Shaking his head, Ian stroked Trevor’s side, long, firm caresses that calmed his mental turmoil and excited the rest of his body. Trevor knew he could never face this new existence without Ian at his side. No one did the things this lover did with just the mere touch of his hand. His words were even more soothing to Trevor, each word passionate and strong.
“It’s the perfect time, Trevor. The night of the Savior’s birth is exactly right for the night of my savior’s birth. It couldn’t be more perfect. Salvation comes in many forms, Trevor, and you’re mine. Without you, I would gladly perish.”
Ian swooped down and kissed Trevor passionately. Lips sealed together, he rolled them so that Ian was on top.
“You have just fears, beauty ‑‑” He kissed Trevor’s eyelids and lips softly between words. “-- but let me show you some of the pleasures of your new life.” He lifted Trevor’s arm, holding the soft inner arm against his cheek. Ian ran his lips and fangs down the delicate flesh, wrist to elbow, slicing a shallow furrow. When the blood welled rich and full from the wound, he followed the red trail back up Trevor’s arm, licking and sucking the bright red flow off the skin to Trevor’s wrist.
Trevor gasped at the burning pain that came with the wound, but his hips bucked and he squirmed with need, as a bolt of arousal shot through his veins and rocketed to his cock. His shaft was hard and full, trapped between them, poking uselessly at Ian’s stomach, a smear of his own pre-cum lubricating the patch of flesh he rubbed against.
His gasp was captured by Ian’s lips again and swallowed as Ian invaded his mouth, exploring and bathing his entire being with his power. The weight of Ian’s body was solid and firm, iron hard, his skin luxuriously silky. The hair on his chest was darker than on his head, but fine and thick under Trevor’s palms. Trevor’s fingers blindly searched until they found the taut buds of nipples. He flicked and rubbed at them, loving the way his efforts fanned Ian’s passion higher.
A strange hunger mixed with his lust. It rolled through Trevor until he couldn’t control the impulse to bite at Ian’s lips, his newly emerged fangs tender, but sharp. A droplet of blood touched his tongue and the hunger exploded in his gut like oil thrown on a fire.
He lunged upward trying to gain a better biting hold on Ian. An unearthly power rippled through him, and he twisted and fought to find the nourishment he needed, but he was no match for Ian’s ancient strength. Trevor bucked and jerked, but his wrists were calmly pinned to the mattress over his head and his bucking hips held firmly in place by the vampire’s weight.
Flinging his head from side to side, Trevor growled out his frustration inches from Ian’s calm face. “I need!”
He didn’t recognize his own voice, the tone raw and dangerous. It shocked him and he dropped his head back on the pillow and stared up at his lover. “I-I ... need ...” He was at a loss to verbalize exactly what it was he did need. “Ian?” He heard the pleading tone to his own voice. Tears welled in his eyes as they searched Ian’s face for some kind of understanding.
“Hush, beauty. I know, I know.” Still holding Trevor’s wrist tightly, Ian moved their hands so he could gently brush Trevor’s cheek with his thumb, artfully avoiding teeth as Trevor twisted and strained against him. “The taste of my blood has awakened the first hunger in you.”
He pressed Trevor’s head into the feather pillow, forehead pressed to forehead, and whispered, the sound faint and breathy, but easily heard by another vampire’s ears. “This will be the strongest of the urges to feed. After this is properly sated, I’ll teach you how to control it, hide it, turn it to your advantage.” He teasingly nipped the tip of Trevor’s nose, easily avoiding Trevor’s unrelenting, eager fangs. “You’re an intelligent man; you’ll do well.”
Thwarted, Trevor settled back, emotions in turmoil, but still aroused and oddly thrilled by Ian’s restraining hold and powerful presence. Hopeful, he locked gazes with Ian. “I won’t have to kill?”
As soon as he said the word, the urge to destroy something living flashed through him and he panicked. Frantic with fear and confusion, he cried out. “Ian! I feel like I could kill!” Trevor renewed his struggle for a moment while Ian hurried to patiently calm him again. “I’ll kill, I will!”
“You won’t! I swear it.” He shook Trevor until the young vampire’s teeth clattered and his hair flew into his eyes. Trevor gasped and shuddered, then calmed, a sob escaping his lips with his words.
