NYC Vamps: Vampire Romance

by Sky Winters

  It seemed like they had barely dozed off when she felt him kissing her skin again, dragging his lips across her neck and planting tiny dots of affection along her shoulders. She snuggled in closer to him, feeling the hardness of his erection once again pressing against her backside. It seemed like she was no longer tired from their previous encounter, but full of energy and ready for round two as he reached between her legs and stroked her clit.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered in her ear.

  “I know the feeling,” she breathed as he entered her once again, this time taking her slowly and deeply as he cradled her against his chest. He was just as incredible the second time as he had been the first, bringing her to several orgasms before giving into one of his own and relaxing, his cock still buried inside of her as they lay beneath the warm furs in the cave for a while as the sun continued to rise outside.

  Chapter Four

  Lying there in the afterglow, Alice thought she heard a noise, but dismissed it as the usual forest animals outside in the woods.

  “Be very still and very quiet,” The Huntsman told her.

  “Why? What is it?” she asked, but he held his fingers up toward his lips in silent instruction and stood, stepping toward the mouth of the cave.

  Alice watched as his large frame disappeared outside into the daylight beyond where they had slept. She waited, not moving or making any noise, until she heard a loud howl, followed by some sort of scuffle. Grabbing her clothes, she yanked them on and ran to see what was happening. She watched in disbelief as the large white wolf that she now realized was The Huntsman thrashed what appeared to be an extraordinarily large jack rabbit back and forth on the ground.

  The light cast a shadow on the creature with its large pink eyes and jagged fangs. Alice watched as a large pocket watch seemed to fly from somewhere in the rabbit’s fur and clattered on the ground nearby. He suddenly lurched forward, releasing himself from the white wolf’s grip and grabbed it, scurrying away while yelling something as he ran.

  “I’ve not time for this! I’m late! I’m going to be too late!”

  Alice watched in disbelief as the rabbit, who appeared to be more than six feet tall, ran off into the night and The Huntsman resumed human form, walking toward her.

  “I thought I told you to be very still and very quiet,” he said.

  “I was, but then I heard the tussle.”

  “That rabbit is an annoyance. He’s always running about to some tea party with his mistress, the Evil Queen. He used to be white, but she has turned him into some monstrosity. It’s appalling.”

  “I’ve seen him before, somewhere. I can’t recall.”

  “No telling. He’s everywhere, but there are a lot of busy body white rabbits in this place. Don’t trust him, ever! Don’t trust any of them; half are deceitful and the rest are just fickle.”

  “Why was he here?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t care. He was somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Look, the sun is coming up. Let’s get our things tucked away and back on the trail before he or some of his associates decide to come back.”

  “Can we eat? I’m starving!”

  “Soon. We’ll stop off at the House of Desires and grab a bite.”

  “I’m not sure what that is, but if it has food, then I am ready to go there.”

  Gathering their things, they continued on their path toward wherever he was taking her. She was surprised when he reached for her hand, holding it as if they were just in for a casual romantic stroll through the woods. Alice found that she was okay with that. Though he was virtually a stranger to her, she was drawn to him in a way that was quite inexplicable. It seemed that they walked for miles, her feet growing quite sore as they passed through a path littered with small pebbles and broken branches.

  “How much farther? My feet hurt so badly.”

  The Huntsman frowned down at her bruised and bleeding feet and told her to wait for him for a moment. Walking over to the tiniest hut she had ever seen, he looked downward and talked to something low to the ground. When he returned, he had two round objects in his hands. As he grew closer, she realized they were tortoise shells, padded inside with small cushions. Bending down, he placed each of her feet in one of the shells and strapped them on.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  “Don’t thank me. Thank them,” he replied, nodding toward the small hut they had just begun to pass.

  Alice glanced over to see two naked turtles waving at her with large smiles. She was horrified for a moment as she realized they would be unprotected without their shells.

  “Why would they give up their protection for me like that?”

  “Because I told them who you are and that you will make sure they are protected for all time.”

  “You lied to them!”

  “I did not.”

  “You don’t even know that I will be the mother of the shifter leader. Go back and give them their shells back!”

  “I do know and soon, you will know, too.”

  “What does that mean?” Alice asked, confused and mortified at having left two creatures vulnerable with false expectations.

  “We will talk when we get to my village. It isn’t something that you want to hear right now.”

  “Yes. Yes, I do! I do want to hear it right now!”

  “You don’t, and I won’t tell you. Let’s just get you to safety before things get far worse.”

  Alice stopped in her tracks and glared at him. She wasn’t going to play games with him or anyone else, whether she was in some strange place and needed him or not. Just because she had given herself to him last night, didn’t give him the right to treat her as if she could be talked down to and kept in the dark about things he didn’t feel like telling her.

  “Just why do you get to dictate what I do and do not know?”

  “Because I can. Let’s get moving, Alice. It will be another short day, and it’s a long way to the next shelter.”

  “How long until we get to your village?”

  “Tomorrow. We’ll hole up in another hideaway that I know along the way tonight and then head out again at sunrise. From there, it should only be about four hours more.”

