To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary) (16 page)

“Yeah but you won’t get into trouble
for putting your huge hands in the wrong spot when you try to push her away.”

“Did you just call my hands huge?”

Vaughn laughed softly lifting up the
hand he was holding and planting a warm kiss on her palm.  “You?  No
way.  Your hands are slim, delicate and the thought of them on me….”

The rest of what he was about to say
was cut off as Xander with Bella in tow shoved in next to them in the
line. 

“Hey guys we’re next.”  Xander
beamed, hustling them forward towards the waiting
four seater
car.  

“I just love haunted houses.” 
Bella’s eyes were fixed on Vaughn.  “Snuggling up to a big strong man for
protection.

Xander flashed that perfect smile of
his again.  “Okay, so Hadleigh and I should take the front...”

But Vaughn was already climbing into
the back seat hauling Hadleigh in next to him.  Leaving Xander and Bella with
no other option than to clamber into the front seat.  The car started off
along the rails with a jerk. 
Vaughn’s arm wrapping
around Hadleigh’s shoulders.
  “I’ve got you Darling.”

She was about to protest but the car
bashed open two steel doors and they were plunged into the dimly lit haunted
house.  Bella gave out another squeal, this time of faux terror. 

Vaughn turned his head murmuring
only for Hadleigh to hear.  “That’s going to get old real fast.”

Hadleigh couldn’t help but smile
reaching up to pat his chest, his warm, hard … muscular chest.  Vaughn
captured her hand with his free one and kept it plastered where it was, the
rapid beat of his heart pulsing beneath her touch.  Turning her head she
found him looking at her intently, even in the almost pitch black those gold
eyes glowed hot. 

Leaning even closer he settled his
lips against her ear.  “There’s one more first date rule we need to adhere
to.”

Hadleigh couldn’t keep the smile off
her own face, barely even aware of a plastic skeleton lurching out of the
darkness at her, all her attention on Vaughn.  “And what would that be?”

“Stealing a proper, real … long kiss
in a dark secluded place.”

Their kiss this time fell somewhere
between the raw needy passion they’d shared in the canteen and the light,
sweet, gentle kisses he’d stolen throughout the evening.  It was perfect
first date material, light teasing pressure, he nibbled on her bottom lip for a
brief moment before dipping his tongue into taste, in a word,
heaven.   She tasted like sunshine and joy. 

He could have kissed her like this
forever.  Despite the fact the tiny back seat was a tight fit for two
people of their size.  He kind of liked the fact that they were squashed
together, her shoulder fitting snuggly under his own,
the
soft slope of her breast pressing like an inferno against his rib cage. 
He could kiss her for eternity or at least until the ride ended. 

But as always he was thwarted when
it came to his wishes and Hadleigh.  It was that silly friend of Xander’s
who wouldn’t stop squealing in terror ... Belinda? ... Bella?  The problem
was this time it sounded like real actual terror.  They broke apart
immediately.
 
Hadleigh already had a
sharp dagger poised ready in her hand.  In the dim light, with the music
playing loud and the electronically recorded cackles and shrieks howling it was
hard at first glance to gauge from who and where the threat was coming
from.  Hadleigh glanced over at Vaughn, her expression tightening,
her
face deathly pale.  “Don’t move.”

He froze as instructed whilst she
leaned over and brushed something out of his hair with the flick of her dagger.

“What?”

“
Paralyxis
spiders, you don’t want them biting you.” 

With a brief check of her arms and front
Hadleigh leaned over using the edge of her dagger to sweep off a handful of
spiders climbing over Bella.  Thankfully they were easy to spot against
the blonde’s light coloured hair and pink dress.  That’s when the skeleton
shot out of the darkness, not a plastic one this time, aiming right at
Bella.  Who was so past hysteria over the spiders that she could no longer
squeal, resorting instead to mewling whimpers. 

The skeleton had an agenda and it
wasn’t a nice one if the way its eyes flickered with hellfire was any
indication.  Battling a creature already dead can be tricky but lucky for
everyone involved this was not Hadleigh’s first time up to bat.  Blocking
the skeleton’s knife with a sword she
magic’d
into
her right hand she swept the dagger she now held in her left hand with all her
strength in a big wide sweep, severing the skeleton’s head from its body. 
The head sailed away into the darkness, the flames in its eyes
extinguished. 

The car took a sharp swing to the
left sending Hadleigh almost ass over
tea kettle
,
lucky Vaughn had quick reflexes bringing her safely back into the car. 
Both remained tense and watchful for the remainder of the ride but no new
threats emerged as their car banged open the final exit doors and jerked to a
halt at the disembarking station. 

