Blood Debt, Page 3

A granddaughter. How had Angela hidden from me all this time, and how had she found a way to give birth and hide her children as well? Where had they been? I had searched the planet, the far off mountains of Tibet, the vast Sahara desert, the rain forests of South America, and every disgusting third world city in between. Every time I heard a whisper of where she might be, I searched. No stone was left unturned. She couldn’t possibly have hidden in plain sight all those years. She had been protected by a magic more powerful than my own – but whose?

  Angela had been dead to me, for years—since the day she ran away. She abandoned her family, left us to pay her debt. I knew she still breathed, somewhere, but none of my powers could find her; that could only mean that she was protected by another. Who in our society would be willing to cross me?

  That putz she lured in may have been a pure-blood, and the bastard daughter they conceived may be in my lineage, but something was wrong. Had she been born without a twin? Were things changing or had Angela tapped into a new source of magic? Was our bloodline finally diluted? William Strayer was not worthy of Angela. He knew it. He had no idea what he was up against if he intended to keep this granddaughter from me. She and her brother were the last in my line.

  When Angela’s body died, I could feel her enter the spirit world. Even in death she refused to answer my calls. Angela paid as much attention to me in death as she had in life; that would change soon. Camille was my heir; she would be exactly the leverage I needed. We’ll see how long Angela can ignore my calls when her precious daughter is living the life that Angela herself escaped.

  Isaac, her father, indulged Angela too much as a child, coddling her, constantly accusing me of abuse. They deserved each other; let her join him in the pasture. Until his death I had always wondered if he had hidden her from me. Once he passed into the spirit world and I still could not locate Angela, I knew that he hadn’t betrayed me after all. I never believed Isaac’s denial until his death proved his words true.

  With that knowledge I was at a loss as to who could have protected her. I wondered if my worthless brother Zethus was involved. He swore the arrow didn’t exist. All these years I wondered if it was his arrow that cloaked Angela from me, but if that were true, Camille would still be under its protection. Once Angela passed, I felt Camille, I knew she existed. I had zeroed in on Southern California, and in a few more days, I would have found her apartment. I was close. I knew I was close. But why can’t I feel her brother?

  I listened to her phone call with William Strayer – she was already in Charleston by now. He would let his guard down. He wasn’t a protector. The fool didn’t stand a chance against me. It was only a matter of time. I needed to be patient, as patient as I had been the last twenty-eight years—I needed only be patient for a few more days.

  Chapter 4

  Camille Benning – Charleston, SC