by K D Grace
Then he rolled with me, pinning me beneath his massive body. For the first time I realized just how powerful he was, just how much control he had exerted in our lovemaking before I became a vampire to keep from hurting me, or even killing me.
As though that blood connection had somehow made him aware of my thoughts, he bent and nipped my own wound, licking it hard enough to make me squirm with transferred pleasure while he never lost the rhythm, the subtle increase of speed as we drew near our release. “You can’t hurt me, Susan, I promise. At least not physically.”
He lowered his mouth, and took my nipples in turn, cupping and caressing my fullness with both gentleness and strength. I held onto his arse, feeling the tensing and relaxing of fit, firm buttocks with each thrust. I couldn’t help it. I was unable to resist biting his neck—just a little nip—taking just a sip, intuiting what my feeding on him did to him, as he pressed deeper inside me and the rhythm became frantic, wild with power, filled with a hunger that had nothing to do with physical nourishment. I dug my nails into his back and bit harder and he grunted with some mix of pain and lust.
“Oh dear God, Susan, I never want it to end, but I can’t hold back much longer.” His breath was warm and humid against my ear. “I want to know what it feels like to come while I feed you, to know that you possess me as completely as I possess you.”
Words—sometimes words are as powerful as touch; sometimes words are the tipping point, and they were this time. They were enough to send us both over the edge, growling and grasping and trembling, as though we would shake each other apart or dissolve completely into each other. Perhaps we did both. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I was completely unaware of where my body ended and Michael’s began. He was still hard and I was still fully impaled and happy to remain that way.
He rolled to one side so that his weight wasn’t completely on top of me and fumbled behind him for the duvet from the overturned bed. He offered me a wicked smile as he pulled it free. “Does this make me your familiar?”
“Don’t know,” I replied, hooking my leg around him, making sure he wasn’t going anywhere. “I haven’t had that lesson yet.”
“Not sure how I could get much more familiar,” he said, giving my breast an enthusiastic knead.
“Me neither, but why don’t we give it our best try, just to be sure you’re familiar enough.”
He had just taken me in a kiss that promised to lead to far more serious things when there was a knock on the door. Michael barely got the duvet pulled over us before Talia shoved her way in, ignoring his curse and my little yelp.
“Oh good! You haven’t killed him,” she said with a sunny smile. “I brought food.”
She sat a large covered tray on the one sailor’s trunk that hadn’t been turned over with the bed and gave the room, and then us, a knowing once over. “Alonso figured you’d need it, Michael, if your little scribe hadn’t drained you completely dry. And he asks that I remind you not to linger too much longer before you head for the basement. Dawn will be coming soon.” Then she left, chuckling under her breath.
“That woman’s a pain in the arse,” Michael said, taking the cover from the tray and biting the end off a freshly baked baguette.
“She’s a good kisser, though. I’m just saying,” I added, as he gave me the evil eye and shoved half the baguette into his mouth.
“So’s Cook,” he spoke around his efforts to chew. “But that doesn’t mean I want you kissing him.”
“You’ve kissed Cook?” I scooted closer and lifted the lid off a steaming bowl of lamb stew, taking note that even though I used to love lamb stew, it was now like thinking of eating cardboard soaked in water.
He shrugged. “We were both drunk at the time, and he had made a fabulous Beef Wellington for dinner that night. Worthy of at least a good kiss.”
Once Michael had devoured everything on the tray, he ate me for dessert and then I returned the favor. At some point we’d managed to right the mattress, and tangle ourselves in the remaining bedding, but we didn’t quite manage the rest of the bed before Michael took me from behind, me on my knees, hair fisted in his hand like I was the horse and he was reining me under control. It’s quite possible that’s exactly what he was trying to do. It didn’t work. The control part, I mean.
“You kept your strength from me,” I said, when at last we collapsed on the mattress and he pulled me into a spoon position.
