Shades of Pink

by 33 authors

  “Enough,” he said.

  But I want more, she thought and pulled another mouthful of the thick elixir into her mouth. A heavy, sour tang hit her tongue. She wrinkled her nose and let go. It was as if she suddenly drank foul water with a hint of the grave.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, “I’m not sure I could have stopped.”

  He kissed her forehead. “The sun’s coming up in a few minutes. You need your beauty rest,” he said. Snapping his fingers toward the bottom of the bed, another quilt inched its way up over them. Another snap at the curtains drew them closed for the day.

  “How did you do that? I thought male witches couldn’t call their magic like that,” she wondered aloud.

  “Mom and my sisters enchanted everything in here to answer to me. The spells recognize my magical influence and respond. It’s a neat trick,” he explained.

  “Was this a trick? The magic between us, I mean,” she asked.

  “No. We’re both supernatural creatures born to a magical world. Everything we felt was real,” he replied. “Get some sleep.” He held her close.

  As the sun came up, she felt her powers slip away and became too tired to fight the effects. She drifted off to sleep in his arms.

  * * *

  Mills slipped quietly out of bed. He needed to go to work. It was a wrench to his heart to leave Liz asleep and naked in his bed. He watched her as he dressed in the standard-issue black polo shirt and khaki pants the security office had adopted.

  The way the quilt draped over her rounded body seemed right. Strands of auburn hair trailed across the white pillow case from her messed up braid. One breast slipped out from under the quilt as she rolled over.

  Her nipple looked inviting. He wanted to pull it into his mouth and suck it until it turned a deep red, to feel her naked body against him. The temptation to lay in bed with her, coated in their sweat and juices, drew him a step closer to the bed. “Damn,” he whispered as his dick stiffened. He needed to leave. Now.

  He skipped breakfast and went straight to the office.

  Sitting at his desk, his mother waited until he closed the door to speak. “Have you lost your mind?” She tucked a wayward strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear. She stood up. Her pale pink and light green gossamer robes flowed around her. The silver corded belt dangled with a sun on one tip and a moon on the other.

  “Don’t. Just don’t. I can’t help what I feel, what I’ve felt since she came back through that damn portal covered in blood and magic,” he said. He knew she was right to admonish him, but he really did not want to hear it this morning.

  “Vlad has been looking for her all night. The least you could have done was to send a crow with a message to let me know you made it home alive,” she said with an edge of anger in her voice.

  “Sorry, Mom. As you can see, I got away from the bad guys in one piece. Her Highness is doing fine, and is safely sleeping the day away at my cabin. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get some work done today. I told you we shouldn’t have scheduled any events outside of the compound, no matter whether human politicians wanted to attend or not,” he said dismissively. He hated to put her off like this, but he knew if he let her stay, there would be no peace.

  “I see. Let’s put it this way. If you think you can get a ready-made family, you have another thing coming. For your own good, let the magic go and find a nice, single witch without any strings attached,” she advised him. She walked around the desk, making a motion at the door with her hand to open it, and walked through. It slammed hard enough behind her to break the glass. Before he could pick up the phone to call maintenance, the glass flew back up into the frame and mended itself.

  “Show off,” he muttered. He knew she meant well. Her worry for him held a tangible edge, but he felt deep down that Liz meant more to him than sex magic. His mother misjudged the situation.

  By lunch, the paperwork filling his in-box found its way to the out-box. Several phone messages still needed answering. He put those off, not wanting to talk to anybody.

  At an hour before sundown, he left work and made his way home. In the trees surrounding the cabin, a murder of crows stood guard. They cawed and croaked among themselves as he entered his home.

  Pots and pans rattled in the kitchen. He knew Liz would be in bed until sundown. Someone uninvited invaded his space.

  He carefully drew the .45 from his shoulder holster. Slinking silently along the wall, he eased his way to the kitchen doorway. He took a steadying breath and rounded the corner, gun extended, yelling, “Don’t move! Hands in the air!”

