Temptation at Twilight: Lords of Pleasure

by Jo Carlisle

  “Take the vial hidden in your robe, the one you took from Zenon.”

  She did, holding it aloft with a puzzled frown. “Valafar’s blood? I don’t see—”

  “Drink it.”

  The prince nodded his approval of the sentence. “The judgment is fitting. So that there can be no question of subterfuge, the blood in the vial is Zenon’s, not mine. You wanted my blood to strengthen you. As Zen is a pure demon, his blood will kill you. Do as Soren says.”

  “You tricked me!” Her fingers tightened around the vessel.

  “You believed what you wished out of greed for my power, evil one. Proceed with the sentence,” the prince ordered.

  Her eyes cast about the area, frantic for an out. Soren tensed, and Valafar shifted on his feet. Whatever she had in mind, it didn’t include going quietly into eternity.

  Suddenly, she threw the vial to the floor. It shattered, the poisonous demon’s blood spilling harmlessly. With lightning speed, she sprinted the short distance to Luc’s discarded sword and snatched it up.

  “Halt!” Valafar bellowed.

  Instead, she spun toward Harley with a snarl, shedding her human form to appear as the hideous monster she truly was.

  Soren’s heart leaped to his throat as she went after Harley. He ran faster than he ever had, caught her by the head of writhing snakes streaming behind her, and wrapped his fist in the squirming bodies. Jerking hard, he yanked her off her feet and threw her to the ground.

  “Soren, look out!” Harley cried.

  Leila brought the blade upward, intending to shove it under his breastbone. He captured her wrist and they rolled, each fighting for control. Fighting to the death.

  He rolled atop her, straining with all his strength. The tide began to turn in his favor, her grip weakening. Gradually, he twisted the knife into the soft flesh of her abdomen. And as their eyes met, hers widened. Before she could turn him to stone, he plunged the weapon forward, the blade parting her snake’s skin like a knife filleting a fish. Sickened, he pushed off her and knelt, hands gripping his thighs. Her muscles contracted and she screamed. A slow, agonizing death for an evil being felled by the enchanted sword.

  But she wasn’t finished. Turning her head to look at him, she gave him a malicious smile, blood bubbling to her lips.

  “My demise changes nothing. The beast will move within you always. Growing, filling you until you no longer care who you once were. I should know.” She coughed, shuddered, and went on. “A part of me now lives in your soul. You are trapped, a slave to the evil inside you. Go forth in my stead, for that is your burden to bear . . . forever.”

  15

  Soren pushed to his feet, lurching away from the damning truth. From all of them. “Oh, gods.”

  A slender hand touched his back, and the sweet scent of his mate teased his nose.

  “Get away from me, Harley. I’m dangerous.”

  “I don’t believe that. You have good left in you. Even Valafar said—”

  He whirled, grabbing her by her arms, shaking her. He had to make her understand. “I nearly killed you! Any second I could lose control again to this—this thing inside me. There’s only one way out for me. Don’t you see?”

  The stricken look in her green eyes almost felled him. “It’s not hopeless. Valafar is a god. He can help. Can’t you?” she said, turning to the prince.

  Soren hung his head in shame. He’d given his body and soul to darkness and broken her heart, and would do so again. Still, she pleaded for his life.

  Everyone waited. Seconds passed. Val shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

  “There has to be something you can do!” Harley cried.

  “Can’t you just try?” Luc implored, his voice breaking. Against him, Arron’s eyes were closed, his face pale, as he clung to life. “Please. You can’t lose your brother, and I can’t lose mine.”

  “Healing Soren is different, young one,” Valafar said kindly. “I will easily mend Arron because his soul isn’t bound to the depravity that consumed Leila. I am, however, forbidden to do the same for your brother for that very reason. Leila was correct about what will happen to him, and that leaves two options. Soren can choose to free his soul from their bargain by death, or fight the beast and possibly lose. If he chooses the latter and the beast wins, I will be forced to destroy him.”

  Soren hadn’t expected anything else. In a strange way, hearing Valafar speak it aloud was an immense relief. Even if he could’ve been spared, he and Harley had no chance together. He’d never be able to live with his betrayal of her.

