The Warrior Vampire (34 page)

“Creepy,” Luz said with an exaggerated shudder.

“It can be a challenge, but it can also be very useful.”

“You bet! Especially if you thought your girl was steppin' out on you.”

Leave it to Luz to give the vampire race's collective memory a Jerry Springer twist. “If the legends are accurate, the chest would hold an immense magical charge,” Naya explained. “Especially if it carries the power of resurrection.”

“A god's magic? Big mojo.”

Naya met Luz's gaze in the mirror. She had a point. “Magic can only be used for its intended purpose. If someone who didn't know anything about it was trying to make that magic work for them it would certainly corrupt it.”

“And whoever has Set's chest might have Chelle.” The hope in Ronan's voice was like a dagger to Naya's chest.

“That would be my guess.” Unless, of course, Chelle had been one of the first to be corrupted. In which case, odds were good that Ronan's sister was already dead.

Luz pulled to a stop in front of a storefront at the edge of downtown with the sign
Occult Books and Curiosities
. From inside, the low light of a single bulb illuminated the space, and Naya noticed Manny leaning over the counter, his nose buried in a book. “We're here,” she said to Ronan. He opened the door and she put a staying hand on his arm. “He's human, Ronan. He knows a lot, but he doesn't know everything. We need to go easy on him, okay?”

Ronan's brow furrowed for a moment before he swept the worried expression away with a smile that showed off his fangs. Naya rolled her eyes. Not exactly what she'd been hoping for. “Don't worry, love. I deal with humans on a regular basis. I know how to behave myself.”

Somehow, Naya had a feeling that her idea of Ronan behaving was way different from his.

“Hurry up, losers!” Luz called as she beelined it for the front door. “We're burning darkness and we need to get this wrapped up before Prince Fanging goes down for the count.”

Ugh. Luz. Always so impatient.

 

CHAPTER

29

After trekking around the world with Chelle for decades, Ronan now had a tendency to stay away from the occult. He preferred to deal in what he could control. Keeping an A-list celebrity's mistress's damning pics off of Twitter or Instagram was a hell of a lot easier than dispelling a curse or transporting a charmed item. The blood codex he'd acquired from Siobhan had been the deepest Ronan had been willing to dig into vampire lore in a long time. He supposed if he was going to get back involved he might as well go all in. Start at the motherfucking origin of their very existence. And they were going to rely on a human to lead them to it.

Fucking nuts.

As they walked through the door, a man—presumably Manny—looked up from a leather-bound book. He was tall and wiry, clean-cut, with short hair and thick black-rimmed glasses. His eyes lit up when he saw Naya, and Ronan swallowed down a territorial growl as he remembered his promise to behave himself.

“So, Luz says you want to use me as bait.” His voice was mellow and even, full of confidence. “You gonna make it worth my while?”

He winked and Ronan's body went taut. Luz reached up to pat him on the shoulder as she walked past, chuckling. “Heel, boy.”

Ronan wasn't used to feeling so territorial, and so far his time spent with Naya had been mostly one-on-one. Now that they were in the presence of another male—one who obviously found himself charming—Ronan had a hard time suppressing his natural impulses.

“Manuel Esparza, you sexy thang,” Luz drawled as she approached the counter, “I'll make it more than worth your while.”

Everyone enjoyed a laugh, except for Ronan. He stood stoic at the door, arms folded across his chest.

“Who's your bodyguard?” Manny asked with a jerk of his head. Luz snickered, but Naya flashed Ronan a radiant smile that almost made him forget the tension that pulled like tightly wound string through every muscle in his body.

“Naya's new boy toy,” Luz responded. “He's broody.”

Luz spoke about him as though he should be carrying a pickaxe and keeping company with Sleepy, Grumpy, or Doc. “Ronan,” he said by way of introduction.

“Manny,” he replied with an amicable smile. “All right, what's the game plan? Want me to stand outside with a sign around my neck?
Free body. You possess.
”

Luz's peal of laughter cut through the relative silence of the little shop.

