Devour, A Paranormal Romance (Warm Delicacy Series, Book 3) (21 page)

“He is more evil than Baal, Claire, and if he is still alive we will need the help of Titan or there will be no chance for us. Goddess help us. Baal kills for conquest, but the Jackal… he enjoys it. He draws his power from the underworld and every death just feeds his strength.”

“Then we must get Titan to help us!” I jumped from my seat, standing tall and confident. The future looked grim, but I knew I had to follow my own guidance. I focused my rage on defeating Baal
and
the Jackal, too, if I had to. I refused to accept failure. We would win, we had to. There was no other option.

“I will let you accompany me on one condition, Claire,” my father said, resting a hand on my shoulder as he looked down at me. “You cannot take the stones.” I opened my mouth to counter his words, but he shook his head. “Do this for me daughter, please.”

I didn’t want to agree to this. I had done so now because I didn’t want my own people to fear me, but if we were traveling to another region we would need the protection of the stones. Who knew what dangers we could meet on the road?

“Fine,” I replied, my fingers crossed behind my back. I immediately felt guilt stabbing at my heart, but I did my best to conceal it from my father. I didn’t want him to know I was lying. I hated lying, but I knew I had to. I understood his fear of the stones but he just didn’t get it. They could help us, I knew they could. Besides, no one had to know I was bringing them with me. I would keep them hidden and
if
I did end up needing them, then everyone would be glad I brought them. Yes, I was going to bring the stones with me to the Titan region. I might be sneaky, but I’d rather be able to save our butts if Baal decided to attack us along the way.

“Thank you.” He cupped my face, a genuine look of relief washing over his features. “Now promise me you’ll spend some time with your mother before we leave. I believe she could use some cheering up, and I know only her daughter can do that.” He winked at me, making me smile.

“I promise,” I responded, happy that there was at least one promise I would be keeping to my father tonight.

“Good. I had better get back to work or Rennek will have me doing paperwork all night,” he joked with a hearty laugh as he peeked behind him to see Rennek and Arrick entering the tiny courtyard. “Ah, and that’s my cue. Have a good night, Claire. Try and have a little fun, for me? I hate to think that my daughter has only the worries of the world on her shoulders.”

“I’ll try,” I answered back, with a smile.

I knew it would be hard, but the grin on Arrick’s face as he approached told my heart that it might not be as hard as I thought. Last night he’d made me the happiest vampire I’d been in ages, and I could only imagine what he had in store for me tonight.

“Have a good chat with your dad?” he inquired, wrapping his arms around my waist once my father and Rennek were out of sight.

“I did.” I kept my answer short, not wanting to get into details.

“Excellent. So, are you ready?”

“Ready?”

The wild look in his eyes told me he had something crazy in mind. What could he be up to? I had fun on the beach, but I wasn’t in the mood for spending an hour in the shower washing off all the gritty sand.

“Training, of course! With me!” He squeezed me in a bear hug, growling into my neck before lifting me up and twirling me in circles.

“Arrick!” I squealed as the garden spun wildly. I slapped his arm playfully until he finally put me down. “You’re going to pay for that sir,” I hissed through my fangs, “nobody spins a princess!” I planted my hands on my hips and did my best annoyed look, even though I was thoroughly amused.

“Is that so?” he raised an eyebrow at me, before offering his hands to me, palms up. “I do believe I deserve to be punished then,
princess
.”

“Oh, trust me, you will be,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “On the mat! Now get those cute buns moving.” I swatted his behind, and made my way out of the garden toward the training grounds that were still roaring with brawling vampires and guards. I couldn’t wait to spar with Arrick. I’d never seen him fight before, and I couldn’t wait to pin him. Maybe if I beat him he’d be a little more confident in my abilities and wouldn’t have to feel like he needed to protect me all the time.

After a week of training every night, I was almost happy to be leaving Naos. The new sparring regime was brutal and I woke up every evening with sore muscles in places I didn’t even know I had them. But, I could claim the victory that I had beaten Arrick, although I wasn’t entirely certain he hadn’t let me win. It was still up for debate.

