Himself.
“It wasn’t your fault.” That was at the root of this entire vendetta. His festering hate for the Vampires came from guilt and grief. This damaged man would always blame himself for the evils of the world. Make them out to be his own. “It wasn’t your fault that she died.”
Nothing.
“Beloved?” Kara climbed out of the bed, sweeping the sheet along with her as she crossed to him. The word got him to look at her, at least. The human translation of cari. Kara stopped in front of him and met his gaze. Black eyes glittered, reflecting the dancing candle flames and unshed tears. “Did you love your sister?”
“Yes.” The word was stark.
“And she loved you. She would not want you to do this to yourself. She’d want you to stop this revenge, before you died.”
“I can’t.” His hands came up to grip her shoulder. “That’s why I am telling you this. I can’t give up my vengeance. I feel it like a compulsion. But, I also can’t stop thinking of what might happen if I die.” He looked desperate, the sentences tumbling out too fast. “This new emotion tells me that I have to do anything to keep you safe. And, if I die, you will be alone.”
“So don’t die, idiot.”
He dismissed that order with an emphatic head shake. “Listen to me. You will have to protect yourself. I can teach you much. But, Kara Lynn, you must take more care for your safety. You can’t just run into danger as you did today. Repeatedly. If I’m gone, you will be alone and you are so young.” His voice broke on the word.
“Damien, we’ve been over this before. If you die, I’m not going to stay here, anyway. I’d never stay in this time period without you.” Kara frowned as she realized that, implicit in that statement, was the idea that with Damien around… she might stay. If he asked, she might give up her old life to be with him. More than “might.” Her connection with this man felt realer than anything back in reality.
If he asked, she’d stay. Only he wasn’t going to ask.
Damien missed the tacit admission in her words. “Fate brought you here, Kara Lynn. Brought you to me. It wants you here. You think it was a mistake? That it will just take you back, because you wish it?”
“Yes.” She had to believe that. “I’m going home.”
His jaw ticked. “What if this is your home now?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out, I guess.” She pulled free of his hands. “What do you care? You’re just an empty, vengeance seeking robot, remember? I don’t want to talk about this.”
He ignored that. Apparently, he’d been thinking of a plan to fix everything for her after his funeral and he wasn’t giving it up. Such a thoughtful mate. Kara’s tender feelings for him turned on a dime. It was always like that around Damien. The man created his own emotional rollercoaster. Now, she was ready to kill him herself.
“You will need a place to live, don’t you see? You must take this hotel.” He nodded, like that would solve all her troubles. “You will be safe here. I know you don’t care for the decor, but you can sell the furnishings and buy whatever you want. And I can provide enough money that you never…”
“It’s not your responsibility to set up my retirement fund. I’ll be fine without your wonderful generosity.” Bastard. Did he think he could just buy her off? Assuage his guilt over abandoning her with some cash and prizes?
“After tonight, it is my responsibility to ensure you will be taken care of.”
Unbelievable bastard.
“No, it’s not. You don’t have to pay me for sex! You’re about to cross some lines here, Damien. Seriously. Let it drop. I’m not a prostitute.”
“You are my wife.” He shouted the word. “That is the human equivalent. Perhaps you should think of it in those terms, if you’re not understanding what it means to be a mate.”
For one blinding second, she’d never been so angry. So utterly furious with another person. “Perhaps you should think about it, Damien. You’re the one planning on making your ‘wife’ a widow.” She headed back to the bed. “And we might have mated or whatever, but that’s not a real marriage.”
“The hell it’s not.” His tone went icy cold. “You consented and it’s done.”
“I don’t have a ring and my honeymoon apparently consists of you killing yourself. That’s not a damn marriage!”
“Yes, it is.” He sounded so definite that her stomach dipped.
Hang on…
Had she really married him?
Was that really all it took in his culture?
Terror and shock and an annoying spark of happiness shot through her.
Damien stalked towards her. He’d put on a pair of black pants at some point, but his chest and feet were bare. “I do not want to argue over what has already been decided. I merely want to prepare you for the future.”
Kara shook her head, still processing this new twist. “My future’s back in the twenty-first century. You wanna stay up late writing your will, be my guest. I’m going to sleep.”
“Kara Lynn, you must listen. Mating with me has given you certain… changes.”
“Uh oh.”
“They will not harm you. In fact, they are very advantageous for your survival.”
“Uh oh.”
Her less than enthusiastic reception didn’t slow him down. “You will have a much longer life now. Much longer.”
“How much ‘much longer’?”
“Well, theoretically, you could –I mean, barring the normal human dangers of guns, and hurricanes, and zombie attacks-- you could…” He cleared his throat. “You could be immortal.”
“Oh shit.” She tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. “Damn it, Damien! You promised you weren’t turning me into any kind of supernatural whatzit.”
“I didn’t! Truly, you are still human. You just have an extended life span… and some powers.” He tacked that last part like he hoped she might miss it; swift and kind of mumbled.
Kara’s eyes narrowed. “Powers?”
