“Your shields would have tumbled with little effort from me. They are satisfactory under normal circumstances, but when feeding they will not provide much of a hindrance. I am betting they won't be to the Fey either. But, your Light on the other hand, may.”
I'd never tried to use my Light as a shield before. It had just been instinctive at the time. I had almost felt remote from the action. From the events unfolding. Avery sucking on my vein. I hadn't allowed myself to get wrapped up in the moment. If I had done that, too many painful memories would have come flooding back in. Despite the fact that I had moments before been craving them. I had kept aloof and cool and managed to cloak myself in my Light. Could I do it again though?
“We will need to practice,” Avery said, still standing there looking down at me.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “So, when you feed, I'll just try to shield with my Light again.”
“And what happens tomorrow, when you insist on going to work in daylight and I am not there to protect you from the Fey?”
Well, yeah, that kind of sucked. But, if he asked me to stay home until the sun set I don't know that I could. I needed some semblance of normality. My job at the bar did that. Not to mention the money to pay the rent. Even though we would probably have to leave here before too much longer, I was not going to run until I really had to. They hadn't beaten me yet.
“We can attempt to increase your awareness of them at the portal tomorrow after dark,” Avery offered. “But, tonight we work on your shields.”
“Right now?” I asked, my voice hitching in alarm. Just how much of my blood did he want to drink?
Avery reached down and grabbed my hand abruptly, then hauled me to my feet and into his arms. I struggled immediately, but his hand was a vice-like grip on my wrist and his other arm went steel around my waist.
“I can manipulate your mind. Create a scenario that will mimic a fey attack. It won't be pretty, Ms. Monk. But then, if you really want to remain out of the clutches of a fairy prince, I suggest you harden the fuck up and get on with it.”
Avery. In my mind. Immediately my heart rate tripled, my throat closed over: all dry. And my breath started to come out in a pant. Avery growled against me, his head coming down to my neck and then he inhaled. A long, slow breath in.
“Your panic excites me,” he murmured against my skin. “We can play this game - and believe me, I couldn't think of anything better to do right now than chase you - or, you can let me into that pretty little head of yours and learn to protect yourself.”
“Would I...” I had to swallow to get the words out. “Would I be able to shield from you manipulating my mind again in the future?”
He started running his tongue down my neck and nuzzling his teeth into my skin. “Perhaps,” he managed to get out between nibbles on my ear.
“Avery,” I warned, pulling away from him.
“Hmm?” he whispered against me, pulling me back and starting to rub his thigh between my legs and his groin on my hip.
“Cut it out! Stop humping me. This isn't part of the deal,” I said, exasperated.
“Then shield, Ms. Monk. Stop my attack on your mind.”
“You're not attacking my mind, you're attacking my body,” I said, arching towards him involuntarily. He growled in appreciation.
“Aren't I?” he bit hard on my neck, no fangs and didn't break the skin. “Is this real or not?”
Holy hell. It felt flippin' real. I could feel his hand stroking down my back, cupping my arse and pulling me hard against his thigh. I felt my head roll back as he continued to nip at my neck, leaving tiny trails of teeth marks in his wake. His hot breath washed over the top of my breasts. His free hand came up and cupped one, stroking a thumb over the nipple there.
“Come on, Ms. Monk. You're not even trying. I could be inside you right now and you wouldn't even have put up a hand to stop me.” He growled and licked across my chest. “Do you want me inside you? Do you want me to fuck you in your bed, like that fairy had you thinking Michel was doing?” He sucked a breath in. “God, it looked good, seeing what he was doing to you, all in your mind. I want that, Ms. Monk. What do you say? What will you do?”
Whoa. This was all wrong. I wouldn't let Avery do this, period. What was wrong with me? I'd be biting back. Shoving at his chest. Calling him every name under the sun. Or stars as the case may be. But, I sure as hell wouldn't be sucking on his tongue and running my hands all over his bare chest. Scraping my nails over his flesh. And when did that happen? I don't remember him getting naked, but now he was. And god, it scared me and thrilled me in equal measure.
