She didn't care. It wouldn't matter if her life force were extinguished. She could feel the beat of his heart, hear the rasp of his breath, touch the warm vitality of his body and that was all she'd dreamed of since her girlhood vision.
It had been too late, even then, to turn her back on her destiny. Even if she'd wanted to.
"You'll regret this.” He dragged his hands from her body and cupped her face. “We both will."
Despite the heat his touch evoked, a chill snaked along her spine. She had been here before, in his arms, and tried to reason with him. Deep in her memories, the dream stirred, and she recalled with searing clarity the first time she'd ever seen Ben's face.
He'd come to her in a dream, a vision, as her grandmother had predicted. Dark and dangerous, offering her the chance of a love beyond all her kind could imagine. And she'd welcomed him with open arms, a trusting heart, and eager body.
But that had been her fantasy. An elusive shimmer between life and death, a tantalizing taste of what might be, if only she could find him in the physical world.
In her vision, while still a young girl, Ben left her. And then, countless years later, in the real world, he vanished from her life.
This time, there would be no escape for either of them.
"I'm damned already.” She ripped his scarlet shirt, heedless of the perishing wind that tore at his naked chest. “Why not be damned together, Ben? Isn't that what you really want, beneath your civilized words of protest?"
He laughed, a deep resonant laugh that echoed along the lonely beach and vibrated against every sensitised nerve in her body. Head flung back, his dark hair whipped in the breeze and Elyesha caught her breath at his stark, terrifying beauty. Did she really imagine she could control this man? She'd forgotten the depth of his archaic power, the potency of his own mysterious magic and for one eternal moment she trembled on the edge of doubt.
And then he looked at her, and her heart thundered against her ribs in urgent denial. She couldn't live without Ben—had no desire to live without him. But was she strong enough deep in her soul to survive by his side?
She saw his eyes glitter from the pale gleam of the moon, saw the flash of his white teeth as he curled his lips in a mockery of a smile. Terror gripped her as lethal as acid. Could he see that thread of doubt, had he seen her fear all along? Was that the reason he'd left her to die a lingering mortal death?
"Yes.” The word swirled around her head, and for one trembling moment she wondered if Ben could read her mind. It wouldn't surprise her—nothing Ben did could surprise her—but if he knew her fear she would lose him forever.
He slid her cloak over her shoulders, and she gasped as fingers of ice snaked into the heart of her being. He drew her into his embrace, and the heat of his body protected her from the elements even as cold fear clawed at her mind.
"I'm damned for all eternity for loving you,” he said, his voice raw with need. “And yes, I want you by my side to share the guilt of my cursed existence. But my life isn't your life, Elyesha. You need a daughter to live, and our combined power isn't strong enough to grant you that wish.” His lips caressed her hair, and she shuddered in his arms as her fear melted beneath his touch.
"It's too late,” she whispered. “I'm too old to conceive my child now, Ben."
His laugh rumbled in his chest, a mirthless laugh that might have hurt her once, long ago. “Too old?” His voice was mocking, and yet his arms tightened around her as if afraid she might pull away. “Look at yourself, Elyesha. You could have a dozen daughters if you wanted."
She struggled against his arms, pushed her hands against his naked chest, stared up into his angry eyes. “Look at me, Ben. And tell me what you see."
* * * *
Fury pumped through his body as he glared at the woman in his arms. She was as beautiful now as she had been on the day she'd first exploded into his existence as a young, innocent girl. He couldn't remember, now, how long ago that had been.
"I see a woman in the prime of her life,” he told her and every fiber of his being wanted to sling her aside. Had she no idea how he hated what he was? How he wished he could give her what her heart most desired? “A woman who risks destroying her destiny through lust."
He saw her eyes fill with pain. “You are my destiny, Ben. Do you really think I had a choice in the man I loved? My grandmother tried to warn me once she discovered the truth of my vision, but it was no use. My heart was yours before we even met."
