Broken Heart 03 Because Your Vampire Said So (9 page)

Gabriel kissed me roughly. “Never leave me again. Especially not with that pretty boy Patrick.”

I laughed. “Pretty boy Patrick is very married. And he’s got nothing on you, honey.”

All the same, doubt seeped through the primal beat of my passion. I couldn’t shake the idea that Gabriel was only chasing me because he thought I was going to have power. I couldn’t fault the man for seeking protection for himself or his friends. Still, I didn’t want to be used. Not by anyone for any reason.

“It’ll be dawn soon,” I said. “I need to get to the shelter.”

Gabriel caressed my cheek. “Wilson’s safer there … and you want to be with him.”

“Yeah.”

“C’mon then.”

We walked down the main path that led to the Consortium headquarters. The compound was mostly empty. No one had said boo to us, and I could only imagine it was because everyone was in the shelter. I was anxious to get to Wilson. I wanted him to know I was okay. I didn’t want things to reverse between us.

I hadn’t seen Darrius, Drake, or Damian in a while. My guess was that they were guarding the Ancients. Nobody was a better guardian than those three. I glanced at Gabriel and smiled. Well, maybe one.

The roses and other sweet flowers perfumed the courtyard. Had it been any other night, I might’ve enjoyed holding Gabriel’s hand as we hurried along the path.

About halfway across, I heard a terrible scream. It sounded like a cross between a lion’s roar and a bird’s squawking. I looked up and saw the damnedest thing I’d ever seen.

A dragon.

I stopped, which was a stupid thing to do. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. The scales were yellow with red stripes and the wings were huge. The eyes were black as night and the snout crusted with soot. Its monster feet had some seriously sharp talons.

It hovered above the courtyard and every time it tried to go down, it bounced upward—as if it were hitting a trampoline. The Wiccan protection spells were doing their work. I’d have to offer those ladies and gents some free haircuts.

The dragon let out another frustrated shriek. As it turned to its side to circle and try again, I saw the rider on its back.

Ol’ Magnolia Blossom.

She raised her arm and a fireball erupted from her palm. The fiery orb looked as if it would hit me spot-on, but the second it hit the “bubble,” it went out like a match doused in water.

I didn’t need another hint. Gabriel tugged on my hand and we jaunted across the courtyard in record time. We scrambled down to the basement.

I hurried to the far back wall. There wasn’t a sign, much less a door. A shiny, very sharp gold nail stuck out of the concrete wall about eye level. I peered at it and snorted. “And what am I supposed to do with that?”

“It’s a blood lock,” he said. “You have to pierce your finger with it.” He nodded toward the lock. “Only those whose blood was included in the enchantment will open the door.”

I didn’t recall a time when I gave my blood to the Consortium for a spell. Not that they would’ve asked, much less told me about all this mess. I was skeptical about it working, but I raised my hand to try.

Boom! The whole building shook. The force of the impact pushed me off the wall, and the two of us staggered away, trying to regain our balance.

Boom! The ceiling cracked. Pieces started dropping from the ceiling like gray snow.

“What the hell are they using to get in?” I asked. “A nuclear bomb?”

“They’ve breached the barrier. Lia knows we’re somewhere in the building.” Gabriel took my hand and pulled me toward the blood lock. “You need to get inside.”

I pushed my forefinger onto the nail. Blood dripped onto it.

Nothing happened.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I rubbed my bloodied finger along the top and underside of the nail.

No door appeared.

We heard an ominous crack. Then the roar-squawk of the dragon echoed far above us. Had they destroyed the headquarters? Was that beast tromping around the debris, trying to sniff us out or whatever it was that dragons did to find people?

I tried poking another finger, and when that didn’t work, I plunged my wrist against the sharp point. No matter which location it came from, my blood was not opening the god-damned door.

I looked at Gabriel, panicked. “You try it.”

The dragon’s cry was much closer. Of all the ways I thought my end would come, I had never believed it would be by dragon. A bottle of tequila and a dare gone wrong, sure. But being fried by a crazy vampire’s pet? Nope.

“It won’t work for me.” He drew my hands into his. The wounds had healed, but there was still blood on me. Gabriel didn’t seem to notice. He kissed each of my wrists. “We must return to the cave.”

“But my son is in there!” I cried.

“There are at least a hundred vampires in that shelter, not to mention a dozen guardians. He’s far safer there than anywhere else.”

We were running out of choices. Either we made a break for it in the next few minutes, or we ended up prisoners—or worse, the kind of dead that was permanent.

We stood there for nearly a minute while the ominous sounds above us got louder. Koschei and his minions were surely all over the place by now.

“Oh! I have my cell phone! I’ll call someone and they’ll let us in from the other side.” Excited about this option, I broke free of his embrace and dug the phone out from my front pocket.

