The Bliss Drip

by Liddie Cain

  “I must leave soon, so please, stay with her the rest of the night.”

  He was very serious, and I sat back up to look at him. “What happened?”

  He started at the beginning to catch Sylvia and Darby up, “The new vampires, Jason and Tate, walked up in the midst of the afterglow from Mac feeding from Roz. As soon as Tate saw what was happening, he ran. He hadn’t pledged himself yet, so I could not track him. I fear that bad things will come of this and he will spread the story. Or, worse, I think he was probably a spy.”

  Then he spoke directly to me. “I need you to seriously consider taking my mark.”

  “I already think I want that.”

  He drew me in for a kiss,.“Not tonight. I must go to Hell and the Otherworld. The angel is here to watch over you still. Sylvia, you will not leave her until Mac can be with her again. Rose and Destiny are doing patrols. Mac should awaken in a couple of hours. Darby--”

  For a moment, he was his normal teasing self as he gave her a wink. “Guess I can’t boss you around. Yet. Until you decide you want to hook up with Sylvia for all eternity and you want me to make you vampire.”

  Darby’s mouth dropped open.

  “Too soon?” He smirked. Then he kissed me once more before setting me away from him and disappearing.

  “I...” Darby started, and Sylvia laughed, putting a finger on her lips.

  “Do not worry about Felix. He loves to say provoking things like that. We’ve only been dating a matter of days, and I know you are nowhere close to having considered things like that.”

  “You’d be the most stunning vampire ever, though,” I added.

  “Hell yes you would be,” Sylvia agreed.

  Darby looked a little flustered, then her face drew up in disgust. “What if I had to feed from Joletta?”

  We all burst out laughing.

  Arnold came in the door as we laughed and placed a tray of fruit down on the bed. I thanked him profusely before Darby and I both started snacking. We got out the sign-up sheets and questionnaires from the seminars and started going over who had signed up and how to organize things. Sylvia had asked to be able to help run things, too, and I happily agreed.

  “There were only twelve men that signed up, and only eight of the women specified that they would only feed the male vampires,” Darby said in between bites of a strawberry.

  “Good, we got a lot of ladies to feed in this house. So the health screenings are all covered by the Imperium, and I think we can do them here. I just need to call and get people scheduled tomorrow.”

  Sylvia was making some notes. “And I am going to get on the phone with some food vendors since we will need to keep more supplies for the donors. Mac is going to need to hire another person for the food service.”

  “Yeah, Arnold will need some help.”

  “You know I haven’t thought about the fact that this is about to be two full-time jobs for me. As soon as I get done with the spa, I’m going to be rushing over here to host the donors every day and hosting all day on Saturday. The only ‘off’ day I am going to have is Sunday.”

  Darby grimaced. “Well you can always get someone to help you out at the spa so you don’t have to be there every day.”

  “Rose would probably love that,” Sylvia said, glancing up from her notes. “Her change was not consensual. She likes being given normal jobs to do.”

  “Oh no, poor Rose. I’ll ask her. So when did you two happen?”

  Darby blushed again. “The night she came to get your clothes.”

  “I cannot believe you have gone almost a whole week without telling me.”

  “Please don’t be mad. I--”

  I held up my hand. “Darby, I am not in the least bit mad. I just can’t believe you kept a secret that long.”

  She threw her pencil at me.

  The bedroom door opened, and Mac walked into the room. He looked serious but unharmed.

  “Sylvia, Darby. Will you excuse us?”

  Darby gathered all of the notes we had been working on and headed out of the bedroom. Sylvia hesitated. For the first time since he had returned to town as a vampire, I saw irritation in his face as he leveled a glare at her. She stood firm.

  “It’s a risk.”

  “I can control myself,” he answered flatly.

  “I don’t think you’re completely back to yourself.”

  “Sylvia.” The volume of his voice increased slightly. Then he sighed. “Thank you. You know I would be angry if you didn’t protect her. I will tell Felix to pay attention, and if he feels me losing control, he will let you know if he cannot come himself.”

