Hexes and Handcuffs: A Limited Edition Collection of Supernatural Prison Stories

by Margo Bond Collins

  I catch the flick of her eyes, landing on my mouth before she glances away. Deciding right on the spot, I’m not hiding who I am, I swallow hard. “I haven’t fed on anyone else since that night in prison. Riley’s working with scientists, and I’ve entered a program in hopes of testing synthetic blood, but it’s a long way off.”

  Her eyes widen, and she leans up, pressing her lips to mine. “I won’t have anyone else feeding you except me, which is why I’ve bought these.”

  From her bag, she slides out a package of black silk sheets, which I scrutinize suspiciously. “Black?”

  “They didn’t have red. I want to be your sole blood donor, but offering doesn’t mean I want to see blood every time you feed. In all honesty, I may well have to serve you by lying down rather than sitting upright, if you don’t mind.”

  I barely notice as the guards disappear, driving back the way they came, leaving Camille and me alone. “You sure about this? About loving me, about the blood?”

  “You were my first, you’ll be my last, and I’ve never been surer of anything. I want you now, here, forever. The question I need to ask is, will you have me? Will you take me home with you?”

  I gather her up, a joyful squeal bursting from her lips as I rush us inside, locking the door behind us. I haven’t noticed before, but the kitchen table, the place settings for two, the dual recliners, the matching bath towels, the queen-sized bed, and every minuscule aspect of my life includes her, my beautiful Camille, and will forever.

  And then, after….

  I don’t worry about her heightened anticipation or fear as I lay her down beside me, growing hard and ready. My incisors pierce my gums, elongating.

  Reaching up, she teases each one of my fangs with her tongue, humming against my lips. She stretches her neck, presenting herself to me. “I’m your wife, your lover, and you’re my vampire uncaged. Make me yours all over again.”

  Her breaths fan my neck in quickened pants, her heart pulses against my chest as she snakes a long leg up to my thigh, pinning our bodies. She kisses my mouth, deepening the kiss as she spears my hair with her fingers before breaking away. “White sheets, huh?”

  A moment before I take her virgin vein, I whisper, “Don’t worry, I won’t waste a drop.”

  The End

  The story continues with Vampire by Bite, book 2 in the Faeted Vampire Series.

  Better yet, read from the beginning with Vampire by Blood, book 1.

  Find both full-length novels and more on Cyndi Faria’s Amazon Author Page.

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  About the Author

  Cyndi loves to hear from readers!

  About the Author, Cyndi Faria

  Two-time USA Today Bestselling Author Cyndi Faria writes hot, heart-warming paranormal romance and also sexy contemporary romance. Her stories are well known for their twist-turns you’ll never see coming and happily ever after endings you crave.

  “Cyndi Faria. 5 STARS!!! Oh my goodness!!! (S)eriously one of the best romances I have read!! No joke. That very first page pulled me into their world. Cyndi painted me a world so amazing that I did not want to leave at all. The action in the book kept me on the edge of my seat and there was never a dull moment. Every page is filled with captivating words that will draw you right in. And talk about twists!! I must have said OH MY GOD more than a couple of times.”

  ~I Love HEA Romance Book Blog

  On and off her sexy romance pages, this California country girl isn’t afraid to dirty her hands caring for rescued fur babies. When Cyndi isn’t spending time with her fictional characters, plotting with fellow authors, or planning her next writing retreat, she’s enjoying her family beachside, walking her furry family members, and gathering ideas for her next novel. And connecting with fans!

  “(Cyndi Faria) has a talent for lovely happy endings and I’m so glad she does.”

  ~Night Owl Reviews

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  Fugitive Demon

  Queen of the Damned

  LA Fox

  About Fugitive Demon

  Finding out I was a demon was a huge shock. But when I finally stumble onto the truth about my family, I realise the crappy day I was having was about to go down the toilet completely. Who knew being royal would be a sin?

  Chapter One

  I knew, from the deepest, darkest pits of my stomach, that this was a bad idea. You know those premonitions you get but completely ignore? Yeah, it was one of those. But I needed chocolate, and that overruled common sense. So I left the house—and the partial sanctity of my fucked up family—to venture out.

  I walked around the small convenience store, piling my goodies into a bag and deciding to get out of the place ASAP. Nothing bad would happen. It was just my over active imagination on a very crappy day.

  But leaving was easier said than done when you had an old lady talking about her piles in front of you in the checkout line.

  I so didn't want to hear how the doctor had to poke those bitches back in. I turned, throwing a bag of popcorn into my basket, too. Comfort food.

  "Lalalalalala," I sung, mentally counting anything in my immediate eye-line to stop me from focusing on this dotty old lady.

  Finally, she moved away from the counter, and I emptied the load of stuff to be checked out, cursing the lack of self-checkout machines in this place. The young female cashier looked up at me as I arranged it all just so and took out my reusable bag from my pocket.

  "Time of the month, huh?" Her cutesy, sing-song voice was just a little too saccharine for my liking. I wanted to stick my finger in her eye. I refrained.

