Curse of Christmas: A Collection of Paranormal Holiday Stories

by Thea Atkinson

  Not even when his hands slipped from my face to my throat, where they whispered across the skin in gentle strokes. Not even when they brushed my shoulder or somehow found the hidden zipper behind my back.

  I only truly realized the magnitude of what was happening when his fingers slipped beneath the zipper at the bottom of the suit's waist and found the string of my thong. He made a sound against my mouth of lust-filled surprise and while I'd like to say that was the thing that clued me in finally, it wasn't.

  At the same moment his fingers kneaded the curve of my backside, I felt a cold touch of power against the back of my neck.

  And then I felt a cold touch.

  I knew it couldn't be Maddox. Both of his hands were shoved beneath the pants of my cat suit. He was lost to his desires the way everyone else around us was.

  That meant it had to be someone else.

  And that was what slapped the ice water into my veins. I was sprawled awkwardly across Maddox's body. I was damn lucky someone hadn't already taken my head off or sunk their teeth into the back of my neck.

  Of course, I no sooner thought it then the inevitable happened.

  My scalp burned as someone yanked my head backward. I was powerless against the pain of it and followed the arc of movement with my chest.

  "He's mine," said a voice.

  I cringed into her hand as I peered up into the face of the server. I'd forgotten her for a moment. Her beautiful features were twisted in jealousy. Maddox tried to pull me against him again, and she yanked on my hair.

  I cried out with the pain.

  "Mine," she said and shook my head.

  "Yours, yours," I said. Anything to get her to let go.

  I threw up my hands in surrender but the only thing holding me upright was an awkward position against Maddox's hips and her grip on my hair. It hurt more to show her my hands. I grabbed for her, more to deflect the pain than anything else.

  Because she was crouched over, my hands landed on her thighs. Her breasts brushed against my face.

  Maddox was already pushing himself to his knees. His arms were around my waist. I knew in that instant he planned to pull me with him to his feet.

  If he did that, my head was gonna hurt hella bad.

  I opened my mouth against a swell of flesh and I bit down. Hard.

  She yodeled out her agony and she let go my hair. The relief was instantaneous.

  "Mine," said Maddox and then I did get pulled along with him but not to my feet.

  I sailed up over his shoulder like a Neanderthal claiming a mate and I thought, really? This is your darkest desire?

  I bobbed as he took a step and then weaved out of the way of something. I lifted my head to scan the room. What had begun as chaos had sifted out into several pockets of more ordered chaos. Fights had broken out and blood was running in gunnels along the grout. I thought I caught sight of Pan in a corner tenderly stroking a nymph's brow and pulling her clothes back over her body, covering her nudity.

  The server was holding onto her breast and glaring at me. Past her, I could see Scourge watching with interest at the goings on around them. One of them caught my eye. It inclined its head at me and its black hair swept out as though a breeze had taken it.

  I turned my attention to the server.

  "Help me," I said. Maybe if she thought I was a victim in all this, she'd realize I wasn't out to steal what she obviously thought was hers.

  Why she thought so, I'd deal with later.

  Maddox had begun to stride through a press of wolf shifters playing like pups and I had the feeling that somewhere in his addled brain, he remembered the library had a back room.

  I couldn't hold my head up long. I struggled to be released but Maddox put his hand against my back.

  "Soon, kitten," he said as though he either didn't see the chaos around him, the woman who had taken to pulling on my arm, or just didn't care.

  "Maddox, stop."

  He responded by tugging on my legs as means to counteract the pulling the server was now doing on my arms.

  I was going to fall and with both of them holding onto my arms and legs, it was not going to be pretty.

  "Stop," I said. "Just stop it."

  Too late, the server wrenched me sideways and I did spill. I fell onto my side next to one of the frolicking werewolves. Fur obliterated my vision for a moment and then the beast danced out of the way and I could see the server clinging to Maddox's arm.

  He looked stupefied as she cozied up next to him.

  "You owe me, warrior," she said.

