I grabbed Jacob before he could enter. I let the heat pour from me onto him. He tried to free himself from my grip. I held fast until there was nothing left to hold onto. Something dripped onto my stomach. I opened my eyes and saw a burnt, melted hunk of flesh laying on me. I screamed and let him fall away from me.
I scrambled to my feet and looked down at him. He was holding his hands between his legs. It took a moment for my head to register what it was I was looking at. He was holding himself, and trying to fight to keep from being disemboweled. There was no skin or muscle left to hold him together. There was no evidence at all that he was male. He looked at me with eyes of fire and fell onto the floor at my feet. I felt a wave of nausea hit me. I dropped to my knees on the floor and brought my hand to my lips. I could still feel the hot energy running through me.
"Bitch!" was all I heard before I was knocked over. Jonathon tackled me to the ground, slashing at me with claws that had sprung from his burnt fingers. I lifted my hands to protect my face and his claws ripped into the under side of my arms.
Movement caught my attention, blurred above me as Jonathan’s body flew off and slammed into the wall. Pallo stood above me and dropped beside me, reaching for my arms. I didn’t want him to touch me. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control the power in me. I could feel it still beating in me, strong and ready to lash out. He grabbed my hands and pulled me to him.
"No!" I screamed.
Lightning flashed through the room. A thunderous crash came from above us as the room went black.
Chapter 15
We found ourselves sitting on the floor in the yellow bedroom. Pallo was still clutching my body to his, and I screamed. I no longer felt my power rising through me. I pushed him away.
"Did I hurt you?" I asked, trying to catch my breath, my heart beating so hard, I could feel my neck pulsating.
"No, I am fine." He sat next to me on the wood floor.
I looked at his face and saw no trace of color left in his skin. I watched him start to rot before my eyes.
"You’re hurt," I said to him, reaching out to touch his ripped-open face.
He slid his hand up to meet mine and turned my arms upwards. Jonathan had managed to slice most of the skin away, leaving bone exposed in places. I could see Pallo fighting with himself when he saw all of the blood dripping from me. He took my bloody gown from my shoulder and pulled it down. My breasts spilled out, but he didn’t seem to notice. He stared at the marks on my stomach. He laid his hand gently on one and I cried out.
"I will get something to cleanse your wounds." He tried to stand, but came crashing down on the floor. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him toward me. I began to lose feeling in my hands as my body slowly shut down. I knew that if I died Pallo would, too, and I couldn’t allow that to happen. I would not lose another man I loved.
"Pallo! Pallo!"
He had no pulse. Did he ever have one? I couldn’t remember and they skipped vampire resuscitation at the Red Cross.
Pallo’s body lay limp on my lap. I titled his head back, pinched his nose, and put my lips over his mouth. I blew two breaths in and then thought about how ridiculous it was to try to resuscitate an already dead guy this way. I knew I was losing blood too fast, and then it got harder for me to concentrate. Then it hit me. I lifted my arms over his mouth and let the blood drip down to him. It filled his mouth quickly. He wasn’t drinking it. I thought he would magically spring to life, but he just lay there.
"Swallow, damn you, swallow!" I cried as his head lay in my lap. "Don’t you dare leave me now … ti ama." I didn’t know why I said that, and I wasn’t even sure what it meant. I smacked him across the face. It was bold and violent, but it worked. He swallowed.
His chalky white skin showed signs of color.
A ringing started in my ears. Dizzy, I laid my head on the floor. I looked as Pallo’s face blurred before me. I was so tired now, and I wanted to rest. I just needed to sleep for a little bit and then I’d check on him again.
Darkness swept in around me. It was so quiet and peaceful. Something soft and warm brushed across my stomach, arms, then lips. I opened my eyes and found Pallo kissing me. His eyes were closed and his brown hair fell around my face. Every sane part of my body yelled for me to push him off of me, every other part pulled him closer. I grabbed hold of the back of his head and forced his mouth onto me harder.
