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  “And that’s you?” Addison looked at me with wide eyes. “That’s why Taylor went into heat and started to change, because you’re this…this special kind of were?”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it special,” I growled, glaring at her. “There’s a reason they call it a fucking curse. It’s a hell of a thing but I never expected it to affect anyone but me. I didn’t even know about this damn prophecy until tonight.”

  “So…what?” Gwendolyn said, frowning. “Is Celeste trying to get Taylor back for herself so she can control her—use her to run errands during the day or something?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Corbin said shutting the book and straightening up. “Why should she want to get Taylor to do things during the daylight when she could do them herself?”

  “But how—” Addison began and then stopped, turning pale. “Corbin, please, don’t say it.”

  “I’m sorry, darling, but I have to—Celeste is going to try and get Taylor’s new powers for herself,” he said. “And the only way to do that will be to drain her and take her blood. All of her blood.”

  “But that would kill her,” Gwendolyn objected. “I mean, if she was using a spell to take the life force as well.”

  He nodded. “Undoubtedly. Exsanguination is fatal to young vampires. It takes us at least fifty to sixty years to toughen up enough to withstand such treatment and Taylor has only had a little over six.”

  “Where is she?” I shot to my feet—I couldn’t sit there listening to them speculate anymore. “We have to get to her before that bitch, Celeste—before she…” I couldn’t make myself say it.

  “Unless…unless she has already.” Gwendolyn looked sick. “Oh God, I never should have broken that bond. Never.”

  “You can make it up to us now,” Corbin said practically. “Do you still have anything of Taylor’s? Hair or blood—anything you can do a finding spell with?”

  “Of course!” She snapped her fingers and some color returned to her cheeks. “I’ll get it.” She hurried out of the room.

  Addison looked up at Corbin. “And you really think…you don’t think it will be too late?” she whispered, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

  He shook his head. “I believe the kind of power transfer ceremony Celeste will have to use will require a full moon at its zenith.”

  “That’s not long,” I growled. Even inside I could feel the moon’s pull—she would be right overhead soon. If that was all Celeste was waiting for, we didn’t have much time.

  “We will simply have to hope she is close,” Corbin said.

  At that moment, Gwendolyn hurried back in.

  “Okay, this is a quickie,” she said. “But the blood I have from her is fresh so it ought to be really accurate.”

  “How accurate?” Addison asked.

  “We ought to be able to pinpoint her exact location,” Gwendolyn said, unrolling a black towel with various magical implements in it. “Anyway, there are two different spots around Tampa I think Celeste would be likely to go for this kind of spell. The first is an abandoned train yard not far from here—it was placed on an old crossroads where criminals were hung hundreds of years ago. The second is a hill just outside the Seminole land near the casino. It was sacred to the Indians and it’s also where the local covens used to practice.”

  “Wait a minute—you mean Boneyard Hill?” Addison asked.

  “Uh-huh.” Gwendolyn nodded. She was doing something with a compass, a map and a small vial filled with what I assumed was Gwendolyn’s blood. “Why?”

  “We investigated a homicide there last year,” she said faintly. “Well, Homicide did—the VAB was called in because the murder was so brutal they suspected vamp involvement.”

  Corbin cleared his throat and frowned at her.

  “There wasn’t though,” she went on. “It was just—a really awful crime scene. One of the worst I’ve seen.”

  “The hill is cursed,” Gwendolyn said. “It’s seen too much bloodshed and violence and bad things keep happening there. That’s why the covens quit using it as a meeting spot. It’s a place of power but the wrong kind of power now.”

  “And you think Celeste took Taylor there?” I asked impatiently. I was itching to be away, to be looking for Taylor. What if the damn finding spell took too long? What if we were too late to save her? Even though she’d divorced me for all intents and purposes, I couldn’t stand to lose her. The thought of her being hurt or killed nearly drove me out of my mind. I had to get to her.

  “I know she did.” Gwendolyn looked up at us. “Boneyard Hill is your place. She’s there, all right, and according to this, she’s still alive.” She held out the compass. “It won’t point to one who has passed over,” she said. “Taylor is okay—at least for now.”

  “Let’s go.” I was already heading for the door.

  “We’re coming with you,” Addison was right behind me and Corbin behind her.

  “Damn it, then I’m coming too.” Gwendolyn grabbed some things and followed us.

  “You can stay here,” I snarled, still angry at her for breaking the bond. “You’ve done enough damage, witch.”

  “I know I did, which is why I’m offering to come help,” she snapped back. “There’s some very dark magic involved here, Victor—you might need me.”

  “All I need is someone to point me toward Celeste,” I growled and the brand on my back burned. “So I can rip her fucking throat out.”

  Chapter Twenty-six—Taylor

  “Chain her tightly—I don’t want to risk her getting away,” Celeste directed the two vampires handling me. They were new—not more than a couple of days born to darkness I estimated—and obviously still infatuated with her. One was blond with big blue eyes and the other was dark with big green eyes. Either one of them could have been walking the catwalk wearing the latest in male fashions. Celeste always did have an appetite for pretty people.

  “Yes, Mistress,” they chorused, giving her adoring looks. One of them chained my wrists to the big old oak tree in the center of the flat hill we were on and the other made certain my ankles were secure.

  From my vantage I could see the Hard Rock casino, owned by the Seminole Indian tribe, as well as the vast parking garage, which was almost as tall as the casino itself. The lights of the Hard Rock sign blazed red neon like a distant star I could never reach. The hill we were on was just through a back lot overgrown with underbrush at the back of the huge building, but I might as well have been on the moon. No one would find me here—no one would even think to come looking. I had never felt so lonely.

  Celeste came to stand in front of me, a smirk on her red lipsticked mouth. The sight of her pulled me out of my morbid thoughts. The chains the other two vamps were using to secure me to the tree were silver—they burned my skin and drained my strength. Still, I was more concerned about the wicked looking dagger my old mistress had unsheathed.

  She was making practice swipes and stabs with it, the thin, silver knife glittering in the moonlight. It looked a lot like the athame Gwendolyn had used the night before but the blade was longer and sharper and much more lethal looking.

  “Is it sharp enough, do you think, Taylor?” she asked, catching me watching her. “The better to kill you with, my dear.” She was wearing a long flowing white robe that she probably imagined made her look more like a practitioner of ancient magic. Red and white roses were fixed in her hair and an elaborate choker made of antique jet and onyx beads encircled her slim white throat.

  I had been forced to dress in a white gown too—presumably to complement Celeste’s look. It was a long, flowing thing that clung to me and whipped in the wind dramatically. It was also backless, which meant I could feel every inch of the oak’s rough bark digging into my skin.

  “The circle of protection is complete,” Shadowlock said, coming up from the other side of the hill. In contrast to Celeste’s theatrical outfit, he was wearing faded blue jeans, worn boots and a plain dark blue button-down shirt. Though I had seen him numer