Wicked All Night

by Jeaniene Frost

  “‘In the day ye eat thereof . . . ye shall be as gods,’” Ian quoted with the barest of smiles. “Ol’ Scratch wasn’t wrong. It did give me godlike power. Even drained all the magic from Cain’s horn and funneled it back into me, so it was the gift that kept on giving.”

  I barely registered the news about Cain’s horn, even though it explained how Phanes was able to touch it without the horn’s defensive magic blowing the back of his head off.

  “It also gives death,” I whispered. “That’s why you’re scarring. You’re a vampire, but somehow . . . you’re dying.”

  Ian flicked his wrist as if that were inconsequential. “We found a way around death before. We will again. Besides, I’m only in danger when I utilize that power, such as when I used it to enter and exit Phanes’s realm, or when I fought Naxos.”

  How could he be so cavalier? I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “It might be all the same to you, but I can’t go through your death again! How could you eat that cursed fruit, knowing what would happen? How?”

  I screamed the last words as memories strafed me of Ian lying at Dagon’s feet, his skin so shrunken and dry that it pulled away to reveal his bones. I’d see that again, and this time, my father would refuse to raise him. This time, Ian would stay lifeless and cracking like a broken branch on the ground . . .

  He covered my hands with his, his gaze now bright green.

  “How? Because I knew if I ate that, everything might be okay, which it damn sure wouldn’t be if I didn’t eat it. I told you my premonitions are never wrong. As soon as you left with Phanes I knew, without a doubt, that you’d die if I didn’t get you away from him. So, I did what I had to do.”

  “And now you’ll die!”

  Harsh laughter struck my cheeks as he leaned closer. “Maybe. But don’t act as if you don’t understand doing anything to protect the one you love. Yes, saving you might mean my death. If so, been there, done that, wasn’t so bad. But letting some arsehole trap and kill you? I refuse to do that, and while we’re on the topic, stop abandoning me under the mistaken belief that you’re protecting me. You’re not, because if nothing else, this shows that I’ll do whatever it takes to get back to you, especially if I know you’re in danger, too.”

  I could hardly see through the sheen of tears. “I was not abandoning you! You won’t let some arsehole trap and kill me? Back at you, Ian! I only thought I’d be gone an hour, maybe two, when I first left with Phanes. That seemed a small price to pay for your healing after Dagon trapped and nearly killed you, or have you forgotten about that?”

  “No,” he said with a frustrated sign. “Perhaps I’m stricken with the same lack of control, reason, and proportionality your da accused you of. I love you too much to care what happens to me as long as you’re safe, yet I’m angry at you for endangering yourself because you feel the same way. It’s insensible and unreasonable, and I can’t bloody help myself.”

  I had never understood anything more.

  “I can’t help myself, either,” I said, and threw my arms around him, needing to feel his skin, his body, and his vitality that sparked against me with staticlike currents.

  “Then let’s not help ourselves.” His voice deepened. “Let fairness and reason go to wreck and ruin. We can have the world’s most dysfunctional marriage for all I bother. As long as I have you, I have everything I need.”

  So did I, which was why I could not, would not let him die. Somehow, I swore, I’ll find a way to undo this.

  No, we will, my other half thought at once.

  We will, I agreed.

  Out loud, I said, “There has to be some kind of a loophole negating the deadly effect of eating that fruit. We just have to find it before you get worse.”

  Ian’s hands slid along my back, caressing their way under my tunic to stroke my skin.

  “We will. But come now”—his voice turned teasing—“if a bloke isn’t willing to eat the fruit of the world’s most cursed tree in order to save his love, is he even worth her time?”

  “You’re insane,” I breathed, turning my face toward his.

  He kissed me, deep, slow, and so passionate, everything spun as if I’d become drunk. I gave myself up to every stroke of his tongue, the sharp brush of his fangs, and then the luscious, hard length of his body as he pulled his clothes off.

