by Pepper Pace
Cyrene spoke again. "Council member, do you have any words to speak before your punishment commences?"
I glanced at her. Her face was completely expressionless. I glanced at Keada. She stared straight into my eyes with something like confusion. I glanced at Frank. He was eyeing my breasts. I looked at Tony. He was concentrating on not looking at me. Then I looked at Alexis. He watched me with eyes that were completely blank; no message, no encouragement. Nothing.
"Just do the damn thing." I finally said.
Two humans walked from one of the shadowy corners of the room carrying a long black box. It appeared to be about ten feet long and fairly narrow. They placed the box in front of me and Paul and then removed the lid.
Each took hold of a wooden handle within the contents of the box and lifted it. It was like a shade the way it unrolled. A mesh shade made of sterling silver. I could see through it to the expression on Tony's face. I won't even describe it.
They held it up above their heads until they had it completely removed from the box.
Cyrene spoke in a quiet voice that trembled, I'm sure to her chagrin. "Let the punishment begin at the final stroke of midnight."
Paul leaned to me and placed his lips on mine. Surprised I returned his kiss. His lips parted and I felt his tongue touch mine. Distantly I heard the first strike of midnight. His kiss became more insistent. He pulled my lips lightly with his teeth and then ran his tongue along it sensuously. I sighed. He pulled back then and his eyes closed briefly. He turned and walked away from me. I could hear his footsteps as he hurried up the stairs. But there was something else I had heard...deep in his head. Paul was leaving for good.
I closed my own eyes then and began putting up the wall. It went up fast this time until I was enclosed in a tight little circle. I slammed a roof and floor on it just as I felt the humans move forward to wrap my body in the silver mesh.
I never felt the mesh. What I felt was fire. I sucked in a shock of air and then I screamed. The mesh kept me motionless so even though I tried to move, to run I couldn't so much as raise my arms from my sides. The pain was so shocking and so complete, that despite my resolution to accept this fate with grace and dignity, all I could do was scream one long animal peal after the other, only stopping long enough to draw in the next breath so that I could scream some more.
CHAPTER 15
The sound of waves lapping at a shore, and seagulls squawking distantly is what finally caused me to open my eyes. I squinted against the brightness of the sun and used my hand to shade me so that I could look around.
I was lying on a beach. I sat up, the sand sticking to my fingers. I brushed them off onto my pants. I was wearing white loose pants and a loose white chemise. I squinted up at the sun again in amazement. Oh it was so bright.
Someone was lying on his back next to me, his head pillowed on one arm. He squinted up at me.
"Alexis?"
He sat up and dusted the sand off his hand then he shook his curly, hair. It was Alexis. But he was so different. He was tanned and his eyes were neither all-over black, or red, or even gold. They were hazel. He was shirtless with a slight dusting of hair on his toned chest. He wore white pants just like the ones I had on and we were both shoeless. He was smiling at me and there were crinkle lines around his eyes.
"Where are we?"
"The beach, of course."
I kept looking around. "But, it's daylight."
Alexis looked out to the ocean still smiling. He inhaled deeply. "Smell that."
I sniffed. I closed my eyes and really inhaled. "Oh...it smells wonderful."
"I knew you'd love this place." He stood and offered me his hand. I took it and squeezed it hard. He looked at me curiously.
"I just wanted to make sure that you were real. I'm not in heaven or anything, am I?"
He started walking and tugged my arm to follow him. "This is not the heaven you're referring to." He glanced back over his shoulder at me. "But it is my heaven."
"But I was..." I couldn't bring myself to say the words. Alexis looked at me again. "Is it over?"
He reached out and touched my face. "You are in a safe place. You are in my place. And it's safe here."
I sighed in relief. "Where are we going?"
"Home."
Alexis kept a hold of my hand. Sometimes he ran ahead to pick up a rock or sea shell and throw it into the ocean, but he'd always come back to take hold of my hand. I couldn't stop myself from peeking up at the sun. It was bright, it was the sun.
When he picked up another rock I ran towards the ocean. When my feet hit the cold water I screeched in surprise. I looked at Alexis shocked.
"It's cold."
He walked to me with a mischievous look on his face and I knew what he was planning to do.
"Alexis...You better not..."
He grabbed me and swung me around. If I was going to go down into that cold water, he was going to go down with me. I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. He surprised me and threw us both into the ocean. I scrambled up screeching at the top of my lungs, but laughing also. Water was in my eyes, in my nose and it was salty in my mouth. I gasped. I was breathing air. I laughed harder. Alexis stood up also and smiled with me. He pulled me into his arms.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." He apologized. But he didn't really look that sorry.
"You have me stuck." I said slowly while staring at him as he still held me in his arms.
"Stuck? What does that mean?"
"Confused."
He licked his lips and got a tongue full of sand. He turned his head and spit then he wiped his lips with his thumb.
