by Eve Newton
I take a deep breath and draw on the magick inside me to dress myself in a tight black tee and sweats, not bothering with any underwear, to head back inside. Wouldn’t look good for the Queen to be wondering about naked in the middle of the night. It comes easy to me after a dip in the water. It’s a hot spring but also a healing pool, infused with magick to soothe and relax. This calm inside me won’t last, a day at best, but I need my best self on the front foot for noon. The war inside me between Vampire and Witch is a battle every day. As I get older, I tend not to notice it unless I’m trying to do magick, but it hurts on the bad days. Physically, mentally and emotionally, it drains me.
If I could spend every day in this pool, I would but my mom warned me that I could become immune to its effects if I used it too often. I save it for when the days are the worst, or I need my shit together, like today.
I stroll back to the mansion in my bare feet, enjoying the grass tickling my soles. I sling the towel around my shoulders and creep inside, padding silently across the entrance hall, hoping that I don’t meet anyone.
Luckily, I make it all the way back upstairs to outside my bedroom when a voice in my head stops me.
“You’re in over your head, girlie. I can feel your insecurity.”
I groan softly. “Fuck off,” I whisper. “Go bug someone else.”
He chuckles quietly, which throws me off guard. “Sorry, I’m bored, and you are awake. I’m still figuring this shit out, but I enjoy being in your head, knowing your thoughts.”
“What?” I splutter and work furiously to keep my mind blank so that he doesn’t learn anything he shouldn’t. I didn’t know that was how it worked. I thought he was just a voice, not part of my subconscious, or whatever the hell. Does that mean I can get into his thoughts too?
“Meet me outside,” he murmurs.
“You have got to be joking,” I spit out and bite my tongue, hoping I didn’t alert anyone to my one-sided conversation.
“Side gate, girlie. I’m waiting.”
I grimace at the bedroom door. Why am I even contemplating going outside to him? This has ‘trap’ in big neon signs flashing at me, but my curiosity is piqued. He seems different somehow, less guarded and full of hate.
Clenching my jaw, I turn around and ditch the towel on an ornate side table with a vase full of fresh flowers in it that sits opposite my bedroom. I glare at them accusingly, almost as if they are shouting at me not to go.
I head back down the stairs and outside, sneaking quietly across the grounds to the side gate where I syphoned the magick out of the wards the other night.
Breathing in deeply, I focus, holding my hand up to break a hole in the ward so that I can lean forward to turn the ring handle and shove open the heavy wooden gate.
I see Philip leaning against an enormous tree several meters away, playing with a wicked looking hunting knife.
He looks up as he hears the gate open and smiles at me. It looks odd on his face, but damn if it doesn’t make him a hell of a lot more attractive.
“What do you want?” I ask, not moving from the safety of the grounds. The ward might have a hole in it, but I don’t want to venture out into the forest. I curse myself for being here in the first place. I don’t even really know why I came out here.
“Girlie,” he says, straightening up. “I didn’t think you’d come out to play.”
“Stop calling me that,” I grit out. “And I’m not afraid of you.” I tell this small lie, hoping he won’t call me on it.
“But you are, aren’t you? Just a girl?” he asks, his eyes full of curiosity.
“You don’t think that when we are fucking in your dreams,” I reply, taking a small step forward. I’m drawn to him, like a magnetic force is pulling me along.
He also moves closer. “No, in our dreams, you are all woman,” he murmurs.
He reaches out, his hand closing loosely around my throat. I swallow, but suddenly I’m not afraid of him. I don’t know what it is but there is a definite shift in our dynamic. He shoves me gently up against the wall of the grounds and lets go of my throat. With his eyes narrowed, Philip regards me closely. He lifts the blade and plucks the hem of my tee away from my body. So slowly, he cuts through the fabric as easily as if it was a hot knife through butter. I part my lips, standing completely still.
When the blade reaches the neckline of my tee, he lowers it, letting the torn material fall away, parted to reveal my naked breasts to him.
