I love you, you know.
Her voice sounded in his mind and he wondered frantically how he could go on throughout eternity never knowing the touch of her thoughts again.
“I know,” he said, kissing her forehead, sweeping her curls back from her pale face.
She laughed shortly, painfully. Not the response I wanted.
“Then I will give you what you need to hear. What I need most desperately to say. I love you, Emma Campbell Madison,” he told her softly. “And trust me when I say I never thought to put the words love and Campbell in the same sentence.”
She smiled, as he’d hoped she would, then closed her eyes on a soft moan. Time was ticking past. Every moment lost brought them that much closer to an end that he could not even contemplate. How could he be expected to go on through the eons without Emma at his side? Without her smile, her laugh, her touch? How could he face a long eternity of darkness with no promise of love or laughter to warm him?
He could not. Would not. Bain knew he had to act quickly. But first, he must tell her what he was thinking and then convince her to take the risk. To chance life. With him.
There is a way to perhaps defeat the poi son.
She slowly, painfully, opened her eyes and looked at him, waiting for whatever else came next.
“Living flame.” He said the words aloud, as if testing the sound of them on his tongue.
Clearly confused, she frowned and asked, “How?”
“You must walk through it.” She blinked at him and he heard her thoughts, scattershot through her mind. More than that, he felt her fear, her reluctance to leave him, and he felt her waning strength. He waited, though, for her to speak her doubts aloud.
“Through eternal fire?”
“Yes,” he said, pulling her to her feet, supporting her weight easily when her knees buckled and she slumped against him. He cradled her tightly to his chest and knew that he would do whatever was necessary to keep her there. With him. Where she belonged. “It is dangerous. But it should work.”
“Should?”
She was even paler now, her skin nearly translucent, as if she were already beginning to leave him and this world behind. Everything in Bain was a defiant fist, refusing to let her go.
He cupped her face in his palm, forcing her to look up into his eyes. “Hear me, Emma. There are no guarantees in life. Not even when one is immortal. Yes, there is a risk to you. The flames could kill you. But without them, you will most surely die and I find I can’t bear the thought of it.”
Her eyes shone with unshed tears and she tried to lift a hand to touch his face. But she couldn’t quite manage the task. “You do love me.”
“Aye,” he muttered thickly, “I do at that and seeing you in pain is tearing at me. I won’t lose you, Emma. But, ultimately, you are the one who must choose. Choose life, Emma. Choose the risk. If the eternal flames don’t kill you, the poison will be gone from your system and you will be immortal.”
Just like that?
He caught the flicker of hope in her mind and clung to it.
“Standing in the fire is not an easy thing,” he warned. “The flames will consume the poison. Consume that damned cup. Consume your mortality.”
“What’ll be left?” Her voice was barely a whisper now, as if she were nearly too far gone already for him to reach.
“You,” he insisted. “You will be left. The essence of you. And you will be with me. Always. There will be us. It will work, Emma. I will stand in the fire with you. I will take as much of the pain as I can, but you will have to trust me, Emma. Do you?”
Instead of answering, a question simmered in her mind and slammed into his.
You’ve been hiding something from me, Bain. Something in your mind you don’t want me to see. So before I answer your question, tell me what that is.
His arms, so strong, so capable, felt useless as he cradled the only important thing in his world. He sensed her body shutting down, the demon’s poison slithering through her blood, infecting tissue and bone. Draining the life from her inch by inexorable inch. All Bain knew was that she must survive, so he gave her the one thing he’d kept from her.
“I didn’t want you to know that an immortal may give up eternity. Become human.”
“What?” Her eyes were clouded now, nearly opaque as her eyesight failed. Her breath was coming in short, irregular gasps. “You could become human?”
“Yes,” he said, ashamed now that he’d ever thought to hide it from her. “Guardians can choose to give up the life of battle, become mortal like their mates. But I didn’t wish to. A warrior is all I have ever been. I could not step away from my duty, Emma. Not even for you.”
You big dummy.
His eyebrows arched high on his forehead.
She sighed heavily. “I wouldn’t want you to be less than you are, Bain. I fell in love with my Highland warrior. Why would I want him to be anything else?”
“I am a fool.”
Yeah, pretty much. Her laughter was fading now, too, the soft sigh of it in his mind more of an echo of what it had once been.
“We can’t wait,” he announced. “The demon’s poison spread faster than I expected.”
Her head lolled against his chest. I trust you, Bain. Build me a fire.
He did. Holding her propped against him with one arm, with his free hand, he sketched ancient symbols in the air. His fingers drew light and magic from the cold, drafty room, and as he whispered words of an ancient tongue known only to the Guardians, the very air around them shimmered and twisted with power.
It seemed to Bain that it took forever to make the magic happen. The urge for speed crouched in his chest and howled at him to hurry up. The sane corner of his mind warned that one misspoken word could turn living flame on the world and create as much destruction as a demon’s incursion. He could afford no mistakes—not only for what it might cost the human world, but for the reason that he would not have the time to cast this spell again. If he didn’t get it right the first time, he would lose the woman who was everything to him.
The spell for eternal fire was a difficult one and his worry for Emma made it that much harder to concentrate. Still, he focused his energies, drawing on centuries of life and power to do what he must. This was the only chance she had. The only chance they had.
Emma felt a magical wind tousle her hair, then she opened her eyes to watch her Highlander. He looked too good to be true, she thought, a weary smile lifting one corner of her mouth. She wanted another hour with him. Another night. An eternity.
