Chapter 24
Tess knew she and Callum should be focused on figuring out their portal problems, but they just couldn’t seem to get out of bed. They’d spend hours talking and having sex, then Callum would glamour up some outrageous food, then they’d sleep, then they’d shower, then they’d have sex again, and it was all a very difficult cycle to break.
“You’re turning me into a hermit,” Tess joked, luxuriating in her big sleigh bed as Callum grazed his fingers over her body. “I’m the only human ever to visit this magical island, and all I’ll ever see is the inside of this bedroom.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Callum teased, leaning over to kiss Tess. “Would you prefer I arranged some sort of historical group tour? A vampire with an umbrella leading us to various spots of interest and giving dry lectures on who was murdered where?”
“Shut up. You know full well I’d fucking love that.”
Callum laughed and started kissing her again, and she imagined what the tour guide would say about this particular room.
Now, this is the bedroom of the first and only human who ever visited the Isle. In this very spot, a woman who thought she might never be happy again realized just how much she’d been missing.
“All right,” he said nearly an hour later, reaching for one of Tess’s library books. “Let’s see what mysteries of the universe we can uncover.”
He was sitting up in bed, entirely naked except for a sheet sort of half covering his lower regions. He’d glamoured a platter of charcuterie and cheeses, and Tess was grazing as he opened one of the leather-bound tomes she’d lugged across the compound.
“A compendium of gems with magical properties,” he read. “If you want me to scare you up some rubies, all you have to do is ask, love.”
“I think emeralds go better with my coloring, don’t you?”
“Emeralds it is,” he agreed as he flipped through the book. “Blue diamonds for loyalty, yellow for healing, red for blood. That’s funny, I had a dream about a red diamond while I was loopy on poison.”
“You did? What about?”
“Suppose it was more like a memory.” He scratched at his jaw. “This time in the 1920s, Konstantin sent Octavia and me to nick a pendant off some guy in Paris. Thought it would be easy, but he walked in on us mid-heist—about lost his mind when he realized what was happening. Guess it was a family heirloom, worth a fortune even then—can’t imagine what it would go for now. He tried to fight us, but obviously that didn’t go too well. Fell to his knees weeping, begged us not to take it.”
“But you did?” Tess asked.
“Had to.” Callum shrugged. “I didn’t care about some stupid pendant, but Konstantin wanted it, so. Not worth the trouble to disobey, even if it did ruin some poor sod’s life. It was ugly too. Giant stone, all this gold, really gaudy. I thought it was a ruby, but Konstantin said it was a red diamond. Rarest stone on Earth.”
“Wait.” Tess sat up and looked at Callum, something jogging in her memory. “The pendant—was it a gold cross? A medieval one, like you’d see on a knight of the Crusade?”
“Yes, actually.” Callum peered at Tess. “Have you been researching telepathy too?”
“The paintings at Octavia’s—do you remember, she had those watercolors? One of them was of a gold cross pendant with a giant red stone. I assumed it was a ruby, but it’s the same necklace you’re talking about, right? It has to be. And if you had a dream about it, and Octavia drew it, then do you think…”
“It might have something to do with the portal?” Callum asked.
They looked at each other—had they stumbled upon something real here?
“The book,” Tess said hurriedly, flipping through the pages to the one about red diamonds. She scanned the text as quickly as she could: “Red is the rarest color for any diamond—only about fifty red diamonds have ever been found throughout history, and they sell for well over a million dollars per carat. These powerful stones are most commonly used in matters of blood magic, and their presence can immeasurably increase the strength of any existing blood bond.”
“Blood magic?” Callum frowned. “That doesn’t have anything to do with portals.”
“Unless…” Tess’s brain was spinning as she put the pieces together. “Didn’t you say you could feel Octavia on the other side of the portal? Maybe it’s not about strengthening the portal itself—but the underlying bond that creates it.”
“So all I need to do is glamour a red diamond?” Callum asked.
