by Chloe Adler
His question took me by surprise. I didn't know how to respond so I said nothing. Did I love him? "Fine, I'll try it, but Jared and Burgundy, please stop him if needed."
Sadie looked up from the grimoire. "I don't like it."
"Why don't you all try the spell again and right before the final incantation, you can feed him some of Chrys's blood," said Ryder.
"Feed him my blood?"
"Yes, cut your wrist and pour it in his mouth while Burgundy and Alistair hold him down." Ryder gave me a tight-lipped smile.
Sadie looked up, her finger pressed to the page. "That's not a bad idea, honey."
Iphi opened the circle and we recast it with everyone, even Julian, inside of it. We performed the ritual again, crushing the herbs on top of his straightjacket and reciting the spell. Right before the final incantation, Iphi reached for my hand and held it timidly. Using Sadie's athame, she made a deep lengthwise incision along the inside of my wrist. Burgundy and Alistair assumed their positions, one on each side of Carter, holding him down. I positioned my bleeding flesh above his face. When the first drops of blood hit his lips, they parted. His head jerked upward so fast and with such force, I pulled my hand back in fright.
"We've got him," said Burgundy and I put my hand closer to his mouth, which was open and gulping like a rabid creature reaching for its last breath of air.
It was messy, the blood splattering on his face, bouncing off his cheek and onto the plush velvet upholstery of Sadie's daybed.
"Can you hold it closer so it doesn't splash?" Sadie asked and I complied, holding it too close.
In less than a second, his mouth latched onto my wrist and I felt my life flowing out, like when Julian had taken my blood.
From far, far away, someone shouted, "Stop him, he'll kill her!" But I didn't know who was talking. My knees buckled and I fell at the foot of Carter's bed. Hands tugged at my wrist, but only barely, and then everything closed in.
Chapter Twenty-Six
My eyes felt heavy, everything ached, and I was thirsty. I blinked several times. What an effort. Rough, like I was blinking through sand and silt. Where was I? The room was dark. Something stirred. The scent of freshly brewed coffee filled my nostrils. Rolling over, I put my hand out and stopped at a very chiseled bicep.
"You're awake," said a familiar, glossy voice. A man in my bed? I tried to sit up but everything was heavy and I slumped back down.
"Where am I? What's going on?"
A hand pushed my hair back tenderly. When I opened my eyes again, Carter's handsome face floated above me.
"Where are we? And why does everything hurt?"
"You saved me." He leaned down to place a feather-light kiss on my lips, then brushed his own over mine back and forth, side to side.
"You're really okay?" It was an overly obvious question to ask.
"Chrys." His voice was soft and raspy. A hand cradled my skull. So intimate. Even more so than the other, deeper intimacies we'd shared.
His eyes locked with mine, revealing a vulnerability, a beauty that hadn't been present before the madness.
"I love you," he whispered, holding my gaze. "And not because you saved my life as well as Julian's. It's because you are . . ." His voice trailed off.
"What? I'm what?" I braced myself for something negative even though I knew that's not what he was going to say.
"I've never met anyone like you. I can see your deep sadness. Your need to belong at the expense of yourself. You've put others first for so long. Your mother. Your sisters. Your artwork. Even Julian, and now me."
I looked away from his intensity. I didn't want to cry. "I don't know what you're talking about."
His hand moved my chin gently back to face him. "I can see through your shell."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I repeated. I tried to look away but he held my chin in place. Not gruffly. Then he leaned down and kissed me again. I opened my mouth to him. The warmth of his kisses transported me. I was flying, no longer in my own body. The pain disappeared. I was a beautiful woman, seen through the eyes of the man who loved me. Foreign, but fantastic. I folded my arms around him, pulling him closer.
"Chrys," he moaned through the kiss, dropping light kisses on my collarbone and neck. Grazing the tender spots with his fangs, bared for seduction.
