by Robyn Bachar
“What’s wrong, Duquesne? You think I’d bring you to the center of the shadow realm and leave you there alone?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
Patience laughed. “Maybe. But Harrison would kill me for that too, and there’s no profit in it. I mean it about this favor. If I call you in to keep Harrison from my throat, you damn well better protect me.”
“If that’s what you ask, I’ll do it,” Lex said.
“Your word. Forgive me if I’m not convinced of your interest in my well-being.”
“You have my word. Gods help us all.”
“Good. I’ll draw up the agreement tonight, and we can do it tomorrow night. Meet me here at 11 o’clock,” she ordered.
“Why not tonight?” I asked. The sooner the better, in my humble opinion.
“Can’t tonight. I have plans already. I’ll clear my schedule for tomorrow.” Patience ground out her cigarette in an ashtray next to her keyboard. “You can show yourselves out.”
“How do we know you’re not going to call up Harrison and rat us out?” I asked. She didn’t seem the trustworthy sort.
Patience shrugged. “I guess that’s a fair question. Because there’s no profit in that either. I betray you two, and my faerie-blooded business dries up because I can’t be trusted to aid my kin.”
“Is that all you care about? Profit?” I asked.
She smiled dryly. “Witches. All ‘do no harm’ and ‘holier than thou’. Magic is my business. And business is good.”
Lex shook his head in disgust, and I agreed. I didn’t consider my magic a commodity. I might be a bad witch, but at least I didn’t sell myself.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, Patience.”
“Fine. Don’t forget to bring your favorite weapons. Taking you two into the shadow realm is going to be like chumming the water for sharks. Except these sharks will kill you a lot faster,” she replied.
I swallowed hard, images of demon sharks in my head, and I worried about tomorrow.
Chapter Seven
“The tigers passed the first test,” Portia announced the moment we walked through the front door.
I wanted to say, “Really, this is how you greet us? Seriously?” But instead I was knocked over as Cesár jumped on me. It was like a tactless bomb had exploded all over.
“Bad dog,” Lex scolded him as he pried the mutt off me. This was another reason I preferred cats. Merri and Pippin might try to trip me every opportunity they got, but they couldn’t tackle me like a football player.
“Sorry, they’re a little wound up,” Portia apologized. She fluttered over to me, leaving a trail of faerie frost in her wake, and helped me to my feet.
“What happened with the test?” I asked.
“We couldn’t get much on the details. Their clans are staying pretty tight-lipped, but we know they came out of it okay. No injuries.”
“Eyebrows intact?” I joked halfheartedly.
“Yup,” she replied.
“Any news on when the next test will be?” Lex asked.
“Sometime within the next few days. The council wants this to be fast. Though yours was fast too.” Portia shrugged, running a hand over her thick white hair. “I’m sure they won’t make it through the next test.”
“Glad someone’s in our corner,” I said.
My tests to become Titania were all a blur. A big mish-mosh of demons, magician prisoners, and a dragon, all while vampires were trying to kill me, and Lex was trying to patch up our relationship. It was one of those “it all turned out well in the end” kind of things, and I was still recovering from it. I hadn’t gotten to enjoy any of the job’s benes yet, thanks to Harrison’s evil influence, but I was confident that once I was free of him the faerie-blooded population would warm up to me. Provided we all lived that long. Hunters, even more demons, and gods knew what else was just around the corner, waiting to leap out at me. Zombie apocalypse? I wouldn’t be surprised.
I entertained Portia for a while with the Game Show Network, and she left when we headed to bed. Marie was still out on mysterious guardian business. I wondered if she was off fooling around with Dr. Brian Dannaher, but I kept that observation to myself, as requested.
We were exhausted and went straight to sleep without frolic, angry or otherwise. I drifted asleep in fitful tossing and turning, and when I finally slipped into a dream, I found myself standing in an art gallery, frowning at a lumpy sculpture that looked as though it were perilously close to melting off its pedestal.
