In Her Arms

by Gayle Keo

  Ellen just rolled her eyes with a smile. “Well, if you insist.”

  With that, Ellen grabbed my belt loops and pulled me to her, pressing her lips against mine harshly, far different from any other time we’d been together. Kyle walked up behind me and pressed his fangs to my neck, softly breaking the skin and sucking just a couple drops from my veins. I moaned into my kiss with Ellen before pulling back to lift my shirt over my head. Kyle was quick to undo my bra from behind me, dropping it to the floor and reaching around me to lift Ellen’s shirt.

  She quickly swatted his hands away. “Hands off this one, kid,” she joked, though part of her was serious.

  Kyle held his hands up in mock surrender and laughed lightly, just to set his hands on my hips instead. I moaned out again when he slipped his hands under the waistband of my jeans and moved one under my panties as well. Even though I loved the way he touched me, Ellen knew exactly what a girl needed. I gently pushed his hands away and moved them up to my chest, pulling Ellen towards me once she had her own shirt and bra off.

  She didn’t even need my guidance. She unbuttoned my jeans and pushed them to the ground, leaving me in just my panties. Kyle’s mouth was on my neck again, this time with no fangs. Ellen’s hand slid under my panties and barely brushed against my clit, sending a chill down my spine. Her fingers grazed along my entrance a couple times before she slowly pushed two digits into me, her eyes watching my reaction the entire time.

  I knew biting my lip drove both of them crazy, so I tugged my bottom lip between my teeth and let out a quiet groan. Kyle hummed behind me and pressed his front to me, letting me feel his hardened member through his jeans. My head fell back against his shoulder and I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

  “Take it off,” I demanded, my voice betraying me with a slight falter in my words.

  He obliged, pulling away from me to bring his shirt over his head and drop his jeans, leaving both of us in just our underwear while Ellen still had her pants on as well. I reached forward for her and pushed her jeans and panties down her legs so I could mirror her, bringing my hand between her legs to feel her slick entrance. I stepped forward so our bodies were touching and pressed my lips to hers while Kyle sat on the bed, watching both of us while he slowly stroked himself at the sight.

  I slipped two fingers into Ellen and felt her quietly moan against my lips at the mild relief of built-up tension. Before either of us got too far gone, I pulled back from her and slid my panties down my legs before climbing onto the bed with Kyle.

  “How do you want to do this?” Ellen asked, kneeling behind me on the mattress and running her hands down the front of my body, her lips gently pressing on my neck.

  “Kyle, stand up,” I demanded. “Ellen, you’re going to ride my face.” She groaned against the skin of my neck and bit into me, taking a minute to feed herself as my body experienced the same euphoria that came every time either one drank from me. It felt like a shock was running through my body the entire time and I found it hard to focus until she pulled off of me, softly licking the two puncture marks to help them heal.

  Kyle stood at the end of the bed while I maneuvered to lie on the bed. He gripped my hips and pulled me closer to him, Ellen positioning herself above me. She lowered herself on my face, letting me hold onto her thighs with my hands to hold her still. I had barely lapped at her clit when Kyle pushed himself into me, making me moan out against Ellen’s wet heat.

  I had never done anything like this before, so trying to concentrate on making Ellen feel good was hard with Kyle’s hips slapping against my own. His hands roamed from holding my hips up my torso to gently knead my breasts. I couldn’t help but dig my nails into Ellen’s thighs, but when she started grinding her core on my mouth, I could tell she enjoyed it. I moved from pushing the tip of my tongue into her to sucking gently on her clit until her body quivered above me, her body slumping forward as she let out a loud moan.

  She reluctantly pulled off of me but instead of simply lying on the bed, she chose to kneel next to Kyle, her hand reaching to where he and I met as she rubbed quick circles on my clit. The snap of Kyle’s hips pressing against mine and filling the room with the sounds of skin on skin pushed me closer to the edge, especially with Ellen jumping in to help.

