by Mandy Rosko
Cedric inwardly groaned. Her heart would break even more very soon. “I’ll visit her.” Not to keep her company though.
Two out of three faces brightened up.
“Good idea!” his mother said. “You two have always gotten on well. Your company will definitely cheer her up.”
“Cecelia,” his father said, “remember she needs to be resting. Dacielle needs to be in prime condition for the wedding night.”
Jesus Christ, why not just come right out and say it? He wanted her in prime condition for fucking.
Cedric stood from the table just as the chills came down on him. He needed to leave before his father started giving him tips on getting his cousin pregnant on the first try. “I won’t stay long. We’ll just talk.”
His father narrowed his eyes, as though judging whether or not talking could be harmful to the health of someone with a cold. Whatever. Dacielle was a big girl, and cold or no cold she needed to hear the truth from him.
Finally, Cyricus waved his hand in a shooing motion. “Very well, but don’t excite her.”
“And don’t get too close either, dear,” his mother said. “You don’t want to catch what she has and get sick again.”
Cedric left the room just as other guests who’d been invited to stay started coming in. His heart sank a little as he escaped them. In all likelihood, that was to be the last time he’d ever have a semi-carefree breakfast with the three of them in the same room.
Though Dacielle’s room was a guest room, because of the wedding preparations, she’d been staying in the house long enough to have personalized it a bit. Though all guest rooms were spacious, each with a queen-size bed, a connecting bathroom, and neutral colors that were neither too male nor too female, she had already moved most of her things inside and really princessed it up.
Cedric knocked and waited. A strong voice on the other side bade him to enter.
And there she was, to his shock appearing healthier than ever, propped up in bed amongst her mound of stuffed animals and pink pillows with one of those thick manga books in hand. His little cousin.
Well, not exactly little. She was a plump girl, pretty in the face and of fair hair, with eyes the golden color that marked her as a sun sprite. She looked innocent and carefree just lying there. Cedric loved this girl, but not in the way his parents wanted him to.
God. She’d only just turned eighteen two weeks ago, and yet the wedding preparations had been going on for months already. Though she was legal, in human and sprite senses of the word, judging by the Jonas Brothers poster on the wall and the stuffed, glittery unicorn she held as she read, legal didn’t do anything for maturity.
She turned up to look at her guest, and her eyes and skin glowed with pleasure. Cedric actually gaped a little. “Dacielle, they told me you were ill.”
Her mouth tightened as she rolled her eyes sarcastically, the glow fading. “I sneezed more times than were proper the other day. As expected, a panic started, and a physician was called for.”
Cedric couldn’t believe it. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? If she was in perfect health, would she be able to jump up and attack him when he broke off their engagement? Or would there really be no risk of her succumbing further into illness when he broke the news if there was no threat of illness to begin with?
“You’re not sick, then?”
“I am,” she sighed, “just not a lot.” Dacielle pointed to her bedside dresser, where, beneath a pink kitten lamp she’d brought from her own house, sat a tissue box, pill bottles, and vapor rub. “I’m to take all of those to keep it from getting worse, but they say I’ll be good for our wedding tomorrow.”
Cedric wasn’t looking at the drugs or paying attention to the happy squeal in her voice. He was looking at the creepy kitty lamp. He cringed at the sight of it, and then looked away from her bed before her stuffed teddies made him sick too. He could already picture the two of them in his head, married, and those things being moved into his room. The sparkle teddies on his perfectly male bed with its colorless beige sheets, the kitty on his nightstand, and her manga collection lined up next to his PlayStation.
He shuddered.
She was eighteen, he reminded himself, but still a fourteen-year-old in her own mind. How could his parents and aunt try and force this girl on him?
If it wasn’t for Dacielle’s crush on him, this might’ve been easier. Hell, if he’d never met her at all prior to this, it would’ve been easier.
He didn’t sugarcoat it or ease it on her gently. He just let it all out. He figured he owed her that much. “The wedding isn’t going to happen.”
She stared at him blankly, and then sputtered a nervous laugh. “What?”
“Come on, Dac, you know I don’t love you like that. You’re too much like a sister.”
She seemed to have trouble processing his words. “But, it’s our parents’ wish. We have to.”
“Yes,” he spoke slowly, “but I’m still choosing not to.”
“But, but we have to.” The constant emphasis on the words have to didn’t seem to bother her a whit, which damn near sent him on a bender.
It was like she wasn’t aware it was her choice being taken away as well. She seemed more concerned with his sudden loss of sense. She stared at him as though he’d lost his mind, or was making a bad joke and was being really late with the punch line.
Cedric wiped his face as the realization hit him.
It didn’t matter to her who she married so long as her family approved.
Jesus, even after he left, another backup marriage would be arranged. Her crush on him would eventually simmer and die, and her future husband could be a cruel predator for all anyone knew or cared. Regardless, she would comply and be happy with her mother’s choice.