Ronan suspected that the younger female's interest in the human went a little beyond simple friendship. He wasn't
that
funny. “I'm curious as well.” He might as well jump in now, because he wasn't going to be the broken wheel that slowed this hunt down. “We have a limited amount of time to see this through, and it's counterproductive to wander the streets and beaches for the rest of the night.”

“Ronan's a night owl,” Luz explained. “You'd think he was allergic to the sun or something.”

As Naya stepped up to the counter she shot her cousin a look. “I'm not interested in wandering around town all night, either. We'll scry for the mapinguari and track it that way. It's a little complicated, but much more efficient.”

“Woo-hoo!” Luz exclaimed. The volume of her voice seemed to crank up with every word spoken. “Blood magic. Bring. It. On!”

Blood magic.
Ronan didn't like the sound of that.

“With the two of you, it shouldn't be difficult,” Manny said. “It's a great idea, actually, and will save tons of time.”

“Why not just listen for it?” Ronan was in favor of saving time, but not at the expense of Naya engaging in anything that might be risky.

“We could,” Naya said with a shrug. “But that could take longer than the time we have. Luz and I have good ears but not so good that we could hear the magic from miles away. And a mapinguari could easily been hiding in the forest somewhere.”

“Gah!” Luz let her knees give out in dramatic fashion. “That would take for-ev-er! Scrying will be quicker. Easier. And it's fucking
cool
.”

Well.
As long as it was
cool
.

“Trust me, Ronan. This is our best option. And I know what I'm doing.”

She sounded confident, but Ronan wasn't so sure. The magic that manifested inside of her during sex was something she barely had a grasp of. Who was to say she could control blood magic any better?

“And besides,” she continued, “you're going to help me.”

The words shouldn't have evoked such a strong sense of lust, but gods, she spoke as though for him alone. As though the act would be something intimate between them.

“Uh-hum!” Luz cleared her throat with overexaggerated gusto. “I'd tell you two to get a room, but we really don't have the time. So keep it in your pants. Both of you.”

Ronan exchanged a look with Naya. A whip of sensual heat snapped out at him through their tether as their bodies angled toward each other, mere inches separating their parted mouths.

“I'm not kidding,” Luz said. “I do
not
want the live show.”

Naya took several steps back and brushed her fingertips across her bottom lip. Rosy gold bloomed on the surface of her flesh, and Ronan marveled at the play of color against her dark skin. He'd never, ever tire of seeing that physical evidence of his effect on her.

“Okay,” she said on a rush of breath. “Let's get going. We're wasting time.”

As Luz and Manny set about gathering what they'd need for the ritual, Naya grabbed a bag of salt from one of the shelves and used it to draw a circle on the rough wood planks of the floor. “Sit.” She indicated a spot on the floor and Ronan lowered himself down. Luz and Manny joined him, dividing the circle into what he assumed would be quarters once Naya sat down. A squat candle was placed in the center of the circle along with a shallow copper bowl.

Ronan was a throw-punches-first-and-ask-questions-later male. He'd never been one for patience. Or ritual. However, as he watched Naya pace clockwise around the circle, eyes hooded as she chanted low under her breath, he found an appreciation for her measured steps and serene expression.

Lovely.

“Almost ready,” she said under her breath. As she came around to the starting point, Naya entered the circle and took a seat near Ronan, her legs crossed in front of her.

“Luz.”

From behind her back the younger female produced a dagger similar to Naya's. Luz held the grip in her palms, the blade's tip just below her chin. Her eyes drifted shut, and with a few murmured words the dagger glowed with all of the intensity of the sun. Her lids snapped open and she held out her hand, slicing across her palm with the blade. Blood welled from the deep wound, the aroma awakening Ronan's thirst. His fangs punched down from his gums and his throat ignited with a dry fire.

“Try to focus, Ronan,” Naya said from the corner of her mouth. “I can feel you wandering.”

Remarkable.
Ronan steeled himself against the mounting bloodlust. In his fledgling state, he still felt the urge to drink overwhelming. Sitting in a circle where the participants willingly opened their veins in front of him was a lot like being forced to hang out at an all-you-can-eat buffet without filling your plate.

