21 Shades of Night, page 419
I drag my gaze from her pointy purple shoes to her concerned face. “You know I’m upset?”
She nods. “I was experimenting with some aura spells. I was a little worried when the saddest aura I’ve ever felt was coming directly from your room. Tell me what happened…”
I stare at her face and I feel… safe. Looking at Eva somehow makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. “Famine is dead. I killed him.”
She frowns. “And that’s why your aura is so sad? You hate your brothers—more than I do, and that’s sayin’ something.”
My lips twitch, an almost smile. “That’s not the reason. Violet and Famine were fighting… I distracted her and he…” I swallow. “He stabbed her and I…and I lost it. I tore his heart from his chest.”
Eva gasps, pressing her slender fingers against her lips. “Is Violet okay?”
“That’s what’s killing me. I have no idea. She was in such bad shape when I took her to the angel headquarters… I could’ve turned her into a demon. She was borderlining death… I could’ve saved her.”
All I had to do was force my blood into her wounds and she would have become a demon…but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Hey, you did a good thing. She didn’t want to be a demon. It would subject her to an eternity of torment.” She extends her hands to me and I hesitate. “Can I take a look? At what happened?”
I watch her hands. What do I have to lose? I place my hands in hers and she closes her eyes. They move rapidly behind her lids, her fingers twitching around mine. Seconds tick by. Minutes pass. I can tell by the way deep lines carve their way through her features that she is engrossed in the events. Her eyes flick open and she presses my hands together.
“That must have been hard for you…”
I nod.
“I can do a spell… it will tell us if she’s alive.”
I pull my hands back and push them through my hair. “Her body would be in the Never Dark by now...”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to need something that belongs to her.”
“I have nothing.”
Eva narrows her eyes at me and her molten gold irises sparkle, even in the dark. She isn’t looking at me. She’s looking into me. “Underneath all that darkness in your aura, I see a hint of red.”
“And what does that mean?”
She turns from me and approaches the unmade bed. The black sheets are tangled into a knot and my pillows litters the floor. “Red in your aura symbolizes Love…” She bends low and plucks something from one of my pillows—a long red hair. Eva smiles knowingly at me. “Or passion.”
“Is that all you need?” I ask, steering the conversation away from sex. Eva nods, smirking as she kneels on the floor and wraps the strand of hair around her index finger. She places her palms together. “If I’m strong enough, I should be able to gain visual access to the Never Dark realm and locate her.”
“What do I do?”
“Watch.” She closes her eyes and mutters. Quietly at first and then louder, and louder, and louder. I watch her intently. Waiting for any sign on her face that says Violet is okay… or dead. I gasp as the hard walls of the room dissolve and become translucent, displaying the night sky and light pollution in every direction. Above us, beautiful colors dance and mingle. I’ve never seen anything so remarkable. Eventually, the colors float away and I glance at Eva. Blood drips from her nose and rolls over her thick, dark lips.
“Eva?”
She shakes her head. “Watch.”
Eva rocks back and forth, chanting and humming as we zip through time and space. A familiar building brings my attention back to the spell. It’s the Never Dark Council room. I spot Violet standing fiercely before the Council and relief crashes through me. There’s color in her lips, her eyes, and in her cheeks. She’s never looked so beautiful, so courageous. Violet purses her lips, full of confidence. However, she doesn’t fool me. I can see the slight tremble in her bottom lip.
One by one the Council men and women enter and take their seats. Violet’s hands twitch at her sides and I grit my teeth. The last time I stood in front of the Council was at Violet’s initiation. They ordered the guards to beat Violet until she ‘learned some respect.’ I was powerless to help her, just like now.
“Miss Ashton, we see you’ve been very busy,” Ahriman starts. “Famine is dead, is he not?”
“Yes, sir.”
He adjusts his blue robe around his shoulders and sits forward in his chair. “Tell us how you killed him.”
Violet’s mouth opens, but nothing came out. She runs her fingers over her forehead. “It’s a little blurry…”
“We have ways to make you remember,” Willow snaps, threading her fingers in font of her.
Violet glowers at Willow from underneath her brow. “That’s not necessary.”
“Then speak and make it quick.”
“I came across Famine in Logansville while I was hunting trackers. He was preparing four horses—strange horses. One was a pale white, one was red, one was—”
“We don’t care what color the horses were. Get to the part where you killed him.”
Violet nods. “I stabbed him through the chest and hacked at it until there was nothing left. I scooped it all out, too, just to be safe.” Her eyes remain unflinchingly on Willow’s face.
