by Erin R Flynn
“Thank you for asking,” I purred, moving against his hands as one went into my hair and the other around my back. His lips were soft but needy. It was chaste, and he gave me a second before his mouth came back and it wasn’t so chaste but not too much.
But then it was. It was hot and delicious, his tongue pushing in my mouth as he cupped my face and his hand went to my ass to pull me closer. I pushed at his chest after a bit and he pulled away, always paying attention to what I wanted.
“I knew you would curl my toes and make my nipples hard with a kiss,” I praised, his eyes completely glazed over. “I look forward to more of those.”
“I’ll give as many as you let me,” he promised as I slid out from between him and the wall. “I’m so fucking hard for you.”
I burst out laughing, finally hearing something someone else muttered to themselves instead of everyone just hearing me. I wanted to get going because I was also thirsty and if I waited too long, I’d be frazzled.
“The rules are as follows,” I told them. “You rock, paper, scissors or whatever to decide whose turn it is, and I get fifteen seconds to find something fun. If I get it before you get me, you have to go back—bringing what I picked out if you can—and then we start again with you all tracking me down. If I don’t find something, you get an item of clothing and a kiss. Bring the clothes here to the front.
“The one who catches me naked gets to have me wherever his fantasy is in a place like this, but then bring me back here and I redress. Then we do it again. I have to pick different items each time, but I have a few tricks up my sleeves as well, so don’t think it will be that easy for you. Any questions?” I smiled when they shook their heads, excitement dancing in their eyes.
“We’ll just go in order of the first letter of our first names,” Darius muttered, shrugging that it put him in the middle of five, but still, it was better than wasting time with rock, paper, scissors. Brat. I had wanted that time. “We’ll tag off and fifteen seconds.”
“Fine, fine, find me sooner,” I grumbled, hiding back a smirk. “How are we keeping time?”
“Countdown on this phone so you can hear the beeping and know we’re coming,” Kristof said with a smirk.
I gave a noise that sounded a bit like a meep and darted off. I went to the right where the beginning was and found a huge furniture display. I dove for the leather couch when I heard the alarm… And was caught midair.
Branko kissed me deeply and then peeled off my sweater, smirking when he found another long sleeve top under it. “More fun wrapping to get to the sexy center.” He set me on my feet and gave me a wink.
I plopped on the couch and wiggled my fingers at Cerdic when he showed up next, noting the pout he had as he turned back around. Wow, this was really fun.
I was checking out a drone when Darius came, and he even took it back with him. Then Jaxon and I were looking at a TV.
Kristof wasn’t as patient, darting off with me and setting me a few aisles over. “All electronics are fun to you. Move on.”
“I wanted a video camera for fun,” I grumbled.
“I’ll get you one,” he growled, getting the implication. “I want you naked.”
“So bossy.” I blew a raspberry, amusing him all that much more, and headed for office supplies.
“This store has too much fun shit,” Branko bitched, taking the colored pens from me. Cerdic agreed as he took a whole box of art kits for Sammy and the other owls that were kids. Shit, they looked so much fun even I wanted to try them out.
Darius and Jaxon sighed when I found fun stuff for them too. The second Jaxon turned to leave I darted around the aisle to something I wanted for when Kristof found me. I climbed in and closed the lid.
He growled as he opened the large suitcase I’d folded myself into. “Two can play evil, My Princess. I could put you up on the top shelves where there is nothing so we can get you naked.”
I glanced up and up. “Please don’t. That would scare me when people haven’t been looking after the places. I fell off shelves like that and gave myself a concussion, lucky I didn’t bust my head open.”
“Fine, I won’t be mean.”
I smiled up at him. “I’m just teasing you guys a bit to start because you all thought you’d have me naked up front in a flash. This place has a huge food area that’s all empty so there are lots of places to catch me.”
“Fine, but kitchen stuff and vacuums aren’t fun,” he grumbled as he helped me up.
“Yes they are,” I argued as he left. I skipped them still, and that got me caught, as next were tools and auto. Branko took the shirt and his kiss. Cerdic went for a shoe so I was running funny.
By then I made it to booze, and Darius actually looked over the totally stocked everything with me. We both agreed that we would have thought it would have been picked over, but apparently those of Prince George had left in a hurry to get to somewhere with fire power.
“Darius, hurry up,” Jaxon shouted from the front.
“This is really fun,” Darius chuckled, kissing my hair. “You should stay at the booze for a while just to drive them nuts.”
“We heard that,” Kristof snarled.
I laughed and at least moved onto the wine displays. But then it was the long area of food, and I didn’t make it past the meat section before Kristof caught me. He wrapped me around him as he kissed me desperately, leaving me breathless and minus another shoe.
Oh, they were plotting this well because I barely caught my breath and Branko was there by the next row. After he took my jeans, I cut back towards the front with all the array of displays… And the clothes. Cerdic looked frustrated when he found me putting on a hoodie.
“You said we had to take it with us,” he argued.
I tossed him another one.
Jaxon found me putting on shorts, and he took Kristof’s lead and moved me back to food. Jerks. Fine, they could team up.
