The Vampire...In My Dreams (17 page)

“You’re the ancient one, Lynetta,” I said as calmly as I could manage, though my blood raced through my veins and my cheeks grew hot with anger.

Still keeping her canines tucked away, she smiled in a sort of simpering sympathetic way as if she felt sorry for me. “At first I wanted to kill you, because I wanted to be Dominic’s only mistress. You can’t understand how his betrayal has ripped out my heart. To prove he is the ancient vampire, I won't harm you or your friend. It’s not your fault he’s played with your heartstrings and wrapped you around his will.”

She waved a finger at me. “Did he have a difficult time stopping when he drank your blood? If not the last time, he will this time. Mark my words.”

Lynetta twisted everything. I kept telling myself she was the one who had turned Dominic, not the other way around. Yet, a niggling fear worked its way into my subconscious, setting up self-doubt that promised to plague me until I knew the whole truth.

“Dominic hasn’t fully turned you. But he already told you that you are soul mates, has he not? He said the same to me. Now he says that if you don’t kill me, I will fully turn him. Am I right? If I fully turn him, he’ll come for you no matter what. Right? Whether it was your choice or not? He’s preparing you for what he’ll do, as he did me. You tell him no, that he can’t have your blood. See what happens. He’ll beg you to give it to him. When that doesn’t work, he’ll take what he has claimed. If he were the good guy in all this, he wouldn’t do such a thing, would he?”

“Why would he have us kill you then, if you’re not the ancient vampire? Why not just let you roam free to find someone else?” I felt very clever for an instant—even a bit smug.

“He knows how bitter I am about his betrayal. He’s afraid I’ll turn his potential victims against him. I can’t kill him because he’s turned me, but I could get others to go after him. Now he’s taken your witch’s blood and become even more powerful.” The last words Lynetta spoke seemed somewhat angered, but she attempted to maintain an even voice—non-threatening—to convince me she was the innocent in this situation. “He’ll continue to feast on the population here until it gets too risky, then move somewhere else. But he’ll keep you around for a while. See if he can tap into any more of your abilities. Once he’s finished using you, he’ll solicit the help of someone else to kill you like he plans to do to me.”

She took a step toward me, but Kate and I stood our ground, hoping to heaven our protection spell would last, but not wanting to cower before the spiteful vamp. “Remember my words well, witch. He intended to kill me tonight, but I hid from his deadly fangs. He’ll ask for your help again, beg for you to aid him, or he’ll be lost to the dark side.” Lynetta spit on the ground. “He is the dark side. Help him and you’ll join him, too, for a time.”

With a flick of her wrist, faux biker babe Lynetta vanished.

My legs shook, and Kate grabbed my arm. We hurried back to my front porch. “She lied,” I sobbed, not sure why I suddenly didn’t trust Dominic. Yet my faith in him was shaken. I couldn’t help wondering why he had selected me? Plain old me? None of the guys had ever paid any attention to me. I wasn’t outgoing or spectacular in any way. Had Lynetta spoken the truth?

“Why are you crying then?” Kate closed and locked the front door.

“I keep wondering why he picked me. Out of all the beautiful people, why did he choose plain old brown-paper-bag me?”

“Because you’re beautiful to me,” Dominic’s deep voice said behind us from the direction of the living room sofa.

Kate squealed and I gasped. We whirled around to see him gripping the sofa back, his face pale as death, his dark brown eyes haunted.

“You’re more beautiful than anyone, Marissa,” he repeated as if trying to convince me he spoke the truth. He turned his attention to Kate. “Can we be alone?”

“No.” I grabbed Kate’s hand, tired and determined not to be conned by any more vampires. “It’s…it’s time for bed, and we’ll see you in the morning.”

“Marissa, I love you.”

I nodded. Any words I might have said to him clung in my throat like a chunk of lead.

His face was still ice white, but his knuckles reddened from the fierce grip he had on the sofa. Was he angry with me?

Suddenly, he collapsed on the floor. Kate shrieked, shattering my already raw nerves, while my heart took a dive.

***

The night hadn’t gone well at all. Dominic was in bad physical shape, I was an emotional wreck, and Kate wasn’t much better. After many hours of sitting with Dominic while he lay stretched out on the couch unconscious, I finally carried him to the guest bedroom. Kate followed like a little lost lamb.

