Rick, on the other hand, smelled as he always did—like the night. Rain, cedar, honeysuckle. He had a layered and complex scent that oozed from his skin. I couldn’t get enough. I went to work on the fly of his jeans, struggling with the button until he helped me. My hands shook with need. He might as well have been made of heroin; my addiction was complete.
When I touched him, my hand worked between our pressed bodies. His kiss deepened and struck blood. His jaw had elongated, and his fangs had dropped, the beast rising to the surface. He pulled back and licked his lips.
“Shhh,” I said. “It’s okay. I can handle him.” I ran fingers through his hair and stroked the back of his head. “Relax.” Closing my eyes, I focused on our connection. Where I’d been anxious to bring about Rick’s first shift, this time I pressed the beast back. Not entirely. I wanted Rick to learn to control it on his own. My interference was the equivalent of a velvet chain, a gentle reminder for the animal to remain at bay while I dealt with the man.
He sighed over me, and I opened my eyes.
“Better?” I asked.
The corner of his mouth lifted, and he answered by kissing me again. Before his memory loss, Rick would have had me naked and panting by now. I needed to remember this Rick needed time. To him, it was our first time. I rolled him onto his back and stood up to remove the rest of my clothing while he removed his. He watched me with reverence, the moonlight playing across his skin at an angle that made him half light and half dark.
Once I was naked, I stood over him, then lowered myself to my knees. I crawled up his body until I met his lips again and circled my hips over the tip of his erection. I wanted him so badly my body ached, but I wouldn’t force him.
“Are you sure?” I asked as a hint of fear came through between us. “Are you having second thoughts?”
In response, he dug his fingers into my hair and raised his hips, penetrating me. Sex with Rick was never normal or even average, but the time we’d waited to connect had rendered my senses raw. For a moment, my head spun with pleasure at the feel of him. The air thickened with power, and the forest seemed to glory in it. As I started to rise and fall above him, the branches around us grew at an unusual rate. A vine sprouted near our heads and transformed into a rose bush that bloomed in the moonlight. One singing cricket turned into five hundred. Birds or bats fluttered overhead, and the leaves around us rustled with animal visitors, attracted by the power.
I barely noticed. My entire focus was on the man under me, who tensed and relaxed as his beast fought for control. You stay where you are, I told the beast through our connection, and I’ll give you a reason to behave.
I increased my pace, propped myself on his chest and unhinged my hips. His hands coasted over my breasts, up my back, and down to cradle my thighs. The blissful edge came into view, and I pitched myself over without hesitation. He followed, shattering under me.
The skin of his neck shimmered with sweat in the moonlight, and I couldn’t resist. I struck, biting until I drew blood. Sweet ambrosia washed over my tongue. He stiffened at the bite, then relaxed, breathing deeply as I swallowed. When I’d had my fill, I lifted my torso to see him better, still straddling him hip to hip. “Was that okay?”
He looked at me from under hooded eyes and grinned like he held a sweet, dark secret. Sitting up, he pressed his chest into mine and wrapped my hair around one of his hands. “Oh yes,” he growled and struck my bared vein.
Memory or no memory, Rick was a fast learner and wickedly creative. We were together again, one body. I was confident, in time, the rest would come.
* * * * *
In the wee morning, sore and sated from unmeasured hours of lovemaking, Rick and I dressed and returned to the car. It was still dark, and I hoped to reach a motel before sunrise and find a safer place to store Julius for the day.
“It’s about time,” Polina said. She was leaning against the outside of the car next to Logan, looking decidedly pissed with her arms crossed and her familiar squawking angrily from her shoulder.
“Sorry, I, uh…”
Logan rolled his eyes. “Everyone knows exactly what you were, uh, doing, Grateful. Even I could feel the power coming off you two. It was like standing at the edge of a nuclear test zone out here. Julius had to take off in the opposite direction to keep from ripping someone’s throat out. Poe and Hildegard caught up to us and kept going. Said it was overwhelming.”
