Montague saw my face in Stage 1 Collapse and said, “That’s it. We’re staying. I’ll talk to Alec about it later.”
“That’s so nice of you…”
It still wasn’t seeing Dad.
But maybe I could at least survive this.
What will Firian say about this, though?
“It’s my pleasure,” Montague said, and he held me a little closer still, so that for the first time in my whole life I felt what it was like to really be held by a guy, like—I felt his cock twitch as I brushed him. I didn’t pull back. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. Was I leading Montague on? Alec? Firian?
I don’t know how to juggle this. I don’t really want to lose any of them.
Montague’s hand caressed gently through the loose curls of my hair. I shivered at the sensation. I craved still more. When his hand went all the way down my back, I pressed closer to him. Just a little, but it made his cock throb again. My breath hitched as if in response. I knew the dance would soon be over and I probably shouldn’t leave him with a boner, but…I looked up at him and he was already looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen…and he wanted to eat me.
I probably should have run straight for Firian, because he looked at me similarly without the hunger, but…
“Lisbeth,” he whispered.
“Who is Lisbeth?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Montague
It had happened again. I just…lost myself for a second.
I was seeing the memories. Lisbeth’s face, worried about her fate, but wanting so much to trust the man she loved. Even if he had turned into something else.
I took a step back. “I’m—sorry. Crap. I know who you are.”
“Is that a memory?” Charlotte asked in a whisper.
I collected myself quickly, before Alec or Harris noticed. “I’m fine.”
“A vampire memory?” she pressed. “Like what Alec was talking about?”
“Yeah,” I said tightly. “I know who you are. I like you. I don’t know who Lisbeth is, except that he loved her in the 1600s or something. It’s just that sometimes I get—like—his memories. He loved Lisbeth a lot, so if I call you that it’s—it’s a compliment.” I winced. “That was a half-assed excuse.”
“I’m not jealous of a girl from the 1600s,” she said. “I’m worried about you.”
I tried to take a few deep breaths. Breathing was weird nowadays. My body sort of functioned like itself, like I had to breathe to talk, but it could stop dead. Sometimes when I was shocked I just…didn’t breathe. “The ball is kind of…triggering some stuff. This was a bad idea.”
“You want to step out for a sec?”
“Yeah.”
She took my hand and led me out the door. I felt a lot of eyes on us, including Firian, Alec, and Harris. But no one got in our way. Good thing. I wasn’t trying to get Charlotte alone by some master plan, but if that was a side effect of all this…
But then, you just confused her for Lisbeth, dumbass.
“Tell me what’s going on in your head,” she said, as we stepped into the night air. The chill of the winter mountain air seeped into me immediately, but it no longer bothered me like it would have when I was alive. Charlotte must have been hot enough from the dance that she wasn’t feeling it yet. She was glowing in her pink dress.
“Sometimes I have memories of this girl, Lisbeth. She was the girl that he loved. The first vampire in my line.”
“The first vampire in your line?”
“In the vampire world, he would be considered my…lord. All the vampires in his ‘line’ would be drawn to him and follow him. But since I’m a warlock, I can use spells to suppress it. It’s when I’m looking at you that…I think of her. The emotions must be the same.”
I saw Lisbeth’s smile finally emerge as she said, London…it seems a very exciting city.
“She went with him…,” I said. “To London. She was just a normal human girl who was supposed to marry someone else, and she left her life behind and followed this vampire she loved to London in the 1600s.”
Charlotte’s expression was interested. “You can see all that?”
“Yeah.”
“Were they happy?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see the whole thing. It’s just bits and pieces.”
“Did she become a vampire?”
Something about the look on Charlotte’s face seemed innocent and curious, and it made me feel protective of her. I never wanted to cause her any pain, but I also didn’t want to let her go. And if those things were impossible to juggle, then I had to keep her like Rayner kept the woman he loved.
I knew Rayner felt the same about Lisbeth.
I wanted to kiss her so fucking much. I’d never felt this way before. I mean, not that I’d never wanted to kiss a girl before, but…
It was different this time. Serious.
I leaned a little closer to her. Her eyes followed my every move. Her body language was definitely…receptive. Her scent didn’t betray any fear.
“I don’t remember,” I said. “But he always loved her. I—I feel like I know that for sure.”
“It’s…romantic,” she said. “To think of her following him.”
“Maybe he’s not so bad,” I said. “We might have something in common.”
I felt her pulse quicken. That was a nice side effect of my hyper-awareness of the blood pumping through her veins. I leaned down and kissed her.
She let out a little sigh like she’d been wanting me to kiss her forever. That sigh turned me on as much as anything ever had. I kissed her softly but firmly, and didn’t linger, in case she tried to stop me. But she didn’t. She slipped a hand around me, under my jacket.
