by Cynthia Eden
Adam whirled and rushed for the desk. Leo shoved everything off the surface, and then Adam carefully, tenderly, put Sabrina on top of the wood. He squared his shoulders and reached for the hem of her blood-soaked shirt. Her skin was stained red from blood but…“The wound is closed.”
“Like I said…” Luke murmured. “Sabrina can’t die, but you’re a whole other fucking matter.”
What? Adam’s head whipped up as he glared at the guy. Luke was supposed to be on his side. Luke had been the one who sent him to Sabrina in the first place.
“This shit did not go down the way I planned.” Luke opened his hand. Nestled in his palm, Adam could see broken shards from the binding stone that had made Adam a prisoner for so long. “I’m sorry about that.”
Sorry that Adam was free? Screw that shit. Screw—
“Adam?” Sabrina’s soft voice. Calling to him. Making him actually able to breathe again as the heavy fear finally left his chest. He looked at her face and saw the faint color returning to her cheeks.
His heart thudded in his chest. She was all right. “Sabrina.” His head bent over hers and he pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
She kissed him back.
I am never letting her go.
Her hand rose and stroked against his cheek. “Sorry,” she whispered against his mouth. “I think I passed out for a minute there.”
More than a minute. And Adam would never forget the terror he’d felt.
Leo cleared his throat. “This is tender and touching and all…but I really must insist on some private time to discuss a very important matter with Sabrina. Right now.”
What?
Adam’s head whipped up and he glared at the Lord of the Light. “Screw. Off.”
Leo winced. “I did expect that response but…sorry, human, you don’t really hold any power here.”
Human.
“Human?” Sabrina’s voice. She pushed up to a sitting position on the desk and a broad smile spread across her face. “The stone smashed, didn’t it? I remember…” Then she was throwing her arms around Adam’s neck and holding him tightly. “You’re free!”
He hadn’t even wrapped his mind around that part, not yet. He’d been so consumed by her. But she’s safe. She’s alive. And she’s acting as if she weren’t as still as the dead moments before.
“I am insisting on that private talk, Sabrina.” Leo’s voice was flat. “And it has to happen now.”
She kept hugging Adam. “Leo, you heard Adam…Screw off.”
But in the next instant, Adam was ripped away from Sabrina. Leo’s hold was hard, unbreakable, and in a flash, he’d tossed Adam out of that study. Then the bastard barred the doors.
Adam found himself standing in the hallway, still nude because of his change. A nudity he’d only just noticed. His hands pounded against the wooden door. “Open the door!” Fear was back, clawing at him because he knew something bad was happening inside that room. “Don’t even think of touching Sabrina!”
He didn’t have supernatural strength. Not any longer. His hands began to bruise, then to bleed, as he pounded on the door. “Don’t touch her!” Then he started ramming his shoulder into the wood.
Chapter Eighteen
“Someone sure is fierce, even as a human.” Luke’s voice was low, barely carrying to Sabrina’s ears.
She jumped off the desk and would have fallen, but Leo grabbed her arms. He steadied her. “Easy.”
She shoved his hands away. “Never liked easy. Never wanted it.” Not my style. “Say your piece then get out of my way. I am going to Adam. I am going to be with him and—”
What could have been sympathy—if it were any other person—flashed on Leo’s face. “He’s dead, Sabrina.”
Her heart stopped. “What?” No, no, Adam wasn’t dead. She could hear him. He was pounding on the door. He was about to break the door down. He was—
Luke lifted his palm. The shattered pieces of stone were in his hand. “There was a…a rather unfortunate part of the spell that I don’t think you knew about. When the stone shattered, your knight became human again.”
Right. That wasn’t unfortunate. That was wonderful. That was—
“A human can’t live as long as he has.” Leo’s voice was a soft murmur. His lips curled down. “Time is about to catch up with him.”
The words weren’t quite registering. Maybe it was because a dull ringing was filling her ears. Or because her cheeks suddenly felt ice cold. Or because her knees were giving way. Or—
Leo held her up. “I’m sorry.” He truly sounded it. Leo. Sorry for something. The world must truly be ending.
Maybe not the whole word. Just my world. “He’s…dying?” She stared at Leo, then at Luke, hoping one of them would offer a denial.
“Adam has got less than an hour,” Luke said. Those words weren’t a denial. They were hell.
Her lips were trembling. “No.”
Luke swallowed. “I can’t do anything. I’d thought…maybe the spell could be broken another way…that you could reach the man inside the stone…”
She shook her head. “He can’t die.”
Leo’s fingers wiped over her cheek. Was he brushing away her tears? “He’s already dead. He just doesn’t know it.”
Her heart was being ripped out. Clawed out. “Help him. Please. If he’s human now, then he’s under your command, right? Help him.”
But Leo shook his head. “I can’t stop time. That’s not a power even I have.”
Her hands flew out so that she was the one holding so desperately to him. “You can make him into something else. You can change him. Make him a vampire—”
“That’s not my realm.” Leo’s voice was still soft. His head jerked toward Luke. “You know the dark ones are his.” A pause. “And is that really what you think your Adam would want? After centuries of being one monster…would he just want to become another?”
