Stocking Stuffer: Ice Maiden

by Alecia Monaco

  “Have you a name, beautiful creature?”

  “Silver,” she whispered. “I knew my name, just as I have knowledge of your world that seems to come with the packaging.” She gestured to her loosely garbed form with a laugh.

  “And what lovely packaging it is.” His lips formed a smile. “My name is Sebastian… Sebastian Hale.”

  “Sebastian.” She lowered her eyelashes. “I belong to you now.”

  “You don’t belong to anyone but yourself, and that’s final.” His brow crinkled. “But I’ll take care of you for as long as you need me. It’s the least I can do, since I brought you into this world… in a manner of speaking.”

  “How long do I have?” Her insides went cold. Would she be thrown back into the fathomless void as quickly as she’d arrived?

  “What do you mean?” He brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ve never seen hair this color… it’s like spun silver.”

  His compliments threatened to distract her from her line of questions, but she forced herself to follow through. “I mean, how long will I last, in this form?”

  His face went ashen, and he backed away. “All of my ice creations melt when I fall to the dawn.”

  What… “What do you mean by fall to the dawn?”

  “Silver,” he let out a deep sigh, “I’m a vampire. I have the power to conjure creations made from ice. I created you because tonight is the Holy Winter Solstice, as a gift for the other vampires.” His voice drifted off. “You were so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself. I smoothed back your hair and nicked my hand on a shard of your ice.” He averted his gaze. “My vampiric blood gave you life. How long that life lasts…” He shook his head. “It’s anyone’s guess.”

  She digested this news in silence. The dawn could roll in over the horizon, ending this long night and with it, her life. She might only have a few precious hours to spend in flesh and blood form before turning into soul vapor once again.

  She had no doubts about how she wanted to spend those hours. If she had to depart this plane again, she knew exactly what experience she wanted to take with her into the abyss.

  “We have until dawn,” she said, reaching for the vampire at her side. “The only thing I want is for you to make love to me until I melt, or the sun rises… whichever comes first.”

  He flashed a grin at her. “You’ll come first. And second… and as many times as I can deliver.”

  What more could a newborn woman ask for?

  Chapter 4

  The Hotel Ruthven was a short walk from Crimson Hungers. Sebastian took Silver by the hand and led the way.

  “The trees in all the windows… somehow, I know it’s the Christmas season.” She looked up at him with the perfectly trusting gaze she’d worn since she’d drawn her first breath.

  “I think I must’ve transmitted some of my memories and mental inventory to you when you got my blood.” He shook his head, marveling at the events of the last hour. He should rally his usual common sense and question this entire thing, pick it apart and dissect it. But he didn’t want to. All he wanted was to devour the woman who held so tightly onto his hand.

  What the hell had come over him? He was a skeptic by nature, and ice maidens coming to life out of the blue should’ve raised every possible red flag. Why couldn’t he bring himself to question it?

  Maybe because you want to believe, for once. He swallowed hard. You need this as much as she does… possibly more.

  To hell with speculating about it.

  “Did you have any idea your blood could do that?” She squeezed his hand for emphasis in a way that made a suspicious lump form in his throat.

  “No, but vampire blood is such a potent substance, even I’m surprised by its powers at times.” He glanced down at the sidewalk and noticed her bare feet. “You can’t walk outside without any shoes!”

  She stopped in her tracks. “I’m doing it, aren’t I?”

  He waved her words away. “I mean, you shouldn’t be doing it. Your feet are going to turn blue.”

  She laughed. “Sebastian… I was made from ice!”

  She had a point. Still… “I’m not letting you get cold feet on my watch.” Without another word, he swept her up in his arms.

  “You can’t carry me all the way to the hotel!”

  He grinned. “I’m doing it, aren’t I?”

  * * *

  “This room is beautiful.” Silver settled onto the royal purple bedspread with a contented sigh. “You actually live here?”

  “This hotel caters to the local vampire community, as well as vampires traveling through Houston.” He crossed the room to the mini bar. “Since FM 1960 became the main drag of the vampire district, we get a lot of out of town vamps passing through, looking for lodging.” He pulled a bottle of Vlad’s synthetic blood from the mini fridge and set it in the warmer on top of the bar. “This place is reinforced with high security, black out curtains, and coffin vaults in every room.” He reached back into the fridge and took out a chilled Perrier for her.

  “And you… sleep in the coffin.” Her gaze wandered to the folding doors on the opposite side of the room.

  “Rarely.” He grinned. The timer on the warmer dinged, and he helped himself to a warm draught of Ginger Spiced O Positive. “I prefer the bed.”

  His words took on unexpected weight. She stroked her palm over the bedspread and looked at him in a way that made his blood pump harder.

  She took the Perrier he offered her and sipped from it. “This is good.” She shot him a flirty glance. “Is everything you offer this enjoyable?”

  “Wait and see.” He sat down beside her. “Are you sure this is how you want to spend this night? We could do something else… we could go get a Christmas tree and decorate it. I could make it snow…”

  She held up a hand to silence him. “I’m a woman with no past and no future. I don’t want Christmas trees and snow. I want to know what it’s like to be touched… to be wanted…” Her voice broke.

