by Kiki Howell
“What did you do that for?” His dark eyes had widened in shock.
She’d countered his incredulous expression with one of her own. “You make a habit of bringing cursed objects into my shop unannounced, wolf boy?”
His nostrils flared and she thought he was cute.
“Cursed?”
“You heard me.” Diana reached inside the energy of the piece and ripped the foulness from its cogs and coils, bringing up the vaporous stench of rotten eggs.
“Ugh.” Aristide took a step back, his nostrils flaring.
“Who did you say that was from?”
“My late wife’s father.”
“He didn’t like you very much, did he?”
“I guess not.”
And that started their sparing sort of friendship and flirtation.
Diana’s lips turned up at the thought. Her shop was not your typical antique emporium and they both knew it. Moon Called Antiques Emporium housed and collected cursed objects. They were either salted, spelled and cured or buried in a consecrated burial site. There was no in between.
Flicking her wrist, she noted the time. Five minutes and turned into fifteen. It wouldn’t be the first time Celine had run behind but she would have hoped the girl would have learned to use her phone by now.
The door opened, chime jingling.
Thank Goddess.
The thought washed over her and she smiled in relief.
“There you are. I was beginning to worry...” Diana started, her voice trailing off when she got a glimpse of Celine’s face. Tears streaked down the girl’s cheeks, her mascara lining her eyes like a raccoon. Her normally impeccable anime inspired costume was soiled with what appeared to be mud and her pigtails were plastered against her head.
“What is it? Were you at the museum?”
An art student, Celine had been trying unsuccessfully to get her work into the showing for months.
The girl shook her head. “Gabby. She’s disappeared.”
“What do you mean?” Diana went to Celine, wrapping her arms around the shaken sixteen year old.
“I mean, I wanted to see if we could trade shifts for today and she wasn’t answering her phone.” Celine hiccupped. She elbowed her way out of Diana’s arms and rooted around in her bag for her phone.
“A lot of girls don’t answer their phone.” Diana held out her hand. “Let me see it.”
“No,” she shook her head adamantly, stepping back. “No. I checked at school. She wasn’t there. And then I ran over to the pack house and her dad answered the door.”
“And?” Diana stepped back, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“And she’s gone.”
Chapter Four
ARISTIDE BENOIT STALKED around his daughter’s room once more, anger sizzling through his very core. She hadn’t been home last night. With her recent behavior taking a down turn, he had a mind to pull her from her part time job just to teach her a lesson. But with what was happening in the city right now, he was torn between wanting to give her the hiding of her life or just finding her and hugging her until she squealed in protest.
And now Diana didn’t know where she was either.
He wanted to pull his hair out and howl.
There should be a support group for all single fathers of sixteen year old girls. He didn’t know how he was going to survive it. Gabby was all he had, even if she would rather forget about that most of the time. Teenagers. You couldn’t live with them and you couldn’t shoot them. But right now he wanted to.
He’d texted her to get her butt down there for dinner, not being sure if she was on shift at Diana’s shop. She was supposed to leave a copy of the schedule on the fridge so in case he got dragged into pack business he could check on her. Or at the very least she could have texted him a picture.
She hadn’t.
Usually she would respond with some sort of emoji but this time...this time she didn’t. So he trudged upstairs and dared to enter the inner recesses of her sanctuary.
Alpha of his pack he may be, but that was nothing on the wrath of a teenage girl’s privacy being violated. He still had the scars from the last time. It was hard enough living in a house full of wolves, let alone being the daughter of the Alpha. He got that. He really did. And he got the fact that she missed having a mother.
Liz, the housekeeper and one of the other women of the house helped as best they could. And Jenny, the young wolf who’d recently moved from Baton Rouge to take their open Cook position had even bonded with her. But after checking with each of them, he still had no answers and this close to the moon, his wolf was already on edge.
Everyone was.
Aristide was still reeling from his phone blowing up over the latest disappearance. A girl visiting some of the local haunts had run into an all-night coffee shop screaming about her friend being dead on the street but when authorities got to the spot, there was no one there. Strange occurrences happened in Moulin Revere all the time. But the girl who had gone missing...she was a member of Aristide’s pack and thus part of his protection.
He’d been on the phone with her parents, Skyping with the pack elders and putting out fires as fast as they sprung up when Ken, one of the security team brought him a report.
Now tonight with the events unfolding over town it looked like things were getting even more serious. The museum destroyed and the vampire coven house attacked? It didn’t make sense.
His people in the field had been bringing him intel all day. Altercations with vampires, missing wolves and a red haired older woman leaving the scene of most of the occurrences. The pack’s tribal markings were sited, so he knew in all likelihood the reports were true. In many cases, the individuals fighting were never seen or heard from again. It defied explanation as he had explicitly told his pack not to engage with the vamps. At all.
He put the phone on silent and lifted his eyes from the report. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know,” his second replied. “But what I want to know is who is the strange woman?”
The man had a point.
