Dominion 4 - Ascendance (11 page)

After torturing both of his wonderfully tasty but sensitive balls, I dipped below to his taint, lapping at it and digging my face into the soft flesh. This time he did come off the bed, fighting not to rip himself away from me, throw me down, and slide into me, his thoughts inside mine almost as seamless as our bodies could be. Gabe cried, “Christ, Seiran.”

His cock was so hard it appeared darker than usual. I reached up to give him a rough squeeze. “No coming yet. I want to be in you first.”

He flopped back on the bed, struggling to breathe and keep himself from letting go. I gave him a moment’s reprieve to calm his body before following that lovely darkened flesh down to his tight, puckered hole. The sweet little hole clenched and unclenched in anticipation. I tickled him with my tongue, using my hands to hold his cheeks open. Not all vampires were as clean as Gabe. I liked to think he just came that way, but he’d probably learned the habit from me over the years. He tasted salty-sweet.

The grunts, sighs, and moans coming from him had me leaking too. A little trail already spilled against his belly from his weeping cock, warning of things to come. My own undies were wet and beyond uncomfortable. I wiggled out of them, not pausing in my assault on Gabe’s hole. Once I was free of them, I repositioned myself for a better angle, wetted a finger, and gently pressed it inside.

Again Gabe came off the bed, back arching, hips thrusting down onto my finger and lips. “Please, Sei. Oh God!”

I smacked his ass lightly again. “Not yet.” Pressing another spit-slicked finger in, I purposely avoided his prostate, enjoying watching his hips move as he tried to force me to touch it. If he didn’t stop looking so incredibly fuckable, I was going to come without even touching myself.

A small bottle of lube appeared next to me. Gabe’s eyes were wide, almost glowing green. The earth flowed through him just like those giant flowers in my sleepy wonderland. Power lit his skin in a way I’d never seen before. I wondered if I glowed too.

He had one hand on the headboard, the other two inches from the bottle. “Fuck me, Sei. Please.”

I spread some of the lube on my cock, slowly stroking myself while he watched every move. His eyes followed my hand while I rubbed the slick down the length of me. I was nowhere near as big as him. He had width as well as length. My cock was thinner and good sized, but nothing to write home about. But since he rarely bottomed, I’d have to move slowly.

He kept muttering, “Please, please, please,” which was so incredibly hot. The link between us spoke of nothing but desire and lust; where one left off and the other began, I didn’t know. Our thoughts and emotions were one. It was time to complete the connection. I positioned the head of my cock against him, keeping the pressure constant until his ring loosened to let me inside. I didn’t top much, so I waited to let his body adjust before slowly moving forward.

The process probably only took a few minutes, but felt like years of torture. I just wanted to slam into him and adjust his hips so I bumped his nub each time and keep pounding him until stars filled my sight. Instead I breathed and waited, letting him feel my love through our bond, as well as how tight he was around me. When he put his other hand to the headboard, I knew he was ready and pulled back, leaving just the tip inside before ramming back to meet flesh to flesh.

The sounds of our cries, the flesh slapping, and the bed quaking had me fighting to keep from tumbling over the edge. Gabe lost all coherent thoughts to the pleasure and just let his body feel. My skin radiated light against his pale brightness. Only my light was pale green. His eyes were shining, boring into me with nothing but need. This is why groupies flocked to vampires to feed them, though very few ever experienced this total assault on the senses. Vampires were predators with seduction as a primal instinct. Humans were easily attracted to beautiful things, therefore prey.

Gabe, to me, appeared filled with earth, power, and peace, because those were the things I craved most. What he became to others, I had no idea, and didn’t really care. Maybe I glowed because that’s how he saw me, but I felt like the sun filled my skin.

We moved in a rhythm that almost seemed to force us off the planet and into the cosmos.

His power combined with my magic soared us through heights neither of us had ever experienced. By the time the end neared, all I could see were those beautiful eyes of his. The earth pulsed through both of us, each small movement another powerful thrust. I clung to him, felt his body jerk as he came, slammed home twice more before letting my own release go deep inside him.

