He reached out with his thoughts, but in his weakened, wounded state he couldn't contact her.
It didn't matter.
He knew his sister's unspoken promise. She would be coming soon and he would have to find some way to protect Erin from her clutches.
Erin returned. "Sorry about that. It was a friend from work." She headed toward her bathroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower, then buy your clothes, okay?"
He nodded but didn't speak. He couldn't. Not when thoughts of his siblings occupied his mind.
He walked around Erin's small apartment, trying to find where his sister could be hiding. He found nothing, and as the minutes went by, his sense of her grew weaker, though whether from her leaving or from his own diminishing powers, he wasn't sure.
Erin left the bathroom, her face bright and rosy. "I can't believe I have you here." She threw herself into his arms and held him tight. "Oh, V'Aidan, tell me they can't get you now."
He opened his mouth to answer her honestly, then stopped himself. He didn't want to steal the happiness from her bright brown eyes.
"We're safe," he said, the word sticking in his throat.
She kissed him then, hot and passionately, then left him alone while she went for his clothing.
V'Aidan returned to lie on the bed and rest himself. If he could sleep, he could replenish his strength a lot faster, but he didn't dare close his eyes. Didn't dare fall asleep where he could reenter his world.
They would be waiting for him. With Erin's help, he had escaped them before. But he was sure there wouldn't be a second escape.
Sooner or later, they would take him; then Erin would be alone.
A little while later, V'Aidan heard Erin enter the apartment. Her shoes made the lightest of noises on the carpet. Even so, he knew her distinctive walk. Knew her scent, her sound. Knew things about her he'd never known about anyone else.
He turned over in the bed as she entered the room with a bag in her hands.
"I didn't mean to wake you," she said.
"I wasn't sleeping."
She moved forward and set the bag on the foot of the bed, then came to rest beside him. She placed her hand against his brow, then frowned.
"How do you feel?" she asked gently.
"Like I've been beaten."
She rolled her eyes at his blase tone. "You have a pretty bad fever there. Maybe I should - "
"You can't call a doctor, Erin. Just because I appear human, it doesn't make me one of you."
"I know." She sat by his side and brushed his hair back from his damp brow. "So what are we going to do?"
He took her hand in his and ran the backs of her knuckles along his jaw, which had already begun to heal. Her touch was sublime. He'd never known such a thing existed. "I don't know."
"I was thinking while I was out that maybe we could find a ceremony or something to make you human. Some kind of ritual."
He smiled at the idea. "It's a good thought, love, but there's no such thing."
V'Aidan watched her then, and it was on the tip of his tongue to explain to her exactly what he was. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not after they had been through so much.
All he wanted was to enjoy what little time they had, and with that thought, he forced himself to get up.
Erin protested his movements as he dressed. "You're still hurt."
"I'll be fine," he said dismissively. "My kind heals fast."
Erin growled low in her throat as she watched him dress. The man wouldn't listen.
Insufferably male, he refused to relax for the rest of the day. He wouldn't even stay behind and rest while she went to the grocery store.
But she had to admit she really did like having him along. She'd lived alone for so long that she hadn't realized just how much fun someone could have in the produce department.
"So," V'Aidan said as she thumped a cantaloupe, "what are you listening for?"
She held it up to his ear and thumped. "This one is too ripe." Then she held up another one and let him hear the difference. "This one isn't."
She put the good cantaloupe in the cart, then turned around to catch him thumping bananas. Erin quickly grabbed them away from him. "We don't thump those."
"Why?"
"It'll bruise them."
"Oh." He looked around, then paused. "What about those?"
She turned to see the grapes. "Only thump if you want to turn them into wine."
He pulled her into his arms. "What about if I thump you?"
She smiled. "I'd probably make all kinds of interesting noises."
He grinned at that and gave her a quick, scorching kiss that sent heat throughout her entire body.
