by Grosso, Kym
“Laryssa,” Léopold grunted, relinquishing his bite.
Pushing up to his knees, he hooked his arms underneath her legs. With his eyes locked on hers, he fully sheathed himself in her warmth. He watched as Laryssa balled the sheets up in her hands, bracing herself as he retreated and then slammed into her heated channel. Feral with passion, he held onto her hips, pounding into her over and over again. As he felt her contract in climax around his swollen shaft, he screamed her name. Succumbing to his own release, Léopold willingly submitted to the unfathomable rapture, his seed erupting deep inside her.
As the last spasm tore through him, Léopold fell forward onto his forearms, careful not to crush Laryssa. Her flushed face smiled back at him, and he tried to hide the vulnerability that crept into his chest. So many years alone had kept him impervious to heartache. In a few short days, his entire life had evolved. She’d be his weakness, but also his strength. Given no choice but to come to terms with his emotions, he’d protect and cherish her. Laryssa was a gift he’d never expected, a dark horse who’d tame the monster inside.
He eased himself out of her, rolled onto his back and brought her with him so she lay upon his chest. Pulling the comforter up over them, he felt his body meld into hers as they snuggled together. Léopold and Laryssa quietly held each other not saying a word. They’d just committed to each other, all the while knowing they needed to find the artifact. With or without it, she could be dead by the end of the week.
It had been nearly a thousand years since Léopold had last prayed. But as he stroked his thumb along her wrist, he found himself asking for forgiveness and mercy, appealing to the Goddess to give him the power to save Laryssa. It may have been too little too late, he knew, but he’d move heaven and hell to keep her in his life….forever.
Chapter Fourteen
The demon’s hot breath singed the hairs on the back of Laryssa’s neck. Its talons dug into her arms and its acrid stench filled her nostrils. Struggling, she tried to move, but couldn’t. Her sticky eyelids blurred her vision. She blinked as tears began to clear her eyes. Red scorched earth cracked beneath her feet, and she knew she’d been taken somewhere far from New Orleans. A bloodcurdling scream tore from her lips. The terror gripped her mind, seizing her muscles. The echo of her voice filled the barren terrain, leaving no doubt she was in hell.
“Welcome home, princess,” it growled into her ear.
Hysterical, Laryssa gasped for breath. Dizzy with panic, her knees buckled but the creature held her upright. The hardness of it pressed into her back and the bile in her stomach rose. Oh God, how did I get here?
“Tell me, did you find it yet?” Its claws moved from her arms to encircle her waist, reaching under her breasts.
“I don’t…I don’t have it. Let me go,” she yelled. Jabbing an elbow towards its gut, she attempted to wrench free of its hold. Fear boiled over to anger as she realized it’d somehow taken her from her bed. All too real for a dream, her senses told her she was no longer on Earth. It’d somehow managed to extricate her from the warmth of Léopold’s arms.
“You’ll never escape me now, Laryssa. I broke through your wards…into your mind. Once I have the Tecpatl, I’ll travel to the other plane whenever I want. But you,” it extended its tongue and gave a hiss, “you shall remain here with me…forever.”
“I’m going to kill you,” she stated calmly. Numb to her terror, she had no other choice but to fight it. If death was inevitable, she’d face it like a warrior. “I’m going to find that Tecpatl and destroy you.”
The demon’s dark laughter filled the cavernous space.
“You just do that, princess. Just remember that your king is waiting on you. Tic toc. Tic toc. Do it or the baby will die. Perhaps I’ll take a few others if I get the chance to leave here before it’s found,” it threatened.
“You’re nothing to me,” she snapped.
“Rylion. My name’s Rylion. Say my name, because I’m your master. Soon it’s my blood you’ll crave. Because I’m generous, I’m going to give you a little gift…something to remember me by.” It squeezed her tightly and dragged its claws deep into the smooth skin of her belly until her blood spurted onto the ground.
