Midnight's Jewel (Siren Publishing Classic) (19 page)

She could feel his cock throbbing, begging for release, inside her soft pink walls. His face held both determination and intense need. The throbbing thrusts lost their rhythm as he lost control. He pressed in as deep as he could and cried out. Spasm after spasm of cool, sticky cum filled her pussy. It pushed her back over the edge and she came around his thick shaft.

He collapsed beside her, pulling her in to cradle under one arm. He stroked her thick blue-black curls from her face and kissed her forehead. She relaxed, enjoying the feel of his bare skin against hers. She twined a leg in between his.

“I love you,” Sabrina said softly. She closed her eyes, wishing she could hear his heartbeat.

“I love you, too,” Brandon replied.

After a moment’s pause, he added, “There is something you should know.”

“Yes?” Her curiosity was piqued. She shifted so that she could make eye contact. There was tightness around his eyes indicating anxiety or worried stress. “You can tell me anything, you know.”

“They’re never going to stop looking for a way to get to you. You know that, right?”

Sabrina knew he meant the remaining two Ancients. She nodded.

“Before she left, your mother made me promise to do anything in my power to prevent that from happening,” he confessed. He hesitated but appeared to need to say more.

“There’s more?” Sabrina wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the rest and learn his secret or live in blissful ignorance. Either way, she had not been consulted. Again, someone else had decided what was best for her. A thread of annoyance worked its way into the warm molten pool in her chest. Her heart gave a flutter. He gave her a curious glance. He had heard the different beat but did not bring it up.

“She suggested I fake your death and we go into hiding. That was their plan, she and Hadrian. He wanted to turn her, but she couldn’t die. It wouldn’t work,” he explained.

Sabrina gave him a baleful glare. She had spent nearly the last century in hiding. That had not worked out so well, in the end. She had still been found. Many people had been used to track her, and they did not have the sort of connection to her Diana did. It would be a relentless life of running. She wasn’t going to agree to live that way again. She played his words over in her head. Then it struck her, a more permanent solution.

“No. I have a better idea. You love me, right?” She sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. He regarded her with suspicion.

“Yes. I love you,” he replied.

“Do you love me enough to live with me forever?” Deep down, she knew the answer to the question, but part of her still wanted to hear him say it.

“Yes. I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone else. Forever would be a good place to start.” The suspicion evaporated, leaving behind a peaceful look.

“Turn me.”

“Wh–what?” Whatever he had expected to hear, this was not it.

“You heard me. Turn me. My mother is a goddess. I’m not. Eleanor is proof that a demigoddess can die. Make me a vampire. Make me a vampire and let me stay with you for eternity,” she begged. She bit her bottom lip and held her breath.

He froze with stress. There was no breathing, not that he needed the air. There was no blinking. His face was expressionless. Sabrina could not make out what emotion he was feeling. Had she asked for something unspeakable? Was he going to reject her request? Had she asked for too much too soon, prompting him to contemplate bolting? Her imagination ran away with her, doing its best to rationalize his lack of response.

“Please, Brandon, please answer me,” she requested timidly. She crawled up to meet his eyes, those bottomless dark-brown pools. She ran her fingers through his dark hair and touched her nose to his. He still did not move. Tension held his body rigid. “Please speak to me. You’re scaring me!”

The stress trance broke. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled her onto her back. “I’m not saying no, but I’m going to say this for both of our goods. Your father will kill me. Like really kill me. I would have a better chance telling him I knocked you up than telling him I turned you. Please, consider what will happen to you, what you ask,” he pleaded.

“My magic will die with me. I won’t be of any use to either Diana or Apollo. I’ll be immortal, like you. I’m already half-vampire. I’ll just be embracing my other half. Besides, I’m tired of having someone else live my life for me. For the better part of the last century, I’ve lived in hiding. I was the outcast no one wanted, the source of malicious gossip about my heritage. I am never living that way again. Do you understand me? Never. Again.” She was determined he was going to see this thing her way.

“Do you know what Hadrian is doing right this minute? Picking out what part of the next floor down he is going to renovate for his own use. As Emperor, he could have asked for my penthouse and made me move, but he didn’t. In fact he said I had better make you very, very happy. I don’t even want to know what the ‘or else’ part of that sentence would look like,” Brandon told her. A passionate plea for her to reconsider was lodged in his tone.

“Make me happy, huh? Well, not looking over my shoulder all the time would make me happy. Not being called to the Castle of Night or Helios against my will would make me happy. Being with you would make me happy. Not being the odd little freak everywhere I go would make me happy. Not getting those things will make me exceptionally unhappy. You leave my father to me. I’m not a child. I can make my own decisions,” Sabrina explained.

“Fine, but you better not get me killed. Forever is a long time to be alone,” he warned. He swept the curly hair from her neck. He nuzzled the soft tissue with his nose, kissing her pulsing artery.

She gasped with anticipation and excitement. He twisted a nipple between his thumb and forefinger. A wave of pleasure rode its way down to her groin. Her insides tightened, and her pussy became wet. She could feel her clit swell. Without another thought, she spread her legs enough to allow him to drop between them. His erect cock brushed against her slit as he moved.

He reached down to position the tip against her opening. He whispered in her ear, “If you want to change your mind, it’s now or never. Is this really what you want?”

“Yes. Oh, yes,” she said in a breathy whisper.

He slid his cock in as far she could take him. Her pussy gripped the length of his shaft, and he groaned against her neck. He ran his hands up her body and into her hair. She was so wet, so ready. Pressing her hips up, she enjoyed the fullness of his body in hers. Ensuring maximum contact of her breast against his chest, she lifted her chest. If she could have merged into him, she would have.