“Sorry,” I said again.
“Look, I’m relieved you’re all powered up,” Polina said, “but we need a plan. We’re not safe here. Everyone’s hungry and tired. It’s time to move and come up with plan B.”
I stared at Logan. “Anything? Has your mother appeared to you at all?”
“No. Nothing.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m trying; I really am. Connections are open. She just has nothing to say to me.”
Rick placed his hands on his hips. “Perhaps the magic will return to me in time, without the angel.”
“Maybe,” I said. He did seem to be healing, but I couldn’t separate our new relationship from the last. Our connection was stronger. He had more control. Although I had no way of testing the magic within him. I called for Julius and Poe and climbed behind the wheel. A few minutes later a reluctant vampire joined us in the hearse, as did my familiar and Hildegard.
“Feeling better, oh Mistress of the Morgue?” Poe said with a low chuckle.
“I need your help, Poe. My phone is dead, and we need to find Longview, Washington.” Dead was an understatement. My phone was likely corroded with seawater beyond repair.
Poe bristled. “It’s back toward the river. Out of Kendra’s ward, I’m sure, but not beyond her power.”
“Trust me.”
Poe took to the sky. I started the car and followed.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Polina asked.
Rick threaded his fingers into mine and squeezed his support.
“Of course not,” I said. “But this is the best chance we’ve got at the moment. I’ll explain on the way.”
* * * * *
We arrived in Longview just before dawn and checked into the Red Mound motel on the edge of town. We managed to get Julius and his coffin tucked away without much notice, aside from a drunk who was sleeping near the pool. He raised eyebrows at the sight of us carrying the casket up the stairs, but if it worried him, he didn’t say anything.
Once Julius was tucked in for the day, we left a do not disturb sign on the door and walked to a Trader’s Waffle House down the street. Over fluffy Belgian waffles covered in chunky blueberry-peach syrup, Polina finally challenged my plan.
“The tree sprite said the witch was new, not that she was dumb. She’s going to question your motives.”
“Not if we’re convincing. We show up at her door offering to help her train—to take her under our wing. It’s better that there are two of us. We can say we are interested in a sisterhood, a support group.”
Logan took a deep swig of his coffee. “If she’s new, she’s probably weak. You two should just take her. Throw a potato sack over her head and get the job done.”
“Logan!” I said. “We can’t kidnap her. Gah, you’re starting to sound like Julius.”
“Why can’t you kidnap her? Temporarily. Not to hurt her but to force her to do the spell.”
“Well, I’m sure she has to participate willingly,” I said.
Polina shook her head. “Not as far as I know. I’m pretty sure if you are touching her and she’s breathing, the two of us should be able to draw on her element. If she’s struggling, she could make it difficult, but we could drug her.”
“Oh.” I paused, considering the possibilities.
Rick, who was pretending to enjoy a cup of coffee despite the fact he didn’t need to ingest normal food, looked at me through the corner of his eye.
“What do you think?” I asked him.
In that quiet and dark way that I’d come to love about him, Rick met my eyes and said, “I do no
t believe you are the type of person to guarantee making an enemy when there is hope of making a friend.”
Logan turned toward Polina, raised his coffee mug, and lowered his chin. In a serious, Rick-mocking voice, he said, “I do not believe you are the type of witch to turn down an invitation for beers and hot-tubbing when there’s a perfectly good hot tub back at the motel.”
Polina dropped her fork and started laughing.
“Just checking if bullshit works on all your kind or just her.” He pointed his mug at me.
“Hey!” I said. “There’s no need to be rude.”
Rick glared at Logan.
“Oh, come on. This is not the time to needlessly defend your virtue, Grateful. We all know you’re a good person, but this is life or death, sink or swim. You can’t afford to be wrong about this. We need to get a witch in the bag, maybe two if someone doesn’t step up.” Logan pointed an eyebrow at Rick.
