THIS TIME (The Grace Allen Series Book Three Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

TWELVE

The only
thing I was regretting was the lack of a bathroom. It’d been several hours and
I was still tied to the same chair. I looked around the space and sighed.
This
was torture.

“Hey,
idiots! I have to use the bathroom!” I screamed.

“Wait till
you pee that crap out,” Helen’s voice broke through my thoughts. “You thought
it was hot going in!” She shook her head and let out a delighted laugh. “It’s
been working its way through your body, sizzling away all the work my master
has done.”

I glared
at her.

“Yeah,
should be fun,” she snickered.

She doesn’t
do pity very well
.

“Oh,” she
smiled, “I heard what you said to that gorgeous, golden man. You broke his
heart I think.”

I frowned.
“What in God’s name are you burbling about?” I shook my head.

“Oh, not
His
name, My Lady,” she laughed as if she’d just made a great joke. “I know a
broken heart when I see one, and you’ve done a smashing job with that guy. It’s
a good thing too. My master won’t take kindly to you acting
the whore
.”
She glared at me and then laughed again. “On second thought,” she snorted out,
“why don’t you just call him over and offer to fuck that frown off his pretty
face?” She glared at me, her face a mask of hate.

I fisted
my hands, causing the cuffs around my wrists to cut into my flesh.

“Careful,
Helen, or Lu will have another head to crack,” I warned. “Now, what do you mean
‘all the work your master has done’?” Of all the hateful things she’d said,
that one was the most telling. As if she knew something I obviously did not.

She opened
her mouth a few times. “Well,” she hesitated, “it’s just that he’s been giving
you your medication and these monsters go and feed you some sort of antidote.”
She looked at her hands and then, shrugging, she frowned. “It will set you
back, my lady. You’ve come so far. You could be healed soon but these people
are trying to keep you sick. They’re probably going to ransom you for money,
maybe even kill you!”

I eyed her
for a long time.

God,
she’s a horrible liar
.

I shook my
head. “Good Lord, Helen, they could have killed us a long time ago if that was
their goal. Just do me a favor and stop talking.”

She looked
murderous. “They’ve been torturing us! What makes you think they won’t
eventually kill us?”

“Well, you
keep spewing lies all over the place and you will be the one to find out who
dies first. Your blood may be the foulest poison, but I can still tear out your
throat.” The man who had forced me to drink that horrid fire was glaring at
Helen like she was a pile of steaming dung, lit on fire. “We are ready for you,
Sweet.” He grabbed my arms and hauled me up and over his shoulder, chair and
all. I struggled, and instead of simply setting me down to unlock the cuffs, he
gripped the chair, snapping it, it broke around me, tumbling to the floor with
a clatter.

Still
cuffed, I tried to roll off of his shoulder.

“You
realize,” I grunted when he squeezed me, “that I’ve had to pee for over an hour
and your shoulder is pressing on my bladder. You better set me down, pretty
boy, or you’re going to get moist.” I kneed him as hard as I could, but it did
nothing, he continued to move through the huge hangar, never missing a step.

“We’re
here.” He flopped me backward onto a small bed. I bounced and tried to right
myself when all of a sudden, he was crawling on the bed, straddling me. I
sucked in a breath. He took my face in his hands. His incredible eyes watched
my lips and I suddenly felt heavy all over. Another wave of inexplicable
attraction thundered through me. I opened my mouth and then licked my lips. His
breath fanned my cheek as his lips slid slowly toward my ear.

“Forgive
me,” he whispered as a sharp pinch stung my thigh.

I jerked
back, a tear slid down my cheek.

He
fucking played me
.

“What did
you do?” I cried out. “Why are you doing this?” I rolled over looking at the
tiny room. “Another airplane?” I slurred as he unlocked my cuffs.

“The
restroom.” He folded his arms and nodded toward a small door. I slid off the
bed and stumbled into the bathroom, sliding the lock in place. I grabbed a wash
cloth and ran cold water on it just in case Helen was right. Expecting a long
stream of acid, I braced myself. It was nowhere as bad as Helen had eluded to.
God, she was such a liar.

