Suck It by Linsey Hall
18
Mac
I stared at Ludovic, shocked. “You’re my father.”
“Indeed. And I was thinking too small with you before. Merely adding you to my collection would have been a waste of your talents.”
My head spun, and I couldn’t move.
Whoever had cursed me with a new memory had done me a kindness, that was for sure. I didn’t want to know this. Who would want to learn they came from such evil?
“You’re lying,” I said.
“I am not.” He held out a hand. “Touch and decide for yourself.”
I shuddered at the idea but forced myself forward. I didn’t want to touch him, but I couldn’t leave here without knowing if he was telling the truth.
It took every ounce of my strength to walk toward Ludovic, and I knew I wouldn’t survive another fight with him. The last hour had taken too much out of me, and it was all I could do to keep myself upright.
Drakon joined me, and I could feel his desire to drag me away from there. A quick glance at him confirmed it. His brow creased with concern, and his eyes darkened with worry. If he had his way, he’d throw me over his shoulder and get me out of here.
“I have to know,” I whispered.
He nodded, but stuck close to my side.
Revulsion shuddered over me as I stopped in front of Ludovic. Shaking slightly, I reached out to rest my fingertips on his palm. He was even more repulsive to me now that I knew we might somehow be related
It was probably screwed up to think that, but the horror of it was just more than my psyche could handle.
When the truth blasted into my head, I nearly stumbled.
He really was my father.
Fates. Sick to my stomach, I staggered backward. “I can’t believe it.”
He shrugged. “Believe it or not, it’s the truth.”
Ugh. “Did you erase my memory?”
“No. I don’t know who did that. Perhaps your mother.”
Damn it, I believed him. “Who was she?”
He pursed his lips, evil glinting in his eye. “You truly want to know, don’t you? Well, if you come with me….”
“Never.” I narrowed my gaze at him. This conversation had suddenly turned unproductive. Ludovic was just standing there, conversing with us. True, he was revealing information that I wanted to know.
But it was too good to be true, and my every instinct screamed that fact.
“Mac.” Drakon’s voice was low with warning, and I nodded.
“You’re stalling,” I said to Ludovic.
An annoyed grimace twisted his face, confirming it for me.
He was waiting for backup—either to escape or to kidnap me. Neither was an option.
We had to incapacitate him. Now.
But I was too weakened to attack him, but perhaps I didn’t need to do it physically.
Hell, my magic was nearly drained as well.
I stepped forward anyway, Drakon at my side. Ludovic lunged backward, thrusting out his hands to shoot a blast of magic at us. It slammed into Drakon and plowed him backward into the wall. He hit the bookshelf so hard that hundreds of volumes tumbled to the ground around him.
I drew my sword and swung, aiming for Ludovic’s neck.
He might be my father by blood, but I didn’t hesitate.
He was too fast. He flung out a hand and shot a blast of magic at my blade right before it collided with his body. The steel shot from my grip and slammed against the wall. Quick as a snake, Ludovic reached for me.
His strong grip closed around my arm, and a bright blue light flashed behind him.
A portal.
He smiled, relief in his eyes, and stepped backward into it, dragging me with him.
I resisted, trying to yank myself back. Panic flared. If I went with him, I’d never escape. I could feel it like I could feel his grip.
But the ether pulled, trying to force me in. A scream rose in my throat. Everything around me was blue, the portal pulling and pulling.
When Drakon’s arms wrapped around my waist and yanked me backward, hope exploded within me. Ludovic lost his grip on me, and Drakon and I tumbled onto the ground.
Aching, I looked up to see the blue portal disappear, taking Ludovic with it.
“Shit.” I staggered upright, gasping as I tried to hold my ribs together. Several had broken, no question. “He must have been waiting for that to appear.”
Drakon rose beside me and stared at the space where Ludovic had been, frustration on his face.
He hadn’t gotten his answers.
Ludovic had promised that he had information about how to cure Drakon. Now, we were screwed. Panic lit a fire in my chest.
I’d promised Drakon we’d find answers. And now we were standing here, empty-handed.
“There has to be information here somewhere.” I started toward the desk, driven by desire to find something. It gave me strength, helping my pain fade into the background. “The information can’t be all in his head. I mean, look at this place.”
Thousands of books lined the shelves, and this wasn’t the only room full of them. There would be answers here. About him. About me.
There had to be.
Desperation surged through me, wild and fierce.
