It was driving him insane.
He’d gotten to the point where it took no more than a flash of flesh and his cock stood to attention--and once the blood rushed to engorge it, his brain virtually shut down altogether--except for the images that flashed through his mind of throwing her down on the bed and pounding into her until he exploded.
And the worst of it was that he was so needy by now he couldn’t be sure that she was tempting him on purpose. That part could just as easily all be in his mind since he had so little left when he was around her.
He couldn’t tell and he had no clue why it was even important to him to know she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He was sure, though, that he didn't like where his train of thought was taking him, or the fact that she had somehow changed how he perceived her.
I should just leave her and get it over with. It's the only reasonable thing to do, the only way to catch Kadira red-handed. The plan is a damned good one and I’ll have to deal with that fucking snake for eternity if I don’t do something about him!
A sense of purpose filled him for about five seconds--right up to the point in his mental scenario when he came in and found Kadira standing over her lifeless corpse.
He groaned inwardly. That was why he’d taken her to start with. He’d expected that to happen, wanted it to happen so he could be rid of the bastard. He had known it would be a mistake to spend too much time around her. He’d known from the start that she was just way too tempting to him, that he would get attached and he wouldn’t be able to carry out his plan.
The simple fact was, she was the most interesting thing to come along in his life for millennia and he couldn't deny, to himself at least, that he was wildly, dangerously attracted to her. This in itself disturbed him to no end. It's unheard of. The most speciest would call it revolting. Though he'd never counted himself among them, he did realize what a precarious situation he had allowed himself to get into.
He could lie to himself, but he knew it was already too late. He was already attached and more than just a little. How else to explain why he would be willing to stand outside his room and guard a human against Kadira? Especially considering the reason he had taken her in the first place?
Dismissing it after a few moments, he dragged his tired mind back to his most immediate problem--sleeping arrangements. He simply had to get a decent day’s rest and the only way he was going to do that was to get in his bed. From the first, he hadn’t felt comfortable with the thought of sleeping in his bed beside her. Even then he hadn’t been at all confident that he could keep his hands to himself, and he hadn’t been sure of what would happen if he didn't control himself. Now it was far worse because he was pretty confident that he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He couldn’t sleep somewhere else and leave her unguarded, though. There wouldn’t be anything left of her when he got back.
Sleeping in the hall was not an option either. He sighed heavily, deciding he was probably too exhausted by now for it to be a problem.
Xavion turned his head as he entered his room, shading his eyes from the light. His member immediately jumped to life. Mai lay curled under the sheets, her back toward the light.
His mouth went dry and for several moments he completely forgot what his purpose in coming into the room had been. He tried to drag his gaze from her but it was impossible not to notice her curvy figure, the way the sheet laid against her body. Though he could no longer smell her desire, her scent was never the less intoxicating.
Or maybe it was just the lack of blood in his brain?
I'm just here to sleep, he reminded himself with an effort. After turning the light down as dim as it would go and moving it to the foot of the bed, he lay down on top of the sheets, his back to her.
The tension in him from the moment he’d stepped in the room and seen her had driven all desire for sleep from his mind and he focused on reclaiming the calm he needed to relax and rest. Sleep did not have a chance to claim him. He had just started to doze off when he was roused by the feel of a warm, soft body against his own. His cock, which had only just lain down to rest, hardened almost instantly, throbbing painfully. An arm was draped across his waist, one shapely leg over his own. Her sex was pressed maddeningly against his buttocks. Turning his head, he looked down into her upturned face and found that her eyes were still closed in sleep.
He knew immediately that he should not have done so. It had been a long time since he had last known a woman's touch. The alien, this woman, was softer and more delicate than any Vampyrian he had ever known. It was just too much to resist.
He rolled over and looked down at her, caressing her with his gaze, her curvaceous body, her ample buttocks. Her skin looked so soft, he could not resist the temptation to touch it and, having run his hands across her silky cheek, he then needed to taste her, as well. Lightly kissing her neck, he ran his tongue over it, suckling gently.
His mind clouded as he savored the taste of her on his tongue.
She moaned softly, rousing and he lifted her head, at first fearing she had changed her mind, that she would demand that he stop. Instead, she rolled onto her back, a smile on the corner of her lips, welcoming him with her open arms. It sent him over the edge. He could no longer resist his inner urges. He moved over her, dragging the sheet down and exposing her ample breasts. A red haze seemed to engulf him. His cock, already rock hard, strained uncomfortably inside his pants until he though he would pass out from the restriction.
Rolling off the bed abruptly, he pulled off his shirt, tossing it to the floor and then peeled off his pants, wincing as he released his painfully swollen genitals from bondage. Placing a knee on the bed, he sprawled half atop her, supporting himself with one bent arm as he explored her body with his free hand. Trailing kisses, he softly licked and kissed his way from her neck to her breasts. He pulled a nipple into his mouth and suckled it, running his hand over the soft flesh of her belly until his fingers curled in the thatch of hair on her mound. Sliding his hand lower still, he parted the folds of her sex and dragged a finger along her cleft.