He draws in a breath as he looks at me.
“You are beautiful,” he murmurs.
“Do you want to touch me, Philip? Do you want me outside of your dreams?”
“You are everything that I revile, girlie,” he chokes out, gripping the knife tightly.
I don’t even see it coming.
He slams the blade into my shoulder so hard the tip scrapes the wall at my back.
I grunt, biting down on my tongue so that I don’t scream. It’s what he wants, and I won’t give it to him.
His eyes are riveted to the wound as he drags the knife out of my shoulder. It heals instantly, leaving a river of blood that he swipes his finger through. His eyes find mine again and he pushes his finger through my lips, forcing me to taste my own blood. I lick it clean, hearing his heart pound and his breath pant.
In a flash, I bring my hand up to grab him by the throat, but he is quick to deflect, batting it away to my surprise.
“You forget, I’m trained to fight your kind,” he murmurs. “You are just a girl.”
“A Vampire,” I snarl at him, getting seriously pissed off with his attitude towards me. “You might be able to fight me off for a few seconds, but I have stamina that you can only dream of.”
“Oh, I know,” he whispers, his eyes filling with heat. “You are everything the Wolf thinks you are. It’s confusing,” he adds under his breath.
“What?” I ask, just as confused as him, apparently.
“Just a girl,” he mumbles again, backing away. “Could’ve killed me, gave her the opportunity…”
He turns and runs into the forest, leaving me half naked and slightly turned on, even if my lust is caused by that monster. I can’t let him get to me. Whatever game he is playing, he won’t win.
I grip the flaps of my tee and draw them together. I frown and fix it with magick. With one last look into the forest, I sigh and slip back through the gate, closing it and then drawing the magick back out of me to fill the hole in the ward.
I gasp when I turn and see Mason in Wolf form staring at me from about a hundred meters away. He probably doesn’t know I was outside with Philip. He lowers his head and turns around to amble off in the opposite direction, something about the move solemn and it breaks my heart.
“Let me help you, dammit,” I mutter, clenching my fist in my frustration.
I close my eyes briefly, trying to push away the look of desire that I saw on Philip’s face. It is affecting me more than I’d like to admit.
I rub my shoulder, even though it is fully healed I can still feel the cold blade slicing through me. He is a sadist. He likes to hurt supernaturals. I can’t forget that. I can’t let my growing lust for the man cloud my judgment again. Next time he is close enough for me to get my hands on him, he dies.
Chapter 36
Philip
I keep running, my head swimming with confusing thoughts about what just happened. I run and run through the forest for several miles until I hit the road where the motel is situated. Panting slightly, I pull up on the edge of the forest, and bend over, resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath before I cross over the road and make my way to the door of my dingy room.
“Damn you, girlie. Why didn’t you attack me with more than a half-hearted attempt? Why didn’t you try to kill me? I fucking hurt you, you silly girl,” I mutter. The bile rises in my throat at the memory of driving the knife into her silky white skin, past her flesh and bones, making her bleed. She didn’t scream. They always scream. The blade is pure silver. Wol
f, Vampire, Witch, makes no difference, it makes them scream.
Not even that deep down, I’m glad she didn’t scream. I think it would’ve made me sicker than I feel right now. She took it like a warrior, and I feel oddly proud of her.
“Fucking bitch,” I snarl, pulling the knife out of the thigh holster and glaring at it covered in her blood.
I stride into the bathroom and turn the hot water on, watching it flow into the basin. The coppery scent of her blood hits my nostrils and I bring the knife up to my nose so that I can breathe in deeply. I close my eyes and savor the feral aroma, groaning when I remember her licking my finger clean of her blood.
“Fucking bitch,” I mutter now, but with less venom than before. She is getting to me. Getting in my head. Twisting my thoughts, making me lose faith. If she had been a vicious killer, I would have no problem in taking her out…now? The thought of hurting her again hurts my heart, my head, my soul. I thought I had her pegged, but it’s all wrong. She isn’t evil and vile, she is…she is…perfection.
