Brimstone Blues Page 2

  Matthias returned to their bedroom. Before climbing into bed, he stood for a moment, staring at Taz.

  She was beautiful. Perfect rounded curves, unruly auburn hair, and hypnotic green eyes. He’d loved her from afar for ten years before meeting her in person only a few months earlier.

  She softly moaned and shifted in her sleep. He knew she dreamed, but with her strong mental barrier in place, he couldn’t see what images haunted her.

  Moving with deliberate care, he slowly pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, trying not to jostle her out of sleep but unable to avoid disturbing her. He froze when she softly moaned again, then carefully settled next to her, spooning his body against hers.

  * * * *

  This was a new aspect to her nightly mental wanderings. Deeply embedded in her dream, Taz made slow, passionate love to Rafe. At one point she thought she felt the earth move, and he looked up as if listening for something before he smiled at her.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothing, baby girl. Don’t worry. It’s all good.” He kissed her again, absorbing her full attention.

  Dreams are funny things. After making love, Rafe fell asleep next to her. Taz closed her eyes and let her mind drift.

  Their dinner together alone, in Yellowstone, came to mind. Rafe had opened up to her and she realized they shared more of a connection than met the eye. Something she couldn’t put her finger on, though she suspected he did. He wouldn’t tell her, and she didn’t push him.

  Now, she wished she had.

  She loved Rafe. It was impossible to deny, just as it was impossible to ignore how he felt like a lost love come home to her. She had promised that night to give him a chance if there was ever one to give.

  Unfortunately, they would never get that chance. Not in this life, anyway.

  It was irrational, it was crazy—but as Albert and Matthias told her, the heart knows what it knows, and the soul always comes home.

  Even though part of her knew she was still embedded in a dream, she opened her eyes and stared down at Rafe, studying his peaceful face. He’d had a “love ’em and leave ’em” reputation. Play and go, the irrepressible flirt. Alone with him at dinner, Taz saw the man in pain who was afraid to love again. He was sweet and kind, despite his flirty horndog façade. Taz was the first woman he’d loved since his wife, Cassandra, died. He’d let her into his mind and shown her the truth.

  In her dream, she reached out and caressed Rafe’s cheek. This must be how she was dealing with things now that her freaky powers were awakening. It felt so real, like she was actually with him.

  Taz would never admit it to Matthias, not in a million years, but part of her wished she’d slept with Rafe in real life before he died. Maybe if she’d gone to Rafe’s cabin in person, instead of doing the succubus number on him, Caroline wouldn’t have killed him. It would have meant losing the man she loved, but then again, didn’t that happen already? The other man she loved was dead before morning, and she considered it her fault.

  Either way, she lost. Only Rafe paid with his life. Taz may not have killed him, but she still felt guilty.

  As if sensing her thoughts, dream Rafe opened his eyes. “Sleep, baby girl. This isn’t good for you.” He pulled her snugly against him. She eventually closed her eyes.

  “I love you, Rafe,” she whispered.

  “It’s okay, Taz baby,” he said. “I love you, too. Now to go sleep.”

  God, if only his voice didn’t sound so clear in her mind! Just like that damned disembodied voice she’d heard in Yellowstone.

  Part of her wished Matthias hadn’t stopped her from dropping Caroline into Abyss Pool, wanting to make her the main ingredient in a hot spring full of vampire soup. Caroline deserved to die for killing Rafe.

  Deserved to die for killing the man she loved.

  Taz finally slept.

  Chapter Two

  Matthias couldn’t sleep, his conversation with Bartholomew bouncing around in his brain, angering him.

  He watched Taz. Even in her sleep she rubbed her finger over Rafael’s ring, the one she took from his hand after they’d recovered his body from the woods behind his cabin. Real citrine in a plain gold setting, given to him by Cassandra before she died. Rafe used to work it like a worry stone, running his thumb over the band when he was anxious or stressed, and now Taz had the same unconscious nervous tic.

  Matthias thought about the last day of Rafael’s life and allowed his thoughts to drift deeper into the recesses of time.

