NYC Vamps: Vampire Romance

by Sky Winters

  “We must be on our way. We’ve already wasted too much time here,” Aspen said, tilting De’s chin up to look into his golden eyes.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” she agreed, anxious to get away from the strange place.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Brett said, hurrying to catch up. His movements were smoother now that he’d begun moving again. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Aspen pulled De over to his other side and puffed out his chest. De noticed he hadn’t changed back into pants yet and wondered if it was because he thought he may have to turn again at any moment or if it was because he was demonstrating his superiority to the other naked man in their company.

  “We’re headed to the Emerald City,” De said.

  Brett jumped in front of Aspen, bringing them to a halt. “The Resistance?” he asked.

  Aspen growled again and held a hand to his cheek.

  Brett grinned. “Sorry if I hurt your teeth there, buddy. The one and only plus to being made of metal. Listen, it doesn’t matter. Resistance or not, that’s your business. I’m coming along either way. I can get to a shop at the Emerald City, and I’m not leaving your side until you’ve paid for the damage.”

  “That’s reasonable,” De said, setting a hand on Aspen’s arm to calm him down. “We don’t have time to argue and it can’t hurt to have someone else along as protection.”

  Brett’s smile was huge. “Excellent.”

  Aspen shrugged and shouldered past to lead the way.

  It wasn’t that De had decided to trust Brett completely, it was that she had the feeling it would be better to have an eye on him so he couldn’t go blabbing about them.

  She was starting to believe that in this part of Kansas, the trees really did have ears.

  Chapter 5

  When the sun began to sink below the horizon, and the sounds of birds and other animals picked up, Aspen decided it was time to make camp for the night. De was eager to rest up. Even in her ruby boots, her feet were starting to hurt. She pictured blisters in her future.

  “I need a shower,” she said, sitting on a rock while Aspen unpacked his magic bag to set up.

  Aspen grumbled. “There should be a stream to bathe in close by. I will take you.”

  “I can accompany the young witch,” Brett said with a low and creaky bow. “You’re busy.”

  “This can wait,” Aspen said, glaring at Brett. “You will stay here and keep watch for anything out of the ordinary. If you disappear, so be it. If you take anything with you, I will hunt you down and crush you into scrap metal. So please do.”

  “Nice boyfriend you have there,” Brett called after me as I followed Aspen into the forest.

  “Humph,” Aspen grunted.

  “What?” I asked, trying to keep pace.

  “Boyfriend.”

  “Oh.” De hadn’t thought much of it. They did have some pretty amazing sex the night before and after all, he’d saved her life now multiple times. But he was an animal, so to speak. Did they have commitment issues? Honestly, how could she even make a commitment to a half-human when she didn’t even know what had happened to her or what she was going to do with her life?

  “Here you are, little witch.” Aspen stepped aside and gestured toward a beautiful little pond. Crystal clear water, still and smooth as glass, beckoned her. It was surrounded by dark green shrubs and big leafy plants that dipped toward the water.

  De peeled off her belt and tunic and sat on the edge of a boulder to yank at her boots. But they wouldn’t budge. Starting to panic, De searched for a zipper or some other kind of opening mechanism, but found nothing on the glove-tight, thigh-high footwear.

  “What’s wrong?” Aspen asked, sounding tired.

  “I can’t get them off,” De said, pushing at the heel of one with the toes of the other. “Not even a little bit.”

  Aspen lifted her into his strong arms. “You probably can’t. Not without the right spell.”

  “What?” De asked, confused, just as he heaved her into the water.

  She hit with a squeal, but the water was warm and felt like a hug to her tired body. She sighed and dipped her head beneath the surface for a moment.

  When she emerged, smoothing back her hair from her face, Aspen was in mid leap. She threw up an arm to block the splash, but it was minimal as he executed a ten-point dive into the pool, surfacing inches from her face.

  “Show off,” she said and splashed him lightly.

