by M. Leighton
When he leaned back and our eyes met again, volumes were spoken, though neither of us said a word. Instead, through our silence, we were agreeing to leave it unsaid until later.
Without a sound, Bo reached down and took my hand. He led me back to Sebastian’s, back to our room, back to our hiding place.
The house was dark and quiet when we returned. I could only assume that Cade was sleeping since he was, in fact, mostly human and that Annika was either resting or hunting. Either way, I didn’t care as long as she wasn’t around.
Bo led me straight back to the room that I was beginning to think of as “ours” and shut the door behind us. When he turned to me, the look on his face clearly indicated his intentions. Excitement skittered along my nerves and within seconds I could smell the passion warming his blood.
My mouth watered and I felt the subtle shifting in my gums that I was starting to associate with my teeth becoming fang-like. Desire slithered through me like a sensuous snake, intertwining with the need for blood in a way that was making it hard to separate one urge from the other.
The shrill chirp of my cell phone barely penetrated the haze that was overtaking me. Bo had no such problem, though. It broke his focus instantly.
When I made no move to dig the little square out of my pocket, Bo slid his fingers into the snug slit of my jeans and worked it out. I could’ve cared less about the phone. Heat seemed to shoot out from his fingertips and set my core on fire.
“Savannah,” Bo announced softly, holding the phone out to me.
I wanted to turn and throw it through the window, but there were no windows in “our” room. Instead, I sighed and begrudgingly took the phone from him.
“Hello?”
“Omigod, Ridley! They took Devon. They took Devon!”
The sensual fog lifted immediately, my mind honing in on Savannah with sharp clarity.
“Who? Who took him Savannah? What are you talking about?”
She began to sob.
“I think it was my mother.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I had no idea what to say to that. I could tell by Savannah’s voice that her heart was breaking.
“I couldn’t see her this time, but I heard a woman whisper and it sounded like her. And I could smell roses,” she cried miserably.
“Savannah, was she alone? Did you hear anything else?”
I knew I could count on her picking up on any extraneous sounds. Since she’d lost her sight, Savannah’s hearing was probably nearly as sharp as a vampire’s.
“I think there might’ve been someone with her,” she sniffled. “I could see a tall, dark shape, but nothing clear. It sort of looked like the silhouette of a man, but there was something around him, almost like there was something coming out from him, from his back.”
I thought of Sebastian flexing his dark angel’s wings that night in the hidden room, the one just above my head, and I wondered if that was what Savannah was somehow seeing.
“Did you hear him say anything?”
“I heard the woman whispering to someone, asking if he was sure ‘he’ was the one, I guess referring to Devon.”
“Okay, wait. Back up and tell me exactly what happened.”
“You and Bo had just left and Devon was standing outside my window. He was getting ready to come inside when I saw his head jerk around. I guess he either heard or smelled them or something. Anyway, he backed up and turned around and then everything happened so fast, he was just there one minute and gone the next.”
“Is that when you heard the voices?”
“Yeah. When Devon turned around, I saw the shape kind of come over Devon, like the darkness sort of swallowed him up, and then the woman asked if he was the one. No one ever answered her, though. The darkness just sort of melted away and they were gone. But I could smell her, Ridley. She smelled like roses. She smelled like Mom.”
I could only imagine how devastating it would be to find out that your mother and your boyfriend were both vampires and that your mother was playing for the wrong team. But to have her kidnap the love of your life? Not a good day by anyone’s standards.
“Savannah, maybe—”
“How could she do that to me, Ridley? How could my own mother take the boy I love like that? Just take him away from me after everything that’s happened? After everything I’ve been through?”
“Just remember that she’s not the person you remember. She’s probably under the influence of some very powerful, very evil blood.”
“But I’m her daughter. How could she?”
I had no answers for Savannah. I simply sat quietly as she sobbed into the phone, heartbreak and betrayal gushing through the connection and filling the room in which I stood, several miles away. It was that sympathy for her that prompted my promise, a promise I had no way of keeping but one that I made nonetheless.
“We’ll get him back, Savannah. I promise. We’ll get Devon back for you.”
“Thank you, Ridley.”
She didn’t ask how, likely because she knew that my assurances were completely unfounded. But it gave her hope, as I’d meant for it to, and that was enough for the moment. Hope would stave off despair. Savannah had experienced far too much of that in recent days and I refused to let her suffer even more.
“I’ll call you later, okay? As soon as we can figure out what’s going on.”
“But how will you do that? I mean, do you have any idea where they might have taken him?”
“No, but I think I know of a way that I might be able to find out.”
I looked at Bo and his expression told me that he knew what I was thinking and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Call me as soon as you find out anything. Anything, Ridley, okay? Promise me.”
“I promise,” I said, injecting the word with as much optimism and conviction as I could manage. All things considered, it wasn’t much. “We’ll talk soon.”
After we hung up, Bo and I said nothing during what ended up being a protracted silence. It hung heavily between us, like an empty black hole surrounded by his disapproval and my desperation.
Finally, I offered my point of view.
“You know as well as I do that this might have something to do with Sebastian’s plan to kill you. And Savannah’s been through enough. She needs our help. So does Devon.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped.
