BloodWish

by Tima Maria Lacoba

  ‘Alec, I need to go into the village. Kari’ll come with me.’

  The door of the cottage flew open. Before I turned around, Alec stood in the doorway of our suite, brows drawn, his lab coat flapping from the breeze of his speed. ‘Why do you need to go into the village?’

  That was quick. With his collar turned up and hands in his pockets, he managed to look sexy even in a lab coat. I refocused. ‘Is there a problem?’

  ‘Could be.’ He closed the door, pulled out his mobile phone and showed me the screen. ‘Karl’s been keeping me updated.’

  Kari peeked over my shoulder as I scrolled through several pics showing a wrecked pile with some of Karl’s men, the crowned stag insignias on their jackets clearly visible, standing around a pile of debris. In a couple of images there were unrecognisable burnt remains. I could only tell they were the lamiae by what remained of their wings. There was no semblance left of the gargoyle-like creatures I’d seen in Timur’s fortress. The first photo dated the day of the funeral. Three months ago.

  So that was why he’d raced up here.

  ‘There should’ve been four. Karl’s men only found three.’ He twirled the serpent ring on his finger, his gaze on my face but his thoughts, no doubt, on this problem, as well as on the fact he hadn’t mentioned it to me.

  I was about to open my mouth and ask why, when my conscience gave me a kick. Wasn’t I keeping Judy’s diary from him? I released a breath and handed the mobile back to him. ‘So, the fourth one’s survived and is out there somewhere.’

  Alec glanced at Kari and motioned with his head toward the door.

  ‘Okay, you two talky-talky. Holler when you’re ready to go.’ She grabbed a magazine from the coffee table and left the suite.

  Alec shucked the lab coat, letting it drop to the floor, and helped himself to a glass of brandy. He downed it in one go.

  It was then I saw the dark circles under his eyes, the worry lines around his mouth. He hadn’t slept in several days, although technically he didn’t need to. It was the burden of being princeps in his own right—no Luc hovering in the background influencing the Principate. He’d also accepted Luc’s business responsibilities. As if that wasn’t enough, he’d been stuck in the lab all this time.

  Now this—a deadly monster on the loose.

  He sighed. ‘Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner. Didn’t want to worry you needlessly. You’re grieving the loss of Luc and Judy, and now with the baby coming ... Are we going to argue about this?’ He poured himself another shot.

  Am I some delicate daisy? ‘Alec, I’m not ...’ The image of Judy’s diaries flashed through my mind, again. I was keeping it from him for similar reasons. Guilt had me swallowing my retort. Perhaps now was not a good time to tell him, either.

  Instead, I said, ‘Okay, I get why you kept it from me. So ... if I was to do something similar, you’d understand?’

  He peered at me over the rim of the crystal glass at his lips. ‘Like what?’

  ‘Nothing really. Just saying.’ Fingers crossed behind my back, I blocked any image of the diaries from my mind.

  Alec’s eyes narrowed.

  Time to change tack. ‘Those pics Karl sent you showed only three lamiae remains, right? Maybe they just haven’t found what’s left of the fourth one yet. It could be anywhere underneath all that mess, or even turned to ash, depending on how strong the fire was.’

  He blinked, a slight crease between his brows as he set the glass down on the sideboard. ‘It’s alive, and it’s killed several Brethren already. They’ve been tracking it. Last sighting was in Milan ... just over the Alps. Karl thinks it’s heading here.’

  This was unexpected, but not disastrous and I was pretty confident as to what was going on in Alec’s mind. ‘And even if it does, it won’t get past the ward ring, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

  Alec cocked his head and gave me a smile. ‘Read my mind.’

  ‘And without the ring, either.’ I wriggled my finger.

  He sobered. ‘You still have your dagger?’

  ‘Never travel without it.’ I patted the buckle of my jeans belt, which hid the jewelled knife Lucinda had so graciously given me. It had saved my life.

  He poured himself another shot. ‘Smear a bit of your blood on the blade. Do it fresh every day from now on.’

  That idea didn’t thrill me. I was no human pincushion. ‘I’d rather keep a vial of my blood around for dip-and-stab-the-enemy occasions. Don’t fancy pricking or slicing myself everyday.’