A growl emanated from Rick’s chest, and the slightest bit of fang flashed between his lips.
I wagged a finger at Logan’s face. “Said by the one person at this table who has nothing to lose if he goes home now! Back off. Rick’s right. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. We try to win her over first. If she refuses, we knock her over the head and tie her up.”
A waitress passed by our table at “tie her up” and scowled over her shoulder at us. She approached our waitress behind the counter and started whispering in her ear. I took a sip of my coffee.
Polina nodded her head and lowered her voice. “Sounds like we have plan B.”
A few moments later, our waitress came by with a pot of coffee in one hand and our bill in the other. She was heavyset, in her fifties, and I got the definite impression that if any of us stepped out of line, the coffee pot would be used as a weapon. “You need more coffee, or are you ready for the bill?” she asked briskly.
Logan snatched the piece of paper from her hand, and she strolled away. “So, I guess this human with nothing to lose is good enough to pay the bill?”
“Logan…” I started. My mouth dropped open. What could I say? He was right. No matter how hard I tried to keep him out of danger, I always ended up luring him right back into it. We were using him, and I couldn’t stop, no matter how wrong it was. I needed him.
“No, Grateful, I get it. Polina here has made it clear multiple times that I’m the lesser species to be used as you witches see fit. This isn’t my first time on this merry-go-round. Tabetha broke me in, remember? I’ll pay the bill, then I’ll go back to my motel room and wait for my mother’s ghost to tell me how to fix your boyfriend. Why? Because we’re friends… Oh wait, friends are equals, aren’t they? But then, it’s just my life on the line.” He slammed a few bills onto the table and stormed out the door.
Polina’s eyes darted between Rick and me. “Was it something I said?”
Chapter 22
Valentine
“Logan!” I ran after him through the pebble parking lot and toward the motel, leaving Rick and Polina to sort out the bill. I caught up with him in the middle of the street and jogged to keep pace. “I’m sorry.”
“You know, I thought I owed you this after everything that happened with Tabetha. You saved my life. I love you, Grateful.”
That stopped me in my tracks. He stopped too and rolled his eyes. “Not like that. Not like you and Rick. Like family. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I feel responsible for you.”
“I feel that too. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to put you at risk.”
He took a deep breath. His hands found his hips and he gave me a short shrug. “Good. Then don’t prolong this, Grateful. Tonight, try it your way, but if this witch won’t listen to reason, take her.”
I stared at him for a beat, then nodded. “Understood.”
“Come on,” he said, motioning toward the motel with his head.
I glanced back at the restaurant. “Where are we going? I should probably wait for the others.”
“No. We need to be alone. Every time my mother has helped me with something concerning you, we’ve been alone. The first time was in my apartment. The second, in your basement. During the whole thing with Tabetha? Not a word from her. I think Polina and Rick are messing with my reception.”
I scrambled up the rickety metal stairs and followed him into his room. He closed and locked the door behind us, then pulled the drapes on the window. We stood in the dark for a second while he fidgeted with the brass lamp next to the bed. It glowed to dusty-ecru life beside us.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Have a seat on the bed.”
I tipped my head to the side in question. Logan and I did have a romantic past, but I was not interested in going back there. I believed him when he said he didn’t love me in that way, but still, he was a guy.
“Relax, Grateful,” he said with annoyance. “Sit in the chair if you’d like. I simply need you to be quietly present while I do this. I think. I mean, I don’t actually know, but it seems plausible.”
I plunked down in the cracked vinyl chair in the corner. He took the bed, kicking off his shoes and sitting cross-legged on the mauve-and-mint comforter. He threaded his fingers together and rested his eyes on his clasped hands.
“What now?” I asked.