  He took her in, his glance running down her naked arms and legs. Something shifted in his face. Maybe the savages had left him; maybe he just found a way to break through it. I pushed onto my elbows, straining to hear through the howling that started up. I was paralyzed here, afraid to make a move and draw attention to myself.

  The howling turned to low key whimpers. I caught a few snippets of their conversation.

  "I know you," he said.

  She ran the backs of her fingers along his jaw. "You do."

  The muscles in his throat went rigid. I thought he might resist her, but then the outline of her tattoos began to glow. "The mothmen. They ride my blood, remember?"

  A glaze went over his face. "I do remember."

  "You want me, I know," she said. "I smell it on your breath. The wine confesses its secrets with the fragrance."

  I watched as he dropped his gaze to her breasts. "Kyrie," he said. I remember."

  There was an intimacy in the words that made my heart squeeze. He knew her. I'd been nothing during those moments of passion but a substitute for some old flame that he'd stoked for God knew how many generations. I ached with the knowledge and the humiliation that I'd returned that kiss just as passionately.

  But it was still Maddox. And he'd made a vow. And I knew, just knew, in the next moment what I'd see would be him touching her finally, the savages taking him again because this was his darkest need.

  Her.

  She was it.

  I needed to get him out of there.

  Out of there.

  That was it.

  I almost laughed out loud as I realized the answer. Scourge. This was the one night in all the year that he might give into his need and the one night when the antidote for it was within his grasp.

  His attention was on the server and her nude flesh, the markings that made Hansel and Gretel tracks on her skin. She had taken to circling him, her palm caressing him over his clothes. Each touch wrapped his posture in further defeat. Each moment of defeat transformed into hard lust.

  I rolled onto my hands and knees and pushed myself into a runner's lunge. If I could get enough thrust and momentum, I might be able to take him down once again.

  Scourge had somehow eddied closer to me. There was no one in the way.

  Except Maddox.

  Coincidence or synchronicity, I didn't care. I waited for her to move to his side again, and then I lunged.

  I expected the impact to be like shouldering a mountain but it wasn't.

  He didn't go down like the first time. This time he skidded backwards. I pushed as hard as I could.

  Scourge was there. Almost as though it was waiting for him. The sliver of light pulsed into a white burst and it expanded to the size of a door.

  I laughed out loud.

  Maddox pin wheeled toward it.

  Except the look on his face as he realized I had pushed him, as he caught my eye, wasn't surprise or relief.

  It was panic.

  I immediately second guessed myself. I grabbed his wrist just before he fell into the portal.

  Scourge directed a strange look at me. The portal began to close. The light started to seep into the shadows of their aura.

  I'd made a mistake. I should have let him go. I knew it when he looked at me.

  "Go," he said. "It's yours."

  "I can't," I said. How could I explain in a millisecond that I couldn't leave him here to commit an act he'd spen
t hundreds of years avoiding. Even if it meant I got something I needed, it wouldn't be worth it to see him betray his vow.

  In the time it took me to refuse, the server pushed me aside. I lost my grip on Maddox. I staggered and watched helpless as the woman bolted for him. I held my breath.

  Then she did the unthinkable. She ran straight into the portal and it closed around her. The shadows of Scourge's aura swallowed up the light until it was nothing but a sliver again.

  I swallowed, not sure if I should be relieved or upset.

  Maddox took the choice from me. Instead of returning to normal, he lunged for me.

  "Come then, Kitten. We have a few good moments left."

  I backed away, butted up into someone's back. I didn't bother to turn around to see what or who it was.

  It didn't matter what else was happening around me. Maddox might not let anyone hurt me, but he wasn't going to let me go Scott free either.

  I tittered out a nervous laugh at the word Scott free. It was a Freudian mental slip because it was true. I was Scottie free. I was Scottie free because I'd killed him. I could tell myself it was self-defence, PTSD, anything I wanted, but the truth was, I'd killed the man who had held me enthralled for a decade, who I'd loved at one time, who in his way had loved me.

