Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (48 page)

“What did I tell you?
When I’m right, I’m
right.”
Addison grinned at me and took another bite
of her apple.

“Yeah, yeah, and
you’re always right.” I grinned at her. “Give me some of that.”

She handed me the
apple and I took a bite from the other side. Now that I was back with Victor, I
found I could really appreciate being able to eat again. The apple was juicy and
crisp in my mouth and I couldn’t remember ever tasting anything so delicious.
Of course, all food tasted that way to me now, for some reason. And I seemed to
get hungry for really crazy things at the most unreasonable hours. Like pickles
and ice cream at four in the morning—that kind of thing.

Addison laughed at me
and said I ate like a pregnant woman, which I usually shrugged off. But
honestly, I was beginning to wonder if I should buy a test. It was ridiculous,
of course, vampires don’t have babies. Then again, I didn’t seem to be fully a
vampire anymore. I could eat regular food and even go out in the sun. I still
needed the occasional drink of blood from Victor but that wasn’t a problem
since he
really
liked
feeding me. It almost always led to sex,
which was always a delicious addition to a midnight snack.

“So you and Victor are
going to have a re-bonding ceremony?” she asked, taking back her apple.

I nodded. “We’re going
to do it right this time. The dress, the cake…everything. Small but classic.
I’m sure Corbin told you he agreed to officiate.”

She smiled. “Yes, and
I promise I’ll wear a dress that isn’t black to be your bridesmaid this time.”

“Perfect.” I stood up
and stretched, enjoying the feel of the warm sun beating down on my shoulders.
We were sitting on the front steps of her condo and it felt good to be outside
during the daytime again.

“Hey, where are you
going?” Addison looked up at me, shading her eyes with one hand.

“To do something I
should have done weeks ago—I need to thank Gwendolyn,” I said seriously. “After
all, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here enjoying the gorgeous sunshine
and your yummy apple and having Victor as my man for good. I’d been…somewhere
else.”

“Where?” Addison
looked at me, frowning a little. “I mean, is it like they always say—a warm
light and all your dead loved ones and all that?”

I shook my head. “Not
exactly. I mean, I don’t remember much—I think that was part of it. But there
was another place too. A pit filled with these big, slimy things with no faces…
Ugh.”
I shivered, feeling suddenly cold, despite the warm sunshine.

“What?” Addison rose
to stand beside me, her face anxious. “Was it that bad?”

“It was awful.
Hellish.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to think about it, okay?”

“You don’t have to,”
she reminded me. “You and Victor are life-bonded now. He’ll live as long as you
do and vampires are practically immortal.”

“True.” I closed my
eyes and turned my face up to the sunlight, trying to dispel the half
remembered images. People complain all the time about how Tampa Bay is too hot
but after six long years of living in the dark, I was more than glad to be out
in the heat and light again.

“Well, I have to get
back to Corbin.” She held out the apple to me. “Want the last bite?”

“No thanks.” I smiled.
“I’m going to go back to Victor’s place—
our
place I mean—as soon as I
leave Gwendolyn’s. I’m making steak and corn on the cob for dinner with
strawberry pie for dessert.”

“Look at you, getting
all domestic.” She grinned at me. “You always did like cooking. Maybe you
should go to culinary school instead of finishing your veterinarian degree.”

“Nope, I’m going back
to school this coming semester,” I declared. “I spoke to the director of the
program, and given my extenuating circumstances, he agreed I can take up right where
I left off.”

“Extenuating
circumstances? You mean you told him you were taken and forced to become a
vampire against your will?”

“Something like that.”
I smiled. “Actually, I may have used just a
tiny
bit of glamour on him.
Not to cheat or anything—just to get back where I was.”

She nodded. “I think
that’s understandable. Wow, so Celeste was right—you really
are
unstoppable. Someone with all a vampire’s strengths and none of their
weaknesses.”

“But unlike Celeste, I
don’t want to do anything crazy like conquer the world,” I said dryly. “I’ll be
happy just to finish vet school and settle down with Victor. I’m really
thinking of opening a practice just for dogs—since cats still don’t like me.”

“You could treat the
local pack,” she suggested. “Their wolves, I mean. Now that that little bitch
LeeAnn is gone, they might be decent people.”

“We’ll never know
about that,” I said. “Since they’re all scared to death of Victor. You know the
pack master showed up at our house and made a personal apology?”

“But wasn’t LeeAnn his
daughter?” Addison asked.

I nodded. “He was
really upset about her but he understood why she died after he found out she
was working with Celeste. It was sad, really—he kept talking about how he’d
failed her by being too permissive, letting her get away with too much. He
really blamed himself more than Victor’s beast.”

“That
is
sad,”
Addison said softly. “But…so he’s not seeking any kind of vengeance?”

I shrugged. “He says
he’s not. And he begged Victor to leave him and the rest of the pack strictly
alone. They’re even going to move their hunting grounds to be away from our
land.”

“Wow. That’s good in a
way but lonely for Victor,” Addison said. “Doesn’t he miss having a pack to run
with?”

“I don’t think so,” I
said. “He’s been a lone wolf for a long time. And anyway, now he has me. I’m
still a vampire, you know. If he wants someone to run with him, I can keep up
with him when he’s in his wolf form.”

“Now
there’s
an
interesting mental image.” Addison smirked. “The two of you down on all fours,
howling at the moon…”

“Very funny.” I
elbowed her and grinned. “Look, I really have to get going. Gwendolyn told me
she has some kind of an appointment tonight so I need to go see her before she
has to go.”

“Got it. You have the
keys?”

