Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) (21 page)

Gasping for air, Serena woke from a restless sleep.

Gone. Another one gone.

Hands shaking, she reached for the light on her bedside table, knocking over her glass in the process. As water dripped onto the thick carpet by her feet, tears she couldn’t control ran down her cheeks.

Tullia.

Her gaze flew to the photos on the built-in bookcases on the far wall. The last time they’d had their photo taken, only six had been here. Pretty, round-faced Tullia—or Lea Tulane as she called herself now—with her brown hair and sweet disposition hadn’t said much, but Serena could tell she’d been tired.

Hell, weren’t they all tired?

Unable to go back to sleep, she left her room and headed for the basement.

As she was the only one in residence at the moment, the house was silent except for the tick of the clock in the front room. She bypassed the lights on her way to the back. She could see as well as a cat in the dark, and she knew this building like she knew the lines of her face.

Everything had a place.

Perhaps, if Gabriel had the girl, her
boschetta
might have a place in the world again.

Down the west hall, she bypassed the main atrium and the dining room, a study and two bedrooms. At the end of the hall, she pushed through the door and headed into the basement.

At the bottom of the circular, iron stairwell, she flicked a switch and blinked until her eyes adjusted to the light.

The pinball table pinged and the Pac-Man game beeped as they came to life in the cavernous room. The pool table Davis had loved gleamed to her left. A widescreen, plasma TV dominated the wall to the rear along with a sectional couch big enough to fit twelve. A library of DVDs filled shelves on either side of the screen.

Picking up the remote from a table by the bottom of the steps, she turned on the television, hitting the favorites button until Cartoon Network appeared. Typically, this early in the morning, they showed old Tex Avery and Chuck Jones cartoons.

She was in luck. Bugs Bunny. Thank God it wasn’t that stupid “Ed, Edd and Eddy.”

Next she headed for the bar and poured herself a double shot of Jack Daniels, enjoying the burn as it sank into her gut and warmed her from the inside. Never too early for Jack.

Several Road Runner cartoons and five double shots of Jack later, she felt sufficiently warm and pleasantly buzzed.

When the phone rang, she knew she shouldn’t answer it. Not in her state. But she had to. Others would have felt what she’d felt. They would call to commiserate. The
grigori
would have questions. She’d have to alert those who didn’t know.

“Hello.” Oh, dear, she sounded a little tipsy.

“Serena? Hey, are you okay?”

Quinn.

Oh, Sweet Uni, not now. Not while she felt so alone, so…desolate.

She covered the bottom of the ancient black receiver and took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm her racing pulse.

“Serena, is something wrong?”

“No, Quinn. Nothing’s wrong. What do you need?”

Quinn paused and she could practically hear him thinking through the phone lines. He’d never known her to drink. And since it wasn’t a pretty sight, she didn’t want him to even suspect.

“Gabe called,” he said finally. “I’m meeting him at the safe house in Oley.” He paused, but she knew he wasn’t finished. “Then we’ll be up to the compound. You gonna be glad to see me?”

He didn’t expect an answer. He was merely yanking her chain. But the words escaped before she could stop them. “More than you know.”

The silence from the other end of the phone was deafening.

“Serena—”

“No.” She took a deep breath. “No, don’t say anything. Just hear me out.”

She paused, listening to the nearly tangible silence on the line.

“It’s been hard, so hard, to stay away from you. But you’ve got to understand, I’ve lost you twice before. The first time nearly killed me.”

Quinn huffed at the old argument. “I’m. Not. Them. I’m not your other husbands—”

“No. No, I understand that. I know you want me to love you for who you are. And I do, Quinn. I really do. But I can’t separate the past and present anymore. It’s been so long. Too long.”

She felt tears threatening, but she’d be damned if she broke down now.

“Christ, Serena—”

But she couldn’t shut herself off, either. “I ache for you, Quinn, and I can’t have you. It would be the death of me this time. When you die, I’ll walk straight to Dario and let him cut out my heart, cut off my head and burn my body.”

