Cuddling Sucks in Coffins

by Holly Ryan

  All I knew for sure was that I couldn’t bear it if Paul’s words rolled off their tongues or if I saw Paul’s sole life goal reflected in their red eyes. I hated myself for throwing holy water at them even though I knew I had to. And when I’d considered killing them just to get away...

  My eyes flooded. A deep tremble shook through my body, so encompassing I could hardly fit the key inside the lock. We’d shared so much of ourselves with each other. I didn’t want them to be ripped away from me so soon when I had absolutely no one else.

  The door swung open to silence, but it roared with the sense of home. Just like it always did, the house’s warmth and coziness seeped through my skin and touched my soul. The familiar smells of pie and lavender and something I didn’t know washed over my senses, but I couldn’t immediately see if Sawyer had left a plate of pie and coffee on the kitchen table. My tears fell too hard.

  I shut the door behind me, and as soon as I did, as soon as the sunlight was safely left outside, three figures blurred into the living room. So fast I couldn’t even tell which part of the house they came from. My three vamps. Here, with me. Their eyes were orange-yellow, their faces free from any holy water burns and Paul’s warped magic. It was their agonized expressions, minus the bitey murder magic, that triggered my lungs to inhale a relieved breath. My lungs’ first in a long while.

  “Hi.” It came out as a half sob, half choke.

  “Sunshine... You’re alive?” Eddie rasped. He pushed his glasses up his nose, a slight tremble in his arm and a haunted look on his face.

  I could only imagine the memories that must’ve stirred in him about his family if he’d thought I was dead.

  “Belle,” Sawyer said, his voice rough. “We remember everything, but we couldn’t control it. None of us could.”

  “I know.”

  Jacek started toward me, just a wary step, as he ticked his gaze from my face to my police uniform to the pencil halves in my hand. “You have every right to put those pencils to use, but would you be willing to hear us first?”

  “No.”

  He cocked his head. “No?”

  “There’s no need to explain,” I said. “I know it wasn’t you who tried to kill me last night.”

  They recoiled, seemingly at my word choice, each of their expressions stricken.

  “Did I hurt you with the holy water?” I asked, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

  “You’re worried about us?” Jacek shook his head and looked at me with something resembling awe.

  “We healed.” Sawyer’s golden gaze searched my face and body. “You didn’t.”

  I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling like I might sink to the floor just from emotional exhaustion alone. “My slayer powers have also gone for a stroll, I guess. I’ll explain later, but I can’t imagine how I must look. Probably about as good as I smell.”

  Eddie gazed down at the space between us. “When you walked through that door just now, I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight. When we were ourselves again, we searched everywhere for you before sunrise forced us home. I’ve never been more worried or horrified in my entire life.”

  Warmth blossomed inside my heart. That was quite a thing for him to say.

  “Will you forgive us?” Jacek asked.

  The better question was if he’d forgive me for playing on his enemy’s side.

  “I forgave you three the moment it happened,” I said instead. “That was not you back at the police station, and I know that with every brain cell I haven’t fried into a sugar coma yet. I trust you three implicitly, more than anyone in my entire life, and the only thing that carried me through the night was the thought of standing right here. In this very spot, with you three politely not holding your noses even though I know you really want to.”

  Jacek grinned, and it was such a beautiful sight. “Funny that I was thinking the exact same thing about you. Not the nose part though.”

  Despite everything, I laughed. “You’re a rotten liar.”

  Sawyer crossed toward me and pressed the gentlest of kisses to the top of my head. “Have a shower if you want. We’ll be right here when you’re done.”

  I dragged myself down the hallway and into their spacious bathroom, leaving a horrid stink trail behind me. We’d probably have to disinfect the entire house to get rid of it. While I stripped out of the policeman’s shirt and pants, I eyed the claw-footed bathtub and then the shower head above it. Shower. Definitely. That way I wouldn’t be marinating in my own filth. If I could even get inside it.

