Opal (Rare Gems Series Book 4) (20 page)

“
She’s not.” Sloan walked up beside him and Annabelle and bowed before the woman. “She’s Jinn. She’s…she’s here to see me.”

“
And the child. I have a gift for him.” Allen watched her as she seemed to float toward Annabelle. “You are very good, are you not? I have a gift for you as well. May I share it with you?”

Before
Sloan’s warning of “Don’t,” Annabelle took her hand. When she dropped to the ground, Allen’s first instinct was to shift and tear the Jinn apart. But Sloan held him back at the last second.

“
She’s not hurt her. She never would.” Allen started to ask him why he’d told Annabelle not to touch her when he continued. “I thought she should explain first what she was imparting. I didn’t want Annabelle to get something she wasn’t aware of.”

“
She is too good not to have it. I don’t share often, Master Sloan, and this you know.” He nodded and Allen was freed. “I have a gift for you as well. It will…I believe it will serve you well in the coming days.”

He took her hand. The power that surged over him made him slightly ill
, and he, too, dropped to the ground. As he sat there he looked at the woman who had done this to him, and she smiled.

“
What was that?” She smiled again and bowed before him. As she made her way to the house and inside, he looked at Sloan. “What the hell did she just do to us?”

“
She gave you…well, hell, she gave you everything.” Sloan went inside the house before Allen could decipher what he’d just said. He looked over at Annabelle, who was standing again.

“
I feel…goodness, Allen, I feel amazing.” She did a little jig in the dirt and laughed like a school girl. “This is…I feel twenty again. I could…would you like to go dancing? I want to go dancing. Tonight after dinner, let’s go and tear up some floorboards.”

He agreed to go and was hauled up from the ground so quickly that he nearly fell again
, and now that he was standing, he, too, felt younger. Vibrant and even a little mischievous. Allen hadn’t felt this good in a decade or two. Finishing up the green beans with new vigor, he noticed he was whistling. And Allen hadn’t done that in years. After they were done with the beans, they had so much energy that they hoed up the ground for a few potatoes, as well as some squash that had been missed.

In short order they had stripped the last of the vegetable
s from the garden, cleaned up the dead or dying plants, and put them into the compost pile. They had cleaned up the garden for next season in about a third of the time he thought it should have taken. He moved into the house to help snap the beans while Annabelle cut up some tomatoes to put in a brine to soak. He grinned when he thought of telling Blair he was going dancing. Allen looked at the doorway when Opal was suddenly there.

“
What’s happened?” She only stared at him until Sloan came up behind her. When he sat her in a seat and asked for some water, Allen looked at the big man, who looked completely lost. He asked again what had happened.

“
Her assistant just called her.”

The store
; he’d forgotten about the store opening today and figured it was about closing time for it.

“
She called to tell Opal about her day and how things had gone. And she wanted to make sure that Opal was aware of it so she wouldn’t be surprised when she got there later.”

“
That was nice of her, right?” Sloan nodded and smiled. He had no idea, but that sort of smile coming from a vampire didn’t really make Allen feel good. “Whatever the sales were, honey, I’m sure you’re going to do much better tomorrow. And if not, then…well, people have to find you and all. We have to expect that a learning curve with this sort of—”

She was shaking her head at him and Allen sat down. He didn
’t want her to give up so soon. Opal needed this as much as he did gardening. Before he could tell her that, she finally spoke.

“
I made just over thirty thousand dollars today.” He looked at Sloan, who nodded at him. “We sold almost all the furniture, and nearly every piece of my jewelry and my crafts. There was a run on the soaps that I had gotten at the last minute. They were buying them as quickly as she could unpack them. Some of them didn’t even get priced, they wanted them so badly. They’re…she sold all of it. I’m…I’m…. What am I going to do?”

“
Get busy?” She laughed a little and he smiled. “I’d say that’s not too bad for a first day. I’m thinking…hell, you might need to get you another building just to hold you some extra stock.”

“
Oh no. It was just a fluke. People just came in and…and they felt sorry for me.” Allen snorted. “Well, they might have.”

“
Honey, people don’t spend thirty grand because they feel sorry for somebody. They spend that when they love the shit out of the stuff you have for sale. I’m guessing we’re making another trip to that warehouse of yours, too. I might even be persuaded to help move stuff this time.”

As the couple left to go to the store, Allen finished up the beans. This was turning out to be one hell of a day
, and he thought maybe that things could only get better tomorrow.

Chapter 1
2

The die was set. He was going to go out with a bang and take as many people as he could with him. Fletcher was sick to death of hiding in doorways, starving for fear of being seen, and most importantly, he was fucking tired of looking around corners for Crane or Henson to come after him. He was infinitely more powerful than either man, and it was about time they realized it.

“
I may be just a simple vampire, but I’m a bastard of one. And they will not continue to win over me.” He moved along the dark alleys until he was standing in front of the little store that had just opened. He peeked in the big window and wondered if he could go in there to rest for the night. But movement had him moving around the corner into the next alleyway. He saw them before they saw him.

The woman…his woman
…was dressed like she’d been out on the town; short skirt, silky blouse, and heels that made him want to watch her walk away from him just to see if her calves would look as good as he thought. The thought of dining on her legs had him stepping out into the light before he could think it was a bad idea. And once there, he leapt at her.

Tearing her from the arms of Crane had him laughing. Using her as a
shield, he held her body to his even as Crane reached for her to no doubt pull her from him. As far as Fletcher could see, he had the upper hand in this. But it was the smile on the other vampire’s face that gave him pause, and if he was honest, a little fear.

