by Jenny Frame
Katie wiped away her tears on the back of her hand. “So, this is Anna.”
Next to it was a lock of brown hair encased in glass.
This was why Alexis was terrified and scared she was going to lose her. Despite Alexis being much older in age, Katie felt she was more in tune with love, its consequences, and how they could make it work between them.
“I need to think.”
Katie put down the picture and said, “I’ll take care of her, Anna.”
* * *
Byron and Amelia were sitting on the couch, in front of the fire. Byron had her arms around Amelia.
“Do you need me to do anything for the funeral?” Byron asked.
Early that day, Byron had a phone call from the police commissioner to say Amelia’s parents’ bodies were being released from the authorities.
“No, Uncle Jaunty and Uncle Simon are going to help me. It’s funny—I mean strange. Nothing will change my upbringing and how repressive and loveless I thought it was, but I can now see they were showing me love in the only way they knew how.”
“Yes?”
Amelia nodded. “They rescued me from a world they thought was in league with the devil, and they combated that with the only weapons they knew to protect me. Their own brand of fundamentalist Christianity. It won’t change anything, but in their way, I think they loved me.”
“I think you’re right. So why do you think Daisy wanted a meeting tomorrow?”
“I’ve no idea. It’s strange. She wasn’t herself.”
“Someone else wasn’t themselves today,” Byron said.
“Who?”
“Alexis. She was distracted all day, and that’s not like her. I think being in love is a learning process for her.”
Amelia smiled. “I’m sure it is. It was for you.”
“True, but I’m still learning, believe me. How did witch school go today?” Byron asked.
Amelia chuckled. “Witch school? I suppose it is. Great. We were meditating. She was trying to train me to control the voices of my ancestors. Only when I harness them can I use magic. I think it’s going to take a lot of practice.”
Byron kissed her head. “Yes, I’m sure. You’ll be fantastic—I know it.”
Amelia lifted her head from Byron’s chest and kissed her chin. “It turns out my love and passion for you open me up to my ancestors.”
“Oh yes?”
“Yes, so Magda told me,” Amelia said.
“So that means it’s better for your development as a witch if you keep acting passionate with me?”
“Yes, are the staff still around?” Amelia grinned.
“I dismissed them for the evening. We won’t be disturbed, and besides I can hear anyone coming for a mile away.”
Amelia placed little kisses on Byron’s mouth, then licked all around her lips with the tip of her tongue. Byron groaned and Amelia laughed.
“You might have super hearing but I think you might be distracted when I’ve finished with you.”
“Someone’s feeling frisky,” Byron said.
“I’m just feeling full of energy just now, and you are the only one I want to use it with.”
Amelia slid onto the floor and kneeled in front of Byron. She then unbuttoned her blouse slowly, never taking her eyes off Byron, and threw it to the side.
She was pleased to see Byron’s eyes glowed red and kept transfixed on her. Next she unclipped her bra and discarded it. Byron made almost a growling noise, and she noticed Byron’s teeth had erupted.
Amelia crawled forward and leaned over Byron’s lap. She squeezed Byron’s strap-on through her trousers, and Byron groaned.
“Would you like me to suck your cock, Principe?”
Byron grasped Amelia’s hand and placed it on her buckle. Amelia grinned. She loved this. She loved being this for Byron, was more to the point. Before she met Byron, Amelia didn’t consider herself a confident sexual being, but Byron taught her and gave her the confidence to unleash the raw sexuality inside her.
Now she could proudly be everything Byron needed and satisfy her in so many ways. She unfastened Byron’s belt and zip, then pulled out her hard strap-on.
Amelia looked to the door and then back to Byron. “You better let me know if anyone’s coming.”
Byron’s gaze didn’t waver. “Put it in your mouth.”
Amelia decided to tease Byron and place kisses up and down the shaft. Although it wasn’t real, in Byron’s headspace it was, and that’s all she needed to enjoy this act. And unlike a real cock, neither Byron nor her lovers were ever let down.
Byron put her hand in Amelia’s hair and encouraged her to put her mouth on her. Amelia took the tip into her mouth and Byron groaned. She looked up and saw Byron’s red eyes focused firmly on her.
It was all about the act, the performance, to keep Byron in the right headspace, and so she had learned over time just what Byron needed. She sucked as much of the strap-on in her mouth as she could and then slowly lifted her head and let it pop out of her mouth.
“Jesus,” Byron said with a mixture of pleasure and frustration.
Amelia grasped the base tightly and pumped her hand up and down while she teased the head with the tip of her tongue.
“You’re so good at that,” Byron groaned. “Suck me.”
This time Amelia sucked it all in and started a regular rhythm, up and down. She felt both of Byron’s hands on the back of her head.
“Yes, just like that. Take it all in,” Byron said.
Amelia began to suck faster, and Byron’s hips rocked with her. She didn’t want to make Byron come this way, just take her to the brink. Once Byron’s hips went too fast, hurtling to the edge of orgasm, she let the strap-on pop out of her mouth.
“Don’t stop now, mia cara.” Byron groaned.
“I want more,” Amelia said.
