Sandman (Forbidden Love Series II Book 5)

by Danielle James

  "Nope," he answered. "But I'm gonna find her if it's the last thing I do."

  "She's a fury," Samuel said, shaking his head. "I don't think I've ever seen one."

  "Me either," Gage agreed, "And I've been around a long time."

  "None of us have," Angel said in his deep voice. "Furies are rare, and were thought to be extinct. However, we thought the same about dragons, and we were wrong about that."

  "We'll help you," Rebel vowed. "Meet you downstairs."

  Somnus wanted to tell them he had it under control, that he didn’t need their help, but the truth was, he needed every extra hand he could get. As soon as his boots were tied, he ghosted to the front foyer where his uncles were already waiting.

  Rebel was ready to go, his Stetson on top of his head, the long leather duster hanging from his shoulders, and two Glocks on his hips. Gage was leaning against the door, a baseball cap pulled down low to conceal his face, and what the heck was he wearing? Somnus almost laughed at the polo shirt and khaki pants adorning him. But he also knew that under that prep-school look, the King of Vampires had any number of weapons concealed on his body. Not that he needed them. Gage's most powerful weapon was his mind.

  When Somnus raised a brow, wondering how Gage was able to convince everyone to let him go, the king smiled at him. "Ain't nothing on this planet that could keep me from helping you find your mate," he said.

  Angel, with two long blades strapped to his back, was kissing Brea and Sebastian was doing the same with his mate.

  Jacque was ready to roll, all decked out in his leather jacket and his spiked dog collar. There were two Sigs in his waistband. Frankie was tiptoeing up to kiss him and Somnus saw her put something in his hand.

  "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

  "It's a potion," Frankie answered. "Just in case."

  Anger rushed to the front of his mind. "Just in case of what?" He didn't trust ‘just in case’ potions. It made him feel as if it were a last-ditch effort that might harm her in some way.

  "Just in case you find her and she isn't willing to come home," Frankie said. "It's a sleeping potion. It can knock Azerial out, so be careful with it."

  "No one is to hurt her," Somnus ordered. "I need to find her and bring her home."

  "We wouldn't even consider hurting your mate, son," Samuel reminded him. "We are all mated too. There is nothing more precious, and nothing we would fight harder to protect. We'll bring her home."

  The others agreed, placing their fists over their hearts and nodding. Somnus felt so much love for his family right then. To anyone else, the gesture might be overlooked. To someone who knew these vampires, he knew they were pledging their protection, their lives if necessary, to his mate.

  "We've got an ongoing location spell going," Serena said. "You boys get to looking. Somnus, you track her. If anything pops up here, we'll let you know."

  "I already tried to track her," Somnus admitted. "All I can see is red. Like a haze. When I push harder, all I can feel is her anger. What if something's hurt her?"

  "Was she still wearing the amulet we gave her?" Azerial asked.

  Somnus thought about it. He tried to visualize what she looked like in his room before flying away. He could see in his mind the image of his mate. Flaming hair. Wings. Fangs. Oh lord, those fangs. But the necklace? Yes, he decided, it was hanging just above her breasts. "Yeah," he finally said.

  "It will protect her," Frankie said. "But go to her and find her before she takes it off, or worse, someone else does."

  ***

  Baku wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes and felt the slice that ran across his thigh. The human woman was so much more than a powerful human. She was a goddess of vengeance. Her claws had ripped through his smoky form, slicing through his flesh. He remembered her scream of fury as he applied the healing poultice to his gashed thigh. Even in memory, that sound caused his heart to race and a shiver to roll down his spine. What a prize. He had to have her. Her power alone would not only ensure his freedom, but because she was a goddess, combined with that of her vampire, she would keep him supplied with power for years to come. Yes, he thought with a satisfied smile on his hideous face, he would no longer be killing them. Not yet. He was going to keep them as pets, and siphon off their power slowly, dragging out their inevitable deaths. Yes, they were going to pay for the cut to his leg. They were going to pay for everything.

