Embrace the Magic (The Blood Rose Series Book 2) (5 page)

“Good. Has the body been delivered to the Morgue?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Death by Invictus, as suspected. But what else is new? And as with the others killed out there, the physician found a lingering fae magic.”

“That’s not a surprise, not from a body found at Sweet Gorge.”

“I agree.”

“All right. I’m heading back to Shreveport.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a team out there?”

“Hell, no. I can handle Ry.”

A long pause told Ethan that Finn didn’t approve of the plan, but that wasn’t new either. Finn had been pressuring him a lot lately to give over some of his command to his top men. Ethan thought things worked just fine as they were.

“Fine, but if I get even a whisper that Ry’s abandoned his patrol in the north, I’m heading south.”

Though it irritated the hell out of Ethan, he knew Finn’s plan had merit. “Fine.” But he hung up.

When he pocketed his phone, he told the checkpoint Guardsmen to alert him if Mastyr Ry crossed into the human realm. After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “And let Finn know as well.”

“Yes, Mastyr.” Their voices blended together in response.

Ethan rose into the air once more, higher and higher, pivoted, then flew in a quick arc back in the direction of Shreveport, just a few miles beyond the checkpoint.

The space between realms became a blurred blend of land, water, and sky then the pine trees emerged so that he knew he’d reached the distant outskirts of the North American city. Even though the realm world had first opened its doors to earth thirty years ago, crossing between worlds always gave him an odd thrill, the way ancient explorers must have felt in ages gone by.

His first thought involved wondering how the hell he would find Samantha, then he mentally kicked himself for not following her home in the first place.

He was about to return to the prave to find out if anyone knew where she lived, when another idea, more realm-like in nature, struck.

He slowed to a stop midair, hovering among the treetops, and focused on Samantha, the shape of her face, the beauty of her light blue eyes, the shine of her black hair, and mostly the blood rose vibe she gave off.

What came back to him was like a tether far away that reached for him and drew closer and closer until it connected with his chest. He stalled out for a moment, sliding down among the branches, then caught himself.

He lifted back into the air, startled by what he felt coming from her, the strength of her realm frequency which he was pretty sure she had no idea she possessed. But more came to him, beating at his senses: Her distress, her sadness, like a single candle burning in the dark.

And he knew exactly where to find her.

He flew even higher into the air to avoid street lamps and power-lines. He passed by quiet suburbs and industrial buildings, even a train track and then he could see her house, a white bungalow with a white-picket fence. Her presence grew stronger within his knowing and once more his desire for her blood returned, his body full of hunger all over again, as though he hadn’t just fed.

But he knew one thing for sure, that if he didn’t stand guard, Ry would come for her and he wouldn’t show restraint. He could feel, even now, the level of power that would come to him if he bound Samantha, which meant she’d been even more of a temptation to Ry.

He had no doubt that Ry would kidnap her and attempt to bind her without one thought for what she wanted. Most realm-bindings required an act of will to complete. Samantha would have to agree and from what he’d seen, she’d put up a fight.

But Ry was powerful and if he held her captive, he could wear her down by sheer physical torture, something he really wished he didn’t believe Ry would do, but he’d had his doubts about the vampire for a long time.

And he had no intention of letting Samantha find out personally exactly what Ry was made of.

When he arrived at her house, he dropped down to earth, landing quietly outside her front door where a porch light burned. He stepped away from the house and from a reinforced pocket of his battle leathers, he withdrew a dagger.

He walked the entire circumference of her home, setting up a cloak to keep himself quiet and invisible from her neighbors. Despite this intrinsically vampire state, that he could hide himself from humans, he was pretty sure Samantha would sense he was here.

When he reached the front door again, she stood on the threshold, just behind the screen door, her lips compressed. “What the hell are you doing here and why are you tramping around like an elephant in a field of very dry grass?”

Yep, the woman was more realm than she knew.

*** *** ***

“I’m not.”

“You’re not what?” Samantha stared at the vampire she’d truly hoped never to see again, but here he was, in all his enormous glory, a sheen of perspiration on his forehead because he’d been flying and marching around her house for who the hell knew why. The tears had finally stopped and she’d just been working up her courage to start reading the journals, when she heard him moving near her back workroom.

