“Preferably not.”
Morgana opened her hands as though presenting the perfect answer. “Embrace your vampire power. Become a Kinsman.”
“Easier said than done.”
Rage thought back to how easily Ripper had subdued her hesitations. For the period of time he used his Summoning, she had willingly submitted to him. Her power, her
rage
, had evaporated.
Morgana simply smiled, easy for her since she’d been a Kinsman for centuries. “Some blossom faster than others,” she admitted, “but it is not a function of time. It is a function of inner strength, which differs for each of us. You’ll understand when the time comes.”
“Damn.” Rage frowned. “And there is no other way?”
Morgana hesitated.
Rage leaned forward. “There is another way?”
Morgana opened her mouth, paused, and then finally admitted, “There may be one other way. I am leery to even suggest it.”
“Suggest it.” Rage reached across the span separating them, and clasped Morgana’s hands. “Please. I am desperate.”
“Magic.”
Rage’s brows drew firmly together, her confusion obvious.
“Witch magic. Not vampire magic,” Morgana clarified.
Vampires and witches didn’t cross paths much, and both sides seemed to prefer it that way. Vampires didn’t consort with witches, werewolves, fey or other non-humankind. “Where would I find this…witch magic?
Morgana smiled softly.
* * * * *
One hour later, and one phone call to some mysterious source Morgana would not name, and Rage held a small potion vial in her hands. By itself the fluorescent purple liquid held no power. How she would come by a sample of Ripper’s blood to complete the potion remained to be solved. The tight outfit she’d picked to wear didn’t provide much in the way of hiding the vial either. Zipped into the front pocket of her stretchy pants, the vial made a noticeable bulge. She only hoped her tits and ass provided enough of a distraction to avoid notice of her only key for escape. Time was growing short. She’d just have to solve her problem later. There was another neck she needed to save first.
The basement-door guard slouched in a hardback kitchen chair, leaning back so the chair propped against the door and his long legs extended across the short hallway to brace against the opposite wall, keeping him at the carefree angle. He glanced up at Rage. It was Dean. His arm was lightly folded across his middle, his ribs probably still hurting. The bulk of the bandages wrapped around his chest ruined the perfect line of his muscle shirt. His bangs had fallen across his eyes again, as they seemed to do often, as if his own hair liked to caress his handsome face.
Dean twisted his wrist and checked his watch. “You’re up early.” He glanced up and
smirked
his pretty-boy smile. “Or did Ripper just keep you up late, lover?”
“Shut up.” How was it possible for her to truly like this pain in the ass? Even without the rage, she hated to smile at his annoying comments and encourage him, but smile she did. “I want to see Caden.”
Dean bent up his knees, making his jean-clad legs look so good in the tight denim, as he lowered the chair back to its feet. “
You going
to kill him now?”
She frowned. She didn’t need someone else hounding her about making Ripper happy. “I’m going to see if he’s awake. And if he is, I’m going to talk with him.”
Getting to his feet, Dean moved the chair out of the way of the door. There was a touch of something in his voice. Concern, perhaps? Was he still afraid that Ripper might take his anger out on them all? “But you might kill him though, right? I mean, you’ve not ruled that out, right?”
“Dean,” she sighed, “just
move
.”
Dean frowned, trying for the hurt-little-boy look that almost made her laugh. “Don’t bite me. I was just asking.” He unlocked the door and held it open for Rage. Standing in the doorway himself, he didn’t give her enough room to pass without rubbing up against his body.
“You really want me to hurt you, don’t you?” She raised an eyebrow.
Offended, he straightened. “A man can’t hold a door for a lady?”
Rage stepped into the doorway, facing him so her body nuzzled against his, her breasts snugging up against him. Placing a hand on either side of his face, she drew him down for a kiss. His features softened with an expression of wonderment and joy. When his soft mouth covered hers, she nipped his bottom lip, bringing blood. He jerked back. With a growing smile he licked away his own blood.
“Foreplay.
I like it.”
She slugged him in the arm, careful not to hit him where his wounds were. Two days ago, she’d have gone for the broken ribs. What the hell was wrong with her?
