Chapter Sixteen
Chapter 16
T he bed was blessedly dry. Well, mostly dry. And it...sparkled. As did Valor. She rubbed a palm over her glinting forearm. When Kelyn came he literally spumed dust from his pores. Way to score with the faery. This trip was turning out much better than she had expected.
She’d expected a tense relationship between the two of them, if any at all. But what had developed proved more than magical. It was actually kind of enchanting.
“What?”
Valor realized she’d been staring at the side view of Kelyn, who sat naked in a chair before the window, watching the rain pummel the tarmac outside. He had an erection, and his fingers rested about the base of it. He’d occasionally stroke it, but not with any determination, sort of a reassuring move.
It was ridiculously sexy to know that he’d forgotten himself while she was in the room, and had kicked back, lost in his own thoughts. Or maybe he hadn’t.
He turned a look over his shoulder at her and, with a flick of his wrist, waggled his cock. They’d had sex again after returning to the hotel room and showering. But they hadn’t used towels to dry off. In fact, she was still moist. Everywhere. The bedsheets were wet, too, but she didn’t care.
“You’re sexy.” She pushed herself up to sit against a pillow. Bowing forward, she wrapped her arms about her bent legs and rested her cheek on a knee.
“And you have purple hair.” His brow furrowed, but with more of a seductive concern than consternation. It was the sexiest move she’d ever watched a man make.
“That I do.”
“Is it natural?”
“No. It’s a spell. I can streak it any color I like for months at a time. This color is my favorite. It reminds me of a ’64 Chevy Impala that I owned a long time ago.”
“If it was a ’64, then it has been a long time. Did we ever establish your age?”
“We did not. And I don’t think it’s important, is it?”
He shrugged. “Nope.” Another gentle stroke of his erection. It wasn’t quite full staff. Relaxed, his body was a study in curved muscle and hard, angular bone structure. “You like cars and motorcycles and all things greasy, including fries and steaks.”
“That I do.”
“Want to know what I like?”
“Besides running races with deer in the forest and being a super nice guy to everyone you meet? Yes. What is it that Kelyn Saint-Pierre really, deeply, honestly likes?”
“I like a certain witch.” He shot a wink over his shoulder. “With purple hair.”
The urge to rush over and wrap her arms around him was strong. But Valor decided to simply sit there and take it in. How many times previously had a man complimented her so sweetly? It was a nice moment. One to cherish.
They had spent the early evening risking their lives—okay, so Kelyn had—and by facing death they’d fallen into incredible sex. That whole passionate la petite mort thing. So the man was probably on some kind of high right now.
As was she.
They’d lie around a bit longer and come down from the sex endorphins. And then they’d head back to business. Just friends.
Maybe?
“Come here,” he said lazily. “Come sit on this.”
“You think so?”
“We’re not going anywhere until the rains stops. Well, we can, but I like sitting here watching it streak the window. The thunder is relaxing, too.”
Valor wandered over to settle onto his lap, back to his chest, directing his now-hard-again erection between her legs to squeeze it tightly with her thighs. That eased up a deep-throated moan from him. She leaned her head against his shoulder and he cupped one of her breasts with his wide, powerful hand.
“Did you think you were going to die?” she asked quietly while tracing the silver remnants of his missing sigil. Outside, lightning streaked the sky in brilliant gold.
“Yes. No.” He exhaled against her cheek, and that ended with a chuffing laugh. “Yes. I regret never taking swimming lessons when I was a kid.”
“Adults can take them.”
“They can? I suppose. I’m thinking maybe avoiding mermaids is probably the thing to do from now on. And always wear a life jacket.”
“Good call. I thought you had died, too. For a few minutes there...”
He pulled strands of half-dried hair away from her face and pressed his lips against her cheek. “I didn’t die. And you didn’t die when you were pinned in the Darkwood. We’re both alive. The universe is not done with us yet.”
“Do you believe the universe has a plan for everyone?”
“Yes,” he said. “Or rather, that we made the plan before we ever came into our bodies. Our souls wanted to find each other.”
