Sabrina believed him and did her best to smile. “Thank you. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, as Eleanor often quoted. You’ve given me a lot to think about,” she said softly.
A bell ringing from across the river made Charon look over his shoulder. “I must return to my duties, but I will keep my crystal orb in my robe pocket. Call me if you need to talk,” he said, waving his hand over the surface. The crystal went dark.
Sabrina smiled and shook her head. “We’ll have to work on phone etiquette someday,” she said to the dark crystal. She sighed out loud.
Just what I needed, more problems. Her lioness chuffed in defiance.
The sound of tires speeding up the long, gravel drive drew Sabrina’s attention. She covered the orb with the thin square of fabric and looked out of the window. Boiling dust put her on the defensive. Dark rainbows flashed around her like a shield.
Hadrian’s dark-blue Mercedes quickly disappeared behind the house. She waited to hear a crash, but nothing happened. Footsteps on the back porch let her know they made it through the wards with no problems.
“I don’t see why I have to say anything now,” Brandon’s voice said from the kitchen.
“Because it’s better if she hears it coming from you than from someone else,” Hadrian countered.
Keys dropped on the counter. The refrigerator door opened. Plastic blood bags made a squishy noise. The cabinet doors banged. Two thumps sounded like mugs hitting the counter. A tearing noise followed by more squishing and a squirt as the two mugs filled. A tangy copper scent hit Sabrina’s nose like a freight train. Her mouth watered. The microwave door opened and closed. Whirling and humming suggested the blood was heating up, making the aroma more enticing.
“I want to tell her. I just don’t know how,” Brandon said.
Sabrina realized they were talking about Nemesis. Hurt and anger blended in with betrayal. She had deserved to know the second everyone knew Nemesis was free. Why did they not tell her? Having an avenging goddess beating on the door deserved an explanation, especially when she was also an ex-girlfriend.
Just couldn’t keep it in his pants, could he?
No, she had no right to feel betrayed, she reminded herself. What Brandon did or did not do before they committed themselves to each other was in the past. Accepting his past was a part of accepting him. She felt guilty for judging him and his relationship with Nemesis.
The jumble of feelings perplexed her. The lioness seemed to add to the confusion. The big cat wanted to pounce on him, slap him around, and then claim him as her conquest. Sabrina did her best to shut the lioness out of her thoughts.
The night became too much for her, and she broke down. Hitting the floor on her knees, she wept. Betrayal. Fear. Anger. Torment, with images of Nemesis and Brandon together as lovers, tore at her usually silent heart. Her chest fluttered as the organ tried to beat.
No! Vampires have no heartbeat!
The fluttering stopped. The reminder that she was not a true vampire made her cry harder. She wanted to scream. Even the impending dawn did nothing to quell her powers. Instead of feeling sleepy, she wanted to run until she outran the pain.
Hands lifted her from the floor.
“Sabrina, honey, are you all right?” Brandon asked, pulling her in for a hug. He smoothed her hair back from her face.
She looked up at him, cold tears streaking down her face. She tried to speak, but the words stuck in her throat. When she finally could make her voice work, she spoke the only thought racing through her mind.
“I know the truth about you and her, and she’s coming for me,” she said and fainted.
Chapter 10
Brandon looked down at his limp wife and panicked. He shook her, hoping she would wake up and talk to him. He pushed loose locks of her blue-black hair out of her face and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
“Sabrina! Sabrina, sweetheart, talk to me!”
“Let her rest,” Hadrian commanded. “She’s been overloaded tonight. Put her to bed and let nature do what it does. What is the modern term? Ah, yes. Let her reboot.”
“You’re awfully calm, for the father of a fainted woman,” Brandon said sharply. For a second, he forgot Hadrian was more than his father-in-law. The elder vampire was also his emperor. He muttered something that might have been an apology under his breath.
“Forgiven. In my human life, I had a human wife and human daughters. Never forget I gave up the strongest empire in the world for the love of a goddess. I’ve seen my fair share of drama,” Hadrian reminded him, pointing to his chest and giving Brandon a sharp look that dared him to argue.
