Blood Veil

by Megan Erickson

  It was. It was so fucking perfect that a sob began to rise up my throat. I was able to hide my face against Idris’s neck as he gathered me close, because I didn’t want him to see me lose it. I didn’t want him to stop, because the ache was still there, and I knew it wouldn’t go away until he filled me completely, until he released inside me. That was the only way to cool the fire raging in my blood.

  Idris pulled his hips back and snapped them into me. I hissed as his thick cock stretched my abused flesh. I could feel every nip as his cock dragged along my skin and each time, I jerked, the sensation like having a dozen clits all over my pussy. Amazing.

  He held me close, cradling me to him like I was precious, like I was his everything as he plundered me with everything he had. I held on, opening my mouth against his shoulder and biting down with my blunt teeth. He grunted as I pressed harder, seeking more, seeking everything. The pressure in me was building and building. How could I not see the boiling blood underneath my skin? Surely it was that temperature by now.

  Idris pounded into me—harder, harder, the sound of flesh smacking flesh filling the small space. He slipped his thumb inside my mouth and I bit down, needing it, craving it. And just that action sent Idris over the edge. With a roar in my ear, he came, pulsing inside me.

  I felt his release flowing through me. And while I’d been a virgin before him, I knew enough to know that wasn’t normal. But Idris’s seed reached everywhere inside me, from fingertip to fingertip, to the top of my head and the bottoms of my feet. He filled me, and it was the only thing that calmed the raging boil in my blood. Finally, finally, I let my head fall back and enjoyed the cleansing rush of it.

  I didn’t open my eyes as I felt fingers on my forehead, across my eyes, down my cheeks. Idris was still inside me, and he was still hard, and his large body was still draped over mine.

  His lips traced the shell of my ear. “Never thought I’d find this,” he said softly, in a tone devoid of the aggressive, adversarial Idris I’d first met. “Never knew it was possible to feel like this. To crave someone so deeply, to be consumed with it. Every breath I take is for you.”

  I opened my eyes to see Idris’s irises a calmer maroon. The heat still lurked there. I could see it swirling, but he now glowed an inner warmth that pierced me. I lifted my hand and cupped his jaw. “I love you.”

  He leaned into my touch, and as he did, he began to move his hips. Slowly, oh, so slowly, he canted into me with his still-hard cock, then back out. Again and again, and the whole time, he watched my face. I moved with him, rolling my hips, wanting there to be nowhere inside me that he hadn’t touched.

  “Mine,” he whispered, and his hand curled around my neck, thumb over the bite. “Always. And forever. You will be mine, Celia Valerie, do you understand?”

  “Yours, Idris,” I answered.

  His head descended, and he pressed kisses to my jaw, my lips, nibbling down my neck. “I love how you take me. So tight. So hot. And oh, Celia, your taste. Your taste everywhere.” His hips jerked as if to make a point. “I’m addicted.”

  I was going to come again, just from his words, from the slow drag of his cock. I closed my eyes again as this orgasm slowly took me. I came on a soft moan, my fists clenching in Idris’s shirt. This orgasm was less explosive, but it lasted forever, and he fucked me through it, only gaining speed at the end until he, too, came inside me. Again.

  My eyelids drooped, and I knew I was losing the battle with sleep. My body was full of Idris, and my blood was sated.

  “Sleep, my little one,” Idris said. And just like that, I did.

  * * *

  —

  When I woke, it was to Amelia’s curious, sleepy gaze. “Hi,” she said quietly. I was lying on my side next to her. Idris must have moved me. Speaking of…I looked around for him, until Amelia said, “He left to scout the area.”

  “Oh,” I said, and I ignored the anxious spike in my chest. Was he okay? Was that safe?

  My sister smiled. “He said to tell you not to worry.”

  I laughed. “Oh, he thinks he knows me so well?” Who was I kidding—he did. “I know I wasn’t able to tell you about him, and I’m not sure what your father told you about the Gregorie clan…”

  “He never told me about them,” she said. “I didn’t know they existed until Keno began to rant about them, and locked me in that room.”

  “So you’re not scared of him?”

