Roman could feel Brann's powerful wards as he stopped the expensive sports car at the gate and waited for the heavy wrought iron to swing open or remain closed, either granting or denying him access to Syndelle. He didn't doubt Brann had argued they remain closed. Once, centuries ago, he and Brann would have been mortal enemies. They would have killed each other on sight. But time and magic and death had changed them both just as it had changed the world they lived in. Now they were neither friends nor enemies. They were merely wary of each other, unsure of the true extent of the other's powers.
He'd lived too long to be surprised anymore by the strange twisting path the magic governing the lives of the supernaturals took. That Syndelle, Sabin's daughter, was now mated to Brann was yet another twist in a road leading to a destination that could never be determined.
Roman laughed softly. Perhaps that was why he surrounded himself with his lushly figured human sheep. Their bodies offered a simple pleasure and their minds were easy to control though he rarely bothered.
Against his skin the wards changed in the instant before the gates swung open. He drove forward, moving along the sweeping, curved driveway of Brann's most heavily guarded estate, wondering idly if Brann intended to settle in Las Vegas now that he'd taken a companion and become an Angelini's mate.
Roman parked the car and got out. He wasn't surprised when the front door opened and only Brann was present. For a long moment they stared at one another, their power brushing like two large, dangerous predators sizing each other up.
"Enter," Brann said, the word almost a growl.
Roman nodded his head and stepped through the doorway. His heart pounded with anticipation while his body prayed Syndelle held the answer, as her father had told him she might.
Once he'd been a beast, created to kill and guard. Deep inside him that beast still lived though it had been centuries since he could take its shape. Now the beast wanted a mate. It demanded a mate.
Roman wasn't sure whether any still lived who would satisfy the beast. He feared the beast's rage at being denied not only a form but a mate might drive him to cross the line and break the rules governing the supernaturals. If that happened then he would become one of those hunted by the Angelini.
I see you are well, small princess, he said, using the link he shared with Syndelle's father, along with Sabin's nickname for her, as he greeted her.
She laughed and moved toward him. But before she reached him Roman's heart beat with sudden alarm. His body tightened with the need to fight even as his mind struggled to understand what was different about her, why her presence struck at his core when it hadn't the last time he saw her. Syndelle's gentle smile and soft eyes helped him fight the beast's instinctive urge to back away from her, to prepare itself against attack and retribution.
He drew a sharp breath as between one heartbeat and the next he knew her for what she was. He knew why the beast was reacting so violently to her.
She was filled with the old magic, with the ancient power from which all vampires once drew life during a long ago time when they roamed both the day and the night. It was a magic from the time before Brallin and the other supernaturals banded together and weakened it, banished it-when they'd hunted down and killed the most powerful of the vampires before turning the rest into creatures who could no longer bear the touch of the sun's rays.
Roman could feel the ancient magic swelling around her, tasting him, recognizing who and what he was, what he had been. Korak. Brallin's creation. Brallin's beast-until the mage's death changed the magic, and the blood Roman had consumed over the centuries as a killer of vampires had turned him into the very thing he'd once hunted.
Syndelle's touch on his hand drew his eyes to hers. And he, who had never been trapped by another's gaze, could not look away from the sky-blue eyes. They were Sabin's eyes and yet the cold, eternal flame of a vampire didn't flicker in their depths as it did in her father's. Instead Roman saw a black abyss, vast and filled with a silence so complete it was everything and nothing, a beginning and an ending.
The wild creation magic of the vampire roared through Syndelle. It pulsed through her veins so quickly her heart raced to catch up. The wolf that lived inside her without form stirred from its slumber, alert, wary, cautious-as was Syndelle in the presence of the ancient power and this vampire who had been created from a beast, not a man.
Brann's memories of what Roman had once been were tempered by Syndelle's vampire father's memories. Ancient memories of Rome and the day when Sabin had been drawn by the smell of blood to find a battleground littered with the carnage of war. Like him, other vampires had been drawn to the area, feasting on the blood as though they'd been invited to a banquet.
But it was Sabin who'd found the man known then by the name of Gaius Cicero, had felt the presence of vampire magic around him and not knowing who he was, had pulled the sword from Roman's chest, saving him from the screaming, agonizing death that would have greeted him with the dawn. It was Sabin who'd cemented their friendship for all eternity by standing with Roman against the other vampires when they would have vented their hatred and destroyed him.
