“Well, I’d hate to repeat a joke. I’ll just have to keep you under my nefarious control in some other hilarious way.”
Kara did not almost laugh at his sardonic drawl. She also didn’t go up on tiptoe to accept his slow, open-mouthed kiss. It was some kind of arrogant, territorial, macho thing and it absolutely didn’t make her toes curl. It wasn’t wiping her mind free of everything but Damien and how good he smelled and how much she wanted him and...
She gave a soft moan of surrender, as her arms wound around his neck.
God but this guy was wasting his talents on villainy. Her lips parted, giving him access and demanding her own. He should be on the lecture circuit, explaining his kissing techniques to men everywhere. The entire female population of the world would be in his debt. Kara would never, ever get enough of his skills.
“This is her?” A masculine voice demanded as Damien finally drew back to nuzzle her curls. “This is Slade’s woman?” He sounded disappointed. He must have been picturing someone different in his mind. Someone who was a size zero, with shiny blonde hair that didn’t frizz, and fluttering, foot long lashes. Someone worth going to Vampire war over.
Someone like Melessa.
Kara pulled her attention away from Damien long enough to scowl at the guy. He had to be To’kel. She recognized the Vampires’ trademark pirate clothes and bedroom eyes. If Damien and Melessa were untapped summer blockbuster goldmines, To’kel could’ve made his Tinsel Town fortune as a porn star. He should have been wearing mirrored sunglasses and gold chains. If she wasn’t still breathless and achy from Damien’s kiss, she would have flipped him off just on general principles.
“I’m not ‘Slade’s woman.” Her denial was drowned out by a certain sorcerer’s even more emphatic response.
“She is not Slade’s woman.” Damien flashed To’kel a look that had Dirk Diggler flinching and hastily backtracking.
“I know. Sorry. She’s your cari. I know.”
“Uh...” Kara raised a hand. “It’s Kara, not Carrie.” She didn’t mind Damien calling her that. He gave it a melty sort of accent that made the nickname incredibly provocative. Sleazy guy, though? Nope. He didn’t have the same privileges. “Karalynn, actually.”
Damien and To’kel both squinted at her like she was speaking in tongues.
Then, Damien’s mouth curved. “You think I call you ‘Carrie’?” He made a rusty sort of noise that --from anyone not evil--might have been called a laugh. The sound was oddly, darkly beautiful. It did some mysterious dipping thing to her insides and made her want to rip his clothes off.
Not good.
Especially when she didn’t get the punch line.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” He still seemed amused. “I wondered at your lack of reaction, but... Of course. You’re human.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and guided her into her seat. “It’s for the best. I just had not thought that you’d interpret cari in that way.”
“In what way? What are you calling me if not Carrie?”
“Cari. With an ‘i’ and one ‘r’. It is like... an... endearment in my language.” He shook his head as if her inability to speak Wizard Warlock-ese was just silly and adorable to him. “You are right, though. No other should call you cari. I would not like it.”
Cari spelled that way actually seemed kinda familiar. She must have read it in one of the chapters, but Kara still felt like she was missing something. “It’s an endearment?” She repeated suspiciously. “You sure you’re not secretly swearing at me?” She looked over at To’kel for a second opinion.
He was goggling at her. “The human does not even understand the meaning of cari? But, Damien...”
Damien cut him off. “Weren’t you leaving?” It wasn’t a suggestion.
“Yes, but...”
“No, wait! He can’t go, yet. That’s why I’m here.” Kara looked back over at the Vampire and cut right to the chase. “Right now, we’re all living in a book. I know it’s gonna be hard to accept that, but you have to, because we’re more off-track than ever.”
To’kel blinked. “What?”
“We’re already supposed to be at the ball. Every minute I waste explaining this, is another minute we’re veering away from the plot. And if you’re planning to kill Slade or whatever, that could be disastrous.”
“What?!”
“Kara Lynn…” Damien began.
“This is important.” She frowned at him and then turned back to To’kel. “You need to lay off Slade, until he’s better prepared to fight. You have to let him win.”
