Hearts Unleashed: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by C. D. Gorri

“How are we going to travel on the iced-over roads?” she called as he jogged to his bedroom.

  “We’ll take my truck. It’s got snow tires. I’ll manage.”

  “You’re bleeding. I’m feeling like it’s bad.”

  “No need to worry. Vampire healing, right?” The moment the knife pulled out, he recognized the burn of poison. Bad news. He hoped he could make it the few hours of driving required.

  While Ivy packed Alfie’s items, he grabbed one of his go-bags from the closet and loaded it with a few extra weapons. The bag already had high-energy foods, water, and medical supplies to last a few days. He grabbed some old clothes Ivy had left years ago out of a drawer, hoping she wouldn’t ask why he’d held onto them. He could’ve given them back at any time, but having a small piece of her gave him comfort. As if even if all was lost between them, she might someday return for the old sneakers and tatty sweatshirt.

  A few minutes into the drive, Ivy asked, “Where are we going?”

  “West.” He waited for her to lay into him about the nonspecific answer. It was coming. But she didn’t.

  Instead, she tipped head back to rest it on the headrest, exposing her long, beautiful neck. His stomach clenched as a deep craving dug its claws into his brain. Too long without blood. Each mile that passed, more blood leaked out of him, and his drive to bite her worsened. He shifted his weight to get in a position where his side didn’t shoot pain with each of the truck’s jolts. If he’d taken care of himself and been in top condition with a daily blood meal, as he should’ve been doing, then he’d be fine. His body would be able to deal with the poison. That was unless it was the new stuff out of Singapore by a black-market witch. He’d heard of the serum. It wasn’t his style to use it on his client’s targets or to solve their problems.

  She rolled her head to the side so her eyes connected with his. “Go to Bulgaria. It’s a few hours from here.”

  “Luca’s place? That’s a shitload of complicated.”

  “He’ll help us.”

  “Can you guarantee that? Or will he turn you over to your fiancé?”

  “Maybe I need to face Hugo and point out how he and I will never work.” A chill shook her.

  Without a second thought, he turned up the heat and yanked a blanket out of the back and managed to get it over some of her with one hand. “Better?”

  “Yes. Thanks.” She snuggled into the warmth.

  Alfie poked his head between the seats.

  “You have strong breath,” she said and gave the dog a pat.

  “The vet said he needed a dental cleaning at his last visit. Didn’t look that bad to me.”

  Alfie lay down again.

  Ty asked, “You think Hugo will walk away at this point since he hasn’t already? You’ve been missing for weeks. He’s hired a damned expensive and efficient bounty hunter to find you and drag you back. I think you in a one-on-one with him ends in Hugo imprisoning you for a long time, if not forever.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Is that you saying I’m right about something?”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “You did.”

  “You’re annoying. I said it’s what I was thinking. As in I’m concerned it’s a possibility.”

  “I’m right.”

  “Why do you need to be right so desperately?”

  “I don’t,” he said softly. “It’s a miracle when I’m right and you admit it.” He shifted in his seat. Pain shot up his side from the knife wound which he hid. But Alfie was up again. The dog knew Ty wasn’t doing well.

  She rotated in her seat toward him. “I smell fresh blood. You sure you’re okay? I’d think it shouldn’t still be bleeding. You want me to drive?”

  “I’m fine right now.”

  “How bad was whatever it was that made you spiral? Did something you set up or someone you helped fall apart or get caught?”

  He kept his gaze fixed on the road as the car crawled its slow pace along the icy highway. The baby he’d help smuggle out of Russia had been found and killed by its biological father a week later. The mother had also been murdered. Although it hadn’t been his job to protect them for the rest of their lives, he’d been invested. “It was bad. Not something to talk about.”

  She watched him in silence for many long moments. Then finally said, “So, I taught myself to knit. It’s relaxing and let me catch up on a lot of streaming shows.”

  “For injured penguins?” He sighed out all the tenseness that thoughts of the baby brought on.

  “Doing it for kittens seemed so last year. If someone asked it of me, though, I’d make kittens little sweaters, too.”

