Master of Ecstasy

by Nina Bangs

  "I'm living it." He waded through the sea of bitty-fluffs to slump onto his bed. "I lied to you, Sparkle. I hate being good. I have so much untapped potential for rottenness that I'll never realize. The Big Boss cut me off in mid-career, and it's like I can't get my heart into this goodness crap." A bittyfluff climbed onto his lap, and he absently stroked its pink fur.

  Sparkle was touched in spite of herself. Leaping from the mantel, she tiptoed through the bittyfluffs, then jumped up beside Mede. She rubbed her head against his arm. "I hear you talking. What would happen if you eased back into your old life and did a few evil deeds? Nothing really bad, just a testing of the waters kind of thing?"

  He shrugged. "Haven't a clue. The Big Boss might just get steamed enough to erase me."

  Sparkle thought about that. "Not likely. He has a reputation for being pretty patient." She began to wash her face. "Personally, I don't get the point of all this patience stuff. If I were the Big Boss, I'd just squash anyone who didn't do things my way. That's just me, though."

  Mede winced. "Bad versus good is a non-issue right now. I have other problems."

  "No kidding." Sparkle felt sorry for Mede. What was his reward for being good? Nothing. Here Mede was working his tail off to do the right thing, and life kept kicking him in the teeth. No one would ever catch Sparkle Stardust doing a good deed. There was no payoff.

  "All the servants have disappeared. Where the hel… Where in tarnation did they go?" He rubbed his eyes. "Dinner was a disaster. We all sat down to eat, and no food. Not only no food, but no cook and no one to serve the food. I couldn't even find anyone to yell at. We all had to cook our own meals."

  Sparkle tried to look upbeat. "I'd rack that up in the positive column. I don't know where you got that cook, but I'd bet she moonlights as a consultant for the doggy cuisine industry. Besides, all your guests want to do is grab a bite and get back to their other interests." She offered him a pointed stare. "Thanks to yours truly, food is not their main focus right now." Except for Clara. Sparkle didn't like to fail, but she'd failed with that woman. All Clara seemed interested in was vampires, and the only resident vampire was already taken.

  "What about my ghosts? Have they done anything besides have sex?" He reached for his last bottle of the pink stuff.

  Sparkle shifted her gaze to the hearth. Maybe she was feeling a little bit guilty here. "Uh, no. They wanted to post a complaint, though. They went up to the battlements last night to express their… emotional commitment to each other, and discovered that Blythe and Darach had beat them to it. I feel their pain, because the battlements are their thing. They had to do their expressing in Clara's room. Lucky for them, she didn't use it last night." Which was a little weird since Clara hadn't hooked up with anyone.

  Mede offered her a weak smile. "There's an upside to this. Things can't get any worse."

  Dinner was over, such as it was, and Blythe was the only one still sitting at the table. She stared blankly into the hearth's fire, seeing only the end of her career at Ecstasy. It shouldn't have come as any surprise, because she'd been ready to blow when Textron had sat down next to her and demanded she show proof that she was working hard on the job.

  She allowed herself a small smile. Darach would be proud of her when she told him. Blythe had simply turned to Textron and told him where he could stuff his job. Of course, he couldn't, because that place was too tight.

  Her decision to leave Ecstasy hadn't been thought out and examined from every angle. It had simply evolved from where she was in her life. Since she no longer believed that she should stay because of her family's ties to the company, she could think about what was right for her. Ecstasy Inc. was about making other people happy, but it had never made her happy. Blythe could admit that now. Darach had given her the courage to shed her personal hair shirt, Ecstasy Inc., to pursue true happiness. He was right. Finding joy in her life would be the best way to honor her family.

  Knowing she was finished with Ecstasy had been freeing. And the look on Textron's face had almost been the highlight of her whole trip. Almost. The real highlight should be awake by now and ready to talk.

  Standing, Blythe stretched and started toward the steps leading to Ganymede's room. She'd pick up the bittyfluffs, then go to her room and freshen up before tackling her stubborn vampire.

  She'd only taken a few steps when she heard a voice in her head.

  "Blythe, come to Darach's room. I need ye."

