Passion Unleashed

Chapter 9

Serena had just thrown her backpack over her shoulder when someone pounded on her hotel room door.

“Serena! Open up!”

Josh. Unsure whether she was excited or not, she opened up, a sensation of déjà vu washing over her at the sight of him standing in the doorway. Like last night, he wore jeans, but over his Hard Rock T-shirt he wore a well-worn leather duster that suited his rugged masculinity and made her breath come a little faster.

The dream she’d had last night was still so vivid, so real, that her face heated with a morning-after awkwardness. At least, what she imagined morning-after awkwardness must feel like for someone who had indulged in a one-night stand with a stranger.

“You’d better have the artifact,” she said, but he ignored her, grabbed her hand, and tugged her through the doorway.

“We’re leaving. Now.”

“What the—”

“There’s a demon in the hotel.”

“Damn,” she breathed.

“Damned, anyway,” he muttered. “Come on. We’re taking the stairs.”

A low rumble started up, sounding distant, as if it were coming from outside, but then the floor at the end of the hall began to ripple… toward them.

Josh swung around in a sinuous, effortless movement. The carpet snapped upward with such force it sliced a twenty-foot gash in the wall. “Shit.” Josh stepped back as though reconsidering his stance. “Yeah… run.”

They sprinted to the stairwell. Josh tore open the door and shoved her inside. She took the stairs two at a time. The building shuddered, and she lost her balance, coming down awkwardly at the second-floor landing—the charm protected her from injury, but it didn’t make her graceful. Above her, Josh held the steel door against something that was bashing into it, leaving massive dents.

“Go!”

She couldn’t. This was wrong. Whatever was chasing them was after her, not Josh, and she was protected by the charm. He was the one in danger, not her.

“I’m not going without you,” she shouted. “Don’t argue or I’m coming back up there.”

His curse echoed through the stairwell. He hesitated, and then he leaped down the flight of stairs and landed lightly in front of her in the most amazing feat of athleticism she’d ever seen.

Not to be outdone, she launched herself to the next landing and grinned up at him.

“Show-off,” he grunted, joining her.

They exploded out of the door at the bottom of the stairwell and into the lobby. People milled in alarm, disturbed by the shaking building, but she and Josh cut swiftly through them, out the front entrance, and into the blinding sunlight. At the curb, a man was just opening a cab door.

“Sorry, dude,” Josh said, slipping in front of the guy and pushing her into the back seat. “Medical emergency. My wife here is having a baby.”

The guy blinked, mouth dropped open, no doubt because Serena looked about as pregnant as a Popsicle stick, but he backed away as the cab pulled out into traffic, nearly side-swiping a bus. Though her heart raced and she was more than a little rattled, she gave instructions to the cabbie and tried to ignore the blaring horns outside and Josh’s heat as he settled next to her on the seat.

“I really, really want to know why you’re a demon magnet,” Josh said.

“I want to know what that thing was.”

“No idea.” He swiveled around to watch out the rear window, menace rolling off him in dangerous waves. He was still poised to fight, and she got the feeling he’d go right through the window if he had to.

“How did you know it was in the hotel?”

“Smelled it when I stepped into the hall.”

She watched him, slightly distracted by the way the hourglass tattoo on his neck seemed to be draining sand. “Your sense of smell is pretty amazing.”

“Leftover from Aegis training.” He shifted to face forward, sitting back and spreading his legs wide so his knee touched hers. “Looks like we’re clear. Were you okay last night?”

Very. “What do you mean?”

“Any visits by demons?”

“Oh. No. Everything was fine.”

“Did you sleep well?”

Her heart shot into her throat, which was insane, because he couldn’t know what they’d done in her dreams. “Why?”

His eyes took a bold, leisurely ride down her body and back up. “Just wondering if you dreamed about me.”

“Why in the world would I dream about you? Just because you kissed me? It wasn’t even that great of a kiss.” Liar. He’d kissed her into an aching frenzy.

“You’ve had better kisses?”

No. “Yes.”

“In that dream you’re denying you had about me?”

She huffed. “You’re really full of yourself, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “Hey, every guy wants a gorgeous woman to dream about him.”

