Page 66 of Taken By the Vampires
It was pure, boundless, joyful. It expanded into me, through me, around me. It was true, what Mom had said. This was a true gift of exceptional magnitude. Fate didn’t bestow this lightly, or flippantly. Nor did it hand it out to just anyone.
This love. This bond. This connection was written many, many years before I even existed.
My soul wept with joy and staggering humility. A cocoon of warmth and protection surrounded me. Three presences pressed upon me, and I let my gratitude and love flow back between us.
Our connection trembled and grew. Power, like an electrical current, shot through us. My understanding of myself stretched, expanded and broke into a new reality. A bubble bursting from a gray world into one of technicolor.
I was more than I ever thought I was. I had…powers. I was…strong. The magic of three centuries of repression blasted through me. Everything I’d read in the Grimoire coalescing into meaning.
I knew what to do. How to summon, control and handle the magic. It merged to become an integral part of me. A part that was kept separate by an evil curse from an evil ancestor built on hate and left to fester and fester and fester.
The magical power of the Vampires mixed with my magic, combining, twisting, changing, merging and becoming somethingmore. They, in turn, received the magic of my bloodline. It merged with theirs, infusing and changing and growing.
Together, we became somethingmore.
The white light dimmed, reducing and regressing into shadows and forms. My awareness became heavy as I came back into my body. I mourned the loss of the awareness and absolute certainty of everything, but what I brought back with me with me could never be mistaken as anything other than the precious gift it was.
The four of us. All that we were. All-out powers, needs, wants, desires and love. One soul.
I was still separate. Still Ella. My thoughts and emotions were still mine. The essence of who I was, unchanged.
But now I was part human. Part Vampire. Part Witch. Part Magic.
And fully pissed-off.
The townspeople rushed us, yelling and screaming, noise echoing off the walls of the foyer. They streamed past the Trinity, who stepped away, not wanting to dirty their hands with the violence that they caused.
I held my palm towards them, summoning the power that should have always been mine by birthright. “Stop.”
As one, the hoard came to a halt. Their weapons clanged to the floor. They weren’t really weapons, just shovels and pitchforks and crowbars. They looked at us in confusion, as though not understanding where they were or what they did.
I turned to Xander, Cassius and Davon. Their eyes burned deep crimson as they were brought back into their power. Their skin shimmered in full health. Davon held up his fully formed hands. Their eyes were focused on me and I shivered with the raw need and desire mirrored there.
“You have saved us Ella,” Xander said. His voice was changed too. Deeper. More powerful. His words came to me as his emotions touched me. I gasped with their intensity and depth. I became lost in his fierce gaze. Lost and heated and itchy, like I wanted to divest myself of my clothing and let him have his very, very wicked way with me. His mouth twitched, pursing with a quick smile. He knew exactly what I felt.
Davon cupped my chin. Warmth and light like a spring day flowed through me as I was captured in his emotions. “You are our miracle.” He kissed me, not a hard kiss or a kiss that would lead to sex, but a kiss of thankfulness, honor and awe. I knew because I felt that way about him as well.
Cassius took me from Davon and emotions tinted with spice and a twist of sardonic humor washed through me. “You have broken the curse. You are, indeed, a miracle.”
Cassius wrapped his arms about me and kissed the top of my head. I tucked my face against his chest and inhaled, drinking in his delicious scent.
“Was there any doubt?” A burst of – something – was broadcast. “Okay. Maybe don’t answer that, but I did come back for you. I would never have left you. Never.” I lifted my face to look at them all. “You have to believe me.”
Xander twisted a lock of my hair around his finger, letting it slide through his fingers as though mesmerized. “We did not doubt because we knew from the start that you are our mate. We trusted in that higher power and gave you the time you needed to understand it yourself.”
“But Davon nearly died. You all could have died!” I hated that I’d put him through that. Hated I’d put them through any turmoil at all.
“We didn’t. You came in time. We knew you would,” Davon said with a certainty I didn’t feel.
“Besides, Davon always likes to put himself in danger. He told you the story of how he became a vampire in the first place. Not known for making the best choices is our Davon,” Cassius said.
“What are you doing, just standing there? Get them. End them. They are the devil’s work. Abominations. Unholy beings. A scourge upon the Earth.” As Jeremiah spoke, spittle landed on his chin.
A murmured ran through the crowd and every muscle in my body tensed as a ripple of hate ran over the crowd.
Chapter Forty Six
As one, we turned to face him. I had to look twice. The Trinity seemed somehow smaller than normal. His words lacked the natural resonance that was usually behind them.
