by C. C. Wood
“Sex isn’t resting,” I commented as I walked toward the dresser.
“Maybe not, but you’ll rest very well after I’m done with you.”
Before he could leave the room, I muttered, “Don’t think that you can get away with bossing me around just because I’m following orders tonight. You’re spoiling me and that’s the only time I do as I’m told.”
Asher was in front of me in the blink of an eye. He cupped the back of my head and lifted me to my toes, his mouth crashing down onto mine.
When he released me, I blinked up at him. “What was that for?”
“Being you,” he replied. He stepped back and headed toward the door. “Get dressed and into bed. I’ll be back to continue spoiling you in a few minutes.”
I shook my head at his bossiness, but did as he said because I wasn’t going to turn down pampering.
Especially since I really liked the way Asher did it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The next week wasn’t as hectic as my first week as a vampire. There were no more clandestine meetings late at night or people trying to kill my friends or me.
In fact, I almost felt as though I were back at my job at the security firm. We were completing what would have been considered the research and planning phase of the assignment. We were learning what we could about our target and using that information to form a suitable plan.
Since Kerry needed time to prepare the potions and other materials she needed in case Rhys turned out to be a lying sack of shit, she suggested that we gather the day of the winter solstice.
Considering that was the week of Christmas, no one was thrilled with the timing, but Kerry explained that it had the added benefit of boosting her power. The winter and summer solstice were times a witch would see a rise in her abilities and strength.
Everyone finally came to agree with her because it was clear we would need all the power we could get.
My visions hadn’t included the attack of the Faction on Conner’s home, merely snatches of the battle and the end result. I tried meditation and even a potion that Kerry prepared in an effort to see more, but it didn’t help. Those portions of time remained stubbornly blank in my mind.
The best we could do was plan our response when the Faction did attack. That was the problem with baiting a trap. You could never be sure which way your prey would come at it.
Rhys proved himself helpful in the plan, giving us his thoughts and suggestions on what his brother might do.
During his last visit, Conner, Lex, Finn, and Asher were arguing about how to ensure the safety of the five of us. I tried to interrupt several times but they were too focused on each other.
Finally, Rhys stood up at the end of the table and clapped his hands. Somehow the sound was amplified, so loud that it made my ears ring and my head ache.
The four male vampires immediately stopped arguing and glared at Rhys.
“You’re not solving the problem at hand,” Rhys stated calmly.
“We can’t risk allowing Cornelius to take the females off the property,” Lex snapped. “These three may not be so concerned because their mates aren’t human, but Ivie is still vulnerable and more fragile than they are.”
My eyebrows shot up. If Ivie heard him talking about her like that, she’d show him exactly how delicate she was. I also knew that she was learning to harness her ability to control vampires and she was growing in strength daily. She’d regaled me more than once with the silly things she made Lex do and the resulting “punishments”, which sounded kind of kinky and fun rather than good deterrents.
Rhys shook his head. “Cornelius won’t do that. It would be too difficult to get five powerful females off the property, especially when it will be so well protected. He’ll want to complete the ritual here.”
“So we’ll lead him somewhere,” Kerry interjected. “The ballroom. It’s large enough to give us room to fight and I can stash some things in there that will be useful.”
Rhys considered her suggestions. “Yes, I believe that would work.”
I looked at the male vampires sitting around the table. “What do you think?”
One by one, they agreed that it was a starting point.
I could feel the tension and frustration in the room, coming from everyone, even Rhys.
“I think we should take a break,” I stated firmly.
I could tell that Lex and Conner wanted to disagree, but Kerry and Donna immediately jumped to their feet.
“Yes, please.” Donna looked so relieved at the idea that I knew Conner wouldn’t say a word.
“I need to be going.” Rhys gathered his jacket. “I have an errand to run and I’ll be gone for a few days. When I return, I’ll come back here.”
“Where are you going?” Kerry asked, her voice suspiciously neutral. She was clearly still wary of him and his motives.
Our vampires hid it well, but I knew they didn’t trust him much either. I couldn’t blame them. Rhys was difficult to read and he kept his emotions as guarded as he kept his thoughts. If I hadn’t envisioned the future, I wouldn’t have trusted him either.
Rhys smiled at her. “To get what I’ll need to kill my brother, little witch. The ritual requires very specific ingredients, some of them impossible to find this far south.”
Kerry’s face paled at his words, and Rhys’ smile faded.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Finn was on his feet and at Kerry’s side before anyone else could respond. “Kerry?” When she didn’t respond, Finn twisted his head around and scowled at Rhys. “What did you do to her?”
Rhys lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Nothing.”
She shook her head as if coming out of a trance, the color returning to her cheeks. “Sorry, sorry. Don’t be upset with Rhys.” She looked at the male in question. “Your brother called me that the first time I met him. It brought back some nasty memories, that’s all.”
For the first time since I met him, Rhys looked something other than amused or blank. He looked contrite.
“I’m very sorry, Kerry,” he apologized. “I won’t call you that again.”
“It’s okay. Like I said, it took me by surprise.”
