Lore vs. The Summoning

by Anya Breton

  The priestess scanned my face for a sign of truth. She must have found what she wanted because her eyes dropped to my lips and then she kissed me again, that same heated slide of soft tongue against tongue. I was happier letting her do that than discussing the vampire.

  The time for speech was apparently finished because she sleekly slid down my body. Her pearly skin was as soft as it looked. I reached my fingers out to twirl them within her silky hair in an effort to see if it felt as luxurious as the cloth I'd compared it to.

  She let out a laugh when I'd accidentally tugged it too tightly in response to the flicking of her tongue. "Harder," she purred against my swollen skin.

  It took me some time to understand what she'd demanded. When I put the pieces together my cheeks flushed bright red again. She was a decidedly bad influence on me because I gave in to her wishes to tug on her hair harder. It lifted her beautiful face toward me. The look of ecstasy in those amazing eyes took my breath away.

  My hand shoved into her hair to get a better grip. Using it I pulled her up, reveling in the control it gave me and the obvious pleasure she got from my use of it. With a hand on her shoulder and my knee to her hip I pushed her back onto the spill of pillows. My hand slid along the soft curve of her thigh.

  "Gods," I whispered while looking down at her perfect body. "What have you done to me?"

  "Doing," she corrected in her contralto voice. "I'm not finished with you. Not by far." The wicked grin on her face made my heart flutter.

  She lifted up as if to kiss me. I moved the hand that had been at her hip over her stomach to stop her. Her blue eyes flashed darkly at me in a mixture of irritation and titillation.

  Morrígan had seemed like a larger than life person from the moment I'd met her. I'd seen small signs of the power she wielded and felt the awesome aura she projected. I could completely understand how she'd managed to convince her flock that she was a goddess incarnate. Having someone I considered formidable pliable beneath my hands was a heady experience.

  The priestess edged herself up until my hand slid into the dark curls at the junction of her legs. With a wicked smile she began rubbing herself against me like a cat in heat. I watched in awe as her jaw went slack, her lips parted in a soft sigh and her lovely eyes fluttered closed. Had there ever been anything more beautiful than this?

  "Ms. Denham," she whispered in what sounded like a question.

  I could barely breath. "Yes?"

  "May I call you by your name?"

  The soft question from a woman that rarely bothered with them broke any reserve I'd had left. I realized with a sharp spike of lust that I wanted her to do a hell of a lot more than call me by my name. I wanted her screaming it at the top of her lungs in between labored pants for air. I wanted her burning so hot that the only thing that could quench it was my touch.

  I inhaled a shaky breath. "Call me Lore."

  "Lore," she repeated with a quiet reverence.

  I didn't know what took hold of me after that. I didn't recognize the person that I'd become. Morrígan let me dominate her fully, doing anything I like to that amazing body of hers. I savored every small noise she made, seeking to draw more and larger ones. In the end she screamed my name. She screamed it several times in between begging for the release I was cruelly withholding. And the last sound she made before she fell asleep beside me was my name in a sighing prayer.

  With my legs pulled up beneath me and a soft blanket drawn around me I watched her slumber. She was by far the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Merely thinking of her brilliant eyes watching me with that sly glint made my stomach flutter.

  Confusion was at the forefront of my thoughts. I had never been with a woman before. As far as I knew I was heterosexual. I could appreciate that females were beautiful creatures but I hadn't had interest in sex with them. Morrígan was something completely different. And she was something that couldn't happen again.

  Carefully I set my feet down on the granite floor to stand as silently as I could manage. But as I stood looking for my clothes, knowing they wouldn't be there, I knew I couldn't run away this time. It wasn't right. I had to stay and face this, whatever this was.

  When she finally stirred I was sitting in a chair across the room watching her. I saw the moment she realized I wasn't in bed with her, the deep lines that had formed above her eyes when she thought I'd fled and then the pleasure when she spotted me.

  "Come back to bed," she said with a flick of the hair off her breasts.

