The Vampire Bracelet: Erotic Paranormal Romance ( # 2: Blood Genies series) (10 page)

“What’s the meaning of this?” he asked the men, without taking his eyes off Marie. “Bringing a stranger to a summoning?”

Nicholas replied, “She belongs to me. She’s the woman I love.”

The king kept staring at Marie, purposely making her squirm before he said, “Love is a disgusting habit.”

Nicholas defended their position. “There’s nothing disgusting about the way we feel.”

Silence engulfed the room, until Mathieu replied, “To me, there is. But alas what do I know of love? I am said to have a rotten heart.” He reached into his chest and pulled out a blackened heart, dripping with blood and gunk. He extended it to Marie. “Would you care for a bite?”

She jumped back, and he laughed. Although she knew the heart was a magical hoax, it still affected her.

“Don’t taunt her,” Nicholas snapped.

Mathieu raised his eyebrows. “Listen to you, hybrid, giving me orders.”

“I have a right to protect the one I love.”

“If you love her, then doesn’t it make you curious why the spell hasn’t worked?”

Darrin interjected, “That’s why we summoned you.”

Mathieu put the magic-infested heart back in his chest, as if it actually belonged there. “Are you wondering if I found a way to thwart the spell?”

“Have you?” Nicholas asked.

“Of course I did. I wasn’t going to sit idly by and allow another of my gen-vamps to become mortal.” He flashed a self-serving smile. “But it was actually more of a case of twisting the spell, than thwarting it.”

Marie felt the color drain from her face. “What do you mean?”

“I was able to turn the spell into a mocking version of itself. Nicholas is now subject to being punished for falling in love. Instead of becoming mortal, he will be enslaved inside the bracelet, without ever leaving it again. He’ll grow increasingly weak from lack of sustenance, but he won’t perish.”

Because nothing could kill a genie or a gen-vamp except a Jinn dagger, she thought, her heart fisting in her chest. The thought of Nicholas spending eternity inside the bracelet was too much to bear. For him that was a fate worse than death. “Please,” she implored the king. “You can’t do this.”

“I most certainly can. He deserves it for doing something as foolish as trying to fall in love.” Mathieu glared at him. “You did try, didn’t you? You longed for it so desperately, you made it happen.”

Nicholas’s voice went rough. “Yes, I tried. But it happened because it was meant to.”

Mathieu studied him, like a beetle under a microscope. “If you stop loving her, you can save yourself.”

Nicholas refused. “I can’t stop. I can’t change how I feel.” He turned to Marie. “I can’t.”

She wouldn’t be able to stop loving him, either, if the situation were reversed. But she wanted him to try. She looked into his eyes, softly pleading. “Let go for me. Let go of what we have.”

“That’s not possible. You know it isn’t.” He folded her into his arms.

She put her head against his shoulder, tears welling in her eyes.

“Idiots,” she heard Mathieu say from behind them.

Darrin tried to reason with the genie. But it was useless. Already Marie could feel the twisted spell at work, the bracelet on her wrist swirling with energy.

“I love you,” Nicholas said to her for one last time.

She loved him, too. But her love was destroying him. If she had it to do over, she wouldn’t have borrowed him from her uncle or made that stupid “Keith” wish. She wouldn’t have crossed paths with Nicholas.

“Don’t regret it,” he whispered, as if he sensed what she’d been thinking. “Don’t ever regret it.”

Before she could respond, before she could say another soul-wrenching word, she lost him. With malevolent force, he manifested into mist and was thrust into his emerald prison, gone from her sight, her touch. Marie sank to the floor, and Darrin knelt down beside her, struggling to give comfort.

The bracelet zoomed off her wrist and landed in Mathieu’s hand. Once it was secure in his grasp, he said, “I’ll keep this. The way one keeps a pet.” With that, he disappeared, taking Nicholas with him.

Chapter Twelve

Darrin peeled Marie up off the floor. “Come on Baby Girl, let me take you home.”

