Romance with a Bite

by Tamsin Baker

  The possibilities of expansion and life were staggering. More awareness brushed against mine. Fire, heat, desire, and oh, God, love. So much love. Timeless and endless. It washed over me and through me.

  Xander.

  Cassius.

  Davon.

  I reached out and brought them to me, immersing myself into their essence. In an instant of realization, I knew every little thing about them. The quality of their souls. Their quirks. Their hurts and triumphs. Their intentions and their base desires. And the love. The love. The love. The love.

  It was pure, boundless, joyful. It expanded into me, through me, around me. It was true, what Mom had said. This was a true gift of exceptional magnitude. Fate didn’t bestow this lightly, or flippantly. Nor did it hand it out to just anyone.

  This love. This bond. This connection was written many, many years before I even existed.

  My soul wept with joy and staggering humility. A cocoon of warmth and protection surrounded me. Three presences pressed upon me, and I let my gratitude and love flow back between us.

  Our connection trembled and grew. Power, like an electrical current, shot through us. My understanding of myself stretched, expanded and broke into a new reality. A bubble bursting from a gray world into one of technicolor.

  I was more than I ever thought I was. I had…powers. I was…strong. The magic of three centuries of repression blasted through me. Everything I’d read in the Grimoire coalescing into meaning.

  I knew what to do. How to summon, control and handle the magic. It merged to become an integral part of me. A part that was kept separate by an evil curse from an evil ancestor built on hate and left to fester and fester and fester.

  The magical power of the Vampires mixed with my magic, combining, twisting, changing, merging and becoming something more. They, in turn, received the magic of my bloodline. It merged with theirs, infusing and changing and growing.

  Together, we became something more.

  The white light dimmed, reducing and regressing into shadows and forms. My awareness became heavy as I came back into my body. I mourned the loss of the awareness and absolute certainty of everything, but what I brought back with me with me could never be mistaken as anything other than the precious gift it was.

  The four of us. All that we were. All-out powers, needs, wants, desires and love. One soul.

  I was still separate. Still Ella. My thoughts and emotions were still mine. The essence of who I was, unchanged.

  But now I was part human. Part Vampire. Part Witch. Part Magic.

  And fully pissed-off.

  The townspeople rushed us, yelling and screaming, noise echoing off the walls of the foyer. They streamed past the Trinity, who stepped away, not wanting to dirty their hands with the violence that they caused.

  I held my palm towards them, summoning the power that should have always been mine by birthright. “Stop.”

  As one, the hoard came to a halt. Their weapons clanged to the floor. They weren’t really weapons, just shovels and pitchforks and crowbars. They looked at us in confusion, as though not understanding where they were or what they did.

  I turned to Xander, Cassius and Davon. Their eyes burned deep crimson as they were brought back into their power. Their skin shimmered in full health. Davon held up his fully formed hands. Their eyes were focused on me and I shivered with the raw need and desire mirrored there.

  “You have saved us Ella,” Xander said. His voice was changed too. Deeper. More powerful. His words came to me as his emotions touched me. I gasped with their intensity and depth. I became lost in his fierce gaze. Lost and heated and itchy, like I wanted to divest myself of my clothing and let him have his very, very wicked way with me. His mouth twitched, pursing with a quick smile. He knew exactly what I felt.

  Davon cupped my chin. Warmth and light like a spring day flowed through me as I was captured in his emotions. “You are our miracle.” He kissed me, not a hard kiss or a kiss that would lead to sex, but a kiss of thankfulness, honor and awe. I knew because I felt that way about him as well.

  Cassius took me from Davon and emotions tinted with spice and a twist of sardonic humor washed through me. “You have broken the curse. You are, indeed, a miracle.”

  Cassius wrapped his arms about me and kissed the top of my head. I tucked my face against his chest and inhaled, drinking in his delicious scent.

  “Was there any doubt?” A burst of – something – was broadcast. “Okay. Maybe don’t answer that, but I did come back for you. I would never have left you. Never.” I lifted my face to look at them all. “You have to believe me.”

