by Renee George
"Your own family?" I'd watched a few too many vampire movies where they woke up hungry and killed their parents in siblings in a rage of blood lust.
"No," he said. "But it doesn't make the situation any more palatable. I swore I'd never put myself in a situation to lose control again. It's been over a hundred and twenty years since I've killed an innocent. I would torment me if you were to become the victim of my hunger."
"Okay. Okay. Sheesh.” I sighed. “My real name is Angharad Ffion Jones."
"That's a mouthful," Baz said. "And why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm pretty sure, I'm going to let you bite me, Baz."
"It's lovely to formally meet you, Angharad Ffion Jones."
My parents, even though they lived in the Cotswolds, were Welsh. They'd named me for a great, great gran, and I'd never liked the name. However, when Baz said it, it actually sounded nice.
Then he added. "It's only fair that I return the courtesy. My full name is Bazyli Adonis Delgados."
I looked at him, then snorted a laugh. "Your parents named you Adonis?" I shook my head on a wheeze. "Talk about foreshadowing. Did they mold you from clay?"
He waved his hand. "And this is why I don't usually share my name with people."
I sat down on the ground in front of him. "Okay, Adonis. How do we do this?"
"Are you certain?"
"It's not like we have a lot of options. Just promise you won’t do anything hinky. I'm only giving you permission to mess with my breathing. If I end up clucking like a chicken every time you snap your fingers, I'm going to choke the life out of you."
"Just breathing," he promised. "Hold your arm out for me so I can numb the spot first."
I did as he asked and watched with great interest as he pressed his lips to the thin skin of my inner wrist. A stuttering sigh escaped me, and I saw the corners of Baz's mouth curve into a smile. Next, he gently circled the area with his tongue, sending all kinds of fantasies into my oxygen-deprived brain.
"Goddess," I whispered, squeezing my thighs together. Pressure and pleasure were building to climax, and I worried I wasn't going to be able to stop the explosion if I didn't get some kind of release.
Then it happened. He sunk a fang into my vein. I moaned as the mounting ecstasy was doubled by the warmth of his bite permeating my entire being. I could feel him, as if he were a passenger, riding through my circulatory system, up my arms, down my chest, through my legs, back up to my lungs, and in my heart. Fuck. I felt him in my heart.
"Oh, Goddess please," I rasped.
Baz's groans of pleasure mirrored my own as I crawled up his lap, straddled his hips, and ground my groin against his. He let go of my wrist, his hands wrapping around me, his fingers kneading my back, as the tension of rapture grew between us. I didn't want to stop. I wanted all of him, every bit of him touching me, holding me, in me.
"Yes," I said. I wound my fingers through his hair and didn't resist when he covered my mouth in a kiss. My piercing sizzled against his tongue, but when I tried to retract it, Baz held me tighter, his kiss deepening in spite of the pain.
When I tried to pull his shirt over his head, he blocked me. When I tried to unbutton his pants, he pushed my hands aside.
"I thought you wanted to have sex," I panted.
"I do," Baz replied in the same breathless pant. "Desperately. But I promised you."
Oh no. I'd forgotten about the no taking off his clothes promise. Ugh. Ack. I hated myself. One, for wanting to take off his clothes in the first place. And two, for making him agree to that ridiculous promise in the first place.
"But I want you," I whined. Hating myself even more. "If we're probably going to die--"
"We're not going to die," Baz said, his resolve stronger than mine. He eased me off his lap. "We're going to make it out of here, and when we do, I'm going give you so many orgasms, you're going to name your vibrator the Bazyli."
"Fine." I huffed. "Go ahead and do your thing but remember. No funny business. Just slow down my breathing."
He nodded. "Look me in the eyes."
They were gold again when I stared at him. "Now what?"
"You will only sip air every few seconds. Just enough to keep your brain and body going. You will not speak unless it is to contribute to our escape."
"I hear you," I said. "Now get to mesmerizing."
He gave me a sour look. "I just did."
"You just did what?"
"Mesmerized you."
"You're either the worst vampire ever…” I stared at Baz, a pit opening in my stomach.
He blanched. "Or you're immune to my powers," he finished.
Chapter Six
"Well, that's a fine how-do-you-do," I said. "I can't believe I let you bite me for absolutely no reason."
"Now, Angharad," Baz said, flashing me a grin. "I feel much better if that's any consolation."
I stuck my tongue out, flashing my silver piercing. "It's not." The air was definitely thinner. Even walking a few feet made me exhausted. "Hurry up and figure out what all this writing is about. Maybe one of them is the exit sign."
"If only it was that easy," he said, already studying the glyphs. "I think I know whose handiwork this is."
"Does that help our escape plan?"
"Maybe," he admitted. "You see this group of six letters here?"
