Days of Redemption (The Firsts Book 6) (24 page)

“This is my home, Lauren,” he said, and stood back for her to enter first.

The room was lit with candles, which she took as a kindness, because she knew her eyes would be sensitive to light for a little while.  The time she’d been here before she hadn’t really paid any attention to the room, she knew she wouldn’t be staying. 

A large screen television perched on a stand in front of a huge bed that was properly made with a black bedspread.  The walls were lined with bookshelves and a lot of weapons, knives, pistols, swords, many of which she could tell were ancient.
   A sectional couch, all leather, and also black, filled the center of the room and faced the television screen.

“It’s nice.  Cozy,” she said eventually.

“Thanks.  The bathroom’s there, in the back.  Would ya like help?”

Lauren turned to him.

“No.  I can do it.  Um.  Do you have any clothes for me?”

“I’ve laid out some that Cherise bought for
ya.  They’re in the bathroom already.”

“Thank you.”

Lauren lingered.  She soaped every inch of her body and hair, and then did it all over again.  Twice.  Hot water felt amazing on her skin, sensuous, as she explored her new curves and the area between her legs that nearly orgasmed when she let her fingers slide down there to wash. 
So it was true, then, that vampires were built for
sex
. 

She’d enjoyed every second of her time with Bryn, but now, she knew if she didn’t take him after this shower, she wouldn’t be able to stand it.  After she toweled off, she looked at the cashmere open-necked sweater and pants on a padded hanger.  She fingered the soft material that was much nicer than anything she’d ever owned. 
And walked away.

Naked, barefoot and scrubbed, her long hair tied up, Lauren walked out of the bathroom towards Bryn, who was seated
on the couch. 

He looked up at her and immediately felt his pants tighten. 
God she was spectacular! 
His eyes darted to the bed and then back to her face.

“You look nervous,”
the naked goddess said.

Bryn stood.  He still towered over her, but not by much.

“I’m not nervous, but I don’t want ya to think that I require anything from ya tonight.  Are ya tired?  Do ya want to go to bed?”

“Oh, yes, I do,” Lauren said softly.

She walked over to the bed, leaving Bryn standing there by the couch, unsure of what to do.

Lauren crawled onto the bed and
scooted up to lay against the stacked pillows.  She kept her knees up, but spread her legs, her right hand slipped down and tickled herself around the slit between her legs.

“Okay, you’ve fed me, you’ve made me vampire, so you’d better get over here right now and show me how a vampire makes love.”

Bryn moved so quickly, she didn’t see him.  He was on the bed, still clothed, and kneeling between her legs.

“I wouldn’t have completed
yer training if I’d left this part out.  Prepare to be wowed.”

“I do.  For tonight anyway, Bryn, make love to me.  I’m fragile, I know that. I don’t know what my future holds right now, or where I’ll be in a year, but I want to make love with you right now more than anything.”

Bryn stopped and got off the bed, then pulled her off with him.

“I don’t understand…” she began to say.

He took her to the couch, sat her down, and knelt at her feet.

“Lauren, I have to tell
ya something.  This room, this home, this vampire, are yours for as long as ya will have us.  I changed ya because I realized I couldn’t live without ya.  What I want ya to know, is that when I make love to ya, I will be making
love
to ya.  Because I’m in love with ya and I think I have been from that first night ya chewed my ass out for bein’ a drunk.”

Lauren could barely breathe.

“Tell me, lass.  Do ya think ya could fall in love with a used-up old vampire?”

“I could try.” Lauren slid forward and put her arms around his neck.  “Or I could tell you the truth, and that I think I did the same that night.  All I would admit was that I wanted you, more desperately than I’d ever wanted
anything else in my life.  I didn’t care if you left me broken-hearted afterwards, I just needed you.  You fill me up, vampire.  These feelings are new for me, and I didn’t know what to do with them.  I’m still shocked to hear you say you love me.”

“It’
s because ya make me crazy, ya make me laugh, and ya make me want ya every time I see ya or think of ya.  I don’t want to wake up without ya ever again.  Cherise reminded me what love is, and when she did, I realized I felt exactly that way about ya.  Lauren, ya want to give this a try?”

“I want to make love to you right now, and yes, I want to give this a try. I would love to wake up next to you, Bryn, and I kind of think…”  Lauren lowered her head.  “I kind of think I always will.”

Bryn lifted Lauren into his arms and carried his woman back to his bed.
His woman
. 

“Ye’re my woman.  I love saying that.”

“I love hearing it.”

“Now where were we?”  Bryn laid her on his bed and got back on beside her.   “Wasn’t I just
gettin’ ready to kiss ya?  All over?”

“No.  Right now, I want to feel you inside of me.  I want to feel
you
inside
me
.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Bryn’s clothes were gone instantly and he came back to her.   “Making love as vampire is beyond any experience ye’ve ever known, little scientist.”

“Show, don’t tell,” she whispered.

Bryn showed Lauren how vampires make love for the next two hours.  Every way he could, slow and quick, hard and gentle.  His tongue explored every inch of her new body and he made it clear with each path he traveled that he loved what he saw.