  For endless miles, her voice soothed him as she chattered about the penguin rescue groups in South Africa and Australia for whom she knitted and sent sweaters.

  He pulled into an open petrol station, not that the car needed gas, but he needed to clear his head. He was dizzy and on the edge of falling asleep or passing out.

  “I’ll get snacks,” she offered. “But I need some cash.”

  “In that?” He once-overed her silky PJs, knit hat, and one of his jackets she’d snagged out of his closet. She’d had an old pair of shoes at his place with a broken lace but still better than no shoes.

  “Sweetie, I rock this outfit, braless and all. Bet I can get the guy behind the counter to give me a free soda.”

  “Don’t flash him boobage.” Ty handed her money out of his wallet.

  “It’s my boobage to flash if I want to.”

  “Then put it to good use and get me a soda, too.” He hadn’t smiled this much in weeks. God, he’d missed her.

  As she trotted off, he tried to get out of the car but found he didn’t have the strength. He couldn’t even unclick his seatbelt. Alfie put his head on his shoulder.

  “It’s bad, bud. Real bad.”

  Chapter Six

  “I got chips, chocolate and…” Ivy dumped her haul into her seat and jammed the sodas into the cup holders. Alfie barked and rested his head on Ty’s shoulder.

  She jumped, shocked to hear the dog make a noise. “Ty?”

  He sat slumped in his seat.

  Her heart pounded so fast she felt winded and unable to move air.

  His chest moved up and down. Once. Twice.

  He’s breathing. Not dead. But not recovering like he should. She’d smelled his blood for miles but assumed it’d been old blood on his clothes.

  She scooted around to his side and shook him. “Ty? Wake up.”

  Not one grunt or grumble came out of him. No change in his fast pulse or shallow breaths.

  She lifted his shirt above his waistline. Oh, holy shit. The skin around a bloody laceration had turned blackish purple over his side in a huge area that seemed to spread in size as she stared at it. What did that mean that he wasn’t healing?

  She stepped back when the smell of his blood assaulted her. Teeth tingling to bite into the source of the exquisite richness that blood teased, her mind hazed with blood craze.

  Definite no. He’s hurt, possibly dying. He’s got none to spare.

  She swatted the snacks to the floor and struggled to move him to the passenger seat. A vampire came with more strength than a human, but a vampire with this much muscle mass weighed a ton. Once she had the blanket he’d used earlier securely tucked around him, she grabbed his phone off the center console and texted Jasmine: I’m coming to you. Guessing two hours.

  *.*.*.*

  She raised her hand to knock on the front door of Luca’s Bulgarian castle that he’d purchased off a marquis trying to offload it a century or so ago, the door swung open. Her older brother towered over her in his holey designer jeans, dark T-shirt, and signature pendant necklace. His model good looks with the shaggy blonde hair and sculpted features drawn into a disapproving scowl had brought him international acclaim. Not as a model, but as a rock-and-roll violinist, as a musician who bridged the gap between rock and classical music. Stupid for him to become internationa
l superstar famous when eventually people would wonder why he never got a single wrinkle or bit of a potbelly. He’d be forced to fake his death. It was why she, in her own art pursuits with painting, had kept herself relatively anonymous. Easy to change names in another few decades and fake the other persona’s death. Maybe she’d make her new persona an apprentice of hers so no one would question the similarity of the work.

  Luca squinted at the car parked down the stone path. “You brought the guy you’ve been shacked up with?”

  “You can stuff the attitude right up your ass. I do not shack up. If I was to have an illegal affair, it’d be a soul-searing relationship far beyond a one-off shack.”

  Luca’s mouth quirked upward. “So…you disappeared to do a soul-searing sex-a-thon with Ty the past few weeks?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “If he wasn’t dying in the car right now, he’d kick your ass for the stupidity of that statement. We’ve never. We’re friends.”

  “Uh-huh.” Luca leaned in and said low, “Maybe you haven’t shacked up yet, but you and that kid have been circling each other like cats in heat for years.”

  “Sorta like you did with Jasmine when you acted like a dumb idiot for years?”