  My mouth literally watered at the sight. Desire instantly warmed me. I went to her with the intention of it being the last time.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  My gun was aimed at his temple before he could get any words past his lips. His narrow fingers lifted in surrender. It was the only move he dared to make.

  I stared at the long chestnut hair that was barely visible in the dimly lit street, the dimple hidden within the strong jaw and the silver irises for a moment before I spoke. "I didn't invite you."

  "I was concerned," Aiden said simply.

  "About?"

  "You did not come home last night."

  A flare of guilt shot through me. I ignored it to speak coolly. "And how do you know?"

  "Do you truly want me to answer that question?"

  That was a very good question. Did I? Probably not. "I'm fine. There was no need to worry. Bye now."

  Ever practical, Aiden remained still but asked, "Did you learn anything?"

  My brain rewound the entire night in a flash of pale skin, flushed cheeks and fluttering eyelashes. Gods, I'd learned something. Oh, he'd meant about the rogue witch.

  "Megan proved that we need to be looking at the high priestesses," I told him with a bounce of my long ponytail off an irritated bit of skin. "She claims one of them is trying to make the world a better place where witches cooperate with each other. But that's pretty much all we got out of her. That and a gaelic chant Morrígan is researching."

  At some point he'd moved. My gun was no longer pressed against his temple. He stood beside me and his eyes were fixed on the soft portion of my neck at the base of my head beneath my ponytail. That wasn't a normal thing for Aiden to do. Though he was a vampire, I'd never caught him looking at my arteries.

  "What is that?" His voice was low and sharp.

  "What is what?"

  "That mark on your nape."

  I couldn't see what he was talking about no matter how much I tried to crane my neck back. I pushed by him, hastily unlocked the front door, and hurried through the building. My stumbling fingers couldn't get the apartment unlocked fast enough. Aiden silently trailed my steps.

  The stinging I'd felt beneath my hair since I woke the second time worried me too much to mess with him. It had been bad enough that I'd had to pull my hair into a ponytail in the car to lower the discomfort but I'd assumed I'd been stung by something.

  My keys landed on the counter in front of the microwave exactly where I wanted them as I rushed to the bathroom. I tugged the collar of my black shirt down in front of the now brightly lit mirror and angled a second mirror in front of me so I could see my neck. What Aiden had been staring at was immediately apparent.

  On the fleshy part of skin beneath my hair between my back and my skull was a black smudge the size of a quarter. I licked my index finger to rub it away but it didn't so much as smear. There was no residual dirt on the pad of my finger.

  Determined to clean the mark off, I snatched a white facecloth from the closet, doused it in steamy water and a healthy dose of soap and then began scrubbing furiously at the skin. It only served to redden the area and worsen the stinging. My features twisted into a frown at the gleaming white facecloth. This wasn't something as easy to clean as dirt or a magic marker drawing.

  I pressed my back closer to the glass to get a better look. The blood drained from my face when I realized that I knew the mark. It had been an image I'd happened upon in an online encyclopedia. The entry had been for an Irish war goddess. Morr�
�gan. The smudges made up a stylized crow, one of the goddess's supposed forms.

  "What is it?" Aiden asked again.

  "I don't know," I lied.

  After smacking the facecloth down on the sink I shoved past the vampire into the living room. My fingers dug into the hair around my temple for a tug that was supposed to help me concentrate as I paced the floor. Think, Laura, think.

  What the hell had happened? Vaguely I recalled Morrígan kissing me exactly where this black smudge now emblazoned. It had stung then as if I'd been burnt. I'd been a little too preoccupied with what her fingers had been doing to ask what had happened. And then I'd forgotten all about it.

  Had she done it then? Or had she managed to mark me while I slept without my noticing it? What the hell did it mean?

  I fixed a glare at the vampire that hovered on the edge of the room. "You need to leave." So I could make a phone call without him overhearing it.

  He ignored me. "The priestess did this to you, didn't she?"