  A hiss escaped my lips as I tried to pull the Kevlar vest from my body. It seemed to have melted into my lower back with the force of the bullet, effectively blocking the blood gush, and when I gently pulled it away, an awful tearing sounded like ripping flesh. I cried out, the pain singing through my nerves. Blood poured out, and I hauled myself into the tub as fast as possible so I wouldn’t make a mess.

  Hot water cascaded down on top of me, but I could hardly bear to stand under it because of my wound. I scrubbed my hair and body with soap that smelled like lavender, and I inhaled the scent to keep from completely losing it. When I became too tired, too frustrated, too beaten down, I tended to fall apart more times than I cared to admit. It turns out I’m really mostly human, with or without my powers.

  When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I clambered out and grabbed one of the fluffy towels that felt like heaven against my skin.

  A short knock sounded on the door, and then Sawyer came in, instantly reducing the size of the bathroom with just the blazing intensity in his red eyes. No doubt he smelled my blood. He was already holding his wrist to his mouth, and then he held his bitten arm out to me.

  My towel dropped, forgotten, and I stepped toward him, licking my lips at the blood trickling down his wrist, not because I craved it but because I knew I needed it. I’d drunk from Eddie before, so I knew firsthand the healing properties of vampire blood and how quickly they acted. It was exactly what I needed.

  I pressed his wrist to my lips and sucked greedily, sliding my fingers through his. His blood trickled over my tongue in a slow, sweet caress. His bite had been small, as if to draw out the healing so it would be thorough. Powerful warmth surged through my body, sending pulses out to every part of me that was damaged so Sawyer’s blood could heal it. Already, the pain in my back faded, morphing into a hot spark that shifted lower, and lower still.

  His skin felt deliciously cool, and I closed the space between us to feel more of it. Goose bumps lifted all the way down to my feet. My nipples perked, and I shifted Sawyer’s arm slightly so it would rub my nipple into an even harder nub.

  He watched me with his red, hooded eyes while he licked his blood from his fangs. His jeans slung low on his hips, and his gray T-shirt clutched to his bronze, tattooed muscles that swirled all the way up his neck.

  In one fluid motion, he swept one arm around me and hoisted me up onto the counter next to the sink, his wrist still firmly planted against my mouth. His silky black curls tickled along my neck as he spread my legs farther apart with just one of his as he stepped closer. His hard length bulging his jeans rubbed against my thigh. I moaned at the slow trickle of his blood, at the rising ache between my legs.

  He bent to kiss and lick his way down my bare shoulder. It was when his head lowered that I noticed we had an audience in the bathroom doorway.

  A buzz of excitement lit through my veins at the sight of my two other vamps. They were watching us—me, naked, while drinking from Sawyer and him rolling his hips against my thigh. Their eyes had flamed red, and their fangs glinted in the low light of the hallway.

  I moaned in invitation, still drinking from Sawyer’s wrist, still healing myself while his magic coiled me up tight. Jacek growled as he stalked past Sawyer, his gaze locked on mine and then to the wound that was feeling much less wound-like on my back. A fanged grin lit his face with excitement as he slid his hand up the outside of my thigh toward it. His touch was gentle, refreshingly cool. He grabbed a dam
p washcloth from a nearby rack and dabbed away the blood with one hand while his other stroked my inner thigh. His fingertips kneaded the skin there, probing closer to where I was already soaked and fueling my inner fire.

  Eddie held back, his blazing red eyes shuttered with lust as he posted one arm against the doorframe.

  This was so intimate, such a turn-on, that even I could smell my desire permeating the air. There was no other place I wanted to be other than with my three vampires, who were alive and well and about to make me combust with what they were doing. I wrapped my arms around Sawyer and Jacek, feathered my fingers through their hair, squeezed them closer so we’d never be so far apart ever again.

