“Wouldn’t he have marks on his neck?” Sable asked. Her mind spun with the craziness of the situation. “Someone bit him, right? I didn’t see any puncture wounds.”
“One doesn’t have to bitten on the neck to be turned, baby girl.” Thomas sighed. “By all that’s magic…Hal’s a vampire.” He closed his eyes and groaned. “And you thought he was a pain in the ass as an ex-husband.”
Rick unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt to reveal the odd symbol tattooed on his pectoral muscle. He tapped the tat. “Hal’s part of the New Order now.”
“Wait.” Thomas turned to Goldie and Isa, a deep furrow appearing between his eyebrows. “I thought the Judges were against the New Order. What the hell’s going on?”
Goldie pulled her hair back to reveal her tiny infinity-and-lily symbol just above her left breast. “I’ll explain this for Sable’s sake, Thomas, then you’ll understand the change that is happening.” She gestured toward Isa. “Sable, my grandmother is of the Old World. I’m part of the New Order but serve like a go-between. Together as Judges we attempt to keep a balance in two paranormal worlds.”
“Pah! New Order…what a waste of time and energy. Only place I’d put a New Order tat is on my butt,” Isa quipped, a wry smile on her face. “Besides, when I’m in the guise of an old woman it would look horrible on a wrinkled ass.”
Goldie burst out laughing. Thomas and Sable’s laughter melded with hers.
Sable, her fingers laced with Thomas’s, crossed the room with him and tugged him down on the sofa with her.
“However,” Goldie said once everyone had calmed down. “A new sect has broken off of the New Order. The Black Rift is a dark side, an evil side. The New Order merely wants to be one with the mortals, to live and work and coexist out in the open. The Old World feels that humans can’t handle coexisting in such a manner, and the vampires fear humans will wipe them off of Earth. This third group we’ve only recently learned about, Sable. The third group wants you to join them. The Black Rift believes your unique power will aid them in ruling all that’s mortal and Paranorm. We suspect the Furies will go to their side, too.”
The telephone rang, startling everyone.
Thomas uttered a choice profanity, sighed, and stood. “I’ll get it. I imagine someone has complained about the noise again.”
“What did you two mean by saying the Furies had reawakened?” Sable drew her feet up onto the cushion.
“Christianity forced the Furies into hibernation,” Rick replied. “What need is there for Furies to judge the wicked when mortals worship God, Allah, and Buddha for the most part? We think the Black Rift is who awakened the Furies and sent them after you.”
Thomas hung up the phone. “Well, it looks like I’ll be changing our flight plans,” he said. “The manager said we’re to leave and never stay here again.” He glanced around the suite. “And judging by the damage, we better write a fat check, too.”
Sable sighed heavily and flopped back against the sofa. On his way through the suite, Thomas retrieved her braid from the floor. He looked at her, his expression wistful.
“It’ll grow back,” she said. “And you even said that it was probably my hair causing most of my headaches.”
“I love you with or without your head of signature hair,” he replied, his eyes aglow with emotion.
“Now I can get a new style.” She grinned and fluffed the tresses that now fell around the tops of her shoulders. “Maybe one like Emerald’s hairdo. It was cool and chic.”
“You should burn the braid,” Goldie said. “There is much magic in it, and others will want it.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Sable gaped at her.
“Not at all.” Taking the plait from Thomas, Isa carried it into the bathroom.
Sable followed the goddess with Thomas trailing her. She peeped over the goddess’ shoulder as Isa dropped the heavy braid into the bathtub. She touched it, and the plait burst into flames. The smell of burning hair assaulted Sable’s sinuses. She coughed and fanned her hand in front of her face.
“Phew!” Isa shoved the little window above the tub open. The change in pressure sucked the smoke out through the screen. “The smellier the hair, the more power in it.”
Sable followed her back into the living area. “So, the Furies were tracking me because they’re…?”
