by Sharon Page
Nikolai had barked a command in a foreign language and the doors burst open. More servants rushed in and his winged demon filled the doorway.
There was no way out.
Heath kept his eyes on the blade Nikolai held to Sarah’s throat. He had to be cautious and careful. Behind him, Vivi’s heart thundered like cannon fire, and her body quivered in terror. He had to ensure she didn’t do anything rash to save her daughter.
He could hear the labored breathing of his maker. Nikolai’s face had a blue tinge, his lips almost purple, even though the blood had stopped flowing and the wound had healed.
Nikolai was still growing weaker. Why? Was it because Heath’s curse had been broken?
Heath prayed the damn council would wait. But he also noticed the members of the council were moving slower. Laboriously. And suddenly Heath pulled Vivi forward into his arms. Love had given him the strength to break the curse. It had to give him the strength to free Vivi from her servitude to Nikolai. His sire, the vampire council—they were not just ordinary vampires; they thrived on darkness.
He had to keep making them weak. “Don’t worry,” he whispered to Vivi’s startled face. “Sarah will be safe. That is how it will end—with you both safe, free, and living happily ever after.”
“With you.” She answered, but her voice wavered.
He kissed her. Her lips were hard and unyielding against his, which he expected. She was terrified. But Nikolai let out a growl of frustration. And the members of the council let out howls of pain.
He kissed Vivi’s neck, trailed his lips down her throat. Nikolai was shaking now, and Adder had beads of sweat—rare for a vampire—on his head. “I love you,” Heath said, over and over, each time he gasped a breath. “I love you, Vivienne, and I always will.”
“I love you, Heath. But this isn’t—”
He silenced her with another kiss. Love. He had been so afraid to hope for it, but it was going to save them all now.
The point of Nikolai’s blade had fallen away from Sarah’s throat. Heath released Vivi, ran to her daughter’s side, and pulled Sarah back. Before her eyes, Nikolai’s huge powerful body began to shake. It twitched and writhed, the way Heath had done when he was transforming into a demon.
But suddenly, Nikolai’s body began to change. His skin dissolved away from his face, exposing his white skull, with the jaw wide in a grimace of pain. A blinding white light exploded from Nikolai’s chest. An explosion rocked the room. And dust flew up into a stream to the ceiling, where it vanished.
“He—he’s gone,” Vivienne gasped. “How?”
“Because you bit him. Your goodness, your glow began to destroy the darkness in him. But he had nothing but a black heart.”
Sarah began to sob, and Vivienne left Heath to hug her daughter. It meant Julian was gone, too, didn’t it?
“I couldn’t do it, Mother.” Sarah sobbed. “I tried to fight my grandfather. I didn’t want to be a vampire, but if I hadn’t been so scared, Julian would have come back.”
Another howl came, this time from the doorway. The winged demon began to melt, then light shot out of its chest, and it burst into sparkling dust and ash. Nikolai’s servants dropped their blades and they collapsed to the floor. They were alive, but it was as though they were caught by a magic spell, and Nikolai’s death had freed them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vivienne saw Adder. He was moving unsteadily, like a drunken man, but he managed to pull a wooden stake from beneath his cloak. He jumped toward Heath.
Protective fury took control. She flew through the air, just as she had done to Nikolai. She plunged her fangs into his neck. And an intense warmth passed through her to Adder. His body glowed with a golden light from the inside out. She let him fall, and stumbled back.
Into Heath’s arms.
“Have I killed him?”
“No, Flower,” Heath murmured, holding her shoulders. “You’ve brought him back to life.”
Adder fell to the ground. He jerked, then groaned. The fangs that hung over his lips retreated. His heartbeat began to go faster.
“You’ve made him mortal again. You have your mother’s special power to heal. And it means you can change vampires back into mortals.”
The council members let out a collective howl of fear. They stumbled toward the doorway. But to Vivi’s shock, Dimitri stood there now, wearing the immaculate clothes of a gentleman from fifty years before. He laughed at the council. “Too late,” he said softly.
