by Emily Bex
“I remember learning about The Bonfire of the Vanities. I knew the people burned everything that was deemed a vanity, the books, and the art. I had no idea people were killed as well. I'm so sorry! I can't imagine how hard that would be, to lose both of your parents in such a violent way. And the Medici name...I don't know why I never made the association. I’ve been to Florence before, and I’m aware of its history. It just never occurred to me.”
Leaning down, he kissed her. "Mi amore, you will be a Medici now as well. Now, enough of this. Let us venture to the upper level and have a browse, si? My bedroom is up there.”
He took her hand as they walked back to the grand foyer and up the wide marble staircase, with banisters gilded in gold, the sound of their footsteps echoed in the emptiness. As they reached the second floor, there was a wide hallway branching out in both directions, with many closed doors, leading to countless bedrooms. She followed him to his room as he opened the doors for her to enter.
The room was large, like everything else in this castle, and very masculine. There was a massive four-poster bed in dark, hand-carved mahogany, and the room was decorated in a deep burgundy color, much like the wine he produced, with accents of ivory. It suited him. She walked around the room, which included a sitting area with a heavy leather sofa and chairs, a desk, his dresser. There were boots tossed in the corner, and she smiled. It was just like home.
Over the dresser was another oil painting, this one a dark-haired beauty and definitely not his mother. Kate felt a flair of jealousy, even though she could tell from the dress in the portrait this painting was done in another era. But he’d kept her picture hanging in his bedroom. She was important to him.
"Shade...who is this?"
Shade stepped in behind her as she stared at the painting. "Her name was Adriana. Si, before you ask, she was a lover. That romance was a long time ago, mi amore. Adriana lived here with me at Castello for a time, but our relationship did not survive. She was a warrior like me, we were together a long time, but she wanted to have children and at that time, I could not make the commitment she sought. It is nothing for you to be concerned about. I will have it removed, I assure you."
She could hear the pain in his voice. “She lived here? So...she was mated to you?”
He was shaking his head. "No, bel, you must understand something. No one has ever been mated to me. No one has ever taken my blood, fed from me. The blood covenant is only made once, and the bond is eternal. It is why we choose so carefully. Si, I did feed from Adriana, as I do you, but we were never mated. I choose you, bel!"
“But I’ve never fed from you. So, we’re not mated?”
“Do you not wish to?”
“You’ve called me your mate. I thought I was your mate. Of course, it’s what I want. Does feeding from you seal that bond?”
“Si, the blood covenant seals your bond to me, and it becomes known to other vampires. They smell my blood inside you. It will make you stronger. You can use telepathy with me much clearer. I can feel everything you feel, I can read your thoughts with more clarity, and you will be able to do the same with me. Once you take my blood, you will begin to crave it. Until you are turned, you can always make the choice to leave me, mi amore, but once you take my blood, I will always feel you for the rest of my life, even if you leave me and are never turned. Make sure you wish for this and understand its permanence. It is not the final step, as you must still be turned, but once you take my blood, my bond to you is eternal, and the covenant can’t be broken. Make sure it is what you want. I can tell you already have a craving for my blood when we make love, si?”
Kate listened to him talk as she moved through his room, running her hands over his things, walking to the desk, covered in papers, books stacked on the side.
"You know I crave it, lover. I have felt the desire to feed from you for some time. I don't understand how it works, but yes, to answer your question, I want it."
She saw the edge of a photo sticking out from the papers and pulled it free. This was her Shade. He was dressed in a sports jacket and tie, with a woman...always with a woman. She was almost as tall as he was, with coal-black hair, and a slinky black dress. The woman leaned her back against his chest as his arm protectively encircled her waist, and her hand was on his thigh. It was a very intimate pose. She could tell from the dress style, this was a more recent photo, something taken in the last few years. Looking at them together was like a knife through her heart. He’d been honest with her, told her there’d been many women, and explained his need to feed in order to survive. In her head, she understood it, but to see him holding someone else, knowing he held her, kissed her, made love to her was hard to see.