Gorgeous? He was buttering her up, and even though she recognized the flattery for what it was—an effort to get her to do those other things he wanted to do with her—she still got warm and fuzzy. But two could play at that game.

“Fine,” she said, with a saucy bat of her eyelashes, “I confess… I did dream about you.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Was it good?” He leaned in and whispered against her ear, “Tell me.”

Desire shivered over her skin. “It was crazy,” she whispered back. “I dreamed you were a vampire. A very sexy vampire.”

“Huh.” His teeth latched on to her earlobe, nipped tenderly. “You have a thing for vamps?”

More than a thing. She’d indulged her curiosity even before she’d learned vamps were real, reading everything—fiction and non-fiction—she could get her hands on. She’d even spent months in several European countries, including Hungary, Germany, and Romania, researching Dracula and the Vlad Tepes origins.

“They fascinate me,” she admitted.

Josh withdrew. “They’re monsters. There’s nothing fascinating about them at all.”

She glanced out as they passed Pompey’s Pillar, the tallest ancient monument in Alexandria, but today the impressive granite structure failed to move her. “You sound like Val.”

“Val’s right.” He shifted his gaze out the window at the palms lining the street. Beyond the trees, new, modern buildings contrasted with older, pockmarked structures, between which she caught glimpses of the Mediterranean. “Tell me you aren’t one of those nut jobs who dresses up like an Anne Rice character and hangs out in vampire bars.”

She tried not to squirm, because she had done that. Only once, and it had been in the name of research. Really.

“You are, aren’t you?” Josh grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. His bright gaze drilled into her. “Stay away from those places, Serena. There are people there who aren’t… right. They’re dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt. Or worse. Because there is worse.” His expression went as dark and haunted as his voice, sending a shiver up her spine.

“I know,” she said. “And I’m careful.”

Out of the blue, he kissed her hard. “That is the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,” he said against her lips.

His kiss gentled, his lips becoming soft velvet as he delivered an unspoken apology before settling back in the seat. And yes, she should be irked by his arrogant insistence that she heed his warning, was still a little annoyed by the fact that he’d basically blackmailed her into joining her treasure hunt. But God, she’d been alone for so long, had been so lonely she sometimes ached.

No matter how attentive Val was, how many people she surrounded herself with, she still felt that yearning she couldn’t banish no matter how busy she kept herself. Now she understood the shadows in her mother’s eyes. At the time, Serena had been too young to know what made her mother cry when she thought she was alone, but the closer Serena got to Josh, the more clearly she understood.

The only person who had ever made her mother’s shadows recede was Val. Serena’s heart thudded against her rib cage at the sudden suspicion that threaded its way into her mind. Her mother… had she been in love with him?

Val had been married, living only a few miles away. Serena didn’t remember any inappropriate contact, but her mom definitely lit up when her Guardian had come to visit.

“Hey,” Josh said, tilting her face up to his with a finger beneath her chin. “We’re here. Where are you?”

The taxi had pulled to a stop halfway up the curb, and she’d barely noticed. Seemed her trip down memory lane was bumpier than the streets of Alexandria.

“I guess I was spacing.”

Josh paid the taxi driver and reached for her knapsack. She figured that since he’d bullied his way along, he most certainly could carry it. With a grunt, he heaved it over his shoulder alongside his own.

“What do you have in this thing? I think it weighs more than you do.”

She laughed as she got out of the vehicle, glad she’d thrown on a light sweater to counter the cool morning. “Maps, tools, water, snacks.”

“You’re one of those always-prepared people, aren’t you?” He made it sound like a bad thing.

“Maybe. I also brought my flask. Never leave home without it.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Whiskey?”

“Of course.”

“That’s my girl.” He dug into the pocket of his backpack and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Squinting into the sun, he popped them on. “Guess this proves I’m not a vampire, huh?”

God, he was perfect. Even the aura of danger that surrounded him appealed to her basest feminine instincts, because this was a man made to protect what was his, and what she wouldn’t give to be his…

Well, she’d give anything but her virginity.

“It was just a dream,” she muttered.

“Did I bite you?”

She swallowed, the memory heating her far more than the Egyptian sun. “Yes.”

