by C. L. Quinn
Still lying on the ground, he turned his head to face her. “I think so. If we did that again, it might kill me.”
Unable to read his expression, Olivia let her eyes roam over the big body pressed against her smaller one. She could make love to him for centuries uncounted, but she still couldn’t figure out how he felt. For now, let the life-changing sex just stand as it was, a moment in time between two people who fit perfectly together. But she still couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Will, are you okay?”
He didn’t answer at first, just searched her face with those eyes that she felt held eternity inside, and then he sighed, reached out and pulled her to him. “I’m better than I’ve ever been. We’re made for this, aren’t we? The second we laid eyes on each other last year, I guess I knew. When I told you I didn’t want you, and you told me I did. When I knew that the reason I didn’t want to be with you was because you were the kind of woman a man falls in love with.”
“I followed you here. Corri told me about you, and I could barely breathe. When she said you were leaving, that you had a journey ahead of you, I felt abandoned. I knew then that I had to come find you, to see if what we were was real, to see if we belonged.”
Sitting up, Will pulled Olivia into his lap and looked into her eyes. “We have something, my lovely vampire. I’m not wrong, am I? You’ve seemed happy with Torin these last few weeks. Brigitte told me that you don’t commit to lovers, that you enjoy them and move on. Am I that to you? A fine fuck? If I am, if that’s what this was about, just tell me. Don’t mislead me, Olivia. If that is how you roll, I need to know.”
“What about Brigitte?”
“You know I care about her, but if we’re talking destiny, that strange idea that people were meant to be together, I don’t think that Brigitte and I have that future.”
Olivia slipped off Will’s lap, reached for his hands and pulled him to the water’s edge. Glancing around the cave, to the waterfall, and back to him, she leaned against the stones. “Look at where the planet has brought you. Will, it brought me too. If we’re talking destiny, then, I agree with you. Biker, I think you and I do have that future. Of course, Destiny is a bitch and she likes to leave us all, vampires and mortals, all alone to figure this shit out.”
“Then let’s figure it out. I think we’re already there.”
“I think we already are. Will, thank you for the most beautiful moments of my life. We will work out the details as they come, but I’m starving. Can we see about getting out of here?”
Will pulled Olivia to him, warm bare skin to warm bare skin, and kissed her. If felt like he needed to feel her breath on him. As she pulled away, he looked around the tight cavern, walls solid, no light other than the one magic created, and had no idea how they would get out.
“Are your magics up to the task?” he asked.
Reaching for her torn shirt, Olivia looked up at him.
“Are yours? This is unknowingly deep, Will. I don’t know how far I fell, but it was long enough that I know it was beyond what I am capable of jumping.”
“Torin and Brigitte will have alerted the others and they’ll already be trying to get us out.”
“Oh. In that case…”
Dropping onto her knees, Olivia lifted Will’s cock, tongued the tip, and nipped. “We have time.”
Will nearly fell onto his knees when she touched him with her teeth. “I was right. You’re going to kill me.”
Hungry now to taste him, Olivia laughed and moved closer to pull him into her mouth when she felt the ground beneath her knees shudder.
Will pulled her up and into his arms, shielding her with his body. “It’s earth magics. I think she’s opening up the chamber for us.”
“How? How can the planet take us up?”
“It brought us down.”
“You’re right. Should we move to the walls for shelter?”
“No, it won’t hurt us. I can feel the magic reaching out and all it’s doing is opening a port to the surface. Steps, Olivia, stone steps built into the cave millennia ago.”
“This is too bizarre. Will, I’m a fourth generation first blood vampire, but I swear, in many ways, you are more powerful than I am. Just by virtue of your connection to this world. You are something that has never been seen before, Willoughby Collins.”
“I can’t imagine. Still, we’re going home.”
Six
Brigitte raced to Will as he emerged from the crack in the earth, covered in dirt, but looking little worse for wear. Her eyes went to Olivia, just as filthy, but unhurt, too, and felt the oddness in her gaze.
