He nodded, smiling as he embraced her, and she relaxed into his strength. “I saw everything.”
She smiled, looking over his shoulder. Dave leaned against the wall and casually gestured to the bloody mess in the hallway. “See, I told you. You didn’t need me.” He held up a finger. “But you still owe me.”
* * *
Lucien held the woman in his arms, quietly stunned, ferociously proud. He glanced back at the surviving guardians in the hall, at his father. They all wore the same astonished expressions. What they’d seen here tonight—he couldn’t explain it. Natalie had become...something. Not a vampire. Not a werewolf. Something...other. Teeth like a vampire, claws like a werewolf, with the noble heart of a human warrior queen. A crossbreed.
Natalie raised her head. “Where is your sister?” she asked.
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “You don’t have to—”
“I know.” She smiled. “I want to.”
He glanced around the hallway. “Even after—”
“Even after.”
He took a shaky breath, overwhelmed at her generosity, her kindness. “This way,” he said, and lead her down another hallway. Dave followed.
He opened a door and led her into a softly lit room. A glass coffin sat atop a gurney. He gazed down at the woman sleeping inside. Despite the black marks marbling her skin, the gray tone of her complexion, she was still beautiful. Since Dave had placed her under the suspension spell to delay the spread of the lycan toxin in her system, Lucien had marveled that his lively, feisty sister could look so peaceful and tranquil. He’d give anything to have her frown and bitch at him again, though. He glanced at Natalie. He’d given his whole heart.
Dave unlocked the lid and lifted it, then placed his hand on her forehead. A soft glow, barely seen, caught as it was between the witch’s palm and his sister’s head, cast a shadow across Vivianne’s features. Dave withdrew his hand and looked at Natalie.
“I’ve lifted the spell. It’s up to you now.”
She was staring at the other side of the coffin, her brow dipping. She shook her head and he peered into the shadows of the room. “What is it?”
Natalie blinked. “I’m not sure. I thought I saw someone.” She shrugged. “It’s nothing,” she said to him, giving him a reassuring smile. She stepped forward and Lucien’s brows rose as Natalie removed a blood bag from the waistband of her jeans. How the hell had that not been destroyed in the fight?
Natalie removed the lid from the injection port and held the bag to his sister’s mouth, letting some of the liquid drop onto her lips. She stepped back, looking at Lucien. “I’m not sure how long this will take. For you, it was a few hours, but you’d progressed further—”
Vivianne’s eyes flew open and she arched her back as she drew in a deep, shuddering breath.
Lucien watched in awe as black veins slowly disappeared and her skin returned to its normal olive-toned hue.
Vivianne coughed, her eyes wild and confused, and she gave Dave and Natalie startled looks before she finally saw him. Recognition and relief flared in her eyes, and Lucien smiled at her. She stared at him, taking in his disheveled appearance, the cuts and bruises. She coughed again, then frowned at him.
“You look like hell, bro,” she rasped, and he laughed as he reached down to hug her.
“It’s good to see you, too, sis.” It felt so good to hold his sister again, to feel her warmth and strength, her vitality. He looked at Natalie, who tilted her head as she watched, a smile on her lips.
“Thank you,” he said huskily, sincerely, and she nodded.
Vivianne turned to look at Natalie and Dave. “Who are you?”
Lucien put his arm around Natalie’s shoulders as he made the introductions and explained to Vivianne briefly what had happened.
After several long minutes Vivianne shook her head, her long dark hair shifting with the movement.
“I think this is going to take several re-tellings to digest.” She gazed around the room, a frown marring her brow. “I can’t believe Dad had this place right under my nose.” Her lips pressed together. “I think it’s time we held a family council.” She seemed to be distracted, her attention caught by something in a darker corner of the room. She squinted, then blinked, shaking her head.
“What’s wrong?” Lucien asked.
“Is someone there?” Vivianne shook her head as though confused. She pressed her fingers to her temple. “I think I just need to recover a little,” she murmured, closing her eyes briefly.
A blast echoed from above and dust filtered down from the ceiling.
Lucien’s shoulders sagged. Seriously? Could they not catch a break?
“What’s that?” Natalie asked, concerned.
Lucien’s lips tightened. “Dad wanted to spread the word that we had a cure for the lycan toxin as way to flex his muscles over the other vampire colonies. I think they want in.”
Natalie closed her eyes briefly and Lucien grimaced at his father yet again causing trouble for Natalie. “What are we going to do?” she asked wearily.
He rubbed her shoulders. “We fight. I’m not losing you, Natalie. Never again.”
Another blast shook the foundations and Dave frowned. “Well, if you’re going to fight, I’d suggest you start before they flatten this place.”
Natalie clutched Lucien’s arm, her eyes wide. “Wait—Dr. Morton had a vampire down here, and a werewolf. We need to free them.”
Vivianne’s lips curled. “I’ll kill the werewolf myself.”
Natalie shook her head. “No. I’ve seen what this doctor can do. Nobody deserves that. You need to free anyone down here.”
Dave nodded. “I’m on it.”
“Hey, I said—”
“I know what you said, Ms. Marchetta, but you seem to be misunderstanding. I don’t take orders from you,” Dave said, grinning, and jogged out of the room.
