The New Vampire

by V. R. Cumming

  I was so wet, so ready for him, and suddenly very eager to be with him and Eric, in our minds, with our bodies. There was nothing like having both of them in me at once, nothing at all. Could the beauty of one ever be experienced without that first? I didn’t care, not right then. All I wanted was to be with him forever, him and Eric both.

  Forever meant something very different now that I was a vampire. It wasn’t the length of a simple mortal life, lived in constant fear of imminent death. It was an eternity of lonely nights spent seeking whatever comfort could be found. That wouldn’t happen to me, not now. Eric would turn soon, Jason would eventually follow, and the three of us would spend that eternity together, never lonely, never afraid. We’d find Willow and watch over her as she grew into adulthood and gave us children, and through them grandchildren, and we would forever be surrounded by the family we’d started that long ago night when Eric had decided to claim Jason as his pet.

  A sucking pop came from Eric. “It’s time.”

  I groaned as Jason pulled his hand away, but shifted around, straddling him. Eric gripped my hip with a restraining hand. “Do you need a little lube on his dick first?”

  I nearly laughed. After what Jason had done to me, did Eric really think I wasn’t ready to burst into flames? I angled my hips back and eased my pussy down over Jason’s erection. When he was in as far as he’d go, I rocked forward and pushed down again, then again, taking a little more of him into me with each backward thrust.

  Jason’s hands came down on my thighs. “Gigi,” he breathed, and everything he was feeling exploded through our bond, sweeping me away in a rush of tender emotion and heated desire.

  Eric grasped my feet and tugged backward, and I obediently shifted, legs straight, body flat on top of Jason. A cool wetness hit the area between my butt cheeks. A moment later, the tip of Eric’s erection pressed into the tight muscle there.

  I dropped my forehead and exhaled slowly. As much as I enjoyed it, I wasn’t quite used to having him there. Once he was fully inside, I’d be fine, but the first few moments always felt a bit too invasive. I inwardly cursed my proper Catholic upbringing, with all its accompanying taboos and restrictions. Friggin’ church. What right did they have to dictate what went on between consenting adults in the privacy of their bedroom?

  Eric pulled out slightly, then pressed forward, stretching me a little too far. A sharp shaft of pain pinched at me. I sucked in a breath, let it out again, and deliberately relaxed my butt muscles.

  He kissed the nape of my neck. “Sorry, sweetheart. We should’ve taken more time, maybe pulled out some toys so you could adjust first.”

  “I wasn’t really in the mood for toys.”

  Jason inched his hands up along my ribs in slow, soothing circles. “None of us were. That’s not much of an excuse for hurting you.”

  “You’re not. It’s…”

  Eric shoved forward and I grunted. Tears sprang to my eyes as pain throbbed through the bruised muscle and tissue. I bit hard into my lower lip, stifling a sob. Almost immediately, the pain eased, then disappeared completely, and my body tingled from skin to bone.

  He stretched out above me, pressing his solid strength into my back. “Better?”

  “Would’ve been better if you hadn’t forced your way in.”

  “The slow push was hurting you too much.” He rubbed the side of his face across mine. “One stroke in to get it over with and a quick heal seemed a better way of doing it.”

  “You could’ve asked me first,” I muttered.

  Jason snickered. “Yeah, right.”

  “Wise ass.” Eric eased back and thrust again. “God, you feel so good.”

  “Wish I could be there,” Jason said, and I shook my head firmly. Jason was a lot bigger than Eric, and Eric was no small fry in the manhood department.

  “You can have me later, if Marco leaves me in one piece.”

  The bitter note in Eric’s voice surprised me. What did he have against Marco? For the umpteenth time, I regretted the time lost to the cage, time when I could’ve been learning the nuances of the relationships between the people surrounding me.

  Jason lifted his hand past me and slid it down Eric’s arm, catching part of mine as well. “He likes you, Eric. You know that. He’d never deliberately hurt you, not permanently.”