She’d suspected something after Olivia arrived. Will’s attitude had changed, his attention more distant, his lovemaking less…loving. Last year, in spite of the serious nature of their mission, they had truly enjoyed each other, the sex wild and fun with no ties. They’d fallen into the same caring, enjoyable relationship right away after she’d arrived to help her sister with this project, with one difference. Their connection seemed closer this time, and after a few weeks, she realized there was a chance it might be serious. The thought of having lost him beneath the ground had almost destroyed her. It was time to admit to herself that she was falling in love with her fellow earth warrior.
Holding him now, tight to her, careful with her strength, she glanced toward Olivia, now embraced by Torin. Yes, Olivia was a kind woman, lovely, but Brigitte decided at that moment that if she wanted Will, well, let the games begin. Last year, he’d been fine with her no-strings-attached offer of sex. The situation had suited both of them well. Now, they were building something, so that beautiful vampire was going to have to go back to Vegas to play.
Moving back, she scanned his shirtless body, across suddenly redefined muscles, his skin healthy again, darker than it had been the past week.
“You scared the hell out of me! Will, I can’t believe you came here alone. I was afraid I’d lost you.”
Although he smiled into Brigitte’s concerned face, when he lifted his gaze to meet Olivia’s over Brigitte’s head, Brigitte grabbed him in another tight embrace and he buried her into him.
Standing distant from the clinging Brigitte and Will, a warm blanket around her hips, Olivia watched Brigitte pour her heart out to a man she was obviously either in love with or well on the way.
The connection she and Will had shared in the cave had been beautiful, perfect, felt like it was destined, but the reality was that they had succumbed to sexual heat that had been there from the first time their eyes had met. Sex with him had been glorious, and while she remembered the aurora-type lights that had filled the cave when they orgasmed, it only meant that she had been with a man who had within him the nature to be a vampire’s mate. It didn’t mean that he was hers.
Torin’s fingers slid along her cold cheek. “You seem okay, thank God. Vampires are durable, but that fall you two took, I’m surprised it didn’t kill Will.”
“It was a great drop, but the magics protected him. I believe they brought him there to heal, to learn.”
She glanced back to Will, Brigitte now holding his hands. Turning to Torin, she smiled. “He’s better now, Tor.”
“Liv!”
Dez, arriving with Zach, winked at Olivia and stopped in front of her to stare with an amused expression before pulling her into her arms.
“I would have taken it amiss if you’d been buried beneath this rock.”
“Like you wouldn’t, literally, move heaven and earth for me.”
“I would. Let’s get you home into a hot shower and warm bed.”
Her gaze shifting to Torin, Dez caught his eyes. “Go home. She needs her rest.”
Compelled, Torin turned without response and walked away.
“My lift-car is over here,” Zach said as he hugged Olivia and led her past the rockface, his arm around her, Dez close behind. “You okay?”
“It’s not my first underground cave, Zach. I’m fine. Got a nasty wound on the way down, but it’s all healed.”
Zach’s eyes moved to Dez’s. Wounds always healed for vampires, but, this quickly, only with blood.
Olivia smacked him and shot a menacing glance to Dez. “Stop it. Stop speculating.” A few seconds later, she shrugged. “Maybe I just heal really quick. I’m fourth-generation, you don’t know.”
Zach didn’t need to know. With what she’d told him about Will, her mostly morose visit, and now that luminous look in her eyes, he knew that Olivia and Will had been together.
“It seems like an interesting bedtime story.”
“Not one I plan to tell either of you. Take me home, guys.”
Daylight imminent, vampire energy waned as the sun rose. Zach figured they would clear the sky with only minutes to spare before the ball of ultraviolent crested the horizon.
