Cleopatra's Return: A Paranormal/Vampire Romance (13 page)

Somehow, even though he kept slicing off body parts, they kept coming back for more. Which was really annoying given he kept trying to work his way toward Cleo
, who had yet to move from her spot by the wall. It didn’t help that it seemed the number of demons in the room had multiplied from the initial three.

By his count, they were up to at least five or six. Could be seven if the heap on the floor was a dead demon.
Taking up a defensive stance in front of Cleo, Julius used his vampiric speed and dexterity to keep the beasts back. But even with his skill, he knew he couldn’t hold them off much longer.

Come on
, Michael. Where are you?

As if
Julius’ thoughts had summoned him, than there was a commotion at the door. Michael, his hair floating about his head and looking every inch the avenging angel, flowed into the room, his fury practically keeling them over as it came off him in waves.

“About time you showed up.”

“A certain queen was possibly stalling me,” Michael replied as he grabbed a demon by the horns and, with a powerful wrench, broke its neck. The lumpy body hit the floor.

Julius stabbed another in the stomach
, and when it leaned over to clutch its innards, he decapitated it. “Good thing one of us was paying attention.”

Michael didn’t reply, partially because they fought but more because of the
jewel-colored fairy guards who flitted in with their rapier-like swords. While they might snipe at each other when alone, they always presented a united front to everyone else.

Given the way the odds had flipped, t
he demons had to know they were defeated, but they fought to the death rather than plead for mercy. Nor could they call a portal in the house of a Fae, which was protected from such invasions by magic.

One by one, the beasts were dispatched
, the magic swords of the fairy guards rendering the brutish carcasses into greasy black clouds.

The danger gone, Julius dropped to his knees and lifted
a limp Cleo. He immediately saw the puncture wound, an angry red spot on her arm that he’d failed to prevent and cursed.

Michael was instantly by his side, his brow furrowed. “Is she
injured?”

“They’ve drugged her. My guess is they had orders to subdue her and bring her back.
”

“But why?” Michael couldn’t help orating the query aloud.

Julius didn’t have an answer.

“
We should get her home.”

With Michael clearing a path, no one daring to c
hallenge his thunderous expression, Julius followed, Cleo cradled in his arms, her frame as lush and tempting as ever.

I’m holding her again, at last, and it’s more wondrous than I recalled.
How bittersweet. Not just because he’d hoped the next time he held her like this he’d be carrying her off to bed for some bliss but because he’d never expected his first touch would be as she lay bloody and unconscious. Or that she would belong to someone else.

At the doors to the manse, Queen Mab herself stood
waiting for them.

Michael slowed down only long enough to say
, “I am most displeased with the hospitality this eve.”

Understatement of the year
, thought Julius with a mental snicker.

“I assure you I had nothing to do with this.”
She wrung her hands in distress. Whether real or pretend, Julius would wager Michael didn’t care.

“
Nothing? I find that hard to believe. How could your guards not detect demons infiltrating the house of the Fae?” Michael snorted. “Is your security so easily compromised?”

“Of course not.”
Said with indignation.

“Then you explain to me how something like this could happen.” Michael never once raised his voice, and yet his question practically boomed.

Mab paled. “Those responsible—”

Michael interrupted her. “Work for you. Which means you are responsible for this attack.
Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t annul the truce.”

Julius
didn’t gasp at the threat, but many others did. The truce was what kept the vamps from hunting and feeding off the Fae—whose blood was beyond tasty, or so he’d heard. That Michael would even suggest annulling something he’d worked hundreds of years for bespoke just how angry he was.
And how much he already cares for Cleo.
Something about the knowledge made his jealousy twinge.

“Let’s not be rash.” Mab
, usually the queen of cool, practically stammered. “I swear I will find out who allowed the breach in security and punish them.”

“You’d better,” said Michael, his voice cold. “Else I will
hunt them down and find out the truth. Trust me when I say you really don’t want that.”

Michael stalked out without waiting for a response, and Julius strode after him, holding in a smirk as Mab screeched at her retainers
to find the idiots who’d let the demons in.

The limo waited out front
, which Julius didn’t bother questioning. Michael could do many things he couldn’t. Arranging for limos to be ready without notice or a phone call no longer took him by surprise—much.

Michael slid into the car first
and held out his arms. Julius almost hesitated, not eager to end his handling of the drugged Cleo. However, he wasn’t the one she’d want to wake up to.

He
handed Cleo into Michael’s waiting arms and then got in, slamming the door behind him. A light flicked on, illuminating the rear of the car. While a vampire could see in the dark, colors and nuances were best judged in proper lighting. In this case, Julius would have preferred not to see Cleo’s face. With its pallor and her shallow breathing, she appeared one step away from death.

“
I’m going to give her blood.” Michael shifted her frame to free an arm and brought his sleeve to his mouth. The rip of fabric resembled the sound of another deposit lost at their tuxedo rental place. But it still beat buying the suits.

“
I remember why I hate going to these things,” Julius said instead if replying. He loosed his tie and undid the top bottom of his ruined shirt.

Wrist bared, Michael glanced at him. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“What do you want me to say? Do I think giving her your blood is wise? Probably not. We don’t know what she is.” Other than something powerful, but what kind being, Julius couldn’t have said and neither could Michael, or anyone else he’d wager.

“I have to do something. Look at her.”

“It’s probably just a sedative,” Julius countered.