  A young woman screamed and dropped the sauce pan she was holding. A dark red sauce splattered the floor and her lavender and baby pink silk dress. “Mills, you idiot, put that gun down,” she said, anger and fear threading through her voice.

  “Sorry, Rebecca, I didn’t know you were here,” he apologized, feeling a bit guilty for having pulled a gun on his youngest sister.

  “Mom told me to make dinner for the princess. She had doubts you would know what to do to keep the blood from congealing. From the look of your neck, I can guess who the pre-dawn snack was,” she pointed out. She held her hand over the sauce pot. It leapt into her hand. She twirled a finger over the spilled contents. They flew through the air and returned to the pot. She gave the pot a disgusted look and declared, “It’s ruined.” Snapping her fingers, the pot floated to the sink and began washing itself.

  “Sorry. Do I need to go get you anything?” He sat down at the small, simple kitchen table. The chair creaked.

  “No. I have enough to start again,” she said and set about making another batch. Fresh ingredients fell into a clean pot and started bubbling away. “I think you love this vampire of yours.”

  “Mom should have kept that to herself, for the time being,” Mills complained.

  Rebecca, as the baby of the family, held a special place with their mother. If anyone could get their mother to tell a secret, it was Rebecca. She also held the most sway.

  “Mom didn’t say anything, except you may need help in the kitchen. The place practically crackles with spent magic. It drew the crows. No one sent them,” she said, sniffing the bubbling pot and adding a pinch of salt.

  “Mom doesn’t want me to pursue Liz. She thinks it’s just a passing lust.”

  “I’ve never known you to give in to sex magic before. There’s bound to be more to it than lust,” she said, setting a plate on the warming rack.

  “I appreciate your confidence in my choice,” he said. Satisfaction at being validated spread through him, pushing away the tension. His mother loved him more than anyone in the world, but Rebecca seemed to understand him better.

  Taking the plate down and loading it with blood sausage, mashed potatoes with blood sauce, and a side of blood pudding, Rebecca covered the food with foil and placed it in the oven. She turned the oven on very low. She clapped twice and all the dirty kitchen ware floated to the sink to wash themselves.

  “Well, that’s done,” she said with a cheerful sigh. She sat down beside Mills. “If you say you love her, I believe you. If you say this isn’t a fling, I believe that, too. I don’t know how the High Prince will take the news, but I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks, Sis,” Mills said, giving her a peck on the cheek.

  “Alright. I have to get going. I will say this. After she’s had time to eat, you need to return her to the main house. Mom told Vlad’s daytime guards that Liz was in your safekeeping for the day and to expect her home tonight. I don’t think you want them to find her like that,” she said, hitching her thumb over her shoulder toward the bedroom.

  He just nodded in agreement and walked her to the door.

  “Goodnight, brother dear,” Rebecca said, returning the peck on his cheek and running up the path toward the main house.

  * * *

  Liz did her best to lay still and listen. Most of the conversation seemed more like a distant dream. The last part came through loud and clear.

&
nbsp; His family worried about his choice. The young woman seemed as if she was on his side but not everyone. If his mother voted against his decision, could she stop him from seeing who he wanted? The High Prince certainly could.

  A shudder ran up her spine at the thought. The High Prince had a reputation for dealing harshly with people who offended him, a reputation well-earned. The only reason Max still drew breath, instead of being impaled on a pike, was his relationship to Prince Vlad. He held the title of Crown Prince, although Liz did not know for how much longer.

  The smell of the blood-laced food made her both hungry and sick at the same time. Her fangs ran out painfully quick. A twisting in her stomach retracted them just as fast. A hard kick made her gasp. How my mother stood doing this five times, I’ll never know, she thought.

  Movement in the next room drew her attention back to Mills. Confusion and guilt set in. Last night had been wonderful. She felt beautiful in her misshapen body for the first time in months. His kisses, his every touch, felt magical. Another first in her long life, she had an orgasm during sex and not just once.

