Darkened Days

by C. L. Quinn

  Koen felt jacked up. How had his people been here over a thousand years and had no knowledge of this?

  “Your clan, children of the sun, your power cycles diurnally, with the sun. It is actually stronger when the sun is full, but that is when you rest. Your spirit symbol works against you unless you have found a way to guide it. Koen, because of this, my people have been able to use our power to it’s maximum, and build this village in a way you never could. Now, with this knowledge, I think you may become stronger than you ever knew. It will be exciting to see how this changes your clan. Please, keep in touch. We are family. The blood is the same. Just a little darker here. Salaam, brother.”

  “Salaam, Ahmose. I will contact you before we come. And that may be soon.”

  Cherise and David had spent the rest of that first night getting to know the residents of the village. Curled up in David’s arms as they rested, she told him she had to come back.

  “There is a spirit here I have never seen. It is connected to the earth and sky through these people. It’s beautiful, David. I need to touch it.”

  “Anytime, sweets. This place just makes me sad right now because of the lost children.”

  Cherise pulled his face to hers.

  “Do not worry. It will work out. They have to choose this on their own, but they will. Trust, my darling, trust. Now, get inside me before I make you sleep by the waterfalls.”

  “Yes, mistress,” he joked, mimicking Chione.

  She was naked and he was inside her within moments.

  Night came again and it was time to go. Cherise and David waited for the rest of the group in the community gardens where they’d all first met. They showed up shortly with just a small escort from Chione and other locals. Ahmose had already said his goodbyes.

  As they journeyed through the village, all the residents were generous with heartfelt wishes for safe travel and good futures. Starla felt she was walking away from home. Her true home. It could have been here in this paradise. It should have been here.

  Jacob watched her watery eyes as he led her through the mystical veil. They all turned after they passed to see the lush forest of trees and underbrush…and nothing else.

  Turning to her, Jacob held her face in his hands, and kissed each eyelid, then each cheek, then her lips, gently, with just a soft brush of his tongue.

  “That was to remind you of what we have begun together. This is a moment of joy, not regret. I know you chose me. Let me prove to you it was the right choice.”

  Starla lifted her hands to his face with heavier tears slipping down her cheeks.

  “Oh, Jacob, I know that. There is no regret. Not about us. I just…the babies…”

  Koen turned away. His heart squeezed as he thought about the same. First blood children waiting to be born. It was unfathomable. It would be a long time before he would be able to forget. And they weren’t even destined to be his own.

  They had a flight to Cairo, but would have to sleep the day through there before continuing safely the next night.

  Cherise booked rooms in the finest hotel in town. One for herself and David, one for Koen and Henri, and one for Starla and Jacob.

  During the flight, Cherise came over to Jacob’s seat and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Go sit with the men. We need some female chat time.”

  Jacob started to object, but Starla smiled an okay, so he left to let Cherise slip in.

  “Little vampire, I can feel your pain all the way over at my seat. Believe me when I tell you it is all going to be okay.”

  “I don’t think so. I feel like I’m leaving part of me behind.”

  “You are. But the universe provides. Let me ask you. You love Jacob, right? This will be the first time you will truly be together with nothing between you. Let all these troubles go and make love to him tonight with no regrets for the path not taken.”

  Cherise touched Starla, and gave her a push to allow her mind to stay clear for the night.

  Starla sighed and smiled.

  “Better,” Cherise said. And traded places with Jacob so she could sit beside David again.

  When they arrived at the hotel seven hours later, Jacob grabbed their key, barked a quick “good night” and pulled Starla with him to the elevator.

  Koen lifted his eyebrows as the desk clerk handed their key to Henri.

  “Any special plans for me tonight, pup?” he asked.

  Henri let go a line of curse words in French and went up the stairs quickly.

  With a last look at Cherise and David, Koen followed.

  Cherise glanced up at David.

  “They’re children. However, I think I’d like to get upstairs quickly with you, too, gorgeous. It’s Cairo. My first time in a decade. I think I’d like to make love to my husband under the Egyptian sky.”

  David started to lean down to kiss her when she suddenly turned.

  He looked back to see a gorgeous woman waiting behind them with luminous brilliant blue eyes. Cherise had already walked up to her.

  He watched the woman look up startled at his wife, hesitate, and allow Cherise to touch her. They spoke, the woman looked stunned, then Cherise turned back to him.

  “What was that about?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Something… something about her. I’ve never felt it before. I’d like to read her, but I haven’t the right. Her life is damaged now, but her path isn’t the one she expects. I’m sorry, my love, I get distracted. My talent kidnaps me sometimes. Come with me. Let me ‘read’ you.”

  David glanced once more at the woman with the blue eyes who was still staring at Cherise, nodded at her with a smile, and left with his wife.

  As soon as the door opened, Starla was whooshed into the room and thrown on the bed where she laid spread eagled. Jacob stood at the foot just staring at her. He shook his head.