  She stood frozen. Not Darach's or Sparkle's voice. Then who… ?

  " 'Tis Thrain. The women have taken Darach."

  Fear paralyzed Blythe for the moment it took her to understand the horror of what Thrain had said, and then she was racing up the stairs to Darach's room.

  By the time she reached the top of the tower, she was breathing hard and her heart was pounding out a terrified rhythm. Darach's door was wide open. He'd never leave it open like that.

  Rushing into the room, she looked around, hoping against hope that Thrain was wrong. He wasn't. "What happened?" As she tried to get close to the bed, she slammed up against Darach's protective shield.

  Loathing for the women filled Thrain's eyes. "They have found a way to make the bog myrtle into a powder. When they saw that ye were busy eating and wouldna interrupt them, they must have secured a small container of bog myrtle above the door, then moved far enough out of sight so that Darach wouldna sense them when he awoke. Darach removed the protection from across his entry, then opened the door to leave. He was going down to speak with ye. Opening the door caused the powder to fall. There were many of the women, and as soon as the bog myrtle made him helpless, they took him away quickly." Thrain slammed his fist against the headboard. "They would have taken me also, but Darach had protected the bed, so neither they nor their vile powder could reach me."

  Blythe closed her eyes, trying to shut out the obvious conclusion. "That means you can't help Darach."

  "I dinna have the power to dispel Darach's protection." The words seemed dragged from the depths of his despair. "I tried to speak to his mind, but he didna answer. He is either unable to answer my thoughts, or else he feels that speaking to me would only put others in danger."

  "Then how can I help him?" There had to be a way. She needed to find a starting point, find someone who could help.

  "Darach wouldna wish ye to put yourself in danger to save him. That is why I believe he might be refusing to speak with me. He knows I would tell ye what he said."

  No. They couldn't have him. No one she loved would die again while she had breath in her body. Loved? The word transfixed her. Yes, she loved Darach MacKenzie, and she was damned well going to tell him so.

  She turned to leave the room with Thrain's parting thought touching her. "Be safe, Blythe."

  This wasn't about being safe. This was about saving the man she loved. And as she closed the door behind her, she hadn't a clue how she was going to do that. But she'd better start by getting the Freeze-frame.

  As she was about to push her door open, Clara stumbled up the stairs shouting her name. Blythe didn't have time for whatever Clara wanted. She continued into her room with Clara trailing behind her.

  "Blythe, I can help you find Darach." Clara tugged at her sleeve as Blythe slipped the Freeze-frame into her pocket.

  Blythe spun to face her. "What do you know about Darach?"

  "I really wanted to be in on a vampire hunt. It's what I've always dreamed about. But after Darach saved me last night, I couldn't finish it. So I hid last night and didn't come out until I knew they'd taken Darach away." Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she brushed them away with the back of her hand. "I know I should've come out today and warned somebody, but I was so afraid. They would've killed me if they thought I'd told someone."

  Even trade, Clara. I might kill you for not telling someone. "What do you know?"

  "Come up to the battlements so I can show you where they are." She hurried to the door as Blythe flung on her cloak.

  Once on the battlement
s, Clara pointed to a ring of fire visible not far from the castle. "They didn't go far because they had to carry him, and he's pretty big. Besides, they have to be finished by dawn. He's no good to them dead."

  Blythe clenched her teeth to keep from shrieking at this woman. She made it sound as if Darach were just a disposable item to use, then throw away. "Anything else?"

  Clara nodded. "They spent a lot of time planning this, because they didn't want to be interrupted once they'd captured such a powerful vampire. A chance like this might never come again."

  "Get to the point." She stared at the ring of fire. How would she reach Darach?

  "They chose a rocky spot, then cleared away everything that would burn. Ever since Darach arrived at the castle, they've been busy piling up lots of wood to form a circle, enough to keep the fire going till dawn. Now that they've lit it, no one can get in or out of the ring." Clara bit her lip. "When dawn comes and the fire burns down, they'll just walk away and leave him. As soon as they're gone, we can run in and bring him back to the castle." She looked hopeful.

  "That'll be too late." Blythe closed her eyes. She couldn't stand the thought of him suffering. And more than the physical pain, he would hate feeling helpless.

