Blood and Redemption (Cassandra Myles Witch Series)

Blood and Redemption

Cassandra Myles Witch Series
- Volume Two

By Electa Graham

Copyright © 2013 Electa Graham

I’d like t
o dedicate this book to my kids, Miles and Grace for being patient with me when I needed quiet and for understanding when I had to write instead of being with them.

I also wanted to thank everyone who helped me with the process of getting this book from rough draft to polished copy, my beta readers, J
M, KW and LJ. All three are not just beta readers but my best friends and some of my best supporters.

Last but not least my editor, BZ Hercules and all my twitter friends who have
helped me in more ways then I can tell you. You know who you are and I appreciate everything.

Chapter One

I don’t remember coming home. For days after we left the wolf compound, I experienced very little that went on around me. Fleeting scenes flashed across my brain, a glimpse of the real world here and there, like a badly edited 8 mm film. In among those harsh clips of reality was darkness, sweet oblivion. My battered sanity clung to those, a calming salve of nothingness, a protective casing that kept reality at bay.

I didn’t know I was in shock. I didn’t know Quintus had a doctor brought in to give me pills to help me sleep. I didn’t know that when I was awake I muttered under my breath and rocked back and forth like a drug addict who had missed her fix. Those were the dark parts; the parts my brain decided I couldn’t handle. The brief flashes were Quintus holding me in his arms, stroking
my hair, or Na’min sitting beside my boss’s bed, holding my hand. Sometimes I was in the tub and other times I would be eating. I never stayed long. I was just peeking from behind the curtain to make sure the world was still there.

I found out later it took a week to have a coherent thought that didn’t involve trying to crawl back into my protective stupor. When I woke for the first time, lucid and aware enough to form words, Quintus was leaning over me, stroking my hair, his lips against my ear
, whispering in some language I couldn’t understand. It wasn’t his devotion that brought me back; it wasn’t my need to grieve for my best friend, my mate. No, those things would make a pretty passage in a book; just not my book. My life seemed so bleak that the only thing strong enough, that I could cling to, that could pull me back, was revenge. I was the instrument that had allowed evil to come into the light and I was going to kill her or die trying.

Declan had died saving my life, and I was going to use that life to make sure the woman who killed him died in a way that was so slow and painful only my imagination would limit the depths I would go to. So
, my first words to the man who so clearly loved me weren’t a reassurance that I was okay, but a plea.

“Quintus, please, I need you to swear that you will help me kill that fae
bitch.” My voice was gravelly and strained from lack of use.

He stopped his loving gestures and whispering, and lifted his face to look at mine. His mouth opened several times before any sound came from it.

“If that will bring you back to us, then I’ll do whatever it takes.”

I wanted to thank him, but that one simple pledge that I knew he would keep lifted a weight from me. I felt light and free. For the first time since the wolf compound, I fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. I was no longer hiding behind the curtain, but gathering my strength for the fight to come.

The next time I woke, the sun was streaming into the room. I stretched the kinks out of my muscles and a loud yawn escaped my lips. Quintus was beside me before I could blink. His smile was open and wide, the kind you can’t help but return.

“It’s nice to see your beautiful eyes again.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. His dark hair, which was always perfectly coiffed, looked a little shaggy.
His clothes that were always pressed and together looked like he might have slept in them.

“I hate to guess; what day is it?” I tried to sit up and that was a bad idea. The room started to spin. He patiently eased me back on
to my pillow. I gave him points for not saying anything, but the little smirk he wore was still irritating.

“It’s December tenth.” 

I felt my eyes bug out of my head. I had lost ten days. Ten days where Mab could have done who-knows-what. I opened the door to the fae world and now the Queen of Darkness herself had free access to ours. She could do what she liked and the only people who knew about the danger were all under this roof. The image of Declan falling to the ground in human form, a silver dagger in his side, flashed through my mind. The hideous creatures that stood at Mab’s side and attacked Lucius; those things had sent me into hiding and now they would steel my resolve.

“Did you mean what you said?”

He sat beside me on the bed, lifting my chin so I had to look him in the eye. The happiness was gone and in its place was a sad resignation.

“I want nothing more than to tuck you away and keep you safe. I almost lost you, but living 2000 years has taught me a few things. I know if I continue to treat you like a fragile child, then you will resent me. You need this; I can see that and you may be the only one who can kill Mab. I will help you, Cassandra, as long as you allow it, and I will be by your side.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. I had never felt so relieved. I feared he might try to backtrack on his promise. I knew if I were going to succeed, I would need help. Quintus was some pretty powerful help.

“Thank you.” I felt my body relax. I was one step closer.

“Cassandra.” His voice was deep and silky. A shiver ran down my spine. He held me captive with a look of longing so intense it took my breath away. “I know you need time to grieve for Declan. Please know I will respect that and give you all the time you need, but I made a promise to myself that I need to keep. When you were taken from us, I swore that if you ever came back to us, I would tell you how I felt.” His soft thumb traced my bottom lip. My heart was racing; his touch was no less electric than it was the night we saved Lucius.

“I have loved you since I came for you that night so long ago. You were scared and had lost so much, but you hadn’t lost hope. You are the strongest person I have ever met. So many times, I wanted to tell you how I felt, but by that time, I knew you wanted Declan and I didn’t want to destroy what we had. You know now I love you. I want you to be mine, Cassandra; your heart and body.”

“I…” Panicked and overwhelmed, I sputtered to get him to stop talking.

