Blood and Mint Chocolates by Adrianne Brennan (summer books .TXT) 📗

Then she realized that the woman didn't wear a mask, and stars filled her dark, shining eyes.

Merideth blinked, realizing her blatant rudeness in staring at her. Blood, am I that drunk? I'm hallucinating celestial objects in women's eyes! "Um, yes, sorry. I--"

"No worries. I was just on my way to find you. Merideth, right?"

She blinked at the redhead again. On her way to see me...? "Uh ... yes?"

The redheaded woman beamed at her. "Congratulations! You've been chosen to receive tonight's prize. Quick, come with me!" She clasped Merideth's hand in hers, and something strange brewed within her. Inside, she burned. Fire, so much fire. And the moisture between her legs from the thoughts she'd had earlier about her and Kalia began to build again.

Oh, how much have I had to drink?

"Not enough," the woman replied to her with a wink.

As Merideth stuttered in protest, the scenery around her dissolved to reveal a moonlit rose garden. "Where--where am I?" she asked.

Her stay on this island was getting strange and perhaps even dangerous. She whirled around to find the redhead, and find her she did indeed--seated on a golden throne carved to resemble a fierce-looking lion. The redheaded woman still gripped the golden chalice she'd held earlier, and it shone with an eerie glow.

More peculiar still, however, were the dark eyes Merideth gazed into. Their depths held wonders both old and young, wise yet daring, powerful yet yielding.

She is called the Great Whore because she receives All and does not discriminate....

"Merideth." The utterance of her name enveloped her in a strong wave of emotion--deep affection and longing. Mama, oh Mama.... The vampire suddenly thought of her mother and how she missed her from all of those years ago. Memories of her childhood spent before she became a vampire flooded her, and she remembered what having a mother had been like for her as a young girl. All at once, Merideth knew the identity of the woman seated before her, and the amusing detail of her hotel room number became a somber fact.

"Babalon," she whispered. Her head reeled from wine and disbelief, but the certainty in her heart remained.

Chapter Four

Do What You Wish

The goddess smiled at her. "Welcome to the Masquerade Ball, my daughter." She leaned over in her seat and held out her goblet to the astonished vampire. "What does that inscription say?"

Merideth bit her lip, hesitant to speak. She was on the verge of being paralyzed with nervousness, too afraid of saying the wrong thing to this goddess mere feet in front of her. How she wished with fervent desperation that she had conversed with Sarah, Lyrael's previous incarnation, more often about Thelema and its deities. Beyond the basics, she didn't know what to expect from Babalon. At least this isn't Loki or something. She cocked her head from side to side as she read aloud the inscription: "Do what you wish."

"Precisely. I'm offering you this chalice, Meri. If you drink from it, you can obtain tonight your wish. Your heart's desire. What shall it be?"

The vampire stuttered, her anxiety shattered as she tried to process what Babalon told her. "This ... this is nuts. I-I don't know. I--" Her protests were interrupted by the images that dwelled in her thoughts all evening, and the visions assaulted her: Kalia lying on top of her, kissing her passionately. Kalia's head between her thighs, her head between Kalia's; her hands squeezing Kalia's beautifully shaped breasts; Kalia's fingers stroking her skin; Kalia's dark, sensuous eyes gazing into hers as she.... She blushed. Kalia was the Magistra of Clan Corvus, and Merideth would never in a million years imagine herself to be remotely her type.

"Daughter, what are you afraid of? What holds you back from what you want the most?"

Merideth blinked. "I ... I don't know." She began to bounce up and down with anxiety. "I ... I don't know. I think I know what I want, but--"

"Then choose it and be free."

The vampire took the chalice from Babalon. Her hand shook. "But what if I make the wrong wish?"

"The only wrong wish, Merideth, is the one you do not act upon out of fear. Fear of judgment, fear of appraisal, fear of people's opinions. Do what you wish. Drink and be free."

Merideth held the cup to her lips and drank. The sweet, silky drink's flavor went down her throat better than any blood she had ever savored. It tasted more decadent than any of her mint chocolates and quenched a thirst she didn't even know she possessed.

"I wish, then, to spend the night with Kalia. So we can, um," she continued hurriedly before she could lose her nerve, "have lots and lots of hot sex." She barely got out the words, slurred as they were due to the sangria still swimming in her bloodstream. Oh, such wonderful abuses of that amethyst ring! Why didn't she discover them sooner? Too much damned time in the library, perhaps--but no, that wasn't it. She knew just what her problem had always been and what she needed to do in order to overcome it. She tried to tell herself that she didn't have the courage up until now. Maybe the vacation gave her an excuse to not act like her usual self, or perhaps the shock of seeing Kalia in such ... intriguing ... clothing set her off in ways she hadn't expected.

But she knew the truth. Deep inside, Merideth feared acting on her impulses and being who she was in reality. Not that she hated herself, but that she didn't know her real identity beyond the walls of Clan Gladius's library. And she wasn't certain if she could handle it. Too many rules and regulations had been held over her head for too long--and didn't she find Janius too stuffy?

Maybe she was the stuffy one, after all.

Babalon laughed. The rich, melodious, wild laughter echoed in the room and in her head. Merideth smelled the rich earth in the sand, felt the moisture in the winds