I’d expected it. “Of course.”
Tristan looked over my shoulder. As he often did, Gerald stood nearby. He held out his hand. With a laugh, Tristan released me and wrapped his arms around the surprised shifter, hugging his longtime employee. Gerald chuckled and hugged back, slapping the vampire’s back with enthusiasm that would have shattered a norm’s spine.
Tristan grinned at the panther. “And you, you big, bad cat – Gerald, what am I going to do without you?”
Gerald winked a glowing green eye. “Same as ever, boss. Charm ‘em when you can, harm ‘em if you must.”
Tristan laughed. He turned to me again, taking my hand in his. When he pulled me to the center of the bandstand, I went obediently.
We stood there before all of them, taking in the applause and cheers. Everyone else’s happiness washed over me. I played my part, reminding myself that I had Dan as my forever sweetheart. He was not second best to Tristan. But my love for the two men had been equal, and it hurt each time I realized I had to let this one go.
The people who made Para Central operate quieted down. Tristan beamed at them all, his thrill over winning dimming his usual dangerous vampire vibe. “You all know I’ve always got something to say. I am not going to change that at this moment.”
Loud laughter and more cheers. Tristan waited for them to settle again before continuing. “For once I’ll try to keep it short. I want to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. You did this. You supported me. You put up with me. This night is about you and all you’ve done. This is your victory as much as mine.”
More cheers. Several yells of “Get ‘em, Tristan!” Applause.
“We are finally represented in this state. This is a success for paras in Georgia, but we still have a long way to go. I will do all in my power to repay you for this opportunity by serving you to the best of my ability and making sure our voices are always heard.”
He turned to me. “Most of all, I have to thank my beautiful sister Patricia. She always encouraged me. Failing that, she yelled at me.”
The laughter renewed and I joined in ... but the tears I saw in Tristan’s eyes were a reflection of my own. We were ready to weep together, but over different things.
How we held our gazes on each other I’ll never know. Somehow we did as Tristan continued to laud the sibling whose face I wore like a sick Halloween mask. “Patricia never failed to tell me how much she believed in me, how I could be the man to make good things happen for us all. It is for her that I work so hard. My success ultimately belongs to her. Thank you, Patricia.”
I smiled and nodded. It was then that I realized Tristan’s broken heart would never truly heal over the loss of his sister. Her memory owned the best of him. Maybe I had always been second in rank.
We were truly over forever.
Tristan turned back to the crowd. His own mask had fallen into place, the triumphant winner rejoicing his election. “Thank you all! Celebrate!”
That earned more cheers. Bottles of bubbly and Blood Potion came out. There was endless toasting by Tristan and many others. It only made sense that Patricia would join in, so I found the appropriate words and spoke them. A band came in to fill the bandstand. The rows of desks were pushed back to clear the parquet floor for dancing. The party got underway for real, rivaling a New Year’s Eve celebration.
It was a long night for me. By the time things wound down, my face ached with the strain of the fake smile I’d stretched upon it.
* * * *
I was always happy to send Patricia’s body to ground. The morning after Tristan won the election, I was doubly delighted.
I’d already told Dan where to meet me at dawn. I transported straight to the lighthouse on Hamilton Island as soon as my spirit left its nighttime prison. I appeared on the railed gallery outside the lantern room.
I ‘ported right behind Dan, who stood looking out over what’s known as Pier Village, a favorite with tourists and locals alike. Hamilton Island’s Pier Village is a quaint area. It has a road with cute little shops and restaurants that leads out to the pier where fishermen haul in sheepshead, bluefish, and trout. There is a waterpark that stays jumping through the long summer months, along with a park and a playground.
Since visiting hours of the old landmark hadn’t begun yet, we had the lighthouse to ourselves. Before I let Dan know I’d arrived, I inhaled deeply of the salt air and took in the view. From the top of Hamilton Island Lighthouse I could see not only Pier Village, but also the tiny spit of Turtle Creek Island across the river. Further in the distance the sweeping Seymour Ladner bridge that connected north Fulton Falls to marsh-surrounded south Fulton Falls spanned the horizon. With the sun rising behind the bridge, casting its gorgeous coral-colored glow over the water, it was a beautiful sight.