She was wet. He felt her desire, smelled the delicate scent of her arousal. Madness descended.
Grasping one thigh, he moved between her legs, rooting against her softness with his cock.
She groaned--with pleasure or pain at his clumsy desperation, he was in no state to know or care.
Grasping his cock in one hand, he felt blindly with the tip for the warm, wet hole he needed, grinding his teeth at the exquisite pleasure/pain that went through him when he found it and thrust inside.
For several moments after he’d buried his cock head into her such keen ecstasy enveloped him that he thought for several unnerving moments that he would come that very moment.
Gasping hoarsely, he fought for control. Sweat broke from his pores at the strain it cost him as every muscle in his body tensed in battle and his heart pounded as if it would explode.
He’d almost grasped his wayward control when she arched against him, engulfing him more deeply so that he could feel the walls of her sex strangling his cock. His breath left his lungs as if she’d punched him in the stomach.
He lost control, any semblance of sanity. Groaning hoarsely, he thrust past her clinging flesh in a mindless rush to bury himself to the hilt inside of her and still he felt he wasn’t deep enough.
Slipping an arm beneath one knee, he lifted her leg and ground against her, withdrew slightly and then impaled her with his engorged flesh again and again, harder, deeper, moving faster and faster each time as if his intention was to rend her in two, for he could not think beyond crawling inside of her, wrapping himself tightly in her sweet, tender flesh.
Curling over her, Xavion lowered his head to her breasts and ran his wet tongue over her hard nipples as he thrust himself into her slick mound, shuddering as it intensified his pleasure, struggling against the release he felt rapidly overtaking him, trying to stave it off as long as he could, unwilling to yield up the blinding ecstasy that rushed through
him each time he thrust inside her. The moan that tore from her lips nearly sent him over the edge.
Dimly, awareness filtered through him of her pleasure in his body. He felt himself teetering on the brink as she matched his already frenzied pace, moving faster and faster. It distracted him enough from his own drive for pleasure to hold his release at bay. As he felt her sex clench around him convulsively and she cried out, it tore the last of his restraint from his grasp, however. He buried his face between her breasts as his body shuddered, endlessly it seemed in release, his cock jerking in painful, rapturous release as the juices of his own orgasm filled her.
He felt so completely drained by the time it finally stopped, he could do nothing for many moments except sink heavily against her, panting for breath.
Finally, he managed to lift his head and looked deeply into her eyes, wondering if he’d hurt her, wondering if he had only imagined that she had found as much pleasure in him as he had in her. Her eyes were glazed with expended passion and a sense of relief settled in him. He dipped his head, caressing her lips in a light kiss before he slowly lifted himself from her and settled beside her, pulling her snugly against himself.
Is this, then, why the others were so enthusiastic to take human captives?
He could hardly believe that to be the case. She was the only human he had ever seen that seemed more than willing to be ravished, and had the others been willing, the crew would surely have bragged about it.
Sated, more thoroughly relaxed than he could remember being in a very long time, Xavion wondered sleepily to himself why he had never tried a human woman before. They were by far the closest in physical appearance to his own species. He had almost fallen to sleep when Mai spoke.
"Turn me into a vampire."
Xavion came fully awake, and he felt more than a little peeved at being so.
"Why?"
She was silent so long he thought she might have fallen asleep herself, but at last she spoke.
"It's something I've always wanted."
"No."
She pulled away from him, sitting up. He knew then that an argument was brewing and his irritation mounted.
"Why not? It isn't like it would hurt you!"
Wouldn't it? Does she have any idea what she's asking me to do? Was there nothing in the legends she spoke of to give her a clue? "I don't even know that something like that would work."
"I do. I mean, I believe it would. Xavion ... please...."
Her plea went through him like knife, which only angered him more. He rolled over, glad when she seemed to take the hint. She huffed behind him, giving him the cold shoulder.
He couldn’t do it. I didn’t even know if it would work as she believed it would. Moreover, he had no interest in taking a mate--which was what she was asking whether she realized it or not--and if he had he still wouldn’t want to attempt what she’d asked. He certainly didn’t want it badly enough to risk killing her and she might well die instead of turning? No one knew if it actually worked on other species.
It flickered through his mind that attempting it would mean that she would no longer work to bait Kadira. That she would no longer have value as bait for his trap seemed irrelevant all of a sudden, though, particularly when he couldn’t get his mind around the fact that she was far more likely to die than turn--whatever insane legends these humans had developed from their experiences with Dracule.
The mechanism was a simple evolutionary one--for Vampyrians. At one time, Vampyria had had several tribes. They were all similar in ways, but it was impossible to mate unless one turned one's mate, forcing their body to adapt into a form more similar to one's own. Some theorized that it should even be possible to turn an alien species, but no one had ever tried and succeeded as far as he knew--mostly because they had too much pride in their own race to consider ‘lowering’ themselves to take a mate of another species. Usually the test subject, for that was what they were, died. He knew that it was always possible it could work, especially if the human legend of Dracule held any truth at all, but he had no desire to test the theory.
