Larry, Joe and Moe chuckled.
“Yes, yes, I am a fiend, by breather values, but, Abby, not what you think. Nothing is as you think it is. You are part of the supernatural world now and it is time for you to be truly initiated into its wonder.”
Wonder? “You want to rape me. I get that.”
He snickered. “Oh, dear Abby, I want to do so much more than that.” As he grinned his fangs, fully descended, shone in the light. “So much more.
The dead bolt slid into place with a clunk. Locked upstairs in Elif’s bed chamber, I screamed and screamed and screamed, while my hosts laughed.
I checked the exits.
My aunt read me many fairy tales. Enough to know the hero always saved the girl, made things right, and everyone got a happy ending. Always. But I had lived long enough to know that a woman needed to rely on herself, stand on her own two feet and fight her own battles. She has to design her own version of a happy ending.
The problem was I had no idea where to start.
Metal shutters covered the windows, blocking light and hindering my escape. Large locks held them closed. I could try a spell, but that would take time. I checked the door again. It was solid and locked. It seemed to be a theme in this dungeon of a castle.
A king-sized, poster bed sat in the middle of the room, covered with a black silk duvet that made my skin crawl. Ropes hung from each of the posters.
I checked the drawers of the bedside tables, but all I found were sex toys. Some I recognized (from magazine ads, of course), but others I didn’t. Some looked downright painful. I found no keys. No knives. No help.
The cupboard was strangely empty, except for three black silk robes. Elif must dress elsewhere. This must be his playroom. Ew. Double Ew. He had mentioned blood-play. Lucky me. I get the fun tour after all.
“An introduction to the wonders of the supernatural world.” That’s what he had said. How wonderful could playing with your own and someone else’s blood be? Joy said it all has to do with the passion of the moment, an extra-sensory experience during love-making that opened a vista of orgasmic pleasure. My stomach knotted. Would I have to sleep with the night creature?
Where was Eric? I was tired of being strong, tired of being alone, tired of being mad at him. Why couldn’t I be with a man who stayed with me? Why couldn’t I be with a normal, live man? Maybe they were right. There was something wrong with me that I fell in love with a dead guy. Had I chosen him because he was dead? And unattainable?
I shook my head. Eric wasn’t my only worry. What had they done to Dante? He had come to rescue me despite the danger. He had risked everything. Boy would his mama be pissed.
Wind pushed against the shutters. A storm must be brewing. Figures, right? “It was a dark and stormy night when the witch and the vampire met in the house of death.” Hmmm. Implausible story for sure.
Should I seduce him? I laughed. I was no Mata Hari. I liked sex. Heck, I loved sex. But I didn’t know any secret stealth moves. I knew what I liked and I had no problem asking for it. I liked to give as well as receive. I liked it every which way and lots of it. Most of all, I loved the after burn, the intimate moments of togetherness after the act, lying sated with the man I loved. None of that gave me a leg-up on seducing a fanger.
And though he was magnificent to look at in low light, I had no interest in touching any part of him. I shuddered. No part of him. The image of a popsicle stood in my mind. Oh, heavens no.
But if I had to? What then? Think of Eric? Think of my children? Think of whatever I had to, to stay alive. That’s what.
But would he let me live? Could I convince him that, even though I knew his secret, I wouldn’t tell anyone? My evidence would never hold up in a human court.
Did I want to become a black swan? Or, worse, a vampire? Golly-gee, I could be a vampiric-witch. I snickered at that thought. My life had been a long journey of change. I was constantly put in situations I didn’t want to be in. “I just want to be normal.” I said out loud.
The door opened and Elif entered. So much for normal.
I pulled the locket from my pocket and held it out to him again. “If you do not lie, the locket will cause you no harm.”
“And you think the locket will keep me from hurting you?”
Chapter 22
Death Sucks
"There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us." ― Buffy, "Bring on the Night"
Vikings act. They don’t spend time thinking about acting, not more than they need, at any rate. They act. When emotions get in the way they are cast aside. Emotions are for women and children. Vikings act. Eric scratched his chin. He needed to act.
Staring at the inside of the hotel room’s door, he tried to digest Abby’s words. Had she really broken up with him? How could that be? After he had risked everything for her.
His gut rumbled in a way it hadn’t for over a thousand years. He may be immortal, but his body acted otherwise. It felt as if a demon had stepped on his heart. This was not what he had expected.
Sure he knew Abby would be a little upset, but he thought she would skip over her moral scruples and see the opportunities they now had. But that wasn’t Abby. Abby, at heart and soul, was a moral person. Moral to the core, with human values of right and wrong. She could not accept his new position with Guiden.
How could he have ever thought she would? Guiden, and his slick seductive words, that’s how. He cussed.
Sweat poured down his face, a sensation he had forgotten. The only reason he wanted to be back on the living side was to be with her. What would he do now?
His despair slid into anger and he balled his fists. If he killed Guiden, he would feel better. At least there would be some justice. But how could anyone kill a slimy warlock?
Wait. Abby had not only pushed him away, she had run off to tackle the supernatural world on her own. Her newbie witch powers would not be much help against what was out there.
