But I didn’t.
This letter could have answers for both of us, and I couldn’t make a decision one way or another until I had all the information, whether it was good or bad.
I tore through the seal. A map fell out, and I shoved it into my back pocket then tipped the paper so she could read along with me.
Dear Rose,
If you’re reading this, I’m dead and my spirit has reincarnated into the body of a recently deceased female. Any species will do. The transfer gives me one-time restorative capabilities. I could wake in a new body a foot away or hundreds of miles away. Each reincarnation has been different, depending on what my spirit chooses.
There’s not a way to locate me once I’ve been reborn, other than I’m one of only four Sirens on Earth. Although, I have realized through the years that my eyes are always brown, no matter what color my host’s were at the time of her death. So that’s at least one small detail to watch for, but it’s not likely that you’ll know the body I take over.
As a newly reborn Siren, I will not know what I am or what I’m capable of doing. My magick will be present, but weak at first, and if I manage to use magick at all, it will be completely by accident. I will lose all my memories in the transfer for a period of one hundred years, while my spirit completely assimilates into the new form. This is as much as I know about the process.
I’m begging you to look for me. Please save me from spending another century beneath my father’s torture and abuse. As long as my sister’s soul stones are still active, they are safe. If you feel that their soul stones have been damaged or aren’t active any longer, please go to Krestovaya and help them, too. He will use them to blackmail me once my century of amnesia is over.
My father’s essence is locked in a stone of my making. It’s hidden in the catacombs of Crete. I’m the only being on earth that can unlock the crystal and put it back inside him. That can never happen.
I give you my oath, as I did when you found me centuries ago, I will serve you in any capacity you desire for as long as you require it of me.
If you do find me, please direct me to my hidden storeroom. I have a journal there for myself that will help guide me through the next hundred years.
In this life or the next,
Calliope Hart
Calliope leaned harder against my arm, against the length of my side. She was reading the letter. But I could hear every thrum of her heart. Each and every breath as it was inhaled and exhaled. The small gurgle from her stomach and the way she fidgeted with the torn shirt she was wearing. It covered her—mostly. But Calvar’s sword had left a wide gash in both the front and back.
“I really am Calliope.” She tugged at the ripped fabric of her blouse, drawing her fingers across the perfectly smooth skin, skin that only a few minutes ago had been open and bleeding. “I was wounded here. This body died, and I took it.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head and stepped back, breaking our skin-to-skin connection, which I missed instantly. “What is a Siren? Am I going to have fangs like you had earlier? What are you, by the way? And who is this father? Is someone coming after me? Perhaps I need to hunt around for the journal I mentioned.”
“I will protect you, Calliope. You are safe with me. We don’t have time to hunt for anything else. I promised you I’d protect you and help you save your sisters. We have to go. Now.”
Her brown eyes widened again, so innocent, so naive of the world around her. She wouldn’t know how to defend herself. Or use her powers. Anything. But it didn’t matter. I would keep her at my side. Her father would never be able to get his hands on her. Ever again.
“I don’t know a lot about Sirens, but I’ve seen you change, and you don’t have any fangs,” I said, trying to put a smile on my face. “Your eyes turn black, and you have black claws on your hands. But as far as I know, that’s all.”
“Black eyes and claws,” she murmured and turned away from me to stare at a shelf full of clothing. “The old me thought my sisters were in danger?”
“Yes.”
“I should find something to wear that doesn’t have a huge hole in it. Do you think the owner of the shop will mind?”
“It’s your shop, Calliope.”
Her mouth formed a small o and then snapped shut. She reached for a pair of black jeans and a t-shirt before glancing back at me from beneath a fringe of dark eyelashes. She bent, pulled down the zipper on her boots, and toed them off along with her socks. Next, she caught the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, baring her breasts to my full view. Then she shimmied out of the jeans she was wearing, too.
“Calliope.” My jaw flexed, and I held myself back. A canvas of creamy skin broken only by a band of pink lace panties. Blood rushed south in my body, and I took a deep breath to try and ward off the oncoming hard-on.
“Ouch,” she whimpered, the blouse stuck halfway over her head.
“What’s wrong?” I stepped closer to her, dropped the letter to the ground, and reached for the shirt.
“Something is stuck in my hair,” she said, a hint of a smile sparkled in her eyes.
“Let me help you.” I fumbled through her silky soft hair, looking for the snag, while staring down at her perfectly shaped breasts. Just big enough to be a handful and small enough that I wondered if I could fit most of one in my mouth.
Finally, I found the culprit—a small metal eyehook had gotten twisted into her hair. I untwisted the strands and dropped the shirt to the floor. Leaning closer, I grazed my nose and lips along the bare curve of her shoulder. Hunger and lust flared in my veins. The urge to mark her made my fangs descend. My tongue flicked out and tasted her milky skin, and I reveled in the light floral scent of her body.
More. Gods, I wanted her as much as I had wanted Calliope the moment I first saw her. Calliope—this new Calliopein a different body—was no different. I’d wondered if I would hesitate, but nothing in me had any desire to hold back. Her body relaxed beneath my mouth, and she trembled…but not in fear. Her breathing was erratic, but her pheromones registered one hundred percent aroused.
