Demonstorm: Heart of a Vampire #6

by Kallyn, Amber

  Sean adjusted the straps of his pack. “Let me see how far up it is, then I can send down a rope.”

  She was truly beginning to hate the way he could sometimes seemingly read the direction of her thoughts. “No. I’m fine.”

  A flash of disbelief shadowed his gaze, but he hid it quickly and didn’t argue. Pulling out the rope harnesses they’d already used a few times, he tossed her one, then double checked the small bag of metal spikes for the climb.

  Though they would both be able to survive a fall, it would take time—days or weeks, depending on the extent of injuries—and energy for their bodies to heal.

  Time which was quickly running out for her brother, though so far, they’d made good progress toward their destination.

  After securing the harness around her waist, thighs and shoulders, she clipped it to a second rope tied around Sean, then waited as he began the climb.

  For a bit, she was alone on the path. The wind gusted over the mountains, bringing the bite of an even colder chill they’d face the higher they moved. As she looked out at the valley far below, studying the thin ribbon of blue river winding through dark green trees, her thoughts wandered.

  Past and future.

  She hadn’t been visited by the sight of her death again, but it always weighed constantly on her mind.

  The future was so uncertain, yet, deep inside, part of her was convinced she was willingly heading to her demise.

  Her thoughts jumped to Cyrus. She hadn’t seen him since Brüs had kicked her out of the last vision. Sending a brief prayer to her long-dead mother, Mayah could believe nothing other than he was still all right.

  And that he would survive the coming fight, even if she did not.

  And Sean… The risk to free Cyrus had always been all-consuming for her. She’d gladly give her life to save her brother.

  But was it worth the life of a benevolent stranger?

  Their first night here, he’d told her his demon was protective of her. But the way he’d said it, the way he looked at her sometimes, when he didn’t think she was watching, told her it was so much more.

  Fate was a bitch.

  Look at what she’d been through in the past eons. And now, to find potential love, when she needed her prophecies more than ever?

  A capricious bitch.

  Because a growing part of her was protective and interested in Sean. They’d been together over a week. And every day—day by day—her feelings for him were growing stronger no matter how much she tried to ignore them.

  Fate had decided to hold a double-edged sword.

  The rope tied to her waist jerked and she shook her head, turning her mind back to the present task at hand. She began her climb, following Sean ever higher.

  Halfway up, she passed the third metal spike sticking out from the rock, tethering them to the cliff. Looking higher, she could finally see the end of this particular climb. Sean was nearly there.

  During the ascent, he’d slipped his jacket off, tying it to his pack. His tanned, bare arms glistened with a sheen of sweat. His muscles bunched each time he pulled himself up. He glanced down, as if feeling her gaze on him, and shot her his devastatingly sexy grin.

  It was becoming harder and harder to deny the flash of heat rising from this uncontrollable attraction.

  Determined to do more to ignore it, she pushed harder, climbing faster.

  As Sean crawled over the lip of the cliff, she sighed a breath of relief, relaxing. Finding another handhold, she pulled herself higher. The rock beneath her fingers disintegrated.

  She scrambled for another hold, but her other hand began to slip.

  * * *

  Sean pounded another piston into the cliff, slipped the safety rope through it, then stood and surveyed the area, dismayed.

  Foot-high snowdrifts covered the part of the mountain he could see. Further up, the white banks grew taller. Dark, angry clouds that promised a coming storm filled the sky off to the north, racing closer fast enough to notice.

  The rope around his waist jerked him back toward the edge. He ran forward, staring down into the void. “Mayah?” Fear stopped his heart for a long, agonizing moment.

  He couldn’t see her. A shower of rock and dust had created a dark and impenetrable cloud.

  Then her face came clear. She clung to the cliff, having found her footing and resumed her climb. “I’m fine.”

  Doggedly, though every line of her body screamed exhaustion from the pace they’d been keeping up, she continued to ascend.

  “I’m going to pull you up,” Sean called, taking her rope between his hands and wrapping it over his arm securely. “Let go.”

  She shot him a glare of stubbornness.

  Sean tugged her higher.

  With a sigh, she let go and relaxed, letting him draw her to the top.

  As she climbed over the rim, Sean sat down, trying to catch his breath—hard to do in the high, thin air.

  Mayah lay on the ground, trying to do the same as she stared at the quickly darkening sky. “I could have done it.”

  “I know.” Of course she could have. But the rioting emotions from her near fall—fear, desperation—had filled him with the need to have her safe by his side. Now, not later.

  Her tone was begrudging. “But thanks.”

  “Any time,” he replied, trying to keep things light.

  Minutes passed in silence.

  Finally, she rose, glancing around. Her expression showed the same dismay he’d felt. “Guess we’re into the real snow now.”

  “Looks like.” The ledge was about ten feet deep. It narrowed as it wound along the mountain, heading upwards. They’d have a bit of a trail, at least for a while, before needing to climb again.

  Mayah studied the cliff face, this one only about sixty feet high. “I think we should go straight up, instead of around. We’ve got to be nearing the top, and Brüs’s fortress.”

