Our bodies were close enough that I could tell he really did want me. I could feel how hard he was, even with two pairs of jeans between us. I tried pulling his face towards mine but he kept pulling away from me.
"I need to get you to Pallo. He will need to know about this," Caleb said, trying to pull me towards the white mist.
"Pallo who?" I asked.
He shook his head slightly and told me he was sorry before he lifted his hand and used his magic to knock me out cold.
Chapter 7
"Why in the Hell did you take her with you? You should have called me." Pallo’s voice was booming so loudly it was echoing through the entire house. He was standing in front of Caleb with his fists balled tightly.
I sat very still on the edge of the bed in Pallo’s room, trying to keep the focus off of me as much as possible. I looked around at the décor. It was done very contemporary. The walls were a charcoal gray. The room had an amazingly grand fireplace in it. The room had a large zebra print area rug covering the floor. Pallo had to have spent a fortune on that--the room was massive. Spotlights ran from floor to ceiling on what resembled metal ladders. Some funky spiral iron sculpture sat near a black door. It was not the door we had come in, so I didn’t know where it went. There were two identical black dressers on both sides of the bed--which was unbelievably enormous. If you took two king-sized beds and placed them side by side, then extended it at least two feet further, you’d be in the ballpark of this thing. Red satin bedcovers ran across it. There was no headboard, only a mound of white and red pillows of all shapes and sizes. Sheer, charcoal black curtains hung on rods that went all the way around the perimeter of the bed. The curtains were pulled to one side, exposing the bed to all prying eyes. The guy had taste. I was impressed.
I heard Caleb speak, and I looked up at him.
"She was attacked. I cleaned her wounds. You have nothing in this fortress of yours to cleanse troll bites, I’m sure of that. Would you rather I brought her to you to die? Isn’t that getting a little old?" he asked in a bitter voice. He was standing near the entrance to the room with his back to me. His long blonde hair seemed to soak up the lighting in the room and cast it back out. He was still a sight that took my breath away, and I was beginning to wonder if it was because he was a faerie or if it was just the lust spell.
Caleb wasn’t the first faerie I’d encountered. There had been one other, a man. He would appear to me often throughout my childhood, always watching me, never speaking. I’d been struck by a car once, a drunk driver, and the mysterious man with the long black hair and navy eyes had come to my aide. He healed me and repaired my bike. I was not sexually attracted to him at all. Caleb, on the other hand, I was drawn to and I had no idea why.
I wanted to go back to my apartment, clean up, and try to forget that any of this had happened. I wasn’t loose Lucy and making out with strangers wasn’t something I did. I felt humiliated and angry with myself for succumbing to the effects of a damn fruit. Sharon would die when I told about this, and Ken would go mad.
Ken would also be mad when he found out that I scored a big fat zero in the information department. My rankings were moving up considerably in the falling head over heels for strange guys area. At least something was headed in a northerly direction.
I watched Pallo. His body language shifted, turning aggressive--scary. Lightning-fast, he advanced on Caleb with his eyes burning black and fangs extended. I sucked in a breath as his hand brushed toward Caleb. Caleb simply put his hand up and shot his power out to hold Pallo back from him. I could feel Caleb’s power moving through the air in the room.
He was old, and he was powerful.
Pallo’s body pressed against an invisible force. His eyes seemed to grow even darker. I was scared of him.
"I’m sorry, old friend. She was to be mine, remember that. It was my bed she ran to, and I failed to protect her. I have lived with that guilt long enough to not want to go through it again. I will not stop her next time. I love her and will not refuse her. She is the gift that was promised to us. This time around I will not stand by and do nothing as she chooses you." And with those parting words, he walked out of the room.
They couldn’t have been talking about me. I’d just met them--we had no history. Whoever they were talking about was definitely a source of contention between them.
Glad it’s not me.
Pallo’s eyes still burned black when he turned to me. I let out a gasp and backed away up the bed. He stormed across the room and put his face near my legs. "Clean up--I can smell him on you."
