Tonight had been hell, and I wanted to forget it, but I couldn’t do that. I wanted to take what he offered, but if I had, I was sure it wouldn’t end there. I’d allowed my walls to be shaken, just as I had when I watched Benjamin as he moved towards the doors of Club Chaos. He looked so much like Josh, I’d wanted to be able to believe that there had been a mistake, just as much as Kendra had, but I couldn’t. I had known the truth, and we were too close to the Awakening to be taking chances. I hadn’t been willing to lose her if I’d been wrong, so I’d forced myself to face the reality that it wasn’t Joshua we were looking at. For half a moment, though, I’d let my walls slip a little, and thought maybe I was wrong.
After I’d soaked, I changed into a pink nightie and moved through the cottage, turning off the lights and blowing out candles. I patted Luna’s head as she made her entrance, sensing it was bedtime.
“Good girl,” I mumbled as I pulled off the comforter and pulled back the soft cotton sheets. I’d opened one of the windows for her before I’d left for the club, knowing she’d spend most of her time outside. She’d adapted to country life pretty well, and the best part had been she’d sensed the need to stay close to the house since the last debacle.
Cats were smart, and picked up on their owners’ fears. I settled onto the bed, and she snuggled in beside me.
“He’s impossible,” I whispered to the cat. “And I can’t seem to stop kissing him.”
She licked her paw, already bored with me, and closed her eyes.
“Jerk, I listen to you,” I grumbled.
She meowed and perked her head up as she looked around the room.
“Well, forget it now,” I continued. “The moment’s gone. You totally suck as a best friend, you know that, right?”
She looked at me like I was crazy, because maybe I was. I was talking about my love life to a cat, but hey, at least she didn’t judge me. I laid my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes.
I was dreaming of sinful things. Lucian was with me, and had me pinned to a bed, one that wasn’t mine, a much older one. An antique table with an old-fashioned porcelain tea service was laid out, complete with half eaten scones and almost-empty tea cups. The windows of the room were thick stained glass, the ornate headboard and footboard had a tall wooden post at each end, and rope had been wound around the headboard posts, which held my hands securely above my head.
“Stop,” I whispered as I watched him bring the knife up and gently held the tip against my stomach.
“Scream for me, witch. Beg me to stop,” he growled as his mouth replaced the knife and he rained soft kisses across my stomach.
“No,” I replied, and blinked. He had a knife, and I was tied to his bed; why would I beg? Why was I bound?
“You’ll beg me, sooner or later; you always do,” he whispered as his mouth fanned hot breath down my belly as he moved it to my pelvic bone and darted his tongue out, creating an array of sensations. His tongue dipped into the crevice, and I lifted my hips. He laughed, the sound vibrated against my flesh as his eyes met mine, hunger bare in the dark blue depths. He placed his mouth on the soft flesh and sucked; the noise we made together was deafening in the small room.
My hair was drenched in sweat; my skin was on fire for him. The things his mouth was doing were unbelievable, and the moment his fingers entered me, I felt as if I would shatter.
“Not yet,” he purred as he removed his mouth and his fingers. His hand smoothed over my flesh; his fingers touched the soft mound of one breast, and then the other before he moved up to clamp his hot mouth over one nipple. The feel of his cock as it found my soft flesh and glided over it was unreal.
Pressure on my sensitive places mixed with the storm already building inside of me. Lightning crashed outside, and he smiled against my breast before his teeth grazed the nipple, pulling a moan from me as pain mixed with pleasure. His cock continued to slide against my core, and moisture was forming, giving him the extra lather to use me.
My hips bucked against him, but his weight held me prisoner as his hungry mouth continued to suck, nip, and bite my soft flesh. It was a torturous mix of sensations. Every time my body prepared to go over the edge, he stopped, waiting it out, and would start his assault again. He kissed my neck, rolling one nipple between his thumb and forefinger. His other hand moved down, placing his cock at my entrance, and inserted it, but only enough that it stretched my body.
“One thrust, and I’ll own you,” he whispered huskily. “You have no idea how badly I want to hear you scream for it. Do you know what happens now?” he asked, and before I could answer, his mouth claimed mine.
It was unorthodox to be in this position with him. I couldn’t think past his mouth, past the pressure his body was creating as it rocked into mine, only to pull out as I tried to take more of him. I wasn’t adjusting to the fullness he created. He knew it; I attempted to move, and he withdrew from me.
“Lucian,” I moaned.
“Beg for it,” he growled as he pulled his mouth away and looked over my body. “Tell me what I want to hear, and maybe I’ll let you enjoy your last few minutes on this earth.”
“Go to hell,” I snapped, my mind coming back to what was happening.
“Been there; it’s not as bad as they say,” he whispered as his fingers entered my body, causing me to twist as pain erupted without warning.
I screamed in shocked horror, my eyes filled with tears as he took it from me. His eyes changed to obsidian. His demeanor changed, and his mouth lowered to lick against my flesh. He continued to push his fingers inside of me, his mouth soothing the ache until he pulled them out covered in blood. He used the blood to write on my flesh—death runes. I watched him as he continued to write, stopping periodically for his mouth to resume its slow, sensual assault.