“Oh.” Tess’s face fell. “No, a glamoured stone won’t work. It says so in the book.”
“That’s that, then.” Callum leaned back against the pillows. “Pretty unlikely one of the fifty red diamonds ever found throughout history is here on this island.”
Tess sighed heavily as another memory surfaced. “Actually, one is. And you’re not going to believe who has it.”
Callum frowned in confusion—then his face turned stony as he figured it out.
“Felix? Really? Really, Tess?”
“Technically it was Isobel who had a red diamond ring,” Tess offered. “It’s still in her room in his castle, so all I would have to do is go there—”
“We’ve been through this.”
“—and get him to show it to me, then, I don’t know, smuggle it out somehow? So we could take it back to the moonflower meadow and try to make a portal last long enough to get back to New York? Callum, please, you know it’s the best idea we’ve had.”
“I suppose it’s worth it to you, risking your life for a chance to leave this place.” Callum sulked.
“Hey.” Tess snuggled closer to him, taking his hands in hers. “It’s not that I’m not happy here. These last few days, with you—Callum, this is the happiest I’ve been since I left school. But I think…I don’t know. I’ve been having this feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?” he asked.
“Like I need to go back. Not just to New York, but—to Columbia, maybe. Three years ago, I quit on my life. But now I’m thinking…I don’t know. Maybe it’s not too late to try again.”
Callum bit his lip—which made Tess want to kiss him, but she could sense it wasn’t the time.
“I think we have to talk to Nantale.”
“What?” Tess was surprised. “Why?”
“Because she’s the one who sent us on this wild-goose chase to begin with,” Callum said, his expression hard. “And we need to tell her that we’re breaking into Felix’s castle to get that diamond.”
It was common knowledge on the Isle that Felix’s clan threw a ball every full moon—and once Tess told Callum that this month’s theme was a Venetian masque, he knew it would be the perfect opportunity to slip in and steal the diamond. Callum was somewhat worried that Nantale would declare his plan too risky—after all, aside from Nantale herself, there was no one on the Isle that Felix and his clan wanted dead more than Callum Yoo. Walking directly into their stronghold could be considered suicidal, especially since Callum had every intention of protecting Tess’s life above his own (though he wouldn’t tell Nantale this). On top of all that, it was a very big risk with no certain reward: Even if they did successfully smuggle Isobel’s red diamond out of the castle, they had no way to know for sure whether the diamond would be enough to open a portal back to New York.
But it was the best—and only—idea they had. And Nantale agreed they had no choice but to try.
“I’ll come with you,” she said, surprising Callum.
“I can’t let you do that,” he replied, and she gave him a cold look.
“Callum, you don’t ‘let’ me do anything.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he blustered. “Look, it’s one thing if Felix kills me, but the clan won’t survive without you.”
“Besides,” Tess piped up, “the hope is that they won’t even know we’re there, right? So the fewer of us that go, the better?”
Nantale tilted her head and appraised Tess. “Fine. You two will go, Sylvie will prepare you a dress. And if you are able to retrieve the diamond, I will consider that the fulfillment of your service to my clan. Even if we cannot use the diamond to create a portal, I will still send a party to take you back to Bar Between so you can return home.”
“Actually…” Callum said nervously. “I guess I should have told you this sooner, but what with one thing and another…someone set off an explosion at the foot of the crystal bridge. So there’s no way for Tess to leave the Isle without a portal.”
Callum searched Nantale’s face for a reaction—shock at the news? Anger at Callum for withholding it? But she remained as unreadable and impassive as ever.
“Well then.” She folded her arms. “I suppose you two had better get that diamond.”
After that, Tess went to meet with Sylvie to figure out what to wear to the ball, and Callum and Nantale talked through every detail of his plan. Tess would flirt with Felix and try to find out where Isobel’s room was, then get away from him as quickly as possible to relay the information to Callum. Callum and Tess would sneak out of the party and go to the room together, counting on the drunken revelry as distraction to give them cover. And if they were found out…Callum was a hell of a fighter. He’d do everything he could to get Tess to safety.