  He grinned. “I decided I needed a bath as well. Besides, we are likely not going to be left alone by that man you invited along.”

  “Invited?” she asked, incredulously. “No. But haven’t you ever heard the saying, keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?”

  Aspen moved forward, sending small ripples through the water between them. “Then we must be the worst of enemies.”

  De’s throat dried up as he pulled her to him beneath the water.

  “I cannot seem to get enough of you,” he murmured, pulling her forward by the back of her neck. He leaned down and kissed her softly, pulling her tight by the waist beneath the surface.

  Desire awakened eagerly inside and De kissed back harder, sucking in his bottom lip and biting it lightly. She felt him smile against her mouth before pulling away a few centimeters.

  So he wanted her to work for it? She snapped her teeth at his mouth as he pulled further back, keeping just out of reach, even holding her back by the waist.

  “You big tease!” she said, splashing him again.

  He growled low in his throat and raised his eyebrows in challenge.

  “I shouldn’t even let you kiss me,” she said. “If it upset you so much to hear Brett call me your girlfriend.”

  Wow. She hadn’t planned on saying that. What was she thinking? She was acting like a teenager.

  Aspen tightened his hold as she squirmed, trying to escape the embarrassment of the situation. “I do not have girlfriends. I have a pride. And I would gladly accept you as part of the pride, little witch, if that is what you choose.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked and the struggling ceased. “You mean like a lioness? But I’m human – er, I mean a witch.”

  “It means you’d have to share me with others,” he said, tipping her chin up to look him in the eyes again.

  “Others? You mean you’re already… you have a… a… wife?” De felt a little sick.

  “I have two mates so far. You would be my third, but perhaps my favorite.” He pulled her close again, pressing his body to hers so that she felt every slippery ridge of muscle beneath the water. His hands slid down to cup her bottom and lift, pulling her legs up and around his sides.

  “Now just a minute,” she said, heart thrumming with a horrible mess of both desire and disgust. “I am not a polygamist or a cheater. I am a one-man kind of girl.”

  “Good. I am the jealous type,” Aspen said, covering her protests with his delicious mouth and creeping his fingers down along and underneath her beneath the water.

  For a minute, De’s head filled with only the scent and feel of Aspen and everything else was forgotten. Then the picture of a proud lioness appeared in her mind, and she pushed him away.

  “I can’t!” she said. “Who are these other women? Are they human?”

  Aspen chuckled. “They are both full lions. I have not had a woman in human form in some time. I find the relationship part difficult. But you are irresistible, little witch.”

  He stalked forward in the water with such heat in his eyes that she nearly melted on the spot. If he touched her again, she’d never be able to resist him. So De dove beneath the surface of the pond and pushed off toward the other side. She needed some time to cool down and think straight.

  As she cut the surface with her hands, she felt something catch her ankles and tug her back down beneath. She flipped around, hair fanned out in suspended tendrils all around her, expecting to find Aspen playing a game. But it wasn’t Aspen who held her ankles, it w
as a girl with the tail of a fish and the torso of a well-endowed woman. A mermaid, she guessed, only this one had a hideous flat face with circular eyes without lids and scales and gills instead of hair.

  De opened her mouth to scream and nearly choked on a lungful of water. She kicked and scrabbled at the mermaid’s grip with her own hands, but the mermaid smiled a horrible smile and dragged her further down toward the bottom of the pool.

  De’s lungs burned with desperation for air, and her head felt foggy. She had to get to the surface, but it was so far away now even if she could get away.

  She wriggled and writhed. She pulled and tugged. She scraped at the bottom, sending a cloud of sediment into the water between them. Finally, she could hold her breath no longer and she let the water in, fighting to find the air that wasn’t there.

  If only I had real magic, De thought as her vision turned black at the edges and her chest felt like it was filled with bricks. Air, air, air… Her desperate arms slowed their clawing motions and she floated still in the water. Her last sight was that of Aspen’s frightened face rushing toward her, yet still too far away.

