Much Ado About Vampires: A Dark Ones Novel

  Unbidden, his hand slid up to cup her ass, just the thought of it and her hips and breasts, and all the rest of her, making him hard. A fact for which I’m prepared to get down on my knees and thank whatever fates, gods, or circumstances sent you into my life, but that is really not the important point at this moment, Beloved, so you can cease trying to seduce me with your hips and long, long legs that wrap so nicely around me when I thrust into your heat.

  “Of course you are,” Sally said in a soothing voice. “But you see, I’ve taken that position. I believe that traditionally the position of a banished demon lord goes to the banishee, and that would be me.”

  Cora moaned into his head, giving herself a little shake. You are so going to get pounced on when you’re healed up. Can I still be used, or not?

  No. Bael’s power is no more.

  Then why are you so concerned about protecting me from this guy?

  “You cannot be premier prince,” Asmodeus said in a flat, emotionless voice.

  It is my nature. I explained that earlier.

  Yeah, yeah, all that macho stuff that doesn’t cut squat with me. Is he a danger to us?

  “Um . . . I think I am the premier prince. Aren’t I?” Sally looked down at herself. “Yes, yes I am. Asmo, dumplin’, we’ve never really seen eye to eye ever since that holiday party that I threw last year, when you insisted that Bael remove me from Abaddon because I may have spiked the eggnog, and subsequently your wrath demons got a bit tipsy and thought it would be a hoot and a half to drug you and put you in a vat of Jell-O so all of your legions could have their pictures taken indulging in nude Jell-O wrestling with you—which, I have to admit, was a hoot and a half—but I can see you’re still holding that bit of festive frolicking against me. My advice is just to get over it, and move on. I’m boss now.”

  I don’t see how he could be a threat. That is the reason Kristoff and I have allowed him to continue.

  Cora smothered a laugh at Sally’s conversation. He looks like he’s going to explode. Maybe we should move back? I wouldn’t want your owies to hurt again.

  They have healed, and I have to admit to wanting to stay a few more minutes, despite the temptation you pose.

  “You are not,” Asmodeus insisted.

  Why?

  Because I think Sally is about to explain something important.

  “Look, this is how it works—I banish Bael, and that makes me the boss,” Sally started to say, but Asmodeus cut her explanation short.

  “You cannot be the premier prince of Abaddon because it is not allowed.” Asmodeus gestured toward Terrin. “I had my suspicions before, but this proves it.”

  “Oh, dear,” Terrin said, getting to his feet and moving over to stand next to Sally, who didn’t look in the least bit concerned by what Asmodeus was saying. “Sally, my sweet, perhaps now would be a good time to dismiss the others.”

  She glanced toward them, a twinkle visible in her eye. “Oh, I think they’ve earned the right to see this to the end, don’t you? Cora and Ulfur certainly have, and since the Dark Ones helped, they deserve to stay, as well.”

  “Thank you,” Alec said politely as Kristoff bowed, and said, “We are all gratitude.”

  “It doesn’t matter who is here—the news will be made public throughout the Otherworld so that everyone will know of your perfidy,” Asmodeus said, looking almost bored now.

  “I’m still confused,” Pia murmured. “Why can’t Sally be the head boss if she took down Bael? Doesn’t that make her the strongest?”

  “That’s a very good question,” Cora said, then addressed Asmodeus. “What perfidy? Other than, you know, kidnapping us and all that jazz, which Alec swears wasn’t bad, but I still have my doubts.”

  Sally blew her a little kiss. Cora grimaced.

  “She can’t be the premier prince for the reason that the Sovereign is not allowed to rule Abaddon as well as the Court of Divine Blood.”

  Alec smiled, glad his suspicion was confirmed, aware at the same time of Cora’s gasp of surprise and jerk to the side.

  “The . . . the . . . you mean . . . no!” she stammered, taking a step toward Sally. “You can’t be God! You’re all wrong for God! Not the fact that you’re a woman, although all of those plagues and wiping out of innocents sounds like the act of a man rather than a woman, but no, I just refuse to accept that you’re God.”