  The night Cassandra died. Matthias got there just before she went, before Rafael…

  Even further into the past.

  Sarah.

  God, he’d been only sixteen years old! Back then, hundreds of years earlier, times were different, and he was considered a man. Sarah was nearly a year younger than him, and a vision when he rode up on her one afternoon while out hunting with another cousin.

  Love at first sight. Her green eyes and auburn hair captivated him. “Perhaps I should come over there and kiss you,” he’d teased.

  She smiled, and his soul belonged to her. “You can kiss me when you catch me, sir. If you catch me.” Then she’d wheeled her horse around and took off, her laughter trailing behind her.

  Matthias jumped on his horse, the hunt forgotten. He’d raced after her, desperate to keep her in his sight. It took nearly a year of chasing, but he finally caught her for good. Until he lost her and, even more heartbreaking, their third child. Their first two children hadn’t survived either, and then he was left alone with only his grief and memories.

  He remembered how he sobbed while his father helped him dig her grave in the clearing where they’d buried the first two children, near where his father had laid his mother to rest. Then placing the stone so he would know where to grieve.

  Years later, helping Rafe bury Cassandra there…

  Matthias slipped his arm around Taz, deeply inhaling her scent, fighting his tears. He should cry for Rafe, but feared he couldn’t stop. Too much grief to take at one time. Now he had Taz, and even her scent imprinted his love for her upon his soul. He thought he’d lost her, too, when she withdrew and tried to die after nearly killing Caroline.

  All these hundreds of years later, no other woman had caught his heart the way Sarah had, until Tim Robertson showed him Anastazia’s picture after she graduated from law school ten years earlier. Captivated didn’t begin to describe how he felt about her. Well, no other woman since…

  But Cassandra was never his to have. He’d kept his distance, an act of sheer self-control.

  Matthias knew Taz was special just from Tim’s many reports about her abilities and progress through the years. Thank God he’d had the sense to place Tim there, working for her parents to help raise her and guide her without revealing anything about her powers or special nature. Tim had trained her well.

  Matthias had wanted to spend years easing her into the truth, give her time to get to know him and hopefully fall in love with him the way he’d loved her.

  What a mess.

  Could he ever make it up to her? She blamed herself—wrongly—for Rafe’s death. What if he’d waited to bring Taz in? He’d wanted to hire her to work for him and start the agonizingly long process of gently exposing her to everything so the final truth wouldn’t shock or overwhelm her—which was exactly what had happened.

  Had he not been greedy, had he waited, Rafe would still be alive. So wasn’t the ultimate blame his to bear?

  Even in sleep, Taz still held a barrier in her mind. She was far stronger than she knew, scared of her powers, and terrified of losing control again after almost killing Caroline. She was a true force of nature and would go on to do great things.

  “I love you, cara,” he sent to her, feeling her heartbeat under his palm. “I love you more than life. I will die for you, because I couldn’t bear to lose this kind of love twice in my life.”

  In sleep, she cuddled closer to him and he kissed her neck.
“I love you, Taz,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “Please don’t ever leave me.”

  * * * *

  Matthias awoke before dawn the next morning with Taz tantalizingly pressed against him. When he tried to shift position, his morning erection ended up nestled in the cleft of her ass. He stifled a moan.

  She turned to face him and slowly rolled her hips, making his already stiff cock ache with need. He couldn’t resist, nudging against her, gasping as his cock easily slid into her already wet pussy.

  She must have been having really good dreams to be that ready, but she wasn’t totally awake, caught in the twilight between sleep and dawn. That much he knew from what little he could sense through her mental barrier.

  He closed his eyes and slowly stroked his cock inside her, debating whether or not to wake her up. If she was having wonderful dreams, he didn’t want to spoil that for her, not after the horrific past few days she’d had. He folded her against his chest and savored her scent, the feel of her body against his as he slowly made love to her.

  After many long minutes, her arms tightened around him. She nuzzled his neck, her tongue tasting his flesh.

  “Anastazia,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you so much.”