“I believe that, too. But we didn’t have a very auspicious beginning. And you never know, the ending could be pretty crazy, too.”
“Then we’d better enjoy what we have while we can. Yes?”
She reached down to grip his penis. The man beneath her groaned and rocked his hips. Time to drive.
* * *
Valor packed her things and took inventory of the magic ingredients they’d collected so far. The mermaid’s kiss was tightly capped and secure. The pink water...
“Trapper John! See? What did I tell you?” She waggled a broken vial at Kelyn as he picked up the room.
“Can’t you bespell the glass not to break?”
“I could—well, uh...” Why hadn’t she thought of that? Valor bristled at his knowing chuckle. “Cocky faery.”
With a few Latin words, Valor spelled the remaining three glass vials not to break. It was a duh moment that made her chuckle, as well.
And Kelyn’s head rose from packing his things to home his bemused gaze on her like an arrow to the target.
“You really like the way I laugh?” she asked.
“It makes me horny.”
“What?” That information made her laugh even more robustly.
And Kelyn dived for her on the bed, pinning her wrists down and kissing her hard against her neck. He licked under her jaw and gave her a gentle nip, which spurred on her laugh even more.
“Let’s see if you’re ticklish, eh?”
“Oh, no!” She was. And he learned that quickly.
The faery went at her relentlessly, finding all her sensitive spots—goddess, behind her knee!—until she was gasping and pleading for mercy.
“Very well,” he said, and his tickles softened to kisses.
A soft touch landing on her breast made her sigh and clutch his hair. “That’s so weird that laughter makes you horny.”
“Not any laughter. Only your silly, snorting chuckles.” He kissed her forehead. “They’re amazing.”
“No one has ever told me something like that before.”
“What? That you’re amazing? I can’t believe that.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s the company I keep.”
“Just one of the boys, eh?”
“Bros before ohs.”
“What?”
“Eh, it’s something I say. I like my guy friends, and I like that they accept me into their confidence as just another guy. Not a frilly girl that might threaten their man cave.”
Except...when she wanted more and the man couldn’t understand that.
“What’s wrong with being frilly?” he asked. “I like a little frill once in a while.”
She shrugged. “Too much work. Seriously, Kelyn, if frills are what you need—”
He kissed her deeply, dancing his tongue with hers. Stealing away her protest. And Valor took that as a hint to shut up and let the man like her.
She could do that.
* * *
Another flight was met with but one dirty martini and a firm clasp of Kelyn’s hand through most of the quick jaunt across the English Channel to France.
He kissed her as they landed at Charles de Gaulle. “You’re getting braver.” Then he shook out his hand, the one she’d had a vise hold on through the flight. “And I may not have feeling in my fingers for a few hours.”
A snorting laugh from Valor was rewarded with a kiss. It felt wrong that such an awful sound should be answered with a hot, lush kiss, but she’d get used to it. Hell, she already was. And she intended to laugh at every opportunity.
“The ingredients in this spell are so specific. Occipital dust from a skull?” Kelyn asked as, an hour after landing, the taxi navigated central Paris toward the ?le Saint-Louis, as he’d directed.
“Better specific than vague. We want this to work, right?”
“Yes.” He clasped her hand and kissed the back of it. “You smell great.”
Valor smirked. “I smell clean, not like mermaid slime or a pink lake. Is that what you’re getting at?”
“Probably.” He tilted his head onto her shoulder and nuzzled his nose against her neck, which felt so deliciously exciting Valor had to keep from turning to kiss him. She was not one for PDAs. “You know people are attracted to one another by scent? We select our mates that way.”
“Hmm... But how do you know you’ve the right-smelling person?”
“It’s instinctual. We know when we know.”
“I see. And what do you know right now?”
“I know that you smell gorgeous.” He kissed her neck and licked her skin. A shiver traced her body and coalesced in her nipples, tightening them. He noticed and tweaked one with his fingers.
“Kelyn,” she admonished, and gestured toward the front seat.
“He can’t see.”