He just wished he had more time with Tess before they embarked on a mission that could cost either of them their lives.
She came to his rooms as darkness was falling, by which time he was in bed poring over her copy of Blood Feud.
“Hey,” she said, pushing open the door to his bedroom. “Still reading that?”
“Seeing if I can find anything about Felix’s castle. But this damn Lirio only wants to write about how good I am in bed.”
“People need to know that.” Tess climbed into bed beside him, kissing him gently.
“So you don’t think Lirio oversold my prowess?” He pulled her into his lap.
“Mmm, I don’t have enough information,” she said. “Maybe if you give me a few more data points.”
He laughed—but it caught in his chest.
“Are you okay?” she asked, rubbing his shoulder.
“I don’t want this to be our last night together,” he said softly.
“You’re really worried about tomorrow, huh?”
“Maybe we just skip it.” He sighed. “Stay here where it’s safe and we’re together.”
“Glamour ourselves a little cottage in the north, hide out from all the vampires who want to drink my blood?” she suggested.
“I’ll spend my nights hunting and my days giving you more data points than you could ever need.”
“That sounds nice,” Tess said, running her fingers through his hair. He loved the feeling of her nails gently dragging over his scalp; he closed his eyes at the pleasure of it.
“Callum?” Tess asked, and he opened his eyes. Her tone sounded serious. “If we do manage to get back to New York…do you think, I mean. Would that be the end of this? Of us?”
“Why? You think a rake like me would move on the second he got back to a city with millions of other women?” He was just teasing, but her face fell.
“I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Tess.” He drew her close, kissing her hair. “In all my lifetimes, I’ve never let anyone in—really in—except my sister, and maybe Nantale a bit. But you understand me in this way…”
“What way?” She looked up at him.
“It’s like your book says—like I’m this villain, right? I always embraced that. When people were afraid of me, I liked it. Because if they were afraid to come after me, it meant I was safer, and so was Vee. But you see this other part of me. This vulnerable part, the part I always thought of as weak. Except with you…I feel strong. Like letting you see every side of me, like that’s tougher than all that other bit, if that makes sense.”
“It absolutely makes sense,” Tess said, her voice choked. “I didn’t expect you to be so good. After…what happened to me. Maybe I never expected anyone to be good again.”
“Tess.” He felt pained.
“No, it’s okay. Because in a way, I think that was easier, you know? To just write everyone off, to never have to risk anyone doing that to me again. But in another way, I was running too. And being with you—it’s made me see that maybe I don’t want to run anymore.”
“I don’t want to run from you,” Callum whispered.
“I know you don’t.”
Tess leaned her forehead against his.
“I want to ask you something,” she said—and he could sense she was nervous, her pulse was speeding up.
“What is it?” He rubbed the pressure point on her wrist, trying to soothe her.
“You’re not back to full strength yet, right? Since your injury?”
“Are you saying you find my current level of strength dissatisfactory?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No.” She laughed. “I was thinking, for tomorrow. It would be better if you were stronger, right?”
“Tess, what are you getting at?”
She lifted her soft, fluffy sweater over her head, so that she wore only jeans and a bra.
“Feed on me,” she said.
“What?” Callum was so shocked he almost choked. “You’re not serious.”
“I am.”
“But I can’t—” he sputtered. “It’s too dangerous, I haven’t fed in a decade. If I can’t stop myself, I could hurt you—or worse.”
“But you won’t.” Tess cradled his face in her hands. “You won’t, because I trust you. Callum, you’ve helped me so much—”
“You’ve saved my life. Twice,” he countered, and Tess laughed.
“Yeah, fair enough. But I want to do this for you, okay?”
He loved the way she looked at him, like he was worthy of her trust. Like despite everything he’d ever done, he was still a good man.