As they walked through the store, Erin couldn't help noticing the stares V'Aidan collected. She became aware again of just how different the two of them were. He was tall, sexy, and gorgeous and she was plain and simple.
She'd only had a few boyfriends and most of them had been as average-looking as she was. But V'Aidan...
He deserved a beautiful woman.
"Hey?" he asked as they reached the dairy section. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"You look sad."
"Just tired."
She saw the concern in his celestial eyes. "How tired?"
It was then she caught his meaning. "They'll be after us again when we sleep, won't they?"
He looked away and she had her answer.
"If they don't kill him, I will." M'Ordant's words echoed in her head.
"I won't let them have you," she said, taking V'Aidan's arm. "There has to be some way we can fight them."
He draped his arm over her shoulders and held her close. "You would fight for me?"
"Yes."
"Then I am the luckiest being in the universe."
V'Aidan gave her a tight squeeze as he inhaled the scent of her hair. And he wondered morbidly if she would feel that way if she knew the truth of his past.
If she ever knew the truth of him...
He wanted to tell her. But he didn't dare.
V'Aidan clenched his teeth. She would never know, any more than he would let her be harmed because of him. He would fight this battle, all right. Fight until either he won or they killed him. But he would do it the way he had lived since the dawn of time.
Alone.
He and Erin finished shopping and were putting their items in the car when V'Aidan heard a woman shrieking in the dark parking lot.
He saw a man running away.
"Oh, no," Erin breathed. "He stole her purse."
Without thinking, V'Aidan took off after the man. He caught up to him at the alley beside the grocery store.
The man turned on him with a gun and aimed it straight at his heart. "Don't mess with me, man. I'm your worst friggin' nightmare."
V'Aidan couldn't help laughing at his words. "You have no idea."
The man fired the gun. V'Aidan ignored the bullet that entered his chest without pain or blood. He took the purse from the man, then caught the thief by his throat and held him against the wall.
It was then V'Aidan felt himself slipping. He felt his true form welling up. His hand went from that of a human to -
"V'Aidan?"
Erin's voice brought him back. He recovered himself and stared at the thief, who was now ghostly pale from having witnessed the changes on V'Aidan's face.
"The next time you want to steal from someone, think of me waiting for you every time you close your eyes."
The thief quietly wet himself.
Erin ran up behind him with a security officer in tow. V'Aidan released the thief into the officer's custody then handed him the woman's purse.
"Are you all right?" Erin asked, her eyes falling to the hole in V'Aidan's shirt where the bullet had entered his flesh. Mortal weapons couldn't harm an immortal being.
V'Aidan nodded. His powers were returning.
"Take me home, Erin," he said, his heart tugging at the word. He'd never had a home before. N
ever really understood the meaning of the word and what it entailed.
Until now.
He followed her to her car and they drove back to her apartment in silence.
In fact, they spoke very little as Erin made their dinner and they ate it.
Afterward, he helped her clean up and watched her closely. What would it be like to stay here, like this? To have this woman by his side every night? If he had such, he would never make her hurt. Never let her want. He would do anything in his power to shelter and comfort her.
But all the wishing in the world couldn't make it real.
It was only a dream...
Once they were finished cleaning up their dinner, they lay entwined on the couch while she watched television.
V'Aidan watched her. He held her cradled to his chest, feeling her breath fall on his skin.
Love me, Erin.
The words hung in his heart, unspoken as he ran his hand through her hair. He had no right to ask for her love. Had no right to ask anything of her.
"You are a scourge, boy. Despicable. Unsightly and cold. No one will ever welcome something like you. It's why you have to creep into their dreams. It's the only way anyone will ever have anything to do with you."
All too well he knew the truth of Hypnos's words.
Over the centuries, he had hardened his heart to the world. To everything. He'd shut himself off completely until the night when a pair of fear-filled brown eyes had looked up at him with kindness and hope.
