by L. L. Ash
Nyx settled back on a lounge and he joined her, his greying hair and handsome face away from me now. I watched Papa and Mama both with their own blood slaves, as well as two other women, including Ariston’s mother.
Ariston lifted both of our cloches and set them on the table in front of us, distracting me from the blood fest just five feet away.
“I was thinking,” Ariston asked as he cracked into his boiled egg, “If you’re not too tired, we have a really nice pool, and our garden is incredible. How would you like to get out for a little bit?”
That sounded awesome.
“Please,” I told him a little more desperately than I’d have liked but he just smiled knowingly at me.
“I’m pretty sure wardrobe has a swimming suit you could use,” he told me before using a tiny little spoon to scoop out the soft flesh of his egg before inserting it into his mouth.
I looked down at my plate just to get my eyes off his mouth and assessed what was there. I had a similar boiled egg, a disk of bread with what looked like honey on the side. A little bowl of yogurt and berries sat in the middle. Now this was something I could handle.
The servant came back, this time setting two cups with saucers in front of us. Mine was a light brown, creamy mixture with a familiar white circle in the middle, and Ariston’s was black in a tiny cup. An espresso kind of guy. I could dig it.
“Oh God… Coffee...” I groaned as I sipped the hot mixture.
“You didn’t get any at my brother’s house?” he asked me with a half smile.
“I got medieval food at your brother’s house,” I told him.
He shrugged and nodded.
“Fits the time period.” He rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I feel lost being so young.”
“You know you’re not really young at all, right?”
“In my family?” He scoffed. “I’m like a baby. And they treat me as such.”
“You are not quite ready, son,” came Papa’s voice.
“What more do I have to do to be ready?” Ariston called back.
“You must have some more time to be human. I see it in you. You’re not ready.”
Ariston frowned and picked at the bread on his plate.
We were quiet as I sipped and sipped my delicious cappuccino and watched Ariston’s demeanor darken and darken until he excused himself from the table.
“I’ll meet you at the pool when you’re ready,” he told me before walking out.
With him gone I looked around, seeing Nyx was gone as well, as was Papa and the other mates. Mama was the only one who remained.
“Are you finished?” she asked me from her comfortable position on the lounge.
I nodded.
“Do you know where the wardrobe is? Ariston said they’d have a swimsuit I could use.”
She nodded.
“Sure. I’ll show you.”
Mama stood and led me through hallways and up a set of stairs before we arrived at a wardrobe room similar to the one in LA.
“Mistress.” A woman approached us with a smile. “How may I assist you?”
“My daughter would like use of a swimsuit.”
The woman nodded and went over to a trunk. She dug through it before handing me a handful of fabric.
“Mistress.” the woman acknowledged me with a dip of her head.
“I will see to your outfitting personally,” Mama told me. “But it will have to wait until tonight. Meanwhile I will have something sent to your room to change into when you are done exercising.”
“Do you uh… have a slip or something? To wear over this?”
The woman nodded eagerly.
A minute later I had yet another gauzy fabric in my hands.
Mama showed me to another room that she told me would be mine before she left me to change.
I tied on the little white triangles of my bikini, praying my cleavage stayed put in the top as I swam, then I tied the sheer white wrapper around me. Mama waited for me outside, then showed me to the door that led to the pool.
“Enjoy yourself,” she smiled before walking away.
I opened the door and got blasted with the eighty degree heat from outside. I stepped into the sun and felt it tingle all over my skin as I stood there. I closed my eyes, just enjoying the feeling.
Splashes pulled me out of my sun soaking and I noticed finally that the pool wasn’t just a pool. There were columns and marble lining the pool like it was inside the Parthenon, just with no roof. Arches in the wall led to the garden beyond and marble looking concrete covered the ground all around the pool. Inside the pool was water, shimmering like a blue jewel with black designs in the white tile underneath.
I saw where the splashing was coming from and watched as Ariston’s head and chest popped out of the water after swimming laps. His normally perfect hair now a mess across his scalp and forehead. He rubbed at his eyes then turned to me.
“You just going to stand there?” he called.