Luz turned to Manny and he held out his hand. She ran the blade across his palm and a ribbon of crimson flashed against his skin. Ronan's nostrils flared and he pierced his tongue on a fang in an effort to master his thirst. Tonight's experiment would be a test of his fortitude, that was for damned sure. Luz bent over his palm and put her lips to the wound. After a moment she guided Manny to press his bleeding palm to hers. They held their joined hands over the bowl and Ronan watched, rapt, as thick drops of bright red splattered onto the worn copper. Rather than spread out in the bowl, the blood pooled like mercury, a shining crimson bead that rolled with liquid grace. It leapt and bounced like a living, breathing organism waiting to be let loose.

Naya drew her dagger from behind her back and repeated whatever ritual awakened the magic in the blade. It glowed with a bright, blinding yellow and she held out her hand. Ronan gave her his, palm up. When it was her turn to bring the blade to her own flesh, he knew he was going to lose it. How could he sit back and watch the lovely crimson bloom from her skin and not take it on his tongue? But instead of repeating Luz's actions, Naya brought the blade to Ronan's wrist. She leaned toward him and he mirrored her actions, his breath sawing in and out of his chest as he waited for her to act.

He hissed in a breath as the blade bit into the skin at the heel of his palm. The burn of magic kept the wound—which should have healed almost instantly—open. Blood welled from the two-inch slice and Naya bent over him, her beautiful lips parted. Her mouth sealed over the spot where she'd cut him, and a groan of pure pleasure rose up in Ronan's throat.

Ah, gods!

His head spun with each deep pull of suction. To have his mate drink from him was bliss, the greatest pleasure he'd ever known. This wasn't some playful act like the moment he'd scored his tongue to allow her to kiss the blood away. No, there was purpose behind the act. An intent that stirred his lust and hardened his cock. He'd never wanted her more than in this moment.

Naya blinked lazily and the corners of her lips tilted up as she drank. All too soon she pulled away and a black hole of need opened up inside of Ronan, demanding that he take her. Her body, her blood. He wanted to lose himself in her.

A flash of light caught his attention and he watched as she sliced her palm. She joined their hands, and their mingled blood dripped into the bowl to form a separate bead that rolled and hopped alongside the first. Ronan couldn't peel his eyes from her. Didn't give a single shit that they sat in the circle with others. When she pulled away and moved to break their joined hands, Ronan wrapped his fingers around her wrist and hauled her palm to his mouth.

Secrecy be damned. He
needed
his mate's blood.

*   *   *

A ripple of energy flooded Naya. Not the giddy, drunken magic that coursed through her veins when she touched Ronan, kissed him, fucked him. What she felt now was something entirely different, though no less heady. Blood magic was sacred and practiced very rarely for a reason. Naya was blinded by power. Bursting with it. A sense of invincibility crested over her, and she felt as though she could take on the world. Luz's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, and Manny watched with fascination as Ronan snatched Naya's hand tightly in his grasp and brought it to his mouth.

Quid pro quo, it seemed.

She did nothing to stop him. Her heart pounded against her rib cage and her pulse rushed in her ears, nearly drowning out the riotous sound of magic that echoed all around her in a symphony. Ronan didn't simply take from the wound she made with her dagger. That was much too civilized for her vampire. He claimed her with his fangs, the flesh yielding to his bite.

Fire chased through her veins, igniting every nerve ending in her body into a heightened state of sensitivity. Pleasure pulsed low in her core and a deep, needy ache opened up inside of her. She wanted Ronan inside of her. Wanted him to pound into her without mercy. She needed him hard and fast, and with an urgency that echoed the desperation pulling her muscles taut. Naya wanted to tell the world to go to hell, and leave here. Go back to her house and lock themselves inside forever. Ronan was her universe. The sun at the center of her existence.

“Ronan.” Naya's voice was thick with want and emotion. She had to break the spell of this moment now, before she was too far gone to him to do anything about it. Luz squirmed uncomfortably opposite her and Manny averted his gaze. She'd let this go too far and it was time to get back on track.