by Alex Owens
He flinched, but held his ground. Aww, my baby boy was finally growing some balls. Too little, too late, I’m afraid.
“Quinn knows that I love her. She knows that I’d do anything for her.” Pete jutted out his chin and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Don’t you see? That’s the problem—love is not enough. You have to protect her, even from yourself if necessary. But you’re so blinded by your self-righteous ego that you aren’t even trying to do what’s best for her. You’re trying to do what’s best for you. That’s not the same thing.” I turned my back to him and paced to the doorway. I massaged my own temples. Technically, I didn’t get headaches after making the change, but he was giving me one nonetheless. Dang, wasn’t it morning yet?
I heard him take several steps forward. He stopped and spoke. “Why do you think this was only for me? Why can’t you see that everything I’ve done was for Quinn?”
I turned to face him. “Fine, let me ask you this... what did you think would happen here? I’d come to rescue Quinn and then what? Get myself killed by a crazy vampire-witch? How is getting me killed supposed to be help Quinn?”
“It wasn’t supposed to... I didn’t want for—“ Pete stopped and switched his thoughts around. “You should not be in her life at all. I don’t want you dead, but you need to be gone. It’s not safe for her around you and your kind.”
“That’s rich. Me and my kind? Tell me, what exactly have I done to put Quinn in danger? I’m not going to bite her. We don’t eat people that we love. Please note that does not include people we used to love.” I ran my tongue over the tip of one of my fangs, just to fuck with him of course. I wasn’t actually going to eat him. Probably. Maybe.
“Don’t try to intimidate me. You can’t touch me.” Pete pulled out a shiny gold chain out from under his shirt and flashed a fucking cross at me. A cross. Like, really.
I busted out laughing. Doubled-over, belly clutching and all. I felt like I was staring in some B-grade vampire flick for late night television. I glanced back up at Pete and he still stood there, looking pious as hell holding that cross out at me. That made me laugh all the more.
I finally slowed the laughter enough to stand and walk to within a foot of him. I made my face blank and unreadable. Slowly, I wrapped my hands around his crucifix and tried my hardest to make smoke come out of my hands. What do you know, it did. Just a little, but it was enough to have the effect I was after.
Pete’s eyes grew large and round. Aww, bless his soul, he believed. Too bad I’d have to shatter that perfect bubble for him. I snatched the cross from around his neck, opened my palm to show him that I was not scarred or harmed in any way, and tossed the chain to the other side of the room.
“I’m not Satan’s bride, you blundering idiot. You don’t need to go and get all religious on my behalf, it doesn’t bother me one way or the other. But, it was fun seeing your face when you thought it did. And that, for the record, was me yanking your chain.” I grinned like the Cheshire cat, perfectly pleased with myself.
“Whatever,” he mumbled and turned to pace on the other side of the room. He did that on purpose. He knew how much I loathed that word. He might as well have said F-you.
God, he was so frustrating.
I wondered what I ever saw in him to begin with... if there was anything redeemable about the man, I couldn’t see it now. Maybe I should just put his name on the contract and be done with him for good? Even as I thought it, I knew that I could never do that. As much as I loathed Pete, I would never wish for Quinn to be deprived of a parent, let alone be the one to sign his death warrant.
I tried to remember that all of his stupid, bone-headed decisions he’d made because of his urge to protect Quinn, even if he couldn’t see that as a result, Quinn actually needed protection from him now.
We went round and round, getting nowhere for the next several hours. Most of what was said doesn’t even bear repeating. Finally, thank the gods, when the sun was likely breaking over the horizon, we heard a knock at the door.
“This,” I waved my hand between us, stepping into Pete’s personal space, “is not over.”
Without another word, I turned and left the room, winking at his vampire guard as I passed through the door. Oddly enough, she winked back.
Silver linings, I thought.
Chapter Twenty-One
I spent much of that next afternoon pacing around my room clinging to my sanity.
