Wicked Fantasy (39 page)

She was silent for about two beats, proof that he'd surprised her. “Partners always have each others' backs. Morrigan cheated. Cheaters shouldn't be allowed to win.”

Conall didn't get a chance to comment on that because he felt a furry body rub against his leg.

“This is so exciting. I haven't seen Bast battle another deity in over five hundred years.”
Asima's voice vibrated with excitement.

No matter how much he'd gag on the words—because she'd been a real pain in the ass—he owed Asima a thank-you. “Look, we haven't always agreed on stuff, but I want you to know I appreciate everything you did to try to keep me safe.”

“Thank you.”
Asima sounded prim.
“You were a very difficult man.”

“Amen.” Gerry's agreement.

Then silence fell over the great hall. The last vampire had fled, slamming the door behind him. Conall assumed his friends still remained somewhere in the darkness.

The first warning of what was to come touched him. Static electricity, like what you felt before lightning struck, skimmed over his skin, raising goose bumps in its wake. He tightened his grip on Gerry.

Even though Conall thought he was prepared, he wasn't. An explosion of light and sound drove him back against the wall behind him. He felt Gerry shudder in his arms.

In the flashes of light, he saw the goddesses struggling. They'd grown to fifty times their original size. They moved so fast that all he could see was a blur of teeth, claws, and beak. The booms and crashes from their power made him afraid for his eardrums.

Then came the wind. It whirled and swirled, threatening to pick Gerry and him up and then fling them into the high reaches of the hall's ceiling. Planting his feet, he pressed himself against the wall, trying to anchor himself and Gerry. At some point he was aware she'd pulled one arm from around him to hang on to a column.

Gerry leaned her head back to look up at him. Her hair whipped around her face. She shouted, “My God, did I really have the nerve to yell at Morrigan? I didn't have a clue about her power. Remind me to keep my mouth shut around goddesses from now on.”

Then as quickly as it started, it ended. The wind died, the light-and-sound show was over, and the electricity came back on.

Dazed, Conall and Gerry gazed around them. Furniture was reduced to kindling and food from the banquet table decorated the walls and even the ceiling. The few windows close to the ceiling were all blown out.

His friends were scattered around the room. They all looked as shocked as he felt. Except for Ganymede. He gazed at Bast with adoring eyes. “You're one scary witch, babe. Love that in a woman.”

Sparkle was busy smoothing down her hair and checking her nails for chips. She paused for a moment to cast Ganymede a glance that promised lots of payback when they were alone. Poor Ganymede.

The goddesses had returned to their normal animal sizes. Conall wasn't sure where the damage from Morrigan's visit to Happening Hair ended and her battle with Bast began. But she was one sad-looking bird. Tail feathers all gone again. Conall refused to think about the implications of
that
.

Bast, on the other hand, looked untouched. She used one elegant paw to wash her face. Then she gazed at Conall.

“Morrigan has graciously agreed to release you from her curse. You'll be human again, and she will never again interfere in your life.” She waited for his response.

Gerry looked up at him with love and happiness, along with a shine of tears, in her eyes. “
Your freedom.
After all those centuries you can do what you want.” Her joy was all for him, with no thoughts about how it would affect her.

He loved her even more for that. “No.”

Conall could feel the stunned response of everyone around him. Gerry reached up to run her fingers along his jaw. “Conall?” Confusion swam in her eyes.

Raking his fingers through his hair, he explained. “I want to keep the curse. I love Gerry, and I want to be around to serve and protect her and our descendants. A human life span is too short now that I've finally found her.” He looked at Morrigan. “But I want you to stay out of our business. We go where we want and do what we want. Understand?”

Morrigan sniffed. “I suppose. Of course, now that the kitty goddess has pulled out all my tail feathers again, I'll have to stick around until new ones grow in. But I'll find ways to amuse myself.”

There was a collective groan from everyone in the room.

Morrigan brightened. “There'll be a wedding. I can help plan it. My friends from Happening Hair would be glad to offer their services.”

