Angela broke into a wide smile. “That’s wonderful. Just wonderful.” She bowed her head. “I’m so sorry I’ve been insensitive to your predicament. I was so wrapped up in what I went through, I gave no thought to you. It must have been awful.”
“There is nothing for you to be sorry about. You faced what will likely be the worst experience you’ll ever have. And now that Zurik is finally gone, we won’t have to worry about something like this happening again.”
“Does this mean that you will be able to live a normal life once you become human?”
Her voice was filled with hope, and it hurt him to have to crush that hope so soon after her ordeal, but she deserved the truth. “As normal a life as can be expected for a transformed vampire.”
“But I thought after the ceremony you would be human and your life as a vampire would be behind you.”
“I’ll be human after the ritual, but I’ll still possess many of my supernatural powers. And even better, I’ll be able to use the daylight hours to hunt out and destroy evil vampires.” He had to suppress a chuckle at the troubled look that crossed her face. “Don’t worry, once I complete the ritual, you won’t ever see me as a vampire again. I’ll look and act as normal as any red-blooded American male.”
An audible sigh escaped her lips and she reached up and ran the back of her hand down his cheek. “I can’t wait.”
“There’s something else I can’t wait to happen,” he said as he stretched out on the bed, taking her with him. He gave her a short, sensual kiss. “After the events of the past hours are behind you, that is.”
Angela pulled his face back down and picked up where he had left off, her kiss more passionate than his had been. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened, but as horrible as it was, what I experience with you makes up for it all.”
Before tonight, passion would have erased every thought from his mind but the need to possess her. But things were different now—he had almost lost her. He cupped the back of her head and held it steady, locking their gazes. “You will always be the most important thing in my life. I promise to keep you safe, always.”
Chapter Sixteen
AT THE PIANO Sunday night, Jonah allowed time for reflection before he began his practice. It was the first time since he’d become a vampire that Zurik’s presence no longer clouded every moment of his life. He should feel tremendous relief. He should be ready to throw himself into his life’s work with abandon. But he could not. Zurik was behind him, but the trip to New Orleans was still on the horizon. The ritual still had to be performed and as of yet, he had no clear idea of when he would have to depart. And no word yet as to when the auditions would be held.
The only thing he could count on right now was Angela. He would be forever grateful to Lilith for that great gift. Angela. Even her name inspired him. Once he finished his practice, he would be with her again until dawn. That alone was enough to get his fingers moving across the keyboard.
The sounds of the sonata filled the living room as it had almost every night of his life for decades. He was as good as he would ever be. There had never been a more opportune time for him to fulfill his life’s dream. He was about to ask Lilith for one last favor when Angela walked into the room and stole both his thoughts and his breath. He finished the piece and held out his arms invitingly.
Angela hurried toward him and he rose to take her in his arms and kiss her soundly. She snuggled up to him and he felt himself grow hot and hard. He quickly pulled back. “You had better take your seat and let me finish my practice. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can carry you to your room and have my way with you.”
“Promises. Promises.”
He grinned wickedly. “I promise to keep my promise before the night is over.”
Angela gave him a playful pat on his rear and was already on the way to her chair before he had settled down on the bench again.
The sonata rolled off his fingertips, each note perfect. If he’d been playing in front of the Audition Committee, he would have knocked them off their chairs. He looked over at Angela. She seemed mesmerized by his music. But then she always did. She had become his greatest fan. His chest filled with pride. He wanted to impress her as much as he did the committee.
When his practice ended, he left the piano bench and walked toward her. She was in his arms before either of them took a second breath. Desperate for her, he began undressing her on the way to her room.
She had far too many buttons on her shirt, but he made the most of unfastening each of them. After one button opened, he dropped a kiss on her neck. Button number two lured his mouth to the fullness of her breast. On number three he found a nipple and suckled it until her pleading broke through his need.
“Work faster, Jonah, please. At this rate, it will be dawn before you finish.” Somehow, he made it to the side of the bed where he peeled off each layer of clothing until she stood before him naked, her skin aglow from the soft light of the lamp. He was so enthralled by her beauty, he never noticed her undressing him until her hand closed around his cock. He missed a breath. The next thing he knew, she had pushed him onto the bed and was sitting astride him. So much for his mastery.
“I had interesting dreams last night,” she said, smiling as she slid down on him.“And wicked they must have been,” he said, fighting to control his breathing. He was already halfway to heaven—wherever that may be.
“They were,” she said, her last word fading as he felt her begin to contract around him. “But I’ll take the reality any time.” She rode him hard and fast and even as he climaxed, he was already thinking of new ways to drive her wild before the night ended.
As they lay together afterward, he realized he had never been happier. The trials they had endured only seemed to have made their bond stronger. He drew her close and felt himself begin to harden again as she pressed her body closer to his. His lips were an inch from hers when his cell phone rang.
