Wicked Soul

by Nora Ash

  “Say you’re mine,” he growled into my ear, never slowing thrusts. “Say you’ll never leave. Tell me I am all that matters to you, as you are for me.”

  His cool breath raised goosebumps along my neck, tightening my nipples ever harder and making my clit throb, but as much as I wanted to reassure him…

  “Warin, please, I love you. I love you so, so much. That’s why I can’t—“ I didn’t get to finish my sentence, because Warin interrupted me with a furious snarl. He dug his fingertips deeper into my hips and slipped back into his brutal, inhuman pace.

  I squealed and bucked, my hands slipping as I scrambled for purchase. He ravaged my pussy without mercy, taking me for every inch I had until I could no longer tell where he stopped and I began.

  It finally sunk in, then.

  I couldn’t leave, because we were one. I couldn’t save him by fleeing any more than I could live without my heart. There was no me without him. And there was no him without me.

  If I left, I’d kill us both.

  “I’ll stay! I’ll stay, my love. Always! I’m yours!” I cried out into the darkness.

  Warin didn’t slow down, but he pulled me up so he could hold my body tight against his, wrapping his strong arms around my ribcage.

  I clutched onto his arms, drawing red lines in his skin as he pounded me brutally, perfectly, showing me how we belonged together. He drove me over the edge twice in quick succession before a deep groan finally escaped his lips, and his cool essence filled me.

  We stilled together, me breathing heavily as the blood pumped in my veins, the delicious aftershocks of my orgasms making me shiver. Warin with his mouth pressed to my neck, brushing kisses to my still blood-tainted skin.

  “What will we do?” I whispered after a few moments of quietness.

  “I’ll speak with the Guard. They are loyal. But if they are not… I will end them.” Warin shifted his hips, pulling out of me much more gently than he entered. “Nothing else matters, little one. Nothing and no one. Only you.”

  I turned in his grasp, wincing from the ache between my legs. “You don’t mean that,” I said softly, placing my hand against his cheek.

  “I can’t live without you, Liv,” he whispered. “How can anyone compare to you? I am nothing but animated flesh without you. I was… hollow.”

  I closed my eyes and raised up to press my lips to his. We kissed slowly, such a gentle contrast to the wild sex just moments before, sweet brushes of his lips and tongue against mine until he finally pulled back.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me?” he asked, blue eyes searching mine. “Why keep your powers a secret?”

  “I thought, if you didn’t know… I could protect you. And Aleric said—“

  “Aleric?” Warin’s eyes narrowed. “Aleric knows?”

  “Yeah, I… When he blood bonded me, I was so high, and I… told him. I thought he was gonna kill me, but he just told me to keep it secret. He was scared you’d get yourself killed to protect me.”

  “I will speak with my brother later,” Warin said, and from the tone in his voice I didn’t expect it’d be a pleasant conversation. At least not for Aleric. “For now, I will ensure no one who survived the slaughterhouse will speak of this. I will Compel the witches, and have my Guard and Carina swear a blood oath. You will be safe, my love.” He reached up to brush my tangled hair from my face, and in his eyes I saw devotion so deep it stole my breath away. “No one will know of your magic.”

  “Well, well, well!” A mocking voice made both Warin and I jolt. Warin spun around faster than my eyes could follow, his back to me and his arms spread out to protect me. A low snarl rumbled out of his chest as we both stared into the darkness where the voice had come from.

  Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, a male figure walked into my range of vision. He stopped a few yards from us, dark eyebrows raised in challenge. “The infamous Warin Waldlitch, promising his blood bonded witch he’ll keep her magic secret? How very naughty of you, my lord.”

  Icy dread settled in my veins as I stared at the golden-eyed Ancient.

  Zeth.

  32

  “What are you doing here?” Warin growled, not moving out of his defensive pose in front of me while I fumbled with my ruined pants to cover myself up.