I shivered. I loved when they did to please me especially.
Another round of everyone and Cerdic finally got his kiss and my last piece of clothing. He brought me up front as his prize, and I fed from him as he ate me out on the checkout conveyor thing. I redressed and took off, blinking and Darius was there.
“That was not fifteen seconds,” I argued.
“I’m sure it was,” he said before kissing me and taking off my sweater.
“Yeah, you guys can’t lie to your princess my ass,” I grumbled, knowing fibs were completely acceptable. I blinked and Jaxon was there taking another piece of clothing and a kiss. “I’ll cheat if you guys do!” I took off and actually let out a huge squee at what I found. I dove for it and made it just before Kristof reached me.
“Of course you love the seven foot teddy bear,” he chuckled, shaking his head.
“Yes, but I want to play a bit,” I purred, lying back against it and peeling off my shirt so he saw my bra. “Will you promise to bring these to Sammy and the other kids?”
“Yes, My Princess.”
“Will you bring one to my room at the coven so we always remember the dirty things I’m about to do on it?”
“Yes, My Princess,” he groaned, moving closer.
“Why am I cheating?” I asked him as I took off my boots.
“Because you love us.” He leaned over and gave me a hesitant look, moaning when I nodded and sucking my nipples through my bra before taking it off.
“Oi, your turn is definitely up,” Jaxon called from the front.
I cut my finger and drew a heart on Kristof before waving him off. He groaned all the way. Branko found me next and stole a kiss as he peeled off my jeans. I drew on him as well. Cerdic got my panties, which he threatened he was never giving back.
And Darius got my socks. He chuckled as I lay on the bear naked besides my damn socks. He stopped laughing when I hurried with his jeans and begged him to take me. The others knew the game was up and joined us as Darius made love to me on a seven foot teddy bear.
“We’ve totally corrupt
ed this poor guy,” I panted when we were done. I smirked up at Jaxon. “Want to do it again?”
“Fuck me dead,” he groaned, hurrying to get undressed. I rode him while he sat on the bear this time, moaning as others gave me touches, kisses, and dripped blood on me.
“We should absolutely have more raiding dates,” I purred when I was spent.
“Yes please,” one of them groaned, several echoing them.
Kristof brought me a bottle of water and something to clean up with. I had to demand my panties back from Cerdic though.
“I’ll give you other ones. Commando in jeans chafes, and I like playing rough too much to worry about denim burn down there.” My panties were in my hand before I could blink. “Thank you.”
I used the energy from their blood to turn all the display electronics to energy beads. We were never going to need all the TVs and whatnot we would find, but we had tons of new ones boxed for sure. I still had more energy, so I went back to the checkouts and did the same so there was more space to move and get everything out.
Jaxon plugged my iPod into a battery powered iHome and loaded my Taylor Swift playlist. He grabbed my arm and spun me around down another aisle, nodding to all the display items. Yeah, fair enough. I turned them all to energy beads, and Branko picked me up around the waist and spun us until we were on the next aisle.
It was fun. We needed some fun after yesterday and a lot of smiles.
I burst out laughing when Darius lifted me like an ice dancer I’d seen in pictures so I was high above him. He flipped me up and caught me, dipping me so my hair touched the floor.
A few more aisles and all the energy was out, but I saw something interesting. “Can anyone see what that is?”
“A pallet of those prepper foods that last thirty years,” Kristof answered. “I didn’t realize Costco had those.” He glanced around. “Apparently this was a good location for them. I see other pallets.” He wrapped his arm around me and brought me in the back, a bunch more pallets in storage. “This is a good find for sure.”
“Think Jacob would clean out and get everything else in containers for us if we gave him those pallets to take back?”
“Yes, and there’s another company that makes them and more pallets,” Cerdic said, pointing to another corner. “We should find those companies.”
“I saw this one in Utah when I was checking the area, but I didn’t know what it was,” Kristof admitted. “If you fix the farming equipment we found, they could quickly get wheat planted and have huge fields of it here with help. Ask for that as it should have been done in April.”
Cerdic went and got Jacob, and we did. They had ample fruits and veggies so they would leave those for Thomas, as it would take a while to get that going, but the protein meals were all theirs. We got Thomas involved, and they scouted exactly what Kristof had been talking about just outside of the city but really close. Nice. It hadn’t been used for wheat, but it would be now.
It was really, really nice when things came together. The dairy farm was already being moved to closer and blocks of neighborhoods already cleared out.
Now that Thomas was a knight—along with the other new ones—we brought them out to that area, ignoring their confused faces.
“So we didn’t tell you everything,” I chuckled as I reached over and touched the first house. I let out my power and turned it to energy beads. I left the slab foundation alone and glanced at Darius. “We need to figure out a way to eventually handle that but not screw up the water and sewer pipes.”
He nodded. “Eventually we’ll plot out all new construction from the center where we upgrade the power, water, and sewage like we were building a whole new town.”
“Glad there’s a plan.” I smiled at the other knights. “So yeah, gathering those and storing them as eventually we’ll do more with it instead of just waiting for buildings to collapse and cause problems.”
