Kindling Flames: Flying Sparks (The Ancient Fire Series Book 2) (27 page)

Vicky looked down to see what had caused him to move and saw the mess Zak had made of his pants. “Bad, Zak!” She scolded him as she released Darien to grab up the little fay. “That was not nice.” Swatting the fay on the backside, she held him up against her. “Why don’t you go chew on those shoes?”

Darien released her braid as she took the little fay out of the room.

Zak met his eyes over her shoulder and shot him the closest thing to a grin the little fay could manage as he wiggled his tips triumphantly at the vampire.

Darien glared at the gloating fay as he pushed away from the counter and followed them into the bedroom.

Vicky pulled her well-chewed shoes out and placed Zak on the floor with them.

He snapped them up and cracked them on the floor before chomping down on the heel of one.

“Let me take care of this for you,” Darien said as he lifted the long braid from Vicky’s back. “Then you can get back to your friends waiting downstairs. You have time for a few more hands before bed.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” Vicky led the way out of the room.

Darien shot a smug look at the fay left on the floor, forgotten.

Zak rapped the shoes on the floor angrily as Darien followed Vicky out of the room.

***

“It’s time to go to bed.” Darien patted Vicky on the shoulder to wake her from where she had fallen asleep on the floor. She had only lain down for a moment as Roger had gone to get a drink between euchre games.

Looking up, she blinked at Darien, before nodding her agreement and sitting up. She yawned, pushed herself to her feet, and wished her friends good night.

“Are all of these people staying here?” Vicky looked around to the groups hanging out in Darien’s house. There had to be at least twenty-five people lounging around, doing everything from sleeping to playing games. It reminded her of Saturday night in the dorms, only with less alcohol.

Darien propelled her up the steps. “Till Tuesday.”

She made her way into her bedroom and was shocked to find three people already asleep in her bed and one on the couch. They grumbled a little when Vicky turned on the light unexpectedly.

“Just get what you need for now and come on,” Darien said softly, so as not to disturb the resting people any more than necessary. “You’re sleeping in my room tonight.”

Her eyes widened as she thought about protesting. She couldn’t sleep in the bedroom with her boss. Vicky looked around the room, sighing her resignation as she nodded her agreement. There wasn’t a place here for her to sleep unless she wanted to crawl in bed with the people already there. Opening the drawer, Vicky grabbed some nightclothes before following Darien out of the room with a quiet apology as she shut the light off.

“What are all these people doing here?” she asked as she followed him into the only unoccupied room—his room.

“There’s safety in numbers,” Darien explained as he turned back the covers on the bed.

Vicky looked down as he pulled off his shirt and tossed it towards the hamper in the corner of the room. The sight of his suddenly naked chest made her heart jump. “Excuse me.” She rushed from the room and hid in the bathroom to change her clothing.

Shaking out the sleepwear she had grabbed in her haste, she cursed Vanessa for adding this piece to her pile when they had been out shopping. The dark blue nightgown hung to the floor, but the top was lace from the wide straps that crossed over the back to the princess waistline. The plunging neckline bared a fair amount of skin, leaving little to the imagination.

Odette had folded the matching thong with the nightgown, and Vicky turned an interesting shade of red as she looked at it. Images of Daniel and Mitzy in the kitchen flashed in her mind, and Vicky decided it would be better to sleep in her clothing. Looking at the shirt she was wearing, she noted the slightly damp spot where Zak had made her spill her drink earlier. She couldn’t wear that to bed, either. Giving up, Vicky changed into the nightgown. She would just have to kill Vanessa for it later.

“Don’t mess with me, mutt.”

Vicky heard Darien growl as she stepped out of the bathroom. She turned the corner into the room and smiled when she saw him and Zak on the bed, facing off. Zak was in the middle of the bed, and it looked as if Darien was trying, unsuccessfully, to dislocate him. She laughed and glided over to them. The two males turned to look at the woman as she approached.

Darien’s breath caught at the sight of her. She looked fantastic in the gown.

Vicky sat down and lifted the fay from the bed. “Come here.” She gave him a hug and ruffled his feelers.

Darien felt a shot of jealousy pelt through him as Zak waved at him tauntingly.

She released the fay and placed him at the foot of the bed. “You need to get down so we can go to bed.” Zak whined, and she ruffled him again. She turned her attention to the man behind her staring. “Are you sure it’s okay if I sleep here?” Vicky wasn’t sure if she should spend the night in Darien’s bed, especially with the errant thoughts she had been having about her boss. She couldn’t help but notice how nice he looked in the silk pajama bottoms and light shirt. “I could always sleep on the couch,” she offered.

Darien smiled at her innocence. “Just get in there.” He shifted off the covers.

“I don’t want to run you out of your bed.”

Darien chuckled. “There’s plenty of room in here for both of us and this monster.” He rolled Zak around roughly as the little fay made his way back up the bed.

Zak gurgled menacingly at him.

Vicky picked the fay up so she could get under the covers. She placed him on top of the covers near her legs before lying down as close to the edge as she could.

Darien got up to turn out the light before joining her.

Vicky wiggled a little farther into the covers, trying to get comfortable. “Good night.” She was very aware of Darien’s weight shifting the mattress behind her. She squeaked when his arm snaked around her, pulling her against him in the center of the bed.

“I don’t need you falling out of bed in the middle of the night.” He snuggled in against her back.

Vicky’s eyes were wide open as Darien spooned with her. “Um…” She wasn’t sure how she felt about this development.

Darien tucked his arm around her middle. “Just relax and go to sleep.”

