by Tina Donahue
“What about you?”
“By tomorrow evening, the threat to you should be gone.”
“How? Why?”
“If need be, I want you to use this tomorrow night.” He lifted the instrument. Indecipherable symbols filled its small screen. “If anything happens—”
“Happens? Like what? Are there things out there that are worse than the vampires? Is that even possible? Will I have to go to another of the dimensions? What are they like? Do I have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving on those planes, realms or whatever you call them? Talk to me!”
“You’re being emotional, Regina.”
“Fucking A. I want to know what your plans are, Nikoli.”
Crossing the room to her, he took her hand, placing the device into it. She flinched at the current of energy pulsing from the thing, similar to a shock of static electricity.
“Hold it,” he ordered.
“No. I don’t want you to leave.” She sure as hell wasn’t going to let him. Her hand remained limp.
Nikoli covered her fingers with his, folding them over to grasp the instrument. “Your life depends upon what I’m about to tell you,” he warned. “If anything happens, if Andris, Sazaar or the others should find you here, use this to open a portal into my world and escape into it.”
She argued, “You said they wouldn’t find me here.”
“If all goes well.”
“With what? Tell me.”
His jaw tightened. “The less you know the better.”
“For whom?” She tried to release the instrument and pull her hand from his. He wouldn’t allow it. “How can I use something I don’t understand?” she snapped. “I can’t read the symbols on the screen.”
“I’ll tell you what to look for.”
“Why is it necessary?” she shot back. “How could the vampires find me here? You said they have no use for it. You said this place was secluded.”
“From your people who reside nearby.” His frown deepened. “Not from the vampires. Sazaar was in your presence many times. She knows your scent as Andris and his minions do not. From thousands of others, she can pick it out. Your only defense tonight is the rain. It dilutes your essence, not giving her enough time before dawn to locate you. Should she survive through the day and rise again tomorrow evening, should the rain pass, she’ll find you easily. She’ll come here, seducing you to invite her in.”
He tightened his fingers over hers, forcing Regina to hold the device. “When you want a portal to open, you run your thumb over the screen counter-clockwise. When you need the portal to close, you run your thumb clockwise. The symbols will blink when a portal’s created. They roll across the screen as the gateway comes to an end.”
Pausing to swallow, he continued, his words rushed. “I’ve adjusted the device so that a new portal will take you to where I lived with Sazaar. Do not leave the structure. Stay there, hidden from my people, until the threat from her and the others is gone over here. Then use this to return to your realm. It will take you back to the bedroom in your home.” He released her hand.
In spite of the room’s chilly temperature, sweat clung to the back of Regina’s neck. A dribble of moisture rolled down her spine. “No.” She tossed the device on the sofa and took his hand.
His fingers were as cold as hers. His expression pained.
“Don’t leave me,” Regina said.
“I have no choice.”
Of course, he did, there was always a choice and he didn’t have to make the most honorable one. Damn him. Damn his stupid emotionless race. “You’re going to wherever Andris and the others stay,” she said, then cried, “You won’t have a chance against them, Nikoli. They’ll kill you before you can do anything to them.”
“No. That won’t happen. I’ll attack their lair when they’re at their most vulnerable. What I should have done from the beginning, rather than just targeting Sazaar.”
“Are you talking about going to their lair at dawn when they hide from the sun? Or is that just a myth?”
He spoke wearily. “It’s the truth, Regina. Daybreak will weaken Sazaar and the others. They’ll pose no threat to me then.”
“How can you be so sure? What about the humans who’re supposed to protect them as they sleep—rest—whatever?” She recalled movies she’d seen, novels she’d read as a teenager, a character called Renfield. Hours ago, such thoughts would have seemed incomprehensible to her, the ravings of an unbalanced mind. Now, she mentioned them with one purpose—to convince Nikoli to stay, not to risk his life. “Aren’t there people who assist the vampires, assuring their safety?”
“They pose no real threat.” Before Regina could challenge him, he continued, “This time I’ll do all that I can to succeed. I won’t allow anything, especially compassion for Sazaar, to stand in my way.”
“You know where to find their lair?”
He sighed. “From E2, I watched.”
“How far is it from here?”
“No,” Nikoli said immediately. “I won’t allow you to come with me.” He pulled back his hand.
Again, Regina took it, bringing his palm to her lips, pressing her mouth against his smooth flesh, heating it with her breath.
He inhaled deeply, his chilled fingertips touching her cheek.
Regina blew warmed air on them, then lifted her face. “I won’t let you do this alone.”
“You have no choice. We were never meant to be.”
Even if that were true, she wasn’t about to accept his death. Nor did she intend to back down. Somehow they would find a way for both of them to survive. “We have a few hours until dawn. Until then, you said we’d be safe here. Would you deny us these few moments together, Nikoli?”
He stared at her. “You don’t know what you ask.”
“I know what I want.” Moving into him, Regina slipped her arms around his broad shoulders, the length of her body touching his. She snuggled her face against his neck, the cruel scratches from Sazaar’s claws.
His Adam’s apple bobbed with his hard swallow.
She kissed his throat.
