Paranormally Yours: A Boxed Set

by Alisha Basso

  She finally looked into a room that looked like a library. There, sitting in a chair in front of a roaring fire, was Nikolas, drinking something alcoholic. She wavered for an instant, fear clenching up her stomach, but she finally entered the room.

  “Nik. I’ve been trying to call you,” said Tessa.

  “Did it occur to you that if I didn’t answer, then I was busy or maybe didn’t want to talk to you? After all, your number does show up on my phone.”

  Stunned, she said, “Nik, what’s wrong with you? Why wouldn’t you want to talk to me? I have some news for you.”

  He looked at her with eyes that looked like chips of onyx, glittering oddly in the fire. “Well, let’s hear it now that you’re here anyway.”

  “We found the Book of Sacred Truths. Now we can find your soul!”

  “Souls are overrated,” he said. “I think I’ll pass.”

  “What? Nik, you’re not making any sense. You were so desperate to get your soul back. Why are you acting like this?”

  “I’ve decided I like things the way they are after all. A soul is such an inconvenience with the conscience and everything. I feel so much freer without it.”

  “You have no idea what my friends and I went through to get this book,” Tessa said through clenched teeth. “Now you have the gall to sit there and tell me you don’t want your soul back?”

  Nik was in front of her in a heartbeat, so fast she didn’t even see him move. He grabbed her and crushed her to him. She fought him, her fury making her stronger, but not strong enough. His mouth crushed down on hers, hurting her, punishing her for some transgression she didn’t even know she was guilty of. Even as he thrust his tongue in her mouth savagely, she felt a thrill of pleasure mixed with her anger. This man could make her want him no matter what situation they were in.

  When he finally let her go, she stumbled backward, almost falling. Furious with him, she moved back toward him and slapped him. He grabbed her hand and twisted it painfully before letting it go.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, Nik, but I’m not going to let you pass up this opportunity you’ve waited for so long. We are going to get your soul back.”

  “Didn’t you hear him say he didn’t want it anymore?” asked a husky female voice coming from the shadows of the side of the room opposite the fireplace.

  “Who are you?” Tessa asked.

  The woman stepped out of the shadows, a stunning blond beauty who caused a pang of jealously to run through Tessa’s body. Had Nik been with this woman tonight? Was that why he was acting so strangely?

  “I’m Marianna. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  “Tessa. And, no, we haven’t met.”

  “Well, Tessa, I suggest you take yourself back to wherever you came from before things get dangerous.”

  Tessa looked over at Nik, but he was just grinning, apparently enjoying this little conversation. She looked back at Marianna. “I don’t think I’ll leave. I have business with Nikolas.”

  “I know what your business is. You want to give him back his soul, so he can be boring and goody-goody like he used to be. No, I like him just the way he is. And he likes it, too. So go away.”

  Tessa stood her ground. “No. I’m not leaving until Nik and I talk about getting his soul back.”

  The next thing Tessa knew, she was on the floor, the blonde pinning her arms above her head. The woman smiled, and to Tessa’s shock, fangs gleamed white in her mouth. Marianna lowered her head and licked the side of Tessa’s neck, and Tessa recoiled in disgust. This only made Marianna laugh. Tessa saw Nik walk up to tower over them on the floor. His eyes were unreadable, the set of his jaw hard.

  “Help me, Nik,” she pleaded. He just stood there looking at them.

  “He’s not going to help you, Tessa. He’s given himself over completely to the darkness. In fact, I’m going to leave some for him. I won’t drain you…I’ll let Nik do that.”

  Tessa whimpered in terror and disappointment. Nik wasn’t going to save her. In fact, she was going to die right here, and Nik was going to be a part of it. If only he had told her what was going on from the beginning, they might have found the book sooner, before his darker side took over. But it was too late now.

  “Marianna, let’s go hunting,” Nik said. “She’s too easy, lying there helpless. We need the thrill of the hunt. Let her go.”