  Sawyer pulled his wrist away from me then traced his tongue over the bite to seal it. With his heated gaze on me, he dipped his head and ran his tongue over the seam of my mouth, tasting his own blood from my lips. Then he plunged his hands into my wet hair and kissed me with a hungry groan. I kissed him right back, matching his fervor while Jacek finished cleaning my wound. His lips brushed my shoulder as his fingertips finally reached the apex of my thighs. He teased my clit with just the barest of touches. I moaned into Sawyer’s kiss, the mix of his blood and what they were doing to me coiling everything in my body tighter and tighter. Powerful need sang through my veins, drowning everything else out but the here and now.

  Over the bulk of Sawyer’s shoulder, Eddie growled. His red eyes sparked, locked on the three of us, and his hips thrust forward. Half of him was turned out of sight, but his arm worked furiously as he jacked himself off as he watched us.

  I smiled into Sawyer’s kiss, struck by an idea. My fingers seeking, I found both his and Jacek’s zippers in their pants and freed their hard cocks, one in each hand. They groaned and pushed farther into my grasps.

  As I began to stroke them, Jacek sank two fingers into my wet pussy. My hips bucked forward, almost spilling me off the bathroom countertop, but the two vampires on either side of me had me pinned in place.

  Eddie roared his release in the doorway, his hips still pumping the air and the tendons in his neck stretched taut. Jacek moaned into my shoulder and rubbed my own juices over my nipple, peaking it so much it ached. Then he followed Eddie’s lead soon after, spilling into my hand.

  Sawyer palmed my other breast, and he sharpened our kiss with a hint of fang. A low growl escaped him as he broke our kiss, and I stroked his cock faster. Then he was coming too. Hard.

  Sagging against me, Jacek and Sawyer spread my legs wider, creating a clear path just for Eddie. He stalked forward, licking his fangs, and then popped two fingers inside his mouth. With his eyes on me, Eddie slowly pulled his fingers out and stepped forward.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  My whole body begged for his fingers to come inside me. My heart pounded as if to leap outside my chest and drag him forward faster.

  I gasped and then gasped again when he sank his fingers inside of me. He curled them as if to order me to come hither, and I did. Violently. Flying off a cliff with zero fucks given, at least at that particular moment. I cried out and rode the sensations over and over...and over until exhaustion won out. My eyes closed, and I sank into the safety of my vamps’ arms.

  HOT AND SWEATY DREAMS writhed through my head while I slept, confirming that yes, I was a sexual beast who craved dick like I craved pie. Good thing my three vampires didn’t seem to mind.

  I awoke panting in a bed, the sheet twisted between my legs. It rubbed everything so deliciously that I stayed like that for a while with my thighs squeezed together. Vampire blood did this to me. Actually air did this to me; it was my vampires who sensed it and knew how to crank the dial on my desire.

  “Sawyer,” I whispered into the dark.

  Because it was his blood pumping through my veins, it was his touch that could put out my fire. For now at least.

  “I’m here, Belle.” Cool lips grazed a trail up the back of my neck. His strong arms enveloped me and pulled me to his chest, funneling strength back into my soul, exactly what I needed after last night.

  I felt almost whole again, healed though starving, and not just for Sawyer. Right now, though, it was mostly for him. His thick cock pushed against my ass. I arched my back into him, sinking his arms lower until his hands pressed against my upper thighs. As if reading my mind, he stroked my folds and then groaned between my shoulder blades as he pushed the tip of his hard length inside of me. He was so big, but he took it slow, letting me grow accustomed to his size before he began moving. I urged him on, pressing my back against him. His thrusts smacked against my ass. Cocooned inside the safety he provided, I let myself go until he fucked me over the edge and I went moaning into explosive bliss again and again.

  As I came down from the second or third orgasm, Sawyer sped his pace. Then, he fisted his hand into my long curls as he growled my name and came and came and came. His fangs sank into the back of my neck, and he drank, then lapped at the bite mark until it tingled.

  Still wrapped up in each other, we lay for a long while, completely spent. Or at least I was. My limbs felt like cooked noodles, but while I expected sleep to drag me under, the outside world dared to slip into my mind. Ideas grew there for what I should do next, and they must’ve been tainted by the darkness of the previous nights’ events. These were not fun ideas, that was for sure.