And a woman appeared at his side. Then another. And another. One had dark hair piled in elaborate curls, and she wore a stunning gown of scarlet. The second had blond hair threaded with silver and wore black. The third had red hair, which fell free to her waist, and she wore a white, flowing Grecian gown.
The three women, like the three witches of Macbeth, suddenly began to chant. The members of the vampire council stumbled to their knees, cried and pleaded desperately, but then vanished into five puffs of dust.
The blond woman smiled. “There. Those fools have been sent to prison. One in another plane, another realm of this world. Their power-hungry ways are at an end.”
Dimitri lifted a brow. “And you, my queens, are not hungry for power?”
“Women only wield power in responsible ways,” exclaimed the dark-haired woman.
Vivienne gasped as Dimitri appeared suddenly at her side, but she smiled as he grinned at her. He clasped her hands in his. “My dear Miss Dare, you are truly a remarkable woman. You saved Heath from turning into his worst nightmare, a murderous demon. You destroyed Nikolai with the power of your love. You gave Adder, that pompous brutal fool, the punishment he feared the most by transforming him into a weak, mortal man. And now, I have to repay you for bringing hope and peace to my world.”
She blinked. Heath’s deep voice saved her. “What are you talking about, Dimitri?”
“With the council and Nikolai gone, I hope to convince all vampires to live in peace. The queens have agreed.” He waved his hand toward them. “These are the three most powerful of the queens. They have never allowed any mortals to see them before, but they have come to see your lovely Vivienne. They wish all vampires to set aside quests for power.”
“Yes,” giggled the redheaded queen. “Dimitri wants all vampires to dedicate their lives to one big, happy orgy.”
“Not exactly that,” Dimitri said. He nodded to Heath. “Now you must explain to Vivienne what you have learned about her. And then I will tell you all how you can find happiness. But, before all that, we should free your brother Raine. And also Guidon, whom I believe served you well, Miss Dare?”
“I could not have done this without Guidon,” she declared. She saw the fear flash in Heath’s eyes, and swiftly asked, “Is Raine all right?”
“What’s happened to him with Nikolai’s death?” Heath asked gruffly.
“He is freed like these other servants are. He is still a vampire, but he no longer carries the curse. Perhaps that means the two of you can put aside your past differences and behave like the brothers you are.”
“I want to,” Heath said. “I hope Raine is willing.”
Two hours had passed and they had all returned to Dimitri’s home. The vampire queens now lounged on chaises in the ballroom. Vivienne sat between Heath and Sarah on a large sofa. Guidon sat in a wing chair. Raine was very weak, so he was in a bedchamber, regaining strength.
Dimitri paced between them all. “You see, Vivienne, you will always be at risk because you have the power to turn vampires back into mortals.”
She blinked. “But don’t vampires want to be changed back?” One look at the queens answered her question. They looked appalled and aghast. “But I would never change anyone who didn’t wish it. You must understand that.”
The blond queen, Ophelia, shook her head. “It is not that simple. You are a risk. And the queens cannot allow risks to survive. However, you could surrender your power. We can take it from you, if you surrender it willingly.”
She
looked to Heath. They were both vampires, yet he had told her it was a horrible existence. “Could I not transform Heath and myself back to the mortal state?” Yet, did he want that?
“If it is what you want, Flower, I would be willing. I want to be with you always.”
Her heart soared. But it plummeted as the queens shook their heads as one. “You can change one person back. And while you do that, we will take your power away.”
“Change yourself,” Heath said swiftly. “So you can be mortal with Sarah.”
She looked to the queens. “Do you know—is my daughter mortal? I was a succubus. Does it mean she is one, too?”
The dark-haired queen, Cardiamillion, shook her head. “Your daughter is mortal. You can change yourself back, if it is your wish.”
But she stood and smiled at the three women. “I would be willing to surrender my power if you can bring back the vampires that Nikolai attacked with his demons. He said they were in some sort of other dimension. Can you rescue them? The vampire I want to change back to a mortal state is Julian.”
