by Lauren Dane
The other man had turned her bookcases and shelves out. A book fell from his nerveless fingers to the floor, joining the pile. Her meager possessions were scattered all over the place, most of them broken.
Only a very few seconds had passed but it felt like time had stretched and the tension was about to snap. The two intruders stood frozen, terrified as they stared at Rhett and Nate. Time rushed forward again as a savage growl came from deep inside Rhett and he launched himself at the man who’d been attacking Holly while Nate went for the man who’d been ransacking her apartment.
Nate slammed his fist into the face of the human, knocking him back against the bookcase. Muscles trembling with his need for revenge, his gums ached at the pressure of his lengthened incisors and his vision clouded red. It was a close thing but he managed to rein the need to kill any man who would seek to harm his woman. For the moment, the immediate threat needed to be dealt with so he could take care of Holly. That thought alone kept him from ripping the bastard’s head from his body and beating him with it.
Nate rushed forward, past the place where Rhett had dumped the human he’d just knocked unconscious. Kneeling on the floor over a very shaken Holly who was fighting to stay conscious, he again had to push back his fury at seeing her in such a state. “Hey there, Holly. We’re here, sweet. Nothing is going to happen to you now. You’re safe,” he murmured, gently running his hands over her ribs, checking for broken bones. Looking up at him with her one good eye, she winced a little as he touched her. She appeared to be bruised up pretty badly but he couldn’t find anything broken.
Nate spoke soothing words, using the power of his voice to try to calm her. Seeing her so injured, so fragile, the state of her humanity frightened him to the point that it made him sick to his stomach. They needed to convert her as quickly as possible. He didn’t think he could bear to have her going around bearing all the delicate flaws of a human. As a vampire she’d be strong. And safe.
While Nate dealt with Holly, Rhett stood over the human he’d revived, the man who’d been beating her. Lacking time and patience, Rhett unleashed the full extent of his power. “Who are you and why are you here?” he demanded.
The human—obviously a weakling there on orders—didn’t stand a chance against Rhett’s voice.
“She’s a Charvez. Our boss wanted us to kill her and take anything magical that she had,” the man wheezed out despite himself.
“Charvez?” Rhett turned to look at Holly who shook her head. “What do you mean? What’s a Charvez?”
“Witches. A line of witches. Protectors of New Orleans. Powerful.” The man was struggling to breathe.
While Rhett continued to question the human, Nate looked quickly back to Holly at the mention of the name Charvez and noted her surprise. She didn’t appear to know any more than he did about these witches. He stroked a hand over her hair, unable to stop himself from touching her, offering her comfort. “Sweetheart, can you stand?” They had to get her out of there and cleaned up. Preferably with a bit of their blood in her system to speed her healing.
Recognition came into her eye and she started. “You? What are you doing here?”
Relief flooded him when her voice was steady and her eyes, or rather her one open eye, gained focus and appeared clear. Helping her up gently, he put her in a chair and reached around to grab a glass of water. He put it in her hands and watched carefully as she drank a sip and then another. Standing over her, he watched Rhett continue to question the men.
“Why does your boss want her dead?” Rhett’s demand was so harsh and laced with so much power and threat that the man’s nose began to bleed.
“He hates the bitches. One of them nearly destroyed his entire…” The man started to foam at the mouth and was unable to finish his sentence. His eyes bugged out and magic overflowed. So much that it crawled over the skin of everyone in the room. The air became thick and stifling and suddenly the thug’s eyes blanked out as his life ebbed from his body. A gurgled shout from the other man caused them to look in his direction just as he breathed his last as well, and suddenly both bodies were gone.
Shocked, Holly blinked her one eye rapidly. “What the hell is going on?” She winced, holding her side. Nate tsked at her as he pressed an ice-filled towel against the side of her face and sat down across from her.
