“Why?” Levet demanded, then sucked in a deep breath as realization hit. “Oh.”
Oh, indeed.
To share his blood with this woman wasn’t just an act of mercy. His entire body hummed in preparation of being mated, and the moment his blood hit her lips, he would be bound for eternity with Anna Randal.
It was a step he was willing to take.
No, a step he was eager to take.
And regardless of whether he was ever physically mated to Anna, he already knew that there would never be another for him.
She was his destined mate.
But there was a part of him that rebelled at the thought of taking her as a mate while she lay unconscious. It was a sacred event, after all. A once in an eternity event. And the sort of thing that should never be done without the full consent of a partner.
Especially not a partner who was so prickly and independent she might very well kick his ass when she discovered what had happened.
“Cezar…” Surging through the door, Styx slowed as he neared Anna, his expression somber. “Damn. She lives, but barely.”
“Si.”
Kneeling beside Cezar, Styx placed a hand on his shoulder. “Will you heal her?”
“You know what will happen,” Cezar said in rough tones.
There was a moment of silence before Styx reached a hand toward Anna.
“Then I will…” His words broke off sharply as Cezar was on his feet and had the King of Vampires pinned to the wall. “Shit, Cezar.”
Balancing on the balls of his feet, Cezar leaned in close enough to be nose to nose with the dangerous vampire.
“Do not touch her again,” he rasped.
Styx narrowed his gaze. “Then do what you have to do.”
Cezar trembled, the violent urge to punish this demon for touching Anna a tangible pulse in the air. At last it was Levet who pulled him away from the brink of disaster.
“Cezar, she is fading.”
Muttering curses beneath his breath, Cezar quickly turned and bent next to Anna. Levet was right. The flutter of her heart warned that she was swiftly reaching the point of no return.
There was no choice.
He could accept Anna’s fury.
He couldn’t accept her death.
Lifting his wrist to his mouth, Cezar scored a deep groove with his fang. Instantly the blood began to flow, and leaning over Anna he pressed the wound to her lips.
For long moments nothing happened.
Cezar could sense the blood filling her mouth and dripping down the back of her throat, but she was too weak to swallow. Reaching out his free hand he gently stroked her throat, silently willing her to take what she needed.
“She’s not getting better,” Levet muttered, wringing his hands and being a general nuisance as he scattered the dust and bits of straw with his rapidly beating wings.
“Not now, Levet,” he growled.
“But…”
“Not now.”
The gargoyle retreated to mutter dire predictions in a corner as Styx kneeled close to Cezar’s side. Cezar didn’t notice. His entire concentration was focused on Anna as he willed her to take the sustenance that he offered.
“Come on, querida,” he softly urged. “Let me help you.”
More minutes passed, but Cezar didn’t waver in urging the blood down Anna’s throat.
At last a hint of color began to replace the ashen pallor of her skin, and her breathing deepened. Styx reached past him to touch the pulse at the base of her neck.
“She will recover,” he said, his expression one of satisfaction. “I think we can safely take her back to Chicago.”
Cezar nodded, unable to speak as he slowly lifted Anna’s hand to study the red, intricate tattoo that was scrolled beneath the skin of her inner arm.
Anna was saved and he was mated.
The deed was done.
And for the first time in five hundred years he felt utterly, completely at peace.
Anna woke with a sense of déjà vu.
Good God. She’d been knocked unconscious…again.
How many times had that happened in the past few days?
Certainly more than it had happened in the past two hundred years combined. And she was freaking sure that it was a trend that needed to be nipped in the bud.
Keeping her eyes closed, she carefully cleared her mind of the ridiculous ramblings. She needed to determine where she was. And more importantly, just how much danger she might be in.
Astonishingly, it took less than a heartbeat to realize that Cezar was near.
She wasn’t sure how she knew. There was no sound, no scent, no indication that she wasn’t completely alone in the darkness. It was just an unshakable certainty.
