The witch exhaled. “I don’t know…”
A knock on the door startled them all.
“Oh, now what?”
“I called Ridge on the way here,” Severo offered.
The witch opened the door to reveal the hulking wolf. Ridge bowed politely and stepped inside. “I’ve come to beg for Creed Saint-Pierre’s life,” he said.
“Seriously?” Abigail took in all three of them. She was stymied. And she looked small and powerless. “Three werewolves come to beg for the life of one vampire? I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Please.” Blu took Abigail’s hand and clasped it between both of hers. “I love him.”
The witch rolled her eyes and tugged away from Blu. “Fine. But he gets shackled right after his recovery. If he can recover.”
T
WILIGHT PURPLED THE SKY
. The field out back of Creed’s estate had not been touched by fire. It was private, surrounded by woods on two sides, and fenced in on the other. Blu had carefully arranged a blanket and Alexandre laid his leader down.
Abigail immediately began the spell to reverse the shackles. It was much shorter then the original spell and, with but a clap of Abigail’s hands, Creed’s body reacted, lifting in an arch from the ground as if he’d been hit with defibrillator paddles, then collapsed, motionless.
Alexandre grabbed Blu’s hand and drew her away from Creed, leaning down to stroke the hair from her cheek. “I have never liked werewolves. I still do not like them. I was once taken captive and forced to fight in the blood sport.”
“I’m so sorry, Alex, I—”
“Doesn’t matter right now. What does, is that I’ve seen a remarkable shift of thought in Creed. And it is because of you. You are very good for him, Princess. I count you as my friend, and thank you for loving my best friend.”
He bowed and kissed her on the brow then dismissed himself, along with Severo, Ridge and Abigail. The witch didn’t say anything but, surprisingly, she clasped hands with Ridge as they strode across the field.
“This is it,” Blu said. “I hope this works.”
Unscrewing the small titanium stopper from the ring, she paused over her lover’s open chest. Blood scent tormented the air. It was not an odor she could normally stomach, but after spending hours over Creed’s bloody body, she had become numb to it.
The brief thought emerged: if her husband died she would be left to feed her new blood hunger alone.
“Please don’t leave me, Creed. I can survive the blood hunger alone, but never without your companionship. And you heard Alexandre. He’s your best friend. You don’t want to leave him, do you?”
She stroked softly over the ravaged flesh and muscle. “Does my blood still flow within you? Can you feel me, Creed? You said our heartbeats were now synched. Know that my heart beats only for you.”
If only her blood could bring him back now. Could it? What if she dripped her own blood onto his wounds? It was a better risk than the witch’s blood.
She clicked the minuscule glass vial with a fingernail and tilted it to watch the crimson flow along the glass.
If Alexandre were wrong, witch’s blood could kill Creed. But if Severo were right, he would die anyway. And really, what could a few drops of werewolf blood do for him?
Kissing the glass vial, she then carefully tipped it over Creed’s heart. Five drops fell onto his beating heart and permeated the muscle.
“Come back to me, lover. We’ve only just begun.”
Nothing magical happened. The air did not change or begin to sparkle like some grand transformation scene in a movie.
Nothing.
Perhaps the shackle spell had depleted his magic? What had she expected?
Blu sucked in her lower lip and bent over him. Closing her eyes, she began a mantra, “Please heal. Come back to me.”
Hours passed. Creed remained motionless, save for a few twitches in his fingers and some moans. He was fighting to survive.
Blu continued the mantra.
Another hour later a breeze tickled the tall grasses, stirring up cricket song. Blu sensed a change in the air. She sat up straight.
A clover-sweet breeze sifted through her hair, drawing the long dark strands across her face. Air tickled her mouth, much like a lover brushing his lips over hers.
Blu closed her eyes and imagined Creed’s mouth at hers. She wrapped her arms about her shoulders and, sitting at her husband’s side, surrendered to the feelings of warmth and love.
“You’re doing this,” she whispered. “I can feel your kiss on my skin. It worked. The blood revitalized your magic. Save yourself, Creed. Come back to me.”
The wind began to swirl around them in a gentle tornado. Blu spread her arms and wiggled her fingers. The air caressed her like Creed’s kiss gliding over her skin.
And then a tremendous gasp of air brought him from the precipice of hell and back to this realm. Chest heaving, Creed opened his eyes and he cried out in agony.
Blu did not lunge to protect him, to try to make it better. He needed the air, so she stood and stepped back. The cashmere wrap she wore over her T-shirt slipped from her shoulder and rippled like a flag. It brushed Creed’s face.
Hours passed as she watched the wounds knit together and the flesh become smooth and new. His arm, broken and distorted, mended and straightened, and his fingers clutched handfuls of grass.
When he was able to sit, naked save for the blanket across his lap, he stretched an arm, flexing the scarred muscle. He nodded, satisfied he had begun recovery.
He sought Blu’s eyes, and she knelt before him and stroked his cheek. What a wonder that he had become whole. She prayed he was as whole on the inside as he appeared outside.
“My werewolf princess,” he whispered.
“You did it. The blood in my ring revitalized your magic.”