“And if it’s not?”

“Then give her my blood. It’s not as potent as yours.” Julius had only once received the gift of Michael’s blood, and he could say, without a doubt, nothing else compared. Was it the fact he started as an angel or his age that made it so potent? A question with no answer just like no one understood why vampire blood in small amounts could heal certain injuries, or turn a human if given enough.

“You’d like that
, wouldn’t you? To have her indebted to you?” Michael’s eyes glittered darkly.

“No. I just meant we don’t know what effect your blood will have on her system. Because of what she is, or isn’t.”

“She’ll be fine,” Michael murmured. “I know it.”

Where Cleo was concerned, Michael seemed convinced he possessed some kind of sixth sense
, and Julius could only trust it.

His friend
tore at his skin and punctured the vein in his wrist until dark, rich blood welled. Julius couldn’t help a craving at the sight.

As Michael
pressed the wound to Cleo’s lips, he whispered. “Drink, little goddess.”

Given what he knew of Cleo,
Julius expected her to suddenly wake and spit the blood back at him. But once again, she proved Julius an ignoramus where she was concerned. To his surprise, she drank, sluggishly at first but then, as the blood hit her system and acted as an adrenaline rush, quicker.

One moment, she suck
ed avidly at Michael’s wrist, the next she straddled him and had him in a lip lock, and not a chaste one. As Julius watched, not without envy, she devoured Michael’s mouth fervently, her dress riding up to show off her tanned thighs. Her body rocked against Michael’s lap, an erotic motion, a sensual gyration that made Julius grow rock hard. How he longed to feel that passion directed at him.

As if she heard his thoughts,
Cleo broke off the kiss and turned to look at him, her eyes glowing with an unholy light.

What’s up with her gaze?

Her lips, moist and red, curled into a sensual smile. “What a naughty general, watching from the corner.”

“Would you like me to leave?” he asked
, unable to mask the slight edge of bitterness.

“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have an audience.”

Ignoring him once again, she clutched at Michael’s hair, once again kissing him, make that feeding him. The powerful ambrosia of blood filled the air as she nicked her lower lip and said in a husky voice, “Taste me, angel.”

“With pleasure,” Michael growled.

Before Julius could protest, not because of his voyeuristic position but because he wondered at the prudence of Michael feeding from her when she was obviously not her usual self, it was too late.

Michael sucked at her lower lip
, the muscles of this throat working as he swallowed the nectar she freely offered. A potent brew of what, though. Something that acted like an aphrodisiac, that was for sure. Michael wasn’t usually so free with his hands and sexuality in public. He often said the fleeting pleasure of sex wasn’t worth the loss of attention he paid to his surroundings. When Michael indulged, it was usually somewhere safe, in an environment he controlled and could let go in.

But Michael acted like a vampire drunk on blood. It made Julius curious for a taste but
, at the same time, leery.

“I sense you watching, Julius,” she whispered. “I feel your need.”

“I’m not dead,” he growled. “What do you expect me to feel?”

“You could feel me,” she suggested.

“I don’t understand.”

“Kiss me
, Julius.”

Did he dare with his friend staring at him with hooded eyes
?

“But Michael…”

“Says you may,” Cleo replied. “And before you ask, his blood seems to be having the oddest effect on me. Do you know I can sense his thoughts? His desires? Even some of his memories? I know you still want me, Julius. You crave my body.” She wet a finger and ran it down the valley of her breasts, hidden only by the flimsiest silk.

“Michael is my friend and your lover.”

“Indeed he is. A good friend. A sharing friend.” She laughed. “Do you know, despite what the gossip says, I’ve never been with two men, but all of a sudden, I find myself very curious.”

“You do?” Julius, brave commander, fearless vampire, almost couldn’t choke the words out, not when frozen in place by Michael’s unchanging stare and her sensual one.

“I also know that you and my dear angel have fucked women together in the past. It sounds
fun.
” She uttered a throaty laugh that sent chills down his spine. “So if you’re done arguing, I want you both.
Now.
”

It wasn’t a declaration of love
or forgiveness, but neither was it an invitation he could refuse. Julius slid closer until his lips met Cleo’s. One touch and he was lost in the maelstrom that was Cleopatra.

Her
lips melted under his and parted. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, sliding erotically over his fangs. Julius shuddered with want.

When she turned away, her lips leaving his with a wet slide, he opened his eyes to see her kissing Michael again.
He watched his friend’s hands as they stroked down her straight back to grasp her buttocks.

A small spurt of jealousy tried to ignite. He tamped it down. T
hey’d played like this before, and Julius knew he’d get another turn at her mouth. In the meantime, there were other things he could do, such as becoming reacquainted with her body.

Julius knelt on the car floor behind Cleo
, who still straddled Michael’s lap. Not quite high enough to reach the soft skin on her neck, he instead drew down the hidden zipper at her back, exposing her smooth skin. The material spread open down to the crevice of her ass.

Starting at the middle of her spine
, Julius kissed his way down while sliding his hands inside her dress to curve around her waist. How hotly her skin burned, desire raising her temperature. Julius absorbed her warmth, basked in it. Since his turning, cold had been his constant companion, until now. With a single touch, Cleo heated him.

J
ust as his mouth reached the delectable dimple above her ass, the car stopped.

Fuck. What bad timing.
Julius didn’t want to leave the cocooning warmth of the car.
What if she changes her mind once inside?