  “Oh, fuck,” I moaned, letting my head fall back against the bed. My hands were gripping the sheets below me until I finally found my release, a loud moan of Kyle’s name leaving my lips. As my heat pulsed around him, he reached his own peak and slumped over me slightly as his rhythm faltered until he stilled inside of me. Ellen leaned back on the bed, letting out a sigh at finally being able to fully relax.

  I followed suit and flopped down beside her, letting out a content hum at everything that just happened. Kyle didn’t have much room left on his queen-sized bed because, as Ellen pointed out so kindly, “You’ve got two queens already lying down. You’re not needed anymore.” All of us laughed at her comment and, just to prove her wrong, Kyle practically wrapped himself around me and closed his eyes as we all tried to drift off to sleep.

  *****

  After nearly six months of dating, I couldn’t have found myself in a happier state of mind. Maybe my body started sending more endorphins every time I let my boyfriend and girlfriend drink from me, but every night I spent with them, I found myself falling more and more in love with each of them. To make things even better, I couldn’t determine who I liked more – I assumed that meant I didn’t have a preference, thankfully.

  I had sets of clothes at each of their homes for when I would stay overnight, but we still spent most of our time at Kyle’s. His place was a pretty even distance between my place, Ellen’s, and the college he worked at, so it just seemed convenient. Plus, we didn’t have to worry about my nosy neighbors trying to figure out why I always had a man and woman come over late at night and leave early in the morning, yet neither one ever seemed upset as if I were cheating.

  Polyamory wouldn’t float well with the seventy-year-old next door.

  While I loved the feeling of Ellen and Kyle drinking from me, I always found myself wondering what would happen to me. As vampires, they wouldn’t age; as a human, I would. Would they just stay with me and watch me die? Were we supposed to continue on knowing someday I would be leaving them?

  The first weekend of summer break – for the other two, at least – Ellen and I stopped at Kyle’s with enough clothes and supplies to last a week. With the other two on new schedules, I didn’t plan on letting either of them leave bed for a while.

  But the minute I stepped through the door, I felt a wave of déjà vu wash over me. Kyle opened the door before I knocked and led me inside. Ellen was already sitting on the couch in the living room and I knew something was going to happen. My first instinct was that it would be something bad, but neither one seemed concerned or scared. They just seemed nervous. But seeing them so nervous made me feel nervous too, except with me, they could hear my heart beat change.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, slowly sitting in my usual spot on the couch, Ellen to my right and Kyle to my left.

  “We have a question for you,” Kyle said, rubbing his hands together to calm his nerves. “It’s kind of a big deal though so we don’t expect you to answer right away.”

  I just nodded for him to continue. When he stumbled over his words and couldn’t find a way to speak, Ellen stepped in, like usual.

  “We’ve all been together for about half a year,” she started. “We’ve all said ‘I love you’ at least once a day and I know, at least for me, I love spending time with both of you.” I nodded in agreement as Ellen took a deep breath. “We’re going to have to move soon. People are going to notice we’re not getting older so we need to find somewhere new to start over. It’s always like this. We can’t stay somewhere more than twenty years, max.”

  “What does that mean for me?” I asked. I already had an idea where this was going and I hoped the change of pace from my heart wouldn’t give it away.

&nb
sp; “We wanted to know…if you’d want to become one of us,” Kyle said tentatively.

  “One of us, meaning…a vampire?” I clarified. Both he and Ellen just nodded. I didn’t even have to think. I’d already spent night after night wondering what it would be like to spend eternity with the two people I loved the most in the world.

  “Yes.” They looked at me with wide eyes before quickly switching to concern.

  “Hannah, you can take your time with this,” Ellen assured me.

  “I know, but I’ve already thought about it. I want to. I can’t bear the thought of letting you two watch me age and die before your eyes. I want to. I promise.”

  Kyle and Ellen exchanged glances before finally looking back at me.

  “Are you sure you don’t want more time to think it over?” Kyle asked.

  “Kyle, babe, I’m sure. What do I have to do?”

