“It’s about to get better,” Ángel said.
Remmy glanced at him and nodded.
The two of them began to move, thrusting at the same time.
Almost immediately, her climax leapt, clawing for the surface. Bubbles fizzed in her veins. The climax didn’t come from the depths of her belly like it usually did. It felt as though her entire body had become a vessel of pleasure and the excitement built from every nerve end, from everywhere…and from nowhere.
As her orgasm peaked, Remmy bent over her. She saw his teeth emerge, then the sharp pain as he bit.
Then a pleasure more powerful than anything she had ever felt exploded through her, stopping her heart, her hearing and her thoughts. She might have screamed. She didn’t know. She was a purely sensory creature, lost in the sea of feelings and hot, pulsing delight.
Ángel’s hoarse groan as he came brought her back to herself. Remmy’s eyes were closed as he drove into her. He gave a choked cry and grew still.
* * * * *
Even when their heartbeats had slowed, they stayed where they were. Octavia was warm, lying between the two of them. Even if she had been completely chilled, she still would have remained there in that very precious moment. They were still in her body, joined in the most intimate way.
Ángel shifted his shoulders enough to let her move and lie back, which meant she could see his face, too.
“You’re comfortable this way?” he asked. “You’re twisted.”
“I’m flexible and I’m not moving,” she said and sighed. “If either of you move, I’ll shoot you. I have a Smith & Wesson 500, remember.”
Remmy brushed her hair back and kissed her temple. “I think it was meant for you all along,” he said. “I don’t know how these things go—”
“You don’t?” Ángel said, with a touch of amazement in his voice. “You mean we’ve been following your lead for a day and you don’t know where you’re going either?”
Remmy rolled his eyes. “Rein in your tongue, my hot tempered lover. I’m trying to say something. A confession of sorts, which doesn’t come easy to men of my generation, so let me get it out.”
Ángel smiled. “This should be good,” he murmured, looking down at Octavia.
“Let him talk,” she said. “It’s not often he’s in the mood for it.”
Remmy shook his head. “It’s not often I’m in the right company for it. Only now I am. I had doubts about this whole bonding thing. I’d heard of it. There is so much information coming out from the Earthwing clan in New York that we’re all more or less experts on the Grimoré and the trinities these days, so I am
not
leading you up the garden path. Yet I’ve stayed away from it all. I was like you, Octavia. I wanted nothing to do with the Grimoré and the Trinities, because it wasn’t my war.”
She jumped a little.
“I am a lawman and always have been. It seemed to me that humans were doing more than enough to kill each other off without the help of the Grimoré, so we should spend our efforts there, first. Now I’ve been pulled into the middle of this. I resented it. I hated that Alexander was right, after all.”
“Who is Alexander?” Ángel asked.
“I have a feeling you’ll end up meeting him soon. He’s a vampire I knew in San Diego about twelve years ago, when he was still human. He is part of the Earthwing clan in New York, now. He knew I was one of this trinity before I did. That’s not my point, though.”
Remmy shook his head. “I never did have much time for hocus pocus, even as a vampire. Now, though, I’m starting to understand the power these trinities generate. I can
feel
it. Just as I can feel you right now, Octavia. Just as I can feel Ángel, right next to me inside you.”
She drew in a breath at the reminder.
“When you clamp down like that, you’re just asking for trouble,” Ángel whispered in her ear.
Octavia touched his cheek, then looked at Remmy. “You’re confessing that now you’re committed to this?”
Remmy shook his head. “The commitment was involuntary. I didn’t ask for this any more than you did. Now, though…now I
want
it. Just now, here where we are right now, it hit me. Right here.” He touched his chest. “It was a humbling feeling. It was a sense of familiarity and comfort, so strong it made my heart ache. All this time, I’ve been searching for the new and the novel. I had it all wrong.”
Ángel reached over her shoulder and laid his hand against Remmy’s cheek. “We all did,” he said softly and Octavia silently agreed with him.
Except this still wasn’t a war of her choosing, although that was a distinction that was being torn away from her with every minute that passed with these two men in it.
It was becoming more a question of whether she could fight her war and still keep them with her, too. If it came to that, Octavia didn’t know if she would be able to choose at all.