“I’m not ‘tramping around’ as you put it; your hearing is improving. But let me assure you that right now, none of your neighbors can see me.”

She glanced around. “Great. Then I probably look like I’m insane standing here speaking to you. But what are you doing at my house? I don’t understand because I don’t remember inviting you to come here and I must say I resent you being here.”

“I wouldn’t have come, Samantha, but you’re in danger.”

Samantha tilted her head. She knew the meaning of the words he’d just spoken, but because of all that she’d been through, the sense of what he was saying didn’t register. “What do you mean I’m in danger? From you?”

He shook his head. “No, of course not. I’d never infringe on your freedoms or anything else. But there’s one who might, who probably will.”

“And who might that be?” The words came out drawled and disbelieving, more Louisiana than nighttime national news, but she was a little bit pissed off right now.

“His name is Ry. Mastyr Ry. He was the mastyr of Bergisson Realm before me.”

She connected the dots, especially since his lips had formed a grim line. “You replaced him.”

He met her gaze dead on, but remained silent.

“Oh, I see. You supplanted him. He was the ruler, then you took over.”

He shook his head. “It’s not done that way. The Sidhe Council tests every vampire who achieves mastyr status, and the most powerful born into each realm is obligated to rule. It’s that simple.”

“I’m sure this Ry vampire sees it that way.”

“Let’s just say that your arrival in our world will be spreading around the gossip trails like a spring flood. And Ry will want you.”

Samantha took a deep breath. “And you really think I’m in danger from him?”

“Yes, because you’re a blood rose.”

She looked away from him. “I saw it in the vision. You were there. You called me a blood rose.” Looking back at him, she asked, “But why does that endanger me?

“This gift you have, it’s incredibly
tempting
, and Ry will want to possess your blood rose abilities more than anything else in the world.”

Samantha blinked a couple of times. “Why didn’t you tell me this back at the prave?”

“I was too caught up in your sudden arrival in my world. I didn’t think about it until I was halfway back to Bergisson.”

“And you honestly think he’ll come here?”

“I know he will, the moment he hears about you. And that won’t be long, gossip being as fruitful in my realm as it is here in yours.”

Samantha shook her head. More stuff to digest. “But, even if he does come here, he has no rights. He can’t do anything to me.”

“I wish I could say that was true, but it’s not. He’d take you illegally and only a complaint from your world could bring you back. Do you have kin who can support you? Make such a demand?”

And here was the hardest truth all. “I have no one.”

“Shit.”

“Yes. Exactly. Oh, God, and I didn’t think this night could get worse.”

“I’m sorry, Samantha. I really am. And I’ll see what I can do to ensure that he stays away from you.”

“There’s something else, though, isn’t there?”

More grimness. “It’s not just Ry. Your blood rose gift will attract any and all mastyrs, from all the realms. Once the word gets out…” He let the words hang.

Samantha understood, she just couldn’t believe this was happening to her. “So, I’m a blood rose. What the hell is that, anyway?”

“It’s something that’s just emerged in our world. It happened to Mastyr Gerrod of Merhaine not long ago and his blood rose was a human.”

“Really, as in one-hundred-percent human?” She was stunned.

“Yes, but she’s now one-hundred-percent vampire.”

“So, he changed her.”

“More like she embraced what could be hers.”

“Do I actually have the capacity to become a vampire?”

“I have no idea. I’m guessing not because you’re half-fae. In our world, the species, though they intermarry, generally fall to one side or the other; the genes just line up that way.” He paused, then added, “And you do understand now, that you’re part-fae?”

She nodded, but her head swam with so much information. “The vision alerted me. I’ve been studying your world at university so I know about fae and visions, but it’s still so hard to take in.”

“When you’re ready, you can speak with one of our fae leaders, even Vojalie, who is the most powerful fae in the Nine Realms. For now, though, can you tell me who your mother was? I mean, she was probably long-lived. I might even have known her.”

