Hosts to Ghosts Box Set

by Lynne Connolly

  If he’d had any doubts before, they were all quelled now. He wouldn’t want to go on without her, knew that she was all that mattered now. He’d give up the Dark Gift for her. Fuck, he’d give his life for hers without thinking twice.

  He saw them now, two figures in the distance, locked together in what looked like a lover’s kiss, Karey pressed against Didiane’s body, Didiane’s head bent to his wife’s sweet neck.

  With a roar of rage Jordan raced toward them. As he approached, Didiane released her hold. Karey fell limply to the ground.

  “What have you done?”

  Didiane smiled, that seductive, sinuous smile that had been his downfall. “What do you think? I’ve done what a vampire does best.”

  Karey lay on the ground, barely alive, pale as death, but breathing. Only just breathing. Jordan couldn’t prevent his moan of despair as he bent and gathered her up, holding her close to his chest as if his warmth could keep her alive.

  “You can’t have her Jordan. Now you have a choice. Your life for hers. And when you do that, I’ll kill her again.”

  Jordan lifted his head like a deadly predator, eyes gleaming in fury and despair. He couldn’t watch her die, and he couldn’t live without her. There was no hope, none at all.

  “Convert her, Jordan. Give your life for hers.”

  It was the only way, her only chance. In her arrogance Didiane had forgotten that Jordan had assimilated a four hundred year old vampire, one of the most powerful of his kind. Jordan felt the power within him. He’d only taken care because his life had seemed to have some meaning, and he didn’t want to take any risks with the raw power he wasn’t yet sure how to use. Now it didn’t matter. He would give his Gift to Karey, and let her make the decision.

  Heartbreakingly, Karey opened her eyes and gazed up at his face. She opened her mouth, but was too weak to speak. He hushed her with a gentle kiss, barely touching the lips he had loved so thoroughly earlier in the day. They had at least that, one day of lovemaking, a chance to rediscover each other after the loss that had forced them apart. “It was all worth it for yesterday,” he murmured, praying she could hear him. “I give you this willingly. Live for me, Karey. I’ll always be with you now, always be a part of you.” He kissed each eye, feeling the lids flutter shut and then her mouth.

  He lowered his head to her neck and extended his fangs.

  She didn’t have much blood left in her; barely a pint. He drew out every drop but did it with such reverence it was almost a sacred act. He finished with a kiss pressed gently to her neck and a simple, “I love you.”

  Karey’s eyes sprang open, glittering with madness. The frenzy was on her now. Nothing could stop what was to come.

  Jordan put his head on one side and extended his throat, offering it to her. He lowered them both to the ground, knowing that in the next few moments his strength would leave him and flow into her. He kept his eyes open, watching her new fangs extend out of her mouth, gleaming palely in the moonlight.

  Jordan Arcenaux smiled reassuringly at the woman who was about to kill him.

  Karey lowered her mouth to his neck and Jordan felt her pierce his skin. A fierce pain jolted his body. Didiane laughed, a full-bodied laugh of sheer enjoyment and Jordan realized her depravity knew no bounds. The woman was a monster. He prayed Karey would find the strength to kill Didiane before the Frenchwoman realized her mistake.

  His blood flowed hotly into Karey, and he smiled, knowing at least that now he would find peace. He wouldn’t walk the earth like Susannah Sharman, tortured by events he couldn’t change. He had done his best. He would die content.

  * * * * *

  “Jordan Arcenaux, stand up!”

  Bewildered by the new voice, Jordan opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground, allowing Karey to lie on top of him, protecting her from the dampness. He hadn’t realized he’d done that.

  Karey’s mouth left his neck and he felt the brush of her hair as she turned her head to look up. Amazed, he tried to drag her back.

  “Do as I say!”

  He recognized the voice. Sarah had managed to get here. But there was nothing she could do, except ensure justice was done. He curled his hand around the back of Karey’s neck, preparing to pull her back down so she could finish her task. She had to take all his blood, or she would die. She needed a death to affirm her life. It was the way of the vampire.

