by Kay Maree
Lani glanced down at Gina’s still form and then shifted her gaze back to Tori. No fear appeared in her eyes. “I don’t care what she is as long as she’s alive.”
Colton touched the blonde on the shoulder. “Tori, please. I’m begging you…”
Without uttering a word, Tori batted him away, jerked Gina’s upper body up from the dirt floor, and sank her fangs into her neck.
Colton watched as Tori’s eyes rolled back in her head. She drank so long that he was beginning to second-guess his decision to ask this of her. “Stop! You’re killing her!”
“She’s already dying,” Damien quietly informed him. “Tori is attempting to save her.”
Tori suddenly pulled back, bit into her wrist, and then placed the open vein over Gina’s mouth.
Colton held his breath, wanting to pray but knowing he couldn’t. He glanced up at the last remnants of light that remained near the ceiling. He’d made his choice, and that choice lay on a dirt floor, fighting for her life.
Long moments ticked by with Victoria feeding Gina her blood.
Damien eventually rested his hand on his wife’s arm. “That’s enough, love. You don’t want to give too much. You’ll weaken yourself.”
Tori remained where she sat for another ten minutes before finally pulling her wrist free from Gina’s mouth.
Colton glanced between Tori and Damien, reaching once more for Gina’s hand.
Heat traveled up his arm, slamming into him with enough force his back bowed. He looked down at his body, relieved to find himself in solid form again.
“Gina?” Colton scrambled closer. “Gina, baby, can you hear me?”
Tori blew out a shaky breath. “She’ll sleep for about two days, but she’ll survive.”
Lani threw herself into Tori’s arms. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my baby.”
Tori returned her hug. “I didn’t save her, Mrs. Collins. Your daughter died on this floor tonight. And when she wakes, she will never be the same. She very well might hate us all…”
“I’m taking her home,” Colton informed them, his strength returning with every second that passed. He slid his arms beneath Gina’s limp body and stood, holding her high against his chest.
Lani hurried to his side, her eyes widening. “I can see you.”
“Probably because I’m holding Gina in my arms.,” Colton offered. He sent Lani a pitying look. “I’m sorry for everything, Mrs. Collins. I know he was your husband.”
Lani glanced over to the place where Jack’s dead body lay. “He killed all those people, and shot my daughter. He can rot in hell.”
“How is it that Colton was able to stay here and not forced to go with the other souls?” Tori asked Lani.
A far-off look entered Lani’s eyes. “I don’t know, but I know someone who might.”
At everyone’s questioning look, she continued. “He’s a shaman who lives on the Shoal River. He’s the reason for Gina’s vision, and why we ended up here tonight.”
“Gina’s vision?” Colton studied Lani’s eyes.
Lani sent him a gentle smile. “I’ll let her tell you about that when she wakes. Damien and Victoria can give you a lift back to Gina’s. I’m going to call the police and tell them where they can find the bodies buried in that pit.” She met the gazes of everyone in that room apart from Gina’s. “None of you were ever here.”
* * * *
It had been over forty-eight hours since Gina had been shot in that basement. Two days since she’d ingested the blood of a vampire. Colton was beyond worried.
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy, hovering over her bed like that. She’ll wake up when she’s ready, and not a minute before.”
Colton turned and faced Victoria. “How long did it take you to wake?”
“Not long.” Tori sent him a reassuring smile. “But I knew what I wanted. I knew I wanted Damien to change me, and I was more than prepared for those changes.”
She nodded toward Gina. “She, on the other hand, was shot and killed. Her body has gone through so many changes at once, her mind is probably in denial. Not to mention she was shot by her own father, and probably thinks you went on to another plane and she’ll never see you again.”
Colton’s heart squeezed. “What can I do?”
“Unfortunately, nothing but stay by her side and wait for her to come back to you.”
A moan came from the bed, and Colton’s gaze shot to Gina. “Gina, honey?”
Damien and Lani entered the room, both with expectant looks on their faces.
“I think she’s coming around,” Colton breathed, bending to kiss her beautiful lips.
Gina’s eyes fluttered open, and panic entered their pale blue depths. She jerked her head to the side, staring at Colton as if he’d grown two heads. “Am I dead?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Tori whispered, drawing Gina’s attention to the foot of the bed.
Gina sat up faster than Colton’s eyes could track.
“Whoa,” he breathed, grabbing onto her shoulders. “I need you to lie back, take deep breaths, and we’ll try to explain everything. Okay?”
Tears entered her eyes as she stared back at him in wonder. “You’re really here. I’m not dead or dreaming?”
“I’m really here, love. And I’m never leaving your side again.”
Gina lifted her hand, turning it left and right in front of her face. “What’s happening to me?”
“I changed you,” Tori blurted, dropping the mother of all bombs in the room.
Gina stilled, her hand frozen in front of her and her eyes glued on Victoria. “Changed me as in how?”