  “You are wanted.” He took the bottle from her hands and set it on the bedside table. “I want you, in a way I didn’t know was possible for me anymore.” He cradled her face in his hands. “I know this is crazy. We don’t even know each other… you don’t even know yourself. But it’s as if I’ve been the living dead for years now. When you came to life tonight, I think you brought me back to life along with you.”

  Her lips were dangerously close to his, full and pink against the snowy whiteness of her skin. He had only to move a few inches to taste her…

  “Finish bringing me to life.” She edged closer to him. “Make love to me. Make me feel like a real woman, not a piece of ice.”

  Chapter 5

  Silver held her breath, waiting to see what happened next. She knew, theoretically, what making love entailed… thanks to Sebastian’s blood. But the actual experience was an unexplored mystery, waiting to unfold beneath the hands that held her so competently.

  “You’ve never done this before.” He didn’t make it a question.

  “Haven’t you done it enough for both of us?” She reached for the buttons of his ivory colored shirt, sliding her hands inside the open collar. His skin was smooth to the touch, and it warmed beneath her fingers, as if she’d somehow coaxed his vampiric blood closer to the surface.

  “I’ve had some practice, yes.” He closed his eyes, his expression somewhere between pleasure and pain.

  “Then put it to good use on me.” She opened another button.

  “If you keep this up, I may have a hard time believing your amateur status.” He watched her through a heavy lidded gaze.

  She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing with a rush of feminine power. “What’s that old saying, fake it ’til you make it?”

  “You must’ve pulled that one from the way-back vault of my brain.” He scowled at her. “And there will be no faking it tonight.”

  “Somehow, I don’t see that being a problem.” She finished unbuttoning his shirt and opened it, revealing a
rock hard chest and rippling abs bisected by a thin line of golden hair.

  She might’ve begun her life as a sculpture, but Sebastian was the true work of art.

  He hissed a breath when she ran her hands over his bare torso, drinking in the feel of his skin, kneading the hard muscles beneath it.

  “You’re the first male body I’ve had access to.” She pressed her hands against his shoulders, easing him back onto the bed.

  “I’d better be the last, too,” he growled.

  “Are you saying you don’t want a no-strings affair?” She planted one knee on either side of his hips and settled in on top of him, feeling his hardness between her legs, even through the thick denim of his jeans.

  “Where are you getting these phrases?” He groaned, arching his hips to rub his erection against her. “Silver…”

  “Yes?” She reached down and grasped his belt buckle in her hands.

  “You’re not wearing any panties.” His eyes opened and stared at her with a wild heat glowing in their green depths.

  “I’m only wearing what you created for me,” she reminded him, unbuckling his belt.

  “Then you’re not wearing a bra, either.” He placed his hands on her bare thighs as she pulled his belt through the loops of his jeans with a sound like a whip lashing.

  “Nope.” She pulled down the shoulder straps of her loose shift to confirm.

  He let out a curse as his gaze fastened on her breasts. “It’s going to be very bad form if I come before I even get my pants off.”

  “Then I’ll have to make sure you don’t.” She reached for his fly, tugging the zipper down in a single stroke.

  “My God in Heaven, why didn’t I dream you up sooner?” He helped her to divest him of the rest of his clothing.

  “Because it wasn’t the right time before.” She watched him as he unveiled his body to her. “Tonight was the night we were destined to meet.”

  “How do you know that?” He joined her on the bed again, his cock thick and ready.

  “The same way I know my name and endless corny phrases.” She shrugged. “I just know.”

  “Far be it from me to question such certainty.” He leaned back against the pillows and pulled her on top of him. “Let me see you without the dress.”

  She slid it lower and he helped to free her of it, leaving her naked, her unclothed skin against his.

  “If Earth is this wonderful, what enticement could Heaven possibly hold?” She knelt above him, letting her nipples graze his chest.

  “Let me show you.” With that, he turned her over onto her back, leaving her a helpless slave to his ministrations.

  Sebastian looked down at the woman he’d created. Her silver hair glinted like a precious metal against the pillow. Her skin was as pale as the snow he’d promised to conjure, and her silver gaze held him captive.

  He’d give her a night to remember. If he rose the next evening to find her gone…

  He banished that thought from his mind, lowering his head until his lips brushed against hers. In that instant, he knew everything else had been a mere prelude to that kiss. Every question and every answer seemed to reside in the space where his lips met hers.

  She let out a mewing sound. Spurred on, he slid his tongue along the seam of her lips. She opened for him, inviting him into the wet cave of her mouth.

  He explored her with his tongue, twining his with hers in a taste of what was to come. He thrust it deeper into her mouth, mating his tongue to hers.

  She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist and leaving no doubt that she was soaking wet at the juncture of her thighs. His cock jerked, spurting a thin stream of pre-come at the thought of sliding inside that hot wet tightness.

  She moved beneath him, her hardened nipples abrading his chest. As much as he enjoyed the pleasures of her lips and tongue, her breasts were too much of an enticement for him to ignore.

  He tore himself from her lips, leaving her to make momentary sounds of protest. But when his lips fastened around one taut nipple, her protests turned into moans of bliss.

