Page 32 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood (A Paranormal Halloween #5)

Epilogue

Eleven Months Later

Aury woke to the sunshine at nearly noon and couldn’t help her smile. She was deliciously sore from a night with her vampire.

She made her way to the kitchen, pulled the leftover Coq au Vin from the fridge, nuked it, and sat to eat it.

One of the people Axel paid to live in the guest cottage was in a culinary program at the local college, and she got to eat the fruits of his education.

Three men lived out there, all shapeshifters, and they took turns feeding Axel, since she could only do so about every six or seven weeks, depending on how well she ate, and how quickly her body bounced back.

Shapeshifters could feed him multiple times per week.

Food, shower, and then a tutoring lesson — not her teaching others, but her mentor teaching her.

It’d been a crazy year on the chess circuit, and at twenty-four years old, she’d made it to the World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament. Making it into the deciding tournament was huge for a twenty-four-year-old. It’d put her in the top nine chess players on the planet.

She hadn’t expected to win, her personal goal was to place in the top five, and she’d wound up third, which made her arguably the fourth best chess player on planet earth. At twenty-four.

She’d still be going to the World Championship, though. Not to play, but she’d received a special invitation to help with the official broadcast.

Life with a vampire meant she had her days to do her chess stuff — being tutored and tutoring others, keeping her channel active. She was also taking a martial arts class with Ruby, and was possibly addicted to hot yoga.

Axel was gone the first week of every month, though that could be a little flexible, if he needed to travel with her, or if they had a special occasion she wanted him home for.

The night they’d moved into the house they’d chosen together, tucked beneath the soft gray skies of a Tennessee winter, he’d gone to bed with her, given her more orgasms than she could count, and then whispered mine against her skin as she drifted off to sleep, and meant it in the most sacred, human way.

Together, they’d built a quiet rhythm.

By spring, they had a second bedroom that smelled of books and cedar and laughter.

Ruby was, of course, given a key and a bedroom of her own. She still keeps her apartment, but she spends more nights with them than she does her place. She’s farther from the natural eagles here, so she can change and fly more often.

Since the first time Aury had seen her friend undress, turn into an eagle, and fly away, she’d fallen in love with her Ruby’s bird form.

It wasn’t unusual for Ruby to hang out in a tall poplar tree near the house, and Axel had hired contractors to build a roof-level deck, along with a door out of the attic to access it.

It’d turned into a favorite breakfast spot for the two women over the summer.

And her Axel loved to feed her. For a vampire, he spent a lot of time with farmers — buying fresh strawberries, local milk and cream, goat cheese. He’d even found a source for locally grown beef, though she later discovered Ruby had been the one to clue him in about that.

Aury loved feeding her vampire, too. Since she couldn’t do it often, she tried to make it super-special when she could.

She’d go days eating the foods she knew made her blood taste the best — steaks, eggs, cheeses, with very little veggies and nothing processed — so she’d be as savory and delicious as possible.

Sometimes, she watched when he fed from the shapeshifters. It was hot in a way she couldn’t explain, drinking them down, settling them comfortably with a bottle of grape juice, and then walking her into another room, lifting her dress, bending her over the mattress, and slamming into her.

When she’d finished all of her chess business for the day, she went to their downstairs luxurious master bathroom, so he’d be able to come to her when he rose.

She was soaking in the tub when she felt the moment life came back into him.

His mind immediately touched hers, and she went all warm inside. Still . Every day. Every time.

And they’d have this for eternity. Or at least until someone killed one of them. A vampire in New York had run tests on her blood and a scraping of the inside of her cheek — and deemed the blood bond with Axel to have fully taken.

She’d aged normally through puberty and early adulthood.

The current theory was that whatever had happened when she was five had only partially engaged it.

The magic had woven the bond into her soul but not fully into her body.

The blood exchange during the oath had activated the blood bond into its full expression, and now she would never age another day.

Which was fine. She’d have opted to do it, if it wasn’t already there. The idea of growing old while he didn’t was horrifying.

At least I won’t be in a hideous belt buckle this year , Axel telepathed, a hint of laughter in his mental voice.

A lot’s happened since last Halloween .

It has. How was your day?

Busy. I thought I was going to beat him, but he snuck a move in I didn’t see coming. Still kicking myself over that one.

You won’t let anyone sneak it in on you again.

He was right, and she felt instantly better. A mistake isn’t a mistake if you learn from it.

* * * *

Axel couldn’t dip into her mind to hear her thoughts anymore, but that was okay. He could still see the instant his words hit home. She’d learned from the lesson, and thus, it was of value.

He walked to the shower and stepped in. He’d gone into his hidey-hole naked that morning, after fucking his darling Aurélie into a boneless sleep. He’d had several hours on his own to handle some of his black-market customers in the early morning hours, but he hadn’t bothered with clothes.

She’d gone to sleep around four this morning, and from what he could tell, she’d awakened a little before noon. It was their norm, give or take, depending on the seasons.

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that Marco has a surprise for you this evening,” he told her while he soaped up. “I can’t get anyone to spill the tea, though.”

“I’m always wary of vampire surprises.”

He chuckled. “Marco likes you, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

One of his private flock stayed on campus later than the others, which meant Axel couldn’t feed from him immediately upon rising. Aury assumed that was the case today, since Axel hadn’t fed before he came to her, but then backtracked in her mind and it didn’t add up.

“Who’s on your feeding schedule today?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Marco has a rattlesnake shifter he keeps for himself at Homewood, and he’ll be bringing him to the party tonight.

