Craving-First Thirst

by Claudy Conn

  He sank into his chair and stared at me. “I honestly don’t know what to say. I have never encountered a demon of any kind here at MacLeod before.”

  “Well, you should have informed me when we had our little talk yesterday about my situation here. You should have told me the truth and the truth is the only thing I will deal with here, or I am gone.”

  “Truth? Devin wanted me to tell you everything immediately and give you the opportunity to return to the safety of your life back in New York.”

  “Okay, I get it. He is your friend…your brother-in-law, and you didn’t want to blow a chance at freeing him. Fine. But from here on out, no secrets, agreed?”

  “Agreed, Bobbie,” he said sincerely. He then lifted his hand and chanted a few words in a language I didn’t recognize, but which immediately translated itself through my Shama.

  He stood and put his long fingers out for mine. I gave him my hand and stood with him as a world began to appear before my vision.

  I realized my mouth was open, and sucked in my bottom lip. I was astounded as I stared into another world, one of lush vegetation and colorful birds.

  In the distance, far away from the jungle before me, was a building…no, not a building, but a ruins of some sort.

  Devin, however, was nowhere to be seen.

  Finally, one word escaped me, “Whoa.”

  It was at that point that I heard Devin’s voice and that of another’s—a female giggling and then calling out, “Devin…darling…?”

  Devin came into view, but she ran ahead of him and gave us her back as she put her arms around his neck.

  He removed her arms and said, “Loli…ye need to return to the village, now.”

  I stood transfixed as I saw Devin MacLeod for the first time. Well, not for the first time, as I immediately recognized him from the portrait in the Great Hall.

  Here, however, he stood, his broad chest bare except for the Celtic runes tattooed near his shoulders and over his massive biceps.

  Holy frigging shit! Damn, but he was hot. He was handsome…ruggedly handsome, with twinkling blue eyes and a killer smile.

  The girl he called Loli whined as he set her aside and complained, “I will go back if you come back with me.” She turned to stare in the direction he was looking and asked, “What do you see on the other side, Devin?”

  Loli was lovely, with caramel silky skin, elf-like pointed ears, almond shaped dark eyes, and long black hair. She wore a white tank top much like mine, and cut off jean shorts that barely covered her very fine ass.

  Devin took her shoulders. “Go back, Loli, ye don’t belong here, and yer father will be worried.”

  “He never worries when I’m with you,” she said, and pouted. “Don’t you like me, Devin? Don’t you want to be with…?”

  “Ye be a lovely lass, but nae, I cannae be with ye, child. Ye are far too young for the likes of me. Ye have yer whole life ahead of ye and it is Topser ye should be following about. He wants yer company.”

  “I am not a child. Women my age already have children,” she said, and put her hands on her hips.

  “Er…Devin!” Jeremy interrupted.

  “A moment, Jeremy,” Devin said, not looking our way. “Off with ye, Loli. Go home now!”

  She stomped her foot but did, in fact, turn and rush off.

  I didn’t blame her for wanting a piece of the gorgeous hunk standing in front of us. Holy good gosh, he rocked my insides.

  He wore cut-off jeans that nearly reached his knees, and some kind of sandals that looked handmade. That’s it. Nothing else, and he was a hunk of hot big male that caught my interest and made all my lady parts tingle.

  “Well, then,” Jeremy broke the silence. “When you are ready for introductions of the viewing kind, Devin of MacLeod…meet Miss Bobbie Skye, who can now see as well as hear you.”

  He eyed us and said, “Well, now, we are on even ground.” He waved a hand over himself. “I apologize for m’appearance, but I was helping Loli’s father and brothers with their barn and haven’t had a chance to go home to shower and change.”

  A missy giggle escaped my lips and made me want to slap the side of my head. He made me feel like a school girl crushing. I felt a blush burn my cheeks. Damn, hot damn, but he looked like the best Tarzan I had ever seen, and the thought of being his Jane had me licking my lips.

  Hey, but I know better than most that looks don’t mean squat.