  Sylvia was satisfied with this and left the room. He turned to me.

  “Dove.” His voice was strained.

  I opened my arms to him.

  He closed the distance between us and melded his mouth to mine, crawling over me and laying me onto my back as he toyed his tongue against mine. Nothing was done in a rush, like he was savoring the feel of my kiss and my hands running across his shoulders and into his hair. He caressed my face, slowing his kiss until his lips trailed away to my jaw and down my neck. The fang marks where he had fed from me were still visible and he languidly ran his tongue across them.

  He sat up and pulled his shirt off. His frame was not as broad as Felix’s, but Mac had always had a well-sculpted body. I ran my fingertips across his defined abs. He watched me then caught my hand and pulled me to sit back up. I raised my arms over my head as he pulled my top up over my head, then he unclasped my bra and set it aside.

  He pushed me back on the bed again and took his time kissing across my chest. He pulled my breast into his mouth and made me writhe from his touch. There was no rush here, either. I was almost to the point where I couldn’t take the sweet torment anymore when he pulled away from that one, only move on to the next and give it an equal amount of attention.

  I gripped his hair and pulled his mouth from my breast, breathing heavily. Amusement lit his eyes before he gripped my shorts and pulled them and my underwear off at the same time, immediately followed by his own. Then I was back in his arms with his hardness pressed in between my thighs. Instead of entering me, he kissed me again. I could feel him there hovering at the entrance. I moved my hips towards him and he smiled, still waiting as he continued to kiss me. I wrapped my legs around him and pushed him forward, and he chuckled.

  “I’m trying to take my time,” he whispered.

  “And I’m trying to hurry you up,” I hissed back.

  He laughed softly again and leaned up and placed himself at my entrance again.

  “Look at me, Dove.”

  I met his eyes. Then he slowly slid himself inside of me. I arched my back in pleasure as he began to thrust in and out. He slid his thumb between us and circled it across the most sensitive part of me, and I could feel my climax already building.

  “Wait,” I whispered, grabbing his wrist.

  “No.”

  And with that one gruff word, he pushed me over the edge. He grabbed my hips and thrust harder as I cried out and jerked against him. Then when he could tell I was coming back to earth, he slowed and laid back down on top of me. His arms slid underneath me and cupped my head. Years’ worth of the love we missed were in his kiss then. Tears flooded my eyes as he gave me that love, holding me in his arms, kissing me deeply and slowly sliding himself in and out of me.

  He noticed my wet cheeks and paused for a moment, resting his forehead on mine and holding me.

  “I love you, Rozalyn, my Dove.”

  “I love you, too, Mac.”

  When he started moving his hips again, I moved with him and let out a soft cry. “Again, baby?” he whispered. He said it so sweetly, but it was amazingly hot.

  He leaned back up and slammed my wrists up above my head, thrusting into me with much more conviction. It was so familiar, the feeling of his body with mine, and he had not forgotten a thing about what worked for me. But I hadn’t forgotten what he liked, either.

  I
stopped holding back on my moans and cries of pleasure. As he drove me closer to my climax, I got louder for him. I saw his face get intense and knew that he was getting close, too. So when he got me over that edge again, I cried out his name in the midst of my climax. He followed me, moaning as he spilled himself inside of me.

  Then he laid down beside me and weaved our legs together as he pulled me into his arms. I smiled as I waited for my heart to stop feeling like it was going to beat out of my chest. He made no move to let me go. Satisfied and happy, I gave into the drowsiness that swept over me and fell asleep in my love’s arms.

  ***

  When I woke back up, I was alone and tucked underneath the covers. I stretched and checked the time, seeing it was a little after seven in the morning, so I got up and took a shower and spent some time fixing my makeup and hair. When the door of the bedroom opened, I poked my head out of the bathroom to find Darby there.

  “Hey!”

