by Lisa Olsen
“You don’t want to be doing that,” he said in his low, raspy voice.
“I don’t? But you said you love me.”
“Which is why you should stay as far away from me as you can get right now.” His hands settled on my arms, and that’s when I noticed the heat coming off of him.
“You need blood now too, don’t you?” I realized aloud.
“I’ll be alright. Just need a few moments to catch hold of myself.”
It was the blood he’d given to Jakob, it’d sent him into a deep need himself. “Take some of mine.” Yes, it was more of the musical veins, Aubrey had called it, but if I could help him take the edge off, I had to offer.
“No, then you’ll be in need.”
“Rob, I’m pretty sure I’m older than you. That means I should be able to last longer without any new blood. It should’ve been me that fed Jakob to start with.”
“I said I have a right to decide who you give a taste to,” he scowled, almost immediately smoothing the furrow from his brow. “Sorry. You should leave me be. I’ll be fine in a tick.”
“Or you should stop being such a baby and let me do this,” I insisted, refusing to let him push me away. “I’m your wife, it’s my responsibility to take care of your needs.”
That made him get up and walk away. “Don’t want you doing this out of a sense of duty.”
“Okay, that came out wrong,” I muttered, chasing after him. “I’m not offering out of a sense of duty. I’m offering because I care about you and I don’t like to see you hurting. I’m offering because you need me, and even though things are sort of up in the air between us, I think maybe I need you too.” I needed to find the spark between us again, and this was the best way I could think of to find it.
“That don’t mean you have to give me your blood. I ain’t going nowhere.”
“Maybe I’m offering because I want to feel closer to you,” I ventured, licking my lips, pleased when his gaze was drawn to my mouth. “I wouldn’t be the only one getting something out of this, you know.”
“Yeah?” The corner of his mouth quirked with interest before it schooled into a grim line. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Maybe I want you to hurt me, just a little,” I whispered, tilting my head to one side to expose the side of my neck.
His gaze swept over me with open hunger. “The things you say,” he murmured, leaning in, only it wasn’t my throat he lunged for, capturing my lips with a ravenous kiss. His tongue swept into my mouth, plundering, overwhelming me with barely leashed need. I kissed him back, caught up in the storm of his desire as he edged me backwards until my backside collided with the dresser. In one quick movement, he lifted me by the hips to set me on top of the dresser, moving between my legs to get closer to my core.
Fangs pricked my tongue and he sucked hard, drawing a low moan from me as pleasure hummed through my veins from the tiny amount of blood he drank. His hands skimmed along the top of my thighs, making me wish I’d worn a skirt instead of my jeans, the thick fabric robbing me of his touch.
I wanted more, and I knew he needed more, but Rob took his time, wooing me with his mouth and only the occasional sting of his teeth in the tiniest of pricks. My head fell to the side as he nibbled along the underside of my jaw, the rasp of his cheek against mine familiar. He left a trail of open mouthed kisses down the side of my throat before his tongue laved at the hollow of my neck, and I felt his hesitation.
“Do it, I want you to,” I whispered, going utterly still as I waited for him to surrender to what we both needed.
His lips drifted over my skin in a lover’s kiss before I felt the bite of sharp teeth, the sting melting into pleasure as he pulled against my flesh with a groan of satisfaction. The instant his fangs slid into my body, I found myself caught up in another memory of Rob drinking from me.
I found my wrists pinned up over my head in an echo of the dream we shared, held there by his free hand while his other teased and stroked. Wanting to reciprocate, I tugged one arm free, his growl at my neck sending a shudder to the base of my spine.
“Let me…” I murmured. My hand snaked between us to the hard ridge that strained against his jeans, but he pulled my wrist firmly over my head again, effectively trapping it against the other one in a show of dominance.
