Dark Rapture (73 page)
Authors: Michele Hauf
Tags: #Horror, #Time Travel, #Ghost, #Paranormal Romance, #vampire, #paris, #michele hauf
“Sebastian,” she whispered loudly, hoping to pull his mind from the last fragments of vampire sleep.
Two stars fell from the sky and reappeared in his obsidian eyes. He blinked. The shroud had been lifted.
“
Ma chèrie
.” He fell to his knees, crushing the trail of crimson ruffles curled about her feet. He wrapped his arms around her hips and pressed the side of his face into her stomach. “You’ve come back.”
“Kiss me.”
Everything became right as Sebastian slipped his arms around her and pressed his body into hers. She had known all along it could be this good. If kisses could be made of magic and wishes and of dreams fulfilled than Scarlet prayed for this one to never end.
“Forgive me?,” she asked. “You know I needed to do this, but I never intended to be away for so long.”
“But—”
“Hush,” she silenced him with a finger to his lips. “I was led away by the quest for the powers I knew I possessed. Powers I shall teach to you. Powers of the mind, body and soul. But it was an even greater power that led me back to you.”
“Which is?”
“The power of love, Sebastian. It is like a cord of steel connecting the two of us. It binds me to you in ways I will never question or doubt. I love you, Sebastian DelaCourte.”
“I love you, Scarlet.”
“Then prove it.” She tilted his chin up and starlight shone across his wondering eyes. “Come with me.”
The train of ruffles swished across dust and tiny pebbles and Sebastian’s boots clicked sharply just behind.
“You’re wearing the dress,” he said in surprised adoration.
“To please you.”
Scarlet led Sebastian inside the sanctuary. A hundred flames crackled and glowed, surrounding them in a yellow aura. The walls sparkled and danced with soft amber light and a shower of warmth filled the room. She inhaled the burning scent, clutching Sebastian’s fingers tightly. “There is something we must do now.”
Candle glow shone across his hair in an amber slice and touched his eyes with the warmth he had always thought he had lost centuries ago when the vampire’s curse had taken him. But Scarlet knew better.
“I’ve learned much these past few months. Esmarelda taught me things…about myself…about you…about vampires…things I will share with you.”
“I can feel it in your presence. You’ve a new confidence.”
She pressed a finger to his lips. How had she lived for months without the touch of his kiss? “I needed this time to discover. And I do not regret it for one second. But if I had known my absence would send you into such sadness…”
Sebastian shook his head. “Your leave wrenched out my heart. I wanted nothing of this world if you would not share it with me. I guess, in the back of my mind, I always knew you would return. But it was hard to see past the heartache. But you are here. That is all that matters now. But…are you here…”
“Forever. I know now neither of us could function without the other.”
“We share the same blood,” he added.
She pressed her palm to his chest and he caught her wrist in his grasp. “Two hearts, one soul.”
“For an eternity.”
She sealed their pledge with an urgent kiss. Their clothing seemed to melt away with the flames. They fell to the carpet and their bodies became one.
All things were right. They were in tune, in synch, their bodies relieved to have the missing piece back, their minds focusing on the other, and their blood as one.
Scarlet Rose was now complete.
Epilogue
Sebastian’s sigh pulled his entire body down with him. He touched the pages he had been slaving over for the past months. Pieces of paper that held his deepest fears and torments, his innermost triumphs and defeats. Scarlet knew he had been working on his life story. The urge to write down his own history was great now he’d read through the Lyon’s family diaries. And Esmarelda—now staying at the beach house—had encouraged him. It was cathartic to write down the events he’d lived through.
Scarlet would sit by him from time to time, nestle her head on his leg, while he wrote. But she’d always ask the same question. “Can I read it when you are finished?”
“Yes, of course,” he would say, more as a means of reassuring than real promises.
“Can I let her read this?” he wondered now. “There is still the one secret I keep. And to reveal it may threaten to wrench Scarlet from my life forever.”
###
I hope you enjoyed this story that continued the relationship between Sebastian and Scarlet. I write paranormal, historical and fantasy romance. For more information about my current and backlist releases visit my website at:
http://www.michelehauf.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/michelehauf
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Blog: http://blog.michelehauf.com
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