Shadowed Desire: Daughters of the Vieux Carré Book 5

by Rowlyn, Rhys

  He flips over and pins me to the floor with my wrists held above my head. I gasp at how quickly he changes our positions. “That was a very innovative move. And had you not hesitated to put my eyes out, it possibly could have worked.”

  I grin up at him and then my smile fades as desire flushes through me. My breathing increases, and if my heart were beating, it would be pounding. Etienne continues to hold my hands above my head as he leans into me and catches my bottom lip between his teeth for a light nip. He quickly runs his tongue along the sore spot and turns the pain to heat.

  We have only had sex in our dreams, and things have been so crazy, we’ve barely touched, but it doesn’t take long for desire to overwhelm me. I open my legs wider for him to fit closer to me, and he groans when he meets my center.

  “Lucy, I want you, but if you’re not ready for this, speak now,” he whispers in my ear as he sucks the lobe into his mouth.

  I shiver, and goose bumps break out along my flesh. I nod, lifting my knees to his waist. I moan as he kisses down my neck. I want this man. We’ve only known each other a short while, but this feels too good to be wrong. I’m not a slut, but I’m not a prude and have always been confident in my sexuality.

  “I want you too, Etienne.” I run my fingers through his hair and grip a handful to bring his head back to me. I kiss him, and he quickly takes over to deepen the kiss, soon devouring me. Gripping his shoulders, I move my hips against him, and we both moan at the touch.

  “Humph. Oh, guys, you might want to stop. I’m not the only one coming down here,” Nyla says with laughter in her voice.

  Etienne jumps up and stands in front of me. “Oh, umm, we were… Well, we were practicing some self-defense moves.”

  I get up slowly from the floor, knowing my cheeks are pink, and giggle. His gaze darts toward me, and I look over at Nyla, who has her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.

  “Yeah, that’s what it looked like to me.” She bursts out laughing, and I join in. It’s not long before Etienne is laughing with us.

  Jean Pierre enters the gym with André and Fleur close behind him. “What’s so funny?”

  “I caught Etienne and Lucy making out.” She winks at me but gasps when Jean Pierre swings her around and bends her over.

  He kisses her loudly on the mouth and grins. “Isn’t that what mates are supposed to do?”

  “Why yes, kind sir. It’s exactly what mates are supposed to do,” she says in an exaggerated Southern accent.

  She pushes on his shoulders, straightening and laughing, then loops her arm through his. Fleur watches from beside André, and even though she’s smiling, there is a sadness that clings to her.

  “Fleur, are you all right?” I know she’s worried about her mother, but lately it seems she’s sadder than she has been.

  “Oh, I’m fine. I went and saw my father earlier, and he’s doing well. He hasn’t heard from Maman, and when I told him about her being with Minerva, he declared her dead to him. He says any mother who will try to harm her daughter is no wife of his. I know he still cares for her, but he can’t understand how she could do the things she’s doing.” She lays her head on André’s arm, and he takes her hand, linking their fingers.

  “You have to remember she’s not the same person. The bad magic has taken over.” André kisses the top of her head.

  “Do the sisters think she can be saved?” I don’t know much about what happened to Fleur’s mom, other than she was trying to overthrow the curse and it backfired on her. I do know Fleur has been trying to find her mother ever since she disappeared.

  Fleur takes a deep breath, then blows it out slowly. “They don’t hold out much hope. Once you allow evil to come in, it takes hold, and it’s been there for months now. The most we can hope for is stopping her from causing irreparable harm to someone we care for.”

  “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how worried you are.” I feel for her. I’m close to my mother, and I can’t imagine her ever doing anything to try to hurt me or my brother.

  “Your mother has cancer, right?” Nyla squeezes my shoulder, her lips drawn in a straight line. Her mom is ill as well and has Alzheimer’s. She doesn’t know who she is, and I can’t say how I would feel about that.

  “Yes, and I would love to see her, but I’m too scared of leading Minerva to her to try.” I pick up the sticks Nyla had us training with earlier and place them in a closet.

