Текст книги "Ties That Bind"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Ties That Bind
The Bellum Sisters 3
by T. A. GREY

DEDICATION

To everyone who has enjoyed The Bellum Sisters as much as I have.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my beta readers who have answered my questions and helped me to perfect this book. Without your help, I wouldn’t be able to do this. Thank you to Regina Wamba for creating such beautiful covers for The Bellum Sister’s books, and to Tomas for helping translate and pronounce some Irish.

GLOSSARY

Dargen – Demonic assassins

Dreenaru finishama slinah – Demonic for “You feel incredible”

Dreenaru gina slinah – Demonic for “You are incredible”

Frika – Demonic for “fuck”

Haute – Royal shahoulin demons

idummi – A bottom feeding demon from the deepest layer under the rift. They are aggressive and easily manipulated creatures with poisonous talons.

Krishnoe! – Demonic for “Silence!”

lilit – A demonic term for a succubus.

new moon – The time when a succubus grows into sexual maturity.

prolitare – Non-royal shahoulin demons.

Protector – The male in charge of protecting and caring for a succubus

rift – The division between earth and the nether-realm where demons reside. The rift is guarded by the Atal Warriors.

shahoulin – A breed of demon that lives at the top of the rift. They have unique powers to save and destroy life.

PROLOGUE

To my youngest daughter,

my sweet and smart Lily,

I bequeath to you our home in Louisiana

and all of my books to be added to your library.

Most importantly,

I deem that on the day of your 29th birthday

in the year of 2012,

that you will be put into the Protection of

the demon Telal Demuzi;

to be protected by,

to facilitate a relationship with,

and to mate and breed with.

This I so order on the 8th of May, 2010.

Signed, dated and ordered at the event of my death.

Sir Francis Jeremiah Bellum

May 8th, 2010

CHAPTER 1

“Go long!”

The football whizzed through the air like a bullet. The group sprinted into action, bodies slamming together, dodging left or right with grunts and laughs.

Lily Bellum sprinted down the makeshift field, Draven only a few feet ahead of her. He turned back to her, his long silver hair blowing behind him, and grinned.

“Don't you do it!” she warned, pumping her legs faster.

His grin split into a shit-eating one and then he turned invisible.

“Fuck. Dammit, I said no powers!”

The football arched through the air slowly drifting down towards the other end of the field. Lily clamped her lips shut and bore through the burn in her muscles. No way was she letting him get that football.

The football stalled about six feet from the ground then moved in his invisible grasp. Now only a floating football ran furiously for the finish line. Lily narrowed her eyes on the floating football and quickly chanted in her mind.

Power surged inside her; warm like sun on her skin, and then her legs took her across the field at an unnatural speed. She closed in on the ball.

“I got you, you bastard.”

The ball stopped for a moment as if he'd turned back to look at her, and then raced off again with a boost of speed like he had NOS strapped to his back. Draven crossed the finish line and reappeared holding the ball and sporting a huge grin.

Lily glared at him and didn't stop running. His eyes widened at her. When she didn't stop charging towards him he took a step back holding his hands out in front of him.

“Now, Lily, it's just a ga—”

Lily slammed into him in a full-on tackle, catching him in the chest and planting his back into the dirt with a satisfying thump. She perched on top of him breathing hard but smiling like a fool.

She tore the football out of his hands as he dragged in wheezing breaths. “My birthday means I win.”

“No fair,” he gasped.

She smiled brightly and hopped off of him. “I stopped playing fair when you used powers.”

Shaking his head, he slowly lumbered to a stand. “You used magic, too. How else did you catch me?”

She ignored the question and merely cocked a brow. “My awesome leg strength of course.”

The rest of the crowd came forward. “Team Lily wins!” Half the team cheered while the other moaned.

“You won because I was on your team,” Willow said. Willow just had her baby the month before, a gorgeous baby girl whom she and Lyonis couldn't decide on a name for, and already her energy was coming back in full force. She had been the rowdiest of the bunch when they started the game. The fierce competitive gleam in her eyes still shone as she propped her hands on her hips.

“Time for presents,” Willow said.

The group milled around the buffet table that held an assortment of meats, cakes, alcohol and, of course, presents. Lily took her seat and ordered everyone to sit in a circle with her.

Chloe grabbed her present off the table first, a wicked grin on her face. Lily took it with a mixture of apprehension and glee. Her sister could be bad when she wanted to.