“Here you are, my dear,” Zach said. I turned toward him, and he handed me a dainty cup of coffee. He was dressed in a tuxedo and was extremely sexy in an undead, James Bond kind of way. Blond Daniel Craig James Bond. Wow.
“Thank you.” I smiled, and he smiled in return, flashing his perfect white teeth. “How much longer do I have to stay?” Modern art was not my thing, and I was bored of chatting with vampires and staring at bizarro sculptures.
“Are you tired?” Concern crossed his face, and I shook my head. I had the weirdest feeling of déjà vu, but I felt fine aside from that. “Just a bit longer then. We have a few more people to speak with,” he said. Zach held his hand out to me, and I put my hand in his and let him lead me away to the next objet d’art. My pulse sped at his touch, and I chalked it up to nerves.
Everything was calm and quiet as we continued through the gallery. He leaned close to explain each piece, his breath brushing my skin as he spoke in a low, silken voice. My face flushed, though no one would be able to see it through the layers of makeup caked on it. We met more people whose names I would never remember—their faces were bland and unremarkable, like a series of Ken and Barbie dolls. Zach and I stood in the gallery’s main room, providing fodder for several groups of gossiping vamps around us, and I was distracted by a sudden sinking sensation in my stomach. Something was about to happen. Big, violent and life-changing…but as I looked around, nothing happened at all. The moment passed as though the room had exhaled, and I frowned.
“Is something wrong?” Zach asked.
“Yes. No. I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I feel like something is supposed to happen.”
“Afraid we’re going to start sacrificing virgins or devouring babies?” he asked, a teasing glint in his green eyes.
“I’m sure you’ve sacrificed your share of virgins, Mr. World’s Sexiest Bachelor,” I said dryly.
Zach chuckled. “Not recently. We can leave now, if you’d like. Laura should be able to handle the crowd on her own.”
I glanced across the room at the pristine, white figure of Lovely Laura Barrenheart, who was hardcore flirting with a guy who was probably younger than me. He was pretty, like all her men. Maybe she had already latched on to a new boy toy.
“She’s not going to show up to finish me off later, is she?” I asked warily. I could still feel the stabbing pain of Laura’s spike heels jabbing into the flesh of my stomach.
“No, she won’t. She won’t lay a hand on you again,” Zach assured me.
“I thought you said she’s the jealous type?”
“She is. She’ll get over it. Shall we?” Zach offered me his arm, and I took it. I glanced back over my shoulder, expecting to see the mysterious something that was missing, but nothing happened. Just more boring vampires milling about, spending their unlives looking at weird art.
We took the elevator down to Harrison’s lair, and I paused when we stepped into the room. He opened his mouth to ask again if I was okay, and I held up a hand. “I’m feeling fine,” I said before he could ask. “Besides, if I start having negative side effects from the blood, wouldn’t you sense it?”
“I would, yes.”
“Then stop asking.”
“I’m concerned about you,” he said. Zach smoothed a stray spiral curl away from my face. “I should have known Laura would try something like this. If I hadn’t bound us together, I wouldn’t have known you were in danger. She would’ve killed you.”
“That�
�s a cheerful thought,” I said sourly. “I’m still mad at you, regardless.”
“Is it such an awful thing?” he asked. His voice was low, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he seemed vulnerable.
“You didn’t ask. We’ve already been over this whole consent thing,” I said. I poked an accusing finger into his chest. “You’re pushy and manipulative and I don’t like it.”
“No?”
“No.”
“May I kiss you?” he asked.
I paused. It was progress that he was asking. I wasn’t sure I wanted to say yes. “Why?” I asked.
“Because you look beautiful in that gown,” he replied. Zach moved closer, and I placed my palm against his chest to stop him.
“That’s a lame reason. A dress form would look beautiful in this gown.”
“Because I’ve wanted to kiss you again since the moment I kissed you earlier, before the party.”
