Chapter 7
Chapter 7
T hat was a heavy past to carry in one’s baggage. Ethan rubbed his jaw and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
A smirk to send away the horrible remembrance of the pain she had endured at her lover’s hand was all Tuesday could manage. “Don’t be. I took the curse willingly.”
“To never have love?”
She shrugged. “It was a means to escape the torture and to live.”
“But you can’t still want such a thing?”
She shrugged and looked aside. Ethan’s heart shivered as it had when she’d described the awful torture she’d endured at the hands of a witch hunter, a man she had loved.
He knew what it felt like to wield the whip. Never against a witch, of course. Their blood could have killed him back in the days when such violence had been acceptable, a means to survival. As a young vampire in his tribe, he’d been tested, asked to prove his alliances, most especially during the Blood Wars that had seen his tribe fighting the werewolves. Never had he regretted those acts more than now. Yet to mention it would not win any trust from the witch.
Could his actions since she’d arrived in Paris be construed as a subtle torture, a form of control? Surely. Hell, he didn’t want to think about this too much. It would only stifle the mission. He had to focus on the task at hand. Her tale was sad, but she had survived, and seemed the stronger for it.
She’d been punished for caring about another man. By a seemingly selfish and narcissistic demon, who had cursed her only because he could. And yet, she had willingly taken his dark curse in a moment of such weakness she could not have known the impact it would have on her. No one would wish to never know love. Even he, who was jaded by love, would take it if the time was right and his heart leaped.
“We can’t wander about the forest calling out for the demon,” she said as a means to indicate she was finished talking about her history.
The demon had taken advantage of her.
Now more than ever Ethan wanted to find that bastard, and once he gave up the book with the code, then Ethan would banish him to Daemonia, never to return. Was there a possibility he could have Gazariel take back the curse from Tuesday? With the forced expulsion to Daemonia, all curses, hexes and otherwise foul doings would be erased in the demon’s wake. She could be freed if he found the demon and kicked him the hell out of the mortal realm.
“You’re right about wandering around without a clear direction.” He started the engine and the car heater roared up again. “Tell me what to do.”
With a heavy sigh, she pointed behind her. “I think he’s probably living in one of those fancy apartments we passed. I mean, he’s not living in a tree. The man can obviously walk and live amongst the mortals without suspicion, like all the other demons that showed up on my map. They hold jobs, they live and love, they pass for human.”
“As we all do.”
“Exactly. So, I need to cast a GPS spell and that should lead us in the right direction.”
“A GPS spell? Like the map you cast at my place?”
“This one is more advanced. A witch has got to evolve with the technology, yeah?”
A witch, a vampire and every other paranormal species. The mortal realm was not designed for their sort. At least regarding being out and vocal about who and what they were. His species did what they had to do to survive.
“What do you need to cast such a spell?”
“Your cell phone, and the demon’s sigil. And a couple drops of blood.”
About to ask why they couldn’t use her phone, Ethan remembered she’d been taken from a bar in Massachusetts, with little more than her clothes and shoes. She probably didn’t have a phone.
He tugged the phone from his pocket and before he handed it to her, he asked, “Is this going to brick my phone?”
“Nah.” She grabbed it and tapped the home button. “Maybe? No. I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before. I’m only just learning tech spells. But you’re rich. You can afford another.”
“What makes you think I’m rich?”
“You’re driving a Bimmer. And that apartment with the stunning view had to set you back a couple million.”
So he was well off. That happened when a vampire took care to invest over the centuries and kept a healthy portfolio across various international markets and banks. Tech stocks were a gold mine. His accountant was a vampiress who lived near the Eiffel Tower, and she was a gem.
“Just don’t set it on fire,” he said.
“I won’t. I think. Maybe?” She winked at him. “I do have water magic in case of emergency.”
Her mood had lifted since she’d told him her tale, and he was grateful for that. Though he’d never discount anyone’s suffering. There had been occasions he’d been hunted over the centuries—by slayers and werewolves—but nothing could compare to being caught and tortured. And to live to tell about it.