  Harley walked into his arms and he held her tight, tucking her head under his chin. Wishing he could make love to her one last time and leave her with memories of tenderness, not of the savage he had become. He inhaled her essence, felt her heart beating much too fast against his chest.

  Pulsing, the sweet nectar rushed like a river under her skin. Waiting to be tasted. His starving body reacted with violence, fangs lengthening, his cock growing hard. He lowered his lips to her neck and froze.

  The ravenous beast demanded more than sustenance, much more. It craved the tearing of meat in his teeth and rich juices running down his throat.

  Spread her legs and fuck her! Drain her. Take it all.

  Horrified, he pushed her away.

  “Valafar, get her out of here,” he groaned.

  “I’m not leaving you, Soren Fontaine, so forget it!”

  The sword? No. It was an honorable death he didn’t deserve, any more than Leila had. He stumbled away from her, past them all, to the altar. Fell to his knees before it, fumbling in his shirt for the vial Arron had given him. Not a minute to waste.

  “Soren? What are you doing?” she called. He could hear her alarm, her footsteps moving up behind him. Could smell her blood.

  “Harley, stay back!” Valafar commanded.

  She wouldn’t, he knew. With a twist, he removed the cap. Lifted the bottle to his lips . . . and downed the contents. Her forlorn scream echoed his own.

  “Nooo!”

  Fire seized his entire body. The inferno of Hades. It raced to every limb, burning. Eating him from the inside out. How long would it take? Convulsing in agony, he rested his elbows on the altar and clasped his hands, casting his eyes to the gods.

  “Please forgive me. Take care of Harley—”

  A horrendous spasm of pain slammed him again, and he fell in slow motion. Fell forever.

  Harley rushed to Soren’s side and knelt. Tremors shook his body, and his fingers clawed at the floor. Arching in spasms, he threw his head back and screamed, nearly stopping her heart. Sweat mixed with blood began to seep from his pores. When he relaxed again, she clasped one of his hands in hers.

  She was barely aware of Valafar leaving them in order to attend to Arron. Of Zen producing a long coat and placing it around her shoulders, then retreating to hover nearby.

  “Soren, honey, you’re going to be all right. Just tell me what to do.” She wouldn’t believe he was dying. That she was about to lose the male she loved. The nightmare wasn’t supposed to end this way.

  As he gazed up at her, his eyes began to change. The black faded, swirled. He closed them for a moment, and when he opened them again, she found herself looking into Soren’s eyes. A beautiful amber gold.

  “Harley?”

  “Soren,” she choked. “Is it really you?”

  “Yeah. Tell me that one day . . . you might be able to forgive me for what I put you through. For giving myself to that . . . that whore.” He broke off, his face lined with torment.

  Tears clogged her throat. “I never blamed you. Don’t you see? I love you more than my own life, so there’s nothing to forgive. Fight for us, Soren.”

  Another tremor coiled his body. He coughed, strangling on his own blood. Harley gathered him into her arms and held him through the torment, whispering her love again and again.

  Luc and Aldric crouched beside her. Luc touched his brother’s hair, and Soren smiled. “Hey, bro. Is Arron ok
ay?”

  Luc swallowed hard. “Yeah, he’s going to be fine. So are you.”

  Soren didn’t answer that. Instead, he pinned Luc with a questioning stare. “You’ll take care of Harley and Aldric?”

  “I don’t need a keeper,” Aldric said, but the statement was filled with sorrow.

  “You know it. Hey, didn’t really get a chance to tell you—I met a woman. A Valkyrie, the one who saved my ass from the werewolf. I think she’s my mate—no shitting. Can we even have a Valkyrie in the family?”

  Soren barked a short laugh, but the effort cost him. His body shook with pain as Harley continued to hold him, stroking his hair, his face. Several moments passed before he spoke again.

  “Take that happiness and run with it, Luc. It’s too rare to give up. I love you.”

  “Gods, Soren.” His brother hung his head and started to cry.

  Aldric was more stoic, but the agony on his face spoke volumes.

  “I can help you,” Harley said softly. For him, she could do this. “I can take your sword and—”

  “No! I don’t deserve any mercy, and I won’t let you carry that burden for the rest of your life. Just hold me, baby.”

