Blood of the Maple mg-1

by Dana Marie Bell

  Parker bowed as much as his throbbing arm and light head would allow. “It was my pleasure, Dragomir Ibanescu.”

  Dragomir’s lips twisted into a smile. “Call me Dragos.” He pointed with his chin over Parker’s shoulder. “Amara is done.”

  Parker turned so fast he wound up on his ass again. The landing jarred his shattered arm, and Parker saw stars. “Ow. Fuck, ow. Amara?”

  She came to him, her bark fading, the glow leaving her eyes, her body returning to human. “Parker!” She fell into his lap, curling around him like a vine. His lap was full of jiggling, naked dryad. If it hadn’t been for the agony radiating from his arm, he would have been one hell of a happy vampire. “Are you all right?”

  Parker moved his arm from underneath her and tried to breathe through the pain. Too bad he didn’t really need to breathe, because it didn’t work. “Nope.”

  She barely lifted her head from his shoulder, but he could feel the ridges forming on her skin. She was about to go dryad on someone’s ass. “Call Selena, Dragos.”

  “Already done.” Dragos nodded hello to Brian. “Brian, it’s good to see you are safe.”

  “Thanks to Amara and Greg, yes.”

  What had Greg done, other than call Parker? Damn it, why did he have to pass out during the good parts?

  A car pulled up outside Parker’s house. A woman stepped out and briskly strode across the lawn, neatly dodging various bits of dying plant life wriggling on the ground. The dark-haired, bountiful beauty striding briskly across his lawn would once have represented the best sort of temptation, but Parker was immune to her charms. Curly brown hair was held high in a ponytail, and her jeans were tight enough to tempt without being what Greg called ho pants. Her T-shirt strained over natural attributes that would have made a porn star green with envy.

  But it was the phrase on the T-shirt that made him like her. It said Save Your Breath. You’ll Need It to Blow Up Your Date.

  How could he not like a woman brave enough to wear that?

  She halted in front of the mayor, but her eyes roamed the garden, taking everything in. “Hello, Dragos. What’s the problem?”

  “Broken arm, among other things.” Dragos pointed toward Parker. “We have a situation to deal with.”

  The woman pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled. “When don’t we? Selena Giannone.”

  Parker held out his not-broken arm. “Parker Hollis.”

  They shook hands, and Selena jumped. “You’re under a curse that’s…not. Strange. Very strange.” She clucked her tongue and shook her head, dismissing his not-a-curse curse. “Let me see that arm.”

  Parker held out his arm, and Selena gently examined it. “Bad break. You’ve got some internal bleeding, torn ligaments, and—Yeowch. Do I want to know what did this?”

  “I’ll explain later. Can you please? It hurts quite a bit.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the year? He almost wished Amara had ripped his arm off. It could hardly hurt more.

  “Hmm.” She held her hand over the wound and hummed an unfamiliar tune that nevertheless eased him. Warmth radiated from her palm, soothing the pain, healing the damage. From the look on Amara’s face, it was taking longer than it should have. Had there been even more damage than he’d originally thought? That was frightening. Terri was becoming even more powerful as time went on. Amara’s lips were compressed, her eyes glowing with green light. She was close to shifting again into her other form.

  The soothing heat of the healing dissipated. “There. That should do it.” Selena swayed.

  Dragos whipped his arm around her, kept her from falling. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine, big guy. That’s some powerful mojo you’ve got there, Parker.” She pried free of Dragos’s hold with a smile. “Mind filling me in on what’s going on?” She turned on Dragos and pushed her finger in his face. “And don’t give me that whole ‘you’re too precious to the community to risk’ bull-crap either.”

  Dragos smiled tightly. “Of course not. Why would I do something as silly as that?”

  Selena glared up at him, all five feet nothing of her. Her rounded arms crossed over her chest. “I mean it, Dragos.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Good.”

  Parker swept Amara up in his arms, since it didn’t seem the dryad was going to get off his lap anytime soon. “My place or yours, sweet?”

  “Mine. The protections are stronger.”

