Deceptions: A Collection

by Shiloh Walker

  Fight what—somebody who is trying to sneak into your mind?

  “Kit, damn it, calm down!”

  I swung out and felt the blade connect. Somebody—a woman—shouted. Something hot glanced off my hip.

  A thunderous snarl echoed through the room.

  None of it mattered.

  Had to fight.

  Had to get away—

  “Kit…”

  I struck out again. Blood. I smelled blood.

  “Kit.”

  Hands caught my face.

  Wet hands.

  The smell of blood—thick with magic, alive with it—flooded my senses and somehow snapped me back to myself.

  Dazed, I struggled to think past the panic.

  “Damon, you need to let me calm her down.”

  “Es, the next one of you to try and throw magic at her is going to be digging my claws out of their gut, you understand me?”

  Damon. Damon’s voice.

  I blinked and blinked, struggling to focus my eyes. Red. That was all I could see. A wash of it—

  “Kit.” Something under that red moved…

  Oh, hell.

  It wasn’t red.

  It was blood.

  His neck. His chest. Healing, slowly, but covered in blood…because I had sliced into him.

  “Damon?”

  A harsh groan escaped him and then his lips touched my brow. “Yeah. It’s me, baby girl. You’re okay. You hear me? You’re okay. Nothing hurts you when I’m here, got it?”

  A hysterical laugh bubbled up out of me. Okay? I’d just damn near lost my mind and torn into somebody who could kill me as easily I could breathe. And he’s telling me that I’m okay?

  No. I really, really wasn’t.

  Damon kicked Kori out.

  She went, bleeding and grudgingly. I didn’t know what had happened and just then, I didn’t care.

  The mother wouldn’t leave. She brought me a cup of tea. “Drink it. Please. It’s just a special mix of mine—no magic—” She gave Damon a narrow look. “But it will calm your nerves.”

  I didn’t think that was possible. I could smell chamomile, strawberry leaves and other familiar things in it, plus other herbs that I couldn’t identify, but nothing would calm me down tonight. To make her quit hovering, though, I took a sip. “Somebody needs to explain what happened,” I said after I tried the tea.

  “As your cat said…he found you in the water.”

  I swallowed and looked at Damon. He was holding me in his lap. His blood was drying on him, on me, but just then, there was nothing either of us could do about it. I had to know what was going on before I went insane. “Did I…?” I licked my lips. “I fell asleep. I remember being tired. I must have fallen asleep.”

  Damon stroked a hand up my back. “I came in. You were under the water. Your eyes were open. I tried to pull you up and you fought me, Kit. You didn’t let me pull you up and you felt a hell of a lot stronger than I think you are.”

  Shuddering, I shook my head.

  He rubbed the back of my neck, staring at the wall in front of us. “I yelled for Es—I…” He paused, clenched his jaw. “She was in here almost right away and I was still trying to pull you out of the water. She hit the drain and said something…”

  “I could feel an unnatural pull on your mind,” Es said quietly.

  Damon shrugged. “She did something. I can feel the magic, but I don’t understand it. I was able to get you out—you weren’t breathing. Starting pushing on your chest and then you started coughing up the water.”

  Closing my eyes, I buried my face against his chest, wishing I could just…stay there. Blood and all. Right here, I almost felt safe, as long as I didn’t have to think.

  But Damon’s stock in trade was being an asshole and he wasn’t going to let me hide, it seemed. “It was him, wasn’t it?”

  I cringed.

  “Kit. We can’t fix this until we know what happened,” he whispered against my temple. Gentle, soothing strokes up and down my back.

  Tears leaked out of my eyes.

  “I fell asleep. And he was there. I told him to get out and he was just being…himself.” The panic tried to crowd in.

  “Stop.” Damon gripped my shoulder. “Listen. Fight it back, you stubborn little bitch, you hear me?”

  I saw his eyes—green eyes, that smile. Wake up…hands shoving me down.

  “Kit. Where’s your fucking sword?”

  My palm itched. I popped my wrist.

