by Deanna Chase
“Good luck with that. Link wouldn’t be an easy opponent even if a witch and a faery weren’t here to help him.” Phoebe turned to me. “How long do you think it would take the three of us to disable your boyfriend?”
“Damn it, Phoebe. No one’s fighting anyone.” I took a step forward and snapped, “Down, Link.”
David’s lips curved in satisfaction.
It took every ounce of willpower I could muster to not rescind my command and let Link do his worst. “If you ever threaten my wolf again, that pretty vampire face of yours is going to need reconstructive surgery.”
David stared at me, then his eyes crinkled slightly.
“I’m not joking, David. Consider yourself warned.”
His face cleared, and I knew he didn’t believe me. Why would he? Vampires had super-healing abilities. He had no reason to feel threatened.
I turned my attention back to Clea. In the time we’d taken to have our petty argument, no one had been paying attention to the prisoner. Now she stood with a small knife aimed directly at her heart. Where the hell did that come from?
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice steady.
“I know there’s no way you’ll let me live, and I refuse to spend the last moments of my life in service to any of you.” She inched the knife slowly and deliberately into her chest.
“No!” I cried, grasping the frame of the door, searching for the secret opening. My finger caught and the enchanted glass shimmered. Before either Phoebe or David could stop me, I leapt through.
Clea watched me through already deadened eyes, the knife a quarter of the way in her chest. Once it passed through the heart, she’d be gator food. “I knew the witch lied. You could’ve let me out at any time.”
“Did you expect us to?”
“No, but I had to try.”
High-heeled boots clattered on the tiled floor, and I knew Phoebe had moved to stand right behind me. “How about we make a deal? You tell me everything you know about the Arcane and the Influence, and I’ll make sure you live and neither of them hurts you.”
Clea studied me, her expression lined with skepticism. “You’re full of shit. Without your enhanced edibles, you’re useless. You must think I’m an idiot. If they decide to kill me, there’s no way you’re strong enough to stop either of them.”
“You underestimate the power of this particular faery,” Phoebe said, her voice hard. “If she wants you to live, you will.”
It wasn’t a total blatant lie. My power went beyond infusing plants and baking. I could manipulate just about any living thing, which meant I could exert some control over Phoebe if I wanted to. David was another story. Technically, he was dead. My life magic wouldn’t do anything but be sucked into the ether. Complete waste of time.
The air seemed to move behind me and I spun, coming face to shoulder with David.
Clea hissed and something silver clattered on the floor. The knife. She must have dropped it after yanking it out of her own chest. Clea tackled me, and I slammed into David, my entire torso erupting into a burning inferno from the vampire energy. David grabbed me, trying to shove me away, but Clea’s rock-hard limbs trapped me between them. They each grabbled, trying to choke the other one. My ears rang in time with a loud, piercing scream, and only when I gasped for air did I realize the sound had come from me.
I jerked in agony, vaguely aware of Phoebe chanting in the background as the vamp fire intensified. Pain overrode my brain, my world spinning as lightbulbs exploded behind my eyes, and though I knew I was in the crossfire of a death match, everything went weirdly silent.
My world slowed to a dreamlike state and my life force left me. Was this really how I would die? Trapped between two vampires intent on killing each other? Of all the stupid—
A brilliant flash of white light flared. The two vamps froze and fell away from me. I crumpled, landing sprawled on the hard tile floor, its coolness easing the fire from my limbs. Blinking, I stared blindly into the dark twilight of predawn.
A shadow hovered over me. “Wil?”
I opened my dry mouth and tried to swallow.
“Wil,” Phoebe said again.
“Yeah,” I croaked.
“Thank the gods. Can you get up? We need to get back inside.”
“Hmm.” I didn’t move.
“I think the door is going to seal. You have to get up.” Phoebe tugged on my arms.
A tingling of comprehension worked its way into my consciousness. I lifted my head, clamping my hands over my temples as dizziness threatened to claim me.
