by Kristie Cook
I looked at Vanessa, and her eyes tightened for a moment. “I guess it was nothing.”
“Are you sure? You look like you know something,” I said, studying her face closely.
The corners of her mouth turned down. “I heard those two words—summoned and Virginia—and it sparked a memory of something I heard a long time ago. Something Lucas was spewing about one time, about the Summoned.”
“As in the sons?” I asked, excitement lacing the question.
“I think so, but I’m not definitely sure. It’s not like he told me anything when it came to shit like that.”
“But he did have plans for them?” Tristan asked. “Did he mention Virginia?”
She shook her head, the tips of her blond ponytail swishing across her back. “Like I said, he hardly said anything. Nothing that made sense, anyway. It was just one of his typical blow-ups that he never mentioned again. I don’t even know if this is relevant.”
“But it could be,” I persisted. “Dorian could be a Summoned. Rina said we needed to watch out for them, and Mom thinks they could all be together. Why are you just now mentioning this?”
“He’s not a Summoned, though. Not yet. And what Lucas was saying—I didn’t understand his rant, but he sounded angry with them. Whatever it was, if it had been anything at all, he wouldn’t have lumped Dorian in with the rest of them. He values the boy’s potential way too much.”
“But something must have clicked in your mind,” I said. “Something in Virginia?”
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know what to tell you, Alexis. The two words caught my attention, so I said something, but apparently there’s nothing to it. Now that we’ve listened to them, I can tell you I don’t know those two, so if there’s anything to this at all, I know for sure they wouldn’t be in the loop. They don’t have the status. But you said if anything caught my attention to let you know, so I did.”
“They could have been talking about anything,” Charlotte said. “Who the hell knows? Maybe his creator is in Virginia, and he’s being summoned there. Vampire masters can do that, you know—summon their children. There’s no telling what these guys were talking about.”
I sat back in the pew, tapping my fingers against my lips, but nodded. Char was right. There could be nothing to the whole thing. Probably just mundane thoughts like everyone else’s. Nobody knew anything here. Except, perhaps, Vanessa.
Still, I kept my mind focused on the docks for a little while longer, skipping back to those guys a couple of times. The word summon popped in again, but before I could grasp onto the full thought, something else caught my attention. Something very close. As in right outside the church.
“Two newborns,” Tristan said.
I focused my mind on their thoughts. Seems like they’re only a couple of days old. They’re lost and confused.
Tristan and Char nodded, then she crept over to a window. I snuck up behind her, and we peered outside. Two women who appeared to be in their mid-twenties huddled together near a tree barely outside the church’s property line. They wore torn dresses, their hair looked like rat nests, and dirt smudged their newly porcelain skin. Their eyes were big and glassed-over as they darted around, unable to settle on anything. One woman’s hand scratched at her throat, and on closer inspection, I noticed their eyes were sunken deeply into their cheeks with purple half-moons under them.
“They’re starving,” I whispered.
I sought out their thoughts and shared them with the others. The women seemed to have no idea what had happened to them. They knew they were thirsty and what they were thirsty for, but they hadn’t found any humans since they’d awoken. In fact, they hadn’t seen a single soul since their transformation. Damn irresponsible vampire parents. If there had been any humans nearby, these two would have massacred them without proper guidance. Especially as thirsty as they were now.
“They’re prime,” I said. “We need to go out there.”
“Let Vanessa and me go first,” Tristan said. “They get a whiff of you and we’ll have a bigger problem on our hands.”
He motioned for Vanessa and Charlotte to head for the front of the church, and I followed him to the side door in the back. He and Vanessa went out first, and as soon as they had control of the two newborns, Charlotte and I came out and began our work. We’d barely said, “you’re safe with us,” when I felt the surge of mind signatures heading for us.
“It’s a trap!” I yelled.
We blurred for the motorcycles, but Daemoni already surrounded us.
