"What does Lydia have to do with this?" I asked.
"It does not matter. The only thing that matters is that you understand that you are removed from that life. You have a new life now, a fresh start."
"Did you kill me?" I asked dryly.
"I have already told you, no--but I did frighten you, and drove you to your death." He closed his eyes. "I drove you away… I couldn’t stop the monster in me."
"I wouldn’t leave you for being what you are, not if I loved you."
He let go of me and slid next to me on the bed, covering my body with the blanket.
"You were not the same person then. Circumstances were different." Pallo put his head back and his hair spilled out next to mine. Loose brown curls laced into my black waves and for a moment I couldn’t tell where one started and the other began.
"Circumstances?" I thought about what he had said. "Caleb and the baby," It made sense now. I knew why I had fallen head over heels for both Caleb and Pallo in such a short time. I knew them, and had loved them.
"Yes, you knew Caleb. You knew Caleb for almost a hundred years before you ever even met me." I decided against yelling at him for reading me again. I wasn’t even sure he was aware he did it.
"How the hell old was I?" I asked.
"Over one hundred when you died. The faerie blood in you was strong, so you would have lived well over a thousand years."
"How did I die?" the words fell out so easily, like I talked about past lives everyday.
"I do not know exactly how it happened, but I know it was not pleasant."
"How do you know that?" I turned to face him on the bed. We were lying on the quilt and there was not enough of it to cover my whole body. I tried to ignore it and stared at his profile.
"Fairies are not easy to kill, and it took us many days before we found you." Pallo’s eyes were closed again and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about this with me.
"It took days to find my body, couldn’t somebody smell a rotting corpse?" stomach bile churned and twisted in me as the thought of this sunk in. It’s not everyday you find out you were murdered in a past life.
"I didn’t say rotting body. I said body." Pallo turned and looked at me. It was like he saw inside of me--looking through me, to my core. He moved close to me and instead of answering my question he kissed me on the lips.
"The baby?"
He let out a sigh. "You were no longer with child when we found you."
"Was the baby all right then?"
His hand touched mine and squeezed. "No. I knew the people behind your death, and they are not the type to keep a child around. If I could have saved your baby, I would have." He put so much emphasis on your.
The reality of the situation set in and I shuttered. He grabbed my hand, and held it tight. He made me feel safe when it should have been impossible to feel safe.
"You are here now. Let us hope we never know what really happened." His mouth pressed on mine, but I didn’t reciprocate the kiss. Pallo’s entire body enveloped me as he wrapped himself around me. He brought his lips to my cheek. I stiffened, and he never made a move to kiss me again. He just lay there holding me tightly.
"Tell me you thoughts." He whispered.
I didn’t know what to say. My mind had been racing over the hundreds of ways I could have died and my face flushed. I almost had a panic attack. My breathing was shallow and my pulse quickened. I clutched onto to him and he held me tight.
"I want to go home," I said, softly.
"Then it shall be." Wind whirled around us on the bed. I could feel his lips kiss the top of my head. "I am sorry."
Chapter 16
With a loud thud, my body hit my bathroom floor. The blue tile felt ice cold on my naked body. Pallo was not with me. The thought of being rid of him should have made me happy. Instead, I was terrified. I had a vision of him being stuck in the past, unable to leave the house and starving to death.
I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the cordless phone. I dialed information. The operator gave me the number for Necro World. It took me three times dialing to get it right. I was so nervous that my fingers were hitting the wrong buttons. It rang and rang. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. An automated answering service picked up. I listened to the endless choices of buttons to push and selected one.
"Hello, Necro’s Magik World & Supernatural Theme Park. Jennifer speaking. How I may help you?"
"Pallo! I need to speak to Pallo, please."
"Who’s calling?"
"Just put Pallo on please," I said.
"Yes, Miss, I’m afraid that--"
I interrupted. "If Mr. Pallo is there, you have exactly two seconds to put him on this phone or I will hunt you down, Jenny. It is Jenny, right?" I pronounced each word to its fullest, so she would hear how real my threat was. "I want to make sure I come after the right person."