“Crawl,” Phoebe demanded.
I obeyed, placing one knee after the other as if I’d been force-fed Influence. When I breached the door into the library, I flopped back down, my head landing on something solid. Pain lanced through my cheek and I flinched. My eyes swam, fighting for focus.
“Lie back,” Phoebe said.
I turned my attention toward her soft voice and my eyes cleared. “What happened?”
“I dusted them.”
“Good.” I closed my eyes, allowing Phoebe to place a pillow under my head. “Where’s David?”
“Shhh. Just relax. I’ll get you some water.”
The floor creaked as Phoebe left the room. I lay motionless, waiting. A few moments later my eyes popped open. Wait, what did Phoebe say? I dusted them. Them? As in both of them?
“David!” I shouted, sitting straight up, my eyes locking on the limp male form crumpled on the floor.
Chapter 13
I half-crawled, half-dragged myself to David’s side, tears blurring my vision. Peering down at him, I wiped them away. His slack face grossly contrasted with the wide, shock-filled eyes staring past me at the ceiling.
“No!” I threw my hands down on his rock-solid chest, pounding furiously as if I could pump life back into his still heart. “You can’t die,” I sobbed. “I forbid it.”
Resting one trembling hand on his cold cheek, I gently tilted his head back with the other, determined to force air between his tight lips. I locked my mouth over his and my lungs constricted, straining with pressure. But my effort was met with a solid wall of resistance. I just didn’t have enough strength to fill the concrete lungs of a vampire.
Vampire. Vampires don’t breathe. Nor do they have beating hearts. As the realization crossed my panic-stricken mind, I slumped, laid my head on his statuesque body, and whispered, “We weren’t finished.”
All of the anger and resentment I’d harbored since David stepped back into my life fled. Why had I been so mean, so judgmental, about his life choice? Now he’d never know I hadn’t stopped loving him.
None of that mattered. He was dead. My heart thundered in my chest and blinding fury took over my senses.
I wouldn’t let him go. Not like this.
I sat up and rested my hands lightly on his chest. He really was gone—the contact no longer pained me—but I had to try. No matter how futile the effort. I closed my eyes and imagined David as I knew him before, muscular and tanned from his oil-rig job with softer, less-chiseled features and an easy smile. I bent down to place a soft kiss on his closed lips, catching a trace of his familiar, faint woodsy scent still clinging to his silk shirt.
A single tear spilled as my breath caught and my heart seized. If my magic failed, I’d never again hear his deep laugh or peer into his midnight-blue eyes. Unacceptable. I’d find a way, even if it killed me.
Trembling, I forced in a steadying breath and let my senses take over. The granite shell beneath my hands radiated with emptiness, barren of any tendrils of life. I pushed my will deeper, searching, until finally a whisper of something familiar washed over me.
“David,” I said softly, barely daring to believe a tiny piece of him still existed. It wasn’t life energy, but something remembered, a recollection or shadow. I didn’t care. It was something.
The sensation slipped through my magical grasp. I dug deeper, struggling to force my magic through David. A part of him was in there. I’d ju
st touched a piece of his energy.
“Come on,” I pleaded. Sweat rolled, stinging my already-damp eyes. I shut them tight and pulled my magic back, wrapping it around my heart, the place most concentrated with faery magic. Then I poured every ounce of love, fear, disappointment, and even the anger I carried for the vampire back into him on a wave of desperation.
My head swam with emotion as I registered the slowing of my heartbeat, but I held tight and forced the magic into him. The stream of power resisted, and I pushed harder, only managing to straddle the magic between my heart and David’s soul.
It wasn’t going to work. His soul was gone.
Beau’s face flashed in my mind. “No!” I wouldn’t survive another loss of someone I loved.
