His hands were all over me, his body weighing me down and filling me up, my blood in him, his thoughts in me, his scent everywhere, clinging to me, cleansing me, washing away the feel of the Champion and anyone else for that matter. All that existed was him and me and the heat that we created together.
I came first, unable to stop that beautiful build to ecstasy and when he heard me shout out and writhe against him, he quickly followed suit, still drinking me, so making both our orgasms last that much longer, drawing them out in exquisite bliss.
Finally, his fangs retracted and he licked his mark and collapsed beside me on the couch, pulling me close and kissing my neck.
“Hi,” he said a little huskily. “I forgot to say hi.”
I laughed. “If that's to be your new greeting, then you have my permission to forget to say hi any time.”
He laughed against me, nuzzling my neck again and kissing his mark.
“I think it is safe to say that the claiming felt threatened by news of your visitor, ma douce. The moment you mentioned she had been here, I could do nothing else but get to you and claim you again. He started kissing my skin again, softly, so softly. And with such care.
Man, if that's how he reacts to a projected image of a vampire who can't stand my guts, how the hell was he going to handle me going to Wellington and seeing Gregor, which looked like I was going to have to do, or else suffer the consequences of the Champion.
Michel's arms tightened around me, pulling me close, I also felt his fangs come out again and scrape over his mark.
Shit. You can hear my thoughts again, can't you? I didn't even project them, I knew I didn't need to. He just nodded against my neck in an affirmation.
This was going to be hard. And if I had thought it was just going to be hard for me to face my demons and stand up against Gregor, then now it was ten times harder, because I so did not want to put Michel through this. I wanted to protect him too.
I felt his breath come out in a sigh and his head rest down on my shoulders. If I could have seen his face, I was sure his eyes would have been closed.
“I trust you, ma douce. I really do. I can see your thoughts, I can see how you feel about me. For the first time since I have known you, I haven't had to guess at where I stood in your affections. But, the vampyre in me is not quite so... understanding. It wants to tie you down to the bed and never let you see another rival ever again.”
I kinda fancied the tying down to the bed bit, truth be known. Michel growled and shifted against me. Oops. Better keep those thoughts under a lock and key for now.
“I'd still be able to reach them.” His hand had started stroking my cheek, his finger now tracing my lips.
We were both silent for a while. It was me who said what we both were so desperate not to say.
“I have to go, Michel. She said it was because of me. The humans attacking the vampires down there. You know I can't ignore that if it is the truth, despite the fact that she was right about it being a distraction too. The more problems the humans cause, the less likely I am able to be ready for when the Dark strikes and from her warning, I'm guessing that will be soon. Why else would she have come to see me? This needs to be sorted. Now.”
He was quiet for a while, just stroking, breathing against me, holding me tight.
“Why do you think she believes it is because of you, ma douce?”
“She mentioned my blood, I can only assume they know about my Forbidden Drink powers or something. They know the vampires are drawn to my blood. Maybe they want to use that to capture them.”
“It is not your blood they are drawn to, ma douce. It is your Light.”
Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that. Then if not my actual blood, what the hell did the Champion mean?
“Have you considered she meant it figuratively, as in blood relative? Perhaps you should start with your cousin.”
Tim? What on earth would he have to do with vigilante vampire killing humans? Well, other than the fact that he approached Gregor to become the local Nosferatin, even when he isn't one.
“A good place to start then,” Michel said softly, still stroking me, still holding me tight. I knew he was trying to be reasonable, to help work it all out, but I could feel his tension, he was thrumming with it. He was so close to the edge because discussing this meant I was closer to going to Wellington. To Gregor.
I felt like I needed to deflect the inevitable, at least for a moment.
“Maybe I should pay a visit to my folks, see what they know about my father's side of the family.”
“Hmm mm. And perhaps you should introduce your husband to them while you are at it?”
I pulled back and looked at him. “You're not my husband.” I said it with a smile.
“In vampyre terms I am. And do you not wish for me to be your husband, ma douce?” His smile said it all, he knew exactly how I felt about him. He could read my mind now, how convenient. And my mind was shouting that he was mine.
“It surprises me that the claiming is still in effect." He sounded puzzled, mildly intrigued. "I did not expect to hear from your thoughts that you were so certain, but you are.” I knew though, that he was trying to stimulate thoughts in me, trying to fish for an answer.
I couldn't give him one, because I simply did not know. I was obviously still holding something back, but what? I started to shift uneasily next to him, it was a topic of conversation I didn't feel comfortable with at all.
He just kept stroking me and held me firmer, he wasn't going to let me run from this.
“It is all right, ma douce, all shall be revealed in good time. I have complete faith in this.”
We sat quietly for a moment, each with our own thoughts. Well, me with mine and Michel with both his and mine, but you know what I mean.
To steer away from the awkwardness that I felt, I put us back on to business.
“So, I think I should go to Wellington tomorrow, not wait until Saturday. I think if the Dark is about to strike I need to get on with this. Sort it out.
“I will come with you.”