  “That’s what…”

  Eric’s words trailed off, but he didn’t need to speak the rest. They filtered through his bonds with us as clearly as if he’d said them out loud.

  That’s what Devin said.

  “Can we get on with this please?” he said instead. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

  “Sure,” Jason said, his voice gentle and warm. “We need blood.”

  We maneuvered around, exchanging enough blood between us to start the bond. Eric and Jason coordinated their thrusts. As soon as they had a good rhythm going, I dragged a sharp fang over Jason’s chest and fastened my mouth over the small cut, sucking lightly. His blood felt so good in my mouth. I struck again, deepening the cut, and the blood went from an ooze to a trickle.

  Twin echoes of pleasure sifted through my bonds with them. I focused on the pleasure rising within me, on Jason’s slow thrusts into my pussy, on Eric’s equally measured slide in and out of my bottom, on the tiny gasps each made and the warmth seeping into me from being surrounded by the two men I loved best. I immersed myself in them, falling deeply into their love, and found them in my mind.

  Eric had asked me to share a memory with him and Jase. I loosened my hold on the one I’d chosen earlier, of the three of us the night we’d first come together, and pushed it outward, enveloping them in the pleasure of that night. The soft sighs I’d made as Jason stroked my pussy, the breath Eric inhaled through his nose as he drew Jason’s erection into his mouth, the heat pouring off Jason’s beautiful body as he arched upward and came, spilling in molten waves across Eric’s tongue. I reached into them and found their memories of that night, then merged all three into a living, breathing reenactment, immersing us all in the past so firmly, I almost forgot where we were.

  We lived there for long moments, riding the tide of ecstasy stirred by memory. Eventually, I bobbed into the present, stirring enough to focus bleary eyes on Jason. He seemed completely lost in memory, and judging by the tense breaths panting out of Eric, he was, too.

  I closed my eyes and located their bonds in my mind, grabbed each one in a firm grip, and plunged into memory again, from Jason’s perspective, from Eric’s. I skimmed along the edge of their recollections, seeking a way to permanently merge all three of us into one. Again and again I circled around. Again and again, a way to use memory to re-form one eluded me.

  Frustration etched its way past the pleasure. I’d lose it if I wasn’t careful, and if that happened, we’d have to start all over again.

  I popped out of memory and fixated on their bonds again. Eric’s presence joined me a moment later. He guided me to the broken base of one and sent a surge of command through the shadows lingering there. They receded slightly, but not enough reveal the remnants of the bond we’d formed so long ago.

  Why couldn’t we make a new bond? Why did we have to rely on the one I’d broken trying to protect them? Clearly, using its shattered base wasn’t going to work, not with the shadows clinging to it in a shifting cloud of inky oil.

  I cast around my mind, searching for a better place to affix the bond.

  Eric’s presence turned dark. Don’t do it, Gigi. Don’t…

  I pulled their bonds forward, mashed them together, and drove them into my mind with the force of every bit of my will. Power whirled around the amalgamation of three, whipping quickly into an angry frenzy that expanded ever outward in a greedy demand for more. More of my will, more of Eric’s strength, more of Jason’s passion. I back peddled away as a single thought from Eric came to me.

  Oh, shit.

  Lightning flashed through my mind followed by searing agony. The bundle of bonds I’d forcefully anchored in my m
ind shattered under the weight of its own greed and the shadows surged forward, eager to consume the nova’s energy. I fell into the swirling eddy, unable to control the direction of my own mind, unable to stop my tumbling descent into the shadows. I screamed and screamed and screamed, certain that this time, they’d never let me go.

  Chapter Six

  Firm taps on my cheeks woke me. I groaned and shoved male hands away, and peered through half-closed eyelids at Jason and Eric’s angry faces hovering over me.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing?” Eric asked.

  I winced and eased upright. “Not so loud, please. My head feels like somebody rolled over it with a tank.”

  “It’s your own fault. I told you not to do that. I told you.” He jerked back and raked a shaky hand through his already unruly dark hair. “Jesus Christ, Gigi. If you want to kill yourself, there are easier ways to go about it than fucking with your mind.”