I barely noticed Link press his Shih Tzu body against my thigh as I wrapped my arms around David, pressing my chest to where his heart would be. A pale green cloud of magic swirled, engulfing us both. I didn’t have the strength to keep forcing my will into him. Unwilling to let him go without a fight, I built a mental barrier in my mind, one solid glass block at a time. Once the last piece was in place, if I severed my magical link, the power would have no choice but to latch onto the one it was created for. In theory, anyway.
It worked with animals. At least that’s what I’d learned in all the reference books. But I’d never tried it before, and David was a vampire. Ruled by death, not life. With my wall one block short of being mentally constructed, I severed my magic and finished the barrier. My strength waned, weakening my mental wall as my magic strained to return to me. “No! Go to David,” I huffed out.
Blackness crept into the edges of my vision. My hands started to numb, and I knew I’d soon pass out, or worse. The plan wasn’t working.
“Willow! What the hell are you doing?” Phoebe demanded, reentering the room. The door slammed with enough force to rattle the bookcase.
Startled, I let my wall crumble and the magic slammed back into me, overwhelming my senses with all the emotion I’d poured into it. My heart swelled with love while simultaneously shooting out darts of pain. Tears welled in my eyes and adrenaline made me tremble.
“Saving him,” I shot back. Stubbornly, I leaned down and placed both hands on David’s cheeks and whispered, “Take what I give you, for it is all I have.” I pressed my lips against his and forgot everything as I forced my magic-filled love into his being.
The sensation crashed like a wave flowing in and out, siphoning small amounts at a time from me into the vampire. The resistance vanished like a dam had broken, and everything I had rushed into him in a startling whoosh.
I froze and opened my eyes to David staring at me, confusion and wonder lighting up his face.
“What happened?” he rasped.
“You died,” I said and the room faded to white.
***
I sensed the familiar weight of Link’s body on my feet and pried one eye open.
“Good morning.”
Turning my head, Talisen came into sight. He sat against the wall, dark circles rimming his usually bright green eyes. It was then I noticed the lush leaf canopy overhead and realized we were in my room, on my bed.
“It’s morning?” I asked, peering through the dim light.
“Afternoon, actually.”
“Oh.” Someone had closed my blinds, blocking the sun. I turned my attention to Link, who had moved to my chest. “Keeping an eye on me?”
“He’s not the only one.” Talisen gestured toward the door and Phoebe, standing inside the frame.
“Hey,” I said in a small voice. Her narrowed eyes and thin, tight lips didn’t bode well for the looming conversation.
She nodded and left without saying a word.
“Shit.”
“She’ll get over it.” Talisen scooted closer, his kind eyes reassuring me I hadn’t totally fucked up. “Can you sit up?”
“Not with Link on my chest.” I tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace.
“Down, Link,” he commanded.
To my astonishment, Link scrambled to his elevator. When it was a few feet from the floor, he jumped down and sat obediently at the foot of my oak tree. Wow. He didn’t even do that when I told him to get off the bed. It was the one place he thought he was truly the alpha in this partnership of ours.
“How’d you do that?” I sat up, then clutched my pounding head with both hands. “Ugh.”
“Nearly draining your life energy will do that to you.”
“I…Where’s David? He’s alive, right? I mean, I saw him alive. Did it work? Did I save him?”
Talisen gazed at me, his eyebrows pinched. After a moment he nodded. “He’s alive, as much as a vampire can be alive, I guess.”
I sighed in relief and slumped down.
“Wil?” His quiet, serious tone radiated with concern.
Uh oh. I cut my gaze away, avoiding eye contact, and stared at his big hands resting on my bed. A smooth black stone protruded from his fist. A worry stone.
Alarm bells went off. I sat straight up. “What’s wrong? He’s okay, right? I mean, I’m fine, or will be as soon as I get my strength back. Phoebe’s okay. Is it Clea? Did she get away?”
“Clea? Who’s that?”
“Oh. They didn’t tell you about her.” Of course not. It was Void business. “No one. Just a vampire Phoebe dusted.”
He nodded an acknowledgment, his fingers working against the stone. “I see. And did David get caught in the crossfire, or did Phoebe mean to dust him, too?”
