Читать книгу Witch's Fury - Deborah LeBlanc - Страница 11

Chapter 3

Seeing the worry and pain in Gilly’s eyes over her missing sister felt like a dagger in Gavril’s heart. He would have done anything to remove the pain from her and make her world normal again.

The problem was no matter how hard the Benders had tried to help the triplets, their situation seemed to be getting worse than better. Yes, they’d managed to get rid of more than their share of Cartesians since they’d arrived in New Orleans. But that hadn’t stopped Ronan’s death, or the death of some of Viv’s Loup-Garous, Evee’s Nosferatu and Gilly’s Chenilles. It was as if all of the Cartesians ever created from centuries ago had zeroed in on this place and were bound and determined to take out every last Original, along with the Triad.

The Benders had traveled the world, fighting groups of Cartesians whenever they appeared to destroy a sect of the netherworld. From Africa to Alaska, England to New Zealand, they’d fought and won each battle they’d been confronted with. Never, however, had any of the Benders faced a situation like this. The more they battled, the worse things seemed to become, and for the life of him, Gavril couldn’t figure out why. Certainly it had something to do with the Cartesians discovering the Originals here, but usually, after a battle or two or three, they’d move on to easier territory. This definitely wasn’t the case here and now.

Now Gilly and Evee were standing in their hotel room, claiming Viv was missing. She’d told Evee she was coming to the hotel to talk to Nikoli, who knew nothing about the impromptu meeting, but regardless, Viv had never showed up.

Gavril saw the pain in Nikoli’s eyes and how quickly his expression went haggard. Viv had been paired with him. His job was to protect her and her Originals, and for all intents and purposes, judging by what he’d seen when Viv and Nikoli were together, it had taken on a whole new course. His cousin was in love with the woman who was now missing, and nothing short of death would stop him from finding her.

So far, all that had happened was the disappearance of all of Viv’s Loup-Garous, and now the woman he not only was supposed to protect, but cared for in a deeper way than they were allowed, was missing. Gavril could only imagine how deep the wounds were inside of him. Not only had Nikoli been the one to contact the family about Ronan’s death, recounting the tragic tale again and again to various family members, but now he had to deal with Viv’s disappearance. How much pain could a man bear without breaking? Gavril could only imagine, for if Gilly had been the one to go missing, he’d have already cracked wide open.

Everyone seemed frozen in place, unsure of what their next move should be. If by some horrid chance a Cartesian had gotten to Viv, they’d never find her. She’d be dead, hidden away in another dimension, just like Ronan. Only there’d be no family to contact, save for the Elders, as Viv’s entire family members were her sisters, who were already here.

As if reading his mind, Gilly said, “She’d not dead. I’d know it if she was. But she’s hurt.”

“What do you feel, either of you?” Gavril asked.

“Danger,” Evee said.

“Yes,” Gilly confirmed. “It’s all around her. I get the sense that she’s trapped somewhere and has to stay hidden to stay alive. Wherever she is, she was chased there, coerced there, hurt there. The Cartesians are waiting for her to come out of hiding in order to pounce on her again. They’re counting on her doing just that.”

“Viv’s too smart to let that happen,” Gavril said. “If she knows they’re waiting for her to come out of hiding, she’ll nest herself right where she is until we can get to her.”

“I know,” Gilly said. “But how long will that be? How hurt is she? She’s a prisoner for all intents and purposes. That’s no way to live—or die.”

“We’ll find her,” Gavril said. “It may be a good idea to start from the beginning. Nikoli, since feeding is over and all the Loups are missing, anyway, go to the north compound and see if Viv’s there. Evee and Lucien, you take the Bon Appétit Café first, and then the two of you head back to your house in case Viv doubled back and wound up being there. I’ll take Gilly and head for the St. Louis I Cemetery, just in case she decided to go there to help check on Gilly’s Chenilles. After that, if we don’t find her at the cemetery, then we’ll head to the Elders in case she went there, looking for help.”

“Not the Elders,” Gilly said adamantly. “I’m certain she wouldn’t be there, and telling them she’s missing will only freak them out even more.”

Gavril laid a hand on the small of Gilly’s back. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. Take her away from this place, from its dangers and heartaches. “We can’t leave any stone unturned. From what you’ve told me, news travels fast among the Circle of Sisters. With all of those witches in your group focused on this, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Elders already know she’s missing. They might even have a clue as to where she might be.”

“You’re giving them too much credit.”

“They’re Elders. We have to allow for all possibilities.”

Reluctantly, Gilly gave him a half-hearted nod. “Yeah, no stone unturned.”

With everyone assigned a location, they paired together, save for Nikoli, and parted ways, each seemingly carrying the weight of the world on his or her shoulders. They agreed to meet back at the hotel in an hour.