Vicky took a deep breath and forced herself to relax as she let it out, but there was no way she was going to sleep with him pressed into her back. Her nightgown left part of her back exposed, and she could feel his breath against the side of her neck and shoulder as he nuzzled into her hair. She tried to sleep, but her mind kept turning to the very solid form behind her.

“Sleep,” Darien finally commanded. The power passed through her, pulling her into a deep and restful slumber. He looked up to the ball of tentacles staring at him intently. “I’m not going to do anything,” he grumbled as he squeezed Vicky against him. It would have been lovely to turn the night into something more enjoyable, but they were both tired and needed to get proper rest to recover from their individual injuries.

Vicky rubbed her face against the soft material and breathed deeply as she woke up. She blinked several times, pushing back the fog from her brain, and froze as she stared into Darien’s chest. Sometime in the night she had rolled over and snuggled into his body. She swallowed hard as she took stock of her situation and un-balled her hands from his shirt. With one leg between his and his arms wrapped around her back, there was little chance she would be able to get out of the bed without disturbing him.

Vicky looked up into his face and smiled softly at the relaxed expression as he snored lightly. She blinked in surprise. Darien was breathing. She touched his chest and could feel his heart beating gently under her fingers. To her surprise, she found it beat at the same tempo as hers, and his normally cooler skin was warm. Vicky considered this for a few minutes before the pressure in her bladder urged her to get up. Carefully, she extricated herself from his arms. A pained expression crossed his face, and he moaned lightly as she pulled away from him.

Vicky watched as Darien shifted in the bed. His arms reached out as if he was searching for something before he settled back into his sleep. She stood at the edge of the bed and watched him for a few moments. It amazed her to see that his breathing slowed down and stopped.

Zak stared up at her from the foot of the bed.

She gave the fay a contemplative look before following the call of nature driving her to the bathroom.

The clothing she had folded on the bathroom countertop had been removed during the night, and Vicky panicked slightly. She had left them there so she would have something to change into this morning. There was no way she was going out to her bedroom in the nightgown with a host of visitors staying in Darien’s house. Who knows whom she would run into outside of Darien’s room?

Vicky washed her hands and looked at her blonde hair in the mirror. Darien had cut it off at her shoulders last night, but it was already down to the middle of her back. She let out a sigh, wondering if it would ever stop growing at such rapid speed. After drying her hands, she went back into the bedroom to consider her problem. She looked at the vampire still in his bed and the little fay relaxed at the foot and smiled. It was nice to wake up to that sight.

A quick rummage through Darien’s drawers gave her a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring and a T-shirt. She glanced back over to the sleeping vampire and quickly swapped her nightgown for the borrowed clothing. Folding the gown carefully, she set it on the dresser top, but Zak snagged it up and skittered back to the bed with it.

“Give me that,” Vicky hissed as the little fay jumped up on the bed and rolled around with the delicate item. Unable to extract it from his tentacles without a fight, she gave up and let him burrow into the material. The last thing she wanted to do was struggle with Zak and wake Darien. She was already embarrassed that she had spent the night wrapped in his arms and didn’t think she could face him yet. Shaking her head, Vicky left to see what else was going on.

Zak dropped the nightgown on the covers to flop out after her.

Vicky was glad she chose to get dressed before heading out of the room. There were now four people in her bed when she opened the door and peeked in. She carefully made her way to her dresser to get a bra by the light filtering in around the drawn curtains. The clothing she was in was acceptable enough, as long as she didn’t have to go out. She quietly left to go see about something to eat.

***

Darien yawned as he woke up. He could still feel the warmth he had gotten from Vicky during the night. Smiling, he rested his face on the pillow. It had been a while since he had woken up warm. People didn’t fall asleep around him very often, and it was even less seldom they actually slept next to him. His normally slow heart beat out a tempo almost human-fast, and his smile widened as he relaxed. Apparently, forcing his system to take its cues from Vicky had done him some good. He felt younger and more alive this morning than he had in nearly a hundred years. Rolling over to bask in the feelings that had become unfamiliar to him, he decided he could get used to them again. Now he just had to find a way to convince Vicky to stay in his bed once everyone left. Darien thought about this for a few minutes before sitting up and looking around for the missing woman and the small fay.

A chuckle rose from Darien when his eyes found the gown Zak had abandoned on the bed. Picking it up, he rubbed the soft material between his fingers. His heart had ached when she walked into the room wearing it—all soft with sensual curves and enough exposed skin to make any man drool. He rubbed the smooth material against his cheek and could smell her on it. Closing his eyes, he drew in her scent mixed with his, savoring it for a moment.

The screams that sounded downstairs tore Darien away from his thought, and he flew with inhuman speed out of the room and down the steps. Rounding the corner into the living room, he stopped at the sight of the carnage left on his rug. The tangle of arms, legs, and tentacles made no sense to his eyes as he tried to find Vicky among them.

“I told you to stay down!” Vicky yelled at Zak as the group tried to untangle themselves from the pile. “You can’t play with us.” Three wolves and two vampire minions got up, leaving Vicky on her back on the white plastic sheet decorated with colorful spots, holding Zak. “You have to have arms and legs to play Twister,” she said as she sat up and reprimanded the fay for knocking the group over.

Darien looked at her, hair braided down her back and dressed in his clothing, still holding up a whining Zak. His feet moved to her, and she looked up at the new addition to the room.

“Hey,” Vicky said cheerfully as Darien dropped to the ground next to her and wrapped his arms around her. She squeaked in surprise as he pulled her into a fierce hug and held her against him.

Zak bounced back away from them.

“Is everything ok?” she asked, confused by his sudden, unexpected actions.

Darien nodded his head silently and held on to her for dear life. When he had heard her cry out, his heart had stopped, thinking the ifrit had come back for her. “Everything’s fine,” he told her, unmoving.