They're So Vein (The Grateful Undead series)

by Susan Stec

  I shot a glance in his direction and he shot back a wicked little smile.

  "Oh, now that is just not fair. I didn't ask you to come to my room last night and put your hands and teeth all over me."

  He chuckled. "Oh, so we're going to play that game again, are we?"

  I gave him a nasty little smile of my own as I innocently asked, "What game?"

  "Are you trying to seduce me at seventy-five miles an hour, Susan? I do have cruise control, you know."

  "That's your game, Fang-Face."

  "I like Dream-Boy better. Can we agree on that love name?"

  "In your dreams."

  "No darling, in yours."

  I glared at him and turned to the window again. I felt him watching me, my heartbeat accelerating as we drove along the highway with a car full of vampires in front and behind us. I was playing this for all it was worth. I mean it's not every day a woman gets to tease a man that hasn't had sex in twelve-hundred years. And I felt very comfortable doing it at seventy-five miles an hour in full view of the others.

  I was totally in control until he put his hand on my knee, sliding his fingers up my thigh in front of a trail of fire. I worked at ignoring his hand, while I watched the scenery fly by my window.

  He started rubbing the soft skin on my inner thigh and I was getting dangerously close to asking him to pull over. That was not going to happen. Before I totally lost it, I took his hand and placed it on the steering wheel. "Not this time, Marcus."

  He let out a long sigh. "Susan, you tucked your legs up under your cute little ass, no longer incased in panties, and you have no bra on. You adjusted the hem of your dress, sent the smell of your wet little love nest wafting toward my nostrils and I assumed you wanted me to fondle you again."

  I shut my mouth, tight lips pressing together, dropped my feet to the floor with a thud, and angrily pushed down the hem of my dress. I stole a glance at his zipper and was happy to see a very large lump trying to burst from his illegally tight pants. "You mind watching the road and that ditch you're getting dangerously close to?"

  "I can pull over. I'm sure the others will understand," he said.

  I tried to stop the throbbing in my damn clitoris. The frigging thing was not listening to me, again. "I was just trying to…"

  "I am fully aware of what you are trying to do. You have accomplished the task quite satisfactorily as you just witnessed by glaring at the way my pants have become dangerously snug for my body."

  "Good. I wanted you to see how it feels to get that close to…"

  "However, you seem to be in quite an uncomfortable state yourself."

  "So you turn me on. Not the first time that a man has done that, Marcus."

  His body tensed as he spoke, "Have you ever had sex with an immortal?"

  "No."

  He relaxed and chuckled. "I can't wait to show you what it feels like to be fully sated. It's just a matter of time, Susabellaluna."

  Okay, so now I was pissed. He was puffing up like a blowfish. "You know, I really hate that name. I mean I really do. I sure would appreciate you dropping it from your vocabulary."

  "I know my beloved. Moreover, I hate getting all hard and ready for you just as much. Shall we call a truce?"

  I was going to, at some point, get control of my bodily functions so I could enjoy making him just as miserable as I am. "Damn it, Marcus. I do not like being controlled…" I glanced at the bulge in his pants, thinking how much I'd love to get my hands on it. "…and why do you have to be so…so…"

  "You have my mind wandering with a need to taste you again. All of you this time. Can I tease you with my tongue, darling?"

  Ho-boy! My breath caught in my throat at his brash words, but not so brash that I didn't give some serious thought to his offer and immediately regretted the vivid image of his head between my legs. I sucked in a deep breath. "Okay, I realize it's been a long time for you, but that kind of talk is not something…. Let's just not go there since you have both hands on the steering wheel and we're moving at, what…" I glanced at the speedometer. "…seventy-five miles an hour?"

  His mouth formed a small circle that made me want to stick something of mine into it and he patted the edge of his seat on the other side of an upholstered compartment.

  "You really have to stop treating me like I'm your pet poodle, sweetie." Suddenly I was annoyed, again. He kept jerking me from lust to anger in a heartbeat. I wondered how he'd feel on the other end of the leash.

  He whistled softly, beckoning me, his damn hand tangoing with the storage compartment at his side.