  It’s wrong to put him in this position, Liz thought. She needed time to think, and running always helped to clear her head.

  Sunset meant her vampire powers returned. She felt them filling her up as she woke. The window seemed like the only unguarded escape. With Mills in the next room, the door was not an option. If she left by the door, he would want to stop her from taking a run for sure.

  She quietly eased off the old bed, hoping the iron frame would not creak. Scooping her fluffy pink dress from off the floor, she hurried to wriggle back into it. The hard bottom of the shoes would have made a clicking noise on the floor, forcing her to go bare foot.

  Raising the sash took a fair bit of force. Years of paint and humidity stuck the moving parts together. The one-story cabin sat on a little hill, but the drop-off in the back seemed mild. However, Mills’s car sat under the window.

  Liz slipped out, gripping the clapboard-wood siding with her fingers and toes like a spider climbing a wall. She took care not to scrape her protruding belly on anything. Splinters were, after all, like tiny stakes. She knew they posed no threat to her, but she worried about the baby. Finally, she made it down the side, managing to avoid the windows.

  The dusty-purple sky of early evening gave everything a peaceful glow as night fell. The hot, moist air felt like being wrapped in a thick, steamy blanket. The soft grass under her feet whispered as she walked toward the tree line.

  She debated running along the treetops but decided against it. That required more balance than she possessed. Instead, she opted for a run through the adjacent meadow. Crows cawed and screeched when she leapt over the cabin’s split-rail fence.

  Behind her, she heard Mills calling after her, “Liz! Wait!” She refused to look back. The point to running was time alone, time to think. Waiting for him meant company.

  She entered the woods on the far side of the meadow. Jumping fallen branches and dodging low-hanging limbs, she zipped through the dark trees. Overhead, a crow flapped its wings. Nosy creatures, she thought.

  The blur of landscape flying past helped her think. Her divorce decree freed her from Max. She was free to love, or have sex with, whomever she chose. Cassy, Scion of the House of Dracul, did, title be damned. After more than a century of dealing with Max's crap, Liz felt she deserved a little happiness.

  Maybe she thought about the baby all wrong, as well. At least half of its genetic makeup belonged to her. Her body handled all the work.

  “To hell with Max. From now on, it’s mine and mine alone,” she said out loud. The affirmation gave her a sense of freedom.

  Brambles caught and tore at the fluffy, pink skirt as she made her way through the dense forest. Up ahead, the near-black woods thinned and seemed to open up to another clearing. The smell of old death caught her attention. She slowed down to a walk.

  The entire field stood full of long, wooden poles. Decaying bodies impaled on the poles filled the air with the rancid smell decomposition. Skeletons lay on the ground in rotting clothes around the base of some of the pikes.

  Nausea overtook her. Her stomach clenched, and for once, she wished she could be sick. The horror of the men’s gruesome death shocked her. She knew their punishment came from the High Prince himself.

  “Stars and night above,” she whispered. “I can’t let this happen to Mills.”

  She ran toward the road. Her intentions were to go to the main house, pack her belongings, and leave. Nothing was worth the price Mills would pay.

  Leaping over the back gate, Liz felt a thick, web-like energy coat her from head to foot. It felt just like the barrier to a portal, only this time she did not travel to another place or time. I breached the wards of the estate grounds, she thought.

  More crows cawed overhead. They watched her. Determined not to deviate from her task, she poured on the speed. Nothing and no one ran faster than a vampire.

  Moments later, something tackled her, rolling her into a briar-filled ditch. A sharp blow to the jaw made her vision lose focus for a second. Another blow landed on her cheek.

  “You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you! You and your bastard! How dare you fuck around on me?”

  She knew that voice. The sound of fangs running out terrified her. The shock subsided enough for her to put the clues together. Max.