I washed
my hands and then picked up another wash cloth. I wiped my face and arms, my
hands, fumbling stupidly. The cool water felt wonderful. Then, closing the lid
to the toilet, I sat. In this tiny room I was alone and free to move around. No
one was breathing down my neck. I stretched my arms onto the counter and laid
my head down.

 I was so
tired. So very, very tired.

***

“Damn,
she’s lost weight.” I felt my body being lifted. Gentle hands held me close to
a warm chest.

“I know.
She looks hollow. Check out her cheeks.” a woman spoke. Her voice sounded concerned.
“God, not even Ann’s makeup case could cure this. She’s so pale.”

“Just make
sure she is propped securely, the straps are over there.”

I tried to
raise my head, I opened my eyes. Two blobs moved around me.

“Whujagivme?”
I slurred. My lips felt fat.

I was on
the bed again. My arms strapped down.

“She’s
going to thrash. This is fucking crazy.”

“It must
be done. Lu is earthbound and Lucian’s spells can hold him for now but, Lucian
is not a full Madea, so we have to get rid of this taint immediately, before he
realizes what we are doing. We’ll be in Brindleland soon.”

“An IV,
though? Why not just set her on fire?” the woman whined. “It’d be more humane.”
Her voice whimpered and I could hear her sob as she lifted my hand. “Gracie, I
won’t let you go through this alone. I’m going to sit here and hold your hand,
okay.”

I was too
weak to tell her to go screw herself. They must have given me some sort of a
drug. I had no control over my body at all, but I was fully aware of everything
around me. This was a fucking nightmare.
God
, if I could move I’d bitch
slap this whining woman, grab Helen and find a way to get back to my husband. I
wanted him with me. I craved his touch, his lips. I closed my eyes.

“She looks
horrible. Where’s Seth? Can’t he help with this?”

“No,
Jamie. He is with the priest. The aircraft must be continually blessed. We
can’t risk being detected.”

“Well,
what about Lucian?”

“Jamie,
focus! Take this.”

I felt
something tighten around my arm, it pulled at my skin. Then I felt a sharp
pinch and I stiffened.

“Okay,
Gavyn. It’s in.”

“Alright,
here it comes.”

No!
Lethargy paralyzed me
and I couldn’t scream! This had to stop, whatever they were going to do, please
don’t!

My body
shook, I felt the fire burn into my veins. It started slow, and then all at
once my insides were engulfed in flames. I arched up, my back bowing and I
screamed uncontrollably. My head exploded in agony, my brain eaten away by
lava. Nausea hit hard and I threw up, spraying the woman beside me with black
fluid, thick as tar. I shook uncontrollably, my body sweating as I convulsed
violently. Jerking hard, my back felt like it had snapped as fluid continued to
shoot from my mouth. I couldn’t breathe around the violence of the purge.

I was
dying.

“Jesus! Gavyn,
we’re killing her!”

“Get
another bag,
now
!”

“Fuck
that, no way, look at her!”

“Do
it now, Jamie, or she
will
die!”

THIRTEEN

Seth

Her
screams were like a stake through my heart. Drowning out the sounds of the
priest, whose blaring, frantic prayers should have rendered me to ash by now. I
shook my head as he scrambled about, tossing holy water like fucking beads at
Mardi Gras.

Fisting my
hands I slammed them against the door. Smelling that putrid blood sent shards
of pain into my skull.

Demon
blood
.

The
bastard poisoned her. For weeks as we tried to get close, we watched her change
before our eyes. The beautiful, sensitive lass we all knew and loved had become
a cruel, sadistic horror.

Weeks
, I felt my heart
squeeze painfully at the memories of her and Lu flaunting what he convinced her
was love. She was insatiable, stripping her clothing off inside of elevators
and darkened alcoves as that fucking demon laughed and drove into her. The
bastard knew we were watching, never able to get close. Once she was filled
with that foul blood, all kindness and compassion fled. It was a danger to
approach them, to challenge them. That spawn of a whore had gotten what he had
always wanted.