“Still, I apologize,” Rhys replied stiffly. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I should be going.”
He looked upset and, as he walked by me, I could feel his tangled emotions. Anger and sadness. Regret.
I followed him to the door, waving back Conner and Asher as they attempted to do the same.
“Let me talk to him,” I murmured to them.
I jogged across the foyer after him. “Rhys.”
He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Shannon, I don’t mean to be rude, but—”
“You’re upset,” I interrupted his brush off. “Why?”
His jaw tightened and some emotion swirled in the black depths of his eyes. I realized it was hate. Not directed at me or anyone else, but at himself. For all his outward appearance, Rhys the Dark was full of self-loathing.
“Just when I think I’m escaping him,” Rhys muttered. “He appears.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t pretend ignorance, Shannon. It’s insulting.”
I frowned at him. “Rhys, I really don’t understand. You’re angry, not at me, but at yourself. Why?”
His face grew tight. “You’re not curious?” he asked drily.
“Give me a straight answer,” I shot back.
“I know your friends have been wondering how much like my brother I am. I’m his twin and they think that some part of me must be as evil as he is. You haven’t asked yourself the same?”
“No.”
Shock and confusion filled not only his expression but his emotions as well. Rhys had lowered his guard slightly. “Why?”
I placed a hesitant hand on his arm, jerking slightly when a jolt of static electricity jumped from his skin to my palm. “I’ve seen the future, Rhys. I know that you help us. You’re standing with us
at the end.”
“Sometimes I fear I’ll never truly be free of him. We shared the same womb, the same nightmares as children, and endured things….” Rhys trailed off. “It’s occurred to me more than once that our similarities are more than just physical, that a part of him may always live inside me.”
“You’re nothing like him.”
His black eyes moved over my face. “You truly believe that, don’t you?”
I nodded. “I’ve met your brother. He emanates evil. It’s too strong for him to hide. I don’t sense anything like that in you. You aren’t evil.”
Rhys seemed reluctant to accept my words, but he didn’t argue. “I should be going.”
He laid his hand over mine and squeezed gently. I managed to suppress a flinch at the mild electric shock he gave me. He released me and pulled his arm from my grasp.
As I watched him walk out the front door, I realized that Rhys the Dark might be powerful and immortal, but he was also the loneliest being I’d ever met.
Chapter Twenty-Six
As soon as Rhys left, Donna and Kerry emerged from the study and made a beeline for me.
“Time for girl talk,” Donna stated, hooking her arm through mine. “We haven’t been able to spend time together since you got here. I’ve missed you.”
She guided me into the kitchen, Kerry trailing behind us.
“I’ve missed our girls’ nights,” Kerry mused. “Goddess, what has it been—several months—since the last one?”
“Yeah.”
“Pick your poison,” Donna said as we gathered around the island in the kitchen.
I really wanted something strong and alcoholic, but I didn’t want to dull my judgment. “I’ll have tea,” I answered with a sigh.
“With whiskey?” Donna asked.
“I need to have a clear head.”
She frowned. “I guess I should keep a clear head too.”
“I’ll have what you’re having,” Kerry said.
Donna got down a teapot and cups. “This isn’t much like girls’ night,” she complained.
“This will all be over at some point. We can get dressed up and go out,” I promised. “Or we could sit around and drink sangria in your hot tub.”
“I vote for that. Girls’ night out is fun and all, but that hot tub is magic,” Kerry insisted.
“God, when did we get so old?” Donna asked, putting tea and hot water in the pot.
“We didn’t get old,” Kerry answered, “We found men. They settled us down, dammit.”
I grinned at her words. “I don’t know about that. I’ve always liked staying in. You’re the party animal.”
Donna shrugged. “I can’t help it if you two are boring.”
We laughed as she removed the infuser from the pot and began pouring tea.
After we’d all taken a sip, Donna leaned forward. “Now that I have you without Asher, you have got to tell me what in the hell happened. The last time I talked to you, he annoyed the shit out of you and now you’re giving him googoo eyes every time I turn around.”
“He kinda grew on me,” I admitted.
“Like a fungus?” Kerry asked, batting her lashes innocently.
I hadn’t dated a lot over the last few years. I was always too busy at work and most of the men I met considered me one of the guys. Probably because the only men I met worked with me.
Because my love life was woefully lacking, I didn’t talk much about it with my friends. It wasn’t intentional but now that I had something to share, I found it difficult.
I took another sip of my tea. “Well, he’s a sweet talker.”
Donna and Kerry stared at me blankly.
“I’m sorry, did you say sweet talker?” Donna asked. “What does that even mean?”
“He says the right thing at the right time.”
“How?” Kerry piped in. “Give us an example.”
I hesitated.
“Oh, come on, tell us,” Donna insisted. “I tell you everything.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Uh, yeah. Usually it’s major TMI.”
“Okay,” she sighed. “You don’t have to say.”
“He said he was born to be with me,” I blurted out. “And that I was made for him.
“Oh, that is sweet talk,” Kerry teased.
“He loves me,” I mumbled.