  ***

  There was no fear. There was no happiness. The only thing that Rachel felt was pure, perfect, beautiful rage. Everything in her line of sight was darkened, except for the multicolored light that surrounded all living things. In her mind, blood ran in rivers of deep crimson. She watched as it moved and swayed with her thinking, an entity all its own. Her wings stretched and beat against the cool night air and something in the back of her mind tickled at her subconscious. There was no time to consider it, though. There were souls that required her attention. Punishments to hand out. Vengeance to be had.

  Down on the ground, a group of men were walking together toward an all-night diner. Rachel tracked them with her eyes, circling the sky overhead. Their auras were deep blue and white, one with a hint of gold. They did not deserve vengeance. With a disappointed sigh, she turned and flew toward the heart of the city.

  Even before the sun would rise, there were many souls on the streets. Rachel could hear the murmur of their conversations, but what they said didn't matter. It was what they had done that mattered. A flash of red caught her attention and Rachel turned sharply to investigate it. The shape of a man arguing with someone became clear and his intentions were not peaceful. The woman he was shouting at was surrounded with a brilliant yellow, indicating her fear.

  Oh no you don't! Angling her head down and flattening her wings, Rachel raced through the air, descending on the unsuspecting man. She landed on her feet, already in motion. She put herself between the man and the woman, glaring at him.

  She took a bit of delight out of watching his eyes grow round and his aura light up with surprise and then fear as she stalked toward him. "Tell me your sin," Rachel growled. Her voice was not her own, but she didn't care. The offender stepped back until his back was flush with the brick wall behind him.

  "I didn't sin," he said quickly. "I'm innocent."

  Rachel tossed her head back and screamed, furious over his lies. The man covered his ears and dropped to the concrete ground. "You will tell me what I want to know," she hissed at him. Rachel grabbed the front of his shirt, ripping it in the process, and yanked him to his feet. She uncurled the razor-sharp claws of her other hand, bringing it to his face. She traced down his cheek with just the tip of her nail, smiling when the blood beaded on his skin in her wake. She focused on his eyes, seeing down into his blackened soul.

  Images of him hitting a young woman, stealing, even sexual escapades that were not with his mate filled her mind. Her blood boiled and she wrapped her hand around his neck. Under her hand, his skin began to sizzle and burn. When he screamed in agony, Rachel tossed him aside like a ragdoll. His head thumped against the pavement as he hit it. Rachel hissed and went in for the final punishment. He had wronged another, now he would pay.

  As she stood over his unconscious body, her claw raised and ready to strike, that tingling in her mind returned. She could not kill him. She wanted to, but she could not. He must live with the knowledge that his actions will be accounted for.

  The fact he’d cheated on every girlfriend he’d ever had rubbed her in all the wrong ways. She knew firsthand how it felt to be on the receiving end of those actions. Trent. He was a lying, cheating whore. He needed to be punished for his crimes. She needed to punish him

  Before her logical brain could send out a warning, Rachel was in the air and pushing her wings as hard as she could. She never made a decision on which way to go, nor did she really know the way. She could feel it. Her instincts were leading her, showing her the way to the man who'd wronged her.

  Chapter Twenty
-Two

  The sun was well in the morning sky by the time Rachel could sense Trent's presence. The house was not the same one they'd shared, but a little one-bedroom frame house on the less eccentric side of town. Everything he had put her through, every emotion she'd tamped down and buried came screaming to the surface. Her skin was alive with the need to let it out. It didn’t even occur to her to use the front door as she zeroed in on his house where she could see his red aura mixing with another one. Crashing through the bedroom window, Rachel screamed in frustration. The glass shattered in all the windows as she landed inside his home.

  "What the hell?" the naked woman who was sitting on top of him shouted. She tried to cover her overly large, completely fake breasts with her arm as she rolled off him and yanked the sheet around her. When she saw Rachel, she screamed. Rachel screamed along with her, her blazing hair growing longer as it flowed behind her.

  Trent jumped out of the bed, and, to his credit, put himself between Rachel and his new girlfriend. He took a fighting stance, at least appearing to be prepared to protect the woman, but Rachel knew the truth. He was terrified. She could see it in the coloring of his aura. "What are you?" he demanded.

