A Mermaid's Ransom (8 page)

"What do you wish first?" He moved his hand down to give himself a functional stroke. "This, or my words?"

"Your words," she retorted. "I don't want that. And yes, I know you'll say it's a lie, but like I said before, it's biology. Anatomy."

"No, it is not only that. It's curious. I didn't expect to want you this much, either." After that enigmatic statement, he continued. "When her mind broke, she lost her will to live. She stopped speaking to me. She was my only food source at that point, but . . ."

He paused, and Alexis watched his expression shutter further, though she sensed him delving even deeper, perhaps for feelings he hadn't examined in some time. "There was a moment her importance to my survival didn't matter. I didn't like seeing her that way. I killed her, because she begged me to do it. She told me to kill myself, too. Told me how to do it. It was the last thing she said to me."

His gaze narrowed on her then. "I can hear your thoughts. This makes you feel sad, for me."

"Yes," she said honestly. "It was truly terrible. She must have loved you very much, to have held out as long as she did. What happened when they found her dead?"

He shrugged. "They hurt me worse than usual, for a time. But I am the only child that has been born here. No captive ever survives the Dark One world more than a few days. Humans die within hours. For a time, Dark Ones thought they'd found a way to procreate, and they sought to bring more vampires here, but the few they found did not conceive and they gave up. My mother told me vampire children are extremely rare."

"So you've never had females here, except your mother."

"No." He shook his head. "The witch came here, with her mate. She injected him with Dark One blood so he could bear it. I didn't get to touch her, though. But when the Dark Ones took her to the top of the west tower, a lock of her hair caught on their claws and it drifted on the wind. To me. It twined about my hand." Lifting his fingers, he studied them as if remembering the way it had looked. "It was the foundation to the dream portal. I had to be so careful, for she is very clever, the witch. I could see her reality, but had to be a shadow, never noticed. I saw her at your birth. Saw her later, involved in your teaching. Saw she was fond of you, and you were the weakest thing that mattered to her."

"I am not weak," she protested.

Circling her slender wrist, he held her arm up. When she tried to pull away from the hard grip, she was unable to move. His touch wasn't bruising, just overpowering. She felt his arousal increase at her resistance, and her stomach fluttered. The impressive array of lean muscle across his chest tightened as well. "You cannot prevail against me."

"Not with physical strength. But I could completely whip your ass with my mind."

"No, you couldn't." He went to one elbow next to her, stretching out on his hip in a disconcertingly casual pose she'd seen students on the campus lawn assume when studying on a pretty day. Though this was as far from those surroundings as she could imagine. "You use your mind to live," he pointed out. "Mine has been used to survive, to plan and destroy. To conquer and invade."

She set her teeth. It was a good thing she'd dealt with angels all her life. Jonah and his all-male Legion defined arrogance with a capital
A
. Vampire males seemed to have a similar attitude, though she had to admit, both had cause. Dante didn't seem prone to exaggeration. Jonah wasn't, either. Tears pricked her eyes at the thought of her father, so far away. As a little girl's fear rose in her breast, she pushed it away, because she couldn't afford that here.

Dante shifted closer. In a swift movement she didn't anticipate, he'd turned her to her side, bringing his body flush against the back of hers, his chest pressed into her wings, his arms coming around her to take possession of her breasts like in her dream. Hard male hands closed on soft female flesh, fingers stroking the nipples in a way that had her arching and pushing her hips back against him in involuntary response.

Her caudal fin was a feathery gold, as satiny as hair under water. With no water here to let it float, it was folded against her. It concealed the dampening channel to her sex that could be reached through the layering of scales that were softer there, allowing for penetration.

"Dante," she said in quiet desperation. "You were talking about your mother. And how you . . . brought me here."
Ah, Goddess, that felt too damn good.
What was the matter with her?

"Yes, but I will not permit you to be afraid. This distracts you from your fear."