“Thought we sensed Amadis around,” a female vampire said as she sauntered closer to us, “and look who we found.”
Tristan, Charlotte, and Vanessa all moved in on me, but I wasn’t about to let them fight without me. I pushed myself between Tristan and Char, and we all stood in a square, shoulder-to-shoulder. I swiped my thumb over the dagger at my hip and extracted it from its sheath at the same time Char pulled hers from her cleavage. Brass knuckles, covered in silver, already covered Vanessa’s fists.
Ten Daemoni, all vampires, closed in on us. Fools. The sun shone brightly over us, which had to have weakened them at least some, and there weren’t nearly enough to overtake us.
Easy peasy, I thought just as they dove for us.
Not as easy as I expected, though. The sun barely affected these vamps, which meant they were older and, therefore, more experienced. They fought expertly, and it became apparent they’d been sent purposely to kill Amadis. Based on their thoughts, though, they hadn’t expected Tristan or me, and were a little unsure of what to do with us. They knew they couldn’t kill us, but they did their best to not let us get away.
I fought hard, slashing them with my dagger, elbowing them in the jaws, smashing their noses against my knee, and plowing my foot into temples and groins. The dagger did the most damage so I focused on using it, but they kept jumping out of my way. So I blasted lightning at them, then dove in, sending electricity through my dagger as I plunged it into a vamp’s ribs, straight into the heart. He bucked and screamed, and I jumped off, pulling my dagger with me, right before he flashed away.
Another vamp came for me, but I blasted her with electricity followed by Amadis power. Her body seized and convulsed, and I took the opportunity to slash my dagger across her chest and stomach. She fell to her knees, and her hands clawed at my legs. I swiped out again, opening a gash through her cheek. She screamed and disappeared. Tristan’s arm ensnared me, and he blurred us to his motorcycle, while he shot his power at the vamps on Char and Vanessa, and I blasted more Amadis power at anyone I could hit. The Daemoni flew far enough away that Char and Vanessa could scramble for their bike. Vanessa took the driver’s seat and Char hopped on the back, throwing up a shield and cloak around us as we took off.
We sped down the country roads, leaving the newborns behind. Again. This whole conversion thing and building our army was proving to be harder than I expected. Charlotte had been so busy with conversions the last couple of years, I thought it would be easy enough. One here and another two there had kept her and the safe houses busy and nicely full, but they weren’t enough now. Not at the rate the Daemoni were turning Normans. Especially when they kept ambushing us.
We had been cloaked and shielded in the church. How did the Daemoni even know we were there? How did they know to set the trap at that particular location?
Chapter 14
Foul mood didn’t begin to describe how I felt by the time we arrived back at the familiar house in Atlanta. I had to reign in all of my self-control to keep from punching something.
“Aikido?” Tristan asked as I stomped into the kitchen with him right behind me.
I glanced around the room—at the natural gas stove I had rarely ever cooked on but now missed so much, the granite-topped island, the décor that was still in the neutral beiges and browns Mom favored. She’d decorated it, after all, since I hadn’t cared much about what my home looked like at the time. And now here stood Tristan, the one piece that had b
een missing in those days. And even so, life remained incomplete. Probably always would be. Our lives would always be fu—
“It will help you relax,” Tristan said when I hadn’t replied.
I shrugged off my leather jacket and draped it over the back of a wooden chair at the kitchen table. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
He followed me out the rear door to the backyard. We walked around the pool reflecting the twilight sky and into the grass under the tall oak trees. And I went on the attack.
Tristan took every punch and kick I threw at him, but didn’t do much in the way of fighting back. I danced around him, and my gaze traveled over to the back fence, where two years ago I’d thought I’d seen him standing there watching me—where I had seen him but didn’t believe it—during my last days at this house. Emotions other than anger tried to break through and take over my heart. So I swung harder at Tristan as I reminded myself of why I hadn’t believed it was him at the time. Why he’d been gone so long. Who had held him captive. Who held our son now. Tristan deflected the punches easily. I threw all my force into a roundhouse kick, and he parried it.