  “Very well. Follow me, people.” Parker led the way back to the Victorian. “Anyone want to order pizza? I’ll take mine with extra hemoglobin.” He ignored the strange looks shot him by his merry band of followers and carried his sotiei over the threshold.

  “All right. Spill it.” The witchdoctor stared at Parker with unholy amusement. “Why are you attached to Amara’s hip, and why are you cursed yet not?”

  As Parker recounted his tale for Dragos and Selena, the fire burned in Amara’s belly again. The urge to hunt Terri down and rip her out of Parker’s life by the roots was strong.

  Terri had hurt him. She’d made Parker bleed.

  Amara wouldn’t stop until the bitch was a broken pile of nothing.

  “Down, girl.”

  Amara turned to find Brian standing over her. “What?”

  “You’re…barking.”

  Amara looked at her hands. They were covered in bark. “Oh.” Calming herself was proving to be difficult. Terri had eluded her, and she didn’t know how. Amara had battled back the weeds, but she hadn’t found the root of the problem.

  Until she did, Parker was in danger.

  “Amara. Sweet. Look at me.”

  “What?”

  “As lovely as you are, it’s much harder to cuddle with you when your bark is poking me. Would you mind terribly?”

  She blinked. “Oh. Sorry.” She concentrated on her human form, drawing on the peace of her tree out in the backyard. She needed the extra boost her maple gave her. Just the thought of Parker in danger was enough to send her back into rage.

  She took a deep breath and tried not to remember the spike sticking out of his arm, the look of pain on his face. She closed her eyes, hoping to block the image of Parker’s blood or the worried look on Dragos’s face when Parker couldn’t pull it free.

  “Sweet.” He stroked her hair. “Come back to me, Amara.”

  “I’m not sure I can.”

  “Do you need to commune with your tree?” Dragos’s deep voice was full of compassion.

  She opened her eyes to see Parker glaring at Dragos. “No! She stays with me.”

  “It helps calm her when nothing else will.”

  Parker narrowed his eyes, then smiled at Amara. That was when she realized she’d reverted to her other form. “How can you protect me if you leave me for weeks?”

  Amara shivered, her leaves rustling. He was right. He’d be vulnerable if she communed with her tree. She always lost track of time when she did. “When this is over, when we know for certain you’re safe, I will have to. You understand?”

  “Of course.” He took hold of her hand. “But I need you human for me, at least for a while. Can you do that, sweet?”

  Her lips curved as she blinked away sudden tears. He wasn’t looking at her any differently, wasn’t treating her like a freak. The simple fact that he was playing with her fingers, unmindful of the bark covering them, touched her heart. “Sure thing, sour.”

  Someone behind her choked off a laugh, but the only one who mattered was Parker. He was laughing; his acceptance of the private joke thrilled her. Not everyone got her quirky sense of humor. The knowledge Parker did made her fall just a little bit more under his spell. “I’m beginning to like when you call me that,” he whispered for her ears alone.

  Amara shivered again, but this time it was to help shed her bark. She dwindled in size until she was smaller than Parker once again. “Better?”

  “Mmm. Let me see.” He kissed her, barely tasting her before pulling back. “Much.�
�� He cupped her bare rear. “But I’d prefer you clothed until we can be alone. Can you accommodate me on that as well?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Everyone in this room has—” the red glow spreading deep in his eyes warned her not to finish, “—seen me in jeans. I’ll be right back.” And Amara dashed upstairs, praying the possessive nature of her vampire didn’t make him do something extremely stupid. Dragos would feed him his ass, and Amara was becoming partial to it.

  She threw on a sundress, not bothering with underwear, and bounced back down the stairs. Parker was finishing the story of what happened that night in the California desert. “And here we are.”

  Selena had her head back, the witchdoctor staring at the ceiling, her hands palm-up in her lap. Her right foot was tapping.

  “What do you think?”

  Amara shushed Parker. “She is.”

  “Is what?”

  “Thinking.”

  “Oh.” Parker pulled Amara back onto his lap. She crossed her ankles and hands daintily, allowing her weight to settle.

