The Vampire Next Door (23 page)

She opened the warehouse door, but before she closed it, she asked Mikhail, “Will this lock if I let it close?”

“Yes. Why don’t I go with you so I can let you back in again?”

“No! Uh, no. I’d rather you keep watch over my altar. I’ll prop open the door with my shoe.” She whipped off her black half boot and stuck it in the door as soon as she was on the other side.

Sly had been looking out the glass panel in the front door. He turned, arching one brow in curiosity. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, I just had to come get that…” She winked. “…ingredient I tucked into your pocket this morning.”

Apparently he followed her ruse and just said, “Ah.”

Hurrying to his side, she whispered in his ear, “Can Mikhail hear us if I whisper?”

Sly shrugged.

She had to make a quick decision. Possibly let Mikhail know she’d discovered his secret or take the chance of Sly never knowing…

Finally she just said, “If anything happens to me, tell Gwyneth to use the principles of sourdough bread.”

His brows knit. “What do you mean, if anything happens to you?”

“Look, magick can be dangerous. You already knew that, right?”

He reared back. “No, I didn’t. You’d better rethink this.”

“I can’t,” she said a little too loudly. She coughed, then lowered her voice. “I doubt anything will happen. I just had to let you know—in case…”

“In case what?”

Exasperated, she blew out a deep breath.

“Fine. But will she know what that means?” he whispered.

Morgaine nodded. Then she grabbed him and kissed him hard. “I love you.” With that she whirled on her remaining heel and ran back to the warehouse before he could stop her.

Mikhail was pacing. “What was that about?”

She smiled innocently as she put her boot back on. “What was what about?”

I heard you say, “I can’t.”

“Oh, you heard that, huh? Did you hear anything else?”

He hesitated, then shook his head. “What’s this about, Morgaine? Is something wrong?”

“No. Everything’s fine.”

Sly opened the door. Apparently the lock wasn’t strong enough to hold the door closed against vampiric strength, but he didn’t enter. “Everything isn’t fine.” His expression was stern. “She just told me this could be dangerous. I don’t want her risking her neck for you or me or anyone.”

Mikhail stared at Morgaine. “Is that true? Could you harm yourself if you do this?”

“It’s very unlikely. I mean, how would he know you’d find a witch to remove his curse? And I’m not sure he
could
do anything to stop me even if he did know.”

“And what was ‘I can’t’ in response to?” Mikhail asked.

“I wanted her to reconsider,” Sly answered for her. “Mikhail, invite me in.”

“No, don’t.” Morgaine had to stand up to these two men. Otherwise the whole trip would have been for nothing. “Please, Sly. Tell you what, I’ll do a spell to increase my own strength first. Now, close the door and let us continue.”

“No.” He folded his arms and planted his feet shoulder-width apart.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, then, I’ll just have to do this with you watching.”

“Mikhail, if she looks at all unwell, you’ll stop her, right?”

“Absolutely.” The two stubborn he-men nodded to each other.

Morgaine threw her hands up. “Fine. Now, let’s get this done.” She shoved a box of sea salt at Mikhail. “Start on the opposite side of the altar. Pour this salt around us, and don’t leave the circle once it’s been cast.”

He glided around her in a wide circle, spreading the salt. When he finished, he moved to the spot she’d indicated and stood across from her, hands clasped behind his back.

Morgaine picked up her wand and pointed it at the north until blue light flowed out of its tip. Then she rotated in place and drew the circle over their heads chanting, “We stand in circles of light that nothing may cross.”

She remembered her promise to increase her own strength and lay down on the floor.

“Is she okay?” Sly shouted.

“I’m fine. It’s part of the ritual. Now, please stop worrying and
don’t
interrupt—no matter what, okay?”

Sly didn’t respond. She’d just have to hope he behaved himself. At least Mikhail still hadn’t invited him in.

