Belonging (13 page)

“Come. Let’s talk somewhere more comfortable than the dining room.” She took his hand and they walked into a small, cozy sitting room. A fireplace took up the wall opposite the door. An oriental rug adorned the hardwood floor. A loveseat sat to her left and two wingback chairs to her right, facing each other in a configuration meant for conversation. Built-in bookshelves lined the walls, and while they held some books, there were many knickknacks as well. Definitely a woman’s touch. For the hundredth time, she wondered where exactly Damian had taken her.

He led her to the loveseat, sitting next to her, legs touching. His bulky arms flung over the furniture, he guided himself comfortably into a corner. She put one leg underneath her butt, turning toward him.

“Tell me about your friend, Beth.”

She’d started to talk, stopping when he leaned toward her ever so slowly, eyes never leaving her lips. He was going to kiss her now? Her body reacted the same way every time he did this. It was like she was stuck in neutral and someone held down the gas pedal at full throttle, flooding her body with fuel essential to her existence. Her eyes involuntarily closed when his lips touched hers. His tongue explored the outside of her mouth before leisurely dipping inside, stroking hers. Every nerve ending was on fire.

All too quickly he was pulling away; undisguised lust shone in his brilliant eyes as he settled back on his side.

“You had powdered sugar on your lip. I couldn’t resist.”

He’d completely thrown her off-kilter once again. Shaking her head, she had no comeback, unable to help the small smile curving her lips. She sat quietly for few moments to regain her composure. The slight smirk on Damian’s face meant he knew what he was doing to her. Bastard.

“Anyway, like I was saying…my friend Beth disappeared about three weeks ago while walking home from work. She lived in a pretty rough part of Chicago, so we kept in daily contact when she was coming and going. She always called or texted me on either end so I knew she was safe. So when she didn’t call me, I immediately knew something was terribly wrong. I filed a police report and the Chicago PD have been less than helpful, even suggesting that she was just getting banged by some guy and she would show up any time now.” She paused, needing a minute.

“I even went to Chicago myself to see if I could find any clues and got the super to open her apartment, but I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Her purse, her phone, it was all gone. Beth would never stay out of contact with me for this long. We’re all the other has.” Her voice cracked on the last part. She would not cry, she would not cry…

“Okay, and what makes you think Devon would be able to help you find her?”

She knew this question was coming and she’d been wracking her brain for a plausible explanation. Nothing. She had to tell the truth and hope she didn’t sound too crazy. She took a deep breath and began.

“I just feel things. I’ve always had some type of sixth sense when it comes to being able to sense danger.” For the longest time she’d thought it was because she’d grown up in dangerous situations all the time, but she knew that wasn’t it.

And her premonitions of life-altering changes still bombarded her. She’d thought maybe meeting Damian was the change she’d been expecting, and that was part of it, but it wasn’t it entirely. Something else big lay around the corner for her. She knew it.

“That doesn’t explain why you thought a vampire would be able to help, kitten.” Damian’s eyes bored into hers, daring her to lie. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“I don’t know how to explain it exactly. I know a vampire is responsible. Do I know that to be an
absolute
fact? No. But I’m not often wrong when I get this feeling, so I’ve learned to trust it. And…I know people. I’ve heard there are other missing girls and I know for a fact vampires are responsible in those cases. I was given Devon’s name as the Midwest Vampire Lord and was told he may be able to help find her. So here I am.” She might have sounded brave, but inside she was trembling.

“What sort of people do you know?”

She began to shake her head. “I’d rather not say.” If she started down this path, she’d be forced to reveal far more about herself than she could stomach. Her back met the loveseat and dark, penetrating eyes stared into hers.

“I don’t particularly care whether you’d rather not say, kitten. I want to know how
exactly
you ended up finding out about Devon and I want to know now.”
Would he hurt her if she didn’t answer?
No, she didn’t think so.

“No,” she answered, voice steady. Bravo to her.

“Analise…” he growled. She’d come to learn something about Damian in this short period of time. When he was serious about something, he called her by her given name. It was
kitten
when he was more playful. “Spill it. Now.”