"Lover, and this one? Who is this?"
Cazzo, Sabine! How in the hell does she manage to find things that pertain to every female in my past? "Mi amore, I have told you there were many, too many to name. But that is Sabine. I do not want to talk about every damn woman I have been with. I am here with you. Sabine is in the past.”
Kate held up the photo to take a closer look when he reached out and took it from her hands. Ripping it into small pieces, he let it float to the floor as the torn paper bursts into flames and turned to ash.
"You see, she is nothing, gone, ash. Dust in the wind to me. There is no one I love more than you, nothing I want more than you. There is only one light in my darkness. I have never seen it with these females, none of them. But I see it with you and what I see is the purest love to ever touch my heart. You give me everything. You care for me. You do not care about who I am, what I am or how much I can give you, how my status will elevate you. You love me for me. Without you, bel, I would still be lost, for I have found what I was seeking my whole life, my eternal mate. I sought the world over, had given up ever finding you."
Lifting Kate in his arms, he carried her to the bed and laid her down softly. "Ti amo, mi amore!"
As she lay on the bed before him, he got on his knees, straddling her. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt as her hands slid up and spread across his broad, muscular chest, releasing in him a growl. The beast inside him was aching for release, but Shade pushed him down. This night had just begun, and it did not belong to the beast. Her hands slide across his shoulders, pushing his shirt off, before sliding down his rock-hard abs and working the buttons on his jeans, one by one, as his cock grew with each undone button.
The outline of his cock stretched the cloth of the jeans and he could feel the heat of her small delicate hands through the worn and faded material.
"Take what you want, bel, I am yours, we belong to each other. Show me you crave what I crave."
Kate ran her hand over the expanding shape of him beneath his jeans. She pulled at his jeans, peeling them down his hips as she freed his cock from the constraints of the denim. She sat up on her elbows and ran her tongue up the length of the shaft and flicked her tongue over the head of his cock as he inhaled sharply. She slid the head of his cock into her mouth, and ran her tongue around him, before dropping back down on the bed.
"Remove those jeans, lover...and then remove mine."
Sliding off the bed, he slowly removed his jeans, as she watched with anticipation. Climbing back on the bed like a beast stalking its prey, his head was low, and he growled as his fangs punched through and his eyes lit up, casting a red glow across her lily-white skin. He slid between her legs and nipped at her inner thighs through her jeans before unsnapping the snap and sliding the zipper down.
Moving his hands up her thighs, he grasped the waistband of her jeans and jerked them off in one quick motion and pitched them behind him. She was left wearing a pair of black lace panties, in stark contrast with her alabaster skin. The thin strip of black silk lay in the crease of her sex. Nuzzling his nose under the silky fabric, the scent of her sex took him places he’d never been. She was the heaven in his hell. He flicked his tongue over the satiny softness of the panties and watched as her hips lifted to meet him. He felt her aching need, his eyes locked with he
rs.
"What is it you want, mi amore?"
She reached her hand into his hair, gripping her fingers in his curls, as his tongue teased between her legs. Her voice was husky with desire as she responded to him. "What I always want. What you always make me want, to feel you inside of me."
"Ah, impatient as always. Perhaps I shall make you wait a bit, you are much too anxious to have your savage lover devour you, si?"
Letting out a chuckle, he nipped the silk panties with one bite and they fell away from her shapely hips. He buried his face into her patch of tight crimson curls, dampened by her desire, her scent calling him. Running his tongue through those curls, he teased her more. He felt her body shiver with need, but he refused to give her release just yet, and although it was pleasurable torture, he felt the agonizing need in himself. This woman made him want to devour her every moment he was with her.
She had one hand tangled in his hair and tugged hard as he teased. She shifted her hips under him. "Come to me, lover."
