The Young Vampire Mate: The Airendell Chronicler Diaries - Book 1.5 (15 page)

“Sounds like a solid plan, as far as it goes.  I think we need to take this fight to Magdrid and Kyera.”

I shrug, “Maybe, but I won’t take a fight to Airendell.  I won’t attack fellow Spell Weavers or any with blood connection to us.  I don’t think anyone else in our group is willing to do that either.”

“Yeah, you are right.  We have to wait for her come after Morna again, and catch her at it.”  Fionn rubs his face hard and growls; “I fucking hate waiting for some asshole to make his move.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When we return to the Gateway I can feel Damian’s eyes on me.  I can feel his uncertainty about why I am showing up here with Fionn after I disappeared during his hunt, when he warned me to basically run for my life.  I can’t help it, I smile over his protectiveness and even his possessiveness that he’s experiencing right now.  I grab a sandwich and a coke.  As I walk past him I grab his hand to tug him along with me.  I take us out on the plain of Middle-world.  He looks around in amazement.  “Wow, it’s beautiful out here.”

“It is.”  I nod in agreement.  “Not all of the plains outside of the Gateways look like this, but they are all wild and beautiful.”  I tug his hand and lead him towards a tree with thick grass growing under it.  The shade and the lush carpet of grass looks inviting and I am exhausted and starving.

“Sit with me while I eat,” I say.  “We need to talk, spend some time together.”  Damian sits cross legged beside me and watches as I open my coke and tie into my sandwich with vigor.  He watches me eat, a little more intently than I am comfortable with.               

He notices my discomfort and says; “Sorry, I miss eating real food.  I try to eat sometimes, but it tastes like dirt.  But I still miss it.”

The longing and regret I feel from him touch my heart.  “I am sorry for what you were changed into.  It must suck to wake up from a nightmare of terror, pain and torment to a blood lust you can’t control and the knowledge that you are different species than you used to be.”

“Yeah, that was bad.  But it doesn’t seem so bad now.  It seems like it was supposed to happen so I could be with you.”  He reaches out and cups my face.  I turn my head into his hand and almost sigh in contentment.  “I am not magic, I wouldn’t have been much of a mate to you as a mere Mortal.”

I can’t help it, I smile up at Damian before I pull his head down to kiss him.  He breaks the kiss off.  He is panting just as hard as I am even though he doesn’t need to breathe.  I can help but smile at that.  But his next words make my smile evaporate. “Breena, I can’t stand it any longer.  I have to know; why were you with Fionn?”

“I went to him when you told me to away from you,” I say gently.

“Shit, my being a monster chased you to another man?  That’s not good.”

“I left because of your fear for me, not because of my fear of you.  If I were afraid of you, I would have gone to Luca instead of Fionn.  I know you are dangerous, Damian.  I am not an idiot.  Even though I have taken out a lot of Stone Colds in my day, I know you are more dangerous than most.  Well, to an enemy, anyway.  And I even know there is always a chance that you could lose control and hurt me someday.  But I think it’s such a remote chance that it doesn’t even deserve much consideration.”

He looks at me skeptically.  “Breena, you smell so good to me, mon amour.  Not just in a sexy way, but in a food way.  The scent of your blood appeals to me like no other.  You have to always bear that in mind, beautiful lady.  Always.”

“I will.  But you won’t hurt me.  Besides, I didn’t go to Fionn to protect me.  He actually needed my help.”  I shrug like it’s not a big deal, because in a way it’s not.  Fionn and I have been backing each other up in deadly fights for centuries.  We work well together, always have.  “Fionn was battling some demons and they were getting the best of him.  According to his buddy, The Greek, Fionn started out fighting dozens of the demons and was down to three by the time I got there.  But he was getting tired and had been injured pretty badly.  They might have killed him if I hadn’t showed up.  I am not sure.  Fionn is resourceful and tough as hell but those were some vicious demons.”

“So where was this?”

“New Orleans.  The Greek said someone deliberately let hundreds of demons from another dimension into this one.  There are some heavy things going down in my hometown too.  I feel torn.  But I know my first duty is to my Guild and Clan.  And I want to be near you.”  I blush at that last part.

