“Add to that,” said Karl, reaching out to take Amber’s hand. His cool fingers still trembled and she wrapped both of her warm hands around his. “They had to call the paramedics when I started to have trouble breathing. And I have the receipt from the hospital and the discharge instructions. Remember? The hospital thought I had a heart attack three days ago. They called the hospital and got my medical records faxed down. The doctor who’d seen me had written all this stuff in the notes about my fragile health and unknown muscular degenerative condition.”
“Karl.” Amber’s breath caught in her throat at the pain and frustration in his voice.
“It’s okay,” Karl’s grin widened, but Amber could see how much it cost him, “I’m just tired. If I have to look like a dying old man, I should take advantage of it.”
“They don’t think you did it?” Amber sagged in relief.
“Huh. No kidding. They don’t think I could cross the road without a boy scout.”
Sandy drew up another chair and leaned in close.
“Thalia, how soon can we get them out of here? Karl looks like he’s about to fall over.”
“They still have my wallet,” said Amber. “My computer and the car. We’re booked into that hotel, but I haven’t got plastic to pay for it.”
Thalia patted her hand.
“It’s late. Or rather, it’s early,” she glanced at her watch. “Great Goddess, it’s almost four. We won’t be able to get your car out of impound or your suitcases back for hours yet. But I’ll see if I can’t get your purse.”
She stood and beckoned to one of the detectives currently clustered around Gloria and her lawyer. Amber grinned viciously and tugged on Thalia’s jacket. Thalia leaned down.
“Listen, Thalia. I know it’s really early and you’ve been up all night, but could you see if you can keep things going here for a couple more hours? It’s really important that Gloria is still here answering questions at five o’clock.”
“Five sixteen,” added Karl as he caught on. “She can’t be allowed to be alone at five sixteen.”
At Thalia’s puzzled look, Amber shrugged.
“I’ve told Sandy all about it; I can’t say much near … ordinary people. I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“It’s okay. I’ll have to stay anyway to get your stuff out of lockup. You and Karl head home with Sandy as soon as the paperwork is done. She’s got a spare room and I’ll take care of everything here. Let me just get things rolling.”
Thalia strolled across the room pulling a note pad out of her bag. She smiled at Gloria’s nervous lawyer. Amber and Karl could hear her clearly.
“I’m advising my clients to file suit against your client for harassment.” Then Thalia turned her back and leaned down to speak to the detectives. “My clients would like to leave now. Is there anything left to do?”
“I’ll get things started for you,” said Detective Craig, rising. He followed Thalia back across the room muttering. “I hate time wasters. We’ll be going after her, too. False complaint, huh? Politicians. Huh.”
* * * * *
Sandy pushed two cats off the double bed and picked up a half-finished quilt, folding it over her arm. Early morning light filtered through star patterned curtains, outlining piles of craft debris scattered across the small room.
“I hope you don’t mind,” said Sandy, wandering through the room pushing stray pieces of fabric under chairs and brushing cat hairs off the bed. “This room sort of collects junk, and I didn’t have time to clear it out.”
“It’s got a bed, it’s good,” declared Karl enunciating each word with care, and kicked off his shoes.
Sandy and Amber exchanged a glance, then they both laughed. Karl shot them a look both tired and annoyed that they ignored. He was fumbling with his shirt buttons when Amber crawled across the bed, still fully dressed and climbed under the duvet.
“Uh … perhaps I should go downstairs, sleep on the couch,” said Karl.
There was a dull click as Sandy closed the door.
“Don’t be a moron,” said Amber, wrestling under the blankets and emerging to throw her jeans onto a chair. “There’s only one spare bed and it’s big enough. Get in. We both need sleep.”
She rolled onto her side to face the wall and punched the pillow into a comfortable shape.
