by Jenny Frame
Alexis brushed Katie’s hair from her face. “Do you feel okay?”
“Okay?” Katie said with surprise. “You blew my head off.”
Alexis laughed and then felt Katie’s hips rock again. Katie put her legs around Alexis, squeezing her close.
“I need to—” Katie moaned. “I need to come again. Come with me, Alex. Come on me.”
Alexis nearly came on the spot at that request. She pushed her sex as close as she could to Katie and began to thrust.
“I can feel you, Alex.” Katie moaned into her neck as she pulled her close. Alexis’s orgasm was soaring closer and closer to the edge with every thrust of her hips.
“Fuck.” Alexis moaned. It had been so long since she’d indulged in a casual sexual encounter, so her need for an orgasm was great, but with Katie it was like being allowed to touch bliss.
Just like when she was making Katie come with her mouth, all she could think about was sinking her fangs into Katie, this time into her neck, but she didn’t. Alexis used all her resolve and kissed Katie instead of biting her.
Katie pushed her head back and said, “Bite me, drink from me when you come?”
“I don’t think—”
“I’m strong enough. I want this, Alex. I consent, okay?” Katie said firmly.
Alexis’s mouth watered, and her eyes darted to the pulse point on Katie’s neck. Should she do this?
Katie, apparently sick of waiting, pulled Alexis’s face into the crook of her neck. “Please, Alex?”
Alexis couldn’t say no. She licked the area where she would bite, once, twice, then sank her teeth into Katie’s neck.
The rush of that first taste of blood was like flooding her body with a drug. With her hips thrusting into Katie and feeding from her neck, Alexis doubted there was anything that could ever have felt better.
She drank greedily and then thrust until all the pain, frustration, and love for Katie came out in a long orgasm. Her body rocked with an electricity that sparked all over her.
“Jesus,” Alexis said as she tried to get her breath back. “Are you okay?”
Katie caught her breath. “More than okay. I’ve dreamed about being in your arms since I understood that I liked women.”
Alexis felt such a surge of pure love for Katie. She cupped her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes. “Katie, I…”
Katie stroked her hair. “What?”
Alexis couldn’t say it. An immortal vampire, and she didn’t have the courage to tell her lover that she loved her.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Chapter Fifteen
Byron entered the bedroom to find Amelia sitting on the side of the bed in her nightdress. She seemed to be concentrating deeply and trying with all her might to lift one of her shoes off the floor with her untapped power. She raised it a few inches, and then it wobbled and crashed down.
“Pathetic,” Amelia said. “I’m supposed to be a descendant, someone who has to fight against a darkness that’s coming, and I have no idea how to use magic.”
Byron walked over to the bed and got in. “You will learn. We go back to London tomorrow, and we’ll contact our friends at The Portal—then you’ll be more confident. Besides, do you think I’d let anyone get through me?”
Amelia gave up with her magic and slipped under the covers beside Byron. “That’s the thing that puzzles me. Why would a relatively weak grade-one beginner witch be the one prophesied to fight the darkness that this Anka woman brings? You are the most powerful vampire alive. Why not you?”
Byron pulled Amelia into her arms. “We must trust your ancestors. They can see the whole picture. Can you still hear the voices?”
“Yes, in the background, when I concentrate, but I can’t hear them very clearly again.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing. Or they might drive you insane,” Byron said.
“Sybil said that Bronte, my mum, will be one of those voices, and that I will find a way to hear her one day.”
“I’m sure the strength of a mother’s love will make that happen,” Byron said.
“I wish I could have known her and what she was running from.”
“We’ll keep looking for information, I promise,” Byron said.
Amelia was quiet for a while and then started to pull off her nightdress.
“What are you doing?” Byron asked.
“You need to feed,” Amelia said flatly.
Byron pulled the nightdress back. “Oh no. Not after today. I fed on a blood bag before I came through.”
It was jarring, every time she thought of today. The parents she thought she hated had actually protected her all her life. Their actions towards her and their intentions were so conflicting.
“I phoned Uncle Jaunty to tell him about Mother and Father.”
“What did he say?” Byron asked.
“The same as me, really. He hadn’t seen Mother in twenty years, but it still hit him hard. Do you think everything will be all right with the police?”
“I assume so. What can they say? We know you’re a vampire and probably you or someone you know killed them?” Byron shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll release the bodies soon for burial, and if they don’t, I’ll have a word with the police commissioner. The Debrek name carries some weight.”
Amelia leaned up on her elbow. “I really want to honour their lives, what they did for me.” As Amelia said that, the tears that she wished earlier she could cry for her parents started to fall.
“It’s all right. Let it all out.” Byron pulled her into a hug. “We will give them respect and all my gratitude for keeping you safe. I promise you.”
“Do you think Victorija is involved in this? In killing my parents?” Amelia asked.
“It would have been my first thought. Alexis was sure the vampires she dispatched today were Dreds, and the intelligence we are getting is that the Dreds are becoming more active, turning humans left, right, and centre, and bringing dark witches to their cause, but Victorija has vanished from public view. No one has seen her, and I’m concerned.”