While she watched me silently for a few minutes, I kept hoping she would go to bed. Then she finally whispered, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

I nodded, not wanting to tell her what I was going to do, but she seemed to know anyway.

She padded down the hall to my bedroom with slow, weary steps and shut the door. At first, I removed Dominic’s shoes and socks. I stared at his trousers for what seemed an eternity, the thought crossing my mind that I’d imagined him stripped naked and put on display by the witch’s tribunal. Seemed like an eternity had passed since we’d first met.

I unbuckled his belt and unzipped his trousers. Well, I wouldn’t strip him totally, just enough so he could sleep comfortably.

I tugged at his pants for some time, then finally pulled them off and landed on my butt for the third time that day. I squashed the swear word that rose to my lips.

Next, I worked on his shirt, then pulled it off. He muttered under his breath, though his pulse was still weak. He hadn’t regained consciousness since he had collapsed in the living room, which had me worried sufficiently to fear I might still lose him. I held back more tears. I’d shed enough already. For now, I had work to do to keep him alive.

Where had he gone, and what had he done while he was away? He hadn’t been seeing Lynetta because the vamp was harassing me. So what had happened with him? I was dying to know and to tell him all that Lynetta had said. I had to know his version of the story, again, to reassure me that he had told the truth. Though I didn’t think for an instant he was faking his weakness now, and if he wasn’t pretending, how could he be an ancient vampire?

I slipped my shoes and pants off. Wearing only a silky blouse and panties, I climbed under the covers with him, and rested my head on his chest. For being half dead, he surprised me when his hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer.

If he had indeed been the ancient vampire as Lynetta had claimed, I decided it didn’t matter. He’d charmed me right into loving him, and I wanted him, even if only briefly. It was better than not ever being wanted at all.

At least that’s what I figured. My mind warred with my heart though, tugging my thoughts this way and that. The notion anyone would use me for his or her own personal gain hurt my pride.

For an instant, he held me close, then the effort seemed to weary him, and my heart reached out to him, striking down my feeble doubts. “Dominic,” I whispered against his ear, “do you need some of my blood to strengthen you?”

His eyelids fluttered opened, and I assumed that meant yes. Again, I was slightly apprehensive. It seemed like eons since the last time he’d taken my blood.

Would it hurt this time? Would he stop when he had his fill before he took too much of my own, or would he have difficulty like Lynetta had said?

I pulled my hair aside for him and offered my throat. He didn’t move toward me, just studied me with his liquid, chocolate eyes that had a sad, faraway look. At first, I was crushed. Then I vacillated between worrying he no longer wanted me and concern that he was too weak even to feed. I couldn’t see mutilating myself to offer my blood if he couldn’t have it any other way. In fact, having my blood drawn had always made me squeamish, to the extent I’d passed out when the dermatologist removed a suspicious-looking mole on my shoulder the year before. I shuddered just thinking about offering him my blood.

“Dominic? Can you hear me?”

He continued to watch me, but didn’t respond. I leaned forward and kissed his lips gently at first. Maybe this was how we needed to do it—like we had done the previous night. Much more pleasant to think about kissing than giving blood.

He kissed me back, his tongue pressing to part my lips. He seemed to have regained his appetite, except I worried whether he desired more than my blood at the moment. He slid his hands over my back, the silky shirt slipping around.

“Marissa.”

“Dominic, are you going to be all—”

His lips pressed hard against mine, passionately, enthusiastically desperate. I matched his kiss, feeling the same kind of fiery desperation.

My molecules bumped and crashed while electricity zinged through my insides.

Breathlessly, he whispered against my cheek, “Stop me if I hurt you. Don’t ever let me hurt you.”

Hearing his words, despite the lack of strength they contained, cheered my heart. Again, I brushed my hair aside and exposed my throat. I desired the intimate bond that made us one when he drank my blood, the ecstasy that filled me with pleasure when he sucked away.

Suddenly a floorboard under the carpet squeaked next to the bedroom door, alerting us of someone’s untimely and most unwelcome presence. My first thought was that it was Kate, unable to sleep, worried about Dominic.

When I twisted my head to look at the doorway, the evil warlock, Joshua, stood tall, his black eyes narrowed, his dark hair disheveled as if he’d just fallen out of bed—on the wrong side.

My heart lurched in panic.

“He doesn’t deserve you, Marissa,” Joshua said, a mocking smile on his thin, pale lips. “Let me do the honors.”

