Bree. I was so glad I would get to be at her wedding.
“I’m sorry about Sage,” Dex whispered into my hair, pulling me back to the moment.
“Why? You didn’t know it was her.”
“I should have.” His words where riddled with guilt, causing me to pull back and look at him. “I should have been able to sense her two-faced qualities.” “You’re a wolf not a dog, Dex,” I teased to lighten the mood as I stepped out of his embrace, I couldn’t handle any more emotions raging through me right now. Besides, I didn’t want him beating himself up about the issue. None of us had known it was Sage, least of all me. My bet had been on Natalia from the start.
“Some might say the two are one and the same,” Lexy interjected. There was a hint of a smile twisting her lips, and I wondered for a split-second if this was her flirting with Dex. “I mean, dogs and wolves do hold many similarities.”
“Touché, darlin’.” Dex narrowed his eyes on her as his lips hooked into a devious grin.
Oh yeah, there was something brewing between these two.
“Kenna,” Arabella called to me. “Are you ready?” She was standing beside Bianca’s car. Her arms were wrapped tight around her middle as though it was the only way to hold herself together after the events of the night.
I swallowed hard. “Yeah, just a second.” I shifted my attention to Lexy. “You’re more than welcome to head back to my place, if you need to crash. I can give you a key.” I would feel horrible if I didn’t offer.
“No.” She shook her head. Her eyes went to Luke, and then back to me. “I think it’s time I check out my brother’s crazy club.”
“Damn right,” Luke agreed. “I’m about to get my sister drunk on a few Passion Potions, and watch her make a fool of herself. You might see a video or two coming your way before the end of the night.” He winked as a shit-eating grin spread on his face.
“Sounds like you’ll be in good hands then,” I joked. My attention shifted to Dex at the sounds of his laughter. “And what about you? Where are you headed?” It didn’t seem right to leave Dex hanging after the craziness of the night.
He crammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’m not sure yet. The night’s still young.” His eyes shifted to Lexy.
“Go with them,” I suggested. “Celebrate my being wraith-free for me.”
“I just might.” He grinned.
“Good. See you later.” I started toward Bianca’s car, ready to curl up next to Randal and forget this night had ever happened.
I climbed into the backseat and closed the door. The night had been insane. In the course of a few hours, I had died and been brought back to life, found out my friend had been the one responsible for all of my wraith troubles, and then watched her perish in front of me. I was positive I would suffer horrendous nightmares for the rest of my life because of it.
There were no lights on when we pulled up to the house. My heart sank at the sight. I had expected to see some form of life present, but the house looked empty and cold.
Images of Randal lying eerily still, locked in an eternal sleep filled my mind. It had been so hard last time to look at him in the state, but now that things were over, it would be even more difficult. I had thought being near him after tonight’s events would suffice, but I realized I wanted his arms wrapped around me and his lips pressed against mine. I wanted to hear his voice. Desperately.
I thought about what Arabella had mentioned, how with Sage gone he might wake sooner. Kyra had said the spell would break within a few days’ time, but I wondered if Arabella’s theory was right. Randal and Sage had been connected by a bond I didn’t understand. Her death could have jolted him awake sooner. I was learning quickly that in this supernatural world anything was possible.
My mind shifted to another thought: Would he feel the loss of Sage? Would he mourn her, even after all she had done?
“Is anyone hungry?” Arabella asked after Bianca cut the engine to her car.
“No.” Bianca climbed out and slammed her door shut. She was back to being a bitch. It didn’t take her long.
“Kenna?” Arabella shifted in her seat to glance at me.
“No.” Food was the last thing I wanted. My stomach was twisted into too many knots. “Thanks, though.”
She slipped out of the passenger seat and started toward the house, following behind Bianca without another word. I did the same. My cell rang before I reached the front door. I dug it out of my purse, praying it would be Randal, thinking maybe he had woken up and rushed to call me.
It wasn’t his number that lit my screen; it was Landon’s.
My heart stopped. I knew Sage and Randal had a strange sire bond, but I’d forgotten Landon and Sage had one as well. “Hello?”
“Kenna. What happened? I can feel…something is different. I don’t understand.” He fumbled for words.
Panic gripped me at the sound of his frantic tone. Landon was always so calm, cool, and collected. I’d never heard him this distraught before. He could feel Sage was gone. What would happen to him now? I had read loads of vampire stories over the course of my life, and in the majority of them, when a vampire died the ones they turned died too.
Was that Landon’s fate now? I couldn’t think about it. It hurt too much.
“Sage is…” The words wouldn’t come. My throat closed off.
“Something happened to her, didn’t it?” he pressed. “I can feel a change in me. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that a piece of me has died. I tried to call her, but she isn’t answering.” Pain laced his words.
“She’s gone, Landon.” My voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew he heard me.
“Gone how?” His voice cracked when he spoke. He knew the answer to his question. He could feel it, but he asked anyway. Maybe he just needed to hear the words said by someone else.
