Born in Fire (Page 52)

I moaned as my eyes fluttered closed, lust and desire igniting my body. My head turned of its own will, toward him. Wanting his touch on me. Relishing in the sultry taste of his blood.

“Hang on to the sword, Reagan.” His other hand drifted down my arm, spreading goosebumps in its wake. His fingers closed over mine, making me hold on. His lips grazed my cheek before slipping down to my neck. “That’s right, mon cherie. Drink.”

Unexpectedly, power surged through me, more savory than the demon’s had been. Vampire blood was only supposed to revive magical people, not affect them like it did humans, but it boosted me. I fell into the feeling, pumping magic into the sword, hearing the demon screech and beg in the distance. All I could focus on was Darius’s heartbeat pounding in my ears. His touch on my body, like velvet. It felt so good. So right.

The blade of my sword fell to the ground, the demon vanishing in a fiery ball followed by billowing smoke.

I barely noticed.

I pushed his wrist away and turned toward him, capturing his face in my hands. His lips pressed against mine. Our tongues entwined. I pushed forward, laying him down and straddling his hips. His hardness pushed against me, large and ready. I slid my hands up his muscular chest and moaned into the kiss. So hot.

“Let me bond you, Reagan,” he whispered against my lips. “Become one with me.”

It was a terrible idea. Worse than bad. I’d just avoided one form of slavery—I didn’t want to embrace another. But oh God, in that moment, I wanted nothing else in the world.

I’d opened my mouth to answer, not quite sure what was going to come out, when I felt soft but insistent hands clamp down on my shoulders. They yanked me back.

Darius was up in an instant, dragging me with him and shielding me with his body. He hissed out a warning, his fangs and claws elongating, ready to shift to his stronger monster form.

The fresh air away from his heated breath cleared some of the haze. If only my lady bits would calm down. They were throbbing so hard that it was painful.

“Reagan!” Callie braced her fists on her hips. “Have you lost your ever-loving mind? Size isn’t everything. He’s a vampire!”

Dizzy, standing behind her, blushed and glanced away at the door, probably wishing he were back in the middle of battle rather than standing there.

I knew how he felt. This was more than a bit embarrassing.

I stepped around Darius. “That wasn’t what it looked like.”

“Well, it looked like you were straddling a naked vampire with the intent of indecent behavior in the middle of a church full of dead werewolves and witches, at the end of a battle that will be extremely damaging to your future should knowledge of your real magic leak out…”

“Okay, it was exactly what it looked like.”

I wiped my hand over my face, trying to get back on track. But good-night, I felt good. My body was weak, but his blood was singing through my veins, making me feel powerful. Strong. Untouchable. I wanted to climb back on top and ride this feeling to its natural conclusion.

“I’m in a bit of a pickle,” I muttered.

“I’ll say.” Callie pursed her lips.

“Can you at least drape a piece of pant leg over that thing or something?” Dizzy asked in a pained voice. “This is extremely awkward.”

“You’re not helping, honey.” Callie patted his shoulder.

“Focus, everyone, cripes.” I scrubbed at my eyes and kept my gaze at eye level. “Here’s where we are. The demon has been destroyed, so he can’t rat me out to any of the higher-ups downstairs.”

“Good.” Callie and Dizzy nodded.

“First problem is that we have a magically created werewolf on the loose. It’s a danger for the rest of the night, and then with each full moon.”

“That is not my problem,” Darius said, looking around the ground. Probably for pants. His body was at least starting to…relax, so that was good. Less distracting.

Why won’t this pounding go away!

“Right, focus.” I huffed out a breath. “The werewolf is a present for Roger, then. Someone should tell him.”

“I’ll send a gossipy note to a friend who’s dating a shifter,” Callie said.

“I better do that, hon. They’ll know you’re just reporting something.” Dizzy must’ve caught my confused look. “She tries to solve problems. No one will gossip with her anymore.”

“It’s a relief. Such whiners in the magical community.” Callie rolled her eyes.

