by L. L. Ash
“But you just left him. Why didn’t you help him?”
“The villagers came. They found me and I knew that in his weakened state he needed time for the virus to work in him. I fled to lead away the danger from him.”
Their stories were so similar, but the details made them so different.
“Do you know what happened to his family? He said by the time he managed to get the bloodlust under control, his mother and sister were gone.”
“No. Though I would bet that it was the villagers. Ran them off most likely.”
I sighed, feeling my heart break for Clarence all over again.
“Now,” Evelyn said, putting a smile back on her face. “You’ve used up your one refusal. You must answer me. What was it like having sex with a werewolf?”
I choked on the beef in my mouth.
“Really?” I coughed, hoping she’d take the question back.
“Yes. It’s one of the few things I’ve never done. I can’t stand them, though I’ve never had the opportunity to scope out the best of a pack. Are they more pleasing? Eddie seems smarter than any other I’d ever met.”
“He is. He’s intelligent and he’s caring and he loves his people. He’s a great king for them.”
“But? You’ve yet to answer my question.”
“Do I have to?” I begged. “It’s awful personal for you to ask about.”
“And how I turned Mason and Clarence wasn’t?” one of her eyebrows raised.
Sighing, I gave up my battle. I’d never win against a 600 year old vampire.
“It was rough,” I said quickly. “Sweaty and fast and animalistic.”
“Did he pleasure you?” she asked, leaning forward on both hands, completely intrigued.
“Very much.”
“Did he turn? Take you from behind?”
I burned up skin first.
“No, he stayed human,” I squeaked.
“And?”
“Sometimes from behind,” I whispered, hoping nobody else could hear me.
In a room full of vampires though, the hope was a useless one.
She hummed, drinking again.
I looked at the bottle of wine and glass sitting on the table and poured myself a good amount. If this was the direction our conversation was going, I would need the fortification.
“Do you still love Mason?” I blurted out, sucking down an entire glass at once.
Her smile died instantly and she looked down into her lap.
“I’ll use my one refusal,” she whispered, pulling a string on the tablecloth.
She was. She was in love with him and she didn’t want to admit it.
“Is Clarence still a good lover?” she asked now, putting the last question behind her.
“Yes,” I said quickly. “Is this all you’re going to ask about now?”
“Likely,” she nodded. “It’s as good a subject as any.”
“Well if we’re done interrogating each other, and done eating. Maybe we should see if they are done at the apartment.”
She nodded, putting her hand up to catch the waitress’s attention.
Paying our check, Evelyn led me out of the restaurant and I didn’t see one glance of Calix on the way. We got back on the street and headed home.
“Are we going to be friends?” I asked Evelyn as we walked.
“I’d like to be,” she looked over at me and gave me a small but sincere smile. “Though I wouldn’t know what it means to be a friend.”
“Just be there, be trustworthy,” I shrugged. “And I never thanked you, for saving my life.”
“It was more for me than for you,” she shrugged. “I’d heard the story, I knew who you belonged to, and I just couldn’t in good conscience not help. I’m done being the villain. I want to be loved, just as anyone wants to be loved.”
Nodding, I took her arm in mine like I did with Clarence and we went side by side in silence.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
They boys were watching TV and drinking a cocktail of blood and whiskey on the couch when we got back.
“Good dinner?” Clarence asked, sounding exhausted.
“It was. And very enlightening,” I smiled.
He looked between us before shaking his head and going back to the show.
“How did it go?” Evelyn asked now.
Mason answered her in no uncertain terms.
“Bad. Fucking bad.”
Clarence sighed, gulping the rest of his drink down.
“Tell me about it,” Evelyn said as Clarence stood.
She took his spot on the couch.
“You ready for bed?” Clarence asked me as he approached.
I nodded and took his hand, following him to our room.
We undressed to our underwear as was the typical, then laid in our respective beds.
“What are we going to do?” I asked him in a whisper in the dark before he had the chance to close the lid over his bed.
“I don’t know, Addie. I just don’t know.”
He sighed and in the moonlight coming in through the blinds I watched him sit up and run his hands over his head and down his face.
“If we can’t find anyone to fight with us, what are our options?”
“We run,” he sighed again, this time in frustration. “And we run for the rest of your life. We’d just have to pray to whatever god you believed in that they didn’t find us, or that someone at some point would take us in and shelter us.”
Clarence slowly stood from his bed and crawled into mine, throwing off the covers before shifting and cuddling up behind me.
“I don’t want you to worry, Addie. I’m going to figure this out. I’ll take care of you. Do you understand?”
Feeling his strong arms around me, I actually believed him.
A faint thumping filtered through the wall. Clarence perked up, his head shooting off the bed as he stared at the wall separating us from the hallway.
“You’ve got to be...” he started but stopped, getting out of bed and walking ever so quietly to the door.