“Andrea. My mother’s name was Andrea Bergisse. Oh. I see.” She even laughed, though she wasn’t amused. “Bergisson. I just never made the connection before.”

But Ethan stared at her like he’d seen a ghost. In fact, he seemed angry.

She took a step back from the screen door as she searched his eyes. “Ethan, what is it? What did I say?”

“Andrea was your mother? There’s only one fae I’ve ever known by that name. Did she have dark hair, a little lighter than yours?”

“Almost black and wavy.”

“She wore it long to the waist.”

“Yes, all the years that I knew her as my mama.”

He shook his head. “Sweet Goddess, for you to be ignorant of who you are, she must not have spoken of Bergisson or her heritage at all.”

“No, not even a little. Whenever I asked about your realm, she told me to look it up on the Internet if I was interested. I thought she just didn’t care about the Nine Realms. It never occurred to me to read her any other way. Besides, she’s been gone ten years. I was only eighteen, still too young to have pieced things together. But, why do you seem so upset? Did my mother do something to you, or what?”

He was silent for a moment, looking away from her, his gaze glancing round the yard, lifting to the dark night skies as though searching, then back to her. “It was something she didn’t do, but it happened forty years ago for reasons I’ll never understand.”

Samantha felt divorced from whatever her mother might have failed to do so many decades ago. She hadn’t even been born and Andrea had been gone for such a long time that she was more ghost than a factor in her life now.

She’d loved her mother, but there had always been something off about Andrea, disconnected maybe from life. Her father’s death one year before Andrea’s, had stolen the last of her mother’s spirit. She’d died the following spring from pneumonia, which she’d left untreated until too late.

Her grandmother was gone now as well, which led her thoughts in a new direction.

“Ethan?” He’d turned away from her, his gaze fixed skyward again, watching for Ry, maybe.

“Yeah?” But he didn’t turn to look at her.

“Do I have family in Bergisson?”

At that he glanced at her, a swift searching look then set his gaze once more into the night. “I’m certain you do.”

Some part of her longed to know but more, but for now, she didn’t think she could handle a more detailed accounting.

“I have no family here.” The words came out like a whisper. She wasn’t even sure she’d spoken them aloud.

She half expected Ethan to respond, instead, he shifted to what she could only describe as a fighting stance, bending his knees, lowering his shoulders, arms held wide. A long blade flashed beneath the porch light.

He called out. “Ry, you motherfucker, make yourself known and how the hell did you get past the access point Guardsmen?” Ethan’s voice echoed through the neighborhood, but he must have disguised it because not a single dog started barking, a sure sign he’d been telling the truth about being invisible to her neighbors.

If a frog sneezed, dogs started barking.

The next second, Samantha gave a cry as another vampire dropped out of the night sky, a warrior-type almost as big as Ethan and wearing the same garb; the leather sleeveless duster over a loosely woven shirt, black leather pants, and heavy, sexy boots. He held a blade as well.

His gaze slid past Ethan’s shoulder and landed on her. The porch light exposed him completely but she had a feeling that even if the light hadn’t been on, she could have still seen him.

She reached up and switched it off.

Sure enough, she saw both men as in a glow. Fae night vision? Realm vision?

“I can still see you, Samantha of Shreveport. Don’t think you can hide from me.” Ry’s voice had a tinny edge, almost desperate, and maybe he was.

“You can’t have her, Ry. Not now, not ever.”

“Anyone can have her. She doesn’t belong to you. You’re not mated. She’s free game and as far as I’m concerned, I have as much right as you’ll ever have. More, because I’ve lived a century longer. Haven’t you stolen enough from me?”

“I stole nothing. You know that. And Samantha is a U.S. citizen. By law, she belongs to no one. Taking her against her will, would be kidnapping and Bergisson allows U.S. law enforcement into our realm to extradite, simple as that.”

“She’s a blood rose. That cancels all her U.S. rights where she’s concerned.”

Samantha’s nostrils flared and for a sudden powerful moment, Ry’s scent came to her and, worse, she liked it. She smelled a heavy spice like cloves only muskier. He was a handsome vampire, not in Ethan’s blond, almost flamboyant mold but darker, more dramatic, earthier.