by Christine Warren, Marjorie Liu, Caitlin Kittredge, Jenna Maclaine
Devlin and Justine were just carrying the last of Michael’s things from the studio and storing them in my study.
“Where is Barbara?” I asked, concerned that they’d left her alone.
Devlin rolled his eyes and pointed to the far corner of the studio. They’d bound her hands and feet and gagged her. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
“She has a foul mouth on her, that one,” Justine complained.
“As long as she’s there when I need her, I don’t care what you do to her,” I said.
I handed Devlin the urn and dumped the bag of candles onto the floor. Justine and I worked quickly to lay them out in a perfect circle. I then pulled one of the knives from the sheaths on my forearms and drew it down my wrist. Blood welled up and I walked the circle again, holding my arm out so that the blood fell to the floor just inside the ring of candles. It was a slapdash way to set a circle of protection, but it was quick and powerful. When I was finished I placed the urn in the center of the circle.
“What do we do now?” Justine asked.
“We hope he shows up,” I replied. “I’ll go downstairs. You two keep an eye on her. If he comes alone, be as unobtrusive as possible and stay out of the way. If he brings reinforcements with him—” I shrugged. “Do what you do best.”
FIFTEEN
I sat at the foot of the stairs, waiting, preparing myself. The role of the helpless victim was one I didn’t enjoy playing, especially now that I was confident in my ability to use my power against the demon. But he liked my fear and I would do whatever it took to get him where I wanted him.
I hadn’t been waiting long when the front door burst open and Michael strode in with six men at his back. One of the downsides of being a vampire is that other vampires don’t need an invitation to enter your house. I wondered briefly if he had recruited these vampires from the opium nest. As with humans, there never seemed to be a shortage of idle men willing and eager to follow a strong leader into the thrill of battle. They would not enjoy the experience. For the moment, though, I leapt to my feet and pasted a look of panic on my face.
“Witch,” Michael said, in a tone I hoped never to hear directed at me again.
I turned and ran up the stairs, glancing behind me as I reached the landing to make sure he was following me. With slow, determined strides he climbed the stairs, obviously confident in his ability to win this fight. And why wouldn’t he be? He’d held the upper hand … until now.
“Six at his back,” I said as I rushed into the room.
Devlin and Justine were standing on either side of the door, their bodies pressed against the wall. I didn’t worry whether or not they could handle the situation. My entire focus was now on Barbara. Her eyes widened when she saw the look on my face as I crossed the room. Perhaps, if she was sensitive enough, she even felt the power beginning to build within me. I thought of her hands on Michael’s bare chest, of her lips pressed to his, her tongue invading his mouth. My anger fed the dark side of my magic and that’s exactly what I needed right now to tempt a demon. I bent down and picked her up, slinging her over my shoulder. Carrying her into the center of the circle of candles, I dropped her on the floor.
I could hear booted footsteps striding down the hall, and I closed my eyes and called on the darkness inside me. It rolled through me, welling up until it filled every inch of me. There was a time when I would have fought it, been afraid of it, but those days were gone. It was a part of me and with that acceptance I had gained control of it. Now I ruled the darkness; it did not rule me. I opened my eyes, and I knew from Devlin and Justine’s worried expressions that my normally whiskey-brown eyes had turned black with the magic I had called.
Michael walked through the door with his sword drawn, moving with that catlike grace I loved so well. The moment he crossed the threshold, Devlin and Justine spun into the doorway, knocking back the six vampires who’d attempted to enter behind him. With my magic I forced the door to close and lock, drowning out the sounds of the fight that had begun in the hall. I didn’t worry for Devlin and Justine—there were only six of them, after all. Michael cocked his head to one side in curiosity.
“Do you feel it?” I asked.
He walked forward. “Power,” he said, and there was hunger in his voice.
“I want you to leave my husband’s body,” I demanded.
“No,” he replied. “I have grown fond of it. Besides, if I leave his body I must enter another. I have no interest in hers,” he said, pointing to Barbara, “and that only leaves yours.”
