“That’s because you’re such a tiny slip of a thing that you shouldn’t be playing in the big boy’s clothes,” he countered.
“Whatever!” I said drawing the word out, and I rolled my eyes at him. “That has to be one of the most male chauvinistic things I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“If the shoe fits …,” he replied with a lift of his eyebrow, letting his voice trail off.
I shoved at his bare chest with both hands and pushed past him to walk toward the door, hearing him laughing behind me.
“Hey, Portia, wait up,” he called after me before I could leave the bathroom and head back into the main cavern.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, turning to look at him with a puzzled glance.
“Let me go first,” he said, suddenly serious.
I let out a deep sigh. “Vance. You’ve got to quit trying to protect me. He can’t hurt me. Not really.”
Vance pulled me into his arms, gliding one of his hands over my damp hair until he came to the middle of my back.
“I know you’re immortal again, and I’m still trying to resign myself to that fact. But he can hurt you. You might not be permanently injured, but he can harm you.” His glance flitted carefully over my face, and he reached up to stroke my locks once more. “Besides,” he added quietly, “I’m more afraid of the things he wants to do to you that wouldn’t necessarily cause you physical pain.”
“There’s nothing he could do to me that wouldn’t cause me physical pain,” I grumbled, glancing down to stare at his sculpted torso.
He placed his hand under my chin and turned my face back toward his, but I wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Look at me,” he commanded softly, and I slowly lifted my eyes. “He wants you. You know that, right? He wants you like I want you.”
“Please don’t cheapen yourself with that comparison,” I snapped, attempting to push away from him, but he held me firm until I stopped struggling. I suddenly found myself missing my jinn powers, wishing I could pop away.
“I love you, and I’m just trying to protect you. I need to know you’re aware of his intentions so you can help defend yourself from his advances too.” He sighed deeply.
“Vance, I honestly would rather be dead than ever do anything that would encourage your father and his advances,” I said with more than a little frustration laced through my voice.
“I know,” he replied with a nod. “But I’m your husband, so please let me do what I can to protect you, even if it means I’m flattering my own ego.”
The emotion pleading in his eyes broke my heart. He needed this from me—needed to know he was still needed.
I nodded and waved my hand toward the door. “I’ll follow you.” I heard him release a small breath I hadn’t been aware he was holding.
He let go of me and stepped out, gesturing for me to follow with a quick flick of his head.
The cavern was still strangely empty of Damien’s presence, and I felt myself relax until I noticed the heavily laden tray of food which was on the foot of the bed. My stomach instantly jumped to life. I realized it had been days since I’d eaten, and I had been fed from at least twice I knew of in that amount of time.
Vance looked up at me in concern before he stopped me. He went to the platter, checking the food for blood, much as he used to when we had been held in Douglas and Fiona’s dungeon suite.
I found the action kind of endearing actually, considering the fact he was already a demon, and I couldn’t be turned because of the Awakening. Surprisingly, nothing floated up from the dishes in front of us.
I stepped forward, but still he motioned me back. “What?” I said in frustration, almost at the same exact moment my stomach rumbled again.
“You need to take it slow,” he answered, his voice full of concern as he regarded me. “I don’t want you getting sick.”
I nodded in understanding, not wanting to rouse his whole overprotective nature when it came to my eating habits. I picked up a slice of an apple before crawling up onto the bed to munch on it slowly. The flavor burst into my mouth, and I fought the urge to gulp it down, knowing Vance was watching me closely.
After a few moments of observation, he seemed to be content with how I was handling things and moved to join me on the bed. He picked up a thick slice of bread, along with a knife, which he used to butter it with.
“Well, at least he considered a fairly light course for you,” he said while I eyed the deep steaming bowls of stew in front of us.
“It smells delicious.” I reached for another apple slice, while he buttered a second piece.
“Yes, it does. It’s been too long since either one of us has eaten.”
