Kissed by Midnight

by Cate Corvin

  I laid my head on his chest, tucking myself under his chin and pressing my palm flat where the heartbeat would be in a mortal man. There was nothing but a steady stillness under my hand.

  “No, Locke. You wouldn’t have done it. Even if I would’ve let you- and I wouldn’t have- you could never be the kind of man he was.” I kissed his neck and felt him swallow reflexively under my lips. “The Cage wasn’t the answer to immortality. And you have two thralls now- you never need to worry about hurting someone to feed again.”

  Locke wrapped his arms around me and buried his nose in my hair, taking a deep breath. “Perhaps you are right. But my own willingness to consider taking that path is disturbing to me.”

  “We’ve all done or considered doing things we never would’ve done otherwise. It doesn’t make you evil, Locke. It makes you human.” A lump formed in my throat at the thought of Locke being left alone in the world when I did finally die. After decades incarcerated underground, alone and forgotten, who could blame Locke for wanting one person who could walk alongside him forever? “But even if we hadn’t destroyed the Cage, I couldn’t have lived by consuming other people’s souls. I’d rather just love you with the time I do have on this earth.”

  He was silent for a long time, and I just hugged him, letting him know that he wasn’t alone. He had me for as long as we lived.

  “I followed Dominic into Death,” he finally said. “Even if we unlock the key to perfecting the vampire virus, and you choose to remain mortal… that is where I’ll follow you.”

  I mulled over the possibility, but unlike Albrecht, immortality had never sounded appealing to me. It sounded more like a curse.

  On the other hand, Locke might be the one to find that key. It could exist. And if that time ever came...

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” I looked up at him, seeing both my Locke and the Elijah of the past just under his perfected features. “But whether it’s in Life or Death, I’m yours forever.”

  “This I know,” he said, lowering his head to kiss me. “Because I am yours.”

  ***

  Several nights later, I ran my fingers over the smooth surface of the black door. It was locked; the wards in my head hummed soothingly, reassuring me that no one could get in or out without my permission.

  Most nights I slept just fine. Other nights, I dreamed of Albrecht scratching at the other side of the door, relentlessly clawing his way through even as he decayed. Rationally I knew that was impossible: his spirit wasn’t just exorcised, it had vanished entirely, consumed by the breaking of the Cage. I’d overseen the burning of the Cage’s remnants and the bodies of Albrecht and the Gilt witches myself. He would never rise from Death again.

  But in those nightmares, I was still wearing Josephine’s moth-eaten wedding gown, still caked with old powder for a sham of a handfasting, frozen in place as Albrecht scratched, and scratched, and scratched.

  “You’re brooding.”

  I leaned against Shane’s warm chest and he wrapped his arms around me. He was more scarred than ever before, his entire body crisscrossed with quicksilver knots and lines.

  They’d suffered so much just to come for me. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible for anyone to make it down without protection.

  “I was just checking the wards.” I tried to move away from the door surreptitiously, but Shane raised an eyebrow and pulled me away from it entirely, putting himself between me and it.

  “No, you’re brooding. You think we don’t know what that looks like at this point?”

  I was dressed in nothing but pajama shorts and a tank top, but Shane led me outside anyways, where the air was still balmy from the sun, and sat me down on a marble bench that had escaped Ivy’s warpath of destruction.

  “He’s not coming back, Lu.” Shane straddled the bench with a leg on either side and pulled me against him. I stared out at the dark forest as his hands snaked around me, his chin resting on my shoulder, but it was impossible to tell if anything stared back. “None of them are. The vampires and all the Gilts are gone.”

  “Not all of them,” I murmured. Through the web of wards in my mind, I felt the Giltglass grimoire as a dark, malignant blot of magic against Cimmerian’s magic. And my name was in that book. “Just by existing, I keep their legacy alive.”

  “You’re not really one of them, and you never were.” He ran his finger over my arm, tracing aimless curlicue patterns on my skin. Goosebumps rose where he touched me. “What if we called in the Tribunal and changed it to something that was special to us?”