  “Let her go?” laughed Marianna. “Why she’s just an appetizer. Something to whet our appetites before the hunt. You’re not going soft on me, are you, Nikolas?”

  “No, of course not. I’m just bored with this one. Come on, I’m ready to hunt.”

  “We can’t just leave her like this. She’ll tell someone what we are, and then the authorities will come after us. We can’t be linked to the bodies. She has to die.”

  Tessa tried to twist out of the female vampire’s grip, but the woman’s hands were like iron bands around her wrists. She cried out in fear when Marianna’s fangs started toward her throat. Tessa kicked and thrashed, but Marianna just laughed as she slowly descended on Tessa’s flesh.

  Suddenly, the vampire was no longer on top of her. She saw Nik fling her across the room where she crashed into a side table. She was back up in a heartbeat, rushing toward Nikolas. He tried to sidestep as she reached him, but she anticipated his move and matched it with her own. She grabbed Nik and threw him against the ceiling, and he crashed back down to the floor. Apparently, it was hard to hurt a vampire because he was back on his feet again, but this time he approached cautiously. They circled each other like two wild animals fighting for supremacy. If Tessa hadn’t been scared out of her mind, she could have appreciated the beauty of the fight. Two creatures, perfection in motion, fighting, their muscles hard and flexed, waiting to spring at any moment. She watched in fascinated horror, hoping and praying Nikolas was the stronger of the two vampires.

  The pair apparently got tired of the waiting, because they both sprang at once, clashing in mid-air, the sound horrifying. Tessa let out an involuntary yelp as the two vampires bit and scratched like cats on their way down to the ground. The floor vibrated as Nik and Marianna hit the floor, feet planting firmly, still locked in a violent embrace. Tessa could see rivulets of blood running down both bodies, but neither of them seemed to be slowed down by it. Part of her wanted to leave while neither of the vampires was focused on her, but she couldn’t leave Nik in this situation. She wasn’t sure what she could possibly do for him, but she didn’t want to leave, not knowing the outcome of the fight. If Nik lost, she knew Marianna would kill her. But what if he won? Would he hurt her? He hadn’t been himself when she first came here, but there must be something of her Nik left or he wouldn’t have saved her. If only she could return the favor. She thought about the legends she had heard about vampires. Were any of them really true? She knew the one about daylight was. What else did the authors and movie makers get right?

  Tessa wasn’t sure where the turning point was. The two vampires were evenly matched at first, but now she could see that Nik’s strength was dwindling. The fighting pair crashed into a table, splintering the wood into pieces. They rolled around in the wood splinters before Marianna picked up Nik and threw him against the opposite wall. Tessa backed up, not wanting to get too close to the fight. Marianna came at Nik, fangs bared, hands curled into claws. Tessa willed Nik to get up, but he just lay there watching the female vamp approach him. She saw resignation in his eyes, and Tessa’s brain screamed at him not to give up. She was afraid to shout to him for fear that Marianna would notice her and finish her off. Nik pushed himself up to a sitting position before Marianna reached him, but his power was almost gone. Tessa let out a sob of anguish, cursing her helplessness.

  Then it came to her. If only the legends were true, she could help him. She hurried over to the pieces of wood from the broken table. She sifted through them until she found what she was looking for.

  “Nik!” she shouted.

  When the vampire looked toward her, she pitched
the sharp piece of wood to him, and he caught it deftly. He thrust the stake between his body and Marianna’s chest. The female vampire tried to stop, but she was rushing toward Nik so fast that her momentum carried right into the sharp point of the wood. For a moment, her face registered a look of surprise and confusion, and then, as the stories Tessa had heard had promised, Marianna dissolved into dust. Nikolas just sat and stared at the powdery pile before him, an unbelieving look on his face. Then he slowly looked up at Tessa, who had moved closer to him. With a sigh of relief, she saw his eyes warm toward her, and she knew Nikolas was back. The Nikolas she knew and loved. She reached out her hand to him, and he took it, although she really couldn’t help him up. But it was a gesture they both needed. He rose to his feet, his strength seeming to slowly be coming back, and he took her into his arms. He was bloody, and it should have grossed her out, but she was just glad to be safe in his arms. She didn’t realize she was weeping until Nik pulled back and looked at her, wiping the tears from her face with a gentle finger.

