The Phantom King (The Kings) (32 page)

Siobhan glanced over her
shoulder
at the dotted landscape with its ominous holes. She wondered where they led, knowing for certain that if she were to step into one, she would come out
the other end
w
here Marius was.

She wondered whether he could use those holes the same way. Could he step through on
his
end? Would he be showing up now with an army of Akyri behind him? But the desert landscape was quiet save for the sound of the hollow wind. And somehow, she knew he couldn’t.

She turned back around, took a deep breath, and made her way to the garage. Thane had switched on the interior lights by this time, and the overhead
halogens
shed a gleaming reflection on the polished chrome and paint below.

Thane was nowhere to be seen, probably having slipped into the house to get drinks, so Sio
bhan allowed herself to walk
in-between
the vehicles and take them al
l in. They stretched on forever
it seemed, their magnificent shapes and colors becoming lost in the darkness of the garage’s infinite stretch.

She passed by the Delahaye, BMW, Maserati and Brough Superior from earlier, gave them their respectively
earned glances of
admiration,
and moved on. There were vehicles
from every decade lined
up and parked within equal distance of each
other.
I
nterspersed throughout the cars and trucks were motorcycles, some on elevated platforms as if only for show, others simply kicked back on their stands as if they’d recently been ridden.

They were all stunning. Not a scratch or smudge,
all gleaming chrome and
endless
possibilities
.

She’d gone a ways in and lost track of time when her eyes wid
ened and her body froze
. A brilliant excitement lit her up from inside as she stood glued to the spot and gazed at the bike in front of her.

She’d only ever seen one before
, on eBay when she’d been hunting antiques to repair
.
It was the Vincent Black Lightning and
since she was partial to things that were older,
the Lightning and its predecessor the Vincent Black Shadow
were her very first motorcycle loves. The Vincent motorcycle engine was onc
e the fastest bike engine
ever created, capable of doing 125 miles per hour in the late 1940’s, which had been unheard of before that. It was still fast, even for today.

It was a gorgeous motorcycle, all shining black and light as air, trimmed down to its essentials for the sake of speed. It was what
some
motorcycle buffs would have called
a
  “hooligan,” no real thought to comfort involved. Only wind.

She couldn’t help but touch it. The handlebars called out for her grip, the saddle for her parted legs. She felt strangely wanton just staring at it….

“Get on,” came a cool voice beside her.

Siobhan jumped and looked up over her shoulder.
Her brown eyes locked with silver.
He was so close, his chest nearly pressed against her back. She wondered how long he had been standing there watching her.

She tried to calm her heart, but
his nearness was intoxicating. She licked her lips and caught hi
s gaze flicking to her mouth. “Are y
ou sure?” she aske
d
softly.

Still watching her mouth, his pupils dilated, Thane replied, “Positive.”

The inebriated feeling she was getting off of him intensified and her fingers and toes tingled as she turned back around to face the bike. With the expert ease of someone who had ridden quite a few bikes in her short years, she moved to its left side and swung her right leg over.

The wicked warlock in her forced her to do it slowly, stretching her leg and easing into the seat with a seductive curve of her hips.

Thane was beside her again, moving in like a black-clad,
tattooed
, sexy-as-hell beast. He
straddled the front tire of the motorcycle and
placed his hands over hers on the handlebars
, sending a buzz-like thrill up through her arms and across her chest. Her nipples hardened against the
material
of her bra.

“How long have you known how to ride?” he
asked
. His
eyes held hers like iron chains.

“About fifteen years,” she told him.

The corner of his mouth twitched and his hold on her hands tightened. He seemed satisfied with her response.

“Can you move a bike the way you moved your Mustang?” His
gaze was
glinting with unspoken mischief.

Siobhan wondered whether she should respond. But he had some kind of hold over her, and even if she’d decided not to, there was no way she could keep from telling him the truth now. She nodded. She could do whatever she wanted with a vehicle. It was one of the very few ways she allowed her magic to take form.

