Magicstorm (Heart of a Vampire, Book 4) by Amber Kallyn Page A

He wanted to close his
eyes, but couldn’t as the woman and her beasts ravaged his mother
and sisters, killing them all, then burned down the house.
    He and Eric were dragged to the ship.
Helpless. Unable to save anyone.
    The dream drifted away and though usually, he
went back to the sorceress’ dungeon, this night he found himself in
Celeste’s bedroom.
    She lay on the bed, in her lacey red
underthings, watching him. “You’re in pain. I feel it,” she
said.
    He jerked back as her eyes flickered from
brown to the green of the sorceress. She smiled, but there was no
malice in it.
    “Let me make you feel better,” she said
softly. “I cannot change the past, but I can help you now.”
    She opened her arms to him. Emotion, hot and
heavy, rushed through his blood and all he wanted to do was go to
her, let her comfort him, push away the soul deep pain of the past,
which refused to let him go.
    Lust, sex, hot and heavy, to drown out the
memories.
    But something about her struck him. Magic.
Sorcery perhaps.
    And it didn’t feel like this was his dream
any longer.

Chapter
seven
     
    Celeste woke abruptly to her phone buzzing.
She sat up and stared around her bedroom. The light of dawn shone
through the window.
    Rubbing her eyes, she thought back to the
dream. It had been weird.
    She’d been lying in bed, telling Brandon to
join her.
    The phone rang again, insistent, and she
pushed the dream from her mind. “Wilder.”
    She didn’t recognize the voice, only the
words. “There was another murder connected to yours last night. The
guy didn’t call in this time. We just found the body.”
    Sitting straighter, she replied, “Give me the
information. I’ll be there shortly.”
    She hung up. Two in one night? As she dialed
Brandon’s number, she started to dress.
    He answered, his voice gruff and strained.
“Yeah?”
    “You were right. There was a double murder
last night.”
    He cursed, then said, “I can be there in ten
minutes.”
    “I’ll be ready.” She hung up, pretending
there were no flutters in her belly from his voice, or that her
heart hadn’t skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him soon. That
she hadn’t been wanting to sleep with him in her freaking
dreams.
    When he arrived, she was outside,
waiting.
    He barely looked at her. “Get on.”
    She slid on the back of his motorcycle,
strapping on the helmet, then leaned back as far as she could while
he drove.
    When they arrived at the scene, it was
already processed, the body ready to be loaded into the coroner’s
van. Ignoring the prickles on the back of her neck and the way she
kept finding Brandon staring at her with anger in his eyes, she got
down to her job.
    By the time she was done, most of the other
cops had gone. She glanced at Brandon.
    He leaned against the far wall, still
scowling at her.
    “You want to tell me what I did to piss you
off?” she asked. “Or can we get on with work?”
    He blinked, jerking back. Finally, he
straightened and began searching the scene for invisible runes. He
found the first and drew it for her on a small notepad. Brandon
walked around the crime scene, finding and drawing three more
strange symbols--none of which she could see.
    By the time he finished, the tension in the
air was at least bearable, if still strained and uncomfortable.
    “Do you dream?” he asked out of the blue.
    She turned to look at him. “Why?”
    “I’m curious.”
    “Everybody dreams,” she replied, ignoring her
throbbing temples.
    “What do you dream about?”
    “Unicorns and rainbows,” she said
sharply.
    His eyes finally lightened a bit. “We done
here?”
    “Yes.”
    As they got back on his bike, he asked,
“Where to next?”
    “The station. I need to see the coroner’s
reports from the last two bodies.”
    He drove silently, parking in the back by her
car.
    She sent an unspoken thank you for having her
own vehicle near so she wouldn’t have to deal with the overpowering
feel of touching him again.
    Inside, she