  Luca’s face flushed.

  She smacked him in the arm. “Stop being an ass, say hello, and help me get him out of the car. He’s hurt and might be dying.”

  Luca sobered. “I missed you, Ivy.”

  “I know you did. Now, help me. He got stabbed while protecting me from the bounty hunter Hugo hired.”

  “Only because this happened protecting you…”

  “Stuff it. You like Ty. I know you do.” She hugged herself against the biting wind as she stalked back to the car.

  “Go on inside, Ivy. You’re cold. I got him.” As Luca leaned in to open the car, Alfie lunged, barking. “Can you control the dog?”

  She opened the door and said, “Platz.”

  Alfie sat and stayed quiet while Luca scooped Ty out of the passenger seat and led her inside to a guest bedroom on the first floor. Alfie padded by her side, following Luca.

  As Luca set him down, Ty stirred. Alfie nuzzled his hand, which Ty reactively scrunched into the fur on his head.

  “Ivy…” Ty’s eyes met hers, so filled with agony.

  She died a little bit on the inside. It hurt to swallow against the nausea rising from her stomach. This wasn’t how he’d want to go out, if this is what took him to the afterlife.

  Immediately, she scored her wrist and moved it toward his mouth. Survival instinct would kick in. He couldn’t resist drinking. When he didn’t latch on, she moved her wrist right against his lips.

  Ty stared into her eyes. He had a choice. Take what she offered and live, or die right here and make her suffer alone, without him, for the rest of her life. In a rush of resolve, she ordered, “Do it, Ty, or so help me, I’ll force feed you.”

  “You shouldn’t do that. It’s not right for you to feed him,” Luca said. “Move over. I’ll do it.”

  “No,” she gritted out. “Back off.”

  Ty cradled her wrist to keep it against his mouth as he licked the blood that had dribbled into a smeary mess and latched on. With greedy pulls, he took from her. And she gave willingly until he had his fill and released his seal with a weak effort. His eyelids closed.

  “Ty?” She shook him, but he didn’t respond. “Don’t die, you stubborn ass.”

  Her lungs seized up, and she felt as if she couldn’t get in enough oxygen. Her vision tunneled into a black void.

  Luca… How’d he end up with holding her? Everything around them sounded far away.

  “Hiram, what do you think will get that to heal?” Luca asked his butler, who also doubled as his chief of security. Luca had an imposing security group that guarded him, given his international superstar status. He had not only vampire hunters on his tail, but also crazy fans of all species hounding him.

  More mumbling and the consultation of several voices.

  Focus. She had to focus on what they were saying. Something about poison.

  Her sharp inhale caught the scent of Ty’s blood. She blinked and then pushed out of Luca’s hold to see. They had Ty’s shirt off. His entire abdomen and torso had now turned into an abnormal purple bruising.

  “Oh my God.” She held a hand against her mouth.

  A warm hand with blue-painted fingernails took hers. “Luca’s going to try something. We don’t know if it’ll work.”

  She stared up at her only friend during her weeks of isolation. Jasmine’s large blue eyes were filled with compassion and worry. She had her long black hair with red highlights wound into a loose bun.

  “What kind of something?” she asked in a small voice. “Can we do anything?”

  Luca said, “I’m going to see if my blood can help him if I put the blood directly in the wound. It might delay it for a while. We need time for Hiram to get an antidote from a witch he knows. He’s taking the helicopter right now to get it, but it’s going to take a few hours.”

  Luca opened the vein in his wrist with his teeth. Watching another do this always made Ivy wince, although when she’d done it herself she’d barely felt anything. Looked so violent. He let his blood run into and over the wound.

  The aroma of her brother’s blood did nothing for her. Not like Ty’s. She didn’t feel compelled to want to taste. There was simple recognition that his was good blood, wholesome like a turkey sandwich on wheat bread might be.

  The bruising on Ty didn’t change over the next few minutes. Didn’t worsen, but also didn’t seal shut.

  Luca squeezed her shoulder. “It’s the best we can do until Hiram returns.”