He gazed out over the tops of the palms lining the horizon, not looking at her. “Did you like it?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her mind replaying the moment his fangs had penetrated her. God help her, she’d loved it.

“Then I’ll have to remember that.” He turned to her and smiled, a dark, erotic smile that took her breath. “Because make no mistake, Serena. I do bite.”

Serena hurried ahead of Wraith to the catacombs entrance, and he hung back a little, mainly to keep an eye out for danger, but the view wasn’t bad, either. From her hiking boots to her olive drab cargo pants and fitted T-shirt, she was sin in adventure gear. She’d pulled her hair into a ponytail, and all he could think about was winding the thick hair around his fist while he kissed her. Undressed her. Pounded into her as he had in the dream

Afterward, he’d take her again, feed from her, and take her once more. Twice more. He could spend days with her…

His gut clenched. He couldn’t spend days with her, because she might not have days after he took her charm. There was an expiration date on her life, and he was the one stamping it there.

He shoved the thought aside, because thinking about the consequences of his actions was a waste of energy and time, and besides, why should this be any different from anything else he’d done?

It wasn’t.

She looked back over her shoulder at him, her full lips parted in a sultry smile.

It wasn’t.

It didn’t take long for Serena to arrange access into a private area of the catacombs of Kom El-Shuqafa. The man she’d spoken with had been hesitant to let Wraith tag along, until Wraith explained that he was her assistant, though he had to admit that the way she’d flirted with the guy had probably helped. And it had torqued the shit out of Wraith. Why, he had no idea.

He glued himself to her side as they walked the cavernous passages marked by Roman and Egyptian art. Though he’d been all over Egypt and the Middle East, he’d never been inside the catacombs. As a demon, he was attuned to malevolent undercurrents, and the closer they got to the Hall of Caracalla, the stronger the feeling became. He hadn’t studied up on the history of the catacombs, but he knew all the way to his bones that something evil had taken place here.

“There are several tombs within the Hall of Caracalla,” Serena said quietly, so the guide wouldn’t hear them. “Many haven’t been fully explored or excavated. There’s a specific area I’m interested in, closed to the public, but we’ve been given special access.”

Wraith let out a low whistle. “Val has some connections.” In Wraith’s opinion, The Aegis was way too powerful for its own good. He gestured at their guide, who was descending into a stairwell ahead of them. “Will he be watching us the whole time?”

“I hope not.”

Wraith had ways to deal with the guy if he decided to hang out, but after last night’s jaunt into Serena’s head, he was in no hurry to use his gift to get inside anyone else’s mind. He’d never had a problem with recovery time before, but thanks to the whole dying thing, he felt a hell of a lot weaker than he should.

The fact that he hadn’t eaten anything solid since the night before wasn’t helping.

Last night after kissing Serena, he’d fed on a local shopkeeper, and this morning he’d thought about getting some breakfast in the hotel restaurant, but keeping down solids was becoming harder and harder. Seemed like, lately, blood and whiskey were all his stomach could tolerate. Even coffee didn’t appeal to him anymore.

No coffee. He might as well be dead already.

The narrow staircase opened up into a square room, around which were a hivelike series of arched brick tunnels. Serena gestured for him to follow her, and they moved to the right, through an archway that led to a tomb that had been roped off. The guide stood aside, watching warily as they slipped beneath the rope.

The chamber was like every other ancient chamber on the planet. Dark. Dusty. Smelled like the air had been filtered through a dried corpse.

It was the scent of adventure, and already adrenaline was trickling into Wraith’s system.

Wraith turned to the guide, speaking in Arabic. “Why is this chamber off-limits to the public?” The guy just stared. Wraith waved a hand in front of his face. “Hel-lo.”

Serena pinched Wraith’s waist, and he yelped. Her eyes conveyed a private message: Don’t antagonize him. Probably wise. But more boring than necessary.

Wraith let her lead him around the corner to an even smaller chamber. Holding her finger to her lips in a gesture for silence, she eased into a dark recess. Wraith lowered her pack next to her and moved to the corner, where he leaned casually against it to keep an eye on the guide. Behind him, he heard Serena scrounge through her backpack. A moment later, the familiar sounds of digging began.

