Blood Gift: Paranormal Vampire Romance (Blood Immortal Book 5)

by Ava Benton

  “Haven’t you heard?” I shouted back with a smile. “I’m The Chosen One.”

  He turned back to his brother and raised his hands to attack, but Gentry was ready for him.

  A single, blinding flash of light traveled from his palms straight to his brother’s chest.

  Just as Holden had, Dominic threw his head back when the spell hit him. His body seized up in agony, limbs contorting, eyes bulging.

  Then, it was over.

  He fell on his back over the freshly-turned earth above his mother’s grave. His sightless eyes stared up at the stormy sky.

  The wind died down, and the clouds parted, and it was just the two of us, standing on the hill. Gentry stared down at his brother’s body.

  “You did what you had to do,” I whispered, approaching slowly. “We have to get this off you, now.” I helped him remove the explosives.

  Only when they were off his body did I fry the wires connecting them, rendering the whole thing useless.

  He pulled me against his chest and held me there. “I thought I was going to lose you. You shouldn’t have put yourself in harm’s way like that. I had it under control.”

  I pulled back in surprise. “You mean the way you almost killed yourself for my sake? That’s not having things under control! That’s taking yourself away from me when I need you. I love you. I don’t think I could live without you now. I wouldn’t want to try.”

  He smiled tenderly, brushing bits of leaves and dirt from my hair. “I love you, too, you know.”

  “You’d better, damn it.” I pulled him down by the collar of his jacket and kissed him as hard as I could.

  17

  Gentry

  “He certainly didn’t expect it.” I flexed my fingers again, looking down at my hands. I had killed him with them, using the power Vanessa had restored to me. I was me again. What did that mean?

  Cressida clicked her tongue. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you to do that to your own brother.” She even sounded sympathetic.

  “Actually? It wasn’t too difficult. I couldn’t think about him that way anymore. Everything that ever made us brothers was gone—well, almost everything. Only the blood which tied us together still existed. But that’s only as important as we make it.”

  I didn’t share blood with Vanessa, but she would always be my family. I wouldn’t say that in front of her mother for fear of having body parts torn off.

  I looked at Vanessa, curled up beside Cressida. The older witch needed to comfort her daughter, her only living daughter. I understood that.

  There was plenty of time for me to hold Vanessa and cherish her and order her to never do anything so reckless again.

  The memory of the storm she’d brewed flashed through my brain at the idea of ordering her to do anything. Maybe it would be smarter to let her have her head. It would keep me from getting hit with a bolt of lightning.

  “You have your powers back,” Vanessa said. “How does it make you feel?”

  It took no time for me to reply. “I don’t want them back. Not permanently.”

  “You don’t?” Cressida’s jaw dropped.

  I shook my head. “They were what made me who I was, and I hate who I was. You would hate me, too,” I added, looking at Vanessa. “You wanted me when I didn’t have them anymore. I want to be that man.”

  It occurred to me that she might not want me that way anymore, knowing what she knew.

  It was one thing to develop an attraction toward a man without knowing what he was capable of. What if she didn’t care for the human version of me?

  Her soft smile wiped every doubt from my heart. “I only thought you might want them back for good. If you’re absolutely certain, I can take them away now.”

  I looked down at my hands one more time. I could get used to being powerless. I could get used to anything as long as I had her by my side.

  “Do it,” I decided. Seconds later, it was over. I could feel the power leaving me again.

  “I don’t know that the coven will be easy to sway when they know you plan to remain with a human,” Cressida reminded her daughter as she stroked her hair.

  Vanessa caught her mother’s wrist and held her hand steady.

  “Which is why I think you and I need to have a talk,” she murmured.

  “I can go,” I offered. I would rather.

  “No, please. Stay.” Vanessa’s eyes searched her mother’s face. “Oh, Mom, I’m sorry to say this. But you and I both know it won’t work, me leading the coven while I’m involved with Gentry. And I plan to be involved with him for the rest of my life.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re saying what it sounds like you’re saying,” Cressida whispered. She shook her head, chin quivering. “No. No. I won’t lose you both.”