“What happened to you?” I asked, dropping the hand that held the apple into my lap. “What did he do to you?” I amended, trying to be a little more direct.
Vance paused, his eyes taking on a reflective look for a moment. They flashed bright red, but then he blinked, and when he lifted his head to look at me again, the startling blue color was there in place of the demon one.
“He caught me by surprise,” he said matter-of-factly, reaching for a linen napkin and handing it to me.
I took it, and he laid one of the pieces of bread on it before doing the same for himself.
“And?” I prodded him to continue.
“I was upset because I’d attacked you that morning.” He lifted his head to stare off into space, and I knew he was reliving those moments when he visibly shuddered. “I thought maybe I hadn’t stopped in time, in the very beginning. I thought Mayla had gotten her wish, and I had finally killed you.”
“But you didn’t,” I said softly, reaching out to place my hand against his thigh.
He looked down and covered mine with his own. “But I didn’t know that … not for sure.” He squeezed lightly before he looked up. “I was terrified.”
I knew it took a lot for him to admit that. I stayed silent, allowing him to continue.
“Once I could see you were going to recover, I stormed from the house and began taking some of my aggression out on different areas of the property.”
“By doing what exactly?” I asked, unable to fathom what that statement might mean.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I may have blown up some trees and a few of the out buildings that were vacant—no big deal really.”
I rolled my eyes while I imagined the scene of destruction in my mind. No big deal. Whatever! I’d seen Vance’s powers at work on several occasions, and I knew anything he did while he was angry was a big deal.
I pushed forward, trying not to be sidetracked by my thoughts. “So what happened then?”
“I allowed myself to get distracted, that’s what happened. I let my guard down, and I didn’t even see him coming. He stabbed me from behind with one of those infernal needles of his, and I dropped like a fly right in front of him.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t say anything.
Vance reached for a bowl, and turned to hand it to me, along with a spoon. “Here. Try some of this before it gets cold.”
“Thank you,” I replied, waiting for him to continue with his story, but we were both hungry, and for a while there was only the sound of our utensils clinking against our dishes while we ate.
“Does that seem to be settling okay?” he asked me after a few minutes, looking up from his own food to study me.
“Yes. It’s wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
“Good,” he said with a small smile, and he reached out to stroke my cheek with the back of his hand before turning back to his meal, eating a few more bites before he spoke again.
“When I finally woke up it was to find both of us here. You were draped on this bed, unconscious, and I was on the altar. It was quickly apparent to me Damien had received the Awakening, since my powers were virtually ineffective against him. I knew then he had to have drunk some of my blood for that to happen.”
“He’s a shape shifter,” I added, not knowing if he knew.
“I know. He enjoyed spilling the whole story of events to me.”
So that’s why Damien wasn’t here gloating, I finally surmised. He’d already done it.
“What happened then?”
“He attacked me again, drinking until I was on the verge of death but alive just enough to watch helplessly when he went to drink from you.” I saw his mouth clench, the muscles along his jaw ticking restlessly, and when he turned to look at me his eyes were flaming. “All I could do was lay there, watching him while he touched you and tasted you.”
The way he said those words made my skin crawl, and suddenly I felt filthy and violated. “What do you mean he touched me? Do you mean ….” I swallowed with a slight gag, suddenly losing my appetite completely.
He shook his head. “No. I never saw anything like that, thank goodness, or I probably would’ve died of a heart attack on the spot. As it was, just my internal struggle almost consumed me.” He stared intently into his bowl. “But he didn’t mind telling me all the things he would like to do you once I was out of the picture. That was brutal. And watching him drink from you …,” he paused, grinding his teeth roughly together. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” He picked up his spoon and started eating again.
“Did he kill you after that?” I asked, feeling so sick to my stomach.
“Yes … for the first time anyway,” he said before taking another bite, and I felt my heart break into a million pieces for him.
“The first time,” I choked out.