Her own brand of torture, Venna thought it would drive me mad if I spent all day alone, locked inside the place that I had to assume was once hers, then every night with someone I cared about. She was right. The hurry-up-and-wait was agonizing.
During the day, time moved at a snail’s pace since there was only so much sleeping my body could do since waking up dead. That left me alone with my own thoughts, in maddening solitude. I was so bored that at one point I even tried a bit of yoga. Me, doing yoga.
I snort at the thought.
It was late into the terribly long afternoon, when a knock sounded at my door. I hurried to answer it, ready to go anywhere else, only when I opened the door no one was there. I glanced down the hall, to the left and right, but was careful not to step over the threshold. I’d learned that electrifying lesson the hard way. The door was no longer locked, but that didn’t mean I was free to come and go as I pleased.
I was about to shut the door and chalk it up to a childish prank, when I felt the hand of death grip me by the forearm. Now, maybe it wasn’t really the hand of death, but that’s what it felt like. Glacier cold pressure coiling around my arm, tightening to just this side of painful. Of course, I couldn’t see a damn thing so I have no idea what it was. I didn’t much like it either way.
“Who’s there,” I said, with more bravado than I actually had.
The only response I received was a tug at my arm. The invisible man, or whatever it was, drug me from the room fast enough that I stumbled a bit before regaining my bearings. I cursed under my breath and tried to keep myself upright.
A half-dozen scenarios ran through my head. Maybe some grumpy ghost had decided to throw me from the top of the highest tower and be done with this whole sorted mess. Or perhaps a perverted incubus wanted to have some alone time with me? None of those sounded particularly appealing. Thankfully, we appeared to be heading down to the tombs again, so I relaxed, but just a little. I still had no idea who, or what, was tugging me along like a lazy dog on a leash.
When I reached the tombs, I was surprised to see the guard outside of the cell door. I could only guess that I was to spend the evening with Clive, based on the angelic sexpot standing watch. Seriously, the bitch sported wings and the tiniest toga I’d ever seen. There was only one person that I knew would “react” to heavenly number just a few feet away. Well, maybe two, but I’d already visited with Bette.
So far, all of the guards seem to have been hand-picked for each of the cell’s occupants with the purpose of screwing with them even more, as if being locked in a cell wasn’t bad enough. A scary vamp to rattle Pete’s cage. A formless golem for my daughter. A grumpy demon for Bette. And now a naughty angel. I rolled my eyes and ignored her, walking up to the cell door. It swung open and Miss Ethereal tried to escort me inside.
“Back off, Feather,” I hissed and she backed away with her hands way up in the air.
I entered the cell and pulled the door shut behind me. The room was pitch black, but I could hear Clive snickering somewhere to my right.
“You find that funny do you?” I waited for his response so that I could hone in on him.
“Just when I think that you looked great in everything, I find the one thing you don’t wear very well,” he replied.
I took two steps in his direction. “Oh, really? What’s that?”
“Jealousy.” His voice sounded from my left. The bastard was toying with me.
“Who me? Jealous?” That was supposed to sound sarcastic, but instead it made me sound whiney. Well, shit.
�
��Admit it. You don’t want to share me...” he said, from somewhere in front of me now. If he didn’t stop moving around I’d never get to catch ahold of him.
“I think I’ve shared you plenty... and did a damn fine job of it,” I took a step forward and listened intently.
When I least expected it, strong arms wrapped around me from behind. Clive. I’d recognize the body pressed up against me anywhere, even in a pitch black tomb with an angel outside of the door. I relaxed into his embrace, sighing. It felt so good to be the one being held for a change.
He whispered in my ear, “That’s not the same thing, and you know it.”
“If I cede to the first, can we move on to something else?” I whispered back.
With one arm around my waist, Clive rocked me slowly from side to side, while his other hand came up around my jaw. He tilted my head back and nibbled at my exposed neck.