His eyes opened as he pulled away from me. I held tight to his hair, and pulled him closer to me. He moved until he was on top of me, kissing me. I closed my eyes and envisioned the two of us holding hands and walking along the river’s edge like in the picture. In my mind I saw us as we had been, unharmed. No knife wounds were on him and I was free from the deep claw marks that had were all over me. I saw us embracing each other with such love that I cried. Pallo’s voice blew in on a gentle breeze, and I heard the words "Ti amo--I love you."
I opened my eyes. Pallo kissed my neck and whispered in my ear. I don’t know if he had told me he loved me again or if I had just imagined it. When he looked at me, the cut on his cheek had healed.
I reached up and touched his chest. It was perfect, not a mark on it. He lifted his hand, grabbed hold of my arm, and looked it. I expected to see a cut, anything, but my arms were healed. I was the one who pulled the gown down further this time. My stomach was smooth, firm, and in one piece. I looked up at Pallo, confused.
"What happened?" I asked him.
"Magic," he said, breathily.
Pallo bent his head down to kiss me again, and I welcomed him. We couldn’t get enough of the taste of each other. I rubbed my naked breasts against his chiseled chest and I could feel myself moistening, longing for the feel of him.
Pallo rubbed his body against mine. I could feel him through his pants, hard, and ready to take me. I pulled at his back and tried to get my hands down far enough to touch his waistband. Guided by raw need, I wanted to feel him in my hand. He slid down and kissed my neck. He licked me as he moved down to my collar bone. A moan escaped from my mouth, and he laughed softy against my skin. He brushed my left breast with his hand. His mouth moved over it and sucked on my hard nipple. Each slow pull in his mouth, each flicker of his tongue, made me thick with cream and need.
My thoughts jumbled, and I fought to keep hold of myself--to maintain control. I had never been this close to an orgasm without actually having sex. The dry hump I’d been after upon our first meeting was turning out to be in my top three sexual experiences. I wasn’t sure if he used vampire powers on me, or if he was just that skilled as a lover, and I didn’t care.
I thought about how gentle he was, and about how rough I wish he would be. I wanted him to pin me down and ravish me. I knew he harbored a demon within him and wanted him to channel some of its wickedness on me. I’d never wanted a man to use me to satisfy his own needs more than I wanted Pallo to. Pleasing him was my only priority.
Pallo ran his fingers down my stomach. He stopped at my navel and he planted tiny wet kisses along it, rimming it. He teased me for a moment before moving down, over my patch of black curls, and settling his face between my legs. Cool fingers parted my velvety folds gently, caressing my ready nub as they went. I waited for a finger to slip into my hot channel and was surprised when his tongue plunged.
I cried out and my mind dove elsewhere. I seemed to leave my body, yet go nowhere. The horrible visions of death came flooding back to me. I fought to stay, mentally, with Pallo, but I wasn’t strong enough.
I stood in the corridor from my dream again--my eyes were still closed and my head was tipped back. Fear gripped my body and left me paralyzed--stuck to the door, unable to move while something slid down my body. It traced its way down me, scratching me with its nails as it went. I could feel welts forming, and knew if it applied anymore pressure it would draw blood.
It got down to the front of my stomach and lifted my dress up. I pleaded with it. "Please, don’t do this. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen…. I never would’ve left
if I’d have known you were … I thought that you were dead."
"I am." The creature’s voice was very deep, and somewhat familiar. "I am dead, yet I am not. I am caught in between--immortal. Now, I will have forever to remind you of your betrayal."
"No, I gave up everything to be with you, I gave up everything to be a fami--" I knew I was about to say family, but I didn’t know why I said any of this. None of it made any sense to me. I needed to know, I needed to find out what terrorized me. I opened my eyes in the vision and looked down. Pallo knelt before me in the hallway. He was naked and covered in blood. He looked up at me and I screamed. His face twisted and pulled in different directions. His forehead had thickened and his eyes were black. His lips curled and he licked his large fangs.
I put my hand out and touched his face. He was in there, somewhere, and I was determined to reach him. "Oh, my sweet Pallo, what has he done to you?"
"Run, Gwyneth!" he shouted at me, "Run, now! I cannot fight the demon within any longer. Run!" He thrust my body away from him and I ran off into the night.