  "Why do you keep thinking that's going to get you the reaction you're looking for?" I said, all sugar and spice. "And how come you haven't just controlled my mind to get what you want?"

  He laughed at me with twinkling eyes that were just begging to be kissed closed. "Unfortunately, I can't. That's how I knew we were possible mates. It's one of the benefits. Neither of us can control each other's actions. And no one else can control us if we are in a mind-lock. Which we are, and we will stay that way."

  Okay, so with that little bit of information tucked nicely in my mind, I could play the sultry little redhead. I thought maybe it was time to teach this immortal a lesson. I slid across the seat and placed myself on top of the leather compartment between us. He pulled me into his lap, facing him, with the steering wheel in my back.

  "You're going to get us killed," I told him, twirling his hair around my fingers.

  "I have it under control, darling," he said, breathing into my neck.

  Right. After twelve-hundred years of abstinence you're on top of this Markie-Boy.

  He pushed my head back with his jaw and bit me. My whole body screamed, 'pull over', and son of a bitch if it didn't feel way too good. He sucked slowly, sending shivers down my body, lighting a flame that had barely had enough time to go out.

  He took one of his hands from the steering wheel, slid it between my legs and began to massage me over my dress.

  Oh, shit. I 'm losing it. I looked over his shoulder through the back window to find Dorius glaring at me.

  "Mommy Dearest, what are you doing in Marcus' lap at eighty-miles an hour?" Resi asked.

  I heard screeching tires and the 'vette broke from the line of cars, vying for a better position. Horns began to blow and Paul was gaining on us.

  "Susan, get off the vampire!" Mom yelled.

  "Shut up, I was sleeping," JoAnn whined.

  With a sharp intake of breath, I opened my thighs wider, thinking there was an impossible amount of material between his fingers and my skin. He was slowly taking just enough blood to make me dizzy.

  "Go, Mom, with your bad self!" Zaire yelled as car number three slid in between Dorius and us with a blast of horns and screeching tires.

  I pulled my neck from his mouth, jumped to the other side of the leather compartment and slid my face down to his zipper, my eyes riveted to the side mirror outside his window.

  "Oh, now, I don't think that is a good idea, darling," he said.

  I unzipped his pants, letting a very hard erection jump out at me. "I have it under control, dear," I mocked, and then slid him between my lips.

  "Mother! Aww, shit, you went down on him," Resi moaned through the speakers on the dash. "Christ, this is going to give me nightmares for months."

  My eyes shot back to the window. I watched the cars in the big side mirror as Dorius nudged Paul's Corvette ahead so he was running parallel to our car. I sucked harder, like an anxious baby with a pacifier stuffed in its mouth, and Marcus groaned in a noisy breath.

  My eyes flew up to Marcus' face, his penis hanging from my mouth. I watched him turn toward his brother's car as he nodded at the passenger window with a smile, finger's waving.

  "She did what?" JoAnn yelled.

  "Oh, sweet mother of…" Marcus said, wiggling under me. "Should I pull over? Susan, oooh, sweet-blood, have mercy," he panted, breathing the windows into a fog.

  "Oh, no, just keep driving, I can handl
e this, sweetie," I said, smiling around his hard shaft. I patted his jaw with my free hand and removed my mouth, long enough to pull my dress up.

  Hearing his breathing accelerate did wonders for my ego. I grinned and tickled the little helmet with the tip of my tongue.

  "Marcus, acknowledge yourself immediately or pull over, damn it!" Dorius yelled in an irritated tone, the speakers reverberating.

  Pulling him deep into my mouth, I began to suck softly at first, then with more persistence when he groaned his encouragement. I was just about ready to tuck Mr. Happy back in his pants when his mouth found my wrist lying across his shoulder and he bit me again.

  "Susan, what the hell are you doing up there?" Mom yelled from the dashboard.

  "There is a time and place for everything, Mother!" Jeni's voice floated around my head.

  I was totally losing control and I wanted him to stop drinking from me. I sucked harder. Of course, that didn't stop him. Instead, he ran his hand between my legs. "Stop," I mumbled around the head of his penis. He sucked on my wrist harder. "STOP!" I yelled, letting him slip from my mouth.

