by Anya Bast
“Fuck, I can’t take it,” he growled. “I have to taste you.”
He parted her legs and pushed her down, pinning her with strong hands to the floor and making her gasp. If she had wanted to move or get away, there would have been no way she could’ve. Her cunt was spread wide open for him, swollen and aroused with need.
Alejandro blew along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh and over her aroused cunt. Daria shuddered in delicious anticipation. Then Alejandro groaned and lowered his head, pulling her clit between his lips.
Her fingers found his hair and fisted. She watched his dark head bob between her thighs as he dragged his tongue up and down the length of her pussy. Alejandro acted like she was the best thing he’d ever had in his mouth.
He raised dazed eyes to hers. “You taste good. Sticky, hot, sweet heaven. Just like I remember.” He removed one hand from her leg and slid two fingers deep inside her cunt, rasping along her G-spot as he rolled her clit back and forth with his tongue.
Orgasm swelled, receded . . . exploded. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Sweet release poured through her, drenching her cunt and making her spine bow. She gasped his name as it rippled through her. Alejandro licked over her as the waves eased and faded away, like he couldn’t stop tasting her.
“I need more,” she murmured, reaching for him after the waves of ecstasy had passed. “I need your cock inside me, Alejandro. I want you to fuck me.”
Alejandro stared down at her sated pussy with carnal intensity. His fingers traced her labia, now red and swollen from his attentions, and she shivered and closed her eyes. “The process is faster than usual with you for some reason. It’s almost time for it to start.”
“What’s it? What’s going to start?” she murmured.
A tornado began in her mind.
She cried out. He released her and she rolled away from him, pulling herself into a little ball on the floor, not caring that she was half naked, not caring about anything at all beyond the sudden change in her mind and body.
Knowledge slammed into her, like a massive PComp download at the speed of light. Her body seemed to contract and then expand. Colors swirled through her mind, and sensations too numerous to register racked her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and lay panting under the onslaught.
Images from her childhood assaulted her mind’s eye and battered her senses. The rubbery scent of her favorite doll. Her father’s smiling face right before he’d died. The heavy weight of her mother’s heirloom brooch in her hand. The sound of the crowd cheering the new class of Galactic Patrollers on graduation day.
The images faded, and she squeezed her eyes shut and fought the urge to vomit. Now she had the sensation of ascending, faster and faster. Wind ripped at her clothing and at her hair as she sped straight up through darkness with nothing to halt her progress. Even though she knew her body still lay on the floor of the tent, her mind had been launched like a rocket.
Something loomed before her, something tall and wide and shimmering in the black.
Daria screamed and arched her back as she hit it. The barrier shattered with a bright tinkling sound and crystal shards flew out from the impact. Her ascension slowed from the collision and, instinctively, she knew she had to speed it up somehow.
Writhing on the floor of the tent, she clawed out in front of her, groping the air in her search for more momentum. Another shining barrier glimmered up ahead. She knew she had to punch through it.
Panting, Daria used every last reserve she had to increase her velocity. Almost there. She was almost there, but she was so tired, so tired . . . She let her body relax.
“Fight, Daria,” Alejandro whispered in her ear. “Don’t give up. Don’t give up now. Punch through.”
Her eyes flickered opened, then closed again. He was right. She couldn’t give in to the exhaustion now, but it was so hard. She felt like she’d been running in the desert for three hours. She couldn’t take even one . . . more . . . step.
“Remember Julia,” Alejandro whispered.
The name jolted Daria’s body and an image of Julia filled her mind. Julia leaning across the lunchroom table, laughing, her badge glinting in the sunlight and her soft brown eyes crinkling at the edges with amusement. The next flash made Daria gasp—the sight of her friend sprawled on the floor, her eyes unseeing and glazed, the pupils blown.
Julia. She had to fight for her.
