by Colleen Tews
He cocked an eyebrow at me.
I retrieved my purse from the table by the door. “Why don’t you go have a night on the town on me? Go get yourself a few drinks, a nice dinner, be waited on for a change. This shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”
“And what happens if he figures you out and you are alone with him?”
“I’ll be fine. Besides what you could do against Raphe?”
Albert unfolded his arms. His face blanked of any real emotion. He nodded his head. “As my mistress wishes.” He stalked away from me into the dining room.
“Oh, come on Albert, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” I followed him into the dining room. “Albert stop being such a jerk. I wasn’t trying to be mean; I was being realistic.”
I heard the door that led from the kitchen to the garage slammed shut. “Fine then, be that way!” I shouted knowing full well he couldn’t hear me. I was being childish but the child in me told me ‘Well, so is he.’
I went down to the basement. I substituted the desire to shoot something with a good old-fashioned workout.
Chapter 29
I cart wheeled across the large mat in the basement, maneuvered into a round off and then did some back flips. I snatched the katana from its display. Back at the matt I relaxed and squared my shoulders and breathed through the katas Lucian taught me. The frustration and anger fell away with every step, every thrust.
There was a knock at the front door. I glanced at the round clock that hung over the basement steps. It was almost three.
After I put the katana away I rushed upstairs. Before I opened the door I looked through the peephole and made certain it was Raphe. It was and he came alone. I opened the door. His heavy leather trench coat hung open showing glimpses of a dark blue sweater and black jeans. Raphe’s long hair was in a ponytail at the base of his neck. His long eyelashes cast shadows down his cheeks, masking his beautiful eyes. I hadn’t gotten out a word when he stepped across the threshold, took me in his arms and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in a hundred years. We staggered inside, away from the door. Raphe jerked free one arm at a time from his coat while he pushed me back with eager lips, then he back kicked the door close.
He ripped off his clothes one article at a time before he tore off my shirt. My arms started out around his neck but with all the groping, grabbing, and shredding of the clothes I lost track of the parts of him I had yet touched.
I fell back against the stairs topless. Raphe followed the gravitational pull of our lustful kiss. Using the stair my head rested upon he pushed up. Then bent over me, chest bare, pants undone. The tip of him slid out of his pants fully erect.
I saw all of him in that instant. I saw his strength, his desire, and his eyes that reminded me of the light around the moon before it was full. Except, in that moment, there was a dark hungry glow behind them. Without a thought in my head I turned away from those eyes. Craning my neck I bared my throat to him. It was the ultimate show of trust a vampire could show another.
Raphe hovered over my exposed jugular. He scented the air. He caressed my skin with his nose. He suckled my neck with soft lips. With a quick flick of the tongue he found his spot. He bit, not with fangs, and sucked. He marked me as his. I opened my legs inviting him inside. As he marked me he pressed his erection between my legs, rubbing the softest of places.
I reached out to feel the length of him but Raphe smacked my hand. The full weight of him pressed me against the steps as he slid his hands across my shoulders and down my arms. He took hold of my hands and stretched them along the step. Held tight in his grasp I was forced to let him do with me what he pleased, and what he pleased was magic to my senses.
He licked and kissed down my throat to my left breast. Raphe nibbled along the soft flesh over my heart. He suckled and teased my hard pointed nipple with the barest of sharp brushes of his teeth. His eagerness made him abandon his grip on one of my wrists. Now free to touch me again he traced the slick path his tongue left behind only to leave the beaten trail to lower, more desirable territory but was stopped by my panties. He growled and stood.
I arched my back as I was pulled to my feet. We stood entranced by the other for the briefest of seconds before he pivoted and spun us around. Now his back was to the stairs. In one graceful movement Raphe removed his pants as he sat on the stair. He lounged, naked, with his elbows resting on a step.
“Take it off.” He ordered with that familiar low hunger in his voice. In all the commotion his hair-tie had snapped. His hair swept back from his face in a yummy disheveled mess.
Were these ordinary circumstances being ordered by him would not have aroused me, but tonight, his confidence was intoxicating. That power behind his dominance made all the right places tighten with those three little words. I dared not hesitate in following my lover’s orders. I slid down red boy-shorts and tossed them aside. I pulled the hair tie out.
He sat on the edge of the step, feet firmly planted on the floor, and reached out to me, unknown thoughts whirled across his face.
Raphe slammed my back against the wall next to the living room archway. He lifted me off the floor. I wrapped my legs around his waist and in he slid. A soft moan was pulled from my lips with thankful pleasure. Once he found just the right spot I cried out.
Thrust after heart pounding thrust, he pushed his way deeper inside me. We fought through the pleasure and held on to those powerful sensations as long as we could. My toes twitched. My spine tingled. Warmth built just above my groin. I felt like I would implode if I could not explode.
Without warning Raphe moaned and his rhythm slowed. He spun us around and back on the steps. Never in any of that movement did Raphe slip from my wet lips. Nor did the warmth fade.