I bit my bottom lip as a shiver tingled down my spine. Okay, that was a better excuse. This time when he leaned in I didn’t stop him, and he kissed me softly. When I didn’t argue, he slipped his arms around me, drawing me close to him. He was warm—it wasn’t fair that he looked so alive and healthy. Monsters should look like monsters, especially when they’re about to eat you.
“Stay with me tonight,” he murmured against my lips. I shivered again, and I knew it wasn’t from a sudden draft.
“For observation, right? Because of the blood I drank?” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. I should shove him away. I should knee him right in the groin and run for it. Instead I stood still, almost shaking, staring into his eyes.
“Close observation,” he said. Zach grinned wickedly, and before I could argue, he picked me up and carried me out of the room.
“Whoa. Not frolicky observation. I mean, I almost died last night—I don’t think strenuous activity is a good idea,” I protested. Nearly dying was the reason I’d ingested the icky, slightly-poisonous-to-witches blood in the first place, because it helped Zach heal me with his also icky necromancer magic.
“I’ll be gentle,” he promised. Before I could say anything further he sank his fangs into my neck, and a wave of pleasure smoothed my protests away. I sighed happily, awash in the warm glow of the spell as Zach drank from me—okay, maybe necromancy wasn’t entirely icky after all. You’re so beautiful, Catherine, he thought, and I heard it as clearly as if he had spoken the words aloud. I doubted that, but I still reveled in every pull of his mouth against my skin. I gasped his name, and he stopped drinking.
“You are beautiful,” he murmured. “And much more than that. You’re powerful. You’re strong.”
Zach kissed me. I tasted my blood as his tongue teased mine, and I could hear his thoughts, as though the static on the radio vanished when I finally found the right station. Zach wanted me. Not just my body, but all of me—mind, heart and soul. I knew he had a part for me in his evil plans, but not this great a part. He really did want me to be his evil queen. His partner, lover, confidant. He was terribly lonely, and I was the only woman who didn’t want him for his wealth or power. I hadn’t wanted him at all, until now. Please, Catherine, his thoughts whispered against mine as he kissed the side of my throat.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“I want you to stay,” he said. “Stay with me, Catherine. There is so much we can do together. I promise I will never betray you. I will never leave you.”
Like Lex did, I finished silently. Lex had walked away from me twice. What did I owe him? Still… “You can’t promise that,” I argued. “You can’t guarantee you won’t get bored and move on. Your mentor’s gone through more men than Elizabeth Taylor.”
“I’m not like Laura. If you let me, I will love you forever.”
Forever was a long time when dealing with a vampire. I hesitated, looking up into his green eyes, which had faded to a pale, watery hue. They were the eyes of a monster, I knew that, and when he bit me again all I could think of was the feel of his body against mine. Yes. I wanted this so badly. To be taken, craved and consumed.
Mine, he thought, the sound a purr against my mind as he undressed me. There were no more arguments or second thoughts as he devoured me with his mouth and hands, leaving zero doubt that he desired me. I lost all sense of time, overwhelmed by the pleasure of him as he made love to me. I climaxed again and again as he pushed me to my limits. Finally, Zach collapsed on top of me and kissed me passionately. He caressed my face, and his eyes returned to normal as he gazed down at me.
“I love you, Catherine.”
I jolted awake and sat up in my bed, gasping for air and clawing at my throat. Dread shivered through me as I realized that miles away Zachary Harrison had awakened from the same dream, and he had enjoyed every bit of it. This was way worse than your average nightmare.
“Cat? What’s wrong?” Lex asked.
“I’m gonna be sick,” I announced.
I stumbled out of the bed on wobbly legs and into the master bathroom, where I promptly yarked up the remains of my dinner. It was awful, the kind of drunk-sick where your stomach demands to get rid of every last drop of alcohol you were dumb enough to binge drink. I wanted to purge the memory of Harrison from my system, and each thought of him touching me inspired another heave, and a new round of crying. Damn him, I thought we were done with this kind of manipulative bullshit.
