Ashayt coughed and stood, stepping forward and glancing first at William, then at Sasha. “With your permission, I would like to accompany you as well. It pains me to see my people fighting, and if by my words or my reputation I might prevent it, I would like the opportunity to try.”
“A wise stance, Mother,” William said. “I am sure it will not be a problem. Sasha?”
“Of course not. I would be honored.”
“Very well, then,” William said. He glanced at his watch, frowned, looked to Sasha.
“Not enough time,” Sasha said.
“Sadly, no. Tomorrow night?” William asked.
“Yes. We will wait through one more day, and tomorrow at sunset we will set out. Is that acceptable to everyone?”
There were murmurs of assent from all of the involved parties.
“Excellent. I have no further business for this evening,” William said. “I would like to thank everyone for coming. We are living in a most unusual time, and drastic steps were needed. Once we have rescued Jakob and brought Aros to trial, it is my fervent hope that we can return the council to its normal state.”
This pronouncement was greeted with muttering from the council members. It was clear that the political implications of this minor coup would not be fully sorted out for some time.
“Does anyone have any further business to discuss?” William asked. After a few moments of quiet, he nodded and wished the council goodnight. Most of the vampires stood and began to file out of the cathedral. A few stopped to speak briefly with Ashayt, and she greeted each with pleasure, but it was not long before they were gone and the emergency meeting was over.
The only people remaining in the church were Two’s band of companions, William, Sasha, and Molly. William stepped down from the podium and joined the others, who were clustered together at the back of the cathedral near the table of wine and blood.
“Well,” he said. “It seems that we are living in interesting times.”
“That would be one way to describe them,” Naomi said.
Sasha turned to Theroen and Ashayt, who were standing next to each other, each holding a glass filled with blood.
“Forgive me for not expressing the appropriate amount of awe upon meeting either of you, Mother Ashayt and Theroen-Sa. My mind has been over occupied this night.”
Theroen smiled. “I cannot speak for Ashayt, but I find your current level of awe not only acceptable but completely appropriate. Your name is Sasha, yes?”
“Yes. I am Jakob’s fledgling.”
“Jakob is the vampire we’re meant to rescue?”
Sasha nodded. “Yes, along with Molly’s parents.”
“Why have the Burilgi taken them?” Naomi asked.
Sasha shrugged. “We are not entirely sure. We know that Jakob was not the target. Aros wanted the two humans as bait for Two. Jakob was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Two, who was standing on Theroen’s left, spoke up. “Why the hell would he want me?”
“That remains a mystery,” William said. “I know Aros. I sat with him on this council for decades before he abandoned it. He was not exactly of sound mind then, and all indications are that he has only grown worse with time.”
“Fantastic,” Two said. “I wish we could go now. I hate waiting.”
“As do I,” Sasha said. “We are already risking very much by sending so small a group into a situation that we know is meant to be a trap. Doing so during the daylight, when it is so debilitating at least to the Ay’Araf among the group, would be insane.”
“I know,” Two said. “Theroen hasn’t even gone through a sunrise yet. Who knows what it’ll do to him? Of the bunch of us, I’m the only one who’s really built for daylight work.”
“I am, too,” Molly piped up. Sasha glanced over at her.
“I believe we agreed that you would stay in my apartment,” she said.
“Yeah, well … I mean … Two’s going!”
“I fail to see how that changes anything,” Sasha replied.
“So do I,” Two said.
Molly made an exasperated noise, throwing her body into an aggravated, sulking posture. “You guys suck,” she said.
“Life’s a bitch,” Two replied. Molly stuck her tongue out.
“Molly has given me her sincere assurances that she won’t try to stow away or otherwise join us,” Sasha said. “I’m holding her to her promise.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Molly. “Fine. OK. Can we go now? I’m tired.”
“Yes, we should probably finish up for the evening,” Naomi said. “Speaking of which … Two, Theroen, you’re welcome to sleep on my couches, but I’m afraid I don’t have any further space.”