Adjusting myself in the bed, the soft silk of a nightgown licked my skin. I turned my head to the side, slowly adjusting to the light. We were in Sadie and Ryder's room. Finally I had been allowed in here. Into my sister's inner sanctuary. She finally trusted me enough? It looked similar to the decor she'd had at Casa Mañana. Modern. And she'd put one of her nightgowns on me too. Sisterly love?
Carter climbed up on top, straddling me and curling down to kiss the tops of my breasts through the light fabric. One hand ran through my hair while the other moved almost languidly down between my legs, pulling up the gown. I lifted my hips to accommodate. An involuntary moan escaped when he cupped my bare, tender flesh and rocked into me with the heel of his palm. My legs spread to accommodate him before my brain jumped in. I wanted this man inside of me. At this moment, in my sister's bedroom, with the rest of the family somewhere in the house. And I didn't care. When had I become so brazen? I strained my head upward and thrust my mound against his hand.
"I want you inside of me," I growled into his ear.
He froze, then sat up, looking at me. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," I groaned and lifted my body up so he could remove the sheath.
The smile spreading across those perfect cheeks lit up his dark face, lightening it, bringing it out into the open where everything else lay, all paint brushes and herbs on the table. Leaning into me, he took my lips gently, teasing them with his tongue as he parted my mouth. I kissed him back with a fierceness I'd never experienced before. My body hungered for him, yes, but it was so much more than that too. I needed this man to fill a part of me that I hadn't even known was missing.
The hand massaging me between my legs pushed harder against my sex before opening the petals and playing with my tender bud. He brought the wetness from inside out and rubbed the smoothness over me, sending mini tremors through my limbs. His mouth moved down the side of my face, almost languidly, kissing me first softly and then harder as he added little bites. The arching of my body surprised me but not him and he pulled me upward, bringing me toward his yearning.
I tried to follow the progression of his mouth but I was lost in the feel of my own body. Shivers here, electrical jolts there. As if every cell was on fire, every nerve shooting simultaneously. Slowly he moved down the long expanse of my stomach, where the kisses became lighter, more tender, and onto my inner thighs, where his lips dropped harder, with more intensity. I tried to squirm away but he held me tightly, nipping at my delicate skin.
By the time he reached my passage, I didn't know if I could hold on. I growled, "Come back up and take me."
"Or what?" His voice tickled the soft tissue between my legs and I arched up again.
"Or else I'll change my mind."
His soft laughter lightened the intensity of the moment and I relaxed back down onto the bed as he completely ignored my orders. Instead, he explored my folds with his mouth and fingers, avoiding the most sensitive spot, my jewel. He kept dialing up the physical intensity, though I hadn't thought my body could possibly be any more sensitive. Those light touches on my outer lips, followed by a tongue inside my cavity, were almost too much to bear. And then he bit and pulled at my lips with his teeth. The pinpricks of pain mixed with pleasure and arousal until he literally had me begging for his girth.
"Fill me. I need it. I need to give myself to you." I was writhing like a mermaid of out water, clawing at the sheets.
My eyes were squeezed firmly shut. I shuddered in surprise at his mouth on mine again. His hardness pushed between my legs, the tip massaging back and forth over my sensitive core. I opened my legs wider for him, my eyelids popping open as he entered. And our eyes locked. He pushed insi
de slowly, pulling out and pushing back in an inch at a time until all I wanted was for him to bury himself inside. My hips bucked up, trying to take him deeper. His eyes smiled at me, thrusting inside so completely I had to cry out.
"Okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Fuck me," I growled at him, scratching at his back and pulling him down.
His surprise was apparent but instead of complying, he agilely flipped me over so that I was on top of him. "You fuck me."
And I did. I rode him so completely that for a long moment I lost myself in the pleasure. His girth massaged the inside of my canal and when I ground forward, it hit my clit as well. So that's what I did, pushing and falling into him. Deeply. So deep. So deep that I knew I'd never be the same again.
A moment before I came, I cried out, "I give myself to you."
His body tensed. His eyes held mine. "And I . . . to you."