  “Let’s just say a little bird told me Chicago’s Night Lord was conspiring with witches, of all things.” Zeth smiled pleasantly, but the deadly danger in his eyes was unmistakable. “As the oldest vampire currently on the continent, it’s my duty to look into such serious allegations. And what do I come across? Warin Waldlitch, promising a dirty little witch he’ll keep her secret. The same witch I saw him feed his own blood to not two weeks ago. How very, very unfortunate.”

  “You’re the Ancient behind the skinwalkers,” Warin said, dawning realization in his voice. “You came all the way from the Old World to orchestrate this. Why? Why do you care about my territory? Why risk involvement with skinwalkers?”

  “Now, now, that’s a very serious allegation to level at an Elder,” Zeth purred. “One, you have no proof to support your hypothesis. Please, don’t tarnish your dignity, my lord. It’s all you have left. As an Ancient, you have the right to stand trial for your crimes.” His eyes gleamed as he stared Warin down, silently challenging him.

  Warin growled—but then his shoulders slumped and his back straightened. “I will come with you willingly,” he said. “If you swear to leave Liv unharmed.”

  “Warin, no! No, this isn’t his fault—please, he didn’t know.” I turned to Zeth. “Please, take me. Not him. He didn’t know what I am.”

  Zeth laughed—a chilling sound that cut through the night. “Oh, how adorable. A witch trying to sacrifice herself for her master. I’m afraid I can grant neither of your wishes. The Lord learned of your persuasion and did not end your life. And your little witch, my lord… well, you and I both know what the only outcome is for a witch who’s tasted vampire blood.”

  “No!” Warin’s voice was a furious snarl. “You will not put your hands on her!” He launched himself at the other Ancient faster than my eyes could follow.

  But Zeth simply raised his arm and backhanded Warin, sending him to the floor with a sickening crunch of bones.

  “Warin!” I cried.

  My lover lay crumpled by Zeth’s feet. The Elder looked down at him, eyes glowing dangerously. “That was very, very stupid,” he whispered.

  I didn’t think—the sight of Warin at this vile creature’s feet made me reach for the magic inside of me before I could reconsider. I hurled a ball of green energy at Zeth with a scream of rage. He’d hurt Warin—he was going to pay.

  But my magic was as ineffective as Warin’s strength. Zeth merely moved out of the way of the ball of energy hurtling toward him, and the next second, I had a cold hand wrapped around my throat.

  “It takes a lot more than a baby witch to take down an Ancient, little girl,” he sneered.

  “Let her go!” Warin demanded from the ground. I saw him fight to get up and launch himself at Zeth again, but the black-haired vampire swept his arm out, knocking Warin to the floor with another crunch of bones.

  “Warin!” I kicked at Zeth and clawed at his fingers around my neck to no effect. Growling like Warin had, I reached for my magic again, but Zeth shook me hard once, and the connection with my inner power slipped on a wave of pain.

  “You son of a bitch!” I wheezed.

  “Careful now,” Zeth said softly. “As you are the Lord’s pet, I am expected to extend you the courtesy of not killing you before his sentence has fallen. But, if you try that little magic trick one more time, I’m afraid I have no other choice than to end you now.”

  “Liv,” Warin groaned. His voice was thick and hoarse, as if he were struggling to speak. “Don’t fight him. Don’t…He’s too strong. I can’t…”

  The sound of defeat in my lover’s voice was what finally made me stop struggling.

  Through our time together, Warin had been an unque
stionable strength—he’d been my shield against the world and its horrors, and I’d known from the day I met him that there was nothing he couldn’t fight against.

  Except this. Except a vampire many times his age.

  Warin’s surrender drained every last vestige of fight from my body as true despair finally sank in.

  We were lost.

  “Zeth!”

  The shout carried through the night, and as I saw Aleric approaching with long strides, a shimmer of hope bloomed in my belly. Maybe there was a way… maybe Aleric had found way out.

