The Warrior Vampire (24 page)

“Gods, Luz. Do you have to make it sound so dirty?”

“Isn't it?” she asked in an arch tone. “Don't hold out on me, Cuz. I got a
good
look at him. Did the vampire ring your bell right out of its belfry?”

Naya propped her feet up on the coffee table. “That's none of your business.”

“Damn. Sex magic.” Luz's appreciative tone made Naya smile. “What's it like?”

“I haven't used it for anything.” Honestly, Naya found the magic too powerful to wield. “It's a high. I can't even think straight.” Even now, she practically vibrated with the residual energy. “I don't know what to do with it.”

“I bet I could give you a suggestion or two on how to use it.” Self-control had been the one hurdle Luz had yet to overcome. They were taught to harness their power. Use it sparingly and only in service to the tribe. Luz didn't buy into any of that crap. She thought the rules were Paul's way of keeping them under his thumb. Luz was probably right.

“Something's coming down the pipes and it isn't good.” If Naya was going to let Luz stick around, then she was going to help her find a solution to her—and Ronan's—problem. “I fought a mapinguari last night. It was huge, Luz. And more powerful than anything I've ever had to take down before. If Ronan hadn't been there, it would have killed me. Whatever found its way onto
El Sendero
is bad news.”

Luz's brow furrowed. “Let me see your dagger.”

Naya crossed to the hutch that doubled as her armory and retrieved the blade. It glowed with the heat of a star, pulsing with a bright pale lemon light. “The magic needs to be discharged.” She'd yet to funnel the magic into the gold box that would need to be turned over to Paul and the other elders.

“Uh, you think?” Luz's eyes grew wide as she took the dagger from Naya's outstretched hand. “Holy shit, Naya. It's practically nuclear. My arm is numb all the way to my shoulder.”

“What do you think they do with it?” Naya asked. This was a dangerous subject to breach. One that would be considered treasonous if heard by the wrong ears. “I mean, neither of us has ever witnessed the actual banishing ceremony.” Something she regretted now. “How do they do it? The elders are all males. They can't manipulate magic.”

“Oh, they banish it all right,” Luz said with a rueful laugh. “Right into the pieces of gold they're using to buy your boyfriend's death.”

According to the elders, the gold pieces had been infused with the magic of
brujas
. White magic. Benevolent. “If that's the case, that gold isn't going to bring anyone anything but a world of darkness and grief,” Naya remarked.

“Preach.” Luz examined the dagger, worked the grip in her palm. She was a powerful witch in her own right. With the proper discipline, she'd be more powerful than Naya in two or three decades. “This isn't like anything we've dealt with before. The magic is
old
. Did you notice?”

No. She hadn't. Naya's curiosity piqued. “When I found Ronan, he was bleeding magic. He tackled me to the ground and said my name. Then he passed out. He doesn't remember anything that happened before he woke up chained to my bed almost two weeks ago.”

“Kinky,” Luz said with a grin.

“I was going to kill him,” Naya said, low. “I planned to. But…”

“But how could you possibly run a dagger through your mate's heart?”

Naya wasn't ready to address her feelings for Ronan with herself, let alone her cousin. “He said he was looking for his sister. That she told him she'd found a relic.”

Luz's eyes narrowed. “What sort of relic?”

“He wouldn't tell me.” Naya let out a long sigh. “But if we're dealing with vampires, it's got to be old.
Ancient.
”

“Did you ever think you'd see one?” Luz sounded like a kid at the zoo. “I mean, holy shit. A real freaking vampire! The white whale of the supernatural world.”

Not only did Naya never think she'd ever see one; she also sure as hell never thought she'd find herself mated to one. “I thought they were all dead.”

“Everyone does,” Luz said. “This will change our world.”

“He mentioned the Sortiari. Paul won't be happy if he thinks they might find out about what's going on up here.”

“No. It'll make trouble. And I'm not interested in trouble that doesn't start with Cuervo and end in the company of a well-muscled male.” Luz handed Naya the dagger and she tucked it back into the cabinet. She'd need to siphon the magic out of it before she went out hunting again. “Do you think Ronan's relic has something to do with the influx of magic on
El Sendero
?”