  She mouthed, “Thank you,” and stretched out next to Ty.

  “Stay here,” Luca said. “You being here might keep him fighting for this life. I’ll be back.”

  Based on the look passing between Luca and Jasmine, she planned to feed him and replenish what he’d lost. Maybe more. The two of them burned hot for each other, not that Ivy had been able to see it in person since their whole relationship had developed over the short time she’d been missing. The deepness of their bond was evident in every little look and touch. Ivy liked that they’d finally accepted it, but it made her wonder if she’d ever have that.

  She waved at them as they left.

  Sitting beside the bed sucked. She stretched out next to Ty but found he hogged the whole pillow. Typical. With a shove, she moved him. She was as gentle as she could be against almost two hundred thirty pounds of muscle. Once she gained a few inches on the pillow, she lay down again with a hand on his chest. “Hold on. You’re going to be okay.” Unable to help it, she began rambling. “Sorry I had to do some shoving, but you were hogging the pillow like you always do.”

  In silence, she listened to him breathe. Air in. Air out. Words bubbled up, desperate for freedom. “I went through a phase earlier this year right before we…you know. I dabbled in realist painting, but as you know I’m most fascinated by sexual desire and self-identity. Manifesting that as a realist painting or sculpture was a shitfest. My ideas work better as an abstract. I hope you’re asleep so you don’t hear this. I kept rendering men who always looked like you. Naturally, they were gorgeous and well-defined in all areas, but seeing you larger than life in my work turned out to be too painful. I couldn’t have you in real life and manifesting you from my soul scared me. So I went back to playing with colors and light. Much safer subject. Someday, maybe I’ll show you some of the things I made during that time period. They’re exquisite and more real than anything else I’ve done, but not intended for human eyes. Or vampire, for that matter. Without you, even for the few weeks you’ve been gone from my life, I discovered I didn’t have any inspiration,” she whispered. “You’re my muse.”

  His breathing normalized so long as she prattled on about all the things she’d never admitted to him when it came to her art.

  Her fingers traced circles over the muscles of his exposed chest. Breathing
deep, she inhaled Ty’s scent and concentrated on the steady beat of his heart near her ear. “I wasn’t so much scared about the medium when Hugo declared I’d have be normal if I continued to paint. To him that meant to do traditional oil painting in realism. I like oils, and I’m good with realism. But I was terrified anything I tried to make would turn into you. How’s that for warped? I like painting you. It’s never a challenge to remember everything about you since I’ve been memorizing you since I was nineteen. Ever since that first moment I saw you swimming in the lake up the road from Aunt Nana’s place.”

  “I remember seeing you that first time,” Ty said hoarsely.

  She shot to a sit. “How much did you hear?”

  “Enough.” He blinked and sat up straight and stared at something across the room. “Come near her and I’ll kill you.”

  Nothing but a few shadows sat on that side of the room. “Are you with me, Ty? Do you know it’s me that’s here with you?”

  He thrashed as if fighting off something invisible. She dodged one of his flying fists. He grunted as if something hit him and then fell back against the bed. His laceration was bleeding again.

  She smoothed the sweat-soaked hair away from his forehead. “Whatever you’re trying to fight, it’s not real. I’m real. I’m here. Do you get that?”

  “Ivy,” he sighed out. “I like it when you babble. Talk to me. Makes the horrors go away.”

  “I do not babble.”

  “Soothes me. Chases away all the demons. There are a lot of demons. So many. They all want me.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder and resumed the circles on his chest. “In addition to knitting, I’ve taken up some decoupage. Both are quite time consuming, although ridiculous. I’m not sure I have time in my creative schedule to fit in my old stuff when I’ve got a pile of wooden boxes to decorate.” She paused, expecting a snarky comment. But he breathed deeply as if he’d fallen asleep. “Don’t judge me. I needed an outlet. Gluing animal images onto boxes is perfect.”

  His eyelids opened, and his gaze held the weary redness of someone in misery.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said, unsure if he was coherent. “It’s okay to sleep. An antidote should be here soon. I’ll keep babbling.”