Wicked Memories (CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS)

by Nina Bangs

  Thorn stood with his hand on the doorknob. He gathered his revenge into a compact ball and flung it at Sparkle. “He wants to know about us. Let’s give him what he wants.”

  “Please.” Only the one word.

  Sparkle lifted her chin, letting him know that this was the closest she’d ever come to begging.

  He just shook his head. Then he faced Ganymede and smiled. “You think you know all about her? Not even a little.”

  12

  Kayla knew she should get up and leave the room. This confrontation had nothing to do with her. But then she’d have to squeeze past Thorn. Besides, this whole thing was like a horror movie. You knew the maniacal laughter rising from the dark cellar couldn’t be good. You knew the idiot woman would go down there to see what it was anyway. You knew the laughter would be followed almost immediately by the bloody knife. But you just had to sit and see it happen.

  Resigned, she sat back. This would be ugly, and she’d probably find out things about Thorn she didn’t want to know. Fine, so that was a lie. She wanted to know everything about him. Kayla cursed whichever of her ancestors had enjoyed suffering and passed the stupid gene on to her.

  Thorn spoke directly to Ganymede. He ignored Sparkle. “I met Sparkle a long time ago. I didn’t know what she was then, I only knew that I loved her.” Thorn’s eyes were flat, cold, emotionless. “I was twenty-three and believed her when she said she cared. I never asked why a woman like her would be interested in me.” His lips tipped up in a humorless smile. “She didn’t know I was a member of the Mackenzie vampire clan. She didn’t know that in five years I’d become vampire.”

  Thorn had just started talking, and Kayla was already confused. She glanced at Ganymede. She couldn’t see any sign of the snarky cat in his eyes. A destroyer lived in them now.

  Thorn finally shifted his gaze to Sparkle. “You told me to meet you down by the harbor. My family had come to the village to trade, and I left them that night to be with you.”

  Sparkle was pale, but she didn’t look away from him. She said nothing.

  “When I reached the place where we were supposed to meet, you weren’t there. A man was there instead. He had a message from you. He said you’d met an old friend and had decided to leave with him. I wouldn’t be seeing you again. You were sorry.” Thorn’s eyes burned with remembered anger and pain. “You. Were. Sorry.”

  Kayla feared to breathe. It was so silent in the room that a breath would call attention to her. Sparkle grew even paler, if that was possible. She started to say something, but Thorn held up his hand to stop her.

  “I’m not finished.” Thorn took a step back toward the table. “I didn’t get a chance to return to my family and mourn a love that was pathetically one-sided.” He took another step and Ganymede tensed. “Because your messenger knocked me out and sold me to a slaver.”

  There was a collective gasp from everyone not named Ganymede. Sparkle put her hand over her mouth, and Kayla noticed that she’d methodically peeled off her nail polish.

  Thorn’s eyes were narrow slits of fury. “I have lots of sympathy for demons, because for five years I lived in hell. There were times when I didn’t think I’d see the next sunrise. Most of the time I was afraid I would. Those years melted me down and reshaped me into someone with lots of sharp edges and a thirst for vengeance.”

  Then he smiled, a ragged thing that filled Kayla with sorrow, along with pity she suspected he’d hate.

  “But guess what happened in five years?” He looked around the room. “I did what every Mackenzie does at that age. I became vampire.” His expression turned savage. “And then I killed every one of the bastards who’d tortured me.”

  Grim put his hand on Thorn’s shoulder. “Maybe you shouldn’t—”

  He shook off the hand. “I should.” Thorn stalked all the way to the table and leaned toward Sparkle. “I came home to rejoin my family. You know what I found?” He curled his lip, baring his fangs.

  “The night I was taken, only my mother along with my younger sister and brother were in the village. My father was away with his ship. He was due home that week. My father had always told us that when he was away, I was responsible for the family. If I was gone for any reason, they were to stay safe with a cousin who lived in the village.”

  Kayla knew what was coming, could feel the horror of it creeping up on her, slithering up her backbone and winding around her heart.