  I pulled mine off as well, needing the silken feel of his skin. I needed his muscles bunching beneath my hands, too, and I got it as he reacted to my touch. Then his groan filled my mouth as my fangs scored his tongue, drawing blood we both swallowed.

  He took us down to the floor, me underneath him. His hands roved over me, making my skin tingle at his touch. Then his mouth left mine to tease my breasts. Soon, my nipples were so oversensitized from each skillful lick, suction, and graze of fangs that I ached in places he hadn’t even touched yet.

  My thighs slid along his hips, urging him between them. His laugh teased my skin as he sucked harder on my nipple. I felt pleasure erupt everywhere, and that inner ache grew.

  I twisted to the side and reached down to grab what I needed inside me. His shaft overflowed in my hands, hard as the silver stud that pierced its tip. I pushed him away, bent down, and tried to encase him in my mouth. His husky laugh taunted me as he teleported away, leaving me grasping only air.

  He materialized by my knees. Then, he opened them and pulled me on top of him. I had the barest moment to feel his hair against my thighs before his tongue twisted deeply inside me. I gasped, arching at the fiery sensations. Inner bands clenched as he repeated the deep, greedy stroke. I moved against him, needing more even as I was frustrated by him stymieing me from pleasuring him this way, too.

  “I want you in my mouth,” I moaned, stretching back and reaching behind me. I couldn’t see my goal from this angle, but I could feel for it.

  Ah, there it was. Even harder, if that were possible, with the tip now slicked by pearls of moisture.

  He responded with more deep, twisting licks. I let go of his cock and my arms slammed to the floor because the pleasure almost knocked me over. He wasn’t teasing me with seeking flicks or playful delves. No, he was fucking me with his tongue, and gasps stole my voice at the merciless pleasure.

  My hands fisted as I rocked against his mouth, forgetting about changing positions to make this a mutual pleasuring. I also couldn’t stop my gasps, or the way my hips moved even faster, until he’d be concussed by the hard wood floor if he were human. He wasn’t, though, and he gripped me tighter, urging me to move faster as his tongue swirled deeper, harder, fiercer . . .

  “Oh, gods, yes!” I shouted as those bands snapped and rapture broke through. Its effects bent my back until I sagged forward from the overload, my upper arms now resting against the edge of the bed that we were somehow now in front of.

  Suddenly, Ian disappeared beneath me. Before my lower half hit the floor from suddenly having nothing beneath me, he was behind me, holding me up on my knees. I leaned against him, and he craned his neck until his mouth closed over mine in a kiss erotically flavored with honey and salt.

  I reached for his cock again. He gave a throaty laugh and pushed me forward until my torso draped across the bed, while the rest of me was still kneeling. To entice him, I rubbed my breasts against the bed as if the quilt was the finest of silks, and then spread my legs and lifted my hips.

  The sound he made would’ve been foreplay enough, if I wasn’t already so wet from his exquisite mouth.

  He grasped my hips, his cock sliding along my crease. I pushed against him, whimpering when he denied me. His other hand wound in my hair, tilting my head to the side.

  “Show me your face, little Guardian.”

  “You’ll need a new nickname,” I said in a breathy voice as I turned toward him. “Pretty sure the council fired me.”

  His gaze had never been brighter, bathing me in rays of emerald. “No,” he said as he pushed into me. “I won’t.”

  I arched at the intensity of the pleasure. How could this
hit me with the same emotional impact as our first time? It shouldn’t, but it did, and I felt lost in the sensations.

  “What you are to the council has nothing to do with what you are to me,” he continued with another deep, sinuous thrust.

  What was he talking about? I’d forgotten. Nothing existed except his body against mine, the delicious burn from his silver piercing, his girth stretching me, and then his fingers teasing my clit as he reached between us. Between that and each new, rapturous thrust, I was soon right at the edge again.

  “I want you to feel this, too,” I said with a moan.

  His laugh vibrated through me, punctuated by deeper thrusts that curled my toes.

  “How can I not feel this?” he said thickly.

  “I mean, I want you to come with me,” I managed between gasps. I was almost there, but he wasn’t. He hadn’t even snapped the bed we were leaning on, and it was made of fragile wood.