  I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder. The light of the waxing moon just picked out his features in silver. “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged, in the nonchalant way he used when he was about to tell me something that was commonplace knowledge among covens that I’d had no idea of. “They have their own archives where they keep the grimoires of dead or forgotten covens. We can give them Gilt’s grimoire, rename ourselves and make our own grimoire.”

  I mulled it over even though I’d settled on a decision before he’d even finished speaking. “That’s what we’ll do, then. Rename ourselves.”

  Two shadows strolled from the darkness. Locke had his hands in his pockets, an all-too-human mannerism, and Roman was glistening with sweat. He’d been running the forest.

  Only one was missing.

  “What do you See for us, Shane?” I asked.

  I felt him smile against my shoulder. “What you already decided to do with it. Your plans have determined the future... or maybe the future determined your plans. We’re here to bring Cimmerian back to its roots,” he said. “A haven for the lost and unwanted and outcasts. But this time it’s going to be a home for them, not a prison.”

  “A haven,” I mused, looking over the grounds and imagining them repaired and brimming with flowers, a new conservatory, and lots of room for young therianthropes to run. A place where people could explode into wildfire or witchblades in safety until they learned control. An academy where no one would be treated like a pariah for their visions, their uncontrollable magic, or their upbringing.

  Not a cage, but a refuge.

  Chapter 20

  Lu

  I finally slept without fear. No nightmares clawed at the inside of my skull, but even if they had, Locke was watching my dreams, prepared to crush them out at a moment’s notice if they darkened into anything else. Demonseed was curled near my head, taking up most of the pillow.

  I woke up to soft lips pressed against my temple. When I opened my eyes to the blackness of night, for a moment I was back in the depths of Cimmerian’s tunnels, the complete lack of light pressing down on me like a cruel hand.

  Then I blinked and took a breath of fresh air, saw the slice of pale moon through the window, and felt a familiar presence next to me. “You’re back.”

  I reached for Dominic and pulled him down. He wrapped himself around me, dusting kisses over my face and neck, nibbling my earlobe until goosebumps rose all over my body.

  “I missed you every second I was gone,” he breathed. It took a quick wriggle to pull him halfway over me so I could kiss him at my leisure, run my hands through his hair and breathe in the scent of his spicy cologne.

  Everyone was home. A tension I hadn’t even felt cramping up my limbs slowly flowed away. I hadn’t realized how much I feared the Tribunal’s retribution until right now. They could’ve chosen to strip Dominic of his rank or keep him in custody for as long as they wanted out of sheer spite.

  My sigh of relief ruffled his hair. “What did they think of it?”

  “Exactly what I thought they would.” He barely hid the acerbic bite in his tone. “Perhaps Mallory should be grateful she’s dead. Naomi Gray and Anne Lace will be sentenced to Obsidian before the week is out, and Anthony will be sent into the human justice system. He’ll never work for another coven again.”

  That was one bright spot of relief.

  “Did they read the report? They know e
verything that happened?”

  Dominic paused in the middle of kissing his way down my neck and jerked his head in a short nod. “They know.”

  My breath seemed caught in my throat. “And… do they care?”

  His pause took far too long for my comfort. “They’ve sealed the official report and Temple’s book. Very few people will ever know the full truth of this place.”

  I pushed back a wave of disappointment. What did it really matter if the report was sealed? Albrecht and Mallory Gilt were dead, along with his poor, misbegotten daughters. The culpable staff would live out the rest of their lives in Obsidian.

  Everyone had paid for their crimes. It was done.

  I rested my palm flat against Dom’s back, feeling his heartbeat through my palm. “I don’t know why I’m upset about that. It just seems wrong to lock away the records like it never happened at all.”

  Dom made a noise low in his throat and pulled me just a little closer. “I know what you mean, but the Pacts aren’t going to be dissolved anytime soon, and the last thing we’d want is for the knowledge of how to create something like the Cage to become widespread. Cimmerian isn’t the only covenstead that was built over leylines strong enough to power necromantic machinery. We’ll tell their families as much as we can, and let the rest die out.”

