Twilight War (14 page)

“As strange as
it is, I want to believe you,” she told him. “Remember the
blood-bond?”

Open desire
flickered in his eyes at the mention. “Hell yeah.”

“I kind of
neglected to tell you everything. If you lie to me, the wound will
reopen and fester with unbearable pain until the truth is
told.”

He nodded with
a faint smile. “I know…I read your mind.”

Flame gasped.
“And you agreed to it anyway?”

“I had nothing
to hide.”

Cooper groaned
in open disgust. “Don’t listen to this prick, Flame.”

She ignored him
and focused on Von. “Most of our conversation took place before the
ritual. I need to ask you again, did you tell me the truth? Is this
man a Satellite as you said? And most importantly…did you use your
mind powers on me…did you kill Raef?”

“Of course he
did!” Cooper let out a sardonic laugh.

Flame swatted
the old man away. “Shut up.”

Von laid his
right hand alongside her face. His eyes burned into her soul as
they stood there during what would be a major turning point for
everyone present. The intense show of emotion in those incredibly
seductive eyes stole her breath.

Will I ride
away with this enigmatic stranger and finish this mission after
killing Coop? Or will I find a way to kill Von once again and make
amends with my father?
She held her breath, waiting and
wondering which way this would go.

Coop finally
shut up and waited, as if he, too, wanted to hear Von’s reply.

“Everything I
said to you since I’ve returned is the truth,” Von began in a
surprisingly calm voice that drifted over her like silk. “Coop is
the one messing with your head—he is the original Satellite.” He
lowered his head until their lips were dangerously close, speaking
softly while gazing at her with sheer compassion. “I told you once,
I am not a killer. I did not kill Raef. I would not do that to
you.”

She searched
his eyes then looked down at his hand. “Why not? He was in the way
of your success.”

A reluctant
expression shadowed his face. “Damn you, woman,” he muttered, then
opened his hand and laid it over her heart. His hot breath
feathered her lips when he spoke—he was just that close. “I never
could and never will hurt you…I’m in love with you.”

“What a crock
of shit,” Cooper growled.

Coop’s taunts
fell into the background as Von’s words swirled around her. Stunned
beyond belief at Von’s profession, she felt frozen to the ground,
breathless, unable to move as they stood there locked in eye
contact. Slowly, he turned his hand over, palm facing up for her to
see. She managed to tear her gaze away from his entrancing eyes to
look down. No change in the scar whatsoever. She waited cautiously
for a few minutes just to play it safe. His scar remained healed
with no signs of alteration.

He’s telling
the truth!

Their eyes met
again. She received his thoughts. They knew what to do next. Her
hands had never released their death grip on the daggers at her
sides. She slid them from the sheaths.

Coop let out a
mocking laugh. “Don’t tell me that you believe his lies. He’s just
using his enhanced power of seduction on you. Be smart, Flame.
There’s no such thing as a blood-bond that can discern the
truth.”

You know I’m
telling the truth.
Von gave her a quick subtle wink then
reached down and touched the tips of her blades. Fire raced up the
length at his touch. She stared at him in shock for a split second,
blown away that his mere touch had ignited her daggers. A wry grin
touched his face.
No time to reach for accelerant, babe.

She swung
around at lightning speed with fiery blades poised to strike.
“Let’s test that theory, shall we?”

“Flame, no!
Think of your mother. She almost saved me. She wouldn’t want you to
do this.” Coop backed up. “You can help me finish what she
started.”

“I will finish
what my mother failed to do.” With that, she lunged forward. A
flash of light sparked off the blade as she drove the first one
into his chest. He staggered sideways. “That was for my mother,”
she snarled, then raised the other dagger. “This one is for Raef.”
Before he could blink, she plunged her Sai straight through his
heart.

He crumpled to
the ground. “Flame,” he managed to choke out. “He didn’t tell you
about the…the…”

“The what?” She
dropped to one knee.

A bewildered
look flooded his dying eyes. “Kiss of death…ask him…if your
blood-bond is real…” He coughed, blood trickled from his mouth.
“Ask…him.” He drew one last ragged breath then died.