"I’ll connect you now, please hold." Soft music came over the ear piece. I wasn’t sure when vampires started listening to soft rock, but I figured it was one mainstream way to handle the changing technologies. If they could tolerate Kenny G, then so could I.
The phone buzzed, and someone picked it up. "Pallo’s office," James said.
"Is Pallo there?" I shouted.
"Ms. Stevens?" he asked.
"Yeah, James, it’s me, Gwen. Is Pallo there?"
"You two gave us a hell of a scare. One minute you were there and then poof, you were gone. We looked everywhere for you guys." I got the feeling he tended to ramble, and I wasn’t in the mood for it.
"Jameson! IS PALLO THERE?" I screamed it at the top of my lungs into the phone.
"Well, okay, don’t get your knickers in a twist. Hang on, I’ll grab him."
I exhaled. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. Someone came to the phone.
"Gwyneth, James tells me you are upset. Are you all right?" Pallo’s sweet strong voice filled my ear. I was so relieved. He was fine.
"I was--" I started to say worried and stopped myself. "I thought you might not have made it back. You weren’t with me, and I was just…"
"I was worried about you, as well." I could tell he smiled. "I could not go with you to your home. I hadn’t been invited."
I smacked my forehead. I knew vampires couldn’t enter a person’s home without an invitation. If I would have taken time to think, I would have figured it out.
"How did I get home?" It dawned on me that he may have had the power to bring us back from the get-go.
"We both desired to return. Together, we were strong enough to break the illusion."
"Illusion?"
"Yes. We didn’t travel back in time. We merely entered another realm. A place of fantasy and dreams," he said this like it was oh so normal.
"Seemed like hell to me," I said.
"Not all of it."
"No, not all of it … happy?" I was so happy he was all right that it was hard to be mad at him.
"Very," that one word penetrated through me. "Am I welcome in your home?"
"Yes, I want you here." That came out too fast and sounded too desperate. I was at a loss as to what to say, so I did the mature thing. I hung up on him.
I stood with my back to the wall in my kitchen and relaxed. It took a minute for me to collect myself. I decided to take a shower.
I turned the water on and let it blast my body. It felt good running down my back. I bent down and picked up a bottle of shampoo. It was vanilla bean scent. I smiled, thinking of Pallo.
I moved my soapy hands over my stomach. The time frame to know if I was with children had come and gone, my belly was flatter now than when I had possibly conceived. Having a hellhound rip at it will do that to you. I wasn’t sure how I felt about not being pregnant.
I checked the time and date on the weather channel. Shit! I was supposed to meet Sharon for my birthday tonight. It was the last thing I wanted to do. I mean, I had been rather busy lately having sex with fairies, getting attacked by hellhounds, saving a vampire who imp
regnated me some two hundred years ago, and oh, yeah, thinking I might have been pregnant by the faerie guy. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.
I knew leaving my troubles behind would be the best thing for met to do. I let the water soothe me, wash away the day’s grief. When I was done, I wrapped my hair in a towel and another around my body, walking to my bedroom.
"It’s about time," a voice said. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Ken sprawled across my bed, his long, naked body reflecting the moonlight through the window.
"What the hell are you doing?"
He smiled. I loved the way he smiled, it showed off his dark brown eyes. "You never called me back. You didn’t show up for work. Nana hadn’t heard from you, Sharon didn’t have a clue where you were. I got worried and came over. I let myself in while you were in the shower. I didn’t think you’d mind." He put his hand on his hip, drawing attention to his pelvic area. He was long and hard. He always was.
I bit my lip and looked away. Ken was the second man I’d ever slept with. The first had been in college and was nothing to write home about. I’m not even sure it counted. There should be some sort of minimum time requirement to count it as sex. It was Ken who I spent my first full night in bed with and Ken who turned sex into something I wanted to do, not something I felt I had to do.