She lay with her hands crossed over her chest as if dead. Closing her eyes, she went into a trance, then slowly sat up and mumbled, “
On, Oron, Doron.
” She raised her voice as she rose.
“Radoron, Gorradoron, Rogoradoron!”

Next she took the small ball of parchment paper on which she’d written the spell and set it on fire in her censor. Holding the twigs she’d brought with her over the smoke and taking in a deep breath, she looked up and cried out, “Goddess, hear me. Turner be turned, burner be burned. Let only good come of this wood.”

She spit on the sticks, broke each in turn, and tossed the pieces into the fire. Then she said, “The curse will die with the fire’s death. So mote it be.”

She watched the fire in a trance until the last flicker had disappeared and a few tendrils of smoke rose from the glowing embers. “It is done.”

She opened the circle and came out of her trance.

Mikhail still looked vaguely uneasy. “Let me try something just to be sure the curse has been broken and we don’t have to worry about freak accidents anymore.”

“Of course,” Morgaine said. “What did you have in mind?”

Mikhail strode to a workbench and plucked a pair of scissors out of a drawer. Jogging up and down the aisles of wine racks, he shouted to some unknown power, “Hey, I’m running with scissors here!”

When he returned unharmed, he and Morgaine laughed and shared a congratulatory high five.

*   *   *   *

Back in their room for the night, Sly was filled with a combination of victory and relief. Morgaine had succeeded. She’d lifted the curse, resealed both doors, and more than earned the respect and gratitude of her friend. He hoped she was as proud of herself as he was of her.

“You did it,” he said as they slipped into bed.

She grinned. “Yes, I did. Now I hope both of us will
do it
, if you catch my drift
.
”

Sly laughed and pulled her soft, naked body against him. “I think I know what you mean, but just to be sure, why don’t you show me?”

One side of her lip raised in a knowing smile, then she feathered the tip of her tongue down the column of his neck until he groaned.

“I could let you do that all night, but you’re the one who deserves something special.”

She lifted her head and smiled. “Oh? Like what?”

In one smooth motion, he had her positioned on her back with her legs spread. He knelt between them and scooped up her ass, lifting her mound to his face.

“Like this, love.” Sly’s tongue flickered softly along her labia.

She arched and moaned.

Her eyes dilated and her heartbeat quickened as she watched him continue to explore her. Morgaine pulled in a shuddering breath when he slid two fingers inside her, slowly and gently. Moaning, she ground her hips against his hand.

He mimicked a rhythm of fucking as he stroked in and out of her core. After several moments of caressing her intimately, he lowered his head and found her clit with the tip of his tongue. She bucked and gasped. Good. She was almost as sensitized as he wanted her to be.

He whirled his tongue around her clit and she quietly whimpered. He could have teased her like this longer, but he sensed she needed release.

He zeroed in on her clit and flicked his tongue as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. She cried out and climaxed. Her legs vibrated uncontrollably as she alternately screamed and emitted unintelligible sounds.

Finally, after her body’s powerful reaction disintegrated into a weak, panting quiver, Sly settled gently on top of her. His cock nudged her opening, and he tingled with the contact.

“You’re wonderful,” he whispered. “Beautiful.” With a gentle thrust, he pushed the swollen head of his erection in and stopped.

She caught her breath.

“Are you all right, sweetheart?”

“Goddess, yes. It feels so good.”

He smiled. “It does for me too, love.”

Sly braced himself on either side of her with his hands pressed into the mattress. He’d massage her clit with his pelvis as he moved in and out of her. He began his thrusts, escalating a bit faster each time.

The friction rubbed her already sensitized area, and she moaned with her head tilted back. His cock throbbed with pleasure too. As if she wanted to increase his joy, she squeezed her lower muscles around his shaft.

He groaned and pumped faster.

She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, softly moaning as he rode her. Suddenly he reached his peak. His balls drew up and he cried out as his cock pulsed inside her. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and followed him over the edge. Hoarse from her previous orgasm, her voice took on a lower, raspier sound as she cried her blissful release.