“Over my dead and unaccessorized body. I'll take care of the clothes and hair for the bride.” Sparkle sounded close to violence.

Asima looked at Bast.
“I believe I have some vacation time coming. Could I take it now? Someone with good taste needs to guide the bride away from
them
.”
She glared at Morrigan and Sparkle.

Conall grimaced. They were all in cart-before-horse mode. He stared at Gerry. Here went the whole rest of his life. “Will you marry me, Gerry Kavanagh?”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “Try and stop me, Conall O'Rourke.”

While their friends whistled and cheered, he clasped Gerry's hand and turned to Bast.

“I appreciate what you've done for Gerry and me tonight, goddess.” Conall smiled at Bast even as Gerry and he backed toward the stairs leading to the dungeon. “To honor you, I promise we'll always have a cat in our house.”

Bast nodded. “A wonderful honor. And you're wise to leave. The battle has drawn the attention of your police. Even now they're preparing to batter down the doors I sealed shut before Morrigan and I settled our . . . differences.” Without further comment, she disappeared into the great hall's shadows, an ordinary cat to any human who saw her.

Conall and Gerry didn't stop running until they were safely back in the dungeon. Laughing, she threw herself onto the bed, releasing its sensual scent. He could tell Sparkle neither of them needed a smelly bed to put them in an erotic mood.

Reaching up, she dragged him down beside her. “So what do we do now?”

“Make love. I'll talk to Eric. Wouldn't you like to know what was at the end of that left path?”

She slapped at him. “No, I mean for the rest of our lives.”

Puzzled, he shrugged. “Make love.” Then he thought about it. “Yeah, we'll have to let Sparkle, Morrigan, and Asima mess with our wedding. I'd like to kick Morrigan out, but I can be a little generous because if it weren't for her I never would've found you.”

She rolled over, and he caught her to him. “I released Jinx from the Securer. We came to an agreement during the fight with Sean. If he helped us, I'd release him. But I somehow don't think Jinx will stay out of trouble long, so we'll be tracking him down again soon.”

We.
One of his favorite words now. They'd work at PUFF together. He frowned. Someone had to change that name.

“I have to leave for just a few days, and when I come back we'll plan our wedding.”

Only one word registered. “Leave?”

“Edge promised me he'd go with me to jail. It'll mean a promotion. Of course, he shouldn't have any trouble proving he's innocent. If they don't believe him?” She shrugged. “Payton doesn't have any way to hold a being with his power.”

“I'll go with you.”

She met his gaze. “As much as I want to be near you, I need to do this alone. Sure, I know that staying close to me is part of the curse, but Morrigan doesn't have the power to enforce it anymore. Probably other Kavanaghs would just order you to stay here, but that's not what love's about. So I'm asking you to please let me do this myself.”

“Whatever's best for you. Don't stay away long, though.” A week ago, he would've demanded she let him keep her safe. He'd grown a lot in that week.

She slipped her fingers under his T-shirt. “We're all icky. Why don't we take a shower? Together.”

“Mmm. Great minds think alike.”

“I guarantee it isn't our minds doing the thinking now.” Laughing, she dragged him off the bed and into the bathroom.

 

 

She'd only been gone for three days, but Conall felt like her trip had lasted for weeks. Besides missing Gerry, he'd had to field all the congratulations, ribbings, and general pain-in-the-ass suggestions from everyone. Sparkle and Asima were driving him crazy with wedding stuff. What the hell did he know about that crap? Morrigan had the good sense to stay away from him, but he knew she was manipulating behind the scenes.

But now Gerry was home. When he finally released her from his arms, she drew him down on the couch.

“Lots of good and some weird news.” She rubbed her fingers along his inner thigh.

He sucked in his breath and tried to concentrate on her news.

