by Mia Harris
“Yes. I told you a few weeks ago; vampires live a lot longer. Does my age bother you?”
Ari considered his question. He didn’t look any older than thirty-five or so, so what did it matter?
“No,” she replied.
“Can I ask you something about Remy?” he asked.
“I suppose,” she said, pouting.
“When he came to you… did he ever make love to you?”
“Of course he did. You know that. Why do you want to know that?” Ari asked, confused.
“I mean… did he really make love to you? Did he touch you softly, caressing every inch of your amazing skin? Was he gentle with you? Did he let you have any control… did he even let you on top?”
“Oh. No, not really.”
“And did you like that?”
“I don’t know. I guess so,” she mumbled.
Ari felt uncomfortable with his questions. She had liked Remy’s rough dominance of her, but on the other hand, she had sometimes wished that he would be gentler, and tell her how he felt about her. Damien must have sensed her discomfort, and spoke again.
“I’m sorry to ask you such personal questions. It’s just that… I prefer to be gentle and soft with lovers. I don’t like the idea of ever hurting you. If I were to take you to bed, I would want it to be tender and sweet, and memorable for the both of us.”
A rush of adrenalin suddenly coursed through Ari’s veins, and she realized that she wanted Damien badly. She had no idea exactly how long she had wanted him, but right now she would have given anything to feel his touch on her skin, especially if he was as tender and generous a lover as he claimed to be.
“I thought you would want to bite me,” she said nervously.
“I would never bite you… unless you wanted me to. I’m told it can be quite an erotic experience for a human,” he replied, the candlelight dancing in his eyes.
“I’ll think about it,” she said, her full lips parting slightly as she gazed across the bath at him.
He slid through the water until he was right in front of her, and then leaned in closer. Even in the warm water, his skin seemed cool, and Ari could smell his expensive cologne.
“Kiss me,” he said softly.
She tilted her face up to meet his, and then pressed her mouth to his red lips. Her own lips felt scorching compared to his, and a violent shiver shot down her spine, sending a prickling sensation over her neck and chest as goose bumps erupted over them. As he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, she realized that the inside of his mouth was a lot warmer than the rest of him, and the shivers gave way to a throbbing, pulsing sensation between her legs as their tongues entwined, slowly yet hungrily exploring each other’s mouths.
After a moment, she broke the kiss and leaned back, smiling as she saw the look of barely-contained arousal on his face.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are,” he murmured, before moving his mouth to her neck and nuzzling her, his soft lips caressing her skin before gently nibbling and sucking on her right earlobe.
The bubbles had begun to subside, and her bare breasts were in full view as he pulled away again. Casting his eyes down, he saw her rapidly-stiffening pink nipples, and cupped her both of her breasts in his cool hands, gently squeezing them before sliding his mouth down to one of them.
His warm tongue traced tantalizing spirals on her areola, and Ari closed her eyes and moaned softly as the throbbing sensation between her legs became a raging heat that surged through her body like a wildfire.
“If there was ever a human woman that I would breed with, it would be you, Ari,” he said, once he had broken away.
“Oh,” she said, unsure as to how one would respond to a vampire saying something like that.
He grinned, and for a second he showed her his fangs before retracting them again.
“That’s a very big compliment, sweet Ari. I cannot wait to make love to you. But first…”
He slid his mouth back to her neck, gently sucking and nibbling, his hands moving underneath the water, touching and squeezing every inch of her soft curves. Ever-so-slowly, one hand reached further down, over her hips and soft belly, down to the sensitive line where her thighs met the area between her legs. His nails trailed along the line, and Ari gasped softly, desperately wanting him to move the hand further up.
Damien’s eyes glowed dark red again, and he smiled wickedly as he finally slid the hand directly between her legs, probing her soft folds as he stroked up and down her slit. He placed the pad of his thumb on the throbbing bud of her clitoris, rubbing it gently in small, slow circles, and Ari closed her eyes, letting the warm tingling sensation that his touch evoked spread throughout her body.
A moment later, he pressed his index finger inside her, slowly probing inside her wet warmth, still rubbing her clitoris with his thumb. He smiled at her again and leaned down and kissed her softly, and as he did so he began to curl the finger inside of her in a come-hither motion. He knew exactly what he was doing, and after only another couple of moments of this treatment, Ari felt an enormous pressure being released from her core as the first waves of pleasure began to crash over her, flooding her body with even more warmth.
As she cried out in pleasure, her legs twitched and her muscles contracted around his finger, and Damien broke the kiss and pulled away.
“Let me get you out of this bath,” he murmured.
Ari didn’t argue with that. He stood up, stepped out of the bath and wrapped a dry bathrobe around himself before reaching down and pulling her up towards him. He was a lot stronger than his relatively-thin body suggested, and he scooped her up in his arms and set her down on the tiles.
After grabbing a soft dry towel, he began to rub it over every inch of her curvy body, muttering comments of admiration as he dried her. When he had deemed her dry enough, he scooped her up in his arms again and strode out of the bathroom and into her bedroom.
