by Mayburn, Ann
Feeling nothing but her panties between herself and his jeans, she looked and saw she wore a cheerleader's uniform. And there were pom-poms on the seat next to her.
“Why am I wearing a cheerleading outfit?”
“Because this is my dream, and I like cheerleaders,” he said with a devilish grin. The thought startled her out of her sleep. She woke up enough to roll over and fall back into a more natural, and dreamless, slumber.
****
Outside her door, Kyle jerked at the stuck doorknob. His friendly smile turned into a snarl, and his eyes squeezed into angry slits. He had put enough aphrodisiac onto the pizza to have her begging for a man between her legs right now. He was only too happy to satisfy her with some dick, but she was on the other side of the door, and there was some blasted protection spell on it. He didn't think pounding on the door and demanding she let him in would be the best idea right now. David wanted him to seduce her with finesse, not take her with force.
Kyle backed up and glanced into the small lounge area. Chrissy and Ryan were kissing as if they were trying to eat each other's face. Ryan had no idea what was going on and Kyle wanted to punch the idiot’s face in as his frustration built into a burning rage. He was just another brainless jock tool Kyle had used to get closer to Eliana. When he’d heard Ryan talking about Chrissy, he knew he had a way into their room, and he talked Ryan into the pizza idea. It should have been easy, but no, by some fucking stroke of bad luck Eliana’s roommate happened to be a witch strong enough to ward her bedroom door against evil.
Seething, Kyle stormed back to his dorm room. Locking the door behind him, he turned on his computer and began going through his layers of security to access his secret files. The first file he opened was one named Eliana. Kyle clicked through dozens of pictures of Eliana, all taken from his cell phone as he stalked her. The need to hurt, to maim, to kill filled him and he took a deep breath, struggling for control. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t give into his instincts. He had to blend in, be the all-American college boy that no one would suspect the kind of monster he was beneath the skin.
With a fond smile, Kyle opened a file named Butterfly. Inside were pictures of a young blond woman in a T-shirt with a sparkly butterfly on it. As he browsed through the file, Kyle began to fondle himself through his pants. Image after image of the woman flashed by, each detailing a different torture, a different expression of pain or disgust on her face, at least while her face was still recognizable. By the end she was little more than breathing meat and he shuddered with pleasure as the memories of her long, exquisite torture filled him.
He didn't know who most of the women his goddess, Eris, asked him to punish and kill were. A letter would arrive for him and inside would be a picture of the girl and specific instructions where she would be at a certain time and date. Kyle would be there, waiting for her with his backpack full of knives, bleach, lighters, and other fun toys. Then he would play with them, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days and his goddess would reward him with fresh victims for his good behavior.
Soon it would be Eliana's turn, and he couldn't wait. Opening the human anatomy book next to his computer, he went back to planning on how to keep her alive for the longest time possible and in the most pain.
Chapter
Checking the address on the directions one more time, Eliana slowed her car down and counted the house numbers. With no sidewalks, the wide street was flanked by mature trees that butted against high brick walls. Intricate wrought iron gates, often with the owner's initials on them, guarded vast winding drives. The glimpses through the gates showed huge houses and stately grounds.
Pulling into the driveway that led to Aiden's house, she drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Rolling down the window of her old car, she leaned out and pressed the green button on the keypad with a speaker in front of the massive black iron gates.
“Um, Eliana here to see Professor Klemenson.”
A few moments passed, and then there was a small buzz as the gates swung open before her. Aiden's gate had a series of steel runes in the center that gleamed in the sunlight. She drove up the winding black driveway, past manicured old trees and golf-course-green grass. The house itself looked like an English country mansion. Leaded glass windows sparkled in the sun, and ivy curved artfully over the white walls and exposed wood beams.
She parked her car next to a giant clay planter that held a riot of flowers. More of these pots flanked the massive wooden front doors. She should have dressed up more for this visit, like in a ball gown or something similar.
As she approached the wide, dark wood doors, she smoothed her sweaty palms on her jeans. Standing there, she was gathering the courage to knock when the doors opened and Aiden stood there, smiling at her. As always, his mere presence undid her. Images of her erotic dream flashed through her head, and her hormones did a happy dance at the idea of spending the rest of the day alone with him.
****
Aiden opened the doors and studied Eliana, drinking in the sight of her as if they had been separated for weeks rather than hours.
She wore a tight pink shirt that showed off the full swell of her breasts, and her hair hung in a braid down her back. The shirt highlighted how small her waist was, and a tiny portion of her smooth, tan lower belly showed. He wanted to lick that little strip of skin. Her jeans hugged her hips, and she had a gloss on her lips that made it look as though she had just licked them.
His thoughts flashed to the hot dream he had of her last night. He had to get it out of his head before he had to hide an embarrassing bulge in his pants from her. All morning he’d been lecturing himself on behaving professionally, of reminding himself that Athena wouldn’t want anyone who wasn’t a virgin, but all his good intentions vanished the moment he looked into her melted silver eyes.