On a pained sigh, Nikoli turned until his cheek touched hers. “Regina, don’t.”
She did, pressing open-mouthed kisses on the line of his jaw, his chin, seeking his mouth.
He made another noise, this one of naked desire. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he drew Regina so close his stiffened cock pushed against her mound.
Every part of her body screamed for him and the end to her awful loneliness, the promise of companionship and love she’d been denied too long. She brushed her mouth over his, spearing her tongue inside, trembling at his taste, his heat.
His groan was lewd and demanding, his embrace as desperate as his kiss, his strength barely contained. He held her so tightly his ribs pressed into hers.
Regina wanted more. Driving her fingers through his thick hair, she refused to allow him to withdraw from her.
Nikoli didn’t try. Whatever reserve he’d once owned was no more than a distant memory. He suckled her tongue, pulling it more deeply into his mouth. Lifting his free hand, he allowed it to roam over the swell of her breast, his thumb stroking her nipple, tightening it through her sweater and bra.
Her mouth opened on a gasp of delight.
It gave Nikoli a chance to push her tongue from his mouth and to fill her with his own.
On a wanton sigh, Regina surrendered to his male power. Pleasure rippled through her, draining her fear of whatever lay ahead, securing her to the moment, the miracle of being within his arms.
He deepened his kiss, his lust building, the same as hers.
It was more than Regina ever dreamed possible and surely not enough. Through his thin pants, his cock lengthened and hardened even more, demanding her attention. She wanted him inside her, his rod sheltered within her mouth and then her cunt, their bodies so close nothing would ever separate them.
Not the reality of this world, the threat on his, or the terror that still waited from A
ndris and the others.
No. She wasn’t going to think about that. For the moment, they were safe, they were together, and she was going to enjoy it. Tearing her mouth free, she pressed her cheek to his. Delight coursed through her at the rasp of his beginning beard, the solidness of his body. Gently, she pressed her lips to one of the scratches, then snuggled her mouth against his ear and whispered, “I want you inside of me, all over me. I want us naked.”
He panted as she did, clearly weakened by desire even as he tried to reason. “It’s too cold in here. The tips of your fingers are icy.”
“So are yours.” She nestled her face against his neck, her lips skimming his skin. “We’ll have to warm each other up.”
“No.”
Regina cried, “Nikoli, stop.”
He would not. Hands on her forearms, he pulled them from his shoulders.
“I want you,” she murmured. “And you want me.”
A series of emotions danced across his face. Male need, tenderness, caution.
“I won’t let you leave me tonight,” Regina whispered, cupping his face in her hands, her thumbs stroking the skin between his wounds.
Seconds passed as he regarded her. She could see him battling his emotions.
She touched his long, dark lashes and whispered again, her words deliberately tempting. “We have until dawn.”
He sighed deeply.
“Until then, there’s nothing you can—”
“Shhh,” he interrupted, pulling her back into him, his cheek against hers.
Hugging him close, she smiled then whispered an invitation few men could refuse, “Let’s get naked.”
He shook his head, then spoke before she could. “I’m not denying you.”
“You didn’t say yes. You haven’t ripped off my clothes. You’re not even close to being inside of me.”
“I know,” he whispered, then added, “First, it needs to be warm.”
Chapter Seven
She wanted only that he love her. To require her—no one else—as much as she needed him and their nightly feast of blood.
Confined by Andris’s weight, the length of his long, hard body, Sazaar yielded fully to his seduction. His earlier threats to destroy her because she’d allowed Nikoli and Regina to slip away hadn’t moved Sazaar to do what Andris demanded. She didn’t fear annihilation. It was loneliness and indifference, the kind she’d known on E2, that she couldn’t withstand.
At last, Andris had understood what Sazaar needed most. The promise that he would cherish her. At the very least, she needed the illusion.
Rubbing against him, Sazaar stroked his chest with her naked nipples. Her cunt ached for him to fill its emptiness. She licked her fangs at his mouth on her throat.
Sated from his earlier meal, Andris suckled her leisurely, his flesh warmed from the blood he’d taken, its life force heating his lips.
She moaned in delight.
To their side, the bodies of the humans they’d fed upon lay sprawled in death, eyes open, staring into eternity. One was a young man who’d been out for a run. The other, an older male who’d been walking his dog. They never saw their own demise coming.
Near the corpses, the vampires gathered to watch the carnal display between Andris and Sazaar. Among them were two humans who’d been newly turned this night—young women, friends. They’d been on their way home from their jobs at the coffee shop in Regina’s building. Prior to them reaching immortality, Sazaar had seen shock and innocence on the girls’ youthful faces. It was only a memory now. They regarded her and Andris as the others did, their desire to join in the carnal play barely constrained.
One of the girls lost what little control she had. On all fours, ponytail and naked breasts swinging, she crawled toward Andris, lust in her smile.
Fangs bared, Andris hissed. The depraved sound filled the large, renovated loft in what had previously been a beer-manufacturing plant. Where offices had once stood were now walls draped in wine-colored velvet, floors in gleaming black marble, skylights opened to the night, silk cushions and pillows strewn about for bodies to lie upon.
The girl pushed several of the cushions away as she continued to advance.
