Embrace the Desire (13 page)

Payne gritted his teeth as the witch walked closer and touched his forearm. “Your father has sent me here to find you, but I knew you would find me instead. I've waited for you as you have played caretaker to Gyth's offspring.”

Payne narrowed his eyes, but held his tongue as she ran her fingers across his chest. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her neck cracking and popping. Payne stepped back, the witch's eyes bled black tears as fangs emerged and her skin stretched tight and split open as if tiny knives were lancing her skin. Small streams of black blood flowing from the cracks.

The witch's mouth opened, moving slowly as saliva dripped from the corner of her lips. Damon's voice, warped and twisted, poured from the witch's mouth. “Yes my son, she is Gyth's daughter. He wants you to use those hands of yours to help her through her Burning. Gyth is a selfish god. He knows that it could very well kill you to use your power on a transforming soul.”

“No. You lie.” She couldn't be Gyth's daughter. That would make her Varick's sister. “Show yourself.”

Damon's laughter echoed around the barn, the witch's face contorting as her body twisted, her bones breaking. Payne recalled the birthmark on Chanta's ankle and his nostrils flared as Damon spoke again. “Don't you see what Gyth is planning for you? Are you really going to let that bastard use you? Are you going to let his daughter use you?”

Payne laughed. “I'm used to it.”

“He uses you because you are my son! Don't you see the pleasure he gets from knowing he can bend and twist you to his will? He thinks you are weak, nothing more than a trophy for him. And she will think the same. Once she transforms, you will be nothing to her.”

Payne's howl of anger erupted from his chest, the horns of his demon protruding from his head. His chest tightened, the past scratching its way to the surface. “And what was I for you? A trophy as well? Just another victim of your terror and perverse pleasure?”

“You are my son. My flesh covers your bones, my blood runs through your veins, and as much as you don't want to admit, you are just like me.”

“I will never be like you!”

Payne struck hard and fast and roared in anger as Damon released his hold of the witch.

Shock filled the witch's face as she grabbed at the sudden pain in her stomach. Terror filled her eyes as Payne's teeth came down on her neck. She cried out as the blood flowed from her veins into his mouth. Whispering, she pleaded with her mistress and no answer came.

She whispered to Damon and tears flooded her face as Damon's face appeared above Payne's head. The evil sarcastic grin was glued to his lips as his words filled her mind.

“He is such a brutal killer and so much like his father.”

She twisted in sheer agony as her heart slowed to its last beat. Her eyes hazed as Payne pulled away and threw her lifeless body to the ground. Without emotion or any trace of regret, he gathered all thirteen of the pendants and slid them into his pocket. Her power flowed through his veins and he braced himself for the coming impact.

His body jerked and fell forward to his knees as her blood made contact with the flame of the Underworld. The pleasure he felt was indescribable as it coursed through his limbs, strength, power, knowledge, and an undying feeling of superiority filled his soul. He would kill them all, every last one of the bitches. They would all pay for the crimes against him and others that had suffered by their hands, they would all be consumed and their souls eaten. His revenge would be fulfilled!

He threw his arms up and screamed as flames leapt from his fingers and licked at the inside of the barn. “I'm coming for you, Father!”

Damon watched Payne from his throne and grinned as his son's heart filled with hatred and vengeance. He had outdone himself with this one. He was proving to be Damon's greatest accomplishment.

His evil laugh filled the throne room; and to think that dear Gyth had taken Payne into his care just as Damon had planned so very long ago. He stood and looked at the witch who walked into the throne room. Yet another accomplishment: Bastilla.

Her stilettos clicked on the floor, their echo a reminder of another set of feet that once had crossed a marble floor to him. Looking into the cauldron before him, he marveled at Payne's anger and hatred. It was a thing of beauty.

Damon waved the image of Payne away as she came closer. Bastilla, who had been no challenge to dominant, had once captured Payne's heart. He recalled the perfect pain and misery Payne had felt, had relished in it. Now she was Damon's wife, lover, and his worst enemy all wrapped up into one very pretty little package. She frowned as Payne's image disappeared.