“Then that’s taken care of. Kinda.” I glanced at the elevated area by the wall, then the burned and broken podium that had been toppled to the floor. “We need to find that mage.”

“We got the mage.” Dizzy started when Darius and I both beamed our full attention on him.

“You got him?” I asked. Darius stepped toward the door. I threw up a finger. “I am watching you. No stealing my mark this time. I saved your ass. Either I am bringing that mark in, or we’re doing it together.”

“I saved you. We are even.” He took another step.

“You saving me is debatable. We have no proof. Don’t you take another step. If you run, I will tackle you.”

“Promise?” He grinned at me.

“With a knife, wise guy.” I turned back to Dizzy. “Where is he?”

“Trapped in the other room.” Dizzy gestured that way. “The mage tried to run when—”

Darius started walking. I ran after him, half staggering as I did so. “Don’t you do it, vampire!”

My mouth dropped open when I burst into the other room. All the mages were downed, lying sprawled out across the ground. Black explosive areas dotted various places. Casings lay strewn around, all but a couple opened.

The formally powerful, demon-toting mage stood frozen in the middle of the room, the mask torn off and a look of surprise on her face.

“It’s a girl,” I exclaimed. “It’s that girl! What was her name?”

“Tamara.” Darius stopped right in front of her, his glare intense. “How do we get her out of that?”

“You know who it is?” Dizzy asked, digging in his bag. “I was surprised it was a woman. I didn’t expect that.”

“Me either,” I said. “I don’t get to take down many women. But I’m all for equal opportunity in the crazy department. It’s good for business.” I wiped a strand of hair out of my face. “She lived across the street from one of the mages. We stood in her neighbor’s house and spoke to her. She had that freaking book of John’s! I had no idea. She didn’t seem very powerful. I had no idea!” I put my fingertips to my head and made like my brain was exploding.

“Here.” Dizzy blew some powder from his hand and onto Tamara’s face.

While she was waking up, I bent to her mask, which had skittered away and bumped against someone’s foot. Sure enough, it had a speaker system in the mouth to distort her voice.

“Did you see her face when she captured you?” I asked Darius. “Also, how did she capture you? That is newsworthy.”

His eyes were so hard that they looked like they could punch through walls. “She caught me when I was returning to the Brink. They must’ve been watching me. The spell was invisible. I didn’t know I’d been trapped until it was too late.”

“A real ego crusher, huh? Getting caught by a low-level mage…” I smiled tauntingly.

“She took the mask off to bleed me.”

Tamara blinked as her head came out of the spell. A look of fear immediately crossed her face when she noticed Darius.

“To bleed you?” A surge of jealousy came out of the blue. I took a step back. “Definitely in a bit of a pickle, here. I might need to be slapped on occasion.”

“She wanted to see if my blood would make her more powerful. After that, she tried to force a bond.” Darius’s eyes didn’t waver from her face. A death stare wasn’t the best way to get answers, though. Usually questions were more efficient.

“Right.” I pointed between Dizzy and Callie. “Vamoose, you two. We need to ask some questions you can’t know anything about. Check that side room. There was an extremely powerful mage, one without a demon trapped in her body”—I gave Tamara a look—“who was hoping someone would show her how to do magic.” Callie flashed me a confused expression. I put up my hands. “I didn’t have time to ask any other questions. She was on a retreat. That’s all I know.”

Callie stomped off, followed shortly after by Dizzy.

I turned to Tamara. “Boy oh boy, are you in a bind. We need some questions answered. First, how did you hear about the unicorns?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“She crashed a changing,” Darius said, easing into his cool demeanor. It meant bad things for poor Tamara. “She drank the elixir that readies a human for the change. We are more open at changings. Someone clearly shared information they shouldn’t have. I have an investigation underway.”

“Why would someone crash a changing?” I asked.

“Haven’t you ever wanted to be immortal?” Tamara challenged haughtily.

“I am. Or could be, if I wanted to hang out in the Realm. Wait.” I held up my hand to Darius. “You’re going to give her the special vampire send-off, right?”