  Somehow I managed to squelch my way too much interest in his looks and say, “Hi, Devin.”

  He smiled and said, “This must be quite startling for ye to take in all at once.”

  “Well, after the demon I met this morning, not too startling,” I answered.

  He marched up to the transparent wall between us and said, “Demon, lass? What are ye saying?”

  “She was accosted by a demon…this morning on MacLeod grounds. A Red Demon,” Jeremy said.

  “Bloody hell…Jeremy…what has a demon to do with us? Why would a demon appear here?”

  “Look, if it wasn’t Allora, and I don’t think it was, I can only guess that the vampires at Brently Manor know she is a witch. It is possible they are playing dark games…made a deal with the demon who came here…to bring her to them in exchange for something.”

  “Why would they want me if they aren’t presently working for Allora?” I asked.

  “Yer blood. Yer ‘almost’ encounter with the vampire yesterday allowed him to get yer scent. Witch’s blood is like Ambrosia. Very rare, very desirable,” Devin said.

  I didn’t answer as I digested this.

  “So, what is the plan?” Jeremy asked suddenly.

  “You don’t have one?” I threw up my arms. “Of course, why would you have something as basic as a plan? We had a vampire in the bush, and now a demon in the grass, but no plan. Great, just great.”

  Jeremy laughed and under Devin’s sharp eye, found himself coughing away the laugh.

  I eyed them both, hands on my hips.

  “Och aye, basic is it? Well, as a matter of fact, I have a plan,” Devin said. “First, ye cannae stay here at night.”

  “Demons come at all hours,” I answered. “So we need a better plan.”

  “Going to stay with her here at MacLeod,” Jeremy stuck in. “I have already decided that is the only way to keep her safe. I’ll have all my calls and as many of my appointments as possible routed here, and that way…”

  Devin’s eyes narrowed. “That will look odd.”

  “Doesn’t matter what it looks like. It is the answer. She needs to be here and she needs protection.”

  “Uhm, let me remind you that she is standing right here and she managed quite well on her own handling said demon. She sent him back from whence he came,” I told the macho men looking consideringly at me.

  “Could have been a fluke,” Jeremy said.

  “Hey! It wasn’t,” I snapped.

  “How did ye do it, lass?” Devin asked gently. “How did ye send him back from whence he came…and where did he come from?”

  “His portal was rudimentary. Not the kind that can take one long distances. I saw that at once from the manner in which it was behaving. Look, I am an immortal witch. I use the elements, and in this case, since he was a demon of fire…easily recognizable by the fact that his skin was scorched and leathery…soooo, I called on the water in the earth and used it. Fire demons don’t like water. It melts them. Anyway…sent him back into the portal and I locked it after him. He won’t be able to use it to return here again. He’ll have to conjure up another and demon magic isn’t exceptional with regards to portals. So he won’t be back for a bit, and next time, I shall simply have to kill him and be done,” I answered, and added, “as a rule…I don’t like killing things, but now and then, I guess I’ll have to make an exception.”

  I couldn’t help but notice the silence that followed my little diatribe. Both men looked at me as though seeing me for the first time.

  I snapped my fingers, and gave them the ey
e. “What?”

  Jeremy said, “You are more capable than I had thought.”

  “Which brings me to you,” I told him. “I need you to train me. My Shama says I need training.”

  “Your what? What is your Shama?” Jeremy asked.

  “It is the magic I can feel under the surface that my Aunt Elle wasn’t able to totally…access,” I told him. “You, being an immortal warlock, can access it and teach me the best way to use and handle it.”

  “Well, let’s hope I can,” Jeremy said. “I am going to go and collect my things and arrange matters with my office and get back here as soon as I may.”

  “No, wait…I have some knowledge of Druid wards. My mother taught me two wards when I was ten…when she thought we needed to protect our home. They are, she said, unbreakable. We need to ward the castle and the grounds if we want to walk freely,” I said.

  “Ye know, lass…ye can return home, be free of all this ugliness. ‘Tis nae yer problem,” Devin said.

  “No, I’m staying,” I answered.

