“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. I worried I would say something that would hurt both of us. He didn’t need any pressure right now, and he would definitely feel pressure if he knew where my thoughts were.
But I had to say something. So I said, “I missed you. A lot.”
“Same.” His arms wrapped tighter around me, his gaze not leaving my face. He freed a hand to place against the side of my cheek, his blue eyes dark in the lamplight of my living room.
My heart pounded against my ribcage, and not for the first time, I was grateful to be healthy again. The expression on Abel’s face made my mouth go dry—he was going to kiss me. It was about time.
He snuggled me closer, his eyes dropping to my lips. He tilted my face upward, brushing his thumb across my mouth before lowering his lips to mine, softly. There was a question in his kiss, not just for me, but I sensed for himself as well.
My chest burned with an aching desire to press myself to him, to remove every bit of air between us. Instead, I let him set the pace, understanding he needed to.
His lips moved tenderly against mine, slow and unsure, and my heart swelled at his hesitation. Still, I didn’t take over like I usually would. I wanted him to feel confident in our relationship, to feel like he could express himself without me plowing over him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, making sure he knew I was okay with his show of affection.
That was all the encouragement he needed. Abel took my face with both hands, and his mouth moved faster, more urgently. He nibbled my lips and along my jaw up to my ear.
“Lizzie,” he breathed, making me shiver. “I think I love you.”
I stroked the side of his face, enjoying the feel of his prickly five o’clock shadow. Tears filled my eyes and my heart swelled even more. “I love you too,” I whispered.
He groaned, pulling me close, his mouth returning to mine, moving urgently and excitedly. Even though it was like he couldn’t get enough of me, couldn’t satisfy his longing for me, something still held him back. I knew what it was, but my own heart was finally full, complete. Abel was there again and he loved me. Nothing else mattered—no dangers, no stresses, no demons.
Abel finally pulled back and tucked his chin over my head. I felt his chest rumble as he made a noise of contentment. I knew he wouldn’t really be there until he found his mom, but what he was giving me in the meantime was sufficient. It was plenty, all things considered. After all, my life wasn’t exactly organized and perfect either.
“I want you to write me a song.”
I blinked, pulling away, and stared up at him. I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “What?”
A slight teasing expression was behind his eyes, but also seriousness. “Really. I want you to write me a song. A love song.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A love song? Please, no. I’m not . . . I can’t possibly . . . I’m not a musician, and I’m definitely not a lyricist.”
“I know. But I’ve heard you singing. You have a pretty voice, and I missed it a great deal.”
I tilted my head. “When have you heard me singing?”
“You sing when you’re cooking. And when you’re cleaning.”
I was about to ask him when he’d seen me do any of those, then realized he’d had plenty of opportunity. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s endearing.”
My face flushed. “It still doesn’t explain why you want me to write a song for you.”
He pressed his forehead against mine. “You don’t have to do it. It was just an impulse idea.”
I lay back against him, pondering what he’d just said. The Abel I knew never did or said anything out of impulse. He must have given it a lot of thought. He wanted me to feel like it wasn’t a big deal to him, but the fact that he brought it up told me it was.
And another thing . . . how difficult had the last week been for him if he’d make such a request? I resolved to do something about it just as soon as all of this madness ended. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too late. Maybe, depending on where our relationship went, I’d write a whole album of songs, describing things from the beginning.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of him absentmindedly rubbing my back. “I’m going to help you find your mom.”
Abel’s hand froze.
I pretended not to notice. “You’ve been helping me a lot. I owe it to you.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“It’s way too dangerous.”
I rolled my eyes, turning to him. “What are you talking about? The things you and I have done together over the last couple of weeks have been incredibly dangerous.”
“Yes, I know. But this . . . this is different.”
“Different because your family’s involved.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement.
He didn’t respond, and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust me, that he didn’t think I could handle it. But this was something very close to his heart.
Another thing occurred to me. His mother was all he had left of his family, and as far as I knew, I was the next closest thing. If he lost both of us, it might destroy him. It made me want to comfort him, to reassure him that everything would be okay and that my involvement wouldn’t complicate things or make it worse. I knew better than to say that, though, given the fact that I couldn’t predict the future. Instead, I tucked the topic and my arguments away.
“Oh!” I said. “I almost forgot. I’ve found an easier way to get rid of the hounds.”
I quickly told him about the device that was on its way to me. “It will only work if there are less than fifty hounds, though. So we’ll need to get their numbers down before it arrives in the next week or so.”
He tensed. “What are we waiting for?”
I shook my head. “I just got you back. We’re not going anywhere. And tomorrow is our meeting with the fire vampires and ifrits. I’m not about to risk missing that. We can start hunting hounds as soon as tomorrow night is over.”
Abel didn’t look totally convinced, but he didn’t argue.
We fell into a comfortable silence, punctuated with the occasional kiss. Eventually, Abel asked if he could sleep on the living room couch. I said yes, made sure he had what he needed, and retired to my room.
My heart swelled inside my chest with love and happiness. Abel was back. He loved me. And he’d finally kissed me.