“Fight back,” I growled at him, and knowing what I needed, he did. Everything I did became fiercer than the move before it as the fury swelled again, and I embraced it. I took the beating he gave me, and I delivered it right back to him.
“Stop,” he finally said as he grabbed me around the waist from behind, pinning my arms against my body. I squirmed against his hold.
“No.”
“This is supposed to be relaxing, and you’re not relaxing. If anything, you’re getting more worked up.”
“Good. That’s what I need.”
He held me tighter, his breaths lifting his chest against my shoulder blades. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”
I fell still. “What the hell do you think? I’m pissed at them for taking Dorian, but that’s okay. I need to be. I want to be.”
“It’s more than that. You’ve been harboring anger for weeks.” His cheek pressed against mine, his tangy-sweet scent wafting into my nose and mouth as his breath tickled my lips. “What else, ma lykita? What else is wrong?”
I huffed. “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see. My protector—the guy who’s like a brother to me—betrayed us. We haven’t made any progress in finding Dorian, probably because they have a cloak on him, which means we’ll never be able to locate him, let alone rescue him because we don’t have a mage strong enough to break through. We’ve converted a whole four people in the last week, which is nothing compared to the number of humans the Daemoni have infected in the Atlanta area alone, but it doesn’t matter because even if we converted three times as many, we still wouldn’t compare and we don’t have a place to put them all!” I inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “Blossom and Jax seem to have something going on, but we don’t get a chance to talk about such normal things, and what’s the point anyway when we’re in the midst of what could become World War III, which will be unlike any war this world has seen? And you and I . . . shit, Tristan. The stone hasn’t worked yet in giving us a daughter, but it’s not like we’ve had much chance to let it work.”
“Ah.” His arms released me only for his hands to clamp on my shoulders and turn me around to face him, and then he pulled me in closer. “I understand.”
I studied his face before falling into his stunning eyes, the gold sparkling beautifully at the moment. My brow furrowed. “You understand what?”
“Everything.” The corners of his lips tipped up in a sexy smirk. “But mostly, I understand exactly what you need.” His head dipped down, and his lips pressed against my neck. “You’re sexually frustrated.”
I snorted. “Possibly. Okay, very much probably. But I think it’s the least of my problems.”
“Maybe.” His mouth opened slightly and his tongue swept over the sensitive spot under my ear. “But it’s one problem I can solve right this very minute.”
I steadied my legs as my knees began to quiver. “Right this minute?”
“Well,” he sucked on my ear lobe, and he may as well have sucked in a very different place, as it had the same effect, “over the next many minutes. Maybe hours, but I don’t think you can last that long.”
I chuckled, the sound husky as my body responded to his hands, which had slid down my arms and fell to my waist, his long fingers sliding under the waistband of my leathers. He grasped my hips and pulled me up against him so my breasts pressed against his hard chest and his erection pressed against my belly. He kissed his way along my jaw until his mouth finally reached mine.
“Unfortunately, under the circumstances, I don’t think you can solve this problem,” I said against his lips. He sucked my bottom one into his mouth, scraping his teeth over it before letting go.
“What circumstances?”
I let out a sigh. “My issues? Too many people here? The whole reason I’m frustrated in the first place?”
His tongue swept out, over my lips, into my mouth. I met it with my own, practically losing myself in the kiss. My mind opened wide.
“What people?” Tristan asked, feeling me inside his head.
I realized for the first time there were no mind signatures around. Not in or around the house, anyway. There were some down the block, in the other homes in the neighborhood, but they all belonged to Normans.
Where is everyone?
“You were so mad, you didn’t notice they stayed at the safe house.”
We carried on the conversation even as he continued kissing me senseless. Seriously? Why?
“We have a couple of hours to ourselves. I may have made a special request.”