“That depends. What is the something else that you had in mind?” His lips moved over the flesh of my neck, then my collar bone. He pulled on the fabric of the dress to expose my shoulder.
“Well, I’m all talked out. So if you can come up with something that requires minimal brain function, that’d be great.” I relaxed deeper into his arms.
The arm around my waist moved upwards and I felt his hand splay over my ribs. He continued to kiss around my neck, my ear, my cheek, while his free hand brushed lightly over my breasts. I moaned softly.
“Not that I don’t want to... I mean, I always want to,” Clive spoke between planting little kisses on my skin. “But don’t you think we need to talk?”
“About what?” I lifted my hand up to cradle the side of his face. “What’s more important than this, right now?”
I turned my head toward his, brushing his lips with mine.
“But, don’t you—“ he started to say, before I cut him off.
I sealed his mouth over with my own, pulling those unsaid words out and inhaling them. He loosened his hold on me and I turned around to face him better, cradling his head in my hands. While he explored my mouth with his tongue, I pushed my fingers through his hair.
“I don’t need anything else right now, just you.” I spoke with my lips still grazing his.
He ran his tongue over the fullness of my lips, the point of my fangs. His pulled me tighter, closer, so that our bodies had no space between them. My skin grew hot and tingly. I opened my eyes and was surprised that I could see Clive clearly then, whereas moments earlier it had seemed like a black hole in his cell.
“You have me, my little glow worm,” he smiled and licked his lips. “Now, what are you going to do with me?”
Clive was right, I was glowing; pale blue light seemed to be shining from somewhere within me. It was a peaceful, contented light, and though I had no idea where that had come from, I wasn’t bothered by it. Quite the opposite in fact.
“I guess I’m just going to have to love you,” I unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it back over his shoulders. It fell to the floor as I unbuckled his pants, the buckle hitting the floor with a metallic tang. He kicked the discarded pants aside.
Clive pulled the neck of my dress wide open, so that when he let go, it slipped down of its own accord and left me facing him completely bare, as was he. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face to his chest. We stood for several minutes like that, just holding each other with nothing separating us. And by the gods, it was the perfect moment in time.
We sank to the floor. Clive sat with his legs extended. I sat in his lap, with my legs wrapped around his waist. I leaned forward, kissing him. His hands roamed up my back, over the swell of my ass and settled on my hips. Our tongues intertwined. Danced. We exchanged breath and body heat until my lips felt swollen.
“I could do this forever,” I said as we broke apart.
“Here’s hoping,” he smiled easily, though I could see the worry in his eyes.
“Stop,” I nipped his shoulder playfully. “You know that I could never sacrifice you, right?”
“I know you wouldn’t want to. But I also worry that a difficult decision wouldn’t be called that if the choice was an easy one.” There was a heaviness to his voice that made my heart quiver.
I took his face in my hands. “I know, but I don’t want to rehash things. I don’t want to weigh my options, because I don’t have any options. What I do have, right now is you. And I want you.” I kissed him hard on the mouth and felt him stiffen beneath me.
“I want you to be so far inside me that I can’t tell where you end and I begin.” My voice was small and betrayed my bravado. That was as close as I’d come to admitting my feelings. I lowered my head to his shoulder and felt a tear slip down over my nose.
“Claire, look at me.” Clive lifted my face and kissed away my runaway tear. “I don’t want to talk about those things either, but there are a few things that I have to say... just in case.”
His eyes looked rather glassy to me and just seeing that made mine fill up all over again. I didn’t know what to do with all those fucking feels. That was not a place we’d spent enough time in to be comfortable; this was a whole new emotional landscape.
“There’s nothing that you can say that I don’t already know,” I tried to smart-ass my way out of the dangerous territory we’d driven into, but as usual, that backfired on me.
“That is not true.” Clive pressed his lips to mine and drew in my breath.
“You may think you know everything,” He bit my neck and I felt a bit of blood run down over my breast. He pulled back, teeth crimson and continued. “But you don’t.”
