“Wonderful.” She patted the bed again, smiling. She couldn’t wait to feel his body on hers, and in hers, again.
He stood there for what seemed like forever before he finally threw his hands in the air and joined her in the bed.
Fully clothed.
“I wish to feel your flesh next to mine.”
“We can’t have sex, Felicity.”
“Why not?” She wanted to feel that euphoric sensation again but more so, she wanted to feel him touch her, kiss her, love her.
“No protection, remember? Let’s just sleep for a bit. When we wake up, I’ll head back into the city and get some protection.”
She went into his arms willingly and laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating in a slow, hypnotic rhythm and, before she knew it, her eyes began to droop.
***
Trinity tugged on Basil’s arm to prevent him from barging into their guest’s room and doing something stupid. They’d both decided to check on Felicity once more before attending to business but when they hadn’t found her in her room, both had panicked. Finding her in Dusty’s room had been even worse.
“Just calm down,” she said under her breath and pulled him away from the room.
“I’ll be calm when that young man is far away from here. I never should have agreed to let him stay here.”
Trinity stepped in front of Basil, stopping him from entering the room. “She’s a grown woman.”
“She’s only twenty.”
“I was only eighteen when you seduced me.” That stopped him.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“It just was,” he grumbled, complete with a sullen look on his face.
“That is the most idiotic response you have ever given. Basil, stop.” She halted him and, though he was spitting fire with his eyes, she stayed strong. “She said she and Dusty were going to buy protection. You should be proud she’s responsible. You can’t stop her from having sex. Please, don’t scare her off.”
He huffed, turned, huffed some more, then circled back to Trinity. “You came to me willingly,” he pointed out with a wag of his index finger.
“And how do you know she didn’t go willingly to him? You don’t. I know you feel protective of her. So do I. But I also realize that if I try and stop her from being with that young man I may push her away. A part of being a parent is trusting your child to know right from wrong.”
“She was raised by my mother. You think she knows right from wrong?”
“You do.”
“Your logic is becoming very annoying.”
Smiling, she leaned forward and nipped his lips with her teeth. “I love you too. Trust her to do what’s right.”
Huffing, he gave in. “All right. I’ll trust her. The young man, however, is fair game.”
“Oh, Basil.” Laughing, she hooked her arm around his and led him back down the stairs.
***
There was nothing harder than sleeping beside a half naked woman and not being able to touch her. Felicity had one bare leg draped over his, one arm slung across his chest and her bare breasts beneath the silk pressed into his side.
Dusty was hard and aching for release.
What he needed was to get some condoms. And fast.
Carefully, he slipped out from beneath her arm and leg and climbed from the bed. When she rolled over and stayed asleep he let out a sigh of relief. Tiptoeing from the room, he hoped no one was around to see him. He wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. Or a confrontation. As he exited his room all he heard was silence. Still quiet, he inched down the stairs—and, holy hell, was this place enormous—and made his way to the front door. Spotting the club leaned up beside the door, Dusty decided it might be a good idea to go out armed.
Clicking the door shut behind him, club in hand, he ran to his car. As he pulled away, he watched the castle fade in the rearview mirror.
He really needed to call his family. They were probably frantic with worry. He’d been gone for months. His mother was probably hysterical by now. Just as soon as he found a working telephone he was going to make sure and call her. What he was going to say, he wasn’t sure. But at least he could reassure her that he was fine.
First, he needed condoms.
God! He’d finally had sex. Correction, he hadn’t just had sex, he’d had phenomenal sex with a hot, gorgeous chick. Who would have thought? Not him. Damn, he was lucky. Provided Felicity’s father didn’t string him up first. Basil had a fierce look, but at the same time Dusty could see the same features in Felicity. The scowl was a definite match between father and daughter. And the hair and eyes, though Felicity’s were a little more blue than her father’s. But she got her beauty from her mother. Trinity was definitely hot and what the hell was he doing thinking of a woman old enough to be his mother as hot?
Laughing it off, he pulled into the city, scanning for the nearest drugstore. After driving for several blocks, he finally saw one up ahead to his right. Pulling up in front, he took the club and cautiously slid from the car. Scanning the area, Dusty headed inside. It was a good thing the front door was broken off its hinge. He didn’t have to worry about opening it. Stepping inside, he looked around and when he found what he had come for, he hurried to the aisle.
Now what kind of condom should he get?
Hell, get them all. Running to the front, he grabbed a shopping bag and hurried to fill it with condoms. He’d decide which ones to use when he was safely in his room. With the bag full, he ran for the door and nearly screamed like a girl when a scrawny-looking guy met him at the entrance.
The guy bore his fangs and Dusty dropped the bag and lifted the club. He swung it out and clubbed the guy right across the head. With a crack, the guy’s eyes went wide right before he fell to the floor. The adrenaline pumping inside of him, Dusty told himself not to throw up.
“Shit! Shit!” Grabbing the bag, he ran for the car and throwing it into the back seat, dove behind the steering wheel. Up ahead he saw the vamp was still out cold on the ground. And his mind began to work.