“Come on, let’s get you both out of here,” Lucien said. If their home was under attack above ground, he didn’t want his sister or the woman he loved to be trapped beneath it.
He lifted his sister out of the coffin and then slung her arm over his shoulder to help her walk. She was a little shaky on her feet—to be expected after spending eight months in a suspended state, he supposed.
Natalie took her other arm and slung it over her shoulder, and together they half ran, half carried Vivianne through the halls.
“I have to get something,” Natalie said as they passed the lab. She ducked out from under Vivianne’s arm and ran inside the room to a fridge. She scanned the contents, then pulled out a vial of blood. Lucien frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to sort this out, once and for all,” Natalie panted as she ran back to help him with Vivianne.
“What?”
“Enzo was right, back at the roost,” she said. “He said that vampires, lycans and witches won’t stop until either they have the cure, too, or there is no more cure.”
Lucien’s frown deepened in consternation. “What are you planning to do, Natalie?”
She smiled over his sister’s head. “Trust me.”
* * *
They emerged into a battlefield of a ballroom. The Marchetta mansion had been breached, and vampires were fighting vampires. Vivianne insisted on walking in under her own steam. Lucien lowered her arm and Natalie followed suit.
When they stepped into the room, though, the growls and screams slowly died down, and all eyes turned toward them. Everyone knew that the Nightwing Vampire Prime, Vivianne Marchetta, had been attacked by a lycan. Now she stood before them, eight months later, fully recovered. She’d been cured.
Vincent gaped, stepping hesitantly toward his daughter, as though not sure if he could truly believe that she really was going to be okay. Whe
n the realization sank in, all of those inside the ballroom turned to focus on Natalie. She swallowed. So many vampires. All so desperate to get a piece of her.
Enzo had been right. Vampires would want her blood as a protection. Lycans and witches would want her dead for the advantage she gave the vampires. She couldn’t do this anymore. If she somehow got out of this situation, she’d spend her whole life running, hiding, looking over her shoulder. She’d lived that for the last forty years, and she didn’t want to do it anymore. She glanced over Vivianne’s dark head to her handsome brother—the man who’d defied the father he’d so desperately wanted to please, to save her.
She wanted Lucien. She wanted him with all her heart, and she wanted the freedom to live with him and love him every day without the threat of capture or torture hanging over their heads. Just like in the desert, when he’d risked his life to save hers, when he’d given up a part of himself to protect her, she was prepared to do the same. She glanced at Lucien. He eyed her warily and perhaps with a little bewilderment.
“Do you trust me?” she asked softly.
“Implicitly.”
“Do you love me?”
His lips lifted in a soft, tender smile. “Always.”
She nodded then turned to the vampires gathered in the ballroom.
“I know what you want and—” she took a deep breath, knowing what she was going to say would not be well received “—you can’t have it. You can’t have me. This is my body, my choice. I will not be a target anymore.”
A rumble began, as those in the room talked among themselves. The rumble started to grow as protests were shouted.
Natalie opened her senses, calling forth the power in her body. She could feel her eyes flicker and suddenly she could see more details. Everything seemed sharper, clearer. She lengthened her incisors, feeling that slow burn through her jaw, the same in her hands as she drew out her claws. She hissed gently as her muscles spasmed and bones popped and grew, just a little, until she stood before them. She threw her head back and roared. Some of the vampires closer to her stepped back.
She reached into her pocket and gingerly withdrew the vial of blood. There was a number on the label—relating to one of Morton’s test subjects, no doubt, but it also clearly stated “Null.”
Lucien started when he saw it, but she flashed him a glance.
Trust me, she pleaded with her eyes. His jaw clenched, but he didn’t step toward her. She pulled the lid off the vial, then drank the blood, grimacing at the too salty flavor. She forced it down her throat. God, no wonder nulls weren’t fed upon. They tasted disgusting.
Almost immediately, her stomach cramped and she clutched her abdomen. Her bones ached then cracked as they returned to their original state, and she cried out in agony as her muscles tremored, her claws and fangs retracting so fast it was like hot pokers sliding beneath her skin. She screamed at the pain that lanced through her, all over, as though a rough tidal wave of thumb pricks was washing over her, drowning her. She fell to the floor, writhing, flinching, as a new wave of pain hit, so hard so fast, it left her breathless.
“Natalie!” Lucien raced to her side and dropped to his knees, his expression anxious as he stared down at her.
“I’m okay,” she rasped and his eyes closed briefly with relief. He helped her to sit up, then stand, and she shivered. Maybe her body was going into shock. That would be expected. She sagged against him, his strength holding her up as she glanced around the damaged ballroom.
The vampires stared at her in stunned dismay. She swallowed as she felt sweat bead her brow. “You can all go home now,” she called out, and wavered a little on her feet. Lucien wrapped his arm around her waist, supporting her. “There is no more cure.” She clapped a hand over her mouth as her stomach heaved, gulping down the bile that rose in her throat.
“Did you hear me?” she yelled at the crowd. “There is no more cure. Go home.”
