Vampires Need Not…Apply? (Accidentally Yours #4)(58)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“So this is a punishment for that? For her?” Antonio couldn’t believe Ixtab had deceived him. Her sister had been right; she was an evil monster.

Antonio’s heart did not want to accept what his rational mind presented as the truth. Yet there she was, holding his father’s arm and clearly taking his side—she’d tipped her hand and told the demon everything.

The wind in the room kicked up.

“Punishment for her?” Ixtab howled. “As if I care who a disgusting, weak vampire has the hots for. I’ve been reunited with my true love, and you’re a threat to him. So time to go.”

Ixtab turned away from Antonio and toward his father who, even in his emaciated state, was a head taller. She slipped off her veil and shoved it at his chest. “Hold this, my love!” she screamed over the loud noise.

A crack blasted through the air, and the tablet completely disappeared, creating a small wind tunnel in the center of the table, where a pale, delicate hand shot out.

Holy shit! Antonio gripped the hand and began pulling. If he were going to die or be banished to another realm, at least he’d save the woman.

A euphoric jolt coursed through his body when two hands gripped his shoulders from behind. Then he felt a pair of lips brush against his ear. “Hurry, Antonio. Get her out,” Ixtab whispered.

Ixtab had been faking it? His mind surged with adrenaline. He wanted to spin around and see her face. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her. But dammit, he had to get rid of this demon!

“Oh no you don’t!” Ixtab screamed. “Get your icky vampire ass inside that portal.”

Antonio felt a gentle push on his back as Ixtab faked a struggle.

Another hand popped out. He gripped both of the woman’s wrists and pulled. An elbow, a shoulder…

“Get your incu-ass over here, Francisco, and help me. He’s too strong!” Ixtab screamed and grunted, pushing gently on Antonio’s back.

The woman’s face appeared in the hole. Two dark eyes filled with fear. Long dark hair. A delicate pale face with freckles on her nose.

Who the hell is she?

“Pull,” the woman screamed frantically, “I’m almost out!”

The voice! He recognized the voice. But this was not the same face he’d seen again and again and again in his dreams. This was not that woman! Her eyes were completely different.

“Who the hell are you?” he bellowed above the noise, as he grunted and tried to free the woman from the grasp of the portal. At the same time, he felt an arm reach around his neck. The flesh was ice-cold. His father. This was it. Antonio gave one last yank, and the woman popped out, the force throwing her against the wall. He felt the arm around his neck tighten, pushing his head toward the portal.

Now it was time to get rid of this demon once and for all.

He grabbed the offending arm and turned his body. Those hazy, evil eyes stared through him as Antonio saw the faces of every soul his father had taken. So many innocent lives staring back at him.

Antonio grabbed the demon’s upper arms and the two began wrestling, each one trying to push the other into the portal. The old demon was much stronger than he looked.

Antonio glanced at the portal; the noise was beginning to fade. Shit. “It’s about to close!”

Two golden-brown hands reached up from behind the demon and pressed against the sides of his saggy neck. Antonio watched as his father’s face turned bright red, causing him to scream.

The demon fell to the side, and Ixtab threw herself over him, toppling the demon toward the portal’s entrance. Just as its gravity took hold, the demon reached out and gripped Ixtab’s arm. Her entire body jerked toward the portal’s entrance.

Oh, hell! Antonio dove for her other hand and caught it as her body slipped inside.

He looked down at her face and staring back were two of the most hypnotic turquoise eyes he’d ever seen. They were bright, nearly translucent, framed with thick black lashes.

The woman. She’s the woman? Why had he been seeing Ixtab’s face while hearing this other woman’s voice?

Yes, these were the catlike eyes he’d seen over and over again in his dreams. The entire time, it had been Ixtab’s face in his visions! And her face was a breathtaking image of beauty. Two full lips, sculpted cheekbones, arched black brows framed with flowing brown hair. As he stared into her eyes, the world seemed to stop spinning around him. The noise, the wind, the chaos ground to a halt.

“You,” he whispered. “It’s you…”

He’d simply never seen a woman more beautiful in his life.

She smiled with a certain knowingness and joy that could not be articulated with words.

“Let go, Antonio,” she said. “Be happy. For me.”

What?

Her eyes shifted from side to side. “The portal is closing. Let go. Be happy!”

Had she lost her mind? “No! You promised you would not leave me.” And what the hell was with this “happy” crap? He began to pull her arm. The wind and noise screamed in his ears.

“For f**k sake! Be happy, I command you!” she screamed. “Let go! He’s got my other wrist.”

No. He couldn’t. He couldn’t let her go. “Never.”

“Why do vampires have to be so stubborn? The portal is closing! And you need to run before they come.”

Run? Run from whom? He ignored her and pulled again. Her other hand reached out and gripped his, but instead of firming up her grasp, a searing hot pulse surged through his arm like hot lava.

“Happy!” she screamed.

“Goddammit, no!” he roared. Unable to hold on, his hand released her, and he watched her face disappear into the black hole right as the portal snapped shut.

“No!” He threw himself over the tablet. “Ixtab!”

She was gone.

His mind flew into a ranging panic. “Fuck!” He would simply open it again and go after her. “You’re not leaving!” He turned toward the edge of the table, but his equipment was gone. He spun in a circle and looked around the room. The entire place was empty. The portal had sucked everything in. “No! Fucking hell!”

“You can’t open the portal again, anyway. The demon will come out,” said a quiet voice.

A woman in a dingy white cotton dress, with little red flowers embroidered on the hem, stared back with large dark brown eyes from the corner of the room.

“Who the hell are you?” Antonio barked.

She dusted off the front of her dress. “Miss Margaret O’Hare. Now, grab the tablet; we need to get the hell out of here!”