  He cleared his throat and brought his wrist up, biting a wound on his own skin. “You have to drink vampire blood and then die with the blood in your system. So, if you’re sure about this…” he trailed off, holding his wrist out to me.

  I looked at it in disgust for just a second. The thought of surviving on blood only bothered me because I was human. It didn’t bother me when they drank from me, so I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to get used to it. With a deep breath, I looked back to Ellen and then up into Kyle’s brown eyes – the same shade as when he first approached me in my shop – and grabbed his wrist, bringing it to my mouth and sucking lightly.

  I wanted to back away the second his blood touched my lips. It tasted awful, but I knew it was a small price to pay. After a few seconds, I pulled away from Kyle’s wrist and wiped at my mouth in case any blood escaped – like it frequently did with the other two. The amount of times they’ve almost walked in public with my blood on their lips…

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “You have to die,” Ellen said. The word ‘die’ shocked me a bit, but it made sense. Maybe I was being reckless. At that point, I could not care less. I simply nodded at them, leaning in to kiss Ellen before reaching over and kissing Kyle. Right as I pulled back, Ellen placed her hands on both sides of my face, giving me a small smile before twisting both hands.

  And everything went black.

  *****

  Once I came to, Kyle and Ellen fed me a little bit of blood from one of their blood bags and the next morning, we took off for Chicago. One thing they learned is that it’s easier to spend a long time in a city where you never see the same person twice.

  “We both loved Chicago eighty years ago,” Kyle said.

  We settled into a small apartment near downtown. In a city that size, no one would be able to judge the three of us for being together. Everyone had demons in their minds and skeletons in their closets; it would be hypocritical to judge us for making different decisions.

  It was easier for Ellen to find blood bags for us, and with all of us sharing one apartment, we didn’t have to worry about a walk of shame in the mornings, unless we counted walking from one bedroom to another.

  Even though I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay in Chicago forever, it was a good start. A start to the beginning of the rest of my life.

  THE END

  Another bonus story is on the next page.

  Bonus Story 24 of 36

  Shifters Mountain

  I checked the carabiner’s snap gate for the fifth time before I admitted I was procrastinating—and scared.

  “If you’re not going to do this, why bother flying out here at all?” I muttered. “You could have stayed at home, walked the dog, or played tennis, anything but risking your life on a snow-covered mountain.” Light snow drifted down from above, kicked down by my impatient climbing buddy.

  “Hey, April!” he called, “you asleep down there?”

  “Coming, Sonny,” I shouted back. “Dammit…” I muttered. I hated people seeing my fear and I was determined to move on up to reach the summit before noon tomorrow. If we didn’t, it was likely we’d be called off the mountain. Rising temperatures made for hazardous climbing and the PGHM, the mountain police, were considering closing the Gouter Route if the day grew any warmer.

  “April!”

  “Coming!” I snapped. I glanced down the Grand Couloir, immediately wished I hadn’t, and then turned my attention to the remainder of the climb. Two of our party had already reached the ridge, the Refuge du Gouter, and were monitoring the rising temperature. If I held them up any longer, I’d be responsible for wasting everyone’s week. Drinking beer in Chamonix was a poor substitute for gazing out from the summit of Mont Blanc.

  And so, I committed myself, swinging out from the laughably small ledge I’d found, and digging in my toes as I pushed upward.

  It was terrifying, but also the biggest thrill of my life. Office work was a way to bring in the beans. This was living, and nothing compared, or would ever compare to this: the soul-chilling confrontation of nature at her most unforgiving. Knowing that a single mistake or a moment’s lack of concentration could end my life was the most sobering thing I had ever felt. People called me crazy for risking my life, but doing exactly that was what made me who I was. If I wasn’t in danger, what was the point of being alive?

  I focused on the task at hand, and, with shouts of encouragement from my buddies, I made good time, almost making up for my poor showing earlier.

  Within two hours, we were heading along the Refuge du Gouter, enjoying the sunshine but worrying about what the warmth might do to the stability of the packed snow beneath our feet.

