“We need to plan for our future,” he said. “I think we may have to move periodically and secure our fortress each time.”
She didn’t respond, her gaze stuck on the far wall, and it wasn’t even the wall with the fake window.
“Xan?”
Her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head, but he didn’t think she was listening to him. She was deep in concentration.
The illusion of a tiny cabin disappeared. Dirt walls surrounded him once again.
“Have they launched an attack?” He sensed her funneling all of her energy into her powers.
Her lips spread in a huge grin and her eyes danced. “Eureka!”
“Did you send them running?” He could go for a blissful night of sleep. They had sex together, but they didn’t sleep together. One of them always had to be on watch.
“Nope.” Her smile was in place and she grabbed his hand. “Is there anything you want to keep in this place?”
He glanced around. All his possessions looked pathetic and useless. It wasn’t like they could move them to their next home. Any relocation would be furtive and done in darkness. He and Xan hadn’t gathered anything so much as a pebble. It helped aid in the illusion that hordes weren’t trying to kill them. “All I need is you.”
“Good. Now think of Brooklyn and let’s go.”
“What—”
As soon as Brooklyn’s face popped into his mind, he sensed her energy and he was gone.
His eyes popped open. He was staring at a grinning Marcus. The male’s eyes were pure black.
He sat up. Blankets fell from his chest. He glanced down. “Sweet brimstone!” Yanking the covers up, he covered his bare breasts—Brooklyn’s bare breasts.
Taking in his surroundings, he frowned. Marcus’s bedroom. He was in Marcus’s bed. Brooklyn was in Marcus’s bed.
Xan put her heavily muscled arms behind her head. “I knew I could do it,” she said arrogantly.
“What, exactly, did you do?”
“Got through the weakness in the wards.”
He stiffened. “The wards have weak points?” He’d studied those spells for years, overlapped them, twisting them into each other.
“Yeah.” She thumped her chest with a finger. “Me.”
All the times she’d broken into his place ran through his mind. And how she’d gotten into the library and the cell where he’d been raised. She always found her way through his powers. It was like they recognized what she meant to him and allowed her through.
“But I couldn’t even get through.”
“Because you can’t sense the vulnerable points.” She crossed her feet, smug smile still in place.
He glanced around. They were out of the underworld. Back in their hosts.
But this didn’t feet right. He should be jubilant, but he couldn’t be. How could he steal one couple’s life to live his own? He wouldn’t be any better than the demons he’d imprisoned.
One question pushed past his doubts. “What are Marcus and Brooklyn doing together?”
“He was always attracted to her. And a lonely fucker. I bet they’re good together.”
Quution searched for the answers in Brooklyn’s psyche. “She’s working for him and he’s been able to expand. She’s head over heels in love.”
“He’s healthier and happier and totally in love. We did that.” Xan chuckled, sounding all kinds of proud of herself.
Quution couldn’t join in her elation. “Xan, we can’t do this.”
She lifted a dark brow. “You know what we can do? Use your mad energy skills to bind yourself to this realm, then bind me to you. I just needed to borrow these guys for a while to see if I could get us back here.”
He sputtered, then coughed, then stared at her. All words vacated him and he had only one thought. “You’re a damn genius.”
“Mm.”
Epilogue
“Are you sure we have enough food?” Xan said. She scratched the paper with her pen, scowling as the ink slowly ran out, leaving nothing but gouges in the sheet. Tossing the pen, she reached for a new one.
Their friends were going to arrive soon, starting with Demetrius and his mate, Calli. Xan would’ve thought their friends would have nothing going on, but planning this night had been its own organizational hell. The vampire team might have no demons to fight for a good long while, but their government had its own law enforcement system. Instead of retirement, the vampires had joined in the effort to police Freemont and clean up the vampires who had been conducting clandestine business with the underworld before going into other nefarious activities. As Demetrius liked to say, vampires were always up to something.
None of them could see into the future, and Quution wasn’t used to doing nothing. Preparations were being made in the event the realm wards ever fell. She was aiding in those efforts.
First, they had to record what Quution had done to seal the wards, all his research, in case something ever happened to him. So Quution would recreate the scrolls he’d left behind in the underworld in a weave of energy, like a snapshot from his brain, and she’d write like a maniac. All those hours spent learning to read and write had turned into more than a con to get close to Quution.
