Shadow Touched (A Touch of Vampire, #1)

by Becky Moynihan

After another long moment, she simply said, “It’s almost over. You’ll see,” then lapsed into silence again.

“Don’t go on this trip with your friends if you value their safety, Kenna,” he hurriedly whispered in my ear. “Your time is up. Come with me now or you’ll be putting them all in danger.”

“I’m not Loch’s anything. Just because he stares at me like he hopes my clothes will miraculously disappear doesn’t mean we’re together.”

“Good goddess,” Isla breathed beside me. “He’s totally screwing you with his eyes. I think I just got pregnant.”

“There’s this story my dad told me when I was a kid. I thought it was just a fairy tale, but when Lochlan and Kade explained yesterday why they were here, I remembered that it was about these three dark princes who were cursed. And the only way they could break that curse was by finding a—”

“You might be our ruin,” he replied after a thoughtful pause. “Or”—his lips suddenly curled into a devilish smile—“you might save us all. And I’m personally betting on the latter, McKenna Belmont.”

“Girl, tears are like Drano. They clear the emotions clogging your body. It’s healthy to pour those suckers out once in a while.”

I threw Kade a death glare. “He’ll die! I can’t believe you stabbed him.” “Oh, he’s in excruciating pain, but he won’t die. I didn’t hit his heart. Those are just to weaken him while I—” He froze and sniffed the air. “Holy mother of Moses, it reeks of pheromones in here! Are you in heat? No wonder Loch called me. He was probably going out of his mind with—” He paused to sniff again. “Wow, you both reek. I’m gonna open some windows and clear the air. This horniness is highly contagious, and Loch is definitely not the threesome type.”

“A Syphon.” He nodded. “A rare subsect of witch, so rare that you’re currently the only one living of your kind. You don’t possess your own magic, but have the ability to absorb and use the essence of any supernatural being or object. A long time ago, Syphon witches were nearly hunted to extinction. Ambrose, the vampire king, put a bounty on their heads. They were all marked for death.”

Tears just mean you’re tired of fighting. Of staying strong. There’s no shame in taking time to heal.”

“The previous Syphons. ‘As one follows another, but never two.’ For nearly a century, there has always been one living Syphon, but never two at once. When she dies, a new one is born. Thus the cycle repeats itself—until the curse is broken or the one hundred years are up.”