“Never?”
Ian pushed the stray blond strands off Trevor’s face with his chin and gently said, “Not to feed.”
The brush of Ian’s beard stubble blazed along his skin and relief flowed in Trevor’s veins. He believed Ian with all his being, dark and unfamiliar as it was to him now. Ian was still his anchor in life, the past one and this new, shadow-filled, stormy one. He was its originator and Trevor’s only source of guidance and understanding, as well as his one true love. He put his trust in Ian, despite the vampire being the reason for his distress and predicament. Ian had done it for love, Trevor knew that.
The hold on his wrists loosened and Trevor turned questioning eyes on his lover as Ian firmly tilted Trevor’s face up to meet his steely gaze. “But maybe for self-protection, if you have to.” Trevor blinked rapidly to keep the panic at bay and Ian gently added, “but never for nourishment, never because of starvation. I swear it.”
“Cross your heart and hope to ‑‑” Trevor huffed a tiny, embarrassed chuckle and averted his gaze. “Guess that doesn’t mean too much now, eh?”
Letting out a loud laugh, Ian tilted Trevor’s face back to meet his stare. He smiled, seductive and teasing. Heated gazes locked together, Ian licked across Trevor’s mouth, then sucked on his lower lip, tugging it before letting it slip away, wet and slick, to whisper, “How about we make it a blood oath?”
The hunger rose again.
Without moving from on top of Trevor, Ian seductively tilted his head to one side, exposing his throat. Trevor instinctively lunged, driven by a new, indefinable need to taste the vampire’s rich, aged blood a second time. His fangs pierced Ian’s flesh, making a soft pop as they penetrated.
New and inexperienced, Trevor made to brutally shake his head and widen the wounds, but a massive, firm fist clamped onto his hair and held him still, preventing him from inflicting more damage than necessary.
“That’s my beauty. Bold and fierce. You’ll learn to use finesse over time. For now just slay the hunger.” Ian gasped and pressed Trevor’s mouth more tightly against his neck, a moan of pleasure rumbling from deep inside his throat. “Feast from me.”
The blood rolled over Trevor’s tongue, thick and silky smooth like liquid satin. It tasted of berries, hickory, and lime, rich and intoxicating. Flashes of emotions washed through him, love, lust, desire, and guilt, and it was some time before he realized they were Ian’s feelings, not his. The realization he was sharing his lover’s most intimate emotions made them all the more intense. Trevor’s ever-present arousal slowly began to overwhelm his ebbing hunger for blood. Now his body craved to be satisfied in other ways.
As if Ian was aware of the change in Trevor’s needs, the grip on Trevor’s hair lessened and he was able to pull back. As Ian broke away, Trevor smeared the last droplets of Ian’s blood from the healing wounds over his lips.
Ian’s face appeared inches from his own. They locked yellow gazes for a brief, intense moment, then Ian’s tongue darted out and began to lick the blood from Trevor’s ruby red lips, slowly and thoroughly. Each languid lap of wet muscle was erotic and arousing to Trevor, his lips hypersensitive and his sexual need beyond explosive.
Ian’s hips began to move in concert with his attentions to Trevor’s mouth, sliding their cocks together in a delicious dance. The licks turned to sucking kisses as Ian worked his lips from Trevor’s mouth, over his cheek, down his neck and across his chest.
He raised one of Trevor’s arms and slowly worked his kisses up the inner aspect, grazing the soft flesh with his fangs, never breaking the
skin but leaving a trail of teeth marks in his wake. When he reached Trevor’s wrist, Ian suckled at the pulse point, teasing it, until Trevor was squirming with need and anticipation.
“Ian! Please!”
“Not yet, beauty.” Ian dropped Trevor’s arm and returned his attention to Trevor’s mouth while his hands slid under Trevor’s ass and kneaded the firm globes of flesh, spreading them.
His fingers were in constant motion, edging their way closer and closer until they touched the puckered entrance to Trevor’s body. Once there, Ian began to stroke and rub at the tight ring of muscle, relenting only when it fluttered and relaxed under his fingertips.