All of this mesmerized me. The Alexis I was accustomed to (if I could ever be accustomed to Alexis) was so cold and rigid. He never moved. He didn't breath and the only expression he ever had was amusement (usually at someone else's expense).
He let me stare at him. "You're...human!" I said shocked.
"And so are you." He took my hand and guided us out of the chilly water. This time when we started walking he rested his hand around my hip. I did the same. It felt so good to be normal.
We walked like that silently until we came upon a little house nestled among the rocks off the shore.
"Is this it?" I asked. Vampires did everything so big. This house was small with weathered wood siding but a big comfy porch deck and Adirondack chairs facing the ocean.
Alexis scooped me up into his arms. I clung to him giving him a surprised look.
"The rocks. They can be pretty sharp." He carried me up the worn stairs and used his foot to push the front door open.
"Oh, my!" It had a cabin feel, but not totally rustic. There was a huge picture window facing the ocean and a comfy looking suede couch and reclining chair positioned to garner the ultimate view. It was an open, airy home with hardwood floors, throw rugs and a stone fireplace that ran all the way up to the tongue and groove wood ceiling. A winding wood staircase led to the upper level which was a loft. I could see a four poster bed piled high with pillows and blankets.
"This is your place?"
He put me down. "I built it a long time ago...but I've updated it for you." He hurried out of the room. "I'll be back, I'm going to get a towel." He came back with an oversized white terry cloth one that looked like it could do double duty as a blanket.
"It's beautiful here."
He used the towel to dab carefully at my face. "I'm happy you like it." His voice was soft. "This is your home...for the time being, anyway."
He placed it around my shoulders and reached up to pull the ponytail holder out of my hair. Wordlessly he dried my hair and gently stroked my shoulders and arms. He ran the towel over my breast, his fingers came up to brush at the thin straps of my chemise until they were hanging and my top was only being kept in place because the wet material was plastered to my skin.
I could hear Alexis' careful breathing as it came faster. He looked into my eyes then lowered his gaze to the impressions my nipples made in the wet material. He d
ropped the towel and slowly reached out to stroke the swollen peaks with his fingertips.
I shivered. "Alexis, I..." How to say it? There was Tony..." I'm with Tony." I said simply.
He met my eyes with no reproach. "Then I hope these heal soon."
He took hold of my hands and gently turned my wrist up. I looked shocked to see that the raw, nasty brands were gone. In their place were beautiful tattoos! The tattoos were curlicue crucifix's; very oldworld, like something you'd see in The Vatican.
Alex carefully traced the impression with his fingertip. "Tony can't do this." He brought my wrist up his mouth and he lightly kissed me there; first one wrist then the other. My breath caught in my chest.
Alexis' tongue came out to lightly trace the tender flesh there. I gasped and clenched hard down low. He went down to his knees and alternated between kissing and running his tongue along my wrist.
It felt so tantalizing that I was quivering between my legs. But...there was Tony. I wanted to make something with Tony...
Alexis' eyes rose to meet mine. He spoke with his lips still against my wrist. "I know what you will not speak with your mouth."
I swallowed nervously. "What do you think you know?"
"I know that you're in love with three men."
"In love?!" I pulled my hands out of his grasp. "I think that's an overstatement-"
"And I know that three men are in love with you."
My heart beat skipped. "Three,” I whispered, because I knew of Tony and Paul's feelings towards me. "Not two?"
"Three." He responded while leaning back on his haunches to look at me.
Alex...was in love with me? I could barely believe...My voice cracked when I spoke again. "Was it the last link? Because I really didn't think it was wise-"
He shook his head. "At the Council meeting when I healed your wound and you reacted with nothing more than desire; no fear, no hidden agenda. I loved you at that very moment."
My head was filled with so many things...
"I also know that Tony wants your commitment...but you never told him that you would be his. You are your own. You don't have to be any man's possession. Or if it pleases you, you can be the possessor of any man...but you haven't made that decision, either. Have you?"
I shook my head. "Alexis, I really don't like you reading all my thoughts. Thoughts are supposed to be private."
"Not read you? That's near impossible for me." He chuckled and looked at the floor before looking at me again. His eyes were honest and clear when he finally spoke. "I'm over twelve hundred years old. I've been an Elder longer then you've been alive, or your mother, or your mother's mother. I am so old that I don't even remember what it is to be anything but a being that witnesses the passage of time. There is a part of all Elders that die with time. There are parts of us that starve until it falls away like dust." He glanced around himself.
