Tricks & Treats: A Romance Anthology (4 page)

Julia did as she was asked. In her mind’s eye she flew over fields and mountains in far off lands. Faces floated up before her she did not recognize. Or did she? Somehow, as shocking as what April said seemed, a part of Julia knew she was right. She was something more than human and being in this dress somehow validated it. She saw herself atop a mountain wearing it and a silver crown with a large sapphire entwined inside.

She sat up. “There was something about the way James looked at me earlier. Am I—are we—”

“We are fae, and you are our queen. A long time ago it was necessary for you to hide from the Vampire King who wanted you for his own. Our people were nearly destroyed in the process. I have been looking for you for a century and finally found you on the day I arrived at the company for my interview. Do you remember?”

Julia did remember. April had stopped dead in her tracks, smiled, and then embraced her. It had been an incredibly awkward moment. “Yes, I remember. But April, why now? We have worked together for years.”

“That’s a little more difficult to explain. Will you believe me when I say it’s important for you to meet with James tonight?”

“Logically I would say you are out of your mind, but in my gut I believe it and that scares the crap out of me.”

“I know. There’s also a reason why you have been so focused on your routine and unwilling to let love in.”

“Let me guess, this also has something to do with James and you want me to find out for myself?”

April smiled. “You catch on quickly, my queen.” April stood and held out her hand. “Now we must go to the party. You must trust your intuition tonight, Jewel.”

Julia took April’s hand and the room when dark. Her body felt as if it had been flung up against the wall and then everything went silent. April laughed beside her.

“You can open your eyes now. We are here.”

Julia cautiously opened one eye and peeked around. They were in the bathroom at her office.

“How did you do that?” Julia whispered her question as she pulled he hand from April’s grasp.

“Like I said. Not enough time to explain this evening, but you will understand soon enough.”

It was all way too much and Julia’s logic warred with her instincts. As she turned to make for the door she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The woman in the reflection looked as regal as any queen she had ever seen or imagined. As crazy as all this was, deep within her, Julia didn’t feel unsafe. Could she really be queen to a people in great danger?

The booming music and flashing lights overwhelmed Julia’s senses. All her nerve endings tingled and she was hyper-aware of everyone in the room. Without even scanning the crowd, she knew without a doubt that James was not there.

But there was someone else who drew her attention.

Dressed in black from head to toe with eyes that glittered in the dark, the new graphic designer, Victor, watched her from the makeshift bar that was usually the reception area. Julia had only met him a couple of times and he seemed talented enough, but a brooding sort of fellow so Julia had avoided him up to this point.

As he watched her, she could almost feel his gaze burning a path down over the curves of her body making her feel more exposed than ever. April grabbed her hand and led her away from the bar and from Victor.

“Come. James is outside waiting for you.”

They stepped outside onto the large stone deck overlooking the harbour. It was a clear night and the moon hung low on the horizon. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Julia recalled seeing a headline on some newsfeed stating that tonight’s full moon had not been so close to the earth in a hundred years or something like that. It glowed a yellowish-orange and she could swear the man-in-the-moon smiled at her.

“Beautiful.”

James’ voice startled her from her musings just as his fingers caressed the small of her back. A slight touch sending excited shivers all the way to her toes. She turned around to find April missing, and James standing before her. With her back to the moon, and it shining directly into his face, she could see heat blazing in his eyes.

“I—didn’t see you there,” she said. “Where is April?”

“Inside, and safe, I assure you.”

“Safe? I don’t understand. Why would April be unsafe? What is going on?”

James reached for her hand and caressed her palm with his thumb. “We needed to awaken you long before you were ready, but believe me it is necessary. It took us so long to find you and I assure you, I will keep you and April safe. She has served us well.”

“Us?”

“Did she not tell you who I was? Am?”

“No. I admit, she has told me some fantastical things this evening, and I am trying very hard to determine what is sane and what are possibly the workings of an overactive imagination.”

James chuckled; a deep rich timbre that made her want to shuffle closer to him. There was something about him that drew her in and her instincts told her she could trust him.

He took her other hand and held tight to both. “I cannot tell you all the things you need to know, but I can help you remember them for yourself. Will you trust me?”

Would she? Could she? Her logic seeped back into the situation before her. Perhaps she was letting herself be drawn into this fantasy merely because of her loneliness. Perhaps April and James had cooked up this scheme to draw her out of her shell. But if that were true, what about the gown? And what about how they had gotten there?

“I don’t know what to think,” she said.

He smiled, the dimples deepening in his face. She wanted to kiss him, more than she had ever wanted to kiss anyone and before she could form another thought, he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. A light touch at first, he then released her hand and reached around to the small of her back to press her closer to him.

James’ tongue sought hers as his hard body urged hers to respond. Warring with herself, she held back a little and let him kiss her at first, then something welled within her, a burning need to know what would happen if she succumbed to his seduction.

Julia met his tongue and shared in the dance. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. He lifted her a few steps until she was pressed up against the railing. Julia’s head swam with images of them in another time and another place.

Across a desert to a stone palace where they sat together.

In a thick wood with hundreds of pixie faeries surrounding them as they pledged themselves to one another for all eternity.

Then came an image filling her heart with a sadness she could barely endure. Julia broke the kiss and pulled away from him. “I have died.”

