Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) by Roxanne Rhoads Page B

in my visions had felt from their killer. Goddess, is this
what it’s like to be with a vampire?
    His full, warm,
sinfully delicious lips...hmm tasted like a mochaccino latte.
    I melted into
his fire, ready to let the flames of desire consume me. I was such a goner.
    Suddenly, he let
go of me, like the floor disappeared beneath me and I’d been dropped. I
stumbled from the sudden change. His arms no longer wrapped around me and his
lips no longer on mine, left me cold without him. The expression on his face
looked even colder.
    “I am sorry,
Anwyn, I should not have kissed you. I must ask you to leave now.” He folded
within himself and shut down. The electricity vanished. The warm man who had
just poured out his painful history to me now drew it all back inside a cold
vampire shell.
    What could I
say?
    Nothing.
    I turned and
left, running down the stairs and out the front door of VAMP.
     
    Chapter 7
     
    I kept running
down Saginaw Street. Didn’t pay attention to where I was going. Tears
threatened to fall, but I sucked them in.
    Finally, when I
looked around, realization hit, I’d rushed down by the river heading into the
park. Thoughts of Galen consumed me.
    I was so
screwed. Before, I was just seriously crushing on Galen, now he had me wrapped
around his little finger and it had nothing to do with vampire mind tricks.
    No, that kiss
awakened something inside I’d never felt before. A power rush had whipped
through me like a bolt of electricity. Like my soul ripped wide open and lay
bare, but no one knew it except me… and maybe him.
    Galen really
stirred me. Heat, passion, lust…other things. He made me feel at home, like I
walked into a safe and familiar place. All within one kiss. Something slept
deep inside me, and he brought it to life.
    Then, he kicked
me to the curb.
    This sucked bad
and totally not in a sexy vampire way.
    I had never
belonged anywhere. Not normal enough to hang out with humans and I wasn’t
powerful enough or scary enough to chill with the monsters. I even felt left
out with my mother and grandmother. They were both so powerful. Magick spilled
from them without effort. We all kept waiting for my magick to manifest, still
waiting, but my gifts all seemed to be more defensive than offensive.
    I saw spirits,
sensed spells, and knew what things were, what kind of magick was used. I could
even remain immune to vampire charms and fairy glamour. Yet, I had no power I
could use outwardly. I couldn’t twitch my finger and send things flying like my
grandma. Nor did I disappear or walk through walls like my mom. And I sure as
hell didn’t spell up a storm like my mother could back in the day. And when I
say spell up a storm I wasn’t being euphemistic, no, the witch could actually
spell a storm into existence.
    Pretty sure I
disappointed them. Maybe it was just my imagination because they always told me
how proud of me they were. Well, Grams did, Mom…not so much. She never said
much of anything.
     
    I didn’t fit
with Grams and Mom, like I was missing something important. Galen made me feel
warm and welcome. As if he touched my soul. Like he and I were a match. Two
parts of a whole. Meant to be. That disturbed me. Especially after what he told
me. I knew people…and vampires could overcome their history but seriously…he
had one hell of a messed up history to get over.
    His past made me
wary. I didn’t believe for one second any responsibility for the recent deaths
of all those women in Flint fell on Galen, but with his past, there had to be
some residual serious issues. Major baggage. But the feelings rolling through
my body did not want me to be wary of him or his past. They wanted me naked in
his arms. Something I would gladly do. Hell, I would have done it right then
and there in the little apartment above VAMP if he hadn’t tossed me out the
door.
    Ever since we
had met at my best friend Melanie’s party six months ago I tip-toed around
Galen, avoiding him as much as possible