Léopold's Wicked Embrace (Immortals of New Orleans) (35 page)

“You okay?” Léopold inquired. He tapped his finger on the top of his car.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“I guess breaking into convents will do that to you,” he joked.

“A museum. We broke into a museum…to keep evil out of the city. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” She gave a small laugh.

“I knew you’d see it my way. Come, pet. We must get to the boat.” Léopold strode down the docks, taking care to make sure Laryssa was in step with him. Whatever storm brewed inside her pretty little head, he planned to calm it and make sure she never lied to him again.

“Here we are,” he commented, unlocking the chain. “Ladies first.”

Laryssa went to take a step and stopped, realizing the ‘boat’ was not a simple fishing skiff. In line with everything Léopold, the sixty-foot yacht sparkled underneath a flood of lights. Rolling her eyes at him, she shook her head and smiled.

“Is this yours?” she asked, stepping onto the boarding ramp.

“Mais bien sûr, mon amour,” he replied.

“You know I don’t speak French, Leo. But I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Oui. And I do believe you do speak un petit bit. I recall that you don’t appreciate being called mon lapin.” He smiled and winked.

“So, um, how’d you learn to steer this huge boat of yours?”

“Ah, my sweet Laryssa, you’d be surprised at all I can do. When you’re immortal, you have much time on your hands, no? I usually employ a captain to sail it for me. This, however, is not one of those times. We need to be alone.” Léopold retrieved a small stainless steel flask from his bag and handed it to her. “There’s some water in here. Go ahead inside. See if there’s anything you can find in the book to get the puzzle to open, to show us where we need to go to get the knife. Remember, this fish was meant for you, a naiad.”

Laryssa heard the anchor drop and was certain that Léopold would soon be down to check her progress. After an hour of looking at the puzzle, she hadn’t come any closer to finding the solution. Tracing the pad of her thumb down its underbelly, she could feel small bumps, but they didn’t move.
Remember, it was meant for you.
The track of Léopold’s words played in her mind.
The water.
Everything, since the day she’d drowned, came back to the water. It was who she was, how she thrived, how she’d continue to survive as an immortal.

Opening the flask, she dribbled the water onto the fish, expecting to see it glow. Disappointed when it didn’t, she flipped it over. Trying again, she waited patiently but nothing changed. Only wet metal lay in her hands.

“Come on, dammit. I’m running out of time,” she gritted out. Furious and frustrated, she lost her temper, and hurled it across the room. The fish smashed into the wall and tumbled onto the floor.

“It’s going well, no?” Léopold said, entering the cabin. He shook his head and picked up the puzzle. “Come now, you must concentrate.”

“I can’t, Leo. Can’t you see? It’s not working. Nothing is going to work,” she replied.

“You can’t give up,” he scolded. He tossed the fish in the air and caught it. As it landed in his palm, he felt movement. “Perhaps a little anger goes a long way?”

“What?” She sighed.

“It’s moving. It has to be the water. Look…the scales, they’re peeling.”

“Really?” She jumped to her feet and ran over to Léopold, watching as he thumbed away the scales. Like a fan, they began to spread, until the cavity was revealed.

“A key,” Laryssa breathed.

“Yours.” Léopold held out the copper object and offered it to her.

Laryssa hesitated, and then reached for the key. As soon as she touched it, her body quivered as if she were a tuning fork that had been struck against metal. The resonance of the key shocked her, searing into the layers of her skin yet her hand wouldn’t release it. Tears ran down her face as it burned her palm, her eyes widening with the realization that they’d discovered something horrific.
Death. Torture. Blood. Screaming.
Flashes of the demon flickered through her mind. Laryssa fought for breath, her chest heaving in pain.

She faintly heard Léopold’s voice but was unable to respond. Driven by its diabolical energy, she staggered out onto the deck. Evil coursed through her veins and she was helpless to stop its commands. Léopold lunged for her as she teetered on the edge of the stairs, but she thwarted his efforts to catch her by effortlessly causing a chair to fly through the air, nearly cracking him in the skull. Scrambling over the seats, she reached the ledge of a railing. In the recesses of her mind, she fought to stay sane, but the drumming of evil propelled her over the edge into the deep abyss of the lake.

Like water on a hot oiled pan, her body sizzled as it hit the lake. Convulsing, Laryssa lost herself to the dreadful coil of death that had taken her as a child. The water, typically her savior, rejected her as the evil shroud ensconced in the key held her under, searching for its target. She gasped for breath, and her throat flooded with water. Choking, her eyes bulged in terror, but she was helpless to resist its compelling draw. Shackled to the key, she gave in to its will.

By the time she hit the lake bed, she’d embraced the cold darkness that sought to take her. The metal in her hand burned like fire, forcing her to consciously experience the slow torture of drowning. With the demon dancing in her head, she prayed for God to take her, yet she remained awake in her nightmare. As her fist hit the rocks, a single chasm illuminated a few feet away from her. Laryssa’s attention was drawn to the small hole. Unable to move her body, she slid her arm toward it. Feeling as if she was ripping the skin from her hands, she pried her fingers open and jammed the key into the rock. The last thing Laryssa saw before she drifted off into oblivion was the brilliance of a white stone blade.