“Why do you watch him? Have you not had your fill of fun with him?”

“The fun is only just beginning.” Damon reached out and captured a stray strand of her black hair and jerked it. Hard. “What have you been up too lately . . . wife?”

Bastilla stepped back and narrowed her eyes. “Protecting my position.”

“Your position?” Damon threw her hair into the flame that arose from the pit around his thrown. Bastilla grimaced as pain shot through her temple. “Exactly what position are you protecting?”

“Bastard!” She picked at her long black fingernails. “I am your wife.”

“Yet, you continually cross me. Did you think that I would not know what you were up to with the slut you have been catering to?”

“Which one do you speak of husband? The one I am sleeping with or the one I have had spying on your dear son?”

Damon waved his hand and Bastilla was thrown against a rock wall that appeared out of the ground. She twisted and gritted her teeth as snakes curled around her body and pinned her to the slab. He held out his hand and a small dagger appeared in his palm. He licked the blade and laughed as Bastilla's eyes widened.

“What should your punishment be? Should I kill the slut you have been sleeping with? But wait . . . ” Damon turned and his image melted and in his place stood a very beautiful blonde woman. “I am the woman you have been sleeping with.”

Bastilla jerked and tugged as the snakes tightened their hold. “You bastard! Can I not have any fun without you poking your ass into it?”

Damon's female form laughed. “How long has it been wife since I wed you? How long has it been since I took you in my true form?”

Bastilla caught her breath and closed her eyes as Damon's image transformed once again. She couldn't bear to look upon him as he truly was, as he had been the night he took her through her Burning. His face and body disgusted her and her stomach lurched as she felt his hand slide up her thigh.

“Open your eyes and answer the question.”

“Not since I went through the Burning.” Bastilla's eyes opened and tears ran down her cheeks. “Please, not like this.”

Damon threw his head back and the snakes that framed his white face hissed as he laughed triumphantly. “It turns me on when you beg.” His eyes narrowed into slits. “But you already knew that.”

Bastilla bit her tongue as the snakes from his crotch slivered up her legs and bit into the flesh of her thighs. Damon spread his arms and opened his mouth as hundreds of the bastard snakes poured from his fingers and mouth. Bastilla bit back her scream of pleasure as they swarmed her body entwining themselves around her limbs.

The body of Damon that remained was little more than a skeleton draped with black hair. His eyes were as yellow as the sun and emotionless as he leapt onto the slab of rock and thrust his tongue into Bastilla's mouth. She accepted him greedily and tried not to groan. His eyes showed the pleasure he was feeling as he slowly slid his tongue out of her mouth.

Bastilla cocked an eyebrow. Damon bared his long jagged teeth and nibbled her chin as she rolled her eyes and grinned.

“Is that the best you can do?”

Damon's smile spread across his demon skull-like face as he pressed against her crotch. She arched as the snakes released their hold. She laughed as they slid back inside of Damon's body. He growled with intense pleasure as she spread her legs and threw them around his waist. Her arousal was intense as he pushed inside of her. He took her hands and placed them above her head as he slammed inside of her. She cried out in pleasure as he slid his hand up her thigh.

“So eager for me.” Damon's groan of pleasure bounced around the throne room.

Bastilla grinned as he licked his lips. “I want him.”

“My son is and always has been off limits.” Damon's whisper beat at her skull. “Have you forgotten why I sent you to him in the first place?”

Damon thrust harder as she begged for more. “Please give him to me. Please, let me have him.”

“Beg more.”

“Please, I beg of you. I'll give you anything you want, I'll do anything you want. I want him!”

“The one thing I wanted from you, you could not give me.” Damon threw his head back and his cold laughter slammed into Bastilla like a brick wall. “You will continue wanting Payne for all eternity.”

Bastilla closed her eyes and moaned as he caressed her skin and flung his head back in pleasure. As Damon released his seed inside of her, she trembled. Damon stepped back and let her fall to the floor as his red robe appeared around his shoulders. His laughter filled her ears as she tried to stand.

