Immortal Heat (The Guardians of Dacia Book 1)

by Loni Lynne

  His door opened and there stood Marilyn, black jeans and a tight fitting turtle neck top hugging her curves like a sleek snake. Her hair glowed glossy red against her beautifully pale features. Her emerald green eyes flashed with impish joy.

  He turned away from her, and adjusting the cuffs on his sleeves, inhaled her fragrance and fought his inner demon to control his urgency. "I have a bone to pick with you."

  "If I remember correctly you wanted to 'kiss my ass,'" she replied casually.

  "Try, 'kick your ass.'" He turned to her with serious aplomb.

  "Kiss, kick—as long as it's you doing it, I don't care."

  He didn't respond. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to take her up against the damn sterile hospital room wall, and in his current state he wouldn't stop at simple foreplay. He was just horny, pissed and sexually frustrated enough to go all the way—morphing be damned.

  "Do you know how pissed off I am with you?" She tried to speak but he held up his hand. "No, let me continue. You ran off to go find your mother with no clue as to her whereabouts. You sacrificed yourself to the enemy for what purpose? How stupid could you be? Then when I send Kurren in to rescue you, what do you do? You turn around and risk your life again to come to my aide."

  "You're welcome…"

  "I. Am. Not. Finished," Draylon seethed between his teeth.

  "Oh, yes you are—"

  To prove to him he was finished, she forced him up against the wall and ripped the shirt he'd just put on from his torso. Her body pressed into his, taking full control by suffocating his anger with her mouth, devouring any words or thoughts from his tongue and head. Her hands were everywhere, her thumbs scraping across the sensitive tips of his nipples. The heat radiating between them was beyond feverish pitch.

  Draylon ripped her knit top from her back, pulling the material around to the front and off so they were skin to skin—the bra didn't last. Her fingers crawled up his neck and planted themselves in his hair as he lifted her against him, letting her ride his hips, urging his cock to an aching extension, an extension that brought out the beast in him.

  Marilyn—I can't—I won't…

  He couldn't finish the thought but instead acted on instinct, tossing her away from him onto the bed.

  You don't understand. He punched the wall, leaving an indent. I'm not what you think—I'm… He left it at that and ran from the room. He ran as fast as he could to get as far away from her as possible.

  The openness of Delvante's compound butted up against his former home mountains. It would be the one place he could escape to where no one could get to him—not even Marilyn in her wolf form.

  He ran, faster and faster until he took flight. The change in him was a simple transformation as old as time itself. Never did he feel freer than when he could be in his true form. Long ago it had been a blessing to be Zmei, but for centuries, only a curse that caused him heartache and loneliness. He would rather shut himself up in his ancient family home with the bones and remains of his ancestors than to show his true self to Marilyn and have to lose her forever.

  Riding the air currents through Dacia to ancient Eskardel, he found the clearing leading to the blocked off tunnel that led to the buried remains. He landed but didn't step further. The air around him turned heavy with a familiar musk, the one that drove him crazy in his dreams, in his nights, in his waking hours.

  A long, high-pitched screech echoed off of the mountain range surrounding the valley. On instinct he called back. There, circling above him was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on. Scarlet red, sleek serpentine body enhanced by a wingspan that stretched yards on either side. The glint of sunlight bounced off of an emerald lodged in the middle of its high, helmeted skull.

  The creature landed clumsily by him, nearly taking a nosedive into a cluster of fir trees. Draylon cocked his head, watching as the creature righted itself and snorted.

  Well?

  Draylon couldn't believe his eyes or the single uttered word in his head. He had no words to say or even think.

  Cat got your tongue? Hello? Are you going to try to tell me that is not you, Draylon? I've dreamed of you like this. It was you I saw flying around in Austria.

  Marilyn.

  It wasn't a question, just a subtle thought of disbelief.