Xander was laughing and smiling,
oblivious to any real threat whilst Bella scrambled frantically out of the car,
jumping up and down on the spot.  “Get them off me, get them off
me.” 

Hadleigh clambered out quickly
trying to halt the rising hysterics.  “Don’t…
” 
She’d
noted too slow there was one last spider clinging to Bella’s hair. 

There must have been something in
her tone that spooked the blonde for she instantly whipped around, frantic.
“What…”

The spider took flight, sailing in
an almost perfect arc to land on Hadleigh’s bare collarbone, where it promptly
sunk it’s fangs in pumping her full of poison.  Goddess she loathed
spiders. 

Vaughn shouted Hadleigh’s name, by
her side in a flash as her legs immediately buckled beneath her and she clung
to his arm for support.

“Damn.”  She breathed, staring
up at Vaughn dazed.  “And I really wanted to see the fireworks.”

*                  
*                     
*

“Jeez I’m graceful.”  Hadleigh
stared up at Vaughn with slightly out of focus eyes.

“I’m carrying you Sweetheart.” 
He sent out a silent thanks to Maat who had answered his desperate prayer by
delivering them back to the tower, to his bedroom no less.  He’d never
cared about his own welfare before but he was grateful that Maat realised he
wasn’t fucking around when it came to Hadleigh.  It would be too much to
ask for his Goddess to turn up in person and provide some healing so that only
left him with one option.

“Jeez you’re strong.”  Hadleigh
continued to stare up at him, her eyelashes fluttering rapidly now.

“Something wrong with your
eyes?”  Could the spider venom be affecting more than just her
co-ordination?

“Goddess, I’m batting my eyelashes
at you.”  Hadleigh attempted to roll her eyes and only succeeded in
closing them.

“Damn.”  Vaughn laid her down
gently on the bed, anxiety eating away at his gut, she’d passed out. 
Leaning over her he lightly slapped her cheek.  “Hadleigh, Hadleigh you
need to wake up.”

Her eyelids fluttered,
then
opened, a soft sexy smile curving her lips.  “Hi.”

Vaughn blew out a relieved
breath.  “Hi back.  Hadleigh can you tell me how to get your cousin
here?”

“Which one?”  She frowned
slightly.

“Nell, the doctor.”

“You need a doctor?”  She
struggled to sit up but failed as he pushed her gently back onto the
pillow. 

“You’re the one who needs a
doctor.  You were bitten.  Remember the haunted house, the attack of
the orange spotted spiders?”

“
Paralyxis
spiders, nasty little buggers. I got bitten you know?”  She smiled
dreamily.

“Yes I know. 
Now about your cousin?
  The doctor?”

“Don’t need her unless I was bitten
more than once.  Was I bitten more than once?”

Vaughn glared at the small red bite
on the side of her throat.  “I don’t know I can only see the one.”

“Okay.”  Hadleigh grabbed the bottom
of her tank top pulling it off, leaving only her yellow satin bra behind. 
“You need to check me for bites.”

“
Ummm
,
okay.”  Vaughn swallowed hard.  Thankfully his anxiety won out over
the wave of lust that coursed through his body as he as clinically as possible
studied the smooth unblemished skin of Hadleigh’s stomach, cleavage and
throat.  Pulling her into an upright sitting position so he could check
her back.  “All…” he swallowed hard again.  “All clear.  It
looks just like the one.  So you won’t need a doctor?”

“Not for just one bite.”  She
collapsed back on the
bed,
unmindful of the gorgeous
lush picture she created.  Her hair a messy red halo against the pillows,
her creamy skin highlighted by the yellow of her bra and those tight jeans of
hers hugging illegally long legs. 

“But you collapsed.”

“My legs gave out, that’s one of the
symptoms.”  She squirmed on the bed, eyeing him with a knowing smile and a
rather wanton look in her eyes.

“
Aaahh
.” 
He took a quick step back as one of her hands snaked out to grab him somewhere
completely inappropriate for a first date.  He daren’t get too close until
he understood exactly what he was dealing with. “Just what are the other
symptoms?”

Hadleigh smiled and then
giggled.  Damn he loved that sound. 

“It’s sort of like being
drunk.  General lack of co-ordination, lowering of inhibitions and
everything’s slightly blurry, except for you.”  She gave him a coy
smile.  “You’re gorgeous.”

Vaughn huffed an exasperated
sigh.  The girl of his dreams was lying half naked in his bed, looking
delicious as hell and coming on to him and what could he do about it?  Not
a damn thing.  She’d hate him in the morning if he took advantage of
her.  Sighing again, he moved to the end of the bed to pull off her still
slightly damp sneakers.  She’d have to sleep in her jeans no way was he
touching those. 

