Love Your Entity (29 page)

“I knew it was hidden somewhere in this house. Gregori had a witch charm it so no one would find it but him. Then he became increasingly demented and couldn’t remember how to retrieve the treasure. He had a key around his neck but that wasn’t the answer. He needed more. I needed more.”

“Did you turn Gregori?” Sierra said.

“No. I would have done a much better job of his transformation.”

“I don’t understand. If you wanted this necklace why couldn’t you just go get it from Catherine yourself? She may have been great but I’m sure she would be no match for a vampire,” Sierra said.

“Master Vampire,” Voz corrected her. “And I couldn’t take it. The necklace had to be given to me. It’s been in my family since the time of the Crusades. I needed it back.”

“Why? What does it do?” she asked.

“My, you are a nosy little thing, aren’t you.” It was a statement of fact, not a question.

“Yes, I am,” Sierra, said, keeping an eye on her watch. She wasn’t about to let Voz talk his way into getting both the necklace and Ronan by going over the midnight deadline. But she also had to be sure, after dealing with Gregori, that she wouldn’t be aiding and abetting in the release of mutant vampire demons or something else equally bad if not worse.

She had no idea what she’d do if that were indeed the case. How could she bear to have Ronan returned to the horrible life he’d had? He hadn’t told her much about it, but she’d seen the marks on his body, as if he’d been branded.

“The necklace has mystical properties,” Voz said.

“Which are?” Ronan demanded.

“It enables me to see into the future.”

“Swear on your family’s coat of arms that you are telling the truth.” Ronan pointed to the signet ring that Voz wore.

The Master Vampire put his left hand over the ring on his right hand. “I swear on my family’s honor. Now hand it over.”

Ronan reached for the necklace when Voz stopped him. “No, it has to come from her.”

“Why?” Ronan asked suspiciously.

“Because it has to be given to me by a woman who is pure of heart.”

Shit. Sierra felt like crying. She wasn’t a virgin. She hadn’t been one when she and Ronan had made love last night.

Voz laughed at her expression. “I don’t mean a virgin. You are pure of heart. That is why you are such a strong entity empath. Now hand it over before I rip Ronan’s heart from his chest out of sheer frustration.”

Sierra shoved it at Voz. “You’re cold, hard, and mean.”

“Indeed I am,” Voz readily admitted. “But I keep my promises.” He tilted his head toward the stairway behind him. “Your sister.”

“Adele?” Ronan’s voice was ragged.

“My job here is done,” Voz said before disappearing.

Ronan moved toward the translucent image that was his sister’s spirit. “I’m so sorry, Addie,” Ronan said.

“It’s okay, Ronan,” she said. “You saved me.”

“I had no idea—”

“I know,” she interrupted him. “I don’t have much time. But I wanted you to know that I love you.”

“Right back at you,” he said.

She smiled. “You always did find the words hard to say.”

“I do love you, Addie.”

“I know you do.” She floated down the steps until she was close to Ronan. Leaning forward, she kissed him on the cheek. As she did so, a portal appeared with a glow of white light. “I have to go now. Mom and Dad are waiting for me. I can see them!”

Sierra took hold of Ronan’s hand as Adele went into the light and then disappeared.

“She’s safe now,” Sierra told him.

“How can you be sure?”

“I’ve seen that light before,” she said. “It was the real thing.” Just as what Sierra felt for Ronan was the real thing.

“Hey, I’m still up here,” Ruby yelled down at them. “We’ve got three minutes to midnight.” She sat on the top step and started crying. “I’m going to be stuck here forever. I mean … come on! What’s a girl ghost like me got to do to get a little white light around here?”

Sierra saw the male ghost’s hand on Ruby’s shoulder and for a second feared Hal had somehow returned or that her father had left the cemetery. But no, it was Johnny.

“Hey, now, what’s all this? You need to get up…” Johnny gulped a bit when he saw what she was wearing but then his face lit up with a smile as she stood beside him.

“Johnny?” Ruby whispered.

“I’m here for you.” He took her hand in his. “We’re together now. Together for always.”

Sierra wanted to correct his grammar but didn’t. She also wanted to cry and did. She couldn’t help the few tears that escaped her eyes as Ruby kissed Johnny. Then Ruby turned to Sierra and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re…” Sniff, sob, sob. “Welcome.”

