At the same time, the use of so much raw power had left her weak. Just the effort of pacing had wiped her out again. Sybil gave in to trembling limbs and sank down to sit with her back resting against rough stone. Since she didn't have much choice, she'd sit this one out. Next time, it'd be a different story.
The enemy came at them with the desperate fury of a force whose retreat had been cut off. The demons brought war and the guardians meet them head on.
Kenric leaped and snapped, tearing with powerful jaws and teeth, bringing down one demon after another as he overpowered them with sheer muscle mass, striking vulnerable points with well-aimed bolts of power. The five guardians formed a loose ring with their backs to the center and by ones or by groups the enemy fell to them.
Kadar fought in dragon form, sweeping with his tail, rending with his claws.
Abaran moved like a dark shadow, now here, now there, striking without warning.
Ronan danced with his sword felled every demon who partnered him in his bloody ballet. Adrian fought with quiet power and focus, choosing his targets and watching for his opportunities.
Kenric grinned at the next demon who rushed him, meting, out death with joyous ferocity. This was what they were made for. They guarded the mortal world that never knew its own peril or suspected the form of its salvation. Unseen, unheard, unknown, they watched and when needed, they fought.
Purpose drove him. Discipline sustained him. Immortal, unceasing, unstoppable, he carried out his duty until no more enemies, cast themselves into his jaws and the Shadow Guardians were surrounded by piles of steaming, stinking demon carcasses.
“It's finished,” Adrian said.
“Abaran and I will sweep tor stragglers.” Kadar gathered himself, preparing to launch into flight. “If you hadn't sent our other flying member away, this would be good training for her.”
Kenric didn't answer. He didn't deny that her abilities could prove useful, and since she had them, common sense demanded she train them to serve her. But the easy way the dragon called her their other member disturbed him.
She was one of their number in a sense now, yes. Made so by chance and circumstance. But would she fight beside them? Could he trust her at his back if she did?
“She saved Abaran and defeated the coven,” the dragon said, reading his thoughts.
“As for how she came to bear the mark, did any of us plan this life? You don't want to trust her. As long as you hold her at arm's length, you don’t have to face what she is to you.”
“With that, he sprang into the sky. Abaran unfurled his wings and followed. They split off, one taking the east, the other the west. Kenric watched them dwindle to invisibility in the distance.
Twenty-One
Kenric found the witch dozing with her cheek pillowed against cold stone, like a sentinel who'd tried and failed to stay awake through the watch.
She hadn't bathed or changed. Her face was still pale from exertion and the hollows beneath her cheekbones accentuated her fragile appearance. If not for a certain softness in her expression as she slept and the bold sparkle of the diamond contrasting with her utilitarian clothing, she might have been a female mercenary. But there was that betraying softness about her. And she wore her lover's token openly.
Men of war became familiar with two sorts of women. There were camp followers, and there were those who were warriors in their own right, who’d cut down any man who dared lay a hand on them. This woman fit neither group.
She fought like a warrior, albeit an untrained and undisciplined one who would benefit from hours of practice. She abandoned herself to pleasure with her five lovers, than set out to rescue the one of their number who had gone missing as if he was her comrade in arms.
A camp follower many lovers, but looked to her own interests. A warrior female looked to the interests of her comrades but had no lovers.
But then, she was a true witch. “Witches had always been a law unto themselves. It been such a long time, he’d forgotten that.
As if she'd sensed she was watched, her eyes fluttered open. “Hello, wolf. I take it the demons have been defeated?”
He padded closer and nudged her with enough force to dislodge her from her uncomfortable seat, but gently.
She yawned, stretched, and rose to her feet, wincing as she straightened. “Ouch.
Shouldn't have gone to sleep like that.”
No, She shouldn't have. A soldier knew to sleep when the opportunity came, to keep himself sharp for action. And knew better than to do it in a position guaranteed to make muscles stiff instead of ready. But as Kadar had said, she was clever. She'd learn quickly enough.
He turned and made for his own bed, trusting her to follow. She stumbled along in his wake. He heard her yawn more than once. His blankets must have seemed as inviting to her as to him, since she curled into them before he'd finished arranging himself for rest. He kept his wolf form. He didn't want a sex partner tonight. He simply wanted the witch where he could keep an eye on her. If there was another reason he desired her presence, he didn’t choose to examine it. Kadar’s accusation surfaced in his head. Ruthlessly, he buried it.
Her fingers dug into the thick ruff of fur at the back of his neck. “This is nice,” she mumbled on the heels of another yawn. “I've never had a dog.”
After a beat her hand stiffened, then carefully withdrew. “I mean, I think a dog would be nice. Not that you are. Or that you're mine.”
Her awkward retraction amused instead of annoying him. He pretended sleep. She gradually relaxed beside him. When he heard her breathing deepen, he allowed himself to follow suit.
She made enough noise in her sleep to rouse him repeatedly through the night. She tossed and turned, mumbled, cried out once. Then she shifted closer and quieted as if she found his nearness a comfort That kept him awake long alter she'd flipped into a deeper, undisturbed sleep.