“I had no reason to tell you,” he replied. “I’ve kept my strength from everyone except Magda. I had to in order to interact safely with humans. You’re all so fragile. Well, you were.” He bit the side of my neck playfully. “Nice to be able to play rough, and even nicer not to have to wait for you to recover.” He stood and offered me his hand. “Come on, let’s get down to the basement and then we’ll pick up where we left off.” He gave his still erect penis a stroke with the other fist to demonstrate.
I gave him a tug and off-balanced him back onto the mattress. “I can’t possibly leave without just one more little taste, and maybe one more little fuck. We have time. Besides, the shutters are drawn tight and we’re down behind the bed frame. Alonso’s just being a worrywart. We’ll be fine.”
Before he could protest, I straddled him and guided him up inside me. As he began to thrust and grind beneath me, I opened my vein for him to feed.
A long time later we fell against each other in an awkward twin orgasm that had us half off the mattress onto the stone floor before we collapsed.
“Okay,” he mumbled in an intoxicated slur. “It’s off to the basement for you, young lady.” Then he was out cold, with me not far behind him.
Dreams of the fells sparkling in the summer sun roused me, drenched in sweat and half smothered beneath the body of a sleeping angel. My angel, I reminded myself, as the delicious memories of last night came rushing back to me, along with the mouthwatering scent of our lovemaking and our blood.
I stretched, then shoved my way out from under Michael, who mumbled something incomprehensible from his own dream world and gave my nearest breast an unconscious grope before I leaned in and kissed him. He aimed a half-conscious smacking of lips in my general direction.
“It’s sweltering in here,” I said, noting the sheen of perspiration on his brow. “No wonder I was dreaming of the fells in summer. We need some air.”
“Susan? Susan, don’t!”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going far,” I called over my shoulder, as I threw open the shutter and flung the windows wide, taking in a breath of fresh fell air I didn’t really need, lifting my face to the cool breeze.
As the sunlight struck me full on, a voice inside me all but erupted like the press of my heart against my chest, and something not unlike static electricity prickled over my skin. I gasped for breath, for strength, for context, as the voice filled every cell of my body.
“I may well be your prisoner, little scribe, but I will not be kept in darkness.”
What happened next was over almost before it started. Michael exploded from the bed, roaring like a wounded lion. The next thing I knew, my world went dark, suffocatingly tight, and a heavy weight drove me to the floor with the force of a lorry.
Chapter Thirty-six
“What the hell are you doing?” We both yelled at the same time.
“Are you crazy? Get off me!”
To which he responded, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
In spite of my efforts to buck him off, he held me tightly beneath his body, smothered head to toe in the duvet.
“What’s going on? You two are supposed to be in the basement!” I heard the door crash against the back wall as it flew open and Reese burst in with Talia right on his heels, both talking at the same time.
Then I was airborne, hefted over Michael’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, with Talia shouting, “Get her out of here! Get her out of here! Get her down to the basement, goddamn it! What the hell were you thinking?”
“I woke up and she was opening th
e shutters, standing right there in the sunlight. I’m serious.” Michael gave the door an angry kick shut that rattled my teeth.
“What the hell do you mean, she was standing in the sunlight?” Reese was saying. “She can’t stand in the sunlight. She’s a fucking vampire.”
“Put me down, damn it! Michael, put me down.” No matter how much I shouted and wriggled, they all ignored me.
“I swear it’s the truth,” Michael said.
“Put her down.” There was sudden silence in response to Magda’s voice that rose above the din. I found myself unceremoniously deposited on the hard stone floor, wriggling frantically to get out from under the duvet. When I popped my head out, remembering I was naked and quickly snatching the fabric to my breasts, I found myself in the heavy stone corridor, the only light being from the electric sconces on the walls. I was surrounded by Reese, Talia, Magda and a very naked Michael, who knelt next to me and grabbed my face in his hand, turning it from side to side before I slapped him away.
“What the hell?” I said in response to all eyes on me.