Tuesday set the phone on the raised center console between them and opened up her coat to tug free the ribbons at her shirt front. Those full breasts were a sweet tease, and Ethan had to remind himself he was on a mission. His attention swerved from her breasts to her lips, and back again.
Hell yes, he’d kiss her again. But thinking that made him wince as he sensed a swift boner could give him up. And the last thing he wanted to do with this witch was prove to her that he was the Richard she’d accused him of being.
“Got a knife?” she asked and extended her forefinger toward him. “I left my athame at your place.”
Ethan stared at the finger and all lusty thoughts were replaced by sudden horror. Maybe that limp-dick spell had a delay set on it because he was no longer hard. Because what she asked...
She needed blood for the magic. Blood magic was wicked and he’d known a lot of it might be needed on this adventure. He knew better than to challenge it, or try to interfere with it. But what should he expect from a dark witch?
“No knife,” he said.
“Then take a bite, yeah?” She waggled her finger before him. “I just need a couple drops.”
“Take a bite?” Aghast at her moxie, he shook his head in bewilderment. “What the hell?”
“Seriously, vampire? Just prick my finger with one of your fangs. Come on, you want to find this demon or not?”
Tonguing the insides of his upper teeth, he met her assessing stare, which wasn’t so much aggressive as impatient. She was trying to cast a spell with the tools she had to work with. Yet a taste of blood could do things to him. Things that would bring up his erection again. He shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.
Fuck, this woman challenged him on so many levels. He’d not expected this mission to become fraught with...emotion and utter mental challenge.
But he would not reveal his consternation. If he’d learned anything about Tuesday Knightsbridge, seeing him in a quandary would make her too happy.
Fangs lowering, he grabbed her wrist and pierced her finger with the pin-sharp tip of one of them. Blood scent curled into his nostrils. It was more alluring than the usual quick bite’s coppery, chemical-laced blood. This blood was deep, thick and steeped with the centuries.
He quickly shoved her hand away so the temptation would not drip onto his tongue.
Tuesday squeezed a couple drops onto the iPhone screen. She glanced at him. “You okay, vamp? Not going to attack me in a raging blood hunger?”
“I am perfectly capable of being around blood without turning into a monster.” Turning into a horny flesh-pricker, on the other hand? When had he last smelled such...tempting blood?
“Good for you.” She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked at it. “Holster those fangs then, will you? Makes me nervous.”
“Really?” He leaned forward, brandishing his fangs boldly. “You scared I’ll attack?”
“No, I just like the bite too much.”
Startled by that reply, he sat back. Was she a fang junkie? He’d thought only humans succumbed to such base lust for the bite. It was the orgasmic sensations the bite delivered. Such highs could become a drug. Some humans could not get enough.
She winked at him. Ethan willed his fangs to rise to their normal positions.
“Hey, it’s as good for the bite-ee as it is for the biter,” she said. “You know that. So! Let’s get this spell going, yeah?”
Sure. But it was difficult now not to think about clasping her long white hair in his hand as he breathed against her neck, dripping with blood. It would taste like the world and all he had lived through. And such memories were both sweet and sour.
Tuesday drew the demon’s S-shaped sigil on the phone screen with the blood. A line was drawn through that, connecting both curves. The GPS app was open, he noticed, and now he found it easier to turn his attention to what she was doing instead of slipping into a lusty fantasy of slurping at her neck and making her come with nothing more than the bite.
Pressing her bloodied finger to the sigil between her breasts, Tuesday bowed her head and began to chant. The air in the car grew throat-clutchingly humid, and then it took on an icy chill that hardened his sinuses before returning to normal. Ethan coughed. The phone jittered. The blood purled and rose in droplets, reaching for the hand Tuesday held but inches from the phone. And the scent swarmed Ethan’s senses and pushed him headfirst into the unavoidable fantasy.
She would taste old and ancient, laced with centuries of experience. He could sup at her, drain her of her magic... A vampire could steal a witch’s power by enacting bloodsexmagic. It required having sex with the witch while drinking her blood and enacting a spell. He’d never thought to do something so wicked. Until now.