Now, he just wanted a way to live out his life staring into those eyes. Feeling her tiny hands on his skin.
Erin listened to V'Aidan's heart beating under her cheek. He smelled of warm sandalwood and spice. She ran her hand over where the thief had shot him, still amazed that no scar or wound remained. It was an awful reminder of the fact that her entire day with V'Aidan had been an illusion.
He wasn't born of her world. And no doubt tonight they would be parted for eternity.
The thought broke her heart. She couldn't stand the thought of not seeing him again.
If this was her last night with him, then she wanted it to last.
Crawling up his body, she met his gaze and saw the hunger in the crystal silver gaze. She cupped his cheek in her hand and kissed him.
V'Aidan growled at the taste of her as his body roared to life. He tore the shirt from her as he rolled to press her down into the couch.
Erin heard the cotton fabric tear but didn't care. She wanted him with the same desperation. She pulled his shirt over his head and feasted on the sight of his bare chest. Only scars remained of the wounds he'd suffered, and he'd told her that, by tomorrow, if he survived tonight, even those would be gone.
He removed their clothes so fast that she could barely follow his moves. He leaned her up against the back of the sofa arm and drove himself deep into her.
They moaned in unison.
She wished she could keep him inside her forever. She never wanted another day without him in it.
V'Aidan made love to her feverishly, savoring every deep stroke. He caressed her breasts as he kissed her, felt her from the top of his head all the way to his toes.
Her warm body surrounded his, fit him to perfection. And the feel of her hands on his back...
It was bliss. Pure bliss. He closed his eyes and delighted in the feel of her breasts on his chest, her tongue on his throat. Oh, yes, he wanted to stay here with her.
Forever.
Erin ran her hand through his long hair, her fingers clenched as pleasure ripped through her, each thrust deeper and harder than the last. She wrapped her legs around his waist, bucking her hips in time to him. Drawing him into her body even deeper. She clung to him as she came, crying out his name.
He kissed her lips and quickened his pace until he released himself inside her.
Erin lay still, feeling his essence fill her. She didn't want to move, didn't want to feel him leave her.
"I love you, V'Aidan," she said before she could stop herself.
V'Aidan froze at the words. Pulling back, he stared at her in disbelief. "What?"
Her cheeks turned pink as her brown gaze shredded what was left of his heart. "I love you."
"You can't. It's not possible."
"Possible or not, I do."
V'Aidan gathered her into his arms and held on to her desperately. He shook from the force of what he felt for her. So powerful, so overwhelming.
Sated to a depth he'd never known before, he pulled her on top of him and listened to her even breaths as her sleep took her.
He wanted to wake her up but knew better. Unlike him, she had to have her sleep.
"Erin," he whispered softly as he stroked her hair. "I promise you, I'll always be what you think I am."
Resigned to the inevitable, he closed his eyes and waited for M'Ordant and Krysti'Ana to come for them.
6
V'Aidan woke up to a piercing screech that felt as if it would shatter his eardrums.
He groaned at the awful sound as Erin stirred on top of him.
"What is that?" he asked.
"My alarm clock," she said, rising from him to rush to her bedroom.
It wasn't until her return that they both realized what had happened.
Nothing.
"Did you have any dreams?" he asked.
She shook her head. "You?"
"No," he said, smiling.
"Do you think..."
His smile faded. "No. They can find us. Sooner or later, they will."
Erin closed her eyes and cursed the thought of it. "Maybe they won't bother." She saw the doubt in V'Aidan's eyes.
Wanting to cheer his dour mood, she pulled him up by his arm. "C'mon. Let's take a shower and then I'll call in sick to work."
"You can't. What if you get fired?"
She shrugged. "I'll find another job."
He shook his head at her. "You are amazing."
She smiled at him.
Erin called into work only to be reminded of the marketing report that had been due on Friday, which she had forgotten to drop off.
"The meeting is at noon," John told her.
"Okay, I'm on my way up there with it."
