Cursed Kiss (Paranormal Romance) (9 page)

"I've stood in front of that portal on many occasions and not been pulled through."

A strange shiver passed through Clare. She didn't want to be the holder of weird powers. She just wanted to get back to work and plan how to save Moray's best-selling product.

Chapter Six

Clare stood in the hallway by the dungeon door with Luka and Pablo. She was starting to wonder if she'd lost her mind when she agreed to help Luka pass through the portal to Taldom.

Self-consciously, she held the thin-bladed dagger Luka had given her in one hand and the notes she'd copied from a magical text in the other. As the chapter on preparation of magical tools instructed, she'd already held the knife beneath running water to cleanse it. Now she had to dedicate the blade to the service of the light.

After a quick sideways glance at the men, she fumbled with her notes as she cleared her throat.

"By Divine authority, I consecrate and purify thee as a tool to be used in the practice of magic. Creature of steel, you are an extension of my will and must obey me." If any of her work colleagues could see her now, they'd either think she was crazy or fall to the floor laughing. Her credibility would be shot.

Dressed in a long white robe while she talked to a dagger, she doubted her own sanity. She sneaked a glance at the two men, who both seemed perfectly at ease with the situation. "That should do it for the pointer. There were a bunch of weird tools mentioned in the books, but I'll make do with one."

Luka inclined his head graciously. "I understand this is difficult for you. I do appreciate your help."

He and Pablo both wore brown leather leggings and tunics laced at the front. Luka wore his armor over the top.

The armor accentuated Luka's powerful presence. Stripped of the garb of modern man, she felt she was seeing him as he should be. When he curled his fingers around the dragon on the hilt of his sword, a shiver of sensual awareness flashed through her. She'd never thought she was into historical heroes, but she could definitely go for him in this getup, and Pablo looked pretty hot as well.

Clare's heart pounded as Luka opened the metal security door leading to the dungeon and a burst of musty air greeted them. The last place she wanted to go was the dungeon, but she'd agreed to help so she couldn't back out now. Luka switched on the lights and led the way down the narrow steps, armor clattering.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she skirted the wall, keeping well away from the section of brickwork that had sucked her through to Taldom.

Luka stood at the base of the stairs, peering up. "It's safe," he called to Pablo. "If you want to come with me, you'll have to come down."

Clare sympathized with Pablo. The small shadowy room made her jittery as well.

"Please prepare," Luka said. "We'll join you in a moment."

"I'll start the banishing ritual from the Grimoire. Which way is east?"

Luka pointed and then disappeared up the steps.

Relieved to start without an audience, Clare stood in the center of the room facing east and drew a calming breath. The ritual seemed silly, but after her experience in Taldom, she'd rather be safe than sorry and cast a circle of protection to stop anything evil from coming through the portal.

She referred to her notes, and imagined a sphere of brilliant white light above her head. Then she reached up with her dagger and guided the light down to her forehead. Hoping she had the pronunciation right, she spoke the first word of power on her list. Slowly, she lowered the dagger to her breast, then her groin, imagining a bright beam of light shining down through her.

Luka and Pablo quietly descended the steps and entered the room. She glanced at them, then returned her attention to her notes.

Speaking another word of power, she touched her right shoulder with the dagger and imagined the beam of light following her movement. She repeated the gesture to her left shoulder and was convinced she could see light trailing from the tip of the blade.

A strange sense of peace filled her, wiping away her fear and nervousness. Closing her eyes, she spoke her fourth word of power and clasped her hands around the dagger hilt at chest level.

She felt the cross of light she'd drawn dissecting her body, fingers of bliss stretching out into the universe, joining her to something vast and beautiful. For a moment, she lost herself. It was an effort to pull her consciousness back to the room. The next word of power flowed to her from the light, and she whispered the sacred sound into the stillness of the room.

Casting aside her notes, she sketched a pentagram in the air with the tip of her dagger and imagined it shining with blue light. She repeated the process to south, west, and north, and then beckoned the two men.

They came forward to join her and she drew her dagger through the air from north to east to close their circle of protection.

Pablo's gaze settled on her reverently. He ran his fingertips along her bare arm, leaving a tingling trail of sensation. Light sparked between her skin and Pablo's fingers.

"You're glowing," Luka whispered.

Clare held up her hands, marveling at the faint halo of light around them. "It's just a circle of protection."

"It's more than that." Luka laid his fingertips on her wrist and the light jumped to him as well. Clare held her breath, would his touch harm her?

Nothing happened.

"You've performed a miracle." Luka's eyes brimmed with emotion. "Our psychic fields have somehow joined and the two of you stabilize me." He hesitated, then withdrew his hand and stared at it. "At any other time this would be a wonderful discovery. Fate is adept at twisting the knife."

The past few days, Clare had put thoughts of his leaving out of her mind as she concentrated on research in the library. When he'd interrupted her to take a walk in the garden or along the river, or a glass of wine on the terrace, she'd enjoyed their time together, let herself grow more attached to him when she should have kept her distance.

Now the time had come to face the truth. He was about to pass through the portal and she would never see him again.

"Luka…" Their eyes met and held for a second, then she rose to her toes and pressed her lips to his. Luka's lips were hot and firm beneath hers. He tasted of wine and deliciously of man. Her heart raced and tears pricked when he eventually eased away.

