Darkness Burning (4 page)

“Sweet, Sarah.” He pulled out again and stroked back in, this time stronger, harder. “Let me know if I’m too rough.”

“Just move,” she begged, her body contracting inside again.

His hips drew back, pulling out slowly, his thickness and the softly ridged texture of his shaft dragging at her walls.

“You’re driving me crazy,” she said, wriggling, pulsing to bring him back. “Fuck me.”

“God,” he groaned, then slammed back inside.

Miki’s back arched, and a thin, plaintive cry crowded through her tight throat.

“Christ, can’t stop,” he said, the urgency in his voice driving hers higher.

Miki reached between her legs, her fingertips scraping through the crisp hairs at his groin, then opening to slide around the base of his cock. Thick, turgid—
fuck
, she couldn’t believe how good it felt. Her pussy swallowed it up, her channel rippling along its length.

She trailed her fingers up her belly to her breasts. Her nipples were dimpled, the tips spiked and hard. She twirled them and pinched them hard as he stroked back inside.

He gathered up her legs, his hips flexing harder, the strokes sharpening, spearing into her, grinding at the end of each deep thrust. A groan rumbled through him, and he pounded faster, his groin slapping against her moist center.

Miki welcomed his fierce pounding and the heat building inside her, friction crackling between his cock and her inner walls, until more moisture gushed, and he churned in it.

“Play with your clit,” he rasped.

Grunting harshly now from his strokes, she slid two fingers into the top of her stretched labia, found the round hard nub and rubbed it. Her breath caught, her belly jumped, trembling on the verge, then suddenly her back bowed and she was flying, her head exploding, a scream ripping through her.

“Fuck!” Alex shouted, and his strokes grew harsh and uncontrolled. He groaned, the sound deepening with his slowing thrusts.

Miki’s back relaxed, and she circled her clit gently, drawing out the last rolling convulsions of her orgasm. “Damn,” she breathed.

He scooted her back onto the counter and dropped her legs. When he stepped back, she felt a moment’s disappointment, but then his tongue began to bathe her as the last pulses faded, soothing her to stillness.

She cupped her breasts, feeling suddenly cold as humid air wafted over her sweaty skin, and she hiccupped softly as her breaths lengthened.

“Fucking amazing, sweetheart,” he whispered and kissed her inner thighs.

A laugh that felt suspiciously like a sob racked her. Her first time since she’d woken naked in a ditch without a single memory of her past—and she’d chosen to fuck a vampire in the dark.

What did that say about the person she must have been, that she’d give herself so easily, so recklessly? Was this part of her lost personality she was uncovering?

She must have been a slut. Still, she thought she might want to do it again. “Alex?”

His tongue licked her opening, then disappeared. “Yes, love?”

With tears filling her eyes, she stared into the darkness. “I want another go,” she confessed. “Is this part of what a vampire does? I mean, besides causing orgasms with your bite. Do you make us crave you?” God, she hoped that was the reason, rather than her being a nympho, that she felt this insatiable urge.

“We have a special pheromone that lures our prey and enhances pleasure,” he responded gently. “We have to feed on the living. It’s our special gift for the sacrifice you give us.”

“Didn’t feel like a sacrifice,” she said gruffly, feeling only slightly better about herself.

“It’s not supposed to. That’s the point. And some of us have stronger pheromones—and can issue an irresistible allure.”

“You must be off the scales.”

“I didn’t need them. You got the straight stuff.”

The straight stuff? She already felt as limp as a used dishrag. “It gets kinkier than this?”

He rose up, pulled her off the counter to stand in front of him, and hugged her close. “You really want to know what it’s all about, don’t you?”

“I have to know.”

“I can’t dissuade you?”

“Please,” she said simply.

A deep sigh whispered over her. “There’s a party tonight. If you’re hell-bent on satisfying that curiosity of yours, I can make sure you’re invited.”

“Will more vampires be there?”

“Half a legion. That enough?”

Sounded crowded. “Will you be there?”

“Of course, but I might be a little busy. I’m sure someone else would love to answer your questions.”

Feeling disappointed he wouldn’t be with her, she sighed and nuzzled his neck. “You’re telling me this isn’t special. Only par for the course.”

“You’re special, love,” he said, giving her a squeeze, his chin resting on top of her head. “It’s why I wish you’d change your mind.”

She hadn’t known he was so tall. She wished she’d quit finding things about him she liked.

