Giver of Light Read Free Page B

to pick up my slack now. I thought that I was coping, but over the last few days my emotions have started to get the better of me. I just was finding everything too damn hard. Amisi though, had even started baking again, something she used in the past as a type of therapy. So, it was to the beautiful smell of freshly baked cookies that I came down the stairs, pink as a new born baby and feeling as tired as one too.
    “Bats? Really? That's your cookie cutter of choice?” I had made it as far as the coffee machine in the corner of our large and extremely well appointed kitchen. Amisi was transferring little bat-shaped cookies from a baking tray to a wire rack for cooling. Maybe her sense of humour was also returning. I could live in hope.
    “I couldn't find fangs, so bats it is.” She was smiling, not something I had seen a lot of recently, but something I had sorely missed. Things were definitely looking up and I think I knew why.
    “Don't let Erika see, she'll probably turn into one just to get back at you.” Of course, turning into a bat is a myth. There's so many of them, sometimes its hard to keep up, but the most important fact is vampires drink human blood to survive and are fatally challenged by both sunlight and silver stakes through the heart. Quite frankly, there's not much else to know.
    “She didn't seem to like the mug I got her.” Amisi nodded in the direction of our kitsch corner. I've always had a penchant for novelty items. You know the sort, T-Shirts that read Make my day, Punk and the likes. Amisi has taken a shine to the mugs. A new addition to the collection I had started was sitting front and centre. Blood dripping red text on a solid black background saying Fang-tastic! The drink of life – coffee!
    Of course it was right up my alley. Coffee was definitely the drink of life, to hell with blood. I nabbed the mug and got brewing my coffee. With cappuccino in a Fang-tastic mug in one hand and a bat cookie in the other I sat down at the bench and watched Amisi fuss in the kitchen. She was humming. I shook my head and smiled.
    “So, had any phone calls lately? From, say... Wellington?”
    She shot me a look that said don't ask and the smile faded. “He's still on my case to move down there. I'm not ready, Luce. Not until this Prophesy thing is over.”
    Part of me wondered if Amisi would ever be ready to take on the mantle of Gregor's Nosferatin. But, she had made a promise and in doing so released me from what could have been a lifelong battle of wills with the Master of Wellington City. Despite Gregor and I sharing Sigillum , we do not share a bed. Well, we did once and that was a huge mistake, which I will regret until the end of my days. Still, he was determined to repeat it and if it wasn't for Amisi agreeing to be Wellington's Nosferatin in due course, I would still be fighting off his advances.
    As it was, he just flirted occasionally, but that was Gregor, he'd flirt with a tree branch if it got him out of the forest. Now, his sole bed-seeking attention was on Amisi. The problem was, she had a huge problem with his morals. But, that wasn't the crux of the issue. She was undeniably attracted to the guy. So, Amisi's current personal battle was ignoring the attraction and putting Gregor in his place. Gregor loved it. Challenges were always his big turn on and Amisi was proving a whopping great one at that.
    She was old enough to hold her own with him though and as much as I would have liked to have protected her, Amisi did not need protection. She was nearly twenty years old, but had the experiences of someone twice her age. Amisi was an old soul in a young, beautiful, tall and athletic body. If I didn't know better, I'd say she had Gregor wrapped around her little finger. Shame she didn't plan on using that influence for romantic designs. Amisi was strictly business when it came to Gregor.
    But the smile this evening said otherwise. Was our Amisi cracking?
    “He knows that, Amisi, he's just