  “I really can’t believe I finally have you here, alone, in a bed, with no crisis anywhere. I can finally take hours to make love to you.”

  “Alone is the important word here, mister. Why are you over there with me alone here on this big bed?”

  “Because all I can see in my mind right now is that surly young vampire standing on a counter with a skirt that barely covered anything, sliding a finger inside her and staring at me like I didn’t have the courage to replace it. I haven’t forgotten a second of that night. My cock has been in a constant state of arousal since then. Do you have any idea what you did to me?”

  Starla sat up to look at this magnificent man in front of her. She’d wanted him desperately that night, too, and now to find out he had felt the same way… She took a deep breath.

  Slowly, she crawled to her knees, then stood in the middle of the bed, stepped up on top of the adjacent dresser, peeled off her shirt and stood there in a bra and skirt, much like that night.

  “Stay there,” she told him. “Do not move. No matter what.”

  Turning around, she slid her underwear off from beneath the skirt, which wasn’t anywhere nearly as short as the one from that night, but Jacob didn’t notice.

  He was frozen where he stood, his breath ragged, his pants so tight he felt sorry for the cock that had no room to grow.

  Bending over, she looked back at him, her long hair hanging loose around her head, her finger sliding between her legs. His view of her clit was perfect, displayed exactly in front of his eyes as her finger moved back and forth along the slit that shined with moisture. She was ready for him. He started to move forward when he heard her whisper “no.”

  Her position transported him back to that night when he knew he couldn’t touch her. When that oversexed young vampire deliberately turned him on to get a rise out of him. Well, that sure the fuck worked. He was so full, he had no choice but to slide his zipper down and drop his pants. Now, he stood in front of her, completely erect, as hard as he’d ever been, watching her slide her finger where he needed to be.

  Never taking her eyes off him, she lifted her head back up, turned again to face h
im and popped the front clasp of her bra, her breasts, round and glorious, the nipples as erect as his cock, thrust out as they did that night, begging for his teeth and tongue. She did the same with her other hand, sliding it around each nipple while the first one stayed under her skirt. Standing upright, he couldn’t see what she was doing now under that hem, but he knew. He started forward again. She said, louder this time, the same word. “No.”

  Jacob couldn’t take it. His cock was about to explode and it was nowhere near where it needed to be.

  Now, she lifted the hem with one hand so he could see her hand moving around in circles from one thigh to the other and up inside. She was breathing as hard as he was now.

  “Is this what you wanted that night, old vampire?”

  Nothing she said now would stop him. He moved forward, led by his manhood, literally pointing the way. His fingers slid around his cock reassuring it that it was going to get what it wanted.

  She stood, feet apart, her eyes blazing, touching her sex, as he reached her, at eye level, on the top of the dresser. He lifted the skirt and stilled her hand, then pulled it away. Starla buried her fingers in his hair as he put his mouth there. Her legs nearly gave way as his tongue replaced her finger, drew her clit against his teeth, which, at the first touch, nearly pushed her over the edge.

  “What do you want to do to me, old man? Do you have the courage?”

  He lifted her off the dresser and carried her back to the bed.

  “Now,” he growled, laid her full out, ripped the skirt away and crawled on top of her. Starting with her breasts, he used hands and tongue to bring her near to orgasm, while his cock wept against her skin.

  “Oh, hell, enough of this old vampire. I can’t take it anymore!” she yelled and pulled him to her. Holding his cock in her hand, she guided him where they both wanted him and bucked upward as he slid deep into her.

  “Home,” she whispered, as Jacob dropped suddenly, wrapped his arms around her and held her, buried all the way inside her, and just stayed there unmoving while his mouth moved against her throat. She felt his fangs scrape, her eyes burned while hot moisture infused them as well. Every part of her body was wet, ready.

  Gently nipping and licking, he prepared his spot, felt her breath still, and he bit, her hot blood surged into him, then he moved slowly while he fed.

  Starla had fed as a vampire, and had sex as a vampire, but never this intense combination. Her orgasm hit harder than anything she’d ever felt before, unexpectedly quick and intense, and drove him home, too. She felt him stiffen and jerk as he fed and orgasmed while inside her.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the connection that went way beyond sex. She could feel him, his life force, his spirit, reach inside hers as if they merged, and she realized Cherise was wrong. The merge with Ahmose on a spiritual level couldn’t touch this combination of physical and spiritual merge at once.

  She knew her connection with Ahmose was deep. This, with Jacob, was much deeper, and on every level. This was the man destiny chose for her. No one else would fit her like he did. He…this, that they were building, was home. Exactly what she had been seeking when she left Alaska.

  Destiny had drawn her here with him, this night, in this bed, and she was exactly where she needed to be. When he drew back after feeding moments later and nuzzled into her neck, then looked into her eyes, she knew he felt the same.

  “Home,” she whispered to him. “You are home.”

  “Always,” he answered. “These past weeks that is exactly how I felt, only I didn’t understand because I’d never felt this way before. I knew I was looking for something in my life, but I didn’t know what it was. Now I do.”

