Damn sorcerer.
She alternated between wanting to hit him with blunt objects and wanting to ravish him.
It was crazy to let him affect her this way. None of this was real. Damien was just a character and she wasn’t part of his story. At the end of the book, Kara would be out of there. She’d fix Slade and Melessa’s happily ever after and she’d never see Damien’s infuriating face again.
Or his really nice body.
Or the way he sort of smiled when he said her name.
Or the way his hair fell over his brow when he titled his head...
Shit.
Kara expelled a frustrated breath, knowing the truth.
The book wasn’t real... but Damien was.
The more she considered it, the more sure she was that he actually existed. He had thoughts and ideas and emotions that were all his own. Damien had a heart and soul, dreams and memories. He had life. He was so much more than just words on a page. So much more than just a character controlled by Tanya.
Damien was very, very real.
Kara felt that right down to her bones and it scared her.
She should be running away from him as fast as she could. Damien fully intended to kamikaze himself into the USS Vampire. Nothing Kara said would dissuade him, not even telling him that he’d lose, and die, and not even get a mention in the sequel. If she got any closer to that lunatic, she’d end up with a broken heart. She knew that and still she figured it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she’d strip his clothes off anyway. Kara was discovering that her IQ dropped like a stone around the jerk.
How could one normal, reasonably smart book editor do so many stupid things?
She wiped at her eyes again and tried to focus on locating Slade. At least, she could fix something that had gone wrong and get him back on Melessa’s scent. He shouldn’t be hard to find. Just look for shrieking fangirls.
Right.
It took her about five minutes to see that Mr. Popularity wasn’t there, yet. No doubt he was off swashbuckling somewhere. Stupid unpunctual Vampire.
Kara consoled herself in the time honored way of eating. The ball had a full buffet. It was the first bright spot in her day. Calories didn’t count when you were depressed and angry and about to get your heart broken by a sorcerer. She polished off several thousand of them.
“Kara Lynn.” Damien came up beside her as she finished some kind of pastry thing. He looked more grim than normal. “I...” He stared down at her and seemed to lose his train of thought. Ebony eyes roamed her face and hair. “I’m sorry.” He finally murmured. “I found you too late to be the man you deserve.”
Kara glowered at him, losing the remained of her appetite. If Vlad was really planning to dust off the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech she might not give Slade a chance to kill him. “Changed your mind about sleeping with me already, huh? I told you it was a bad idea.”
“You were right. I have been selfish.”
“Whatever.” She opened Eternal Passion at Sunset mainly because it gave her something to do besides drown him in the punchbowl. “We were late for the ball, you know. Shouldn’t you rush off to hunt To’kel, before he turns into a bat and flies home?”
The party was in full swing, full of French Revolution style dresses and disco balls suspended from the solid glass ceiling. It made Kara nostalgic for her senior prom and she’d hated her senior prom. Her idiot date had gotten drunk and vomited on her shoes. Still, she wished that she could will herself back to that gym floor, right now. Anything would be better than listening to Damien let her down gently.
Damien made an aggravated sound as she flipped through the manuscript hard enough to rip one of the pages. “Kara Lynn, stop.” He took hold of her arm and guided her towards a more secluded corner of the vast room. No one else was getting too close to him, anyway. Damien’s dark aura was more pronounced than ever. The guy was like party kryptonite. “Must you do that?”
“Do what?” If something was bugging him, she was about to make it her new hobby.
Asshole.
“The book. Must you continually turn to that damn thing, instead of listening to me?”
“Yep.” She scanned some random paragraph. It was chapter seven again, Slade and Melessa in the graveyard. Nice and cheery. As she pretended to read, the word ‘cari’ jumped out at her. Kara frowned in surprise. She’d thought she’d seen it before, but she hadn’t really noticed its context. Why would she? Now though, she was a heck of a lot more interested.
Melessa knelt by the grave her delicate hand fingering the carved words as she read. “Joseph cari of Jasmina.” She glanced up at him. “You killed this man? But, he had a wife. Someone who loved him.”