“Got it,” Thomas whispered, bobbing his head. “What else can you really do, Princess?”
I glanced at the others who nodded it was time to tell them, as they were mine now. I shrugged and converted all the vehicles on the street and turned them into two electric semis. “Now you get why we were also having people pull the gas from the cars too.”
“Yeah, I’m really glad you contacted us, Thomas,” Lorenzo whispered. “Shit, we could have a real life again.”
“That’s the plan,” I chuckled. “There’s a lot to do, but yeah, eventually not struggling sounds great. But this is why we want the houses and whatnot done so we can have all new materials to work with eventually and set this whole area back to nature instead of ghost towns.”
They were excited for the plans, promising not to tell everyone in their clan, letting people think it was Kristof or Branko or someone old and scary instead of the baby vamp. The excitement and fun of the day helped heal the hurt from yesterday, but I saw some of it haunting Darius, moving over to him.
“We’ll be home soon and safe,” I whispered, hugging him tightly. “The bad days won’t even matter then, and we’ll have lots of happy ones. Trust me, okay?”
“I’m having trouble forgiving myself,” he admitted.
“I know, but I’m princess and I didn’t protect you either, so we’ll just have to move past it together.” I searched his eyes. “Do you love me any less because I let them hurt you?”
“Never.”
“I feel the same,” I whispered against his lips. “I want you forever, Darius. I know it. Do you still want me?”
“Yes, always.”
“Then that’s all I want you to feel and look forward to that. I might need your help to move past it, and I’ll help you, but feeling guilty will hurt us again and again.”
“You are so wise beyond your years,” he rasped, hugging me as he buried his face against my neck. “I’ll do my best, I promise. If you promise never to leave me, I’ll do my best to move past what I let happen.”
“I’ll never leave you,” I swore. “And you didn’t let it happen. You weren’t flippant or unsafe. I would be upset then, but you are vigilant with our safety. There is just always someone bigger, badder, or more powerful, and now we know. You didn’t let shit happen. You helped me heal from it. That’s what you did.”
“I love you.”
“Good thing because I’m so fucking in love with you,” I whispered against his lips, throwing his words back at him. It made him smile, which was the goal. Good, I didn’t want him hurting anymore than he wanted me to feel that way.
23
It took a few more days to get everything in place, finish the quest, and make it safe to finally, finally go to that last spot on the map. I was a ball of nerves when we were going to fly out, and instead I blurted to Kristof to just blur me there and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I wasn’t the only one it seemed, as several people sighed in relief, nervous and excited about what was going to happen next.
And then we were there. No more foreplay and planning, we were finally there.
And someone was waiting for us.
I studied the old man who had darker skin and realized he was Native American. This was on the Navajo Nation Reservation.
And he was infected. His arm from what I could see was a weird color, and a nasty, scabbed scratch that was clearly where he was infected was prominent.
“I’ve been waiting a while,” he greeted, handing me a file folder. “I am the last.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, taking it from him and not sure what else to say. “It wasn’t easy getting here.”
“I bet not,” he chuckled. “The land is yours.”
“What?” I breathed, my eyes going wide. “I just knew this was the last place on the map, that my coven should be here.”
He nodded to the folder. “As the elder I signed over the reservation to you. I have no idea what that means with whoever else is left, but others dropped off deeds as well.” He held up his arm. “I was infected over two years ago.”
A stiff breeze could have blown me over. “I was making my way around Asia then collecting and hiding artifacts.”
He let out a whistle. “The gods have been busy with you then.” He gave me a worried look. “You will take care of it all, won’t you?”
I nodded. “We’re going to rebuild and save as many as we can, free the corrupted to what comes next. It’s what we’ve been doing since I met the others to help me.”
“I doubt it will be easy.”
I chuckled darkly. “It’s the apocalypse. That word is no longer one any of us use.”
“I’m glad I held on to finish this,” he whispered, rubbing his chest. “I suspect that was part of all of this. I couldn’t have rested if I didn’t know the last of our people’s land was safe.”
“I’m sorry none survived.” I frowned. That was horrible.
It was his turn to chuckle darkly. “This day was always coming from the moment white men came here and decided they deserved what wasn’t theirs and preached they were such great children of their god while spilling the blood of the same children just another color. We held on for hundreds of years, but this was always going to be the outcome.”
“I’m still sorry.”
He nodded. “We always knew something was buried here, not physically but a truth that shouldn’t have been. We felt it.” He glanced from the Four Corners Monument to me. “Do you know?”
“No, but I feel the same,” I whispered. “We believe Aether is the Goddess with the big G, but who really knows the right name and what it all means?”
He bobbed his head, rubbing his chest again. “I leave it in your hands…”
“Inez. I’m Inez Garner, a vampire princess it seems who will build her coven here.” A giggle slipped out. “It still sounds insane to me, but well, it’s sort of hard to deny.”
“As is life.” He nodded to the others. “I wish you all the luck my people didn’t have. I think you’ll need it.”