She got as close as she could and placed her breasts around Byron’s cock, which was still wet from Amelia’s mouth. She knew Byron was crazy for this, but if she did it for too long, it would be over too soon.
“Fuck. Yes.” Byron placed her hands on top of Amelia’s, which were holding on to her breasts, and tried to control the pace of her wet cock, which was rubbing between Amelia’s breasts.
“Good girl,” Byron said, as she pumped, “I’m going to come on you.”
“Not yet.” Amelia pulled away from her.
Byron growled in frustration. “Stop teasing.”
Amelia stood and took off her tights and underwear but left her skirt on, then climbed on top of Byron’s lap. She kissed her, then whispered, “I want you to blow inside me.”
Byron immediately grasped the base of her cock and eased the tip inside Amelia. She then allowed Amelia to control how quickly she lowered herself onto it. They both moaned when it was finally deep inside her.
“You are so beautiful.” Byron pushed her face into Amelia’s chest and began to suck on one of her breasts while her hand squeezed the other.
They started to rock together, “I feel so full. It’s really deep.”
Byron moved back against the couch and put her hands on Amelia’s hips, while she braced herself against Byron’s shoulders.
“So good,” Amelia said.
She closed her eyes and started to rise and fall on Byron’s cock faster and faster. Her mind was clearing, and all she could think about was the intense pleasure that was building up inside her.
Again, the voices in her head got louder and more clear. It really did work. Byron’s love was her connection to her ancestors.
Byron grasped her buttocks and pressed even deeper. “Jesus, I love you.”
Amelia was so close, so close to bliss, and Byron did something she loved, that made her almost fall over the edge—she slapped her buttock, once, twice, three times.
“Oh yes,” Amelia said. “Again, I’m nearly there.”
Byron smacked her twice more. “I’m going to come inside you.”
Then all she could feel was the intense wh
ite heat of pleasure, and then the sensation of Byron’s teeth in her neck. Just as Amelia was coming down from her orgasm, Byron was going over the edge. She thrust fast, gripped her buttocks tightly, and moaned as she fed.
This set off a second orgasm in Amelia, much deeper and more overwhelming this time. She pumped her hips erratically on Byron’s cock until they both fell backward onto the back of the couch.
“Jesus Christ, that was good. I’ll help you commune with your ancestors anytime.”
Amelia’s mind was clear. There were no garbled voices or words competing with each other. It was silent, but Amelia felt in her bones that the ancestors were waiting to help her whenever she needed it.
Amelia smiled when she looked at Byron and saw her blood around her lips. She wiped some off onto her finger and offered it into Byron’s mouth.
Byron sucked it off and smiled. “Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, vampire.”
Chapter Seventeen
Drasas startled as Victorija burst into the throne room. The Principe was breathing hard and looked desperate to feed. She grabbed the nearest female vampire and started to feed on her. This was the first time Victorija had kept something from her. It hurt, but at the same time made Drasas realize she was right to take action.
Victorija had been weakened.
After searching Victorija’s computer, she’d found a name. Daisy MacDougall. The Debrek Principessa’s friend. Drasas remembered now how that Daisy female had bitten her Principe and been bitten in return. That was where the infection happened. Other vampires liked to be romantic about it, but to Drasas, that’s all the blood bond was.
Now all she needed was to bring the female here, and her blood would save Victorija from madness and loss of her faculties. Just enough time for Madam Anka to harness Victorija’s power.
She saw Victorija pull away from the vampire she was feeding on and shout, “It’s not enough!”
Drasas hurried down to her. “Principe, can I—”
Victorija pushed her. “Get out of my way.” She then sped off down the castle stairs.
Sometime later, Leo came into the room, and Drasas waved him over.
“Where did she go?”
“An old disused graveyard. She paced up and down muttering something, and then came back here. I’m worried about the Principe, Duca,” Leo said.
Drasas patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”
He nodded and walked off. Drasas took out her phone and dialled Madam Anka’s number.
“Yes?”
“You will give me the power you promised me? Then I have the name,” Drasas said.
* * *
Alexis didn’t know where she was headed—she just knew she wanted to get away from the Debrek house and Katie. She ran and ran, hoping for the exhaustion that she could hardly remember as a mortal.
The exercise being futile, she slowed after a few miles and found herself outside the gates of a small local park. She wandered in, and the gathering evening darkness made the park look eerie.
There was only one other person in the park, a man with his dog at the other gate, just about to leave. Alexis walked over to the children’s playground and sat on a bench. She let her head fall back and stared up at the evening sky. The moon hung in the sky, dazzling and bright. Now that she had some distance from Katie and their argument, guilt was starting to gnaw away at her stomach.
She looked down at her rapidly healing wrist. It had totally shocked her that Katie bit her, tried to initiate the transition. Alexis went through decades of pain trying to come to terms with losing her humanity, and she couldn’t let Katie go through that.
“Why did I let this happen again?” Alexis asked the sky.
The first time she had fallen in love, with Anna, she was a green vampire, not fully grasping the problems of falling in love with a human. Now she knew the full horror of watching your lover die, yet her heart still fell in love again. Why?