It had been seeing Caden again, Rage thought as she descended the basement stairs. With her vampire hearing, she could detect movement in Caden’s cell. Peeking through the window, she saw him sitting on the mattress. He was using something small, like a nail or a screw to work at the padlock on his collar. Even toiling on something so small, all the muscles on his bare chest and back flexed and danced under his skin.
The key to the cell door was on a hook by the base of the steps and she went back and retrieved it. Watching Caden through the window, she unlocked the door and opened it.
Caden jumped to his feet. His stance was wide, ready for an attack. His fists tightly balled but remained at his sides. When he realized it was Rage, his hard expression softened, but only fractionally. Mistrust shone in his eyes. His voice was deep and steady, hiding any emotions. “Regina,” he acknowledged her neutrally.
Right.
She closed her eyes, feeling her heart sink. He saw her as a vampire. And he was a self-styled executioner of vampires.
She opened her eyes and sighed. Slowly, so he would not think she was attacking him, she raised her hand. She held out the photograph Shade had given her. “I wanted to return this to you.”
It wasn’t trust that flared in Caden’s flame-blue eyes as he regarded the photograph. His hand was careful not to touch hers as he took it from her. As he brought it closer to himself, he glanced down at it and the clenched muscles around his eyes and jaw relaxed. Something in the way he smoothed the photo with his thumb held reverence. Finally, he slipped it into his thigh pocket. Glancing back up at her, he seemed slightly unsure as if he didn’t believe she was the same girl from his photograph. Almost to himself, he mumbled, “Thanks.”
Rage crossed her arms. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected when she came to speak with him, but this cool hostility wasn’t it. The rage did not return, but a sting that staked her heart nearly stole her breath. Coming down here had been a mistake. Fighting the burning in her eyes, Rage turned to leave.
Before she reached the door, Caden spoke softly. “I thought you were dead.”
Rage froze at his words, the ache in her heart hurt more than if he’d just rejected her and left it at that, although she didn’t know why that should be. Over her shoulder she locked eyes with Caden.
“Right,” he muttered, rubbing his hand over his short, cropped hair in the nervous gesture he always used when he’d put his foot in his mouth. “You’re kind of undead.”
Her smile was ironic, not happy. “Not kind of.
Completely undead.”
Caden nodded, his eyes flicking down over her body as she stood with her back to him. She’d not had a bad figure when she’d been human, but the nature of the vampire toned all the muscles and eliminated excess body fat. In her tight outfit, Caden was getting the full effect as his gaze smoothed down her back, pausing for a long time at her bottom, and then sliding down her sleek legs. Finally he met her eyes again. He wet his lips with his tongue before he spoke again. “He said he was just going to kill you.”
Not intending for it to appear as preternatural as it probably did, she rotated without bending her knees to face him completely. It was one of the unnatural ways of moving that vampires had when that part of their nature was aroused. Had she been a Kinsman instead of an Offspring, silver would have spilled over her eyes. Her voice hissed in a way that crossed the angry breath of a snake with the sound of a sword slicing through silk, a combination that could entrance a human like a cobra’s eyes mesmerizing its prey. The emotion that washed through her was not her old rage. That monster had been slain and turned to dust. No. This was just good old pissed-to-her-socks fury.
“What?!”
Caden stepped back involuntarily. His focus fixed on her fangs, which she no longer hid with the careful curve of her lips. With his hands raised, palms toward her, he seemed to both try to calm her and prepare to defend himself if she should attack.
“You knew Ripper was going to attack me?” Rage paced like a lioness, circling him. “You sent him? Leaving me like a fool at the altar was not enough for you? You had to add injury to insult?”
Dropping his hands to his side, Caden’s expression darkened as though hurt and defeated. “I would have hoped you knew me better than that.”
“I thought I knew you before you dumped me, jackass.” Now she made no attempt to hide her fangs before him at all. Usually before a human she held her lips very carefully to keep her teeth concealed.
“Only I didn’t dump you.” Caden slumped down and sat on the mattress. He didn’t watch her anymore, as if he would make no attempt to stop her if she attacked him.
“Not willingly, anyway.”
“You called me,” she reminded him. “You were with some tramp. I could hear her in the background. You said—”
“I was with a vampire, Regina,” Caden cut her off.