  She took a swipe at his face, clawing his eyes.

  He screamed and rolled off of her.

  She tried to scramble away, to get back to her feet. One hand snatched her ankle, causing her fall face first and land hard. Pain shot through her with the impact. She curled up around the pain.

  “You and your whore spawn are never going to see another moonrise again,” he said and spat on her. He raised a broken tree branch up over his head, ready to ram it through her heart.

  The sound of a roaring engine raced toward them. The driver never let up off the gas as the car slammed into Max. Tires sliding on the dirt back road kicked up a lot of dust. Three gun shots rang out followed by a great deal of screaming and cursing.

  Then the world went black.

  When Liz came to, she found herself in her room at the main house. Several witches scurried around the room in white, gossamer gowns adorned with a red sash. One beamed at her and hurried to her side.

  “Your Highness is looking well,” the healer said.

  “The baby?” Liz asked. She lifted her heavy arms to feel her belly. The large bump was still there. A cotton nightdress replaced the fluffy pink she remembered.

  “The little one is just fine. You vampires are a hardy lot. You healed completely during the day,” she said, sounding very pleased.

  “Why do I feel so heavy?”

  “The sun is still up for another half-hour. It will pass,” the witch assured her.

  A warm hand took hers from the other side of the bed. Liz glanced over. Mills sat in the chair placed nearby. The women’s movement caught her attention first, but Mills must have been with her the entire time.

  She stated crying. “I’m…I’m so…sorry,” she blubbered. “I just wanted to run to clear my thoughts.”

  The healing witches quickly left, closing the door quietly behind them.

  He helped lift her from the pillow, pulling her into his lap. “You silly woman. I would have let you go for a run, and I would have told you where the warded boundaries were,” he chided her. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped her pink-tinged tears.

  “What happened to Max? Did you kill him?”

  A dark scowl crossed his face. “No. I wanted to, but no. I shot him in the knee three times with silver bullets. That held him until his father arrived with backup.”

  “Where is Father?” Liz asked. Since he technically adopted her after the divorce to keep her in the family, she felt no qualms with continuing to call him by his parental title, just as she had for more than a century.

  “He took Junior Jackass to a secure prison just for vampi
res. Anyone else would’ve been killed by now, but rank has its privileges. Until the rebellion is over, Max gets a little vacation in prison while Vlad decides what to do with him,” Mills said. His tone made it clear what he would like to see done.

  “Is Father coming back for me?” Worry filled her.

  “No. Vlad decided you were safest here within the estate’s wards. The only condition is that you never leave without permission again,” he told her.

  Liz threw her arms around him. “Thank you!”

  “Don’t thank me. My sister, Rebecca, and my mother had a lot to do with it,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, my sister felt slighted that her cooking skills went to waste. She is insisting you have dinner with her today to make up for last night.”

  “Your sister? That young woman in your house was your sister?”

  “Yes, but you’re going to be late,” Mills replied.

  “Why? Tardiness would add insult to injury,” Liz said.

  Mills gave her a wicked grin. “She’ll get over it,” he said. He slid Liz off his lap and pulled his shirt over his head. He locked the door. Kicking off his shoes, he stripped down his pants and boxers. Crawling into bed beside her, he brushed her long hair out of the way and laid down.

  Unbuttoning the old-fashioned cotton nightdress, he dropped little kisses on the exposed flesh. When he reached the bottom button just below her ribs, he opened the fabric, exposing her breasts.

  “Absolutely perfect,” he whispered, dropping a kiss on each nipple.

  Liz’s heart raced. Her fingers twisted in his hair, holding him to her. She inhaled deeply when his warm tongue laved her nipple and then drew it into his mouth.

  Sucking them, Mills teased and toyed with each nipple in turn. He sucked them until they turned a dark, rosy-pink. Hitching up her nightdress, he ran his fingertips along her damp slit.

  “Goddess bless. No panties,” he murmured.