Gently placing her down on the bed, he pulled the bathrobe off and climbed on top of her, an elbow on either side of her as he leaned his face closer to hers. His breath was warm, and as he spoke, his calm, deep voice seemed to send a bolt of electricity shooting up her spine, flooding her mind with wanton desire.
“Are you sure you want this?” he murmured.
“Yes,” she replied breathlessly.
As she spoke, she parted her legs for him, and he settled further down her body, grinding slowly against her. Ari could feel his hardness digging into her thighs, and she moaned softly. Damien reached to the bedside table and opened the small drawer, and Ari was surprised to see a box of condoms that she hadn’t known about until now. He slid one down over himself, and then continued to grind against her.
“Oh, please… now!” she begged, knowing how wet and ready she was for him after the way that he had touched her in the bath.
He slid a hand between them and started playing with her inner lips, stroking gently, brushing her against her clitoris occasionally and making Ari shudder with anticipation. After what felt like an eternity of this sweet torture, his eyes began to glow dark red again, and he rubbed his hard cock up and down her folds before pressing it to her warm, wet opening.
Seconds later, he was pushing inside her, and Ari gasped and cried out in delight as he moved inside her, slowly grinding his hips against her as he thrust himself in and out, groaning softly in contentment as she began to move her hips in a rhythm with his. Moments later he slid his mouth over her ear, his warm breath caressing her soft skin.
“Please, get on top of me, show me what you can do with this amazing body of yours,” he whispered, his eyes continuing to glow a deep red.
Ari loved her apparent ability to drive this man completely and utterly wild, and for a second she completely forgot that he was a vampire; it didn’t matter, all that mattered was that he was here with her, touching her, feeling her, making her feel incredible. Damien rolled off her, and she smiled and climbed on top of him, grinding her hips on him to tease him a little before raising her hips and lowe
ring herself back down onto his cock.
As she felt him filling her again, she heard him groaning with pleasure, and she began to bounce herself up and down as he ran his hands over her body, squeezing every inch of her soft flesh. One of his hands settled on her round behind, and he slid the palm of his other hand between her legs, rubbing her clitoris as she moved her body against his.
Within seconds, Ari felt her body responding to him again, and gasped and sighed with ecstasy as another wave of warmth flooded through her, filling her body with pleasure and clouding her mind with pure lust. She collapsed forward onto his chest, and then whispered two words that she never thought she would hear herself saying.
“Bite me.”
Damien stopped moving his hips for a minute, and looked into her eyes.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes. I want to know what it feels like,” she replied breathlessly.
Damien smiled and slowly slid himself out of her, before gently pushing her down onto her back. Crouching on top of her, he grabbed one of her legs and put it over his shoulder while she wrapped the other around his back. Slowly entering her slick, warm tightness again, he began to thrust into her, hard and fast, and she moaned and whimpered with pleasure beneath him. He growled as he grabbed her ass and pulled her even closer to him, his groin rubbing against her clitoris and nearly sending her over the edge again.
“This might hurt a little to begin with, but then you’ll be fine,” he said, before sliding his mouth over the smooth skin of her neck.
He muttered something in a guttural tongue that Ari did not understand, and she arched her back, moving her hips back and forth as he continued to slowly move in and out of her. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck, and she felt as if she had hot lava flowing through her bloodstream. After a second it cooled, but only slightly, and she cried out as she tried to squirm away from his sharp fangs, wondering if this had been a good idea.
Seconds later, her entire body was flooded with a sensual pleasure, and she cried out again, but this time in ecstasy. Almost nothing had ever felt this intense, this good… except the first time with Remy. Her eyes snapped open as she realized that she was still thinking of the werewolf President, and she angrily pushed all thought of him away, returning her focus to Damien.
He moved his mouth away and stared down at her with a fierce expression on his face, and she could see her own blood on his fangs before he retracted them. His eyes glowed an even deeper red as he began to move his hips against her faster, reaching deeper inside, bringing her to new heights of pleasure. Moments later, he closed his eyes and shuddered, his own orgasm overtaking him, and Ari gasped as he slammed into her one last time before coming.
They lay on the bed together for hours afterwards, talking and making love again twice, until Ari was completely exhausted.
“I need to sleep,” she murmured.
Damien smiled down at her as he caressed her head and ran his fingers through her hair.
“Sorry. As I told you the other day, I often forget that humans need their rest. I will leave you for now. I will be back in the morning, my sweet Ari,” he said.
With that, he kissed her on the forehead, went back into the bathroom and picked up his clothes. After he had dressed, he blew a kiss to Ari and exited the room, and she drifted off to sleep.
***
Ari woke up again only half an hour later, a sharp pain in her neck forcing her up. I’ll go and ask Damien if there’s anything he can do about this, she thought, rubbing the small fang marks on the side of her neck. Even an aspirin or something would do.
As she padded softly through the mansion, she entered the east wing, knowing that he would probably still be working. She was right; as she headed down the long hallway she could see his office light on, and the door was open a crack.
As she was about to knock, she realized that he was talking to someone, and her ears pricked up as she heard her own name mentioned.
