The Hard Way (Box Set)
Page 24
And Johansen happily complied.
His hips slammed his dick deep into her, their animalistic rutting filling the room with the sounds of fleshy slaps and loud grunts. Johansen knew he was going to go -- no force on the earth could stop him. So he slid one hand between their heaving bodies to tease at her clit, to rub and torment, and drive her faster toward climax.
“I… I -- I…” Ash’s voice grew louder, piercing as her body arched up and froze. Then her insides went mad, clenching and milking at his cock.
It was too much.
“Ash!” He slammed deeply into her as he felt shot after hot shot of his seed explode from his body. “Yes,” he hissed, his eyes wide open, his breath rasping in his throat as his release filled him with light.
Then he collapsed on top of her damp body, feeling her remaining shudders as she rode her release to the max.
“Damn… good.” Ash closed her eyes as tremors shook her body.
“Spectacular.” Johansen rolled off her, disengaging with a hiss as his sensitive flesh exited hers.
“It’s a human thang.” Ash chuckled. “It’s only one small part of us that makes us… unforgettable.”
Chapter Five
“Mmm,” Johansen purred. “You are unforgettable… for a human.”
“Ex-human, thanks to your people.” Ash snuggled in closer to the warm male beside her.
“Okay, you said that before.” Johansen sat up a bit, keeping his arms around Ash, but rising a bit above her, taking the dominant role. “Now will you explain your attacks?”
“Attacks? Sugar, you don’t know anything about attacks.” Ash sat up, ignoring the cooler air that caressed her sex-warmed skin. “You just try minding your own business and running from a slave overseer to run into one of you people. What does a poor slave have to offer a water demon? Hell, I had no idea what you people were! The only thing I knew was that I was on my way to freedom and some blue-skinned creature was telling me he was going to kill me if I stepped foot in his waters! And he wanted me to offer payment for passage for myself and any to pass after me. So, like an idiot, I asked him what he wanted. And do you know what he said?”
“What?” Johansen settled back against the headboard and reached out to Ash. He noted the distress and anger in her wide eyes, how they flickered from red to brown with her emotions.
“He asked for my hand… for a set number of years.”
“And you agreed?”
“What do you think? Of course I agreed!”
Ash settled back, glaring balefully at Johansen. “I mean, I had just spent five years as bed sport for the master and his two kids. Spending a few years married to a demon would be easy.”
“So what happened?”
“Well, I stayed with that hell spawn for over one hundred years. I saw the times change, and the people change, and all kinds of war from underneath my watery prison. And when it came time for me to go, the fool didn’t want to let me. So when I demanded to leave, he gave me a bit of a gift to take with me.”
“His arcana…” Johansen breathed.
“You bet it, bub. I stood by his side while he warred with his own people, while I watched the Dryads dance in the misery and pain they caused each other. I stood silent while they tricked and killed humans on a whim. I guarded his back to ensure no one ever supplanted his place as master of his waterways. And his thanks was to fill me, a human, with his arcana.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Johansen genuinely didn’t have a clue.
“Human bodies aren’t designed for arcana. His magic changed me, and the bastard knew it would. It altered my form so I could use the magic. But there are side effects for dumping spiteful magic into a human body, and that ass damn well knew it. His arcana needed to be replenished by a life force, preferably Dryad, or my body would shut down and die. He wanted me to stay with him, dependent on his whims. But that plan backfired. Because I am human, a human life-force would do.”
“Blood?” he breathed, understanding showing in his eyes.
“Human blood, sugar. The thing that carries and perpetuates human life force. And I have to tell you figuring that one out was not fun.” She shook her head as if knocking away unpleasant memories before she continued. “He thought I would be trapped with him and his treachery, but instead my human body built up an unhappy reaction to the thing he needs the most to survive, the thing that all Dryads can’t live without.”
“Water.”
“Water. Too much water is like being submerged in some addictive drug. It sends my body into shock and it overwhelms everything that sustains me -- heart, lungs, brains… It all goes haywire until I shut down.”
“It kills you.”
“Apparently, giving your arcana to a human was a really fun pastime for some Dryads. They loved watching them scramble around trying to figure out what had gone wrong with their bodies. They had even more fun watching them racing into waterways and killing themselves.”
“That is…” Johansen was appalled.
“That is just wrong?” Ash asked, raising one eyebrow. “But that was his revenge. He wanted to see me dead for leaving him. I guess his actions were evil, vile, and so very human?”
“Humans are worse.” Johansen snorted, rising to his feet, giving her a perfect view of his sweet, dimpled ass as he turned his back on her, trying to digest this old yarn from her perspective. He had no liking for the conclusions he was drawing. “You plot against and kill your own kind.”
“And the many wars between your people are just minor dust-ups?”
“There are several reasons we go to war.”
“There are several reasons we go to war, as well.”
“We don’t torture our people.”
“Need I say Red Caps?” She arched her eyebrow.
“They are necessary --”
“They eat the bodies of their victims when they are still alive!”
