“Yes. Don’t tell me you’re getting competitive like Harris now.”
“You’re becoming stronger.” I couldn’t pulling her against me, drinking in the sleep-rumpled scent of her. “But what did I sacrifice to become one of the most powerful creatures, if I can’t even protect you? So…for all the stronger you get, I need to become stronger still.”
“You don’t…have to,” she said, but I could tell she liked the promises I whispered in her ear.
“I want to.” I nipped that ear with my teeth. “Go back to bed.”
But this was Charlotte. If I thought she was going back to bed, I was sorely mistaken. “What are you going to do? Is it dangerous?”
“Vampire business.”
“Can I come with you?”
“No.”
She leaned against me and shifted her head slightly to the side, baring just a little more of her neck. Then she reached back and stroked my cock with a hand. “Some lonely country roads out there…”
“Don’t tempt me,” I said. “It could be dangerous.”
“So…it also could be not dangerous.”
“I don’t want to—ugh.” Her hand had gotten a little firmer. I bit my own lip as I tried to resist her, and then slid a hand up her t-shirt. Maybe I could persuade her just to have a quickie in the car and then she would get sleepy.
She tugged my hand down and whirled around. “You only get boob touch if you let me come with you.”
“I don’t need ‘boob touch’. I am on a mission. A solitary mission.”
She raised her eyebrows. “It’s really that dangerous? You’re going to drive off like that?”
I pounded the roof of my half-assed SUV with my fist. “Christ. Okay, I’m going to meet Silvus.”
“From your…clan.”
“Yes. After it happened, I wrote him and asked some questions about vampire magic and how I could become stronger. He’s the only warlock in the clan, and he knows what I can do without becoming Sinistral.”
“Do you trust him? They want you to join them, right?”
“I don’t trust him, but I think he does know the answers, and professional pride will mean he probably gives me something I can work with. I’m not sure what he’ll think if I bring you along.”
“Can I hide in the car? Just for the road trip? I never get to leave, and I miss you.”
At this point, she knew I was a sucker. “All right. But I need to leave now. I have an extra coat in the back, but you’re coming in your pajamas.”
“Bless your heart for thinking I might care,” she said. “I have worn these to Dollar General like, a hundred times.” She hopped in the passenger seat and we hit the road.
I had intended to be a lone wolf on this trip, but now I was glad she caught me. Charlotte worried over Daisy for a bit, and then we were flirting while she ate the sausage biscuit I bought her for breakfast. We stopped at an overlook and watched the sun rise.
“It’s so quiet here,” she said, shivering a little, slipping her cold hand in mine. I wished I could warm her up a little more. “It makes me think of when Dad took us on a road trip. He drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway and we went camping. The weather was kind of bad, though, like it was pouring rain, and the drive took forever. He got grumpy and even a little scared, I think? He never said that, though. I knew he wanted it to be perfect, and he was frustrated that it wasn’t, but when we got up, the rain was gone, and we woke up and the sun was just rising over this valley. It was so beautiful. And then his friend said we should go eat at the Mt. Pisgah Inn, so we walked in and I remember him looking at the menu and then grabbing my hand and walking out again.” She looked down. “He never talked about not having much money, but that was one of those moments when I realized that he was struggling being a single parent and he couldn’t actually afford the vacation. Maybe it was the first moment, actually.”
I squeezed her hand a little more and then draped an arm around her. She looked at me. “I’m sorry. This is so romantic. I promised you boob touch and now I’m like, hey, remember the time my dad was sad and broke?”
“Charlotte. I don’t care.”
“I thought about it, though, because…back then he seemed like the only person I had. Now it’s you and me watching the sunrise.”
“You definitely have me,” I said. I brushed her chin, pressing a soft kiss to her lips as she turned up to me. “If I’m ever distant, it’s not you or us. I just feel like some of the vampire business, I need to handle on my own.”
“But you don’t,” she said.
She pressed her palms to my cheeks and took the next kiss herself. Then she hopped back, gave me a naughty look, and popped up her t-shirt, flashing me.
