“The demon. The one I made a deal with.” She lowered her eyes and wiggled against him in a way he knew she didn’t mean to be sensual. His cock didn’t get the message. “Heard of him?”
At that moment, he really wished he had. “Sorry.”
A dark shudder rippled through her body. “He’s an ass.”
“Demons tend to be.”
“He tried to keep us apart. I gave him something huge, and he tried to keep us apart.”
Nicholas shrugged. “Didn’t take. I’ve loved you all my life.”
She arched a brow. “You only remembered that you loved me four hours ago.”
“Semantics,” he argued. “I still loved you, my night angel. You got me through the disaster that was this life. I was miserable, but at night I was loved. You were always with me, and you loved me.”
He loved the way her eyes brightened when she smiled. “I’ve always loved you,” Raven whispered.
“Loved you first.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Nuh uh.”
A wide grin split his lips, and his hands suddenly itched to feel her warmth. “Yeah huh,” he argued, coaxing her upward so he could tease her breasts.
Her hands wasted no time exploring him the second they were free, roaming over his skin, eliciting little shivers in their wake. Nicholas sighed happily, then caught a sinister gleam in her eye that melted his smile away in a heartbeat.
“Need I remind you how ticklish you are?” she asked.
“It’s a chance I’m willing to—”
Wrong choice of words. The tomb bellowed with the piercing ring of his giggle, and if he remembered anything, once the onslaught began, it didn’t stop. In seconds, he was bucking hard beneath her merciless fingers, his hands abandoning her breasts and fighting to find her wrists.
“You—” Giggle. “—little—” Squirm. “—wench.”
“Oooh! Scary.”
“I’ll scare you…all right.”
“I can’t wait.”
With the way she moved over him, waiting wasn’t an issue. With a triumphant growl, he found her wrists and utilized his grip to tug her to his chest, shutting up that gorgeous mouth of hers with a kiss that would put the stars to shame. He didn’t know how he’d survived this long without the feel of her tongue caressing his or her moans ringing in his ears. He didn’t know how he’d lived without her warmth.
He didn’t know how he’d made it this far without piecing together the love exploding in his heart, the same love he’d always known didn’t belong to Octavia. He’d never comprehend how he’d gone so long without knowing this—the wholeness of Raven. He’d never understand why it had taken tasting her blood to return the world to him, but he remained bound in more gratitude than he’d ever experienced.
Raven had risked everything to save him, and she had.
He only hoped he could save her in return.
“What was it?” he asked between hungry kisses, loathing to deprive his mouth of hers even for something he knew to be important.
She whimpered and made a sound which he decoded as, “Huh?”
“What did you bargain?”
Nicholas didn’t know what he expected; an evasion, a fight, a pun. He didn’t expect her to fork over the answer so quickly.
She looked at him with her green eyes and licked her lips. “It was me,” she explained. A chill seized his veins. “I mean, my power. Not all of me, obviously, but the power center part. The demon wanted that, I wanted you, and so I gave it.”
His ears rang as though trying to piece the words together so they formed a different sentence. It was the way she said it, the cavalier way her voice wrapped around syllables and sound. She had no idea. She had no idea what she’d done.
Oh God.
It seemed the night was full of surprises.
Chapter 23
He didn’t tell her why they ran or where they were headed. He didn’t tell her anything. One minute she’d been lying in his arms and the next Nicholas had tossed her to her feet and started screaming things that made no sense.
It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected from him. No, this was more on the level of what she’d expected from Dexter: screaming, yelling, fear-stricken eyes and the demands of how stupid she could be. Her mind had all but spun off its axis.
Now, with her wrist in Nicholas’s ironclad grip and her eyes on his backside, Raven did her best not to stumble as he sprinted toward a very familiar neighborhood.
He’d led her home.
“Nicholas—”
The hand gripped around her wrist tightened and pulled her into a faster jog. “Quiet,” he said.
“I—”
“I’ll throw you over my shoulder if I need to.”