“You know if there was another way, I’d choose it. But there’s not. You know there’s not. This is the only way.”
Bo’s lips thinned, his chiseled mouth straightening into a grim, tight line. He knew I was right. Still, he didn’t like it.
“You stay here. I’ll go wake Cade.”
Bo turned and strode angrily across the room. If there had ever been a doubt about Cade’s ability, it was likely put to rest in both our minds when Bo opened the door to find Cade standing patiently on the other side, thick arms crossed casually over his wide chest.
“You need me,” Cade stated, his deep voice scratchy.
He didn’t phrase it as a question because he had no doubts. It wasn’t really him rubbing in his ability and his usefulness. It was Cade simply stating a fact, stating a conclusion that he’d come to in his own precognitive way.
Bo said nothing, simply turned sharply away from the door to come and stand at my side.
“Ridley thinks you might be able to help her—”
“Find Devon,” Cade interrupted. “I know. And I can.”
Bo and I glanced at one another. Cade’s round-about reiteration of his integral role in Bo’s destiny only seemed to further aggravate Bo. Unfortunately, Bo’s comfort had to take a backseat in this case.
“How does it work exactly?”
“For me, the visions just come unexpectedly. But for you, I’m not sure. Try focusing on what it is that you want to know. I think that might help.”
“Okay,” I agreed automatically, already wondering if I could manage to concentrate that fully, that completely wh
ile drinking delicious human blood.
“Where would you like to do this?” Cade asked in a very considerate way.
“It doesn’t—” I began, but Bo interrupted abruptly.
“Not here. Anywhere but in here,” he ground out.
“How about—”
“And not your room either,” Bo said, not even letting Cade finish his suggestion.
“The living room then. Is that platonic enough for you?”
Cade’s eyes sparkled with a devilish light, but Bo didn’t appreciate his teasing. He nearly growled in his displeasure.
“Can you heal like we can? Because I’d be happy to test your resilience.”
Cade merely smiled. Amazingly, even in the face of Bo’s blatant threat, it was an unconcerned smile, almost amused.
“Shall we?” Cade asked, looking at me and tipping his head toward the door.
He led the way down the hall to the den area just off the kitchen, what he’d referred to as the living room. As we trailed him, I could plainly smell his growing desire. It made his blood smell sweet and musky. My body’s response was the burning in my throat and on my tongue and the extension of my fangs.
By the time Cade had stopped in front of the sofa and stretched out full length upon it, I was having trouble controlling my urges and my thoughts. As I eyed the heavy pulse in Cade’s throat, I was nearly consumed by the remembered taste of his rich blood on my lips.
“Ridley!” Bo called sharply, grabbing my arm to restrain me from going after Cade right away. “Focus. Remember what you’re trying to find out. Focus on Devon.”
Although his voice penetrated the all-consuming throb of Cade’s heartbeat as it rang in my ears, I had to struggle to assimilate what he’d said and make the necessary adjustments. When I’d managed to form a couple of coherent thoughts, I turned and nodded to Bo. Reluctantly, he released my arm, allowing me to approach Cade.
As I knelt in the floor, crouching in front of him, I glanced up at Cade’s face. It was etched with a blatant desire that only exacerbated the trouble I was having concentrating. Thus far, feeding had been so thoroughly comingled with sexual passion I wasn’t quite sure how to separate them now. And though Cade was no Bo, I felt his desire for me like a tangible thing.
“Do it,” Cade croaked, his voice thick with his own kind of need and want.
His heartbeat had quickened and his breath came in short huffs as he panted with anticipation.
Right before I drove my teeth into Cade’s throat, I heard the angry hiss of Bo’s breath through his teeth. It was followed by the frustrated stomp of his feet as he paced behind me, an animal caged by his situational impotence. There was nothing he could do and he knew it.
That was my last thought for a few mindlessly satisfying moments. When Cade’s blood squirted from his artery and coated my tongue with warm, sticky sweetness, I lost all thought of anything or anyone else. I pulled the heavenly fluid into my mouth in great gulps, reveling in the feel of it sliding down my throat, putting out the flames of my need.
At first, I thought nothing of strong arms coming around me and hauling me up onto a hard chest, of wide hands roaming my back and burying themselves in my hair. But then, a face drifted through my mind. It was Bo’s. In my mind’s eye, I could see the hurt on his face, the discomfort of having to watch me so intimately embraced by another man. And enjoying it, no less!
It was that realization, that shocking and painful thought that drew the curtain back from my mind and opened it up to clarity of purpose. Shifting atop Cade, I let my legs fall until my knees hit the floor again and I focused all my attention on sifting through a fuzzy mountain of images for the familiar face of my friend.
Finally, I saw Sebastian and Heather. They were standing in front of a dirt wall, staring at something. There was a lantern hanging from a hook buried in a wooden support beam to the left of Sebastian’s head and I could make out the hint of a shimmer in the dim light. There were several stakes emerging from different points in the vague shape, from what would’ve been shoulders and thighs I imagined.