  “Didiane nearly drained Karey,” he said, sorry that his last words weren’t, after all, to be ‘I love you.’ “She needs the sacrifice.”

  “I know. That sacrifice isn’t you, Jordan Arcenaux. Now get to your feet.”

  Easing Karey’s body away, Jordan stood up and bent to lift her.

  “Leave her be!”

  Didiane was no longer laughing. Jordan let his gaze rake her from head to foot. She took no notice of him, staring at Sarah with a fascinated but supercilious expression in her beautiful eyes. “You cannot interfere,” she said. “Let the woman finish it.”

  “So you can drain her again?” Sarah met Didiane’s gaze straight on, her dark eyes glittering in the moonlight. “I think not.”

  “Were you planning to kill Foret once he found the stones?” Didiane’s lip curled. “I thought so.”

  Sarah paused to regard them all, her gaze as wise as time, and as old. “I can condemn you and let it be known why. This I will do.”

  Didiane recoiled, her proud gaze turning crafty as she realized the importance of Sarah’s words. Jordan knew she was plotting already, working out a way to turn even this to her advantage.

  “I’m vampire and mamba. I’ve studied the art for many years, and I can do things very few others can accomplish. Such as redirect a vampire’s blood lust. Karey is in stasis right now, but it won’t last long.”

  She bent to where Karey still lay on the ground, and lifted her chin with one finger. Karey growled, as feral as any jaguar. “Karey, your sire is here. She is waiting to give you her Talent.” Karey’s eyes turned to Jordan, and he saw anguish under the madness of the killing frenzy.

  “No,” Sarah continued, her voice low and compelling. “There she stands. She made you. Now you must take her.”

  Didiane turned to run, but Karey, now in full possession of the killing frenzy, all humanity pushed aside, pounced and brought Didiane down with a single, powerful leap.

  She sat across Didiane, her legs straddling the Frenchwoman’s slender waist, pressing her face down into the dirt. Karey bent her head. Didiane choked, but Karey’s strength in this first moment surpassed anything anyone here could produce. Jordan saw her fangs flash before her mouth closed on Didiane’s throat. Didiane cried out once, then was still.

  The sound of the cicadas in the bayou seemed to increase in volume, the plop of a creature in the river unnaturally loud, mingling with the noise of wet sucking. Karey wasn’t neat in her first vampire feeding. That, Jordan remembered, took a little practice. He could teach her.

  At that thought, the first rays of hope leaked into his mind and heart, and without thinking he lifted his hand from his side and unclenched the fists he’d been unaware of making. Sarah linked her hand with his, filling him with the simple pleasure of touch.

  Karey drained Didiane dry. Jordan knew the instant Didiane died, her warped soul twisting out of her body to gain release. He wished her redemption, sent up a brief prayer that she would find peace and salvation wherever she was going.

  Then, his ex-lover forgotten, he released Sarah’s hand and dropped to his knees. Slowly, Karey lifted her head and brought both hands up, shoving back her glorious hair. It gleamed in the silvery moonlight. She turned, and looked straight at Jordan.

  He reached for her and took both her hands in his, turning her away from the husk that had once been Didiane. When he tugged, she got to her feet and stepped over the body, going to him as if she belonged there. Which she did.

  “Go now,” Sarah said. “I will take care of the rest. Didiane Merchand will rest in the bayou and Bernard Foret will find himself c
ondemned for the murders he’s done.” She opened her hand, revealing a hunk of short, brown hair. “A sprinkling of this on the bodies in the morgue, and they’ll have enough to arrest him. Then they can search his rooms and find the evidence they need. It’s there. He filmed the rituals in which the victims died. They’ll find those.”

  “Were you planning this all along?”

  Sarah gave a smile he was glad not to be the cause of. “Let’s say I had a notion. He killed those poor people, all but the girl, and I’m sure the captain will manage to pin her murder on him, too. Tidy up the case. He could even get a promotion from this. I can guide him in his quest, but only toward the truth.” The smile disappeared. “I will fight the caplata’s evil influence to the end of my days.”

  “The necklace? It’s safe?”

