Crown of Smoke and Blood

by Sadie Jacks

  Hector spluttered a laugh. “Indeed, my friend. However, they were willing to share their memories with us.”

  I winced. “Did you at least wipe their memories?” Just what we needed: hipster hookers hanging around with knowledge of vampires.

  Both men reared back in affront.

  Wincing again at the insult I’d just delivered, I raised a hand. “I apologize. What did you learn?”

  Hector patted his slicked back hair, a petty smirk on his face. “Well, Neora saw a couple men running with Michael, but none of them were familiar to me.”

  “And Samantha Lee Frolette did not see any men. But one woman was with Michael. She seemed to be excited to be with him. So I can’t imagine it was one of the women we rescued.”

  “Did you get an idea of how long ago these memories were from?” Vari asked.

  Hector nodded, while Ambrose shook his head.

  “Neora’s memories were quite fresh. I would say within the last week.” Hector shook his head. “So while that is useful information, it doesn’t help with our current predicament.”

  “Samantha’s memories were closer to a month old.” Ambrose sighed. “So before the first woman was taken.”

  Vari smiled brilliantly. “But we now know that Michael frequented that place for more than just this last ride. If he took willing women there, then he might have been using it for all of his nefarious practices.”

  Hector shook his head. “If his scent had been there for much longer, no amount of bleach or ammonia would have destroyed his scent. We carry his blood in our memories and veins. He would not have been able to hide so successfully. Not even in death.”

  Vari nodded. “So you’re looking at between three and four weeks. Do you have the blood of every coven member inside you?”

  I blinked at this small, marvelous woman. She’d just given us another clue. And a way to pinpoint the accomplice.

  Hector shook his head. “No. Only the other Council members. However, Koehn shares blood with each member.”

  Everyone turned to look at me.

  I nodded. “Yes. And I’ll be able to tell definitively who was helping Michael. I just need to visit a couple ladies of the night.” My smile felt like it stretched until it engulfed my face.

  Chapter 29 – Vari

  Did he have to look so excited about seeing and drinking from some whores? Honestly, the man panted after me one minute and then looked like he was going to go on an unplanned killing spree the next.

  I pouted. Would I ever get to have an unplanned killing spree again? They were my favorite pastime, and I hadn’t had one in so very long.

  Koehn looked at me, his smile dimming slightly. “What? You look like I stabbed your puppy.”

  Shaking myself, I shrugged. “Just wishing I could indulge in my favorite hobby.” Surely there had to be some bad guys out and about. Some nefarious perverts or child abusers. They deserved a good killing. I would at least make it quick for them. Maybe.

  Kinda.

  Okay, probably not, but they were awful and probably deserved to die. Why not it be me who snuffed out their soul light?

  Just as Koehn opened his mouth—no doubt to ask some more questions—the throne room doors slid open with the softest sigh.

  A male and female walked in. Moony expressions on their faces as they seemed to float on the air to cross the large space. I flicked a tendril of magic over both of them. A small tasting to see what powers they held.

  Human female and male vampire.

  Koehn blew out a breath beside me. “Fecking finally,” he said under his sigh. He cleared his throat softly and raised his voice. “Hayes, where the feck have you been?”

  The slim, short vampire didn’t even look over at his king. He had eyes only for the woman who towered over him by almost a foot. And his eyes were slightly hazy. As if he’d imbibed just a little too much.

  They were an odd pairing, but who was I to stand in the way of eternal love. Well…at least until she died. No way she was going to live as long as the man attached to her hand like a leech.

  “Dr. Hayes was helping me.” The woman turned, her brown eyes twinkling dimly. “I needed a very thorough examination.” Her giggle grated on my nerves and sent shudders down my spine.

  Something was just a little off, but I couldn’t place what it was. Sending out another thread of my power, I investigated her aura. Clearly human, but the colors that surrounded her seemed…odd.

  “Hayes, I’ve been waiting for hours,” Koehn barked. He sent a wash of magic through the room.