He approached her bed with the pink heart quilts and took one of her hands in both of his larger ones. All he could do was pray the next man in line would be good to her. Because, God knew, a gay husband who would never want to touch her was the last thing in the world she needed. “Dacielle, please listen to me very carefully and know that what I’m telling you is not personal, but still the truth.” He took a breath, noting the hurt in her eyes, the rising tears. “I love you, but I’m not in love with you. I’m officially calling off the wedding, and I wanted you to be the first to know.”
Only the ticking of her Sailor Moon clock filled the room when he finished. The sparkle of tears went out of her eyes, which were hard on him, and her breathing gradually picked up, becoming faster and more labored. For a second he actually thought she might just faint like everyone had worried about.
She opened her mouth and screamed instead.
Chapter Nine
Silus lay in bed on his back, fully dressed, staring up at his ceiling with an arm slung over his forehead. The meeting with his parents had not gone well. His father had yelled, his mother had screamed, both were horrified, and neither would see reason.
He’d taken a sun sprite for a mate, and he didn’t see what the problem was. He no longer saw the issue vampires had with the entire race at all. Why ever did vampires and sun sprites become enemies in the first place? Because both had the power to cause such damage to the other? Because one was a creature of darkness, and the other of light?
Ridiculous.
Unfortunately, neither of his parents were as interested in his new ideas as Silus was. They behaved as though he had announced he found a rat in the sewers and wished to mate with it.
His father had confined him to his room, as though he were still a child, or perhaps diseased and in need of quarantine, until a solution could be found. Oh, he could get up and go whenever he chose. There were no guards outside either of his doors to stop him, but he was waiting for his parents to calm themselves and return to him.
They both seemed to think Cedric had cast a spell of some sort on him, even though sun sprites did not possess the power to do such things. Silus stayed only because he had given his parents his word he would not leave
until they arrived again. And a vampire’s word was his honor, after all.
Although the sun no longer seemed to burn his flesh like acid on... anything, Silus was still cautious of it. So when the door leading to the garden outside opened a crack when the fiery orb was still in the sky, he jumped and hid on the other side of his bed.
“Shit! Sorry.” The room became dark again as the door was quickly shut.
Silus sat up at Cedric’s voice. The golden-haired sprite sprinted to him and fell to his knees, putting his hands over Silus’s neck and shoulders, forcefully turning his face from side to side so he might see everywhere. “I didn’t burn you, did I? Are you hurt? Say something.”
Silus kissed him, effectively shutting him up.
Cedric recoiled a bit in shock, but their mouths remained attached, and he soon looped his arms around Silus’s neck and opened his mouth to fully enjoy it.
Still holding Cedric close, Silus ended their kiss to admire the loving look in his sprite’s glazed, golden eyes.
Cedric traced his mouth with his index finger. “I take it your confession went better than mine.”
Full awareness crashed down on Silus’s brain. They had not arranged to meet during this time, yet Cedric had come when it was most dangerous for him. “Your meeting—it did not go well?”
Cedric must have seen the concern in his eyes. “No—but, didn’t yours?”
Silus ran his hands up and down his lover’s strong arms. They had both settled onto the carpeted floor, which put them at eye level, and Silus shook his head. “I am confined to my bedchamber for the moment. They seem to believe you have bewitched me.”
Cedric smiled lazily, a hint of teeth showing with such a lewd smirk. “Have I?”
Silus swatted him on his ear, adding no strength at all to it should his vampire power harm him. “You very well may have, but you wouldn’t want to tell them that. I am to stay in here and contemplate my situation until they see fit to retrieve me after sundown.”
“After sundown?”
Silus nodded. Cedric’s hands came back up to cup Silus’s neck, his finger massaging the sensitive skin. Silus closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.
“That’s kind of a specific time. Why then?”
“No idea.” Silus groaned. “However, I assume it will be time enough for them to calm themselves and allow me to speak without any voices being raised.”
“You’re going to try and get them to accept me?”
Silus didn’t like the disbelief he heard in Cedric’s voice. “I have accepted you. They either shall, or they shan’t. Only one decision allows them to consider me a son of theirs.”
Silus became concerned when Cedric’s eyes turned bright. He touched his lover’s face, hoping to bring comfort, and while he leaned into the touch, his features were no less strained with pain. “Cedric, what happened when you made your confession?”
Cedric blinked his golden eyes quite a bit and cleared his throat. “Before you decide to disown your parents, give them a little time, okay?”
Silus already knew where this was going. “Cedric—”
“Because, you never know, they might come around eventually.”
“Cedric, did your family cast you out?”
Cedric’s throat must have seized up because he spoke no more. He exhaled slowly and nodded instead, his face lowering to hide his eyes.
Silus held him close, allowing Cedric to bury his face in the crook of Silus’s shoulder and let it all out. It was slightly awkward because Cedric was taller, but Silus didn’t mind. This pain his lover felt was all a product of being with Silus. Any discomfort was the least of what he could put himself through, if only to provide some ease for the man in his arms.
When Cedric finished, he still held Silus close. “I figured it would happen, especially with my dad, but... it was so different than what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
Cedric shrugged, quickly wiping the moisture from his face, and apparently deciding to pretend his show of weakness had not happened. “Don’t know, but not what happened, that’s for sure. The worst part was when the whole house found out. It was announced, in front of everyone, that I was no longer a member of the household.” Cedric shook his head. “I got ten minutes to pack my stuff and get out, so I left.”
