Ace in the Hole

by Sedonia Guillone

  No, she wasn’t angry at him, not for feeding on her. He’d saved her life, however joyless that life had been for a very long time. Her anger was at the injustice of the cold-blooded murder of Fei Liu, someone she’d loved dearly. In between her dreams of Tenzin’s fangs in her flesh had been Fei Liu’s screams and blood-soaked body.

  Lily was furious at Tenzin, at Fen Chow, and at her Tigresses. They had all defied her wishes, and they all could have been at risk from Wei Yen’s wrath. Who even knew if Wei Yen had minions, other lovers like the one who’d killed Fei Liu who would come to avenge the vampiress’s death?

  Had Lily the strength, she would have told them all this. She knew Tenzin’s mind was linked to hers, and yet she didn’t even have the strength to convey all these feelings to him in her thoughts.

  Jade’s hopeful gaze was still on hers. The Tigress’s expectancy filled the air. Jade had been through horror herself lately, and Lily didn’t wish to disappoint her. Nor did Lily exactly mind the prospect of Tenzin’s company while she had a bath. In spite of their disobedience and the danger and her pains and aches, both physically and mentally, the constant comfort had been his presence.

  “Of course, Jade,” she managed to whisper.

  A new, radiant smile broke out on Jade’s face, a smile that went far to soften the bruises and cuts on the Tigress’s cheeks and jaw, and Lily was glad she’d put aside her own anger.

  “Tenzin can undress you while I heat some water.” Jade rose and hurried from the room.

  Tenzin felt a nervous tremor. Somehow this moment seemed to be one of reckoning. He’d watched a stream of thoughts and emotions pass through Lily’s eyes, but she hadn’t communicated any of them. “Lily, if you don’t wish me to un ‑‑”

  Tenzin, do it, please.

  His breath hitched softly. She knew about their mind link! He studied her eyes a moment as if he could decipher her feelings. Her gaze was steady, yet not readable. Trembling at the thought of seeing her beauty revealed again, he fumbled with the frog closures of her blouse. The tattered material fell open, revealing the soft white diamond of cloth at the front of her binding. He felt around the material for the ties.

  I think it’s best you cut the material off of me. It hurts too much to move.

  “Yes, you’re right.”

  There’s a small pair of shears in that box over there. She indicated with a brief nod, and Tenzin saw an ornately carved box on a dresser in the corner. He retrieved the shears from it and returned to Lily’s bedside. There seemed to be a natural flow to the communication through their mind link.

  Very carefully, he cut up the length of the binding. The delicate cloth fell away, and Lily’s breasts sprang free.

  Tenzin stared at the soft swells. Lily’s dark nipples had already tightened, perhaps a response to the cool air hitting her skin. He felt his cheeks tingle and bowed his head. When he ventured a glance at Lily’s face, he saw her pale cheeks had colored.

  I feel like such a fool, Tenzin. After everything we’ve done together, now I blush like a virgin.

  He chuckled, tension broken. “I understand.” Reaching out, he brushed his fingertips across one of her pale cheeks. The softness of her skin weakened him. He felt his dragon stir in his trousers.

  Tenzin. Her voice was a whisper in his mind.

  Her eyes appeared misted over. A teardrop spilled from one eye and ran down her cheek.

  “Lily, you’re so beautiful.” Unable to stop himself, Tenzin leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Though slightly dry, Lily’s lips were still petal soft and tasted delicious. He closed his eyes, absorbed in the feel of her softness, and slipped his tongue gently past the seam of her lips, caressing her tongue with his. She murmured softly and parted her lips in obvious surrender. Her fingers still curled around his, and squeezed his hand softly.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Jade’s voice broke the spell.

  Tenzin sat up.

  “I’ll come back,” Jade said.

  “No.” Lily’s voice was soft and hoarse. Tenzin reached for a glass of water and helped her sip.

  Jade proceeded in with a bowl of steaming water. “We must finish undressing her,” Jade said.

  He nodded and pulled Lily’s shoes off. Jade undid Lily’s pants, and Tenzin slipped them down her legs. Doing so released Lily’s musky scent into the air, and he felt his dragon respond. He appraised Lily’s pale body, relieved to see that the bite marks and scratches had sealed up, leaving only the clear, silky skin that made his mouth water.

