“There is no point in struggling, mortal.”
Mortal. Paula looked up at them. Or it. Or whatever a blob of shadows was called. “I believe you have the wrong woman,” she responded coolly as she brushed the dirt from her robe and got to her feet.
“We know who you are.”
Paula arched one eyebrow. “Do I owe you money as well? A simple, red-bordered debt collection letter would have been fine.”
“Shut up.”
“Get stuffed,” Paula replied finding herself once more shoved back onto the ground. “That’s the best you immortal beings can do? Shove me?”
“You are nothing to us.”
Once more she got to her feet. There was no way she was going to lay cowering. “So let me go.” It was worth trying.
“We have to kill you.”
“You don’t have to. You could just ask me to promise never to do anything remotely heroic and I’ll honor that.” Paula still couldn’t image how she was going to save some part of humankind when she couldn’t save herself. And where are the boys? I take it back. I need help.
“Your type cannot survive on your own.”
“My type?” Paula looked at them. It. Whatever.
“The reckless and fool hardy.”
Okay, yes, that is my type. “Well, that certainly sounds like me. What do you think I’m going to do?”
“Save lives,” they responded with disgust.
“And that’s bad?” Weird thing was Paula believed in her destiny more talking to the shadows than she did with the boys. She had thought they were being overprotective and melodramatic. With the shadows, it was the opposite. They wanted her dead, so she was inclined to believe somewhere inside her lurked a hero gene. Go figure. You live—hopefully—and learn.
“Less do-gooder humans mean fewer problems for us. We plan evil so carefully and then people like you come along and screw it up.”
“How inconvenient for you,” Paula murmured, her eyes rolling at them. “But I swear I’m not a do-gooder. I take DVDs back to the store late, I lie and swear and drink and I have tatts. Wanna see?” Paula’s basic plan was to confuse them with babble so they either thrilled to let her go or they slipped up and by some miracle she managed to escape their clutches.
“It’s funny how the flawed like this one become great when they have more potential for evil.”
“Her kind is cultivated for their fallibility as they understand humankind more than the non fallible.”
Who knew being flawed was a cosmic bonus? Oh, the perils of Paula. She looked around her. There could be six or twenty-six shadows. How evil were they? If she’d listened to the boys, she wouldn’t be here now. If I hadn’t slept with Darrin, I wouldn’t be broke. If I’d paid my bills on time, I wouldn’t be disconnected and so the beat goes on. “The boys will come and get me.”
“You’ll be dead by then.”
“Oh really?” Paula knew it wasn’t convincing in any way, but it was the best she could do considering her mind was thinking over how-do-I-save-my-ass plans.
“Yes.”
“How?” Paula was surprised at the amount of stupid escape ideas that came to her mind. I must stop watching so much TV.
“We plan to burn you alive.”
Yeesh.
“That’s the only way to get rid of your kind.”
“My kind?”
“The do-gooders. Joan of Arc was like you.”
“The French saint?” Paula had been called many things in her time, but saint wasn’t one of them.
“Yes.”
“I’m nothing like her. Besides, she became a martyr and a rallying point after her death, so that didn’t do you much good, did it? You made her even greater than she was in real life. I’d re-think the fire thing considering how you screwed up with the French chick.”
“Shut up.”
No fucking way. The power to irritate was her best weapon. “I reckon you should let me go. Why? If you let me continue messing up my life on my own, the best case scenario is I’ll become an alcoholic bag lady talking to stray cats, collecting old newspapers, and being of no use to anyone.” Paula wondered how outnumbered she really was. Could I make a run for it and escape? “How many of you are there?” Although indistinct forms, Paula remembered the feel of the hand at her throat. She would no doubt be bruised after that crushing strength. Okay, so maybe not running. She had to rely on her own rat cunning to survive.
“We are infinite.”
“So probably more than twelve, I guess?”
A huge chorus of sighs sounded. “Put her on the fire to shut her up.”
“That’s it?” Paula questioned. “No torture?”
“You want torture?”
“No, not particularly, but you don’t seems to be putting a lot of effort into ridding the world of me.” Paula wasn’t sure how much longer she could confuse them. So far she’d been doing good at prolonging the whole burning thing. She wanted the boys to show up and save her or—wait a second. A sudden thought occurred to her. What was it Orion said about shadows? Total dark weakens them as they cease to exist until there is enough light to create a shadow. The campfire. So I just need to get rid of the fire. Hmm…I can save myself. “Got anything to drink?”
“Shut up.”
“But I’m thirsty.”
“You’re going to die.”
Not if I can help it. “The condemned always gets a last request.”