“We may not understand how she found out, but we can assume Sabrina knows about your relationship with Nemesis. To what extent is difficult to tell. It seems she also has information we need and is in danger,” Hadrian pointed out. “Sunrise is pressing in on us. We have to get to bed for the day. Tuck her in and hold her tight. She’s going to need you now more than ever, if what Cybil said is related to this.” Hadrian left, softly closing the door behind him.
Brandon lifted Sabrina as he stood. Turning around, he gently laid her on the bed. He pulled off her shoes and undressed her, leaving her bra and panties in place. Raking her hair to one side, he carefully ensured she had a loose, side braid more comfortable for sleeping.
Her pale body covered only in the thin lace mesmerized him. Her red lips parted slightly to expose her fang points. Her well-rounded breasts heaved as she slept. The night was hot, but her nipples stood erect.
Brandon wanted her. His cock pressed painfully against his zipper, begging for release, to sink into her soft flesh and worship her body. Better yet, he imagined those red lips wrapped around his shaft while her soulful brown eyes looked up at him from her kneeling position. His cock gave a throbbing, pleading ache, hoping for relief.
Checking the alarm clock on the nightstand, Brandon calculated the amount of time until sunrise. If he hurried, he had just enough time to get a cold shower before crawling into bed beside his wife. Grabbing his robe from its hook by the door on his way out, he made for the bathroom.
He stripped quickly, inhaling the scent of her on his shirt as he pulled it over his head. His dick stood out stiff and ready. Not bothering with the hot water, Brandon gave the cold tap a hard twist and turned on the shower.
“Sorry, buddy, but we don’t have time to handle business,” he muttered to his sensitive member and stepped into the stream.
The cold water hit him in the face. While it had the desired effect as his cock slackened, the cold did not bother him. Being a vampire came with advantages. The body reacted, but the mind could tune it out with ease.
Thoughts raced through his mind as he washed. Sabrina obviously knew Nemesis had returned to Earth, but who could have told her about his human relationship with the vengeful goddess? And what did Sabrina mean when she said Nemesis was coming after her? He understood why Nemesis would seek him out, but not Sabrina. Could the patron goddess of gladiators still hold a grudge or worse, want him back?
He turned off the tap and shook the water out of his black hair. Reaching out to the towel bar, he grabbed a fistful of fluffy material. Without looking, he wiped his face, catching the sweet hint of narcissus.
Jerking the fabric from his face, Brandon found a black, silk tunic in his hands. He whisked open the shower curtain to find the bathroom transformed into a Roman steam room like the one on Capri. A natural-colored toga with a gold hem hung on the peg by the door. The only light came from torches hanging from wrought iron sconces.
“What the hell is this?” Brandon said in disbelief.
“You, of all people, should know what this is,” a woman said, hidden in a cloud of steam. Her familiar voice sounded low and slow, breathy and deep. The words dripped with forbidden sex.
“No. I’m in my bathroom at home. Sabrina warded the house. This shouldn’t be happening,” he said sternly. He blinked a few times, hoping the mirage would vanish and leave him standing in
the old cast iron, claw-footed tub. It did not work. The steam room refused to vanish.
“She can ward the house, the store, and your modern conveyances, but she does not hold dominion over your dreams,” the woman said.
“I’m not dreaming because I’m not asleep. I’m standing in my bathtub. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Nemesis, I have to go to bed. The sun will be up any minute,” Brandon said, taking a guess at who the woman might be.
She chuckled softly. “Time can play tricks on the mind. You should have thought less with your mentula and went with your gut instinct,” she said playfully. “That was always your downfall.”
A thin, naked, female shape formed in the steam. She became more solid, more real with each passing second. A slender hand trailed across her belly and up over her slight breasts, paying attention to the small nipples. Her white wings spread wide behind her.