“Montague…”
I held her closer with one arm while I tangled my hand in her hair. Man, had I been wanting to feel her like this. Taste her like this. I’d never kissed anyone as a vampire before, and it was better. Heightened. I could smell her skin. I could smell her blood. I could smell her musk. It was the best kind of torture and my body responded hard. I had enough human sense to stick to the proper pace of a relationship. I knew how to be a gentleman. But—it took more restraint than before, that was for sure.
I didn’t really mind.
As long as I get there…I can wait.
“This…wasn’t my first kiss,” she said. “But it sure feels like the first one that ever counted.”
“Good. That’s all that matters.”
Behind us, one of the tall wooden doors of Guinevere Hall creaked open.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Charlotte
I snapped back from Montague the second I heard the latch of the door clicking and then the Victorian-era hinges creaking. Thank goodness for ye olden doors. I could still feel the imprint of Montague’s lips on mine, could still taste him. He had an odd but delicious sort of smell and taste. He didn’t seem human. He was kind of cold but somehow it wasn’t gross. There was almost a hint of licorice or something. Or some strange incense or exotic garden.
I knew without asking that this was the vampire allure, reeling me in.
But I also felt sure that the vampire allure was irrelevant. I liked Montague the human, and there was plenty of him left.
“Is everything all right?” Firian asked, with a hint of challenge.
Actually, more than a hint.
“Yes. It got stuffy in there for a minute,” Montague said.
“Charlotte is shivering,” Firian said.
“I’m fine.”
“Let’s go back inside,” Firian said.
“Actually, we could just…call it a night and play some Fortune’s Favor while Alec is busy,” I said. “I think I’ve completed my ball checklist. Montague, you can go back in.”
He looked a little displeased to leave me. “I could walk you back.”
“Nah. Firian’s here.”
He went back in, and I watched every inch of him all sexy in his suit be
fore I realized I was chewing my lip and probably looked guilty. I needed to smooth things over with Firian and brush this night off. “I’m getting tired of maintaining my sparkle, anyway. And—like—I wanted to see a witch ball, but things are never as good as you expect. I’d rather just veg with you tonight.”
He thrust his hands in his pockets and started walking with me down the path. We both started walking at the same moment. I was very aware of the difference between Alec, Montague and Firian. Alec, quiet and steady, his presence very reassuring even as he was simmering with suppressed lust. Montague burned hotter, and seemed like he really wanted to make me happy. Firian was in tune with me; he always knew what I needed even more than trying to figure out what I wanted.
I also felt like he knew what had happened.
We walked until we were in the lonely part of the path between Guinevere Hall and Lancelot House, under the skeletal trees that had just lost their leaves. I got a little nervous. It was so quiet. So dark. And when the wind blew, the trees made this dry rattly sound.
So I was just talking and talking. “I guess it could have been worse. I’m not sure about Daisy. I think she liked me. Maybe? It’s hard to read girls like that. I don’t know about her and Harris though, huh? I can’t tell if she drove him nuts or if it was an opposite attract, sparks flying kind of thing.” I didn’t like thinking of Harris dancing with Daisy either, which was just adding to the confusion in my head. “Dancing to that kind of music is pretty boring anyway, so…well, I realized I’m more of a hermit anyway.”
I glanced at Firian, trying to gauge if he wasn’t talking because he liked listening to my ramblings, or if he was angry at me.
Even in the shadows I could see the tension in his mouth.
“Firian…you know if things weren’t so…weird with familiars, I would have—“
“Enough,” he said. He took my hand and then his other hand went around my waist and he pulled me to him and kissed me.
My eyes widened.
Montague was gentle yet sensual when he kissed me.
Firian kissed me like he was furious and he would never let me go. Lips parting, plucking at mine, hot breath, pressed foreheads, grip tight.
At first I was startled but I quickly melted.
It felt so right.
“Oh…” I shivered, emotions rocking me where I stood. “But…”
“I can’t pretend anymore,” he said. “I might be the first familiar to defy his witch. Because I want you. And I can’t just keep standing by to watch while other men are allowed to dance with you and not me.”
“Firian…”
“Please.” He shut his eyes. “You feel the same. I know you do. I couldn’t feel this way about you if you didn’t feel it too.”
“I do. I mean, I might. I don’t know! I feel something. For you. Definitely. But I also feel things for…Alec and Montague and…well—I don’t know what’s happening to me!” My fingernails dug into my palms as I realized my hands had formed fists of tension. “I’m scared. Everyone is reminding us constantly that this is taboo. Friendship, even. I’m all for like, damn the man. But in this world I don’t even know what ‘the man’ means. Like, I don’t care if Grandma is upset because she still thinks all anime is porn. But I don’t like, shoplift. Or date my brother. I’m not sure where you and I fall on the rebellion scale.”
“I am not your brother,” he said.
“I—I don’t know what you are!”
“I’m not sure I know either.” His hands dropped to his sides. “I just know how I feel. I want to protect you…with my body and my soul.”
A shiver went through me, not an entirely unpleasant one. Although it was cold out.