“I don’t care!” Those words burst from her. Selfish. Cold. True. “I need him to stay with me. Don’t you see that? I want him in this world. I need him here! He has to stay with me. He has to—”
“What do you think would happen if he did stay?” Leo’s face was now devoid of expression. “A human…with someone like you. Your last human lover is dead in the corner. You think your power wouldn’t sink into Adam, too? Even if he became a vampire…he’d be susceptible to you. A vampire inspired by a muse. Think of the people he’d kill. He’d probably go on a bloodlust filled rampage.”
“Y-you don’t know that.”
“Didn’t it happen before?”
Her eyes squeezed shut.
“The 1300s, I believe. Another lover who fell beneath your power. If I remember right, Luke had to cover that scene by saying a plague had killed everyone. A plague, and not the vampire who became maddened by you.”
Luke didn’t speak. Neither did Sabrina.
“Adam has an hour left,” Leo added. “Maybe…maybe you should just spend that time with him. And then let him go.”
Her eyes flew open. “You don’t know what it means to love someone.”
He didn’t deny her words.
“You don’t know what it feels like when they are in your heart. When you think something bad is happening to them and the fear is so thick that you can’t breathe.”
“Sabrina…” Leo sighed her name. “You are the something bad that happened to Adam.”
Her heart was as shattered as the binding stone.
The door shook. And cracked. She saw the long spider-web like line that appeared in the wood. Adam had almost broken through to reach her.
Her nails dug into Leo’s chest. “I’ll give you Fate’s location.”
His jaw hardened. “We’ve already made a deal—”
“I will take you to her, I swear I will. But you have to help me. You let him die, and I don’t care about any deal we’ve made…I will never tell you where she is.”
“Sabrina…”
She leaned up on her tip toes. Her mouth
brushed against his ear as she said, “You’ve never been in love, so you don’t know how much I’m hurting right now. But you came close, didn’t you? You came close with Fate. You’ve been looking for her all these years. I’ll take you to her, but you have to find a way for him to live. Just—let him live. That’s all I’m asking.”
All. Everything.
The door broke open. “Sabrina!” Adam roared.
She rushed away from Leo and grabbed Adam’s hand. Warm and strong. And alive. She threw her body against his chest and held him, as tightly as she could. “Let’s get out of here.” She wanted to be far away. She wanted them to be alone. To be safe.
“Sabrina…” Leo’s voice.
She glanced at him.
He waved his hand vaguely at Adam and she saw clothes appear on Adam’s body. Jeans. T-shirt. Shoes. But Leo’s face remained grave. “The clock is ticking. An hour…”
Her chin notched up. “That’s right. You have an hour…or you’ll never see Fate. She can hide forever, and you know that.”
Then she and Adam were running out of that blood-soaked room. Out of that house. They found an SUV in the driveway. Adam hot-wired it and he got them the hell out of there.
The clock is ticking…
***
Leo glanced at the dead man in the corner. The scent of blood and death were strong in the room.
“Well, that didn’t go according to plan.” Luke rolled back his shoulders in a weary shrug. “Guess somethings just don’t work out.” His wings spread behind him.
The guy was going to fly away. To just let things end…
Leo’s hand flew out and locked around Luke’s wrist. “Just what was the plan? How did you think this was going to work?” Each word was bitten off.
Luke glanced down at Leo’s hand. “I thought a muse was going to wind up owing me. A muse’s inspiration can be a powerful thing. So powerful that it can even tame a beast.”
Leo frowned at him.
“Destroying the binding stone wasn’t the only way to break the spell. That’s the sad part of all this. Sabrina’s power could have done it. I told her I wanted inspiration in return for the protection I was giving her…but I never said who would be getting that inspiration.”
Leo’s brows furrowed. “Stop with the damn riddles. You know I hate them.”
“Her power is incredibly strong. I thought…she could do it. She could break through the stone and reach the man inside. I’d hoped her power would push him over the edge so that he could resist control from anyone who held his fucking stone.” Luke still held the pieces of the binding stone. But his hand fisted and when he opened his fingers again, dust drifted to the floor.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Luke’s mouth twisted into a mirthless smile. “Because you would have told her. And things would have gotten screwed to hell.”
“Like they aren’t screwed to hell now?”
Luke’s eyes were narrowed. “You couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t tell her, not if she was going to fall for the guy. If I’d told her I was just using her to free a gargoyle, she never would have fallen in love with him. And a muse’s power…it’s always stronger when her heart is involved.”
He couldn’t believe this. “You were using her, all along?”
Luke stared into his eyes. “I use everyone. I’m the bad one, remember?”
No one ever let them forget.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Leo demanded.
Luke frowned. Then he extracted his wrist from Leo’s grip. “You speak as if we’re partners in this mess.”
“Do we always have to be enemies?”
“Since according to…Fate…one of us will kill the other eventually, yes, I think we do.”
“Fate could be wrong.”
Luke smiled at him. “Is that why you want to find her so badly? Because you want her to be wrong?” His head cocked to the side. “Or do you actually think you can make her change things for you? That’s what you tried before, isn’t it? You seduced Fate, and then you betrayed her.” He laughed. “After all of that, do you seriously think she’d ever want to do anything to help you?”