  To a man who valued control so highly, being bound would be the true torture. "Much too late." She opened her eyes. "Will you go with me now to help save him?"

  Clara's eyes widened. "I can't, Blythe. There're twenty of them, and they're dangerous. They'd kill us. Besides, we couldn't get through the fire now anyway." She looked relieved that she'd thought of a logical excuse not to help Blythe.

  "Right." Blythe didn't try to hide the contempt in her gaze. "Thanks for the info, but it would've done a lot more good if you'd said something sooner. Get out of my way."

  Blythe pushed past Clara and ran down the steps. She tried to plan as she went, but fear for Darach was making mush of her brain. It would take too long to hunt down someone to help her. Besides, who in this castle would have the guts to face those women? Probably no one. So she'd be wasting precious time.

  She could soak her heavy cloak in the loch, then try to beat out enough of the fire to clear a path into the ring. But from what she'd seen from the battlements, the flames would probably be too high for that to work. She had to try, though.

  Once inside the ring? She didn't know. Her Freeze-frame would get some of the women, but then the rest of them could rush her. And even if she could hold them off, Darach would probably be too weak to escape with her. A horse? Bringing a horse wouldn't do any good if she couldn't get Darach onto the horse.

  Blythe was so busy trying to plan that she almost ran over Sparkle, who was standing at the foot of the steps.

  "Whoa, girlfriend. You're going in the wrong direction. Turn around and head back to that sexy vampire. " Sparkle peered up the steps. "Have you seen my ghosts? If they're doing it on the battlements, I'm going to kick butt all the way down these stairs. It's time they did some work. No one has decent work ethics anymore. Hell, I'd even settle for indecent ones. The servants aren't working. The ghosts aren't working. The only one working is moi. I think—"

  "Shut up, Sparkle."

  Sparkle blinked at her.

  Probably no one had ever talked to Sparkle that way. "The sexy vampire's been kidnapped. Listen up." Blythe explained the details quickly, then took a deep breath. "I need your help to get him back."

  Sparkle looked at her as though Blythe had suggested she never talk about sex again. "You want me to do something good?" She'd spoken aloud, proof that she was truly shocked.

  "It wouldn't really be good. You'd be saving a vampire, an age-old symbol of darkness and evil. So actually, you'd be doing something bad." Would Sparkle buy into that reasoning?

  Sparkle looked doubtful. "Yeah, but I know that Darach is pretty much a good guy, so I'd still be doing something good."

  "Sorry. Forget I asked." Blythe sighed. "I guess it would take a cosmic troublemaker with lots of courage to accept that kind of challenge." She started to go around Sparkle.

  "Wait." Sparkle's tail whipped back and forth, evidence of some kind of inner conflict.

  Blythe felt a glimmer of hope. "Think about all your wasted effort. You went the extra mile to bring Darach and me together, two completely incompatible people—a vampire and the happiness queen of Casper, Wyoming—and now a bunch of crazy women will ruin what would've been a triumph of wicked meddling." She shook her head. "Too bad."

  "They'll kill him?" Sparkle flattened her ears, and her tail whipped back and forth in a frenzy.

  "Yes." Just saying the word made Blythe want to scream. "I love him, and they're not going to kill someone I love." This was pitiful. She was pouring out her heart to a self-proclaimed it's-all-about-me… woman. Strange, but for the first time, she was looking beyond the cute cat persona and flip sarcasm to accept Sparkle's womanhood.

  "Give me a sec. I can justify this." Sparkle padded beside her as Blythe strode to the great-hall door and pulled it open. She followed Blythe out into the courtyard. "The sensual world would suffer a huge hit if Darach died, and it's my duty to protect all that's sensual. How am I doing?"

  Blythe stopped to stare at Sparkle. Was she actually considering helping? "You're doing great." Please let me say all the right words.

  "And foiling those bitches who think they're so bad would really up my reputation as one cosmic troublemaker that no one messes with." She twitched her whiskers. "I like the sound of that."

  "So will you help?" Blythe held her breath.