  “Oh dear, that’s awful.” Rebecca grabs the mats we were using and meets me at the closet. “Another reason we need to hurry up and capture this woman. She’s causing way too many problems.”

  There is a loud boom, and the house shakes slightly. What in the world is going on? We race up the stairs and out of the basement. We are at Nyla’s house, and its backyard butts against the house the witches live in. We stop at the edge of the property, and it’s as if a bubble is over the witches’ house.

  They are in the yard and motion for us to stop. After a few seconds, we hear a distant scream, and the bubble seems to disappear.

  “Hot damn, I think we got him!” Chi jumps up and down and fist-pumps the air. “That’ll teach you to mess with us!” he yells into the night sky.

  Fleur steps from behind André and looks at Cara. “What just happened?”

  Everyone has joined us on the lawn, and I notice the men have placed themselves in front of the women. Giles has Rebecca behind him, even though she’s not his mate, and Bram has moved Cassie closer to the witches and placed himself between them and the street. These men may all be vampires, but they are gentlemen at heart and very protective.

  “We were attacked, and our counter-spell worked.” Cara straightens her spine and grins.

  “That’s good, right?” Rebecca looks at each of us with wide eyes.

  “Yes, that’s very good. Now we need to figure out a way to trace it back to whoever is behind these attacks.” Circe nods, grinning from ear to ear. All three sisters are quite pleased with themselves.

  “Can you do that?” I ask, totally fascinated by all that these women can do.

  “We can, but it takes a lot of magic and time. We’ve been working on it but haven’t come up with anything yet. I hope we haven’t missed our chance.” Cara crosses her arms over her chest.

  “What do you mean?” I bet they can do anything. I mean, they already ricocheted magic back at whoever is after us.

  “I mean he may not attack again,” Cara says. “Or at least not in the manner he just did. That will make things more difficult. But for now, at least we know we’re safe from an attack on our homes.” She grabs her sisters in a hug, and they are all smiles. It’s a relief to see them so happy with the results. It makes me feel much safer.

  “All the more reason for us to get to work on learning how to fight.” Nyla nods at me and motions for Rebecca and Fleur to follow her. “Rebecca and Fleur are pretty much hopeless cases, but I’m still trying to drill some basics into them. I hope Lucy proves to be a better student, although I believe she may need a stricter teacher.” She gives me a wink, and I giggle when Etienne’s face turns red.

  “Hey!” Both women yell at once, and we laugh as we go back to the gym.

  Two hours later, I am wishing I had Etienne back. Nyla is a tough taskmaster who would put any marine drill sergeant to shame. She has put us through numerous drills and shown us move after move. I’m finding I have a knack for combat, and even though I’m tired, I’ve loved it.

  Rebecca and Fleur, not so much. Nyla was right about them not being very successful in the way of fighting.

  “What can I say? We’re lovers not fighters.” Fleur shrugs her shoulders, laughing.

  Nyla shakes her head but is laughing also. “I’m picking up on that, but I want you two to be able to survive, especially if you get caught alone. At least you’ve learned a few basics and can hopefully run away. I will say this: you’re much faster at running than I am.”

  “We have to have something in our favor.” Fleur is in a much happier
mood and doesn’t seem as worried as she was earlier. I guess the physical activity took her mind off her troubles with her mother.

  “Thank heavens Lucy picked up on things. She’s a natural-born fighter.” Nyla lifts her hands heavenward and mouths: Praise the Lord.

  I beam under her praise. “It helps I had an older brother who thought I should be able to defend myself.” I pick up the sticks we were sparring with and put them away in the closet.

  Rebecca joins me, putting away the other items we used during practice. “You’ve mentioned this brother several times. What’s his name?”

  “Kane Theriot. He owns a security company. They provide security for different events around town.” I’m proud of my brother. His company has really taken off, and he’s doing quite well for himself.

  “There’s a Kane who works at Shadows sometimes, but he’s half wolf.” Rebecca wrinkles her brow, narrowing her eyes.

  I shake my head, laughing. The thought of my brother being anything but an overprotective man is ludicrous. “Can’t be the same guy I think I would know if my brother was a wolf.”