“I need to help Adam Cross.”
“I was going to help him. But then you got your ass involved and you messed it all up.”
What? “I didn’t—”
“You want to save him? You want to stop Sabrina from going on what I am sure will be the worst vengeance seeking episode of her life? Then I’d suggest you get yourself some witches. Maybe they can turn him back before it’s too late.” Luke’s wings spread once more.
“Turn him back…” Leo smiled. “That’s brilliant!”
“No, it’s not. It’s condemning a human to hell all over again.” Luke stared at him. “And here I thought you were the one who was supposed to protect the humans.”
Leo didn’t speak.
“Good and bad. So fucking relative.” Luke flew away.
Leo stood there a moment longer, then he walked from the study. In the hallway, guards were on the floor, some slowly waking, some still out cold. He strode right past them. He went outside and—
“Help!”
His head turned to the left. The cry had come from just beyond the bushes near the sidewalk. Frowning, he moved closer. Then he saw a human he recognized. He’d been keeping tabs on those close to Eric. “You’re Raymond Bannon.”
The man had his hand over his bloody wound.
Leo smiled at him. “And your step-brother is a witch.” He grabbed the human, hefting him up high. “Tell me…did the witch die in that limo fire?”
Raymond shook his head.
“That’s absolutely fantastic…”
Chapter Nineteen
“Stop the car.” Sabrina’s voice was shaking. She couldn’t really help that because she was absolutely terrified. At her words, Adam slammed on the brakes. They were near the beach. She could hear the waves crashing.
How much time has passed? She shoved open her door and jumped outside.
“Sabrina!” Adam exited the vehicle, rushing after her. But she hadn’t been running away. She wouldn’t run away from him. Not ever.
They stood on the edge of the road. The sun was just beginning to rise. The beach was deserted. She swallowed and took his hand. “Come with me.”
Because she needed to be with him. If he was leaving her…if time was catching up to them…
Their fingers twined together. They walked onto the beach, heading down to the edge of the shore where the waves washed against the sand. They stood there a moment, and then she turned toward him. The wind caught her hair, blowing it around her face.
She stared up at him. “I love you.”
The faint lines on his face…they were just the slightest bit deeper. A touch of gray had appeared in his hair.
She smiled at him. “Do you know…I’ve lived a really, really long time, and I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you?”
His head bent. His lips feathered over hers. “I can be just a man with you now.”
Just a man. “You’ll always be more than that.” She looked at him then, really looked at him. “The shadow is gone.” The heavy shadow that had hung over him, and now she could see his true aura. So bright and clear. A dozen shades of gold. A protector, straight to his soul. With just the right inspiration, he would have done great things…
He is something great.
“I love you, Sabrina.” He stared at her with eyes that didn’t seem as dark. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Those words hurt so much. Because if Leo didn’t pull through for her…you will. “What if your life could be longer?” Sabrina asked. A lock of her hair blew over her cheek. “What if you could live forever, with me? Would you want that?”
A furrow appeared between his brows. “Humans don’t live forever.”
No, they didn’t. “What if you could be more?” And Leo’s damn voice was echoing in her head. Telling
her that Adam didn’t want to be a monster. But she had to know. She needed to hear his choice. “What if you could spend an eternity with me? Only…only maybe there’s a price. Maybe you have to—have to do some things that you don’t want to do…”
He kissed her again.
“Adam…” She pulled away. “I need your answer. What if you could spend eternity with me and maybe…maybe you just had to—to pay a price for that life?”
“I would pay any price for you.”
Relief had her heart stuttering. He’d do it. He’d…
Become a monster again, for me.
The smile on her lips froze.
Adam frowned. His hand rose and pressed to his chest. “Something is…wrong.”
“Adam?”
“Hurts.” His eyes squeezed shut. “Beating…too fast…” He fell.
“Adam!” She sank to her knees beside him, desperately reaching out to him.
The wind blew harder against her.
His eyes opened. “Squeezing…so tight…I can’t…”
“Leo!” Sabrina screamed. “Leo, help me!”
And Leo appeared. He seemed to shoot out of the very sky itself. Only he wasn’t alone. He had a half-burned man with him—a bandaged up man. A guy who was staring in shock at Sabrina. I know him—the witch!
“Here’s the thing…” Leo drawled as he dropped the man onto the sand. “Kevin is the only witch I could find on such short notice.”
Her lips parted in surprise.
“I had to drag him out of a hospital. Turns out, he’s only living because your Adam saved his ass. So I figure…that means you owe the guy, right, Kevin?”
Kevin gave a weak nod. “But I don’t…know how to do the spell. I…I told you…”
Adam’s breath rasped out. “What’s…happening…?”
She made herself smile at him. “It’s…okay.”
“No, it’s…not.” A pause. “I’m…dying?”
She licked her lips. “We can fix you. We have a witch.” She made that smile flash again.
“The witch will turn him back into a gargoyle,” Leo announced, sounding pleased with himself. “Adam will become immortal again. Time won’t be able to catch up with him and—”
“No,” Adam gasped.