“I want—” The words halted in my throat, but my hands found their way to her bared breasts, and I squeezed gently, kneading and then rolling the nipples between my fingers until they were hard as granite.
She put her head on my shoulder; another aroused tremor shook through her body. I drew her hair aside from her neck and shoulder, baring a decadent spread of beautiful flesh. “I am yours, Godric. It’s as though everything inside me is begging to be closer to you.”
I stared down at her creamy flesh. My mouth ached, but I couldn’t. Guilt weighed on me like a two-ton elephant sitting on my shoulders. She was mine, and she clearly wanted me, but I needed to be sure she understood what had transpired between us before her reincarnation. I didn’t want anything to ruin what we shared once her memories were returned. I refused to lose her—like everything else in my life— because of a mistake.
Chapter 35
CALLIOPE
He retreated, leaving me standing naked and needy.
“Forgive me. I—”
“Remember the other woman?” I said through gritted teeth. He’d been so close. My skin had tingled in anticipation. He wanted me. I could nearly taste it in the air. The overwhelming scent of desire rolled off him, calling like a beacon.
I yanked a blue t-shirt from a nearby shelf, hiding my breasts from his gaze. My hard nipples grazed the soft fabric, and I hissed out a quick breath. If he wasn’t going to play with them, he didn’t get to look at them…not until he was ready to make good on the lustful glances he’d been offering since laying eyes on me. Even more so since he claimed I was his.
I wasn’t against being his. In fact, I wanted it more than anything. Not that I had much in the way of hesitation. I couldn’t remember anything before waking up in that bloody concrete room with the body of a decapitated man in it. Then Godric had materialized from nothing, and my entire being had tuned to him like s
ome kind of radio frequency had flipped on inside me.
He wanted me. But he was still coping with the fact that I was a reincarnation of the dead woman in the front of the store. I could sympathize with his hesitation. His loyalty to her memory made me want him even more. That and his beautiful body made mine sing with need.
But if he needed me to move a little slower, I could do that…probably. Maybe.
I reached for the pair of black jeans I’d grabbed with the shirt and pulled them on, too. Then I watched as the clothes shrunk to fit me perfectly, followed by socks and a pair of hiking boots. Amazing. “This isn’t normal, is it?”
He shook his head. “You enchanted the clothing. It conforms to fit the person who wears it first.” He pulled off his ripped-up shirt and reached for a plain black tee on the shelf to my right.
I paused and watched him, fixated on every line and muscle of his bare chest. I licked my lips and tried to remind myself that he needed me to move a little slower. If he kept teasing me like this, though, I was literally going to strip again and climb him like a tree.
“I didn’t.”
“Well, you did before you died and switched bodies.”
“This is weird for you.” I said, folding my arms over my chest. Maybe it would help for him to talk about it. I was Calliope. I believed that, but without her memories, I wouldn’t be exactly the woman he remembered. Plus, the new body was certainly throwing him off, though not as much as he wanted to believe. I could see the hard outline of his erection against the seam of his pants, and my nipples still ached from his touch along with every other part of me. “I get that.”
“It is, but I know it’s you. I feel that it’s you.”
“What are you? I know you said I’m a Siren, but that’s not what you are, is it?”
“I’m a hybrid. I was born a Djinn—what humans would call a genie—but I was betrayed by a woman I cared for deeply. She turned me into a vampire.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“Djinn can teleport. Vampires need blood to survive, so—”
“Interesting. That’s why you had blood on your face before? You were eating someone? Was it the man in that room where we were before?” I stepped closer to him again, but not close enough to touch, even though every part of me hungered for even the smallest brush of flesh on flesh.
“I did drink part of the man who killed you, yes. But I don’t eat people unless they deserve it.” His tone rang with a brokenness that made my throat sting with the promise of tears. Someone had hurt him. Deeply.
“How do you decide if they deserve it?” I moved toward him again, slipping a hand over his arm, the need to touch him too much to hold back. A tremor of something powerful flowed through me at the connection, and I took a deep, steadying breath.
“I don’t drink from anyone without permission, unless I witness them injuring or killing another.”
“Did you drink from her—I mean, me? You know what I mean.” My fingers tightened around his arm. I shouldn’t have asked that question, but I wanted to know. Needed to know.
“Yes.”
“Did you like it?”
“Yes,” he answered again, slowly.
“Do you want to drink from me?” I asked, hoping his answer would stay yes. Hoping that he would give me a chance. He believed I was Calliope. I was his mate—whatever that truly meant—and I wanted him more than anything.
He covered my hand with his. “I do, but we need to go to Krestovaya to find your sisters. Your soul stone stopped working when Rose died. Your sisters are in danger. I will not fail her—you—again.”
I studied him for a few silent moments. The tension in his jaw. The longing in his gaze and glimmer of uncertainty. But there was resolve, too. He intended to follow through on his promise. I respected that. I still planned to delay it, but I respected his dedication to me. To the promises he had made to the old me. “You didn’t know I would reincarnate,” I said slowly.