“I do.” She just didn't have enough information to connect the dots yet. “We need to find his sister. I think she's the missing piece.”

“She might have been the mapinguari you killed last night.”

Naya had already thought of that and it made her heart ache for Ronan. “She could have been. I sure as hell hope not, though.”

“You do realize that none of your theories or plans will matter if Paul gets his hands on your vampire first.” Luz gave her a pointed look. “You can't hide from him for much longer.”

“I know.” She was surprised she'd gone this long. “I'll go to him. I'm not turning Ronan over, though. What happens from here on out has to be on my terms.”

“Good luck with that.” Luz looked away, her expression sad. The reality of their life within the pod could be harsh at times. Their esoteric existence left little in the way of freedom. “When word gets out, it's not just our pod you're going to have to worry about.”

“Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.” And why she needed to get to the bottom of this mystery before anyone else got hurt. Or died.

“What's your plan?” Luz patted the cushion beside her and Naya sat down. “Let's hatch something while Prince Charming is sleeping.”

If she didn't find Ronan's sister and her relic soon, Naya had a feeling that she'd be forced to kill Ronan before Paul had the opportunity to get his hands on him. Sorrow bloomed with a deep stabbing pain in her chest. If Ronan died, Naya wasn't sure that she'd be able to live without him.

“We need Manny.” A magic sensitive—not to mention a human—would be the perfect bait for rogue magic looking for a host. “Do you think he'd help us?”

Luz flashed a smile. “I think he'd be game.”

“Good.”

*   *   *

Something dark and powerful festered in Ronan's soul. His body had succumbed to the daytime sleep, but his mind was wide awake. A turbulent storm of thought and worry that swirled through his consciousness in a dream-like haze.

Sharp claws raked at his skin as though trying to break through. A need rose within him, stronger than the thirst of the newly turned, more intense even than the lust for his mate. A deadly desire that made him yearn to sink his fangs into the nearest body and tear the flesh. Want to glut himself on blood.

Rage pooled like gasoline in his gut. All he needed was a spark to transform it into an inferno. His body was lifeless. Useless. Trapped until sundown, the force within him paced like an anxious wolf in the confines of a cage. It wanted out.
Needed
out.

A roar of anguish echoed in the confines of Ronan's mind. He fought against himself and the urges that rose up inside of him like a tide. In order to protect Mikhail, Claire, and Jenner, Ronan had closed himself off from the Collective, building a wall between them. He'd relied solely on Naya's blood and their tether to sustain him, but if he couldn't control the force trying to breach the surface of his psyche he'd have to block her out as well.

He'd throw himself on her blade before he'd allow the evil inside of him to harm a hair on her head.

Limbs heavy with fatigue, Ronan tried to fight against the hold of daylight over his body. A chill snaked up his legs, winding like icy vines over his torso and chest. The darkness within him surged, rising to the surface of his psyche once again. His throat burned. The thirst consumed him. There wasn't enough blood in the world to satisfy his lust for it.

Anger. Fear and panic constricted his chest. He couldn't let it win. Couldn't allow it to hurt Naya. She'd calmed the darkness before, sent it back to wherever it lay dormant with the simple touch of her hand. Her fiery heat was like a summer sun over a blanket of snow. Through the tether he sought her out despite every instinct screaming at him to keep her at bay. Her blood was a heady nectar that he couldn't resist. Her body beautiful round curves and supple flesh that he couldn't wait to touch. In the darkness, her soul was a beacon that called to him, kept him anchored to the earth.

Naya.

Yessssss!
The darkness seethed, hungry.

No!
Violent spasms shook Ronan as the cold took root. He instinctually reached out for Naya, desperate for the comfort of their bond, of her body, her heat. The darkness rose inside of him like a thick fog, clouding his mind and intent, stealing the sensation from his limbs.

“Oh, gods. Ronan, you need to calm down!”

