To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary) (24 page)

“I said get me out of here.” 
Xander hissed again.

Hadleigh turned her head slightly
taking a good look at him, covered with dirt and sand, cradling his left,
presumably broken arm tight against his body, Xander looked pale, scared and
kind of crazy.  For the first time since coming to the tomb she noticed
his eyes.  “I thought your eyes were blue.” 

Funny the inane things
that seem
important when you’re bleeding out, noting that
his eyes were now brown with black rims.

“Contacts.”  He nudged her
temple again.  “Get us out of here.”

“What about the words ‘I’m not a
witch’ do you not get?”

“I know you have magic, you beat me
on the mats.”

“I didn’t need magic to do that
fuckwit, you telegraph your moves like a tanker manoeuvring.”

“What about the swords then, the
knives?”

“Okay you caught me … magic.” 
She closed her eyes
,
she really was tired
. 

Jab, again with the gun.  “Then
get us out of here!”

Grrr
.  “Xander.”  She opened her eyes glaring at him. 
“There’s only one thing my magic makes me good at … that’s killing
things.  So feel free to jab me again with that gun and I’ll happily use
my magic.”

“I don’t believe you.”  No jab
this time but his whiny voice was right in her ear.

“Yeah because lying here in my own
pool of blood is really my first preference.  This net you put on me
Xander, it’s still working.  I don’t have any magic to call.”

“But I saw you, you produced that
dagger.”  He pointed to her left hand, squinting his eyes slightly as if
the sight of Maat’s dagger hurt his eyes. 

“That doesn’t even belong to me,
just … keeping it safe for a while.”  She tightened her grip on the
dagger, liking the small tingles of warmth the dagger was sending up her arm.
Little pulses as if it were trying to tell her something, communicate something
important.   If only the dagger were a dog, run Lassie, tell Vaughn
I’m bleeding out on the lid of a sarcophagus in the burial tomb of Apep the God
of Chaos.

“Where’d it go?”

“Where did who go?”  Hadleigh
frowned trying to work out what Xander was going on about now.

“The scary gold knife … where is
it?”

Hadleigh looked down. 
“Oh” 

She clamped her mouth shut tight,
suddenly feeling hollow, it was silly to miss an inanimate object but it had
been nice knowing in her final moments that a piece of Vaughn was with her … at
the end.  And now she had no one but … Xander.  Worse she had nothing
to kill him with if he grew too annoying.  This darn day just kept getting
better and better.

*                  
*                     
*

She was dreaming, she was back in
bed with Vaughn, cradled in his arms and he was whispering naughty sexy things
in her ear like ‘
You
’d better not fucking die on me
you hear?  You’re mine Hadleigh.  You don’t get to leave me like
this.’  Huh, well perhaps not so naughty or sexy after all. 

Opening her eyes she found her dream
had come true, somehow Vaughn was in the tomb and he’d picked her up like a
baby, holding her in close to his body, his gold eyes intense.
 
“Vaughn?”

“There you are.”  He managed a
tight smile but she could see the white lines of tension around his
mouth.  “I’m getting you out of here okay, just hold on.”

“You’re not taking her
anywhere.”  Xander on the opposite side of the sarcophagus to Vaughn
raised the gun, aiming it at Vaughn’s head.  “Put her down, you take me
first. You can come back for her once I’m somewhere safe.”

“Xander I’m not putting her down and
trust me you don’t want me to.  Every instinct I have right now is
screaming at me to rip your head off with my bare hands.”  Vaughn bared
his teeth at Xander for a split second before returning his attention to the
mess that was Hadleigh.  So much blood, so many cuts and that faraway look
in her eyes, it terrified him to see her in such a state.  What terrified
him even more was this damn magic net, stuck to Hadleigh and now to his own
skin, trying to suck his power, his strength.  Poor Hadleigh who was still
encased in the stuff, Maat knows what it was doing to her.  The plan had
been to call Maat’s blade, have it lead him back to Hadleigh, scoop her up and
head home.  It wasn’t Xander keeping him
here,
it
was the net, nibbling away at his power. 

“Okay.”  Xander swung the
barrel of the gun down a few inches.  “If you don’t value your own life
you macho shit, how about hers?”