  As he kissed her, she tasted her own blood on his lips, coppery and smooth, and felt a deep sense of satisfaction to be bonded on this level to this man. That her blood was mixed with his inside him, she realized she had no words to describe what it meant to her.

  Jacob pulled up a sheet and nestled in beside her.

  “Our first sleepover,” she whispered.

  “The last time you sleep alone,” he said. After curling an arm around her waist and pulling her against him, he fell asleep almost immediately.

  Starla stayed awake a little longer, her fingers twisted into his hair, her eyes closed to listen to the beautiful sound of his breathing. When she finally fell asleep, her last thought was that this was happiness.

  Crystal knew where they were heading, on their way back to Koen’s house in southern France. So she really didn’t have to worry about following them now. She stayed behind to play with a huge man with very dark skin and classic African features. He was getting a post work drink at a bar downtown Cairo, and when he saw her looking him up and down, he came over to meet her. She thought he looked delicious.

  “May I buy a drink for you?” he asked with that lovely accent.

  She shook her head.

  “No. But I would like you to come with me to my room and fuck me like there’s no tomorrow. I would like those muscled arms wrapped around me while I wrap my legs around you. Would that work for you?”

  He tilted his head as he stared at her. Cautiously, he nodded.

  “It really would.”

  “Follow me.”

  For all her joy, Starla had one more painful moment before she went home to meet Eillia. Henri was leaving her.

  “I’m going to Paris to meet up with one of the guys from the cadre. He wants to travel, and I told him I’m free. We’ll keep our promises, Star girl. We won’t lose touch. I love you.”

  They hugged for long moments.

  “I love you, too, you know that. Be careful, Henri. Let me know if you need me. Call!”

  “Oui, Oui, my dear little vampire.”

  And he was gone.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nervous, Starla kept smoothing her hair before they entered the villa. So much had happened since she’d seen Eillia and she wasn’t sure how their relationship would work now.

  But as soon as Daniel led Eillia into the parlor where Starla waited with Jacob, they were in each other’s arms. As close as possible, rather, since Eillia was quite large with child at this point.

  Starla held on, though, because this was the thing she’d wanted most when she first left Alaska for France. She’d wanted the kinship she’d felt almost from the first moment with this small stunning woman. They finally pulled away to look at each other.

  “Sweetheart,” Eillia said, “I’m so sorry all this has happened to you. I wish I’d been here when you first came that night.”

  “It has all been my own fault. I didn’t let you know I was coming. It was just a crazy impulse. Although, look what my first truly impulsive act brought me. Nearly killed in a car accident, then turned into a creature of the night, arrested, abducted, and nearly forcibly impregnated.”

  Her eyes went to Jacob, sitting nearby watching the two women reconnect.

  “But it’s all perfect now. I wouldn’t change a thing if it meant I wouldn’t be here right now with Jacob and you.”

  “Sweetie, you are always welcome here. I made up a nice suite for you near mine on the fourth floor of this villa.”

  “Wonderful.” Starla paused, glanced back at Jacob then back to Eillia. “Where does Jacob sleep?”

  “I’m basement level,” he said from his chair.

  “Oh. Well, Eillia, that’s where I’ll be staying, so thank you for the suite upstairs, but I need to be with Jacob.”

  Eillia was quiet, but she smiled.

  “So it’s like that, is it? You’re together?”

  “Together,” Starla confirmed.

  “Okay. Well, his rooms are very nice, too.”

  Jacob stood up and came over to Starla.

  “They are. Why don’t you let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you down? I’m going to check in with Bas.”

  He kissed her softly and started to leave, but Eillia stepped forward and kissed him on each cheek.

  “Thank
you for getting her safely home.”

  He nodded curtly, then left.

  Eillia raised her eyebrows.

  “He’s a good man,” she said.

  Starla nodded.

  “I know. I love him more than I could ever explain.”

  “You don’t have to. Love comes to us in ways we never expect and it doesn’t ask our permission. Anyone looking at Daniel and me would have expected this could never have worked. But we’re happier than we have any right to be. This child is a miracle, as I know you’re aware.”

  “Sadly, I am very aware. I’m very excited for you. When are you due?”

  “I’m going to find out in a few moments after Cherise finishes visiting with Bas, Park, and Cairine. Do you want to freshen up?”

  “It would be nice. Jacob?”

  He was just around the corner speaking with Koen.

  “I’ll take you to my rooms. Like I said, I’m downstairs.”

  The stairwell was wide and poured into a large basement area, clean and well-ordered, where supplies were stored.

  Starla wondered why he wasn’t upstairs with everyone else.

  He saw the query in her face as they passed the shelves filled with boxes and cans.

  “I always prefer ground level. And you’ll realize soon enough, I’m kind of a loner. Always have been. So this was the perfect room for me when I came here. It’s nice, you’ll like it.”

  “I’m pretty used to living in a basement, I guess. It has to be a step up from Paris.”