Vampires in America: The Vignettes, Volume 1

by D. B. Reynolds

  Sophia scraped her nails along the length of his thigh, digging in almost to the point of drawing blood. He jerked in response, shoving himself even deeper between her legs, his thrusts gaining urgency. Colin liked it when she drew blood, liked the idea that he could drive her to such depths of passion. And God knew he could. She’d had hundreds of lovers in her long life, but she’d never known anything like the ecstasy she’d found in Colin’s bed. But it wasn’t just the physical pleasure he brought her. It was …everything about him. She loved him. And maybe that was the difference. But she suspected it was more than that, too. He was her mate, her lover, her match in every way. Her soul spoke to his, her heart pounded for him, as if that stale organ had been half alive until he’d come back into her life.

  The first orgasm hit without warning, going from delicious heat to searing passion with a single stroke of her lover’s clever fingers. Her womb convulsed, her sex clenching tightly around Colin’s pounding cock as his fingers strummed her clit like a fine instrument. She would have screamed, but her breath was gone, stolen in a moment of overwhelming sensation.

  “That’s better,” Colin murmured behind her, nibbling at her neck. “You weren’t paying enough attention, darlin’. I was beginning to feel neglected.”

  “Bastard,” Sophia swore breathlessly, her body still trembling with the aftereffects of her climax, even as her senses begged for more.

  Colin chuckled. “I can stop if you’d like.”

  Sophia whipped her hand back and dug her nails into his ass. “Don’t you dare.”

  Colin hissed in turn and she felt his cock swell impossibly larger inside her, her sex so tight around him she wondered that he could still move. But he did, his rhythm never wavering, tireless, big, warm and always in control.

  She grinned. Well, perhaps not always. She lowered her chin and sank her fangs into his forearm where it stretched over her chest, holding her in place. His blood flowed hot and sweet over her tongue and she felt the hard kick of his heart as the aphrodisiac in her bite poured into his bloodstream.

  “Fuck,” Colin swore softly, but even then he didn’t surrender. Between one breath and the next, he flipped her onto her back and positioned himself between her legs, slamming his cock into the tight sheath of her sex. Holding himself above her, the powerful muscles of his arms taut and straining, his hips flexed as he pumped his cock in and out. Eyes closed, jaw tight, he fought against the surge of lust that drove him toward orgasm.

  He was magnificent. Sophia stroked her hands lovingly over the dense layers of muscle that molded his chest, his shoulders and arms. Her thighs tightened around his waist as she crossed her legs behind his back His eyes opened slightly, narrow slits of bright blue as he stared down at her.

  “That was tricky, darlin’,” he rasped breathlessly.

  “I do have my ways,” Sophia murmured, then gasped as he thrust hard enough to lift her from the bed, angling his cock even deeper inside her.

  Colin bent his arms enough to lean down, his lips cruising along her mouth, her cheek, nibbling at her ear. “So do I, darlin’ Sophia.” He bent his head further and bit into her shoulder hard enough to draw blood.

  Sophia nearly screamed with the ecstasy of it. The pain was exquisite, but it was Colin’s growl of possession that sent a thrill of arousal storming through her body, lighting a fire to every nerve ending, swelling her breasts and clenching her inner muscles around his hard length. She lifted her hips to meet him, their movements synchronizing as the edge drew closer, as they fucked harder, faster.

  “Sophie,” Colin breathed her name and she felt his cock kick deep inside her.

  She did scream then, as the powerful orgasm rolled through her, as every muscle seemed to clench at the same time, bowing her back, the sensation of his cock inside her almost too much to bear. It was impossibly delicious, impossibly perfect. Colin shouted as he came, his climax a rush of human heat inside her, his cock bucking over and over as he continued to thrust, until finally he collapsed on top of her.

  Sophia held him close, feeling the thud of his heart, the press of his chest against hers as he struggled to breath normally again. She loved this moment of surrender after their lovemaking, loved the limp weight of his big body on hers, the lingering pulse of his cock deep inside her. Colin stirred and kissed her shoulder where he’d bitten her.

