“Reina!” I shout. “Come here!”
A surprise waited for us when we returned to the guest house.
“Lucian!” I shout with glee as I jump and throw my arms and legs around him.
“Hey sexy,” he rumbles with satisfaction. “Looks like you missed me.”
I kiss him fiercely, and he presses his lips harder into mine. The fire that binds us forever flares hot enough to burn the wallpaper and I sigh in content. I grab his hand and pull him to my room. It’s been too damn long, and I don’t need the matriarch that runs this place staring at us over her wire-rimmed glasses and clucking disapprovingly. Plus, I want this gorgeous man all to myself.
My hands fumble on the door key in my excitement, and he holds my hand in his and steadies my grip. “You’re so eager,” he whispers in my ear, and with those words in I melt back into him. I’m ready for him already, and he’s barely touched me.
We turn the key together and tumble into the room and onto the bed. He manages to kick the door shut as we do and it closes with a hard thud.
Vampires and their super fast reflexes.
We tear at each other’s clothes, and I’m glad for the New York shopping trip because he’s shredding mine in his passion. He snapped my bra off me as if it was tissue paper and my breasts jiggle with the force of it. Without wasting a second he sucks a nipple into his mouth, lapping it with his relentless tongue as he squeezes the other with his fingers. Fire builds between my legs, and I jut my hips against his hardness still encased in his slacks. I growl with feral intent because I don’t just want him, I need him, now and I don’t want to wait.
“Ssh, ssh, sweetheart,” he whispers.
He pulls aways, though he still keeps his massive erection pressed against my pubic bone and I’m wild. He strokes my hair gently and smiles and I want him so badly I’m about to cry.
“I need you,” I say. “Now.”
“Is that a command, my queen,” he teases.
“Damn straight it is.”
He smiles wickedly and moves enough to unzip his pants, and I pull them down frantically. My hands meet his bare ass, and I growl again because the bastard is commando telling me he fully intended to take me as soon as we met.
He pulls up my skirt and tears off the lace panties that cost more than my former weekly salary, but what the hell. He’ll just have to buy me another.
Lucian stares at my sex which must be dripping like a faucet for how wet I feel and licks his lips. He’d torture me more with that tongue if I let him.
“Oh no, you don’t,” I warn. “Inside, now.”
With a smile more wicked than a man had a right to, he grips my hips and speares me in one thrust pushing me to the headboard. My hands fly up to hang onto it while he hammers me. Man, that vamp must have missed me. Lucian doesn’t let up until stars burst before my eyes three times. He shouts my name as he grinds into me a half-dozen more stokes and collapses on top of me.
Now that is a homecumming.
We lay in a tangle in each other's arms and I sense that this is the first time in three days all the tension drained from him. I sweep his dark hair from his forehead.
“So how did it go?”
“What?”
“You, Erica, the families.”
He tenses again. “Not good. There was talk of skewering her lover anyway with the thought that once out of sight, he’d be out of mind.”
“Sounds rough.”
“It was. When I told them I supported her decision, they thought I was nuts. My mother…” He groans.
“Did you tell them about me?”
He swears under his breath which is not a good sign. Then he fixes his gaze on me. “When the time is right, I will, we will, together. But to tell them I’m part of future vampire queen’s harem? At that moment, not a politically correct move.”
“I understand,” I say. I didn’t want to, but he’s right. We were all in too much danger now to stir up more trouble.
“Right now,” he says, “I’m on call for any potential problems with Erica and my family. So any time, I might have to leave.”
A thread of jealousy burns through me that this part of his past still holds sway on him. But it is his past, and he still has obligations and I have to honor them, too.
“I’ll always be waiting for you,” I say. “Besides homecoming sex is awesome.”
He smiles. “You are magnificent.”
“Who me? Little old me?”
He kisses me. “So tell me, what did you find out?”
I tell him about Leander, the ring, and finally, the magazine.
“That’s where she hid him. The old bag hid the oldest among us in the Romania Museum.”
Lucian frowns. “Romania again?” He shakes his head. “We spent our capital in our first attempt. The Romanian vampires won’t suffer us on their territory again.”
“Look,” My tone is deadly serious. “We need to get to Morana to take her ring, so we can destroy it to weaken her. And we won’t get close to her without Abe’s help. If there is any chance for Carver, we need Abe. There just isn’t an end-run around this.”
Lucian closes his eyes tight because he knows I’m right.
His lashes snap open and he stares at me intently.
“You’re right.” Lucian tugs me into his arms on the bed, “We have to do this. Not just for Carver, but all of us.”
Chapter 5
Darkness is everywhere and smoke circles around me.
Not the usual sort that tightens your lungs and causes a pressure in your chest; but a more beautiful, ethereal kind of smoke. With the way it moves, I think I could almost hold it in my palms. I try to grasp the flick that twists nearest me, but it disappears before I can reach it.
Aura, you’re surrounded in smoke. Why the hell are you not freaking out?
I spin in a circle and look down at my own body.
I’m naked. Well, mostly naked.