Not only couldn't I stop touching his bare arse, so totally touchable as I remembered it to be, from the alley where he fed from and screwed that young girl against the wall while her boyfriend happily looked on. But his shoulders were broad, like Michel's. I couldn't stop myself running my hands over them, down to his washboard abs. And, oh I could just imagine licking my way down those! And hey! I was and you know what? He tasted fucking awesome. Just like Michel did.
My hands ran around to his butt, just because it was there and I had to touch what I had seen in that alley. So tight, so buffed. Just like Michel's.
I froze.
This wasn't Michel, but Avery had me believing it was. He was in my mind. Not in front of my body, naked. He'd been in my mind before. But, Michel hadn't felt him. Hadn't sensed him there at all that time. Didn't know what was happening until I screamed Avery's name out as I came and Michel had been forced to scour my mind afterwards to find out what had happened. This was Avery's talent. And he was in my mind again.
I pushed hard against his chest and attempted to head butt him at the same time. He simply avoided my forehead and tightened his grip. Then he pushed me down to the floor and flipped me over onto my stomach. Crushing my body with his into the floor boards.
“Are you fighting me, Ms. Monk?” He ground his erection between my thighs, smoothly gliding over my wet folds, but not penetrating. “Or are you going to fight me?” he growled and started rolling his hips back and forward, increasing the friction between my thighs. Making heat wash up and over my body and my back arch to give him better access.
“You can do better than this,” he gritted between closed teeth. And when I bucked beneath him, he demanded, “God dammit! Use your bloody Light you stupid wench!”
And just like that, I had my Light wrapped around me and Avery out of my head.
“Fucking hell!” he shouted at me from across the room. He had been nowhere near me. He looked a little green around the gills too. He'd even messed up his hair, something I hadn't seen before. And he was fully dressed, not naked as he had appeared in my mind, in such clear, believable, imagery.
Not that I looked much better. I was panting and aching and had, by the looks of it, been writhing around on the couch. My knickers were soaked, my breasts heavy with need. And a fine shake had started in my fingers. A tremor that matched my rapidly beating heart. And then the nausea hit. Avery? I had got excited over Avery? What the fuck?
“Do you wish to parent a fey bastard?” he asked, a slight rasp to his voice. “You didn't even try!”
I started shaking all over, my whole body beginning to tremble. My breath starting to come in little hiccups. A tear started to track down my cheek and I tried to suck a deep breath in to compose myself.
Avery watched me from the other side of the room. A cold, assessing look to his eyes.
In a more controlled voice he said, “They will not always give you time to realise it is an attack. And it may not always be an abduction that they seek to carry out. Not all of them will be willing to hand you over unharmed to the Ljósálfar Prince. You will suddenly find yourself on a beach in Hawaii, alternately sucking back piña coladas and their cocks. And you will be enjoying it. You will think it the best fuck of your whole god-damn life and you will want more. You will beg them for it. All the while they will be taking you. Not in your mind, but here and now in reality, while your
head is somewhere else entirely.” He took a deep breath in and held it. Then said through gritted teeth as he exhaled, “So, tell me this, what the fuck are you going to do about it?”
I had started to come down from that painful high. The need and want had morphed into an anger and repulsion at what I thought I had done. Or not been able to do. Get him out of my head. I couldn't stop the shakes and Avery was looking at me with such anger, but also such coldness in his eyes I could hardly breathe. I just wanted it all to go away. For it to be back how it was. Safe with Michel. Not running for my life. Not hiding from fairies and the Iunctio and some crazy arse Russian Mafioso vamp. Not battling a Dark vampire who could manipulate my mind. I just wanted it to all end.
Before I even knew what I was doing - my arms wrapped around my stomach as I rocked back and forth - I let a scream out at the top of my lungs. And along with that cry of anguish and heartache I sent out a blast of my Light at Avery. Fuck him. Fuck him to Hell and back.