I ran after her and grabbed her around the waist as she laughed, kicking as I hauled her off to the car and opened the back door. I put her down on the back seat and climbed in over her.
“Don’t tease me like that.” I pushed her t-shirt up, baring her perfect breasts. Even when she was on her back and her breasts spread out, their fullness was still apparent, ready to be taken in my hands, and my mouth. I teased her nipples with my tongue, beating a warning in my own brain. Don’t bite her. Don’t bite her. You won’t be able to stop.
I knew she was always aware of the possibility. She wasn’t quite relaxed, but she didn’t stop me either. She trusted me far enough to let me do what I wanted to her, just not far enough to let her mind go. If I drank her blood I’d taste her spells.
It was a delicate balance. Neither of us could fully relax. But the tension was not without its merits.
The sensitive tip of my tongue swirled around the textured nubs, producing some very gratifying moans from her, and her pelvis twitched.
“Not yet, my hungry girl,” I said, slowly tugging down the waist of her pajama pants to fit my hand to the curve of her hip. The smell of sweet need between her legs was like an invitation. Slowly, I pulled the pajamas off and my hand cupped her bottom under her panties, feeling her up freely before tearing them off her feet.
“Should I take this off?” she asked. Her t-shirt was still bunched up under her armpits, above those perfect breasts, and I shook my head.
“It’s kinda sexy,” I said.
I grit my teeth together, because with her underwear off, her scent was even stronger and I wanted to taste her so badly. I could just imagine biting her down there, sucking the blood out of her from that bundle of nerves, while she screamed with the pleasure of my venom that made the pain bearable.
“Are you okay?” Her hand stroked my hair. “You made a face and got all tense.”
Tense? My cock felt like it could explode. “I get these thoughts—when I’m with you—”
She nodded, a bit solemnly. “Me too. It’s a vampire thing, right? You’re not going to hurt me.”
“But I want to hurt you so badly,” I gasped. “I don’t even tell the truth at confession anymore.” Well, I also got kicked out of church. In that regard it was a relief.
She snorted. “Ohmigod, my poor little guilt-ridden vampire.”
“Hey. I’m not poor or little anything.” I swept her into my arms, letting my hardness press into her softness, grinding into her stomach while I clutched her ass tighter. I licked her neck and her jawline, tasting her sweat. It wasn’t blood but it tasted like her. I heard her soft laughter as I tickled her a bit, and then she started unfastening my buttons, and by now, man, I was ready to fuck. I had to just forget how much I wanted her in other ways, and that was the best way to do it.
“This is a hell of a scenic stop,” she said, looking me up and down.
“Especially when the best scenery is in the back seat.”
“Mm…” She wrapped her legs around my hips, the pose naturally spreading her out for me to slip inside her. Her tight sheath promised sweet relief, her warmth enveloping me. I needed a release so badly. I claimed her mouth with mine, not even caring if I was too cold for her. She used to hate that but she protested less often these days. Her b
ody surrendered to mine, her mouth softening as my tongue thrust inside her, while she clenched around my cock as I pumped in and out of her, each stroke only making me want more. We adjusted to each other’s rhythms so well at this point, even though Alec had a lot more sex with her than I did. I could never keep up with him, and I worried she couldn’t either, but I guess his lusty vibes assured that his woman was never tired out.
“Mm…” Her hands dug into my shoulders so hard it almost hurt, my muscles worked by the sharp bones of her fingertips. “I’ve been wanting more of you, Montague…”
I had no good excuse for being a little distant lately. Just vampire shit. I don’t know if anyone would fully understand. “I’m here,” I said.
I didn’t envy Rayner having to find Lisbeth over and over again. I didn’t want to start over with Charlotte. She only got better, more perfectly matched to me.
