Thirst

by Jacquelyn Frank

  He broke away from her mouth and she took in a large gulp of air. His lips and tongue traced down over her jaw and throat. She closed her eyes and panted for breath as he licked and kissed his way down to the tip of her breast. He jogged her body up a little higher against the wall, bringing her into easier reach of his mouth. His whiskers tickled against her skin as his hot tongue danced against her nipple. Her nipple became a hard, almost painful point, and he flicked and bit at it in light erotic touches. Renee went wet with pleasure and her spine began to tingle.

  That was when she realized that all this while he had been giving off small electric charges every time they kissed or touched, but she must have been growing used to it because she only noticed it on a conscious level when it began to run up and down the length of her back. Her whole body felt like a live wire, snapping and crackling and arcing with electric current. It wasn’t painful, but it was a pleasure that bordered on pain. Too much more of this and she didn’t know what she would be doing.

  “Rafe, please!” she gasped, not even knowing what she was begging for.

  Her nipple filled his mouth and he was sucking on her, his tongue swirling against her in turns. Then he switched to her opposite breast and did the same to it.

  Frantic now, she tore at his buttons. She wanted to feel his bare skin. She wanted to feel it against her own. She unbuttoned him blindly, his head blocking her line of sight. When she looked down all she could see was his pleasure-filled face as he drifted from one breast to the other.

  As soon as she had bared enough of his skin, she flattened her palms against him and stroked the warm skin of his chest. He was slightly hairy and extremely muscular. His muscles were flexing with the strength he was using to hold up her weight. They tightened and twitched, jumping beneath the touch of her hand.

  She ran her hand up to his shoulders and began to push his suit jacket down; he let go of her only long enough to shrug out of it. Then she was pulling his shirt out of his waistband and pushing it down his arms as well. He growled in frustration when he had to leave her in order to unbutton the cuffs of his shirt and help her shuck it off his body. But before he went back to her, she took a moment to look at him in all of his half-naked glory. She touched his face, absorbing the fierce passion in his gaze.

  Rafe held her gaze as he settled his hand on the button of her jeans. He undid it with purposeful slowness, giving her every opportunity to resist or protest.

  She did not.

  He lowered her zipper, exposing the pink fabric of her panties.

  “I wouldn’t want to do this here, like this. But I don’t want you to forget me without first having this. I…If they take you away from me, I want something to hold on to. Even if it’s only ever this, I will remember it for the both of us.”

  Inexplicable tears leapt into her eyes. She understood. This committee might wipe her memory a short while from now. She would be forced to forget all about this…all about him. She couldn’t leave him without first knowing him.

  “I won’t forget you,” she whispered. “Some part of me will remember. Some part of me will be missing you. Missing this.”

  He nodded, swallowing visibly. Then she unlocked her legs from around his hips and allowed him to shuck her jeans down her legs and off her body. He did the same with her panties, exposing her to his sight. His fingertips brushed at her lower belly and then through the groomed curls of her mound. He caught her mouth with his once more as he let his fingers slip between her legs. She gasped into his mouth as his fingertips ran along her wet folds. Then they moved back and found her clitoris with unerring accuracy. She exhaled, a sense of relief washing over her, as if she had been waiting for this forever. She felt that static sensation zinging across her clit and the secret places of her body. Her hands went to his waist, working at his belt and then freeing his zipper. She fished for him with a single hand, finding him just by the sheer heat of him. He was radiating body heat at what felt like ten times what should be normal.

  She wrapped her fingers around him and her eyes widened slightly at the significant size of him. “Boy. Vampires have it going on, huh?” she said.

  He chuckled at that, but it was a strained sound. She couldn’t see his eyes because his lids had lowered, but his pleasure was written all over his face. She stroked him and he groaned.

  “Enough!” he barked suddenly. Then he was pulling her up off her feet again and pinning her to the wall with his hips. She pushed his pants and underwear down his hips, just enough to free him, then she moved his hand aside and guided him toward the empty place in her body. That was how she felt. Empty. So empty. She needed to be filled…by him. By them. By something bigger than themselves or the committee or the vampire queen.

  She brought him to the cusp of her body and without any preamble he thrust into her. She gasped, her body needing more than a moment to adjust to him. He eased into her the rest of the way after that initial thrust, checking her expression the entire time.

  “Am I too much for you?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  “No. You’re just right,” she purred.

  “So are you,” he groaned soulfully. “Damn, you feel good. I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.”

  “Tell me,” she whispered hotly, “do all vampires give off electric sensations when they’re kissing and touching?”

  “Is that what you feel?” he asked, looking surprised.

  “Yes. All over. Everywhere. My whole body is alive like a wire. And now that you’re inside of me, I’m twitching with the sensation.”

  A contented smile spread across his lips. “I knew you were special. From the moment I met you, I knew you were extraordinary. Now you’ve proven it true.”

  “How so?”

  “I’ll explain another time. Right now, I just want to feel you and give you pleasure.”

