Dark Caress (The Fallen) (9 page)

She didn’t like change.

“Are we...” She didn’t know how to put it. “Are we dating?”

“
I have taken you as my lover. You are bound to me, Amber.”

She was bound
, but she wasn’t going to agree to things on his terms. She liked things done her way. He came in close, backing her up against the old oak tree. Her heart raced as her palms went flat against his chest. “What are you doing?”

“Protecting you from the rain,” he said.

“I love the rain. I need the rain.”

“Do you?”

She felt suddenly breathless when he held her so close. “Yes.”

“I’m about to kiss you
, my love. May I?”

She pretended to think about. “Yes.”

Amber wrapped her arms around his shoulders as their mouths connected. She melted against him, feeling the power of his kiss spasm through her body. Her lips parted. Kane’s tongue flicked across her lips, taking possession of her mouth. His hand slid up her side to caress her full breast. Amber felt drunk from his kiss when their lips parted.

“Your place or mine?” she asked.

“Yours.”

She gasped as
his arms came around her waist. Dark energy swirled up from their legs and they disappeared. She opened her eyes as they materialized next to her apartment door. She unlocked the door.

“Don’t you need permission to enter my home?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, flashing one of those sharp fangs. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pushing open the door. “The only thing I need permission to do, is to get you naked.”

He slammed shut her apartment door, engaging the lock.
He let her slide down his body. “Undress.”

“We better be quiet. I have human neighbors.”

“We’ll see how quiet you are.”

She loved the way his gaze smoldered as she pulled her
wet T-shirt over her head. Amber flipped the hooks on her bra, letting it slide off her arms. She toyed with the snap on her cargos before dropping them to the ground. He murmured a sound of approval when her pants slid off her legs. Amber stood naked before him.

Kane crossed the room, pulling out a dining chair.
He tilted it up against the table. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes. Completely.”

“Come here, my love.”

A shiver spun
through her body as Amber sat on the edge of the chair. “Are you going to spank me again?”

“No. I’m going to do something even better.
Sit down and place your hands here.”

Amber obeyed his order to put her palms on the
back edge of the chair by the back legs. Kane kneeled before her. He pulled bands of leather from his pocket, tying her wrists to each corner of the chair. Kane leaned in, giving her a possessive kiss that made her toes curl into the carpet. Amber felt her pussy wet as she rocked forward into his kiss.

Kane broke his lips away. “Not so fast, love.
Legs up.”

Her
hips were pulled forward until she was sitting on the edge of the chair. Kane rolled her ass up as he positioned her knees up, spreading her legs wide. He tied each ankle to the front corners of the chair, too. Amber felt completely exposed to her lover.

“You look absolutely delicious.”

Amber’s breath caught in her chest as Kane kneeled before her and started to lick her pussy. He had the softest lips and the roughest tongue. His tongue swirled around her clit, sucking it into his mouth. Her legs fell wide as her head flung back against the back of the chair. Kane’s tongue darted south, thrusting in quick short strokes into her pussy folds. Kane slid his hands beneath her ass, squeezing her cheeks. His fingers slipped between her ass cheeks, rubbing over her anus. Amber’s heart hammered wildly in her ears as she gave him everything he wanted.

With quick, smooth strokes, Kane flipped his tongue over her clit, sending an orgasm rocketing through her body. He licked
and sucked her pussy as she came hard. Her eyes were glazed with satisfaction as she opened them. She felt him pulling away. The sounds of his zipper going south had a smile playing at her lips. He undressed fast. Kane positioned the tip of his cockhead on her pussy and pushed in fast. Kane’s palms were anchored on the dining table. He thrust in and out. Amber’s breasts bounced as she was taken.

The antique chair creaked. “The chair isn’t going to hold.”

He grinned. “It will. Trust me.”

Amber’s ass lifted
off the chair as the wood protested with each pounding stroke. Kane’s balls slapped against her anus, sending sensations rippling over her rim. Their eyes locked within the throes of passion. He leaned in, taking control of her mouth. He pulled away as her pussy locked down tight on his cock. The chair screamed under their weight.

“Kane!”

“I’ve got you. Let go for me!”

Amber was so close. The chair banged against the table. “Kane!”

“Come for me.”

She felt her orgasm crash through her pussy and shatter against his cock. Kane growled as he came hard, shooting his spunk deep within her. Kane dropped his mouth to the throbbing vein her neck. He hadn’t bitten her this time. She felt oddly disappointed that he hadn’t marked her that way.

“Did I please you?” he asked.

“Very much.”

She bit her lip, wondering where things were going between them and worrying about how fast things were taking off.

Kane came in close.
“The only thing I need of you is your love. I’ll take care of everything else.” Kane pulled his cock out of her pussy, leaning back on his haunches. He adjusted himself and then untied her wrists and ankles. He dressed.

“I have to go,” he said.
“I have to ... feed.”

Amber couldn’t hide her surprise or her insecurity.
“Oh? How do you feed?”

“I have an arrangement with an angel named Jade. She comes to me once a month.”

Amber picked up a hoodie she had on her couch and pulled it on. “Could you feed from me, or do you need angelic blood?”

“I can feed from the Fallen, Elementals, or angels. It’s better if the blood is pure
.”

“Not humans?” she asked.

“Human blood doesn’t last as long. It’s like water versus Gatorade.”

“So you could feed from me?
”

“Is that your wish?” he asked.