Allowing her lashes to lift, Anna turned her head on the pillow to discover the faint outline of a man standing near the door.
“Cezar?”
“I’m here.” A candle flickered to life as Cezar swiftly moved to the bed and settled next to her on the mattress. “No, don’t move,” he commanded, his hand pressing against her shoulder as she struggled to sit up.
Not bothering to fight against the inevitable, Anna settled back against the pillows and glanced about the bare room that held nothing more than the bed and a large armoire in the corner. The walls were paneled, and there was an Oriental carpet on the floor, but there were no windows and nothing to relieve the stark simplicity.
Not exactly the swank sort of crib she expected from vampires.
“Where are we?”
“We are in the tunnels beneath Viper’s house. It was the safest place I could think to bring you.”
Anna smiled wryly. She didn’t think that there was a tunnel deep enough to keep her from the wrath of Morgana. Still, she couldn’t deny that she was relieved to be away from the dusty, remote barn.
And the crazed fairy who had nearly killed her.
Abruptly she stiffened. “What about Clara? Did you capture her?”
Cezar gave a lift of his brow, appearing every inch the conquistador in his black Chino pants and white, silky shirt that was unbuttoned to reveal the muscles of his broad chest. The top of his hair was pulled back and braided with a leather strip, emphasizing the chiseled perfection of his features.
Yow…it was almost worth being knocked senseless to wake to such a yummy sight.
“Clara?” he demanded, his eyes darkening as if aware of the excitement that was beginning to zing through her body.
“Sybil’s twin.” Anna shuddered, her pleasure replaced by distaste at the memory of the horrid fairy. “She tracked me down and threatened to hand me over to Morgana. Well, after she made a tidy fortune off me.”
“She wasn’t there when I arrived.”
Anna narrowed her gaze at the unmistakable sense that he wasn’t being entirely honest.
“You’re hiding something from me,” she accused.
He hesitated before giving a restless shrug. “She’s dead.”
Anna’s breath tangled painfully in her throat. She remembered holding onto Clara as the emerald had pulsed with its strange power. Then there had been an explosion and everything had gone black.
“I killed her, didn’t I?” she husked.
Cezar gave a slow nod. “Si.”
“It was the emerald.” Anna glanced down at her hand, relieved to discover that she no longer clutched the priceless gem. She didn’t care where it was as long as it was no longer touching her. “I thought it was supposed to control my powers, but instead it only made things worse.”
“No, Anna.” The dark eyes flashed with a fierce emotion. “You’re alive.”
“But…”
“That’s all that matters,” he growled, pulling the offensive emerald from his pocket. “Levet said this came from a dream?”
She shuddered, pressing herself away from the delicate green glow. “No, it couldn’t have been a dream, it was far too real.”
“What happened?”
Anna unconsciously clutched the blanket that covered her, that aching sense of loss tugging at her heart.
“I was in a ruined castle and there was a man there.” She sucked in a deep breath as her voice threatened to crack. “He claimed he was a relative. My grandfather of sorts. He also said that he wanted Morgana punished.”
With that uncanny ability to read her emotions, Cezar wisely didn’t pry into the disturbing vision. She wasn’t prepared to discuss the bittersweet feeling of at last meeting a relative, only to have him be nothing more than a fleeting apparition.
“And the spirit gave you this?”
Spirit? Yes. She liked the sound of that. Much better than crazed hallucination, or creepy phantom.
“He claimed it would help me to focus my powers.”
His lips twisted in a wry smile. “I would certainly say that it accomplished that.”
“God.” Anna lifted her hands to cover her face, guilt spearing through her. “I killed that woman. It’s awful.”
“You saved yourself and you saved Levet.” Grasping her wrists, Cezar tugged her hands down so that she was forced to meet his glittering gaze. “Don’t forget that, querida.”
“Levet,” she breathed, another wave of guilt assaulting her as she realized she hadn’t even asked about the poor gargoyle. “How is he?”