He pulled her with him as he moved to the bed, hoping they landed on the soft covering and didn’t fall to the floor.
“Damon,” her voice was strained. Her hands rested on his shoulders, half in hesitation. He knew she still wasn’t sure about him, didn’t know what to make of him. But he also knew that the desire to possess her, to have all of her, was one he could not deny.
“Shh…let me love you, Kira. I have wanted to touch you all day as I watched you walk through the convention, smiling, speaking to strangers. I want you all to myself. I want you to know what you do to me.”
She blushed as he spoke. That was something he loved about her, and, yes, he knew it was love. There was no other explanation for the feelings choking in his chest. He had only known her for one Earth day, a period of twenty-four hours, yet he knew deep inside that he would never allow her to leave him. She had become the woman she was before she betrayed him. His need for her grew and he knew he would protect her once they returned home. Whatever had been done there, he would undo.
“Damon, I can’t…” She hesitated again, her nails digging into his shoulder as he knelt down to rid her of her jeans. Her silk shirt half hung off her frame, her lacy black bra peeking out from beneath.
“Can’t what, love?”
“I never meant to…” Sobs choked her and he tried not to let them stop him. Love the tears away, his inner voice said, yet the fear in her eyes stopped him short.
“Never meant to what?” His hands rested on her waist as he paused in removing her jeans.
“I never meant to let things go this far. I have to leave in the morning and you have to get back to your life. I’m just not the one-night stand kind of girl.”
“The what?”
“One-night stand. You know, have sex with a total stranger and then leave. That’s not me.” She bit her bottom lip after she spoke then she removed his hands and sank down onto the bed.
“Is that what you think? That I will love you and then ask you to leave? No. I will not. I will never leave your side.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.” She fell backward so that he couldn’t see her face, but he felt the tears as they flowed down her cheeks. They gripped his chest, causing a pain unlike any he had ever felt. A lover’s tears, a true lover’s tears, would do that to the one who loved her. And Damon knew he loved Kira. There was no doubt in his mind. It no longer mattered what Kira had done to him before. She was a new woman, renewed for him, given to him as a second chance at happiness. He knew he had to tell her the truth, show her the truth. But how?
“I say that to you because I love you. I want you to be with me. I want to take you home with me.”
“You want to what?” She sat up, the tears still flowing. She wiped them on the back of her hand and then pulled her shirt closed around her. He inhaled sharply as her ample breasts were once again hidden from view, his frustration mounting.
“I want you to come with me, come home. I want you to be mine.”
She licked her lips, looking as if she were contemplating her words. He could feel her heartbeat increase its rhythm as her hands fisted in the bed covering. Why was she so afraid of him? He knew, intrinsically, that she feared him because she had glimpsed the dragon inside him somewhere in the heat of passion. Damon knew the dragon sometimes appeared at will, taking over his features with its stark, demonic face. She knew that the man who knelt before her, baring his heart to her, was no man at all. Perhaps she even sensed their past.
“I must tell you the truth, Kira. I must show you all of me. Are you ready for that?”
“I’m not ready for any of this.”
“I want to show you wonders you have only dreamed of. Your game, it is a fantasy land, no?”
“Yes. It is a fantasy land. Places like that, people like that, don’t exist.”
“What if I told you they do? What if I told you those things you spoke of to the room full of admirers was true? There is a world outside your own.”
“You’re nuts.” This time, she stood and walked over to the window. She pulled the curtain back, allowing the moon to shine through. Damon longed to go to her and wrap his arms around her. Instead he stood, his eyes content to caress her back while she contemplated his announcement.
“No, Kira. I’m not nuts, as you put it. I am telling you that I can give you so much more than what you have here. I can give you a life where you will never want for anything in a place where fantasies, your fantasies, can come true.”
“Well, let’s go, then.” When she turned to face him, he could hear the sarcasm as the words flew from her lips. “Let’s go now to this fantasy world of yours. Come on, take me.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“No, I don’t. Look, Damon, you’re incredibly beautiful, a wonderful lover, a kind man, but none of this is real. This thing between us is nothing but sex. You feel it, I feel it. You know it can’t last, not here and not in some land you’ve created.”
“What if I prove you wrong?”
“How would you do that?”
“I can’t do it here. But if you will come with me, out into the night, I will reveal everything to you. And then you’ll know I speak the truth. But, Kira, please, do not fear me.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” the unsteady tone of her voice was not lost on him. She was afraid of what she didn’t understand. He would be, too. He had been at one time, when he didn’t understand the change that ruled his kind, binding them to lovers they sometimes did not choose.
“I shall never harm you. I never want to see fear flash in your eyes. But I have a deep truth to reveal to you and you may not like it, Kira. You may never want me to touch you again, but you must. You hold my heart in your hands and you must know that I love you.”
“What is it you have to show me?”
“Your past.”