“You’re sexy as hell, responsive to my every touch, and lovely, but I already have someone in my life.”

Her breath caught, and she stiffened in his arms. “And she doesn’t mind?”

“She’s vampire, too. She doesn’t mind, because she’s in love with someone else. Still, eating out is accepted in our world.”

She felt only mildly mollified that even a vampire’s love life could be screwed up. “
Eating out?
You make me sound like a McDonald’s drive-thru.”

“Much prettier than that, and you don’t smell like onions.”

That made her smile. She sniffed, feeling better by the moment with the silly turn of their conversation. “This party. Will I be safe?”

His chest expanded around another deep sigh. “It’s always good to be cautious. Not every vamp you’ll meet practices moderation. I’d hate to see you hurt. But yeah, you’ll be safe—everyone will be on strict orders to play nice tonight.”

“Then I’d like to come.”

“I can arrange it. You already met Malcolm. I’ll place you in his hands. Plan on being there all night.”

After reluctantly leading a sated and trembling “Sarah” through the darkened exit at the back of the bar and depositing her there, Alex found Malcolm and his crew. They’d been roaming the room, still patrolling, by the looks of it.

Malcolm didn’t lift an eyebrow when Alex asked him to bring Sarah to
Ardeal
. Alex gritted his teeth at Malcolm’s amusement when he mentioned Malcolm was already acquainted with the girl and how.

Then Alex escaped quickly, not wanting Sarah to get a good look at his face. He wasn’t sure that Simon’s magic would work on a human, and tonight he couldn’t afford for anyone to recognize him as a vampire.

Getting himself into
Ardeal
proved easier than he’d expected.

Alex found Erika trolling along Bourbon Street, a crowd of seven young men surrounding her, following in her trail as though she were the Pied Piper.

Where she’d found them didn’t matter. The darkness surrounding them didn’t put a damper on their high spirits. Alex slid into the back of the entourage unnoticed.

It was a mixed group. Some regulars from the blood bars, a few fresh faces, likely storm groupies looking for a wild ride. Erika’s crotch-high red dress promised a hell of a party. He swallowed the contents of Simon’s vial, schooled his expression into an appropriately jovial mask, and followed right along.

Stepping down from the back of the panel truck Erika had provided for transport, he noted the added security on the grounds of the estate and felt a moment’s trepidation. Most of them were Nicolas’s crew—recruits from his band of rogue vampires, there to provide extra security for the council’s
meeting and to keep an eye out for signs of the demon stalking ever closer to
Ardeal
.

Alex knew all too well that the demon was already inside the estate. He’d found its last victim, its last human host, draped over the iron fence on the night the zombies had attacked—a fact he needed to convey to Nicolas if he could get close enough to speak to him.

Without receiving a single double take, Alex passed several of the
Revenants
he recognized. Feeling more secure, he relaxed.

Simon had told him the spell he cast would only work on the most suggestible of the turned vampires, those more easily led. If Nicolas spied him, he wasn’t likely to let anyone know it. His knowledge of what Alex really was had been earned through a close association—sharing Chessa between them. Not something the ancient
Revenant
could comfortably admit to Inanna. Nicolas had invited Alex to make love to Chessa alongside him, allowing him the opportunity, even unknowing, to impregnate her.

No. Nicolas would keep that secret to himself or risk further retribution. A secret of that magnitude couldn’t be overlooked. Inanna would see it as one betrayal too many by Nicolas, for whom she still held affection.

As it was, Nic was sitting pretty—a full-fledged council member now, the only male
Revenant
among a coven of female Born vampires.

Alex entered the mansion, passed through the opulent black and white marble-tiled foyer and straight into Inanna’s own salon. It was his first time inside, but he recognized it from the memories he’d inherited from his mother, Natalie. This was
the room Inanna had used to introduce Natalie to the pleasures of feeding from a willing host.

He smiled as he thought of his mother’s shock when Inanna had bared her breast and cunt for one of her favorite
Revenants
, the swarthy Pasqual, to pleasure her while she’d fed.

Natalie had been unable to resist the blood offered by the other male host Inanna had provided her, and she had allowed herself to be drawn into some heavy petting, which had left her feeling guilty. His father had languished upstairs in a bedroom, manacled to a bed, while she’d drowned in the pleasure of her meal.