“No!” Quinn’s voice sounded strangled. “No, Serena, what if—”

“There is no ‘what if’!” Oh Goddess, now she was yelling. She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I can’t let myself consider ‘what if.’ You need someone, Quinn, someone who can love you. Someone—”

“Oh, fuck that! Damn it, you listen to me now.” Quinn’s voice took on a tone she’d never heard before. Hard and forceful, and Goddess forgive her, it made her thighs clench.

“There is no one else for me. There won’t be, not ever. From the first moment I saw you, I knew. That’s the way blood-binding works, right? There will never be another woman and if I die a virgin, then, fuck it, I will.” She could hear him breathing now. Sharp, shallow breaths that sounded harsh over the phone line. “I’m through giving you time. If you want to ignore me, you’d better get fucking good at avoidance, baby. ’Cause I’m gonna shadow your every footstep until I die.”

Now their silence held another kind of power. If Quinn had been standing in front of her right now, she would have grabbed him and dragged him to her bed. Instead, he was safely out of reach.

Damn.

After what seemed like an hour, Quinn broke the silence as she knew he would.

“Shit.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. Damn, I’m sorry. That wasn’t right.”

She loved the hint of South in his voice that came from being raised in Maryland for several years. She loved the deep tone and she wanted to hear him whisper that he loved her while he stripped her naked and threw her on a bed, on the floor, up against a wall. Hell, she didn’t care where.

She just wanted him. And he would be here soon.

“Serena, you still there? Hey, I’m sorry, babe. I got carried away. It’s late and I’m tired and—”

“No, Quinn. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I’ll see you when you get here. Stay safe.”

She hung up before he could say anything else and make her break down in tears.

Which she did anyway.

* * *

Gabriel couldn’t wait any longer.

He’d let Shea sleep for four hours while he sat and flipped through more than two hundred channels in the TV room off the atrium, finally settling on Cartoon Network. He had a thing for old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

But now, they had to talk. He eased open the door to the bedroom and looked around.

Shock gripped him by the throat when he realized she wasn’t there. Only Leo slept on the bed.

Where the hell was she?

Not caring if he woke the kid, he turned and began pushing open the rest of the doors on that side of the house. She had to be here somewhere. She wouldn’t abandon Leo. But she wasn’t in any of the other rooms.

He pushed open the last door and got a blast of flower-scented steam.

“Hey, don’t let all my hot air out, Leo. Shut the door.”

Shit. This was not good.

He should leave. He knew he should close the door with him on the other side, putting solid wood between them. Instead, he stepped into the bathroom and enclosed them in the warmth together.

The bathroom didn’t have a tub, but it did have an enclosed shower stall in the far corner opposite the toilet. On the sink to his right sat a small bag.

“Hey, Leo, I want you to take a shower when I’m done, okay? I know you hate the idea, but it’s been two days and you’re starting to smell a little ripe, buddy.”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t a shower in, oh, a couple hours, at least. What would she do if he shed his clothes and stepped in there with her? His balls tightened and his cock began to harden.

He could just make out her silhouette through the heavily frosted glass, twisting muscles low in his gut. What was it about this woman that made him feel like a teenager with raging hormones? Yeah, she was beautiful, but hell, he’d been with beautiful women before, and it’d been easy to walk away every time.

He’d learned to control his base emotions, but when they became overwhelming, he took care of them with one-night stands and forgettable women.

He’d never met his soul mate. Was pretty damn sure he didn’t want one. His dad had taught him you couldn’t have ties, not real emotional ties, to a woman and still function efficiently. You couldn’t split your concentration. Something or someone always suffered for it.

After Nino and his dad had been murdered, it’d been easy for Gabriel to shut off his emotions. Easy not to let anyone in, get too close.

Now, he wanted to get close to this woman, get inside her.

“Leo, come on. I’m done.”

Before he could respond, she opened the shower door and stepped out. Naked.

She paused when she saw him and her eyes widened, but she didn’t scream. Or hurry to cover herself.

In fact, she acted like men stared at her naked body all the time.

Shit, he really was losing it. He’d forgotten how she’d made a living. Thousands of men had stared at her smooth, olive-toned skin, full breasts and long, toned legs.

“Sorry, I thought you were Leo.” She reached back into the shower to turn off the water then reached for a towel on the rack next to the shower. He watched the sway of wet, dark hair on her back, drawing his gaze to her perfect, heart-shaped ass.