Karl watched her back as she settled the blankets around her, his hands still on the shirt buttons. The hug in the police station had been both unexpected and welcome. Especially after the hours of uncertainty, waiting to hear what the police were going to do. After the hours of helplessness and confusion to have Amber warm in his arms eased the ache deep within. Now he studied her back turned stubbornly toward him. He was beginning to be able to read her, more easily than she would want. Dispensing with the buttons he pulled his shirt off over his head.
“Okay. What is it you haven’t told me?”
Amber twisted round in the bed.
“How do you know?”
The bed sank and swayed as Karl climbed under the blankets.
“You try to keep secrets, Amber, but you’re no good at it. Basically you’re an honest person. So talk. What happened?”
Amber piled pillows behind her head and sat up hugging her knees.
“I had a long talk with Sandy while I was waiting for you last night. She thinks what we’re dealing with is psychic vampires.”
“I’ve spent too much time the last few days saying ‘what the hell is that?’ It’s getting boring.” He took hold of a corner of the covers and tugged, pulling a little fabric up around his shoulders. “Besides, can you trust Sandy’s information? She’s not as strong a witch as you. Is she part of the research program?”
“Flattery,” Amber drawled, trying to ignore the breadth of Karl’s shoulders. The warmth of his body so close to hers. Tremors were still passing through him and she tightened the grip on her own knees to stop herself pulling him into her arms. “And yes, she is. She’s been studying for years and my aunt respects her. Her articles are always appearing in our journal. She gave me a lot of information. Enough that I can finally make a plan.
Karl titled his head to look at the room’s eclectic decorations. Sculptures of women balancing on quarter moons. Fairies extending hands to unbelievably cute children. Dried flower arrangements. The lady who decorated this room was going to help save his life? Fight wolves? He sighed and shook his head. Did he have anyone else to turn to? Anyone with a reasonable chance of doing any good, that is?
“Okay. What’s the latest?”
“Sandy thinks we’re dealing with psychic vampires.” Amber bounced upright in the bed, assuming what he considered to be her ‘lecture’ mode. “There are two types. An ordinary non-magical psychic vampire is a person who comes to you with a tale of woe. Oh, their life is terrible. All bad things happen to them. You listen and sympathize. And listen. And listen. And after a while you start to realize that every time you have anything to do with this person you go away feeling tired. They on the other hand seem all boosted and energized. These guys are sapping your emotional strength. Finally you have to break off with this person because if you don’t they will drain you dry. When you do they go off looking for someone else to suck the life out of, only now their story of woe includes you, as a failed friend, who abandoned them in their time of need.”
Karl rolled his eyes. “My great aunt, Mary Ann. Mom and Grandma used to complain about how much they hated her phone calls. How useless it was to listen to her since nothing ever changed. How bad they felt afterward.”
“You got it. What we’re dealing with is psychic vampires on a magical scale. These people aren’t just exhausting their friends’ and family’s sympathy; they’re going after the real thing. Life energy. What neither Sandy nor I could figure out is why are you the center of the web? Why you’re still alive? A drain of the magnitude that I witnessed should have killed you the first time it happened. So much energy passes through you and then on to Gloria I can’t believe it.”<
br />
“Well, I have no idea,” said Karl.
“We have to find out. We’re running short on time. Gloria is going to be seriously pissed with us now. Big surprise. I’ve asked the coven to form a safe place for us so I can remove the rest of the spells on you and have a look at where and how the web enters you. We have to do that tonight, before the next drain, because I’m certain that Gloria is calling in her troops. I’d do that, if it were me. We’ve avoided the drain for two days, gotten her into trouble with the police, and I’ve no doubt, after you beat her up, that we’ve undermined her standing with her group. She is going to be out for serious blood, psychically speaking.”
“Gloria,” Karl gasped. “She’s involved?”
“Ahh no. I did it again. It’s not fair.” Amber sat up in bed looking frantically around the room. “Quick, write it down in your notes.”
“What notes?” Karl waved his hands in the air almost growling in frustration. “The police took everything and then buried it under red tape! That lawyer is supposed to be trying to get everything back today. Was Gloria involved?”