Clive moved to the other side of my neck and I squeezed his shoulders in anticipation of the quick pain to come. “For instance, did you know...”
Instead of biting me again, he lifted me up easily, by my ribs. And in that space between statements, Clive eased his hard length into me, tenderly. I was torn between listening and savoring the feeling of our union.
“That when I’m inside of you, it feels like the heaven that I’ll never get to see. I can almost hear the harps.” He lowered my body down onto his.
I drew in a sharp breath as he seated himself fully inside of me. And I do mean to the hilt. “Well, did you know, that when you do that... when you fill me completely, I feel like the part of me that was missing has been returned?”
I bit my lip and waited for his reaction. There was some heavy shit being said, and that scared the hell out of me. But this felt like one of those do-or-die moments where I had to stop holding myself back. Nothing good would come of that and tomorrow might never come.
“Are you saying that I complete you?” He smirked. Leave it to Clive to quote a corny movie while I was trying to open myself up to him.
“Don’t let it go to your head, Jerry.” My heart might be a little slow, but my wit was still fine. “I’m saying that this, right now, is all I need. It’s all I could ever want.”
Clive’s cock twitched and I responded with my own quick squeeze. Thank you, Kegels.
“God, Claire...I could say that I love you, but that one word can’t cover the scope of my feeling. You’re like sunlight to my dark side. You are laughter to my tears.”
“Stop, you don’t mean all of that.” I really hoped he did, though.
“Of course I do. And that, what did you call it? Ah, yes... that magical snatch of yours is enough to make a man sell his soul to the devil.” He flashed a wicked grin my way.
I laughed and placed my hand over my heart, my tears flow freely.
“Well, don’t you go selling your soul just yet. I’m about to take you to heaven, remember?” I let my head hang back, held onto his shoulders, and rocked my hips. The delicious friction ignited a fire within me and I had to force myself to slow down. The night wasn’t to be a sprint; I was going for a marathon.
Clive grabbed my hips and held me still. I lifted my head to look into his eyes. He was instantly serious again and I felt my heart thump in my chest.
“Claire, I would die for yo
u, if that’s what you need from me.” He flexed his hips and pushed into me, hard, with a resolve to match the finality of his words.
“And I you. Always.” I tightened my core around him, holding on for dear life as we loved each other, openly and without reservation, long into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Holy-Freaken-stien—that was my first thought when I opened my chamber door the next night and saw my escort for another long walk down to the tombs. Talk about a scary dude. Every bit of eight-feet-tall, he lumbered over me in the doorway and I swallowed, hard. My fangs popped out of their own accord. It was the vamp equivalent of a cat arching its back, I supposed. But at least I could see this one, not that it was much of a consolation.
His clothes were obviously hand-pieced together by someone who had very poor eyesight. The flesh of him was about the same. In that, I mean he resembled someone’s attempt at recreating Frankenstein, but so much worse than you can imagine. Patchwork skin—yes, that’s what it was—in varying skin tones and textures, covered every visible surface of his body. He had two freaking left hands, for God’s sake, and the hair of a twenty-something hipster. Yes, I do mean man-bun.
I didn’t know whether to cower in fear or throw up, so I clamped my mouth shut and straightened my spine in a show of bravery. Fake it till you make it, I always say.
The monster grunted, bowed and swept his hand out towards the hallway. It was an oddly polite gesture from someone so imposing and grotesque and my brain didn’t know how to process it. That, and I was still ogling the man-bun.
I squeezed past him as quickly as I could and hurried toward the stairs that would take me to the underground cells. By then, I knew the way to the tombs and I really didn’t want to spend any more time with the chivalrous monster than was absolutely necessary.
Since I’d already had a night with everyone else, I had to be spending the evening with Cass, which was a good thing. She knew the most about magic in general, and of my own powers, than all the others combined. I really needed to pick her brain if I had any hope of getting everyone out of this pickle we’d found ourselves in.