  “And food?”

  “About an hour out. Can you make it that far? I can go out and kill you something if you can’t.”

  “Ugh. No. I can wait.”

  “You act as if the food chain is something abnormal. Do you not eat other creatures in your world?”

  “We do. I’ve just never eaten something that I’ve known was killed by the person serving it to me.”

  “And that makes a difference somehow?”

  “Yes. Somehow.”

  “It hardly makes sense to me, but I’ll take your word for it. Let’s get going before we lose any daylight.”

  The sun was barely up as they made their way along the path toward wherever he was taking her. Her thoughts drifted from the odd sights that surrounded her as they made their way through the forest. The turtle shells were not dreadfully comfortable, but they were better than being barefoot on the forest floor. After what felt like an eternity to Alice, they reached a large stone building, much larger than it should be, by Alice’s calculations.

  Stepping inside the door, they arrived at a tiny table in what seemed like an inordinately large room. There were several vials on it and Alice watched as The Huntsman retrieved one and handed it to her. He selected one as well and opened it. On the side of the bottle was a small label that said merely, Drink Me.

  “What is this?” Alice asked.

  “No time to explain, just drink it, Alice.”

  Alice looked at him, but as he turned up the vile, she figured she might as well do the same and drank her fill from the small bottle. Things around her took on a surreal appearance as they seemed to grow smaller before her very eyes. When the movement finally stopped, she looked around again, discovering that it was not the room that had grown, but rather she and The Huntsman who had inc
reased dramatically in size.

  “What is happening?”

  “We were too little to eat here. Now, we aren’t. Come on.”

  The Huntsman knocked on the large wooden door on one side of the room and she was surprised when the doorknob answered. She looked at it as if it were an alien as it opened eyes and a mouth that had gone unnoticed before.

  “Who begs entry?”

  “The Huntsman and um, a guest.”

  The doorknob turned its eyes toward Alice and seemed to look her up and down before finally looking back at The Huntsman.

  “Granted, Huntsman and guest,” it said in an extremely bored tone. The door swung open and they stepped inside. Alice was astounded at the liveliness of the great dining hall inside. Whereas the entrance had been quiet and reserved, this place was bustling with activity. Men and women chatted enthusiastically among themselves as they ate large plates of food and drank from tall glasses.

  “Table for two,” The Huntsman told an odd-looking man who appeared to have an incredibly long waist and very short legs. His top hat sat almost sideways on his head atop a shock of purple hair, and Alice had to wonder how it managed to stay there.

  “We don’t serve people with turtle-shell shoes,” an extremely short and round woman replied haughtily.

  “You do today,” The Huntsman replied.

  “Oh? And why is that?” the woman asked.

  “Just give them some food, Matilda!” the short-legged man replied.

  “But, Jack, she isn’t dressed properly for fine dining,” the woman replied.

  “Then she should fit in fine around here. Come on,” he said, dismissing the woman and motioning them toward a table nearby. “Don’t mind my wife; she’s a bit of a stickler for protocol. If I refused to serve everyone she took issue with, we’d all starve. Take your time looking at the menu and order when you are ready. I’ll get you some fresh water.”

  Alice and The Huntsman took their seats and were handed menus before the man walked away to bring them some water. Alice blinked down at the large letters on it and looked over it at The Huntsman.

  “There is only one item on the menu.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Club sandwich with side of fries and chocolate milkshake.”

  “Then I suppose it is what you should order.”

  “But what if I want something else?”

  “You don’t.”

  “I might.”

  “You don’t.”

  “How can you possibly be so certain of what I do and do not want to eat for lunch?”

  “The menu only displays what you want to eat at the moment you look at it.”

  “That’s absurd.”

  “Is it? Think of something you’d rather eat and look again.”

  Alice remembered her favorite meal that her mother used to make and smiled. Looking back at the menu, it now displayed another item – Mom’s homemade pot roast with a side of potatoes, carrots and iced tea. Her eyes widened. What a crazy place this was!

  “See?” The Huntsman asked.

  “I suppose so,” Alice replied.

  When the man returned, Alice ordered her mother’s pot roast while The Huntsman ordered a pizza. No sooner had they requested the food than it was brought out by the man’s wife. She scowled at them as she sat it on the table and walked away. The man smiled at them and told them to enjoy their meals. Alice looked at The Huntsman’s pizza and furrowed her brow. It had some of the oddest color vegetables on it she had ever seen, along with what appeared to be sausage. Alice was further astounded to find that her pot roast tasted exactly as her mother had made it.

  “Would you care for dessert?” the man asked, returning just as they finished their meals. Alice realized that, even though he had never returned to refill their drinks, they’d remained full. Dismissing this further oddity, she accepted the menu he handed her and found that it was empty.

  “I’m quite too full for dessert,” she replied. “The meal was delicious.”

  “We do the best we can with limited staff.”

  Alice looked around the restaurant and noticed for the first time that there were no other servers. She was guessing that if she were to venture into the kitchen, she would find there was no other staff at all in the inn. However they managed it, she suspected that the man and his wife were the only people who worked here.