“I’m—”
Okay, so it wasn’t an empty threat. The next thing she knew, Nicholas had jerked her to a quick halt and then she was in the air, bouncing against his shoulder with every speedy stride his legs made against the ground.
“Well,” she huffed, “this was uncalled for.”
Nicholas didn’t respond so much as run. He ran so hard it amazed her when he didn’t break stride. He ran until the shapes around her materialized into the familiar drive leading to her and Dexter’s front door. He ran until they stood on the doorstep, and even then, it was likely only the presence of a door that convinced his feet to stop.
“When your Guardian hears about this…” Nicholas growled, bouncing impatiently. “I swear, this time, I’m not gonna risk life and limb to stop a campfire.”
“He already knows,” Raven said, wiggling to no avail. She didn’t want to acknowledge her rising surge of panic. It was better to remain irritated, if not slightly put off. Her very logical mind refused to tear itself to shreds over something her incredibly smart and anxiety-prone Guardian hadn’t made hay over. “Nicholas, he already—”
Either she was invisible, or Nicholas was too wound up to think logically when she spoke. He ignored her completely, instead tightening his hold on her leg with his left hand and administering thunderous pounds to Dexter’s door with this right.
“You in there!” he screamed through the door. “Open up!”
Her heart skipped, and her pulse raced. “Yeah,” she said, her voice somewhat strained. “’Cause this isn’t gonna make him panic.”
“Raven, sweetheart, I love you but if you don’t shut your trap, I might do something I’ll regret.”
“What did I do?”
Nicholas scoffed as though she knew perfectly well what she’d done and didn’t answer. Instead, he again pounded on the door. “Dexter!”
Raven wished she could see Dexter’s face when he opened the door. It would certainly be one for the books. However, from her vantage point all she could see was her vampire’s jean-clad ass.
“Wh-what the hell?” Dexter stammered, his voice aghast. “Raven?”
“Your girl’s a dolt, you know that?” Nicholas barked, thundering over the threshold.
Raven quickly found herself tossed onto the familiar settee in their shared living room. Her surroundings barely had time to stop spinning before she focused on Nicholas as he made laps across the floor.
She glanced to Dexter, who watched her lover warily. He looked torn between reaching for the nearest weapon and comforting the poor guy. At the moment, Raven could really sympathize.
“Did you know?” Nicholas asked finally, startling them both when he broke out of his pace. “Did you know what she did?”
Dexter blinked in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“The bargain,” Raven explained quickly. She would be lying if she said her heart didn’t slow with relief when Dexter’s face relaxed and tension rolled off his shoulders. He’d obviously expected something new and dangerous and worse than what they already knew. At least she wasn’t insane. “The powers-go-bye-bye bargain.”
Dexter nodded, turning his eyes to Nicholas and favoring him with his best glare. “Yes,” he said calmly. “Raven told me everything. Earlier tonig
ht, actually, before you showed up and things became even more interesting.”
Nicholas blinked. “And?”
“And?”
“I’m sorry, but are we talking about the same thing?”
“I thought we covered that with the powers-go-bye-bye thing,” Raven muttered, lowering her eyes. Her fingers occupied themselves with the fabric of Nicholas’s tee. She frowned. Since when did she wear Nicholas’s clothes?
He must have dressed her in the hazed blur between their conversation and his mad dash home. She didn’t remember.
When she looked up, she noted, for the first time, that Nicholas only wore his jeans. Nothing more.
God, how this must look.
“Am I really the only one here who knows what that means?” Nicholas asked, his voice uncommonly shrill.
Dexter cleared his throat. “Your concern being what it is, the removal of Raven’s powers will—”
“Kill her.”
In that instant, all sound faded, fizzed out by the theatric and purposeful beats of her heart. Then her ears started to ring. Her throat swelled. Her skin burned. Every nerve in her body pricked with life. She could almost hear her blood rushing through her veins, and it sounded, strangely, much like standing in the ocean. For a fraction of a second, she felt sand between her toes, the sun on her face. She heard waves crash against a pearly shoreline as clouds feathered the sky and heat blistered her moon-kissed skin. She found herself torn indefinitely between two worlds.