“Should I? Why not? It’s only a vamp.” Rushing from the car, club in hand, he hurried to the unconscious man on the ground and, hoisting him up by the arms, hoped he didn’t wake any time soon. He dragged him to the car, then decided the trunk was the best place for him. Leaving the guy on the ground, Dusty pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the trunk. It didn’t take much to hoist the scrawny man into it. When the trunk lid was closed, he finally let out the breath he’d been holding.
“Holy hell!” Rope! He needed rope…or chain, something to tie him up with that would hold him. Running back into the drugstore, he searched frantically for something to hold the guy long enough for Dusty to drain his blood and replace it with fresh human blood.
He needed human blood.
Not finding anything strong enough to hold a vampire, Dusty opted for something else. Sleeping pills. Grabbing several boxes, he ran back to the car and tossed the boxes on the seat beside him as he started the car.
How far was the nearest town or city? And would they have what he needed?
No better way to find out than to try.
With an unconscious vampire in his trunk, sleeping pills beside him, and a bag of condoms in the back seat, Dusty sped for the nearest exit.
If he could figure out a way to erase the vampire inside of him, he was damn well going to do it.
At any cost.
Chapter Seventeen
Standing in the doorway, Trinity looked on as her daughter slept. She couldn’t believe it. Her daughter was home. Albeit she was twenty years old and Trinity had missed her daughter’s entire infancy and childhood, Trinity couldn’t dismiss the fact that Felicity was here, in her home, where she belonged.
And the i
nstant she found a way into the Realm, Trinity was going to make sure Rajana paid for what she’d done. Not only had the bitch robbed her of her child, but she’d robbed the child of her life as well. Trinity would never forgive her for that.
Closing the door and leaving Felicity to sleep, Trinity took the stairs down to meet with the gang. She’d called them all to tell them Felicity was safe and where she belonged and asked that they all gather. They still had the matter of finding Chaos to deal with.
“How is she?” Basil asked the instant Trinity entered the room.
“Still asleep.” She smiled, feeling a warmth inside of her she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Looking around the room, she saw the people she now called her family and even if she didn’t have the ability to read minds she could tell they were eager to hear all about Felicity’s return.
“I know you’re all eager to meet her, but that’ll have to wait for the time being. Until she wakes up, we have other things to deal with. Chaos.”
“I’m still not able to locate him,” Starla supplied in a humdrum tone.
“She’s been trying so hard to find him through her spells that it’s been giving her headaches,” Danny, her lover, explained as he rubbed Starla’s temples.
“I’m fine, Danny,” Starla reassured him with a pat of her hand to his before turning back to Trinity. “Everything I’m getting tells me he isn’t in Jacob’s Cove.”
“Where would he be? Like the guy would want to live where there was sun when he was the one who created utter darkness. I find it hard to believe he’s not here,” Dante expressed firmly.
“I’m on the same page as you.” Trinity began pacing the floor and tried to think. “If you can’t pick him up on your spell radar, Starla, what are the odds he’s using magic to hide himself?”
“Why would you think that?” Jonah asked, tapping his cane on the floor.
“He uses magic like someone might use the telephone. It’s convenient for him and he’s done it before. What if he’s gone to the Dark Mystics for help?” Trinity shifted her attention to Basil. “Is it plausible?”
“Very much so.” He lit a cigarette, ignoring the grunt from Cooper. “I could go see them and find out.”
“I don’t like you going to them.” Trinity waved it off. “Is there any other way we could find out if he’s been to the DMs?”
“I could ask High Priestess Essema if she could inquire for us.”
“Thanks, Starla, you do that. In the meantime, I think we need to start asking more questions. Time to start up the interrogations. Is the dungeon ready for guests, Basil?”
“I’ll have Cooper change the linens and fluff the pillows,” he supplied through a puff of exhaled smoke.
“Shall I use the silk linens?” Cooper inquired with a healthy dollop of sarcasm.
“Only the best for our guests.”
“Great, let’s get on it.” Trinity shifted her attention to Jonah. “Any new gadgets you have for us to try out?”
“I’ve made more electro nets for us to use and I’ve been tinkering with this funky little handheld blinder the ladies might like to try out.”
“Blinder?” Leave it to Jonah to come up with more toys.
“It fits in the palm of your hand with straps that come around the entire hand. It’s the size of a golf ball but it packs a wicked punch. All you have to do to activate it is squeeze your hand and it emits a bright light that will blind your attacker long enough for you to immobilize them.”
“Trust me when I say it’s bright,” Raven supplied, blinking her eyes rapidly.
“I warned you that I was working on something.” Jonah patted her hand.
“Okay, so that could come in handy. Bring it along with the nets. I don’t want to leave Felicity here alone, so we can take turns going out. We’ll set up a schedule…” she trailed off as everyone’s eyes turned to the doorway. Following their gazes, she saw that Felicity was awake.
“Morning.”