“I want you to stay here tonight
where I can keep an eye on you.  I’ll sleep in the spare room, okay?”

Hadleigh came up on her elbows,
swaying ever so slightly, dropping her bottom lip.  “I’ll be lonely.”

“Hadleigh.”  He warned, not
daring to get any closer than the end of the bed.

“What?  First dates don’t end
like this I’m sure.  As I recall it’s traditional to end them with a
goodnight kiss.”

Maat help him she was irresistible.
He moved to sit next to her, promising
himself
that he
would only kiss her, nothing more.  Of course his plan was sensible but
the execution didn’t factor in Hadleigh. She arched into him and rubbed those
full satin clad breasts against him.  And her hands, one was under his
t-shirt and the other was toying with the top button of his jeans.  It was
the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, stop kissing her and
grab
those wandering hands of hers. 

“We have to stop.”  He commanded
both loving and hating the way she snuggled in closer moulding her body to his.

“No we don’t.”  She leaned up
to kiss him.

“Na-huh. 
First
date rules
,
remember
. One goodnight kiss and
then you go to sleep.”

“Not all dates end that way.” 
She admonished, grey eyes looking up at him with heat and promise. 

Vaughn groaned.  She was
killing him.  “Only
skeezy
dates end the other
way Sweetheart.”

“Well let’s have one of those
dates.”  She deliberately arched her shoulders presenting those delicious
mouth-watering breasts for his personal viewing. 

“Na … No.”  He shook his head
trying to regain his self-control.  “You don’t go from being a non-date
kind of girl to a
skeezy
date kind of girl in less
than three hours.”

“Sure you do, they’re called one
night stands.”

“Well then I’m not that kind of
guy.”  He released her abruptly. 
Grabbing the
bedspread and yanking it over her fast, effectively trapping her wandering
hands.

“Hey.”  She protested weakly.

“Don’t hey me you hussy.  You
would kill me tomorrow if I took advantage of you tonight.”  Suddenly he
paused, leaned back over her, making sure he kept the covers tightly in place
on either side of her shoulders.  This close he stared into her grey eyes,
noting she was still having trouble bringing him into focus.  “Whatever
you do Hadleigh, don’t hate me in the morning for this.  Don’t punish me
for being the good guy when you wake up tomorrow and remember this
conversation.”  He leaned over and gave her a light quick kiss, sweet and
gentle; reminiscent of the kisses he’d given her earlier in the night. 
“Please.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hadleigh stood in front of Vaughn’s
open closet considering her clothing choices.  It’s not like she had any
of her own.  She remembered waking uncomfortable during the night, stripping
off her jeans and flinging them to the floor.  This morning they’d been
nowhere to be found.  And she wasn’t even going to wonder about the
whereabouts of her tank top.  She vividly recalled in technicolour
embarrassment stripping it off for Vaughn the previous evening, sending it
flying across the room like a cheap hooker.  

Forcing her mind away from the
series of humiliating flashbacks assailing her she grabbed a slate grey t-shirt
and some striped blue shorts.  It wasn’t until she had them on that she
realised the shorts were actually Vaughn’s boxer shorts.  She turned to
find something else then stopped herself.  She was running against a clock
here, the sun had just come up and she needed to exit A.SAP.   No way
did she want to chance running into Vaughn this morning before she was good and
ready.  Time was of the essence
here,
she hadn’t
even stopped to brush her hair when she used the facilities a short while
ago.  Pausing in there only long enough to allow herself the luxury of
gargling some mouthwash for a few seconds. 

Goddess she prayed she wouldn’t bump
into any one she knew in the mad dash to reach the safety of her apartment, she
didn’t need to compound her embarrassment. Hadn’t she made enough of a fool of
herself last night practically dry humping poor Vaughn?

Telling herself she wasn’t creeping,
only trying to be polite and not wake Vaughn, she eased open the bedroom door a
crack, holding her
breath
, listening for any
sound.  Nothing, okay, this just might work.  She eased the door carefully
all the way praying it wouldn’t creak.  Now she just had to make it across
the living room without tripping over anything, luckily there was plenty of
light.  Wait!  There was plenty of light! 

Her head shot up, her eyes zeroing
in on Vaughn, who sat on the far sofa facing her, his hair wet and slicked
back, dressed in long cargo pants and a slightly darker olive green top. 
He was sipping coffee, a tray of fresh fruit and pastries set out on the coffee
table in front of him.

“Morning.”  The edges of his
mouth twitched as if he were fighting not to smile. 