He stopped drinking long enough to offer me a wicked grin. “Hush now, I’m taking what I need.” His teeth plunged back into me the same instant a rough finger parted my slick folds, and my head fell back with a ragged moan. The urge to sink my fangs into the strong cords of his neck became almost unbearable, but that would negate the entire reason for doing this.
My arms shook with the effort to keep from touching him, but he kept me pinned to the wall. I probably could’ve torn myself free, I was still stronger than he was when it came to brute strength, but I sensed he had something to prove, as he had in the dream. Only this time I wasn’t torn away just as it started to get good.
This time his talented hands wove a spell over me in a pulsing counterpart to the ecstasy of his mouth until my body quaked and shuddered again and again. The tremors went on and on as he relentlessly stroked and teased and pinched until I begged him to stop, unable to take the keen pleasure anymore without unraveling altogether. Still, he didn’t withdraw, his touch only growing lazier and lazier, guiding me gently back to my senses, leaving me shaken and drained as his tongue rasped against the twin wounds at my throat.
I was so caught up in the memory, I could only blink in confusion as Rob pulled away, licking his lips. My body still throbbed from the feel of his hands against me in my mind, even if he hadn’t been so bold in real life. My jeans were still done up, and the heaviness between my legs ached for release.
“Why did you stop?” I panted, trying to catch my breath.
“I reckon I’ve had my fill for now, ta muchly,” he said with a faint smile, putting at least three feet of space between us. I could tell from the bulge in his pants that he hadn’t found his release either.
“Okay, but… why did you stop the rest of it? I mean, we could’ve, um…” My gaze darted to the bed and back.
Rob took a deep breath, battling against the desire to do just that, if I read him correctly. “I thought it best if we save that for later.”
“Save it for later,” I repeated, not understanding. When was a good time for getting hot and heavy with my hubby if it wasn’t while sharing blood?
“When I get you into my bed, I don’t want blood clouding your judgment. Can you honestly say you’re ready for that step?” His brows rose in question.
“Well…” I let out a long breath, the heat dissipating without the pull of his mouth on my flesh. Yes! the little voice inside me still insisted. I appreciated him looking out for me, but boy howdy, did I want to finish what we’d started in that moment! Instead, I just nodded, offering him a weak smile. “You’re probably right. I guess I married me a pretty smart fella.”
“A grateful one too,” he replied, daring to move closer to lift me down off the dresser. “I do appreciate what you gave me.”
“Yep, it was pure torture for me,” I deadpanned, and he laughed.
“And I’m sorry I lost my temper before. Don’t like being cooped up like this is all.”
“Oh, that’s what I was coming to tell you, before. Nell can read the spellbook.”
“She’s a witch then?” His eyes widened in surprise, and I shrugged.
“Seems like it.”
“God strike me, maybe we’ll get out of this yet.”
Chapter Fifteen
Carys was awake and sitting next to Bishop on the couch by the time we made it back to the great room. Jakob still slouched in his corner, and Aubrey hadn’t budged except to grab another bottle of liquor.
Nelleke had a short list of items she needed to cast the spell. Rob stood beside me as I looked it over, his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me near. I did feel closer to him, the beginnings of our bond knitting together again at the
easy familiarity. With my memories coming back, I started to feel more like the strong, confident vampire I knew I should be, more certain of where I belonged. Until I looked up and caught Bishop’s eyes on me again, and we both quickly looked away.
Luckily, the things on the list didn’t look like they’d be too hard to find. Candles, salt, chalk or charcoal, olive or almond oil.
“This is the spell we’re doing, here?” I asked, studying the page. “To remove the barrier?”
“Yes, that is right.”
Something about it didn’t look quite right to me. Not that I knew much Old Norse, but a few words here and there stood out to me. If it was supposed to be a spell for getting us out of there, why did I see the words for heal and strength? It occurred to me that we were placing a lot of faith in the hands of the only human in the room, and we didn’t know a thing about her.
There was only one person I trusted enough to ask about it who might have an inkling whether or not my suspicions were on the money, but first I had to get Nelleke out of the room.