It was upon those feelings of trust and friendship that Syndelle called, riding the wild magic and bringing it under control. The wolf joined with her, strengthened her will with its own, reinforcing her resolve that there would be no return to the old days, the old ways, when earth was both a playground and a battleground for the supernaturals, and humans were nothing but amusing toys and plentiful prey.
"I thought it would be safer if we did this in a circle," Syndelle said, turning her head and releasing Roman from the probing, ancient forces.
He smiled slightly, looking down at where her fingers still rested on his, soft and gentle, calming. The beast deep inside him was still wary and cautious, and yet even it could feel Sabin's stamp on this daughter. And like him, it could feel the courage and honor at her core, her heritage as one of the Coronado Angelini.
"I put my life in your hands, small princess," he said, laughing when she ducked her head in a gesture that both acknowledged the truth of his statement and conveyed she did not seek dominion over him.
She stepped away from him and he could see the heavily warded still-open circle, the golden threads of the symbols visible to his inner eye. And despite his resolve, his trust, Roman's heart jumped at the sight of them and the beast tensed at the idea of willingly touching the ancient magic again.
Syndelle moved to her mates. She sensed their uneasiness, their desire to be in the circle with her instead of trapped outside, helpless to aid her. It will be okay, she said yet again, kissing Rafe first and then Brann. And when Roman leaves, we can go out to the garden and make love.
She returned to the circle, entering it first. A blush washed over her cheeks as she said, "It might be wise if you left your clothes on the couch."
"Syndelle," Brann growled.
Roman laughed and teased, "I see why you created the circle now. Perhaps it would have been wiser to close it around us before asking me to strip."
Still, he quickly shed his clothing, and Syndelle's eyes lingered over him in feminine appreciation. His blond hair was as richly colored as Rafe's though Roman wore it short. His blue eyes were beautiful. They danced with amusement and masculine pride, along with the knowledge that he recognized her approval of his tanned, muscled body. He was every bit as gorgeous and well endowed as her own mates.
"Syndelle," Brann growled again as Rafe snickered, flopping in feigned casualness on a chair.
Roman stepped into the circle and took a position on the cushions Syndelle had placed on the floor for him. The sight of them reminded him of his life in Rome, of the days when Caesar still lived and Rome's armies destroyed anything in their path.
With graceful movements Syndelle traced symbols in the air and the circle closed to form a cage for both of them. Roman's heart raced, this time with anticipation.
The beast inside him paced with eagerness. It believed fully that if any could help it find a mate, it was this Angelini.
The being that was vampire hoped for something else entirely from this woman who was vampire myth made into reality. She was the Masada, the foundation on which the old magic would return and build. She was the one whose body was a chalice, whose blood was the elixir that could allow a vampire to walk in the sunlight.
Syndelle took Roman's hand. She turned it so the palm faced upward, contemplating it as she centered herself before allowing any of the magic to be set free, to ripple across the future and change the shape of it forever.
Her mind touched Roman's along the pathway he shared with her father. The wolf pressed against her skin, reaching for the beast that lived inside Roman, recoiling at the sight of it even as it was fascinated by the eagle's head and wings attached to a massive lion's body. Gryphon.
The wolf's thoughts melded with Syndelle's. Such a creature belonged in ancient times, in myths. And as if sensing the judgment, the beast crouched, pressed against Roman's skin as if gathering itself to fight to the death.
Before it could attack Syndelle bit down on her lip sharply, bloodying it. Then she pressed her mouth to Roman's in a kiss that would give even as it took away.
The rush of power was unlike anything Roman had known. It roared through him and savagely altered his form. Bone and muscle yielded to free a shape he had not taken for centuries. The gryphon shimmered into existence for one precious second before the old magic banished it forever in a roar of anguish and victory.
A huge male lion stood where Roman had been. Its tawny coat gleamed for an instant. Its long canines glistened as it crouched.
Then fur changed to feathers. Body mass compressed to leave a golden eagle perched on the pillows. It flapped its wings and lifted into the air, sharp talons and beak gleaming as its scream of victorious release filled the room.
