A Wicked Desire (Creatures of Darkness 3), page 12
Cora sighed. “No. Of course not.” It shouldn’t, but…
Sara took over. “What I think Cora’s talking about…well, it’s so rare, it’s practically a myth.” Her eyes turned big with wonder. “Gran told me about it when I was young, like a fairy tale for witches.” She cleared her throat. “Since the creation of time, the Earth Mother, Gaia—a.k.a Mother Nature, for those of you not in the know—watched over this world alongside the others of her kind. Gods and goddesses alike. But they fought amongst themselves incessantly. Eventually the quarrels spilled over into the mortal world, and covens were divided, sparking the first Wiccan wars. For the first time, new deadly spells—curses, hexes, and dark magic—were created. Soon after, vampires appeared on the scene, joining the fray, though much more ignorant of what they were fighting over. In fact, some witches believe that was when vampires were created, possibly by our ancestors as a kind of weapon.”
“Humph.” Trent rolled his eyes. “Fairy tale indeed.”
Sara sent him a sharp look, but continued on. “Gaia loved her witches above all others. It is even said that we are her children, our magic her gift, and that she was distraught over our war-torn nation. When she saw how much blood was spilled through witchcraft, she cried a single tear and let it fall to the earth. That tear fertilized the soil, and a plant sprouted called Cryous de logana. Literally Tear of the Goddess. Gaia told her children, seek the Tear of the Goddess and ye shall be spared the pyre. Pyre could have meant death, or war, but many speculated that the plant is a cure-all. Those who are terminally cursed or hexed seek this plant as their last salvation. Thousands have gone in search.”
“And has anyone ever found it?” Cora asked.
“There have been a few in history to boast that they had, but if that were true, it’s a well-kept secret. However, there are some notes and research that had been shared. Those who believed they were close to finding it suggest that pyre referred neither to death nor war, but more literally a volcano.” She glanced at Cora excitedly. “You could have laid eyes on it! Did you see anything else? Anything at all?”
She shook her head. “If I remember anything more discernable, I’ll let you know.”
Trent asked Sara, “Do you have any definitive clues as to this alleged volcano’s location?”
Sara turned thoughtful. “I know of a few that most of our researchers have focused on,” she replied. “Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, the Wolf volcano in the Galapagos islands, Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua, and Mount Alayta in Ethiopia, but the last two aren’t on islands, so I guess that takes them out of the running.
“Are we really considering a child’s bedtime story as fact?” Knox cut in.
Sara bristled. “It’s not just a bedtime story. In case you hadn’t been listening, there’s research…done by very prominent witches.”
“What did you call it? The holy grail? There’s been a lot of research into that particular myth too, but no one is going to find the bloody thing, because guess what, it doesn’t exist except in the minds of delusional treasure seekers. Cora claimed to have seen what, exactly? Some lava, some rocks, an ocean? You’re making a huge leap with this.”
Sara crossed her arms. “Well, smarty pants, what do you suggest? What’s your big insight into what she saw?”
Everyone waited, but he made no reply.
“Not so long ago,” Trent said coolly, “we vampires were placed in the realm of mythology, yet here we are in the flesh. As far as leads go, it’s not the worst. I’ve actually heard of this mythical plant. I think I’ve seen some information on it in our archives. It’s worth looking into.”
He palmed his phone, working the screen with his thumb, then brought it to his ear. “Rolo, is Jamison there? Well, get him on the phone. Then patch me through to his room.” There was a long pause. “Jamison, I need all the information we have on a plant called Cryous de logana otherwise known as Tear of the Goddess. Specifically where we might find it. This is top priority, as in I need this done yesterday.” He hung up then without a goodbye.
Half an hour later, Trent’s phone rang. There was a lot of mm-hms and yeahs and what else. By the end, Cora was biting her nails. Finally he said, “That’s your recommendation? You’d better be a hundred percent sure on this,” Pause. “That’s not what I want to hear…. Alright. I need transportation, minimum two people. Call me back in five with what you scrounged up.” Then he hung up.