  “My mother was upset because I’d disappeared. I can only believe she wasn’t thinking straight. The next night she told her cousin she had to leave and return to our small farm outside the village. She said she had too much work to do now that I was gone. My mother probably thought they’d only be alone for a few days because my father was returning.”

  Almost as though Sparkle wasn’t aware of her movements, she stood. She gripped the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles turned white.

  “She shouldn’t have gone home.” He closed his eyes for a moment.

  Kayla wondered what he saw—his family as they’d once been, his own long path that had led him to this moment, or just his despair.

  He opened his eyes. “There hadn’t been any raids for a long time. Everyone had grown careless, forgotten how fast death could come. Two days after I disappeared, they attacked our home. My mother, my brother, and my sister died.” He was still for a moment. “I sometimes wonder if the raider was the same man who delivered the message from you. The attack seemed too much of a coincidence.”

  Thorn smiled, and Kayla hoped he never smiled at her like that.

  “You know, I only remember one thing about him. He had the same color eyes as you. Does that mean he was a cosmic troublemaker?”

  Sparkle only nodded. Ganymede leaned forward and growled low in his throat. It was a warning and threat all rolled into one. Thorn ignored it.

  “So now you know. My park isn’t blocking your view of the Gulf because you dumped me. I got over that. Nirvana is for the ones I loved who died because I was so stupid. And it’s for five years of hell and a thousand regrets.”

  Sparkle looked lost for a moment, and then she pushed away from the table, straightened, and took a deep breath. “I did care for you, Brandt, but we never would’ve worked. I was a coward for not telling you in person. I didn’t know what happened to you after I sent the message. The man who brought it . . .”

  “Wasn’t Ganymede. I would’ve remembered him.”

  Ganymede’s eyes burned with his need for violence. “I wouldn’t have bothered selling you to slavers. I would’ve killed you. Dead men don’t come back to cause trouble.”

  “I’m sorry.” Sparkle didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands.

  This from a woman who always knew what to do with her hands. The depth of Sparkle’s distress shocked Kayla. Thorn’s story had stripped away her confident veneer to expose someone Kayla didn’t recognize.

  “Sorry isn’t nearly enough.” Thorn looked as though he wanted to tear the castle down around all of them. “I want a name. Who delivered your message that night?”

  Sparkle shook her head. “Another cosmic troublemaker who happened to be in the village at the time. I don’t remember his name. It was a long time ago.”

  “You’re lying.”

  Thorn looked ready to explode. Kayla watched him curl his lip away from his fangs and clench his hands into white-knuckled fists. She could almost feel death’s cold breath on the back of her neck. Would any of them survive a battle between Thorn and Ganymede in this small enclosed space?

  Sparkle looked a little desperate. “Knowing his name wouldn’t help you. Going after him would only get you killed.”

  “My life, my choice.” Thorn’s eyes had turned black, signaling that he was close to losing control. “One more question. Who was the man you met instead of me? Because I know it was a man. It would always be a man with you.”

  “She met me, vampire.” Ganymede’s narrowed eyes suggested that a swift end was the best Thorn could hop
e for. “She knew me a long time before she knew you.”

  Ripples of power filled the room. Kayla felt it as pressure building and building until she expected the walls to explode outward. Ganymede’s anger terrified her.

  “Figures.”

  Kayla heard nothing but contempt in Thorn’s voice.

  Grim tried again. He moved up behind Thorn and grabbed his arm. “Enough. Let’s get out of here.”

  Thorn ignored him. “Anything in particular you want to say to me, asshole?” He met Ganymede’s gaze.

  Grim dropped his hand. “Jeez, next time I take a job I’ll make sure my boss doesn’t have a death wish.”

  Kayla started to panic. She didn’t think Ganymede would ignore that insult. He might blast Thorn into oblivion.

  Without thinking, she jumped to her feet. Making her way around the table, she stopped in front of Thorn. She smiled. Think before you act. She could almost hear her father’s voice in her head. He’d be disappointed in her.