“But he knows .”
“How do you know he knows?”
“I just do.”
“Fine. Hands off. But this is the hard part.”
“Yeah? I thought that was the hard part,” she said with a glance to his crotch.
“Do you purposely do that?”
She nodded, knowing he was now horny with no means to alleviate that condition. Because of her. “Probably.”
“Did I mention we’re heading to my aunt’s place?”
“Uh, no. I thought we’d grab another hotel room.”
“Nope. Kambriel is my dad’s twin sister. She and her husband, Johnny Santiago, live on the island. They own a huge place. I’m sure they won’t mind putting us up for a day or two.”
“They don’t know we’re coming? Great.”
“They’re cool. They’re both vamps, so you know. They both sing in a goth band and travel the world a lot.”
“I like vamps. I look forward to meeting them. Your family is such an interesting mix. Your dad is a werewolf and your mom a faery. Yet your dad’s sister is vampire?”
“Grandma and Grandpa are werewolf and vampire.”
“Right, Blu and Creed Saint-Pierre. I’ve met Blu once or twice. She’s awesome.”
“Grandma rocks. And she won’t let Grandpa forget that. As for the rest of our eclectic mix, I used to be the only faery in the family until Daisy Blu chose faery over being a werewolf. She was once full werewolf with only traces of faery in her. She was forced to choose between the two. It goes back to the Denton Marx thing.”
“The time-traveling wolf hunter. Wow. I guess I wouldn’t be able to pick if I had more than two breeds running through my veins. We witches are pretty solid. So you’re full-blood faery? Not a bit of wolf from your dad?”
“I’ve never exhibited any werewolf-like behaviors, but Dad always says I’ve the wolf in my soul because I’m the strongest of all the Saint-Pierre boys. But don’t tell Trouble that. He likes to think he’s the toughest.”
“The way I understand it from Trouble, he’s fully aware of your strength and respects that.”
Kelyn shrugged. “The faery is always the last one invited to the fight because my punches tend to knock a guy out cold. At least, they used to.”
Valor kissed his forehead. “You’ll get your strength back. Soon. I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”
“You’ve already done so much. Thank you, Valor.”
The look he gave her went all melty and worshippy, and Valor, for not the first time, had to catch herself from laughing in disbelief. He was so different from all the other men she’d ever dated or chummed around with. How had she gotten so lucky? Oh, right. He’d committed a brave and noble act to save her life, and now she was trying to catch up with him and make it all right according to her logic.
She was almost there. Almost.
The cab pulled over and, after paying and locating the right building, Kelyn knocked on the door to his aunt’s home. The vampire who opened the door was dressed in skintight black latex and a silver hip chain dotted with rubies. Long black hair coiled on her head in pseudo demon horns, and her black lipstick looked as seamless and smooth as the latex. She squealed at the sight of Kelyn and lunged to kiss his cheek.
“Sweetie! Come in, come in! I can’t believe you’re in Paris.”
“Hey, Aunt Kam.” Kelyn smeared the back of his hand over the black lip print on his jaw, but was successful in only removing half. “Sorry to surprise you like this, but Valor and I are in town for a day or two and I was hoping we could crash here?”
“Of course! And Valor, eh?” The gorgeous vampire with pin-sharp black fingernails eyed her from head to toe. And for once Valor felt her lack of glamour as a bone-deep affliction. “Sweet,” the vampiress commented, lacking enthusiasm. “Oh, but Kelyn, you’ll have the place all to yourself. Johnny and I were heading out the door to Brazil for another honeymoon.”
“Another?”
“We celebrate one every year. Honey!”
A long, lanky man with coal-black hair shaved along the sides and above his ears, and wearing black leather pants low at his hips, swung around the corner. On his shoulders glided a green snake half the size of a healthy boa constrictor.
“Kelyn!”
“Uncle Johnny.” Kelyn clasped Valor’s hand. “Is that your dad’s snake?”
“Yeah, Green Snake the Third. I borrowed him for a show we did last night. So, who is this?” Johnny smiled expectantly at Valor.