Every moment that Robin and Dmitry weren’t in the library, they were out in the courtyards training with the rest of the guard. Eli had actually offered each of them positions with the King’s Snake, their main directive to watch over me. Neither of them seemed to have a problem with that, and Dmitry even said that had been his plan anyway, which was a little awkward, yet nice to hear. He and I were still on uneasy ground.

Liz, on the other hand, had given up on training after only three sessions, even after working earlier in the evenings with Robin. The third night I had to practically drag her to the mat. I was a little irritated, but I couldn’t force her to do it. She was happy staying at the Château helping oversee the redesign of the new wing. What really surprised me though, was her new… companion. I had asked Bennett to keep a watchful eye over her, and at first he looked like he wanted to eat her, but now and again I would catch them strolling through the halls together. Liz would be talking his ear off about decorating, movies or some other subject I knew Bennett had absolutely no interest in, yet, he looked riveted. Liz always fantasized about vampires, but I would never have guessed that Bennett would catch her eye. Beside the fact that he was a guard, he was not even close to her type, but people change. I was happy if she was happy,
and
since she wasn’t training, I was even happier to know that Bennett followed her around like a giant, ghost-like shadow. He could more than handle himself in a fight so at least I knew she was going to be protected.

“Sorry Louie, you can’t come with me this time.” I scratched my cat’s head as he rubbed his tubby body against my leg, purring noisily. He knew I was heading somewhere, and had promptly jumped into my duffle bag the second I put it on the bed. I started tossing my clothes in on top of him, pretending I hadn’t noticed he was there. He playfully poked his head out from under one of my shirts and started chewing on the zipper. I laughed aloud at his antics and dug him out of my bag before depositing him on the floor. He used to do the same thing when I was younger, packing an overnight bag to take to Liz’s.

“You about ready to go?” Arrick asked, strolling into the room with his black duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He tossed it to the floor by the door, and bent over to pet Louie who had bounded over to greet him. Louie plopped heavily to his side, rolling around like a puppy dog as Arrick rubbed his chubby belly. “You’ve got the strangest cat I’ve ever seen.”

“I know, but that’s what makes him awesome,” I said, digging in my underwear drawer and tossing some into my bag. Normally I would do my best to fold everything, but I had slept in, so stuffing was all I had time for. Plus, I didn’t really care if my panties were wrinkled.

I zipped up my bag and heaved a heavy sigh of relief knowing that I was finally done packing. I had literally just woken up and was still in a sleepy haze when I began packing in a hurried panic. I was so afraid of running late. This trip was beyond important and I didn’t want to delay our departure. I wasn’t exactly known for my promptness, thanks to growing up with Liz the queen of fashionably late.

“Where exactly are we going again?” I asked Arrick after jumping on my bed, belly first, and propping my chin up with my hands.

“Titan,” he answered vaguely, still fawning over his new furry friend. Since our evening on the beach, Arrick had slept beside me every night. For whatever reason, Louie took to him and followed Arrick around almost as much as he did me.

“Duh!” I sat up and tossed a pillow at him. “Nobody has told me where Titan is exactly.”

“Well,” he began to explain, as he took a seat on the couch, “the main city is south of here at an oasis in the desert.
Way
south.”

“The desert?” I said, completely shocked. A desert was the last place I would think a vampire would want to live.

“Yeah, don’t ask me why they live there, I have no clue, but that’s what Cathair told me earlier.”

“That’s bizarre.”

“You’re telling me.”

“How do the vampires survive there? Won’t the sun kill them?” I remembered my own experience with daylight and it was anything but pleasant.

“Oh, that reminds me!” He jumped off the couch and dashed over to his bag. After digging through it for a minute or two he pulled out a small glass jar. “With this,” he said, handing me the fist-sized container.

“What is it?” I opened the lid to reveal a jelly-like, translucent cream. It had a faint, earthy smell; something similar to mushrooms or moss.

“Think of it as vampire sunscreen.” He laughed at his words, but I just rolled my eyes. I dipped my index finger in the mixture and rubbed it around between my finger and thumb. It was oily, and difficult for my skin to absorb so I had to set down the jar and rub it through both my hands till it was finally gone.

