by Simone Sinna
Gabriella’s grandmother started to walk toward her brother, the crowd splitting to let her through. Gabriella didn’t think she’d ever seen so many of her family and the Magnussens together. Even her Great-Uncle Charles’s grandsons, Damon and Kadar, who had somewhat legendary reputations for aloofness and never being around, were there. As the elegant, older woman walked between them, her back stiff, her long, off-white gown swished around her ankles. She looked far younger than her years.
“Adam,” she said. “You have been talking this way for the last seventy years. If you are right, it is because you and Charles brought it upon us.”
“And all because your sister was a traitor.”
Gabriella held her breath. The “traitor” had of course been Adam’s sister, too, but she had never been forgiven.
“No, Adam,” said Gabriella’s grandmother. “It was because she wasn’t allowed to follow her heart. And any fallout now is because of the pact you made with our cursed Northern cousins.”
Silence ate into the space like an evil memory, weaving in between each of them. Gabriella had never heard what had really happened and didn’t even think her mother knew. But, seeing her grandmother staring down her two brothers, she knew that these three did. Were they all about to find out?
“Do you know why Grandma wanted us here?” Gabriella whispered to Lena.
Lena shook her head slowly. “I think…” She bit her lip and Gabriella realized to her surprise that Lena was blocking her thoughts. Whatever was she hiding? Finally Lena said, “We’re the second generation. And the only girls.”
A wind picked up from nowhere, and Gabriella’s grandmother’s dress billowed behind her, wisps of her white hair in the breeze. She looked, Gabriella thought, just like an angel.
* * * *
Everyone seemed tense in the plane on the way home. Mac kept running through all that had happened and the conversation that he and his brother had had.
“I don’t care if she’s got ghost blood,” Mitch had said. “It felt like nothing I had ever experienced. It still feels right.”
This was quite a statement from Mitch and not to be taken lightly. Mac felt it, too. Their kind had been doomed because of an affair between their were-devil grandfather and a ghost, but was it because it happened or because they were pulled apart? His instinct shouldn’t be for a ghost but nor should it be for his brother’s woman. Yet it was. Should he be true to these instincts or the more primitive ones? He thought of Melody and his rage at the ghost Destroyers at the cemetery flared every bit as strong as the bereaved old man’s.
He accepted that he and Mitch could not take on the entire group alone. But Lena and Zachary were still in his sights. He decided they would have to strike soon, before they were found out, and favored a night attack in Cairns. They planned to ring and book on the next dive or sailing tour to get the date they would be offshore, cancel, but then take them out before they returned to dock. There would be some risk to the divers on the tour, but they hoped they would still be in bed and miss all or most of the action. Mac figured this was his family business, and as far as he was concerned had nothing to do with Gabriella. Even if Lena was her cousin.
When they arrived back on the island, Mitch hit the gym to try and rid himself of the tension that had gripped him for most of the day. He looked at Mac as he left and smiled wryly.
“I’ll forgive you,” he said. “And you already know that I sensed she wants both of us.”
Mac lay on his bed looking at the ceiling. It wasn’t often he felt indecisive. How could he have fallen so hard for someone with at least a little ghost blood running through her veins? Particularly after what had happened to Melody? He growled in frustration. When there was a knock on the fly-wire door, he was grateful he hadn’t let out a full-on howl. He knew instantly who it was. He pushed open the door, not bothering to put his shirt back on. Gabriella stood and stared.
“He’s gone to the gym,” said Mac.
“Looks like he’s right here to me,” said Gabriella with a shy smile.
Mac leant against the door frame, close enough to smell her. She smelled good, honey and roses. She had changed into a thin, yellow dress that hugged her figure, barely covering her butt. It was cut low so that her breasts were barely contained, and it was hard not to stare. Mac didn’t try very hard. She smiled.
“I was wondering if you would be interested in a midnight swim? I’ve had a shit of a day and could do with a wind down.”
Mac was still looking at her tits. He slowly looked up into her eyes. “Not Mitch?”
“Well, um I mean he could come, too, if you like, he likes, whatever.” Gabriella was sounding flustered.
Mac permitted himself a smile. Mitch had been right. But could he now, after what he knew? What would she think if she knew they were were-devils? He suppressed an inward groan. He had been so tied up in his own issues he hadn’t even considered that she might have an issue with them, even if they could overlook her origins. Shit.
She could not have been able to read his mind, but Gabriella clearly sensed something. In the minute of his indecision, he could see her toss up in her mind what to do, and she went with her heart and leant forward and kissed him full on the lips. He was so shocked that all thoughts of anything other than her vanished. He knew he would go with her.
* * * *
Gabriella had a few favorite spots on the island that she always went to when she needed time out, or time to think. The waterhole was her favorite. It was not as though it was her own private area, as anyone could have found it, but the truth was that it was hard to find, well off the main track. She had never brought anyone else here and was not really sure why she was doing so now. But if ever she had felt compelled, it had been after the flight home in near silence. She had left the rest of her family still trying to agree on a way forward, and she felt exhausted. She didn’t like family confrontations. There were far too many deeper issues which she did not understand.