  Jade dipped a cloth in the water, wrung it out, and wiped it across Lily’s brow. “I see that Tenzin’s yang has already begun your healing,” she said. “Please forgive me. I know it’s not my place to speak this way. You may punish me later, if you wish. I was the wicked girl who fomented the rebellion against your wishes.”

  Tenzin saw Lily’s face break into a faint smile. A bit of light infused her eyes. Her glance darted in his direction then back to Jade.

  “Mistress Lily, I’m just so grateful to you,” the Tigress went on. “I couldn’t leave you. You don’t understand the depths to which you have helped my life. All our lives.” Jade paused in her speech, wet the cloth again, and bathed Lily’s neck. “I know it’s been a sore point for you that there have been no men to train as Jade Dragons. They are useless, so many of them. They either care about money or social status, not love and truth. But Fen Chow has asked to be my Jade Dragon. I believe he could be wonderful. Don’t you? I told him I’d speak to you when you were well.”

  The smile on Lily’s face deepened.

  Suddenly Jade turned to Tenzin and extended the cloth. Her cheeks colored a bit under the fading bruises. “I think that it’s best you finish her bath,” she said softly then dipped her head. “And then I will guide you in the healing sounds to give her. To strengthen her yin.”

  He took the cloth from Jade. “Of course.”

  Jade smiled. She bowed and knelt down with a gesture for him to bathe her mistress.

  Tenzin dipped the cloth and wrung it out as he’d seen Jade do. He ran the cloth down Lily’s arms and then lifted one wrist to wash the soft recess of her underarm. His cheeks warmed, and his dragon twitched. He could feel it stretching and hardening with each passing second of his fingers’ contact with Lily’s bare skin.

  Her breasts rose and fell with her breathing, and he swore he could hear each breath deepen the longer he bathed her.

  He wet the cloth some more and swirled it gently down her chest and around each breast. She sighed, and her eyelids fluttered as he brushed the soft cloth over the dark tips. The water left a glistening sheen on her satiny skin and darkened the ink of the leaping tiger as he moved the cloth over Lily’s belly and ribcage.

  With a tender swipe he covered the front of her sex, inching the cloth toward the tiger’s belly. Small dark hairs sprouted over her mound, which had always been bare, threatening to cover the inked skin. The sight roused Tenzin’s desire, and he longed only to taste the moist crevice between her thighs.

  Gently, he took hold of one thigh and moved Lily’s leg aside. He wet the cloth and brushed it down the length of her slit.

  She pulled in a breath, and her lips parted on the force of it. Her eyelids fluttered, and her hand clenched the bedding.

  “Her yin is roused,” Jade said in a gentle voice. “Now is the time to use the healing sounds. It is not difficult. Put your lips over her yin points, one at a time, and hum, very softly, in a continuous sound. This will stimulate her healing yin. You may begin with her mouth.”

  Tenzin’s cheeks tingled madly at the thought of putting his mouth on Lily’s body in front of Jade, but all that mattered to him was Lily’s healing. He leaned over and covered her mouth with his.

  He caressed her hair back off her face and kept his lips over hers. Slowly he rested there and hummed, slowly, deeply, in a soft rhythm into her mouth. As a monk, he’d spent many hours chanting in meditation. This, of course, was vastly different, but as the seconds
passed, he felt the soft vibration of their energies mingle.

  Lily sighed again, a soft vibration that tickled his lips pleasantly. She touched the tip of her tongue to his, and Tenzin sensed the strength that seeped back into her. He answered the tiny movement in a soft dance of tasting the moist recesses of her mouth as he hummed, his breath mingling with hers.

  “Now,” Jade’s voice drifted into the swirl of energy, “hum against her breasts, first one, then the other.”

  A tickle of excitement stirred in Tenzin’s gut. He lifted his lips from Lily’s. Hers remained parted, and her eyes looked up at him, wide and wondrous. The light of life burned in them for the first time since she’d opened them that morning.

  He lowered himself down and bent over one breast. The soft mound beckoned to him with its pale beauty and dark, erect tip. Without hesitation, he covered it with his parted lips and resumed the gentle hum.