Vaughn scowled, he could sense his
power, flickering and wavering, peaking and
troughing
,
he just had to reach for it at the exact right moment.  Well that and not
let Xander shoot Hadleigh.  Turning he presented his back to Xander. 
Let him try and shoot Hadleigh now. 

“You can...
” 
Suddenly there it was, his power, he thrust it out and through the blade
of Maat, currently masquerading as a wide gold bracelet around his right
wrist.  “Take us home, buddy, take us there fast.”  As the magic
gathered he dimly registered Xander’s angry shout, the abrupt bang of the gun
and the flash of brief pain in his right shoulder.  Then the magic swirled
and swept them away.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Vaughn you need to put her down.”

It was Nate’s voice, familiar, coaxing,
but Vaughn didn’t want to do what Nate was asking of him.  Every fibre of
his being loathed the idea of letting Hadleigh go.  If he did she might
slip away, escape to somewhere he might not be able to follow. Would Maat let
him cross the river Styx if he chose to go now?

‘Mine’… he whispered in his head
then felt compelled to say the word out loud. “Mine.” Frowning as a bright
scarlet drop of blood splashed down on to a pristine patch of creamy skin at
the base of Hadleigh’s throat.  That drop had him mesmerized, where had it
come from?  He watched fascinated as it rolled across her flesh like it
had a destination in mind. 

“Vaughn.”

He shrugged off Nate.  Too busy
watching that drop of blood roll right into a long seeping cut across
Hadleigh’s chest.  Somewhere deep inside a measure of his tension
released.  Reaching up he grabbed one of Hadleigh’s shoulders, shaking her
gently.  “Hadleigh.”

“What’s going on?”  The voice
was soft but filled with urgency.

“Hadleigh wake up…
”
 
Vaughn didn’t bother to look up at the woman who’d emerged from
the closet in Hadleigh’s apartment back at Maat tower.

“You must be Doc Nell, Darcy’s
sister.  I’m Nate, the one who called.  We have a bit of a situation
here.”

“Hadleigh.”  Vaughn needed her
to wake
up,
reaching up he cupped her jaw and tapped.
“Hadleigh.” 
All his focus upon the woman lying in his
arms bleeding out.

“Hadleigh’s been hurt, cut … a
lot.”  Nate’s voice was low and grim.  “As near as I can figure that
netting isn’t letting her heal and Vaughn has gone Hitchcock crazy.  He’s
been shot, he’s bleeding all over her and he won’t let her go.  And now
he’s started to glow.”

“Oh Goddess.”  Nell’s voice
sounded shocked, whether at his tale or the macabre sight of Vaughn stretched
out on the bed, Hadleigh cradled in his lap, blood staining practically every
surface in sight.  “Okay.”  Nell thumped her doctor’s bag down on the
edge of the bed, reaching up to pat her chignon.  “We’re going to have to
work around him.  I’ll need your help.”

“But shouldn’t we move her?” 
Nate grimaced at the thought of trying to restrain Vaughn.

Nell was busy opening her bag,
pulling out bags of herbs and greenery.  Just what sort of doctor was
she? 

“No leave him, he’s probably the
only thing keeping her tethered to this plane right now … here…” She held out a
bowl.  “Fill this with water.”

*                  
*                     
*

Hadleigh opened her eyes, her mouth
dropping open in shock.  When had Grandpa re-decorated?  He hated
change with a fiery - rather hit it with lightning and watch it smoulder -
passion.  But as she looked around at the vast room, the vaulted ceilings,
the rich gleaming jewel toned rugs, gorgeous tapestries lining the walls she
still recognized it as Valhalla.  When had the floors and walls been
changed from their usual dark pitted wood into gleaming marble?  Marble
shot through with lightning she noted as a bolt of light arced across the
ceiling. 

“
Odie
?’ 
She called out listening to her voice echo. 

Where was the grumpy
one eyed
grizzled old warrior?  For that matter, where
were her Aunts, Uncles and all her lazy
ale swilling
cousins?  She couldn’t remember ever seeing the great hall completely
empty, this was where the family ate, drank and just generally hung out. 
Odin often to be found sitting at the head of one of the large worn, pock
marked trestle tables recounting battles gone by.  But the tables were
empty and the wood gleamed like new. 
Weirder and
weirder.
 

She would have liked to stay and
explore the changes in the room more but she had somewhere she needed to be …
didn’t she? 

