Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“You’re right. Anyway, in the dream, they were talking about how to hunt this demon and I know it’s probably just a dream and this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I want so badly for this to be a message from my mom. I want her to tell me what to do or, at the very least, to let me know that I’m doing okay.” Saying that out loud brings me relief. Xavier slides one arm underneath me and gently rolls me on top of him. “It’s silly, I know.”
“It’s not,” he tells me. “Everybody wants to know where they came from. I would say that’s normal. You were taken from your family before you got a chance to know them, so this would be the only way to communicate with your parents. I am sorry you will never get to know your parents. But I am certain they would be proud of you.”
“That shouldn’t make me so emotional,” I say with a laugh, blinking away the tears forming in the corners of my eye. “I wonder how they would feel about knowing I am married to a vampire.”
“They’d be very jealous,” he says, and slides his hands to the small of my back, fingers inching underneath the hem of the oversized T-shirt I wore to bed. He puts his lips to my neck. “When this is over, Wren, and it will be, let’s go back to Connecticut. I’m sure we can find some of your relatives somewhere or at the very least you could see where you lived before the Order kidnapped you.”
“You’ll come with me?”
“I would say I don’t want you going alone, but you seem to just do what you want anyway.”
“True, but come on,” I say with a smile on my face. “That’s just part of what you love about me, right?”
“Definitely part of it,” he says, and I feel his cock starts to get hard beneath me. Desire swells in me, taking over. Sex with Xavier is more than just physical. It transcends something and I never really understood it until now. He kisses me and slowly removes my clothes until I’m lying there, bare on the mattress beneath him. Being with him like this, completely naked and vulnerable yet knowing there is no one else in the entire world I trust more than him is a whole new level of connection I never thought I’d have.
He puts his mouth to my neck, fangs pressing against my skin. I turn my head as I reach up and take a tangle of his hair, pressing his face against me, offering both my body and blood to him. We kiss as I remove his pants, body desperate to feel him inside me. Usually, he will tease me, make me wait because somehow he has total control whereas I give in, wanting to be pleased now.
But tonight, he’s feeling the desperation just as much as I am.
“I wish you could stay,” I tell Leo, giving him one more hug before he gets in the car to leave. Hector is taking him back to Asheville today. I know it’s not a true goodbye, but having both my brothers here the last day or so has brought me more comfort than I thought it would.
“I’ll let you know what I find out,” Leo tells me, patting my back before releasing me. He says bye to Antonio and then he leaves. The door shuts behind him, casting the house in darkness yet again. Xavier and Theo have been in the office ever since I woke up, dealing with whatever political business they usually do.
“The hunters that have settled outside the city,” Antonio begins as we make our way to the kitchen. Alan is here making us a fancy authentic Italian meal.
“What about them?” I ask when he doesn’t elaborate.
“If they are any good they would have sensed the increase in demonic activity last night. Since they’re actually setting up to reside here, they’re not hyper-focused and tracking one monster.”
“You think they might end up in Charlotte?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
We sit at the table, looking through the stack of books that was left here from our last little research party.
“Xavier found out more about this Abigail Williams lady,” I tell Antonio. “She died in the late 1930s and it was rumored she was murdered by members of the congregation of her own church because they accused her of being a witch.”
Antonio thinks for a second and then rests his elbows on the table. “So this demon, Vaelric, sent a demon to the area, assessing bodies until he found one capable of using the demon’s powers to reanimate the dead.” He holds up his hand. “Let me back up. We weren’t one hundred percent sure why the demons were possessing the homeless. But the homeless were camping out on the grounds that used to be the home of the church.”