by A. C. Arthur
The second reason she was ready to leave was the clenching at her throat that left her struggling for her next breath. It had started just a few moments ago, creeping up from the pit of her stomach and grabbing her as if an actual hand was there wrapping long cold fingers around her slender neck and squeezing. She coughed.
And then there was a touch at her shoulder.
“Be well, my darling. I am here now.”
If she lived to be one hundred, Shola would never forget that voice. It was the voice that had unveiled her fate. Raspy and low as he leaned in and whispered against her ear, “It is such a pleasure to see you again, Shola. I’ve looked forward to the moment that we would be alone.”
His face pressed sickly against her ear as he inhaled deeply, smelling her hair or maybe just her. His other hand came to rest on her other shoulder and she was encased by a chilling power.
“Hello, Warrick.” Her voice came in gasps. “I am looking forward to tonight.”
“I’m looking forward to our future together,” he replied.
His breath was a lukewarm brush against her skin that, instead of comforting, or even arousing, made her stomach churn, and she swallowed the urge to gag. With her fingers squeezing her purse tightly, she turned slowly so they were now facing each other.
Warrick Camden was an alluring man. His angular face was very attractive with a root beer complexion, neatly shaved black with a heavy dose of gray goatee, and soulless brown eyes.
“The future.” She paused as she stared back at him. “Can be so hard to predict.”
Warrick didn’t even blink, but the ends of his mouth lifted in a slow smile. There was no joy in that smile, no laughter in his gaze, both reasons to make her job easier. He was a threat to her people, and that was all that mattered to her.
“Yet ours has been so carefully planned.” He cupped her cheek with his hand.
He was correct. This union between her world and his had been planned long before her birth. While her father thought he was simply repaying a debt, and thus keeping any retribution from settling over their people, Shola knew more. The kidnapping of her culture would follow the moment she said “I do” to Warrick. As a result of some insane feud that ended with a curse upon the Mobo village, the people of the River Tribe would fall under Warrick’s rule when he married one of their own. Shola had been chosen to marry him and taught how to kill him.
Her fingers moved over the snap of her purse and she dug her hand inside. Something skittered along her skin, like a heavy brush of a warm wet cloth. It was the power of the Orisha. She had only felt it this strong one other time before.
“I’m coming to you now to let you know that I’ll not be with you tonight. Something has come up, and it requires my immediate attention. But a wondrous night has been planned for your enjoyment.”
She heard his words but gave no cares to what he was saying.
“I do not need wonder,” she quipped.
She had been watching him as he spoke. Nothing he said or did gave away any ill will toward her or her people, yet she’d been taught that he was the leader of their demise. And she didn’t doubt her teacher. She was holding her purse in front of her, one hand slipping inside to rip away the paper that covered the box.
“I know exactly what you need, my sweet. And I will give it to you.”
His voice was so smooth, his words so caressing. Any other woman, at any other time, would easily fall for him. Especially when he lifted another hand to frame her face and leaned in closer.
“My desire for you is strong,” he whispered. “I hadn’t thought it would be this way. But it’s a happy surprise. Together, Shola, you and I will be invincible.”
The hell they would. She tore the paper off the box at the exact moment his lips touched hers. The sound was muted by her surprised gasp when his cool lips met her startled ones. He pressed his body into hers, and she instinctively moved her hands with the purse up in the hope that he would not feel the box inside. It pressed into her ribs, while the unmistakable feel of his arousal moved against the lower part of her stomach.
He smelled like too much musk cologne, a potent scent that filled her head with cloudiness and made her so lightheaded she leaned into him for support.
Then he began speaking in a language she didn’t understand. By the rhythmic cadence, she knew it was a chant. His tongue pressed against her closed lips and the scent grew stronger. She shivered as the feeling of growing power fought to overrule whatever else was happening while she ran her blunt-tipped nails over the wooden box. Feeling as if she might faint at any moment, she parted her lips to suck in a breath and his tongue eagerly slipped inside.
With hasty fingers she flipped the lid off the box as the words she was required to say began to form in her mind. The death spell had not been taught to her. She’d only been told that when the time was right she would know what to say and what to do. The river stones would combine sufficient power to bring the final blow.
Wings. Prey. Divine ordination. Destiny fulfilled.
The words bobbed around in the fog of her mind without making any sense, so they couldn’t be right. She remained still, not accepting or denying Warrick’s kiss. The rigid length of his dick was still pressed persistently against her, and she tried not to cringe while moving her fingers over the smooth surface of the rocks, waiting for more words.
Prey. Hunter. Ruler. Wings. Fire.
No, that didn’t sound correct either.
She pulled out of his grasp, still clenching her purse as she stared at him. With the break in their physical connection the fog in her mind receded.
“You are not my husband yet.” She choked out the words.
Warrick grinned. “But I will be soon.” He extended an arm and checked the big gold watch at his wrist. “I must leave you now. But don’t fret. No harm will come to you before our wedding. I’ll see to that.”
“I have guards.” She wasn’t sure why she told him that, but noted the flicker of humor in his eyes at her words.
