He folded his hands in front of him. “Carry on. Get it out.”
“Don’t patronize me. That sounds like Maxwell. Bastards. They are going to use this as an example of how useful I am and make me a weapon. How many nights did I cry on your shoulder about Kayla?”
Matthias looked away.
“Undo this. You can make anything happen. Please.”
He opened his arms.
Alice took two steps and fell against him. There were two ways Matthias made her feel. Peaceful or sexy. Angry was new. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. When you are ready to listen, you won’t.”
“Unless you have a really good reason for not telling me, I don’t see how this can be okay.” She looked up. “I hate that you still feel like peace.”
“I love that even when you hate me, my arms give you peace. I despise that there was a moment of ugliness between us. Can we go talk?”
“We aren’t going to have wine, and play chess, and forget this happened. My life is changing again and you knew.”
He twirled her hair in his finger and straightened her tiara. “We should have been dancing all night. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Not having the power to stop this.”
“You tried, didn’t you? Tell me you tried.”
“I did.”
She let him guide her from the room. “I really hope you have the answers I need to hear to make this right again.
“Not more than I do.” He leaned down and traced her jaw with his nose.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” His nearness didn’t feel intimate with her anger boiling to the surface. “Stop that. We are not, you don’t get to pretend like things are not awful. Answer me.”
“I only found out about this travesty the day I was leaving for my last mission. A mission I delayed, so that I could meet with Maxwell. I didn’t leave this facility before I was assured you would not be alone with Reginald. You were offsite when I left. As soon as I was free I came to you. Do you really believe…” He tilted her head so they were eye to eye. “That I would keep something so important from you, dearling?”
“I hope not. You are my most trusted friend. This scares me. Not the mission, not you, but what it signifies.” Her magic humming lessened.
“I know. I couldn’t stop the partial transfer. Between me and Amarok it is only partial.” His words carried a soothing tone.
“You and him worked together?”
“No, but we both separately did everything possible.”
“You two make this place. I don’t know. Do you have to bite me?”
“Yes.”
“It’s going to hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Can you make it not hurt?”
“Yes. But you need to feel it hurt at least once. You have to be trained to know what to expect. I may not be the only one who bites you during this mission. Do you understand that?”
“Can I still be mad at you later?”
“Yes. Though I hope you won’t. There is a lot more you need to know about this, you, and me.”
Alice nodded and followed him to his room.
Chapter Three
“WHAT HAPPENS IF I can’t give any resistance to you?” Alice glanced around Matthias’ room. Was he going to bite her in here? This was her safe place. The room where she confessed her darkest sins and secrets and always knew Matthias wouldn’t judge.
Something gnawed at the back of her mind. Why was their relationship so deep and yet still shallow? He knew things about her Amarok didn’t, yet at times he felt like a stranger. Something was disconnected. It’s how things are at the PPK.
“Are you with me?” Matthias lifted her chin. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere important.” She turned away from his intense stare. “Will they take me off the mission, if I am no good against vampires?”
“No. I have to make you good against us. If I don’t, Reginald gets his turn. He won’t work on your mind first. He’ll work on training you to take a bite.” Matthias gestured to the chair she usually sat in when she visited. “Do you understand? We can’t and won’t fail.”
Alice put her hands on the back of the chair. Failure was never an option. Neither was saying no. “Yes. I have to get this right with you.”
“I’m going to start slow. A simple suggestion. I want you to try to at least notice it as it is happening.” He stood behind her and brushed a hand over her shoulder. “Your dress is exquisite.” One of his fingers trailed across the ruffled edge and started down the eyelets.
Alice tightened her grip on the chair. The threads of the fabric against her fingers was a rough contrast to the smoothness of his fingertips as he brushed them back up her neck. “Are you making me want to kiss you?”
“I’m not even facing you.” He turned her and stared into her eyes. Caresses trailed back up her neck and stopped at her ear. He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do you want to?”
“Sorry.” She pulled his hand away. “What are you suggesting? I’m missing it with all the touching. Can we talk about witches and vampires while you try your manipulations, so I’m not so distracted?”
“Before we dive into the meat of this mission, there are things we need to discuss.” He took her hand and walked her around the chair. “When we get you to the point you can resist, you might have flashes.”
“Of?” Alice didn’t sink back into the seat. Matthias wasn’t behaving normally. This wasn’t her friend and confidant. Nor was it the side he showed when work needed addressed. It was new and familiar. How could it be both? “I think the day is making me slower than normal.”
“I didn’t want to do this now, but I would rather the time not be perfect and you be alive.” He slid back and into the chair in front of her.
“Oh, that sounds complicated. Just don’t.” The movement as he smoothed his suit pants caught her eyes. “Let’s work, okay? Witches are dead. You have to bite me. I’ve been given to a nasty lizard man, who I already pissed off. Unless you want to spend all night listening to me complain, don’t add anything awful to that. Don’t be my awful.”
He dipped his eyes. “Ready?”
