Sin and Magik

by Sin

  “You say this, yet you still can’t find it in your heart to love me,” Maxim whispered more into my hair than to me.

  I spun around and pushed my finger into his chest. “Don’t you dare stand there and tell me that I don’t love you. My stomach’s in a knot because of what I’ve done here.”

  He looked towards the bed and back at me. “Rayme, it’s not as bad as it seems. I swear to you that you’re not the only woman in the world to sleep with two men at one time.”

  Pushing him hard, he backed up. I was surprised by my own strength. Only days earlier, touching him had been like touching a brick wall, now I could move him with one hand. I was betting the fact that they’d saved my life and given me pieces of their power had something to do with that.

  “You wait one minute here. I’m not upset about last night. What we did was beautiful, and I’m not ashamed of it. I’m talking about being in knots over loving both of you.” I turned away from him because I didn’t want to cry and if I looked into his brown eyes, I would. “How can I love two men?”

  Maxim snatched me up and turned me to him. His mouth came down on mine. He laughed and smiled more than he kissed me, but I got the point. He was happy and excited and I found that I was too. I tapped his shoulders. “Down, put me down. I need a shower.”

  He put his face down near my neck. “You smell good to me.”

  I pushed on his face. “I think you need to see a vet, your sniffer is out of whack. Maybe, I could morph you a new one.”

  Maxim laughed so hard that he nearly dropped me. He set me down and I took off for the bathroom, leaving him still standing there, laughing.

  Chapter Twenty

  Looking at the pile of bedding on the floor, I sighed. I hated doing laundry, but after the night we’d had, I needed to do some. I looked back in the mirror and finished running a brush through my wet hair.

  Today wasn’t going to be fun. Maxim and I had to go to the funeral home and finalize the last of the arrangements. He’d called Angie when I was in the shower and asked her to meet us there. When I’d asked him how he knew Angie’s number, he smiled and told me that Derrick was one of his people too. I was beginning to wonder who wasn’t one of Maxim’s people. I was sure that Angie didn’t know that Derrick was a shape shifter, and I wasn’t planning on telling her. He was good to her and treated her like a princess, and that made him okay in my book.

  Putting my brush down, I stood up slowly to survey my appearance. I hadn’t brought any dress clothes with me, and knew that neither Fawn, nor Vinnie would mind me showing up in jeans to make their arrangements, so I went with it. I put my dark gray sweater and newsboy cap on. I caught sight of Henry as he dashed past the doorway in search of another great kill. He was getting used to Maxim. He’d only tried to claw him twice since we’d been up. Henry, apparently, wasn’t too fond of wolves.

  I fished around for my gloves and went out to find Maxim. He decided after breakfast that he wanted to bring some more wood in before we left. He wasn’t sure what time we’d be getting back and didn’t want to be leaving me after dark to do it. I tried to point out that he’d end up all sweaty, and since he’d just gotten out of the shower that seemed silly. He gave me a sideways glance before reminding me that he could probably lift his truck off the ground and not break a sweat. He had a point so I let him go.

  I walked out the backdoor and was hit by a face full of cold air. I was sure that the weatherman was wrong. Snow was coming sooner than he thought. I looked out towards the shed and saw the wheelbarrow sitting out there. Backing towards it, I called Maxim’s name. He didn’t answer me.

  I got to the back of the shed and found that the wheelbarrow was half-full of wood, and that there were pieces dropped on the ground next to it, but there was no sign of Maxim. I looked around the woods and the edge of the property for him, but found nothing. Running back to the cabin, I double-checked that the Range Rover was still there, it was. Fear ripped through me as I called his name out again, and got no response.

  I searched the house for him and panicked when I couldn’t find him. Something felt off. I was sure that I was being watched, but I didn’t know from where. I thought about Jovan and how Dag and his Lycan-flunky buddies had attacked him without thought. I ran to the front closet, and found the old wooden bat that Bill had brought here years ago, still tucked back into the same corner I remembered it in.