"Is something wrong?" V'Aidan asked as she hung up the phone.
She shook her head. "I just have to take something to the office. Want to come with me?"
"Sure."
They didn't speak much as she drove across town. V'Aidan held her hand the entire time and Erin had to admit she liked the strength of his hand wrapped around hers.
Once they reached her building, Erin led V'Aidan into the maze where her cubicle was. He watched the hustle and bustle of corporate life with a dispassionate stare.
Erin went to John's office, only to find it empty.
With V'Aidan directly behind her, she dropped the report in John's in-box, then turned to leave.
Chrissy stood in the doorway with Rick Sword behind her. The two of them stepped into the office and closed the door.
Erin heard V'Aidan curse.
What the devil was going on?
"What are you doing here?" V'Aidan asked, his voice laced with anger.
"Waiting for you." Chrissy stepped around them and pulled the blinds closed. "You won't dare fight us in her workplace, will you, V'Aidan? All we have to do is make ourselves invisible to the humans and they won't see or hear anything but her. And her they'll lock up in an asylum as soon as we're gone."
Erin still didn't understand what was going on. But she had a sick feeling that she had been duped from the very beginning by all of this.
If V'Aidan could be real then so could they.
"What is this?" Erin demanded.
Chrissy's eyes flashed to yellow and it was then Erin knew the truth.
Chrissy was the she-snake from her nightmares.
"Stay out of it, human," Rick said. "We will deal with you after we finish with him."
V'Aidan pulled Erin behind him.
"How very sweet." Chris
sy's tone was mocking. "One would think you were Oneroi the way you coddle her."
"He is Oneroi," Erin shot back, her entire body shaking from panic. How could she and V'Aidan fight them here? Like this?
Rick laughed at her words. "Is that the lie you told her?"
V'Aidan held his breath. He didn't want her to find out like this. "Erin, I..." His words faltered as he turned to see the confused look on her face.
He didn't want to tell her the truth. He didn't want to be what he was anymore. She had shown him something better and he didn't want to go back to the way he'd been.
"What does she mean?" Erin asked.
"He's your dragon," Krysti'Ana said mercilessly. "The thing I fought the first night we met in your dreams."
"No." Erin shook her head. "It's a lie. V'Aidan, tell me it's a lie."
He wanted to, but he couldn't. He'd lied so many times that it shouldn't have mattered to him. Yet it did.
"I'm a Skotos, Erin."
Her eyes filled with tears. "It was you! You who made me so terrified I couldn't sleep? You who chased me and... and..." She couldn't even begin to recount the torture he had put her through during those first few weeks. She had thought she was losing her mind. "Why did you trick me into thinking you were Oneroi? Was it just so you could feed from me?"
"At first, I only wanted to get you away from Krysti'Ana. I knew you wouldn't go with the dragon, so I appeared to you as a man. And then later..." His voice trailed off as his eyes went dead.
"You lied to me."
"I know."
She backed away from him. The agony in her eyes sliced him.
V'Aidan clenched his teeth as grief washed over him. "I needed you, Erin. And I didn't know how else to keep you with me." He reached for her.
She cringed and the gesture tore through him. She no longer wanted his touch.
Like all the others, she, too, rejected him.
The hurt betrayal on her face made him feel lower than any of the insults the others had ever dealt him.
"I should have known," she whispered, "someone like you pretended to be could never really want someone like me."
V'Aidan winced at the pain in her voice. "Erin, don't say that. You are the most wonderful person who has ever been born."
"Is that another of your lies?"
V'Aidan closed his eyes. There was nothing he could say to make this right. He'd been wrong from the very beginning.
All he could do now was make sure no other of his kind hurt her.
"M'Ordant!" he called, summoning his brother to him.
The Oneroi appeared between Krysti'Ana and Rec'Sord.
V'Aidan took a deep breath. "I will go with them peacefully if you will keep them from her."