AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Casey.
I sat up straight in bed, clutching the sheet to my chest. Not that I was naked. I wouldn’t allow myself to be vulnerable in this prison of mine, but I’d gotten down to a tank top and undies. I twisted around, scowling at the vampire who’d invaded my bed. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought that would be obvious.” His eyes slitted open, and there was a frown on those generous lips of his. “Trying to sleep, wife.”
Asshole. “I’m not your wife.”
He seemed to give up the whole sleeping part, and he yawned behind his hand, rolling over. He didn’t clutch a sheet since I’d taken most of it. It left his chest on display. Casey was built on lean lines, like the hottest swimmer you’ve ever seen. He wasn’t bulky like a warrior. His strength was disguised. “Tell it to the Council, wife. According to all laws, you are the wife of an academic. When I think about it, I could have made this claim years ago. You’re lucky I let you hide from me for so long.”
I certainly hadn’t hidden. I’d actually tried to bring him over to my side. It was too late now, and he was wrong. “You need a companion.”
“No, I don’t. Fuck that light. I’ll take my baby’s pitch black any day of the week.” His lips curled up. “That might make a good song.”
He would do it. He would write some dumbass, slow, guitar-picking song about how he loves my dark. This was a man who wrote an entire musical about the war that followed the royals’ exit from our plane. Naturally I was the bad guy and he was the lovesick good guy who simply wanted to make me see the error of my ways. “You had a lot of problems with my pitch black. You complain about it constantly.”
I rolled out of bed, wanting to know where I’d gone wrong. That dresser had been solid, and I’d found a way to wrench that sucker in. I was almost certain even vampiric strength couldn’t wreck it. Sure enough, the dresser was still in front of the door.
Casey stared at me from his place on the bed. “I’ve come to the conclusion that you were too nice before. Something had to give. No one can maintain that level of reason and sweetness forever. You were bound to explode, but you also can’t keep up this level of delusion.”
“You are the one who’s deluded.” I wasn’t looking forward to another day of the people around me telling me I was the one twisting reality. I knew what the truth was.
Didn’t I?
When I thought about it, it made some sense that Myrddin would keep a few secrets. I wasn’t his wife. I was his strong right arm, and I shouldn’t question him. What if he put out the rumor about closing all doors to the Heaven plane? I wasn’t sure why he would do that, but I also didn’t have the thousands and thousands of years of wisdom he’d acquired.
“Not the comeback you think it is,” Casey said with a shake of his head. “I have to admit I preferred your wit when you weren’t constantly high on demon blood. By the way, you’re handling that well.” He studied me for a moment. “Who’s giving it to you?”
If I had been capable of blushing, I would have. “No one. I’m simply stronger than you can imagine.”
He shook his head. “Nah, your veins are blacker than they were yesterday.”
I should have worn a turtleneck to bed apparently. Instead, I’d opted for comfort. And that was why I failed.
“Kelsey could likely be persuaded,” Casey mused. “If she saw you in pain.”
“But you wouldn’t care about my pain,” I shot back.
“Oh, I would. I assure you, I would feel that pain,” he said quietly, though I could see that big brain of his working overtime. “Lee would let you rot. He’s a grudge holder. So is Trent. Gray might do it if he had a plan for you. Fenrir would go ask his grudge-holding father before he did anything, and Trent would tell you to fuck yourself. So that leaves the princess.”
Damn him. “Like Evan Donovan-Quinn would help me.”
“She would if she thought you had something she needs. Unlike her brothers, Evan can be a practical person,” Casey deduced. “The question is what does she need? Is she trying to fix whatever the primal did to her?”
“She’s scared. She knows she’s changing.” I didn’t like that I understood what Evan was going through. I’d been through such change in the last decade plus that I often didn’t recognize myself.
“I suspect she’s already changed and she’s simply too stubborn to let it be,” Casey replied. “Are you planning on hurting her?”
“She’s nothing to me. I don’t care enough to hurt her.” I didn’t tell him that lately I’d been remembering how sweet she’d been when I would pick her up and how she would fall asleep on my lap as I rocked her when she was a baby. How I’d looked forward to having her in my class one day. “She wants help with a spell to stave off the transformation. It won’t harm her. It gives her some more time to process. I suppose you’re going to tell Kelsey and I get to go through the demonic DTs. I bet rehab on the Hell plane is so much fun.”
“You know there is another way.” Casey’s voice sounded like pure temptation as he held up his wrist. “One you could take right from the tap, so to speak.”
Vampire blood would take away the shakes. It would make me strong. It might take away my addiction.
Or simply transfer it to something else. To him. “Not on your life. Are you going to tell her?”
Casey seemed to think about that for a moment. “No. I don’t think Kelsey needs to know. Evan is a smart kid. She knows what she’s doing, and if she needs more time to process what happened to her, I think you’re certainly the one to give it to her. I hope she doesn’t take as long as you since you still haven’t come out the other side.”
“I assure you I have.” Dreaming about it every night wasn’t a weakness I was willing to share with anyone.
