Blood Enchanted (Blood Enchanted, Book 1): A Vampire Hunter Paranormal Romance Series by Nicola Claire Page B

for a trade?” I asked, slipping onto a stool in front of the bar. I swung my hair off my shoulder, giving those watching surreptitiously, from safely within their dark corners, a glimpse of my Svante.
    It may not possess a dancing dragon hilt, but no supernatural would mistake what it was: A replica of my mother’s own sword.
    “Depends,” Frank hedged, pulling out two glasses from beneath the bar’s surface. He started filling one from the tap. Dark ale, my usual drink of choice when I came here.
    “Not like you to miss an opportunity to learn something,” I commented mildly, but inside my mind was reeling. Frank was playing the part, I should have been relieved, but he was clearly nervous. Sweat had started trickling down his neck, and into the bushy edge of his beard.
    “You’re unpredictable, Ellie. You damn near had my ghoul in fucking tears.”
    I smirked. The imagery was entertaining. But my gut was also twisting. Something wasn’t right.
    “He had it coming, and you know it,” I offered. Glancing around the empty bar, my eyes snagging on the spare ribs. They were dripping in a red sauce; thicker than blood and I’d bet a lot spicier. But underneath they were still raw.
    Ghouls tended to eat their meat raw… and in private. They fiercely guarded their heritage. But that wasn’t what had my new gut churning abilities humming. Twisted ribbons of unease flipped and flopped inside.
    The basket was full.
    The beers half empty.
    They’d had an impromptu guest.
    My eyes met those of Frank’s. He didn’t look away, almost a challenge.
    Their guest was still here.
    Now who would scare a ghoul?
    I took a sip of the ale, letting the cool liquid drain down my gullet. Foam settled on my upper lip; I brushed it off with the sleeve of my jacket.
    “So are we trading?” I asked, placing the beer stein back on a coaster. Guts & Glory might smell like your typical sports bar, but it was meticulously clean underneath the kitsch and cliche. Pete had insisted on that, and Frank had not seen fit to alter it.
    “What you got?” he asked, picking up the crumpled white cloth and folding it. I watched his hands work, folding the material in half and then half again. Once he had it neatly settled, he slipped it down on the bench out of sight.
    We wouldn’t be trading today. Frank always wiped the bar top when negotiating.
    His eyes met mine.
    Nothing. There was nothing there to say we were being watched. But I didn’t need a look. I didn’t even need my gut telling me to get the fuck out of here. Any halfwit with half a brain and an observant eye could tell something was off.
    And if something was off with the head of the ghouls, then shit was about to hit the fan. Big time.
    “I don’t know, Frank,” I drawled, feeling the weight of my sword down my back. My fingers itched to draw it. Light thrummed invisibly inside. “What I’ve got is worth a heap. Can you match a stellar trade of info?”
    “Stellar, you say?” he grumbled, leaning his hip against the bar, acting as though the world was his oyster and he owned all the pearls in it. He was good. But he was still sweating. “When have I ever given you reason to doubt?”
    I smiled. The ribbons spun faster and faster. Chills skittered down my spine.
    My mother can seek out vampires. It is one of her prophesied titles. The Blood Life Seeker, or Sanguis Vitam Cupitor. Nosferatins can sense the Dark in a vampire, but they have to be facing the vampire to feel it. I couldn’t do what my mother could do. She’d been chosen by Nut.
    But I am her daughter. Half of what makes me me comes from her.
    I let my Light out through the room in a gentle rush of brilliance, fingertips of bright white reaching for every corner, every crevice, every shadowed hiding hole. Light swelled up inside me, swirled around the rafters on the ceiling, and then streaked under doors and into the back room.
    Yes. There. Darkness. I couldn’t see it, not like my mother does. But I could touch