He had not before, and especially not now.
Chapter Six
Xavion crossed his arms, leaning against the bulkhead as he watched the others on the couch. He was not at all pleased, though he couldn’t exactly put his finger on why. Mai sat between Morto and Vasili. Romand occupied the only chair, which he had pulled closer to the couch.
Mai had commenced to begging him to bring her to the rec. room, saying she was bored stiff in the cabin all day, and, like a complete fool, he had at last given in to her pleas. Truthfully, it had not seemed a bad idea at first. He could tell by the look Kadira gave them both before rushing out of the room that it was driving him crazy to wave Mai under his nose.
Satisfaction wasn’t something he’d felt though at the look in Kadira’s eyes. Rage more nearly defined the way he’d felt when he’d encountered the hungry look Kadira had given Mai when he’d spotted her.
He’d tamped it with an effort. He couldn’t do anything just because he didn’t like the way Kadira looked at Mai.
The others had managed to banish Kadria from his thoughts altogether, focusing him instead in a new direction. She was the center of attention. While he didn’t mind that, per se, she had been talking up a storm to the others, as if she’d known them forever--and he didn’t particularly like her friendliness--toward them. It made him doubt the illusion he’d had that that was reserved specifically for him.
He felt--out done when they had crowded around her eagerly, vying with each other to capture her attention and entertain her, or at least entertain themselves with her.
"It's a comedy. It's supposed to be funny."
The crewmen stared blankly at Mai.
"It is?" Morto asked in surprise.
Mai shrugged. "I guess you'd have to be human to--wait! Actually, I don't think it's funny either! I think it's just a human man thing."
It occurred to Xavion after a few moments to wonder if the displeasure twisting at his gut was jealousy.
He dismissed it almost the moment it popped into his mind. He did not have a jealous nature. He had never been jealous of anyone or anything that he could recall.
He could hardly keep his eyes off her, which was distracting. It appeared no one else could either, which made him irritated the hell out of him every time he caught their gazes straying downward caressingly--as if they could see through her clothes and knew exactly how beautiful her body was. But jealous?
"So they'll never get off the island?"
"No."
"And that's supposed to be funny?"
"I guess so. Don't you have anything like this on Vampyra?"
Morto snorted. "We don't do this kind of 'funny.' We have true entertainment."
"What's it like?" Mai had turned her head and was now leaning toward him eagerly.
Having sex with her had been the wrong thing to do, Xavion realized abruptly. From the moment he’d thrown caution to the wind and taken what he’d become desperate to have, he was lost. He had been able to think of very little else and it seemed to him she was purposefully making sure he wouldn't.
She was a creature of beauty, soft and ever inviting. The smell of her arousal was ever present in the room, which is where they spent most of their time. He had to be around her in order to keep her safe, but he didn't really want to be anywhere else.
When had the plan, which had seemed so clear-cut, so elegant in its simplicity, become such an impossible mess?
"My favorite has always been the blood games."
"Blood games?"
Morto grinned evilly. "Hey Vasili, you remember that last game we watched?"
"Do I? How could I forget! I got soaked! Zaron cut Dego clean in two!" He laughed. "Then fell on his ass when he slipped in all the blood. It was a riot!"
Mai looked at first one, then the other, in abject horror. Xavion decided it was about time to leave, before they could tell her about Zaron's next match. Pl
acing his hand on her shoulder, he nodded toward the door when she finally looked up in acknowledgement.
"Already?"
"Trust me, it's time."
"Aw, Xavion! We weren't gonna tell her!"
He glared over at Romand as she stood and moved to stand beside him.
"Bye! I really enjoyed meeting you all. I hope we can talk again soon!"
Irritated, Xavion caught her arm and led her back to the cabin.
* * * *
Mai had always found it strange how time would fly by unnoticed at times, and crawl so slowly at others. Not that she had the slightest idea of how time had been flowing in her case, since she had no way of telling how long she had been on this ship. She could not even go by how many times she had slept. It was extremely disorienting.
Mai carefully took off her clothes and unbound her hair. While she fully appreciated the clothes Xavion had given her, even if they did make her look like a pirate, it was so hard to keep the fabric from crumpling. Running her hands over the shirt several times, she finally gave up on smooth it and stood under the ionizer, enjoying the feel of the cleansing breeze sweeping down over her body. She had come to realize some time ago, the first time she had used it in fact, that it really did leave her feeling fresh and clean, if somewhat disappointed in the lack of water. Now, she stood under it contemplating her future, or rather, lack of one.
Xavion followed her every where she went. He was rarely ever out of sight, never out of mind, and she had the distinct impression that he lingered outside the door when he did leave. She had feelings for him, but in spite of everything she could do, he still refused her the one thing she asked of him. She could not imagine why he stayed so close all the time if he did not feel the same about her, but how could he and not care that she was growing older every day? Repeated attempts to learn his feelings had proven fruitless. He did not want to talk about it and he had made that fact amply clear.
Raiders of Vampyra Page 4
