Olivia moved to the far end of the row of coffins, and then looked at Ristan. “At least that’s what I think. I’ve done a lot of research over the years on these remains. I think these ones were originally from Scotland.” She motioned to several of the coffins. “I’m not sure if you were aware of the Witch trials around Aberdeen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but that was the catalyst for some of the Scottish Covens to flee before they could be captured and killed. They came across in waves around the time of each of the trials. One group came across before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth and were thought to be one of the lost colonies. They just went into hiding and reintegrated themselves into society with the Salem settlement. Others came after Plymouth; those ones landed in a settlement in Nova Scotia and moved their way south as well as the ones who came in through East New Jersey and travelled north. Guild records showed that each of the groups could all be traced to a huge Coven outside of Aberdeen.
“Those groups also brought many of the things that were sacred to them. These caskets would fall into that category, even though it was very impractical to put them on a ship. When the original Guild in the Americas was formed, there was a huge fight between Covens that were pro-Guild and the others who wanted to remain hidden. They wanted to protect their children from persecution and not just from Humans or the Fae. The Guild wanted to take on the world and show them they were not evil but here to help them against the Fae. The Salem Witch Trials solidified the fears of each group and the Guild in the Americas was formed and the Covens that didn’t join the Guild went into hiding. Over time, the other Covens seemed to fade out of existence. Most think they are gone, but we know they just tend to blend in with the Humans or have formed separatist Covens. The Spokane Guild wasn’t founded until way after these catacombs were built, but the first founders of this Guild had felt the magic of the Leyline, and suspected that one of the other Covens had first inhabited it, which told them that at least one of the Covens must have escaped the persecution of the Salem Witch trials. We aren’t sure if they were the ones who left the caskets here, but it would support the theory that the Covens line either died out or abandoned the craft. That part is still a mystery, as there are no records to go off of. Only rumors,” she said softly as her eyes remained locked on the caskets.
Olivia moved to one of the newer coffins and knelt near the front of it as she dusted off the markings. “This rune here states this is a coven Witch. It doesn’t state which coven, though. This rune here,” she pointed at another rune. “That is a death rune. This one here, though, says she was powerful. Very powerful, and she died very young. So it is possible that she was sacrificed to give her powers to her coven to protect them.”
“How does that work?” Ristan asked, amused by her enthusiasm on the topic.
“Her blood would have been drained from her body and fed to sanctified lands, similar to the way the Leylines work. The blood calls to other Witches, and can be used to increase their own powers. It would have been custom for them to celebrate one who had made such a sacrifice to the line for their Coven’s sake, not bury them in a hidden tomb without as much as a name to honor them or their bloodlines. It’s almost as if they wanted to keep these women hidden,” she said as she rubbed her arms. “Many catacombs have dead buried in their walls, or at lower levels, but not like this. I do know that Alden tried to figure out who this one was, and he used her hair and a locator spell, mixed with dried blood from her casket. He couldn’t locate any living bloodlines that he could scry for. It’s simply a mystery as to why she and the rest of the nameless women are here.”
“I wasn’t aware that Alden tried to figure out who she was,” Adam said as he ran his hand over the casket.
She shook her head. “He did it recently, but nothing came from it. I do, however, think all of these remains should be taken to consecrated ground and buried.”
Olivia’s faced beamed with her words, and Ristan had a hard time containing his own smile and the nerdy words that he wanted to spit out. Instead, he redirected her to the reason they were here to begin with.
“That’s cool and all, but we need to speed this along and get those files and we need to get the hell out of the creepy tomb,” Ristan said as he eyed the rows of caskets. “I agree that the poor girls should be put to rest, and given their rites.”
“You think they still care?” Adam asked.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Ristan retorted. “They most likely gave their lives to protect their people, and that takes heart. Most people these days don’t understand that. They would sooner kill a person for a dollar than do the work. They basically expect good things to happen to them, and don’t get up to do it for themselves.”
“Damn, tell us how you really feel,” Adam said with his tri-colored green eyes smiling. “Somebody hasn’t eaten today.”
“I’ll feed soon enough,” he said in reply as his eyes travelled over the Witch who was already moving on to the next room. She scurried about as if she’d been down here a lot more than she’d let on, but he kept that information to himself as he mulled over the room full of caskets with the matching runes for the box Lucian wanted. If he hadn’t spotted how the runes matched, he wouldn’t have let her get that far into the history of the Guild without moving her along. One never knew when the smallest detail would be needed at a later date.
It could have been a coincidence, but he wouldn’t bet his nuts on it. On another note, after that little spiel, she would know exactly where to find information on Lucian’s missing coven; he needed to figure out how to get it out of her without Olivia thinking she might be betraying the Guild.
“Finally,” he said as they entered a room that looked out of place, considering it looked like a library.
