“No,” Devlin replied. “I’m not sharing her with you, Nate. Get your own; there are plenty here.”
“Why not?” Nate persisted, annoyed. “We’ve done it before—”
“Because I want to drain her during,” Devlin said, giving Nate a cool smile. “You know well how good it feels, how they jerk at the end. When they finally realize what’s happening, and they are trying to get away, but no longer have the strength. This one loves vampires.” He bared his fangs slightly. “She’s in for a big surprise with the real thing.”
My dinner shifted in my stomach. I swallowed, trying not to throw up.
“Have a good time,” Nate said regretfully. “Shoot me an email later and tell me how long she lasted.” He gave me one last hungry glance. “See you around, Dev.” He turned and began making his way back though the crowd.
Devlin came over and put his arms round me. “I apologize deeply for that,” he said quietly in my ear. “Nate was the last person I expected here. He Rules Tennessee. He’s en route to the Gathering.”
The vampire that Leri had threatened to take me to. Shiver. “We should have put the choker back on me,” I whispered back angrily. “Then I would have been safe meeting him.”
“That was not an option,” Devlin replied. “Everyone needs to think you belong to Danial, not to me. No one can see you in my choker.”
“Then why give it to me?” I yelled angrily. “Why get my Oath?”
Devlin scanned the crowd. “We can’t risk talking about this here. Come.”
I refused to budge. “I’m not leaving.”
Devlin picked me up in a smooth motion, then strode with me to the exit. He set me down by the car, still fuming.
“Get in, or I’ll throw you in,” he said angrily. “We don’t have time for your tantrum.”
I curled myself into a corner of the truck cab, and stayed there all the way home. I couldn’t get the words Devlin had uttered to Nate out of my head. He had killed a woman as he had her and savored it like the wine we’d drunk tonight. How could I let someone touch me who had enjoyed such a loathsome act?
When we arrived home, I went inside quickly. After checking on the dogs, I went into the bedroom and took a long shower. No matter how I scrubbed, I still felt unclean. Tiredly, I put some salve on my mostly healed tattoo, dressed in pajamas, and went to face Devlin. To my surprise, he was nowhere to be found, though his bike and leather clothes were still in the basement.
He had to be outside walking. Maybe he’d left in my truck. Either way, I was too exhausted to care. I checked on the cats, let the dogs out and in, and then went to my bed, setting the alarm for dawn so I wouldn’t forget to feed my pets in the morning.
I awoke an hour later, when someone slid into bed next to me.
“Dev?” I said softly.
“Yes, it’s me,” he said, sliding his fingers down my arm. “I wanted to give you some time alone.”
“I don’t need time alone,” I retorted. “I need to know what your plans are for me.”
“What you want is an assurance I’m not going to drain you during lovemaking,” he said, annoyed. “I thought Oathing would have settled that.”
“You’ve done it before,” I said accusingly. “You enjoyed it, too.”
He was quiet for a moment, his hand on my arm still. “I have done it before,” Devlin said grudgingly. “What I said to Nate is true: it feels exceptionally good while it lasts. But it makes you feel disgusting afterwards, to know that a woman trusted you enough to let you inside her and then to take her life along with her body. I had a taste for that once, but that was decades ago. Nate is younger. This is just a phase he’s going through.”
“These are people’s lives,” I said, appalled. “I understand vampires need blood, but they don’t need to kill for it.”
He turned me toward him, embracing me. “Nate likes to do that. He does it on a regular basis. Tennessee has a high murder rate for a reason. He has to get rid of the bodies with no one the wiser.”
Leri hadn’t threatened me idly. Something to remember. “Then he’s a monster and a serial killer.”
“He is,” Devlin agreed. “But you’re really accusing me of the same. My answer is that I am a killer, Sarelle. I freely admit it. I revel in both killing and lovemaking, but I don’t mix the two. It is enough to take a woman’s blood and her body. It’s wrong to take her life as well, when she’s given herself freely and utterly.”