  “I didn’t know that would happen.” I stifled the impatient anger rising in the face of his. “Besides, I had to try something different. Sharing a memory wasn’t working and the shadows were guarding the old base of one too closely. This could’ve worked, too, if my mind was a little stronger.”

  “No, baby,” Jason said, his voice much lower in volume than Eric’s had been. “Forcing a bond just doesn’t work. Eric’s right. You could’ve destroyed yourself trying.”

  I sank carefully into the pillow behind me. “It worked with Nathaniel.”

  “Only because he was open to it. Seems like your mind just isn’t ready yet.”

  Eric sighed and leaned back on his haunches. “I love you, sweetheart, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll turn you over my lap and paddle your bottom good.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  He narrowed his eyes into thin, hazel slits. “Try me.”

  “No, no, no,” Jason said. “Her ass is mine to spank. I called dibs on it the day I met her.”

  Heat flamed through my cheeks. I covered my face with both hands. “Oh, my God. Y’all are both out of your ever-loving minds.”

  Gentle hands tugged my hands away, then pinned them to the bed beside my head, one held by Jason, the other by Eric.

  Eric leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss to my mouth. “It’s our job to protect you, sweetheart, at least until you can do it yourself, so when I tell you not to do something, think hard before you do it anyway.”

  Jason stretched out on his belly beside me, my hand firmly held in his. “What he said. You don’t wanna have to go back into the cage again while your mind recovers, do you?”

  Chilling dread crept down my spine and I shivered. “Not ever again,” I whispered.

  “That’s settled, then.” Eric kissed me again, this one lingering long enough to revive the passion we’d shared earlier. “Get some rest now. I’m gonna go downstairs and call Darien, see if he can make it before sunset.”

  “I want to go.” I tightened my hand around his. “Please, Eric.”

  He shook his head. “Forget it. And no, my decision to keep you here doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what just happened.”

  Jason pressed his other hand to my stomach and shook me slightly. “Listen to him. This could be a trap, and neither one of us is willing to risk your safety on the off chance that it is.”

  “Oh, fine. You two go ahead and play your man games. I’ll just stay behind with the women folk and fret and worry while you big, strong men go out and beat your chests like the apes you are.”

  Eric’s sensual mouth curved into a smile. “There’s my feminist wife.”

  I endured smacking kisses from both of them, a few placed in spots that tickled, and sent them off to do their manly duties. God knows, there was nothing I could do to help them anyway, but it still rankled. One of these days, I was going to find my own strength, and when I did, I swore I’d never let anything stand in my way again.

  * * *

  Since I was stuck in the house being the little woman, I took a leisurely shower, letting the hot water wash away the vestiges of my temper. After I’d dried off and spent a minimal amount of time primping, I dressed in worn jeans and one of Eric’s long-sleeved t-shirts, pulled wool socks on, and padded downstairs in search of something to ease the first rumbles of hunger grumbling in my belly.

  I ran into Therese at the bottom of the stairs. She graced me with a small smile and threaded her arm through mine. “Your boys are in the parlor hashing out a plan with Marco and Darien.”

  “I was hoping to eat first.”

  “Humperdink just informed me that when the evening meal is ready, he’ll let me know, and until then, I should occupy myself bothering someone else.”

  I grinned. “I guess we’ll go intrude on the men, then.”

  “Yes, let’s.” An unholy gleam entered her bright green eyes. “They’re rather full of themselves today.”

  “Tell me about it,” I muttered. “Eric threatened to spank me.”

  “Darling, if my husband wanted to spank me, I’d pull down my panties and let him.”

  For the second time in an hour, heat climbed up my cheeks. “Oh, my God. Not you, too.”

  She shrugged one elegant shoulder. “What? It feels good. Don’t tell me you’re a prude, not with that big brute of a favorite around.”

  “Not prudish, exactly,” I hedged. “Come on. We can’t let them have all the fun, can we?”