  “I’m not,” Sally said, giving her a sympathetic pat on the arm. “For one, the Sovereign isn’t the same as the mortal concept of a Christian God. For another . . .” She slid a glance toward Terrin.

  “Jesus wept!” Cora exclaimed, clearly missing the irony of her words, running her hands through her hair. “God is married?”

  Sally’s eyebrows rose. “You mean Terrin? Oh, we’re not married.”

  Alec thought Cora was going to explode with frustration. Her hair stuck out at odd angles as she all but screamed, “God is living in sin? What the hell?”

  “Abaddon—” Terrin started to correct, but stopped at a look from Alec.

  “Terrin isn’t my lover,” Sally said with an irrepressible giggle. “He’s my . . . well . . . my other half.”

  Enlightenment flooded Alec at that moment, the explanation of Terrin’s role sliding together like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

  “But—you said you were together. Earlier today you said that,” Pia said, looking almost as confused as Cora.

  “We are. He’s my other half.”

  “We couldn’t exist without each other,” Terrin explained, obviously taking pity on them. “Think of it as a symbiotic relationship. A platonic one—I’m dating a power, as a matter of fact, and I believe before Sally took over the demon lord Magoth’s position, she was seeing one of the cherubs who was responsible for the Internet.”

  “LOLcats,” Sally said, nodding her head. “He’s awesome about things like that.”

  “I’m so lost,” Cora said, spinning around to look at him. “Alec? Is she God or not?”

  “Not,” he said, taking her in his arms and giving her a little kiss just to stop her from pulling out all her hair. “Together, Terrin and Sally are the Sovereign. They aren’t a god, but they are good, so you can stop worrying that she’s going to harm us.”

  “But she talked about torturing Ulfur and me,” she protested. “Surely go—er . . . the Sovereign wouldn’t do that? Surely he or she—”

  “We’re commonly referred to as it,” Sally said with a little smile at Terrin.

  “—surely it couldn’t be a demon lord, could it?”

  “Evidently she can.” Alec wrapped both arms around her, providing her with the comfort he knew she needed.

  “But wouldn’t someone have recognized her? ” Pia asked.

  “I was wondering the same thing,” Kristoff said, nodding as he glanced at Asmodeus. “Why would you not tell the other demon lords who she was?”

  “I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I saw the two of them together that I could see her for what she is.”

  “Separate, we’re nothing, just . . . well, just people,” Sally explained. “I made sure that Terrin never came for a visit while I was in my palace here, just in case someone saw us together.”

  “Until now,” Cora pointed out.

  “Yes, well.” Sally made a vague gesture. “It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would figure it out and take the premier princedom from me. I’m just sorry it was sooner; I was really looking forward to being the head demon lord. I don’t suppose—”

  “No,” Asmodeus snapped. “Make me the premier prince now, and I will allow the others to go unscathed.”

  Sally sighed. “You just have no idea what you’re missing not having me as a boss. Fine, you can have the job. I’ll just spend all the energy I would have had to reorganizing Abaddon into thwarting your every move. Happy now?”

  Asmodeus just looked at her with an expressionless mask, before turning to face toward Alec and the others. “You have three minutes to leave Abaddon. If you are h
ere beyond that time, I will take you prisoner.”

  “The agreement between Abaddon and the Moravian Council—” Kristoff started to say, but was interrupted.

  “The agreement is null and void as of this moment. You have two minutes and forty seconds remaining.”

  Before Alec could do so much as protest the cavalier overturning of an agreement that had stood between Abaddon and the Dark Ones for centuries, Asmodeus disappeared in a cloud of oily black smoke.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Are you sure this is a good idea? There’s a whole bunch of people after us, and they’re bound to know we’re here.” I turned the lock on the door, just to make sure no one could get into our room.

  “What people?” Alec asked.

  “Eleanor, for one. That lichmaster dude for another.”

  “Bah.” He waved them away, moving toward me with a familiar glint to his eye.