  “That’s it,” Damon whispered. “Call her.”

  I groaned and listened to the whispering of the blade at the back of my mind. Just that was enough to ground me. Gave me the strength to think past the fear. “I…I think I’m okay.”

  “Hold your sword, Kit,” Damon said quietly. “You’re steadier when you have it.”

  I closed my eyes. There had been a time in my life when I had gone to sleep cradling her next to me. Times when I couldn’t sleep without her, when I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t leave the house for anything unless I had that damn blade. I didn’t want to go back to being that scared again.

  “I want her sheathed,” I whispered.

  Distantly, I heard the soft brush of fabric. The creak of leather. And then Damon said, “Thanks.” Then he pushed the sheathed blade into my hands. “She’s here. Now get this done. Hiding won’t make it easier.”

  Hiding might not. But running could, I thought absently. Gripping the leather, I swallowed back the panic and made myself talk.

  “He was in my dreams, talked about my…” I swallowed back the bitter taste of fear. “Talked about my energy, how it made him feel alive. Then he said how much better it was since he’d fed from me. It freaked me out. I told him to leave. I remember that. Then there was…something. I don’t know if somebody else was in the room, or if he wanted me to think somebody was. I don’t know what happened. He told me to wake up, and I wanted to, just to get away from him, but I couldn’t. Then…something shoved me under.”

  I gripped the sword to me and closed my eyes.

  “He told me you were killing me, Damon. I’d done the job and the Alpha was done with me so you were going to kill me.”

  I finished the tea.

  I can’t much say it calmed my nerves, but I finished it.

  Es took the cup and continued to stand there, studying me critically.

  “What?” I asked wearily. I needed to get the blood off of me. I needed to sleep, but I was terrified. I needed…shit. I didn’t know what I needed.

  “You said he mentioned your energy.”

  I gave a short, jerky nod.

  A troubled look into her eyes. “And he’s fed from you.”

  “Yes.”

  “How many times?”

  “Just the once,” I said quietly. Never again—I’ll die before I let him feed from me again. I’d rather be dead than let him deepen this…whatever. Maybe Damon had been right, after all, and death was better than fucking with a vampire.

  Es rubbed her brow. “Not all vampires are like Jude, child. Some are just more…apt, we’ll say, to feeding from a psychic vein. It appears that’s what Jude was doing and he’s found a vein he very much likes in you. The blood feed deepened his connection to you. And it likely gave him a taste for more.” She lifted her head and the pale gray of her eyes glinted with warning. “He’ll try again,” she said, her voice blunt.

  “I know that.” And that’s when my chaotic, jumping brain finally settled and I knew what I needed to do. I needed to figure out how to kill Jude. Tall order. I wondered if I could get my hands on a small range missile. It could maybe do the job.

  “Why did you let him bite you, Kit?”

  I glared at her. “At the time, I didn’t think I had much of a choice.”

  “Well, that’s understandable.” A faint smile curled her lips. “Life happens that way at times, doesn’t it? But you have options now. Choices. But the fact is…he bit you and there’s a bond. Jude is old. He’s not ancient, but he�
��s got some years on him, so he’s strong. He’s also ruthless and something of a…well.” She pursed her lips and then said, “To be blunt, he’s a dick.”

  I stared at her and then nodded. “I can agree with that.”

  “He occasionally has his moments where he isn’t a total bastard, but even those moments are usually fueled by some innate drive to manipulate. He is always scheming.” She studied my face. “I heard he aided you once. Years ago. Even then, he was likely scheming. Don’t believe he has any innate sense of decency. Many vampires do. Jude does not.”

  “We just established he’s a dick, right?”

  Es chuckled. “Indeed we did.” She reached out and caught my wrist.

  I tensed as she traced over the path where he had bitten me. I couldn’t see where he had bitten me and there was no way anything lingered.

  “It leaves a mark.” She looked up at me. “A healer can see it. It will fade in time, but the mark is there. Just as the bond is there. Bonds are odd things, though. If a stronger bond is set in place…or if a new bond is formed, he won’t have the ability to call you.”