I moved my gaze from the gorgeous start of a new day to a sight more splendid. In his usual white button-down shirt, Dan’s shoulders were broad and strong. His exposed forearms showed corded working man’s muscle. Instead of leaning on the railing, he stood with legs slightly spread as he looked over the same land and seascape I’d enjoyed. His khakis clung lovingly to thick thighs. And that fine round butt – happy sigh.
I moved slightly, wanting to catch a glimpse of his face while he was still unaware of me. My ghostly heart remembered to thump as his handsomely weathered features came into view. Like the luckiest men, the creases only added to his rugged good looks, making him appear stronger and more masculine. Good heavens, what a handsome man he was.
All my cares seemed to vanish as I took in Dan’s contented visage. He had a little smile on his face as he watched the sun come up. It made me realize I rarely saw him look so at ease. The months we’d been together, it always seemed like we were up against one emergency or another. Yet again we faced issues what with missing shifters and Tristan’s election madness. These were small matters compared to the angst we’d been through. It made me feel a deep joy to see a look of peace on my sweetheart’s face.
My being filled with love, I stepped up behind Dan and wrapped my arms around his waist. His hands covered mine and our fingers laced. I rubbed my cheek between his shoulder blades, loving the feel of him against my body.
He murmured, “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Funny. That’s what I was going to say to you.”
Dan chuckled at that. Maybe it was having his rugged good looks referred to as ‘beautiful’. But he was. In heart and body, the man was stunning. I snuggled against him, loving him with all my heart.
A note of concern crept into his voice. “Are you all right?”
“Right now? Perfect. Being with you makes everything right.” For the moment, it was true. I wasn’t torn between the two men I loved. Tristan would perhaps always own a piece of my heart, but that was done. I had Dan. For once, it was enough.
Dan sighed, a sound of quiet pleasure. “I’m glad you wanted to come here. You know, I can’t remember the last time I visited this place. Maybe not since before I died.”
“Has it changed much?” I’d grown up in the area and I knew it had expanded. It was hard to notice because things shifted so gradually in our little piece of Georgia.
Dan said, “Some changes. More stores and the pier has been enlarged and updated. I remember when there were no railings on it and it was all wood. The pavilion and waterpark weren’t here either. So modern. It’s still pretty though.”
“The old drawbridge made way for that piece of sculpture,” I noted, looking out at the Seymour Ladner with its cable-stays that looked like ship sails.
“It’s beautiful.” He laughed, a self-deprecating sound. “You know how you hear music when Patricia’s body dies for the day?”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. The thought of those few seconds of uplifting tones made me yearn for something I couldn’t name. “Yes.”
“When I first got here, I swear I heard something that made me think of how you described it. I was looking out over all of this, thinking how perfect an
d serene it was. How heavenly. I imagined a moment of the loveliest melody made of instruments too ethereal to be real.”
“That’s exactly the kind of thing I hear between being a vampire and being a ghost.”
“You don’t find sights too often that inspire that kind of fantasy. It made me feel wonder and joy and a sadness like being homesick all at once.” He shook his head. “It was an amazing moment.”
Dan turned to me and enfolded me in his arms. His look filled with tenderness. Gosh, he really loved me. In that moment I knew it as sure as I knew my name was Brandilynn Payson.
“Here’s another miraculous moment,” he said. “My sweet girl is free of her nightly prison and I can hold her again.”
If he hadn’t meant each word, I would have groaned from the sappiness. There at the beginning of a new day, it didn’t sound as cheesy as one would think. It sounded like poetry, like a minstrel singing to his one true beloved.
I rewarded Dan with a kiss, pouring all my unspoken adoration into it. For a split second I heard the music again, just as he’d described it. It made me want to cry out in joy and weep with the knowledge that I couldn’t reach it.
But I could have my rugged, gorgeous, true-blue Marlboro Man. I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him hard.