“Tess, are you sure?” he asked.
“I’m sure,” she said. She leaned in and kissed him, and he drank in the taste of her, the feel of her warm mouth, her soft body. She leaned her neck to the side for him, but he shook his head.
“Not there,” he said.
“Why not?” She looked puzzled.
“Blood moves faster in smaller veins, like the ones in your wrist or your neck,” he explained, running a finger over her delicate wrist. “If I drink from your thigh, it will be easier to pace myself.”
“Oh,” she breathed, and he could feel her pulse pounding—it was hard to ignore his predatory instincts. She undid her fly, arched her back to slide her jeans down over those glorious thighs, the same thighs he’d so enjoyed kissing and teasing over the past days, feeling her writhe and squirm in eager anticipation of his touch.
“Will it hurt?” she asked as he removed his sweatshirt.
“Only for a moment, when I bite you. Which, again, I absolutely do not have to do if you don’t want me to.”
“No.” She took him firmly by his shoulders and moved his body down hers. “I want you to. Now.”
It was the most dominant she’d been with him, and he found it excited him just as much as when she was soft and gentle.
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled, and he began to kiss his way down her torso, starting with her neck, letting his lips linger over her décolletage, nipping at her nipples through the slippery silk of her bra. When she moaned at the sensation, he had half a mind to abandon the feeding and go down on her instead—but there’d be time for that afterward. He was going to see to it that this woman had the most pleasurable night of her life.
He lavished kisses on her round belly and wide hips, then used his hands to bend her knee slightly, exposing the soft underside of her thigh.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” She was breathing hard.
He extended his fangs and bit her quickly so as not to draw out the anticipation. She gasped at the pain, and he could feel the tension in her. He wanted to tell her to relax, to reassure her that he wouldn’t harm her, but her blood had already started flowing, and he couldn’t have kept his mouth away from it for anything on Earth. He was so nervous he was shaking, acutely aware of every part of his body, holding his own tension, forcing himself to stay in control as he brought his lips to her thigh and drank.
Her blood tasted like a fresh field of flowers, grassy and bright; drinking it reminded him of childhood, running through a park with Octavia and falling asleep on a soft blanket in the sunlight on a summer afternoon. There was something golden about the taste of her, the feeling of her life force flowing inside of him—and he knew in that moment that there was no danger of hurting her. He felt that he understood her so deeply, that his body was so perfectly in sync with hers, their needs were one and the same.
After a minute or so, he stopped drinking. She looked up at him, a bit dazed—humans always were when they’d lost some blood—but he knew she’d be all right quickly.
“That’s all?” she asked.
He nodded, then pricked his own finger and rubbed a couple of drops of blood on the spot where he’d bit her.
“To help the wound heal,” he explained, and she nodded, her head lolling gently.
He moved up to lie beside her, and she turned on her side to face him.
“Your eyes,” she murmured. “They’re so gold.”
“Happens sometimes,” he smiled. “How do you feel?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” She exhaled, already seeming sharper. “How do you feel?”
He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt. The buzz of her blood flowing through his veins, his sudden confidence they’d make it through the ball, steal the diamond, and get safely back to New York. But none of that seemed to matter as much as the way he felt about her.
Because he was in love with her. He was absolutely certain of it.
But he couldn’t tell her that—not when it was entirely possible that either of them could die tomorrow. It would be cruel, would only sharpen both of their regrets.
“I feel better than I have in years,” he told her, his voice breaking just a bit.
“Same,” she said quietly, and maybe he was wrong, but he thought he understood that one syllable to mean I love you too.
He kissed her then, and she kissed him back. And he tried not to think about the ball, what would happen if they succeeded, what would happen if they failed—sacrificing his life for her if it came to it, leaving Octavia trapped in New York, leaving Tess trapped here on the Isle.
He didn’t want to think about any of that, not now. He just wanted to be here with Tess, to enjoy his last few hours in bed with the woman he loved.