Jesse felt so much tenderness in the way Christian ministered to him that he knew, then and there, the thought of killing his new lover made Jesse want to die himself. How the hell would he save Hannah now?
Christian turned Jesse around and dried his front, wiping ever so carefully around his groin, swiping the fluffy towel across his buttocks and down into the crevice.
Jesse balanced himself with a hand on Christian’s strong shoulder. Just touching the muscle like that, feeling it flex, knowing it flexed because Christian was drying him off, was enough to make Jesse realize he loved Christian, too.
He looked down, his cheeks burning wildly. “Thank you,” he murmured through his suddenly tight jaw. Words of love did not fall as easily from him as his praise for Christian’s physical beauty had earlier.
Christian stopped drying him and straightened, looking down into his eyes. Love swirled and churned in the blue depths. “You’re welcome.” After a moment’s pause, he brushed several fingertips across Jesse’s cheek. “Are you up to a shave before getting back into bed?”
Jesse nodded. Truthfully, after the shower and what Christian had done to him in the shower, he was feeling more restored with each passing minute.
Christian sat him down on a small stool and prepared shaving things. Jesse watched Christian give his own cheeks and jaw a quick shave and then let Christian do the same to him. He was fast beginning to love the way Christian touched him, realizing how empty his existence had been without these simple small acts of tenderness.
When he’d finished, Christian led him back into the bedroom and helped him into bed. With a gentle hand on his back, Christian laid him against the pillows. “You rest now. There’s a restaurant on Beacon Street
. I’ll go get you something there, seeing as I don’t keep food on hand.” He smiled and pulled the heavy covers up over Jesse’s naked body, tucking the soft down comforter around him.
Jesse looked up at him, his body still tingling and relaxed from the hot shower, the scrubbing and from Christian’s mouth massage. The musky tang of Christian’s personal flavor lingered in his own mouth, a sweet reminder of what they’d done together. A potent wave of guilt blindsided him. “Christian ... I came here to kill you and yet ...” He struggled to say the words that were so painful. “I don’t understand how you can be so kind.”
Christian leaned over him, gentle fingertips skimming along his cheek, leaving soft heat in their trail. “Food first and then answers, all right? No one has to kill, I promise.”
A pang gripped Jesse. He wished Christian didn’t have to leave him even for a few minutes. All these centuries alone, except for Hannah, the gnawing ache for love had plagued him ... until now.
Christian must have read his thoughts, judging by the sympathy radiating from his blue eyes. The pad of his thumb moved back and forth on Jesse’s cheek, a comforting gesture full of tenderness. “I won’t be long. You must eat. Perhaps food will undo some of the physical harm you suffered.” Softly he slanted his lips over Jesse’s, tasting him slowly. The tip of his tongue nudged the seam, stealing inside to linger against his tongue.
Jesse reached up, slipping a hand into Christian’s damp hair. The sensation was like golden silk against his callused flesh. In spite of his exhaustion and hunger, Jesse’s cock stirred again, wanting another loving, heated release. He parted his lips wider, sliding his tongue harder against Christian’s. He almost groaned his disappointment when Christian pulled away.
His golden lover smiled down at him, blue eyes now smoldering. “More of that later, too,” he murmured. “I promise.”
As Jesse’s hand slipped from Christian’s hair, Christian caught his wrist. He turned Jesse’s hand over and pressed his lips into the tender flesh. Jesse drew in a heated breath at the feeling of Christian’s tongue flickering lightly against his wrist.
All too soon, Christian lifted his lips away and brought Jesse’s hand to rest on the covers. “I’d better go now, before I can’t leave.”
Jesse nodded, still in a daze from the mere touch of Christian’s kiss, both on his lips and on his wrist. He watched Christian turn and walk from the room.
Chapter Seven
Jesse sat back against the pillows after having practically inhaled the meal Christian had brought for him, a beautiful spread of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, muffins, coffee and juice. Admittedly, Christian had been correct; the large meal went a long way toward restoring more of his strength that the lead had stolen from him.
Christian removed the bed tray and took his seat again at the edge of the mattress.