  Sophia smiled and stroked the long muscles of his back.

  “I love you, Sophia,” he whispered, his breath a brush of sensation against her overheated skin.

  He lifted his head and kissed her, long and slow and tender, with sweeping glides of his tongue against hers.

  “Meu amor,” Sophia whispered.

  * * * *

  “So, who’s this guy?” Colin asked an hour and a long shower later. He shrugged into his shoulder rig, then checked the magazine on his 9 millimeter Sig before holstering the gun with a practiced move. He didn’t wait for her answer before turning to the closet of their hotel room and yanking his leather jacket off a hanger. He gave her a curious glance as he pulled the jacket on, probably wondering why she hadn’t answered him yet. But all Sophia was wondering was what it would be like if they’d met in another world, another time. If they could spend their nights making love and drinking fine wine, maybe even have a family, two beautiful children with Colin’s black hair and icy blue eyes. She sighed and looked away, because that world was closed off to her, and by her own choice. And, besides, it was foolish even to think such things. Because if she wasn’t Vampire, she’d have been dead two centuries before Colin was even born.

  “Sophie?”

  Sophia raised her eyes to meet Colin’s concerned gaze. “It’s nothing. Homesick, I guess.” And she was. They’d been gone from Vancouver for nearly three weeks this time. Canada was sparsely populated, but that population was spread out over vast distances, and that included her vampires. They’d flown to Toronto first, where they’d met with Darren Yamanaka, the city’s new Master. Darren had been the now-dead Lucien’s lieutenant, and Lucien had been Sire to them both. But in the final analysis, they didn’t like or respect each other. Darren had been forced to serve Sophia, to acknowledge her as his new lord by virtue of her superior strength. It was that, or challenge her and die. So, he’d submitted. In a peacemaking effort, Sophia had permitted him the save-face of being her lieutenant, but it had been in name only, and when Toronto’s former master had challenged her and lost, she’d given the city to Darren to rule in his place. It was a big city, an important city ... and it was far away from Vancouver, which was fine with her. Eventually, she’d send someone to keep an eye on Darren, someone loyal to her alone. But for now, it got him out of her hair and freed her to focus on the bigger problems in her new territory. Rebellious vamps who posed far more of a challenge than Darren. Including the one they were about to visit tonight.

  Sophia pushed off the bed where she’d been sitting and walked over to Colin, rising up on tiptoes to kiss him. “We go back to Vancouver after tonight,” she murmured against his lips. “I need some time at home, with you. Alone. Just the two of us.”

  Colin grinned at the obvious theme in her barely coherent speech. He looped an arm around her waist, dropping his hand to give her ass a loving caress. “You got it, darlin’. So, let’s get through tonight. Who’s this guy?”

  Sophia blew out a frustrated breath, then shook herself both mentally and physically. She might not want to do this tonight, but she had to, and she had to be at the top of her game.

  “Thierry Lavoie. He’s another of Lucien’s children. His favorite, and his lover, until I came along and replaced him on both fronts.”

  Colin growled unhappily. Sophia smiled. “Long before you were born, meu amor,” she said, stroking his brawny chest.

  “Thierry wasn’t all that worried about me at first,” she continued, “because it was typical of Lucien to bed his newly made vamps. Hell, at first, Thierry simply joined in the fun. Lucien was quite the degenerate, you know. There were no
boundaries he would not cross in his personal behavior.”

  “Moving on,” Colin gritted out.

  Sophia laughed, then sobered and said, “Thierry never understood Lucien the way I did. Never understood that even without me, Lucien would have found someone else eventually. And then someone new after that and after that, over and over again. Anyway, when I left Vancouver for South America, Thierry was already gone and living here in Montreal. Lucien had given him the city to run, and I still remember when it happened, the look on Thierry’s face. He didn’t know whether to be honored at the gift, or furious at being sent away. I’m sure when he heard I’d been banished from Lucien’s territory, he thought he’d won. Not that I ever played his silly games.”