“He would feed me your blood to revive me, testing all of his little theories on regeneration.”
“But how did he know you would come back that first time?” I asked lifting a hand to my suddenly dizzy head.
“He didn’t,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“And he did it anyway?” I cried out in anger.
Vance said nothing.
I placed my food and items back on the tray before sliding off the bed.
“What are you doing?” he asked me with a perplexed look.
“Figuring out how I’m going to destroy Damien,” I replied without hesitation.
“Portia.” Vance left the bed and came to join me. “Listen to me, baby. You’ve got to let this go.”
“Let it
go
? I don’t think so! He’s going to pay … severely!” My body starting to shake violently as rage billowed through me.
Vance grabbed me by both arms and shook me slightly. “He will pay, Portia, but not right now, and I need you to listen to me so that you don’t aggravate the situation.”
“What are you talking about?”
Vance shook his head. “I don’t know, but he’s alluded to some sort of plan he has for us. Our getting to be together is contingent on not rocking the boat. If he feels we’re a threat together, then he’ll separate us. I don’t want to give him any reason to keep us apart. Do you understand? He wants us to give him a reason to toy with us. It’s all part of the game.”
I wondered how Vance, with all of his demon attributes in full possession of him, could remain so calm and aloof about this situation. I was positively fuming with anger. Had I been a demon in this moment I would’ve been demolishing something.
“No! I can’t let this go. He killed you, without knowing what would happen, and he has to pay!”
“I’m asking you to stop dwelling on what might’ve happened and realize what actually did. It’s okay. His theory was right, and I’m here with you now.”
My head felt like it was going to explode, my breaths coming rapidly. “I can’t.” I tried to pull out of his grasp so I could step away from him and what he was asking me to do.
You don’t have to let it go completely,” he said, still holding a firm grip on my arms. “I’m just asking you to be smart about it and wait until later. We’ll make a plan and face this together, okay?”
I actually snorted as some sort of obscene laughter threatened to bubble from inside of me. Since when had Vance become the sensible one who stepped back to make a plan? He was the guy who usually rushed headlong into everything.
“Why are you acting this way?” I asked him, feeling a hint of terror running through my veins.
“Because he convinced me he was in control, and I see now that it’s futile to fight him while we are like this,” he said flatly.
“He threatened you, didn’t he?” I searched his eyes, and when he didn’t respond I knew the answer. “What did he say?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is important!” I yelled. “I need to know what’s ….”
He cut me off effectively when he crushed his mouth to mine, drawing me into an over powering embrace, and I knew then—by that reaction—what the threat had been.
Vance held onto me so tightly I could hardly breathe, his mouth plundering mine in a ravishing kiss that threatened to overwhelm me. I found myself reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck.
I leaned into him, feeling his desperation mix with my own, and I pushed up on my tiptoes trying to get better access.
He stumbled backward a step, taking me with him, before uttering a growl-like sound. He moved with purpose, dragging me toward the bed.
His hands slipped around my waist and lifted me with ease, tossing me onto the surface before he climbed up to join me. His eyes were burning red, and I could see the telltale lines of black beginning to creep through his veins, warning me his demon traits were in control now. He was the predator once again, and I knew he was hungry.
I willingly embraced him as he stretched his length out against me, bringing his head toward me, so his lips could find mine once again.
His kiss was rough, hard, and bruising as he thrust his tongue into my mouth with wild abandon. He slipped one of his hands down my silk covered body until he reached where the hem of the garment rested against my bare leg. He didn’t move his hand any further, instead stroking my skin with his thumb while trailing kisses down around my neck.
I knew what was coming even as I arched up against him and turned my head to the side to give better access.
His teeth elongated against my flesh, and I felt his fangs sink into me. I gasped out loud, not from pain, but from the mental connection that was established in that second. I could feel everything from him, the raging desire that flooded his system, and the intense anger laced with something even stronger. Fear, I realized. He was terrified.