I watched with curiosity as he opened the door and crept into the hall. I crawled out of bed to follow. The thumping sound had stopped but faint grunting and moaning could easily be heard through the wall. Clarence sidled up to the door and turned the handle to Mason’s room before shoving the door open.
“Bloody hell!” he shouted in what sounded like a mix of humor and disgust, averting his eyes but not closing the door.
“Get out of my fucking room!” came Mason’s voice, decidedly irritated.
All I heard was Evelyn’s laugh after that.
“I thought you might have gotten into a tussle,” Clarence chuckled back, disbelief on his face now as he turned back to them.
I tried peeking around him but he put his palm out against my chest, keeping me from stepping forward.
“You didn’t think it was a tussle at all, you pervert.”
“ME a pervert?” Clarence huffed out. “Of all the times you walked in on us on purpose!”
“I didn’t bloody see anything!”
“Cause we were smart enough to use the bloody box!”
Mason grumbled from inside the room and there was rustling.
“So you’ve come to terms, then?” Clarence asked now, humor back in his eyes.
“Not slightly,” Mason rumbled but Evelyn had a different response.
“To terms, yes I think you would call it that.”
“I don’t bloody well forgive you. I’ll never forgive you,” Mason said sharply.
“Well I suppose you won’t be killing us in our sleep tonight,” Clarence mused with a smile. “Though you may give the old man a heart attack.”
“Not likely,” came her retort.
“Then I’ll leave you to it,” Clarence closed the door, leaning his back against it before bursting out laughing.
“I needed a good laugh tonight,” he smiled, his gaze settling on me.
“What was going on?” I asked in a whisper.
/>
“Exactly as it seemed. I hope I never walk in on that again, God forbid.”
“Well, at least they weren’t fighting,” I grinned, thinking of what Evelyn had said just earlier that night.
“Not in anger, anyway,” his eyes widened in mock horror.
I took his hand and pulled him away from their room as the thumps started over again.
Clarence turned back for a moment before shaking his head and followed me into his bedroom. Our bedroom, really.
“And you kept all the juiciest bits to yourself,” I pouted, dropping onto the bed again.
“You’re in your underthings, Addie,” he chuckled. “I didn’t want Mason seeing you, not the other way around.”
Oh.
“One man is just like another. You see one, and you’ve seen them all. But women, each has her own charms and I’d rather keep yours to myself.”
I stuck out my bottom lip but my chest grew warm with his words.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” he said after another minute. “I’m burning up but I don’t want to leave your bed yet. I’ll get a drink and be back quickly.”
As Clarence started getting out of bed I grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Clee,” I said gently, “Are you still adamant that you won’t drink my blood? After all, you’ve tasted it before. Twice now.”
He paused.
“I don’t suppose I’m adamantly opposed, so much as cautious of the idea.”
“Then let’s try it. If I don’t like it as a human, I’ll tell you. If I’m feeling weak, I’ll tell you. But you can give me your blood when you’re done and I’ll be just fine. Like your own personal feeder.”
“Addie, I don’t know if...”
“Please?” I asked quietly. “Last time was… it was amazing. I want it again.”
He sat back against the headboard with a contemplative face as faint, rhythmic sounds from the other room filtered into ours.
“Are you sure?” he asked finally, looking into my eyes.
“Of course I’m sure. And after being one of you for a week, God, I understand now that fresh blood is so much better than that stuff in the fridge. I can’t be your sole source of food, but I can give you a treat now and then, if you’ll let me.”
I could see the bloodlust in his eyes, the bloodlust he fought every time I mentioned doing this for him.
“You’re sure?” he asked again, hope on his face.
“Positive.”
He twisted in his spot on the bed.
“Get comfortable. We’ll try it once and if you don’t like it, tell me and I’ll stop.”
Nodding, I moved to sit up.
I unhooked my bra quickly, not wanting to get blood on it before I wriggled out of my panties.
As I laid there, half sitting up and half lying down, his eyes grazed over my body like I were a savory morsel he was about to devour.
Actually, I kind of was.
“Now,” he said in a deep, husky voice as his finger slid along my belly and thigh. “Where to bite?”
“Where else can you bite?” I asked as his eyes glanced up from my body to my face.
“Anywhere,” he said reverently.
Lifting a leg, he brushed his lips along the inside of my thigh before tracing his tongue behind my knee.
“Anywhere the skin is thin enough to pierce. Like here,” He kissed behind my knee then moved up my thigh, spreading my legs wide as he followed the invisible line to the inside curve of my thigh, cheek hugging closely to my mound. “Or here...”
His breath tickled the sensitive skin of the crease before his lips kissed gently, shooting pleasure through my body.
“Will you bite my neck, like last time?” I asked as he paid special attention to the artery running through the inside crease of my hip.
“Wherever you wish,” he said, crawling up my body, skin brushing skin until he was head to head with me. “It is your body, after all.”
“Don’t you take the slightest bit of ownership?” I grinned as his fingers brushed against my breasts.