Wait a second...
Kara blinked, rapidly, her irritation fading into shock.
Wife?
“Damien?” Her voice sounded far away. “What does that mean?” She held it up for him to see, her fingernail tapping the incriminating section.
He flashed the page a distracted look and then did a visible double take. His face got taunt. “It means Slade killed Joseph.” He muttered, warily. “I’m not surprised. He killed many...”
Kara cut off the evasion. “What does cari mean? What’s the exact translation?”
“Beloved.”
“That’s it?”
Damien hesitated for a long beat. “That is the literal meaning, yes.” He finally reported, sounding resigned. “The word signifies more, though. In my language ‘cari’ is what we call our mates. Humans would say ‘husband’ or ‘wife,’ but that’s not the real meaning. It would be more like ‘other half.’”
Kara swallowed. Hard. “But, you’re just calling me that as an endearment, right?”
Glowing black eyes fixed on her with a flat expression. “No.”
Her jaw sagged open, as she tried to get oxygen to her lungs.
Slade calling her his Eternal-One was idiotic. Just about the stupidest thing ever written.
Damien deciding that she was his other half wasn’t nearly so funny. In fact, it did crazy things to the inside of her chest. Where was he getting this? It certainly wasn’t part of Tanya’s script. Why would he think Kara was this special one-in-a-billion cari he’d been waiting for?
What was going on?
”That’s not right.” She squeaked out. “Something’s not... No. I’m just not... I’m not her. I’m just not.” Kara Donnelly hadn’t been made especially for anybody, especially not anybody like Damien. She barely even dated and he was... magic. No, no, no, no, no. “There’s been a mistake.”
Damien watched her silently.
“There has.” Kara bobbed her head. “Seriously. Slade was mistaken about my Eternal-oneness and now you’re confused, too. Me being here had crossed some wires. You want a different girl. Thinner, with better hair and who’s from this reality.”
“Do you wish to invoke cariNa?”
The phrasing was very calm and formal. She had absolutely no idea what it meant. “I don’t know. Do I?” Her mind was buzzing and Damien was being no help at all. He just stood there with his jaw locked, like he didn’t care what she had to say. “What is Carrie-Nah?”
“It’s where I let you go.” He wasn’t looking at her, now.
“Like breaking-up, you mean?” Understanding dawned. “Wait, you’re trying to dump me?”
His face grew tighter. “You would be free. It would be best for you, Kara Lynn.”
Okay, now that was just insulting. “This is unbelievable. One minute we’re almost having sex, then we’re cosmic soul mates, and now you’re dumping me?! Your mood swings give me whiplash.”
He bit-off a series of words that could only be Wizard Warlock oaths. “I am trying, Kara Lynn.” He shook his head. “You have no idea how hard I’m trying to be your mate right now, and give you what you need.”
“Right.” She crossed her arms over her chest, completely unimpressed with his self- sacrificing tone. Kara should be glad he wanted to end th
ings. Getting in any deeper with this jackass was such a bad idea. “Ya know, Slade didn’t try to dump me two seconds after announcing I was his It Girl.” She snapped, anyway.
That got a reaction.
“Of course, he didn’t!” Damien’s calm mask slipped and beneath it he was out-of-control furious, edging into despair. “Slade’s never cared about you or anyone else! He would take you for himself, no matter what the costs! He’s a selfish, oblivious oaf, but he’s your hero. So fine.” He waved a disgusted hand. “Go be with the fucking Vampire in his fucking palace. When I kill him, you’ll at least get the ruby furniture and a nice crown.” Damien plowed a palm through his hair and turned away, like he wanted to put distance between them.
Had he lost his mind? “Damien.” She cut off his escape, stepping in front of him. “Why are you suddenly doing this? After what happened in the cab, do you really want me to go with Slade?”