The vampeen came at them out of the dark, silent and deadly. There were dozens of them, pouring in from both sides of the narrow valley they were in.
“Damn it, we don’t have time for this!” Diego bitched, pulling out his guns.
“Yet here we are,” Alex said calmly. He picked up the machete he had brought with him from Manuel Benavides and started swinging.
There were dozens of vampeen, their teeth gnashing and sharp claws raking. Normally, the three of them would handle such numbers easily. Alex had done it more than once. So had the others. Except the three of them here were not a full trinity.
“If Mia were here…” Wyatt muttered as he tossed aside another carcass. His arm was black with their blood, as he used his iron knife at close quarters. More often than not, he gripped their neck and squeezed as he drew the knife across it. Alex didn’t know if Wyatt was aware that he smiled as he did it.
“Don’t even think about calling for her,” Alex told him.
“I’m not. It would help if she was here, is all I’m saying.”
There was a flutter of clothing and something that felt like a fresh cold breeze washed over them. Alex could almost smell snow.
He swiped off the head of the closest vampeen and turned to look over his shoulder quickly. His foot slipped on the rocky ground and he swore. This was not New York pavement. It wasn’t even close.
Sera had arrived, with Blake in one arm and Lindal in the other. She had two long knives strapped to her hips.
“Ah, shit….” Alex breathed and braced himself.
“Sera, for the love of all that is fucking holy and divine! What the hell do you think you’re
doing
?” Diego shouted. He shot another two vampeen and strode over to her. “Get your ass back to New York before I kick it back there.”
“I’m here to fight,” she said, pulling out her knives.
“No!”
“Yes,” Blake said, his hand on Diego’s arm.
Diego stared at him. Then he brought his hands to his forehead, as if his head was hurting. The guns were still in his hands. “
Fuck!”
he shouted.
“Behind you!” Alex shouted.
Both Blake and Sera whirled. Sera was actually faster than Blake, who was supposed to be the hunter. Sera, though, was purebred Elvish. It showed. She didn’t seem to put much effort into it, yet three vampeen slithered to the ground, headless, inside three seconds.
“Alex!” Wyatt warned
Alex turned back to the work, confident now they had a full trinity among them that they could deal with this.
* * * * *
After it was over, when there was nothing but black blood and bodies everywhere, they walked down the gulley to where the stench couldn’t reach them.
Lindal faced Alexander. “Where is your new trinity?”
Alex sighed. “Somewhere ahead of us. They’re moving too fast to keep up with.”
“Aren’t two of them human?” Linda asked. “You’re a vampire. You could
walk
faster than they run.”
“It’s more that they’re…masking where they are,” Alex said. “I know they’re somewhere out there. I just can’t pin down a direction.”
“So you’re wandering the desert in search? Very efficient,” Lindal said dryly. “This trinity is the last of the beta tier, Alex. We
must
protect it.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Alex shot back. “Remmy always was a devious son of a bitch. Now I can’t even sense his presence.”
“This is
your
trinity,” Lindal replied.
“I don’t think you’re hearing what he’s saying,” Wyatt said quietly.
Alex didn’t realize Wyatt had stepped up quite so close to his side. “It’s fine, Wyatt,” he said.
Wyatt was looking at Lindal. “I’m not saying this because it’s Alex you’re trying to beat up. I’m saying it because it’s true. Did you hear what he said? He can’t sense his trinity, not in the same way the rest of us can. It’s not
his
failure. He could sense them just fine twelve hours ago.”
Lindal tilted his head, studying Alex.
Alex shut his heart down as it tried to stir. Beth had emphasized over and over that there was no hierarchy in the defense forces forming to fight the Grimoré. While there was no chain of command, there
were
leaders and Lindal was one of them. Being an Elvish prince was part of it. It gave him a regal air when he needed it. Like now.
While Zack bellowed, Lindal made decisions and executed them. While everyone was looking at Seaveth for direction, Lindal was murmuring in her ear.
So Alex was silently grateful Wyatt had verbally kicked Lindal into properly processing what he had said.
“
That’s
the trinity’s strength?” Lindal said at last. “No one knows where they are?”