“Mac, we need to get out of here.” Concern echoed in Drakon’s voice. “The last place that contained information important to Ludovic went up in flames within minutes.”
Shit, he was right, and I could feel the spell sparking on the air. His departure had triggered it, and I sensed the danger like I’d sensed it back at the rodeo.
“I’m staying until it goes.” I rifled through the papers on the desk, desperate. “Genevieve!”
The little badger appeared at my side, and I spoke without looking at her. “Look for any kind of papers or books relating to the first vampire.”
“Or relating to Mac or the Arcane Order,” Drakon said.
On it.
She scampered away.
Frantic, I rifled through the papers and leather-bound volumes. There was information here. I could feel it. There had to be.
When flames appeared at the edges of the room, my stomach dropped. Magic sparked, driving the fire up the walls.
“It’s moving fast,” Drakon said, searching the papers on a side table as orange flames climbed up the velvet curtains. “We need to go.”
“Just a moment more.” Frantic, I turned to the table behind the desk.
The walls were entirely covered in flame, the heat almost unbearable. I knew I should leave, but I hadn’t found what we needed.
I couldn’t lose Drakon.
As smoke filled the room and my lungs burned, I kept searching. The fire was so bright and hot that it burned my eyes, making them water so badly I could hardly see. We stood in the middle of an inferno, death rolling toward us with fiery breath.
“Mac.” Drakon’s voice sounded from behind me as his hand gripped my arm.
“No!” I reached for a volume at the edge of the desk, my heart racing. It called to me, so strongly that I tore away from Drakon’s grasp and lunged for the book.
My hand closed over it just as Drakon gripped my arm again. The ether pulled us in, right before the entire room exploded in a blaze of fire.
A moment later, we tumbled to the ground outside the building. Drakon hadn’t taken us far. As I stared at the house, it went up in flames.
I flinched backward, covering my face with my arm as I tried to cough the smoke from my lungs. I still gripped the book, which I hadn’t had a chance to look at.
“Genevieve!” I shouted, worry twisting inside me.
She appeared at my side, her tail singed, and the white parts of her fur blackened. She held a few lose pieces of paper in her little paws. This was all I could find.
As the house burned in front of us, I took them from her with my free hand. “Thanks. Do you know if the shifters escaped?”
They did. We’re the only ones left.
“Then let’s get out of here.” I turned to Drakon, who stared at the house with regret on his face.
He nodded and stood, helping me to my feet. Still clutching the slim book and the papers, I let Drakon wrap me in his arms.
The ether sucked us in and spun us through space, spitting us out in the courtyard in front of my tower. Gratefully, I sucked the cool, fresh air into my lungs.
Drakon released me, stepping back.
I looked down at the book, my eyes widening.
In gold script, two short words were impressed into the leather binding—The First.
“Look.” I shoved it toward him. “I think that means you.”
He stared down at it. “I—”
“Take it.” Hope flared in my chest. “Maybe there will be answers there. Maybe even a cure.”
He took the book, his eyes meeting mine. “How did you know to take this one?”
“Just felt it.” I shrugged. “I seem to do that a lot lately.” I looked down at the little collection of papers that Genevieve had saved for me. Hopefully, answers would be in there, as well.
“Mac.” Drakon’s voice was rough, whether from smoke or emotion, I couldn’t tell. When I looked up at him, the intensity in his gaze nearly made me flinch.
No one had ever looked at me like that—with fear and longing and even a little bit of anger. As if he couldn’t decide what to do about me, and it bothered the hell out of him.
But he definitely wanted me.
“Drakon.” My breath caught at the tension filling the air between us.
We’d nearly died.
The intensity of it made my blood race and my skin heat.
As if unable to help himself, Drakon yanked me close and pressed his lips to mine, a kiss of longing and desire, gratitude and anger.
We were inextricably tied together in a way that threatened both of our lives, and yet we still wanted each other.
Longed for each other.
Too soon, he pulled away. With one last look, he disappeared.
“Oh fates.” I looked up at the sky, at a loss for words.
Drakon
I left Mac before I did anything I would regret. I wanted her more than I wanted air, and I was too close to throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her inside.
We’d been through too much today, and she needed to heal. She’d barely been able to walk. I should have escorted her into her tower, but I hadn’t trusted myself.
And I needed to look at this damned book. I clutched the slim leather volume as I strode into my castle. Unable to help myself, I went to the room where the eerie statue of myself sat upon my chair.
My heart thundered as I found a seat in front of the ever-blazing fire and opened the book.
If this really was about me….
