I nodded, looking up into his face. “When Mags came to the cemetery after we buried my father’s body. She saved me from getting my ass chewed.” He looked off and I could almost see the wheels turning inside that handsome head of his. “Guardians stay with Keepers for how long?”

  My question surprised him; I could see it in his eyes as they met mine. “Always.”

  At first I was comforted by his answer, then I wondered where Mag’s Guardian was. Sighing, I moaned, “My face hurts.” Instantly he stepped closer to me as if it were instinct driving him. His hand gently angled my face up, and the closer his mouth got to my face the stronger my body remembered the effect his tongue had on me. Gripping his forearm, I licked my lips in anticipation as I felt my body get wet.

  He held my gaze, his mouth inches from mine. “We aren’t finished with our conversation, Molly. Since you are in pain it can wait. Are you ready?” I nodded, really beginning to feel the pain.

  Damon, recognizing my discomfort, wasted no more time going to work on my face and just like before it made me want to slam him down and ride him hard. The glass in my hand dropped to the floor as my arms went around his midsection. God, did he feel good against me. I was so damn horny I could scream, and I think I did a few times while he was licking the cuts that extended down to my neck. He moved restlessly against me as he worked the last few cuts around my mouth. When he started to move away I grabbed his head, pulling his mouth back down while forcing my tongue into his mouth. His arms were around me as the blanket now crumpled around our feet.

  He pulled me tighter against his body; he was hard and his need was screaming to me so loudly I could almost feel his desire as if it were my own. He wanted me bad and it was sexy as hell. Pushing him toward the bed, we fell backward onto the foot of it. He wasn’t getting away from me this time. I trailed my lips down his chest; his body was on fire and he tasted so good. Reaching down I shoved my hand into his pajama pants and took his enormous, velvet steel shaft in my hand and held his gaze with my naughty girl bedroom eyes as I began to stroke it. “Fuck.” He breathed out, the muscles in his abdomen shaking as he restrained his hips from jolting off of the bed.

  The next thing I knew he pulled me hard to his chest and held me completely still. “Keeping my promise to you is going to kill me, Molly.”

  Both of us breathing heavily, I began to regain my sanity. “Thank you,” I said mid-pant. As we lay together in my bed neither of us moved for a long time. Both of us were afraid it would lead to other things, and it would have.

  When things settled down I reached up to feel my face that no longer had large hideous gashes on it and let out a sight of relief. Damon kissed my head, and oddly, it felt normal. “Don’t trust my work?”

  Laughing I replied, “Your tongue is amaaaaazing! Are all Guardians able to do that?”

  “Why? Want to try out the others?”

  God, did he think I was that much of a slut? Dammit, now that he put the thought in my mind, I did wonder about them. It’s only natural. “No.”

  He laughed. “You were thinking about it.”

  “Only because you put the thought in my head.”

  “Well, you’re out of luck because it only works with the Keeper we are assigned to guarding. The saliva in my system is a narcotic designed for you. If you were to ever be severely injured or be in danger of getting an infection it dulls the pain by causing that side effect.” He yawned.

  “Some side effect,” I mumbled against his chest. “So you’ve never been able to try it before tonight?”

  “Nope. It was my first time, and damn—it was better than I ever expected it to be.”

  “Ha ha ha.” Then I wondered if he’d been serious. No, a man with talents like that certainly wasn’t born with it.

  “Before I crash you owe me an explanation” he grumbled.

  “About?” I played dumb.

  “Your injuries.”

  Feeling the nerves resurface I attempted to push them aside. “Oh sure. Like I was saying, I was alone in the asylum and I thought I was in this dimension, so when I heard someone asking for help I thought it was just someone confused and needing to cross over. I found out I was wrong real fast when it came at me with a mouth full of teeth. I got freaked out and ran, then these two crazy ass freaks came with flat faces and a dozen eyes. Their mouths were like those fish that eat people.”

  He flipped me over to peer into my face. “You had dremolds after you?”

  Lifting my eyebrows I answered, “If those crazy-eyed flat face things are dremolds, then yes.”