“Not exactly,” Alex said. He pointed. “They’re somewhere north. While you could jump straight to where your three are at any moment, all I can do is point in the right direction, like a compass. They could be anywhere along that line.”
“That might be useful, by and by,” Lindal said. “Right now, it’s a pain in the ass. We need to protect them. Why did they run in the first place?”
“Human complications,” Alex said shortly. “It wasn’t just them. A whole town’s worth of people headed for the hills.”
“Literally,” Diego added. “Old instincts die hard down here.” He glanced at Sera, where she was calmly cleaning off her swords with rags taken from the carcasses.
Sera gave Diego a smile that made it feel as if a small sun had come out from behind a cloud.
Lindal stirred. “Let’s hope the Grimoré are having just as much trouble pinning down their location as you are. Will Remmy know what to do, to seal the bond?”
Blake rolled his eyes. “You guys have put out a metric crapton of information over the last year. You put the NYPD public affairs bureau to shame and that’s really saying something. If he doesn’t know what to do, it’s not your fault. It’s not Alex’s either.”
Lindal held up his hands. “Okay, back off, everyone. You’re acting as though I’m going to skin the man.”
“You were,” Wyatt said, his tone flat. “Symbolically, at least.”
Lindal rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just that…this is the last trinity and we can’t find them. The loss of even one trinity will weaken all of us and there’s only a few months left.”
“Yeah, we know that, too,” Diego said. “Why do you think we’re
all
down here?”
Sera slid her knives back into the leather scabbards with a soft “shick” sound. “I might be able to find them,” she said. “I can jump to places I’ve never been before. The jumpers in the trinities can’t. I could keep jumping north with Alex and Wyatt.”
Lindal shook his head. “Too risky. We’ve got a whole village of humans out there, the stars alone know how many vampeen and the Grimoré controlling them. You could get caught in the middle.”
“Like the trinity are, brother?” Sera asked sweetly.
Lindal sighed. “I should never have made those bloody knives for you.”
Diego nodded. “And that is a discussion we will have later, too, elf,” he said darkly.
Blake grinned and rested his hand on Diego’s shoulder. “Please wait until I’m there to see it.”
* * * * *
They had been walking for nearly an hour after squeezing back through the slot and out into the wider canyon, when the pixies appeared.
It was Ángel, with his developing senses, who noticed them first. He stopped and then deliberately turned in a full circle, looking in every direction.
“What is it?” Octavia asked, her heart thudding.
Remmy turned back. “I feel…something.”
“We’re being followed. Except they’re not exactly following us.” Ángel frowned, peering down at the ground. “They’re not really here at all.”
“Not yet,” Remmy said, reaching for the knife he had strapped to his belt, when he had dressed beside the pool. It was one of the blades they had taken from the farmhouse.
Octavia pulled out the gun from her backpack. It didn’t feel as heavy as it had back at the house. She was going to have to get some sort of holster for it, though. Reaching into the backpack would only slow her down.
She waited. Her senses weren’t as acute as Ángel’s and Remmy’s. Instead, she was stronger than she had ever been. Once the enemy was there in front of her, it would be her turn to act.
It wasn’t an enemy that appeared. The tiny person flicked into view right in front of her, hanging in mid-air, like an apparition. They tilted their head to look at her. The air behind them was blurred and Octavia realized the little creature’s wings were moving so fast she couldn’t see them.
She found herself smiling, even though she didn’t know why. “Hello,” she said, laughter pulling up from inside her.
“Sprites?” Ángel whispered, sounding awed. There was another little one hovering in front of his face, too.
“Pixies,” Remmy said, his voice low and rumbling. “I’d heard rumors they existed. No one has ever seen them until recently.” He rolled his eyes up. There was a third pixie standing on his head, its hands on its hips. The fine veined wings were moving, slowly opening and closing. They glowed with golden highlights in the moonlight. “I believe the little things may want us to follow them.”
The pixie on his head stamped its foot and he winced. “My apologies,” he said. “You are not at all little.”
Octavia pressed her lips together, holding back her laughter. The pixie in front of her looked female, so Octavia gave her a sunny smile. “Do you want us to go with you?”