Villere House (Blood of My Blood) (16 page)

"What? You saw the chicken feet, right?"

Oh good. He wasn't annoyed by her comment. She sometimes had that effect on people. Thinking about Sam, she realized she often had that effect.

"How could I miss them?" Sitting on the bed, she began removing her shoes. She should probably feel weird sleeping in his bed but didn't. Maybe the years of drifting from foster home to foster home had numbed her, but the idea of sleeping in his bed felt completely natural.

She lay back on the pillows. He still stood off to the side, watching her. When she glanced his direction he quickly looked away.

"Well, I need to get some work done. Will the computer bother you?"

She had to admit she was a bit disappointed he wasn't joining her. But then what? Were they supposed to spoon or something?

"Not at all."

He kept his gaze firmly averted as he sat at the desk. "Cool. Well, sweet dreams."

Was he feeling awkward because she was there, or because he wanted her there but didn't want to make her uncomfortable? Should she just ask him to join her? Should she just walk over to his desk and wrap her arms around those broad shoulders? Maybe she could kiss the back of his neck, slide her hands down the front of his shirt. She could imagine the feel of his firm skin under her palms, the heat of his skin, his large body above her, inside her…

An orgasm would make napping even easier.

She bit her lip. Should she?

Closing her eyes, she envisioned the scenario, the temperature in her body rising to a near boil. She mentally played it out, savoring every detail. His lips on her skin, her legs wrapped around his trim waist as he slid in and out of her over and over and over…God, the images felt so real, she could actually taste him. Just like her dreams.

Wait, was she sleeping? It was an odd question to pose and should indicate she was actually awake, but the moment she asked it she realized she was in that weird state between being awake and fully asleep, and as much as she wanted to make her fantasies a reality and mount the gorgeous man sitting feet from her, she knew she needed to succumb to slumber. Élise needed her, Laurent needed her, and she needed them. She was certain Xavier would still be there when she woke.

~

Xavier hadn't registered a single word he'd read on his laptop monitor. And he'd read it twice. Reading comprehension was out of the question with Lottie sleeping in his bed and inches from his chair.

Goddamn, he wanted to join her. Wanted to curl his body around hers and let her blond curls caress his face. And he wasn't even tired.

But he had no business climbing in that bed with her. She was confused enough as it was. Besides the overwhelming mind-fuck that must come from living the reality of long dead ancestors at night and then being haunted by them during the day, discovering the existence of said ancestors, and then her awful friends, he was pretty certain she was confusing the lingering feelings Élise Cantrelle's ghost had for his grandfather with feelings for him.

Even though she'd kissed him three times now, twice were under the influence of Élise. This afternoon showed promise but he wanted her head to be clear before he started seducing her. He needed to know that she wanted him not Laurent Villere reincarnated.

He had to admit even he was confused. Not about his feelings for the woman in his bed. The way he felt about her had nothing to do with his grandfather. Perhaps it had contributed to his initial interest, but it quickly ended there. He wasn't as consumed by the past as Lottie was. And he was able to separate himself from it. He wasn't sure she could do the same. Yet.

But even if his desire for her wasn't adding to his own mind-fuckedness, everything he'd ever believed, or not believed, had changed in twenty-four hours. He still hadn't fully processed the previous evening's events. How the hell could he? He wouldn't deny it had happened or deny all that weirdness at the séance with the room shaking and lights flickering had happened. But Jesus…ghosts?

And his mom actually conjured them. All these years, he just thought she was nuts. Man, he wasn't winning any son-of-the-year awards any time soon.

With a sigh, he pushed away from the computer and let his head fall back on the chair. If he strained his eyes, he could just make out the soft curve of Lottie's body. He hoped she was dreaming and he hoped as hell it was good and she was getting the answers she needed.

His fears were it wasn't. Something very angry didn't like her and might even be trying to hurt her.

He hoped this shit would be over soon. He wanted her safe, he wanted her happy, but he also wanted her. He might want to give her space while she sorted everything out, but it definitely was
not
easy. And if she kissed him again like she'd kissed him this morning, there wouldn't be a millimeter of space between them.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

S
he was surrounded by darkness so thick it seeped through her skin into her very bones, clogging her arteries and filling her lungs.

Breathe. She couldn't breathe!

Frantically, she began flailing her arms, desperate to push through the deepening darkness. It only swooshed around her, sliding its inky tendrils through her hair and softly caressing her skin.

More of it filled her lungs, choking her, killing her.

Far above her head a light slowly appeared, burning through the black. Just beyond the shimmering layers of black was Xavier, his hand held out for her. With every ounce of her waning energy, she tried to swim to him. But with every kick of her feet or push with her arms, she was dragged down deeper.

Xavier reached into the abyss, reached for her. His face slowly changed and it wasn't Xavier, but Laurent. "Take my hand," he said.