Only her oasis didn’t exist. She sat in her home, surrounded by sound but deafened to everything but the noise her own body made—the thunder, the ocean, the emptiness.
The nothing.
She must have passed out, for the next thing she knew, she blinked her eyes open and found her head was in Nicholas’s lap.
“I’m so sorry,” her vampire whispered, anguished. “I just lost my head.”
“What happened?”
There was a deathly silence, then she remembered. She was home. She was on the couch. She’d just learned she was going to die.
Oh God.
“It won’t happen, kitten,” Nicholas promised her softly, his fingers gently stroking her temple. “I won’t let it happen.”
“I don’t…”
A very familiar throat cleared. Raven closed her eyes. She knew what the sound meant. Years under Dexter’s guidance had taught her how to read the signs.
“I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner,” Dexter said softly. “I’m so sorry, Raven.”
“Will you guys please stop apologizing to me?” she muttered, wincing as she sat up. “I just need—”
“Nicholas is right,” Dexter confirmed. God, she’d never heard him sound so haunted, nor had she ever seen the hollowed circles of his eyes. It was as though life had been stripped away. “He’s right.” There was a long pause. She felt she should say something, but she didn’t know what so she didn’t try. Dexter exhaled slowly, then finally looked up. “The Few are intimately linked with vampires, more so than any other demons. They are of the same mold. The same fabric, if you will. As the laws of life govern vampires, there are some shared traits with the Few.”
Raven swallowed hard. Her skin was cold and clammy. Sweat lined her brow. Still, she didn’t speak.
“I suppose the best way to explain it would be to understand where your power comes from.” Dexter rose to his feet. “Raven, you are, and you always have been part demon.”
Her head started ringing again. “What?”
“It is simply the way—”
“What?”
Nicholas kissed her temple. “It’s not so bad, kitten.”
“How? I don’t…” Her skin went numb. “I…can’t…”
“This doesn’t change anything,” Dexter said quickly. “You are still completely human. Only with this added. It doesn’t change anything, nothing about your birthright or your heritage or anything, really.”
“Except the part where I’m a demon.”
“Except that.”
Raven sighed heavily. “I think I have a headache.”
Dexter shook his head. “It’s not like it sounds. I had to learn this, too, in order to guide you. The High Council has many volumes in their collection explaining the origin of the Few, and they stress that the demon inside is…well, normal and largely misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood…how?”
“Semantics, mostly. The Latin derivative of demon is the word daimon. And by tradition, daimons are neither evil nor good. There are some who are good, whose roles are to balance the scales between the virtuous and the malevolent.” He paused as though trying to find words. “I remember Plato describing daimons as being supernatural beings between mortals and gods, or something like that. As you know well, there are a number of non-human creatures, vampires and other demons alike, who pose no threat to humanity and, by and large, live normal lives. The confusion comes in the Judeo-Christian interpretation of the word, which characterizes all demons as something inherently wicked.”
Raven swallowed hard. She felt only marginally better. “Okay…”
“And for every great power, there exists its equal and opposite counterpart,” Dexter continued. “This is true in every living thing, Raven, from human souls to demons. Vampires represent the evil of the demon that lurks inside them. The Few represent the good.” He paused. “The Few are also given immeasurable advantages in strength and authority, at least in the form of the High Council and yours truly. But there are many questions that remain unanswered.”
“Imagine my surprise,” Nicholas drawled.
Feeling slowly returned her to veins, but too slowly. She feared she might pass out again if Dexter didn’t hurry to the point. “Okay, so I’m a demon.” The words felt strange in her mouth. “Anything else you’re keeping from me?”