“Yes, I know. I’ll take care of that as well.”
In the next seconds, she grabbed all of the rocks in the palm of her hand, letting the purse fall to the floor, and welcomed the persistent buzz of power simmering beneath the surface of her skin. Her heart was pounding, eyes wide, mind waiting with expectancy. Give me the words. Great Orisha Oya, please give me the words.
A thumping knock sounded at the door.
Warrick’s smile vanished.
“I will come for you. Be ready,” he told her. “Be ready, my sweet.”
The knocking continued and she closed her eyes, hoping the words would come if she could just center her mind and focus on the power. The balance. Her destiny.
Wings.
Thump. Thump. Thump!
Fire. Together.
The door crashed open, bringing with it a ferocious wave of hot air. Her eyes snapped open to see Warrick was gone. Where the hell was he? She turned around so fast she almost fell, but instead found herself being pulled into Theo’s embrace, intense blue eyes glittering as he stared down at her.
* * *
She sat in the back seat of the truck, glaring out the window, hands balled into fists at her side. Her purse was open on the seat between them, and Theo could see a box was inside.
“Is that the box you needed?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. Bleu had rushed into the room behind him while Theo tended to her and when Bleu picked up her purse, the box along with a bunch of rocks slipped from her hand. Bleu had given silent acknowledgement to Theo’s questioning stare.
She sighed heavily in response to his question and he thought back to the events that had just transpired.
When Aiken and Reece had entered the building, Theo and Bleu gave them a quick rundown of the situation. That was all the time he’d been willing to wait before taking off to find
Shola. By the time he’d followed her scent to the room, Ziva was already banging on the door, and the moment he appeared, she’d fallen to her hands and knees, roaring with the intensity of a vision. Ignoring Ziva because he knew she would be fine once the vision passed, Theo opened the door with his mind and ran inside. Shola had been standing there, eyes closed, body swaying as if she were in some way possessed.
In that moment, fear, thick and consuming, had streaked through him like a vicious storm. Now, sitting in the back of this truck, he hadn’t totally recovered from that but was working purely on instinct to press forward.
“You’re gonna have to tell me what’s going on, Shola. I can’t protect you if I don’t know everything.” That wasn’t entirely true. He was going to protect her if it meant putting his own life on the line to do it.
Bleu had advised Theo to take it slow with her. She’d appeared frail in that room, when he’d finally touched her and she wouldn’t speak. Magnum, Steele, Aiken and Reece had contained the newborns in the main hall, but didn’t kill them. A delicate truce existed within the preternatural world on this realm, and if they weren’t bothering anyone or anything, they were to be left alone. While Theo had no idea why the newborns were there as guests for Shola’s engagement party, they’d done nothing threatening to him, his team or, from what he could tell, Shola. Ziva had sworn she’d been locked in that room alone.
“I do not need a guard,” Shola said evenly. “I am not sure why my parents hired one, but it is unnecessary. I can handle this.”
When he wanted to yell and point out exactly how untrue that was, he concentrated on keeping his breathing steady instead.
“Whatever this is, you’re not handling it well. The woman who died at the hotel was booked in a room under your name. There were vampires at your engagement party that I’m certain you didn’t know were invited. And your husband-to-be is a no-show.”
He left out the part where Ziva’s vision captured blood and fury filling the room that Shola had been locked in. A tall dark figure, black smoke, and a burst of fire had also been part of the cryptic vision. Ziva didn’t normally have incomplete visions.
“It is none of your concern. I can do this!” she insisted, her tone filled with frustration.
“Do what?” he pressed, because right now her emotions didn’t trump the danger that seemed to be following her. “What were you sent here to do?”
He wasn’t surprised she didn’t respond, but he was pissed off.
“I’m not going to keep asking, Shola. But I will find out and when I do—”
She turned quickly in the seat, icy eyes capturing him. “When you do, you will do nothing, because there is nothing you can do! You are not a part of this, and therefore, are not equipped to handle whatever may come. You are just a security guard, and I no longer need your services.”
As if that were the equivalent of a slap in the face, Theo felt it with a significant sting. Never in all his life had he been spoken to in such a disdainful way, and he didn’t like it. His lips had already begun to peel back from teeth growing sharper against his will.
The truck swerved at that moment. It turned and tires screeched along the asphalt. Shola slid across the seat, banging into him just as a big explosion came from outside. The truck was in midair when Theo threw his body over hers. They bounced and tumbled before finally coming to a stop.
They lay on the ceiling of the truck as it had landed on its roof. In the pit of his chest, a growl rumbled as sharp teeth pressed into his lips. He kept his arms tight around her, holding his breath for long moments, waiting to hear the sound.
Dudum, dudum, dudum.
Her heart was still beating. He looked down, only to find her eyes flashing from the icy coolness of her soul identity to the fiery reddish brown that was displayed to everyone else.
He cursed, long and loud.
Chapter Ten
Foregoing the mind trick this time, Theo kicked the door off its hinges and pulled Shola out of the truck. Bleu and Ziva were already out.