  “She knows what Amara is now, in more ways than one.” When the witchdoctor lifted her head, Parker gasped. Selena’s unseeing gaze was filmed over. Under each eye, three dots glowed with blue light. A rainbow-colored tree of life, crowned with the mark of the triple Goddess, arched across her forehead and down the bridge of her nose. The Goddess’s mark, a full moon bracketed by two mirrored half-moons, was so bright it almost hurt to look at. “She’ll begin to target her, to try to rip her away from Parker. She views Parker as hers. If Parker tastes Terri’s blood, then Parker will be hers forever, thus fulfilling the curse.”

  “Is there any way to avoid that outcome?” Parker tightened his arms around her. He obviously didn’t want to be bound to Terri.

  “Your bond with Amara must be completed before you will be immune to Terri’s curse. But doing so will permanently change your nature. You can never go back to living on pure human blood.”

  Parker shrugged. “I can live with that.”

  Amara gasped. “But that means that you’ll forever be cursed!”

  Parker kissed the side of her neck, right over where he’d bitten her earlier. “No. I won’t. I’ll have you, so I’ll be blessed.”

  Warmth flooded through her as Selena smiled her approval. Blessed? Really? He considered spending eternity with her a blessing? “What’s the bond we need to complete?” Amara tried to ignore the nibbling kisses Parker tried to distract her with. She had a mission to accomplish, damn it.

  “You’re Parker’s singele sotiei, his blood wife. If he completes the vampiric ritual that binds you together for eternity, then he’ll be both free of the curse and forever cursed at the same time.” Selena’s words echoed eerily.

  “Damn. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” The voice was deep, definitely male and had come from somewhere near Brian. She bet it was the infamous Greg, but how could she suddenly hear him?

  Selena’s blind eyes turned toward that voice. “A very good thing. He’ll be the vampiric mate of a hamadryad and thus able to feed off of her.”

  A what?

  Before she could ask what Selena was talking about, Parker distracted her with a sharp nip that nearly drew blood. “She’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” Parker licked her neck, and suddenly Amara wondered how much blood he’d lost. The one thing Selena couldn’t heal with her powers, his blood supply would have to be replenished naturally. Which meant…

  “Parker? Are you hungry?” She met Brian’s eyes, and he nodded, willing to donate whatever was needed for his vampire.

  “Starving.” He nipped her again, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to drive his point home.

  Brian headed for her kitchen, but his blood wouldn’t be enough. If she was Parker’s sotiei, she bet he’d need at least a few drops from her. “Brian’s going to make you a snack. I can’t feed you twice in one night, but I can add a few drops. Would that be all right?”

  Parker pulled his mouth from her skin. “I suppose.” She hid her grin. He sounded like a sulky boy who wanted an ice-cream cone but was offered a graham cracker instead.

  “Complete the ritual, vampire, but there’s no guarantee the witch won’t seek revenge if you do. If you are lost to her—”

  “She’ll try to kill him.” Amara kept herself human. Barely. She desperately wanted to hunt down Terri and kick her ass, but she had to keep control. If she changed while sitting on Parker’s lap, she could seriously hurt him.

  “If I can’t have you, no one can.” Dragos went to the window and looked out into the night. “Is she a danger to others in the town?”

  “With that mentality? Hell yes. She’s c-r-a-z-y.”

  “Thanks again, Greg.” Parker grimaced.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Why can I hear you?” Amara looked at Parker, who shrugged, just as confused as she. “I couldn’t before.”

  “Your connection to Parker, maybe?”

  Brian shook his head before Greg could answer. “It’s Selena. She’s allowing Greg to be heard.”

  “Selena, can you make him seen as well as heard?” Amara was curious about the man who’d apparently snagged the Renfield’s heart.

  Selena smiled. Her markings flared. And off to her right, a large black man appeared. His long, braided hair was graying, his gaze was full of mischief and his arms were wrapped protectively around Brian.

  “Wow. He’s big.”

  Greg’s jaw dropped. “You can see me?”

  Amara giggled. “I’d shake ectoplasm again, but I don’t think Parker will let me up.”