"Won't permit, or can't bear? Does my fear bother you, Dante?" The word came out on another gasp. While he'd left a hand tormenting her breast, the other slipped behind her, trailing down her back, through the folding line of her wings, down the layered scales on her hips and buttocks. As if her mind was a treasure map he read as easily as a pirate could read his own charts, he moved the limp caudal fin and found those soft scales, stroking and causing her to quiver, then cry out softly as his fingers pushed into the slick heat waiting for him.

"Not just biology," he whispered against her ear, a fang grazing her cheek. "Biology would be my touch making you wet. But you were wet before my fingers pushed into you. That is your mind. You want me. Take me now, and let go of your fear."

The denial rose to her lips, but his command was extraneous. He would do as he wanted, for to his way of thinking, she was his. And his possession meant more to him than her status as his prisoner, because it was that to which her body was responding.

She'd automatically tensed, remembering his earlier invasion, but this time, after a brief adjustment of the thin trousers, he seated himself in the opening of her sex, a sensual taunt that undulated her against him. He moved with her, as if they were two sea creatures in truth, twisting in the current of the ocean. She didn't know what current they were dancing in now, but it did exist, even in this terrible place that offered nothing but this brief pleasure.

He crossed his arms in front of her again, one palm holding each breast, creating a unique dance there as well. Exploring and squeezing, stroking, pinching, a thorough self-indulgent use of her body for his pleasure that had her even more slippery. When he slid in another inch, she moaned, spasming against his length. One hand dropped, a palm flattening against her belly, and he found the navel piercing, today a tiny silver dolphin with a sapphire stone. Teasing it, twisting it, dipping his finger into that indentation, his other fingers fanned out low on her pelvis. She should have anticipated him, but she was lost in the sensation, so that when he used that hand to push her all the way down on him, taking him deep, it was a spear of pleasure that ripped another cry from her throat, not pain.

This is new. I have not known this before. The way you respond to me . . . it's as if nothing else exists, but in a way different from living in just one moment. This moment is all that is, ever was, or will be.

Because of the fluid, poetic wonder of his words, she wasn't sure if he was speaking directly to her or had opened his mind, allowing her to tap into the flow of his subconscious thoughts. Because of that, she didn't question her own actions. Alexis reached back to find his face, threaded her fingers in his hair and mewled when he laid a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her wrist. She clutched him, working her hips harder.

Yes, I like that. Slide yourself up and down my cock.

Now that was a direct thought, for the note of command in it spurred her own reaction. She obeyed, but as she tired, his strength took over, helping her to keep climbing. While stress and fear had drained her, she knew her physical strength had been sapped by the poison of this place. It had robbed her of breath and energy to reach the pinnacle her body desperately wanted.

His own urgency was a fire that swept through her blood. When he bent his head, set his teeth to her neck, she let her head fall back to his shoulder, overwhelmed.
You won't hurt me, you won't hurt me . . .

Her tail thrashed with her movements. Usually it would have been a powerful muscle to aid their rhythm, but now it floundered along his calf, her tail fins unfurling on his feet, over the strong, callused arches. He was buried in her wings, his shoulders likely teased by the layers of pale feathers. A couple of them floated past, dislodged by the intensity of their coupling. Damn it, the lack of oxygen was making things gray around the edges, and yet she was so close.

Then he bit her. Something released in her blood that sparkled and tingled like the surprise pleasure of champagne, with an after-burn that intensified the experience. A drop rolled down her throat, but when it reached the curve of her breast, it was her blood mixed with an ethereal blue color, almost reminding her of the color of angel blood. Whatever it was, it was an aphrodisiac with all the emotional intimacy such a physical drug lacked. All of a sudden, she was bonded so closely to him, the sensation of his orgasm took her over the edge. She moaned, moving with him as if they were the same body. Clara had told her finding such a rhythm was supposed to be both fun and frustrating for two lovers. In contrast, with this melding, she knew everything he wanted at the same blink in time he did, a dance where she was already in his head, learning the steps, so they twirled amid terrible fire and pain. But the heat merely fanned the intensity of the orgasm. When she saw it yawning below her, she realized the chasm of violence and rage she was staring into was the deepest level of Dante's mind. Then all was black and shuddering pleasure, as the climax stole her breath and whirled her into oblivion.