The same color-drenched furnishings decorated the golden room as the young men Erika had invited entered and were paired at the door with an eager female vampire. Some knew what would be expected, the price they’d pay. No one would complain once the true nature of the party was revealed.

Alex noted the servant circulating with drinks, and he guessed they’d be spiked with a mystical aphrodisiac to ensure the males’ compliance. Desire and hunger would rule tonight. The council would feed both lusts before they deliberated.

Determined to slip away into the shadows at the first opportunity to avoid the blood orgy, he stepped past the woman doling out the males.

When a hand slid around his arm and a soft body sidled close, he glanced to his right, startled to find his grandmother, Natalie’s mother, Erika, grinning up at him.

S
huddering inwardly, Alex accepted the drink Erika offered and allowed her to pull him deeper into the salon, his mind working fast. He had to slip away before she tried to make a meal of him.

One bite and she’d know he wasn’t human. She might be confused, tasting the rich Born blood circulating in his veins. But even as shallow as she was—as selfish as she’d proven to his mother—she wasn’t stupid.

So he smiled, taking a small sip of the laced drink. He nodded, murmuring, “Nice. What’s your name? I didn’t catch it when we talked in New Orleans,” he lied.

“I don’t remember you. How is that?” she asked, her gaze sliding over him hungrily.

So names weren’t important. Only the blood and sex she could seduce from him mattered.

Alex tightened as a wave of desire swept through his body. Erika’s allure was strong. No wonder she’d captured so many willing young hosts. With her shining blond hair, puppylike brown eyes, and luscious figure, she seemed a sexy, golden siren.

He wished he could shake her off his arm and put the width of the room between them. This close, the memories she’d bequeathed him strengthened, rushing through his mind. He nearly choked on the next swallow of the drink as the countless faces of the men she’d bedded and bled flashed by. Her life had been one endless search for pleasure.

Best not to linger in conversation or she’d be stuck like glue to his side for the remainder of the evening. “Which way to the bathroom?” he blurted out.

Her lips pouted, but she lifted her chin toward the French doors leading into the library. “Through there. Don’t be long.”

Alex stepped forward, darting a glance behind him, and sighed with relief when she approached another man. She had the attention span of a gnat—and just about as much loyalty.

He slipped through the doors and hurried to the bathroom. He poured his drink down the sink, flushed the toilet for good measure, and cracked open the door to make sure he hadn’t been followed.

With the library still empty and dark and the sound of soft, bluesy music drifting from the salon, he eased out another set of doors and headed up the long, curved staircase to the bedrooms on the second floor. Chessa’s door lay unguarded.

He’d known he was risking everything by coming here, but
once inside the house and so close, he had to see for himself that she was safe.

He checked the monitoring room first, knowing they often spied on the occupants of the very special room next door, but the monitors were turned off, thanks to Nicolas’s insistence, no doubt. No one would observe him making love to Chessa, or catch other intimate glimpses of his life with the woman he loved.

His father and mother had suffered that exact indignity for days before making their escape from the estate. Every word, every touch and endless stroke had been noted and reported to Inanna so she could be sure Rene served his purpose and impregnated Alex’s mother. How it must have grated when they’d escaped before his birth.

Alex slipped inside Chessa’s room and closed the door softly behind him.

Water sloshing in the bathroom alerted him to where she was. He hurried to the door, stepped inside, and closed it with a soft snick, enclosing them together for the first time in days.

Chessa glared from a gleaming clawfoot bathtub. “We’re not talking.”

A smile tugged at one side of his mouth. God, he’d missed her bitchiness. “Good to see you, too,” he said, taking a seat on the closed toilet.

Chessa brought up her knees and crossed her arms over her breasts, a blush staining her cheeks.

“Shy now? I’ve seen every inch of you,” he smiled amusedly.

“There are considerably more inches!” she bit out heatedly.

He dropped the smile and leaned forward. “Are you sorry you’re outgrowing your clothes?”

Chessa swallowed hard, then shook her head. “You know
I’m not.”

Chessa’s first child, the one she’d conceived during her first and only season, had been murdered as an infant. Her despair afterward had propelled her away from the coven and had made her accessible to him. That and her unusual heritage had made her the perfect candidate to carry his child. She’d guard this one like a lioness would a cub.

“Let me see, Chessa. Please.”

She rolled her eyes and pointed to the towel rack. “I was just about to get out anyway.”