As Lyonis and Tyrian broke into an argument over fighting tactics, Lily tore into her present. She’d never been very patient with gifts. She’d always felt a certain amount of embarrassment opening gifts in front of others so she found it best just to tear into it and get it done with. She opened the gift and started laughing.

She held up the black lingerie for everyone to see complete with a bustier, garters, and black stockings. The best part was the lettering just underneath the bust which read “bite me” in cursive.

The half-demon, half-vampire Rayn leaned close to her with a sensual smile. “Any time you wish to try that on let me know, lilit.”

“I’ll try it on if you do.” His grin faltered then he started laughing. Turning to Chloe she said, “Why the ‘bite me?’ Not that I don’t appreciate its merit, of course.”

Chloe’s brow pinched forward. “Don’t demons bite or something?”

The crowd burst with laughter. “No darling, just vampires,” Tyrian said. Her sister blushed under her mate’s warm look and shrugged.

 “No worries, I love it. I’m sure he’ll still do some biting.”

The next box came from Willow and had a pair of boxing gloves—for fighting the demon, of course—and a snow globe of New Orleans, Louisiana; her favorite city. Draven gave her a dagger that looked so sharp she didn’t bother taking it out of the case lest she make a fool of herself. Not that she normally minded such a thing, but recently, she’d been on edge. Strange dreams, strange feelings which she didn’t know what to make of.

Lucinda, Draven’s new mate, gave her a beautifully made leather-bound book that nearly strained her muscles when she lifted it. Eyes lighting up, she opened the pages to find them blank with paper thicker than normal and painted a cream-color.

Lucinda smiled, pleased at her reaction. “A spell book for whatever you want to use it for. Your potion recipes, for instance. I hope you like it.” She’d changed much since she and Draven had gotten together. No longer did she wear suffocating gowns from the Victorian Age but now wore an array of shorts, skirts, tanks, and flip-flops. Still she spoke quietly in that reserved way—unless she was laughing, then the woman sounded like a horse. Lily thanked her from the bottom of her heart and went to the last gift from her dearest friend, Rosa el Blanco.

Her real name was Rosa Medina Delgado but as a powerful white witch she preferred the nickname “Rosa el Blanco” or Rosa the White. And when a woman was as powerful as she was, people would use whatever name she wanted. Her friend’s smile only barely lifted her chocolate-colored lips. Secretly, she’d never been jealous of Rosa; however, she didn’t mind openly telling Rosa how gorgeous she was. Rosa had skin the color of cream mixed with dark cocoa. Her long black hair and dark eyes only accentuated her Spanish ancestry.

Lily smiled as she opened the gift. Inside was a bracelet surrounded by velvet lining. Warmth and positive energy flowed from the bracelet. The aura around the bracelet radiated power and white magic. The band was silver and laden with different sized hoops that jingled as she lifted it out of the box. Red and green gems added a vibrant color to the otherwise unusual piece.

“What is this?”

Rosa’s cheeks flushed as everyone turned to her. In a strong voice, laced with rolling “r’s” and fluid letters, she said, “A true charm bracelet. I have bespelled it to help protect you from dark magic.”

From the corner of her eye, Lily watched her sister Chloe grimace and pressed a hand to her stomach. Lily knew that look, that response—she had a bad feeling. While Lily didn’t have the magic “feelings” that her sister did, she too felt an ominous presence.

“Why would I need that?” The feeling triggered thoughts of her recent dreams. Dreams of a strange, dark man centered on a throne, surrounded by an evil so potent, she woke up screaming in terror.

The corner of her lip lifted into a half-smile. “Just in case.”

Lily wanted to know more about the vague words but for the life of her she couldn’t think of the right questions to ask, so she left it alone. As everyone came to hug her and give her kisses, she put on a bright smile. The goodbyes came and went and soon so did her friends.

Lily sighed as silence greeted her. A breeze blew by making goose bumps pop up on her arms. She rubbed at them as she surveyed the damage. Her yard was a disaster. Silly string, streamers, and now wrapping paper littered her pretty little yard. She got to work cleaning it, putting away her gifts, before she finally went to her favorite place—her laboratory.

When Papa died, he left this house to her in his will. There had never been any doubt who’d get the house situated in one of the most magical cities in the world—New Orleans, Louisiana. While the house was actually several miles outside of the city in the more rural area, Lily just loved being here. Even without the house, she felt at home in Louisiana.

The house itself was Victorian-style with several acres of rich green grass, bushes, and wild flowers. Though, her sisters would argue that those “wild flowers” were really just weeds.