“Um…” Johansen narrowed his eyes at the vampire. “They are not the same and you know it.”
“So you say.” Ash arranged herself in a more attractive and sexually stimulating position, running her hands over the still rosy and swollen nipples.
“And I do.” He rolled his eyes at the female sitting on the bed as he made his way to a closet, knowing from all his time spent here that there would be a robe waiting for him. And he was correct.
“You are such a hypocrite.” Ash tossed the covers aside and rose to her feet. She felt a warm trickle between her thighs and glanced down to see silvery trails of his seed sliding down her legs. “And an overly horny hypocrite too. Been a while, Johansen?”
“Prince, if you please,” he sneered back.
He didn’t like the way she was turning his arguments back against him. He tried to deny the smallest bit of similarity he saw between humans and Fey creatures. The fact that she could even compare the two was absurd.
“Yes.” Ash laughed, walking past him to the bathroom. “Everyone! Please bow low and make abeyance to the Prince of all Hypocrites!” She slammed the door shut, shaking her head and muttering about the stubbornness of royal Fey.
“That is not true!” Johansen stalked over to the bathroom and slung the door open, if only to make his point.
Ash was starting a shower, glaring at him over one slim mahogany shoulder. “Then why’re you getting all defensive, Princey?” She snickered. “Did I manage to touch a nerve?”
“No,” he snarled, storming into the small bathroom. A few more personal toiletries had been added. Her brands, he decided. “I’m just getting tired of you implying that humans are better than Fey.”
“And when have those words crossed my lips?” she asked, turning a knob to make the shower rain down in the large porcelain tub.
“I… You… Well…”
“You only see what your eyes want to see, Prince.” She stepped into the shower and let the warm water course over her body.
“The water?”
“A shower won’t kill me.”
“You are the royal Fey prince.” She snickered, turning around so that her wild mane of hair became sodden tendrils of tight curls dropping into her face. “Besides, we both are dirty.”
“Humans…” Johansen sighed, stepping close enough to let the splatters of water soak his body.
“You’re dirty, I’m dirty, and the whole damn world is dirty. And there’s nothing you can do about it, sugar. That’s how things operate. That’s how the whole world runs.”
“I don’t see it that way.”
“Because you’re too stubborn to admit it.” Ash chuckled, shaking her head and splattering him further.
“And yet you have no problems sleeping with this stubborn hypocritical prince?”
“Sugar,” Ash purred, “we ain’t been sleeping. And even though Mama taught me not to play with my food, she never said anything about seasoning it.”
“So that’s all I am? Lunch?” Johansen asked, stepping close enough to reach out and cup those tantalizing breasts in his hands, his thumbs tweaking her hard nipples.
“You --” She stepped closer to wrap her hands around his burgeoning erection. “-- you are a meal to go, fast food, hot to touch and good for what ails you.”
“Hmm.” He looked down, shuddering at the feel of those soft hands wrapped around him, knowing he would soon be invading her tight, hot body once more. “Have a bite.”
“Gladly.”
Ash sank to her knees, her eyes still staring directly into his. Carefully, she pulled back the foreskin that protected his cock. Johansen shuddered, finding it erotic to watch as her pointed pink tongue lapped up the water droplets and the pre-cum, lapping around the head of his cock.
“Watch me,” she insisted, and Johansen was powerless to do anything but. She dipped her head, her tongue traveling up the underside of his thick shaft while her fingers dipped low to tease his balls, caressing and tugging them gently.
“Oh, Ash!” Her hand fisted him, then her mouth engulfed his head, her tongue flittering under the foreskin as she moaned in delight. Her fist began to slide up and down, pumping over him with the aid of the warm water, causing Johansen to give a small thrust with his hips.
“Mmm,” she moaned. The vibrations sent shivers through his cock as she nodded encouragingly, her free hand going to his hips to force him to move. His hands dropped to her hair, playing in the delightfully springy texture. He began to slowly fuck her face, driving his cock in deeper and deeper until it slipped against the back of her throat.
“Damn!” He closed his eyes, the pleasure threatening to carry him away. Ash teased his cock, her tongue whipping around it as her cheeks hollowed with the suction. His vampire knew her way around a cock. “You keep this up,” he managed between heavy panting, “and I’m going to blow.”
He began to concentrate on his response, allowing the pleasure to run through his body, relaxing into the motions of sliding in and out of her slick, hot mouth. He felt his balls tingle and begin to draw up, and his fists tightened in her hair.
“Ash,” he gasped, finally feeling his stomach muscles clench and the telltale burning at the base of his spine that signaled climax. “You’ve got to stop.”
Ash pulled off long enough to say, “After I feed.”
Johansen only had the chance to suck in one breath, and then he screamed out in ecstasy as her fangs pierced the flesh around the base of his cock.
She swallowed around him, the contractions of her throat making his knees weak. Scream after pleasured scream erupted from his mouth. Ash fed from him, pulling him down and delivering the maximum amount of pleasure as she did so. His cock stiffened even more within her hungry maw, and his climax threatened to overwhelm him.