Alex stood, grabbed the towel, and waited while Chessa let the water out and rose to stand in the center of the tub. He tried valiantly to ignore the fact that she stood naked, her slick skin gleaming. Her hair fell in black tendrils to frame her angular face and large, luminous eyes.

After giving her body one sweeping glance, he wrapped the towel around her shoulders and held out his hand, assisting her over the rim. Then he knelt and placed his hands over her swollen belly.

He’d had her only days ago, but already she looked like she’d carried the baby for five or six months, thanks to Simon’s magic—a potion he’d slipped Alex, which he’d drunk before he’d made love to Chessa.

Leaning closer, he ignored her indrawn breath and kissed her belly, giving her soft skin a final caress before standing again. He wrestled the towel from her stiff fingers to blot her dry with efficient strokes, covering her head first to dry her hair despite her sputtering protests, and then moving downward.

When he knelt to dry her legs, he slid the towel along the outside of her thighs, then slowly dragged it up between, halt
ing to gently finger her smooth labia. “I preferred your dark curls,” he murmured.

Chessa reached down and clamped her hand over his. “Nic prefers me nude. I can manage the rest on my own,” she said, her voice so tight that the words sounded garbled.

He suppressed a smile, withdrew his fingers slowly from between her legs, and released his grip on the towel. So she wasn’t unmoved either.

Satisfied, he leaned a shoulder against the wall while she wrapped the thick terry around her body and glowered.

“Are they treating you well?” he asked, his tone casual.

“My meals are served in bed,” she quipped.

“Bet Nic loves that.”

“Nic hovers.” A fierce scowl drew her dark brows together. “No one dares do more than offer me a goddamn wrist.”

“Must be nice for him, all that pent-up frustration and only him for you to let it all go with.”

Chessa’s eyes narrowed. “Nic’s…
fine
. He’s pretty busy, what with the
sabat
arriving. Which, by the way, you shouldn’t be anywhere near. What the hell were you thinking?”

Alex pondered quietly, running the question through his mind. “I was thinking that I had to see you.” That was only partially true. “You need to reconsider my offer.”

“I’m not leaping to the past to cool my heels for centuries while I wait for
my
life to happen again. I’m not Natalie and Rene. I’m not you. I wouldn’t do well in a drafty monastery.”

“You’d love it there. All those hard-ass men, clashing swords, and isolation would be right up your alley. You just don’t want to leave Nic.”

Her gaze gathered shadows. “There is that. I love him, Alex.

He loves me. Despite the complications
this
brings,” she said, staring at her expanding tummy.

“You know you aren’t safe here.”

“I won’t be safe anywhere.” Her mouth crimped in a tight smile. “Face it—I’m carrying the child of the only Born male in living history. Don’t you think there are covens and nations of Kin out there who would love to carve it out of me, or keep it if they thought the child could give them an advantage?”

He shot her an exasperated glare. “Exactly why you should just say yes.”

“No, no, no!” Her hands fisted, but her expression pleaded. “At least here I know who my enemies are.”

Alex looked away, knowing that arguing with Chessa was a waste of time. She wouldn’t budge as long as Nicolas needed her. “Do you think I’m your enemy?”

“Do you want this child to raise and nurture? To love?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Do you even know how?”

His glance swung back. “I will love it,” he said fiercely.

“But you want it for something more. Some grand scheme you and Simon have concocted.”

Bitterness burned at the back of his throat. “If there is a ‘grand scheme,’ I haven’t figured it out.”

“Simon didn’t tell you why you had to fuck me?” she taunted.

“Chessa…” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Simon doesn’t tell me many things. I knew I had to seduce you. I knew I’d impregnate you. That’s all I really knew.”

“You’re just a pawn. No better than me.” She pointed a finger and stabbed his chest. “Only you’re being led down the rosy garden path by mages. Fucking tricky-dick bastards.

Don’t you know there’s a reason we don’t trust them?”

He wrapped his hand around hers and held it above his heart. “I’ve lived all my life in their midst. All my life with Simon. I trust he means no harm, that he has a bigger picture of what’s coming when he manipulates us.”

She gave a contemptuous snort and wrestled her hand from inside his. “You’re a goddamn puppet. Prince of nothing.”

“I’m a warrior. They’ve groomed me to lead.” He caught her gaze and held it. “Not just this coven but the entire Vampire Nation.”