“Once we got to the prison, Edge called in the favor I owed him. He asked me to arrange a one-on-one meeting with Payton.” She shook her head in wonder. “Payton never came out of that room. When Edge came out, he said he'd arranged a buyout for my boss. Payton moved on to a new plane.” Her expression said she suspected the new plane began and ended with a
d
. “And before Payton left, he appointed Edge the new boss. When I left, Edge was working on a different name for the organization. He was having trouble, though. If you can think of three words with initials that spell BAD, call him.”

“So that's the weird news. Let's hear the good.” With her hand still working its magic on his thigh, Conall knew she could easily see
his
good news.

“Edge gave me my promotion, and he assigned me to Galveston. So we won't have to leave the island or our friends.”

Conall couldn't keep his hands off her anymore. He pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. Long minutes later, he released her with only one word in mind. “Bed.” Okay, two—bed and sex.

As he carried her to the bed, she ran her fingers through his hair. “Any news on the wedding front?”

He dropped her on the bed. “Yep. Sparkle says we're getting married at Wicked Fantasy. What do you think?”

She nodded even as she pulled at his shirt. “Wicked Fantasy is our place of beginnings. We met there, so it seems sort of right that we start our married life there, too.”

His thought patterns were starting to scramble like they always did when she was close. “Are we finished talking?”

“Gee, I don't know. I thought maybe we'd talk about our relationship for a while.” She laughed at his horrified expression, but her smile slowly faded. “I have one more thing to tell you. I wasn't going to say anything, but I don't want our life together to start with secrets.”

Okay, this was going to be bad. But Conall couldn't think of much that would dent his happiness.

“Conalla told me when we were planning our trap for Sean that you'd never be free of the curse.” She glanced away. “I chose not to tell you. I didn't want you to feel hopeless.”

He tipped her face toward him. “Conalla saw it right, but she only got part of the picture. And you were right. I would've felt bad. A curse is only a curse, though, when you don't want it. I look forward to centuries of serving and protecting you, vampire lady.”

She was into some serious stripping now, so he let everything go but his need for her. Forever.

“Oh, I talked to Eric. We're about to take a trip back to the Sensual Forest. We'll see what's down our personal Yellow Brick Road.”

And they did.

Epilogue

“I've known lots of wicked women, babe, but you're the wickedest of them all. Evil and sexy. What's not to love?” Ganymede sprawled across the top of the display case in direct defiance of all health inspectors. “None of them ever suspected.” He glanced around. “Where'd the death dude go?”

“Edge went away. I don't know where. I don't
care
where. Just as long as he doesn't come back.” Sparkle studied the chocolate display she'd set up in the center of the store. Everything began and ended with chocolate in Sweet Indulgence. She might eat a whole box tonight to celebrate the completion of her master plan.

Ganymede pursued his main point. “How do you keep track of all these people you mess with? We're talking thousands over the centuries. I picture you with this giant Rolodex where you keep millions of names.”

Sparkle was okay with a little bragging. Settling onto the high stool behind the counter, she leaned her elbows on the top of the case. “No Rolodex, Mede. It's all up here.” She tapped her forehead. “I followed the lives of Eric, Brynn, and Conall for centuries until I was ready to rewrite their destinies.”

“Why them?” Mede must be interested. He hadn't made a move on the candy yet.

She shrugged. “Why not? I just choose people who catch my interest, people with serious emotional issues. Hey, I love the drama.” Sparkle sighed her pleasure. The feel of a plan successfully completed was like slipping naked into a warm bath.

“So when I sensed the guys were ready, I bought Live the Fantasy and offered them jobs in the Castle of Dark Dreams. Once they were in place, I went after the women I'd chosen for them, women who were wrong for them on so many levels, but perfect for them when it came to sex. Instant lust plus instant conflict equaled fun for Sparkle Stardust.”

“And all the other stuff?”

“I called Donna's show with tales of vampires in the Castle of Dark Dreams. I had Holgarth offer Kim the job of architect for the castle. And I supplied the anonymous tips that brought Gerry and Jinx here. Oh, and I masqueraded as Morrigan to warn Conall the last Kavanagh would be at Wicked Fantasy.”
It was all me, me, me.