The Vampire Flame (Vampire Sorceress Book 3) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

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  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

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  About the Author

  THE VAMPIRE FLAME

  Book 3 of The Vampire Sorceress

  T.L. Cerepaka

  Published by Annulus Publishing.

  Copyright © T.L. Cerepaka 2018. All rights reserved.

  Contact: [email protected]

  Cover design by BZN Studio

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send an email to the above contact.

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  The first mistake I made was leaving my friend, Jane Gardner, by herself at the table where we were having lunch together.

  And the second was like it: Sensing a magical presence in the restaurant, but not bothering to investigate it or even just flat out grabbing Jane’s hand and pulling her out of there by force. I could have made up an excuse if Jane asked questions, because I had gotten pretty good at making up excuses for having to leave places since I became a half-vampire about three months ago.

  But even though Dad had taught me how to be aware of the presence of a sorcerer in my general vicinity, I had been in such a hurry to use the bathroom that I didn’t pay as much attention to it as I should have. Magical auras felt kind of like the wind, ranging in strength from light, gentle breezes to raging tornadoes depending on the sorcerer in question. Most sorcerers didn’t have an aura strong enough to sense, or if they did, it was weak. It helped that most sorcerers knew how to conceal their auras, because it was a basic skill that most sorcerers learned at a young age even before they started on their journey on the Six Steps.

  But because I’d grown up totally ignorant about my sorcerer heritage, I learned it much later than most. As a result, my own aura-sensing abilities were fairly underdeveloped for a woman my age. I still had to put a lot of conscious thought into not merely locating the owner of the aura, but also sensing it at all. Dad told me that aura-sensing was an important skill for me to develop and that I should practice it always, which was easy to do because normal humans like my friend Jane didn’t know when I was aura-sensing and when I wasn’t. According to Dad, I would eventually become so good at it that the skill would become second nature and would eventually be on at all times even when I was asleep or unconscious.

  That seemed like so far away, though, and because of my inexperience in aura-sensing, I wasn’t always as aware of my surroundings as I could be. Especially whenever I was doing anything fun or relaxing, like going to lunch with my best friend for the first time in forever.

  I hadn’t meant to leave Jane by herself. I’d just needed to use the bathroom and told her I would be back in a minute. Jane had been in the middle of eating her avocado salad, so she hadn’t been able to speak, but she nodded to show that she understood, so I crossed the crowded restaurant full of families and people eating lunch and went into the girl’s room, where I did my business quickly. I didn’t even spend much time looking into the mirror. While I still had a reflection (unlike full-blooded vampires), I hated looking at myself in the mirror and so generally tried not to do it.

  Now I stood at the table where Jane and I had been eating together, doing my best not to panic. Her avocado salad sat half-eaten at her seat, while my taco plate was empty due to the fact that I’d finished eating first. Our drinks also stood untouched, so I still scanned the restaurant itself for any sign of Jane.

  The restaurant in question—a Mexican food restaurant known as Ricardo’s Place, which was one of my favorite places to eat—was packed, which made sense, because today was Sunday and church had just ended for the day. The Mexicans from the nearby Catholic church all sat around eating and talking loudly in Spanish, while the people from my church—Greensboro First Baptist Church—were behaving much the same way, except their conversation was in English rather than Spanish. Combined with the delicious scent of homemade Mexican food and it created a very unique atmosphere, one I always loved visiting whenever I got the chance.

  But I wasn’t paying much attention to the atmosphere at the moment, because I was busily searching the crowded restaurant for Jane. I didn’t see her among the Baptists, nor was she among the Catholics, either. I knew she wasn’t in the bathroom, because I had just been in there less than a minute ago and hadn’t seen her. I suppose it was possible that she might have entered just after I left, but I would have seen her if she had. And she definitely hadn’t gone back to the front counter to order more food, nor was she trying to catch the attention of that handsome Mexican waiter who had served us our food today.

  I pulled out my phone and was just about to call Jane on it when I noticed her phone was still sitting next to her avocado salad. Uh oh. Jane never went anywhere without her phone, but how could she have just disappeared into thin air like that? And in the middle of all of these people?

  “Miss?” said a Mexican accented voice behind me. “May I help you with something?”

  I whirled around to see one of the restaurant’s waiters standing behind me. He was the same handsome one Jane had been eying ever since we entered the restaurant, who, although short, was pretty ripped and had great hair. I half-wondered what his blood tasted like before telling myself not to get distracted by that.

  “Oh, yes,” I said, nodding. I gestured at the table. “Do you know where my friend is? I was just in the bathroom, but when I got out, she was gone.”

  “You mean the blonde one who looked at me strangely?” said the waiter. He frowned, as if thinking about my question. “Ah, yes. I remember. I saw a man walk up to your table, talk to her briefly, and then take her hand and lead her out of the restaurant. I think he was her boyfriend.”

