by Various
She found the blonde in his thoughts and gasped at the scars on her skin. “That’s Tabitha. Oh, God.” She fought the revulsion at her condition. Her hair was matted and dirty, and her face was severely bruised in a myriad of colors. Her arms and legs were covered with thin, slicing scars and cuts that were in various stages of healing. She was chained by the ankle to her bed. Even through Diego’s path, she could sense the young woman’s pain, the deep-seated aches from severe beatings. How could someone do that to another person? “Can you do anything for her?”
“I can try. I can only do so much without showing my presence.” She sent Diego her strength and undying love for helping at all, then felt the shift as he left his shape. When he regained his body, he shimmered into a fine mist to remain undetectable. “She will rest better tonight. She needs medical attention.”
“Why would they do that to her?”
“It is in her memories. She has fought back. But her spirit is nearly gone. She will not last much longer in this environment.”
“We have to get them out tomorrow.”
“We will, cara. We will.”
* * * *
Diego helped the woman as much as he could, hearing her breathing ease and feeling her muscle spasms lessen. She was incredibly gifted, had been pushed beyond her endurance. Yet even though the young woman had stayed strong, she was losing the battle. Diego knew from her memories and those of the men in the first fire that she had been abused in more than one way. He could not say if she would ever be healed from her ordeal.
He slid through each cell, checking on each inhabitant. He found Lily resting more easily with a flare of hope on the horizon. David was chained in the cell farthest from hers. He had not given Titania a visual of him. His condition would have torn her apart.
David hung chained by his wrists to wall brackets, his shirt gone. Welts rose on his chest and back. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. Evidently, his most recent round of torture had ended just a short time ago. Blood still seeped from the welts on his chest.
Diego lifted David’s head and, looking into his eyes, claimed his thoughts, searching his memories to discover what had transpired since his abduction. He was proud of David’s loyalty and learned David had told them nothing to substantiate Tenorio’s study of Titania. There was little Diego could do about the torture. It was too strong with too much pain attached to it. Bruises were growing beneath the welts. When one method had gotten them nowhere, they had increased the level of pain. Diego helped diminish the pain in David’s body even as he pushed away the first signs of overworking his own abilities.
When David’s head sagged once more, he managed a light, resting sleep rather than a pain-wracked semi-consciousness. Diego knew he could not be comfortable, but he dared not release him. “Stay with us, David. Just stay strong one more day.”
The last two cells held women also. Both were asleep. For that he was thankful. Their pain was not so deep that Titania would be registering it through him. He had tried to block some of it from her, but it was her natural talent. Pain was a very strong sensation and created all levels of emotions. It was no wonder she tapped into Lily so easily. Lily had been mistreated almost as badly as Tabitha had been.
His lips lifted in a surge of retribution. He would enjoy taking his anger out on Tenorio. He had planned this for Titania. He had planned her abuses, her tortures, to crush her spirit and will, to be able to run tests on her without a fight. Tabitha was nearly at that point. The magnitude curdled Diego’s blood.
With a completed examination of those being held, he studied the walls, the cells themselves, and the doorway out. There were too many to try to rescue tonight, alone, and once the cells were opened, he was positive alarms would be set off.
They needed an escape and a getaway plan. He hated to admit it, but this time, he needed Houston. They needed more hands.
Diego rejoined Titania in the trees, hidden from sight in the shadows of the bowers of greenery. “We will definitely need a diversion. I am not sure all of them can move under their own power.”
Her blue eyes rounded with pain. He cupped her chin, wanting to remove the echoes from her thoughts.
“Do not worry, cara. We will get them all. David is strong. I did what I could to help the others.”
“Thank you. For doing anything.”
He swiped his thumb across her bottom lip. Her pain-filled gaze cleared slowly, the depth of their blue becoming sultry as he simply held her with his palm. His own body’s reaction was electric. It did not matter how often he loved this woman, he would always want her. Need her touch, her heated kiss, her passion in his life.
He dipped his head and found the sweet, delicious edge of her mouth. He traced her bottom lip with his tongue, felt the leap of her heart, heard the thunder of it against her ribs. His echoed hers. His blood began to race, to heat with her supple mouth caressing him back. A reaction that still stunned him when before her, very little had ever made his body respond in such a physical way. It was as though they were in tune to each other because her heart beat with an equally rapid tattoo.
“We need to return to the park, cara. There is not much time until sunrise. I want to hold you myself and know you are still safe.” After witnessing Tenorio’s evil firsthand, he needed to know she was all right and by his side. Needed to feel her in his arms to know she was safe.
He knew the instant she realized what that statement meant. Could sense the fear in her mind, and feel the torment it caused. That she could still let him down because of her fears. He brushed the back of his hand to her cheek. “Cara. I would allow you no harm, ever.”
“But, Diego,” she said, her scared thoughts woven through her voice. “In the ground?”
“It is difficult at first, but not insurmountable.” He would not belittle her fears. He had hated it at first with a deep revulsion of the unknown. It had taken time to learn to embrace the comfort of the cool earth when the sun stole his last breath. “You will be unaware, just as you were at my home.”