She tumbled
backward when his body erupted into an explosive inferno. The
ground shook violently. Flames shot high into the clearing. She sat
back, hands braced behind her, staring wide-eyed as the original
creeper met his demise. Thick smoke blanketed the immediate area,
burning her eyes and stinging her nose. She covered her mouth and
nose with a forearm, watching with mixed emotion, knowing all hope
had been lost for her father.

No doubt, the
Supreme Lioness had just seen what happened and now the mystery
surrounding Twilight’s first tool had been solved.

The wind picked
up strength and began howling through the mighty redwoods. Sudden
fear gripped Flame. She scooted back against a massive tree trunk
and wrapped her arms around it, hanging on tightly as a column of
air developed over Coop’s remains. She could barely draw a breath
amidst the vacuum created by the whirling wind. Squinting against
violently rotating dirt and debris, she watched in astonishment as
the dust devil spiraled downward instead of up toward the sky.

The funnel
cloud grew darker and blacker, swirling faster and faster until
with a screaming
whoosh
, the earth sucked it down into the
ground. She swept tangled hair from her face with one hand,
mesmerized by what she’d just seen. Coop’s soul must’ve carried the
guilt of endless souls to be taken from this world with such
fury.

When the air
cleared, she saw Von standing on the other side of the clearing.
His expression paralleled what she felt—something between awe and
terror. Their eyes met. He walked toward her.

“Can you really
force your boyfriend into a fate such as this?” Von asked with a
penetrating stare.

Flame pushed to
her feet and dusted herself off. “What is the
kiss of
death
?”

Chapter
Nine

Von hesitated.
Her fast thinking caught him off guard. He wasn’t prepared for
this.

She grabbed his
left hand with both of hers. “What is it?”

Damn, him!
Damn Cooper O’Toole to hell!
In his last dying breath, Coop
managed to point the finger back at him one last time. “I’m not
telling you.”

“Why not?” She
stomped on his foot and glared.

He didn’t
flinch. “You’ll use it to bring Raef back. I’m not gonna let you do
something you’ll regret forever.”

“You don’t care
about Raef, or me, or anyone except yourself. You want to win so
you don’t follow Coop into the bowels of hell.”

“I admit I
don’t want to go out like he just did, but you’re wrong about me.
Maybe I
don’t
care about Raef, why should I? If you and he
had your way, I’d be dead and he’d live the happily ever after with
you.” He unclenched the fist in her grip so she could see his palm.
“For some inexplicable reason I do care about you and I have since
the day we met. Don’t ask me why. I haven’t felt anything toward
anyone since Coop dragged me into this hell.”

She stared at
his palm and waited before speaking again, then looked up at him
with those expressive dark blue eyes—the eyes that had pierced his
heart months ago.

“We can never
be. Don’t you understand?” Sadness touched her pretty face and
longing hung on her sweet voice. “If I allow myself to fall for you
then history will repeat itself. My mother failed because she gave
in to her feelings for my…for that man. Look where that got
them.”

He sighed.
There had to be a way around this. He wanted her and now he’d just
jumped off a cliff and professed his love.
Love
, he thought.
Is that what I feel? Has this woman stirred my humanity back to
life?
He pondered their previous encounters and the motivating
factors. When he’d snuck her away from Aiden, it had been to spare
her more agony at the hands of the people who’d brutalized her.
He’d had every intention of resuming his seduction but not to hand
her over to Twilight, he burned with something he couldn’t quite
place. In her presence, he forgot what he’d become and remembered
the man he used to be.

A familiar
yearning had crept into his soul the day he’d taken her hostage
then aborted the plan in order to save her. The image of her
standing outside the hospital grief-stricken over Raef’s death
flashed through his mind. He’d warned her that the next time they
met he’d not be a gentleman, yet seeing her with that forlorn look
in her eyes made him feel sorry for her.
Feel…there’s the key
word. I actually felt something more than desire for her…at least
twice. I wanted to protect her. I wanted to comfort her and ease
her pain.