  I couldn't get my arm free. I felt the blood from my wrist course through my veins into his mouth, sending thrills of hot fire to my core, longing for him to fill me. I took him in my mouth again as we sped down the highway.

  "Marcus, pull over! Now!" Dorius screamed at us from somewhere. I thought I heard horns, yelling, and screeching tires, but I can't be sure.

  My head swimming with blood lust, my body ready to explode, he pushed himself deeper into my mouth. He was moving frantically under my lips as he sucked from my arm.

  My incisors extended and I bit down hard, trying to slow his movement. I heard his fast intake of breath and tasted blood in my mouth. He became perfectly still at seventy-five miles an hour.

  I tried to pull away. I really, really did. But couldn't. The warm, salty blood filled my mouth as my fangs dug deeper. I swallowed. Sensations I could have never dreamed of filled me with heat. I began to suck harder, lost in the moment, gulping the fast flow of blood like a marathon runner at pit stop.

  The car abruptly came to a jerking stop, horns blaring, tires squealing, as the entourage screeched around us.

  I felt like I was in a dream as the car seat slid back in a bucking crash and my mouth was pulled free of him. I moaned when I found my body impaled on his lap, his fangs in my neck drawing hard. Waves of excitement flowed through me, begging for more of his blood. I was filled with wave after wave of zinging hot desire as I sank my incisors into his shoulder and began to drink again, frantically at first, then slower. I slid back and forth across the hair on his stomach, his warmth filling my soul with his.

  Bells ringing in my ears, and an orgasm so strong I was left breathless, joined in one confusing ball of heat. And then there was nothing.

  ~~~~

  Chapter Thirty-one

  ~~~~

  I woke cradled like a child in Marcus' arms, wet between my thighs, my dress wrapped around my waist and his head resting on my shoulder.

  I tried to wiggle free. The car rocked. I looked out the passenger window and noticed that the car was on the side of the road, halfway in one of the swampy ditches Florida was so famous for. I nudged Marcus. He opened his eyes and blinked at me. A big grin spread across his face. "I think we're about to slide into the ditch." I pointed out the passenger window to the dark hole threatening to suck us in.

  He reached for the key and cranked the engine. Sliding the car into gear, he edged further onto the highway, his left tires still sitting in grass, and cut the engine.

  I exploded. "How, in the name of hell, did we fall asleep on the side of the road?"

  He yawned, stretched, looking very sated, then finally answered me. "We did not fall asleep, Susan. When Blood-Mates join, they sleep for oh…" He glanced at his watch. "…two hours." He smiled at me, way too happy with himself.

  My teeth were already doing their grinding thing and he'd only just opened his damn eyes.

  He continued before I could pull my teeth apart long enough to let him have it. "It's a miracle that someone did not find us. It usually only happens the first few times. But, not to worry darling, the next time we engage in sexual gratification, it will not be in an automobile at seventy-five miles an hour." He hugged me closer.

  I pushed as far away from him as the steering wheel would allow, a soft rumble coming from my chest. "Well, you sure as hell should have told me that little tidbit of information, before I started-" A light went on in my head as I realized what he just said. "Whoa, just backup a minute, Fang-Boy! When did all this joining shit happen?"

  He laughed at me. "I believe it was when you bit into my… um…"

  I heard his joyous laughter in my head and groaned softly, the whole nasty episode forming in my mind with a clarity that made me want to die a second time. The girls were going to have a field day with this.

  Two hours later, after a very quiet ride, we drove through ornate gates and a large redbrick complex loomed before us. BAMVC of Miami was painted impressively across the building front, black over gold, gleaming in the artificial light over the titled letters. Somehow, I could not grasp the enormity of the corporation. I just wanted to get this over with and go home to my own bed. Alone. I got out of the car and headed for the glass doors, Marcus right behind me.

  We walked silently into the lobby and my mouth fell open.

  A long spiral staircase was the center of attention, winding its way from floor to ceiling, touching briefly at each landing. The black onyx banister with translucent posts looked suspended over floating stairs of 14k gold with a runner of lush black carpet held in place by thin gold rods. The whole circular room, an impressive five stories high, gleamed with mirrored walls, allowing the stairs to be seen many times from different angles.

