“I must applaud you on your taste in women, son,” he said. “She certainly is a delicious little thing. I quite enjoyed the little taste I had of her.”
“You won’t ever touch her again,” Vance replied, his voice sounding furious and deadly.
Though I could feel his emotions boiling to a whole new extreme, I chose this moment to attack. I threw my hands out right then, shooting from my palms and catching both guards in the chest with stakes of ice.
The two of them registered a look of shock before falling to the floor, writhing in pain as they clutched at the ice, their shirts quickly becoming stained with the blood they were losing.
I turned back to face Damien.
“I’ll let her live if you’ll join me, son,” Damien said.
Vance snorted.
“Why, so you can have her? I don’t think so, Dad.” He sneered. “I don’t want her to be anywhere around you.”
The three of us slowly circled around each other. “Forget the girl then,” Damien said trying a different approach. “There’s a whole magical world out there, just waiting for us to take control of it. We could rule it together. Think of all the power we could have.”
“You mean all the power Vance would have. The ones you’d try to steal from him, right?” I spoke up, clarifying what he had said to me earlier.
“Shut up, you little witch!” Damien said glaring at me as his face transformed into his demon features.
He took one step toward me, raising his hand into the air, and Vance threw a fireball straight at him.
Damien pivoted and waved his hand, deflecting the fireball away from him and moving it toward me with a burst of magic. I had to duck quickly to prevent being hit by it.
“Portia!” Vance called out to me, and I knew he had hit his boiling point then.
I saw his eyes flare with a strength I had never seen before as he turned back to face Damien.
Vance raised his arm and shot out a continuous arc of flame at his father this time, stepping toward him ominously.
I had to move several steps backward, raising my hands involuntarily into the air to protect myself from the wave of heat that washed over me.
Damien raised his hand, and a force field shot up in front of him, deflecting the fire harmlessly around him.
Vance continued to send the flames toward him, this time raising his other hand, throwing flame from it as well, and I could see that Damien was slowly being forced backward, as he tried to maintain his field of protection.
Warily they circled, neither one giving in to the other, and I scooted silently back away from the intense heat, moving farther across the floor.
I didn’t consciously realize how close Damien had gotten to me, until suddenly I could see he was standing between Vance and me, and I realized I hadn’t been paying enough attention to my own position. I tried to run, but I felt a sudden magical restraint take hold of me, and I was unable to move. Damien’s arm snaked out and grabbed me, pulling me up against his body.
He dropped the magical restraint that had contained me, diverting the bulk of his power back to the shield that was protecting him. I pushed against his chest as I struggled to get away.
“I’ll kill her!” Damien shouted out, and Vance immediately dropped the flame, taking a step back away from him.
“Let her go!” he shouted, his chest heaving, as they continued to face off against each other.
“I can’t do that.” Damien smiled shaking his head. “She’s the only leverage I have.”
He yanked my head roughly to the side and sank his sharpened teeth into my neck, and I screamed loudly.
“No!” Vance yelled and ran toward us, fear tearing across his face as he approached.
Damien threw his hand up then, sending out a burst of power that sent Vance soaring across the room, slamming him up against the opposite wall.
Struggling against the horrible pain of the bite, I tried desperately to pull away from him. Damien just yanked me harder against his chest in an iron grip. I could feel the weakness starting as he drank from me, my knees threatening to give a little under the onslaught.
Slowly, I lifted my hand to cover his heart, and summoning all the energy I could muster, I slammed a giant ice shard right through his chest.
I felt the gurgle as he let go and fell away from me to the floor, releasing me so suddenly that I stumbled backwards, grasping at my neck in an effort to try to stop the bleeding.
I watched for one second as Damien struggled for breath, crawling away toward the doorway, gasping as he moved. Then I turned and ran haphazardly over toward Vance, who was slowly regaining his feet. I tripped and fell into him heavily, leaning on him for support.
“How bad is it?” he asked, as he pulled my hand away from my wound so he could check it.
Instantly I realized this was a mistake, and I felt the craving as it leapt through him when he saw the blood running from my neck.
He let go of me as if I had burned him with a hot poker, and he stepped back from me.
This is not good, I thought, as I saw the yearning for a taste pass over his face, his longing being very evident.
Vance eyed me warily, his expression a mask of both desire and despair as he watched me, and I could tell he was struggling with a decision.
A loud grunting sound which came from across the room made us both turn away from each other to look in that direction.
I was horrified to see Damien slowly stand up, and the ice shard I had shoved into him began to push backward out of his chest, until it fell out, shattering into a million pieces on the floor.
We both watched in amazement as the hole in his chest closed and he was completely whole once again, as if he had never been touched.
A low laugh escaped his lips as he took in our expressions, and he began walking toward us slowly.
“Let’s finish this, son,” he said seductively, calling out to Vance, enticing him with the call for blood. “I can see the desire ripe in your eyes. You want her badly. Do it! She’s yours for the taking. Nothing can stop you now.”
