Pick Your Poison Read online

  At the end of it all though, his turning me saved me, so I was, at best, grateful for that.

  “If we’re done with that lovely revelation, may we get on with it?” Stefan gestured to the door. “The troops are getting restless.”

  The door rocked harder.

  Divit was instantly back to let’s-kill-the-warlock mode. “By all means.”

  And I was just done. This was getting out of hand fast and I didn’t know what to do.

  But... the door. Hah.

  “Screw you two! I don’t even care anymore! Go ahead—die! Bub-bye! I’m going home.” Arms flapping around madly, I grabbed the door knob and went to wrench it open.

  “Norma! No!” Stefan tried to warn me, but it was too late.

  “Norma Gene!” Divit’s shout followed, and everything happened as if in slow motion, then sped up all at once.

  A blast came at me as my fingers twisted the knob and the door burst open. A heavy, roaring force rocked me as another slammed me from the side. It was like being blasted by a baby tornado full of a thousand cactus needles and blunt shards of glass, pounding me with rebounding magick. Slamming into me to bounce back off, coming at me from all sides, I’d never seen or felt the likes of it before.

  Skidding along the carpet, head over hindquarters, I would have screamed but I couldn’t, rolling as I landed knees first into the bed frame. A heavy weight was instantly on top of me, wrapping around me, warmth soaking my sheet as we rolled and slumped in a tangled heap.

  Reaching around, I found no pulse and grunted. Ah, it’s Divit, of course.

  Callie cried out, cursing and shouting, others joining in as the dust slowly settled. Chaos erupting all around us, sparks of magick still crackling the air, it was hard to tell if she was hurt. I didn’t smell her blood, so that was promising.

  A heavy, metallic smell filled the air and my throat burned, but there was no hunger there so I ignored it. If I wasn’t hungry it wasn’t so bad, sort of dimming it a little without the bloodlust. This blood smelled familiar though, beneath the stench of sharp, tangy sweetness mixed with sour bitterness I recognized must be spent magick, and I frowned.

  Shoving the heavy body off of me gently, I nudged him, wondering why Divit had yet to move. Was he knocked out from the blast?

  “Hey? Stiffit? Get up. What’s with...” Rolling to my side, I came face to face with a pale, blood streaked, hollow face framed in light blonde hair. Dead eyes staring up at me sightlessly, his mouth slack as crimson painted his lips, I gaped, a strangled scream in my throat.

  Fingers trembling, I reached over and gently closed his lids, brushing the backs of my knuckles down the side of his face as my chest hitched.

  Black scorch marks marring his exposed skin, torso full of wooden shrapnel from the exploding door, the warlock must have protected me with his body.

  He was the second force I’d felt. The idiot had protected me.

  A soft, whimpering noise left my throat and I reached out to check for the pulse I knew wasn’t there. There was no clug-clug or thump-thump emanating from the necromancer, no signs of life whatsoever.

  Hands shaking as my chest ached, I made another noise. Brushing his chest off, I started to pluck the bits of wood from his body, removing a rather large piece that must have pierced through his heart. It was longer than I’d expected as I gave it a rough jerk, gently tugging and pulling on it until it slid out smothered in crimson. Staring at the stake-like piece as I lifted it up, wondering why the fool would be stupid enough to do it, and for me, of all people, my lips trembled as they parted.

  Nails digging into the wood, I swallowed hard as my arms dropped. “You said you didn’t have one, asshole,” I mumbled, reaching out to brush my fingers over his chest, right over his heart. Sniffling, my eyes burned with tears I didn’t have to shed. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Hanging my head, I couldn’t fathom the idea of the snobby, mouthy menace really being gone.

  Callie made it over to us and crouched down. Cradling Stefan’s head gently in her lap, smoothing her hands down his cheeks, she bent low over his limp body, speaking to him softly.

  My shoulders shook and I cursed myself for the stupid tears I couldn’t cry, hugging the stubborn jerk’s chest. Eyes sliding shut, all I could do was dry-sob, pained noises wrenching from my throat while Callie cried for both of us.

  Mary stood by the door with Byron, her tanned face pale, big brown eyes wide with shock. Byron was silent, his rough features somber, big body tense as he began clearing out the room.