  There were times, though, when everyone had to think on their feet. And the threat of imminent annihilation was a great motivator. “We’re all a little tense, but we have to keep our focus on Aegir.” She looked away from Thorn’s glare. “You left Nirvana unprotected. I mean, Aegir’s followers could be doing anything over there.” She chanced a quick peek at Ganymede’s thunderous expression. “Now might be a good time to go. You remember that stuff about living to fight another day? Well, that might be now.”

  Thorn blinked and then looked at her as though he was seeing her for the first time. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Too late to run back to your little park. I don’t allow threats to stick around long. To hell with the Big Boss, I’m going to fix this problem permanently.”

  Kayla turned at the sound of Ganymede’s voice. Great, she was directly in the line of fire. But that was a good thing. She didn’t doubt that she was the weakest person in the room. Ganymede would lose face if he used his power on her. At least that’s what she hoped.

  Except for the major players along with Grim and her, everyone else in the room had stayed frozen in place. Finally, the man with the grim reaper tattoo and cosmic troublemaker eyes stood and walked over to Ganymede. He didn’t make the mistake of touching the other man.

  Grim-reaper guy made his pitch for sanity. “You don’t want to do this, Ganymede. Sure, it would feel good, but you know what’ll happen as soon as the Big Boss hears about it. He’ll demote you, kick your ass out of the castle, and take away everything you have that makes life worth living.”

  Kayla figured that “everything” included ice cream, candy, and chips.

  “He can try.” Ganymede threw grim-reaper guy a murderous glare.

  “Shut up, all of you.”

  Sparkle didn’t shout, but there was something in her voice that made them obey.

  “You.” She pointed at Ganymede.

  Ganymede reluctantly turned his attention from Thorn.

  “How dare you! This is your fault. You forced him to tell that story in front of everyone. What was between Brandt and me was private.”

  Ganymede looked surprised. Kayla decided he might be one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, but he was a zero when it came to understanding women.

  “I did this for you, sweetheart.”

  “Don’t you sweetheart me.” Sparkle picked up her chair and swung it at his head.

  Everyone scrambled out of her way. Ganymede ducked away from the chair.

  He tried to explain. “I figured that once the story was out and everyone heard it, the vampire wouldn’t have any more leverage. And then I could kill him for threatening you in public.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Sparkle bent down and grabbed the ultimate weapon—her shoe. Gripping it by the toe, she leaned toward Ganymede and waved the lethal five-inch heel at him. “I’m going to punch a hole in your head and then put my ear next to it. I bet I hear the ocean.”

  That seemed to be the signal for the rest of the nonhumans to sneak out. Kayla was amazed at how fast and silently they moved. Within a few seconds the only ones remaining in the room with her were Thorn, Ganymede, Sparkle, and her shoe of death. Thorn’s people waited for him outside the room, close enough to come to his rescue but not close enough to be within reach of Sparkle’s shoe.

  Ganymede eyed the shoe warily. “We needed to know what his gripe was. Now we know. We can pay him off, or I’ll kill him.” His expression said he had only thrown in the paying-him-off part as a sop to Sparkle’s feminine aversion to violence and other manly stuff.

  Thorn looked outraged. “My dead family doesn’t have a price tag.”

  Sparkle glared at him. “No one’s talking to you.” Then for just a moment she looked regretful. “Sorry. I’ll speak to you later.” She turned back to Ganymede. “After I take care of him.”

  Ganymede still seemed puzzled, so he repeated himself. “I did it for you.”

  Sparkle’s laughter mocked him. “No you didn’t. It was all about your stupid ego. It’s always been about your ego. You wanted to force Brandt to tell his story so you could act the big hero and come to my rescue. Did you for one minute think about how I’d feel, knowing that everyone in the room was listening and judging?”

  “You never cared what people thought before.” Now Ganymede sounded a little mad.

  “Maybe I’m changing. Maybe I do care about what people I like think. Now every nonhuman in the castle knows what happened a thousand freaking years ago.” She was breathing hard.