I ignored the last comment. “She is not for you,” I said. “She sealed her fate when she broke the law of the High King and killed a human. I saw her do it and she must pay for it with her life.”
Barbara tried to struggle to her feet, but I grabbed her by the back of the neck and forced her to be still.
“These vampires,” the demon said, “you sit in judgment on them. You weigh their sins and extract retribution from them.”
“Yes,” I replied.
“You are a god,” he stated.
“No. I am The Righteous.”
With that I set the darkness free. I stepped away from Barbara as black light poured from my body and surrounded her. The black magic liked blood and death, and isn’t that what a vampire was? I threw my head back as I felt the pull of it feeding on whatever magic it was that animated a vampire’s body. I didn’t have to look to know that she was shriveling, disintegrating, as the darkness consumed her from the inside out. I didn’t have to look to know that there would be nothing left but ashes when the black magic returned to me. I had seen it all before.
I pulled the darkness back inside me, my skin tingling with the rush of power it brought with it. Opening my eyes, I looked at the evil bastard wearing my husband’s skin.
“What are you?” he asked.
I spread my arms wide. “I am everything they said I was, and more. Leave Michael’s body and come and take me if you can.”
His eyes flashed red a moment before his long, unnatural blue form slid through Michael’s skin. Michael fell to the floor and the demon entered my circle. Power vibrated through me and the candles surrounding us flared to life, black flames rising from the white wax. I felt the pop of the magic that set the circle. I had trapped him inside with me, and only one of us would walk out.
I stepped backward, never taking my eyes off the demon as I leaned down and removed the lid from the urn. Moving to the opposite edge of the circle, I positioned the urn between me and the demon.
“What is this?” the demon asked, his voice harsh like the sound of breaking glass.
I spoke the words I had learned so long ago. “By blood I bind you! By the power of this circle I bind you! By the power of my will I bind you!”
He rushed forward and I put my hands out in front of me, pushing against him with all the power I could call, praying it would be enough. The demon pushed back and I felt his power beating against me, hammering at me until I thought every bone in my body would break from the force of it. And then I felt him stumble.
Like a slip of the foot, something shifted, faltered. The darkness inside me surged forward anew, a hungry predator that had scented weakness in its prey. The demon screamed and I thought my ears might bleed from the sound of it. His form lost what little definition it had once possessed and before my eyes he turned to vapor. Like a genie being sucked back into its bottle, the demon was drawn into the urn. I slammed the lid down on it and stood there, shaking, unable to believe that it had actually worked. The black magic, sated with the life it had taken and the victory it had won, settled back into whatever corner of my soul it resided in, content to stay there quietly until I needed it again.
“Cin?” Michael’s voice came to me on a whisper.
He was sitting up on his knees, staring at me like he didn’t know what was happening. I staggered out of the circle and collapsed in front of him. His hands reached out to cup my face, brushing back the tears.
; “M’anam,” he said softly. My soul.
I threw my arms around him and leaned into the hard wall of his chest, burying my face in the side of his neck. He held me tightly and I thought that I’d never been happier to be anywhere than I was to be right here, with him.
“You left me,” I cried brokenly.
“Never, mo chridhe,” he said, gently rocking me back and forth. “I will never leave you. I promise, I will never leave you.”
It was the last thing I heard before my body shut down from utter exhaustion.
SIXTEEN
I woke to find myself in my bed with Michael’s arms wrapped around me. I could have wept with the pleasure of it. Feeling as though I had slept for a night and a day—and perhaps I had—I stretched lazily, reveling in the feel of Michael’s body against my bare skin. I might have been content to just lie there, blissfully enjoying the moment, if he hadn’t woken at my stirring.
I sighed at the feel of his lips against my skin, and when he gently bit me at the juncture of my shoulder and neck, my body shuddered in response. It seemed it had been weeks since I’d last had him, not days, and my body cried out for us to finish what we had begun in the carriage. I turned in his arms and pushed him back until I could crawl over him, straddling his hips.
“Welcome back,” I said, staring down into his beautiful face.