  ‘We’ll talk about that later. Now, why do you need to go to the village?’

  Ice chinked in the glass as he dropped in a couple of cubes and refilled it. Was that his third or fourth shot? It was what Luc used to do in a crisis situation.

  ‘Close your eyes.’ I reached up and smoothed the hair from his brow then gently massaged his forehead and temples.

  A light sigh escaped his lips, the tension visibly lifting from his features. ‘Angel’s touch.’

  ‘Shhh.’ I trailed my fingers along his ears and behind his head, letting my thumbs circle the base of his skull before twining his hair around my fingers. A tiny freckle at the base of his ear beckoned. ‘Can vampires get drunk?’ I whispered and kissed the delectable brown spot.

  ‘No, but I wish we could,’ he murmured into my hair.

  His arms encircled me, the chill from the glass pressed against my back seeping through the woollen barrier of my dress.

  We remained locked in each other’s arms for several minutes, neither of us talking, simply enjoying the intimacy. We’d had little time for each other since the funeral, and with the restrictions imposed by the period of mourning, the time apart was affecting us both.

  Alec lifted my chin. My pulse quickened as I gazed into the dark purple whorl of his eyes, my mouth drying as his thumb stroked my lower lip. ‘Period of mourning’s nearly over.’

  ‘Actually, in twelve hours and thirty-four minutes.’

  ‘Who’s counting?’ He smiled, and his lips grazed my waiting mouth. Although soft at first, his kiss grew hungry.

  It ignited a fire between us. Our mouths meshed in a passionate tangle of lip and tongue, sending an intense ache of desire shooting from my belly to my groin that was almost painful.

  Only he could only quench that ache. I needed him inside me.

  Alec’s own need pressed against my thigh, and I resented the barrier of our clothing. ‘Damn the restrictions! I need you now.’

  I tightened my hold around his neck as he lifted me into his arms, strode into the bedroom and kicked the door closed. Between feverish kisses, we shed our clothes and stumbled to the bed, which creaked beneath our weight.

  I caressed the rock-hard muscles of his arms and chest, revelling in his strength. I uttered a deep moan as he sank fully into me, moving slowly at first then with greater urgency as my climax built.

  This was no time for foreplay. This was a desperate thirst only he could quench.

  ‘More. I need more,’ I moaned into his mouth, the brandy on his tongue and lips making me heady. With my legs already crossed over this back, I pressed my heels into his buttocks in an attempt to push him deeper inside me. All the while my senses drank in his brandy-infused pine and musky scent, the softness of his hair beneath my fingers and the salty-sweetness of his skin.

  Would I ever get enough?

  ‘Whatever your pleasure.’ He placed his hands under my buttocks and lifted me.

  I threw my head back as he drove even further into me, the exquisite mix of pain and pleasure drawing a deep moan again.

  Then he pulled almost completely out. No! A second later, I cried out as he surged into me, driving deeper and deeper until that sensual tingling spread from my feet, up my legs and into my core.

  I sobbed in relief, the tears trickling down the side of my face and onto the pillow. Alec kissed them away, as he spilled into me and groaned his own release.

  I floated on a blissful cloud, acutely aware of our panting brea
ths, the glistening droplets of sweat on our skin and the delicious fullness still nestled between my legs. Alec hadn’t yet withdrawn. And I didn’t want him to. How I’d missed his touch these last three months. How my body had ached for him.

  If I had my way, no other Elder would be allowed to pass away for the next thousand years! I couldn’t take another such long period of abstinence.

  Alec lavished soft, feathery kisses over my face and down my neck, lingering at the spot where my pulse hammered. His slow intake of breath, the quick lick of his tongue and the sudden sharp pressure against my skin, meant only one thing—his incisors had slid down.

  Alec had said he wouldn’t feed from me during my pregnancy, preferring instead to live off the blood vials, but our prolonged separation had probably had an affect on his self-control. In a vampire’s psyche, feeding and lovemaking were inexorably linked, and separating the two was unnatural. Would he be able to keep his resolution?

  Would I?