“Hey.”  Goddess her voice
sounded like ten miles of bad road.  She cleared her throat and tried
again.  “Sorry, I was trying not to wake you.”

“Sure.”  He said the word with
deliberation obviously knowing full well she’d been intent upon making her
escape.  “How are you feeling this morning?  Any better?”

“Good, um, yeah, good.”  She
paused wondering if she couldn’t still make a run for it.  “The bite’s a
bit scabby but that’s a good thing.” 

She took a step towards the door.

“Sit.”  A definite command in
his tone though the smile still hinted. “We need to talk.”

“I should head back to my apartment,
get cleaned up,
dressed
.  Maybe we could talk
later?”

“Sit.”  He said it again with a
slightly harder inflection.  “I have coffee if you want it, juice?”

Biting back a sigh she walked
over,
picked up a glass of waiting juice and took the seat
directly across from him.

“You hungry?”  He nodded
towards the tray of waiting food.

Hadleigh took a sip of cool apple
juice, swallowing hard to get it down.  “Not just yet.”  Damn she
supposed she should just bite the bullet and get this over with.  “I
suppose an apology is called for here…
” 
She
hesitated.  “Regarding what happened last night.”

Vaughn tilted his head to the side,
looking at her intently.  “I’m not sure how much you remember about last
night.”

“
Ev
…
” 
Hadleigh cleared her throat again, took another sip
of juice.  “Everything.”

“Well then you know I have nothing
to apologise for.  I acted like a perfect gentleman … well okay maybe not
perfect but under the trying circumstances I thought I handled the …
situation.”

Hadleigh found it hard to meet his
gaze, unable to stop the small wince that ran through her at his choice of
words - ‘trying circumstances.’  Wow that kind of hurt. 

“I meant that I owed you an apology
actually.”  She found her gaze wandering to the
window,
anywhere was better than looking at Vaughn.  The early morning sky was a
blaze of reds and purples. 

“You do?” 

Vaughn sounded so surprised she
found herself looking at him despite herself.

“The
bite, the
venom, the side effects made me say
... do things I wouldn’t
normally.  I know I put you in a very embarrassing position last night,
having to…
”  Goddess help
her. “Fend off my advances. 
And I want you to know how sorry I am.”

Vaughn put his coffee down and
leaned back looking way too relaxed.  “You didn’t mean it when you said I
was strong?”

“What? … Well yes you are
strong.  You didn’t seem to have any problems carrying me.”

“What about when you said I was
gorgeous?  You going to hurt my feelings by telling me you didn’t mean
that either?”

“No ... I mean yes.”  She
gulped down some more apple juice.  “Look, I’m just trying to say I’m
sorry for trying to…
” 
She could not finish that
sentence.

“Tempt me?  Ravish me? 
Have your wicked way with me?”

Inwardly Hadleigh cringed but she
managed to coolly place her empty glass on the coffee table. 
“Yes.”   She looked at him with a forced bland expression.  “So
do you accept my apology?”

Again Vaughn tilted his head,
studying her intently as if he were trying to work something out.  Finally
he released a deep breath, got to his feet, moving to loom over her. 
Leaning over he placed his hands on the sides of her armchair, effectively trapping
her.  His face only inches from hers.  She thanked the Goddess she’d
made the time for mouthwash this morning. 

“Darling, last night…
” 
His warm breath caressed her cheek.  “Last
night was the best night of my life, bar none.”

Hadleigh jerked back.  Of
anything he could have said she hadn’t been expecting that. “You’re
insane.”  She breathed deeply, shaking her head.  She would never,
absolutely never understand how the male mind worked.

“If this is insanity don’t try to
fix me.” He grinned.

Hadleigh reached up trying to push
him away.  “How can you possibly say it was a good night?  We were
attacked by a demonically possessed skeleton, swarmed by
paralyxis
spiders, almost had our ear drums blown out by Bella’s shrieking and Xander
witnessed another paranormal event?”

Vaughn easily withstood her attempt
to push him away. 
Instead shifting his weight to one
hand and using the other to reach out, pulling the neck of her t-shirt aside to
study the spider bite.
  Having confirmed with his own eyes the
state of the spider bite Vaughn happily returned to his seat on the sofa. 
“Xander’s oblivious.  We never have to see Bella again.  We survived
the spider and demon attack and best of all we had our first real date. 
Which means we can now start planning date number two.” 

“You call that a successful end to a
first date?”

“I grant that it was unconventional
but you are sitting across from me this morning sharing breakfast wearing one
of my t-shirts and Maat give me strength, a pair of my boxers.  If you
look up the definition of how to end a date in the dictionary this picture
would be under ideal.”

