Summoning Shadows: A Rosso Lussuria Vampire Novel (13 page)

Renata laughed and smiled darkly. “Do I make you nervous, Dracule?”

“Absolutely not,” she said. “I am surprised by the request, is all.”

“Why?” Renata seemed genuinely curious.

“You are really asking me that question?”

Renata shrugged. “Why not?”

“If you two can agree to be equals, things might go a little more smoothly here,” I said. The expressions on their faces told me plainly, they weren’t following my line of thinking. “She’s not asking you to dominate her, Iliaria, and she doesn’t want to be dominated by you and vice versa. Correct?”

Neither disagreed. “Then why can’t you both just agree not to play a game of dominance with each other? Just because you’re in the same bed doesn’t mean you can’t touch each other, and that if you do, it’s not a sign of submission from one or the other. That’s a silly way of looking at things. Pleasure is pleasure.”

Renata smiled slyly at that.

Iliaria said, “I do not trust her.”

Renata’s smile faltered. “I do not comprehend why you do not trust me, Dracule. What have I done to earn your distrust?”

When Iliaria did not answer, I sighed.

“Renata?”

“Yes, Epiphany?”

“This grows tiresome.”

Iliaria let out a rumbling growl that made me flinch. Renata’s eyes widened when Iliaria grabbed her by her thighs. Iliaria pushed them apart and Renata didn’t fight her.

Iliaria rolled her hips and pressed her sex against Renata’s. Renata made a surprised noise low in her throat and clawed out, seeking something to grab hold of. She caught my arm, her sensuous lips parting as she dug her nails into my skin.

I watched as Iliaria continued to roll her hips, dancing her skin against Renata’s, her frustration and anger making the dance more passionate and less controlled. Renata’s nails bit more deeply into me and I made a sound of pain for her. She opened her eyes and guided me to her.

“Where do you want me?”

Before Renata could give me an answer, Iliaria said, “In front of me.”

Renata gave a nod in agreement and I swung a leg over her, my stomach over Renata’s, able to watch Renata’s face as Iliaria moved against her.

Iliaria wrapped an arm around my waist, not once losing the strange chaotic rhythm she had chosen. Granted, she was much gentler with Renata than she had been earlier with me.

I moved until her body nearly cradled mine. Iliaria reached around me, her fingers dipping between my legs as she circled my clitoris.

“Very nice, Dracule,” Renata half moaned. “Very nice, indeed.” Whether she referred to Iliaria’s choice in position or what Iliaria was doing between her legs, I wasn’t sure.

Iliaria pressed her face behind my ear and chuckled, making my skin prickle all over. Her finger began sliding back and forth, rolling my clit in a way that made me nearly lose my balance. I dug my toes into the blanket in attempt to keep myself on my knees.

Renata touched my thigh, clawing me lightly. Her hips moved between my legs while Iliaria moved behind me, against me.

Renata caught me by the wrists, raising her hands. “Brace yourself on me. Put your weight in my hands.”

I blinked and realized, even while being pleasured, Renata’s mind was still going as she figured out the mechanics of the position we’d chosen. I did as she bid me and she took my weight, stretching my arms high above me and canting my body at a slight angle.

“Dracule,” Renata said.

Iliaria stopped playing with me, but I could still feel her moving behind me like something slinky and liquid. I tried to turn around to see what she was doing.

“Tsk, tsk.” Renata called my attention back to her.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“You will soon enough.”

Iliaria pushed inside me from behind and I cried out, my hands curling into fists where Renata held them. Iliaria pushed into me, rough and sudden, before withdrawing and teasing me with the tips of her fingers.

She slid between my legs in a manner that became less teasing and more purposeful. Her gentle fingertips began to trail in an entirely new direction until I felt them tickling along the line of my buttocks.

I tensed.

“Ah, ah,” Renata chided. “Don’t tense, cara mia. It will hurt worse.”

Iliaria’s fingers slid over me and I tensed whether I wanted to or not.

Iliaria actually stopped moving to ask Renata, “Has she not done this before?”

“Actually,” Renata smiled most mischievously, “I don’t believe she has. Have you, Epiphany?”

“No, my lady.”

I’d never really thought to give it a try and Renata had never done it to me.

Iliaria’s breath was warm against the back of my neck while she stroked me between my cheeks. I shuddered for her, in fear and excitement. A thousand nerves tingled pleasantly throughout my lower body. “Take your queen’s advice.”

“That is?”

“Don’t tense. And remember, I am holding back.”

Iliaria didn’t give me time to decide. She pushed her finger inside of me roughly enough that she didn’t have to fight my body. She simply conquered it.

Much to my surprise, my first reaction when she pierced me was to make it stop. It hurt. It hurt more than Renata’s blade parting my flesh.

But I couldn’t make it stop. Renata’s hold on my wrists turned from helping to hold me up, to helping Iliaria to hold me in place.

Iliaria began to pull out of me before pushing into me again.

This time, I cried out in protest.

“Stop fighting, cara mia.”

I looked at her through half closed eyes. Her hold on my wrists loosened, just enough that I didn’t feel so trapped and helpless.

“Relax.”

Iliaria had stopped moving again. “Close your eyes, Epiphany. You are hurting yourself by fighting.”

“You know how to do this, cara mia.”

I drew in a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly.

“Gently,” I said. “I can handle it, but you cannot be that rough, Iliaria. Not there.”

I felt her fingers teasing my entrance before she slid inside of me again. Her thumb and fingers squeezed like a gentle vise, and this time, I moaned, tightening and shuddering for her.

“Better?” Renata asked.

