His Redeemer's Kiss

by Diana Castilleja

  She knew instinctively who it was. Even with miles between them, he was with her. She knew it as surely as she was breathing in that moment.

  Lily swallowed and closed her eyes for a brief prayer of thanks for her friend. Calming her tumultuous heart, she stood. “Just rest, Tabitha. We’re all here. You are safe.”

  The deep, easy breathing beneath the sheet told her Tabitha had slipped into sleep again. Lily’s fingers trembled when she lifted them to wipe away the persistent tears clinging to her lashes.

  “She is confused, lovely. Soon it will be easier for her.”

  Lily wrapped her arms around herself, walking to the closest window in the room, Tab’s bed behind her. The moon had slipped behind the trees. It was only a couple of hours until dawn. “How do you know? She is so angry, so weak.”

  “Because she has you to guide her. Like you did with me.”

  She pressed her forehead to the window, and said the first thing that came to mind. “I wish you were here.”

  “I will be. We will find him.”

  She felt the weight of all of her frustrations and despair lift from her shoulders, not surprised any longer that he would do it. He would take care of her no matter how or where. She was beginning to accept that she had become his world. Somehow, some way. “I don’t have any idea what I’ll do with a vampire, Joaquin.”

  “In time, I will show you.”

  The teasing remark was given with a meaningful, sexy chuckle. She rocked her head against the pane of glass. She wasn’t quite ready to play along with that assumption. That would be admitting to too much too soon. A concept that lingered in the recesses of her mind, but she hadn’t had the strength to pull it forward to examine it either. Not yet. “Just, please come home.”

  “I will. Té adoro, corazón.”

  She lifted her fingertips to her lips, and for an instant, thought she had felt his kiss. It made her shiver with a new anticipation, a wanting that was as new and unexpected as a spring rain to her senses.

  What surprised her more—she didn’t fear it.

  * * * *

  “I found Houston’s car.” Joaquin heard the direct message. Changing his course, Joaquin met them, alighting on the roof where they waited. They were miles south of the house. It had taken them hours to find any sense of him. Aware of the night in an innate way since his first rising, he noted dawn wasn’t far off as they converged. They’d come a lot further than he believed either Tani or Diego were expecting. It only meant David had intended to leave before they’d ever realized, long before anyone would think to look for him, or stop him. Joaquin also noted he was moving east as well as south, away from California and Tenorio.

  The three owls changed their shapes, landing to sit with their legs hanging over the edge of the building. “Why here?” Across the street, the car was parked at a plain motel. There weren’t many cars in the lot, and only a few signs of life in either direction. Joaquin guessed he had stopped for the night. There were no lights anywhere in the rooms. At that hour of the morning, he wasn’t surprised.

  “Why did he leave at all?” Tani asked. “He didn’t have to.”

  “We will only find out one way.”

  Diego stood. They stepped over the edge and floated to the ground, striding down the sidewalk, following the numbered doors until they reached the one before the nose of the car. With a cautionary look, Diego became mist and slid through between the door and the frame. It only took him a moment before he returned, and he didn’t walk out the door with David. “It is his room, but he is not here.”

  Titania put a fist to her hip and grumbled. “I’m going to give him a piece of my mind when we do find him.”

  “I do not think it will be possible.”

  Her eyes flew to his. Even Joaquin knew the flat mercury of his return gaze was only the beginning of the bad news.

  “There is blood on the bed and it looks as though he struggled.”

  Tani gasped. “They have him already?” She whirled to pace with harsh stomps. “Damn it! It was him. This isn’t fair. We don’t have any idea of where he could be, or even how long he’s been missing. He didn’t do anything to anybody.”

  Diego swept her against his chest. “I am sorry, cara.”

  “We can’t give up,” she bit out sharply from where he held her, her shoulders rocking with shudders. Joaquin heard her quiet sobs easily. “We can’t.”

  “We will not, but there is little we can do tonight.”

  “What about the car?”

  Diego stared as he debated. “Leave it. It is time we separated ourselves as much as possible from the world Tenorio knows us to be in.”

  “Houston is going to kill you,” she warned him.

  Diego only shrugged. “I am sure he will see it my way.”

  Joaquin wisely chose not to add his opinion.

  Chapter Ten

  “So, do you have to sleep in the ground?”

  Joaquin smiled inside at her inquisitive question. He would not make it to the house before sunrise. None of them would, but he couldn’t leave Lily wondering. She hadn’t been happy with the news about David. He’d left out the worst details to spare her the shock. She’d immediately understood what it meant when he told her they hadn’t been the first to find him.

  “It isn’t uncomfortable. It ceased to be a problem a long time ago.” He flew over the tops of trees, trailing Diego and Tani. The moon was gone and the world beneath him was dark, a flat black that gave little comfort. Focusing forward, he knew where his comfort was.