  Xander twisted a lock of my hair around his finger, letting it slide through his fingers as though mesmerized. “We did not doubt because we knew from the start that you are our mate. We trusted in that higher power and gave you the time you needed to understand it yourself.”

  “But Davon nearly died. You all could have died!” I hated that I’d put him through that. Hated I’d put them through any turmoil at all.

  “We didn’t. You came in time. We knew you would,” Davon said with a certainty I didn’t feel.

  “Besides, Davon always likes to put himself in danger. He told you the story of how he became a vampire in the first place. Not known for making the best choices is our Davon,” Cassius said.

  “What are you doing, just standing there? Get them. End them. They are the devil’s work. Abominations. Unholy beings. A scourge upon the Earth.” As Jeremiah spoke, spittle landed on his chin.

  A murmured ran through the crowd and every muscle in my body tensed as a ripple of hate ran over the crowd.

  Chapter Forty Five

  As one, we turned to face him. I had to look twice. The Trinity seemed somehow smaller than normal. His words lacked the natural resonance that was usually behind them.

  The crowd shuffled, not knowing that to do. They weren’t hate-filled. They were confused. It was the hate rolling from Jeremiah in oily waves I picked up. Usually they’d work as a hoard, acting without thought. As though they’d been bespelled.

  Understanding prickled my consciousness.

  His words lacked power because it had been removed. Set on its natural course, where once it had been tied and locked in place. Turning into dark power of the festering kind.

  I had a little score to settle.

  “Make way.” My voice held the power of eons. The crowd parted, bodies scrambling to the walls as the four of us walked through.

  The Trinity, as well as Gary and Dean, stumbled backwards, pushing amongst themselves to run out of the door.

  “Close.” Magic coursed through me. The door slammed shut, the sound echoing against the walls.

  “So that is how you managed to control everyone. You’ve been using magic.” Magic that should have rightfully been mine and my ancestors. Taken, abused and used to control. No wonder Conway and everyone in the region festered. “No wonder you have been able to live with riches, with everything going your way and everyone doing your bidding. It wasn’t because you were good leaders, or helped people, or wanted the best for them. You controlled them so you could live a life on top of the heap. Stepping on everyone. Using them. With magic. They had no chance. You make me sick.”

  “I saved souls, Ella. If you’d have come to me, I’d have saved your soul,” Jeremiah said.

  I looked at my men. “My soul never needed saving.”

  “I financed Conway. Without me, everyone would have been bankrupt years ago,” Herman said.

  “I love the way your face goes red when you tell a lie.” Mom’s voice rang out, clear and strong.

  I gasped as she stood next to me, healthy and vibrant. “Mom!” I threw my arms around her neck, hugging her close. Her thin frame was warm. Her once frail body had filled-out with muscle. I sobbed, tears running down my face. I had my Vampires to thank for her life. My life. My everything.

  “I’ll put you all in jail and throw away the key. Anyone who doesn’t help me arrest these people wil
l be charged with aiding and abetting. I’ll make sure you’re all thrown into the worst jails in the country. You’ll never see your family or friends again!” Ellis screeched.

  “I think I’ve heard just enough of them, haven’t you, Ella?” Mom said.

  “How have they controlled everyone for so long?” I wondered out loud.

  “It isn’t…natural.” Xander eyed Ellis. He shriveled beneath his gaze and skulked behind Jeremiah. Coward.

  “If you don’t release us, I will go out of my way to make everyone in this town as miserable as I can. You will be damned to Hell forever,” Jeremiah said.

  “Not the words I’d ever hear out of the mouth of a minister,” Cassius said.

  Something wasn’t adding up and I needed to know what it was. Reaching for the power within me, I infused my words with magic. “I will hear words of truth. Tell me how you used magic to control Conway and everyone that lives here.”

  “We have a spell. Pages from your Grimoire, no less,” Jeremiah said.

  I gasped. The Grimoire? “You knew I had a Grimoire.”

