Emerald fire happily began to lick my skin, and caress my insides.
I heard the snap-pop of my arms being forced back into place.
I nearly threw up when Moli licked Harkin… there.
My Lady of Bones revolved. Screaming, she fought to free herself in one last-ditch attempt. I felt Harkin put everything that she had behind, forcing me out of her head.
Ruthlessly, I stomped her soul, squeezing it until she stopped.
Then, I knelt and touched Marcellina’s skin.
“Heal me,” I whispered to my body.
The emerald flames whirled up Harkin’s ankles, irritating the vampire.
But… Oh, Lord. It felt good as the cold, healing flames dug inside of her womanhood hood and began to heal her.
Almost there, I murmured to myself.
I only had to hang on a bit longer.
- 44 -
Harkin’s fingers grabbed Moli forehead at my command.
The Nosferatu hissed.
“Sleep,” I ordered.
It wasn’t a request.
It was a mother-fucking demand.
My command rolled her mind, ripping her defenses aside. Moli shrieked, and then instantly fell into a deep coma-like hibernation.
Satisfied, I released Harkin.
Instead of reacting… Harkin cowered.
I had beaten all the fight out of her.
Disgusted with myself, I returned to my skin.
Everything still hurt. But, it was more like a dull ache, like a rotting tooth that had been removed, but the socket still felt its discomfort.
I forced myself to my feet.
“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Harkin shrieked, coming back to life.
No, wasn’t going to work.
We needed to leave.
“Do it,” I said, forcing my will on my friend.
She would never forgive me.
But I didn’t care.
Lexi was dead.
And, when she died… so did my compassion.
Harkin’s power swarmed over us all, wrapping the stench of the grave around us, as it took us...
Somewhere dark.
And, dangerous.
I felt… surrounded by the dead.
They turned and stared at us as if we were their only light in their darkness.
Then, we appeared in her father’s bedroom.
I passed out.
--M--
“I thought about killing you,” Harkin mused.
I opened my eyes.
Moli was deeply asleep next to me, curled up against my side like a child.
Harkin was inches away with a dagger in her hands.
A dagger that pressed against my throat.
“All I had to do was slip this into your nose,” she speculated, “And press it upwards until it slipped into your brain.”
Harkin had lost it.
Which was understandable.
I had been a major bitch.
“You would lose your sight first, I am told,” she continued. “Then, hearing and even taste, until nothing would be left, but you, trapped in your skull.”
Harkin smiled. It was the cold smile of contentment.
In a way, I had raped her when I had taken her control away.
I had taken her body.
And, her power.
Just like her father and brothers had.
“But then,” Harkin hissed, “you’d just fucking sink your mental fangs into my body and steal it.’
Dragging the tip of the dagger until it was right below my eye, she growled, “You are worse than Maxwell.”
“I saved you,” I told her.
“You fed a monster, my blood,” she countered. “From my bleeding pussy.”
“I needed to control her with the only blood that I had,” I sputtered, keeping a close eye on the dagger. “How else were you going to get out of those bonds?”
I felt the tip of the dagger poke into the flesh under my eye. It would only take a tiny bit of strength to thrust it home.
“I. Saved. Us. Both,” I said, slowly. “We are safe now.”
“You squeezed me out of my own mind,” Harkin moaned. “You took my body over like it was your puppet. You fucking raped my mind!”
“And, I would do it again,” I breathed out, understanding that I might die, right now. “If it would save you.”
Harkin’s hand began to shake, making its point quiver. Blood began to run down my cheek.
Then, she screamed and threw the dagger across the room.
Throwing herself backward, she threw a tantrum, kicking her legs and feet, and frothing at the mouth.
Through our bonds, I felt her revulsion.
Violated.
Again.
I was supposed to be better than Maxwell, and I had done something that he had never done. He had refused to control a meat puppet.
I had turned one of my lovers into one.
Harkin’s brain began to spasm.
She wasn’t used to using her power or housing it all. It had been years since she held it all in her mind.
It was too much.
The energy began to burn her.
Fuck.
I had pushed her too far. Surviving wasn’t enough if we were all insane at the end.