Another big sigh. “Give her a drink.”
“A gin and tonic would be nice.” Instead, a pitcher of water was shoved at her. It was medium sized and full to the brim. She looked at the fire. The water in the pitcher would be enough to squelch some of it. Then if I beat out the rest with my robe, no more light and no more shadows. “I have a cramp in my leg.” Paula seemed to recall all the best TV prison breakouts began with a fake injury.
“So?”
“I need to get up and walk.” The whiny always wore people—in this case, the shadows—down.
“Get up then.”
“She’s a pain.”
“Strange considering she’s not evil. The evil are always whining about something.”
“I say we shoot her.”
“Nah, we’ve done that before. They can remove bullets.”
“Modern medicine sucks.”
“I miss the old days of killing.”
Paula listened to them as she was walked toward the fire, pitcher in hand. It was funny to think of these shadows as beings who chatted among themselves. She had, until now, thought of them as things. “The flames are so pretty at night.” Paula saw the stake and ropes on the ground. They weren’t so pretty.
“You’ll be in there soon.”
Not fucking likely. Paula heard a sudden rustling to the side. She glanced quickly in that direction and saw a flash of fangs in the moonlight. Orion and the boys. Yay! “So you and the vampires—”
“They are scum.” The sound of furious spitting was heard.
Shadow phlegm. Yuk. Paula heard more rustling. She decided to talk louder to cover up the sound of possible rescue. “Funny, they say the same about you.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Oh, so many things.” Her voice was loud and irritating to her own ears.
“Why are you shouting?”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
Paula saw Orion stand up. He motioned toward the pitcher as if he understood why she held on to it. It was now or never. She threw the contents on the fire and that’s when all hell broke loose. The four men crashed through the bushes. They punched and kicked and gray bodies flew everywhere. Paula worked on putting out the fire with the last of the water and then ripped her robe off and started beating at the last licks of flame. The scuffles lessened as the pure night darkness descended. A hand grabbed her around the waist and she lashed out, the pitcher ready to conk whoever it was over the head with it.
“Hey! Watch it, sweetheart.”
“Orion!” S
he could feel the warm strength of him at her back.
“Yes, bloody lucky for us there was no moon.”
Paula turned around in his arms and threw herself against him. “You lot took your time.”
“I wanted to jump in and rescue you when we first arrived, but we got so caught up in listening to you piss them off, we got sidetracked.” He pulled his coat off and put it around her shoulders. “Like they did. You know you’re very good at confusing people.”
“It’s a gift.”
“We have to go.” He tucked her in beside him for protection. “They’ll be back with the light.”
Bugger. “So I’m not safe?” Paula watched the shadow fade to nothing as the light disappeared.
“No.”
“Never?”
“One day.”
She didn’t want to live her life as a victim. “So what do I do?”
Orion kissed her nose. “Hang out with us.”
“You?” Be protected by the hot-bodied vampire? There were worse fates in life.
“Would that be so bad?”
“No.” Paula watched as the other men came toward her. Not bad at all. “Do I get to be part of your team?”
“If you want,” Orion responded.
“Do I need a cape?” Lots of material hid body flaws. It was worth considering. Did Wonder Woman have one? Duh. Forehead slap. Wonder Woman had a body most women would kill for.
Orion chuckled. “Again, if you want.”
“I’ll think about the cape.”
Chapter Eight
Present day
Paula stood limp and sated against Orion. When his mouth was on her neck it had the same effect as him filling her body. It overwhelmed her with the intensity of emotions that only sex could. She snuggled against him. Nowhere felt as safe and as good as it did in Orion’s arms. “This is madness,” Paula mumbled against his skin.
“What is?”
“You are. I am.” To Paula, it seemed against the odds that she could have found someone, let alone a vampire, she could love.
“Us?”
That had a nice ring to it. “Yes.”
Orion lifted her up into his arms and walked over to the bed with her. “I like the idea of us.” He lay down beside Paula, holding her close against his body.
“Me too.” There was only one problem; something Paula wanted to get out in the open. She wanted nothing to jeopardize the relationship blossoming between them. “About the other men—”
“Do you enjoy playing with them?”
That wasn’t what Paula expected to be asked. “Yes.” There was no point saying otherwise. The problem was, she needed Orion to understand that’s all it was—play.
“Then that’s all I consider them.”
“Are you reading my mind?”
Orion chuckled. “I could but I only do that when I can’t work someone out. You, I can. I can see by the expression in your eyes you want the same things that I do.”
“And what is that?” Could it be Orion craved the same thing she did?
“Love.”
Paula sighed and kissed his chest. “Do you think love can come out of crazy moments like we’ve had?”