“I’m leaving you in good hands,” Ruby said, pointing to Ronan.

The white light appeared behind Ruby and Johnny. They walked into it together and then disappeared.

“They’re gone.” Sierra turned and started crying on Ronan’s shoulder. Then she took a quick step back. “I’m sorry. You’re hurt.” She looked but his wounds had already healed.

“I’m a fast healer,” Ronan said.

“It’s a vampire thing, right?”

He nodded.

“Your clothes are still in shreds though. And we’ve got the treasure here.”

“While you were talking to Ruby I texted Damon to ask Zoe to put a protection spell over both treasures until we figure out what to do next.”

“I know what I want to do next. I want to take a nice long shower. Or better yet, a bath.”

“My room upstairs has a very large tub.”

“Sounds good.”

It also felt good ten minutes later to be in lovely lavender water up to her neck. She’d used some essential oils with the Bella Luna label that had magically appeared in the bathroom.

Ronan used her old bathroom off her bedroom to take a quick shower before joining her in the tub.

“You’re going to smell like lavender,” she warned him with a laugh.

“I’ve smelled of worse things.” He nuzzled her neck. “Mmm.” He turned her around so that her back rested against his chest. She sat between his splayed legs. He ran his soapy hands over her breasts, pausing to brush his thumbs over her nipples.

“We need to talk,” he said gruffly.

“This isn’t a good time,” she said, running her hands along his thighs.

“There’s no good time to have this conversation,” Ronan said.

“What conversation?” she said.

“The one where I tell you that it’s not over.”

She looked around nervously. “Gregori and Hal are back?”

“No. I meant the vampire bond.”

“But we had sex. Several times.”

“I know. And that broke the part of the bond tying you to me against your will. You may leave any time you want. Free will and all that.”

“Can you still read my mind?”

“Sometimes. It’s because I’ve come to know you so well.”

“It’s only been a few days,” she said.

“Time means something different to a vampire. And from the first moment I met you, I could get images of some of your thoughts.”

“What am I thinking right now?” She rubbed against his erection.

“That we should be having sex. And we will. As soon as I tell you something.”

“This better be important,” she said.

“It is.” His voice turned husky as she kept moving against him. “Each time we have sex, it lengthens your life.”

“Mmm,” she purred

“I’m serious here,” he said.

“So am I. Can’t you tell?” She caressed him, squeezing and massaging with sensual intent.

“I mean it will literally lengthen your life. Is any of this sinking in?”

She shifted so she faced him. Reaching down, she guided his erection inside her body. “Oh yeah, it’s sinking in now.” She lifted up and sank down again. “Definitely sinking all the way in.”

He moaned then growled. “You’ll basically stay as you are.”

“Naked in a tub impaled by a hot vampire?”

“With some variation on that theme.” He stood with her and carried her to the bathroom counter. “Naked here.” He turned as she wrapped her legs around his waist and backed her up against the wall. “Naked here.”

“Reaching an orgasm here,” she murmured.

The connection between them went beyond the physical. She clutched his bare shoulders as he gave her the ride of her life.

It was only later,
much
later, when she finally regained her breath that she asked, “Were you kidding about that longevity stuff?”

“No.” He ran his hand over her damp hair. “I’d never kid about something like that.”

“So every time we have sex…”

“Your life is lengthened.”

“By how much? A year? Two?”

“Fifty.”

Sierra was stunned. With all that had been going on, she hadn’t had time to dwell on the fact that Ronan was immortal and she wasn’t.

It would take time for her to fully process what he’d just told her. But apparently time was something she’d have a lot of.

“Fifty years, huh?”

He nodded.

“Then we better keep doing it,” she whispered against his mouth. “Happy belated Valentine’s Day.”

Chapter Twenty-four

One month later …

“I’m sorry the paperwork took so long,” Sierra’s lawyer told her.

“No problem. I’m not in a hurry.” Near immortality did that to you. Made you stop rushing—unless you were being attacked by a mutant vampire hybrid or a vicious poltergeist gangster ghost. Then time was of the essence … but not now.

Wait. Unless she was on a book deadline. Then time mattered too.

“Thanks for giving an advance copy of your new book to my wife,” he said. “I believe she’s joined your street team, whatever that means.”

