Claimed by the Immortal (The Claiming)

by Rachel Lee

  “It might,” he said slowly, almost reluctantly. “These rituals are usually performed by two people who have never been together before.”

  “And that enhances the power for both of us? Or just for one of us?”

  He shook his head a little. “Schatz, I can’t be certain. My experience in this was always with women who had no powers. You have powers yourself. Why should they not be enhanced for you as they will be for me?”

  “Well, that’s the question, isn’t it.” Her voice had grown tart again, tasting almost sour on her own tongue. “I’ve got to think about this, Damien. I feel like I just got sideswiped. And I need to know more.”

  “I understand. Perhaps you should do some research on this. But I offer you one warning.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your culture tries to make things like this sound bad. Don’t take their word for it. I know from experience just how empowering this would be.”

  “In other words, just take your word for it.”

  He gave her a lopsided smile. “Yes. I wish you would.”

  “Do we need anything for this ritual?”

  “I need to find a few things, yes. The bonds must not hurt you. I need to dress you in such a way that you feel comfortable with every step.”

  “You need to dress me? Why?”

  “Because trying to do this with you in your usual garb would be impossible. A robe. I need a robe for you. And for me. And silken bonds.”

  “I have no idea where to find those.” Although in truth she did. Being a cop had taken her to some interesting places. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to shop in them. “I still need to think about this.”

  “Of course. I can go out and gather the items we need while you do research at Jude’s if you like. Or we can gather them whenever you are ready. It’s up to you.”

  Up to her. That was the damnable part. As much as her body was shrieking yes to the whole idea, her brain was turning traitor and wishing it had no decision to make at all.

  Utterly unlike her, she told herself scornfully. Then she wondered if she had ever really known herself. Because here she was, wanting to be tied up by a vampire.

  Oh, that really made sense, didn’t it.

  She sighed and rubbed her eyes and wished away the edgy nervousness that had filled her ever since he’d brought this up. It was what she had been wanting since she’d met him, wasn’t it? To find out what it would be like to make love with him?

  And the little experiences they’d had together had already shown her that he could take her places she had never imagined existed. So why was she being difficult? Why was she fighting what she had wanted?

  Simply because he called it a ritual?

  What was wrong with that? she asked herself. She’d had a few boyfriends in her time, and sooner or later the sex had become almost ritualistic anyway. The same things, the same way, every time. Once, she’d tried to change that and had lost a boyfriend, who felt she was insulting his skills as a lover.

  “What steps are involved?” she asked, hearing a thickening in her own voice, undoubtedly another response to the fires he had stirred in her. She wished she thought he couldn’t hear it, but what the hell. Every time she got wet for him, he knew it. Heck, every time she felt the least arousal he smelled it. She had no secrets. He probably knew exactly how strong her response had been to the idea of having him tie her up. At least so far he had respected her wishes even when they were in conflict with the hormonal flags she must be wearing.

  Life used to be so much easier. Having secrets could be a good thing, but it had been stripped from her by a vampire’s knowing nose. Damn it.

  “I prepare the space,” he said quietly. “Candles, incense, no distractions. We must be totally focused on one another.”

  She couldn’t imagine that that would be a problem.

  “We take a ritual bath. It should be together, but we can do it separately if you like. We must cleanse ourselves.”

  “Okay.” She envisioned them standing naked in her shower together. No way could the tub hold them both at once.

  “Once we are clean of all the lingering detritus of the world, we go to the chamber. There I will make love to you with every bit of skill and power and caring I possess, transporting us to ecstasy, to a place that can be reached no other way. Our gifts will join as our bodies join. And afterward, I shall hold you until the sun makes me go.”

  That didn’t sound too bad, she thought. In fact it sounded rather delightful. “Is there a time length or anything?”

  He smiled faintly. “If it doesn’t take several hours, then I haven’t loved you properly. Each gift must be cherished, every instant enjoyed.”

  Oh, wow. From past experience, she would have thought an hour tops. How could he spend so long loving her?

  She realized then that she very much wanted to find out.

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Tomorrow night,” he answered. “I need to get some things. Let me take you to Jude’s so you’ll be safe while I go out.”

  She looked around her small apartment, sensing that just beyond the circle he had created that thing was hovering again. “It can’t hear us?”

  “The elemental? Not within this circle. And the wards Jude put here should keep it under control.”

  “I can back out at any time?”

  “If you wish. Of course you can. You may be bound, but this must not involve force of any kind.”

  Maybe she could live with that. If she had to agree to everything...

  The thought was interrupted by an unexpected surge of wildness in her, as if she were ready to jump off a cliff to see if she could fly. Cautious, ordinary, sensible Caro vanished as another part of her nature emerged. As a cop she often took risks, but they were part of the job, and she always tried to manage them as carefully as she could.

