Louella relaxed in a chair at the bistro table that was strategically placed on the veranda of their Tuscany inspired family home to allow the afternoon sun to warm whoever sat there during the fall and winter months while enjoying an afternoon glass of a new aromatic white wine from her recently inherited vineyard. She smiled with satisfaction over the events of the week. She’d managed to convince her aunts to back her in having Davina committed to the Sunrise Sanitarium. Not that she needed them to accomplish it, but the fact that they supported her decision gave more validity to it. One never knew when something like that might come in handy.
She was a person who was careful to dot her ‘i’s’ and crossed her ‘t’s’ in life. Unlike her twin sister, she took her time to plan out important moves. It was because of her patience, diligence, and devotion to details that she was able to seize the opportunity Davina’s amnesia and her lover’s disappearance offered.
Davina didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She had no doubt in her mind that her sister was incapable of killing anyone, but that didn’t stop her from making the accusation; secretly and within the family, of course. She’d been conferring with Derek, the lead lawyer in the firm of Arthurs, Montana, and Smith, about ways to gain control of the entire estate ever since her parents died when they were eighteen and she learned they’d come into their inheritance upon their twenty-first birthday. She was sly with her endeavor and didn’t even divulge her relationship with the law firm until they attended the signing of the paperwork on the day following her birthday.
She could still recall the look of bewilderment and surprise on Davina’s face when she showed up with her team of lawyers in tow. She’d lamented over her ignorance in thinking she didn’t need a lawyer and then turned to her father’s lawyer who was officiating the signing for representation. Poor old Edward had foolishly scoffed at the fact that Louella had legal representation during the signing of the inheritance papers while assuring Davina that there was no need for it, but he’d be happy to be placed on a retainer for future circumstances that might arise. What a boon for Louella. Even then, she was working out a plan to seize control of Davina’s half of the fortune; for no other reason than the fact that she begrudged her sister all things in life.
In her opinion, her sister should have died in the womb, or, at the very least, during childbirth and left Louella to enjoy the pleasures and attention that awaited an only child of such a rich and indulgent couple. Instead, she not only had to share her parent’s attention, but she had to share birthdays as well. She hated that she and Davina were expected to behave as if they were joined at the hip simply because they were identical twins. Their looks were the absolute only thing they had in common. Personality wise, they couldn’t be more different. Where Davina was reserved to the point of being considered shy and prudish, generous to a fault, and sensitive to the degree that in her desire to hurt no one she was often taken advantage of. Louella, on the other hand, was strong willed and outgoing. She knew what she wanted in life and would stop at nothing to get it; no matter who she plowed over or hurt in the process. She learned soon after puberty that her body was an excellent tool for manipulating others -both male and female- into giving her what she wanted, and she had no qualms using it. In fact, she’d taken each member of her law firm, as well as their head secretary, Alice, to bed on more than one occasion as an extra measure to assure they’d give all they had to finding a way to get Davina out of the picture.
More than once, during their formative years, Louella had done something that brought repercussions from her parents and then blamed it on Davina. Since the victims couldn’t tell the two apart and Davina was too dumb to do much more than stand there and deny it while Louella manifested a false alibi, her sister was labeled a troublemaker. This went in Louella’s favor when it came time to accuse her of foul play to her aunts.
She didn’t need to make any such accusation to Dr. Covington. All she needed to do was to flash the appropriate amount of money in his direction and their deal was solidified. It mattered little to him what Davina could have done or whether she was actually in need of treatment. As long as he received his monthly stipend, Davina’s fate
was sealed.
Louella was born two minutes before Davina. So, technically, she was the eldest. This was something she never ceased to remind Davina of. It was also something that she impressed upon her lawyers when she had them petition the courts for her to have power of attorney over Davina’s financial and medical affairs instead of Edward. The old fool lawyer didn’t take the case as seriously as he should have, thinking Louella to be the angel of the two sisters. He was both surprised and ashamed to have been taken down so easily; not to mention unhappy about the loss of a steady retainer.
She scowled when she spotted Derek’s black Mercedes Benz making its way up the long, winding drive toward her house. Although she still required legal representation, the ultimate heavy job of getting Davina out of the way was over. It was time to cool things down with him.
She’d never found Derek attractive. In fact, he was the hardest of the men in the law firm for her to bring herself to go to bed with. In the early days, she would often have to sneak off and vomit from the physical disgust she experienced during intimacy with him. None of the men of Arthurs, Montana, and Smith were sexy and appealing. If they weren’t fat and repulsive, they were old and wrinkled. She considered giving her body to them a necessary evil to make sure that they did all that they could for her cause of acquiring total control of the family fortune. For the sake of millions, she suffered their kisses and endured not only their touch, but having to touch them, until she eventually hardened to the experience.