“They’re judge and jury over the wicked and those who refuse to repent,” Isa explained. “If a person commits a horrible crime and doesn’t repent, then the Old Law requires that he or she pays with his or her life. In your case, you were convinced you were to blame, so the Furies were sure of it, too, especially when the Black Rift set them on your trail. And with the laws changing in all the paranormal worlds, the Furies are finding that they’re limited in their powers and detest that fact, so that’s why they wanted to strengthen themselves with your magic.”
“And your newly awakened power not only attracted the evil side, it attracted the rest of us, too,” Rick added. “Whenever a mortal talks about the Fae, practices magic in the form of black or white, or is born with natural magic, Paranorms sense it and are attracted to it.” He grinned. “We draw both supernatural and sexual energy from it.” He tossed Sable a suggestive leer.
“Watch it,” Thomas warned.
Rick favored him with a belligerent expression. “Male humans are all big words and small peckers.”
“Look here, you ugly mother—”
“Enough!” Isa fixed both Thomas and the Phooka with a stern expression.
“The New Order is recruiting mortals,” Goldie explained in an obvious attempt to diffuse the situation. She sat on the far end of the couch and crossed her legs at the ankles. Hundreds of golden curls cascaded around her body. “If you see this tattooed symbol”—she pointed at her breast—“you’ll know it’s a Neo Paranorm—someone who is Fae, vampire, a god, or one of the elements—of the New Order. The figure eight represents infinity and the Old World, and the lily represents new life, new beginnings, thus the New Order.
“I already explained what the New Order wants, but many of the Old World, like the vampires, for example, fear humans because mortals have hunted them for hundreds of years. The New Order and the Old World are at odds, so humans like you get caught in the crossfire, Sable, especially if the mortal has a magical power.”
“Why?” Sable asked.
“If enough mortals with magical powers can be recruited to join the New Order,” Rick supplied, “then it makes their cause stronger. What better way to get all humans to accept Paranorms than to already have humans on their side?”
“Is this why you have what you called questionable contacts?” Sable asked Goldie.
She nodded. “I cross back and forth between the two regimes, and I move amongst the human race, too.”
“So, The Threshold is a meeting place of the worlds?” Sable guessed.
“Yes,” Isa said. “One of many meeting places. You’re in a paranormal hotspot here in Naples. Not as big as New York City, of course, but Naples is also a recruiting place for mortals to join the New Order. The fog in the Neo Paranorm nightclubs is presented as a setting, but it possesses elements that make the troublesome humans—those who fear us—compliant or forgetful. They go home and merely think that they had too much to drink or partook of the wrong drug.”
“Then I suspected correctly about The Threshold’s fog,” Sable crowed, smiling. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the couch. “Why can’t humans see the Paranorms?”
“We’ve always been here,” Isa said softly. “Humans tend to fear what they do not understand, so they ignore it. Those movements at the corner of your eye are us. That sound in the darkness when you’re not sure you really heard something is one of us, the pair of glasses you know you set on the kitchen table but has disappeared may have been taken by a faerie, or that fifty that shows up in your wallet when you know you were flat broke might be placed there by a goddess. Those odd occurrences that mortals call
coincidence are usually done or caused by the Paranorms.”
“So if I take Sable back to New York,” Thomas began, prompting Sable to open her eyes, “am I still her protector?”
“Yes, because your love for her will help you to protect her. We worried you wouldn’t be able to keep a clear head, but you proved us wrong. After all, love is the ultimate magic.” The goddess waggled her finger at him. “But that doesn’t mean to let your guard down either. From now on, you will both be looking over your shoulder.”
“I want to be trained as a Paranorm Marshal,” Sable said with conviction. Thomas stiffened next to her. She tossed him a mischievous glance. He’ll fight me on this, but he’ll come around. We can work together, and he can help me return Cheyenne to normal. She steeled herself for Thomas’s reaction.
Thomas’s eyes widened. “What? Oh, hell no!”
