Clearly she’d awoken to a quarrel.
“Stop it.” Silence overtook the room instantly at the sound of Octavia’s voice as she walked in, weary old eyes peering at them from the deceptively young face she had always been able to use to her advantage.
“Why weren’t we told you were back?” she said, turning to Nora.
Antoni glared at Fletcher, but was the first to back down. It was enough to make Fletcher feel foolish and unprepared. He felt as though he was failing Nora, instead of proving to everyone that she had been doing a good job of training him. A good job of getting him ready to come back and join them as soon as his college class left town. He glanced at her, his head hanging low as he made it to the corner of the room where Elise had been standing quietly. Humbly, he stood next to her.
“I just wanted to see him first,” Nora said, sitting up on the bed and swinging her legs off of it to stand.
“And go against our wishes –our instructions.” Octavia’s voice was stern and unforgiving.
“I’m sorry…” Nora’s head dropped, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She could still feel those hands around her neck. Those hands, which had been loving even during their most vicious fucking, crushing her throat. Cracking her neck until she lost consciousness. He hadn’t been trying to kill her. She knew that much. He was making a point. But had it been him at first? Had he touched her face tenderly before Ben took over, or was he completely gone?
Fletcher watched quietly. He didn’t want to be jealous, but while everything happened he couldn’t help resenting Marcel for being what Fletcher couldn’t be, not in the hundreds of years of advantage Marcel had on him. He could feel Nora’s heartbreak, her want, and her defeat. He could feel her love and, as much as it felt like he shared it at times, he felt oddly juvenile about having to share her when he had been promised all that time alone with her. All those years. All the training...
“What were you thinking?” Octavia barked, glaring at Nora.
“We thought that maybe she could get to him,” Antoni interrupted, seeing Nora struggle with a kind of pain that he, as Marcel’s fledging, could fully understand. It felt like they were losing someone. Like things were far worse than they could have imagined. Antoni had been certain that if anyone could reach him, get some answers, then it would be Nora. Now, he wasn’t sure there was anything any of them could do to bring Marcel back.
“You shouldn’t have put yourself at risk,” Octavia practically hissed, her attention still on Nora. “And you shouldn’t have asked her to do that,” she continued, looking between Antoni and Elise. “You both understand why this newborn can’t be seen around this town, don’t you?”
“Yes ma’am,” they replied in unison.
“Then, pray tell, why the fuck is he back in town?”
Fletcher felt helpless.
“We have to do something…” Nora’s voice was a whisper. She wasn’t talking to them. She wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, really. She was talking to herself because whether the people in the room agreed or not, this needed to be resolved fast.
“We can’t just leave him in there…”
“Are you seriously trying to get him out of there after what just happened?” Elise asked, speaking up for the first time since Nora had awakened.
“No, it’s not about freeing him.” Sound was suddenly sucked out of the room as each of them realized what Nora was talking about.
“You’re not saying…” Antoni snapped right away.
“I don’t want to,” she looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears, “but can you see an alternative? If we don’t find a way to get him back, if we don’t get rid of Ben in his head, then we need to kill Marcel.”
Elise and Antoni watched in horror. They knew it was true, but that didn’t mean either of them could believe it was Nora who was saying it. Marcel’s star fledging; his right hand.
But that was it, wasn’t it? Nora knew what had to be done because she cared far too much about what Marcel had built here to watch it go up in flames just because none of them had the courage to do as was needed. It was time to kill or watch it all burn. Time to make good on all those years of promises and protect what she had helped him build. Above him. Above herself if necessary.
“There has to be another way,” Antoni pleaded, quietly at first. Then he became more agitated as Nora’s words began to dawn on him. Without Nora’s support, he was completely alone. “Please, Octavia. There must be another way.”
“I know of a way….” At once, they all turned their attention to Elise whose hands were deep in her pockets in a rare display of timidity.
Nora shook her head slowly. She knew what Elise was about to say and the consequences of it were as terrible as losing Marcel.
“Elise, no…”
“Nora, please.”
“There is no certain way of knowing it’ll help in any way.”
“But it’s an option,” Elise interrupted Nora. “It’s another way, and we need another way, don’t we? Somewhat desperately if I am reading this whole situation right, yeah? And I think I am because our maker, our Marcel, is being held hostage by Ben. And we need to save him.”
“Elise, speak!” Octavia growled. “What is it?”
Nora nodded slowly. Cautiously. Elise was right. It was their only chance. It was worth a shot. They would all deal with the consequences of it afterwards. If they failed, well, there were worse things to come back to. Concerns that would take precedence. At least she hoped so.
“Elise,” Antoni reached for her hand hopefully.