I nodded and Iliaria resumed in a way that I found much, much more bearable. She made a conscious effort to be gentle when I requested it. She took her time with it, and when her fingers moved inside me again, I was able to relax and sink into her. Renata released one of my hands. The subtle plunge of Iliaria’s fingers continued while she moved fluidly behind me and against Renata. Renata reached between my legs as she too began to pleasure me. Her finger circled and flicked against me until my body tightened around Iliaria and the sensation of them both inside and around me brought me with a long, shuddering moan.

Iliaria did not withdraw when my climax passed. I bent and kissed Renata’s stomach, licking and nibbling on as much of her skin as I could reach. Her muscles grew rigid beneath my touch and when she came, she buried a hand in my hair, crushing my curls as she groaned. Iliaria followed a moment later and we slowly collapsed against one another in a satisfied heap.

I sat in Renata’s high-backed chair with a crystalline glass of Iliaria’s blood in my hand. Her blood was stronger than the Donatore’s, richer and more refreshing, like a cup of perfectly steeped tea. At least, the memory I had of tea in my father’s house.

Home
. It seemed so long since I had thought on it. How many years had it truly been since my father had put me on his knee and spoke of my mother? Had I been six or seven years of age then?

I brought the glass to my lips and rolled Iliaria’s blood on my tongue. I tried to recall the taste of tea, the smell of the bitter herbs tickling my nostrils. I tried to remember the feel of the porcelain cup in my small hands.

What would my parents have been like if they had both lived? My memory was that of a child’s, not a woman two hundred years on.

“Mayhap that makes them all the more precious, cara mia, that they are not tainted by age.”

She came to me and rested her hand on my bare shoulder. I had not bothered dressing or covering myself. It was still some hours till dawn, though Iliaria had retired to the other room. Unlike vampires, the Dracule required a certain amount of sleep to function.

Renata’s lacquered nails swept lightly across the skin at the base of my neck and I shivered.

“Perhaps,” I said.

The Rosso Lussuria itself had never been my home. I had not realized that until the day Renata had cast me from her bed.

She was my home.

Vasco was my family. But the rest of the clan moved around me, past me, without ever becoming part of me.

Renata stooped to kiss my cheek. She ruffled my hair affectionately and I watched her disappear into the bathing room, hearing the rush of water as it filled the tub.

I sighed and downed the glass of Iliaria’s blood. Partly, I think she offered it to me because she felt bad for hurting me.

How’s your arse?
Cuinn asked cheekily.

It’s well, Cuinn. Thanks for your concern.

What’s bugging…err…troubling ya, Piph?

What do you mean?

Why so melancholic?

I thought about it and shook my head.

Honestly, I don’t know.

You can talk to me, Piph.

I know, Cuinn.

I shut my eyes, blocking out the sight of Renata’s bedroom. I saw Cuinn behind my lids, his fox eyes gentle and compassionate.

I know what’s really bothering ye. It’s all right to admit you’re scared.

Admitting I am afraid doesn’t make it better.

Cuinn sat on his haunches, proud and straight and taller than any fox I’d ever seen in the wild.

I won’t let anything happen to you, Piph. If those big ol’ bat-beasts mess with ye, they’ll be getting my bollocks in a twist, and trust me, they don’t want to do that.

I laughed.
Leave it to you to paint such a colorful picture. I’ll certainly keep that in mind.

Do,
he said.
And keep your chin up, lass. You’re depressing the holy feck out o’ me.

I’ll try,
I told him,
but only for your sake, O’ Great and Mighty Fox.

Making a mock o’ me, are ya? Not wise considering I’ve saved your fangs more than once already.

Me? Make a mockery of you? Never!

I folded my arms on the table in front of me and rested my head, shutting my eyes to block out that dizzying flicker of firelight.

I heard Renata emerge from the bath and turned my head to find her. She was dressed in an exquisite gown of blue velvet so dark it was almost black. I remained hunched over the table. The expression on her face turned quizzical and for some reason, I started laughing.

Once I started, I found I couldn’t stop.

She continued to stare at me, and the longer she stared, the harder I laughed. “Epiphany?” she asked. “Are you drunk?”

I buried my face in my crossed arms again and laughed, really not certain what was so funny, but finding the fact that I was laughing over essentially nothing rather amusing.

Renata took the empty glass from me gently, as if afraid I’d protest her taking it. “Perhaps next time you should drink Iliaria’s blood more slowly.”

“Aye,” I slurred, watching her set the glass on a dresser nearby. I could feel myself swooning a bit. “I seem to have caught the googlies.”

Renata paused, canting her head. “The what?”

“The giggles.” I started laughing again, unable to stop. “Ah, the giggles!”

Not so fortunately, my laughter had woken Iliaria. She emerged from the other room appearing none-too-pleased with me.

I bit my bottom lip and tried with everything in me not to start laughing again. If I did, I wouldn’t stop. Her staring so intently at me did not help my inner battle.

“My, my, you don’t look happy,” I said.

I made a choking sound as I tried to catch the laugh that threatened to slip out. I shut my eyes tightly, as if it would help to keep the laughter from bubbling up again.

I saw Cuinn, and something about the fox Fata being stuck in my head became the most hilarious thing in the world. I could no longer contain it. I fell back on the bed, laughing.

I heard Iliaria ask above my laughter, “What the devil has gotten into her?”

“Your blood, Dracule. It’s made her drunk.”

“The moon will rise soon,” Iliaria said. “We cannot take her to Bull Shoals like this.”

“It should wear off before then,” Renata replied smoothly, then added a bit uncertainly, “I hope.”

“Bull Shoals?” I asked, gasping. “What kind of bloody name is that? It sounds like bullshit!”