“I was going to ask you the same thing, sweetheart. What’s your connection to these Charvezes and why would someone want to kill you because of it?” Rhett made every effort to keep his voice gentle. Adrenaline raced through his system and his bloodlust had been roused to the point of pain. He needed to feed. Needed to take care of her. Needed to fuck her. Needed to claim her.
“I don’t know! Why are you two here?” Confusion and anguish laced her voice.
“We’re here because of you.”
Nate rolled his eyes at Rhett. The man had great fashion sense but no finesse. “We wanted to talk to you but you left work before we got the chance. We were coming to your door when we heard something and came in to see what was happening.”
Setting aside how they’d known where she lived for the moment, she was grateful they’d come in when they did. “You saved me. Thank you.” Pausing, she looked back to the place on the rug where the man who’d assaulted her had been lying. “What happened to them? Why did he tell you all of that and where did they go?”
“Rhett has a considerable amount of thrall in his voice and I suspect some pretty powerful magic took those bodies. There must have been a kind of trap spell on them. He was going to reveal something and it killed him.”
“Magic? Thrall? Trap spell?” Her head hurt, nothing made sense.
Rhett looked at Nate who shrugged. “The magic smelled male—wizard magic, I’d wager. A trap spell is like a booby trap, you say or do something and it triggers a spell. Usually something very unpleasant. Thrall is the power that some vampires have to mesmerize with their voice. I’m not bragging when I tell you that I’m very gifted with the ability to thrall others.”
She stood up and limped backward, toward the phone. She was clearly concussed and not in her right mind. The whole evening had gone tragically wrong the moment she’d walked in her front door and it was just getting worse. “Okay. Uh, thanks for saving me and all but I need to call the cops now.” She tried not to panic but was quickly losing that battle.
“Sweetheart, what are you going to tell them? Where are your burglars?” Smelling her fear, Rhett spoke gently, desperately wanting to calm her.
“This is too much,” she mumbled, feeling herself losing her hold on reality. Vampires, wizards? God, she was in a coma or something. That explained it. “Ooookay. Well thanks. You two can go now. I’m fine.”
“You aren’t going to comment on us being vampires?” Nate asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“No.” If she even thought about it she’d burst into tears from the stress. She just wanted them gone. She needed to sleep, to forget it all. She could still taste her fear, the metallic bite of it lodged in the back of her throat.
“You know, if you took a bit of my blood you’d heal up a lot quicker.” Rhett kept his voice casual. He could see that she was right on the edge of a full freak-out and he didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was.
Seeing her eyes widen in fear, Rhett reached out to her and she winced, pain whitening her face as she scrambled back. If he could just take a bit of her blood, it would tie her to him and enable her to see that what he was saying was true. She’d be bound to him if she really was his mate.
“And I don’t want you staying here. Why don’t you come back home with us? Our place is more than big enough for you to move in,” Nate added.
Whoops, it was now officially in “can’t take another thing” territory. “Stay back!” she said, her voice trembling. “Get out,” she said softly. “I mean it. Go.” Scanning the room, her eyes lit upon the butcher block and she began to calculate how long it would take her to grab a knife.
Rhett stopped, his hands palm out so she could see he wasn’t a threat. “Please, sweetness, come back home with us. We can protect you better there. We’ve got an excellent security system, modern conveniences.” He looked around the tiny apartment, taking in the worn furniture and meager belongings.
She saw the pity in his eyes and suddenly fury replaced fear. “I don’t even know you! I’m not going anywhere with you. Not only did you show up here unannounced—and don’t think I didn’t notice that you knew where I lived without my telling you—but you’re both nuts! Get out!”
“They’ll come back, Holly. Whoever wants to harm you is powerful and he won’t stop until he’s accomplished his goal. As for being nuts,” Nate opened his mouth and she watched in horrified fascination as his incisors lengthened. “I’m a vampire and I’m going to share a woman with another man. I guess I am nuts.”
Holly’s face paled and she struggled to keep her hold on herself. “Vampires? Share? What? What the hell are you talking about!”