She sagged against Lucien and the world spun as he lifted her into his arms. She had a vague impression of the vampires stepping back to allow him passage as he carried her through the ballroom, and then everything went dark.
Chapter 23
Lucien propped his head on his elbow as he stared down at Natalie, asleep in his bed. Late-afternoon sunlight streamed through the window and bathed his bed. It was a unique experience for him, lying in his bed in the sun. He eyed the woman next to him. She’d slept for nearly sixteen hours, and he’d been by her side for every one of them. He’d been so damned worried. Her temperature had flared and she’d rested fitfully. He’d kept her cool with damp cloths on her face and ice chips on her lips. Her fever had broken in the early afternoon, and she’d slept soundly since. He glanced over at the pile of bags just inside the door. Heath had had one of his staff drive them back from the roost. He didn’t want to unpack them, though.
His father had visited, a fact that had surprised Lucien. Natalie wasn’t an asset to the Marchetta family anymore. His father had sat with him for a little while, and although they hadn’t talked—Lucien was still way too furious with him—there was something different about the old man. Maybe it was having Vivianne come back from the dead. He didn’t know, but something had cracked that cold block of a heart inside his chest.
Lucien’s lips curved. Occasionally he could hear Vivianne’s raised voice downstairs as she organized repairs to the mansion. His sister was back from the dead and letting everyone know it. He still hadn’t told her about the daylight side effect. He was looking forward to showing her, though. He’d happily handed back the Vampire Prime title to her. He smoothed a lock of blond hair off Natalie’s forehead. His sister was alive, all thanks to this woman. He dipped his head to kiss her bare shoulder. He hadn’t really thought past saving his sister. He’d assumed he’d go back to work on the west coast, but he no longer felt the desire to prove himself to his father. Maybe it was time to think about what he was really interested in, what really mattered to him.
Whatever he did, he’d be doing it with Natalie. He couldn’t see his life unfolding any other way.
Natalie’s eyelashes fluttered and she yawned as she opened her eyes, stretching languidly beneath his sheet. Her eyes caught his and they widened, the varying shades as complex and as beautiful as the woman herself. She smiled at him, all lush and sleepy and sexy as all hell.
“Hey,” she murmured as she rolled over to face him.
“Hey,” he responded, leaning forward to capture her lips in a tender kiss. He brushed her nose with his. “How are you feeling?”
“Good.” She peeked under the covers, her eyebrows rising. “Why am I naked?”
He nodded. “You were burning up.”
She eyed his body. The sheet was draped low over his hips and he saw the appreciation flare in her eyes as she took in his chest and the part of his hip that was exposed. “And why are you naked?”
“Then you got the chills.” He gestured between them. “Sharing body heat,” he explained. “I was a complete gentleman. I only peeked a little.” She had a beautiful body, but at the time he’d been more worried about the fever, about how the null blood would affect her, and whether she would wake up at all. He pressed his lips together. “You had me scared,” he admitted. He scooped her close, pulling the sheet up to warm her shoulders.
She smiled. “I thought you trusted me.”
His arms tightened around her. “With my life. I just wasn’t expecting you to nullify your gift.”
Her smile faltered. “Do you mind?” Her gaze lowered to his collarbone. “I mean, that I nullified my blood?”
He tucked his finger under her chin and tilted her face up so he could meet her gaze. “I love you,” he murmured, dipping forward to kiss her briefly on the lips. “I don’t care if you’re vamp, lycan, null—hell, you can even be part witch for all I care—I didn’t fall in love with your blood, o
r what it could do for vampires. I fell in love with you, with your heart, with that fascinating brain of yours, the way you think... I fell in love with your romantic streak, your curiosity...”
He cupped her cheek. “You have such a big heart, so brave, so generous, so giving of yourself.” He smiled. “I didn’t stand a chance.”
She persisted. “So, you don’t mind that I’m not some special cure that could protect you from death?”
He frowned. “You’re special to me, just for being you. Besides, I don’t intend to die. Ever.” He kissed her again and his cock stiffened as she kissed him back. He trailed his lips across her jaw to her neck.
“But the other vampires—they know I can’t help them anymore?”
“Trust me, word has spread about the crazy human chick who fed herself null blood and killed off any supernatural elements in her body.”
“Does that...does that bother you?” she asked, but he grinned against her skin. She sounded distracted. He inhaled, drawing her scent in, relishing the warmth and soft curves nestled against his body.
“I want my forever with you, Natalie,” he told her huskily. “Do you think you could put up with my family?”
She sighed, arching her neck against his lips. “As long as we don’t have to live with your father,” she said.
He nodded as he gently bit her earlobe. “We’ll go hunting for a place tomorrow,” he murmured.
“So soon?” She moaned as he kissed his way down her neck, pulling at the sheet as he went. He rolled her over onto her back, staring down at her.
“I want forever with you to start right away,” he told her. “If that’s what you want...?” Did she still feel the same way about him as he did her? She’d told him she loved him back in the cave, but so much had happened since then, so much hurt...
She arched an eyebrow. “And if it isn’t?” Her voice was low and flirty with challenge, and his lips curved as he trailed his hand down her body to the delta between her thighs. He slid his fingers through her curls. She was warm and dewy already.
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