by Bea Paige
Devin strides back to the dunes and to the blanket I was lying on not moments before. He lays me down, stripping himself of his clothes the moment his arms are free. He doesn’t ask for permission, because he knows he doesn’t need it. I want him, he wants me, it is that simple and that beautiful. Our souls call to one another, as do our bodies, as do our hearts.
Devin pushes up the skirt of my dress, hooks his fingers in my knickers and pulls them down quickly. I part my legs and hold open my arms. Devin gives himself to me without hesitation. He doesn’t wait, we have both waited for far too long already. The firmness of his length slides into me in one swift thrust as I claw at his back, pulling him in for a passionate kiss. My fingers slide into his hair, his slide into mine. We mirror each other, we are one.
Red.
He grinds into me and I push up against him, our hips meeting in the frantic need of two souls desperate for one another.
Red, Red, my love, my soul.
Devin’s lips move over my jaw, then slide down my neck as I press the back of my head into the soft sand. His tongue licks over the shell of my ear, then back to the pulse in my neck. Firm hands pull down my dress, exposing my breasts to the warm air. A hot mouth closes over my skin and sucks hard, pulling at my pebbled nipple.
Red, you are so beautiful.
He moves steadily within me, the pace slowing to a more languid rhythm as our mouths meet, tongues and lips forming a sweet, sweet kiss. Devin stokes the fire within my chest as his soul settles around my own, its touch just as powerful and as tantalising as his skin feels against mine. For a long time, he rocks within me, with me. We move together with no other thought in our minds than each other. After a while, he leans back, rests his hands against the back of my thigh and lifts my leg, crossing it in front of his body. He holds my leg there and runs his tongue against it before twisting his body and settling behind me so that we are spooning. He pulls me back against his body until there is no space between us.
This, this is what I have been waiting for. Wrapped around you, buried within you, holding you close. Red, my love.
I feel his teeth graze against my shoulder, feel his hair fall against my cheek and I am wet with want, with desire. We make love, touching, kissing, feeling one another. No part of our skin remains unclaimed. His mouth is hot against every part of me, his tears wet.
Red, I love you so much.
We move together, the pleasure increasing with every stroke, every touch, every kiss. Like our love, the sun above us shines fierce and strong. It is a testament, a reminder of what we have together. As long as the sun still shines, as long as the light remains, so too will our love. Minutes pass, hours even. Time is irrelevant here, nothing comes between us in this place of warmth and love. Then in one perfect moment when both our souls and bodies entwine, and the pinnacle of our lovemaking explodes around us both, I remember it all…
I remember everything.
I remember my need for this man, Devin, to wake up. I remember my willingness to do anything to get him back despite the danger. Then I remember the pain, the heartache, the darkness, and then nothing but oblivion, death.
I understand it all. Why I am here, what Devin did to me. He is no longer in the dark; we both stand in the light now, but at what cost?
My heart hammers in my chest as I realise the true impact of what happened in the Grand hall of Queen Adrielle’s castle. I place my forehead against his, waiting for my racing heart to subside. “Are we both dead?” I ask, certain that we must be, given what I remember.
He shakes his head. “I am not…”
“But I am?” I ask, pulling back slightly so I can see the truth in his eyes.
“Not yet, not if you don’t want to be.”
“I don’t understand?”
“You remember what happened, what I did?” Devin says as he gently brushes his lips against mine. I can feel his fingers tremble as he swipes a strand of hair from my cheek.
Yes, I remember. It hurts me to say it, it hurts him too. I feel it between us, the guilt and the shame. But I also feel the love, the strength of the connection between us and the magic that binds us to one another.
“Nostra has brought me to you. A piece of your soul remained with mine. He performed a permanent Binding. He cast a spell so I could come here. There are things you must know.”
“Tell me,” I say.
Devin looks at me, his eyes drinking me in. The warm air tousles his hair, the ends of his long curls caress my cheeks as his body remains pressed against mine.
“Tell me,” I repeat.