I looked at Vance, and I could feel the emotions warring inside him. I began to taste a little bit of fear in my mouth.
There were two forces here, and I was caught between them. If Vance turned against me, then all was lost. There was no way possible for me to survive this without him. I couldn’t fight them both.
I placed my hand back over my neck, trying to protect myself as he watched me, and began to back away, until I realized that I was moving away from him and toward Damien. I stopped, not knowing what to do.
“Take her, son! Now!” Damien yelled at Vance.
Vance reached out and grabbed me then, pulling me hard up against his body, and I felt his desire shoot through him.
“Do you trust me?” his voice shot through my head, thick with some unseen emotion.
I hesitated only a second.
“Yes,” I replied back to him.
He yanked my hand away from my neck and covered the wound with his mouth, sucking hard as the blood flowed freely into him.
I grabbed at his shirt with both hands trying to keep myself standing as I felt the weakness enter my limbs almost instantly. He was drinking in earnest now, both of his arms wrapped tightly around me, and I could feel his body singing against me as he drank my blood.
“Yes, son!” Damien cheered with an evil laugh, as he walked up next to us. “Yes!”
He watched as Vance continued to feed on me.
“Now let me perform the kiss, son, before she’s too far gone,” he instructed him. “We can take all of her powers, too.”
“You want a kiss, Dad?” Vance said, and he let go of me so suddenly I slumped to the floor. “Then go ahead! Take it!”
Damien hesitated for a moment, in perplexed surprise, as he looked at me on the floor in front of him. I saw Vance reach behind his back to pull an athame out of the holder on his belt.
Vance raised the weapon up, shooting his hand out and yanking Damien
to him. He moved so quickly that I hardly registered the sight of the knife slitting Damien across the throat.
Damien grabbed at his neck with both hands as the blood started to pump out.
Vance dropped the athame and grappled Damien by the collar, pulling him right up next to his face, dropping his jaw.
I watched in horror as I realized it was Vance who was performing the kiss on his father, not the other way around.
Damien tried to scream but couldn’t with his cut throat, instead making a horrible gurgling sound.
I found that I couldn’t look away, and I watched Damien convulse, his blood spraying, as all his powers drifted up out of his body and into Vance’s.
Vance’s veins began to glow, and Damien became weaker, until it was only Vance’s brute strength that was keeping Damien standing.
I could see Vance was beginning to tremble as his body was trying to absorb the massive amount of power it was receiving.
He dropped Damien to the floor and took two steps backward before he started to shake violently.
The veins in his neck and arms were protruding, and his face was beaded in droplets of sweat. He dropped to his knees, falling forward slightly, unable to keep standing with the force of everything.
“Vance!” I cried out hoarsely, reaching for him.
“Don’t touch me, Portia!” he hollered with great effort, as the magical currents continued to fight in his body.
Vance gave a loud yell as he arched his back, flinging his arms out away from his body, and sparks shot out the ends of his fingers, followed by little bursts of flame. It was almost as if he were being electrocuted, as wave after wave of shocks rolled through him.
I cried as I watched him being wracked with pain.
He convulsed that way for several moments, then he finally fell to the floor in exhaustion, as the effects of the exchange subsided. He collapsed in a heap right next to Damien’s body.
I crawled over to his side, passing by Damien, who was still and pale, lying in a puddle of his own blood. I could tell by the flat vacant stare that he was really dead this time.
“Vance!” I called out as I slouched next to his limp form, placing my hand on his blood-splattered face. “Vance! Please answer me!”
His eyes opened into tiny slits, just large enough for me to see the clear, blue eyes there, which surprised me.
“I’m okay,” he breathed heavily, as he looked at me. “What about you?”
“Well, I feel better than I did the last time you did this to me,” I replied as I continued to hold my wounded neck.
“I’m sorry about that,” he whispered, as he lifted his blood-covered hand to rub down the side of my face, then thinking better of it.
“It’s fine,” I said back to him as the tears dripped from my face and onto him leaving wet spots to mingle with the blood on his shirt.
He slowly began to sit up on his own, reaching over to pull me into his embrace, cradling me tightly to his chest.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked him, searching him over for any damage I might have missed.
“I think so,” he replied, as he ripped off a part of his t-shirt at the hem, folding it into a thick square and placing it against my neck and applying pressure there. “That was quite a trip.”
“How did you know to even try that?” I asked, with an incredulous look upon my face.
“It was something you’d said,” he explained, holding the tight pressure against my skin. “You said I had more powers than I was aware of. I just had the thought that he always wanted me so he could perform that stupid demon kiss. I suddenly realized that maybe that was the power he was after specifically. I figured if I strengthened myself with your blood, then maybe there was enough demon in me to try it myself.”
“You took a huge risk, Vance! What if it hadn’t worked?”
“I still had a big knife.” He smiled and gave me a wink.
He stood then and pulled me to my feet after him, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his embrace. He tilted his head a little to observe the bleeding at my throat.
