by Eve Newton
He did come, as I knew he would. I heard of his arrival before dawn. The messenger sent from the village to my castle to tell of his arrival was terrified and with good reason. I had a reputation for killing the messenger. Why? Because it sends a message. Underneath his terror he didn’t resist me when I kissed him sweetly in thanks for his service, and then I bit him swiftly and drained him, discarding his body with distaste.
Stepping over him, I sat down to wait, playing with the dagger in my hand. It was a beautiful, long blade with a red stone at the hilt. A knocking at the door brought me to my feet, and I rushed to meet my sire with what I hoped would be that dagger to his gut before he realized what I had done. I opened the doors and there he was, glowering at me as if he wanted to kill me. Quick as lightning, I stabbed him in the stomach. He was startled at my speed and strength. Grunting in pain, he pulled the dagger out and shoved it back into me with a ferociousness, a viciousness, I had never seen from him before, at least not turned towards me, pinning me to the door with his strength.
“Aefre, what have you become?” he whispered as he held the dagger in me, twisting it to cause maximum pain. I was unable to move in his iron grip, as strong as I was, he was still stronger.
“What you made me!” I cried out as I managed to push him away and remove the dagger, healing instantly.
He looked at me then in puzzlement. “What I made you? You have run from me for over a hundred years. Why? Why did you leave me without a word?” If I knew better, I would have said he looked sad, but I do know better, remembering him and that woman together.
“As if you don’t know,” I snarled. I flounced back into my castle and he followed, banging the heavy doors closed behind him.
He paused as he saw the dead body of the messenger still slumped in the middle of the floor but stepped over him with revulsion.
“You are causing quite a stir, my sweet,” he said.
“Don’t call me that!” I snapped. “I am not yours. Not anymore.”
He raised an eyebrow at me even while his eyes hardened at my disrespect of him. In a flash of Vampire speed, he had me pinned up against the wall by my throat. “Do not forget your manners, Aefre. I will punish you if you continue with this behavior,” he threatened.
I smiled an evil smile at him, panting with the thought of his punishment. “What will you do to me?” I choked out as he increased the pressure on my throat.
“You really do not want to find out,” he said quietly.
He let me go and I gripped my neck with a sneer to cover up the pain he had inflicted.
“Join me for a drink?” I asked with mock sweetness and turned to the kitchens before he answered. He caught up with me just as I was heading to the dungeons located underneath the kitchens. I descended the steps and he followed, curious now. He breathed in sharply as the scent of blood filled his senses. Wandering down the cells, trailing my hand along the iron bars, I turned to him and offered, “I’ll even let you pick.”
He grimaced as he saw all of my prisoners in various states of torture.
I stopped in front of a cell. “This is Gustav, he is one of mine. He is my favorite,” I told him. “I keep him around as he tastes like you,” I added to enrage him further.
“Aefre, what are you doing here? This isn’t you,” he said with disgust.
“Call me Lucretia, it’s more fitting,” I growled. “And you don’t know me. Not anymore.”
In an instant, he had me up against the iron bars. “You are mine. I will always know you. But you need to stop this, Lucretia.” He emphasized my name. “You are drawing too much attention to yourself. Unwanted attention.”
“No attention is unwanted,” I said as I brought my hands up to his chest to push him off me.
Again, he was surprised by my strength and the concern showed on his perfect, handsome face, as he knew the reason why.
“Stop this, at once,” he ordered. “You do not want what is coming for you, I assure you.”
I laughed a cruel laugh and turned from him. Opening the cell, I moved to the prisoner. I kept him well, like I would a favorite pet. He desired me as his sire, and he reached for me as I got closer to him. I let him touch me and kiss me, knowing that Constantine was watching this display. I had a need to let him see someone else bring me pleasure, so he could see how much I had changed. I kept my eyes on my sire’s as he glowered at me unmoving from a few feet away, his eyes like two hard flints and his expression unreadable.