“We’ll find accommodations,” Theroen said, smiling slightly. “Do we need to find space for your friend, Two?”
“I’ll stay with Sasha,” said Molly. “If he’s really been dead for two years, I bet you guys want to have some … alone time.”
Two felt her cheeks warm. “Thanks, kiddo. You’ll be all right?”
“Long as you bring everyone back safe, I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll do our best. Guys, we’re going to go find a hotel or something. We’ll see you here tomorrow night just after sunset, right?”
“Yes, please,” said Sasha. “Theroen, it was nice meeting you.”
The others echoed this sentiment, and there was another round of hand shaking before Two could usher Theroen out into the street. Once there, standing on the curb and peering around, looking for a taxi, she smiled up at him.
“Finally have you all to myself,” she said.
“Yes,” Theroen said “I must admit to looking forward to … how did Molly put it? Some alone time?”
Two’s smile widened to a grin, and she put her arms around Theroen’s midsection. He put one arm on her back, holding the other up to hail an oncoming cab. As it slowed, he turned to her with an embarrassed expression on his face.
“I just realized that I have no money. Abraham didn’t put my wallet into the pockets of the suit he dressed me in, and with the rest of the mansion burned to the ground I doubt we’d be able to find it now.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Two said, opening the door. “I sold a lot of stuff from the mansion before it was burned. I uh … sold your Ferrari. Sorry.”
Theroen looked pained as he sat down in the cab next to her. “Please tell me you got a fair price for it.”
“I could tell you that, but I’d probably be lying,” Two said. “Where the hell are we going, anyway?”
“The W Hotel, Union Square,” Theroen said, loud enough for the cab driver to hear. The man nodded, hit a button on his meter, and began driving.
“How trendy,” Two said in a dry voice, and giggled as Theroen turned and raised his eyebrows at her.
“I know the manager and have a deposit box in their safe,” Theroen said. “Not only will we have a place to stay, but it will provide me with a driver’s license, passport, Social Security card, credit and ATM cards … all of the necessities.”
“Nice,” Two said. She nestled in against Theroen, leaning on his chest in silence for a time. Finally she said, “I can’t believe you’re back.”
“I can’t believe I’ve been gone for two years,” Theroen said. He was staring out the window, watching the city go by. It was nearly one in the morning, but the streets were still crowded with Saturday-night revelers.
“You really don’t remember any of it?” Two asked him.
“It seems like last night. I’m sorry, Two, I know it must have been hard for you. There is so much to catch up on, I hardly know where to begin.”
“I can tell you anything you want to know.”
Theroen was quiet for a moment, considering this. Finally, he said, “How long were you in a relationship with Naomi?”
Two took a deep breath and pulled away from Theroen, frowning slightly. “You’re going right for the throat. OK, it was about … ten months. When did you figure it o
ut?”
“Near the end of the meeting. My mental abilities are coming back to me, and I could sense some kind of connection while we were in the car, but didn’t understand what I was feeling until we were taking our leave. Two … she loves you.”
“Yes. Yes, she does.”
Theroen glanced at Two, and she could read his concern on his face. “And how do you feel?”
Two shook her head. “I’ve only ever loved one person in my entire life. Naomi is … I don’t know what happened, Theroen. I was lonely, and she was interested, and holy shit, I can’t believe how lame this sounds. Did I really just say ‘I was lonely’?”
“I believe you did,” Theroen told her.
“I hear it, too!” the cab driver told her in his heavy accent as he pulled over in front of their hotel.
“Really earning your tip …” Two muttered, handing him a twenty dollar bill. “Keep the change.”
The cab driver thanked her, and Two stepped out onto the curb next to Theroen. A few people were mingling around the front of the hotel bar, smoking, not paying any attention to the new arrivals. Theroen was watching her with interest, waiting for her to finish.
