by Terry Spear
Where had he gone, and what had he done while he was away? He hadn’t been seeing Lynetta because the vamp was harassing me. So what had happened with him? I was dying to know and to tell him all that Lynetta had said. I had to know his version of the story, again, to reassure me that he had told the truth. Though I didn’t think for an instant he was faking his weakness now, and if he wasn’t pretending, how could he be an ancient vampire?
I slipped my shoes and pants off. Wearing only a silky blouse and panties, I climbed under the covers with him, and rested my head on his chest. For being half dead, he surprised me when his hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer.
If he had indeed been the ancient vampire as Lynetta had claimed, I decided it didn’t matter. He’d charmed me right into loving him, and I wanted him, even if only briefly. It was better than not ever being wanted at all.
At least that’s what I figured. My mind warred with my heart though, tugging my thoughts this way and that. The notion anyone would use me for his or her own personal gain hurt my pride.
For an instant, he held me close, then the effort seemed to weary him, and my heart reached out to him, striking down my feeble doubts. “Dominic,” I whispered against his ear, “do you need some of my blood to strengthen you?”
His eyelids fluttered opened, and I assumed that meant yes. Again, I was slightly apprehensive. It seemed like eons since the last time he’d taken my blood.
Would it hurt this time? Would he stop when he had his fill before he took too much of my own, or would he have difficulty like Lynetta had said?
I pulled my hair aside for him and offered my throat. He didn’t move toward me, just studied me with his liquid, chocolate eyes that had a sad, faraway look. At first, I was crushed. Then I vacillated between worrying he no longer wanted me and concern that he was too weak even to feed. I couldn’t see mutilating myself to offer my blood if he couldn’t have it any other way. In fact, having my blood drawn had always made me squeamish, to the extent I’d passed out when the dermatologist removed a suspicious-looking mole on my shoulder the year before. I shuddered just thinking about offering him my blood.
“Dominic? Can you hear me?”
He continued to watch me, but didn’t respond. I leaned forward and kissed his lips gently at first. Maybe this was how we needed to do it—like we had done the previous night. Much more pleasant to think about kissing than giving blood.
He kissed me back, his tongue pressing to part my lips. He seemed to have regained his appetite, except I worried whether he desired more than my blood at the moment. He slid his hands over my back, the silky shirt slipping around.
“Marissa.”
“Dominic, are you going to be all—”
His lips pressed hard against mine, passionately, enthusiastically desperate. I matched his kiss, feeling the same kind of fiery desperation.
My molecules bumped and crashed while electricity zinged through my insides.
Breathlessly, he whispered against my cheek, “Stop me if I hurt you. Don’t ever let me hurt you.”
Hearing his words, despite the lack of strength they contained, cheered my heart. Again, I brushed my hair aside and exposed my throat. I desired the intimate bond that made us one when he drank my blood, the ecstasy that filled me with pleasure when he sucked away.
Suddenly a floorboard under the carpet squeaked next to the bedroom door, alerting us of someone’s untimely and most unwelcome presence. My first thought was that it was Kate, unable to sleep, worried about Dominic.
When I twisted my head to look at the doorway, the evil warlock, Joshua, stood tall, his black eyes narrowed, his dark hair disheveled as if he’d just fallen out of bed—on the wrong side.
My heart lurched in panic.
“He doesn’t deserve you, Marissa,” Joshua said, a mocking smile on his thin, pale lips. “Let me do the honors.”
Chapter 17
DOMINIC
I couldn’t believe my awful luck—me a Prince of Darkness, and an utter failure at that. The love of my life was shortly to become the meal of the warlock she’d had a crush on, who didn’t care one ounce about her, and I had no strength to save her.
“Marissa, if you and Kate and I can hit him with a lightning bolt, we can temporarily drain the strength from him,” I telepathically communicated to her, realizing now Joshua had to be a minion of Lynetta, furious with myself for not figuring it out before. He could let the vamp and more of her blood bonds into Marissa’s house at any time, and we’d all be doomed.
“You’re too weak, Dominic,” she said, holding my hand in a crushing grip. Her body trembled slightly, making me feel worse.
