AWitchsSkill (3 page)

He kissed me gently, his tongue soft on mine, and then
pulled away, letting go so suddenly I fell to my knees before him. He laced his
fingers in my hair and tilted my head back as he undid his pants, and in one
swift move he ripped off his shirt and stood there before me. He was glorious
naked. His muscles were smooth and hard in the soft light, sharply defined. His
hips were lean and the most impressive cock I’d ever seen stood hard and proud between
his legs. Pale as marble, the shaft was long and thick but not so large I
couldn’t take it.

He tugged my head forward, pushing me down on him. Resting
my hands against his strong thighs, I opened my mouth. I ran my tongue around
the head of his penis slowly, alternating with small, light licks. He shuddered
and the hand in my hair tightened. Slowly, I took the tip into my mouth and ran
my tongue over the soft flesh, sucking firmly and rhythmically. With a moan, he
grabbed my head with his other hand and used both hands to force my mouth down
on him. I opened wide and took him as deep as I could. He held me against him, my
forehead pressed against his stomach as he rocked his hips and moved in and out
of my mouth. He slowly increased his pace, moving my head up and down on him. I
felt his urgency building before he suddenly stopped, holding me still. I tried
to continue but he held my head firmly between his hands.

A moment later, he pulled out of my mouth with a sigh then
grabbed my arm to yank me to my feet. Turning me quickly toward the wall, he
spread my legs and pushed a finger into me. I cried out in delight and he
murmured his approval. I was wet, throbbing and ready and I begged him to fuck
me, the words sounding desperate.

Suddenly he thrust into me and I let out a little scream. He
seemed to fill me completely and it felt so good I knew I wouldn’t last long. He
thrust into me fast and hard, and I came almost instantly. He groaned as I
stiffened and paused for a moment to let me recover. I felt my pussy ripple and
clamp down on his cock. The pressure built and I exhaled in an explosive gasp
before collapsing limply against the wall.

He waited patiently until I stirred against him and then he slowly
began moving in me with long, firm strokes, wrapping one arm around my torso to
prop me up and putting his other flat against my hip. I mumbled unintelligibly
and tried to keep a sense of myself as the pleasure flowed through me. He
increased his speed, moving faster and faster until I thought I’d die of sensation.
Suddenly he thrust hard into me, once, twice, and then he stopped. He held
himself rigid against me as he came, pulling me backward against him, lowering
his head to my shoulder and sinking his teeth into my flesh.

I cried out in pain but almost instantly a pleasure unlike
any I’d known replaced the sting, rushing through me, and I climaxed again, waves
of heat flowing into me as I collapsed against him. I could barely lift my head,
and I almost didn’t notice as he took his mouth off my shoulder and licked the
small wound. He pulled out of me and I would have fallen if he hadn’t swept me
up in his arms. He carried me into my small bedroom and laid me down gently. I
was asleep almost as soon as I hit the sheets.

* * * * *

Acayo was gone when I woke up in the morning and I stretched
carefully. My muscles felt relaxed and my pussy throbbed gently.
Wow. What a
night!
I thought to myself in wonder. I dragged myself to my feet and shuffled
into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Would Acayo be back or was that the
last I’d see of him? I rather hoped he’d come back, even though vampires
probably came with a whole lot of baggage. No one lives for hundreds of years
without making a few enemies. Especially in the supernatural world. I’d never
really pictured myself with a vamp but now that I’d met one and had firsthand
experience of one of the benefits, I understood the appeal. Humming to myself,
I finished my first cup of coffee and had a hot shower. As I stepped out of the
shower stall, I noticed the marks of Acayo’s teeth on my shoulder and lightly
touched the small wound with my fingertips, remembering how good it had felt.

Smiling to myself, I pulled on jeans and a soft, woolen
sweater before returning to the kitchen for a second cup. I was happily seated
at my table, glancing through a fashion magazine, when my door burst open. I
scrambled back from the table as Ryan strode into the room. I had begun a spell
when a small figure darted in front of Ryan and made a throwing gesture at me.

