by Anthology
She walked to him, her power intensifying with every step, threatening to consume her. Marie extended one crackling hand, and touched him with a single finger. In an instant, she perceived every aspect of the man. His petty fears. His jealousy. His hatred. She observed every molecule, saw the energy that held his atoms in place. And knew that she could undo it all with a thought.
“Sit down,” she said calmly.
He obliged immediately.
She turned to the stunned crowd, and pulled the magic back into herself.
“Is this who you want as your patriarch?” she asked in a clear, ringing voice. “A man who tries to hurt people, a leader who uses his power against his own?”
“Boo,” shouted Grace’s grandmother.
“Boo,” sounded a deeper voice from the back of the room.
The whole place erupted with dissenting voices.
Marie held up her hand to silence them.
“Brothers and sisters, will each of you who wishes to vote for Rex Ratcliffe as patriarch please lift your hand?”
She paused.
Thaddeus raised a lone hand from his place next to his grandfather.
“Now, my family, I am young and my magic is new. If you choose me as your matriarch I will rely on you to help me learn my way, so that I may guide you wisely, as my grandmother once did,” she said, her voice raw with emotion. ‘If you are willing to help me, will you please lift your hand to signify a vote for Marie Ironwood?”
As one, every hand raised.
The sound of celebration erupted in the ballroom.
Then she heard an incantation from behind her, barely audible.
“Marie!” Grace’s grandmother shouted, stepping out of the crowd.
Marie turned in time to see the blue bolt streaking toward her. She raised a hand protectively, and the light…stopped.
It hung there in the air between them, spinning and sparkling.
Grace’s grandmother laughed.
“Regalo Farson Ratcliffe,” she said. “You’ve belittled my cottage magic for years. But even a simple witch knows what happens when you use your magic for evil.”
The ball of light spun faster.
“It comes back to you,” she finished, nodding at Marie.
Marie dropped her hand and the energy bolt shot back at Rex, taking him off his feet.
“Young lady, that is how you defend yourself from your enemies. Your grandmother would be proud,” the older woman said, putting her arm around Marie’s shoulder.
It felt right.
“I can’t wait for you to teach me more,” Marie told her with a big grin.
“I think you’re going to catch on quickly.”
16
Alone
All the guests had gone. Marie and Dross were finally alone.
She closed the door to her room and turned to him.
Before Marie could say a word, Dross had her pinned to the wall.
“You are the bravest, most wonderful woman in the world,” he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine,
He devoured her mouth, pressing his hips into her as he thrust his tongue against hers, as if he were pleading her to do what she already couldn’t wait for.
She tried to move to the bed, but in the enormous dress, she couldn’t quite lie down.
“Let me help you,” he said, turning her around.
He began at the top and worked his way down slowly, nuzzling, kissing and finally biting the back of her neck as he worked on the countless hooks and eyes that held the dress on her body.
Marie stilled under his kisses, enjoying the feeling of her body responding, unfurling again for him, until it was all she could do not to beg him to rip the dress to shreds and take her immediately.
At last she was naked.
Dross threw her on the bed and ripped off his own clothes.
He crawled atop her, resting on his elbows.
“Do you feel up to this again?” he asked her, his jaw rippling with tension.
“Yes, please,” Marie nodded.
“Good girl,” he told her.
He nuzzled her breasts and pressed a hand between her thighs.
Every touch shot her through with need.
“Please,” she whispered.
“We’ll take it slowly next time, right?” he returned teasingly.
He was inside her all over again, the friction, the sweetness, the delirious pleasure, mounting and crashing all over her until she vibrated with it, crying his name as she came apart.
Once she was sated, Dross’s muscles stiffened and he smothered his cries in her neck, shooting hot liquid deep inside her.
He let his head drop on her shoulder.
“You’ll be the death of me, girl,” he told her ardently.
“Not anytime soon, I hope,” Marie teased.
They lay in silence for a while. Marie was exhausted, but too keyed up from the events of the night to even consider sleep.
She was the Matriarch.
“I’ll miss him,” she said at length.
“Ratcliffe?” Harry asked.
“The dragon,” she said, remembering the energy bolt and the melted copper.
“Come,” he said, gathering his clothes. “I have something to show you.”
She cleaned up and dressed, and a few minutes later, they stood in the Ironwoods’ back garden.
“Stand on the porch,” Dross instructed her.
He strode to the middle of the yard and knelt in the snow.
The area around him blurred, like waves of heat coming off a summer road, and the dark shape of him against the snow began to expand.
His form grew and reshaped itself.
He’d told her about his gift, but she wasn’t sure how much she believed him at the time.
Now she had no doubt.
The wavy haze dissipated, revealing a creature as tall as a tree.
His body was covered in copper colored scales, just like the clockwork dragon. Wide leathery wings folded neatly at his his sides. His long, spiky tail lay flat and motionless on the ground behind him.
Marie approached cautiously, and he turned and cocked his head at her.
His eyes were a familiar burnished gold.
