“Get in the car, now! And not another word!”

He hated what he had to do now. If he could have left Yvette right where she was, at least he could have put a lid on that chapter of his life, but circumstances were what they were. He had two choices, neither of which looked the least bit appealing; one of them he’d already tried and failed: for whatever reason, he couldn’t stake her. Which only left one other option.

Haven ushered the girl toward the car door and lifted Yvette’s limp body into his arms, carrying her and placing her onto the back bench of the limo as Kimberly stepped inside. He could only hope that she stayed unconscious for the length of the car ride, otherwise he’d have to fall back on option one. Of course, if she remained unconscious when he brought her to the witch, it meant he’d have to carry her again and feel her body close to his. And that presented a whole other issue: one his brain wanted to avoid and his cock looked forward to.

“One more scream, and you’ll end up like her.”

With frightened eyes, Kimberly nodded, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other stretched out toward Yvette. “Why won’t she let go of my wrist?”

Haven didn’t know for sure, but he figured it had something to do with her vampire powers. “Hate to break it to you, kid, but your bodyguard’s a vampire.”
Six

“You idiot, you should have killed her immediately!” Bess hissed, her mouth distorting into an ugly grimace.

Haven was back in her makeshift living area, back amongst the disgusting smells and sights of her witchcraft.

“In front of the girl?” he asked, knowing it was a weak excuse. But he couldn’t admit to her that he’d had scruples about taking Yvette’s life. If only he hadn’t met her and spoken to her at the party, he would have never developed a conscience about it. But now? Damn it, how could he kill her now?

“She’ll get over it. Do it now while she’s still out.”

Haven shook his head, his mind frantically scrambling for another excuse. “We don’t know what’ll happen. Her hand is still attached to the girl. What if it affects Kimberly? What if she gets injured or killed? I’m assuming you want the girl alive …”

“Mmm.” The witch’s face distorted, frown lines building on her forehead. Good, she was contemplating it. As farfetched as his statement was, maybe Bess was too superstitious to take any risks. He sure didn’t want any more blood on his hands than he already had. Not even the blood of a vampire. It was bad enough that he’d delivered both of them to the witch. Once he had his brother back, the two of them could figure out how to free the innocent girl before the witch could harm her. As for Yvette? He had no clue what to do about her. Nor should he even waste a single thought on her.

“Fine,” she finally agreed.

Haven let out a relieved breath. One hurdle was jumped over. Now to the next one. “Good, so you have everything you want.”

“Indeed.”

“Now, give me back my brother, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

And back again as soon as we can figure out how to wrench Kimberly from your evil clutches.

She gave him a smile. “As you just said, I now have everything I want.”

Her measured speech made him listen up. Something wasn’t right. Suspicion made the little hairs on his arms stand up in alert.

“Kimberly, your brother, and you. All three of you.”

Haven swallowed hard, not liking where the conversation was going. “You gave your word.”

“I lied.”

He took a step toward her, ready to throttle her. With her hand raised, she pushed an invisible shield toward him, holding him in place. God, how he hated witches! At least with a vampire he could fight in hand-to-hand combat. He hadn’t planned on fighting her this time around. All he’d figured was to try and get his brother out, then come back in full force as a team. One of them would distract her while the other attacked. On his own, he knew he had no chance. He was powerless against her magic—as the son of a witch, he knew just how powerless.

“Give me back my brother and let us go!”

“Sorry, can’t do that. I need all three of you.”

He hated being outgunned. “You fucking bitch!”

She made a dismissive hand movement. “You can call me all you want. I really don’t care what you think.”

“What do you want with us?” Maybe if he could find out what was going on, he could figure out a way to escape and get his brother out alive.

“Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it? I’m not in the sharing mood today. But I’m grateful—that’s why I’ll let you keep your stake when I lock you up with the vamp.”