  She smiled. “Well, you look much better this morning.”

  “What’s going on out there?”

  “Mac and Felix have been in Mac’s office meeting with people. Destiny and Rose are relaxing because they were guarding the place last night. Sylvia and Jason both needed to go to sleep, so they went to their rooms. And we both got paid for starting work on the donation program, and you should really look at your bank account.”

  “Really?” I walked back over to the bed and pulled my bank app up on my phone. Checking my balance, I widened my eyes. “Well, crap.”

  “Yeah. Can we go shopping?”

  I smiled. “Sure. But we should probably do some work to earn that.”

  “I guess,” Darby said with a fake pout.

  We went out to the little sitting room that was upstairs close to Mac’s room, and Darby started getting the donor’s files out. I ran downstairs and got us both some water, coffee, and bagels.

  We took time to eat and drink coffee before we started calling and arranging a schedule for the prospective donors to come in for the health screening later in the day or the next day. It took a large part of the morning to contact everyone since there were almost one hundred people that had signed up. The first appointments started arriving after lunch and there were two nurses that the Imperium had sent to handle their screenings. All me and Darby had to do was get their files to the nurse then show them around once their blood had been drawn and their screening questions had been answered. But we stayed pretty busy, chatting and getting everything organized.

  It was after five before the last appointment of the day left. Sylvia had woken, and she and Darby left to go back to my house. I got all of my files packed back up and carried the boxes down to Mac’s office. I wasn’t even sure Mac and Felix were still in here, but the door opened as I got closer, struggling to carry the boxes that were getting heavier the longer I walked with them.

  Felix took them from me and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “Missed you today.”

  I beamed up at him and followed him into the office. Mac was sitting behind the desk, and his face lit up when I came in the room.

  “Have you two been in here all day?”

  “No, we were gone a lot of the day trying to figure out where Tate went,” Mac answered.

  “Any luck?”

  “Yeah, unfortunately. We are almost certain the little shit went to Monroe.” Felix’s voice was pure irritation.

  “Rose’s old master?”

  “Yes. He can be a problem if he really wants to be. Probably the only other archdemon on the human realm that could be a match for Felix.”

  Felix had walked up behind me and brushed my hair away from my neck, and he leaned up so that he was speaking against my ear. “Take my mark, Roz.”

  I shivered at his deep voice. “Yes, Felix.”

  “Where do you want it?”

  I hadn’t considered that. “Oh. How big will it be?”

  “I’ll make it about the size of your palm.”

  “I think it should be where she can hide it.”

  Felix nodded. “On your ribs then?”

  “Oh, yeah that would work.”

  I could feel him start to channel power. It slid across my skin and started to churn around him. I lifted my shirt over my head and laid it across one of the chairs in front of the desk. Mac walked over to stand on the other side of me, and I got a little nervous.

  “I have a feeling this is about to hurt.”

  Felix stepped behind me, laying his hand firmly against the right side of my rib cage. “Sorry, my pet. I can’t make it painless. Just tell me when you’re ready.”

  I nodded, taking a few breaths to steady myself.

  “I love you,” he added softly.

  “I love you, too.” I glanced at Mac. “And you.” He gave me an encouraging smile. “Okay, do it.”

  The power that moved from him into me took my sight and my hearing. My body was locked into place, and I couldn’t flinch away as his hand pressed fire into my side. I tried to scream, but my mouth wouldn’t move. It grew hotter and hotter until I was sure he was going to split me apart. As if in slow motion, my mouth finally responded, and my scream of pain started as a whisper then steadily grew in strength. Then the intense heat ended, and my senses came back to me as I fell into Mac’s arms.

  Felix stepped away from me in full demon mode. His skin looked like the embers of a fire, flickering and sparking across his entire body. Those dark eyes were glowing like they held flames within them. He stepped around in front of me to look at the mark, and I watched him in his power with awe.