“Only in my own mind,” he said with a smile. “Most women don’t like to imagine they are owned by a man, whether it be true or not.”
“I wouldn’t like it either,” I gasped as his mouth moved away from mine, lips and the tip of his tongue moving down the valley between my breasts. “But I wouldn’t mind being owned by you. You’d take care of me.”
“I’ll always take care of you,” he breathed against the moist line he’d left on my skin, sending shivers through me. “For as long as you’ll allow me to.”
I hummed in pleasure as he worshiped me with his lips. I felt loved, adored, wanted, desired. One hand found his short, soft hair while the other gripped onto a strong shoulder as he moved down and up, kissing, suckling and nibbling. He spent a long moment teasing me at the apex of my thighs, bringing me to the brink of pleasure before he stopped and moved away like the mean tease he liked to be.
I complained and he grinned, but soon he was back up by my neck preparing my sensitive skin for the onslaught of his teeth. Turning my head away to give him a good angle, he still didn’t bite. Instead I felt a hand leave me, brushing against my hips as he pulled his spandex and cotton boxer briefs down his legs.
“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he said again, whispering into my neck.
I nodded, my chin bumping against his shoulder as he hitched up my legs and plunged into me.
I cried out at the invasion, not unwelcome, but absolutely surprising as he moved once, twice, finally pressing in to the hilt.
In his next thrust, I felt the sharp pang as his teeth broke the skin on my neck. He laved it quickly with his tongue, settling the stinging pain as his lips latched on and he proceeded to suck. I didn’t know what to focus on, my body was so full of sensations and pleasure. His thrusts were firm and constant as he bled me, and I was sure that it couldn’t get any better than it was at that moment. For only a minute he sucked before he pressed his thumb against my neck and bit open his wrist, dripping his blood into my mouth as he paused above me, ice eyes shining in the weak light of the room.
I felt the tingling sensation that hit when I eagerly slurped up his blood. It was kind of like crack, giving me a heady feeling as my skin warmed and healed, my body feeling that strange sort of perfect that it did after taking his blood.
He licked up what was left on my neck as he started his rhythm again, harder and faster this time. Clarence picked himself up onto his hands, every trace of the vampire gone as he straightening his arms out and hovered above me, moving my legs again and giving himself space to pound relentlessly.
I couldn’t help but to whine and moan as he pressed on, building the fire in my belly quickly so I was bursting in pleasure before he was even done. Panting in breathlessness, I brushed my fingertips down his chest, grabbing for him but being left empty handed as I pulsed, throbbed, squeezed around him.
Seconds later he jerked back into me, head dipping down to touch my shoulder and back curling toward me as he groaned his release.
We lay still, me catching my breath, Clarence recovering from his orgasm as silence settled in around us.
If this was how it was when Clarence was a human, I could understand how he quickly became a fan of a vampire’s lovemaking.
Seriously.
“Wow,” I eventually breathed, breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” he chuckled back breathily. “Wow.”
He gave himself another moment before dragging out of me, settling himself on his side, wrapped around me completely and wetting my thigh where he pressed against me.
“Are you ok?” he asked quietly pulling my blanket over my body.
“Yeah,” I nodded, turning my head to him with a grin. “Though I might be bruised in the morning. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Digging his face back into my shoulder, he laughed.
We laid there, me covered and warm, him uncovered and staying cool as we cuddled. Ev
entually though, he had to move to his bed.
“I need to clean up anyway,” I said as he told me sadly that he had to leave me for the night. “You got me all kinds of messy.”
“What do you mean?” he scoffed. “Is it solely my mess then?”
I giggled.
“I get to blame you this time. Suck it up and take it like a man.”
He rolled his eyes with a grin and sat up, pulling me up after him.
“Say what you will, but you were dripping for me, Darling. Just how I like you.”
I blushed as I ran, stopping only to grab Clarence’s robe on my way to the bathroom.
I wiped up all the sticky spots before making my way back to bed.
“So you’re ok with that?” he asked from his bed, the lid still up and his head and arm propped over the edge as he watched me disrobe.
Literally.
“Might’ve been our best sex yet,” I told him, bouncing my eyebrows at him.
He grinned blowing me a kiss from his spot before laying back down.
“In that case, I might ask for it every night.”
I laughed and cuddled into my blanket, feeling the distinct emptiness in the sheets beside me.
“Clee?” I asked after a minute, just as his hand reached up to close the lid.
“Yes, Darling?” he asked, his head popping up again to look at me.
“Will you turn me again? I know it’s not permanent, but it would be nice to sleep with you again.”
He hummed in contemplation.
“You’d deal with the illness of turning back?” he asked finally. “It took 2 days for you to fully recover.”
“But I slept in your arms for 6. I feel closer to you when we are the same. And since it’s not permanent, I would think you can’t feel too guilty about it.”
“Guilt, what a nondescript word,” he sighed. “Let me think on it, just for the night.”
“Yeah, sure,” I nodded, pulling the blanket up to my chin.
