Mistwalker (40 page)

“I have someone here you want to see.
Your bride.”

Ah, Witch
.
Bride?
Simone tightened her grip on the healer’s hand.

“It’s very pleasant there, isn’t it? Yet, you face the same problems. What is life without her even in the supreme act of death? You have held on for so long.”

Witch’s voice was loud and clear as if she spoke right into Simone’s ear, but she knew that wasn’t the case. Witch communicated with thought.

“She is here to talk to you. Chain yourself to Simone. Even if you go, each second is one more moment you are together. Do you not hear her thoughts? Feel her presence?”

Then, a silhouette moved, distinguishing itself from the other shadows behind Simone’s closed eyes.

“That’s right. There she is,” Witch encouraged. “Come forward.”

A darkened hand reached out, and fingertips caressed Simone’s face. She sucked in a shaky breath and trembled.
*Juliun.*

“Simone.” A whisper of a sigh filled the air.

“The bond is greater than I anticipated. Hold on to her, Juliun. How long have you searched for it all to end now?” Witch asked.

Simone was promptly plunged into this other world. The silhouette spun her around and around, and the moon blurred the night air with its pale light; the soft, warm grass padding the ground beneath her back.

Dreamscape.

Wildflower heads touched in the breeze. Stars dusted the black sky, and then all sight shut down as the weight of his body settled over hers.

His gaze held an impassioned blaze.

She held his beloved face between her hands, thrilling at the touch of his warm, smooth jawline, and the pulse beneath his ears that she wanted to feel thrashing against her lips. She slid desperate
fingers through the unfettered satin of his long, dark hair.

“You are the one
I’ve
been searching for,” she said. “Our paths were meant to cross. You cannot leave me here, Juliun. I love you despite what you think you’ve done by turning me into a vampire. You didn’t have to sacrifice yourself out of
guilt
. I
love
you. You have something to hold onto in me, a place to come back to. Come
back
to me, Juliun.”

He lay between her knees, his warm lips capturing hers in a slow, drugging kiss that tasted of desire and dark spice. She moaned and struggled to get closer,
ever closer,
adoring the heat of him that pressed her down into the pliable earth, the scent of his hair and his musky skin overwhelming her senses.

She leaned up to his ear, her hands wrapping around his broad shoulders. “You must stay with me.” His hair tickled her nose.
“Stay!”

He groaned. “Simone.” He dotted frantic kisses all over her face, neck and eyes. He caught her bottom lip between his teeth,
then licked the sting, repeating the action until the blood pumped hot and feverish in her veins.

He ran his hands over her in jerky, out-of-control strokes, trying to pull her closer to him. They clutched at each other, tearing each other’s shirts to the ground. She sat up, smoothing her hands over his broad back and chest in an attempt to touch every part of his body. He murmured in her ear, and his dark head bent, branding fiery kisses in the valley of her breasts, then along the curve of her belly.

She arched up, groaning, clasping his head against her body. He rolled over onto the grass, pulling her on top of him, and the soft, spiky carpet contrasted to the smooth texture of his skin.

They rolled again, and he hovered over her like a dark angel, dominating with the strength of his grip, his mouth a dreamy intimacy of hunger and love that left her weak and burning. His fingers tightened on her arms, and he whispered slowly, his breath full in her ear.

“You should know that you mean everything to me. I am yours forever.”

She started to sob; feeling unrelenting emotion that she could no longer control. She hugged him to her, savouring the weight of his body like a hoarder saving up gold. She couldn’t let him go and
wrapped her legs around his waist to bring him into her. He thrust his hips forward with a low groan, his dark head descending to hers, the back of his arms bunched with hard muscle.

He nibbled at her lips, her jaw, her ear, moaning there, and then moved back to her mouth, slipping his tongue inside and skilfully stroking her sensitised flesh.

Their tongues met, caressed, and they both groaned. She clasped his head in her hands until the taste of him obliterated everything else. Only he existed and this love between them. If it was the last thing they shared, then she would drown in him.

But he jerked backwards in her arms, and his body disappeared,
then returned.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Her words were slurred with passion. “Where did you go?”

“What are they doing?” he shouted.

Simone clung to his hands. “Stay here.”

He reared up suddenly and clutched his heart. Sweat broke out across his forehead, and his big barrel chest heaved in and out. His hands faded into nothing, and he shot her a panicked look. “Simone—” He disappeared again, materialising within seconds to a few feet away from her.

“I cannot get closer,” he said. “I am going toward…” He looked out over the water to something in the distance, washing over the land with colour and sensation. Light swamped the air in a golden dawn. “Sunlight,” he whispered. “It is sunlight. Beautiful.”

She thought, ‘They’re killing him,’ and sprinted across the soft grass. “Don’t look at it. Don’t go.”

He turned back to her, his long hair a flutter in the cool night breeze.
A dark God against the dawn. His voice sounded very faint and sad. His body faded until it was completely transparent.

She reached out to him, but her hand fell through his body. In desperation, she stretched her neck to the side, baring the smooth line of her throat. “Bite me, Juliun.
Don’t you want a
taste
before you leave?”

He sucked in a harsh breath, and she caught the unbelievable longing in his eyes.
“A taste of you?” His feet and legs faded into nothing, and that damn gold light filtered everywhere.

His hands disappeared. They were both completely surrounded in
light. “I can feel myself going. I love you, never forget that,” he said, worriedly.

She shook her head. “That light can go away.” She grabbed him by the shoulders, and surprisingly, her hands found purchase. The tingle of his skin made her heart pound. She ran her hands up to cup the back of his head and guided his mouth down to her throat.