Matthias was easy. Always had been. Always a friend. Always understanding. “Tell me when you.” Alice sucked in a breath when she realized she was in his lap, nestling against his neck. “You did that?”
“Did you feel anything before I let your mind go?”
“No.” She stood, backing into her chair and sitting all the way against the backrest.
“Let’s try something that goes against your will.” He tented his fingers, tapping them together.
She crossed her legs, rocking the top one. “My will isn’t to be in your arms.”
“I disagree.”
Anger tugged from her gut. Alice stood and moved toward him. Her hand raised. She stepped back, jerked, lunged forward, and slapped him. “Don’t do that.”
“Beautiful.” He reached up to his cheek. “Not only did you feel it, you reacted.”
She knelt at his chair and reached for his face. “I hit you. Did it hurt? I’m sorry.”
He laced his fingers in hers. “No sorry. I made you. Tell me how it felt. I noticed a slight resistance.”
“The urge was wrong. Abrasive. I knew I didn’t want to.” Alice took the hand he offered and they both stood.
His eyes blackened as the pupils grew to double their size. “I’m going to blur it, and I want you to try and hang on to it.”
“Ready. I have it.” Alice leaned into his hand as he rested it on the side of her face.
“Alice?” He stared into her eyes.
Alice watched his pupils shrink. “Are we going to start practicing? I don’t want to miss Sarg El’s deadline.”
“Damn it.”
“You did something and I missed it?” An emptiness grew in her stomach. “I screwed up?”
“It will take time. I thought it might be easier, since you a
re so powerful.” He kissed her forehead. “Try to manipulate me. I want an idea of what you have at your disposal.”
“What should I make you do?”
“Whatever you want.”
What I want is out of order. She felt heat rise in her cheeks.
One side of his mouth cocked up. “Something against my will.”
Alice let her eyes drop to his mouth, then she looked up again. “Can I touch you? I have strong magic when I touch.”
“Yes.”
She put a hand on his jaw and ran her fingers in his hair. Nothing intimate. This is work. Kiss me.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers a second before he pulled back. “Now, now. That’s too easy. I did feel you though. Your suggestion comes across too loud to be effective.”
“I didn’t make you do that?”
“I heard the suggestion. That is something impressive in itself.” He guided her back to the chair. “It tells me what I needed to know.”
“But you did it anyway?”
“We have so much to do. No more kisses, for now.”
“I didn’t mean to.” She stared down at the patterns in the carpet.
“I know you don’t want to talk about complicated things, but kisses between us are never anything to be sorry about.”
“We’ve?” She raised a finger to her lips. It always did feel familiar. “You stole my memories of kisses?”
“It’s complicated, but the short answer is, yes. I blurred them. They are there when you want them back.” He circled behind her and put both hands on her shoulders.
The tension in her muscles melted under his touch. They’d kissed. What did that mean? Right now it meant trouble for witches in danger. “Okay, later. Manipulate me.”
He purred. “Alice.”
Alice opened her eyes. What was she doing in the corner? “I didn’t feel it. I don’t even remember getting up.” Her fists clenched. Leave it to the PPK masters to find a task she couldn’t do. “This is bad.”
“We have time.” He waved her back. “Come here.”
How many attempts before Matthias gave up and handed her over to the nasty killer? “I don’t want Reginald. Try again.”
“He won’t touch you. Any vampire who lays a fang on you, will deal with me. Come here. While we talk about blood dens, I’m going to slip suggestions into your mind. Tell me when you notice.” He waited for her to sit before he took the seat across from her again.
“I’m ready.” Alice watched the graceful movements as he crossed his legs. He was too perfect. So many supernatural creatures had an otherworldly beauty, but his was unfair.
“There is a long extremely complicated history between witches and vampires. It was discovered that when a witch is from an old line and magic is in their blood, that blood has special properties.” He leaned forward, the movement catching her attention. “Look at me while I talk.”
Alice focused on his face, letting herself get captured by his gaze. “Will you tell me about the history?”
“Yes. In time. For now, just know there was one. It led to several kinds of symbiotic relationships. One of which happens in the blood dens.” His dark lashes formed crescents on his pale skin as he blinked.
“This is the darkest, isn’t it?”
“It can be dark, but there are darker.” He raised his hand to the corner of his eyes, tapping, and waited for her to look up before talking again. “The more powerful the witch, the more intoxicating and longer lasting the buzz from the blood.”
“It’s like alcohol?”
“More like a drug. It satisfies the need to feed with much less, for longer periods. The drawback and why most of us avoid it, is that the more magic blood you drink, the less regular blood curbs the need to feed.” He parted his lips and ran his tongue over his teeth.
“But why send me, then? I’m part elf.” She lowered her gaze to his mouth. Those cold lips. That tongue. Don’t stare.
He ducked his head slightly, catching her attention again. “Elves are also magical. You are from strong, pure witch lines, and light elf, the most magical of elves. I can’t begin to imagine how your blood will affect me.”