Silus had heard rumors of how sun sprites cut each other off. Supposedly, ’twas very similar to how vampires did it.
’Twas meant to be a simplistic ceremony. Those shunning the dishonored one would collectively turn their backs to him, symbolizing their lack of connections with the group. It was one of the reasons giving your back to your betters was most uncalled for.
Silus recalled the many cars that had been in and around his family manse. For all those people to do such a thing…
Cedric ceased speaking, even though it sounded as if there was more to say. Likely more went on when Cedric was publicly disowned than he was willing to tell, but Silus would not pressure him for more information. Whatever horrid details Cedric wished to have to himself, he would keep until he was ready to speak of them. He did not know Cedric’s family, but still, for his parents to turn their backs on their child, Silus couldn’t fathom such a harsh reaction from any parent.
Silus gently stroked Cedric’s back in long, fluid, up and down motions. “Where are you staying?”
“With Ben, at least until I can find a place of my own. Had to make up a story for him so they wouldn’t fire him for letting me come here in the first place.”
Though he now believed Cedric only saw the human as a friend, he did not fancy the idea of them sharing a living space. He extracted himself from Cedric’s arms just long enough to reach over and search through his bedside drawer. It was always kept neat and clean inside, so he easily found the ring of keys he searched for. He held them up to Cedric’s confused face before taking his hand and putting the ring in his open palm. “This is where you will stay.”
Cedric opened his hand to look at the keys, then at Silus. “Where do these go?”
“To a cottage of mine on Mantua Lake. No one in my family knows of it. It was neither inherited nor given to me as a gift. I purchased it with my own funds for the times when I desired solitude. The code for the security is on the ring.”
Cedric looked at that too, then shook his head and held the key ring out to him.
A sliver of unease settled in Silus’s belly. “What is it?”
“I told you you’re not a backup plan to me. I’m leaving my family behind, gladly, I might add, for you, but not just for you either. I don’t want you to think you have to take care of me all of a sudden.”
Silus grinned, fangs lengthening just a little in pleasure. “I would never dare assume such a thing.” He pushed the key ring back to Cedric. “But I would wish for you to spend your newfound freedom in my house anyway.”
Skin glowing, Cedric pushed himself onto Silus, and they were kissing again with frantic mouths that pulled and sucked on each other. They pulled each other up and fell into bed, and Cedric rolled them over so he was on top and attacked Silus’s neck with mouth, tongue, and teeth. Silus moaned, his fangs extending all the way, and he used them to scrape along the red punctures he’d made in the pool house, after pulling that wretched turtleneck out of his way.
He dearly prayed Cedric did not have many of these garments.
He hadn’t tasted from Cedric the night before, and he wanted more of that beautiful blood inside him. He nearly sank his fangs inside when the redness around those slits caught his eye.
Surely his bite had not caused such bruising. Was this what Cedric did not wish to speak of?
Cedric pulled away just long enough to ask: “You’ll be coming with me?” Then he attacked Silus’s neck again.
“Yes.” Silus moaned, both in pleasure and to answer Cedric’s question. His cock was swollen and impatient in his black trousers. He wanted more friction than that of the cloth against it, but Cedric was sitting on his knees
in such a way that Silus’s hips could not reach up far enough to get him. It was both torturous and lovely. “I–I shall meet you there.” Cedric’s hands slipped under the buttons of Silus’s purple satin shirt to play with one of his nipples. Though they were not as sensitive as human nipples, the combination of that along with the mouth at his neck was nearly his throbbing cock’s undoing. “Tomorrow night. I’ll meet you tomorrow night, an hour after sunset, one way or another.”
Cedric ripped his shirt clear open and moaned beautifully at the sight of Silus’s pale, marble chest, which was such a contrast to Cedric’s golden skin.
Silus sat up and put his finger to those pretty lips. “Will I be forced to gag you again?”
Cedric stuck that finger in his mouth to suck, long and hard, then, with a pop, he removed his mouth. “You keep bringing it up. Do you want to?”
“What I want,” Silus said, tugging impatiently on Cedric’s horrid sweater, “is for you to remove your clothing.”
Cedric complied, revealing more and more of that sun-kissed, firm skin with every piece he removed. None of it was more impressive than the long shaft pointing straight at Silus. The head was revealed again and leaking tiny drops. Silus’s mouth dried in response.
Maddening. Completely and totally maddening.
When Silus threw off his own pants, he had to give his impatient length a nice long stroke to satisfy some of the ache there and to give a preview of what was to come.
Or, perhaps he did not necessarily need to be the one to take charge this night.
Cedric growled at him. “You’re not allowed to touch that.”
Silus arched a brow at the commanding tone and jealous eyes. Just for a laugh, he stroked himself again. “I am not allowed to give myself pleasure?”
Cedric took his hand and yanked it away. “No, when I’m in bed with you, only I get to do that.” He paused, thinking. “Unless I tell you otherwise, and right now that belongs to me.”