“You have a choice, Red. You can choose to stay here, to walk beyond the line from which you cannot return, or you can come back with me now…” he pulls out of me gently, adjusting the skirt of my dress and settles beside me. He doesn’t press me, he waits.
I think of my mother, who is just beyond the fine line that separates us. I think of how wonderful it would feel to see her again, to have her hold me like she used to when I was a child. My mum, the woman who kept me safe when no one else could. Then I look at Devin, at the strength of his jaw, the curl of his long hair against his bare shoulders, and the rich chocolate of his eyes. I feel his soul entwine with mine, my soulmate. I think of Ezra, my husband, the man who fought against his grief to let me in, to love me like I love him, and lastly, I think of Rhain, the man who unlocked the real me, the woman I have always been inside.
“There’s a price, isn’t there?”
Devin presses his fingers against his eyes. His face crumples under the weight of his grief, his guilt. “Yes, there’s a price,” he manages to say. A sob releases from his throat. “What have I done? This shouldn’t have been your fate. This is my fault.”
“Tell me what it is,” I whisper. Clover’s voice echoes across my memory, her words ringing in my head.
“It will take a great sacrifice to save Devin from the darkness, to save us all. Are you prepared to make that sacrifice, Accacia?”
The truth is, I am prepared. My death has pulled Devin from the darkness and back into the light. It has been worth it. I would do it again.
“Tell me, Devin,” I urge him gently.
“If you return with me now you will be different, you will come back like us. You will be a vampire fully,” Devin says, searching my face for a reaction.
“Then I will become a vampire,” I say. The answer to me is a simple one. Queen Adrielle can’t win, she mustn’t. We will break the curse. It will be a temporary change.
Devin draws in a ragged breath and pulls me back to him, pressing his lips firmly against mine.
“You don’t have to do it. You could stay here, safe, free from all the responsibility…” he whispers against my lips.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
Devin grips my shoulders, his dark eyes swimming with tears. “Even if we were able to defeat Queen Adrielle and all the cursed would return to what they once were, you would remain a vampire. Only you, that is the…”
“Sacrifice,” I whisper, finishing Devin’s sentence for him. Clover hadn’t been talking about my death as the sacrifice, she had been talking about this.
I sit up, lifting my face to the sun, feeling its warmth caress my skin. Over the sound of the waves lapping, I can still hear my mother singing.
“Over the hill
you run from me and
into the arms of another…”
“Red, I am sorry. This is all my fault. I didn’t know what I was doing.” Devin pulls me against him, circling his arm about my waist.
It’s not your fault.
My love, I would swap places in a heartbeat.
You cannot. This was my destiny all along. I know what to do now.
I twist in Devin’s arms and look into the beautiful eyes of my soulmate. “Take me home,” I say.
“Are you sure?”
“I have never been more certain of anything.”
Devin dips his head and presses a delicate kiss against my lips.
As he does, a flash of purple light erupts from both our chests. I feel the sand beneath us fall away, and the beach surrounding us swirls and spins as though we are in the middle of a sandstorm. Over the rush of air passing by my ears I hear the last words of my mother’s lullaby...
“Upon his back, a rose does bloom
For my darling girl has healed her lover …”
As we free fall back into life, the fallen petals on Devin’s back twirl upwards and settle back to where they belong. The rose blooms once more.
Chapter Twenty
Air rushes out of my mouth and I sit up in a darkened room. My hands instinctively shoot out in front of me. “Devin,” I cry. “Where are you?”
“I am here, Red. I am here.”
I hear his voice, but there is nothing but darkness. “Why can’t I see you?” I ask, grabbing blindly in front of me. My hands land on a firm chest. Strong arms wrap around me, pulling me close.
“Give her a minute, her sight will return,” another voice says in the dark. It is Nostra.
A moment later, I feel warm hands touch the bare skin of my shoulders, and my skin zings under the touch. This isn’t Devin, these hands belong to another.
My body is already reacting to the sensation before my brain can catch up.
