Drawn to the Vampire (Blood and Absinthe, Book 4) by Chloe Hart Page B

you confine your conversation to work-related matters. Do we have a deal? Yes or no.”
    “Yes,” the other man gasped, and Luke released him immediately, taking his seat back on the sofa as if nothing had happened.
    “My goodness, you’re grumpy tonight,” Daro muttered, touching his throat gingerly. “Very well, I’ll perform the magic for you. It won’t take long. But I’ll need the girl with me when I conjure the coin of passage, since it’s her quest. You will remain here,” he added, frowning at the vampire. “I am not enjoying your company this evening.”
    “Fine with me,” Luke said calmly. “Just remember our deal. Only work-related conversation.”
    “And here I was so pleased to have guests,” Daro murmured, as he rose to his feet and motioned for Kit to follow him.
    She hesitated a moment, glancing at Luke.
    “What are you looking at me for?” he asked coldly. “Daro’s right. It’s your quest. Take responsibility for it. If you’re too scared to go with him, then you’re too scared to face what’s to come.”
    Well, at least she wasn’t nervous anymore. She was too mad to be nervous.
    Kit turned her back on the vampire and followed Daro out of the room.
    * * *
    The spell itself was almost anticlimactic.
    Daro led her down to an appropriately atmospheric wine cellar, one wall of which had floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with herbs, bottles of all sizes, weapons, and bizarre objects Kit couldn’t even identify. She had no idea what to expect, but when the magician merely sketched a circle around her on the stone floor and muttered a few words, she was sure there had to be more.
    “Well? Come on out of there, child. The spell is done.”
    Kit stepped out obediently, almost disappointed. “That’s it?” she asked.
    Daro smiled as he reached into the circle, picking up a silver coin that now lay inside it. “I know,” he said sympathetically. “You wanted bubbling cauldrons and lightning flashes, didn’t you? Sometimes I throw those in just to make the client happy.”
    He placed the coin on her hand and she looked down at it. She realized with a shock of surprise that her own face, in profile, was etched into the silver.
    “Give that to the ferryman when you come to the river.”
    Kit nodded, recalling that there was a river to cross before you could enter the underworld.
    “The portal will open tomorrow night. If that’s too soon, you’ll have another chance eleven days later. And that’s it,” Daro said, smiling at her. “Unless, perhaps, you’d like something else. A love spell? Come, Miss Bantry, no young lady ever turns down a love spell.”
    “I’m all set, thanks,” Kit said dryly. “Believe me, Mr. Daro, I don’t have the slightest interest in a love spell.”
    “Very well. But you must let me give you something. I insist on it. A cordial for bravery? You can’t refuse that.”
    In spite of herself, Kit was intrigued. She didn’t want Luke to question her courage again.
    “How does it work?” she heard herself ask.
    “It’s the simplest thing in the world,” Daro began smoothly, and that very smoothness made her change her mind.
    “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “Really, I don’t want anything else.”
    “You wound me, fair lady. You shouldn’t refuse a gift. At the very least, allow me to give you a kiss for good luck.”
    He did resemble a satyr more than anything else, Kit thought. But he seemed harmless enough.
    “On the cheek,” she warned him.
    “Well, of course,” he said, sounding shocked. “I wouldn’t think of anything else. Besides which, Luke would probably rip my head off, and while that’s usually a figure of speech, in his case…” he let the sentence trail off, and while Kit was wondering why Luke would care if Daro kissed her, the small man murmured something under his breath before pecking her lightly on the cheek.
    “Good luck with your quest, my dear.”
    Kit closed her fingers around the silver coin. “Thank