  Amelia hesitated before answering. “I was at first. But then I watched how you were around him, and you aren’t scared of him at all.”

  I leaned in closer to her. “Can I tell you a secret?”

  She nodded eagerly.

  “I was scared of him the first time I met him, too.”

  Amelia’s eyes were sparkling in the low light from the rekindled fire. “Really?”

  “Really. But he saved my life, and he protected me, and I know he’d never harm me.”

  “Do you love him?” she asked, in a voice only a teenage girl who had been isolated all her life could speak.

  “I do,” I said. “I love him very much, and when we’re safe, we’ll make a life together. Him and me and you.”

  “Me?”

  I slid a hand across the dusty stone floor to clasp hers. “You.”

  “But I’m a Valarian, and Keno said they’d never acc—”

  “Don’t listen to Keno,” I said. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll start a new life. And we’ll be so happy.” My chest felt tight and my throat constricted. “I always wanted a sister.”

  “Me, too, and you’re…gosh, you’re more than I dreamed. You’re pretty and brave and selfless.” A tear trickled out of the corner of her eye. “I want to be like you when I grow up.”

  I loved her, and it was a burning intensity I’d never really felt in my life…well, since before I met Idris. The love I had for my sister was all-encompassing. I’d do anything for her. “I think you’ll grow up to be an even better person than me.”

  She smiled, and a little happy sob escaped just as the portal opened and Idris stepped through in a swirl of leaves. His face was hard, but as soon as he saw us lying on the ground together, a small smile touched his lips, and tenderness slipped over his features like a ray of sun. “Hey, you both sleep well?”

  “Yes, thank you.” I sat up. “Everything okay out there?”

  A shadow passed over his features. “As far as I can tell, but I’m uneasy. And the longer we stay here, the longer that gives Keno to meet up with the rest of his soldiers. We can’t afford to cross their path.”

  I was loath to leave the safety of our little cliff, but he was right. And this safety was only temporary. I wouldn’t get rid of this ball of nerves in my gut until I knew we were ensconced in the Gregorie compound.

  My stomach rumbled, and Amelia and I ate the rest of the food we’d taken from her room, as well as the last of her water. It was now or never; we didn’t have rations to stay in here forever. We couldn’t live on blood like Idris could. And I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to give him mine until I was eating.

  So once again we set off, me on Idris’s back, and Amelia tucked under his arm. Idris had said we had a couple of hours’ travel time, so I clung to him and hoped my strength held out. I was hungry and thirsty, the half cereal bar and few sips of water I’d shared with Amelia not enough to sustain me for long.

  Idris must have seen a landmark he recognized because suddenly he began to run harder. I thought his pants were ones of excitement until a stench hit my nose. I remembered that scent—it’d been in my bedroom a moment before I’d laid eyes on my first Quellen.

  “Idris,” I warned, but it didn’t matter. He smelled it, and we had nowhere to turn, not as a group of Quellen dropped from the trees in front of us. Amelia screamed, and Idris whirled around, only to be stopped
by Keno standing in front of a dozen men. We were surrounded, and I knew that this wasn’t going to end well with one or all three of us when Keno grinned his evil smile and said softly, “Jackpot.”

  Chapter 13

  Idris

  I’d had a bad feeling all day that I hadn’t been able to shake. I couldn’t hear or smell them, but I could just feel it. They were catching up to us. I just hadn’t realized they’d be this close.

  I hated feeling helpless, and I was tired of it. So fucking tired of not being able to protect those closest to me. My only consolation was that Athan wasn’t here. I hoped he was safe in our mansion, happy with Tendra, and wasn’t trying to rescue his fuck-up of a brother. Except Celia and Amelia deserved to be rescued.

  I focused on Keno, knowing I had to keep my wits about me. I set Amelia on one side of me, and Celia on the other. Keno’s eyes kept slipping from me to Celia. Celia to me. And when his nostrils flared, I inwardly cursed.

