Longing for You

by Jenny Frame

  Byron pulled Amelia into a hug to give her support.

  “What happened?” Amelia asked.

  Byron guessed this truth was going to upset Amelia even more.

  “They were targeting Bronte, so she gave you to me and told me to get out of the ceremonial circle in the forest. I ran, dodging dark witches along the way, until I ran right into David and Joy’s group. I made a snap decision—I asked them to take you, protect you, and keep you away from anything in our paranormal world, and they did.”

  Byron remembered what Joy had said when she lay dying. “Sybil, Joy said she was told one day a vampire would come along. Was that me?”

  Sybil smiled. “Yes, you were always part of the vision, part of our plans.”

  She watched Amelia trace her fingers over her face in the picture, then say, “Hello, Bronte, hello, Mum.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alexis walked back inside the cabin and found Katie talking on her phone. Trying not to disturb her, Alexis walked to the fridge to get some water. She heard Katie whisper, “You have to be careful, Daisy…Yes, I know I said I would, but…okay, we’ll talk when I get back.”

  Katie turned around and jumped when she saw Alexis there. “God, you’ll give me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry, would you like a drink?”

  Alexis was sure something was going on. The phone call coupled with Katie’s increased heart rate suggested that.

  Katie rubbed her bandaged wound and snapped, “No—sorry, I’m just sick of this. I want to be better.”

  Before Alexis had time to think about what she was saying, she blurted out, “I could make that injury better, you know.”

  Katie’s eyes widened and she walked closer. “What? By drinking your blood?”

  Alexis wished she’d never opened her mouth. Her heart was pounding. Katie looked shocked at the suggestion of drinking her blood, and she’d nearly done that to her. Now was she offering to break another Debrek rule? She’d lived by them strictly, and now because of Katie she was willing to break them.

  “No, not that. This only works for minor wounds, and we’re not supposed to, but my blood dripped onto your wound can heal it. The Debrek clan banned the practice because we are not supposed to interfere with humans in that way.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to break a rule for me,” Katie said.

  Alexis took Katie’s hand. “We could keep it our secret.”

  Katie shook her head. “Secrets take a heavy toll on you, Alexis.”

  Alexis put her head down. “I know that, believe me, but it’s not a cardinal rule, like consent. Let me heal it?”

  “I’m not sure,” Katie said.

  “Okay, well, I’ll change your bandage. Come on,” Alexis said.

  Katie followed Alexis to the kitchen table and sat down while Alexis got the first aid case out. There was such a tension between them. It had been building since Alexis’s kiss earlier before the attack on Sybil. She didn’t know how she would handle Alexis touching her. Just being this close was giving her goosebumps.

  Alexis got the new bandage ready then started to unwrap the old one. At the touch of Alexis’s fingertips, Katie had an intake of breath.

  Alexis stopped. “Sorry, did I hurt you?”

  “No.” Katie’s lips parted, and she moistened them with the tip of her tongue. She saw Alexis’s eyes focus on her lips and the blood-red colour of hunger wash across her eyes. Katie had the urge to push her fingers into Alexis’s hair and bring Alexis’s lips to hers. Instead she looked down, away from temptation. “No, you didn’t hurt me.”

  Alexis pulled off the bandage, and then she did feel pain. “It feels worse. Hot and painful.”

  Alexis threw down the bandage, and growled, “It looks like it’s infected. Fucking Josie.”

  Katie tried to see as much of the wound as she could. It looked fiery red. “It’s not your fault—it’s mine for not listening to you and going to the club. I realize now you’ve always been trying to look after me, and I just saw it as you bossing me around.”

  Alexis cupped her cheek, and Katie saw tears forming in her eyes. “I didn’t protect you.” Katie watched Alexis pinch the bridge of her nose. “I can’t do this any more. I’m no better than Josie, no better than Victorija Dred,” Alexis said angrily.

  Katie had no idea what was going on now. Alexis looked tortured by something. “What are you talking about? You’re nothing like them. You’re the Debrek Duca. You take care of us all and uphold the high ideals that the Grand Duchess gave this clan.”