He slid up the length of her body, dragging his cock along her soft skin. It was enough to entice the wildest beast and his needed no tempting. Fisting his hands in her hair, he devoured her mouth, letting his tongue tangle with hers, covering her mouth and taking her breath with it. As she moaned, he released her from his kiss, and slid his hands down her arms, grasping her wrists, pulling them above her head.
His dark, raven curls framed his face as he leaned over her, his mouth was close to hers, but not touching when he drove his cock deep inside her and felt her sex mold around him, pulsing and pulling him deeper inside her.
"Don’t move. Just feel me inside you, mi amore. Feel how you make me hard as steel. Feel my heart throbbing through my cock. Only you Kate, only you."
He felt her slide her hands down his back, and grip his ass. She wrapped her legs tight around his hips, trying to pull him deeper. She nipped lightly at his shoulder, biting at his skin. He knew she was aware that she was pushing him.
He threw his head back and growled loud enough to rattle the rafters. Cazzo! I want to feel her taking of me, taking my cock and my blood. Without another thought, he thrusts into her. Looking deep into her eyes, he felt her sex dripping wet for him, sucking him deep. He could feel the walls of her sex tighten, gripping him harder and making him grow thick and rigid inside her. He plunged to her depths in one stroke and began that glorious dance of two becoming one.
Nuzzling his face to her neck, he licked the length of her vein as her nails dug deep into the hard muscles of his ass and he moaned with anticipation of sinking his fangs deep, sucking that bright red nectar and feeling it caress his tongue and give him life. "Mi amore, I am starving for you."
She turned her head to the side, exposing her neck to him, inviting him to feed. Shade sank his fangs deep and drew a long, sweet drink, and felt his body jolt with her blood. The thick sweet nectar was like heroin, never enough to satisfy him, and she was the only female in the world he could never get enough of. He used all of his control to not let the beast loose and have his wicked dark way with her and at the same time, he controlled his own hunger not to drain and kill her. She was a lure like no other, and brought out the darkest and sweetest of him in the same moment. He felt her body orgasm and it would be the first of many this night. Her moans were deep, sexually enticing and he took more of her blood before unlatching with reluctance from her neck, as he claimed her, "Mine!”
***
Kate felt the sweet pain that came with his bite as his lips covered the wound and she felt him sucking at her vein, her blood entering his mouth and the rush of heat that hit her between her legs, driving her release. Her hips thrust into him as her orgasm crests, and he rode her hard, pushing her ever deeper into that chasm of pleasure that rolled over her in waves. She arched her back as her hands clawed at him, clinging to him, and her legs tightened around him as she felt his mouth leave her neck, and the air felt cool against her skin where his hot, wet mouth had been attached to her, and she listened to his familiar claiming cry.
Rolling onto his back, he took her with him, his cock still buried inside her and she looked down at him.
"Bel, make sure this is what you want. Do you still crave to taste me?"
Straddling him, she sat up, her hands on his chest. "Tell me what to do."
"You must understand, once you take my blood, you will be bound to me eternally. You belong to me, forever, as I belong to you. Other vampires will know you are mated to a master vampire. Medici blood will run in your veins. It will connect us deeper than anything you have ever felt. I will always feel you. I know your thoughts, unless you block them. Your strength will become greater. You will be able to feel what I feel the more you take of me. There is nothing to fear, you can’t hurt me. Are you sure this is what you want?"
She could feel the pull, even as he spoke, to be bonded to him, truly mated to him. He’d called her his mate, but she understood now that was his selection, and only this mutual feeding would make the mating a reality. Feeding from him would complete the circle and would take them both to a new level. She’d feel him more deeply and there was nothing she wanted more.
"I’m sure."
She lay her body down on his chest, his cock still deep inside her, as she nuzzled into his neck, and licked at his pulsing vein, sucking his skin into her mouth, wondering if she could break through his skin. She heard the low moan that rumbled through his chest, and his hands slid to her hips, gripping her tightly. She kissed his strong jaw and his lips, before returning her attention to his neck, kissing the length of his neck as he arched his head back, exposing his neck to her.