  “I knew it.” Keno’s lip curled. “I can fucking smell you on her.” His distaste of me was apparent and expected. However, when he turned hateful eyes to Celia, I braced. “And you. Whore,” he spat. And it took everything in me not to lurch at him and fucking rip his eyes out. But I had to be smart, and not leave Celia and her sister vulnerable. “Tainted fucking whore. You spread for a Gregorie, so why would I want you?”

  Celia vibrated next to me, but her chin lifted a little in the air, like she refused to be cowed. “Then let us go if you don’t want me anymore.”

  Keno laughed. “Sure, go ahead. I’ll just take your sister, then and she’ll breed for me. She’s of age.”

  “No!” Celia screeched, and shoved a shivering Amelia between us. “You’ll take her over my dead body.”

  “Hmm, now there’s a thought.”

  “What do you want?” I asked. “If you let the girls go, you can have me. You can do whatever you want, just let them go.”

  “And where will they go?”

  “My brother will take them in.”

  Keno sneered. “Your king harboring the oldest Valarian princess?” He spit on the ground. “No fucking way.”

  “Then tell me what you want.” I hated that he had the power, but I was outmanned. I didn’t have a fighting chance at taking these vampires on and keeping the girls safe. I fucking hated this. But I’d learned now. Be smart and not so impulsive.

  “Drain her,” Keno said so softly that I wasn’t sure I heard him right.

  “Excuse me?”

  Keno stepped closer, and I braced. “Drain. Her.” He said it louder this time, and his men at his back shifted a little nervously, glancing at Keno like he’d gone off the rails. Maybe he had.

  I had a sinking feeling in my gut. “Drain who?”

  Keno was watching her closely. “Celia. Drain her.”

  Fuck. Draining her would kill her, and she couldn’t be turned, so she wouldn’t revive as a vampire. She’d be…dead. Fully, forever dead. At my hands. “You fucking psycho.”

  Keno smiled then, pure evil, his fangs prominent. “Drain her and I’ll let you have the young one. She’s too fragile for what I want anyway.”

  My arm around Celia’s waist tightened. She was so warm, so soft against me. And he wanted me to fucking drain her. I couldn’t do this. “No.”

  Keno’s eyes narrowed, his smile turning into a grimace. “Then I’ll kill you two and I’ll take the little one. This way, Celia will pay for lying to me, and you’ll have a reminder of what happens when you cross the Valarians. Maybe I’ll let you live when you’re done. I haven’t decided. But the young one, she can go.”

  I felt like I’d been struck by lightning. My entire body was humming, and my heart slammed into my ribs with every godforsaken pump. No, I wouldn’t, couldn’t…Celia stepped into my line of sight. “Do it,” she whispered.

  I stared at her. “Absolutely not.”

  Her eyes blazed. “Do it.”

  “I—”

  “Please, Idris. He’ll kill us all. At least let Amelia live a normal life. And you. Please, please.”

  “You cannot sacrifice yourself,” I growled at her. Everything in me was rebelling. This was the woman I loved, the reason for every breath I took. The only reason I wanted to breathe. Without her…

  “I’m asking you, Idris,” she whispered. “To do this for me. This is what I want. Do what he says, and protect my sister.”

  Amelia was crying beside us, tugging on Celia’s sleeve. “No, no, please.”

  I didn’t want to, but how could I deny Celia? I was so fucking helpless. I glanced over her shoulder at Keno. “How can I trust you’ll let the girl go?”

  Keno shrugged. “I guess you have to take your chances.”

  “You fucking—”

  “Idris,” Celia said, her calm voice penetrating my haze of fury. “Please. Just do it.”

  I looked into her hazel eyes and only saw calm. Peace. How? How could she feel like this knowing she was going to die? “Do you understand what you’re asking me to do? I’ll drain you. It’ll be me that knows when your heart stops. It’ll be me that’ll hear your death rattle when I’m still latched to your throat.”

  Celia raised her hand and pressed it to my cheek. I leaned into the touch, ignoring everyone around us. “I know this is a lot to ask you, but I’m telling you now not to feel guilt. I don’t want that. I want you to live, and watch Amelia, and be a good man.”

  “I’m a vampire, not a man,” I whispered.

  Her hand slid down to rest over my heart. “You’re my man.”

  “Time’s up!” Keno called. “What’s it going to be?”

