by ML Guida
Chapter Thirteen
Cursing, Cé quickly lifted Pandora’s limp body and cradled her next to his chest. Her face was so very pale, and her breath was too shallow, as if her life force was slipping away. She needed blood. His breath strangled. He’d never met anyone like her. The thought of losing her left him with a plummeting sensation that reached into his chest and turned his blood to ice.
He trampled up a path of red and orange pebbles and rocks. The setting sun turned the clouds pink and purple, and the jagged cliffs cast long shadows and turned his skin cool, but not Pandora’s—hers was boiling hot.
When he reached the top, he drew on his vampire strength and sped down the black road. Pandora’s hair flew around his face, tickling him. He willed her to wake, but her long eyelashes remained stubbornly closed.
He whispered into her ear. “Dona die on me, lass.”
He passed adobe houses, stores, and flats then cursed under his breath. He’d forgotten where the surgeon was located since all the roads and buildings looked alike. He cursed under his breath. He had no time to waste searching down endless roads. Pandora’s face had turned ashen, her lips blue. He followed the road back to the jail. Theo would know what to do.
A whining screaming sound nearly brought him to a terrible skid. Flashing red lights raced toward him, and he bared his teeth until he realized it was Theo driving wildly in his car.
Theo skidded to a stop, tires squealing. He jumped out of the car. “What the devil are you doing, vampire?”
Cé nestled Pandora to his chest, feeling her faint heartbeat next to his rapid one. “She’s hurt. She faced the cloud alone.” He was surprised at the depth of emotion in his gruff voice. He was a tough crusty pirate, but now, he was a broken down man. She’d risked her life for him. He still couldn’t get the image out of his mind. He’d never seen a female face a deadly foe with such determination.
“We’ve got to get her to a hospital.” Theo helped Cé lay Pandora’s unconscious body in the backseat.
Cé cradled her head in his lap and pushed her hair out of her face.
Theo glanced in the rear view mirror as he gunned the motor. “What she was thinking?”
Cé stiffened and pursued his lips, struggling to keep from unleashing his vampire powers from exploding forth and attacking Theo. “The silver box she possessed captured the creature. dona ye get it? She sacrificed herself to save all of us.”
“I’m sorry, Cé. I meant no disrespect.”
They rode in silence except for Cé’s thundering heart sending blood pumping in his ear like a cannon. No woman had ever mattered to him, and he couldn’t bear to lose her. He’d lost so much in his small life and now, something precious was about to be snatched from him. He glanced above, and he who never prayed, reached deep inside of his heart.
“God,” he whispered. “I’m askin’ for forgiveness for my sins. But dona punish Pandora for my deeds. Please let her live. She’s given me hope when all was lost. Please hear me.”
Theo pulled into a parking space next to the familiar adobe building with a sign that Cé had escaped. Unlike the hospitals back in London, the outside had a neat manicured lawn and flowers planted in a bed.
But on the inside, the hospital had the same medicinal and vinegar smells he could do without. Theo had barely brought the car to a stop when Cé kicked open the door.
“Vampire, I haven’t—”
Not wanting to listen to more of the sheriff’s tirades, Cé held Pandora’s limp form and raced into the hospital. There was a nurse and an orderly at the front desk busy talking to an elderly patient.
Cé looked down at Pandora’s glossy eyes, and he swore at the uselessness of the prayer. “Help me, please help me!”
The desperateness in his voice jerked the orderly head’s up, and he rushed toward them.
He examined Pandora. “What happened?”
“She was attacked and lost a lot of blood.”
“I don’t see any wounds,” he said as he examined at Pandora’s dusty clothes.
“Trust me, she has them.” Theo walked into the emergency room. “She’s going into shock and needs a transfusion.”
The orderly grabbed a metal wheelchair. “Put her—”
“No, I’ll carry her.”
Theo clasped his arm. “Cé, you need to let them do their job.”