  The vampire doctor jolted. Blinking rapidly, his head twisting this way and that, his deep blue eyes widened when he saw where he was. “My King?” His graying brows were lowered over his beak of a nose.

  Koehn went still beside me. Emotions radiated off of him for less than a handful of seconds before he got himself back under control. He stepped forward, his authority heavy and demanding. “Hayes.”

  The vampire nodded. “Yes, my king. I came as quickly as I could.”

  The woman snickered. “But only the last time.” She wiggled her brows with a suggestive smirk. “Those examinations sure can take a while.” She winked at me, another high-pitched giggle grating over my skin. Something seemed to dance deep in her brown eyes.

  Something is wrong with her, I sent to Koehn. I felt like I’d just walked through a screen of spiderwebs. Their ghostly tendrils wrapping and trailing along my skin.

  And with him.

  Koehn put his hand out as if he wanted to shake hands with Hayes.

  The smaller man lifted his arm as if someone else controlled it. His eyes went glassy once more.

  The woman intercepted the touch, grabbing Koehn’s hand in hers. A crackle of electricity zipped through me as their skin made contact.

  Something rose up inside me and reacted before I had a chance to stop it—let alone analyze it. With a quick whip of my borrowed magic, I had her thrown across the room as I jumped in front of Koehn. Making myself into a barrier in case she wanted to touch him again.

  “What the feck?” he breathed behind me. “Vari?”

  I turned my head slowly, my vision alternating between white and red at the edges. “Don’t ever touch her again. No other woman. Ever.” My voice was a grating growl in my throat. I knew something was going wrong, knew I was overreacting. But right then, I didn’t care. He’d touched another female.

  He was mine. And he’d had his skin on a woman who wasn’t me.

  Rationally, I knew he’d had to help the women who sat on the steps. Had to touch at least one of them. Even fed her his blood. But it didn’t matter.

  Turning around, I faced him. Got up into his face. Raising a hand, I lifted it to the back of his head and yanked his face down to mine. “Only ever me.” I took his mouth with a hard bite.

  I inhaled him. Sucked down his essence like it was water and I was in the desert. While I pulled him into me, I shoved my own power and magic down into him. Overflowed the bowl where he kept his magic stored.

  Soon, I didn’t know where either one of us started or ended. We simply were. Together, one entity, one soul, one bond.

  His hands came around and cupped my arse, pulling me up against his body. Ripping his mouth from mine, he growled, “Out. Everyone get out.” Then he attacked my lips.

  Biting and sucking just hard enough that every single thought but him drained from my mind like water through a sieve. My chest tightened as my heart started to pound. Wrapping my legs around his waist, all I wanted was to feel his hardness pressed against my soft core.

  Snarling at the fabric that kept us from each other, I dipped into the well of writhing power inside me. With a sharp flick, I dissolved the clothes from between us. Thankful for the first time for the Djinn essence I carried.

  “Sweet saints, Vari,” he mumbled against my lips. “You feel like silk and fire.” With a flex of his arms, he lifted me up just a bit higher.

  Lowering one hand, I reached between us and circ
led my fingers around his length. Lining us up, I stiffened my thighs until I could slide down until there was no true end and no true beginning between us. A meeting of flesh and souls that went on for eternity.

  I could feel my soul wrapping around his. Desperately needing to find a warmth I’d never dreamed nor hoped to find. The missing piece of me that was somehow stored in him in perfect proportion.

  As our groans merged into a single note of pleasure, our bodies sank into a rhythm that called out and delivered on every desire we both had. As if our bodies spoke in the same silent language and no physical words were necessary for perfect communication.

  My hands dug into his neck. His dark hair teasing the sensitive pads of my fingers. His breath puffed against my jaw as his tongue flicked out and licked a long line up my neck. He growled in my ear. A wordless mumble that was immediately reflected in my pussy.

