by Lucinda Dark
When Torin turned back to the both of us, his gaze caught mine once again. This time, he didn't look away. "Humans are easily swayed by money and the promise of eternal life," he said, his tone low. Dangerous. Warning. "We can't be certain there won't be an attack in daylight, but just in case..." He trailed off with a grimace.
"What?" I demanded. Torin kept his focus on me, but it was clear he didn't want to say what he was thinking. I stepped closer to him until his chest nearly brushed mine as I glared up at him. "What were you going to say?" I pressed.
"You should let me give you more of my blood," he said. My shoulders tensed and I could feel all of my muscles stretch tightly beneath my skin. It was my mind that rebelled against the suggestion, not my body.
I agree, Satrina said. You should let him give you his blood.
Why? I demanded. Because you want him to invade my dreams again? You already got what you wanted from Maverick, now you want Torin too?
I didn't need to see her to sense the eye roll she gave me. It was there in the sarcastic lilt of her voice when she replied. Oh, yes, blame the succubus for your own sexual desires, she said sardonically. We've been over this, darling. I can't make you attracted to someone. I just heighten it. Your desire for him—for both of them—is all you, booboo.
Why do you want me to take his blood? I repeated as Maverick said something behind me. Torin replied, but their voices drifted as Satrina's came to the forefront of my mind.
It's not unnatural for you to take your mate's blood, she replied. It'll make you stronger—even with my power. You'll do whatever you want regardless of the pristine advice I've given you, but I would suggest you hear him out.
Pristine advice my ass, I thought. To Torin, I asked, "Why?"
Torin dropped his attention back to me. "Because, on the off chance you're taken, I'll be able to find you. As long as my blood is in your system, it'll act as a sort of tracker. Not something they can block or get rid of either."
I hated to admit it, but Satrina was right. Taking his blood would be more of a benefit than a hindrance. I bit down on my lower lip as I dropped my focus to the ground. I shouldn't want it and yet, I did. There was no denying it—no matter how badly I wanted to. "Fine," I said. "But on one condition." I looked up and stepped away, from both Torin and Maverick.
They followed me with their eyes. A frown curving Mav's lips. "I'll take your blood if you give it to Mav too."
His eyes widened. "Barbie, that's not—"
"You don't take it and neither will I," I interrupted him.
Mav's fists clenched at his sides as he glared at me. "It's not me that's in danger here," he argued.
"Simply being in this city and being connected to either of us puts you in danger," Torin said quietly. "I agree with Barbie."
The shock that fell over Maverick's features would have been amusing if this wasn't such a serious matter. “You're fucking serious?"
I nodded. "As serious as a fucking heart attack."
"This is bullshit," he growled as he dropped his leg from the wall and took a step back.
"And I would like to confirm that I don't give a shit what you think about this. It's necessary." I pushed through the two of them as I headed for the sidewalk. Across the way, our group was already moving on. I paused, turning to look back over my shoulder. "So suck it up, buttercup—literally, or else neither of us gets Torin's special go-go juice."
I grinned as he slapped a palm over his face. "Fuck!" Mav slid it down over his jaw. "Fine, but for the love of all that's fucking holy, don't ever call it that again.”
Even as I smiled at his clearly irritated tone, inside, the pressure of being so close to my objective was heavy. I was walking a tightrope over an ocean of poison tipped daggers. One wrong move and I'd be impaled. I couldn't stop now. The other side of my vengeance was so fucking close, just out of my grasp.
As we reached the group and easily slid into the back—our missing presence having gone unnoticed—the guide commented that Rome was also known as the eternal city. I hope not, I thought to myself. At least, I hoped it wasn’t for Arrius Priest. Whether he knew it or not, his nights were fucking numbered.
“Tonight,” Torin whispered, his breath drifting over the top of my ear and sending a bolt of lightning down my spine. “We’ll do it tonight. My room.”
The world tilted as I nodded, but I didn’t feel the movement. All of the nerves in my body were solely centered on Torin Priest. And what a dangerous thing that was.
