“Are you all right, my love?” Lucas pulls his shirt over his head, muscles flexing.“It’s been a long day.”“That’s an understatement.” Lucas tosses his shirt on a chair by my closet. He starts undoing his belt next, and I watch, transfixed, as he strips himself bare. No one should be that pretty, though I’m sure his body used to be bruised and scarred in his human life.“I still can’t get over the fact you were a gladiator,” I blurt.“With everything that happened today, that’s what you’re thinking of?” Chuckling, he gets into bed next to me. I’ve stripped down to a t-shirt and panties, yet suddenly I’m feeling very overdressed now that I’m next to Lucas’s glorious naked body.“It’s just…a gladiator.” I shake my head. “Is it weird to say that turns me on?”“When it comes to what turns you on, there are very few things I’m going to say are weird.”“And you said vampires aren’t all about sex.” I raise my eyebrows and laugh.“We’re not all about sex. We both know I’m good in bed and rar
My breath leaves me, and suddenly I realize the forest is quiet. No leaves are gently swaying in the breeze. No crickets are chirping. There is nothing.“Who are you?” I ask, holding up my hand. Blue energy swirls around my fingers, but it’s so bright it blinds me. I bring my hand down, blinking as if someone just took a flash photo right in front of my face.The blue-eyed man is gone, but an orange-and-red glow comes from deep within the forest. Suddenly, the breeze is back, and it brings with it the scent of a bonfire. Only, no one is out in the woods sitting around a fire for fun.The faint smell of brimstone doesn't hit me right away, but I can feel it deep in my bones. What I’m smelling is hellfire, and for some reason, I know I’m the one about to get burned. I close my eyes again.“Wake up, Callie,” I say to myself.I’m still in the forest.“Wake up!”Dammit, I’m still here.“Now. Get up before you burn!”The wind picks up and embers blow into the air. “Not again,” I whisper to
“We are going to have a boring, uneventful afternoon followed by a riveting time signing papers with the bank, and then finally a hot date back in Chicago.” I look up at Lucas, smiling. “Or I’ll be damned.”“You might be damned.”“Don’t jinx us.”He laughs. “Wouldn’t agreeing with you be jinxing it?”“I guess if you’re following the same logic to why people say ‘break a leg’ instead of ‘good luck’ to performers, right?”“I suppose. Though I don’t believe in jinxes. Curses, obviously. But hoping for something good to happen to you isn’t going to make the universe bend its will.”“If only I was as optimistic as you.”We’re lying on the couch together and for the last half hour or so, Lucas has been fascinated by the way my hair glistens in the sunlight.“You’re much more optimistic than I am. I’m the realist in this relationship.” Smiling, he kisses me. “You need me.”“In more ways than one.” I wiggle my eyebrows and scoot closer to him. “I should get started on my boring afternoon, tho
Chapter EighteenI’m back in the woods.All light is gone, save for the glowing blue flames in front of me. The hellfire retreats, surrounding the demon. I stand in the flames, watching myself command the fire. The blue-eyed man is next to me, watching everything play out along with me.“Why are you showing me this again?” I ask, but my voice is lost to the flames. Suddenly, the flames go out, and I hear Lucas calling my name.My eyes flutter open, and I blink away the last remnants of the dream. I fell asleep after having sex, and Lucas’s body is spooned around mine. It’s getting later in the afternoon, and he’s used to being asleep right now. I’d love to go back to sleep too, but I’m all jittery from that dream.Maybe Lucas was right and it’s a nightmare. It was pretty traumatic, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised to keep dreaming about it. But I know it’s not just a dream.The blue-eyed man is trying to tell me something…but I have no idea what. I’ve lived through that moment three
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Lucas flicks more scrapper goo off me.“I’ll feel better after I’ve showered. I’ve had more exploded body parts on me this month than I had all last year.”Lucas raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize exploding body parts were that common.”“When you throw energy balls, it happens.” I let out a breath and look around. Everything happened so fast. “So much for our boring night.”“You know I’m always up for a little killing in the woods.”“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”Lucas tips his head to the side and shrugs, looking both lethal and adorable at the same time. “I thought it would.”“It kind of does. I was really set on coming out here and finding nothing. I told you, you jinxed us.”“Yes, because supercharged demons is exactly the thing that results from a jinx.”“Stop being logical.” I bend down and wipe my hands on fallen leaves. “Pandora,” I call, closing my eyes. “Freya.” They’re close enough to feel me summon them, and they’ll be here in
Everything hurts.My eyes burn. Each breath feels like fire. My head is throbbing from where I was hit, and my arms and legs are tightly bound to a wooden chair. I’m in the dark, and while I can’t see even an inch in front of me, the air smells dank and damp, like I’m in an old basement or something.I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get them to stop burning. My breath leaves in a ragged huff, and I can’t concentrate enough to call Binx…even if he could hear me from this far away.Because I have no idea where I am.Pulling on the ropes only makes them tighter. Whoever tied me up has done this before. I close my eyes again and try to feel the knots. If I can get a general idea of how they’re bound, I can telekinetically undo them.“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.”A voice rings out in the dark, soft and feminine, with a hint of a Russian accent.“What do you want?” I ask, voice hoarse from inhaling the pepper spray.“I think you know,” the woman says. She has to be a vampire since s
“Callie,” Lucas whispers, cradling me against his chest. “Can you hear me?”I want to open my eyes and tell him yes, but I can’t. I’m too weak right now, and if I open my eyes, I’m pretty sure I’m going to puke.Suddenly, I’m in the forest again, and he’s not really with me. My head lolls to the side and the dream takes over, pulling me back to the ring of hellfire. The same thing plays out just like before. I watch myself, tied to the large tree, coughing from smoke, ready to give up because I don’t know how else it will end. The demon raises its arms, and the flames grow higher and higher, so hot the heat feels like it’s going to melt the skin right off my face.The blue-eyed man is there, but this time he’s not looking at me. He’s staring at the tree. I step through the flames and feel the same overwhelming sense of familiarity washing over me.“Who are you?” I whisper, not expecting him to so much as look at me.But he does.His eyes meet mine, and he reaches out, hand going to my
“That feels better.” I sink onto the bed, eyelids heavy. Lucas is next to me, and his hands go to my shoulders. We just got out of the shower, and I want so badly to fall back against the mattress and go to sleep.I’m exhausted, feeling a similar type of depletion as when I commanded the hellfire. My mind is whirling, and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not really a witch…or not just a witch.“And that feels amazing.” My eyes close and my head falls forward as Lucas massages my muscles.“Lay down,” he tells me. “Get some rest, my love.”Nodding, I let him pull me down to the bed. He covers us both up and keeps rubbing my back. Right when I’m about to drift to sleep, I feel the same panic I did when that vampire rushed at me and sank her fangs into my neck.My eyes fly open, and I’m hit with anxiety, crippling every muscle, every single nerve in my body.“Callie?” Lucas inches closer. “What’s wrong?”“What isn’t wrong?” I roll over, needing to feel his cool skin against mine. “Other