*
Her heart pulsed with excited vigor. It hadn’t felt so alive and vital for months. And Johnny was responsible for her renewal. Now he lay beneath her, broken and torn apart by Himself’s dauntless cruelty.
Speared through her tiny pink onesie, Summer dangled on one of Himself’s talons. Kam did not see blood on the baby, and she looked unharmed. But she could not imagine the bastard could be so gentle with her. He had brought the baby here to use as a weapon against Johnny, as he had been using his other family members the whole time the vampire had been with her.
Her dark master glowered over her now.
No. He was no longer her master. For the first time in months, Kam could think clearly. And she would not cower or submit any longer. She could decide for herself what her next move would be.
Standing, she fisted a punch into Himself’s iron-hard gut. Her knuckles stung and she let out a yelp.
Himself chuckled then gripped her under the chin, lifting her with ease from the ground. “You are misbehaving, my dark angel.”
She was eye level to the baby, who now looked intently at her. Dangling there at the end of the devil’s talon, the baby probably thought this a game and could have no idea the danger she was in. Too far to reach and claim the babe, Kam had to get free if she wanted to save the child.
“I’m not your mistress or your dark angel.” She struggled against his squeezing hold, but could not pry his iron clasp from her neck. “I’ll never love you, and I’ll never give you what you want!”
“You are not thinking correctly. I will dispose of this useless trash—“ The baby swung wide with a tilt of Himself’s wrist. “And take you home and you can—“
She managed to bite his finger and he shook her off as if a bug. Kam landed before Johnny, glad she could still block him from Himself’s wrath. Yet she centered her position to also put herself closer to the baby.
“You have no control over me anymore. My heart is clean.”
“You think a few magical words are all that is needed to shed my guile?”
Yes, she hoped for that. But really? Was she still under his control? Kam slapped a palm over her chest where her torn dress was stained with black blood, trying to focus on what was real, what she felt, what she knew…
“Kambriel, I love you!”
“You have not the capability to understand the meaning of that word. Love is not control or ownership or even showering a person with ridiculous gifts and treasures. Love is…” She breathed, finding the courage to stand up to the evil and malicious being. “Love is what that man did for me. He risked death to save me. Johnny has never tried to own me with pretty things. All he’s ever wanted was to be worthy of my regard.”
“If a dead vampire is your thing, then perhaps I should release you to wallow over his rotting corpse.”
“He’s not dead.” Kam glanced down. He couldn’t be. He lay face down, the deep slash marks carving open his back, but he didn’t bleed overmuch. “He can’t die. And you won’t allow it.”
She stepped up to Himself and shoved his chest with both her palms. The dark lord actually yielded. She’d not ever seen the horned demon so dumbfounded. Good. He needed to understand she was no longer his puppet.
“I love him,” she said. “And if he dies my heart breaks—and I die, too. And you won’t be able to endure that because I will haunt you forever. Always out of your reach, a figment that can never be yours. I’m taking my freedom from you right now, and with it, Johnny and that baby will walk away with me. And you. Will make. That. Happen.”
He lunged in to make eye contact. The massive horns paralleled her shoulders, the tips of them curling around at her back. “Foolish longtooth.” His black lips tightened. “You are not my world, Kambriel Persia Saint-Pierre. I do not need you.”
“Oh yeah?” She slapped her shoulder over the tattoos. “Then remove them. Take away your entrance into my private thoughts and secrets. Prove that you don’t need me.”
Himself had the audacity to look miffed. The baby gurgled sweetly.
“You need me,” she taunted. “You need the innocence I have protected no matter your begging or entreaties to give it to you.”
“Never.”
“Oh yes. You don’t want to make love with me because you are incapable. But ensuring I keep my virginity feeds you. Possessing innocence gives you some kind of power, doesn’t it?”
Himself lifted the hand that dangled the babe and, with a flick of his wrist, the child popped into the air, and landed in his palm with a gleeful giggle.
“Exactly,” Kam continued. “Innocence is your fuel. You can steal it, but you know I will not have given it freely, which makes it tainted and black. Just like you, tainted and black. The vilest of demons. The lowest maggot. I am free of you,” she announced boldly. “And I will never let you back into my heart.”
Would he walk away, leaving the awful tattoos on her skin, always allowing him to see into her soul? Yet the babe would go along with him, a helpless innocent caught up in his vile world. Had she played this wrong? Maybe. And yet, she must remain strong. Chin up, shoulders back. She mustn’t let him see her flinch.
At her feet, Johnny stirred and lifted his head. “Summer?”
Himself chuckled and pointed a finger at the vampire. To deflect the evil magic, Kam rammed her shoulder into the devil’s chest, bounced off him, but managed to grip his wrist, to keep him from doing whatever he had in mind to the man she loved.
Himself raised his arm, Kam hanging from his wrist with desperation. She peered into his red eyes and for the first time saw the irises were of flame. Never kind, never charming, as she’d once believed. How he had seduced and tricked her. Beguiled, indeed.
Never again.
She kicked at his chest, but the demon didn’t flinch.
From behind and below she heard, “Don’t hurt Summer. Set her free.”