  Something moved on the front porch and I stepped back against the wall. I pulled the bat up and thought about what I was about to do. The door opened and I turned and swung out hard. I caught sight of Maxim’s wavy brown hair in mid-swing. He grabbed the bat with one hand and pulled me to him.

  “What in the hell are you doing?”

  I let go of the bat and flung my arms around him. I kissed at his jaw, his neck, whatever I could reach. He pulled back from me and smiled. “Rayme, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing, it’s silly. I just couldn’t find you, and when I went looking for you something felt off. I felt like someone was watching me. I just … I just thought about what they’d done to Jovan and I was afraid that they had you. I was going to,” I laughed as I said it, “try and save you for once.”

  Maxim stiffened and took a deep breath in. He smiled and brought his lips down to kiss me. He didn’t though. Instead, he moved his mouth next to my ear. “Keep laughing, and follow me to the truck. Dag’s men are shadowing us. We aren’t safe here.”

  He pulled back from me and I had to make an effort to smile. I leaned up and hugged him one more time, more out of a need to make sure he was safe than anything else. He took my hand in his and we headed down the porch to his truck. He spun me around and had me walking backwards towards the truck while his body pressed against mine. I caught movement from behind the cabin and knew then that he wanted his body between them and me. He put his hands down into my pockets. To an outsider it looked like something a couple that was in love did, but when I felt him pushing his car keys into my pocket I knew that he wasn’t planning on leaving with me.

  An array of emotions hit me and I knew that I couldn’t leave things like this between us. “I love you.”

  His face relaxed and he kissed me gently as he opened the car door and lifted me into it. Our eyes met and I knew that this was serious. “Go, Rayme, drive away and don’t look back. Find Angie. Terrance and Vince are with her, they’ll keep you safe. Jovan will help you if you need him. Now, go!”

  I touched his cheeks and felt my nostrils flaring. My eyes did what they’d come to do best--held back tears. “Max, no, please come with me, I can’t do this without you.”

  He averted his gaze. I saw it too then, the shadow moving up closer to us. “You’ll be fine, now go.”

  I shook my head in protest. There was no way that I was leaving him. “I won’t do this without you.”

  There was a growl and Max spun around fast. He deflected something large and black away from him, but it was followed close behind by another blur. Maxim was knocked to the ground, but he rolled and came up on his feet. I went to climb out of his truck, but stopped when I saw the two half-wolf creatures standing before me. They turned to me and leapt at the car. I pulled the door closed and watched as one of them slammed into the side of it. Maxim was on his feet and storming towards me. Three more Lycans appeared behind him. I honked the horn and pointed, he spun around.

  Something slammed into the side of the truck again and it rocked back and forth. I fished the keys out of my pocket and fumbled with them, trying to find the right one to start the ignition. The truck rocked back and forth again and I fought back a scream. I found the right key and started it.

  Maxim was now surrounded by half-wolves.

  I put the truck in drive and slammed on the accelerator. A light off-white wolf turned towards me, but I didn’t slow down. I hit him full force and kept going as he body flipped over the truck. I slammed on the brakes as I hit the cluster of them. I didn’t want to run Max over as well. I did manage to take out a few o
f them, but there were still some on Maxim. I backed the truck up and put it in park. I wasn’t about to leave him here. No matter what he wanted me to do.

  Something smashed through the back window. I had just enough time to turn around before I was being ripped from the driver’s seat. Someone slammed my body down into the backseat. I looked up to see Dag’s narrow face above me. He smiled wide, and I thought of a weasel again. The driver’s door opened. “This is fun,” Morton said, as he climbed in. “You didn’t tell me that I’d get to kill a King today, too.”

  Dag pressed his face to my chest and buried it in me. He pulled back and laughed. “Looks like you’ll get to fuck a Queen too. Didn’t I tell you that if you followed me instead of Darius’ son, Maxim, you’d have more fun?”

  Morton laughed. “That ya’ did, that ya’ did.”