Demetrius and Calli were arriving first so Calli could look at what they had transcribed. Quution’s condition for such access was that the vampires become the protectors of all demonic scrolls, tomes, and etchings of any sort.
Quution turned toward her and away from the window he’d been staring out. Their real-life cabin was deep in the forest. They had no candy beetles, but Quution donned his hat and sunglasses and made monthly trips to the nearest town for supplies. She’d learned to bake to assuage her sweet tooth. They hunted their meat and grew and cooked the rest.
She knew what he saw when he gazed out the window. A glimpse of the cold blue lake they skinny-dipped in, pine trees, and a midnight sky. She’d caught herself staring out that window several times in the few months they’d been living out here. An illusion come to life.
Stryke and Zoey had helped them buy the land, and Xan got to use her powers occasionally to scare any stray humans away.
“We’re going to need a bonfire to cook all the food we have.” He stepped away from the window. “Ah. They are arriving.”
Xan jumped up. Calli was becoming a good friend, and it helped that she was fascinated by all things demon, including Xan herself.
Quution opened the door a few seconds before Demetrius appeared. The vampire’s arm was lovingly wrapped around the tall blonde.
In Calli’s hand was a tray of cookies and brownies. “From Betty.”
Xan groaned. Demetrius’s elderly assistant had been delighted to find another sweet tooth to cater to. “Where has that female been my whole life?”
After the four of them had pored over scrolls for an hour, tossing ideas back and forth, Quution popped his head up.
She grinned and grabbed his hand to run outside. They were both as giddy as humans with their first home.
Rourke appeared with Grace, uttering their thanks for a date night without kids. Fyra and Bishop were next. Quution had shamelessly waited for Fyra. He’d been serious about a bonfire and she was their flame.
Creed appeared, and Melody shrieked and threw herself at Xan. “This place is gorgeous! Did you know there’s land for sale adjacent to your property?” She jerked her head toward Creed, her sunny curls bouncing. “He bought it for me. We’re neighbors!” Melody took hold of Xan’s shoulders and squealed.
Ophelia and Bastian arrived next. Xan was getting to know the deadly female. When they’d first met, Ophelia had eyed her up and down and asked if she needed a sparring partner. Only Ophelia had to flash out here to do it. Xan would have to drive, and a purple demon gathered too much attention behind the wheel. She saved her outings for Halloween.
When Stryke and Zoey arrived, Xan had to stop and look around. The guys ringed the fire Fyra had zapped into existence. The females grouped together, talking excitedly like
it’d been years since they’d all been able to chat without interruption. Desserts lined the picnic table Quution had acquired during one of his trips into town. Piles of meat were waiting to be grilled, and laughter rippled over the trees. Moments like these, Xan wondered if one of her kind had cast an epic illusion over her.
And every time Xan was plagued by uncertainty that this was real, Quution was suddenly next to her, his arm around her shoulders, stating facts.
“This is your family, Xan. You have six brothers and six sisters. And me. We’re all real.”
She clasped her hand over his and planted a kiss on the full lips she finally had unfettered access to. Yes, real. A world not filled with fear, but with joy, and she didn’t have to be a full empath to create her own, both within herself and with Quution.
And she did. Every night.
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There’s a new paranormal series on the horizon. For new release updates, chapter sneak peeks, and exclusive quarterly short stories, sign up for Marie’s newsletter and receive download links for the book that started it all, Fever Claim, and three short stories of characters from the series.
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~Marie
About the Author
Marie Johnston lives in the upper-Midwest with her husband, four kids, and an old cat. Deciding to trade in her lab coat for a laptop, she’s writing down all the tales she’s been making up in her head for years. An avid reader of paranormal romance, these are the stories hanging out and waiting to be told between the demands of work, home, and the endless chauffeuring that comes with children.
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mariejohnstonwriter.com
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Also by Marie Johnston
New Vampire Disorder:
Demetrius (Book1)
Rourke (Book 2)
Bishop (Book 3)
Stryke (Book 4)
Creed (Book 5)
Bastian (Book 6)
The Seer (Novella 7)
Demon Q Page 21