  Her legs tightened around him as her hands traced his spine down to his hips. She was waking up. He felt her awareness grow as her pulse quickened. Taking this as his cue, he gently rolled on top of her and slid a hand between their bodies. In the dim light he kissed her, breathing her name through her lips as he gently explored with his tongue.

  His fingers parted her labia and found her pussy. She moaned, one hand tangling in his hair and pulling his mouth roughly against hers. Now she was awake and wanting more.

  He stroked her swollen clit with his fingers, drawing gasping, keening cries from her, feeling her reactions through his body. When she climaxed, her muscles squeezed his cock, nearly finishing him right there. He held off his own orgasm until he sensed her finally relax. Then he thrust his hips against her, his own release just seconds behind.

  As their final tremors quieted, he rolled to his side, taking her with him and gathering her into his arms. Within moments she was asleep again. He soon drifted with her.

  * * * *

  Taz awoke in Matthias’ arms. She remembered awaking to make love to Matthias after the dream she’d had about Rafe…

  Was that all it was? It felt so real. Perhaps what she did in real life with Matthias simply translated into a superhot dream about his cousin.

  That’s logical.

  It also made her feel a hell of a lot less guilty.

  Matthias kissed the top of her head. “Good morning, sweetheart.”

  She snuggled closer. “I enjoyed that earlier wake-up.”

  His low, rumbling chuckle sent another wave of warmth through her body. “So did I.”

  She closed her eyes, relieved. A dream. That’s all it was. Ever since the night Rafe died, after she pulled the succubus number on him, she’d had these crazy dreams like he was inside her head with her.

  Won’t be doing that to anyone ever again. Especially not if it made her feel like this, left her with this residual…energy, like carrying around a copy of Rafe in her brain.

  Chapter Three

  After breakfast, Matthias and Albert went out to the garage while Taz picked at her eggs. Tim Robertson sat next to her and handed her a business card.

  “I made you a doctor appointment for this afternoon, sweetheart.”

  She took it. “For what?”

  His eyebrow shot up. Maybe it was because he was British, but all through her life she’d used that expression as a barometer of his mood.

  “Do you really wish to discuss this topic with me?”

  Taz glanced at the card, then back to him. Robertson nodded. “Don’t worry, he’s one of us. I’m sure there are”—he cleared his throat—“things you might wish to go over with him.”

  Taz nodded.

  Matthias had explained their “vampirism” as a genetic condition. The “suck all night, sleep all day” myth was just that, convenient Hollywood folklore helping them conceal the truth. Sunlight wasn’t an issue, and they could eat whatever they wanted. Depending on how many DNA markers a vampire bore, they might be a hybrid as normal as any human. Or, like Taz, have strong mental and healing powers and longevity. Thankfully the bloodsucking was limited to emergency health situations…or desire. Even so, a weaker vampire couldn’t help a stronger one.

  But during sex it was definitely a mind-blowing sensation.

  The ob-gyn’s office was easy to find. There were no other patients in the waiting room when she arrived.

  That in itself was supernaturally freaky.

  The friendly nurse escorted Taz to an exam room but didn’t instruct her to get undressed. The doctor entered a few minutes later.

  “Hello, Ms. Proctor?” he asked, extending his hand. “I’m Dr. Calvin.”

  Taz shook hands. “I don’t need to fill out any paperwork?”

  He looked at her over his glasses. “I already talked to Mr. Robertson about your…condition,” he said. “I don’t document those like us.” He took out a prescription pad. “Have you ever been on the Pill before?”

  “Years ago.”

  “Any side effects?”

  She shook her head. He wrote a script and handed it to her. “Start taking them on the first Sunday of your period. If you have problems with this brand making you sick, let me know, and I’ll switch you to a different one.”

  She nodded, looking at the script, doing the math in her head. That would be in about a week.

  Maybe that’s why I still feel so crazy. PMS to the max on top of everything else.

  “You’ll want to use an alternate method of protection for the first month, to make sure. Even we’re not infallible.” He smiled.