She looked up into his face and noted the despair there. “Yes, you died and I did not know if I would ever find you again.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Kiss me again and see for yourself.”

Julia had to know. She pulled him closer and sealed her lips over his. Her need for knowledge was only seconded by her need to touch him. Her body pulsed with desire and a longing she had never known in this lifetime.

As they kissed, she saw one more image and it broke her heart in to a million pieces. Victor stood over her with a glimmering glass dagger, dripping her blood. The look of anguish on his face was nothing compared to the rage on James’ and the burning she felt now in her chest. It was too much; an image so powerful she pulled away to grasp her heart.

“He said he would destroy us all to get to you. He nearly succeeded. In the end he said if he could not have you he vowed no one would.”

“He is inside.”

“He is and he will not hurt you again. Not while I draw breath. April and I have drawn a protection spell for you that is weaved into the fabric of your gown. He cannot harm you while you wear it.”

“But I cannot wear this forever.”

“No, but you can for as long as it takes for us to get you some place safe.”

“So why now after all this time have you and April revealed this to me?”

“Because tonight you were open to it and that’s because tonight is special. Only once in a hundred years can memories of a past life be revealed to a living soul. You have been reborn, but you still possess much of your former power. I knew that any kind of connection between us would bring enough of those memories back for you to believe me. Otherwise you would think we were both crazy and we would risk losing you forever.”

It made sense so either it was the most amazing truth the world had ever known, or they were all crazy and she was even more so for considering the truth of it for even a second.

“So what now?”

“Now you can do whatever you want,” he said. “I would like you to come home with me where I can protect you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And what happens when I take off my gown?”

He stepped closer. “Then I get to cherish and pleasure you in ways it would take ten lifetimes to forget.”

Julia’s belly flip-flopped at the thought of his hard body covering hers and his thick cock thrusting into her until she begged for release. Was that a memory or wishful thinking?

He took another step toward her and she placed her hand flat on his chest. “What about protection? I thought you said all the protection was in the gown.”

He leaned in toward her ear and whispered, “You will be safe in my home, I promise.” He then nipped her ear with his teeth and her body arched toward his. A jolt of desire raced to her clit. Crazy or not, she had to have this man between her thighs.

“Your mind is already made up, my precious Jewel. Let me take you home.”

“Yes,” she said and before she could blink, her body was pushed through time and space again.

His home was not what she expected. “Where are we?” She gazed about trying to take it all in at once. Stone walls were covered by beautiful tapestries depicting various battles including her most favourite, the Bayeux Tapestry.

“This is my home—our home.”

“Yes but exactly where is here? I’ve never seen a castle in Newfoundland. And is that real?” she asked pointing to the tapestry. When he nodded, she said, “I thought the original hung in Normandy.”

“That is a replica and this is the original. We are deep in the black forest of Germany,” he said. “As you must have gleaned by now, travelling great distances is not a barrier for us. Come, let me show you around.”

For the next hour, he shared stories of things they had done together and places they had visited. That theirs had been a great love spanning centuries until Victor fell in love with her and changed all their fates. Julia was still struggling to take it all in when James opened a set of double doors.

“This was our chamber.”

Her jaw dropped when she stepped inside. Two walls were floor to ceiling book shelves including an upper level with various nooks and crannies with cushions so the reader could sit and read in different places. On the other side of the chamber floor to ceiling windows and the huge king sized four-post bed facing out toward a thick forest at the foothills of the castle. Julia could not imagine a more pleasant or perfect room.

“I love everything about this place,” she said.

James stepped up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her back toward his body. “We have spent many days and nights here enjoying one another’s company and pleasuring each other. Let me love you like that again,” he whispered in her ear.

Somehow when she turned in his arms, she knew this was exactly where she was supposed to be. She slipped her arms around his neck and drew him to her for a deep, soul-stirring kiss. James picked her up and brought her to the bed. He placed her on it and then stepped back. Julia’s gaze followed his fingers as he slowly undid the buttons of his shirt until his sculpted chest urged her forward to touch him.

She slid her hands up and down his chest and took one very taut nipped into her mouth. The air hissed through his teeth as she flicked it with her tongue. James pulled his shirt off the rest of the way and then reached for his pants, but Julia pushed his hands away. Kneeling before him she slid her gown off her shoulders and pushed it down to her waist, revealing her heavy breasts and needle-hard nipples.

“I want you so bad,” James said in a hoarse voice. “I feel like I may to burst if I don’t get inside you soon.”

Julia smiled and reached for his pants, unzipped him and pushed them down past his hips. Moisture pooled between her thighs when his cock sprang free. He grabbed the sides of her gown and slid it down her thighs. Her clit throbbed when he slid his hands up her hips again and brushed her inner thigh with his thumbs.

Kicking the gown off completely, Julia knelt low before him and took his hard cock in her hand. She desperately needed to taste him and ensure he was as frantic for their joining as she was. Stroking up and down she gazed up at him and locked eyes as she took the tip of him in her mouth. She sucked hard and stroked at the same time, marvelling at the gasps and shudders coming from him.

“Oh my sweet vixen, you’re bringing me to the edge too fast,” he said and pulled back. In a swift move he kicked his pants off the rest of the way and flipped her onto her back with her arms pinned above her.