“How do I know
that your motivation for helping me kill Twilight’s original tool
was not just to have your own revenge?” Her voice broke into his
meditative state. “After all, Coop is the reason you’re a
Satellite. You told me you wanted him dead. Maybe your reasons for
wanting him dead go beyond the lust for revenge. Maybe you and your
master decided he needed to die before he spilled his guts to me
about things I am not supposed to know…like the kiss of death.”

“You’re not the
easiest woman to love, do you know that?” He pulled out a fresh
smoke and lit it.

She let out a
little laugh. “My mission in life goes much deeper than earning the
love of a man.”

“That’s right,
Ms. Independent warrior woman who refuses to give her last name to
anyone she doesn’t trust.” He stared at her through narrowed eyes.
“Tell me, sugar, did Raef know your last name?”

Fire flickered
in her eyes. Her face tensed. “That is none of your concern,” she
huffed, then turned away.

Von swung
around in front of her, catching her eyes with his. “You never told
him. You were still on the fence about Raef, too? We are not much
different. You don’t trust anyone either.”

Her flustered
expression indicated he’d struck a nerve. Her evasive response was
a clear sign that her heart was still open.

“I loved Raef.
Love is a gift. Trust must be earned.”

He snuffed the
half-spent smoke on the sole of his boot. “If I earn your trust
will you give me your love?”

“Didn’t you
hear me? We can never be.”

Framing her
face between both hands, he searched her eyes. “What about all that
talk of pulling me over and helping me get in touch with my
feelings? Was it all bullshit?”

“No!” She
scowled, openly offended.

“You really
are
like me. Everything you do is about winning this war.”
He refused to let her wriggle free. “Wait, I take that back. We are
different in
one
way. I told you the truth.” He thought for
sure she’d try to dagger him right there by the hot look in those
sultry eyes. Yet she didn’t move a muscle. “Once you pull me over
to the supposedly good side, then what? What will you do with me
then?”

“Set you free
because I sure as hell don’t want to team up with you no matter
whose side you’re on, regardless of what the high rulers want.”

They stood
still, locked in a heated gaze. “Really? Cause I didn’t get that
from you when you had your legs wrapped around my waist on the
beach.”

She reacted
with impressive speed. Her hand was less than an inch from his jaw
when he caught it with his. “I told you before, woman, don’t ever
do that again.”

Not a hint of
fear showed in the blazing eyes focused on him now. He suspected
that if she had the power, she’d torch him telepathically without
flinching. Her sheer fury actually felt somewhat alarming. He’d
never seen so much fight in a woman. He took tight hold of both her
dainty yet powerful hands and held them to her sides.

With a
relenting sigh but a willing heart, he pulled her to his chest and
placed his lips close to her ear. “The kiss of death…” he began in
a slow murmur, “is the only thing that can kill me now.” Brazenly,
he nipped at her ear, then drew a deep breath at her neck, taking
in her enchanting floral scent. “And the only woman able to deliver
such a kiss is you.”

She pulled back
only as far as he let her. “You’re telling me how to kill you?”

“Yeah…what
point is there to this fight if I can never have you the way I
want? I’ve never had to force myself on a woman and I’m not gonna
start now.”

“And just how
do I perform this kiss of death?” Her eyes shimmered with
intrigue.

“It’s quite
simple. You simply have to catch me sleeping and place a kiss of
genuine desire on my lips without waking me. Only then will your
Sai be effective on me again, but you must strike me down before
the kiss wears off.” He released a slow sigh. “And from past
experience, I know a kiss from you doesn’t wear off…ever. That
would buy you a lot of time.”

“That’s it?”
She looked shocked. “You’d think the Twilight Realm would come up
with something more challenging to protect their most powerful
tool.”

“Surprising,
isn’t it?”

“Kind of, yeah,
but also rather cold. Maybe it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

He grinned then
gave her a wink. “Do you think you’re clever enough to catch me
sleeping?”

“I’ve been
channeling your powers since we did the blood-bond. Don’t
underestimate me.”

“Whoa…you’re a
tricky little thing, aren’t ya?”