Myrddin's Magic - Book One of the Magic Trilogy

Chapter Six

Amalie collected her bags of groceries and walked back to her apartment building. It was a nice night out, warm with a slight breeze, but there was a sinister feel to the air. A shiver went down Amalie's spine. Amalie walked fast as she thought about being attacked the just a few nights before, and she took comfort in the vast number of people out enjoying the stars. Ten minutes later, she carried her groceries up to her apartment.

Her apartment was a small building with only six units, two per floor. Amalie's apartment was on the third floor. There was no elevator, and Amalie wondered if it would be a good idea to find another place. She wouldn't need the two bedrooms when Chloe returned from Tuscany since Chloe was moving back to the suburbs to live with her parents. Her rent would be too expensive for just herself. It was either find another place to live, or take in a roommate. And Amalie had always had a roommate. She thought that perhaps it was time to try living on her own. She had been enjoying the solitude with Chloe being away.

If she got another place to live, she could get something closer to work – or at least something that was more on the way for Killian. He never complained, but Amalie was aware that he had to pass his house on the way to drop her off, and he had to backtrack again to get to his house. It was adding another three-quarters of an hour of travel to his day, and was a waste of gas, time and energy. If she had a place to live more on the way to work, she wouldn't feel so bad about Killian picking her up and dropping her off.

She opened her apartment door, glad to be home. The bags were heavy and the plastic handles were digging into her hands. She walked into the kitchen and plopped the bags on the counter. She turned around, screaming when she saw a man in the doorway to her living room. She looked carefully. She seemed to recognize the man, but she didn't know where she had seen him before.

Gabriel and Killian heard Amalie scream, and they burst from the shadows and pounded up the stairs. By the time they got to the top, Killian was frantic. He knew how fast a vampire could move and he wasn't feeling confident that he would find Amalie safe and unharmed when he got there.

Gabriel tried both doors at the top of the stairs. Only one was unlocked, and Killian gave a little prayer to whatever god was listening that the unlocked door was for Amalie's apartment. Then he heard Amalie's voice through the door, and he knew that his prayers were answered. He could hear Amalie's panic in her voice as she talked to the intruder, and he took comfort in the fact that she was still alive.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Bruno."

"Why are you here?" Her eyes darted around as she looked for an escape. There was none. Bruno was standing in the only opening to the kitchen. She saw a chef's knife sitting on the counter and wondered if she would be able to pick it up to protect herself before he stopped her.

"To suck your blood." He looked so matter-of-fact, and that scared her even more.

"Not you again!", she said as her voice wavered in fear. "You look more cleaned up than the last time I saw you." She tried to keep him talking to delay the inevitable. She prayed, and wondered if there was a God, if there would be any help for her.

"That was my costume." He stretched his lips into an evil smile.

"It was very effective." She was losing her shakiness and was instead turning numb with terror. She wondered if her life would flash before her eyes, and thought it would be a very sad movie. She wouldn't be leaving much behind. Just a few loved ones and a semi-decent thesis. "I'd never have guessed that you weren't a real homeless person."

"Thank you. Now come over to me." Amalie had heard that vampires could compel you to do things. At least, that was what happened in all the books. She was happy, or as happy as you could be when a however-old vampire was telling you to do something. If vampires could enthrall you, he hadn't done so. It gave her confidence that she would be able to get out of this situation alive.