The tension had run out of his body. His damp skin fused to hers. He gently lowered his full weight onto her boneless torso and covered her mouth with a long, deep kiss.

Yeah, I could get used to this.

Chad missed Morgaine. After Gwyneth and Nathan had summarily dismissed him, he had no one to talk to.
Just like the old days
, he grumbled.

Maybe he could drop in on the two newest residents and test their psychic sensitivity. After all, he hadn’t discovered Morgaine’s ability to communicate with him until he’d followed her around for a while insulting her.

He chuckled to himself as he remembered the exchange. He had been mocking her goth makeup and coloring—black hair, pale skin—as well as her all-black wardrobe, when she’d suddenly whirled around and shook her fist at the ceiling.

“Cut the shit, you damn spook,” she’d yelled.

Chad remembered laughing so hard that,
if
he’d had an ass to fall on, he would have stumbled backward and landed on it.

A quick visit to the strange fish-man might prove interesting.

Chad floated down the stairs and pushed his way into the super’s apartment.

Just as he had suspected, Jules lay in his giant fish tank. Fingers locked under his head, he floated on his back, gently agitating the water with his large tail fin.

Here goes nothin’. “Hello there, fish breath.”

Jules didn’t react. His eyes closed, and a slight smiled played across his face.

“Wet enough for ya?”

Nothing.

“I wish I knew why you decided to become a landlubber.”

When no reaction to that followed, Chad figured the super was completely unaware of his presence. He was about to leave when he realized he could use other means to communicate besides telepathy.

Let’s see… I could use my telekinesis to move the toaster out of the kitchen and across the room and then dump it in his fish tank. Naw, it wouldn’t be worth the effort without a massively long cord. The threat of electrical shock would get him to spring out of that water, and wouldn’t that be fun to watch?

Hmmm… there must be something I can do to get his attention.

Chad eyed two rolled-up towels on a shelf near the tank.
Ah, those must be what he uses to dry off. I know! Wouldn’t it be fun if dry towels weren’t so handy and he had to drip across the floor all the way to the bathroom?

Chad concentrated on the towels until they floated off the shelf and hovered in midair. When he was ready, he mentally directed them over the tank and dumped them into the water.

The disturbed surface tension alerted Jules, and he opened his eyes. “Hey!”

Grabbing the waterlogged towels, he glanced around the room in confusion.

Heh, heh. That was fun.

“Very funny, Chad,” the super said.

Huh? He knows about me?

Chad cleared his throat and yelled,
“Hey, Jules. I’m over here.”

Jules ignored him and climbed onto the edge of his tank. He wrung out the wet towels and waited until his tail turned into legs.

I’ll try telepathy one more time. “Hellooo… Your momma’s a guppy.”

Jules pattered across the floor, leaving a wet trail behind him.

With no real satisfaction in the effort, Chad let out a deep sigh.
Okay, cross another resident off my list of intelligent conversationalists.

*   *   *   *

Sly had made love to Morgaine twice. They lay side by side, holding hands, basking in the afterglow. The way he whispered endearments to her while he was fucking affirmed the loving nature she knew he had.

Making love.
Yes, those were the right words—not fucking. He loved her. He must. She’d made him nuts by taking a risk to her own safety. He had said she was like Alice in that way. His dear departed wife had driven him out of his mind by attending rallies and protest marches despite his worry that violence might break out.

He hadn’t said the words to her yet, but she was sure he’d find the right moment.

“I don’t want you putting yourself in that kind of danger again, Morgaine.”

“Oh, come on, Sly. Don’t kill the mood. I did good, right?”

“Yes, you did.”

After she had resealed the doors against vampires and invited him in again, Mikhail had been so impressed, he’d offered her two cases of wine. His cases were actual briefcases lined with plastic foam in the shape of his bottles. Each one carried only three precious bottles. They now sat at the foot of the bed.