  With their meal finished, it was time to get going again. Outside, in the large entryway again, The Huntsman led her to a table with tiny cakes. A sign on the table said, Eat me.

  “No thanks. I’m far too full,” Alice told him.

  “Unless you want to stomp around the world as a giant, you’ll need to eat one.”

  It occurred to Alice that she had grown into the room when they arrived. She supposed that it only made sense that she would have to shrink back down to exit the premises. Taking the cake he offered, she put it into her mouth just as he did. Immediately, things began to shrink. There was a loud crash as her hand knocked over a vase on the cake table as she began to grow tinier. Suddenly, water was everywhere and she found herself and The Huntsman being flushed toward the exterior door, along with some other patrons who had wandered in or out at the same time.

  “Oh no, this just won’t do. Who did this?” another man said as he held the antenna of a large bee that had also been caught up in the water.

  Alice watched as the bee suddenly pulled free of the flood and flew away with the man still dangling, disappearing through the keyhole in the outer door. A tiny mouse gasped and struggled to keep afloat. Hurriedly, Alice took off one shoe and tossed it to him. He climbed inside and lay down, obviously relieved to be out of the gushing water, which seemed to go still for a moment as they came to rest against the outer door.

  The Huntsman let out a loud sigh and smiled at Alice. He was the only one smiling. All of the others caught up in the flood scowled at her as they grabbed hold of things to keep afloat or treaded the water to keep from going under. Alice looked around at them apologetically for a moment and then everything went crazy again as someone opened the outer door to enter, flushing them all outdoors. People and creatures lay sputtering on the ground all around them as the water washed out over the turf outside.

  “Here’s your, um, shoe,” the mouse said, flinging it toward Alice and scurrying away.

  “You’re welcome!” she called out toward him sarcastically, noting that a thank you might have been in order.

  “Wouldn’t have needed it if you hadn’t tried to drown us all,” he spat back as he disappeared into a crevice of a nearby tree.

  “Ungrateful,” Alice muttered.

  “Well, he did have a point. You only saved him from a mess you created.”

  Alice glared at The Huntsman. Much to her surprise, he broke out in a wide grin and leaned forward, kissing her affectionately on the forehead. Pulling away, he brushed her wet hair away from her forehead and took her hand.

  “Come on, let’s get going. We should dry out on the way and then we’ll hole up for the night. First light, we’ll finish making for my village,” he told her.

  Alice slipped the wet turtle shell back onto her bare foot and headed off with him, ignoring the harsh glares of those who remained in the area after the impromptu flood. They could be angry if they liked. It wasn’t as if she had done it on purpose. Holding her head high, she followed The Huntsman toward wherever he was taking her now.

  Chapter Five

  Somewhere across the land, the Evil Bear Shifter Queen stood looking at her son in disbelief. His appearance was disheveled and that just was not acceptable. He was a prince, for goodness sakes!

  “Go get yourself pulled together. What has happened to you? I’ll have no unkempt-looking creatures at my table!” she barked at him.

  “But, Mother, I have the most amazing news!”

  “Not until you are fit to address a queen, you don’t. I won’t hear a word from you looking like you just came from a common pub brawl in the rocky q
uarter.”

  “This is something you are going to want to know right away!”

  “No!” she roared, her face turning to the most frightening shriveled visage one could image. It always happened when she was angry, her true inner being shining through to reveal her black soul and real age. She smiled smugly, enjoying the way everyone shrank away from her terrible core whenever it shined through. Her vile spawn was no exception, scurrying away to his quarters to make himself fit to be in her presence.

  “Your Majesty, I am here to beg leniency for my nephew,” said an ill-dressed man, the next one in line to address her.

  “And what is it that your nephew has done?” she asked.

  “He stole some fruit from the royal thicket,” the man replied, his gaze on the floor rather than looking up at her. It was forbidden to make eye contact with the queen without permission to do so.

  “Theft is a crime that cannot be tolerated in this kingdom. It is a crime punishable by death in a time of great famine such as we have at present.”

  “I know, Your Majesty, but he is just a boy. He was hungry and the fruit was almost rotting from the vine. It would only have gone to waste.”

  “Nonetheless, it was not his to take,” she replied.

  “Once again, Your Majesty, he is young. He is only ten years old and shall be punished severely for his transgressions by his family. I beg that you be merciful to him.”

  “Why is it that you are here to beg favor rather than his family?”

  “They were too frightened of you, Your Majesty. I only came because I thought perhaps you would take pity on such a young boy.”

  “I will spare your nephew for his crimes,” she replied. “But he must know that he cannot just take what does not belong to him. As punishment, I shall take something that is of importance to him.”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty. Might I ask what it is you intend to take?”

  “No. Leave my court.”

  Turning toward one of her guards, she smiled in the most sickening way as she spoke to him. The boy’s uncle, already halfway toward the door, began to beg as he heard her words, but was quickly dragged away and out of her sight.