Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)

by Dara Nelson

  “I’m aware of that, Sir. But, why you? Couldn’t you just contact some other vampire to change her? Why does it have to be you? She will be linked to you for as long as you both live. Are you sure that you want that complication in your life?”

  Colton slowly turned around to face Hansen, “Complication? Love is a complication, Hansen? Or is it your love for me that’s the complication?” Colton said as he walked down the steps until he was inches from Hansen’s flushed face, “Do you think that I am so shallow and cold that I haven’t noticed how you feel about me? That I haven’t felt your yearning for me? I get it, Hansen, I truly do, but I just can’t complicate our relationship that way. I value you too much to do that.”

  “But why her, Sir? A woman that you’ve just met, that you barely know? I’ve spent hundreds of years taking care of you, protecting you, wanting you, yet she stumbles out of the woods and captures your heart within days.”

  Colton reached out and cupped his hand along Hansen’s cheek. Hansen closed his eyes and melted into it as Colton continued, “You’ve known me for a very long time, Hansen, and you’ve known every one of my lovers, both male and female, but have you ever known me to rely on any of them for protection, to trust them with my life?”

  “No, Sir,” Hansen whispered, breathless with his desire.

  “There’s a reason for that,” Colton said as he cupped Hansen’s face in his hands and moved closer, “This,” he breathed just before his mouth came down, his lips pressing against Hansen’s, his tongue sweeping in once, twice then slowly pulling back, “complicates things. It weakens your ability to protect me and it would weaken me. I need you as my protector, Hansen. I have to know that you’re there for me one hundred percent all of the time. Love, desire, sex would distract you, distract both of us. But I understand that you’re lonely and I know that vampires are the only creatures that you can be with sexually. I am so anti-social in that area that I’ve neglected you and for that I apologize.”

  “But it’s you that I want, Sir,” Hansen mumbled.

  “It’s love that you want and it’s love that I will give you. Once Tess is changed and this whole mess is sorted out, I will take you to some vampire bars in Paris, New Orleans, maybe even the old country, and introduce you to some of my acquaintances. Perhaps one of them will catch your eye?”

  Hansen stared into Colton’s eyes for what felt like forever. He knew that Colton was right, knew that if they became intimate that it would cloud his judgment and make him less effective at his job. He thought about how he would feel if he had to turn his duties over to someone else. He knew that he would never be able to allow that to happen. He would never trust someone enough to be as good at what he did as he was. Nobody would ever protect Colton as well as he did, nobody. Hansen closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly, “I’ll finish getting the room ready, Sir,” he said as he turned away.

  Colton resumed his slow trek up the stairs. He paused just outside his bedroom door and took a deep breath. He pushed open the door and smiled slightly at the small gasp that Tess made. She was trying so hard to be brave but she was scared as hell, as she should be. There was nothing nice or romantic about creating a vampire – well, except for maybe the sex that they had at the very beginning – everything after that was cold, impersonal, painful and dangerous, very dangerous. It was never easy to gauge how much blood to take – too little and they usually got sick and died, too much and they died. It had to be exactly right. And though the instinct for that was ingrained in vampires as old as Colton that didn’t mean that the instinct was right every time. There were failures, there had always been failures and there would always be failures. That was one of the reasons that Colton had never changed someone before this. He knew how hard it would be to live with his mistake if he got it wrong. He knew that there were vampires out there who turned people all the time, surrounding themselves with their children, as it were. It made for a less lonely existence than how Colton lived, but it also invited disaster or mistake. If a change went bad, if the turned vampire became evil or uncontrollable – as did happen when the person wasn’t mentally strong enough to handle their new powers and desires – then the new vampire had to be dealt with in order to keep the existence of vampires out of the mainstream public’s eyes. Colton would never want to be tasked with having to kill one of his own. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took Tess’ hand in his, “I want to make absolute certain that you are aware of the risks here, Tess. I’ve never done this before. And while the ability to gauge how much blood is in a human is instinctual in vampires, it is by no means a perfect system. Mistakes are made, lives can be lost.”