“Fuck,” I growl and shove the knife under the hot water, wiping it clean with my fingers and then turning the water off when my cell phone rings. I grab the threadbare towel and dry the blade, shoving it back in the holster.
“Yeah?” I growl when I answer.
“Phil,” Tex’s deep voice booms down the phone. “Haven’t reported in today. How goes things with our Queen bee? Ready to take her out?”
I close my eyes and stay silent, not trusting myself to speak just yet.
“Phil?” Tex’s voice changes instantly with that one word, turning from jovial father-in-law to menacing killer.
“Yeah,” I croak out the lie, hoping he won’t hear it. I open my mouth to convince him we have it all wrong, but in a way that he will understand. “She won’t let me get to twenty-four hours. She will protect her subjects and do what I want because she cares about them.” This realization hits me so hard I nearly gag as I hang up. I needed to hear myself say it out loud to believe it.
I am not a murderer. I exact justice to those deserving of it. She is the opposite of those I target, I know it from the moments in our dreams, the minutes spent with her earlier, and Mason’s feelings about her. I let out a low rumble. He does not get a pass, even if I have to figure out a way to keep Lilith safe. Tex will not stop in his quest to cut the head off the Queen in order for chaos to reign amongst the supernaturals, thus giving him an excuse to wipe out as many as he can.
“Damn you, girlie,” I mutter again and sit heavily on the bed, closing my eyes and picturing her gorgeous tits exposed to me. Oh, how I wanted to suck one of those ripe nipples into my mouth.
Falling back to the bed, not even bothering with taking my boots off, I curl up and squeeze my eyes tightly shut. I want to dream about her. I want to tell her that I don’t mean her any harm now, that I want to protect her from the people who wish to hunt her down and execute her. I want her to wrap her arms around me and tell me everything is going to be okay, and that she forgives me. Letting out a soft moan, I will myself to fall into her subconscious, but she must have her guards up. I can’t get anywhere near her. Instead, I feel myself drawn to the Wolf.
“You know I’m right about her, don’t you?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say quietly. “I know.”
“So you will stop this vendetta against her?”
“She is safe from me, but the others… I can’t convince them. They are…”
“Different from you. I get it,” he says with a sigh.
“I know about your loss. It was Tex himself who took your love from you,” I blurt out suddenly, for no rhyme or reason.
Silence.
“He was after me though,” he states flatly after a minute or so has passed.
“Yes. You were the target. She was just there. He is…he likes to cause pain.”
“So do you.”
“No!” I roar, sitting up. “No. I do what is necessary. I don’t enjoy it,” adding not anymore silently to myself, but he hears it anyway. “Get out of my head,” I mumble, flopping back down.
“You came to me, remember?”
“Yeah, well, fuck off.”
He chuckles, a hollow sound in my head. “Gladly, you complete prick.”
“Back at you times ten,” I spit out and then snort, as does he, with amusement. But then he is gone. The pressure in my head eases and I close my eyes again.
“Lilith,” I whisper her name as I drift off on the wave of her subconscious, losing myself in those silver eyes and luscious lips.
Chapter 37
Lloyd
“Come to your senses, finally?”
Axl’s quiet voice rouses me from my sleep.
“Huh?” I mumble, rubbing my eyes. Opening them, I automatically reach for my glasses, but they aren’t on the nightstand where I always put them. Only then I remember that I’m in Lilith’s bed.
“Here,” Mason’s gruff voice says and thrusts my glasses under my nose.
“Thanks.” I shove them on my face and sit up.
Lilith is still fast asleep nestled in between me and Axl. Mason has a face of thunder on him, which I can only imagine is a result of finding the three of us naked in bed together.
“What’s up?” I ask to draw the attention away from the post-sex bliss.