“You have a location?” Cora asked, hopeful.
He nodded. “Based on the files in our database, one of the locations Saraphine mentioned has the highest probability of producing such a plant: Wolf volcano.” He gave Sara a curt but appreciative nod.
Sara’s shoulders went back a touch.
“You said you needed transportation,” Cora said. “Couldn’t your helicopter take us there?”
“It would never make it that far without several stops to refuel, and there are very few places to that accommodate a helicopter these days. No, you’ll need public transport.”
His phone rang then. He stood and answered with a clipped, “What do you have for me? Uh-uh. We don’t have time for that. That might work. Is that it? Nothing faster? Okay, get the tickets. But keep searching just in case. Let me know immediately if you find any better options.” He pocketed his phone and faced the room. “Six hundred miles south of here, there’s an airship cruise liner gearing up to set sail for Wolf’s coast. We’re procuring the last two available tickets.” He looked at Cora. “If you’re going to be on it, you need to leave now.”
“Wait, me? You’re not going?” Cora wasn’t sure if she should be distressed or relieved by that.
“No. I have other things to attend to.”
“Okay.” She turned to Bray. “Are you good to travel?”
“Bray won’t be going,” Trent said in a tone that brooked no debate.
Her head shot around. If not Bray…?
“Knox will go with you.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re joking.”
Trent lifted a do I look like I’m joking brow.
Bray offered her a sympathetic expression. “He’s right. I can’t go with you, angel.”
“Why not?”
“The sun. It still affects me.”
She swallowed against the growing lump in her throat. “Surely we can work around that.” Me and Knox, together, on a cruise ship? Who would come out alive?
He shook his head. “I would not be able to avoid the sun. Especially while climbing the side of a volcano.”
She grew a little desperate. “We could hike only at night?”
“And find shelter where? We cannot bank on another conveniently vacant shack amongst the flowing lava. I would only delay the journey, and jeopardize you. If I grew too weak, I could not protect you, should you need.”
“But…” she scrambled. “You could just travel with me on the airship—they must have window coverings, and I could hike the volcano myself.”
He rejected that idea outright. “Absolutely not.”
“Well, then, couldn’t someone else go with Knox? What about Raven? Or Oz, or…anyone else.”
“Now, now, cher,” Knox said. “If you want me to help you, you’re going to have to ask nicely.”
She glared at his smug grin.
“Raven’s head isn’t in the game,” Trent interjected. “Oz, like the rest of my clan, is busy with VEA business, and we’re working on borrowed time. If you don’t leave now, you might not even make it.”
“I’d go,” Sara said. “If it weren’t for the whole keeping Mace alive thing and all.”
Oh, goddess, Cora thought. There really was no other option.
She locked eyes with Knox. Even with the bond blocked on both their parts, something unspoken passed between them. She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was, but it brought a shiver to her bones.
Nothing good could come of this.
Chapter 13
Knox relaxed in the driver’s seat as he eased the sedan onto the highway.
She hadn’t asked nicely. She hadn’t asked at all.
But then he hadn’t expected her to.
Just the thought of having him as her escort had gotten her back up like he’d never seen. The disdain dripping from her as she had stomped upstairs to pack grated. Why? Hell if he knew—he didn’t give a shit about what she thought of him—but it could have something to do with the fact that a few moments before that she had been scanning him with open interest, with curiosity—maybe even with a little less fear and a little more respect than usual. Not that that mattered much.
Although, if he was going to get her in his bed, it might.
But he had risked himself to help her. He should get points for that. And a lot of them. Women loved that hero shit. Ate it up like motherfucking cake.
Unfortunately, he didn’t feel like she was giving him his due. Figures. His first selfless act in ages—well, mostly selfless—and she could only focus on the selfish part of it: that kiss.