“You were standing in the sunlight,” Michael responded. His voice trembled slightly and he swallowed hard. For the first time, I realized how frightened he was. Then it all came rushing back to me, and I felt faint.
“It was Him,” I managed, my own voice none too steady. “It was the Guardian.”
Suddenly everyone was silent and the air around me smelled of nervous adrenaline and more than a little bit of fear. “I was dreaming of sunlight, and when I woke up the room was hot. I didn’t even think when I opened the shutters, not until he said that while he might be my prisoner, he refused to live in darkness.”
No one was willing to take my word for my immunity to sunlight, so Talia brought our clothes out of the room for us—Michael not being willing to leave my side—and once we were dressed we all traipsed to the basement, where Alonso paced his study like a big cat in a cage. When he saw me, he pulled me into his arms, and both Michael and Reese bristled. Ignoring them completely, he stepped away just enough to take my face in his hand, turning it from side to side. “No damage?”
I shook my head, or at least tried to, but he held me firmly.
“You didn’t feel anything at all? No burning, no rash, no unusual heat?”
“I only felt what I would have felt before you changed me—the warmth of the sun on my face. Honestly, I didn’t even think about what I was doing until I heard the Guardian’s voice in my head and felt Him move inside me as though He were trying to get comfortable.”
“And you think this was his doing?” Alonso asked.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, darling girl.” The Guardian spoke inside my head, mocking Alonso. “Who else does he think it could possibly be? Are all vampires so dense?”
“It’s Him. I’m certain,” I said, gladly taking the chair that Magda pushed under my arse just in time.
“What did you do?” I asked the Guardian. “How did you protect me from the sun?”
Everyone leaned close, as though they expected a Regan moment straight from The Exorcist.
“First of all, you don’t have to speak out loud for me to hear you. I’m inside you, remember? Secondly, I’m indestructible, as far as I know. Therefore, it only makes sense that my prison is protected by my presence.” He chuckled softly. “Believe me, my dear little scribe, the irony of that is not lost on me.”
“Is He talking to you? What the hell is He saying?” Michael said.
I opened my mouth to respond, and in my head, I heard—almost felt—the clearing of the Guardian’s throat. “If you’ll allow it, little one, I can use your voice and save the tedious translation.” Sensing of my reluctance, he gave a little huff of indignation. “I am your prisoner, Susan, not the other way around. I can do nothing without your permission other than protect you, for to protect you is to protect myself. You may banish me to the silent depths of your unconscious mind for all of eternity and there I would be forced to remain, for you control the vessel that is my prison. You may silence me or seek me out at your will, but I would advise seeking me often and silencing me seldom, for I promise you that with the plans that bitch of a Gorgon has in mind for you, you may well find my help most useful indeed.”
With a feeling that I was somehow mentally laying a hand on the Guardian’s shoulder just to silence him for a second, I spoke to those around me. “He’ll use my voice, and He’ll answer any questions you ask.” The second part was a definite command, and I had a sense that, though He bristled slightly, the Guardian took me at my word.
“How do we know He’s telling the truth?” Michael asked.
“Oh my darling angel, it cuts me to the quick that you could doubt my veracity when I have pleasured your body and seen your innermost workings.”
Michael jumped back at the sound of my voice, only slightly changed, and yet unmistakably not mine. He nearly fell over Talia who, for once, wasn’t seeing the humor in the situation as she placed a hand on his arm to steady him.
The Guardian smiled at the incident, a smile that no one but I could see, a smile that told me well he would make the best of his situation if I allowed it. When I gave him a silent warning, he offered the equivalent of a shrug, and then he continued, “I swear to you, I can tell no lies before my jailor. For you see, in truth I have at last achieved what I most longed for; flesh to house my intellect, my desires. A body to give me boundaries through which I may experience the world. Granted, I did not expect that when I found a worthy vessel it would belong to a vampire, but then one must be careful what one wishes for, mustn’t one?”
