

“I’d say so. Do you know exactly what the curse is meant to do? It’s not a heart-stopping spell.”

“I don’t know.” Lane looked anywhere but at Rowan. “I was too incapacitated to figure out how it worked. It felt like I was dying. Pain. Weakness. Everything getting exponentially worse.”

Nicole turned thoughtful. “I need to figure out precisely what the magic is doing before I can even think of countering it.”