  “It’s enough to make you wish for a snowstorm,” Sonny called back to me.

  “That might make things worse,” I shouted back.

  “And we’d lose the scenery.”

  “Will you guys can it?” Ray called from behind me. “The last thing we need is an avalanche.”

  “Avalanches don’t—” I began, but Sonny had stopped.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. Hey!” he called to the team ahead. They stopped and turned, raising their arms to ask why he’d called a halt.

  “Everything okay?” Ray asked.

  “I don’t know… Something feels…” he shifted his feet, testing the snow for something. I waited patiently, trusting Sonny, who had ten years’ more experience than me.

  It didn’t help him much. The entire snowfield, from a kilometre ahead to the edge of the ridge, was shifting. The snow vibrated beneath my feet—exactly what Sonny had feared and had been feeling for. All five of us toppled as the snowfield picked up speed, carrying us along with it. The PGHM had been correct in its assumptions. The mountain was unstable, and now we were caught up in the shift.

  I cried out as the flat snow started to break up into jagged sheets, the leading edges rising above the sheets below them. Five feet ahead, a wall of white rose into the air, towering over me. If it broke up, or slid over the top of the sheet I was clinging to…

  I could only pray that it didn’t.

  The ice slammed against my body as it slithered down the mountain, gaining speed rapidly. I was riding ten tons of rapidly crumbling bobsled, with no control, and no idea which way I was headed. The sheer drop of the Grand Couloir wasn’t far away, behind me and off to my right. I’d never survive the drop.

  Something smashed into the floe I was riding, and I was spun to the right, to face the steep drop, exactly as I’d feared. Within seconds, I was going to be plunged over the edge. The fall would no doubt kill me, and the hundred tons of snow that followed would ensure I wouldn’t be found until September. I was ten feet from the edge of the speeding floe. I could either take my chances with the avalanche or face the thousand-foot drop plus the avalanche that would land on my head.

  It was a no-brainer. As quickly as my numbed fingers and spiked boots would allow, I crawled to the edge of the ice, glanced once at the tons of snow thundering down after me, and then threw myself into its path, hoping for a miracle.

  Five secon
ds later, my makeshift bobsled vanished over the edge of the Refuge du Gouter and I was engulfed, sent tumbling into a crushing nightmare of dazzling whiteness.

  ~

  “Faites atention…” a man said in a soft voice.

  “Ow…” I managed. Every joint and muscle burned or stabbed me with white-hot needles. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why had I tried to move? Groaning, I laid back down and concentrated on breathing until the worst of the pain began to fade.

  “Vous avez ete blesse.”

  “What…what…” My foggy brain couldn’t translate his French. “I don’t understand. Ah… Je ne comprends pas?”

  He switched to English, with a soft accent. “Don’t try to talk. You’ve been through…ah…traumatise…You will need time to recover.” When I’d tried to move, my leg had hurt terribly. Hot waves of pain washed up my thigh, and I squirmed as my skin burned.

  “I don’t…hey, that hurt!”

  “I apologize.” He withdrew the needle from my bare shoulder, then laid the syringe in a stainless steel dish. But if I’d entertained any thought of being in a hospital, I was sorely mistaken. Yes, the bed in which I lay was steel-framed, and was raised to support my back, but that was where any similarity ended. The room was small, and dimly lit. The walls were of typical Alpine chalet construction, thick horizontal planks of varnished wood. All of which made the needle-jabbing more alarming. Why was I in a strange bed, being attended to by a man I’d never seen before?

  And why was I naked?

  “My clothes!” I snapped. “Where are they?”

  He smiled tolerantly. “Your ski suit was destroyed by the fall. The blood soaked everything below the waist, and the bone break tore through your thermal underwear.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry. But I have your shirt, and your brassiere.”

  “Where?” I suddenly felt chilled without my clothes. Yes, I was in a warm bed, but I felt vulnerable, and trapped. Without clothes, I had no way to escape this stranger.