Had Mitch been there she would have invited him, too, providing she hadn’t chickened out and invited only him. As it was, fate delivered Mac to her, bare chested and so delicious she could barely get the invitation out of her mouth. His torso was far broader than Mitch’s, clearly the result of many hours in the gym. The arm on the door jamb looked like it could break her in two with little more than a twitch. The idea of that much physical power sent shivers through her. But it was his eyes, the same color as Mitch’s but deeper and more compelling, that drew her to him like a magnet.
The grotto was a twenty-minute walk, a little more as it was getting dark and the torchlight limited, making the bushland around her darker and more mysterious in the crevices it couldn’t reach. They walked in silence, Gabriella almost certain that Mac was as on edge as she was. For her, the feeling was an accentuation of the tension she had had all day, but the good flipside. Anticipation, nervousness, and a trembling throughout her body, already making her feel wet. What if Mac wouldn’t because of Mitch? Would he still have come? She couldn’t believe how wanton she was being and yet how certain at the same time that this was meant to be.
When they reached the grotto, the narrow path widened, and in front of them was a deep pool about five yards wide, a waterfall of about the same size tumbling down over rocks separated by tufts of ferns. Wide, moss-covered flat stones bordered the edge. Gabriella stood on one and turned back to look at Mac.
“I’ve been coming here ever since I first started working on the island,” she said. “It feels spiritual to me, though my imagination is maybe running away with me.” She was talking too much and too fast because she was nervous. Mac stood very still, maybe a yard away. Did she dare?
“Coming for a swim?” she asked, then without taking her eyes off him she pulled her dress up and over her head. She wasn’t wearing underwear. Mac’s eyes took her in greedily, but he didn’t move. She felt suddenly very self-conscious and turned and dived into the water. When she emerged Mac was standing on the stone she
had jumped from, naked. Gabriella gasped. A muscular Apollo, with a cock as firm and wide as the rest of him. Their eyes met, and he smiled, then dived in, and from below pulled her under.
They both came back to the surface, inches away from each other, treading water.
“In case my brother forgot to tell you,” said Mac, “you are the most stunning woman I have ever seen. Even with clothes.”
Gabriella splashed him and turned, swimming over to the waterfall where she found a rock to sit on, water from above cascading down her back. Mac followed her, staying in the water and putting his hands on either side of her legs. She felt acutely aware that the stubble of her pubic hair and her pussy were only inches from him.
“And without clothes,” said Mac, “you are formally awarded goddess status.”
Gabriella smiled. “As Apollo said so, I guess it must be true then,” she said.
He pulled her back into the water, and as they both sank below the surface, he was kissing her, pulling her into an embrace. She wriggled, but he held her as both kicked themselves to the surface and took a breath.
“Do you think I’m part mermaid?” Gabriella laughed.
“No, just that goddesses can do anything,” said Mac.
“And they must be obeyed!” Gabriella pulled herself out of the pool. Behind the row of stones was a patch of moss-covered ground, and she sank onto it.
“I think,” said Mac standing over her. “That Apollo trumps Aphrodite.”
A shiver went through her, in part because of the light breeze on her wet skin, but more at the beauty of his body, and wondering if it would work with hers as well as Mitch’s had seemed to.
Mac sat behind her and pulled her back into him as his mouth took her ear, his hands her breasts. His tongue licked into the recesses, and he nibbled on the ear’s lobe as she sank back, savoring the feelings that both ear and breasts were sending to her brain. His hands found her nipples and pulled gently. They hardened at his touch. She tipped her head back on his shoulder, and his lips found hers. Tongues entwined. Behind her she could feel him hard against her.
“I don’t do one-night stands,” said Mac softly after he broke away from the kiss.
She knew, though she wasn’t sure how. She sensed he’d been hurt.
“Nor do I,” said Gabriella. “But then lately I’ve been doing a few things I wouldn’t normally, none of which make a huge amount of sense.”
She didn’t quite catch what Mac replied, but it sounded like “Join the club.”
They eased themselves down onto the mossy carpet, and Gabriella enjoyed rubbing her hands over his musculature as much as having his hand move over her breasts and then over her butt and the tops of her thighs. She stroked his cock, now hard, veins full along the sides as if ready to burst. Mac’s hands went to her thighs, and slowly she felt him edging upward until finally brushing over her lips. She groaned, and taking it as an invitation, Mac traced his fingers over her lips and then opened them up, one and then a second finger pushing gently into her cunt, circling and moving in and out as her lips swelled and juices covered his fingers.
Gabriella was about to pull him closer to her, wanting his cock in her, when Mac pulled back, looking at her.
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded.
Mac grinned. “Not sure I could even if I wanted to.” But he got up anyway and went over to his pants. Seemed like these boys were always prepared.
Returning, Mac had her peel a condom over his cock, and she licked him first, watching his body quiver as she did. “Do you have a favorite position?” he asked.
Gabriella shook her head. Position? Wilson had only had one position and one speed. She marveled she had stayed with him as long as she had. She just hadn’t known what she was missing.
“Let’s try from behind,” said Mac, kneeling behind her and kissing her neck.
Did he mean…well just what did he mean?