“I’m not asking you to do anything, but know how I feel about you. When you are ready, I will be here.” He kissed my forehead again.

I don’t know why that brought on the water works, but tears streamed down my face and it was a long time before I was able to talk again. He just held me while I cried. I thought about Declan, but it was Mab I thought about the most. I had let her into our world. I may have had help, but it had come down to me and now it would come down to me putting her back into whatever hell she had crawled out from.

“Where is Lucius? I thought he would be here.” In fact, now that I thought back on it, I don’t remember even a fleeting glimpse of Lucius the whole time I was out.

“I’m certain he would be here if I would let him, but he hasn’t been himself since we returned. I had to ban him from your room.” Quintus looked towards the door as if he expected the man in question to be standing there.

“What do you mean? I want to see him. He saved our lives, Quintus.”

“I’m aware of what Lucius has done, but…” He stopped and took a deep breath.

“You promised to stop protecting me.” He wouldn’t look at me. Fear was starting to take hold.

“I’m sorry. Every instinct in me is screaming to shield you from this, but I made you a promise and this is something you will soon find out anyway.”

“I don’t understand.” I wish he would come out with it. He was scaring me. If anything had happened to Lucius, I would never forgive myself.

“Those creatures that attacked Lucius are called goblins. They are vile creatures. Goblins are all need and very little control. They have huge appetites for fighting, sex, and food. Na’min says that goblin saliva is poisonous. If it had been you they attacked, you wouldn’t have made it to the helicopter. Lucius is a very old and powerful vampire, so physically he is almost healed.” He cleared his throat. “Mentally, he has no control over his baser urges. He is almost always hungry and when he is hungry, he needs to feed right away. He can’t help himself…”

Quintus’ eternal flawless beauty had small cracks. He looked tired. Worry marred his perfect face. For the past ten days, he had selflessly taken care of our needs and now it was time to give a little back. I opened my arms to him. He shook his head and I thought he was going to refuse, and then he collapsed into my embrace.

As I ran my fingers through his silky curls, it occurred to me that I had never comforted him before. He had always been the one who was there for me. My hands ran up and down his back and I felt the stress slowly release from his body. As the tension left him, he began to shake. Cold red tears stained my chest.

“I’m sorry; I don’t know what came over me.” Embarrassment caused him to pull away. He sat beside me and took my hand.

“Where is Lucius?” I whispered, afraid of the answer.

“He’s here. He’s likely listening to us. He would have heard you wake as easily as I did. The poison has eaten away the man who cared about others. Physically, he is still with us, but the son
I have loved for a thousand years is gone. Please, Cassandra, for your own safety, you have to listen to me. The man who would die to save your life isn’t there anymore. He hungers constantly and his emotions are always on the surface.” He wiped his face with his sleeve. The tears were so unlike him, they spoke volumes of his mental state.

“He wasn’t mobile for a few days after we returned. The bites wept horrible black ooze and he suffered unbearably. The pain was relentless. He kept yelling at me to leave him and check on you. Through all that pain, he still needed to know you were okay .The second night the only way I knew he was alive was our blood bond. On the third day, I caught him in your room. He was… he was drinking from you.”

I didn’t want to believe it. There was something that rang true, a memory about to come to the surface. My hand went to my neck.

“Oh.”

The raw grief on his face broke my heart.

“I walked in here and saw the two people who mean the most to me in the entire world and it flashed in my mind that I could lose you both. I arrived before he could take too much blood. I just had to call his name and he came to his senses.
He has gotten progressively worse. At first, there were times when he was his old self, but now those have stopped. The past couple of days, he seems to have hit a plateau, but he can’t be trusted outside these doors. I have ordered him confined here.” He let out a large sigh and looked me in the eyes. “I don’t want to lock him away, Cassandra; he’s my son.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

He gave me a small nod and smiled.

“Please don’t be mad, but I’d like to see him. I need to thank him for what he did.”

“I’m not mad; I’m worried. I’ll send him in, but he’s not the man who stayed in your home and took care of you. That man is gone. Promise me you’ll keep that in mind when dealing with him.”

I nodded. How could Lucius, the man who had saved my life three times, be someone who tried to drink me dry? I didn’t think Quintus was lying, but it was something I had to see for myself.

“I won’t be far, but I’ll give you your privacy.”

He left and, only a few minutes later, Lucius came walking through the door. His hair had grown in and the start of a thin beard peppered his chin. His open face was pinched and his gaze was dark. He looked at me like he owned me.

“I wanted to be here when you woke up.” His voice was strained.

“You are
. I’ve only been awake for a few minutes.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” The look he gave me sent a shiver through my body. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to fuck me or drink me.
Maybe both.

“I’m sorry you got hurt. You must be tired of saving my life.”

“Don’t do that. I’m a big boy and I make my own decisions.” His eyes began to glow.

I didn’t know what to say. It felt so awkward between us; it was like I was talking to a stranger.

“Do I at least get to thank you?” I tried to smile.

“No.”

“Do… do you hate me?” I couldn’t handle it if his answer was “yes.”

For a split second, the old Lucius flashed across his face.
I had to stop myself from trying to embrace him.

“No, of course not.
I just don’t have the control I used to and if I come closer, I might harm you.”

“I trust you. I trust you with my life. We’ll figure this out, Lucius. I promise.” I held my hand out, hoping he would come closer. I wanted to touch him.

“There is no ‘we,’ Goldilocks.”

I pulled my hand back like he had slapped it. I didn’t blame him for hating me. I had ruined his life. I had chosen someone else and he had still saved my life.