She couldn’t bear to lose him just when she’d found him. But she was so tired. So empty. Her bones were mush. Her strength was nearly gone. She listened to the steady, hard beat of Bain’s heart beneath her ear and told herself that it wasn’t such a bad way to die. In the arms of the only man she would ever love.
Hold tight to me, Emma! His thoughts crashed into her mind, allowing her no chance to slip away. He simply refused to accept her surrender to death. There will be no leaving me, do you understand? Turn from the abyss tempting you. Return to me, Emma, and stand beside me as you were meant.
Then light erupted into the darkness.
Emma forced her eyes open as magic electrically charged the air in the room. Shadows danced on the walls and heat licked at them as an inferno roared into life. Dazed, she stared at the wall of living fire in front of her. The flames danced and twisted and writhed against one another. Colors burst from the heart of the blaze—orange, blue, red, green, yellow. It really was alive, she thought, and the heat was its heartbeat.
All around them, the shadows slipped away, unable to stand against the vivid brightness of a light so otherworldly. The Campbell Cup, so long coveted by the demon races, skittered noisily across the floor, as if drawn by the very heat of its destroyer. It was swept into the flames and was obliterated in an instant.
Oh, my God.
He must have heard the fear in her voice. He looked into her eyes and whispered, “The fire vanquish
es evil, Emma. There’s nothing evil about you. You will be saved. I will allow nothing less, do you understand? I love you. Through all time, I will love you.”
Emma smiled despite the weakness dragging at her and said softly, “Just don’t let go of me, okay?”
Never. His promise echoed in her mind as he walked her into the heart of the firestorm.
Heat ripped through her and Emma gasped, throwing her head back, expecting to feel the excruciating pain of being burned alive. She stared into Bain’s eyes and felt him with her. His heart, his soul, were so entwined with hers, it was impossible to feel the fear that should have been racking her.
Their hands met, palm to palm, and fingers locked. They stood, two halves of one whole, in the center of a fire that blew hot with the breath of eternity.
Heat, incredible heat, flashed through her veins and Emma felt the poison bleed from her cells, her muscles, her bones. As the flames danced around them, snapping, hissing, twisting around their limbs, tangling in their hair, all traces of the demon’s venomous bite were consumed, leaving Emma alive in a way she never had been before. Her body awakened. Her soul swelled, blossoming with the promise of eternity, and as she stared into Bain’s eyes and watched him smile, she knew.
It had worked.
Their desperate gamble had given them forever.
He pulled her close, murmured words both ancient and beautiful, and in the space of a single heartbeat the flames disappeared, winked out of existence. As if they had never been.
“It’s over,” she whispered, tipping her head back to grin at him in the sudden stillness. “I feel…different.”
“As you should,” he told her. “You’re an immortal now, Emma. Just like me.”
Immortal. The word sang through Emma’s system, and for just a moment, she enjoyed the thrill of having eternity stretching out in front of her. She imagined watching the world change around her and always being able to reach out and touch the hand of the man who had saved her life—and that made that life worth living.
As you did for me, Emma, his mind whispered into hers. For centuries, I was a man alone, and now, there is you. A priceless gift to one such as me.
She smiled up at him, cupping his face between her palms. “I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re furious with me.”
“I know you will, lass,” he said, turning his face to kiss her palm. “What a fine time we’ll have.”
They would, Emma thought, since she now had an eternity to be with the man she loved more than anything. Then, she realized there were one or two things that had to be said. She poked him in the chest with her index finger.
“No more secrets, okay?”
“Agreed.” He kissed her, nearly shattering her train of thought.
“And I’m going to finish school. Get my degree.”
“If you wish.”
“That means staying in the city during the school year, Mr. I-Can’t-Wait-to-Get-Back-to-the-Highlands.”
He frowned, but nodded, stroking her hair back from her face with gentle fingers. “I will find a Guardian to keep watch at my home until we return from this blasted city.”
Emma wrapped her arms around his neck and went up on her toes. “And you have to come home with me to meet my family.”
His scowl deepened and she laughed.
“I see nothing funny about this,” he told her as his arms came around her, holding her close.
“I know.” Emma gave him a quick, hard kiss, then grinned again. “Oh, I think my mom’s going to love you. But I warn you, my dad can be pretty protective.”
“As a man should over his children.”
“My brother will probably want to come back to Scotland for a visit with us.”
“Aye,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “They’re all welcome in our home, Emma. For as long as any of you like.”
“I knew you’d say that,” she said, still smiling. “You’re a softy, Bain Sinclair.”
He pulled her in tightly to him as if to dissuade her of that notion entirely.
Her eyebrows lifted as she pressed closer, rubbing her hips against his. “Okay, not a softy.”
He bent his head to kiss her but she stopped him with one finger over his lips. “There’s one more thing. You do realize, that for the rest of our eternal lives together, I’m never going to let you forget that I walked through fire for you.” “Leave it to a Campbell to find a way to torment me.” He smiled at her and Emma’s body went into overdrive.
She ran one hand across his bare, muscled chest until he shivered with the desire claiming them both. “Let’s go home, Highlander, and I’ll let you torment me for a while.”
“I willna ever let you go, Emma. I doona think I could bear eternity wi’ out ye.”
A delighted laugh shot from Emma’s throat as Bain gave her the Highland dialect she’d expected when she first met him—that seemed like a lifetime ago. And when he swept her into his arms and kissed her, she knew that an eternity spent with this man wouldn’t be nearly long enough.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0823-0
VACATION WITH A VAMPIRE… AND OTHER IMMORTALS
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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VAMPIRES IN PARADISE
Copyright © 2011 by Margaret Benson
IMMORTAL
Copyright © 2011 by Maureen Child
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