A Vampire's Soft Embrace

by Caris Roane

  Through the windows of the Wild Boar, Emily could easily see the alley opposite despite all the beers signs. She’d stood there only a week ago, early in the evening, wondering if she should confront Devyn about their relationship.

  Now she was here, plotting with him on how to bring down a powerful mastyr and a dark fae. How strange life could be at times.

  He turned to the assembled mastyrs and laid out how he wanted things to go down including where he wanted everyone positioned. When he was done, Emily watched the mastyrs leave one or two at a time. Each took off in a different direction, but in reality they would quickly circle back to the alley to wait with vampire stillness for the action to begin.

  At Devyn’s instruction, Rachel and Wanda prompted what had become a very quiet bar to get going again. The band whipped up a tune and the shifters either flirted with the women nearest them or started talking in their usual loud voices.

  When a couple of shifters rode up on their bikes and came in shouting, Devyn inclined his head to Emily.

  Time to rumble.

  Though Emily’s heart pounded in her chest, she responded with a dip of her chin. She slipped by the shifters and headed out onto the sidewalk.

  Once there, she feigned her rage. “Don’t bother seeing me home!”

  She could hear Devyn following after her. He slammed the door, then shouted, “I’ll do whatever the hell I want.”

  “You can’t commit to me, Devyn. You never could. Just leave me alone.” She headed straight for the alley, picking up speed.

  Because she was bonded to him, she could actually feel him rise into the air. He flew swiftly east in the direction of his home in Boylbury. At the edge of the village, however, she sensed him sprint north then slowly make his way back in her direction.

  Emily swiped at fake tears and began to levitate down the alley, though she stuck close to the pavement. She could see a few businesses and row houses in the distance. She slowed down a little and continued to work at appearing distressed.

  She’d begun to wonder whether Leonus really was anywhere close, when suddenly he was right in front of her, just a few feet away. Mitrana stood next to him, a triumphant smile on her lips. Just as swiftly, the smile dimmed and she narrowed her eyes.

  “All alone?” Leonus stroked the scar on his face and Emily shuddered.

  Emily ignored the smell of something rotting, then tossed up her hands. She called out loudly. “No, Leonus. I won’t go with you.” Maybe it was her blood rose ability, but she could sense the vampires gathered in an arc overhead, waiting for Devyn’s orders.

  Mitrana took a step closer to Emily. “Something’s not right.” She sniffed a couple of times. “She smells different.”

  “What do you mean?” Leonus scowled and his scar darkened in color.

  “She’s bonded with the vampire.”

  Devyn, get in here now.

  When Devyn’s voice returned telepathically, she could tell he was communicating with the entire force. She didn’t even know he could do that. Vampires, once I’ve attacked Leonus, come after him as well. Trap him, but we want him alive. We need to know what he knows. Emily and I will be heading into the time-path.

  Emily watched Devyn drop down from the air with a move so fast, she gave a startled cry. Alerted, Leonus was just turning around when Devyn punched him in his lower back, doubling him over. At the same time, Emily felt the other vampires start to descend into the alley ready to battle Leonus.

  Emily, I’m going to fly straight at you. Get us into the time-path the second I make physical contact.

  I’m ready.

  The dark fae called out. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Leonus straightened up, ready to do battle once more. But Devyn flew like a bullet toward Emily. The moment his skin touched hers, Emily pulled him into the time-path.

  Once within, and the alley now blurred and frozen in present-time, she faced him. “Devyn, when Mitrana enters the time-path, how do I block her? I’m not trained for this.”

  “I know what to do here. I want you to move us right next to Mitrana. She’ll want to get out of the alley and we can’t let her leave. The vampires will keep her from escaping through the air, while we hold her off at this end. But for this to work, Em, you’ll need to wind up your battle energy.”

  “My what?” She’d never done something like this before. She knew most realm-folk had a latent ability to access and explore battle energy, but it normally required years of training.

