Queen of The Hill (Knight Games) (17 page)

Focused, I punched my power toward Kace with a forward motion of my chest, straight from my heart. The vampire stumbled back in the wind, dropping the stake as he fended off the storm of ice. The vines around Gary froze, snapped, and fell away.

On her side of the ring, Tabetha struggled to retaliate. She flicked her wand again and again. Blasts of power bounced into me, but the elements were already in my control. I owned the air. I owned this earth, thanks to the power of my caretaker. I owned the power of the dead. All the forces of hell, my graveyard, fed into me, through me, until I became the power. My limbs throbbed with it. The air around me hummed. I. Was. Invincible.

Tabetha stumbled.

Gary sat bolt upright in the eye of my storm. His eyes bulged and his fangs extended to the point he couldn’t close his mouth. I’d never seen any vampire look as feral or as deadly. He attacked in super speed, scooping the stake from the ground and pounding it into Kace’s chest.

In a last-ditch effort, Tabetha wielded her new power, her stolen power. She melted the silver spikes and directed the molten metal toward Gary. It hardened, harmlessly, in the icy power of my hurricane before it ever reached him.

“More elements won’t help you, Tabetha. They
all
belong to me here.” My voice reverberated in the space between. I opened the floodgates and let the power pour through me.

Blood filled Kace’s lungs, and he gurgled up at Gary. The power of the stake leached into him, cutting off Tabetha’s protective charms. Gary had missed his heart, but I got the sense that was on purpose. My ex-boyfriend clamped one hand around Kace’s ankle and dragged the vampire across the ring, flinging his massive body at the werewolf. This time, the beast’s teeth sank into Kace’s flesh around the stake. The enchantment I’d placed on it in order to keep Gary’s vampire flesh from expelling it now ate away at Tabetha’s magic. It left Kace vulnerable. A sharp scream escaped the massive vampire’s lips, and then the werewolf ripped out his throat.

While Kace’s blood soaked into the ground, I turned the full force of my intention on Tabetha. She looked drained. Her nose was bleeding. I hit her with a blast that blew back her hair.

“This isn’t over,” she said, backing into the night. Her body melded with the darkness.

“Oh yes, it is,” I said.

I pulled the power of the circling storm back inside myself. My nose was bleeding, too. When had that started? I wobbled on my feet. Rick held me up by the shoulders. Poe clung to me but hung his head like he might be ill.

Gary turned toward Padnon and the platform. The coven parted to allow him access. He climbed the steps to the throne. On the seat where the alabaster bowl had been was now an alabaster crown. I didn’t know if the bowl had magically changed or been replaced by Padnon during the fight. Gary lifted the prize and turned, extending it above his head.

It was done. To the cheers of the vampire coven, Gary lowered the crown upon his head and sank to the throne of human bones.

My work here was done. I turned in the circle of Rick’s arms. “Poe, you’re free for the night.”

Poe lifted from my shoulder on lethargic wings and flew toward the woods, no doubt hungry from his night’s work.

I raised my eyes to Rick’s. “Take me home.”

He scooped me up into his arms. “Of course,
mi cielo
.”

N
estled in Rick’s arms, I slept as he carried me home. I was tired, exhausted even, but I didn’t pass out. Instead, I allowed my mind to drift. Something had changed tonight. I’d tapped into the power of my graveyard in an organic and terrifying way. For a moment, I’d almost lost myself to it. But I hadn’t, and I was sure I could harness it again. For the first time, Tabetha had feared me. I’d seen it in her eyes. After tonight, I was sure she’d think twice about messing with me, especially in my territory.

“She’ll still want payment,” Rick said, reading my thoughts.

I opened my eyes. “She’ll take the love spell I offered her. If she doesn’t, I’ll kill her.”

Rick sighed. “What about Logan?”

“She’s threatened to kill him by our wedding day if I don’t hand over my territory. That means I have a few weeks to find a way to save him.”

We’d arrived home, my porch light casting a welcoming warm glow over my yard. “She could change her mind and kill him sooner.”

“If she does, she loses all leverage over me. She won’t. She’ll hang on to her ace for as long as she can.”

“Sounds risky,” Rick said. “I hope for Logan’s sake Tabetha acts out of logic and not passion.”