“Julian Tremaine,” Heath added in explanation.
Sarah clapped her hands to her mouth.
Ophelia looked to the others, Cardiamillion and the redhead, who was named Lausanne. “Can it be done?”
Lausanne nodded. “Of course. We have the power to undo any spell cast by a male vampire.”
The three chanted, and in a burst of golden light, Julian appeared, naked, stunned, and confused. He saw the queens and put his hands over his privates. Then he saw Sarah, and Vivienne knew there was no mistaking the brilliant glow of love in his eyes.
Swiftly, Dimitri explained to Julian what had happened and what their plan was. The lad looked confused. He said slowly, “So I can be mortal again, if I let Miss Dare bite me? And then, Sarah and I can—well, I can court Sarah?”
After all they had been through, the polite term made Vivienne laugh. “Yes,” she said. “You have my permission to court my daughter.”
Julian met her gaze with shining eyes. “Then change me back, please.”
“Raine, I don’t want you to spend eternity hating me for the past. I know I deserve your anger, but I also know there’s no point in wasting forever spent in rage—whether it’s directed at yourself or someone else.”
Heath watched his younger brother gaze out the window at the night sky. “I don’t hate you,” Raine muttered. “I resented you. And Nikolai seemed to cloud my mind. He made me think you hated me. I know it’s not true, but I wanted your respect, which you never gave me.”
Heath’s throat tightened. Hadn’t that been what he wanted from his father? But he was destined to never have it.
“Of course I respected you. I loved you.”
“No. I could never please you. You always went on at me to do better at school, to drink less, game less. I was always in the wrong.”
“Just as I was with our father. Hades, Raine, I went about things wrong. I felt I had to be a father to you, and I had no idea how to do it. All I wanted to do was protect you. I suppose I thought that being a good father meant trying to improve you. I was always a disappointment to Father. I was afraid of failing you.”
“I always felt I was failing you, Heath.”
Heath moved forward, clasping his brother in a swift, masculine hug. “We were both idiots, Raine. Both fighting demons that didn’t exist.” He met his brother’s silver-green eyes. “I am sorry I turned you into a vampire.”
“You saved me, Heath. And I was a bloody fool to listen to Nikolai’s poison. Can you forgive me?”
“Funny, I was going to ask the same thing.”
They shared a laugh, something they had not done for twenty years. Heath ruffled his brother’s hair. “We have eternity to become friends.”
“Really?” Raine cocked his head. “I thought we already were friends. Hell, we’re brothers after all.”
A sense of peace flooded Heath’s heart.
“Dimitri explained everything that has happened,” Raine said. “About how you searched for me for weeks. About how worried you were over me. And he explained that you have fallen in love. I know it destroyed you to lose Meredith and Ariadne. According to Dimitri, vampires can marry. Not in church, of course, but we take mates for eternity. Are you going to marry Miss Dare?”
“If she’ll have me.”
“Hades, you haven’t asked her yet? Go and propose before some other vampire in here tries to win her heart.”
He bowed to Raine. And now he understood the vision in the pool on the moors. It had been the vision of his brother happily accepting Heath’s choice of a bride. “Agreed. What in Hades would I do without you, brother?”
And he left. To find Vivienne. He wanted to marry her, make her his mate for all eternity. He wanted her to wear his ring, he wanted to hear her call him her husband. He wanted all the trappings of commitment that went with love. She had said she loved him even though he had made her into a vampire. But she had always wanted independence. How could he propose in a way that would tempt a woman who yearned for independence to agree to marriage?
It was strange to walk beneath the night sky and feel safe and at ease. Vivienne smiled as Sarah gazed up at the spray of glittering white stars. “It’s beautiful,” her daughter breathed. Then Sarah blushed. “I feel I should tell you I’m sorry. I think I said some unkind things to you.”