  Colin pulled her cashmere coat from the closet and held it open while she slipped her arms into the sleeves. She’d need its warmth tonight. It was cold in Montreal.

  “He’s furious all over again now that I’ve seized the territory for myself,” she continued her recitation. “We haven’t spoken directly, but he’s put out the story that I challenged and killed Lucien. No matter that he knows better, that every vampire in the territory knows better, because we were all there that night, all connected at the moment of Lucien’s death when he handed his power and authority over to me.” She shrugged. “Thierry always was a master at believing whatever he wanted.”

  Colin frowned. “So where’s he stand on the power scale? And will he play fair?”

  Sophia chose to answer the second question first. “Will he play fair? Not unless he has to, but I’m not worried about that.”

  “What are you worried about?” Colin demanded, suddenly focusing completely on her.

  “I haven’t seen Thierry in over a hundred years. When he left Vancouver ...” She shook her head thoughtfully. “You have to understand, the idea of succeeding Lucien, of ruling in his place, never occurred to me. I hadn’t honed my power, hadn’t bothered to learn how to deal with it. Thierry, on the other hand, had been doing nothing else from the moment Lucien turned him. So, when you ask me about his power ... a hundred years ago, he could have defeated me easily. Now?” She shrugged. “I’ve always had more raw power than he does. But he’s wiley, and, like I said, he won’t play fair if he doesn’t have to.”

  “Well, shit, Sophie. Why aren’t we bringing the troops then?”

  Colin was referring to her various vampire soldiers, males mostly inherited from Lucien’s Vancouver security staff, as inadequate as it had been. Those were augmented by some few who’d come to her from other cities after the transition. They had all been vetted by Colin, and now trained regularly under his supervision. But until she had time to bring over children of her own, she wouldn’t feel absolutely safe.

  Except with Colin, of course. Many of the vampires she’d had to deal with in the last two months had thought her very human mate would be the weak spot in her security, a mere mortal amidst the oh so powerful vampires. She smiled privately. She’d taken a great deal of satisfaction from their shock when they discovered their error. None of them had counted on his skills as a warrior, his absolute focus when it came to defeating his enemies, especially anyone who threatened Sophia. Nor had they considered the multiplier effect of her mate bond with him, the boost her blood gave his already tremendous strength and stamina. Those who had thought him weak were generally no longer among the living. After all, that was the way of Vampire. You challenge, you die. Just as Thierry would die tonight.

  “I can’t hide behind my security, Colin,” she said now. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

  “I don’t know why not. Your pal Raphael doesn’t move without at least two bodyguards and usually a whole hell of a lot more.”

  “First, he’s not my pal. He’s my ally … for now. And second, Raphael proved himself long ago. He’s perfectly deadly when he wishes to be, and everyone knows it, while I’m still largely an unknown. Besides, a lot of what you see as bodyguarding is just his people being over vigilant in their devotion to him. You’ll see it up close once I create vampires of my own. There’s a powerful drive to protect one’s Sire at any cost.”

  “Speaking of which,” Colin said, “have you given anymore thought to my idea about your new team of bodyguards?”

  Sophia rolled her eyes. “I am not creating a troop of Amazons for your pleasure, Colin Murphy.”

  “What, you’d rather a bunch of hunky vampires hanging around all the time?”

  “Hunky? Did you just say hunky?”

  “Let’s pretend I didn’t,” he muttered, opening the door and stepping into the hallway in front of her. “I still think the Amazons are a good idea, you being the first female vampire lord and everything. It would make a statement.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered right back at him as he finally cleared the hallway and stepped aside to let her leave the room.

  Colin laughed and she heard the door close behind her before he caught up. “Shui and Geno will meet us at the limo downstairs,” he said, keying the private elevator which ran directly from their suite to the lobby four stories below. “They’ll stay with the car once we get there,” he added quickly, anticipating her protest. “But there’s no need to be foolish about this. Your buddy Thierry might not be as honorable as you are. If he decides to try for an ambush between here and there, I’d rather have a bit more firepower on our side.”