  I jerked my wrist back. “Meaning…what? I should find a local vamp to bite me?”

  “It’s an option.” She smiled. “Kori’s lover is a vampire, and a lovely lady. A kind one. Plus, she’s a friend of the house, meaning she would have our protection should Jude decide to get…pissy. I’d rather enjoy that,” she said. The grin on her face took on a devious slant. “I’d enjoy it quite a lot, actually.”

  I just stared at her.

  “Not all vampires are of Jude’s ilk, Kit. As I said. It’s an option.”

  “Not a good one,” Damon growled.

  He had taken up residence over by the fire again.

  I shot him a nervous glance.

  Es made an odd little humming noise under her breath. “Well, there are other options, other bonds. Stronger ones.”

  “Quiet, witch.” He bit each word off like he’d rather be biting into something.

  Sighing, Es said, “Another option—I can offer you a spell. A charm of sorts, like what I did earlier that knocked him out of your mind. It will only last while you are in my home and I’ll have to do it again every day at sunset. It will work. But it’s only a short-term option. If that’s what you choose to do, the best choice might be for you to buy a plane ticket and then lose yourself somewhere very, very far away from here, Kit. If you stay away from him for a few months, the bond will fade and then he won’t be able to call you like this again. I’d recommend you have the local house spell your home against him and you should keep your distance from him in the future.”

  “I’m not running.” Even as I said it, I wanted to kick myself. I’d run before and done very well with it. What was wrong with me? “I’m not running away from that bastard.”

  A soft smile curved her lips. “Then you need to think through the other options.” She brushed my hair back. “You could try approaching the Assembly. He did bite you without explaining all that would happen as a result and that is an ethical violation. But I wouldn’t recommend that.”

  “Bad idea.” I shook my head. “Makes me look weak in their eyes and I’d rather not look any weaker than I already do.”

  “Kitasa…” She chuckled as she turned away. “The Assembly hardly sees you as weak. Not as physically strong as some, but you’re impossibly clever, incredibly quick and you managed on your own in this world. It’s a singular sort of strength, but strength nonetheless. You should rest. You can think this through in the morning.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  I stood in the bathroom, staring at the shower.

  I needed to get in there and get clean.

  I couldn’t even manage to let go of the blanket wrapped around me, though.

  I am aneira. My heart is strong. My aim is true. And I’m now scared of water.

  There was a knock at the door.

  The sound of it made me flinch.

  When I didn’t answer, Damon just came inside. One look at me made him sigh and he tugged the blanket out of my death grip. He didn’t take it away, just held it steady, ready to lower it. “It won’t get better if you don’t face it,” he said quietly. “Sooner is better.”

  “I just drowned, what, a couple hours ago?” I said. I sounded like a bitch. I didn’t care. “I think I can have a day or two to freak about it. It’s totally understandable that I have a few reservations about water right now. I should be allowed to freak out a little.”

  “You can freak about it for the next hundred years.” He looked down at me and brushed my hair back from my face. I could see the blood on his hand. “I’m going to. I know that.”

  “Why are we all bloody?” I spread my hand over his chest. There weren’t any wounds left, but earlier, his chest had looked like somebody had tried to carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

  He grimaced. “Well, I got to see firsthand how good you are with your sword. And you’re good. Very good.”

  I closed my eyes. “I did this.”

  “You were panicking—thinking about that fucking leech.”

  Fear tried to crowd in again, but I gamely shoved it back. I couldn’t panic every time I thought of him. Especially not since I was still thinking about killing him.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No reason.” He laid a hand on my throat and then grinned at me. “Maybe we can call it even now. I think, inch for inch, you did a lot more damage in the long run. You definitely got a pound of flesh and quart of blood.”

  I surprised myself by laughing. “Hey, I can’t heal in the blink of an eye.” Staring past him to the shower, I swallowed. “Will…will you get in there with me? Please?”

  The glow in his eyes flashed. A growl broke free—for just a second and then it was gone. He gave me a single, short nod then he caught my wrist, guided it up to the blanket. “Hold it a minute, kitten.”