  Dag tried to touch my face and I pushed his arm away. He looked shocked and then excited. His tongue came out. It was long, longer than any human tongue I’d ever seen. His teeth showed and I knew that he had let his wolf come through. I’d played the victim enough with him, it was time he learned some respect. I thought of Jovan, and how I’d been able to pull from his Omnimorpheleon and strike Maxim in the heat of passion. I needed that power now, but I didn’t intend on marking Dag. I intended to kill him.

  “Jovan Shepard!” I screamed out, hoping that what he said was true. If I called he would hear me.

  Dag laughed. “Your Omnimorpheleon’s dead. I put enough stakes in him to kill three vamps. I image that the maggots are feasting on his body as we speak. I knew I should have left you a note. I really wanted you to see my handiwork…. Hunh, the sun’s probably burnt him to a crisp by now. Maybe, I’ll take you over to see his remains before you die.”

  I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that Jovan wasn’t dead, and then I stopped. I didn’t want to tip my hand to him. He could think Jovan was dead. The air around us suddenly grew cool and I knew that Jovan was with me.

  I cannot get to you right now, Rayme. The sun is still up, and you are too far from me for me to shift and still find you. Let go and I will aide you, I promise. I heard Jovan’s voice in my head as clearly as if he was standing next to me.

  Dag tried to kiss me and I clawed at his face. He lurched back from me and grabbed his bleeding cheek. I scrambled to sit up. He reached out and struck my face, yelling at me in the process. “You bitch!”

  I could fell my body changing, making me suddenly more aware of my surroundings. I could hear both Dag’s and Morton’s hearts beating. Morton was scared, as he should be. Dag was furious. I could smell his rage, combined with his lust for me. It was sickening. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to fuck me or kill me. If I had my way, he’d do neither. I licked my lips and felt tiny fangs descending. Jovan had helped me call my demon, now it was up to me to use it wisely. I glanced over and saw that my hand was resting by the window. I should have felt pain in the sunlight. I felt none.

  Dag made another move to hit me and I ducked. He put his hand through the window. Glass shattered everywhere and he screamed out in pain. I brought my hand up and struck him in his throat. It would have killed a human, but Dag wasn’t human. He pulled back from me, bloody and holding his neck. He gasped for air and I smiled.

  “You let the Dark Master turn you,” he said it so calmly that I first I didn’t think that werewolves worried about Omnimorpheleons that much. When Morton slammed on the brakes and I flew into the back of the seat I knew that I was now a force to be reckoned with.

  I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I leapt through the window. Dag’s sharp-clawed hands caught my ankle and ripped my skin as I went out. I didn’t scream, I didn’t even flinch. Sure, it hurt, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of seeing that he’d gotten me.

  I tucked my head down and did a summersault to avoid busting my head open. I hit the ground and rolled to my feet. Dag tried to follow out the window, but got stuck halfway and had to open the door. I could have run, but I didn’t. I wanted to make him pay for what he’d done to Fawn, Vin, and Jovan.

  Dag jumped out and threw his leather coat on the ground. His body twitched and he sprouted gray fur from head to toe. His clothes began to rip as his body shifted form. I got a little concerned. I hadn’t planned on fighting the werewolf side of him. When he looked up at me he no longer resembled a man, he was a wolf on two feet. He crouched down and then sprung forward at me. He hit me with such a force that we were both sent airborne. His jaws snapped down on my side, and I felt like I was being ripped in two. I jabbed my finger into his eye socket and he released me. He dropped away and held his face. I knew that I was a target lying on my back, so I struggled to get to my feet.

  I clutched my side and tried to slow the bleeding. Dag pulled his hand away from his face and I saw that I had left him blind in one eye. He tried to rake his hand down the front of me. I stepped to the right and he missed. He staggered a little, looking for me. I knew then that if I could stay on his bad side that I just might have a chance at beating him.

  Dag let out a sinister laugh, and touched his face. “This will heal, we always heal.”

  I looked down at my hands. My nails were now longer than they normally were and I was betting that they were also a hell of a lot more lethal too. Dag struck out at me and I raked my nails down his furred arm. The sensation of his skin ripping under my touch made me sick to my stomach, but I didn’t stop. It was either him or me, and I wasn’t planning on today being my last day. I was putting my money on Dag. I continued to pull and his skin continued to tear.