Jesse stared up at him, bewitched by Christian’s sheer physical beauty. The firelight danced off the vampire’s pale skin and golden hair, and caused the blue in his eyes to glow. Even the jagged scar on his cheek only added to his rugged magnificence and Jesse wished he could have seen Christian in earlier times, clad in armor, his muscled legs showing beneath his tunic, his brawny arm wielding a sword.
“Thank you again, Chris.” He started at his own use of a nickname. Hannah was the only other being he’d ever given a nickname.
The endearment obviously pleased his lover, who picked up Jesse’s hand and held it against the smooth plane of his cheek, softer from having been shaved after their shower.
The guilt Jesse had felt before now resurfaced. He remembered that Chris had not answered his question of earlier.
Chris sighed. “Yes, I remember that I haven’t answered your question,” he said softly. “You were wondering why I’m being so loving with you when you really came here to kill me.”
Jesse’s heart lurched. His thought must have activated their mind link. He nodded.
Chris pressed a small kiss onto Jesse’s hand, then lowered it, holding it between both his hands on his lap. “The answer is simple, Jesse. I fell in love with you.” He glanced away, toward the fire and then back, his blue eyes sheepish. “Well, that’s mostly why. You had me spellbound from the first moment, even before I fed on you. Even if I weren’t Coeur Eternel ‑‑”
Jesse shot up to a seated position, his heart suddenly racing. “You’re a CE?”
Chris’s brow furrowed. “Yes, is that a problem?”
He shook his head. “No ... not at all. It’s just that ... well, I suspected it because of the scar, but when I touched your chest there was no heartbeat.”
Chris sighed again. “No, there wouldn’t be. I’m what you could call a half-breed, I suppose.”
Jesse blinked, his mind confused. “You mean, half human and half CE?”
“No. Half CE, half Sans Ame.”
“I’ve never heard of that. How ... uh ... how?”
Chris’s bow-shaped lips curved in a smile. “It’s rare, but it does happen. I was sired by Valmont Lascaux, the world’s oldest vampire. More powerful even than Noiret. I was a Viking, raiding the Normans in Britain. Apparently, Lascaux at the time was acting as a Norman lord and it was his estate I attacked. Several of his knights ambushed me, stabbed me and then captured me. I was in too much pain at the time to realize that Lascaux was there, preventing his men from doing me in. Instead, he had them put me in his barn on a bed of straw.” He sighed. “There I was, bleeding to death when Lascaux knelt over me.
“In spite of the fact I was so weak from loss of blood, I still remember how it felt, that initial piercing in my neck, the pleasure of the feeding. It wasn’t until after that I blacked out. When I finally came to I didn’t realize what I was yet. I still felt my heart beating, yet my wounds were all healed and I craved blood. Lascaux was there, the first face I saw. He realized that I had retained my heart in the ethereal sheath of my body.”
Jesse frowned. “Ethereal?”
Chris nodded. “Yes. It means that I can still feel and hear it beat, but it’s not made of flesh as with other CE’s.” He chuckled softly. “Not many know this, but many centuries ago during his travels, Lascaux came upon a Buddhist monk in a cave in the mountains of Tibet, meditating. He fed off th
e monk and sired him, as was Lascaux’s wont to do. But when the monk re-awoke, he’d retained his heart and soul, and was only able to feed as an act of mercy to a person who was dying a painful death. Perhaps because of all the monk’s years of meditation and prayer, Lascaux could only affect him so much. In any case, that monk was the first Coeur Eternel. And there are those of us, who, for whatever reason, fall somewhere in the middle.” Chris shrugged. “Hey, life is complex for humans, why not for immortal creatures as well?”
Jesse’s jaw dropped and it took a moment before he could respond. “I never knew about the origin of the CE’s.”
Chris’s smile deepened. “Yes. That was one of Lascaux’s great foils, siring vampires who retained their heart and souls. For centuries, if a vampire, including Lascaux, sired a CE, their natures kept them apart, isolated. But recent events have brought about a new era of relations between the two strains of vampires.”
Jesse found himself fascinated by Chris’s narrative. He, himself, had spent so many centuries wandering about, isolated from most other people that the existence of a world of beings came rushing upon him. His new, potent interest in life, he realized, was the effect of falling in love. “What recent events are these?”