Vampires?
Oh hell, she wouldn’t go after a vampire. And yet, as that thought flew across his brain, his heart knew it to be true.
Which one? He exhaled noisily as he headed for the door.
He would start with Elif. If she wasn’t there, he could tell him where Maximo lived.
Eric walked into the door. “For fan I helvete!” He forgot he couldn’t go through matter on this plane. Not being a ghost was going to take getting used to.
Outside, his human form ran into more obstacles. No car. No ability to fly, float, dissolve or any of his former ghostly charms. He rubbed the goose head on his forehead and started jogging.
Thirty minutes later, breathing hard and sweating as if he were ready for battle, he ran up Elif’s driveway. The blood-sucker’s lair looked alive in the moonlight.
Damn this body. He wanted to slide into the house and spy on the inhabitants, but he no longer had such abilities, so he walked the perimeter as quietly as he could. Vampire hearing is legendary, he reminded himself.
Through the large, front picture windows, he spied three vampires sitting in a living room. None of them were Elif. Upstairs a light was on. Could she be up there?
Around the back he found an open door to the kitchen. Once in the house he smelled blood, death and vampires. Abby?
“I want a bite of her,” said one of the vampires. His voice carried through the hallway and Eric edged closer.
“That’s not all you want,” taunted another.
They laughed. Eric had heard much laughter in his days, but none so vile as a vampire’s. Were they talking about Abby?
His heart lodged in his throat. People think Vikings feel no fear, but only the dead feel no fear. A rational man takes his fear and uses it as fuel. Remembering his early learning from his father, Eric slowed his heartbeat with his breath and regained control.
The light upstairs?
The creatures turned on heavy-metal music. Thanks be to Odin. Eric slid up the stairway with his battle axe in his hand as quietly as
he could. Would they hear him? Smell him?
When he reached the landing, he could hear Elif.
“All right you got me,” said Elif in a sarcastic tone. “I murdered Kumar and I took Joy from you.”
“Joy?” It was Abby’s voice. “Why? What did you do with her?”
“I didn’t want to. Well, I did, but not like that.”
“You killed her?” Abby sounded angrier than Eric had ever heard her.
“No. I gave her a new life.”
“A vampire life?”
Silence.
“It was the only way she would understand. Kumar’s death means nothing in the big scheme of things. I had planned on turning her. It just happened sooner than I imagined.”
“Because she suspected you.”
“Yes. When you share blood with someone, you see into their lives in unusual ways.”
“Where? Where is she?”
“She is safe in the ground and will rise tomorrow night for the first time as her new self.”
“And Kumar? Why didn’t you turn him?”
“Kumar paid for his disloyalty with his death.”
“How did you do it??”
Eric moved closer to the room.
“I am fast. When the lights went out I flew across to him, slid the knife into his neck
and returned to my seat.”
“You used a knife so we would think it wasn’t a vampire kill.”
He nodded. “Vampires never use knives.”
“But Kumar grabbed your locket.”
“So it would seem.”
“How was he disloyal?”
Eric risked a peek into the room. They stood beside an enormous bed only two feet from each other. He couldn’t get in and free her before Elif grabbed her.
The vampire chuckled. “Kumar embezzled two million dollars from my accounts. Although he was a charming man with a sarcastic wit that entertained me, he had terrible business sense and constantly lost money on one scheme after another. I am wealthy, and he must have thought I wouldn’t notice, but I did. Most men give in to greed, so I am always vigilant when it comes to my money and who touches it. He paid for his stupidity.”
“Okay, let’s look at this rationally.” Should she knee him in his privates? Oh, she wanted to, but the odds of surviving weren’t good. She grunted. “Kumar is dead and Joy is living-dead. You got what you wanted. So why hurt me?”
“You’ll find pain is most pleasurable.”
Eric’s chest tightened.
“Nah, I don’t think so. I’m not into pain.”
“You have your children to consider.”
“You wouldn’t hurt them.”
Silence.
Eric closed his eyes and willed himself to be a ghost again. His new immortal form did not come with a manual. No one had told him what he could and couldn’t do. Not even Guiden, who had merely said, “You’ll figure it out.”
If ever he needed to be a ghost it was now. He closed his eyes and concentrated on being a specter. He needed to be invisible for Abby even if it meant he may never be a breather again.
Chapter 23
Never Underestimate a Mother
“I’ve always wanted to use that spell.”
Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I froze in terror. “I would do anything to protect my children.”
Green mist swirled around us. Sofia, Dante’s mother, appeared in the middle of the room.
Anger seethed from every pore of her body. Her emerald-green eyes vibrated with hate. Her long white hair flew from her head in all directions, giving her a raving-mad Medusa look. She glared at Elif. “What have you done with my son?”
Her silver wand rose in the air, shining in the darkness. Moonlight slid through the curtains and into the magic reed.
Spark, with her hackles up, appeared at my side. My heart lightened with her presence. The air stilled and cooled. It felt magical.
Maybe a normal witch couldn’t take on a vampire, but Sofia appeared anything but normal.
I said, “Dante’s in the other room.”
“He’s barely breathing,” she answered.