Lani stepped forward, moving to stand next to Tori. “I told her to do it. I wasn’t about to let you lay there and die. I couldn’t lose you.”
Colton saw the second that realization dawned. Gina shifted her gaze back to Tori. “You made me like you? I’m a vampire?”
Everyone in the room froze in dread, each probably wondering who Gina would attack first.
With tears sparkling in her beautiful eyes, Gina opened her mouth…and laughed. The sound echoed through the room, warming Colton’s heart in a way it hadn’t been warmed since he lived.
“Thank you, Victoria Devain,” Gina whispered through her tears. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Tori looked as shocked as Colton felt. “You’re not angry with me?”
Gina threw back the covers, kissed Colton on the lips, and turned to face one of her closest friends. “How could I be angry at the one person who made it possible for me to spend eternity with Colton Baines?”
More laughter erupted as everyone joined in the merriment.
Gina suddenly sobered, taking Colton by the hand. “Your sister?”
“Is free now, thanks to you. They all are. The screams I’d been hearing for the last three years? They weren’t from the ones in that fire. They came from the ones in that pit. That’s why I was still here. Meeting you was meant to be. It was fate.”
Gina tilted her head to the side. “But I saw you in the light. Why didn’t you go into the light?”
Colton realized every person in the room waited for his answer. “I think each of us has a destiny, a reason for being here. I know in my heart that your destiny wasn’t to leave by the light that night, Gina. And since you are my destiny…”
Gina’s lips sealing over his, cut off the rest of his thought.
Colton kissed her back with everything inside him, noticing the room’s occupants swiftly clear out.
Gina suddenly pulled back, her hands going to either side of his face. “I love you, Colton Baines.”
“I love you too, Gina. For the next thousand years and beyond…”
Epilogue
One Year Later
Gina sifted through the boxes in the attic, laughing as she showed Colton some old pictures of her as a child. “I’m missing my front teeth in this one.”
“Even toothless, you were beautiful.”
She wistfully sighed. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I’m so happy, I feel like I could explode.”
Sobering, she asked, “Did you go see your mother in the nursing home today?”
He stood and trailed over to her side. “I did. There are times that I wonder if she can sense me there. She turns in my direction, staring at nothing in particular and simply smiles.”
“I’m glad you’re visiting her, Colton. And I’d be willing to bet that she feels your presence, every time you’re there.”
Colton lowered to his knees in front of Gina. “Are you sure you’re happy?”
She frowned, setting the photo album aside. “Happier than I’ve ever been. Why would you ask me that?”
He shrugged. “I know that you loved being a dispatcher. Resigning had to be harder than you’re letting on.”
“I’ll admit it wasn’t easy. But the alternative would have been worse. Even if I worked midnight shifts, I’d be clocking out at seven in the morning. It simply wasn’t feasible. Besides, I love spending my nights with you.”
Colton leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips. “What time is your mother coming by?”
Lani had given Gina, Jack’s house. She’d felt it only right that her daughter should get it since it was his bullet that had taken her life.
Gina knew there was more to it than that. Lani didn’t want any memories of Jack. Not to mention, she’d been spending far too much time with Ned Riverwind.
Lani had been able to see Colton since the night Gina had been shot. According to Riverwind, Gina’s White Buffalo totem had been responsible. It was Gina who bridged the two planes, making it possible for the souls to cross over, and Lani’s spiritual eyes to be opened.
Colton remained a ghost, but he was no longer tormented by the screams, and for that, Gina would always be grateful.
Lani had surprised them all with the astronomical insurance policy she’d had on Jack. She’d taken it out on him years ago when he’d first been elected as a judge in Walton County. She’d always feared someone would take a shot at him, never guessing that it would be her. Lani had split the insurance money with Gina and bought herself a small house on the Shoal River.
Imagine that, Gina thought with an inward giggle. Lani now lived less than a mile from Ned Riverwind.
“Mom won’t be here for another hour. She and Ned are eating dinner first at Scruples.”
“What about you? Are you hungry?” Colton whispered, his eyes becoming hooded.
Gina shook her head. “I still have plenty of O Negative in the fridge. I’m good for another week.”
She reached up and popped the button free on her blouse. “But I sure hope you are.”
“I’m always hungry.” And he proceeded to show her exactly how much.
About the Author
Tressa Rabbit is an erotic author with a taste for all things sugar and spice. She’s been published in numerous erotic anthologies, including “Penthouse Forums.” Other solo titles include Smoldering Ruby, Ruby’s Ashes and The Cookie Dough Job with Crazy Ink Publishing, LLC. She is also author to several mainstream, vanilla novels under a different pen name. Tress is always open to new experiences and loves the challenge of writing about taboo and/or odd relationships.