  Rachel crouched slightly, leaning forward, and growled at him. A smile of satisfaction lit her face when the recognition registered in his eyes. "Rachel?" he asked carefully. "What happened to you?"

  "You happened to me!" she hissed at him. "Now you'll pay!"

  "Rachel," he said, backing up and blindly crawling onto his bed. He stood on the mattress, as if the action made him taller. As if that would help him. Nothing would help him now. Rachel flexed her hands, extending her claws, and then lunged for him.

  ***

  Where the hell could she be? Somnus had searched the city over, ghosting from one place to another. He didn't know where she would go, and he didn't know if she even knew how to use the power she'd just found. When he'd tried to talk her down, the person staring back at him wasn't his Rachel. Her eyes were so full of pain, so full of anger, that she was damn near unrecognizable. Somnus knew that she was in there, but…how to reach her? All he was sure of was, he had to find her before she did something that she couldn't take back.

  "Hey, over here!" Rebel said from the far side of a convenient store.

  Somnus ghosted to his location, unwilling to even spend the time to walk. The person there was not Rachel, but he knew she'd been there. A man was crumpled against the wall with deep, crimson scratches on his arms.

  "Sir," he said, kneeling down to his level, "Sir, can you hear me?" He had to give the man a shake to get him to open his eyes. When he did, the man's eyes were round with fear.

  "Get her away from me!" he shouted, pushing backward with his feet as if he could disappear into the wall behind him. "She's a demon!"

  "Hey now, that's my mate you're talking about," Somnus growled, showing his fangs.

  "Well, your mate’s a demon!" the man shouted. "Get me out of here!" He got to his feet and pushed past Somnus and Rebel, more afraid of the woman than the two vampires.

  "Damn, and I thought my mate was scary," Rebel chuckled. "Well, she's been here."

  Somnus nodded. She'd hurt that man, who no doubt did something to deserve it, but she could have killed him. "We gotta find her before she hurts someone else. She could've killed that dirt bag."

  "Yes," Angel agreed, walking up with Samuel. "But she didn't."

  "This time," Somnus added.

  "What Angel’s saying is, she could have killed him, but she didn’t. That means that she's in there, somewhere. She has a conscience and there’s hope of saving her."

  "What the hell do you mean, saving her? Of course, we're gonna save her! Why would we not?" Somnus shouted at his father.

  "I'm just saying that Furies are traditionally evil," Samuel continued. "Historically known as demons."

  Somnus got right up in his father's face. "Watch what you say about her," he growled. "You may be my father, but I won't hesitate to set you straight."

  Samuel shrugged his shoulders, unafraid of Somnus' warning. "I just want you to be prepared for the worst, son. I don't want to lose you, so I suppose that if we do find her and she's a lost cause, we'll have to capture her and keep her sedated so that you can feed from her."

  "Are you insane?" Somnus shouted. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He turned away from Samuel. Had his father lost his damned mind? No way he would ever let anyone keep his mate prisoner. He'd rather die than force her against her will.

  "If she kills someone, and she will, there will be no going back for her," Samuel continued.

  Gage, Rebel, Angel, Sebastian and Jacque had all gathered in the street. They were all several feet away, staying back, keeping their mouths shut. Did they feel this way too? "What do you think?" Somnus asked them.

  "Oh no, I'm not getting into this mess," Rebel said.

  "I will protect my people," Gage warned. "No matter what."

  "You would kill her?" he asked.

  "If necessary," Gage said, "but only as a last resort. I'm with Sam on this. I will protect you too, even if it means keeping her sedated and against her will."

  Somnus couldn't stop the anger from boiling over inside of him. How dare they? Before he could think clearly, he had already lunged for Gage's throat. He could hear snarling and snapping of teeth, shouting and he could feel hands pulling on him, but he pushed through it. He slammed into Gage, both of them falling to the pavement. Somnus was blind with rage, swinging and snapping at his uncle's throat. In only minutes, his family was yanking him up to his feet and when he lunged for Gage again, the king held out his hand in a stop motion. Somnus hit an invisible wall, knocking himself silly. Then he realized he couldn't move. He was paralyzed where he stood.