“Cin—” he began, but I swallowed his words with a kiss. There would be time enough to talk about what had happened later. At the moment I just wanted to feel.
I moved against him, back and forth along his shaft, feeling the moisture build with each stroke. Normally I enjoyed letting him be the dominant one. Nothing excited me more than giving myself over to him and having him take me as he willed. Tonight though, after all that had happened, I wanted to be in control. I felt the driving need to possess him, to reassure myself that he was here, and that he was mine. I wanted to put my mark on him.
Ever so slowly I moved to take him inside me. Teasingly I slid down an inch, then two, and then out again, over and over until the muscles in his chest quivered from the torment. His fingers bit into my thighs as he tried to make me take all of him, but I wouldn’t allow it.
“Cin,” he said raggedly.
“Such a greedy man,” I replied, mimicking the words he had said to me in the carriage. “Do you want more?”
“Please,” he growled.
I sank down on him, burying him to the hilt inside me, and we both cried out with pleasure. My body quivered in ecstasy at the feel of him stretching me, filling me. I laid my hands on his chest and my hair fell over us like a scarlet curtain as I rode him at a punishing pace. We came together quickly, violently, and as my body ebbed with sated bliss, I collapsed onto his chest, spent.
“Do you have any idea how lucky I am to be loved by a woman like you?” he asked.
I paused from licking the blood from the crescent-shaped wounds my fingernails had left on his chest.
“Almost as lucky as I am to be loved by you,” I replied, “Will you love me forever, Michael?”
“Cin, my heart, my soul,” he said earnestly. “The moon will fall from the sky and vampires will walk in the sun before the day comes that I ever love thee not.”
EPILOGUE
News traveled quickly throughout the vampire population that I had slain the demon. Sebastian fled the city the following night. Legally, I probably couldn’t have executed him for his involvement in the Ripper murders. We had no concrete evidence, and I had, after all, incinerated our only corroborating witness. But Sebastian had apparently decided to save his own skin on the chance that someone who didn’t care so much for solid proof would assassinate him—either that or my infamous temper would finally get the better of me and I’d kill him out of spite. Michael had been furious when Grady told us the Regent had disappeared, but I wasn’t surprised. Sebastian was a sneaky bastard and he was a survivor. I was fairly certain our paths would cross again one day. Hopefully in a dark alley where no one would be the wiser if I allowed Michael to carve him up like a Christmas goose.
Since it rarely happened that a regency was vacated without a challenge and a resulting victorious party, the London vampires were left in a bit of a quandary over who would take control of the city. In a surge of democratic fervor, wholly uncharacteristic of vampires, the court decided to put it to a vote. Grady suggested that his Chief Warden should be elected Regent, by virtue of court seniority, since all of Sebastian’s lieutenants were now being looked upon with suspicion. Warden James declined the nomination, and in the end it was Grady who was elected Regent, mostly because of his help in toppling a corrupt ruler and vanquishing a demon, but having The Righteous endorse his nomination certainly helped. I thought he would make a fine Regent.
We stayed in London long enough to see Grady elected and to attend Ginny and Warren’s wedding. Warren moved into the house, but insisted on keeping the apothecary shop open. It was, after all, a family tradition … along with consorting with vampires. Ginny was looking particularly radiant when they saw us off at the docks and, as I waved goodbye from the deck of the Peregrine, I wondered how long it would be before they gave me another generation of humans to love, and lose.
As for the demon, Michael and I had taken the urn and dropped it into a large rectangular form filled with concrete. When that had dried we’d loaded it into a specially made steel box with four-inch-thick sides. And then we padlocked it. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean I planned on taking a break from making love to my husband to drop it over the edge of the ship.
And where was that ship bound? We decided to take a holiday and see America again. Perhaps New York this time.
Devil’s Bargain
© 2009 Christine Warren
The Robber Bride
© 2009 Marjorie M. Liu
Down in the Ground
Where the Dead Men Go
© 2009 Caitlin Kittredge
Sin Slayer
© 2009 Jenna Maclaine
ISBN: 0312943822
ST. MARTIN’S
Ed♥n