She reached up a hand to stroke his massive cheek, but he offered her the top of his head.
The scales were a warm, coppery color, but he was not made of metal, like the dragon.
As she stroked him, he leaned down, spreading his wings out by his sides as if to make room on his back for her.
“You don’t actually want me to get up there, do you?” she asked.
The dragon nudged her posterior and lowered his head further still.
Sucking in a deep breath, Marie scrambled gamely onto his broad back.
She knew she probably should be afraid, but fear was the farthest thing from her mind.
Her dragon’s wings opened with a rush of air and beat against the breeze.
Together, they lifted into the sky.
She screamed in joy and the dragon tossed his head back in what could only be a laugh.
Then they headed for the stars.
The End
About Tasha Black
Tasha Black lives in a big old Victorian in a tiny college town. She loves paranormal romance and pumpkin spice lattes. www.TashaBlack.com
An Impossible Gift by Cristina Rayne
Tales from the Vampire Underground
When car trouble coupled with a snowstorm strands med student Ellie Bradford in a Texas city on her way to visit her sister in New York for the holidays, a chance encounter with the handsome and intimidating owner of her hotel and a brush with danger reawakens old ghosts about a childhood incident that has haunted her for years. Ellie is sure she's never met him, so why does he insist that she seems so familiar?
1
A sharp gasp had Ellie suddenly looking over at her friend, Cassie, as she was handing over her credit card to the hotel’s front desk clerk. The other woman w
as staring hard at something over Ellie’s shoulder, her eyes lighting up with what looked like excitement. She slowly turned to the left, but she didn’t see anything worth getting excited about.
There was an elderly couple waiting at the elevators and a few other couples and groups of people making their way towards the hotel’s restaurant. She squinted at a few, wondering if one of them was a celebrity. The Marcello was the hotel to stay at in the city, so it wasn’t surprising at all that she had seen several celebrities and top politicians over the years while she and her family had stayed. She had long since gotten over the giddiness of seeing them, but Cassie had always been the more excitable of the two.
“See someone hot?” Ellie joked.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” came Cassie’s surprising answer. “I’ve only seen him on the news and in pictures online, but wow! It’s definitely him!”
“Who?” she asked, curious despite herself.
Ellie looked back over at the entrance to the restaurant—and that’s when she saw him.
Black hair and pale, dressed in a charcoal business suit and surrounded by a group of similarly-dressed business men holding briefcases, Cassie’s likely target of interest certainly exuded the aura of a celebrity, especially as it was clear even from where she was standing that he held the complete attention of the other men.
“Valerio Marcello.”
Cassie’s voice was suspiciously breathy as Ellie turned to look back at her friend with a raised eyebrow. “The owner of this hotel? I thought he was pushing seventy—at least that’s what my dad said not too long ago.”
“No, no, that’s his son,” Cassie said, her voice lowering to almost a whisper as she leaned closer, her eyes flitting to the hotel clerk to over Ellie’s shoulder before settling back on her as though afraid to be overheard. “Same name, but I’ve never heard anyone tack on ‘junior.’”
“Doesn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t really suit an Italian name like that. How come I’ve never heard anyone talk about him before? They certainly talked about his father a lot.”
She shrugged. “No clue, but everyone’s certainly making up for it now. He showed up in the city about a month ago, and all the local social media sites practically exploded. We’d been hearing rumors that his father was really sick—cancer maybe—and suddenly a son no one knew about arrived from Italy and took over the management of the hotel all in the same day. People are already starting to say that Valerio, Sr. has been checked into a private hospital somewhere up north.”
Cassie giggled. “Really, I haven’t seen everyone buzz about the same thing this much since that group of A-list actors I told you about stopped here last year. But that’s not the best part! Valerio’s one hundred percent a bachelor—no girlfriend or even anyone rumored to be a love interest.”
“Don’t let Grant catch you staring at him like that,” Ellie warned with a smirk. “I could swear you’re a second away from drooling.”
“I know med school hasn’t completely sucked the fun out of you,” Cassie countered, “or at the very least, made you blind. Even if I was drooling, which I’m not thank you very much, even someone who’s spent the past four years with their nose stuck in a science book would have to agree that he’s that hot.”
“You know I’m no match for your eagle eyes,” Ellie teased. “He’s a little too far away right now for me to see his face clearly.”
Cassie’s eyes suddenly widened a fraction. “You’re in luck because his group is walking this way!”
Ellie forced herself not to look, though she really did want to sneak a peek. Her friend’s enthusiasm must have rubbed off on her, but she knew if she did, Cassie would tease her to death about it for the rest of the night.
“Here’s your cards, Miss,” the hotel clerk suddenly said, making Ellie jump.
As had often happened when gossiping with Cassie, she had forgotten what she had been doing. She couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed as she turned back to the hotel clerk and accepted both her credit card and her room’s keycard from the young woman.
She wanted to laugh at herself. Cassie was right. She really needed to get out more if she was actually getting a little giddy about seeing a good-looking man. What was she, thirteen?
