by Janet Jones
A hot-red wave of light distorted the air ten feet away from them. The fledglings keened and snarled. Talisen watched, fascinated, as the shape of a man took form in the light. When the vampire completely materialized, she took a step backward into Ellory's arms.
She had expected a maniacal ogre with flaming red eyes. In his billowing black shirt and tight-fitting jeans, the Alchemist looked so young and beautiful and dangerous that Talisen could only stare. His shoulder-length, glistening black hair curled around his ears, and his black eyes shone with ancient intelligence. He stood at his ease, with a slender, limp form swaddled in white linen hoisted on his shoulder. It looked like a mummy.
The power that emanated from him snapped in the air like raw electricity, vibrant with outrage and a demand for vindication. None of that showed in his voice. It was so deep and melodious that Talisen could have floated to him on the breeze. “That was one of the most articulate invitations I've had in some time."
She smiled. “So you're the crazy vampire they're all afraid of?"
He made a slight bow that didn't look stupid in the least, coming from him, and turned his gaze on the others. “Your queen is somewhat ruined. She needs my healing."
"Your healing?” Ellory snarled. “Do you take me for a fool? You're the only one powerful enough to cause this devastation."
"You wrong me, Benedikt. This is Dylan's handiwork."
The fledglings gasped and whispered among themselves.
Ellory shook his head. “Impossible. Dylan would have to be as strong as an Ancient to do this."
The elegant vampire gave him a facetious grin. “By Ra, your intellect stuns me."
"But ... how? He isn't strong enough to cannibalize an Ancient. How could he do it?"
"Find the answer to that question and you'll know what you're up against."
Ellory's face darkened. “Maybe he had help from someone practiced at rendering vampires helpless."
Meical caught Ellory's arm. “Ease up, lad."
Ellory shook him off and took a step closer to Neshi. “Perhaps it was some of that ‘medicine’ you give your specimens before you torture them. All in the name of science, of course. You're just so damned merciful!"
There was no humor in the Alchemist's voice now. “Heed me. Dylan will be too spent to attack again tonight, but he will strike again when you least expect it."
Talisen eyed the Alchemist more closely. Maybe she just couldn't sense his evil. Maybe he was too beautiful for her to tell the difference. But he didn't seem crazy in the least. His warnings seemed sound.... he will strike again when you least expect it....
Ellory took a menacing step toward the Alchemist. “If you think I will allow you to desecrate our queen's body with your madman's folly, you are mistaken. Put her down. Now."
Madman's folly? Talisen traced the shape of the thing on Neshi's shoulder, and her stomach knotted. Freya? Or rather, what was left of her. Neshi fondled the silken sack with the tenderness of a lover.
"While you have the chance,” he said to Ellory, “accept my protection. Let me shelter you."
The fledglings growled like banshees. The sound split through Talisen's skull until she covered her ears with her hands.
"That would be so easy for you, wouldn't it?” Ellory spat. “You'd glean a whole brood of young vampires for your experiments."
"I will not offer you asylum twice, Benedikt."
"We'll take our chances."
"I fear you will not see another twilight. Freya will be grieved to hear of your demise when I revive her."
When the Alchemist vanished, Talisen let go of the death-grip she had on the back of Ellory's shirt. “I think he was telling the truth. If he's the one who did all this, why would he spare us, much less offer us protection?"
"Talisen, I will not hand my children over to that beast."
Talisen glanced at Meical and implored him with her gaze.
The big blonde vampire shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers and eyed Ellory with a contemplative frown. “Ms. Davies is quite right. If the old fiend wanted us dead, he could've killed us here and now. Ask yourself—why didn't he?"
Ellory growled and shrugged. “Who can say? He's mad.” He turned to the fledglings. “Straight home. No lollygagging."
The fledglings bore Meinrad away with them.
"I'll stay here for a bit,” said Meical, “and see that the authorities don't find anything they shouldn't."