Home
. It had no meaning now. Nothing had meaning. She felt like an empty shell. “We have to do something to try to save him, Uncle. We can’t just leave him in the bracelet like that.”

“I know. But for now you need to rest.”

She didn’t see how that was possible. But she agreed that she needed to return to her house. She couldn’t stay in the shop where Nicholas had been ripped away from her. “I can get myself home.”

“Are you sure you’re strong enough to drive?”

“Yes.” She forced her legs to carry her when all she really wanted to do was curl up and cry. As she moved forward, she glanced at the figurine Mathieu had shattered. “Maybe the fairy who cast the original spell can tell us what to do.”

“Maybe. But I have no idea how to summon a fairy.”

“Do you think Anthony would know?”

“I hope so.” He sighed, his chest heaving with the effort. “He’s going to be devastated when I tell him about Nicholas.”

She nodded. Devastation was a word she knew well. “I’m going to head out now.”

He unlocked the door for her. “I’ll come by later.”

“Thank you.” She hugged him, fighting another bout of tears.

Upon her return, she went straight to her room, painfully aware of Nicholas’s lingering presence there. Fully clothed, she got into bed and held a pillow to her chest. She pressed her nose against its satin casing and inhaled, trying to pull Nicholas’s scent into her lungs. Drowning in sorrow, she rolled over and wrapped herself in the sheet that had been close to his body.

What if they couldn’t save him? How would she survive this? But worst of all, how would Nicholas bear it? She envisioned him, day after day, year after year, century after century, locked inside his bracelet, weak and alone.

Where would Mathieu store the bracelet? Inside a closed box so that Nicholas couldn’t see or hear anything that was going on around him? She ached so badly for him, and for herself, too.

Hours dredged by, and when the doorbell rang, she hoped it was Darrin. She pulled herself out of bed and answered the call. Thankfully, it was her uncle, and he had Anthony and Tessa with him. The hauntingly beautiful Simone was there, too. Their gazes met, and Marie noticed that her eyes were as blue as Mathieu’s. Her hair also rivaled his, with its thick, shiny blackness. Her complexion, however, was as pale as that of a porcelain doll.

Marie invited everyone inside and Anthony and Tessa hugged her. Anthony looked beside himself with worry, and Tessa bordered on tears. Simone was devoid of outward emotion, and as the gathering got underway, she sat quietly, with her crimson lips and Gothic attire. Every so often, she angled her head, as if she were assessing the woman Nicholas loved. Clearly, Simone didn’t understand the concept of being in love. Another thing she appeared to have in common with Mathieu. Only she wasn’t the enemy.

Marie said to the entire group. “Can we summon the fairy? Is that a possibility?”

Anthony shook his head. “Fairies can only be summoned by unicorns, and unicorns only exist on realms like Mathieu’s.”

Marie shakily asked, “Then what are we going to do?”

Simone replied in a faded French accent. “I believe that I can save him.”

All eyes turned to her. Definitely not the enemy.

She continued by saying, “I can strike a bargain with Mathieu.”

“What bargaining tool would you use?” Anthony queried his former bedmate.

“Myself,” she told him. “Mathieu desires me. Enough, I think, to reverse the spell back to what it was. In exchange for Nicholas’s freedom and mortality, I’ll join the king’s harem.” She explained to Marie. “Genie rulers aren’t permitted to take gen-vamps as slaves, not unless the gen-vamps go willingly. And so far, none have.”

Marie’s heart beat triple time. “But you’d do that to save Nicholas? You’d join Mathieu’s harem?” Somehow that seemed impossible to fathom. The beautiful, temperamental Simone becoming a willing slave to the genie she despised.

“Yes, I would. But with an ulterior motive. To kill Mathieu while I’m there.”

Marie scooted to the edge of her chair. She was all ears, all pent-up emotion, all for the idea. “Do you have access to a Jinn dagger?”

“No. But I’ll find a unicorn and ask it to summon our fairy. Then I’ll ask her to help me locate a dagger. Once the deed is done and Mathieu is dead, all gen-vamps will be free of our jewelry bonds and will return to being vampires.” She slanted Anthony a glance. “Except those who are already mortal.”