“We need to talk,” he says, pointing at me and then turning to stalk out of the bedroom, clearly expecting me to jump up and follow him.
Axl snickers and buries himself further under the duvet, wrapping his arms around Lily. “Better hop to it, boy. The Alpha has spoken.” He snickers quietly to himself as I roll my eyes at him. I climb out of bed and search for my clothes, which I find in a heap at the end of the bed.
I pull them on and slip out, closing the door quietly behind me. Finding Mason at the top of the stairs, leaning against the railing with his arms folded and his ankles crossed, I stride up to him.
“What?” I spit out, in a mood with him for being a dick. Although why I expect anything else from him is a mystery.
He raises his eyebrow at me and my pissy attitude but dives right in. “I met Ember earlier. She speaks very highly of you.”
I shrug. “Yeah, we go way back. She’s a good woman.”
“You know much about these visions of hers?”
“Just the basics, she’s rarely wrong, and even then, it’s never really wrong…why?” I ask with a frown, suddenly getting a bad feeling about this.
He purses his lips and blows out a quick breath. In a low tone, he says, “She told me she had a vision that if we put Lilith at the center of this spell, she will die.”
It feels as if he shoved his hand into my chest and grabbed hold of my heart to squeeze until it bursts. “What?” I ask, shaking my head. “No, no…”
“Look, I have never put any stock in fortune telling, or visions or whatever the fuck about future events. But I’m telling you now that there isn’t a chance in hell I’m putting Lilith in harm’s way.”
“She has to be the center, it won’t work otherwise,” I splutter. “Why didn’t Ember come to me?” I add, suddenly getting angry that they have dismissed me to receive this information second hand.
“You remember what Jacob said when I took the magick from her? He said it will be like it never left her because we are bound, Fated Mates. You use me. You put me at the center of the spell. Figure it out, but that is the way it’s going down, or it doesn’t go down. Understood?”
We glower at each other for a few seconds. “Understood, you fucking asshole. But you know if anything happens to you, Lilith will string me up by my dick and use me as a piñata.”
“Then you’d better hope nothing happens to me,” he says with a smirk and saunters off down the stairs as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
My fucking world has just imploded. I have no idea how to get this spell to work with him at the center. Lilith is the hub. It has to be her.
“Ember’s visions are never really wrong,”
I call after him quietly. “You know what a risk this is to you? You instead of her.”
He stops on the stairs but doesn’t turn to look back at me. “I know. I trust you.”
With those words said, he takes the rest of the stairs at a rapid rate, leaving me feeling good about his trust but very, very bad about the spell.
I swallow and then cough. My mouth has gone as dry as the Sahara. I turn back around slowly and knock quietly on a door close to the top of the stairs and wait a few moments.
“Hey, Lloyd,” Jacob’s wife, Serena, mumbles half asleep. “J’s downstairs already.”
“Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”
She shrugs and closes the door. I don’t see much of her usually. She is a Vampire that sleeps during the day and is awake at night. Christ knows when she and Jacob spend time together. It makes me grateful that Lilith is past the daylight limitation, so this isn’t an issue.
I head downstairs in my bare feet, not daring to expend the energy it will take to magick a pair of shoes on my feet. I need to be a full capacity in a few hours when this spell is meant to go down.
“Fuck,” I mutter, crossing through the entrance hall and into the dining room, where I find Jacob drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.
“We need to talk,” I blurt out without preamble.
“Ember’s vision?” he asks.
“How is it she went to everyone but me?” I snarl and then shake my head. “Doesn’t matter. How the fuck am I supposed to make this work?”
Jacob puts down his newspaper and stands up. He approaches me with a secretive smile and slings his arm around my shoulders. “Easily,” he says. “Now, listen up, kiddo, this is what you have to do.”
Chapter 38
Axl
Lilith’s silver eyes pop open suddenly. “Don’t watch me sleep, it’s creepy,” she says with a yawn.