  I watched Maddox close the distance between us and I knew in that second it wouldn't just be Maddox who would regret this.

  It would be me.

  I wanted him, yes. I knew I did. I'd be a liar if I tried to convince myself otherwise. But I wanted him voluntarily, and that wasn't ever going to happen. And this involuntary act would make me hate him the way I'd hated Scottie.

  "Please, don't, Maddox," I said. "You don't want this."

  "But I do, Kitten," he said. "I've wanted it since I saw you covered in pepper spray in that alley."

  I pushed through the shoulders of two nymphs trying to ply a werewolf into play.

  "I stank," I said. "I was a mess. You don't mean that. It's just the savages."

  He shook his head. I noted the other contact had fallen out, and the eyes were all Maddox's now. They pinned to my mouth.

  "You smelled of promise and creamy butter and the wildflowers that grow in my homeland."

  It was calm, reasonable, so much like Maddox that I almost gave in. But one look around me reminded why I couldn't.

  I pulled one of the nymphs in front of me as a shield but I could see past her to Maddox's face. He was so tall, he towered over both of us.

  He was closer now, close enough to reach out and grab me if he wanted. I was surprised he didn't. His voice was soothing and calm, mesmerizing almost.

  "I won't hurt you, Isabella. I would never hurt you, but you want me too, don't you? I felt it when I healed you. It danced around my brain for days."

  "No," I lied because it wouldn't be helpful to tell the truth. Not now.

  "You can't run, Isabella. Where would you go?"

  He lifted his arms to indicate the room. We were close to the Shadow Bazaar, not quite in the ninth world.

  Where indeed?

  One place in this whole building might provide the sanctuary I needed until all of this passed, and it was behind me. All I had to do was turn tail and run like the wind.

  "She spiked the cactus wine, Maddox," I said. "That's all. You're drugged."

  "Not true," he said. "The wine was spiked but I only had three drafts. I'm a big man."

  I snorted as I back-stepped, but the grin on his face told me it was a mistake to find humor in the comment. He was deadly serious.

  He lifted the nymph from her spot in front of me, and I could see the dogged look on his face all the clearer. This was my chance, while he was busy.

  I spun on my feet and hurtled past a clutch of witches, pushed through them, and wrestled my way between a couple of trolls. At least I thought they were trolls. I didn't have time to ask.

  Maddox called out to me but I didn't respond. I just kept running, dodging, running again until the library door was in sight.

  I flung myself past the couple who had exchanged wigs and were now wearing them, the human skin hanging in their face. I pulled at the tree as I went, yanking it sideways.

  It came down with a whoosh behind me. Water spilled out over the floor and I almost slipped.

  But the office was in sight now. I was almost there.

  Things change on a dime, so they say. I'd seen it happen myself dozens of times. One moment, you're sure of something, the next a happenstance throws a wrench into the gears of destiny and nothing works out the way you expect.

  I expected to get to the door. I expected it to be unlocked. I expected to bar it from the inside and wait it out.

  The vampire from the first few moments had other plans.

  He swooped in from nowhere and grabbed me by the waist. I only knew him by his clothing because the face was horrific. Feral. But it was him, alright. His mouth gaped wide as he came at me. Those eyes of his were black and pupil-filled. I felt faint and willing all at the same time.

  Without thinking, I leaned my head to the side, stretching the muscles so that my neck was arched toward him. I felt a pressure against my chest.

  And then I felt nothing.

  The vampire was gone. I looked down to find him at my feet, pinned beneath Maddox's forearm. He fought against the hold and Maddox kept him pinned. There was no violence in the defense, only committed determination.

  The vampire spat and twisted, trying to capture Maddox's full gaze.

  "Don't try that on me," Maddox said. "You'll end up looking for your body while your head rolls on the floor."

  I believed it. So, apparently did the vampire. He stilled immediately but he didn't relent.

