“Is that safe?” came a new voice. “We don’t know… ”
“I know,” she whispered in reply. “I will always be safe in this place. Go. Please.”
The hesitant pattering of feet leaving faded away slowly. Whatever the woman was waiting for she clearly wanted to wait alone.
“Are you sure?” a solitary and grief-filled voice asked.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
The quiet was nice and I hoped the woman would be okay. She was so broken and so sad. I wished to comfort her, but I wasn’t really here. My physical and spiritual self was balanced somewhere in limbo. It was tiring, but it simply was what it was. Helping was out of the question as I was set to leave to go somewhere. I didn’t know where, but I knew the time had come for me to depart this plane.
A cool hand touched my face and drops of warm water caressed my lips and chin. The flat voice of the woman wasn’t as lifeless now that she was by herself.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’ve prayed constantly that what I’ve done hasn’t caused you pain… but I simply couldn’t let you go. I spent over two hundred years running from you because that’s what I thought was best for you. But I was wrong and stupid. The Angel owed you and I made him pay. What he did was unnatural and he didn’t want to do it, but Pam kept hissing like a snake and eventually he caved.”
The sound of soft sobbing pulled at my heart and again I wanted to comfort this sad woman, but again… I wasn’t really here.
“That’s why I did what I did. Maybe it was selfish, but I found a loophole and I took it. You hadn’t turned to ash yet. I begged on my knees and I’d do it again. The Angel told me there was a fifty percent chance it wouldn’t work—that you would permanently die anyway, but I didn’t care. If there was even a one percent chance of you coming back to me, I would have taken it. It’s okay if you need to go—I’ll let you go,” she said in a choked voice. “But I’ll follow you. This life means nothing to me without you in it. Nothing. I love you, Heathcliff. I will always love you and I’ll be with you soon.”
I heard the swish of what sounded like a wall opening and the clanking of metal. The presence of the woman drew near again and I caught a faint whiff of her scent. It was familiar and made me want to stay even though I knew it was time to go. Maybe I could delay a little while longer. She was kind and strong and smelled so damned good. This Heathcliff was a very lucky man to have her love and devotion.
I’d stayed for such a long time even though there were others that pulled for me. For some unknown reason I was still here. Maybe it was the woman.
The feather light touch of lips on mine soothed me and the thought of leaving was less appealing. Suddenly I longed to kiss the lips that pressed against mine, but I was trapped in a place that held me tight.
“I’ll wait for you to turn to ash and then I’ll take my own life with this sword. It’s a beautiful sword. You would like it. It’s not frilly or girly. It’s a piece I wanted to give you as a gift. I had it made for you over a hundred years ago knowing I’d never give it to you… and sadly I was correct.”
She was quiet for a few moments and then I was aware of a slim hand holding tightly to mine.
“It’s only fitting that I use this sword to kill myself. It feels full circle,” she explained with conviction.
It was lovely that she wanted to die for me. I wondered what I had done to inspire such loyalty.
Wait. What the fuck? She was going to kill herself?
Was I dead? I didn’t feel dead. I mean I couldn’t move or talk or see… but I could hear her. I could smell her. She was mine.
I couldn’t remember her fucking name, but her face was clear and beautiful behind my closed lids—her red hair, her full lips, her soft skin.
Goddamn it, was I dead or not?
“I heard that shit,” a different female voice huffed as I heard her march back into the room. The voice sounded vaguely like one I should know. “He would be furious if you offed your ass after he died saving your sorry butt.”
“I said I wanted to be alone,” the one who was mine snapped.
“And I want world peace and stiletto heels that don’t crunch my fucking toes and give me blisters.”
“Oh my God, Astrid,” the one whose scent kept me here groused. “If he’s gone, I have nothing. Nothing. I will follow him till the end of time. And there is no such thing as stilettos that don’t crunch toes.”
“I call bullshit on all of that except the crunched toe part. First of all, Heathcliff’s not gone yet. If you pull a fucking Romeo and Juliet thing and whack yourself right before he wakes up, I will be so fucking pissed I will find you in the afterlife and beat your ass,” Astrid vowed.
“There are only minutes left,” my girl said harshly. “Just leave.”
“Have you tried smacking him in the head or giving him titty twisters?” she suggested.
“Ummm… no.”
“He hates titty twisters. All guys do. Watch and learn,” Astrid said with frightening determination in her voice.
This Astrid was all kinds of crazy and I hoped she wasn’t referring to me in reference to the titty twister. Unfortunately she was referring to me and she twisted with gusto.
