by Tamsin Baker
Also, if I went back to the room, there’d be no getting away. Even if I had to run barefoot through the snow, I was going to get away.
But…back to what? The only thing worth going back to was Mom. And now I only planned to collect her on the way out. I’d leave with nothing, because that was now better than staying with the little we had.
I couldn’t stay there after this. Not at all.
“There’s nowhere to go, Ella. Believe me, we know. You’ll be more comfortable where it’s warm,” Xander said, and I had to wonder if he could read my mind.
He offered me a small smile, so at odds with the tension thrumming through my veins. “You have a very expressive face.”
That smile, that small offering, was enough to let me know they probably weren’t going to treat me like the bear. Not yet, anyway. I rearranged my features into hopefully something less like prey. “I’ll freeze first, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“I’m just going to take her now. This room isn’t fit for her.” Cassius went to move. I cringed and Xander out his arm, stopping him.
A muscle ticked at Xander’s jaw. “We will tell her now.”
“But, she’ll get sick. She’s still healing. You remember what that was like? She’s still human,” Davon said.
“Then we will make this fast,” Xander said. “We will respect her wishes. And if she falls unconscious, then we will take her to her room and warm her after that.”
Cassius inhaled through his nose. “Then you can be the one to tell her.”
Xander inclined his head and took a moment to collect himself. He gave me a long look before spoke. “This story happened a long time ago, Ella, but you need to understand it to know who you are and how important you are to us. But when you know this, your life will never be the same again. Are you ready to know?”
Chapter Thirty Four
I was never going to be ready, that I inherently knew, but I forced myself to nod and tried to ignore the sadness that crept across Xander’s handsome face. This was the stuff of nightmares, I had to remember that. They held me here against my will. They were the ones keeping me from Mom.
“We have been Vampires for over four hundred years.”
His gaze sank when I gasped, as though telling me about them was costing him greatly. But when he looked back me, his face was filled with fresh resolve. “You are entitled to know everything, Ella. I will not keep a thing from you.”
I nodded, trying to ignore the pervasive chill seeping into my bones.
“I was turned first, almost fifty years before Cassius. It was another ten before my sire also turned Davon. We are of the same coven.”
“Just the three of you?”
“Our sire perished three hundred years ago. With his death, our curse began,” Xander said.
Out of everything, that, I didn’t expect. “Curse?”
“We are unable to leave this house, save for a slim perimeter around it. That’s why we took the bear, Ella. Even with the risk of you seeing what we had to do. It wandered close and we are starving,” Cassius said.
His eyes, crimson before, were now the light caramel they’d always been. “You can’t leave?”
“Our souls were joined to the Earth, and this house, binding us through great pain,” Davon said.
“How did it happen?’ Despite the terror that flowed through my veins, I need to know how these men – Vampires – came to be cursed. I’d read my Grimoire, but there was nothing in there about curses.
Until recently, that was.
“There’s a little known fact about Vampires. We use blood as our sustenance, take it to feed, but what we take we can also heal. Renew the blood from which we derive our life,” Cassius said.
A wry grin shaped Davon’s lips. “It was that gift that eventually condemned us.”
“It’s not something that is widely known, but there was a witch who had learned our secret. She was the one who approached us.” Xander sighed, the sound so bone-weary. “If we would have known, we would have kept our identity a secret.”
“But we didn’t and when she approached us, it was blackmail she used,” Cassius said.
“Cure her husband, or she would tell the town what we were. Although we are Vampires, we still had our lives. We worked, lived, loved. If we left the town, we would have nothing. Contrary to what you may believe, we are not monsters, merely… changed,” Davon said.
This was sounding very familiar. “And the town?”
“The same town as yours, Ella. Conway. It seems it hasn’t changed for three centuries,” Cassius said.
It sounded as though it might had even regressed. Conway was insular. Hypocritical. Depressing. Sounded like it all kicked off with this witch – whoever she had been. Both the Vampires and my family unable to leave the town for whatever reason. Theirs by curse. Mine by circumstance.
Dread settled like black tar in the pit of my stomach, anticipating hearing something I didn’t want to hear.
“Did you cure her husband?”
“He was almost gone before we stepped foot inside her cottage. We warned her that it was too late, but she was deaf to our voices. She didn’t want to hear,” Xander said.
“She was desperate,” Davon said.
“We were her last chance,” Cassius said.
“He had no chance,” Xander said, his voice filled with bitterness. “Her husband died as we treated him. His body was too weak, his soul half gone from his body.”
“And she blamed you.” It was all beginning to make sense. The awful, awful despair of their situation.
Xander nodded heavily. “It was a terrible night. The villagers convened. They saw us for what we were. They were simple people who saw us as demons. They also saw her for the witch she was.”
“They struck all of us, their fear driving them. It was without mercy,” Davon said.
My mouth dried, horrible, horrible images reeling through my mind. People could be cruel when they wanted to be. Even more so when fueled by fear and motivated by hate.
Didn’t I know through personal experience that anyone who was even slightly different became a target? Kill what you don’t understand. That was what it was all about to some people.