“Do not say that I didn’t warn you,” he said and was gone in a flash, leaving me to feed alone.
Later that night a loud, insistent banging on the front doors brought me out of the dungeons in a temper at being disturbed. Feeling a familiar tingle down my neck, I grinned cruelly as I opened the door expecting my sire’s return. But instead of Constantine, it was a stranger. Evil, pure black eyes met mine from a very tall Vampire with pitch black hair and the palest skin I had ever seen. The figure said, “Hello, Sister. How I’ve been dying to meet you.”
A nd my penance had arrived.
I sigh and turn over again. Sleep is eluding me because I want Cole in my bed, next to me, safe from all the horrors of this world. I’m glad that I am no longer one of them.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Several days later, Cole is perfectly accepting and at ease now. He still hasn’t seen my fangs and we have a tacit agreement of no biting of any kind during sex. He has all but moved into the mansion, which is to my delight, but Devon has pulled his face once or twice. We are about to head off to work while Cole has gone to sort his own business out.
Devon storms out of the front door, all business. I sigh as I follow. My boy is not happy.
“Devon,” I start.
“Don’t want to talk about it,” he snaps.
“We have to at some point,” I press.
Clear blue eyes glare at me. I glare back and he submits, as I knew he would.
“I’ll get over it, if you’d just let me,” he says through gritted teeth, eyes on the briefcase in his hand. “I always do,” he adds bitterly. I flinch at the look of sorrow on his face. “But FYI, I am not jealous of Cole, just the fact that I won’t be your only charge anymore because you will turn him.”
“Oh, Devon,” I sigh. “Just talk about it with me. Let me reassure you.”
He sighs and says, “I really don’t want to.” Then he adds to my utter surprise, “I guess I was hoping it was going to be me and you again this time.” He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter, you found Cole and now he knows and it’s all good.”
“I don’t know what to say.” I move closer and place a light hand on his arm.
He stares at it for a few seconds, then sighs again. “There’s nothing you can say. I just need to get used to you not needing me as much anymore,” he says sadly.
Ah, I see. It really doesn’t have anything to do with Cole, exactly. He just needs to know that I still love him. “Oh, baby, I will always need you,” I say.
He pulls me into a tight hug, asking, “And when he asks you? And he will. What then? I’ve had you to myself, as my sire, for over five hundred years. I will find it difficult to be replaced.”
I pull away sharply. “You will never be replaced. It will never happen. Please don’t ever say that again. I can’t bear you feeling this way. You will always be with me. Always. Besides which, he hasn’t asked, and I don’t think he will. He hasn’t even asked me to bite him, let alone turn him,” I exclaim.
He looks surprised and somewhat relieved by that. “You haven’t bitten him yet?” he asks.
I shake my head. He laughs woefully and says, “Well, at least you still need me for something.”
My heart breaks. Making a quick decision, I say to him, “Come on, with me.”
“What?” he looks startled.
“Upstairs. I want to show you something,” I say.
“What about work?”
“Fuck work. I'm the boss and I say we can be late,” I snap, wishing I had CK’s
Teleporting power right about now.
He follows me back inside. “Liv, what’s all this about?” he sighs, running a hand through his hair.
“You’ll see in a minute” I say, noticing he has gone back to calling me ‘Liv’ instead of ‘Lizzie’. I utter nothing else on the way back upstairs.
Grabbing his hand, I drag him to his bedroom. His room is similar to mine, all dark wood, reds and blacks.
Stripping off my jacket, I throw it onto a chair. Pulling my shirt over my head, I turn to him and Shift. I’m now Elizabeth. I see his eyes darken; his expression is unreadable. Shimmying out of the rest of my clothes, I stand naked before him as his true sire.
“What are you doing?” he asks softly.
“Showing you how much I need you. Showing you that you can never, ever be replaced. In this form, I am your sire and yours alone and a thousand years from now, I will still love you, still desire you and still want you. I will still need you to complete me and need you to need and love me.”