The battery was dead.

More noises sounded above us, but they were farther away now. They hadn’t yet found the entrance to the basement.

I had to grapple with the idea of a partner who carried his share of the burden. It was more than that, actually. Gabriel wasn’t arguing with me or trying to make me feel bad or telling me he wasn’t responsible for what my friends did. He was helping me. He was shouldering my duty because … well, I didn’t know, did I? I couldn’t quite comprehend a man who simply took my word, who quieted my worry, who stood at my side.

I wanted to cry. Or to yell “yippee!” It was a toss-up, but I was leaning toward “yippee!”

“We have to sneak outta here.” I looked at Gabriel. He was concentrating on the stairs, his shimmering hair drifting carelessly over his shoulders. He was so beautiful.

“Don’t you have a phone?” I asked.

He grimaced. “I lost it in the woods. When I saw what was happening to you and Khenti, I went wolf as fast as I could.”

I was feeling those warm fuzzies again. I’m not exactly a low maintenance, quiet, sweet-natured kind of girl. That independence and sass were hard won, let me tell you, and I had no plans to give up who I was, flaws and all. But Gabriel made me want to be a better person.

The noises above us had faded into silence. We crept toward the stairs. For all my hooting and hollering about testosterone-fueled decisions, I didn’t complain when Gabriel tucked me behind as he peered up the staircase.

All we saw was darkness. Earlier the lights had been on, so either they’d gotten knocked out or they’d been turned off.

Gabriel went up the stairs slowly and I followed. We tried to be as quiet as possible, but my boots didn’t have a soft tread and my occasional clicks on the concrete made us both flinch.

When we reached the top, we could see that the door had fallen off, mostly because the entrance had cracked and released the framing. Even though it looked like the building had sustained serious damage, it was still intact.

Patsy. The voice whispered inside my head. Come to me, Patsy. That’s right. This way.

I felt the most insane need to follow the man’s directions. He had such a beautiful voice. Gabriel’s hand tugged on mine, but I shook free of his grip. As if in a dream, I walked down the hallway.

The man was down there. He wanted me. And I needed him. He would give me … I blinked. Give me what?

Anything you desire.

I felt Gabriel’s hand catch my arm and he dragged me backward. I stumbled. My feet didn’t want to go back. They wanted to go forward. To him.

Gabriel latched on to my shoulders and held me still. I reared back my head and slammed it into his. His hands slid off my shoulders as he collapsed to the floor. I looked down and saw him unconscious.

Good girl, said the voice. He doesn’t love you, Patsy. He doesn’t really want you. He wants what you can give him. He’s just like Sean.

A tall, slim man emerged from the darkness. His eyes were a shade too light of brown and his shaggy brown hair was drawn into a ponytail.

He wore white from head to toe—a short-sleeved shirt, white dress pants, and shiny white shoes. His face was long and gaunt, his chin pointy. Two gold hoops sparkled from each ear. His thin lips were pulled into a coaxing smile.

“So you’re the big threat?” he asked, amused. His Russian accent was slight. “To me, you look like a woman easily controlled.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I’m whatever you say I am.”

“Of course you are.” He patted my cheek. “I’m afraid that you and your mongrel boyfriend must die.”

Zela

Translated from the Memoirs of Ruadan

Zela’s statuesque beauty and graceful nature bespoke her life as a Nubian princess. Her smooth skin was like dark chocolate. Her hair was cropped short. However, her loveliness could not protect her from her father’s greed.

She had the unique ability to manipulate metals of all kinds. Her father had confined her, refusing to allow her to marry or have children, so that she could make weapons for their tribe. The night she attempted suicide, I found her and Turned her.

I should say that Durga found her. She had been using her favorite demon, Andhaka, to scout for us. He was very good at finding routes around towns, shelters that protected us during our days, and guarding us while we slept.

I don’t know why Andhaka reported to us about the beautiful girl who had stabbed herself with a silver dagger. As a demon, he held no regard for human despair, much less human lives. His interest was the sword. He wanted his mistress to gift it to him.

I wanted to see the girl.

We glamoured those guarding her rooms and entered. Zela’s stomach was a mess and her blood pooled darkly on the clean-swept floor.

Durga saw to her wound, but Zela’s mortal life was draining away.

Again, it was Andhaka who told us about Zela’s ability. He’d watched her create the dagger from chunks of silver that she had melted and molded with her magic.

As she breathed her last, I offered Zela immortality.

She could not answer. I could not interpret the look in her eyes. I didn’t know what to do. But Durga did.

“Turn her,” she said softly. “She has much to offer the world. If she wants freedom, you can give her that and more.”

We stole her from the palace and took her to our cave. I performed the Turning ritual.

When we awoke the next evening, we knew Zela had survived the process. She told us that the gods surely had plans for her; that we must’ve been sent to save her.

