Austin's Lost Bride (The Sterns) (6 page)

The beast within her roared.

Rebecca’s head split as the beast prepared itself for the blood of her first kill. She wanted to scream out in protest, stop herself, but she couldn’t. The scent of his blood was powerful and her tongue leaped out of her mouth to clean and taste every drop running from his neck. As Mannus pushed Austin’s neck closer to her, she felt her fangs growing in anticipation.

Anyone but Austin, her mind screamed.

The beast charged through her thoughts and instantly forced her tongue to lick his wound, tasting even more of his precious blood. Her entire body shook at the saltiness of blood mixed with sweat.

The beast wanted more.

Every inch of her soul stood firm against the beast, but it had tasted what it most desired and in his next heartbeat she pierced his skin and began to drink.

Vampiric strength flowed through her body as his blood began to fill her and in an instant she ripped away the chains that bound her. Her hands went to Austin, to push him away from her but the beast surged against her will and instead she moved to hold him in a tight embrace. She cradled his head in her hand, slowing only briefly how quickly she drank.

“You cannot resist the beast, child,” said Mannus.

Rebecca was frantic. Only her training gave her any ability to think even irrationally. By now, any normal person would have completely surrendered to the beast and ripped Austin’s neck apart to get his blood. Her body was acting completely on instinct, ruled by the beast and once Austin’s heart had beat the last time then the beast would turn on and devour her soul. Under her hands she felt Austin begin to shake, the loss of blood slowly beginning to weaken him. She began stroking his head, running her hands through his hair, feeling the rise and fall of his chest as she held him and fought against the beast’s urge for her to drink quickly.

It couldn’t end like this. Austin couldn’t die. She couldn’t be the one to kill him.

She loved him
.

Everything happened in the space of a heartbeat. Her toes felt it first. A friendly warmth seeping into her feet. It reached up past her foot, moving up her legs, almost tickling her as it climbed into her chest. Surrounding her heart it swept down her arms, into her hand, and up through her head. Filling her body with the sensation, she had no fear as it collapsed on her heart and when it finally touched her soul she knew what it was.

Love.

Pure and unconditional. Her parents had come to help her and let her know that her father was all right. Their love roared through her with the force of a bursting dam, striking the beast back, then through her hands into Austin, warming him and breaking the talisman’s hold.

“I love you,” Austin whispered so softly she wouldn’t have heard it except for her enhanced half-vampire senses.

The beast’s hold on her body was broken and she threw Austin off her, lunging at Mannus, dragging him down to the ground. The talisman pulsed erratically and Mannus was dazed but not frozen. She smiled at his slow reactions.

Blood magic can work both ways, you bastard.

Mannus was powerful, the daze would be short. She had to kill him quickly. The thrall screamed behind her. Mannus began moving faster with greater strength in his arms. She broke the beast’s hold on her mind during her first kill and Mannus had panic in his eyes. He wanted to escape, but they were still struggling on the ground.

Austin shot in front of her, his legs unsteady but solid purpose in his movement as he went to the pile of weapons. He grabbed her special dagger, spun around and drove it into Mannus’s chest. The vampire roared in pain, but kept moving, struggling even harder to break free. Rebecca grabbed the dagger, holding Austin’s hand onto it under hers, and plunged it deeper into Mannus’s chest. The dagger’s full power and force of white magic came alive under her touch.

It took only seconds as the dagger’s magic flowed through the vampire, destroying his body. When the last of him turned to dust, her soul surged throughout her body and every bit of the beast was driven from her.

She tried to stand but fell to her knees as absolute weariness overtook her. Austin caught her before she fell over, held her gently, and stroked her hair when everything went dark.

Chapter 6

Rebecca woke slowly. The high-pitched squeal of a siren bringing her senses into focus. Sounds of cars and engines running came through the window next to her. Morning sunlight bathed her as she sat herself up onto the bed she slept in. She wore a pair of silk pajamas, the fabric soft on her skin and she knew she was clean with no smell of any blood or dirt on her body.

She noticed a slight movement to her left and snapped her head around. Austin was sitting in a chair next to her bed, and Rebecca’s eyes went wide when memories of the fight against Mannus and his death came crashing back to her.

“What happened? How long have I been here?” she asked.

Rebecca’s throat tightened as he answered. His voice was even, distant, hurt.

“You collapsed after your soul finished driving the beast out of you. Slept more than a day. It’s morning again,” said Austin.

Rebecca was confused. Why was he talking to her like a stranger, so detached?

He continued, “I got everything out of the house. The first police didn’t even start to arrive until after I pulled away. It’ll be written up as a drug related shoot-out and we shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I was able to destroy all of our DNA. You’ll still have to face a hunter tribunal for going after Mannus solo, but I’ll back you at the hearing. Once that’s over, I’ll keep my promise and we can both go our separate ways. Just like you want.”

Rebecca sucked in a breath.

He’s planning on leaving
.

How could he even think that after what they’d been through? Hadn’t he said that he loved her? Had she imagined it?

No.

She hadn’t imagined anything. He loved her and she loved him. She wasn’t separating without a fight. Slipping out of the bed and moving in front of the chair, she knelt on the floor between his legs. His muscles shook as she slowly ran her hands along his thighs and grabbed his hands in hers.

“I don’t want you to leave. I was wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong about anything. I killed your father. You know I did. It shouldn’t have happened. If I had only been better prepared to rescue him, more determined, then maybe he could have lived.”

“Austin,” she said softly. He kept his eyes away from her and she let go of his hands, pulled herself a little higher, and placed a hand on his cheek, his stubble tickling the skin on her palm.

“Look at me,” she said as she turned his head toward her and their eyes met.