* * * * *
His words echoed in her head long after they left the hotel room. He had taken her out into the streets of New Orleans, a place that was both frightening and fascinating. The sounds of the night, of year-round Carnival rang in the air, sending a chill down her back as she thought of Anne Rice’s vampires and the rumors of otherworldly creatures that frequented the night here.
Not many towns claimed a legendary voodoo queen or routine vampire and ghost tours. New Orleans was one of those places. Knowing this forced her to move closer to Damon as they wove in and out of the people, most of whom she recognized from the convention. Damon’s big hand held firmly to hers as they moved but it didn’t provide the kind of protection she needed.
Kira knew she was afraid, even if she didn’t want to admit it to Damon. His secret, whatever it was, must be huge, almost as huge as the man who loomed over her. Her heart leapt into her throat as several scenarios flew through her mind at once. Maybe he was a serial killer and she his latest victim. Love ‘em and kill ‘em? No, that wasn’t him. When she looked into his eyes she swore she could see his soul, and it was not tainted by blood. But there was something dark in there, something she couldn’t readily define.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you somewhere safe, somewhere I discovered my first night here. I needed a haven, time to understand things, and this place provided it.”
They turned onto Ann Street and made their way past several tiny shops. Gypsies and jewelers hung out in the doorways of the shops as tourists began leaving, heading toward Bourbon. One set of dark eyes followed them as their owner crossed herself and whispered something in French. The prayer sent a chill crawling up Kira’s back as she thought she heard the French word for devil, but couldn’t be sure.
She didn’t ask any more questions as they moved quietly through the night. Instead, she focused on the feel of Damon’s heartbeat in her hand. He was gripping her hand so tightly, as if his very life depended on the connection. He loved her, he had said. God, could she believe him? It hurt too much to think about what she would do if those words were true.
&
nbsp; She shook herself, trying to erase her fears. Even though she really didn’t feel as if she were in danger there was still no need to let her guard down. They had been alone in her room and he had made no unwelcome moves toward her. In fact, everything he had done to this point had been so very welcome.
“We are here.”
He pushed open an old door that looked as if it would fall from the hinges if it so much as moved. She clung to him as they stepped inside and were immediately assaulted by the scents of dirt and mold. He moved through the dark as if he were made for it, carefully leading her through a maze of a house.
“We’re almost there.”
She couldn’t see a thing as they had moved beyond the windows. They seemed to now be in an endless tunnel with no way out. Her eyes couldn’t focus in the darkness as he gently pulled her behind him. Fear gripped her heart as she wondered what he would do next. She bit her lip, only stopping when she tasted blood. The moment of reckoning was at hand and she was damned if she knew what to do about it.
* * * * *
The room was instantly lit, though Kira wasn’t sure of the source. Damon must have lit a well-known torch on the wall or candles or something. When he turned, she saw the source, which was in fact two torches, one of which he held in his hand. Wrapping her arms around herself, she watched as he moved across the room to deposit the other torch into a bracket on the opposite wall.
This place was a haven. A low bed lay against one wall while several articles of clothing lay across an old chair. A sword hung on one wall and a fireplace invited them to sit and enjoy themselves. But there was still something menacing in the air, something hanging between them that he had yet to reveal.
“I brought you here because I do not want you to escape.”
Her fingernails dug half-moons into her palms as he removed his overcoat and flung it over the back of the chair where it joined the rest of his clothing.
“Are you going to kill me?” She had to ask even though deep down she knew he wouldn’t harm her.
“No. I’m not going to kill you.”
“Then why did you bring me here?”
“Do you like dragons, Kira?”
“I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.”
“Tell me about your game, about Dragon’s Law. What inspired it?”
“I don’t know.” But she did know. A series of dreams had inspired it, dreams so real they almost seemed like they were from another dimension, as if they were some forgotten part of herself.
“The amulet you had. Did you recognize it?”
“No. I didn’t recognize it when I bought it. I just liked it.”
“It is like the charm in your game, the one your hero wears, the one you never can quite see.”
“How do you know?”
“I watched others play it at the convention. I saw how he moved, how he changed, how he held onto his mortality through his amulet. I watched your fantasy come to life and I knew then that you would understand this.”
“So far, I don’t understand anything.”
“No, but you will. As soon as I reveal all to you, you will understand and you’ll know. You’ll know, Kira.”
Tears threatened to spill out as everything he said seemed to have a double meaning. What had she gotten herself into? She didn’t want to be afraid of him, didn’t want to believe that anything about him could be bad.
“Tell me, then.”
“If I tell you, promise you will believe me.”
She nodded, though she wasn’t sure she could really promise.
“I am not from here. I am from somewhere far away, a land called Tyr-LaRoche. It is a world much like yours once was, with kings and castles. But it is different, too.” He sank down onto the bed as he spoke, but she refused to follow him, wanting to remain close to the doorway, not that she could find her way out if she tried.
“Go on.”
“It is a land of dragons. The men there are cursed to become dragons. By the dark moon, they change, and if they do not find a lover by morning they will lose control of the dragon inside. They can fight it off, some of them. Some have talismans that help them. Others have strong will. But eventually all must mate. Mates are bound for one moon time, an Earth month. And, Kira, you are my mate.”