  Rather than answer that I snapped out, "I told you I'd shoot you if you came without my invitation."

  Aiden's lips thinned into a fine line. Two-seconds later he said things he had no right to say. "I don't think you should see her alone. She is dangerous. She could be the high priestess we're looking for."

  "You're dangerous and I'm seeing you alone," I pointed out stiffly.

  "I'm not a high priestess."

  "You could be working for one."

  Aiden gave me a bewildered expression. "Why would I have you investigate this matter if I were the one who wanted it to succeed?"

  I already had the answer to that question. "Maybe you think I'm too much of a screw up to figure any of it out. So you think I'm the perfect one to investigate it."

  "I don't think you're a screw up in the least. It's quite the opposite," he replied in what sounded like a gently chiding voice. "You're the perfect person to investigate. Your ability to seamlessly move between all factions has enabled you to learn far more than I ever could. Still, I think you should keep your distance from Morrígan."

  His answer had pleased me enough that I said, "I'm going to try. But I can't make any promises."

  He inclined his head in a slight bow. "Please keep me updated with any new information. We're eager to have this matter wrapped up before the sabbath."

  The full moon was when they thought the summoning would take place. I didn't have long and I had virtually no leads. Worse yet, it seemed every time I followed a clue all that I got were complications. I didn't want more complications. This might be the most difficult thing I'd had to deal with to date.

  "I'll do my best," I managed to answer.

  Aiden watched me for a moment before turning and leaving without another word. I had time to note his facial features. Three nights in a row they'd been unchanged. Did that mean this was the face he was keeping? I shouldn't care. I had enough problems on my plate.

  My fingers dialed the moment I heard the door close in the distance. Oscar answered Morrígan's phone after the first ring. He'd known it was me calling and asked me to hold while he fetched "her holiness" without waiting to see if that was what I wanted. I wondered if he was on orders to put me right through now.

  Her contralto voice oozed into my ear with a husky purr a minute later, "Lore."

  My knees went a little weak simply from the memories of what she'd done to me. "High priestess..."

  "Come now, we're past that," she scolded.

  "What did you do to me, Morrígan?"

  She made a sound of contemplation that didn't sound either angry or pleased. "Hmm." It wasn't exactly a question but I knew she wanted me to explain my demand.

  "There's a mark on my neck that wasn't there last night. I can't clean it off."

  She inhaled a small breath. "A parting gift from me, dearest."

  This stinging thing was a gift? Warily I asked, "What is it?"

  "A tattoo of sorts," she said in an irreverently light tone. I could visualize her shrugging her creamy shoulders in one of her gauzy gowns.

  It wasn't a tattoo. I'd have noticed someone jabbing a needle into me repeatedly. This was...oh, gods, she couldn't have...

  I blurted out, "Is it a brand, Morrígan?"

  Her delighted laugh was answer enough.

  My temperature rose in anger. I could feel my cheeks flushing from the boiling blood steadily filling them. "You branded me?"

  "I had to claim you from the vampire."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She'd intentionally done this to me! And it was because of Aiden? "I told you that there's nothing going on with him!"

  "That isn't what he thinks," she said above a yawn.

  "You had no right to do this, Morrígan!"

  She switched into a patronizing tone that set my teeth on edge. "Oh don't get so worked up. It is a gift."

  "How is branding me on my neck a gift?"

  "It will protect you," she said simply.

  "It's not even hidden! I'm never going to be able to put my hair up now without putting make-up over it!"

  "You wouldn't cover my gift." Morrígan said in surprise tinted with indignation.

  "Have you been out in the real world lately?" I demanded of the woman that lived in a torch-lit stone stronghold with leather bikini clad neophytes bowing to her every whim. "The symphony orchestra doesn't exactly look favorably on tattoos or piercings. And you put one where everyone will see it!"

  "I could have marked your forehead."

  "I would have shot you!"

  Her chuckled response was gratingly light. "No, you wouldn't have."