She gave him a sassy grin and put a hand on her cocked hip. “What, no butler?”
He laughed and held the door open for her. “No, I don't have a butler. I do have a housekeeper, a gardener, and a cook. But that's only because I'm too lazy to wash all these windows, I tend to kill rose bushes, and I can’t cook anything more advanced than spaghetti.”
She laughed again, then glanced around with wide eyes, and he felt strangely proud to show her his house. He found he wanted her to know him better, to be comfortable around him, and to share himself with her. Basically, he wanted to impress the girl he was falling in love with. He cursed himself for his foolishness and tried to sternly remind himself that she was off limits.
“So, how long have you been a drug dealer?” she asked.
“What?”
She grinned at his expression and made her way over to an oil painting on the wall of the Eiffel Tower at night. “Well, I'm pretty sure most professors can't afford mansions on a teaching salary. And if they can, then I need to start looking into getting a teaching doctorate.”
He sighed and led her over to the small, dark wood table with a marble top across from the stairs. A large gilt mirror framed them as she looked at the pictures on the table and he took a moment to study their reflection. He was taller than she was, but she seemed framed by his figure rather than dwarfed by his body he stopped behind her. She studied the pictures on the table before them, so he didn’t think he noticed his careful examination of her reflection until she looked up. Her exotic silver eyes met his in the mirror, and he stepped closer, close enough so the line of her back was touching his front. Without a doubt he was playing with fire, but he couldn’t be near her without wanting to touch her. He sucked in a deep breath, loving the sweet notes of her psychic scent. With a start, he noticed her nipples harden beneath her shirt as she watched him. He dropped his eyes and stood next to her, distracting them both by holding a small picture.
“This is my mother and father on their wedding day.” The picture was of a beautiful blond woman with flowers in her hair. A tall, dark-haired man, who was dipping her back for a kiss with a roguish smile, held her in his arms. His parents looke
d impossibly young and he wondered what they would think of Eliana.
Putting the picture back, he gestured to the house around them. “All of this belongs to my family. We own several houses around the United States and ancestral homes in Norway and Ireland.”
“Must be nice to have your pick of mansions,” she murmured as she wandered over to the sitting room off the massive foyer.
He followed her in and sat on one of the delicate cream silk couches. She ran her hand over the elaborate carvings on the fireplace. “It is, but I also have a job by living here.”
Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she gave him an impudent smile that he wanted to kiss off her lips. “What, do you have to make sure the floors are vacuumed, and the pool is clean?”
“No, this house is also a Sanctuary.”
“You called it a Sanctuary. What do you mean by that?”
She selected a seat on a blue brocade chair across from him as he continued. “A Sanctuary is a place where Creation Chosen can go to find safety and a place to rest and heal if the need to. In modern times, it's mostly used to house visiting Chosen or Chosen who have been recently moved to the area. In the old days, it would be a place where the Chosen could go to find refuge if they were being hunted.”
“So it’s like a safe house?”
“Yes, and my mother helped design it. She takes her role as Chosen of a battle goddess seriously and has basically turned it into an elegant fortress. Much like my Hummer, she outfitted my mansion with the latest in home protection.”
He watched her fingers stroke the brocade of the chair and wished it were his chest. Standing, he offered her his hand and pulled her from the chair. She was such a little thing to hold so much power over his life.
Giving himself a mental shake, he led her over to the marble mantel she had been admiring. With a thumb and pointer finger, he pressed scrollwork in the marble in two different places. The front of the mantel seamlessly rolled down, and a velvet rack with guns, ammunition, and two swords rolled out.
She gasped. “Holy shit. How very James Bond of you, Aiden.”
He put a arm around her waist as he turned her to face the windows looking out onto the drive. “The windows are bulletproof. The outside of the house has six-inch slabs of stainless steel over concrete. There are motion detectors, heat detectors, chemical detectors, safe rooms, weapons, secret rooms, secret passages, and escape tunnels. Before you leave I’ll give you the code for the front gate and the security system. If you ever need somewhere safe to go and I’m not with you, come here.”
Turning her again, he brought her over to the threshold of the two rooms. On the floor, inlaid into the wood, were symbols and runes in white marble chased in gold. “That's not even getting into the protection spells on this place. It would take an army of Destros years to break in here.”
“This brings us back to you, my Student.” He still held his arm around her waist. It would be so easy to pull her close and lose himself in her lush curves, and by the desire streaking through her aura he was more than aware that she wanted him. His dick hardened and he swallowed hard, fighting with all of his might to not sweep her up in his arms and take her upstairs with him. He couldn’t make love to her, couldn’t take her virginity. If she became Rejected because he failed to control his arousal he’d never forgive himself. “I'll give you the grand tour later. For now we need to do something about your shielding.”
With regret, he released his hold on her and led them through a series of elegantly furnished rooms and into a large, mostly empty room. The floor of this room was a pale blond wood, and along the right wall, mirrors were spaced between racks of training weapons. Warm summer sun poured in through the windows, giving the space a golden glow.