“This is my, er, friend, Valor. She’s a witch.”
Valor offered a little wave over Kelyn’s shoulder. She wasn’t too sure about getting close to that snake. With its pink forked tongue flicking in and out, it looked suspiciously dangerous.
“Kam said it would be okay for us to crash here, but I’m bummed you two are leaving.”
“The cab will be here in half an hour,” Johnny said. “And we need to stop by Dad’s house and drop off Green Snake along the way.”
“Ah! I need to do my lashes,” Kambriel said. With another quick kiss to Kelyn’s other cheek, she skittered off, down the marble hallway on six-inch heels. “Love you, sweetie! Next time call ahead and we’ll plan to be here.”
“Sweetie?” Kelyn looked to Johnny, who, surprisingly, blushed.
“She’s been calling everyone sweetie and honey since she found out,” Johnny said. “I think it’s hormones.”
“Found out?” Kelyn asked.
Valor offered, “She’s pregnant. She absolutely glows.”
“She is,” Johnny said proudly. “We’re going to have a tiny bloodsucker. And I will call him Stoker.” He winked at them. “Just kidding. So, what are you in town for? Vacation? Love tryst?” he asked, pronouncing the word love with a roll of his tongue.
“We’re hunting for spell ingredients,” Kelyn offered. “We’ve determined what we need is in the Council Archives, which brought us to Paris. You have any contacts there?”
“Uh, yes?”
Valor and Kelyn exchanged glances at that unconvincing reply.
“You can try Certainly Jones, who is lord and master over the Archives,” Johnny offered as he stroked the snake easing along his shoulder. “He won’t be an easy one to convince to let you dabble with the cool old crap collected within the Archives. Which, I’m guessing, you’ll want to do. Dabble and/or remove something?”
“Just borrow a little portion of something,” Valor explained with a close pinch of her fingers.
“Right. Certainly is not going to approve that. So then I’d go with Tamatha Bellerose, who works with CJ. She does most of the filing and labeling of the items they receive for storage. I’ll give you her number and—hell, I wish we had more time, Kelyn. You look great, man. But I heard about your, uh, situation.”
Leave it to his mom, Rissa, who spent a lot of time on the phone with her sister-in-law Kambriel, to spill the beans all the way across the ocean. “That’s what we’re trying to rectify.”
“Yeah? I heard it was a nasty witch who caused you to lose your wings.”
Valor offered her hand to shake, and as Johnny took it, she said, “Nasty witch, right here.”
He retreated from the shake with a wipe of his palm along his thigh. “I see.” The vampire eyed her with a discerning quirk of eyebrow, then flashed a glance to Kelyn.
“We’re good.” Kelyn put an arm around Valor’s shoulders. “Get me that number and then you two should head out. Promise we won’t trash the place.”
“The guest bedroom is down the hallway. It’s the gray room,” Johnny noted. “Stay out of our bedroom. Unless you want to see things you’d rather not see. You’re my nephew, so, yeah, I’d say stay out of that room.” He winked again, but Valor did catch his concerned look at her.
“How much time do I have?” Kam called out from down the hallway.
“Ten minutes, lover!” Johnny blushed again. “Oh, there’s no food in the house. Vamps.” He thumbed his chest. “So you two are on your own for that.”
“Not a problem. Thanks, Johnny.”
“I gotta go grab our bags. Hold Green Snake, will you?”
Kelyn allowed the snake to slither over his arm and across his shoulders. Johnny sprinted down the hallway and out of view.
When her lover turned to her with a big grin on his face and a snake tongue flickering not far from that grin, Valor stepped back until her shoulders hit the wall.
“Really?” Kelyn said with surprise. “Grease Girl is afraid of a little snake?”
She couldn’t even find words because the snake kept flicking out its tongue and eyeballing her with those big gold eyes. Very suspicious.
“Wow. I guess I found your weakness. Don’t worry. Green Snake is harmless. I think.” He winked.
And Valor walked a wide curve around the guy and his snake, and headed toward the gray room.