  “Yes, please,” she breathed out.

  He withdrew from her slightly, then thrust back up inside her. She gasped as a tingling sensation skipped across her clit and her cervix. Another thrust and she was swooning. She moaned with her pleasure and he chuckled.

  “Feels good?”

  “Beyond good,” she agreed.

  “For me too. Now hold on. Things are going to get a little wild.”

  “Ooh. That sounds fun.”

  “Oh, it will be,” he promised.

  He grasped hold of her firmly, braced his feet against the floor and crushed his mouth down onto hers. Then he surged up into her, pinning her hips to the wall of the elevator. He withdrew and thrust again. Suddenly he was in a hard, heated rhythm, each inward stroke rocking her body. He had a hand on her bottom, holding her up along with the rest of his body; he wedged his free hand between them and stroked her with his thumb in taunting circles and teasing flicks. She cried out, but his mouth was there to muffle the sound. He caught her excitement against his tongue with pleasure.

  Things grew increasingly hot and frantic from there. She tightened her legs around him, as if she could get him even farther inside of her, while his thrusts tried to do the same. Renee began to fall into an abyss of pleasure; her whole body wired with it and the electrical current seemed to intensify as their frenetic pace increased. The most intense electric sensation was where he touched her clit. Soon she couldn’t take it anymore and she crested in an explosion of eroticism and sparks. She came so hard he had no hope of silencing her…and anyway he was far too focused on his own pleasure. It clawed through him as he felt and heard her come, giving way to a mind-blowing orgasm that left him grinding his teeth to keep himself quieter than she had been.

  She went weak and limp against the wall, her head ringing and pounding with her elevated blood pressure.

  Ringing and pounding.

  The elevator alarm was ringing and someone was pounding off in the distance. Against a door nearby perhaps. Renee sucked in a breath of reality and shock.

  “Oh my god. We have to get dressed!”

  “In a second,” he said lazily,
kissing her at her temple. “I want to take a moment to enjoy this.”

  “We don’t have a moment. Please,” she pleaded with him. “This is where I work.”

  He met her worried eyes and gave her an understanding nod but he felt immediately bereft as she unwrapped her legs from around him. She scrambled down to the floor and found her panties, sweeping them up her legs as fast as he could blink. Then her jeans followed suit. They were both tucking their shirts in when they looked at each other. Renee was stepping into her shoes when Rafe hit the emergency stop button. She hastily smoothed a hand through her hair and then did the same to him. He smiled and caught her hand to kiss her palm, but she jerked away and took two steps back when the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened to a crowd of people. There were two elevators in the bank servicing the building, but taking one out of service always backed things up.

  Instead of offering excuses or explanations or fumbling for some kind of apology that would give away their guilt, Renee just announced, “I’m glad that’s over!” and grabbed him by the hand and led him out through the crowd. It wasn’t the right floor, so she led him to the stairs nearby and scanned her ID card for access to the stairwell. They were hurrying down the stairs moments later and Rafe began to chuckle.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked, without looking at him. She was focused on her travels down the stairwell.

  “I don’t know if I ought to be insulted.”

  “Why? Because we didn’t snuggle afterward? We were in an elevator. An elevator that services one of the busiest precincts in New York City!”

  “No. I meant ‘I’m glad that’s over!’ ” he said with another chuckle.

  “Oh.” She colored a little then laughed herself before meeting his eyes. “You know I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean you. Us.” She sobered then. “I don’t want us to be over.”

  He grew serious as well, taking her hand in his and drawing her close. They had come to a halt on the stairs and he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward until their lips met. The kiss was hungry and tinged with desperation. “It won’t be over,” he whispered against her lips. “You’ll do fine. All you have to do is remember to be honest. They will be able to see through lies. You simply have to gain their trust the same way you gained mine. By being yourself.”

  “Yes, but you had motivations that they don’t have. Unless you want me to seduce them. Are they all men? I guess I could do a woman too if it came down to it.”

  Rafe smiled down at her. He couldn’t help himself. She was being completely serious, and yet funny as hell.

  “They are all men and you only have to seduce them into believing you are sincere and trustworthy. A little charm can’t hurt.” He then stepped down onto the next landing and urged her to follow him. He could tell her head was filled with worries other than where to put her feet, so he guided her safely down the next flight. They reached the garage level he had parked in and they exited the stairwell.

  She was wrapped up in her thoughts as he opened the car door and urged her into the passenger seat. He buckled her in, but before he could pull away and close the door, she came to her senses and grabbed hold of his face with her hands. She held him still as she searched his face, for what he didn’t know, but she seemed to find it. She smiled softly at him, meeting his eyes so directly he felt his chest tighten. She was by far the most breathtaking woman he had ever known. He wasn’t sure why he felt that way. There had to be others more beautiful, more clever…

  But right now, for him, there were none. It was an awesome sort of realization. It put her up very high in his esteem and could very well bias him in the future. He had to be more cautious of being swept away by her—didn’t he? Wasn’t he the one who should be sweeping her away? Was he? Did she feel the same exhilarating fear and excitement that he did every time he looked at her?