“Well, certain abilities occasionally manifest with human mates, but…”
“Occasionally?”
“Alright, always.” He talked faster, before she could start screaming at him. “It is a good thing, though, Kara Lynn. You will be able to protect yourself better if you have magicks. The fact that most humans have none makes them vulnerable to predators. I will teach you how to use your powers and you’ll be so much safer here without me.”
For once Kara was left completely without a response.
“You will have the powers of a Wizard Warlock. Probably weaker, because of your humanness, but still very helpful.” Damien didn’t like her silence. She could tell by the wary way he was watching her, bracing himself for an explosion. “They will take time to develop, but…”
“How much time?”
The calm question seemed to catch him off guard. “I don’t know. It differs from person to person. Certainly, within a few days, you’ll feel some of them.”
Kara pressed her lips together. “And you’ll teach me how to use them, huh?”
“Yes. Of course, I will.”
“How?”
He frowned. “Well, we can start slowly, but…”
“No, Damien. How? With you dead, how will I learn anything? You don’t have a few days. I told you. This is it. That sunrise?” She pointed to the window. “That’s your last fucking one.”
His face grew tight as if he hadn’t really thought that part out. “I will write down what you need to know then, just in case. But, we don’t know what will happen today. We will have more time. I will make sure of it.” Damien reached out to touch her.
For the first time in the entire course of their relationship, she backed away from him.
Something like agony passed over his face and he dropped his hand.
“You don’t get it.” Kara crossed her arms over her chest. “You just don’t get it. You die today. I don’t want ‘how to’ notes, or money, or living forever. I want you. Maybe, y
ou don’t care whether you live or die, but I do. You’re breaking my heart.” All the stuff about marriage and superpowers and immortality took a backseat to her desperation to save Damien.
For now.
If he survived, he was gonna get his ass kicked, though.
Severely.
“Cari, do not draw back from me. Please. I can’t bear it. I will do whatever will make you happy, if…” He trailed off, like his thoughts and words were suddenly not matching up. He gave his head a quick shake. “The vengeance is…” He stopped, again. “I am… confused.”
“No shit.” She turned away from him, trying to think of another way to get through to him. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t just dot a few ‘I’s and cross a few ‘T’s and think she’d go along with this madness. She loved him. She wanted a life with him. Somehow. With a normal, non-creepy house and two-point-three kids and…
Kara’s thoughts skidded to a halt. “Damien?” She swallowed hard, swiveling to face him, again. “Were you using any kind of magical protection tonight?”
“The entire hotel is magically protected.” He murmured, distractedly. “Do not worry.”
“Protection, dumbass. Could I be pregnant?”
He froze. It was kind of unnerving how utterly still he became.
Together, their eyes traveled down to her stomach.
“Perfect.” Kara moved back to lean heavily against the bed. “I could be stuck in the past --pregnant, alone, and possibly-kinda-widowed-- with untapped magical powers… living forever.” She was turning into her own movie-of-the-week. Or comic book. Dropping her head into her hands, she just started laughing wildly. “Well, it would be good news for you, I guess. You wouldn’t be last of the Wizard Warlock, so the species would go on after you self-destruct. Circle of Life. No need to label you fellas extinct, just yet.”
“Kara Lynn, I would know if you were with child.” Damien sounded like he was trying to convince himself. “I would know. I’m a doctor and a sorcerer and…” He slowly held out a palm like he was afraid she’d reject him, again. “Just let me feel and we will see.”
She stood there as he rested a hand on her abdomen and did some movement with his fingers. For a timeless moment, they both just waited, not breathing.
“No.” He shook his head and stepped back. “You are not pregnant.”
Kara wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. “You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.” He met her eyes. “Do you really think I would leave you alone here with a child to raise?”
“Yeah.” Absolutely she did. “I think Slade’s death means more to you than your life or anyone else’s. You’ve told me so. A lot.”
Damien didn’t respond to that for a long moment. He looked stunned. “More than anyone else’s?” He repeated. “You believe I would complete my vengeance, even if it meant sacrificing your life, then?”
Did she believe that?
Kara didn’t know.
Her silence must have answered for her, because Damien glanced away like she’d just wounded him. Deeply. “That is not true.” It was a snarl. The most animalistic voice she’d ever heard him use. “Your life means more to me than anything. You mean more to me than anything. I care for nothing in the universe as I care for…” Ebony eyes suddenly cut back to her, looking bemused. “You.”
“Right.”
“It’s the truth.” His tone softened. “I care for you. More than anything else. Far more. That’s why things are so confused.” His face reflected the dawning of a true revelation. “I think… I love you.”
Kara’s jaw dropped at that Partridge Family inspired declaration. “What?” It came out a squeak. “No, you don’t. You can’t care about anything except your vengeance. The book repeats it like nine-hundred times…”
He cut her off, looking more and more confident in the words. “I know I love you. I know it. That’s what this new emotion is. It’s real. I feel it, hot and whole and genuine.” He slowly shook his head. “You are my mate. I’ve loved you from the first. Of course, I did. My Gods, the insane things I’ve done to keep you with me and make you happy should have told me that.” He gave an amazed chuckle, like he was looking at one of those magic picture things they used to sell at malls and he suddenly saw the hidden unicorn amid the static dots.