That fucking kiss.
It never should have happened.
He’d realized too late that she had manipulated him with that please-help-me-Knox and I-need-you shit. And it drove him nuts that it had worked.
She’d scammed him. Got what she wanted without giving him a damn thing in return.
So he’d taken a little something from her.
Well, he’d learned something about her this evening. She was a good little liar. If she could really break through his blocks like she’d suggested, she wouldn’t have questioned the kiss…and even now she would be wise to his motives.
But she wasn’t.
Didn’t she wonder why he had capitulated so easily to joining her on this wild goose chase? The two of them, alone on a cruise for roughly eight days, no one to get in the way…
He hadn’t been laid in weeks, and damn if he was going to let that stand much longer. His dick seemed to recognize the only action it could get was sitting directly next to him in the passenger seat.
And the little fucker was growing restless.
She was curled up with her head resting against the chilled window. Her blond locks, crowned by soft moonlight, were swept over her left shoulder, tumbling down in loose tendrils. Knox wasn’t sure if she was even awake, though her eyes seemed to be lightly cracked.
The sedan’s back window was still busted out from her violent travels with Mace. Fresh, cold air swirled around the cabin, kicking up her scent, her intoxicating pheromones.
His nostrils flared, and he nearly pulled the car over to demand what he was entitled.
Then she yawned and readjusted her position, pulling her knees closer to her chest in defense against the cold. Or was it in defense against him?
Stifling a growl, he reached to blast the heat. I’ve got time.
He knew it wasn’t the moonlight that had whitewashed her skin. She was overly pale for a reason. By the looks of her, she had given the others too much blood too fast before leaving. Which sucked, because he was fucking starving.
Along with filling several bags of blood, she’d fed Bray and had somehow managed to feed Mace while he’d slept. He knew because shortly after she’d emerged from his room, there had been a faint scent of her sweet blood in the air and a few crimson drops on her left wrist.
At the time, he’d been on his way up to grab her luggage, expecting several hastily packed bags for the voyage. Instead, her belongings had amounted to a single brown satchel slung over her shoulder.
For some reason, that had irritated him. “Don’t you have anything more?” Women generally needed accessories, toiletries, and other odds and ends. Unless that bag was stuffed with lingerie, she was lacking some essentials.
“Haven’t exactly had the opportunity to flesh out my wardrobe,” she’d said. “Besides, I don’t need much.”
Oh, right. She had grown up on the streets, was probably more than used to a grab and go life. That satchel resembled a bug out bag. He imagined it to be fill with all that was needed in order to pick up and move at a moment’s notice. It wouldn’t do for a prissy cruise ship.
“We’ll have to acquire some things for you on the way,” he told her.
She’d balked. “Why? This isn’t a pleasure cruise.”
At that, he must have given her a wolfish look, because she had swallowed hard, drawing his attention to the supple column of her neck. But then she had lifted her chin in defiance. Or challenge? Just try it, her eyes had said.
Grudgingly, he had let her skim past him. He’d noticed her paleness then.
Normally he wouldn’t care if she’d given blood to the entire cast of his favorite vampire flick. If he was hungry, he would have her. End of story. But the last time she’d given too much blood, she had passed out in his arms, looking on the verge of death.
Totally not his fault!
Forced starvation had made him careless. And he hadn’t realized how much she had fed Mace and Bray beforehand. The greedy bastards.
As a result of his untamed hungers, he could have inadvertently drunk her to the quick. Though she had shown an immense amount of power earlier that same night, she was still as fragile as any human. Too easy to kill.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again. At least not by accident.
Not for any concern for her wellbeing, or course—or for Bray’s wrath—but because of Trent, the VEA, and vampire law. It was against the law to harm a bond mate, and she wasn’t just his. She belonged to Mace and Bray as well. Each had equal rights, and none could keep her from the others without stiff penalty. Knox would be expected to forfeit his life if he was found responsible for her death—
So then maybe she had an accident?