  Devin’s voice, when he finally spoke again, was laced with irritation. “Do as I ask, Bobbie Skye. Ye must. I can have Jeremy here terminate yer employment and thus, save yer life.”

  “No, even if he does that, I won’t leave. I am going to help you. Look here, this Allora bitch hasn’t been here since she incarcerated you twenty-two years ago. According to Jeremy, you guys don’t even think the vampire yesterday was spying for her. So, if she hasn’t even checked up on MacLeod, then we have some time before she does. Right? Right. She wanted you to watch your home fall apart and into ruins. She didn’t know about your warlock brother-in-law here. So, she doesn’t know about me. For the time being, there are things we can do to protect ourselves and then begin the process of freeing you.”

  Jeremy looked at Devin and they both sighed before Devin said quietly, “There is one thing ye haven’t taken into account. Surprise is something Allora does. When she cooms, we won’t be expecting it.”

  “I will always expect it, so she won’t take me by surprise,” I answered. “Just give me a couple of days with the warlock, Jeremy, here. Let’s see if he can help me unlock some of my powers and then…we’ll see,” I told them both. “Besides, I do have some magical skills already and a brown belt in karate.”

  Devin frazzled his thick black hair. “She is a stubborn lass.”

  “She is also a MacForly,” Jeremy said thoughtfully.

  I smiled. “There ya go. So, now, My Lord, you can go off and play with your pretty friend while Jeremy collects his things, returns, and we start the process of warding and training. Big schedule for today.”

  “Play with m’friend…are ye talking about Loli?” He chuckled. “Is that what ye think I was doing? Nae, lass. I was helping her family and she has a habit of following me about, but why I should be explaining that to ye, I dinnae know. At any rate, I’ll get back to what I was doing and look in on ye later.”

  He turned and marched off in something of a huff and I wondered at it.

  What had I said? And why did the notion of him and the lovely Loli being an item disturb me so very much?

  ~ Nine ~

  A NEW DAY LOOMED and it has been said by many people in the ‘know’ that if you can ‘make it’ in New York, you can ‘make it’ anywhere.

  I think that is very true for mortals and immortals alike.

  I learned a lot living in New York about human nature. I learned how to deal when given a lousy hand. I learned about immortals and all kinds of creatures that lurk about in and out of the city. By all that is witchy, I certainly have encountered any number of supernaturals willing to hurt or help, depending on their life experiences. I know the signs to look for.

  The mission I have probably stupidly taken on, might, just might get me killed. I will have to look sharp and watch my back. However, I had no intention of giving up and going home. My grandmother raised my mom and my mom was the best of the best. Both of them would want me to free Devin MacLeod from a spell only our bloodline could undo. Besides that, I wanted to free him for reasons I couldn’t quite name.

  A question came to mind. Was it a binding spell keeping him in his realm? Binding spells come in many forms. Earthly witches generally use their wand, or at the very least a familiar. I don’t use either…only my Shama, and my Shama wasn’t telling me anything until I had some training from another immortal witch.

  Here is the trick. There are so many different types of binding spells and I would need the exact one my grandmother used in order to undo it.

  I know a couple of earthly spells taught to me by Aunt Elle. They aren’t very strong and certainly would not hold up for years, let alone over twenty years, like the one holding Devin on the other side.

  Right. So somewhere in my Shama was the answer and it was up to Jeremy to teach me enough to go back into my brain and find the answers I need. Ah, thinking of the devil, the library door opened and Jeremy stood, grinning and rubbing his hands together.

  “Good morning, Bobbie. I trust you slept well?”

  “Like a baby. With you down the hall, and his lordship on watch, I had no worries,” I answered, wondering where Devin was and if he was with Loli.

  It didn’t take long for Jeremy and me to start our first session together, and as we worked on spells I had never even known existed, the morning flew by.

  Then he decided we needed to do defensive training. He didn’t warn me.

  He threw a ball of fire at me. I deflected it and smiled too soon as a snake wrapped itself around my ankles. I screamed and destroyed the illusion and put my hands on my hips and made a face at him.

