Published: April 5, 2020

14

GARRICK

Go back for her. The vampire inside of him snarled as Kayla’s scent became weaker as he traveled down the hall.

His vampire split from him again. This split had been more painful than the others. It felt like someone cut them apart with a knife coated in fire oil. With Kayla over his body, he and his vampire were one, reveling in her sweet scent, the taste of her and how good she felt on top of him.

She gave him her life force willingly. A treasure to all vampires. Especially one in his state, where he’d not quite healed from his bout with the shifters or the magical torturing in the cathedral. With her blood in him, not only did it taste better, his body healed quicker.

She wants us, go back. His muscles locked when he turned the corner, keeping him from moving too far past her scent radius. They must go back and thank her with more pleasure.

The duality of his mind made his step falter. Generally, his vampire was emotions only, having never really split to its own entity. Now, the most carnal side of himself worked to seize control.

With great effort, he tore himself away from his vampire’s invasive wants. Managing to resume control of his feet, he stepped forward. It was the hardest step he’d ever taken, but necessary.

He could not go back to thank her with more pleasure. What he’d done to her was wrong. He’d forced his pleasure venom in her again. Pumping her full of his own sort of magic.

Cha! He was becoming delirious if he thought he had magic in him. The pleasure venom was a predatory necessity. An act of evolution. This was why humans couldn’t feel the pain of their bites. Naturally, their fangs were coated with a neurotoxin that numbed the skin as their teeth sunk in, rendering humans unable to feel the act. There was no magic in it.

Yet, he’d taken it a step beyond numbing the skin. He pushed as much of his pleasure venom inside of her as he could, making them both unravel to the point where he was almost unable to stop.

Thanks be to the all gods for the young mage called Carissa. Had she not brought them sustenance, he might have been inside of Kayla now, unable to stop the beast from coming out of him to claim her.

That’s not a bad thing. The thought shot through his skull as his vampire paced. Of course, it was bad. It was a false feeling turning him into a randy boy unable to keep from wanting the touch of a soft woman. He needed to separate himself from her before his vampire took over and done even more damage.

He’d hurt her already. The thought made his vampire hang back. She’d grabbed him when his fangs first struck her neck, digging her nails into him like she wanted him to let go. Even if she did encourage him after, he wouldn’t hurt her again.

It was better if he left her alone.

But she comes for us.

Kayla’s soft steps traveled behind him as he navigated his way back to the halls they’d come from.

“Hey,” Kayla’s harsh whisper sounded from behind him.

His vampire stopped, a feeling of longing and agitation rocked through him. Both for the wrong reasons.

He longed for her to touch him again, thread her fingers in his hair and swirl her tongue in his mouth while he buried himself inside of her until she screamed his name. He was agitated that he wasn’t already swooping her into his arms to do just that. Neither emotion was helpful.

He pressed forward as if he hadn’t heard her and wished her away. He had no need of the pull he had toward her. Instead, he needed to focus on his escape path.

“Garrick,” she said quickly. Her voice harsher in this form than in its whisper. Kayla sounded like she’d lost her footing behind him. He couldn’t push himself forward anymore.

Finally, he turned around. His lungs didn’t function for a moment. The more he stared at her, the more forceful the pull of his attraction to her.

And her scent. By the gods, it would be his undoing. Deep and earthy and completely thrashing against the last tendril of his will power. He seized the last strand of his control.

“What do you want?”

“To keep you from doing something stupid,” she whispered.

“The only thing stupid is being here.”

Hurt gleaned in her eyes when he turned back toward her.

“You’re right,” her eyes found the ground and studied it. “I… I have no right asking you for anything. You’ve already done so much for me already. But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need your help.”

Her voice was vulnerably soft. His jaw flexed as he braced himself, keeping his vampire from seeking to comfort her.

“My magic is too dangerous to control, but it’s more stable around you. So, I’m asking you to be around me.”

The elation in his chest made his vampire croon. She needed him. He grabbed ahold of that feeling and threw it down the dark hall behind him. She was amongst her own kind who’d be much better at helping her than he would. “I have no knowledge of mage power; I am of no use to you.”

As the words barreled from his throat, a shattering started inside of him. A pain sharper than the mage’s in the cathedral chipped away at his chest.

She gave him the same look she had inside of the hanger, when the wolves kept her trapped in the cage, begging him not to leave her.

We can take her with us. His vampire was relentless. He’d only felt this way because of the pleasure venom. A legion did not fall for a non-vampire. His kingdom would not allow it. They fed on her kind, not married them. He was the 57th legion to the greatest vampire kingdom to ever exist. He belonged in the king’s guard. Their lives would never mix. A mage and a vampire did not make for budding companions in any realm—especially not his.

So, no he wouldn’t take her. He’d wait the pleasure venom out. Once it was out of their systems, his head would be clear of her and he could be on his way. She’d realize what they felt while together was a falsehood. Every mage in their vicinity would know it. Their bond was a temporary one. One that would be extinguished when the pleasure venom had run its course.

“As I have said before. Your life is here. The mages here can help you with your issues.”

The sparkle in her green eyes dimmed and everything inside of him felt in tatters.

“I have to go.” He studied her face.