Elise glanced around the room one last time, pausing on Fletcher for a moment. She could barely remember how confusing it had been to transition from being a human to being a vampire, a whole new different creature, but she couldn’t even imagine how meaningless and confusing this must have all been for him. How nonsensical.
“Can you meet us in Lena’s office, Octavia?” she said finally, squeezing Antoni’s hand as her eyes moved to look at Octavia. “You’re both going to want to hear this.”
Chapter 36
“Witches?” Lena held her head high, nostrils flaring. Glaring eyes protruded from her reddening face.
“The Cheiristíria coven,” Elise nodded. “They are manipulators of reality. An ancient group taking their power from the earth and the sun.”
“I’ve heard about them,” Octavia said to Lena, who stood to the right side of the chair in which she sat, behind a heavy desk. “Their bonds to the sun make them immune to us, and especially lethal. Marcel found out there were some of them in town and cast them out.”
“So, you want us to ask a clan of sun-powered witches to help the vampire who threw them out of their chosen home?” Lena asked incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. We can’t let you do that.”
Elise looked at Nora, the fear in her eyes. unlike anything Antoni or Fletcher had ever seen in her. Unlike anything Octavia and Lena were accustomed to when it came to the lively, shameless fledging.
“There’s more,” she said, looking back at the two elders.
“More?”
“Back when they arrived in town, I was …involved with the witch assigned to set up the coven in this town.”
“Involved?” Lena asked with a tilt of her head.
“Her name is Aine,” Elise nodded, “And she was sent here as part of her training to take over the coven.”
“This is absurd! What you’ve done is punishable by…” Octavia’s mouth hung open.
“Death,” Elise interrupted. “I know. And Marcel knew and decided to protect me. That’s why he sent them away. That’s why an entire coven was cast out of their home. Not because Marcel felt threatened by them. It was because he knew that I would have to face the sun if you two and Athos found out that I had fallen in love with a human witch. That she knew all our secrets. We couldn’t tell anyone the truth, so they left. Marcel let everyone think that it had always been about our safety when, in fact, they could have helped us dea
l with the sun. Live in daylight.”
“What?” Fletcher’s eyes were wide. He hadn’t meant to interrupt but just hearing that, the possibility of stepping into the sun, of enjoying days again, was beyond his control. “You mean we could go out there? Live normally?”
“So, what are you proposing?” Lena spoke, holding a hand up to quiet Fletcher.
This much he knew, you backed down when there was an elder in the room. And he did.
“What we are proposing is going to talk to Aine and asking for her help,” Nora answered, stepping up to stand next to Elise. “Antoni and I will go with Elise. She will get us in to talk to them and we will present them with an offer. Something they will be interested in in exchange for helping us.”
“And what’s that?” Octavia asked, visibly intrigued.
“The land. It was the reason they were trying to settle in town to begin with. We believe that we can get them to agree to help us if we offer some sort of treaty.”
“And who is to determine this treaty?”
“We would reach some sort of arrangement, since time is so important. Once Marcel is safe, if it works, you can all meet and draw out the specifics of our peaceful coexistence. But we would need you two to sign a document proving that this is serious and we are willing to negotiate to fill their needs. We must assume that they have been led to believe that it was our fault, that we have been keeping them out of here, so we need to be prepared for hostilities. Especially from the witches that made it here and then were ripped out of their homes.”
“It’s too risky.” Octavia nudged Lena. “The three of them will burn before they can get a word out. Even if they make it all the way there, there is no way of making sure that the witches won’t attack as soon as they see them, especially if they assume, like we did, that we are mortal enemies.”
“We’ll do it,” Antoni said, his hands shaking as he processed the information that his blood-sisters had kept from him. “We’ll take the risk.”
“If they kill us as soon as we arrive, you will know we’re out of options and you can do what you have to with Marcel.” Nora spoke matter-of-factly.
Octavia glanced at Lena.
“What do you think?” Lena asked. She missed Marcel’s wise input more than ever.
“I think it’s worth a shot if we can get Marcel back.” Octavia spoke thoughtfully.
Fletcher stood back, quietly. His back crushing the wall behind him until the paint began to crack. He wanted to speak up. To demand to be taken with them if they insisted on this suicide mission. He wanted to protest. To make Nora stay and send Elise and Antoni alone. They could handle it on their own, couldn’t they? But he knew the answer, and he could feel Nora asking him to calm down and wait. To be patient. To show Lena and Octavia that they hadn’t made a mistake allowing them to leave together. Letting her instruct him in the ways of their clan.
With fists clenched, he watched as they signed Nora’s death sentence. Elise’s. Antoni’s. Marcel’s…
Chapter 37
“Take me with you.”
“I can’t,” Nora whispered against his lips, her hand continuing to stroke his cock slowly.