I wanted to go to Egypt, but Durga and Zela wanted to strike out for other lands. They decided to travel together. I knew they would be safe, especially with Andhaka protecting them. Because he had saved Zela, she gave him the dagger that took her life.

The next evening, I made a pact with Zela and Durga. They, too, would serve on the Council and agreed to show up at the meeting place.

I wished them well and headed north.

“Die?” Faint fear pulsed through me. “Ssshhh,” said the man. “Your sacrifice will still usher in the new age of parakind. I like to think of it as the age of Koschei.”

His hands took mine, and the moment our skin connected, twin bolts of electric heat zapped me. My head snapped up as the fog in my mind cleared instantly.

“You will calm yourself, Patsy. You will—”

I thought about Lia’s fire. I imagined the flames dancing from my palms to Koschei’s smug face.

Flames burst from my hands and shot toward him. He moved out of the way so fast, I couldn’t track him, not even with my vampire vision.

“It seems I’ve underestimated you,” he said, chuckling. “I will not do so again.”

He disappeared in a flash of gold sparks. Jeez. Did everyone know how to do that, or what?

I whirled around and hurried to Gabriel. He’d regained consciousness and was sitting up, rubbing his forehead.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. Are you okay, baby?”

“I’ll live,” he said. “But you have to promise to kiss my boo-boos later.”

We stood up, and I launched myself into Gabriel’s arms. I was so upset that I’d nearly been glamoured into danger that I was dry-crying. God, I missed a good old-fashioned wail.

Gabriel kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re stronger than he is.”

I needed to hear those very words. How did he know just what to say, just what to do? His arms tightened around me. That emotion I refused to name welled within me. But I couldn’t say it. Not yet.

No one was in the cavern. As I followed Gabriel through the empty room, I looked at the marble fountain. It was such an odd thing to have in a cave. But it was obviously an important symbol to Gabriel and his pack. I still couldn’t place the woman, but the wolf reminded me of Gabriel.

We entered a narrow hallway dimly lit by small, white orbs. A few feet down, I heard the sounds of water. Gabriel made a left, and when I entered the small cave, I saw that a few fairy lights danced in here, as well. The waterfall sprayed down from the top of the craggy wall and into a shallow basin.

“What’s this?”

“A waterfall,” he said. “I thought we could get naked under it.”

My nonexistent heart skipped a beat. Lust beat low and hot in my belly, but I wasn’t ready to just jump on the marriage train.

Gabriel had no such doubts.

He undressed and I feasted on his nakedness. I licked my lips, my body going white-hot. He stepped under the water and I watched, the happy voyeur, as he ran his hands over himself. His fingers roved down his muscled chest and over his thighs. His long, white hair dripped like silver down his taut backside.

“Patricia?”

I heard the question he infused in my name. His golden gaze snared mine, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak. I wanted more than anything to get out of my clothes and step into that water with him. I wanted to touch him and I wanted to be touched. But I couldn’t still the doubts or the questions.

“You’re the outlaw,” I said. I watched water squiggle down his pectorals. “The one mentioned in the prophecy.”

“Yes.”

“It appears I’m doomed to bind with you.”

“Doomed?” He chuckled. “You need me, Patricia. Only if we bind can we hope to defeat Koschei. He’s trying to make sure the prophecy does not come true, but he’s too late.”

“You saved me,” I said. “I owe you.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want you to bind with me because of a debt.”

“I’m willing, isn’t that enough?”

For a moment, only the soft splash of the waterfall infiltrated the silence. Jeez! This meeting my destiny head-on stuff wasn’t so easy.

Gabriel stepped out of the water, looped his fingers around my wrists, and pulled me against him. My clothes got soaked, but I hardly cared.

“You are so stubborn. You guard your heart, even though you know it already belongs to me.” A growl vibrated in his words. “You drive me wild, Patricia.”

I didn’t know if he was angry or turned on or both. His eyes narrowed. Yeah. Both. He let go of my hands and cupped my ass, pressing me intimately against his hard-on.

His kiss was possessive. He thrust his tongue into my mouth and I responded. How could I not? My nipples hardened, pressing against his muscled chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and melted against him.

He pulled back, his mouth swollen and his eyes shiny with lust. “Do you want me?”

“More than my next pint.”

He looked indecisive, and then he sighed. “What if I told you that I could break our binding? “

“That’s impossible.” Oddly enough I was disappointed in his offer of a get-out-of-binding-free card. I had feelings for him, but I refused to even think the L-word. Lord knows I wanted to jump his bones something awful. I knew it was right, binding with him. Sometimes, you took a leap of faith—and hoped you didn’t fall off the cliff.