  “No, I don’t. I’m a fraud. I have no nobility.”

  Katie reached out to touch Alexis but she pulled away.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, Alexis?”

  Alexis closed her eyes momentarily and took a breath. “When I lost Anna to the Dreds, my heart was smashed into so many pieces I was certain it would never recover, and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t ever want to feel again. I had a single purpose to my life from then on—do my duty and uphold the beliefs of our clan.”

  “And you have,” Katie said.

  Alexis shook her head vigorously. “No, I haven’t. I’ve been on this path heading to this destination for five years now.”

  Katie was utterly confused. “What path? What destination?”

  “The path to my own downfall and betraying everything I believe in. Do you remember when you left to go to college in America?”

  Katie didn’t expect the conversation to go in this direction. “Um…yes.”

  “Byron, her family, the clan, and your family had a leaving party for you in Monaco,” Alexis said.

  “Yes, it was an exciting day. Byron organized the Debrek plane to take me to America. What about it?”

  “I watched you that day, so full of excitement, hope, a bright future ahead of you, everything that I couldn’t be, everything that was lost to me so long ago, and looking back now that was the day that the first piece of my shattered heart came back to me.”

  “It did?” Katie was lost for words.

  Alexis nodded. “And each holiday from college, every time you came home to us, I found another piece of that shattered heart.”

  “Oh God. Alexis, but I thought—you took my first blood, and then you ran.”

  “When I tasted you, the final piece of the jigsaw of my heart slotted in place, and I ran in terror, because I know what it means to feel that for a human. What happened to Anna…I couldn’t do that again.”

  Katie stepped right beside Alexis and slipped her hand around her waist.

  Alexis allowed her fingertips to caress Katie’s cheek. “There’s something no one has told you about your attack.”

  Katie stepped back. “What? Why?”

  “The Principe and Principessa wanted to give me a chance to confess.”

  Katie was starting to panic now. Why had she been kept in the dark? What could Alexis possibly have done?

  “What?”

  “When I found you, you were nearly dead. I felt panic and pain like I had never felt before. Then Byron and Amelia came, and Amelia saw your spirit rising out of your body. I didn’t think twice. I ripped open my wrist to feed you blood. Byron told me not to do it, told me not to break our rule of consent, but I didn’t care about your consent. I carried on and was about to drip blood into your mouth when Bhal arrived and stopped me. She then saved you.”

  Katie was silent. She didn’t know what to say or think or do. Her mind was struggling to take it all in.

  “The next morning you could have woken up to the decision of living your life as an undead vampire or facing an agonizing death. I’ve always hated Victorija for doing that to me, and all I can say is that I would have done it, and I would do it again. I would do it again because…” Alexis took Katie’s hand. “I’m a soldier, and I was brought up not to show my feelings. I don’t know how to. All I can say is this.”

  Katie watched as Alexis placed the palm of her hand on her heart, as she had earlier today when they were in hiding o
utside Sybil’s cottage. The simple gesture conveyed more than words to Katie, and she teared up.

  Alexis shot out of the cabin in an instant.

  * * *

  Katie rubbed her forehead, trying to make sense of what Alexis had told her. Despite what Alexis thought, what was more shocking than the fact that she could have woken up to the biggest decision of her life after the attack, was the fact that Alexis was willing to break the Debreks’ most sacred tenet.

  She knew what rules meant to Alexis and her wish to put duty above all. For her to be not just willing, but eager to break it must mean that Alexis truly loved her. Now Alexis’s determination to look after her made sense.

  Katie had to do something. Alexis was torturing herself. Katie never thought she’d need to be the strong one between them, but here it was. Hoping Alexis hadn’t ran off into the forest, she walked to the front door and opened it.

  Luckily she found Alexis leaning against the wooden porch post, just looking out into the night.

  “Alexis, I need to talk to you.”

  Alexis didn’t turn around. “You don’t have to say anything. We’re going back to London tomorrow, so I’ll keep out of your way. I want you to know that I offered to leave my post as Duca, but the Principe refused.”