Cé opened his mouth to argue, but Theo’s logic penetrated his fearful emotions, and he carefully put Pandora’s body into the chair. She slumped to the side like a rag doll, and he expelled a harsh breath.
Theo put his hand on his shoulder. “There’s nothing you can do, but wait.” Instead of his usual condemning tone, Theo’s voice was filled with compassion, and Cé reluctantly followed him to the hard metal chairs in the waiting room.
He sat and rested his head in his hands, trying to keep the warring emotions of anger, fear, love, and hate under control. He wanted to lash out and rip the flesh of someone to forget the pain brewing in his heart. He’d experienced unbearable agony on board Palmer’s ship, but this was so much worse. That had only been the torture of the body. He was immortal and would heal.
But this was of the soul. He didn’t know when Pandora had wormed her way through his tough exterior but she had nestled in like a ray of sunshine that melted the icy shield he built up to protect himself from his nightmare life. She’d left him vulnerable to pain that he wouldn’t be able to cure.
The next few hours were the longest in his life. A crowd of people had started to fill up the waiting room, including Idan who he’d discovered was from outer space. Such information would have piqued his interest, but he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Pandora.
Jonah entered the waiting room. “Cé!” He ran over with his arms stretched out wide and hugged him.
Cé returned the affection and held him tight, drawing on his strength to maintain control.
“Pandora will be all right. You wait and see.”
Jonah’s musical voice gave Cé hope. He slowly released the boy, then ruffled his hair. He wanted to answer him, but his throat closed, and any words that would have escaped would have betrayed the grief inside him.
Topper walked over. She’d changed her hair to a bright green and had blue eyes. “Don’t worry, pirate. Your true love will survive. The question will be, is your love strong enough to keep you here? We have the power to send you back to your time. All you have to do is ask.”
“What?” Her words stunned him. Her prediction of love and the fact that Pandora knew he could be returned to his time. Why had she lied to him? How could he love a woman who hid the truth from him? But then he wasn’t a saint, either. He’d never said he loved Pandora. He wasn’t even sure what that was. Hell, he wasn’t sure what that meant anymore.
Go home? Topper said they could send him back to his captain who would take out his vengeance on Cé. He’d be branded a traitor. Based on his deeds, he doubted Kane O’Brien would want him on his ship.
Either time, Cé was an outcast—and alone.
Looking around the room of strange people who gave him curious looks—some even hostile—he’d never be accepted.
He couldn’t sit anymore sifting through questions without answers. Topper sat in a nearby chair, watching him with twinkling eyes as if she knew all the answers.
He paced back and forth, and more than once, he tried to burst through those double doors to find out what was bloody happening to Pandora, but Theo had managed to subdue him. He sat in the hard chair and waited for an eternity. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes, squeezing them hard enough to keep the smallest hint of water shine from leaking beneath his lashes.
“Mr. Jackman?” a soft voice called.
Cé jumped to feet and raced over to the petite nurse.
She gave him a reassuring smile and gestured with her arm. “You can see her now. She’s asking for you.”
He struggled to get the question out, afraid of what the answer would be. “How is she?”
>
“It was touch and go, but she’s out of the worst of it.” She motioned with her arm. “If you’ll follow me.”
“See.” Jonah smiled. “I told you she’d be okay. Pandora’s a fighter.”
Cé saluted him since his throat was closed up and he felt tears glisten in his eyes.
He trailed the nurse through the double doors into a busy brigade of nurses at a round station with monitors that beeped and pulsed.
The petite brunette nurse glanced over her shoulder. “I’m Betty and will be her nurse tonight. She’s very weak, and she’s had five pints of blood. We’ll be moving her to a room up on the third floor.”
Meaning Pandora was still not completely healed. Now wasn’t the time to ask her why she’d lied.
Pandora lay propped up in a bed, her face whiter than the sheets. Her eyes were dreary and had lost their usual spark. Tubes were in her nose, and an IV tube hooked up to her left hand. He gulped back the fear and masked his face.