“Did you kill someone earlier tonight?”
“Yes,” Devlin replied. “It was either drain someone or leave you sitting in that restaurant alone until it closed. Rest assured that I picked a deserving candidate.”
I didn’t reply.
“Sar, I’ll have to leave in a few hours. I want to make love.”
I didn’t reply.
“Don’t deny me, Sar,” he said, kissing my face. “Not when you know I love you.”
“I can’t understand how I could love or want someone who scares me as much as you do,” I whispered. “Sometimes you horrify me, Dev.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, as he kissed down my neck. “I don’t mean to. I’m not as gentle as Danial is, I don't have his patience. Mine has always been a darker temperament. I have a taste for violence, and I can be cruel. My patience is easily lost, and I say whatever I am feeling, strike out in anger before thinking.”
“Then you understand why I fear you.”
“Know that whatever I might say or do, I won’t ever cross the line and strike you.” He touched my cheekbone, then gently kissed the tiny scar that remained there from Danial’s ring. “The only scars you’ll have from me are the ones you wear now willingly.”
“I believe you,” I said softly. “You’ve never hurt me purposely, in spite of your threats.”
He took the choker off the bedside table, then fastened it around my neck. “We are going to have a good life,” he whispered. “That is my plan for us, Love. And I’m going to do my damnedest to make it come true.”
I didn’t believe that, but made no reply.
“Tell me you love me,” Devlin said tenderly.
“I do love you. But I’m afraid of how this is going to end.”
“We are not at the end, only a new beginning,” he corrected gently. “I love you, Sar, with everything that I am.”
“Then promise me that you’ll never lie to me,” I said, watching him carefully.
He didn’t hesitate. “I won’t ever lie to you again.”
“Then love me again, please. Bite me gently, and take what you need. Sing to me. Most of all, afterwards, hold me and tell me I’m safe, that you won’t let anything happen to me.”
Devlin did all those things with the grace and sensuality that was his and his alone. When he told me I was safe, that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt me, I believed him.
We moved to the basement at about five a.m. Dawn came before I was ready for it, and I clung to him, afraid to go back to sleep, and miss these last moments with him. He stayed until eight, holding me tightly, neither of us sleeping. Then he got up, and dressed in his black leather. I followed him to his Harley in my robe, watching him as he checked over his bike.
“Do you need gas? I have an extra five gallons in the garage.”
“It will save me a stop,” he said with a tired smile. “I’m riding on fumes now.”
“Red can,” I said, biting my lip. “Yellow is the diesel. Password is ‘lions’.”
He nodded. “Come to me, Love,” he said, holding out his arms.
I came to him, and he hugged me, his leather creaking. Then he took off my choker, and handed it to me. “Put it on yourself.”
I held it to my neck, willed the ends together, and felt the magic-laden metal fasten.
“Good. Wear my choker with you to the Gathering under your clothes. Do not let anyone see it until then, save Danial.”
“How?”
“Wrap it around your ankle twice. It will stretch a little, if you ask it to.”
I remembered Elle’s necklace, how I’d wondered if it had grown with her, and nodded.
“Be strong, Sar. No matter what happens, remember, you are far too valuable to any vampire there for them to harm you. Stay with Danial and Theo at all times. They will keep you safe.” He embraced me. “Tell me again that you love my eyes.”
“I love them,” I said simply. “The purest gold is a poor shadow of them.”
“I will see you as soon as I can,” he said, then leaned in to me, his hand gripping my robe in his leather glove. He kissed me lingeringly, slowly. “My love goes with you, Oathed One,” he said, pulling back reluctantly. “Take care.”
I backed away as he kick started his bike, sliding on his helmet. As he backed out of the garage, he held up a gloved hand in farewell. I blew him a lone kiss. He did a half circle, and roared off down the driveway.
As I shut the garage, reality kicked me in the ass. There was a hell of a lot to finish today before Danial arrived.