I sat there, frozen, terrified. He snatched hold of my upper arms, and I winced as pain shot through my troll bite.
"I said CLEAN UP!"
I tried to cover my face with my hands, but he wouldn’t let go of my arms. I looked at his black eyes and saw his face changing before me. Fangs showed as he snarled. I turned my face from him and screamed. He was upon me before I knew it, his teeth sinking deep into my neck. It should have hurt, but it didn’t.
Instantly, my mind was thrust elsewhere, into a dreamlike state. I tried to hold onto my thin grasp of the here and now, but I failed. A dark room rose around me, formed of stone. I could tell that the walls were stone because I was chained to one. My naked back was rubbed raw from hanging there so long. It was so dark I could only see a few feet in front of me. Rats scurried about. A furry shape brushed against my foot, but I didn’t care. I was more concerned with what else was in the room with me. I could feel that others were near me. They were evil--I was terrified.
A vampire with long black hair came from out of the darkness. I could not make his face out. Something was running over my eyes and blurring my vision. It reached my lips and from the coppery taste I knew it was blood-my blood.
Through my blurred vision I saw the man turn and gesture to three other males. They were also covered in blood. I knew that it was my blood that covered their bodies, and I knew without a doubt that they were going to kill me. They were going to take turns biting me until I hadn’t a drop of blood left to drink. The thought of Pallo filled my head as they started to feed off me, and he was all that helped me keep a thin grip on reality. I cried out for him. I wanted his strong hands to pull the chains from my wrists. I wanted to have him hold me in his arms. He didn’t come.
The vision left me and my body wilted with Pallo still clamped on my neck. He jerked his head off of me and I saw that his eyes were brown again and he no longer looked grotesquely disfigured. He now looked horrified.
"Gwyneth." He was still holding my arms tightly. I could see little droplets of blood falling onto my lap from the bite on my neck. Pallo looked down at his arms and released me. My body limp, I fell back on the bed like a rag doll.
"I lost control. The smell of his body on you was more than I could stand." His voice was small now--weak. He was leaning over me, stroking my hair, trying to brush the wrong away.
A shiver ran through me as my body grew cold. I didn’t care that he had fed off of me. I didn’t care that my body was going numb. I didn’t care about anything.
"You are going into shock." He took my sandals off and started undoing my pants. When he had pulled them almost to my ankles, the vision of being chained to the wall came back to me. I started to scream and kick my feet at him. He held tight and pulled them the rest of the way off. I was fighting him so hard that he had to put me in a type of headlock to get my shirt off. He lifted my still flailing body off of the bed and carried me to the bathroom.
The bathroom was almost as big as his bedroom. It had a large black whirlpool tub in one corner, a stand-up shower, and in the other corner sat a toilet. Two sinks appeared to be suspended from the ceiling by black chains.
Pallo laid me down on the cool white floor. I lay there, unmoving. I wanted to curl up but didn’t have the energy to bother. I heard water running in the tub. Steam rose, filling the room like a blanket of fog. It touched my cool face. It was so warm and welcoming. I felt Pallo’s hand slide und
er my legs and arms. He scooped me up and carried me to the tub, submersing me in the steaming water. It was so hot--too hot. The feeling of wanting to get away rushed back into me, and I punched at Pallo’s chest and scratched at his face. I hated him at that moment. I hated him so much. He didn’t come for me. He left me there. He pinned me down in the water and looked at me.
"Forgive me." He had tears pouring from his eyes. I hit him one last time across the face and caught my nail on his cheek, tearing it open. Seeing blood dripping down his cheek brought me back from the edge of my madness. He grabbed hold of me as I sobbed.
"You never came." I had no idea why I said what I did, but felt relieved for having gotten it out in the open.
Pallo held me to him in the bath. I could feel my body starting to warm again, and I noticed that he was in the tub with me fully dressed.
"It was just a dream," he said. I knew he was lying. It was too real, too vivid not to have happened.
"What’s happening to me?" I asked, sobbing.
"I do not know," he said, sliding behind me in the tub.