“Do you remember what it was like to feel me wrapped around you? To have the devotion of a goddess?” She stepped forward enough to look up at him with eyes like limpid pools. “I remember having you beneath me, running my hands along your strong chest and arms. I know what it feels like to be worshipped by a champion gladiator,” she said, running her hand back down her body and wrapping her wings around herself like a cloak.
“I have the devotion of a goddess. One who loves me as much as I love her. You threw me aside, allowing me to be stabbed three times in the ribs by a man Hadrian showed mercy. I died that day on the floor of the Coliseum. If it weren’t for Hadrian, I would have been in the Underworld over a millennia. You abandoned me. I think that’s a good sign we broke up. What could you possibly want from me now?” Brandon tried to sound brave and bold. A small part of him worried what she might be capable of in dreams.
Her expression changed from sexy and playful to stern and devoid of emotion. “You were a mistake, a distraction to my purpose. Your presence in my life changed how I completed my duties. Justice must be served in an unbiased way,” she said firmly, unfurling her wings. She reached out as if to pick up something from an invisible hook. When she drew her hand back, a lightweight purple toga came with it.
“You left me there to die. I died. Don’t vows usually say ‘until death do us part’? I’m dead, and we’re done.” He stood up straight, not bothering to worry about being naked. Most people found a lack of clothing a vulnerability. As a gladiator, being naked in a crowded room was not uncommon. Being viewed by noble women like a prize horse was also common enough. Not having a towel handy to wrap around himself felt like more of a nuisance than a problem.
She slipped into the toga without putting on a tunic underneath. The steam made the filmy fabric cling to her body. Her dark hair, piled high on her head, stuck to her neck and forehead.
“But you did not die. Here you stand, flesh and blood. Well, maybe not blood, but certainly flesh and bone,” she said with a smirk.
“Why, Nemesis, is that emotion I hear creeping into your tone? I’m surprised at you,” Brandon countered. He knew underneath that calm exterior lay a woman of deeply repressed passions.
She smoothed the lines on her face back into an expressionless plane. Reaching out to touch him, she lunged forward, placing her hand flat against his chest as they both fell to the floor. Heat radiated from her palm and drove straight into his heart.
For a second, the long-silent organ tried to flutter to life. The pain racked his body. With all the strength he possessed, Brandon tried to roll over in an effort to remove her. No amount of struggling helped.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me why living an eternity in Elysium was worse than being a walking corpse,” she said angrily. Her eyes turned a fiery red as her other hand reached down to her side and came back up with a knife.
Brandon recognized the glint in the torchlight as silver. He clutched at her wrist. Whatever magic she used on his heart sapped his strength. If she managed to get that blade over his heart, he knew she meant to kill him. This time there was no Hadrian to save him. He fought with her to keep the knife tip pointed in the wrong location, but his vampire stamina faltered against her powers.
She nicked his arm twice before finding purchase over his left lung. The blade glided through his flesh and felt like molten lava as it went. She smiled.
The torchlight began to fade as Brandon felt the silver poison his system. He wondered if killing him in his sleep meant he died for real, or was that just a silly Hollywood movie. Regardless of the movie, Nemesis meant to end his life, and he felt helpless to stop her.
“Why?” he whispered.
Suddenly the weight disappeared, as did the blazing pain of the blade. Within seconds, he regained his composure and lifted himself off the floor. The sounds of shouting and heavy hits landing against solid objects brought him out of his daze. He leapt to a standing position, ready for a fight.
Sabrina sat astride Nemesis’s back with her wings and arms pinned beneath Sabrina’s legs. The heaviest hits came from Nemesis’s head pounding against the floor. The shouting came from Sabrina.
“Don’t.” Thump. “You.” Thump. “Ever.” Thump. “Put.” Thump. “Your hands on my husband again!” Thump, thump, thump. “You bitch!”
Brandon just watched dumbfounded as Sabrina made a claw-like motion with one hand. In her palm, dark rainbows gathered. She swiped at Nemesis and made contact against the side of her head. The ball of energy crashed into the vengeful goddess, leaving her shocked and bewildered.