“Right here.” I held up
the spare keys to her little Focus, which I was still driving. The police had
found it abandoned barely a block from Gwendolyn’s house and Addison had
graciously forgiven me for getting it stolen in the first place. “You sure you
don’t mind?” I asked her.

She shook her head.
“Nah. Corbin collects cars so I always have something nice to drive. You can
have it.”

“Thanks, roomie.” I
gave her a hug. “For everything. If you hadn’t made me go talk to Victor…”

“You’d still be moping
around my condo being a pain in the ass.” She hugged me back. “Go on—go see
Gwendolyn. And tell her I said thank you too, for bringing my best friend back
from the great beyond.”

“I’ll tell her,” I
said. “And I might invite her to our next girl day—do you mind?”

“No,” Addison said thoughtfully.
“Ask her—I didn’t like her at first but now, well…I think she may be all
right.”

“I think so too.” I
hugged her once more and she waved at me as I drove off in the dusty little
car.

The trip to
Gwendolyn’s little yellow bungalow took less time than I thought so I got there
a little before our scheduled time. I parked in front of her house, reflecting
as I did how much happier I was than the last time I’d been there. Then I had
been going to sever my bond with Victor. Now, not only was the bond back, it
was stronger than ever and we were planning a life together. I had been through
hell to get where I was but I truly believed it was worth it.

I knocked on her front
door but no one answered. There was a car in the driveway though —a little old
VW bug that had seen better days—so I assumed she was home. On impulse, I tried
the doorknob and was surprised to find the door open.

“Gwendolyn? Hello?” I
called, letting myself into the little house. “It’s Taylor. Are you here?”

There was no answer at
first but then I heard angry voices coming from the back of the house. Should I
go find out what was going on? It was obviously a private conversation but what
if Gwendolyn was in trouble? What if she needed help?

Careful to be quiet, I
crept down the hallway that led to the back bedrooms. The raised voices seemed
to be coming from her workroom.

The door was open and
I saw Gwendolyn standing there. She was all Gothed up with the heavy black
eyeliner and the fake lip piercing in place and she was arguing with Laish, the
same man I had seen here twice before. No, not man—he was a demon, I reminded
myself. Though the only thing demonic I could see about him was his strange,
ruby-colored eyes.

“Just what did you
think you were doing?” he demanded, glaring at her. “Opening a door into the
Abyss on the very edge of the pit, stealing back a soul from Heaven—do you have
any idea what a risk you took, Gwendolyn?”

“I
had
to do
it,” she insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. “She was there because of
me.
If I hadn’t gone back for her—”

“She would have gone
to the Heavenly Realm where she belongs,” he shot back. “Which was where you
should have left her instead of foolishly risking yourself doing something that
is
absolutely forbidden.”

I recoiled a little at
his anger. Every other time I had seen him he had been so debonair, so
courteous and urbane with his charming little French nicknames and his
eagerness to help Gwendolyn in any way she needed. Now, however, the gloves
were off. His eyes flashed like rubies in the dim room and his face was very
white and angry.

No, not just angry—he
was
furious
with Gwendolyn, I realized. I wondered if I should step in
and protect her (though I didn’t know how much protection I would be against a
demon, even a minor one) but she seemed to be holding her own pretty well.
Also, he wasn’t threatening to hit her—he was just shouting at her.

“You acted like a
fool, Gwendolyn. You’re a very talented and beautiful witch but sometimes you
act as though you haven’t a brain in your head. What is
wrong with you?”

“Nothing! And Taylor
does
not
belong in the Heavenly Realm,” Gwendolyn shouted back. “She
belongs here on the physical plane, with the man who loves her.”

Laish smiled angrily.
“Why Gwendolyn, and I was so certain you didn’t have an amorous bone in your
body. I thought all your thoughts were bent on revenge—not starry-eyed
romance.”

“My revenge is none of
your business,” she snapped. “In fact, you know what?
None
of this is.
My
whole life
isn’t your business.”

“I told you before,”
he growled. “I am
making
you my business, Gwendolyn.”

“Fine. Then if what I
was doing was so dangerous, why didn’t you come and warn me or try to stop me?”
she demanded. “It happened over two weeks ago and you’re
just now
coming
to bitch me out about it? Where were you when I was forced to open the door
into the Abyss? Where were you when I
needed
you?”

Laish sighed and some
of the fire died out of his strange red eyes.

“I was far beyond the
Shadow Lands—beyond even the Abyss,” he said in a low voice. “I cannot tell you
what I was doing—only that I wanted to come to you when I felt the risk you
were taking. Wanted to but could not.”

“Oh, well…” Gwendolyn
shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

“Ma chere…”
He cupped her cheek and looked earnestly into
her eyes. “Do you really not know that you might have been lost forever? If you
had slipped into the pit even
I
could not have saved you.”

“But I didn’t,” she
said sharply, stepping away from his touch. “I’m
fine.
In fact, better
than fine—or I was, anyway, until
you
showed up.”

His eyes hardened.

“Very well, continue
to push me away if you like. But know this—if you failed to shut the door that
you opened, if you left it open so much as a crack—you will not be
fine
for
long.”

A look of worry
flitted across Gwendolyn’s face but she masked it quickly and turned it into a
frown.

“I closed it, okay? So
everything is absolutely peachy and you can leave me alone and stop lecturing
me now. All right?”

“I will go,” he said
stiffly. “And this time I won’t return unless you call me.”

“Don’t hold your
breath,” she shot back. “I’ll call you about the same time that Hell freezes
over.”

“Actually, Hell is
quite cold.” His deep voice was filled with quiet fury. “I know one is always
told about the lake of fire but most of it…most of it is colder and lonelier
than you can imagine, Gwendolyn.”

Some of the anger died
out of her face but she still lifted her chin defiantly.