  My body clenched around him, tightened down against his thrusting cock as I tried to keep him inside me. Sweat misted my skin as everything inside me coalesced into a single point of sensation. With the depth of his invasion, I felt like he touched parts of me I didn’t recognize.

  Nor did I try to define them. For the first time in my life, I simply experienced the feelings. Didn’t analyze them. I didn’t search them for hidden meaning or try to figure out what wasn’t said. I immersed myself in the feel of him. Of us. And it was more potent than any magic I carried inside me.

  His thrusts became harder as he tipped my head to the side. As the sweet pain of his fangs puncturing my vein registered in my mind, my body lit up like I’d been electrocuted. But in the best possible way.

  Searing heat and incredible pleasure rocked through me. Every cell and atom inside me shook and shattered. Only to be rebuilt with a piece of Koehn as part of the mix. An integral element that filled me beyond bursting but cradled me in a sense of safety I’d never before experienced.

  He yanked his head back and shrieked at the ceiling as I felt his body stiffen to iron under my hands and between my legs. We stayed there for long moments as the power and magic swirled around us in ever diminishing waves.

  Even as my body began to make its aches and twinges known, I cuddled against his chest. A single bead of sweat threatened to fall from his forehead down his temple. Leaning forward, I licked it up. Hummed around the salty flavor that exploded in my mouth.

  “Does all of you taste this good?”

  His cock jerked inside me once more as his fingers bit bruises into my hips. “Sweet fecking saints, Vari. You can’t say those kinds of things.”

  I leaned back slightly. “Why not?”

  He leaned his head forward, resting it against my chin. “Because I’ll kill anyone who tries to touch you. I’m already this close to serial fratricide with my coven members for even looking at you.” He squeezed his hands into the flesh of my arse again, causing a shuddering shiver to slide down my spine. “And if you think you’re not mine after that, you’re not paying attention to who owns whom.”

  I snapped my jaws at him. “Yes. I own you.” I squeezed his waist between my thighs and saw his eyelids flutter in appreciation as a low growl filtered between his lips.

  For what seemed like the millionth time that night—or was it morning?—the throne room doors burst open behind me.

  Before I could blink, Koehn and I were huddled in a corner, his body shielding mine as he glared at the intruder. “Who the feck are you?”

  With a half thought, I had both of us clothed again. No one would be peeking on his body. Not while I owned it.

  “Vari?” a familiar voice asked.

  My back stiffened as if I had a sword shoved up my arse. My mind went blank as I spun in a slow circle. It couldn’t be. He was supposed to be dead.

  I’d killed him myself. With great joy, happiness, and malice aforethought.

  When I looked across the huge room, I felt my belly threaten to revolt. Oh shite. It was really him.

  Koehn put an arm around my shoulders. “I won’t ask again.”

  The man blinked as if he just realized Koehn was there. In the grand scheme of things, Koehn really wasn’t that powerful. Not on the scales we used. But the man recognized the threat of death that threaded through Koehn’s voice. “I’m –”

  “Not important, and should be dead. What the hell are you doing here?” I talked over him as I slammed my fists onto my hips. He was the worst. Why couldn’t he have just stayed dead? All of this would be a lot easier if he were living it up in the Underworld with the rest of his kind.

  His stupidly sexy mouth curled up at the corner. “You shouldn’t have activated the portal, Vari. You practically summoned me.” His piercing blue eyes and golden hair glinted under the bright lights in the room. “I’ve been waiting for what feels like forever for your call.”

  Koehn turned to me. “Vari, who is this? And who is he to you?”

  My mouth opened to answer Koehn as the man laughed. “I’m Endrik. Her husband. The one she tried to murder on our wedding night.”

  Chapter 30 – Koehn

  Her pretty mouth curled up at one corner as she glared at the intruder from around my shoulder. “Not my husband. I did kill you. Hence, no longer married. And that marriage was nothing but a sham. You were a job. Nothing more.” When she looked back up at me, I could see the tightening at the edges of her eyes.

