by Caris Roane
He was very handsome with strong cheekbones and full lips. His nose was slightly aquiline which gave him a predatory look, not a bad thing at all for a warrior in Mastyr Stone’s Vampire Guard.
Unlike Kyle, he was a full-blown mastyr and suffered as all the mastyrs did with chronic blood starvation. Intense, crippling stomach pain accompanied the rise to mastyr power. These men bore their condition with tremendous grace and Devyn was no exception. That his twin wasn’t also a mastyr was something of a mystery to Emily. Why did one brother have such power, while the identical twin didn’t?
He frowned slightly. “I don’t have much time, Emily. I’m sorry. I have another appointment.”
She’d heard a dozen excuses over the past year, just like this one. But she wouldn’t be put off. She had things she needed to say and tonight she would say them.
She gestured toward the door. “I thought we might have a drink together. We haven’t done that in a while.”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his long black leather coat. It was Guardsman issue and had no sleeves, though underneath was a traditional long-sleeved woven shirt. The mid-calf length of the duster was sexy as hell especially combined with hip boots and leathers.
He glanced around avoiding eye-contact. “I don’t think so. Not tonight. Maybe another time.”
She decided she had to be bold. “I don’t believe you have another appointment, or a date, or anything. Surely, we can share a beer after all this time.”
His gaze shifted to her and his frown deepened almost to a scowl. “What do you want here, Emily?”
She took a step toward him, which brought her just a few inches away from his lips. Her gaze fell there and for a long moment she couldn’t respond.
She’d imagined his lips pressed to hers a thousand times. “What do I want? A beer and a little conversation.”
He huffed an annoyed sound. “Nothing can come of this and you know it.”
She recalled what she’d witnessed in the time-path. For whatever reason, Devyn was holding back. If he wasn’t going to invite her to sit down for a drink, she was going to have her say despite his resistance. She needed him to know the truth. “Kyle’s been gone over a year now and there’s something I want you to know. I’ve never told anyone this, but I was going to leave him. In fact, and this is very hard for me to say, I was going to tell him the night he died, but he never came home.”
Devyn’s gaze shot to hers. “You were leaving my brother? Why?”
She wanted to shout, ‘because I was in love with you’, but she knew it would only make matters worse. She suspected Devyn was carrying a heavy weight of guilt about his brother’s death.
Instead of addressing her feelings, she brought forward what she believed was the tougher issue. “Kyle and I didn’t suit, Dev. You must have seen that. He was lighter than air most of the time and I couldn’t bring him to ground enough to make sense of our life together. He was so much fun. But, after the parties and laughter, well … Do you want to know the truth? I was lonely.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get what you’re saying. You were basically living with him. I know you had your own house, but you were always at his. How can you say you were lonely?”
“You know how. He always had the remote in his hand and a beer in the other. Though the entire last year it was usually a bottle of single malt. Tell me you didn’t notice something was off as well.”
~ ~ ~
Devyn rubbed his chin, his gaze cast anywhere but on her face. This was the last thing he expected, to hear that Emily was going to leave Kyle. Not that it made a difference. He couldn’t be involved with her.
But, sweet Goddess, why did she have to smell like heaven? She was a springtime bouquet of flowers. Something about her scent, maybe the womanly part, streamed into his brain in a way that made it hard to think.
He believed he understood why Emily had reached out to him. Or at least he thought he had until she mentioned how she’d been planning to leave his brother.
“Did Kyle know what you intended?”
“On some level, he must have. He wasn’t happy, either.”
“You’re wrong about that. He told me you were the best thing that ever happened to him. If anything, he said he felt unworthy of you.”
“He said that?” She frowned. “But that means he spoke to you about us.”
“Something like that.” Shit. He did not want to tell her the truth. He wished to hell she hadn’t called him.