Chris gazed at him a moment, then took a deep breath. “Well, Lascaux became mortal recently out of love for the CE priestess, Darelle, whom he sired almost seven hundred years ago during the bubonic plague.” His expression darkened. “The Soldiers, a group of rabid slayers, captured Lascaux, tortured him for centuries in the catacombs of his own estate, trying to lure Darelle there and then kill them both. Lascaux cut off his mind link with her and with all of us so we wouldn’t know what was happening and risk death to save him. After centuries of this, he became mortal and would have died. The Soldiers finally contacted Darelle themselves and told her what was happening to her sire. She went to him and brought him back across. After that, they were able to fend off the attackers.”
Chris paused before continuing, a soft look stealing into his blue eyes. “I must admit that I’ve never relished being a vampire. Even so, I’m glad to have been sired by Lascaux. He is as loyal, caring and protective of his protégés as he is selfish, decadent and stubborn.” Chris looked briefly down at their joined hands.
The sorrow in Chris’s voice and then the pride and admiration with which he spoke of his sire, sent a stab of jealousy through Jesse’s chest.
Chris’s dark look turned in his direction and the blue eyes widened, lit with understanding. “Jesse, Lascaux and I were never lovers. As soon as I woke up in that barn, realizing I was alive when I should have been dead, I panicked. The bloodlust churning in my body was frightening beyond anything I’d ever known. Lascaux gave me a wineskin full of blood. I sucked down every last drop only because my body demanded it of me. And then I ran from him.” Chris gave a humorless chuckle. “I feel sorry for Lascaux. Apparently, he’s frightened off many a young protégé who is any part Coeur Eternel.”
Chris looked at Jesse, his eyes smoldering again with desire. “But even as time passed and I grew accustomed more or less to my fate, and even as I was able to forge a friendship with Lascaux, I never wanted to be his lover.” He looked down. “No one has ever had the effect on me you have, Jesse. That is the absolute truth.”
Jesse heard the sincerity in his lover’s voice and words and his jealousy subsided. He relaxed against the pillows again. His hand still rested in Chris’s hands and his lover’s thumb brushed across the soft flesh of his palm. The tiny movement was at once tender and erotic and stirred Jesse’s yearning for Chris’s large, hard body against his. In mere seconds, Jesse’s cock stirred and began to harden, pushing against the blanket that covered it.
Chris’s gaze darted to the spot where Jesse’s erection tented the bedding. His eyes darkened with an immediate sheen of lust and he released Jesse’s to undo the buttons of his shirt. In mere seconds, Chris had the article slipping off his broad shoulders and down his brawny arms to the floor.
The glint of firelight off Chris’s golden chest hair and pale-skinned muscles made Jesse’s mouth water and his growing erection strained against the coverlet. Chris slipped off the bed to his feet, stepping out of his boots. Jesse watched Chris’s hands as they went to unbuckle his belt, slowly, torturously working open the leather, the teasing pace continuing as he undid the button and let the zipper of his fly down, one tiny click at a time.
Jesse licked his lips, his gaze riveted to the juncture where Chris’s trousers were slowly falling open, giving him a hint of his dark blond pubic hair. The swollen head of his lover’s shaft appeared, then the whole cock, the reddish-veined skin stretched taut over the muscle.
The trousers slid past Chris’s hips, revealing all of him. The shadowy firelight in the bedroom cast an alluring glow over every inch of his muscled warrior’s body. With a seductive grin curving the planes of his cheeks, the beautiful vampire pulled back the covers and climbed onto the mattress, sliding the length of his body against Jesse’s.
Their cocks met in a silky glide of skin against skin, their chests rubbing together. The soft rasp of Chris’s chest hair grazed Jesse’s nipples, causing them to tingle and pebble.
Chris settled his torso against Jesse’s, slanting his mouth over Jesse’s in one single motion. The air filled with their combined murmurs and the erotic suction of their lips and tongues meeting and tasting each other. Chris nudged Jesse’s legs apart with his knee, and Jesse gladly opened to him, hooking his legs around the vampire’s slim, delectable hips as Chris fitted his body between them.
In spite of everything that had led up to their meeting, Jesse loved him now, and his surrender to Chris, though fast and hard, felt like the most natural thing that could ever be, as if he’d been made especially for Chris and no one else.