  Katie walked up to Alexis and said, “Turn around.”

  Alexis sighed and turned. Katie put her palm on her heart as Alexis had done. She felt it conveyed more than words would at that moment.

  “You forgive me?” Alexis looked taken aback.

  “There’s nothing to forgive, Alexis. True, I believe in consent, and I’m not saying that it would have been easy to wake up knowing I had to turn or die, but that is not what Victorija did to you. She did it for her own twisted purposes, but you did it because—” Katie didn’t want to put words in Alexis’s mouth. “Well, for very different reasons.”

  Alexis touched her fingers to Katie’s hand. “Tell me you forgive me?”

  “If you need to hear it, then yes, I forgive you. Come inside and heal my neck,” Katie said.

  Alexis was overwhelmed with emotions right now, and her brain was trying to catch up. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, this was inflicted on me, and I know how much seeing it disturbs you, so let’s take away Josie’s power and what she did to me.”

  Alexis allowed herself to be pulled inside the cabin and over to the couch. Katie sat down and Alexis kneeled in front of her.

  “Are you sure?” Alexis asked.

  “Are you?”

  Alexis nodded. She wanted to make Katie better more than anything. “Yes. If you could move your jumper past your shoulder…?” Alexis asked.

  Instead of doing that, Katie took her thin cashmere jumper off completely.

  Alexis gulped and her eyes went straight to Katie’s black-lace covered breasts.

  Oh God, she’s beautiful.

  “Alexis? My wound?” Katie said.

  Alexis shook herself. “Yes, sorry.”

  She bit into the palm of her hand with her fangs, allowing the blood to flow. “Are you ready?”

  Katie nodded, so Alexis lowered her palm to Katie’s infected neck wound. Katie hissed when Alexis’s blood touched her.

  “Okay, relax and look in my eyes,” Alexis said.

  Katie did that, and Alexis asked, “How does that feel?”

  “It burned like acid at first, but now it feels nice, warm.”

  “Good, it’ll not take too long.”

  Katie’s lips parted slightly, and Alexis could see the tip of her wet tongue. She had the urge to suck on it, to taste Katie anywhere she allowed her. Her teeth had fully erupted, and days of no fresh blood made all this stimulation much worse. But she had to stay in control for Katie’s sake.

  “Your eyes are red,” Katie said.

  Alexis had no doubt they were. Katie had forgiven her, and she was touching her skin, at the same time trying not to let her eyes wander down to Katie’s breasts. Instead of explaining, she asked Katie, “Why do you think they’re red?”

  Katie reached for Alexis and lightly grasped her hair. “Because you want me, because you’re hungry.”

  Katie took the initiative and pressed her lips to Alexis’s. Alexis moaned. She felt like she had been waiting for this kiss her whole life. Katie pushed her tongue into Alexis’s mouth and ran her tongue around her fangs.

  Alexis responded by sucking it deeper into her mouth. Her own mouth was watering and aching for blood. Not any blood, Katie’s blood.

  Katie pulled back for air, and Alexis took her hand off Katie’s wound. All that was left was the stain of Alexis’s blood.

  “It’s gone,” Katie said with amazement.

  * * *

  “Josie has gone.” Alexis felt like Josie had been between them as long as her bite had been on Katie’s neck, a reminder to Alexis of her failure.

  Katie took Alexis’s hand and placed it between her breasts. “Touch me.”

  Alexis trailed the back of her hand down between Katie’s breasts. Katie gasped and pushed Alexis’s hand onto her breast. Her sex clenched when Alexis squeezed. She pulled Alexis closer by her hair.

  Katie didn’t know if it was having some of Alexis’s blood in her system, but she was feeling so much more like herself, grounded, and with more energy than she’d had since the attack.

  She grabbed for Alexis’s T-shirt and pulled it off. Alexis didn’t wear a bra, her breasts were small, and Katie could see how it was possible for her to pass as a male soldier without much trouble.