I laughed
mirthlessly to myself. At least it all finally fell apart.

Ann was
the one who had thought up the plan. I smiled to myself.

She’s a
crafty one, that Ann.

She had
sent out the rumor that we were headed into Hell itself, tired of waiting,
cutting out the middle man, so to speak. She cleverly let it slip that we
planned to leave the casino, taking every trace of our existence with us. Then
we proceeded to disappear from Grace’s home, Lucian’s home and every place we
knew that the Devil would look. With the help of Jamie and Lucian’s spells, we
became untraceable. We succeeded in leading Lucifer to believe that we planned
to infiltrate his home and set up an ambush while his influence was gone and no
guards stood at his gates. He would believe that we would take Grace the moment
he stepped into Hell.

It worked
better than we had hoped. He left in such a hurry that he placed only a single
demon at her side. Taking over the plane had been simpler still. It took a
great sum of money but that was no problem. Humans were loyal to coin.

I shook my
head remembering her face.
Christ
, the way she had looked at me. Her
eyes so dead, like a doll’s, as she tried to remember my face. I wanted so
badly to touch my lips to hers. She knew me. In that small moment, she had
recognized me. Drugging her was the last thing I wanted to do.

“She wants
me dead.”

A shudder
rippled along my flesh and I fisted my hands at the sound of his voice.

“Funny,” I
turned slowly, “I happen to agree.”

I glared at
him and then turned
my back again,
dismissing
him.

“Your hate
beats at me like a wall,” he sneered and I turned back.

Arching a
brow I regarded him.

“Lucian,”
my gums tingled as the desire to tear out his throat overwhelmed me, “I would
kill you now
were it not
for the obvious, yet
baffling love she has for you.”

His eyes
filled with moisture and he quickly wiped it away. I curled my lip. Such
weakness in a man tended to make
my
dick
shrivel.

“Crying
all over everyone has yet to do any good. Tell me, when do you suppose you
might grow a cock and stop your sniveling?”

He
flinched back and I felt a sudden, sharp stab of pain in my chest.

Lucian
glared. “
Nice
. I guess you feel all warm and fuzzy when you think of the
torture you put her through?” He folded his arms, flexing his muscles, as if
showing me his size would somehow cow me.

My teeth
ran out as my lust for this
particular
man’s blood seized me in its all
too familiar grip. I closed my hands in tight fists by my sides as I tried to
speak through the blood lust.

“She has
suffered nothing from me,” I met his eyes, “except perhaps too much pleasure.”
I smiled and gritted my teeth, aware of his unease as he focused on the weapons
he had no hope of matching. “Would you like me to expound?” I offered.

“No. I
know how often you and she…” his words broke off and he squeezed his eyes
tight.

I watched
him struggle with his jealousy, shaking my head at his pitiful self-inflicted
suffering. If he stopped to look at what he really had. At how easily he could
wipe me from their lives…

But of
course, I didn’t want that. If Lucian were to discover his true strength, I
fear there would be nothing I could do to keep them apart.

His hands
shook as he ran them over his face.
The fool.
He had no idea what
I
had suffered the day she had chosen him over me. The morning I rose for the
first time in over
three hundred years,
only to find my newly discovered
heart ripped from my chest. This man was my undoing. Hate was too mild a word
for what I felt. He should crawl on his hands and knees, thanking the heavens
he so adores for the love of that woman.

My
coven should have bled him dry
.

“Well,
you’ve hurt her plenty and you know it,” Lucian choked out as he sat, his hands
covering his face.

“We have
been through this.” I shook my head and, folding my arms, I leaned against the
small closet. “You cannot pull me into your disgusting pit of guilt and shame.”
I held out my hands. “A real man learns to fight through such useless feelings.
They prove no good. You would do well to do the same.” I ground my teeth at my
unintentional offer of advice. The Madea blood coursing through my veins seemed
to have a price. My conscience was a thing I had never missed, yet it sprang
free when I least required it.