Mac sensed her uncertainty. “Definitely in your very lush pussy,” he whispered. He traced his fingers over her nipples and then pulled her into his lap, hands coming over her legs and opening her lips, dipping in and out of her pussy then rubbing over her clit.
“Lean down on your elbows,” he whispered, as he pulled her ass close to him. As he knelt behind her she could feel the head of his cock rubbing against her pussy.
“Are you ready?”
Gabriella nodded, not sure she could speak. The pressure intensified, and then with a thrust he was in her. She gasped, realizing he was bigger than either Wilson or Mitch, and the feeling of being filled, or perhaps the different position, meant her muscles had to grip differently. When she found the right angle, she felt an internal quiver, and Mac moaned. Her muscles contracted again, and once more they both responded simultaneously.
Mac gripped her hips and thrust with more force. Gabriella sank her head between her arms and concentrated on the feelings and sensations. Their rhythm picked up pace, and they both cried out as their rising excitement hit a crescendo and first Gabriella and then Mac let themselves go. Time, for a moment, seemed to stand still as they joined as one in a climax that left them shuddering.
* * * *
Launceston, Tasmania, 1940
Angel was the last person to leave. Not that many people had come. Most men under forty were either in the Pacific or Europe fighting a war that meant nothing to her. Her father had forbidden her mother to attend. It was only a few friends and her husband who thankfully had been turned down as medically unfit because of a heart murmur. Anthony had offered to stay back with her, but Angel had told him no. She wanted to share these last moments alone with her sister.
The cemetery was on a hill, and from where Angel stood she could see the ocean dark and forbidding through the pine trees. A mist hung over the horizon past which in a place far away Edmund’s body had fallen. Angel wondered if his last thoughts had been of Larissa, who despite her lover’s betrayal had never lost faith in him. Though he had never explained it to her, never seen her again after that last time they had made love, never told her why he had used the marriage license to marry someone called Kaitlin rather than her, Larissa had known he had done it for a noble reason and never regretted her own choice.
“He said he would come back to me as long as I was here for him,” she had said. Angel had wanted to hit her sister for being so gullible and vulnerable, had felt the same rage that Charles and Adam had when they had found out what had happened. But it was the vulnerability that also made Larissa so lovable, so Angel had kept silent about Edmund and his kind, and helped Larissa through the pregnancy, and shared her joy when Rose was born. But when they had received word that Edmund had died, Larissa had lost the will to live. “He didn’t think I was waiting,” she had whispered. “I should have written to him. I thought he would know.” Angel watched her fade away before her eyes. The official cause of death was pneumonia, but Angel and Larissa knew otherwise.
Clutching Rose to her chest, Angel swore on her sister’s grave that her daughter would never be responsible for a single drop of were-devil blood being spilt. Though she knew already that her brothers were starting the trail of destruction that Zelda had foretold.
Chapter Six
Queensland, Present Day
“Lena, you can’t take on the whole were-devil population by yourself,” said Gabriella in exasperation. She had thought Lena losing weight had been deliberate, but now she wasn’t sure. She was looking gaunt, and the anger Adam seemed to have induced in her was not helping. They were sitting in a café in Airlie Beach, but the beauty of the sun catching the waves on the beach in the front of them seemed a long way from Lena’s thoughts.
“I don’t intend to,” Lena replied. Her green eyes flashed, but she turned away from Gabriella. She was blocking her thoughts. Gabriella wondered why. “Just the ones up here that are trying to kill us.”
“You don’t know that,” said Gabriella. “Our grandmother made it very clear Adam has been paranoid since the war.”
“Since his sister died you mean.”
“That was a long time ago, and no one killed her.”
“She died of a broken heart,” Lena replied. She looked sad. Gabriella shook her head. Neither of them had met this great-aunt that had somehow taken over Lena’s imagination. She was sure it had something to do with the breakup she had with Zachary, but Lena got very prickly whenever she approached this subject. They were still friends, but since her return from Tasmania something was definitely wrong. Gabriella was sure this was what she was blocking and wondered why. As children they had always been close, even though Gabriella’s father being human like her grandfather meant she was more human than ghost. Lena’s father, a Magnussen, was full-blood ghost.
“Our grandmother thinks that if Marianne’s death had anything to do with the were-devils, that it has just as much to do with the original curse,” Gabriella reminded her cousin. “After all, we know there was something about two generations, and that’s now up.”
“All the more reason to do something,” said Lena, rubbing her arm. “I tell you, Zachary and I are both aware of were-devils being here. And it’s much stronger than before we left. We are pretty sure they’ve been near our boat.”
Gabriella felt a twinge of alarm. While she didn’t want anything to do with this feud, it was going to be hard to avoid becoming embroiled if the feud came to her.
“No one’s seen Wilson, either, for days,” Lena added. “I think something’s seriously wrong.”
“Wouldn’t you know?” Gabriella was good at reading ghosts’ minds if they were there with her but knew they could read signals from much greater distances.
“I would know if he was dead,” said Lena slowly. “But if he was injured or unconscious, his signal would be weak.” She looked closely at Gabriella. “You were the last person to see him.”