A laugh escaped before she could stifle it. Dragons and mates? Yeah, he was crazy. “I don’t believe any of this.”
“The necklace you wore is my amulet. My brother, Mace, took it from me and tossed it into a vortex, an anomaly that appears only under the eclipse. It sent the necklace to you but I came as well. I threw myself into it because my amulet, the necklace around your neck, is the one thing that aids my control. Without it, I was weak. The first night we were together I needed you desperately.
“When Leland Tambourne took it from you it opened you up to the fever. Having me near you, as a reminder of home, your body reacted and you needed me, too.”
His confession did not help his case. He made love to her last night because he needed sex? Never mind the dragon bit, which she didn’t believe for a second. “Look, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I am sure a good psychiatrist can…”
“Kira, please don’t make me show you.”
“Show me what? That you’re off your rocker? Come on, Damon. I’ve heard some lines before, and some pretty amazing stories, but dragons?”
“You believe in them.”
“No, I don’t,” she lied. Everything inside her believed in them but how could she tell him that?
“Your game speaks differently. I have seen it. I have seen the inner workings of your mind.”
“It’s a game, Damon. Nothing else. Come on, it’s how I make my living. You can’t think that I believe…”
“Watch me, Kira. Look into my eyes.”
She let out an exasperated sigh and crossed her arms. He was nuts. Abso-freaking-lutely nuts.
“What are you gonna do? Change into a dragon? Go ahead, Damon, change.”
It started in his eyes. The gray glow ignited with gold and then changed to red as his eyebrows rose and seemed to melt right into his forehead. His hair, which had been long to begin with, seemed to grow, sliding down his back as his hands reached for his shirt to reveal the dark mass there. His beard also lengthened, covering his neck as if the hair were literally striving to cover his entire body.
He shed his shirt and pants as his skin changed from golden to black. She couldn’t breathe as she watched the scales appear. If a scream had existed anywhere in her throat she was sure it would have erupted. It didn’t. Instead, her heart stopped, her breath stopped and her eyes refused to look away.
Damon’s hands, the ones that had roamed her body last night and this morning, disappeared, having been replaced by something entirely inhuman. Fingernails that had dug into the bedsheets as she had taken his cock into her mouth were now talons. And his face, God, his face! The beautiful Norse features that had defined his square jaw disappeared as his chin lengthened and the scales spread to cover his cheeks, his chin, his ears. Even his lips were covered with a fine, dark coat. Only his eyes remained slightly human, but the red glow there made them more monstrous than not.
Kira had never fainted before, had never hoped to faint, but everything inside her willed her to fall, to pretend this was a dream. If she fell maybe she would dream and would wake up still cradled in Damon’s arms, none of this having happened. But she didn’t faint as the dragon held her in his icy gaze, his tail swishing back and forth like a cat’s.
She opened her mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come out as fear paralyzed her. And to her amazement the creature moved forward, his dragon’s tongue peeking out from what had once been Damon’s mouth. He bent his head forward, his nostrils flaring, as he sniffed the air for her scent. Crouched low, he let out a growl. That was all it took for Kira to find her feet again.
The only thought on her mind was getting the hell out of there. This was some kind of sick dream or nightmare
or something. There were no words to describe what this was or to combat the lust in the dragon’s eyes as he leapt for her, almost knocking her off balance with his nose as it hit against her.
His teeth were massive as he grinned at her, threatening to rip her flesh from her bones, and threw his head back in a chilling howl. Then he approached.
“What are you going to do to me, monster? Are you going to eat me?” She inhaled sharply as his hot breath washed over her body. Her backside made contact with the hard wall preventing her retreat from the monster, forcing her to face him down.
“You can’t kill me,” the words barely formed in her throat. She held her head high, attempting to appear fearless as her heart raced.
His face was but a foot from her as his eyes locked onto her. When he pounced the sheer force of being thrown to the ground almost knocked her unconscious. Before she could recover he was on top of her, one paw stretched across her lower half, holding her in place.
She wanted to crumble against the floor and give up, die gracefully, but everything in her screamed out that she should fight. If her arms would move she would pound her fists into his scaly flesh until he finished the deed, killing her if that was what he wished. But nothing was working. The only things that seemed to be functioning were her hammering heart and the tears that had not stopped.
“Kira,” the voice came from deep inside the dragon and sounded like nothing more than a growl.
“Get away from me.” The words finally erupted from somewhere deep in her chest, the same place the tears were now coming from.
“Kir-a,” the word was barely audible from beneath the dragon’s breath. It didn’t endear him to her. Instead, it scared the hell out of her as she felt her knees go limp beneath her.
She would die here, like this, with the dragon looming above her, his once beautiful face now covered with a mask of scales. The mouth that had loved her so carefully, ripping her to pieces.
Dragon's Law: Damon Page 10