"Foolish prophecies. You know I have no time for them.” And yet he believed. He always had, for his own bloodline was even more ancient than Elyesha's, even more intimate in the ways of the old gods than her foremothers were. “Your vision never promised a happy ending, did it?"
"How could it? All it ever promised was endless love."
"All things end.” His voice was bitter with the knowledge of how bleak his existence would be when Elyesha had gone from this world. He thrust the thought back to hell because Elyesha was here with him now, and now was all that could matter.
"Not always.” Her voice was soft, coaxing, and her fingers caressed his taut cock. Could it really matter if he took her one last time? “It doesn't have to end tonight. You know this. Will you deny me yet again?"
His fingers tangled in her hair, and he was consumed by the violent wave of love and hate that washed over him. Elyesha drove him to the edge of sanity and that was why he'd left her. And yet, in her arms, he found the only peace he'd ever known.
"You know I must.” He ground out the words against her soft cheek, and his love encompassed the hate, denied the hunger that gnawed his heart, and smothered the deep yearning that begged him to take what she so willingly offered.
"Do you love me?” She pulled back and he stared into the face that had haunted his waking dreams for years without number. The face he'd grown to love before the girl had ever entered his world. How could he laugh at her prophecy, when he'd shared it with her?
"You know I do.” There was no point denying something they both knew. He'd left her because it was the only way to save her. But instead of accepting his decision, she had used her mystical arts to follow him to the ends of the earth. Just as she'd promised. And despite everything, deep in his tortured soul, he always knew she would find him. Had wanted her to find him. But as the years flowed by, his conviction had wavered.
But never his love. Ah, gods no, never his love for this enticing witch. And tonight, when his guard was down, she'd found him and despite his words he knew he never wanted to face another night without her by his side.
She abandoned his throbbing cock and wound her arms around his neck. With infinite deliberation she crushed her full breasts against his naked chest, and her aroused nipples seared him. “Then forget your principles.” Her whisper, a seductive entreaty, threatened his sanity. His hands slid down her slender back, silk and skin, her feminine curves reminding him of everything he once had lost.
He kissed her neck, drinking in the rapid beat of her pulse, inhaling the sweet scent of her rich blood beneath the fragile barrier of skin. His teeth teased her earlobe, nibbling on the tender flesh, his tongue tormenting the sensitive entrance to her ear. She sighed and trembled in his arms as he molded her against his unyielding desire.
"Stay with me.” He ground out the demand. “But don't ask me for the impossible.” He would never take her freedom. But despite everything, he was still flesh and blood and it would be too easy to give her what she thought she wanted.
"No.” Her denial floated on the breeze, caught him unawares. “If I stay with you this time, it will be as your equal. There's no other way, Ben."
He thrust her from him, gripping her arms with frustrated anger. “You hate my life! How many times did you try to change my destiny—our destiny? And each time you failed. How do you think that made me feel, Elyesha, to know how much it hurt when your magic couldn't change who I am?"
"You wanted that, too. And when we knew that wasn't to be, I was willing to j
oin you on your terms. I knew what I asked. I always have! But this time, there's no going back. It's all or nothing. That's why I had to find you—before it's too late."
His fingers bit into her soft skin, but she flung back her head and returned his glare. Damn this woman for stripping away his defenses, for exposing his vulnerable core, for being the only one in a millennium who had ever touched his cynical heart. “There's nothing you can say to change my mind.” He relaxed his grip but still held her fast, as unwilling to let her go as he was to grant her foolish demand.
Her lips parted as she gasped for breath. Her bewitching eyes glittered in the moonlight and, for one brief moment, he imagined he saw tears.
But that was madness. His Elyesha never cried.
"I'm dying, Ben.” Her soft words rocked him to his foundation and caused him to jerk back in denial.
"No,” he said, and his heart slammed against his chest. It couldn't be true. Her words seared into his brain, and he grappled with the appalling void her death would tear in the fabric of his existence. “You're too young to die—you have the power to hold back Death, Elyesha."
"But not for eternity."