Ellory nodded, swept Talisen into his arms and bolted into sky so fast she gasped. One glimpse at the furnace of emotion inside of him cured her of wanting to try to reason with him about the Alchemist.
They arrived at the summer house to find Sean curled up with Shelby in her little bed. She was asleep; he was chewing his fingernails. He slid out of the bed when they entered the room and gaped at Talisen. “What happened to you?"
She gave him a reassuring smile. “Everyone's on their way home. They'll tell you everything when they get here."
"I heard the police and fire trucks and—” He touched her chapped cheek. “That must hurt. Should I run you a bath?"
Ellory answered before Talisen could, in a sharp voice that Sean didn't deserve. “She is my responsibility, boy. I will tend to her. Make up the sofa beds in the cellar. Then gather up whatever you think you, Shelby, and Talisen will need for spending a day down there. Be sure Shelby has some of her toys. Put some food in the cellar fridge. Here's the key. Move all the units of blood into the meat drawer and tell Shelby I said if she opens the fridge, I'll spank her."
Sean's eyes widened. “Really?"
Ellory hugged him hard enough to make him wince. “Go."
The boy raided Shelby's toy box until he couldn't carry anything else and went out with a troubled glance at them.
Talisen closed the door softly and leaned back against it. A responsibility, was she? But not a source of comfort? Yeah, right. She knew better, thanks to Freya. She needed to tell him everything.
She watched Ellory wipe his hands clean on his jeans, kneel by Shelby, and touch her forehead. Talisen smiled. What else would a father want at a moment like this but to see that his littlest was safe? Seeming satisfied, he rose and settled his gaze on her.
She felt the sting of his emotions like a dagger and almost backed out the door. He closed the distance between them, planted his hands on either side of her head and kissed her long and hard and deep. Finally.
Talisen pressed against him, even when his arms squeezed the breath out of her. He pulled the door open behind her, and without breaking their kiss, took her straight down the hallway to her room, closed the door of her bedroom with his heel and flung them both down on the bed.
"I thought I'd lost you,” he whispered between kisses.
"Same here,” she whispered.
"I'll triple the safeguards for tonight. But tomorrow night Dylan will be at full strength, and we must prepare for anything. I don't know when or where or how he'll attack."
She tightened her embrace on him. “We'll worry about that tomorrow. We have tonight."
He was silent for a moment. Dread lived in that silence. “Talisen, we may not make it."
Her throat closed up on an achy lump of grief. “I know."
He found her ear with his mouth.
"Ellory."
She felt him shake his head, caught him by the hair, and pulled his head up so he had to look at her. “I need to show you something. And then I need to tell you something. And then I want you to make love to me until I can't get out of bed. But not here in my room."
He blinked, and his red-black eyes narrowed. Then he smiled tenderly. “I'd planned for our first time to be at the inn, in my old room. But under the circumstances...."
She rose up and kissed him. “That's not where you live anymore, Captain Benedikt."
He buried his face in her hair. “Where then, my love?"
Didn't it even occur to him? It was the only place she wanted to be. And if death was coming to t
hem, the only place she wanted to die. “Your room."
He lifted his head, his eyes soft brown again like a teddy bear's, and kissed her palm.
She smiled. “First, we'll talk. I need my jewelry box. It's on the dresser."
He rose to get it, and she sat up and turned on the bedside lamp, grateful that she had enough time to set things right. And for once, she was the one with the surprises up her sleeve.
Ellory returned to her and sat down on the bed with the jewelry box in his lap. Talisen opened it up and took out the ring. Her ring. From Ellory. She held it up in the light and watched his eyes narrow, then widen with recognition.
He lifted one large finger to touch the dainty band. The shock and confusion on his face gave way to pain. “How did you get this?"
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I want to tell you, but ... I don't want to hurt you."
He caressed her cheek. “Let me see for myself.” He lay back on the bed and drew her down beside him, holding her close. “Relax. Let me empty your thoughts."
