Blood of the White Witch (18 page)

I hadn’t thought of that. It was true.
Damien had once sent a demon to Vance who was impersonating his
mother. While shape shifting demons were very rare, it was
definitely possible. Douglas and Fiona would be being very careful
now to cover any loose ends.

“You’re probably right,” I agreed. “They
wouldn’t want anyone to come looking for us.”

My heart sank when I realized that there was
probably no one who knew we were even gone. We were all on our
own.

“Don’t fret about it, baby,” he said, and he
came back over to me, wrapping his arms around me again. “We’ll
figure out something.”

It was several days later when the door to
the cell opened again and a whole host of people entered. Vance
immediately jumped up, moving to stand in front of me.

Douglas, Fiona, Colin, and Darcy along with
a couple of other people we had never seen before came into the
room.

“We’re going to have a little celebration
this evening,” Fiona said, with her hands primly folded in front of
her.

At precisely this moment Douglas grabbed
Vance by the arm and Colin reached out, grabbing me. They quickly
injected us both with some type of serum.

“What the heck is this?” Vance yelled, and
he roughly jerked his arm away from Douglas.

“It won’t harm you, I promise,” Fiona said
with a smile. “In fact, you might actually enjoy it.”

Vance glared at her, growing even
angrier.

“What is it?” he asked, seething, his jaw
clenched.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a little something
that will make you more compliant for the evening. We want you both
to have a marvelous time.” She continued to smile unnervingly at
us.

I felt the first wave of dizziness wash over
me then, and I reached out toward Vance to steady myself. I
realized that he was experiencing the same thing, because I could
suddenly feel his emotions wash over me.

“We have to be extra careful tonight,” his
words penetrated into my head through the quickly thickening
haze.

I only nodded at him, and I was suddenly
unable to keep track of what I had been going to say in reply.

“It’s starting to work,” Colin said to Fiona
while they both stood there staring at us, and she nodded her
head.

“I don’t know if the two of you are aware of
the date, but tonight is the Festival of Beltane,” Fiona
continued.

“What is that?” I heard Vance mumble as he
shook his head, struggling to stay alert to everything.

“Well, the festival itself celebrates the
renewal of the earth and its fertility, and invites all to share.
We’re going to be performing a fertility ritual on your lovely wife
this evening,” she explained.

“Leave her alone,” Vance muttered
softly.

Fiona laughed.

“We wouldn’t dream of harming her,” she
replied, waving the comment away with a flick of her hand, which
all of a sudden made me feel dizzy. “In fact, you’ll be the only
one who touches her.”

At this time, Colin and Darcy came forward
with the other two individuals and began removing our clothing. I
wanted to protest but found that I couldn’t; instead, I woodenly
obeyed their commands.

The two women dressed me in some sort of
long, woolen, red robe that wrapped around me and belted closed
with a rough rope. There was a large hood that was lifted over my
head. I wore nothing underneath.

My brain vaguely realized Vance was dressed
in something similar, only he was in green.

We were both led out of the room at this
point. I found it hard to even focus on where we were going.
Somehow I understood we had been led outside, where we were placed
into a vehicle.

I couldn’t keep track of where we were
traveling to or even how long it took us to get there. In the fog
of my mind I did become aware at some point, however, that Vance
reached over to hold my hand.

Suddenly it seemed as if everything around
me was on fire. I realized then that I was no longer in the
vehicle, but I was standing on a hillside next to a raging bonfire,
though I had no memory or recollection of how I had gotten
there.

There were a lot of other people standing in
a circle around the fire, all in black hooded robes. I couldn’t
distinguish the faces of any of them as they were hidden in the
shadow, but I felt a little nauseated because my vision would shift
violently every time one of them moved.

Someone was standing next to me holding my
elbow, and another person was standing next to Vance doing the
same. These individuals started leading us around the bonfire
inside the circle.

I could hear uniformed chanting, and I
realized it was a spell of some sort that was increasing in volume,
but my mind couldn’t grasp what the words were that were being
said.

When we stopped circling the fire, I noticed
the hooded individual next to Vance pulled out another needle and
injected him once again. He didn’t protest or try to stop them, so
I figured he was just as hazy as I was.

The circle parted then, and the two of us
were led out of it. We walked a small distance on the exposed hill,
guided by our handlers, before we entered a thickly wooded
area.

Our guides continued on this way with us
until we reached a very small clearing in the trees that was lit by
a few small torches. I could see a makeshift mattress, made of
straw and covered in blankets, that was on a small wooden platform.
Some thin poles held a twig canopy over the top of the bed, and red
and green ribbons were hanging from it twisting together in the
light warm breeze of the evening,.

The two of us were led over to the bed,
where our companions had us sit down together.

I realized then that Fiona had been the
person at my side when she leaned over to whisper into my ear.

“Seduce your lover,” was all she said, her
voice penetrating clearly through the fog of my mind, before she
and the other figure backed away, and we were left there all
alone.

I sat still for a moment as her words sank
in. In the fuzzy state of my brain I knew something was wrong, but
I couldn’t remember what it was.

I turned to look at Vance for help, but I
couldn’t see his face under the hood, so I lifted my arms and
pushed it back from him.

My breath caught in my throat.

Had he always been this handsome? The soft
firelight lit his chiseled features to perfection as he looked back
at me. I knew I had to kiss him.

I leaned forward then, gently placing my
lips against his mouth, tenderly sighing at the contact with him.
Suddenly it was as if my touch awakened a raging inferno inside
him.

His bright eyes instantly sprang to life, as
if fire were racing through them, and he yanked me toward him in a
crushing grip against his hard strong body, without breaking the
kiss.

I responded equally to him, wrapping my arms
around his neck, deepening the kiss as much as possible, and I was
vaguely aware of the sound of my voice moaning in response to
him.