“Yes, you’re part demon but you are also human,” Dexter argued. “As are vampires. That’s what makes you unique. You are living. They are dead. Your human side is dominant, your demon recessive. Their demon side is dominant, their human recessive. You tap your power from your demon side, and some vampires, such as Nicholas…”
The vampire at her side squeezed her shoulder and kissed her brow. She barely felt it.
“…maintain their humanity. Arguably, some have more access than others. Just as some of the Few go drunk with the power of their inner demon, some vampires feel more than others, which is why we encounter those who see it as their duty to protect humanity, while others feel nothing at all.” Dexter cleared his throat again. “It depends on the vampire or the Few in question, I suppose. However, the point being—”
Raven nodded numbly. “I’m getting it.”
“You cannot simply remove the demon from a vampire. To do so would render the vampire nothing more than an empty shell.”
“A corpse,” Nicholas supplied, shuddering. “The demon’s the only thing keeping us alive after we’re killed. Take it away and we’re toast.”
“But I’m not dead,” Raven argued. “Vampires need their demons in order to survive, but I—”
“You are no different. Without your demon counterpart to sustain your human self, you will wither into nothing,” Dexter explained solemnly. “The Few are predestined for their fate. Vampires are not. And since the Few are predestined, they are immediately molded to be dependent on the inner daimon. Without the daimon, the human part of the Few cannot survive. They are two halves, you see. They need each other.” There was a heavy pause. “Raven, Paimon could not touch your soul, but he has access to your power. And unless we have the means to stop him, you will—”
“I’ll die.”
Dexter swallowed hard and nodded again. “I’m afraid so.”
It was strange. The note in his voice seemed distant, as though he’d never seen her before, as though they hadn’t been each other’s family since she was a child. She’d placed her life in his hands over and over again, and in a horrific second, it almost felt he hadn’t truly
seen her until now.
It wasn’t intentional, and it didn’t last long. She knew his tone held no indication of his feelings. His eyes alone were enough to feed her the truth, but it still haunted her. At that moment, he seemed so far away and so out of reach.
This was it. The golden catch she’d always known lurked in Paimon’s words. Beyond his attempt to keep her and Nicholas apart, beyond denying her the memories that belonged to her and always had, this was it—the catch.
“I didn’t want my power,” Raven whispered, her throat dry. “I didn’t want it.”
“I know,” Dexter replied softly. “I’m so sorry, Raven. I…”
“How did you know?” she asked, but her question was directed to the vampire at her side, his face a tortured mess of contemplation. “I told Dexter and I told you, and you knew immediately. I don’t understand. The High Council…they don’t—”
“I’ve done my homework.”
Nicholas’s voice sounded even further away than her Guardian’s.
“What?”
“The obsession with the Few, right? I buried my nose in every book I could find. The sort of stuff the higher-ups eventually put under lock and key.” He favored Dexter with a scathing glare. “Your Guardian must’ve skipped that day in class. It’s just one of those things, huh, Dex?”
“My studies on the Few and their origin are nearly ten years old. It was never something we were supposed to memorize.” Dexter frowned. “It was simply there. An explanation. The purpose. It made sense and I accepted it. But I’ve never viewed any of our warriors…I’ve never viewed Raven as…” He sighed heavily, his eyes weighed with guilt and self-condemnation. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner. It just wasn’t a part of my training. I was meant to work in the field. My duty was to protect you, prepare you. Understanding the basics of your powers is something I knew but nothing truly important to the task.”
Nicholas snorted. “Yeah. Knowing where your girl’s power comes from isn’t important at all.”
Raven elbowed him. “Nicolai, shut up.”
A ghost of a smile tugged on Dexter’s lips. It was humorless and sad, but there nonetheless. “The demonology behind the Few is the concern of the High Council, not us mere mortals. There isn’t anything about the Few, their power, or the truth of their nature that the High Council doesn’t know. But there is quite a bit the High Council doesn’t share with Guardians simply because we are so close to our wards.” He grew silent again. “I’m so sorry, Raven. I should’ve known.”
Ripples Through Time Page 25