He moved away from Angela and got up off the bed. He knew what this was about. He’d been dreading the call since he’d awakened. He retrieved the phone from the pocket of his pants. He knew who the caller was before he looked—Julian.
“Congratulations on vanquishing Zurik, brother. You accomplished what Jerome and I were unable to do.”
Jonah assured Julian he could not have done it without the help of his Cadre.
“No doubt they helped, but in the end, it was your sword that did the deed.” After an awkward pause, Julian asked the question that was uppermost in Jonah’s mind. “How close are you to being ready?”
Both brothers already knew what the answer would be.
THE LOOK ON Jonah’s face when he answered the phone confirmed Angela’s greatest fear. The caller was the bearer of bad news. She watched as Jonah’s hand tightened around the phone and his other hand balled into a fist. Her stomach clenched in sympathy. Since Scott would have left a note for Jonah before he left for the club, there was only one other person whose news could affect Jonah in such a negative way. It had to be his brother Julian in New Orleans.
After disconnecting, Jonah turned to face her.
“We need to be in New Orleans within the next twenty-four hours.”
But Jonah’s audition could be anytime with the next few days. She did a quick calculation. If Jonah had to be in New Orleans tomorrow night, that meant the ritual would take place soon. She didn’t know everything involved in it, but she remembered Jonah telling her something about needing recovery time. Would that take an hour, a day—longer? There was so much she didn’t know.
She ran her tongue over her lips and forced herself to swallow. “For your transformation and the ritual?”
Jonah nodded. “I’d better call Scott.”
After a quick conversation with his friend, Jonah snatched his pants from the back of a chair and stepped into them. “Scott’s taking
care of the plane reservations.” He slipped the phone back in his pocket and came over to sit next to her. A contemplative look creased his brow. When he put an arm around her and drew her down to lie on the bed next to him, she tensed. Did he have something else unpleasant to tell her?
Jonah rolled to his side and faced her. “Before we leave, I think you should know what to expect.”
More surprises? She held her breath.
“My transformation will take place first because we all need to be mortal before we undergo the ritual.”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had been so nervous. Not even the thought of taking the bar exam had knotted her insides this way.
“After my change,” Jonah continued, “the ceremony will take place as soon as my body can withstand the demands of the ritual.”
She didn’t like the sound of that at all. “It sounds like your transformation will be pretty hard on you.”
“It is, to an extent. My blood will be mixed with Julian’s, whose body is already preparing itself for my transformation. And for the ritual, as well.”
“What exactly is going to happen?”
Jonah took his time answering and she was sure it was because he was worried his answer might further upset her. “Each of us will have a vein opened, and Michael will transfuse some of Jonah’s blood into me.”
Her lips began to quiver and she clamped them together. She could not break down in front of Jonah. He had enough to worry about, but she wanted to know as much as he was willing to tell her. “Did Jerome have to go through this, too?”
“Yes, his blood was mixed with Julian’s first because his antibodies will neutralize any bacteria that might otherwise cause a problem in the mixing of Julian’s blood with mine.”
The more Jonah spoke, the more frightened she became. “It sounds dangerous.”
“Our fates are in the hands of the goddess Lilith. We’re certain she will not demand more of us than we are able to give.”
Two weeks ago, she would have thought his talk of a supernatural being ludicrous, even a touch crazy, but today she had a different perspective. She had witnessed Lilith’s intervention first hand. Still . . .
Jonah smoothed a lock of hair back from her forehead. “I sense your concern for me, but I assure you it’s unnecessary.”
He could assure her from now until the ceremony was over, but she would still worry.
“I haven’t told you one of the most important reasons for the ritual. One that involves you and the other women.”
“Me?” Her heartbeat kicked up a notch.
Jonah put his palm on the back of her neck and gently tucked her head under his chin. The pulse at his neck was as erratic as hers. It would seem he was not as unaffected by what was ahead of him as he would like her to believe.
“The final rite of the ceremony will be the union of me and my brothers with our respective mates.”
She tilted her head back and stared at him. “You mean like a marriage?”
Jonah nodded. “The union will grant us the ability to sire sons that will one day take our places.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. And then the full impact of what he’d said struck her. He’d mentioned having sons. Would they have only sons? What about daughters?
She moved far enough away from Jonah so she could think a little clearer. A surge of emotion washed over her. This was Jonah, the man she loved. The man she wanted to be with for the rest of her life. The man she would be proud to call the father of her children, regardless of their gender.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Jonah said.
She didn’t hold back her question. “Shouldn’t we get married legally so these sons of ours are legitimate?”
Jonah laughed and hugged her again. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
She gave him a playful poke in the ribs. “I think that should be your question.”
“Will you marry me?”
Too choked up to speak, she nodded and snuggled against him.
They lay quietly for a time and then Jonah sat up, pulling her up with him.
“And now,” Jonah said, his tone serious, “we need to make plans for our trip.”