“This is my training room,”
Sauntering over to the dull-edged practice swords, she hefted one and did a couple clumsy chops through the air. “Please tell me we're not going to beat on each other with these things.”
“No. Today we're working on what's up here,” he said and pointed to his forehead.
She placed the sword back into its sheath, and strode back to him. He removed two big pillows from a cupboard in the wall and set them across from each other on the floor. Sitting on one of the pillows, he pointed to the other. “Please, have a seat.”
She slipped off her shoes and socks and placed them beside the wall. He found her peach-painted toenails incredibly cute. Folding her legs beneath her, she adjusted herself on the pillow. “So, are we going to practice Jedi mind tricks?”
He shook his head with a smile. “Close, but not quite. We're going to work on you keeping your energy to yourself.”
She laughed and said in a mock-offended voice, “Well, excuse me, I didn't realize my energy was oozing all over the place. How rude of me.”
He couldn’t help but grin. Damn she was fun. And smart. And beautiful. He was so screwed. “Enough sass out of you, young lady. I need you to close your eyes and concentrate on my voice.”
“You're getting sleepy.”
“Focus, Eliana. Feel your breath going in and out of your body. Feel the sunlight on your skin, the pillow beneath your body. Feel the currents in the air and the beat of your heart.”
He watched her as she relaxed. This was the first time he had been near her long enough to study her without distraction. With her eyes closed, he could look his fill, and he traced the contours of her body with his eyes. Relaxed, her full lips were even more sensual, soft and inviting to kiss. Her face was heart shaped, and a small curl had escaped from her braid and lay against her smooth cheek.
“Now,” he said in a soft voice, “I want you to hold out both of your palms in front of you. Feel the difference in the air here, how the blood flows through your body differently. Picture a light blue mist surrounding your body, flowing from your center and coating your skin. This is your aura, but for the sake of this exercise, we will call it your energy.”
“I feel stupid. What if I can't find my energy? What if I can’t see it, ever? What if—”
It surprised him how much her lack of confidence in herself upset him. Didn’t she know how amazing she was? “What if you give yourself a chance? What if you didn’t instantly doubt yourself? What if you believed you are the amazing woman I know you are? Have faith in yourself.”
Eliana's lips pressed into a thin line. He gently sent his energy around her. “You can smell my psychic scent, right? Well, if you can smell that, and it's a real and tangible thing, then you can do other aura-related magic as well. If you're shielded well enough, you won't be as vulnerable to demons, like the Barghest in the forest.”
Slowly, her breath returned to a calm state. He admired her aura while she relaxed. Soft blue, it was the color of a sky on a perfect autumn afternoon. His forest green aura followed his attention and reached out toward hers. He had to jerk it back into place and get himself under control.
“Now, imagine a soft sky-blue energy rolling down your skin, covering your body. It's a part of you, an extension of your body, as natural as breathing.”
Watching her carefully, he drew in a deep breath of her psychic scent. It was becoming more concentrated. It filled his lungs and seemed to settle in his cock, making him hard and needy. Well, needier. Having an erection seemed to be a permanent state for him around her. He waited a few more minutes, letting her feel the flow moving through her.
“Good, it should feel like a soft tingle over your skin. Now imagine the energy, those tingles, gathering in your hands. All of that energy is flowing to your palms, gathering and circling there. I want you to push the energy out and tell me when you feel me touching your hands.”
He held out his own palms and extended his energy. This was the most basic building block of shielding, the awareness of personal energy and how to manipulate it. It was an unusual sensation at first, but with practice, it became second nature for the Chosen. Once a person became aware of the energy, they could even see auras with practice.
With a gentle push, he brushed against her aura, a soft stroke that made her gasp. He bit back his own groan. His energy was an extension of his body, and he felt what it felt. And right now it felt all of her delicious softness. It took all of his willpower not to reach out and grip her full hips and pull her into a deep kiss. Those lips of hers would probably feel like heaven wrapped around his cock.
“I feel you,” she said, her eyes still tightly closed.
Gritting his teeth, he struggled against his desire, his need for her. “Good, now I want you to try to draw the energy into yourself. Pull it back and imagine it becoming a hard, tight shield around your hands. It's sinking into your skin and becoming solid, impenetrable. Nothing can crack it.” He held his hands up again and extended his energy. This time he made it to her hands before he ran into her shield.
Her breathing slowed and became more even.
“Are you back with your energy, Eliana?” She nodded, and he continued, “Good, now we're going to do a power play. I'm going to push my hands against yours, and I want you to push me back. Ready?”
She nodded, and he gathered his energy, beginning to push against her shield. It felt oddly like cool glass, and his power slid around her like a rock in a stream. With a careful flexing of his energy, he pushed against her again. Nothing, he couldn't budge her. He tried a third time, with more power, but he slid around her aura. Not wanting to hurt her, he decided to stop trying for now and move onto other things, but he was surprised at how easily she repelled him. It had taken Aiden months of training to achieve the strength that seemed to come so naturally to her.