  Katie scratched her fingernails down Alexis’s back. She shivered but then pulled back from their kiss.

  “We have to stop. You’re not strong enough,” Alexis said.

  “I am strong enough. Your blood has made every part of me stronger already, and I need you to touch me,” Katie said.

  “I don’t—”

  Katie took off her bra and dropped it at her side. Alexis’s eyes went an even darker red. She then said, “You remember when we kissed in my bedroom and I did this?”

  Katie pierced her finger against Alexis’s fang and let the blood flow into her mouth. She hoped it made Alexis unable to resist her.

  Alexis sucked on her finger and moaned, then lifted her off the couch and onto her back in front of the fire. She sucked on Katie’s finger for another few seconds then broke away.

  “God, you taste so good,” Alexis said.

  Katie smiled then unbuttoned her jeans. “I hope I taste good everywhere.”

  Alexis groaned and put her mouth on Katie’s breast, kissing everywhere except her nipple, teasing Katie, making her want Alexis’s mouth all the more.

  “Oh God.” Katie, now buoyed by her newfound energy, wanted Alexis as close as possible. She shuffled out of her jeans and encouraged Alexis to do the same, and finally the heat of their sexes came together.

  Katie wanted to bring Alexis as close to her as possible and wrapped her legs around Alexis’s hips.

  Alexis finally put her lips back on Katie’s breast. She sucked and swirled her tongue around her hard nipple. Katie felt an electrical jolt of pleasure every time Alexis’s fang grazed her. The energy building between them was powerful, and Katie couldn’t help but start to rock her hips, trying to find some relief.

  Alexis followed suit and let her nipple go with a pop. “You’re so wet—I can feel it.”

  Katie smiled and pushed Alexis onto her back and started kissing her jaw and neck. “Youre too,” Katie said.

  Alexis looked in awe at Katie. She couldn’t believe she was able to touch her. The taste of her blood was like nothing else, and it ignited a spark of hope in her heart. Hope that she hadn’t felt for a long time.

  Alexis turned Katie onto her back again and said, “Let me taste you and make you come.”

  “Yes,” Katie breathed.

  Alexis grasped Katie’s sex and squeezed while she kissed her breastbone and down onto her stomach. Her mouth watered at the thought of tasting Katie. She moved down b
etween her legs and kissed all around her wet sex. It made her feel so good that she could make Katie feel like this.

  She opened Katie up and was about to start making Katie feel good when her attention was caught by the pounding artery on Katie’s thigh. Her mouth watered at the thought of her fangs piercing Katie there and drinking. There was no other feeling like feeding there, from a lover. It was so intimate, so personal, but she didn’t want to scare Katie their first time.

  Although Alexis was sure Katie must have had sexual partners before her while at university, she suspected she was not too experienced and didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

  She felt Katie’s hand in her hair trying to push her lips and tongue back to her sex. Alexis forced herself to ignore the heavy beat of the artery there and started by licking around her clit but not touching it.

  Alexis groaned. “God, you taste so good.”

  “Alex, I need you. Please make me come?”

  Alexis took her two fingers and slowly and gently circled the entrance to Katie’s sex. She wanted to fuck, suck, and taste Katie’s blood, all at once, but she wasn’t going to scare her off by being too rough the first time.

  “Alex, I’m going to explode,” Katie said.

  She smiled and then sucked Katie’s clit into her mouth. Katie moaned and thrust her hips in rhythm with Alexis. While she sucked and kissed, Alexis pushed two fingers inside Katie, and she gave a low groan.

  “Yes, just like that, Alex, faster,” Katie said.

  She sped up, and very soon she felt Katie’s walls start to flutter against her fingers. Katie grasped frantically at her hair and thrust her hips, her moans getting louder, until she went still and nearly crushed Alexis’s skull with her thighs then cried out.

  “Oh God, oh God. Alex,” Katie said breathily.

  Alexis carefully pulled out her fingers and climbed back up to Katie, who was still trying to get her breath.

  “That was…amazing.”