  I missed the heightened intimacy between us, the ecstasy caused by his bite. Would it really be so bad if he took a few sips?

  Taking his face between my hands, I turned his head to face me. His struggle burned from the dark lavender depths of his eyes.

  My heart lurched. ‘A sip or two won’t hurt, surely?’

  The muscles in his neck corded, and he swallowed. Although his mouth was closed, the slight bulge above his lip betrayed the presence of hidden fangs. For a moment we simply gazed at each other.

  A steely resolve appeared in his eyes. He shook his head. ‘No, darling, it’s not worth the risk.’ He lifted himself onto his elbows, dropped a kiss on my belly and withdrew from inside me before loping off the bed.

  Immediately my body resented his loss. ‘Alec! Where’re you going?’

  He searched his pant’s pockets and held up one of the blood vials. ‘For this.’ He then unstoppered the lid and gulped down its contents.

  Looked like the period of mourning was over.

  It was fascinating to see the dark circles beneath his eyes fade and his pale skin flush with renewed vitality. The corners of his mouth lifted into a sensuous smile, his eyes sparkling as they raked my body.

  My stomach fluttered in delicious anticipation when he cast the vial aside and stalked toward me.

  * * *

  Beams of watery winter light trickled through the gaps in the drapes and settled on the peppermint-green checked comforter under which we lay entwined.

  Hours of lovemaking had left us sated and languid. I ran my foot down Alec’s leg, while my fingers traced the outline of the serpent tattoo on his chest.

  ‘It’s fading.’

  ‘Mmmm ... noticed. Little bit every day.’ He curled an end of my hair around his finger and absently rubbed it against his lower lip.

  The colours had become more muted, the edges less defined only since I’d fallen pregnant. A sign the curse was ending? The image of the serpent had first appeared on his chest the day my father changed him—a type of proof that he belonged to the House of D’Antonville, the clan of the cursed.

  And now, after all these centuries, it had run its course. So too, it’s visible reminder.

  ‘I’m going to miss it. Looks kind of ... sexy.’

  His eyebrows shot skywards. ‘Never knew you liked tattoos.’

  ‘I don’t normally. Just ... it looks good on you.’ This time I traced its outline with the tip of my tongue, stopping at the point above his heart, where two months earlier Jean-Philippe had rammed a stake.

  That horrid day when I thought I’d lost him. Not even a scar marked his chest.

  I pressed my lips to the spot and kissed it.

  Alec’s heart beat double-time, a rare occurrence considering how sluggishly his vampire blood usually flowed.

  ‘Remind me to get a new one.’ In an instant, he flipped me onto my back, pinning my hands above my head as his mouth teased my nipples until they stood taut, every nerve ending tingling all the way to my groin. His other hand massaged my core, round and round, flicking, pinching, rubbing, pushing me over the edge just as he plunged into me once more.

  My stars! After the vigorous night we gave each other, how could my body still respond so readily to his touch?

  A kaleidoscope of colours exploded behind my eyes and I released the breath I’d been holding in a blissful moan.

  Seconds later, Alec threw his head back, the muscles in his neck bulged before he let out a long, drawn out sigh, and he relaxed, his hair dropping down over his forehead. He rolled to the side, taking me with him.

  We lay there in exhausted silence for several minutes, the slow beat of his heart beneath my ear, our fingers interlocked with his thumb stroking the skin along my hand. He stared at the ceiling before his gaze panned to me. He drew our linked hands to his lips to kiss my pink-diamond engagement ring.

  ‘What do you think about us getting married day after tomorrow?’

  My heart jumped. ‘Can’t think of anything more wonderful ... but it is short notice.’ I glanced coyly up at him.

  He chuckled and kissed the middle of my palm before he sobered. ‘Call me old-fashioned, but I’d like us to be wed before our babe’s born. Period of mourning’s nearly over. Time to lift the gloom over this place. Get rid of all this black stuff—’ he waved his hand at the wall where black cloth hid a beautiful gilt-framed mirror ‘—and bring back some joy.’

