by Maya DeLeina
“I forget. Why don’t you show me,” Anya demanded.
Steffan captured Anya’s mouth and settled into a deep kiss that made her moan in delight. In one strategic move, he stripped off his swim trunks and pushed Anya’s bikini bottom to the side, filing her to the limit.
“My god, you are so wet. I love the way you respond to me,” Steffan groaned into Anya’s ear.
“Baby, your eyes on me, your voice in my ear—that’s really all it takes for me,” Anya said between her ragged breaths. “Didn’t I ever tell you that you made me wet the moment I laid eyes on you in the studio?”
“Oh, Anya!” Steffan moaned in response, sheer elation lacing his words. He stretched Anya’s arms above her head, entwining his fingers through hers as he pumped deep into her. Anya arched her back and tilted her hips to meet every one of his thrusts. She rested her head back, exposing her neck in a request to start their vampire kiss.
A numbing electricity surged through Steffan’s, making his mouth water with need. His teeth elongated, breaking through their membrane as he spoke. “I crave you.”
The sun glistened off the water, sparkling in Steffan’s passionate red eyes.
“Taste me, my husband. Drink,” Anya said as she employed their sharing threads, shaking with anticipation to share in the delectable taste of chocolate and cinnamon.
Steffan slowly sunk his teeth into Anya’s neck, filling his mouth with indescribable pleasure. He moaned against her flesh.
Anya licked her lips and moaned.
A large sea bird flew high above them, casting a brief shadow over their bodies.
Anya opened her eyes and gasped. “What is that?”
Steffan released Anya’s neck, his mouth dripping with blood. “Love, that’s an Iwa bird. My barrier can’t reach that far in the air to make things change their course. Planes, birds, even the gliders up there will fly over us, but the boundary will safely camouflage us. Don’t worry, they won’t see us, they’ll only see the beach.”
Anya nodded in response.
Steffan looked deep into Anya’s eyes. “Don’t hold back on me, Anya. Give me everything, let me hear you. I know it’s tough not to feel vulnerable out in the open like this, but please remember my abilities. And remember, you will one day learn how to do this, too. You are a beautiful and strong vampire now.”
“I can do boundary, too?” Anya exclaimed.
“Yes. It’s a learned ability for all vampires.”
Anya’s face lit up in excitement, her eyes burning passionate red.
Anya sat up as her blood continued to flow from Steffan’s vampire kiss mark. She laced her fingers in Steffan’s hair and licked the blood that was about to drip from his teeth. “Mr. Matthews, shall we continue?”
“Mrs. Matthew, where were we? Ah yes…” Steffan slowly sunk his teeth back into his mark and laid Anya back down. He relished his mate’s vibrant and rich taste filling his mouth. He continued to thrust himself deep into her, assuring no part of her was left untouched by his body.
With one hand, Anya splayed her fingers across Steffan’s ass, encouraging him to take her without reserve. With the other, she held his head against her neck, tempting him to take more than he ever did from her body.
Steffan sank deeper into his vampire kiss as Anya writhed in ecstasy underneath him, the waves framing her body with an erotic grace.
Epilogue
He took refuge in the rocking chair next to the stone fireplace. It was a crisp autumn night. The full moon reflected in the lake, dancing as the light wind rippled over the surface.
“Your order, sir?” asked the waitress. He was her only guest sitting outside at the lakeside bar of the five-star resort.
He was dressed in pure opulence—designer clothes, shoes, and polished jewelry, as if he’d sampled every upscale boutique within the shopping quarters of the resort.
“Rusty nail,” he said blankly, keeping his face turned away from the waitress.
He leaned back, placing his feet on the frame of the chair and rocked smoothly, gazing up at the mountain range. A deep-seated rage and wild fury churned inside him, sending his blood to a boil. He gripped the armrest of the rocking chair with one hand as he traced his fingers delicately over the scars on his face.
Panic set in.
Did I get the color correct?
He pulled out a compact from his pocket and examined the detailing of his foundation application before the waitress came back with his drink.
Since he’d left Ambrose Heights that ill-fated night, he’d never returned. He’d left with nothing except the clothes on his back, his Mercedes and deep lacerations to his face that were now set in a purple-reddish state.
He harbored unfathomable hatred inside of him, and he had spent his days planning for retaliation.