  “Is he little, like you?” Nyla hands me a few more items to put away.

  “Oh no, he looks like me with dark hair and gray eyes, but he’s big. I mean really big. I think he took after his dad.” All my friends had crushes on Kane growing up. I sometimes wondered if they came to visit me or were trying to get the attention of my brother. He usually ignored them, but they all turned stupid when he was around.

  “Are you going to try to see him?” Fleur raises her brows, giving me an expectant look.

  “I want to so I can at least tell him bye, but I’m not going to take any chances with Minerva running around. He may be big, but he’s not any match for a vampire.” I close the door to the closet and lean against it.

  “This is true,” Nyla says. “And I don’t blame you for not wanting to take any chances with his life. Even if he is a big, bad bouncer, you’re right. He’d be no match for her.”

  We leave, and now I’m wondering what my brother is up to. I hope he’s not terribly worried about me, but I know he is. He was always such a good big brother and took care of me and my mom. Even though we had my dad, Kane was there too. I have got to figure out a way to see him and my mom. They need to know I’m all right.

  Etienne

  Jean Pierre, Nyla, Lucy, and I have just returned from bringing Phillipe and Giselle to the airport, and the couple was excited about their upcoming adventure. Phillipe was extremely nervous about flying on an airplane, and I would love to have been a fly on the wall to watch him. Although, I can’t imagine I would be any better. I still hate riding in a car. I don’t want to add flying to my list of things to do anytime soon.

  We are now out searching the city, trying to find any clues as to where Minerva might be. I wanted Lucy to stay at home where she would be out of danger, but she became livid. She pointed out she was the one who heard of this club she thinks may be a good lead, so we are going there now.

  “How did you hear about this place?” Nyla asks, looking up the narrow, dark stairwell toward the entrance.

  “I had heard about it when I was in college,” Lucy says. “Some girls in my class thought it would be fun to go and were talking about how weird it was. One of the girls really got into it, stopped coming to class and started acting weird. I heard she had fangs put on, stayed out of the sun, and slept in a coffin. I’d say she went all in.” Lucy looks up the stairs with narrow eyes, wrinkling her nose. “Anyway, they said you had to get the password from the lady at the jewelry shop to enter. I thought Minerva may be using the bar to find new minions.” Lucy walks up the stairs.

  The walls are painted a dark color, and there is a red lightbulb giving off barely enough light to see. I wonder how humans find their way up these stairs. Thank heavens that as a vampire, I can see in the dark.

  “It’s not the worst idea, and it’s in a prime location.” Nyla shrugs her shoulder and follows Lucy up the stairs, leaving Jean Pierre and myself to trail after them. “I wonder how they got a building right off Bourbon.”

  “Who knows. I think the bar has been around for a while. I know it’s a long shot, but we might stumble upon her or find a lead.” Lucy glances over her shoulder, whispering out the side of her mouth. “The password is sparkles in sunlight.”

  A short laugh bursts out of Nyla, but she covers her mouth, trying to stop the giggles that keep coming. “Seriously, that’s the password?”

  “That’s what she said. I think it’s supposed to be funny, and it is.” Lucy grins and giggles.

  Nyla nods. “I agree it’s funny.”

  “I don’t understand.” I look from Nyla to Lucy, clearly missing the joke. From Jean Pierre’s confused look, he doesn’t understand either.

  Lucy grips my arm and gives it a squeeze. “I’ll have to educate you when we get a chance. A movie night is definitely in order.”

  “Oh, please let us join. I haven’t had a chance to educate Jean Pierre on the fine art of movie-making either. He needs to see Hollywood’s version of the vampire.” Nyla bumps her hip against Jean Pierre’s, and he smiles down at her, throwing his arm over her shoulders.

  “Let’s just get this over with and go to this strange club.” Jean Pierre tilts his head in the direction of the door. “I want to see what they think vampires are.”

  I grab Lucy’s hand before she knocks on the door, then I turn her to face me. “If Minerva happens to be here, stay close and don’t engage. You’ve only had a few fighting lessons and are in no way ready for her. Promise me you’ll stay with us.”

