Without hesitation, she knew that she wanted to go home, back to her tiny apartment in the human realm. She needed to get away from all of this craziness and again in the comfort of her own life. Instead of saying the words aloud, she merely nodded.
“You can’t tell anyone what you saw here, or that you were here without us telling your family.” They knew. At least, Winter knew. Instead of panic, she felt only a resigned acceptance.
“It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway. My sister would lose her mind and probably start a war just because she could.” She was ready to go. Ready to get away from them–regardless of how polite they seemed. This wasn’t her life.
“Okay, think of home.” Winter was looking at her as though she wanted to try and convince her to stay, but she didn’t.
“Is this where you tell me to click my heels and repeat something three times?” She was only half–kidding.
“No, but wherever you’re thinking of, that is where you’re going to appear.” The witch looked at her pointedly. “So make sure you’re thinking of where you really want to go.”
The others were just standing there, looking at her. Waiting for her to change her mind, she could feel the power of their question. They probably didn’t meet people who wanted to leave their world once they had the chance to stay. It was all she could think of, escaping into her own world. Her own comforts, small as they might be, were the only thing she had left.
She had to say something, something polite. “It was nice meeting you, but I really need to go home now. I’m sorry, but this isn’t the place for me.”
“Okay, well. This might be a little painful for you. I’ve never transported someone like you before, and the magic is sort of rough.” Winter stood in front of her, holding her hands out and expecting for them to be grasped.
So she did, she held the hands of the woman who looked like every fairytale princess anyone had ever heard of, a woman who was more powerful than anybody else she had ever met. Even more powerful than her sister or anyone from their court. As she was fading out of their world, she could hear them talking, but she couldn’t see them.
“Do you think she wants us to know what she is?” Anna, that’s who was speaking. Her voice was stronger than the others, more
“No,” Winter interrupted. “The better question is going to be whether Tyler is going to just let her go when he finds out. What are you going to do, Sarah?”
“He’ll never let her go far, not with the way he was looking at her. It might just take him some time to realize it. Did you mark her, Anna?” Sarah was speaking now, but she didn’t understand what she was going on about.
“I didn’t do anything,” Anna said. “The magic on her body was placed there by her own kind. She needs to be protected, though, because there’s no way a member of the fae court should have been wandering around the human realm unchecked.”
“I saw the way Tyler looked at her too,” Winter’s voice was a whisper through the magic around her. “I don’t think anyone will be able to hurt her again if he manages to find her.”
“Why couldn’t we tell she was fae?” Sarah asked. “She was bleeding.”
“I don’t know. The better question would be why she didn’t ask for an escort back to her court.”
She listened to what they were saying for as long as she could, but the light was so bright even with her eyes closed, the air had evaporated from her lungs and her legs buckled under her weight. She would have fallen if it weren’t for the magic that was pulling her through space. Instead, she landed softly on the ground. Her eyes were closed, but she immediately knew where she was. The comfort of home was something that she didn’t have to see to feel. She could hear the soft whirring of the air conditioner blowing, and knew that she had not been gone so long that anyone thought she was missing. Not that there would be anyone to check on her.
Sighing, she opened her eyes and fought at the dizziness to sit up. Exhausted, she pushed herself against nausea to get undressed. She had to take a shower to get the sickening feeling Dante left on her skin off. After double checking all the windows and the door to her apartment, she went into the bathroom and climbed into the tub. Keeping the gun within an arm’s reach, she let all the dirt and grime from the night rush down the drain, and it wasn’t until the water was cold and her skin was pickled that she was ready to get out.
She didn’t bother putting on underwear, only pulling on an oversized t–shirt was plenty enough for the night. Rather than hunt down her cell phone to see if she had any missed calls or texts, she crawled into bed and just lay there thinking about the monster that had taken her into a whole new world. The last thoughts she had before fading into nothingness were bits and pieces of a conversation she couldn’t quite remember having happened.
CHAPTER TWO
“What do you mean you don’t know what her name is? You were holding her in your arms like a freaking china doll.” Jackson was standing against the pool table, leaning into it while he held the pool cue in both hands. He was staring at Tyler like he had grown an extra head.
“You’ve got to be shitting me. That tiny little woman called you a marshmallow. A marshmallow, you know that gooey thing that people eat. That in itself makes her the bravest woman you’ve ever met, and you’re just going to let her walk away. I’ve known you for all of five years and have never seen you touch a woman, and then you have one just snuggled into your chest. If I were you–wait. I’m not going to finish that, or you’ll all see my guts spread out on the table for breakfast.” Jackson shuddered, no doubt thinking of what his pixie wife would do to him if she caught a hint of him thinking about another woman.
Tyler had known Anna a long time, and she was the jealous sort. Not so much with Jackson since they had a bond that had instantly manifested itself when they met, but she was still jealous. It was a unique and precious–but it didn’t change the fact that Jackson was still a child somewhat. He never had the chance to grow up.
“Oh shut up, you pup.” Jackson may agitate him, but he still made Tyler smile. “We don’t all carry around marks of our conquests on our necks.”
“I married an animal, what can I say?” He was smirking now, no doubt thinking of his wife.