Damian smiles at my admission and my awkwardness over admitting my desire to be near him.  He leans forward and kisses my forehead, very sweetly.  The tender gesture makes my heart stutter and I want shake myself for acting like a teenaged girl with her first crush.

After a moment his brow furrows and he asks; “This Greek, is he a freakishly tall magically warrior dude that’s always changing his hair color?”

I laugh, “Yeah that describes The Greek.  How do you know him?”

“Marshall made me his Second.  We used to go into Texas and Louisiana to find good potentials for his army.  One time a Stone Breaker had me cornered.  And this dude with flaming red hair, I mean his hair was tinted like flames,” Damian shakes his head at the memory.  “Well, this dude makes the Stone Breaker disappear and tells me to get away from Marshall and turn my back on my blood thirsty ways so that my destiny could come to me.”

“I asked him what he was talking about and he laughed and said, ‘You’ve been dreaming about her, dumbass’.”  Damian smiles.  “I saw him again a couple of hours later and he had neon green hair.  He was telling Marshall to stay the hell out of his town.  Marshall took him serious and we left.  He actually told me that I was banned for New Orleans until he gave me permission to return.”

Damian strokes my face, and leans in to kiss the tip of my nose.  Another tender gesture that makes me feel giddy.  “I could feel his magic, mon amour.  He vibrated more than all of you Spell Weavers put together.”

I am astounded.  “You can sense our magic?”

He shrugs, “I guess that’s what it is.  I have always picked up vibes from certain people.  Since my Change these vibes seem be enhanced, like all of my senses.”

I laugh and say, “Well, that’s a valuable talent.  I think I can work with that.  If you can do that, you can probably perform some simple spells.  You won’t ever be magic exactly, but I bet you can channel it.  I can make you a talisman and charge it with my power.  You will be able to direct simple spells like levitation, hiding spells, binding spells, buffer spells, and invisibility.  Unfortunately, you can’t channel healing abilities that way.  You either have those abilities naturally or you don’t.  But I can teach you to use magic in ways to help you defend yourself and others.”

“Wow, really?”  I nod.  Damian surprises me when he pulls me onto his lap.  “You don’t mind, do you?” he asks me softly.  I smile and shake my head no.  “I can’t seem to be close enough to you, Breena.”

I giggle like a school girl with a crush.  I feel silly for it, but I can’t help it.  “I can’t seem to be close enough to you either.  I have never wanted to be with someone like I want to be with you.  I don’t just mean sex.  But I do really want that… when we are both ready.  But I want to just be with you always, leannan.”

“God I love it when you call me that.  I like that you call me lover, and your accent when you say it is hot.  Really hot.”  He kisses me chastely and then asks; “Have you ever called Fionn by that name?”  He’s trying to act casual, but I can feel his tension.  I know he’s reluctant to hear my answer, but he has to know.

I frown.  “You have no reason to be jealous of Fionn.  I love him, but not in a way that is threat to our relationship as mates.  No Fionn is my caraid, my friend.  But it’s more than a typical friendship.  We have had each other’s backs for centuries.  We have been partners for a long time.  Sharing our joys and our burdens with each other.  He was the first Spell Weaver to find me after I came to the New World.”

Damian starts asking me questions and soon I am telling him all about my life after coming to the New World.  “Wow, mon amour sailed the ocean blue with Columbus in 1492.”

“Not actually with him.  I was on a different ship and none of them knew I was there.  Although a few were mildly sensitive and were convinced that a ghost was traveling with them.” I laugh at that memory.

Damian falls silent and I know something is troubling him, so I wait for him to find the words to tell me.  He is still holding me on his lap, caressing my back and arms with slow lazy circles.  Every touch makes me feel languid, safe and cared about.  Well, and something else.  His touch makes me feel hungry, for him.

Finally Damian’s words break through my cocoon, “I am such a punk ass kid compared to you.  Can you really come to love someone so much younger and immature compared to you?”