  Then she sucked in a full breath, gulping it in like she’d been in the desert for a year with no water. She blinked and her sight came back in time to watch Aspen choke the mermaid from behind with his arm around her neck. His face was ferocious, the muscles in his arm clenched so tight she could see the tendons raised along the length of it.

  The mermaid’s eyes bulged and became still. Aspen let go of her and she floated back, no longer moving.

  When his eyes met De’s, he shook his head in disbelief. His mouth moved and bubbles shot out with some sort of exclamation as he rushed forward and pulled her into his arms. De let him kick to the surface with his powerful legs until they broke through into the warm night air.

  Aspen’s fingers explored De’s face, as he searched to make sure she was truly alive.

  “I think it was magic,” De whispered.

  There was no stopping Aspen’s kisses as he devoured her mouth with his. “You’re alive,” he said finally, coming up for air.

  De nodded, sucking in her swollen lip. “You killed her,” she said.

  “I thought she’d killed you. I will protect you, little witch. I’ve bonded with you, like it or not. But I will always respect your decisions.” He pulled her close again, entangling her legs with his and slipping his hands down over her back and bottom.

  God help her, she couldn’t resist him either. It wasn’t like he was cheating on a human wife. They were lionesses. They would deal.

  She threw her arms around his neck and put a finger on his lips as she let herself slip slowly beneath the water again. She felt her way along every inch of his body from toes on upward until her head broke the surface again.

  Aspen’s head was thrown back in ecstasy, his throat bared.

  De stood, smoothing her palms across his chest as he met her mouth, hungrier than ever.

  They spun around in the water, exploring each other’s bodies with an abandon De had never felt before. She knew every millimeter of him intimately and he her.

  “Float on your back,” Aspen said through heavy breaths.

  De felt more like jumping him, but she did as he asked and lay back on the water, weightless, eyes closed.

  Aspen ran one finger down between her breasts and past her navel, causing goose bumps to rise all over her body. She shivered with anticipation as he trailed lower and lower, taking an uneven path toward her pleasure center.

  “Relax, little one,” he whispered. “If you tense up, you won’t be able to float.”

  It was harder than De could believe when she felt his head pressed between her legs. She gasped, trying to relax through the ripples of pleasure as he explored her sex with his tongue and mouth.

  De’s back arched as he finally entered her, but he supported her at the waist so she wouldn’t dip below the surface. It was like doing it in the air. The only thing in existence was Aspen, and she didn’t know where she began and he ended.

  He moved slowly at first, driving her crazy with desire and the overwhelming sensations that traveled through her body. Aspen pushed inside of her, as deep as he could, and moaned with pleasure before speeding up his thrusts to a final crescendo of pure rapture.

  They both sunk beneath the water, then surfaced again, catching their breath.

  “You’re incredible,” she said, wrapping herself around him again and laying her head against his chest. The pond was lit only by the multitude of stars and the half moon that hung above them in the sky.

  “I know. You are a very lucky witch,” Aspen said, making her stand up straight, mouth open. But he was chuckling softly at her.

  She smacked his chest playfully. “You’re the lucky one.”

  “So I am.” He pulled her into his arms and lifted her up to carry out of the pond. “I believe we should go back and check on our friend. It’s been some time.”

  “No need,” said Brett from the edge of the wood.

  De shrieked as Aspen dropped her to her feet and stepped in front of her protectively.

  “What?” Brett leaned against a tree, casually. “You told me to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. I’d say what you two did qualifies.”

  De shoved the tunic over her wet body, barely taking time to note that her magic boots were completely dry. “You pig!” she said, peeking out from behind Aspen’s large frame.

  “No. Robot is closer, but not quite right either.” Brett stood tall and stretched before tossing a pair of pants to Aspen. “Please do us a favor and cover that up.”

  Aspen caught them but growled in response.

