Complete and utter embarrassment in knowing he had no idea whatsoever how to have sex, and busting a nut the exact moment of entry, a sensation so foreign and new that release could not wait. Victorious pleasure when fucking for real for the very first time, truly pounding into a female’s sweet, soft, hot, and wet succulent pussy, able to take one’s time and enjoy every inch of its heated depth.
As he sank his fangs into the very first blood slave directly after finishing his Transcendence, the pulse of the sacrifice’s life-giving blood flowing hot and thick down my own throat. A sensation so new, so right, so good I could not control myself nor stop until she was drained of every last drop, though I did not feel one twinge of guilt as her heart stuttered its last, faint beat.
Once again, I was thrust back into the present, all his memories, every event of his life, embedded into my own. Knowing who the male who was fucking me senseless was, both inside and out. Knowing and loving him for who and what he truly was, no longer was he a stranger. I knew him as well as I knew myself, if not better.
He gave a final deep, hard thrust, releasing his seed inside my womb, making me climax right along with him, my walls milking his cock of every last drop.
“What you saw, every emotion you felt, experiencing my life as though it were your own, we all have done the same, only with you as the focal point. We know you inside and out, every aspect, nuance, every chill, thrill, and frill you have ever experienced, even the fact you never even realized you have more than one soul within you. This soulmate business? I thought it to be rubbish myself. But having now experienced it on my own? It is not sheer instant attraction; it is a visceral, powerful melding of souls that surpasses merely falling in love with someone.”
Once we were both spent, I lay there a moment more in complete and utter ecstasy, my gaze locked onto the other two pieces of my soul, and it began all over again, with them as the stars this time. Seeing into them in the same way as I had with Adorjan.
He continued speaking, more to himself than to me, but the part of me that belonged to him still heard every word. “Aw, szerelmem, this will truly be a challenge not even the greatest of Seers will be able to help us with. Your body contains four souls, three of which belong to three different alpha males whose species are certainly not known for sharing. Yet we are instinctively driven to see to your happiness, well-being, and protection. While that fact may very well aid us in finding a way out of here to see you safe, and Hel have mercy upon the one who dares touch you, there is no telling how we will react with one another once you are out of harm’s way. We also must consider who, én kedvesem, does the fourth part of you belong to?”
As he said the last, goosebumps spread all across my flesh, and could swear I heard a dark, evil, and very masculine laugh in the back of my mind. Worst part? That laugh made me come even harder than the sensation of Adorjan pulling out.
5
Missing Pieces
“Oh no,” Tialanna was the first to speak as all the sisters began to rouse after expending so much power. She tried sitting up but ended up flopping right back down on the couch, groaning and covering her face with both hands, mumbling, “This is not good, so not good.”
Right before Tialanna came back into consciousness, she had inadvertently slipped into the mind of her third husband, who was also her mate. It was something that happened from time to time when one or the other was under extreme stress, a bond made even stronger if they had recently shared blood. Tialanna had forced him to stay behind when she came to check on the situation, knowing the stress of something possibly harming their daughter, Jelissa; but also having no clue as to Jelissa’s whereabouts or who had the tenacity and balls to take her, would more than likely make him lose control to the point where his demonic form would no doubt emerge.
To her utter horror, that was about to happen anyway. She couldn’t quite make out everything that was transpiring, but she could feel his panic and rage building and knew he was not alone. And while the vampire community was in the know of what both he and Kierra were, none of the other factions knew a damned thing. But if Bran didn’t rein in his emotions, and soon, they were all about to find out in a very unpleasant way.
“Who the fuck told Bran?” was the next thing to come out of Tia’s mouth. She attempted to stand on still weak legs, and promptly sat back down as she saw a not so happy Chandler approaching. And given the fact Tia didn’t back down from much of anything, his expression must have been one to behold.
“First off, my love, why don’t you sit your gorgeous ass down until you recuperate?” he replied very calmly, maybe too much so since as he continued, Tia shrank back a little more and visibly took a nervous gulp. Chandler wasn’t the tallest vampire, but his presence made him seem enormous at times like these, his salt and pepper hair standing at attention, almost stock-still, as if his hairs’ nerves were also on edge.
Crossing in long strides from the vast doorway to stand before his wife, he continued in a growingly lethal tone, “Secondly, he doesn’t exactly need any of us to tell him a damned thing with the connection we share. And with all the emotions the two of us have been feeling, he clearly knows something most disastrous must be underway. Now, just because you sense him feeling some type of way, does not mean he knows precisely what is going on. And by the way, thank you for forcing me to be the one to tell Grimm he’s a daddy.” The last carried a lisp as his canines began to extend when his emotions boiled over.
Which, quite naturally, prompted hers. Gone was the glimpse of timid, fragile Tia; back was the fierce, Queen Tialanna, evidenced by the steam quite literally wafting off her shoulders. Good thing the guard had evacuated the majority of the children already, as things were about to get ugly.
