Chapter 11 Amari
AMARI
Carla sits cross-legged on the leather couch, her hands dancing with pink, web-like magic while I comb through the Brookstone and Blackburn files on my computer. Each encrypted layer I break through reveals another, like a digital Russian doll designed to frustrate even the most patient vampire.
“Found anything?” she asks without looking up from her magical practice.
“Looks like there’s more encrypted files that I’ll have to break through,” I tell her, pushing back from my desk. The challenge excites me, but watching Carla commands more of my attention right now.
“What are you doing?” I smile as I watch the magic pulse between her fingers. She’s in deep concentration, her brow furrowed adorably, bottom lip caught between her teeth.
I love watching her like this—my beautiful, powerful mate coming more into herself.
It meant everything to me to wake up and find her still sleeping on top of me.
She chose me. She stayed with me. I’ll spend the rest of my days worshiping her, making sure she knows I appreciate her decision to choose me every single day.
I take a break from my screen and walk over to her, my mind drifting back to earlier this morning—to Carla waking up to my head between her legs. Oh, how I love the way she comes on my tongue, her voice breaking as she gasps my name.
Carla looks up at me from her focusing as I approach, and she smiles. Always that loving smile when it comes to me. It never fails to make my dead heart feel alive.
“How’s it going with you?” I ask, settling beside her on the couch.
“I think I can do it,” she says, the magic brightening between her palms.
I grin at her confidence. “I know you can.”
“When you drink from me, you take some of my magic. Every time.” She tilts her head, studying me with those vibrant green eyes.
“Yes, but it dulls down.” I’ll always be tethered to her through the mate bond, but the burst of energy I get when I feed on her never lasts past a couple of days. It’s like catching lightning in a bottle—brilliant but temporary.
Carla moves closer to me, her peachy scent making my fangs ache. “I want you to feed on me before we leave.”
Caution immediately floods through me. “Won’t that weaken you a bit?”
She shrugs, too casual for my liking. “Yes, maybe a little.”
I step back, shaking my head. “Then no, I won’t take from you.”
Carla rolls her eyes at that, and I recognize the spark of defiance lighting her features.
“I’m not going to have you take stupid risks just to make me happy,” I tell her, crossing my arms.
She frowns at me, standing to face me properly. “What about my happiness? That’s you! Now shut up and do what I ask you to do.”
I grin at her then laugh, unable to help myself. “I love it when you get bossy with me, Carla.”
Before she can respond, I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her into a loving kiss, pouring my heart into her. Every ounce of adoration, every moment of worship, flows through our connection. When I finally release her, she’s dazed, her lips swollen and eyes glazed.
I gently tilt her head to the side and bite down on her neck, sinking my fangs into her soft skin.
The moment her blood hits my tongue, I get a wave of her arousal so strong it nearly brings me to my knees.
I’m ready to pull her panties down, slam her against the wall, and fuck her senseless. The urge is primal, overwhelming.
But I hold back, groaning when she pushes herself against me, her body seeking more contact. I force myself to pull my fangs out of her neck, licking the wound to seal it with my saliva. The metallic-peach taste of her blood sings through my veins.
“I didn’t take as much as I usually do,” I say, stepping back before I lose all control. “I don’t want you to be weak in limbo.”
“Do you feel my magic pulsing in you?” she asks, her eyes bright with curiosity.
“Yes.” I can feel it thrumming under my skin.
Carla uses her magic, and I watch in fascination as a cloak forms over me. The material isn’t quite fabric, more like solidified spiderweb made of pure magic. Pink light dances across it in the office light, weightless but somehow substantial.
“Limbo is not a place for the living. If at any time you feel weird, you go back, do you understand me?” The steel in her voice makes it clear this isn’t a request.
I nod to her, then can’t resist adding, “I’m not technically living since I’m a vampire.”
“Shut up.” She points a stern finger at me. “Do not pretend you’re okay in there when you’re not. Tell me when you’re feeling unwell. Don’t make me kick your ass.”
I smirk at that. “Maybe I will so you can kick my ass.”
I can’t help myself—I always fall into asshole mode when she gets bossy. It turns me on when she gets feisty with me. I grab her hips and pull her close to me, feeling her curves press against my body.
“Is it weird that I thoroughly enjoy this?” I ask her, my hands sliding to her lower back.
She furrows her brow at me. “You like it when I curse your ass out?”
“Yeah, that too.” She glares at me, but I clear my throat and continue more seriously. “No, I mean I really love—like really love—that you are more powerful than me.”
Carla narrows her eyes at me suspiciously. “Yeah, a little.”
“It reminds me of King Amir and Queen Anora. Amir, the supernatural creature who’s been around since the beginning of time, has a woman who stands beside him who will obliterate the world for him. And you could do the same if you wanted.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “You...”