  “You won’t be losing me. You could never lose me. But I could never be the High Sorceress I need to be while my coven sisters doubt my choices. I would lose their confidence—in fact, I know I’ve already lost it. They don’t trust my judgment anymore. And I won’t bully them into submission, the way I would’ve done before. I’m not about to stomp my feet and throw a fit to get my way. It’s time to start being an adult.”

  Cressida’s teary face turned my way. “And you would allow her to do this? You claim you care for her, but you would let her give up her birthright? She’s the most remarkable witch of her generation or any other. You would allow her to step down from what’s hers?”

  “I don’t allow her to do anything,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “This is her decision. I would rather she not have to, of course, and I hate the thought of her losing the coven because of me.”

  “But I don’t have another choice,” Vanessa finished. “This is the way it is. If I could have both, I would take both. Of course, I would. Gladly. But that simply isn’t possible.”

  “I wanted so much more for you than this.”

  “More than being happy? Because I am, for the first time ever. I’m actually happy. Being High Sorceress never made me feel even remotely satisfied. That’s probably why I was so impossible for so long.” She got up and came to me, then slid an arm around my waist. “I love him, and he makes me feel. I don’t want anything else.”

  Cressida sighed. “And the coven?”

  “You’ll find another High Sorceress. And she’ll… get a new Nightwarden.” Her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry about Holden. He loved me. I should’ve been better to him. I should’ve taken better care of him.”

  “He was only doing his job. It’s what he was meant to do.” The way Cressida made it sound, it didn’t matter.

  The fact that it mattered to Vanessa told me she could never be the same sort of witch her mother was.

  “You won’t lose me. I promise I’ll still be part of your life, if you want me to.”

  “You’re my daughter. Of course, I want you to be part of my life.” Cressida draped a coat over her shoulders. “And I suppose I’ll have to clean up this mess, too. As always.”

  “As always,” Vanessa agreed.

  She sounded like a woman who was used to admitting she was wrong.

  Cressida shot me one last look—she hated me, but what else was new—before porting out.

  “She’s intense.”

  “You have no idea,” Vanessa whispered, leaning against me. “I can’t believe how relieved I am that she’s gone.”

  “You’re sure you want to do this?”

  “More than sure.” She looked up at me. “I love you. I don’t want anything more than I want you.”

  “Good thing, because it might not be safe to go back to my apartment after this. I think I need a place to stay.”

  She tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed. “I think we can work something out.”

  Epilogue

  Vanessa

  “I hate this time of year,” I whispered as we passed yet another store full of orange and black garbage. If I stumbled over another pumpkin, I would throw it through a window.

  Gentry o
nly chuckled as he took my hand to lead me across the street. “Come on. They enjoy it.”

  “They’re ridiculous. They understand nothing about our traditions.”

  “Are you going to get this way around Halloween every year? Because I’ll make it a point to take you away for the entire month of October from now on, if that’s the case.”

  “Hmm. Tempting.”

  We both knew that couldn’t happen—especially since I had someone to celebrate the festival with.

  It had only taken nearly a year to be sure nobody was watching my movements, to find her and convince her to meet up with me.

  I would never have sought her out if I thought there was a remote chance of hurting either of them.

  We walked up the endless flights of stairs, and I knew it wasn’t exertion that made my heart race. It wasn’t until I heard her voice again on the phone that I realized how much I had missed her.

  And seeing her was better than hearing her. She looked better than I had ever seen her. Happy, radiant, healthy. I knew we made the right choice that night at her old apartment, after she and Elias saved me.

  My sister Mariya threw her arms around me, then gasped when she felt what was between us.

  “Vanessa?” She stepped back, eyes round and teary. “You’re…”

  “Five months,” I announced with a grin, rubbing my growing belly. “Surprise.”

  “Get in here!” She pulled me into the apartment hugged me more gently than before. “I can’t believe it. I’m so happy for you.” When she released me, she bear-hugged Gentry. “I don’t even know you, but I’m happy for you!”

