His hand came up to rest on her neck, his thumb tracing firm circles along her nape. “You know you don’t have to do this,” he said, his voice drawing tight with concern. “You could just go home. In fact, that might be the smartest move for you to make.”
“I’m not afraid,” she said. “Well, not enough to just run off with my tail between my legs, anyway.”
He chuckled again, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He pulled back just enough to gaze down at her. Lucy’s heart flipped when she noted his expression. There’d always been warmth in his eyes when he looked at her, but now, unless she was imagining this too, there was heat there, a dark flame that spoke, astonishingly enough, of…desire. It was something she’d never seen in a man’s eyes before, and it made her mouth go dry. “In that case, take care, Lucy,” he said, his voice rough. “Don’t let yourself get hurt, okay?” His expression intensified, and he ran his thumb along her jaw, touching it lightly, briefly, to the corner of her lips. “Because I honestly don’t think I could stand it if anything were to happen to you.”
Lucy’s knees wobbled again. Her heart performed a happy dance. “Y-you take care, too. Be careful.” She wished she had the nerve to pop up on her toes, wind her arms around his neck, and give him a proper good luck kiss like Jason and Dara’s, but of course she didn’t. And then the moment was over, anyway. Another quick squeeze of her hand and he’d released her and turned away. Now he was jogging to catch up to Kiefer, who was heading across the courtyard—just in time to meet up with two hulking, unmarked armored trucks speeding into the square from the street.
The vehicles swept around in a wide circle, so that their tail ends wound up facing Lucy and her friends, and then they came to a screeching halt. The back doors of both trucks flew open, and a wave of rabid vampires poured out.
Chapter Nineteen
Inside Book of Love, Celia had taken to taunting Nathan, yanking Jessica’s head to one side by her hair and raking her fangs along her neck.
“That would just about do you in, wouldn’t it, Nathan?” the master vampire purred. “If I were to turn your little girlfriend here? Yes, I can see how painful the idea is to you, which does make it rather appealing to me, but…I don’t know. Perhaps it would be better to just leave her human and…” Celia paused. Jessica saw her out of the corner of her eye, tapping her chin with one long fingernail as she pondered. “Yes, I do think that would be better,” she decided. “Ha!” She whipped Jessica around to face her and cupped her chin in an iron grip.
“What are you doing, Celia?” Nathan thundered. “Just stop it. Let her go and deal with me.”
Celia tsk-tsk-ed at him. “You haven’t changed at all, Nathan,” she admonished with a pout, not taking her eyes off Jessica. “By which I mean that you are still no fun! But remember, I’ve been locked away for a long time. Deprived of entertainment. I want to play a little game. Now, listen to me, pet.”
This last part was addressed to Jessica, who could practically feel the bruises forming on her face where the vampire was squeezing it so hard. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, but they were generated more by anger than pain. Who did this undead bimbo think she was, anyway? Biting Aaron and Jason and who knew who else, and then coming here and destroying everything Jessica had worked so hard for? Beating up an innocent security guard and now torturing Nathan? Uh-uh. No, ma’am. That was not gonna fly, as far as Jessica was concerned. She had always hated bullies, and Celia was the worst she’d ever encountered. She would find a way to make her pay for all this nonsense, even if she had to return from the grave to do it.
Which, she had to admit, was beginning to seem more and more likely.
Jessica’s rage must’ve shown on her face, because Celia’s perfect eyebrows went up. “You do have spirit, don’t you?” she mused. “Well, that is admirable, but it won’t help you in the end. You see, no amount of will can protect you from my powers of persuasion.” She levitated, rising two feet above the floor. It made her taller than Jessica, so she could stare down into her eyes. She started intoning in some unfamiliar language, and Jessica detected a strange lilt in the vampire’s voice, as though she were purposely stretching certain syllables while compressing others. It was like she was trying to…to hypnotize her.
It won’t work, Jessica thought, fighting not to smile. Vampire mind-hoo-doo doesn’t work on me, you stupid parasite!