The blue smoke wraps around me like a thin, silk sheath. Unexpected desire hits me and causes a rush of exhilaration and wild yearning, to course through my veins. In seconds, a hot wetness forms between my thighs. The smoke slowly recedes. When the tendrils reappear and snake around me again, I grasp it. Suddenly, I’m transported to a different room.
I remain naked, but I’m no longer alone. Someone is there in the smoke beside me.
Carver.
The smoke covers over his naked form, leaving only the outline of his perfect body visible. He climbs atop me and his smoky lips touch mine. I moan as his skilled, warm tongue caresses my own. Gods it feels like ages since I last touched him.
“Carver.” I sigh into his mouth
“Ma, belle.” he whispers back.
I spread my legs and asks him to come in but he yanks me off.
“Carver?” I call out but he gets up from our bed of ash and makes for the door. I approach him and hold his hand; it becomes ash and the scene changes. It is dark again.
“You’re wasting your time waiting for this one, dear young.”
I don’t need anyone to tell me who it is.
I know whose voice that it.
Anger flows through my veins and I can sense her presence just as I can hear her voice; the vampire queen. Morana.
“That’s all you’ve got, young one? Oh, such a shame. How did Carver ever fall for an innocent like you?” she says.
I open my mouth to talk but nothing comes out; only smoke. The room dissolves in smoke and I find myself in front of a cage.
Fuck! I can’t see shit. Calm down, Aura. Calm down, I tell myself.
I close my eyes and open them again. The cage is still there. I look closely and see my Carver sitting naked there too, hugging himself, covered in chains.
He looks terrible. He is terrible. His mouth is covered in blood and his hands are bleeding. His blonde hair is of a different color; a mixture of blood and dirt. I look into his eyes and see that they are no longer the glassy orbs I used to like. In his sockets stands two
grim eyes, looking more like stones than anything else.
This is not my Carver.
“Carver!” I scream but I can’t even hear my own voice. “Carver!”I cry again but there is no response.
My heart bursts and emotions flow in. I can feel the excruciating pain he is going through. I can feel fire flowing through my veins. Carver is in agony. My head is about to burst when the smoke fills everywhere again and I am in another hall.
Carver’s sister, Jolie, is kneeling before the vampire queen naked. Carver is crawling towards them, trying to rescue his sister. The queen is heaping coals of fire over her head and I can see her heart burning-literally. I run towards them and I’m thrown back by an invisible force.
“You can’t help him here, fool.”
“I’ll be back, Aura.” Those where Carver’s words to me before he left. That’s all I hear before the smoke fills my eyes and take me away.
I wake.
“Carver!” I scream as I open my eyes to reality. Lucian jumps up too.
I can still feel Carver’s emotions in my veins. I can hear his voice in my head. The threats of the vampire queen echoing over and over.
I’m back in my room with Lucian, but still I feel the other atmosphere.
“This is not meant to be. This is not meant to be…”
“Calm down,” Lucian says, trying soothe me with his hands rubbing down my arms.
“This is not supposed to be. I can’t be in two places at the same time and –” Pain beyond measure possesses me on the bed and I can feel her fire again. I can feel sharp knife slitting my throat. I see the snakes coming for me.
“No! No, Carver!”
I climb off the bed and bolt for the door. I’m almost out when I feel Lucian’s warm hands holding me back.
“Aura, stop!”
“No!”
“Aura, it was a dream. Listen to me.”
“Don’t even try it, Lucian!” I don’t know how I do it, but I manage to throw him off.
He tumbles back lands on the bed. I turn the knob and make to open the door but I can’t. Lucian is behind me again, holding me down.
“Think!” Lucian yells but all I can hear is Carver’s voice miles away crying.
“Please.” I shove Lucian but he returns in a flash and pulls me away from the door. He throws me to the bed and holds me down with the pillows but my supernatural strength won’t let me stay. I struggle free and raise the bed up, throwing it at him. I miss. The whole room turns to a mess with wood all over the ground.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, asshole?!” I scream as I throw a plank at him. He dodges it and makes for me. He holds me down to the ground and pins my hands to my back like a cop arresting someone.
The voices in my mind reach the peak and I can hear Carver’s cries. I rise up again only to fall to the ground like a lifeless being as silence fills my head.
“Are you okay? Aura?” Lucian is saying.
I can feel his breath, warm against my cheeks. “Aura?”
I open my eyes and light floods them. Reality is so silent.
I’m with Lucian and our once quaint room is more like a carpenter’s workshop with wood scattered all over the place.
Holy fuck.
I sit up and Lucian pulls me to his chest. Tears burn in my eyes until they fall like rain down my cheeks and a sob escapes me. I can no longer feel anything from the other side and though the pain is gone, desolation replaces it.
I can no longer hear Carver’s voice or feel his emotions and I break inside. Lucian’s lips kiss my face and the tears off my neck.
I hate how weak I am compared to Morana. I really fucking hate it. Hate her.
“I can’t save him, can I?”
“Not yet, baby. Not yet,” His voice is tight and underneath it, pain lingers. He’s not angry with him for the stunts I pulled, for the little fight I gave , but still, I say “Sorry.”
“It’s nothing,” he says gently against my forehead.
I look out the window and think of the light and the way Carver explained everything to me.