“Why?” Amelia asked.
“Because my cousin likes the world to know what havoc and destruction she is causing. She thrives on others being afraid of her power. Her sudden introverted behaviour makes me suspicious that she has something else going on, or that someone else is using her vampires. Sometimes it’s better the devil you know.”
“Hmm. Maybe killing Lucia had a greater effect than we realized,” Amelia said.
“Lucia never gave up hope on her, even after her death. She was sure there was a way back for Victorija, despite everything.”
They both listened to the noises of the forest outside the bedroom window for a while, and then out of the darkness, Amelia said, “Who was my father, and how will we ever find out if Sybil doesn’t know?”
“I’m sure all the answers you need will come to you.”
* * *
Katie tried to catch her breath, then rolled on top of Alexis. She smiled down at her and stroked a dark lock away from her eyes. They had moved to the bedroom and been making love for some time now. It was better than Katie could ever have imagined.
“What are you thinking?” Alexis asked.
“The first time you drank blood from me. I wanted you so much. You made me feel like a sexual being for the first time. I’d never felt like that before. I used to fantasize about you touching me.”
Alexis grinned. “Even when we fought with each other?”
Katie lightly scratched her nails down Alexis’s face. “Even more so. You made me frustrated, horny, like I wanted to fight with you and tear your clothes off at the same time. At night in bed when I’d be lying in the dark, you kept coming into my mind, and you didn’t take no for an answer.”
“I wish I’d known.” Alexis smiled. “I would have been happy to fight and tear each other’s clothes off. How is your neck now?”
“You mean the bite that I’ve always wanted from you?�
� Katie grinned.
She touched her fingertips to the fresh wound, covering them in blood, then painted them across Alexis’s lips. Alexis’s tongue snaked out to taste it, and her eyes glowed red. She flipped Katie onto her back.
“You know how to tease a vampire, don’t you?” Alexis said.
“Teasing you comes natural to me. You were my first crush and…” Katie hesitated. “My first love.”
Katie could see the tension in Alexis’s eyes, but instead of saying anything back, Alexis kissed her deep and hard, as if trying to let her actions tell Katie what she felt. Like touching her heart.
Katie hoped she’d be able to say it soon. She understood Alexis’s difficulties, but she did need to hear the words.
Alexis lifted Katie’s hand and put it between her breasts, over her heart, and silently looked into her eyes. Katie’s eyes were full of love and trust, which Alexis felt she didn’t deserve.
“Don’t let go,” Alexis said. She slipped her fingers into Katie’s sex and, splitting her fingers around her clit, softly, slowly stroked her while never taking her eyes off her. She hoped this would show Katie what was truly in her heart.
Katie kept her palm on Alexis’s heart and never looked away, even as her orgasm was building towards the edge.
“Come for me,” Alexis said.
She smiled as Katie went taut and struggled to keep her eyes and their hearts’ connection open. Katie cried out and pulled Alexis down to kiss her.
“Oh God, that was so…I mean, it felt like you were inside my heart.”
Alexis smiled. “Good, I only want to make you feel good.”
She went to Katie’s lips for another deep kiss, but Katie pushed her back. “Oh no, no more. You’ve killed me already.”
Alexis laughed and lay back on the bed, and Katie took her place under her arm. “You humans have no stamina.”
“How am I supposed to keep up with an immortal vampire for stamina? It’s lucky I’m so much younger than you, at least,” Katie joked.
They lay in the quiet for a minute or so, enjoying the afterglow, but there was one thing that was niggling at Alexis, and she knew it was maybe too much to ask, but she had to get it out of her head.
“Katie, when we go back to London…I feel stupid asking this.”
“Don’t feel stupid, ask me anything, Alex.”
Alexis smiled at her new nickname. “I like that you’ve started to call me Alex. My best friend in the army, Angus, used to call me that.”
Katie took their clasped hands and kissed Alexis’s knuckles. “I want something that nobody else would ever call the tough, scary Debrek Duca. Ask me what you want.”
Alexis felt like a jealous fool, but the thought that another vampire—one under her, one of her foot soldiers—would sink their fangs into the woman she loved tortured her. But she had no say in that. It was Katie’s body and only she had a say in what she did with it. Consent meant everything, even if she had tested that tenet’s limits recently.
“I wondered if you would be going back on the blood rota. It’s up to you of course, and I don’t—”
Katie silenced her with a kiss. “Of course I won’t. I’m yours for as long as you want me.”
“Thank you. I really don’t want to share you.” But Katie’s words reminded her of Katie’s mortality, and her heart sank. This was the terror that kept her love buried for so long. She turned over on her side to face Katie. “Will you promise me something?”
“What is it?” Katie replied.
“I’m not trying to be controlling or to boss you around, but will you promise me you’ll be really careful? Don’t take any silly risks. You’re mortal, and everything is in flux just now—vampires distrusting each other, some European covens working with vampires, whatever fight is coming with the Principessa—don’t let me lose you. Please?” Alexis begged.
Katie stroked her face. “I will do my best and not take any silly risks. I promise you, and if death comes to me, I will have done my best to avoid it.”