  The sound of the water coming on shouldn’t make me quake. It did.

  I thought, oddly, of my grandmother.

  Closing my eyes, I thought, She didn’t break me. I won’t let him do it, either.

  Distantly, I heard the quiet whisper of him stripping off his jeans. “These things are wasted,” he muttered. The thud of them hitting the ground. Think about mundane things. Maybe even not mundane—I popped open one eye and stared at him.

  Wow.

  Very, very, wow.

  Not mundane at all.

  Blood streaked his chest, his arms. The lines of his tattoo shone through the dry red. I laid a hand on it. “How were you able to get this done?” I asked softly.

  “Before I spiked. Healing is still close to human rate then.” He studied me. “You ready?” he asked, his voice quiet, soft. Gentle, I decided.

  The world’s biggest asshole was gentling me into the shower.

  And I wasn’t going to start crying again.

  With a jerky nod, I let go of the blanket. My legs didn’t want to work. Nothing did. But I finally managed to climb in. I tensed at the feel of the water. Panic—

  “It’s okay, Kit,” Damon murmured against my neck. “Nothing hurts you when I’m here. You got me?”

  I made myself move deeper under the spray, watching as the water struck us both. It ran red as it washed away the blood. Heat curled around us, wrapping around us just as surely as his arms did. He pulled me against him and I went, sinking against his chest. I could lean on him, I realized. I really could. And it wasn’t so bad to do it.

  “Why did you tell her to be quiet?”

  Damon stroked my back. “You’ve had enough thrown at you tonight, baby girl. Haven’t you?”

  Yes. I was pretty sure I’d had enough thrown at me for the next two hundred years. But I wasn’t going to sleep any better until I had a handle on all of this. I needed a better handle on all of this. It was driving me crazy.

  “What in the hell does in rut mean?”

  He growled and then the hand he’d be stroking up and down my back dropped
down to my hip and he pulled me flush against him. Thick and hot, he throbbed against me. “Hell, little girl, what do you think it means?”

  I snorted. “From what I’ve heard, it means more than you need to get laid.”

  “Shit.” He boosted me up until we were on eye level. “You really don’t have any clue what it means,” he muttered, staring at me, eye to eye, mouth to mouth. Against my chest, I could feel the racing of his heart and it met my own, beat for beat. “And trust me…right now, you’re wet, you’re naked, and I want you like I want my next breath, like I want my next shift. But you were just jacked over in the worst way and we don’t need to have this talk while you’re vulnerable.”

  I wrapped my legs around him. “Then we don’t talk.”

  “Kit…”

  Twining my arms around his neck, I pulled him close. “Don’t talk. We can talk tomorrow. But right now…I need not to think.”

  I could feel him between my legs. So close. So temptingly close.

  “Baby girl…” he groaned. His head fell back and I saw the muscles of his body flex. Bulge. A shudder wracked him. “You’re certain, damn it?”

  “Yes.” I leaned in, licked the water from his chest, tasted the lingering salt of his blood. I nipped him and he shuddered again, snarling so loud the sound of it bounced off the walls.

  “Don’t.” He fisted a hand in my hair, pulled me back. “Don’t kiss me. Don’t bite me. Just…”

  He pressed against me. “Don’t bite. Don’t let me bite you.” As he started to push inside, his eyes locked on my face. I stared at him. This was happening. Had it just been a week ago that this guy had strolled into my office and I’d kicked myself for not staying at home to work on my taxes?

  And now…

  Held up by his forearm under my hips, locked in place by his hand tangled in my hair, I shuddered as he slowly, oh, so damned slowly sank inside me. I arched against him and twisted, trying to work him deeper, but he growled. “Be still. Just be still.”

  Be still—how in the hell could I be still? I raked my nails down his shoulders and twisted again, tightening my legs around his hips. He snarled again and the sound of it arrowed straight through me, centering low in my core. “Baby girl…” He did that odd little thing where he snapped at the air with his teeth.