“Anyone seeing me here now would
completely misinterpret what happened.”

“Let them.  You and I know the
facts.   That’s all the matters.  Now as I said when you first
came in, we need to talk.  What can you tell me about what happened in the
haunted house last night?”

Hadleigh paused, looking
confused.  “You were there, don’t you know?”

“I was kind of wedged into that
little metal box on wheels pretty tight.  First I knew something wrong was
when Bella started screaming blue murder.  You brushed some spiders off
me.  Helped Bella.  Almost fell out
of
the
car and then you got bit.  That’s what I saw.”

Hadleigh leaned over scooping up a
peach
danish
, suddenly she
was starving. “There was a demon possessed skeleton with a knife.  It came
out of the dark, straight at Bella.”

“So what was the intent?  If
the spiders didn’t kill her the skeleton would?”

Hadleigh frowned, thinking back over
the attack.  “There are a couple of problems with last night. 
Paralyxis
spiders only nest in places where there is a
complete absence of light.  I’m talking caves, holes, any place there is
absolutely no natural or unnatural light.”

“So someone definitely planted them
in the haunted house.  What else?”

“Well their bite doesn’t kill you
for a start.  They paralyse their prey and then take their time cocooning
and husking their victims.  But it’s a slow process that can potentially
take days.  Normally they feed on bats and voles.”

“So what, the spiders were sent in
first to paralyse Bella so the demon skeleton could finish her off? 
Sounds convoluted and why pick on the blonde?”

Hadleigh took a big bite of pastry
and chewed slowly thinking about the skeleton. Last night those hellfire filled
eyes had been her primary focus.  She replayed in her mind her block and
sweep.  “Oh-O.”

“What?”

“The knife the demon was
carrying.  It had a great big honking amber stone in the handle.”

“So?”  Vaughn shrugged,
intrigued but lost.

“Amber is used in a lot of
relocation spells, the knife would have acted as a focus.”

“You’re saying the plan was for the
spiders to pump the intended victim with their paralysing agent, then the
skeleton appears, stabs them with the knife transporting the now docile victim
somewhere else?”

“Yes and you combine last night’s
attack with that of the Drexel incident and I’d say someone is out to capture
or kill your leading man.”

“You think they wanted
Xander?”  Vaughn appeared unconvinced.

“Who else?  He was at both
attacks front and centre.”

Vaughn looked grim.  “Well if
that’s the argument you want to go with, so were you.”

“N...
” 
Hadleigh
paused with the denial on her lips.  “Okay yes I was.  Were we
followed to the amusement park?”

Vaughn shook his head. 
“No.”  He mused over the problem.   He had notified the team of
his intended whereabouts but he trusted those men with his life.

“It has to be about Xander.  I
bet you anything he tweeted, posted and bragged that he was visiting the park
last night.” 

Vaughn shook his head.  “That’s
a bet I won’t take.  Okay, I’m going to let the guys know that
we’ll only be handling critical missions this week
,
everything else is on hold
.  For the foreseeable future
we’re on Xander protection duty until we can work out what’s going on.”

Hadleigh nodded.  “Okay and
I’ll speak to some experts about what it takes to summon
Paralyxis
spiders and shove a demon into a skeleton and convince it to do your bidding.”

“Experts?”  Vaughn looked wary.

“My family.  No doubt one or
more of my aunts, uncles or the greats will have an idea of what’s involved.
Though I’ll probably start with my cousin Darcy, she usually has the most
pertinent information at her fingertips.”

Vaughn looked concerned for a
moment.  “Just don’t go alone okay?  Until we know for sure what’s
really going on.
”

“Okay.”  Hadleigh only conceded
because she could read the look on Vaughn’s face.  Getting to her feet,
she ran fingers through her tangled locks and grimaced.  “I need to shower
and change.  Thanks for breakfast ...  and thanks for looking after
me last night.”  She turned and walked unhurriedly towards the door, as if
it were
common place
for her to be leaving a man’s
home at this time of the morning.

“Hadleigh?”

She stopped at the door looking
back.  “Yes?”

“I didn’t get a chance to say it yet
but you look really beautiful first thing in the morning.”

He had to be kidding.  Her hair
was a rat’s nest.  Her face deathly pale and she was wearing his baggy
clothes.  She snorted and sent him a derisive look.

“What?  I get to say stuff like
that now that we’re dating.”

She just shook her head in
wonder.  “You are insane.”

“We’ll talk about what we’re going
to do for our second date later.”  Suddenly he smiled.  A big broad
grin that had her hesitant to leave. 

“Why are you smiling like that?”