“What do we do?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.”
We started walking again. Firian had this resolved look on his face. I wondered what that meant. Did he expect something bad would happen and he didn’t care?
I didn’t want to lose him.
“Look,” I said. “Um…I want to learn magic from you. The good stuff that no one wants to teach me. I need some answers about what’s going on. Why and how did Samuel die, and what is Master Blair hiding, and who is the demon who seems to be defending me?”
“Yes,” Firian said. “I can help with that.”
“I’m sure we can find a lonely place somewhere on campus to study and practice after classes are done,” I said. “But maybe…in public…you should stay away more often. I don’t need you when I sleep, or in class, or at lunch. I can protect myself.”
“Can you?”
“Teach me some defensive spells,” I said. “First. And if I get into too much trouble, I can call you, right?”
“Yeah…” He frowned, his fox side somehow apparent in his annoyed squint.
“When class is over, we’ll get together.” We reached the outside of Lancelot House and paused on the steps. It was very quiet. Everyone seemed to be at the ball except us; I could still hear the laughter and music on the air in the distance, while the dorm was dark. “I’m sorry. Is…Etherium a nice place to go? Or do you get hassled there too?”
“No. Etherium is fine. I live alone in the forest,” he said. “It’s just like being back in Georgia, except there are more interesting things to hunt.”
I smiled, stood on my tiptoes, and kissed him back. He put an arm against the wall behind me; Lancelot House had a deep entrance way. I dropped my heels down, stumbling slightly, but he caught me. Held between his warm body and the carved ridges of decorative wood framing, I relished the sense of being alone in the world with the one person I could always, always trust. I put my arms around his neck. He had the softest hair, like it was almost fur.
He felt so good. But I already sensed that things were about to get really complicated.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Harris
My eyes followed Montague and Charlotte out the door, and I didn’t quite relax, even after Monty came back alone.
Daisy squeezed my ass. “Earth to Harris,” she said.
“I’m here.”
“Uh-huh. You got a thing for Charlotte?”
“No. I’m worried about her and Monty being alone together,” I said, in a quick save. “He’s…different now.”
“Does your father know you two still hang out? Your parents must be so pissed. What would Florin Nicolescu say?”
“They don’t know. And I don’t care. I’m a little old to be hanging out with whoever my mother likes.”
“True. But this is your family we’re talking about. I just wondered.” She smiled. “I like this rebel side of you. Wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of him…” The smile turned suggestive.
I don’t know why I couldn’t seem to calm the raging aggression inside me at the thought of Alec and Monty always horning in on Charlotte, despite that I had directed them not to.
“I won’t waste your virginity outside of marriage,” I said.
“Oh, lord,” she muttered. “We need to talk.”
“You’re not a virgin?”
“You are?”
“There is power to be harnessed on the wedding night; I wouldn’t squander that. Daisy—if this is true—”
She snorted. “Of course I’m a virgin, snack cakes. Your face, though. Were you just going to break up with me?”
“Well, I can’t trust a woman who would throw away her magic for a moment of pleasure.”
“Hmm, okay.” She side-eyed me.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Let’s just dance. I hope you aren’t going to make a habit of lying to me.”
“Lying and kidding are not the same thing.”
“Yes, they are.”
“I have to get a rise out of you now and then just to figure out who the hell you really are,” she said, with a wink.
I was relieved when the night was over. There was only so much Daisy I could handle. Are we a bad match?
In some ways I thought we might be too alike at our core.
Al
ec and Montague both seemed in unusually good moods as we walked back, and finally I couldn’t stand it.
“You know you two are both hitting on the same woman,” I said.
“I guess we are,” Alec said. “May the best man win.”
“You’re not wondering what Monty did with her alone outside?”
“What did you do?” Alec asked.
Monty chuckled in this private way. “Uh…”
“The thing is,” Alec said, “I just…can’t get too far with her. That spell Master Blair cast on me means I really, really can’t. And I don’t want to.” He was definitely starting to sound like he doth protest too much.
“Hey, Alec,” Monty said. “I sort of told her that we would stay with her during winter break. She’s all alone here. I’ll miss my family but, they’re fine without me. They might be relieved not to have to answer too many questions right now. Charlotte, on the other hand, needs a distraction. I know your dad might be relieved to go see the rest of his folks without you…”
When Alec’s dad hooked up with a succubus, it tore up the family, because they were all worried Alec might work his incubus powers on his cousins or something. It was a real fear. Teenage incubi didn’t always have control.
“That’s not the worst idea,” Alec said. “Yeah. I’m in. Now, if only you still had the car…”
“I fucking wish.”
“You’re both going to stay here all through Christmas?” I raised an eyebrow. “Cyrus won’t even be here. The food will be crappy. No decorations, no tree.”
“We’re a solstice family anyway,” Alec said. “The trees outside are enough for me.”
The Fairer Hex Page 18