JEROME MET THEM at the airport in New Orleans. They hadn’t expected Julian to come because of his condition, but Angela was clearly disappointed by the absence of her friends.
“Simone didn’t want to leave Julian, and Dottie thought it best to stay behind so as not to crowd the taxi,” Jerome explained on their way to collect the luggage.
“We understand, brother,” Jonah said, putting a hand to Jerome’s shoulder in their usual familial greeting.
As they waited by the baggage carousel, Jonah turned to Jerome. “What’s Julian’s state?”
“His temperature has peaked. Michael has had his fingers crossed all day that you’d make it on time. He didn’t want another close call like the one I gave him.”
Angela touched his arm. “Does Julian have the same illness you had?”
He shook his head. “No, my love. His fever is a natural occurrence as his body prepares to receive my blood.”
He turned back to Jerome. “As I remember, you showed up for Julian’s transformation at the very last minute.”
Jerome smiled. “That’s true. I had a delay that was out of my control. But I assured him that, with Zurik gone, there would be nothing going on in your life to delay you.”
Jonah’s stomach knotted. If Jerome only knew how wrong he was. There could have been a stumbling block. Suppose the audition had been held on its original date? Once the luggage was collected, the group headed outside the terminal and hailed a waiting taxi. Forty minutes later, they were in the French Quarter, standing on the sidewalk in front of Mike’s Place, the bar Julian owned. As they walked to the back of the building, Jerome halted Jonah with a tug on his arm.
“Before I forget, brother, congratulations on your recent victory. You did well. The world owes you a great debt.”
Jonah shrugged away the compliment. It was in the past. All that concerned him now was what lay before him. Once his transformation and the ritual were completed, he could focus all his attention on Carnegie Hall.
Jerome led the way into Julian’s second floor residence. Michael came to meet them as soon as they stepped inside and without any preliminaries, he addressed Jonah. “We’re ready as soon as you are.” As an afterthought, he bid the others a polite but hurried welcome.
Jonah turned his attention to Angela. “Jerome will help you get settled.” He looked to his brother for confirmation and then took Angela in his arms. “Try not to worry, my love,” he whispered as he embraced her. “This will be over before you know it. Everything will be fine, I promise.” He felt the tension in her body and he knew nothing would be fine with her until his transformation was over and he stood before her, unharmed.
He followed Michael into Julian’s bedroom where his brother lay on the bed, Simone on a chair by his side. She gave Jonah a welcoming smile, bent down to kiss Julian’s forehead, and silently left the room.
Jonah immediately began rolling up his sleeve as Julian spoke, his voice faint. “Well, you’re the last of us, brother. After this, we begin our work as mortal beings.”
Jonah stretched out on the bed next to his brother. “I’m looking forward to it.” And he was.
ANGELA HAD SPENT the last two hours waiting to find out if Jonah’s transformation was complete. Dottie and Simone waited with her, both of them assuring her that Jonah would be fine. Still, she couldn’t completely relax.
Soon, another day would dawn. What would her days be like, after today? What would marriage to Jonah be like? Would he spend his free time at home like other married men, or would he be off someplace, searching out the hiding
places of deep-earth vampires? How would his new powers affect their lives?
Since she’d first met Jonah, she’d lived in a surreal atmosphere, an environment where everything made sense because everything that happened there was in a world of its own. But things would soon be different. Soon she would have to reconcile her recent supernatural experiences with life in the real world.
She was about to voice her concern about the length of time they had been waiting when Michael entered the room, followed by Scott and Gordon. Michael looked first at her, then at the other two women. “Jonah recovered in record time. The ritual ceremony was performed and has just ended. Your mates are waiting for us, so the final ceremony can take place.”
The rest of her life was about to begin.
MICHAEL LED EVERYONE outside to a structure at the rear of the main building. He stood aside while they entered, then came in and closed the door behind him. Inside, dozens of candles cast a glow on Julian, Jerome, and Jonah, who stood in front of a marble altar, attired in gold robes. In the center of the altar stood three gold, jewel-encrusted goblets. Following Michael’s instructions, each of the women took their place next to the brother they had promised to wed.
The three guardians then walked to the altar and stood behind the Whitcombe he had been charged to guard throughout his life. Each guardian raised his eyes to the heavens, placed his right hand on the head of the brother in front of him and in unison they invoked the goddess Lilith.
We beseech you, oh great Goddess, to bestow on our charges all the
powers necessary to destroy the deep-earth vampires that plague
mankind. Give them the ability to sire sons who will one day carry
on the work of their fathers. And to this end, oh great Goddess, we
ask you to seal the union of each Whitcombe and the woman who is
destined to stand beside him throughout his life.
As soon as the last word was uttered, the three goblets on the altar began to glow. A bright light shone from above and the voice of the goddess Lilith filled the room.
The Vampire Jonah Page 18