"The ones that look like the dingbats on my computer?"
"Yes," he nodded. "That's the Akkadian word for the god Saturn. I saw another version in the Malachim, and in the Celestial writing on the far wall."
"How does Saturn tell us whose lair we've stumbled into?"
"I believe it is the sabbatianoí, a faction of vampire hunters who, having been born on Saturday, thought they were blessed with the divine power to kill vampires." He spat on the ground. "Fools. They came at us with sticks and stones they believed would end our species. Instead, we ended them."
"You wiped them out?"
"Not me personally," he replied. "But my kind. Yes. It was the only way to stop them from getting a lot more innocent people killed. They were true believers in their cause. You can't reason with fanatics. They refuse to bend, even in the face of facts. We tried diplomatic strategies, but they wanted us dead more than they wanted peace. So, we did them the only kindness we could offer, we killed them or turned them."
"You made them into vampires?" I added, "I mean, your ancestors."
Baz nodded. "My father's brother was a sabbatianoí. He learned to embrace his new life as a higher species."
"You're dead, and your body is reanimated by a parasite. Can you really call that a higher species?"
Baz chuckled. "I'll be sure to let my king know that you think we're akin to ticks."
"I was thinking more Goa'uld from the Stargate franchise, but tick works just as well." I shrugged. "Does knowing who's behind this death trap help us to get out?" I was getting harder to breathe as the air thinned even more.
"I think it will help me, but I'm not sure you'll survive that long."
"Great pep talk. You should consider Life Coach as a new occupation."
"I could make you one of us," he said.
"Hah! You can’t even mesmerize me. What makes you think you could turn a witch into a vampire?"
He thinned his lips into a grim line. "You're probably right about that." He closed his eyes. "The air is nearly gone, and I find myself longing for you to live."
"I want to live, too. So, hurry up and find the solution!"
He hunkered down then shot up and moved with more speed than I'd seen out him in the past couple of hours. I sat on his suit jacket, exhausted and literally about to keel over.
I heard several expletives, lots of mumbling, a few exclamations, and then finally, when I was losing vision, he yelled, "I got it!"
"Great," I muttered because I didn't have the breath to do much else.
Baz rushed back to me and lifted me to my feet. "The dead are the keepers of this cavern. If you can summon the key, we can
leave."
"I don't get it," I said as my head lolled sideways, too heavy for my neck.
Baz shook me. "Damn it, Drag, this whole place was designed by necromancers to trap vampires. Only a necromancer can get us out."
“You said it was the vamp hunters.”
“They probably got a necromancer to make the trap.”
"We're in biiiiig shtroubell," I murmured.
"There's an incantation on the wall," he said. "Can you summon enough magic to cast a spell?"
"Shpell..." I sipped the air. "Hell." I couldn't get enough breath in now to blow out a match.
"Snap out of it," Baz commanded.
I giggled, using up the last bit of air in my lungs.
Baz pressed his lips to mine and blew.
I swallowed down the precious air he offered. Before I could thank him, he placed his fingers across my lips.
"Repeat after me," he said. "And try to conserve as much air as you can. I only have enough in my lungs to give you one more breath."
I nodded.
"Sapientia enim vocationem. Aperta sesamae."
My eyes bugged. I wasn't sure I could get out all that Latin in one breath.
"Do half," Baz said. "If it doesn't work, your dead anyhow."
I held up my hand. He laced his fingers in mine, and I could feel him lending me his strength.
I nodded and spoke the words. "Sapientia enim vocationem."
He put his lips to mine again. I opened for him as he blew in the last of his residual lung air.
I blinked at him, surprised at how still and calm he was. "I believe in you," he said.
And that was all I needed to fuel the next half of the spell. "Aperta sesamae!"
Blackness swallowed us whole as our bodies were pulled into nothingness. Grave fingers scraped my skin, the bones of the long dead, guiding the journey. I couldn't scream, couldn't anchor my magic. All I could do was hold onto Baz with all my might, and pray that whatever was on the other side of the portal wasn't worse than the nightmare we'd just faced.
Then poof! We were standing in a clearing with grass beneath our feet, stars over our heads, and beautiful, glorious wind blowing around us. I gasped as I inhaled deeply, promising to never take another breath for granted. I clasped my hands behind Baz's neck as I watched the relief on his face ease the tension at the corner of his eyes.
"We made it," I said then gave him an enthusiastic kiss. He hand cupped the nape of my neck as he leaned in eagerly, deepening the moment between us. I could feel him smile against my lips as my piercing sizzled his tongue. He moaned when I pressed my stomach against his groin and rubbed, enjoying the thick feel of him. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist as passion ignited between us.
"Goddess, I want you," I said.
"I need you," he replied.
"Get a fucking room," Time Bomb said.