  “They aren’t easy to kill. How did you get away?”

  “I didn’t—I fell and got banged up in the ice. Levi showed up and got between me and them.” Damon froze above me. “He nearly killed one of them when it lunged at me. Then he brought me back to the cemetery and I asked him to explain himself. He told me he couldn’t, so I told him I never wanted to see him again and I left. End of story.”

  Chapter 10

  “I don’t run. And if you ever see me running you should start running too. Because something is probably chasing me. “ ~ E-card

  “Try, Molly,” Mags ground out between clenched teeth as we stood deep in the crypt. Patience wasn’t her strong suit.

  “I am trying. I just don’t see anything.” This was the eighth time I’d tried to close the stupid opening within the crypt and failed.

  “Try harder.” I did, focusing on what I hoped was the general vicinity of the opening. “I think I see something, yes.” I started forward, reaching out at something that was calling to me.

  Mags shoved me backwards. “You’re letting them in!” she shrieked.

  “What?” I opened my eyes to find that I had huge bruises on both my wrists. “Get out of here! You’re useless to me. I’ll do it myself.” Mags shoved me toward the exit and I went without hesitation.

  “Fine. Like I need this shit anyway.” As I exited the crypt I left the gate open for Mags and started down the hill to find Damon waiting on me.

  “Let’s go.” Rolling my eyes I began running. It seems I am a glutton for punishment.

  Twenty minutes into our run Damon shouted, “You’re too slow—you are going to need to push yourself if you’re ever going to maximize your ability.” Damon taunted me as he ran circles around me. Literally. I was doing my best to keep up a jog and he was actually circling me backwards. Ass.

  “I don’t run. Ever. I told you that last week,” I said, heaving and lifting a finger to signify that I needed a moment. Then I proceeded to bend over and let the nausea pass. I was proud of myself by the fact that I hadn’t thrown up this time. I’d vomited an hour into this dumbass daily running exercise for the last week and a half. I’d never owned a pair of running shoes in my life until now. Combat boots and Converse shoes had been my go to for the last ten years. Gulping in air like a drowning man out in the middle of the ocean, I finally understood how important breathing is to the system.

  “You’re weak, slow and pathetically far too unmotivated for my taste.” The mention of the word taste sent a jolt to my hoo-ha and I gave him a look that stopped him in his tracks. He shook his head. “You’re a bad girl, Molly Maddison.” He was right, I was. I was using his desire for me to distract him from making me work. I stood back up to my full height, which wasn’t very tall. I’m lucky to reach five foot five with boots on. “You’re just now figuring that out?” I laughed and took the bottle of water in his outstretched hand and chugged half of it down. Wiping my mouth, I tossed the bottle back to him, which he snatched right out of the air. “Look around you.” With my arms I motioned to the cemetery we were training in. “This is the place I’m most comfortable. What does that say about my mental state?”

  “It says that you are the perfect type for a Crypt Keeper. Now if we can only light a fire under your ass perhaps I can keep you alive past the age of thirty.” Damn, he had a lofty goal that was six whole years away. “Let’s work on your reflexes.” He picked up a couple large sticks he’d propped up on a nearby tree. He tossed me one and I caught it!

  Hooting, I shouted in glee, celebrating my small victory. Jewels applauded from a headstone she was perched on eating powdered doughnuts—my favorite—as she watched the Molly freak show. I’d been banned from eating anything good while I trained. It was so stupid. If I was in a movie a Crypt Keeper would have super powers and be able to eat anything and everything I wanted without a care for my health, strength or waistline. Mags trudged up the hill that was deserted except for us. She didn’t seem to still be upset with me. That was good, I guess.

  We were forced to train at night as to not be a spectacle to grieving families. I’d officially closed the funeral business last week and had donated all the equipment and supplies that we had onsite to the closet funeral parlor over in the next town. They were sending someone to pick them up later in the week.

  “How’s she doing?” Mags asked as she came to stand by Jewels.

  “Great!” Jewels smiled. Damon simply shook his head.