But feeling him inside of her
new body, he was right.  It wasn’t physical, it wasn’t emotional, it wasn’t spiritual. It was all of those things and beyond, a connection, a tie to him that felt as deep as the earth and as wide as the sky.

“I feel as if I was always meant to be here with you, you crazy vampire,” she whispered after they finished the last orgasm, and lay wrapped in each other’s arms.

He rolled even closer and kissed her forehead.

“It took us a while to realize what was
happenin,’ though, didn’t it?”

“Love isn’t always
instant and brilliant.  In fact, I’m sure it rarely is.  It takes time to see that someone fits, to build a relationship and find common ground.  In our human lives, it usually takes many months, if not years, to fall in love.”

“So ye don’t think
it’s destiny or fate?”

“Maybe.
  Sometimes, maybe, but usually it’s a slow build from attraction to friendship to love.”

“But I was drawn back to
ya that night in Chicago and I couldn’t stop meself.”

“I think you just wanted a good fuck with someone who knew what you were.”

“Nay.  I think I wanted that spitfire who could go the distance with an irascible old man.  Ye’re gonna keep me honest, woman.”

“We’ll have an interesting ride anyway.”

“Speakin’ of ridin’…”

“Already?
  Okay, yeah, I admit it, I
like
this vampire stuff!”

Koen was pacing.  He often did when he was trying to figure something out…or he was troubled…or upset.  Right now, he was all three of those things.

The combination of their first blood skills and intense surveillance and electronic searches had not uncovered Lamont or any of his associates.

They knew that the SRS was still out there.  More than ever, Koen knew that Lamont would not give up now.  Not since he was superhuman with Koen’s own vampire blood and that of his family and friends.  He
had
to be found and neutralized.

He was waiting for a few more to arrive before he began this updated dinner meeting to plan their next move.

David and Cherise, Katerine and Gunnar, and Bryn, with his new vampire mate, Lauren, were due to land any minute now.

Everyone else was already enjoying his staff’s excellent first meal.  But he couldn’t relax.

His eyes kept going to Tamesine.  She was always quiet, and strange, but tonight, he felt something else when he looked at her.  An unrest or nervousness that he didn’t usually see in her.  She’d been fidgeting with everything around her.  Vampires didn’t fidget.  And she’d knocked over her glass, twice.  Vampires usually weren’t clumsy.  Tamesine definitely wasn’t.

This worried him because she was so powerful, and if she was losing her grip, if her hard-won sanity was sliding, he wouldn’t have her around his family.

It had been difficult for him to allow her into his home to begin with, but he’d approved it only because of his trust in his daughter and Eillia, who he’d known longer than anyone other than his brother Xavier.  And Tamesine had continued to get better.

The events
in Tamesine’s life that had driven such a powerful first blood into insanity were horrible, but it seemed she really was getting past it and may be able to move on with her life.

If things were changing, he would
have to take action.  It really wasn’t that long ago that he had thought she would need to be killed to protect everyone.  Her sister had. 
You can’t save everyone
, he thought. 

He would keep a very close eye on Tamesine.

She noticed him watching her.  And she saw his concern.  She
felt
it.

He was right. 

Tamesine had been having dreams the past two weeks, vivid and tragic.  They were so disturbing, she hadn’t rested well any night since they began.

The dreams were fucking with her mind.   At any point now, she wasn’t sure if she was going crazy again. 

Her eyes shot to Eillia, holding the precious Caedmon in her arms. Caedmon kept looking at her with piercing eyes in a cherubic face that she knew could see into her soul. 

He knew.  Not even a year old yet, the first blood child was connected to Tamesine, and he knew she was losing it.

Eillia and Park had helped her before, but she was certain they couldn’t now.  She wouldn’t put them through it again.

Tamesine had already decided tonight before she came down.  She had packed a small bag and left a note on her bed.  After this meeting, she was leaving before she hurt anyone.  There was nothing more important in this world than protecting these people she loved.  They’d taken her in like family after all of the horrible things she’d done for centuries.  She’d learned, from them, that sacrifice is often necessary when you love someone enough.

Tonight, she would slip away quietly, and hope that somehow, someday, she might really be well enough to come back to them.

Caedmon would be heartbroken.  So would she, but he was strong. 
My beautiful boy, oh, my beautiful boy.  I do this for you.

Her future looked bleak, and she’d thought about taking the sun, but Caedmon would know, and she wouldn’t put the child through that.  Not yet.  She would give herself a chance to find peace. 
Serenity. 
Hope.

First blood vampires were the most powerful creatures on this world. 
Couldn’t a first blood who held incredible magics find hope again?

Once again, thank you for coming along on another journey in the lives of the first bloods.  This world just gets richer and richer with each tale, and even I never know what will happen next.

Stay with me for the next story, and we will discover it together.

If you would like to see
my
story, I tell it in my own words in the novel
Last Best Hope
, by T.C.Butts.

And if you would like to actually
hear
the story,
Last Best
Hope
will be available in audio by the end of February 2014, and I have to say, the book is even more amazing to listen to. The first 3 in the “Firsts” series are now available in audio, too, and Kindle readers, the audios are only 1.99 when you have already purchased the eBook with Whispersync.  It is also available at that same price for iPad, iPhone, and other devices with a Whispersync app.

                                   
Thanks, Charlie Quinn