Gasping, I step back, closing my eyes at the last second. The vampire before me explodes, burning from the inside out. His mouth falls open, but no sound escapes before he bursts into a puddle of smoldering goo.
Shit. I didn’t mean to do that. Well, I meant to throw an energy ball at him, but I didn’t mean to power it so strongly that it would cause him to explode.
“Callie?”
I whirl around, not having a chance to wipe the blood splatter off my face.
“Lucas, hey.” I blink, trying to get the vampire bits off my eyelashes. I fail and reach up, wiping my face and smearing the blood over my cheek. I push my shoulders out and force a smile, trying my best not to act like I didn’t just kill an ancient vampire on accident.
Lucas’s dark blue eyes meet mine and something passes through me. The world stills around us and I’m instantly calmed.
“See? She’s fine.” Eliza appears next to Lucas, with one hand on her hip.
“I’m fine,” I echo, flicking a piece of the vampire off my hand. “I’ve got everything under control.”
Lucas looks from me to the smoldering remains of the vampire and back again. “Did he hurt you?”
“Not as much as I hurt him,” I say, laughing at my bad attempt of a joke. Lucas moves forward, putting his hands on my shoulder, not caring that I’m covered in blood. He looks deep into my eyes, needing to see for himself that I’m not injured.
“What happened?”
“He, uh, he…he pissed me off, so I blew him up with magic.”
“If I could lay you down and fuck you right here, I would.”
Eliza huffs and heat creeps through me. “I should probably shower first,” I say slowly, though if Lucas really did lay me down right here in this back alley, I know I’d enjoy it, even covered in blood.
Because if there is one thing and one thing alone Lucas King is good at, it’s sex.
Lucky for me, he’s good at a bunch of other things as well, with one of them being taking damn good care of me.
“He said he wanted to taste me.” I exhale, blinking before I get lost in Lucas’s eyes.
“You’re mine,” he growls.
“I told him that, and he didn’t seem to care.”
“Typical man,” Eliza sighs. “And you know how much I hate breaking up this love fest, but we’re supposed to be meeting with that long-haired creep any minute now.”
“The vampire you’re meeting has long hair?”
“Yes,” Lucas answers.
I make a face and look at the puddle of vampire goo splattered in the alley. “There’s a slight chance he’s not going to show up for the meeting.”
“You killed him?” Eliza’s blue eyes widen, and she draws her fangs. But she doesn’t look mad, she looks scared.
“He attacked me,” I protest. “And I didn’t mean to!”
“Great, just explain to the VC that you didn’t mean to kill one of their members.” She throws out her hands as she talks. “Lucas, what are we going to do?”
“Nothing,” he says calmly, which only makes Eliza freak out even more. “If Jacob bit a human that belongs to me, I have every right to kill him.”
“But you didn’t kill him! Your little witch-whore did, and you can’t take the—”
“Enough,” Lucas booms, silencing Eliza and making me jump. “The VC will never believe a human was capable of killing a Council member. And they can’t know she’s a witch.”
I swallow hard, feeling a chill go through me. I almost forgot. Vampires and witches aren’t supposed to be together in the way Lucas and I are. The Grand Coven forbids it, and the Vampire Council doesn’t approve either. Lucas isn’t one to follow rules, but I know the VC getting involved is never a good thing.
“Get the bleach,” Lucas tells Eliza. She narrows her eyes and shakes her head but does what she’s told.
“I’m sorry.” I wipe my hands on my shirt. “The energy ball was much stronger than usual. I meant to knock him out, but I guess I was angry, and it fueled my magic or something.”
“If he so much as thought about touching you, he deserved to die. And you killed him much faster than I would have.” He steps closer, using the sleeve of his button-up shirt to wipe blood off my face. “Your powers have gotten stronger since you commanded the hellfire.”
“Maybe.” I cast my eyes down, knowing he’s right. Something changed after that night, but I can’t even begin to explain what. Because sometimes it feels like everything changed. “Are you going to get in trouble for this?”
He turns his gaze back to mine, flashing his trademark cocky grin. “Only if we’re caught.”
“Would it be bad if the VC finds out about us?”
The grin fades, and Lucas takes me in his arms. “I don’t care what the fucking VC says. I love you, and nothing is coming between us.”
“I love you too,” I whisper, and my heart flutters, both from feeling so damn much for him…and because he didn’t say he wouldn’t get in trouble if the Vampire Council found out about us.