  Tess sat up, allowing the sheet to fall from her as she cupped her hand on Colton’s cheek. She saw the hunger flash in his eyes the moment he realized that she was already naked, “I know the risks, Colt, and I’m okay with them. I trust you to do your best. I feel safe with you. I know that it might not work, but I have to try because I have to stop that bastard, Shane, from what he’s trying to do, and I have to try to save my sister.”

  Colton’s hand was shaking as he reached for Tess. He smiled slightly, allowing a small laugh to come out as he said, “I do believe I’m as nervous as a first-timer, Miss Hamilton.”

  Tess smiled and reached up with her fingers to stroke one of Colton’s fangs. He jumped and hissed in a breath, the touch just as sensual and exciting as if she had grabbed hold of his now rock-hard cock. “Your fangs turn me on, Colton,” she whispered breathlessly. She shifted onto her knees so that her face was even with Colton’s. Clasping his face in her hands, he watched, both curious and more turned on than he’d ever been, as she leaned forward and swirled her tongue around first one fang and then the other. When she wrapped her lips around both fangs and allowed them to slightly pierce her tongue, he almost came in his pants. He pulled back with a gasp, unable to speak, his eyes glowing with desire as he tore his shirt and pants off then pounced on her like a predator on his prey. But he had to control his inner monster enough to remember the task at hand. He purposefully slowed down as his mouth crushed down on hers. He knew Tess could be gone after tonight and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to give her the best sexual experience of her life first. He moved his kisses down her jaw line then onto her neck, allowing his fangs to slightly pierce along the way, bringing beads of blood to his tongue and getting her body used to releasing the blood but not causing her any pain at all – it was no different than if she was at the acupuncturist’s - if the acupuncturist caused sexual excitement and build up with each needle inserted like Colton’s saliva did. Tess gasped with each puncture. Colton could already feel her body humming with her need to release but he was going to delay it as long as he could, bringing her to the precipice and back many times until, when the wave finally crashed over her she would feel like she was flying apart in his arms and into total bliss. He moved down her collarbone as she moaned and ran her fingers through his hair. She arched her back and groaned, “Oh, yes,” the moment his mouth closed on her already hardened nipple. His tongue swirled around the tip as his fangs made tiny pinpricks around the areola. He kissed his way across her chest and gave the same loving attention to the other breast. He felt her body almost reach its first orgasm then so he released the nipple and began kissing her down her belly as her hands fisted in his hair and she breathlessly moaned, “God, you’re killing me, Colton.” He smiled into her belly button then rested his chin on her lower belly, “Would you like me to stop?” he whispered playfully.

  “You do and you’re a dead man,” she smiled then she threw her head back on the pillow as he resumed his kissing and nipping down her belly until he reached the smooth skin on her completely shaved mound. Her nub was already engorged with her desire and he swirled his tongue around it – she came so dangerously close to an orgasm again, that for a moment he didn’t think that he had stopped in time and he almost wished that he hadn’t since his mouth was watering as it anticipated tasting her sweet honey. He
kissed and nipped down one side of her folds then back up the other before he made the decision to let her come apart in his mouth once before bringing her to a second orgasm with his cock buried inside her – he envied women that they were built that way, able to come over and over again until exhausted. As a vampire he had more longevity than a human – he could last much longer and recover more quickly but being able to have dozens of orgasms in a single sexual session? That was something that not even he was capable of. Tess’ whispered plea brought him back from his thoughts to the task at hand, “Colton, please,” she groaned.

  “Please, what my dear?” he mumbled as his tongue slid up her slit.

  Her hands fisted the sheet and her back arched as she cried out, “Please let me come.”

  “As you wish, my love,” he said then he sucked her hard clit into his mouth with his tongue slinking out to her slit to catch her flowing juices as she exploded. He prolonged her orgasm as long as he could, keeping it ebbing and flowing with a flick of his tongue, a suck of his lips, a nip with his fangs, until Tess had to beg him to stop, “Colton,” she gasped, “need to breath.”

  He chuckled as he moved his kisses back up her belly, “First you’re begging me to let you come and then you’re begging me to let you stop.”