I could feel his wet jeans and shirt under me. His large arms wrapped around me, comforting me--soothing me. I was vaguely aware of the fact that I was the only one wearing no clothes. I was having a hell of a night. I’d seen the remains of a coworker, had gotten attacked by trolls, almost slept with a faerie, and was naked in the tub with a vampire. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. I was screwed.
I closed my eyes and leaned back against Pallo’s body.
"May I wash your hair?" It was a simple request he was making, and I had always wanted to have someone do that for me.
I nodded. His strong hands lifted my shoulders up effortlessly. With the utmost of care, he slid my hair loose and ran his fingers through it. I could feel the lather building up. Each stroke was making my body tingle … and burn for something more.
"Rinse," he said softly.
I dipped my head under the water, feeling him reach to stroke my shoulder. A shudder ran through my body as I rose to my feet. I found myself standing before him, still in the tub, with beads of water dripping down my body. His face never changed, he just sat there looking at me with the most beautiful brown eyes. I stepped out of the tub onto the tiny white carpet. I started to head for the door, stepping off the bathmat. My wet foot touched the marble floor and went out from under me. Pallo grabbed me. I hadn’t heard him get out of the tub, he just appeared behind me. I turned to him. His brown hair hung to his shoulders. The ends were soaked, but the rest was dry. I slid a hand up his arm and touched his wet shirt. I could see his erect nipples through it. The same uncontrollable desire that had seized hold of me with Caleb came flooding back. I looked at how his wet clothes hugged his body. His body was sculpted, it was beautiful, and it was standing before me. I was naked and ready for him. I pulled myself closer to him, allowing my body to brush his.
"No," he said.
I could feel his desire for me and it drove me to continue onward. I rubbed my wet breasts against his shirt slowly as I put my hands on his waist band. His stomach tightened to my touch as he started to pull away from me.
"We have forever, my love, forever." The words flowed from his mouth sweetly but stung my ears.
"I can smell your desire for me." I could feel my power building up. My body was getting warmer and warmer. Desire was eating me alive. I wanted to have his body touching mine and knew he wanted it, too. He backed up and was further away from me now, he closed his eyes tightly.
"I will not take you when you are still under the influence of the spell."
"You don’t want me?" I asked, hurt and confused. I’d thought that Pallo had felt the same for me. I thought that he wanted to touch me as badly as I wanted to touch him.
The energy ran through my veins like a drug. If he didn’t want me then fine, I’d find somebody else. I spun around and stormed out of the bathroom. When I entered the bedroom, Caleb was standing in there. I smiled.
Next victim.
"I have more information about the troll attack on you," he said. His gaze fell upon my wet naked body, and he stood very still. He looked to the slightly ajar bathroom door.
"I’m guessing Pallo’s in there," he said, bitterly.
Heat rose through my body, spilling out from me to him. I lifted my hand and thought of him standing before me nude. My power poured forth from my fingertips and onto him. I was now emitting a slight buzz, and didn’t recognize the power that flowed within me. It wasn’t mine, and it was attacking Caleb.
Caleb shrieked as his clothes began to rip from his body. A look of shock crossed his face as he tried to hang onto his pants but lost the battle. A smile formed on my mouth, and I didn’t know why. I had never in my life been as aggressive as this. I wanted to have sex and it didn’t matter who I had it with. I met Caleb’s eyes and saw that they harbored desire for me as well. He stood before me, cupping his groin like I hadn’t seen it before. I could tell that he was completely erect and wanted nothing more than to be inside me.
His eyes focused on something behind me. I turned and found Pallo standing in the room with us. Anger flashed on his face. They no longer looked brown to me, now they were black, pooling pits of rage.
"GET OUT!" he screamed at Caleb.
I could not let that happen. I couldn’t let Caleb leave, or more correctly, the power that now owned me could not let him go. I wanted someone touching me now, I needed it. Caleb made a sudden movement toward the door. I threw my hand up and used the power that ran through me to call upon the wind and force the door shut. He grabbed the handle but couldn’t get it to budge. A laugh came from my mouth. I knew that this magic would be stronger than even his faerie strength.