“It means I appreciate her hard work on my behalf.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy your new house.” He handed her a manila envelope with the official documents.

“It’s actually an old house. Not that it’s Southern plantation old or New England Revolutionary War old. But it is all mine.”

“Old houses tend to have a lot of things go wrong with them,” he said. “Let me know if you need a plumber, electrician, or handyman. I can recommend several.”

“Thanks, but I’ve already got all the help I need.”

As Sierra drove home in her brand-new blue Mini, she couldn’t wait to arrive and see what Ronan was up to. So much had happened since that fateful day when all the ghosts and the evil mutant vampire had departed.

For one thing, Sierra had bought this car. Ronan wanted her to get something bigger. Nick had recommended a Jaguar. Damon was apparently partial to top-of-the-line Porsches. Bruce had a sentimental fondness for the VW Beetle while Tanya loved the 1956 red Thunderbird convertible.

But Sierra loved Zoe’s red Mini, so she’d gone with that. She’d paid cash, having gotten part of the money from selling some of the diamonds. They were indeed real. A majority of the funds from Hal’s treasure had gone into very large anonymous donations to various charities that helped families who were victims of domestic violence. She would do the same with the Russian treasure when the time came to disperse it.

Sierra had spoken to her mom on the phone the other night, reassuring her that all was well and admitting that she’d fallen in love. Her mom had demanded details so Sierra had given her a few. Of course she kept the vampire part out of their discussion. Sierra was glad her mom had been incommunicado during the month of February as that had prevented Sierra from having to deal with maternal worrying.

Tanya was waiting at the curb the instant Sierra stepped out of the car. “Ronan is a good influence on you,” she said. “That latest sex scene you sent me. Wow.” She fanned herself. “Plus we just added another four hundred likes on your author Facebook this morning. How stinking cool is that?”

“Very stinking cool.”

“And how stinking smart are you to have put me in charge of your reader street team?” Tanya demanded.

“Um, very stinking smart?” Sierra said.

“Damn right.”

“It’s too bad that treasure story didn’t work out. That would have made great PR,” Tanya said.

Sierra and Ronan had agreed to keep the truth limited to Damon and Zoe, who had also vowed not to reveal any information about the gems. They’d gradually pieced together how Gregori returned only recently to the house when he was losing his memory and his mind. The séance at Zoe’s house was the catalyst to his arrival. It got his attention because of his link to Mother and the circus along with the house. They suspected that Hal’s diamonds had been left by Gregori in the attic by mistake and found by the gangster, who’d temporarily hidden them in the bathroom figuring he’d come back to retrieve them later. But then Johnny had shot him on the spiral staircase in the passageway. Hal had yanked Johnny down with him. The young man died of a broken neck.

Sierra had learned that last part of the story in a dream the night after Ruby crossed over to the afterlife. She knew in her heart that it had been a message from Ruby, wanting to fill in the blanks for Sierra.

“Listen, I’ve got to run,” Tanya said. “I’ve got a live chat coming up.”

Sierra turned to walk toward her house when she almost bumped into Daniella, who said, “Today was the big day, right? You got the papers for the house?”

“Yes.” Sierra waved the manila envelope in the air. “They’re all in here. I plan on living here a very long time.”

“We all plan on staying in Vamptown a long time,” Daniella said, before giving Sierra a big hug and a box of cupcakes. “I gave you a selection of our regulars plus the specials of the day—salted caramel, banana walnut, and raspberry coconut.”

“Did you send that order to my publicist and my editor in New York City?” Sierra asked. “Red velvet, mocha, devil’s food, cookies and cream.”

“They went out last night overnight express special delivery.”

“Which means what?” Sierra asked. “That Zoe used her magic to put them on Katie’s and Lily’s desks in the middle of the night?”

Daniella grinned. “Bingo. The same for your agent Annelise. All three got their box of cupcakes. Sorry I can’t stay. I’ve got to get back to the shop. We’re working on a big special order.”

Sierra had made it to the front porch when Zoe called out her name and waved. Zoe had turned out to be a fantastic friend. Not only had she returned the yard to its original state shortly after Ronan dug it all up, she’d also helped Sierra adapt to living among vampires as well as her newfound version of immortality. And now she had cupcake delivery to add to the list.