“She was there. At the police station. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that!” Amber dropped her head into her hands with a sob. “It’s so not fair. Now I have to explain it all again. Gloria put a forget spell on you.”
“I remember about the spell, not about Gloria.”
“That’s the whole point.”
Her voice was still muffled. Karl reached up and pulled her down into his arms. She curled up against his side, closing her eyes tightly and biting her lip. Karl suppressed an urge to bite her lips himself. To explore her soft mouth with his tongue. Press her curves against his body. His deathly tired body. Instead he settled them both under the duvet. Damn it all to hell and chaos, he was too tired. Weak. Feeble. How the hell did he expect to have any woman’s respect when he was a physical wreck? The police had taken one good look at him and … well, they hadn’t laughed, but they’d dismissed him as a threat to anyone. Less than a man. He tried to tighten his grip on Amber, but that only increased the trembling. It was useless. Later today Amber would either free him or kill him. He wasn’t certain if he wouldn’t welcome the second alternative if she was unable to free him. He didn’t want to continue as a magical victim. But once the spell was done she would be gone. This moment under the covers might be the last time he ever held her. He gently brushed his lips over her forehead and rested his chin on the soft mass of her silver hair.
“Explain again later,” he whispered, “Sleep now.”
Chapter Seventeen
Karl woke slowly, tickled out of his dreamless sleep by an irritating fluff of hair brushing against his nose. He opened one eye and reached up to push the offending lock away. Amber was still sleeping, her head resting on his chest, arms and legs wrapped around his. Amber muttered a sleepy protest at his movement. Karl let his hands drop back onto her smooth back, stroking her skin until she settled back to sleep. He lifted his head and rotated his wrist to check the time. Just a few minutes after four in the afternoon. He relaxed against the pillow, perversely enjoying the complaints from his arm and left leg that had been crushed by Amber’s dead weight, possibly for hours.
He took a deep breath, deliberately drawing in the scent of her sleep warmed skin and soft hair. She’d chosen a shampoo or soap with a citrus scent. After this he wouldn’t be able to taste lemonade without thinking of Amber. He moved his hands over her back again. This time not to soothe, but to enjoy the curves and valleys of her body. There was only the barrier of thin shirt and panties between them. While she’d slept her shirt had risen up her body and was currently caught just under her breasts. That was all that protected her from him, that and the almost insurmountable barrier of the spells that bound him. He closed his eyes as his fingers wandered. His fingertips ached and tingled as they trailed down her spine and brushed the swelling curve of her butt. He kept the touch light, fleeting, unwilling to grant his hungry hands the freedom to explore that they – he – craved.
It didn’t matter that right now he believed, sincerely believed that he wanted and needed Amber.
That he loved her. Looking back over the last few days he could not believe how short a time he’d known her. He counted the days twice, frowning at the ceiling. A week – if that. Seven days ago he was lost. Despairing. Then like a flash of light Amber had walked into his life and everything had changed. He’d discovered that he was not ill; he was under attack. He was not alone. He had Amber. Amber with her glow-in-the-dark smile and irrepressible strength.
And … his grin widened – her very handsome naked breasts. His hands drifted up under her shirt and his thumbs brushed her breasts, her ribs. He would be a fool – a dead fool, if he ignored a woman with her attributes. He knew, deep in his bones knew that he loved her. Not just lust – loved.
But magic defined their relationship. It was the reason they had met. It was so large a part of Amber’s strengths, her personality, and family that magic would always lie between them like a bundling board. He couldn’t ignore it.
And when she was free of whatever it was that bound them both she’d be off dealing with some other problem. He was just a side trip. Her aunt and uncle were still missing. The only reason she was still with him was that her life was on the line, too. His hands tightened.
“Ouch,” Amber twisted out of his grip and rolled to the other side of the bed. “I preferred it when you were tickling me.”
“You’re awake?” Chill air flooded in to surround Karl reminding him of what he’d just lost and would lose completely soon.