She wanted to, oh how she wanted to, but she couldn't. She tried to scream that desire, but nothing but gurgles escaped, and more of the darkness filled her lungs.

Laurent, no Xavier now, reached further into the liquid. He almost had her, the tips of his fingers brushed hers. He was Laurent again, his face full of sadness. And then he was back to being Xavier. Dipping his torso into the darkness he lunged for her.

But just as his hand grabbed hers, everything changed.

The inky blackness slipped away and Xavier's face melted into something horrible, grotesque. Only his eyes remained the same. At least they were similar to his eyes. So dark they were nearly black but filled with nothing but hatred. She'd seen them before but couldn't remember where.

Talons replaced his hands as whatever replaced Xavier pinned her to the ground. The melted face leaned close and slowly began to peel away, dripping onto her until nothing but a skull remained. She tried to pull away, jerking and twisting with all her might. But the more she jerked against the monster's grasp, the more its talons dug into her skin until blood flowed freely from her body.

The bony jaw hinged wide and a snake slid from the opening. "You cannot have him," it hissed. "You cannot have her."

"I don't—"

"GET OUT!" A flash of a woman's face burned her retinas and then the monster flung her aside.

~

Lottie woke with a start, jerking up into a sitting position. She was sweating. Not a pleasant, dewy, flushed sweat either. But a dripping, pretty-sure-the-sheets-were-soaked, kind of sweat.

She must have made some noise when waking because even though Xavier had his back to her, he immediately left the computer desk and sat on the bed beside her.

"What is it? Did you—"

She shook her head furiously and tried to clear the images from her mind.

"But you dreamed, right?"

"A nightmare. A horrible nightmare." Staring at a spot on the carpet, she ran her hands through her hair, clutching the strands at the back of her neck. "Something's wrong."

He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. The gesture felt good, natural, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It just feels wrong. Everything feels wrong. Even now there's this ickyness to the air."

His arm tensed like he was going to remove it. "Oh, not you!" she said. The muscles relaxed and she nestled deeper into him. "I feel like she's trying to tell me something, something awful."

"Élise?"

"Yeah. But she was interrupted... God, Xavier. I don't know what to do. I
know
they're reaching out to us for a reason. But why?"

"I think you're right. My grandmother knows something—and maybe even my mother—but they aren't sharing. In fact, I'd say they're hiding something."

She lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him. "I have to find out what's going on. I won't be able to let it go."

"I understand. I feel the same way."

"What do we do?"

"As much as I'd love to say we can find answers here, I don't think that's going to happen."

"So, you feel it too?"

"What you're feeling? Probably not exactly, but I can tell you right now I don't trust my grandmother or my brother, and I've never felt that way before."

An idea hit her and she lifted from his embrace. "What about the vampire bar?"

"
La Luxure
?"

"That was Élise's house and the owner knew about her."

"Doesn't surprise me, actually."

Was that because the owner—Armand, right?—was a real vampire and actually knew Élise in the day? She didn't want to think about it.

"You think he'd help us?"

"He'd probably get a kick out of it."

Because he'd find it amusing
educating
the human peons? Oh, what did she care.

"Can we go there?"

He glanced at his watch. "Yes."

Opening the door revealed his mother, wide-eyed and framed by wild hair. Those black eyes darted back and forth frantically before she squeezed past them into his bedroom.

"Can I come in?" she asked after she was already in the middle of the room.

"Sure?" Xavier closed the door.

"Close the door," she said.

Lottie was pretty sure she heard him sigh.

"What's up, mom?"

Delia looked over one shoulder and then over the other. She did it two more times before sprinkling salt in a circle around her and then dribbling some in her hair. Only then did she even look at Lottie. "I have something for you." She held out a silver chain with a light green crystal dangling from the end. "Come inside the circle to take it from me, but don't break the line."

After glancing quickly at Xavier, who wore an exasperated expression on his face, Lottie carefully stepped over the white line to stand uncomfortably close to Delia. She had definitely invaded the other woman's
bubble
. Well, hers for that matter too.

Delia placed the necklace in Lottie's hand. "
You
need to put it on for it to work," she said, her face incredibly close.

"What is it?"

"Apophyllite. It's one of the best crystals for communicating with spirits. It connects you with them and also helps you remember dreams that contain messages from the other side. It has a lot of other properties but those are the ones I'm sure you're most interested in."

"Thank you." Lottie slipped the necklace around her neck, fiddled briefly with the clasp before securing it.

"Good thing you have those too." She tapped the Papa Damballah disk and the evil eye. "Maybe it'll help keep the
bad
spirits at bay."

Lottie nodded. Staying away from whatever evil trying to hurt her was high on her priority list. Even though the pendants hadn't seemed to help during her nightmares, she wasn't taking them off.