“Listen here, my loving, arrogant, condescending, know-it-all husband whom I love very dearly, let’s not forget it wasn’t my idea alone to not tell him. Furthermore, if I didn’t know for a fact our irrational demon knows exactly what’s going on, I would not be reacting this way right now.” She sat up straight then, giving off such a royal and strong presence he began to take a step back, even though she hadn’t even so much as stood. Sometimes one could stand their ground without standing, some people anyway, and Tialanna was definitely one of those people. “While I was out, either someone told him what has happened, or while my guard was down, I might have inadvertently called out to him. Either way, he now knows. I heard him raging so loud in my head, which is how I am the only one who has so much as roused, about his daughter and the pain he planned on bringing to whomever had had the audacity to take her.”
“Shit.”
“Shit is right. And that’s not all. There’s a mob of factions standing in front of the castle walls demanding to know what has happened to their children. And that is exactly where he was standing when he learned of this. Now, with all of them demanding answers from him, answers that affect his daughter’s well-being as well, he’s about to go fucking apeshit and explode out of his Bran suit and into demon mode.”
Without any further ado, Chandler flashed away and was immediately back with Bran in tow. Good thing too, since as soon as they were back within the confines of the living quarters of the orphanage, gone was Bran; he shifted that quickly into all his seven feet tall, onyx-scaled, Demon wonder, tail and all. He bellowed so loudly the walls literally shook from the vibrations, his tail whipping about so wildly he would have knocked Anya off the curved portion of the couch where she lay if it hadn’t been for Kierra going on the quick defensive and protecting her wife. The problem with that? Going off nothing but instinct and terror at seeing Anya in the crosshairs of a demon had her other side coming out as well, her eight-foot wingspan slapping into him as her wings hovered protectively over Anya.
Luckily, that was the only part of her that had a chance to transform. Kierra’s mother wasn’t any type of demon, but a changeling. While Kierra hadn’t yet gained the full abilities of her mother to change into anything or anyone at will, and might not ever
, considering she was not a full-blooded demon. No, she was a creature ruled by emotion when it came to her mate, and only transformed from male to female depending on her mood; something she didn’t have much control over when under extreme duress. And since extreme emotion made it almost impossible for her to flick that switch to turn off her emotions, it was a good thing Anya quickly came to and pulled her down for a deep kiss, nicking her own lip with her fangs in the process to help tame the beast within before Kierra’s male essence took over.
While their families might be in on all their secrets at this point, the few children who had yet to evacuate from the orphanage were now standing in the doorway screaming at the sight of one demon already. That screaming was made worse by the fact that one of them was part banshee. Her scream was so loud and shrill that from the sounds of bones cracking and breaking, they must have triggered the change of two other orphans who stood beside her; one part wolf, another a preteen demon.
Just as chaos was beginning to reign, a beautiful waif of a girl flashed into the room. Her long blonde locks floating upon the waves of magick, her blue eye sparkling like two celestial stars captured within the retinas in a crème-brûlée-colored heart-shaped face as she used her siren voice to sing a soothing lullaby that tamed all the savage beasts who were about to explode. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, all shifting reversed until everyone, including Demon Bran, went back to their everyday, more normal facades.
Next, an awkward-looking twenty-four-old with a massive black afro tinged with red, skin so light it could almost pass for white, and slight freckles along her cheekbones, wearing an oversized sweatshirt hanging off one shoulder and a pair of cut-off jeans came barreling through the door. In a high-pitched voice, she shouted at the siren who had quite possibly saved the orphanage from completely tumbling down. “Genie! I told you to wait for me. You know I can’t half-ass flash.” Noticing all eyes on her, she tried to settle, giving a shaky little, “Hi,” to everyone else in the room.
* * *
Elyssa, who had regained consciousness from where she lay on a plush chair in the corner of the massive room, went to gather and usher away the remaining orphans and figure out how they’d gotten left behind in the first place. Upon realizing they were indeed the most powerful ones who lived in the confines, the possible cause had her somewhat relieved but worried at the same time.
All but Genie and Deelah, who she didn’t have the heart to even attempt to force out of the vicinity. Instead she gave them a loving warning on her way out, “Speak nothing of what goes on here outside of these walls. But tell them everything you know, anything you think might help.” When the two of them looked at her in utter confusion, she sighed and flashed on her “seer” robes for an instant.
As they gasped upon recognition of who she truly was, who they grew up thinking her to be, she flashed back into her Royal Guard attire. “Yeah, babes. I’m Princess Elyssia, not a damn seer. And yup, over there is your queen, and her twin sister, my other big sister.” As their eyes grew wider and wider like a pair of saucers, she laughed a little. “Betcha didn’t see any of that coming, huh? That’s not the half of it. And while there’s a lot of explaining to do, the main thing you need to focus on is this: While you two love Jelissa very much, as much as you would have had she been your kin, she is our kin. Yeah, your queen is her mother, so we don’t have time for any formalities. Fuck bowing, get over there and help us find my niece.”
Elyssia watched as Genie and Deelah took another double take at her, the woman they had grown up thinking must have looked like a shriveled-up old hag since the robes never came off. From the expressions on their faces, she knew they couldn’t quite come to terms with what shocked them the most; that she was actually the princess, or their best friend was truly the daughter of the queen. They visibly shook themselves when she shoved them and shouted, “Go!” right before hustling off with the younger ones.