Tyler wanted that. He wanted what they all had, but there was no chance for him. There had been nothing since Aurora had taken his heart and crushed his existence into nothing. His left wrist hurt with phantom pain just thinking about her, and reflexively he massaged it with his right hand. He didn’t have to look down to know what he would see. The ruined remains of a blue star tattooed on his wrist when he thought that she would bring him luck in every battle. It had been stupid to do. Never get a tattoo for a woman, it would only mean pain in the end. He put his pool cue away, they were in the room more to get away from the females than to actually play anyway.
“Look, I don’t care who she is. I just want her to be gone. We have enough to worry about without a stray human. A human, mind you, that could ruin all of our lives and tell our greatest secrets without meaning to. In fact, we should have just killed her to protect ourselves.” Plus, she had called him a marshmallow. He did not, in any way, resemble a marshmallow. His temper flared just thinking about it. She, however, did smell like cookies…like she spent her time baking. Damn it, she was human, and they only brought trouble to the vampires.
“Yeah, that would never happen. You know Winter won’t allow killing humans, no matter what it would do to protect us. Right now, she’s probably getting that girl set right up in her own chambers. You better be prepared for the torture to resume because you know that when we’re done with you, she’s just going to start right in.” Jonathon had grown into himself, being able to live without ruling a kingdom looked good on him. He dropped his pool cue back into the wall mount and wiped his palms on the front of his pants.
“I have no interest in the human. She was here because of Dante, and now he’s dead. She’s not pertinent to anything.” Except maybe the way she
fit perfectly in his arms. So small, like she needed to be protected, but the attitude she had was that of a fighter.
“Yeah, we’re all just going to pretend that I can’t read your mind. So I’m going to ask this just once, are you sure? Because you were holding her pretty tightly, and I felt the steam in the air when you came out of the room. Seemed to me that she might be spending the night in your room. Ten bucks say that mom’s trying to maneuver that.”
“Oh, I want in on this.” Zander, who had been the only one still playing pool, stepped away from the table to get in on the conversation. He even had the pool cue in his hand, and used it as an old man might, leaning against it to support his tall frame.
“There’s nothing to get in on. She’s a human, and I’m a vampire. They don’t mix. Unless we’re talking about supper, and even then–it’s a necessity rather than for pleasure.” There, those nosy bastards could just keep their opinions to themselves. Tyler didn’t need anything from them, or the tiny human whose very existence seemed to be calling his name.
“Well stuff it, you big marshmallow. It doesn’t explain why I caught you holding her like she was a life raft and you were a drowning man.” Jackson, ever the smart–ass, just wouldn’t let it go until he had the answers he wanted from Tyler.
“Look, Dante was hitting her, and she almost passed out. I caught her. End of story.” If only there were a way to explain to them that his interest in the girl wasn’t sexual. It was to protect her from the monsters that he knew existed. When he saw Dante hurt her, it twisted what was left of his heart into ribbons. He had to hold her, had to protect her from the thing that Dante had become. Dante, that stupid vampire, hadn’t always been evil. He was created in the wake of the last great battle; before Zander had accepted his place on the throne and reason had been restored to the Blood Court. Dante was a problem, but if he hadn’t lied and said that Tyler was the monster, maybe he’d still be alive.
If Tyler could make the people closest to him believe the story, maybe he’d have a chance of convincing himself. He was having a hard enough time feeling anything at the moment when all he wanted was to make sure she was safe in the arms of his queen. Sarah would guarantee she was taken care of. Just like the men in the room with him, they would know when a soul needed to be protected. Being a vampire didn’t destroy the last bits of humanity in a person. Losing their souls hadn’t taken their compassion, it ensured they would treasure every soul there was. The tiny woman, well hers was shining brightly, desperately in need of affection.
“Damn it. I didn’t come out here for you all to turn into women. Are we going to play or not?” Tyler looked around the room at the men who were supposed to be the strongest and most powerful of his kind, and he knew that a single woman could lay waste to their entire world. Jonathon was staring at him like he had grown an extra head, sitting in a high–backed leather chair like it was a throne. His black hair and blue–green eyes held the glint of a challenge in them. Zander, the opposite of their former king, stood taller than the others with blonde hair and green eyes. He was the Blood King now, but he couldn’t look further from a ruler right now. Zander appeared as though he just climbed out of bed. His hair was tousled, and he was wearing lounge pants with an ugly black sweatshirt. Jackson was the epitome of juvenile action in his black t–shirt with some hair band from the 80’s on it. His jeans were faded, and his hair was black like Jonathon’s. No doubt they were all good–looking, but they were collectively tied around their respective wives’ fingers.
“Fuck it all.” He was pissed, and it wasn’t any of their faults. He should never have come back to court. Grabbing his pool cue between both hands, he snapped it in two over his knee and threw it onto the table. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“Hey, marshmallow. Wait for me, I have a few errands to run. Let’s go to the mortal world.” Jackson’s smile was lost from his lips when Tyler grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him off the ground.
“Don’t. Call. Me. Marshmallow.” His anger had boiled over, and although he wouldn’t hurt the pup, he needed to make his point clear. He wasn’t to be fucked with, especially when it came to the woman who he had held in his arms, the one with eyes that held a spark of amber in their depths.