"Bite me," I cried, "make me yours."
His head strained upward as I offered him my neck and at the moment of our combined orgasm, his fangs pierced my skin. There were no words for the waves and waves of pleasure that shook my body. There was no drug better than a simultaneous orgasm and vampire bite at the teeth of the one you loved.
Lying cradled in my vampire's arms completed a part of me that I hadn't known was missing. My vampire. I liked the sound of that. Mine. This man had picked me for what he saw inside. Internally, not externally. I was everything he wanted.
"You're everything I need," he said, pulling me tighter. His sleepy voice mirrored my thoughts.
"What now?" I asked him.
"Whatever we want. Whatever you want. As long as I'm by your side."
There was a knock on the door and then Sadie's voice. "Are you okay in there, Chrys?"
She was addressing me? My sister cared. "I am, we are," I called back.
"Making sure. We're in the living room."
I was lying in bed--naked--with a hot vampire--also naked--having just done the deed I'd waited all of my life to do.
"Give us a few minutes," I called.
"Okay. See you in a bit," called my sister through the closed door.
We lounged together for several more minutes before getting dressed. I cracked the door and looked around the hallway. Silence. Together, Carter and I padded into the living room.
Adorning the seating areas was my new family. Sadie, Ryder, Iphi, Julian, Alistair and Jared who was languidly massaging Burgundy’s shoulders.
"Carter!" Julian leapt up and threw his arms around his brother. "Are you really all better?"
"You bet, buddy." Kneeling, Carter hugged his brother back.
"I love you." Julian nuzzled his brother's neck and Carter responded in kind, putting his hand on the boy's head.
"Let's all go out for breakfast," said Sadie. "We've been cooped up here."
"The Harbor House?" asked Iphi, clapping her hands together. It was her favorite restaurant in the Edge.
"Are you okay with all of this?" I asked Carter as we left.
"With all of what? Your family?"
I nodded.
"More than okay." He took my face in both of his hands. "I want you to be happy. I like your family. Well, except for . . ." Without letting go of my face, he looked away. ". . . what I've heard about your mother."
"Yeah." I sighed, letting the silence hang between us as we got into the car. And then I remembered, running to catch up to Sadie. "We left Aurelia on your porch."
Sadie held out a palm. "I gave her food and water and made sure she was in the shade."
"You didn't change her back?"
Sadie shook her head. "That's your job."
"But you could have easily done it," I argued.
"I could have, but how would that have helped you?"
"A lot." I crossed my arms over my chest. Carter laid an arm across my shoulder.
"She's right, honey," he whispered into my ear, careful not to let Sadie hear.
I looked at him, and he nodded and smiled. "You can do it. You can control your magic. I know you can."
Turning back to the porch, I cautiously approached. "Ribbit," came the sound of toad Aurelia. The covered cage was sitting in the shade on the side table. I couldn't help thinking that it would be easier for all of us if I just left her as a toad. We could get her a big aquarium, maybe a water feature. Feed her some nice grasshoppers for a treat . . . But I couldn't do that. No matter how easy our lives would be without our mother in it, I could never subject her to such misery. If only I lacked integrity or morals. I let out a deep, long sigh and walked over to the box.
"Ribbit," came the sound again. Maybe she could read my mind.
I uncovered the birdcage, looming over her. She didn't move but her eyes swiveled toward me.
"I'll make you a deal," I said. "One ribbit for yes, two for no."
"Ribbit."
"Let's make sure, give me two ribbits."
"Ribbit, ribbit."
"Good. So here's how it's going to go from now on. I will change you back but you will not try to control me any longer. Understand?"
"Ribbit."
"You will remove the brand from my neck or change it so that you can no longer track me."
"Ribbit, ribbit."
"This is not up for discussion, Mother. I don't care if you think I can't take care of myself. I don't care about your fears anymore. I will live my life the way I choose. Understand?"
There was a moment of silence, so long that I was about to put the cover back on when she finally responded. "Ribbit."
