‘Look at you,’ murmured James. ‘Christ, look at you. Beautiful. I like this, Gabriel. I… god… love this. Love you. Being inside you. So much. So warm. Is it… all right? Are you…?’
Gabriel tilted his pelvis and tried to bear down more firmly. ‘Fuck, yes, Jamie. Christ. I can feel you. Inside. All the way. Feels good, so good.’
He tried to change the angle again, so James rose higher on his knees and pulled Gabriel’s body closer, so that the head and shaft of Gabriel’s cock were sliding in longer strokes against James’s stomach, while he thrust his own prick into the irresistible heat of Gabriel’s willing body.
Gabriel’s toes began to curl and stretch, his fingers too, and his feet to flex, his hips to roll spasmodically as he frotted against James’s skin in one direction, wriggled down to feel James filling him in the other.
‘Oh, oh, oh Jamie. Ja-Ja-aaaamie. I want I want I want…’ He arched his back, presenting his chest, his nipples peaked. James licked one then the other. Sucked them in turn. Gabriel keened, wriggling to encourage James to suck harder on each circle of pebbled skin for longer. James scraped his front teeth ever so slightly over the nubs, his fangs pressing against the pecs but not breaking skin. Gabriel’s keening got louder and even less coherent.
‘Come, m’eudail.’ James jerked his own hips, pumping up into Gabriel at the same time as tugging him down onto his cock, licking at Gabriel’s nipples, feeling Gabriel’s prick leaking warmly all over their stomachs. ‘You lovely thing, my angel boy. Come for me.’
Gabriel threw his head back, exposing the long line of his throat. James licked and sucked at it but didn’t bite as he held Gabriel through his orgasm, continuing to fuck shallowly upwards, and to hold Gabriel close as he pushed his hips and cock against James’s belly, smearing them both with come.
‘Don’t stop,’ Gabriel gasped, clinging to James’s shoulders. ‘Keep going, Jamie. Keep doing that. Fuck me. Fuck me till you come. Inside me. Yes. That’s it.’
James wrapped one arm right across Gabriel’s lower back, the other across his shoulder blades, holding him against his chest as his hips moved in tireless pleasure, the heat of it infusing his cool body with joy that still surprised him with its humanness.
He nuzzled right into the hollow under Gabriel’s jaw. He could hear/feel the pounding rhythm of Gabriel’s heart and the blood through his veins; the warm scent of him – sweat and sex; shampoo and soap; a hint of tea and of home, god, yes, home and humanity and this was his now, this life he thought had been taken from him. All those hungers, for home, for love, for purpose, for touch, for someone he could love and who loved him, and wanted to, all here in Gabriel.
He felt the pressure built up in his brain. The little bundle of cells that signalled a pinnacle of pleasure, soon to starburst along the trail of nerves to every extremity. Gabriel was panting filthy encouragement in his ear, but more enticing still was the hard heat prodding him once more in the belly; Gabriel, hard again so quickly, writhing with lusty delight in his lap; his Gabriel, so much more than unafraid – jubilantly embracing everything about him.
Gabriel sealed his lips over James’s, sucking and biting and licking at his mouth, and James arched into the taste of him. The bloom of energy spiralled outward from his brain, down his spine, through every limb.
James, clinging to Gabriel, slowly subsided to awareness. Gabriel was nip-sucking rough kisses against his shoulders and wriggling in his lap, seeking friction. His fresh erection bumped against James’s abdomen.
James captured Gabriel’s mouth with his again, and kissed him breathless. Then he laid Gabriel back on the bed, his soft cock slipping free.
‘Look at you,’ Gabriel murmured appreciatively.
James wriggled down between Gabriel’s thighs and slid his open mouth over Gabriel’s stiff prick, glistening with the residue of his recent orgasm. Gabriel gasped as James’s fangs pressed briefly to the over-sensitive flesh. James willed his fangs to retract, surprised to realise they had been unsheathed all this time. He swirled his tongue all around Gabriel’s shaft, mending any minor injury, then pushed down further, until he could feel the head of Gabriel’s cock brushing the back of his throat.