“I wasn’t buried alive at your house!” Her hand covered his, her fingers surrounding his in a death grip. “There was a bed. Not dirt. A roof. Not bugs and who knows what.”
“Bugs do not disturb our rest, cara. Not because we do not know, but because they do not. I will be with you, cara. I would not leave you to face your first night alone.”
She jumped from her perch, landing without making a sound, stalking further into the trees. “I am not going to sleep in the ground, Diego. I can’t. Don’t you understand?” She had stopped a few feet away, her arms crossed over her middle. “I am willing to do a lot of things. But I can’t do that. It would feel like I’m being buried alive.” Her head had fallen forward, the silken sweep of her hair obscuring her features. But he still knew what she was thinking.
He walked to stand before her, tilting her up to search her face. She dropped her eyes quickly, unable to look at him. “Cara, you are adapting at an impressive rate. I could not be prouder of you.”
Her look was pleading when she finally met his gaze. “Can’t we go to the cabin? Bamf? We know where we need to be for tomorrow.”
“Cara.” He enfolded her into his arms. “We have to be close. David is counting on us, as are Lily and the others. Believe me, if I thought we could, we would. Houston will be meeting us first thing after sundown tomorrow. We both need to be prepared.” His arms remained around her, keeping her close.
“Meaning, be where you can feed.” Her voice was muffled, pressed as she was into his chest.
“Yes, cara.” He rubbed his chin lightly into the thickness of her hair. “Cara, do you trust me? Can you trust me enough to do this?”
“Diego. You know I do. But this?” She rocked back and forth, tense and trembling.
His voice was comforting when he told her, “Let me love you for now, Titania. We will worry about the sunrise when it arrives.” He drifted his lips over satin skin, nibbling and caressing with tender care.
“Is it working?” His hands twined through her hair, tugging gently, pulling her lips upward, totally unrepentant in his maneuvers.
“It would seem that way.” Her hands had loosened from between them, sliding with feathered heat over his ribs. “I really don’t know if I can do it, Diego.”
He paused hovered just over her lips. The heated rush of blood surged through her body. Something other than fear was beginning to build between them. “Let me worry about later. I need you.” He nibbled at the corners of her mouth, finding her feminine scent growing. Heat flared. Undeniable hunger built between them.
One moment they were hidden in the dark shadows of the wooded lot next to Tenorio’s private compound, the next he had Titania caged on the edge of a picnic table, her legs curved to wrap around his waist. His mouth claimed hers, capturing her cry of surprise. Diego found the honeyed warmth of her, his tongue dueling with hers as his passion rose.
She whimpered, spiking his hungers and his desire. Her hands fisted into his clothing, holding him prisoner when he rumbled in answer, a low vibration that rocked them both. He filled his hands with her hair, capturing her in strong arms as his mouth plundered.
He could not resist the sweet temptation of silken skin, his mouth sliding down her sensual warmth to her shoulder. Diego scraped his teeth over the beating of her heart and she tossed her head, making a mewling sound in the back of her throat. His temperature soared a thousand degrees, and he sank his teeth deep.
Fires raged. Heat ate at him from the inside, daring to consume him, to consume her. None had ever tasted so sweet, so hot, so addictive. Her arms clung, held him tighter, passion flaring between them in sharp arcs of energy.
She rubbed into him, demanding. Needing. He closed the marks with an aggressive slash of his tongue. He wanted her as hot, as needy as he was. At her demanding touch against heated flesh, he knew she was completely under passion’s spell.
Diego felt her hands, the raging torment of clawed fingernails raking down his chest. Forced restraint kept him from stripping clothes away, making him tremble. Driving fingers burned his skin with each stroke as she pulled buttons free and shoved material away. With her soft palms splayed wide, his heart thundered against his ribs, echoing loudly behind his ears.
He floated on a cloud of ecstasy when she devoured his mouth, moving lower to his chin and neck with her tongue swirling in decadent, damp seduction. His head snapped on a tight neck, a low hiss of pleasure escaping when she found his ticking pulse. Suction on the sensitive point made his skin blaze, his blood boil.
Thought ceased when her teeth broke skin. Lightning erupted. Clothes were gone from both, and he possessed her as she took him over the edge of endurance.
He pinned her close, plunging into her with a sharp stroke, and her body responded, welcomed him. Shuddered in his embrace in immediate release.
The damp of her tongue swept over his pulse, and his heart nearly burst in sensation. He guided her to the top of the picnic table, his hips surging into hers. Her cries lifted above them, filled the night sky. Gripping her hips to anchor them both, he held her tighter, took them both higher. Strong thrusts filled her deeper, her body taking him with each motion, claiming him as much as he marked her.
The world stopped spinning for a split second, and Diego felt her come apart. Absorbed her body’s shudder when her breath slammed out of her on a shattering cry.
Diego’s head reared back. Lights exploded as he detonated with cataclysmic force. A roar of possession rushed from his lungs. A sound of claiming. Of ecstasy.
Diego sagged over her, boneless while he skipped through the sky without leaving the ground. He pressed a gentle kiss to the valley between her beckoning breasts. Her skin glowed like warmed alabaster in the silvery moonlight bathing them. “You are the greatest gift I could have ever wished for, Titania.”