  He laughed in surprise and hugged her back—meanwhile, the sound of footsteps made me turn my head in time to see Elias enter the cramped living room. He looked just the same, but then, he always would.

  “Hey there,” I grinned, but I was unsure. When I thought of everything that had passed between us, I wasn’t sure what to do. How he would react to me.

  “Hey yourself,” he said before cracking a grin of his own. “You look great.”

  I was surprised when he came to me with his arms open for a hug. We had never exactly been friends. Mariya had softened him up a lot.

  I sat with her and we looked at each other for a while without saying a word. She was so different from before. No more permanent frown. She even looked younger.

  “I’m so glad you’re happy,” I managed to whisper through the tears threatening to choke me.

  “Me? What about you? When I think about you, all I remember is trying to talk you down from throwing a tantrum. No offense.” She glanced at my belly, then back up at me with one eyebrow cocked.

  “Yeah. I know. And now I’ll be the one begging somebody to quit it with the tantrums.”

  “You’re in for it. You know that, right? And you have it coming to you.”

  Elias’s snort of laughter told me he agreed.

  Gentry chuckled behind me. “I hate to think that I’ll end up hearing the tantrums when I didn’t earn them.”

  I only rolled my eyes. He knew I knew he was no angel, either.

  We laughed over the way we both used our powers to help us land and hold onto our office jobs. Not that we went over-the-top, but it helped when starting off with no marketable skills.

  “Imagine not being able to do that,” Gentry grinned wryly, shaking his head at himself.

  “You’re not doing so badly,” I reminded him before turning to the others. “He’s writing his story, but turning it into fiction. He already had publishers interested in it.”

  “The only catch is remembering to turn real-life characters into fictitious ones,” he chuckled. “And don’t be surprised if you find me knocking at your door in the future—this could become a series, and I’ll need more material.”

  Mariya elbowed Elias. “This one has material enough for a series.”

  They smiled fondly at each other.

  It did my heart good to see them thriving in Philadelphia. The apartment was tiny and clogged with books, but cozy. Filled with warmth and the scent of cinnamon tea. There would’ve been a time when jealousy would’ve torn me to shreds, but now I was too busy living a happy life of my own. Only after I found happiness did I understand how unhappy I was before.

  “How’s Mom?” she asked in a soft voice.

  Elias touched her shoulder.

  “Are you kidding? She’s living it up. Somebody had to lead the coven while I was gone, and she was more than happy to step up and make the sacrifice.”

  We both chuckled.

  “And she had to tell me all about it, of course. How exhausting it was. How the coven needed her. You know how she is. But things have calmed down now, and she’s back to only thinking she could do a better job.”

  “It’s good to know some things never change,” she smiled, leaning against Elias.

  It was surreal, seeing them together, relating to my sister as an equal. I had missed so much time with her.

  She looked down at my belly again, and worry touched her face. “You know, it’s one thing when this little one can’t speak, and there’s no danger in seeing them. What happens when it turns into a chatty toddler, and there’s a chance of it blabbing about visiting Auntie Mariya?”

  “Let’s not worry about that right now. I just found you—I don’t want to think about the future yet.”

  Although in my heart of hearts, I knew we would find a way. We were both navigating uncharted waters but had managed well up to that point.

  With the help of our men.

  Gentry sat on the arm of the couch, and I leaned against him.

  The slight pressure of his warm, gentle kiss on the top of my head was like a silent affirmation.

  We would make it work, the way we made everything else work.

  Together, always.

  Afterword

  I hope you enjoyed Blood Gift!

  Will there be more in the series? Yes!

  Out Now! Dragon Shifters!

  Click here to see if you’ve missed any other Ava Benton releases!

  Keep turning!

  Sign up for the newsletter to learn of releases!

  Click on link for

  Newsletter

  or put this in your browser window:

  mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/m7a8c5

  Copyright © 2017 by Ava Benton

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.