He swallowed, flexing his throat around the tip of Gabriel’s prick. Then he sucked, long and hard and deep, until Gabriel was bucking up into his mouth, swearing and sobbing and crying out his name; until he came again, three hot spurts against the back of his throat, which he swallowed.
Slowly, James pulled off, soft-sucking at Gabriel’s spent cock while Gabriel shuddered and finally laughed as he tried to wriggle away from the hypersensitivity of it.
James stopped teasing and instead laid his head on Gabriel’s stomach. He kissed the warm skin under his lips, then nuzzled into the faint arrow of dark hair.
He started to laugh.
‘What?’ Gabriel asked in sated good humour.
‘Essence of life,’ said James, shaking his head, ‘I don’t know if it’s brilliant or the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.’
‘Brilliant,’ declared Gabriel. ‘Especially if it means there’ll be a lot more spectacular blow jobs in our future.’
‘Oh, you can depend on it, aye.’ James planted a final, smacking kiss on the base of Gabriel’s shaft, then crawled up the bed to lay his head on Gabriel’s chest, to listen to his heartbeat.
‘You’re not sore?’ he asked.
‘Nope,’ said Gabriel, ‘I mean, a bit, but in a good way. I like how it feels.’
James licked his finger wet and slipped it between Gabriel’s legs. Briefly, he rubbed his spit-slick finger against Gabriel’s entrance. ‘That should help.’
Gabriel snorted, then started to giggle. ‘That part might be ridiculous.’ Then he hugged James ferociously tight and nuzzled his hair. ‘You’re brilliant. Seriously. How did hundreds of years of folklore get it all so bloody wrong?’
‘Wrong?’ James kissed Gabriel’s chest and listened to how it made Gabriel’s heart beat faster.
‘Vampires aren’t parasites,’ said Gabriel. ‘They’re symbiotes.’
James was glad that he couldn’t cry anymore, because he would have made a complete ninny of himself. He did kiss Gabriel’s chest, though, again and again and again, until Gabriel took James’s face in this hands and guided him up for a long, long kiss that only ended because one of them did, in fact, have to breathe.
‘Gabriel,’ said James, wanting to communicate the absolute truth of his love through voice alone.
‘I love you,’ said Gabriel, eyes glistening, having no impediments to shedding overwhelmed tears.
‘Of course you do,’ replied James with a smile so full of happiness it could have produced light. ‘I’m lovely.’
Gabriel went right back to kissing him, settling at last against James’s chest. When James brought up his arm to lazily caress Gabriel’s hand over his slow but steady heart, Gabriel in turn traced the outlines of the caduceus tattoo with loving fingertips.
‘You call me angel,’ said Gabriel. ‘But that’s not me. That’s you. My guardian angel.’
‘Nae, love. It’s definitely you.’
‘You only say that because of my name.’
‘No.’ James dropped a kiss to the top of his head. ‘I say it because you saved me.’
Gabriel bumped his nose against James’s chest. ‘So it’s mutual. But you’ve got the wings.’ He traced over the caduceus wings again, then the staff and snakes and the poppies, so bright against James’s skin. ‘You can be my Regency hero, though, if you like.’
‘Or heroine. I’d like a bonnet.’
Gabriel snorted with sudden laughter, and then they were both a mess of merry cackling, ending when Gabriel nipped at James’s skin and James blew a raspberry on Gabriel’s bum.
James didn’t slip into dormancy. He stayed perfectly awake and very still, with Gabriel snuggled up in his arms. He listened to Gabriel’s soft, even breathing and to the steady bump
of his heartbeat. When James smoothed his hand from the nape of Gabriel’s neck, down his spine to the rise of his backside, he listened to Gabriel sigh in contentment and settle again in his arms.
Eventually, he also heard the odd, uneven tap-rattle of someone throwing stones at Gabriel’s window. Slowly, trying not to wake his sweetheart, James extricated himself and padded over to look into the garden.