He cupped a hand around her cheek. "I'll be forever grateful to you."

"I know." With a quick smile she gave Pablo a peck on the cheek and patted his arm. "Look after yourselves."

"I'll care for Luka as always," Pablo said with a nod.

After the emotion of the last few minutes, the next few seemed interminable as they stood side by side, staring at the dungeon wall, waiting for the portal to open. Clare tried to plan what she would do when she returned to New York, but her attention kept wandering to the man beside her.

Then she saw movement. "Look."

"It's a room," Pablo said.

"The portals are often mirrors." Luka spoke to Pablo over her head, and she felt a sense of exclusion as though they'd already moved on and left her behind. "When we pass through, take care. There may be people about."

The window cleared, showing a bedroom with a huge four-poster bed shielded with thick curtains. Luka pushed on his helmet and gripped the hilt of his sword.

The boundary of reality that delineated her life wavered. For a crazy moment, she considered abandoning everything she knew and going with him. After all, she had no family left, nobody who cared about her. Even as the thought faded, she knew it was impossible. Too many people were depending on her to keep Moray afloat.

"Now," Luka commanded.

Clare concentrated as hard as she could and imagined Luka and Pablo being pulled into the window as she had been. It seemed from the research there were no words or spells to make it happen, just the will of someone gifted with the talent to control the portal.

The wall distended towards them. Luka stepped forward, Pablo at his side. Her focus faltered, her gaze darting to Luka, her thoughts willing him to change his mind and stay.

"Goodbye, Clare. You remain in my heart." He kissed two fingers and blew the kiss her way, then moved into the portal.

The window bulged as it had before and swallowed the two men. Clare pressed a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes.

"Clare!"

Her eyelids opened in surprise. Luka strode back to her. He hadn't gone. Relief surged through her, quickly followed by worry as she noticed Pablo staring at them from the bedroom in Taldom.

"We can't leave Pablo alone. Quickly, try to send me again," Luka said.

"Stand right by the portal." Luka stood with his nose almost touching the wall. Clare closed her eyes to focus and imagined him stepping through to join his friend.

At the sound of Luka's curse, she glanced his way to find the wall was now blank stone again.

"Blast!" Luka banged a fist against the rocks. "What went wrong?"

A flash of guilt burned her gut. She might have intended to send Luka, but part of her had wanted him to stay. Her conflicting emotions must have messed with the portal.

"I can't believe this happened." Luka pulled off his helmet and ran his fingers back through his hair. "We must get Pablo back."

The blank stone wall in front of them cleared and suddenly Pablo was visible again on the other side of the portal.

"Quickly, try to send me again." Luka stepped up to the wall and glanced over his shoulder at her.

The wall bulged towards them like a bubble and she tried to focus, but it was almost impossible. She grabbed a steadying breath and tried again but her thoughts were all over the place.

"Now, Clare. Now! Before we lose the link."

Mist crept across the image and she could see it was about to slip away. "No," she whispered in desperation. There was only one thing to do. She would have to go through herself and bring Pablo back.

As the image faded, she dashed at the wall. The cold nothingness of the portal swirled around her and her vision grayed. Then she stumbled into an old-fashioned bedroom and fell into Pablo's arms.

***

Luka gaped at the blank wall that had swallowed Pablo and now Clare. After a few seconds of shock, he came to his senses and ran after Clare into the shimmering grayness. It dissolved around him and he crashed into the wall.

He slammed his fist against the stone and cursed.

How could this have gone so wrong? He was the one who wanted to pass through and he was the only one left behind. He rested his forehead against the cold stone and gathered his thoughts. For some reason Clare hadn't been able to send him, that much was obvious. She must have gone herself at the last minute with the intention of bringing Pablo back.

His frantic breathing eased, but frustration still tightened a knot in his guts.

Then another thought intruded on his thoughts, one he hadn't even considered until now. Without Pablo, he had no way of harvesting the psychic energy he needed to survive. If he tried to take it directly from someone, he was likely to take too much and kill them.

He would not become a killer. He was sure Monique had hoped she could drive him down that path, but he refused to let the evil witch win. He'd rather wither and die alone than steal the life of others to survive.

Luka yanked off the armor piece by piece and tossed it in a heap against the wall. He ran up the steps and went to his room to don normal clothes. He trusted Clare to get Pablo back and when the call came from one of his properties that they had come through a portal, he wanted to be ready to fetch them if necessary.

He instructed Madame Rousseau to pack food and drink, and a bag with a change of clothes for each of them. Then he returned to his office and gave instructions for the helicopter to be made ready and brought around to the front lawn.

With tense, precise movements, he stripped the foil from the top of a bottle of wine and pierced the cork with sharp twists of the corkscrew. He downed two glasses of the dark purple liquid without tasting it, then refilled for a third time and rolled the rich, fruity flavor over his tongue.

He closed his eyes, willed steel into his muscles, and patience into his heart. Then he moved a chair to the window, settled in the sun, and stared sightlessly across the vast expanse of his lands. With a glass of wine cradled in one hand and the phone in the other, Luka waited for the call he prayed would come.