Lorne (The Dark League 1) (7 page)

I needed advice. I considered hard who I could most trust with my problem.

“The Gypsy!“ I said quietly. Of course! Why had I not thought of that before? I needed to go to the Gypsy.

***

The Gypsy was an old witch who lived in one of the worst areas of New York. But a vampire did not need to fear even such an awful area, so I walked relatively calmly down the dark alley. The scoundrels there seemed to instinctively sense that it was best to leave me alone, because none of them tried to approach me, despite the fact that I was completely alone. Suspicious looks followed me when I stopped at house number 156. Madame Lija lived on the third floor. I opened the front door and walked up the dirty steps of the run-down stairwell. The old floorboards creaked at every step. A musty smell hung in the air, seasoned with the sour hint of urine and the somewhat sweet smell of marijuana. Clearly someone had smoked a joint a short time before. I grimaced in disgust at this odour cocktail, but I had no other choice if I wanted to have my answer, so I continued. On the third floor I knocked on the middle of the two doors. It took a while before I heard shuffling footsteps. Then the door was opened. Madame Lija blinked at me through her thick lenses. A butt hung from the corner of her mouth. In her grey hair hung rollers that looked as if she had already had the things in for several days and forgotten – a few hung down as far as her boney shoulders, caught in straggly hair. She was wearing a garish, flowery dress that had clearly not seen the inside of a washing machine for some time and purple furry slippers whose once time white pompoms had turned grey.
 

“There you are!“ she muttered unclearly because she still had the butt in her mouth. “Come in, lad!“

I followed her into her flat, closing the entrance door. I had only been here once and that was at least ten years earlier. Yet everything looked exactly as it had done on my first visit. I sat down, somewhat reluctantly, on one of the two chairs that stood next to a small, round table at which Madame Lija read from her cards or the pendulum or questioned the runes. Everything in this flat was dirty but I needed my answer, so I made the best of a bad situation and waited patiently until the witch had sat down awkwardly on the other chair.
 

“So you haven’t had much sleep recently, have you, lad?“ asked the old woman, who had by now put her cigarette butt into an overflowing ashtray. Unfortunately the filter was glowing and was giving off an unpleasant, pungent stench of smoke.
 

I just nodded in answer to her question. I knew that she would work out my problem herself. It was not necessary for me to ask my question.
 

“So your fleeing from love?“ said Madame Lija, shaking her head disapprovingly. “So don’t you know that you can’t run away from it? Didn’t you realise that fleeing didn’t change your feelings when you went away to that would-be king? You did not need to come here to get your answer because you know it yourself! You just don’t want to see what is directly before your eyes, vampire! YOU have made her into what she now is and it is YOU who is now responsible for her! Stop digging your feet into the ground like a stubborn boy and make her your mate destiny intends!“

Anger and frustration made me leap up and grab the old witch by the neck.
 

“Stop your damned mouth, you miserable old witch!“ I bellowed angrily. “What do you know about mates?“

The small, intelligent eyes of the witch looked at me calmly as if I was not on the point of cutting off her air. Damn it! What was I doing? How could I have got so out of control? I let go of the old woman and took a few steps back, horrified.
 

With trembling fingers I dug two hundred dollars from my pocket and threw the money onto the table, then I turned abruptly and set off.

“You can’t run away from it!“ Madame Lija called behind me. “Love will catch up with you again and again!“

I tore open the door and marched out of the flat, staggering down the steps and almost knocking over an old man on the ground floor. I hurriedly murmured an apology and frantically fled from the house.

Trisha

Lorne came every day, made love to me and left me. I found myself in an emotional chaos and believed that I would soon lose my senses. I had to put an end to this! I simply should not give into him any more. Lorne had to stop treating me as his personal whore. As he clearly had no interest in having a mate, the matter had to end with us. Today! I knew that he would return at any moment but this time I would not give in! I just had to see to it that I put something on before he came. I had just showered and only wanted to do one thing: go to sleep and forget!

I could hear footsteps and my heart began to race. He was coming! And I was not ready. I had not expected him so early as I knew that he had been on a mission and first had to submit a report. Clearly the whole thing had not taken as long as I thought it would and now I was standing here, dressed only in a bath towel, and at any moment the door would open and Lorne would come in. I had given up locking the door after Lorne had kicked it down three times.
 