Hannah waved up at him. Grinning, he waved back, and then realised he was naked and it was entirely possible Hannah was getting an eyeful. It was dark inside; so maybe not. The streetlight wouldn’t–
‘Are you giving the neighbours a free show, Jamie? Because I think I might have discovered a jealous streak I didn’t know I had.’
James turned, aware he was also showing off his arse to the neighbourhood, and reached for his pants. ‘Hannah’s here.’
Gabriel grinned and scrambled out of bed, searching for his own clothes.
Ten minutes later they were both outside, dressed for warmth. Gabriel had brought a beer out with him. James had slapped together a few cheese sandwiches. He offered to make tea, but Hannah, with a mouthful of sandwich, shook her head, then took a swig of beer.
‘’M all right,’ Hannah told them. ‘Switchblade got word through to my girl it was okay to come back. Bout time too. Bloody cold in Bournemouth.’
‘You have somewhere to stay tonight?’ Gabriel asked.
‘All set, Gabe, don’t you worry.’
‘Come see me at the clinic on Wednesday if you need anything,’ said James. ‘Or here. You’re welcome any time.’
Hannah jammed the other half of the cheese sandwich in her mouth. She washed it down with another swig of beer and said, ‘I’ll ’ave that tea now and another twenny pounds, yar?’
Gabriel went upstairs to get both tea and cash. James suffered the intense scrutiny to which Hannah subjected him in equable silence.
‘You making our Gabriel happy?’ she asked at last.
‘I aim to,’ he said.
‘Good.’ She nodded. ‘He makes you happy.’
‘He does.’
‘Nice he got a feller with a good body,’ she added sagely.
James thought it was good he didn’t blush any more either.
Hannah grinned impishly at his mortification and winked bawdily. ‘Nice arse.’
‘Ah, thank you?’
Gabriel returned with a thermos of tea and biscuits, grinning. He leaned over to Hannah as he poured tea for her. ‘He does have a nice arse,’ he said. The two of them giggled together as he handed over the instalment of her sitter’s fee.
James considered letting his embarrassment become annoyance for about half a second, but Gabriel’s happy, proprietorial smile in his direction elicited an answering, though sheepish, delight.
Gabriel fished two more plastic mugs from his pockets and they drank tea together while Hannah finished her sandwiches. When she was done, she said, ‘Too-rah,’ and was away.
Gabriel slung his arms around James’s waist and kissed him. ‘Didn’t mean to embarrass you. But you do have a very nice arse.’
James squeezed a handful of Gabriel’s own bum. ‘We make a nice matching set.’
Gabriel turned in his arms and looked towards the roof. ‘I’m not tired yet. How do you feel about taking us up for the view?’
‘Put this on, then.’ He wrapped his dressing gown around Gabriel for added warmth; and then Gabriel wrapped himself around James and held on tight while James climbed up to the tiled roof.
He found a stable place to sit and kept a firm hold around Gabriel’s torso as they gazed over the suburb and up at the night sky. It was mostly cloud, but the brighter stars were visible in the gaps. The gibbous moon hung low.
‘I’d like you meet a friend of mine,’ said James suddenly. ‘Sunil Juhekar. I served with him.’
‘I’d like that.’
James kissed the back of Gabriel’s neck. Nearby, a burst of birdsong rose into the night.
Gabriel listened to the sweet, high trilling, full of complexity and confidence. ‘That’s a robin,’ he said. ‘They sing at night sometimes.’
James held Gabriel more firmly his arms. ‘Oh, aye, I can see it now. See, above the streetlight? There it goes.’
‘What else do you see?’
James described to Gabriel the things he could detect with his uncanny senses. The fragrance of nearby night-blooming evening primrose and more distant honeysuckle. A couple dancing on a balcony to the faintest music, swaying and smiling together. A cat sitting on a rubbish bin, washing its ears with dainty swipes. Several streets away, an urban fox crossed a road – just a fox, nothing sinister about it.
Gabriel rested his head on James’s chest, smiling at the world James was painting for him. His fingers in their turn painted whorls and dancing patterns on James’s thighs, a rehearsal for the new canvases he would create tomorrow, full of the night: its danger and beauty, and the promise it held.
Ravenfall Page 34