“It was the newborns!” Reece yelled from across the road where he and Aiken were also climbing out of their vehicle.
“The burst of fire,” Ziva said, coming to stand beside Theo. “It was a missile. They came out of the shadows and shot fuckin’ missiles at us!”
“The other team’s going after them!” Aiken yelled.
“Go!” Theo yelled back. “Go! Now!”
Twenty-five humans comprised the other team who worked for the company. They were no match against the strength of newborn vampires who had apparently been told to attack them.
Theo took a step forward, and Bleu appeared in front of him.
“It’s her they want,” Bleu said quietly. “You have to get her to safety.”
Theo’s eyes flipped, fury rising along with the dragon, who was ready and rearing to go. He wanted to watch each one of those newborns as their bodies burned and the ash seeped into the ground, but Bleu was right.
His eyes snapped back and he glared at Shola. She was staring at the small bursts of fire now burning along the road. She appeared to be in shock, and in that moment he knew what Bleu said was right, because the beast was ready to kill for her, the woman who wouldn’t be honest with him.
“I want them dead,” he said through clenched teeth. “Every last one of them burned to the fucking ground!”
Bleu nodded and waved Theo to the truck Aiken and Reece had been riding in. It was still upright. The other trucks would be turned over by Bleu or Ziva. If Shola watched them do that, she’d want to know how. She knew about preternatural beings, but she didn’t know he and his employees were among them, and he planned to keep it that way.
He grabbed Shola’s hand and pulled her along behind him as he jogged to the other truck. Once inside, he pulled the seat belt around her and snapped the lock in place, then started the truck’s engine with a push of a button and mentally clicked on every other security measure this vehicle possessed. They weren’t going to be hit by any other missiles, nor were they going to be turned over. The last device he’d engaged was the cloaking mechanism that Isla, the youngest Drakon of their crew, had developed using her own blood and the power of mimicry she possessed.
If he could take to the sky, they would have gotten to the mountain sooner. He let that thought float in and out of his mind as he gunned the gas and soared over the open road.
By the time he arrived at the Office, he was even angrier than before. He jumped out of the truck, ran to the other side, yanked open the passenger door, and reached for Shola. With her hand in his, they headed for the doors in silence, but once inside, she yanked her hand out of his grasp.
“That is enough,” she said in a voice that was much calmer than Theo thought either of them actually were. “I do not know what is happening here, or what this is anymore.” She was shaking her head and backing away. “People are being killed.”
“Yes!” he yelled. “And that’s precisely why I need you to tell me what the hell you’re doing here. What’s in that box you wanted so desperately? A bunch of rocks? And who the hell is your husband-to-be? Why did he have a house full of...of...” He couldn’t say it because putting it into words would make the possibility of what could have happened to her real and more serious than he’d thought.
While he was pretty certain Shola was magickal, he had no idea on which side of magick she fell. What if she knew about the newborns? What if this entire wedding was a sham?
“Who are you?”
Three simple words, asked in her calm voice, pierced him deep in his soul because his identity—the one he’d being running from for three hundred years—was exactly what kept him from settling this situation once and for all.
He shook his head. “I’m the one hired to guard you.”
“And I am the one telling you I do not need a guard. I can handle this on my own.”<
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“You need something!” he yelled. “Because all of this didn’t start happening until you appeared. And until you can tell me why that is, you’re not going anywhere, Shola. So just make yourself comfortable.”
Theo walked away because he could feel the split in his skin as the beast pressed forward. He couldn’t shift in this part of the Office, and he definitely couldn’t shift in front of her. Scaring her beyond what he was certain the events of tonight already had and bringing the beast into a structure it was too damn big to fit inside were not options.
He left her standing there and didn’t dare look back. The dragon’s eyes had flipped once more so that he knew what she would see when she stared back at him. He broke into a run when he felt he wasn’t getting away from her fast enough and a glimpse of his hand showed the first emergence of black scales.
* * *
Warrick slammed the steel doors of the basement in the townhouse he owned on the outskirts of the financial district. With his rage boiling, he sent boxes of ingredients stored for the manufacturing of hella—a combination of strong herbs spiked with hallucinogens that was the recreational drug of choice these days—soaring across the space. They slammed into steel-lined walls and fell to the floor. He opened his mouth, teeth elongated, and threw back his head as a vicious growl ripped from his throat.
“I thought I solicited the help of a mighty force of evil, not that of a petulant child.”
Warrick whirled around, the long flaps of his coat circling his legs with the motion. Metallic sludge oozed beneath the door, moving slowly, meeting in a spot where it grew taller and wider until it was the watery silhouette of a being.
“You were certain you could do this, and now you’ve done nothing but fail.” The voice had a hollow, yet authoritative ring to it.
“This is not over! We still have time before the veils close,” Warrick railed. He yanked his coat off and tossed it on a green marble-top table. Pulling the tie loose from his neck allowed him to work on steadying his breathing. “You’re certain that the wedding has to take place at a special time?”