“No!” He roared. “I don’t fucking want it. But, if I die and you are my cari, you would be alone. If Slade dies and you are his Eternal-One, you will be safe on the Vampire Isle. It would be better for you to be with him.”
Kara blinked at that reasoning. “So, when I asked you to give up your vengeance, that’s what you got out of the conversion?”
“You were right.” His mouth barely moved. “I must see you cared for, after I am gone.”
“Very thoughtful.” Imbecile. “Only I won’t be here. If all goes as planned, I’m going home, so you don’t have to worry. You’ll be dead and I’ll be back in reality, writing Tanya’s rejection letter.”
His lips compressed, like she’d just made him even angrier. “And if I don’t die, will you still think to go back to your ‘reality?’ Your own time?”
“You will die, Damien.” And it would kill her. Not that he cared.
“You don’t know that.” He insisted stubbornly, but he clearly believed it, too.
“Yes, I do. You’ll have died in some big showdown, just how you want it, and I’ll go back home, just like I want. A happy ending, all around.” It made her want to cry just thinking about it.
“I don’t want to die and I don’t want you to go back to the future!”
One of the braver waiters had been edging towards them with glasses of champagne. Damien’s bellow had him executing a quick U-turn and scurrying away.
Kara barely noticed. “Really, McFly?” She challenged. “What do you want, then? And don’t say vengeance or so help me...”
“I want you, Kara Lynn.” His voice was low and bleak. He scrapped a hand through his hair, looking defeated. “I need you.”
Kara started up into his tortured gaze… and realized she was completely in love with this moron. She listened to those short, desperate words and surrendered to the inevitable. She’d known him such a short time, and her life was upside down, and he would break her heart…
But, there was just no point in fighting it.
As doomed and stupid as it seemed, she was completely in love with this aggravating bastard. “Oh God. I’m such an idiot.” She pressed her palms into her eye sockets and fought the urge to laugh hysterically. Falling for Damien was so utterly insane that Kara nearly went back to wondering if she was just imagining this whole misadventure. Maybe she was locked up in a padded cell somewhere for her own protection.
What was she thinking? It was hopeless to love a supernatural villain from a romance novel. Especially one who claimed he couldn’t feel any emotions beyond revenge. He wouldn’t love her back. Not ever. And ‘ever’ was a pretty long time for someone immortal. Damien was hardly going to want to plan a dream wedding with some tiny life-spanned, mostly boring, ranking-consistently-second-to-all-things-vengeance human from another dimension of space and time.
What could possibly come from this except misery?
“It’s just so damn hopeless.” She whispered that for her own benefit, but Damien apparently agreed with her assessment.
His jaw ticked. “I know.” He started to stalk off, then turned back with a curse. “You still need to say it.” He snarled.
Kara was close to hyperventilating. “Say what?” She asked, blankly.
“Say you’re invoking fucking cariNa!”
“What? No.” She still wasn’t sure what cariNa really was. No way in hell was she trusting his judgment about invoking it. Not when he was acting like this. What if he tricked her into doing something she couldn’t take back? Kara wasn’t capable of making any decisions at the moment. She was thinking six million different thoughts. “I’m not saying anything, right now.”
Damien opened his mouth and then closed it, again. “But, you have to. You don’t understand. If you don’t do this, I would still be your mate under the Wizard Warlock’s laws.”
Clearly, a tragedy for him.
“So what?” Jesus, that was the least of her problems. “There’s only one of you guys left, anyway. Who’s gonna care about your laws?”
“I care!” He shouted, looking wild.
Several nearby partygoers flashed him concerned looks.
Kara glowered at them, then turned back to Damien and lowered her voice. “I thought you didn’t care about anything except your vengeance?” She challenged. “Remember that part?”
He blinked, his face going blank in shock. “I don’t.” He sputtered. “I can’t.”
“Right.” Kara sighed and wondered when that waiter was coming back with the drinks. She had the sudden urge to get plastered. “Look, I don’t even think I am your cari.” She was a pragmatic person. Unrequitedly in love or not, she knew she wasn’t Damien’s predestined bride. There was no way he was right about that. “So, it’s all kinda moot.”