  “I’m close, and I want you to feel what I do when I come,” I said while grinding harder against him.

  He pulled me up until my back pressed against his chest. His arm slid up between my breasts, holding me to him. Then his mouth was at my neck, finding my sensitive spots and devastating them with pleasure. All the while, his fingers never stopped teasing my clit, and those mind-shattering thrusts never slowed. When his fangs finally sank deep, ecstasy exploded, and I came with a shout that made the nearby horses restless.

  “I’ll come later,” I thought I heard him say, but I wasn’t sure. I was still drowning in bliss.

  He turned me around and flung me onto the bed. The light impact from that was nothing compared to the slam of pleasure when his body covered mine, and he filled me in one stroke.

  “But right now,” he said with a wicked grin. “I’m going to shag you until you’re too sated to scream that loudly again.”

  Chapter 25

  Two hard knocks on the door woke me. I hadn’t intended to fall asleep after Ian made good on his promise to fuck me into a state of temporary muteness, but I had. Then again, I’d done a lot of things I hadn’t intended to do over the past two days. What was that saying about making the gods laugh? All you had to do was tell them your plans?

  “Sod off, whoever you are,” Ian said without opening his eyes.

  The door burst open in a shower of wood, revealing Cat.

  Ian cursed as he leapt up from the bed. “Really, Reaper? Kicking the door in? This isn’t even your house.”

  “I know, but this news is important and I drew the short straw, so I’m here and Spade isn’t,” Cat replied, looking anywhere except at Ian. “Figured it was the best time to interrupt since the horses finally quit stomping up their stalls from all the racket. Unless that banging around was you two and not the horses? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

  I got out of bed, too. Now Cat was almost staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at our nakedness. How silly.

  “We don’t have anything you haven’t seen before,” I said before adding dryly, “even if I am Death’s direct descendant.”

  “It’s not you,” Cat said, her strained tone proving that, if she were human, she’d be blushing. “It’s just his . . . you know.”

  “You barged in for a reason, so spare us your puritan modesty and get to it,” Ian said impatiently. “Besides, you must have seen a cock piercing before, and if you haven’t, Crispin owes you an apology for being such an unimaginative lover.”

  “Fine, let’s get this over with,” Cat muttered, and dropped her gaze below Ian’s waist.

  “Wow,” she said after a stunned moment. “Really jammed that thing in there, didn’t you?” Then, her head tilted to the side. “Is that one bar straight through the tip? Or are there two different piercings on either side—?”

  “Focus, Reaper,” Ian interrupted.

  “Right,” she said, shaking her head as if to clear it. “I came in here because we’re in deep shit. The ghoul queen is refusing to meet with me. Marie didn’t give a reason, either. She just had her lackey reply, ‘This is Jacques. Regrettably, Majestic’s schedule prohibits new appointments at this time.’”

  Ian gave a humorless smile. “And Marie tends to murder people that barge in without appointment.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Cat said, with a shudder. “I did that once, and believe me, I barely survived.”

  “I’ll go.”

  Both heads swung toward me. Then Ian looked at his wrist as if checking a watch that wasn’t there.

  “’Course you will. It’s been, what? Five hours since you threw yourself into certain death? Well past time, then.”

  I ignored his sarcasm. “I’ve known Marie longer than either of you. She’s big on protocol, but she values the well-being of her people above all. She’ll want to know that rogue gods are on the loose. Since I saw them and you didn’t, it should be me telling her versus you, Cat. If I hadn’t been distracted by other things, I would have said that earlier.”

  “You keep saying ‘me,’” Ian said in a warning tone.

  I gave a wry snort. “Don’t you know by now that when I say ‘me,’ that’s still plural?”

  “I don’t mean that,” Ian purred in the same don’t-test-me tone.

  “I know what you mean,” I said, brief humor fading. “Of course I assumed you’d be going with me. Aside from meaning my former promise not to abandon you, I also admit that leaving you behind even briefly doesn’t seem to protect you. Either you do something reckless, or someone dangerous finds you, or both.”

