Authors: Angela Knight
Master of Smoke (36 page)
And then he hurled the core of Zephyr’s spirit into the dark.
Much better, Warlock
thought, as the elemental ceased to fight his will. The notes he’d taken based on the cat’s memories had suggested the stag was vulnerable. And just as Smoke had suspected, without a human host’s intelligence, Zephyr didn’t have the resources to fight him off. The psychic core been comparably easy to discard, leaving Warlock with power and memories he could control much easier than he had Smoke’s.
thought, as the elemental ceased to fight his will. The notes he’d taken based on the cat’s memories had suggested the stag was vulnerable. And just as Smoke had suspected, without a human host’s intelligence, Zephyr didn’t have the resources to fight him off. The psychic core been comparably easy to discard, leaving Warlock with power and memories he could control much easier than he had Smoke’s.
Unfortunately, the cat was still a threat. There was no way to know what the elemental had learned while imprisoned in Warlock’s mind. He had to die.
And this time, Warlock was going to take care of the job himself.
Rising from the stag’s body, the Dire Wolf flicked the blood from his axe and opened a gate back to Mortal Earth.
Eva thoroughly enjoyed
watching her parents’ gape as, suitcases in hand, they stepped through David’s dimensional gate onto the cobblestoned streets of Avalon.
watching her parents’ gape as, suitcases in hand, they stepped through David’s dimensional gate onto the cobblestoned streets of Avalon.
“Jeez, it’s like somebody made Disney World into a bedroom community.” Bill Roman turned in a slow, delighted circle.
Eva laughed. “You know, I said the same thing. This place is really amazing, isn’t it?”
Charlotte elbowed Bill and gestured with her overnight bag. “Look at that castle, Bill. It’s gorgeous.” She turned to Eva. “They built all this with magic?”
Eva nodded, having repeated the spiel that Belle had given her the day before. “Belle said it takes a lot of power to conjure such enormous buildings. I gather it’s a sort of rite of passage. Build one of those, and you’re considered a real witch.”
“That’s amazing. Which one of them is yours?” Bill turned to David, whose stock had gone up considerably with her father.
He frowned, his gaze sliding to Eva. “I haven’t built a house here. When I’m in Avalon, I usually stay with the Pendragons, generally in house cat form.”
Charlotte’s dark eyes widened with sudden realization. “You’re Eva’s cat, T’Challa! Your hair is the same color, right down to the stripes.”
David laughed, a low, pleasant rumble that made Eva smile. “Yes, I had changed form during a dream, but because of my memory loss, I didn’t know how to turn back.”
Charlotte frowned. “Why’d you run out the door? Eva was really upset about that.”
His expression turned grim. “That was a miscalculation. I felt I was putting her in danger from the other werewolves, especially given that I couldn’t defend her in cat form. I thought if I left, the werewolves would come after me and leave her alone. What I didn’t realize was that they were watching the house.”
“And they damned near ate both of us,” Eva said, grimacing. “Luckily, he turned into a furry Hulk and saved my fanny.”
Her father blinked and stared at David, his graying brows on the rise. “How the hell did you do that?”
David shrugged. “Magic.”
Bill snorted. “Yeah, I figured that part out.”
“Actually, I have never assumed that form before, but Eva was in danger, so ...” He spread his big hands.
Bill gave him a long, considering look, then nodded in satisfaction. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a huge shadow glided across the ground. Automatically, they all looked up.
“Shit!” Bill half ducked, and dragged Charlotte behind him. “It’s a freaking dragon!”
“It’s only Kel,” David told him, watching the great beast spiral lazily overhead. “He’s one of the Knights of the Round Table.”
Charlotte frowned. “There was no Arthurian knight named Kel.”
“He’s a recent addition. Besides, the Arthurian legends are largely wrong.”
“Just like the stuff about vampires and werewolves.” Eva watched the dragon spread his wings and come in for a landing in a tower over the trees.
“If the dragon’s a knight, he must be able to turn into a human,” Bill said thoughtfully.
David nodded approval of his deduction. “Exactly. But unlike the rest of us, being human isn’t his natural state. He really is a dragon. He uses magic to assume human form.”
Bill exchanged a look with his wife. “Like I said, Disney World.”
While they’d been sightseeing, David had led them to the Pendragon house. Now they climbed the brick stairs as Charlotte and Bill gazed around with interest.
Arthur answered the door before they even had time to knock, a smile of welcome on his bearded face. “Gwen said you were coming up the walk. Come on in.” Today he was dressed in blue jeans, running shoes, and a T-shirt with a sketch of the Black Knight from
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
. The lettering over the armless, legless knight read, “It’s only a flesh wound!”
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
. The lettering over the armless, legless knight read, “It’s only a flesh wound!”
Bill grinned at the shirt and affected an English accent. “ ‘Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.’ ”
Arthur threw his head back and roared with laughter. “I always loved that line. You memorized that?”
Bill chuckled. “Hell, I memorized the whole
movie
.”
movie
.”
“Oh, God,” Charlotte whispered to Eva as he waved them all inside. “Your father has found a kindred geek.”
Sure enough, the two started swapping lines from the “Dead Parrot Sketch” on the way down the hall.
Charlotte was, as
usual, right. Two hours later they’d stashed their suitcases in the Pendragons’ guest rooms, had dinner, and settled in to get to know their hosts. The three women ate slices of tart lemon meringue pie in the dining room while the men bonded over Monty Python’s cockeyed version of the Grail legend. Deep laughter boomed through the house, along with chorused snatches of dialogue.
usual, right. Two hours later they’d stashed their suitcases in the Pendragons’ guest rooms, had dinner, and settled in to get to know their hosts. The three women ate slices of tart lemon meringue pie in the dining room while the men bonded over Monty Python’s cockeyed version of the Grail legend. Deep laughter boomed through the house, along with chorused snatches of dialogue.