Then Lorne burst into my room and looked at me with that wild expression in his eyes that made my knees weak and my pulse race.

“What do you want?“ I asked, holding my towel protectively in front of my body. My heart was beating wildly. An unnecessary question because I did of course know why he was here. But I could not give into him any more. It hurt too much. If only my damn body would not always get so hot and tingly when he was near. Lorne had closed the door behind him and was coming towards me. I did not expect him to answer my question. We both knew all too well what he was doing here. He wanted me. He wanted to fuck me, but he did not want to make me his mate. This damn son of a bitch!

“Go!“ I said, resisting the urge to step back. “Or have you come to make me your mate?“ I hated myself for the beseeching tone of my voice. In my imagination, when I had planned this conversation, my voice had been strong and I had resisted him. How pitiful the whole thing looked for me in reality. I was anything but strong. His proximity always seemed to rob me of my strength, if not my reason.
 

He was now standing right in front of me. Our bodies were not touching but only a few millimetres separated us. I was staring into his face and his passionate gaze seemed to hypnotise me. My nipples were pushing against the rough material of the towel and a hot torrent of juices poured out of my pussy. That was how it was every time. One look from him and I was incapable of thinking clearly. My body reacted to him to an extent that was shocking and completely removed my control. I could feel my pussy swelling and opening like a flower in the sun. He groaned quietly and I knew that he could smell my arousal.
 

“Lorne, I want you to go!“ I tried to resist him in one last desperate attempt.

“No, Trisha, that’s not what you want, and we both know that.“

He grasped the hair at the back of my head and pulled my head back. His lips were slightly open, showing his fangs. He was looking at me out of half-closed eyes. I could feel the pulse in my neck throbbing, calling to him, and as always, he answered the call and sunk his head to dig his fangs into my neck. I groaned and the towel fell from my hands as my fingers relaxed and moved onto Lorne’s chest. My clitoris was pulsating longingly. It was too late to resist Lorne. I needed his cock inside me as urgently as I had previously needed air to breath. Lorne moved away from my neck and brushed his tongue over the small wounds that his teeth had left to close them. Then he moved his tongue up my neck and bit me playfully on my ear lobe.
 

“Lorne,“ I uttered, trembling.

He lifted me into his arms and carried me to the bed where he lay me down gently. I watched breathlessly as he quickly undressed. My eyes moved appreciatively over the muscles on his broad chest and down to his perfect six pack and further down to his large cock that I would hopefully feel inside me soon. My pussy responded to the promising sight with another torrent of juice. I opened my legs and enjoyed Lorne’s pleasurable gaze at my femininity. He licked his lips and groaned. He wanted to taste my juice and my pussy was completely in favour of this plan. Slowly Lorne crawled from the end of the bed to my wide open legs and I trembled with anticipation. He bared his teeth, showing his fangs. I had learnt by now that this was a sign of the highest arousal in a vampire. His hands were placed on my upper thighs, pushing them still further apart, then he lowered his head and I felt his tongue at last there where I was so longingly awaiting it. In one slow movement of his tongue he licked my juices directly from my opening up to my hyper-sensitive clit. Once there, he sucked my pearl into his mouth and I immediately came so hard that everything went black. He did not stop, but began to tickle my clit with the tip of his tongue until I came again and again. I had heard of multiple orgasms but never really believed such a thing could really exist. As the last shock wave of ecstasy slowly ebbed away Lorne moved over me and pushed inside me with a hard thrust as far as he could reach. I writhed towards him, wrapping my legs around his hips as he fucked me with deep, hard thrusts. He sank down onto me, burying his head next to mine. He did not need to ask – I turned towards him and buried my teeth into his flesh. To stay healthy I had to drink from various donors, but I only ever found satisfaction when I drank from Lorne. He was the cream cake as opposed to the countless dry oatcakes. His thrusts became wilder and I knew that he was about to come. I released him from my bite and he turned his head to dig his fangs into my neck. It was his sucking that catapulted me over the edge and I uttered loud cries of ecstasy. Only seconds later he came inside me, groaning.
 

