Authors: Charisma Knight
She started the ignition, backed out of the parking pad, and was halfway down the street, when Lars immediately appeared, making her jump out of her skin. “What the hell are you doing here?”
she sneered as she slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the curb. “Get out!”
“I’ve come to talk to you. Now. Drive,” he demanded.
“You! You helped her destroy me. I’d given you more credit than that,” she shouted. “How could you do that to me?”
“You and I, we were so much more than business partners.” Lars spoke in a quiet monotone as he glanced around the deserted neighborhood. “You mean the world to me.” He reached over to stroke her skin, but she punched at him.
“Why are you doing this to me? Haven’t you done enough? Siding with my cousin, who you knew would jump at the chance of taking away anything good that ever walked into my life?”
“Don’t make a scene,” he sneered. “Trust me, this will not turn out in your favor.”
“I hate you!”
“I’m very much aware of the nature of your cousin and sympathize with you. Unfortunately, it was in my best interest to work with her. How could I not seize the opportunity to regain what I once lost?” He turned to face her. “We’ve had some wonderful times together, have we not?”
“Lars, I don’t know if you can understand this or not, but . . . we were just a business arrangement. You are incapable of love. I was nothing more than an object to you. You were just business to me.”
“You will come to my way of thinking, little one.” Lars bared his teeth. “This is not to be taken lightly. I’m not leaving here empty-handed. Your precious Bjorn is out of the picture, so why not pick up where we left off?”
Lydia slipped her hand into the compartment of her door. She always kept a letter opener in there. Mentally, she blocked her mind from the dhampir so he couldn’t read her thoughts.
“You’re a sick and twisted fuck, just like my cousin. Maybe you two belong together. I don’t want anything to do with you. I’d rather be alone for the rest of my life.” Lydia shivered. There was a time when Lars’s companionship meant something, but now . . . he just creeped her the hell out. “Now, get out of my car!”
“Whore!” Lars sneered. “Who are you to reject me?” His fingers wove their way into her hair, pulling the strands hard. “After all I’ve done for you? I’ve treated you like a queen, bought you the finest clothing money could buy, and shown you the world, and this is how you repay me?”
She yelped as he mercilessly tugged her hair more, and she clawed at him, trying to escape. But there was none. “Lars!” She tried to scream, but he clamped his other hand over her nose and mouth, suffocating her. She wriggled and squirmed in an effort to get more air in her lungs.
“You’ll come with me.” He yanked her hair harder. “I’ll drain you of every drop of blood in your body,” he threatened. “Stop your struggling, and I shall release you.”
Lydia froze. She wanted to live, not die. She needed to fight and survive whatever dark plan Lars was about to throw at her. When he removed his hand from her face, she asked one simple question.
“Where are we going?”
“Away from here, this neighborhood. Miles away. Pull over somewhere near this construction site, and we’ll abandon the car.”
She looked at him as if he was crazy as she did what she was told. Panic set in. No one was around. She cursed beneath her breath. “You’re actually kidnapping me?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe this.”
“Once we return home, I’m going to gorge myself on your blood and screw you so hard you won’t be able to walk,” Lars threatened. “I was nice to you once. I won’t make that mistake again!”
“No!” She lunged at Lars, jabbing the letter opener into his eye.
“Arrggh!” Lars flailed his arms and legs as he struggled to pull the letter opener out of his eye. “Bitch! You’ll pay for that!”
Quickly she opened the door and hauled ass down the street. He jumped out of the car and followed.
Heart pumping hard, legs feeling like lead, Lydia ran as fast and as hard as she could. She focused on keeping her breathing steady, but how the hell could she outrun a dhampir? She was toast, for sure. She had only minutes to live.
She looked around as she ran and wondered where the hell Lars was. Surely a simple letter opener to the eye hadn’t slowed him down. Suddenly, strong arms snaked around her waist, lifting her off the ground. Lydia screamed for dear life and began to kick and flail her arms.
“Put me down, Lars!” she shouted. “Put me down now!” He’d just have to drain her blood. She wasn’t going to die without putting up a fight.
A hand clamped down gently over her mouth. “Shhh. Doll,” the loving voice whispered in her ear as the arms released her.