He’d retreated here, to the five-star resort, nestling himself deep in the underground tunnels that once served as private passages to brothels for the elite guests. Without a supply of Defender on hand, he was limited to movement only at night. He resorted to nightly enthrallments upon staff and guests to obtain day-to-day necessities. He missed the daylight but could manage his activity limitation without much struggle. It was the lack of any Consumption supply, however, that was growing unbearable with each passing day. The tantalizing aromas of the fine dining options on the resort grounds were nothing less than consuming.
“Your drink, sir.” The waitress stood waiting for a response from her guest.
This was it. He would make his move.
“Come take a seat here, my beautiful girl,” he said as he tapped the rocking chair beside him without turning around.
She took a seat beside him.
“I’ve been watching you almost every night,” he said as he slowly turned around, exposing his unmarred side profile as one eye focused on the waitress. “You are so beautiful.”
“It’s you! Why did you never return any of my calls? I was looking forward to seeing you,” the waitress said with much eagerness.
“What?”
“Ryan, right? Ryan Evans?
“Yes, but…” Ryan trailed off.
“You don’t remember me?” she asked, her voice laced with disappointment. She reached into her pocket and handed him a small piece of paper. “Remember now?”
Those who have love and happiness, have wealth beyond measure.
Ryan looked down at the paper. This, he remembered. But Ryan couldn’t recall her. He looked up and soaked in her beauty.
What does it matter anyway.
She was drop-dead gorgeous. He was going to make it a point to get to know her.
“Of course I remember.” Ryan smiled, trying to mask his lie. “But I don’t believe I remember your name.”
“That’s because you never asked for my name.”
“I didn’t? That’s a shame. I guess I was so intoxicated with your beauty that it slipped my mind,” Ryan said as he reached for her hand. “Well?”
“Charlene Diana,” she answered. “But from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I was hoping that it would be Mrs. Evans one day.”
He was in utter shock in her blatant reveal.
He squeezed her hand and looked her up and down. She was a perfect specimen as any, quite perfect enough for a queen. His retaliation plan to start his own family and fight for the ultimate supremacy in Manitou unfolded right then and there.
“So, you would like to be my mate?”
“I see the wheels turning in there, Mr. Evans. What did you have in mind?”
“Money. Power…” he said, staring into her eyes as he leaned in close and whispered, “…the ability to live forever.”
“Go on.”
“I am starting a new family, to overthrow the current leader’s reign here. I will appoint myself as king. And every king needs his queen. We will rule this town, this city.”
“Oh, Ryan!”
The young waitress leaned in close to his face, resting her forehead against his. She cupped her ha
nds around his face and looked deep into his eyes.
Ryan readied himself for a kiss, but instead, she started to speak.
“Aphelion, my moonbeam, the dark side of the moon. This is our occultation. I bequeath myself onto you.”
“Oh yes, honey, bequeath onto me.”
“Like the lunar phases, so will become your fate. In full moon’s light, no longer will you fright. But by waning gibbous, you’ll once again fall hideous.” Charlene pulled down on the skin of his face with force, elongating his features.
“What in the hell was that?” He grabbed her by the wrist with anger.
“Nothing,” she said innocently, pulling back from his release, and got up from the chair, passing him his cocktail. “Here’s your drink,” she said as she turned to walk away.
Ryan stood up and shot glances back and forth at the drink and her, stunned. “Wait. Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” He grabbed her shoulder and dug his fingers into her flesh as his face started to twitch and spasm.
“Ryan, if I were you, I would spend this time heading back to the tunnels,” Charlene said, keeping her back to Ryan.
“I can’t just let you go. You know what I am and what my plan is,” Ryan whispered in her ear as his twitches intensified.
“The moon is no longer full. Seek the darkness. The transformation is quite excruciating.”
“The moon is no longer full?” Ryan turned her around. “Then what is that?” Ryan said, pointing to the moon’s brightness behind him.
“It only appears that way. The naked eye can’t determine the precise moment of the full moon phase.”
Ryan’s twitches relentlessly ignited along his face. A burning sensation ran along his body, just below the skin and penetrated deep into the bone. He grabbed his face. “What the fuck! What have you done?”
Charlene stood there quietly, pitching her head to one side, studying the small signs of morphing that were already occurring in his face.