Etta and I get first dibs on him after we cleaned out that nasty Celrau house south of Atlanta last week.

We get a full meal, and then he’s allowing small sips to anyone who wants a taste. ”

“Rattlesnake? Really? How am I just learning about snake shifters?”

He chuckled. “They’re a delicacy. The only things better are Fae blood and dolphin shifters.”

“And I spoil you with part-Fae blood every month and a half.”

“You do.” He stepped out of the shower, towel dried his hair, felt his Aurélie’s eyes watching him. Scented arousal.

“Not now. I think making you wait until after the party will make you appreciate me more.”

She play-gasped at him. “I appreciate you plenty! You and your talented cock.”

He laughed. He’d once told her flattery would get her wherever she wanted to go, and now she poked stuff like that in all the time. His former virgin had fallen in love with sex from the start.

Three hours later, Aury adjusted the rose at her temple and turned a critical eye at her reflection in the mirror.

Axel could only stare, as usual. The black velvet dress hugged her curves and pooled to the floor like liquid shadow. She wore a black wig that looked completely natural, all sleek and dark. Her lipstick was the color of heart blood.

And he knew that when she put on the sky-high heels she could now walk effortlessly in, the dress would barely skim the floor.

His Aury no longer thought of herself as a cripple, or even a recovering cripple. She was a healthy young woman who enjoyed life to the fullest, and she’d brought peace and joy into his life when he’d never experienced either.

He stepped behind her, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, white shirt, and blood-red tie. She’d sprayed something in his hair to temporarily darken it, and it was swept back.

A pencil-thin dark mustache curled ever so slightly at the corners.

“Morticia,” he said, voice thick with hunger. “You look edible.”

She tilted her chin up. “Gomez, darling. You threatened to control yourself until after the party.”

He chuckled and kissed the spot under her ear. The place he’d first drank from her, fully tasted her.

“I did, didn’t I? It’s good you reminded me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him in the mirror. “Oh no. Don’t give me that. You didn’t forget shit. You never forget anything .”

Just as he’d never let her forget that she told him her back door was exit only. He’d taken his time with it — playing with the outside, then a single finger right while she was orgasming, until she associated it with big giant explosions of pleasure.

And then six months later, made her practically beg him to give her more. She had to tell him it isn’t exit only and she was wrong, before he’d work her up to taking his thick length.

As promised, he’d made her love anal.

Axel always keeps his promises.

* * * *

Aury watched him gather his car keys, his wallet, his pocketknife, and phone — and thought back to the other Halloween. The one that’d ended with a cut on her leg and no orgasms.

She would get orgasms tonight.

When he’d exited the shower, earlier, she’d noticed the silvery scars on his back. They’d bothered her so badly, he’d gone to a special vampire plastic surgeon, who’d made them smooth at least, rather than the jagged, horridly textured mess the bastard had made of his back.

She’d had no idea how bad having them cut off with steel over and over, so they’d eventually heal flat, would hurt until he was well into the process and Ruby had let it slip.

But Axel had refused to cancel his appointments to keep having it done. Hard-headed vampire.

So now there were faint lines of silver embedded in the pale flesh, and it was perfectly smooth, but she would never forget what he’d done to try to fix things so he could be accepted into the local vampire hierarchy. So he could live in her city.

So he could move halfway around the world to be with her.

The Halloween party was at the TBC near Hamilton Place this year, big enough to hold the Coterie and tons of the vampires’ friends and associates.

Aury had no idea there would be a best costume award, but apparently, Morticia and Gomez dancing a waltz, followed by a rumba that had everyone clapping put them over the top, and the two ended up with pins on their chests declaring them the winner of the Best Couple Costume .

Dancing had never been Aury’s thing, for obvious reasons, but she’d taken a class with Ruby to learn the steps, and with Axel leading her like smoke and spellcraft, all elegance and eerie grace, she only had to relax and follow.

Or, that was how it felt. In reality, after the class, he’d taught her more rumba moves, and how to let him toss her around for the jive.

Some girl named Bethany, with huge boobs, won the best solo costume.

She went as Dolly Parton. Go figure. She also had three boyfriends who seemed to be with the security company.

It was a joint party, the vampires, the security people, the cat shifters, three wolf packs, and assorted smaller supernatural groups.

And Aury’s special surprise from Marco turned out to be fucking Paul Morphy, who was born in 1837 and had beat most of the world’s best chess players at twenty-one.

Apparently, he went all reclusive and odd because once he was turned into a vampire, he couldn’t exactly compete at tournaments in the middle of the day anymore, right?

And he’d be in Chattanooga for a week, available to play chess with her all freaking evening and night.

They played one game at the party, and he was as sharp as she expected — and, she learned in their conversation, completely intolerant of blitz chess, which he called ‘ a modern perversion of a noble art ’.

He didn’t completely kick her ass, but he beat her, and that was exciting.

It meant another teacher. More ways to get better.

She warned Cora ahead of time before she planted a big ol’ smooch on Marco’s cheek.

That night, when Axel finally took her home to unwrap his present, she thought of roses, of peaches, of firelight, and soft fur rugs. Of the first time he fed her pleasure with his hands.

Of the life they’d shaped.

And she smiled.

Because this year, there would be orgasms on Halloween night.

Thank you for reading Unholy Gambit . If you have the time and inclination, please consider leaving a short review wherever you can. It really makes a difference.

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Keep reading for an excerpt from FEAR