“
You want her?” Crane only leaned against the building and stared at him, not answering. “Fuck you, you can’t have her. She should have been mine back in New Orleans, but you took her from me again in Paris. Very badly done of you. And you know what I like to do to my pretty ladies once I get them.”

“
I don’t think you have the means or the balls to touch her beyond what you are right now.” Fletcher licked her throat and was surprised when she did nothing but let him. Maybe she’d missed him; maybe she needed someone else fucking her. He said as much to Crane.

“
Miss you?” The woman in his arms laughed. “I don’t think so. But I was always taught to be gentle with the insane. You never know what might set them off. Do you have a list handy that I can use, maybe? Like what would be at the top of your list, if you—”

“
I’m not insane.” He had to take several breaths to calm himself. He certainly sounded that way, even to himself. “I’m not insane. I’m just a man who happens to like his meals with company. You should be pleased that I’ve picked you to be my greatest creation. I might just cut you up very little at a time until you satisfy my every need.”

It was something Marvin said to him before.
“A man who eats alone is boring. A man who eats while the people he carved from watches is someone I admire.”

“
As I said before, I don’t think so.” She didn’t struggle with him or even try to get away. He knew she had her reasons, but it was Crane that had him nervous. The man looked as if he had not a care in the world.

“
Don’t you care that I’ve just marked your mate? Doesn’t it bother you at all that I’m going to take her to my lair and carve her up for my dinner?” Fletcher laughed. “You must really hate her to just stand there.”

“
Nope.” That was all he said and it infuriated Fletcher to no end. But the next time he spoke, Fletcher felt his body tense up. “I’m just waiting on back up. I, too, have heard that you never get a crazy person all riled up when you’re alone with them. As she said, you never know what the hell they’re going to do. Besides, if you think she’s going to let you take her, you’re not just insane, but stupid as well.”

Fletcher wasn
’t sure what to do. He wanted to run…toss her to Crane and run until he was as far from there as he could go. But he wanted this woman more than he needed to breathe. She’d been the cause of everything that had gone to shit in his life. Before he could make the decision about what to do, Sloan straightened up and bowed.

He felt her before he saw her
. Ursula had always been one he’d been afraid of more than the sun. She could and would do things that would make even the strongest of men whimper. And the fact that she’d been looking for him since she’d killed Marvin…well, he was scared shitless. The description was something he’d heard said before and thought it perfect. He watched her as she stood in front of him and smiled.

“
You have learned very little in your years as a vampire, haven’t you?” He didn’t answer her, sure it was a trap. “No matter how many times I have given you a walk, you still seem to meddle with things that do not concern you.”

“
She’s mine.” Ursula shook her head and smiled at him, not a friendly smile but one that had the hair on the back of his neck dance. “I found her first. She was in my arms when he took her from me.”

“
But she was not yours to keep, and even then you knew it. She was never meant to be yours. And now that you have taken her again, there is no choice for me but to intercede.” He didn’t understand her and he looked at Crane. “Master Sloan will no longer have to follow the rules of the council concerning you. I have taken over for them.”

“
You’re going to let him kill me? Over a woman?” Ursula only shrugged. “That’s not very fair or sporting of you. I found her first. That should count for something.”

“
It might have at one time. Very much so in your favor had you given up on her when he told you she belonged to him.” Ursula stepped back and Fletcher had a sudden fear that she was going to kill him. And he wanted to die quickly, not by her hand.

She touched his arm as she move
d by him, and he felt the pain of it all the way to his toes. Screaming, he let go of the woman and grabbed his body. Everything hurt; everything seemed to be on fire, too. As he dropped to his knees, she stood over him and Fletcher looked at Sloan.

“
Kill me. Please? Don’t let her kill me like this.” Crane laughed and held onto his mate. Even in all this agony, all this fire that ran through his veins, he could see his love for the woman. “I want to die quickly.”

It was her laughter that had him crying.
Ursula was going to make him suffer in ways that he’d never dreamed of; make what he did to his victims look like child’s play, and what he’d done to others seem like nothing in comparison.

They were transported to a room
where he could see, but could not make out what it was. Pain…he was insane with it. There were people everywhere, some of them dressed as his tormentor was, others in clothing like he was wearing. When one of them picked him up and tossed him onto a table, he screamed in pain. Whatever it was that he was laying on was cutting deep into his body.

“
It is silver.” Fletcher tried to pull from it but only made matters worse. It dug into his flesh no matter what he did. When the man who had put him there shoved him down harder onto the spikes of pain, Fletcher screamed and passed out.

He woke
in pain…not just pain, but something he would liken to murderous pain. As he looked around, he noticed that while the room was clearer, the things in it were not. There was equipment here that he’d never seen before. And when he looked harder at one such piece, he felt his body freeze in terror.

“
Do you not like what we have done with him? Marvin was bad…not nearly as bad as you, but he was warned not to kill one of us again. Drinking from the faerie was fine to a point, but we did warn you both not to kill.”

He nodded
, still staring at the body, or what was left of the body of what once had been a man. When Marvin lifted his head and looked at him, Fletcher screamed again. He was still alive. What they’d done to him, what they’d cut from him, they were keeping him alive to continue.

His body had been ravaged.
Not by someone cutting it away, but teeth…fangs too, he was sure, as well as the maggots that crawled all around some of the more putrid parts of his body. Large bites had been taken from his thigh and his belly, and one arm was missing. Blood dripped into a bowl beneath him as he stared at him. Fletcher tried to think why he wasn’t screaming when he opened his mouth. Nothing was there…no teeth, no tongue, not even gums were left in the vacant spot. He looked at Ursula.