  She rolls her eyes but nods. I release her and regret agreeing to her tagging along.

  Lucy knocks on the door, and a slat in the center slides open.

  “Password?”

  “Sparkles in sunlight.” She shrugs one shoulder, smirking.

  The door opens, and we walk through. I look around and wonder if I’ve been transported back to an old Parisian brothel. The walls are covered with red velvet wallpaper, and there is Louis XIV furniture scattered around the room. Most of the customers have on dark clothing, and their hair is unnaturally black. Their lips are either dark red or black, and their eyes are lined in black. We seem to be the only ones not dressed in black, have our natural hair colors, and are the only vampires there. The irony isn’t lost on me.

  “This is very strange.” I grab Lucy’s hand and pull her to my side.

  Jean Pierre sidles up next to me. “I agree. Does that man have fangs? And is he about to bite that woman’s neck?”

  “And is she encouraging him to do so?” I can’t believe what I’m seeing. These people are taking their facade to strange levels. They are actually biting each other. I wonder if they are drinking blood.

  “What in Hades is going on?” Jean Pierre’s eyes are wide, and he’s a bit pale.

  “The fangs are fake and put on with dental glue. It’s a fantasy. They will probably leave and go bang somewhere.” Nyla waves a dismissive hand and acts as if this is this whole scenario is a common occurrence.

  “Bang?” Jean Pierre cocks a brow at Nyla and pushes his chest.

  “Have sex.” Lucy scrunches her face and shakes her head.

  “I didn’t know we were so popular. Back in our day, they would have brought out the torches and pitchforks.” I do wonder what they would do if they knew vampires were real.

  Lucy points at one of the strange-looking girls across the room. “Hey, there’s a girl I went to school with. I’ll go see if she knows anything.”

  “Yeah, let’s spread out and see if anyone has turned up missing—or if Minerva has been here.” Nyla grabs Jean Pierre’s hand and pulls him in the opposite direction Lucy went.

  I keep my eye on Lucy as she makes her way across the room. The girl acts happy to see her and Lucy is relaxed, so I go to the bar.

  “Whatcha having?” The man behind the bar is wearing black, but his hair is natural, and he doesn’t have any of the wei
rd makeup on. He also is missing fangs.

  “Do you have plain blood?” I want to see how far this place goes, catering to this whole vampire theme.

  The man snorts, shaking his head. “Ah, dude, and here I thought you might be normal. No, we don’t actually have blood, but I can make you a drink that looks like blood.”

  “No, just whiskey. I was seeing how strange this place actually was.” I laugh and slide onto a barstool but keep Lucy in my peripheral vision.

  The man grins and pours me some of the amber liquid into a glass. He slides it toward me. “So what brings you and your friends in tonight?”

  “We’re looking for someone, a woman who is taking this whole vampire thing a little too far. She’s not stable, and we’re worried she may have tried to hurt someone.” The thought of compelling him crosses my mind, but I want to try a straightforward approach first.

  “Are you a cop?” The barkeep stands up straight, narrowing his eyes.

  “No, just a concerned family member. She’s off her medication, and I want to stop her from doing anything irreparable.” I rub the back of my neck, hoping he’ll buy my line of bullshit.

  The man relaxes, resting his elbows on the bar. “What does the woman look like?”

  “She’s tall, about five feet ten inches, and has long blonde hair with piercing blue eyes. She’s extremely attractive. She dresses like she’s trapped in the past and looks like someone from the eighteenth century.” Minerva makes it easy for me to sell the fact she’s insane.

  “I have seen her. She didn’t know the password, but the guy working the door let her in anyway.” The guy shakes his head, nodding toward the large man at the door.

  “How do you know she didn’t have the password?” I’m instantly suspicious. If Minerva used compulsion, there’s no way the man at the door would have known.

  “I was standing just inside, and once he asked for the password, he stared out the slat and just opened the door. I thought it was weird. She came in, and I hightailed it to behind the bar. She was hot but scary at the same time.” He visibly shivers, frowning.