I tried to hide the look of shame that must have crossed my face.
She lessened the grip on my hand, maybe sensing how powerful her physical strength had become. “You are not a failure, Dominic! But I can’t reach Kate with my thoughts, and I doubt Joshua will allow me to physically go to her. If he knew what we were going to attempt to do to him—”
“He won’t believe you’re capable of doing such a thing to him, as sweet as you are.”
She didn’t say anything in response, but I could tell she didn’t believe me.
“And he knows I’m too weak to attempt it on my own,” I continued, ignoring her implication that she didn’t think she was always sweet. I knew better—even when she was mad, she had good reason to be. Her actions were never calculated or mean, not like Lynetta’s.
“Damn you, Joshua!” Marissa suddenly shouted, loud enough to wake up the whole household—if there had been anyone there but Kate and us.
Joshua smiled—a look that was pure malevolence. “If you are attempting to wake Kate, she’s asleep. Worn out by the amount of blood I already drained from her.”
Marissa paled, tears misted her eyes, and she held her stomach. I worried she was going to be sick all over the bed. This definitely wasn’t good news, and I couldn’t help feeling once again that I’d totally screwed up. If I hadn’t tried to chase Lynetta down, I would have more strength to face this devil now.
“Don’t worry, dear Marissa,” Joshua continued, though his tone was menacing, not comforting. “Kate will be fine in the morning. Be assured, I didn’t drink enough of her blood to deter me from wanting yours, too.”
Marissa’s back stiffened and she climbed out of bed. Her shirt covered her panties, but Joshua still took in his fill of her as if she stood naked before him. I felt totally useless, my body weak and unable to respond to the warlock’s blatant actions, though rage burned inside me and I wanted to smash his head with my fist.
Then Marissa began to say strange words in her head, words I couldn’t comprehend, nor could I catch the way she spoke them. Then finally they caught hold in my mind. “Felshion, Carpathian, Rasmussin, Lorengi, Aqua, Killon!”
I repeated her words silently while she chanted them again, though I had no earthly idea what she was up to. The words seemed slightly familiar but I couldn’t dredge up the elusive memory of where I’d heard them before. I definitely couldn’t twist my thoughts around them the way she did, as if she had spoken the exotic foreign language all her life and I couldn’t master it. Yet I knew from the desperation and determination in her voice that she had a plan, the only one we had at the moment, and I wanted badly to know what it was.
The third time she spoke the chant was the charm. The water entity appeared. The one Marissa had conjured up on stage. The one her teacher said didn’t count as a spell. And then it dawned on me. I’d seen something like this when I was in elementary school. A water demon. At least I presumed that’s what she was from pictures I’d seen of the elusive creatures in a book about stranger-than-fiction entities, though never had I seen one in the flesh, well, water, before. Seeing her in Marissa’s memories didn’t count.
In robes of aqua silk—liquid like her face—and long blue curls dripping down her hips, the demon moved fluidly, her actions mesmerizing.
Again, Marissa began to chant, on
ly this time verbally, her words strong, commanding. “Aqua, Killon, Sleuthing, Hellion, Racine.”
I repeated her words, and then Kate did from the hallway, too, her voice raspy and weak.
My heart lifted to see Kate, her face pale, almost as colorless as the long white T-shirt she wore. Marissa gave Kate a half smile. But she quickly turned her full attention on the demon and motioned toward Joshua, who was frozen by the demon’s appearance. And Marissa thought she wasn’t good at spells? I hrumpfed deep inside. My lifemate was a bundle of contradictions. I’d never heard of a witch or warlock being able to summon any kind of demon.
The demon’s sculptured face remained emotionless when she wrapped her arms around Joshua, who stood spellbound. Enraptured with her beauty? Or so scared he couldn’t move? I would never know the reason, I figured, nor did it truly matter as long as the demon aided us when we very much needed some kind of intervention on our behalf.