“Yuck,” I groaned at the greasy feel on my skin as I made my way to the sink to wash my hands. “They actually put that on their skin? I might as well dip my body in pizza grease!”

“That sounds kinky,” he said, smiling suggestively.

“Oh, shut up!” I stuck my tongue out at him, and flicked the soapy water from my hands at his face.

“Hey!” He rubbed his face off with the sleeve of his shirt, and retreated out of the bathroom. “In all seriousness though, Claire, Leona told me that stuff will protect you down there, so if for some reason you need to go out during the day you’ll have to wear it.”

“Goddess I hope not.”

“You got everything packed? I’m going to take our bags down to the SUVs.”

“Yeah, I just got to grab one last thing; I’ll meet you down there.”

“You sure?”

“Yep,” I replied with a smile, before dropping a quick kiss on his lips and watching him walk out of the room, our bags in tow.

I’d wanted to pack the stones in my bag, but I hadn’t managed to do so before Arrick showed up. I knew he’d know what I was doing as soon as he saw the box so I had no other choice than to wear the stones. I shut my bedroom door quietly, and tip-toed to my closet. There was no real purpose in tip-toeing or trying to be quiet, but I was being secretive and it kinda went with the territory.

The box was hidden right where I had left it. I tugged it out between the extra linens, careful to make certain that everything stayed in place. I didn’t want anyone to know I’d been in the box. Hmmm… come to think of it, Robin was the only one who knew where I had hidden the stones and I doubted she would come looking for them. Either way, I didn’t want anyone to know I’d taken them.

The key still dangled from the thin, gold chain around my neck. I lifted it off, careful not to snag it in my hair, and inserted it into the lock. When it clicked open I lifted the lid and a strange vacuum sound sucked in a small pocket of air. Was this box vacuum sealed or something? I shook my head at the strange noise, and lifted the stones from the box. They swirled with shimmering light and I caught myself staring into them as they rested in my palm. I felt almost a little sorry that they’d had been locked up in that box, but an odd sense of relief emitted from them like they’d been asleep… or something like that. I knew the box was meant to block their power, but maybe it did more than that. Maybe blocking the power helped the souls find a bit of rest.

I shrugged my shoulders, deciding it didn’t really matter since I planned to find some way to release the souls in the end. They deserved to find peace. Maybe if we killed Baal they would be free.

The small, thumbnail sized stones were each looped on a glittering gold chain. I second guessed myself as I lifted the chains over my head, and decided to take only one. Returning all but a single stone, I draped it over my head, tucking it underneath my cream, knitted sweater. I sat up to stand in front of the mirror and examined my appearance. It wouldn’t be good if someone spotted the stone the second I walked out of the room, especially not my father. I adjusted the folded layers of my off-the-shoulder sweater, pulling them to one side so that only one shoulder was visible. I tugged my hair into a side pony and surveyed my work. The stone was concealed well below the collar of my sweater, and the chain was only slightly visible under my hair. I wasn’t too worried if anyone saw it, hopefully they would just think it was the key. The two chains did look the same after all. After locking the box, I tucked it back into its hiding place and looped the tiny key around my neck.

I took a detour on my way to the SUVs to say goodbye to Liz and Robin. They both wouldn’t let me leave without pinky promising that I would return safely. Liz had somehow wrangled Robin away from the library, and Robin had magically succeeded in zipping Liz’s lips about her decorating plans. They were both chatting like little school girls, having found kinship in their love of vampire hotties. Robin’s bed was covered in magazines from Noire, and she was pointing out all her favorite dukes and lords from Noire. I was sad to be leaving them, but I knew they’d be safe while I was away. Several members of the newly formed King’s Snake were staying behind with the Blood Guard to safeguard the Château and Naos. Kyri, whom I’d grown closer to through our training sessions, had been assigned as my mother’s personal sentry along with her father, Eli. Knowing they were watching over my mother made all my worries melt away.

Sidestepping the line of guards that were standing outside the detached carport, I launched myself into my mother’s arm. I could tell from the puffiness under her eyes that she was still sad we were leaving, but she knew it had to be done.