The house seemed to shudder with the strength of the power. My body shook with uncontrollable pleasure, and my scalp burned for a few seconds. I collapsed on top of him, still inside, though I could feel the moisture of my come around me. If I’d had any energy left, I would have dipped my head to his stomach and licked his mess from him.

He sucked down air in thick gulps, skin and eyes still filled with power. Finally he said, “I think you killed me.” His hands were wound in my hair.

I laughed, knowing what he meant. Our link told me Gabe felt boneless, weak, and yet had power racing through every nerve. Sometimes being an earth witch in love with a vampire really had some perks.

“No kidding,” he mumbled in response to my thoughts. He tugged me up before putting his arms around me and hugging me tightly. His fingers brushed my hair out of his face. “We so need to do that more often.” Whether he was referring to the magic, my topping him, or the complete release of control, I wasn’t sure. Not that it mattered; I was willing to do it all again, and soon. “Although if your hair grows like that every time we have sex, you might be Rapunzel before the end of the week.”

I yanked a hank of dark hair around to see it. Sure enough, my hair was long again, like it had never been cut. Gabe kissed me, hands combing through my hair in reverie. I couldn’t help but stare at it and compare it to the dream I’d had. “Does it look green to you?” I asked.

Chapter 13

T
HE
embarrassed flush of Sam’s face told me he must have heard or even felt the time I spent with Gabe. The fact that I could make Gabe go that wild made me proud and possessive rather than ashamed. Sam couldn’t meet my eyes and didn’t try looking at Gabe. He disappeared into the other part of the house as soon as the sun set, which was just past five. I showered downstairs, dressed, and stared out the window of my father’s old bedroom at the place where I knew the ring hid.

Gabe’s gentle hand on my shoulder nearly made me jump out of my skin. “Sorry,” he whispered. He peered out into the darkness too. “You should probably stay away from that ring. I can go look at it, see if there is a physical way to destroy it.”

“You are not going there alone. That place is awful.” I met his gaze and held it.

He frowned. “Okay, we’ll go together, have a quick look, then come back behind the wards.” He laced his fingers through mine, and we headed toward the backyard. Sam sat in the kitchen glaring at another bottle of Quicklife. I didn’t know what he had against the synthetic blood but was pretty sure it wouldn’t taste better with age. “We’ll be back in a few, Sam.”

I didn’t want to go at all, but I let Gabe lead me through the backyard, around the caretaker’s house, and into the woods beyond. The lights from the cottage faded quickly into the darkness along with the sounds of Timothy moving around. I tried to let the soft tinkle of the stream push out all sense of fear in my head. Gabe’s presence in my mind and at my side was the only thing that kept me from running when the eerie arrangement of stones came into sight. The buzzing and crawling of my skin brought a catch to my breath, and we still stood ten feet outside the circle. Gabe didn’t attempt to move closer either. His side of our bond closed. One second he was there, and the next I was alone in my head. That hurt.

“Gabe?” I asked. His eyes were shut, and he was still as death. Then he took a sudden step back. I gulped, heart thudding in my throat. Did it feel as terrible to him? Another step back, this time dragging me with him. He pulled me into the yard, under the thick growth of trees, and swept me into his arms. He didn’t seem to breathe or move for several minutes, and I couldn’t see his face. Everything I sensed about him spoke of danger, little flares of warning at the edge of my brain, like a new vampire would give me warning. Only the oldest of vampires could hide that odd Spidey sense. Gabe could rip out my throat or tear off my head, but I wouldn’t let him go, even when he finally pulled away, revealing eyes that were black instead of green with no whites around the edges.

He pushed me away. “Go inside, Seiran.” His voice ground like wheels on gravel. “Sam.”

Sam appeared beside him. He couldn’t pop in and out of locations like Max could, but he could move fast enough to make it seem like he could. They both turned away from me and headed around the front of the house to the car. They’d hunt. I prayed for the earth to watch over them so neither of them would get hurt or harm anyone else.

“Everything okay?” Caleb’s voice startled me out of my daze. Why was I so jumpy?

 

“I thought you’d be finished up for the day.”

“Just packing up. I’ve pretty much finished, unless you’ve changed your mind about me trimming the trees. The lilacs could use some control.” He pointed to the other side of the lawn and the wall of tall bushes. I bet it smelled nice when it bloomed.