I flinched when I felt a pair of hands holding my hair back. Lex. Now that was true love. When I had nothing left, I sat back on my heels and tried to gather the energy to move and the control to stop sobbing.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Worst. Dream. Ever.” After a loud hiccup, I attempted to pull myself to my feet, and Lex helped me up. I stuck my head in the sink and splashed cool water on my face and then reached for the mouthwash.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He was watching me closely, probably wondering what the fuck was going on.
I spat the mouthwash into the sink and burst into fresh tears. I couldn’t tell him. There were no words that could explain the dream to him or make me feel okay about it. It would only add fuel to the bonfire of hatred Lex had for Harrison. Lex wrapped his arms around me and I shook as I cried.
If Lex hadn’t rescued me, would I really be in Harrison’s bed in vampire central right now? Could I have betrayed him that easily? Given up on us and given in to Zach? Talk about being seduced to the dark side. No…Lord and Lady, maybe Lex was right. Maybe I was that close to walking away.
“I love you,” I said, the words almost incoherent.
“I love you too, sugar,” he murmured against my hair.
“I’m sorry. You won’t leave me, right? I know you’re mad about the Harrison thing because you think I don’t trust you, but I do,” I stammered.
“Is that what you dreamed about? Me leaving you?” he asked. “You know that won’t happen.”
“But you’re always so mad. You’re mad all the time. All we do is fight.” My stomach threatened to revolt again as I realized it reminded me of my parents, right before Dorian left—lots of yelling, accusations and tears.
“I’m not mad at you.” Lex stroked my hair, and I sniffled. “I’m mad at him and how he manipulated you. I know you’d never leave me on purpose.”
I pulled away and looked up at him. “But I’d do it by accident?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I’m confused.”
“That kind of pull is hard to fight. He’s got a hold on your soul,” he replied, his voice weary.
“No, you’ve got a hold on my soul. He just eavesdrops on my head… I need you to understand that I didn’t let him do this on purpose. He’s a supervillain, and I’m not. I never had a chance.”
“I know you didn’t—”
“No, you don’t. You’re blaming me for not being as strong as you. Because you would’ve had the guardian smarts to outmaneuver him or the muscle to beat the snot out of him, and I didn’t. I’m not a guardia
n, Lex. I got played. It’s not my fault.” I grabbed a tissue and tried to clean up the mess my tears had created.
Lex’s breath caught as he stared down at me, and for one startled moment I thought he was going to cry too. Instead, he pulled me close again and rubbed my back, and I relaxed into the comfort of his arms.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve been frustrated. I just want to fight him, to punish him for what he did, and to make sure he can never come near you again. I don’t mean to take it out on you.”
“He’ll be out of our hair soon. Oh, thank you, by the way. You held my hair. I think you’re going to be very helpful during morning sickness one day.”
Lex smiled. “I’ll do my best. I can’t wait to have kids with you.” A happy thrill shivered through me at his expression, and I blushed. I couldn’t ask for a better example of why I loved Lex and not Zach. Lex wanted to build a family with me, not an evil empire.
“Well, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. In the meantime you’re welcome to hold me while I try to get back to sleep,” I suggested. I needed him to keep that dream away. I never wanted to think of it again.
We crawled back into bed and Lex held me close. I felt safe in his arms, but the voice of doubt still nagged at me. I’d been one turning point away from giving myself to Zach, and now the bastard knew it, thanks to our shared trip to dreamland. Was it that easy to give in and accept the dark, dangerous temptation of being a necromancer? My father had. He’d abandoned his wife and child to pursue it. I knew my parents hadn’t been soul mates, but they must have loved each other once because a witch and a sorcerer wouldn’t end up together without a serious commitment. And that commitment went up in smoke, washed away in a pool of my mother’s blood.
Sleep eluded me, and I spent the rest of the night listening to Lex’s breathing and feeling his heart beat beneath my palm.
Chapter Eight