  He nodded. I felt all that power start to churn again. It drove down into the ground, the embers licking across his body as it descended back down to where it came. His skin became normal-looking again from the top down.

  Mac still held me gently, tilting his head to look at my face. “You okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah just feel a little tired.”

  I stood back up straight and looked down at the mark Felix had left. It was the outline of two rhombuses, one sitting on top of the other with a thin straight line that crossed where the two of them touched. The line was a little longer on the right so it came a little farther around the front of my ribs then it stretched toward my back. It was a dark brown color, like a birthmark. The lines were all thin and slightly imperfect, so it didn’t look exactly like a tattoo would. How it looked didn’t matter, but I actually thought it was cool looking.

  “I’m sorry it hurt.”

  Felix’s voice invaded my thoughts, and I recoiled, covering my forehead with my hand. That would take some getting used to.

  Mac frowned at him, which Felix met with a small shrug. “I didn’t yell.”

  “No, he didn’t. Sorry, it just surprised me.”

  “It’s easier if you don’t fight it.”

  I managed not to flinch that time.

  “Try talking back to me.”

  He was patient as I tried to figure out how to make my brain do something it had never done before. I had always been able to sense things around me, though, and it didn’t take me very long to realize what the telepathic felt like between the two of us.

  “Felix.”

  He grinned, and I blew out a relieved breath.

  “It will get easier,” Mac reassured me and handed me my shirt. As soon as I slipped it on, I felt the Unseelie. Mac and Felix both grabbed at me and pushed me to stand behind Felix. The power that flooded the office continued to build, and I was realizing that this was not just Barden or Iona arriving. The sound of a falcon whistling echoed in the room, and Felix cursed. “It’s Conall.”

  “Who is that?”

  “The Unseelie King,” Mac answered quickly. “Roz, don’t speak unless he asks you something, and then let Felix prompt you.”

  They both turned to look at a dark green candle that always remained lit on a table next to the large window in Mac’s office. The flame started to grow taller on its own. Smoke began billowing out from it. It formed a large clou
d that rolled across the room and continued to darken until you could no longer see through it. Then it started to disperse again. When it cleared, a crowned man stood with four guards behind him. His hair was floor length and white as snow. A delicate crown of black jewels sat low on his forehead. His face was young with bright green eyes and he wore black robes with a cape that was covered in the same type of black jewels that decorated the crown. He held a white staff upright in his left hand.

  “King Conall. I am honored by your presence.” Felix sounded almost regal as he spoke to the Sidhe.

  “Felix, Archdemon of the Underworld. Thank you for welcoming me into your dominion. I think you know the reason for the visit, the human that briefly lifted in power one of my court members.”

  Felix said nothing, merely dipped his head in acknowledgement.

  “May I take the human to be a part of the Unseelie Court?”

  “I must decline. I have claimed and marked her as mine.”

  “Most fortunate for you. I will abide by this claim. I then wish permission to build an alliance with the human. May I greet them?”

  Felix hesitated then stepped to the side so the Unseelie King could clearly see me.

  Conall looked momentarily surprised but recovered quickly. He stepped forward, handing his staff back to one of the guards, then extended his hand out for me to lay my hand in his.

  “It’s fine,” Felix reassured.

  I laid my hand into Conall’s. I could sense power shift around us, but it was unclear what he was doing. Neither Felix nor Mac seemed alarmed.

  “May I ask your name?”

  “Rozalyn.”

  “It is a lovely name. I am Conall.”

  “That is also a lovely name.”

  He looked pleased. He lifted my hand up and pressed a kiss against the back of it before releasing it.

  “Rozalyn, you bestowed a wondrous gift onto a member of my court named Barden.”

  “Yes. He fed from me.”

  “A gift of blood or flesh is one of high value. Your blood should be more revered than others with the powerful effect it leaves.”

  “Thank you, Conall.”

  “May I ask your permission to visit with you more in the future? I would like to build an alliance between us as well as know you better.”