  Sparkle's eyes looked troubled. "Who am I kidding? The bottom line is that I'd be doing a good deed, and I've never set out to do anything good in my whole existence. Look what I did here. I brought couples together who would either annoy Mede, or in the case of Textron and Sandy, each other. I've always been about sex and trouble."

  Blythe exhaled sharply and turned from Sparkle. She walked toward the fire and didn't even glance back at the cat. She should've known that getting Sparkle's help was too much to hope for.

  Blythe decided to skip the cloak soaking, because she'd already wasted too much time, and a heavy, wet cloak would only slow her down. She didn't even realize that Sparkle was still following her until the cat spoke. "Okay, okay, I'll help."

  Thank you! "Why did you change your mind?" Blythe didn't look down at Sparkle.

  "What's your plan? I don't have the kind of power Mede has, so I don't know how much help I'll be." Sparkle was good at non-answers.

  But Blythe wasn't going to let her get away with it.

  "What made you do a good deed, Sparkle? Why're you helping Darach?"

  Sparkle's answer was a string of low mumbles and hisses.

  "I can't hear you."

  Sparkle glared at her. "Fine. So I like Darach. But if you ever tell anyone I did something good of my own free will, I'll deny it. Then I'll get even."

  Blythe smiled down at her. Funny that she'd never tried to scan Sparkle's emotions. Subconsciously, she must have figured she knew exactly what feelings she'd find. That would teach her not to make assumptions based only on appearances and what people said. If someone had told her ahead of time that Sparkle would be the one to put herself on the line for Darach, she would've laughed out loud.

  "My lips are sealed. It might help if you could change into a larger form." Like a fully armed, ten-foot Maedern warrior.

  "Uh-uh. Changing is too hard and takes too long. We don't have that kind of time." Sparkle sniffed at the scent of burning wood. "I can't believe I'm going to do something good."

  Blythe didn't have time to discuss this one good blot on Sparkle's otherwise bad reputation. They were close to the fire.

  "Can you get me through that fire?" Blythe couldn't see what was happening behind the high flames, but she could hear what sounded like angry voices.

  "I don't know." Sparkle stared at the flames. "I've never tried my power on something like this." She glanced at Blythe. "Will you hang in there with me?"

 
Blythe didn't even have to think about her answer. "I'll do whatever it takes to free Darach. If it's a choice between staying here while he dies or taking a chance on your power, I'll trust your power every time."

  "Okay, here's the deal. I want you to pick me up and hold me over your head, because I don't have a clue how big a path I can make or how long I can keep it open. So we need to keep together until we pass the fire line." She eyed the flames. "Once we get to the other side, I'll have to stay by the fire and try to keep the path open for our escape." Sparkle shifted her gaze to Blythe. "I won't be able to help you, but I promise I won't run away. I'll be waiting for you and Darach with some kind of fire-free escape outta here."

  You're a good person, Sparkle Stardust. Words that Blythe would never dare say aloud for fear of insulting Sparkle. So she settled for, "Thanks. We'll remember you."

  Swallowing the rock that seemed to have lodged in her throat, Blythe picked Sparkle up, then raised the cat high above her head.

  She walked toward the flames.

  Blythe didn't know if a path would open for them, if she'd be able to save Darach, or if she'd even be able to save herself. But if she survived tonight, she'd know one thing. She had walked through hell to save the man she loved.

  Heat beat against Blythe, and her arms shook with the effort of holding Sparkle up.

  "Stop shaking me. I can't concentrate." Sparkle sounded nervous.

  Great. Nervous did not make Blythe feel secure. "I'm trying, but you're heavy."

  "I knew my butt was too big."

  "Stop thinking about your butt and concentrate." The heat was unbearable, searing every inch of exposed skin and sucking the air from her lungs.

  Blythe fixed her gaze on the flames, deliberately disconnecting her survival instinct. And just as she could see shapes in the big puffy clouds on a summer day, she could see faces in the leaping flames. Mandor laughing as he taught her how to steer her glide ride when she was ten. Dad grinning with pride when she won a blue ribbon at a local horse show. And Mom smiling gently as she calmed Blythe after pulling her from the container of dreaded bittyfluffs. They all smiled at her, loved her, and somehow she felt sure they were here for her now.