Jackson’s hands reached out and made contact with his skin. “Calm down.” With just those two words, the anger faded from his body, and Tyler set him down. “I was serious; I have some shopping to do. When we get back, you can handle your little pint–sized tornado however you see fit. Although I’m telling you, she’s not going to be leaving anytime soon if the women have a say in it. They’re like a freaking hen house, clucking away until they get what they want.”
“Whatever, get on with it your royal pain in the ass. Does either of you care to join this little outing?” He looked to the two men with whom he’d served with for over two millennia and knew that they were coming. It was rare to see him in a mood, and when he showed any emotion at all it was something they loved to see. Without disappointing, they both responded that they were coming, and as a group, they left.
Currently, they were somewhere on the East Coast, never really setting foot in the mortal realm until someone needed to come or go. Only those who knew how to find the Blood Court could summon it, and since it didn’t have any real physical ties, it kind of floated just on the other side of the veil waiting for some reason to pop into existence. When mortals happened to come upon it while it was materialized, they would see whatever they wanted or expected to see. It reminded humans of houses that they hadn’t seen before or a dilapidated school that they instantly remembered hearing ghost stories of as children. It would take on the appearance of buildings that put out vibes of insecurities or fear, forcing the mortals to look the other way or to turn in the opposite direction. The best kind of magic was incorporated into their home. It was larger than a castle, more like an entire world of its own, protecting itself from attack or assault. If it felt like there was a threat, it would be removed.
The best part about this land that was home to so many was that it was constant. Taking its magic and power from the throne itself, it was one of the many things that the world had created when magic roamed the land free of fear or harm. It was a living entity, offering its love and shelter to all those who had magic in their veins. It loved the Blood Court the most. Loved it something fierce, always offering to shelter and reinforce its people above all others. Jonathon and Winter had started a timeless love affair before current recorded time, and their love affair was passed down to Zander and Sarah. It seemed that the court felt their bond was worthy of its continued protection.
Tyler envied them, envied their love and their connection, but he would never tell any of them. They were blessed, but he also knew their journeys were far from easy. Winter had spent over a thousand years with the love of her life dead. She had given up hope until Sarah and Jackson stumbled in. They brought with them a chance at redemption for the ancient queen, and Jonathon deserved to live the life he had with her. Zander had his wife and child torn from his side by his twin and had watched as they lived and died a life he could never be part of. Sarah had been married to his twin a lifetime later, and their meeting had been fate. It didn’t need to be retold, but Zander’s brother had deserved the painful death that he received at Sarah’s hands. Tyler would have torn him limb from limb slowly, except it wasn’t his battle to win. They were warriors, each of them raised to fight for what they had. After a lifetime like that, of blood and destruction that knew no limits, they deserved to keep their happiness. Tyler had long ago given up fighting for love and family when the last chance had been taken from him without so much as a backward glance.
“Hey, old man.” Jackson interrupted his train of thought. “Come on, I wasn’t kidding about needing to go shopping. I need real food and not any of this healthy crap that is lying around. Nachos and Hotdogs are calling my name. Hop to it.” Jackson was staring at him, and Tyler was shaken out of his reverie. He had just been
standing there, in the hall without moving an inch. Staring at them, but not actually seeing anything around him.
“Calm down. Eat a freaking pretzel or something, I’m coming.” He glanced behind his shoulder, and already the court had changed the room they had been using into something else, something without lights. Ever evolving, this beautiful home. He touched the wall, letting his gratitude flow through his fingertips, and the wall met it with a small electrical charge–acknowledging his affection.
“Okay let’s get this party on the road. You guys may have eternal life, but I don’t, and I’m starved for some artery clogging goodness.” Jackson was rubbing his hands together, no doubt excited because the shape–shifting vixen he married was a vegetarian. She wouldn’t let him anywhere near red meat–strange considering her best friends and in–laws were vampires.
“You better hurry, if Anna even catches a whiff of steak on your breath, you’ll be sleeping in some sort of hell for the foreseeable future.” Zander and Anna had been friends longer than most humans had been alive. Her unique skills and bloodline make her slow to age, although she was in no way immortal. Although, none of them were genuinely immortal except for Sarah and Winter. She would destroy her husband for going against her wishes, but he was determined to have red meat like any male worth his salt, something Tyler admired about him. Still, he only did it when he was away from home.
Winter had once sworn to give them the same gift if the time came that it was required, but it was something that none of them took lightly, and it just hadn’t come to pass as of yet. There was something different about Sarah, something they weren’t ever going to address. When she destroyed her ex–husband, she did so with magic that was supposed to be lost to the world in the haze of history. There were sections of their home that thrummed with power at her very presence, and it sucked the life–force out of her if she entered them. Once, she had spent an entire afternoon lying in a corridor that just drained her life repeatedly. It had taken a very confused young vampire to discover her lifeless body and drag her back to the throne room. Power was something they all craved, but it was truly dangerous. Tyler was perfectly fine waiting for death like a real warrior.
Door in the Garden of Shadows Page 3