Yet, even with her brow creased and her lips in a serious line, she was still one of the most beautiful women he’d ever known. Actually, she was more ‘cute’ than beautiful but so appealing his damn heart ached whenever he saw her. She was very fae with a gently pointed chin and ears she often stroked at the tip.
She was doing it now. She had an emerald stud in the lovely crevice at the top. How many times had he imagined his tongue right there, doing what her fingers were doing. This was his real problem with Emily. He couldn’t be with the woman, but he wanted her so bad he could hardly breathe.
He forced air into his lungs anyway. That’s how it had been from the first, from five years ago when she’d kissed him in that coffee shop in Boylbury not far from his home.
Kyle had asked him to meet him for coffee but hadn’t said a word about Emily. But that was Kyle, always messing around. He thought it would be funny if they met unsuspecting.
Had Kyle seen the kiss? Devyn had never said anything nor had Emily. He wouldn’t have mentioned it if his life depended on it. Devyn knew the kiss had been innocent, at least that’s what he’d told himself for five years.
Yet the way he’d felt had been anything but. The minute she’d thrown herself on him and planted her lips on his, he’d been fucking lost. That’s the only way he could explain what he felt for this woman. Lost, like she had some power over him he couldn’t fathom.
He resented her for calling him up and asking to have a beer with him. She was his dead brother’s fiancé who now told him she’d intended on breaking up with Kyle before his death.
But she was here now and seemed pretty intent on stirring things up. Time to finish this off. “Look, Emily, I won’t pretend there’s not something between us. But for a long time, I’ve set it down to twins often being attracted to the same woman. It’s not that unusual. But I’m not interested in you, not romantically. Whether or not you were breaking up with Kyle before he died doesn’t matter. You were his woman. You can’t be anything to me. Do you understand?”
She shook her head slowly and grabbed his arm. “No, I don’t and like hell you’re telling me the truth.”
Where she touched him through his woven shirt felt like fire. Her flowery scent hit him again causing him to shudder.
Did he want her? Like a dry summer to a rainstorm.
But she was off-limits. She’d been off-limits for years. He was used to holding back. He saw no reason to change things, not when it was his fault his brother was dead.
His damn fault.
He shook his head and looked away from her. The night before Kyle died, he’d caught his brother cheating on Emily. He’d come out of a hotel with a woman and kissed her before they headed opposite directions.
When Devyn had confronted him, Kyle had broken down. He’d been seeing a lot of other women from about the time he and Emily had gotten engaged. No, he didn’t think Emily knew a thing about his affairs. But he couldn’t seem to help himself.
Rage was what Devyn had felt, on Emily's behalf and on his own. He would never have treated a woman like Emily the way his brother had.
He’d shut his brother out that night, refusing to take his phone calls. They’d always served together, fought the enemy Invictus side by side. Brothers-in-arms. Comrades. Best Friends.
Devyn would never know how Kyle ended up dying at the hands of the enemy that night. One of their mutual friends, a Guardsman who’d been with Kyle, said his brother hadn’t been himself. He’d been arrogant in his battling and
a surprise attack by several Invictus wraith-pairs had ended in Kyle’s death. But it had also resulted in a mountain of guilt. If only he hadn’t refused to go on patrol with Kyle, his brother would still be alive.
Now he was standing way too close to Emily, his chest aching, his body on fire.
He had to get rid of her. “I can’t have a beer with you, Emily. Kyle … well, he’s still with me. I can’t cross that abyss. I’ll never be able to. You were his woman and he loved you.”
He didn’t wait for her to respond. Instead, he turned away and headed up the street on foot.
Chapter Two
Emily stared at Devyn as he walked away, longing to call him back. She felt as she always did, like she ached to her toes. She was pretty sure his guilt about Kyle’s death had closed him off where she was concerned. Yet, she knew he wasn’t indifferent to her. Both episodes in the time-path had reaffirmed the truth for her.
There was nothing more she could say to him tonight. She needed time to think about the future, to see if there was anything she could do to coax him in her direction.