“Under her influence.”
His eyes flicked up to peg hers. “You know what that means better than I do, I’m sure.”
Under the influence of vampire magic, a human could be made to do or say anything. It took practice and control and even then it was normally just used for hunting or preventing the knowledge of vampires from spreading. She’d done the very thing to him herself just hours ago. Was it possible that Caden told the truth? “What exactly happened that day?”
Caden rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face and hair hard with his hands as if thinking about it bothered him and he needed to gear up for it. “Of course, I didn’t realize it then, but the night before I ran into a group of vampires. I guess they’d been watching us that evening until you went back to your place. I stayed out a while longer, strolling on the river walk. The leader, Ripper as you called him, appeared before me.”
Crossing her arms, Rage shivered. Ripper had been watching her the night before he’d rebirthed her? After what she’d just seen in his soul, the thought of him stalking her for more than one night was disturbing. Vampires were predators of opportunity. They didn’t target individuals in the way Ripper had done with her, at least not normally.
Caden continued. “He asked me about you.
About us.
About the wedding.”
He shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. There was more he was not telling and she could guess what it was. There were a number of small scars dotting his nude chest, back and arms. Fang marks. A number of them must have fed from him, weakening him further to the vampire’s control. Finally, he said, “Ripper said he was going to kill you. They left me for dead a few days later. I went looking for you as soon as I was released from the hospital. When I couldn’t find you anywhere…”
And she’d blamed him. She’d hated him all this time and it had been all Ripper’s doing. Rage glanced down at her feet, guilt slithering through her.
Caden rose and crossed to her, the chain attached to his collar pulling tight as he reached for her hand. He brought it to his mouth and gave her one soft kiss. “I never stopped loving you, Regina. I dedicated my life to avenging you.”
Caden’s lips spread warmth across her pale skin. Heat traveled from his touch into her blood where it seemed to seep throughout her system. Her lips parted as she caught her breath. Moisture gathered in her eyes, blurring her vision. Pain shattered from within her heart, releasing her true self from the dungeon she had confined it where no one could find her or hurt her ever again. Caden was here now. Here where she needed him to be. Her whisper sliced her throat like razors, “I have missed you.”
The admission destroyed her. Rage slumped into Caden’s chest. He caught her.
Embraced her.
Her eyes closed and tears dribbled down her cheeks. She’d lost everything the night she’d lost Caden. Now with each kiss he peppered on top of her head Caden swept away all the years and filled the emptiness. His gentle hand palmed her cheek and lifted her tear-stained face.
Whatever words she hoped or feared he would say, he didn’t. Instead Caden kissed her. At first the pressure was tentative, as though he feared that the featherweight of his lips would crush her in her fragile state. His arm supported her back as though he expected her to collapse. Truth was
,
she was surprised that she hadn’t.
His shoulders flexed under her hands. Rage gripped him. How real he felt. The moment was like a dream, one she hadn’t had the strength to even hope for. Breathing in each kiss, Rage melted into the only man she’d ever really loved. His taste, his scent, his warmth bled into her mouth with each kiss. She drank him in as if he were blood, only Caden gave her more life than blood ever had. Her moan vibrated between their hungry lips.
The timelessness that only love could spawn blossomed between them. Her fingers chased her need to touch every inch of Caden. His hair slipped between her fingers. The muscles in his back flexed as he deepened the kiss. She followed the depression of his spine until it flowed into the strong curve of his ass. Rage gripped him hard.
Caden controlled her head with his fist clenching her hair. He arched her back as his mouth rediscovered the taste of her throat. Rage curled back her lips, wishing he would bite her even though he wasn’t a vampire. Her shaky breath hissed around her fangs. Their need burned through them. Caden’s hands glided up under her shirt. The stroke of his hands up her bare back sent insane shivers across her flesh. Expertly Caden released the clasps of her bra. With reverent slowness, he revealed her. He slipped the shirt and bra up and over her head before tossing them aside. His thumbs circled the tightening nipples, teasing, tickling, arousing. Their eyes met and they both smiled like teenagers experimenting with their first intimate encounter.