Bitten By Magic (10 page)

A sigh of pure ecstasy escaped him as he looked around in wonder. The grass was a blinding shade of green that reminded him of the way Alexa’s eyes looked after he kissed her. He squinted up at the sun with a laugh. He had to look away, but the memory of his first look at the sun was burned into his memory for all eternity. It was so beautiful, this daytime world in which he was a stranger.

He thought of his wife with her blue-black hair and elfin face. How beautiful would she be in the sunlight as he kissed her? Lusty need burned deep in his gut as he stopped suddenly. Alexa... Where was she? He turned to hurry back to the tunnel and stopped still. The door was gone. The culvert, which should have been blocked by the iron door, was no longer where he’d left it. He turned around in circles, panic making his breathing harsh as he frantically searched for the tunnels leading back to the Hive, back to his Keeper.

The sun, so high in the sky, began to move with an unrealistic speed. He glared up at it as it slid toward the land. He had to find the tunnel... Fear permeated his flesh as he sank to his knees, defeat and loss warring inside him as he ached for her, for his
felesage
... He raised his head and tried to scream, her name burning on his lips in a painful way that the sun hadn’t.

***

Wilhelm woke with a painful gasp. His fists dug deeper into the mattress as he fought to get his bearings. Pushing himself up away from the pillow, he immediately searched for her. Black hair spread upon the red pillow beside him made his heartbeat slow in relief. He sat up, the satin sheet sliding off his bare chest as he shoved his hands through his hair and rested his head upon his drawn-up knees. He slowly turned his head to stare down at the quietly sleeping woman beside him. Her face was turned toward him with one elegant hand resting beside her cheek on the pillow.

His new wife was beautiful—there was no arguing the fact. She was simply lovely lying beside him with the satin sheet barely covering her soft body. He knew the taste of her now. His hand moved to pick up a lock of black silk. Her hair fell through his fingers silently. Wilhelm stared at his hand and the silver ring as if he’d only just realized he was wearing it. The glint of the sun from his dream was a cruel reminder of what he could never experience outside of the dream realm.

A dream. He should have realized that was all it was. Yet in all his years he’d never dreamed of walking in the sun. Sunlight was feared, even in one’s sleep. He was baffled by the content of the dream and his reaction to it. Was his joining with the Witch the reason behind the dream? He wasn’t sure, but he did know he’d never experienced such pleasure with any other. It was probably due to her inexperienced response to his every touch.

Alexa was like holding a living flame. He could wake her easily. Share her body and touch the sun without burning to ashes. He wanted her, again. Why? He’d never been interested in having a woman share his bed for an entire day, much less woken up halfway through the day with an ache to feel her against him. She shouldn’t be sleeping in his bed, shouldn’t make him horny at... He turned to look at his clock and hissed. It was only two in the afternoon, for crying out loud! He should be so deep in his sleep that the Hive could explode and he wouldn’t hear it. He should not be wide awake with an erection.

What was going on here? He could hear her even heartbeat, his own heart pounding in a synchronized rhythm, which was alarming and strange. Wilhelm was an ancient with a strong dislike of change of any kind. He didn’t deviate from his norm, his comfort zone, yet here he was with a woman—a
Witch—
sleeping beside him with her heartbeat matching his and her blood sweetly calling to him at two in the afternoon! He glared at her, blaming the sleeping Ice Keeper for the disruptions in his routine.

“Witch!” he hissed dangerously his voice poisonous with hatred as he turned over to hug his side of the bed. He angrily wrapped the sheet and blankets tightly around his body and willed himself back to sleep. He would ignore her presence in his bed, the soft allure of her curvy female body, and most especially the chanting lull of her sweet blood. Upon waking he promised himself he would sate his lust and his hunger with a willing Poppet, one who knew when to leave his chambers.

***

Alexa lay on her back, her eyes closed tightly, her demeanor calm as she waited for his breathing to stop as it had before he jumped awake. He’d reached for her; she felt his fingers on her hair before he hissed at her. She was under no illusions where her volatile husband was concerned. Though he’d been patient and tender with her while introducing her to the new experience of sex, he showed her with actions that he still hated who and what she was.

