Demonstorm: Heart of a Vampire #6 (13 page)

“How?”

“Open yourself up. Enough to feel that part of you surge a little. You have to get used to it first. Like learning the way it feels. If you’re not comfortable with that, uncertainty will always remain.”

“Do I hum or something, like meditation?” he asked, completely serious.

She couldn’t stop the rising laugh. “If you want, but it’s not necessary. Think about how you call and use your Fey magic, or your vampire strength. It’s the same thing, just a different part of you.” She raised her hands, saying, “Watch me.”

Calling to the well of power inside her, she drew a bit of magic out into a glowing ball that shed light over their camp. “It’s easy, once you get the hang of it.”

He studied her light orb. “Why doesn’t your other bloodline matter?”

She clasped her hands, letting the light wink out. “Because it’s something I must deny.”

His gaze pierced her. “Will we have truth between us or not?”

Maybe if she told him he’d understand.

“Fine.” She shrugged, grasping one of her braids between her fingers. “My mother came from the house of Cambions. She was part Succubi and fed on carnal pleasures.”

His eyes widened as he looked her up and down. “Guess I can see that.”

Heat burned up her cheeks. “It’s magic I’ve never experienced and never will.”

He fell still. “Why not?”

She turned to the fire, watching the flames flicker this way and that. “Prophets, like me, are extremely rare. Usually, the magic comes more in the form of a reliable intuition. Those who can actually see visions of the future are not only considered extremely powerful—and, according to some, dangerous—but they are coveted by those wishing to use them for their own gain.

“There are few tales of those like me who lived in the past. Very little is known in demon lore. One thing is clear, though. When a prophetess is bedded, her virginity lost, her powers usually disappear.”

She glanced at Sean, trying to read the emotion on his face, but failed miserably.

“You’re a virgin? Brüs never…”

“No. He wasn’t willing to lose his pet’s abilities, so kept me relatively safe.”

He shifted uncomfortably on the log. “When we were fighting those guys on the road, I felt… something. It wasn’t the same darkness that usually tries to rise.” Glancing away, he rubbed his knuckles together. “Well, it was the same, but not completely. It was power. And I could control it. But I think only because it wanted to save you.”

She gasped, feeling heat spread up her cheeks. No. That wasn’t possible.

Sean turned to stare at her, a question in his red-grey eyes. A question she couldn’t answer out loud.

One thing she’d learned early was that the Fates never created a destined mate for those with the power to see. Because if such a case ever happened, Fate could grow into love. And that love would be powerful enough for a demoness to turn her back on prophecy. Yet, if his demon magic responded like it saw her as mate…

She tried to say something, anything, that would avoid the truth yet put him at ease. And found herself unable to say anything at all. Finally, she brokenly forced out, “Just try to feel the magic and call it with control. I’m going to get some rest.”

She stood and stumbled to the tent, crawling inside and wrapping up in her sleeping bag. It didn’t matter she was warm enough for sweat to break out on her forehead. She shivered as a chill pierced her deep inside.

This couldn’t happen.

She refused to allow it.

She had to put distance between herself and Sean. She was drawn to him. If it grew any stronger, if she began to care about him more than she already did, her heart wouldn’t survive.

Could she ever face making the choice between love, and the magic which made her who she was?

* * *

Sean watched as she practically raced away from him, wondering what he’d said to send her running scared. Again.

Because once the disbelief had faded from her blue-green eyes, it had been pure fear he’d seen.

Which made no sense.

He continued to repeat his words in his mind, but didn’t find understanding. So he turned to trying out what she’d told him.

Hours later, after the fire began to burn low, he was finally able to find the control to slowly draw out the darkness deep inside him, then push it back behind the locks he clung to so tightly.

Surprisingly, the more he tried, the less he feared it. Not that such feelings completely went away. He knew he didn’t have nearly enough control, but for the first time in his life, he could see a glimmer of hope that perhaps, one day, he might.

He could rule his demon side, rather than fear it would escape and rule him. Turn him into a dark, mindless creature who thrived on destruction and pain. Who craved killing.

And the more he called it, touched it, the more he realized that his demon magic twisted around and through his earthy Fey magic. Something he’d never realized before.

He’d thought his two sides were completely separate, but now he realized just how entwined they were. In the past, when he’d used his Fey magic, he’d been unknowingly tapping into his demon side as well.

It was an entirely strange thought that perhaps his soul wasn’t two different sides as he’d always believed.

As his magic waned from overuse, he yawned. He drank a couple bags of blood and snacked on a can of beef stew.

No sounds had come from the tent in hours. Though he still worried about Mayah’s strange reaction, he needed to sleep. Recoup his energy.

Be strong. Strong enough to keep her safe.

He slid into the tent, easing into his sleeping bag pushed against the opposite side from her. Just before he fell asleep, he studied Mayah’s angelic features, realizing how much he was getting used to them being together.

And how much he wanted to continue being by her side.

The urge to keep her protected rushed through him once more. He’d never felt it so strong for anyone not part of his family, and he found the growing connection with this woman disturbing.

There was no future in it. The feelings growing inside him were in no way platonic. And now, to find out that they could never be together? It shattered something fragile deep in his chest.

He had to ignore such things. Besides, she would never have a use for a half-breed once they’d rescued her brother and Sean got them home. To safety.

His clan would take over.