“Nice of
you to care, bloodsucker.”

“Oh, you
have
no
idea.” My mouth watered as I watched the pulse beat wildly at
his throat. Pulling his scent in through my nose, I took a step.

Screams
rang out and the horrid sound of retching stopped me cold. I spun, my gut
twisting as the realization hit. She was truly being emptied body
and
soul.

“We need
the priest!” Gavyn screamed, causing the priest and Lucian to spring to the
door. Knocking me to the side, they scrambled into the small room, slamming the
door shut behind them.

I moved
close to the door. My hand shook as I opened it slowly.

“Fuck!” I
felt my body grow heavy with fear at the sight before me. She was jerking
violently, spewing the demon blood from her mouth as if jet propelled. Her
limbs were twisted and bent in odd ways.

Gavyn was
covered, his glowing skin was brighter than ever as he fought the effects of
the demon blood. Screaming and shouting, the room was utter pandemonium. I
moved to stand against the wall as my hand slid into a thick patch of gooey
blood. It immediately heated my skin. I stared at the crimson and black sludge
as my gums tingled, my heart slowed to a crawl. I brought the blood up to my
lips and then stopped.

Breathing
heavily, I shuddered and spun, running from the room and slamming the door.

“Where the
bloody hell is that whore of a demon?” I shouted to no one. I ran to the only
other lavatory and found her. Tied to a bolt in the wall, she was chanting
quietly.

I felt my
body go rigid. I looked at the blood on my hand and then at the beautiful
horror in front of me. She was helpless. I smiled as hunger filled me. My cock
filled, stretching the limits of my jeans, I dropped to my knees in front of
her. Her neck was smooth and pale, her thighs slightly spread. I smiled, her
dress rode up just enough to make things easier. I moved closer as thoughts
seeped into my mind. I could fuck her and drain her dry. Who the hell would
know or care?

Her
chanting stopped. I met her eyes as she watched me.

“I see
what you want,
vampire
,” she smiled. “Take it. I won’t tell.” 

She moved
as close as her bonds would allow, offering me her pale flesh.

“I do not
think you truly understand what I mean to take from you,
demon
.” I
smiled feeling my sharp fangs press into my bottom lip as my cock throbbed with
need. “You will not walk away from this.”

She closed
her eyes. “Oh, yes,” she exhaled in a whisper.

She opened
her eyes, they beckoned to me and I smiled, hungry and hard. She would take all
of me until I no longer felt anything at all, and then I would take all of her,
leaving her a hollow shell. She was a demon and deserved nothing better.

I reached
out to pull her close.

My
blood-covered hand shone in the light.  

I jerked
with awareness.

My mind
filled with a sudden release of panic and revulsion at my thoughts, and almost
actions. Shame flooded me and I scrambled to my feet. In a rush, I moved to
scrub the tainted blood from my skin.

What I
almost did hit me hard in the chest.

I
staggered back against the door.

I turned
and fumbled with the latch, desperate to leave the small room. I threw the door
open to the sound of Helen’s laughter, slamming it closed behind me. I
staggered to a small swiveling chair and sat down hard, my head in my hands.

Fuck!

I lifted
my head. I could have undone everything. I was only an inch away from raping
and murdering a woman, and all I had was a few smears of tainted blood on my
hand. I got up and walked toward the bedroom door. Just that small amount was
enough to suck me into horrible darkness, yet my sweet Grace had been filled to
bursting.

May
heaven help her
.

I rested
my head against the door, a cold sweat soaking my body. She was my world. My
heart. I had a soul, thanks to her.

I can’t
help
.

Entering
that room, touching that blood could be all but fatal for me and anyone in my
path. I smashed my fist against the flimsy door, denting it, I growled.

Silver
liquid dropped a pattern onto my shirt and I flinched, wiping my eyes, I braced
my head on the wall once more.