Chapter 17

DOMINIC

I couldn’t believe my awful luck—me a Prince of Darkness, and an utter failure at that. The love of my life was shortly to become the meal of the warlock she’d had a crush on, who didn’t care one ounce about her, and I had no strength to save her.

“Marissa, if you and Kate and I can hit him with a lightning bolt, we can temporarily drain the strength from him,”
I telepathically communicated to her, realizing now Joshua had to be a minion of Lynetta, furious with myself for not figuring it out before. He could let the vamp and more of her blood bonds into Marissa’s house at any time, and we’d all be doomed.

“You’re too weak, Dominic,”
she said, holding my hand in a crushing grip. Her body trembled slightly, making me feel worse.

I tried to hide the look of shame that must have crossed my face.

She lessened the grip on my hand, maybe sensing how powerful her physical strength had become.
“You are not a failure, Dominic! But I can’t reach Kate with my thoughts, and I doubt Joshua will allow me to physically go to her. If he knew what we were going to attempt to do to him—”

“He won’t believe you’re capable of doing such a thing to him, as sweet as you are.”

She didn’t say anything in response, but I could tell she didn’t believe me.

“And he knows I’m too weak to attempt it on my own,”
I continued, ignoring her implication that she didn’t think she was always sweet. I knew better—even when she was mad, she had good reason to be. Her actions were never calculated or mean, not like Lynetta’s.

“Damn you, Joshua!” Marissa suddenly shouted, loud enough to wake up the whole household—if there had been anyone there but Kate and us.

Joshua smiled—a look that was pure malevolence. “If you are attempting to wake Kate, she’s asleep. Worn out by the amount of blood I already drained from her.”

Marissa paled, tears misted her eyes, and she held her stomach. I worried she was going to be sick all over the bed. This definitely wasn’t good news, and I couldn’t help feeling once again that I’d totally screwed up. If I hadn’t tried to chase Lynetta down, I would have more strength to face this devil now.

“Don’t worry, dear Marissa,” Joshua continued, though his tone was menacing, not comforting. “Kate will be fine in the morning. Be assured, I didn’t drink enough of her blood to deter me from wanting yours, too.”

Marissa’s back stiffened and she climbed out of bed. Her shirt covered her panties, but Joshua still took in his fill of her as if she stood naked before him. I felt totally useless, my body weak and unable to respond to the warlock’s blatant actions, though rage burned inside me and I wanted to smash his head with my fist.

Then Marissa began to say strange words in her head, words I couldn’t comprehend, nor could I catch the way she spoke them. Then finally they caught hold in my mind.
“Felshion, Carpathian, Rasmussin, Lorengi, Aqua, Killon!”

I repeated her words silently while she chanted them again, though I had no earthly idea what she was up to. The words seemed slightly familiar but I couldn’t dredge up the elusive memory of where I’d heard them before. I definitely couldn’t twist my thoughts around them the way she did, as if she had spoken the exotic foreign language all her life and I couldn’t master it. Yet I knew from the desperation and determination in her voice that she had a plan, the only one we had at the moment, and I wanted badly to know what it was.

The third time she spoke the chant was the charm. The water entity appeared. The one Marissa had conjured up on stage. The one her teacher said didn’t count as a spell. And then it dawned on me. I’d seen something like this when I was in elementary school. A water demon. At least I presumed that’s what she was from pictures I’d seen of the elusive creatures in a book about stranger-than-fiction entities, though never had I seen one in the flesh, well,
water
, before. Seeing her in Marissa’s memories didn’t count.

In robes of aqua silk—liquid like her face—and long blue curls dripping down her hips, the demon moved fluidly, her actions mesmerizing.

Again, Marissa began to chant, only this time verbally, her words strong, commanding.
“Aqua, Killon, Sleuthing, Hellion, Racine.”

I repeated her words, and then Kate did from the hallway, too, her voice raspy and weak.

My heart lifted to see Kate, her face pale, almost as colorless as the long white T-shirt she wore. Marissa gave Kate a half smile. But she quickly turned her full attention on the demon and motioned toward Joshua, who was frozen by the demon’s appearance. And Marissa thought she wasn’t good at spells? I hrumpfed deep inside. My lifemate was a bundle of contradictions. I’d never heard of a witch or warlock being able to summon any kind of demon.