Finding Faerie by Laura Lee Page A

notions of betrayal. He loved her in his own sadistic way and wanted her by his side. After another thousand years or so, he finally lost interest in her. He was too consumed with his new pet, Amira, to make time for anyone else and granted her permission to leave. She traveled the world creating a new breed of vampire, one that was much more refined. They were taught to control their hunger and to only eliminate those who deserved death. She and her children were ridding the earth of the vilest beings one by one.
    Renata eventually landed in London, which was where she’d met Leo. They’d dated for some time while he was still human and fell in love. She offered him the gift of immortality so they could be together for an eternity. They spent the next four hundred years traveling the world, enjoying each other’s company. Unbeknownst to them, Khonsu was watching them the entire time. He always had someone reporting back to him and when he realized Leo wasn’t just a favored pet, jealously spurned him into action. He personally followed them to Paris during the interwar period. He told her that she’d had enough time to play around and it was time to join him once again. She refused, telling him that she had a good life, and didn’t want anything to do with his way of living. He gave her one year’s time to reconsider. Apparently when you’re a god who had lived for many millennia, a year was a measly measure of time.
    Renata immediately sent Leo to the United States, agreeing to meet up with him as soon as possible. She knew that her defiance made him a target, so she arranged for him to stay with a coven of witches in New York. They held the power of thirteen, which was a binding spell that only thirteen siblings of the same gender could perform. Once the ceremony was complete, their powers would pool together, making them capable of casting almost any spell. These particular sisters were not only heavy in magical strength but also knowledge. They created the spell that could break a bond with an original. They had explicit instructions from Renata to break any ties that Leo and Khonsu shared. Once the spell was performed, he was required to avoid consuming any blood for six cycles of the moon. If he survived, the bond would be severed.

    It took me a while to process everything he had told me before I could formulate any questions. “Didn’t you say that you need blood at least once a month? And that newer vampires need it more often than that?”
    “Yes, I did,” Leo confirmed. “The odds of survival were slim, but she insisted that this was the lesser of two evils. I had no reason not to trust her. She truly believed that my life was in danger since he knew of our relationship. We were exclusive for almost four hundred years; there was no way she could have passed me off as a fleeting interest. I fought her on it, insisted on standing by her, but she refused. She forced her influence on me, compelling me to leave.”
    All vampires had the ability to influence others in some way, but I didn’t think it worked on their own kind. “Wait…a vampire can charm another vampire?”
    He nodded. “It is rare, but yes. All vampires are blessed with certain abilities. That was hers. Unfortunately, Khonsu was immune to it. ”
    “What’s Khonsu’s?”
    “You witnessed it in the alley. He’s the only known vampire to have such ability. I believe it was a godly power…one that he regained upon becoming a vampire. He can teleport, but only in short distances. Renata believed that ability was the reason he was never killed. Imagine being able to simply disappear when you find yourself in a dire situation.”
    “The sifting thing?”
    He smirked. “Yes, the ‘sifting thing’.”
    “That would definitely come in handy,” I remarked. “You still haven’t told me how you survived.”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know…sheer will, maybe? It certainly wasn’t pleasant. I wasted away more and more each day. I lost