He shushed me. We sat in silence. I tapped my thumb on my thigh. Crossed my legs. Uncrossed them. Stretched my legs out and rolled my ankles. Cracked my neck. Tried to work out the words to an old song I liked in my head. Was it a diamond in the flame? A diamond in a flash? Something about bloodstains. Damn, I wish my phone wasn’t dead. This was going to drive me crazy.
Are you okay? Rick’s voice rang through my head, and I turned my face toward the door, mouth going slack.
I closed it before answering him in my head. Fine. Trying something. Meet you back at the room.
His footsteps passed the door, breaking the light through the crack underneath.
“It wasn’t an angel,” Logan said suddenly. Only his voice was an old woman’s. His mother’s. Logan was channeling his mother.
“What?” I looked back at him. His skin had gone pale, and his eyes were vacant like he wasn’t even in his body. “Logan?”
“Your caretaker is missing his elemental magic, but it was not an angel who gave it to him, and it is not an angel who can heal him. Angels can’t interfere. An angel did not help your caretaker,” the woman’s voice said through Logan’s lips. It was like watching a badly dubbed movie. At times Logan’s mouth didn’t seem to form the words fully, acting more as an amplifier than actually producing the sound. In fact, his entire form appeared stiff and catatonic.
My face tightened with concern for my friend, and I hastened to get what I needed quickly. “Then what or who was it?”
“I do not know.”
“Bullshit. The creature who helped Rick was made of light! Where else but the beyond do things exist that are made of light?”
“If you swear at me, I will leave and never help you again, despite my son’s affection for you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Mrs. Valentine, please. I need your help. What could have finished the spell and given Rick his elemental power?”
“Apology accepted. Whatever it was, it was not from the beyond. If what you say is true, the light came from somewhere else. Light requires power. Follow the power. What power was there that day?”
I frowned. “Only The Book of Flesh and Bone. Reverend Monk bound me to my body with it. It cursed his parishioners and opened the hellmouth. But that book comes from darkness… the Devil. It was given to Reverend Monk by demons.”
“A demon could appear as a reflection of light. Some are quite crafty.”
Biting my lip, I shook my head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would a demon give Rick power? I know what I saw. This creature helped Rick. I was dead. If it was a demon, why didn’t he destroy Rick so I could never come back?”
“A smart witch might have predicted the attack.”
“Right.” I leaned back in my chair, thinking. I needed my grimoire or the copy of the spells I kept in a database on my phone, but The Book of Light was thousands of miles away, and my phone was both out of juice and dripping seawater. Still, there were a few things I remembered. “I readied the caretaker spell long before I used it. I might have had a booby trap to use a demon’s power to my advantage.”
“More plausible than an angel. One more thing,” Mrs. Valentine said. Her voice had grown hoarse and soft. “Tell my son he’ll soon be given a choice, and I…” Her voice faded away into oblivion.
Logan’s body pitched forward, and he landed on his face on the bed. “Logan!” I rushed to his side and helped him roll onto his back. He moaned in pain as I straightened his stiff limbs. I slapped his cheek lightly. “Are you okay?”
“Nothing a shot of tequila won’t cure,” he said. “Did I pass out?”
“You just fell on your face.”
“Damn, sorry it didn’t work.”
“But it did!” I said, surprised he had no memory of being possessed. Every other time he’d acted as a medium he’d relayed messages from his mother and was included in the conversation. “You channeled your mom!”
“Huh?”
“I could hear her voice coming out of your mouth,” I said, poking him in the chest.
He rubbed the top of his head. “What did she say?”
I stepped over to the window and pulled back the drapes. It was raining again. Nice. “She said it wasn’t an angel who gave Rick his elemental magic. She told me to follow the power.”
“What power?”
“I think she meant the power that bound me. Reverend Monk used a book given to him by a demon to bind me to my body. He had to. I could have become a mist or transfigured into a bird and escaped being burned alive if he hadn’t.”
“Wait, can you do that? The mist thing?”
Mother May I (Knight Games Book 4) Page 14