Now, with Davina safely locked away, she saw no need to have to whore herself out to them any longer; especially to this disgusting specimen of a man. A feeling of elation permeated her body at the thought while she watched him pry his paunchy belly out from behind the steering wheel and balance the waist of his pants as best he could over his overly large stomach and ridiculously flat ass once he was successfully out of the car. Satisfied that he was put together after his struggles, he looked her way, gave a small wave of his hand, and smiled.
Had he been paying close attention, he would have realized that the slight smile she gave him in return was forced at best.
She shuddered as his hand cupped her breast while he bent down to kiss her full lips in greeting. A look of concern came over him when she pulled his hand from her breast and turned her face from him to shorten their kiss.
“Is something wrong?”
She sighed. “I’m just not feeling it today.”
Derek scowled. “You weren’t feeling it yesterday, or the day before, either. In fact, you haven’t felt it since Davina was committed.” He sat down opposite her so that he could look her in the eye. “If you’re missing her that much, I can easily get her released.”
“Not without my say so,” she said with false bravado.
He looked at her with a smirk and a raised brow. “Which one of us is the legal wiz? You’ve been with me long enough to know what I can do. But, then, if you no longer need me, perhaps poor Davina could use my services. I’m sure she’d appreciate a shark in her corner after the fiasco having that old fob of a lawyer brought to her door.”
Louella scowled. She’d lost, and she knew it. Derek had no intention of giving up sex with her and there was nothing she could do about it. With a sigh of recognition that there was always a price to pay and nothing came free, she downed the rest of her wine and stood up. He smiled, knowingly, and
followed her into the house.
His eyes never left her ass as she swayed her way through the main part of the house toward their bedroom. He could feel himself getting hard with anticipation.
Derek had no illusions. He knew he wasn’t a catch. He was fat with boils on his back that he couldn’t get rid of no matter what dermatologist he patronized. His face was round with a distinct double chin and his teeth were a warm pearl in color that bordered on yellow. He’d made an appointment to get them whitened, but had an emergency come up that caused him to miss the appointment and he just never found the time to reschedule. He did his best to keep his breath fresh, stay clean shaven, and make sure the hair was plucked from his nose and his ears, but that’s the best he could do for her.
In a way, he felt sorry for forcing her to service him like this, but he knew he’d never get someone as hot as her into his bed any other way. Besides, she came free of charge. In fact, he not only got to bed her, but he got paid by her on top of it all. For him, it was a win, win situation that he had no intention of ending. He knew that, as long as she needed his firm’s expertise to keep Davina locked away, it wouldn’t end until he said it would end, no matter how Louella felt about it. He was aware that she bedded his partners, but, since he had no illusions about what he had with her, he didn’t mind. She could bed the whole valley as long as he got a piece of her at least once a week. He’d heard rumors that she even took his secretary, Alice, to bed. He’d considered approaching them for a threesome, but Alice was too crafty a woman and he couldn’t risk her screaming sexual harassment on him.
By the time he reached her bedroom she was already undressing. He leaned against the door frame. “How about a show today, baby? It’s been awhile.”
She stopped pulling off her tee shirt and went to the nightstand and took the remote for her Bose sound machine and selected music to strip by. With a face completely devoid of emotion, she gyrated while removing her clothes. She’d performed a strip tease for him so many times over the years that she didn’t even need to put thought into her actions.
He licked his lips in anticipation as she turned for him to see her firm, plump breasts. She played with her rosebud nipples until they were puckered and hard and then proceeded to remove her pants. As much as she dreaded having him touch her, she wanted it over with. So, she did her best to arouse him to the point that he could stand no more and would do the deed and be gone.
She was bent over, swaying her naked hips at him, when her phone rang. Without stopping, she gyrated to the nightstand where the phone base rested and picked up the receiver. She got onto the bed on all fours and continued to taunt him with her booty while she spoke in monosyllables to the person who called. Derek found this incredibly hot. He was at the bed with his hands exploring her smooth, flawless flesh before she’d finished her call.
She flinched as his stubby fingers groped her womanhood while she returned the receiver to its cradle, but, otherwise made no indication that she was aware of his actions. “You’ll need to hurry it up. My aunt will be here in twenty minutes.”
“You forgot that she yells,” he chuckled. “I heard her say forty-five minutes, but I can probably finish in twenty.”