He said to her, “What if your plan fails and you’re stuck on Mathieu’s realm as his slave? How will you tolerate that, Simone?”

“My plan won’t fail.”

“Mathieu might sense your deception.”

“I’ll keep him too sexed up to notice anything but how good I’m making him feel.” She arched her shapely body. “The idea of fucking Mathieu repels me, but I can fuck anyone when I have to.” She turned and looked at Marie. Stark. Head on. “I was a lady of the evening when I was mortal. And if I do say so myself, I was a brilliant whore.”

No doubt she was. “I’ll be forever in your debt if you save Nicholas.”

“All of us will be,” Anthony said, with Tessa and Darrin in agreement.

Simone shrugged. “Just bid me well if Mathieu accepts my bargain. That’s all I want from of any of you.”

“I’ll do better than that,” Marie said. “I’ll pray for your safety. And I’ll pray that you kill that bastard as painfully and brutally as possible.”

Simone smiled. “Oh, my darling. Those are the type of prayers I like. As a reward, I’ll cut off his pretty head and bring it back to you on a platter.”

“Cut out his heart, too,” Marie said, feeling vicious.

“I will.” Simone laughed. “I’ll chop it into little pieces, right along with his cock.” She stood up and motioned to Darrin. “Let’s return to your mystic shop and summon Mathieu.” To everyone else she cooed, “
au revoir
.”

Before she left, she airily kissed Marie’s cheeks, then turned and planted a salacious one right on her mouth, leaving Marie with a hot and erotic feeling.

Making her even more desperate to have Nicholas back.

Chapter Thirteen

Anthony and Tessa offered to stay with Marie, but she gently declined. She preferred to wait alone. She didn’t have a clue how long it would take for Mathieu to consider Simone’s offer, if he considered it at all. He might turn her down flat.

Somehow, though, Marie couldn’t imagine anyone saying no to Simone. The long-ago lady of the evening, the fierce female, was wildly persuasive. But Mathieu was rich and spoiled and powerful, with a harem full of slave girls at his disposable. If anyone rebuffed Simone, Mathieu would be the one. Hell, he could lock her inside her ring for suggesting a bargain. He could do whatever he wanted.

Marie sat on the front stoop with her cell phone beside her, in case Darrin called with bad news. Bad news? No, she shouldn’t think that way. Clinging to hope, she glanced up at the night sky, with its scatter of stars. If she wasn’t so leery of wishes, she would wish upon those twinkling little lights. But as it were, she couldn’t bring herself to take the chance. Maybe she should go back inside. Maybe—

Suddenly a car approached. Darrin’s car. He pulled into the driveway and parked, headlights disappearing with the kill of the engine. Marie stood up, her pulse thudding at her throat.

Her uncle remained in the vehicle, but a tall shadowy figure got out of the passenger’s side. Nicholas? Oh, God. Was that him? She couldn’t tell. He could just as easily be Anthony. From this distance and in the dark, the brothers’ resemblances was enough to fool her nervous senses.

Too afraid to approach him, to jinx anything, she remained on the stoop. He moved closer, and then she knew. Or she thought she did. The amber glow from the porch light made him look like a mirage. She had to rub her eyes to be sure he was real.

“Marie,” he said.

Her knees nearly gave way. Nicholas, with his messy hair and faded jeans, striding toward her. A rebel
with
a cause.

She dashed forward, and he embraced her, spinning her around. They kissed, more times than she could count. And when he released her, she roamed her hands over his face, his strong sturdy shoulders, his arms. He felt wonderfully warm.

Human.

Darrin started the car and backed out of the driveway, leaving Marie with the man she loved. Tears flooded her eyes. Nicholas was roaming his hands all over her now.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” His voice all but broke. “But here you are.”

“Here we are.” She took him inside, where they could gaze at each other in brighter light.

They stood in the living room and stared and stared, awed by the moment.