He flew backwards through the air and landed in a heap against the bed, a shout escaping his lips as he crashed to the floor. His body writhed and bucked and then he rolled over and started rocking against the floor as an orgasm ripped through his body and rendered him totally spent. Then nothing. Just a still form covered in a sheen of sweat and smelling of sex.
He wasn't breathing. He wasn’t moving. I knew I hadn't killed him, he hadn't burst into dust. But, I might have blown his mind. Who knew what a Light induced orgasm could do at that sort of volume. I had my erotica-meter negligently turned up high when I pelted that baby out.
I watched him for a while and then began to feel a little worried. Avery might be a Dark vampire who could take advantage of me in an instant. Hell, he'd been playing me since he got here, I was sure. But, he had been trying to help me tonight. He'd also saved me from that fairy. Taken a beating at the hands of the Fey to get to me. And had even been trying to get me to fight back through the entire mind episode right now. To the point of yelling at me to fight and use my Light.
Ah shit. What had I done?
I crawled towards him across the bare floorboards and reached out a hand to roll him over on to his back. He thumped down on the wooden floor, a dead weight. He could be in that place vampires go when trying to heal. I hoped he was, because that would mean he would come back to me.
I tried shaking him. Shouting at him. Pinching him. Slapping him. Anything I could think of, save from my Light. He'd had enough of that. Nothing worked. He just lay there. Like a statue.
I could tell dawn was approaching, so I got up and shuttered the windows. I had a drink of water, but couldn't stomach any food. And then spent the next hour sitting next to Avery telling him my life story.
From when my parents died on that road in the South Island. How I had been the only survivor of the car crash that took them. Of my aunt and uncle who had raised me. The farm where I grew up, tending the little lambs. Of my job in the bank, counting coins and notes. How I loved fighting. I'd been obsessed with any form of martial arts growing up and had tried to master most of them. Not all successfully. How I loved Auckland, but truly could not see myself ever living there again.
When I reached my memories of Michel, I stopped. I couldn't voice them. They were still so raw. So, I sat in silence, listening to Rio de Janeiro waking for the day, until eventually I lay down beside his still form and fell sound asleep.
Warm, clean sheets and a soft bed enveloped me. Firm, strong arms around my body. A faltering heartbeat. A whisper of a kiss against my flesh. Michel?
Then fangs entering my skin at the base of my neck woke me completely from what was probably going to be a harrowing dream anyway.
Sorry, Avery's voice mumbled in my head. Need blood.
I came fully awake in his arms on top of the bed. He'd obviously shifted us there, but been able to do little else. I was sitting across his lap, both his arms around me and his head buried at my throat. Every pull of blood from my vein was accompanied by a growl from him. He was trying not to make it something more than a sense of warmth and safety. Not wanting me to panic. His need for blood must have been strong to take from me while I slept. The fact that he was controlling his influence over me was actually quite surprising, given the circumstances.
He was taking more than even he normally would. I'd blasted him with my Light and left him nearly dead. The least I could do was let him have my blood.
His purr was the last thing I heard before I fell back to sleep in his arms.
Chapter 6
Practise Makes Perfect
I woke wrapped up in a body. A warm, hard, big body. Arms protectively cradling me, a leg thrown over my own and a hot breath washing past my neck and chest. I tried to move away instinctively, but Avery's arms just tightened and pulled me closer to him. A low growl coming from the back of his throat. I didn't think he was awake. He had no idea what he was doing.
I lay there for a moment, convincing my heartbeat not to increase. If Avery had been near death and had fed from me for survival, his vampire-within probably saw me as essential to his existence. It would feel possessive and not want anyone else to get to me at all.
“Avery?” I whispered, trying not to frighten the predator.
Nothing, just an infinitesimal tightening of his arms. I really needed the bathroom. My throat was dry, my head was beginning to pound and I was sure that when I went to stand, the world would sway. Avery hadn't drained me dry, but he'd obviously needed a lot of sustenance. I could feel how weak and nauseous I was. Always a sure sign that the vampire had overfed.