“Just let me go with you…”
“You’d just bring attention to us,” she said absently. Her thumb danced along the head of his half-erection.
There was nothing to discuss and Fletcher knew it. There were posters with his face all around town, and he’d been on the news every day since his disappearance. Elise and a handful of fledglings had taken care of Jason and the rest of Fletcher’s teammates, erasing any memory they may have had of his attack. It was risky enough to bring him into town, but to put him on a flight to South Africa? There was no way they would be able to get away with that without him being recognized. He’d been extremely lucky to have made it back from California where he wasn’t dominating the news.
Besides, he was an instant connection to Nora. They could keep track of her more easily through him. He would know right away if they managed to get the coven’s help and, of course, if something went terribly wrong.
He knew it all, but he didn’t have to like it. And he didn’t.
“I don’t want you to go without me–” he groaned, his head pressed back against the wall as Nora began stroking more vigorously.
“I’ll be back,” she whispered against his throat, kissing her way up to his lips in an attempt to end this argument as fast as possible. There was nothing to discuss, they had their orders and they needed to see them through.
“You can’t promise that, can you?”
“No,” she said, settling on his lap and rocking her hips back and forth slowly. His penis pressed up against her, always just a movement away from her taking him inside her. “But if I don’t come back you are going to be very sorry you didn’t send me off with a good fuck.”
She had a point. Even if that hadn’t been so, the mix of her hips rocking, that delicious friction paired with those words, it was all enough to make Fletcher forget that he was trying to get something from her. She was still the most bewitching being he had ever encountered, her scent enough to drive him wild with desire. A challenge had never been necessary, but it didn’t hurt now.
He shoved her onto her back and moved over her in a rough motion, thrusting into her in a single deep motion that made her howl his name out. Then he slowed down, pulling his hips back so slowly she began to plead with him in a way that was not unlike his recent pleads to go with her.
“Baby, fuck me.” Her voice was raspy, deep. He looked down at her dark hair tangled on the pillow, her face absorbed in her ecstasy.
He drove himself into her with as much force as he could and as slowly, as patiently, as he could manage. Trying to drive her crazy until he began driving himself mad with it. Mad with those lethargic thrusts, those slow rolls of his hips, as he pulled back and then slammed forward again and again. Her cries urging him on, her arms and legs pulling him closer, providing the necessary support for her to tilt her hips up, helping him drive as deep within her as he could.
He had taken her words so seriously he put everything into each roll, each tug of her hair and re-direction of her legs as he pulled them up, tossed them over his shoulders, and pushed them further apart. Like he could fuck himself into every inch of her skin and leave marks mapped all over her body for her to take on her trip. To carry with her while he was away. To be with her in case…
Panting and gasping their beat became even faster. She moaned loudly as her body rocked against his, absorbing each stab of pleasure. It was music to his ears. His mouth crushed hers in a searing kiss. Finally, her moans turned into one long, high-pitched scream as she shuddered and pulsed with her orgasm, her legs quaking.
Looking down at her, he saw tears streaking her cheeks, and her face glowed. They lay there, side-by-side, stroking each other’s faces and bodies, whispering sweet nothings.
“I love you.”
“I love you more …”
She rose up off of the bed.
“Where are you going?” His voice was hoarse and rasping.
“I…” She glanced back, the sheet held to her chest with one hand, her face softening from surprise as she shook her head and lowered herself back down onto the bed. “Nowhere,” she kissed his cheek, “I still have some time.”
“You need to be your beautiful, persuasive self,” Fletcher said, kissing a line along her shoulder. “You need to talk those witches into helping Marcel and then return to me. You need to make good in that promise to spend eternity with me because that’s the only reason I am here; you hear me?” He held back the tears, but she heard them in his voice.
Nora had never been good at goodbyes. It was one of the reasons relationships between humans and vampires were never a good, idea, there was no way that they could last. As she leaned back into Fletcher’s touch, she could feel herself welling up—feel herself getting ready for the hardest of all goodbyes.
They were both far too present in each
other to ignore how bad things could go. They both understood that if Ben found out about Fletcher, he would go after him first. And, even if he didn’t, there was a very real possibility that the witches would find their request insulting. That they would find them smug in their stupid vampirism. Would they appear conceited to be showing up there, so far from their home and their elders? Could they really expect the witches to help simply because, once upon a time, their leader had claimed to be in love with one of their clan?
Vampires were thieves of life and light. Night beings. The horror they found in the witches and their alliance with the sun was met and matched. Fletcher didn’t need a special connection with Nora to understand that they were night and day trying to reach an arrangement and that it was about as unlikely as it sounded. As impossible.
Kindred Souls: Entire Series Books 1 - 5 Page 15