Which means it would be bad.
Chapter 3
“This is not going to come out, is it?” I look down at my shirt. “Of all the nights I didn’t wear black.” Grimacing, I pull my shirt over my head, trying not to get blood on my face. “I guess I’ll just toss it.” I roll my shirt up the best I can, keeping the blood and guts on the inside, and put it in the kitchen garbage, tying the bag shut and putting it in another to make sure the smell of blood isn’t detectable.
My pants come off next, and I think these are salvageable. I take them to the laundry room and rinse them in the utility tub before throwing them in the washing machine. Wearing only my bra and underwear, I pad my way upstairs and into the bathroom.
Lucas is still at the bar, cleaning up my mess. I wanted to stay and help, but he reminded me how suspicious it would look if someone else from the VC showed up and I was covered in vampire blood. It’s a good point, but I still felt bad leaving. He should be here soon, thanks to handy vampire speed.
I get in the oversized shower and start washing off the goo. It’s itchy when it dries. I stay in the shower after I’m clean, hoping to still be in when Lucas comes home. We both quite enjoy sex in the shower.
Turning the temp of the water up, I close my eyes and tip my head, letting it run down my body.
“I could get used to this view,” Lucas growls. Smiling, I keep my eyes closed and run my hands over my breasts, not stopping until one hand is between my legs.
“Is this one even better?”
Lucas rips his shirt off, fangs coming down, and he watches me touch myself. He moves toward the shower, reaching for the glass door and stops, turning his head.
“Someone is at the door.”
“Is it someone from the VC?” I ask, heart skipping a beat.
“No,” he says but doesn’t sound convinced. “Stay here. I’ll tell whoever it is to fuck off.”
I nod and watch him speed out of the room, expecting him to be back in a minute. But one minute passes and he’s not back. I wait another. And another. I turn off the water and get out, wrapping a towel around myself but not taking the time to dry off. Heart hammering, I tiptoe out of the bathroom and into the hall.
Light from the foyer spills up the stairs, along with a voice. A female voice. A familiar one at that.
“Abby?” I whisper to myself, eyes narrowing. Why is my sister here? I creep closer to the balcony that overlooks the entryway. Abby is standing near the door, clutching her purse with one hand and holding her car keys in the other. Her shoulders are tense, and I know she’s uncomfortable standing there before Lucas, especially because he’s shirtless and looks like a sex god.
“She loves you and she’d die to protect you. You don’t deserve that, you know,” Lucas tells her. I suck in a breath, watching him talk to my sister. She’s looking into his eyes. Is he holding her spellbound? She turns her head down.
“I know I don’t,” she says.
N
o, she’s not spellbound at all. And she just agreed with Lucas.
“I should have done more. But we were young and I…I was scared. Not of Callie but of our father and the things he said. I knew Callie wouldn’t hurt me.” She wipes a tear out of her eye. “Did she ever tell you about the time at the park?”
“No, I don’t think she did,” Lucas says.
“Callie was seven and I was ten. We were there with our mother, but she was too distracted to actually watch us. Callie and I were playing hide and seek with some of the other kids there. I ran off to hide behind a utility shed, away from the others.”
Abby closes her eyes in a long blink, and a fat tear rolls down her cheek. “There was a man…and, well, you can guess where this is going. He grabbed me, told me if I screamed, he’d kill me, and started dragging me away. I don’t know how Callie knew, but somehow, she did. She came over and held out her hand. The man thought he’d gotten lucky, that he had two of us away from our parents’ view.”
“But he didn’t know who Callie was,” Lucas supplies.
“Exactly.” Abby shudders at the memory she’s reliving. “He started undoing his pants when Callie pulled his belt off. And I don’t mean she went up and touched it. She stood there, several feet back and used her magic. She took that belt and wrapped it around his neck, pulling it tighter and tighter until the man passed out. I got away, and we went running to our mother.”
“Did the man die?”
“No,” Abby says. “He was unconscious. Our mother never reported it because she didn’t want anyone knowing what Callie did. There’s a man out there, walking free. A man who wants to hurt children.” Tears fill Abby’s eyes. “Oh my God. I have a child. And this man…he just got away with it all because our mother would rather him be free than anyone know Callie…Callie saved me.” She’s crying now, and I bite my own lip, fighting back my emotions. I remember that day well. I remember the rage I felt when I saw someone trying to hurt my sister. I didn’t hesitate. I knew I could do it.
And then I did.