Olivia couldn’t stop herself, she looked down as they flew past the rescuers leading Will and Brigitte from the collapsed ground. It didn’t hurt that Will lifted his eyes to watch her fly away. Some hard truths had come tonight, but no matter how the future arrived, her time in the deeper cave with Will, learning, finally, how love felt, how making love felt, had been transformative. She’d always wondered if she just lacked the capacity to commit her life to one man. Now she knew…yes, she could, if it was the right man.
There would be a reckoning, discussions, and decisions made as they moved forward. How this all played out in the end, she didn’t know, but for now, she just wanted to sleep.
After arriving back at Ife’s compound, after a long shower to wash off soil and sand, and calm sore muscles, Will crawled into his bed with a satisfied sigh of relief. Yes, sleep, please, for a day or two.
He was nearly out when Brigitte crawled in beside him and slipped onto his chest. She sighed too, her warm breath moving across his skin.
“Will, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.” Before he could respond, she spoke again. “I’m falling for you, you big human lightning rod. Don’t do that again. It would destroy me to lose you.”
Holding her close, the darkness of the room offered protection for his conflicted emotions. Thank the Gods, he thought, that she wasn’t empathic like Shani.
This gentle loving woman had declared her heart to him, and he couldn’t break it. All that they had experienced together, the battle for earth last year, sexual connection on the eve of what might have been their last day alive, this reconnection that had blossomed into a true relationship. Did he love her? Yes, he did. Was he in love with her, though?
No. Admitting it hurt, because if Olivia hadn’t come to South America, if conditions had been right, he and Brigitte might have built a comfortable life together. He’d never thought he would have that again after his fiancée and unborn child had been killed. If Olivia hadn’t reentered his life, he and Brigitte could have been happy; he knew it.
He smiled into the blackness as he remembered his mother telling him as a young man that real love was steadfast and true. That burning passion and sex flamed out; that it wasn’t real love and it couldn’t endure.
Olivia was on her way to Dez’s place, likely with Torin, and then on her way back to her life in Vegas tomorrow. The stab of jealousy, envy, fury, that struck him when he thought of his good friend lying with Olivia tonight struck with no warning. He felt his muscles tighten, forcing himself to relax his grip on Brigitte, who had already succumbed to her deep daytime sleep.
Will couldn’t breathe. Although he was still egregiously exhausted, he couldn’t stay here. Carefully untangling himself from Brigitte, he surged from the bed and reached for his jeans beside a crumpled tee shirt lying at the foot of the bed.
“I need air,” he whispered as he wrestled with unexpected emotions. Leaving his chambers, he was grateful that no one was around as he walked out of the compound into an adjacent field of fast-growing trees. Most were already ten feet high, and between them, he could see the glowing brightness of sunrise. Long fingers of golden light threaded between row after row of long slim trunks with young leaves.
The clear blue sky and rising sun made him remember his comment at the cantina during his journey south almost two months ago, even more true here.
“Magic lives here.”
With crisp morning air and a dawning day, Will was able to slow his breathing and calm his spirit. Dropping onto the damp grass, he watched light change around him with the moving sun.
He was okay; he would be okay. This world was staggeringly beautiful, and he was connected to it like no one else above or below it. He knew he was its greatest protector, sentry to all life that called it home.
What did he have to be upset about? He’d found his destiny, the place he had to be; a world no one knew existed beneath the ground had literally waited for him. A powerful loving woman wanted him as her mate. Life gave him sorrow that tore him to pieces, but now, it gave him love and hope and purpose. And peace, if he chose to reach for it.
To appreciate his gifts, to find joy in this life he’d been granted, to find contentment. Yes, he chose to reach for it. Pressure on his chest eased.
The deep blue sky brightened. Standing, Will touched his open hand to his chest, a gesture of gratitude for this perfect morning and moment of clarity. Not ready to go back inside, he turned into the planting field and wandered through the rows. Lost now amongst the young trees, he continued moving and at one point, wandered back to the path that led to the caves. No easy access now, the hole that they had used to climb down into the first cave had filled in, the deeper chamber still open but with no good way to safely climb in or out. They would build one, but it would take time.