Daria sought way down in the recesses of her mind for her will. Her will had always been strong. One last burst of strength that poured pain through her body propelled her to the next barrier at an inching pace. She pounded on the wall until her fists in her mind’s eye were bloodied and ravaged. She yelled and fought and kicked.
Finally, she punched her fist through the crystal barrier. A heartbeat later, it shattered.
The images flipped off like someone shutting down a commview and she went limp. Alejandro’s warm body spooned her from behind and she was grateful for the support.
Apparently, that had been the it.
Her eyes fluttered open. The world looked so strange. She could see everything in minute detail if she concentrated hard enough. If she focused, she could pick out individual fibers in the tan-colored tent wall in front of her. If she concentrated very hard, she could hear each separate grain of sand blowing outside. She winced at the incredibly loud noise of it and ceased to put her attention there.
“Oh, my god,” she breathed.
“Are you okay?” asked Alejandro.
“I-I don’t know,” she panted.
“Are you sleepy?”
“Yes.” In fact, fatigue was starting to engulf her now. Her body relaxed involuntarily into exhaustion and it became difficult to keep her eyes open. Her body demanded rest. No matter the questions she had. No matter what her mind wanted. Darkness enveloped her.
“Did . . . I do it? Did I . . . push through the succubare?” she murmured as she lay on the edge of sleep.
His hand smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “We’ll know when you wake up, querida.” She floated away on the deep, sweet tones of his voice.
4
DARIA roused and opened her eyes, immediately noting that Alejandro had laid her on the inflatable mattress in the center of the room and covered her with a light blanket. He’d dressed her again, too. Her head hurt and she felt weak, like she’d run thirty miles in the heat. She groaned, sat up, and looked around.
And suddenly felt much better.
Alejandro lay beside her, fast asleep. His black jeans were slung low on his hips with the top couple of buttons undone, revealing a little black hair and the jut of one lean hip. He was shirtless and one of his arms was thrown up over his head in a position that defined his biceps.
Smooth muscle rippled over the expanse of his chest and arms. A light dusting of dark hair tapered into a trail that went down his stomach, past the waistband of his jeans.
She really wanted to follow that trail.
Her gaze found the pulse in his throat and lingered there. Hunger started low in her belly and spread out. She imagined peeling his jeans off and stroking his cock to hardness, slipping her lips around his shaft, and rendering Alejandro helpless to her every carnal whim.
She envisioned him rolling her over, forcing her thighs apart and sinking his cock deep inside her, taking her slow at first and then faster and harder. She’d bite his throat as they came together and satisfy all her desires at once.
She stared hard at his pulse and her mouth watered.
Shit. What was wrong with her? Was the Choosing still affecting her? She winced, remembering how she’d acted last night. Man, she’d made a fool out of herself. She’d begged him to fuck her.
God, what he’d done to her! And she’d rolled there on her back, begging him for more.
Even though that radically slutty response seemed to have disappeared, the sight of him still caused her body to respond whether she wanted it to or not.
His dark eyes opened and he stretc
hed like a cat, delineating every luscious muscle from the waist up. Daria looked away, trying to master herself.
“You’re awake,” he murmured. “Do you want sex or blood?”
Both, her mind screamed. Both! She looked back at him and desire tightened her body so hard she had to grip the blanket with both hands to keep from jumping him. Daria couldn’t even form a sentence.
“Do you want blood at all?” he asked.
“God, yes.” The answer poured from her lips before she could stop it.
“Good.” He pushed up on his elbows. “You pushed through the succubare.”
Relief washed through her as she remembered breaking through both the crystal barriers. “Whew. I didn’t want to have to be a whore for the rest of my life to survive.”
Alejandro held her gaze for a moment, a smile playing on his lips. He sat up and moved so close his body heat touched her. “Vampires are still very sexual, Daria. Sometimes we fuck for no reason at all.”
She caught her breath at his proximity and her heart rate sped up.