“Bjorn?” She spun around, and sure enough, it was Bjorn. “But . . . how did you . . . ?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you not to fall in with the wrong crowd?” He grabbed her hand, pulling her close to him in a protective manner. “Good job with the letter opener. Too bad he’s not a vampire. We could stake him and be over with this madness. But, if he persists, I must destroy him in my own way.”
“But, how did you know where to find me?”
“I’ll explain later, but right now we’ve got a dhampir to fend—”
Before Bjorn could complete his sentence, a dark shadow plowed into him, pushing him to the ground. Quickly Bjorn returned to his feet. Almost too quickly, Lydia thought to herself. But he was, after all, immortal. Immediately, Bjorn landed a blow to the dhampir’s jaw, sending him smashing into a concrete wall.
“Stay away from her!” Bjorn demanded.
“She doesn’t belong to you,” Lars said quietly as he chuckled and brushed the concrete dust from his black clothing. “You released her. I could smell the despair on her. Lydia belongs to me now.” He walked toward them.
She shook her head. “No one owns me! Lars, you’re from my past. I don’t love you. I never did. You know that!”
“Yes, just a business proposition,” Lars said.
“What?” Bjorn looked at them both. “What type of business?” He quirked a brow at Lydia.
The dhampir growled and looked at her angrily. His eye had just about finished healing. “Your past,” he said evilly. “Don’t you think it’s about time that you fill your beau in on your past! Don’t you think he should know that you’ve lain with men for money!”
Lydia glared at him. “Go away!”
Lars laughed and glanced at the shocked expression on Bjorn’s face. “Yesss, oh, but you didn’t know that. She hadn’t told you that she used to make her living on her back!” Lars’s laughter filtered throughout the construction site as a slight breeze kicked up.
Bjorn turned to look at her. “Lydia? Is this true?” Lars continued laughing, and Bjorn glared at him. “Shut up!” he huffed.
He continued glaring at the dhampir until smoke emanated from his clothes. Soon, Lars’s clothes went up in flames. Screaming, he fell to the ground. Almost as immediately as the flames had started, they died out. Lars’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
“I know what you did to Lydia. I know how you made her vulnerable. I know you hypnotized her!” Bjorn stepped toward Lars, who, in turn, scuttled away.
“What the fuck are you?” Lars asked as he clumsily rose to his feet.
“I’m no ordinary human,” he admitted. “Apparently, you thought I was human. Let me tell you something. Dawn made a mistake in calling you out here. It’s in your best interest to return to L.A. and never come here again. I will know the moment you ever set foot in my town.”
“You can’t order me—”
“I can, and I will,” Bjorn commanded. “You’ve no idea with whom you are fucking. I cannot be hypnotized, nor can I be overpowered, dhampir. You and I, we could battle one another the entire night, and we’ll both be standing come the dawn. However, I am a wizard, and a very powerful one at that. And you’ve managed to piss me the fuck off. I could crucify you now, if I wanted.”
To enforce his words, Bjorn muttered something in Old Norse, and soon, Lars went up in flames again. His tortured screams rang out through the night. Suddenly, the flames disappeared, and Lars was on the ground, struggling against an unseen force pinning him to the ground.
Lydia stared at Bjorn in fear, then looked down at Lars. For a second she pitied him, but the bastard did deserve what he was reaping. She swallowed hard. What would Bjorn do to her now since he knew her secret?
“Get up!” Bjorn demanded.
Lars quickly stood up, giving Bjorn his undivided attention. “A Protector,” he murmured and bowed. He glared at Bjorn as he straightened.
“Good. You know of the dhampirs who gorged themselves and were slaughtered at my command centuries ago.”
Lars nodded.
“Then I don’t have to tell you twice of the consequences?”
“Very well.” With that, Lars turned and disappeared into the night.
Lydia stood shakily, looking into Bjorn’s eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he said with disappointment as he shook his head.
“Bjorn, I—”
He put up a hand to silence her. “Let me take you back to your car.” They walked slowly up the street.
“Aren’t you riding with me?”
He hesitated for a few moments before nodding. He walked around to the passenger side of the car and got in.
Chapter Fourteen
As she drove, Lydia could feel Bjorn’s penetrating gaze upon her. She sighed and glanced at him. “Why don’t you just say what you’re thinking? I know you’re sitting over there judging me.”