I wanted to shove her away. I ached to make sure the one who was mine didn’t hurt herself. I needed… Son of a bitch. I needed to kill Vlad.
I needed to make love to Raquel—my mate.
And I really needed to throw my titty twisting cousin across the room.
Now.
“Off,” I choked out in a voice that seemed to belong to someone else. “Off of me. Now.”
“Holy shitballs on fire, I can’t believe that worked,” Astrid squealed.
I pried open my eyes and was greeted with the gaping open-mouthed stare of my cousin.
“Mother humpin cowballs,” she yelled. “Your eyes are silver.”
“And my nipples are on fire,” I shot back weakly. “Where is she? Did she harm herself?” I demanded as I tried and failed to sit up.
“Do you know who I am?” Astrid demanded. “Do you know who you are?”
I closed my eyes and let my heavy head fall back on what I assumed to be a bed. “I am Heathcliff. You are my certifiable cousin, Astrid. My mate Raquel is somewhere in this room and if she doesn’t come to me right now, I’ll explode.”
“I’m here,” Raquel cried out as she wrapped her arms around me and planted little kisses all over my face and neck. Her tears fell freely and she gently ran her hands over my still sluggish form. “Are you really back?” she whispered biting back her sobs.
“I’m here. I’ve been here, but I didn’t know I was me,” I told her as I tried to remember what had happened. “You made a deal with Roberto?”
“I called in your favor. He brought you back,” she said and waited for my reaction.
“I was dead?”
She nodded and chewed nervously at her bottom lip.
“How in the Hell did he do that?” I asked, shocked. I knew Angels had enormous power, but bringing back the dead… or undead as it were.
“If you’d been human, he couldn’t have done it,” Pam volunteered as she and the King rushed back into the room.
Ethan and Jean Paul followed close behind and everyone stared at me with wonder.
“It’s him?” Ethan asked cautiously.
“Him has a name, asshole,” I said with a fatigued grin.
“Oh good. It is him,” Ethan confirmed as a huge relieved smile stretched across his lips.
“I titty twisted him,” Astrid volunteered with a wicked glint in her eyes.
All the men including myself grunted in phantom pain as Astrid did the motions of a robustly severe titty twist.
“It’s you, but you’re more now, my friend,” Pam said as she examined my eyes carefully.
“Explain,” I said as I gingerly pulled myself to a sitting position with help from Raquel.
“Well, now there’s the conundrum,” Pam said with a chuckle. “You
’re a prototype. This has never been done before, but your silver eyes are those of a young Angel.”
“Am I still a Vampyre?” I asked, confused. I didn’t feel any different than I always had other than the sluggishness of having been out cold for a week. “Am I dangerous to you?”
Astrid stepped forward, placed her hands on my face and closed her eyes. She chanted softly and I felt her massive power flow through my body. Her eyes popped open and she stared at me with a perplexed expression.
“You’re not dangerous, but Pam is correct. You are much more than you were before, my cousin.”
“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” I questioned warily.
“That’s up to you,” she answered vaguely with a lopsided grin.
“That was awfully cryptic for a new Vampyre,” I told her with an arched brow and a matching grin.
“Right?” she said gleefully. “I’m finally catching on to this undead shit.”
“Do you have fangs?” Raquel asked as she gently rubbed my back and rolled her eyes at Astrid.
I reached into my mouth and promptly cut my finger on the razor sharp tips of my fangs as they descended. The relief I felt was absurd.
“I do.” I laughed as I sucked on my bleeding finger.
The taste of blood and the nearness of my mate caused a raging hunger to well inside me. Dizziness overtook me and I slumped back on the bed.
“He needs to feed,” the King guessed correctly.
Everyone began to pull up their sleeves and Raquel halted them with a loud and unladylike clearing of her throat. The laughter and catcalls followed my friends out of the room as they all left. Congratulations about not biting the dust were called rudely over shoulders.
And then we were alone.
Feeding could wait. I had a few things I needed to discuss with my mate…
“Vlad got away?” I asked.
She nodded. “Jean Paul went for him after you were staked, but he transported away.”
I digested this information and kept my eyes glued to hers.
“We’ll get him and when we do, it will be his last day on earth,” she promised with vengeance in her lovely eyes.
I nodded and traced her angry frown with my fingertip.
“I want you to promise me something,” I said slowly.
“Anything.”
“If something happens to me, I want you to go on.”
“No,” she replied without hesitation and held my gaze defiantly.
