by Bella Klaus
My throat dried, and I ground harder, faster, lavishing Valentine’s neck with enough licks and kisses to make me look like I was the vampire who wanted to draw his blood.
“Innamorata,” Valentine growled. “Continue sucking me like that, and I won’t be able to resist biting your neck.”
“Good.” I clung to his broad shoulders, my core spasming and clenching with the need to be filled.
His hips quickened, and his thick fingers dug into the flesh of my ass, creating tiny ripples of excitement. My pulse pounded in my eardrums with fists the size of an ogre, and the ecstasy building inside me traveled along my every nerve. Pleasure sparked around my nub like tiny bolts of lightning, making me cry out.
Valentine’s hands tightened around my hips, pulling me even closer until our upper bodies felt like they’d joined.
My core muscles clamped, wanting Valentine, needing him, and a cry tore from my lips. “I need you so much.”
“Not until after you’ve climaxed.” His hot breath fanned against my skin.
I clamped down on his neck with my teeth, wishing I had fangs. Right now, I was so engorged with want that I could feel every vein and ridge of the thick organ rubbing against my sex. I clung to Valentine, moaning, panting, shuddering as he held me over a precipice of bliss.
Valentine growled through clenched teeth, quickening his pace. I bit harder, grimacing through the unbearable build-up of pleasure that now bordered on agony, making me feel like something would snap.
Valentine’s fingers gripped my ass harder, brushing against part of me no one had ever touched. I sucked in a deep breath, my eyes flying open, and a thunderbolt of sensation tore through my insides.
I screamed through my climax, shuddered and shook and squeezed as flames lapped along my nerves, threatening to burst through my skin. Shaking my head from side to side, I forced the power back into my chakras.
Valentine adjusted his grip, pulling me further up his torso and positioning me over the blunt tip of his huge erection. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his teeth, and paused.
“I want you.” My words came out a snarl.
“Morata?” he asked.
“Now.”
He loosened his grip, letting me engulf his thick length. I was so wet and so pliant that the stretch only intensified the climax. Once Valentine was fully sheathed, he held me steady around my waist.
“What did you conclude?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Is this real or an illusion?”
I huffed a laugh. “Nobody but His Majesty Valentinus Sargon de Akkadian could ever make me feel this amount of pleasure.”
He chuckled. “I like the way you say my name.”
“Our next stop is Atlantis Central,” said a female voice over a loudspeaker. “Passengers who wish to transfer to Gyges, Solar, and Atlanticus are advised to disembark when the Phileas Express arrives in thirty minutes.”
I locked gazes with Valentine. “You never told me where we were going.”
“Days after you disappeared, I visited Healer Hadriel to ask her if we had formed a bond. She said one was in place, but it was stretched too thinly to determine your current state of health. I’d like her to make sure it’s still in place.”
Chapter Five
Warm water beat down on our heads, filling the shower cubicle with even more steam than before.
“Let’s hurry.” Tightening my legs around Valentine’s waist, I clung to his neck, readying myself for Valentine to work up to an intense climax.
He pressed a kiss on my jaw. “If we miss Atlantis, we can get off at the next stop and double back.”
Instead of hard thrusts, he rocked back and forth inside me, his lips and teeth and tongue joining mine for deep kisses that made my body go weak. I lost sense of time, of place, of the cascade of water flowing from the brass shower heads, and even of self.
I finally understood what Shakespeare had meant by describing sex as the beast with two backs. Valentine’s heart reverberated against my chest in sync with the pounding of my pulse. As he slid in and out of me, our connection became deeper than any we had formed in the dreamscape.
My eyelids fluttered shut, and I surrendered to the onslaught of sensations, not quite knowing if he was pounding into me or I was riding him. The muscles of my core stretched, strained, tightened, pulsed. Being so at one with Valentine was the most profound pleasure of my existence.
At that moment, I already knew our bond still held strong. It had survived three years of separation, Valentine’s death, my transformation into a phoenix, and even parting across realms. Even so, I relished the opportunity to see Healer Hadriel, since she’d helped extract the soul nucleus. Perhaps I might even discover if Aunt Arianna had settled in Atlantis or moved onto another supernatural city.
As the train slowed, the hands around my waist slid down to my ass, and his thrusts quickened, pumping me with enough pleasure to make me hyperventilate with the onslaught.
I bit down hard on my lip, sobbing, shuddering, squeezing around the thick length driving me to rapture.
“Will you climax with me, Innamorata?” he murmured into my ear.
“Maybe not in the next few minutes.” My voice shook with his every thrust.
His lips clamped around my neck, and I sucked in a breath between my teeth. Then he ran his warm tongue up and down my jugular. “May I?”
Every nerve hummed in anticipation for the bite, and a whimper reverberated in the back of my throat. Vampire bites contained tiny traces of thrall. Would I become addicted again? Did it matter when he was wholly and completely mine?
“You never need to ask,” I murmured.
Valentine’s fangs sliced through my vein, bringing with it a euphoria that made my spirits soar to the sky. White lightning flashed behind my eyes, bringing forth my climax.