  “Maybe I should feed you again. You only got enough blood to get your engine running before Pia and Kristoff left to take Ulfur back to Italy with them. I know you’re still hungry.”

  “I’ll feed in a bit.”

  I hesitated, worry riding uppermost in my mind. “Not only are those vamps still out there, and likely to come back and drag you off to the Akasha, but more importantly, you were literally almost ripped in half. Perhaps we need a bit of caution here. The healer did say that your injuries might take a bit longer to fully heal.”

  Alec gave me a sloe-eyed look, and before I could so much as rip off my clothing and fling myself on him, he had me naked and on the bed in one of Sally’s non-Abaddon spare rooms.

  “I’m fine,” he answered, rubbing his hips against me, the bulging nature of his fly more than enough proof that he was just as anticipatory as I was. But still, I had to be sure.

  “No, seriously, I think we should wait.” It was a feeble protest at best, but I couldn’t in all good conscience give in to the hunger that claimed us both.

  “You want me as much as I want you,” he murmured in my ear, his breath hot on my neck, his hands tormenting and teasing me with sensual little touches that immediately aroused my deepest passion. “I know you do. I can feel that you do.”

  “I think the fact that I can’t keep my hands off you is a dead giveaway to that little fact,” I said, grabbing his hands to keep them from further investigating my chest.

  He stopped nibbling my neck and pulled back enough to frown at me, his beautiful green eyes narrowed slightly. “Why do you reject me?”

  “I’m not rejecting, just delaying, and I’m doing that because I want to make sure that you’re OK.”

  “I’m fine,” he repeated, his hands diving back into breast central.

  I squirmed out of his hold, rolled off the bed, snatched up his shirt, pulling it on quickly lest my own needs and desire drive me back into his arms. Luckily for my good intentions, the stark, horrifying memory of Alec lying torn apart and bleeding against the ballroom wall was more than enough to sober me up. “So you say, but I’m a doubting kind of person until I can see things for myself.”

  “The best way for me to prove to you that I have healed is to make love to you,” he said, gliding toward me with a look that a panther probably gave a particularly succulent bunny in his path.

  “No, the best way to prove it is to strip and let me see your—”

  He was naked before the words had left my lips.

  It took me a few minutes of allowing my gaze to caress the long, mouthwatering stretches of muscle lying so sleekly under skin that I knew was warm and satiny and tasted so very good.... With an effort, I stopped the path down which my brain was heading, and reminded myself that just a short time earlier he had been almost killed. “Nice try, but I refuse to allow you to distract me that way. Now, let me see. . . .”

  The blast of power hadn’t acted on Alec with the precision of a bladed instrument, meaning the thick scar that ran from the center of his chest to the top of his shoulder was jagged and uneven. It was also thick, and still red, and when I laid my hand on it, I could feel the heat as the flesh continued to repair itself. I let my fingers move upward to his neck, gently touching the twisting, angry-looking red seam that stretched from his collarbone around the side to the back of his neck. It, too, was hot to the touch.

  Alec was clearly in no condition for the acts he so obviously desired, but if I told him that outright, he’d just scorn my concern and do what he wanted—giving me the most profound, intense pleasure without a single thought of whether it would harm him. I couldn’t let him stress himself, obviously, but how was I to stop him? It was useless to tell myself to just ignore the lure he posed, because that just wasn’t possible, and we both knew it.

  No, I’d have to tell him he was going to take a new, much more passive role for the afternoon’s activities.

  “Are you finished touching me?” Alec inquired politely. “If you are, it’s my turn.”

  “No,” I said with a laugh as I pointed to the bed. “Lie down.”

  His frown returned. “You are being dominant. Evidently you are under the impression I like that in my Beloved. While it’s true that I’m prepared to explore new things with you, I have never been one to take enjoyment from being passive.”

  “Alec, less than an hour ago I thought you were dead. I know you think you’re perfectly fit for lovemaking, but I don’t think you are, not really. However”—I held up a hand to interrupt his protest—“I am willing to admit that you’re absolutely right in that I want you more than anything I can think of, so I’m willing to indulge us both, providing you let me do things my way.”