“I could probably use some help replanting the gardens, if you’re willing.”

 

“Sure. I’ll bring some catalogs of plants tomorrow for you to pick from, since we don’t get a lot of rain here.”

“Thanks.” I waved good-bye to him and headed inside, pausing again because the lights were on in rooms I hadn’t been in. Was the place haunted? I didn’t believe in ghosts any more than I believed in fairies. Maybe I’d have to rethink that, having found a fairy ring. Sigh.

Making my way to my room, I shut down the unnecessary lights again and headed up to the hidden space. Perhaps my father’s journals would shed some light on the history of the house and how to destroy evil fairy rings.

Several hours of reading didn’t reveal much more than the fact that my father was as in tune to the earth as I was. He met Jamie’s mother in college, and they had a brief affair. When their trysts produced Jamie, my father fought for partial custody. He lost but was allowed visitation rights. I scanned through a lot of those journals, putting them aside for Jamie, who would love to read about how much Dad had missed him in between visits.

The bits of magic scattered throughout the journals all related to the earth, but none of them were finished spells. Many of the spells related to the house, which he’d inherited from his father. I began reading the account of Dorien Merth watching his father burn to death, but had to stop. The entire thing brought back memories of those pictures Sam had sent me of my father’s death. There was nothing beautiful or peaceful about dying by flame. It haunted the living and made an awful death. My heart broke just thinking about it.

I searched through the journals until I found a mention of my mother. Dorien thought she was an exotic beauty, and at the time “she was disenchanted with her family.” She’d run away from home to escape an arranged marriage. My father wrote that Tanaka “appeared haunted by a horrible childhood, like most Dominion girls.” Having never met my grandparents, I suppose it was likely they had treated my mom bad too, since she was an only child. The pressure to carry on the Rou line must have been terrible.

The lamp flickered on the other side of the room, like the bulb was dying. I set the book aside. There were bulbs under the kitchen sink. The light in the bedroom downstairs was on again. I sighed, left it on. Every light was on as I passed. The hall, each room and bathroom, the living room, the main entry, everything. It took almost twenty minutes to shut them all off and get back to the hidden bedroom with a light bulb. The lamp had completely gone out.

I fumbled through the dark, flicked the light off, unscrewed the bulb, put in the new one, and turned it on. The soft glow of the energy fluorescent made me sleepy. Maybe I could nap a bit.

After wrapping myself in the warmth of the blankets, I closed my eyes and reached out for Gabe. His walls stood solid against my probing. Something had scared him about that ring.

The house hummed softly of life and peace, putting me to sleep before the ideas began to form in my mind. I dreamt again of my father. He walked through the house with me, explained some spells I’d never heard of before. The one that made the house and tree was so complicated my dream brain turned it into a mush of sounds. My red-haired friend seemed to have vanished, and I missed him more than I cared to admit.

My dad smiled indulgently at me. I felt younger in these dreams, a small child following his footsteps. He’d touch my head, running his hands over my hair, eyes shining bright with pride. Would he have ever looked at me that way?

The sound of growling edged into the dream. My father didn’t seem to hear it, but I stopped following him, searching for the source of the sound. Nothing looked out of place, but my father had gotten so far ahead I couldn’t see him anymore. I turned again, only to see a dark shape lunge toward me.

I woke up screaming, heart pounding, to a darkened room. Hadn’t I left the light on? Then the growling began again, only this time in reality. The low rumble sounded like a large cat or ridiculously huge dog, and it was inches from the bed. My sleep-fuzzy brain took a few seconds to catch up, but when I stretched my magic through the house, there was nothing. No animals, no people. What the hell?

Ghosts didn’t exist. This I knew because the earth recognized no such thing. After death, the human body decomposed and returned to the earth. The power that made up our spirit fled back to the element from which it came, creating a balance. Objects could hold memories, but not people. And whatever was growling was not human, dead or alive.

Silently I cast a spell and closed my eyes for a second as the light brightened the room. No animal, ghost or otherwise. I blinked again, seeing something from the corner of my eye. A bug? Then it flew at me, like a dive-bombing bee determined to sting. I rolled back, landing on my back on the bed, sprawled out, blinking at the tiny colorful bug that hovered above me.