Tears started forming in Rebecca’s eyes as the pain in Austin pierced her.

She pulled his lips closer to hers and said, “I love you.” A groan escaped her lips as they kissed and she attacked his mouth. Her tongue charged past his lips before he broke off and pulled away.

His eyes flashed dangerously. “If you don’t mean it. We can’t do it. Not like last time,” he said in a voice so low it rumbled through her like an earthquake. “How could you love me after what I did?”

His eyes were burning her skin with their intensity and she gently kissed him again.

“I know what really happened. When Mannus turned me our minds touched and I saw what you did. It was the right thing. I never should have doubted you.”

“But I was too late to save him.”

Rebecca shook her head. She wasn’t going to let him believe that he failed her or her father. He hadn’t. He had saved them both, and now it was her turn to save them and their future together.

“My father was there in the basement with me. I felt him giving me strength to fight the beast, to turn on Mannus.” A tear fell from one eye and then another as she spoke. “You did what he wanted and you saved him. He loved you and so do I.”

She pulled him off the chair and down to the floor with her, kneeling in front of each other. His hands grabbed her waist and instinctively she placed a deep, passionate kiss on his succulent lips as a moan of pleasure came from her throat.

Austin pulled away, running his tongue across her lip as he went.

“I love you too. I always have. I …”

“You need to stop talking and take me. Now,” she said.

Even for a hunter, Austin had both of their clothes off in record time. Kneeling naked in front of each other he took her and pushed her back onto the floor, moving himself in between her legs. Rebecca ran her hands along his shaft, kneading is slowly, guiding it to the entrance to her pussy. He held it there, his tip just inside her folds.

“Will you still marry me?”

She pulled him into her, locking her legs tightly around his waist.

“Yes.”

They gave each other all the love they had held deeply inside, letting go of all the pain and regret of lost time or hurt. It was the kind of passionate love that binds through life and death, and lasts forever.

Author Note

In German mythology, Mannus lived in the 1st Century AD and was the father of three sons who founded three great Germanic barbarian tribes. These tribes eventually spread across Europe and Scandinavia, and participated in bringing on the fall of Rome. In some literature, Mannus is also referred to as the Norse god Heimdall or his close kin.

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Chapter 1

“Ohmygod, Casey that was amazing. It was like taking a trip to heaven. I can’t believe how good you are.” He paused. “Seconds?”

Casey Miller smiled. She loved making people happy the way she knew best.

“I’ve got plenty to go around, so help yourself Mr. Richards,” Casey said.

Mr. Richards didn’t need any further encouragement. He had the serving spoon in a second and was piling more shrimp on his plate. The sounds of chewing, gulping, licking fingers were all around her. She felt intense satisfaction that her gourmet food gave people such pleasure when they ate it and she just couldn’t help but smile.

Casey sighed and remembered the conversation she had with her accountant:
Catering sales are going well but your fixed expenses are too high
.

She wasn’t smiling and wasn’t sure what to do. As the owner of
The Practical Gourmet
it was her responsibility to figure it out. It just wasn’t possible to work any harder. Right now she had catering events booked months in advance and she was doing everything herself. There was just no time to figure out what else to do to make more money. Hiring additional help made sense, but no one would stay once they found out about one of her other little problems; they would certainly quit and she couldn’t risk rumors starting to spread, so it was just her. Her and her three big problems.

This job at the Chicago Museum of Architecture was particularly fun. She liked old homes almost as much as she liked cooking great food. The museum was opening a new exhibit on Colonial American homes and the turnout was great. Invitations went to all the big donors and it looked like most of them had come. Nearly 200 of Chicago’s affluent were in attendance, sitting around the various tables, listening to the parade of speakers and most importantly, eating her fantastic food.

She turned away back to look at her buffet table and all the wonderful foods she had created to make people enjoy eating something delicious. The thought of possibly losing her business, her home, everything, was too much; she started to tear up under the strain of it all.

An older gentleman next to her licked some sauce off his fingers. “Here you are, Miss. I’ve got some tissue you can have. I always bring extra to these things. Some of these speakers can just be so mind-numbing to listen to I just have to cry myself. But that’s OK. It’s the good food and good company that I come for.” He handed Casey some tissue and asked for a business card. “You make such good food. I’ll just have to tell my wife to have you for our own family events coming up.”

Casey thanked him and gave a weak smile in return. Another catering gig that I probably don’t have the time to do thought Casey. She sighed again and slumped down in a nearby chair.

She rubbed her left cheek and still couldn’t understand how things had gone downhill so quickly from just two years ago. Her business was thriving, she was a new fiancée, and she didn’t have any issues with her house. Now it was all turned upside down with her business failing, her love life in tatters and her house was haunted. It wasn’t exactly where she expected to be in life, but there it was what it was and she needed to deal with it.

She shook her head. Keep moving. Keep busy. That was the key to getting it off her mind and finally getting ahead. She stood up and went back to her table. More fruit she noted and she started making her way back to the museum kitchen area for things to restock the table. How Colonial architecture influenced later Civil War era building was the topic of the next speaker and Casey glanced up at the Master of Ceremonies and felt a flutter in her stomach as she walked by and out of the event area.

Lucas Stern passed the podium off to the next speaker and the audience applause. He could barely stand it. Walking to the side of the stage in his tuxedo he felt acutely self-conscious. The museum had invited him to be MC because of some writing he had done on 19th Century Era American homes had caught the eye of one of the trustees, and he was a regular donor. It was an honor to be asked, and he was pleased to accept, but he hated wearing something so formal. Tuxedos were so constricting to the normal clothes he wore daily and the last time he wore a tux wasn’t exactly a happy occasion.