  Sarah laughed shortly. “It never left Camille. After she took Susannah’s children, Camille made the poor woman come down here and bury the stones in her grave. They only left Camille for a brief time.”

  Jordan sighed with relief. He didn’t want the responsibility of the necklace, or of disposing of it. “Let it remain there.”

  “It will.” This time Sarah’s smile held only friendship. “Now go. By the time you reach the airport, someone will be waiting for you with your passports and belongings from the hotel.” She turned to Karey. “Welcome, sister. In about two hours you will fall into a profound sleep, and I want you well away from this place before you do that. Take the first plane to anywhere, just get away.”

  Jordan held his wife close, felt her warmth and said a silent prayer of thanks. Sarah smiled. “Close your eyes, both of you.”

  They felt the familiar whirring, flashing moment of disorientation and realized Sarah was strong enough to send them to the airport. A woman of great power indeed.

  “Jordan Arcenaux?” A man stood before them, shielding their arrival from any would-be spectators. He held out a wallet and a carry-on bag. “Take these. I’ve booked you on the next flight out of here. Gate twelve. The plane leaves in an hour.”

  “Where are we going?” Not that it mattered overmuch.

  “Paris.”

  Jordan smiled. “Perfect.”

  * * * * *

  Paris in late autumn was a far cry from New Orleans in the fall. The air stung with a bright chilliness, and tourists jostled down the Rue St Honoré toward the Louvre museum. Karey stood at the window of the second story apartment and watched for one person. She’d felt the jolt which told her the sun had gone down and her powers were on her. She’d thought she would never get used to it, but with Jordan’s loving help, she now belonged in the world of the vampire.

  They would live, if not forever, for a very long time. They might even have children. They practiced enough. Sometimes it seemed too much for her to take in, but she took everything one day at a time, and it seemed to work well.

  Jordan was out, finalizing the sale of the apartment of Gillespie Cornell. No money was actually changing hands, although it appeared that way from the paperwork. Instead, Jordan was gifting it back to Cornell’s family. He’d offered to return the money, but the Cornells refused to accept it. They had enough of their own, and their quarrel wasn’t with Jordan, but with Didiane, who had now received her just reward for causing the death of their kinsman. She’d told Jordan the lies and she’d charmed and drugged Cornell into draining Jordan. What happened afterwards had been out of Jordan’s control.

  Karey had met two of the Cornell brothers. As tall as Jordan, and far scarier, dark eyes and sheer male power making them edgier than anyone she’d ever met before. They were considering joining the staff of Hosts to Ghosts, though she couldn’t imagine being their boss. They’d welcomed her warmly, but deep in their eyes she’d seen a ruthlessness she’d seen nowhere else. Not even in Jordan.

  He’d be back soon. They kept their minds constantly linked. She felt his presence closer than before.

  Smiling, she went through to the bathroom and turned the faucets on full, before finding a bottle of bubble bath and dumping a generous amount into the water. Jordan enjoyed bath-time play, and she was about to indulge him.

  By the time the outer door closed behind him, she was in the bath, waiting, bubbles up to her neck. She waited, picturing him in her mind. He would find the first clue by the outer door of the bedroom. After that, another. A stocking. Another one. A garter belt, part of the set in oyster silk she sometimes wore for him. The slip next, a confection of short silk and lace. Then the bra. She’d left the panties next to the bathroom door. Although there wasn’t much material to show, she knew he’d find them.

  The door opened. He studied her and the picture she made, a smile creeping slowly over his face. She lifted slightly, just enough to allow her shoulders to break free of the bubbles and lowered her lashes, looking up at him from underneath her eyelids.

  His feral growl made heat bloom between her legs. “Is this for me?”

  “That depends. Have you brought dinner?”

  She saw the delight in his eyes, the gray brightening with sparks of fire. “Oh yes, mon amour.”

  Since her conversion, Karey’d had trouble feeding. She’d found it difficult to take the small amount of blood she needed, even when she knew she was returning the favor with a vampire-style orgasm. She’d used women only after the first time, when Jordan ripped her away from a man’s throat, unable to bear the sight. On the other hand, watching her feed from a woman turned him on. In return, he’d promised to use only male victims. The results had been—interesting. Tonight she didn’t need to go out, and although she couldn’t survive on vampire blood alone, she could cope for tonight.

