Page 113 of The Ghost and the Graveyard (Knight Games 1)
"I'll become the witch, Rick, but I will not marry you. I haven't known you long enough. I'm not even sure I love you." My entire world was out of control. Wasn't it enough I was becoming the witch? Did he have to own all of me?
Facing the bookcase, he closed the box. His expression went stony. I didn't need our connection to know I'd hurt him.
"I'm sorry," I said, because that's what you say to someone after you rip their heart out.
"Do not apologize for honesty, mi cielo," he said toward the bookcase. "But know this. I do know that I love you. I've loved you for over three hundred years. I will love you when the sun comes up in the morning and when it comes up on the three thousandth morning after that. I loved you on the day you died, and I love you now." He cleared his throat and turned to face me. "I am immortal, Grateful. I have an eternity to love you, whether or not you love me in return."
If I'd been forced to decide right then and there if I loved him, I would have said yes. I didn't know if the memories made me feel that way or if it was hard not to return such authentic and unearned affection.
He scooped Michelle into his arms and carried her toward the garage behind the kitchen. I opened the door for him.
"You drive a Tesla Roadster?"
"You sound surprised. Immortality makes one an environmentalist by necessity."
"These are, like, a hundred grand. How much does being a caretaker pay?"
"I invested wisely in the summer of nineteen-forty-five. Plus, you left me a large life insurance policy."
"So you mean this car is really mine, since I'm alive again."
"The life insurance policy belonged to my wife. I'll let you drive it when you hold that title once again."
I couldn't respond to that, so I concentrated on helping to shove Michelle/Marcus into the passenger's seat. "No backseat. I'll walk home." I turned to leave.
"Come, mi cielo. Don't waste time. Sit on my lap."
I didn't argue. He lowered himself behind the wheel, and I slid in after him. I had to practically lie down across his body to fit. I slipped my arm down the side of his seat and fit my chin into the groove of his clavicle. I wrapped my other arm across his chest and snuggled in. The dark smell of him, the spice of nightfall, filled my nose. With my best friend possessed by a vamp in the seat next to me, you'd think I could control my libido, but I caught myself inhaling Rick and wishing I had more than his scent inside of me.
He sensed my attraction immediately. I heard his breath draw in, and his face turned into my neck, nuzzling me behind my ear. "When we were married," he whispered, "you loved this."
I found out what "this" was when he bit my earlobe gently then licked up the back of my ear. Yep, even in a new body, that move rocked my clock. I shivered in the circle of his arms. His black eyes sunk into me, and my core tightened decadently in response.
"We've got to go," I said. "We have only a few hours until sunrise."
"Yes. Let's go."
Turns out those Teslas really can haul ass. Rick's car was tucked in next to mine in the garage before you could say "foreplay." The hardest part was getting up off Rick's lap. Or should I say, I got up off the hardest part of Rick's lap. Surprise, surprise. I was looking forward to this ceremony.
We Make Magic Together
Mercifully, Logan wasn't in the attic. I didn't ask Prudence where he'd gone as I thought his absence was in his best interest. Instead, I threw myself into the task at hand, preparing for the ceremony that would help me save Michelle.
"Your magic is amplified by the night," Prudence said. Her nurse outfit was gone, replaced by a sequined green gown that reminded me of the Oscars. I guess this was a big deal for her. "With concentration, you can mold this attic to your will, but when the sun rises, all you have created will disappear. You won't be strong enouch to maintain it in the daylight."
I nodded. "We need a place for Michelle. I don't want her to be afraid if she wakes up in a strange place."
"Concentrate on the room you would like to create for her. Picture each object and will it here. You must visualize it, exactly, in your head. Any uncertainty and it won't come through."
The walls themselves were easy enough. I created them behind a door in the north wall. The apartment mystically expanded the size of the attic, an instant room addition. But the rest was more difficult. Don't get me wrong; the best part about having a magical attic is the decorating. Don't like the color of the linens? Just think of something new, and poof-there it is. I didn't have to move any furniture or go to any stores. Everything was free and exactly as I wished it. Only, even though I'd spent plenty of time at Michelle's, trying to picture her apartment down to the throw pillow was almost impossible. I made the room as close as I could to the real thing and placed Michelle/Marcus inside.
Then I started preparing for the ceremony.
"Are there any rules? Or do we just, like, do it?"
"It's your party, Grateful. You invite the caretaker into the attic, your most personal magical space." She stepped closer to me and placed her ghostly hand on my elbow. "Rick's magic is internal. It is part of who and what he is, in his very cells. Your magic is external; it is what you choose to be. The ceremony is in the choosing. You will choose to be the yin to his yang. Your power rests in him and in this house. He is the vessel."
I closed my eyes briefly. "I think I know what to do."