  I've got a problem, Draylon. You see, I'm in love with this guy and I'm not sure if he really likes me. He knows I'm a bit odd but he doesn't realize that I'm…I'm…well, I'm a fictional beast…a dragon. I'm afraid that if we were to ever make love that I would show my true self and send him running for his life…then I'd have to erase his memory and that would just suck because then I would never be able to be with him…

  Draylon morphed back to human. Marilyn did too.

  They stood there grinning at each other.

  "Are you grinning at me because I'm naked or because you're happy?"

  "Both." He took a tentative step towards her and another. "You're Zmei? But how?"

  She explained the story Nonni told her, even going into detail about Rick and her mother.

  "Sonofabitch. Really? All this time and—damn."

  Marilyn slapped him on the shoulder. "If all you are going to do is cuss then how can I kiss you and make love to you?"

  He grabbed her around her waist, pulling her to him. "You didn't have any problems silencing me in my hospital room?"

  "No, but then you took off like a bat out of hell." She touched his lips with her finger tip. "No more running, Draylon."

  "Who, you or me?" He nipped at the finger.

  "Both of us. Something tells me I've finally found where I belong."

  "Not yet—but you will very soon."

  "I want to see the sonofabitch!" Diane Reddlin screeched, trying to break free of Therron's hold on her. "You can't stop me, Ron." She breathed heavily.

  "Oh, yes I can. We protect our leader at all cost."

  "Damn it, he was my husband." Her voice broke into a sob. "He denied Marilyn as his own, saying he was infertile. He literally told me I'd been unfaithful…I hadn't loved any other man but Richard."

  "So what do you want from Rick?"

  Startled, both Ron and Diane jumped to see Nonni waddling up the corridor to Rick Delvante's office.

  "What do you mean, Nonni?" Therron asked.

  "She is angry at being deceived, lied to and humiliated by the one man she thought loved her." Nonni tsked.

  She walked past them and went right into Rick Delvante's office without any announcement.

  Diane and Ron followed tentatively behind. Nonni was as bold as you please and didn't even stop when the receptionist tried to halt her from going further. Nonni pointed her wrinkled, crooked finger at her and the dark, curly haired girl stopped in her tracks.

  The elderly woman continued on past the reception desk until she came to the heavy door to Rick's own domain. She turned around. "Come. Come." She waved them forward. "You want to beat the shit out of him? You have Nonni's blessing, my child." Nonni smiled and pushed open the door.

  Rick looked up from his desk to see he had unexpected company.

  "You weren't welcomed back, Witch."

  "Too bad…I think someone has a bone to pick with you." She motioned to Diane. "The mother of your child would like an apology."

  "And if I refuse?"

  "She gets to beat the living crap out of you without any interference from us." Nonni turned and glared a silent warning at Ron.

  "This has nothing to do with her or you, Nonni."

  Stepping unannounced into the room, Diane looked around for her daughter. "Where's Marilyn? What have you done with her?"

  Rick squared his jaw. He hadn't aged at all, hadn't changed in features, still looked as virile as he had the day they met. Immortality did that to you, she supposed.

  "She's fine. She's sitting in with Draylon right now." His nostrils flared as he inhaled and exhaled sharply.
"And I didn't do anything to her. I should be asking you the same question?"

  "I didn't do anything…"

  "No? Then how can she be a Zmeu?"

  "A what?" Diane stared at him as if he might be mad. Hard lines etched into her forehead and she tried to rub them away. "What in the hell are you talking about? You are the one with the immortal genes. You are the one who caused all this."

  "Enough!" Nonni muttered something under her breath in ancient dialect. "You both did 'all this.'" She waved her arm, encompassing the situation. She pointed to Rick. "You are Dacian, she is the blood of my loins and that of Drakon, my Zmei mate."

  "Sariana?" Therron asked.

  "Yes. It's Sariana." Rick sighed. "Still a thorn in Dacia history years later." He grumbled. "She destroyed us by pitting the Romans against us in our worst time."