He pulled his mouth away, and replaced it with his heavy, thick cock. He slapped it against my flesh, and lowered his mouth to claim mine. “Maybe in the next life, you’ll be more of a challenge, my little witch. I do hate it when you come back weak. However, your body always gives me enjoyment.”
His naked body hovered over mine and his cock pushed inside, further than it had before. As I cried out, he used the surprise of my response to shove a cloth against my mouth, filling it to smother my cries. Another inch, and then another. I remained still, watching him as pain shot through my body as he filled me. Without warning, he pulled out and moved from the bed. I watched him numbly as he moved to the dresser, where a basin of water waited.
“I didn’t love you in this life,” he whispered with his head down, his face away from me. “You did love me, though, didn’t you?”
I couldn’t answer, but I struggled against the ropes, hoping to find release before he returned to finish me off.
“Your coven is searching for you, but they won’t find you with any life left in your corpse. What they will find is your naked body, covered in my runes, and beautifully broken. I must admit, out of all of your reincarnations, this one has been the easiest to find. The coven, though, poor bastards, they don’t understand what is happening. They’ve all been cursed to relive your past lives in dreams. It helps me, you know, watching them struggle after they turn you against me. I enjoy their pain, but never yours, witch. Yours haunts me until I find you again.”
I screamed through the gag, my eyes growing wide as I inhaled the sickly sweet scent of whatever he’d saturated the cloth with. I turned my head, looking to the ropes that held me. Runes I hadn’t noticed before covered the walls. A mirror faced me, and I took in my naked body. Black hair and a wide, scared pair of emerald eyes looked back at me. I turned as he moved towards me, and kicked him the moment he was close enough.
“There’s the fighter I love, a little too late,” he purred as he ran his finger over my cheek. “You’re already dying; the gag was soaked in a mixture of hemlock and white baneberry. It’s a s
low death, as it will sedate you and your heart will seize and beat no more. Funny, you didn’t beg me or confess your undying love for me. You always have before, right before you try to seduce and then kill me.”
His mouth touched my cheek, placing a soft kiss against it. His fingers travelled lower, and he watched as the poison took control of my system. I struggled to remember the curse, to remember what I was supposed to do. We’d planned this, and yet I couldn’t remember.
“Magdalena,” he shouted. “Get up!”
“Not yet, I have to remember,” I whispered.
“Get up, now, Lena, get the fuck up!” he shouted; only this time he sounded like Joshua.
“I must remember, before it’s too late to curse him,” I mumbled.
“Wake up!”
I sat up, my eyes wide as the dream changed. Joshua. I looked around the room. I was drenched in sweat, my body one touch away from being on fire. It was so bad that I could smell it. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands and paused.
“Fire,” I whispered as I rolled and stumbled out of bed and moved through the room, not stopping to change into something more substantial than a simple nightie.
I pushed open the front door of the cottage and my blood turned to ice running through my veins. I numbly took a step towards the main house as some of the windows in the lower level shattered, allowing black smoke to billow from the house.
“No!”
Chapter Fifteen
The brain is a funny thing. It doesn’t comprehend the magnitude of what the eyes see when it first begins to compute the image. I’d like to say I moved quickly, but I didn’t. I stood on the porch, unsure of what to do. My response time should have been fast, but it just wasn’t. I watched as flames licked the side of the house, seemingly following the trail of the smoke. I moved closer, forcing my brain to function.
Someone was screaming close to me, hysterically. It took me a moment to understand that it was me, and that screaming wasn’t going to help my family. By the time my mind reacted, I was running to the front of the house. The smoke was thick, the front window slightly warped from the heat of the fire that was within. I had a moment to react when the window began to make a horrifying sound.
I turned to run to the back, even as the glass exploded, sending molten shards flying against my skin. The pain didn’t register, only that my house was on fire, and my family was still trapped inside the inferno. I tried to look through the remaining windows as I made my way to the back door, watching the top floor as window after window exploded, covering me and anything below it in shards of fiery, burning glass.
The back door was already open when I got to it. I paused for barely a moment as I looked at the flames that danced hypnotically on the walls, curling the wallpaper my grandparents installed during the crazy wallpaper phase. It sizzled, popped loudly, and began to melt under the blazing heat.
My eyes burned as I made my way into the house, screaming for my mother and Kendra. I covered my mouth as I inhaled the acrid smoke, coughing violently as I searched. I touched doors before throwing them open; my skin was slick with soot and sweat from the flames that seemed to focus more on the walls than any of the furnishings in each room I passed through.
I started crawling on the floor as the smoke got thicker, and made my way up the stairs. I tried to focus on the doorways, and pushed them open as I came to each one. I wasn’t sure which room my grandmother had these days, and I wasn’t going to leave anyone behind.
My lungs were on fire, and each time I moved to the next door, my movements began to slow as my body turned sluggish, until I finally decided to rest my head, to gather my strength before moving on.