  This was a different kind of risk, and she thirsted for it. Like the thoughts she had once talked herself out of about trying a fire walk at one of those self-improvement seminars. She sensed, though she could not be sure, that on the other side of this would lie freedom. Freedom from what, she didn’t know. She just felt a sudden certainty that she would be tossing aside shackles she hadn’t realized she wore.

  “Let’s go,” she said. She still had another day to change her mind, after all.

  * * *

  It was a day that proved excruciatingly long. Damien had returned with large parcels in the early hours, then had excused himself to go sleep.

  Caro wondered what was in those parcels, but they were in the inner office with him, and she simply did not want to open the door and risk any possibility that he might inadvertently receive some exposure to light. She didn’t entirely trust that blackout curtain.

  She tried sleeping on the cot in the room just off the front office, then tried again on the couch. The night ahead loomed before her, alternately filling her with anxiety and eagerness for the passion he had promised.

  She was a mess. She had to sleep, to be ready for the night’s mysteries, for they would certainly be mysteries, beginning with the fact that she had never really made love to Damien, and ending with the fact that she honestly had no idea what to expect.

  This approach to sex struck her as artificial, yet she had indeed checked online and discovered just how old and widespread was the belief that sex could unleash powers, sometimes just naturally, but often as part of organized ritual.

  God, she felt like a virgin on her wedding day, with absolutely no idea of what was to come. Knowing the basics wasn’t enough. Damien had thrown a lot of other things into the hopper with his talk of rituals, bindings, increasing power...a whole bunch of mysteries and things to get edgy about.

  Things she had never done before, things she had never considered before, all of them looming. It was no help to remind herself that he’d said she could back out at any time.

  Chloe was busy at the computer, and busy being her watchdog. That felt silly, too. She’d pushed the
thing away herself, hadn’t she? So maybe she had little to fear from it.

  Regardless, she was going stir-crazy, locked up like this under constant watch, and sleep was so elusive she wanted to scream. She needed to be in top form for tonight, whatever it held.

  And she did want tonight, she finally admitted to herself. She’d been wanting it one way or another almost from the instant she had set eyes on Damien. She couldn’t remember the last time simply looking at a man had aroused her, and she couldn’t be anywhere near Damien without her thoughts turning to the sexual.

  So tonight she would find out if it was as good as her body wanted it to be. The more she thought about it, the more she even liked the idea of being bound, of giving up all responsibility. There was something enchanting in that notion, the notion of just experiencing without having to do a damn thing except enjoy it.

  Heat pooled between her thighs. She had never had a purely selfless lover, one who would take his own pleasure from hers. Not that she had ever expected one. Sex should be a shared giving and taking. But suddenly she was being offered something she had never imagined: a lover who would expect nothing from her but her own pleasure.

  Wow.

  A smile came to her face, just a small one, and her internal struggle settled down. This was an experience she simply could not pass up. No way.

  With that, drowsiness claimed her, carrying her away into dreams of a candlelit room where a vampire hovered over her, learning her most intimate secrets with his hands and then his mouth.

  * * *

  Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep. Maybe an hour before darkfall, she woke suddenly. Not even a lingering bit of drowsiness slowed her down. She sat up, hearing running water, and realized Chloe had gone to take a shower.

  She wondered if everyone knew what was going to happen tonight and therefore expected some big deal, or if Chloe had just thought Caro was safe within the shield of wards and could take a moment to freshen up.

  Either way, Caro seized the opportunity. She had to get out for a walk. She wasn’t used to all this confinement. She was used to being out and about most of the time, whether in a patrol car or just strolling the streets and window-shopping. Inactivity didn’t suit her at all.

  Grabbing her jacket and zipping it up tight, she left a note saying she was going for dinner. Then she headed out for the late afternoon streets. As soon as she stepped out of the office, the feeling of being watched returned, but she reminded herself that there were plenty of people out and about on the street, and it still wasn’t dark.

  The icy air nipped her cheeks. The remnants of the last snowfall had ceased to sparkle, having melted a bit and picked up the city’s grime, but there were still places where the lowering sun struck and turned it golden in stark contrast to the bluer shadows.

  It was a beautiful late afternoon, with twilight just around the corner and calm, still air. It was so rare among the buildings to have no breeze at all that she noticed the quietude of the air.

  People passed, some of them nodding and smiling, others totally ignoring her. She walked swiftly, stretching her muscles, bringing up her heart rate.

  She wouldn’t go too far, she told herself. Just up a couple of blocks in a straight line so that if Chloe looked out for her she would be visible.

  But damn, it felt so good to be out and moving again.

  Even here in this poorer part of the city there were plenty of shop windows to glance into. Occasionally she paused at a display of exotic foods. One of the things she liked in this city was the blending of so many cultures. Here a Korean food store, there an Indian food store. Tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurants scattered along the street issued enticing aromas of foreign dishes.

  The farther she walked away from Jude’s office, the more the place felt like a real neighborhood. Most of the shops and restaurants were at or just below street level, with apartments rising over their heads. She began to hear different languages along with the different aromas.