Léopold lay naked in bed, skimming his finger over the flint edge of the Tecpatl. The primitive stone had been chiseled into a razor-sharp point. Bound to the rock with cord, its ornate handle had been carved into a warrior. Decorated in black and red, the soldier bowed on his knees, its hilt bore his horns. Léopold wasn’t entirely positive how she’d found it, but was certain her power had somehow summoned it forth. She’d invoked the magic, and it had responded. It made no sense that it would be in the location where he’d anchored the boat, but as he fingered it, he surmised the object was otherworldly in nature. Perhaps at one time it had been of the earth, created by man’s hands to slice open the chests of fellow humankind. But at some point, it had taken on meaning to the demon. For however long it had existed clandestinely in the depths of the lake, the enchanted knife had finally returned to a naiad.

Léopold contemplated how Laryssa had been possessed by whatever evil was infused into the key. After she’d fallen into the water, he’d dove in, frantically searching for her. By the time he’d found her at the bottom of the basin, she’d lost consciousness, but still glowed in the blackness of the waves. Curled in her hand was the Tecpatl. As they’d reached the surface of the water and the midnight breeze brushed her face, her eyes flew wide open in horror. He’d tried to comfort her, but she’d batted him away. Wrapping her shaking hands around the ladder, she’d climbed out of the lake, leaving him to hold the knife. Her fear and foreboding was palpable and while Léopold continued his attempts to assuage her, she’d rejected his company. She’d insisted on showering alone, so against his better judgment, he’d ceded to her wish.

Léopold had caught onto her strategy to camouflage her feelings by forcing unnatural thoughts. From desperation to determination, he’d sensed her emotions fluctuating across the spectrum. Even though he’d given her a temporary deferment, allowing her solace in her bath, he quietly calculated his next move. The sound of the water ceased and his heart raced in anticipation of their discussion. He looked forward to enlightening her about having faith in their bond.

Laryssa stood nude in front of the mirror, drying her body. When she’d been torn out of Léopold’s home into the demon’s pit, ripped apart, she’d told herself that she could survive anything. But the sheer evil that had possessed her entire body left her reeling. It shook her to her core, leaving her numb. Lost in the sensation that had suffocated her in the lake, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly opening them, she toweled her hair, taking in a glance at the pearly bumps on her neck.
Léopold.
She’d fallen hard for him. It was as if she could literally feel her heart splintering open, knowing she’d be gone within hours. Never would she be able to have a life with the one man who’d selflessly given her the freedom to be herself, who’d shown her pleasure she’d never known, and the one man on Earth who she’d gladly lay down her life for without a second thought.

He’d fight her, she knew. Their argument would come and go, but it had to be done, she’d made the decision. Regardless of the outcome, it didn’t matter. Once the demon had her in its claws, she’d never see Léopold again. She’d put off talking to him as long as she could. Wrapping the towel around her body, she sighed and opened the door.

The spectacular sight of Léopold sprawled on the bed caused her heart to stop. His lips curled upward, as if to warn her he’d gone on the offensive. Perfectly masculine, his powerful frame laid waiting for her. From his well-defined chest down to his steel-hard abs, he defined virility at its finest. His thick cock lay heavy upon his thigh, growing ever larger with each breath he took, his eyes feasting upon her.

Laryssa fought the gooseflesh growing on her skin that was caused by the sight of him. She forced herself to look away from the distraction that was his beauty, but she could still feel his presence surround her in its erotic snare. She pressed her lips together as tears rose in her eyes.
Let him go
, her conscience screamed.
I must break the bond.
It wasn’t fair to deny him, to crush him with the loss of her soul.

“Leo,” she began, “I know we found the Tecpatl, but the death…the evil, tonight it was in me. It’s not going to let me go.”

In one continuous movement, Léopold was up off the bed. With deliberation, he set the Tecpatl on the dresser in front of her. He stood close behind Laryssa, mere inches away, but didn’t touch her skin. Like the stealth predator he was, he waited for his prey to make her first move.

“We must break the bond. Tomorrow…today, he’s going to take me. The knife. He’ll use it somehow.” Laryssa stilled as she felt Léopold wrap his arm around her chest. Her eyes glanced up to his reflection in the mirror and her breath caught. With his eyes pinned on hers, his mouth tightened in a firm line. Her pulse raced as his fingertips skimmed her chest, her body strung out like a live wire ready to be struck by lightning. “It’s not fair to you. You already lost your wife, your kids. The bond, it’ll make it worse when I go. Maybe you could get a donor or…”

“Laryssa,” he growled. Laced with domination, Léopold’s voice filled the room. “Never will I have another’s blood. The bond cannot be undone. More importantly, you don’t want it undone.”

“But Leo, you deserve so much more than what I can give you. I can’t bear to hurt you.” Her chest heaved as she spoke with despair. “And tonight…what I felt in that knife. In my mind. No, through my entire being. I may kill the demon, but there’s a good chance that it’s going to kill me.”

“So you quit? Jesus Christ, woman, don’t you understand how much you mean to me? Who you are to me?” His eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

“What am I? I’m a naiad. And yeah, Leo…I care about you. Can you see how much I care? I don’t want to hurt you. It took you a thousand years to get over the death of your wife and just when you decide to live again, to bond with me,” Laryssa shook her head, lowering her eyes and whispered, “I’ll be gone.”

“You have to fight, goddammit. Do you hear me? Fight!” he yelled. Goddess, she was giving up after all they’d been through. Denying their bond? No fucking way would he let her bow out gracefully. She was his and he had no intention of letting her go. “Listen, I don’t know what happened tonight with the key, but it’s over. It. Is. Over. We did it. At every turn, we’ve figured it out.”