Longing for You, стр. 27

Chapter Nine

A week later Katie was deemed well enough to travel. Amelia waspleased—they would finally be able to start her journey to discover who shereally was. As was their habit, when Amelia wasn’t rushing for work, she joinedByron in her dressing room to help her get ready.

Amelia picked out a selection from Byron’s tie rack and brought itover to Byron. She slipped it around Byron’s neck and started to slowly tie it.

“This is one of my favourite times of day,” Byron said.

“One of?” Amelia smiled.

Byron lifted her hand and trailed her fingers across Amelia’scheek, making her shiver. “Yes, one. As well as waking up next to you, thatfirst feed of the day, and making you come in your favourite way.”

Amelia got a flashback to earlier when Byron was feeding from theartery on the inside of her thigh. The pleasure of having Byron’s teeth in her,so close to her sex, as she stimulated Amelia’s clit with her fingers was oneaspect of her marriage that she adored.

She shook the memory away and play-slapped Byron on the chest.“Don’t get me all hot and bothered again. We have to leave soon.”

Byron grinned with satisfaction. “Very well, what shall wediscuss?”

“How about where we’re going, Burley in the New Forest. Have youbeen there before?”

“A few times. There’s always been a coven there. It’s a sacredforest to the witches.”

“And you had dealings with them?” Amelia asked.

“One or two.”

“My mum and dad—sorry, my adoptive mum and dad—were always worriedabout the supposed witches and Satan worshippers there.”

Byron laughed. “No Satan worshippers. Nature worshippers, morelike.”

“Mum and Dad had some pretty far-out fundamentalist Christianbeliefs, and anything outside of that, like women worshipping nature, wasevil,” Amelia said.

“They were not dark witches in the New Forest,” Byron noted. “Infact, they did more to help the human population than any other paranormalgroup.”

Amelia folded Byron’s collar down and went to pick up her waistcoatfrom the hanger and helped slip it on her.

“How so?”

“Well, a lot of covens are insular, not welcoming to newcomers,”Byron said.

“You mean for humans like me who discover they have powers?”

“Exactly, they welcomed them in and taught them, not only giftedhumans, but humans who simply had a strong interest in witchcraft and what itcould do.”

“They sound nice.”

“Yes, Rose—” Byron hesitated. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s all right. You can talk about her,” Amelia reassured Byron.

“I didn’t want to upset you.”

Amelia cupped Byron’s cheek. “You don’t have to censor yourself. Iknow you love me. You have a past, but I have your love.”

“I just don’t want to hurt you. Rose’s sister was the leader ofthe New Forest coven, and the welcoming nature of the coven provided cover tolet them hide in plain sight.”

“How so?”

“Well one of the humans they trained, Gerald Gardner, foundedWicca. He gained a lot of publicity and notoriety, leaving the general publicto think the witches there were nothing more than that, human. The village ofBurley in the New Forest where they met is still a tourist attraction to thisday, because of the witches and the birth of Wicca.”

“So how did they help humans more than most?”

Byron walked over to a chair and beckoned Amelia to sit on her knee,which she did.

“During the Second World War, I worked in intelligence, the SecretService.”

“You did? You never fail to amaze me. I always forget you’ve beenliving a very long time.”

“The world was on the brink. It didn’t matter if you were human ora paranormal—we all had to do our bit. So I was contacted by the cunning folk,which is what the coven became known as over the years. They wanted to try touse magic to help the war effort. Things were looking bleak at the time, thegovernment was worried that Hitler would invade any day, and the cunning folkwanted to help.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. What did they do?” Amelia asked.

“First of all, I had to get my superiors to agree, as the witchesneeded secret information on Hitler’s whereabouts and his forces. Luckily, Iwasn’t the only paranormal in the British command structure. I was tasked withconveying the secret information and observing how it was used,” Byron said.

“Was the other side using vampires, witches, and the like?”

“I’m quite sure. The Nazis were very interested in studying theoccult, so I’m sure they found help of their own. It was August 1940 and mysecret mission was called Operation Cone of Power. The witches cast a circle,then performed the ritual with the information I gave them. They sent apowerful message to Hitler: You cannot come, you cannot cross the sea.Whether this actually worked, we will never know. He didn’t cross the sea, butwhether it was with the help of magic, who knows.”

“That’s amazing. You have had the most interesting life,” Ameliasaid.

“Interesting but lonely, until I met you.”

Amelia smiled and kissed Byron tenderly. “Good answer. Let’s goand find out about my past.”

She stood and Byron followed suit.

“Oh,” Amelia said, “a certain someone has been visiting Katie inher room every night, taking her tea.”

Byron raised her eyebrows. “Interesting. I’ve only seen Alexis’ssofter side once before. She was a younger vampire and didn’t see the danger inloving a fragile human. I warned Alexis loving a human would always end inpain, and now look where we are.”

“Katie is besotted with Alexis. I’m sure she is. That’s why shebickers so much with her, but will Alexis take her chance at happiness? I don’tknow.”

“Sometimes,” Byron said, “love doesn’t give you a choice.”

* * *

Victorija was crawling in her skin, her hands shaking, as shetried to type on the laptop on her desk. She’d remembered the girl in TheSanctuary, the girl who bit her when they were fighting to