  Sean pulled out his GPS and checked their coordinates. “You’d think, but we’re still at least a day or two away.”

  Her face lit. “That means we’ll be nearly three days early.”

  “As long as nothing else happens.” He watched the dark clouds edging closer. Too fast for his comfort. “If we’re going up, we need to hurry. I don’t want to get caught climbing in that storm.”

  She nodded.

  After bringing up the rope from the last cliff, he readied to climb yet again. With a quick glance her way, he asked, “You sure you’re up for this without a break?”

  She cocked her head. “Are you?”

  He grinned, and started up, making triple sure the pistons he jammed into the rock were secure. As tired as he felt, he might be the one to fall next time.

  The climb was shorter this time. In only a half hour they reached the top. Unfortunately, the storm beat them to it.

  * * *

  Sleet fell into the darkening night, water mixed with a snowy slush that turned the rocky path into a slick, icy death trap. After struggling to get the climbing gear up, Sean grabbed her arm.

  He had to yell to be heard over the fierce winds. “Let’s throw the tent up. Hopefully this will pass soon.”

  Drenched and freezing, Mayah staggered toward the cliff face he pulled her to. They finished quickly and she slid into the tent, stripping off her outer layers that were soaked through.

  Sean entered behind her, adding his sopping clothes to the pile.

  “We’ll have to figure out how to dry them,” she said, rummaging in her bag for some food.

  He unzipped one of the packs he carried and pulled out the small camp stove, lighting it for heat.

  As torrential as the storm was outside, soon they were nestled in a cocoon slowly thawing them out. The roof of the tent swayed, but since he’d secured it to the cliff, it didn’t go far.

  After pulling out blankets from the waterproof bag, she wrapped up, then started a pot of water boiling. They needed something warm to eat.

  Her fingers, nearly frozen, fumbled with t
he bag of soup mix.

  Sean reached over, grasping her hands and holding them still.

  “Let me,” he stated, taking the packet and dumping it in the warming water.

  Heat blossomed from his touch. Her mind jumped right back to her earlier thoughts.

  Their constant, forced proximity, with no one else around, was getting to her on a level so deep, she’d never have believed it existed.

  It wasn’t just that Sean was drool-worthy sexy. Partly, it was his constant gallantry. After this long together, she knew very well his compassion and strength were not merely show, but true parts of who he was as a man.

  He’d been reminding her of her father and brothers for days now. They’d always looked after her, made sure she had all she needed. For the first time in centuries, even knowing they were headed into a trap and would have to face Brüs, Sean made her feel… safe.

  Sitting across from her, his chest and arms damp and glistening in the dim light of the stove fire, she didn’t see him as a protector.

  She could only see him as a man.

  He stiffened and she met his gaze, realizing he’d been watching her as she stared at him.

  His eyes smoldered with a warmth far beyond that of any familial emotion.

  Slowly, as if expecting her to flee, he reached out and pushed one of her soaked braids behind her ear.

  She couldn’t stop the gasp, a mix of fright and yet, irrational want.

  How she yearned to reach for him, to explore his body. To touch, to taste.

  To experience the forbidden.

  But she couldn’t.

  Drawing away, she tried to unsee the flash of hurt rushing through his eyes before he could hide it. And she ignored the pang inside her chest at being the cause of such a thing. She’d told him the truth about herself. About her powers. Why would he try to push her toward something he knew she could never accept?

  “Ready for your next lesson in demon magic?” she asked briskly. She had to ignore the feelings he called. The yearnings, the soft emotions he had woken.

  It was so hard to hide her emotions while being around him. The mask she’d perfected over centuries of captivity was slipping. It was like something inside her had been freed and it knew she no longer needed to hide herself. Not from him.

  But she had to remember, there was nothing for her here.

  * * *

  Sean leaned back, hands uncontrollably clenched into fists in his lap. Pain coursed through him at her rejection.

  He knew better. Yet, he hadn’t been able to help himself. Mayah had been looking at him with a hunger that was an undeniable siren call.

  During the trip, they’d talked, laughed. Surely becoming friends. Maybe something a bit more.

  He’d caught her gaze many times the past few days, when she thought he wasn’t looking. Assessing, interested. It called to something deep inside, an irresistible attraction that kept growing stronger the more he learned about who Mayah was as a person, including the many layers she continued to try to hide.

  He’d thought she was no longer disgusted by his half-breed blood. But with the way she could blank her face into an unemotional mask, control her emotions so well, anything he saw—or thought he saw—could be deceptive.

  Mayah was able to express whatever she wanted, rather than what she truly felt.

  And now, knowing she could never love, never have a relationship of any depth with a man, Sean realized the looks he’d been seeing from her could only have been wishful thinking.

  Wishes that would never bear fruit.

  “Let’s eat first, then I’ll try again,” he muttered, pouring the soup into their two thermoses.

  She sipped on hers, fidgeting and twisting at her braids.

  Sean could barely stomach food right now, but pressed himself to eat anyway. He needed to keep up his strength. No matter what she saw in him, felt about him, it was his duty to see her safely to his clan.

  And that’s what he should have been concentrating on all along.