“I’ve loved you every minute of every day since the first night I met you,” Two said. She shrugged. It was that simple. “Naomi is a wonderful, amazing person and I care about her very much. I know that I ended up hurting her, and I’m sorry for that … but I don’t love her. I love you.”
“And she knows this?”
“She knows. She knew the whole time. As soon as we found out there was a chance of bringing you back, she and I agreed to end it. Theroen, I never said I loved her. I couldn’t say it to her or to anyone else.”
Theroen considered this, saying nothing. Two stared back at him, some strong and terrible emotion welling up inside of her. She could feel tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. Had she come all this way only to lose him now?
“Please tell me you can forgive me,” Two said. “I thought you were dead. I thought you died for me, and I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand being alone, so I went looking for something … someone, and I found her.”
Theroen stepped forward, standing directly in front of her, and pressed the pad of his thumb against her left cheek, wiping away a tear. He tilted his head, looked into her eyes, smiled his inscrutable smile.
“Let’s go inside,” he said.
* * *
Theroen’s penis was warm and hard in her hand as Two took it, brought the head to her damp and slippery labia, arched her back, and wrapped her legs around his body. Theroen moved his hips forward, parting her, entering her and pressing his teeth against her neck. Two put one hand on the back of his neck, gasped, murmured his name.
Theroen began to move within her, creating a slow and delicious friction that Two wished would never end. He kept his teeth pressed against her neck until she brought her left hand up from between her legs, wrapped her fingers in his hair and pulled gently. Theroen lifted his head, looked into her eyes, continued to thrust slowly within her.
“Hi,” Two said.
Theroen seemed to consider this for a moment before asking, “Do you come here often?”
“Keep doing what you’re doing, and it’ll be my first time,” Two replied. Theroen stared at her for a moment, eyebrows raised, then buried his head in her neck again, this time stifling laughter. Finally, he looked back up at her.
“Very nice,” he said.
Two put her hand on his cheek, caressing lightly. His skin was smooth, and she wondered if he had shaved after his shower, or if his beard simply hadn’t grown at all during the two years he had been dead. Something about this thought struck her as both hilarious and awful, and she closed her eyes, taking her hands from her lover and covering her face.
Theroen paused in his motions, watching her, concerned. “Are you all right, Two?” he asked.
“Theroen,” she said. “I … it’s …”
Theroen began to pull up from within her, and Two grabbed his back.
“No, don’t leave! Stay with me. It’s OK, I’m just … it’s been so long. I know it feels like yesterday for you, but for me it’s a little overwhelming.”
“I shouldn’t have rushed you,” Theroen said. Two laughed, kissed him, began to move her hips again.
“I wanted you to rush me! I’m not mad. It just all caught up to me at once. But trust me, if you … mmmm … just go slow and keep doing what you’re doing, everything is going to be just fine.”
Theroen smiled, kissed her lips, continued to make love to her. Slowly his motions sped, the warm friction he was making inside of her becoming more like a blaze. Two remembered their first time together, lying in a patch of grass on a forested hill. As they had neared orgasm, Theroen had turned and pressed his teeth against her neck, like he was doing now.
“Yes, my love,” she whispered into his ear. “Take me. Make me one with you again. Make me whole.”
She had come so far and waited so long, but now here at last was what she had wanted all along. Not just the blood, but the warmth and love, the connection that had been taken from her. Abraham had murdered a part of her when he murdered Theroen, but now her lover was back, here in this bed with her, and soon his teeth would pierce her flesh and unleash her blood. Soon he would drink, and drink, until Two was an empty vessel waiting to be filled. Soon he would make her his, and this time it would be forever.
Two dug her fingers into the skin of Theroen’s back as his thrusts began at last to take her over that final edge. Her whole body was tingling, nipples hard and dark, flesh hypersensitive, craving this contact yet barely able to stand it. She gasped and panted, breathing in the scent of his skin, his hair, extolling him in whispers and sighs. Theroen, too, was nearing his climax, and Two struggled to hold on, wanting to share it with him, wanting to know that he was feeling the same pleasure that she was.