He started working his cock in and out of her. The sticky juices trickled down her thighs. She could feel them coating his balls as they pressed against the outside of her body. Sliding her arms under his, she held herself to him as tightly as she could. His hips bucked and pushed her legs farther apart as he thrust, ensuring there was contact with her clit.

The molten pool in her chest rose, erupting over her entire body. The fire in her blood made its way to her pussy, sending the quivers into full spasms. As she came, she lost all sense of time and space. Nothing and no one mattered in that moment but him.

“Brandon! I love you, Brandon!” she cried out in her pleasure.

His own spasms began. He could no longer hold back. She felt him fill her with more cool cream. There was a pinch at her neck. His lips pressed hard against her over the stinging pinch. She could feel the world slipping away but did not care. He was with her, in her. They were together, no matter the journey.

Darkness overtook her in a dizzying spin. For a moment, she thought she was traveling. Just out of hearing were voices she knew. Clay and Eleanor were whispering in the darkness. Elderly witches from her past. Humans she had known from long ago. The smell of sweet fresh-mown grass and summer flowers filled her nose. In the distance, she could see a bright light breaking up the darkness.

She could hear her heartbeats slowing. Lub-dub. Lub. Pause. Dub. Pause. Lub. Nothing. If she wanted, she knew she could follow that light and find peace. Peace and tranquility. All cares would be gone.

Behind her, someone was calling her name. The calling was getting louder, harder to ignore. A strange metallic taste hit her tongue hard. It was like having a penny in her mouth, but it was not unpleasant. In fact, it was good. It was blood.

The blood and the voice called her away from the warm, peaceful light. Her name became distinct. It was Brandon. Her heart swelled. She had to find his voice in the darkness. The instant she knew she wanted to find him, the light faded away. There was nowhere to go but to the voice.

“Sabrina! Can you hear me? Honey, can you hear me? Come back to me,” Brandon called to her. She wanted to go.

When she wandered to where the voice was the loudest, she called out, “I’m here!” Nothing happened. No air. No sound. Nothing was there but the void.

“I love you, Sabrina Rivers! Don’t you leave me!”

“I love you, too!” Nothing. She called out and took a deep breath to call out again. This time the air actually came in a cold gulp.

“I love you!” she said. Her vocal cords vibrated. She could feel herself alive but changed. The heat was gone. Brandon felt warm against her body.

Bloody tears ran down her face. She could feel her fangs push down, biting into her own lip. She opened her eyes to see Brandon’s face above hers.

“Oh, thank the stars! I thought I had lost you!” he said. “You took so long to come back around. I thought you were gone.” He clutched her to him and kissed her. She could taste her blood in his mouth, fresh and alive. There was a cut along one of his wrists. He must have fed her his blood. It explained the penny taste. He pulled back and smiled at her in relief.

“I think if I had wanted to, I could have kept going. The choice was mine, and I chose you,” she whispered.

“It’s almost dawn. Let’s go to bed for the day,” he suggested.

He lifted her enough to pull back the sheets and slip her between them. Turning out the bedside lamp, he joined her. They became a tangle of arms and legs as they wrapped themselves in each other.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world.” She sighed and kissed his chest.

He chuckled. “No. I’m the luckiest person. You only have me. I have Midnight’s Jewel.”

With that, they drifted off for their first day of eternity together.

Two glasses sat on the small round green-patina patio table. The thick, sticky red liquid left in the bottom was turning dark as it deoxygenated. No plates or utensils were in sight.

The sky was a deep blur-purple shot through with a few rays of rusted orange. The landscape beyond the city had already turned to black silhouettes against the darkening sky. Below, tiny white and red lights zipped to and fro like ants over their tiny hill. The chilly air let be it known that summer was over, and fall was well under way.

Sabrina took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh. She gazed across the table to see the backside of a newspaper propped up in front of her husband’s face. With a giggle, she pushed it down below his eyes.

“Sabrina, what are you doing? I haven’t finished reading the business section yet,” Brandon scolded. He gave her a less than serious scowl and tried to straighten the rumpled pages.

“I want to look at those dark-brown eyes and those fangs,” she said. His faux scowl turned to a lustful grin.

“Oh, do you now? Well, I think we can do better than just fangs and eyes. I have something much more interesting to show you, Mrs. Thorpe,” he countered. Before she could react, he was out of his chair and scooping her up into his arms. Her metal chair fell back against the concrete with a loud scraping clank. She squealed with delight.

“Those had better be happy noises I hear,” a gruff voice from inside the penthouse apartment called out. Hadrian pushed open the French doors and stepped outside.

“I have your mail. They have a new guy delivering it from the post office. He seems to think the top two floors are all one apartment. I told him the top floor is yours. The one below is mine. I don’t think he will ever get it right,” Hadrian complained.

Brandon let go of Sabrina’s legs, standing her up, and picked up her chair. They both returned to their seats. Hadrian passed them their mail and took a seat across from them.

Sabrina sorted through the pile, searching for something interesting to look at. A postcard fell out from between two bills. There were some dark, sharp rocks poking out of a cove of intense blue water like stalagmites. The sunny photo had the words “A postcard of Hell” on the front.

“Oh, look! Farrell and Camilla sent us a postcard from their honeymoon in the Grand Caymans!” Sabrina said, thrilled. She read the back and passed it to Brandon. He read it and smiled.

“Who would have ever thought those two would hook up? Farrell is afraid of his own shadow, and Camilla, well, she’s a wolf. What can I say?” Brandon shrugged, laying the card down and picking up the bills to flip through.

“Don’t make fun of him. I thought the poor thing was going to be sick just asking her to the movies. Next thing I know, they were living together and announcing their engagement,” Sabrina chided. “I think it’s sweet. It’s just more proof love can be instant, when given the chance.” Sabrina smiled to herself. It was Eleanor’s last gift, and it had bloomed into something beautiful.