To’kel’s jaw dropped. “What?” It was a shriek this time. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Because you’re not supposed to beat him!” Kara shot-back. “He already knows what you’re up to. He knows you’ll be going to that ball for Melessa.”
“Who?”
“Alright, well, he doesn’t know that part, right now, because he hasn’t met Melessa. But I know that your plotting against him and the plan is supposed to fail.” It just so happened she could prove it, too. She plopped Eternal Passion at Sunset onto the table in front of him, flipping through the pages. “See? Right here.” She tapped page 175. “‘To’kel!’ shouted Slade, ‘Your plan has failed.’”
To’kel gasped in outrage. “No!”
Kara kept reading. “Slade stood as straight and imposing as a very large tree. ‘I know that you have plotted with Damien to steal my crown and my beloved, but I am the rightful owner of both and will not have them stolen by you, my illegitimate cousin from hell.’” She sighed and glanced up at Damien. “You really think I’m irresistibly drawn to that clown? Really?”
Damien didn’t answer that. His attention stayed fixed on To’kel.
The Vampire scanned the sentences as if there might be a “just joking” printed in there someplace. His face grew darker. “What is this blasphemous text? Have you created it? Are you a Witch?!”
Again, with the Witch stuff. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, buddy.” She slammed the book closed, point proven. No sense in letting him read his own death scene. “Look, I’m not a Witch. And I’m not Slade’s Eternal-One. Not really. I have that girl locked up at Damien’s house. I just know what’s supposed to happen. I know that you’re taking us way off script, so you can’t...”
“NO! I will win. Slade knows nothing of my plans unless you have told him!”
“I didn’t tell him.” Kara waved that aside. “Your grandma will, though. You should have been nicer to her and not killed her cat.”
“Grandmother will betray me because of Fluffy!?” To’kel tried to grab the book and double check. “That bitch!”
“Oh geez, get a grip.” Kara rolled her eyes and held the manuscript away from him. “You plan to attack Slade at the ball, but you’re not even the main bad guy. You’re a hastily tossed together plot devise. You can’t win and you’re gonna screw everything up. So what I need for you to do is stop this stupid scheme to usurp Slade, before I’m stuck here...”
“You plot to kill me!” To’kel surged to his feet. “Your prophetic book is unholy proof! You are a Witch!” Kara had been expecting anger or disbelief, but she hadn’t thought he’d go nuts. He wanted to attack her.
In fact, he did.
To’kel lunged across the table towards Kara, with intent to do great bodily harm. The Vamp probably would have gone for her jugular –literally-- only Damien was there. His powers slammed out like a wrecking ball. Kara felt them whooshing past her and blowing her hair as she instinctively pressed backwards towards their big, silent Wizard-Warlock-y source.
Damien didn’t move, but To’kel went flying. He hit the wall hard enough to send him careening right through the wooden siding and out onto the street. He actually left a vaguely Vampire-shaped hole. Kara hadn’t seen anything like it outside of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. She blinked at it for a beat and then up at Damien. “That’s a neat trick.”
He arched a brow. “That book is cursed.” A
ll the humans in the bar were gaping at him, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or care. Instead, Damien stalked over to stare out his newly made ‘window’ and sighed. “Perfect. He’s already gone. See? Cursed.”
“To’kel vanished?” She hurried over to his side. “Can Vampires do that zapping trick of yours?”
“Sometimes.” He sounded frustrated. “Now, I’m going to have to track him down before I kill him. It’ll waste my entire evening. Plus, I’m out a perfectly serviceable spy.” He glanced down at her. “You cause me no end of trouble, woman.”
Kara met his eyes. “I know. Sorry.”
His mouth curved at her rueful apology. One elegant hand passed over her hair in a caress. “Are you alright, cari?”
“Yeah.” She was still half convinced the ‘endearment’ was some kind of inside joke, but the way he pronounced it made her not really care. Kara reached over and took hold of his free palm. “Thank you. Very timely with the magical help. See? It’s no wonder I feel safe with you around.”