A few minutes later, the guide yawned and glanced at his watch. He shot Wraith a look of utter distrust before disappearing up the stairs.

“Nothing,” Serena muttered. “There’s nothing here.”

“Need some help?”

“Couldn’t hurt.”

He found her on her knees in front of a fist-sized opening in the limestone wall. On the ground was a pile of excavated stone and a small brick marked by writing and timeworn etchings in a language he didn’t recognize.

“Was there supposed to be something inside the hole?”

“I thought so.”

Wraith crouched next to her and tried not to get distracted by the feminine scent of sun on her warm skin. “What does the writing say?”

“It’s a prayer, of sorts.” She sank down, tucked one leg beneath her, and stared at the brick. A couple of wisps of hair had fallen forward across her bronzed cheeks, and Wraith reached out to brush them back, an excuse to touch her. She rewarded him with a sinful smile before turning back to the brick.

“See, in the year two hundred and fifteen, the emperor Caracalla became enraged at the citizens of Alexandria, and he supposedly slaughtered twenty thousand of them. Many of the dead were brought here. The writing is a wish for any Christian souls to find their way through the mass of heathen souls surrounding them.”

The slaughter explained the feeling of malevolence that crawled on Wraith’s skin like a million stinging ants. “So why did the dude freak out?”

She ran a finger over the text, almost lovingly. He imagined her doing the same to his dermoire, tracing the symbols, caressing the lines with her hands, her tongue… he stifled a groan.

“There are a lot of theories, but Val believes that the Alexandrians insulted him with a satirical play about some of his actions, including the murder of his own brother.”

Fratricide hit a little too close to home, and Wraith quickly brought the subject back to their search. He really wished she’d stop fingering the brick.

“Tragic, but what does all of this have to do with the artifact you’re looking for?”

She cast a sideways glance at him as though she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk, but after a moment she shrugged. “According to some ancient Gnostic texts, there are people walking the earth who are charmed by angels.”

“You’re talking about Marked Sentinels.”

“I didn’t think The Aegis was open about that.”

“They aren’t,” he said smoothly, “but I was slated for the Sigil, so I was privy to some classified information.” Actually, he had no idea if that was true for Josh, but it sounded good.

“Okay, then you know they can’t be killed, but they can take their own lives. Supposedly, one of these charmed humans sacrificed himself to be buried along with the slaughtered Christians. He thought he could help guide their souls to Heaven.”

“Why did he think that?”

“It’s said he was in possession of a coin imbued with special powers.”

“And you thought this coin was hidden behind a brick?”

“I’d hoped so.” She frowned. “If it’s here, I’ll find it. I always find what I’m looking for.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Kinda like how you always get what you want.”

“Remember that.” With a wink, he stood, offered her a hand, and helped her up. “So, let’s think this through. Anyone who was charmed by an angel and was in possession of a magical artifact wouldn’t do something as hasty as shove the thing behind a brick. He’d put it someplace special, maybe where it could be found by the right person. Did you reach into the hole?”

“Yes, but I was looking for an object…” Bending over, she squeezed her hand into the crevice again. Niiice. Her pants were molded to her ass like shrink-wrap, and his entire blood supply rushed to his groin. No panty lines. Not. One.

“I’ve found something… a slight indentation.” Her tongue slipped between her lips as she concentrated, and Wraith casually used his palm to adjust his aching erection.

“How are you doing?” His voice had gone husky, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m trying to turn it… maybe I should push it… darn. Nothing. Now might be a good time for your artifact.”

Wraith dug into his backpack and removed the bone carving he’d acquired from Josh.

She took the oval disk, a jeweled Roman pendant that hung from a leather thong. Carefully, she inserted the pendant into the hole. He heard a click, followed by another, louder click. Nothing happened. Disappointment put shadows in the hollows of Serena’s cheeks, and dammit, Wraith wanted to do something to make it better.

He didn’t have time to analyze the oddity of that particular feeling, because a rumble shook the floor, followed by a rain of pebbles and a poof of dust. A demon? No, the taint of evil hadn’t strengthened, but a crack had appeared in the far wall.

A doorway.

