Page 33

The unbearable searing and heat coursing through my body, starting at the point of contact on my neck, were extinguished almost immediately when Viggo softly blew down the length of my neck.

His warm breath was cooling, almost as if it was healing me on a deeper level that the healing mud and salve couldn't reach, and it caused me to get lightheaded and my lashes fluttered.

I released the painful grip I had on my towel then rolled my hands over and intertwined my fingers with his, causing my towel to fall to my lap, completely exposing me to him.

To my surprise, Viggo didn't pull away from me, and instead, squeezed my hands in return as I struggled to remember how to breathe.

Once the searing started to subside, and my breathing regulated, I opened my eyes and fought to focus on something, anything, to keep from passing out.

Nothing should feel this painful but nice at the same time... Does that make me a masochist?

Through fluttering lashes and slow-to-respond pupils, something tugged at me, pulling my attention from the sexy vampire blowing on my neck and across my shoulder to the person who was watching us from the other side of the room.

My eyes widened and my back stiffened.

I quickly let go of Viggo's hands and gathered my towel up, covering my breasts with it.

A female stood there, watching us.

She was very beautiful with a dark olive complexion, and was tall and curvy with long black hair that blew around her like a halo of onyx on a phantom breeze; her large light-jade green eyes were burning into mine, and the power in them was unmistakable.

There was something familiar about her face, but I couldn't place where I had seen her before.

She wasn't dressed as the Healing Center staff did; instead, she was in an ethereal white gown that flowed around her curvy body as if she were made of air...

The figure isn't right.

It's an apparition!

Never had I seen a ghost before, and I never wanted to, especially now when I was naked and with the annoying vampire that I felt an overwhelming attraction and affinity towards.

The last thing I wanted was a damn chaperone, especially one that wasn't even from the world of the living judging me!

I just couldn't win.

The female raised her long slender arm and pointed to the mud pools then shook her head in warning.

Okay, the ghost chaperone doesn't want me to get healing for some reason?

That's just great. Being denied by the otherworldly now.

She gave me a look, one that I had been getting a lot as of late, but it wasn't from her.

It was the same look that Viggo gives me when I say something he doesn't agree with or when he thinks I'm intentionally giving him grief when I'm not.

"What?" I asked.

Viggo stopped blowing on my neck. "Quoi?" he asked in French, looking at me.

"I'm not talking to you," I said.

"Ariadne, who are you talking to?" he asked, confused, looking around the area. "Do you see someone or something?" he asked.

Now that was a weirdly specific question to ask.

I looked at him. "Why would you assume that?" I asked, suspicious.

"Because we are the only two here and you are not talking to me," he said as if it were obvious.

Which it was.

"What do you see?" he pressed.

The female continued pointing to the mud before wagging her finger, then she turned her attention to the vampire sitting with me. She sighed, shaking her head, tears flooding her beautiful light jade-green eyes before she pointed towards the entryway and then stomped her foot, emphasizing what she was telling me to do.

"Go there?" I asked.

She smiled at me, but it was a sad smile; her overly full lips pulled back to reveal a perfect white smile, and she nodded.

"Okay, why?" I asked as I gathered my towel up to make sure it covered my breasts and forgot to wrap it around my backside when I stood.

"Where are you going?" Viggo absently asked when I got to my feet.

"Get up," I instructed him.

"Huh?" he asked, looking from my ass to my face. "Quoi?"

I glared at him, pulling my towel around to cover up as much as possible. "Stop looking at my round ass. We have to move, now."

Thankfully, Viggo did without question and followed me to the stone entryway.

"Now what?" I started to ask, but my words cut off when the ground under us violently started to shake.

Viggo wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, turning us so my back was pressed protectively against the stone archway as large chunks of stone started breaking away from the ceiling, crashing into the floor and mud pools.

The table and chair we had been sitting at got smashed by a large chunk of granite from the ceiling; we would have been killed if we were still sitting there.

I peeked out from around Viggo to the female and she nodded once before sighing then vanished.

The shaking only lasted a moment, but it was the longest moment of my life.

It was only tolerable because I felt safe in Viggo's arms.

When it was over, he reluctantly loosened his hold on me and stepped back.

"Were you injured?" he asked, checking me for damage, making sure none of the falling stones made contact with me.

"I'm okay. Was that an earthquake?" I asked. "Vancouver doesn't have earthquakes, does it?"

Last summer in California we had one, it was just a little one, but it brought down light fixtures and knocked over bookcases. It caused the Imperial Guard and all roaming Sentinel patrols to go on high alert and many Earth Elementals flooded the area to make sure it was natural and not a potential attack on the Palace.

It was natural, I was told.

Viggo looked at me intently. "How did you know?" he asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I admitted, trying to believe it myself.

"Try me," Viggo started when a strange gurgling sound came from the mud pools, stealing our attention.

Large bubbles followed, covering the surface of each pool of mud before they seemingly popped as one, releasing small clouds of gray and green smoke into the air.

That wasn't normal, even for my limited understanding of thaumaturgic healing mud.

Something else started to surface in the mud, something substantial; bodies floated to the surface of each pool.

Oh no, this isn't good.

When the bodies rolled over in the bubbling mud, it revealed that their faces had been partially eaten away by the corrupted mud, and it made me scream.

Viggo protectively wrapped me in his arms again and he pulled me close, holding the back of my head so my face was buried against his shoulder to keep me from seeing the carnage and the truth of where the Healing Center staff had disappeared to.