Seven

"JONAH," Mina warned, "Do not make me knock you unconscious." "In her human form, the witch's head barely reached the middle of Jonah's chest. But David didn't feel like laughing, nor did anyone in the seawitch's underwater cave. As Prime Legion Commander, Jonah was the second most powerful angel in the Goddess's army, capable of destroying worlds with barely a thought. As powerful as he was, Mina could outmatch him, her dark powers capable of consuming a galaxy.

"This is not helping," David said. Since he was normally the quiet one, they glanced toward him. David met Jonah's gaze, nodded to the ledge behind him, hoping the reminder would help him hold on to his self-control. Anna sat there, her tail immersed in the water Mina had pushed back with an airbell so the assembled angels could stand on the wide platforms of stone. Anna's hands were clasped on her lap, her head down as if in deep thought. The golden tresses were so long the shining curls pooled in her lap, covering her fingers.

She'd always been a creature of joy and light; in fact it was her very nature that had turned Jonah away from darkness and the potential of world destruction nearly twenty-one years ago. But now she had a look of anguish so profound, David could understand why Jonah was willing to tear anything apart to get his daughter back. That, plus the commander loved his daughter deeply. Alexis was the precious symbol of their love, grown into a remarkable young woman they would willingly die to keep safe. As would everyone here, even his irascible witch.

On that thought, David turned his gaze back to her. "Mina," he said. "Tell them what happened, as you explained it to me."

She gave him a querulous look with her unusual bicolored eyes, one jewel blue, one crimson red. Whereas Jonah used clean, hot rage that could shake the firmament like an earthquake, his witch would choose bitter, deep-seated anger that would skin it alive. They each had unique methods of dealing with stress. Both were effective when properly channeled, but scary when rubbing rough edges against one another. It was a delicate situation. David could handle Mina, but handling both was an unsettling business. He wished Lucifer was here. The Lord of the Underworld was strong enough to remind the usually levelheaded Jonah that he needed to think like a commander, not a father.

"All right," Mina spoke at last. "Somehow, Dante pulled Alexis's physical body into the Dark One world through dream magic."

"You should have killed him when you saw he was gaining power in his world," Jonah said tightly.

Mina arched a brow. "You were just as aware of him, because I have been giving you the reports when I view that world through my visions and the doorway." She glanced behind her, toward a darkened tunnel.

At one time, Mina had lived in these underwater caverns, and this had been her library. She returned here now only to practice spellwork that required stronger wardings, because this was one of the most heavily warded places on Earth, containing the one remaining physical portal to the dangerous Dark One world. For over two decades, she'd used it only as a one-way window, as she'd referenced now.

"He obviously concealed much, because he is aware of my scrutiny. That ability was as impressive as the dream portal. He has become far more powerful in the past twenty years than either of us gave him credit to become. So do not lash out too much with your blame, Commander, until you flog yourself with it first."

Jonah made a noise that echoed through the caverns with the deadly malevolence of a Kraken come to life. Mina hissed back, baring the sharp canines that revealed her Dark One origins. Her one blue eye and one crimson glittered with warning from beneath the strands of thick dark hair scattered across her fair brow. David tensed.

"Please, stop it. Both of you." Anna, now shifted to human form to move across the rock, slipped past Jonah and gripped Mina's arm. Her face was pale but determined. "Mina, tell us what to do. I can't bear this . . . please."

When Mina glanced toward Anna, relief swept David. The person for whom the two shared a deep love might be as effective as Lucifer. Temporarily.