I ached at the tenor of his voice. The fear I could clearly hear. He may be certain of how I feel right now, but he was terrified of what would happen when I got off that plane in Wellington and was faced with Gregor again. I couldn't blame him. And I also couldn't put his fear to rest, my track record was not so great that it would be believable. But, I also knew he couldn't come with me. Gregor was still establishing his hold on the city and a visit from a Master of a nearby City, would be construed as an attack for possession. It was politically suicidal.
Michel abruptly stood and started pacing. He was so wound up, I could see the veins on the side of his neck standing out at attention. I sat up slowly and got myself straightened and just watched him pace. Like a caged tiger, he was all energy contained, the potential at any moment to explode. I wanted so much to ease his pain, to stop this slide into what I could only assume was going to be destructive to our relationship. I wanted to offer a solution, to fix it, to stop this thing that he feared from happening, but I couldn't. All I could do was watch.
After ten minutes of watching him pace and neither of us uttering a word, he finally stopped and turned to look at me. I had to close my eyes at what I saw. Such pain, but such determination. He'd made a decision and it had cost him greatly. He was tearing himself apart from the inside out.
“Erika and Jett will go with you. And Amisi, of course. Accommodation will be found in neutral premises and neither vampyre will leave your side. This is the best I can offer.”
I stood up slowly and walked toward him, taking both his hands in mine. I could almost see the knife slicing through his skin and piercing his heart, this was causing him such physical pain. Despite a claiming which he could barely refuse, he was allowing me to do my job. The vampires attending didn't faze me, I would have wanted them there myself, not only because of moral support - Erika is my rock - but because facing off against the humans in large numbers was going to req
uire a show of force. I didn't for a moment think we could negotiate any longer, Gregor had seen to that with his high body counts. I needed a couple of warriors at my side to send the message home, if it was going to work at all.
But, what I could do for Michel was to show him how much I appreciated what he was doing and how much he meant to me. Even if he couldn't see past this weekend, I knew I could. I knew without a doubt that I would come back to him, so I did the only thing I could think of that would show him how I felt. I led him up the stairs to our bedroom and gave him every inch of my soul that I could spare.
I lavished him with love and attention and care and I never took anything in return. It was all for him. It was the least, the only, thing I could do. I pleasured him until he could stand it no more and I could fight him no more. And then I let him claim me one more time before the sun rose and he whispered in my ear as I drifted off to sleep, “I will leave now, ma douce, because I cannot bear to watch you walk away. Je t'aime, ma belle. Je t'aime.”
I didn't answer, he heard my thoughts and besides, it's just words anyway.
Chapter 36
Dancing Dragons
Amisi and Erika had come home late and as I had been up all night with Michel, we all managed to sleep most the day away. It was close to 5pm when I ventured into the kitchen, after packing an overnight bag and getting myself showered and ready to face what was perhaps going to be the most awkward, or hard, or impossibly difficult 24 hours of my life. At least I would have my peeps with me.
Amisi was up, but Erika was nowhere in sight. Breakfast today, well it could be called dinner but we were only just getting started, was pancakes, bacon and maple syrup. I know for a fact that the vampire in the household would have found it painful to be around the delicious looking stack of sugar loaded goodness that sat in front of me. Just because you don't eat solid food any more, doesn't mean you can't pine after it.
“I bet Erika can smell this up in her room, she'll be getting jealous.” I stabbed a thick pile of dripping pancakes and shoved it in my mouth. Bliss.
“She'll be too busy. She brought Jett home with her last night.
My eyes bugged out, I was unable to speak because my mouth was so damn full, but Amisi got my meaning by my expression and just laughed.
“It was kind like watching you and Michel all night, but very much more public. Vampires have no shame.” I wasn't quite sure how much more public you could get than Michel and me, but I took her word for it. I also noticed that she didn't seem surprised. Amisi has grown up around vampires, she knows exactly what they are like and nothing surprises her.
“So, we're off to Wellington today. I can't wait to see what it's like.” She looked excited, like a kid about to open its Christmas present and see what Santa brought. I couldn't blame her, this could well be her new stomping ground. Amisi had already left her life behind in Cairo, I think, she was one of the most practical people I had ever met. There was already too many Nosferatins in Cairo, she knew she had to make her way elsewhere, why not Wellington?
“You think you could live surrounded by Kiwis, Amisi?”
She shot me a look that said it all, purlease, what do you think?
I nodded and smiled, for some reason Amisi was more Kiwi than some of the kids I grew up with back home in Cambridge. More down to earth and approachable than the horse breeding snobs of rural Waikato. She fitted in like a well worn glove. As I watched her fluff about in the kitchen I couldn't help feeling that she was like a sister to me. Connected in more ways than just blood, although the fact that she is a Nosferatin does mean she has some of the same blood in her veins as I do. But she understood me, she understood the country I grew up in. Amisi would make a fine addition to New Zealand Nosferatin ranks. I only hoped that Gregor would accept her as his local vampire hunter and allow her to stay.
He didn't really have much choice. Wellington needed a Nosferatin and Nosferatins are thin on the ground. To have found such a well educated and accomplished Nosferatin at all, was simply a miracle of biblical proportions. If this worked, my life could become so much more simplified and finally, maybe something right could happen, instead of all the doom and gloom that seems to follow me around.