  She fell silent, but he realized she was only thinking. He hadn’t corrected her when she guessed he hadn’t been sleeping in the room at all. He would still maintain the charade for the others in the house. Lily had been very open to the oddity of their all sharing one house. He wasn’t sure enough about the others to make that assumption. Kathy and Amy, while not uncomfortable, he knew their trust was still fragile. He knew his attention to Lily, and her openness to him, confused Kathy.

  “You had said before that Diego always knew when we were talking.”

  “He was concerned for you. I was an unknown.”

  “Is he still?”

  Joaquin glimpsed the larger owl ahead. “I do not believe so. He is still capable, but he is being polite.”

  “You can do that?” Wonder filled her voice again.

  “It’s unusual for our private thoughts to be overhead, like you did with me. Vampires can hear between themselves the way I can with either Diego or Titania. Personally knowing who you want to talk to does make it a bit more foolproof. A blood bond makes it stronger, like the bond I had with my creator. Imagine a community phone line. Everyone can hear on one phone, but if you have a singular line, then only the person you speak to can. It works both ways. There is a community way to hear which is broad and open, and a private one.”

  “And the bond?” she asked with a tremulous hesitation. “Only with blood?”

  “What are you asking, corazón?”

  A moment passed, then two. “I don’t like people listening in, if you want the truth. It feels wrong.”

  “You need to control your privacy. There isn’t anything wrong with that. No, it isn’t the only way. We can block as well as hear. Right now, it’s just you and me,” he offered soothingly.

  He pulled in his wings with slower drafts, aiming for a tree as Diego and Tani left him behind. Some habits were hard to break. Not giving away your sleeping ground was one of them. He would meet them again at sunset. A flicker of acknowledgement rolled across his consciousness, and he knew he was alone with his thoughts, and with Lily.

  Sitting in the tree gave him the memory of the very first night he’d heard her voice, and he smiled. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do from one minute to the next when it came to the spirited redhead. She was unlike anything he had ever expected, and growing stronger and more sure of her world every day. He was cautious of examining his growing feelings too closely. Especially at times like this. Whe
n talking to her gave him feelings he hadn’t experienced in too long, sharing in her company like he was even if they were still miles and hours apart.

  Leaning into the trunk, he stared upward through the trees, catching the glimmer of the stars. He remembered her exuberance the night before in the clearing at seeing their timeless beauty. Through her eyes he was seeing them, almost for the first time, bathing in their breathtaking beauty.

  Settled into a corner of her mind, he knew she was in her room, brushing out her hair on the bed, and he wished he could be there to see it, to feel it, to do the light strokes for her and feel the thickness in his hand again. He couldn’t stop the urges of want. He felt everything, too much of it, when it came to Lily. He’d do anything to never let it end.

  “I feel it too,” she whispered against his mind.

  Joaquin blinked, taken by surprise. She was in his thoughts?

  “Of course, the same as you are. You said I could at any time. Just because I never said I wanted to didn’t mean I couldn’t. I meant I wouldn’t, but I feel differently about it today. I feel closer to you, somehow.” Her words drifted over him like a spring shower, a whispered sweetness against his soul.

  He closed his eyes to center his energy. He felt light enough to float right away from the tree. “I don’t understand what is happening between us, Lily.”

  “Don’t you?”

  He shook his head at her cheek. Oh, he feared he knew, and he knew how badly it was doomed between them. She was growing stronger and braver by the day, especially to openly acknowledge this connection they shared without a trace of fear.

  There. He felt it. Her smile. A secretive lift that made his blood pulse with need at the sensual innocence she exuded. The remembered warmth of her body, the silk of her skin, the honey of her kiss, the craving of her taste all layered on that pulse. He found he hated being so far away from her.

  “Go to sleep, lovely. I will see you soon.”

  “Goodnight.”

  He relaxed into the boughs of the tree, letting her warmth fade as she drifted toward slumber, until he knew she had finally fallen asleep. It was an all-encompassing sensation he took to ground with him, the one he wanted to wake with.

  * * * *

  Lily waited for him on the porch when they arrived. There was no denying the pride he felt seeing her there, accepting him for what he was. Together, the three owls soared then arched to land, changing their shape to settle on the ground.

  She clutched at the rail, her golden eyes wide and unblinking with only a touch of disbelief and worlds of wonder. The rich fall of her hair cascaded down her back, being lightly ruffled with the slow breeze of the evening. With parted lips and her eyes on no one but him, she reminded him of those sirens of old that he knew no man could ignore. The beautiful witches who had stolen hearts and lives from many sailors in those tales.

  “Wow!” she breathed. “That was incredible.”

  The ache in his chest grew with the breathless sound of her voice. He hid it, but it was harder and harder to keep from her. He feared the enormity of what he felt would frighten her, especially with everything that came with those feelings. Most were nothing less than carnal.