Yes, there, the doors to the throne
room.  She’d never seen them closed before, or made out of the same black
marble as the floors and walls in this weird alternate Valhalla. 
Odie
wasn’t much for sitting on his throne as the room was
kind of
drafty
and the
fire place
smoked, so usually it was left empty.  Yet for some reason as she faced
those ceiling high closed double doors she knew what she sought, the reason she
had come to Valhalla was waiting for her in the throne room. Striding across
the room she stood a few feet before the closed doors hesitating, should she
knock or just walk right it? 

 “A little eager there to leave
me behind aren’t you?”

Hadleigh
swung,
once more her mouth dropping open, Vaughn stood a few feet away, looking tall
and solid in his fatigues.  Yet there was something different about him …
like the walls here little arcs of lightning sparked and flashed golden under
his skin, in his eyes.

“You can’t be here.”  She
warned.  “This is Valhalla, the true Valhalla, the gateway to my people’s
version of heaven.  Which if I have anything to say about it will be
battlefields, blood and the eternal fight.”

“Sounds fun.”  Vaughn strode
over the jewelled carpets grabbing her hand. “Let’s go.”

“Honestly.”  She huffed, trying
to pull her hand back.  “We’re standing at the gateway to heaven and
you’re playing this game?  Why not just use handcuffs to keep me by your
side forever.”

Vaughn reached over with his free
hand cupping her face.  The warmth of his hand felt so real …
familiar. 

“If it really is heaven behind those
doors then I’m guessing we can find some handcuffs there … if that’s what you
want.”  He grinned at her, his eyebrows waggling suggestively.

“Vaughn you have to go back. 
You can’t be here.”  She squeezed his hand hard to get him to focus on
what was important.

“I’m good.”

Hadleigh rolled her eyes. 
“You’re dying!”   She hated that thought.

“We’re dying.”  He seemed
unperturbed by the fact. 
That smile
on his face
never wavering.  The man really was mad.

“How can you be dying?”  That
made no sense.

“Xander shot me.”

“Oh Goddess.”  Just the thought
made her gut churn.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t that serious.”

“Not that serious!  You just
told me you’re dying?”

“I don’t think it’s the gunshot, I
think it has something to do with my blood and you.”  He frowned for a
split second trying to recall something and then shrugged it away.  He was
with Hadleigh that was all that mattered.

“Your blood?”  Hadleigh
muttered confused.  “Oh Goddess, that’s why you’re here and glowing, you
bled on me!”

Vaughn pondered that for a moment,
looking unconcerned.  “Yeah that sounds right.”

“You melded yourself to me!”

“Cool.”  He looked even happier
than he already did and all she wanted to do was slug some sense into him.

“Not cool.  I’m dying and I’m
dragging you down with me.”

Moving in a step Vaughn tapped her
cheek lightly.  “Then don’t.”

“Don’t?  Don’t what? 
Die?”

“Yeah, don’t die, come back and be
with me.”

“Oh Goddess you knew I was dying and
you melded with me anyway didn’t you?”

Vaughn shrugged.  “Would you
believe happy accident?”

“You’ve been playing me from day one
Vaughn as if I’d believe anything you have to say.” 

“Then believe this Hadleigh
mine.  Here now … whatever you choose to do, I’m with you every step of
the way.”

Hadleigh looked into those lovely
gold eyes and whispered.  “You’d die for me?”

“It’s just another plane of
existence right?  We’d be together.”

“You’d leave your team?  Maat?”

“For you?  In a
heartbeat.”  He leaned down brushing a soft kiss over her lips. 
“Mine.”  He said again, the word echoing in her head. 

“You always play dirty.” 
Hadleigh sighed in exasperation.

He nuzzled his way along her cheek,
planting kisses along the side of her throat.  “I might stack the deck a
little, but you have to know I wanted you from the very moment you walked out
of that elevator.  I couldn’t even see your face, just that glorious red
hair and that you were tall.  I think I fell halfway in love with you then
and there.”

She arched slightly, loving the feel
of his lips, his warmth.

“Then you decked Flynn and we met, I
wasn’t sure what I liked more, your skills on the mat or the way you snarled at
Nate when he tried to flirt with you.”

“Like I said … insane.”  She
muttered before giving him a gentle shove to create some distance.