But I just kiss her, cutting off whatever sarcastic comment was coming. “I don’t care, baby. You can kick my ass when we get home.”
Carla pulls away from me, grinning, and opens a portal in my office. The sight steals my breath—or would if I needed to breathe.
I see the void of limbo through the tear in reality, but it’s nothing but darkness. A black hole that seems to swallow light itself. My instincts scream danger, but Carla takes my hand in hers and I squeeze it tightly, drawing strength from her touch.
“I’ve never visited another realm before,” I admit, staring into the abyss.
Carla steps through first, fearless as always. I step in after her, and when I look back, I can see my office, the living realm, through the portal like looking through a window.
“How do you feel?” she asks, studying me carefully.
“Fine,” I say, but I’m too busy looking over myself to really assess. The pink cloak of web-like magic glows softly around me, the only source of light besides Carla herself.
She closes the portal, and we’re plunged into true darkness. My vampire vision, usually so sharp, struggles here. I can see Carla clearly—she seems to glow with an inner light—but everything else is void.
I marvel at the darkness of limbo. There’s nothing. Just endless, oppressive nothing that presses against my consciousness. The silence is absolute, no ambient noise, no whisper of wind, nothing. It’s like being inside a sensory deprivation tank cranked to eleven.
Carla starts walking, and I follow her, noting how our footsteps make no sound despite the floor feeling solid beneath us.
“Limbo is just an endless loop of nothing unless I create something,” she explains, raising her hands.
She wiggles her fingers, and I marvel at the sight of pink web-like magic flowing out of them like liquid starlight. My eyes follow the strands as they weave through the darkness, and suddenly the magic reveals a throne.
The throne is suddenly there—massive stairs leading up to an equally massive chair that looks carved from shadows and spider silk.
To the right of it sits a very large web that has.
.. I squint, trying to understand what I’m seeing.
Heads. Souls trapped like flies, their faces frozen in eternal screams.
I smile despite the horror of it. “That must be Verto’s bed.”
“What do you do in here?” I ask, trying to imagine spending any length of time in this nightmare realm.
Carla shrugs. “Sometimes I explore, but really, the void is just endless. The more I roam, the more time passes in the living. So I try to stay put and just keep Verto company.”
“Do any souls visit you?”
She shakes her head. “Never. With my children using the souls as a food source, I think they stay away. But Verto comes to me all the time with different souls that he’s caught, almost like he’s seeking approval. I always praise him for it.”
I feel the fear of the void creeping into my bones—the endless nothingness, no sound, the way the floor feels solid but also like nothing. I could be floating on air or standing on glass or falling forever. There’s no way to tell. The disorientation makes my head spin.
Carla looks at her hands, magic still sparking between her fingers. “I have all this power, and I really don’t know what to do with it. But there’s something about being here when I do visit. Like my presence in the void seems to balance things out.”
“I think that’s why Nathaniel hadn’t done anything sooner,” she continues thoughtfully. “Because I visit the void of limbo all the time. My theory is that he can’t do much when I’m here, like I stall his plans or something.”
“When I stepped into Solomon’s room through the void of limbo and caught him extracting my cousin’s magic, the first thing Nathaniel did was flee back to limbo. He didn’t try to go anywhere else.”
“I think we have some advantages here,” she finishes, looking at me expectantly.
“I agree,” I say, though my mind is racing with the implications.
“How does it feel now?” she asks, concern creeping into her voice.
My face falls as I realize what’s missing. “I can’t feel the mate bond.”
She has the audacity to shrug. “No, you won’t feel it here.”
“Then I want to go back right now.” The words come out harsher than intended. “I would rather suffer the pain of your absence than not feel the mate bond.”
Carla rolls her eyes at me. “Seriously?”
I just stare blankly at her. She doesn’t understand.
Not feeling the bond created by Mother Fate that keeps us tethered—that’s worse than death itself.
I don’t like it. Not at all. It’s like losing one of my senses, like suddenly going deaf or blind.
The absence of that constant connection to her makes me feel untethered, lost.
“Just stay here with me for a little bit,” she pleads. “At least let’s check on the children before we go back.”
I want to go back right fucking now, but I groan and nod in agreement. She takes my hand in hers, and we start walking through the void. The throne suddenly disappears behind us like it never existed, leaving nothing but endless darkness around us.
The void presses against me from all sides, a physical weight of nothingness. My skin crawls beneath the magical cloak, and I grip Carla’s hand tighter. Each step feels like walking through thick syrup, though there’s no resistance.
I hope we find them soon because the loss of feeling tethered to Carla—I cannot fucking stand it.