Page 48 of Vampire Sins
He startled at that, then his gaze went distant as if he was sensing for the other male somewhere beyond my reach. He must have found something, because he cursed and shoved away from me. “I’m not going to do the same thing to Luke that Nate did to me. The poor bastard is probably having dinner with his mother.”
I snickered. “Oh, come on. I’m sure it’s fine.” Instead of approaching him, I slipped the edge of my dress over my shoulder. It’s not that I enjoyed dresses, but Xavier had stolen every piece of sensible clothing from my new room in the vampire den I’d managed to acquire and replaced them with stunning gowns. He’d promised all my jeans and tanks were getting washed, but had a malicious grin when I’d stepped through the portal. Now I understood why he’d dressed me up. Jet’s gaze dipped to my breast that slipped free from the beaded fabric. I looked damn good, like a present being unwrapped. By the look in Jet’s eyes, he wanted to unwrap me and ask questions later.
As if he couldn’t resist, he reached up and ran one thumb over my hardening nipple, making me shiver. “You’re going to damn me to hell all over again,” he said, but he had a glimmer of a smile playing across his lips. His teeth elongated into slight points and his eyes flashed with an eerie reptilian stare. He curled into my neck and gave me a playful bite. He knew I liked that. “I can’t stay mad at you. Not when you’re so willing to make amends.”
“Yes,” I promised and ran my fingers through his hair as he peeled away my dress. “Amends.”
He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Our kiss was surprisingly sweet and passionate. I loved Jet. I loved all my guys. I was so happy, so complete.
He pulled away and gazed at me with such hunger that I should have been terrified. His connection to Luke sent silver strands of power streaking across his tattoos. “I might hurt you,” he admitted as he pressed me against the bar and the hard length of him caressed my most intimate areas, spreading fresh heat through my core.
“Never,” I said, and parted my lips as my fangs came out of their own accord. I was about to lose control and if any of my guys could handle me right now, it would be my dragon. “But I might hurt you.”
Jet growled and took out his cock, first rubbing it against me and making my threats diminish into whimpers.
He played with me until I writhed on top of him. I laced my fingers around his neck and squirmed, trying to get him to give me what I wanted. When he finally did, my skin burned as his power invaded my body and soul, making me explode with heat from the inside. When I threw my head back and cried out, flames licked across my skin and smoke drifted from my nostrils.
You’d thinkthat I’d have learned from my first mistake, but of course, Luke was nice and pissed off. He actuallyhadbeen having dinner with his mother when Jet had ravished the shit out of me.
Instead of repeating the mistake, all four of my guys gathered in a rare meeting. The best venue seemed to be Luke’s house in Seattle. He’d bought a place across from his mother’s shop on Fortune Street. We all gathered into the cozy living room and nursed our drinks—except for Renee.
Renee didn’t look old enough to be his mother. She looked even younger than me, but I suppose when one is an all-powerful Seer, age is not something you have to worry about. She finally huffed her annoyance and was the first to break the silence. “Well, I could cut the tension in this room with a knife,” she declared as she shot to her feet.
My gaze fell to the deck of cards she continued to shuffle. Nate had been the one to free her from her false imprisonment. She’d been locked up for child abuse, having seen the terrible future where Luke needed a dark kind of training to prepare him for what Detective Anderson was going to do to him. It’d saved his life and his mind, but not before Luke had figured that out. Luckily, all it took was a little bit of witch magic to undo a court order, and she was a free woman. I didn’t ask Nate what he traded to make a rebel coven of witches perform the spell, but I was grateful for it. It would have been difficult for me to convince enough witches to get to Seattle to do the spell. The portals they’d made only worked on me and those in my bond. They either would’ve needed to create new portals or taken flights to America, both options which would have drawn attention to them. Apparently witches were a rare and sought after commodity.
“It’s fine,” Nate said, leaning back in his chair and sprawling his legs. He winked at me when he caught me admiring the place where his shirt lifted up and revealed delicious curves disappearing into his waistband. “We’ll get used to it.”
Luke scoffed. “You weren’t the one humiliated.”
“Enough,” Renee snapped. To my surprise, she didn’t seem bothered that her son had probably had a psychic orgasm right in front of her. She lifted an eyebrow at me. “I’m not a prude, you know. I’m a mother. I’ve had sex, too, plenty of it, and am aware it’s a natural part of life.”
