Broom with a View by Gayla Twist, Ted Naifeh Page B

scream but found she had no voice.
    Sebastian was going to drink from her. Violet knew that without a doubt. His full, red lips were slightly parted , and she knew what was coming next. He was going to bare his fangs and plunge them deep into the tender flesh of her throat. She sent up a quick prayer to the Great Goddess that she would faint, thus sparing her the memory of the Vampire savoring her flesh, but it was not to be. Her body throbbed with the acute awareness of her presence in his arms.
    The Vampire bent his head , and Violet closed her eyes, trembling as she anticipated the searing pain of the creature sucking the blood from her being. Instead, she felt the warm, fullness of his lips pressed against hers in a passionate embrace. The stones of the tower seemed to fall away from beneath her as the world stopped spinning.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8: Sometimes a Witch Must Brook No Delays
     
    “Violetta!” Vera screeched, dashing forwards and peppering the Vampire with blows from her closed lace fan. “Release her, you fiend!”
    The girl clung to his arms, not sure if she could maintain her footing if Sebastian was to suddenly let go. “Vera,” she tried to explain. “You don’t understand.”
    “I understand everything,” her aunt cried in a breathless hiss. Waving her hands in the air, she conjured the thin veil of a protection charm. “This demon of the night followed you to take advantage of you while I, your chaperone, was recovering from a very trying day.”
    Giving Violet a reluctant look, Sebastian gently steadie d her on her feet, stepped into the shadows, and was gone.
    “That’s not it,” Violet protested. “He didn’t mean to kiss me.”
    “Of course, he meant to kiss you,” her aunt scoffed. “And the Good Goddess only knows what else he had planned if I hadn’t come looking for you.”
    “Please, Vera,” the girl beseeched her aunt. “You don’t understand. It’s not his fault. He’s been enchanted.”
    “Enchanted?” Vera repeated with more than a touch of skepticism. “And just how exactly has Mr. Du Monde been enchanted? It was not you who cast the spell, I should hope.”
    “No, not me .” Violet hung her head. “Not exactly.”
    With great trepidation, Violet told the story of her morning adventures that led to the purchase of a love charm. She edited her encounter with the violence in the square to make it less shocking for her aunt to hear, not mentioning how Sebastian ha d snatched her from the clutches of a blood-crazed Vampire. More refining it so that she stumbled and dropped her parcels in an area of the city that was well out of harm’s way. She’d scraped her hand, which gave off a few drops of blood, and when Sebastian came to her aid, retrieving her purchases, he must have inadvertently been captured by the love charm.
    “So you see,” Violet finished her tale. “It’s really not his fault.”
    “That’s still no excuse,” her aunt sniffed. “Love charm or not, a gentleman does not go around accosting young women just because he is under some type of spell.”
    “I’m sure he didn’t mean to,” Violet said in a small voice. The sound of a stifled cough and the scrape of a boot on stone caused Vera to freeze, clutching her niece’s arm. “There’s someone else up here,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “It’s probably that vulgar young Vampire eavesdropping to hear what you’ll say about him.”
    “No, I’m sure Sebastian wouldn’t...” Violet started to protest, but to no avail. Her aunt all but dragged Violet from the tower, pushing her, goosing her with the battered fan, and all the while throwing fearful glances over her shoulder, expecting them to be set upon without warning.
     
    “My niece and I must leave immediately,” Vera announced upon finding the others of their party.