“Cia…”
I twist my head around to face Rhain, and feel the firm crush of lips against my own. Despite not being able to see him, I open my mouth and welcome him in. The familiar pull draws me to him, to the desire I feel, the love that undulates under his touch.
“Rhain, a moment,” comes a deeper voice. It is my husband, Ezra. Rhain shifts sideways to accommodate him.
“Accacia, I thought I’d lost you forever.” He brushes his lips against mine. A thrill runs through me at his touch. I remember him suspended in the air above Queen Adrielle and the tremor of his body as he fought against the magic, trying to reach me.
“I’m here now, it’s okay, Ezra,” I say in reassurance.
“You understand what has happened. What you are now?” Ezra asks gently.
“Yes. I chose to return, to come back to you all. I know what I am, I understand the price.”
Red. Devin reaches out to me, I feel his presence within my thoughts. His concern.
“Cia.” Rhain rests a reassuring hand on my arm.
“Accacia, you are the bravest woman I know.” Ezra kisses me, his hand snaking in my hair. When he releases me from his embrace, a kaleidoscope of colour splinters across my vision. I press my fingers against my eyes, shutting them against the sensory overload.
“Cia, are you okay?” Rhain asks. His voice is so loud I have to cover my ears. But it’s not enough, the beat of their hearts is as loud as drums.
Thump-thump, thump, thump-thump, thump.
Then I smell them… their individual scent lingers in the air. I breathe in deeply as their faces come into focus. I can smell their blood; the dark chocolate of Ezra’s, the crisp champagne and fresh oysters that is Rhain’s, and finally the warm honey and citrus of Devin’s.
Devin’s blood, the only blood of my three men that I am yet to taste, calls to me. I am drawn to it like a firefly to the light. The thought of drinking his blood takes over, and I hone in on his smell, the individual thump of his heart, the beat of his pulse. Pain shoots through my gums and I raise my hand to my mouth. My incisor teeth have elongated, the points sharp, reminding me of what I am now, what I have become. My eyes snap open, and without thinking I sink my teeth into Devin’s neck, drawing on his blood. He lets out a gasp as I twist in his lap, straddling him. His reaction to my bite is immediate. The hard length of his desire presses against me. I push myself against him, feeling the exquisite friction, and I remember our lovemaking in that place in between. It had felt real…
It was, Red, it was as real to me as this moment now.
It was beautiful, I respond. I want you that way again. Here, now.
“Damn it, Red,” Devin groans out loud. I can hear Ezra’s low chuckle.
“I think this is a taste of your own medicine, brother.” He is referring, of course, to what happened in Queen Adrielle’s castle, but there is mirth in his voice, not malice. This is not the same, I do not wish to drain Devin of all his blood, just a little. Well, perhaps more than a little.
“Right, well, I see you’re going to need a moment,” Nostra says awkwardly. I forgot he was in the room. I will thank Nostra for bringing me back. Just not now, not yet.
I hear a door opening then closing once again and the low murmur of voices on the other side of the door. I relax further in Devin’s arms, content for the moment for this time alone with him, with Ezra and Rhain. A low moan rises from Devin’s throat, it matches my own.
Red, my love.
I draw on his blood. It floods through me, filling me up. The taste is exquisite, unique, just like Ezra’s and Rhain’s.
I pull my teeth out gently, lapping my tongue over the punctured skin. I kiss the tender flesh of his neck before sitting up. Devin leans back on his hands, considering me. A slow smile pulls up his lips.
“So now you’ve tasted me there is only Rhain’s blood left for you to savour?” Devin asks.
“No, brother. Cia has already had my blood.”
“Is that so? I have missed a great deal, it would seem.”
“Brother, there is much we need to fill you in on, but right now I have other things on my mind,” Rhain says. I see the black of his pupil enlarge with desire. The points of his teeth lower from his gums. Behind me, Ezra shifts closer. I have made love to all three men separately. I have shared a bed with both Ezra and Rhain, but only to sleep. I look between them, my own desire ratcheting up a thousand-fold at the thought of being with them all. It seems right, natural, to share my love with them. I grip hold of Rhain and Ezra’s tops and pull them closer…
The door crashes open. It is not to be. Nostra stands before us.