Jordan would protect her. She still didn’t seem to realize it would come with no price tag attached. If she didn’t want to help his clan, no one would force it.

In fact, Sean realized, once the two of them were safe, Mayah and her brother would have the option of going wherever they chose.

If she decided not to help his clan, he might never see her again.

Air rushed from his lungs, as if some invisible crushing blow landed against his chest. The very thought of losing her like that hurt… far beyond anything he’d considered.

And there was not a damn thing he could do about it. All would be her choice.

What hope did a half-breed have against the power of future sight, and more, the longing for complete freedom?

Chapter Thirteen

T
wo days later, the hike up nearly vertical mountain paths, sometimes climbing sheer cliff faces to get higher, with little sleep, was taking its toll. Mayah hadn’t been this strenuously active in centuries and even though her demon essence healed the aches and pains, she was still finding sore muscles she’d forgotten even existed.

She rubbed her neck, straining to see the top of the next rock face they needed to scale. If only she had the power to make an elevator magically appear.

Sean adjusted the straps of his pack. “Let me see how far up it is, then I can send down a rope.”

She was truly beginning to hate the way he could sometimes seemingly read the direction of her thoughts. “No. I’m fine.”

A flash of disbelief shadowed his gaze, but he hid it quickly and didn’t argue. Pulling out the rope harnesses they’d already used a few times, he tossed her one, then double checked the small bag of metal spikes for the climb.

Though they would both be able to survive a fall, it would take time—days or weeks, depending on the extent of injuries—and energy for their bodies to heal.

Time which was quickly running out for her brother, though so far, they’d made good progress toward their destination.

After securing the harness around her waist, thighs and shoulders, she clipped it to a second rope tied around Sean, then waited as he began the climb.

For a bit, she was alone on the path. The wind gusted over the mountains, bringing the bite of an even colder chill they’d face the higher they moved. As she looked out at the valley far below, studying the thin ribbon of blue river winding through dark green trees, her thoughts wandered.

Past and future.

She hadn’t been visited by the sight of her death again, but it always weighed constantly on her mind.

The future was so uncertain, yet, deep inside, part of her was convinced she was willingly heading to her demise.

Her thoughts jumped to Cyrus. She hadn’t
seen
him since Brüs had kicked her out of the last vision. Sending a brief prayer to her long-dead mother, Mayah could believe nothing other than he was still all right.

And that he would survive the coming fight, even if she did not.

And Sean… The risk to free Cyrus had always been all-consuming for her. She’d gladly give her life to save her brother.

But was it worth the life of a benevolent stranger?

Their first night here, he’d told her his demon was protective of her. But the way he’d said it, the way he looked at her sometimes, when he didn’t think she was watching, told her it was so much more.

Fate was a bitch.

Look at what she’d been through in the past eons. And now, to find potential love, when she needed her prophecies more than ever?

A capricious bitch.

Because a growing part of her was protective and interested in Sean. They’d been together over a week. And every day—day by day—her feelings for him were growing stronger no matter how much she tried to ignore them.

Fate had decided to hold a double-edged sword.

The rope tied to her waist jerked and she shook her head, turning her mind back to the present task at hand. She began her climb, following Sean ever higher.

Halfway up, she passed the third metal spike sticking out from the rock, tethering them to the cliff. Looking higher, she could finally see the end of this particular climb. Sean was nearly there.

During the ascent, he’d slipped his jacket off, tying it to his pack. His tanned, bare arms glistened with a sheen of sweat. His muscles bunched each time he pulled himself up. He glanced down, as if feeling her gaze on him, and shot her his devastatingly sexy grin.

It was becoming harder and harder to deny the flash of heat rising from this uncontrollable attraction.

Determined to do more to ignore it, she pushed harder, climbing faster.

As Sean crawled over the lip of the cliff, she sighed a breath of relief, relaxing. Finding another handhold, she pulled herself higher. The rock beneath her fingers disintegrated.

She scrambled for another hold, but her other hand began to slip.

* * *

Sean pounded another piston into the cliff, slipped the safety rope through it, then stood and surveyed the area, dismayed.

Foot-high snowdrifts covered the part of the mountain he could see. Further up, the white banks grew taller. Dark, angry clouds that promised a coming storm filled the sky off to the north, racing closer fast enough to notice.

The rope around his waist jerked him back toward the edge. He ran forward, staring down into the void. “Mayah?” Fear stopped his heart for a long, agonizing moment.

He couldn’t see her. A shower of rock and dust had created a dark and impenetrable cloud.

Then her face came clear. She clung to the cliff, having found her footing and resumed her climb. “I’m fine.”

Doggedly, though every line of her body screamed exhaustion from the pace they’d been keeping up, she continued to ascend.

“I’m going to pull you up,” Sean called, taking her rope between his hands and wrapping it over his arm securely. “Let go.”

She shot him a glare of stubbornness.

Sean tugged her higher.

With a sigh, she let go and relaxed, letting him draw her to the top.

As she climbed over the rim, Sean sat down, trying to catch his breath—hard to do in the high, thin air.

Mayah lay on the ground, trying to do the same as she stared at the quickly darkening sky. “I could have done it.”

“I know.” Of course she could have. But the rioting emotions from her near fall—fear, desperation—had filled him with the need to have her safe by his side. Now, not later.

Her tone was begrudging. “But thanks.”