Rook crawled over to Verity. He wanted to embrace her, to kiss her, to whisper that it was all going to be fine. And it would be.
But not with vampires running amok.
He dug out a blade from his boot and sawed through the ropes around her wrists.
âRook, look out!â
Rook spun around to see flame following the thin line of gasoline up to the second circle. It ignited the gasoline around Verityâs feet.
Verity screamed. He cut through the thick rope and freed her hands. Rook pulled off his coat and wrapped it about her shoulders. He lifted her, rushed the outer circle and leaped over it, turning to hit the floor with his shoulder while he kept Verity safely to his chest to avoid the impact. He rolled over on top of her. A quick kiss was necessary. She tasted like fear and ash.
MICHELE HAUF has been writing romance, action-adventure and fantasy stories for more than twenty years. Her first published novel was Dark Rapture. France, musketeers, vampires and faeries populate her stories. And if she followed the adage âwrite what you know,â all her stories would have snow in them. Fortunately, she steps beyond her comfort zone and writes about countries she has never visited and of creatures she has never seen.
Michele can be found on Facebook and Twitter and at www.michelehauf.com. You can also write to Michele at PO Box 23, Anoka, MN 55303, USA.
Prologue
Verity Von Veldeâs mother, Amandine, had the ability to determine the origin of a personâs soul. So when Verity was born in the 1860s, Amandine had known her childâs soul had once belonged to a witchâwho had died twice.
Knowing she possessed a reincarnated soul helped Verity to understand the strange compulsions she experienced on occasion. The first time, at fifteen, had been on that horrible night sheâd been compelled to rush to the forested village of Clichy, just outside of Paris, and had spied the bonfire. Amandine Von Velde had been betrayed by the witch hunter to whom she had unknowingly promised her heart. âWitch!â the crowd had shouted, and theyâd laughed and clapped as the flames had consumed her motherâs screams.
That night, left alone in the small cottage she had shared with her mother, Verity had fallen into a deep sadness. Years later, the compulsion had once again led her to the aqueducts beneath Paris where her grandmother, Freesia, had apported out of a Faery portal to hug the granddaughter she hadnât visited for years. Freesia had been born with a faery soul. Of all the witches in the Von Velde family, she was the only one with sidhe ichor running through her veins.
Freesia had carried with her the quilt Great-Grandmother Bluebell had made for Verityâs mother. Because Bluebell had decided not to prolong her immortality and had died a natural death (which was rare for witches, even in a time when the burnings had begun to fade), her compassion lived on in the quilt. As Freesia had wrapped the quilt about Verityâs shoulders, sheâd felt the hugs her mother and great-grandmother could never give her again.
âI know your mother begged you never to trust a man,â Freesia had said as theyâd stood beneath the city beside the gently flowing aqueduct waters. For men had been Amandineâs curse and death. âBut I would bid you trust the right man.â
Verity had liked the sound of that and had nodded, promising her grandmother she would give it consideration. When she began to protest that she did not know what to do all alone, Freesia had added, âStay in Paris. It will take care of all you need. Trust your soulâs compulsive ways. It is your birthright.â
Freesia then fluttered through the portal, and Verity would not see her lavender-haired grandmother for a long time.
Years after Grandmother Freesiaâs visitâParis, 1908
Verity tripped through the field grass that the city attendant had not scythed, for this swath of land that edged the forest was kept wild. Tourists did not venture off the paths or cobblestone roads that cut through the Bois de Boulogne. She would not normally skip through the overgrowth in a long skirt and button-up chemise, scratching at the buzzing insects, had she not been compelled.
Sometimes Verityâs soul insisted so profoundly, she had no choice but to listen. And follow.
Now, she raced toward a massive tree stump that pushed up from the earth, its serrated edges jutting like castle crenellations. Thick, verdant moss coated the south side. The rowan tree must have fallen naturally from age or perhaps a lightning strike. The stalk, branches and leaves had long been cleared away, most likely for firewood.
Arriving at the grand root base, Verity sighed in awe. She had great respect for nature and knew all living things were connected, be they human, paranormal, animal or botanical. Kneeling before the trunk, she laid her palms on the cool moss coating and smiled. It must have taken four men to clasp hands and surround this tree when it had once proudly held court here at the forestâs edge.