Dealing with his bull headed daughter tonight was not on his list but it looked like it was about to be.
Her bed was unmade, clothes in piles on the floor. But what disturbed him most was her purse sitting on her dresser, next to her school books. And her phone, light blinking with the new text from him.
She would never go anywhere and leave her cell. Ever.
So where the hell was she?
His phone vibrated on his belt and he yanked it free, eyes scanning the contents of the text flashing across the screen.
Another one.
“Damn it,” he swore, shoving the phone back in place. In two steps he was out the door, his wolf pacing beneath his skin. Something was wrong and he sure as fuck was going to find out what it was. Wolves just didn’t go missing out of thin air. Not since his grandfather had ruled in the days of feuding with the vampires were at the highest.
Was it the centuries old feud brewing anew, barely held in check, the vampires trying to re-assert their hold on the wolves? And had his daughter landed right in the middle of their power play?
And then there was the missing girl. It didn’t make sense.
He flew down the stairs, past startled wolves and cubs, and was at the front door when his phone buzzed again. In a quick jerk, he had it back in his hand, but this time there was a message from Diana at the shop. He’d texted her earlier when he’d first heard the news. She hadn’t seen Gabby either.
Shit.
He would go to the shop first and see what Diana knew and then he was going to roam the streets until he found her, no matter how long it took. At any other time seeing the sexy witch would have gotten his pulse pounding but both he and his wolf were panicking.
All the more reason to see your mate.
“Shut up,” he snarled, in no mood to listen to his mouthy animal. The woman might be his mate, but getting her to even go out on a date with hi
m had been all but impossible.
And now the buzz was she’d been seen with Virgil, the vampire Regent.
Aristide let a growl slide through his lips at the thought of the slimy bastard. He knew the man was behind the issues between his pack and the vampire coven. He just had to prove it.
But first things first. He had to find Gabby. Then he could deal with everything else.
“YOU SHOULDN’T GO OUT tonight. It isn’t safe.” Virgil’s manservant brought him his tuxedo jacket and he slipped it on.
That didn’t change the fact that all he wanted to do was tell the older servant to go and find a post elsewhere in the compound and leave him to his own devices and get dressed like he had for the last two hundred or so years.
He was a Master vampire, not a wet behind the ears revenant. And he hadn’t gotten to be Regent by hiding when there were those who wished him harm. Let them come. He’d taken steps to make certain he would always come out on top.
Tonight would be the beginning of the end for his enemies and he would enjoy watching them burn.
Fingering the small pin at his lapel, he reveled in the power sizzling over his flesh as the demon’s power slid through him. Let the rest of his house be afraid. It was a shame Rand hadn’t appreciated the fine woman he had in Melia. But that was about to be remedied.
Blood for blood and the demon assured him his lusts would find purchase. All he needed was the lifeblood of one of ancient line of witches and Melia would rise, whole from the dust of her grave to be his bride for eternity. Power begat power and she made him hard just thinking about the ruthlessness that matched his own. If only the foolish chit had seen that he was to ascend to power with Rand going to ground. He may have been to late to save her then but now? Now was another matter. Together they would rule and fire would rain down on his enemies, once and for all.
He would give her Rand as a wedding gift and let her tear out his throat.
From his part of the bounty, he was to assure the demon got souls. Freeing the necklace hadn’t taken much and from what he heard, the cursed piece was already doing its work. As were many like it. After all, who could fight their most heartfelt desire? A secret society working behind the scenes to create an army? It was the perfect solution to those that opposed him. Especially that bastard Alpha wolf, Aristide.
But she worked in Diana’s shop so it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to the power of the necklace. He didn’t have to lift a finger. The demon should be pleased with his progress but a sense of unease had filtered through him this night.
“I think I’ll be fine, Jameson. If you wouldn’t mind...”
The older man sniffed. “As you wish, sir.” Closing the door behind him, he left the dressing room, leaving Virgil momentarily to himself.
Tonight he would finally have his little witch all to himself and then he would find out what it was like to trace his fangs down the ivory lines of her flesh with more than just a few moments to spare. Diana had played aloof, but then again so had he. Thrust together by politics and chance, he hadn’t considered her more than an evening’s diversion until he’d dropped her off at her door after their first date.
“Do you want to come in?” She’d unlocked the door, bidding him entrance.
He’d glanced at his limo driver and body guard, and with a staunch glare, let the man know to wait.
“I would like that.”
She held the door open and he passed over her threshold, the warmth of the living passing over him. A cat sat in the front foyer regarding him, but as soon as he met the creature’s eyes, it fled down the long hallway with an audible hiss.
“Schubert, that isn’t nice,” she said, frowning. Diana tossed her bag on the counter, and invited him to sit.
“I can only stay a moment.”
And he could barely spare that. A text had come through that more of his vampires had gone missing and still others had been found with their throats ripped out in the woods on the outskirts of town. That combined with the search for the cursed amulet gave him little time for social niceties.