“I think you’re still confused, because…”
“I love you, Kara Lynn.”
Kara hesitated. “Really?” She asked, hope and skepticism warring inside of her.
“Yes.” One big hand came over to touch her cheek and this time she didn’t move away. “You are my best friend, too. The only woman I want, in this world or any other. I love you. Believe me. Please.”
He meant it.
She could see it in his eyes.
He really meant it.
“Damien.” Kara launched herself at his chest, clinging fast. “I love you so much.” She kissed him, exuberantly. “I knew that you could care, if only you pulled free from Tanya’s brainwashing. I knew it!”
“How did I not know that I loved you sooner?” Damien caught her close, sounding dazed. “Why could I not feel it from the beginning?” He buried his face in her hair and held tight. “Cari, forgive me. Please forgive me. Something was wrong with me. My thoughts were wrong. Why did I think only of…?” He stopped, his eyes siding over to the nightstand where the manuscript rested.
Kara followed his gaze and nearly cursed, her mood deflating. “Vlad…”
His head tilted. “I would never risk leaving you alone.” He pulled away from Kara, moving over to where the book lay. “You would not survive a day without me. You are too reckless. I would never abandon my helpless mate in a foreign world to die. And I would never give up our children. Give up having a family with you. Not even for my vengeance. My sister would not want that.”
“No, she wouldn’t. I told you that.”
He carefully picked up Eternal Passion at Sunset like it might bite him. “If I had a choice, I would always choose you, Kara Lynn. Always. So why would I even think of placing my revenge before you? Even for a moment? Why would I be confused about something so fundamental? It’s impossible that such a thought came from within me. Physiologically impossible.”
She waited, seeing where his racing mind was taking him. Wishing she could make it easier.
“I would always put your happiness first. The Wizard Warlocks are creatures. Our mates are part of our biological instincts. We would never give them up. Never risk them. It goes against everything we are.”
“You’re not a creature.”
“No, in this I am.” He shot her a quick glance. “With you, I am little more than an animal. I would die before I lost you. I would stay with you until the end of the world. I would sacrifice anything for you. Something tried to block me from doing that. Block my instincts. Block my thoughts and feelings. If I had a choice, I would always choose you. All other impulses are...” He swallowed. “Not real. They’re part of the fog. They do not come from me.”
“I know.” She let out a shaky breath and cut right to the heart of the matter. “I don’t think you did have a choice, though. We’re inside a book. Please believe that.”
Damien opened the manuscript, flipping through it. He scanned page after page, his expression growing stark as he read. “We’re inside a book.”
The words were a whisper.
Karalynn closed her eyes. “Yes.” He finally saw.
“We’re inside a book.” He repeated it to himself as if testing the idea. “When did this begin? Has it always been this way? Why am I the villain?”
“I don’t know.” She wanted to cry for him. He looked staggered. Horrified. Furious. “I’m sorry.”
“Son-of-a-bitch.” Damien threw the manuscript across the room. He just hauled off and hurled it at the wall. “We’re inside a fucking book!” He scraped both hands through his hair and blinked like someone had poured cold water on his face; the violent, wide-eyed head shake of a person co
ming painfully awake too fast. “You were right. All this time, you were right.”
Now was not the time for another “I told ya so.” But it was tempting. “You’re real, Damien.” Kara wanted to head off that line of thinking before he even got there. She grabbed hold of his arm. “This is a book, but you are real.”
He snorted as if that wasn’t even in debate. “Of course, I’m real.” He apparently didn’t doubt it for a second. The man had a confident sense-of-self that could rival anyone’s, in any reality. “I know I am real and so are you. You are mine. That is real. But, something is trying to control me. Something is taking my choices from me. And I will stop it.”
Good to know he was dealing with this with his normal level of humility. “Why is it about you? I’m the one who was dumped here.”
“You are me. I am you. We’re a pair. Someone tried to prevent me from feeling my love for you. Someone is trying to kill me tomorrow. Someone plans to take you from me. And it will never happen.” His jaw tightened. “Perhaps, it is the Vampires.” They were always his first round draft pick, go-to antagonists.
“Damien, it’s not the Vampires. Do you really think they’re smart enough to come up with this?”
“No. But someone has obviously found a way to alter reality. I must think.” Any normal person --or sorcerer-- would be shocked at this news. Terrified. Weeping under a bed. Damien just looked determined and really pissed off. He grabbed up his shoes and a shirt. “Do not leave the hotel. I will return.”
“Vlad…”
He gave her a hard kiss and then stormed out of the bedroom, slamming the door loud enough to make her wince.
Right.
Well, that had gone great.
Maybe he just needed some time to process it on his own. Who could blame him? Kara reached up to rub her temple, doing some thinking of her own.
Not Another Vampire Book Page 26