“The sun is not brighter, Aura,” he said, holding my hand. Your senses got better. They accelerated to one hundred percent. Right now, your sight is one hundred percent perfect. Your skin is one hundred percent smooth and is highly sensitive and responsive. This is why the sun looks brighter and the raindrops feel heavy on your skin. It’s a matter of time; you’ll get used to it.”
“He can’t survive the queen’s torture much longer, Lucian.” I say as he strokes my hair lightly.
“I know, Aura. I know.”
“But what if it’s too late?” I ask warily.
For a while, Lucian says nothing and I’m afraid he is keeping something from me. And then he sighs and kisses me on the neck, holding me tight.
“Carver is strong, Aura. He won’t give in.”
“But--”
“No buts, love. We have a plan. We need to stick to it. Rushing and going against it could screw that up. So we keep moving. At the right time, we strike.”
I look up at Lucian’s handsome brown eyes and smile; he sounds so much like Carver. They have so much more in common then they want to admit. The calmness that he’s displaying now, is the same thing Carver would have done if he was here.
But he isn’t. I swallow against the tightness in my chest.
“I miss him,” I say.
“Me too.” Lucian sounds surprised by his own admission.
“You do?”
He sighs, “Yes.” He opens his mouth, then snaps it shut again. A few seconds tick by before he finishes his thought. “Before you, I wouldn’t have cared. But destiny brought us together You brought us together and now, I care...” He plants another kiss on my cheek and as I close my eyes to sleep, he says “He is now my brother after all and I’ll die trying to return him to you. To us.”
Chapter 6
It’s all very black-ops the way we plan to recon the Romanian Museum.
We have sunglasses, and hats, and Lucian makes us drink that nasty crap again. The one that masks our Kresova scent. Well, except Reina of course.
She sticks out her tongue as I scarf the liquid down, gagging with each swallow. If she snickers one more time, I’ll reconsider her best friend status.
I watch her through squinty eyes and can’t help the wash of emotions that hit me. Even if she’s a brat for messing with me, she could’ve walked away from all of this at any time and left me alone. But she didn’t. Even with all the scary life or death crap going down, she stays, and I’ll be forever grateful for the risks she’s taken for my sake.
“What?” she says when she notices me watching her.
“Huh?” I blink.
“Why are you looking all misty eyed at me? Did you get some sort of vision?” She steps towards me, concern written on her face.
“No,” I say vehemently. “It’s just I’ve never had a friend as good as you.”
She scoffs. “Don’t get all mushy on me now, girl. This ain’t nothing but a little spy action, like in the movies.” She winks at me and I can sense her nerves are sparking like a firecracker.
Her sweat holds the acrid scent of uncertainty and fear. She has every right to be afraid. We are here by stealth, not permission, and if the Romanian Draugur vampires catch us, Lucian, Row and I are dead meat, but she’s dinner. Literally.
We wear bluetooth headsets, and before we hit the streets from our separate cabs, I dial up our group call on the burner phones Lucian bought us.
“Can you hear me now?” I say, with a chuckle.
Reina snorts. “Original.”
“Keep the chatter to a minimum,” Lucian warns, “Only use this for important conversation. Remember, their hearing is as good as ours.”
I don’t need super-hearing to know that Reina is is muttering under her breath right now. Something about snark-less vampires.
“Let’s go then, as we discussed.”
Bucharest is a crazy mix of buildings.
One after another jam together in huge blocks, sort of like New York but without the order. You get the sense of a city immensely old and shrouded in secrets layered together in one fragile layer.
Suddenly, a creeping dread wraps around my heart.
This mission to retrieve Abe is more than risky. It’s a Hail-Mary pass in the final second of the last quarter. Getting the Father of the Kresova on our team is the best shot we have to defeat Morana. Well, him, and getting the damn ring from her, and destroying it, and then finally destroying her. Only a few dozen hoops to jump through to make this whole thing happen.
What could go wrong? A whole shit ton. That’s what.
The Romanian Museum of Art is located inside the Royal Palace. Built over the span of a century, it features a main structure and two wings just as big as the main property.
The thing is huge.
Reina steps up to me. We’re working the inside recon because she’s human and probably will get past any curious vampire onlookers. I spray myself with a good dose of her perfume and wear one of her dirty shirts to lend me her human scent.
It isn’t perfect, but the best shot we have to walk around like we’re tourists. Lucian and Row scout the outside looking at exits for our getaway. It’s a sure bet that we won’t be able to leave the way we came in. Nothing could ever be that easy.
Lucian made a point of showing me the compass on the burner phone so I had a clue of what direction he was telling me to go.
This is a scouting expedition, not the real thing, but I can’t help but sense that we’re putting our lives on the line just by entering this place. I should be used to it at this point, but risking my life and that of my friends seems to be one of those things you never become accustomed to. Unless you’re a heartless psychopath like Morana. Then it’s like every other day’s festivities.
A strange irony that Morana placed him in the Royal Palace as is she’s honoring him in some twisted way. Then again, with the amount of searchable square feet we’re facing, the larger questions is where would she hide him?
Turn: The Kresova Vampire Harems: Aurora Page 4