“But how? I am shackled…”
“Abigail removed the spell. Just so you could heal. She’ll shackle you again, when you’ve regained your strength.”
He nodded. “You give me all the magic I require. Kiss me,” he murmured.
His lips trembled against hers, his sigh tickling her mouth. Then the sharpness of fang slid across her lip.
“Your fangs are down, vampire,” she said slyly. “You really have recovered.”
He smirked. “Again, it’s you. You do something to me, werewolf. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t need to know. The fighting. Has it…?”
“My pack has conceded,” she said, “and thanks to Alexandre the Nava lawyers are returning land to the wolves. Ridge killed Amandus.”
“To save me,” he managed. “The wolf stopped my torture.”
She’d always known Ridge was a good man.
“The peace pact has been signed, Creed. Because of your sacrifice. I love you for this.”
“I think I died in that compound, Blu. Died with every stroke of the wolves’ talons. But the one thing that kept me here was you. I wanted to hold you again, to breathe your life.”
She kissed him, giving him the breath he had survived for.
D
EEP IN THE STORAGE ROOM
, behind many steamer trunks and beneath the bored gaze of an Italian marble statue of a naked warrior, something moved.
Creed approached carefully. Without a sound he prowled over the tiled floor, avoiding boxes and the pulling snag of a wooden pallet.
A flash of green popped from behind an open steamer trunk. Gray eyes dazzled. Red lips pursed and blew him a kiss.
“Are you snooping?” he asked, pausing before a crate and crossing his arms over his chest.
A sexy werewolf princess dressed in a flouncing eighteenth-century-style Watteau dress skipped to him and, with a bobble of her bright wig, bowed grandly before him.
“I never snoop.” Her wink fluttered thick dark lashes. “Why do you have a woman’s dress packed away in your
things?” She pressed her palms against the tight corset, pushing up her breasts saucily. “Was she a lover?”
“What if I told you that dress once belonged to Marie Antoinette?” Creed reached for a pink bow on the bodice and tugged her to him.
“You’re kidding me.”
How he loved the dazzle in her eyes. It had been six months since they’d wed. It had taken half as long to heal completely from the internal wounds the Northern pack had inflicted on him. Then to endure the shackle spell again had weakened him for a time. He couldn’t have survived without Blu to kiss him to health and be his reason for living.
And for that precious vial of witch’s blood.
Since they’d arrived at Creed’s Paris estate Blu had spent her days going through it, discovering the treasures he’d collected through the centuries.
“I am kidding,” he said. “It probably belonged to an acquaintance. I’m not sure where it came from, actually. I must say I’ve not before seen it accessorized with green hair.”
“I still like my wigs even though I don’t need them to hide behind anymore.”
“I like them, too. Wear them whenever you wish. You would have set the eighteenth-century salons on fire,
Blu. Such a marvel you would have been. A rock star in the halls of Versailles.”
“You make me wish I had lived then.”
“I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Start with the clothes,” she cooed. A twist of her hips sashayed the wide skirts across Creed’s legs. “How did the men get these tight corsets off the women so easily?”
“Ah?” He crooked a finger for her to approach. “It’s not so much easy, as a long and lingering pursuit for pleasure.” He dipped his head to her breasts and tongued them. “Can I keep whatever I unwrap?”
“You don’t know? You’re stuck with me, vampire. For centuries.”
“I can live with that.”
“You
will
live with that.”
“Don’t tell me what I’ll live with or without,” he teased.
“I can if I want.”
“Spoiled brat.”
“Wicked vampire.”
He lashed his tongue over her nipple. “Tasty.”
“Hungry.”
He bit not too gently, drawing blood. “Only for you.”
When writing I often play music in the background, and sometimes a theme song will grab me for each character, or a certain scene. By the time I’m finished with the story, I have a complete soundtrack. So for those curious, below is the list of songs associated with
HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND.
“Big Love Adagio”—Bond—(Blu and Creed’s wedding march)
“Up All Night”—Slaughter—(Blu’s theme song)
“Meet Me In The Red Room”—Moulin Rouge Soundtrack—(Blu’s theme)
“So Alive”—Love and Rockets—(Creed’s theme song)
“Send Me An Angel”—Deadstar Assembly—(playing in club Violet)
Blu and Creed falling-in-love songs:
“Wake Me Up Inside”—Evanescence
“New Thing”—Enuff Z’nuff
“She’s Tight”—Cheap Trick
“Topless”—Breaking Benjamin
“Raspberry Beret”—Prince
“Breathe A Sigh”—Def Leppard
“How Soon Is Now?”—Love Spit Love (The Craft Soundtrack)
“Wicked Game”—H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty)
“Mad About You”—Slaughter
Werewolf/Vampire mood stuff:
“Twist”—Korn
“7”—Prince
“The Wild Life”—Slaughter
“Psycho”—Puddle of Mudd
“Ardera Sempre”—Miranda Sex Garden
“Bodies”—Drowning Pool
“The Unforgiven III”—Metallica
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2010
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
Her Vampire Husband
© Michele Hauf 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4089-2852-3