A single arm cradled him and he rested, pillowed by the lushness of her body, her heart pounding beneath his cheek with her love. He didn’t move until both their hearts had slowed to stop, their passion a languid and beloved memory that he would cherish always.
Chapter Twenty-One
“That was so not fair,” she accused him. His laugh was a quiet, triumphant sound from deep in his chest.
“Forgive me, cara. I really could not help myself.” She smacked his shoulder, pushing him away. He did not look sorry in the least. The loss of his body’s heat shot a shiver over her. She dressed to cover herself, raking a hand through her tumbled hair when she was able. Dark shadows were fading, with sunrise less than an hour away.
Relaxed on the bench of the picnic table, she tucked her legs up to her chin. Silvery leaves danced and shuffled in the slow night breeze blowing through the trees. Diego sat behind her, wrapping his arms around her to bring her into his chest.
“Cara, I know you are scared.” His chin rested on her shoulder. “I am here for you.”
“Why do we have to stay here?” Fear made her voice high. Just the thought of being several feet underground trickled shudders down her spine.
He caressed her arms with light thumbs. “Because the cabin is too far away.” Her eyes closed when he nuzzled her. “I know it is frightening. But I would never allow anything to happen to you.”
“I will try, Diego.”
“That is all I can ask. I have faith in you, cara.”
“At least one of us does,” she muttered.
“I need to set the safeguards,” he told her, rising. She watched him walk around the perimeter, chanting and weaving symbols. It helped to take her mind off the soon-to-be-rising sun. And the shortening of time before she’d have to face the inevitable.
“How did you learn all of this?”
“When I was turned, searching for a way to reverse this, I found several old tomes of lore and spells. Some of them were useable, others not.”
“Like witchcraft?”
Diego shrugged. “I imagine it is so. The Brethren do not share knowledge like this. I had to find it on my own. Once I discovered it and found out how to make the spells work, I broadened my knowledge. There are several things that, being what we are, we can do by thinking of it, but this is something more.”
“How do you know?” She rubbed her chin on her hiked knees, letting her mind wander in thought as he explained.
His hand paused in midair. “I never really thought about it.” He resumed his work. “I believe the amount of power involved is higher than I had been granted in the beginning. I cannot recall much from so long ago, but each century the energy seemed easier to manage, felt stronger.”
“Did you have any knowledge before your turning? Did you study any magic?”
He was quick to answer. “No. Magic then was the black art. Heresy.”
A slight grin tipped her lips and she buried it where he wouldn’t see it, noting his evasive head shake. “But you were interested in it.”
“Maybe when I was a young boy,” he replied noncommittally.
Her legs dropped as her earlier conclusions returned to her. “Did you know any spells then?” His mouth pinched, and she told him, “You know, no one really cares that much about magic now. So tell me the truth.”
He dropped his hands, finishing his last guard, his expression blank. “I had a few scrolls. But it does not prove a thing.”
Titania rose from her seat. “No. You’re looking at this wrong. I was thinking along the lines that maybe it has been your ability which allowed you to keep your soul. You had to be born with a talent. Maybe you have a natural magic ability.”
Diego snorted. “Because I had an interest in the black arts?”
“They are not black anymore. Now it’s just magic.” She shrugged, then wrapped her arms around his waist. “Show me something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. What can y
ou do?” she prodded gently.
He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I can create an energy ball.” His gaze was wary, undecided.
“Really! Like a fire ball? That’s cool.” Her brow wrinkled. “I don’t think I can do that. Show me. Let’s see if it’s a ‘you’ ability.”
He stepped clear of her hold. “All right.” He stretched his hands out flat. Concentration was etched into his face as a small blue orb began to build in his palms.
“Can you make it bigger?” Her eyes bulged in delight and surprise as the orb floated, glowed a silvery blue.
He nodded. “I will keep it small for now. I do not like to do this often. The Brethren can detect pulses of energy.”
She reached out, able to feel the heat, but it didn’t burn her. He drew his hands together, and the orb winked out of existence.
“That is incredible. And you’ve had so long to study.” She spun to return to her bench, but he stopped her.
“Cara,” he said, wrapping her into his embrace. “Quit thinking you are not enough. You are exactly what I could have wished for.” His arms were warm. “I have an idea.”
He waved a hand, and a huge hole gaped open beneath the tree branches. Her mouth went dry. “Already?” She couldn’t make it more than a whimper.
“Wait, cara. What is your favorite color?”
“Um, blue, I guess. Why?”
“Watch.” He curled her into his chest as his focus went to the bottom of the hole. Blue sheets, pillows and a blanket appeared. “You will feel the material instead of the ground. When you feel your last moment, you will be only in my arms.”
She wanted to cry at his gesture. “That is the sweetest thing, Diego.” The blanket flipped back, ready for them.
“It is time, cara. Can you feel the weight of the morning? It will be light soon.”
She looked to the east and could feel the sun, could feel the first rays warming the edge of the horizon. But staring into the hole, she didn’t see a waiting bed, she saw a grave. When she tried to step away, Diego held her steady.