  He laughed. “Good, you are a very quick learner. Now, tell me, why do you call your magic your Shama?”

  I frowned as I gave it some thought. “Hmm. Not sure, but I have since I was a toddler, and it stuck.”

  “So, then, it was before you lost your mother?” he asked.

  I closed my eyes. “Yes, as I said, when I was a toddler…maybe three years old. Mom encouraged me to store my magic in a safe place in my head where I could get to it when I needed, but never in front of glans— you know—humans.”

  “Did your mother come up with the title Shama?” he asked, and he seemed intense.

  “Yes. She said it was part of our heritage and that she would teach me all about it before I turned sixteen. She said we had lots of time and she just wanted me to enjoy my childhood and not think about it. By the time I was ten, I had a knack of storing everything magical I could do, and things I couldn’t quite understand how to do, in the deepest part of my brain…my Shama is loaded with locked doors that I go to when I need an answer, but it won’t open the door with the answer to the spell we are looking for.”

  He didn’t speak at first. He put a hand to his forehead and said, “Bobbie, I need to research this. I’ll be back later.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have family journals at home. They go back…let’s say, centuries. Something about the word Shama rings a bell.” He turned and started out of the room. “I won’t be long.”

  “Wait!” I called after him. He turned and arched a brow at me. “What do you want me to do today?” I asked, suddenly at a loss. I did feel safer with him there.

  He smiled. “I left you a manuscript. Acquaint yourself with it. If Davis or Mrs. Tunny asks what tasks I’ve set you at, you tell them I want you to compile a manuscript on the history of the MacLeod family. That his lordship requires it. That will give you cover for a bit longer, as they will eventually realize you really aren’t here to manage the estates.”

  A moment later he marched out and I turned to find the hunk of all hunks staring at me through the transparent wall that separated us.

  Hot damn but he sent erotic shivers through me. Something about the way his gaze traveled over me, lingered over my breasts while my nipples got sensitive and hard, made me think of being pressed up…oh no, no, no. Not ever. He was a bloodsucker. A vampire. Not doin
g a vampire.

  “Bobbie,” he said my name like it was the only name he ever wanted to say. His voice was low and damned sexy.

  I stared at him because for that moment I was lost in the fantasy of sex, hardcore sex, not love, not emotions, not relationship, no, just sex…with him. He was a vampire and he would have stamina to match my own…

  Bobbie—what are you doing?

  I am not big on the idea of one-nighters. My friends laugh at me, but I always wanted more than that. This hottie changed that with the blink of an eye, and I was thinking a one-nighter was just fine with me.

  I moved closer to the shield. Was I panting? I should be ashamed…no…that couldn’t be me breathing so hard I sounded like a bitch in heat. Noooo.

  He said again, “Bobbie.” Nothing else. Just my name and my knees turned into gobbety-goo and melted. I put my hand on the back of a nearby chair and steadied myself.

  “Er…yes?” I finally managed.

  “Can ye enact a shield around yerself, lass?”

  What? What had he asked? Oh…a shield…around myself? Where had that come from?

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because it would serve to protect ye if ye were surprised by Allora…”

  “Oh! Good thinking.” It was a great idea. I had something, but I wasn’t sure it worked against vampires. “Yes, well, sorta. Not sure it would keep an ancient vampire at bay very long. It is a spell…something my mom taught me when I was eight. I ran out into the street to get the ball my dad had thrown. You see, I missed catching it and ran without thinking. A car stopped inches away from me. Mom was hysterical, crazy hysterical, and stood me in front of her and chanted something. I laughed at her and reminded her I was immortal like her, but she said that, even so, if the car had taken off my head…or set me on fire…I would die. She said she enacted a shield spell. I asked her to teach it to me so I could protect my dolly, and she did. I haven’t a clue if it would work against vampires. It works against humans and…I guess vehicles…?”

  “Do it, Bobbie,” he cut me off impatiently. “At the very least it would be a deterrent and give ye a head start…”