declared over his shoulder. “Please forgive me, and for the love of God, pray for
me.” He rushed through the hall with the bag clutched in hand. “Lord God, keep
my faith true,” he whispered, pushing through the back door.
Sobs along with a divine scent greeted him as soon as he stepped outside the
church. “Good Lord, what is that?”
Strongly inhaling the scent, he followed the soft cries. He rounded the
building to the dumpster. The trash bag dropped from his hand.
“Sharayna?”
She was crouched into a ball, her hands clamped at the back of her head.
Her eyes filled with pain and tears, she looked up at him. “I don"t wanna go to hell,
Father Shannon,” she sobbed. “But I know I"m destined to go. I feel it.”
“Good heavens child, why—what has made you ill?” He rushed to her,
kneeled down and cradled her in his arms. “Why are you hiding behind the
building, next to the dumpster of all places?”
“I, I don"t want nobody to see me like this.” She dragged her hands across
her eyes to wipe away tears and smeared her eyeliner. “They told me not to go to
him „cause his demon might be awake. I"m scared to call him „cause the sun is out.
He"ll die.” The starburst in her deep, coffee colored eyes brightened and expanded
with each word. “I need him so badly right now. This is so wrong, to need him like
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this.” Whimpering, she clutched the front of her blouse. “I"m lost in the devil"s
embrace,” she murmured beneath her breath, looking away from him.
Devil"s embrace? The words made him stiffen. “Sharayna, let"s go inside—”
“Father, I can"t go home. I don"t want to be alone, but I should. I might hurt
somebody, right? I"m hungry, so hungry. Do I sound messed up right now? I know I
do.”
“Sharayna…”
“I didn"t know where else to go. I can"t hurt people if I"m near the church,
right?” She wrapped her arms around her belly. “My stomach hurts so bad. I think
God is punishing me for needing him, for being what I am. How can he love me,
how can God love a demon?” Excitement suddenly came to her face. “Ooo, you
know what I want? A cheeseburger, a raw bloody cheeseburger, with mustard and
onions. Yeah, that"s what I want. You got one of those.”
He was speechless for a moment. She was delirious and from what he could
tell, extremely intoxicated.
Standing, he pulled her to her feet. “Come, come now,” he coaxed, urging her
over to the door.
She scrambled away from him. Sweat formed on her forehead. Her eyes
stretched as wide as saucers. “Uh-uh. No, no, no. I can"t, not like this. I should
probably stay out here. Yeah, yeah, I should stay out here.”
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He tilted his head and stepped closer to her. “Sharayna, why on earth would
you stay out here? You"re not making any sense.”
“Riiight,” she whispered hoarsely, resembling someone who"d lost a few
important brain cells on the way to the church. “None of it makes any sense. And
ya know what, I don"t think it"s supposed to.”
Baffled, he gaped at her. Perhaps what he thought was intoxication was
really something else. A deep prayer session was in order, maybe even a
sanctification just to be on the safe side.
“All right, that"s settles it. You"re coming in.” He rushed over, wrapped his
arm around her and forced her to the door. “I"ll have Sister Agnes brew you a cup
of mint tea. That should remedy your stomachache. And then we shall talk about
what has you so disoriented.”
Silently, he sent an urgent message to Sister Agnes to meet him in his office
with hot tea and biscuits. As they headed through the corridor, Rayne snuggled
against his chest.
Once in his office, he tightened his arm around her and found himself
helplessly sneaking whiffs of her hair. The aroma of her was incredible, stimulating
even. It was impossible for him to breathe without consuming a bit of her on every
inhale.
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Whatever it was that expelled from her was awakening the dormant part of
him. A part that hadn"t been stirred in years. He forgot what it felt like, even forgot
it was there. His heart knocked hard against his chest, quickening with each
breath. There couldn"t be a worse moment to be reminded of what he really was.
So many years of walking the path of righteousness and now he was on the
brink of straying from that path. God forgive me. He closed his eyes, lost his hands
and nose in her hair then inhaled intensely.
His eyes crossed. “Oh my Lord!”
Her arms circled his waist. A voice in his mind told him to move away, but
he couldn"t. He couldn"t stop absorbing her essence and the warmth from her
body. So exhilarating. It punched him drunk, made him purr and roused his groin
profoundly. She pressed her body flush against his and held onto him tightly.
“My word, what is this fragrance, Sharayna,” he mumbled into her hair. “You
smell absolutely amazing.”
“Mmm, I like the way you smell too, Father.” Her voice was a tune of pure
lust. She pushed up on her toes and nuzzled his neck. “So sweet. Can I taste?”
What he felt next teased every nerve ending in his body. The tip of her
tongue traced the vein running along his jugular.
On the verge of falling to his knees, he shuddered against her and titled his
head to the side to bare his throat. “Yes.”