His throat constricted as an unknown terror gripped his vocal chords. A thousand years of wandering the earth hadn't prepared him for this moment, hadn't prepared him for the sweeping abyss that threatened to suck him into its treacherous sphere.
"There must be something you can do.” The words rasped from his throat, as though he spoke an alien tongue. “Or your grandmother...” Elyesha's grandmother, the powerful witch who had tried to destroy him when she'd realized who he was.
When she'd realized what he was.
Elyesha laughed, a sad, wistful laugh, and shook her head. “My grandmother died almost thirty years ago,” she said, and her glossy black hair danced in the bitter wind.
"No.” He couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. “It hasn't been that long—"
"Longer.” She breathed the word and he saw the truth in her eyes. “While you sleep, time still passes in my world, Ben."
He wound her hair around his fist, pressed the silken threads against his face. Life, laughter, and brilliant sunlight exploded against his closed eyes, clawed at his guts, ripped his principles to shreds. He'd always known his Elyesha was mortal, that one day she would die. But that day was in the future, a future he couldn't contemplate.
The future was today.
He flung back his head and roared his anger into the dark, uncaring night. His choice was clear—break his vow and take his love with him or stand by and watch her die.
He dragged her against him, burying his hands in her hair. Her beautiful black hair, which only now he realised was sprinkled with threads of pure silver. “My only love."
She raised her head. “There's never been anyone else for me. Not even after you left. So many wasted years..."
But through all those desolate years, Elyesha survived somewhere in the world. He couldn't hold her, but he could dream of her and imagine she'd found some measure of happiness with a man who could fulfil her destiny.
But her destiny wasn't his to shape. It was theirs to share.
"I promised I would never damn you,” he said, his hands cradling her head, his eyes devouring her beloved face. The face of an angel still, despite the tracings of age and pain he now discerned. “And as the years passed, it became harder to honor my vow. That's why I left, Elyesha. Because I was afraid that one night I'd drag you into my twilight existence."
"Not drag.” Her voice was a whisper. “I come willingly. I would have always come willingly."
His thumbs caressed her chilled skin. “Never to walk in the sun again ... to be reviled by your loved ones..."
"You are my sun.” She smiled at him then, a haunting smile that tore at what remained of his heart. “And my loved ones are gone from this earth. I'm the last of my line, Ben. I choose to spend eternity with you, but only you can invite me in."
* * * *
She watched the agony wreath his features and her soul contracted for the pain he suffered. Her beloved Ben, with his chivalrous heart, forever cursed by the kiss of the damned and the demons let loose in his blood. Despised and feared by her kin, but they hadn't known the man beneath the mask.
"There will be no going back.” His breath was hot against her neck, his lips gentle, his teeth sharp. “Stop me now, if you must, or embrace my way of life forever."
She wound her arms around his strong, vital body and her heart hammered against her ribs. “This is what I want,” she whispered and with a low growl in the back of his throat he ripped the bodice from her breasts, his veneer of civilized restraint finally abandoned.
He cupped her breast and she pressed into him, gasping with pleasure as he rolled her swollen nipple between finger and thumb, causing unbearable need to radiate throughout her body. The chill of the night faded as Ben lowered his dark head and took her breast into his hot mouth, suckling her as though ravenous, the tips of his razor sharp fangs grazing the sensitized flesh around her areole.
Elyesha speared her fingers through his luxuriant hair and flung back her head, eyes glazing at the myriad stars sprinkled across the moonlit sky. His fangs pierced her breast, pleasure and pain flooding her senses, and then his tongue lapped hungrily at the warm blood seeping from her miniscule wounds.
When he made to rise, she held him firm, pressing his head against her aching breast. “Bite me,” she commanded, her voice husky with desire. “Suck my blood, Ben. Take me now."
He laughed against her flushed flesh, but lifted his face to hers all the same. “Patience,” he said, the wild flame in his eyes belying his word. And then his mouth claimed hers, his tongue parting her lips in a quest to enter, and she opened up for him, welcoming his frenzied invasion. Tongue duelled tongue, and the coppery taste of her own blood inflamed her.