“Why not?” Frustrated, Sable straightened on the sofa. “I want to learn everything I can, and what better way to use my power than as part of the Paranorm world.”
“I think it’s an intriguing and viable idea.” Goldie scooted to the edge of her seat, her eyes aflame with interest.
“Yes,” Isa agreed and chuckled. “What better way to keep her hidden from the Dark Rift.”
“No!” Thomas snarled. “Absolutely not.”
“You could be her teacher, Valimar,” Isa said. “And as her power grows, she’ll also grow to understand it and how it works.”
Sable placed a finger over his lips. “We’ll discuss it later, okay?”
“I have a feeling I’ve already lost the battle.” His voice, brimming with defeat and worry, rumbled through the suite.
Smiling at him, Sable asked, “Why do I have this power, Goldie? Why now? Why when I’m almost forty instead of when I was twelve or sixteen?”
The Golden shrugged. “Magic happens when it’s ready. Even those born with it, like the Fae, don’t entirely understand why some have one power and others have many, nor why some develop abilities later in life versus those who have it early.”
“Goldie and I will check in on you from time to time.” Isa rose and held her hand out to her granddaughter.
“And you’ll have contact with my agent, Morris,” Goldie added. “He’s a Demon, so he’s able to move amongst the mortals without them catching on. He’ll help you with information, warn you when needed.”
“We’ll teach you and guide you for a while, too.” Isa smiled, her dark eyes twinkling with affection. “After all, we’re goddesses.”
They began fading, becoming one with the long beams of late-morning sunshine snaking through the windows and pouring in through the open balcony doors.
“Be safe,” they said, harmonizing. “Be well.”
With a sparkle of gold, they disappeared.
“I must go, too,” Rick said. He stepped around the recliner and grudgingly held one hand out to Thomas. “Take good care of her.”
Thomas hesitated then shrugged and gripped his hand. “I will.”
Rick smiled sadly. “Sable, be well.”
“Goodbye,” she said. “And thank you for saving Thomas.”
He turned and paused in the balcony threshold. In a whirl of black feathers, he transformed into a large raven, hopped across the terrace, and sprang atop the railing. With a loud squawk, he flapped his wings and launched himself into the strong ocean wind.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Warning
T homas drew Sable into his arms. They sat quietly on the sofa together. A child giggled in the corridor, and footsteps traveled overhead. A couple of suites down, a man called out, “Room Service!” and faintly, Sable heard a feminine voice holler, “I’ll be right there!”
“This has been an amazing trip for lack of a better description,” Thomas said.
“Mmm.”
“Mmm?”
She turned slightly in his arms so she could see his face. “My brain’s too tired to absorb everything.”
“Well, I suppose you’ll want to call that hair salon you like so well and have your hair fixed.”
“Later,” she replied. “Right now, I only want one thing.”
A smile tugged at his lips. Obviously trying to keep a straight face, he asked, “And what would that be?”
Sable got up on her knees next to him. With both hands, she cupped his face and kissed him. “You,” she whispered. “You and only you.”
“I think I can arrange that.” Thomas stood, turned, and held his arms out to her.
Laughing, Sable jumped into his embrace and wrapped her legs around his hips. She clawed at his shirt, needing to feel his skin beneath her palms. He walked across the suite with her, but they didn’t make it to the bed.
“You’re undeniable,” Thomas said. He kissed her as they bumped into the vanity. He set Sable on its empty surface, pressing her back to the mirror. “Take your clothes off.”
She kicked off her shoes, hooked her fingers into her waistband, and wiggled out of her slacks and panties. Thomas withdrew his hardening cock from his pants. Before Sable could say anything, he tugged her to the edge of the vanity counter and slid into her. They began a frenzied pace. She gasped with each of his strokes, her head banging on the mirror, the mirror rapping against the wall. She quickly edged toward her climax, but Thomas withdrew from her body.
She let out a disgruntled sound. “What—?”
“Shush,” he said. “The imprint of your ass is already on the mirror. I want to make another one in the bed.” His chuckles filled the room and her heart as he strode to the bed with her.