Laryssa cringed as its long forked tongue wrapped around her neck and traveled down her chest. A new surge of horror speared through her psyche. Thrashing wildly, she screamed and kicked to get away from the barbed fingers that eviscerated her abdomen. Her feet cut into the sharp gravel, tearing up the flesh. She bit it with her teeth and dug her fingernails into its scaly arms. All at once, the ground broke and she tumbled into oblivion. Falling. Falling. Falling. Her deafening screams went unanswered.
The ear-piercing sound of Laryssa’s voice launched Léopold into action. Sprinting out of the shower, he found her tangled in the sheets. Her eyes were closed into reddened circles, her whitened face stained in tears.
“Laryssa,” he whispered. Gently, he rubbed her arm, and lifted her body into his embrace so that he cradled her like a child. She continued to flail her arms and legs as if she were fighting an invisible enemy. “It’s okay, ma chérie. Come now, it’s just a dream.”
A final scream escaped her lips before her eyes flew open. Seeing Léopold, she clutched at him, gasping for breath.
“Leo,” she wept. “It was here.”
“No, it was just a nightmare. See, look around you. No one’s here. Just us.”
Footsteps grew louder and Laryssa jumped as Dimitri flung open the door to the bedroom.
“What’s wrong?” Confused, Dimitri looked around the room, finding only Léopold and Laryssa in each other’s arms. “What the hell just happened up here? I could hear the screaming all the way downstairs…and it wasn’t the good kind, either.”
“A nightmare,” Léopold told him. But as he adjusted Laryssa on his lap, he noticed a bright red stain blossoming in the linens. “What the…”
“Ow!” Laryssa cried out. Coming down out of her shock, a searing pain pierced her abdomen. “Something’s wrong.”
“Help me cut this off her. Use your claws,” Léopold told him, tearing at the fabric.
Dimitri helped to rip away the fibers until they reached her skin.
“Careful,” he said. Her belly, fully exposed, was covered in blood.
“Jesus Christ,” Léopold exclaimed. He shot Dimitri a look of concern and then kissed Laryssa’s head. “How did this happen?”
“I don’t know…somehow…it was here. No, I was there. It…it had me, touched me.” She shivered, remembering the feel of its scaly skin upon hers, the smell of it, the wetness of its tongue.
“Dimitri, come here. Take her,” Léopold insisted.
“No, don’t leave me. Please, Leo.”
“The lake. Let me get water. If I take you with me, it’ll hurt too much. I’ll just be a few seconds,” he promised. Remembering how Ilsbeth had used it to heal her wound the day before, he reasoned it would work again.
“Okay,” Laryssa grunted as Léopold lifted her into Dimitri’s arms. “You promise?”
“I promise.” Léopold grabbed the ice bucket and instantly disappeared.
“Hey cher, we’re gonna find this son of a bitch. Don’t you worry.” Dimitri stroked her hair and gently patted the five-inch incisions that dotted her tummy, trying to clot the blood. “Just listen to me…Leo’s got this, okay?”
“It hurts.” She sucked a breath, trying to focus on Dimitri’s voice
Léopold appeared within minutes, and knelt before them. Cupping his hands, he drew up the liquid into his palms.
“The water healed you before. This’ll work. Here we go…” Léopold let the water dribble over her open wounds, wishing he could be the one to take her pain. To his relief, his assumption was correct. As it hit her skin, it began stitching her back together. “Look, it’s working”
“Oh God,” she sighed as the pain began to subside. “We’ve got to find it.”
“The Tecpatl?” Dimitri asked.
“Oui.” L
éopold knew what she’d meant. He couldn’t agree more considering the demon had almost killed her in his own house. If it’d come to her here, it’d be able to find her anywhere.
“I’m going to kill it.” Laryssa’s face grew serious. A dim sadness flickered in her eyes, but they no longer held tears. The seed of hate had been planted and she planned to let it grow.
“Maybe you need to rest,” Dimitri suggested, looking to Léopold for support.
“No, I need to find it. Now.” Laryssa paused, glancing to Dimitri and then to Léopold. Her voice never wavered as she spoke with conviction. “I’m going to find that knife and drive it so deep in its heart that it’ll never be able to dislodge it. When it’s relegated to the pits of hell, it’ll spend an eternity wishing it never met me.”