***
Felicity entered the room and all eyes turned to her. She’d heard voices and had thought since Dusty wasn’t in the bed with her that he had gone down to speak with her parents. Only problem was, he wasn’t in the room.
“Did we wake you?” her mother asked.
“I heard voices. I thought…I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just go back upstairs—”
“No, it’s all right. I want you to meet everyone.”
Her mother came to her and, taking her hand, led her into the room. She’d never had so many people looking at her before. It was rather unnerving.
“This is Cooper. He’s been a friend of your father’s since Basil was a small boy. And this is his wife, Gabriella.”
“Pleasure to meet you.”
He didn’t seem so stiff when he smiled. And the woman was pretty enough. “Pleasure’s mine.”
“This is Dante and Gypsy. They’re good friends of ours.”
“Great to finally meet you, Felicity.”
The gentleman was very handsome with a darker complexion than the pale young woman next to him with an odd shade of green hair. Felicity smiled at the couple before being led to the next.
“Danny is Dante’s brother, twin, actually, but we’ll save that story for another time. This is his girlfriend, Starla. She’s the one who’s been helping us try to find you.”
Felicity couldn’t see how the two men were twins but she trusted her mother was telling the truth. The woman was a pretty thing with deep red hair and a friendly face. “Nice to meet you.”
“And lastly, this is your godfather, my best friend, and co-worker, Jonah.”
He stood to greet her and Felicity noticed he needed the aid of a metal device to stand. He had a soft face, kind eyes, and a sweet look about him that put her at ease. When he took her into his arms she was momentarily stunned.
“I’ve waited a long time to meet you,” he said as he released her. “Welcome home, Felicity.”
“Thank you, Jonah. What is a godfather?” Everyone laughed, startling her.
“Sorry.” Trinity rubbed a hand along her arm in a soothing manner. “Some couples appoint a guardian for their child who will take care of the child if anything should happen to the parents. In this case, Jonah was asked to be your guardian, godfather, if something happened to your father and I.”
“Should I call you Godfather?”
“You can call me Uncle Jonah,” he instructed and when he smiled the dimples dug into his cheeks.
“Uncle…Jonah. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I like how that sounds. This is Raven.”
A pretty woman with dark hair and deep blue eyes held out her hand. “Nice to see you again. I was the one that delivered you.”
“Delivered me from where?”
“She helped me give birth to you,” her mother explained.
Felicity held her hand out to the woman. “Thank you.”
Chuckling lightly, Raven took the hand. “You are most welcome.”
“I am pleased to meet all of you. Now I will leave you to continue your business.”
“You don’t have to leave, Felicity.”
She acknowledged her mother with a nod. “I need to find Dusty. He was not in bed when I woke.”
“Last I saw him he was in his room,” her mother supplied.
“If he knows what’s good for him he left,” her father muttered under his breath while smoke fluttered from his mouth.
“Why do you not like him? He has been nothing but kind to me. If it hadn’t been for Dusty, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Her father cleared his throat as he tapped the smoking thing in his hand out in a glass tray on the table beside him before responding. “I don’t know him well enough to like or dislike him, I suppo
se. I’m just being protective of you.” He walked to her now, taking her hands in his. “My father was a psychopathic killer who had no idea how to be a father. I vowed if I ever had children, I would never treat them the way I was treated. I just don’t want you hurt.”
“Avadur is your father.”
“Yes. Please tell me he had no part of raising you?”
“I only saw him briefly once or twice and I did not like him much. He has cold eyes.” She lifted her hand to his face and smiled. “Your eyes are warm.”
“Thank you.” He smiled, then leaned towards her and placed a tiny kiss to her cheek.
“But you need not fear Dusty. He would never harm me and I doubt very much he would ever harm any living soul. Now, if you would please excuse me, I would like to see him.” Felicity knew the instant she left the room, the conversation would return. As she headed up the stairs she could hear the voices begin to chatter.
They all seemed nice enough and she was going to enjoy getting to know them better. But first, she needed to see Dusty. Entering his room, she found it vacant and after searching the washroom she decided he wasn’t there and rushed back down the stairs. “He’s not in his room.”
“Oh…well, I’m sure he’s somewhere. It’s a big house.”
She ran to the window and, glancing outside, saw his car was missing. “No, he’s left.” She spun around. Where could he be? “I need to find him.” She vanished in the blink of an eye and reappeared in the clinic. “Dusty? Are you here?” She ran from room to room in a desperate search for him. Not being able to find him, she began to panic. When her parents appeared before her, she actually jolted.
“I cannot find him.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Her mother took her in her arms and ran a soothing hand along her back. “I’m sure he’ll show up sooner or later.”
“He said there was a bad man after him. What if this man found him and took him again? I need to find him.” It felt as if something was choking her. She had trouble taking in air and her chest felt tight.
“Okay…just relax. Shh,” her mother soothed.
“I’ll go out and look for him. Okay?”
She nodded to her father as she dashed the tears from her face.
Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 06] Page 11