Rhett laughed and the sound of it washed over Holly’s flesh like a caress. “Do you deny that two men just disappeared out of your apartment? I know this comes as a shock to you but you’re a witch, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that vampires exist.”
“Each time you open your mouth something else totally ridiculous comes out! I am not a witch!”
Nate cocked his head. “Darlin’, trust me, you are a witch.” He leaned in and breathed her in. She had to close her eyes for a moment when his hair drew across her face. “I can smell it. Inherent. You were born with your gift.”
The desire to grab her and fuck her boneless crested inside him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was surprised because he normally had better control. But where this woman was concerned, the normal rules didn’t seem to apply. He wanted Holly more than anything he’d ever wanted. Wanted to tie her up and tease her flesh for hours. Wanted to watch the flush of desire move up her body as he made her come wearing a blindfold. Wanted to tie her up and fuck her from behind. And, he admitted to himself, wanted to watch while Rhett buried his face in her pussy, fucked her, loved her too. The idea of a relationship of three was suddenly so right. He imagined sleeping with her soft body between the two of them, of Holly being the bridge to making the undercurrents of attraction he and Rhett felt toward each other a reality. He looked from her to Rhett.
“Can’t you feel it, Holly?” Rhett asked softly.
“Wh…feel what?” She looked deeply into his eyes and relaxed. She also suddenly felt…well, for want of a better word…okay. The aching loneliness of the last six months—for most of her life—was gone. It was as if these two men filled that void. She was whole and it felt really good.
“From the first moment I saw you last month at Elliot Bay I’ve been obsessed with you. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. I fall asleep with your face in my mind. I wake up with your face in my mind. I dream of you. Don’t lie and say you don’t feel a connection to me.” He looked at Nate and then back to her. “To us.”
“I… This is too much too fast. Vampires? Witches? Soul mates?”
Holly’s eyes were starting to look panicked again. If she would only allow one of them to take her blood, they could help calm her.
“Holly, can I take your blood? Just a small amount? It would allow you to see that what we’re saying is true. It won’t hurt you, I promise.” Rhett used his eyes to mesmerize her a bit, to relax her so that her inhibitions would drop. He felt guilty but he wanted her safe and she was so frightened that if he didn’t take the edge off, he’d be unable to help her.
Chapter Two
Lee walked into the front room of her parents’ house with Aidan and Alex. Leaning in, she kissed her parents and brightened when she saw that her sister Em and brother-in-law Con were in attendance. Grinning, she hugged them both and sat. The room was tense as they all wondered just what bombshell their grandmother was going to drop.
Finally, after the last group of people had filed in and sat down, Grand-mére stood up and the room immediately silenced.
“My loves, secrets are ugly things and we’ve held on to one of them for far too long. I’m going to tell you all something. It will be news to some of you and bring up sad memories for others but it needs to be aired. I ask you to listen and not speak until I am done. And to remember that everyone makes mistakes.”
Lee’s heart stuttered as she held her sister’s hand.
“Nearly twenty-five years ago, your Tante Elise had a different husband. His name is unimportant as is wherever he is now. He was not an exceptionally nice man but we all held our tongues to keep Elise in our family, surrounded by people who loved her.
“My sister had a daughter, Elena.” Grand-mére wore such a look of bleak sadness that Lee and Em squeezed each other tight against it. “Elena was such a vivacious girl. Beautiful, with the same ebony hair as our sweet Em but the blue-violet eyes of our great-grandmother. She was a healer of such amazing talent. Oh she was so lovely.” Grand-mére stared off into the distance as if she were seeing this mysterious Elena.
“One summer—the summer she turned fifteen—she became secretive. She snuck out at all hours and disobeyed her parents. There was a boy. We don’t know the whole story, never found out who it was. Anyway, one thing led to another and she became pregnant. It wasn’t the end of the world but she faced some hard choices.
“But her father, he went mad when he found out.” Grand-mére shuddered. “He kicked Elena out into the street and told her not to come back. Told her she’d shamed herself and the family. He did it when her mother was out and by the time she’d returned Elena was gone.