His hands were tangled in my long hair, and
he roughly grabbed it to yank my head to the side, trailing love
bites and kisses down the side of my face to my neck, and I lifted
my chin higher to give him better access.

I could feel him move his hands then,
sliding them to my waist, working to release the knotted rope.

It was then that the thought flashed through
my mind that we shouldn’t be doing this, but I lost this thought as
my hands found their way against the bare rippling muscles of his
chest when his robe slid off his shoulders.

He tossed me back onto the straw mattress
then, continuing his trail of kisses over my feverish skin as the
firelight danced over us.

All night long he made love to me, over and
over again, unable to stop, until we finally collapsed, exhausted,
into a deep sleep.

Sometime later, we were roughly awakened.
Several people in dark hoods were throwing our robes back over our
exposed bodies.

“Don’t speak,” someone next to me whispered
into the night air. “You aren’t safe here. We’re here to rescue
you.”

I didn’t recognize the voices speaking
around us, and I kept shaking my head as I tried desperately to
understand what they were talking about.

What was happening? Why had we been awakened
by strangers? Why did Vance and I need rescuing? My mind couldn’t
grasp it.

The hooded individuals wrapped their arms
around us, helping us to our feet, only to begin hurrying us
through the dark forest, pulling and dragging us along with them,
running.

I could feel the skin ripping on the bottom
of my tender feet as we were moved quickly through the untamed
brush.

We soon reached a small clearing where there
was a waiting vehicle waiting in the darkness. The engine was
running, and the headlights blinded me as we were propelled toward
it. We were ushered inside, followed by the others who were with
us.

“Gas it, Crispin,” a male voice said
roughly, and for a moment I thought the voice sounded vaguely
familiar.

The engine revved, and the car was thrown
suddenly into gear, spewing gravel into the air as we sped off down
the road.

Vance and I both came to, at the same time,
in the unfamiliar room which surrounded us. I blinked my eyes a few
times before my mind caught up with what I was seeing.

“Where are we?” I asked with a gasp, quickly
sitting up.

He slowly rose up at my side, looking around
at the soft quilts which covered us in the comfortable bed we were
lying in.

“Are you unharmed?” he asked, turning to
look at me, before running a hand down my arm, and I knew he was
checking me with his powers.

“I think so,” I replied, stretching my neck
and back, not feeling anything amiss about myself, other than my
tender feet. “Are you?”

“Yes,” he said, and his hand continued its
slide down my arm until he found my palm and slipped his hand in
mine, squeezing it slightly.

“I don’t remember anything. Do you?” I
searched his eyes for answers.

He shook his head with a barely perceptible
movement.

“Not much, although some images of the two
of us involved in some pretty intimate situations are suddenly
beginning to pop into my head,” he replied, not looking too happy
about it.

Some of the fog lifted then.

“They forced us together, didn’t they?” I
said closing my eyes, feeling a wave of nausea wash over me as I
wondered who else might have been a party to our situation last
night.

“I’m afraid so,” he replied, leaning over to
rest his head in my lap. “I’m sorry, Portia.”

I reached out and stroked his wonderful hair
while he lay there, looking at his perfect form in front of me.

“Don’t be sorry. I love being with you. I
just hate being manipulated.” I sighed and wished I could comfort
him somehow. “Where do you think we are?” I asked again, and I
looked around the green and white bedroom.

At that moment the door to the room opened,
and I stared into the handsome, concerned face of my debonair
father.

“Dad?” I squeaked out, jumping off the bed,
relief pouring through every cell of my being at the sight of
him.

He was over to me in two steps, folding me
into his arms, crushing me hard to him in his embrace.

“Hi, Pumpkin,” he said softly, and I began
to cry into his shoulder, unable to stop myself.

He allowed me to let the flood gates open on
him, and he stroked my hair, murmuring soft words to me.

“It’s okay now, Pumpkin. You’re safe. I
won’t let them harm you anymore,” he said reassuringly.

I finally pulled back away from him, and
Vance joined me at his side, giving Dad a hug also, and they patted
at each other hard on the back.

“How did you find us?” I asked, truly
wondering at how he had managed to locate us.

He didn’t answer the question, though,
instead pointing over to the dresser where some clothes were
sitting on the top.

“Why don’t the two of you change out of
those robes and then join me in the other room. You were drugged
pretty badly and have been asleep for a long while. There are a lot
of people waiting to see you. We’ll talk in there,” he replied.

“All right,” I said, and he headed for the
door, giving me a soft smile as he moved away. I had to grab him
one more time, just to make sure he was real. “I love you, Daddy,”
I said, and I hugged him and he laughed gently.

“I love you too, Portia, and I’m not leaving
you.” He chuckled while he squeezed me tightly one more time. “Now
hurry and change.”

I watched the door close behind him before
turning to Vance.

He smiled at me, and I rushed into his
arms.

“We’re safe!” I placed a kiss against his
neck, nuzzling my face there in the warmth of his skin.

“Yes, for now. But this isn’t even close to
being over,” he cautioned me, before he lightly kissed me back on
the lips.

I nodded, understanding what he was trying
to explain, but not really wanting to contemplate it at the
moment.

“I know,” I responded. “But having someone
on our side sure takes a huge weight off.”

“I agree,” he replied, before kissing me
proper, and I could feel the relief that flowed through him also.
His hands drifted down to move over my scantily clad form, before
he pulled away from me. “Let’s get out of these awful robes,” he
said.

We opened the door to step out into a narrow
hallway with a low ceiling. Following the sounds of murmuring
voices, we moved on until we reached a living area. There were
easily twenty people in the room waiting for us, most of them we
didn’t recognize.

“Mom!” I called out when I saw her as we
entered the room. She stood and rushed toward me.