Lorne

“You must clear matters up, Lorne,“ said Lothaire sharply. I turned round to him and snarled threateningly.

“Don’t meddle in my affairs!“ I bellowed at him.

“You know the rules, Lorne,“ said Lothaire, unbothered by my threat. “If you want to have her for yourself, then you must declare her as your mate. Otherwise she is fair game and any vampire can woo her. She’s a sexy thing. I could be tempted to claim her for myself.“

I bared my teeth and uttered an angry roar. I saw red and, without warning, I leapt at Lothaire. My claws tore his shirt and left bloody marks on his chest. Lothaire, likewise, bared his teeth and his eyes began to go red, just as I knew that my eyes, too, were blood red. Snarling, we circled one another and exchanged well-placed blows or kicks. Rivalry fights between vampires were usually messy and bloody affairs and this fight threatened to be damn bloody. It had been a long time since I had felt such raw anger. The fact that Lothaire was one of my closest friends did not matter at this moment. All I saw in my rage was a rival. He would bleed just for suggesting that he might touch Trisha.

Trisha

“What was that?“ I asked. “It sounds like Lorne.“

“That was Lorne,“ Charleene confirmed. “And Lothaire, from what I can hear. They seem to be fighting. Come on! We mustn’t miss this.“

My heart had started to beat faster. Why were they fighting? They were friends. Worried, I hurried behind Charleene. All sorts of horror scenes were flashing through my mind. I had already heard that vampire fights were extremely brutal and even though I was terribly angry with Lorne, I did not want him to be seriously injured. Lothaire was older and stronger than Lorne.

We reached the big hall where a dozen spectators had already gathered. All eyes were fixed on the two blood-covered fighters. I put my hands in front of my face to suppress a cry.

“Oh, no!“ I uttered, stifling my cry. “Why are they doing this?“

“They’re fighting over you, little one,“ explained Sean unemotionally – he had appeared next to us.
 

“But ... why would they do that? Lorne doesn’t want me. And I ...“

Sean laughed heartily and I glared at him.

“I don’t find any of this at all funny!“ I snapped angrily.

“I’m only laughing because you’re so terribly blind, Trisha. How can you think that Lorne doesn’t want you?“

I shook my head, confused.

“He’s said it clearly enough,“ I responded flatly.
 

“Yes, you just go on telling yourself of that,“ replied Sean sarcastically. “Lorne’s either a compete idiot or a miserable coward for not finally making his feelings public. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s head over heels in love with you.“

A cry went through the crowd and I turned my head in shock to see what had happened. Lothaire was lying on the steps to the west wing and did not seem to have a bone in his body that was not broken. His limbs were grotesquely twisted. I did know that such injuries were not fatal for a vampire and would heal quickly, but it was a horrible sight.
 

“Fuck! That hurts!“ groaned Lothaire, grinning miserably.

Three female vampires had already rushed to his side and were fighting over which would give him blood to start up his healing. Lothaire seemed to enjoy all of that, too. It would definitely take a hundred years or more for me to understand vampires, especially the guys. I shook my head and turned to the place where Lorne had just been standing. He was no longer there.

“Go! Tend to your hero!“ said Charleene next to me, giving me a push.

“Yes,“ Sean joined in, chuckling. “Go and help him lick his wounds.“

“Ass!“ I hissed at him, but I only got a broad grin. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and made my way through the crowd to hurry to Lorne’s quarters.
 

I stood before Lorne’s door and considered whether to knock or simply walk in. I decided at last to do the latter – opened the door, slipped into the room and closed the door behind me. Lorne was standing at the window. His shirt hung in tatters from his body and his trousers did not look much better, either. He did not turn round to face me although he knew that I was there. Gathering all my courage I walked up behind him and put my hand on his back. Slowly he turned round and
 
stared at me. His nose was broken, he had a serious cut over his right eye and everywhere swelling caused by Lothaire’s blows could be seen. I put my head to the side, pushed my hair away and offered Lorne my neck. A large hand was placed on my waist and pulled me to his body, then he sank his fangs into my neck and began to drink. As always my pussy tingled with pleasure and I could not suppress a groan. I was here because my blood would heal him, I convinced myself. As soon as he had drunk, I would go!