His eyes widen in surprise at my passionate words.
“I’m sorry, Devon. I haven’t shown you the proper appreciation for you as of late. I won’t ever take you for granted.” I step closer to him and it’s his undoing.
Growling, he pulls me to him, crushing his mouth to mine. Both of our hands fumble to undress him; his with his tie, mine with his shirt. He takes over, ripping it apart, buttons flying everywhere. He kicks off his shoes as I slide my hands over his smooth chest, and he rasps deeply. I dip my hands lower across his narrow waist and hips, into the top of his suit pants. Unbuckling his belt quickly, he unzips them, and I push them to the floor. He kicks them away and coming up for air, he gazes into my big blue eyes in rapture. Pushing me towards his bed, he pauses briefly to remove his socks and boxers. His erection is enormous as he stalks me. I drop to my knees and greedily take his cock in my mouth. Crying out in pleasure, he pushes his hands loosely into my hair. He keeps me in place as I move my tongue up and down his length, sucking when I get to the tip.
“Oh, Elizabeth,” he exhales slowly, “oh, yes, that feels so good.” He reluctantly pulls away and drags me up to kiss me gently, submitting to me, as is our usual way. I shake my head, wanting him to dominate me. I, again, drop to my knees and carry on sucking and licking my way up and down his length. Getting my message loud and clear, he holds my head in place now and moves his hips back and forth, fucking my mouth in delight. He comes quickly. It’s warm and delicious. I welcome it into my mouth, swallowing quickly. He staggers slightly as I pull away and stand up. I kiss him so that he can taste himself on my lips. Then he devours me, he pushes me onto his bed, his hands finding my breasts, and tweaking my nipples into hard peaks. He moves his head down and starts sucking gently while his hand trails lower to find my very wet entrance. He groans as he slides his finger into my pussy, then two, rubbing my clit with his thumb. I feel the pressure building but slam it back down. It’s for him to decide now when I come for him.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask softly.
He looks startled, at a bit of a loss as this role isn’t the norm for us. “Just let me make love to you. Slowly,” he whispers with his eyes closed. “And no coming until I say so,” he adds, opening them again with a glint.
I shiver at his words, my nipples tightening even more. I defer to him completely, as he continues teasing me with his fingers. I’m familiar with this submissive role with CK. The sire always seems to take over, but my sire-self is languishing, fully aroused under the attentions of my darling boy.
“Okay, Lizzie, I want you to come for me now,” he whispers as he ducks his head lower and adds his tongue to the swirling vortex that is his fingers.
Well, you don’t need to ask me twice. Within seconds, I’m throbbing around his fingers and against his mouth. He rises up above me and plunges his tongue into my mouth.
“Oh, Lizzie, I want you so much,” he gasps.
“Take me, my love,” I whisper back.
Needing no further encouragement, he slowly sinks himself into me, savoring my wetness. Bracing himself above me, he looks into my eyes with such love and longing, my heart wants to break. I lift my hips to meet him, to bring him further into me. He gently moves his hips, pulsing in and out all the way and back in again. It’s driving me wild, but I resist the urge to flip us over and fuck him senseless. He needs this, and I need to give it to him. He leans down to kiss me deeply. I trace my nails down his back. He hisses in delight, all the while slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he makes love to me.
I’ve never in five hundred and six years felt such passion and love from him as I do in this moment. I’m so aroused by his intensity.
“Oh, Dev. I’m going to come,” I whisper. “I can’t stop it.” Before he can say anything, I explode into a million pieces around him.
“Ah!” he cries out as he feels the waves of my pleasure, rippling around his thick, pulsating cock. “Lizzie, my love, again.” He grunts and moves quicker now to stoke my burning fire. The flames roar back to life, consuming me. He lets himself go. His eyes are on mine, blazing as hot as our passion, as he floods me with his desire.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sometime later, we surface from the silence, entwined around each other.