Chessa grew still, her expression guarded. “That’s why you’re here then? Not to see me. Is something supposed to happen tonight? I wondered why Nic’s been scarce.”

Alex cocked his head to the side. “He didn’t tell you? The
sabat
is meeting here now.”

Chessa’s indrawn breath answered his question.

“He’s probably trying not to worry you.” Alex drew a deep breath, fisting his hands. He wanted to shake her. “You shouldn’t be here. He knows that. I want you safe when shit hits the wall.”

Chessa’s eyes narrowed. “Does Simon know you’re talking to me?”

“No.”

“Has he pushed the issue of my being here?”

Alex didn’t answer. Simon hadn’t. For his own reasons, of course. “
I’m
pushing the issue.”

Chessa stepped closer, sliding her open palm along his cheek.

His heart stilled. He tilted his head, pressing into her touch, grateful for her tenderness, however fleeting.

“Seems like I’m supposed to be here, Alex,” she whispered.

“Will you at least promise me something?” he asked, just as softly.

Her nose wrinkled. “Depends.”

He pushed a dripping strand of hair behind her ear. “If things get sticky…dangerous…you’ll let me know?”

“This is your child, too. I won’t forget that. I can’t.”

Alex slipped a hand around the back of her neck and leaned into her. “I do love you, you know.”

Her smile was gamine, innocent. “As much as any warrior seeing to the dynasty he intends to rule?”

He snorted. “God, you’re a bitch.”

Her sliding, devious grin was pure, ball-busting Chessa. “Thought you liked that about me.”

He slammed his lips on her grinning mouth, forcing his tongue into her.

Chessa stiffened for a moment, then fell limply against his body, relenting beneath the assault of the allure he cast for her, her body pressing closer, her arms wrapping tightly around him.

Dipping inside her mouth, he tasted her, perhaps for the last time. He dragged his mouth away and pressed his forehead against hers again. “Promise you’ll let me know.”

“I won’t let anything happen to our child,” she said, her gaze unblinking beneath his. “I’ll get word to you if I need help.”

“Don’t step outside this door tonight. Let Nicolas feed you. Let no one else inside.”

Alex stepped back, letting her go. He raked her with one last possessive, all-encompassing glance, then turned on his heels, leaving her shaking in the middle of the bathroom floor.

Miki ran her finger around the top of her crystal glass, making
it sing, pretending an indolence she was far from feeling. Since Malcolm had left her in the salon with one last caution about not drinking too deeply, she’d spent the hour watching the party take a darker turn.

Her earlier encounter with Alex had already left her shaken. Raw, intense lust wasn’t something she’d experienced before, but that, added to the fact that she didn’t know a damn thing about him—not even what he looked like—had her reeling.

It was clear that the sort of reckless abandonment she’d experienced with Alex wasn’t out of the ordinary in this other world. That only increased her fear that she was in way over her head. Most of the invited guests were already operating under the influence of whatever spiked the drinks. The bloodletting had begun. So had the lusting.

Feeling a little like a nasty voyeur, she circulated, never pausing long for fear of being drawn into the sexual play.

Clothing was definitely optional.

The crowd inside the salon where the games began slowly thinned as twosomes, threesomes, and larger groups lazily drifted away. Those who stayed didn’t seem to mind baring their bodies and appetites to anyone who wanted to watch.

Miki was particularly fascinated with Erika’s grouping. The woman who’d tried to draw her into the library alone had lost her dress, and now wore only glittering jewels in her ears and around her neck. She’d also bared her fangs.

The man lying nude beside her writhed as she raked one sharp tooth down his cock, then opened her mouth and deep-throated him, bending over his lap while another man knelt behind her, fingering her pussy.

Miki took another quick sip of her drink before remembering Malcolm’s admonition. Her body was tight, her skin hot.
Still, she didn’t think she was up for the more serious depravity. She wished Malcolm would return, but he’d held the hand of a beautiful, wispy blond when he’d left. They’d looked happy as they’d slipped away. His girlfriend, no doubt. And another vampire.

She’d seen enough, and she didn’t think she’d get answers to any questions tonight. Too much mischief stirred the air.

She left the salon and wandered into the richly appointed foyer, just as the teakwood double doors opened and a beautiful russet-haired woman wearing a crystal-studded midnight gown swept inside, escorted by two men in black formal dress. Her gaze swept over Miki, dismissing her. Then she strode directly across the foyer and through a door between the two sides of the curved staircase.