Chris must have sensed Jesse’s complete surrender for he lifted his mouth from their kiss and gazed down into Jesse’s eyes, his own blue depths smoldering with the ethereal light that came from the hunger to feed. His masculine lip curled back, revealing his incisors. The sight should have frightened Jesse, but instead, made every inch of his body burn for his lover’s possession.
The vampire’s chest rose and fell in a wild rhythm against him, and his lover’s cock pushed firmly against his ass. “Jesse.” His voice was tight, strained, conveying his inner battle, his struggle not to give in to his desire to feed for pleasure. “I swore I wouldn’t ... feed. Not ... for pleasure.”
“Take me,” Jesse breathed, his palms pressing with urgency into the iron brawn of Chris’s back. The warm masculine skin under his fingertips quivered and a raw, delicious smell, more potent than sandalwood and wine permeated the air, the primal musk of sex emanating from their entwined bodies.
A feral groan vibrated deep in Chris’s throat, obviously inspired by Jesse’s complete submission to his lover’s needs.
“All of me, Chris,” he prodded, that spot on his neck aching for the pierce of Chris’s fangs. “Don’t fight it.”
“Jesse, I mustn’t ‑‑”
“I want you to. It’s all right if you love me.”
Chris smoothed back Jesse’s hair tenderly, the thrum of tension in his large strong body palpable. “You mean that, don’t you?”
Jesse nodded, the desire pulsating through him making him unable to say more.
“I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
Jesse’s throat, tight with emotion, made speech difficult. “I know.”
Christian slanted his lips over Jesse’s, swiping a brief kiss across them. He leaned over and reached for the small vial of scented oil he’d rubbed into Jesse’s skin after the shower. Pulling the tiny cork, he poured the jar’s contents into his palm. Replacing the bottle on the bedside table, the vampire reached down, sought out Jesse’s ass, and smeared the oil over his tiny hole.
Around and around in tiny circles, he worked the oil into Jesse’s sensitive passage. One large finger penetrated Jesse’s opening, pushing deep inside.
> Jesse threw his head back and moaned at the delicious invasion of thick fingers pushing him open, rubbing in and out, preparing him for their joining. The inner massage caused his whole bottom to tingle madly, shoots of heat slithering down his thighs and up into his belly.
Chris’s fingertips brushed Jesse’s balls, over and over, nearly sending him over the edge. He felt his lover shift slightly and anoint his cock with the remaining oil. That same hand then slid up Jesse’s stomach, a slow, teasing trail that moved to his chest, sliding sensuously over each tight nipple. The slick oil made Chris’s touch glide smoothly over the tiny buds, causing them to tighten more and send shoots of ecstasy through Jesse’s chest and down in an invisible trail of fire to his cock and ass.
“Now, please,” he begged in a tight voice, desperate to feel Chris’s thick hardness inside him. His clutched at the bunching muscles of Chris’s back to emphasize his hunger.
Jesse’s plea roused Chris to a pitch. The sound reverberated in his fangs, which now ached to the point of acute pain. He brushed several fingertips across the supple underside of Jesse’s jaw, preparing to feed. He shifted his body the tiniest bit, covering Jesse more. The movement brought the head of his cock right up against the tight oiled hole he sought.
Jesse moaned and grasped at his back, his body shifting underneath Chris’s so that the taut lobed cap of Chris’s cock penetrated him.
Chris sucked in a breath, holding himself back from sinking his fangs mercilessly into Jesse’s neck. He bent down and swiped the tip of his tongue across the salty soft skin where he would feed, his hands covering Jesse’s smoothly muscled shoulders. Jesse’s musky scent filled Chris’s being, driving him nearly mad with want.
Chris pushed his cock in deeper, the friction of Jesse’s tight passage engulfing him with delicious heat. Chris groaned, his fangs pulsating, the pain icy hot. He thrust once more into Jesse’s delicious ass, driving his oiled cock all the way in until their bodies touched.
Jesse released a long low moan, his head tilted back, his full, soft lips parted. His legs were wide apart, the soles of his feet resting lightly on Chris’s ass. Sweet heaven, Chris had known intense pleasure in his life, great passion, but nothing quite like this, nothing that had ever engulfed him so completely.
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