“We looked for that girl for years. Elise divorced her husband—the pain of losing her child, of that child being alone in the world, was too much for her to bear. Some of us have had mental glimpses of Elena and her daughter over the years but we never found them. Now I believe that our Elena is dead. I can no longer feel her light. But Lee has dreamed of this daughter and I’ve had visions. She needs us now more than ever. We must find her. Let her know that she has many people who love her. Bring her back to our family.”
Lee sat forward. “I wonder if she’ll resent us? It won’t be easy to get her to accept us if that’s the case. What did Elena tell her about us? Don’t you think she would have come to us by now if it was positive?”
Em, ever the empath, nodded. “She’s alone now. Imagine what she’ll feel when she sees all of this,” she motioned to the assembled family in the room, “and wonders why we didn’t come for her and her mother.”
“More than alone, she’s in danger. Last night it was a waking dream. I believe she had the same vision. Tonight’s dream was a powerful waking dream. I saw her being attacked.” Lee’s voice was pinched. Aidan stroked a hand up and down her spine.
“Perhaps I can help?” Con said. “If you can get a general lock on her energy—her light—I might be able to find her. I’m an excellent tracker.” As a warrior of the Faerie for over ten thousand years, it was no light claim.
Em leaned forward. “Yes, we can shimmer to where she is if we can find her. I won’t feel better until we find her and bring her home where she belongs.”
“Let’s all work together then to see what we can do to figure out where she is and get her back here, shall we?” Grand-mére said seriously.
* * * * *
Back in Seattle, Holly noticed that Rhett was holding his side. Despite the utter strangeness of the situation she couldn’t just ignore it. “What’s wrong?” Leaning in to look, she made a dismayed cry. “You’re bleeding.” Getting up, she limped over to the counter and opened a drawer. Gingerly, she pulled out a tea towel and ran cold water over it. Going back to his side, she knelt and moved his hand gently. She couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the angry red slice in his skin. It worried her that it seemed to seep blood instead of clotting.
“Magical knife. My body is slow to heal a wound made by a weapon that’s been bespelled.
” He explained this in a pinched voice as she pressed the towel to the gash to stanch the flow of blood.
“Jesus. I’m so sorry.”
He laughed and tried not to flinch. It just felt so good to have her caring for him. “Sorry for what? You didn’t stab me.”
“No, but you got stabbed helping me.”
“Rhett, do you need to feed?” Nate asked quietly and Rhett nodded as imperceptibly as he could. He’d lost more blood than he’d first thought. The magic on the blade had sapped his strength. He was weak, and with blood loss it would take a deep feed to heal the wound.
She looked between both of them in confusion. “What? What is it?”
“He needs blood. He may be a vampire but with that kind of blood loss, it’ll take him longer to heal. I suspect that the magic on the blade has weakened him as well.” Nate knew he was manipulating her, using her compassion and guilt, but he couldn’t let her go without their protection.
She closed her eyes for a moment. They may have just turned her world upside down by saying they were vampires—okay, being vampires— but they’d both saved her life.
“Uh, okay. So if you take my blood will I go all vampire?” Even as the words came out of her mouth she couldn’t believe she was saying them.
Rhett looked at her sharply. “No. That takes several exchanges. You’d have to take my blood as well. Are you offering your blood to me? Freely?” The desire rang strong in his voice.
“It’s my fault you’re wounded. I suppose it’s the least I can do.”
Nate had put him in the chair and he wasn’t sure that he could stand up to go to her. She saw it and he was touched by the concern on her face.
“So how do I do this?” Her voice was no more than a whisper.
“Come here, sweetness.” Nate took her hand and guided her to stand between Rhett’s thighs.
“Sit on my legs here so that I can get to your neck. That’s the quickest place for me to feed.” Rhett’s incisors were out and his cock was probably at least as hard as they were.