Ryan gasped in terror as he realized his facial structure was disfiguring by the second. “What the hell…” Ryan stopped as he tried to form the rest of the sentence. “Era uoy?”
His eyes widened.
“Yhw ma I gniklat siht yaw?” Ryan screamed at her.
She smiled in response, shaking her head.
Ryan turned abruptly, clutching his face and ran off in the direction of the underground tunnel entrance.
* * * *
Charlene stood still, watching Ryan run frantically to his eternal shelter.
He screamed profanities, all backwards.
Once he was out of her sight, she turned around to face the lake, tapping slightly on her shoulder. On cue, a brilliant-white owl swooped down from the trees across the way and glided over the lake, settling on her shoulder.
“Good boy, Palmer,” she said as she ran her hand delicately down the owl’s wing.
“Charlene Diana?” a male’s voiced pierced the stillness in the air from behind the trees.
She smiled.
“One means a strong woman and the other, a divine woman. My mother was torn between the two names. She said that I was both strong and divine. So she combined them. Chariana.”
“Very clever,” said Alex as he fully emerged from the cover of the trees. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. “And very fitting.”
“Thank you, my love.”
“Since when do you dabble in black magic?”
“I don’t. I just never forgot the spell Madeline cast on me. And in my readings, I found out that even though Anya restored my body, I still had to do a spell transference to make sure it could never be cast again.”
“Well then, good choice in the new candidate,” Alex said as he reached into his coat pocket. “Should we phone the good news to Steffan and Anya?”
“They’re in Hawaii. Let them have their honeymoon time without any more thoughts of Ryan. Let it be their welcome-home present,” Chariana said, resting her hand gently on his arm.
Alex nodded as he released the phone. “So I have to ask about the fortune you showed him.”
“What about it?”
“Did that come from the Chinese fusion restaurant here?”
“Yes.”
“And?” Alex probed.
“And what?”
“And so you just got this job at the resort.”
Chariana smiled. “Well, I didn’t exactly work for the restaurant when he saw me. I just slipped in and took the bowl of fortune cookies one night, a full-moon night that is. I caught him outside as he waited for his car.”
“You sly girl!” Alex held out his hand.
Chariana placed her hand in his as they headed for the exit that spilled onto the cobblestone-paved shopping corridor.
“Wait!” she shrieked.
Chariana released Alex and ran back to the rocking chairs, sifting through the magazines that lined the coffee table.
“I know I saw one here. I must’ve overlooked it,” Chariana said as Alex came up behind her.
“Ah! There you are!” she exclaimed.
Chariana grasped a copy of the magazine that featured the Ambrose Height’s home that Ryan had seen over one year ago.
“Let me see this,” Alex said as Chariana handed it over to him with a big grin.
Alex examined the magazine’s front and back cover. “He never noticed that it was missing the edition number, date, bar encoding like all of the real magazines out there? I mean, the logo is a bit wrong, too.”
Chariana just shrugged. “Did it not work?”
“Yes, it did,” Alex admitted as he flipped to the feature page and glanced at the article’s author and laughed.
By Charlene Diana.
“Seems like your alias Charlene Diana is quite popular.”
Chariana smiled a devilish grin.
THE END
WWW.MAYADELEINA.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maya DeLeina was born and raised on the beautiful and romantic beaches of Oahu, Hawaii. Relocating to Colorado, Maya’s crystal-blue oceans and powdery, white sands were traded for enchanting forests, mystic mountains, and golden plains of promise.
Living just on the outskirts of Manitou Springs, the town’s history of spiritual healing, eclectic flare, fabled underground tunnels, and rumored lore of wizardry and witchcraft rekindled Maya’s love for the paranormal, metaphysical, and most of all, vampires.
One bite and she was hooked.
With a hint of incense wafting in the air and the majestic Pikes Peak sitting in picture-perfect view from her windows, Maya can be found relaxing in the recesses of her comfy couch, sinking her teeth into crafting and weaving seducing and erotic tales of vampires that may or may not roam her beloved town.
One read and you’ll be hooked.
Also by Maya DeLeina
Siren Allure: Ambrose Heights Vampires 1: Flesh Fantasy
Available at
BOOKSTRAND.COM
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