Minutes ticked by. His breathing so steady and calm. His body against my own. Despite that, I felt a little chilled. The blanket had fallen down off the bed. Avery was dressed in his jeans, no top. His bare chest against me. I was still in my T-Shirt and shorts. Goose bumps had appeared on my legs. I was definitely low on blood.
I tried to rouse him again, a little more firmly and louder this time, but still nothing. I bit my lower lip and took a deep breath in. Avery was so far retreated into wherever it is vampires go when they rest, he had no idea at all that I was trapped by his hold. I couldn't budge him, he weighed a ton. Besides, strength seemed to fail me. The lack of blood, having not eaten a decent meal in God knows how long and the heaviness that simply would not budge from the centre of my chest, meant my efforts to dislodge the dead - excuse the pun - weight above me were ineffectual.
I desperately tried to think of an out. Being held by Avery was not life threatening, well at least not at the moment, but tell that to my bladder. I didn't want to do it, I still felt utterly guilty about the effects of my Light on him last night, but I had no other weapon at my mercy. My jacket was strewn over the armrest of the couch, in it my stakes. My knife had been removed, along with its sheath at my waist. All that was left were my abilities. My powers.
I am stronger than an average human, but not when exhausted like now. And even at top form, Avery would probably be stronger. So, after much internal debate and to-ing and fro-ing, I let the smallest concentration of Light I could manage out, directly at Avery's chest.
He responded. A slight shift of his body closer. A purr beginning to start in his chest. The vibration coming through him right into me. That vampire purr, Michel had purred too, Goddess, I missed Michel so much.
I took a deep breath in, frowning, but tried to get thoughts of Michel out of my head. Avery needed to wake up and then I'd know just how much he was in control of himself. Or how much his vampire had taken over.
“Wake up Plucking Pervert," I said to test the waters, he had responded after all. "You're pressing on my bladder and I gotta pee.” Subtlety had deserted me, though, fifteen minutes earlier. I crossed my legs and tried to think of dry, moisture-less places.
It didn't help, nor had my statements. Avery was still a granite shaped weight above me. Immobile, immutable, unforgiving.
Several minutes passed, my bladder fit to burst and the realisation that this could go on all day sett
ling into my mind like a scratchy old horse blanket. Unwanted and uncomfortable. And definitely not nice. A small blast of my Light had done nothing, other than make his vampire hold on to me tighter than before. I was going to have to resort to drastic measures. And although part of me was grateful that Avery had not yet proven to be as Dark as I was all too well aware - he had helped me escape those fairies, he had also not taken advantage of my drunken behaviour, or my fey mind-manipulation episode - I still felt escape was the only sensible thing to do. Avery was a connection to my past, but he was still Avery. After only that which would further his own needs. He was using me and if I stayed, or allowed him to remain near, I would become trapped.
I didn't do trapped. I wasn't going to entertain the notion now.
I gathered my Light, thinking the best way to incapacitate Avery was a repeat of last night. I should have escaped then, I shouldn't have let my emotions, my sentimentality, my moral compass, get in the way. I should have packed a bag and silently screamed as I ran from the apartment. But now I had another chance.
My Light hit him in the chest, dead centre, but I knew immediately that it was different from last night. I had thrown it at him with as much emotion as then, not necessarily anger this time, but desperation and fear can be as equally powerful in their own right. It wasn't my Light that was drastically different however, it was Avery's response to it. Even with his vampire so close to the surface, he was in control of how he reacted to my blast. Vampires are adaptable, don't believe the old fairy tales that depict an ancient creature unable to modernise and evolve. They learn from their mistakes, they create protection based on experiences of pain and hurt. I had harmed Avery last night, his vampire had learned his lesson and adapted well.
My Light blasted into him, but was somehow unable to exact the desired result. It did hurt, but he wasn't knocked unconscious, instead he fought back.
Suddenly my body was slick with sweat, my breaths uneven, almost panting, an ache pressed in to my centre, heat spiralling out of control. Michel's chuckle, as he flicked his hot, wet tongue around my nipple, rumbled through his chest and fuelled the fire burning inside of me out of control. I was in heaven and Michel was my God.
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