A snap of fingers stirred Ethan back to the now. “What?”
“Where were you, vampire?”
In a heated embrace with a witch who could give him so much more than he’d ever dreamed to have.
“Sorry, got lost for a minute there.”
“Oh, yeah? Are you aroused?”
He tilted his head, sneering. “You think a few drops of blood is enough to get me horny?”
She shrugged. “I do. Truth be told, I’m feeling it. I mean, like I said, fangs do it for me. Seriously.”
Ethan ran his tongue under the tip of one fang. Oh, the serious action he could show her. But he wasn’t a fool. And he was a man on a mission. “Did it work?”
“I got a hit.” She tapped the phone. “Looks like he’s north about a quarter of a mile.”
The twosome got out of the car. Ethan scanned their surroundings. Beyond a copse of ancient oak trees rose a gated community that likely sheltered old money and self-made tech millionaires.
“You ever break and enter?” he asked.
“I don’t think I should answer that one.” Tuesday shrugged up her coat and then shook her hands out at her sides as if preparing for a gunfight. “But whatever fun you’re planning? I’m in!”
* * *
Attempting to enter a gated community in full daylight was probably not the wisest move, but Tuesday was in it to win it. Besides, she wanted to see if Ethan had a plan. He didn’t have a plan. She knew it. But she’d give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he failed, and she’d have an argument for her release and could be done with him.
Telling him about her past hadn’t been a problem. She held no emotion for the stupid witch she’d once been. Smarter, wiser, she now did better because she knew better. And she hadn’t been looking for sympathy from the vampire, though she’d felt it rise off him in the car. Whatever.
She’d revealed her curse, but she would never tell him the ridiculous means to break that curse. That was a secret she’d take to her grave. Besides, knowing it would keep it from ever happening.
They’d parked a block down from the black wrought-iron gates and now strolled casually along the hornbeam hedgerow that grew eight feet high. Hands shoved in his coat pockets, the vampire kept a keen eye from behind the sexy blue sunglasses. Not many were out walking because the day was chilly.
One small reason to be thankful—when she’d been kidnapped she’d been wearing her alpaca coat. She loved this thing, and it was warm.
The vampire looked...cold. His coat was short, stopping below his waist, and revealed a nice tight ass that was emphasized perfectly by the dark jeans. If the fangs in the car hadn’t started her engine, that view certainly revved it to a wanting purr.
To do the guy or not? Everything about his controlling authority screamed no, run away! And everything else, from the fangs to the sexy smile, begged her to give him a chance. One more kiss. One good fuck. A no-strings hex-fest of nudity, fangs and orgasms unending.
Tuesday suddenly bumped right in to Ethan, who had stopped walking for some odd reason.
“Really?” he murmured. “I thought witches had a built-in sixth-sense kind of thing. Were you walking with your eyes closed?”
“My sixth sense isn’t tuned to idiots,” she responded. Good save. She’d been thinking about his fangs in her neck and how strong of an orgasm that would give her. If her tale of taking the curse wasn’t enough to remind her what a fool she could be for a handsome smile then...whew!
The entry gate was twenty feet ahead. Time to pull on her stern witch and focus. “What’s the plan?”
“I don’t have a plan.”
“I knew it.”
“Why not just stroll in?” Ethan asked.
“Awesome. The direct approach, it is. Let’s see you work your skills, vampire.”
“I’ve got skills.” And with that he strode toward the small, freestanding office situated next to the entry gate. He cast her a smirk over his shoulder.
And Tuesday was all in with the tease. She hastened her steps, following him like a witch to the lying witch hunter.
Inside the outhouse-sized office situated before the gate, a man pushing ninety lifted his chin and eyed their approach. He shook his head, obviously not recognizing Ethan, and said, “We don’t allow solicitors, monsieur. Move along.”
Ethan slid his hand through the small space beneath the protective Plexiglas window and smiled charmingly. “This won’t take long.”