  “You saved my life,” he said.

  “Well, you saved mine.”

  He smiled at her. “I guess we’re even, then.” He pulled her close again and rested his cheek against her hair. “I don’t know how to even start to thank you for all you’ve done for me. I’m so sorry I let myself succumb to my baser instincts. I don’t know how I could have lived with myself if I had hurt you.”

  “But you didn’t hurt me,” she said against his chest. “When it came down to life or death, you saved me.”

  “And now that you’ve found the Book, you’ve saved me.”

  She pulled back and looked up at him. “Nik, why was Marianna stronger than you?”

  “She was much, much older than me. And she was the one who turned me. She would have killed me, you know, and then she would have killed you.”

  “I’m just lucky I watched a lot of vampire movies and TV growing up.”

  “And we’re lucky those shows got it right,” he said with a grin.

  “Can we sit and talk for awhile?” Tessa asked. “I need to tell you some things about the book and the cave.”

  “Sure, have a seat. I’ll be right back…I need to get a broom.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  After Nik had cleaned up the ashes from the female vampire, he excused himself again to go clean the blood off. In the bathroom, he peeled off his clothes and got into the hot shower, letting the water cascade down his body, carrying the blood down the drain. His wounds were all healed now, but the memory of the fight was still in the forefront of his mind, and he shuddered at the thought of Marianna and the murderous look on her face. It wasn’t so much that he had been worried she would kill him. His fear was that there would have been no one to protect Tessa if he died.

  Nik was shaking as he pulled clean clothes on. The effort to keep his dark side at bay was sapping his strength, and he knew having Tessa here would make it worse. But he was going to have to get used to her being close to him if they were going to work together to get his soul back. He took a deep shuddering breath before walking back to the library where Tessa was waiting on him. She had used the other bathroom to clean off the blood he had transferred to her skin, but her clothes still had traces of it. She looked up at him as he walked into the room, and his heart raced with desire and fear for her. He could do this. He could keep it together.

  Tessa watched him enter, her heart beating wildly, her stomach doing somersaults at the sight of him. The adrenaline rush from watching the fight was gone, but this new feeling was even stronger, and she wondered if she could ever resist him, even if he tried to bite her. Part of her wanted to find out while the saner part feared it. She swallowed the lump in her throat as he came toward her. Please touch me. But he didn’t. He gestured to a chair in front of the fireplace, and he took the other one. She was disappointed, but she guessed it was probably for the best, at least for the time being.

  “So, tell me the details,” said Nik.

  Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Tessa said, “Just how detailed do you want this information?”

  “Everything. Tell me everything. How you found the book, how you obtained it, what it said.”

  “Well, I found out my best friend’s grandmother is a witch. And then I found out my friend is, too. Belinda, the grandmother, had a book that actually told us where the Book of Sacred Truths was.”

  Tessa told him everything that had happened the night before. He frowned a few times, and she knew it was because she had been in danger. He even growled when he found out about the trade the warlock wanted to make. When she was finished with the story, Nik sat in silence for several moments.

  Finally, he said, “So it’s true. We really know where my soul is located.”

  “It seems so,” Tessa said. “And you have to go with me so you can find the right one.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “Do you honestly think I wouldn’t go with you anyway? That I’d let you go alone?”

  She blushed and said sheepishly, “No, I guess not.”

  “You should know better. In fact, I should go without you. There’s no need in putting you in danger.”

  “No way!” said Tessa. “I’m in this too deeply to back out now. Besides, it’s going to take both of us to fight the Keeper of the Souls.”

  “How can you possibly fight something that strong?”