  “Stupid girl. We knew everything about you and your ancestor. She cursed those – abominations – and cursed herself and your family in return. We were just utilizing your power,” Herman said.

  “They are not abominations!” The walls shook and plaster dust powdered from above our heads.

  Davon put a hand on my shoulder, “Shhh, Tu Ena. Don’t let him upset you.”

  “No. Don’t get upset. Get even.” Cassius flashed his fangs.

  “When you’ve finished getting the answers we all deserve, we will help them understand the error of their ways,” Xander said. God, I loved that man.

  I smirked and turned back to the men who were once so powerful, but now looked like broken, quivering shells. Men, who, without magic, were nothing.

  It all was beginning to make some sort of twisted sense. The Grimoire was never what I thought it was. Only telling me harmless bits and pieces, probably to keep me in line. The spells that appeared that weren’t there before I was here, suggesting the worst so that I might believe them.

  “If you had the magic, why couldn’t I ever leave Conway?” Or my entire family.

  “Without you near, there would be no magic. We used spells stolen from your Grimoire to redirect your power,” Ellis said.

  “Our families have been using it for centuries. We were only able to do it when Ginevra used a black curse that caused a disruption, or so my grandfather told me,” Jeremiah said.

  “Imagine that. A man of God using black magic,” I said. No wonder the town had festered and died. There was no life here. No spark. It had been extinguished decades ago because of misuse.

  Ginevra did a horrible thing, which set about a course of events and a change of power that never should have happened. It was sad, but it was also over.

  “Ella, think about what you’re doing. You could have had me! The most handsome and rich man around these parts. You’re throwing at all away,” Gary whined.

  “Yeah, throwing it all away,” Dean giggled.

  I winced, trying not to feel repulsed, but not being able to help it. Xander stepped up to Gary, chest to chest. Xander stood a head taller than Gary, who simply folded in on himself. The front of his pants darkened with urine. “You disrespected our mate. Apologize.”

  Gary’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed at Xander’s feet in a dead faint. Xander frowned and turned to me. “I didn’t even touch him.”

  “Yeah. Gary is no one’s hero.”

  “My son. What have you done to my son?” Ellis knelt next to Gary and tapped his shoulder. “Wake up, son. We’ll find you someone truly worthy of you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No one is worthy enough for Gary.”

  “God will judge your souls. You will roast in Hell for eons for the error of your ways. I will spread the word of the horrors of your sins and pray until my dying day for the error of your ways,” Jeremiah said.

  “Well, I’ve heard just about enough of this, haven’t you?”

  “Amen to that,” Mom said.

  There was only one thing I could do. I reached for the magic, so readily coming to my request. I felt it simmering and burning inside me, eager to be used with lightness and brilliance, the way it should always be used. “From this day forward, you will speak no more until your learn the error of your ways. Jeremiah Sinclair, Herman White and Ellis Myers, no one will hear your false words. You will be silent until the day you offer true, heartfelt apologies to every person you have wronged. I henceforth remove all wrong doings that these men have perpetrated against Conway and all who live within her region. I wash away all remnants of dark energy that control and demand and leave in its wake light and love. Let every man, woman and child receive this gift of light and move forward without control of any dark force.”

  A ripple of energy came like a wave, breaking around us and sweeping through the crowd. I staggered forward a few steps as the energy passed through me like a shockwave. Clothing and hair floated as though with a gust of wind, but it was the magical power that was washing away all darkness.

  Silence rang out in the foyer. People blinked, confused and sleepy, as though they were just waking up from a dream. We all were.

  Jeremiah stood. His mouth worked, but no words came out. His brow scrunched and he grabbed his neck. He tried to speak again. His face went red with the effort but he remained blessedly silent.

  “You heard her. Offer your heartfelt apologies to everyone you have wronged and really mean it. You’ll probably be silent for a very, very long time,” Cassius said.

  Ellis and Herman opened and close their mouths like fish. Silent. Blessedly silent. I sighed. “We’re going to have some peace, for once.”