“You’re right.” I wriggled out of his arms, landing on my own two feet. “We should abduct him now while she’s weak. We might be able to sneak him out of Valentine’s before she regains her strength.”

Rick shook his head. “You need to regain
your
strength,
mi cielo
. The magic you performed tonight wasn’t simple. It could’ve destroyed you. You are not ready for a second run-in with Tabetha.”

“But Logan …”

“As you said, there is time.”

I always scowled a little when Rick said there was time. He was immortal. For him, there was always more time. For humans like Logan, not so much. I was too weak to argue. I allowed him to lead me into the house and lift me again to carry me up the stairs, ending our journey in my bedroom.

“Rest,” he said, helping me remove Nightshade.

“My face is covered in blood,” I slurred. I was holding on to consciousness with both hands.

He lowered me to the bed and brushed my hair back from my face. If he said anything else, I missed it as I drifted to sleep.

“I’m going to run you a bath,” Rick said.

I’d spent most of the day in bed with a wicked magic hangover. Rick had been babying me all day, feeding me tea and toast and watching over me as I drifted in and out of sleep. The sound of running water preceded billows of steam through the doorway to the bathroom.

I started to get undressed. The squeal and thump of a cabinet door opening and closing raised my eyebrows.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Cleaning up a little,” Rick said.

I sighed. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a terrible housekeeper, but I’ll get to it eventually.”

“I’ll help you.”

My cheeks warmed with embarrassment.

He poked his head out of the doorframe and tossed a tied garbage bag toward the hallway. I’d never seen him look so domestic. Warmth bloomed behind my breastbone at the simple human gesture.

My eyes misted, and I sat back down on the bed dressed only in my bra and underwear.

Before the first tear could drop, Rick was there to catch it. “Why are you crying?”

“You really do love me, don’t you?” I asked. “I know it seems like a stupid question. We’re getting married; it should be obvious. But, as my caretaker, maybe you, sort of,
have
to love me.”

The corners of Rick’s mouth sank. “I am not compelled to love you,
mi cielo
.”

“I know. That’s why the tears. If you were, you wouldn’t be cleaning my bathroom.” I smiled weakly. “Cleaning means a lot to me.”

He kneeled between my thighs and wrapped his hands around mine. A subtle smirk turned his full lips. He looked at me through his impossibly long lashes. “Wait until you see my dust and polish.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.

“No one polishes like I do.” He shifted his hands to my hips as if to drive the point home, then cupped my ass and jerked me forward until I was pressed against his chest.

Mouth parted, I searched his face. There wasn’t one shred of defensiveness. He wasn’t guarded or confused about the future or dwelling on the “what ifs” of our relationship. Rick’s heart was open and exposed, as it had been for hundreds of years. He loved me.

I lowered my mouth to his, gently melding our lips. He tilted his head and the kiss went deeper. I dug my fingers into his dark waves, wrapped my legs around his back. My tongue stroked his.

Just when things were getting good, he gently pulled away. “It’s almost five. You should eat something,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes but didn’t break eye contact. “Stand up and I will.”

He swallowed hard enough that I could hear it. “You need your strength. Eat, have your bath—” Rick jumped up and ran into the bathroom where I heard him curse and turn the water off. I followed, laughing when I saw the half-inch of water on the floor around his feet. He reached into the tub and pulled the plug.

“You think this is funny?” he asked through a smile. “It will ruin your floor.”

With a smug grin, I tipped my head to the side and snapped my fingers. A strong wind coursed down the wall and blew the water across the floor and up the side of the porcelain tub. The toilet paper roll spun in the warm blowing air. Rick’s hair blew back, and he leaned against the sink to lift his feet. I ran my toe across the linoleum. Bone dry.

“See? No problem,” I said. My nose began to run, and I reached up to wipe under it. My hand came away bloody. “Oh.”

I swayed on my feet. Rick caught me around the waist and pulled me to him. “You’re still drained,” he said. “You need rest.” He propped me against the sink and re-plugged the now half-full tub of steaming water. He poured in a heavy dose of bubble bath and churned up a thick foam. “Come.”