  This was one part of the city she had never worked, and she began to think she had missed something very special.

  She had walked only a few blocks, though, when the sense of being watched turned into a strong sense of presence. Looking away from lighted windows, she realized that twilight was coming on faster than she’d anticipated. Either that or she’d lost track of time.

  Turning, she started back to Jude’s office, reaching for whatever power she had used yesterday to keep that elemental away.

  For a little while it pulled back. But then she felt it move in again, and the sensation was so strong that she quickened her step.

  God, it was getting dark fast. What had she been thinking?

  The urge to run was growing in her, but she forced it down. Whatever this force was that was coming after her, some instinct told her that fear would only feed it.

  Instead she clung to that willpower she had found only yesterday, concentrating her thoughts on forcing the thing back. It gave a little, allowing her to breathe more easily.

  Just another block, but night was almost here. She judged by the light that the sun must have nearly finished setting. Soon the shadows between the buildings would become inky.

  Almost as soon as she had the thought, they did just that. At the same time, the watcher returned and her skin began to crawl. It was there—it was close. She willed it away, but this time it failed to yield.

  Half a block to go. She gathered everything inside herself and envisioned herself sending out a blast of light against the elemental. This time it barely hesitated before it was on her again.

  Her chest began to hurt. She felt cold all the way to her bones where only moments ago she had been warm enough. Panic fluttered in her, demanding she flee, but how could she flee this thing?

  She could see no one else on the street. Where had everyone gone? She hurried her pace even more, while imagining her body growing warmer, her chest easing. A few moments of success...

  Then she felt as if the wind had been knocked from her. She couldn’t catch her breath at all. Weakness poured through her, causing her legs to give way. Her diaphragm seemed to have frozen, and no matter how hard she tried to draw air into her lungs, it wouldn’t come.

  She was going to die right here and now, and her mind fought back darkness, seeking something, anything, to push that elemental away before it was too late.

  The night dimmed even more and she realized she was blacking out. It was over. She made one more monumental effort of will to drive that thing away, to gather one more breath.

  She failed. Darkness moved in, claiming her and she had one last conscious thought: I’ve been such an idiot.

  Just as the last of the world seemed to fade, she heard Damien shout, “Caro!”

  An instant later, steel arms surrounded her and lifted her. Like a newborn baby, she gasped for her breath. This time her lungs filled.

  Safe now, she let go, let darkness claim her, a darkness that wasn’t supernatural at all.

  * * *

  Damien, torn between fury and fear, put the unconscious Caro on the couch. Terri immediately knelt beside her to check her out.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Chloe?” he heard Jude demand.

  “She was asleep. How was I supposed to know she’d leave because I spent ten minutes in the shower. I thought she knew better than that.”

  Damien didn’t care about Chloe’s failure, didn’t care about anything except seeing Caro’s eyes open again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been beside himself with fear, but he was now.

  “Get a blanket,” Terri said. “She’s too cold, but she’s breathing all right.”

  Chloe raced away and returned with a heavy comforter. Damien insisted on covering Caro himself and tucking it around her. For the first time, he wished he had some excess body heat to offer, but he knew he didn’t. Not one iota. Awake, his body was just above room temperature, not enough to act like a heater.

  He was not accustomed to cursing
the fact that he was a vampire, but he cursed it now. He seldom had cause to think about the ways it made him useless or helpless, but Caro was constantly reminding him.

  Yet he had to face the fact a mortal man could do little more at this point. If she was going to go out on her own, she’d do it, and so what if he couldn’t wrap himself in that comforter with her right now and warm her?

  At least she was still alive. He wondered if he would ever tell her what he’d sensed when he’d seen her on the pavement, how he could feel that elemental surrounding her and consuming her. How he had sensed her very life force draining away. How he had nearly panicked about losing her.

  No, probably not good to tell her all that, and certainly not before he sorted out his own feelings. Vampires had strong emotions, but panic usually wasn’t one of them.

  Jude touched his arm. “She’ll be all right. You said you had something to do tonight?”

  Damien had to shake himself back to the present from the moments just passed on the street.

  “Yes. Caro and I were going to try to enhance our powers.”

  Jude lifted a brow. “Yours are coming back? I thought you feared you’d lost them.”

  “I had, but believe me, they’re coming back. Maybe it’s the proximity to this elemental stirring up things that have slept for so long. I don’t know. I just know that I’m finding some of them again, and to meet this bokor I need every bit possible at my disposal. I don’t even want to attempt to find him until I’m ready.”

  “Which puts Caro in danger longer.”

  “Not much longer. Although we’re going to have a serious talk about this tendency of hers to go walkabout.”

  A quiet chuckle escaped Jude. “Good luck. How often do you think Terri listens to me?”

  Terri, still perched beside Caro, looked up. “I listen to you all the time!”

  “When it pleases you, madam.”

  Her blue eyes twinkled a moment, then she returned her attention to Caro. “She’s going to be fine. She’s warming already. And I need to get to work.”