I froze in place as the spell hit me, my words dying on my
lips. I cursed, or would have if I could have moved, and frantically searched
my memory for a way to break a freeze spell from within it. Nothing came to
mind so I did the only other thing I could and bent my will against the warlock
in front of me, pushing against the bonds of the spell and searching for
weakness. He was a small man, scrawny and pale with curly blond hair. He didn’t
look formidable but he was strong. Very strong. He stared back at me and held
firm while Ryan advanced toward me.

“It seems the vamp was no magician after all. My masters
knew better. And that means you’ve betrayed us, little witch.” He stopped in
front of me and yanked my sweater down off my shoulder. He flicked the bite
mark and smiled at me sadistically.

“It seems my masters were right.”

Desperately I pushed my will against the wizard’s. Sweat broke
out on his face and he flinched as I hit a weak spot. I pressed all my strength
against it and the warlock cried out, causing Ryan to glance over his shoulder.
Turning back to me with a snarl, he lifted his arm and brought it down. Everything
went black.

* * * * *

I woke up and found I was securely tied to a chair. My
wrists were firmly bound and I could barely feel my fingers. A gag was tied
tightly over my mouth. A dim bulb burned overhead and I appeared to be alone in
a mostly empty room. I tried to stand up with the chair but it must have been
bolted to the ground and I couldn’t move it. Looking down, I saw it was nailed
into the exact center of a ward circle. I tried to spit out the gag or work my
mouth free but had absolutely no success. Not that it would matter—the ward
circle would stop any spell I spoke from getting out of the circle’s boundaries.
I could affect myself and anyone or anything inside with me but that was it.

In a pure fury, I strained against my bonds and yelled
against my gag though no sound made it through. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten
myself into this situation. Tied to a stupid chair in a stupid warehouse. And
for what? It wasn’t as if I knew where Acayo was or had any idea how to contact
him. I was probably going to be tortured for information I really, truly,
didn’t have.

On top of everything, I had a splitting headache from the
hit Ryan had laid on me and my back ached where I assumed I’d landed on it. I
cursed the whole lot of them heartily and settled down to begin the painful
process of waiting until someone came and told me what my immediate future was
going to be.

I didn’t have long to wait. The door opened and Ryan came
through, smiling meanly at me. The small warlock was with him and he scuttled
behind me, pulling the gag off me carefully and then darting back out of the
circle quickly.

“Well? Tell me all and perhaps I won’t torture you,” Ryan
commanded me in an arrogant tone.

I knew so little that I did as he told me, though I figured
he’d probably torture me either way.

“Seriously? You let him escape just because you wanted to?” His
tone was disbelieving. “You expect me to believe you didn’t know him before
this?”

“I didn’t. If you’d told me you had a vampire, I never would
have agreed to help you. If you’d told me the spell was for a prisoner and not
for a friend, I would never have considered conducting the ritual. I don’t turn
on my own and I don’t force my magic on people.”

“Why didn’t you just leave then?”

“Oh sure, as if you would have given me that option.”

“You can’t honestly expect me to believe this nonsense.”

“Why not? Your precious masters must have researched me
before sending you back for me. Did they find any connection? No. Because there
is none.”

“You could be hiding it.”

“You have capable warlocks on your side,” I replied, nodding
at the small wizard. “I’m sure he’s reading me for truth as we speak and I’m
sure he’s finding I’m being honest. I wouldn’t be able to hide anything from
him for long. Not against such a concentrated spell. Not while I’m in here, at
least.” I indicated the circle with a dip of my head.

Ryan looked at the little warlock inquiringly and the wizard
nodded in return, I assume confirming my truthfulness. Ryan looked surprised
and turned to stare back at me.

“Really? You honestly were just a stranger to this? Do you
have any idea who you just fucked with? For no other reason than that you
didn’t like what was happening?”

He laughed evilly and I got a sick feeling in the pit of my
stomach.

“Honey, my bosses run this town and right now, they are not
happy with you. You better hope you meant more to this vamp then he meant to
you, because you have until tomorrow morning. If he doesn’t come to find you,
my masters say you’re mine. To do with what I will.”