  “Well, Jesus, I didn’t realize you were going to give me an orgasm that would last a good five minutes,” she gasped as she tried to catch her breath.

  “Too much¸ my dear?”

  She reached for him, pulling him up her body by his hair, “It’s never too much,” she growled before she pulled his face to hers in a hungry kiss, moaning as she tasted herself on his tongue. He felt her legs wrap around his as she tried to pull him closer, urging him inside. “Eager, little one?” he whispered against her lips. She answered with a growl and a thrust of her hips, her hand on the back of his neck forcing his lips closer to hers. His mouth crushed down hard on hers, his tongue slinking out between his already lengthened fangs to wrestle with hers. He felt her palms dig into his back side and her hips thrust upwards as she urged him further to penetrate her. He didn’t need any more prodding. With one grunt, he thrust himself forward, burying himself to the hilt without any hesitation from her wet and ready core. Her mouth broke from his and she threw her head back, moaning, “Hell, yes,” as she bared her neck to him. He watched her pulse throbbing wildly just below the surface, watched her writhe in ecstasy as she teetered on the precipice of another massive orgasm. Her hands left his backside as he pounded into her, moving to her breasts to pinch her rock hard nipples. He felt her walls spasm around his cock as her orgasm moved even closer. She was balanced on the edge, waiting for that slight push that would send her careening into sheer bliss and Colton knew exactly what that push needed to be. “Touch yourself, Tess,” he growled. Her eyes opened to look at him. She smiled slightly as her hand moved down her belly to her soft mound. Colton pulled his knees underneath him so that it would give her more room. His hands pushed her knees up and apart, spreading her wide for him. “Watch me,” she moaned, “watch me touch myself, Colton.”

  “Oh, I am, Tess,” he groaned as he watched her fingers circling her hard nub. Tess raised up on her elbows and her eyes flicked back and forth between his face watching her hand, and the sight of both her finger plying her clit with pleasure and his huge cock sliding in and out of her. She timed the pressure on her nub with each thrust of his cock. “God, yes, I’m going to, I’m going to, Colton, I’m coming now,” she yelled, throwing her head back on the pillow as she thrashed around on the bed. Colton waited only a few moments before bellowing his own release, pumping his hot seed inside her, triggering an even bigger orgasm from her. She screamed and her body arched off of the bed. Colton released her legs and threw himself onto her body, pinning her, as he buried his fangs in her neck. Her orgasm was immeasurable at this point, sparking every conceivable pleasure point in her entire body into one earth-shattering moment. She bucked and spasmed beneath him as he drank the sweet nectar from her neck. He continued pumping into her as he pulled the blood from her body even as she began to lose consciousness while still in the throes of orgasm. Colton stopped thrusting and devoted all of his attention to her beating heart. The beats slowed, putting more time, more precious seconds between each one until it was ‘thump, ten seconds, thump, fifteen seconds, weaker thump, twenty five seconds, barely noticeable thump, forty five seconds, that’s when he finally released his fangs and sat up on his knees. He pierced his wrist then reached his other hand behind Tess’ neck, sitting her up with her head tilted back, automatically opening her mouth and throat. He brought his wrist to her lips and allowed the blood to flow into her mouth as he whispered to her, “Come on, honey, drink, drink for me.”

  Her throat didn’t move. He knew that some blood was streaming down her throat but he needed to get it in her faster, he needed her to swallow. “Hansen, get in here,” he bellowed. Hansen must’ve been hovering near the bedroom door because he burst through before Colton had finished his request. “She’s not swallowing, Hansen.”

  “On it, Sir,” Hansen said as he moved to the edge of the bed. Hansen began massaging and caressing Tess’ neck, until finally, after what felt like an agonizingly long time, she managed a small swallow, then another stronger one, then another, until her lips closed around his wrist and she was sucking the blood from him faster than his heart would pump it “She’s almost there, Sir. Don’t let her take too much.”

  “I know, but just a little more, Hansen.”

  Colton could feel the panic building in Hansen as Colton felt himself growing weaker.

