Blue-Blooded Vamp (5 page)

“If we do this spell, you guys won’t need to go anywhere,” Brooks said. “You can stay here, where it’s safe.”

I exchanged a look with Adam. While the demon’s and the faery’s hearts were in the right place, their methods could spell disaster for all of us. “But if the spell backfires, it would put all of us in danger,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Zen said.

“Whoever kills Cain will reap the punishment sevenfold,” Adam explained. “That means if Brooks’s plan to ask Ogun to take the heat for the death doesn’t work, he and six of his nearest and dearest will die, which I assume includes you, Zen, as well as this guy.” He jerked a thumb toward Giguhl.

“But Ogun will absorb the karmic fallout,” Brooks said. “Right, Zen?”

The voodooienne chewed her bottom lip, obviously weighing her words. “I’m not sure Brooks has enough experience to control Ogun’s powers to ensure the spell will work… but I do.”

Brooks gasped. “You’ll do it?”

Zen shrugged. “Even though I don’t normally approve of this sort of magic, some situations require some moral flexibility. If asking Ogun to intercede will protect you guys, I’ll do it.”

I held up my hands to stall Brooks’s victory dance and spoke to Zen. “Trust me, the price you’ll have to pay to the god to do this for you will be steeper than you’re willing to pay. I speak from experience.” I couldn’t imagine what a
war god would demand in exchange for killing Cain, but I had a feeling it would be a hundred times worse than Asclepius’s demands.

Zen went still at my comment and Giguhl’s eyes narrowed, like he was about to demand an explanation. I rushed ahead to avoid muddying the conversation with a rehash of the Asclepius situation.

“Look, guys, we appreciate why you’re trying to do this. Really. But it’s not going to fix anything. We have a plan and we’re going to manage the risk as much as possible.”

“She’s right,” Adam said. “If we thought magic would solve this problem, we would have already tried it. Trust me.”

Giguhl sighed. “They might be right, Brooks.”

“Wait a second,” the Changeling said. “The rule about killing Cain applies to you, too, right? So we could all die anyway.”

I hesitated. “Yeah.”

“But that’s why we’re going to Italy,” Adam jumped in to explain. “According to Erron, there’s a mage there who knows Cain better than anyone. We’re hoping Abel can help us find a way to stop him without any of us dying.”

Brooks’s shoulders slumped. “Well, shit.”

Giguhl shot his friend a disappointed frown. “Sorry, dude. We tried.”

Brooks picked up the gaudy doll and looked it over. “I just hate for this to go to waste. It’s some of my best work.” He fingered the sequins longingly.

Zen patted the faery on the shoulder. “Actually, we might be able to use it after all.”

Brooks and Giguhl perked up. “Really?” they said in unison.

She nodded. “Anybody in the mood to craft a good vexing spell?”

Brooks rubbed his hands together. “Now you’re talking.”

“And while we’re at it, we’ll whip up some protection amulets for the three of you.”

“Hold on,” I asked in a wary tone. “What exactly does a vexing spell do?” I trusted Zen, but I didn’t want to take any chances on complicating our situation any more than it already was.

“The one I have in mind causes a severe case of anal itching.” While Adam and I blinked in shock, she turned and smirked at Giguhl and Brooks. “You in?”

The demon and the faery faced each other with wicked grins before turning back to Zen and announcing in unison, “Abso-fucking-lutely!”

A
fter we escaped the voodoo party, Adam and I closed ourselves in the attic apartment. He locked the door behind us with a decisive flick of his wrist. Judging from the heat the mancy was shooting at me, sleep was the last thing on his mind.

“So”—he began sidling toward me—“you were saying something about makeup sex?”

I laughed out loud. Leave it to a male to skip a postmortem about aborted voodoo rituals and the impending suicide mission everyone thought we were about to undertake when sex was on the line. Although, now that I thought about it, with everything going on maybe it was the perfect excuse to grab the time we had by the reins and ride it for all it was worth.

I crooked my finger at him. “Come closer and I’ll tell you.”

Two hours later, I fell onto the mattress. Sweat soaked my skin and my muscles felt like gelatin.

“Am I forgiven?” Adam said, nipping at my shoulder.

Lethargy pulled at me. The physical exertion of our lovemaking combined with the emotional stress of the last few days left me feeling hollow and dried out. Sex with Adam had ignited my bloodlust and my fangs throbbed hotly against my gums. I needed blood more than I needed air, but I’d be damned if I let Adam know that. I didn’t want to ruin our postmakeup-sex bliss with a reminder of why we’d fought in the first place.

So, when I smiled at my mage, I did so with a closed mouth. And when I spoke, I turned my head slightly, so he wouldn’t catch the telltale flash of fang. “If this is what happens after we fight, I might have to piss you off more often.”

Gentle fingers grasped my chin and turned my face toward him. I clamped my lips closed, but he ran a gentle thumb across them. No way he missed the telling bumps. “You need blood.”

My tongue felt like sandpaper in my mouth. My stomach cramped. I considered lying, but what was the use? “You’re not wrong,” I said carefully.

Adam leaned down and placed a kiss on my parched lips. He leaned back a fraction to look in my eyes. I could feel the indecision coming off him in hot waves. Before he could say anything, I decided to let him off the hook. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just hit the butcher shop tomorrow or something. I’ll be fine.”

He tilted his head and gave me a dubious scowl. “Liar.”