A horrifying image from my own memory overwhelmed the picture for an instant. It was the picture of Bo, staked by Sebastian himself, hanging helplessly in just such a position only one floor above where I knelt in the floor.
Before I could get lost in the demons from my own mind, voices brought my attention back to the scene from Cade’s blood. Sebastian and Heather were walking away.
They made their way through what looked like a mine shaft, replete with dirt walls and floor, and Y-shaped support beams spaced evenly along the length of the earthen tube.
“We’ll keep him here until we find the other blood elements that I need,” Sebastian said.
“If you’ll tell me what they are, who they are, I’ll help you find them.”
Sebastian stopped, turning to Heather in the darkness. He rubbed his thumb in an arc from her temple to the corner of her mouth and he smiled. The gesture was a bewitching curl of his lips that gave me chills as if someone had just walked over my grave.
“Oh, my dear, even your presence here has helped me more than you know.”
Heather looked radiant in the face of his compliment, but there was a light in Sebastian’s eyes that gave me the impression that he meant something far more than Heather understood.
Hands pulling gently at my shoulders brought me back to Sebastian’s living room. Someone was tugging at me, calling my name. It was Bo.
“Ridley, that’s enough. He’s getting faint,” he was saying.
With a start, I withdrew my teeth and leaned up to look into Cade’s face. His eyes were closed and he was chalky white beneath his tan. I tapped my fingers lightly on his cheek and softly called his name.
“Cade.” No response. Again, I tapped. “Cade.” Still no answer, so I slapped my palm lightly against his firm cheek. “Cade!”
Drunkenly, Cade rolled his head, turning his face toward the ceiling. He smiled once without opening his eyes and then his head dropped off to the other side.
“He’ll be fine,” Bo said. “He just needs to rest.” Wrapping his fingers around my upper arm, Bo urged me to stand. Once on my feet, I turned toward him and he used the backs of his fingers to wipe my mouth. “What did you see?”
“I saw Sebastian and Heather. They’re holding Devon in some sort of abandoned mine I think. He’s staked to the wall, like you were upstairs.” I couldn’t quell the shudder that racked my body.
“Did you see them leave? Do you know where it is?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Although Bo looked a bit disappointed, he quickly moved past it.
“That’s alright. It just so happens that we have a source who knows the woods like the back of his hand. If there’s a mine shaft out there, Lucius will know where it is.” One side of Bo’s mouth lifted in a lop-sided grin. “You did good, baby.”
His words ran through me like warm sunshine coursing through my veins. We looked into each other’s eyes for several seconds in one of those great romantic moments before Bo started to frown. Before I could ask what was bothering him, his frown deepened, instantly bringing all my senses to high alert.
Slowly, Bo raised his hand and traced the skin of my cheek with his fingertips then lightly brushed them over my jaw and down my throat. He pushed my hair back over my shoulder and spread the neckline of my shirt, examining my chest. As he did, I could feel my skin tingle a little, almost prickle.
Abruptly and wordlessly, Bo reached down, took my hand and led me from the room. When I saw that he was leading me to our room, I found my tongue.
“Bo what is it? What’s wrong?”
Still, he said nothing, merely hurried me through the bedroom door and closed it behind us. Finally, he turned to me and spoke.
“I need you to take off your shirt.”
Even though the circumstances were alarming, a twitter of excitement fluttered in my stomach. Without questioning him again, I reached for
the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head.
Bo stepped toward me and leaned in, his face so close that I could feel his warm breath on my skin, caressing me like the delicate wings of a butterfly. Once again, he raised his hand and dragged his fingertips over my neck and chest.
I looked down to see what had captured his attention so completely, but I saw nothing. At first. It wasn’t until Bo shifted, allowing the low light to play across my skin in a different way that I saw the iridescent sheen.
Even upside down, I could see that the shapes were familiar to me. Cast in pearly, barely-glistening strokes, if Bo hadn’t been looking so pointedly at them, I’d probably never have seen them. They were that faint. But I had caught a glimpse of them. And I recognized them. They looked like the symbols I’d seen in the book in Sebastian’s office.
Relief washed through me, relief of the doubts I’d secretly been harboring about being the one fated for Bo. But as I watched Bo carefully trace each shape with the tip of his finger, those doubts melted away like ice on hot pavement. I was made for Bo, made by God Himself to be his mate. I was the one person on earth who could help him fulfill his destiny and, even though his destiny would likely rip from our grasp an eternity together, I could live forever knowing that we’d had this perfect love for just a little while.
“What does it mean?” I finally asked.
“It must be part of the letter. It’s like a laundry list of people—The Corrupted Child, born into evil; The Reluctant Vampire, followed by death and yet refusing to succumb; The Bereaved Child, grief-stricken and betrayed; The First Fallen One, the only blood given willingly; The One Not Chosen, turned bitter with envy; and The Doomed Key.”
“But what does it all mean?”
“Well, if it is part of the letter, which according to Cade it is, then maybe these are people Sebastian needs in order to be able to kill me. Maybe he needs the blood of these people—or their lives—as a sacrifice. I just don’t know.”
“How are we ever supposed to make sense of anything like this? How are we supposed to know what to do with the information I’m learning?”