Possession of Souls, Page 3

  He leaned in again to kiss me passionately, and I tried to give in to it, attempting to let him sweep me away so I couldn’t hear the niggling doubts that tickled my mind—doubts that kept trying to remind me I had two opponents here, and they were both powerful demons, hell-bent on destroying things.

  This was going to be difficult.

  I forcibly shoved those thoughts away, putting my arms tightly around Vance, but not feeling like it was enough. I wrapped one of my legs around his, trying to get closer, and he groaned. I felt the wave of desire that flashed through him.

  “I want you,” he muttered against my skin. “I need you,” he amended.

  “I need you too,” I whispered breathlessly against his lips before he reclaimed mine, moving his arm to run it down my side. I arched my body in response, and another moan escaped him.

  “Well, isn’t this cozy,” Damien’s voice echoed through the space, and it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over both of us.

  I gasped, pushing myself to sit up, and Vance turned abruptly, casting a large fireball out towards Damien.

  Damien didn’t even move, letting it hit him, absorbing the energy completely without so much as a blink. He lifted his ever present chalice, taking a large drink, his eyes never leaving us.

  “Isn’t it funny how this Awakening thing works?” He smiled evilly when he lowered the cup. “You’re absolutely no threat to me at all, son.”

  “I’m not your son,” Vance ground out, flexing his jaw.

  “Oh, but you are! And that’s the beauty of it all,” Damien said, stepping toward us, and Vance immediately moved to take up a more protective stance over me. Damien laughed at this. “She’s stronger than you are now, you know that, right?”

  Vance shook his head. “No, she’s not. You’ve bound her powers with a serum. I can taste it in her blood.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but I can’t kill her ... at least not permanently. You on the other hand …,” he let his voice trail off instead of stating the obvious.

  “Yeah, I know you can kill me, Dad,” he said with a sneer. “But know this—as long as there’s breath in my body I’ll do all in my power to defend her. I don’t care who’s more powerful around here.”

  Damien looked Vance over once, then twice, and I thought I almost saw a flicker of something in his eyes, something like respect, before his mask slid into place again.

  “We’ll see about that,” he answered, lifting his shoulders in a slight shrug before turning to walk away.

  We both watched him warily, worried about his obvious show of nonchalance.

  “Oh,” he called out over his shoulder, like he had forgotten something. “I thought you both might like to clean up. There are facilities waiting for you through there.” He waved his hand in a direction beyond the bed, and we both watched in amazement as the stone dissolved away, and a door appeared there.

  We turned to look at each other in surprise before glancing back toward Damien, but he was gone again, having disappeared in those few moments.

  “Where are we?” I asked Vance in a whisper, swallowing at the lump in my throat, though I wasn’t sure why I suddenly felt the need to talk so quietly. I glanced around, almost afraid the walls had ears.

  “I don’t know,” Vance replied with a slight shake of his head, his eyes darting over every surface. “But I have a feeling things are not as they seem.”

  “Do you think it’s some type of … glamour?” I asked, searching for the right word.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe. But whatever is going on here, he’s definitely in control of it.”

  “I gathered that much,” I replied with a sigh, leaning against his shoulder, and Vance reached up absently to pat me.

  “Come on. Let’s go check this out and see if we can get cleaned up.”

  “I’m afraid to. What if it’s some kind of trap? Just another way for him to toy with us?”

  “Well then, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” He raised his eyebrow in challenge before he extended his hand to me.

  Deciding to brave it, I placed mine in his and allowed him to pull me off the bed. He didn’t let go as we walked across the room until we faced the door. Then he released me and reached for the knob.

  “Wait!” I called out, grabbing him by the arm, and he glanced at me. “If it’s a trap I’ll be useless to you, since my powers are bound. Do whatever you have to, just make sure to not worry about me and save yourself. I’ll survive no matter what. You’re the important one.”

  “Oh, Portia. What did I ever do to deserve you?” He kissed me gently, before leaning his forehead against mine. “Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important to me than you.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but he placed a finger over it, silencing me.

  “No more talking,” he said, lifting his head away and shaking it. “It’s time to find out what’s behind door number one.”

  He turned and slowly opened it, pushing slightly, before peering inside.

  “What do you see?” I asked from behind him, almost afraid to look.