 
My heart froze. Jane didn’t have a boyfriend, though not for lack of trying. “What did this guy look like?”

  The waiter frowned even deeper, as if I had just asked him a hard question. “About medium-sized, black, and wearing a really cool silver necklace around his neck with a pentagram on it. He also wore some weird coat that looked kind of like robes, though I was too busy taking someone else’s order to pay too much attention to him.”

  That sounded like a sorcerer, but that made no sense to me. What would a sorcerer want with Jane? “Where did they go?”

  The waiter gestured toward the exit. “Just out the exit. They didn’t make a fuss about it or anything.”

  “Did they get into a car?” I said, trying not to show any fear or panic.

  “Again, I don’t know,” said the waiter. “I was not paying very much attention, but it’s possible, I suppose.”

  I hated how casually this waiter was taking what might have been a kidnapping in progress, but aloud I said, “Thanks. I think, uh, you’re right about it being her boyfriend. Must have come to pick her up early. I’d better leave, because we’re going to see a movie together and I don’t want to be late.”

  “I understand, miss, but could you pay your bill first?” said the waiter, holding up a bill toward me. “That was what I was coming to show you, since it looked like you and your friend were done eating.”

  Damn it. Even spending just a few seconds paying this bill might make it impossible for me to find Jane, but I also knew that there was no way this waiter would let me leave if I didn’t pay, so I quickly dug some cash out of my purse and shoved it into his hand. “Take this. And keep the change. Think of it as a tip.”

  Before the waiter could stop me, I walked straight out of the restaurant, weaving my way in and out of the families that were busily enjoying Mexican food. As soon as I stepped out of Ricardo’s Place and closed the door behind me, the sounds in the restaurant died down, allowing me to focus on the parking lot.

  Looking around the restaurant’s parking lot, I noticed that my car—a small blue sedan that I had bought with money saved up over the summer during my senior year in high school—was still here, thank God, but I didn’t see any other cars which might belong to the sorcerer. Of course, the waiter had said that he didn’t see them leave in a car, which made sense, because as far as I knew sorcerers didn’t drive cars. There was a very good chance that the sorcerer in question had teleported away, though given how teleportation always created a bright blue light and the waiter hadn’t seen anything like that, I suspected that the sorcerer—and, by extension, Jane—were still somewhere in the area.

  I focused on my aura-sensing, doing my best to locate the sorcerer’s aura. I picked it up fairly quickly. It came from behind Ricardo’s Place, away from the parking lot, where you couldn’t see anyone unless you actually walked around back. A part of me feared that the sorcerer might be abusing Jane, but I pushed that thought out of my mind and made my way around the side of the building. As I walked, I prepared a fireball in my hand, ready to throw it in case the sorcerer tried to attack me.

  Walking around the side of the building, I saw two people. One was a tall black man in sorcerer robes, with a pentagram necklace hanging off his neck, while the other was Jane, who stood next to him. The sorcerer was pouring blue teleportation dust out of a bag, forming a wide circle around him and Jane. As for Jane, she had a fairly glassy-eyed look, as if she was unconscious, though she didn’t seem to be in danger of falling over.

  “Hey!” I shouted, stepping out from around the corner and pointing a finger at the sorcerer. “Get away from my friend, you creep!”

  I threw a fireball at the sorcerer, but the sorcerer waved his hand and formed a protective barrier around himself. The fireball struck the barrier dead on, but dissipated upon contact, leaving the sorcerer unharmed.

  I readied another fireball, but before I could throw it, the sorcerer pulled Jane closer to him. His hands were huge, with fingers long enough to wrap completely around Jane’s upper arm.

  Despite being grabbed roughly, Jane just giggled and said, “Blake, what are you doing? Are we at your place yet?”

  Uh oh. It sounded like Jane was enchanted by the sorcerer. Dad had told me about enchantments and how they could be used to alter a person’s mind, often without them even knowing, but this was the first time I’d seen an enchantment in action in the field.

  “Not yet, my dear,” said the sorcerer, his voice husky and deep, looking at me with annoyance. “I have one last thing to take care of before we leave. But don’t worry, it won’t take long.”

  Jane giggled again before looking at me, her eyes as glassy as ever. “Hey, that’s my friend, Tara. Can she come with us, too?”

  “No,” said the sorcerer, apparently named Blake. His grip on Jane tightened noticeably. “It is just going to be you and me, and soon, the Fire as well.”

  “Okay,” said Jane, who sounded genuinely disappointed at Blake’s response. She looked at me again and smiled in a very airy fairy way. “Don’t worry about me, Tara. Blake is the love of my life and we’re going to get married and have ten children together. We’ll name two of them after you, since you’re my best friend.”