But then the vampire’s eyes seemed to grow larger, the pupils dilating to double their size. The fiery colors in the rims of her irises burned brighter, swirling in a mesmerizing dance.
You will heed my commands…follow my instructions. The words, in English, resounded inside Jessica’s skull, zig-zagging like a crazed pinball around her psyche. She felt her stomach twist and her head start to pound.
“No, stop it,” Jessica heard Nathan say, but Celia ignored him. She kept her spellbinding blue eyes trained on Jessica, staring harder and deeper…
…harder and deeper…
…harder and deeper…
Until Jessica’s eyes started to water, and, despite all her efforts to keep her out, she could feel the vampire’s psychic tentacles worming their way inside her brain…
Uh-oh, she thought, and gasped out loud.
◆◆◆
Dorian’s vampires were dirty and underfed. They stood in a ragged line across the courtyard with their fangs exposed, ravenous looks in their eyes, but they appeared to be awaiting orders before they’d attack.
Theo had said Dorian used magic to control some of his subordinates. Kiefer noticed the jeweled chokers fettered around each of the creatures’ necks and realized they were likely enchanted too. He allowed himself a split second of admiration for it. Whoever this Dorian guy was, he clearly knew a thing or two about magic, and he was inventive with the use of his power. Under other circumstances, the guy might’ve been worth respecting.
You know—if he hadn’t been such a raving psychopath.
Kiefer’s attention went to the group of humans disembarking from the trucks, arrayed in black helmets and tactical gear and wielding various firearms. Here were the minions Theo had talked about. Had to be. Still, Kiefer swaggered across the courtyard with his arms spread, calling out, “Well, I don’t remember inviting a bunch of mouth-breathers to my party, and yet here you all are. So, who are you tools? What can I do you for?”
A guy with a raised visor stepped to the front of the group. “Where is Celia?” he demanded, ignoring Kiefer’s questions.
Kiefer cocked his head. “Oh, Celia’s kind of indisposed right now. Anything we can help you with?”
The guy’s expression hardly changed. He had a glazed look in his eye that told Kiefer he was definitely under some sort of spell. “You will hand over Celia and the other vampire, Nathan, or we will kill you all where you stand,” he said mechanically. He cocked his gun for effect.
Kiefer could hear Lucy and Dara chanting from the sidewalk, but when that gun cocked, one of the girls—probably Lucy—faltered and let out a gasp.
Not to worry, little lady, Kiefer thought, raising his hands. To the flunkies in front of him he said, “Yeah, not today.” He curled his hands into fists and spoke the necessary words. Every gun, knife, hand grenade and other assorted weapon flew from the grasps and pockets of the combatants and sailed past Kiefer to land on the sidewalk in front of Jessica’s store...behind the magical shield, where the enemy couldn’t lay a finger on any of them.
“There,” Kiefer brushed his hands together. “Now that seems more sportin’, wouldn’t y’all say?”
Kiefer watched the eyes of the guy he’d been talking to grow slightly rounder, and his lips part in surprise. He heard Aaron let out a triumphant laugh. And then some silent signal seemed to ripple among the minds of Dorian’s people, vampire and human alike, and they surged as one toward Kiefer, gnashing fangs and throwing fists.
◆◆◆
“No,” Nathan repeated through clenched teeth, “stop it. Stop it now.”
> As soon as Celia had loomed over Jessica, attempting to enthrall her, he had remembered, with a glimmer of optimism, the girl’s immunity to his own mesmerism. He had hoped against hope that Jessica’s invulnerability would extend to all vampire magic, including that cast by a master as powerful as Celia.
But there was to be no such luck, it seemed, for now the lunatic vampire glided back to the floor, and she spun Jessica around to face him. He saw then, with disheartening clarity, the blank-eyed, slack-jawed look on her pretty face. Plainly, his innocent neighbor had been no match for the master’s trickery. Celia’s mind control had done its hideous work, and now Jessica had been transformed into a stupefied puppet. She was the master vampire’s chattel. Her slave.