For the first time in weeks—probably since Rina gave her approval to search for Dorian—my heart skipped with pleasure.
Have I told you lately how much I love you?
“Why don’t you show me?”
In answer, I deepened the kiss while pressing my body tighter against his, eliminating any air between us. I raised my hands to his neck and dug my fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth closer to mine. One of his hands remained on my hip while the other slid down to my butt and lifted. I wrapped my legs around him, and we continued kissing as he carried me inside.
As soon as we reached the bedroom, I dropped my legs and extricated myself from his arms. I missed them already, missed the heat of his body against mine, but we had too many clothes on. Way too many clothes on. Tristan’s shirt came off first, followed by my corset, then our boots and leather pants.
Our hands and mouths were all over each other, kissing and caressing and playing, enjoying such a rare occasion of time alone. We needed this, this time to bond, to feel our hearts beating as one again, to remind our souls we were in this together. We were together in everything. Forever. And together, we would conquer.
For now, we only had to conquer ourselves. Our lust. Our primal need for each other.
As Tristan’s mouth returned to mine and his hands slid over my back, I pressed mine on his chest and gently pushed him, walking him backwards until his legs hit the bed. He sat down and pulled me between his thighs until my breasts were at his mouth level. His hands explored my back and butt and thighs as his tongue lingered over my nipple, licking and twirling and flicking before pulling it into his mouth. One hand moved to my other breast, caressing, massaging, and then grasping as the other hand slid between my legs. His teeth grazed the hard ball of my nipple at the same time he slipped a finger inside me.
I arched my back, sweeping my hands down my sides and to my front, where I found him big and hard. He groaned against my breast when I took him in my hands, and he sucked harder as I stroked him. The feeling of his finger inside, curling and stroking, combined with the pleasure I gave him made the fire in my belly burst.
“I want you,” I panted. “I want all of you. Inside me.”
He pulled back. Grabbed both of my wrists with one hand and tugged them off of him. Raised them over my head.
“N
uh-uh,” he said as he stood, then turned us around. “This night is all about you.”
He gently pushed my arms backwards until my body had to follow, and I lay on the bed, my butt on the edge, my feet barely touching the floor. He kneeled in front of me. I quivered in anticipation. He kissed my lower belly, made lazy circles with his tongue on the sensitive skin where my thigh met my pelvis. His hands slid under my thighs, pushed them up and out. And finally . . . oh, God, finally . . . his tongue dipped down. And he lapped and twirled and sucked while his fingers filled me, pumping and stroking until I screamed his name with utter release as the first orgasm washed over me.
“Now.” I panted. “Please.”
“Not yet.”
He continued to tease and excite and arouse me as my muscles convulsed and another wave took me under. I called out his name, begging for him to fill me, screaming when he didn’t relent. But then finally, slowly, he moved his way up, his mouth exploring every inch of my skin, and my body jerked and arched, waiting for him to finally slide inside. And then we were everywhere with each other. Our bodies moving with each other, against each other, bucking and riding, thrusting and rocking. We played our favorite games, used our powers to tease each other to the edge, hit roll after roll after roll of climax until we were completely shattered.
Then we lay naked in each other’s arms for the first time in ages, our bodies spent but our souls full.
“Still frustrated?” Tristan whispered, his breath hot and tangy-sweet against my cheek.
“You did take care of that problem,” I said with a smile. “For now anyway.”
If only our other problems were so easily solvable.
* * *
My mind expanded, sweeping over the neighborhood, the area, the city, stretching beyond its normal limits, while staying connected with Blossom’s mind. Hundreds of thousands of little energy pricks wavered around us—mind signatures. We’d discovered the cover of night made this easier, when most Normans were sleeping. I could always pick out Dorian’s signature, whether he was sleeping or awake, but it would be much simpler when not surrounded by the energy of so many others. We swept over Atlanta, tried to push out toward the coast. But . . .