  "No. It was you warring over the broken pieces of medallion that cost you Dacia," she rallied back. "Stupid men with nothing better to do than fight amongst yourselves." She threw her hands up. "Bah! Such foolishness. And Zamolxis gave himself up to the moon goddess for you."

  "Zamolxis gave himself to Bendis? For us?" Rick asked. "That's impossible. He told me he would come to me when the time was right and put together that which was torn asunder. He can't be imprisoned."

  "Slow child, you do not yet comprehend?" Nonni shook her head. "I was told by Zamolxis to keep the wolf medallion and give it to the chosen one upon her twenty-first birthday."

  Rick scratched his neck. "The piece Aiden has been looking for all these years? You've had it? He's had his minions infiltrate Dacia off and on this past decade searching for it, thinking I had it."

  "Who?" Diane asked. She had no idea what this medallion was but it sounded important.

  "I sent it to your daughter. She carries it with her," Nonni said.

  "Marilyn has the medallion. What, are you freakin' out of your mind? What possessed you to do such a dumb ass thing?" Rick railed at the old woman. "If she has it and Aiden knows, she's in a great deal of dan—" he stopped. "Wait. Did he know she had the medallion when he sent for her to 'study' with him?"

  "No, he didn't," Nonni said.

  "I didn't know why she was coming to see him, I just knew she wouldn't be safe around him. But if he knows she has it—" Rick explained worriedly.

  "It is fine. We get with Marilyn and she'll have the medallion." Nonni waved it off. "No worries."

  Chapter Twenty

  Aiden Vamier woke from his sleep to chaos. His fortress was in shambles, his gardens ripped apart as if a giant plow had dug up his earth. Piles of ash that had once been his family met him from within and along the exterior of his fortified compound where berths of dark rooms were now opened to the elements.

  Delvante!

  He stood in controlled rage over his half-brother's atrocity. Two whole corridors, nearly fifty of his loyalist subjects here in his private domain were gone, dead. He pondered just how to get back at his nemesis. But he'd already tried to get to Marilyn. No—he needed something more, something that would bring not only Rick but his whole clan to its knees. An eye for an eye made the world blind. He didn't want the world blind, just the Dacians.

  Walking out into the destruction, nothing came to mind. He could pray to the gods for guidance but that never got him anywhere. He'd sell his soul for a chance to get even with Rick.

  The toe of his shoe lit on something in the ground. A protruding rock caused him to look down. A silver chain lay snagged on the rock. Silver, the known enemy to most of his clan. The newer ones couldn't develop a tolerance for it and perished from it or anything connected to it. He never let them know, it was part of his power-play. Only his devoted elders were given the warning and learned how to protect themselves. For him though, it was nothing more than a shiny substance. He picked it up, curious to its identity.

  It was heavy for a simple chain, even for the gage of the links. Was it attached to something? The chain had broken. But half buried under the rubble was a heavier solid piece. He brushed it off, staring at a medallion. He couldn't believe his good fortune. It was almost too good to be true. Were the gods listening to him and answering his prayers?

  In his hands he held the most grotesquely beautiful thing he'd ever seen—a half emblem of a wolf's head devouring the tail end of a Balour or dragon, encircling half of the Dacian sun god's symbol. The Dacian half to the sacred medallion Zamolxis had broken to sever the two clans. The two pieces were the key to claiming power of Dacia—the land that rightfully belonged to him

  Now he had them both, his piece and Rick's. Aiden wondered how Rick had managed to lose his.

  "Very clumsy, dearest brother…very clumsy, indeed."

  "I always keep it on me." Marilyn fretted as she and Draylon stood before her father, Nonni, her mother and Ron. They were about to explain their unique relationship and needed to know what the gods had in store for them when they were bombarded with the question of her medallion.

  "I had it on me the other…it was around my neck…" she placed her hand to her throat. "I morphed into a bobcat and when I turned human again, it was still there. But then—"

  "You took on the appearance of the Balour. The necklace would've broken," Nonni said.

  "So it's somewhere over at Aiden's fortress." Marilyn sat down in defeat.