*
Sybil woke up to an empty bed and a sense of unreality as disorienting as her hopefully never-to-be-repeated trip to the shadow realms. If there were any other witches in the world, she couldn't sense them. She knew what to look for now, the power signature was unmistakable. The coven had masked theirs, but not well enough to fool another witch. She had known them for what they were before she'd gone into their secret room.
As she lay in bed thinking back on the previous day's events, she was haunted by a niggling question. Would Kenric find an excuse to exclude her the next time there was trouble? Would he ever be able to accept her as part of the team?
Well, one way nr another, she'd find out. But there was nothing to gain from worrying about it.
She took a walk in the underground woods to clear her head. Exercise helped. It forced her to take deep, steady breaths, to find a rhythm, to ground herself. She didn't meet any of the others. After a while, she found herself at Adrian’s doorstep. She suppressed a grin, wondering if a vampire could block her from its home once she'd been invited in.
He didn't answer her knock, so she decided not to test the theory or invade his privacy. Instead, she made her way around to a courtyard garden marked off by low stone walls. A bed of herbs filled the air with lemon and lavender. Olive trees and a grape arbor created shade. Flowers and neatly staked rows of vegetables bordered a lush swath of lawn. In the center of the grass, a fountain bubbled inside a ring of stone benches. Adrian stood facing the fountain with his back to her.
“Hello.”
He didn't answer, but turned and extended a hand in invitation. Sybil came forward and took the hand he offered. He clasped hers in a sure grip and drew her closer to his, side.
“This is beautiful,” she said after they'd stood together in silence for a few minutes.
“As are you.” He raised her hand and brushed his lips across the backs of her knuckles.
She laughed. “I slept in my clothes and we both know my hair is impossible.”
“I still find you a bright spot in my garden.”
“There’s an easy explanati
on for that.” She leaned into him. “You probably need a donor after yesterday. Anything with hemoglobin would look good to you.”
“Perhaps I see you with affection and would find you lovely in any case.”
“Perhaps.” Sybil was willing to accept the possibility that the feeling she had for him was returned in some fashion. She liked Adrian. She found him compelling, attractive, and strangely restful company, They'd shared blood, sex, and magic. Was it so hard to think he might like her, too?
“I don’t think you came to visit just to see if I was in need of a donor, as you put it.”
Mmm. No.” She pulled her hand free of his so she could wrap both of her arms around his waist. “I came to say thank you.”
“To thank me?” Surprise colored his voice, Adrian's arms closed around her, returning her embrace. “For what?”
“It was your idea for me to aim excess power at something. I sent it into Abaran, and it helped me find him in the shadow realm. I promised myself I'd thank you for that if we ever managed to get out.”
“Luck.”
“Somebody once said we make our own,” Sybil returned. She pressed closer, taking pleasure in the feel of his body against hers, his masculine frame a delightful contrast to her feminine.
“Careful. Anything you offer me, I'll take,” Adrian's voice took on a thickened note.
“Take what you like.”
“What I like.” He echoed her words, then buried his face in the curve of her neck.
“What I like is to puncture your sweet flesh with my fangs while I pierce your body with mine. What I like is to drink from you while you shudder with pleasure. “What I like is to know I can have you again and again.”
“Sweet talker.” She grinned and tilted her head further to make it easier for him to find the vein.
His teeth grazed her skin. She made a low sound of delight. He raised his head to look into her eyes. “Are you truly here because you wish to be? Or have I enslaved you with venom?”
“You've enslaved me with kindness. great sex, and exquisite taste,” Sybil assured him. “The venom is a rush, but honestly, I'm just glad it makes something you need a mutually enjoyable act. I was prepared to do it because I was prepared to accept whatever being your lover meant. But I'm glad it's not something I just endure or hope you won't need from me too often. This way is much better.”
“Much better,” Adrian agreed. He took her mouth, kissing her until her head spun and her body felt fluid and soft. Then he undressed her with unrushed movements and stripped away her clothes one item at a time.
Sybil returned the favor, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it open to run her hands over his bare chest and abdomen. He shrugged out of the open garment and let it fall, then lowered her naked to the ground. The grass cushioned her back, soft and smelling or sun and green life.
Adrian moved over her, sliding her legs apart with his, holding his weight above her as he nuzzled her throat, then moved lower to lave her breasts with his tongue. He closed his mouth over one nipple and drew on it, the suction sending a wave of sensation through her that made her hips move in restless need. She reached for him and buried her fingers in his hair, holding him there, arching her ribcage up like an offering.
He rolled her nipple in his mouth, then let it slide free. Sybil made a soft sound as the cool air struck bare skin still damp from his tongue.
He turned his attention to the other tight bud, drawing the peak of her breast into his mouth, flicking his tongue over her nipple, then sinking his fangs into the tender flesh. Venom sent her into a delirium of pleasure as he suckled. Her arms tightened around him and her head thrashed from side to side. She wound her legs around his thighs and tried to draw him closer, lost in urgency.
“Adrian,” she groaned out loud. “Hurry, please.”