“I don’t remember any,” Vivienne said firmly. “And I finally see that you are grown up now. I was trying to keep you as my child, instead of seeing you for the strong and courageous woman you are. You have blossomed into your own, Sarah.” She brushed away a tear, thinking of the times she had pleaded with her own mother to change. But now she understood her mother’s fall had been because of Nikolai, and that her mother had been a very special woman with a unique power to heal. She felt proud that she had that power, too, even if she had only been able to use it twice. And she knew Rose would have been so delighted by her brave granddaughter.
“You saved Julian’s life,” Sarah breathed. “He is so happy he is no longer a vampire. And he is so pleased he doesn’t have to serve the vampire council anymore. He won’t tell me much, but he says they were cruel and abusive masters. Adder was the one who made him a vampire. Against his will.”
“I am delighted he is happy now. But he has not gone too far with you, has he?” She arched a brow with teasing fierceness, playing the stern mother. She and Heath had discovered Julian had a strong core of honor.
“Only kisses. Wonderful kisses.” Sarah let go of Vivienne’s arm to twirl in the moonlight. “If he were to ask for my hand in marriage, would you agree?”
“He was willing to sacrifice his life for you, Sarah. He obviously loves you. I’d be a fool to say no. And I suspect it wouldn’t stop Julian anyway. He’d whisk you away to Gretna Green for a clandestine wedding, I fear.” And Sarah’s deepening blush obviously implied she and Julian had considered a hasty wedding. “I approve of him completely, Sarah. Heath does, too.”
“Are you going to marry Lord Blackmoor, Mother?”
Vivienne sighed. She remembered her mother’s tales—that one day Vivienne would capture the heart of a rich and titled gentleman, she would be whisked out of the stews, and she would live as a grand lady in a fine house, with servants and dresses and jewels. “He hasn’t asked me yet. I don’t believe Heath would want to be married again.”
“He loves you!” Sarah declared.
“We could have love without marriage. After all, it seems vampires have very unconventional lives.” Like the ones in Dimitri’s house, who attended orgies. According to Dimitri there were vampire women who were married to more than one man at the same time. Both men were happy to share.
“Do you want marriage?” Sarah asked suddenly. “I know you always insisted you would never marry, even though you hoped I would do so.”
“I—I don’t know,” she had to admit. Ahead she saw long legs striding and the outline of broad shoulders against the moo
nlit dark. Sarah ran forward, shouting, “Julian!”
Tears sprang to Vivienne’s eyes as Julian swept Sarah into his embrace. He kissed Sarah as though she was his sun, a treasure he would adore for the rest of his life. Sarah had found happiness. As a mother, could she have asked for anything more?
“I can’t tell if you look happy or sad.”
The sensual, drawling baritone set her heart alight. Vivienne turned to see Heath at her side—naked. He had shape shifted and looked the way he had on the night they’d escaped from the vampire council. He looked like a human man but with large wings lazily flapping behind him. She could shape shift, too, and she had tried it several times. But Heath caught her hand. “Don’t change tonight. Ride on me instead.”
“Ride how exactly?”
His wicked grin made her blood heat, her cunny ache, and her nipples leap up against her shift. “Exactly the way you are thinking,” he said.
“If you mean that way, then why do you have wings?”
“Trust me.”
He eased up her skirts. She gave one worried glance toward Sarah and Julian, but they had strolled across the lawns toward the rippling water of the Thames, leaving Heath and her in privacy. Vivienne held up her frothing hems and moaned as Heath stroked his erect cock against her quim. At once, she was wet with desire, and he slid readily inside. Even after two nights of intense, delicious sex together, this was still new and thrilling. Perhaps because the curse had made this joining so forbidden and therefore precious.
She gasped as his cock slid deep, filling her.
“Wrap your arms around my neck, Flower,” he growled.
She did and with a powerful flap of his wings, they rose into the air. Higher and higher they flew, until the ground below was just a patchwork quilt of blue-white moonlight and velvet blackness. Stars winked overhead. Heath shifted position, so he was lying on his back while flying. And she rode him. Daringly she sat up, braced her hands on his chest, and bounced up and down on his magnificent cock. His wings moved slowly, and it felt as though they were making love on a cloud.