  Blake must have had Jane under some heavy enchantments to have her talk about having ten children, given how the Jane I knew wasn’t very fond of children in general. “That’s nice, Jane, but I think you should dump him. He’s really not your type.”

  “Maybe you should let her decide who her ‘type’ is,” said Blake. He smiled. “Though I imagine her taste in men must be better than yours, given how you are an abomination who shouldn’t exist on this Earth.”

  “Abomination?” Jane repeated in a dazed manner. “Blake, that’s not very nice. I mean, I’m not a fan of Tara’s hairstyle, and I think she applies too much eyeliner, but—”

  “Silence, Jane,” said Blake in a harsh voice. “Go to sleep. When you next awaken, we’ll be in our love paradise.”

  Suddenly, Jane’s head fell forward onto her chest and she would have fallen onto the ground if Blake hadn’t been holding her. Blake then threw Jane over his shoulder like she weighed nothing (which was pretty close to the truth, given how small she was) and then looked at me and smiled again. “It was nice meeting you, Tara Lee, daughter of Richard Lee. Next time we meet, perhaps I will find out if you really are as good as your lineage suggests.”

  Before I could respond to that, Blake snapped his fingers and the blue teleportation dust exploded around him, creating a bright flash of light. Even with my sunglasses on, the blue light nearly blinded me and it hurt my skin, forcing me to look away to avoid being blinded.

  As soon as the light faded, I looked back and saw that Blake and Jane were gone. The only hint that they had even been here was the circle of blue dust where they had been standing, but that, too, disappeared in the wind before my startled eyes.

  “Jane!” I shouted in horror as loudly as I could, my eyes practically bulging out of my sockets. “No!”

  I rushed over to the spot where Blake and Jane had been standing seconds ago and fell to my hands and knees, touching the concrete, but I was too late. There was not a single sign of Blake or Jane anywhere. The two of them had teleported, but to where, I didn’t know. I had only used teleportation dust once myself and so was aware that it could allow you to travel a long distance, but I had no idea if it was possible to track people who used it or if I was out of luck. Dad told me that teleportation was something sorcerers learned on the Third Step when they became Acolytes, which meant I couldn’t use the dust myself. Even if I could, teleportation dust could only be used once.

  But I didn’t want to let this Blake guy get away with Jane. I grabbed handfuls of teleportation dust, hoping against hope that I would be able to somehow sense where it had taken the two of them, but it just felt like sand in my hand. The teleportation dust slipped through my fingers, leaving me with a thin layer of blue dust on the palms of my hands.

  I sto
od up, again trying not to panic. Panicking would not help. It would just make the situation that much worse. I needed to be smart about this, but it was hard to be smart when I didn’t know who this Blake guy was or what he was going to do with Jane. All that talk about ‘love paradise’ made me fear the worse, but again I tried not to dwell on the worse because I didn’t want to stress myself out more than I already was.

  Should I file this kidnapping with the police? How would that work, exactly? ‘Officer, this big black guy brainwashed my bestie into falling in love with him and then they teleported away while standing in a circle of blue dust. No, sir, I’m sure I’m sane, because I’m a half-vampire, after all, and this is actually one of the more normal things I’ve seen’?

  No, I couldn’t go to the police with this, but I didn’t know where or who else to go to. As far as I knew, there weren’t any magical police, but at the same time, I couldn’t just let Blake get away with this. I had to find a way to help Jane somehow, but I was completely at a loss for how to do that.

  “Tara?” said a familiar voice behind me. “What are you doing here?”

  I whirled around to see a tall, dark, and handsome vampire standing just a few feet away from me in the shadows of the building behind Ricardo’s Place. Though it had been a month since I had last seen him, I would recognize that short dark hair and scar on his face anywhere. “Lucius! I’m so glad to see you, because I seriously need your help.”

  “What a coincidence,” said Lucius, folding his arms in front of his chest, “because I need your help as well.”

  “Really?” I said. “Maybe it’s not a coincidence. Maybe God brought us together to help each other.”

  Lucius shrugged, which was when I remembered that Lucius wasn’t a Christian and didn’t believe in God. “Believe what you want, but tell me what you need help with first, because you seem to be in bigger trouble than me at the moment.”

  “Okay,” I said, clapping my hands together anxiously. “So Jane and I were eating in Ricardo’s Place and having really great Mexican food, but then I needed to use the bathroom so I went into the girls’ room and did my business, but when I left the girls’ room I found out that Jane was missing and the waiter told me that a strange guy had picked her up, a guy who sounded like a sorcerer based on the description the waiter gave me, so I went outside and found Jane and the sorcerer guy, whose name is Blake by the way, but then Blake and Jane teleported away and I have no idea where they are and I really, really need your help. Really.”