She cursed the old telephone that she hadn’t bothered to replace. She knew it allowed people who were close to hear the person on the other end of the line if they spoke loud enough. Since her Aunt Tillie was half-deaf, she yelled whenever she wasn’t speaking face to face, thinking the person needed the extra volume to make up for the lack of lips to read like she did.
Louella went to turn onto her back, but Derek held her firm. “Stay on all fours, baby.”
She was always happy when she didn’t have to lay on her back and look at him. She may have hardened to the act of being with him, but there were still times when it repulsed her. It was especially difficult at that moment because she’d had it in her head that she would be able to finally stop having sex with him.
He crouched onto the mattress and positioned her so that when he nuzzled his overly round face, his thick tongue could reach her sensitive nub. She closed her eyes with revulsion as he slowly teased her. Little by little, her mind receded into blissful nothingness and her body took over. At that point, it didn’t matter who was sexing. It felt good and that was all that she cared about.
When he was sure she was ready for him, he pulled his pants down far enough to allow his thick rod the freedom it needed to enjoy her. Moving off the bed, he took a condom from his pocket before letting his pants drop to his ankles and kicking them off. Moving to her front, he jabbed her cheek with his rod. Knowing that his swollen manhood rested between an enormous overhang of stomach flab and overly hairy legs, she closed her eyes and turned her face so that her mouth could receive him. After a few moments of torture, he removed it and covered it with his condom. She sighed with relief as he returned to the bed and rammed it into her with the force of a bull.
She loved the sensations of sex, no matter who was doing it to her. As long as she didn’t have to look at him, she could empty her mind and let herself enjoy the sensations of his oversized tool moving in and out of her with the speed, force, and friction that would bring her to her peak several times before he reached his; even if the session was a short one.
She’d taken great pains to bring him to the brink of pleasure while he was in her mouth in hopes it would shorten the session. From the way he was pumping and grunting, she was fairly certain she’d accomplished that.
When he bent over and kneaded her breasts as a farmer would knead a cow’s udders, she knew it was almost over. If Derek was nothing else, he was predictable. Sure enough, he pulled at her nipples while he gave one final thrust and a long grumbling moan before he fell onto the bed beside her. She’d managed to peak a few times, so the needs that were aroused in her body had been satiated even with the shortness of the sex session. This pleased her. She stole a peek at his once oversized tool that was now a shriveled occupant of a used condom. It was barely visible beneath the flab that blanketed it, making her think of a kangaroo’s pouch.
She smiled to herself as she lept off the bed and quickly dressed. Their coupling was abnormally swift, yet she felt the sensations in her breasts and her womanhood that she normally felt after a long session of sex. Perhaps she’d found the secret. Avoid him until she absolutely had to be with him and then do what needed to be done to make it short and sweet. After years of long, tortuous sessions in the bedroom with his fat, sweaty body, she was sure she could continue with these short and less tortuous with no problem. In the meantime, she’d work on a plan to be free of him. She hoped she’d be able to do something similar with his partners. They may not be as repulsive to touch as Derek, but they were still a disgusting crew that she longed to be free of.
Derek was just pulling out of the drive
when her Aunt Tillie’s car pulled up. Louella’s body still tingled from the effects of rough sex as she watched her aunt’s driver, Benjamin, open the door and assist her from the car. Now, there was a man she’d like to get into her bed. She looked at his lean, manly physique and shuddered, once again, at the memory of the vile creature who’d just been rutting inside of her. Not having to close her eyes and empty her mind while her body rose to the occasion was a novelty she’d like to experience once again. She longed to keep her eyes open and enjoy the eye candy as he had his way with her.
She’d tossed Benjamin a flirt or two during her aunt’s recent and frequent visits while they decided over Davina’s fate and believed he’d be receptive. When he turned and flashed a knowing smile in her direction, she knew she could have him if she wanted him and, boy, did she want him. If for no other reason, she wanted to wash away the remnants of disgusting Derek.
“There you are, dear. I’m so glad I caught you home,” Tillie said as she approached her niece and kissed her on the cheek.
“So am I,” Louella replied. “I have yoga soon, but there’s time for a glass of wine, or
tea, if you prefer.”
“Actually, neither,” Tillie said as she moved past Louella into the house. “I’ve come with a mission in mind. I simply couldn’t sleep these past few nights thinking of poor Davina locked up in that place.”
