Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

crowd on the floor; my magical affinity was like a beacon to anyone who could sense that sort of thing. However, I could blend among others of the Adept even if they themselves didn’t know they had magical ancestry, which was the case in Vancouver most of the time. The Adept were a dying breed. My Gran thought witches were diminishing because of the ongoing destruction of the environment. The earth was dying and so was witch magic.
    Actually and regrettably, I usually had to firmly dissuade any new boy that came into Sienna’s life — unbeknownst to my sister, of course. It was purely a magic thing, and had nothing to do with the guys actually wanting to be with me over her. Rusty had kept his distance, and once Sienna started sleeping with him, he seemed to completely relax around me. Anyway, I usually kept my guard up around any of the Adept, with a few specific exceptions. But tonight, I would have put up with a lot of looks and maybe even some handiness to be surrounded by more magic.
    The club was playing popular hits tonight, which I preferred over techno or electronic anyway, and I felt more at ease in the low light of the club. Occasional strobes of black light flashed over the dance floor — they were going old school tonight — and some more of the tension eased from my neck. I always got a stiff neck when stressed.
    I slipped into the women’s bathroom, lamely called Dames according to a sign on the door. I wove around a few tipsy ladies to a sink to wash my hands and refresh my lip gloss.
    Suddenly, without even feeling myself move, I was standing in a bathroom stall — door closed and latched — held by the neck and pressed against the steel dividing wall by the vampire.
    His grip on my throat was light, but I knew that with one wrong move, he would snap my spine just by squeezing his fingers. I exhaled in a brief moment of panic, worrying for a moment that my lungs weren’t going to re-inflate.
    He’d moved so quickly that the other women in the outer bathroom hadn’t even reacted. He’d probably only registered as a slight breeze or blur to them, which they were certainly tipsy enough to ignore.
    The vampire had his other hand pressed against my right one, effectively pinning it against my knife at my hip. I’d apparently attempted to defend myself by grabbing for it. Good to know that my instincts had kicked in before my brain, which still seem delayed.
    Up close, the vampire’s magic danced across his skin. It was almost distracting. His frown and ice-cold eyes kept me focused though — even as I once again forgot to not make direct eye contact with him. Maybe the women in the bathroom had seen him and assumed this was a planned rendezvous. He was good-looking enough to be titillating to those who didn’t know that his idea of a tryst came with pointy teeth and serious blood deprivation.
    “I thought you weren’t going to bite me tonight,” I said, pleased that my voice sounded much calmer than my mind.
    He tilted his head and gazed at my neck … actually, at my carotid artery. My pulse sped up; I was surprised it could get any higher.
    “I wasn’t,” he murmured.
    “Well, watching my blood move through my veins isn’t going to be helpful, then.”
    He lifted his eyes to mine, and for a moment seemed almost … amused. But then, he just stared at me. My back started to ache from holding myself so stiffly against the wall and away from him, but hell if I was going relax into his neck hold.
    “Your hand is cold,” I finally said, having no idea what to do when a vampire just stared at you.
    “I could warm it.” He flicked his eyes to my neck again and showed me the very tips of his teeth — but no fangs and no red eyes. He wasn’t going to bite me. And if I wasn’t completely crazy, his tone sounded almost … flirtatious.
    “What do you want, vampire?” I asked, putting as much steel as I dared into the question.
    His face blanked like a sheet of ice once again, and