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Lucifer
THE DIRTY DOZEN – DAMSEL EDITION
Natasha Thomas
LUCIFER
Copyright © 2019 by Natasha Thomas
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Natasha Thomas
[email protected]
www.natashathomasauthor.com
www.facebook.com/NatashaThomasAuthor
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Lucifer / Natasha Thomas. –February, 2020- 1st ed.
Dedication
For Paul…
If it weren’t for you, pizza, and beer I’m not sure I would have got this finished in time. So for that and all the laughs, thank you.
P.S. I won’t tell your dad you read a romance book.
xxx
Chapter One
Lucifer
Slamming the phone down, I turn to my business partner and growl, “Call your daughter and tell her to answer her damn phone. What’s the fucking point in having one if she’s doesn’t use it?”
Trace scowls at me, which pisses me off because it’s his daughter causing me to lose my fucking mind and my temper after all. But then again, it doesn’t really matter how he’s looking at me. Especially, since pissed off is my perpetual state of being these days.
“When are you going to give the fuck up and move on Lucifer? I don’t know how many times I’ve got to tell you this, but it’ll be over my dead rotting corpse that I’ll allow you to start dating my daughter,” he replies.
He shouldn’t bother repeating himself; I heard him the first five hundred times he said it. After all, Trace has been
telling me the same thing ever since Tatum turned twenty-one, six years ago.
There’s no point arguing with the man where Tatum’s concerned, so instead, I grunt, “If I wanted your opinion, I’d give it to you,” and log out of the search I was running and close my laptop.
Trace and I have been working together for a little over twelve months, so I’ve gotten used to his shitty attitude and constant complaints about his youngest three daughters, Kristina, Jayla, and Lydia. However, I’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and that just happens to be when he breaks out the not so subtle references to what he’ll do to me and my balls if I even consider pursuing his oldest daughter.
Every day it’s the same thing; I mention Tatum’s name and Trace threatens my manhood. Honestly, I could probably set my fucking watch by it. And to prove my point, a second later, he sneers, “Your balls are going to have a very unfortunate meeting with my blender if you keep that shit up. Tate is off-limits. You’ve got plenty of women lined up who would love to take a ride on your dick; go call one of them and leave my little girl alone.”
Jesus, he’s fucking unbelievable sometimes. Not only is there nothing little about Tatum, but I don’t think he’s aware of just how impossible me staying away from his daughter actually is. Trust me, I’ve tried, and every time I fail. Spectacularly.
“Listen,” I manage to grate out, but I’m cut off by the sound of the door to our reception area opening.
And speak of the devil.
“Dad,” Tatum calls out.
Skidding to a stop when she sees me leaning against his desk, she hisses, “Oh, shit,” before turning her back on me and refusing to look in my direction. I’m not surprised because Tatum knows she’s in a world of trouble when I get her alone. And mark my words, I will get her alone; that’s a promise.
She’s going to pay for that little stunt she pulled earlier today, and I happen to be more than happy to dole out the punishment she has coming to her. Especially, if it involves my hand and her sweet, luscious ass. Just thinking about getting my hands on all her lush curves has me hard enough to hammer nails, which isn’t ideal when her father is standing all of ten feet away from me.
“Tatum,” I growl, letting my deep baritone act as her warning.
At the same time, Trace ask, “To what do I owe the pleasure? You never show up to see me at work, which means one of two things. Either one of your sisters has crashed the car again, or you’ve lost your job for assaulting another patient. So which one is it, Princess?”
“Hey,” Tatum cries indignantly. “I told you, he deserved it. And anyway, I thought it was your job as my dad to defend my honor, not the guys who grab my ass, call me sweet cheeks, and offer to take my temperature with their dicks.”
Chuckling at her colorful explanation, Trace nods. “How exactly am I supposed to defend you when you do shit like, karate chopping a patient who is in respiratory failure in the throat, Tate?”
“First of all, I did not karate chop him. I simply exerted the appropriate level of force on his carotid artery for less than thirty seconds until Mr. Grabby passed out. And secondly, I don’t know. Lie?” She asks almost expectantly.
“Fucking hell,” he mutters, shaking his head derisively. “You’re going to drive me to drink, Princess.”
“Too late. I found your half-empty bottle of bourbon last night and confiscated it for your own good,” she chirps, hoisting her tight round ass onto the desk opposite me, crossing one leg over the other.
Tate’s body is angled away from me, and she’s sitting as far away from me as humanly possible without drawing attention to the fact that she’s actively avoiding me. Which, I have to say, is the smart choice. Tate should keep a respectable distance from me because right now, I would love nothing more than to kick her father out of his office, bend her over my lap and spank her just to see how much she can take before she’s dripping wet and begging for mercy.
The thought has my cock lengthening in my pants again, and the constant throbbing only increases as visions of Tatum naked, her firm, full tits topped with a tight, sweet nipples ready and waiting for me to suckle them flash through my head. Everything about this woman does it for me, and I don’t know how long I can last before getting her into my bed so that I can get her off.