Léopold and Dimitri let the silence fill the room, not responding. Everyone knew the situation would come to a head soon. They also knew Laryssa was right. She was the only one who could kill it. They had to spend the day reading the book, researching every last possibility in an effort to locate the artifact. If the demon had found a way to make itself tangible, worldly, able to strike at flesh, Laryssa’s days were numbered.
Chapter Fifteen
Three days had passed since the demon had attacked Laryssa. Yet as she ran her fingers over her bare stomach, it was as if she still could feel it crawling all over her. Even though Léopold had read the book from beginning to end, he’d found absolutely nothing to indicate where the Tecpatl was located. She’d spent hours on the internet researching both naiads and the Aztec civilization. Calls to experts at the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History and several other prominent institutions proved futile. While they all knew of Tecpatls or kept them in their collections, none had been specified as the Tlalco Tecpatl. Even more disheartening, most denied its very existence.
Exhausted, she and Léopold had made love only a few times since the night they’d committed to each other. Laryssa suffered insomnia, worried the demon would call on her again in her sleep. As depression set in, she considered how unfair it was of her to insist that Léopold only feed from her. It was likely that she’d be dead by the end of the week. She’d asked that he choose her, yet what right had she to give herself to him when she knew she would die? The guilt made her want to push him away so he wouldn’t care for her, wouldn’t miss her when she died. After the devastation he’d endured from the death of his wife and children, she refused to be responsible for killing him a second time.
Returning to the lake had been Laryssa’s only refuge. The more time she spent in it, the more she wondered what it’d be like to just live there like a mermaid in a sea. Rising through the water, she glided along the waves, pretending not to notice Léopold sitting in his chaise longue on the dock. She hated the book, the very one glued to his hands. Like a worthless newspaper, she wished she could throw it in the fireplace and light it up in flames. She let the satisfying fantasy float around in her head for several minutes before gathering the nerve to approach Léopold. It tore her apart to suggest that he call on a donor, but she resolved to talk with him….to prepare him for her death. Terrified of his reaction, she swam slowly toward him, keeping her eyes lowered to the water.
“How are you, my beautiful naiad?” he asked, never taking his eyes off the pages.
“I’m okay…I’m wet. Anything new?”
“‘Fraid not. Just more of the same jumbled mess of water facts…insane, really. I know this was written several hundred years ago, but seriously, it’s nothing but babble.”
“Garbage in, garbage out,” she muttered.
“Hmm?”
“I said, garbage in, garbage out. Did you ever consider that Ilsbeth just, I don’t know, got it wrong? Fucked up? Maybe she’s full of shit too,” she seethed.
“Temper, temper, ma chérie. We’ll figure this out.” He took a deep breath and sat the book on his lap, adjusting his sunglasses.
“Yeah, well, you’re not the one destined to become the bride of Satan in a few days. No, that’d be me. Lucky, lucky me.” Laryssa flopped to her back, moving her hands and legs back and forth, floating on the surface.
“A demon,” he corrected.
“What? Did you just seriously say that?” Laryssa lifted her head to yell over at him. “What the fuck difference does it make whether it’s a demon or the real king of hell, or not? It told me it was a king. Believe me, where it took me, it was hell…hell for me anyway. Do you know what happens when I don’t have water?”
“Oui, I do. And I’m well aware that you’re scared. I don’t blame you. Don’t you think that I’m pissed off that we can’t find anything in this damn book? That I’m scared to death that I’m going to lose you? Jesus Christ, Laryssa, I just found you…I need you. But we’ve gotta keep focused. Keep our eye on the proverbial prize. We can’t get distracted. You’re letting your fear blur your thoughts.” Léopold hadn’t adjusted to the trepidation Laryssa had projected since she’d been attacked. No amount of cajoling had helped to alleviate her spiraling descent into hopelessness.
Léopold decided that he was done being nice. He’d push her to the edge, incite her anger. He needed her to fight. Leaning over, he placed his forearms on his knees, holding the book with both his hands.