Even in the midst of his explosive need, he realized Ash was taking the time to ensure he enjoyed this feeding, that she was not greedily taking without giving something in return. It was something none of his own kind would do, and he definitely knew of no other species that would give the same consideration to their prey.
It seemed a very… human thing to do.
But all too soon, she pulled away and licked her lips. She bent low to lap at the two holes in his flesh, healing them as she cleaned the blue blood from around his cock. Finished, she stared up at him, big brown eyes sated and lazy as she rose to her feet. She turned and pressed both hands against the far shower wall.
“Take me,” she said.
And Johansen was on her in seconds, drawing strength from the water that flowed around them. His erection was still diamond hard. He positioned himself at her dripping portal. “Ash.” He slammed himself home.
Her scream was just as loud, just as intense, as she pushed herself backwards onto his thick shaft. The meeting of their flesh was even louder than the roaring of the water as he began to move into overdrive.
“Take it,” he growled. “Take it all.”
His fingers made small impressions on her hips as he adjusted her position, slamming his own groin into that voluptuous ass, riding her as hard as he could. Ash took everything he offered and demanded more.
“Harder!” she shrieked, and Johansen answered her call, grinding his hips, letting the head of his dick explore her sweet, tight heat. Soon, he felt Ash stiffen and knew it was okay to relax into his pleasure, okay to allow his release.
As her body convulsed around him, Johansen felt his balls draw up and then an almost painful pleasure erupted through his body. His nerve endings sizzled, and his knees grew weak. Hot seed shot from his body and he thrust again, diving in as deep as he could, calling out when he felt the heat of his own cum surround his shooting cock.
With a final shout, his knees gave way, sending his body crashing on top of Ash’s. But they did not take a painful fall. The water that flowed around them formed a cushion, gently holding them in its warm depths, vibrating gently with their raspy breathing.
“I almost feel reborn,” he sighed, holding tightly to the woman in his arms.
“Reborn,” Ash agreed. “Thank you for that.”
Johansen blinked. After that sex, she was thanking him?
“I know you could have stopped me, or simulated running water,” she continued. “But instead you let me feed and then ensured my other hungers were satisfied. Thank you, Johansen. You are a true gentleman.”
Johansen froze at her words. He could feel their sincerity. She was thanking him, not selfishly taking without giving, trusting him with her body. It wasn’t at all like the people he had observed before.
Maybe it was time he revaluated his opinions. Maybe all of humanity wasn’t corroded. She was human before she’d become a vampire, and that humanity she’d learned in her formative years would never change. She was acting the part of the human being.
He had to think. He frowned, feeling his ideas shift. All because of this female.
He didn’t know whether to kiss her or kill her.
Chapter Six
Johansen looked down at the sleeping woman beside him… and wanted to smash her face into mush.
She was too challenging to his ideals, too radical in her thinking, so at odds to what he was used to. How dare she draw similarities between his people and those dirty humans? Imagine, painting them both with the same brush.
But some of the things she had spoken of had merit.
He sighed, running a finger over her exposed shoulder, feeling the soft skin that remained cool to the touch, even after heated sex. She had once been human, and through a cruel trick, she was no more. She was no longer human, yet not quite Fey. She had seen so much during her years, had lived in both worlds, yet she could not see the difference between humans and Fey.
Experience counts, his traitorous thoughts seemed to shout at him. She has done more and seen more than you.
Yet his hard-won beliefs could not just be cast away. He had se
en with his own eyes the atrocities humans created and reveled in. But… were they any different than the sly and often cruel pranks his people played on humans and other Fey alike?
It was a quandary.
And then there was the fact that his family had been tricked…
“Outsmarted,” his mind corrected, but by humans, and he’d been left to pay the price. How much of his anger and disgust toward the human race was tainted by the knowledge that one of those lesser beings had gotten the better of his people?
He sighed and laid back on the bed, breathing in the tantalizing scent of sex and vampire and the blood he’d willingly shed for her. It was strange in a way, that this once-human was causing him to rethink the values he’d held dear to his heart since he was a child. Was he being a hypocrite? Was he just being a coward and letting this human problem be the solution to running away from and avoiding facing his fears?
And what were his fears, anyway?
“Will you be quiet?” A soft voice intruded on his black thoughts. “You’re thinking too loudly, and I’m trying to sleep.”
“I have… things to contemplate.” He watched her eyes slide open. She gazed at him through long eyelashes.
“Contemplating why you are here?” She snuggled closer into the blankets. “Your meaning in this vast universe and all that, sugar?”
“No. More like contemplating why I’m stuck here in this hotel room on this floor where there’s only one door that opens and a lot that are locked.”
“Easy, sugar,” Ash chuckled. “You are here to be my dinner and a damn good lay.” Her cool hand reached out and stroked his chest, teasing a pebble-hard nipple and drawing a shudder from his body.
“Maybe.” He picked up her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm.
“So, what are you thinking about?” She curled her fingers around his large hand, adjusting her position on the bed so she could remain on her side, yet still look him straight in the eyes.