9. Poppies are my New Favorite Flower
Avoiding our rooms wasn’t an option that night, but when I finally gathered the courage to go inside, Julian was nowhere to be found. Tears pricked my eyes as I crawled into the bed and curled myself around a pillow. I felt both violated and violator. Why had I ever accepted anything from Merl? Would I have been able to resist him when he spilled blood in front of me eventually anyway? I swallowed hard. What did he want from me so badly, he was willing to sacrifice his own blood? It couldn’t have simply been sex. I wasn’t that deluded to think Merlin couldn’t find a willing partner of any type he chose. Maybe he simply wanted to hurt Julian for some reason and so went after his mate.
I screamed into the down cushion to muffle it despite the soundproofed room. No matter how honest and open Julian was with his past, there were five hundred years’ worth of enemies and lovers I had no knowledge of until he had reason to bring them up.
Not that I’d been completely honest with him anyway. I sobbed harder, swiping at my eyes as I climbed out of bed again to walk about the room. He had no reason to be this angry at me. He’d always forgiven me before, even when I was convinced he may have arrested or killed me on the spot. Anger began to creep in as I thought on it, replacing the despair. He knew I was here probably crying and needing him, and he decided to punish me for doing what he’d done multiple times himself. He expected me to listen to everything he said and do nothing myself. He only cared about other lives if it affected him or what belonged to him. And I’d happily counted myself among that list. I’d given him agency over me. Sure, Julian had patience. But at what point down the line would he start using his power as my sire to force my behavior to match what he believed to be right?
Storming to the master bathroom, I stared in the mirror. Streaks of blood painted my face where I’d rubbed the tears from my eyes. Yes, I’d gotten carried away when drinking from Merl, but how many women had Julian taken to bed for pleasure when feeding?
“Stop it!” I screamed at my reflection, punching the glass so that a ripple of cracks bled outward in a pattern. He hadn’t slept with anyone since we’d been together. What was wrong with me? Was it something about Merlin’s blood? Or maybe it was the pressure of everything catching up to me.
Rubbing my neck, I started the bath I’d been craving. I sank beneath the hot bubble filled water, cutting off my unnecessary breathing and staring up at the ceiling of white froth that bobbed above me as I tried to calm myself.
The truth remained that Julian had a habit of running away when he was afraid. I’d thought it was when he feared for me, but now, I wasn’t so sure. Merl had manipulated me too easily, and despite his power, I had a mind to keep sucking and finish him off next time to eliminate my problems.
I sat up, sloshing water up and over the sides of the tub, as I realized how I’d just used typical vampiric reasoning to try to get out of my problems the easy way. It meant ending the life of the world’s most infamous wizard. Sure, he was a dick, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die. No, I had to be strong and refuse to go near him again unless absolutely necessary.
Having his power thrumming through my body wasn’t a terrible side effect, though. I grinned, realizing I was alone with the one thing I’d grown up surrounded by but unable to wield. Magic.
Pointing at the broken mirror, I flicked my fingertip, and the surface bulged then settled back in place, as smooth and unblemished as it had been before I’d struck it. I climbed out of the tub and stared at my dripping reflection. With a wave of my hand, I was dried and dressed in a curve-hugging red gown and strappy heels, my hair pinned up into a cascade of loose auburn waves that caressed the silky skin of my bare shoulders. My makeup was done, dark liner and smoky shadow accentuating the green in my hazel eyes, and dark, red stained lips. I was definitely hot.
The command the queen had given me to kill Grival kept scratching at my mind like an itch I couldn’t reach. So I strolled back to the front room, plotting how to get ahold of the brute. I had the “horse” Em had spoken of, so maybe that meant I could succeed. But she’d said not to try to kill him, just to take the sword…
I hesitated a moment before deciding attempting something couldn’t hurt. Painting a circle in the air, a gilded portal appeared before me.
“Holy shit,” I said, staring at it. With a deep breath, I stepped through and found myself in a cabin, large enough to be a luxury rental in some national park but decorated with the kind of patchwork quilts and knickknacks filled with inspirational sayings one would be more likely to find in their grandmother’s house.
On the sofa sat two women I recognized immediately from the book club meetings Mama had held at our house. The one on the end glanced up, peering at me above her rectangular spectacles as she paused her knitting. A floral shirt stretched across her ample bosom displaying a variety of labeled flora. The other woman was so thin her skin sagged and wobbled beneath her arm when she lifted her glass of wine in a salute upon seeing me. Her face sported both a million wrinkles and more makeup than I’d ever seen on one person.
“Char!” the one with the knitting needles exclaimed. “How on earth did you get inside the coven safehouse without your sister? She’s outside picking herbs with Hazel.”
“I, uh, it’s complicated,” I hedged. “Is Em around?”
The women exchanged a glance, and the one I thought was named Fanny stood, setting her wine aside. She gestured for me to follow and led me up a wide staircase and along a hall filled with photos of nature and animals to the very end where she knocked on a door. It swung open immediately, and Em glanced up from the floor where she held a game controller and had been facing a television set.