“Rob, why don’t you help her find those things for the spell?” I suggested with a faint smile, channeling my inner Black Widow.
“Sure thing,” he agreed readily. “I think I know where we can find most of this.”
I waited until both of them were well out of the room before I called softly, “Bishop, could you give me a hand with this for a moment?”
He looked up in surprise. “Ah, yeah, sure. What do you need?”
I kept my voice low. “I don’t mean to sound all paranoid, but does this look like a spell to bring down a force barrier to you?”
His brows knit together as he studied the page. “This word here at the top, foss, means force, but the word next to it… lífdagar means life.”
“So life force? Doesn’t that sound off to you?”
“Yeah, that’s right. This still could be the right spell though. We don’t know what they might’ve called a magical barrier like this in the past.”
“Fine, but this means heal, right? And strength.” I pointed out the other words I recognized.
“Yes, and this means restore.” His finger skimmed to the bottom of the page. “And I could be wrong, but this looks a lot like ofre, the word for sacrifice. I think you’re right, this doesn’t look like a spell to remove anything, it looks like something else entirely.”
“What do we do?” I whispered.
“I say we confront her. Ask her point blank what she has in mind. Compel her if we have to in order to get the truth.”
“The direct method, huh?” I nodded. “Okay, but not here in front of everyone. It could get ugly super fast. Let’s go find her before she comes back.”
We found her and Rob in the kitchen, looking over bottles of oil. “Just working on the last ingredient now,” Rob reported with a faint smile that faded as soon as he saw my face. “Something amiss?”
“That all depends. What spell are we getting ingredients for, Nelleke?” I asked, my eyes boring into hers until she looked away. I knew it!
“I…” She swallowed uncomfortably, shifting from one foot to the other. “You are knowing what the spell is for?”
“I know it’s not to remove the barrier,” Bishop replied, his face stern enough to make me feel guilty, and he wasn’t even looking in my direction. “So you’d better tell us what’s going on, or we’ll compel it out of you.”
Her shoulders bowed in defeat. “I am not wishing to deceive you, but the spell is important. It is the reason we are all here.”
“You know why we’re here?” I gasped. “Did you trap us in here?”
“Yes, but you ask me to.”
“I did?” I blinked in surprise. “Why would I do that?”
Bishop held up a hand. “Wait, go back to the beginning. Have you had all of your memories this whole time?”
“No!” she insisted, her brow puckered with distress. “No, I only remember bits and pieces, but I am telling you what I know.” She took in a deep breath. “I remember I am the one who cast the spell, but Anja is the one who ask me to do this. The barrier is to keep us safe until the spell is complete, but something is going wrong, and we all wake up like this instead.”
“Safe from what? What kind of spell were you trying to cast?” I asked.
“I cast the lifeforce spell to restore Jakob. Without it his chicken is cooked.”
“What you going on about now?” Rob’s brow wrinkled in confusion, and I waved him off.
“She means goose. Are you saying Jakob will die without this lifeforce spell?”
“Yes, he is growing weaker each day, and I remember that I cannot bear this. I think… I think maybe I am in love with him.”
“You and Jakob?” Bishop murmured, his brows rising. “But that doesn’t explain why we all agreed to this spell. I’m sorry the guy’s sick, but what does that have to do with us?”
Nelleke looked at each of us in turn. “According to the spell, we need everyone from Jakob’s line to complete it.”
That didn’t make a whole lot of sense. “How can we all be from his line? We’re all vampires and he’s… we’re not sure what he is, but he’s not like us.”
“He is Ellri,” Nell replied, her face lighting up with excitement. “I don’t know why I am not thinking of it sooner. Of course he is a supreme being. You have only to look at him to see this.”
Something clicked when she said that word. “You guys, she’s right. I just didn’t have enough info to put together what that means. It makes sense now why I hooked up with him, he’s my Sire.” Suddenly I didn’t feel quite as slutty anymore.