Thirty-Six
Torin
I cracked my eyelids open as a knock sounded across from me, a heavy hand coming down in a quick succession belying the visitor's anxiety. I stared straight up at the ceiling from where I laid on the hotel suite's lounge before taking a breath and releasing it. I already knew who it was. I could scent him through the door. "Come in," I called.
The knob turned and Maverick appeared, his gaze shooting through the room until it landed on me. Moving on near silent feet, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "We need to talk," he said quietly.
I nodded. His presence wasn't a surprise. I knew this would be coming. We'd been dancing around the subject—the subject being Barbie—for weeks now. The tension between the two of us slithered through my back and shoulders, whipping through me even as I tried to shake it off, tilting my head and cracking my neck. "Take a seat," I suggested, gesturing to the chair across from the lounge.
Maverick strode through the suite until he stood before me. His shadow blocked out the light of the chandelier above for a brief moment as he took the chair and leaned forward, balancing his elbows on the edges of his knees. "This can't continue," he announced. "This bullshit between you and me."
He was right.
I sat up and turned towards him. "What do you suggest?" I inquired, curious. I had expected him to come sooner than he had. Three weeks was a long time for him to not get something off his chest, but until now there hadn't really been an opportunity for this little discussion.
"It's less about what I suggest and more about what we need to decide," he replied. "About Barbie." Three weeks ago, her name on his lips—especially after knowing what had happened between the two of them—would've sent me into a vampiric rage. But now ... I stared back at him. Waiting. "I'm not giving up," he said. "She's ... Barbie is ... she has—fuck—you know what I'm trying to say," he growled as he leaned back and glared my way.
My lips twitched in amusement. "Yes, I do, but it's so much fun to watch you struggle with yourself."
His scowl deepened. "This wouldn't be so fucking hard if you just fucking told me what the hell was going on. I didn't know about the mate issue."
"Would it have changed anything?" I asked curiously. He paused, his gaze dropping away from mine. "I didn't think so," I said. He'd answered me with nothing more than that small movement.
Silence stretched through the room, filling the space up. "This is so fucked," he finally said. "Everything is."
"True," I agreed. We were balancing precariously on a cliff, he and I. "But regardless of what you want, Mav," I continued, "you need to think about what you can handle. Humans don't belong in this world. Barbie didn't belong before she made a deal with a demon and I would've preferred for her to be left out of it. Now, though..." She'd made her choice and I couldn't deny the small part of me that was happy to have her in the shadows with me even if it made me a conniving and selfish bastard.
"Is your only issue with me being here the fact that I'm human?" Maverick asked. I blinked at his tone, lifting my head and narrowing my gaze. Precise. Careful. Low. He spoke as if he had more to say, a secret he was hiding. He met my gaze. "I don't think it is," he continued. "I think you don't want me here because I mean something to her, too."
I stared at him. My mind rolling with my thoughts. I'd burned the bridge between us two years ago. I'd walked across it—away from him—and turned to watch as it burned. I'd once believed that when a relationship had been destroyed beyond r
epair that there was no way to ever get it back. I'd believed that once something was truly lost there was no going back. Yet, now, here he was. Here we both were.
I'd done what I had to keep him safe. Maverick McKnight was a loyal man, and I'd hurt him. I'd ripped myself away and I'd done it in such a way that I made sure he wouldn't come back. To destroy someone's loyalty like I had for him left scars. But he was nothing if not resilient.
We'd been brought back together by the fiery, mouthy hunter named Barbie Steele. She was like a tornado, tearing through our lives and in the blink of an eye, she'd dropped a bridge back between the two of us. It was weak and rickety, but not impassable. My deepest, darkest of secrets had been revealed to him and he hadn't run. A part of that, I knew, was because of Barbie.
"Tor," Maverick said, "answer me."