The next morning, I woke up with a horrible headache and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I checked with the amulet, wanting to make sure it wasn’t trying to warn me of something that was to come that day, but it didn’t have answers for me. It did try to comfort me before going back to its usual state of silence that it seemed to prefer when nothing was happening.
Abel surprised me by cooking breakfast, and I paused before entering the kitchen to admire him as he stood over the stove, scrambling eggs. The lines of his back and shoulders were attractive—tight muscles, well-formed and well-used. Abel made building muscle seem easy. I knew, though, that he spent a great deal of time making sure he was physically fit and ready for any job he might need to do.
He must’ve heard me behind him because he turned and gave me a smile. I approached, putting my arms around his waist and resting my head against his back. I was so glad he was here. The day was so much brighter already just having him in it. I sighed inwardly, not wanting to leave him, but needing to take care of my migraine. I poured a glass of milk and grabbed some painkillers.
Abel noticed and gave me a concerned look. “You feeling okay?”
I shook my head. “Nervous. And I’ve got a big headache.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. We can take the day easy, as you suggested.”
I nodded and accepted a plate of toast, eggs, and bacon from him.
Eleanora joined us, and we had a slow and leisurely breakfast, chatting about what we would be doing if none of this w
as going on. Abel, of course, would be searching for his mother. I told him I would be with him, and he looked at his plate, a conflicted expression on his face. Eleanora glanced back and forth between us before acting like she hadn’t heard anything.
She cleared her throat. “I’d be working in my garden.”
I chuckled softly, appreciating the fact that the person with the most experience there would be doing the most mundane thing.
The day went by uneventfully, and while my headache decreased, my nervousness increased. About two hours before we were to head up the canyon, we decided to hold a tactical meeting to discuss all the possible outcomes for the evening.
Almost as soon as we started discussing, the amulet started pulsating against my sternum.
Chapter Thirty-One
What’s up? I asked.
Danger. Tonight.
Great. So it really would be an exciting evening.
From whom?
Don’t know yet. Decisions still being made.
I was grateful for the warning, even though it wasn’t very specific. Who knew what would happen once the ifrits and fire vampires were in the same location. For all we knew, they were mortal enemies, and the ifrits were using the event as an excuse to destroy the vampires.
I chuckled at that line of thought. It was pretty ridiculous. The ifrits could’ve found the vampires at any point.
Once we’d discussed all the possible scenarios we could see, including the ifrits and fire vampires attacking each other or if we had a surprise visit from hounds—which was very likely, given how hyper the amulet was acting—Abel and Eleanora brought out their weapons. Between the two of them, we were set. I couldn’t believe how many guns, swords, and knives they owned, not to mention other weapons I’d never heard of before nor would I probably remember after.
I chose the stakes I’d been borrowing from Eleanora and my trusty CZ. To this, I added a knife at my thigh and one near my ankle. I would have loved to bring a machete again—I gazed with fondness at a beautiful one Eleanora owned—but realized I wouldn’t be able to hide it.
We ate a quick dinner, then headed to Alpine. My nervousness of the morning was nothing compared to how I felt as I drove up Main Street. I barely felt the steering wheel, my hands were so sweaty, and I had a constant lightheaded feeling that might have been left over from my migraine.
I parked at the base of the trail, and then we headed up. With me and Abel helping Eleanora, we made decent time.
I could tell as we neared the location where the meeting would take place. “Crimson Hollow” described it well. At first, I couldn’t see anything, but then I felt a tickle cross my entire body. It was unpleasant and uncomfortable, but it ended quickly, and after that, I began to see patches of red. I assumed the tickle was a barrier and regular humans wouldn’t know they were passing through a magical place. The farther up the trail we went, the more intensely red the area became.
“Why the blood?” Abel asked.
“Marks their territory,” I said.
“Not exactly important here,” Eleanora said, “not when most everyone is human, but old habits die hard. It also gives them strength—sort of an at-home recharge the rest of us get from sleeping in our own beds.”
“Whose blood is it?”
“Their own.”
The poor woman was out of breath, and Abel and I fell silent, allowing her to focus on the hike. We soon reached a large boulder, and Rauel stepped out from behind it.
“Where are your comrades?” he asked.
“They should be here shortly,” I said, knowing he was referring to the ifrits.
He beckoned us to follow him around the boulder and into a small clearing.
This had to have been Crimson Hollow. Pretty much the entire thing was coated with fresh blood. I stepped gingerly, not wanting any of it on me. Rauel noticed and sent me an apologetic smile.
“We’ve brought seating for you that doesn’t have our blood on it.”
I nodded. “Thank you. We appreciate it.”
He showed us to the center of their camp, where ten or eleven chairs had been set up around a fire. I was surprised to see several tents staked around the outskirts of the camp. I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me, as vampires had once been human. And, as Eleanor said, old habits die hard. Maybe they needed protection from the elements and didn’t want to sleep under the moon.