The demon sucked the water from Joshua’s body, drawing it out like streams of blue mist, pulling it into her own watery form. After several seconds, Joshua collapsed on the floor. His dehydrated skin was drawn tightly over bones, his eyes shut tight, his face emotionless. He was no longer a menace—for the moment, at least.
Marissa began to chant again. I lay my head back on the pillow, exhausted, unable to follow the words she spoke this time. I heard her say only “the Gulf of Mexico”, and I assumed she told the demon to return to her watery habitat. Just as quickly as the demon had appeared, the fluid blue figure vanished in a whirlpool spin.
Dashing to Kate, Marissa wrapped her arms around her. “Are you all right, Kate?”
“All your yelling woke me up,” Kate groused, half teasing, her words weary.
Marissa smiled and hugged her friend. Selfishly, I wished she’d embraced me in the same manner.
“What are we to do with Joshua?” Kate asked, holding her hand over the puncture wounds on her throat.
“Kill him,” I said, without a bit of hesitation.
The two girls looked at me as if I meant only to seek vengeance. Yet, for all he had done, couldn’t they see how dangerous he was to all of us?
“If he hasn’t already, he can let Lynetta in,” I explained, not appreciating that the girls wouldn’t jump to agree with me. That’s all the convincing I would have needed, if I were them, I thought. I didn’t stop there, afraid they still hadn’t gotten the point. “Not only that, but he’s targeted Kate, too. And you, Marissa. He’ll kill me once he has a chance, also.”
Marissa nodded, though I could tell she didn’t like the idea of destroying a fellow warlock she’d known for years. The part that really gave me a kick in the gut was that she’d had a crush on him. Did she still?
She looked over at me, her blue eyes wide. “No, Dominic. I only care for you.”
“I have an idea,” Kate said, leaning against Marissa for support. “My Aunt Zoe owns the Sexy Nail shop.”
Wordlessly, I stared at her, wondering if Kate had lost some of her marbles when she’d given too much blood. Now wasn’t the time to get a manicure.
Kate continued to speak, her voice still raspy, totally winded. “It’s connected to a tanning bed salon. An unlocked doorway leads from one part of the building to the other. My aunt’s friend runs the tanning salon, and they watch each other’s businesses so they both don’t have to be there all the time.”
I still wasn’t getting her drift.
Kate frowned at me, I guess perturbed because I looked so puzzled. “The tanning bed uses ultraviolet light to burn its victims,” she further explained, her voice exasperated.
Instantly getting her point, I smiled. But how were we going to get there?
“I’ll drive the car,” Marissa quickly offered.
“I have a key to the place because I give manicures sometimes to help my aunt out,” Kate said.
I shook my head, then climbed out of bed. “You can’t go alone, Marissa. I’ll go with you.”
Kate immediately focused on my boxers embossed with shiny red lips and she gave a muffled giggle.
I frowned at her.
“The water demon’s work on Joshua should last until morning, but I think moving him out of the house tonight is the only choice we have,” Marissa said, her words spoken quickly as if she wanted to get this done now, and I couldn’t have agreed more. “Kate, do you really think you’re up to coming with us?”
I felt the same way about Kate’s condition, though I wasn’t much better off.
“I feel awfully lightheaded and tired, but I don’t want to be left alone.”
After what had happened, I could definitely understand her reluctance to be left alone here. I wondered though, why Joshua hadn’t let Lynetta or the others into Marissa’s house. Did he want a go at Marissa first and figured he wouldn’t have a chance once Lynetta got a hold of her? He would have been right.
“All right. Go get dressed, and so will we. I’ll come for you in half an hour, and then we’ll go to your aunt’s nail shop,” Marissa said, all businesslike, as if we were going to the movies and the show was about to begin.
She closed and locked the door while Kate walked back to Marissa’s bedroom.
“First,” Marissa said, taking complete command, walking back to the bed, “you need to have a little dessert.”
I grinned at her, totally agreeable. “I like it when you take charge, Marissa.”
“Yeah, I bet you say that to all the girls.”
I was amused at her comment. “Not me.”
“The more fun for me, then.” Then her brows knit in a frown. “Yeah, except for the last time when I told you not to tackle Lynetta on your own and you didn’t listen to me.”
