Taming the Vampire: A Paranormal Romance Novella by Chloe Hart Page A

looked
exhausted and ill.
    “Jack, this isn’t a good idea. The
spell...it’s hurting you.”
    “No,” he said quickly. “It’s taken my
strength, but I’m not hurt. I’ll be fine, I promise. The spell
worked perfectly. You should go now and find the Kraken. That’s
what tonight was about.”
    She didn’t move.
    “Go,” he said, his voice sounding stronger.
She hesitated another second, then turned to leave.
    “Liz?”
    She turned back immediately. “What?”
    “I’m a little particular about who gets to
see you naked. The Kraken is not on my approved list. Maybe some
clothes?”
    “Oh. Right.” She paused abruptly, looking at
him but seeing something else. “Jack, I can sense it. I know where
it is.” She took a deep breath. “It’s down by the waterfront. Near
Battery Wharf.”
    She hurried back into the bedroom. She tore
some clothes before she figured out how to control her strength,
but after a few minutes she was wearing her usual jeans and tee
shirt and was striding along the deserted city streets. She could
still see the Kraken in her mind’s eye, down at the harbor, and she
knew the power flowing through her was giving her this ability.
    The spell had worked, all right. The way she
felt now, she’d be willing to take on the Kraken, King Kong, and
Godzilla with one hand tied behind her back.
    Feeling strong was what she lived for.
Fighting evil was what she lived for. She should have been
exhilarated, on top of the world.
    But all she could think about was the vampire
she’d left behind.

Chapter Seven
    She was a goddess.
    Not because of the spell, although the golden
halo helped from a special effects standpoint. But Liz Marlowe had
always had the power, grace, and beauty of Artemis. Of a divine
warrior.
    Once she left the apartment Jack had gone
stumbling after her, his steps slow and uncertain, his body fragile
with humanity.
    The spell hadn’t hurt him—it had just made
him human again. Human without a heartbeat, or breath, or life, or
those things that made humanity endurable.
    His instincts told him to wait in the safety
of Liz’s apartment until the spell ended. But he couldn’t stand
thinking of her out there, fighting the Kraken, without at least
trying to follow.
    Jack found them near the end, coming to the
docks in time to witness the last minutes of their battle.
    They were caught in a kind of embrace,
darkness and light together. The Kraken’s deadly cold against Liz’s
blazing heat.
    She was incredible. In all his long life,
he’d never seen anything to equal her. Fearless and glorious and
full of grace, she was an angel burning with divine fire.
    They had each other by the throat. Her light
diminished just for a moment, and Jack stumbled towards them. But
Liz never wavered, never faltered, and with a wild, keening cry she
fought back, glowing brighter and brighter as she grappled with her
enemy, until looking at her was like looking at the sun.
    There was a flash of light so bright he was
blinded. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them
again, Liz was casting a lifeless, tentacled body far into the
ocean.
    She stood looking after it for what seemed
like a long time. Jack was in the shadows several yards away,
leaning against the wall of an old warehouse. He wanted to call out
to her, to cross the space between them and take her in his arms,
weak as they were.
    But he’d told her it was just for one night.
She’d surrendered to him because of that. She would never have made
herself vulnerable if she’d thought he’d want more, demand more.
She was a warrior. She’d never be vulnerable with him again.
    Jack ducked around the corner so she wouldn’t
be able to see him if she turned around. He walked a few more feet,
then closed his eyes and leaned against the building.
    He would have to leave Boston, he realized
with a sick feeling in his stomach. He’d fallen in love with Liz
Marlowe, and he’d never be able to stay in the same city