Page 67 of Ancient Magic

Chapter 13

The large antebellum house looked like it’d been plucked off a movie set. The central building was painted white with black shutters and had a wide porch with fluted columns. There were two wide wings with balconies that overlooked the carefully tended grounds and a shingled roof with brick chimneys that Skye would bet her last dime had never been used. Vampires and fire were never a good combo.

Stepping through the double doors, Skye halted in the center of the vast foyer. The impression of walking across a movie set was only intensified, she silently acknowledged, taking in the black-and-white tiled floor and the sweeping staircases that led upstairs. Overhead a crystal chandelier bathed the room in a soft white glow that reflected off the polished wood paneling.

Micha halted next to her, his expression tense, as if he were bracing himself for an attack.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” she assured him, her gaze lingering on the marble statue set in a shallow alcove. She suspected it was an original Greek sculpture. “It’s beautiful.”

“But?”

She held up her hands, trying to explain her reaction to the boringly perfect house without being rude. “It doesn’t seem like your style.”

“I hired someone to design and decorate it.” He shrugged. “I use the public area when I’m forced to deal with human authorities, and there are offices on the upper floors for my staff as well as cottages spread around the area for the servants who stay here full-time. Most of my employees live in New Orleans or Atlanta or Mobile to oversee my businesses.”

Skye smiled wryly. That made much more sense than Micha surrounding himself with this cheesy elegance. Of course, in her defense, she wasn’t accustomed to spending time with anyone who owned multiple homes, office buildings, clubs, casinos, restaurants, and who knew what else?

“So where do you live?” she asked.

“In the basement.”

“Seriously?” She stared into his painfully beautiful face, wondering if that was some sort of joke. First of all, basements in Louisiana were a disaster waiting to happen. Eventually any hole was going to fill with swamp water. And second, this male might not fit the stiff perfection of the house, but she couldn’t imagine him crouched in a dark, moldy basement.

He nodded toward one of the wide openings. “Follow me.”

Micha turned to stroll across the tiled floor, ignoring the female goblin who’d appeared on the upper landing and was glancing over the carved railing. Skye assumed the woman was one of Micha’s numerous assistants, but while she appeared mildly surprised that her employer had made a sudden appearance when he was supposed to be in New York City, she didn’t say a word. No doubt she was trained to stay in the background unless her services were required.

Skye’s lips twitched. She would have been pounding down the stairs demanding to know what the hell was going on and who was the strange woman and how long they were going to stay. Along with a hundred other questions.

Which was why she worked in a coffee shop where her insatiable curiosity was an asset.

Stepping into the dimly lit kitchen, she had a vague impression of French-style white cabinets and lots of stainless steel appliances before Micha led her into a pantry. More confused than ever, she reluctantly stepped into the cramped space and watched as the back shelves swung open. Ah. A hidden passage. Just like the Batcave.

Micha bent down to avoid knocking his head on the low doorframe and was swallowed by the thick shadows. Skye followed behind, her steps a lot more cautious. She could see better than most humans in the dark, but she didn’t have the vision of a demon or a vampire.

She was inching down what felt like a dirt ramp when Micha reached back to grasp her hand, as if belatedly realizing she couldn’t see through the gloom. The cool touch of his fingers not only guided her through the darkness, but it also offered a strange assurance that nothing bad could happen to her. A silent promise that she was safe.

Skye swallowed a sigh, trying to concentrate on the sensation that they were headed down to the center of the earth instead of shivers of pleasure at his touch. What was the point of dwelling on her intense awareness of Micha? It wasn’t like she had an overabundance of gorgeous, sexy, powerful males in her life. What woman wouldn’t want to strip him naked and lick him from head to toe? And lots of places in between.

It was much more unnerving to realize that every moment she spent in his company, he was stealing another chunk of her heart...

The treacherous thought was just forming when Micha hit a switch and a soft glow spread through the cavern that stretched in front of her. Skye’s lips parted as she released a soft gasp of shock.

The vast opening was carved stone with a flat bedrock floor and a coved ceiling that towered above them, but there was nothing natural about the space. It was all too smooth and polished, without a hint of mildew or decay. She closed her eyes, attempting to pinpoint the spell. It had to be powerful to create such a vast space and maintain it against the pressures of Mother Nature. There was nothing.

She opened her eyes to discover Micha watching her with an unnerving intensity.

“How’s this possible?”

His eyes glowed like molten gold as he stepped toward her. “My powers are intertwined with nature.”

“You?” She blinked, genuinely shocked. “You created these caverns?”

“Yes.” A slow smile curved his lips, revealing the tips of his fangs. Yum.

No, no, no. Not yum. She silently chided herself. She was alone with a dangerous predator. She shouldn’t be wondering if the rumors were true that those fangs could cause an orgasm with one bite. And if the bigger the fangs, the more pleasure they could give a partner. And if he’d ever fed from a woman’s inner thigh... A flush stained her cheeks.

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