Louella’s heart raced. It was important that her aunts support her in Davina’s confinement in order for things to runs smoothly. “Now, auntie, we agreed…”
Tillie waved her hand to hush her niece. “I’m not saying that I want her out. What I want is to go through her room and select a few things to take to her. Perhaps she’ll adjust better with a few of her belongings around her.”
“I’m not sure what the hospital will allow her to have.”
“I’ve already spoken to them. I know
what I can and can’t select.” She turned to her niece and then looked over her shoulder at Benjamin as he leaned with sexy arrogance against her car. With a knowing smile, she said, “Why don’t you keep my driver company while I go look through Davina’s things. I’ll be at least thirty minutes, maybe longer. He gets so fidgety when he has to wait. I know I spoil him, but he’s so handsome I just can’t resist.”
With a soft chuckle, she walked into the
house without looking back to see Louella’s reaction. If she had, she’d have seen the confusion on her niece’s face. As much as she wanted to bed Benjamin, she’d just finished having sex with another man. Doing it back to back with two different men was something she’d never considered.
She was so busy staring after her aunt while she debated over what to do that she didn’t notice Benjamin coming up behind her. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. Whether it was because her body was still primed from her recent sex with Derek or whether Benjamin’s pheromones were just that potent, she had no idea. All she did know was that her breasts stood at attention from his touch and her abdomen was contracting with desire. She knew then that there was no way she was going to pass up this opportunity.
“Have you seen our little guest house?” she asked as she took his hand and pulled him behind her. She made a mental note to find a way to thank her crafty old aunt.
Davina paced the floor in front of her window while she watched her aunt walk down the flower lined sidewalk to the car that awaited her. A tall, slender man she knew to be Tillie’s driver pulled his body from where he was leaning against the car as he rushed to open the back door and help her slide onto the back seat. When he closed the door, he looked up at her window. Was that a smirk of recognition on his face? She wasn’t sure, but it was enough to make her back away quickly.She’d tried to convince her aunt to help her get free of the institution, but to no avail. Believing that her brother’s child was where she needed to be to get the help required to heal her fragile mental state, her aunt’s visit had been to provide her with a few of her belongings to help make her more comfortable while in her new environment. Davina was tempted to accuse Tillie of knowing that Louella intended to keep her there permanently and the croo
Louella pushed her way across the crowded dance floor while never taking her eyes off her target. Valkyr Draken was a man she’d avoided having contact with due to his perilous reputation. That was about to change. She needed help that only he could give. Sure, there were others in the city, but she didn’t know who they were. He was the only one she knew she could turn to for immediate help in a crisis. So, she put on her best poker face and braved the crowd. She was determined to solicit his help, no matter the cost.His dark eyes hinted of amusement as he watched her battle through the drug induced dancers. They barely noticed as she pushed and shoved them out of her way with such aggression that many lost their balance; yet they continued to dance. It was as if they were under some type of spell. In a way, they were. The mild blend of ecstasy and tik that was slipped in minute amounts into e
Louella immediately poured herself a scotch after limping from the car to the house. She’d been used to the point of worrying about her welfare, but they were clearly adept at taking their victims to the brink of injury without really injuring them. Although she’d contemplated joining an underground S&M club, she never quite got around to it. Her little session with Valkyr and his men cured her of all curiosity on that point. It wasn’t for her. She preferred to be the one in charge who was doing what she wanted, when she wanted.She wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d caught a glimpse of Valkyr’s face when she could finally remove the shirt from her eyes. She could have sworn she saw it transforming from a hideous, distorted looking thing with red eyes to his normal, handsome brown-eyed self. She shook her head as she poured a generous amount of the burning liquid down her throat. She’d clearly i
Davina closed her journal. She’d read through the night as the pages slowly unfolded the events of the year. Very little happened from January to April, other than the continued sightings of the couple on the edge of the forest. She wrote that she was convinced that the couple was the spirits of her parents. She’d never seen a spirit before and had pictured them to be less opaque than the couple she kept seeing. Even so, they had too close a resemblance to her mother and father to be anything but their spirits returned to her. There was also the matter of them disappearing whenever she tried to get close to them. She read the paragraph again.Although I’m convinced that the couple I keep seeing is my parents, I’m a bit frightened by it. I’ve never seen a ghost before and I don’t know as I care to. They were killed in a car crash, but at least they aren’t appearing to me all bashed up lik