“Eureka,” she breathed. “I think we might have found it!” She darted to the fissure, but Wraith grabbed her before she could pry open the stone slab.

“Wait. Let me do it. It might be booby-trapped.”

“Really,” she said, “it’s safer for me.”

“Why is that? Are you one of those charmed people?”

Her eyes flared, but she recovered quickly, with a blinding smile. “Don’t be silly. It’s just that I’m smaller than you are. Less of a target.”

“Humor me.” Sure, she was charmed and all but invincible, but this kind of thing was what he lived for. Except… he was dying, so really, he had nothing to lose anyway.

“Josh—”

He shoved the stone aside before she could argue, grimacing at the sigh of stale air that escaped as though the Hall of Caracalla had been holding its breath. Wraith’s natural night vision allowed him to see perfectly, but Serena flicked on a flashlight. The rough-carved passage was dusty and full of cobwebs, slanting slightly downward on a floor of packed earth.

Here the walls were chipped and grooved, bare of artwork, evidence that the area had been closed off soon after construction.

It ended in a round, unfinished cavern no larger than one of UG’s exam rooms. It was empty except for a crude pillar in the center and a clay jar in one corner. Serena brushed past Wraith and sank down on her knees in front of the plain brown pot. Carefully, she reached inside and withdrew a fist-sized leather pouch.

Her sharp intake of breath accompanied a flash of gold as she drew a coin from the bag. Her thrill was a shock of energy that danced across his skin. Wraith knew exactly what she was feeling. He only felt alive when he was fucking, fighting, or hunting, and hunting relics could be as big a rush as hunting food.

“Is that it?” he asked, sinking down beside her.

“Yes. Oh, yes.” She turned the coin over and over, finally running her thumb over the back, on which words were etched. There she went with the rubbing again. His dermoire writhed as though it wanted the same attention. “Let that which is open, close. That which is closed, remain.”

“Man, I hate the cryptic shit.”

Her eyes shone with excitement as she returned the coin to its pouch. “I love it. Solving the mystery, finding the hidden meaning… there’s nothing like it.”

“Oh, I can think of something like it,” he said, letting his gaze linger on her lips. “Something that’ll get you just as dirty. Sweaty…” Gods, he was turned on. Who’d have thought that searching for treasure could be an aphro-disiac?

“You’re hopeless.”

He reached out and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “I’ve heard that once or twice.”

Serena tucked the pouch containing the coin into her backpack. “I’m sure you have,” she said dryly.

“Grave-robbing offal.” The booming, musical male voice echoed through the tomb with an evil resonance Wraith felt to his soul.

He leaped to his feet and whirled in a single motion. Standing at the entrance to the hidden area was Byzam. A black hooded robe obscured his body and his hair, but his unnaturally handsome face peeked out from the cowl. The hair on Wraith’s neck stood on end in a way it hadn’t the first time he’d seen the other male.

This wasn’t your average evil scum. Death would think twice before standing in the way of this demon.

Serena stood and calmly brushed the dirt from her pants. “It’s true that I’m more of a treasure hunter than an archaeologist,” she said, apparently unconcerned that the male who had snuck up on them might be a threat, “so I have a bit of a mercenary finders-keepers attitude. But offal? That’s a little strong.”

Byzam moved in a smear of light that even Wraith’s vampire vision barely tracked. In a blink, he had Serena’s arm twisted behind her back and she was kissing the wall.

With a roar that shook dust from the ceiling, Wraith plowed into the demon, sending him careening off the pillar. A sound like a gunshot rang out as the stone column cracked, chips of stone peeling away from the fissure that spread upward from the dent Byzam’s body had made.

Wraith got right up in the male’s face. “Get the fuck out. Now.”

Byzam leaned close, so close Wraith could smell his foul breath as he whispered, “I know what you’re up to, Seminus.”

Wraith rocked his head forward, smashing his skull into Byzam’s mouth. “That’s because you’re up to the same thing.”

The bastard smiled through bloody lips, but kept his voice low. “She won’t give it up to you, so you might as well go home to whatever hole you crawled out of.”

Wraith bared his fangs. “If I see you again, I’ll bleed you out.”