“What was that?”
I could see the smile Donna was fighting when she asked that question.
“He loves me,” I repeated louder.
“He’s been nuts about you since the moment he laid eyes on you,” Kerry stated. “You never seemed to notice, but he always watched you when you were around. Not that he saw you often, but when he did…the look in his eyes made my knees weak.”
She was right. I hadn’t noticed the way he watched me. I was so intent upon avoiding him that I hadn’t allowed myself to see it.
“What I really want to know is how’s the sex?”
I nearly choked on the tea I was drinking.
“Jesus, Donna. Are you trying to kill me?” I sputtered.
“I’m curious too,” Kerry admitted. “Is sex as a vampire better than sex as a human?”
I buried my head in my hands.
“I can attest that it isn’t necessarily better as a vampire, but it is definitely better if you’re with a vampire,” Donna joked.
Kerry laughed. “That is so very true.”
They both faced me, wearing the same expectant expression.
“Okay, so sex with a vampire is pretty damn awesome,” I confessed. “And sex as a vampire is amazing too.”
Donna lifted her mug. “To the sexual prowess of vampires.” Then, as we clinked our cups together, she cried, “And the Highlanders!”
I had to laugh. Donna’s obsession with Highlanders was well known in our group, and somehow she’d ended up with her own kilt-wearing, Scot warrior. Talk about a fantasy come to life.
Kerry shushed us. “We need to quiet down. The guys will be in here in a minute, asking if we’re drinking booze with our tea.”
As I looked at my friends, I realized exactly how much I’d missed them, their bawdy sense of humor, and the resulting wildly inappropriate jokes. I hadn’t realized what a toll the isolation had taken on me until now.
Cornelius had taken more from me than he deserved, and he wouldn’t be taking anything else. Except maybe a bullet.
* * *
A short time later, Conner interrupted our impromptu tea party. Surprisingly, he wasn’t looking for Donna, but for me.
“Shannon, I could use your expertise in the study.”
“Uh, okay.” I got to my feet, shrugging my shoulders at Donna when she looked at me questioningly.
“What expertise, babe?” she asked him.
“We’re attempting to identify and fortify the weak areas in the house. Since Shannon has experience in the security field, I thought she could help.”
“That I can do,” I stated, moving toward the kitchen door. “Do you have blueprints of the house, a map of the grounds, and all your security system specs?”
Behind me, Kerry muttered, “Goddess, it turns me on when you talk shop.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “I heard that.”
She smirked at me. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
Kerry’s tendency to elicit a response with smartass remarks was something I was accustomed to. I just shook my head and kept walking.
I spent the next eight hours staring at page after page of plans, maps, and security grids. It was just after midnight when Asher put a hand on my shoulder.
“You need to get some rest.”
“I just want to finish this—”
“All right, I need to get some rest and I’d like you with me,” he insisted. “We have time to finish this. It will be at least two weeks before Kerry is ready.”
When he put it like that, I didn’t really feel like arguing anymore. My head ached, my eyes were blurry, and I needed some sleep too.
“O
kay,” I agreed.
Asher and I went upstairs to our room and got ready for bed. When I stretched out on the mattress, I could swear I felt my entire body sigh with relief. Sleep hadn’t been high on my list of priorities the last few days.
“I swear this bed might be heaven,” I groaned.
Asher rolled me over to face him and pulled me against his side. I rested my cheek on his shoulder and draped my arm over his abdomen. Then I lifted my leg and laid my thigh over his.
“Comfortable?” he drawled.
“Very,” I answered with a sigh. “Now I know that this bed is heaven.”
He chuckled softly. “Get some sleep. We’ll work on saving the world tomorrow.”
“Someone’s gotta do it,” I muttered just before I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I looked up from the security plans I was studying when my phone rang.
It was Kerry.
“Hey, Kerry. I’m a little busy right now, can I call you back?”
“No, you can’t. This is important.”
I sat up straighter. “Is something wrong? Do you need help?”
“Not exactly.”
When she didn’t continue, I demanded, “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Rhys wasn’t completely truthful with us. At least, I don’t think he was. We don’t have to use another animavore to kill Cornelius. There’s another ritual, one I’ve never heard of before. We just need the blood of his maker.”
“What? How did you find this out?”
“It was in one of the books in my library. A book that only shows up when I need it.”
That made no sense to me, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. I had visions of the past, present, and future and I drank blood to survive. I wasn’t exactly a reality check myself.
“Okay, but can we get the blood of his maker?” I asked.
“I already have it.”
“How?”
“It’s in the book. Apparently, Gaius had a crisis of conscience when he created Cornelius and Valerius, also known as Rhys. Either that or he wanted to make a fail-safe in case he couldn’t control his little soul eaters. When he wrote the spell down, he wrote the last three lines and signed his name using his blood. My mother must have found the original and bound it in this book. It was the only way to keep it completely hidden from anyone who might use it for the wrong reasons. All I’ll need to do is scrape a little of that blood off the page and use it in the ritual. The ritual that I can perform without the aid of a soul eater.”