“You’re claiming we aren’t mates? That fate is wrong or that I am lying?” Now, he sounded incensed. “I’m a doctor. I assure you, I know enough about biology to definitively prove you’re my cari, if you think to test it.”
She shook her head emphatically. “I’m not suggesting you’re lying to me. I’m just saying that Tanya has put you under a lot of stress and so have I. You’re confused. Who can blame you? We don’t need to say anything to undo the magical bond or whatever, because it’s not really there. I don’t even believe in fate.”
He really didn’t like that theory. “You don’t need to believe. You just need to invoke cariNa, so I can let you go.”
Kara’s eyes narrowed, not appreciating his patronizing attitude. “If you want to unmate with me, do the invoking yourself.”
“You want me to do this? No. Please, don’t ask me for that.” He regarded her in something like anguish. “I can’t invoke it. I don’t have the strength. This is as much as I can give.”
“You won’t do it?”
“I cannot. It must be you or we will remain as we are.”
Kara didn’t say anything for a long beat, considering her options. “So, if I invoke this thing, I won’t be your mate, anymore?” She asked, softly. “If I ever was your fated dream girl, it would –like-- divorce us?” This was all in Damien’s head, but she still felt a wrenching sensation at the idea of severing whatever connection he’d hallucinated.
“Cari.” One big hand came over to touch the curve of her cheek. “You’ll always be my mate.” He gave a small smile as if her question was amazingly simple. “CariNa will mean that you refuse our mating, but there still never be other for me. I would not even want one.”
“But you think I do. You think I want Slade.”
Nothing.
“Not yet.” He finally admitted and his hand fell away. “But, in time, you might. And I think it would be best for you to free yourself from me.”
“Bullshit. It’s best for you, Damien. You think I’m your super-special other half and you’re still blowing me off. It’s just easier to get rid of me than readjust your precious plans.”
He hadn’t been expecting that take on his noble surrender. “What?” He gaped at her like she’d completely lost her mind. “No! That is not...”
Kara cut
him off. “Well, too bad. I will never invoke that whatchmacallit and I will never, ever run off and marry Slade. As far as I’m concerned, whatever’s going on between us can just stay that way. If you want to get rid of me, cowboy-up and dump me straight out. I’m not gonna make it easier for you to go off and commit suicide, by tying up loose ends for you.”
Damien didn’t seem to have an answer for that. He just stared at her in astonishment.
Kara’s eyebrows arched ‘now what?’ style.
He never really got a chance to respond to the dare. Over the orchestra’s ridiculous rendition of Enrique Iglesias’ Hero, Slade’s epic theme music began playing from the sky. An Errol Flynn inspired ode of trumpets and drums.
Kara and Damien looked up at the domed, glass ceiling in disgusted unison.
Two seconds later, Slade’s voice boomed out like a cavalry charge. “Prepare to die sorcerer! I am here to avenge my Eternal-One!”
Chapter Thirteen
“You have such a magnificent stable, Slade.” Melessa petted the nose of the large black stallion. “Anyone would be proud to care for such fine animals.”
“I know. And now I must appoint a new stable boy.” He sighed, a mighty sigh. “It has been such a difficult day for me and for all the good beings who depend on my selfless protection.”
“I know, my gentle hero.” Her eyes met his gently. “But all is not lost. You have brought your grandmother’s cat back to life and now you have me to share your other burdens.”
“This is true.” He caught her in a tight hug, his manly body surrounding her small, slim form. “Soon I will have defeated Damien and our lives will be perfect. He is a dangerous, but predictable foe. As the greatest strategist of my people, I will easily out maneuver him and finally carry you off into the sunset.”
“Except, you can’t go into the sunset, dearest.”
“I said moonset.”
Eternal Passion at Sunset- Chapter Thirteen
Not Another Vampire Book Page 20