Mum and Grandma ignoring the screams from their own trapdoors.
I was the one who was freeing myself from the shackles.
I was the woman who would connect us back to our roots.
The little girl stepped back inside me, and my soul came home. My tears stopped, and the room stilled, and I pulled free from Hans’ arms, because I didn’t need his strength anymore. I had more than enough of my own.
His smile was magnificent as I stood before him. He nodded, sharing the secrets of my mind.
“Welcome home, little one,” he said. “See the world through your brand new eyes.”
The joy was incredible as I looked around me. There were sparkles of life and energy glistening through everything I could see. My senses were heightened, but they weren’t intimidating. I held up a hand and felt the energy coursing through my fingers, free to burst out in whichever direction I chose.
Yes.
I was a psychic and a ghost whisperer, but most importantly of all. I was a witch.
“What do you want to do now?” Hans asked me. “Would you like to go back home? Take some time out?”
But I shook my head, touched my hands to his handsome face and kissed him. Kissed him deeply and tugged on his lip before I looked him in his gorgeous eyes.
“No, thank you,” I told him. “I want to go to the blood house. Just like we planned.”
Chapter Twenty
IwavedgoodbyetoMargaret and George. She looked so happy for me as I walked through Regency with my vampire lover, and I’m sure I looked very happy for her in return. It was wonderful to see them reunited. A couple still in love after a lifetime, despite what George might have been up to in this world.
“Will I get to speak to her again?” I asked Hans as we reached the exit.
“Quite possibly. It depends when they take the road into the light. Some couples prefer to live out the ghost of their past for as long as they possibly can. Margaret will be well aware of their options. She’s been waiting for George a long time.”
“Margaret seems a really nice woman, it would be great to get to know her.”
Hans looked at me as he took my hand. “She’d make a great start to your circle of ghostly acquaintances.”
I saw our taxi waiting on the road outside the club and squeezed his fingers.
“Hopefully I’ll be better friends with ghosts than I’ve been with people. The bar isn’t all that high.”
He opened the taxi door for me.
“Orcop is a small village. Your options were limited there.”
“They probably always will be in Orcop. I’m sure glad I moved to London.”
“Perhaps you felt compelled to move here,” he said as he slid into the seat beside me.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I said, and then it clicked. Hans had always been in the shadows, beckoning me. London sure was a beguiling place, even more so when a vampire wants you there.
The driver turned to face us before I could ask Hans to elaborate.
“Where are you heading?”
“Ashwell,” Hans told him. “Hertfordshire. The Manor of St Louis.”
All thoughts of Margaret and George were pushed aside at the mention of our destination. I’d heard of Ashwell before. I’d seen it in online searches when I was dreaming up my perfect future. It was one of the posh quaint villages outside London. It gave me a buzz just thinking about it. A posh little village hiding a blood house. I couldn’t wait to get there.
“Sounds exciting,” I said.