"What do you know, mom?" Xavier asked, his voice stern.

Delia just shook her head furiously.

"Mom. This is important."

His tone made her cringe and she just continued to shake her head.

She seemed so upset, so scared, and she obviously felt like she was risking something coming here, Lottie decided to do something out of character. She embraced the other woman. "Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it."

"I wish I could do more for you. I really, really do," Delia said, hugging her back with worried urgency that bordered on desperation. It felt so motherly, so nice. Even if she wasn't Lottie's mother, it had been so long since she'd experienced that sensation of a mother's worry and concern, it brought tears to her eyes.

Pulling back shyly, Lottie wiped her eyes. She clutched the crystal pendant. "No, this is wonderful. And the séance…"

Delia shook her head again and averted her eyes. Lottie couldn't imagine what had her so scared. Well, she could, but she'd rather not.

Careful not to disturb the salt, she stepped out of the circle and turned to Xavier, who was looking at her funny. In fact, he seemed to be frowning. Was he angry with her? Maybe she'd upset Delia…

Without stepping over the salt, he reached forward and gave his mother a quick, tense hug. "Thanks, mom. I appreciate it as well."

Her expression flashed surprise and then softened to glowing happiness. "You guys should go. She doesn't like Lottie here."

"She? Grandmere?"

The head shaking resumed.

"All right," Xavier said defeated. He planted a peck on Delia's cheek and then turned to Lottie. "I guess that means we should get out of here."

"Be careful," Delia called as they left the room.

There was an undeniable energy in the hallway. Like the precursor to a thunderstorm, it hung heavily in the air. Warning, threatening.

Lottie glanced at Xavier, whose eyebrows were firmly knitted.

"You feel it too?"

His answer was to take her hand. She loved touching him, loved the way his hand dwarfed hers in size.

Whatever was causing the bad energy did not love it.

The feeling of foreboding increased until her stomach hurt with anxiety and every hair on her arms and neck stood at attention. Xavier gripped her hand tighter. They began to descend the old wooden staircase, the hall light surging as they passed.

It was worse on the first floor, like walking into a room filled with corpses. She was beginning to feel nauseated. Like the worst kind of stage fright, or when you knew you needed to have a serious conversation with someone where one or both of you would cry. Sick-to-your-stomach-ready-to-puke nauseated.

Xavier took one look at her face and immediately put his arm around her. The lights surged and the feeling got worse. She covered her mouth.

"I've got to get out of here," she said.

"I feel you."

They were in the same room as the séance and quickly passed through heavy French doors, emerging in a room filled with Voodoo paraphernalia. At one end sat an altar; she could see the telltale candles and various trinkets scattered on a rich, velvet table cloth. A portrait sat in the middle—a shrine to whatever spirit the altar worshipped.

She was afraid to see whose image was in that frame. Afraid to see Sanite Villere's evil black eyes looking back at her.

Even though the lights flickered all around them and the air was as putrid as a sewage plant, Xavier paused at the altar. He pulled some coins from his pocket and tossed them into the basket.

"Do you have something to offer? In case it helps…"

She looked at him in question and then forced herself to look at the portrait. "Laurent!" she gasped.

Staring back at from a faded painting was the man who had haunted her dreams and made her great-grandmother fall in love again.

"Of course. I think it's probably a good idea to get him on our side. Giving a spirit gifts is supposed to strengthen them."

If she could have dumped her entire inheritance into that basket she would have. Instead she quickly removed her earrings and tossed them inside.

The room began to shake. Wall decorations clattered on the wall, some falling off their hangers onto the floor. In the kitchen she heard the shattering of dishes.

Wrapping his arm even tighter around her, he ushered her from the room, through a rattling beaded curtain and into the store.

"What the hell?"

She followed his line of sight and saw Sanite's altar ablaze in a glory of dozens of flickering candles.

"Hang on, I have an idea." Releasing her, he dashed over to the altar and started blowing out candles. The trembling in the room increased. Merchandise fell off shelves, books toppled to the floor, more dishes shattered in the other room… She imagined it was like being in an earthquake.

Lottie joined him and together they extinguished all the candles. Xavier then tossed the basket and the portrait aside. All at once a gust of air exploded through the room. She ducked as items flew past her head.

And then it was over.

They knelt there a moment, Xavier's body covering and shielding hers. Her head pressed to his chest, she breathed in his scent, letting the strength of his body and his desire to protect her soothe her galloping heart.

Finally he sat upright and she followed him. He took in the scene, as did she. It looked like a tornado had passed through.

"All right, that might have been a bad idea." Standing, he offered his hand.

"You're telling me." She placed her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet.

"So, you ready to hit the vampire bar now?" he asked with a grin.

She had no idea how to answer that, so she just followed his lead. "Why not?" she said nonchalantly. "What's the worst that can happen?"