“Make no mistake, wife of mine, the next time you interfere with my son I'll cut out your heart and eat it.” Damon turned, his smile hovering on his black lips. “I fear your position as my wife has been severed. Consider yourself . . . what do the humans call it . . . divorced.”

“No.” Her brown eyes swirled with rage. “You cannot do this to me.”

Walking towards his throne, Damon said nothing, waited for Bastilla to soak up what he had said.

“What makes him so special?” She screamed, “What does he have to offer you that I cannot?”

“Isn't it obvious? Your position has been to give me a child. That's all I ever wanted from you.” Damon stopped and stared down at his hands. “He's my favorite creation. He is my son.”

Bastilla fell forward as she cried. “But he hates you and kills your followers. He has sworn to kill you!”

He raised an eyebrow. “You hate me as well and yet, I have kept you around for centuries. But alas, I have grown tired of these pointless games with you. And your one and only purpose has not been full-filled.”

Her fists slammed against the floor. “He will be your downfall.”

Damon chuckled lightly as he strolled back to his throne taunting her. “He has the heart of a killer, the soul of a snake, and the hands of the Underworld. What do you have?”

• • •

Bastilla's anger flooded her cheeks as she scrambled to her feet. “I hate you!”

Damon hissed as she turned and stomped out of the throne room. She held her head high as she rounded the corner. Looking over her shoulder, she made sure that she wasn't being followed as she quickly stepped through the roots that hid a doorway. Her bitter laugh echoed as she stood before a mirror, its depths shimmering with a green glow.

She would have Payne one way or another, even if it meant Damon's death. Her body jerked as her mind conjured up images of Damon's lifeless body . . . cut up into small pieces and being fed to Cerberus along with all the witches he had slept with. Every last one of them.

He had taken every single one of them through the Burning himself, delighting in their pain and misery, making sure that Bastilla was tied to a chair and watching him.

Pounding in her chest, her heart threatened to explode. And now, after everything she had endured for the bastard, he wanted a divorce? For the gods, a divorce was humiliating. No other god would dare enter into a relationship with someone spurned by another god. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Seething rage festered in her heart. Oh, he would pay with blood and bone.

She would have to play her cards right and she knew just which card to lay down first. Varick Ta Farg, son of Gyth! If she could get him to believe that she was here by force and get her clutches into his heart, things just might start turning her way.

And even if she couldn't get to Varick, he would lead her straight to Payne. And that's exactly where she wanted to be. One thing, she had learned from Damon, always have a back-up plan. And if the back-up plan didn't work, always have an escape route.

Thanks to Charon, her newfound friend, she could travel to the earth's surface on demand. The surface of the mirror rippled as she stepped through and was swept into the currents of the River Styx.

Charon hadn't asked much of her in return, just the unborn fetus that she had hidden from Damon. With a little help from a goddess, she had successfully placed the fetus in stasis. After all, she wasn't about to give Damon the one thing he desired most, another son.

The smile slid onto her lips as she vanished and reappeared on the earth's surface in Fether, California. Damon could not track her footsteps in this realm unless she wore his pendent next to her heart and oops she had accidentally left it lying on the floor of his throne room.

She forced her wounds to stay fresh as she scribed for Varick. He was nearby and the smile widened across her lips. Soon, she would be in Payne's arms and according to Charon, she would become queen of the Underworld if she could make Payne fall back in love with her and have Payne kill his father. Unlike Damon, who refused to give her the power she needed to be queen, Payne could be manipulated as she had when she had met him. All she had to do was make certain Payne knew Damon's weaknesses.

Damon was not as smart as he thought he was.

Payne stood still as the vampire crouched over the hidden entrance to the cave where he and others had been hiding. His grin spread, there were more than twenty of the bastards huddled inside. Slowly they came out, looking from left to right as they slinked across the grass. Payne's fingers twitched, he was ready for a good fight, and he needed to let out some major frustration tonight before seeing Chanta.