“Bully for you. I’m not talking and there isn’t anything you can do to make me.” Well, there probably was. Like torture, brain sifting, or sex. God, she would so spill in the heat of passion. She was so very weak.

“Well, that can be arranged, kitten. I have every confidence I can break you.” She could feel his erection growing swiftly against her lower belly. Her stomach dropped. She was equal parts scared and turned on. They stared at each other, neither willing to give an inch.

A throat clearing interrupted them and Damian looked up. Yah…she won. Anger twisted Damian’s beautiful features into something truly terrifying. Since she was still lying on her back, faced away from the door, she couldn’t see who had made him so irate, but she instantly knew she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. He was utterly terrifying.

“What the fuck do you want, witch?” he barked.

Witch?
There were witches too? Of course there were. There were all sorts of things that went bump in the night. There were many monsters out there, human and not. She ought to know.

“I sensed a change in the energy and came to check that the shields were still effectively in place, my lord.”

My lord?

What. The. Hell?

Damian was a
lord
?

She tried pushing him off and he reluctantly moved, standing to face the interloper. When she sat and turned toward the door, she gasped. The noise caught the witch’s attention and now she was staring at Analise with wide eyes. Damian’s head was now moving back and forth between the two women, clearly confused.

Analise was sure she’d never met this woman in her entire life, yet she seemed
familiar
in the strangest way. She sensed a kinship with this woman, this witch.

“You’d better tell me what the fuck is going on here and fast.” Damian spoke, anger vibrating in his voice. What was he so upset about? She stood and went to his side, placing an arm around his waist. He grabbed her, holding onto her for dear life. She was totally confused. Why was he acting so strange?

“I don’t really know, Damian. I feel like maybe I know her, but I can’t. We’ve never met before.” The woman standing before was a bit older with a large growth on the end of her nose. When one thought of a witch, she would be the image they would conjure.

“You are the spitting image of her. It’s uncanny,” the witch whispered.

“Of who, Maeve?” Damian growled. Finally, she had a name. She didn’t feel comfortable calling the woman
witch
, even though that’s what she was. It seemed derogatory, but Damian obviously didn’t care.

“Of my niece, Mara. She went missing close to twenty-eight years ago now. Was never found.”

Analise became dizzy, broke out in a cold sweat, and had Damian not been holding her up, she would be on the ground. They were both talking to her now but sounded so far away. She felt herself being lifted and settled into a lap, strong arms surrounding her.
Damian
. Her protector. She felt so safe with him.

She didn’t pass out, but it took her several minutes to completely recover.

“Kitten, are you okay?” Damian’s voice was laced with concern. And fear.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.” But she most certainly did know. She just wasn’t sure she could voice it.

“Sometimes when fate stares you in the face, the mind has a hard time accepting it,” Maeve quipped. Wow…Maeve was far more right than she knew. Analise knew that the instant her eyes met Damian’s.

“You think I’m her daughter. Mara’s.” Not really a question, for in her heart she already knew the answer. Her mother had never really left; she just wasn’t able to be with her in person, visiting her dreams instead.

“I know you are. I would recognize her aura anywhere. And Mara was a very powerful elemental witch.”
Elemental witch?
Of course, it all made sense now. Mara, her mother, had been teaching Analise in her dreams all these years. The dizziness returned and she swayed slightly.

Damian’s arms tightened almost painfully at Maeve’s last statement. She could feel the hate emanating from him. Was it just Maeve he didn’t like or all witches? And she apparently was one or the daughter of one anyway. Before they even had a chance to begin, she’d probably lose her chance with the one man who had awoken feelings in her she’d thought long dead. And for some reason, the thought made her incredibly sad.

Analise had truly stepped into Wonderland. She’d met the man of her dreams—a vampire—
and
she was a witch’s daughter.

What else did fate have in store for her? Because she was quite sure that hateful bitch wasn’t done yet.