  “Thanks for the confidence boost, Jewels. All the negativity coming from this area—” I waved toward Damon, “is really started to piss me off.”

  “Good,” Mags croaked. “Use that anger, channel it inward and allow it to help you to tap into your abilities. We’d like to see whatcha got. I can’t keep up with two crypts for much longer. I’m doing a half-assed job with your crypt. Even though I’m blood and it recognizes me it doesn’t respond as well as it will to you. Time is running out, girl.” What did everyone want from me? I’d gone with her deep inside the crypt and tried to channel that voodoo shit and secure the invisible doorway every day for the last week. Despite her belief I had been trying. How was I expected to work with something I couldn’t even see? I would quit and go back to school, except that would mean I’d be killed shortly thereafter. She hobbled over to Damon and whispered something in his ear as they both stared at me. The sinister look on his face as well as the smug look on Mags’ had me a bit worried.

  Damon came toward me and all the tenderness in his face was gone, leaving me with a mean ass looking dude. He began to circle me then, and with a sharp strike to my ass with his stick he grunted, “Be ready.”

  “Ouch,” I shouted,. “You bastard—that hurt.”

  “That was a love tap, sweet cheeks.” Then he struck me again. Hard.

  This time I jumped. “Dammit! Stop that.” Taking my eyes off him for a split second I noticed that Mags had folded her arms across her chest and was smirking. “Bitch!” I shouted at her and meant it. Hate filled my veins. It was her side of the family that had me in this position. She no longer appeared like a sweet old woman to me and I wanted to tear her face off.

  The next thing I knew I was on the ground and pain was radiating from my side. Instinctively I crumpled into a ball to protect myself from further injury. “I’m the one you need to worry about, not Mags,” Damon growled as he towered over me, his stick broken in two on the ground beside me.

  Now I was pissed! The anger I’d fought to control through years of therapy now bubbled to the surface and I was spiraling out of control. At this moment the diagnoses of my intermittent anger disorder didn’t begin to describe my condition. “You fucking asshole!”

  He laughed. “That’s practically a compliment.” He kicked me in the same side that he’d just injured over and over again. Pain exploded deep inside me and I screamed out in agony; my cries for mercy did nothing to stop his assault on me. He kept laughing and taunted me.

  Through my tears something strange happened. I snapped. Rage filled my veins like never before, and instead of pushing it away I embraced it. The pain dulled until it was completely nonexistent. Everything slowed down as if in slow motion. I could see Damon’s foot coming back toward my side. Reaching out and grasping a piece of the broken stick, I reared back and rammed the sharp edge into his shin. Then roaring with a voice I didn’t know I possessed, I kicked up and off the ground to a standing position. Whirling around to face Damon whose leg was spurting blood around the wound I’d created with the stick, I smiled. His body began to grow, his eyes changing; however, this time it didn’t bother me in the slightest. I recognized him now for what he was, one of the Night Guards, and he was messing with the wrong Crypt Keeper. I didn’t have the same emotions that they had; I was destruction and I reveled in it.

  We circled each other, looking for weaknesses. I struck, flinging myself in the air, using my elbow to cut off oxygen to his lungs by jamming it into his throat. In response he punched me hard in my injured ribcage. I went down, but not before I kicked his injured shin and heard a loud crack. Smiling to myself, I kicked back up and was on my feet a second before he roundhouse-kicked me to the side of the head. It sent me flying face first into a large headstone. Damn, that hurt. Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs, I rolled to my side and managed to get to my feet just as a massive storm moved in. Levi was here and he was incensed with fury.

  Blood was pouring from my nose, and I lifted the hem of my shirt and wiped some of it away. Damon and Mags came to stand in front of me while Jewels huddled next to my side. “He’s really mad this time, Molly,” Jewels whispered into my ear. “I can’t stay here.”

  “You go.” I gave Jewels a one-armed hug. “Everything’s going to be just fine.” With my blessing she vanished.

  Lightning struck, lighting up the cemetery as Levi stood several yards from us. His fists were clenched by his side and he was shaking with rage. “You fools dare to spill her blood? None of you are worthy to set foot in her presence.” What the hell?