Talisen closed her eyes and let the nothingness swallow her. Ellory's probe was so smooth and gentle that she scarcely felt him thumbing through the backwaters of her recollections.
She sensed his breathless hesitation and knew he'd found what he was looking for. Suddenly she was in the long corridor again, but the grip of emotion she had felt the first time held no power over her. It was as though Ellory had shut off the valve to all her feelings. The only time she felt a quiver of pain get through to her was when he heard Freya's assertion that, had things been different, he might have been spared the agony of what he had become. But his pain over this was nothing compared to what he felt in Sarah's sickroom.
He couldn't bear to stay and watch it.
Talisen felt him jerk her close, and in seconds the corridor fell away from them and disappeared in a tiny pinpoint of light. When she opened her eyes, she lay on the bed, and Ellory was standing at her fireplace with his back to her.
She pushed herself to her feet and went to hold him. “I wish I could go back and change it all."
He turned his head slightly, his voice unsteady. “What could you have done? It was my misfortune to have the stupidity to dance with the wrong girl. To swear my heart to her...."
"It can't be that simple. Just a dance. It's not fair. You were so close to avoiding Aloisia. If you'd married me instead of Madeline, we'd have moved to Massachusetts, beyond Aloisia's domain."
He turned and traced her cheek with a finger. “You were always there at Madeline's home, hovering in the background of her life. That's where she kept you. She made your feelings for me sound like a little girl's crush. By the time I got to know you better, and discovered in you a kindred spirit, we could do no more than be the best of friends. I'm so sorry."
Talisen wiped her eyes, heartbroken to see the loss and regret in his eyes. “It's not your fault. You had to honor your commitment to Madeline."
"Now I know why your life force fetched me back here. We belong to each other."
"Tonight, you told Freya that you first felt the compulsion to return to Camden twenty-four years ago. I'm twenty-four, Ellory. You must have felt me calling you back here from the moment I was born. But according to what Freya showed me tonight, I've been calling to you for a lot longer than that. When I was Sarah ... when I was dying ... I told Madeline I wouldn't rest till I found you again. I kept my promise to myself. I got you back."
He picked her up and kissed her hungrily. “This I swear. Whatever happens, we will never be separated again."
Talisen held onto him, grateful for every moment they'd had together. Time suddenly seemed immense, and yet so scarce and precious. No matter. There was time enough to love him. Now.
All she had to do was say his name inside her mind.
His kiss gentled, and he lifted his head long enough to whisper, “Take a deep breath."
Her heart raced. “What? Why?"
When she opened her eyes, they were standing in his room.
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Chapter Thirteen
His big bed loomed ahead of them out of the dark. The logs in the fireplace exploded into a blaze, as hot and golden-red as Ellory's eyes. Never mind how he'd done it. She didn't care. If he didn't touch her, she'd die.
He carried her to the bed, teasing her mouth with his. She wanted to scream.
"Maybe you will,” he whispered. “Let's find out."
She blushed and shook her head. “You just entered a no-scream zone. No giggling either. I do have my pride."
He laid her down with a diabolical laugh and followed her onto the softness of his bed. “But I want you giggling, wiggling, crying, writhing, screaming—on the bed, under the table, against the wall, even on the—” His gaze rose to the ceiling, and he laughed again. “Oh, yes. Perfect."
Talisen felt gravity release her, and she gasped. She was halfway to the ceiling when he floated upwards ahead of her. He settled with his back against the ceiling, eased her into his arms with her back against him, and anchored her body with his.
Their first time to make love—perhaps their last. Leave it to Ellory to make it feel like a celebration. His mounting hunger, playful though it was, became her own.
She bobbed against him, bumping him in all the right places. “Ellory, I can't do it like this."
"How do you know? You've never done it.” His hands roved downward, and he pulled her upward against him. “Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Down there on terra firma."
"Down there?"
"Ye—"
The snap of his fingers turned gravity back on. She fell like a stone onto the bed and flopped onto her back in time to see him dropping out of the dark.
"Yikes, Ellory!” she squealed, hiding her eyes.