  “Down, Kitty. I came over here to warn you that I saw some ravens circling this area. I think they were communicating with one of the witch’s spies. But when I got here, I noticed the dead mermaid floating on the other side of the lagoon, figured it was the spy, and well, you two were busy celebrating your victory. I didn’t think you wanted to be interrupted.”

  Brett winked at De and she dove back behind Aspen, tugging at her tunic.

  “You will never disrespect my lover like that again,” Aspen said, shoving Brett in the shoulder.

  “Hey now.” Brett put up two hands in a gesture of peace. “No harm done. No disrespect intended. I really did see ravens and wanted to warn you.”

  “So ravens work for the WWW?” De asked, trying to move past the whole embarrassing incident.

  “Yes. She speaks many animal languages, including feline, I believe,” Brett said, smiling at Aspen.

  “What exactly are you insinuating?” Aspen asked, moving into Brett’s personal space.

  “Nothing at all!” Brett stepped back. “Just making conversation. The tent’s all set up. I’ll stand guard outside, and I promise not to peek if I hear any interesting noises.” He wiggled his silver eyebrows at De.

  But De was confident they were through doing that for the night. And probably for the rest of the trip to the Emerald City. As much as she wanted Aspen, she hated the idea that someone was watching, and she wasn’t going to risk it with Brett close by.

  Chapter 6

  “The witch wants me dead,” De said the following morning as they packed up camp. The idea hadn’t fully sunk in the night before because she’d been distracted, but it was hitting full force now.

  Aspen glanced at her, face filled with worry and something else she couldn’t quite put a finger on. Was it guilt? It wasn’t his fault any of this happened, and she’d have to tell him that the next time they had a private moment.

  “She wants something from you. Maybe death.” Brett said, tossing her an apple from the supplies Aspen had taken from the Gnome’s barn.

  She took a bite and walked on, being sure to stay close to Aspen.

  “It matters not,” Aspen said, confidently. “She will never get the chance to retrieve or kill you.”

  De smiled. Her insides heated up when he talked like that.

  “How fa
r to the EC?” Brett whined. “I’m starting to rust from all the humidity.”

  De thought she caught Aspen roll his eyes. “Not far. In fact, if we cut through the poppy fields, we can reach it by tonight. I hadn’t considered it before, but as they’re all dead, I wouldn’t worry about their magic. Besides, we have the little witch to protect us.”

  “I wish you’d call me De. Or Delilah,” she said, taking his hand.

  Aspen paused for a moment, surprised, but then continued on as though nothing had happened.

  “De-lightful name,” Brett said. “De-licious. De-lectable.”

  “De-ad,” Aspen said over his shoulder. “If you say one more.”

  Brett made a zipping motion over his mouth and skipped forward.

  The day grew hotter as they crossed the poppy fields. There were no trees to shield them from the sun, and De’s shoulders burned from it. The flowers must have been beautiful once, but now they were no more than brown weeds, lying crushed on the yellowed ground.

  In the distance, De could make out the distinctive golden bricks of the path she’d first walked escaping from the edge of a tangled forest. She shivered. How had she ever thought that place would be okay to travel through?

  They climbed toward the top of a hill as sweat beaded on De’s hairline. She needed to bathe again. Then she saw what had to be the Emerald City.

  It rose from the ground like a giant green crystal formation, shining in the sun. The mere sight of it brought a sense of excitement to De, who had no idea what to expect.

  “I see it!” she said.

  Aspen squeezed her hand in response.

  “I see something else,” Brett said, pointing toward the woods and the brick road. “Ravens and monkeys by the looks of it. And I don’t think we can make it to the force field in time.”

  “Force field?” De asked as Aspen’s grip tightened.

  “Run!” he shouted over her and the three of them raced down the hill toward the city.

  De couldn’t help glancing back toward the woods. What looked like a storm moved toward them at an angle. If they weren’t fast enough, they’d be intercepted before they reached the outskirts of the crystalline city. She slipped from Aspen’s grasp and pumped her legs harder, but she was already slowing and the pain in her side stole the breath from her body.