  I was still too mystified by what had happened between us that I couldn't say if I would or wouldn't have shot her. If I'd given in to my rage, I had the sinking suspicion that I'd have immediately healed her while begging forgiveness. Gods, Aiden was right. She was dangerous but not for any of the reasons he probably had in his head.

  "I want you to remove it," I said in my I'm-so-pissed-I-could-spit voice.

  "It is a Brand, dearest. A Brand cannot be removed."

  "Then you'd better hope I can heal it off my skin," I snapped before hanging up.

  Threatening the high priestess of the Fire witches was probably a bad idea. I'd only been burnt twice by rogue Fire witches but those had been two of the most painful wounds I'd ever sustained. I'd endured quite a bit of pain since I'd been given my powers to have a pretty good comparison.

  "What have you done now?"

  I whirled around to face the derisive voice of my guide. "Great," I muttered at the dark figure standing in front of my bedroom door. "A visit from you is just the perfect way to end an already perfect day."

  In a surprising move Kastio shimmered out of sight and then back in again with a more solid appearance. There was no mist around him now. He was in the Mortal Realm. My guide advanced on me too quickly for me to avoid his touch. I stood stiffly staring at the wall while his eerily smooth fingertips traced the mark on my neck.

  I had almost forgotten that of all the people I'd met over the years, supernatural or otherwise, Kastio had the warmest body temperature by far. I didn't know if it was a peculiarity of the divine or if he'd been something supernatural before he'd been deified. The few times I'd tried to get information out of him about his past he'd given me cryptic responses or outright ignored me.

  What I did remember was that these moments when Kastio visited in the flesh were the worst. I'd have paid him to go back to the Domain and dip into my thoughts simply to avoid having to feel his presence heavy beside me.

  His aura always preceded him like a choking wave of humidity. It washed over me, holding me captive in a phantom grip. The scent of expensive fabric and exotic spice hovered with it.

  I forced myself to speak in an effort to ignore his proximity. "Why bother asking? You know what I did."

  "Yes," he agreed in his unreadable voice.

  A shiver shot up my back at the realization that he had been watching. Kastio had al
l but admitted to seeing every tiny thing that Morrígan and I had done together. My cheeks flushed brilliant crimson. Of all of the things Kastio had probably witnessed, I was most mortified about this one.

  "So you know this isn't my fault," I added defensively without looking at him.

  His fingers were still on my neck. They'd long since stopped tracing the mark. I hadn't noticed it until then. Unfortunately the moment I'd noticed it, my body reacted to it. A tremor began in my shoulders and had washed over the rest of me by the time I'd taken a step back.

  Kastio's hand dropped to rest beside him. "It is a magical Brand. Neither of your healing powers will remove it."

  Technically I had two healing powers. There was the innate healing my body did effortlessly -- healing rather like shapeshifters had. And then there was the ability to Heal like the flavor of witch called Healers. I wasn't a true Healer because it didn't work when applied to myself and, well, I was half human, half divine instead of all witch.

  But wait, he'd said neither would work on me. "You're joking."

  "I do not joke." He was right about that. He had no sense of humor to speak of.

  "Gods," I whined. "I can't have something like this there!" I jabbed my fingers toward my neck. "I always wear my hair up during performances and that will show on every gown I own." I inhaled a petulant breath, hoping for some sort of answer that would fix this. An idea popped into my brain. My eyebrows lifted and my gaze met his. "Maybe I can have someone tattoo over it with flesh colored ink."

  He didn't so much as move a hair when he squashed my hope. "Your skin will heal the tattoo and absorb the ink but the Brand will remain."

  "Damn it!" I slumped down onto the sofa to put a little more space between us without it being obvious what I was doing. Then I recalled something from the phone conversation. "Was she telling the truth, Kast? Will it protect me?"

  His brooding expression didn't budge. "Yes."

  That was surprising. People didn't usually give me gifts quite that useful. I could always use a little more protection. "What will it protect me against?"