In this position we found a deeper rhythm. He thrust in. I arched up. His head came close to the wall within me but stopped short of hammering my cervix. My fingernails dug into his back. That was when the ripples of warmth found their exit strategy and rolled across my body like typhoon waves that crashed against the beach. My head jerked back with my eyes close on the step. I lost the rhythm. That was all right because Raphe reached climax as the orgasm pulsated around his cock.
I opened my eyes. Lucian stood above us on the landing.
Chapter 30
My vampire in black stood there, watching me fuck Raphe, with an evil grin and a smug, hungry gleam in his eyes. His hair fell around his face as he licked his lips. The universe had just gotten a lot smaller.
The shock of seeing him stopped the orgasm dead in its tracks. Every muscle locked up tight as a drum, every muscle. The pulsating spasms clenched around Raphe’s cock. I lied there while Raphe writhed and wiggled above me as he came.
He choked out a stuttering moan of exquisite pleasure. “God, V, V, Veronica that-” Unable to finish his sentence he dropped like a lead balloon on top of me.
I ignored the weight, but I couldn’t ignore Lucian staring at us. I had absolutely no idea what to do next. I was paralyzed. My brain went numb.
With each ticking second I fully expected my life to end. Instead, Lucian nodded in time with how slow I felt the world revolve, like some one hit the slow motion button on the three of us. Then as quietly as he arrived, Lucian stepped back into the shadows in the corner of the stairwell and vanished.
Raphe shook as he pushed himself off of me. Small ‘oohs’ escaped his mouth as he slid free. He took a seat next to me on the bottom step. “So what now?”
I stretched my back then slouched against him. I laid my head on his shoulder and the rest of me slid in line. My hair fell across my face. It hid me from the world. “Wow, aren’t you Mr. Romantic tonight.”
He brushed the hair out of my face. “You okay?”
A small nervous laugh snorted out. The awkward snort was followed by a very sarcastic laugh. I sat back and covered my face with my hand. “I’m fine.” I shook my head and dropped my hand. “No, seriously, I am great. I’m more than great. This has just been one hell of a night.�
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“You can say that again.”
“This has been one hell of a night.” I gave him a full warm smile, then butted my head against his shoulder.
Raphe grinned. “Smart ass.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me off the step onto the floor. “This is how I teach smartasses to behave!” He jumped on top of me and tickled my sides.
“No!” I gave a girly shriek and pretended to attempt an escape.
He wrestled me to the ground, still tickling me. I laughed while I play fought him off. We laughed together.
Raphe collapsed to the hardwood floor beside me. We lay there staring at the ceiling and basked in the afterglow. From where he lay Raphe reached out to me. He stroked my stomach. “So this is your house?”
“Yuppers. It’s been in the family for generations.” I felt competent in lying to Raphe. I believed I had fully gained his trust or as much trust as he willingly gave.
“It’s nice. Big.”
“Well, I like ‘em big.” I chuckled and rolled onto my side. I brought his hand to my lips. Lying small kisses across his knuckles I watched his eyes flutter back into his head.
There were a lot of things I had learned about Raphe the past week or so. He liked it rough, but loved it tender. He relished in strapping a woman down and doing a million and one nefarious things to her but when a woman touched him he wanted it gentle, a passionate show of affection. I’ve realized it came down to control and trust issues. Raphe didn’t always have to be in control. He understood the world worked in mysterious ways and loved it when those ways turned out bad for people he didn’t like. What he needed was conscientious trust, especially from his partner. That was what I gave him. I trusted him. Even if the trust he felt towards me was merely an illusion. A Lakshman should appreciate that at least, right?
A door slammed shut upstairs. We bolted upright. Raphe said, “Is there any one here besides us?”
“No.”
He threw his pants on. He rushed up the stairs. I put on my shirt, it was long enough to be a mini-dress, then followed his lead.
By the time I reached the second floor Raphe was exiting the bathroom and was on his way to the blue bedroom. He pushed the door wide open. Inside there was a queen size bed with a robin’s egg blue comforter, a pale wooden vanity and white carpet, but it was void of any life.
As he passed me I said, “I’ll check my room.” He grabbed at me, but my arm slid from his grip as I ran down the hall. I looked back as Raphe continued to the green room.
With my hand on my bedroom doorknob I braced myself for the worse. With a hearty push I shoved open the door and leapt into the room ready for action. The silly part was I shoved the door so hard it slammed shut behind me. I jumped a little.
Lucian sniggered. He was in the corner between the nightstand and walk-in closet. He brought a finger to his lips.
I reached out to him with my mind. I didn’t have to concentrate too hard to find his thoughts with him standing in front of me. Telepathy got trickier the farther away a person was from you. “What are you doing here?”
“You called. I came to see if you were okay. You obviously are.” He snickered in my head.
I knew my face changed from wide eyed to a stern bitter gaze faster than the thought traveled from me to him. “You burnt down his house. He thinks you attacked Stacey. It was either this or let him run around town hunting you down.”
His face became masked under a cocky expression. “That’s so sweet. You fucked him to protect me, and they say chivalry is dead.”
I heard another door being kicked in. Raphe reached the yellow room. There was only one room left before he got here. “Why are you still here? I didn’t think you were into voyeurism.”