Then for the second time within a few minutes, Ellie was distracted when Cassie abruptly drew in a sharp breath.
“Excuse me,” a deep, unfamiliar voice suddenly said directly behind her, making her instantly stiffen and a surge of fear blast through her.
I’m in a public place. Cassie’s with me. There are other people around. It’s light. Nothing’s going to happen.
Ellie had to take a couple of slow, deep breaths before her racing heart slowed down enough for her chest to stop aching and she felt she could turn around to face whoever was addressing her with a neutral expression. She then promptly stopped breathing, and her back went ramrod straight when she caught sight of a charcoal suit a split-second before her eyes met the bluest set of eyes she had ever seen, like glittering sapphires she could have stared at forever…
“As I thought, we have met before,” the man Cassie had pointed out earlier as Valerio Marcello said with a nod.
The downward movement of his chin more than his voice made Ellie blink once, and the haziness that had enveloped her mind instantly dissipated.
Crap! She was losing control again. In public.
“Um, what?” Ellie asked lamely, feeling her cheeks heat up despite all her efforts to reign in her suddenly chaotic emotions when she realized that the business men standing at the hotel owner’s back were gawking openly at them both.
The corners of Valerio’s lips curved up slightly. “The occasion has eluded me for the moment, I’m afraid, so might I have your name, again?”
“Ellie. Ellie Bradford,” she replied slowly, wondering if this was some kind of cosmic joke. Cassie, of course, was no help, seeing as how she had suddenly become the very embodiment of a deer frozen in headlights. “I’m sorry, but I’m sure we haven’t met before.”
Valerio frowned. “Truly? I usually never forget a face except for very rare, very specific occasions, and yours is so familiar…”
“Trust me, your face is pretty unforgettable, so I would remember if we had met,” Ellie replied dryly, her nervousness and the whole absurdity of the whole situation making her words sound more curt than she had intended. “I’ve attended a lot of medical conferences and fundraisers around the country with my parents, so maybe you saw me at one of those?” she added.
“Maybe,” he agreed, but the look in his eyes was still skeptical.
“Excuse me, but my friend and I are running late,” Ellie blurted out, and without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Cassie’s arm and all but dragged her towards the front exit.
She could swear that she could feel Valerio’s eyes like a physical touch on her back until they left the building, and it was freaking her out more than she wanted to admit.
“You’ve got that look on your face again,” Cassie suddenly said in a worried tone.
Ellie barked a laugh. “Now you find your tongue again.”
“I’m serious, Ellie,” she said, abruptly stepping in front of her so that Ellie was forced to stop. “You look one unexpected honk away from freaking out.”
Ellie glanced around nervously. “Can we talk about this in the car? You know me and parking lots.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “Oh God, I’m so sorry! Of course.”
They both hurried over to Cassie’s car that was parked in the hotel’s parking slots reserved for newly arriving guests not wanting to use the hotel’s valet service.
Only when they were both inside the car and the doors locked did Ellie feel herself start to relax.
“He really freaked you out, didn’t he?” Cassie pressed as she turned the key in the ignition.
“Yes and no,” Ellie admitted, “but not in the way you’re probably thinking. I just wasn’t expecting anyone to talk to me right then, especially n
ot him. I almost had an episode, but I swear I’m okay, now. I’m not as bad as I used to be.”
“Okay or not, I still wish you weren’t being so stubborn about staying with us for at least tonight,” Cassie scolded. “You know there’s plenty of room, even with the in-laws showing up a day early.”
Ellie sighed. “I know, but they haven’t seen Grant in over a year, and I really don’t want to intrude on that. If I knew for sure that my car would be fixed by tomorrow morning, then I might have reconsidered, but the way the service guys at the dealership were talking, I may be stuck here for a couple more days. It’s better to already have the hotel room just in case.”
“Waste of money if you ask me,” Cassie grumbled before her expression abruptly turned sly. “Although—Valerio seemed pretty convinced that he knew you, didn’t he? Maybe staying at the Marcello isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not the first time I’ve been mistaken for someone else. I guess I just have one of those faces.”
It was Cassie’s turn to roll her eyes as she pulled out of the parking lot into the street. “What’s with that ‘yeah, whatever’ tone? A hot, rich, and Italian guy was just semi-flirting with you. If I were you, I would be giddy to the point of bursting! I told you med school would turn you into a prude.”
Ellie made a face. “I’m not sure that exactly qualifies as flirting, and even if he was, it’s not like anything could come of it.”
“No one said you had to marry the guy. Come on. When’s the last time you went out on a date?”
“Point taken, but aren’t you jumping the gun a bit? For all we know, I could remind him of someone who stood him up or owes him money. It just seems weird that he would be trying to flirt while surrounded by all those suits.”
Cassie snorted. “Some men will flirt even in front of their own wife. Speaking of going out, I wish you could have come during the weekend. We could’ve gone to Crimson Pulse after having dinner.”