When Gavril and Gilly finally made it to the cemetery, Gavril stayed behind the locked gates, as instructed by Gilly, while she went inside. He hoped against hope she’d find some sign that Viv had been there. He’d never seen Gilly so distraught before, even after all they’d been through so far. He imagined, however, with the Triad being triplets, when one got lost and alone, all of them felt it. He’d heard twins and triplets often felt what their other siblings felt, and he assumed this was no different. Even during their occasional squabbles, it was easy to see how much the sisters adored one another.

By the time Gilly made it back to the cemetery gates, her cheeks were streaked with tears. As soon as she closed and locked the gates, she began to sob. “She’s not there. Hasn’t been anywhere near here, according to Patrick, her head Chenille. He came up to the gates to find out what I wanted. I hated to tell him because I didn’t want him worrying, but I had no choice.”

Then, out of nowhere, Gilly’s sobs grew louder, and she suddenly pressed a hand to Gavril’s chest. He stood fast, placing a hand over hers. Simply by touch he could feel the anger roiling through her. Not anger toward him, but the situation, for the loss of her sister.

Gavril didn’t budge when Gilly released her hand from his chest, turned and punched a light post. He knew all too well how she was feeling, since he’d just recently lost his Ronan, who’d been as close to him as a brother.

As Gilly sobbed, Gavril all but carried her to a side alley off Rampart Street so she could have the privacy he knew she needed to let go completely.

Once there, he pulled Gilly close, attempting to comfort her. She struggled against the gesture, evidently not wanting to give in to the over-the-top emotions she felt.

It didn’t take long for her to lose that battle, however. Before Gavril knew it, Gilly finally pressed herself against him and laid her head on his chest. He gently rubbed her back with a hand, whispering comforting words in her ear. “We’ll find her, I promise.”

Gavril had no idea who moved first, but suddenly his lips were locked with Gilly’s, and she was kissing him with the same fierceness she felt regarding Viv’s disappearance.

Gavril struggled to maintain control over the kiss, not wanting their intimacy to go further than it already had. He didn’t want her to hold regrets for something she did out of sheer emotional upheaval. But her kiss kept his head spinning, his body humming with a hunger he’d never felt before.

Obviously frustrated, and still in tears, Gilly took Gavril’s hands and brought them to her breasts. In that moment, it seemed she could have cared less whether the alley was dark or brightly lit. He felt she needed the pain inside of her to go somewhere else, and without question, he knew that the somewhere else was having Gavril deep inside her. He carried the same need for her.

As Gavril tried to hold her back, soothe her with his words, Gilly all but threw him down on a grass mound in the alley. She ripped his shirt open, and then her own. She pressed her breasts against his chest and Gavril groaned, quickly losing resolve.

He felt himself hard against her. She’d obviously felt it, too, because it seemed to make something in her mind click into overdrive. Gilly pressed a hand to his chest, yanked open his belt and unzipped his pants. Gavril opened his mouth to protest, but his body defied all he meant to say. He needed her as desperately as she needed him.

Meanwhile, Gilly worked her slacks and panties off with one hand and, without preamble, settled her wet, swollen self over his hardness.

With a groan, Gavril pulled her toward him, yet Gilly kept her hand on his chest and rode him like her life depended on it.

Gavril felt pain in his groin as he fought to maintain control, but the second Gilly flooded him with her hot, soaking juices, he exploded inside of her like a non-stop geyser that dared defy the laws of physics.

With both of them satiated for now, Gilly lay her head on his chest, and he cupped her head and pressed her closer. The fact that they were out in a public place crept into the edges of his mind, but for now he shoved the thought back. He needed to feel her this way. Needing him, satiated.

Finally, Gilly lifted her head and whispered, “We have to find her, Gavril. She’s part of me. If something happens to Viv, part of me will die, too. We have to find her.”

Aside from an ultra-explosive orgasm, there was nothing that could make a man go as flaccid as the words she’d just spoken.

Gilly rolled off Gavril, her cheeks suddenly red with embarrassment. She quickly pulled her shirt over her breasts and scurried back into her pants. “I—I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Gavril asked, although he suspected the reason.

“For...for acting like this. My sister’s missing, we have dead Originals with two sectors completely missing, and all I can think about is having sex with you.” She scrambled to her feet, her cheeks still bright pink.

Gavril zipped up his pants and closed his shirt over his chest. He couldn’t button it because Gilly had ripped every button from its hole when she’d wanted to get to his bare chest. This brought a gentle smile to his face. He got to his feet and reached for her. She took a step back from him, and the movement pierced his heart.

“Listen to me,” Gavril said. “You’re a wounded woman who needed something real and alive to keep your world in balance. Sex does that and quite well. Believe me, if I’d have thought there was any other intention, you wouldn’t have reached first base. I may be a guy, but I do have control over my senses and anything below my belt.”

“Oh, that you do,” Gilly said shyly.