“When you see me again, you’ll be calling me god. For now, you can call me Byzamoth.” He bowed to Serena and swept out the door. Wraith gave chase, but Byzamoth had disappeared into thin air. Wraith stood outside the chamber for a moment, waiting for the battle high to subside, for his fangs to retract and his eyes to return to blue from the angry red he knew they’d turned.

When he returned to the chamber, Serena was waiting for him, her backpack slung over her shoulder, her face ashen.

She was shaken, and truthfully, so was Wraith. Had her charm failed, or did it not activate unless she was in mortal danger, and Byzamoth hadn’t intended to kill her?

The scent of blood was in the air, faint and human. Serena had been hurt. He went to her, took her wrist, and shoved up her sleeve. Four deep crescents scored her forearm, beading with blood. Hunger roared through him and his fangs began to throb, his mouth to water. Shit.

Pulse racing, he released her and forced himself to take a step back. “You’re hurt,” he ground out.

Gods, he wanted her in a way he’d never wanted any female, human or demon. He wanted to lick her from her arm to her throat, sink his fangs into her and take her like he had in the dream. He could pump into her as her blood pumped into him—

“I’ll live,” she said, her voice stronger than he’d have expected, given what had just happened. “What did he say to you?”

He took a moment to get his shit together before answering. “That his name is Byzamoth. And he wanted the treasure.” True enough, except Serena was the treasure. And for some reason it pissed him the hell off that the sonofabitch treated her like nothing more than a prize.

Which was exactly how Wraith was treating her, and when the fuck did he gain the guilt gene? Ruthlessly, he summoned an emotion he was far more comfortable with.

Extreme anger.

“So that’s what he’s been after all this time?” She frowned. “How did he know about it? And how did you convince him to go?”

“I don’t know how he knew about it, but I told him I’d kill him if he came near you again.”

Her hand went to her necklace, and he caught a whiff of blood again. She was killing him. “He isn’t human, then.”

“Would it matter if he was?” His voice was bitter and rough to his own ears. She didn’t deserve his anger, but he was pissed at Byzamoth, at Roag, at the assassin who’d poisoned him, at himself, at the entire fucking world, and he was tired of playing nice.

“Would it matter to you?”

“No. He’s a threat. Period.”

“You’ve lived a hard life, haven’t you?” Her words were softly spoken, but they echoed around the tiny chamber and inside his skull.

“What? Yours has been charmed?” The words flew out of his mouth before he realized the irony of what he’d said.

She smiled—he knew the look. It was the one Tayla and Runa gave to E and Shade when they wanted to humor his brothers. Might as well give him a nice pat on the head, too. “I have. I’ve always been lucky.”

“Luck runs out, Serena.”

“So you’re a pessimist?”

“I’m a realist.”

She walked over to him and punched him in the biceps. “Stick with me, baby. You’ll learn to be an optimist.”

Fat chance of that, but this was the opening he needed. “Oh, I’m sticking with you.”

She handed him the Roman pendant he’d taken from the real Josh. “I don’t need you anymore.”

“Yeah,” he said, “you do. You have demons after you, and I have a shitload of experience fighting them.”

He wondered how she was going to argue her way out of this, but to his surprise, she merely said, “I’m going to Aswan. If you think you can keep up with me, you’re welcome to tag along.”

She poked him in the chest with a finger and strutted off, leaving him standing there staring after her like a dolt. When she reached the exit, she threw him a cocky grin over her shoulder.

“You coming?”

Not nearly soon enough.

The thought came naturally, easily, but for the first time, it was followed immediately by shame. Because Gods, she was better than that, standing there in the dim glow of the flashlight, dirt smudged on her cheek and nose. She had a purity about her, a good, wholesome energy that seemed to repel darkness and capture light. He figured, being a demon, that he should be repelled, but she drew him, and even now he felt himself drawing closer to her.

He needed to resist, because getting emotional with her meant regretting what he had to do to save his life.

He nearly laughed out loud at that. He’d never denied himself, had never resisted his desires or regretted much of anything. Now, suddenly, he was trying to exercise some control, something even his brothers hadn’t gotten him to do.

But this spirited little human had him by the balls, and some small part of him liked it.

Hell’s bells, as Shade would say. Hell’s fucking bells.