  Brian was smiling so wide she thought his face might crack. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”

  If ghosts could blush, Greg would be bright red. He buried his face in Brian’s neck, much to Brian’s obvious approval. “Thank you. But I think you’re the gorgeous one.”

  Brian winked at Amara, pleased.

  “Once Parker finishes the bond, I believe Amara will be able to hear you without my help.” The image of Greg faded, but Brian’s look of pleasure remained.

  “I was wondering something, Brian. How can you feel Greg?” Parker waved toward the pair of men, one seen, the other not.

  “I’m a physical medium.” Brian ran his finger down Greg’s arm. “That means ghosts can physically interact with me, share sensations, that sort of thing, and I can do the same. For some physical mediums, it’s as simple as feeling their presence or having the ability to channel them, allowing them to speak to the living. For those like me, it’s as if their bodies are really there. I can touch Greg in ways most mediums can’t.”

  Amara cocked her head. “So that’s what you were doing when you were bent naked over Parker’s couch? Touching?”

  Brian’s jaw dropped. He began choking. Greg’s deep laughter boomed through the room, tinged with the slight hysteria of a man who’d been caught with his pants around his ankles.

  “My couch, Greg? My couch?” Parker buried his face in his hands. “Excuse me, I need to scrub my brain now. There’s this dirty picture in there I need to clean away.”

  Dragos, still by the window, pressed his forehead to the glass. She’d bet just about anything he was biting back laughter. “Can we get back to the subject of the wicked witch?”

  “Yes, please, and thank you.” Parker shifted Amara and grunted. “What can we do to keep Amara safe?”

  “Keep you safe, you mean.”

  Parker stared at her blankly. “Of course.”

  Amara rolled her eyes. “Don’t go there. Maybe we should concentrate on both of us being safe, hmm?”

  “I like that plan.” Brian leaned back against thin air, perfectly at ease in his ghost’s arms. His fingers danced over thin air as he petted Greg. Brian was turning out to be remarkably touchy-feely, which she hadn’t expected. “I say we call in some reinforcements. We’re dealing with someone who was a witch first. She probably thinks like one.”

  “She might try magic to hurt us next, since he
r plant attack didn’t work.”

  “And we have no magical protections.” Parker shook himself. “Greg, you’re a witch. Any suggestions?”

  Brian started. Perhaps he’d forgotten his lover had once been the very thing they were fighting.

  “I can’t cast anything anymore thanks to the grim reaper. I’d suggest we call in a living witch who has a connection to the earth.” Parker’s gaze drifted to Brian. “Do we know someone we can trust?”

  “I can put in a few phone calls.” The Renfield reached for his cell phone.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Dragos turned back around. “I’ll take care of that.”

  Selena frowned. The markings had faded, her eyes hazel once more. “Who?”

  Dragos smiled, his expression full of heat and desire. “Kate, of course.”

  Selena sighed. “Of course. On that note, I’m out of here. It was a pleasure meeting you, Parker, Greg.”

  Parker stood after placing Amara on the couch. “Ours as well, Miss Selena.” Parker kissed her fingers. “Please, feel welcome in my home.”

  Amara damn near growled at the pleasure in Selena’s eyes. “Thank you, Parker.” Selena winked at Amara. “Have a good night, Amara.”

  Dancing butterflies filled her stomach. She knew what Selena was talking about, and it had nothing to do with being good. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

  She ignored the way Dragos’s shoulders had stiffened. If he didn’t want to acknowledge the witchdoctor, that was his problem. Whatever was going on between them, she couldn’t allow it to affect Parker.

  Then again, maybe Amara could pay Selena back for helping Parker with a little magic of her own. “I’m thinking of throwing a party to welcome Parker to the neighborhood. Why don’t you come? It might be a good way to draw Terri out.” She leaned in close and whispered in the witch’s ear, low enough to pretend she thought Dragos couldn’t hear. “Besides, there’s this guy I’ve wanted you to meet.” She waggled her brows and winked, even though they both knew there was no man. But what Dragos didn’t know might lure him out into the open without Kate, his sometime lover and the town’s treasurer.