“I wanted you, Gilly, from the first moment I saw you. Not just to have sex with you, but the whole of you. Your spitfire attitude, your willingness to say what’s on your mind, even if it involves an expletive or two. Your loyalty to your Originals and to your sisters. Even the way you carry yourself and the way you look. Your pixie cut, beautiful eyes, your tiny nose. It’s all of you, Gilly. All of you.”

Gilly stood staring at him silently, and for a moment, Gavril feared he had revealed too much too fast. There was no question in his mind that he’d fallen hard for this woman, but she’d yet to voice how she felt about him. Sex was one thing. Feeling another. Matters of the heart went much further, much deeper than sex. He resented the fact that the Elders had lit into the Triad about having relations with the Benders, but he understood. Every group had their rules. Even Benders. While on a mission they were to keep one head in their pants and the other on the task they’d been assigned. So far they’d blown that one out of the water big-time. The last thing he felt about that, however, was regret.

Letting out a deep breath, Gilly said, “We need to head out. It’s a decent hike back to the Elders. We’ll probably wind up back at the hotel a bit early, but if Evee shows up first, I don’t want her worrying about where I am, as well.”

Feeling a stabbing pain in his heart that Gilly hadn’t even acknowledged all he’d shared with her, Gavril simply nodded, and both of them headed back to the Monteleone.

By now the trolleys were running, and it would have been easier to hop one and take it down to Canal Street, which crossed Royal, where the hotel was located. But Gavril hoped the walk might give Gilly time to absorb all he’d said and respond in some way.

They’d just crossed Iberville and took a right on Royal, when out of the blue, Gilly reached for Gavril’s hand and held it tightly. His heart soared. Her palms were sweaty, so he knew that she was nervous. She probably had no idea how to respond. Although she might not have had the words to respond to him, her taking his hand said more to Gavril than a thousand words would have. Even better, seconds after taking hold of his hand, Gilly moved closer to him. To anyone watching, the two of them must have looked like a couple in love, enjoying each other’s company. But sometimes words weren’t necessary. Actions spoke more openly and loudly than a thousand syllables strung together.

When they finally reached the hotel and entered, Gilly let go of Gavril’s hand and headed to the bank of elevators.

Gavril silently followed, unable to take his eyes off her. He’d known many women in his life, but none so beautiful inside and out as Gilly François. He tried to harden his heart and mind to keep things in perspective, but neither would harden. If only she’d say something about how she felt, aside from holding his hand, he’d be more certain of the direction to head in with her.

Gavril knew of the Triad curse, which mandated that they not marry a human or live intimately with one. Like he needed something else to add to his ever-growing list of things to do—protect the safe zone of the Chenilles, find the missing ones before they attacked humans. And now, everything they’d been working so hard for came to a screeching halt because Viv was missing, and she was a priority. This was something Gavril completely understood.

But somewhere in the middle of fixing this, fighting that, he set it in his mind to find out a way to break the curse that bound the Triad, even if he had to visit their Elders himself. Surely there had to be a loophole; all laws had them. He assumed curses were the same. No one, not even a witch, could remember everything that might cover generations of Triads to follow. Not as far back as the 1500s.

Times and situations changed over the years. Unless the Elders who’d issued the curse were able to see far into the future, they had been only dealing with then, with the times, situations and customs that affected that time period. He seriously doubted they had seen so far into the future. Maybe they had only assumed that the curse they’d set upon the first Triad would hold forever. Or maybe not.

Gavril thought of the Elders who watched over the Triad now. They were like mother hens to those three women. Even in anger, he couldn’t see them implementing a curse that had no end, with no out clause. Anger was indeed anger, and punishment was punishment, but didn’t love trump them all? Surely the original Elders had felt some sort of compassion for the first Triad and left a door open that no one had found yet.

Yet. That was the key word.

Once that curse was broken, and if he ever got Gilly to speak her mind as far as he was concerned, his intent was to have her for the rest of her life. Having traveled the world many times over, Gavril had yet to meet anyone as unique, smart, caring and beautiful as Gilly. A man didn’t place the largest diamond found in any mine on a shelf, and then leave, hoping it might still be there once he returned. Gilly was his rough-cut diamond, and if it took his entire lifetime, he’d look for a loophole in the curse for the simple purpose of making her his own.

These were words Gavril kept to himself; if Gilly heard them, she’d take off running like a wild rabbit, thinking him mad. What business did a human, who had no concept of the magic they generated, have in messing in witches’ business?

And she’d have been right.

But the one thing he did do well was investigate. He’d developed his investigation skills over the years while hunting Cartesians. If somehow he had the chance to read the document that sealed the Triad curse, he’d pick it apart until he found a loophole that worked for them. They’d be free at last, something he knew the Triad had never experienced before.

He wanted, more than anything, to be Gilly’s hero.