“You put me through hell last night,” he continued. “You were so tempting. I’m surprised I didn’t give in to you.” His voice was like dark, liquid silk pouring over her skin. It made her shiver.
Daria drew a breath and concentrated on gathering enough strength to push away from him. How was she going to make it through this without letting him burn her?
“This is business, Alejandro. Remember? Business. I’m sorry about last night. I wasn’t myself.”
“I know and that’s why I didn’t take advantage.” He brought his face close to hers. His hot, sweet breath stirred the fine hair around her face. He cupped her cheek in one callused hand and brushed his lips across hers deliberately. It was a gentle tasting, not a taking.
For one wildly insane moment she wished he would take. She wished he would crush her mouth to his and roll her beneath his body.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Today you are yourself. So what’s wrong with mixing a little pleasure with business?” he whispered against her mouth.
Daria inserted one hand in between their bodies and pushed him back . . . hard. She stood, and light-headedness washed over her, causing her to waver. Alejandro caught her and eased her down onto the mattress. A thousand pinpricks of pain assaulted her temples.
“You’re weak from the Choosing, Daria. No fast moves or large bursts of strength. You need to give your body time to adjust to the changes it has gone through.”
She fisted her hands against the pain and spoke through gritted teeth. “How much time?” She hated feeling so fragile, and right now she felt like prey to any animal that came along.
Alejandro shrugged. “You’re still stronger than a human, but it will take a couple of days for you to start to feel comfortable in your skin again. It will take years for you to reach your full strength as a Chosen. Be patient.”
She snorted. “Not one of my strong suits.”
“Hey, be happy. You pushed through the succubare and you retained your sanity. You’re one of the few unmarked humans to endure the Choosing and come out the other side a sane vamp.”
“Yeah, I only have three hundred years until I lose my marbles now. I’ll count my blessings tomorrow. I have room for procrastination.”
Most Chosen went insane once they passed their third century. That seemed to be the breaking point for a person’s mind when they lived so long. Most of them grew bored with existence. Became weary of watching those they loved pass on, the constant change of civilization, the beginning and end of wars. Eventually they started to feel the need for eternal rest, for escape, for renewal. All they saw stretching before them was a yawn of time filled with the same experiences over and over. That’s why there weren’t many old ones around.
Once a Chosen got to be about two hundred, their behavior grew erratic. Sexual appetites grew increasingly bizarre as they looked for new and different ways to amuse themselves. Some of them became sociopaths and serial killers. Still others took the path of monks and disappeared into the mountains of Darpong to become spiritual gurus.
Daria had heard the most common cause of death for the Chosen was suicide. Immortality wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“Maybe you’ll never pop, like Sante.”
“Maybe he still will.” She glanced at him. Sante was four hundred and hadn’t gone insane yet. “What’s your take on that?”
Alejandro shrugged. “I don’t know how he’s managed to retain his sanity. He’s one of the few. However, his blood mother has not, and he remains unhealthily loyal to her.”
Her hand fisted. “Personally, I don’t care if he’s sane or not. Either way, he’s going down.” She drew a shaky breath, calming herself before asking, “How do you think you’ll handle immortality?”
He shrugged. “We’ll see, I guess.”
She chewed her lip, suddenly immersed in thought. “Yes, I will see, won’t I? I might actually still be around three hundred years from now.”
In that moment, Daria went just a little crazy herself.
She rubbed her eyes. “You have a shower in this sand trap? I need to bathe and change my clothes.” Not to mention brush her teeth. It felt like she’d sleepwalked into the desert and gargled with sand.
“Hey, Daria, you know you’re going to have to feed soon.”
She suppressed a shudder at the thought. “Yeah, well, I’m going to put it off for as long as I can.”
Alejandro shook his head. “It’s dangerous for a new vampire to ignore blood hunger. You feel it, don’t you?”
“Oh, you mean that persistent gnawing sensation in my stomach?” she shot back. “Yeah, I feel it.” She started to stand, more carefully this time. “That was in the handbook, too.”