“How can you be sure what I’m feeling, or thinking, for that matter?”
She shrugged. “I’ll drop you off at home. I’m moving out of Dawn’s condo. I just can’t take living with her anymore.”
“If you ask me, you should have never moved in with her,” Bjorn admitted. “Are you going back there?”
“Given the circumstances, no. I’m staying at a hotel tonight, and after work tomorrow, I’ll grab some more things.”
“Staying at a hotel?” he growled. “I don’t think so. You’re staying with me.”
She shook her head. “No . . . maybe it isn’t such a good idea. I couldn’t.”
“You can, and you will. Now, one last time.” His voice was stern. “Tell me what the hell happened in your past.”
“You heard Lars. I was a call girl.” She shook her head. “We used to call ourselves courtesans back in the day, to soften the blow. But, when it comes right down to it, we were just high-priced call girls.”
“So, the life your mother and aunt led bled over into your and Dawn’s.”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “We grew up around it. Men in and out of the house at all hours of the night. They must have had about fifteen or twenty women working for them.” This was so hard for her, but she had to tell him. “Men made advances at us both, but you know, Mama, she never said anything. It was Dawn who protected me. She’d have sex with them just to protect me, get me off their radars.”
“I’m so sorry,” Bjorn said in a hushed voice. He put a hand on her shoulder. “You could have told me, Lydia. I wouldn’t have judged you.”
“Wouldn’t you?” She laughed hysterically.
“No, I wouldn’t have. Some of my best friends over the centuries have been courtesans. Many were strong-minded women who never lost their identities, but were simply placed into a position they had no control over. I’ve never been one to judge. To me, people are people. It only mattered how they treated me.” He sighed. “There was a woman from a village in Scandinavia who looked out for me like I was one of her own. She was a courtesan, and like you, she had a heart of gold.”
“Then why were you so shocked?”
“I just was. I don’t judge, but I couldn’t help but to be shocked, considering who the news came from.” Bjorn rolled his eyes. “Seriously, I really had wished that news came from you, not some douche bag of a dhampir.”
“I apologize. I really regret not telling you.” She waited several moments. “Whatever became of the woman?”
“Oh. She died. She aided us in protecting the dragons.”
“I’m sorry.” Her hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“That’s a part of life.”
She wanted to ask him a question about making her immortal, but she wanted to be sure they were still involved. Just because he was being nice and not freaking out didn’t mean that he wished to carry on a relationship with her.
“Well, what I what to know is, what do you think of me?”
Bjorn smiled. “You know you’re still my woman.”
She was relieved. All this could have been avoided if only she had come clean that night on the beach, but her worst fears had held her prisoner.
“I have a question for you,” he said calmly.
“Sure.”
“You were Lars’s blood thrall?”
She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “Yes,” she muttered in a low voice. “I was his blood thrall.”
“Um, I need to tell you that I believed you when you told me about the pictures. At the time, I didn’t want to believe you because I was seeing with my eyes. I traveled back into time, and I saw him hypnotize you. He . . . put his hands on you.”
“That bastard,” she hissed. “I knew he had done something, but I didn’t know what.”
“Oh, doll, don’t you know how badly you could have been hurt by him?” He shook his head. “I wish I had known you years ago. I would have taken you away from everything. I would have taken care of you and asked for nothing in return.”
She blinked back tears as she glanced over at him. “Nothing? Seriously?”
“Well . . . maybe your love.”
“I’m not sure if you wanted to know me back then.” She pulled up to his home and cut the engine. “I was so different, and love could have walked up and bitch slapped me. I wouldn’t have known the difference.”
He placed a hand over hers. “Time to say good-bye to the past and hello to the future. Come on.” He looked in the backseat. “Where’s your clothes? Or shall we drive back to Dawn’s and pick up more?”
“In the trunk,” she admitted as they exited the vehicle. She popped the trunk and assisted him in retrieving her overnight cases.
Once they were inside, he continued walking to his bedroom with her bags. “Um, I can sleep on the couch, or in one of the other rooms,” she suggested.
Bjorn froze in his tracks and gently put the cases down and approached her. “You’ll sleep in my bed . . . with me.” His hands caressed her arms, rubbing them lovingly. Sensually, his hands slid up her arms and to her shoulders. “Why are you doing this to yourself?” he asked quietly.