He released her and raised his head, heat flaring in his eyes. “Not too fast.” He kissed the valley between her breasts, moved down to feather his lips along the soft skin of her belly, scooting back on his knees between her open legs to close his mouth over her clit.
The heat of his mouth and the suction he applied to her sensitive flesh nearly made her come out of her skin, His tongue explored her folds, licking and suckling as if she tasted like his favorite candy. Her hips rocked up to meet his mouth and her breath became a panting moan.
“Now,” Adrian murmured. He worked his pants down his hips and left them that way, lowered just enough to free his thick penis. He settled into the cradle of her hips, guided himself into position, then thrust all the way inside her and struck the side of her neck with his fangs simultaneously.
Sybil wrapped her legs around his waist, opening herself wider to take him deeper.
Her hard nipples rubbed against his chest as he rode her. His fangs pierced her skin with sweet pleasure. His shaft filled her again and again, each stroke sending her further into a white heat of ecstasy that finally burst in a series of orgasms that rolled through her, one after another. He drew her pleasure out, then spilled himself into her as they peaked together and drifted slowly back down.
Afterward, they exchanged a series of lazy, thorough kisses flavored with a tang of copper. Adrian raised his head and looked into her face. “I have never been thanked so delightfully in all my long years.”
“You're welcome.” Sybil smiled at him, feeling sated and unreasonably good from the vampire venom coursing in her veins.
“You look drugged.”
“I'm not complaining.” She smiled wider.
“I should get off you, or you'll have reason to complain later.”
“I won't complain later, either.”
Adrian laughed. They rested together in a tangle of limbs, and Sybil felt something like contentment mixed with the sexual buzz. Eventually they got to their feet and pulled themselves together. Then she tried not to wreck his garden while he showed her through it, explaining the uses and benefits or various plants.
Restlessness returned. After a leisurely good-bye kiss, she left Adrian to his solitary peace, glad he'd shared a measure of it with her.
She made her way back to what she thought of as “the wolfs woods” and found the wolf himself lounging under a tree. He stood when he saw her, his warrior's body a feast for her eyes.
“They have this new invention,” Sybil said in a. grave voice. “Maybe you've heard of it. They call it clothing.”
“I call it an annoyance to be avoided whenever possible.”
“It probably is a real pain in the ass for a shapeshifter,” she agreed. “So many potential problems. How do you carry them around when you're in animal form, how do you keep from damaging them when you shift. It I were you, I’d probably just give up and stay in the buff, too.”
He scowled, “It is not giving up.”
She spread her hands. “Not trying to pick a fight. And not complaining when it gives me such a great view.”
“You enjoy the sight of my body?”
“As if you didn't know.” She shook her head “It's distracting, though. I see you naked and suddenly can't remember what I was thinking or doing.”
What have you been doing?”
“I went to visit Adrian.”
Kenric moved closer. “I smell him on your skin. You must have enjoyed the sight of his body as well.”
“Yes.”
“Did he please you?”
“Very much.”
“I'll please you more.”
“I don't doubt it.”
He gave her a hard kiss that made her breath catch, backed her up against a tree, and sent his hands roaming over her body.
“You don't mind?” Sybil asked when she get enough air to speak.
“That you enjoy your other lovers? I find it arousing. I like the sight of you flushed from sex. I like seeing you under another man. I like sharing you, seeing how much pleasure you can take. I find the competition for your favor stimulating. Which of us can please you the most?”
“I don't think of it as com
petition,” she said, blinking at the thought. “I mean, not in the sense of all of you competing for me. More like, I can't compete since I'm net in the same league.”
“You're in our league now.”
“Am I?” Suddenly sober, she tilted her head back to meet his eyes. “Am I in your league? If I hadn't been exhausted yesterday, would you have sent me away, or expected me to take my place with you?”
A frown darkened his face. “That's a foolish question.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“You have no training, no discipline, no experience.”
“Then I'd better start getting some.” She stared back at him without blinking.
Kenric took a step back and lot his hands fall away from her. His eyes held hers in silence for a minute that felt like eternity. Then he spoke as if choosing his words very carefully. “Your place is not in battle.”
A giant fist closed around her heart and squeezed. Despite everything, despite all she'd done and risked, he couldn't or wouldn't see her as a part of the team. He wouldn't even open enough to tell her why. It hurt so much she went numb inside.
“Then my place isn't here.” She let the fire rise to dance over her skin, stirring her hair with the wind created by its heat. “I stand with all of you, or I stand alone.”
His jaw tightened. “You're overreacting.”
“I don't think I am,” She rose into the in and hovered a moment, saying good-bye with her heart. “I'm not the one who betrayed you. When you decide you can trust me, come; and find me. I might still care.”
Twenty-Two
And they say you can't go home again,” Sybil said out loud, looking around her apartment. It felt unlived in, abandoned. She hadn't been gone that long, But then, She’d packed a lot of living into the time she'd been away.
It felt strange to be alone. Stranger to know that she wasn't in an underground cave system that ran according to magical rules. She felt out of sorts, out of synch, and being home just made it worse. This place should feel familiar. She should feel like she belonged. Instead, she felt like a time traveler studying the past.
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