  “If that’s what you want. Anything at all,” she sobbed.

  Harley could feel him slipping away. Sand through her fingers, and she couldn’t stop the inevitable. After a time, he no longer struggled. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that the poison had almost finished its deadly work. His voice broke through her sorrow, barely audible.

  “Harley?”

  She gazed into his face, memorizing every feature. The way his sable hair fell in disarray over his face. His high cheekbones, his nose, the full, sensuous lips.

  “Yes, darling?”

  Fingering a lock of her hair, he spoke so quietly, she had to strain to hear. “I loved you from the first moment I saw you. For yourself, not because I thought you were Helena. Did I ever tell you?”

  “No.” The word came out on a sob. She wouldn’t cry, but it hurt so damned much. “But I knew.”

  He gave her a weak smile. “Figured you did,” he teased in a breathy rasp. “You’re a smart babe, after all.”

  His body went limp in her arms, and his hand fell to the floor. He gazed past her in wonder, as if he saw something magnificent that no one else could.

  “I love you, too, Soren!” Her shoulders began to shake.

  Harley knew the exact moment he left her. The spark in his golden eyes flickered, faded . . . until they were empty as glass.

  “Soren?” She shook him once. Again. “Soren? Oh, honey, no. Nooo!”

  She held him close to her breast, because she could do nothing more for him ever again. The racking sobs overtook her, and she gave in to the grief. His loss flayed her, a thousand lashes of a whip, tearing her apart.

  “Why?” she wept. “Why?”

  Her heart shattered, blew into a million pieces, leaving her hollow. She wanted to die with him. How long she rocked him, she didn’t know. After a while, a warm hand came to rest on her shoulder.

  “Harley, you must let him go,” Valafar murmured.

  “I know.” However, several more minutes passed before she’d calmed enough to do it. Loosening her grip, she eased his head into her lap. Very gently, she placed a hand over his face, closing his eyes forever. “Good-bye, darling. I’ll love you always.”

  She couldn’t stop touching his cheek, attempting to comfort him, even though he no longer needed it. If not for the rivulets of blood coating him, the result of the poison that had caused his insides to hemorrhage, he might’ve been sleeping.

  Sitting against the altar, Aldric held a weeping Luc in his arms. At least the brothers would be okay, and they had each other. With the passage of time and a lot of love, their grief would ease.

  For Harley’s part, she’d never love another. In fact, she didn’t intend to stay on this earth without him. “Can you change this?” she asked Valafar without preamble. “Can I take Soren’s place?”

  “I’m afraid not. It doesn’t work that way. Besides, would you condemn him to a lifetime of the grief you’re feeling now? The loss of not one mate, but two in his existence?”

  “Of course not,” she whispered, feeling guilty for even considering it.

  “But there is something I might be able to do.”

  She stared at him, not daring to hope. “What?”

  He took a deep breath, as if considering the wisdom of what he had to say. “Soren’s eyes. They changed to gold just before his death.”

  “Yes, they did.” She stared at him. “His sacrifice was complete, and the darkness was gone!”

  “Exactly. I said I couldn’t intervene to save him because the beast ruled him, but he rid himself of it. Given his bravery and selflessness, I’m willing to try to bring him back.”

  Hope flared. “Anything. Please!”

  Arron, who’d held his peace until then, walked over, running a hand through his long, fiery locks with a worried frown. “Valafar, my brother, you can’t seriously think of breaking the law.”

  The prince clenched his jaw, glaring at Arron. “In the Coalition, I am the law, and I have the power to do this.”

  “At great cost to yourself,” Arron argued. “Even if the gods choose not to execute you for it, you might never recover! Your enemies would converge on you like rabid dogs!”

  Fledgling hope shriveled in her breast. She could have Soren back, but at the possible cost of the prince’s life. Misery swamped her anew. “I can’t ask that of you.”

  “Ah, sweet Harley,” he murmured, a bit somber. “You don’t have to ask. What’s eternity without love, anyway?”