Damien slowly shook his head, but his fingers curled around hers, holding tight. “I wished I shared the sentiment. With you around, I just brace for the next disaster.” He turned and headed for the door. “To’kel will be headed for that ridiculous ball. He has no intention of abandoning his plans to ambush Slade, no matter how nicely you ask. I don’t suppose it would do any good to send you home, so I can deal with this alone?”
“Ambush?” Had Tanya called To’kel’s plan an ambush? That seemed more complex than what happened in the story. Was To’kel changing his plans? Kara shook it aside. Whatever. “I’m going with you, Vlad. You promised to take me to this thing, remember? ‘Later’ you said. Well, it’s later.” She hurried to keep up with him as he led her out of the bar. The sun had finally set, but the temperature had risen about twenty degrees in the past ten minutes. Tanya was such a pain in the ass. “Vlad, seriously, I don’t want you to kill To’kel.”
“He tried to attack you, Kara Lynn.” Damien lifted his free hand to hail a cab. “Right in front of me. It was a blatant suicide attempt. I’ll be doing him a favor to put him out of his misery.”
“But, he and Slade are going to fight to the death anyway. No sense in us getting involved. You’re not even in that scene. It’s another whole plot arc. I just needed him to...”
Damien cut her off. “We are involved because he tried to attack you, Kara Lynn.” He stressed the words like she was just being senselessly stubborn. “Now, I’m going to kill the Vampire and I see no point in debating that matter.” He frowned back towards the bar. “Damn. I forgot to pick up your food.”
“Forget the food and pay attention! Leave To’kel alone. I mean it. You don’t need more blood on your hands because of me. I’m not enabling your vengeance addiction.”
A carriage rolled up and Damien opened the door for her. “He believes you are a Witch. Vampires do not like Witches.” He ground it out, slowly. “To’kel will come for you again, if I don’t stop him quickly. The surest way to stop someone quickly, is to kill him. You see?”
“Wait, he thinks I’m a Witch!? For real?”
“Well, it is the logical conclusion given your knowledge of strangers’ lives.”
“I’m not a Witch, just because I know some of your backstories. Why do you guys keep thinking that, huh? It’s nuts!”
“I know.” He nodded gravely. “And you’ve told me the rational explanation for your abilities. You’re a time traveler from a different reality and none of the rest of us exist at all. So much less nuts.”
Kara’s eyes narrowed. “All that is true, Damien.”
“I believe you.” He paused. “At least, about the time traveling part.”
“You…” That caught her by surprise. “You believe me about being from the future?” Wow. If somebody told her a story like that, she would have just laughed.
“I do.” He handed her a package, not meeting her eyes. “This belongs to you.”
She blinked up at him and then carefully opened it. “You got me a gift? You didn’t have to…” She stopped as she saw her purse. Her wallet. Her mother’s picture. Damien got her stuff back from Slade, just like he said he would. Something soft and warm melted in her chest. Kara let out a long breath and looked up at him. “You did this for me?” There was no other payoff for him that she could possibly think of.
He lifted his shoulder in an uncomfortable shrug. “Stealing from the Vampires is always a pleasurable way to spend an evening.”
That meant yes.
The novel’s brooding villain had done this just to be nice. To make her happy. “Damien.” She touched his cheek, bringing his guarded face around to hers. “Thank you.” She leaned up, so she could brush her lips against his. The kiss was gentle. Somehow more real than ever before.
He gave a low groan as if he felt it too. “Kara Lynn, it was such a simple thing. For you, I would do so much more.” His hand tangled in her hair, caressing. “And, looking at those items, I understand now why you believe this is all a book. You are from the future and this time is unknown to you. But, don’t you see that this belief comes from your confusions with 1892? It is the most logical…”
“No.” She shook her head, cutting him off. “This is a romance novel.”
“It’s not, Kara Lynn. This is real. I am real.”