  She nodded and dropped her gaze.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  Dr. Calvin sat. “I’m still a doctor. Patient-doctor privilege applies, Anastazia. Whatever you wish to say won’t leave this room.”

  It spilled out of her. He handed her a box of tissues as she spent an hour crying the entire story. All of it. From taking the job with Hawthorne International and meeting Matthias for the first time, to Rafe’s death in Yellowstone. Including Rafe’s disembodied voice in her head after his death and the really hot dreams.

  “Do you want my honest opinion?” Dr. Calvin asked.

  “Please.”

  “I don’t think you’re crazy. I think your powers are very strong, and were released in an explosive and uncontrolled way. You’re extremely perceptive and you haven’t yet mastered holding a barrier. You’re probably picking thoughts up from others or memories or what have you. I won’t claim to be an expert on someone as powerful as you, and I’m certainly not a psychologist, but I would place money on that over you losing your mind. The dreams…well, those are probably your mind trying to resolve what happened in the safest way possible.”

  She sniffled. “Really?”

  He smiled kindly. “Really. Actually, a lot of people who think they’re ‘psychic’ are very weak vampire hybrids, but they physically present biologically as normal humans and don’t raise any red flags. There are many more of ‘us’ out there than you think. If you ever need to talk, feel free to make an appointment. I’ll be happy to see you.”

  She couldn’t help herself. “How old are you?”

  “One hundred twenty-eight.” He didn’t look any older than fifty-five, at the most.

  She shivered. “How long will I live?”

  He shrugged, returning the prescription pad to his lab coat pocket. “I can’t tell you that. I aged to about forty, and slowed from there. Some stop aging sooner. From the looks of you, you’re one of the lucky ones.” Taz still looked like she was in her early twenties even though she was thirty-five. Great, but annoying because she got carded all the time. “If you avoid accidents, serious injuries tha
t could mortally wound you, there’s every possibility you’ll live several hundred years, at least.”

  You mean, serious injuries like being shot in the chest by a demon?

  But she didn’t say it. Living through it had been scary enough. If Matthias hadn’t been right there…

  She shivered again. “Thank you, Doctor.” He escorted her to the front desk.

  “No charge,” he told the nurse, who nodded. Taz immediately sensed she was a hybrid.

  The family who sucks together…

  Sudden faint laughter in her head startled her. Crap. The phantom voice was back.

  She didn’t care what the doctor said, that was an intelligent voice, not just stray thoughts from others slipping past her mental barrier. Either that, or she was now carrying a personal laugh track in her brain.

  Outside, Taz stared at the piece of paper. That was certainly the easiest OB-GYN appointment she’d ever been through. Not that she’d been through a lot of them. The first one—only one—she’d had was in college, when she wanted to get on the Pill. That had involved cold stirrups and…

  Taz closed her eyes and groaned. For a woman as smart as she was supposed to be, she was too stupid to live. She’d never managed to find the time to get back to the doctor, yet while she was still dating and taking the Pill in college, she’d always been able to get a prescription. In extremely belated retrospect, she put it together.

  Robertson. He’d taken care of everything.

  She loved Matthias, and even though they were getting married, the issue of children needed to be put on hold. He was amazing, and she felt connected to him like she’d never felt connected to anyone else.

  Except Rafe, but she hadn’t slept with Rafe.

  Technically.

  It was more like phone or cyber sex, wasn’t it? Seducing someone as a succubus? No touch, no foul?

  Except for the really hot kiss earlier in the day, and then their tender good-bye kiss at dinner.

  Bet that wasn’t a problem Dear Abby heard a lot: Dear Abby, I became a succubus and seduced my fiancé’s cousin because I was really, really pissed off at my fiancé. Only he wasn’t my fiancé then, we’d just slept together, even though I loved him. It’s not like I touched his cousin. Is that still cheating? By the way, I felt like I knew his cousin even though I’d just met him, and then he was murdered by a psycho vampire bitch after I left his mind, and now I’m having these totally hot wet dreams about him—