"Put your clothes on," I said, looking out the window.
"Why can’t you look at me?"
"Because the last time I saw you naked was when you were cramming yourself in that psychotic slut." I faced him. "That reminds me. I ran into your little girlfriend. She’s a real winner. I wish you two the best. Maybe, you’ve been asking the wrong people about the Keeper. Maybe, you should ask your girlfriend."
Ken sat up and looked at me. "You ran into her?"
"Yeah, little Miss Fangs and her pets tried to have a little fun with us."
"Us? What pets? Fangs?" His forehead wrinkled.
"What? Don’t pretend like you don’t know. You’re the one fucking her." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"I’ve already told you, Gwen. I don’t know her. She just showed up at the door, and--"
"And you fucked her in our bed," I finished the last part for him.
Someone knocked on the front door. I looked at the clock, saw that it was almost eight, and figured it was Sharon. I thought she had told me to meet her there, but I could have been wrong.
"Leave it. Come on, I have a birthday present for you." Ken stroked himself suggestively, and I rolled my eyes, storming out of the room. I marched across the living room and went to the door. I threw caution to the wind and opened it. I knew Sharon would help me throw Ken out.
Sharon was not there. Pallo stood in the hallway. He had a handful of white lilies in one hand and what looked like my cell phone in the other.
"Hello," --he smiled wide--, "this was on the floor. I thought you may need it." He lifted the cell phone in his hand.
I stared at him a minute, soaking in his beauty. The sight of him took my breath away. He looked like he was about to jump on a runway at any moment and was merely on break between photo shoots.
"Tell whoever it is that we’re busy." Ken called. I’d almost forgotten he was here. I closed my eyes and prayed Ken was dressed. When I looked at Pallo’s face, I could tell that he wasn’t.
"I am sorry to drop by unannounced. You are busy," Pallo said. He looked hurt and turned to leave.
"Don’t go!" I said. The words came out too quick. "It’s not what it looks like."
I moved aside and held the door open for him. He just stood there looking at me. His gorgeous eyes widened as he tipped his head slightly to the side. It hit me that he couldn’t enter without my permission.
"Please come in. You’re always welcome here. I’m sorry. I thought that I already covered that with you on the phone."
"You did." He grinned, nodded in thanks, and entered. I took a deep breath, sucking in the sweet smell of vanilla mixed with a hint of expensive cologne. I closed the door and turned around. Ken stood there with one of my towels wrapped around his waist. He glared at Pallo. I was happy that Ken was naked. If he would have had his clothes on, then he most certainly would have been armed. He was the type that never left home without a gun. With the temper he had, he would have shot Pallo right were he stood and not thought twice about it. I don’t think the bullet would have killed Pallo, but I didn’t really want to test that theory, nor did I want to spend the rest of the night scrubbing blood out of my carpeting.
The tension in the small room was thick. "Pallo, this is Ken. Ken, Pallo."
Neither man moved to shake the other’s hand.
"Christ, Gwen, he’s the vampire I sent you to talk to." Ken’s body tightened as he gripped the corner of the towel. "I send you down to just talk to someone, then this guy, excuse me, corpse, shows up at your door with flowers?"
Pallo took a step towards Ken, his anger palpable.
"No," I said to Pallo. He stopped in his tracks, keeping his eyes on Ken.
Ken started laughing and looked at Pallo. "You fucked her, didn’t you? She threw her legs in the air, and put you on a leash in the process. She’s good, I’ll give her that, but come on, you’re a freaking corpse," he looked at me, "that’s low, even for you, Gwen!"
Ken pulled his hand across his chest leaving scratch marks on his tanned skin. He directed his anger at me. "It took me months to get down your pants, and then you just throw yourself at the first fucking vamp you meet?" He slammed his fist back and hit my living room wall. "Hell, if I would’ve known that, I’d have let you come into all the crime scenes with me. After all, dead people make you horny." The last word came out of him quietly.