A storm of sensations thundered through my body, and pleasure swept through me like a tornado. I convulsed around Valentine’s larger body, holding onto him as though he was the only thing keeping me from being swept away.
As Valentine drank from my vein, his growl tore through my ears, and with one last thrust, he shuddered, filling me with jet after jet of warm fluid.
My climax continued long after he licked the wound clean, after he positioned me against the wall and rode it out with the grinding of his hips, and after he’d set me on my feet and turned off the spray.
“Are you alright?” He stared down at me with a curious smile.
I shook my head. “How many minutes do we have left?”
His gaze darted to a spot behind me on the right. “Five.”
“Bloody hell.” I stumbled forward with my arms splayed, catching myself on his pecs. “We need to get dressed, dry our hair, collect my samples, and—”
Valentine placed a finger on my lips. “There’s plenty of time.”
“What?”
“Vampire speed.” He flashed me a knowing grin.
“Right,” I said through panting breaths. “I’ll just stand here, then and you can whizz around the cabin, finding me something to wear.”
His frown deepened. “Are you hungry?”
I slumped against the shower wall. “Ask me again once I’ve recovered from that last orgasm.”
Valentine burst into a blur of speed that made my head spin. I was sure he’d left the bathroom a few times, but it was hard to tell with all the condensation still lingering in the air. No sooner had I caught my breath than he lifted me into his arms and wiped me down with a towel that made me wriggle like a tickled cat.
“Slow down,” I said with a giggle.
He set me back on my feet in front of the mirror, dressed in a turtleneck and a pair of black pants more suited to Audrey Hepburn. He’d even swept my damp hair into a ponytail.
Valentine stepped toward me and grinned, already dressed in a similar outfit with his cloak draped over his shoulders. “I would have chosen green, but the train’s store had a limited selection.”
&nbs
p; I turned in a circle, marveling in the mirror at how svelte and sophisticated I looked in the pants tailored around my modest curves. “Why would I ever need to get ready in the morning when I have you?”
“Don’t get used to it,” he said with a chuckle. “I rather enjoy watching you dress and undress yourself.”
Minutes later, the Express stopped at Atlantis Central, and Valentine helped me into the reaper cloak. I stepped out of the cabin into a hallway of mahogany panels with doors down one side and tall windows down the other.
Outside, supernaturals waited on the platform. Some of them had luggage and were likely boarding the Express, others stepped back, seeming to wait for another train. Everyone looked magical, from the faeries with their horns and wings on display to red-skinned demons, ogres, half-transformed shifters, and wizards holding tall staffs that glowed with power.
Life certainly was different in a large nation of supernaturals, down to the public transport. In Logris, we only had the bus.
Valentine placed a protective hand on the small of my back and guided me off the train, which smelled of fresh rain, mingled with the aroma of roasted coffee beans.
The station reminded me of the interior of a cathedral with its impossibly tall walls, vaulted ceilings, and the abundance of stained glass. Light streamed in through arched windows that depicted green landscapes of trees and lakes and animals, much like how humans might imagine the Garden of Eden.
“Would you like a drink?” Valentine asked as we approached what appeared to be an unmanned coffee booth.
It looked like a London telephone box painted green and covered with a huge parasol. Its interior consisted of shelves containing stainless steel appliances at eye and waist level, and a glass refrigerator filled the bottom. Paper cups took up its upper levels, and an array of snacks floated in front of its open door.
My gaze zoomed in on the display of choux buns filled with cacao cream and topped with melted chocolate. Saliva flooded my mouth. “Do they have mochaccinos?”
One of the paper cups floated down from the bottom, and hovered beneath the nozzle of a machine that looked part-barista machine and part-ice cream maker. I stepped back, wondering if this was operated by magic or an invisible employee.
When my drink was ready, Valentine took the insulated cup, dropped a couple of bronze coins into thin air, and steered me toward the end of the platform with an arm around my shoulder. We paused to let a family of pointy-eared faeries race past, floating a cloud of miniaturized cases.
I turned to meet his violet eyes. “How can you know when an invisible person is near if they’re cloaking their magic and scent?”
“My uncle taught me the basics of counter-subterfuge.” He handed me the cup.
“Prince Draconius?” I inhaled my drink’s chocolate and coffee scent.
“Unfortunately,” he replied.
“At least that explains how Nonaginta-Novem managed to track my location in that slaughterhouse,” I muttered under my breath.
An announcement sounded over the loudspeaker, and the Express pulled out of the station. The image of encrusted snake bile slammed into the back of my mind, and my breath caught. “Did we forget—”
“Your glass jar is in my pocket,” he replied with a smile.
A relieved breath escaped my lungs, and I returned his smile with a grin. “Why haven’t you ever taken me here before?”
“Atlantis?” He swept a dismissive glance across the platform as though he’d seen the station a hundred times and the trinket sellers and souvenir booths we passed were now commonplace. “It’s not nearly as interesting as exploring the Human World with you.”
“Can we explore?” I asked.
He peered down at me with a frown. “You just escaped an undetermined amount of time with an immortal deity bent on stealing your soul.”
“Right.” I took a sip of my mochaccino and exhaled a contented sigh. Although Hades and Namara had gotten me accustomed to their hot chocolate, I could still enjoy coffee-related beverages.