“Hi,” she greeted happily, discarding the electronics and jumping to her feet to give me a hug. She looked up at me with a grin and crooked teeth. “I’ve been waiting for you. You need to take me with you so I can meet Poppy.”
Fanny excused herself, and I waited until I heard her on the stairs before I gave my attention back to Em. “Who’s Poppy?”
“Our unicorn,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “I can’t wait to pet her.”
I shook my head, astounded as always. “You said horse, not unicorn last time.”
“Yeah, didn’t see her horn because she camouflaged it. I guess she doesn’t want the bad guys to know what she is.”
Filing that information away, I squatted down to look her in her russet eyes. Then I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, but it promptly sprang back out again at an odd angle. “Sweetie, I will introduce you as soon as I’m sure it’s safe. But in the meantime, I need your help.”
Em straightened her shoulders and nodded, serious.
“I need to know how to…” I hesitated, unsure if I should admit I’m trying to kill someone to a child. But that itch at the back of my brain intensified, making me wince.
“You shouldn’t,” she said answering my unfinished question. “I told you. Just steal the sword.”
“But I have to,” I insisted then bit down on my lip.
“It’ll start something you won’t like.”
I shouldn’t have come. I’d hoped she could give me an edge with her future sight, but she couldn’t understand that I had no choice now.
“He’ll find you.” She set a little hand on my arm. “Don’t feel bad, though. It’s not your fault. They didn’t listen to me.”
“Who didn’t?” I asked, afraid of whatever she was referring to.
“That’s where everyone went,” she said. “To kill the demons. But like I said, two people are going to die.”
I stood too fast, but Em didn’t startle, just watched me carefully. “He’s not with them.”
“You knew I wondered if Julian had gone too,” I said, with an incredulous laugh.
“He didn’t. But everyone else did. They didn’t want you to worry.” Em stood on tiptoe to turn my face toward her. “Just the sword,” she cautioned, then threw her arms around my waist, hugging me with all her strength. “You should take Poppy back. She followed you.”
I hadn’t even thought about what it would mean if I portalled more than a mile away from my equine shadow. Hurrying to the closest hall window, I peered out of eyelet curtains to find the snowy steed nickering and skipping around like she was antsy to go.
“So pretty!” Em peered through the bottom of the glass to see her.
“Come on. I suppose you can meet her since she’s here.” I took her hand and led Em down the steps and outside, where Poppy had cantered around to meet us.
“Em this is Poppy. Poppy, Em.”
The animal reared up on its hind legs as though showing off and then moved forward to scoot her snout under Em’s outstretched hand. Em giggled. “She feels like Karma.”
She wasn’t wrong. The unicorn felt more like a rabbit’s soft fur than a horse. I went to mount her, but Em tugged on my hand, halting me. “It’s sad,” she said, staring with those wide eyes. “But remember, she made a choice.”
I nodded, not a hundred percent sure I understood but anxious to go. She smiled back at me as I leaped lightly onto Poppy’s back and tangled my fingers in her mane. Em waved goodbye as we set off into the woods at a gallop.
“I need to find Grival,” I whispered against the mare’s soft face, and her ear twitched in response. “It’s not that I want to—it’s that I have to,” I explained, sensing her judgement. Or maybe needing to convince myself.
We turned, leaning left so far that I hung sideways, never at risk of falling as she raced through the trees with ease. The sky above may have been clear, but the foliage was so thick that only occasional slices of moonlight managed to cut through. Soon, the tangy, sweet scent of blood hit me. The familiarity of it caused my legs to squeeze against Poppy’s hide until she was moving at a speed that felt more like flying than riding.
But as we leaped through the brush toward a clearing, a set of strong arms caught me about the waist and spun me off the animal, setting me on the thick layer of leaves and twigs on the ground.
I spun around to confront my attacker and found Julian standing there, face flushed with someone’s blood just as mine was. We stared at each other for a good minute, both silent and still.
“You left me,” I said finally, the hurt digging into my flesh, but not my words.
“Never. I had to check to confirm my suspicion.” He waited, not making a move toward me.
“Which was?” I prompted.
“Kayora,” Julian said. “She disappeared two weeks ago by all accounts. I believe she was the witch Elsa drained to absorb her power.”
My eyebrows rose. She was as powerful as Merlin according to him. It would make sense. But… “Why couldn’t you just have told me?”
Julian pursed his lips. “I did need space as well,” he admitted finally, looking down and away.
“You have no right to be angry when you?—”
Julian’s grip on my arms stopped me as he leaned in, eyes glowing deep purple. “I am not angry with you, Charlotte. I am angry at myself for not giving enough credibility to the stories. Not anticipating the sheer strength of the sire bond when it comes to mates.” The passion with which he met my lips stole all breath, all thought, from my body. He kissed me with bruising force, teeth clacking and tongue sweeping so deep inside my mouth that I would have been unable to breathe had I needed to.
