Publisher's Synopsis
"I see you are the lady here," she starts softly, almost conversationally, as she moves around the table toward me. Her voice goes up at the end though, as if inviting me to correct her. Kind of, in that I am Lucien's, and he is the leader of the vampires. And also maybe in that I am their witch. The only one they've had in a while - if ever. I start to give a little sideways nod in front of these three new vampires, uncomfortable with all of this attention, and what is already beginning to feel like a challenge. What I have are a set of request/spells that my Goddess grants me to help my friends. They are her powers and I'm still figuring out how and where to use them properly. She lunges at me in an instant, and then I'm sitting down on the floor with my ears ringing like I've been on the inside of a marching band's snare drum for the entire parade. I missed the intervening action, but then, I sort of expected to; I'm only a mere mortal. What is surprising is that I'm alive and mostly unhurt. I haven't moved far; my chair still stands behind me, but turned slightly like I bumped one leg. I get up and my rear end is doing that numb ache like fingernails on a chalkboard. I must have jarred my tailbone a bit. Other than that I'm fine. As my head clears the edge of the desk, I look around the room for the lady vampire. There is a white mist - no... dust in the air, and the vampire woman is rising from a partially crouched position from within the far wall by the fireplace. She's been... embedded in it by a few inches. She's plowed right through the drywall, and broken a couple of the two-by-fours framing the wall. Ouch, those would have left some bruises, I'd think. It's an outside wall, so I guess the stonework on the outside of the building stopped her. There is more plaster dust on her shoulders and falling thickly from her hair; it must have exploded with the force at which she hit it. Her eyebrows and eyelashes are coated. She looks like she's been iced, but judging by her expression; her temper is heading toward the opposite end of the thermometer. The other two still stand surprised where they were before; the darker of them lets his jaw drop a little, and then closes it with a grin. Ok, not the reaction I was expecting from her or from the guys. They haven't intervened on my behalf, but neither have they helped the vampire woman. She stands staring down at her hands which are palm up, her fingers curled inward a bit like claws. Then she starts toward me again, and I see as she reaches up to her mouth, that she has blisters and raw pink skin all over one, so presumably both. She wipes a small drop of blood away from her even whiter than usual skin, and her eyes narrow as she regards me. Uh-oh. I start backing up even though she could close the distance between us in an instant. She's furious now that she no longer has the men backing her up as hard. Ok, so that was me - or my spell to protect against aggression from vampires (which seemed like a good idea after our run-in with Narakasura) that parked her inside a wall - but it was her fault she set it off; it's not like she gave me any warning, and I'd forgotten about it since I'd cast it. After we beat and killed Narakasura and his stable full of nasties, I'd found the spell, and cast it on myself, but there hadn't really been a reason to test it yet. The spell is supposed to rapidly create resistance, and heat the air around an attacking vampire. Being that they unaccountably hate fire, it seemed like a smart spell at the time. Now, I'm not so sure. I wouldn't like to get dead, but I'd rather not have to explain to Lucien how I torched one of his people - just in the door - and she doesn't seem like she can be talked out of her current path. Her eyes glitter at me, as she stalks my way, and I back up some more.