Kara didn’t have a response to that insistent appeal, because… Maybe he was right. Damien seemed more alive than any man she’d ever met. How could he be fictional? Honestly, when she looked into his eyes, she didn’t know what to think. This was all a story, but Damien seemed like so much more than a character in a book. So much more.
Damien sighed as Kara grabbed up her fifty yards of skirt and she stepped into the cab without saying anything else.
“Fair grounds.” He told the driver and climbed into the seat across from Kara. He’d apparently decided to let the subject of her supposed delusions drop. “Dare I ask who’s watching Matilda, by the way?”
Lord, Kara did not relish explaining that one. “Do you really care?”
“No. But if she’s died, I do worry about the smell getting into the carpets. It is July.”
“Don’t remind me.” The heat in the carriage was unbearable. Kara hiked up the long, heavy skirts of her dress trying to get cool. Her thighs were covered, but the bare length of her legs was exposed to the air. It helped a little.
Damien’s mouth parted in shock.
She glanced his way and smirked. “Oh please. Deal with it, Vlad. In the future, people show a hell of a lot more skin than this every day.” She wiggled her fingers ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ style and tilted her head back on the seat. “God, it’s sweltering here. When was the air conditioner invented?”
Nothing from his side of the carriage.
Fine.
She closed her eyes, agitated for no particular reason. “And time travel is waaay more rational than Witches.” She muttered. “Ask Einstein. He might be born by now, already adding up all the little ‘Es’ and ‘Ms’ and ‘C’ squareds.”
Minutes ticked by in silence. The carriage really was like an oven.
Damn Tanya.
Kara might have dozed off. She suddenly became aware of a prickling sensation down her spine. Like something was stalking her. Her eyes fluttered open to see Damien staring her, intently. The angles of his face pulled taunt. She followed his gaze and saw that her legs had shifted further apart, revealing the black scrap of lace that apparently passed for underwear here in Tanya’s world. Kara didn’t know a lot about actual 1892 fashion, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t hoopskirts and thongs.
Kara automatically tried to snap her knees together.
“Do not.”
The dark words had her breasts tightening, her heartbeat speeding up. Kara instinctively obeyed, her thighs parted like something out of Basic Instinct. She didn’t say anything. She just watched him watch her and waited, her body growing damp.
Damien wasn’t human. She’d never been more aware
of that than at that moment. His eyes glowed with animalistic intent. Predator and prey. She was in his crosshairs and she loved it.
“Wider.” He still didn’t look at her face, his ebony gaze fixed on the junction of her thighs.
Kara shifted her legs further apart, a feeling of sexual powers coming over her. For the first time in her life, she felt utterly sensual. She licked her lower lip, suddenly so aroused she whimpered.
He appreciated that sound. He glanced at her face, his eyes gleaming. “Good human.” Damien eased off the seat and knelt in front of her. “Don’t move.” His hands slid up her legs, from her feet to her thighs, touching with possessive intent. Stroking her gold anklet, he hummed with approval. “I like this.”
“Thanks.” Kara tried to focus on reality and not his warm breath on her skin. “I got it on eBay.”
“My people gave chains like this for great women. They were a mark of power.” He rolled the pad of his thumb along the rope links. “It suits you.”
“Well, enjoy it while you can, because I’m probably gonna have to sell it for food if I can’t get home soon.”
“I doubt it will come to that.” Strong fingers massaged up her calves. Her knees. Higher. Spreading her open. Holding her before him, like a sacrifice.
Kara felt a flicker of panic in the midst of her lust. “This is not a good idea.” Real or not, he was still trapped forever in Eternal Passion at Sunset. He didn’t know what he was doing. She was taking advantage of him. “You don’t really want… Oh!”
Damien ripped the panties right off her body. Just tore the lace free with a savage jerk. “I do want.” He murmured, tossing the fabric aside.
Kara was panting, now. “Okay, see? We’re definitely in a romance novel, because no guy really does that… My God.” Her head fell back as his mouth found the very core of her. “Damien.” Magic had to be involved in whatever he was doing. It just felt too good.
Not Another Vampire Book Page 18