  "You done?" Gage asked him.

  Somnus grunted. Not really, but what choice did he have? None.

  "Good. Now, you remember that feeling you had when you attacked me. That's what Rachel is feeling right now. That's what we have to get through to find her. Now, I need you to concentrate so we can find her."

  Somnus glared at Gage and then his father. They'd done all of it to piss him off. And it had worked. While Somnus didn't doubt that they would do anything to keep him safe, they wouldn't harm Rachel, and they wouldn't lock her up unless she killed someone. Damn it. He tried to focus on her, but again, all he saw was red hot rage.

  "You're not trying hard enough," Gage told him.

  "Well, I'm so fucking sorry," Somnus snapped at him. "I'm not you. I wasn't gifted with the psychic powers you were. I can't do it!"

  "Listen to me," Gage insisted, his authority coming out in his voice. "Your father was turned with my blood. Therefore, my blood courses through your veins. You can do this."

  "I don't know how," Somnus admitted. "I want to find her. I want to help her. I don't want her to be a fury for the rest of her life. But I can't find her."

  "Yes, you can," Samuel said. "You're thinking about her as a person, and not your mate. You're looking with your eyes and not your heart."

  "That is so romantic," Somnus said sarcastically. "I might puke."

  "Just do it," Samuel told him.

  Somnus nodded and closed his eyes. He felt the paralyzing hold on his body release as he focused on Rachel, but also, his feelings for her. He focused on her heart, her soul. He focused on her brilliance and courage. All the things he loved about her.

  At first, all he saw was her fury. But slowly, he began to feel something. It was knowing the way home. He could feel her anger, but also, her fear. She was trapped inside of herself, terrified of what she might do. Somnus opened his eyes. "I know where she is."

  "Let's go," Sebastian said, already heading for his truck.

  "We can't drive, we'll be too late," Somnus said. "I can take three with me."

  "Come on," Samuel said, laying a hand on his son's shoulder.

  "I'm in," Gage told him.

  "I got your back," Rebel agreed.

  Angel, Seba
stian, and Jacque nodded. "We'll go back to the house and help the women."

  "We'll be back," Somnus said, just before ghosting away with his father and uncles.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  No matter how many times he played possible scenarios through his mind nor how much research he could've done, nothing would have prepared Somnus for what he saw when he ghosted to Rachel's location.

  A naked woman stood in the corner, screaming for all she was worth, while an equally naked man cowered on the corner of the bed. And then, there was Rachel. She had her head down, mouth open, claws extended and was mid-air when Somnus took solid form. He didn’t have another second to waste, and grabbed Rachel around the waist before ghosting her back to his home. Whoever that man was, she intended to kill him.

  When they took form in Somnus' bedroom, Rachel shrieked in agonizing rage. She was furious but also, she was hurting inside. The pain poured from her soul and Somnus could feel every single drop. He held her tight from behind as she struggled against his grip. He knew that if she wanted out, she could get out. Her hand reached back and Somnus ducked before her claws hit his scalp. She twisted in his grip, allowing her to see her target.

  Those eyes were insane…and trained on him.

  For the first time in his life, Somnus was afraid. He feared for his own life, but also, for Rachel's. In that split second, he saw what would become of her if she killed him. He couldn't imagine fighting against her, but if she killed him, she would be lost to her fury. That would be a fate far worse.

  He struggled to keep her in his arms as she flailed and screamed. Her scream was so high pitched, so shrill, that when his eardrum broke and blood poured from his ear, he wasn't surprised. Her claws tore at his skin, and he managed to avoid the worst of it, but still they connected, and cut him deeply as she tried to escape.

  "Rachel!" he shouted. "It's me! Rachel, stop!"

  She hissed at him, her eyes turning more black than blue, and bared her fangs. He'd already had so many fantasies about those fangs, but now she intended to use them for a whole new purpose. He held one of her arms in each hand, unable to let go or she would shred him. When her face came closer to his, he knew that she was going to rip out his throat.