That haunting melody waned, replaced by the solid support of the body against mine, of the arms holding me as tightly as I held my lover. This was real. This was the dream. No, it was better than a dream because it was us.
When Dan’s clothing disappeared beneath my hands, I made mine go away as well. Flesh met flesh. Our souls remembered the warmth of life, making us hot to the other’s touch.
The softness of my breasts flattened against the strong planes of Dan’s chest. His tongue twined with mine, melding them in a sinuous dance. He tasted of boldness, of hunger, of power. I melted against him. I molded myself to him. I gave myself over.
As if in answer to my surrender, he grew more demanding. He drew me hard against him. A calloused hand clutched one buttock, kneading it with expert knowledge. The other hand cupped the back of my head and slowly clutched, claiming a fistful of hair. He pulled my head back into a position that satisfied him. I clung to his shoulders, only wanting to do what pleased.
His cock grew swollen and fat, pressing against my hairless mound, burrowing for its rightful place. My pussy acknowledged its entitlement, turning wet in an instant. The spirit manifestation that was left to me remembered its physical past. My groin churned, a maelstrom of anticipation. My pulse returned. My heart drummed as passion overtook us.
Dan plundered my mouth until my lips felt swollen and bruised. When he ended the kiss, he looked into my heavily lidded eyes and nodded as if pleased. His brown eyes were dark and sharp. I lowered my gaze before their authority. I succumbed to his power, the force of his dominating personality taking my will away.
No words were needed. A tug from his hand in my hair sent me drifting down to my knees before him. My hands moved to the small of my back, the wrists crossing. My shoulders went back to lift my breasts for my master’s visual pleasure. I kept my eyes on his face as I opened my mouth to service him. I was his to use in all the ways that made him feel good.
His silent dominion had me so on edge that I nearly came when he entered my mouth. I love being made Dan’s. There is no more powerful aphrodisiac than submitting to him.
I accepted his entire cock, gagging around the length of him as he shoved down into my throat. I let tears of effort stream from my eyes. He took me as was his right, the right I had given him over me. He never spoke, but his gasps spoke volumes. Even if he hadn’t returned to breathing, the musky flavor of pre-cum dribbling against my tongue would have told me how well I served him. I glowed with the elation of making him happy.
A few seconds after the pants turned to moans, Dan pulled his jerking cock from my mouth. Taking a handful of hair again, he pulled me to my feet. Then he pushed me against the glass of the lighthouse’s window.
He looked me over. A peek revealed his gaze settled on my breasts. I cast my eyes down again and moved my hands from behind my back to lace behind my neck. My tits lifted, an offering to my master.
Dan grasped my pointed nipples between forefingers and thumbs. They were rigid and flushed from excitement, but they swelled in response to his touch. He pinched, sending delicious stabs of pain through the mounds. The pain swirled into pleasure, beelining straight for my pussy. A tiny sound escaped my lips.
He twisted, making an even more profoundly sweet agony bloom. I cried out that time, coming up on my toes. Dan held them like that a moment longer, letting me writhe under his cruel teasing. Then he released them, leaving me gasping and tears dripping from my eyelashes.
I’d no sooner settled back down on my heels when his hands slapped the outsides of my breasts in turn. I whimpered as he spanked the reddening mounds, fighting to hold still as fiery heat consumed my chest. They bounced under his chastisement, as if cheering being punished. I bit my lip as my master continued his exacting but thrilling discipline, clenching my fingers hard around each other behind my neck.
Offering my breasts for the penalty Dan had deemed due was becoming effort when he stopped spanking them. I had no opportunity to prepare myself when his hand dove between my legs. I squealed as excitement speared my pussy. He found me sopping wet, of course.
A soft grunt was his only comment on my loud expression of desire. I bit my lips together to discourage more unwanted noises. I spread my legs wide to give Dan complete access to what belonged to him.
His palm slapped hard against my pussy. Vibrant pain surged and instantly turned to exquisite pleasure. Orgasm threatened for a moment, leaving me shaking. My knees tried to buckle, and I braced myself against the glass at my back.