“What the fuck, D?” was all Genie could think to say as they made their way over towards the motley-looking crew.
Elyssia glanced at the members of her family as she stepped out of the room. She could only imagine what the sight must have looked like to Jelissa’s terrified besties. Probably something resembling a militia crew straight from Hel’s domain.
A pale-faced vampire with platinum hair on one side, jet black on the other, and one of the decaying ones, which Elyssia was certain Deelah would be able to tell by her sensitive sense of smell, stood with his legs in a fighter’s stance by the fireplace in a pair of shit-kicker boots, jeans that hugged his ass just right, and a black tee, arms crossed over his chest, giving off a menacing presence.
A handsome yet meek-looking male witch stood next to him, curly brown hair shaping a deadly beautiful olive-toned face that was chiseled to perfection, giving off a calm she knew both girls would see as fake, seeing as how Genie had seen him in all his demon glory. On a long, half-circular couch sat two identical but completely different-looking women. Both exotically beautiful, seeming to be mirror images but exact opposites at the same time. One with shocking-white hair, the other a blazing red that would put any fire to shame; one’s skin the color of the most succulent caramel, the other a chalkier shade of that same caramel, but just as fine.
Elyssia saw Genie and Deelah both instinctively look away as they took in those surrounding the two elegant women. One had a hulk of a woman at her side, one utterly beautiful, for all her masculinity. Even though her muscles had muscles, she still gave off an air of grace, and also a dark presence that dared them to mess with the seated woman with the white hair.
In front of the other sat an enormous gray wolf, who quickly shifted into an equally enormous dark-chocolate-colored male. Ellyssia would have been amused by the way both girls practically salivated at the site of his shirtless chest if the situation weren’t so damn dire at the moment. The only piece of clothing he had bothered to flash into was a pair of ragged sweatpants that left nothing to the imagination, his dreads hanging loosely behind his back. This group looked like it was ready to kill, not rule.
Definitely not royalty…
“Tell me every damn thing you can think of that happened last night. I want my daughter back, and I want to peel back the skin of whoever took her and flay them alive.” Tia threw her head back and laughed at the frightened look on their faces. “And I’m the nice one. No telling what the rest will do.” As if to drive the point home, Grimm rumbled a full-on wolf growl from his humanoid throat.
6
History Lessons
Genie and Deelah finally got their wits about them and sat in the two chairs across from their Queen and her twin sister. The story of the twins was something they’d only read about in history books, never in a million years had the thought ever crossed their minds they would ever be sitting in front of them. Let alone discover the girl they’d grown up with was of any relation to the royal family.
If only Jelissa could see them now. Just being in the living quarters made them think of their lost friend all the more, every corner a living memory. The glass coffee table that sat between the couch and chairs where they sat now had been magicked to never break, so of course the three of them had an ongoing contest on which of them could break it. The fact it was still standing even now probably meant they should give up on that one.
The couch they had spilled so many different varieties of food on that the ‘sisters’ who took care of them had had to finally give up on getting the stains out of it and spelled it black. The mantle above the fireplace where Deelah would cheat during hide and seek, turning into a little wolf so she could hide behind the various framed pictures of all the orphans. The massive room seemed so empty and eerily quiet right now without all the little ones running about. No fire crackling in the hearth where the little ones would get read to at night. No teens begging the house wizard to give them access to one of the stupid human reality television shows on the fifty-five-inch screen otherworld monitor hanging in the corner. Gone were th
e fairies who would dance in front of a flashlight, putting on shadow shows for the babies while Genie or one of the other sirens would sing them a lullaby.
The inside of their home looked the same as always, things thrown here and there, but only because no one had been made to clean up since they were being rushed off to the emergency shelter in case whoever it was had taken Jelissa came back. Even the bats they thought of as no more than pets were gone from their hanging spot in the domed ceiling. They turned out to be true vampire bats, members of the guard who watched over the children, with the kids being none the wiser. No, the damage had been done outside. There was no need for the captor to go anywhere else other than where his victim lay. Thinking they were giving her extra protection by placing her alone in the studio apartment in the attic with more wards than anywhere else within the orphanage, the thought never crossed anyone’s mind that secluding her from the others for any amount of time would be a colossal mistake.
"Okay, girls, somebody start talking,” Anya demanded. She took a deep breath and clenched her eyes tightly shut for a moment before she asked, “Which of you saw her last?”
Genie was the first to speak. “We both did. We were down here making plans for, well, for tonight. You know, to celebrate her birthday. Where we were going to go, what we were going to wear. Normal shi—stuff.”
“Yeah,” Deelah chimed in, her leg shaking so badly from her nerves Genie put a hand on her knee, trying to stop it. Too bad that as strong as Deelah was, she didn’t even notice, and the shaking continued. “We were keeping her distracted, really. See, we both had gotten her gifts, and you know how hard it is to keep something hidden from Jelissa. Oh, wait, you wouldn’t know. No offense or nothing. I mean I know she’s your daughter, but you don’t know her. Sorry, I just keep putting my foot in my mouth.”
The Succubus, the Demon and the Witch Page 4