The vision receded and I found myself lying on the floor with Pallo on top of me. His tongue flickered in and out of me. I scrambled to pull myself away from him. No part of him looked demonic, no black eyes, no twisted face, but I didn’t want him near me. The dream was still too vivid--too real.
I scurried backwards, trying to put distance between us, and was stopped only by the bed. Pallo looked at me, not sure what was going on. "Don’t," was all that came out of my mouth. There was no trace of anger in his face. He was just Pallo, the man--okay, the vamp that had swept me off my feet.
"I can’t explain it, but," I tried to think of the best way to tell him how I felt. "I keep having these bizarre visions about you and I." Great, just great! Now he’d think I was one of those psychics with the nine-hundred numbers. If I started speaking in tongues or singing Motown songs, we were screwed.
Pallo looked at me and tipped his head to the side. "What are these visions of?"
Oh well, damage was already done, why hide it? "They’re of you and me. In some of them, you seem almost human to me, and others you’re anything but," I knew I’d passed the stopping point now. "They’re more like a memory than anything else." As I said this, he stiffened.
"Go on."
"Don’t laugh, but I can totally see you asking me to marry you, and no, I’m not trying to snag a husband. I see this like it already happened, and like… It’s like you’re trying to get me to go away with you in a hurry, but I know I can’t leave. For some reason, I’m deathly afraid for you if I go with you. I know that he’ll kill you, but I don’t know who he is." I looked at Pallo. His face was void of any emotion. He just lay there looking at me with blank eyes. "Pallo, I know it’s crazy."
"No, no it’s not. Are there any other memories?"
I shook my head slowly. "Please, don’t take this wrong, it’s just… no, never mind… it’s silly."
He sat up next to me on the bed. "Gwyneth, nothing you have to say to me is silly. Please tell me more of this. I am very interested to hear more about these."
I didn’t really think he wanted to hear about me seeing him as a demonic creature about to kill me and my unborn child so I let it go. "I’m tired." He nodded and moved next to me on the bed. I pulled his arm around me.
"Sweet dreams," he said softly in my ear.
I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on the dreams I’d been having about Pallo. I wanted to get to the root of them. I stayed focused on them until I slipped back into one them.
This time I wasn’t in the hallway with the vampire demon Pallo. This time, I lay in a large four post bed. I could not make out the other furnishings in the room. It took everything I had to make out the door to the room. A familiar voice spoke to me and I turned my head. There, beside me in the bed, was Caleb. He was stunning, his blonde hair spilled all over the covers. I sunk down next to him. "What’s the matter?" he asked me.
"I thought I heard something."
"Gwyneth, you’re safe. You’re both safe," he said. His hand came up and stroked my swollen belly, gently, tenderly. The touch of his hand made my body warm. I wanted to be near him, I wanted to have him run his hands all over me. I snuggled in next to him and kissed his neck. He laughed. "You’re never satisfied these days, are you?"
"No, I think it has something to do with expecting. I can’t get enough of you, of this," I said as I kissed his lips, and put my hand firmly between his legs.
Caleb laughed, and pulled himself close to me. He moved his hands around my body, and his leg slid up mine slowly. His mouth moved over my breast. He planted tiny kisses on it. It proved to be more than I could stand. I begged him to take me. I begged him to please me, to take me and make love to me. He didn’t argue. He artfully moved his body over mine, careful not to lean on my stomach. He bent down and kissed my rather large belly. "Soon we will be a family."
"Caleb."
He looked at me with his beautiful green eyes, and put his finger to his lips. "Shhh, Gwyneth, do not remind me that I am not the one who put this life in you. I am not angry, for this is something I could never give you. As much as I want to be a match for you, I am not." He kissed my belly again. "This is a joyous time for me. I have you, and soon a little one will join us. I shall, I do, love it as if it were my own, and there is nothing you can say to change that. He is gone, and you are here with me, with child." His lips found mine. "I love you, Gwyneth."