“Did you hear me? Are you listening, nymph? Because I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself. This is far from over. I’m telling you that you need to shove all that woe-is-me crap down deep and get with the game. I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, but whatever you’re getting ready to tell me, I know I’m not gonna like it. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to just lay back and die? Because if that’s the case, we might as well just call the demon now.” Léopold thought he may have gone a little too far, but he was getting desperate to shake her out of her funk.
“You, you…” Laryssa saw red. Did he really think she’d given up? Mad at him, angrier at herself, she went on the attack. Her voice got louder as she swam toward him. “You condescending ass! Do you really think I survived all this time to just roll over and let some fucking demon take me? God, I hate this,” she screamed. Hauling her palm back into the water, she shoved it forward.
A deluge of cold spray splashed over Léopold. He jumped up and threw off his sunglasses, wiping at his face and hands. In the process, the book fell to the deck.
“And there ya go. That’s the spirit,” he laughed. Unfolding a towel, he wiped his face.
“You’re mean,” she spat back at him, finding it difficult not to laugh. The sight of her debonair vampire, hopping up and down as if he’d been doused in holy water brought a smile to her face.
“I prefer the term, ‘motivational’, no?” He shot her a broad smile before searching for his shades. They, too, had fallen to the ground. As he reached to snap them up, he noticed the book. Its brown leather cover was covered in a speckled glow, similar to the color that Laryssa emanated when she submerged.
“Laryssa, come here,” he called, his voice tense. “The book.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed. But as she pushed up onto the warmed wooden planks, she, too, saw what had captivated Léopold’s attention. “What is it? How? It’s sparkling.”
“No, ma chérie, it’s glowing. Glowing just like you. Don’t you see? It’s the water,” he exclaimed. “We should have known.”
“What should we do?” Laryssa asked excitedly. Reason quickly set in and her mind began to turn with possibilities. “If it’s the water, maybe I should take it in with me. Wait. No. We can’t just throw it in the water. The pages are paper. I’m certain of it. There’s no way that would work. Maybe brush it on there…carefully or something. But look at it. There’re a thousand pages. I mean, how would we know where to start?”
“Come.” He patted the dock. She gave him a look, raising her eyebrow at him. Realizing how much she disliked being bossed around, he corrected his words in a sweet tone that told her he understood her perfectly. “Would you please
join me?”
He laughed as he said the words aloud, aware of how ridiculous he sounded. Léopold Devereoux didn’t ask. He ordered. Sometimes nicely, sometimes, not at all. Being with Laryssa was changing all of that, teaching him a set of manners he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to learn. But as her laughter filled the air, he shook his head, knowing he’d done the right thing. The sound of her joy was becoming the most delightful part of his day.
“Yes, darling,” she drawled, smiling up at him. “I do love sitting next to you.”
“Mais oui. I’m a catch.” He winked and gave her a lopsided grin, chuckling as she shoved on him gently with her shoulder. “Look, it’s starting to fade.”
Leaning forward, he captured a bit of the water in his hand and flicked it over the cover, but the spots continued to vanish. He blew out a breath.
“Wait. Let’s just think. It’s my book, right? If anyone could make it work, it would’ve been discovered already. So maybe,” she hesitated, then dipped her fingers into the basin and ran them across the cover. Instantly, it lit up again. A broad smile broke across her face at the victory. “I’m the one who has to do it.”
“Excellent. Now….we start at the beginning,” Léopold said, flipping the cover open to the first blank page. “The table of contents. Fifty chapters. I’ll hold it. Go ahead, touch it,” he urged.
Laryssa did as he said, carefully brushing her wet finger across the paper. She shook her head, disappointed nothing was revealed. Léopold carefully pulled over another sheet. Half way down, a line began to appear.
“Leo, look,” she whispered, astonished it was working.
“Lucky number twenty-seven.” Léopold took out his cell phone as the writing appeared on the page. When she lifted her hand, he snapped a picture. “Calle del Arsenal de las Ursulinas? Mères des filles. La clé.”
“The historical signs? Rue des Ursulines. Ursuline Avenue. What does the rest mean?”
