Seduced by Magic
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Seduced by Magic
ISBN 9781419914935
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Seduced by Magic Copyright © 2008 Stephanie Julian.
Edited by Carole Genz.
Photography and cover art by Les Byerley.
Electronic book Publication March 2008
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/) This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
SEDUCED BY MAGIC
Stephanie Julian
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Alice in Wonderland: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Barbie: Mattel, Inc.
Coke: The Coca-Cola Company Corporation
Dodge Dart: Chrysler Corporation
Dungeons and Dragons: Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Ford: Ford Motor Company
Marlboro: Philip Morris Inc.
Saranac: Matt Brewing Company, Inc.
The Lord of the Rings
: Saul Zaentz Company, The DBA Tolkien Enterprises
Seduced by Magic
Through the window, Scarlata watched the man sleep.
The warm summer air caressed her bare skin, pebbling her nipples into tight nubs of pure sensation and drawing her womb into a ball of anticipation.
She’d come to kill him.
Not fuck him.
Still, her sex moistened and her breasts ached each time she caught a glimpse of him.
This man—who wanted to make her a pet. Or worse.
Well, the tables were about to be turned.
She shook her wings for a second before tucking them close to her back, merging them into her skin. Then she walked to the front door—the only door—and laid her hand on the cool brass knob. It turned, even though he’d locked it before stripping naked and falling into his tumbled sheets.
Science didn’t allow for magic. That was his first failing. Only the first of many, she was sure.
Walking through the door of the single-story cabin, she stopped to look around the room. To the right, a living area contained an upholstered chair, a table and a television on a stand, tucked neatly into the corner. She crooked a finger and the TV hummed to life. The snowy screen baffled her for a moment until the rectangular box next to it hummed and clicked. Then the TV screen cleared and people appeared. Two men and one woman involved in a convoluted sex act featuring grunting and awful music.
5
Stephanie Julian
The man hadn’t been with a woman since he’d arrived at this cabin in the eastern Pennsylvania forest five weeks ago. He hadn’t taken his car anywhere and the only person to visit had been a food-delivery boy.
She knew he’d become frustrated in the past week, having found nothing to prove his theories.
A smile curved her lips. Obviously he was frustrated in other ways as well.
Turning, she took in the chaos that began on the far side of the room. Papers covered the dining table and the lone wooden chair. She ran her hands through the pages, creating a pale waterfall onto the floor.
Words like “subject”, “test” and “resistance” jumped out at her from those pages.
The English language continued to sound harsh to her ears, even after more than two centuries.
Still, when he spoke with a voice that reminded her of the growl of a
Lucani
, it held a kind of magic of its own.
Leaving the dining area, she followed a paper trail down the hall to a small room on the left, where the chaos seemed to have a system. Books tottered on waist-high stacks, papers and magazines in piles. A slim notebook computer sat on a table under the window. Over the past five weeks, she’d watched—sometimes from a nearby tree branch or sometimes just outside the window—while he sat for hours on end, either typing or staring into the forest surrounding the house.
Fool human. He’d never seen her. Not even when she walked next to him while he hiked through the forest, watching the raptors that had given Hawk Mountain its name glide on the air currents. Her glamour allowed her to stand five feet in front of him without his knowledge.
Fool to think he could outwit her, to believe he could trap her and keep her in a cage to study like an animal.
She turned, letting her anger begin to heat her blood, and headed for the open doorway on the other side of the hall.
6
Seduced by Magic
Walking into his bedroom without making a sound, she felt cool wood flooring give way to plush carpet, decadent against the soles of her sensitive feet. She stood for a brief second, eyes closed, as she dug all six of her toes into the luxurious wool rug. He’d brought this rug with him. She’d watched as he’d unrolled it beside the bed the first day he’d arrived.
When she opened her eyes, she let her gaze find him in the pale glimmer of moonlight filtering through the window.
A stream of silver cut across his back, leaving his head and shoulders in darkness but revealing a sleek expanse of back and the hollowed curves of his gorgeous ass.
Goddess, he was a beautiful specimen.
She cocked her head to the side, watching the steady rise and fall of his back. His skin gleamed with a slight sheen of sweat due to the heat of the night. Even here in the forest, the temperature hovered around eighty degrees.
This region of the United States was in the thrall of a heat wave. Temperatures reached one hundred degrees during the day, while barely dropping into the low eighties overnight. He’d abandoned most of his clothes the last few days, wearing only a pair of shorts that brushed his knees and hung low on his hips. He didn’t bother with underwear anymore.
She drew in a breath, surprised at how hard she had to work for it.
She wanted to touch him. Needed to touch him so badly her fingers ached and curled into fists at her hips.
An ancient spell to ensure his continued slumber whispered from her lips and she watched it sink into his skin with a pale shimmer.