“God,” he growled into the space between her neck and shoulder, stiffening, and Two answered with “Yes,” and she let herself go. Her body clenched, tightened, shaking, and Two closed her eyes, lost in pleasure and desire, lost in her love for this man. Theroen, coming inside of her, drove his teeth into her neck, but the pain seemed to originate from somewhere outside of her, and it was dim and distant.
Within moments, as Theroen drank the blood that gushed forth from her jugular vein, the pain had left entirely, and there was only the pleasure. The initial short, powerful spasms were being replaced now with longer, slower, deeper sensations that seemed timed with her heartbeat. Theroen drank, and Two lay with him, legs wrapped loosely around him, hands resting on his back, eyes closed, tears leaking from their corners, a small smile on her face.
“Oh, my love,” she whispered as he drank. The darkness was closing in on her again, and she felt like she was falling into some deep, black chasm where there was no bottom. She would fall like this forever, tumbling through the inky blackness, unconcerned and unafraid. Theroen was with her, at last, and that would be enough.
Chapter 29
The Burilgi Horde
Rhes Thompson stared at his friend Two in frank disbelief, unable to speak, paralyzed by an indescribable combination of surprise, rage, confusion and the almost uncontrollable urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. If his vocal cords hadn’t been locked solid, he might have done so. Instead, he merely stared.
Sarah, however, was apparently having no such difficulties. She whirled in the direction that Two’s voice had come from, hands balled into fists, and Rhes had little doubt that if Sarah could have seen the girl, she would have punched first and asked questions later. Instead, she simply unleashed a snarling stream of invective at Two.
“Where the fuck have you been, you stupid, crazy, selfish bitch?!” she roared. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? Do you even know what you’ve done? How dare you show up here, now, sounding like nothing’s happened and everything’s great in the world? How dare you?! You’re lucky I can’t see you, or I’d
fucking strangle you to death right here!”
Two weathered this verbal attack without comment, waiting for Sarah to finish, a small, sad smile on her face. Rhes had time to observe the changes in his friend. There wasn’t much that was markedly different about Two, and yet it seemed that everything was just a bit off. Her eyes seemed greener. Her face seemed paler. She had chopped most of her hair off, but what was left seemed fuller, thicker somehow. She was standing with her arms crossed, listening to Sarah, looking more calm and at ease and alive than Rhes thought he had seen her since before she had ever become involved with heroin.
“Hon …” Rhes began, but Two stopped him without a word, holding up a hand and shaking her head. Sarah continued to rage.
“My house is torn up. My dog is dead. My daughter is shacked up with some fucking vampire. I’ve missed multiple days of work already and will be lucky to keep my job … where were you?! Where were you when Rhes was getting the shit kicked out of him and I was lying there, scared out of my mind? Where were you when these fucking vampire shitheads were breaking into my house and killing my dog? You were out bouncing around Europe with your vampire buddies, living it up, not a care in the world, right? Right?! Fuck you!”
Sarah finally seemed to be finished. She stood in front of Two, frowning, hips set defiantly, waiting for a response.
“I deserve all of that,” Two said.
“Fucking right you do,” Sarah replied.
“And I wasn’t trying to make a joke out of all of this, when I said ‘hi’ … I was just so happy to see that you guys were still alive. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“We’re all right,” Rhes said.
“Yeah, fine … great,” Sarah spat. “Here we are, safe and sound. Everything’s terrific, isn’t that right?”
Two sighed, shaking her head and staring at the floor for a minute. “I’m sorry for everything,” she said. “I’m sorry for dragging you guys into this, and then turning away from you. I was trying to keep you distant … trying to keep you from getting hurt, but it didn’t work. It just made things worse.”
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