  Tonight she’d have him for supper. Her husband, the man she loved, the man she would always love.

  She watched him shed his clothes. She gloried in the strength of his body, his smooth muscles, the breadth of his shoulders. His glorious frame was so well stacked, it made her want to reach for him and run her hands all over that tempting muscle.

  Karey forced herself to remain hidden under the bubbles until he was down to his briefs. Then she lifted up a little more, revealing the tops of her nipples.

  It was enough for another growl, and he virtually ripped the last tight, white garment off his body. She’d wanted a good look at his sexy ass, but she consoled herself with the thought that she would be touching it soon.

  When he dropped in the tub opposite her, she picked up the cake of soap from the side of the bath and dropped it in the water. “You planning to wash me?” His voice was hoarse with wanting.

  She smiled and squirmed, enjoying the sensation of the warm water swirling around her body. “If you’re good.” She slid down so her feet came into contact with his thighs. She felt him quiver. “If you want it that much.”

  “There’s something else I want first.” He reached for her, his hands closing about her waist, and he pulled her toward him. He lifted her legs and draped them over his thighs, so they met, sex to sex, breast to breast, mouth to mouth.

  A gentle, loving kiss of greeting before he tilted his head to one side and pushed her mouth open with his tongue, at the same time he drew her closer, just enough.

  She was wet enough for him to slide inside without any resistance, and she felt the double invasion as a loving tribute to her. He spoke inside her head.

  “You’re ready?”

  “Yes I’m ready.”

  He plunged his tongue deep, thrusting inside her below, lifting her to bring her closer. “God, I love you!”

  She broke away to laugh, in pure joy, just because she could, then she felt the warmth blossom inside her and the laugh changed to gasps and then a long moan.

  All the time his mouth was on her, licking her breast, sucking briefly at her nipples, then rising to her throat.

  “Together, now,” he whispered, hot breath bathing her neck.

  Trembling from her orgasm and for what she was about to do, Karey stretched around to his throat, and tasted the sweat on his skin. She felt h
er teeth extend in the Hunger and she plunged in.

  At the same time she felt his teeth pierce her skin. Inside her, his cock jolted and he dragged her close, thrust deeply into her, as though he couldn’t have stopped himself if he’d wanted to.

  Blood flowed between them, out of her, into her. She exploded in a crescendo of emotion, love so close to tears she couldn’t tell the difference. And he was in her, with her, sharing her. This was love. This was pure love.

  * * * * *

  Afterwards, Karey lay against Jordan’s chest, replete. “I may never move again.”

  Jordan laughed at her groan of exhaustion. He was still inside her, but softening now, a gentle reminder of the explosive passion they’d given each other. “Do you think you might feed better this way?”

  She kissed his chest. “I don’t think I’ll last very long.”

  “I’ll make sure you do.” Jordan wasn’t sure he could last, if that was a sample of what was to come. “I’m afraid you’re addictive, ma chaton. I’ll need this, now I’ve had one taste of it. Mutual feeding, mutual ecstasy.”

  She glided her hand up his chest. He brought it to his mouth, tasting her on her palm, her fingers. He kissed every one before he let her go.

  The bubbles had gone now, dispersed by the soap, and he took a moment to admire her body. Tall, strong and athletic, Karey also had curves he loved to shape with his hands, feel against his body when he slept. She was as necessary to him as the air he breathed. He began to wash her, smoothing the scented soap between his hands, then over her skin. Desire simmered inside him, easily controlled. Jordan had never felt so fulfilled.

  “All my life,” he murmured, enjoying the weight of her breasts in his hands, “All my life I reached for something but I didn’t know what it was. I wanted to be better at my job, try harder to please my parents, work harder to achieve more success. Now I know it was all for you. The desperation has gone.”

  “What do you want?” Karey stretched like a cat, a smile of satiation adorning her face. “Apart from me.”

  “I’ve always wanted to know what I don’t know.” He chuckled. “I guess I’ll always feel that way.”