"Please, Gwen … open the door." He was afraid of Pallo, or was it me? A flash came from behind me and I knew it was Pallo going after Caleb. I put my hand up and forced the energy out at him. He staggered backwards and fell to the floor. I was scared that I had killed him. I tried to fight the powerful spell that gripped me. It was stronger than my magical abilities--hell, it was stronger than Caleb’s.
The desire swarmed over me, calling me, making my inner thighs burn for Caleb’s touch. I wanted his body close to mine and knew I could make him want me too.
God, what was I doing?
Something else was taking me over, something sinister. I was being compelled by lust, by need. Raw, sexual desire held control of me. I cried out in pain and dropped to my knees. I tried to focus on containing the energy, but I couldn’t. I looked at Pallo’s body on the floor near me. I reached my hand out and tried to touch him. He was my lifeline and I knew that if I could just graze his skin, that he could help me fight it.
Pallo’s eyes opened, and he looked at me. They held no sign of anger. They looked sad and lost.
"Help me!" My voice was small as the words came out of my mouth.
Something ripped at my insides and drew my attention back to Caleb. The magical spell seemed drawn to him. He’d been with me when I ate the fruit, and he was who the spell wanted. Yes, my mind and body craved to have Pallo’s pale hand caressing me, but the magic in me wanted faerie. It wanted Caleb, and I think a small part of me did, too.
"Caleb." I heard the words come from my mouth, but it didn’t sound like me at all, "Come here." He turned slowly and started toward me.
Inside my head I was screaming at him to stop helping our little problem, but he kept walking towards me. The black magic ran through me. It beat in my head, over and over, pounding like drums until I lost track of my own protests. It consumed me with its fierceness and left me in pain, disoriented. Pressure was building in my head and I was losing my ability to think clearly. I had a feeling of fire shooting from my chest and knew it was the power spilling outwards. As hard as I tried to contain it, it didn’t work. It grabbed hold of Caleb and gave him the same need I had--for sex.
Caleb was on me in an instant, his body curved around mine. He lifted me off the ground and threw me onto the bed
. I couldn’t hide my excitement and opened my legs wide to welcome him. He kissed my neck and worked his way down to my breasts.
The power running in me propelled outward and seemed to encircle Caleb. It enclosed him in my web of need, of lust, making him want to be in me as badly as I wanted him there. I may have been motivated by a lust spell, but I knew that they only worked on willing parties, and I was obviously very willing.
I moved my body out from under Caleb and pushed him down on his back on the bed. The power that was circling him encompassed me as well. It lifted me up gently, allowing me to position myself just right above him. I found myself standing on the bed over Caleb’s naked body. I stood above him and looked down at his eager body. He was hard and ready for me. I lowered myself onto him. I was tight but wet, so it slid in with ease. I let my weight rest fully on his hips, as he filled me up, unable to move from the shock of something that size in me, and out of fear that if I moved I’d never be able to stop. My body ached to ride him. His cock flexed within me and I cried out in pleasure. My body responded to him, and I began to make tiny figure eights with my hips on him. He was reaching up and cupping my breasts, pulling me towards him. I leaned forward and lifted my hips up and down on him. I varied my speed fast, then slow--fast, then slow. Tiny grunting noises came from me, and Caleb echoed them.
My breasts bounced near his mouth. He leaned his face up and sucked sweetly on one nipple--pulling it tight, taunt, and erect. My abdomen grew warm, before heading straight to feverish. I’d never experienced anything like this before. Sure, I’d had orgasms before. Ken had seen to that, but this was different, this was so much more. It was a blending of magiks, souls, and body. Caleb’s power rode through me, marking me, making me his.
He reached his hands around my back and grabbed my butt, pushing me down harder onto him. He was hot and hard, and I wanted all that he had to offer. The heat within me was growing and my face started to flush. As I sat on the brink of an orgasm I gave into it and lost control, pushing my body onto his with a speed I hadn’t known I’d possessed.
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