  “We’re going to be fine,” she said. “No one’s going to be wiping my memory today. You’ll see. We’ll be fine.”

  He wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure him…or herself.

  Chapter 16

  Rafe was silent for most of the ride back to the vampire center, but it was okay because Renee had threaded her fingers through his and was holding his hand on top of the gearshift. It helped him feel connected to her. Like they were in this thing together, which he supposed they were. The solidarity went beyond just their own individual well-being. It included whatever it was that was developing between them. Whatever it was that they wanted to keep between them. They may not know the exact nature of their relationship, but they knew enough to know it was not something they wanted to lose.

  Rafe parked in his designated spot in the underground lot. He then alighted and took Renee with him to the elevator.

  “This entire building is owned and occupied by the lawful vampires of New York City,” he told her.

  “Does every e-vamp in New York live here?”

  “No. This is mostly the higher echelon. There are others in the city and in the outlying suburbs and off on the other side of the state in Buffalo, but this is the place to be if you are a vampire living in New York. We offer food, shelter, and an occupation. Vampires have a zero unemployment rate. Those who don’t work do so by choice, not because there is a lack of jobs being offered.”

  The elevator opened and he keyed his card again and chose his floor.

  “Not every e-vamp has access to every floor. I do, but many don’t. It is to protect the queen and those in higher government positions. I can name the handful of vampires that have access to every floor. We live here as well as work here, so the highest floors are the private residences of the queen and others like me. The queen’s apartment takes up the entire top floor.”

  “The whole floor?” She was astounded. “That’s an enormous amount of square footage in this city. That apartment must be worth millions!”

  “Yes, it is. But she is queen and she deserves it. It is no small task, ruling over all of the vampire nation.”

  “I can imagine. You’ll have to tell me all about your government.”

  “You will learn a great deal about it if…” He trailed off. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. A chill walked down her spine. This meeting was critical. Not only to her safety, but for Rafe’s peace of mind. And for her own. She couldn’t escape the idea that no amount of hypnotism could ever fully erase him and her knowledge of him and his people. But perhaps it was very naive of her to think so. Very arrogant.

  In truth she had very little idea of whom and what she was dealing with. She did know he had used hypnotism on her once already, and had used it again to help her remember what he had made her forget. It was a very powerful tool and he had employed it quite adeptly. There were bound to be those who were even better at it than he was. And if she failed this test, she was sure to meet them.

  She reached out for his hand again, anxiously weaving their fingers together and holding on tightly to him. She should have written something down somewhere. A letter to herself explaining all that was happening so even if she did get hypnotized she would be made aware again. Anything to keep her from walking around in the world in ignorance.

  But in good faith she had not done so. Committing something like that to paper, where anyone could find it, would be putting his race in jeopardy and she had promised not to do that. In fact, that was what this was. It was a test to see if she was capable of keeping such an enormous secret. It was a test to see if she respected it and them.

  The elevator ride was long enough to allow her nerves to run amok. By the time the elevator doors opened she was as anxious as she had been when she’d had to pass her exams at the academy. Everything had been on the line then. Everything was on the line now.

  “Promise me something,” she said as they walked toward a pair of large double doors.

  “Of course,” he said.

  “Promise me you won’t let me die because of my ignorance. If I fail this and they take my memory I won�
��t know that I need to protect myself. You don’t have to be obvious about it or anything, just…promise you’ll keep me from dying a senseless death.”

  “I would never let anything happen to you. Even if they order me to stay away from you, I will make sure you are protected. I would even risk their wrath and their punishment to see to it myself.”

  “Okay,” she said, exhaling a shaking breath. “Okay. I believe you.”

  “But that’s not what’s going to happen,” he said firmly.

  He stopped in front of the door and turned her to face him. He wrapped his free hand around the side of her neck and tipped her head back with the stroke of his thumb. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with aching poignancy. The kiss was his way of telling her he would be there for her no matter what. She could feel it radiating off him, comforting her.

  He lifted from her mouth a fraction of an inch and looked into her eyes. “We’re going to be all right. You’ll be stellar.”

  “I hope so,” she whispered.

  Rafe moved away from her and keyed his card into the door. The lock unlatched with a click and he pushed the door open.

  When they walked into the room the committee members were standing in different places holding conversations either with one another or on their phones. Some of them were speaking in languages completely foreign to Renee. There were five of them in all, one of whom was dark skinned. This surprised Renee. For some reason she hadn’t thought vampires would have races like humans did. She assumed their origins were in a single place, a single evolutionary thread. In a way, she was glad to see there was diversity amongst the vampires. It meant that they were more like humans than she had thought. They had differences. They had to overcome those differences in order to work together. If they were able to do that, then maybe they were able to accept a human into their ranks and into their secret world.