As she started to get closer, she started raking a hand across her forehead, making little sounds. I could feel all the blood in my body rushing to my hardened shaft and for a moment I almost felt a flush of warmth pass over me. I didn’t really know what I was anymore; not really dead, but I only seemed to come alive when I was feeding and fucking. When I started coming inside her, it wasn’t just a sexual release, it was like being human again, just for a moment. I felt her heat flood my coldness, my desire for her pushing out every other hunger.
“Mm…ah…” She was a beat behind me, and as I pumped through the aftershocks, she gripped me tighter. “More, more…don’t stop…”
Then it was over, and all I wanted was to collapse into her arms in the back seat, but I had a meeting to keep.
I slipped a ring onto her finger, so Alec would see, she was still mine. The morning sun was so bright it stung my skin, and it didn’t warm me like she did.
It was early afternoon as I reached Asheville and found a spot on a side street. “You have a phone, right? How about, while I talk to Silvus, you go buy a dress, and I’ll take you to Mt. Pisgah to watch the sunset.” I fished a few bills out of my wallet.
“Montague! That’s perfect!” She looked thrilled but the money made her nervous. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not Harris, but I ain’t broke,” I said. “Find something sexy.”
“We should go to the city more often,” she said.
One more kiss, and we parted ways.
I opened the door of the tea shop, but even before I did, I knew Silvus was there. I could feel him. His dark, old-fashioned air was contrasted by fragrant tea house, the warm patterned rug and wooden chairs, windows flooding in light on old brick walls.
He glanced up at me as I approached, the way one might glance at a bird flying overhead, like I was just a blip in his long life. “Good afternoon, Montague,” he said. “I took the liberty of ordering three flavors, so the waitress knows not to interrupt. It’s on me.” He sipped. “It is quite good, actually.” His British accent held the unspoken promise that if it was bad, he would know.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing the opposite chair and trying to shake the awkwardness. I hoped no one thought we were on a date.
Silvus was everything you would want in a vampire. He looked like a broodingly attractive thirty-year-old but his eyes screamed five hundred years of I’ve seen things, man. He was wearing a black suit with a pocket square, and his necktie was elegantly tied with a jeweled pin. His hair was still shoulder-length and unchanged since my first memory of him in the 1660s.
“So, you want to improve your skill,” Silvus said.
“Yes.”
“The best improvement is time,” Silvus said. “That’s why Rayner is such a powerful vampire now.”
“And you aren’t far behind him,” I said. “You also know something you can tell me. Some vampire advice. Otherwise, why come all the way here to meet me?”
“What is your intention?” Silvus was looking at me with such intensity that even though I wasn’t sure I should talk about Charlotte, I couldn’t seem to help it.
“To protect my witch.”
“You know why he chose you,” Silvus said. “We thought you had no allegiance to any particular woman. Our clan is devoted only to Lisbeth.”
“Well, circumstances changed, and I don’t know Lisbeth. I love Charlotte. He said he might let me go if I helped kill the Withered Lord, and I’m in on that bargain. So is Charlotte, but I need to protect her. I told you in my letter, the Ethereal warlock council has taken charge of the school and we don’t even know where the old dean is right now. He might be in danger, and so might Charlotte.”
“Lisbeth is in danger, too,” Silvua said. “I know she’s alive and I can’t find her, so god knows what terrible fate she might be suffering. The rest of the clan is frustrated that we gave you this gift and you are remaining in your mortal life. We know it can’t last.”
“If it can’t last…let me have it while I can,” I said. I swallowed, feeling the draw to him and his life. My clan. My sire. I couldn’t help it. I could leave with Silvus and never mess around with the council again. Vampires often had violent lives, but they weren’t beholden to anyone.
Except their sire.
Rayner seemed to have carved out a good life for his men, relatively speaking.
Except that he kept losing the girl he loved.
“Does it bother you that he’s in charge of you? Tells you who to love?” I asked Silvus. “Or…does that just fade away over the years?”
“It never fades away,” Silvus said. “I haven’t lost my wits. Rayner forced me into this and I don’t forget that.”
“But you stick with him anyway?”