He slipped into a stool next to her bed. “Pandora?”
“Hey, you’re okay.”
He clasped her unusually cold right hand. He could barely feel any warmth. “How are ye feelin’?”
“Tired. I wanted to see you.” She lightly squeezed his hand, but the pressure was so weak. “Promise you won’t leave?”
“I willna leave.” He leaned over and kissed her icy forehead. He buried his lips in her throat, in her hair, in her soft womanly scent, wishing he could save her, but powerless to do so.
Unlike him, she wasn’t immortal, and death preyed on her mortality like a vulture. The worse part was there wasn’t anything he could do. With all his vampire powers, he lacked the power to heal—only to kill.
Chapter Fourteen
Pandora stirred, waking slowly. Her face was pressed into her own thick dark hair and when she opened her eyes, the first thought that plagued her mind was being suffocated in honey. She couldn’t get that retched smell out of her mind. The other was being cold, so very cold as if she’d fallen through an icy pond in the dead of winter.
She’d had a dream that her pirate had been at her bedside, but her mind had been fuzzy, and she couldn’t distinguish what was real or what wasn’t. All she knew was the crushing smell of sweetness and the everlasting numbness in her body from the cold. She shivered and moaned, wishing there was a window nearby so she could feel the warmth of the sun on her face.
She heard light footsteps on the tile floor and braced for more prodding and poking from her nurse Betty.
“Pandora?” Instead of a feminine voice, a husky male one chased all the demons haunting her away.
She turned to look into concerned blue eyes that warmed her frozen heart. “Cé?” Her voice sounded garbled as if she had sand stuck in her throat.
“Aye, ’tis me.” He looked awful. His blond hair was tousled into a mess as if he’d been running a rake through his locks. The bags under his eyes were so red and burly it looked as if he’d gone on a drinking binge. He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’m here.”
She swallowed hard. “I thought you were a dream. I called for you.”
“I know. I answered ye. Did ye not hear me, lass?”
“No, I didn’t.” His face turned foggy as tears dampened her lashes. “All I could feel...was that sickly sweet cloud, and its laughter chilled me to the bone.” The images of the horror silenced her voice like a whistling wind, and she trembled. “I...just want to...forget.”
The weight of the bed sank as Cé climbed onto it. “Then let me help ye forget.” He held her close, his strong arms protecting her from the evil. His large frame offered heat where the thin hospital blanket had offered none. She sighed and snuggled next to him.
“Yer so cold, darlin’.” He caressed her arm repeatedly, and his touch thawed her numb arm. He kissed the top of her head; his warm spicy breath made her feel like she was home. “Go to sleep. Remember I am with ye. Ye have nothin’ to fear.”
She closed her eyes. For the first time, her limbs didn’t tingle with cold, and blood pushed through her veins.
***
Pandora woke with a start. A soft masculine snore drew her attention to the chair next to her bed. Cé was fast asleep—his head leaned back on the chair and his long legs stretched out before him. His tousled blond hair hid his chiseled face, and his rumpled clothes suggested he’d kept his promise and stayed by her side. She’d slept peacefully and inhaled the salty sea rather than sickening honey.
Soft footsteps echoed outside the door and Pandora waited for Betty or another nurse to enter to check on her vital signs.
But instead of a nurse, Topper came in looking like she had a Christmas tree for hair. “Good morning,” she said in a hushed whisper. She tilted her head. “I don’t want to wake your brave pirate.”
By the look of merriment in Topper’s eyes, Pandora had no doubt that she was going to turn her world upside down. She pushed the button to make the bed move into a sitting position. She felt stronger and warmer than she’d had the last night, but her strength hadn’t completely returned.
“I told him, dearie.”
Pandora glanced at Cé’s sleeping form which hadn’t moved nor had his long gentle snores lessened. “Told him what?”
“That he could go home, of course. You can’t keep him here under false pretenses, Pandora, no matter how much you love him. He’s got to make his own choice. And when the time comes, you need to let him go.”