There was a quiet hope in his eyes. Amber felt breathless in front of him. “Yes.”

“I must inform Jade that our time is over.”

Amber couldn’t keep herself from asking. “Do you have sex with Jade?”

Kane came in close, kissing her gently. “
We only have an arrangement. There has never been any sex between us.”

Relief poured through her body. “Good.”
“I must go now. I will see you soon.”

Kane
dematerialized right before her eyes. His warmth lingered on her body. She couldn’t believe she was being pursued by the leader of the Fallen and that she wanted to feed him. She smiled, feeling the warmth he left spread through her heart. She was really falling hard for him.

Amber
was halfway down to the shower when her cell phone rang. She went back to the kitchen and reached for the phone on the counter. She checked the ID. It was Pell. She decided to call her back later. She just didn’t want to spoil the moment. Amber set the phone down and went to the French doors. The rain was still coming down hard.

She hadn’t used her powers
consistently in ages. She was getting rusty. She was getting more human everyday by denying the urge to use her ability to manipulate water. Amber headed toward her shower, feeling confused by her feelings for Kane. The scent of Kane’s loving was hot upon her skin.

Kane materialized in the
living room of the Armory. His hand moved down his zipper where he adjusted himself. The wind kicked up and howled around the stone fortress. Kane focused his energy, and the wind calmed around the Armory. His Elemental blood often stirred the air around him. He didn’t know how to control it, only calm it after it happened. Kane was anxious to deal with Jade. He knew she probably wouldn’t take the news of their time ending well. He flinched as the wind rattled the stone again. He really needed to learn how to control his element. Kane knew the wind tantrum was tied to his emotions.

He adjusted again
, all the while wishing he had more time alone with Amber. He needed to find a way to incorporate her completely into his life.

His
home was an old fortified military Armory converted into a mansion, a
haunted
mansion. Ivy clung to the old stone building, giving it an enchanted quality. A lighthouse sat on the outer edge overlooking the Atlantic. Kane had bought the Armory nearly sixty years ago. He had spent that entire time building back up the empty artillery chambers fifty feet below ground. There was enough down there to make any leader of a small country hot with envy. Kane could officially run with the big boys if he wanted. He just chose not to.

The
Armory was hidden deep within old growth oaks and pines. Golden brown pine needles littered the forest floor and made footfalls silent. Despite the renovation, he hadn’t been able to shake the ghost who moved around at all hours of the night.

Five years ago, Kane
had had the ten-foot high stone historic fence reinforced. By all outward appearances, the Armory still looked official. In all reality, it was a place Kane used for nursing the newly Fallen to health. The ghost came with the Armory. Kane suspected that her tragic demise was connected to the ocean a hundred yards away. He didn’t mind sharing the space.

Kane went into the kitchen to find Maya
. Her red hair was swept back into a ponytail. She was close to forty earth years, but older than he in Fallen years. She was the one who had found him when he was close to death and nursed him back to health. She was at the table, poring over the business accounts on her laptop. Maya ran the day to day operations of the Armory for him. She kept track of all the Fallen that came through the Armory, too. Her jeans and the shirt she wore were high end. She made sure everyone who worked for him got paid, herself included.

She looked up and smiled, making her freckles dance across her nose.
“Hey, do you want the good news or the bad?”

“Only the good. You know how I roll.” Kane went to the soup cooking on the stove and lifted the lid. It was beef stew. His favorite.

“Well, the sale on your yacht went through.”

“Okay. The bad?” Kane asked.

“You’re being audited by the IRS.”

Kane looked up at the ceiling.
“What the fuck?”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought
, too. I guess the quick turnover of the yacht flagged your file.”

Kane shook his head. “Can you make them go away?”

“I’ll do my best. Interested in faking your death again?” she asked.

“Not really.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“How are they
?” Kane asked.

They
could only be the newly Fallen. Kane took a taste of Maya’s soup with a spoon on the counter.

Maya nodded. “They’re feeding well. Dryden is in there now explaining earth rules to them.
It takes time. Vice promised to take them out for a little while sometime this week.”

“I hope they’re listening. They look young.”

“They are. Not much younger than you were when I found you,” Maya said.

Kane came in close, giving Maya a kiss on the temple. “You’re the only family I have, Maya.”

She smiled. “Same here.”

Kane thought about
how difficult it was policing the Fallen. Something, anything, needed to give. There needed to be change, or there would be war again. Newly shunned vampires didn’t like playing by human rules, and it was getting more and more difficult to keep tabs on all of them. They didn’t see the consequences of impregnating humans. There was going to be a whole new generation of Fallen on the horizon that Kane would have to deal with.

“I’ll check in on them later.”

Kane headed toward the back staircase in the kitchen. His bedroom was on the third floor. Kane could feel the hunger coming on. The few sips of blood he’d taken from Amber during sex weren’t enough. He needed a longer session with her, but didn’t want to scare her. Over the last few years, Jade had been offering her blood wine. It was time for Kane to let Jade go. He couldn’t have Jade’s blood now that he was with Amber.

“
Kane?”

“Yes, Maya?”

“Would you like dinner brought up to you?”

“Please. Has Jade arrived yet?”

Maya’s eyes widened. Jade and Maya did not get along. “Not yet. I have not prepared your chambers for her arrival.”

Distracted, Kane mounted the staircase. “I will take care of things
for Jade.”