by Tamsin Baker
As she mixed her semolina with the flour, his cold hands on her hips made her tremble and she knew it would be a long and pleasurable night for them.
Her body relaxed and she let him turn her around. No words were needed. She closed her eyes as his hand started caressing her face, his thumb making a circular motion on her bottom lip. He then stopped at her neck and kissed his way from her from her ear to her collarbone.
She trembled as his soft lips grazed her sensitive skin. Sabrina held her breath, waiting for what would come next. She let out a sigh as his lips moved towards her breasts. He freed one from her tunic and slowly bent towards it, his tongue licking the areola, then sucking the already stiff nipple. Her legs were trembling and moisture was trickling from her, sliding to the top of her thighs.
His skin was cold as ice, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to take her. As if reading her thoughts, he raised his head and he brought both hands to her hips, and with no effort at all, raised her to the tabletop. She didn’t worry about the flour that was on top, or the vermicelli that she had to make. Her only thoughts were to find pleasure with her butcher.
He lay her down, raised her long skirt and buried his face between her thighs. Sabrina welcomed the coolness of his touch on her already hot skin, and closed her eyes, knowing that he would give her pleasure until she begged him to stop. She curled her hands on his shoulders as his tongue found the tip of her clit. He started licking her, slowly at first, then faster until everything spun and she cried out with pleasure. When her breath was almost gone, he placed himself between her thighs and with a powerful thrust, his hardness drove inside her. Two bodies, joined as one. The deeper he thrust, the more she wanted to be possessed. Her mind focused on her pleasure, and she let herself wander into a world of rapture where he made her orgasm time and time again. As she was about to climax again, she was disturbed by a musical noise.
ROME 2019 Natalia
The annoying alarm went off. Natalia grabbed her iPhone, stopped it, then turned her bedside lamp and stared at the time.
“Fuck!” She threw herself back on the bed.
He came into my dreams. She knew very well that if a vampire desired you, there was no escape. However, she really didn’t want him, or any other vampire. But the dream had felt so real. He felt so real.
And who in the fuck was Sabrina? Rushing, she made her way to the shower.
She arrived at work in a harried rush. Saying that she was late was an understatement. The journalists from all the major newspapers were scheduled to be there for her to hold a press conference regarding the president’s behavior.
Once out of the elevator, she made her way into the boardroom, walking straight past the bodyguards outside the president’s office.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” she said, not looking at them.
Her mind told her one thing, her traitorous body desired something else, and the last thing she wanted was to be another woman bitten by a vampire.
This wasn’t the first time she’d had to rescue the president from a mess, but this time was more delicate as the dancers in question were allegedly underage. The conference took forty-five minutes, by the time she answered all of the questions. Dancing like an idiot with those girls was both wrong and stupid, but in his defense, he had no idea that underage girls had been invited.
She walked straight to the president’s office, nodded to his security guards and passed through the door.
“How did it go?” Luigi Carosone asked, while reading a Quotidian of The Republic.
“It went better than I expected, but we need to see what they will write tonight, and what they report on the news.” She slumped onto the chair opposite him.
“You look tired.”
“You make me tired, Luigi, with your childish behavior.” She was really sick of his shenanigans.
“Those who don’t know you, don’t know you are so faithful to your wife, even though she gave you a hall pass many years ago.”
He was about to say something, but she raised her finger and continued.
“It’s public knowledge that you lost your child, and people feel for your loss. But what they don’t know is that you and your wife have been taking care of Grandma Nonna and me. Neither do they know all the good things you do for people because you do it anonymously.”
“You are the daughter I lost, Natalia.” His voice broke.
She walked closer and gave him a kiss on his head, her arms around his neck.
“But your behavior makes everyone believe that you are an old pervert who only thinks of having sex with young girls. Including me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Natalia didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. That was just like Luigi—oblivious of the gossip going around him.
“Around parliament the whispers are that I got my position because I am your lover.”
“You are my assistant because I’ve groomed you since you were ten years old and we both dreamed of coming into parliament.”
Before she could answer, the door opened. Segana and the bodyguards entered.
“There are reports from intelligence. We received a heads-up that there may be another assassination attempt.”
Natalia straightened, holding out her hand to Segana for the report.
“How confident are you in Zev and Arvid?” she asked the female vampire.
“They are the best. I assure you they won’t let anything happen to Mr. President.”
“I want you to double—no, triple—the other security here, and anywhere else the president will be.”
“It will be done immediately, Natalia.”
Segana left, while the bodyguards stayed behind in the office.
“In a few moments the other guards will be in place, outside the door,” Zev informed Natalia.
“Good, I don’t want you two to move an inch from him.”
For a moment time stood still between the two of them, but they had more pressing problems to worry about it.
Chapter 3
ROME 2019 Zev
“Damn.” Zev woke up, cold as an iceberg. Their destiny had already started to be fulfilled. Hosidia had their first dream.