The seawitch sighed. "To be honest, I'm not sure yet. He sent me a message. It was faint. I think he depleted a great deal of his reservoir bringing her across. He's lucky it reached me," she grumbled, as if she wanted to chide him like a reckless student. "But it says"--she hesitated under Anna's strained glance--" ' I want out, as you promised me. This proves my worth. Release me, or she will die in forty-eight of your hours.' "

David noted she didn't give them the full message, as she'd given it to him. The part detailing how Alexis would die, painfully and slowly. His witch had come far in twenty years. It would serve no purpose to share that with the agitated parents.

"Let him out," Jonah growled. "He will not have time to draw one breath here."

"A magic user capable of this may be capable of much more. You once underestimated me," Mina reminded him, the derision in her tone making David wince. "If we open a rift to him, he may bring the rest of the Dark Ones with him. Though it will be a much smaller force, he may have augmented them with more powers than they once had, and they were formidable then. Can you risk many in this world for one life?"

Jonah snarled. "I will risk whatever is necessary to bring her home."

"Which is why you are
not
the one who should be making the decision," Mina said ruthlessly.

Jonah spat out a stream of invective in the angels' ancient language that was creative and frightening. Mina stood impassively, waiting him out, and his fists clenched. "You are as cold and heartless as ever, witch," he snapped. "Perhaps our mistake wasn't only leaving
him
alive."

David stepped forward then. "That's enough, my lord. She's right. Listen to yourself."

Jonah's gaze shot to him. A cool rush of air, tinged with sulfur, heralded another arrival. Lucifer materialized from the water, wielding his scythe. The dark angel's face was cold, mouth set. Jonah didn't turn, holding his attention on his lieutenant.

"She's in that world, David. You told me what that world is. Have you forgotten that I
saw
what they did to you? She's never known . . . from the minute she was born, I . . . Damn you all, she's our child."

The powerful angel broke off abruptly, turning away from them. Jonah had known loss for far too many years as a battle commander, the oldest of the non-Full Submission angels. He'd dealt with the fallout from that, but no one in the room needed to be told that his mate's love was what had brought him back to them. It was a fine line they all walked, fighting for the Legion.

David swallowed and looked away, as did the four other angels in the cavern. Marcellus was one of them, Jonah's right-hand captain until he'd been nearly killed in the Mountain Battle. He bore scars that hampered his flying, at least for full battle, but his loyalty to Jonah had brought him here today. David knew the whole Legion would be in this cavern if they would fit.

While they waited uncomfortably for their commander to get a grip on his emotions, Anna had no such reservations. She met his turn with open arms, holding him as she was subsumed in his own embrace, her body quivering in his arms. But she shed no tears, not now. The look on her face, the strained determination, reminded David that sometimes a mother showed a strength that could surpass the father's. It didn't mean her suppressed pain wouldn't shatter her if they lost Alexis. And if they lost Anna to that kind of grief, they lost Jonah. In Lucifer's face, he saw the same knowledge.

Mina moved in then. In one of her unexpected acts of compassion, she touched Anna, bringing the parents' attention back to her, though her expression remained as flat as ever. "We'll get her back. She's my goddaughter, and I'm sworn to protect her. If you do not believe in me, believe in my resolve, which as you know is quite formidable." A cynical smile twisted her lips then. "I didn't say we were without options. I can bring them through but separate them, contain him, with a magic similar to what he used. But it will take a great deal of preparation."

In Mina's gaze was a wealth of things David understood that no one else did, including the fact that Jonah wasn't the only one who'd seen what the Dark Ones had done to David. Mina had had a front-row seat. He knew the witch's heart was his, as much as every part of him was hers. As a result, when she looked at him now, he let that knowledge fill his gaze. The tension across her brow lessened.

"I'll give you a list of stores I'll need from our home." She glanced back to Anna and Jonah. "I'll need blood from both of you, as well as my own. It's going to be a lot," she added, attention going to David again, "so cookies and juice for Anna might not be amiss, and manna to replenish Jonah when I'm done. I also need to work very fast without taking time to reassure or explain to anyone what I'm doing, because it will take hours to prepare. In forty-eight hours she'll be dead, no matter what he does to her."