“Yes and no. You’d been vague about it, and I didn’t know for sure. And I didn’t know how it would happen.”
“I’m here. I may not be quite as you remember, but I am me. I want you more than the air I’m breathing. My body aches for you, Godric. Do you ache for me?”
“I do.” He shifted closer to me, and our gazes met. He was going to kiss me. Finally. He lowered his face…then stopped. “We have to go,” he whispered then grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the storeroom.
Damn it.
Chapter 36
KILLÍAN
“Well?” Alek asked, crowding me the second we stepped into the castle foyer. They’d been waiting and watching for us. “Did you find him?”
I straightened, facing the large Gryphon shifter, and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I watched him die, Alek. They shot him down. He burned—the flames were so white I had to close my eyes—and then he was gone. Asa checked where they fell. There was nothing but ash. They’re both gone. We lost everyone.”
Alek’s chest heaved, and the mountain of a man jerked away from me with a roar. He fell to the ground, pressing his forehead into the stone floor with a cry that made my insides roll in sympathy. Jared had been a brother to Alek in every sense of the word. Another animalistic wail loosed from Alek, vibrating the walls.
The light pattering of footsteps drew my attention to the stairs above us. A small brunette hurried down the stairs—Gretchen. She was barefoot and wearing a thick blue robe over shorts and a tee-shirt.
“Alek,” she whispered, kneeling at his side.
I just stood there watching, not wanting to interfere. I wouldn’t have known what to say anyway. When Jon had died so many years ago, I had destroyed the house where I lived until only splinters remained. I knew the pain Alek was feeling. The rage and confusion. All of it.
“Come with me,” she said, tugging at his arm. “Please.”
Alek rose from the floor slowly, a hardness creeping into his expression I recognized all too well.
“This fight starts in a few hours.”
He nodded and walked away. Once the Gryphon was out of earshot, Miles stepped out from the shadows behind the door. He’d already put the large beam in place, effectively locking everyone in as much as it kept people out.
“When Jared died…the flames were white?” Miles asked, his voice soft.
“Yes,” Asa answered quickly. “Do you know what it was? Why there were no bodies? Did they just burn up?”
Miles reached out and put a large hand on Asa’s shoulder and slid it partway down her arm. “My father spoke of witnessing a Phoenix death once. He said it was as if a star had been born on earth and then burned out in a single breath. The man who died was seen again years later by travelers from Orin.”
“What about Manda? He was holding her. Is she dead?” Asa asked, her tone a cross between hopeful and brokenhearted.
The Drakonae shook his head. “I’m only sharing what was shared with me. Perhaps there is hope for both of them. But your daughter’s last deed was saving a child. Fighting Xerxes. We need you to follow in her footsteps, Asa. We need you to help us beat him once and for all.”
“Just tell me what to do. I have no life to live unless he is dead and gone,” Asa said, her tone flat and dead.
Miles caught my gaze from across the foyer, and I nodded. A Djinn was an advantage we didn’t think we’d have in this fight.
“You’re going to kill him, Asa,” I said, keeping my voice quiet. “You’re going to end Xerxes.”
“Now we just have to get our newly acquired, pissed-off Lamassu on board with the same plan,” Miles said, rolling his neck, his tone conveying how much he disliked the new addition to Sanctuary. Naram was certainly no Rose, but he was driven. He wanted his revenge. That much was obvious. We were all just beginning to worry about the casualties he’d leave in his wake.
Miles and I took Asa the length of the castle, across the courtyard, and stopped in front of the door to the Sister’s lower level wing of the
castle. I rapped on the heavy iron door. A few moments later, it was opened for us. Javier’s sullen face appeared in the shadow. He glanced past us to Asa and then at me again before shaking his head slowly. “Shit, man.”
No one spoke. Not even Asa.
Javier opened the door, and we entered, walking past him down the long corridor to the main club area. The usually dark and sensual space was brighter than a sunny August afternoon. The pixies had glow lamps turned up all the way. Every inch of the place was covered with blankets, provisions, and people uprooted from their homes around town.
“Is everyone down here now?” I asked Javier. “Weren’t some of the citizens bunking upstairs?”
“They are, but everyone wouldn’t fit, so we starting filling the club space, too. Most of the families with kids are upstairs. They didn’t feel comfortable having their kids surrounded by BDSM equipment.” He gestured to a few people as we walked past. “Most down here are singles or couples without kids.”
“Thank you for helping to facilitate finding space for everyone.”
Javier ran his hand over his chin and shrugged. “I just got back. This was all Bailey and Erick.”
“The baby?” I asked.
Bailey appeared from around a corner, Erick at her side. “The baby and mother are happily resting upstairs in the main castle with her sister. Sochi would like to personally thank you, Asa, for bringing her child back to her.” The small brunette evaded Javier’s personal space and approached Asa, clasping her hands. “I’m sorry for your loss, Asa. But you saved a life and gave another mother back her daughter. I hope that gives you at least a little comfort.”
Asa didn’t speak, but she nodded and pulled away from Erick’s mate.
Bailey retreated to her mate’s side and looked back at me. “We’re going upstairs for a while. I can’t stand being around that arrogant as—”
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 131
