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Shelton
have emphasized it nonstop ever since I started taking lessons a
week ago."
    "Well, today, you're going to learn the steps
to filling it."
    The demon side of me knew what it felt like
to fill a well of energy. When I fed on emotions, it sated a need
nothing else could. That energy enhanced my preternatural strength,
speed, and other abilities. It also could trigger my ability to
manifest or spawn into full demon form. Feeding my incubus side
required a certain kind of meditation of its own. Otherwise, my
target could be overtaken by lust and do all sorts of embarrassing
things. I'd nearly done the deed in the meat department of a
grocery store the first time I'd unknowingly tried to feed from a
woman.
    Bella led me through a series of breathing
exercises, telling me to focus on the magical energy in the
environment around me. After a while, I thought I felt something,
only to realize I was just light headed from all the breathing
exercises.
    I steadied myself against a wall. "All this
is doing is making me dizzy. Isn't there a better way?"
    She narrowed her eyes, violet like Elyssa's
since she too was a dhampyr, as well as an accomplished Arcane.
    Some people are just
overachievers .
    "Do you remember the first time you learned
to whistle? Or snap your fingers?" she asked.
    "Uh, not really. I do remember the first time
I learned to burp on command by sucking air into my esophagus."
    Bella groaned. "Justin, you have to feel the
magic around you before you can absorb it."
    "I feel it when I make a circle."
    "Yes, but you can't always stop and make a
circle to fill your well." She gestured at the air around us. "Your
well is only so large—a finite container you must constantly
replenish from the world around you. Making a circle to do this
would be very impractical."
    Elyssa appeared from around the corner, a
small frown on her face.
    I walked to her. "What did you find out?"
    "I spoke directly to Commander Salazar. He
said Maximus is definitely in Bogota and, as far as he knows,
hasn't left."
    "Will he help me rescue Ivy?"
    She bit her lip. "I don't know. He was
planning to hit Maximus before, well, you know."
    I raised an eyebrow. "You mean before he sent
the Templar army after me when good old Franco, the drug lord, held
me captive?"
    "Yep. Christian said he's holding back on an
assault because the number of vampires in Max's stronghold have
increased exponentially and he doesn't have enough people."
    "Wait a minute, I know Maximus has been
recruiting noms, but unless something has changed, he still can't
turn them into vampires, right? Is Christian sure they're all
vampires?" A chilling thought went through me. "And what about
vamplings?"
    Elyssa shook her head. "I don't know." She
blew out a frustrated breath. "He only told me what he did as a
favor."
    In any case, I knew exactly where I was
headed. No matter how hard I tried to stay out of trouble, it found
me. It seemed I had no choice unless I could turn off my emotions
and turn my back on the people I cared about. The irony of the
situation was very clear.
    It looked like Thomas Borathen would get to
see me off to Colombia after all.
     
     
     

Chapter
5
     
    Elyssa gripped me in a fierce hug. "It'll be
okay. I know you hate it when my dad bosses you around. I'll talk
with him and work something out."
    I kissed her on her lovely forehead and
forced a grin. "I know, babe. I know."
    Someone cleared their throat. I turned and
saw Bella tapping her foot impatiently.
    "We should practice more before you run off,
young man." She motioned me back over.
    Elyssa nodded. "We're going to need every
advantage if what Christian says is true."
    "I'll be more of a liability than an asset if
I have to rely on magic," I said with a groan. Hard to believe, at
one point, I'd wanted to learn magic so badly. But after finding
out I couldn't wave a wand, say a silly word, and defeat
practitioners of the dark arts, some of the—ahem—magic had gone out
of learning.
    Bella made me