  "Let's just pray to the gods that he doesn't find it before we can get it back." Rick sighed. "I'm sending a search party over there first thing in the morning. I can't afford to desecrate any more vampires. I'm afraid the gods are not in favor of me since we went in, destroyed property and killed what minions we could. There is a clause that we are supposed to follow in which we are not allowed to encroach on each other's territory unless absolutely necessary."

  "What constitutes as necessary? I happen to think going in and saving Draylon was a very good reason." Marilyn held her head up. "If the gods have an issue with it, they can come talk to me."

  "Marilyn…you don't want to egg them on. The gods are not always merciful," Nonni warned.

  An alarm sounded throughout the building.

  "Sonuvabit—" Draylon looked to Rick.

  "What is it? Is there a fire?" Marilyn asked.

  "Worse," Rick said.

  "What do you mean worse?" her mother asked.

  "Vamier has just forced his entry into Dacia. We're under attack."

  The lights flickered and went out. Only the emergency lights on battery back-up illuminated the darkened hallways of the compound. That wasn't good. Vamier had powered out the facility, which meant his minions were on the prowl.

  "Get Marilyn to safety…now," Rick ordered Draylon. "We're going to head underground." They took off, leaving her and Draylon to use the secret passage through the medical area.

  But they were too late.

  Two vamps entered the corridor, coming at them, fangs drawn and bloody from a recent attack. The hiss and howls of matched enemies in battle rang throughout the hallways and open lobbies.

  Marilyn put herself between him and the two blond entities.

  Damn you, Marilyn.

  I've got this…watch! She pushed her hand up against the chest of the advancing vamp, but nothing happened. I don't understand, they usually disintegrate into ash when I touch them.

  The demons only threw back their heads and laughed, their eyes blazing an overly jaundiced yellow as the one pushed her arm to the side and continued his assent.

  Draylon looked around for something to use. Marilyn, grab onto the metal railing.

  What? Her inner monologue squeaked in fright.

  The metal railing…grab it now.

  Marilyn grabbed it just as the vampire lunged at her to take a healthy bite. Instead he sank his teeth into her throat and as usual disintegrated. The other, pissed off at his friend's sudden death attacked in retaliation, and they ended up forever tied to one another in an ashy pile of mixed remains.

  The silver metal alloy. Th
e younger ones aren't strong enough to fight its power. Even when their victim is only a conductor. To them it's like touching a live-wire and frying from the inside out, Draylon explained breathlessly.

  Now knowing what they could use and not having any of his weapons on him, he searched the medical supply cabinets. Gauze, tongue depressors, cotton swabs, latex gloves—not a damn useful thing.

  "What about these? Would these work?" Marilyn came up behind him with metal restraints used to help patients through mental detox.

  "Perfect! Put one on."

  He clamped a loose restraint around her wrist like a gruesome bracelet Frankenstein might give to his bride. He gave her a quick kiss.

  "Is this an engagement?" she teased.

  "Only if we survive."

  The hallways were littered with bodies of Dacian medical staff, some were even in mid-morphing. Sadly, there was nothing she could do for them. She followed Draylon onward through the corridors.

  They managed to take out three more vampires by wearing the silver bracelets. Now she wondered if it had been the silver chain of her necklace that had been her power and not her own ego. Great. All her abilities and she had no real power? That sucked, royally.

  The floor beneath them heaved and buckled. Could her day get any shittier? Just what they needed—an earthquake during a Vamier attack.

  "We need to get outside," she yelled to Draylon over the din of alarms and the cacophony of screams and howls throughout the building.

  "It's not an earthquake—it's the gods, and they are not happy with something," Draylon replied.

  Still, they hurried towards the front entrance to be met by her mother, Therron and Kurren.

  "Where's Dad?" she asked, calling Rick by his informal name.

  "Your father," Diane hissed the word, "felt the need to confront his brother."

  "His brother?" It didn't click at first. "Aiden…Aiden's his brother."