“The best love is forged by peril.”
“Well, we’ve certainly had peril,” Paula conceded. She lifted her head and looked into the eyes of her lover. “Will you…” How do I ask without sounding like a hypocrite?
“What?”
“Take other women as lovers?” What was good for the goose…
“No.”
The definite tone of his voice surprised her. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’ve spent a lifetime having sex with all types of women, but now the need I had to try and taste every kind is no longer there.”
“Getting too old?” Paula teased.
Orion tugged gently on her hair in retaliation. “No, I’m thinking I’ve found the one I want to spend time getting to know.”
Me? “Really?” Her voice was breathless with hope.
“I’ve spent years wandering around, aimlessly in some cases. I want to settle down.”
“Can a vampire do that? You’re immortal after all.” What happens when I get old? Will he still want me then?
“We are but we can allow ourselves to grow old if we chose.” Orion leaned over and kissed her lips softly. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot of late.”
The thought that she might be the reason behind that made Paula’s face redden.
“And yes, it’s because of you.”
Thank you, fate. “But what if—”
“This is just sex and nothing else? Do you think it is, sweetheart?”
This was the thing that Paula was most concerned about. They had only just met. She didn’t want to come across as a woman desperate to hold on to the first man who was nice to her. “I want it to be more, but I don’t want to be one of those clingy women who hold on for all the wrong reasons.”
“Your reasons are justified but not correct.”
Yay! “So this isn’t just about the shadows?”
Orion turned on his side, his elbow bent and his head resting on his hand. “It started that way, but all the best things happen when you least expect them.”
There was a fast, barely there knock at the door before a naked Patrick walked in. “May I come in?”
Orion smiled. “You are in, Patrick.”
The blond man came and sat on the bed beside them. He reached out and stroked Paula’s leg. “So…”
“So, what, Patrick?” Paula knew what he wanted and she liked the idea of being sandwiched between two hot-bodied men.
Patrick grinned at her. “Don’t toy with me.”
Paula reached over and touched his dick. “Like this?” She rubbed the pad of her thumb back and forward over the head.
“Yes-s-s-s,” Patrick sighed.
Paula looked at Orion.
“Would it please you, sweetheart?” he asked her.
“Only if you join in.” Paula knew it wouldn’t be as good without him.
“My pleasure.”
Or it would have been if the woman hadn’t landed with a thud in the middle of the bed.
****
Hardy Marchant’s hands shot out to stabilize her. This falling through air stuff was hugely overrated. God knows how Superman does it. Her fingers touched flesh. Naked flesh. Hard flesh. “What the hell?” Hardy pushed back the short blonde mop of hair from her face. “Fuck.” Literally. Two men and one woman were very naked and, judging by the blond man’s dick, very ready to have sex. “Who are you people?” Hardy looked around. Where am I now?
“It’s our bed,” advised the woman. “Who the hell are you?”
Hardy looked from her to the men. What a lucky woman. They were gorgeous. “Bloody hell, I have to stop thinking about sex.”
“Why?” The blond man asked.
“It got me where I am now.” Jeez, if I’d bought batteries for my vibrator, none of this would’ve happened. “I appear to have a problem.”
“Yes?” the dark man said.
“There’s this pirate king…”
“Uh huh,” murmured the woman.
“Who is horny as hell.”
The woman sat up and looked at her with interest. “You don’t like sex?”
“I love it. That’s the problem. I was a little lonely and a lot, er—”
“Horny?” The blond man supplied.
He was cute. “Correct and I summoned—”
“Summoned?”
“In a trance,” Hardy explained, no longer concerned she was in the middle of a bed with naked strangers. That was the least of her problems at the moment.
“You can do that?”
“Since childhood.” It was Hardy’s party trick.
“Spooky,” the naked woman murmured.
“Yeah, but the problem is, after we had sex—”
“You didn’t come?”
“Oh no,” Hardy responded. Her mind thinking back
to the moment she had. “It was fantastic. But the thing is, he wants to marry me.”
“Are you married?”
“No.” If she was, Hardy would have been jumping her husband’s bones. Hardy winced at that. Bones. Yeesh.
“You don’t like him?”
Hardy shook her head. “He’s dead.”
“You killed him?”
“Nope, I summoned a dead man to have sex with.”
The End
www.amarindajones.com
Other Books by Amarinda Jones:
Bad Girl
'Twas a Dark and Delicious Christmas
Hush
Dicking Around
Eat Me Up
Indecent Encounters
Strip For Me
The Not So Secret Baby
If Not For You
The Perils of Paula Page 5