Brandon hurried over to stop Sabrina from landing another blow. “Wait! You never kill an opponent when they’re down like this,” he said, the old habits of the arena kicking in at long last. He grabbed her around the waist and dragged her off the astonished goddess.
Sabrina screamed in frustration. “Let go of me. I’ll kill her before I let her do that to you,” she said between gritted teeth.
“No. There are rules to battle and to fighting with honor,” Brandon said, struggling to hold on to his wife. He could smell the lioness within her like hot Savanna grass.
Her powers must be threatening to overtake her.
Nemesis stood up, straightened her toga, and sniffed. “You are quite correct, Brandon. There are rules to be followed, if honor is to be maintained,” Nemesis agreed.
“Do those rules include killing a sleeping man in his bath?” Sabrina said, heavy with accusation. She stopped struggling and relaxed in Brandon’s arms.
Brandon whispered, “If I let go, will you attack her?” He knew if Sabrina managed to kill her in an unfair fight, all the celestial beings had the right to avenge the fallen. Handling one angry goddess seemed like a better idea than tackling all the remaining gods and goddesses at once.
“No. Not as long as she stops trying to kill you,” Sabrina said, leaving off the words “I promise.”
Nemesis nodded in agreement. “Agreed. I will not kill Brandon like this, but justice must be met,” she said with unwavering certainty.
Sabrina brushed Brandon’s hands off when he released his grip. “What did he ever do to you, except get killed in the arena? That must have been a disappointment,” Sabrina said with snark.
Nemesis looked straight into Brandon’s eyes and held her gaze. “I never abandoned you. Only your body would have died. Your soul would have been free to stay with me for all eternity, had you not taken this form. So, in essence, you abandoned me,” Nemesis admitted.
“Well, I wasn’t in on that part of the plan, now was I?” Brandon said, feeling left out of the loop. “You can’t expect things to go according to your plans when you don’t tell anyone else what the plan is.”
“When spoke of that way, I must agree. Therefore, I will reconsider your fate.” Nemesis began to fade into the steam. Once her form lost its shape, her sexy voice filled the room. “However, Sabrina Rivers Thorpe, excessive good fortune has been yours. The day of balance is at hand.” The voice disappeared as the bathroom returned to normal.
Brandon reached out to take Sabrina’s hand, but he found only a
fluffy towel hanging on the rack. He took it and wrapped it around his waist. The wall clock read six o’clock, and Brandon yawned. The night had finally dealt him more than he could handle. He rumpled his hair to shake out the excess water, but no droplets fell. His hair felt dry.
“What the—?” Brandon started to say when a heavy knock pounded on the door.
“Are you going to be in there all night?” Hadrian demanded.
Brandon answered the door. “Did you say all night?”
“Yeah. I got up half an hour ago. The door wouldn’t budge. I assumed you locked it. I’m immortal, but I don’t have all night. Let me guess. You fell asleep in the shower,” Hadrian replied.
Brandon thought about the events. Was is possible? The prophets used to say the gods and goddesses sent messages to them in the form of dreams. On some level, he knew he was asleep. How else would he have made the connection to the movies?
“Is Sabrina up?” Brandon pressed his lips together tight enough to draw blood against his fangs.
“Not yet, why? What happened?” Hadrian sounded worried.
“Nemesis.”
Chapter 11
Hadrian sat at the kitchen table and stared at Brandon without blinking. “Would you mind repeating that last part?”
Brandon took a sip of blood from his mug. “I must have fallen asleep before I got out of the shower. It felt so real. Sabrina came out of nowhere and attacked Nemesis. I thought she was going to really kill someone,” he said in disbelief. He shook his head. “Maybe I should have let her finish the job. You know, send a message of what she is capable of doing.” He licked a drop of blood from his finger before it fell on his blue jeans or black tee.
“No,” Hadrian said firmly. “She still feels remorse for killing those men in your apartment. How would she come to terms with killing a goddess in her sleep? What if the remaining celestial beings decided she’s too much of a threat and moved against her en masse?”
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