I immediately stopped snogging the vampire at the sound of my partner's voice. I jumped down from Baz, embarrassed we'd been so caught up in the moment, we hadn't even realized that the field we'd landed in also contained Gigi, Monty, Time Bomb, and three very surprised vampires.
"Uhm," I said, looking around at the group. "Sorry about that."
Baz leaned to my ear. "I'm not sorry."
I nudged him with my elbow. "We had a little detour."
"It's about time. I thought I was going to have to call in the big guns," Gigi said.
"Where's your coat?" the female vamp asked Baz. "Did the spell make it disappear?"
"No. I took it off when we were trapped in the cave."
"Cave?" Gigi asked. "You guys were trapped?"
"Yes," I said. "For the past six or seven hours."
She gave me a confused look. "You've only been missing for six or seven minutes."
"How's that even possible?" I asked.
Baz's expression darkened. "I need to talk to my brother." He gestured to one of his blue-eyed flunkies. "Give me your phone."
Time Bomb walked over to me. "Are you okay, Drag?"
"Fine," I said. "Now. Baz saved me from certain death."
"Come inside," Gigi said. "You can give us a briefing over a nice hot cup of cocoa."
Mmm. Cocoa sounded good. Besides, I was pretty sure my blood sugar was hitting rock bottom. "Baz," I said before he walked too far away. "Hot cocoa?"
He smiled. "You drink it now, and I'll drink you later."
Chapter Seven
The moment Baz was no longer in my presence, the world around me attacked. I'd been so stupid to leave my shields down, that even the magic in the soil beneath my feet made me feel as if my skin was burning from the inside out.
I stumbled up the steps to the cabin, my knees banging onto the hardwood planks of the deck. Time Bomb was there, scooping me up, but his Shifter magic was even worse on my psyche. I screamed, overwhelmed and unable to get my blocks in place.
A droning in my ears like a thousand bees, blocked out all sounds as I fought against my own team, just to get them to stop touching me. I couldn't hear myself, but I know I kept yelling for them to get away from me, to leave me alone.
Then he was there, and the calm, the null, settled in once again, and I could think. "I'm sorry," I cried when I saw Time Bomb's arms ripped by my nails. Gigi had a red whelp on her cheek, and Monty had a bloody lip. I felt foolish as I clung to Baz, a guy, no, a vampire, I barely knew. But he was the only port in my shitstorm of a life at the moment, and I wasn't about to let him go. "I'm so sorry."
"What did you do to her?" Time Bomb snarled.
"I'm helping her," Baz said.
"You mean taking advantage of a bad situation, don't you?" Gigi asked.
"It's not like that," I told them as I absorbed Baz's warmth and good vibes. "It's my fault. My powers were opened all the way up. I didn't realize they would snap back into place without Baz around. It was like the entire world was pounding against me. By the time I realized what was happening, I was too far gone to help myself."
"How does the vampire help you?" Time Bomb asked.
Baz started to speak, but I was afraid he'd mention necromancy, so I quickly said, "I don't know. His nearness seems to block my magic-sensing abilities."
"Does this… connection block even the vampire's power? Because that could be by design," Monty said. He eyed Baz suspiciously. "It's awfully convenient the way you showed up out of the blue tonight."
Baz stroked my hair. I didn't stop him.
"There's nothing convenient about what's happened tonight," Baz replied. "However, I can't deny that it does seem more than a coincidence that the only translocation spell that landed into a vampire trap was the one used on me. I may be far down the line for my brother's throne, but it doesn't make me unimportant."
Now that my mind had cleared, I concentrated on throwing my shields back up and nailing them into place, using mental superglue to seal the cracks, and finishing it off with magical duct tape.
"I'm okay," I said to Baz, as I eased from his chest. "I'm better now."
The concern on his face never wavered. "Are you certain?"
I nodded. "Did you get a chance to talk to your brother?"
He shook his head. "I heard you," was the only explanation he gave.
"Go. Have your conversation now."
He looked at me, saw my resolve, and then nodded. "If you need me--"
"I'll scream bloody murder."
The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile. "Right."
I braced myself for the moment he was out of my sight. There were the normal, subdued vibrations I usually felt, but nothing more disagreeable. My team stared at me, expectantly. "It's fine. My shields are holding."
"Goddess on avocado toast," Time Bomb swore. "You scared the crap out of me, Drag."
"I guess that answers the question as to whether a bear shits in the woods," I joked. He didn't laugh. "Too soon?"
"Way too soon," he said.
I put my arms around my lumbering BFF. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean t
o scare you."
I peeked at Gigi. Monty had handed her an ice pack for her cheek, and he was incanting a healing spell to speed up the process. Monty, a redhead, was a healer by birth, even if it wasn't his favorite thing.