“I wanted to give you this.” He reached behind him and brought forth a small book. Lucian waved it back and forth.
I got closer for a better look. It was my diary. “Where did you get that?”
“After your first run in with Brutus I had my men retrieve a few things from the wreckage. I’ve been holding onto it for you until I knew you were ready to have it back.”
“Who made you the judge of when I would be ready to face my past?” I snatched the book from his hand and threw it on the bed.
His eyes darkened. That raw power flared between us. “I am the person who saved you from that horrible past. I am the one who taught you every goddamn thing you know. I made a judgment call to help you.”
“You did this to help yourself.”
“How, precisely, would that benefit me?”
I narrowed my eyes and squared my shoulders. “You probably kept this diary to figure out more ways to keep me under your thumb if I strayed while undercover. And now that you saw me with Raphe you thought, what, this was a good moment for a sincere gesture?”
“Is that what you really think of me? That I would have to manipulate you to keep you close?”
“Why not? Everything you do is to better yourself; the war, the territories, the armies, they all pay homage to you; The Great and Powerful Lucian, destroyer of Cabal cities throughout the Midwest. Isn’t that what this is all about anyway? It’s why you helped me in the first place. Even becoming a vampire was a selfish choice you made because you couldn’t bare to lose.”
His eyes lightened as his rage diminished. They looked empty. “I can’t believe I ever cared for you.”
“Me either.” I spoke out loud and slammed the mental door shut. As one door closed another opened. I was the only thing that stood between Lucian and Raphe.
He entered in time to see Lucian fade into a fine shadowy mist. “Veronica move!” He charged after towards Lucian. I leapt out of his way and landed on the bed. Raphe was too late.
He screamed and attacked air. He lashed out at the curtains. He kicked over the nightstand. A big crack split one of the legs.
He shook with rage, like a ticking time bomb fighting against a countdown his hatred subsided to a reasonable level of calm. Raphe recouped without his revenge coming to fruition.
I laid on raised elbows. He caught me red handed with Lucian not two feet from me. That was twice in one night I had been caught. My beginner’s luck wore thin.
Raphe’s eyes widened. The violent tremors that racked his body simmered to small shivers. He looked terrified, sympathetic, and highly agitated. At any moment he could snap. His thoughts raced across his face at a mile a minute. Raphe stretched his hand out to me.
I flinched, not sure of what he would do once he touched me. It was hard to read him. There was too much raw heated emotion. I couldn’t risk raising my own powers to read him because I feared he might sense it. I didn’t want to send him over that teetering edge between logic and reason to blind insanity.
He stopped short of touching my face. He seemed stunned by my flinch. Raphe blinked past the perplexity of my insecurities. “Veronica? You okay?”
I nodded.
Raphe cupped my cheek. His thumb stroked along my jaw line. He looked me dead in the eye. “Did he hurt you?”
I relaxed into his hand and closed my eyes. I held his hand firm against my face with both hands. I shook my head no.
I felt the bed shift when he climbed on. I let go of his hand with one hand and as sly as I could I slid the diary under my pillow.
He maneuvered so he cradled me against his naked chest. Raphe hugged my waist.
I fought the urge to cry. I was tired of crying. I would be a happy camper if I never cried again. I nestled against him.
“Why didn’t you call for me? I was right down the hall.” He stroked my hair back from my face.
“I couldn’t.” What else was there to be said? “It was like he had me in some kind of trance.”
I felt him shake his head across the top of my head. He squeezed me tighter. I thought he was the one comforting me with a hug, but he was the one in need of comforting. Lucian had taken so much from him already. “But I’m okay now.”
He relaxed his hold on me. “You’re right. I won’t ever
let him get to you like that again. Or anyone else.” Raphe had another brainstorm. “I have to call Grump.”
He kissed my forehead and got up off the bed in one fluid motion. He started to head to the door then stopped. His shoulders sagged. “Fuck. I forgot my cell in the car. I’ll be right back. In fact, come downstairs. That way if Lucian comes back it won’t take me long to get back to you.” He started down the hallway without waiting for a reply.
“Okay.” I got off the bed then followed him downstairs. “But why do you have to call Grump?”
He talked to me without turning around. He was a man on a mission. “Remember that contract we talked about last week?”
“The one you had to fly out to California to take care of?” I speed-walked to catch up. Raphe was at the front door by the time I snagged his arm. “What about it?”
Raphe's lips were drawn tight. “There isn’t much I can say about it. I’m going to call for a city meeting. What I can’t tell you tonight you’ll more than likely find out tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“It’s too late to call everyone together. It’s the fastest we can pull all the Commissioners together. Plus, I need to inform Grump that we’re putting guards at your house. You’re a prime target for Lucian. And as much as it sucks that means you’ve just been upgraded from potential Commissioner of the smallest House in the city to bait.”
“Bait! No, I don’t think so. I am not bait. Besides, he saw you here. I doubt he’ll come back any time soon.”
“It’s that any time soon part that will give us time to get the men out here we need to stop him. I’ll ask the biggest hitters we’ve got in town to come. You’ve got the space for it. You won’t even realize they’re here unless something happens.”