  Devyn’s lips quirked. He placed his hands on her shoulders and entered her mind. Feel the bond. I can sense things through your faeness now and you can make use of my battle-energy training. You’ll see.

  “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  Emily directed her time-path vibration to the exact spot where the woman stood. “Do it now, Emily. Back to the present and battle Mitrana. Keep her engaged as long as you can to give Vojalie time to get here. As soon as you feel her ready to slide into the time-path move us back in, and we’ll repeat the process. She’s gifted, this woman.”

  Emily gave herself to the extraordinary experience and felt what it had been like for Devyn to make war all these decades. The sensation was exhilarating. This must have been what Vojalie meant about needing to work with Devyn, because in no other way could Emily imagine being able to stand up to the dark fae’s power by herself.

  I’m seeing it, Dev. I am. We can do this.

  He moved behind her and put his hands on her waist. Okay, move into the present. As soon as the dark fae tries to slide into the time-path, you’ll block her with battle energy, then move back in. We’re going to do this again and again until Vojalie arrives. The vampires will keep Mitrana from escaping into the air and they’ll ground Leonus for good.

  Got it.

  Emily mentally moved the time-path back to the present. At almost the same split second that she returned to real-time, she felt the dark fae wind up her own time-pathing vibrations, ready to disappear into the continuum.

  Emily lit up her battle energy.

  The dark fae stared at her with horror-stricken eyes. She tried to step into the continuum, but Emily hit her with a burst of blue battle energy from her hands and arms.

  The dark fae responded with her own battle force in streams of red power. Sparks flew as the two frequencies made contact.

  Devyn had hold of her waist. She felt his own power streaming into her and strengthening her.

  When Emily sensed the dark fae was at the same time preparing to glide into the time-path, Emily stepped back in, taking Devyn with her.

  The dark fae was right there, in the time-path. It was like meeting someone at the front door. Her eyes were wide and as distressed as before. “How are you doing this?”

  Touch her, Em, and take her back to the present, then fire away once more.

  Emily swept forward and half-touched, half-pushed the dark fae out into real-time. She and Devyn followed with her. It felt like a perfectly orchestrated ballet as she simply lifted her arms and let her battle energy fly.

  Mitrana, however, was gifted and returned with the same precision and strength. More blue and red sparks flew into the air.

  Emily had never felt more alive than she did right now. All her senses were tuned to Mitrana. Yet it wasn’t just her faeness she was experiencing, but her secondary vampire nature as well.

  With her level of focus, once again she knew when the dark fae was revving up for another run at the continuum.

  Devyn was still connected to her as she whipped back just in time to catch Mitrana once more. The dark fae tried to counter Emily’s physical shove, but Emily had already anticipated her maneuver and flew at her hard, literally shoving her out of the time-path with both physical force and her time-pathing energy.

  Hit her again with your battle energy. You’ve got this.

  By the time Devyn’s words hit her mind, she was already firing at the dark fae.

  Mitrana looked angry now, her pale complexion redd
ened with rage. She battled back with red streams of power. More sparks.

  Suddenly, Vojalie and her team appeared. She had three other women with her. They were a practiced unit and even while Mitrana was locked in battle with Emily, the women as one cast a power-enhanced net over the dark fae.

  Emily withdrew her battle energy.

  Mitrana immediately began to thrash in an attempt to break free. A fireball of power blossomed then ignited the net from within. Emily could see the dark fae would soon be able to escape if something wasn’t done.

  Vojalie called to her. “We need your help or the net will be burned to nothing. Both you and Devyn.”

  Emily quickly moved close to the net. She wasn’t sure what she could do, but she had to try.

  Devyn remained behind her, supporting her with his hands on her arms. His mastyr power, now enhanced by the blood rose bond, sent a frequency up to her shoulders then in a sudden wave through her entire body.

  She reached out with her free hand and let her vibration flow toward the fire on the net. She closed her eyes and her fae vibration began to hum in a cool wave that began to lessen the flames. Mitrana began to shriek and cry out, raging against her captors.