  Cocking her head, she wondered what a sexy, ancient demigod could possibly have to be sad about. As soon as the thought occurred, she felt stupid. The prince clearly didn’t need to bring more trouble to his door by helping them, but his honor would let him do no less. An eternity of taking on the world must be draining, no matter how powerful the man.

  “Valafar—”

  “Cease hounding me, little brother,” he snapped. “I’ve been out of swaddling clothes for nearly eleven thousand years. If I need coddling, I’ll go to Mother.” He looked at Harley. “Hold Soren tight. He’ll need to sense your presence and be assured of your devotion if this is to work.”

  Under any other circumstances, Harley would’ve been amused by their squabble. Instead, she did as Valafar told her, willing herself not to imagine his efforts ending in failure. Trying not to think of what terrible thing might happen to him if he succeeded.

  Valafar bent low over Soren’s body and smoothed the dark brown hair from his face. Sooty lashes curled against her love’s waxen cheek, lace on ivory. The prince placed one palm on Soren’s forehead, the other on his chest. Softly, he began a strange chant in a foreign tongue Harley had never heard before.

  Luc and Aldric scooted close, watching with intensity, their eyes red and swollen, as hers must be. Zen laid a reassuring hand on Luc’s arm, but he appeared wretched with worry, like everyone else.

  The air around Soren’s body began to glow, then shimmer with a zillion sparkly lights. Like tiny blue fireflies they danced, skimming his face and limbs. She watched, mesmerized, as they lit, cleaning the blood everywhere they touched, until he appeared whole again.

  This done, Valafar paused, swaying a bit.

  “Your strength is nearly drained and that wasn’t the difficult part,” Arron fretted. “Rest a moment.”

  “I can’t. His spirit is still here for now. If I wait, the window of opportunity will be lost.”

  Renewing his efforts, the prince began another chant. This one rose, swelling in the atmosphere. His voice grew louder and thunder clapped, causing Harley to start. The wind picked up suddenly, whipping at them all. Valafar’s black hair blew wildly around his shoulders and into his face and his wings fluttered, but he didn’t seem to notice. Hands braced on Soren’s body, he stopped the chant and threw back his head.

 
; Lightning crackled, flashed. The storm unleashed its fury, the noise deafening. A blue bolt streaked from above, rocketing through Valafar and into Soren. The prince convulsed with violent force, every muscle straining, his teeth white against the darkness of his face. The blast almost made Harley lose her hold on Soren, but she clung to him out of sheer terror.

  The tumult raged until Harley’s arms went numb. She couldn’t hold on to him a second longer.

  Then the storm abated as swiftly as it had descended. Valafar fell backward, and Arron caught him against his chest.

  “I have you, brother. Rest. By the gods, what have you done to yourself?” Arron sighed unhappily.

  Harley studied Soren, icy dread snaking up her spine. “He’s not b-breathing.”

  Valafar’s features were drawn, his voice thin. “I have one last task, beautiful. Have patience. Arron, help me up.”

  He couldn’t sit up without Arron’s assistance, and Harley felt terrible. The prince had risked his entire future to help them, but was stubbornly determined to perform the deed just the same. She had a sneaking suspicion not many were foolish enough to stand in his way.

  Kneeling over the man Harley loved, Valafar bowed his head. “Soren Fontaine, you are released from the curse of eternal darkness. I bind you once more into your vampire form, and gift you with this second chance. Use it wisely. Live,” he whispered.

  With that, the prince pressed his lips to Soren’s. Harley thought the gesture a kiss at first. Valafar, however, blew a tiny puff of air into Soren’s mouth and sat up.

  Soren’s chest heaved once. Twice. Then he gasped and began to breathe. Harley could’ve fainted with joy. Her fingers sought the pulse in his neck and found the plodding, steady rhythm. Maybe a bit weak, but she didn’t have much experience with medical stuff.

  “It is done,” Valafar announced. Exhaustion had carved grooves around his sensual mouth, and he studied Soren with a peculiar hesitation that alarmed Harley. She tugged at his coat sleeve.

  “What’s wrong? Why isn’t he waking up?”

  “I won’t lie to you. He resisted me, Harley. Bringing him back proved more difficult than wrestling a dragon.”