I turn and wrap my arms around his neck, “You are not immature.  It’s like Rinda said, you literally have an old soul.  While you may not exactly remember your time before you were born, but you experienced it just the same and it left its mark on you.  Your mortal life, your time as a vampire and the horrors you have experienced and even the ones you have committed, have all shaped you into a man with a wealth of experience.  You bring all of that to our pairing.  You are not too young, Damian.”

Damian laughs.  “Yeah, Breena, I am a young ass punk.  I am holding you, talking to you and you are so wise, so interesting but all I can think about is that I want to see your body, to touch you, to get lost in you.  I am a punk kid who can’t hardly think about anything besides what making love to you would be like.  You are so beautiful, it‘s almost painful to look at you.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh, “Leannan, I have a news flash for you.  Centuries from now, making love to me will always be in the back of your mind, no matter what you are doing or in the middle of.  It will always be the same for me.  It’s just the way it is with true mates.  Haven’t you noticed how Enya and Carrick are with each other?  Bronwyn and Brian?  And jeez, let’s not forget about my sister and Lucian.  It’s the true mate bond.  The same type of bond that is even now cementing between the two of us.”  Damian looks a little skeptical. 

“Okay, listen to this; in every incarnation of Morna’s existence where she reached adulthood, Luca has desired her above all other women.  He has never even looked at another woman in sexual way since he met Morna.  And believe me, Morna hasn’t always been beautiful in her various incarnations.  She’s been short, skinny, tall, fat, and in a couple of incarnations she was downright homely… but it made no difference to Lucian Michaels.  He was still hot for her.  It’s more than biology, this physical craving you and I feel for each other… it is destiny.  A connection of our very souls.  It’s powerful and it doesn’t fade over time.”

“So you crave me that way, as well?” Damian asks quietly.  I can tell that he finds this very hard to believe.

I exhale slowly and whisper slowly, clearly articulating each word; “More than I can express with words, leannan.  I want to see every inch of your body, to touch, to kiss, to lick and nibble.  I want drown myself in you.  I want you to claim me, to truly make me yours and for you to be completely mine.”

Suddenly I find myself sitting in the grass alone and Damian is standing twenty feet away from me, leaned over with his hands on his knees like he was a mortal who had just ran a marathon.  He’s gasping for air and struggling for control.  When he is finally able to speak he says; “Mon amour, I fear I won’t be able to control myself.  I am terrified of hurting you.”

“I know, leannan, I know.  Give it time.  Your control will increase the more you are around me.  Your desire and need for me won’t diminish, but you will come to feel like you can control yourself.  Already, you would never hurt me… but I fear if we tried to love like I want us to at this moment, it would be torturous for you because you would be so focused on remaining in control.” 

“I can tell you are man who craves control... in all things.”  That sure knowledge sets off faint alarm bells for me, but I push past it.  “That will be a challenge for us, Damian, because I am a woman who resists being controlled.  But we will work it out.”  I stand up and walk towards him.  I hold out my hand to him and say, “Let’s go join the others.”

He takes my hand and mutters something about being around others won’t matter.  But know it will give him some distraction to have my scent diluted with the scents of others.  And to have other people to focus on. 

When we go inside we discover that we have more visitors.  Valliant and a couple of his sons have returned from searching for Mulder.  They found him, trapped in a binding spell along a dead end path of an abandoned ley line.  Mulder is raging against the blond witch that led him off and trapped him there.  My heart hammers in my chest.  Damian leads me to my chamber and takes me into his arms.

“What about that man upset you?” He demands gently.  “Are you afraid of him?”

I smile.  “No, Damian.  You didn’t scent any fear did you?”

“Not exactly… at least not until he started talking about that woman.  Why does the woman worry you?”

I close my eyes and gather my thoughts.  I have handle this carefully.  I must convince Damian to keep this from Morna.  She’s not ready to hear it, and I am not absolutely certain that I have all of my facts straight.  “Let me go get Elias and Fionn, I want to tell all of you at the same time.”  Damian is confused by my answer, but he just nods and sits on my bed to wait.  He’s willing to follow my lead in this, and I find that a hopeful sign for our future.