  Slowly, Mitrana’s power receded until the fire was extinguished. The dark fae had burns on her body from her own power. She screamed one last time, then fell unconscious on the alley cobbles. The net sparked with fae power and held.

  The smell was horrific. Emily backed away, covering her nose and mouth.

  Even some of the vampires holding Leonus in check, groaned at the stench.

  But the Sidhe Council fae were a powerful group. Vojalie directed two of them to do their best. They approached the net and using their fae abilities slowly began to mitigate the terrible odor.

  Vojalie drew close to Emily and took her hand. “Well done, dearest student of mine.” She then took Devyn’s as well. “We rise to the power the Nine Realms requires of us. May you each serve, from this moment forward, in unity, purpose and love.”

  Her words carried a fae blessing that touched Emily deeply. It let her know her life had become so much more than she could have ever thought possible.

  Vojalie released their hands, turned and scowled at Mitrana. The dark fae was completely surrounded and bound by the net now and still unconscious. “What an utter waste of life and ability.” She shook her head then gestured to her sister-fae. “And now, we need to get this bitch to prison.” As clear as any military signal Emily had ever seen among the Guardsmen, Vojalie lifted her arm upright then waved it in a circle. The four women each took a corner of the net, levitated then vanished as one.

  ~ ~ ~

  In-air movement up the alley caught Devyn’s eye. His thigh-muscles tensed, ready to battle again if he had to. Instead, he watched Stone and several guardsmen fly in.

  Emily leaned close. “Mastyr Stone is here.”

  “I see him.”

  Stone and several on-duty Guardsmen landed not far from Leonus and his crew. Stone inclined his head to Devyn.

  But as he turned to stare down at the prisoner, his lips hardened into a grim line. “You’re going to prison for a long time, Leonus. And you know I’m going to want some answers.”

  Leonus’s fangs made an appearance and he growled. “Fuck you.”

  Stone turned away from him, his jaw working. He directed his men to bind him with additional restraints for the trip to the prison island off the southern coast of Tannisford. “I want him in fae-protected solitary confinement and watched on monitors around the clock. We clear?”

  “Yes, Mastyr.” The solemn, united response from his crew didn’t surprise Devyn.

  With that, the prison detail levitated. Two of them carried Leonus between them as the small force took off. They disappeared into the night as they headed south.

  Stone asked for a report. Devyn gave his followed by the mastyrs who had dealt exclusively with Leonus.

  Stone glanced around the group. “You’ve done well tonight. In the next few days, we’ll take a hard look at what happened here. Hopefully by then, we’ll also have some insight into exactly what Leonus and Mitrana have been up to. Their creation of a powerful Invictus pair has made me uneasy. But we’ll figure this out. For now, I want to thank each of you for doing your part in apprehending this criminal pair.” His lips quirked. “And any of you scheduled for Guard duty tonight, take the rest of the night off. And have a beer on me. The rest of you men, join them.”

  The vampires shouted their approval of Stone’s plan, levitated almost as one, then swept above the alley heading back to the Wild Boar. Taking a few minutes to share some beers and talk over the night’s events was a good way to ease down after a difficult encounter. Devyn hadn’t seen much of what happened to Leonus, except in the end the vampires had tied him up.

  Some good-natured shifter shouting sounded behind Devyn. Stone glanced past him in the direction of the main thoroughfare. “There’s a cluster of Brigade wolves and bar-dressed women at the end of the alley. What gives?”

  Devyn turned to look at the crew that had assisted in staging their ruse. “They helped us out by acting as if it was business-as-usual at the Wild Boar.” He explained their role as well as how the operation had worked.

  Stone nodded his approval. “I’ll be right back.”

  Devyn watched Stone levitate to greet the small crowd some forty feet away. He smiled, hearing the shifters’ boisterous laughter as Stone clapped a few of them on the shoulder.

  Emily drew close. “He’s a great man, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he is.” He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her tight.

