Phoenix

by Danielle James

  In that one small moment of time, Phoenix knew that everything he ever wanted or ever needed, everything he was missing in his life was standing right in front of him. He fought the urge to lean into her and claim her right there in front of everyone. There was one word that kept banging around in his head and no matter what he tried to tell himself, he knew it was true.

  Mine.

  Then, Kelly did something that surprised them all. Without breaking her stare, she grabbed her shirt by the hem and lifted it over her head, throwing it on the floor. Phoenix was beside himself with her actions, not to mention dumbstruck. He heard several gasps from others in the room, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Kelly standing in front of him in a white bra. He stood there like a school boy getting his first peep show with the mother of all hard ons when Kelly turned around so that her back was to him.

  There, across her shoulders and back, was a brilliantly colored tattoo. A phoenix. Its wings, orange, red, and yellow flames, stretched the width of her shoulders. Its tail, the same fury of flames, trailed down her spine. Its head, also little more than flames, was almost on the back of her neck. Phoenix had seen many humans with a phoenix tattooed on their bodies, but this one was as close to realistic as he had ever seen. It was placed artfully along the lines of her shoulders and back, seeming to shimmer and take flight before his eyes. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He was imagining tracing the lines of that tattoo with his fingers and wondering if her skin was as soft as it looked. In fact, he was having all sorts of inappropriate thoughts at that moment.

  He snapped back to reality when he heard Jules’s angry voice, “What the hell is that?!!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “What did you do to yourself?” Jules demanded. She got a good look at the tattoo sprawled across her daughter’s back, and she didn’t seem happy about it. In fact, she was downright pissed.

  Kelly shrugged her shoulders, unafraid of her mother’s anger. “It’s a tattoo. I drew the design myself.” she said, holding her head high and showing how proud she was of herself.

  Jules, however, was not proud. Nick was holding her arm in a not so gently fashion in an attempt to keep her anger in control. “I let you out of my sight for a few months and the first thing you do is desecrate your body!” Jules hissed. “What on earth were you thinking?”

  “Oh please Mom, you call this,” Kelly pointed over her shoulder, “desecration? You go and get turned into the undead, and you have a problem with me getting a tattoo?”

  “We are not the undead! We are living souls, just like you! Besides, this isn’t about me, it’s about you! Who did you get to do this to you? You’re just a child!”

  “Legally, I’m an adult. I can do whatever I want, and you can’t do anything about it. Besides, you get to hang out with a real phoenix, I just carry a picture around!”

  “But Kelly, it’s permanent!”

  “I like it, myself,” Phoenix offered.

  “Shut up!” Kelly and Jules shouted at him in unison, both of them whipping their heads around to face him. Phoenix looked to Nick for advice, who by the way seemed to find it amusing. He shook his head and Phoenix agreed. Both men sat back and let the women work it out on their own.

  “Mom, will you calm down and just look at it?” Kelly turned her back so Jules could see. “Isn’t it weird how similar they are? I always liked the myths about phoenixes. I saw them as a kind of protector, as healers. So I drew this and had it inked permanently on my back. So he would always look after me.”

  “It is surprisingly close to correct.” Jules thought out loud. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “If I may be so bold,” Michelle spoke up for the first time since they arrived at the hotel, “I think it’s beautiful. It’s not a skull and crossbones. It is a beautiful depiction, placed artfully with the lines of her back. He fits there.” She had moved so that she was standing right beside Jules.

  “I think it’s lovely,” Nick said. Phoenix agreed, but he wasn’t getting yelled at again so he kept his thoughts to himself. And Lord help him if Jules heard some of those thoughts going around in his head.

  “If you want to keep that tongue, you better watch what you say,” Jules growled at him. Nick waved his hand and stepped back. He was trying to dismissive, but they all knew Jules meant it. She may love him more than the waking world, but when it came to her child, she would rip his tongue right from his mouth. It may not kill him, but it would hurt quite a bit.

  Kelly smiled a big, pleased smile. “Thank you, it’s nice to know my step dad approves of me,” she said, pulling her shirt back over her body. Hearing her daughter use those words in that order cooled Jules immediately. Nick smiled his brilliant smile back at Kelly.

  “You think of him as a step dad?”

  “Well, that’s what he is, isn’t he? And Victor and Rachel, aren’t they now kinda like my grandparents?”

  From the corner of the room, Victor beamed. Rachel still looked worried, half hiding behind the red locks of her hair. Jules was looking at her daughter with surprise, awe, and love. “I guess so, I hadn’t thought of it like that before. I mean, I knew it, I just didn’t put it together.”

  Victor had been trying to stay out of it as much as possible. He was trying to let Jules handle the whole situation. But he just couldn’t help himself. He walked right up to Kelly and threw his arms around her. He lifted her up in his arms and spun her around before setting her feet back on the floor. She seemed a little surprised, but didn’t shy away from the gesture. In fact, she returned the hug. Phoenix felt a small twinge of disappointment. Not because Kelly seemed to be slowly accepting all of this new overload of information, but because no one in the world seemed to get freaked out anymore. It made for a boring life.

