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While living in the shadows wasn’t preferred, it was the best way of continuing our existence. As long as humans didn’t necessarily know we existed, they wouldn’t actively seek to destroy us. And we wouldn’t completely decimate our power source.
But that left me in a tough position. I still wanted Magnus, but did our coming together mean we couldn’t betogether?Maybe it was best I make a choice and stick with Talon, however difficult it would be to walk away from Magnus. We could do what we’d always done: rule my spot in Hell and collect the souls that have made their bargains with my siblings. At least then, I’d have what I’ve always known, even if losing Magnus was the cost.
Yet, thanks to this dormant part of me I hadn’t thought existed, I wasn’t prepared to walk away from something I hadn’t even had yet on the fear of not knowing what would happen if I did. I wanted a solution, and turning toward the hard choice went against my nature. But that’s what I was going to do.
The vampiress finished doing up the back of my dress. It was a simple black gown with form-fitting silk clinging to my curves. I had half a mind to shift into my true form to see the look on the vampires’ faces when I walked down the aisle. But I resisted, in case being in my true form was a requirement for the spell.
The door slammed open. “Out,” Magnus commanded, giving the female vampire a long glare. She nodded and slipped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.
I turned, one eyebrow raised as I stared at him. “The groom isn’t supposed to see the bride on the wedding day.”
He stalked toward me, anger painting his features, and I stepped back, moving away from him until my back hit the wall. “There was not supposed to be a wedding day,” he said sternly, glowering at me.
For a supposedly undead creature, there was a palpable heat radiating off him—or was my attraction to him sensing something else?
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t make you do this alone. I suspect the vampire council won’t be forgiving if you don’t follow through with their demands.”
Magnus scoffed. “The vampire council thinks they have control over me, but frankly, I am older than most of them. Plus, my father is on the council, and while we do not have the cuddliest father-son relationship, if I told him I did not want to be a sacrifice, he would accept that.”
His tone changed as he got to the end of a sentence, and my eyebrow lifted a little higher. “I suspect that isn’t true.”
The glower returned as Magnus strode toward me. “It does not matter. Either way, I would ensure nothing happened if I did not want to do this.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared at him with my chin tilted. “Do you not want to marry me because you don’t want to marryme,or is it something else? Something to do with a spell, maybe?”
His expression shifted. “How do you know about that?”
I shrugged. “First of all, I’m not sure how much you know about upper demons, but part of our gifts is being able to read the minds of humans. Seeing as you were once human, my gift passes on to you. I could hear your thoughts earlier about it being dangerous and needing to protect me. After we went to Hell, I summoned my sister, who is prone to jealousy. She knows everything about everything to ensure that everything she has is better. So, she knew what my brothers were up to. While I understand their intention, as they have always desired to please our father, I also know what it would mean for all supernatural kind if we brought the gods back. I suspect your vampire counsel hadn’t thought that much through.”
Magnus shook his head. “No, and I think my father was thinking with parts other than his brain when it comes to this.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
Magnus lifted one shoulder. “I do not know the whole story, and I doubt I ever will, but he said something last night that leads me to believe a goddess first cursed him to be a vampire. Whatever passed between them, he misses her in some twisted way, and this is his attempt to give her back a gift. That or it is a sick romantic gesture, and he does not care what will happen to the rest of us, which is also possible. My father only thinks of himself, but for that reason, we cannot do this, and we cannot risk casting a spell.”
I shook my head. “We won’t do it if you truly don’t want to be with me. I speak only for myself right now, but Talon isn’t the only one who feels there is something more between the three of us. I would like the chance to explore that without others meddling in our affairs.”
Magnus stood there, staring at me unblinkingly. A ball of fear formed in my stomach. Maybe he didn’t want me in the way I wanted him, and he only appeared interested in me because he wanted Talon and not me.
I resisted the urge to read his mind. It felt like an invasion of privacy while he tried to sort out his feelings. Legend had it vampires had no feelings, but I’d seen how he looked at Talon, and that couldn’t be true. I needed to know if he would be able to look at me that way as well.
MAGNUS
The door burst open,breaking us apart as Talon rushed into the room.
“I’ve got it,” he said breathlessly, pausing long enough to fill his lungs with air before shaking a book at us. “I’ve got it,” he said slower.
Aida slipped around me, the elegant silk skirt of her wedding dress swishing around her legs, guiding my eyes to her ass, where the fabric ruched to accentuate her curves.
“Let me see.” She held her hand, taking the book from Talon and flicking it open. The room fell silent as she read over the spell, whispering in a tongue I didn’t understand. “Hmm,” she said, still giving nothing away before walking over to the table and setting the book down. “This is a very complicated spell, and I’m confused about how it is interpreted to mean a wedding and sex.”
I stepped closer, looking over her shoulder, trying to read the language, but the pictographic language was unrecognizable to my eye.
“What does it say?”
She pointed to one part, tracing a line under it. “This is basically saying to bring back the gods, you must return their gifts like Jason’s golden fleece or Enki’s gifts of civilization. I suppose, in one way, you could imagine being a vampire would be a gift—if what you say is true and a goddess turned your father. But I suspect for that to even work, you would have to reverse whatever spell the goddess cast on him in the first place.”
“Knowing my father, it probably did have something to do with sex, which is why he suggested that.”