  “What way is that?”

  “For one, you let me seduce you. I know that you don’t normally like that, but—” I blinked as Alec, after staring at me for a moment, ripped the blankets from the bed standing across the room, and flung himself down on his back, his hands clasped behind his head, his feet wiggling in anticipation. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Come and seduce me, Beloved,” he said in an arrogant, demanding voice. “I am willing to let you take the lead this once, so long as you do it now, and don’t waste any more time in telling me I’m not healed enough to pleasure you as you deserve.”

  I laughed again, and slowly, so as to tease just a little, unbuttoned his shirt that I still wore. His eyes lit with faux outrage as I deliberately took my time working my way down the line of buttons, making sure I stroked my hands over my hips (which seemed to hold some fascination for him) all the way up to my breasts.

  “Take off the shirt,” he demanded, his breathing erratic as I stood, considering him for a moment.

  “You’re the only man I know who can be simultaneously demanding and submissive.” I started to take off the shirt, pausing at the heat shining so brightly in his gorgeous green eyes. You’re going to seize me the minute I get within range, aren’t you?

  Absolutely.

  That’s what I thought.

  His eyes widened as I grabbed my jeans and jerked them on before turning on my heel and marching out of the room.

  Corazon! Where are you going?

  Stay there. Alec, I mean it, stay there! Don’t think I don’t know you’re putting your clothes back on and going to come after me, because I know you are, and you can just stop it. I’m going to get something . . . fun. Just get back into bed, and consider how lucky you are to have a Beloved who plans on making you wild with delight.

  You make me wild with delight without fetching anything else. And what is it you’re getting? His tone was grumpy, but I knew he could feel the sincerity in my intentions, and was doing as I asked even though it wasn’t what he wanted.

  You get extra bonus points for that, I told him. And you’ll see.

  He spent the next ten minutes alternating between ranting at the way he would punish me if I didn’t return to him that exact moment and telling me exactly how he wanted to make love to me. The former I ignored, but the latter made it extremely hard to carry on a coherent conversation
with Sally, whom I found sitting in a sunny bow-fronted room with Terrin, sipping tea and eating petits fours.

  Alec was scowling when I returned to the room Sally had given to us, his glare a truly magnificent thing to behold. “You have been gone exactly twelve min—what the hell do you think you’re going to do with those?”

  I twirled the red silk braided rope in one hand, while draping the matching scarf over my shoulder. “Sally gave them to me. I’m going to use them, my sexy vampire, to keep you from doing everything you want to do. You’re still healing, so it’s important you don’t put too much stress on your wounds. The rope will ensure you don’t.”

  “You don’t seriously believe you can tie me down.”

  “Oh, yes, yes I do.”

  He rolled his eyes and tried to hide a smug thought that he would indulge me for a few minutes before simply ripping his hands free from the restraint. I smiled a secret smile to myself, and peeled off my jeans and shirt.

  “You’re not happy anymore,” I said, gesturing toward his penis, now in a dormant state.

  “You were gone for twelve minutes,” he said, giving me a tolerant look as I slipped one of his hands through the adjustable loop in one end of the rope, snaking it through a couple of bars on the metal headboard before repeating the process with his remaining hand.

  He tried to catch the nipple of my breast nearest him in his mouth as I leaned over him, but I shifted to the side, saying, “I would have thought you might have entertained yourself with thoughts of how you wanted me to pleasure you.”

  “I didn’t, although I did spend some time on various punishment methods that will be meted out to you if you don’t stop stalling and let me make love to you.”

  I smiled as he tested the bonds, distracted for a moment with the way the muscles in his arms and chest moved as he did so. The silk rope gave a little, but not so much that he could reach past his ears.

  “What a delicious picture this is,” I said, leaning forward to nip his lower lip. “A handsome-as-sin vampire all tied up, just like a smorgasbord for me to taste. But I think . . . yes, I think we can improve on this experience.”