Blind, his limbs useless, Ronan had no idea if the sweet tenor of her voice was real or in his mind. The warmth of her body buffeted his and the darkness lapped greedily at it. She smoothed his hair from his brow. The daytime sleep that made him all but useless gave way to the command of the darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. Ronan's eyes snapped open and he saw the world through a haze of red. Naya loomed above him, concern etched on her beautiful face.

“Ronan? Stay with me, okay? You need to focus. Try to calm down.”

Feed
.
Need. Blood.

Like a whip his arm struck out, his fingers curling around her throat. Naya's eyes went wide with panic as she tried to pry his grip loose.

Drain her
.
So hungry. Need her blood.

The dark voice seethed in Ronan's subconscious and he was helpless to fight it. Icy tendrils traveled up the length of his throat, past his jaw, and into his brain. He gnashed his teeth together as he fought the pain, the influence he couldn't seem to shake. Naya gasped for breath and he flipped them around until she lay on the bed and he hovered above her.

“Ro-nan.” The word was nothing more than a pained gasp. “Stop.”

Don't stop until you've taken every drop of blood she has to give
.

Ronan's mind resisted the command, but still his grip tightened. If only the sun would shine through the window, burn him to a crisp. Anything to save her from this parasitic
thing
that had attached itself to him. She struggled beneath him, the scent of her fear fouling the air. His stomach turned, knotting itself as he lowered his mouth to her exposed throat.

“Kill me, Naya.” His voice was sandpaper scraping its way up his throat.

A blast of heat struck his chest and Ronan flew backward. He slammed against the far wall and crumpled to the carpeting. The force within him stilled, but Naya had failed to rout it.

“Again!”

The darkness roared its agony in a blast of icy cold as Naya attacked again. Crimson stained his sight and she was nothing more than a smudge of color in the darkened room. Ronan's back arched off the carpet with such force that he felt a vertebra snap. It healed in an instant, but his body continued to contort, bones snapping and knitting over and again. His pained shout shook the walls that surrounded them and through the agony he heard Luz's frantic shout as she urged Naya to drive her dagger through his heart.

“Yes!” he shouted. It was the only way to protect her. “Do it! Now!”

“No!” Her impassioned cry rang with sorrow and desperation.

Luz stepped into Ronan's field of vision, her face an impassive mask. “If you won't do it, I will.”

“If you touch him, you'll regret it!” Naya barked. “Back off, Luz.”

His mate was fierce. Another shock of heat infused his body and the darkness retreated deeper inside of him. Naya's mouth caressed his, soft. Slow. So damned warm. A silky glide that heated Ronan's blood and hardened his cock. He rose up to sit and she settled in his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist.

“Naya, are you out of your fucking mind?”

Her cousin's alarm took a backseat to Ronan's lust. He couldn't be bothered to care about keeping a level head. About anyone's safety. Or about having a gods-damned audience as he kissed Naya.

He couldn't get close enough. Couldn't kiss her deeply enough. There were too many damned clothes between them and not enough bare skin. Gripped by lust, Ronan ignored the sounds of Luz's enraged shouts and buried his face in Naya's throat. She tilted her head to the side, an invitation, and he buried his fangs in her soft flesh.

The skin popped beneath his lips and blood welled sweet and hot in his mouth. Ronan groaned as he took pull after long pull. His mind cleared. His body flooded with heat. The darkness that threatened to consume him retreated completely as though sated, returning to its dormant state. Naya cleaved to him, her nails biting into his shoulders as she held his body to hers. Ronan disengaged with a roar, lapping at the trickles of blood that ran from the two sets of punctures. Naya held him tightly, her head nestled close to his shoulder. The breath sped in her chest and she trembled in his embrace.

“Don't you
ever
tell me to kill you again.”

The bond between them flared and the fear that shook her was Ronan's own. He pierced his tongue and healed the wounds on her throat, kissing the soft, smooth flesh. Gods, he could have killed
her
. What she'd done was too damned cavalier. With featherlight strokes he brushed the backs of his fingers over the skin around her neck, marred with ugly welts and raw; his stomach clenched at the sight.