When Davina returned to her room a few hours later, she was shocked to find Louella standing in the center of complete disarray. “What have you done?”“Where is it?” Louella huffed.“What are you talking about?” Davina moaned as she raced to salvage journals that were tossed in a way as to damage the binding. “You’ve destroyed my room. Damn, even the bed’s been pulled apart. What’s wrong with you?”“I know Tillie brought it to you. Hand it over,” Louella practically growled.“You need to leave,” Davina said in a tone that caused Louella’s brows to raise in surprise.“For someone who’s locked up in the looney bin by my authority, do you really want to threaten me?”“What difference does it make? You’ll never let me out, anyway,” Davina said vehemently.“True,” Loue
Louella slipped her cell phone back into her handbag and scowled. She’d contacted that mealy Dr. Covington and asked to get her sister moved to another room. She’d hoped that the journal would surface during the shift; especially if she had a small crew packing her sister up who was on the lookout for it. The doctor had adamantly refused to cooperate. Not only that, but he’d chastised her for trashing Davina’s room while lecturing her that her money for Davina’s stay didn’t give her carte blanche with the institute.Since she could think of no other way to root out the journal, she was determined to get her sister moved. Without Dr. Covington’s cooperation, she had no choice than to call in the aid of her lawyers.She’d hoped to pay a visit to Derek’s office to discuss it, but when his secretary put her call through to him, she discovered that he was just leaving a client lu
Davina’s hand flew over her heart as she read the page in her journal that told of her love affair with T. J. Oh, how she wished she’d retained the memories of such a touching moment as what she’d written. Her words were descriptive enough, but they still didn’t bring the full impact of the love she shared with him to the surface for her heart to savor.December 2It’s been months since I met T.J. (I told him I keep a journal and record him as T.J. because of my spawn sister and he thinks it’s cute. ‘smile’) and returned him to his camp in the woods. Since then, we’ve met up in the city and done such fun things like go to the zoo, walk along the river while watching the sunset, wonderful candlelight dinners, a few movies. It’s been beyond fantastic. I haven’t invited him home for obvious reasons, so we’ve had to steal our kisses wherever and
Theo made his way down the hall to the wing where Davina’s room was located with the medications she was expected to take. He’d managed to convince, Nancy, the floor nurse that, although he was an orderly and not a nurse, he was capable of taking the meds that they’d portioned out for her to her room and waiting to make sure that she took them. Since they were overstaffed, Nancy gave him little resistance.Turning his head in all directions as nonchalantly as he could, he checked to make sure that no-one was watching as he slipped into the wing’s supply room.After dumping her meds down the drain of the utility sink, he pulled a packet of pills from the inside pocket of his lab coat and placed them in the small, paper cups he’d just emptied. Then, after peeking out to make sure the coast was clear. He stepped back out intothe corridor and continued to her room.He found her sitting in the chair by her
“I’m going to miss all of this green,” Freya sighed as she and Margaret walked the gardens one last time.“Why leave? I’ve enjoyed your company so much,” Margaret said. “We make a great pair. Imagine all of the good we could do together.”“Sadly, like you said, my time was destined to suffer even without Louella’s interference. We eliminated the catastrophic events Louella caused but there is still the devastation caused by war to deal with. I can’t, in good conscience, abandon them.”Margaret sighed. She completely understood Freya’s thinking. Hadn’t she made her home in the less advanced past in order to protect and aid the innocents from evil? “Well, at least promise me that you’ll visit often.”“That, I can do,” Freya said with a smile.“Will you be stopping in to see our young couple
Davina wailed with dismay at the sight of Theo’s bruised and emaciated body. Her first instinct was to rush over to the vampire’s den and pummel it with fireballs, but she knew better. She was a new mother with a child who depended upon her. She couldn’t run around putting herself in danger for the sake of revenge, no matter how badly she wanted it.At the others’ insistence, she sat in the corner of the room holding her baby while Sally patched up Theo as best as she could. The doctor sent Margaret and Freya off on several errands -such as fetching blood from a nearby blood bank for a transfusion- before she was satisfied that Theo was no longer in danger.Although Margaret and Freya would have preferred to teleport Theo to Davina’s house, they listened to the good doctor’s advice and transported him via a vehicle instead. Teleporting could prove hard on a body and Theo’s body was in too weakened