  No running, no screaming.

  “You have made me so happy, child. I thought I would never have grandchildren. I cannot tell you the gift you give me.” Victor said to Kelly, with tears in his eyes.

  “I don’t suppose we should tell people that you’re my grandfather. You don’t look old enough to be Nick’s dad, much less anyone’s papaw. How old are you guys, anyway?”

  “I am roughly five hundred years old. Give or take a decade, I don’t keep up.” Kelly stared at Victor silently for a few seconds. Phoenix thought surely this was it. The breaking point. The point in which it all became too much. On with the running and screaming.

  But, to his disappointment, again, that is not what happened. Humans had become so jaded. Kelly smiled. “I hope I look that good when I’m old.” She turned her attention back to Phoenix, “And how old are you?”

  Man, he hated that question. He never quite knew how to answer it. “I really don’t know,” he replied honestly, “I live outside the limits of time. I have been around for as long as humans. Each time I die, I am reborn like this. Roughly the physical age of a twenty year old.”

  “So, then, have you died recently?” Kelly asked. Michelle chuckled from behind him.

  “Yes. Just a few weeks ago. A crazy woman with a sword got to me,” he answered, feigning horror.

  “She was not crazy!” Michelle exclaimed. “I was just being careful! I didn’t know you then.”

  “Michelle killed you?”

  “Yeah, she’s quick with her sword.” He continued and told Kelly a little about the mocha skinned ninja warriors he now called friends. Heidi and Michelle helped when he needed it, and told her a bit themselves.

  When the light began to fade from the windows, Kelly said she had better be getting back. She was sure Stephan was sick with worry.

  “Why do you think he reacted the way he did?” Kelly asked her mom.

  “Stephan has something he needs to share with you, dear. I cannot tell you myself. I will warn you, be careful.” Jules told her.

  “Why? Is he a vampire too? What do you know?”

  “I cannot tell you for sure. Only he can.”

  “Would you like me to escort Kelly h
ome?” Michelle asked.

  “That would be great. At least, he won’t think you are dangerous. Of course, he doesn’t know you!”

  “Mom, that’s not necessary,” Kelly started.

  “It is for your protection. Hopefully, you will not need it, but just to be safe.”

  Kelly went reluctantly with Michelle on the Harley. Phoenix felt a small sense of relief when he noticed Michelle’s sword secured to the back of the bike as they drove away.

  Everyone retired to their own rooms. Nick and Jules stayed in the penthouse, Victor and Rachel were staying in a room one floor down. Michelle and Heidi shared a room that joined with Phoenix’s. He had the only private room. Of course he did. He was without a mate. For now.

  He was stretched across the king sized bed diagonally because it even though it was huge, it was still too short for his long body. The TV was on, but he wasn’t watching it. His brain was entirely too busy flipping images of a petite blonde through his memory over and over again. He saw her smile, her walk, her talk, but mostly, he remembered the way she looked at him. He couldn’t get his mind off of the feeling she inspired in him.

  Finally, after sleep continued to evade him, Phoenix gave up on the idea. He was physically in pain from the ever-present erection Kelly inspired.

  He reached below the sheets and took himself in hand. At first, even his own touch was too much for his sensitive skin. He was absolutely sure that every drop of blood he owned was taking up shop in his dick.

  As he allowed images of Kelly to roll through his mind, his hand started moving. He wasn’t aware of when it shifted from actual memories to his imagination, but they did. Before he knew it, he was imagining her kissing him. Sucking him. Riding him like a professional bull rider.

  In his fantasy, she arched her back above him and cried out his name as she orgasmed on his cock. His own release exploded from him and he said her name on a silent scream as his semen covered his own hand.

  After tossing the covers off the bed and brushing his feathers off onto the floor, Phoenix was finally able to sleep.

  Michelle drove Kelly back to the loft apartment she shared with two other girls. One was from France, the other was as American as Kelly was. They couldn’t talk on the way; the roaring of the Harley drown out any other sound. Still, she loved having the wind in her hair even with the helmet.

  She knew Stephan would be waiting there for her. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what his problem was. So her mother was a vampire and had married into the Boston Clan Leader’s family. Vampires and such were almost commonplace anymore. Victor was well respected among humans and vampires alike. And in danger? There was no way her mother would ever put her in danger. She would sooner cut off her own arm before allowing her child to get so much as a paper cut. Regardless, Kelly was determined to either make him see that everything was fine, or Stephan was going to find himself very single.

  Stephan wasn’t a student, but worked for the University. He taught mythology, which was how she knew so much about it. She had hoped that he would be able to take some time off soon and visit her in Boston. .

  She had met Stephan on one of the tours all students took upon arriving in France. He was standing outside the front doors of the University when their bus stopped. Some of the students got off to have a look around. That’s when she saw him. He was leaning against the brick wall surrounding the steps. His black hair was a little disheveled by the breeze, his eyes were black. She thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He stared at her for a moment, then he introduced himself as if he already knew her and her friends.