  “Celia,” I choked out, wondering how the fuck I was going to swallow her blood when I felt like throwing up.

  “I love you, Idris,” she said, drawing me to her neck. “Only you touch me, so please touch me.”

  With her hand in my hair, I bit into her. She gasped softly and sagged against me. I could feel her arousal, and hear her rapid breathing. All of it was salt in the wound, because soon that arousal would turn sour as I continued to drink long past the point she would return. Her blood slid down my throat and I closed my eyes as the tears leaked out, falling into the seam of my lips, so when I sucked, I tasted a mix of salty tears and blood.

  Her hands clutching my shoulders began strong, but slowly began to weaken. Her body shook against mine, and when her knees gave out, I followed her down to the ground. She shook in my arms, her little body not able to withstand the loss of blood. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her hand fall from the back of my head to flop onto the ground. It was white, so white. I kept going, while Amelia sobbed next to me, while the blood flow began to thin. I kept going because Celia asked me to. I’d do anything for her, and if this meant keeping her out of Keno’s clutches, then I’d obey her wish. Even though it was killing me inside.

  That was when I heard it. Or really, the absence of what I was supposed to hear. Her heart had stopped. When I sucked, no more blood filled my mouth. It was done.

  I pulled back and looked down into my Celia’s face. Her eyes were closed, lips pale in her white face. Her dark hair looked even more stark now against her bloodless skin.

  I saw a hand enter my vision, and I snatched up Celia’s lifeless body, clinging to it as I growled up at whoever dared to touch her. Keno. “Don’t fucking touch her!” I roared.

  He drew back, face impassive. “I wanted to check that you did the job.”

  “The job is done.” I didn’t recognize my voice. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I was seeing right. The world was…gray. Nothing mattered, nothing but keeping Celia in my arms. No one would touch her. No one. But me.

  I rose to my feet, Celia’s limp body in my arms. My tears had dried, and I knew in that moment I would never cry again. Not one fucking tear.
I thought I’d been fueled by revenge before. It was nothing now. Celia’s blood was in my veins, fueling me, and I’d for fucking sure put it to good use. I didn’t say a word to Keno. I turned around and with Amelia at my side, began to walk.

  “You so sure I’m keeping my word?” Keno called after us. Amelia was still crying next to me, and at those words, she gasped.

  Four Quellen dropped in front of me, blocking us. I stared straight at them. I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t worried. I’d take them all on. In fact, I fucking relished it. I placed Celia carefully on the ground, her arms crossed over her chest, and directed Amelia to sit next to her. Then I drew my knives at my sides. My heart beat, but that was it. I wasn’t Celia’s man anymore. I was her avenging vampire.

  The odds against me weren’t good. Four Quellen in front, and about a dozen Valarian at my back, but I’d fight like the devil himself was inside me, because it sure felt like it. He was clawing up my throat, poisoning my blood, and I was more than happy to slit some throats with Celia’s lifeless body lying in the dirt beside me.

  Except I never got the chance.

  The Quellen advanced, but they didn’t make it far. A loud roaring filled our ears and the wind immediately picked up, sending the leaves and brush at our feet swirling into the air.

  I knew what was coming before I saw the shadow of his wings pass over us. He’d come. He’d come despite my fuck-ups, despite how I’d lied to him. My brother had come. Bloodlust was still on my tongue, and while I heard the screams of the Quellen in front of me, and saw the flash of my brother’s dark wings, I turned around to face the Valarians.

  Keno was shouting at his men to take out Athan. This had been what he wanted, to draw out my brother so he could kill him. Except Keno had underestimated Athan’s abilities, and I could see it in Keno’s eyes now, round and huge in his face as he watched my brother take out four Quellen in seconds.

  “Grab the girl!” he shrieked at one of his guards, but I was there, and with a slash of my knives, the Valarian crumpled to my feet. Then the distinct sound of feet pounded the earth and from out of the brush emerged my clan. Dozens of Gregorie soldiers rushed at the remaining Valarians, and seeing my men, my soldiers that I led and trained with, arriving to save me nearly sent me to my knees.