“Obviously,” Amber wrinkled her nose at him and rubbed her butt. “Why’d you pinch me?”
Karl watched her half kneeling on the bed beside him. He could think of dozens of classic portraits of women, rumpled, hazy with sleep and lovemaking, and draped with satin and silk, but none of them could compare at that moment with the sight of Amber in a crushed cotton shirt.
He grinned at the picture she made. Not a traditional seductive siren or any playboy image. With her stark silver-white and brown hair, pouting lip, and offended expression she was a mixture of kitten and snarling cat. She was a wood sprite who discarded moonlight and mystery and stepped into the real world. He couldn’t imagine loving anyone else for the rest of his life. He caught her arms and tumbled her back into his embrace, catching and biting her lower lip, licking and sucking her mouth before reluctantly relaxing his grip.
Amber drew back, her eyes wide.
“What the …?”
Karl drew his hand over her hair, drifting his fingers down to cup and hold her chin.
“I don’t care anymore if the feelings I have for you are because of magic or not. If the lust I feel is anything other than the natural hunger a man feels for a beautiful woman, I don’t want to know. I don’t want to think about what is causing these feelings. All I know is I love you. Want you.”
He punctuated his declarations with kisses, trailing down her neck to her shoulder. He flicked his tongue along the hollows of her collar bone and rubbed his stubbled cheek over the swells of her breasts.
Amber pushed weakly against his chest.
“Karl, please …”
“Oh, yes. Very pleased,” he murmured, covering her nipple with his mouth and commencing to lick in soft circles.
Amber’s laugh was shaky and became a soft moan as Karl’s hands drifted under the thin fabric of her panties to cup and massage her butt.
“Karl, this isn’t the time …”
He raised his head from her breast and gazed down on her flushed face.
“This is the perfect time. It may be the only time.” He bent to brush light kisses over her soft lips. “Right now. This minute I know I love you, Amber. I know it with all that I am.” He met her suddenly widened eyes and smiled. “I don’t want us to have any doubts that this is really me that loves you. No one could make me feel like this but you. From the first moment I saw you. Tell me that you believe it’s rea
l.” He leaned close to whisper in her ear and chuckled low and deep as she trembled. “Love me now, Amber. Love me!”
Amber shifted restlessly under his weight. The pressure of his body making her bones, her center soft and liquid. She’d hoped, dreamed that there would be something – some bond left after Karl was freed. That it would be love, strong and aching, was more than she dared to want. To need. To hope.
She ran her hands over his tight curls and tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling him down for her kiss. She brushed her tongue over his lips. Teasing. Inviting. Her laugh smothered by his invasive, hungry response. Her hands slid down his back, digging into the muscles of his shoulders as she placed little nipping kisses along his jaw to his ear.
Breathless she turned her face away from his mouth’s pursuit of hers.
“Let me think,” she gasped as Karl growled.
“Finished thinking. Kiss me.”
Amber held her finger over his lips.
“Shouldn’t be doing this. The energy …”
He paused, pulling away. “Do you feel anything wrong?”
Amber examined her aura and his. There was an energy exchange, a place where his aura and hers flared, merged. There was no draining this morning but light, joy. There was no pain. Only joy.
“No, there’s nothing wrong.” She smiled slowly and moved her hands over his chest, down his arms and pulled him closer. “Nothing wrong at all.”
Karl tilted an eyebrow in her direction then resumed working his way down her chest.
“You’re beautiful,” his voice was muffled as he swept his tongue around her breasts as if dining on the sweetest ice cream.
Amber shuddered at his touch, her skin heating. Her hand wandered down his back. With a lightning fast twist he pulled her loose shirt off her shoulders and down, trapping her arms tight to her sides. Rising to tower over her he tightened his grip.
“Lie still and let it all go, Amber,” he whispered, his eyes heavy lidded and hot, “I’ll do all the work. It’s my turn to look after you.”
First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) Page 34