  “Please. Whatever you think of the girl, it’s not true. She’s harmless. Barely a witch at all. Our Ancients are too few and far between as it is—don’t let a pathetic human be the reason we lose another.”

  That hope withered and died at the desperate look on Aleric’s face. He didn’t have a plan—he hadn’t found a weakness in the Ancient we could exploit.

  “Aleric Waldlitch… I know you’re not telling me you had any knowledge whatsoever of your brother’s blood bonded companion being a witch—weak as she may be.” Zeth leveled his disturbing eyes at Warin’s brother. “Because if you did… I would have no choice but to bring you to trial as well.”

  “Zeth… please,” Aleric whispered. “He’s my brother. Please.”

  “Which is it, young Waldlitch?” the black-haired vampire asked, voice hard. “Do you have knowledge of this witch you wish for to disclose? Or do you wish to live?”

  Aleric stared at the Ancient for a long moment. Regret dimmed his blue eyes as he turned to Warin. “I’m sorry, brother,” he whispered.

  And then he turned and ran.

  Leaving us at Zeth’s mercy.

  * * *

  “It’s terrifying, isn’t it?” Zeth said as the heavy silver door swung shut behind us, lock clicking in place. “Love. Twelve hundred years, and love is what will finally end your existence, young Lord.”

  “I thought you were bringing us to a trial,” Warin sneered. He was chained in silver by his wrists and ankles inside the cage and still covered in the dried blood of his enemies. He looked like a trapped animal, and my heart ached for him.

  Not that I was in a much better state. Zeth had brought us to a mortician’s residence in Indiana, a territory left mostly unclaimed by the undead, Warin told me. His servants, I suspected skinwalkers, had trussed me up on the other end of the cage in much the same manner as Warin, and my shoulders and wrists already hurt from carrying my weight.

  Zeth snorted. “Oh, I will. And I will be your judge, your jury, and your executioner. If you have some desperate hope that you will live through the end of your trial, I must strongly advise you against such foolish hopes. It would be much wiser if you spent your time saying goodbye to the witch you’ve thrown your immortal life away for. Once the sun sets tonight, you will not get another chance.”

  The Ancient vampire snapped his fingers at the men who’d brought us into the silver cage. He threw us one final, derisive look and then walked out of the basement, servants scurrying after him.

  “Liv.” Warin’s voice, so soft and tender, made me turn my head to look at him. There was so much love in his eyes, it made my heart clench with longing. What torture, that the man I loved more than life itself was only a few yards away, yet I would never feel his arms around me again.

  “I want you to know that I do not regret a single moment that led me to this place. Twelve hundred years of night I have lived, yet it wasn’t until you that I finally understood why I was put on this Earth.”

  “Warin—“ I tried, a clump of sorrow filling my throat. He was saying goodbye.

  “We don’t have much time, my love,” he said. “Please, listen to me. Once the sun rises, I need you to break free. Call your power, do whatever you have to—but get out. His interest is with me. You are just a catalyst—he must have been plotting my demise for a long time. Once you are out of his reach, he will not pursue you until I am gone.”

  “Warin—“

  “Let me finish—the sun is almost up.” The desperation in Warin’s voice cut through me like a knife, and I silenced, though nothing could stop the tears trickling down my cheeks.

  “You have to leave me behind, my love. There is no way out for me, but there is for you. Please. Please, find it. I cannot bear the thought of your death. Please. Find Aleric. He will help you disappear.”

  “I can’t leave you behind!” I sobbed. “I can’t.”

  “You must. You have to live. You have to grow old, bring a family into the world. Have children and grandchildren you can one day tell the story of a beautiful witch who stole the heart of a vampire and saved his soul from the darkness.” Tears were trickling down his face too, and it only made mine come that much harder and faster. “It was Fate that I found you, my Liv. Maybe if there truly is something more after this existence, Fate will bring us together again once you have lived a long and happy life. But even if there isn’t… I am so grateful that I met you. Please. Please, do not let me meet my Final death regretting that I found you, because meeting me doomed you.”