  Lily’s breathing deepened. Her breast bobbed against his mouth with her rising breaths. He felt one small hand on his head.

  “Tenzin,” she whispered.

  Through the vibration, he heard her. Joy surged in him at her growing strength. He dared to brush the tip of his tongue across her nipple before lifting his mouth and tending to her other breast with the healing sounds.

  A long time seemed to pass before Tenzin heard Jade’s voice again.

  “Now, bring your healing sounds to her jade cave.”

  Tenzin groaned against Lily’s breast. That deep hidden part of her, musky and moist, that brought him so much pleasure, tasted so delicious he could barely contain himself. He lingered a moment on her breast and feathered the tip of his tongue on the hardened bud before lifting his face. He glanced to the side just in time to see Jade disappear through the doorway.

  Lily moaned softly. The ecstatic sound pulled him back, and he climbed on the foot of the bed, kneeling between her firm, supple thighs. Her glistening yin petals were already partly opened. He pushed his thumbs into the moist, petal-soft folds and spread them. Her yin scent assaulted him, making him wondrously dizzy. He leaned over and closed his lips over her soft inner sex.

  Lily sighed and pushed her hips against his hands, a tiny movement that indicated the further strengthening of her qi.

  His dragon brushed against the bedding through his trousers as he sank down on his stomach between her thighs. Closing his eyes, he hummed softly against the moist warmth of her jade gate. Her scent and taste were so intoxicating, no herb or spice could compare. Again, he dared to venture the tip of his tongue against her yin pearl. Her breath caught, and her hand clutched at his head.

  Lily gasped softly, and her supple thighs fell further open. “Tenzin.” She whispered his name several times, her head tilted back, breasts heaving with arousal. Her yin juices seeped generously onto his fingertips, showing him that she was already wanting him to fill her.

  “Take me,” she whispered.

  Her fevered plea sent a shudder of arousal through him. He whipped his head up, feeling her yin dew lathered on his chin. “Lily, are you certain?” Such a chance was one he’d thought never to experience again, and his body trembled with need.

  “Yes!”

  He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips, filled his entire being. Lifting himself to his feet, careful not to hurt her, he stripped off his clothing. At the last second, he remembered not to climb right on top of her and slide in. Just because her desire was as urgent as his was no reason to forget himself.

  He leaned over, braced himself on the mattress with one knee and slid one finger inside her. She moaned softly and arched her back. He sensed her silent demand for more and answered it. Pushing a second finger inside her slippery cave, he slid both fingers in and out in a gentle rhythm.

  Lily thrashed her head back and forth on the pillow, whispering his name feverishly. The gathering energy of her life force pulsated into the air. The musky, sexual scent of her yin dew continued to pulse out into the air, and her nipples were still puckered into dark tips. Her pale skin was flushed now with a bit more color, and her small delicate hands clutched the bedclothes.

  His hunger surged. In one swift but gentle movement, Tenzin climbed on the bed and lowered his body carefully onto Lily’s. He sank gently onto her softness, felt her firm breasts flatten deliciously against her chest, and his hard dragon sought out the juncture of her legs.

  Lily pulled her legs around his hips, giving him access to nestle in the slit of her sex. The head of his dragon nudged her sick opening and he groaned as tingling pleasure flooded his entire lower region.

  Bracing his upper body on his elbows, he gazed into her eyes. Their faces were so close together now that her warm breath caressed his lips. Her scent swirled in the air around them.

  “Tenzin,” she whispered. She wrapped her arms around him, and her fingertips pressed softly into his back. Her dark eyes appeared liquid, brimming with more unshed tears. “I love you.”

  The admission took his breath away. “I love you too.” He pressed his lips to hers, kissed her softly, tenderly, with every drop of feeling he had for her. With a gentle lick, he coaxed her lips apart, caressed the fullness of her lower lips and the most heat of her tongue.

  She sighed into their joined mouths, and he felt her surrender the way she had the other morning, that glorious sweet moment when she’d opened her petals and let him sink deep inside her. That same liquid softness, the sweet spice of love he’d craved for centuries now, surrounded him in her feminine warmth and musky softness.

  She shifted slightly underneath him, causing the head of his dragon to sink in a bit deeper The pleasure tingled up his shaft and tightened his yang sac. He groaned and pushed with his hips, sheathing his stalk more than halfway.