"She is mine," I said, the words pouring out as my brows drew down over my eyes. I frowned. "And I can't deny that I want to tear your throat out every time I think about the two of you..." I trailed off, swallowing hard against the desire to do just that right now. My vampire clawed at my insides, a mad demon that ripped my chest to shreds in a bid to take over. "I will continue to hold myself in check, until she chooses," I finished.
"And what if she chooses me?" he asked.
I stiffened. "She can't deny her mate." This time, as I spoke, my voice dropped. A burning fire swelled behind my eyes and I knew the red of my vampire was bleeding into my irises. For a human, Maverick hid his emotions quite well. If it weren't for the single whiff of his scent, I wouldn't have guessed that he was unnerved. Who wouldn't be though, when faced with a monster?
"So you expect her to choose you, regardless," he said. "You're just waiting for what you think is inevitable."
I shrugged lightly, hoping it hid the growing disquiet within me. The truth was that I didn't know. I had no clue if she would choose me. Barbie had a way of throwing me off and doing the exact opposite as I would have expected.
"And it's because you think I'm human?"
That question—spoken more like a statement, though it was phrased as an inquiry—made me frown. "What do you mean 'think?’"
Maverick hesitated a beat, the fingers of his left hand clenched into a fist just before his right rose up, delving into the neckline of his shirt. He withdrew a long leather band with a circular object dangling at the end of it and then finally lifted it up and over his head. He stretched his arm out and let the thing hang between us. It was a medallion.
"I asked Esperanza to help me attain the power I needed to protect Barbie," he said.
"What?" I was hearing his words. They were clear, and yet ... I couldn't believe them. Esperanza wouldn't ... oh, but she would, I thought. "Maverick," I growled. "What have you done?"
"I've accepted her offer of help," he said simply, but there was nothing simple about this.
"What did you promise her?" I demanded. Witches did not give something for nothing. There was always a sacrifice to be had. "What will befall you for this gift?" I spat the word out as I rose from my seat. Maverick stood as well and lowered his arm. The slim metal coin shaped object hung from his grip. I wanted to rip it away from him, and it took a concentrated effort to keep from doing so.
"She told me there would be a sacrifice," Maverick answered. "I'm willing to give it."
"What. Is. The. Sacrifice?" Each word brought me closer to him until we were chest to chest, eye to eye.
"I don't know yet," he said.
"You don't ... know?" I gaped at him, a mixture of horror and shock. "How could you accept something like that when you don't even know what the price of it is?"
He slipped the medallion back around his neck. Before it disappeared under his shirt, I caught a glimpse of an image forming. A beast, curling in on itself. Then the image was gone—dropped beneath the fabric and I brought my gaze back up to his. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, Torin," he said. "Whatever it is that you have to do to keep your vampire in check around me, I suggest you figure it the fuck out. Because I'm not leaving her. Ever."
"I ... see..." But I didn't. I couldn't understand how very foolish he was being. I took a step back and then another and another until I felt the lounge at the back of my legs again. I sank onto the seat and leaned forward, blowing out a breath. What a pair the two of us were.
"Can you accept that?" he asked.
"Do you give me much of a choice?" I laughed harshly, the sound dry and unamused. I shook my head. There was only one thing I could do for him now. "Come here," I said, lifting my arm and gesturing him forward. But Maverick being Maverick didn't move. He stood and stared down at me, his lips pulled into a deep frown. I put a bit more force into my voice as I looked up and locked my eyes with his. "Maverick." I let the hypnotic quality of my vampire's tone flood my vocal cords. "Come to me."
He blinked as his legs began to move. I knew exactly what he was thinking. "A-are you fucking controlling me?"
I didn't answer him as he came to stand before me. "Bend down," I ordered. He did so, cursing me the entire time. My lips twitched the smallest amount. "Regardless of that cursed medallion," I said, "right now, you're still human."
"Torin, release me right fucking now," he commanded.