  She leaned into him. “Like you, Dev. And don’t try to argue with me. I’m sure Kyle let you know what he thought as well.”

  His throat ached suddenly as he thought about his brother. A whole host of memories flew through his head, of swimming with Kyle in the ocean, of growing up riding horses, and of finding out on a dare just how little sunlight it took to hurt a vampire. First dates, first blood draw, first everything, then joining the Tannisford Guard together. They’d run ops against the Invictus and dated a lot of women. Then Emily had arrived.

  Sweet Goddess, Emily.

  He would miss Kyle more than he believed Emily would ever understand, until she broke into his mind. I can feel how much you miss him, Dev. I’m so sorry.

  He realized their shared bond had enhanced what he could sense from her and what she could feel from him. A corresponding wave of fae empathy flowed over him and let him know she understood his suffering. But as with everything Emily did, a corresponding rush of healing covered him almost at the same time.

  He drew a deep breath and felt peace ease his heart. Then suddenly, Kyle’s voice was once more in his mind. Love her, brother. Take care of her the way I never could. I’ll miss you.

  He couldn’t hold back a soft gasp. Kyle. You came back. I’ll miss you too, brother.

  But there was nothing more. He’d come back to share one last thought, then he was gone.

  Emily suddenly turned into him and he heard a sob escape her throat. Kyle was here, wasn’t he?

  For just a moment, yes.

  I felt him. She slung her arm around his neck and he held her close. I miss him.

  Me, too, Em.

  For a long moment, he held her in a tight embrace in the alley in Millerell. He didn’t release her until the crowd began to disperse and Stone headed back their direction.

  Emily wiped her eyes. Devyn’s throat finally began to ease up.

  Stone glanced at Emily. “Well, this isn’t good. Devyn already has you in tears.”

  Emily chuckled. “Something like that, but not in a bad way.”

  Stone nodded, his understanding clear in the warm light of his eyes. “In a couple of nights, I’d like to sit down with you both along with Rosamunde and talk things over. I think Vojalie and Davido should be included as well. I need a better understanding of what happened out here tonight and about time-pathing.�
�� A smile touched his lips. “But it can wait. I can see that you’ve got business to take care of this evening.” His gaze then fell to Emily’s feet. “And I take it this adventure of yours wasn’t exactly planned.”

  Devyn glanced down and saw that Stone was looking at her bunny slippers.

  “Oh, my, gosh.” One hand flew to her cheek. “I’m so embarrassed. I had them on this whole time. I can’t believe it.”

  Stone chuckled. “I suppose if you have a couple of psychopaths on your tail, you might as well be comfortable.”

  Emily broke up laughing. Devyn grinned.

  She went on to explain. “I’d been doing homey chores when the fae from hell showed up along with her vampire boyfriend. I was going to arrange some books in my living room. What else would I be wearing but a pair of slippers?”

  “You’re right.” He glanced from one to the other. “I’ll let you go then. Take care of each other. Nothing is more important.”

  Devyn dipped his chin. “Thanks.”

  Stone nodded once, then vanished since his bond with Rosamunde had given him the ability to teleport.

  The alley was now empty.

  Emily glanced up at him. “If it’s all right, I’d like to go back to my house.” She looked down at her slippers. His gaze followed and he watched as she wiggled her toes and made the ears move. “At the very least, I need a proper pair of shoes.”

  He was about to pick her up in his arms and fly her to her house, when she simply touched his shoulder and whisked him through the time-path.

  Before he could register what she’d done, he was standing in her living room. He wasn’t far from the fireplace and the stack of books she’d mentioned to Stone.

  As she turned to face him, he had no doubts about how he wanted the next few hours to unfold. They were starting a new life together. He took her in his arms and kissed her until she melted against him.

  She was the woman he’d never thought to have. But he’d loved her since the kiss in the coffee shop. He’d desired her, he’d fantasized about making love to her, he’d craved her.

  Now he understood why. She was his blood rose and together they were meant to accomplish important things on behalf of their community and their realm.