A witch, three Vampires and a dead body would be very hard to understand.
“They stabbed us with wooden stakes, thinking to kill us at the feet of the witch they lashed to a pole and burned alive. Even in mortal peril, through all that agony, knowing death was imminent, the witch blamed us. As her skin turned black and shriveled from her body, she cursed us never to be able to leave the earth that was scorched at her feet,” Xander said.
The whole story was horrifying, but I could understand it. Knew that it would probably also happen today. That three hundred years and generations upon generations still bred the same fear of the unknown. That the instinct to attack and kill were acted on before understanding and compassion.
Wasn’t that what I did, knowing they’d saved me. Treated me. Tended me. Cared for me.
Made love to me.
Something eased inside, fracturing the haze of terror and fear.
They’d been Vampires all along and they hadn’t drained me, tasted my blood or even nicked me. They hadn’t done any of those things. They’d tried to help a stranger and allowed themselves to be blackmailed. Surely, they’d been stronger than the witch. They could have refused. Killed her, even with their superior strength and agility.
Yet they hadn’t.
“This house appeared around us. Our gilded prison. Built on magic and hatred. The town forgot us. We are invisible to the outside world. Trapped here in a bubble until…”
“Until what?” I dragged the tip of my tongue over dry lips.
“Until we find our Tu Ena. The One, who will set us free. The only person in the universe who can break the hatred that binds us to this spot.”
My lips were numb as I spoke. “Is that what that means? Tu Ena? The One? That’s what you’ve been
calling me.”
Xander’s intense stare speared me. It was filled with everything.
“You think that’s me.” I was breathless, a tide of ice slamming into my body. But I couldn’t be that person. I was no one. An insignificant speck who couldn’t even step foot out of a town that hated me.
“We don’t think it’s you. We know it’s you, Ella. You’ve come to free us,” Xander said.
“But…how? Why?” It didn’t make sense. Nothing about this made any sense.
“You feel us, Ella. There’s a thread that connects us. We feel it pulsing through us. Ever since we first met you,” Cassius said.
“I knew it when I tasted your blood,” Xander said.
I put a hand to my neck. I would have remembered that, wouldn’t I? Xander had never fed from me. Not like the bear.
Confusion must have been plain in my face, because Xander spoke, “When we found you, you were…close to death. I had to share my blood with you. It was the only way to save you, but when I did, I knew, Ella. I knew you were our mate. It should have been impossible —the odds of you crossing paths with us—but it happened.”
A distant memory jolted. It was faint. Like a dream. In that blurred time when I’d hovered between life and death, Xander had bitten me and I’d had a powerful orgasm. It seemed to be the way of things between myself and these men.
That meant…he’d bitten me and saved me and not bled me dry.
“Do you feel it, Ella? Do you feel us?” Davon asked.
I licked my dry lips, unable to answer. If I told them I did, would that mean I would be forever unable to leave? If I told them I didn’t, would that condemn them even more? I didn’t know. I just didn’t know.
“You are also a direct descendant of the woman who put us here. What one can condemn, another will release,” Cassius said.
“But I…I don’t understand.”
“The witch who put us here was named Ginerva.”
I sucked in a quick breath. I’d read that name every day since childhood. The same name that was etched into the front cover of my Grimoire. My great grand-mother three times removed.
“Only a witch with equal power will free us. You are that witch, Ella. You are our freedom.”
Chapter Thirty Five
No, no. No, no, NO! I was not that person. They had it all wrong. I had no power. I’d tried every spell in that Grimoire and nothing had ever happened.
“I’m no witch. I have no magic. There’s nothing at all inside me.”
“You are stronger than you think you are, Tu Ena.”
Was I? I didn’t feel strong. In fact, I was a nervous wreck. “If I had magic, don’t you think I’d have tried to get out of Conway? Don’t you think I would cure my mother?” My nails dug into my palms when I clenched my fists.
My mind reeled. If I could have, I’d have done anything to leave Conway. To cure Mom. I’d do anything. Anything…
“How am I ever going to be able to save you?”
Xander sent me a long look. “We have to share blood. It is the only way to break the curse.”
But, we’d already shared blood.
“You bit me?”
“Only to heal you,” Davon said.
“And to give you pleasure.” Xander’s dark words hung between us, filled with promise. My hand automatically went to my neck, pressing against the tiny, twin holes. My body warmed and tightened in response to the intense climax that had flowed through me at the bite.
He had bitten me, but not to drain me or feed from me, or any of the other things that had been made up about Vampires since the beginning of time. His bite was magical. His bite was ecstasy.
The slight smile on Xander’s mouth let me know he knew exactly what I was feeling. I forced my eyes to Cassius. It was safer. Marginally.
“We have only given to you, Tu Ena. That is the way we cure. We freely offer blood. To cure us, we have to take from you. It has to be freely offered,” Cassius said.
My mind circled, narrowing down, searching for what they wanted from me. “So, if I freely offer you my blood, because I’m your…mate, then you’ll be free? I can break your curse?”