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“Father, she is charming you! Push away from her now if you want to live,” said an
urgent, familiar voice.
“I need you, Demetri,” Sharayna whispered in his embrace.
Demetri? Father Shannon popped his eyes open.
From over Rayne"s head, his gaze fell upon Sister Agnes, who stared at him,
her eyes wide and mouth gaped open. The clanking of the teacup on the saucer in
her trembling hands made him winced.
“Sister…”
A low possessive growl came from the woman in his arms. Like the strike of
a snake, her lips claimed his throat. Swiftly, he pushed out of her embrace and
scurried across the room, far away. Breathing heavily, he stared at her unable to
speak. Her eyes beamed solid gold, her skin glisten the same and two small pairs of
pearlescent fangs peered from her quivering parted lips. Tears poured from her
eyes in a gold stream down her cheeks.
Momentarily, time went still, but sound resumed. He heard the clash of the
glass before the teacup and saucer left Sister Agnes"s hands. Sister Agnes backed
away, made the symbol of the cross from her forehead to her chest and ran out of
the room.
Sharayna covered her face with her hands, dropped to her knees and cried
out, “See! I told you I was hungry!”
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Chapter Twenty
Damage Control
“And right when I thought I"d heard it all…” With a glass of Glenlivet on the
rocks clutched in his hand, Maurisio eyes roamed over the array of books on the
shelves that reached to the ceiling. “How „bout, you go into hibernation for a
couple hundred years „til this shit blows over, baby bro.”
Demetri cut his eyes at Maurisio"s back. “Why? So you could pu
rsue her?”
“Oh, I"m not the one you have to worry about.” Maurisio turned from the
wall of books, his eyes gleaming. “You do know that, right?”
Demetri sat on the edge of the deep mahogany escritoire and rubbed his
chin. “She"s bound to me, and I to her. I doubt it I have to worry about anyone.”
“Are you still high?” Maurisio asked with the twist of his lips. “Look bro, I
know she"s got you whipped and everything, but you have to look past your
attraction to her and think realistically. You have a bad-ass female hybrid with a
world ending ability in the palm of her hand, with blood that heightens powers
and you don"t think someone more powerful than you…” Stretching his eyes wide,
he pointed to the ground as he continued. “Has gotten the news she exists.”
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“But the prophecy—”
“Fuck the prophecy! C"mon Demetri, use your head a moment. That girl has
somebody coming for her and it ain"t the fucking Chingi.”
He dipped his head and thought long and hard on Indigo"s words of the
prophecy. “You think—”
“No. I don"t think anything. Call it a presentiment, a gut feeling or whatever.”
He took a gulp of the scotch and shook his hair back from his shoulders. “And
we"ve already discussed my gut"s failure to be wrong. I"m telling you, with her
existence comes a war.”
Saddened, Demetri nodded. “Armageddon.”
Maurisio leveled his finger at him. “You better fucking believe it.”
Looking to the ceiling, he pressed his fingers against his throbbing temples
to steady his troubled thoughts. Would the devil come for her? For her blood?
Would he be so bold as to claim an angel half-breed as his mate?
He"d be foolish not to at least consider the possibilities.
Blocking out the annoying ring of Maurisio"s cell phone, Demetri closed his
eyes and focused on the females singing his name through the drift currents. One
of the voices obtruded intensely in his mind. It was the Andausian, and she was
vexingly tenacious in her efforts to reach him.
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She"d been buzzing the airwaves, seeking his attention for hours. The girl
was heavily distraught. The loss of the priest at the temple had pained her heart
and damaged her psyche. Her tainted emotions added to his unbalanced state. This
would not do. He opened his eyes and shut her out. He"d deal with her later. At the
moment, there was another matter which needed his urgent attention.
“Can"t you bitches do anything right! How the hell—and you call yourselves
wolves!” Maurisio"s eyes blazed in wolfish fury. “Look, I"m not gonna say this shit
again! Hunt him down and eliminate him! If that fucker"s head is not on my desk
by morning, I"m taking throats and castrating motherfuckers!” He squeezed the
glass until it shattered within his grasp then threw the phone across the room. The
small device hit the wall and shattered into pieces. Simultaneously, a crack of
lightening sounded outside. “Shiit!”
His brother"s anger frazzled his nerves and lowered his incisors. He tried to
approach Maurisio, but he put his hand out and turned his back to him.
“What"s wrong, brother?”
Maurisio huffed then rattled his head like a dog. “I gotta roll.” Growling, he
picked shards of glass from his hand. “I got damage control.”
“Is it because of Sharayna?”
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Maurisio glanced over his shoulder. “What do you think?” he mumbled,
lapping the blood from his hand. “Nothing for you to be concerned about though.
I"ll handle it. My pack. My problem.”
Demetri suddenly became anxious. He was running out of time. “Before you
leave, you don"t suppose you could bring forth the night a little quicker, like now,
perhaps?”