  He wasn’t here to fall in love with the demon prophetess. He wasn’t here to fail his family. He had to prove his strength, not just to his overprotective parents, but to himself.

  As the storm raged on around them, Mayah walked him through calling to his demon magic once more. Specifically, to the hell fire of the demon realm, which she could tap into.

  “Just because you’ve never been there doesn’t mean you can’t connect to it,” she whispered. A glowing ball of flames hovered above her hands, casting its bluish light over her pale face. Her eyes were alight with magic and the same softness that appeared whenever she spoke of home, or her family.

  Sean dug deeper, trying to finesse the power emanating from that locked room. To control the darkness, allow out only the amount he wanted to release.

  In front of him, above his upturned hand, the air flickered with a blue-white shimmer.

  Then nothing.

  He sighed, slumping back against the tent wall. “Why does trying this take so much energy?” he asked absently.

  Mayah let her fire wink out, then studied her hands. She started to say something, shook her head. Sighed deeply. “When I use my magic, I embrace it fully.”

  “I can’t do that,” he muttered. “It would rage out of control.”

  She shrugged. “I can only teach you how I’ve been taught. If you struggle against your demon side, you miss the connection you need for the magic to come naturally.”

  He didn’t like hearing it.

  Didn’t want to think about how correct her words sounded.

  He would rather continue as he had been, ignoring that part of his soul, keeping it locked up tight. Only then would he know for sure it wouldn’t explode, take over who he was and replace him with the images he sometimes saw in his mind.

  He struggled with the tent flap, checking the sky outside. Black as night, storm clouds stretched as far as he could see. The wind whipped sideways, sending a sheet of rain at his head.

  Ducking back inside, he zipped the tent up once more, then glanced around the small space. “Why don’t you get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll take first watch.”

  She glanced at him quizzically. Looking down at her lap, she nodded. “As you wish.”

  Scooting deeper into her sleeping bag, she laid down and turned her back to him.

  His fingers curled into his palms and he fisted them tightly against the urge to reach over and touch her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After a few hours of sleep, Mayah woke and urged Sean to get some rest himself, then took over the watch. Not that there was anything inside the tent to see other than him.

  Outside the storm still raged.

  Inside her, a different type of conflict refused to calm. Her thoughts ricocheted from one wild idea to another.

  Mostly, they centered on Sean. On the visions she’d had of them. Together.

  While she knew the future she saw didn’t necessarily always come to pass, she couldn’t deny that most times it did happen exactly as she’d foreseen.

  Yet, she’d had two forceful visions. The second had been her own death.

  So which one did she believe in?

  She preferred to believe neither. She didn’t want to die any time soon, nor could she imagine giving up herself to be with Sean.

  It was all so confusing, things she’d never had to think about before. Like she was some child, on the cusp of adulthood, and mooning over a first love and her own mortality.

  She’d skipped all this angst while growing up. Now, it was overwhelming when her mind wandered out of her control, unwilling to let her ignore such thoughts.

  Sean stirred, rolling over.

  It amazed her that even in sleep, he retained an edge of hardness. As if even then he refused to allow himself to let down his guard.

  She knew such a feeling all too well. And where it came from.

  After being held prisoner for so long, at the whim of another who held your life in their hands
, relaxing became next to impossible.

  Outside the tent, the sounds of the storm changed. It was only for a second, but her nerves hummed. She held her breath, listening intently.

  There.

  Something sharp clicked across a rock.

  She reached over and shook Sean’s shoulder. His eyes snapped open, alert as he glanced around.

  Holding a finger to her lips, she lifted her chin toward the roof.

  He sat up, shucking the sleeping bag as he reached for his katanas. Mayah slid her precious gloves on, ready for whatever was coming.

  At least, she hoped they were ready.

  Outside, a shrill cry blocked out the screaming wind.

  Claws slashed through the side of the tent. Rain lashed inside, splattering her face, her eyes. The world became a blur.

  Sean ducked outside.

  Mayah followed.

  On the cliff face towering over them, two spider-like things scuttled down the rock. Five other grotesque creatures surrounded the tent.

  She hastily blinked rain from her eyes, studying the attacking demons. “Beware the spiders,” she called. “Their bite is a venomous acid.”

  He nodded that he’d heard over the raging storm.

  Mayah reached his side, and pressed against his back. The demons she faced—a true hound of hell, rather than Brüs’s lookalikes, and two cat-like creatures—followed her every movement with their glowing gazes.

  With a roar, the cats attacked.

  Mayah whispered to her magic, calling it forth. In a burst of power, a huge blue orb of energy flew at the cat on the right.

  It was a demon, which meant her magic wouldn’t work right, not in this realm. She wasn’t prepared for the blue glow to wrap around the cat, then wink out. The demon was gone.

  No time to figure that one out.

  The second cat creature raced across the rocky ground and leapt, flinging itself at Mayah. Claws sank into her upper arms. The cat snapped its fangs, reaching for her throat.

  She stumbled, slammed against Sean’s back.

  He grunted, but he held his ground, supporting her.

  If she fell, arms pinned to her sides, with this creature above her, it would easily overpower her.