Andris hissed again, a warning that she stay back. Tonight, only Sazaar would know his touch, his bite.
Shivering with need she couldn’t resist, Sazaar still cautioned herself that Andris hadn’t given this moment freely. He needed her compliance to gain what he really wanted…entry back into E2.
Stopped at last, the young barista licked her fangs, a bold invitation for Andris to enjoy her.
A growl of anger rose in his throat, threatening to become a shriek.
Cautious at the vile sound, tamed for the moment, the girl retreated the same distance she’d advanced. Wrapping her arm around the leg of the male vampire who’d turned her, she ran her other hand up his naked thigh to his hairy groin, cupping his plump balls, running her thumb over his hard, ruddy shaft.
Her friend watched, a feral smile cutting across her pretty face. Edging closer, she bent down, licking her friend’s nipple, pulling it into her mouth, moaning as she suckled.
Andris regarded the scene, then turned back to Sazaar. His long blond hair swept over her naked shoulders as he fastened his lips on her throat. Tongue sweeping her flesh, he raked her neck gently with his fangs.
Her toes curled, rapture filling her as it had their first time, hours after she’d crossed over into this realm. At a nightclub that evening, Andris had ignored the countless other women, many of them quite beautiful, and approached her, his smile lazy, his expression hungry.
She’d mistaken it for love.
Willingly, eagerly, she’d given him her future and soul. He valued neither. Once she led him and the others back into E2, she knew he’d discard her.
The pleasant sensations receded. Her body stiffened in pain and anger.
Andris’s suckling slowed. He lifted his head.
She didn’t want to look at him, but couldn’t help herself. At his stunning beauty, every emotion except lust drained from Sazaar, dispelling reality, making her believe she could do something to bring him fully to her side.
She parted her lips to reason with him as she had with the inhabitants of her realm. To declare her love in the foolish hope that it would somehow make him see no other woman except her. That he would never again crave anyone else, female or male.
The words caught in her throat.
At her silence, he finally spoke, his tone deceptively soft, charming. “You smell the woman?”
Inwardly, Sazaar bristled at his question. Outwardly, she maintained her calm, well-practiced in doing so from the time of her birth.
“Do you?” Andris asked, eagerness betraying his true motives.
A hint of Regina’s peaches-and-vanilla fragrance, along with her female musk, was barely detectable on the cool air, overwhelmed by the more powerful scents of damp earth, the coppery odor of blood.
Sazaar wanted to lie, telling Andris she smelled nothing at all, then decided against it. He’d see through her deception as he always did. In a whisper, she said, “Yes. But it’s very faint because of the rain.”
Swooping down, Andris brushed his lips over her throat.
She gasped in satisfaction. A whimper followed as he bit her neck gently, not breaking skin.
“How faint?” he asked, his mouth brushing her throat with his words.
His proximity and touch, denied her so long, was too much for Sazaar. Coarse pleasure tore through her. Unable to quell her desire, she tried to embrace him.
Andris tightened his fingers around her wrists, keeping her pinned to the cold floor. “Answer me.”
Desperate for his affection, she spoke without thinking. “Do you only want to find her because of Nikoli? Or do you want to feed on her and turn her as you did with me?”
Surprise at her boldness registered in his icy blue eyes, replaced quickly by feigned indifference. “What use do I have for such an unattractive fema
le? Her coloring revolts me. Her blood, however, might prove less offensive, especially if I thirst.” He offered a sly smile. “Upon locating her, would you give her to me to destroy?”
Without hesitation, if it would secure her place in his world. Shame at what she’d become battled with Sazaar’s fatal attraction to him. Her desire to please won out. “I would—but I won’t be able to find her tonight. No vampire could, because of the rain, as you well know.”
Instantly, his grip tightened. It should have been painful, but the only ache Sazaar felt was in her heart. She said nothing, surrendering fully to whatever he intended to do, knowing it couldn’t be worse than not having his love.
Minutes passed. The ponytailed barista and her vampire made obscene sounds as they mated with the ferocity of wildcats, unaware of the others watching and waiting to see Andris’s next move.
His long, thin fingers loosened on Sazaar’s wrists, his thumbs stroking her palms.
Grateful for his small kindness, she parted her lips, groaning softly when Andris filled her mouth with his tongue. Those surrounding them murmured their approval as he mounted her, his hard, thick cock plunging into her channel, forcing it to accommodate his size.
She moaned shamelessly.
Releasing one wrist, he brought his hand down to her clit, stroking it.
It was too much. Sounds of ecstasy gurgled in the base of her throat, turning into a helpless whimper. Andris responded by filling her even more, silencing her with his tongue.
He continued to stroke her nub to give her the greatest pleasure. An unselfish act he hadn’t indulged in since the night he first claimed her.
Passion for what he was, hope for what he could never be, competed within Sazaar. Her mind advised her to be cautious. She refused to heed the warning. She touched his golden hair, sinking her fingers into its satiny length.
With endurance no human owned, he pounded into her, his finger on her clit keeping pace.
Excited murmurs surrounded them, followed by the vampires’ crude comments, their desire to participate.
“Take me next!” one of the men shouted.