Pandora’s mouth fell open, and she was too stunned to argue. In a split of an instance, Topper had sent Pandora’s world into a heap of wretched mess. Love? That word hadn’t even entered her mind. Topper knew about true mates, but Pandora hadn’t even registered that Cé could be hers.
An overwhelming sense of loss gripped her at the thought of never seeing him again. He was the only one who’d stood by her during this whole mess of the Mistonian. He’d defended her, fought for her. No man had ever done anything like this for her. They always left because her curiosity got in the way.
Topper waved her hand. “Ta, ta, love.” She left as quickly as she’d entered.
“Ye knew I could go home and didna tell me?” He drew in his legs.
Pandora jerked her head. Cé must have heard every word. Her heart withered in fear at his even voice. “I’m sorry.”
He shoved the hair out of his face, and his hard blue eyes killed any excuses she had for not telling him. She’d been so focused on getting his help to imprison the Mistonian.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you. Of course, you want to go back. You’re a pirate.”
He looked at her as if waiting for another answer. “Is that all I am to ye?”
Before she could answer, the doctor came in to check on her. “I’m Dr. Mason. How are we all doing?” Her cheery voice did nothing to pierce the heavy veil of gloom that had fallen over Pandora.
Pandora opened her mouth and choked. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “Better, much better.”
Cé got out of the chair and leaned against the wall, watching the doctor ramble on about how Pandora was going to be released. The doctor left with instructions for Pandora to have plenty of bed rest, and in a few days she’d be good as new—except for her cracking heart.
“I’m glad yer goin’ to be well, Pandora.” His words were stiff.
“Cé—”
He held up his hand. “If ye’ll excuse me.”
“Wait!”
She tried to get up, but she was hooked up to the damn machines.
***
It was two hours later before she was released from the hospital. A nurse wheeled her outside where Theo waited for her in a squad car.
“Looking good, Pandora,” he smiled.
“Thanks for picking me up.”
“It’s the least I can do for what you did.” Theo would keep beating himself for doubting her, but he wasn’t the one she was worried about.
“You don’t need to feel guilty, Theo.” She looked d
own at her wringing hands. “Do you know where Cé is?”
Theo pulled away from the hospital. “The last I saw him, he was talking with Topper.”
“Oh.” The last person she wanted him to talk to. She put her forehead against the glass, wishing she’d given him the answer he wanted. Be honest—what she wanted. But no, she’d been a coward, afraid he’d reject her like all the other men.
They rode in silence to her house. He parked in her driveway, then open the door for her to get out. “Do you need any help?”
“No, that’s okay.” She patted his hand. “Thanks again for the door-to-door service.”
Pandora headed toward her door with a heavy heart. She sat on her couch with the sun on her back. It failed to thaw the coldness thumping through her. She refused to be one of those hapless females who waited for a hero to return. This wasn’t a fairy tale, and she was in jeopardy of losing a man she could easily spend the rest of her life with. The realization was a spur that got her to jump off her couch and run out the door.
There was only one place the residents of Magic would gather to open the portal to send Cé back home. She had to get there first and convince him to stay.
Chapter Fifteen
Cé sat in a gazebo, staring at the setting sun. This was a beautiful place with the changing purple, pink, and orange clouds that hung around desert mountain peaks. It was different than the lush green mountains in the Caribbean. He missed the sea. He was a pirate, and pirates lived in the ocean—or at least that was what he told himself.
His chest tightened at the thought of seeing Quinton Palmer and Zuto again and being on board a ship that stank of death and dread. He was weary of being a slave, of being tortured, of being lonely. But Palmer wasn’t the only vampire ship. His best friend Leif had joined Kane O’Brien’s. Maybe he could convince the fierce captain that he’d be worthy of being a member of his crew.
Here, he hadn’t lived in fear. He actually had learned to like Theo—the shapeshifting dragon. If things would have been different, he might have called him a friend.