  “That’s enough, Sir,” Hansen said as he tried to pry Colton’s wrist from Tess’ mouth.

  Colton growled, “Just another minute.”

  “Enough, Sir!” Hansen yelled as he finally managed to rip Colton’s wrist from her eager mouth. Hansen slapped a bag of blood into Colton’s hand, “Drink,” he commanded. Colton sat back on the bed as Hansen straddled Tess’ torso and began chest compressions to pump the vampire blood through her system faster. Colton fought the strong urge to knock Hansen across the room because he was touching his woman’s naked chest as he drained bag after bag of blood. After draining his tenth pint, Colton climbed off of the bed and slipped a pair of sweats on. He walked back to the bed and touched Hansen’s shoulder, “I’ll take over, now,” he whispered.

  Hansen kept pumping into Tess’ chest as he said, “Are you sure, Sir? Surely you’re still weak and need time to recover.”

  Colton squeezed his hand to get Hansen’s attention. Hansen looked up at Colton, “Please let me do it,” Colton whispered.

  Hansen nodded his head and they quickly switched places. As Colton resumed compressions on Tess’ chest he said, “Hand me my stethoscope.”

  The stethoscope appeared next to his left arm. Colton stopped CPR and checked Tess’ heart. He quickly pulled the stethoscope from his ears and resumed compressions, “Nothing yet,” he mumbled, “I’ve got to get my blood pumped through her system so that my vampire blood cells transform hers.”

  A few minutes later, Hansen’s eyes flicked to Tess’ right hand, “Sir, her finger, sir. Her finger just twitched.”

  Colton stopped compressions again, whipped the stethoscope from his neck and pressed it to Tess’ chest. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, with his eyes closed, for sounds in her chest. Frustrated, he yanked it from his ears and pressed his cheek directly to Tess’ chest. Agonizing seconds ticked by until…..finally: Thump, pause, thump, pause, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. Good strong, steady beats. Colton sat up and lifted Tess’ upper lip. He watched, fascinated, as her canine teeth elongated and sharpened to tiny points. A small, cautious smile began to form on Colton’s mouth. “I, I, I think it might’ve worked,” he whispered as his eyes drifted up to meet Hansen’s.

  “I think you’re right, Sir. You’ve sired your first vampire. How does that feel?”

  Colton’s blew the air out of his lungs, unaware that he had been holding his b
reath for a while, “I’m not sure. Exciting and terrifying at the same time.”

  “Why terrifying?”

  “What if she’s different? What if it changes her personality? What if she’s something horrible who can’t be controlled and needs to be put down?”

  “Her, sir? I seriously doubt that. I may have had my doubts about her being a member of our family. But I came to realize after I got to know her that my reasons were purely selfish on my part. She is a very giving, kind, loving, patient woman. It’s difficult for me to admit, but she’s good for you and I don’t see that changing now that she’s vampire. Becoming vampire only changes those who can’t handle the power. Tess is strong enough to handle anything. This won’t change her, it will only make her stronger.”

  Below them, Tess groaned. Colton brushed her hair off of her forehead. “She’s burning up. Can you please bring me a wet washcloth?”

  Hansen walked to the bathroom. As Colton heard the water running, he whispered to Tess, “You’re going to be okay, Tess. It’s going to hurt for a little while now, but you’ll be okay in a few hours.”

  Hansen gave Colton’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he handed him the washcloth then he moved to the chair in the corner and sat down. “You don’t need to stay here for this part,” Colton said as he dabbed the cloth on Tess’ forehead and cheeks. He smoothed it down each arm then moved back up to her face. “You haven’t done this before, Sir. We don’t really know what the reaction will be. You might need some help and I want to be nearby if you do,” Hansen said as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

  Tess moaned louder and rolled onto her side, “Hurts,” she croaked.

  “I know, honey. But it’ll be over soon. Just try to relax.”

  “C,c,c,cold,” she mumbled through chattering teeth.

  Colton lay down behind her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her, “Does this help?”

  “Mmhmm,” she said as she slightly nodded her head.