Lily made her way to the laboratory, which sat on the second floor secluded in the back of the house down a short hallway with only the single door on it. Her sisters laughed at her “laboratory” but Lily loved it; it was her second home inside her home.

She chuckled as she went inside and hit the lights. “And this is where the magic happens.”

The lab was a decent-sized space with tall wooden bookcases against the walls and three equally tall windows that let in plenty of sunlight. A large rectangular workbench in the middle was the focal point that instantly drew the eye of whoever entered.

She had a carpenter craft the bench specifically to her taste. The wood was dark mahogany, the four legs each carved with beautiful designs of English Ivy. The table’s undercarriage housed many of the goodies her cabinet space couldn’t fit including spells, exotic oils, grasses, woods, and furs.

She nibbled her lip as she set about creating a new flask—one for herself. She couldn’t help but feel like a cheat using her own goodies for herself, but it had to be done. The dreams had been growing steadier for months now, growing darker. In her whole life, she’d never had a dream that she couldn’t eventually interpret, that did or did not come true, but for months she’d been without an answer. Besides the potion made her feel good—really good. Tonight she would have none of those haunting nightmares. She cranked on the stove and started boiling purified water, lavender, and slowly added in honey and milk.

“Ah, what the hell.” She tossed in some crushed chamomile leaves, scullcap, and Linden flowers. Tonight she’d sleep like the dead.

And she needed to sleep good tonight, because tomorrow she was going to see a demon.

CHAPTER 2

The letter was worn from being gripped too many times, too tightly. Telal finished reading it with a grimace that had everything to do with one man who'd changed his life for the worse. Francis Bellum. Carefully, he folded the letter back up and put it in the thick envelope it came in.

Two knocks sounded at the door, and then his person guardsman came in. “It's time, Sir.” Decked out in full SWAT gear including a Kevlar vest, pistols, and something not typical—a silver blade, Kearnyn was anything but a normal officer. Formerly he worked as an Atal Warrior under Tyrian en Kulev, but when Telal met him he'd liked his intelligence and persuaded him to come work for him. It'd been one of his better investments.

Telal stood from his desk and met Kearnyn in the center of the room. He laid his hand on his shoulder and let his powers take them. The room around them dissolved like grains of fine sand sliding down through an hourglass. It took only a second, maybe two, and a new room materialized, each of the grains falling into place, forming Tyrian en Kulev's study.

The vampire commander stood at a tall arched window staring out into the evening sky. He turned as he materialized, one side of his mouth curled up.

“On time. I'm surprised.”

As Kearnyn went to stand against the wall, arms crossed, eyes forward, Telal took a seat in a high-backed chair by the massive stone fireplace. “I can manage to be on time if I wish.”

Tyrian took the seat next to him. Telal smirked at the green smudge on his pale cheek.

“Busy night?”

Tyrian's brow lifted in surprise, then he chuckled and wiped his thumb along the smudge. “We were at Lily's tonight.”

In an instant, his body tightened. Tyrian watched him with a hawk's eye as if he were trying to note his reaction to the succubus. It was of no matter to him, she meant nothing. Instead of replying, he simply made a grunting sound in his throat. Tyrian's lips pulled into a wider grin now.

“Since you're curious, I'll tell you about it.”

“I'm not—” he interjected.

“We went to Lily's home today to celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday.”

Well if that didn't just cut him off. He had to be wrong; that made no sense. He opened his mouth to ask, and then shut it. What did he care about her business? I don't. Fuck it, if he wanted to know he'd ask.

“Her birthday isn't for another month.” And he damned well knew, had been practically counting the days to that fool's birthday since her father sent him that will. His eyes flicked to the moon just starting to show outside. Its silver shade against the blue sky could almost he beautiful, if it didn't remind him of the new moon.

“Yes, well, apparently she wanted to celebrate it early.”

“Why?” Bloody hell, he shouldn't ask any more questions. He already knew that this woman would only hinder him; after all, that he'd worked towards, all the progress he'd made, now she would come into his life at the worst possible time. Soon he'd secure the rift and let his people, once again, travel above.

Tyrian shrugged a strong shoulder. “You'd have to ask Chloe, I'm sure she knows. I'm surprised she didn't invite you.” Tyrian peered at him with those questioning eyes, trying to find an answer that he'd never get.

An invitation. Telal almost cursed or laughed. The damned lilit had been sending him letter after letter for nearly eight months now. He could still remember the words as clearly as if he'd just read them.

You looked down at me with that frustrated scowl you always wear when you look at me, but then leaned down and kissed me.

