Enchant (Rae Wilder #3)

Chapter One

NOTE FROM PENELOPE: I will be uploading the first six chapters of my latest release Demon Dark.

UPDATE: Demon Dark reached the Nook Top 100 (#64) and was #1 in the iBooks Sci-Fi & Fantasy category in the UK, CA & AU  in November 2011. So I was majorly pleased, lol!

For more information about me you can visit my webiste www.PenelopeFletcher.com or find me on Twitter (twitter.com/Miss_Fletcher) or on Facebook Facebook.com/AuthorPenelopeFletcher). 

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Breandan ran as if the gods themselves cracked whips at his heels. Tucked safely into his chest, my arms were looped around his neck, and my head bounced off his chest.

He kept the straightest path possible, vaulting over obstacles, and skidding under collapsed bridges as they appeared in our way. His booted feet splashed in oily puddles as he dexterously navigated the uneven ground, and each of his light footfalls were followed a heartbeat later by a lighter step.

Daphne, deadly in her silence. At times, she detoured to destroy the faster vampires who had managed to gain on us, but always came back to guard the rear.

We had one direction, back towards the forest where those of fairy blood were strongest. There we stood a chance of survival.

Making it out of the infested inner city, we sprinted down a broad street – daringly out in the open, but the most direct path out of vampire territory.

Salivating, a vampire dropped from a building above and landed in a shower of rubble – another slammed to the concrete a few meters behind.

Without pause, Breandan leant forward, increased his pace, and swerved.

The vampire opened his mouth wide and screeched in my ear. The rank smell of rotting flesh and putrefied remains wafted over me. Dirt encrusted fingers reached to catch my hair.

Icy tremors rippled across my scalp. Whimpering, my body shrank back and I tensed, waiting for the pain.

Daphne abruptly changed direction, smashing her fist into the face of the vampire who reached for me. He crashed through a wall. An explosion of dust billowed across the street and bricks showered down on the concrete. The sound echoed through the city. The other vampire caught the tail end of the rubble spray and twisted her ankle, rutted chucks scattering across her path. She tripped, head snapping back at an odd angle when it hit the floor. Her legs folded over her back until she was doubled over on herself.

Our pursuers scrambled around the corner, bare chests gleaming off-white. Their emaciated bodies moved with frightening speed and demented grace. Covered in raggedy tunics and jeans, they growled and snarled as they tracked us, set loose by the deranged Vampire Queen, the long time consort of my vampire, my now dead vampire, Tomas.

Pain sliced through me. Flashes of memory saw his lifeless, headless body sinking to the ground. I shuddered, pushing the images away.

Daphne stopped and took up stance. The vampires chasing us did not hesitate. Three attacked her as one and another broke past her guard heading for us.

In motion, Breandan leapt onto a pile of bricks and spun on his heel at the top. Unsure of what he planned, my gaze slid over the straightness of his nose and the strong planes of his cheek and forehead to rest on his eyes. A heavy top brow and sharp cheekbones drew together to create a fearsome scowl on his sculpted face. His bold eyebrows and masculine lips added intensity to his grim expression.

For this warrior, the deepest of yearnings poured through my limbs making them nearly as heavy as my grieving heart.

Unsheathing the dagger at his hip, he shifted my weight onto one arm. As he finished this about turn, his arm curled into his body. The knife tip halted at his ear, a slender elliptical with a sharp point – the ears of fae – then jack-knifed out with speed and precision. He threw the dagger one handed at the vampire who crested the slope.