Trevor groaned and arched his hips, then pushed down on the blunt fingertip pressing into his ass. The need to be filled, to have more than just a touch raced through him and Trevor bucked his lower half, spreading his legs wide and wrapping them high around Ian’s waist.
“More. Want more.” Trevor twisted and tossed his head and shoulders, pinned in place, exposed and open, at Ian’s loving mercy, desperate to feel Ian inside of him.
Ian’s cock rubbed at his balls and the blunt head of the vampire’s shaft replaced his finger. He reached for Trevor’s abandoned arm, licking over the smooth flesh as he inched his cock into the tight, fluttering opening.
Moaning at the thrill of the familiar, delightful burn and pressure of the large shaft, Trevor met each small thrust of Ian’s hips with one of his own, trying to pull Ian’s cock in deeper and faster.
The sensation of Ian’s veined and bulging cock sliding against his channel walls, spreading his asshole wider with each inch that was buried in him, made Trevor gasp and moan, his thoughts jumbled as the room spun.
Making love as a hyperaware vampire was different than before, more intense, more exotic, and more satisfying. He felt every emotion Ian felt and understood his desires and needs like never before. Trevor knew why Ian had not been able to face the future without him and he understood the decision to bring him across to the dark. He knew Ian would willingly die without him. Ian’s love for him was that strong.
He nearly screamed when Ian’s slow, tiny thrusts unexpectedly turned into faster, smoother, longer strokes that rubbed slickly along his channel and bumped relentlessly over his prostate with each pass. His climax built way too soon and too fast. Trevor wanted this to go on forever.
Making love with Ian had been amazing and wondrous before this, but now it was indescribable. They seemed linked on a level that transcended the rest of the world’s existence. Blood lust and vampirism be damned, Trevor wanted a lifetime of this and Ian.
His climax teetered on the edge, waiting for one last touch or sensation to push him over the brink. Trevor’s frustration mounted and his body cried out for release as the sensation intensified but no relief came. Trevor’s pleading gaze locked on Ian’s lust-filled stare.
Never pulling away his gaze, Ian drew Trevor’s wrist to his lips and kissed the soft vulnerable inner strip of pale flesh. He thrust hard and deep once, biting into the wrist at the same time, cock buried to the root, and lusting gaze riveted on Trevor’s face.
Trevor screamed, his body spasming, and then came, the burn of the hard thrust and the sheer ecstasy of the bite too much to bear together. It was exactly what he needed to fall over the razor-sharp edge he had been teetering on. His climax was explosive. His skin sizzled and his senses reeled. Sweat broke out over his body and his mind became dazed and clouded. His cock jerked and erupted, coating his abdomen and Ian’s chest, the scent of the cum intoxicating.
Flesh was pressed to his lips and Trevor opened his eyes. He grabbed onto Ian’s arm and licked over the same spot on his lover’s wrist that Ian had feasted at on his own body. He felt Ian grip his hip in a bruising hold and then arch, plunging deep into his ass and staying there. Trevor understood his lover’s desire and bit into Ian’s wrist, losing himself in the joy and pleasure he found in Ian’s blood.
A roar of triumph shook the walls and Ian’s hips thrust in rapid, staccato rhythm, the vampire emptying his load deep inside of Trevor. When he was spent, Ian withdrew and collapsed in a heap beside Trevor, panting. He turned on the mattress to give Trevor a sated smile.
Trevor met Ian’s sultry gaze with one of his own and leisurely licked the last trickle of blood from Ian’s arm as his lover watched. The look of feral want that sparked in Ian’s eyes fueled his own arousal to stir again. He felt his cock burst to life when Ian returned the gesture and began to lick and suckle the open wounds of Trevor’s wrist, too.
Ian leaned over Trevor, bringing the wrist up with him. He alternated between kissing Trevor’s lips and sucking on his wrist, occasionally licking a droplet of his own blood off Trevor’s lips as well.
“Now do you believe me, beauty?” Ian’s hand wandered to Trevor’s rising cock and lightly stroked it.
Gasping softly, Trevor arched his hips. “Not sure I’m a hundred percent convinced.” Trevor shoved his straining shaft into Ian’s playful hand and turned a hot, sultry stare on his lover and breathlessly asked, “Can you explain it to me again?”