“Bite.
Taste me before you go. Sink your teeth into my skin, Juliun. Drink from me.
Please. For the both of us.
”

He groaned and stepped closer. The puff of his breath on her skin made her tremble, and then the sharpness of his teeth sank into her flesh.

She gasped, her knees buckling, her every nerve springing into chaotic life. She gripped him, trying to hold herself up, but needn’t have bothered for he held her in a such tight clinch, his fingers taut on her waist.

Every molecule in her body tried to escape its immortal bonds and join in the glitter of starlight. Her body was one with the dance of the leaves in the trees and part of the violent ocean as it crashed against the cliff at their feet. The earth trembled, and the rain-washed scents of grass, salt, blood and
him
filled her senses.

Her breath fluttered inside her lungs, ears drowned in sound.

LUB-DUB, LUB-DUB, LUB-DUB.
Every thump drained more blood from her veins, linking her closer to the rhythmic thrumming of his heart. She had no choice but to gaze up at the night sky, shining so black. Her hands screwed in his hair, then slid down to his waist under the waistband of his pants.

He stumbled, managing to catch himself before she hit the ground, and then he lifted his head, eyelashes fluttering open slowly. His glowing eyes cast by the light of the moon had the stare of a predator and adoring protector.

“Juliun,” she whispered, her heart full to bursting. “You’re alive.”

His legs tangled with hers, and she realised he’d taken form again.
It’d worked.
She hugged him.

“You let me feed from you,” he said, blinking. Her blood glowed ruby red on his incisors. “You let me…” He choked up.

“Yes.”

“That light is gone.” He panted and gently laid her on the ground. His cheeks reddened from the rapid influx of blood, and his skin
didn’t look so pinched and grey.

She closed her eyes and pushed herself up to meet his kiss, but air brushed her lips. Her eyelashes popped open.

“No.”

The word came out in a shocked whisper. She jack-knifed into a sitting position and searched around her desperately.
“Juliun?”

He’d disappeared.

Her heart broke, and she screamed.

Chapter Forty-Three

The land disappeared in dizzying swirls, and Simone spun round, and around through darkness, trying to grasp reality with fingers that blurred. She couldn’t go—she needed to get back to Juliun.

A hand patted her arm. “Simone, come back! Simone…” Witch called. “It is all right. He’s here. Juliun’s conscious.”

Simone opened her reluctant eyelids. Her spirit felt ethereal, split between two worlds, but the harsh lights of the clinic forced her to shift away from the world inside her mind. She found herself staring into comforting brown eyes. “He left me, disappeared into thin air.”

“He is back that’s why,” Radu said, tiredly. He pushed some papers from the top of a filing cabinet and made a nest with one arm. His head dipped down into the crook of his elbow, and he slumped in the chair. The white-wash of total exhaustion bled the meagre colour from his face.

Simone sucked in a relieved breath. “He’s here?” She grasped Juliun’s hands and sank to her knees on the tiled floor, unable to still her shaking body. “Thank you, thank you so much!”

Witch approached Radu. “How about I—”

“Do not even think about it,” he wheezed, his eyelids struggling to open. “That herbal stuff is sludge. I need good red blood and plenty of it.”

Witch shelved the herbs with a huff and drummed her fingers on her hips.
“Cantankerous old devil.” She swivelled to Simone. “You both did well. How did you make him stay? I could feel him slipping away.”

Simone rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. “I asked him
to bite me. It was the only way I could think to make him stay.”

Radu laughed weakly.
“Brilliant, girl.”

A faint blush spread across Juliun’s skin, staining his sharply hewn cheekbones. The bitter and enervating smell of herbal medicine permeated Simone’s nostrils as she leaned down to kiss his brow. His silky hair spilled out over the pillow in a black fan, and his chest rose and fell with ease.

A glorious hope pushed out the misery inside her heart. They had been given another chance, one she dared not waste. “He’s alive.”

Witch nodded at Radu. “You were right to let her help.
Quick thinking.”

“When will he wake up properly?” Simone laid a hand on Juliun’s forehead and inspected him worriedly. “Is all the poison gone?”

“Vanished,” Radu announced. “A grim task, that one. The toxin had infected all his organs. I only used the mist to dissolve the poison because he surely would have died otherwise.”

“He will awaken soon,” Witch said, gently.
“Watch. Once the poison is gone, there is nothing to stop him. He is healed.”

Juliun blinked
.
His dark lashes fluttered up and down, and his pupils contracted from the glare from the overhead lights. His head twisted to the side, and he stared at Simone with such an intense and penetrating expression that she laughed.

A happy grin broke out across his face that matched his grey eyes which glittered like luminescent stones.

“Come here.”

She chuckled. “You want me?” She looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. “Sit up.”

He dissolved to mist and took form so close to her that his legs and chest pressed against hers, his dark hair flowing around his face. “I want you more than anything right now.” Quick as thought, he picked her up and pressed his lips to hers, his tongue stroking the seam of her lips in passionate inquiry.

She gasped and leaned closer, tremors spreading all over her skin.

His velvet smooth tongue darted into her parted mouth, lips caressing hers in a demanding pressure that grew passionate.

So this is what love felt like.
An all-consuming fever and trust. She laughed again.

His arms wrapped around her, drawing her up tight, as though he wanted to merge with her forever, his warm lips sucking and nibbling hotly at her ear, his mouth moving back to hers with a drugging intensity.