The Sorceress Screams Read Free Page B

witches, he was
a part of the coalition.
    Ryan sat
forward and lowered his voice. “ Dea Woods—that’s the ambassador plenipotentiary for the Earth Witch
Monarchy—returned from a business trip to Las Vegas and immediately stepped
down from her position.”
    I hadn’t
needed the reminder of who Dea was. But Ryan didn’t
know I’d met her at the solstice ball. She’d hadn’t been warm, but she’d been civil. It was more than I could say for most of the
witches.
    “Any idea why?”
    “My friend
Henry—” Ryan flushed, probably because I knew exactly what kind of “friend” Henry
was. He cleared his throat before continuing at a rambling pace. “Knows Dea’s Guardian, Richard. Rich is beside himself. Henry has been sitting with him for the past four hours
on suicide watch. I don’t know how much you know about the role of Guardian. It
may be archaic now, but those who give the vow take it very seriously. I’m
surprised Rich hasn’t already offed himself. Dea is
alive.” Ryan had answered the next question I would have asked. “But she no
longer feels she can accurately represent her faction.” He waited a beat,
perhaps for drama’s sake. “Because a vampire enthralled her.”
    “Fuck.”
    Dea was correct. If a vampire had
enthralled her, then she was at their mercy. Anything that came out of her
mouth would be suspect.
    “Do they know
who?” I asked.
    The nausea
from earlier sloshed in my stomach again. What if Maximo had used the ring to
disable Dea so she could be enthralled?
    That didn’t
make sense. Maximo had lived in Wipuk for at least a
century. He’d had plenty of time to enthrall the witches, and yet no one had
made mention of him doing so. And I doubted he needed my ring to do it. Ascencion certainly hadn’t.
    “Nadir Khan,”
Ryan said.
    I shook my
head, signifying I didn’t know that name.
    “Think Prince
of Persia only dead. He’s not really a big deal in our country, but he’s
powerful on the international scene.”
    “Why would a
foreign vampire want to enthrall the ambassador for the American Earth
witches?”
    Ryan lifted
his broad shoulders. “ Dunno . Rich said he knew who
had done it but not why, and Dea doesn’t remember it
happening. The only reason we know about it is because Rich walked in on the
vampire telling her not to remember.
He wasn’t able to stop Nadir in time. The kicker is her career is ruined, and
there’s not a damn thing she can do about it because the vampires consider
enthralling perfectly acceptable.”
    I mentally sifted
through everything I knew about vampire and witch relations. “But there have
been peace agreements between the undead and covens for decades, ever since the
wars of the turn of the century threatened to wipe them both out.”
    Ryan nodded.
“But peace agreements between American vampires and American witches mean
little to a foreign visitor.”
    “That isn’t
right.” I grunted. “Vampires are ridiculously powerful.”
    I knew. I was
ridiculously powerful, and yet it hadn’t been enough to save me.
    Ryan’s cherry
brown eyes ensnared mine. “Rumor has it Ascencion Boleda is dead.”
    A knot of
unease formed in my stomach along with the sloshing. News travelled incredibly
fast in Wipuk .
    “And that you
know why,” he said in a lower voice.
    “I didn’t see
it happen.” My response was quick and defensive because the whole situation weighed
heavily on my conscience. I could have done things differently, and maybe the
woman would still be alive. Even though she’d been a
murderous bitch.
    “I was a
little preoccupied with my head being on fire,” I said upon recalling that bit. “Hence the new hair.”
    “It looks
cute.” The observation had been delivered in a light tone before he lifted his
beer.
    How could he
be dubious about my involvement with the death of the vampire in one moment and
complimenting me in the next? It would have made more sense if he were
heterosexual. But he wasn’t.
    “So that’s