Valkyr finished having sex with a drugged and almost lifeless mundane that was brought in from the club and walked away with disgust. He’d been spoiled by Louella. He no longer enjoyed sex with half comatose men and women. It didn’t matter what he used from his arsenal of sex tools, their reaction wasn’t as real and animated as Louella’s had been. Their moans and screams lacked the passion and power behind them. He’d also grown accustomed to the cleaner blood that Louella offered. The mundanes from the club tasted of the drugs that were slipped into their drinks.His men had gone out several times searching for his pregnant witch, but came back empty handed each time. He was beginning to wonder if he should contact the dark lord. He hesitated because, although the dark lord would not think of starting something with him, Louella was his subject. She’d confided in him on more than one occasion about her si
Freya found Margaret pacing the exterior of the hovel she’d prepared for Louella’s confinement when she returned with the doctor. Her footsteps had worn a smooth path in the dusty ground from her steady repetitions over it. She was clearly distraught.“How is Davina?” Margaret anxiously asked.“She and the baby are doing just fine,” Sally replied. “She’s a remarkably resilient girl and her daughter entered this world strong and healthy.”“What a blessing,” Margaret said with relief.“It’s a damned miracle if you ask me,” Freya said as she walked past Margaret toward the entrance of the prison. “That baby was technically in its second trimester. Yet, it came out a fully developed and completely healthy child.”“You deal in magic. Why should this surprise you?” Sally asked as she followed Freya.“Becau
Valkyr watched as Victor and Jeremiah dragged the traveler into the room. His face was battered and bruised to the point of being almost unrecognizable and blood still oozed from the feeding holes in his neck. It was clear to Valkyr that his men hadn’t bothered to heal the feeding wounds on the traveler like they did with others after drinking their blood. He smiled with approval.Professional travelers were of a supernatural nature that set them apart from the others. Their skills were never simply traveling. Some had the ability to perform a decent amount of magic. Some could influence the thoughts in the mundane’s head. Some had calculating minds that were phenomenal in staying one step ahead of the enemy during war. Whatever the extra, you could bet that there was another ability mixed in with the time travel talents. You could also be assured that all travelers were doing the biddin
“I can’t believe you didn’t notice how big her stomach had gotten,” Sally Morgenstern huffed as she completed her examination on Davina. “I can understand Davina not realizing it, since her mind is stressed and she’s wearing the stomach, but you are separate, unstressed, and have easy visibility of her person.”“Who says I’m not stressed?” Freya complained.Sally eyed her cousin wearily. “Okay. I’ll give you that. ““So, what’s the verdict?”“The magic sped up the gestation period. She’s ready to give birth.”“I can’t give birth!” Davina howled from the bed they’d placed her on for the examination. “Theo needs me!”Sally shook her head. “Theo will have to wait. That baby wants out now.”Frey ran her fingers through her short brown hai
Freya greeted Davina with a smile as she entered the estate house that Louella had been occupying. “I’ll bet it feels good to be back home.”Davina nodded as she guided Freya to the back patio. “This place holds a lot of memories.” Pointing to a small table that was set up with brunch, she added, “I thought you might enjoy eating outside. The grounds are so beautiful this time of year.”“I’ll miss all of this greenery when I go back,” Freya said as she seated herself at the table. “This looks delicious. Are you an adept cook or does the house come equipped with one?”“Both,” Davina said with a smile. “I’m fairly comfortable in the kitchen, but, admittedly, I had help with today’s food.”“When you get Theo back, will you two live here?”“It’s mine by right. Well, half of it is, anyway
Theo tugged at the chain that offered him roaming ability of only a few yards from the damp, stone wall. He was in the basement of a building by a body of water. He could tell that much. Unfortunately, because of the lack of windows, electrical lighting, and variety of attire worn by the vampires, he had no idea what body of water he was near or what century he was in.Being a seasoned traveler, he was able to tell certain things. One of them was the fact that he was no longer in the fourteenth century. The density of the air was heavier and far more familiar to him. If he was to take a guess, he’d say he was at least in the nineteenth century, if not later. He might even be in the twenty-first century. Not knowing was almost as annoying as the cuffs on his wrists and the chain around his ankle.“I see you are awake,” said the tall vampire that he’d heard the other vampires call Valkyr,
Louella paced the small cell that she’d been locked into by the two very annoying witches. It took her a while to realize that she’d been drugged by her doctor in order to lower her abilities to do magic. She couldn’t wait to be free and look that doctor up. The pain she’d happily inflict upon the medical woman would do her father proud.The cage was spelled. Not only did it bind her magic, but she could feel it drawing it out of her. If she was kept in it for too long, it might permanently syphon every drop from her. Should that happen, she feared reprisals from the unforgiving dark lord.She was rapidly learning that there were just as many disadvantages to being in the dark lord’s eye as there were advantages. Maybe more. After all, she’d witnessed him killing several of her siblings on various occasions for disappointing him and he’d allowed her to behead Sybil wit