C
hapter
20

Xavier

“My lord, she was already gone for the evening when I arrived. I will try again this evening. The bartender thought she was scheduled at six p.m.,” Geoffrey explained.

“Did you find out where she’s living?” Xavier demanded.

“Yes, my lord. She was living in an Economy Lodge, renting a room week to week. I went there, but the front desk clerk said she’d checked out. A man paid her bill just last evening and said she wasn’t returning.”

“Fuck!” Xavier roared. Could nothing go his fucking way? The lords were behind this somehow. They were all following the same trail, after all. Damn Marcus to hell!

Those motherfucking lords found his daughter before he did and now they had two of them. They were HIS! He wanted them back, goddammit!

“You are to camp out at that goddamned bar until she returns. Do you understand me? And dig around the city for any information on the lords. I know one or all of them are still in Milwaukee and are responsible for this. When you return tonight, don’t talk to anyone but the manager. I don’t care how you get information from him or her, just fucking get it.”

“Of course, sire.” Geoffrey was the epitome of Zen, nothing ruffled the vamp’s feathers and sometimes that just plain pissed him the fuck off.

“If you don’t return with her, I’m going to rip your motherfucking heart out with my bare hands.” He hung up and dialed the lab. “Tell Philip to get his ass in my room thirty minutes ago.”

A couple minutes later, Philip stood before him out of breath and sweating.

“What have you found out about any other living daughters, human?”

Philip’s pasty skin paled even more. Jesus, the guy looked like Casper. He swallowed thickly, looking ready to vomit. “I’m afraid I haven’t had any success yet, my lord. I’m working as fast as I can.”

Philip found himself pinned against the wall by nearly two hundred forty pounds of incensed vampire.

“You’d better fucking work faster, human. The lords always appear to be one step ahead of me and if they find another one of my daughters before I do, you’re dead. I don’t care how fucking brilliant you are.” For good measure, he sunk his fangs deeply into the human’s neck and drank, pulling his bitter essence into his mouth. He detested male blood. Female blood was so much sweeter, more satisfying. The human screamed, nearly breaking his eardrum.

He pulled away, not bothering to close the puncture wounds. “Consider this a warning. Next time I won’t stop until I’ve drained every single drop of putrid blood from your worthless fucking body.”

With that, he shoved the human toward the door. He went crashing to the floor, scrambling for purchase. “Now get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind and gut you right now instead.”

As hard as it was to believe, Xavier didn’t kill indiscriminately very often anymore, except the females he fucked, but his anger raged like a dormant volcano, demanding to explode or else it would cause more damage to the earth underneath. If he exploded here, he’d destroy this compound and everyone with it. As immediately satisfying as that might be, it would do more damage in the long term.

He had to get out of here and kill some goddamned humans. Now. Tomorrow, in some small town in Canada, there would be a media frenzy about a mass murder. Which would forever be unsolved.

C
hapter
21

Damian

Damian felt like the biggest bastard ever. Hell, he
was
the biggest fucking bastard ever. Hands down. After the witch dropped her Hiroshima bomb and Analise recovered from nearly passing out—again—he’d ushered Maeve out and told Analise he had some business to take care of. Leaving her in the sitting room. By herself. He didn’t even let her talk to her supposed family. He was A. Fucking. Asshole.

His head was spinning like a merry-go-round and he’d sat in the office for the last three hours trying to process everything that’d happened this morning. He’d ditched his Moira after her life-altering news. Like a pussy. He should be comforting her, but here he sat instead. All by his lonesome, trying to come to grips with all that he’d learned. But he couldn’t make himself go to her. Not yet anyway. He was starting his bonding off with a big ass bang. He swore he’d never hurt her and he’d already broken that promise.

There was no doubt in his mind Analise was Xavier’s daughter, for earlier he’d seen Geoffrey, Xavier’s second in command, on Dragonfly’s video footage, confirming those fears. Why would Geoffrey be after Analise otherwise? So in addition to being half vampire, his Moira was half witch.
A goddamned witch
. He could hear the Fates laughing at him right this very minute.