She needed to sleep.
So, I violated our friendship again.
Her mental shields were down. Hell, they were almost non-existent.
It was easy to lull her into a dreamlike stupor.
Her father had been doing it for years.
- 45 -
I laid on the bed, holding Harkin, even though I didn’t have a right to do it.
Moli was still asleep.
And, she was a monster.
Her ears and nose were still those of a bat with whirls and ridges. If I left them alone, she would wake up and eat us both.
So, I sent my emerald flames into her skin.
First, I took away the claws, the hunger, and the animalistic need to feed, replacing it with desire, sexuality, and love. I turned her vampiric nature into a craving for sexuality and touch.
Moli changed before my eyes. Her body filled back out, revealing her feminine curves, instead of her spine and ribs. I filled the dark black bags beneath her eyes with relaxation and pleasure. And, removed the bat nose and ears.
I remade her fangs again. Making them tiny and catlike, instead of the fangs of a tiger. Her blood had to be taught to flow again, along with warming her flesh and restarting her heart.
Moli stretched like a cat, barely conscious.
When I was done, she lay on the bed, like a sexy goddess carved from ivory.
But… she would be horrified when she woke up.
I felt tears filling my eyes.
They would both hate me for what I had done.
Maybe, I should just leave while they slept.
Exhausted, I shut my eyes.
--M--
In my dream, I was flying.
The emotion overwhelmed me.
The air was floating beneath my wings, as I proudly snapped my wings.
My pretty, beautiful wings that looked like stained glass.
The sun high my wings, making a rainbow beneath me.
How beautiful, my mind gasped, as I stared at the ground.
I was pretty.
The girl within me preened with pride.
I was so taken with myself, with the stunning beauty of my wings, that I slammed into a mountainside, sending dirt and gravel careening into the air.
How narcissistic could I get?
I landed in a mashed-up pile of limbs and wings... while Harkin’s dragon laughed at me.
I had expected her to growl, to roar, but laughter unhinged me.
It was high pitched and squeaky, almost nasally.
And, it embarrassed me.
She should have still been furious with me.
I was furious with me. What I had done was unforgivable. I was as bad as her father and b
rothers. Fuck, I was worse than Maxwell.
I fought to my feet and roared in irritation.
That made her laugh harder.
Her dragon was a beautiful ruddy red with two black horns that jutted forward. Golden highlights accented her scales.
And… Inset in her nose was a golden ring.
It didn’t signify freedom.
Instead, I stated that Harkin was owned.
She was nothing but a slave.
And, that is how I had treated her.
Then… I noticed the eggshells stacked all around her.
Dozens of huge, shattered shells, smashed into fist-sized pieces.
The ground was covered in them.
Her Father had killed before.
Her last baby had only been the latest... in a long line of pain. There had to be dozens of shells, maybe more.
How had she ever carried so many of them to term?
“I didn’t,” she hissed.
Turning onto her side, I saw long scars that ran up and down her length. Randall had taken the eggs and the children in them… from inside of her.
Waiting would have taken too long.
It was easier to cut them out of her.
Fuck. If anyone in the world deserved someone to love and protect them, it was Harkin. But, I had used her, just like everyone else.
“I’m sorry,” I moaned, hating myself.
Harkin was sitting in a hollowed-out nest of a female dragon. Typically, it would be made from something that the dragon valued, or was soft and comfortable. Harkin’s nest was made from bones and tombstones. My vision expanded, and I saw that we were in a cemetery that covered the top of the mountain.
Mausoleums, tombstones, stone angels, and demons surrounded us. Several tall pillars surrounded us, along with arches made from marble.
The statues felt alive. They should have been protecting the eggs.
But, the eggs were all shattered.
Harkin, the dragon looked at me with sad, dead eyes.
I stared further.
Harkin suddenly shifted into a human. Well, almost human.
She peeled back her lips, exposing her dragon teeth. They were long, black, and jagged, and they didn’t look proper in her human mouth.
She snapped at me.
Challenging me.
My draconic self growled. Feeling the need to dominate anyone who challenged me. But, I still could feel reason, even in this dream world, lost in Harkin’s mind.