  She used to think he was the most handsome man she had met. Until that night. Phoenix was amazing. Not only was he the very thing that she loved to study, but he was gorgeous as well. He was tall, muscular, and seven feet of sex on a stick.

  When the bike roared to a stop in front of the apartment, Stephan was waiting outside for her. He was leaning nonchalantly against the brick wall as if he had all the time in the world to wait. He ran up to her and hugged her close. He shared a long look with Michelle. A part of Kelly didn’t like that. Even though they didn’t say anything, it made her uncomfortable, just the same. Like they shared some secret that she wasn’t privy to. Maybe she was just being silly, but combined with his earlier behavior, it just didn’t sit well with her. She pushed all thoughts of Phoenix out of her mind, which wasn’t easy, and slung her leg over the bike.

  “I am so happy you made it back safely,” he said to her as she approached him.

  “Of course I did, I told you, it’s ok. It’s my mom, for crying out loud! Why wouldn’t it be?” she rebutted.

  “I just don’t like them, something weird is going on there. I don’t trust them, any of them.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous! I trust my own mother completely. And her new husband. Because I trust her judgment. And you should trust me.”

  Michelle said she would wait by her bike for a few, just to make sure everything went smoothly. Although Kelly thought it was strange, she felt a little better knowing she was there. Stephan and Kelly went up to the loft. She had to pack my things. She was going home with her mother in the morning. They couldn’t say why exactly, but she wanted Kelly close by. She had missed her so much that she immediately agreed. Besides, how else was she going to learn more about Phoenix?

  Upstairs, things went crazy. “How could you just leave like this?” Stephan demanded, throwing his hands in the air.

  “I have to,” she told him. “Mom needs me now, and it’s time I went home. You can come too, if you want,” she offered.

  “No, I have my responsibilities here. I have my classes, and other things.”

  “What other things?” Kelly asked angrily. He didn’t have other things that she knew of. He was just making excuses. She hated excuses.

  “You know, things. I can’t go. And you shouldn’t either. You need to stay here, with me.” Stephan grabbed her by the arms, hard enough to hurt.

  “You don’t own me,” she said, jerking away from his grip. “I can and will do anything I want. Why are you being such an ass?”

  “You don’t know what you are getting into,” he spat at her, his eyes burning a black hole into her own.

  “I believe, I do.” Wow, just who the hell did he think he was? “What are you not telling me, Stephan? Are you hiding something?”

  Something about the way he looked at her said yes. “No. I, unlike others, have nothing to hide.” Then she knew for sure he was lying. He was looking at her empty dresser drawer instead of looking at her face.

  “I’m going back to the hotel,” Kelly decided out loud. “We are leaving tomorrow evening. I hope you get over yourself and do it quickly. I don’t want to leave like this. But if you can’t accept my family, then you can’t accept me. Our plane leaves at eight. I hope you call before then.” And with that, she grabbed her bags, slung them over her shoulder, and headed out the door. She was pleased to see that Michelle did as she said. She was waiting for her right outside where Kelly had left her.

  “How’d it go?” she asked.

  “How do you think? Will you take me back to the hotel?”

  “Sure, climb on!” And they were on their way. Kelly didn’t look back. If this was how Stephan was going to act about her family, then there was no way he could know the truth. A small voice in her head was telling her that he already knew, which made his attitude toward them even worse in her book. Kelly would never choose a man over her family. And that’s what they were. She now had grandparents, uncles, aunts, and a new step dad. No way she was going to let a summer fling ruin that. Her mother raised her to value family above all else, and that was exactly the way she felt about it. She rode silently on the back of the Harley back to the hotel. She should have been devastated by the way she and Stephan left things, but she wasn’t. In fact, she felt relieved. That little fact made her wonder just what it was she had seen in Stephan in the first place.

  IN SEATTLE


  “What news have you brought?” Harwin asked the young woman.

  “Everything is going as planned, Sir. I was sent word this morning from our consort. The boss confirms it,” Anita responded, her auburn hair falling into her face. It was getting too long. She always wore it short because it tended to get in the way.

  “Very good,” Harwin replied. “Then it is time to move on to the next stage. I will release the winds,” he said, smiling. It looked more like a sneer. He was clean shaven for a change, but it did little to help his horrendous teeth. The filthy razors in his mouth would make even the most jaded dentist cringe.

  “Why do you bother to glamour?” Anita asked without thinking.

  “What?”

  “It’s only that when you make yourself look human, you should make your teeth better. Any human would go running from you at the first sight of those razors.”

  “I like my teeth. And I would suggest, if you want to keep yours, you’ll do good to remember your manners,” he growled back at her.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “Anita, are you causing trouble again?” Harry asked, appearing out of nowhere.

  “Harry!” Anita squealed, leaping into his arms.