“What do you want?” Alonso asked.
“What I want is to be free. But as far as prisons go, this one is far better than the last, and I think the scribe shall find me a model prisoner.”
“Can you harm her in any way?” Michael asked, then quickly added, “Can you harm anyone?”
“I can do nothing of my own accord, and I assure you I am completely at the mercy of my jailor and the vessel in which I now reside. I can neither possess her nor use her in any way, though I am at her beck and call, and she may use me as she sees fit.”
“So we’re supposed to believe that you’ll completely bend to Susan’s will in every way?” Magda asked.
A chuckle escaped my lips, and I felt almost like I’d suddenly belched rudely in public, to have laughed at Magda Gardener. “My options are to do absolutely nothing, to basically not interact at all with my jailor and the outside world she commands through the body which she inhabits, or to do as she asks and play as much of an active role in her existence as she will allow. I would think that would please you greatly, Gorgon, knowing your plans for her.”
“You don’t know my plans for her,” Magda answered calmly, as though they were chatting over coffee.
“I can refuse to aid her, it is true. I am her prisoner, not her slave. But it would benefit me little to sulk when I was beaten fair and square by minds far less capable than my own.”
“Then the conditions of your imprisonment are mine to establish,” I said.
Fuck! It was like talking to myself. “Of course,” came the reply. “I would imagine we shall both take some getting used to, and you most certainly will be very preoccupied while your vampire teaches you how to exist as you now are.”
“Why didn’t we hear from you sooner? Why were you quiet?” Michael asked.
“I was, I suppose you could say, sulking. Also, I had neither been summoned, nor was there any need for me to interact until an explanation became necessary for our little vampire’s astonishing tolerance for sunlight.”
Just then Cook arrived, pushing a trolley laden with breakfast treats.
Without thinking, I tore into a fresh croissant and had it half devoured before I realized everyone was staring at me. My response was his, over a shower of crumbs. “Oh, of course she can eat food! She can eat it, and it will not harm her. She may even enjoy it if she chooses. How else shall she be able to interact bel
ievably with mortals? That is what you need, isn’t it, Gorgon?” Magda bristled, but before she could respond, he continued, “However, the food she eats will not nourish her. Nourishment, she can only get from blood. But since I am here for the long term, I would prefer to enjoy the taste of something other than… body fluids.”
“So she has the best of both worlds then?” Talia asked.
“She has the body of a vampire, with all that entails. She has the enhancements that one such as myself can give her—an attempt to decorate my cell, to make myself more comfortable, if you will. And, of course, she still retains her own creative powers as a scribe. Goodness me, our little Susan is very nearly the perfect being.”
Both Michael and Alonso growled, and this time there was an internal clicking of the tongue. “They are a possessive pair, your men, are they not, scribe?”
That was for my ears only and I responded with an internal, “You have no idea!”
“I shall leave you all to your breakfast,” He said, once again using my voice. “Susan has only to summon me.”
“And will you be eavesdropping?” Michael asked.
“My dear angel, I am where I am. As I have said, we will all have to get used to each other. Before you growl at me, I would remind you that this was the scribe’s choice, her plan, and in all things there are consequences. She knew that and willingly took the risk. That being said, may I also remind you that you live and breathe because of her choice?”
And just like that, He was gone. I had the feeling one has when one wakes up with a jerk in the middle of a dream of falling. For an instant everything went slightly out of focus. When it came back, all eyes were still on me, and both Michael and Alonso were kneeling in front of me.
“Is this what you were expecting to happen, Susan?” Alonso’s voice was now inside my head.
“I don’t know what I expected,” I replied.
“Speak out loud so we can all hear, vampire, or shut the fuck up,” Michael said. When Alonso looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he shrugged. “You’re not the only one connected to her.” He gently laid his hand above my left breast where, not only had he fed from me, but his mark thrummed stronger than ever against my heart, and I knew my mark on his chest did the same.