It was impossible after reading that not to think about doing just that. Her lips were well made. Damn, even he knew that was a lie. They were much better than that. Shit, before he started idolizing her lips he shut the train of thought down like a bad leak.

“She's up to something,” he said.

Tyrian sighed. “The Bellums always are, I'm afraid.”

“Let's get onto business.” He didn't come here to talk about Lily or any of the foolish Bellum sisters. He had better things to do—like learn to knit.

Tyrian retrieved a piece of paper from his desk. He handed it to Telal. “This is what I need. Ten thousand of them.”

Telal raised an eyebrow. “You want them enspelled? That's new.” It also wasn't really something he specialized in. Manufacturing an array of weapons—yes. Enspelling them? Not so much.

“I know you can do it or at least know someone who can. I want them enspelled with electricity. One of my warriors had a run-in the other day with a few escaped idummi demons. They managed to completely disarm him, but something strange happened. It was storming and my warrior eventually managed to retrieve his sword and stab the demon. Lighting struck the demon and literally killed him in an instant.”

“Electrocution killed him?”

A nod. “If we can enspell these weapons to produce electricity then it could make for better weapons. What do you think?”

Telal's mouth flattened into a grimace as he thought it over. Was it possible?

“It'll cost.”

“Cost doesn't matter. I want it done. How long do you think it will take?”

Telal thought it over. “Two months tops.”

“Fantastic.” They shook hands on it.

As he was walking back to Kearnyn to transport them back to the office, Tyrian said something that brought his feet to a halt.

“You will take care of her during her new moon.” It wasn't a question.

He almost didn't answer. The whole situation was so ridiculous he could barely wrap his mind around it. What the hell had Frank Bellum been thinking? Leaving his youngest daughter to him as her Protector? It was madness.

He turned back to Tyrian, letting him see the anger in his eyes. “I will not be her Protector, and I will not sleep with her.”

For a moment, he thought Tyrian was going to laugh as his lips twitched, but then he flattened them and gave him a hard, deadpan stare. “You'll change your mind.”

This time Telal didn't deign to answer. Reaching out he grabbed Kearnyn's shoulder without so much as a goodbye and transported them back to his office. When they appeared, Kearnyn gave him a watchful stare.

“A succubi's new moon is a fantastic thing. My friend mated with one before her twenty-ninth year too. He said it was the wildest sex he'd ever had. She craved it.”

Telal marched to his desk and slammed the weapon's contract Tyrian had given him onto it, knocking over his pen holder. “Good for him.”

“You've never said. Why do you despise the woman? You always have a reason.”

Telal poured himself two fingers of aged Scotch and chugged it before answering. “She and her sisters summoned Karr, an ancient demon. Her foolish activities could have had dire consequences. Even Lyonis was killed by the beast.”

Kearnyn stood silent for several moments. “But they still managed to kill the demon, both of them, once and for all. And you saved the Alpha shapeshifter.”

A pounding formed in his temples, beating a hard staccato beat like it was trying drill a hole out of his head. “If I hadn't been there, he'd be dead. If they hadn't heeded my advice, Karr and the demon he'd summoned could easily be killing thousands at this very minute.”

Kearnyn made a thoughtful noise then strode forward pulling a piece of paper out of his back pocket. “I wasn't going to bother giving it to you since you hate getting them. But she wrote you again. It arrived this morning.” He tossed the small envelope on his desk then left the room.

Telal glared at the envelope. The paper she used looked fine but felt thick like parchment and the ink heavy. He knew it well.

“Damn,” he cursed. He went to his desk and dropped into his chair making it groan in protest.

He ignored the letter.

Opening up the paperwork he'd been working on earlier, he set to work on it. Several times his eyes darted back to the menacing four-by-five envelope, but he caught himself each time and went back to work. Hours later, he rolled his stiff neck and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. The clock on his desk showed it to be the early morning hours. He flexed his hand to work out the cramp that had knotted in his palm.

His eyes strayed to the letter again. “I'm not a bloody coward.” He snatched the letter up and viciously tore open the top. He flattened the small letter out on his desk and read.

Dearest Telal Demuzi; Demon Warlord,

I cordially invite you to my birthday party this Saturday at my home in Louisiana. Presents are not mandatory, but acceptable. Address information is below.

Hope to see you there!

Lily

The letter crumpled in his fist. He strode to the door that led to his bedroom and went inside, flicking on the lights as he went. As he hit the switch, his fireplace flared to life with crackling flames.

He stood before the fire and stared into the burning embers. And then he tossed the letter into it.