  A hand came down on my back to gently rub and I knew it was Divit. His skin warm but not burning hot, as I knew everyone else’s would feel now.

  “Ugh. Get off of me, Normal. If you get turned on by my innate animal magnetism, there’s no telling what your stupid mate will do to me, and then we’ll all be in trouble.”

  I froze at that, thinking I truly had gone mad for sure.

  “Truth be told,” the annoying voice mused, “I rather like being alive to gloat over the fact I had you first.” Divit growled from close by and Stefan chuckled. “Our blood debt is settled, old friend. I protected your woman. The way I see it, now we’re even.”

  Jerking up, I gasped, gaping down at Stefan as he blinked up at me, his dark eyes sparking blue as they flit to life.

  “What? No.” Ripping his shirt open wide, I felt around on his thin chest, ignoring his grunts and growls of pain as I sputtered. “But... you were dead! You had no heartbeat!”

  Brushing my hands off, an odd look crossing his gaunt features, he glanced away and made to get up. “Clearly, you were mistaken.”

  Sitting back on my heels, falling back against Divit’s chest, I shook my head as Callie and I shared mystified looks—stumped.

  “No, you were dead. I’d know, I’m kinda dead, and buddy, you had a stake through your heart.” Holding out the piece of wood for him to see, blood dribbling from the end, I waved it around for all to see. “Dead. Dead-dead. How the hell are you up and at ‘em?”

  “A steak?” Stefan murmured, rolling to his feet slowly and stepping over me. “Great idea.” Twinging, though he ignored it, he rolled his shoulders, grunting, and marched for the door—practically running, more like. “I’ll just pop over to the store and get some. Will everyone be joining? Mary, would you like to come with me?”

  Callie frowned and glanced over to Mary, then Stefan, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

  “Eater,” she said quietly. That one word had the necromancer frozen in place, the disgust and shock lacing her tone enough to make the hair on my nape stand on end.

  “Huh?” Dumbfounded, I didn’t understand. “Eat what?”

  Callie shook her head, lips pursing, and quickly wiped the stray tears from her cheeks. “You’re an Eater. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. It all makes sense. Stefan, it’s forbidden now.”

  Stefan rolled his head and his shoulders, his neck cracking with the motion as he kept his back to her. “It’s forbidden now. I’m grandfathered in, as I’m old, bordering on ancient, and it is a necessity to my being. Anyone who attempts to become a soul-eater now would be put to death. I’m on the list of exceptions, as long as I don’t acquire the soul myself.”

  Mary tensed next to Byron, who was giving her the strangest look. “You do dis for that necromancer, my Mary? You take these souls to save him? Dis is why?”

  Mary, lips pursed, cool expression firmly in place, was clearly in bitch mode. “Oh, don’t act like I’m some altruistic, reformed demoness or some shit. There’s always something in it for me, but like I said before and I’ll say it again, my business is my business.” At the Alpha’s look she rolled her eyes and muttered, “We... trade.” Messing with a clunky bangle bracelet on her wrist, she gave a tiny half shrug. “I’m still a selfish, soul sucking bitch, so everyone quit looking at me like I’m Mother frickin’ Teresa all of a sudden.”

  “A soul-eater?” Easing me out from in front of him, Divit shook his head. “That’s how you pulle
d it all off so easily, why you lived so long... Not some great power within you, no strong magicks, but because you cheated? You’re just as scared and lonely as the rest of us, just as terrified to die. A warlock and a soul-eater. You cheat death, literally. You steal souls and eat them to be immortal, and you had the gall to judge me? You thought me a possible danger? My mate? And you stand there, a soul-eater, and think me an abomination?”

  Divit got to his feet, scooping me up to carry me from the room.

  Hissing, rage roiling through him as his body coiled tight, he gritted his teeth. “The only reason I don’t kill you right now is because of her.”

  Stefan inclined his head. “You could try, if you still wanted to-”

  “But you’ll just come back,” I finished, realizing why he was so sure of himself—the cocky bastard. Even now, I could hear his heart thump-thumping in his chest. He was already healing up, his wounds closing right before my very eyes, the edges of his once torn skin a healthy looking light pink where his shirt lay open to expose his chest.

