Longing for You, стр. 28

Amelia had called her Daisy, and it didn’t take long to find outshe worked beside Amelia, and her name was Daisy MacDougall. A whole litany ofhits turned up on that name—blogs, interviews on human–paranormal websites—allcalling Daisy a monster hunter.

Victorija clicked on a YouTube link and found herself watchingDaisy and a group of friends, ghost hunting in an old churchyard. She pausedthe video, took a screenshot, and enlarged it.

“Daisy MacDougall.” She reached forward with her shaking hand andsaid, “Why you?”

When she had tasted her blood in The Sanctuary, it had been like apunch in the chest, and when she looked in her eyes there was something sofamiliar about them.

On a hunch she went to the births, marriages, and deaths websitefor the UK. The results would take her hours to go through, but Victorija knewshe had to trace this girl’s family back in time, and she had a sinking feelingof where that might lead and what it would mean for her. Death or a broken vow.

* * *

A line of black SUVs and a classic Rolls-Royce ambled through theEnglish countryside. In one of the black SUVs was Katie, who was now wellenough to travel. She was still weak, but the doctor thought a change of scenewould help.

Katie pulled the blanket under her chin to try to comfort herself.The moment she stepped out of her room this morning, she realized how differentshe still felt. As she passed the spot on the landing where Josie had attackedher, she had to conceal the panic she felt.

If she had shown the terror and fear that was deep inside herbones, Byron might have left her at home, and she couldn’t bear that. Since hermother and father had flown in to be by her side, she’d hardly been able tobreathe.

Her mum especially had not left her bedside, fussing over her. Theonly respite she got was when Daisy came to visit her. She could understand herparents’ reaction—their daughter had been essentially dead, if not for Bhal’sactions—but the constant talking about it, and no privacy to come to terms withhow she was feeling, had only made her confusion over the trauma worse. Theother thing was that since her parents arrived, Alexis hadn’t been near, andshe couldn’t understand why.

She had gotten used to—indeed, looked forward to—Alexis’s nightlyvisits with a cup of tea. Katie had to admit it was the only time of day shefelt safe, anywhere near grounded, and not filled with anxiety.

Near grounded, that was a joke. Katie gazed out of the window andwatched the hedgerows and leafy trees of the countryside whizz by. When she sawthe trees, the leaves, the sheep and cows in the field, it was like a scenefrom a movie she was watching, observing from some point outside herself.

When Bhal had ripped her back from death, death had left its markon her, and she didn’t know if she would ever be the same again. If Katiethought about it for too long, her anxiety went sky high.

“Katie? You okay back there?”

Katie looked away from the scenery and saw Wilder, Amelia’spersonal guard, turned around in the front passenger seat.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Katie replied.

“Good, we won’t be too much longer,” Wilder said. “The Duca saidwe’ll stop in the village for a short while to pick up the keys to the cabins,and then we’ll get going.”

The Duca. Was she the same person as the one who helped save herand brought her tea each night until her parents arrived?

Katie had thought she was finally seeing beneath that protectivewall Alexis kept around herself, but then she just disappeared. Maybe she hadjust felt sorry for her after the attack and come back to her senses. If thatwas the case, then the truth would sadden her. Maybe the connection Katiethought they finally had was all an illusion.

* * *

The village of Burley hadn’t changed much over the years, Alexisthought as she stood beside the Rolls-Royce. They had stopped in the centre ofthe village to pick up the keys to the cabins Byron had booked from the pubowner.

One thing that had changed in the small village was the embracingof all things witch and paranormal. From what she could see, there were twowitchcraft shops that appeared to be popular with the tourists coming andgoing. Nowadays the paranormal was vaunted by humans—they were desperate toknow the truth of this world, but if they did, it would keep them up at night.

Alexis looked to the SUV parked behind them and had to fight theurge to go check on Katie, but she couldn’t. She knew that Katie would mostprobably be angry at her lack of visits over the last week.

The truth was that she couldn’t face Katie’s parents, knowing thatshe nearly forcibly turned their daughter. It was unforgivable, and Alexisalmost wished the Principessa or someone would tell Katie what happened. Thenshe’d only have to avoid her, not face her.

As it was, everyone was leaving it to her, but she didn’t have thecourage.

Byron emerged from the pub carrying keys.

“Any problems?”

“None,” Byron said.

She passed a set of keys to Alexis. “These are yours.”

Alexis took them and nodded.

When Byron had told her the plan to only take Amelia, Katie, andherself into the forest and leave the guards at the coaching inn and hotel inthe village, she had been dead against it for security reasons, but the moreshe thought about it, the more she realized that it would give her the chanceto look after Katie and try to make up for her mistakes.

“Thanks, I’ll take good care of her.”

Byron smiled and slapped her on the shoulder. “I know that. Let’sget going.”

Behind Byron she saw a middle-aged woman standing outside thewitch and witchcraft shop.

“We have company,” Alexis said.

Byron turned to look. “So we do.”

“Do you recognize her?”

Byron shook her head. “No, but it’s a long time since I’ve beenhere. They can detect a vampire at a hundred paces, can’t they?”

“Do you think that shop is run by real witches or witchenthusiasts?”

“That woman is a real witch—I can feel it. Okay, let’s go. We needto get Katie settled. It’s been