His head tilted curiously, Maurisio turned to him. “The best I can do is
conjure a few dark cloud for a couple of hours, but you know Mother Nature will
fight me just to fry your ass if you leave this house. What"s up?”
“No. I need the night. I cannot teleport without the night,” he explained
urgently.
“Look if this is about the situation. I don"t need you to intervene. I said I"ll
handle it—”
“She"s at the church, with Father Shannon, and she"s fluxing!”
“Which means she needs to feed,” Maurisio finished, his eyes growing big.
“She"s going to kill him, or fuck him, or both. Hardheaded girl, I told her to go
home!” He roughly raked his hair. “Drift him out of there man, or drift her out, one
of them, shit!”
“I can"t!” Demetri shouted, moving into a frantic pace. “I can"t extract him
from consecrated grounds. The light won"t allow it, and I can"t teleport her during
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a shift because her spiritual energy is drawing from the sun. I can"t even link with
her right now.”
“Then what are we going to do?”
In the moment of alarm, a thought came to him. With great concentration,
he closed his eyes and steadied his mind. Tiny pricks of energy spooled up through
his body as he summoned the one person who could assist him.
“Indigo.”
When he opened his lids, Indigo stood before him, her hands planted on her
hips and her eyes narrowed into mere slits. “I"ve been calling and calling you since
me out of the blue after not answering my calls! And what are you doing up so
early?”
“Damn girl, you think that dress is tight enough?” Maurisio mumbled,
leering at her backside like a hungry wolf. “I can see the dimples on your tight ass.”
“Indigo, there is something important I need you to do,” Demetri rushed out.
“And there is something important I need to tell you,” she countered,
shooting a glance over her shoulder at his brother.
“No time for discussions. Summon Father Shannon,” he demanded.
“But Demetri, this is about the prophecy and your direct contact with the
Dragon Queen. By the way, I"m royally pissed at you for not telling me about—”
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His hand sought out her neck and brought her face to his. “The priest, now
Indigo!”
Jerking out of his grasp, she stumbled back. “Okay, okay, okay. Dammit!”
She pinned him with a sidelong glance. “I wish for the day you learn how to talk to
me with a little respect, or at the very least with a little show of appreciation.”
She looked away from his narrowing glare, pushed out a heavy breath, and
shook her arms and head in preparation. Her eyes drifted shut. When she opened
them, the color of liquid metal clouded her irises.
“Elements of the earth, bring forth the priest which you perceive in my mind.”
Father Shannon materialized at the mantel with his back to them. In
confusion, he glanced to his left, and to his right then spun around. “What…” He
shifted his eyes at everyone in the room then zoned in on Demetri.
“Yooou!” he growled, offering him a cold glare. “You, you cad!”
Demetri stared at him awkwardly. “I beg your pardon.”
“Don"t you beg my pardon!” Father Shannon shuffled across the floor, his
finger
leveled at him. “What have you done to her? She was a sweet girl and
you―you"ve poisoned her with dark lust. How could you do that to her, you
heartless vampire?”
“Whoa, harsh words coming from a priest,” Maurisio quipped, leaning
against the doorframe. “A hit of scotch will bring that heated fury right on down.”
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Father Shannon cut an icy glare at Maurisio. “You, you be quiet, Maurisio. I
expected more from you. You"re the oldest for Pete"s sake. You"re supposed to
watch him and prevent things like this from happening. How could you condone
something like this?”
Maurisio"s head fell back in laughter. “What? Am I my brother"s keeper?”
Father Shannon"s jaw tensed and his brows furrowed. “Blasphemer!”
“Father,” Demetri called faintly. “Your words of ire are not to be directed
toward my brother, but to me. I don"t seek my brother"s consent for anything I
choose to do. You are aware of this.”
Father Shannon rocked back and forth, shifting from one leg to the other,
clutching his cross. “Demetri, your very existence is corrupting the child"s mind.
Are you just going to allow her to suffer, drag her further into your blood filled
world? This is unconscionable. You are to release this dark hold on her right this
moment.”
“I have no hold on her, Father. It is she who has the hold on me, and please,
stop referring to her as a child. You"ve held her in your arms. You"ve smelled her
scent. Is that not the traces of a peaking woman?”
Demetri dropped his eyes from the priest"s reddened, uptight face to his
neck. A small, barely discernable mark marred the skin over his carotid artery.
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She"d grazed him; not deep enough to sever the vein, but enough to cause damage.
A poisoned kiss.
If a score from her fangs was as addictive as his was to others, then he had a
bigger problem on his hands. He"d have to take the priest"s life if he sought her out
for another taste of her fangs.
“Demetri, the child, er, woman came to me with an indescribable fear and
confusion in her eyes.” He paused and uttered words beneath his breath. When he
spoke again his voice was calmer. “My goodness, I"ve known her since she was a