  Stefan had gone and figured it out, the secret to long and everlasting life—he’s a true immortal.

  It was a quiet trip as Divit carted me through the house, pushing past Spira as she opened the front door and made to step inside.

  The dragoness began to say something, starting at the sight of us with a quick step back, but Divit was jogging past her before she could utter a word.

  Hitting the key fob on his fancy looking car as he sprinted down the drive, the soles of his shoes crunched heavily through the gravel as he rounded the shiny black hood. The vampire couldn’t seem to leave fast enough for his liking, depositing me in the passenger seat carefully to slam the door and run around to the driver’s side.

  Slamming his door shut on the sound of everyone pouring out of the house like a worried stampede, he shifted the car into reverse with barely a second for me to buckle. Back tires spitting gravel in their wake, we spun out, barreling down the long drive, rocks flying everywhere as we skid.

  “Are we in a hurry?” I asked quietly, glancing to my vampire lover’s taut features, then the horde descending upon us from the porch through the back window.

  Squinting, I could just make out Spira, a thick trail of grayish black smoke wafting over her head. If I didn’t know she was a dragon shifter, I’d have thought she’d lit herself on fire. The smoke grew and so did a strange rumbling sound.

  “Yes,” Divit replied, grimacing as our gazes met briefly before he had his turn glancing out the rearview.

  Cursing under his breath, he stepped on the gas, shaking his head as the rumbling turned into a roar.

  Eyes wide, I peeked back again, gaping at the mass of scales, spikes, and dragon limbs taking up Callie’s front yard.

  “You make the strangest friendships,” my vampire lover muttered. “A dragon. Of all of them, you befriend the dragon.”

  I said nothing, my eyes still glued to the beast unfurling from the massive ball it had been curled up in. Its wing span was enough to make anyone gulp, not to mention the size of the gargantuan thing’s body. No, not thing. Gulping out loud, I found it hard to comprehend: that ‘thing’ is Spira.

  A roar echoed into the night, followed by a massive stream of flame, sparking and crackling as a sharp swooping sounded overhead.

  Slinking down in my seat, my eyes darted to the roof.

  “She won’t burn the car down.” Hissing, Divit narrowed his eyes on the large, shining dot blurring as it lifted higher into the sky. “Not with you in it.”

  “Were we just... dive bombed by a dragon?” Squeaking out the words, fingers clenching so tight they ached, I cringed. Visions of barbequed vampire flashed through my mind, but I pushed them back. “Uhm... she doesn’t sound happy. Heh. Heh.” Fingers twisting in my lap, I forced my gaze forward as Callie’s house and the massive dragon circling angrily about above us faded into the distance.

  “She’s not.”

  “Shouldn’t she be trying to eat Stefan, then? He was Mr. Decapa-happy and all that crap back there, not you.”

  Divit growled low, his grip tightening on the steering wheel until I heard something crack and snap. Snarling harder, he slammed his fist on the dash, cracking that too.

  Finding it best to keep quiet, silence and I quickly became fast friends.

  It was a long time before Divit found some semblance of control, but when he glanced at me his eyes had bled red. “All she knows is what she saw and what she smelled. I was angry and frustrated, and you were confused and frightened. Spira cares for you, as much as a dragoness can, and they’re instinctual creatures. Act now, questions later.” Pausing, the angry vamp took an unnecessary, deep breath. “I’m lucky she didn’t rip the roof off like a tin can, rip me out of my seat and crush me.”

  Lips parting, eyes bugging out, I stared. Spira wouldn’t...

  As if he could read my mind, Divit muttered, “She would, in a heartbeat. And I’d hate to be Stefan when she finds out about him.”

  More time passed and I watched as a small, evil grin spread across my vampire lover’s face.

  “What?” Still staring, I reached out to tug at his shirt sleeve.

  A knowing look on his smug face, Divit shrugged, glancing at me through the corner of his eye. “Oh. Nothing. Just thinking.”

  That didn’t instill much confidence in me.

  “Thinking about what?” Eyes narrowing, I had a sneaking suspicion the man was plotting.