He mentally shrugged. If he deemed it necessary, he would take the required actions. Bonding to her hadn’t been his choice, and in lieu of waiting for the bond to fade, which could take decades—if he was lucky—ending it prematurely meant his death or hers.
The day Knox found his entrapment intolerable, Cora would meet her maker, laws be damned.
There was one other reason to consider her elimination.
She was a goddamn succubus!
As much as he hated to admit it, it was his duty to save Mace from her treachery.
He alone knew the sensual ease with which a succubus could deceive, especially one who wielded magic like Cora. Their tongues were made for twisting lies as well as for a man’s pleasure.
But so far, to his knowledge, she hadn’t done anything nefarious with her growing power. Hadn’t imposed her will over any of them…yet. Nor had she tried to soothe his ire with her body, as he’d expected—anticipated.
All the while, he’d been testing her. Using his hard-earned bargain to push her, to see how much she could take before she trespassed against him and took command. It was what he’d been waiting for. The proof that she could. The proof that she would.
But so far she hadn’t. She’d followed his orders to a T, giving in to his every request, and he’d begun to take too much pleasure in the game. How far could he take it? How much would she give?
He adjusted himself in his seat.
Perhaps he’d merely been too easy on her. Maybe it was time to turn it up a notch.
By the end of this trip, he could have irrefutable proof that Cora was as evil and conniving as her kin. Trent, who also seemed to be falling for her shit as of late, would have no choice but to pass judgment and rid them of her for good.
But whatever he discovered, Mace would still need that plant, if it truly existed. That was the priority. He wasn’t one to believe in nonsensical fairy tales, but Trent had given Sara’s story credence, so Knox would play along. And with Cora’s mind preoccupied with finding the plant, his job might turn out to be easier than expected.
Eventually she’d slip up.
He would watch and wait for her to reveal her true intentions. Till then, he would ride this unwanted wave and see where it led him. And in the interim, he’d know the pleasures of her body.
That, he was owed.
Unfortunately, he got the sense that she was less willing than ever to give him what he wanted. Succubi were supposed to be hedonistic, like him, all sex and fun, all the time; Cora was practically the antithesis—except when it came to Mace or Bray. To them she was sweet as chocolate pie.
To him, she was all thorns and bristles, contradicting his suspicions. Was it her plan to make him question himself? To make him see her as this fragile, delicate thing that needed protection?
Well, then she shouldn’t have shown her prowess that night in Saraphine’s dungeon. Her power was greater than even he imagined.
When she chose to, she could be as fierce as any preternatural being he had come across.
On a very basic level, Knox had to admire that.
When it came to what she wanted, he could almost believe she’d breathe fire to get it. For that, Mace was lucky. He couldn’t have stumbled into the graces of a better advocate. If there was a way to save him, Cora would stop at nothing.
Something hot, like anger with a hint of spite and hostility, tingled in his spine.
Unable to make sense of the emotion, he easily tossed it away.
Since they had started on the road, she’d said a total of eight words to him: How long is the drive going to take? Clipped and short, with no invitation for further conversation. Not that he wanted that.
Roughly seven hours if I floor it, he’d responded.
To her credit, she hadn’t complained as he recklessly weaved through traffic at breakneck speeds. Luckily, as night drew on, the roads began to empty.
After everything had been settled, they’d left a little after ten at night. As insurance, Trent had offered one of the airship workers a hefty bribe to delay takeoff, set to be paid once Knox and Cora were aboard. But their contact could only do so much. They were guaranteed at least an extra hour. No more. Still, they might not make it in time.
He glanced back at her paltry belongings. Because of the time crunch, stopping to load up on clothing and whatever else she might need was not an option, but from what he understood, there should be plenty of shops onboard for Cora to acquire the proper attire. At his request, Jamison would divert some of his personal funds to an onboard account for their use.