  “A bathroom, just like he said it would be,” Vance answered, grabbing my hand and pulling me after him.

  It turn out that the word bathroom was a bit of an understatement. It was opulent, exactly the way everything about Damien was. The walls and the floors had the same appearance as the rest of the cave only there was a deep, sunken area in the floor which was filled with steaming water. Tall candelabras with dripping pillar candles lit the spacious area, giving it a very relaxing feel.

  There was wash basin set into a cabinet with a marble top, with a recessed mirror hanging over it. Next to it was a regular looking toilet, which I was surprised to find in a cave. A stand of large wooden shelves holding plush looking, oversized, towels ran along the same wall, as well as a couple of hooks with some robes on them. There was another door beyond the shelves, and Vance went over to open it, revealing a large closet area.

  “What is this?” I said in wonder, stepping inside of it to find a long dressing table with a bench, mirror, and several toiletry items for both male and female organized on each end of it, lit once again with candles.

  “I feel like I just stepped into the personal grotto of the Phantom of the Opera,” I said, reaching out to finger some of the crystal prisms hanging from the base of one of the pillars.

  “Looks like he’s planning on having us stay for a while,” Vance mumbled after he opened a sliding door to reveal a closet full of men’s clothing and shoes. “Just my size,” he added upon further examination before moving to the other side of the closet and revealing more clothing that was suitable for me.

  “Well, I guess the good thing about this is it means he doesn’t have plans to kill us. At least not right away,” I said, trying to put a positive light on our situation.

  Vance let out something that sound like a “harrumph” before walking past me, back into the bathroom. “Let’s get cleaned up. I feel positively grungy.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I replied, following after him.

  He paused in the middle of the space before looking around, and then walked over to one of the rocky walls. He placed his hands against it, and I could see a magical current ripple out from them.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Testing the structure,” he replied without looking up.

  “And?”

  “It seems pretty solid to me.” He removed his hands. “I don’t think it’s a glamour. For some reason he must’ve felt the need to conceal the door.”

  “Oh, I don’t even care anymore,” I said going over to sit on the closed lid of the toilet. “I’m beginning to think everything Damien does is all for show anyway.”

  “You noticed that too, huh?” Vance replied coming to stand in front of me. “I say, let’s forget Damien for the moment. This,” he said with a nod toward the steaming water in the sunken tub, “promises to be a lot more fun.” He lifted his mouth slightly, in enough of a grin to reveal
one of the dimples in his cheek. “Care to join me?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied placing my hand in his, letting him pull me to my feet, and I could feel the sparks traveling up my arm long before he kissed me.

  Chapter 3

  There was absolutely no way to tell what time of day it was in the cavern. Damien had been surprisingly absent, something which pleased me to no end. When we emerged from our luxurious bath, it was to enter the bedchamber area comfortably clothed in a pair of pajamas—sharing the same pair of pajamas, that is.

  Vance had grumbled extensively about Damien’s taste in apparel and the apparent lack of what he had termed “real clothes” in his side of the closet.

  I couldn’t argue with him since most of mine looked like a cross between something straight off a corner on Hollywood Boulevard and an outfit from the Laura Croft Tomb Raider movies. So when Vance pulled out a pair of leopard print silk pajamas, saying he’d rather be dead than be caught wearing something like that, I suggested perhaps he could wear the bottoms and let me wear the top. They were certainly more modest than anything I’d been given.

  His eyes sparkled with some fiendish looking delight before he handed it to me. I gave a little grin, taking it from him, all the while knowing exactly what he was thinking.

  We both got dressed, and I thought he looked positively sinful with the silk bottoms slung low on his hips, showing off his delicious v-cut abs which made my fingers itch to reach out and stroke them.

  He in turn looked at me appreciatively, letting out a low whistle, and I laughed. I couldn’t even see my hands out of the ends of the sleeves since the shirttails hung almost to my kneecaps.

  “Here. Let me help you with that,” he said stepping closer, reaching out to grab the material. He started to fold the cuff over several times until my hand and forearm emerged from the fabric.

  “Well, what do you know? There was a limb in there after all!” I exclaimed facetiously, when he moved to fix the other side, and he chuckled with almost a snorting sound. A grin spread wide across his face, and he looked in that moment like the Vance of days gone by.

  “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.