So, I knelt, as I slipped from dragon to human.
Instead of challenging her, I bowed my head and placed my right hand on my forehead, palm up. My other hand went behind my back, as I begged her forgiveness in our oldest tradition.
I had wronged her.
I had let Lexi’s death overwhelm me.
And, I deserved any punishment that she gave me.
- 46 -
I felt Harkin poke at that thought.
Lexi’s death.
It shouldn’t have bothered me. She was Maxwell’s daughter.
But, it did. Lexi’s death burned in my soul like a bonfire.
I had failed her.
Harkin’s dragon nose rubbed up against my arm, and I felt her huff out a short hot blast of air. She understood my grief. And I understood hers.
“Do what you must,” I said. Right now, I understood Maxwell’s grief, maybe a little.
And, I also understood retribution.
I had wronged Harkin.
“No,” she murmured as she shifted from dragon to woman, “you didn’t.”
“I took control of your mind and body,” I pointed out, as I kept my gaze downward.
“You are my Queen,” she announced. “I should have trusted you.”
I didn’t look at her.
“Marcellina.”
Sighing, I looked up at her.
“You did what had to be done,” Harkin said. “I panicked and would have just cut up my insides more. If you hadn’t acted, Moli would have eaten us both, or Hael would still be alive, and we would end up dead again.”
Touching my cheek, she added, “Thank you.”
I snorted.
“I don’t deserve your thanks. What I did was rape.”
Harkin sighed.
“Would it make you feel better if I hit you, or thrashed you with a stick?”
I didn’t say yes, or no. Honestly, it probably would make me feel a little better.
“How about if I spank you?” she whispered.
My cheeks flushed.
I knew she was talking about more than spanking, and frankly, that worried me. She should be furious.
“You want me to be mad,” she pointed out. “You saved all three of us by doing what I couldn’t. During the heat of the fight, I just wanted to run away. I didn’t want to use my magic. I hate it.”
“And I made you use it.”
A cold wind suddenly flooded my mind, as Harkin shared her magic with me. Suddenly, I could feel every bone… of every child.
They were spread out over the whole nation of Nagon, from city to city. Randal had placed them so that he could walk instantly across the known world.
Then, I felt the ghosts seep into my skin. They moaned and growled for justice… for freedom… or even just companionship. The specters of Maxwell’s wars filled the whole mountainside, screaming for anything and everything.
Zombies ripped and tore themselves out of the ground, surrounding us. In their hands were rusty blades, axes, and spears.
“Every day, I fight not to see, or feel this,” Harkin explained, pointing at them.
Everywhere I looked, spirits wandered. Through the air, or on the ground. The coldness leeched into me, making me shiver with cold.
“I am tired of the dead,” she said.
Memories that weren’t mind rolled through my thoughts.
A daughter who had drowned.
Butterflies wandering through a garden.
Two young lovers touching for the first time.
“They share their thoughts, and memories with me, overwhelming my mind,” Harkin explained. “At first, Father… took away my magic to spare me. Then, he became addicted to it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Harkin placed her hand in mine.
I looked at her closer. Seeing her for the first time.
Maxwell barely remembered her. She was just a quick, savage fuck, and then he had gone onto another woman. He had slept with so many the day that he married her that she wasn’t important or necessary.
Harkin needed to be important. She deserved it.
So, I studied her light blue eyes that flickered with an unknown strength. She had been beaten and abused for so long. But deep within her, there was still a flicker of life.
I noticed her spat of freckles that covered her face lightly but were darker and more pronounced on her shoulders.
She was lovely and ferocious.
And, her soul was as well.
Like Moli, she was dying inside without her children. I understood that loss now, like never before.
There. A spark of something.
I felt it burn into life within my breast.
Maybe, I was wrong. I had thought that I wouldn’t latch on to people as quickly as Maxwell. But, now I knew that he was part of me.
Harkin was broken.
Maxwell had always been attracted to cracked, defective, shattered, and smashed souls. Now, I could see the… interest.
My Lady of Bones Page 16