“So those missing pages should be in here, but I have no idea where the key is,” she said and turned on them. “Here’s the deal,” she smiled and Ristan narrowed his eyes on her. “I’ll help you, but afterwards we are done. You let me go. I am sorry that I had a part to play in what happened to you but as you know now, I was tricked, and it will already haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“Olivia, if you’re asking to go back to the Guild,” Ristan warned, and then paused as she held up her hands.
“Not the Guild, you know they’d ‘retire’ me as being compromised as soon as they saw me.” She said retire with air quotes to be sure Ristan had understood her meaning well enough: ‘Retired’ basically meant shot on sight. “I just don’t want to be locked inside a bedroom and left there.”
Adam coughed to hide his laughter as he started to move inside the room, around the arguing couple. Ristan watched him and wondered why he was so uneasy with her asking for her freedom. Why the hell did he feel this twisted need to tell her no?
“I’ll consider it,” he offered as he met her beautiful eyes, knowing he was lying. It was something he knew he wasn’t going to even begin to consider, and if that made him the world’s biggest asshole, so be it. “Now, the pages, get them, please.”
She stared at him for a few moments before she moved into the room, pulling books and throwing them at him.
“Hey,” he said, but she smiled sweetly and threw another at his head until Adam’s laughter caught her attention, and she hurled one at him, too.
“You shush!” she growled as she spun on the Demon. “You! I’ve been a good little prisoner, but you know I was innocent. I know you can feel my emotions, remember? You told me you could, so feel them now!” she said as she threw yet another at him.
“Okay you two, need me to leave for a few moments?” Adam asked with a cheeky grin on his face. “I guess you should probably feed her, too. You’re starting to sound like Synthia and Ryder.”
“Out,” Ristan growled without looking away from Olivia.
“Done,” Adam said, and vanished.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
&n
bsp; “Do we have a problem?” Ristan demanded once they were alone.
“Yes, I’d say we have a problem. I know I fucked up, but being dragged around to help you should buy me at least some redemption! I’ve been a good little prisoner—shit, I even like some of the things we do—but there’s a limit to how long you can keep me. I am not some slave to fulfill every little kinky desire you come up with! I have needs too! Like I need to go out and do things. I need to have the freedom to choose where I sleep, or where I walk. And I really need to choose my own damn clothes!”
He smiled as she ranted, her eyes growing larger and a little brighter as her rage rose. His big body moved towards hers and she refused to back away from him. He smiled, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Pissed off, no holds-barred-fuck-session. His favorite kind, well—one of them.
He slid his hand around the back of her head, grabbed a handful of her gorgeous, silken curls, and tightened his hold on it until he pulled hard enough to steal a moan from her lips. His other hand found her pussy as it slid down the front of her jeans.
“You know what the sexiest thing about you being pissed off is?” he asked as he applied pressure to both her heat and hair. “It’s that you don’t back down from me. You know I could easily kill you, but you still stand your ground. So different than I thought you’d be. I kind of like it.”
She swallowed and moaned as his fingers pressed harder into her silken flesh, while the hand that tugged at her hair worked alongside the other, creating a multitude of sensations that already had that storm building again inside her belly. The sexiest thing about him was that she didn’t know what he would do and once he got an idea into his head, there was no stopping him. It turned her on, and it shouldn’t.
He walked her backwards until she was pressed against an old oak table. He smiled roguishly as he slid his hand out from her heat and with a pulse of power, the old files, books and dust flew off the table with a crashing noise as he used one hand to lift her up without losing his hold on her hair.
“I’m starving,” he growled as her clothes were glamoured away.
Olivia gasped as his fingers came back and started working her pussy. He pushed two inside and pulled them out hard and fast. She trembled at his assault and wondered where the hell that angel on her shoulder was; the one who was supposed to make her tell him no. It was as if the little devil on her right shoulder had attacked the little shoulder angel on her left, tied him up in duct tape, and was even now cheering Ristan on to do bad things that felt entirely too good. It should have been a bad thing, right? Wrong. She loved that little shoulder devil right now.
She spread her legs, giving him better access to fuck her with, and he growled his appreciation. His fingers continued fucking her until he released his hold on her hair and her head rolled back without the added support. His mouth slid down to her already wet pussy and started devouring it even as his fingers fucked her.
“Oh, God!” she screamed, uncaring that they were in the bowels of the catacombs in a room that was covered in dust and shadows. His eyes lifted to meet hers as he sucked, stroked and nipped at her clitoris.
“God isn’t making you scream right now, Olivia, I am,” he growled as he briefly came up for air, then he took a moment to lick and suck his fingers clean, which was almost enough to send her reeling over the edge. His own clothes disappeared and before she could remind herself where they were, he was buried inside of her warmth and she exploded.