  I breathed out a sigh. “It’s fine. I’m just glad they didn’t try to keep you there. Or fire you, or whatever it is Wardens do.”

  He let out a rough laugh. “Even without a functional left arm, they weren’t willing to let me go. I’ll need new training before I go back to fieldwork, but I’d rather take the prison jobs for a while. At least I’d get to come home at night that way.”

  “Do what you need to do,” I said, but a small part of me hoped he wouldn’t take too much fieldwork. Things didn’t feel quite the same without all of them here. “I’d like to really start fixing this place up into a real boarding-school. I’ve already got some ideas for it; Roman and I can handle the elementalists’ classes, the twins can teach the therianthropes, Shane has the clairvoyants…”

  I didn’t bother to mention mirrorwalkers. Dom and I both knew the mirrorwalker families were far too possessive of their own to let one go without a fight. It explained why Mallory had wanted Dom around so badly, even after discovering he was a Warden; with half of the Cage’s mechanisms located in Death, it was bound to need a mirrorwalker’s expertise at some point, if Albrecht wanted to continue perfecting his creation.

  “And when I’m home, I’ll teach my usual courses, of course.”

  “But of course.” I rolled over and straddled him, planting my hands on his chest and lightly pinning him down. He’d already stripped off the Warden’s armor; it took me only a second to yank his white tee over his head, revealing the hard planes of his chest and stomach. “It wouldn’t be the same without Professor Steele.”

  Thin silvery lines marked his tawny skin. None of the guys had come out of the depths of Cimmerian unscathed, even if Dom had taken the worst of it.

  Every inch of me was already tingling at how close he was, and I stripped off my tank top, biting back a hiss when I felt him harden under me.

  “I ran into Locke on the way in,” he said, sitting up. He wrapped his arm around my waist. A sliver of moonlight caught his features, illuminating the two small neat holes scarring his neck. “If you want him to join us.”

  A pleasurable shiver went through me. Unlike the twins and the vampire, Dom had never shared me before.

  I ran my thumb over the marks on his neck, raising goosebumps on his skin. Locke would feel the thrall-bond calling him. I wondered if it was the same for them as it was for Locke and myself, a bone-deep pull between us.

  “What did it feel like for you?”

  It couldn’t have felt good, could it? If you were worn down to the last dregs, not even sure that you were going to survive, would vampire venom have the same glittering, euphoric sparkle?

  “It felt like everything vanished,” he said, his fingers running over my breasts and down my stomach until he found the matching silver marks on my inner thigh. “All the pain, the exhaustion… it was like being numb and drunk at the same time.”

  My breath hitched when he ran his fingers over the marks, sending tingles through all my nerve endings.

  “I wonder if you took the euphoria now, if you’d feel what I feel.” The stubble on his cheek scratched against my lips gently as I kissed along his jaw. “The glitter of it.”

  His fingers slipped to the side, parting my lips and finding me already wet. “Maybe we’ll find out when he gets here.”

  The lock clicked open and shut again, and a vague shape resolved from the darkness. Locke, his skin just tinged with ashen color, amber eyes shining from the shadows. He silently padded through the room.

  I touched the mark on Dom’s neck and his pulse jumped under my fingertips. Locke’s eyes snapped to the movement, his features touched with both hunger and desire.

  He shivered when I glided over them again and licked his lips. His fangs flashed, white and sharp.

  “Do you want this?” I whispered in Dom’s ear. He was a thrall, but he always had a choice to slowly dissolve that bond between them.

  He nodded, hazel eyes glittering. “Come here, Locke.”

  I wound my fingers through his hair and gripped a handful, gently pulling his head to the side and exposing the delicate artery.

  Locke hesitated for only a second, then he climbed onto the bed just behind Dom. My heart pounded a little faster when he ran his tongue over the thrall-mark, his eyes heavy-lidded, and aligned his fangs with them perfectly.