  "Nope, just hungry." I watched as her hands worked automatically, pushing the goods through the till and down to the packing area.

  The cashier's eyebrows shot to her bleached blonde hairline. "If I ate all this stuff, I'd be as big as a house and one giant zit."

  She whizzed through the remaining stuff as I glared at her. I wasn't in the mood for this shit. So I loosened my face out of my scowl and made myself giggle. She looked up at me as I zapped my card on the contactless contraption. "Yeah, you probably would. It doesn't affect me all," I lied, trying not to pull my tight jeans out of my arse for the fiftieth time that night.

  The woman blushed, and I smiled, as I gathered my purchases. "Have a good night," I chirped. My smile dropped a moment later, and I needed my chocolate more than ever. Bitch. There should be rules about not talking to people at three am.

  The foreboding feeling returned as I made my way to my car. I glanced around, but knew I was completely alone in the small car park. I quickened my pace, anyway. It was simply my restless imagination, that was all.

  I was metres away from my car when it happened.

  What the fuck happened, I have no idea. But one second, I was alone, the next, I wasn't.

  A humongous man appeared in front of me, just like that. Like, abracadabra, hottie alert.

  "What the fuck?" I stumbled, almost dropping my food. And I stared. A lot. I couldn't help it. This man looked like he was right off the set of a fantasy film where they get naked a lot.

  The man quirked his eyebrow, and my panties twisted right there. I was fairly sure this was a dream. Maybe I'd already eaten my chocolate haul, and this was a sugar overload hallucination.

  "You're Carina." His voice was deep, sexy, and perfect. And also so very familiar. I searched my brain, but nothing came up.

  "Who the hell are you?" I said at last, noting how I sounded breathless. Get it together, Rina.

&n
bsp; A nervousness tickled the back of my neck. This fucker appeared out of thin air in front of me, and he knew my name. And I was completely in lust with him and his broad shoulders and touchable forearms, and the way his dirty blond hair fell across his forehead, and...

  Stop. Stop it, you moron.

  "I like this incarnation. It suits you." His smile transformed his face from holy hell, to fuck me now.

  I needed to regain the upper hand in this situation. My mind swam until at last, I found my voice again.

  "Listen, pretty boy. I have chocolate here I need to eat, so if you'd excuse me?" Probably better things to say, but there you go.

  He looked over my shoulder, and I followed suit. There was nothing there except a car in the distance, probably owned by the bitchy cashier. The rest of the darkened car park was empty. Given that it was stupid o clock in the morning and only insane people were out buying chocolate at this time of night, it wasn't a surprise.

  "We don't have much time. You need to come with me. We can protect you, Your Highness."

  The world spun a little right there. Another person had said those exact words to me this morning.

  Nope, can't be true. It was simply a coincidence. What I needed was to get away. I should have listened to my gut and stayed at home in the relative safety of bickering cousins, senile aunts, and drunk uncles with big moustaches.

  I looked around me, scoping out the place. I was feet away from my car. All I needed to do was get the best of him, and I had a fighting chance of getting out of this parking lot with my head still attached to my body. Because for all I knew, he was a loon.

  I took my chance when he glanced over my shoulder again. I kicked him straight in the balls and darted to my right to make it to my car. I had the door open in seconds and was moments away from freedom, when I felt hands around my waist. And those hands felt divine and familiar, and my brain was fighting with my body to fall back into him and sigh.

  "Fuck, no." I was held against a strong chest before being turned around.

  "Calm down, Carina. I won't hurt you." His green eyes were intense, and his mouth was set in a hard line.

  "Why are you doing this?" Today was too much. I was close to tears, but I swallowed down a sob. My hands fisted into his t-shirt, my bag hooked around my wrist, and I was very aware of his hard chest underneath. I was ashamed of myself. I was being attacked, and all I could think was how right it felt in his arms. Like I'd been there a thousand times before.

  "We will protect you. We are sworn to you, but we need to go, now."

  And with that, the air shimmered around us, and the world went dark.

  I held onto my chocolate for all I was worth.

  Chapter Two

  The world was off kilter as I stumbled out of the man's arms. I looked around me, not knowing where the bloody hell I was.

  What was happening?

  My brain was lagging, and I forced it to catch up, ticking the things off in my mind.

  Sexy man? Check.

  Abducted? Check.

  No idea how I shimmered? Check.

  No idea where I was? Check.

  Chocolate? I looked around and was relieved to see the bag right next to me. Check.

  I made a beeline for the haul, digging out my favourite bar and devouring it.

  The chocolate gave me a little strength, considering the last time I'd eaten was breakfast—right before my father had passed away.

  A tightening of my chest had me gasping for air. I wasn't ready to deal with his loss right now. Would I ever be? Unshed tears clogged my throat.

  Not that he was a great father. Nope. He was an asshole of the biggest kind. It was knowing the secrets he'd held until his dying breaths. The rambling of an old man, I'd put it down to—but honestly? They...scared me.

  And maybe, just maybe, they weren't fiction after all.