“I am sorry, my friends, there is no time for that. Adrielle has found us. We must leave, now.”
Pulling away from my men, I get off the bed. Through the window I can see the darkened sky. Night has fallen, another day has passed. It has taken Queen Adrielle a whole day to find us. Nostra’s magic is strong, but clearly not strong enough.
“Queen Adrielle is breaking through your magic,” Ether shouts from the other room. “You have a plan I take it?” he asks as we all hurry into the kitchen. Lissandra rushes towards me. Behind her Blake nods in my direction. He looks likes death, but he is alive.
“Accacia, thank the Goddess,” she says, throwing her arms around me.
“Lissa, we need to leave. You can catch up later.” Nostra grabs her hand, and pulls her towards the front door. Ether heads out first, followed by his brothers-in-arms. I am momentarily stunned by the black feathered wings folded across each of their backs.
They have wings? I ask as we follow them out.
Indeed, they do, Devin answers. The three of them flew Ezra, Rhain and Lissandra right out of the Queen’s castle. Ether took Lissandra, Gabe, the dark haired one, flew Ezra to safety, and Mihr took Rhain. You can imagine her surprise and her rage that her Angels of Death had betrayed her.
I am prevented from responding as a loud thundercrack sounds overhead. The ground beneath us shudders, even Nostra’s cottage shakes in its foundations.
“Run!” Ezra shouts.
We don’t need to be told twice. We all run round to the back of Nostra’s cottage.
“Nostra, what are we to do?” Lissandra asks, pushing against Blake’s chest. He has her pinned against the wall. A muscle ticks in Nostra’s jaw but he doesn’t say anything about the close contact. He’s too busy firing his own purple magic up into the sky in an attempt to reinforce the magic Queen Adrielle is trying to tear down.
“Adrielle’s magic is breaking through. I need to get the portal open, then we all go through.”
“Where will it take us?” I ask.
“Back to Earth. It is the only place Queen Adrielle is
unable to follow.”
“I cannot return to Earth,” Blake speaks up. “Dani is somewhere here in Ever Vale. Finch and Seb are tracking her too. Edrin has her. He brought her back here. I followed his trail to the flatlands where the common folk reside. It was a trap. He knew the Queen would order my death. Now I am free I must join my brothers and rescue her.”
Nostra grips hold of Blake’s shoulder. “Then you leave now, whilst the Queen is distracted.”
“Wait!” I say, grabbing hold of Blake’s arm. He looks down at me; the man’s a giant, a beast. I swallow, pulling my hand away. “Isn’t Edrin the rogue wolf-shifter, the one who turned all those humans into halflings?” I say quickly. “He has the missing daughter of your Clan?”
“Yes, and the moment we find Danika and she is safe, I plan on ripping that bastard’s head from his body. No one takes my woman and lives to tell the tale.”
“Danika?”
“Yes, you know her?”
“Clover mentioned a friend called Danika, a woman who works with horses…” It couldn’t be a coincidence, given my relationship with Clover.
No, not a coincidence. You remember what Nostra said before about you and Clover, the fact you are friends? Fate bringing you together, Devin says through our connection.
“Dani is good with all animals,” Blake says, running his fingers over a scar that runs across his abdomen. “She saved me, and now I will save her.”
Another booming crash of thunder sounds as more black lightning cracks across the sky. I can see the edge of Queen Adrielle’s dark power leaking through Nostra’s magic. “There is no time. You must go, friend,” Ezra says. “Get out of here. Find your brothers, claim your woman and take her to a safe place.”
Blake nods his head and in an instant shifts into his wolf-form. It takes no longer than me blinking. His change is as easy and as painless as it was the first time I witnessed it. He turns, his enormous wolf body rendering me speechless for just a moment. The zing of magic ruffles his long fur. He is beautiful, and entirely deadly.