  Mom hugged me. “My beautiful daughter. You’ve done it. I always knew you were special.”

  I could hardly start to hope to believe. “Is it over, Mom? Is it really finished?”

  She beamed at me, her eyes lit with life and health. “It is over, Ella. Believe me, it is over.”

  “We have a lot to be thankful for,” Xander said.

  I looked between my men and Mom. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Xander, Cassius and Davon.”

  A flush came to her cheeks as her gaze studied each of them in turn. My three men. My Vampires. My heroes. So handsome and sexy beyond belief. They’d have that effect on any red-blooded woman.

  In turn, she squeezed their hands between hers, tears in her eyes. “This is a true blessing. Thank you for saving my daughter. I can never thank you enough.”

  My men surrounded us. Davon slung a casual arm about my shoulder. Cassius treated Mom to a blinding, award-winning smile and Xander’s pleased look held a protective edge that made me shiver. “It is she who saved us. We will spend a lifetime being thankful to your daughter and showing her how precious she is.”

  A shiver worked down my spine as erotic images flashed through my mind. I gasped and turned to see Xander’s lips twitch. He knew what he was doing. Well, two could play at that game. I broadcast several more erotic images back at him. As one, they all groaned.

  “Be careful what you wish for. We plan to hold you to that,” Cassius said.

  “Every last word of it,” Davon said.

  “Did I miss something?” Mom asked.

  I chuckled, “I’ll tell you later, Mom. There’s been a few… changes.”

  Chapter Forty Five

  Cassius placed a cup of coffee into my hands as Davon adjusted the blanket over my shoulders. “Warm enough?”

  He nuzzled my neck. I tilted my head, enjoying the slide of his lips and warm breath over my skin. “Hmmm. Toasty.”

  Why wouldn’t I be toasty, surrounded my three men, who didn’t want to leave my side? Not that I wanted them to. I enjoyed the press of their hard bodies against mine, their frequent touches, their kisses. The anticipation of more.

  And they never let me down. Ever.

  “I can’t believe the d
ifference a month has made.” My heart leapt with joy. They were different, my Vampires, than when we’d first met.

  Davon’s smiles were wider. Cassius jokes were worse, if possible, and Xander? Well, I’d never seen him so relaxed—if you could call a mountain lion relaxed. But a happy mountain lion. A mountain lion who spent hours and hours and hours outside. In the fresh, crisp air his skin was tanned and healthy, his body even more toned than it naturally was – and that was saying something because his abs were etched.

  They all were.

  “I like the direction of your thoughts,” Davon said as Cassius’ arms tightened around me.

  “Shhh. Mom will hear,” I laughed. We’d settled back into the farm, which was really much too small for the five of us, but they’d insisted on living here, rather than at the mansion.

  I understood that too. They couldn’t wait to get away from the house that had been their gilded prison for so long.

  Their emotions had rolled through me as they took that first step over the barrier that was destroyed with the end of the curse. The freedom their souls felt had made me cry, and then when they’d comforted me, it had made me cry all the more.

  They’d looked about in absolute wonder at the changes to the landscape and the town when we’d driven home. I would never live another day without being grateful, looking at things through their eyes.

  We were getting better at not broadcasting our emotions all over the place, except for the simmering sexual attraction that was a constant fire in my blood. I would never get enough of them. Touching them. Tasting them. Talking to them. Feeling them.

  It was just as well. We were going to be together for a very long time. Centuries, in fact. Now that we’d joined, our lives were intertwined. We had an eternity to explore each other.

  “Mom doesn’t care.” The front door opened and my mother stepped out onto the veranda. She was a vision of health. Her skin was pink and dewy. Her eyes were lit with humor and life. Her hair was light and bouncy. She’d managed to put on a few pounds and was nicely shaped, albeit still a little slender. At least the effects of her illness were fading fast. It was good to see, and my heart grew lighter each time I saw it. It was something else I had to thank my Vampires for.