Spreading her fingers, she reached out to touch the warm flesh of his back. The smooth texture reminded her of new leaves and his scent… Oh, his scent was sweat and heat, musk and male. It made her lungs tighten even further.
7
Stephanie Julian
It would be a shame not to have him before she disposed of him. It’d been ages since she’d enjoyed sex with an
etera
, a human with no magical abilities.
Eteri
had learned to be inventive in ways forgotten by her people, the
folletti
. A race of the mythic Etruscan
Fata
,
folletti
had long ago lost the ability to enjoy themselves.
Unlike the
Enu
, the humans of magical Etruscan descent such as the
streghe
and the shape-changing
versipelli
, the
Fata
, such as the
folletti
, the
linchetti
and the
salbinelli
, had non-human attributes—wings, pointed ears or furred legs.
Some
Fata
who could blend did so. Like the
linchetti
. But those like her, with hooves or wings, lived in hiding, in fear of being discovered.
Reduced to seeking refuge in the ever-shrinking parts of the world humans had forgotten, could not penetrate or simply didn’t want, those types of
Fata
cared more about survival.
This man threatened her existence. And those under her care.
Sprawled in the center of the bed, he murmured something in his sleep and rolled onto his back. Her breath caught in her throat at his masculine beauty.
Her fingers slid from his broad shoulders to his firmly muscled chest then dipped to caress his nipples. The little nubs hardened under her touch and she tweaked them before continuing a downward path to his flat stomach. By the time she reached the line of fine, dark blond hair that arrowed straight to his large cock, he had already thickened in arousal.
She allowed her fingers to curl around his hard length, smiling at the way his shaft pulsed in her hand as more blood rushed to the organ. The flesh became hot to the touch and her fingers tightened in response. When he moaned in his sleep, her sex clenched and the ache low in her gut became all-consuming.
She needed to ease that ache. Now.
Releasing him, she slid onto the bed and straddled his thighs, bracing her hands on the hard muscles of his chest. Such strength under velvet skin. She could stroke it all 8
Seduced by Magic
night. Barely able to see his features in the dark, she blew a stream of power at the bedside lamp. When it flickered to life, it allowed her to see him completely.
Asleep, his face looked almost boyish. Another smile curved her lips as her gaze shot back to his groin. Maybe not so boyish.
But oh, his face. So classically handsome. Strong, square jaw. Straight, aquiline nose.
His eyes were closed but she knew they were lightly colored, green or blue. His hair was blond but not one simple shade. It was caramel and wheat and gold. Colors that bespoke his work outdoors.
Chasing her.
Her smile fled as her eyes dropped to his lips. Firm and straight, they were parted slightly as if he was having trouble breathing.
Good. She wanted him to suffer. Wanted to make him pay for the worry that ate at her. She would take her pleasure tonight. But he would find none. And he would remember this only as an unfulfilled dream in the morning.
Of course, if she killed him tonight, he would remember nothing.
To take her mind off that suddenly dreary thought, she again wrapped her fingers around his thick cock, so engorged it lay flat against his stomach. She pulled it toward her, holding it firmly until it pointed straight into the air. She shifted forward until the tip brushed her vaginal lips, teasing her clit. Shivers of sensation danced from that small bundle of nerves to her womb and straight into her spinal cord.
Pleasure sizzled like magic along her nerve endings. But where magic could drain her, sex energized her. Sex shot pure adrenaline into her bloodstream.
She drew in a deep breath—filled with his scent. It teased a moan from her that echoed throughout the room. And elicited an answering groan from the man.
She ignored him. Her sleeping spell would keep him out while she took her pleasure. And if he did please her, she would make sure he suffered no pain when she took his life.
9
Stephanie Julian
Still, she didn’t want this to end too quickly. A slow, steady climax was always more desirable than quick gratification. She’d been alone for so many years now and human males never could last more than thirty minutes, at least in her experience. What was thirty minutes in the span of a six-hundred-year life?
With her hands braced on his chest, she slid her wet flesh against his cock until it was soaked with the moisture seeping from her body. For half an hour, she rubbed her flesh against his, coming close but not achieving orgasm.
She never allowed the tip of his cock to slip farther than an inch inside her body.
Instead, she used the swollen head to rub against her throbbing clitoris then slid forward to allow it to tease the plump, hot lips.
Eyes closed, she concentrated on sensation, ignoring the man, pleasuring herself with his body.
But as the minutes passed, she found herself staring down at him.
His face didn’t contain the perfection of the
folletti
but it had a rugged beauty all of its own. Her hand found its way to his jaw. Her skin, dark olive against his golden tones, caught on the stubble of the beard he hadn’t bothered to shave in several days.