  “Levi!” I shouted over the thunder and tried to shoulder my way past Mags which I managed, but Damon was as solid as a brick wall. He wrapped an arm around me, preventing me from going to confront Levi. Anger spiked in my veins. Since childhood, I couldn’t stand any type of binding or confinement.

  Levi’s eyes blazed with fury; he understood that all too well. Lighting struck the large oak next to us. Damon picked me up with one arm just as Mags screamed, “Run,” and hauled ass out of the way as the aged oak crashed against the ground. Diving out of the way, the three of us hit the ground so hard my teeth chattered. Now I was the one full of rage. Damon helped Mags to her feet and I was thankful to see the old gal survived and seemed to be in one piece. He could have killed her. Being angry was one thing, but this was too much.

  “Levi!” I bellowed as I got to my feet in my strange new booming voice. “Stop it this instant!” He didn’t; he smiled and with a wave of his hand sent a large limb flying toward Damon knowing it would anger me further. Oh, he was going to get it. Damon grabbed it out of the air, impressing me and threw it behind him.

  Spying Levi off in the distance, I started running toward him, fists clenched.

  “Molly, wait!” Damon roared. I could feel the heat at my back and I knew he was on my heels. With the rain pelting down hard, the wind whipping around my face, I never took my eyes off of Levi and his eyes never left me. Both his hands lifted into the air and the ground shook, but I kept going until I slammed into his body like a battering ram. His arms went around me at the moment of impact; the force of it sent us both flying and slammed us onto the ground with me on top of him. Straddling him I let my rage go, pounding into him with my fists. He didn’t fight back, just took everything I was giving him. “You asshole! You could have killed us.” Then the tears began to flow. “How could you, Levi?” He caught my fist in his hands, and I realized that I’d probably broken his nose and blackened both his eyes and I hated it. “Honesty—you swore total and complete honesty. Always.” The rain continued to pour down on us as I sobbed.

  Levi kissed my bloody knuckles, pain evident on his face. “You are the only one I have ever been this way with. I didn’t think it was possible for someone like me.” He gave me a sad smile. “You are special M, and even though I was aware this day would come I’ll never regret what we had.”

  He was saying goodbye. No, how could he? He swore he would never leave me. Leaping off of him my heart began to race, my vision became blurry and for the first time since I was a child I was having a serious breakdown. I couldn’t help myself as I opened my mouth and screamed hysterically over and over again. Falling to my knees in the mud, I did something I swore I would never do again. I prayed for death.

  “Shhh, M.” Levi’s soothing voice reached my ears. “M, look at me.” Feeling utterly gutted, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. He held me tightly against his chest and the rain ceased. “You’re all right—you’re going to be all right. I’ve got you.”

  “You swore…” I sobbed. “You swore you’d never leave me.”

  “I won’t.” He lifted my face and showered it with kisses, just as he used to. “The world be damned. I’ll never let you go.” I held on to him just as I had all those years ago in that room in the asylum. He was nothing but a child but he’d comforted me like he was doing now. I didn’t care what the others thought of him; he was my dark hero and I wasn’t giving him up. Ever.

  ~~~

  Sometime later I began to feel more myself and shame set in. “Oh shit.” I looked around to see if I’d made a total spectacle of myself in front of Mags and Damon; neither one of them knew about my history, or if they did they certainly hadn’t seen it firsthand.

  “No one can see us,” Levi said while he lay on his side in the mud. How he looked completely natural anywhere had always fascinated me. I could see Damon and Mags along with so many other faces that I didn’t recognize pounding away at the air. “It’s an impenetrable wall,” Levi yawned. “They haven’t the strength or the power to as much as put a crack in it.”

  Rising to my feet I walked slowly toward the wall that I couldn’t see. It was fascinating. “How did you do that?” I asked as Levi joined me at my side.

  “It was nothing. We needed privacy so I created some.” He slid his hand in mine. “I would never allow you to be vulnerable out in the open.”

 

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