How had it come to this? he wondered, feeling helpless. After all of his precautions, all of his self-denial…
Because, in all honesty, since the moment he had first laid eyes on her, Jessica Ramos had completely entranced Nathan.
He’d been stepping out of his apartment one day as she’d stepped into hers, a bag of groceries in one hand and an industrial-sized bucket of kitty litter in the other. She had paused in the hallway to nod ‘hello.’ Her startling combination of dark hair, light brown skin, and clear blue eyes had arrested him; her ample bosom, slim waist, and curvy hips had set his blood on fire. But it was her expression that had utterly unhinged him. Her smile, and the way it lit up her eyes, had seemed to encapsulate so many of the simple pleasures he’d been missing from his existence for so long—happiness, peace, comfort, warmth. The encounter, brief as it had been, had rattled him to the very core, but he had done his best to conceal his powerful response, striding past Jessica with nary a glance at her, or even the hint of a return nod.
Her countenance had been emblazoned across his mind, though. He had spent a lot of time thinking about her since then.
Particularly once the sun rose, and Nathan went to bed. Then his fantasies would sometimes take on such vivid dimensions, he could have sworn he felt her silky thighs wrapped around his waist and heard her voice screaming out his name…
He’d had the feeling they would get along quite well.
Still, he had known he would never be able to confirm that conjecture. Despite the pull of his desire, he’d vowed to stay away from her. As far away as he could, anyway, given that he lived right across the hall from her. If he avoided her, he’d decided, she wouldn’t get hurt because of him.
Now here she was, though, in the clutches of a mad nosferatu, most likely about to get killed, and it was most certainly his fault. He should never have involved her in the plot against Celia, much less allowed her to come here and put herself in danger.
You are a horrible, despicable person, Nathan Smith, he silently cursed himself.
Then again, he wasn’t a person at all anymore, was he? He was a monster, and everything he touched was condemned. Doomed to be corrupted by the evil harboring inside him. He’d been a fool to forget it for even a moment, and the fact that he had only increased his disgust with himself. Maybe when all this was over, assuming he survived, he would convince Kiefer to put a stake through his heart and be done with it. That was likely the only way Nathan would ever be able to prevent anyone being harmed again because of him.
Across the room, Celia was still having a field day. Flaunting her increasing strength, she used the power of her mind to snatch a broken table leg from the floor. “This is for you, dearest,” she said, and pressed the splintered wood into Jessica’s hand. “Much fiercer than those piddling toothpicks you’d brought along with you, isn’t it? Better suited to taking down a monster of Nathan’s caliber. Now you take that across the room there and stab him in the heart with it. There’s a good girl.” She used telekinesis to sweep a path clean on the floor, and then nudged Jessica with a faux-friendly pat on the back.
Jessica, her eyes heavy-lidded and her lips sagging open, started forward, the makeshift stake raised in her hand. She took jerky steps across the carpet, as though some part of her were still fighting Celia’s mind control. Tears tracked down her face, and Nathan’s heart broke to see them. He lifted one boot off the floor, intending to engage his super-speed and try to snatch her away to safety, but Celia instantly noticed. The master telekinetically dragged his foot back to the floor. He could feel her psychic hold slithering around him then, like an iron band digging into his chest. He pushed against it, testing, and found he could still move his arms, but his legs were stuck fast. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Celia scolded him, wagging her finger. “Try anything like that again and I’ll snap her neck from here.”
Nathan gritted his teeth. It dismayed him to feel how powerful the master still was, even after all her time spent in the ground. Her brief feeding frenzy had done much to restore her. He could feel gaps in her hold on him, to be sure—chinks in the armor, as it were—but they were unstable and too difficult for him to pinpoint. He was nowhere near as adept with magic as Kiefer, and he was too afraid to try any spells against Celia when he couldn’t be sure they would work. Not with Jessica’s safety at stake.
“You’ll have to kill her if you want to stop her,” Celia called out to him now, a twisted smile dancing on her lips. “If you want any chance of engaging with me—and oh, how I know you want that chance—you’ll have to come through her, my newest loyal body guard.”