Several vampires nodded or said hello as they joined us. They were friendly for the most part. I couldn’t tell if it was a show—like they were on their best behavior—or if it was genuine. We took our seats and small talk commenced until the ifrits showed up a few minutes later.
I jumped to my feet. “Everyone, this is Jack. He’s the leader of the ifrits here.”
Jack nodded to the vampires, then introduced the other ifrits. Yet again, I didn’t catch their names.
As we continued the small talk, I was surprised to see the ifrits going back and forth between nervousness and confidence. I was positive that if they ever engaged one-on-one, an ifrit would pull ahead of a vampire.
Of course, there was the matter of the sun giving the fire vampires extra strength that regular vampires didn’t have. I instinctively put my hand on the amulet, grateful it was fully mine and would alert me if anything bad was about to happen. So far, it’d been calm and quiet, occasionally sending me little bits of peace and reassurance.
A vampire finally showed up that I could only describe as tall, dark, and handsome. All the vampires bowed, and Rauel introduced the man as Vincent, the son of the king and leader of the fire vampires in Utah.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Prince Vincent turned to me and smiled, his eyes warming. I glanced away just in time.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet the woman who has caused so much havoc for everyone,” he said, taking my hand in both of his and kissing the back of it. “We’ll be sure to keep an eye on you.”
I sensed a two-fold message behind his statement—he was both warning and encouraging me. Warning that they’d know if I did something they didn’t approve of while encouraging me to push my limits and figure out where I would be placed in hierarchies. I wasn’t sure how so much got across in one sentence, but it did. Maybe he had magical powers that the other fire vampires didn’t.
Once Vincent was there, we all sat—most of the ifrits choosing to stand behind Jack—and began discussing the situation. Several of the fire vampires immediately spoke out against me, and the situation got tense. Still, the amulet didn’t warn me of any danger.
I was surprised how angry a few of the vampires were, including Jenna. What surprised me even more was the fact that Rauel was on my side. Of anyone, he actually had something to hold against me. But as it turned out, he was totally fine with me. Why was Jenna holding it against me when he wasn’t?
The longer the meeting went, the more I realized, though, that Jenna wasn’t holding my attack against me, but the fact that I’d brought Lord Kenan to life. I knew that had upset her, but somehow, I’d figured she was more affronted by the personal attack against her and Rauel.
Vincent proved to be levelheaded, fair, and willing to hear pretty much anyone’s comments. I had expected him to be bloodthirsty—like a typical vampire—and to crave power. After all, he and his father had ousted Lord Kenan from his position several hundred years earlier. Instead, I noticed that of all the vampires, he was the one with the common sense. He was mostly interested in protecting his vampires against Lord Kenan.
“This is why I sent people to find you,” Vincent said. “I wanted to educate you on his abilities so you would know exactly what you were going up against, should you have chosen to fulfill his requests.”
“You knew he would want me to bring the fire back to him?”
Vincent nodded. “I would’ve warned you, but I had an emergency of my own to deal with during that time.” Several of the vampires’ gazes shifted to Rauel, and I couldn’t help but wonder what happened after I’d taken
his fire. Perhaps something had occurred to put Vincent’s coven in danger.
“Lord Kenan all alone isn’t completely powerful,” Vincent said. “He tried to gain more power when he attempted to combine himself with an Arete, but it didn’t do anything, other than theoretically giving him the ability to control Fire Aretes. It was untested, and he didn’t master it before we ousted him.”
Vincent leaned forward in his camp chair, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. His gaze was intense, and I had to keep looking away in case he tried to do something. I didn’t think he would, but there was no sense in taking chances.
“Lord Kenan’s main ability is the power to amplify the magic of those around him. And he’s great at forcing people to comply to his will. He gained significant power when he was king over us. He controlled us and forced us to do things we would never have done on our own. And he gained support amongst Aretes and humans too.”
“He was able to command ifrits for a long time,” Jack said.
Vincent nodded. “He’s especially dangerous now that there are so many magical beings here. He has access to demons who weren’t here several hundred years ago. The portal opening to earth has drawn attention from so many different worlds that this land will soon become overrun with demons from other dimensions.”
Jenna raised her hand.
“Go ahead,” Vincent said.
“I disagree. I think the Aretes here are powerful enough to keep the vast majority of demons who might visit under control. Besides, things aren’t going to get as bad as they did eight or nine years ago when—what was his name? Keitus?—rose to power.”
Keitus had nearly destroyed half of America. Nicole had been the one to take him down, and the land still had significant scars from the event.
“What do you mean?” Vincent asked.
“Just that he attracted the stronger demons. Now that he’s gone, I don’t think as many will come to earth.”
“But if Lord Kenan controls power, won’t he do whatever he can to attract more?” I asked.
Vincent nodded. “Yes. That is what I worry about. If we don’t do something to get rid of Lord Kenan soon, he will rise to full power quickly, and we won’t be able to bring him down a second time. I have reason to believe that he will attempt to get the amulet from you first and then, once he does, the amulet will lead him to, and draw to him, many magical beings, even from other worlds.”
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