Instantly, Pallo was on him. He had his hand pressed against Ken’s throat, pinning him to the wall. The two of them stood silent. Pallo’s pale hand clutched at Ken’s tanned throat tighter and I ran to him.
I put my hand on Pallo’s arm. "It’s okay."
Pallo turned and looked at me. His eyes were on the verge of turning black. I’d seen this in my vision of him in the corridor, and I knew that when his eyes were black he was at his worst--maybe unstoppable.
I ran my fingers over his bare skin lightly. "Let him go, Pallo."
He loosened his grip on Ken’s neck. I looked at Ken and shot him a ‘don’t even think about it’ look. I eased Pallo’s arm down, and let my hand slip into his.
"He’s hurt, he didn’t mean it." I whispered softly.
"Like hell I didn’t." Ken’s voice was raspy.
I had to pull on Pallo’s arm with my entire body weight to keep him from lashing out at Ken. I slid my body between the two of them. My towel came loose and I had to reach up and tighten it.
"Enough, boys," I said, and put a hand on each of their chests. Pallo’s was smooth and felt like a statue, Ken’s was fuzzy and warm beneath my fingers. I pushed them both back slightly, and my towel gave way. I snatched it up and wrapped it around me.
"Go!" I said to Ken, and pointed to my bedroom. He went, grinning at Pallo all the way.
I looked to Pallo. "I need to get dressed. Are you okay now?"
His eyes widened. "You’re going in there with him?"
"Relax! I’m a big girl and can handle myself."
"That is not what I am worried about. I can sense your feelings for him." He hunched his shoulders slightly. "He is the one you were to marry, is he not?"
"Pallo, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to lie and say I feel nothing for the man? Do you want me to confess some undying love for you, and run off into the sunset? I can’t do that. It’s not that easy." I pushed my body into his. "Real life doesn’t work that way."
He backed up slightly and handed the flowers to me. "No, I suppose not."
I felt like such a bully. He defended my honor, and I verbally abused him. I took the flowers to the kitchen, put them in water, and went straight to my room. When I opened the door, Ken was already wearing his navy Dockers and had pulled a white polo
shirt over his body. I shut the door behind me and walked right up to him.
I struck his cheek. I went to hit him once more for good measure, but he grabbed my wrist.
"You son of a bitch! You come in here and accuse me of being a slut? You‘re a fine one to talk." I tried to keep my voice low, so Pallo would not hear.
"I didn’t know you were that easy, Gwen, or I wouldn’t have bothered dating you. I’d have just asked for a quickie." He leaned down into my face.
I had to hand it to him. He wasn’t one to back down from a fight. I gave up. "What does it matter to you who I sleep with?"
"You mean what you sleep with, don’t you?" The prosecutor in him showed through.
"What, are you mad at the fact that I slept with someone else? Or are you mad that he’s a vampire?"
Ken moved closer to me. His lips were almost touching mine, now. "Both," he said.
"Why, if I remember correctly, you were the one who started fucking vampires first, not me," I said, turning my face to the left to keep him from pressing his lips to mine. "Turnabout is fair play."
"Don’t do this to us. Please, Gwen." His voice was soft now.
The anger receded in me. "You did this to us, Ken, not me."
"Why the hell did you go fuck the first thing that showed you some attention? How could you let some dead piece of shit demon touch you?"
I slapped him across the face hard. "Don’t! Don’t you ever talk about them that way again, ever!"
"Them?" he asked, shock in his voice. "You fucked more than one?"
"Ken, it’s none of your damned business who I choose to share my bed with!" I spat the words as I said them.
"You’re right," he said.
I pulled myself away from him and walked to over to my dresser.
"I don’t want to fight with you anymore, Ken."
"I don’t want to fight either," he said. He followed me. I put my hand up to stop him.
"That doesn’t mean I want you back." I turned and opened my top drawer to get out a pair of underwear. "Go, I’ll be out in a minute."
"Did you really fuck him?" he asked quietly.
Daughter of Darkness Page 16