  "She is human," he said. "She is willing. You saw her. She wanted my bite."

  Maddox shook him by the collar.

  "You compelled her. That's not willing."

  I almost snorted, and might have if I hadn't just almost let a vampire make a Christmas Eve snack of me.

  "She's not willing," Maddox repeated, and this time he said it slowly, as though he were just realizing what he was saying.

  He sighed. I watched as his shoulders sagged and he pushed away from the vampire. He stood, brushing off his clothes and faced me. His face looked pained.

  "Isabella," he said. "I'm sorry."

  I peered at him, studying everything from his posture to his eyes.

  "It's fine," he said. "I'm fine."

  He reached behind him to grab the door knob. "Will you come with me?"

  I balked but then caught sight of the vampire again, and the partiers wearing human scalps for wigs and I nodded. It would be safer in there at least then out here.

  The office reminded me of the one in the Shadow Bazaar. It was three-storied, had shelves of books, and a great fireplace that roared to life as he entered.

  "Is this--?"

  "Yes," he said. We've crossed into the Bazaar."

  I smiled at the pleasant surprise. "That was painless."

  Each time I'd entered a portal to the bazaar, it had been discomfiting. This time it had been nothing at all. I ran my hand along the shelves of books as I followed him in, and when he paused in front of the fireplace, he bade me sit in one of the plush leather chairs.

  I took the one I'd sat in the first time I'd been there. He fidgeted as he stood next to the mantel and fiddled with a box on it.

  "Who was she?" I said, thinking this was as good a time as any to get an explanation. He wasn't ready to pounce on me at any rate.

  He threw his head back and sighed. "I didn't know her at first. She looked familiar, but it's been a very long time since I've seen her. I assumed she was dead."

  "She obviously remembered you," I said. "She honed in on you pretty fast."

  He put down the box and ran his hand down his chin, as though stroking a beard that wasn't there.

  "She's from my past. Someone I wanted very badly for a short time."

  "And you still want her?" I
guessed. I'd been a convenient substitute for his desires, apparently.

  "Is that what you think?" He closed the distance between us and crouched beside the chair. He ran his fingers over my forearm, a touch that was both intimate and casual. "She's a sorceress from my world. A scopari."

  "Scopari," I tried out the word on my tongue.

  "A special kind of prostitute."

  He looked like he wanted to explain, but I held my hand up.

  "I don't need to know more. I'm quite fine with what I know now."

  He grinned. "Fair enough."

  He picked up my hand and held it in his. "Thanks," he said.

  I couldn't look at him. "It was nothing. I just knew you wouldn't want to break your vow."

  "It was everything. I mean it."

  His free hand cupped my chin and he turned me to face him.

  "I would never have succumbed to her," he said. "It wasn't the wine or her magic that gave savages the power to move me. It was you. All along. You're the one I want. You're my buried desire."

  He held my gaze, unafraid, it seemed to let me see the conviction on his features. My own face must have shown all the confusion and fear I felt burning in my chest. That he wanted me. Me. A man dedicated to his vows of chastity. It was exhilarating and painful to hear all at the same time.

  "So what happens now?" I said. I didn't want to admit that I wanted him too. That would be cruel. It might be best to deny it out loud, but I didn't think I had the conviction at the moment that the sincerity would need.

  He shrugged. "We keep going. You keep going."

  "About that," I said. "I failed at the job you gave me. Kyrie no doubt has whatever it was you wanted."

  He pulled a big log off the wood pile and sat on it.

  "I doubt it," he said. "I only wanted one thing."

  "What do you think was in there?"

  "I know what was in there."

  "Then why send me? Why not just go get it yourself? You wouldn't have been susceptible to the savages under normal circumstances. You didn't need me"

  "Because I didn't want it for myself," he said. "I wanted it for you, Isabella You need it."

  He put his hand on my knee. I tried not to enjoy how warm it felt.

  "You've not been yourself since things went down with your ex."

  "What do you mean, I haven't been myself. I've been fine."