  His other hand came around and caught the side of my face. He had such strength behind him that he sent me flying off my feet. My body hit Max’s truck and then I fell to the ground. Dag was on me in an instant. He had hold of my hair and pulled me off my feet.

  “Where’s your Dark Master now? Where’s your King, your savoir?” His voice was deep, a mix of animal and human. “Once a dancer whore, always a dancer whore…oh, but wait, you can’t dance anymore, isn’t that what my boys told me. The ones who smashed your leg to bits…. Ha, my people will never let a half-breed waitress be their leader. They will worship me from saving them from the likes of you.”

  He thrust his hand up and through my chest. I screamed out and could feel Jovan’s cool energy around me, calming me, easing my pain. I struck Dag like a snake and sunk my fangs deep into his neck. His blood spilled into my mouth, and down my throat. He tried to push me off him, but I held tight, riding his body as he fell down. He hand pulled free of me, but still I didn’t let go of him. I drank past the point of being full, I let the blood spill out of the sides of my mouth, yet I continued to suck. I sucked until I felt his heart beat for the last time and then I jerked my head away.

  Falling backwards, I tried to wipe Dag’s blood from my face. I looked down at my hand and the realization of what I’d just done hit home. I turned over vomited Dag’s evil blood up.

  Rayme, you must hold it down. He was a madman, but he was also a shape shifter. His blood will heal you. I heard Jovan’s voice in my head again.

  There was no way I wanted to keep a drop of that lunatic’s blood in me, healing powers or not. I threw up again. The splashing of the blood on the ground in front of me only served to make me sicker. I could feel Jovan trying to enclose me in his power. I pushed back at the nothingness around me.

  Rayme, please.

  Get out of my head! You don’t care. I was just another one of the Dark Master’s pathetic women. Another lovesick fool. I pushed my thoughts out, hoping they would find the mark they were intended for. They did. I blocked him from reaching me. It felt like cool fingers were touching my head, pulling on me, but I stayed strong and kept him out.

  The vomiting stopped and I sat up on my knees. I was sure that Dag was going to be standing behind me, waiting to rip my head off. He wasn’t. His nude human form was lying in the spot I’d left him. I wasn’t sure if he was dead, and wasn’t stupid enough to check. I wasn’t stron
g enough to deal with him in my condition and I knew that.

  I pulled myself up with the help of Max’s truck and walked around to get in. Morton was nowhere to be found. I wasn’t surprised he was a coward. When I saw that the keys were still in the ignition I knew that he wasn’t just a coward, he was a moron to boot.

  Chapter Twenty One

  I pulled down the lane to the cabin and clutched my chest. It hurt like hell, but my concerns were more with Maxim. I’d left him to fight off at least a dozen, maybe more, of Dag’s people. Bodies littered the yard, and my heart went to my throat. I jumped out of the truck and tried to scan the casualties for Maxim’s body. There were too many. I caught site of brown hair with golden streaks in it, and froze. I knew it was Maxim when I saw the curve of his back, and the sweet bend of his muscular arm. He was face down on the ground, and he wasn’t moving. I ran towards him, and fell on the ground next to him.

  “Maxim!” I screamed out his name as I rolled him over. His shirt hung on him by a thread. He had claw marks and large cuts all over his body. I leaned down and tried to see if he was breathing. The dark thing that I now carried deep within me pushed up long enough for me to hear his heart beating. He was alive. I tried to lift him, but I wasn’t strong enough.

  Something moved behind me and I spun around, ready and willing to fight. Angie stood there with her arms up in the air. “It’s me!” She looked down at Maxim and her eyes widened. She looked back towards the house. “He’s over here!”

  I glanced towards the cabin and saw Terrance, Vince, and Derrick running in our direction. Vince fell down next to Maxim and scoped him up. Terrance came to me and tried to lift me, but I put my hand up and stopped him.

  “I’m not that bad, help Maxim.”

  “But my Queen,” Terrance said, still trying to lift me.