  I glanced around our room, once Luc and Judy’s. Even after all this time, the occasional hint of Judy’s perfume floated on the air, as if she was still here. In a way it was comforting. And although it was now our suite, their portrait still hung in the living room above the fireplace. I couldn’t bring myself to take it down.

  Apart from shifting my parents’ clothing out and moving ours in, Alec and I hadn’t changed a thing. Not even the bed. It had been theirs. Perhaps I was even conceived here.

  I stopped that thought before it could go any further.

  ‘Glad you did that. I don’t want to go there either,’ Alec murmured.

  Heat shot through my cheeks. ‘You weren’t supposed to hear that.’

  He grinned and angled our linked hands exposing our brightly glowing serpent rings. ‘No chance while we’ve got these.’

  Those ever-telepathic little rings. How could I forget? ‘And if I want to keep your birthday present a secret? How do I do that without you snooping into my head and spoiling it?’

  Not that his birthday was coming up anytime soon, but he knew what I meant. I raised one eyebrow, just the way he occasionally did.

  He gave me a slow grin. ‘Mmmm ... see the problem.’

  ‘And...?’

  Alec’s eyes sparkled like he was enjoying a secret joke, the corners of his mouth twitching. Any moment a full-blown laugh would erupt from him. Oh, he knew how to mind-guard all right, but he didn’t want to tell me.

  Surely, some form of punishment was due. What could be better than to share all the activities that actually went into wedding preparations, no matter how small or intimate, especially as he’d sprung this so suddenly on me.

  I straddled him, folded my arms over his chest, and nose to nose, conjured up images of wedding dresses I’d seen in magazines, cakes, flowers, decorated reception rooms and all the paraphernalia that went with it.

  ‘Hey!’ His eyes widened like saucers.

  ‘Ha! Take that. We’re sharing thoughts, remember? I can keep it up all day.’ I hoped my grin was convincing.

  He chuckled, and leaning up on his elbows, gave me a kiss. ‘Don’t picture my face when thinking. You’ve been doing it unconsciously. Not that I mind.’

  His roguish smile would’ve slain a nun! ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’

  He linked his hands behind his head and fell back against the pillow, the very picture of smug contentment. ‘Must’ve forgot.’

  Yeah, I just bet he did! I made sure his face was front-and-centre in my mind when I threw that thought at him.

  Alec laughed. I
hefted the nearest pillow, but he caught my wrists and rolled me beneath him, pinning my arms above my head. ‘Just teasing. How can I can’t resist when you take the bait so well.’

  ‘You only do it coz you like wrestling in bed.’

  ‘Can’t think of a nicer pastime.’ He interlaced our fingers and nuzzled my breasts sending tiny bolts of electricity shooting through me.

  How could a girl concentrate? ‘How long have you known?’

  He lifted his head, his eyes serious as his gaze bored into me. ‘Since your kidnapping. When I first tried to reach you, I was looking at the helicopter ... seeing that instead of you. It wasn’t till I brought your face to mind, my thoughts got through to you.’

  That awful, awful day. ‘I kept your face before me the whole time. Your voice in my mind stopped me from breaking down.’

  Images—both familiar and unfamiliar—flicked through my mind as Alec and I shared thoughts, and I saw the battle he’d engaged in after Karl had taken me to safety, how close he’d come to death: how close we had both come.

  I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him to me, praying neither of us would ever be in such a situation again.

  Alec held me just as tightly and whispered assurances in my ear as a cold shiver racked through me. ‘You’re home and in my arms ... safe. Leave it behind as a bad dream, my darling.’

  Whether it was his words, the confident tone of his voice or the strength of his arms, but a sense of peace settled over me. My breathing evened and I snuggled into him, willing the world, and all its troubles, away.

  Alec’s lips sought mine in a kiss so lavish, so utterly consuming, he set my senses on fire. Then inch-by-excruciatingly-slow-inch, he entered me again, stretching, filling, until my body took all of him, and I heard him calling my name in my mind. I responded, and the serpent rings flared, their scarlet light blazing in the darkness and through the lids of my closed eyes.

  Body, mind and spirit: Alec and I were joined in every possible way.

  Nothing else existed but our own little world, cocooned in each other’s arms riding the waves of pleasure we gave each other.