Page 99 of Magic of the Damned

“Just call my name, I’ll find you,” he told me. Yeah, because that’s not creepy at all.

Dominic’s lips furled into a sneer at the door. I couldn’t determine if Anand felt it or sensed it, but he turned back around. Their eyes locked. I couldn’t see what was going on between them. Anand’s lips pursed and the shake of his head was so imperceptible I questioned if it was my imagination. Dominic inhaled a deep breath, letting it ease out. Something substantial occurred during that exchange that was borne from knowing each other well and for a long time. No matter how minute, I hadn’t missed it. With the tension in the room eased, Anand left, giving me a quick look and a heavy sigh. The wariness in it was palpable.

“What do you want?” I asked Dominic. All the warmth had drained from my voice. I had reached my limits with his hot and cold, indecisive, mercurial ways.

His fingers slithered over a large worn black book with gold edges. Gilded embossed words were on the cover in a language I didn’t recognize.

“The Book of Umbra?” I asked.

He nodded. “It’s a last resort. I don’t know how many spells will be needed to undo the imprisonment. They will need to be stable and complementary to the others,” he pondered.

Sight of the orb, the knife with sigils on the blade, and the glass bottle of ink on the table made me uneasy. As a distraction, I picked up the book and flipped through it. It served no purpose other than to make things more confusing, since I didn’t understand the ominous-looking language. The sigils and strange markings in the book looked even more foreboding.

I turned when I felt the heat of his body behind me. He was close, too close. The smart thing was to put distance between us and stick with the single goal of getting the hell out of the underworld. He slipped the book from my hands and let it drop to the floor. Drawing me close, his fingers twined in my hair, his lips inches from mine, and the heat that radiated from him curled around me. His presence and touch were an intoxicating mix. It was impossible to deny his raw sexuality. The desire to see his entire body overwhelmed me. To feel his skin against mine and the masterful touch of his hands moving over me, caressing my skin in his dark, seductive way. I responded to his lips brushing lightly against me, his tongue teasing my lip with promise of more to come. The languid, commanding way his hand moved over me made it easy to forget about the previous days, but I forced them to the forefront. I wouldn’t let my libido make me ignore his earlier behavior; the indecision and frustration that came over him at his inability to take the easy option. He wanted to but couldn’t. Whatever kept him from doing it then may not exist in the future.

“No,” I said, pulling away from him. “I can’t do this. You’re confusing me.” Putting even more space between us, I crossed my arms over my chest.

“How?” he asked in a low and raspy breath.

“Have you dealt with a human woman before?” I asked, incredulous.

“I’ve dealt plenty with human women,” he said, the devilish note in his words teasing me. I wouldn’t be distracted by the salacious implications.

“I can’t speak for others, but this human woman can’t function with this volatility,” I admitted.

“That’s the problem, Luna,” he said. “Are you really human? You were chosen as a vessel for Dark Caster magic. I can’t help but wonder if your existence is solely to hold the magic. If that is the case, how much of you is actually human?”

The look he gave me earlier passed over his face. I was slipping in and out of categories and I didn’t like it.

“I saw the way you looked at me earlier and I hated it. You were wondering if you should take the easy way out and destroy what’s keeping you imprisoned. There was a struggle, and fortunately, I was on the winning side of it. This time. One moment, I feel safe around you, the next, I’m not so sure.”

“I’m not sure, either.”

Did he believe that response was praiseworthy? Helping this situation in any way? He won for worst response. I didn’t attempt to hide my thoughts.

“Dominic, I need more than that. Can I trust you?”

The long, contemplative silence was worrisome.

“Dominic?”

“You don’t understand how volatile the state of human existence and the maintenance of supernaturals’ good behavior is. You live in a bubble of protection because of machinations you can’t begin to understand. I doubt you truly know how close your kind is to being exterminated or forced into servitude.” He didn’t sound duly convinced of that last part. My kind. He wasn’t thoroughly convinced I was human. And now neither was I. A shadow of humanity and peculiar duality of both worlds.

“Sacrifices must be made to maintain it. No one is precluded from it. I know you want more, and I wish I could give more. The only thing I can promise you is that I will do all within my power to keep you alive because I value your life. Know that my power is immense.”

I didn’t need the humble brag, but the tension that was clouding my mind and making it difficult to breathe eased.

“To determine whether you are truly a vessel for the magic or you only exist to be a vessel of the magic, we need to take it.”

“Then take it. Take the magic out of me. I don’t need it and I don’t want it,” I blurted.

He moved to the window, his hands shoved in his pockets, his face pensive as he stared out into the grayness of the underworld. “Luna, I don’t think you quite understand what needs to be determined. How much of your existence is predicated on the magic that dwells in you? If the magic is removed, will you continue to exist?”

“Is that the reason you haven’t shared this with your father?” I asked, inching closer to him.

“No, it’s none of his concern. As far as I’m concerned, his imprisonment is the only positive thing that has come out of this. He should relinquish his position as lord of this underworld.”

“Why?”

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