“So you’ve managed to convince her, then?” a deep and vaguely familiar voice said.
“Yes,” Damien replied. “Just tonight, in fact, I seduced her… I played it so well that she thought she was the one seducing me. Humans can be so ignorant. I admit that she is smarter than most, and it took a while to make her believe me, but she doesn’t love Remy anymore. She is falling for me, and she really believes that the werewolves are the ones ruining her little world for her.”
The other man laughed softly, and then spoke again.
“And the state dinner?” he asked.
“I haven’t asked her yet, but I plan on telling her about it tomorrow. I will tell her that I think it is finally safe for her to accompany me in public, and she will come. When President Remy sees me with her, you know how he will react… especially when he sees the fang marks on her neck,” Damien replied.
“Oh, yes. He’s a werewolf; they can’t control their anger very well. He will go crazy, and probably tear the whole room apart. Once the public knows what he is, they will shun him and push him out of the White House, and out of society itself, I dare say.”
“And then we will finally have our chance to take over the government once and for all.”
The two men laughed, louder this time, and Ari suddenly recognized the other man’s voice. Marco.
“Good job, Uncle,” he said, confirming Ari’s suspicion. “I cannot believe the stroke of luck we had with this one. I actually liked her as a human companion… I never had any idea that she would be able to get the President and hand him to us on a platter like this.”
Ari didn’t want to hear any more. She quietly padded back to her room, hot tears spilling out onto her face and sliding down her cheeks. I have to get out of here. I can’t believe how stupid and blind I’ve been, she thought as she changed out of her satin nightie and into a warm coat and jeans, wanting to kick herself for having let the vampire get under her skin, figuratively and literally. And Marco… we’ve been friends for years; how could he do this to me?
She wrote a note telling Damien that she was leaving, and left it on the pillow. I hope he doesn’t follow me. Not wanting a single reminder of him, she took only her cell phone and the clothes she was wearing, and walked downstairs. Making sure that she didn’t make a loud noise when she shut the front door, she slipped out into the night, tears still spilling down her cheeks.
As she walked down the path, she realized that she had no idea where she was going. There were guards at the main gates; she knew that much. How do I get out of here? Damien had said that she was free to leave at any time, but she doubted that he actually meant it now, so she didn’t want to risk being seen by the guards. Taking a detour into the gardens, she remembered the view from her window. There was a tall, dark green hedge on one side of the property, and she might be able to climb through it, depending on how thick it was. She knew that a patrol of guards drove up and down the road alongside the hedge, but with any luck, she could hide in the shadows if they did, before running away as fast as possible.
Once she had reached the hedge, she reached out to touch it, poking and prodding at it to see if she could get through. It was uncomfortable, but she could make it. The leaves scratched and raked long red marks over her face and hands as she pushed her way through it, and she was glad that the rest of her body was covered in clothing. Finally, she was on the other side, and she scanned the road, looking for any sign of the patrol car.
It was nowhere in sight, and she began to run down the road, away from the vampire compound. After a few minutes, she heard heavy breathing behind her, and then two strong arms encircled her waist. Caught. Shit.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” a gravelly, familiar voice said.
The strong arms let her go, and she spun around. Remy.
Remy’s eyes glowed a bright amber color as he glared down at her, blazing with fury as he took in her disheveled appearance and the fang marks on her neck.
“We need to talk,” he growled.
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***
Part Three
Ari gulped in fear as Remy continued to glare down at her, and he reached out and grabbed her by the collar of her coat.
“You’re coming with me,” he growled.
“Remy! Get off her. I’ll take her home. You take your men and go elsewhere. You need to cool off,” said a familiar, gruff voice from behind her.
Remy’s eyes blazed even more, but he let her go. Another arm pulled her towards a sleek black car, and Ari looked over her shoulder, glancing at Remy one more time as he continued to watch her with a look of fury that she had never seen before, on anyone. The person that was holding her pushed her inside the car and then climbed in after her, and Ari finally realized who it was. Ross Wilkins.
“Hello again, Miss Mills,” he said, staring intently at her. “It’s good to see you again. I’m glad that you are safe. You have no idea how crazy Remy has been going since you left, he’s made us sit outside the vampire compound every night since you were taken. He couldn’t pick up on your scent, but he claimed that he ‘just knew’ that you were here. I am grateful that he was correct. Trying to conceal this whole fiasco from the American public has been a PR nightmare, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Ari was speechless. Ross, the grumpy old White House Chief of Staff… he knew about all of this? She finally found her tongue and spoke up.
“Are you… are you one of them?” she asked hesitantly.
“What, a werewolf?”
Ross threw his head back and laughed. It was the first time that Ari had actually ever seen him crack so much as a smile, and his mirth began to make her feel slightly more comfortable, even though she had absolutely no idea what was going on.
“No,” he said after a moment, still chuckling. “I’m just as human as you are. But seriously, did you think that the Chief of Staff wouldn’t know a tiny little detail like… the President is actually a werewolf? Come on, Ari, I thought you were a smart girl.”
“So you knew the whole time?”
“Course I did. I’m one of the few humans that know what’s really going on with the world.”