  Not a picture anywhere, the walls were rich and shiny, with small twinkling lights that wrapped around the floors marking each level. Above each ring of lights, a solid black circular wall carried gold doorknobs every fifteen feet, but you couldn't see where each door was cut, making it one solid ebony circle with dots of gold.

  The black marble floor in the lobby was spotless, like it was Windexed every time someone walked across it. The ceiling was a glass dome filled with dark sky and sparkling stars.

  I turned to tell Marcus how beautiful it was, but a tall, thin blond man with a big smile walked out of the wall, closing a seamless, doorknob free entranceway behind him. He was dressed in a knee-length caftan of brightly colored silk, yellow cotton pants peeking out from underneath, and a pair of leather huaraches covering tanned feet. His blond hair fell around his shoulders and face as he strutted toward us.

  I looked at the wall, trying to find the invisible door as his soft, amused voice came at us with a flamboyant giggle. "Marcus, welcome." He grinned and slid his arm around Marcus, waving his fingers at me as he sized me up and down.

  "Does everyone know?" I asked Marcus, defensive.

  "Susan, any immortal can smell…our encounter…a mile away. I'm sure Dennis can see my mark on you, as well," Marcus announced with as much flourish as Dennis had just addressed him.

  "That I can. Moreover, I congratulate you. You've waited a long time for a mate and she looks like a little spitfire." He batted his eyes at me. "Look at all those curls, and what a dazzling color, darling. Is it natural?" Dennis asked, his hand fluttering to his lips.

  "Yes, it is," I spat at him through clenched teeth. My jaw ached. I really needed to get a grip on the grinding thing before all that was left in my mouth were two big fangs.

  "I would love to give you some details of the last few hours." Marcus puffed up like a damn blowfish.

  "Nip it before I climb up on something and slap the shit out of you!" Jesus, could he work any harder at pissing me off?

  "Oh, God, aren't you the lucky one?" Dennis offered, hugging Marcus a little too close, again. If I didn't know better, it looked like the tea bagger had a piece of him somewhere a
long the line. My feathers furled.

  Marcus laughed and I didn't have time to kick him in the shins before we heard loud singing.

  "Mother di-id Mar-cus. But I knew she wo-ould!" Resi's irritating attempt at humor came floating from the stairs with her after it. "Did you find a motel somewhere and have wild sex, mating yourself to this beautiful man that is soon to be my new father, Susabella?"

  Resi danced up to Dennis. They grinned at each other like long lost friends. It had only been what, maybe four hours since her arrival? And she was, as usual, the belle of the ball. Dennis giggled, grabbed her, and they whirled about in a circle of laughter and colorful silk that had me blowing smoke from my ears.

  "No, we did not find a room and mate!" I yelled, my voice echoing off the walls of the tall room, bouncing up five floors, only to roll back at us while I watched my daughter's smile deflate.

  "You didn't mate?" she asked, in a less smart-alecky tone.

  I stood smiling, and paid special attention to my cuticles, fingernails, and nail beds while I waited for her to stew a bit. I heard Marcus huff in my head.

  Marcus, you better be nice or you'll regret it later, I pushed, acting like a wife already, and hating it.

  My supposed mate ignored me. Turning to Resi with one of his heart stopping grins, he announced, "Your mother is right, Resi. We certainly did not join in a motel room. Although I must say, I did try to persuade her to at least pull off the road." He smiled wickedly at me.

  Dennis laughed with the shrill giggle of a stracciamanici, or in English: a sexually insatiable girl.

  I stood there glaring at them while my daughter started jumping in circles, Dennis joining her in a little dance. She bumped into his hip, pumping her arms, pointing at me at the appropriate times. "I told you. Ha-ha-ha. Ha. You couldn't stand it." Sidling around Dennis' now gyrating hips. "You had se-ex and you sucked his blo-od." The two of them slapped palms. "And now you're mai-ted. Ha-ha-ha. Ha!"

  Marcus laughed out loud.

  Dennis grinned at him and started his own chorus. "You got joi-ined," then both of them together, "Ha-ha-ha. Ha! I…"