“Thank you.” Alexis kissed her forehead.
Katie went quiet as if she was thinking hard.
“Is something wrong?” Alexis asked.
“With everything going on with the Dreds, there’s something you need to know.”
Alexis was suddenly on alert. “What?”
“It’s about Daisy.”
Chapter Sixteen
“I’m trying to find out, Madam Anka.” Drasas paced up and down at the back entrance to the Dred castle. Madam Anka had called seeking an update on Victorija’s situation.
“I need Victorija better. She is a born vampire, and I need her power, and if you hope to have any at all, you will find out who she was blood bonded to.”
Drasas looked around for anyone listening in to her conversation. “I’m trying, but I wasn’t with her every second when she fed in Britain. It could be anyone.”
“If you ever hope to lead the army I’m building or become the most powerful vampire alive, then you will hurry up and find out, so we can get them to your Principe. To give you what you want, I shall have to harness her power.”
“I will find out, I promise you, Madam Anka.”
“Make sure you do, and make it a better attempt than your vampires did trying to kill Sybil. I want her dead.”
“We got her mother and father,” Drasas pointed out.
“I needed Sybil too, before Amelia Debrek finds out who she is. Make things right, or I will find another worthy vampire, understand?” Anka said.
“Yes, Madam Anka.” She hung up the phone.
“Busy, Drasas?”
Drasas nearly jumped out of her skin at Victorija’s voice. “Principe? Just giving out the orders. Are you feeling better?”
If Victorija knew what she was doing, she’d rip her limb from limb. It wasn’t that she didn’t admire her Principe still, she did, but the events in Britain had made her soft. It was time for new, strong leadership.
Victorija looked at her silently. Her eyes were edged with red permanently now that she hungered for the blood of her bonded. Drasas held her breath. Had Victorija heard her?
Victorija looked over at the stables and said, “I’m going riding.”
Drasas couldn’t believe it. “You’re going riding? You haven’t ridden in a century.”
Victorija’s eyes went even redder in anger. “Well, today I feel like it, okay?”
“Forgive me, Principe. Have you thought of who your blood bond is yet?” Drasas asked.
“No,” Victorija said firmly. “I’m going riding.” She strode off.
She knows something, Drasas thought, but why would she try to keep the identity of that person a secret? Victorija was a woman who saw humans as simply there to feed her. Why was she not telling the whole truth?
As she watched Victorija ride off, she realized she could look around her private apartments freely. Drasas sped back into the castle.
* * *
Alexis was worried. They had been back in London for a week, and the reality of being in a relationship with a human was hitting home.
She glanced at the time on her phone and paced up and down, her worry never letting her calm down. Byron was having lunch with a government official in a private dining room of a top London hotel. It had been a long lunch. Two hours now, and the longer she waited the more her mind drifted back to Katie.
This morning when they woke, Katie told her she was going shopping in the afternoon. Despite being out on duty with Byron, Katie was all she could think about.
Alexis was so on edge just now. There hadn’t been a more dangerous time for them in a hundred years. The whole paranormal world was shaken from its slumber and it seemed there was danger everywhere.
When Katie told her about Daisy MacDougall and the fact that her bite from Victorija hadn’t healed, she knew sooner or later the Dred clan would descend upon them, looking for her. She had never kept something from Byron before, but Katie persuaded her to let Daisy be the one
to tell.
She only agreed if Daisy told Byron in the next few days. Her love for Katie was making her fearful.
“Duca? Is everything all right?” Bhal said.
Alexis pushed her phone back in her pocket quickly. “What? Yes.”
Bhal nodded and returned to her post on the side of the dining room door. If one of her vampires was caught looking at their phone, they’d be peeling potatoes in the kitchen for two months straight. Alexis looked up to see if her vampires posted at the end of the corridor noticed. Luckily, they were all concentrating elsewhere.
The constant worry she had felt over the past week was paralyzing. Every morning she left Katie to work, she had the gut-wrenching worry that she might not see her again. This was why she never wanted to be in love with a human again.
She resumed pacing. It was so hard not to be at Katie’s side all the time.
“Duca?”
Alexis was instantly pulled from her tortured thoughts by Byron’s voice. She turned around and saw Byron had exited the dining room and was looking at her quizzically. So were Bhal and all her vampires.
She couldn’t believe she hadn’t been aware of Byron leaving the room—with her enhanced hearing she was always ready and waiting when Byron was leaving an engagement. Instead she’d been lost in her mind.
Alexis decided to carry on as normal and simply apologize. “My apologies, Principe. Are we leaving now?”
Byron looked at her through narrowed eyes. “Yes, I want to go to the office now, Duca.”
“Of course, Principe.”
Alexis took point and led them out to the waiting cars outside. Once Byron was safely inside her car, Alexis looked at the time again. Was Katie back home safely by now?
Being distracted was unforgivable. Her worry for Katie was compromising her duty. She had to get a handle on this paralyzing fear of losing her lover.
* * *
Amelia loved her new design room. In the basement of her shop, she had an office design room that looked out onto the workshop. There were two design tables, one for her and one for Daisy when she was working downstairs with her.