Why had she done this to herself? Alexis remembered Byron telling her the advice the Grand Duchess had given her. Love doesn’t give you a choice. Maybe that was the penalty, the cost of immortality.
Humans always hungrily tried to find ways to live forever, but would they if they knew the full cost? The realization then hit her—whether she was in a relationship with Katie or not, she would still have to watch her grow old and die, unless her love faded, which she knew it wouldn’t.
Katie was a loving, warm woman. She needed love, and Alexis was sure she would eventually find someone who would give her everything Alexis couldn’t, and that would be horrendous.
She fell forward and covered her face in her hands. Love was meant to be joyful, and yet she was in torment.
Through her messy thoughts and painful feelings, Alexis became aware of the scent of fresh blood, then the noise of something in the trees on the other side of the park. As she got closer, she heard a noise—something breathing and feeding.
Alexis ran at super speed into the trees. She arrived at the park wall just as something had left the scene and dropped on the other side of the wall. When she climbed the wall to follow, there was no one there.
Alexis dropped back down to where the blood scent was coming from and found a collection of dead birds and a few squirrels. All had been killed viciously, their flesh torn and ripped apart, as if in a frenzy.
It could have been another animal, but the creature she’d heard, which had jumped over the wall and slammed down on the pavement, sounded like a human, and that gave her an uneasy feeling.
Alexis made her way out of the trees and took out her mobile. She called her lieutenant. “Peter? Get a team to patrol a two-mile perimeter from the house. I found something in the park, and I have a bad feeling we have another vampire in the area.”
“Yes, Duca.”
When Alexis hung up the phone she went into her photos and gazed at the picture of Katie. There would be pain if she was with her, and if she wasn’t. Which was worse, loving her every day and losing her to age, slowly, or to danger out there in the world, or watching someone else love her?
Chapter Eighteen
The next day Byron and Amelia were due to meet Daisy. Byron waited in the drawing room, where Amelia said she would bring Daisy, and wondered what on earth she needed to talk about. Whatever it was, Byron had a bad feeling.
Byron looked at her watch—it was two o’clock in the afternoon. “Time for a quick drink.”
She walked over to the drinks table and poured out Wulver Whisky, given to her by Kenrick Wulver at her wedding. It was a one of a kind tipple, and Byron had promised herself to ration it. She didn’t have that many cases, and rationing was not going well so far.
Byron took a sip and closed her eyes to appreciate the flavour. “Hmm.” She picked up the more than half empty bottle. Maybe Kenrick could be persuaded to keep this whisky on continuous order for her. Byron would pay anything for this blend.
The door to the drawing room opened, and Amelia led Daisy into the room.
“Ah, good afternoon, Daisy.”
“Hi.”
“Sit down here, Daisy,” Amelia said. “Tea won’t be long.”
“How are you, Daisy?” Byron asked as she sat down next to Amelia.
“Okay, thanks.”
Daisy usually had a cheeky or punchy reply, but not today. She sounded down, worried, and that made Byron worried.
Amelia put her hand on Byron’s knee then said, “What did you want to talk about?”
Instead of answering, Daisy took off the scarf around her neck. Amelia gasped, and Byron felt like gasping herself when she saw that the vampire bite Victorija had given Daisy at The Sanctuary had not healed. The full implications hit Byron like a ton of bricks.
Amelia got up quickly and went to Daisy. She sat down next to her and touched the wound on Daisy’s neck.
“Tell me this is not—”
“Victorija’s bite? Yeah, it is,” Daisy said.
“I didn’t believe it at first, and then I was too scared to face it. I told Katie, and she told me I should tell you, but I begged her for time to get my head around it.”
Amelia couldn’t believe this was true. Daisy was bonded by blood and fate to Victorija Dred just like she was to Byron.
She turned to Byron. “Byron…”
Byron got up and said, “You should have told us straight away, Daisy. You could have been captured by Victorija by now. You probably would have been if she wasn’t missing in action.”
“Byron, I have a lot of experience chasing the paranormal and occult. I won’t accept there isn’t a way to stop this. But I tried to research and find something that could break this, and I found nothing.”
“Do you think she knows?” Amelia asked.
Byron let out a breath. “She’s got to be having some serious problems by now. It explains why Victorija has been quiet, but her clan is attacking at will and not being careful. I’m now sure someone else is giving the orders at the moment.”
Amelia rubbed her forehead. She remembered that confusing time of being newly bonded and trying to push Byron away, but at the same time fighting an unquenchable need to be close and feed her.
“Nothing will stop Victorija coming for you, Daisy. She’ll use you for blood and never stop, just like Victorija’s father did with her mother.”
“There must be some way to break the bond. There’s always a way. I’m not going to be some vamp’s everlasting meal.”
“Maybe Magda might know of something buried deep in the magic literature?” Amelia said to Byron. “Or maybe Sybil?”
“We will look into it, but be assured, Daisy, we will protect you.”
“Thank you. I should probably mention, when Victorija tasted my blood, she said it was strange,” Daisy said.
“What was strange?” Amelia asked.