In a jumble of limbs, they fell to the mattress. Sable wanted him, wanted his bare skin on hers, his mouth on her breasts, cock seated deeply inside her. With Thomas she had passion, love, chemistry, and hope for the future.
“I love you, Thomas,” she breathed into his ear and nibbled at its lobe, her teeth grazing the diamond stud.
Thomas sighed, the sound full of contentment. “I’ll never grow tired of hearing you say that.”
He kissed her hungrily. Sable hugged him, gliding her hands along the length of his back to his pajama bottoms. She pushed them over his ass and dug her into the muscles.
He ground his hips into hers, and she arched in response. Pausing long enough to let her sit up and discard her shirt, Thomas pulled her naked body to his and finished kicking his pajama bottoms off as they fell back on the bed again.
“You look like a different woman with your hair cut,” he whispered.
Disconcerted, she quirked an eyebrow. “Is that bad?”
“No, it just makes me feel like I’m about to make love to a new woman.”
She chuckled against his throat then gasped as he moved down her body, and he sucked the nub of one breast into his mouth.
“I am a new woman,” she said.
Thomas feathered kisses over her breasts and along her belly, down to the junction of her thighs where he paused to lick the smooth skin that surrounded the thin landing strip of chestnut hair hiding her most secret spot. Sable wriggled beneath his ministrations, wanting to prolong the sensations but desiring more.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, mouth flush to her skin.
She ran her hands over his intricate cornrows. The feeling of his beard over her thighs sent shockwaves throughout her body. Closing her eyes, she focused on his mouth traveling lower, tongue questing. Sable whimpered, her only thoughts of Thomas and what he was doing to her. He parted her legs, his mouth making contact with her satiny folds. A moan burst from Sable. She raised her hips, desiring more, but he held her still, his hands kneading her hips.
“Oh!” She strained against his mouth, but the instant his tongue penetrated her, the coil winding tighter in her core flew apart, and the orgasm crashed over her with such force she cried out. He continued to lick and suck until she begged, “Stop! Oh, please, stop. I can’t take any more.”
Thomas released her, covered her body with his, and penetrated her with one quick thrust. Another
gasp ripped free of her lips, and she snapped her legs around his, hooking her heels behind his knees and grasping his ass.
“Thomas,” she breathed. “More. Faster. Yes, yes!”
Thomas stretched her, his cock bumping her cervix. He groaned, eyes closed, expression strained, pacing himself until she reached the jump-off point again.
The way he felt inside her propelled Sable to heights she could only imagine until now. She loved him, and that knowledge created the delirious giddiness of not only incredible lovemaking but also the emotion that heightened it. She bucked her hips, meeting his every thrust. The wonderful, molten knot grew inside her, building until Thomas pumped faster and the bomb of amazing tingles detonated.
“Yes!” She ground against him, sprang from the precipice, and flew through the stars. “Yes,” she screamed again.
Thomas growled low in his throat, thrusting…thrusting… Another growl followed as he exploded into her. “Mine!” he said.
“Yours!” she cried.
Hot liquid coated Sable’s insides, intensifying the ripples and waves of glorious euphoria crashing through her. She shuddered, clasping Thomas to her. Aftershocks shot through her body, her loins clenching again and again.
Spent, they lay panting, Thomas’s face buried in her neck, his breath stirring the wisps of hacked hair that lay there. He rolled to the side, their bodies parting, and spooned in behind her. “I love you, baby girl.”
“I love you.” She closed her eyes and relaxed in the afterglow. Feeling a sense of completeness, she snuggled tighter to Thomas for a few moments before having to pack and vacate the suite.
Gerald drove the limousine to the Naples Municipal Airport.
In the backseat, Thomas held Sable’s hand in his lap while they listened to the evening news on the stereo system. A commercial ended, followed by a weather report promising higher temperatures.
The Darkness of Sable Page 32