“No?” I shot back.
“Let me ask you something,” she said as she crawled into the bed with me and snuggled close. “What would you do if I died and there was a chance we could be together in the afterlife?”
Damn it, she had me.
“I would… ” I started, trying to think of a clever way out.
“You would join me. You would come to me because that’s where you’re supposed to be. You can ask nothing of me that you wouldn’t do yourself,” she insisted quietly, but with steel in her voice.
She was correct and my love for this delicate beautiful woman grew to proportions I wasn’t aware I was capable of.
“I’m sorry. It’s the damn macho caveman bullshit tendencies,” I muttered and pulled her closer.
“Well, we are in the bedroom.”
Her eyes twinkled and turned a sexy shade of green.
“And I do believe you said as long as I kept the caveman in the bedroom you could live with him.”
My smile grew large and my pants tightened considerably.
“But wait,” she said with concern and pushed herself away. “You’re too weak. Let’s just take it easy for a few days. I’ll feed you and we can hold each other while we sleep.”
“While I appreciate your concern, and I really do—but my dick is killing me and I’m pretty sure blue balls won’t help my recovery one bit.”
I took her hand and placed it on the evidence of my not weak erection.
“Maybe we could combine dinner and a date,” she purred suggestively as she pulled her dress over her head.
“I think that is an outstanding idea.” I deftly unhooked her lacy bra and tore her barely there panties from her perfect body. “I’ll be better in no time if all my hungers get satisfied.”
She narrowed her eyes and giggled in such a carefree and joyous way it made my heart soar. I was so in love with her.
“I can work with that scenario,” Raquel said as she crawled on top of me and pressed her body to mine. “I love you, Heathcliff.”
“I would die for you, Raquel.”
“You already did. Please don’t do it again.”
“Fine point. Well made,” I told her as I hugged her like I would never let her go.
“Are you ready for dinner and a date?” she inquired as she ground her hips into mine, sending stars across my vision.
“I am so ready,” I said as I grabbed her ass, plunged my fangs into her wantonly exposed neck and took her up on her offer.
All of the details and clutter of what had happened could wait till another day. I was where I was supposed to be with the woman I’d died for safely in my arms.
I was ready.
And so was she.
Ten times ready and it was absolutely Hotter than Hell.
## The End (for now…) ##
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: If you enjoyed this ebook, please consider leaving a positive review or rating on the site where you purchased it. Reader reviews help my books continue to be valued by distributors/resellers and help new readers make decisions about reading them. You are the reason I write these stories and I sincerely appreciate you!
Many thanks for your support,
~ Robyn Peterman
Visit me on my website at http://www.robynpeterman.com.
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The Hot Damned Series – Book 7
Coming In 2016
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Book Lists (in correct reading order)
HOT DAMNED SERIES
Fashionably Dead
Fashionably Dead Down Under
Hell on Heels
Fashionably Dead in Diapers
Fashionably Hotter Than Hell
SHIFT HAPPENS SERIES
Ready to Were
Some Were in Time
No Were To Run
MAGIC AND MAYHEM SERIES
Switching Hour
Witch Glitch
A Witch In Time
HANDCUFFS AND HAPPILY EVER AFTERS SERIES
How Hard Can it Be?
Size Matters
Cop a Feel
If after reading all the above you are still wanting more adventure and zany fun, read Pirate Dave and His Randy Adventures, the romance novel budding novelist Rena was helping wicked Evangeline write in How Hard Can It Be.
Warning: Pirate Dave Contains Romance Satire, Plot Spoofing, and Pirates with Two Pork Swords. Enough said.
About Robyn Peterman
Robyn Peterman writes because the people inside her head won’t leave her alone until she gives them life on paper.
Her addictions include laughing really hard with friends, shoes (the expensive kind), Target, Coke Zero Cherry with extra ice in a Styrofoam cup, bejeweled reading glasses, her kids, her super-hot hubby and collecting stray animals.
A former professional actress with Broadway, film and T.V. credits, she now lives in the South with her family and too many animals to count.
Writing gives her peace and makes her whole, plus having a job where you can work in your underpants works really well for her. You can leave Robyn a message via the Contact Page and she’ll get back to you as soon as her bizarre life permits! She loves to hear from her fans!
** Visit www.robynpeterman.com for more information.**
Table of Contents
Title Page
Edition License Notes
Ack
nowledgments
Dedication
Chapter 1
Fashionably Hotter Than Hell: Book Six, The Hot Damned Series Page 23