I sighed. “Adam, it’s fine. Really. I don’t expect you to get over your issues about being my blood source this fast. I know it’s not easy for you.” As I raised a hand to cup his cheek, his eyes flicked to my fingers, where a consistent tremor gave away my lie.

“Red, I’m not saying that I’m looking to be your conve
nient blood dispenser, but I’d be a real bastard to deny you when you’re so clearly in need. Let me help you.”

My fangs sprang fully from my gums and my core spasmed with an aftershock. Still, I considered refusing. The last time I’d fed from Adam, we’d had that huge fight and our relationship barely survived it. But his expression was so open, so earnest. He was offering himself despite his misgivings. It felt… well, not right, exactly, but like progress.

“You’re sure?” I rasped.

He nodded. “I’m sure about you. About us. I trust you and I love you. Let me help.”

My eyes stung. A small, petty voice deep inside told me I didn’t deserve him. Another voice, this one louder, told that one to shut the hell up. This is what couples did, after all—helped each other. Healed each other’s wounds.

Besides, his sweet blood called to me.

“Okay.” I swallowed nervously, my throat clicking. “I promise I’ll only take what I need.”

He looked me in the eye and said, “I trust you.”

He didn’t lie back submissively. Instead, he kissed me once, twice, before leaning over and offering me his neck. Lifting my head was a challenge, but my fangs popped out, making up the distance. I didn’t want to hurt him more than necessary, so I kissed his neck. Licked it to prepare for the sting. He moaned softy—whether he enjoyed the sensation or was simply anxious for me to begin, I didn’t know. Regardless, I finally scraped over the spot, a little scratch to warn him. And then, quickly, I thrust into his vein.

His whole body tensed. Blood hit my tongue with the flavor of cloves and honey.

Adam’s throat muscles worked, pumping the blood into my mouth even faster. I swallowed greedily. The blood
soothed my stinging throat and eased the pounding in my head. But I wasn’t content to just take from him.

My palm found his sex. I stroked him in time with my swallows. He groaned and his hand found my hair, pressing my face harder to his throat.

It didn’t take long until his body stiffened. I hadn’t taken more than a pint, but it was enough. He sucked air through his teeth and bucked his hips. I gave one last hard pull on his vein. Wetness covered my hand. Blood surged into my mouth.

He went limp and I let my fangs slowly slide from his skin. My arms curled around his back, holding him to my breast.

Adam’s blood sizzled through my veins, like a shot of adrenaline. My cells knit themselves back together and my thoughts became clear and sharp.

The mancy shifted and lifted his head from my chest. I tensed for his reaction. Would he regret letting me feed from him? But when he looked at me, a lazy smile lifted the corner of his lips. “Well, now…”

I licked my lips to capture every drop before kissing him. His tongue delved in farther. If the taste of his own blood bothered him, he didn’t show it. When he finally pulled away, we both let out long, contented breaths.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. All of you.”

A surge of warmth flooded my chest and mixed his blood in my veins. The cocktail was potent and made me want him all over again, but I knew that even though I felt strong, Adam needed time to recover from the minor blood loss. So instead of attacking him, I pulled him closer.

He nestled between my breasts with a contented sigh. “See there, things are already looking up.”

“What do you mean?”

“You told Erron we were in the market for some miracles, right?”

I nodded slowly, not following his logic.

Adam wove his fingers with mine and kissed my knuckles. “The fact we’re still together after everything is miracle number one.”

I huffed out a laugh. When he said “everything,” he was referring to some pretty weighty shit: Me sleeping with another male and lying about it, Adam pressuring me to leave my vampire side behind and embrace mage life fully, and the father of the vampire race using my sister to try killing Adam for the crime of loving me. So, yeah, I guess he was right. If we could make this work despite all the odds stacked against us and our own emotional bullshit to contend with, I suppose we did count as a miracle.

“Okay, then, one miracle down.” I blew out a breath and rolled into Adam’s warm chest. “Let’s just hope the gods are feeling generous because we’re gonna need several more if we’re going to defeat Cain.”

Adam ran a thumb down my cheek. “If they’re not, we’ll just have to make some miracles of our own.”

T
he sun burned like a demon in the eastern sky. Its evil rays came through the shop’s windows like laser beams. After the infusion of Adam’s blood the night before, I felt pretty freaking fantastic, but I didn’t want to waste his blood fighting the UV damage. So I wore dark sunglasses, jeans, boots, and my leather jacket.

It was two minutes until ten. I sat on the counter chugging coffee while Zen and Brooks made final touches on the amulets and Giguhl and Adam double-checked supplies. I blew across the top of my cup and tried to not look concerned that Erron had yet to show.

“Red, you’re not fooling anyone.”

I looked up at the demon. “What?”

“Please, if you keep glaring at that door, you’re going to burn a hole through it.”

My shoulders slumped. “Are you telling me I’m the only one who is worried Erron might skip out on us?”

“Yes,” Adam said. “He still has a couple of minutes.”

“We said we were leaving at ten. He should have already been here.”

“There are any number of possible explanations for his lateness.”

“Right, like he skipped town—”

The front door burst open, causing the bell overhead to ring frantically. A dark figure rushed in with the bright sun at its back.

I slowly set the mug down and rose. “Erron?”

The being had some sort of tarp draped over its body and wore a ski mask with sunglasses over the eyeholes. Leather gloves hid the skin of its hands. Everyone in the room tensed.

“Well don’t just stand there,” a muffled female voice yelled. “Close the blinds!”

I jerked in surprise. “Georgia?”