Her relief at his impending departure was palpable. How curious, when it was she that invited him inside. He lowered himself onto the couch, his trousers becoming more uncomfortable by the moment. He hadn’t had a woman who interested him in centuries, but this dark haired beauty held his attention with every facet of his being.
Namely the growing and very uncomfortable desire to part her creamy thighs and see just how she tasted. It had been hell to get through dinner, watching her lips surround the food on her plate with gusto, imagining her lips closing around him instead.
Diana sat on the other end of the couch, her knees pressed together, the sparkling red of her dress bringing out the red in her lipstick and the dark luster of her hair. When she met his eyes, her gaze was unwavering.
“Why did you ask me out?”
Virgil had fed before he’d gone out but the urge to sink his teeth into her flesh was also fast becoming a problem. His fangs had begun to drop, but they snapped back in place with a start.
“What?”
The witch stood, angrily pacing, her hips swaying with every movement of her very long legs. “I think you heard me.”
“Stop.”
He rose from the couch and grasped her hand. “One evening. That’s all we’ve had to try and get to know one another. I believe my Coven would prefer to have a good relationship with witch kind, but that isn’t why I decided to go out with you.”
“It isn’t?”
“No.” Virgil’s lips twitched and he decided to let her see just what kind of reaction she was provoking in him. Fangs released, he smiled and grasped her wrist, letting the tip of his fang whisper along the top of her hand. Not touching. No. Not yet. That was for later. When he was done playing around.
God but she was a fool to fall for his pretty words. But then he’d counted on that. She was ambrosia. He could taste the wild magic rocketing beneath her veins and with it, his great love would be reborn.
Diana sucked in a gasp, groaning when he drew her into his arms, his throbbing erection pressed against her softness.
“This is why I wanted to see you again...” He bent down and buried his face in her hair, the dizzying vanilla spice scent of her driving him wild.
His lips met hers and he carefully explored her mouth, letting her discover his fangs, and the swift intake of breath when she nicked herself on one.
Her sweet blood teased him, and he growled, his hands roaming beneath her skirt, plucking at the elastic edges of her panties.
One fuck wouldn’t hurt. Rumor had it she was well versed in sex magick and sure to be a good time.
“I want you,” he murmured, guiding her hand over the bulge in his trousers.
“I’m not your blood flower,” she argued, her eyes bright when they met his gaze.
“I didn’t say you were.”
The door of the house burst open, the glowing eyes of the driver tense with anger. “Regent, we must go. There have been some developments.”
He released her, retracting his fangs, his cock wooden and aching.
She spun away, trembling and he stalked wordlessly out of the small home, letting the door slam shut behind him. Virgil realized he should have said something but if he spoke he was sure it would be something foolish and he was far too angry.
That was then.
But tonight he would take her out and find a quiet location in the gallery to continue their conversation, and he would prove to her that submitting to him would be in both their interests. Everything he needed to cast a demon circle was there. All he needed was her.
He’d scented the necklace when he’d visited her shop the first time, certain it had been there. But now he would have to resort to other measures. His provocations against the wolves were one thing, but to have that piece missing from his control couldn’t have happened at a greater moment.
A witch of his acquaintance had almost succeeded in reducing
his enemies to ashes but had failed. He’d watched his predecessor go to ground, convinced he had to contain the piece under spelled protection as the other man insisted. But what they and Rand hadn’t considered was the greed of one very foolish security guard. And his own burning desire to make every one of the traitorous bastards in the coven pay.
They’d watched while their great leader killed his love and that he would not forgive. Not even if she had been married to the bastard. That was of no consequence.
But where had the damned fool taken it? Missing from the vault and the guard found murdered did not bode well. At least on the surface. But he couldn’t have been happier. The disarray it would cause as more souls flooded toward the demon would give him all the power he’d so long been denied. Even now he sensed the elders in his coven growing wary of him. Priceless heirlooms going missing only to end up on e-Bay? No one else would have the balls. Like that damned dagger. He’d given it to an antique dealer of some repute and understood it had been sold at one of the last market days.
Good.
More money.
Had they known the necklace had been released and sensed his hand? Let them prove it.
Virgil pondered the question and let it go, deciding in the end it did not matter. He would use the witch to get what he wanted and saying no would not be an option.
“Tonight.” He smiled, the anticipation running in his blood. “Tonight.” But as he eased out his room and into the hall, the first explosion rocked him back on his feet, the second, far too close for comfort, sent him running toward the open air as the stone walls of the coven house began to crumble as his plan began to take shape.
He bolted for the burial chamber and Melia’s ashes, the confusion swirling around him creating the perfect backdrop for the next phase of his plan.
Chapter Five
THE TANG OF blood filled the air. Rand pushed through the catacombs, moving swiftly as chunks of earth and concrete rained down on his head. He snarled, fangs descended, the image of the woman, his mate, drawing him onward.
He’d watched her through visions and dreams, thankful that he’d forged the connection. Waking from his slumber would not be as difficult as it would have been otherwise. There was no time to acclimate otherwise.