His hatred shouldn’t have been a surprise to her. He was a Vampire after all, her enemy, by birth on her part and by conversion on his. It shouldn’t have disappointed her either. But it did. Worst of all, knowing how he truly felt should not have hurt, yet it did. Deep in a part of her soul that she wasn’t even aware she possessed, there was a woman’s heart that sobbed at his cruelty.

She opened one eye very slowly and found he was turned away from her. His shoulders were no longer moving, meaning he was in the deep sleep of the undead. Alexa still made sure to count to one hundred very slowly before she began to make her way to the side of the bed.

He didn’t move as she tiptoed into the bathroom. Door closed behind her, Alexa finally dared to breathe. She flipped the light switch on with a relieved sigh as she shakily made her way to the double sink. Leaning heavily against it, she splashed cold water on her face. She was grateful there wasn’t a mirror to reflect the wreck she must be. Gathering her strength, she forced her sore body into the shower to wash away the evidence of his possession.

She couldn’t wash away the sensitive puncture wounds on the right side of her neck. They would never fully heal now. He’d marked her as his territory, his possession. Anger had her teeth clenching as she washed in the same body wash she’d taken from the harem closet. How dare he show her the intensity of pleasure her body was capable of only to make her feel like an unwanted intruder in his bed! She was his wife. She deserved his respect and his consideration, if not a smidgeon of caring.

Alexa reentered his room wrapped in a towel. She was going to dress and face the light of day while she still could. She found her way into the huge walk-in closet he’d brought her pajamas from that morning. As soon as she shut the door behind her, small recessed lights automatically came on, illuminating sliding doors on both sides of the room.

Alexa felt a moment of awkwardness as she shifted from one bare foot to the other, silently debating if she should be going through his things while he lay pretty much dead to the world in the other room. “Why not.” She slid open the first door and a light inside flipped on. She’d found his clothes neatly hung on two separate metal rods. On the floor beneath, his shoes and boots were lined up by pairs. His organization fascinated her as she considered the way his sweaters and shirts were separated from T-shirts and formal shirts.

“Okay...anal retentive Vampire with a neat freak streak.” She couldn’t help wanting to smile at the different colored ties hanging next to several suit jackets. What would warrant a Vampire to pull on the suit and tie guy persona? She shook her head and slowly shut the door to move to the opposite side. A gasp escaped her as she stared at her own clothes hanging in orderly fashion from shirts to sweaters to dresses. Five pairs of her jeans hung on the lower rod, leaving lots of room for her to add more, which she absolutely would not be doing!

Her hand reached out to pull out the skirt of her favorite green dress. How had he done it? How were her clothes here when they should be piled on her bed or tossed over her dresser? He must have sent someone to collect her things from her apartment, but when? How? One didn’t just pop in and take things from the Coven’s members. Her apartment was located in one of the most secure apartment complexes the Witches’ Coven owned. He had to have an inside connection and one higher up than she was. She didn’t know who, but she was about to find out. She reached in and grabbed a white sweater and a pair of her favorite jeans.

The drawers on the back wall had to have underwear and socks in them. She rummaged through until she found what she was looking for, her bras and underwear.

Once she was dressed she felt more like herself. He might have taken her innocence and shaken the foundations of her self-esteem, but she was still Alexa Carver. Well, Alexa Chambers, now. She sighed as she left the closet and reentered the bedroom.

He was still sleeping the day away. Good. She didn’t want him interfering with her plans for Priest Levi Pierce. Oh, no. She had some questions he was going to answer. She silently left her new husband to enter the empty hallway. No one was guarding their chamber during the day? She found that strange since a Vampire was at his most vulnerable while he slept. What was he thinking? Arrogant Elder probably thought no one would dare disrupt his sleep.

Alexa shook her head as she lifted her hands before her. “Goddess, light my way to he, whom I seek. Let truth be the tale from the lips of he, who will speak. As I will it, so mote it be.” From her palms came two little balls of light that hovered a moment before they began to move down the hall. She nodded in appreciation as she followed them quickly through the ominously quiet house.