“Thank you,” he whispers.
“No, thank you,” I whisper back. “That was….” I sigh happily.
“Mind blowing?” he asks shyly.
I giggle at his shyness. “That about sums it up. I should let you take the lead more often,” I tease.
His eyes light up. “I’d like that,” he says seriously, then grins. He strokes my hair as I lay my head back on his chest.
“You feel guilty, don’t you?” he asks, ever the one to read me like a book. I glance up at him. “You do, don’t you?” he persists in amazement.
“I don’t want to think about it right now,” I say with a frown.
“Don’t feel bad, my love. We’re Vampires. It’s what we do.” He reaches down to stroke my face. “Monogamy is not high on the list of things we’re good at.”
I bat his hand away. “You sound like CK,” I say, knowing he is right. I do feel guilty. It is easier in this body, this form, but I just can’t shake it off.
“Don’t leave me, Lizzie,” he whispers suddenly. “Please promise me that no matter what, you won’t leave me.”
Taken aback by his serious tone, I answer him, “Oh, Dev. I will never leave you. Not ever. Is that why you didn’t want me to tell Cole? Because you thought I would end up leaving you?”
“He knows now, the next step is to turn him. I don’t want you to turn him and forget about me,” he says sadly.
“What?” I say incredulously, sitting up. “Are you insane? That would never happen, Dev. Do you really think I would abandon you? After all this time, after everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve built together. Not to mention, you are jumping the gun a bit. I haven’t even bitten him yet and already you’re having me turn him.” I bite my lip to stop myself from telling him about the prophecy and Cole’s supposed role in it.
He looks slightly abashed at my impassioned words. “I’m just trying to be prepared,” he says. “And, no, I don’t think you would abandon me, not intentionally anyway. But look at you and Constantine. You both swore you’d be together forever, more than once, and now you live on opposite sides of the world and see each other every six weeks or so. I don’t want that to be us. I couldn’t bear it.”
Taking in his words, I realize he has every right to be worried if that’s how he sees things with me and CK. “Devon, CK and I are what we are because of you. I have you. You’ve been by my side for over five hundred years. Forgetting the Rebellion.”
He smiles at our coin of phrase and I continue, “You are the one I chose to ultimately be with in the end. We are perfect for each other. Look at all we’ve done together. CK and I would probably have staked each other by now if we had tried to build this life together. I love him completely and
I will be his forever, but you are mine forever and that will never change. And as much as I love Cole, and as accepting as he is, he may not choose this path.”
He’s looking at me with such adoration after my words that my heart just melts. “I love you,” he says simply, but this time I know he means it in the romantic sense. He said the words instead of his usual, ‘love you back.’
“I love you too,” I reply, trying to convey as much meaning into it as I can without us having a huge discussion about what this means for us.
“I suppose we should head to work,” he says reluctantly, either ignoring my tone or not getting it.
“Not yet,” I whisper.
He kisses me deeply and we start all over again.
I must have dozed off at some point, as I wake up suddenly, pushing my dark curls out of my eyes. It takes me a second to remember where I am, who I am. Glancing around the room in search of Devon, I find him, his naked back turned to me. Standing there in just his suit pants, I catch my breath. He hears me and turns around with that devastating grin and bold blue gaze.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi,” I say back. “What time is it?”
“A little after 12,” he replies.
Shit! Work!
Laughing at the horror on my face, he pulls on a new shirt as I leap out of bed, Shifting at the same time. He freezes suddenly and I know he’s mourning the loss of Elizabeth. I turn my back and dress quickly in silence. I sense him behind me and turn. He embraces me, sighs deeply and kisses the top of my blonde head.
“We’d better get going. I had a busy day before our little rendezvous,” he says softly.
“I love you,” I murmur, and he whispers it back.
A t the office, I have a surprise waiting for me in the shape of Cole. That pesky guilt flares up again, but I push it back down, hearing CK’s voice in my head: “No regrets.”