Valentine pressed a kiss on my temple. “I can’t decide what I love most about you. Your pure-heartedness or your resilience.”
“Not so pure anymore,” I replied with a wink.
He shook his head and smiled. “I did say you were pure of heart.”
As the caffeine seeped into my veins, my feet made an abrupt stop and the cold fist of realization slammed into my heart. Twenty-eight days had passed. An entire month. An eternity for a woman whose youth had been stolen and was fading fast.
“Mera?” Valentine asked.
I turned to him, my breaths shallowing. Passengers from the train streamed past, some of them muttering under their breath at having to steer around us. They faded into the background as I forced myself to say the word, “Beatrice.”
He closed his eyes for a heartbeat longer than was necessary, and I stopped breathing.
“Whatever’s happened to her,” I croaked, “you’ve got to tell me—”
“I’m sorry for alarming you.” He met my gaze with soft eyes. “These last few weeks have been tumultuous. She’s perfectly fine and is touring Europe with Lazarus.”
My eyes bulged. “You got the faeries to return her youth?”
Valentine placed his hand on the small of my back, urging me to continue walking. “And we brought the culprit to justice. I’m sure Beatrice will tell you the tale the next time you see her.”
I frowned. Something in his voice said that the time he’d spent helping Lazarus track down Christian had been painful.
At the end of the platform stood a door marked MIRRORS, manned by a male faerie clad in a teal uniform with silver buttons and matching piping. He tipped the brim of his hat and stood to attention, fluttering his transparent dragonfly wings and acting like he already knew we were heading toward him.
Valentine handed him two gold coins, and he let us into a room with walnut-paneled walls, red carpets, and a bank of leather sofas in the middle.
A quartet of wooden booths protruded from the walls like oversized lockers with tall doors that hid their interiors. Between each enclosure stood writing tables with chairs upholstered in the same red velvet as the floor.
“This looks like a waiting room,” I said. “I thought we were going to take a mirror.”
Valentine gave me a gentle pat on the back. “The cubicles allow people to travel to their destinations in privacy.”
I glanced around the unoccupied room. It was a rare individual who would spend gold coins to get from one place to another. That sort of money could keep Aunt Arianna and me in luxury for an entire month and leave several silver coins to put in the bank.
We walked to the nearest booth, which turned out to be a hallway that led to a small room containing a pair of reclining chairs and a gold-framed mirror. Valentine waited for me to finish my drink before placing his hand on the mirror’s golden frame. “Two for the Atlantis General Hospital.”
As the mirror’s surface rippled, he took my other hand and turned to me with his brows raised. “Are you ready?”
Nodding, I stepped close enough to brush arms. “Let’s go.”
We entered a white room with blue marble floors that opened up into a wall consisting entirely of glass. Instead of a view of the city or gardens, schools of fish floated within a darkened ocean. This was just like the last room Valentine and I had visited in Koffiek, except hopefully without the vampire ambush.
A pair of angel hybrids stepped in through the doors, a woman with feathery white wings that barely extended beyond her shoulders, and a man with vibrant gold hair that contrasted with his ebony skin. They inclined their heads at us and walked to the mirror at the opposite end of the room.
“Isn’t Atlantis enclosed in a celestial bubble?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“It is.” Valentine swept an arm around my waist, and we continued toward the door. “The most prominent buildings are on the outskirts.”
“Right.” I nodded. “So the Phileas E
xpress travelled underwater?”
“Under the water, through mountains, volcanoes, icebergs…” he said. “One day, after I’ve retired, we can embark on one of their world tours.”
“That’s centuries away,” I said.
Chuckling, Valentine opened the door and swept his arm for me to go first. “Some of them last longer than a year.”
The hospital’s hallway was a curved corridor that reminded me of the Flame, except with floor lights illuminating arched glass walls that ran beneath the ocean. We strolled past doctors clad in white gowns, past patients wearing light blue, toward a perspex door that opened into a transparent elevator.
Fortunately, I’d ridden in a few of the devices since Macavity and I had traveled up from Hell, so I stepped in with only the tiniest trace of apprehension.
“Your heart just skipped.” Valentine’s finger hovered over a floating metallic panel with hundreds of buttons. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “It’s stupid.”
After tapping a series of commands, he turned to me and frowned. “What is it?”
The elevator descended through what appeared to be an endless ocean, and I asked, “Are you planning on taking your revenge on Hades?”
Valentine’s brows rose. “For a list of injuries and insults he’s committed against my person?”
I nodded.
“You hold him in high esteem?” He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and stared at me with softening eyes.
This was the difference between the ensouled Valentine and all the other versions of himself. While the others might scowl or express irritation about my connection with Hades, Valentine’s primary emotion was concern.
“He’s wicked, dishonest, lecherous, and treats women like challenges to be conquered,” I said.
“But?”
“And he sincerely wants to keep me as a pet.”
Valentine narrowed his eyes. “All the more reason for me to strike against the Demon King.”
“He’s our most useful ally against Kresnik,” I said. “Everyone else apart from you and the Shifter King seems more interested in bureaucracy than in being proactive.”