But as she started to cross the street again, she took two steps then her feet refused to move. Instead, she felt a presence near her followed by a man’s voice whispering through her mind. Stay with him. He’s in trouble, Em.
She grew very still. She swore she’d just heard Kyle’s voice. She waited to hear more, but nothing else was coming through.
Her fae instincts fired up swiftly. Whatever had just happened, whoever had just spoken, she sensed trouble would soon arrive in Millerell and it was all about Devyn.
She glanced his direction once more then began walking in his wake. A sense of urgency struck her, of the future punching at her in swift jabs. She picked up her pace, moving faster since he was thirty yards ahead of her.
He was just taking off in levitated flight, heading west down the main street, when it was as though the night sky broke open. A burst of light made her cover her eyes. When it was dark again, she saw a powerful Invictus wraith-pair floating in the air a few feet from Devyn. At the same time, a swirl of gray mist quickly surrounded the pair, though encompassing Devyn as well.
She recognized the mist as something a powerful fae could create, but there was no such realm-person present. Then she realized the wraith had created the mist. She’d never been more shocked. What was she looking at?
She drew close to the nearest building, her heart pounding all over again.
Despite her fears, she drew her phone from her jeans pocket. Her hands trembled as she punched in the number for the Vampire Guard Emergency Call Station. She explained the situation, gave her location, then stated Devyn was battling a wraith-pair.
Once she was assured a patrol had been dispatched, Emily stared in horror at the Invictus couple. She put her phone away well aware her fingers still shook. She had no idea how soon more Guardsmen would arrive to help, but she knew Devyn was in trouble, just as Kyle had said.
The wraith was huge and the female vampire was building up her red Invictus battle energy. But where had they come from? Tannisford was supposed to be free of the Invictus now. A final battle two months ago had ended the Ancient Fae’s bid for a Nine Realms takeover. Margetta had built an Invictus army, but Mastyr Stone and the other ruling mastyrs, with Rosamunde’s help, had defeated them all.
On top of that, every Vampire Guard in all Nine Realms had supposedly hunted down the last of the Invictus pairs. So, what did this mean? Where had this pair come from? And how could this wraith have so much power?
As the wraith moved, more of the strange gray mist flowed from his body, cloaking himself, his female vampire mate and Devyn.
Emily clung to the shadows of the building as the large male wraith began to fly in a tight, fast circle above Devyn’s head. The vampire in turn levitated around Devyn as well, though lower yet parallel to her mate and adjacent to Devyn.
Emily didn’t see how Devyn could battle them both at the same time. When the wraith started to shriek, Emily had to cover her ears. She’d never heard a worse sound in her life.
Yet as she glanced out at the shops and sidewalks, everyone was going about their business. She realized the mist was creating a private space for whatever would happen during the battle and no one else would be able to see them. That she could, she set down to her own growing powers, the ones Vojalie had been encouraging for the past two years.
She thought about going to the Wild Boar in case there were any Guardsmen who could help out. But she doubted they’d be able to see past the mist. She suspected only a vampire as powerful as Mastyr Stone would have that ability.
Emily began to creep in the direction of Devyn and the wraith-pair. She could feel the heavy vibration of Devyn’s battle power as he prepared to fight.
She knew a lot about realm warfare, having been a girlfriend to a Guardsman for many years. Because of it, she knew Devyn faced a wraith he couldn’t defeat. Even now, despite his mastyr power, he couldn’t seem to gain control of the field.
Devyn aimed one hand up toward the wraith and leveled the other at the vampire. He rotated as the pair moved around him. He sent streams of blue battle energy both directions. But the wraith flipped easily through the air avoiding a hit as did the vampire.
Each then turned and swept closer to Devyn. They aimed their Invictus red streams at him simultaneously. He met the attack with his own battle energy so that red and blue sparks showered everywhere. But no one on the street noticed. Only she could see them.