  “Sawyer?” I whispered.

  He squeezed me a little tighter and dropped a kiss on my shoulder blade. “Yes?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, still inside you as I am, and not planning to do anything about that anytime soon,” he said. “You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  “Good point.” I took a deep breath. “If I asked you to do something, do you think you could do it as soon as possible and not ask any questions?”

  There was a pause, but only a slight one. “Yes.”

  I nestled deeper into his arms, suddenly feeling very cold as I started to explain my plan, each word tasting like poison.

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning, I called in sick to The Bean Dream because I really did feel sick. Plus, I just wasn’t ready to face Sylvia who’d wanted me dead last night. That was sure to make things a tad awkward. Plus, I was way behind on schoolwork.

  But not so far behind that I forgot to check my score for the biology test I’d taken earlier in the week. I aced it like a badass.

  I had almost caught up on the rest of my classes when my three vamps joined me in the kitchen. They came in all at once, slamming my heartbeat faster and with zero weirdness between them about our shared sexcapades in the bathroom. Not that I thought there would be. The four of us honored honesty so much that I knew they’d have spoken up or not participated if they’d felt any weirdness. Still, I was thankful it hadn’t resulted in a Cockgate. That would likely be as bad as a Cockygate.

  Jacek grinned as he sat next to me, his short dark hair still slightly damp from his shower. “Okay, Slayer. Time to spill about last night and why you came here in a police uniform. Did you interview to be a policewoman while everyone was trying to kill you, or did Halloween come late?”

  Eddie flashed him some fang as he took his spot opposite us. “Why does everything have to be a joke with you? We were trying to kill her.”

  “I haven’t forgotten that, Smiley,” Jacek snapped. “I’m just trying not to drive myself insane with guilt. Humor is how I cope. You have your books. Sawyer bakes when he’s not crushing steel with his bare hands. If you’d pay attention, you could keep up.”

  “The uniform, Belle. How did you get it?” Sawyer came around to the chair on the other side and kissed my cheek before he sat.

  A pleasant shiver rolled through me at the chilled contact from his lips. “Well, it all started when I got arrested.”

  They froze.

  “Interesting,” Jacek said with a lifted eyebrow. “Do go on.”

  “It turns out that Podunk City’s police department is like any other i
n that when a dead body shows up, someone has to get arrested. My phone was at the crime scene, which just so happened to be the cemetery.” I dipped my head, my world feeling suddenly too heavy to keep myself upright. “You remember I told you about Tim.”

  They nodded.

  “Well, Detective Appelt arrested me, the same Appelt as the name on the mausoleum with the trapdoor no one can get open. A few nights ago, I saw him coming out of it while talking on the phone about getting something done.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what.”

  “Appelt... Does that name ring a bell?” Sawyer asked Eddie.

  Eddie shook his head and tapped his temple. “There’s a lot up here to wade through, though.”

  Jacek slapped the table in front of Eddie and then leaned back in his chair. “Wade faster. Pretend there are sharks.”

  “What else, Belle?” Sawyer said.

  I sighed. “Of course I couldn’t explain everything I knew about Tim, so Detective Appelt sent me with a policeman to a cell. Only I’m not so sure he was a real policeman despite the very real uniform I stole. He punched a policewoman in the face for one thing, and for another, he slapped some roofied handcuffs on me.”

  Jacek’s amber eyes narrowed. “Then this guy must’ve known you were the slayer if he wanted to keep you loopy.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “He led me to a cell, painted all in black, and I passed out. When I was starting to come to, I swear I saw golden flecks of light leaving my body.”

  “Your power?” Eddie straightened his glasses, half hidden behind his hair.

  I shrugged.

  Sawyer rubbed his chin. “This Appelt character definitely knows who you are if he took your power, but why?”

  Eddie sat up straighter, his eyes widening slightly. “Unless he can’t open the trapdoor either.”