It was odd how there were no windows in the corridors. Every door she passed was shut tightly. She wondered how many Vamps were resting behind the doors; a shiver raced down her spine as she forced her mind from the Hive’s occupants and kept on her guard, expecting to be stopped or at the very least accosted by some guards.

Finally, the lights brought her down the staircase she’d descended in the night in her wedding dress. The downstairs was a complete contrast to the upstairs. Light filled the room where their ceremony was held. She hesitated in the doorway, but had to follow the two globes moving down another corridor. She had bigger fish to fry this morning.

He was dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants, his back to her as he pulled book after book from one of the shelves in the immense library. The beauty of the room would have held her spellbound if she wasn’t so intent on making him give her answers. The floors were well-polished hard wood. The shelves went all the way up at least three stories high, ladders attached to each level to make reaching the higher shelves easier. There were several plush couches and end tables placed in a half circle facing a huge marble fireplace. A soft looking Persian rug lay before the fire, an invitation to the avid reader to sit upon it in warmth and comfort.

Yes, had she been looking for a place to hole up with a good book, here would be her ultimate location, but the man who was flipping through the pages of an old dust-covered tome held her attention as she entered the room on silent bare feet. He didn’t seem to notice anything as he huffed and shoved the book back to grab the next one.

“Looking for anything in particular, Priest?” She felt a jolt of satisfaction as he jumped a foot before turning to stare at her. The little weasel shoved the book back on the shelf with a guilty haste. His beady eyes narrowed as he shrugged his thin shoulders.

“Nothing in particular, Mistress Carver.” He took a startled step back as the two hovering globes flew straight toward him. Both hit him in the forehead beneath a clump of graying hair. His eyes widened as the spell she’d weaved within the energy balls took effect in his little brain.

“My name is Mistress Chambers, now. Thanks to your participation in my nuptials last night,” she corrected him as she clasped her hands in front of her. “You mind telling me why you were here to handfast me to the Elder?”

“I...” His mouth opened and closed in a comic fashion until his shoulders finally slumped in defeat. “I was ordered to come here. This was not my idea. It is a farce of the sanctity of the ceremony of handfasting. A filthy Vampire mating a Witch, a member of the high council and a Keeper...” He shook with revulsion, his scowl giving him a sadistic visage. “It is an abomination of the Goddess’s intent.”

“Yet, here you stand in the Hive, rummaging through their library as if you were on some secret scavenger hunt.” She tilted her head at him. “Who ordered you here?”

“High Priest O’Mallery. Who else would I follow into the bowels of hell?”

“O’Mallery?” She knew, but knowing he had sentenced her to be tied to Chambers for the rest of her life shocked her. He hated her, feared her even, but she didn’t know what he could possibly gain by matching her with the Elder. “Why would he make sure I was bound to the Elder? Is he going to take my position as Keeper away?”

“I’m not sure what he was thinking. He doesn’t tell me his every thought. I trust that he knows what he does. He is the High Priest. His works are the Goddess’s intent.”

His absolute trust in the older leader made Alexa feel physically ill. She knew he was a zealot where O’Mallery was concerned. After all, the High Priest only surrounded himself with those who would do his bidding without question.

“Do you think he means to replace me?” She wondered why he hadn’t declared her biased already.

“No. He means to let you stay the Keeper of the Treaty, Mistress Chambers. It is a mistake, but who am I to question his ways of thought?”

“Who indeed? Why are you in here browsing through these dusty books?” She noticed the way his breathing accelerated. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he shifted from one foot to the other. He was feeling the effects of her spell and fighting it.

“A book, of course,” he admitted slowly.

“Which book?” Alexa demanded, her impatience with the little man’s delay barely showing as she continued to stare into his shifty little eyes.

“A tome of spells older than any other. It is known by many names, but you would recognize it as The Book of Souls.” He flinched as a sharp pain bit into his brain.

“The Book of...” Alexa spun around, looking behind her to make sure no one was within hearing distance. “That book has been lost since medieval times. Why would you think the Vampires possess it?”