Her blood. He was going to bite her. “Is that why you wanted to be with me on this mission? You want to test my blood?”
“Do you need to ask that?” His pupils grew, swallowing the whites entirely. “Why do you think I insisted to be a part of this?”
She ran her fingers along the fabric of her skirt. Way to insult him. “So that no one else has my blood.”
“I have practiced restraint for centuries.” He sat straighter. “I’ve not been to a den in close to two centuries.”
You agitated him. Have you ever seen him agitated before? But he has been to a den. “You’ve been?”
“We all have.” He drummed his fingers together and then slid his chair closer so they were knee to knee. “It’s a rite of passage, like witches and their first full moon sacrifice.”
“I’ve never done that.”
He cupped her face. “So sweet. As much as I would like to, I can’t keep you that way. All I can do is try to make sure only my darkness touches you in any lasting way.”
“You aren’t dark.”
“I am.”
He is. So dark and so sexy. Lasting? Stop it. Save witches. “These dens, witches go voluntarily? Why are witches being killed, if their blood is valuable and sought after.” Alice got up and circled her chair four times and sat back down. “You made me do that.”
“I did and you noticed. Good. The dens are not violent places. The exchange is often intimate. Sexual climax is a norm.” He let his gaze slip over her in a slow sweep.
“Oh, wow. You and I. Will we do intimate, things?” What was it about first missions with a new partner and cover stories that pressed them into sexual situations?
“Things?” He chuckled. “The problem we are facing is that there are vampires who don’t want to be associated with the dens. It’s frowned upon in older circles. Vampires donate blood to their favorite witches as well as paying the den for the night.”
“What do witches do with vampire blood?” Was that a tingle in her thoughts? Was he making her do something? She grasped the chair. Nothing happened.
“You’ve been trained with our witches and Jasper, yes?” He cocked his head and watched as she squirmed. “They work magic with it.”
“I’ve trained, but I don’t like to work with blood and parts.” She twisted the charm at her wrist. “Only my own. Well not my own, not really but you know why.”
“Relax. A light elf wouldn’t have the inclination to work with blood. You know I don’t judge you, or where you draw your moral lines. Though I am always happy to toe them with you.” He reached over and took her hand. “Such an enigma. Dark and innocent.”
“You pay for the witch’s blood and also give her blood.” She inched her hand out from under his. “It’s all voluntary.”
“Right, these wealthy old blood vampires want the perks in the privacy of their own nest. That is where the blood relic comes in and where things get darker.”
“Darker than blood and sex exchanges?”
“Much. Those are… pleasant.” His hand stayed on the bare skin of her knee.
“Go on.”
“No one documented the first time.” He brushed his hair back, drawing her gaze to his again. “Several stones that magically bled with witches’ blood became the cause of rather gruesome clan feuds.”
“Witches made these.”
“In exchange for blood, or protection.” His mouth twitched at the corners. “Perhaps because they belonged to, and loved a vampire.”
“Loved? That happened in the past as part of these close magical relationships?” Did he keep smiling because she was doing something he made her? She glanced down. Still dressed. Not standing on one foot or performing parlor tricks.
“There is a natural pull between our species. The magic in the blood, and when a dearl… connectio
n is made, it is stronger than a connection between vampires and other species. I really hoped we could talk about this under other circumstances.”
“It’s fine. So, witches made these stones for vampires. Why kill them?” Someone passed in the hall. Not Amarok. It was Chester and Harvey. They kept walking. Maybe the dance was ending now.
“The spell kills them. It was originally performed by pure witches, whose powers were not dulled with human interbreeding.”
“Right. Soul magic.”
“I see.” He paused a few beats. “That is why you are so powerful. I had wondered why you hum like that when you are not casting. You have tapped into your arcane gifts.”
“Jasper told me how. He saw my soul and gave me the name.”
Matthias clasped his hands together, drumming his thumbs. “Your souls are connected?”
“He won’t abuse it. His soul knew mine.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Can that be another of our secrets? They will use it, or more to the point, make me use it.”
“I know nothing of your powers.” He shrugged and winked. “Regardless, Sarg El was right about one thing. Don’t you even try it. Most witches can complete the spell, but they don’t recover. A candy bar isn’t going to help.”
“If the vampire loves them, why don’t they heal them? Like you did with me?” A flash of his lips on hers crossed her mind. She shoved it away. “Matthias.”
“Yes.” He drew out the word.
“There are missing pieces with us.”
“There are for you.” A flash of mischief lit his features.
His arrogance was different to Amarok’s, though they were both maddening. “So why don’t they heal them?”
“You can only exchange blood with a vampire three times.” His tone made it sound like everyone knew that but her.
“Sure, before you what? Implode? Become a blood drinker? Start the apocalypse?” She stretched her neck from one side to the other.
His stare followed her movements, lingering on her neck. “Before you are mated to them forever.”
“Oh. Well. That’s very intimate then, isn’t it?” She pulled her hair over her neck.
Blood Relic Page 3