Her lips explored, feeling the vein against her tongue as she bit hard into his flesh, and felt the hot rush of his blood in her mouth. It hit her like a sledgehammer and she gripped his hair with both hands, as she sucked his blood into her mouth. She was not expecting the rush, the heat, the intense wave of desire that flooded through her, so much more powerful than what she felt when he drank from her. The intensity was so strong she almost broke away, but his hands held her in a vice grip, her hips grinding into him, moving of their own accord, pulling him in. She’d have all of him, his cock, his cum, his blood. She’d consume him, make him a part of her as she felt the power of his blood surging through her veins.
He had no time to think when her dull mortal teeth clamped hard and he felt his blood flow into her mouth. No one had fed from him and he hadn’t anticipated the power of his body’s response. Losing his mind to the passion that erupted inside of him, he felt her blood pumping in her heart. Her soul surrounded him, embraced his entire being, and danced with his own, blackened soul. His body stiffened in glorious waves of love and passion, he closed his eyes and his mouth hung open in a silent scream, never wanting it to stop. He gripped her hair and held her there. His cock screamed for release and he felt her body ride him in response to his blood in her veins.
Driving his cock deep, he came much too quickly, but screamed with pleasure. His beast was so close to the edge, clawing to be free and have his way with her, and Shade could barely breathe. She took another deep, intense draw of his blood, and his love for her exploded inside his heart, his soul screaming a song he never thought he’d hear.
Moving his head to her throat again, careful not to dislodge her from her grip on his neck, he sank his fangs into that soft white skin. They drank in unison, and he felt her body shake with her release and he came again, and they were one. She was now all that was his world, there was nothing more. The circle was complete. He had sealed his own fate, as well as hers, as she lay sated and exhausted on his chest. He felt a momentary pang of guilt, for he’d not told her everything, but he shook the thought from his head. He knew more about their future than he’d ever reveal, and he feared telling her would have scared her away. He unlatched carefully and licked the wound clean, watching as it healed slowly. All that remained now was to turn her, but her body would need time to adjust, and he prayed she wouldn’t regret he
r choice.
"Mine. Ti amo, bel."
She collapsed on top of him as they both lay with hearts pounding. She saw the wound her teeth made in his neck healing before her eyes. His lips were red with her blood as she lowered her mouth to his, kissing him deep, their blood mingling in their mouths, as their tongues probed at each other. She moaned into his mouth. Complete. They were complete. And she was his.
"I love you, bel. How do you feel, are you all right?" He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.
She felt electric, and yet sated. On fire, and yet tamed. She felt things this mortal body had never felt before. She felt things she had no words for.
"I feel...claimed. I feel you inside of me. I feel your energy inside of me. Please tell me you feel the same. I never asked what you felt when you drank from me. Do you feel my blood inside you? Do you feel me inside you? I feel like...like we are one and the same. I don't just hear your words, I feel your words, I feel what you feel."
The power of her emotions overwhelmed her, and she laid her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart.
He caressed her back gently. "Si, mi amore, we are now one. Nothing can come between us. I have felt you since I fed from you the first time. It is the same for me, but stronger, because I have fed from you longer. The urge to feed will come to you more frequently. You will feel sluggish, something like when you are hungry for mortal food perhaps, but I would think it would be much stronger and harder to control. You will feel my heart always. You will feel my love and protection of you, si?"
Kate issued a deep sigh of contentment as she lay on his chest. His voice was deep and soft, like a lullaby in her ears. He ran his hands through her hair as he spoke to her. His warmth, his strength, they calmed her. She felt him with a new intensity, a new awareness.
Shade continued talking to her. "I never want this moment to end. This is what I have dreamt of for so long. I never thought I would find you. I love you so damn much."