Yet, she felt the same presence – Kyle’s maybe – at her back, pushing her forward. Help him, Em.
Suddenly, the wraith and the vampire attacked Devyn at the same time. The wraith moved in from above and the vampire darted behind Devyn.
Emily saw the blade go into Devyn’s shoulder, close to his neck.
As Devyn fell several feet to his knees, the wraith gave a shout of triumph.
Emily was close to Devyn now. She had to help him or he would die.
Without giving it a thought, she flew toward him in a quick dart. She gathered her time-pathing power at the same time. The moment the vampire would have sent the dagger a second time deep between Devyn’s shoulder blades, Emily reached him and pulled him into the time-path.
Through the blurred wall, she saw the vampire’s completed strike. The blade had moved through nothing but air. One thing was clear to Emily. The wraith and his vampire mate had come specifically to Millerell to slay Devyn. But why?
She turned her attention to him. Blood poured from his wound.
For her own sake, she moved the time-path with a sweep of her hands down the street and into a nearby moonlit field west of the village. Because she kept him in the time-path, she knew no one would be able to see them. In that sense, they were both safe.
“Emily.” Devyn’s deep voice sounded weak. “I need help.” He was still on his knees, barely able to sustain his position.
“I’m here. Let me see what I can do to stop the bleeding.” She placed both her hands on the wound. She knew she was a fae of power and had practiced the art many times before. But never with a wound this severe.
She had to calm her heart. It was beating too fast and too hard. She almost had a pain in her chest.
She took deep breaths as she let her fae healing flow into Devyn. She called on the Goddess and begged for her help.
Feed him, returned to her. Again, it sounded like Kyle’s voice. But how was that possible?
She dropped to her knees beside Devyn, though still within the safety of the time-path. He could hardly hold himself upright and weaved from side to side.
“You need sustenance.” She shoved her wrist beneath his nose.
Devyn was a vampire. He didn’t require a second nudge to take what he needed.
He grabbed her wrist and turned it toward his mouth so the veins faced him. With a jerk of his head, he sunk his fangs. He made a seal around the wounds and began to draw from her vein.
Emily tried to kee
p the healing steady, but Devyn began to moan as he drank. Only it wasn’t in pain. In fact, it sounded sexual.
At the same time, her own body began to hum with desire. When she’d been with Kyle, he’d fed from her. But this felt very different, as though she was sending a light through her blood straight into Devyn’s body. Euphoria sent a shiver down her shoulders, arms and back.
As he drank, she watched the wound on his shoulder begin to close up. She could feel that somehow her blood and her fae healing power had combined to perform a miracle, right there in the time-path.
Though she was behind him and off to his right, he shifted enough to meet her gaze. He still suckled. Where are we? Why is the field blurred?
She realized he would know nothing about time-pathing or the continuum. She told Devyn a few essentials, only what he would need to know. Vojalie had otherwise sworn her to keep her time-pathing work a secret.
She spoke aloud as she shared about her ability to travel to any point in time in the past. She didn’t, however, tell him about having re-visited the kiss in the coffee shop.
“But we’ll need to leave the time-path soon.” She then explained about time-lethargy and how dangerous it could be because it would leave them exposed and vulnerable.
Got it. He released her wrist and swiped the wounds to seal them. He stood up and rubbed where the blade had sliced him open at his shoulder close to his neck. “I don’t feel anything here. How did you heal me so quickly and so completely?”
Rising to stand next to him, she shrugged. “Honestly, Devyn, I haven’t experienced anything like this before. Maybe it’s part of the time-pathing phenomenon, but I swear I don’t know.” In the past, she could heal even a very bad wound in an hour or two, but never a couple of minutes.
He looked around. “I recognize this field. We’re a few hundred yards from the main street, on the west side of the village.”
“That’s right.”
“And everything is blurred, so we’re still in the continuum or the time-path, as you call it.”