I couldn’t bear to hope.
Quickly, I flipped through the pages. The first thing I spotted was a reference to werewolves.
Werewolves?
Damn it, that wasn’t what I was looking for.
I went farther.
Pixies.
Gremlins.
As I scanned the text, I realized that it spoke about the first of each species.
Hope returned.
Near the end of the book, I found it.
The first vampire.
Heart in my throat, I read. There wasn’t much that I didn’t know. Created of magic and blood by a god unknown. Immortal until he fell for his mate.
And cured only by her blood.
My heart thundered.
Cured only by her blood?
I scanned the text again, my heartbeat now so loud that it could have drowned out a jet engine.
There was only one way to cure me of the curse that had trapped my soul in granite—I needed to feed on my bride’s blood.
Daily.
Oh fates.
Horror and desire competed within me. I couldn't imagine a better fate than that. But could Mac?
No.
She would despise it. We’d be bound together forever, she and I linked at the hip because I required her blood to survive.
It would never work.
I couldn’t bear that weakness. If I had to drink from her every day, such an intimate act, I’d have no choice but to fall for her and lose my immortality.
It was unacceptable.
No doubt she would find it more than terrible. Bound to me for the rest of her life, giving up her blood to keep me whole. I’d seen the flash of betrayal in her eyes when the fortune teller had informed her of her far-distant past.
She’d recognized that I’d known something about it. I should never have kept that to myself, because now I had a lie to add to this very bad news.
I dropped my head back and stared up at the ceiling. This was why I’d been feeling better since she’d given me her blood.
It was curing me.
I looked toward the statue. The crack that had appeared in the head had extended all the way down to the chest. No doubt because the spell was now breaking.
Fates. I couldn’t tell Mac this. She would despise me for it.
I despised myself for it.
Mac
After Drakon left, I made my way into the tower. Pain echoed through every inch of my body as I staggered through the door. The scent of home rushed over me—the hearth and the herbal scent of Eve’s potions combined—and I drew in a deep, grateful breath.
My friends were gathered around the fireplace, sprawled on couches with a couple bottles of wine on the table between them. They sat up with eager eyes.
“Well?” Carrow asked.
“Success for the wolves.”
“And what about you?”
“I don’t know. Drakon might have answers about his curse. We found a book that might have a bit of info. As for me…” I looked down at the papers in my hand. “This is all we saved.”
“All you saved?” Eve asked.
I slouched on the couch, gratefully accepting the glass of water that Beatrix handed me and gulping it down. Genevieve trundled up on the couch next to me, refusing a glass of water but pointing to the bottle of wine on the table.
Carrow shot me a questioning look, and I nodded. “Go ahead, give it to her. We’ve had a long day.”
She poured Genevieve a little glass of wine, then a bigger one for me. I accepted it, moving it quickly away from Genevieve’s greedy grasp. “You’ve already had yours.”
She grinned toothily.
I sipped the wine, then told them the story of Ludovic, finishing with the fire, the heat of which still echoed in my memory. “There had to be so much information there. All of it lost.”
“But you got a little bit.” Beatrix nodded to the papers.
Quickly, I rifled through them and caught sight of words like Arcane Order, along with a few sketches. One was of a woman, and her face drew me.
“She looks like you,” Carrow murmured from over my shoulder.
I swallowed hard. “She must be my mother.”
“Do you know if she’s still alive?”
I shook my head. “No idea. Hopefully, she’s better than my father.”
I still couldn’t believe that bastard was related to me by blood. What a kick in the arse.
There was very little useful written about the Arcane Order—just a few bits here and there about membership. One address, which might come in handy.
And that picture of my true mother.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Carrow gripped my arm. “I promise.”
“Yeah.” I leaned my head back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Worry for Drakon, for myself, tugged at me. The aches and pains from the fight made me feel like I could sleep forever. Slowly, I stood. “I’m headed to bed.”
“Let me get you a healing potion.” Eve stood. “You look pretty rough.”
“Thanks.”
I dragged myself up the stairs, not even bothering with a shower. The tattered remains of my shirt nearly fell apart as I tugged it off, and it was clear I’d have to throw out every item of clothing I had on.
As I climbed into bed, Eve brought me the potion. I took it gratefully. “You’re a hero.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re the hero today.”
I felt a weak smile twist my face. “Not really. The shifters took care of themselves, and if we didn’t find a cure for Drakon, then…”
“You’ll find a cure.”