The next hour was a flurry of activity. I cleaned the woodstove, dumped the ashes, then started a fire. Quickly, I stripped the upstairs bed, readying it for the werefoxes, and did laundry. After feeding the pets and myself and tidying up the house, I called Danial’s looking for Elle.
She came to the phone a few seconds later and shouted into it, “Mom! Dad says you’re better!”
I winced, my ears ringing. “Yes, I’m better. Do you feel like a little shopping trip?”
“Yes!” she said excitedly. “What time should I be ready?”
I glanced at the clock. “How’s noon? Make sure you are packed for at least a few days, as I’ll be dropping you off at your grandparents’ right after.”
“Dad said to pack for a week,” she said in a hushed voice. “He sat me down and explained everything. He said it would be dangerous, but that he would make sure you were safe.”
Damn it, Danial. You had no right to promise her that. “He’s going to do his best, as will your father,” I said, trying to sound certain.
Elle went silent.
“Elle, what is it?”
She didn’t answer.
Damn you, Theo. “Elle, I’ll see you later, okay? I’ll bring you some cookies I baked.”
“Bye, Mom,” she said flatly, then hung up.
I thought about calling Theo and asking him what he’d told her. But what was the point? I’d find all that out soon enough.
Angered, I put the phone back in its cradle and went back to work, bringing up a full rack of wood. Afterwards my muscles ached, having grown unused to heavy lifting. But they would grow strong again, provided I lived that long...
I closed down that morbid thought, and renewed my efforts. Within an hour, the house was clean, all the laundry was done and put away, and I was in the shower. When I emerged, it was quarter to twelve.
I’d never make it in time to Elle via driving. I might as well try to teleport.
I got dressed, coiled up my wet hair, grabbed my purse, and concentrated hard on the great room at Danial’s home. The next moment, I was standing in snow to my knees on Danial’s lawn.
My sneakers wet, I gingerly walked out of the snow, and onto the shoveled path. Oh well. I’d get better with practice, right?
Elle opened the door. “Mom, where did you come from? I didn’t hear a car.”
“I can teleport, but I’m just learning,” I said proudly. “I’ll have to practice.”
Elle gave me a look of awe, handing me her bag. “Can you teleport us to the mall?”
“Remember, you aren’t to tell your grandparents anything but that Danial, Theo, and I are attending a convention.” I hefted the bag with difficulty. “What do you have in here, rocks?”
“No, I—”
“Sar?” Terian called from inside the house. “Elle?”
I grabbed Elle’s hand, and concentrated hard, desperately imagining the mall parking lot.
Chapter Sixteen
We arrived instantly halfway up one car aisle. The sky was clear, the sun shining brightly.
“Pretty good,” Elle said, letting my hand go. “We didn’t get hit.”
“Thanks for your faith,” I said grumpily. “Come on, we don’t have more than a few hours. Let’s make the most of them.”
* * * *
Over our dessert at lunch, she dropped the bombshell.
“Mom, Dad explained to me that you needed Uncle Devlin to make you better. He said that you had Oathed to him again, and to Devlin, too.”
Part of me was annoyed at not getting to announce my own news, and the other was pleased that Danial had smoothed the way yet again. “How do you feel about that?”
“I’m worried,” she said hesitantly. “Dad said that you weren’t cured. That you would need his help and Devlin’s for the rest of your life.”
“That’s true, Elle,” I said carefully. Having no idea how much Danial had told her, it was safer not to elaborate.
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Will you come back and live with us?” she said hesitantly. “Dad misses you. I see it in his eyes sometimes when he’s alone.”
“Elle, there’s a lot that I have to work out first. Theo—”
Elle slammed down her spoon. “I hate him! He left you when you were sick! He’s jealous of Dad. I used to smell it on him.”
The diners nearest us were staring at us.
“Elle—”
“I want him to stay with her, and I don’t want to go live with him!” she screeched.
The manager was coming toward us. We had to get out of here.
“Elle, let’s go. We can talk about this outside the restaurant.”
After quickly throwing down some cash, I walked out with Elle, and sat on a wooden bench. “What did Theo tell you about why he left?” I asked.