The old man shoved at Ethan’s hand, but then all of a sudden his fingers shook and he dropped them onto Ethan’s palm. The vampire clasped his fingers and said calmly, “We’re here to visit friends. Won’t be long. You won’t remember us, nor will you consider anything out of the ordinary. Open the gates, please.”
Dropping the old man’s hand and stepping back to stand next to Tuesday, Ethan waited while the gates swung inward.
“Nice.” She marched forward, giving the gatekeeper a thumbs-up as she did. “Persuasion?”
“I can convince a man to jump into flames,” he said as he passed her by and wandered along the edge of the curbed and curved drive.
The road was bare of snow and Tuesday assumed it had heat coils beneath, for she could sense the electric vibrations as she walked it. Ethan’s steps moved faster and all of a sudden she was tugged along against her will.
“Damn binding spell.” She picked up her pace.
There had to be a way to crack the bond open. For as intriguing as it was to follow Mr. Tight Pants, she could not abide this humiliation for much longer. This was one curse she had not asked for.
Ethan paused before the garage entrance. To each side of the underground lot stood a massive four-story complex that stretched longer than a football field in each direction.
“Now what?” she asked.
“What’s your tracker say?”
She checked the GPS on his phone. One tiny blood drop moved over the screen as they had walked. “He’s to the left.”
And her heart dropped as she realized she could be so close to the one demon she’d tried to avoid and had done so successfully for centuries. Why was she walking into a grand old reunion now?
“Wait, Ethan.”
He turned and waited for her to speak.
“Maybe you can take it from here,” she said, hating her sudden rise of worry and weakness. She stood up to demons all the time. She was witch! Hear her cackle!
But Gazariel?
The image of the demon’s silk shoes with painted red heels standing but inches from her face was the most heart-wrenching memory.
“You think he’s going to hurt you?” Ethan asked. “I don’t know why he would. It sounds like you took the one thing from him he least wanted. He should welcome you with open arms.”
“Yeah? I don’t think so. He probably thinks I can return the curse back to him.”
“Can you?”
“No! The only way to break the curse is...” Yeah, that part about a true love willing to die for her? Ethan didn’t need to know about that. “Like it or not, we are connected. He probably knows I’m close right now.”
“Which means we should hurry. Whether he’s happy or angry to see you, we’ll find out soon enough.”
She grabbed him by the coat. “Give me a plan, yeah? I mean, when we do find him, what then? Are you going to slap a pair of handcuffs on him and hope the steel doesn’t instantly melt, and in turn, the demon melts us?”
He took the phone from her. “I’ve got a containment crew on speed dial. They’ll be here five minutes after my call. Can I, uh...use this now?”
“Yes, sure.” She wiped off her blood from the screen and he started to scroll. “But what are we going to do while we wait out those very long and most likely painful five minutes in the demon’s presence?”
“Certainly Jones gave me a demon manacle.” He patted his pocket. “It’ll contain the subject.”
“Let me see it.”
“Don’t you trust me? Do you think I’d walk in on a demon ill-prepared? I’ve done this before.”
“Have you?” She wasn’t feeling it. He hadn’t seemed to have a plan yet. Why all of a sudden should he be prepared?
“Don’t worry, Tuesday. I’ve got this one.”
She sighed and dropped her shoulders. Wasn’t as if she had a right to argue. She was merely the lure. And she did want to get this show on the road. The sooner they found Gazariel, the quicker she would be freed.
Ethan talked to someone on the line, confirming arrival in five minutes.
Time to let the guy show her he was the man and that he had everything under control? In her experience that never seemed to go quite as spectacularly as the man thought it would. And she was always left to sweep up the bloody pieces.
He smiled at her as he conferred with whomever he was talking to.
Why she should let Ethan take the alpha route was beyond her, but she submitted because...that ridiculous charming smile did possess a magic of its own.
As did the wanting, needy witch who had been willing to summon a demon to save her fickle lover’s eyesight.
“Let’s do this then,” she said as Ethan hung up. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance. This is not going to go well.”