“What’s with all the pop culture?” Eva asked. “I noticed you folks seem to have DVDs of damn near every television show, movie, and music video ever made.”
Gwen snorted. “And you haven’t seen the Magekind’s main library yet. It takes up four buildings in the middle of town, full to the rafters. It’s like a magical Library of Congress.”
“You’re trying to stay caught up,” Charlotte said suddenly. Correctly interpreting Eva’s lifted brows, she shrugged. “I don’t get some of the references on TV either, and I’m just fifty-five. If
I
lose track ...”
I
lose track ...”
Gwen nodded. “You can’t understand a people until you understand their culture. You have to know why they believe the things they do if you’re going to change behavior.” She grimaced. “Which is why we’ve been watching a whole hell of a lot of Middle Eastern television these days. Not to mention hanging out in mosques in very heavy disguises.”
“Gee,” Eva said wryly, “why didn’t the CIA think of that?”
Charlotte frowned. “Why not just cast a spell on the bad guys? Tell them not to blow people up anymore?”
“Wouldn’t work. Well, it might have when the problem was only a couple of nutcases, but we didn’t know about them at the time. Once you get a big movement going, it’s like an aircraft carrier. Changing its direction is a bitch.”
Before a political discussion could get going, David sauntered in. “I thought you should know Arthur’s trying to talk Bill into following him around with a pair of coconuts.”
Gwen rolled her eyes and explained to Charlotte, “To make clopping noises for his imaginary horse.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened in horror. “I know. And Bill’d do it.”
“Oh, Lord.” Both women bolted out of the dining room to save their husbands from themselves.
The minute they were out of sight, David grabbed Eva’s hand and pulled her from her seat. “Quick, while they’re distracted, let’s go neck.”
Eva laughed as he hauled her toward the stairs. “Neck?”
“Snog? Do the horizontal mambo? Fuck like forest creatures?”
She dropped her voice to a horrified whisper. “I am
not
having sex with you in King Arthur’s house with my mother right downstairs!”
not
having sex with you in King Arthur’s house with my mother right downstairs!”
“Then we’ll gate somewhere else. I haven’t made love to you since yesterday. My favorite bits are turning blue.”
Eva snickered. She lost the smile as it occurred to her that her David—the David before he regained his memory—would never have told that particular joke. What other differences were there? And was this still the man she’d fallen in love with?
He shot her a sharp look, and she realized he’d picked up on her flash of doubt. His eyes narrowed before he regained his easy grin and kept right on pulling her up the stairs. His big hands moved in an elegant gesture, and a gate appeared at the top of the stairs. Eva, who was getting used to dimensional travel, followed him through it with hesitation.
Into sunlight.
The contrast between indoors and the brilliant streaming light blinded her for a moment, and Eva stumbled, blinking, to a stop. As she waited for her eyes to adjust, she became aware of the roar of ocean waves and the feeling of fine sand underfoot. Magic bloomed in a warm and tingling tide across her skin, and she realized she was naked.
Her vision returned at last, revealing a sweep of deserted beach with sand as fine and white as powdered sugar. A high granite cliff stood off to the left, spilling huge black boulders here and there across the beach and into the water. The sea flung foaming waves against the cliff and rolled up onto the beach, booming and hissing to itself.
“This is beautiful.” Eva released his hand and ran down to the water’s edge. A wave ran up over her feet, foaming and warm as bathwater. “Where the heck are we?” She cast a puzzled glance at the sun, which hovered somewhere well above the horizon. “
When
are we? I thought it was the middle of the night.”
When
are we? I thought it was the middle of the night.”
“It is, back home in Avalon. We’re halfway around the planet. Little island out in the middle of nowhere Arthur and Gwen like to use as a vacation spot.” David joined her, slipping a muscular arm around her bare waist.
He was just as naked as she was, and she turned to enjoy the view. Golden sunlight spilled over his brawny shoulders and sculpted chest with its thatch of silky blue-black hair. His cock rose as she gazed at him, thick and rosy over fat, round balls veiled in thick curls.
He gazed at her with the same hunger she felt, his eyes flicking from her eyes to her nipples, down to her sex, then back up to her mouth. His eyes, so pale and bright in the sun, darkened with his need.
With a sigh of delight, she stepped into his kiss.
David’s mouth tasted of lemons and meringue with a tingling fizz of magic. She savored the lush warmth of his mouth as he lingered, his tongue sweeping inside, tracing her lower lip, teeth closing over it to gently tug.
He held her hands as he made slow love in slow kisses, fingers threaded through hers, warm and just slightly rough with sword calluses. They stood close enough that his cock rested against her belly, a length of urgent warmth. The erotic promise in the sensation teased a hungry growl from Fluffy. Eva ignored the bright burst of lust, too busy savoring the subtle pleasures David offered her like a gift.
At last he drew his hands from hers and began to touch her, a drift of fingertips along the line of her jaw, the sensitive lobe of her ear, the delicate cord of her throat, the hollow of her collarbone.
And then he went lower.
David traced a gentle swooping path along the rise of Eva’s breast, all the way down to the tip that jutted, so deliciously eager for his attention. His fingers circled the sensitive areola, teasing out delicious sensations. His eyes never left her face, watching her with catlike intensity as he drew out her heat.
His other hand slipped downward, tracing the muscles that quivered under the skin of her torso, lower and still lower until he found the soft nest of hair at the top of her thighs. Eva gasped as his fingers slid over the hot, juicy button of her clit, paused, then slid back again, seductive and slow.
The cock brushing her belly was now hard and hot as hammered steel, ripe with wicked promise. Eva captured it in her fingers and began to stroke, taking her time as she thought of how he’d feel buried inside her.
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