It was rare that a succubus blushed, but I felt its uncharacteristic heat sweep over my chest and up my neck. “Of course,” I murmured, then stuck my face into my glass and knocked it back.
She smirked, then gave us each an appraisal. “Your bond is the first of many to come.” She shuffled her cards again, then drew the top one and showed it to us. It displayed an elaborate rune, but I didn’t recognize it. “The echoes of calamity have begun. You’ve stopped the worst of the first wave.”
Intrigued, I leaned forward and cupped my glass. Alcohol buzzed through me before its effects were wiped out by my healing abilities. It was as close to drunk as I was going to get these days. “So, it wasn’t a coincidence that my mother and I were targeted by a Shadow Witch?”
Renee nodded and it made me wish my mother was here. After all she’d been through she wanted some time alone with my grandmother. Nate had kept Grans safe in Detroit. I was looking forward to seeing them again.
Renee drew in a deep breath before speaking. “The Shadow Witch that trapped your mother would have broken a delicate balance. Shadow Witches sell their souls and go to hell if and when they die. If she’d managed to find a loophole, hell itself would have split in two and begun a series of events that would have brought death down on all of us. Because our worlds are closer than they should be, she was almost able to do it.” She set the card on the ground and it glowed. “Our enemies will take many forms, as will the guardians who Fate chooses to rise up and stop the next threat.” The rune’s light died and Renee smirked. “Looks like our next guardians will be vampires, and their bondmate will be a mortal-born witch.”
Xavier raised an eyebrow at that. “You’re saying there will be another vampiric bond using the Blood Stone? Vampires can’t mate with witches.” He didn’t seem very happy to hear that someone might challenge our rule in Venice, especially with a forbidden match.
Renee gave him the biggest grin I’d ever seen and her hand draped over Luke’s shoulder. “You forget, Xavier, that my father was a vampire, and my mother was a Seer before me. That makes her a witch.”
Xavier’s gaze bounced between them, then went wide. “No, it can’t be.” He shot to his feet.
I’d never taken the time to see the similarities in Xavier and Luke, but the subtle signs were there. Same height. Same silky locks. Same lean frame that made my insides ignite.
Luke seemed just as surprised as the rest of us as realization dawned. “Are you saying that I have both angelic and vampiric blood?”
Renee nodded. “Yes, darling.” She stroked his face as she beamed with sheer adoration and pride. “I don’t know who your grandfather was, but I did enough research to find out that there are lost vampiric tribes. He came from one of them.”
“There’s a good reason those tribes were wiped out,” Xavier hissed with menace that surprised me. “Mating with witches mixes magics and creates creatures with too much power.” He appraised Luke’s mother, as if seeing her in a new light. “Are you the instrument that fused our bond with Sonya?”
She went somber at the accusation. I approached her and rested a hand on her arm. Any trace of alcohol was now completely gone from my body and I felt entirely too sober to take in this new information. “You didn’t just give Luke a vision, did you?”
Renee bit her lip before nodding. Her brown curls draped over her face, hiding her guilt from me, but I felt it. As Queen of Hell, I felt sin like a blade on my skin. “I knew the next calamity would come. I made the spell that triggered a balance in Fate.” Her eyes shot up to meet mine, making me take a step back with the desperation and magic that sparked behind them. “Don’t you see? I am the Keymaster of Heaven, Hell, and Earth. It’s my job to make sure the realms are safe. If I had to trigger the spell of the guardians to fulfill my duties, then so be it.”
Taking a moment to look at my guys—Nate with his hands folded as he watched the conversation grow tense, Jet with his tattoos sprawling over him in magical swirls and his eyes sliced with reptilian danger, Xavier with fangs bared and menace in his gaze, and finally Luke with hurt in his gaze—I knew I could never have lived a full life without them. I was complete, and because of Renee, I’d found my purpose. “No,” I said, dropping my voice low, “I’m grateful for it.”
The tension in the room eased and Renee’s shoulders relaxed. “Then it’s time for the next guardians to take the stage.” Her gaze went distant. Darkness filtered over her irises and I knew she was looking into the future. “She’ll meet them soon. She’s a powerful witch. A coven lost, even more ancient than the vampires she will captivate.”
I grinned. “May she have mercy on their souls.”