“I need to heal this, Portia. But I’m not sure if my powers might be adversely affected.” He sighed, seeming concerned about it.
“Just do it, Vance,” I said. “I trust you.”
“Are you sure? I don’t like taking risks when it comes to you,” he replied, his eyes flitting over my face.
“So bleeding to death isn’t a risk?” I asked him with a small laugh.
“I see your point,” he smiled, and I felt a warm heat pass through me as he cupped my neck in between his strong hands. “Kiss me,” he said when he was finished, looking down at me tenderly.
“Why? So you can steal my powers now?” I teased back, albeit badly.
“No, just your heart,” he replied, seriously.
“You can’t steal what already belongs to you,” I reminded him as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him with every intense emotion I had, until he finally had to pull away.
He held me tightly for several moments, and we finally turned back to survey the damage in the room. We looked at the three dead bodies lying on the floor, drenched in their own blood.
“It’s finally over, isn’t it?” I said as I looked up at him, having a hard time believing the two of us were responsible for the gruesome scene in front of us.
“Almost,” he replied, with a nod.
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking up in confusion, wondering what I might have missed.
“Now it’s time to clean house,” he said.
Chapter 24
Vance checked us in to another hotel and placed a call to my family in Sedona, letting them know he had found me. He explained everything that had happened, and everyone was greatly relieved to hear we were both safe.
The coven came to Las Vegas to assist in the cleaning up of loose ends, as Vance had called it.
We spent a lot of time in Damien’s penthouse, going through files and personal items trying to trace all the other members of his coven, so they could be destroyed also.
Every time we found a lead, we organized a strike team to go and take care of the threat. Soon we had found everyone except for Darcy, the maid from the penthouse who had been instructed to take care of me.
I watched Vance in amazement as he handled things with great efficiency. It was almost as if he had assumed the role of leader in our coven, though he politely deferred to my dad and Grandma in every aspect of decision-making.
I had also noticed his powers were significantly stronger than they had been before. I could feel it just when I was standing next to him, pulsating through his veins, but it was even more obvious as he destroyed every demon we encountered, fighting like nothing I had ever seen before.
The strange thing in all this was that he seemed to have suffered no ill effects in performing the demon kiss. In fact, it seemed to have just the opposite effect, as he no longer suffered from the awful withdrawal he had experienced before, and I had yet to see the red eyes reappear. We finally decided that the exchange must have completed something in the cycle he had been going through.
Vance and Dad had also been going through all of Damien’s holdings, which had proven to be vast indeed. Vance had decided to liquidate all the properties, which were located all over the world, stating he certainly did not have a need for so many places of residence in his life. He told my dad to use the money from those sales to give to the witches and warlocks Damien had stolen powers from. It wasn’t magic, but Vance felt they should be compensated somehow for their losses.
Even with all his generosity, Vance was still going to easily be a multi-millionaire. Damien had been a very rich man, with a lot invested in many lucrative pots which were still accruing money hand over fist. Dad assured us that Vance would be extremely well off for the rest of his days.
This evening, Vance and I were getting ready to walk down to Freemont Street on the strip. Tonight was New Year’s Eve, and ther
e was a lot of celebrating going on in the city.
Vance had asked me out on a date, to go see the light show and watch the fireworks. I was very excited about it. We had been through so much lately, I was ready for some relaxation and celebration.
We walked hand in hand as we strolled down the sidewalk, watching the people passing us by, and reading the bright signs that were advertising all the A-list headliners for the evening.
“How are you feeling?” Vance asked as he looked at me.
“I’m a lot better,” I replied, knowing he was referring to the weakness I had felt after being fed on by both him and his father. “Thanks for healing my neck.”
“No problem,” he said as he squeezed my hand. “I am just sorry that you were placed back into that situation.”
“It wasn’t your fault. I was just the means to an end.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he said turning to look at me.
“Like what?”
“You’re so much more than a means to an end,” he said, staring at me with eyes full of love. “You are my life! I couldn’t live without you.”
I smiled and gave him a quick hug before we continued on down the strip, until we reached Freemont Street.
The light show there was fantastic, as we stood shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of other people packed into the place to watch the spectacle.
As the colored images flashed down the roof in many patterns, I suddenly spotted a face in the crowd that I recognized.
I nudged Vance hard.
“What is it?” he said loudly over the music, and he leaned toward me so he could hear me.
“It’s Darcy!” I shouted back, pointing over to where she was standing several feet away.
He followed my finger with his gaze, his eyes searching the crowd.
“She’s the one in the red jacket with the fur around the hood,” I described as I continued to point at her.
It was as if she heard us, for she turned right then to look at us. Fear instantly crept over her face, and she ran away through the crowd, shoving people out of her way.
Vance instantly took off after her, and I started running after him.
Several people protested loudly as we pushed and stumbled through the throngs, trying to move after her through the crush of bodies.
Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss Page 26