As fast as the kiss happened, it stopped, and he stepped back.
“The sire has as much impulse to consume his or her mate as the mate does to be consumed.” He quieted, waiting for my response, hands fisted at his sides.
I swallowed, forcing myself into scientist mode to consider his words. My attachment to Julian was a bit…overkill. I’d assumed it was the mating bond as he said. And mates were driven to turn the other if they weren’t already both vampires. But maybe that also explained my crazed anger and desperation when I thought he’d gone off somewhere.
Julian nodded when I looked at him, silently encouraging me to keep reasoning. He was obsessed with me as well. We’d proven already that we would do anything to protect the other. And a sire bond made the new vampire bound to the sire’s wishes. But it also stood to reason that the sire on his end would desire to command his new progeny. To feel some sort of ownership in a way. I hadn’t thought of it through his side. There was a drive of a sire to control which Julian had no trouble ignoring until it came to me—his mate. Now that he’d turned me, and the mating bond was complete, it must be driving him mad to see me so close to danger, not to mention coveted by others. I widened my eyes with understanding.
“When Elsa threatened you this morning, it took everything I had to control myself.” He dipped his head in shame. “And when the conversation continued, visions of tearing every one of their throats out plagued my mind as well as—” He stopped.
“As what? Julian?”
He met my eyes. “As the desire to punish you for allowing yourself to get in this situation. The picture of you coming for me while I punished you overtook my mind.” He stepped toward me. “It was like nothing else got through as I watched you, in my own head, moaning with pleasure while simultaneously begging for forgiveness.”
Primal fear rose to the surface along with a distinct ache between my thighs I couldn’t ignore, and I was sure Julian scented. It was both the sexiest and most frightening thing he’d ever said. Maybe more frightening because of my reaction.
“That is why I needed space,” he finished, reaching for me, but stopping before actually touching me. “I would rather end myself than harm you even in the smallest way.”
“A little sex play is healthy,” I managed to breathe.
“That was far more. Believe me, what I pictured doing to you was not…healthy.”
My body wept for him despite my mortification. Apparently, I was into that.
“Maybe it’s something that will pass,” I offered, stepping closer to him.
“It will not go away, Charlotte.”
I sucked in my bottom lip as the heat coming off his freshly fed body seeped into my bones. “Lessen?” I tried.
“I don’t know,” he whispered, staring at my mouth. “You fed from Merl again.”
“He fell on some rose bushes, and I was there. I was so hungry.”
Julian’s eyes flashed red, and he pulled me in by the waist with a sudden strong grip, making me gasp. “And were you sated?” he asked over my lips.
“Not in every way,” I said, lost to my body’s lustful reaction to this man.
Julian had me up against a tree in a millisecond, wrists held captive in one of his hands above my head. The understanding dawned on me that we’d done this type of dance on multiple occasions, and I’d practically come when he tied up my wrists. Was the first mate to turn always the dominant and the other submissive? I wondered as he scraped his fangs along my neck to the swell of my breast, his other hand sliding through the slit in my dress and up the inside of my thigh, already soaked with my need.
“I will kill him for baiting you,” he growled above me before sinking his fangs into the flesh of my breast.
My eyes rolled back in my head as he willed pleasure over me, finally finding the source of my wetness and plunging two fingers inside.
“You’re mine,” he growled, lifting his face as he pumped and curled then met my clit with his thumb.
I groaned, unable to form words as he added a third finger to the mix.
“Mine. Mine. Mine.” He repeated the word with every thrust until I screamed it back to him as I shattered around his ministrations. I went weak as he worked me down from my orgasm then lifted his fingers to his mouth to suck them dry.
“Fuck, Julian.” This was the kind of dirty, carnal behavior I never knew I needed.
“Do you want me to?” he asked, nose to nose, still gripping my wrists above my head.
I was about to tell him to do every filthy thing he wanted with me when a scream broke the air.
We both spun around, searching for the danger. The blood I’d scented earlier and assumed was Julian’s meal grew stronger, and several types and flavors mixed together like an over seasoned steak.
With one shared glance, we dashed through the bushes to the clearing I’d almost made it to with Poppy. A shining blue portal hovered a few feet above the ground, and quite a few people had come through.
A blood-soaked Sam held Lydia across his lap, her arm twisted the wrong direction, and a gash across her chest that had split open her shirt and was oozing crimson. Hazel lay unresponsive on the ground, clothing torn and covered in yet more wounds. And to the other side, a disheveled and distraught Binx cradled Tabitha, who’s head lay at an impossible angle, eyes open and empty.
Above and to the right, stood the demon Grival, the very one I was tasked with murdering. Behind him, half slung over the portal, lay another body—that of the other demon board member, Daria. And in the last living demon’s hand, held suspended in the air, hung Zoe.
Suddenly the idea of removing Grival’s heart sounded like a fantastic idea.