"Good. Then you will remove or change my brand so you can no longer track me?"
"Ribbit."
"And lastly, you will accept who I have chosen as my mate."
Silence.
"Carter, the vampire."
"Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit."
"Is that a yes?"
"Ribbit, ribbit."
I replaced the sheet. What was the point? Even if she said she agreed to all of my demands, there was nothing to stop her from going back on her word. Or was there?
I walked back into the house, ignoring her incessant ribbiting.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
An hour later, we were all sitting around a table at The Harbor House Cafe, discussing what to do with Aurelia, who we'd left in the car with the window cracked. Luckily, it wasn't too hot out and a steady breeze drifted in off the water.
Carter, Burgundy and Jared had voted to leave her in toad form, so they were not part of our discussion. Mostly it was me, Sadie and Iphi. The others jabbered amongst themselves.
"Coffee?" the fresh-faced waitress asked us. We all nodded enthusiastically, even Julian.
"None for him." Carter put his hand over Julian's mug. "Do you have hot chocolate?"
"We do. I'll bring some." She smiled, poured our coffees and retreated.
"Is there a spell like that?" I asked Sadie.
"I don't know." She was shaking her head.
"Maybe we could improvise," Iphi said.
"But if we get it wrong, it could be disastrous," Sadie said before bringing her coffee to her lips. She was the only one of us who drank it black.
"Would that be so bad?" I asked the other two but they both knew I didn't mean it and didn't respond.
"I checked the grimoire, there's nothing about this in there," Sadie said.
"What about my family's grimoire?" Ryder leaned over.
"We could ask Katharine at least," Sadie said.
Katharine, Ryder's mother, was a witch. So was his sister, Octavia. I nodded. "It's worth a try."
After breakfast, my sisters, Alistair, Julian and I piled into Ryder's Mustang. Burgundy, Carter, Jared and Aurelia the toad went back to Casa Mañana.
Ryder dropped the Reeses at Langston Dock and then turned into the parking lot for Gate Three. I had known he lived in the Gates but I hadn't actually been there before. This was the most derelict area of the harbor, the houseboats were falling apart, and the dock looked like it was about
to sink into the sea. Gate Three was a complete contrast to where Carter lived, just around the corner. The Reeses' dock was raised up above the water with beautiful wooden railings. Gate Three's dock was floating on the water, not a railing in site. All the docks had looked like this before the Council had upgraded them. The Gates were the last vestige of how things used to be here, the occupants still waiting for change. Every time they were supposed to be upgraded, someone on the planning committee stopped it because of funding. The occupants couldn't afford to move on their own and the city couldn't afford to house them elsewhere.
I followed Ryder and Sadie onto the long expanse of boards pitching back and forth on the water's surface. Ryder's boat was at the end, the nicest one by far. The other houseboats looked like they might sink at any moment, but Ryder's looked almost new.
He opened the front door. Smells of cooking wafted outside. I breathed them in. He called inside, "Mom, we need your expertise."
Katharine appeared from the kitchen, wearing an apron. She wiped her hands on it and then clasped them together. "Girls, how nice to see you."
Iphi and I hadn't seen Ryder's family since they'd helped rescue us and save our town from the Scrim six months earlier.
Katharine moved forward, hugging each of us. "Come in." She motioned to the small den.
We all took seats on the couch and chairs. Katharine remained standing, looking at each of us in turn.
"Go ahead and ask her," Ryder said.
"Well . . ." I started.
"What?"
"My mother, our mother . . ." I motioned to the girls.
"Aurelia, yes?" Katharine said.
"Well, I accidentally turned her into a toad."
Katharine stifled a giggle, throwing her hands up to her mouth. "And now you can't change her back?"
"No, I probably can. At least I think I can, but . . ." I looked around at the others for support and they all nodded their heads at me. "I was wondering if there was a special way to do it. A spell that would allow her to turn back into herself, but if she was ever to disobey our wishes, she would turn into a toad again."