She really had me there. I shrugged. “Remember what Kate said. It’s a guy thing.”
An elusive smile touched her lips. After climbing into bed beside me, she leaned over and kissed my mouth lightly, as if I would break.
She felt soft and cuddly, and I ran my fingers through her satiny blond hair. “I don’t understand how you can think I wouldn’t love you like I do.”
“Shh,” she said, holding her finger to my lips.
I captured her hand and sucked her finger. “Every bit of you is tasty.”
Raising her brows, she gave me a look of teasing disbelief. “You’re probably just starving.”
“I am. I told you earlier I was.”
“Yeah, and you didn’t even get a bite of pizza either.”
“Did you?”
Shaking her head, Marissa leaned down and kissed my lips. She nipped at my lower one, then sucked, stirring my blood to the nth degree.
Running my fingers over her throat, I felt the blood pulsing through her veins, beckoning to me. She stretched out her neck. “Go ahead, my prince. Bite me.”
I grinned, then tangled my tongue freely with hers. I nuzzled her cheek and moved lower, her breath becoming shallow in anticipation. My canines had extended before I even realized, and when I dipped them into her skin, she gasped slightly.
I attempted to pull back, but again, she held me tight. “Don’t stop, Dominic. It only scares me for a minute, then the pleasure washes over me like a warm wave.”
I sucked her blood, the sweet liquid filling me with desire. I longed to make her my own in every way. My mate forever. The whole time, I stroked her arm, or her back, or raked my fingers through her gold hair. She rested underneath me, quietly, her eyes shut, her hands lying at her sides. Any movement on her part would cause her to tense and the blood withdrawal to pain her.
Finally, I pulled away, feeling stronger than ever before. I kissed her lips. She opened her eyes. “You didn’t beg me to give my blood to you.”
“I wouldn’t have, Marissa. We’re soul mates. You would have offered, and if you had not, I wouldn’t have forced you to give me your blood. You always have to be willing, or I would be no better than him.” I pointed at Joshua’s wizened figure, a crumpled heap of dried skin stretched over bones and covered in baggy clo
thes on the bedroom floor.
I stared at the remains, then turned to Marissa, still awed by her incredible talent. “How did you know to call up a water demon?”
“I’m not that talented. She’s my patron demon.”
I lifted a brow, not understanding. I’d never heard of such a thing.
“You might have noticed how blue my eyes are.”
I nodded. Her entrancing eyes had caught mine the first time I saw her. “Your eyes are beautiful—they enchanted me right away.”
Her brows pinched in a thoughtful frown. “You’re not an Aquarius, are you?”
“Yep, that’s me.” Though except for knowing the symbol and that my birth stone was amethyst, I didn’t really know much else about the zodiac sign, and her bringing it up like she did intrigued me.
“Hmm, I thought you were. That’s what my dad is. I imagine the fact you were born under the water-bearer sign is probably why my patron demon likes you, lucky for you. Did you know Aquarians are thought to be generous humanitarians, honest and loyal, inventive, very bright and independent?”
I puffed up my chest, appreciating the sign’s positive personality traits. Sounded just like me.
“On the darker side,” she warned, a hint of sparkle in her eyes, “they can be contrary, perverse, unpredictable, detached, and unemotional.”
“Can be are the catchwords. Certainly not me.” I smiled when her lips curved up.
She pointed to the puddle on the floor left by the demon. “Very rarely does a witch or warlock have a patron demon. I was born on a fishing boat on the Gulf. A tropical storm nearly sank our boat, and my mother, in all her fright, delivered me early. The storm passed and the swells calmed. My father held me up to the water and praised the demon for taking care of us.
“The demon rose from the water and studied my blue eyes, and they, being the same color as hers, pleased her. She whispered the chant I spoke in the room. Since then, she has been my patron demon. I called her to join me at my seventeenth birthday celebration. She spun off waterspouts and we played in their spray.” Marissa grinned at me and touched my cheek with her fingertips. “She wondered why a warlock was saying the chant also. But then she assumed we were bonded together as mates.”