Elif shrugged.
“What have you done?” Her voice echoed through the stone walls of the lair.
Elif smiled, and his dead eyes went to a slate black. “Your boy got in my way.”
“Your boy punched him,” I said. I couldn’t help myself. I looked at her and realized she had a magic power over me that was a helluvalot more powerful than her hiccup incantation. I sensed here silently commanding me.
Sofia nodded without looking my way. “That is the last Ricci you will ever touch, blood-sucker.”
Chills ran up and down my spine. Eric appeared at my side in ghost form.
A bolt of green light flew from Sofia’s wand. Elif laughed and ducked. It hit the wall and blew a hole in it the size of a football.
I picked up Spark who trembled in my arms.
I looked around for Eric but couldn’t see him. Where the hell did he go?
Another bolt flew, and another, and another. Elif easily dodged each shot and, as he did so, he moved closer to Sofia. I had to do something. She might be the meanest mama I had ever met, but I was on her side.
I closed my eyes and started chanting.
“You witches are pathetic.” Elif laughed. “I will feast on both of you tonight.”
I kept chanting, and Sofia joined me. As he laughed, the chandelier above him dropped on my command. Sofia shot him with a bolt and Elif was down.
A wooden stake came out of the air and plunged into his heart. As it broke through his skin, Eric materialized. “You deserve to die,” he said as he pushed the spike further into the vampire.
Spark yowled.
Elif’s body ignited into red and black flames that smelled of decay. When they died down Sofia collected the ash with her wand and placed it in a vial she pulled out of a pocket of her dress. She capped the top. “A final death is too good for that one. I will make sure he suffers.”
I swallowed. Talk about a mad mother!
Eric put his arm around me, but I pushed him away. I didn’t understand what he was anymore, a temporary human, an immortal … or what? This was not the time to try to figure it out. “We need to find Joy,” I said.
With her anger diminished, Sofia looked human. “Who is Joy?”
“A friend. Elif turned her, to hide the fact he killed Kumar.”
Sofia shook her head. “Such drama. I will find my son and take care of him.”
“There are at least three bad vampires in the lair,” I said.
“Pfft. I took care of them on my way in. Now I will heal my son.” She vanished. The woman never failed to amaze me.
“Elif said he turned Joy?” Eric asked as he followed me out of the room. I held Spark’s trembling body close to me.
“Where does a vampire stash his ...”
“In the ground.”
In the moonlight, we searched the grounds of the lair, looking for unsettled earth. I had no idea what Eric could see, but I didn’t care. I focused on finding Joy.
As the first shimmering pre-dawn light rose over the horizon we found ourselves back at the front door. We had scanned the whole area and found nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I returned home alone with a heavy heart. I took a deep breath as I opened my front door. I had told Eric I needed time away from him. I put on a smile to greet my family, but they weren’t home. Lying on my sofa was Dante, under a quilt. Sofia paced my living room.
“What did you do with my kids?”
With a long, red, pointed fingernail, she motioned to a note on the kitchen counter. I opened it.
“We’ve gone to Seattle to the zoo. It was really kind of Sofia to give us tickets and a hotel room! We’ll be home tomorrow, late afternoon. Love, Jill.”
I looked at Sofia.
“I thought a family trip was in order.”
I nodded. As much as I love my k
ids, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. This was all too much to process. Having time to take it all in was an enormous gift.
“So why is Dante here?”
“I need someone I trust to take care of him and you owe us both.”
“Is he okay?”
“Sleep and the magic potion I gave him should fix him up within twenty-four hours.”
“Should?”
“No spell is perfect, dear.” She headed for the door.
Damn. “And where are you going?”
“I have witch business.”
“I thought you didn’t trust me with Dante.”
“I don’t, but sometimes all a woman can do is take her best option. You are my best option right now.”
“Thank you.” I think.
“But I warn you —”
“I got it. I’m not to break his heart.”
Before I finished my sentence, she had glided to the front door. She turned and waved that dreadful wand at me.
More hiccups? Really? But nothing happened.
I looked down at Dante. If I didn’t know he was still alive, I might have wondered. The great man-witch with the outrageous personality and joi de vivre looked comatose.
The door closed softly behind Sofia.
I pulled my hand through his thick hair and felt his pulse. Still alive. “Don’t you die on me, you big lug. I can’t manage without you. I’d never tell you that, but I can’t.”
The silence in the room stung. I had an overwhelming need to fill it, or at least to soften it. No one deserved to die like this.
“And, okay, here’s the thing, Dante,” I babbled on. “I do care for you. And it’s not just because of the amazing two kisses we shared.” I swallowed. “My emotions are messed up right now. I was involved with Eric, but I don’t think we have a future.” I bit my lip. How could we, if I couldn’t trust him. “I care for you, Dante. You mean something to me. Hell, I like you.” Like? Really? How lame. But I couldn’t say love. I wasn’t there yet.
I sat in the lounge chair beside Dante and before I could form another thought, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. I woke once and spied Eric standing beside me. He covered me with a quilt. As I drifted back to sleep I heard him say, “I will fix things, äskling. I will fix things for both of us.”
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