“I’m not leaving you.”  Vaughn
warned, looming over her.

Sighing deeply she turned looking
towards the black double doors that still pulled at her gut, then she looked
into Vaughn’s eyes and felt a stronger tug, this time in the region of her
heart.  Goddess darn it, she knew the first time she saw this golden god
masquerading as a man he would complicate her life.  Worse she was going
have to suck it up and thank Great Aunt Alma for introducing them.  That
thought alone made her reconsider the double doors once more.

“Well?”  Vaughn squeezed her
hand lightly.

She gave him an innocent
smile.  “Time to wake up Vaughn.”  With her spare hand she punched
him hard in the jaw.

*                  
*                     
*

“You’re awake.”  The feminine
voice was an unfamiliar one.

Hadleigh turned her head, gritting
her teeth as knitting skin tightened and pulled.  “Maat I presume.” 

Who else could it be?  Dusky
skin, black long hair pulled back in a plait, a serene mature beauty dressed in
hot pink yoga pants and a black long sleeve wrap top.  With her sitting on
the side of the bed this close Hadleigh could see the Goddess’s eyes were the
colour of quicksand.

“You need to fix it.”  Maat’s
tone was eerily flat.

“Which part?  The one where
Xander is trapped in a burial tomb, Mot and
Sek
the
sons of Apep the God of Chaos are out there plotting to raise daddy back from
the dead or the fact that Serena is incarcerated somewhere unknown by the
accolades of Apep.”

“None of those need concern you. I’m
talking about Vaughn.”

Hadleigh looked around the
room.  “Has he relapsed?” 

She distinctly recalled him allowing
Nell to administer to his gunshot wound once Nell swore that Hadleigh was on
the mend.  Still he’d appeared unconvinced, every time she’d opened her
eyes he’d been hovering.  To the point where finally she’d had enough with
being treated like an invalid made of spun glass.  Insisting he go touch
base with the team and grab a shower.  Leaving her to rest and recuperate
in peace.  But instead of that
she was being visited by
a Goddess who was looking kind of peeved with
her. 

“His wound has healed but you need
to take care of him.”  Maat’s tone was terse.

“So he’s fine?”

“He’s far from fine, take a good
look at him next time he checks on you.”

“You couldn’t give me a little hint
what this is all about?”

Maat issued a heartfelt a
sigh.  “Just. Look. At. Him.” 

“B
..
” 
Hadleigh looked around, where had Maat gone? 

And what was up with Vaughn that a
Goddess who supposedly practiced tough love felt the need to interfere? Taking
a deep breath she flung back the sheet, she still had on her tank top and
knickers, that
was a relief.  Sitting up wasn’t as
painful as she feared, nor was swinging her legs around to rest her feet on the
lush carpet.  It was the woozy heady feeling swamping her that was the
hardest part to deal with.  Losing that much blood really did take it out
of a girl, thankfully as Mot had commented she was a big girl she could afford
some blood loss.  She needed to find Vaughn but first a quick visit to the
bathroom.

Five minutes later she was staring
at her reflection in the elevator doors.  Frowning not because she looked
like some sort of cross between a high class call girl and a special forces
reject in her black satin short robe and shit kicker boots, no what had her
concerned was the update she had just received from Marcus, who’d filled her in
on the team’s mission to Egypt. 

Drum had led the team into the
buried tomb of Apep.  They’d arrived just before sunset, intending to lay
a trap for
Sek
and Mot.  As the sun kissed the
dirt all they’d found in the tomb was a catatonic Xander, drooling, eyes
vacant.  The sarcophagus containing
Apep’s
remains gone.  The team had taken custody of Xander and were now on their
way back to Atlanta to regroup. 

Clomping out the elevator on
Vaughn’s floor, Hadleigh used the wall for support as she made her way across
the foyer.  She just intended to knock, have a quick glance at Vaughn as
instructed by Maat and then go back to bed.  Stomping around like this was
giving her a mega headache.  Raising her fist to knock, she changed her
mind at the last second and tried the handle.  Okay it was open and much
quieter this way, quiet was good.  Head throbbing, she made her way
through the living room and into Vaughn’s bedroom, hmmm nice.  Last time
she’d been in there she’d been too embarrassed to take much notice, masculine
without being too overpowering.  Taking a seat on the end of the bed she
faced the closed bathroom door.