“The ritual had a double-edge to it. The person who infected me with the wraith was supposed to become infected by it once it was severed from me.” I paused, my heart pounding too hard against my rib cage.
“It was Sage, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Landon. I know you had a connection with her because of the sire bond.” My mouth clamped shut. I couldn’t bring myself to dump my fears of what this might mean on him. I needed time to think, time to figure something else out. My head was spinning out of control, and I could feel the slow burn of my wings threatening to expand from my back because of it.
I couldn’t let Landon die. Again. Because of me.
“We did,” he agreed. “But now that part of me is gone. I don’t know what this means, but it feels strange. I can’t explain it.”
“Tell him it means nothing,” a familiar voice said from behind me. “Tell him there will always be a hollow ache where his creator used to lie, but that is it. Nothing happens to him because of her death.”
I spun to face the voice, knowing who it was without having to see his face. Randal was awake, alive, mobile. He was standing in front of me with a sexy as sin smile sliding onto his face as he took in my reaction to his presence.
“You’re awake.” Tears pooled in my eyes. Relief washed over me, dousing out the warmth building between my shoulder blades.
“I am.” His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me into him.
His scent, masculine and spicy, filled my nose as the warmth from his touch seeped into me. I was finally where I had wanted to be all night.
“Kenna?” Landon’s muffled voice floated to my ears. “Kenna, tell Randal thank you for me. I’ll talk to you later.”
I pressed the phone to my ear, as I inhaled Randal’s scent once more. “Okay.”
The sound of Landon hanging up prompted me to do the same. Without hesitating, I lifted onto my toes and crushed my lips to Randal’s. Bliss slipped through me. It had been so long since I had been able to do so. My arms wrapped around his neck, as his hands found their way to my hips. I deepened our kiss, allowing his t
ongue to glide against mine. I was right where I had wanted to be.
Chapter 34
“I missed you.” I breathed against Randal’s lips. “You have no idea how worried I was when Arabella told me you were missing.”
“I can imagine. I apologize for everything you have been through.” His hand smoothed along my back. “While I am not entirely aware of all that took place while I was indisposed, I was able to sense Sage’s loss the moment I woke.”
“How?” I wasn’t sure why I bothered asking, by now I should know the magic of the supernatural world seemed capable of anything.
“She was mine.” He said. There was no emotion in his voice to help me interpret his meaning, but jealously pooled through my stomach nonetheless. I didn’t enjoy hearing those words fall from his mouth after all I had been through because of her. “I created her. We were bonded in a certain way that is utterly indescribable.” He paused, allowing my mind to wander to places it shouldn’t. Not while I was in such a fragile frame of mind from the nights events as it was.
A tingling sensation built between my shoulder blades as I wondered if there hadn’t been something more between the two than I’d thought. Maybe the wraith had been right to suggest such a thing.
“Because of this, I was privy to her final moments. They interloped through my mind while I was still under the spell she had placed on me.”
“You watched everything happen?” I asked, trying to prompt him to clarify what he was saying.
A distant look crossed over his face. He appeared to be locked in the memory. “It wasn’t as though I watched, but as if I was there as her. I could feel her satisfaction at seeing you wither in pain against the slab of rock. I could feel her disappointment once you finally came to. Everything, even her worry when she learned where the wraith would go next. It was all there. Everything.” His voice shook. Seeing him so shaken had me reaching out for him.
I took his hand in mine. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Is that the way it normally happens when a vampire you’ve created dies?” While I wanted to comfort him, curiosity got the best of me.
“It has never been so strong before, so vivid. I presume the strength in which I felt the moment in was due to the magic surrounding the spell placed on me. It heightened everything.” He locked eyes with me. “I apologize for everything, Kenna. I do.”
I shook my head. “Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”
“If I had paid more attention I would have known it was Sage behind everything. I should have realized what she was capable of; I knew she harbored strong feelings for me.”
“Let’s not think about her anymore.” I hated thinking about Sage. I knew it had only been a short time since leaving her in the woods, but I’d already lost all sense of sympathy and sorrow when it came to her. Now all I felt was anger.
She’d infected me with the wraith, pretended to be my friend, and then kidnapped my boyfriend.
Sage had gotten what she deserved.
“What would you like for me to think of instead?” There was a playful tone embedded in Randal’s words. One that made my insides ignite with flickers of desire.
I pushed up on my toes until my lips where a breath away from his. “Hmm…maybe we could shift back to where we were a few minutes ago?”
“I would enjoy that as well.” He brushed his lips against mine in the form of a featherlight kiss.
Someone cleared her throat behind us. We parted to see Bianca and Arabella standing at the entrance to the house.
“All right, love birds. Would you mind toning your affection for one another down a tad and stepping inside for a drink with us?” Bianca asked.
“A drink would be nice.” I answered.
Randal interlocked his fingers through mine as we started toward the house. I glanced at Arabella as we passed through the front door. While there was a smile on her face, I could see her inner turmoil reflected in her eyes. She was a sweet person with a sensitive side. I had no doubt Sage’s betrayal had gutted her even more than it had me.