“Fucking hell, Liv,” he growled as he watched her fall into the abyss of pleasure. Her back arched and her hands moved to pinch her own nipples. He moved faster; the sound of flesh hitting flesh and their moans were the only noises in the room. His hands gripped her hips, using and leveraging her body how he wanted as he drove deep into her until his own release rumbled through him.
She exploded again and he fed from her, his hunger devouring her orgasm with eagerness. He loved the sensation of feeding from her, the intense desire to never stop and the pureness of her soul tugged at his Demon, which he forced to remain quiet this time. Soon he would let it out to savor a small taste of her soul—just not yet. Not until he could control his need to feed from her emotions. That was the only way he could reasonably be sure his Demon wouldn’t take all of her soul in its greed.
Her body quivered around his cock as he pulled back and lowered his mouth to touch hers. His eyes met hers and found her smiling as he reluctantly slipped out of her warmth. She gasped as his mouth claimed hers in a soul-deep kiss, one that should never have happened. His heart sped up, matching hers as her hands cupped his face and met his kiss head on.
“You drive me insane,” he growled as he glamoured clothing back on them. This time she was dressed in a white cotton baby doll dress with a red sash around her slender hips. He replaced the Keds with a pair of white leather flats and smiled as she looked at her feet as he helped her to stand.
“You forgot something,” she said and waited expectantly.
“No, I didn’t,” he smirked and pointed at the dusty tomes and scrolls.
“I have no panties, no bra either,” she replied as she crossed her arms over her breasts self-consciously.
“I know, because that was only half of what I plan to do to you today,” he answered smoothly; his voice had a deep timbre, filled with confidence.
“What would you do if I said no?” she asked, and he caught the slight tremble of her lips.
“In all of my time alive, I’ve never forced a woman to do something she truly did not want.”
“Oh,” she whispered. “But the first time…” her words trailed off.
“The first time I felt your willingness and though you may have been dreaming of it, you wanted it. I felt it, and you know the truth of it, Liv.”
“My name is Olivia,” she said as she narrowed her eyes on him. “Let’s get the other pages of those files and get out of here,” she said through a tight-lipped pout.
She had been willing and she knew it, but the knowledge that he knew it sucked. Was she really that easy to read? Or did his fingertips answer every question her body had without her needing to speak the words out loud? She nervously cleared her throat.
“You do know that I am not a Barbie Doll, and that this outfit and most of the others are very impractical, especially for places like this.”
“Those outfits might be impractical, as you call it, but they certainly improve the view.” He grinned roguishly. She huffed and expelled a shuddering breath as she moved towards the old tomes, only to be thrown backwards by a ward she hadn’t expected.
Ristan caught her in his arms before she could hit the wall and they both stared at the apparition that was in front of the tomes. A woman stood there, her eyes white as she turned her head to look at Olivia. It was a spell, and a very powerful one, too. Olivia had heard about these types of spells; they were guardian spells used to prevent the archives from falling into the wrong hands.
She stepped closer to the woman, only to have Ristan pull her back.
“Fuck that,” he growled in warning.
“It needs my blood to let me into the files,” she explained calmly.
“Just your blood?” he questioned.
“Watch and be quiet,” she hissed as she pulled a small piece of wood that littered the floor and pricked her finger with it.
She held her finger out and Ristan watched as the apparition touched the blood and then held it to her nose.
“Not quite Human, nor quite Fae, a Witch you are and something hidden,” the woman spoke, as they both tried to listen to her distant voice. “You are pure of heart and pure of soul, come inside and seek what you will.”
She vanished, but the spell would still be in play. “Stay back,” Olivia warned and moved forward through the small round stones she could now see on the floor. She should have been paying attent
ion earlier, not lost in the after-sex glow, which had made her sloppy.
She walked lightly, her eyes on the stones as she stepped over them into the warded area and expelled a shuddering breath. She turned and smiled at Ristan, but his eyes weren’t on her, they were on the shelves that were moving on their own and opening an entire library that was hidden behind the wooden shelves.
“Wow,” she whispered breathlessly, and walked towards it without waiting for Ristan, who was unable to get past the wards.
“What the fuck is this? I’ve never been stopped by any of the wards in the Guild.”
“They’re not just for Fae, but a lot of other creatures, too. This area is one of the oldest sections and the early Witches were afraid of a lot more than those that were visiting from Faery,” she replied without looking at him. “This is weird. The wards here are a lot stronger than any I’ve ever felt before.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asked, his tone turning angry. “You need to come back,” he warned.
“Afraid I might stay here and not come out?” she teased.
“No, I’m afraid that it’s more than it seems. I’ve never been unable to walk through a ward placed by the Guild. Which may indicate that these ones weren’t placed by the Guild,” he mumbled.
“Then who would have placed them?” she chimed, and turned to look at him.
“Maybe it belongs to the Witches who built it, the same ones that left people in a ritualistic mausoleum to rot,” he snapped, his eyes moving to each corner of the room she stood in. “Get out of there, you’re not safe.”