“Dying words,” Himself muttered, his gaze still fixed with Kam’s. “How sweet.”
“If you do love me,” Kam managed. Her heart shivered to speak the words. “Then give me one last gift.”
“I live to please you, Kambriel.”
“Then let me walk away with the baby and Johnny.”
Then she did what her heart compelled her to do. She touched Himself’s cheek. It was hard and leathery, forged from ancient evils she had only glimpsed while under his control. If she touched him too long the contact would singe her skin. Yet she held there, making the connection for one final time. Cleansed soul to blackened entrails. The virtue she had clung to shivered, yet she remained strong.
“Please,” she whispered. “Show me how much you care for me by setting us free.”
“I may entertain such a request, but—I will keep the babe as my prize.”
“No! She is not yours to toy with. Give her a chance to grow up and make her own mistakes. She’ll struggle enough with your influence when she’s grown. Isn’t that enough for you?”
Kam placed her palm directly over where she assumed Himself’s heart must reside. If he owned a heart. Probably not. How could he? And yet, he had been gentle with her.
“Yes,” Himself said, “I do own a heart. It is ancient and adamant. Perhaps…it lies to me.”
He flicked his wrist, releasing Kam to land on the ground. Gripping the fingers of one hand tightly, he curled the fist upward and Kam felt something flutter off from her shoulders. The tattoos soared up and circled Himself’s horns, then landed on the ebony scythes and fixed there, embedding into the darkness. It was the last part of her he would ever own. He could have it with her blessing.
Swinging down the hand that cradled the baby, he tipped the infant off, so she tumbled onto the ground before her brother. The rough landing stirred up wails from the child. Johnny wrapped her in his arms and began to rock her.
“I will always live within you,” Himself declared.
With a clap of his hands, Himself dematerialized, leaving behind a mist of glittery black ash that
hung in the air before sifting to the ground before Kam’s feet and melting into the pavement.
“Believe what you wish,” she whispered. “But I know the truth. You are gone from me.”
From behind her, Johnny slid a hand across her stomach and pulled her close. Summer had stopped crying. Tiny baby sniffles accompanied her lover’s painful gasps for breath. His nose nuzzled into her hair and he hugged her tightly to him. She spread her arms up and behind her head, clutching at his hair.
“I love you,” he said.
“Is she okay?” she whispered.
“She will be.”
“It’s over.” And in her heart she knew the words she spoke were true. Never again would Himself have a hold over her. But always, she must watch her back.
Turning to look over Summer, Kam let the baby grasp her finger and she earned a smile from the tyke. She’d be fine. With hope, she’d never recall this incident.
Blood dripped onto the infant’s forehead. “Johnny, you’re hurt.”
“It’s not so bad.”
“Your scalp is torn open to reveal skull. Your nose is broken. You’re bleeding everywhere.”
“Like I said, not so bad, eh?” He even managed the smile. Oh, that smile. “I can feel the wounds on my back have healed. I’m as good as a guy can be after the Old Lad has ripped him to shreds. Will you hold Summer? And wipe that blood off her. I need to call my parents and let them know she’s safe. Then I’ll have to explain this mess.”
“I’ll go with you. If you want me to.”
He leaned in to kiss her, but with the baby between them, he could but give her a brush of his lips. It was enough for now.
“Of course you can come along. I don’t ever want to let you out of my sight. And my mom and dad will want to meet the woman behind all our troubles lately.”
“They’ll hate me.”
“They’ll love you because I love you.”
The baby gripped some of Kam’s hair and squealed joyfully.
“You see?” he said. “A sister’s approval is the best thing you can ask for.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lyric and Vail stood outside their mansion, waiting. Johnny marched up the sidewalk with Summer perched on his shoulders, her pudgy hands gripping his hair tight. She’d giggled and cooed the entire walk home. Johnny was thankful she didn’t appear damaged from the night’s events.
He’d been run through an industrial grinder. Despite the blood and torn clothing, he felt much better than he looked. He was all in one piece, so again, he was thankful.
And he had Kam, his tattered angel, by his side, her heart clean and whole. He couldn’t ask for anything more. Except perhaps, some parental understanding.
When Vail spied them, he ran down the sidewalk and Johnny handed over Summer. Vail hugged the baby, rocking her against his chest, and then he held her out at arm’s length and looked her over. “Where did you find her? How? What the hell have you been through? Who is this woman?”
“Dad, Mom…” Lyric met them at the gates before the mansion and Vail handed her Summer. They both embraced the giggling infant. “This is Kambriel Saint-Pierre.”
Lyric looked up from her daughter. “Blu’s daughter?”
Kam nodded, but remained silent. Her fingers slipped into Johnny’s hand and he gave them a reassuring squeeze.
“It’s been an interesting week,” he said. “I think we should all go inside and talk.”
Hours later, everything had been laid out. Vail was relieved to realize that his descent into addiction had been orchestrated by outside forces. His efforts at fighting the addiction had been renewed though. He would never be completely clean.
Lyric was relieved to have Summer back in her arms. Both knew Kam’s parents, and had suggested she call them to let them know she was all right. As well, Lyric had shown Kam to her room so she could shower and put on some clean clothes.