"We are required to build a place that our minds can retreat to, so that we can remember. When I first became an Elder it was this beach that I built. No one has ever been on this beach but me...and now you." He inhaled and looked at me again. "Most Elders build towns or cities that look like the very same places they lived when they were humans. I was born on a farm. I never even saw the Ocean until I became an adult and I traveled to the coast on assignment. I remember standing on the beach too afraid to touch the sand, or the water but feeling drawn to it. It's been many years since I've been here, mostly I'm where the time passes slowly and the thoughts of Vampires are mundane, the actions of the Councils are self-serving and the humans are insignificant. When something breaks through all of that cold I begin to remember just how much I starve. You see, Kim, you are like a feast to a starving man. I could no more ignore your thoughts then a starving man could resist feasting."
Wow. "Alexis...I didn't understand. Why don't you find a partner?" He sounded so lonely...it broke my heart.
"In my time I've had many partners. But if you think everlasting life is tedious try being bound to 1 person for hundreds of years."
I laughed even though I felt so sad for him. "Are you cracking a joke Alexis?"
"Yes. I have never bound myself to anyone willingly."
"I kinda tricked you into it...I didn't mean to."
He sat cross legged on the worn wooden floor and watched me. "When you drank from me you only linked us. It was the second time that bound us."
"What does that mean? Bound?"
"You don't need me to tell you. You already know."
"We're...married."
He shrugged. "That word means nothing to me. We're bound."
I took in a shaky voice. I stood over him nervously. Nervous because I wasn't sure whether I hated the idea or...liked it.
He placed his hands behind him and leaned back comfortably to regard me. Oh...My...God. He looked so good like that. His exposed chest was bronzed by the sun, his stomach rippled slightly with his wiry muscles, and a narrow line of golden brown hair trailed down from his belly button to disappear in the waist band of his thin white pants. I stopped breathing momentarily. His pants were translucent because they were white and wet and I could see the size and shape of him beneath them, as well as the dark hair there...
"What I said before was the truth. You are your own woman, to make your own decisions...and to be with who you wish." He cleared his throat and I raised my gaze to his eyes, embarrassed at being caught looking. "I cannot help that I know what you are thinking. Even now."
I felt my face grow warm, something I hadn't been able to do as a Vampire was to blush...and sweat. Despite the cold wet clothing I had beads of sweat forming on my forehead.
"I'll tell you a secret. It works both ways. I know what's in your mind just as you can know what's in mine."
I tried looking into his mind, and I caught a glimpse of him lying on that very same floor with me riding him. My eyes blinked and the image disappeared. A spasm of pleasure began at the core of me and spiraled out until it curled, and nestled in my belly. My limbs felt weak with yearning.
Alexis came up on his knees again. I didn't so much as take a step back. He buried his face into my belly and I could hardly breath. His hands slid up the back of my thighs where they rested against my buttocks. Gently he pulled me closer to him. I felt his tongue again, this time circling my belly button. My stomach quivered wherever he made contact.
Alexis' hands gripped the waist band of my pants and he dragged them down past the round of my buttocks. When he began kissing my hair at the place where my legs met, I couldn't stop myself from placing my hands on his head and holding him there.
He pushed the pants all the way down so that I could step out of them. When I raised the last leg to kick out of them Alexis smoothly positioned his shoulder beneath my thigh so that my leg was thrown over his shoulder. I tightened my hold on his head quickly fearing that I would lose my balance, but he held me tight. His face nestled the mound of hair between my legs and I felt his tongue slipping between the folds of my quivering flesh.
I threw my head back and groaned. Alexis' tongue rolled and probed and I started shaking so bad that I could no longer support myself on that one leg. He stood up dropping my leg and sliding up my body trailing kissed upward until he reached my neck.
Neither of us had dropped teeth... I had become so accustomed to linking my desires; sex with feeding. It was strange not to want to eat him.
I felt his hands push down the material of my top until it was like a band around my middle. His mouth covered my breast and I heard him groan low in his throat. It sent additional shivers up and down my spine. I urged him up until I could lay my mouth onto his. I kissed him so forcefully that he went back a step, but I was there to follow him.
Our mouths opened simultaneously and our tongues rolled each other. He gripped me and pushed himself against me. He was so hard that he slipped between my legs even though he was still wearing pants. I cried out and squirmed out of his grasp to sink to my knees in front of him. I looked up at him as I dragg
ed his damp pants down. He was breathing so hard...It was his turn to cry out when I kissed the tip of his erection. I watched his stomach quiver as I ran my tongue around it. And I slipped the length of him into my mouth and he called out in a strange language. His hands were in my hair, cradling my face with his palms. I suckled and pulled him as deep as I could into my mouth while he gasped and moaned above me.
He pulled me away suddenly. "No! I want to be inside of you..." His voice was husky and low. Alexis pulled me down to the floor. I recalled the image in his head and I forced him onto his back.
His mouth was opened as he watched me mount him. When I allowed the tip of him to enter me he cried out in that strange language again. I was so wet that I made the mistake of allowing him to enter me too quickly and it hurt when he was fully inside me. Pain? I was wet with my own juices and his hardness caused me pain...not like a Vampire experiences as neither of us were Vampires here.