  “The truth is, you really need me for the three challenges. It takes a pure heart and….”

  “You don’t think my heart is pure.”

  “Nik, I don’t know. You don’t even have a soul, and then your dark side starts taking over because of it. I wouldn’t want to take that chance, would you?”

  “I guess I do need you there,” he admitted. “But I don’t like it.”

  “We’ll get through it together. We’ll meet the challenges, defeat the Keeper, and get your soul back.”

  “I hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I feel so selfish about this. I’m letting you risk your life for my soul when I could just keep living without it.”

  Tessa said, “You can’t keep living without it. You’ll eventually lose your humanity, and you wouldn’t be the Nik I lo…care about. You said yourself you might come after me.”

  Nik pretended he didn’t catch her slip, but he really did, and a thrill went through him at what she had almost said. “That’s true. I guess there’s no choice but to do it.”

  “You’ve waited so long to get it back. We will succeed.”

  The earnest way she spoke, the way she looked, and the scent of her, was driving Nik crazy. Before he even realized what he was doing, he sprang from his chair and pulled her up out of hers. He looked deep into her green eyes and saw exactly what he was looking for. God help this woman, she loved him. It was too much for him and he pulled her into his arms and bent his head to kiss her. She tasted sweet, like nectar, and he felt all the primal instincts from both his human side and his vampire side rise to the surface. He gently parted her lips with his tongue, tasting her with each movement of his mouth. Her lips, her tongue, the depths of her mouth, made him crazy with desire. Human lust and blood lust warred for attention, and he tried to tamp them both down, knowing this wasn’t yet their time. But it was no use. As the hunger raged inside him, he lifted his mouth from hers. Her eyes were filled with her own desire, which fueled his further. He felt his fangs descending from his gums, and he was lost.

  Tessa felt like she was in paradise as Nik explored her mouth with his. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, and the warmth radiating from his body just stoked the fires burning within her own. Were vampires supposed to be this warm? The taste of him, the feel of him, everything about him drove her crazy, and she wanted this man more than she had ever wanted anybody or anything. Her one focus was him, all of him. This felt right, and her overwhelming desire wouldn’t have let her stop even if it was wrong. When he drew back from her mouth to look at her, she felt almost shy as h
is glittering dark eyes searched hers. Then his mouth latched onto the side of her neck and she moaned, not being able to stop the sound from coming out of her. She felt a familiar sharp pain mixed with pleasure, and she knew he had bitten her again. The last time, he had stopped before he took too much blood, but this time waves and waves of ecstasy pulsed through her as he drew blood from her body, and he wasn’t showing any signs of stopping. A sensation of fear rushed through her, but it felt distant, almost as if it was just a ghost of a feeling. The pleasure was far greater than the terror she should be feeling, and she opened herself to it, letting herself float on the waves that kept crashing against the shore of her mind, body, and soul. Nik kept drawing more and more blood from her, and she let him drink, wanted him to drink, never wanted it to end. But end it did.

  “Let go of her!” shouted an angry female voice.

  Nik growled as he was interrupted from the highest peak of pleasure he had ever climbed. He turned to face the voice filled with rage and saw Tessa’s blond friend standing in the doorway of his library, an older woman standing behind her.

  “Leave us!” he snarled, rage filling his own voice.

  The two women started chanting, and Nik felt a barrier form around Tessa’s body. He jerked back as if he’d been burned, and Tessa almost fell to the floor, but was cushioned by some unseen protection before slowly lowering gently to the floor. The two women continued to chant as Nik stepped back from Tessa, his sanity slowly coming back to him. He slumped down into one of the chairs and covered his eyes with his hand.

  Finally, he said, “It’s okay, I’m in control now.”

  Jan hurried over to Tessa and felt her pulse. She looked in alarm at Belinda. “Her pulse is weak.”

  Belinda glared at Nik before kneeling on the floor beside Tessa. She placed her hands over her heart and said a few words before standing back up.