Davon shifted while Cassius looked downright uncomfortable. Xander looked grimmer than usual. They were all quiet. Too quiet, and my nerves were already shattered. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s not that simple, Ella.” Cassius’ voice was grave.
“It’s true, you can free us, but nothing is without a cost,” Davon said.
My gaze slid to Xander. Held. He gave nothing away but there was a whole story in the shadows of his eyes. I needed to know that story. “And what is the cost. Xander? Tell me. What is that cost?”
Moments stretched like my nerves thin and tight. “Tell me!” My hands fisted, nails digging into my flesh.
“Tell her, Xander. She must know what she enters into,” Cassius spoke.
Xander’s head dropped, his fingers tensed on his thighs. “You’re our mate, Ella. The only one for us. I have bitten you twice now. Enough for you to start feeling us and awaken the bond, but if you share your blood with us, it will seal our bond. Our souls will merge. We all will become one. We will become…more.”
I waited for his words to unravel and make sense. I picked out the big ones. Mate. Blood. Souls. Merge. “What does that mean…exactly?”
“It means we will always be joined. Mind. Body. Spirit. Soul. You will know us on all levels, subconscious and conscious, and we will know you. Our lives will be shared for now and ever more. It means we will always have you, and you will always have us. Linked on the most intimate of levels.” The words fell as stones breaking a still water, dropping in and rippling out, disrupting the surface in concentric, growing circles, making everything off-kilter.
“There’s no going back, Ella. Once we share blood, it cannot be reversed,” Cassius said.
“If we bond, we cannot separate. You’ll need to live with us,” Davon said.
“Or we will live with you. But the sharing of blood needs to be competed on a regular basis,” Cassius said.
“Otherwise?” I asked. I knew there was a “but”. I needed to know how big that “but” would be.
“Otherwise all our souls will be lost forever. We will simply…cease to be,” Davon said.
“However, we will ensure that the sharing of blood will be a very…exciting…experience for you, Ella,” Xander said.
I glanced at his sensual lips, the peak of white just at the edges. His lips curved with a humorless, almost feral smile. A deep throb pulsed through me. I was scared out of my wits. Faced with an impossible decision, and yet…and yet I still responded to that smile.
I realized with a start that it was… sexy. That they all were sexy. That despite the shock of my life, I wanted them. I wanted them all.
If it were a simple decision, I might merely offer my vein and my blood. Set them free. I could end their curse. Right the wrong of my distant relation. But at what price?
I would be linked to them. Tethered to them for the rest of my life by a bond that was based on magic, a kind I had no idea about. But was that enough?
Despite the fact they were Vampires, we were largely strangers. This bond was “end-of-days” material. Could our lives be linked through nothing more than a magical bond and sexual compatibility? If I listened closely enough to my body, there was an underlying awareness of them. Need. Arousal. Desire. I tried to block out the fact that I wanted them, even now. My body yearned for their touch, their attention. That we were indeed somehow connected and that I had acted on that connection, exploring that darker side of my sexuality based on it.
And I’d loved it.
But I had hopes that one day, one distant day, that I’d find a life with someone based on love. We’d settle down together and be happy to live our lives to the end based on that love. This bond would force us together. A loveless bond based on magic that would alter all of us.
“You feel us, Ella. You know how we
’ve felt since the moment we first laid eyes on you,” Cassius said.
I focused and a simmering awareness flared with intent and…I didn’t know what. I couldn’t name it but it made me want to weep and smile at the same time. Or maybe I was so traumatized that this could all be one big nightmare from which I couldn’t wake up. My emotions were all over the place. Up and down and inside out, tangled in one big mess.
My gaze bounced between all three of them. Unsure. So, so unsure.
“You feel us, Ella. We know you do. We can tell you how we feel about you, but the bond doesn’t lie. It is a soul connection, formed even before birth. It is a connection that is older and more ancient than time itself, created by the masters from which we are only children. It can only bind those who are right for each other down to the very molecules of their mind, bodies and souls.
“Our souls recognized yours because we knew for what we searched. Knew that you are our greatest joy. Our reason to live. Our purpose. Our dream come true.
“We share love. We already feel it, but you are so young. So new. You don’t know of our culture. Even though you are a witch, it’s clear things have been kept from you, whether you know that or not.
“You feel something that is unnamed, and that feeling is the deepest form of love. That is the love that builds worlds and makes civilizations great. And it’s yours, freely given and freely received. If only you would reach out and accept it.
“That is why you’re priceless. We would do anything...anything…to complete the bond. Not just to beak the curse, but because you would give us something much more precious.
“Once you do, you’ll know the bond in all its glory. You’ll know how much we love you. You’ll know that we were already deeply in love before we’d even met. Just meeting you has nothing to do with this type of connection. This is beyond being strangers. That we have just met is irrelevant. A soul connection doesn’t ever need an introduction. It is timeless. Beyond life and death. It just is.
“What we share is the rarest of gifts. You’ll understand everything, but right now you need to trust us, Ella. Trust us because it is true. It is real. It is here. All you have to do it say yes. Recognize it. Recognize us.”