“I know about that other woman,” she replied, her tone livid. “He called me that night after he left, apologizing about what happened. He said he was coming back. Then he showed up this morning with that woman—”
“She’s here?” I said weakly.
“She’s at the fox compound,” Elle said scathingly. “He introduced us and I growled at her. She got scared and he got angry.”
“Next time be polite,” I admonished her. “No matter how bad his behavior, yours should always be good, Elle. Danial would tell you this, if he were here. Come on,” I added, offering her my hand. “We need to get you to Grandma’s house.”
* * * *
After dropping Elle off at my parents’ house, I headed home.
The moment I’d seen my mom, I desperately wanted to go inside and spend one last golden hour with my parents, to hear the same stories I’d heard so many times before that I knew them by heart. But it was too risky and there wasn’t time. I had too much to do as it was.
After packing an overnight bag, and putting Devlin’s choker on my ankle, I took Ghost and Darkness for an hour walk. Unlike my usual purposeful foray, I let them smell everything they wanted to, hunt for mice, and dig in the earth, flinging mud everywhere. By the time we got home, they were filthy but happy.
I cleaned their feet, cut their nails, and then brushed them as they writhed in happiness, wriggling all over. Then I gave them some lunch meat, parceling out a few pieces. After that, I handed them each two Cheweez. “You are the best dogs ever,” I said emotionally. “I love you both very much.”
I left them chewing, sat down in front of the wood stove, and pulled Jessica into my lap. We hadn’t sat here in a long time. When I’d been sick, the floor had been too cold, despite the fire. I stroked his coat repeatedly, murmuring “Little sweet cat laying there.” Soon he was a limp warm dishrag in my arms, purring softly. As he dropped off to sleep, Cavity came over. I moved Jess over so there was room enough for him, then lifted him onto my lap, too. “You’re a monster cat,” I said lovingly, petting him. “You’re my monster cat, Cavity.”
I sat there for an hour holding them, then reluctantly moved them and got up. After bu
ilding up the fire, I let the dogs out one last time, and then taped a note on the front door that said “Downstairs.” Going into the bedroom, I changed back into the clean ivory gown, fastened Danial’s choker around my neck, and went below into the basement to wait.
It wasn’t long before the dogs barked upstairs, then the front door opened. Their barks became happy whining, then their feet moved away. A second later, Danial descended the cellar stairs calling, “Sar?”
“In here.” I stood for him on the floor at the bottom of the bed, waiting.
He opened the door, glancing at the cracked frame. Then his eyes found me.
I opened my arms to him. “Come to me.”
He crossed in two strides, then grabbed me roughly, kissing me hungrily. I put my arms around him, pressing my body to his. He threw off his jacket, pulled off his pants, and then stripped my gown over my head and tossed it aside. Then he pushed me backwards. I went sprawling on the bed, my eyes wide.
Danial unbuttoned his shirt. “Down on your knees, Oathed One.”
I gaped at him. He finished undressing, then glared at me with red eyes. Suddenly afraid, I got up from the bed and ran towards the door. Before I could open the door, Danial grabbed me by the back of my neck. I went still and let out a whimper.
“I told you to get on your knees. Get back on the bed, now.”
I did as he asked. Danial took up a position behind me. His erection brushed my backside, then teased me, the tip just outside my vagina. I pushed back hard. Danial clenched his muscles, our combined actions thrusting him deeply into me. My head went back as I let out an eager moan. He groaned loudly, pulling my lower body back hard against his, one hand on my hip to move me, the other reaching up to massage my breasts as he kissed my neck.
He leaned forward, bearing me down onto the bed with his weight, moving fast, grunting with effort and need. Then it was over, as Danial came, his spasms frantic. He moved off me, breathing hard. I moved to face him, apprehensive.
“Why,” he growled. “Tell me why.”
“Why what?” I ventured.
Danial moved supernaturally fast, grabbing hold of me, his eyes tinged red.
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