There was a hint of a nod from her, releasing him from her hold. He took that as a sign he was good to leave her. He turned to a hazy smoke forming in front of him.

“Go where?” An evenly toned voice materialized in front of him. Pellan’s sharp gaze was on him the instant he appeared, separating him from Kayla.

His vampire did not like it one bit.

“I asked you a question, vampire.”

The moment, Pellan called his magic to his hands, Kayla’s raced under the mage, knocking him over like he’d slipped on a banana peel, then travelled up his body. Pellan’s dark robes flew over his head as he scrambled to his feet.

He’d only had two experiences with magic so far. Either it hurt or it healed. The only magic he preferred came from Kayla. Hers felt like a warm bath. Soothing his muscles, caressing his skin like she had when she put her mouth on his. Even now, as he watched it crawl up his body, he could feel it relaxing the vampire inside of him.

He liked being protected by her and knowing with her protection around him, he’d be fiercer.

See? More reason to thank her with more pleasure.

He forced the thought from his mind.

Pellan was on his feet much quicker than anyone knocked so hard on their back should have been. Deep lines set around his eyes as he looked at Kayla in shock. It was the same look a ruler had when a subject spoken out of turn.

“You will not leave here until we allow you out. It is safer that way.”

Garrick ground his teeth. He’d be let out when he wanted to be, not when some mage deemed it.

“Move from my path.”

“We cannot let you do that,” Pellan said.

“You speak in plural when you are alone,” he cocked his head to one side. With Kayla’s magic wrapped around him, he was sure he could break free of whatever hold Pellan wanted to put on him.

A sound whispered through the walls. Once that sounded like small voices singing in a tune, a hum just below his range of hearing. Then the sound grew louder, hitting his ears like Theo’s magic hit his brain in an earsplitting squall.

The mage held his hand out. The walls seemed to erupt in color. Bright mist pooled down the walls into his feet.

“The benefit of being amongst my own kind, vampire, is that we can take on anyone who threatens us.”

Kayla’s magic started to break apart around him, shredding as the aura of color surrounded Pellan. He was growing stronger.

“Do you see her magic, vampire?” Pellan didn’t turn around to Kayla like he already knew what was happening behind is back.

At her hands, her magic had gone wild again, like it had in the church. She balled her fingers tight into her fist, her nails digging into her palms until he smelled blood.

“This is why neither of you can leave. It’s tied itself to you and without you, it’ll let loose. Her father says she has suppressed her magic. That makes what she’s experiencing worse. She’s been holding in a power too great to wield on her own. And even as I summon the magic around me, hers won’t obey. In its defiance, it grows worse. And will continue to until she can handle it.

“Understand, I’d rather not have a vampire in the basement beneath where I rest my head at night. Yet, I am asking because it is crucial. You leave here tonight her magic will destroy every part of our world until it finds you, destroying everything in its wake. Including you. Leave here and we all die.”

His words were final, and from the scent of the mage’s fear billowing off of him, he trusted his words.

“I only ask that you stay until we can settle her power. Once she has it under control, you can go wherever the wind takes you.”

He looked back at Kayla again. Desperation made her body slump as she tried to control what was coming from her hands. An array of sparks flitted across the floor, growing into embers in the carpet. If Pellan wasn’t here, another inferno would erupt. He wanted to be at her side, stroke her back and tell her they will find a way to conquer it.

“Can you stay for her for the time being?”

He didn’t need to think of his answer. He nodded his consent. The mage’s fear calmed, but didn’t extinguish. The magic he drew from the walls left him and went back to its origins. He moved to the side to let him through.

Kayla’s magic raced to him, weaving its way up to the top of his head before darting around his arms. It was searching for something. Settling on where he’d been wounded by the wolves but no longer showed a scar before moving to other parts of him. It was if her magic was checking to see if he was hurt, having sensed him in danger.

He cupped her chin, turning her face toward him. Despite the pleasure venom coursing through him, he found himself unable to turn away from her. He doubted very seriously, he could have gotten away from her for too long anyway. His vampire wouldn’t have let him.

“We will allow you freedom, vampire. Once we know she is safe, then, if you want, you can go home.”

Home.

That was not a word he’d used to describe where he lived. As a legion, he’d spent his nights in a barrack house filled with forty other warriors. A small cot in a room with four others was spartan but comfortable.

Being the 57th rank didn’t entitle him to the lavish comfort his captain experienced. Not that he minded. Give him blood, a soft woman from time to time, and all the chelets he could win from the others playing him in Bones, and he was content to live a warrior’s life. He’d been that way ever since he’d left the only home he had.

As a youngling, just before he met his full change into a vampire and joining the ranks of the King’s guard, home meant the dwelling he shared with his mother and father. They were an unmated pair with an incredible love for each other and filled their home with it. Home meant sitting by a warm fire on cold nights, curled against his mother and father next to his younger sister who told them stories. Home felt like nurturing in a harsh world. Protection from a desolate one. He hadn’t experienced home in too long.

He glanced at Kayla who crawled into his arms. She was already starting to feel like home.

A place he didn’t think he was looking for, but a place he wanted to be.

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Author’s Note: Guess who’s early this week? Or well, actually on time. I am back on a roll. I’ve been feeling the slump recently, but I’ve decided to be all about that positive energy.

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