Dan was silent and watchful as I primed myself for whatever came next. As soon as I went from earthquake to tremor, his hard hand clapped against my most vulnerable bits again.
This time my knees did unhinge, and I slid a little ways down my support. Tears streamed down my cheeks as pain and bliss brought me right to the verge of climax. A sob rolled up my throat and trembled behind my clenched lips. I had been so close that time. No doubt once more would send me over.
I slowly straightened back up. I drew a steadying breath. I waited.
That wonderful, brutal hand smacked my pussy again. This time I detonated, the exquisite sensation bolting straight up my spine. I must have screamed. There is no way I couldn’t have. I didn’t hear it though. All I knew was that astounding sensation of agonizing ecstasy steamrolling through me, making all else disappear.
When I came back to myself, my loins still seized in bursts of aftershock, I discovered I had crumpled at Dan’s feet. My gaze crawled up his magnificent chiseled body from where I hunched. He looked momentous from my groveling vantage point, his thighs as thick as sequoias, his torso blotting out the sky, his shoulders broad enough to support the world. And at last his dear face, set in somehow harmonious lines of strength, demand, and adoration. He looked like a mighty god, inscrutable with firm expectation but one who still loved those who disappointed him.
Dan stood there patiently, as if he had all eternity to wait. I reached and grabbed hold of those gorgeous legs, using them to haul myself to my feet. I became vertical using my master as a ladder. My balance was shaky. Once upright, I fell against Dan, unable to hold myself up.
His arms closed around me again. Kisses as gentle as his hands had been harsh rained down on my upturned face. He was pleased with me. My heart expanded with that knowledge.
After my reward, it was time for him to push me again. Dan did so literally, shoving me back against the glass of the lantern room again. This time he crowded against me, hooking my legs so that they came off the ground, my thighs cradled in the crooks of his elbows.
He was careful long enough to settle the crown of his cock against the opening of my pussy. Then he ground in, shoving with uncompromising force, taking me
without mercy.
I made my entrance tight enough to offer myself the lovely pain of a forceful claiming. My head fell back to bang against the window as I cried out with pleasured hurt. Dan grunted as he slammed deep inside.
I clung to his shoulders as he pounded hard, my body dropping and lifting with his thrusts. Now my godlike lover’s face was pure hunger, feeding himself with my body. He crushed against me, his kiss devouring as he plunged in over and over. Dan took my mouth with as much lust as he took my pussy, claiming it all.
Passion rose anew, chewing up my insides and demanding more. I had no way of escaping the ravening desire that tore through me. I could only accept its brutal taking, trapped by Dan’s insistent eagerness.
Then elation shot through me, blasting me into the stratosphere. Dan’s cry rose with mine and we filled each other’s throats with our voices. Our bodies jerked and fought and thudded as we spent ourselves on each other. Then came sweet floating bliss, celebrated by soft kisses and love words mumbled against each other’s lips.
A sigh from my right broke our happy daze. We looked over to find a gray-bearded man in a dark blue uniform of a Victorian fashion standing there. The lighthouse keeper, just as dead as us, chuckled and gave us a little salute.
Dan, much less given to public displays than me, flushed red. “Oh, excuse us.”
The old man snickered and executed a little bow. “No. Feel free to visit any time.” With a lecherous grin, he vanished.
Dan looked at me. I looked at Dan. We burst into laughter.
Chapter 7
I finally got to tell Dan what had happened between Ashley and me. It had been darned hard to have a decent conversation at Tristan’s victory party, so I’d waited. He agreed that keeping tabs on her husband Ryan was a good plan.
The card my sister had given me offered her name, address, phone number, and email address. It didn’t matter. I had known Ashley’s home address for a long time. I’d suffered through the years as the society section of the local newspaper traced important moments of her life: college graduation, wedding, the birth of her son, contributions to the Garden Club and her various charities. I tried to tell myself simple curiosity made me read those articles a dozen times before angrily throwing them out. But the truth was, I’d missed her. Despite the hurt of her abandonment, I’d wanted to cling to the threads of the girl who had been my best friend until I’d had enough of my worth being dictated by how well I followed my parents’ orders.
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