I nodded, trying to believe her, and threw back the potion. She left, and I let the magic work on my body, knitting back together the aching muscles and the burned skin.
Before turning off the light, I picked up the picture of my mother and looked at it.
She looked nothing like the false memory of the woman I’d thought was my mother. And yet, I had no recollection of her.
Was she as evil as my father?
I prayed not.
With a heavy heart, I set the picture on the nightstand and flopped onto my pillow.
Images of her and Drakon swirled through my mind as I tried to fall asleep, worry pulling at me.
When sleep took me, the thoughts transitioned to dreams so seamlessly that I wasn’t sure if I was still awake or asleep.
But suddenly, my mother stood in front of me. She was as tall as I was, dressed in a flowing green cloak. The fine lines on her face only served to emphasize her bone structure, making her more beautiful than if her skin had been flawless. Her pale hair was drawn up in a wispy knot, and her green eyes sparkled.
“Mother?” I hesitated, not approaching. “Is it you? Or are you just my imagination?”
“That is your power, MacKenna. I can be both.”
“Macbeth.” But I didn’t really care if she got it right. I wanted answers more. “What do you mean, it can be both?”
“Your magic is entirely of your mind, something never seen before in the history of the world. You are creation, and your magic is a gift to the world.”
“What does that even mean?”
Her form began to flicker. “You must find me, MacKenna. I’m relying on you. I need you.”
The intensity of her voice made me shiver. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“Find me. Use your gift.” Her image faded away.
I reached out for her, trying to grasp her, but she was gone before I could make contact.
A sob rose in my throat, shocked and despairing.
***
The next morning, I woke with memories of my mother flickering through my head. Had I really seen her?
Yes.
The truth screamed through me. Somehow, I’d found my way to her using just my mind.
Talk about some seriously crazy magic. And I still had no idea what kind of magic it was.
Unbidden, Drakon popped into my head. If there was anyone I wanted to talk to, it was him.
It should be my friends. They’d always had my back.
And yet, I wanted to see him. Wanted to confide in him. No matter how bad of an idea it seemed, I didn’t care.
Quickly, I scrambled out of bed and took the fastest shower in the history of the world. Genevieve was passed out on the couch, snoring loudly and aggressively. I left her to it as I headed out of the tower. I didn’t even bother with breakfast despite the fact that my stomach was rumbling.
I had one desire—see Drakon.
Fortunately, I also had a transport charm.
The sun beat down on me as I hurled it to the ground and stepped inside the silvery cloud. My heart raced as the ether sucked me in and spun me through space, taking me to the mountains of Romania where the wind whipped across the peaks.
Drakon’s castle rose in front of me, foreboding and austere. I wanted to push my way through the door, but I hesitated. That was dangerous. And rude.
Not that I cared much about rude right now. But I cared enough. Despite the fact that I was desperate to know if he had found a cure, I forced myself to pound on the door instead of barging inside.
It took ages for the door to swing open, and gratitude rushed through me when I saw that it was Drakon.
I wanted to throw my arms around him, but the expression on his face stopped me. It was cold and hard as granite, as if he’d already turned to stone.
“Drakon?”
“Mac. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to know if you found a cure in the book.” My heart thundered as I searched his face for any sign of softness. Not that I normally saw softness there, but I was hoping to at least see something besides blank nothingness.
“I did not.”
My heart plummeted, and my skin turned to ice. “What?”
I’d been sure there were answers in that book. I’d felt it as I’d reached out to the slender volume, my magic screaming that it contained what we needed.
“There were no answers,” he said. “It is done.”
“It can’t be.” I stepped forward, trying to enter. “Let me look at it. Surely I can find something.”
“There’s nothing, Mac.” His voice cut across me like a cold winter wind. “You should leave.”
“But—”
He started to shut the door, and I reached out a hand to stop it.
Something flickered in his eyes—hope, regret, longing—it was impossible to say. With a quick movement, he pulled me inside, sweeping me up into his arms to press a kiss to my lips. Connection bound us, infused with the kind of desperate energy that accompanied lovers about to be separated by war.
It made my pulse race and my heart sing even as I knew that this was it. The end of whatever we might have had. At least, from Drakon’s point of view.
I clung to him, unsurprised when he finally pried me away. Gently but forcefully, he set me on the front step.
“We won’t see each other again,” he said. “Goodbye, Mac.”
He began to shut the door, but I pressed a hand to it. The gesture was pointless. With my hand still pressed to the wood, I watched with horror as the door shut in my face.