“She will be okay.” Randal whispered against my ear as we moved into the kitchen. “Arabella will find the anger she should harbor due to the situation, and then she will bounce back.”
“I hope so.” I breathed. I hated seeing her this way.
“What would you like to drink, dear brother?” Bianca asked.
His lips twisted into the boyish smirk I loved. “A Bloody Mary.”
“That does sound fantastic.” Bianca agreed. “Kenna, would you want a Kiss of Death Bomber?”
“Absolutely.” Just the thought had me bubbling with anticipation.
“We should have someone from Red River deliver.” Bianca suggested.
“I’ll make the call.” Randal offered. His hand slipped free from mine as he made his way toward his bedroom. I figured he’s left his cell in there.
Arabella headed toward the living room. I watched her as she situated herself on the couch.
“Death is not something my sister handles well. Ironic, isn’t it?”
I shifted to look at Bianca. “I guess.” Sometimes I forgot Arabella was a vampire.
“When Clara passed was the only time I worried about Arabella.” Bianca leaned against the countertop, letting her plans hold up her weight. “It was the only time I worried she would change. This,” she gestured to her sitting on the couch. “It will pass after a few days. She is merely in shock from the betrayal.”
Hearing Bianca reiterate what Randal had mentioned was a relief. “That’s good to know.”
Bianca’s eyes narrowed on me. I was unsure what I had said that warranted the sudden change in her mood. “There is something I need to say before my brother comes back.”
“Okay.” My stomach tightened.
“I respect your decision to save yourself. Many would have begged and pleaded for someone to willingly die for them once they learned the cost of the first spell, but you didn’t. It takes a strong person to avoid that temptation.” She said. I opened my mouth to say something in response, but she held up a hand to stop me. “You surprised me with your strength, Kenna. You’ve led me to believe there is no one better for my brother than you.”
I blinked. This was Bianca giving me the okay. Did it mean she wasn’t going to be such a raging bitch to me all the time? “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention I said anything to my brother, please,” she smoothed a few hairs away from her forehead. “I don’t need everyone thinking I’ve gone soft.” A smirk lifted the corner of her mouth as she pushed away from the counter and headed toward the living room.
“I won’t.” I flashed her a smile of my own and followed.
“The drinks should be here soon.” Randal said. He found his way to me and pulled me down onto the leather couch beside him. “I ordered double, just in case.” He whispered against my ear.
“That was probably a good idea.” I chuckled.
A coldness shifted through the room, causing me to pause in my excitement. A shiver slipped along my spine, because it was all too familiar. My heart began to race as the iciness seemed to drift further into the room.
“What is happening?” Arabella asked. The fear etched in her words intensified my own.
As if in response to her question, a form began to materialize in the center of the room. I closed my eyes and held my breath, praying it wasn’t the wraith coming back for me. My mind nudged me to run, to get out of the house as fast as I could, but the terror slipping through my veins had frozen me in place.
A blue light lit the back of my eyes. In an instant I understood what was happening. Relief flooded me, causing my eyes to snap open. Clara hovered a few inches off the floor in front of us. She was a midnight blue apparition smiling at us.
“Clara?” Randal was the first to speak. He dropped his hold on me and leaned forward.
“Yes.” Her voice was low, composed. “It would not have felt right to pass over without first coming to my beloved siblings to say g
oodbye.”
“How are you here?” Bianca asked. “Did the wraith parish that quickly?”
I waited for Clara’s response on the edge of my seat. How could he have? It was too fast, wasn’t it? I tried to remember if Kyra had clarified on how long it would take for the wraith to die once he was locked in the circle with Sage’s corpse. She hadn’t. At least, I couldn’t remember if she had.
My eyes skimmed over Clara. Apparently the wraith wasn’t as strong as he had always claimed to be. His need for a host must have been dire. I wondered what his final thoughts had been. I hoped he had been terrified.
“He is gone.” Clara shifted to look at me. “I have you to thank for that. It was because of your bravery to sacrifice yourself that the others and I were able to be set free. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Clara’s eyes left me to gaze at her siblings. “I must go, but please know that I am finally able to leave you in peace. I love you all.” Her words echoed through the house as she faded away.
We sat in silence, soaking in the moment that had just transpired.
The wraith was forever gone. Randal was safe. Clara and the others were finally free.
A knock sounded at the front door, startling me. When no one moved to answer it, I stood. Cliff, one of Randal’s bouncers from Red River, stood on the stoop holding a case of red drinks. A large grin swept onto his face.
“Let the party begin.” He held the drinks out to me.
“You couldn’t have come at a better time.” Randal stepped to my side. He handed Cliff a wad of bills and took the case from him. “Thank you.”
“No problem, boss.” Cliff nodded before he turned and started down the steps to his SUV. It was still running.
Randal closed the door and faced me. “For you.” He held out a Kiss of Death Bomber to me.
“Thank you.” I wasted no time twisting the cap off the vial. The scent of vanilla and sugar wafted to my nose. It was super sweet and heavenly.
Succubus Kiss The Complete Series Page 67