“An Ellri… of course,” Bishop nodded. “But I thought Carys was my Sire.”
“You’d still be of his line if Jakob sired her,” I pointed out. “But if he’s an Ellri, why is he so weak and dying? And why did his blood poison Carys? I distinctly remember Rob feeding from him before, and, ah… me too.”
Nelleke shrugged. “I am not knowing, I only know I must restore him at all costs. I would give my life for him if I could, but I am not his progeny like you.”
“And I asked you to lock us in and do the spell?”
“Yes, I remember you ask me to make sure to secure the space.”
“Securing the space doesn’t mean trap us in here by magic,” Bishop said. “I’m pretty sure we could’ve locked the doors. It seems like we’re in the middle of nowhere. Do you know where we are?”
Nell shook her head. “I am not knowing this, it is still coming back to me in pieces.”
It sort of made sense. If Jakob was my Sire, I knew I’d want to try and save him if I could. I imagined the rest of my brothers and sisters would do the same. “So, if we do this spell he’ll be restored?”
“Yes.”
Bishop’s brows furrowed together. “You can’t be thinking about completing the spell.”
“That’s what got us into this, maybe it’ll get us out?”
“But we still don’t know what went wrong. Attempting it again would be crazy.”
“Maybe one of us changed our minds about being sacrificed?” Rob suggested. “Maybe that’s what made it go all pear shaped?”
Nell shook her head again. “It is only taking a little bits from each of you to restore his lifeforce. There is no permanent sacrifice.”
“Is there a spell in that book to drop the barrier and get us out of here without completing the lifeforce spell?” Bishop wanted to know.
Nelleke hesitated, and I thought he was about to compel her, when she finally answered, “Yes.”
“Then that’s the spell you should be focusing on for now.”
“But Jakob will die,” she hissed, wringing her hands in anguish. “He is only the shadow of the man he should be.”
“Look, I feel for the guy, really I do,” Bishop said. “But it won’t do him any good if you end up flubbing it again and we have to start this all over. If you sincerely want to help Jakob, it seems like you should hold off on that spell un
til more of your memory comes back.”
“He’s right,” I agreed. “If you drop the barrier we can go get help, maybe even find out what went wrong.”
“My sister’s a witch,” Rob said out of the blue. “I reckon she could lend a hand if needed.”
I wondered for a split second if I’d known that. Was she a vampire too? Could you even be a vampire witch? More importantly, it meant we had options, we just had to make Nelleke see that. “See, there you go. If the two of you put your heads together, we stand a much better chance of curing Jakob.”
“Or at least get fresh blood for Jakob,” Bishop added. “There’s only so much we have to spare before we give in to the thirst as well.”
“What do you say, Nell?” I asked, giving her my most winsome smile. “Will you drop the barrier?”
She looked at us each in turn, struggling with her decision. “I only wish I am knowing why the spell go wrong in the first place.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Carys declared, clomping into the kitchen in her heels. “Do the spell to remove the barrier or I’ll tear the arms from your body.”
I turned to her, my eyes narrowing to slits. “Do you actually think you’re helping right now?” I didn’t care if she was my sister under Jakob, I was ready to look for another chopstick.
“Fine,” Carys sighed. “I apologize. You will remove the barrier now,” she added to Nell, gazing at her intently.
“I will remove the barrier now,” Nell agreed woodenly.
“What did you do to her, you…” I demanded, but Rob cut me off.
“What difference does it make, as long as we get out of here?”
“This affects me, doesn’t it?” Carys replied in a lofty tone. “I have a right to secure my freedom in any way I can.” Insinuating herself next to Bishop, she wrapped her arms around his bicep. “Now then, shall we begin the spell?” she asked sweetly.
Chapter Sixteen
“How do we know we can trust her?” Aubrey fixed Nelleke with a skeptical stare.