“You know, I would really like you to live here in NZ. You might be in a different city, but we would be able to meet up often, exchange ideas, work together. I really hope this works out, Amisi. I really don't want you to go back to Cairo.”
She looked at me a little strangely then, her eyes were shining bright, glistening in the downlights of the kitchen.
“Thank you, Lucinda. Thank you.” She bowed to me then, the formal fisted hand across chest bow. It took me by surprise. Amisi and I had well passed the formal stage, but then, she was a Nosferatin of regal standing. Sometimes I felt like the poor cousin, the country bumpkin around her. She could be so elegant, so refined and so perfectly part of this other world. Once again I was reminded of what I might have been like, had I been raised by my Nosferatin father. How much did I miss out on? Where would I be now if he was still alive?
I let my mind wander as Amisi turned back to her chores and I thought about what the world would be like with my father in it. I do think about my mother, but it's my father I wish for most. I got all the love and care I could ever have wanted from my mother's sister, my aunt, but what my biological father could have offered, none other can replace. Nero has filled a gap, for sure, but not like a father, more that of a friend and acquaintance. Imagine what I could have shared with my Dad. Michel, for starters. Michel had asked if I would introduce him to my Aunt and Uncle, I think he was just joking, they couldn't meet him, not really. To travel to their farm we would have to drive at night, they would have to meet him in the glow of the moon, we couldn't stay during the day, the farm house is not light tight. So, logistically speaking, I couldn't take him to meet my parents. Perhaps if they visited here, but they don't. They can't stand the city, they are farmers through and through.
But, my biological father, my Dad, he could have met Michel, he could have known what he was, there would have been no secrets. How nice that would be, not to have to hide who I am or what I am with my parent. How different my life would have been. I have managed to surround myself with people who I could confide in, people who are part of this world too. I have support and love and understanding, I just don't have that bond you would have with a parental figure who is also part of your vocational world. Imagine the tips and tricks he could have handed on. Imagine what I could have been with his tutelage and care.
I brushed an unwanted tear away and refused to let any others appear. It was all a dream, a wishful waste of time. He is dead, I am alone, save for those people I have picked up along the way to fill the gap, but it is never completely filled. It never will be, I think.
Erika and Jett walked into the kitchen then and saved me from my wasted dreams. I don't think I could have been happier to have seen them, they broke the hold of what-could-have-been, they snapped me free of my own empty yearnings and plunged me back into reality like a cold dip in an icy river. I needed it. Their timing couldn't have been better.
“So, you all packed, chica? Time to face the devil.” Erika did not like Gregor. I could hardly blame her, he had used his superior Sanguis Vitam on her to make her abandon me in his apartment. Her job had been to protect me from him, she had let me down, herself down and more importantly, Michel down. She despised Gregor now and I somehow thought he'd never be able to get the better of her again. Erika may not be as strong as Gregor, or as powerful, but she sure as hell could be as cunning. Gregor Morel was in for a load of crap from Erika Anders. She would not make his life easy.
I smiled back at her. “Bring it on!” I was aware they all knew it was just words. Inside I was a complete and utter mess, but I could act when needed and the next 24 hours may have to be the command performance of my life. I would draw on every lesson I had learnt in the face of vampires, pull every trick I had out of my sleeve and never show fear. Ne
ver give an inch. Always stay on guard.
I am Nosferatin, hear me roar. Ha. I wish.
Nightfall came, with the help of the odd jab at Erika about her house guest's appearance to speed the last couple of hours of daylight along. Jett just plain ignored the girl talk, reading from Michel's tablet computer as though he owned the thing and as though we weren't commenting on Erika's choice of bed partner or her downright lustful look when she spied her man across any room. I'm sure he found it amusing, but he sat straight faced in the corner of the kitchen and pretended we didn't even exist.
I think Erika was relieved when the shutters whirred away, as she was the first out to the garage and started loading our gear into the back of the Land Rover. All four of us in my car was just not going to cut it. Jett was a big boy, I don't think he would have fitted.
The plane was out of the hangar, fuelled and ready to go. We boarded without delay and I was surprised to see Michel's manservant on board. He usually only attended when we had a long haul flight, Auckland to Wellington was hardly long haul. I was the last to board, and Michel's guy just about tripped over himself to greet me, quietly handing me a little box.
“From the master,” he whispered and went about his business of securing the door and making sure the rest of the passengers were seated and belted in for take off. I took a seat in an armchair at the back of the plane, out of sight of the others, providing an element of privacy.
I fingered the box. It was the size of a jewellery box I guess, white with a deep blue ribbon wrapped around it, slightly padded, so when you pressed it, a perfect dent was left which slowly filled in as the padding returned to its previous puffed up shape. I did that several times, watching as it slowly refilled, trying to build up confidence to open the damn thing. It's not like Michel hasn't tried to gift me things in the past. I've got a perfectly beautiful Longines Dolce Vita watch and a beautiful diamond encrusted bracelet hidden away in my lingerie drawer. I've never worn either. But, there was just something about the timing of this gift that made me believe it would be difficult to deny it, to pack it away between my lacy knickers and bras.
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