  I turned around finally, knowing I'd come face to face with my captor. He was standing there, right where we'd landed, and was watching me intently. He was so close, I could see the flecks of black in his eyes as they danced mischievously.

  "Feel better?" He looked down at the screwed up wrapper in my hand. And I dropped it back into the bag.

  He smiled then, and he looked like a wolf. I shuddered and knew I was going to hell for wishing he'd ravish me now.

  Long moments of silence extended, and I wondered whether this was a weird form of torture. Because being next to this gorgeous man had my heart rocketing in my chest, and I was pretty sure I might croak at any given time.

  "My name is Jaz. You'll have questions," he said at last.

  Did I have questions? My mind was blank right now. Maybe too much had happened today, and my circuits were going into meltdown? And his name was Jaz. My brain played with the word, and I realised it actually suited the formidable beast in front of me.

  When I didn't open my mouth, he turned slowly and went to sit in a chair by the wall. I finally took a good look at my surroundings. The walls were stone, the floor was stone, and the furnishings were basic and sparse. It looked like I was in a medieval castle.

  "Where the fuck am I?"

  He sat forward in the basic wooden chair, his elbows resting on his knees. "This is your castle." He watched me intently.

  I looked around again, attempting to be diplomatic in my answer, but failing. "Look, whatever this illusion is of you disappearing and reappearing and turning up in this weird stone room, I'm impressed. Seriously. You should put this shit on YouTube. But today isn't a good day. I want to go home."

  No, I didn't want home. Home was toxic. Home was family I didn't want or like. But he didn't need to know that right now.

  "Your father was a guardian, like I am."

  My father. The fact that he was even mentioning him made me immediately nervous.

  "He was sworn to protect you, as I am."

  He pushed his fingers through his hair, and I was struck at just how soft it looked.

  "Your father was supposed to guide you, and eventually, tell you everything. He chose not to. He thought he could protect you by keeping you ignorant. Then he was killed before he could share everything with you—"

  "Woah, woah. My father wasn't killed. Maybe you've got the wrong person." This was getting fucked up. "My dad died of cancer."

  "Six weeks ago, he went on a mystery mission. He didn't tell the Elders what he was doing, and he was gone for almost two weeks."

  I shook my head, attempting to dislodge the memories from the vault. This wasn't true, was it? No. No. This was some elaborate hoax, and I was falling for the lies. But he had taken a holiday, he'd said.

  I looked at Jaz where he'd stood up now. He moved closer, and I was very aware that he was maybe a good ten inches taller than my own height of five foot seven inches.

  "We don't know what happened. He failed to report. But he came back sick from silver poisoning. The symptoms are very much like cancer. Your doctors wouldn't know the difference."

  "This is all bullshit. You expect me to believe this?" I turned on my heel and marched over to a window. There was a small slither of glass in the tiny opening, and I looked out. I was maybe three storeys up, but the landscape was foreign to me. Just where the hell was I? My castle? Fuck me.

  "Buddy, you need to bedazzle me out of here and take me back to my car. This is nuts. You're nuts."

  "Don't believe me yet? That's fine. We do this in every incarnation. All you have to do is listen to me."

  "No, I don't." I said, turning around to face him. "This isn't my life—"

  My words cut off in my throat as he strode over and grabbed me by the shoulder. Both hands now held my upper arms in a strong grip. Fear snaked down my spine and made my legs not respond to my fight or flight plan.

  "You are the royal heir to a demon kingdom. Your real parents were killed when you were days old. This has happened in many of your past lives, and we have been your guardians in all of them. You have been protected from this all your current life, but for some reaso
n, the guardian who we assigned to be your father betrayed you. He told those who seek your powers your whereabouts, and that puts you in grave danger." Jaz shook me gently. "Do you understand me? This is of the utmost importance. We need to keep you safe. We need to protect the people of your kingdom. You need to take the throne, so we can overthrow your enemies."

  I didn't know what to say to that. My father had betrayed me, and he wasn't even my dad? I took a deep, shaky breath. Demons? Powers? Jaz must be mistaken, right? But there was that weird part of me again. The part that found Jaz so familiar to me. The part that had listened to my father's death ramblings and believed him, no matter how outlandish they had been.

  Jaz's biting fingers loosened into a soft caress. I looked up into his eyes, and his mouth lifted into a slight smile.

  "Trust me, Carina. I will give my life to protect you. And you have given yours to protect me in the past."

  "Why?" My voice broke on the one word so I repeated it, stronger this time. "Why?"

  "Because you're beautiful, and I want to. Because I'm loyal, and you're my queen."

  Well, shit. I glanced over to my bag of chocolate and wondered if all the sugar was going to be enough to dim the ache I felt at this almost stranger's words.

  "We need to act fast. We don't know how much your father told your enemies." His voice was still soft, but his fingers lifted into my hair. "You get your silver hair from your mother."

  It was a simple statement, but one that completely floored me. My mother. I'd never had a maternal figure in my life, and the father I had was apparently not my blood?