  “Hmmm? Nothing. Nothing.” Shaking his head, his focus went back to the road. Three of his fingers started idly drumming along his steering column, the other hand still gripping the damaged steering wheel as we drove along. He almost looked happy.

  “You can’t tell Spira,” I said finally.

  Divit stilled, tensing, but just as fast let it go and snorted. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  “No,” I said easily, “I can’t, but I can tell Spira some shit too, just to even things out.”

  Eyes narrowing, Divit hissed, flashing half dropped fangs in my direction. “Tell her whatever you want, sweetheart.”

  “Okay, glitter-buns.” Huffing, I glowered at his bluff. “Don’t worry, I will.” Waiting a beat, I slid towards the window, waving my hand in his direction. “And just to make sure I have it straight, how many ways, exactly, was it you said you were going to murder me back in the bathroom?” I wasn’t trying to piss him off more, I just didn’t relish the idea of an emotional dragon on the war path, either.

  Act first and ask questions later was not an approach one should take to problem solving, and it really wasn’t the one for this shit.

  Did the idea of Steffie-kins being gobbled up bother me less than it should? I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer, though I’ll grudgingly admit the jerk off saved me from the blast from the door, but it was also all his fault in the first place—the decapitation happy freak.

  Feeling cornered and maybe a bit betrayed, the vampire next to me was not happy. “God-damn-mother... he tried to cut your head off!”

  “I don’t want him eaten by an angry dragon!”

  “Well, I do!”

  “I don’t!”

  “You like him, then? Liked his blood that much?”

  “Oh, now you’re just being ridiculous!”

  “You didn’t answer me.”

  “I answered you right now.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “This is absurd, and you’re acting like a crazy man!”

  “I wouldn’t be acting like a crazy man if you’d just answer the damned question!”

  “No! I don’t like his blood that much, you jealous freak! No, I don’t like him that much, if even at all! Truth be told, I can barely stand him! I like you, you stupid, overgrown, snobbish, boorish, rude, dumb excuse for a male!” As if to somehow prove my point, I punctuated my words with well-meaning slaps to his shoulder, of which he took like a man. “Though that may, as of ten seconds ago and possibly further then, be subj
ect to change! At the rate you’re going, mister, I may just ask Spira to come back and play dragon munch-and-crunch on you!”

  Seething, I followed my rant with a long hiss, my nails leaving claws marks on the pretty interior of his lovely car as they raked down my seat and the side of the door.

  “I liked this car,” Divit said finally.

  “You’re a million years old, save up your pennies for a hundred more and go buy another.” And just for his comment on my panties back in the bathroom, I added, “It’s ugly anyway, and I hate it.”

  Divit’s lips did this weird thing, a cross between a purse, a grimace, and an angry smile, all fighting to split across his face. None of them won and he simply looked ridiculous.

  “You owe me new underwear, by the way,” I reminded, earning myself a hiss from him.

  Rolling my window down, I closed my eyes and let the cool breeze blow across my face—a sure sign of life as wind whipped my hair about my face—swallowing past the lump that formed in my throat for no damned reason. I’m still alive. I made it.

  “I’m still going to tell her.”

  Cracking a lid open, I let off a short growl. “Ah, but so am I.”

  Divit snarled, slamming the steering wheel hard with his fists until it warped, and that’s all we said the entire trip.

  Expectation—Affectation

  I guess I never was one for long periods of time filled with tense silence. The wait, the expectancy, as we pulled in front of a small but well kempt little yellow and white trimmed, red-bricked bungalow, was suffocating.

  Divit pulled in the drive, put the car in park, and killed the engine. Leaning back in his seat, head lolling back heavily, he let out a long breath.

  I sat there quietly, in a white sheet spotted with blood and nothing else, staring out the front windshield.

  Sighing heavily, Divit pinched the bridge of his nose. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

  Glancing at him sideways, I asked, “Like what? The fact you’re breathing and it’s really unnecessary? Or why are we in front of the white picket get-up, minus the fence? Is Beav going to come rushing around the corner if June pops up and starts hollering for him? Did Lassie fall in the well too and can’t get Timmy out?”