Nathan knew it was true. Even if he could somehow break free of Celia’s telekinesis, if he tried again to grab Jessica, or to make his way past her, the master would force the girl to do battle with him. To the death. She would never relent, and Nathan would have to destroy her if he wanted to get close to Celia. “You’re sick,” Nathan growled at the master.
Celia took his insult as a compliment. She laughed, delighted, and said, “Perhaps. However, I’m not completely heartless, Nathan. I’m willing to make a deal with you. If you let her stake you without any fuss, I promise I’ll let her go right afterward. She’ll walk out of here without as much as a scratch on her little button nose.”
“And the others?” Nathan asked.
Celia shrugged. “Kiefer, Aaron, and Jason are all forfeit. They belong to me. Aaron and Jason will serve as my slaves, and the sorcerer will die screaming. I care not what happens to the rest.”
Nathan glared at her.
“It’s the only agreement on offer,” the master reminded him. “You should take whatever you can get.”
Nathan nodded at her. What difference did it make? He doubted Celia intended to keep her word, anyway.
Meanwhile, Jessica had almost reached him. She raised the stake higher, aiming for his heart.
“It is alright, Jessica,” he said and spread his hands. “Do whatever you must. I will not hurt you. I could never.” Kiefer will defend you and your friends after this, he added silently. He will bring down Celia and protect you all. He is a great sorcerer, and he will not fail you…as I have.
Jessica said nothing, only stumbled the last few steps and positioned the stake against his chest. She raised her face. He could see her forehead twitching, and the emotions warring in her eyes, as her consciousness, locked away, fought to reassert itself.
Such courage, Nathan thought with a remorseful swallow. Such strength. He touched her cheek, thumbing away a tear. “It is alright,” he repeated, and steeled himself for her blow. “You can let go now. Do what you must.” Nathan knew that when the strike came, it would carry all of Celia’s power behind it, and that would be enough to end him. He would turn to dust in a matter of seconds—or so the legends asserted. His soul ached so badly right now, he almost welcomed his obliteration.
“Now!” Celia cried, practically bouncing up and down from excitement. “Do it now, pet! Stab him!”
Jessica pulled back her trembling hand, gathering momentum. She tilted back her head and looked into Nathan’s eyes.
“Now!” Celia repeated, her voice growing shrill with mounting frustration.
“Do it,” Nathan said, nodding o
nce at Jessica. “Strike, and then run away from here. As fast as you can. Do not look back. Do you hear me?”
She nodded back at him.
And then she winked.
◆◆◆
Dorian’s vampires were fast, but Jason was faster. He didn’t know why. Maybe none of these creatures were Celia’s “get” after all? Maybe these guys had been made by a less powerful master than her? Or maybe Nathan was right, and the bite affected everyone differently. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Jason was awesome. He was easily outrunning and outmaneuvering everything these bloodsuckers and Dorian’s thugs could throw at him, and yet he’d hardly broken a sweat.
He’d had some Jiu Jitsu training as a kid, but had abandoned the classes in high school. What knowledge he retained came back to him now, and he used it, along with gut instinct and basic rage, to beat every one of his opponents back with ease. Unfortunately, the thugs, as much as the vampires, seemed immune to being punched in the head. They dropped back, but they never lost consciousness, never stayed down, and he guessed their resilience owed to whatever spell they were under. It was like some sort of magical PCP. But again, it didn’t matter. Jason wasn’t panting, or even breathing hard. He could keep pummeling them however long he needed to. And it seemed like he would have fun doing it, so…hey, that was a plus.
Nearby, he could see Kiefer doing just as well with the aid of his magic, and he could hear Dara and Lucy behind him, chanting at the tops of their lungs, creating a magical fence so strong it was actually visible, at least to Jason’s vampiric eyes. It shimmered like a watery dome over the bookstore, and when the occasional vampire or minion broke through the guys’ defensive line and got anywhere near it, Aaron was there with his cross, his holy water, and his fists, ready to drive them back toward Jason and Kiefer again.
The Sharpest Kiss Page 18