* * * * *
Ian stared at the night sky, lost in the memories of his and Trevor’s first Christmas. It had been the only Christmas Eve the two of them had spent together. They had kept their oath and Trevor had never killed for food, but he had used his vampire skills and abilities to kill for revenge.
As much as Ian wanted Trevor with him for this one night, he never interfered. In all his centuries as a vampire, he considered turning Trevor to be his greatest sin. His own guilt kept him silent about his lover’s absences, but modern times and police methods were making Trevor’s yearly haunt more and more dangerous.
Ian noticed a small patch of sky where the clouds had parted. His breath caught when one star caught his eyes, its brilliant light twinkling solitary and bright through the falling snowflakes.
He couldn’t resist. Even if heaven didn’t listen to a demon’s prayers, that didn’t mean he couldn’t say one. Maybe the star would understand and carry it to the heavens anyway.
Fixing his gaze on the tiny pinpoint of light, obvious to the cold and snow, Ian pictured his love in his mind and softly spoke to the still night air.
“Please take care of him and protect him from harm.”
The only prayer that came to mind was an ancient Irish poem he thought fit their situation in an oddly perfect way, although he was pretty sure the creator hadn’t been talking about the undead when it was written.
“Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there ... I do not sleep.
I am the thousand winds that blow ...
I am the diamond glints on snow ...”
Pausing to remember all the words, Ian took a deep breath. The snow silently drifted around, clinging to his eyelashes, hair, and clothing. Trevor filled his thoughts and his senses. He knew it was all of his lover he would be able to have this night and he cherished each one of the memories, holding them close to his heart, childishly hoping his Christmas prayer would be carried in the star’s light.
* * * * *
Christmas Eve was only one day away and the streets were jammed with shoppers, carolers, hooligans, and school kids. Even late into the evening, the London streets were overrun with people window shopping, coming home from work, and just out enjoying the festive holiday season. A smattering of pickpockets and petty thieves wandered among the strollers, but every corner seemed to have two police bobbies stationed on it.
Even the alleyways, dirty and foreboding places on the best of days, now wore a thin cloak of clean, glittering snow, a rarity for London. But despite their illusion of purity, they were still the playground of the disreputable and immoral, traveled by the city’s most undesirables.
Here was where Trevor came to re-enact his last night on earth as a mortal. It was his chance to alter the outcome, to pay back his attackers and to soothe his conscience.
And his conscience needed to be soothed. His guilt ov
er enjoying his present life, loving an existence that enabled him to spend all eternity with the one man who made his every moment on earth worth the price he had paid for the gift. His guilt over loving Ian more than he hated his unholy existence as a dark creature banished to the night for all time. Love of a greater power could not transcend his love for Ian. For that, he paid tribute every anniversary of the Savior’s birth and his own rebirth.
Trevor leisurely strolled past a small side alley that he knew led to a maze of dozens of other poorly lit, filthy back streets between the stores and workshops that populated this seedier section of town. He waited until the tall police officer a few feet away was looking in the other direction, then moved silently into the alley. He was swiftly swallowed by the shadows of the closely packed buildings.
Following the faint but familiar sounds of a scuffle he had heard from the mouth of the alley, Trevor sidled down the dark pathway, back pressed to the cold damp brick walls, feet soundless as only a vampire’s could be. It took only three turns to put him in the heart of the confrontation.
In the light of the single bare bulb hanging from a warehouse iron rod twenty feet up the side of the building to his right, he could see four men entwined a battle of fists and bats. The occasional glitter of metal shone in the dim light as arms and legs twisted around each other and under bodies so rapidly, Trevor wasn’t sure who was battling whom.
Not that it mattered to him. In these secluded paths where the underbelly of society basked in the grime, anyone here had nothing but evil on their mind and they deserved whatever happened to them. He felt no pity for any of them and knew he would grant them no mercy.
Trevor cocked his head, listening, to be sure there wasn’t anyone else in the nearby alleys or shadowed doorways to witness his actions or creep up on him, whether they be more scum or a wandering policeman. A faint fluttering heartbeat that didn’t belong to the group of men in front of him touched his hearing, but it was too fast to be a man’s. He shrugged it off as a stray cat and turned his attention to the business at hand.
The Bite Before Christmas Page 5