I am not sure how long I lay on that floor, or if I knew that I wasn’t leaving it. I remembered that I needed to get up, but couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe, or move. I closed my eyes to keep them from burning more than they already were, and felt something connect with my leg. Hands touched my exposed flesh, and I heard someone swear violently, and then I was up, closer to the smoke.
I couldn’t force my eyes to open, or get my mind to grasp onto what was happening. Something solid and wet was smoothed against my face and then whoever had found me started moving quickly through the house. The cool night air washed over me as we exited the burning house. I tried, but couldn’t open my eyes.
“Breathe for me, Lena,” Lucian’s voice was urging, gentle. “Damn you, don’t do this,” he growled as his mouth touched against mine as if to give me CPR. I coughed, violently. His mouth didn’t move, but it remained close to mine until my eyes started to crack open. “Don’t open them yet,” he warned. “Bane, we need water, now. Tell the others that her sister and mother are still inside.”
I started to struggle against his hold, but he held me in his lap on the ground as he poured water over my face, and I cried out as it burned.
“You are covered in ashes and soot, you’ll be lucky if you’re not burned to hell, Lena. What the fuck were you thinking?” he demanded as he pulled the water away for a moment, allowing me to catch a breath.
“My family,” I uttered hoarsely.
“That what, you wanted to be entombed in the fucking fire with them? You have no magic to speak of yet. None that would help you live through that,” he snapped.
Why was he so angry? He had no right to judge my actions. I’d run into a burning house, I got that, and I would do it again if I had to. Anger was making my mind come back online, and I snapped my burning eyes open and looked right at him.
“My family is in there! They’re all I have left,” I rasped, even though I’d tried to push any strength I had left, into the words.
“My men are inside looking. I’m taking you to my place,” he announced as he started to pick me up.
“No, you’re not, not until I know they’re safe,” I mumbled as I turned my head, which seemed to hurt more than it should. Had I ended up burned? The pain was god awful, and the taste of smoke lingered in my mouth and lungs. I coughed again, and wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand, watching as it came away covered in a black tacky substance.
“The moment you know that they are alive, I’m taking you to my house to heal your burns,” he growled and allowed me to move onto the cool grass, which was a blessing. I watched in silence as the house continued to burn, watching the strangeness of the flames as they continued to dance in a multitude of colors. As I continued watching, skulls were visible in the flames, and I blinked to ensure it wasn’t my mind playing tricks on me; it wasn’t.
“Someone tried to kill us,” I mumbled as I fought to stand up, and failed. Lucian was there, helping me up, as my legs seemed too weak to support my weight. “Look at the flames,” I whispered in shock. “It’s a spell.”
“It’s a fire,” he replied firmly, his eyes moving from me, to the flames.
“Can’t you see them?” I asked, watching as terrifying creatures and skeletal figures moved within the flames.
“See what, Lena?” he asked as he pulled me closer until I yelped in pain. He loosened his grip, and as I watched, Bane brought towels over to Lucian, who wrapped them around me gently.
“There are skeletons in the fire, reaching out for me,” I whispered. I could see them, beckoning to me, seducing me back into the death that awaited me inside the fire. “See?” I said as I pointed at one that had extended out further than the others as yet another window exploded. “He’s telling me to come to him.”
“Bane, take Lena to the cottage; she can watch from the porch,” Lucian directed as he maneuvered me into Bane’s extended arms and moved away from me, closer to the burning house.
“Don’t get too close,” I warned, my voice cracking as one of Lucian’s men emerged from the fire carrying a lifeless Kendra. The air left my lungs at the sight of her and I struggled against Bane and dropped to my knees. E
ven from this distance, I could smell the smoke that clung to her body, as if it was refusing to release her from the death it offered so seductively.
I made my way to her with Bane’s help, not because he was being helpful, but because I was getting to my sister with or without his help. I fell to the ground, oblivious of the pain as I shook her, refusing to believe she was gone.
Angry tears slipped from my eyes as I watched one of the men start CPR on her, as another carried my mother from the fire.
“Anyone else in there?” Lucian asked, and the man gave him a sharp jut of his chin, indicating no one else was inside.
“My grandmother?” I whispered.
“There’s no one alive inside that house,” he muttered as he placed my mom on the grass with smoke clinging to his shirt, and touched her cheek. “She’s not as bad off as the young one.”
I turned to look at Kendra, who was lifeless, and still not breathing. I lay on the grass beside her and kissed her cheek, whispering to her, begging her to not leave me here alone.
“Please,” I whispered out loud. “I can’t be without you.” Being apart from her had been the hardest part of being away, and living without her wasn’t something I ever wanted to experience. I closed my eyes, refusing to believe that she was gone; I could feel her. Why could I feel her if she was beside me, dead?
I heard a gasp, then violent coughing. I opened my eyes and found her staring at me, even as she tried to gasp for clean air to fill her lungs. I exhaled a shaky breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, and an almost hysterical sob rocked through me as I reached up to touch her cheek.
“We need to move them away from the fire, and Bane, call the coven. The fire will go out now. It has failed to do what it was created to; it was only here for them.”
I was helped back up to my feet by Lucian, who refused to budge when I asked to be able to stop at the cottage.