“Do you know the offense for killing a demon you’re not assigned to?” A smug smile spread over Willow’s lips.
I clench my hands into fists.
“Yes, ma’am. It’s thirty whip lashings, a star demotion, and house arrest for two weeks.”
“Well then, guards!”
Violet stiffens as the guards advance on her. I run to Violet’s side to protect her, to do something, but I’m not really there.
“No, no, no,” I mutter under my breath. “That’s not fair.”
“Wait!” Sebastian booms, standing up. “A decision should be determined by a majority vote, Willow. Violet saved the Earth. She made a mistake letting Death compel her, but she has more than made up for it with the death of another Horseman. I think that requires a reward, not a punishment.”
“What she did was unauthorized,” Willow argues. “We punished an angel yesterday for the unauthorized killing of a Skatter demon.”
“Yes, but he did it on purpose. Violet here stumbled across Famine. Look at her mission schedule, she was meant to be in Logansville. Check Earth’s classified weather reports. There was nothing natural about the storm that was brewing yesterday. Violet is a hero, not a criminal.”
“Sebastian has a point,” Ahearn agrees. “We should vote. Those in favor of punishing Violet Ashton raise your hands.”
Willow sticks her hand up. And she’s the only one.
Violet and I exhale in relief at the same time. Thank Lucifer for that.
“It’s settled, then. Violet shall be rewarded, not punished,” Seth announces. “I’d like to suggest she is returned to previous ranking and then promoted. She has endured a lot and we are lucky to have her fighting for us.”
The Council dismembers and I look at Violet. The happiness in her eyes says it all. She does like being an angel. She enjoys fighting for what’s right, she enjoys defending the little guy.
The Never Dark realm fades away and the beautiful array of colors return. I watch them for a little while. Violet’s favorite part of being an angel was the teleporting and I’d have to agree. There’s something about the colors that wash away all the anguish and replace it with contentment.
The colors disappear and I’m pulled back to reality by a soft thud. I glance at Eva who has collapsed against the floor.
“Eva?” I rush over to her and pull her into my arms. Blood trickles from her nose and down the front of her black robe. I scoop her up, lay her on my bed and tuck her under the blankets. Her eyes flicker open and her voice is weak.
“Please tell me you didn’t just tuck me into your nasty bed?”
I chuckle. “I did.”
“Gross.” She crunches her nose and points a finger at me. “You don’t deserve her.”
I smile. “I know.”
She drops her hand onto her body as she falls into a deep sleep. I stare at her for a little while as she sleeps peacefully. I can’t be all bad… right?
A shiver erupts over my skin and the room fills with whispers as the Underworld calls me back. I close my eyes. I’ve already done one selfless thing tonight, why not another?
Leaving Eva, I rustle through the drawers in my oak desk, trying to find the spellbound contract I had her sign when I saved her from War. I pull out a folder as thick as my forearm and flick through it. My body twitches as I fight the summoning. Before I leave, I want to free Eva. I find the contract at the back of the book and tear it in two. Grabbing a pen from my holder, I scrawl across the paper.
Dear Eva,
You’re free, friend.
Lucas.
I drop the pen and weightlessness consumes me as I travel back to my own realm.
Happy…Content…and craving the next time I see Earth’s pretty surface.
Epilogue
*
Violet
THEY SAY THAT it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. I call bullshit. Some people would argue that the experience of loving and losing a person is worth it. It’s for the experience, they say. I disagree. To lose someone you care for immensely is the worst feeling in the world. I’d take kidney stones or a broken arm over the depression and the sharp heartache that follows me around any day. When you break an arm, you get up and you get it fixed. With a broken heart, you’re stuck with the memories forever. You carry around the shadows that are left over from losing the one you loved and they never seem to go away.
I’ve been to Earth three times now and I’ve driven past Lucas’s building every time. Today was no different. He hadn’t surprised me on any of my hunts and so I assumed he’d gone back to the Underworld. The last time he left for the Underworld, I didn’t see him for three years. This wait might be nine hundred years longer. I’d be long gone by then, but he’d still be as young and sexy as he was now. If I hadn’t loved him in the first place, I’d be able to move on now, but instead I watch his club like a depressed, lovesick stalker. Today, I came to say my goodbyes because I was forcing myself to move on. In the last few weeks, I’d grown as a person. I’d made friends and I’d gone to parties. I hadn’t made the step to start seeing people, but I knew it was coming. I needed to do something for myself for a change and it was going to be hard, but I couldn’t live a life with Lucas. He was a demon. The exact thing he’d trained me to kill. Our love is over… and has been for a long time. I just refused to believe it. Lucas loved me. He gave up the apocalypse for me and I’d never forget it, but I needed to forget him, for the sake of my own happiness. I was given a second chance at life and I was prepared to live it.