  “I love you,” I hiccuped. “I love you. I love you.”

  “Then I can die happy,” he whispered, eyelids slowly closing. “The sun is here. Run, my love. Live.”

  “Warin?” I croaked. “Warin!”

  He didn’t respond, his body hanging immobile from the chains like one of those animal carcasses from the slaughterhouse.

  I breathed in sharply through my nose—such comparisons were not going to do me any good, and right now… right now, I had to find some semblance of strength. Because he had asked it of me, his final wish, I had to find some way out. There had to be a way.

  I clutched my hands uselessly above my head, trying to summon my magic. It responded, but I didn’t know how to direct it when I couldn’t aim with my hands. And if I just pushed it up, worst-case scenario, I’d break the ceiling on top of both of us. Warin might survive that, but me…? Much more dicey.

  “What’s with everyone and their fucking aunt having a silver cage in their basement these days? Come on.” I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on the magic inside. It rose in a soft wave, awaiting direction, and I groaned. “Just… blast the bars!”

  I’d only voiced my frustration—I didn’t expect my magic to obey. But as I imagined my magic blasting a hole through the cage… the power inside me shuddered, swelled… and released.

  I opened my eyes just in time to see my green magic blast against the bars, bending them outward.

  “What the…?” I blinked and stared from the almost-big-enough gap in the bars to my still-tied hands above my head. Was that…? Was that how it worked? Maggie had mentioned something about visualizing hitting the targets she tried to get me to hit, but I’d never managed.

  Deciding I could wonder at the temperamental nature of my magic later, I focused on my hands and tried to picture green flames licking up along the silver chain, melting it.

  I gasped when my magic rolled through my body and up, encasing the chain.

  It only took a few moments before I landed heavily on the bottom of the cage. It was almost easy now, and I freed my ankles before I returned my focus to the bars. It was a little harder bending a large enough gap in them that I wouldn’t have trouble getting through.

  Then, I turned to the sleeping vampire at the other side of the cage. He still hung as if dead, oblivious to my magic break-through.

  Leave me, he’d said.

  My heart wrenched in my chest at the echo of his voice. How could he expect me to leave him behind to die? I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his still form. He was so solid… so real, even without the reassurance of a heartbeat. If I left him, he would be nothing more than an aching memory. No longer solid. No longer real.

  “Fuck this,” I growled, squeezing my eyes shut to stem the tears. Now was not the time to cry. “I’m not leaving you. I’m getting you out, you hear? I don’t want fucking grandbabies to tell stories to! I want yo
u. I want to live my life with you, not memories to cry over!”

  I pulled away from my sleeping lover, and a new fire burned in my belly as I turned to take stock of the room we’d been trapped in. I needed to find a way out of here—and then I was going to save us both.

  Fuck Zeth and his plans. He wasn’t taking Warin from me.

  33

  The good thing about Zeth’s secret base being a theme-appropriate funeral parlor was that the issue of transporting Warin during the day was at least partly solved. Caskets galore.

  Only problem would be to locate them without being detected… and of course, get Warin into one. And get said casket into a hearse, which I was banking on being somewhere on the premises.

  But one problem at a time.

  They hadn’t locked the basement door behind them, which meant I didn’t have to blast it open. Once you’ve got people strung up like cattle for slaughter inside a cage, there’s not much point in worrying about locking doors, I supposed.

  I snuck out of the room we’d been locked in, and saw that the basement stretched out with a wide hallway and several other rooms laying past closed doors. It seemed the only way forward was to go exploring…

  I kept my magic close to the surface as I crept from room to room, searching for a casket. Only the last room—of course—had a casket in it, and judging from the tools and the metal table, it was intended for another inhabitant. I gagged at the smell of disinfectant and that unmistakable stench of death no cleaning agent could ever fully mask, then went to investigate the casket.