  I met Dom’s eyes, leaning forward the mere inch between us to kiss him as Locke pierced his flesh. Dom winced, let out a soft gasp against my lips, but it became a low groan as Locke released his venom and flooded his system with euphoric venom.

  His cock pulsed against my wet pussy, growing even harder as Locke drank from him.

  My vampire finally broke away with his own gasp, gliding his tongue over the wounds and healing them instantly.

  Dom traced the ridge of my cupid’s bow with his tongue, tracing my lower lip, and nipped at me. “Your turn,” he whispered. There was the slightest slur to his words.

  “Do you feel it?” I asked, swallowing hard when he pushed my shoulder, pressing me back against the pillows.

  “I feel the glitter now,” he said with a crooked grin. “You were right.”

  Both Dom and Locke gripped my pajama shorts and pulled them down over my hips and thighs in tandem, like they’d read each other’s minds.

  The vampire hooked his hands under my knees and spread my legs apart, a low growl purring in the back of his throat.

  He kissed the inside of my knee while his fingers pressed into my skin.

  There was a faint click of a belt buckle and Dom left the rest of his clothes in a pile, stretching across the head of the bed to claim my mouth as Locke slowly, sensuously worked his way down my thigh, until his tongue ran over my wet folds and found my thrall-mark.

  He teased me until I was trembling under him, the tip of his warm tongue sliding between my lips and over my clit before moving to the mark and back.

  Dom kissed me ravenously, cupping a breast and thumbing a hard nipple until I arched under him. “Now I want you to feel how intense it gets,” I said, barely able to get the words out without moaning out loud. Locke chose that exact moment to suck my clit before plunging his tongue into me. “Come here, let me show you.” I ran my hand over his side, his muscles flexing under my palm.

  Dom made a muffled groan against my mouth and rose onto his knees. The long, thick length of his cock slid over my lips, hot and velvet-smooth.

  I pushed my hips against Locke’s mouth and opened my own, cupping Dom’s heavy balls and wrapping my lips around the liquid-beaded crown.

  A full-body shudder ran through him when I skimmed my tongue down the underside of his cock, swirling the tip over the sensitive skin of the he
ad. Each time Locke pushed into me with fingers and tongue, I pulled Dom a little deeper, stretching my jaw to take as much of him as I could.

  The muscles in his densely-corded thighs jumped when I gripped his hip and pulled him forward. He made a low noise in his throat, tangling his hand in my hair and cupping my cheek.

  Locke pushed two fingers in my wet center and licked the thrall-mark. Just before his fangs pierced my skin, a jolt of anticipation shot through me, every sinew in my body aching for him to bite down and join us together.

  The euphoria flooded my veins and washed away the spark of pain. The world felt like it was melting around me, every inch of my skin hyper-sensitive of where we touched. The warm rush of Locke taking my blood and sealing the wounds with a kiss, the hot silk of Dominic’s iron-hard cock between my lips, their hands tangled in my hair and running over my thighs…

  Even with Dom filling my mouth, I couldn’t help but moan at how intense everything felt, but he pulled back, sliding out from between my lips.

  “We’re going to try something new,” he said, his voice rough.

  Goosebumps rose all over my body when Locke took my hands and laced my fingers together, and Dom held them cradled in his palm. The vampire unspooled a length of shiny red cord the thickness of my ring finger.

  He carefully laced it around my wrists and between my hands, taking his time to painstakingly tie the knots perfectly, and a wide grin split my mouth. “Dom taught you.”

  Locke nodded once, focused on his task, and when it was done my wrists were perfectly bound in a ritualistic work of art.

  “Since I can’t do it anymore, Locke will be my hands now.” Dom gave me a scorching look, his eyes running over me from head to toe, and lifting my wrists above my head.

  Locke carefully slid a metal hook between the ropes, and unveiled another, much shorter length of dark cloth.

  My breath caught in my throat when he captured my mouth in a deep kiss and placed the cloth over my eyes, blocking out the glittering world and tying a careful knot at the back of my head.