“Yes.”

He smiled now, and his beautiful features took on a wicked cast. His fangs were out, long and white and incredibly sharp.
“I’ll tell you what, then,” he said, leaning forward a bit and blocking out the res
t of the world
. “I’ll
ma
ke you a deal. You take this bike
and I’ll take the Shadow,” he nodded toward the bike a few feet away, one she hadn’t even noticed because she’d been so wrapped up in the Lightning. It was the Vincent Shadow that was the bulkier predecessor to the Lightning.

She looked back up at Thane, her eyes wide in her face. His smile was unforg
iving.

“If you can outrun me,
I’ll sleep on the couch tonight
,” he said.

S
iobhan froze, her heart thumping
.

“But if I catch you,
” he warned, “
then
you’ll share my bed with me
.”

The world moved a little under Siobhan as his words registered, and she felt the blood drain from her face. At the same time, it seemed to be rushing
everywhere else
– flushing her chest and neck, turning her already hard nipples into painfully taut nubs, and warming the area below her belly as if she’d just consumed an aphrodisiac.

But he wasn’t going to allow her any time for modesty or embarrassment. Instead
, he asked, “So what do you say, warlock? Do we have a deal?”

For a moment, all Siobhan could do was blink up at him. But then something inside of her switched up, one of her puzzle pieces moved aside for another, and the wicked in her came to the fore once more.

“And if I refuse?” she asked, her gaze narrowing, but her lips curling.

Thane’s silver gaze wen
t all-pupil. “We share the bed anyway
.”

“Fair enough,” she said
, trying to fake
a bravery she
absolutely
did not
feel
. A
s i
f to emphasize that fakery
,
she used a bit of magic. The bike beneath her roared to warlock-induced life, vibrating deliciously between her long, strong legs.
“Where do we draw the line?” she asked, knowing that they couldn’t ride forever.

But her words were a double entendre.

Thane’s grin broadened. “You’ll know it when you reach it,” he told her.
“Two rules,” he said, his low voice illogically carrying over the sound of the bicycle
. “Stay clear of the darkness
,” he warned
, referring to the black holes that now riddled Purgatory
. “
And don’t even contemplate trying to leave
this realm.”

Siobhan’s
gaze
was
caught by the flash of his fan
gs behind his lips. She absently wondered
h
ow she could possibly leave his
realm, but didn’t ask about it. Instea
d, she just nodded.

Thane straightened, coming off of the bike. He
un-straddled
the wheel, released her hands where they rested on the handlebars, and made his way to the
Vincent Shadow.
She watched him mount the bike, once more caught in the
ridiculous pull of his graceful
manliness.

“I’ll give
you a head start,” he said. Then, f
or the first time since meeting him, Siobhan was treated to a genuine display of the Phantom King’s power. He
had full control over the aspects of his realm, which he demonstrated as he
raised his head and focused his vivid gaze on the cars and motorcycles between them and the garage door. One after another, the vehicles shimmered out of existence and shimmered back to life somewhere else. The garage seemed to shift around them, making room for their new locations and leaving a clear path for Thane and his guest to exit.

Siobhan sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, eyed the vast expanse beyond the garage, and felt the rumble of the bike beneath her.
The engine seemed to echo the will inside of her.
I can do this
, she thought.
There was no way she was going to lose. She had years and years of magic stored
up
, just
waiting
for something
like this
.

Okay Phantom King
, she thought.
You’re in for the chase of your life
.

But when she looked back over her shoulder and met
his
gaze, her confidence hit a speed bump and her stomach jumped up into her throat. The lights in th
e garage seemed to have lowered; s
hadows cast themselves across his f
ace, making it appear dark and
hungry. The smile on his lips gave her the impression that he knew what she was thinking
and that he thoroughly disagreed she had any chance of winning. It also said he
would thoroughly enjoy proving it
.

And there was a red glint at the center of his pupils.