  Sophia patted his arm. “That’s why I keep you around, meu amor. Well, that and your sexual stamina, of course.”

  “I live to serve,” Colin said dryly, dropping his hand to give her butt a quick pat as they exited the elevator into the lobby.

  Sophia fought the urge to scoot forward, mindful of the watchful eyes of her vampires outside the front doors. “You’ll pay for that,” she said pleasantly.

  “Promises, promises.” Colin pushed the big glass doors open. The freezing air of a Montreal night hit her, stealing her breath and whatever rejoinder she might have made. Her mind turned instead to the confrontation ahead and the fervent hope that she’d live to mete out that promised payment at the end of the night.

  * * * *

  She shouldn’t have been surprised by Thierry’s house, but she was. It was outside the city, sitting on several acres of St. Lawrence riverfront. That didn’t surprise her. Most vampires chose remote homes if they could afford them, and Thierry had been Master of Montreal long enough to have amassed a sizable fortune. What surprised her was the modern design of the house. It looked more like a vacation home than a vampire’s lair, all wood and glass and towering windows. Warm light spilled from those windows over an open deck and down to the dirt driveway where Shui pulled the limo to a halt. Without being told, he parked as far from the house and away from that light as he could. Sophia was expected, but she doubted she was welcome.

  “Shui, you and Geno stay with the vehicle. I don’t want any surprises waiting for Lady Sophia when it’s time to leave.” Colin gave the orders, even as he opened the limo door and climbed from the car. He paused a moment, surveying the house over the top of the vehicle, blocking Sophia inside with his body, before finally reaching down a hand to her.

  “My lady,” he said formally.”

  Sophia gripped his hand, feeling the sure strength of him as she stepped from the car and onto the dirt driveway. She turned, eyeing the house silently, pinpointing the location of every one of Thierry’s hidden watchers. He was a bigger fool than she expected if he thought to conceal anyone from her. She was their lord. Their hearts beat, or not, at her whim. She could reach out right now and, with a single thought, kill every one of those vampires where they stood. Including Thierry Lavoie.

  But, because she was their lord, she wouldn’t do that, and she suspected Thierry knew it. She was here to accept their submission, not to visit death upon them. Unless she had to.

  She sighed softly and said, “Fifteen—” She tilted her head slightly. “No, sixteen vampires, one master, which would be Thierry himself.”

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nbsp; “Any humans?” Colin asked, his voice somewhat distracted as he continued his own survey of the situation. Vampires tended to forget to include human hostiles in their calculations, even though a human with enough firepower could kill a vampire just as dead. Colin never made that mistake.

  “None,” she replied, her surprise showing in her voice. “It would seem Thierry sent his people away.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “Most likely bad, I’m afraid.”

  Colin’s jaw clenched. “You still want to do this your way?”

  “I do.”

  Colin drew a deep breath, then nodded and closed the limo door. “I’m ready if you are.”

  He offered his arm, but Sophia took his hand instead, strolling around the limo and approaching the front of the house as if she had not a care in the world. The front door opened while they were still twenty or so feet away. Sophia watched as vampires crowded out of the house, spreading out over the deck and forming an honor guard of sorts, opening a path to the stairs, not for her, but for Thierry who appeared last, sauntering across the wide deck and practically skipping down the stairs to confront her.

  Sophia studied him, somewhat amused by the dramatics of his appearance. Thierry had ever been a vain man. He’d even dressed for the occasion, clothing his slender form in what Colin would have called metrosexual chic, with skinny trousers and a flowing shirt, his long, dark hair loose over his delicate shoulders.

  “Bon soir, Sophia,” he said, giving a little flicker of his fingers.

  Sophia smiled. Slowly freeing her hand from Colin’s, she gathered her power and without speaking sent a whispered command to the ear of every vampire present. “Kneel.”

  She caught the flash of rage on Thierry’s face as her will had him kneeling at her feet before he realized what he was doing. The low thud of more knees hitting wood followed him down as every vampire on the deck obeyed her command.