I frowned. So Phoebe had filled him in on at least that part. Had she meant to kill David? Was that why she was so mad? No, he worked for the Void. She wouldn’t dust an operative, even if he was a vampire. “I’m not sure. I was standing between David and Clea when they started fighting. I’m pretty sure I would’ve died if she hadn’t stepped in.”
Talisen stilled his fidgeting fingers and reached out, gliding his hand down the side of my face. Time stood still as he peered into my eyes, intense and soulful. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Damn it, Wil. Don’t…ever risk yourself like that again.” He leaned forward and wrapped me in both arms. “You’re okay?” he whispered.
My breath caught, and I choked down a belated sob. “Yeah. I’m okay.” My hands trembled and a shiver ran over my wings. It hadn’t occurred to me until I’d heard the catch in his voice that I’d been in serious trouble.
Talisen’s arms tightened. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
I pressed closer, warm and safe in his strong embrace. A pit formed in my stomach. What had I done? Nearly killed myself to save a vampire. I started to shake in horror and clutched Tal, my fingers digging into his shoulders, holding on as tight as I could. I shouldn’t have risked myself. Not even for David, but I knew deep down I’d do it again.
Once I found the strength to pull back, he relaxed his grip and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “Want to tell me about it?”
“I don’t think I can,” I said into his chest, guilt clutching my heart. What would Tal do if anything happened to me? How would he survive losing me, after what had happened to Beau?
“You can tell me anything.”
Was that pain I heard in his voice? “No. I mean it was Void business. I don’t think I’m allowed to disclose the details.”
His body relaxed, and I almost smiled. “How about the magic and what happened with David, or is that too much as well?”
“I don’t know. But I have to talk it out with someone, because I don’t understand what happened. Phoebe has magical skills, but they aren’t like faes’. Her knowledge won’t help.”
Talisen searched my eyes, his gaze serious and intense. What was he looking for? “You can trust me with anything. You know that, right?”
Ah. He’d been searching for the link. Our common thread of trust. “Of course I do.” I took his hand and squeezed. “Sometimes I think you’re the only one.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Not Phoebs?”
>
“Oh sure. But it’s harder. She has strong opinions on everything.”
He laughed, and the sound helped ease some of my tension.
I smiled and flung the covers back, preparing to head to the bathroom. The shock of cool air-conditioning on my bare legs startled me, and I gasped, realizing I was wearing nothing but my tank top and black lace underwear. I scrambled to cover up as my face grew hot.
Talisen pretended mock innocence with wide eyes. “I didn’t see anything.”
I squinted. “Right. So you kept your eyes closed while you were healing my bruises?” After the scene at David’s house, I should’ve been black and blue. The only way I could be blemish-free was due to Talisen’s skills.
“Something like that.” He hopped off the bed and headed toward the door. “I’ll be in the kitchen making dinner when you’re ready.”
I nodded. Just as he was closing my door, I called, “Tal?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Link squeezed out the door just before Talisen shut it softly, leaving me alone.
Or so I thought. Twenty minutes later, I emerged fresh from the shower to find David sitting at my desk, dressed in black pants and a gray silk shirt. Not a hair was out of place. Impeccable as always.
“What the…?” I faltered and spun to the window. Sunlight seeped around the edges of my closed blinds. “How…I mean…” I shook my head and stared at him in confusion. Even though my room was dark, the sun was still up. He should’ve been dead to the world.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Usually it takes centuries to acclimate to daytime hours.”
I eyed my closet. “Did you just wake up?”
He turned his head to follow my gaze and hesitated before speaking. “I haven’t slept yet.”
My wings started to spread, lifting me off the floor as comprehension dawned. I hovered and then forced myself to land with a soft thump. I sank to the floor and gazed up at him. “No vampire your age can stay awake during midday.”
David nodded in a slow agreement.
“Then how…?”
He got up from the chair and settled on the floor in front of me. “You tell me.”