“It’s complicated. When you become a vampire, you need your sire to show you how to live. I stayed, in part, to protect this poor girl from him,” Silvus said. “I thought I was his conscience. As warlocks, you and I both know that if a human reincarnates, that is a sacred thing. They are not supposed to be treated as the same person. Rayner forced me to find her, but I thought I would help her remain the person she had become. She was not Lisbeth, she was Marguerite. But—” Silvus’ hand clenched. “I became an evil man. By the time we found Marguerite, and Rayner said I could have her too, that it was our duty to save her from the life of hardship working the fields… It was a long time ago, you know. Women were like property.”
“I saw the vision,” I said, my voice hard. “You just took her.”
“It was hard to resist Rayner,” Silvus said. “For both Lisbeth and for me. He adored her so much. No matter how she looked or who she was, he always saw the woman he first loved. Becoming a vampire had taken his human life from him, but as long as he could find her, he had the one thing that mattered most. That love fueled him; it gave him all his power. I tried to convince all of you to destroy the Withered Lord with love because I know how powerful a magic it is.”
“Is that really love?” I asked. “He forced her to be with him.”
“Maybe so, but she always fell for him. She didn’t remember the old days, but she sensed that he meant something to her. Is it twisted, obsessive? I also think it is too complicated to say it was not real love. He is selfish to want her, but he would also die and suffer for her without any hesitation. There is no pain he would not endure to spare Lisbeth from pain. Do you feel that way about Charlotte?”
“Maybe.”
The old Monty wouldn’t have said that. But I was more alone now. At least, I could have been more alone, if I didn’t have Charlotte, Alec and Harris. Going back home was no longer the same, but when I stood on the mountain with Charlotte, it didn’t matter. We had our own world.
The more my world became Charlotte, the more I understood Rayner.
“Your magic will grow stronger when you have something to fight for,” Silvus said. “When you compel someone, the spell is more potent, when it isn’t just selfish. If you love her, fight for her. You know why vampires have a reputation for romance? Vampires live a long time. If we don’t have passion, we die. Whether or not Rayner’s relationsh
ip with Lisbeth is right, it is why he survives.”
So…pulling away from Charlotte to become stronger was the opposite of what I should do, I thought. “Thank you,” I said. “I needed to hear that.”
“Books can teach you tricks,” Silvus said. “But in the end, magic is thought and will and heart, and anything is possible. The older I get, the more I see that is true.” He poured another cup of tea, his eyes shifting to the window, where a guy with a short beard and shorter shorts was walking a tiny dog.
I thought Silvus might be done with me, but then he started up again. “Montague,” he said. “Rayner doesn’t even know I’m here. We’re all vampires, but you and I are the only warlocks in the clan. Jie and Thom? They’re a couple of selfish blokes, just glad to shake off the dull shackles of humanity. Rayner always says I was his mistake. He turned me without thought, without realizing what it truly meant. I was the first one, my power greater than his own.”
I wondered what it was like to be tied to someone for five hundred years. I couldn’t even imagine what went on in Silvus’ mind. In Rayner’s memories, I saw how they bristled at each other even as they worked together. Why stay?
What was it worth to have someone you could always count on, whether you liked them or not?
“After that, he never turned anyone without spending time with them first,” Silvus concluded.
“You didn’t spend time with me.”
“We watched you,” Silvus said. “For quite a while. We noted that you had a very strong independent streak, but were also…easily influenced by your peers.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘influenced’,” I said. “I was usually the one who told them what to do. I had the car, the cell phone.”
“I’m aware of that as well,” Silvus said. “As you know, it’s why we wanted you. The world is getting away from us.”
“It was more than that. You said I didn’t have a girl yet, when you turned me. That’s true. What I did have already was a clan. Alec and Harris. There’s no room in my life for Rayner.”
“If you want to be your own man, stick by your friends, and protect Charlotte from the council…let me give you some unsolicited advice.”
A Fine Necromance: A Paranormal Academy Series (A Witch Among Warlocks Book 3) Page 14