  We joined hands and dashed through the foyer and down the hallway, bursting into the parlor on breathy laughs. Eric, Jason, Gregory, Marco, Darien, and Elizabet were standing around an antique wooden table we normally used for card games, studying an assortment of papers spread across the square surface. Eric looked around, shook his head slightly, then turned back to the table.

  I slid an amused glance at Therese, who returned it with a sly smile. We settled onto a nearby loveseat next to the fire roaring in the wood insert on one side of the cozy room. I closed my eyes on a wide yawn and listened to the debate taking place around the table with one ear. Something about ambushes and vantage points. More out of habit than hope, I reached out for Willow, searching for her in the ranges of the ether in which our minds existed, and slid into a light doze as I pushed my mind to its limits and then some.

  * * *

  When I woke again, I was alone in the parlor, stretched out on the loveseat covered by a thick, woven blanket. The fire had died down. Someone had thoughtfully left a lamp on. Otherwise, the room was shadowed in darkness. I sat up and glanced at the two windows on the opposite side of the room, but couldn’t tell if the dark was because the shutters were still closed against the sun or because night had fallen.

  Eric and Jason could always tell when the sun rose and set. I hadn’t developed that ability yet, though it should’ve been an innate trait, to my way of thinking. Didn’t vampires need to know when the friggin’ sun was up? They did in the movies, didn’t they?

  Yet another way Hollywood got it wrong.

  I folded the blanket and draped it over the back of the loveseat, then went in search of my husbands and food. A tantalizing smell drifted from the dining room. I followed it through the house, and was disappointed to find Alice the sole occupant in the dining room.

  She glanced up from the book she was reading and smiled warmly at me. “You’re awake.”

  “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Guess the last little bit took more out of me than I thought.” I plopped into a chair across from her. “Where is everybody?”

  “The boys are on their way to meet Devin. The others have already retired to their rooms.”

  “So early?”

  “We’re all resting while we can.” Alice inserted a bookmark between the pages of her book and closed it firmly. “I waited for you so you wouldn’t have to eat alone.”

  “Thanks,” I said, and meant it. I’d had enough of loneliness during my time in the cage.

  We fixed plates from the buffet still set up along the wall. Alice explained that the boys hadn
’t eaten yet, that they’d wanted to go into the meeting a little hungry.

  Which didn’t bode well for anyone tempted to threaten them. Marco alone could do enough damage to frighten even the bravest soul and the other four weren’t anything to sneeze at. I’d spent plenty of time watching Jason train in the gym set up in a large room on the back side of Elizabet’s mansion and I could say without a doubt that I wouldn’t want to run across him in a dark alley.

  Or any alley, for that matter.

  Nathaniel entered the dining room as I was setting a full plate down on the table. “Good evening, sweet. Did you have a good rest?”

  He stopped beside me. I rose on tiptoes and pecked a kiss to his handsome cheek. “I did, thanks. Have you eaten?”

  “I’m waiting for the men to return.” He held out a chair for me, then Alice, before taking one between us at the head of the table. “I regret that my own position within the Vampyr prevents me from helping more.”

  I cupped my hand over his. “I promise, you’re doing enough just by being here.”

  “It doesn’t feel like enough.” He turned his hand over in mine and squeezed gently. “I haven’t had a chance to meet Willow yet. Eric and Jason are very protective of her.”

  “With reason,” Alice murmured. “She’s a very special little girl.”

  “We haven’t had a child conceived of a female vampire survive its birth in decades,” Nathaniel explained. “It’s very rare, almost as rare as male vampires. When she comes of age, many will seek her hand.”

  I gaped at him. “You mean, in marriage? Why?”

  “To partake of her power.” Alice’s china blue eyes glowed as she slid a grim look toward Nathaniel. “Isn’t that right?”

  He nodded solemnly. “I had hoped to join her to my own son when the time is right, if she’s willing.”

  I released my hold on his hand and dropped mine into my lap. “You have a son?”