“Just so we’re clear,” I said, “I’m the queen of vampires and lycans. You’re the outlaw and my consort. We’re going to bind, have steamy-hot sex, and tomorrow, we’ll kick Koschei and company’s ass.”

He nodded. Then he stepped out of the waterfall and helped me out of my clothes.

Maybe I was the queen destined to rule the vampires. But at this moment, I felt like Gabriel’s queen. Beloved. Honored. Worshipped.

We stood together under the spray of cold water. We washed each other slowly, with no soap or loofahs, only our hands. We did a thorough job, too, from head to toe. I wished I’d had shampoo to lather into his lovely hair, but I figured I’d get a chance another time.

“I claim you.” Gabriel put his hand on my neck and said, “You are mine.”

Heat flashed. I put my hand on Gabriel’s neck and said, “You are mine.”

“I give you my words.” He drew away from me slightly and stared into my eyes. “I will serve you faithfully, Patricia. I gladly bind with you. I gladly give you my heart.”

His word giving made my nonexistent pulse jump. “I will honor you for all of my days, Gabriel. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been with you.”

Something electric arced between us. The magic of the binding wound around us.

“Now, it’s time to mate,” he said roughly.

It didn’t take long for gentle caresses to give way to more sensual exploration. His skin was smooth as silk and felt so wonderful under my hands and my lips. Not even the cold water could keep me from getting hot.

He palmed my nipples; then he twisted them between nimble fingers. Pleasure shot down to the point between my thighs and I moaned.

I reached down and rubbed his velvety cock. It was big and hard and oh-so-yummy. My actions were rewarded by a deep growl and a nip on my shoulder. Oo-wee!

Gabriel’s eyes captured mine.

“You are mine,” he said, his voice rumbling.

“And vice versa,” I said, grinning.

He backed me against the wall and pushed his cock into the wet vee of my thighs. “Do you want me?”

“Only more than anything,” I whispered.

His hands slid under my buttocks and he lifted me, as if I were a feather. That was a sexy move, sure enough.

Then he impaled me with one swift stroke of his cock.

Oh, Lord.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and clutched his shoulders, my gaze held hostage by his. He thrust inside me, growling deep in his throat, as he took his pleasure, as he gave me pleasure.

He made me shudder all the way to my pedicured toes.

His eyes glittered like yellow diamonds— sharp and unrelenting in their beauty.

And I trembled in his arms, afraid of what he wanted and what he offered. Afraid I wasn’t worthy of him.

The water poured over us and I held him tightly while he pounded into me, and everything went bright and shiny.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was plunging my fangs into his neck.

His hot blood filled my mouth and I moaned, drinking his essence. Pure bliss exploded and my whole body felt as though it had shattered.

“Patricia!” He plunged deeply, his fingers jabbing into my thighs as he lifted his head and howled.

I woke up in Gabriel’s arms, which was the best feeling ever. He kissed me good morning (you know what I mean). We were lying on a big bed in a small cave and we were under a sheet. Naked. This thrilled me to no end.

“Drink your breakfast,” he said.

I looked at him coyly. “You like it when I sink my fangs into your neck, don’t you?”

“Damn right I do.”

So, I happily drank my pint and was delighted to note that Gabriel was getting hard as a rock. He was so handsome. So built. So naked. I was nearly drooling with the possibilities.

He looked me over as if I were the most enticing item on the buffet. He took me into his arms and pressed his hot mouth to mine, and I purred.

He tasted like pure sex. Oh, Lord. He cupped my breasts, thumbing my nipples into hardness. I tingled all the way to my woman parts.

He stopped kissing me and licked my lips. Oh, yeah, baby. I wiggled my tongue along the seam of his mouth and he seemed to appreciate the gesture right back.

“You are beautiful,” he muttered as he leaned down and tugged a nipple into his mouth. His tongue flicked the peak. I moaned.

I caressed his cock between my palms, then grasped it with one hand, using my other to cup his balls. He had a helluva package. I can’t recall ever seeing a man as big as him—at least not one who wasn’t starring in a porn film.

He wasted no time exploring my nether regions and within moments, I was a squirming mess. My hands were everywhere on him, and man alive, he was all hard and muscled and … hmmm.

Desperation mixed with mind-numbing lust. Gabriel was surprised when I got on top of him and rubbed my wet self along the ridge of his length. I wasn’t paying much attention to what he was doing because I was really close to a mondo orgasm.

He flipped me onto my back, dispelling the tight, coiling pleasure in my womb. His gold eyes were wild and seemed to have changed shape.

“I’m the alpha.” He growled.

Oh, come on. Growling? He didn’t scare me. Getting all particular about who was on top didn’t deter me from my goal. Talking to me like that only made me hotter.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and tried to get his cock inside me.

He growled again. Something animalistic flashed in his eyes. He got up on his knees, grasping my wrists to yank me up with him. “Submit to me.”