  He knew her pains, her fears. Knowing didn’t stop the wanting. It was a multi-layered desire, stronger, and impossible, to ignore deep down. Not only for the woman, her taste, her sweetness, but for the rich wine of her blood. He’d been fighting the depth of his hunger since the kiss that had stolen his air and then his soul, since the first impulse to make her his, all his, only his. It wasn’t possible. That crying hunger wound throughout his body, seizing his soul in its unforgiving grip. There was only one way to appease it, by doing the one thing he swore he’d never do. He’d paid his penance, and Lily was his salvation, his one chance at redemption. As Nathan would have said, he didn’t want to blow it.

  He reached for her and he felt a surge ripple up his arm when she didn’t hesitate, slipping her hand into his without a stray tendril of fear anywhere.

  “Any ideas where they took him?” Standing with him in the clearing in front of the house, Lily faced Tani and Diego, worry pinching her features taut.

  “I have sent Nathan to search for him. We all feel he was taken to California, but to serve what purpose we cannot say.”

  “Do you think they followed him because he did have the chip?”

  Tani nodded, looking miserable. “He knew one of us had it. My guess is he wasn’t taking any chances, and he left thinking it was the only way to not have what happened at the cabin happen again.”

  Joaquin sensed Lily’s frustration. Pulling her closer, he wrapped her into his side, his only want to comfort. She flowed against him and his heart beat in answer. The reaction stunned him. She was getting further and further under his skin every moment.

  “How did he manage to get through the wards?” Joaquin asked. He knew the power was a repellent as well as a protection to guard the people within its boundaries.

  “Those within are not affected. Those wishing entry who have never left would suffer the wards, and it would be a painful attempt.”

  Joaquin could only shake his head at the design of the protections, to be that exact. He barely understood how they worked to camouflage the property and maintain the secretive aura surrounding the entire home.

  “Now what?” Lily trembled against him, and he tightened his hold reflexively, wanting to protect her from the world at large.

  “We wait.” Diego’s expression was flat. “Nathan will tell us as soon as he has any idea if he was taken to California. If not, then we wait for David to return. He still may.”

  Joaquin knew it wasn’t easy for the man to accept he couldn’t do anything to help David. They all knew David returning on his own was a slight chance at best.

  A moment later, Diego and Tani turned and disappeared together into the woods, leaving Joaquin and Lily alone in the muted wash of light from the front of the house. He knew they would return in a short while. They always checked in before dawn, the same as he did.

  “Do you think he’ll be back?” she asked him, searching for any sign of hopefulness, expecting honesty. He couldn’t ever give her less.

  “No, I do not.” He tucked her closer. “What he did may have saved everyone, or not.”

  Silence hung heavily between them, broken only by the slow breeze through the trees and the occasional chirp of crickets and creatures that lived best at night.

  “Joaquin?”

  He hummed against her hair, absorbing the fragrant nuances of vanilla and cinnamon again, a scent he had missed. The paleness of her skin against his was a lesson in contrasts. His was the natural shade of warmed honey, hers looked like cream. The vibrant red hue of her hair spread like a sunset across her sweatshirt. The black length of his fell to his shoulders, straight where hers was a riot of curls and waves. The tawny golden brightness of her eyes, so unlike many he had seen, glowed with her acceptance as she stared at him.

  “Take me to see the stars again.”

  Holding her closer, he pressed a light, caressing kiss to her temple. He couldn’t refuse her anything.

  “Hold tight.” He knew she didn’t want to walk. She clasped her hands around his neck and he looped her waist, pulling her flush against him. The feeling of her along his length was a heady sensation. He forced the groan down into his chest. “If you’re scared of heights, don’t look down,” he warned her. She nodded, pressing into his body instead.

  “Don’t let me fall,” she breathed against his neck.

  An amused chuckle rumbled from his chest at the notion. “Never.” She stayed calm, her breath warming the side of his neck where she rested, simply accepting that he would keep her safe. Accepting whatever he did to fulfill her wish. Something warm invaded his blood, then invaded his heart with the simple act.

  His intentions to keep her safe, to find his redemption through her salvation, were changing, morphing into a new world of meaning and he didn’t know how to sto
p the changes from happening.

  As he floated upward, doubts that he would be able to let her go at all appeared, whether it was he who faced the morning sun or her to a new life. No matter that he knew it was impossible, that she was human when he was so far from it. The facts didn’t seem to matter any longer. Drawing a breath for the sheer pleasure of finding her scent, he knew he was losing the battle. A happiness he hadn’t tasted in centuries sang through him like a beloved melody. A craving he was finding harder and harder to fight pounded in his body, and in his blood. To have her, all of her, as his.

  He ensured his thoughts were blank as he battled inside with his own desires while they traveled over the treetops, pointing them toward the clearing. It didn’t help his conscience or his restraint that Diego and Titania were a perfect example it could be done, but risking Lily in any way tore him apart. Titania had been an accident. An accident gone right. Over Lily’s head above where she would see it and worry, he frowned. The risk was too high. He refused to impose on Lily the injustice that had been forced on him. She deserved the life laid before her, a life that was much improved, no matter that she would one day die.