  Lily’s fingers pressed into his back. She panted into his mouth and moaned softly. He thrust his hips gently, part teasing, part making sure she still wanted this.

  A smile played about her lips, and she pushed against him. A glitter came into her eyes, and she surged underneath him. He gasped as her jade cave swallowed every inch of his dragon in melting, wet, warm…

  He groaned and took her lips in a hot kiss.

  The world around Lily faded away. Tenzin’s hard length deep inside her sent waves of pleasure through her entire sex. Her body melted into the union. The shaft of his dragon grazed her yin pearl with each slide of their bodies together. She gripped his back and closed her eyes, dancing her tongue against his. His male scent, musky and powerful, enveloped her as potently as the push of his thick, hard dragon stretching her, filling her.

  “Yes,” she whispered. Behind her eyelids, she saw the floating depths of Heaven.

  The sound sent a palpable shiver of energy through Tenzin’s body. Lily felt his hard muscles quiver under her hands. He deepened their kiss, his lips chafing hers hotly, tongue caressing hers in feral strokes.

  Tenzin reached up and smoothed Lily’s hair back, felt the warmth of life that had crept back into her skin. He pulled his lips from hers and gazed down at her. “Is this all right, Lily? He breathed. “Me inside you?”

  She nodded, eyelids heavy over her dusky almond-shaped eyes. Her full lips were parted with her heavy breathing and pink colored her cheeks warmly. “Yes, Tenzin. Yes.”

  Her enjoyment urged him on. He dipped his mouth to hers and captured her lips again. The movement made his dragon slide inside her. The friction sent a blast of heat through him, and he started to move inside her again, long, easy strokes that made her moan softly into his mouth.

  Tenzin.

  He peered down into her eyes. What is it, Lily?

  Feed on me again, please.

  The mere request made his fangs start to itch and tingle. His body raged with unfulfilled need and the hunger to sip Lily’s blood. “Are you sure? I can’t believe ‑‑”

  “Yes. Please, help me not be afraid.” She locked her gaze with his. To his delight, hunger glazed her dark irises. Without a word she tilted her head back.

&n
bsp; The tiny movement sent the musky sweet smell of her flesh to his nostrils. He lowered his lips to the tender skin on the side of Lily’s throat. Hunger ripped through him, raw and potent. He nuzzled the spot and felt Lily writhe against him. She squeezed her vaginal muscles around his dragon, a silent demand that made him mindless.

  He swiped his tongue over the spot he needed to puncture, curled his lips back, and sank his tingling incisors into Lily’s flesh.

  Lily’s body jumped underneath him, and she gripped his back muscles. She released a long sigh and then sank down into the mattress as he pushed his fangs into her skin as deeply as they’d go.

  He groaned softly. No one had ever tasted so honeyed, so potently delicious, as Lily. Perhaps she had the same flavor as any immortal woman, but to him, she was succulent, beautiful, and wondrous.

  Because he loved her.

  Slowly, carefully, he slid his fangs from her skin and closed his lips over the punctures. Lily sighed again and slid her hands down his back to his hips. The tiny feel of her warm hands clutching his hips, so close to his sensitive buttocks caused a surge of need and he began to suckle.

  Gently, in long even sips, he drew out her blood. With each tug of his lips on her neck, he slid his jade stalk deep inside her.

  Lily moaned again and squeezed Tenzin’s hips. Pleasure flooded every inch of her body. She could never have imagined that being fed upon could feel like tiny orgasms exploding all over the surface of her skin. Sheer, utter, unfathomable bliss.

  She tilted her head back even more, offering herself fully to Tenzin’s suckling lips.

  “Tenzin,” she whispered again, as if uttering his name out loud sealed their bodies and souls together even more than this intimate act.

  Her eyelids shuttered from the pleasure, and she could feel the last of Wei Yen’s poison drain from her body. Tenzin surged against her, and his dragon grazed her yin pearl. Back and forth, he rubbed her sweet spot until the sensation of orgasm all over her body spread into her womb. The waves of bliss shuddered through her, melting away space and time. The pleasure wrung her clean, and she wilted underneath Tenzin’s weight, her hands resting on his hard buttocks.