My thoughts raced to Pallo. I knew that this child I carried was his, and my heart ached because I knew that he was dead. It had been months since I had known his touch, and since I’d gotten the news of his demise. I had ended up in Caleb’s arms seeking comfort after Pallo’s disappearance, and I had never left, and I never wanted to leave. Soon we would be married and we would be welcoming the baby into the world.
Caleb’s kisses brought me back to him. I arched my back, begging him to enter me. He did, and I cried out from the sinful pleasure of having him in me.
"I love you," he said softly to me.
"And, I you, Caleb."
"That is strange, last I knew it was I that you opened your legs for, and no one else." The sound of Pallo’s voice made me freeze.
How?
Caleb looked down at me with a look of dread, but he didn’t move. Something rushed past me and Caleb was suddenly propelled off me and into the air. I screamed. In a flash Pallo was before me, but it was not my Pallo, it was not the Pallo I had loved. This thing before me was a monster--a vampire. I’d come to know vampires in my lifetime, and one in particular was pure evil. I knew full well what they were capable of, and the destruction they could cause. My eyes fell upon my stomach.
The baby.
I had to protect the baby. I yanked my blue nightgown down to cover my body. He laughed. The sound of the Devil’s voice fell from his lips.
"You hide your shame from me. Why? I know what you are now, donnaccia."
He had just called me a whore, and I knew it was the demon talking, and not my sweet Pallo. I reached my hand to touch him and he struck me across the face. I fell off of the bed and scrambled to my feet. My cheek burned, and my body ached. I was too far along in the pregnancy to move quickly, but I knew I had to get away from him--from it.
Caleb stirred on the floor, and I feared Pallo would destroy him if he noticed. His hate was, at least for the moment, focused on me, not Caleb. If I could give Caleb enough time to come to, he could fight the demon off. I couldn’t use my magic against him if I wanted, I carried his child, and I was powerless to cause him harm.
"Here," I said, coaxing him towards me. "No, I have no shame. I would change nothing!" With that, I ran towards the door and out into the hallway. I could feel him closing in on me. I had lied to him just then, and I didn’t know if he could tell or not. Some vampires could sense a lie, others could not. I had been told it took years to develop strong vampire powers. I didn’t have time to figure it out. I had to save our baby. The Pal
lo I knew and loved had created this life with me, and I would not let the demon side of him destroy it. I screamed and ran from the room.
Something shook me. I opened my eyes. Pallo was over me in the bed. "You, you murderer, you killed me…" as I said it, I realized how insane I sounded.
Pallo looked at me and shook his head. "I didn’t…no, I was upset…I…"
I turned and climbed across the bed. I pulled at the blanket on the bed. With my body weight on it, I couldn’t get it to wrap completely around myself. I turned to keep my eye on Pallo, but he was gone. Frantic, I clutched at the blanket and pulled a corner of it over me and turned on all fours to climb off of the bed.
Pallo caught hold of my arms and fell on top of me. He rolled me onto my back and pinned my body to the bed. I kicked and bit at him. He didn’t fight me, he merely held me tight.
"ENOUGH!" he yelled, so loud that I thought my eardrums had burst. I stopped fighting and lay motionless beneath him.
Pallo looked down at me with tears in his eyes. "I didn’t kill you. I swear it, I loved you. I still love you. I will always love you."
"You walked in on her, on me…with Caleb. You cornered me in the hallway," I said softly, looking up at him. I wasn’t sure how to talk about the past. I only had bits and pieces to go off of.
"I didn’t mean to harm you. I was newly made, and had little control over my demon." He had stopped crying and looked as though he reflected on the past, trying to make sense of what was obviously senseless. "What you didn’t see was me falling to floor and telling you to go, because I didn’t want to hurt you."
"So, you admit that this all happened? But how? What the hell is going on?" My thoughts were so jumbled my head hurt. I wasn’t sure if I should run or take a nap.
"Gwyneth, you do not understand. Yes, it was you, but in another lifetime." He loosened his grip on me slightly. I thought about hitting him, but I didn’t. "When we found Lydia with child, we had no idea what that would mean for us."
Daughter of Darkness Page 15