He stepped to the edge of the unstable opening and peered down into it.
“Will.”
Behind him, Dani had called his name and scared the shit out of him. He hadn’t heard her approach.
Turning to her, he shook his head. “Damn, girl, stop moving around on those little cat feet. I’m going to put a couple of bells on you.”
“Sorry, buddy. I followed you because I’m worried. Will, yesterday you had a metamorphosis, you know that, right?”
“What do you mean?”
Long seconds ticked past as Dani studied Will, moved slowly around him, his front, his side, lingered on his back, and then moved in front to capture his eyes. She placed a hand on his chest where he had done so earlier, but this touch sent a shiver through him.
Deep brown eyes searched his before she spoke again. “You are not the same. Not the outside, that’s obvious. Inside. Can you feel it?”
“I…” Physically, yes, that was apparent to anyone who looked at his thicker body and healthier skin tone, but how he felt on the inside? How could she know? He barely did.
“Dani, tell me what you sense. It seems I remain constantly confused lately. Unsure. Okay, yeah, I do feel different, odd, almost like I’m vibrating.”
“It’s apparent. Not to others, but you know my skill of intuitional empathy. I don’t think the change in you is definable other than the fact that you, Will, are a great deal more than just human.”
“Aren’t all of us earth warriors? None of us is normal.”
“While that’s true, it barely applies to what you’re becoming. Will, we should convene a spirit circle for you.”
“What would that accomplish?”
“Understanding what you’re changing to. I think something is coming and Will, I don’t know what, but I feel as if you are critical to protecting us from this event.”
“What? What do you see, Dani?”
“Thoughts. Possibilities. Flashes of the future. When I touch you, I see images. Crazy, unexplainable, beautiful, dangerous.”
“Flashes of the future that include me?”
“All of the warriors. It isn’t soon. Will, come back to the compound with me. Let’s have a nice breakfast and talk about something completely human. I love our lives and our celestial-designed missions, but every once in a while, I like to just be a girl.”
After watching Dani thoroughly scan
him, Will let his eyes roam over her. She’d pulled her hair into a loose bun, and wore a sundress almost the color of the sky. This lovely young woman was one of the most unique and powerful humans on earth, and all she wanted was to be normal. He fully understood.
“It’s a date.”
Back at Dez’s compound
Lying in her oversized bed at her grandmother’s home, Olivia, trying to give in to her vampire nature for rest, couldn’t sleep. An hour ago, she’d been grateful that Dez had compelled Torin to go home, aware that all he wanted was to come with her, and after making sure she was okay, have sex and feed her.
Images filled her mind, but not of Torin. Will, his lips on her nipples, his tongue inside her, that thick cock that she’d never forgotten, finally buried deep in her. Heat and lights and blood, as he slid in and out, over and over, hands on her ass, fingers biting in as he held her so he could move. Brilliant lights filling the diamond-encrusted cavern as they made love in the sparkling pool filled with magic.
And it was love, not just sex. Something between them beyond the physical act had scattered rainbows across the walls, floors, and ceilings of the chamber. She’d hoped it would be a beginning.
It had been a good-bye.
Once rescued, Olivia and Will had been pulled apart. When Brigitte had launched herself into Will’s arms, Olivia’s heart had nearly stopped. A moment later, Will’s eyes met hers, and she’d seen confusion in his.
Olivia knew she needed to step back and walk away.
“If we were meant to be, we will be.”
Decision made, she figured she’d go with her original plan to return to Vegas right away; back to the life she’d built over the past fifty years.
It wasn’t right to entice him away from Brigitte. Will was hardly a meek man; if he wanted her, he would come for her, he would demand it. Above all, the most important thing was that Will’s life would be a happy one.
Outside Ife’s compound