Alejandro’s hand clamped over her wrist like an iron band.
“Hey! Let go!”
Inexorably, he pulled her toward him, back onto the bed. “You have to feed now, Daria. I can’t let you do anything else. It’s very important. The Chosen who deny satisfaction of their blood hunger for too long can go into bloodlust. It’s like going insane. Those vamps must be hunted down and killed by the GBC’s peacekeepers. Was that in the handbook?”
Of its own accord, her gaze sought and fixed on the pulse in Alejandro’s throat. The throbbing sensation in her stomach seemed to keep time with the beat of it. “You talk like the hunger is a beast within you that will devour you from the inside out if you don’t keep it sated.”
Even though she knew it was necessary for the fully Chosen, a part of her rebelled at the thought of taking blood. After all, this time it would be all her. She wouldn’t have Alejandro’s veil mischiefing her mind, making it sweet and irresistible.
The other part of her, the baby vampire part, she assumed, wanted it like nothing else. She tore her gaze away, but probably not quick enough to prevent Alejandro from recognizing her hunger.
“Your blood hunger is like a being that lives within you. One you must keep happy. If you don’t, bad things can happen, especially to a brand-new vampire. Come on, Daria. Just give in to it. Stop fighting for once and take what you need from me.” He drew her closer to him. “I’m willing to give.”
“What about the synthetic blood in your fridge? Can’t I drink that?”
He shook his head. “You’re a new vamp, Daria. You need it straight from the vein, it’s more powerful that way.”
She looked back at his throat and the hunger roared through her body. Her head pounded with it. Hunger curled in her stomach and tightened like a fist. She’d been hungry before, but this was like nothing she’d ever experienced.
As much as she wanted to delay this initial encounter, she wouldn’t be able to manage it. She licked her lips. The vampire part of her had won.
“Okay, but nothing sexual. Don’t think of this as an invitation.”
“As much as I might be tempted, I promise, Daria.”
Another hunger pang pierced her stomach and sh
e shifted on the mattress, her palm pressing against her abdomen. Alejandro took her hand and guided her to sit on his lap, straddling him. The position felt seriously intimate. She could feel the hard stab of his cock against her cunt. Suddenly, she was very thankful for the clothing that separated them.
Because he was really happy to have her in his lap.
And, damn. She was happy to be there, too.
He arched his neck, showing his jugular. Her canines lengthened into little points, as the manual said they would, at the mere sight of a feeding possibility. The sensation surprised her even though she’d been expecting it. “What do I do?”
“It’s very simple. Bite me.”
She blinked. “Then what?”
He let out a little laugh. “Uh, you start sucking. Trust me, instinct will do the rest.”
The blood hunger bit into her stomach again and her vision swam. She had to feed, and she had to do it now. Daria took his head in her hands and lowered her mouth to his throat. She raked her teeth against his skin and felt him tense.
Her tongue stole out and licked the length of the vein, savoring the salty taste of him and feeling the prick of the stubble he needed to shave. Anticipation and arousal flushed her body and tingled between her thighs.
“What will it feel like for you?” she murmured, positioning her mouth over his vein. She didn’t know how to control her veil yet, so there was no way for her to lessen the pain. “Will it hurt?”
“No, it will feel like sex.” His voice was low, scratchy, and betrayed his arousal. “It will feel like sex, Daria, but without a climax. Just a tease.”
She bit. Her fangs slid into his skin and found his vein like a heat-seeking missile. Sweet, hot blood coursed into her mouth, the combination of all the humans and succubare he’d fed from since he’d been Chosen.
It was ambrosia to her.
Alejandro’s hands tightened on her waist and he let out a long, low groan. The sound of it went straight to her cunt, making her throb and grow slick. Alejandro’s blood flowed into her, plumping her veins and satisfying her blood hunger.