  “Not to mention all the times you’ve done reckless things when you’re alone, or someone dangerous finds you,” he pointed out.

  “We’re a mess, aren’t we?” I asked, smiling in memory at his earlier vow.

  He smiled back, and pulled me to him. “The worst,” he agreed, and kissed me.

  Cat banged on the door frame hard enough to dislodge more wood. “Get freaky later. We have gods to stop now, remember?”

  Reluctantly, I pushed Ian back. “She’s annoying, but correct. We only have time to shower and feed since we have more than Marie to contend with today. We also have the council.”

  “I’ll get you two some robes,” Cat muttered. “Don’t want you streaking through the house because neither of you cares about covering up what you’ve got.”

  “I agree we need to warn them, but we shouldn’t go to the council directly,” Ian said, ignoring Cat, who left after another disapproving glance at us. “They won’t listen if you call, and if you go to them, they’ll try to kill you on sight. Your safety aside, they’re more likely to believe what’s happened with Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko if they hear it from someone they trust.”

  I let out a soft snort. “Anyone the council trusts will probably try to kill me on sight, too.”

  “One won’t,” Ian said in a confident tone. “Your former girlfriend, Xun Guan.”

  The last time I’d been to Athens, Greece, I ended up fleeing it after Ian had proved our marriage to the vampire council. Now, I was returning with Ian to convince my former lover, Xun Guan, that my unwanted fiancé, Phanes, and his previously deceased celestial besties were about to unleash supernatural mayhem.

  I wouldn’t blame Xun Guan if she didn’t believe me. I’d have trouble believing this, too, if I wasn’t living it.

  “Why is Xun Guan in Athens?” I wondered out loud as Ian and I drove away from the Larissa train station. We hadn’t taken a train to get from England to Greece; we’d teleported, but I didn’t want Ian burning through needless energy when there were perfectly good rental car places near the train station.

  “The vampire council isn’t in session now, and Xun Guan hates Greece,” I continued.

  “She must have found some reason to be here, because this is where Mencheres’s hacker traced her mobile to,” Ian replied.

  My confusion deepened several minutes later as we reached the address where Xun Guan’s mobile signal had pinged from: a derelict building on a street with mostly closed
businesses.

  The Xun Guan I knew would never stay here. In addition to being a Law Guardian, she was a savvy investor who’d accumulated quite the portfolio. Even if her investments had suddenly tanked, she could become rich again simply by selling a few personal effects from her time as a human during the Western Jin dynasty. She still had the sword she’d wielded at thirteen against Du Zeng’s armies, and that item alone was priceless.

  “Something’s wrong,” I said as we drove past the building to avoid attracting notice. “That building has to be a front.”

  “Hope so,” Ian replied, parking out of sight of it down the street. “Otherwise, your getting married and revealing yourself to be a demigod must have sent Xun Guan into such a downward spiral that she’s now useless to us.”

  My look told him what I thought of the callous comment. “She’s too tough for that, so she must have a good reason for staying here the past two days. Be on guard, but stay out of her sight. I don’t need to remind you that she hates you.”

  He smiled coldly. “The feeling’s mutual.”

  I shook my head as I got out of the car. “It’s almost admirable that you can be jealous at a time like this.”

  “She had you for centuries.” His tone was light, but his turquoise eyes glinted with emerald as he exited the car, too. “If you think I don’t envy her to the point of hatred for that, you vastly underestimate your worth to me.”

  I paused. This wasn’t the normal territoriality that all vampires felt over what was theirs. It was something else.

  “She had my flesh,” I said very softly, coming around to his side of the car. “She never had me. Only you have.”

  He stroked my face while the barest of smiles creased his.

  “I used to believe there was no difference between the two. Now, I know there is.” His voice deepened. “That’s why, despite my very extensive past, I can honestly say that you and you alone have touched me, Veritas, and those are words I never expected would cross these sin-stained, sordid lips.”