I shuddered in horror as he leered at me. The odds of Acayo
rescuing me in the next however many hours were very slim. I mean he could be
out of the country by now. No reason at all to think he’d somehow notice I was
gone. How could he? He didn’t know my schedule, didn’t expect me to be
somewhere. He didn’t even have my phone number, for fuck’s sake. I gave Ryan a considering
look then turned my attention to the little warlock. The wizard glanced away
uneasily after meeting my eyes for a second and I wondered what he had planned
for me. And most importantly, could I beat it?

With a final ugly smile and a gaze that traveled up and down
my body, making me feel dirty, Ryan left. I sat there, straining at my bonds
and thinking furiously. How the hell was I going to get out of this? Suddenly I
flashed back to Acayo. He’d thrown the chains out of my ward circle. How the
hell had he done that? Was it something he’d done, or something in him? Vampires
notoriously had unpredictable powers. You never really knew what they were able
to do. He may have an immunity of some sort. He hadn’t been strong enough to
break out, but still… His ability to throw something out of a ward circle amazed
me. The circle was almost always unbreakable and Acayo had told me he had no
ability to work magic so it must be an intrinsic power. Vampire powers were
always unpredictable but they usually worked along the same lines as magic did.
If a chain Acayo threw was able to penetrate the wards but he wasn’t, then
perhaps the important part was that it was something he’d thrown away from him.
Magic often worked by pulling or pushing against various forces. I myself was able
to move objects by focusing my energy and creating a force around the object
and sending it out or pulling it in. The item then rolled on a wave of energy.
If Acayo’s power worked by making the circle ignore his targeted energy, it
might
be possible to aim a spell to call that energy and get it out through the
wards.

I thanked my lucky stars Ryan hadn’t bothered to retie my
gag, trusting the wards to render me harmless. I cast a spell to release my
arms and legs but nothing happened. Puzzled, I craned my head around to look at
my bindings. The chains were silver and covered with carvings of runes. Unbreakable.
By magical means anyway. I blew out a puff of irritated air and resigned myself
to numb hands.

I thought for a moment and then quietly began chanting. I
used a simple distance communication charm and bolstered it with a combination
of the strongest seeker charms I knew. I kept it short, just “help” and “trapped”
and an image of myself. If he knew I was in trouble, he could track me by the
blood he’d taken. All I had to do was tell him. Hopefully he’d understand
they’d laid a trap for him and come prepared to rescue me.

I finished the chant, and the spell seemed to hang in the
air before me, visible to the caster and no one else. I breathed Acayo into it,
his scent, his feel, his aura—easy enough to do, since we’d been so close
recently. I fed the spell the feel of him until I could almost see it pulsing. Taking
one last deep breath, I sent the spell spiraling out from me. It hit the edge
of the ward and stopped. I felt a pit of despair opening in my stomach when, to
my relief, the incantation ever so slowly began to leak out of the wards. I sagged
in my bonds and inhaled deeply as I watched the last of it slither out and
disappear into the night.

Well
, I told myself.
Step one went perfectly. Now
all we need is for him to find you, decide it’s worth the risk to rescue you
and then pull it off.
I really hoped he felt it was worth the risk to
rescue me. I really hoped he’d pull it off. If he could just get to me and pull
me out of this damn circle with that talent of his, then I was sure I could
take out the little warlock. He’d taken me by surprise last time with a
prepared spell, and even then I’d have had him in another thirty seconds if
Ryan hadn’t knocked me out. In the circle, I was worse than useless.

I sat and stressed and thought about doing the spell again,
even though I knew there was no point. The incantation had been perfect and had
made it out through the wards. He’d heard the message and would come for me…or
not, or he was dead already. I really hoped he wasn’t dead already.

The door opened and Ryan returned, the warlock at his heels.
A second later, three more goons came into the room and took up positions along
the wall. The warlock smirked at me, confident the circle would keep me in
check. Normally, I’d agree with him and I only hoped my theory about Acayo was
correct. Ryan was also staring at me, his eyes heavy lidded as he ran his gaze
down my body. He moved closer to me.