When she didn't find herself squashed, she peeked through her fingers to see him hovering inches above her, grinning. All fangs. His red-black eyes flickered as his gaze swept over her.
That gaze left her dry-mouthed and shaking. She wanted to be devoured by him, and to do some devouring of her own. She reached for the buttons on his shirt, but his shirt vanished at her touch.
She laughed. “How accommodating."
"Well, I aim to please."
She ran her hands through his chest hair, over his stomach, his muscular arms, his shoulders, shoulders that carried such a burden. Beautiful, beautiful man. Hers, every inch of him. Hers? It went straight to her head, like wine. He hung suspended above her, motionless but for the little tremor that shook him when her hands hesitated on the buttons of his fly.
Hovering closer, he kissed her and covered her hand with his own where her fingers rested on the bulging crotch of his jeans. “Please, Talisen. I've waited so long for you to touch me like this. Please."
His mouth closed over her ear, and she writhed, working his fly open with shaking fingers. She heard him groan when his burgeoning erection broke free—a rod of iron beneath velvet smooth skin. The feel of him in her hand turned the vibration between her legs to a jackhammer.
She moaned. “You weren't kidding when you told me becoming a vampire increases your ... uhm ... what did you call it? Musculature?” Talisen snorted. “I thought you were just talking about biceps and six-packs. You're really ... wow...."
He laughed softly and drew her arms above her head, caught her wrists in one hand and ran his other down her body. Her clothes seemed to dissolve at his touch, yet she plainly saw him tossing them into the dark, and they were still in one piece. His were gone as well. She looked down the long, powerful length of his body, feasting her eyes.
When he dipped to trace her breast with his mouth, she closed her eyes and caught him close. His tongue felt like a flame on her skin. There was only one thing that could make it more perfect. His mark on her throat came alive at the thought and throbbed like the rest of her. Ohhhhh, Ellory ... feed....
Your pleasure comes first. Always.
He drifted down on her
like a feather, as though he were in no hurry at all. His weight settled over her so gradually that is was like a tease. The heavier he felt, the more she wanted him. She whimpered at the feel of his cool, moist tongue lapping along the curve of her pelvis. Oh, yes....
"I'll never forget my first storm at sea,” he murmured in the warm dark. “I thought the captain would let me stay below, since I'd barely got my sea legs yet, but it was ‘aloft and furl’ for all of us, so up the mainmast I went."
The memory erupted inside of her. From atop the wagging, wild mast, she looked down on the fall of rain and waves and lightning. She was dizzy and wet. So wet.... But not cold. She was burning. The rhythm of the bucking sea beneath the brig matched the throbbing in her loins.
"When I got up there,” Ellory whispered, “and looked down at the sea, I knew I'd never seen a more beautiful sight in my life. She seemed to be in agony, wrapping herself around our ship for all she was worth ... her arms reaching.... It was all I could do not to turn loose of the mast and give myself to her."
His mouth found the inside of her thigh, where he tarried to heal the bite he'd left there, while she'd died for want of him. All she could do was cling to handfuls of his hair and mouth his name silently over and over again.
"Well, afterward,” he went on, “I was feeling rather cocky for having survived my lady's fit. I wagered half my pay that no man aboard could name a sweeter sight. Francis, our old cook, who took me under his wing and kept me out of the brothels my first time out, boxed my ears and put me to work over a pile of potatoes. ‘Arthur,’ said he, ‘as fine as the sea is when her wind's up, there is nothing sweeter to the sight than a woman in the throes of passion.’ I was poorer in purse for my wager, but richer for the knowledge."
His mouth closed on her aching, open body, and she jerked beneath him. She came so hard, she cried. But it wasn't enough. She needed more. She wanted everything.
His breath brushed her stomach, ragged and warm. “Are you quite sure this is what you want, my love?"
Nearly too moved to speak, she gave him a weak punch in the shoulder. Tears spilled down her face. “What's that supposed to be, a joke?"
