Morrigan by Jonathan King (cat reading book txt) 📕

time with her song. At the door, he threw one last look back at the gods. Brigid shrugged, Mac gave him a thumbs up, and Morrigan … wasn’t looking at him. She was staring at the woman with … what? Suspicion? Recognition? Jealousy? Whatever it was, she didn’t look happy. Any other time, Abel would have cared. Now all he cared about was this woman and her siren song.

He stepped out the back door and into the alley.

Before he knew what happened, the woman grabbed him, pinned him against the wall, forced his arms above his head, and kissed him full on the lips. The shock broke through his stupor; it was his first kiss, after all. He’d never had a girl press her body against his like this or entwine her tongue with his. Every part of his conscience screamed that this was wrong, but his body responded differently. Then her hot breath was in his ear, tingling through the veins in his side all the way down to his toes, and she was kissing her way down to his neck, and it was getting awfully hard to think again.

“Look, this is moving too fast for me,” Abel stammered. “I mean, I don’t even know your name.”

“We won’t know each other long enough for that to matter,” she whispered, and the words tickled his ear.

Like a bell.

And two automatic responses popped out of the fog in his mind. The first was from 1 Corinthians: Flee from sexual immorality … You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. And the second was his mother glaring at the Reverend, asking what he was doing married to her, and the answer, unspoken yet so obvious.

Abel tried to pull away, but the woman shoved him back against the wall with a lustful snarl.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I can’t do this. I’ve bitten off way more than I can chew here.”

“Relax, Baby,” said the woman. “I’ll do enough biting for both of us.”

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to—” Abel’s words shattered into a scream as two sharp points pierced his neck. Every nerve shrieked, and warm blood ran down his chest and soaked his shirt and sweater.

The woman caught some sticky liquid on her finger and sucked it off, savoring every drop with moans of pleasure. Between her lips, Abel saw two white fangs jutting down, tipped red in his blood.

“A vampire?” he panted. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Sorry, Babe,” said the vampire. “I really did like you, but I’ve got my job to do.” She leaned in and licked the blood from his collar bone, trailing her tongue in little circles. “Although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to enjoy this.”

14

Abel struggled to free himself, but one of the vampire’s hands still held his wrists in place, and her knee against his stomach kept him pinned. She was stronger than she looked, and he was weak and lightheaded from blood loss.

Then he heard a screech, and a black-and-white blur descended on the vampire’s face, flapping and cawing and pecking at her eyes. The vampire stumbled to the ground, leaving Abel free to slump to the ground. He clutched his neck and felt his warm pulse sloshing against it.

His eyes were fuzzy, even with his glasses, so he didn’t see the crow change, but the world snapped sideways as Morrigan took on human form again. The goddess slammed her fists into the vampire’s face, screaming with every strike. Abel’s body chilled, not from blood loss but from fear. This wasn’t the grace she had shown in her fight against the Red Caps. This wasn’t even the dignified and awesome horror he had seen in the car. Morrigan was an animal, a bear defending her cub, a wildcat clawing its prey. No strategy, no skill, just raw power and pain and rage.

That was her downfall. The vampire grabbed Morrigan’s wrists and rolled, straddling her and holding her still. “Losing your edge, Morry? You weren’t this careless last time we fought.” She glanced at Abel. “Don’t tell me I’m encroaching on your territory. A goddess like you can do better than him.”

Morrigan writhed, but the vampire only laughed and held her still, unable to attack. Morrigan stopped fighting, breathed in, breathed out, deep and even until she could manage words again. “Why him?”

“Besides the fact that he’s cute and tasty?” The vampire shrugged. “Apparently he didn’t make the boss lady very happy when he kidnapped you. I mean, we both know you don’t go anywhere you don’t want to, but she feels the need to blame somebody.”

Morrigan let out a dry laugh. “You work for Cora now.”

“It keeps me well fed.” The vampire frowned. “Not on you, sadly. Boss lady has her rules.”

Morrigan leaned up toward the vampire as much as she could. “Tell Cora my friends are off limits. Tell her I’ll come back when I’m ready. And when I do, it’ll be to kill her.”

“What makes you think I’ll deliver that message instead of sucking your boy toy dry?” the vampire asked.

“What makes you think you’ll get the chance?”

Morrigan flattened herself to the ground as much as she could as the rumble of an engine filled the air. A beat-up Chevy truck sped down the alley and plowed into the vampire, sending her flying through the air to land ten feet away. Abel was sure the vampire was dead, but she stirred and rose to her feet. Then Mac’s strong arms were around him, and Morrigan rolled out from under the truck, and together they heaved him into the truck bed with Brigid. Morrigan hopped in next to them, and Mac climbed back in the cab and backed the truck up. The vampire lunged, and her nails raked the side of the truck bed. Then Mac shifted gears and screeched away, leaving Abel’s attacker in the dust.

“Hold still now.” Brigid pulled Abel’s hand away from the wound.

“Is he