As a vampire, he had the power to enter in a woman’s dreams, but he had no inclination to do that with her, and he had no intention of encouraging her. That would mean bringing her closer to her death. Unfortunately, he was powerless as she pulled him into her dreams from her own desires and he had no way of stopping that.
The last thing he wanted was for the love of his life to perish again for loving him. He had experienced that too many times. The love he shared with Hosidia and the obsession Segana felt for him would end always the same way. Hosidia dead.
He may have had no power to control her dreams, but he was more than ready to keep a cool head in their day-to-day life. He would make sure that Natalia knew that he wasn’t interested.
What really worried him was the context of the dream. In every past life, Hosidia would dream of him in real time. She would dream of making love with him, and at times she dreamed of the hours they spent together. This time, in 2019, it was different. The dream was of one of their past lives together—her first reincarnation. As she dreamed, Zev was pulled into her night vision with the scent of her skin, the wetness of her thighs, the sweetness of her kisses. He had been impotent to stop the dream.
The déjà vu of their past terrified him.
After he watched Hosidia being murdered in front of his eyes, he never thought he would see her again, not even in the afterlife. Vampires had no afterlife, living a life of damnation on Earth. But Hosidia had come back to him, reincarnated in another woman’s body, yet her soul and personality were the same. Only he knew her identity. She, herself, never knew she had come back to him and he would never tell her.
He only hoped that she wouldn’t remember so he could continue ignoring her, and keep her alive.
Everything in her dream had been so realistic that his body
had orgasmed in real time, the sex as real as it had been in the past. He felt every thrust, every second of pleasure.
Making love to Natalia was a real-life choice and he would refrain from making it. But being part of her dreams and desires? He had no say. She controlled that.
While he was gratified this incarnation of his love found him attractive, he would do anything in his power to keep their relationship strictly professional. He had no choice, if he wanted to keep her alive.
I can feel it in my old bones. This is going to be more trouble than ever. Rising up from bed, followed by his hungry miniature lions, he made his way to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out his bottle of riboflavin. This morning he needed the extra nourishment for his body. Pig’s blood would always do the trick.
He took a good guzzle, then placed the bottle on the sink and went to prepare the cats’ breakfast.
Zev made sure he stayed out of Natalia’s way when she arrived at the office. Thankfully she’d been busy with the press conference for almost an hour. She’d greeted both him and Arvid on her way into the room, but hadn’t even glanced in their direction. Being stationed inside the president’s office took the pressure off, until now. She came into the room, making her way straight to the president.
“I need you to sign this for me please.” Every page that required a signature she would point to with her finger, but she would glance him and Arvid from time to time.
Zev tried to look everywhere but into her eyes, not wanting to awaken her desire again. He held his breath, though his body betrayed him, and he stayed composed.
“Gentlemen, we have a meeting with his Holiness, the Pope,” she said to both Zev and Arvid.
“We won’t be granted permission to go in.” The Vatican was the only place that vampires were not allowed to enter. The president normally had a couple of human security guards to accompany him there.
“I won’t take no for an answer. If the roof falls in, it will be for their own sins, not because a couple of vampires enter.”
“We are damned souls. That’s how everyone sees us,” said Arvid.
“They need to decide, are you lot damned or have you got a soul? Can’t have it both ways.” She walked to Zev and gave him a folder.
“I’ve put together an itinerary for when we are at the Vatican. If you both can memorize it, we will be ready to rock and roll.”
“Even if the pope agrees, that army of hungry cardinals won’t,” Zev said.
“You would think that in this day and age they would have their facts straight,” said Natalia.
He was curious and a bit jealous as to how she knew so much about his kind. That she knew they could enter the Vatican without any ill effect.
He didn’t like where his thoughts were going. Hosidia with another vampire. Though she had no bites on her neck, he knew that some humans preferred to be bitten elsewhere. Yes, that must be how she knew details that a normal human wouldn’t.
Their gazes locked. Neither spoke. She hurriedly turned around and made her way out of the office.
“We will be leaving within the hour.”
Zev’s chest swelled with pride. Yes, his Hosidia was the same. She would make up her own mind on things. She wasn’t one to believe old wives’ tales.
People feared a God that was supposed to love them. It had been a crucial time for him, refusing to kill humans to drink their blood, Zev always fed himself with the blood of bats, sometimes of already dead animals. But he had fallen into hard times and hunger. He was almost unconscious when a friar found him. Friar Cionfoli had come to his aid, but when he touched his skin and realized he was a vampire, he backed away so quickly that he tripped on his long cassock.
“I don’t drink human blood,” Zev had whispered, trying to reassure him.
“How do you survive?” the friar had asked with a shaking voice.
“I have been feeding from our bats and dead animals. But I can’t do that anymore. It’s hard to find enough carrion. People are starving and they eat anything.”
“You don’t kill your animals?” the friar asked.