While Kam talked to her parents on the phone, Lyric hugged Johnny. “I think she may have been worth it,” she said to him. “She’s beautiful. And I’ve been watching you. You can’t take your eyes off her. She means something to you. Whatever you two have been through—“ She smoothed a palm over the shaved side of Johnny’s head, tendering careful touches over the streaked blood. “—it’s going to be good now.”
And with his parents’ blessing, and the need to tuck Summer in for the morning, Johnny (after having showered as well, and borrowed some clothing from Vail) and Kam bid them goodbye and took the Metro to his home. Kam no longer had a home, or so they guessed. Either way, she had no desire to return to the apartment gifted her by the dark prince.
Sunrise teased the horizon, and when Johnny could only think to snuggle up to Kam in his bed and switch on the electrochromic shades to bring darkness to the room, she tugged his hand away from reaching the switch.
“No,” she whispered. “You’re on the top floor. Have you a roof access door?”
Unsure what she was getting at, he nodded. “Just down the outer hall.”
She grabbed his hand and led him out into the hall and up the stairs to the roof. Johnny tugged her back from the top step, and she landed his arms with a bright smile. She swiped aside her hair and kissed him.
“We’re going to do this,” she said. “It’s a new beginning.”
He understood what she intended.
Johnny swallowed back the strange and sudden fear, because how could a man be fearful of something so pure and bright? And when led onward by the one thing in this world he loved? His mother had given her a floaty pink dress to wear, and it had transformed Kambriel to the angel he had imagined her to be.
She pushed open the door and walked out onto the roof. Orange burnished the horizon. Johnny shaded his eyes with a hand, but when Kambriel laughed at him, he lowered it, and let her lead him to the roof edge. They sat, legs dangling over the edge, and he hugged her close.
“A few more minutes,” she said. She looked off over the sky. “Do you think your parents will ever forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Kam. They understand about all this wicked stuff. No one asks to get involved with the dark prince. And it’s all good now. Summer is no worse for wear. She won’t remember any of this.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” He tugged her closer and she bowed her head against his shoulder. “I’ll never be able to give you a sonnet. I may be a songwriter, but the iambic pentameter thing throws me off. So this is what I got: tattered angel comes to me/beguiles and shelters me/pretty sexy dark love/eternity will set us free.”
“That was perfect.”
“It’s just a start. I’ll write songs for you every day,” he said. “You are my melody, Kambriel. Together we’re the perfect harmony.”
“But I don’t ever want to go back to Club l’Enfer.”
“Good. I was worried we’d have issues about that. No girl of mine will ever be seen in that club, onstage or anywhere else. Got it?”
“I can deal with that. Your girl?”
“For as long as you like that title.”
“That could be a long time. Hey, we could start our own band.”
“Already way ahead of you. You ever hear of Domingos LaRoque? Dude’s a master with the cello. I’d love to put together some kind of goth rock band with violins, cellos and electric guitars.”
“What if I’ve lost my singing skills? It was a gift from—that guy. But I’d be content to stand in the audience and cheer you on.”
He kissed her on the eyelid and buried his face in her long silken hair. “Let’s chase eternity together.”
“Deal. Now, close your eyes,” she said, “and feel the new day on your skin.”
It was now or never. Johnny clasped her hand to his chest and, closing his eyes, turned his face to the sun. Soon he felt the warmth and saw the light from behind his eyelids. It didn’t burn him, nor did it make his skin sizzle. Not yet, anyway.
“Will you watch the sun rise with me forever, Johnny?�
�
He smiled and tilted his head down against hers. “Without end.”
# # #
About the Author
I hope you enjoyed Johnny and Kambriel’s story. If you’re interested in the other characters included in the story here are the details:
Malakai and Rissa’s story is MALAKAI
Blu and Creed’s story is HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND
Vail and Lyric’s story is FOREVER VAMPIRE
Rhys and Viviane’s story is SEDUCING THE VAMPIRE
Kaz and Zoë’s story is THE VAMPIRE HUNTER
Libby and Reichardt’s story is THIS SOUL MAGIC
Verity and Rook’s story is BEYOND THE MOON (September 2014 release)
For more information about all the characters and creatures in my world of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, visit: http://clubscarlet.michelehauf.com and/or http://michelehauf.com
Find me on Facebook and Twitter (@michelehauf) as well as boards for the character couples on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/toastfaery)
KENDRIAN VAMPIRES
A Taste for Passion
by
Patrice Michelle
Copyright 2011 by Patrice Michelle
All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook cannot be re-sold or given away to others. No parts of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
To stay informed when the next Patrice Michelle book will be released, join P.T. Michelle’s free newsletter http://bit.ly/11tqAQN
Chapter One
Rana jammed hard on the pedal, then flinched when the engine made a revving whine. Gripping the gearshift, she shoved it into the next gear.
What are you trying to do, Rana, kill her? She could practically hear Jack groaning. How she wished her grandfather was here to needle her.
Love's First Bite: Bad Boys and Alpha Vampires Boxed Set (6 book bundle) Page 44