"Why is that?" Anna gripped the seawitch's arm. Rather than drawing away with the disdain she normally demonstrated at unwelcome touching, Mina covered the mermaid's hand with her own, met her blue eyes without flinching.

"Because nothing other than a Dark One, and Dante, can live in the Dark One world longer than that. It drains life energy. You know that," she added softly. "She is weakening even now. She might have longer if he's shielding her somehow, but knowing Dante, I wouldn't count on that."

Anna's lips quivered, but she firmed them. "Will she be okay, once she's back?"

"We make sure she gets back here, and then worry about that," Mina said in her usual brusque way. "There's nothing we can do until we have her here."

"All right, then." The pragmatic strategy seemed to rally Jonah. He kept his arm around Anna, however, as he turned to Lucifer. "I know your answer, but I will ask anyway."

Lucifer shook his head. "The Lady sends Her grief and comfort, but you know She cannot touch the Dark One domain. Mina is your gateway." The Lord of the Underworld was the only angel with crimson lights in his dark eyes, and he shifted them now to the seawitch. "Though She said if you need additional energy to shore up your own, you need only call. Like all of us, She loves the merangel."

A strangled sob escaped Anna, and Jonah laid a hand on her hair. "Is there somewhere she could rest, Mina, until this--"

"No." Anna caught an edge of Jonah's wing, mopping her eyes in the feathers before tears could fall. "I'm fine. Alexis needs me to be fine. I'm not crying." She set her jaw and locked gazes with Mina. "Do what you need to do to get my daughter away from this bastard, so my mate can end him once and for all."

The harsh mother's anger that rolled through the cave was so unlike Anna's gentle voice, a shiver rippled up David's spine. But Mina simply nodded. "Let's get to work, then."

WHEN Alexis roused from her postcoital doze, her limbs felt heavy. It was strange to feel unwell and sexually sated at once. The buzzing roar was louder in her head, and she had a hard time lifting her upper body. But she pushed herself up, wrinkling her nose at the stench of blood, which seemed more pronounced than it had been when she was distracted by Dante's seduction, or perhaps--

"
Stop
," she cried out, but it was too late.

The humanoid, who reminded Alexis of the early Neanderthals she'd seen in pictures, was female. It was obvious because she was naked, and she'd been raped, her sensitive flesh torn, thighs and buttocks stained with blood too plentiful to be otherwise. Her breasts had been bitten, torn open. Where she lay on her stomach next to the ritual circle, her head was over the shallow basin. As a result, she was struggling, trying to keep her face out of the blood.

Dante had a knee on her back. When Alexis cried out, he'd seized a hank of the female's hair, pulling up her head at a hard angle. The knife made his intent clear. Lex was already off the bed and moving, pulling herself by her arms, flapping her wings despite her weakness.

He was far quicker. The efficient slash cut the female's throat open. Blood spurted into the circle, replenishing the pool. Alexis stopped, frozen, as life died out of the woman's eyes. She held Alexis's horrified gaze to the end though, as if she knew that was the only source of mercy in the room.

Even as her body jerked, the soul struggling to free itself, Dante shoved a cloth in the wound, soaking it. When he dropped the head with a liquid
thunk
, the face landing in the blood, Alexis flinched. Moving to the door without further attention to either female, he began to refresh the broad slashing marks there, muttering another chant.

Alexis scrambled to the female's side and lifted her head in both hands. With difficulty, she held her in one arm and used the fingers of the other to wipe the blood from the eyelids so the woman could see her. Alexis placed a trembling hand on the smelly, bloodsoaked hair, feeling the woman's terror and pain slowly ebb away with her life. She must have been brutalized out in the Dark One world, during the hours while Alexis slept.
Bring me more blood
, Dante had said. He hadn't specified how it was to be treated. That didn't matter to him at all.