For long moments it hovered. The wind generated by its wings made Syndelle's hair whirl and dance around her head until finally the eagle dropped back to the floor and relinquished its form to that of a man.
Syndelle rose to her feet. She was drained from wielding the old magic, from controlling the form it would take and limiting it to what she believed was the correct path.
Roman rose with her. His eyes shone with tears. Small princess...
She touched her hand to his once again. If you are truly ready to give up your human sheep, then you will find your mate among the Renaldi Angelini. From the very beginning they have taken shapeshifters as mates. Though most have been wolves, their line also has traces of both lion and eagle. A small frown formed between her eyebrows. Unlike the Coronado, the Renaldi have not looked favorably on the taking of vampires as mates. But there is at least one among them not like the others. Estelle. Both of her mates are vampires and one of them, Falcone, was sired by my sister's mate, Gian. There is only one child from Estelle's mating, a daughter named Mystic. Perhaps she is the one who will prove to be your mate.
It was nearing dawn when Gabe pulled the car over on a barren stretch of road at the edge of a forest. "Are we almost there yet?" Gabby teased as she climbed out of the Jeep and stretched.
Mystic followed her from the car, her hand automatically going to her friend's arm as the hairs on the back of her neck and along her spine rose in alarm. "Listen."
Far in the distance was the unmistakable sound of werewolves howling and yipping with urgency and frustration. The sounds grew more frenzied, more angry, and then abruptly stopped when the sun reached the horizon. As its rays pierced the darkness of open space and forest alike, the air filled with the agonized, horrifying screams of a human.
Even as the screams faded Gabriel was handing the car keys to Mystic and stripping out of his clothing, preparing to shift form. Next to him, Gabby also stripped, removing her jewelry and handing it to Mystic as well. Their dark bodies shone, powerful and beautiful in the early-morning light. The pack brands burned into the flesh above their pubic hair both a savage reminder of what they were and a way to identify them should they die wearing their fur.
Mystic felt the gathering magic against her skin, and then it was done. One minute her best friends were human. The next they were two sleek, black wolves.
She hurriedly retrieved an empty knapsack and crammed their clothing into it. Gabe and Gabby yipped and danced around her as she locked the car and secured the backpack.
"Go," Mystic said, steeling herself for pain, forcing her mind to seek a place deep inside herself so she could keep up with them even if she couldn't change form as they did.
Miles passed in a blur, the day coming more fully awake with each one. Mystic could feel the empty space left by the death of magic long before they found the hollow, sunken corpse of what had once been a vampire, and before that, a human man.
Next to her the wolves growled. Their hackles rose and teeth flashed. Bones popped and crunched as bodies reformed, going from beings that walk on four feet to beings that walk on two.
Gabby and Gabe stood naked. Neither asked for their clothing and she didn't offer it.
"Fledgling," Mystic said. The truth of it was in the bones that extended strong and white from beneath clothing that showed no sign of age or abuse other than a single slash where a blade had once been lodged in the vampire's heart.
His body looked as though it had lain in the woods for months and had been picked clean by the insects nature designed for such a task. But it was his screams that were the true measure of his age. The older the vampire the longer it took for the sunlight to kill them.
"I don't know of any law that allows us to hunt vampires this way," Gabe finally said.
Mystic knelt next to the corpse. "There are none. Only a human who's committed a horrible crime against a pack or pack member can be hunted like this. All others are judged by council or the Angelini. It's been that way for centuries in order to prevent the supernaturals from fighting with one another the way they used to do."
She steeled herself to touch the corpse, to roll it over so she could check for identification. The outline of a wallet pressed against the back pocket. She pulled it out and found a driver's license. Todd Moore, whose license claimed he was twenty-eight and lived in Las Vegas.
Mystic stood. She surveyed the area around them. Her senses reached out for the feel of magic and brushed against only Gabe and Gabby. She kicked at the ground with her foot and Gabe groaned. "You want us to bury him, don't you?"
For a long moment she said nothing, and then she nodded. Out of respect for her vampire fathers she would see this done.
With a sigh, Gabe changed into a wolf. Gabby followed. The woods remained quiet except for the sound of their powerful paws digging into the ground.