  I fought not to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze until all the answers she denied me popped from between her lips. This woman was beyond infuriating. “Start explaining.” A growl rose up before I could stop it. “Now.” I was done playing nice. I would be getting the answers I needed. Here and now.

  She glared up at me. Her amber eyes vibrant and backlit with low flames. “I’m telling you this because you were just so deep inside me I can’t really remember my name, but I swear to any gods that are left if you think you can order me about whenever you want, I slit you from neck to nards.” She pushed up to her tippy toes, the top of her head barely making it to my collarbones. “Do you understand me?”

  I dipped my chin with one hard movement. Not trusting myself to speak right now, I merely watched her. Completely ignoring the man at my back, even though I could feel the power practically pouring off of him. He could be stronger than all of the Avengers put together and I still wouldn’t let him take Vari from me.

  “I can tell you the real story, mate. Just ring when you’re ready for the truth,” the jackarse said from behind me.

  “Shut it, Drik. I’ll kill you again,” Vari shouted at him without looking away from me. My father sent me to him. Endrik’s family is…special. Of all their specialness, Endrik is even more so. I was to wed him, take his power, and return back to my father.

  But something went wrong, and you accidentally killed him?

  Vari’s lips quirked. You could say something like that. He’s truly insufferable. I killed him because I didn’t want my father to have his…specialness. And it made me happy to kill him.

  I snorted. Why was I not surprised by that last bit? What makes him so special? Other than his ego?

  Vari’s eyes sparkled as her lips flipped up into a true smile. Oh gods, I’m so glad you can see how awful he is. Entitled manbabies are the worst! She pumped her dark brows up and down a couple of times before her expression settled back into more serious lines. As to his gifts, that isn’t my knowledge to share. However, it is honestly best for him to be dead. Anyone with a mind bent toward evil could use him and hurt millions—if not billions—of people. Both magical and non.

  My brows soared high. Seriously? What’s he packing? Does his skin ooze disease? Does he breathe noxious gases?

  She blinked quickly as her head tipped to the side. Do you know his family then?

  My mouth fell open. No fecking way. There weren’t any kind of such beings that carried that kind of power.

  Were there?

  Vari winced. Shite. Pretend I didn’t just say that. She glared up at me. None of me works the way it's suppo
sed to when you’re around. She shook her head as she grumped. Never mind about that. Just play along. I’ll kill him and he can go back to the Underworld with all the other monsters. He’ll be in perfect company.

  I blocked her path when she tried to move around me. “Not in my house. We’ll go together.” I grabbed her hand and laced our fingers together. “You own me; I own you. Together. Until we both stop living.”

  Her magic swirled up and around me in a way I hadn’t felt before. It was as if I could feel her emotions, feel her thoughts. If she were a more demonstrative woman, I would have said she just wrapped me up in a parka of warm fuzzies.

  We walked down the stairs, the five battered women still sitting there unmoving. It dawned on me then that they were the only other people in the room. Luckily, someone had thought to grab Hayes and his companion when Vari attacked me with the best kind of weapon. I would have hated to kill Hayes for seeing her delicious body. Not to mention I still needed him to check our rescues.

  “Endrik, how did you escape?” Vari asked as we stood in front of the other man.

  The man smiled, lust bright in his eyes as he watched her walk towards him. For all the notice he gave me, I might as well not have been there at all. Which would make killing him all the easier. “V, you wound me.” He clutched at his chest.

  Bit of a drama queen, this one, I said to her.

  Her chuckle was more of a snort, but she squeezed my fingers. “Hold still and I’ll really wound you. You were into pain, if I remember correctly.”

  Before I could respond to that little notion, she had a dagger in her hand and flung it through the air at him.

  He went to mist just as the blade would have sliced through him.

  It clattered to the floor behind him, useless.

  When he resumed his more solid form, a huge smile stretched his mouth. “You do remember me, baby.” He blew her a kiss.

  I shoved her out of the way. I didn’t care if it was an air kiss. It wouldn’t land on her if I had anything to say about it. Mine.