Taking his hand, I stepped toward him. His fingers traced the strap of my bra, then knocked it off my shoulder. I reached behind my back and unhooked the band. It dropped to the floor. “
Mi cielo
, please. You need rest. There will be time later.” His eyes pleaded with me.

Reluctantly, I kept my hands to myself and finished undressing. He tied my hair up with a clip from my drawer and lowered me gingerly into the tub, folding a towel to support my head and neck. The water was cathartic, warmth seeping into my muscles. I moaned with pleasure and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Rick was slipping from the room.

“Where are you going?” I asked

He leaned back through the door. “Relax. I’ll be right back.”

I closed my eyes again, and this time I allowed the warmth to carry me away.

When I woke again, my fingers were pruney and the water was lukewarm. Rick stood next to the tub with a puffy white towel in his hands.

“How long have I been out?” I asked.

“Maybe an hour. It took me longer than I expected.”

“Longer than you expected to do what?”

He extended his hand.

I took a moment to wash my face, then rose from the water and allowed him to wrap the towel around me. As I did so, I tried to meet his lips, but he planted a kiss on my forehead.

“Not yet,” he murmured.

“Why?”

He steered me out of the bathroom. Rick had transformed my bedroom into something out of a dream. Every surface was covered in red candles, the flames flickering and filling the room with warm light. He’d moved a small table into the room with a vase at the center filled with the same flowers as he’d sent me at the hospital—roses, lilies, protea, and liatris.

“I love the flowers. How did you know?”

“That you weren’t a fan of carnations? I’ve spent lifetimes with you, remember?”

I crept toward the table, taking it all in. Two plates rested on either side of the flowers—lasagna, garlic bread, salad. The smell of garlic and oregano made my mouth water.

“What is this?”

“Do you know what day it is?”

I narrowed my eyes. “The night after the full moon?”

“Valentine’s Day. Our first Valentine’s Day as a couple since you’ve been back.”

I snatched my phone from my dresser and confirmed. It was February fourteenth. “I didn’t get you anything,” I said. “I didn’t even know.”

He swept into me like a dark wind. One of his hands pressed between my shoulder blades, the other my lower back. “All I want is you. All of you.”

“You have me.” I searched his face. “It scares me sometimes. If you left …” I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know. It’s just, there’s a vulnerability that comes with loving someone. You hold who I am now—how I see myself, how I define myself—you hold it in the palm of your hand. You could crush me.”

His lips hovered over mine, the warmth of his breath against my mouth. “I’d only be hurting myself. You see, I hold you not in my palm but deep within my heart, and if I crushed you, it would ruin that vital vessel and surely kill me.”

I dropped the towel I was holding and dug my hand under his shirt and up his back. “Then I guess we’re stuck with each other.”

His lips collided with mine, wanting and hungry. I shifted to take the kiss deeper. This time he didn’t stop me. I paused, breathless, to peel off his shirt, then worked my hand into the front of his pants. When I wrapped my hand around his shaft, he inhaled sharply. I allowed him to breathe in my kiss, working on his button and zipper.

In a way no human man could accomplish, he wriggled from his jeans with a shiver of his skin I barely noticed. He stepped from them, standing fully naked before me, all lean muscle and taut skin. My breath hitched in my throat. My pulse raced. Quivering desire slithered from my nipples to the apex of my thighs.

Grabbing his hips, I pulled him toward me as I sank to sit on the bed. I took the length of him into my mouth, hot and slick, easing my tongue over his flesh. He moaned, digging his fingers in my hair. He thrust to the back of my throat. Pleasure rolled through my body, my nipples tingling, my thighs spreading to draw him closer. His lust became mine thanks to our metaphysical connection, and I sucked and stroked, losing myself in the rhythm.

His hand coursed over my shoulder to cup my breast, kneading and pinching the nipple, while mine toyed with the heavy weights at the base of his shaft. We were close. I could feel the edge of my orgasm coming fast.

In super speed, he shoved my shoulders back, slamming me onto the soft bed. Anticipation traveled over me, cool fingers on hot skin. Before I could draw my next breath, he’d dropped to his knees and buried his face between my thighs. Warm, wet pressure. I shattered, the orgasm causing my arms to tremble and my hands to grip the sheets. He slowed, kissing the inside of my thigh while I came down.