I started the car and drove off. As I went, I kept glancing in my rearview mirror until his building eventually disappeared from sight. I looked ahead. The late afternoon sun warmed my cheeks. Today would end, as most days do, and tomorrow would bring a new day.
A new me.
And I was ready for that.
* * *
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JUMP TO...
BENEATH THE BROKEN MOON by SARAH MÄKELÄ
CLOSE LIAISONS by ANNA ZAIRES
TAKEN BY THE BEAST by KRESSLEY & HAMILTON
NIGHT HAWK by J.E. TAYLOR
ROOK by JC ANDRIJESKI
THE LOST QUEEN by ANGEL LAWSON
A PRESCRIPTION FOR DELIRIUM by NOREE COSPER
REAPER by K. DE LONG
PURGATORY by SUSAN STEC
FORBIDDEN LOVE by TERRY SPEAR
THE WOLF, THE WITCH, AND THE WASTELAND by JACQUELINE SWEET
KNIGHTS OF STONE: MASON by LISA CARLISLE
HUNTER UNDONE by EDEN ASHE
SOUL TIES by LJ SWALLOW
WOLF IN EXILE by AMBER ELLA MONROE
AWAKENED by LAXMI HARIHARAN
HIGHLANDER’S KISS by JOANNE WADSWORTH
THE WATCHER’S DAUGHTER by CJ FLYNN
DARK WINGS by SKYLA MADI
DESIRING DEATH by C.P. MANDARA
WITCH OF THE CARDS by CATHERINE STINE
DESIRING DEATH
BY C.P. MANDARA
Copyright © 2016 by C.P. Mandara
When Death Is This Sexy, Resistance Is Futile.
Imagine a famed vampire huntress with a taste for death, so successful not a single vampire has ever managed to escape her wooden stakes or evade her silver knives. Her name is Violetta, and all that is about to change.
Monsieur Martinet, vampire extraordinaire, is a master of his kind and can exert the kind of control over humans that Violetta has never seen before. He is a powerful force. He may well be unstoppable. And that's going to be a problem, because Violetta has killed every single one of Martinet's monstrous family - and he has a score to settle.
He's going to abduct her, imprison her, and then tie her down until she begs for mercy. And that's only the beginning...
Desiring Death © 2016 C.P. Mandara
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Chapter 1
Venice – Il Ballo in Maschera
SHE WAS THE harbinger of death. If the rumours were to be believed, he did not have long left in this world. Infuriatingly, her scent teased him. Having become accustomed to the less than savoury smells of humans, such as blood, vomit, sweat, and terror, he found her unique essence fascinating. Was it jasmine or perhaps magnolia that assailed his nostrils with the fragrance of purity? Whatever it was, he found it intoxicating.
So she had finally come for him. He could not wait to meet Violetta, the famed vampire huntress who had killed most of his coven in these ten years past. To say they had a score to settle was the understatement of at least the past five centuries. Although he’d been alive for several more, there were truly gruesome happenings before that. Take the plague for instance, the One Hundred Years War, witch-hunts, or the Crusades perhaps, which couldn’t really compare with the likes of her.
The partner he currently held in his arms was in a trance-like state of euphoria and awaiting his command. She was stunningly attractive, but then all his women were. Her long blond ringlets were arranged into a mass of curls on the top of her head, pretty black lashes fluttered from behind her feathered masque, and a pair of pouting lips were captivating in the brightest shade of carmine. He could lure his heart’s desire with a single glance, and he wasn’t ashamed to say that he used the fact to his advantage. Lady Harriet, unfortunately, had been far too easy to bring under his control. She and all her twittering friends had little more than fluff inside their heads, and he could keep them in check with both eyes closed. He required a challenge. An intelligent mind and a quick wit would be a delicious start. Then he would dish out the revenge that had been festering inside him for months, growing like a malignant tumour with each new death she had doled out, until it was almost too painful to bear.
Twirling his lady friend around the parquet floor of the dance hall and listening to the sound of her heels as they clipped across the wood, he caught a flash of brilliant red hair. She whirled out of his sight as quickly as she entered it, but he was confident that it was his nemesis. He sensed her exhilaration upon having finally found him, and a certainty that justice would soon be served. Delving past her emotions, he burrowed deep into her head to see if she would let him discover her secrets.