“I did enough killing as a gladiator, Friar. I am tired of death. If I can’t feed, I am happy to end this kind of life I have.”
“I might have an idea.”
“At this point, I will take anything you are offering.”
“I need a butcher at the abbey. You can work at night and sleep in the catacombs during the day. You can feed from the blood of the animals who would come to you almost fresh.”
“Won’t I burn if I come into a place of God?”
“I would probably burn with you. Would you dare to try, my son?”
The abbey didn’t burn, neither did the chapel.
Zev and Arvid followed the president and the other bodyguards with their own car. Once they arrived at the entrance to the Vatican, Natalia approached.
“The president is waiting in his car, but I’m going inside. Unless you two can come in, we will take the president back.”
Zev and Arvid left their vehicle and moved in place to guard the president’s car.
It felt like a lifetime since Natalia had gone in. The president was getting restless and Zev knew if the old man wasn’t soon distracted, he would come with up with an inappropriate plan.
“I say to hell with them, let’s go in,” the president grumbled.
“Sir, I think we’d better wait for Natalia’s return.” Zev wasn’t going to piss her off. She had good intentions and they would just have to wait.
As Zev spoke, Natalia come towards the car.
“Let’s go in. It wasn’t easy, but I promised them that you would wear your dark glasses and you won’t look at any of them directly.”
“Are you sure the roof won’t fall in?” asked the president with a smirk.
“I’m sure about your bodyguards, but I can’t guarantee that it won’t because of you
Zev wanted to laugh. She gave as good as she got from the boss man. She was a powerful woman and it was impossible for any man to resist her. However, Zev would have to try his damn hardest to make sure her interest in him would diminish.
They entered the main hall where six cardinals waited. They all eyed Zev and Arvid, the fear in their faces evident.
“Your Eminences, the bodyguards will wait here as organized. I will go in with the president to speak with his Holiness.”
Zev smiled. That wasn’t a request, but a direct order and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. No one spoke, but they were probably saying their Our Fathers silently. How they felt wasn’t his concern. He was too preoccupied with thoughts of Natalia. He had recognized that look. Their gazes locked for a long moment and he had no strength to look away. He would have to try harder.
After what felt like an eternity, the papal door opened and Natalia came towards them.
“His Holiness has invited you both in for a cup of tea.” She smiled at the gasps of the cardinals.
“Do not kiss his ring,” instructed Natalia as they walked towards the room.
Zev didn’t answer to that.
I would kiss you, though.
Chapter 4
ROME 2019 Natalia
What fascinated her about Zev, she didn’t know. She had never been with a vampire, nor had she desired to. She didn’t go for tall, dark and handsome. She always fell for blond, blue-eyed, Prince Charming lookalikes.
This fascination she felt for Zev was confusing the crap out of her. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? And why did she dream of him every night?
Apart from catching him gazing at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, he gave her no reason to believe he felt anything for her. She didn’t have an over-inflated opinion of herself, but she knew men liked her. Unfortunately she always was attracted to the wrong ones.
As she was changing from her office attire to a light sweater and pants, she heard her Nonna Adonia calling from the kitchen.
She followed her nose there, the smell of
fresh bread making her stomach growl with hunger. She grabbed a piece and started setting the table for dinner. Two plates, two forks, two knives and two glasses. At the head of the table where her nonna would sit, she placed the cactus vitamins and a small bottle of riboflavin. On her side, a glass of Moscato.
“This smells so good,” she said pinching a bit of the marinated meat from her plate.
“Start eating, honey, I’m coming in a moment.”
Nonna brought her plate of fried blood pudding, then tipped her riboflavin into her crystal glass. Lifting it, she said, “Salute e Buon appetito.” To good health and good appetite. No Italian would start a meal without saying that.
For a few moments, the only sound was the clatter of forks and knives against their plates.
“You are pensive tonight, Natalia. Anything you want to share with me, tesoro?”
“I can’t really hide anything from you, can I?” Natalia played with her food on her plate.
“You know I can’t read your thoughts, but we share the same DNA. I know when you are unsettled.”
Of course, you do. Nonna always knew when she wasn’t herself, or there was something worrying her.
“Remember I told you about the two new bodyguards for Luigi?”
Her nonna nodded.
“They are gladiators.”
“Oh, if they are from Caesar’s time, I might know them.’
“One of them has been appearing in my dreams.”
“Did you let him bite you?” Her nonna’s voice was laced with concern.
“No, of course not. You know I’ve never been interested in vampires. He’s not even my type, for God’s sake.”
“But if you are his type, even though he hasn’t bitten you, he still has the power to come into your dreams.”
“That is what is strange, Nonna. I’m not his type. He shows no interest in me whatsoever.” She took a sip of her wine. “If he can avoid talking to me, he does.”
“Are you attracted to him? Is it possible that you fancy his gorgeous blue eyes and—let me guess, blond hair—you started to desire him subconsciously? That would bring him into your dreams.”