  Ganymede narrowed his eyes. “Well, since everyone else is pissed, maybe I have a bitch too. Everyone in the castle also knows you screwed the vampire. Oh, and that you ‘cared’ for him. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  “Who gives a shit? You can go to hell. I don’t want you in the castle. Sleep in the candy store for all I care. And don’t eat up my inventory.” Still gripping the shoe, she stormed from the room.

  “Guess she won’t be talking to me now. Not that she could say anything that would make a difference.” Thorn watched Sparkle go and then turned to Kayla. “That went well.” But he looked uncertain about how “well” it had actually gone.

  Ganymede ignored both Thorn and Kayla. He pushed past them muttering about women who didn’t appreciate what they had.

  Without making a conscious decision, Kayla walked with Thorn and the others back to Nirvana. She stopped at the gate. He waited until they were alone to turn to her.

  “Thanks for trying to defuse the situation.” Thorn raked his fingers through his hair. He looked tired. “I didn’t want to do things that way, but Ganymede wouldn’t let it go.” He smiled. “Would’ve served me right if he’d ripped off my head. He’s capable of it.”

  Kayla frowned. “I like your head right where it is.” She reached up to touch his face. “So how does this Mackenzie vampire stuff work?” She might have imagined it, but he seemed to lean into her touch.

  “We’re normal humans until our late twenties. We marry and have our children when we’re young because after we become vampire we can’t reproduce. Then our biological clocks do an automatic reset thing and we change. We don’t qualify as the undead because we never really die. Hope you’re not disappointed.” His smile seemed forced.

  One thing puzzled Kayla. “Since you were twenty-three, your mother must have been vampire when the raid took place. The raiders would’ve had a tough time killing her.”

  “Whoever murdered them struck around noon. She was lost to the day sleep. The bastards burned our home down around my family.” Old sadness lived in his eyes. “I’ve often wondered why. They didn’t take anything. All they did was kill and leave.” He shrugged. “If the raiders were human, then I’ll never know the why because they’re all long dead.”

  But if one of them was a cosmic troublemaker? She sighed. “I won’t keep you. I know you still have things to do tonight.” Kayla started to turn away. She wanted to say something more, but maybe now wasn’t the right time.


  He reached out and gripped her arm. Startled, she looked up at him. He lowered his head and kissed her.

  His mouth was warm and welcoming. She forgot everything in the wonder of it. The touch of his tongue, erotic and tempting, was a sexual invitation. He stirred desires best ignored so soon after what had just happened in the castle. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate everything about him—the scent of clean male and that as-yet-indefinable something, the almost-taste of his emotions, and the words he murmured against her mouth in that old language. She might not understand their meaning, but the rhythm and feel of them seemed right.

  Thorn moved away from her first. He touched her lips with his finger. “I have lots to think about.”

  “After tonight, I wouldn’t blame you for revoking my visitor’s pass.” What would she do if he told her to stay away?

  He shook his head. “I enjoy your visits. I enjoy you. Some of the people you bring with you? Not so much. But my security team can handle anything you throw at them. And since I still intend to make life difficult in the castle, I can’t blame you for doing the same to me.” He speared her with a hard stare. “I still don’t know why you won’t accept my offer and work for me. I’m big on benefits.” His smile hinted at exactly how big those benefits were. “You don’t owe Sparkle any loyalty.”

  But she did owe loyalty to her father. “Sorry. I signed up for the job and now I have to finish it.” She decided to ask one more question. “What about your father? Is he still alive?”

  It was as though a curtain fell across Thorn’s face. He glanced away. “I don’t know. I only saw my father once after I became vampire. He blamed me for everything. If I hadn’t gone to meet Sparkle, I would’ve been at home when the raiders struck. I might’ve kept my family alive. I failed them.”

  She wanted to find his father and slap him upside his hard head. Who would condemn the only son he’d ever have because of a series of very human mistakes by his wife as well as his son? She wondered if Thorn’s father had ever regretted his words during the last thousand years. Which reminded her . . . “Do you want me to call you Brandt now?”