Elyesha's fingernails clawed down his chest, across his taut stomach, and dragged his leather pants over his lean hips. She wanted him naked against her, hot flesh against hot flesh, tearing her mouth from his as she slithered down the length of his body.
With a growl of possession, Ben hauled her back into his arms, one hand cradling the back of her neck to ensure she couldn't escape. His other hand roved over her aching breasts, cupping their heavy weight before rolling her nipples between his fingers until Elyesha moaned desperately within his searching mouth.
His hand dipped lower, tugging the silken material of her ruined gown until it whispered over her legs to pool at her feet. She kicked free and caressed her naked body against him, rotating her hips until her swollen clit pressed snugly against the inside of his thigh.
His fangs pierced her tongue and she hovered on the precipice between agony and ecstasy, unable to move, unable to speak. Ben's hold around her neck tightened, as he thrust his knee between her legs, forcing them apart, and her clit throbbed with anguished denial.
Ben smiled against her lips, but his fangs sank deeper, and Elyesha's breath caught in her throat as she felt him suck on the tip of her tongue. As his tongue probed her captive mouth, his hand cupped her aching sex and she arched into him, desperate for more intimate contact.
His finger stroked her wet clit, teasing, caressing, before sliding within her. Her vagina convulsed, drawing him further in. Only Ben could alleviate the aching chasm that her lonely soul and shattered heart had become.
His pant of desire filled her mouth, and at last his fangs released her. She thrust her throbbing tongue between his lips, mimicking the erotic action of his finger buried within her pussy, rocking herself against him, gasping her own spiralling desire against his teeth.
And then, without warning, he hooked his finger within her grasping pussy finding her magical spot, and Elyesha's entire body pulsed with a renewed wave of exquisite sensation.
Ben growled deep in his throat, and the vibrations hummed along Elyesha's quivering flesh. As her clit throbbed and her cunt contracted, Ben released her neck and with superlative s
peed slipped both hands beneath her cloak. Within a blink of infinity, his hands molded the curve of her bottom, hoisting her up with inhuman strength.
Elyesha wrapped her legs around his hips and wound her arms around his shoulders. His strength inflamed her and as he plunged into her she flung back her head, screaming her pleasure into the wintry, salt tinged night.
He thrust into her, again and again, and she greedily sucked him deep within her body. Each stroke of his shaft against her clit intensified her orgasm as her vaginal muscles clenched with heavenly passion.
This was why she had searched eternity for him.
His sharp teeth grazed her neck, hot breath sending shudders of anticipation racing along every nerve ending. As his fangs pierced her skin, another violent orgasm shattered through her and hot juices flooded her pussy, quivering muscles contracted around his thrusting shaft.
As he sank deep into her neck, throbbing agony seared deeper into her vein. The pain was pleasure; the pleasure was dark, demanding. All encompassing, obliterating the world of men and all its earthly prejudices.
Into the heat of her blood, Ben roared with his mind, his heart, his tortured soul as his orgasm exploded deep within her pulsating cunt. And intertwined with his every thought, love shimmered. Love for her, infinite and eternal, as necessary to his existence as the night itself. She could feel his cock pumping at the neck of her womb; could feel his fangs embedded within her neck, searching out her secrets, her desires. Her deepest fears.
"Ben.” Her cry was soundless as she surrendered her mortality to the man she loved. Blood and tears, life and death, nothing mattered as her heart joined with her lover's.
An amber sunset played in her mind, copper fingers reflecting in the ocean as her mortal ravages of age and disease flowed away. Her life-blood...
The darkness claimed her, wrapping her in soft velvet that soothed her trembling limbs and calmed her fevered mind. So peaceful, so quiet ... so lonely. But she had paid Hecate's price of loneliness and mortal pain for years without number—surely the goddess wouldn't desert her now, not when her heart's desire was so tantalizingly within reach?
Foretaste of Forever Page 3