  She threaded her fingers through his hair, holding him in place as he sucked on the tight peak, flicking the tip of it with his tongue, and then circling it, enticing it to pebbled hardness. He scraped his fangs gently against the swollen point, bringing a gush of liquid heat from her sex.

  He moved to the other breast, plying the nipple with his lips while his hand stroked her. She undulated her hips beneath him, making his cock swell to a painful length.

  Releasing her nipple with a wet pop, he lifted his face until his gaze met hers. “Let me go down on you.”

  She shook her head, uncomprehending, her silver eyes dilated with desire.

  “Let me get between your legs and lick you, suck you, taste you…” He moved down her body, his tongue leaving a wet trail in his wake. “Let me make you come with my mouth.”

  She answered with a fractured moan, which he took as agreement.

  He reached her mound, kissing it chastely before focusing on her slick folds. A silvery thatch came to a point above her cleft, and her outer lips were pink and swollen.

  He knelt between her legs, parting her with his fingers to reveal the swollen bud of her clitoris. Licking his lips like a man eyeing a feast, he lowered his head.

  When his tongue glided down the furrows of her sex, she let out a feral cry. He went lower, his tongue delving into her dripping core, lapping at her honeyed sweetness.

  Her legs trembled, and he braced himself, placing his hands on her inner thighs. Spreading her legs further apart gave him better access to the center of her desire.

  He let his tongue slide upwards, from her core to her clit, rubbing his fangs against it until she shuddered beneath him. He stroked the tiny bud with his tongue, feeling her tighten, knowing that her orgasm was close.

  He wanted her to come before he put his cock inside her, knowing it would be easier if an orgasm had relaxed her inner muscles before penetration. Sliding one finger into her tight channel, he pulled her clit into his mouth and sucked it the way he’d sucked her nipples.

  She thrust her hips up and down, her core contracting around his finger. He added a second finger, finding the sweet spot on the upper wall of her sex and rubbing it in time with his lips drawing on her clit.

  An expression of near panic crossed her face, and then she came, her vagina spasming around his fingers, her clit shuddering beneath his tongue. She thrashed beneath him, her entire body riding the crest of her release.

  “I thought there was more…” she panted. “You inside me… thrusting… all that jazz.”

  “There is.” He rose up on his knees and wrapped his hand around the base of his cock.

  “Let’s get this show on the road.” She spread her legs further, giving him a view that would’ve made him harder than marble if he wasn’t already.

  He aimed his cock at her still-trembling core, probing her entrance with the pre-come soaked head. “Just relax, Silver. Let me in.”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m ready.”

  “You certainly are.” He eased the head in, moaning a curse when her heat closed around the tip of his cock like a warm and waiting mouth.

  She reached between her legs, stroking the length of him not yet inside her. “I want all of this in me.” She eased her hips forward an inch, taking him a fraction deeper. “I want to know how it feels when you come.”

  “I don’t think you’ll have to wait long for that one.” He pushed her thighs further apart and inched deeper into her.

  “And this…” Her fingers glided from his cock to her clit. “When you touch me here, it feels so good.” She circled her bud with her fingertips, rubbing the tiny shaft with her clitoral hood.

  Unable to hold back any longer, he plunged the rest of the way into her, until he was seated balls deep in her quivering channel. “Touch yourself,” he panted, sliding almost all the way out, until only the head remained in he
r tight heat. “Touch yourself while I fuck you.”

  “Like this?” She rubbed her clit with one hand, her voice trailing off into a shattered cry of pleasure.

  “Like that.” He slid back into her, feeling her inner walls in painful detail. “Touch your nipples.”

  Keeping one hand firmly fastened to her twitching clit, she used the other hand to squeeze the soft globe of her breast before rolling the nipple between her fingers.

  “You’re going to make me come too soon.” He pumped his hips into her, feeling her tightening around him with every stroke.

  She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she rubbed her clit with furious strokes, sending her body into another bone-shattering orgasm.

  He slammed into her, meeting her cervix with each powerful thrust. He couldn’t wait anymore, couldn’t hold back. His sacs tightened, and he let out a painful groan as he reached orgasm. He could feel his come shooting out, filling her even as his final frenzied thrusts continued.

  “Sebastian.” She reached for him, pulling him down on top of her. “If that’s sex, we need to have it again, as soon as possible.”

  He lay against her, his head cradled on her breasts. Even then, he could feel his cock getting hard again. “Is now too soon?” He raised his head and met her gaze.

  Her teasing smile was the only answer he needed.

  Chapter 6

  “I didn’t get to make you come with my mouth.” Silver stroked the gorgeous face above hers.

  “Is that something you’d like to try?” He put her hand on his cock, still slick with the fluids of their lovemaking.

  “Can we?” She stroked her hand slowly up and down his shaft, marveling at the hardness of him.

  “Let’s try something.” He rolled off of her. “Put your head down at the foot of the bed.”

  She obliged, until their bodies were perfectly aligned, his head at her feet and vice versa.

  “Now…” He arranged himself, curling up so that he was at eye level with her sex. “Rest your thigh on my shoulder.”