"I will," I said. "In a moment." I'd promised Barbie this and she would still have it. My vampire only wanted to tear him limb from limb because of her, but as he and I had talked, an idea had formed in my mind. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. If he truly was going through with this asinine idea of attaining power, then I couldn't risk my vampire slipping control. There was only one way my vampire would be okay with Maverick's relationship with Barbie.
"Torin, don't fuck with—" Maverick's words were cut off as I turned my head and sank my fangs into his throat. "Fuck!"
His emotions flooded my mind. A sharp pain before endorphins slipped through his system. I didn't take much. Just a few mouthfuls, enough to start the process. I wasn't changing him. I wouldn't do that. But he had to belong to my vampire in some way or else, our friendship this time would end in blood rather than fire.
I pulled back, my fangs sliding from his neck. Lifting my arm, I sank them into my forearm and before the wound could close, I jerked Maverick's head down and shoved his mouth against the blood welling up.
"Drink it," I commanded when he pressed his lips together and glared at me.
Against his will, Maverick's lips parted and sealed over the open holes. I waited patiently as he drank. It needed to be deeper and more than Barbie ever had for this to work. I'd only ever seen it done once—by Katalin to her favorite servant. The only difference was that Katalin had taken the human man as a lover and as much as I cared for Maverick as a brother and friend, I wasn't attracted to him. He made his choice, I'd made mine. Neither of us would give Barbie up? Fine. But that still left me with the problem of my vampire and his possessiveness of her.
Finally, it felt like he'd had enough and I lightly pushed his head back, letting the wound breathe as the holes sealed over and began to heal. I licked the remainder of the blood from my skin as I released Maverick from my control.
Immediately, he rounded back and punched me in the face. I'd known it was going to happen. I would've done the same thing. What I hadn't expected, however, was the strength behind it. Maverick's fist connected with my face and my neck snapped to the side as I felt the skin over my cheekbone split open and the bone beneath cracked. My body turned away automatically, the force of the blow shoving me from my seat as I hit the floor. I reached up and swiped my thumb over the lesion.
"What the fuck was that?" Maverick gripped the back of my shirt and whirled me around, yanking me up from the floor.
I dropped my hands and waited for my vampire to rise to the forefront. The beast cracked an eyelid and sniffed before shrugging and relaxing back. Relief suffused my limbs. "It worked," I sighed.
"Explain," Maverick spat through gritted teeth as he held onto my front. "Right now, before I fucking—"
"You knew you would need to take my blood," I started, interrupting him.
"You didn't have to bite me," he growled. "And you never gave Barbie that much."
I pushed him back with two hands on his shoulders as I straightened and cracked my neck once more. "You gave me very few options," I said. "You won't leave her alone and my vampire saw you as a threat. Nothing more could happen until we'd taken care of that issue."
"What the fuck did you do then?" he demanded. "What the hell was that about?" His fists clenched at his sides and I could sense the desire to fight pulsing in his veins. In fact, I felt it like it was my own desire. I swallowed roughly, shoving the emotions that I knew weren't mine down until I could think and speak logically.
“The only way my vampire would be alright with you being near her is if he sees you as part of himself,” I said slowly.
Maverick’s eyes blew wide open and he took one single, stumbling step back from me. “What … what the fuck did you do? Am I—I just told you I was taking care of it!” He reached up to his neck, fingers pushing against the wound of my bite. Two small holes where my fangs had entered darkened the column of his neck, the redness surrounding them already beginning to bruise. With my blood in his system, though, it would heal rather quickly. “Did you turn me into a vampire?”
“No,” I said as I turned away, striding to the window and turning to rest against the sill of it. I crossed my arms over my chest. “It takes a bit more blood than that to turn someone.”
“Then what the fuck did you do, Torin?” Maverick growled. “Don’t make me fucking ask again.”
“I started the process and stopped it partially, but it doesn’t turn you into a vampire. I’m not even sure if I could—I’m a dhampire and I’ve never attempted to turn anyone before. No, what I did to you was different. The process itself is similar, I think, to turning someone, but it’s interrupted. It’s more like laying a mark on you, an aegis.”