I grinned and stepped toward the pool, untying the cover before setting it on a chair nearby. Plopping on the edge of the pool, I soaked my feet and calves in the cool water. Salt wafted over my nose and I jumped for joy at the thought of swimming in a saltwater pool.
Ariston paddled over to me and settled his hands on the concrete tiles to my sides.
“You just going to sit there?” He grinned at me, his brown eyes chestnut colored in the sun and they were dancing with mirth.
“Why not? It’s the first time I’ve been able to enjoy the sunlight and warmth in days.”
“C’mon,” he urged. “Feels great in here!”
I rolled my eyes before waving my hands at him to give me space then I slipped into the salty water.
“Oh yeah, that’s good,” I agreed, my hair floating all around my shoulders.
“Race?” he asked and I nodded, immediately heading for the edge of the pool on the opposite side.
Ariston called after me but I didn’t stop. This felt like freedom, and I wasn’t going to waste a second of it.
Chapter Six
“You coming?” Ariston asked from the pool.
I just grinned.
He asked that every single time he got to the pool first. We’d spent every afternoon diving and playing and racing in the pool just to lay in the cabana afterwards to dry off in the sun, talking about anything and everything.
I sat on the edge of the pool as was my norm and he came up, framing his arms around me on the concrete as he always did.
It had been three weeks now. Three weeks in Greece and I was beginning to think that it wasn’t so bad. It was nice not having to worry about anything, or having to work for my food and shelter. All I was good for was growing babies and I was already doing that.
Ariston hadn’t left me for longer than a few hours at a time. We had all our meals together, spent time doing nothing together and talking each other’s ears off. The attraction between us had been sparking hotter and hotter every day, with every hour we spent in each other’s company.
I treasured the couple hours we spent in the pool and cabana. It was time that was just ours. Nobody came out in the daylight hours except the slaves who didn’t care one way or the other what we were doing.
Smiling down at Ariston, I lifted myself enough to slide into the water. My skin brushed against his the entire way until I was pressed between the pool tiles and his solid chest.
His eyes were instantly alight with lust and passion as his hands found my hips, pressing me further into him.
My mate in LA insisted he owed me no form of fidelity. Not that I even want him in the first place. I was the owner of my own body, heart and mind. I could give any of them to whomever I decided.
His head dipped, then went back up as if he wanted to kiss me but changed his mind.
“Do you want me, Ariston?”
He raised an eyebrow at me like that was a stupid question.
“But you’re not mine,” he admitted, his thumb trailing from my belly button, ac
ross my stomach, then down to my hip.
“I’m my own to give to whoever I want,” I told him sternly. “Calix lost his hold on me when I came here. I’ll have his baby but that’s all he’ll get from me.”
One of his hands came out of the water, trailing drops down my cheek as he pressed his palm to it.
“You’re sure?” he asked me and I nodded,
I would far prefer to give myself to someone who talked to me, treated me like a queen and in a way, had affection for me, same as I did for him.
His mouth dipped and I felt his lips touch mine.
There was nothing earth shattering about the kiss like there had been with Calix, but it was nice, pleasant. He pressed me further into the tiles as his hand curled around the back of my head, sticking in my hair a little with his wet fingers. I gave in to his tongue, opening my mouth to him and accepting it with the swirl of mine against his. Ariston’s other hand moved across my hip, down to cup my ass, pulling my hips closer to his, grinding them together before urging my leg around his waist. I attached myself easily onto him, my arms around his neck as my legs curled over his hips.
His hand moved away from my head, trailing around my shoulder then back around under my arm where his thumb brushed the side of my breast exposed by the small bikini. The kiss quickly went from exploration to full-on face eating proportions and he hiked me further up until I was glued to his hips, his erection pressing against his shorts and my little bikini bottoms.
For some reason I wanted to know what it was like, outside of Calix. I wanted to know if sex was as good or even better without the intensity that happened around him. I trusted Ariston and knew he’d treat me well, and he’d stop if I asked him. He had a streak of chivalry that his brother didn’t have. I wanted to know what this was like with him, and I thought he did too, judging by the thing poking at my butt.
I reached behind my neck and untied the strings, letting both white triangles fall away about a microsecond before his hand was there, cupping and kneading one, his thumb brushing over the already stiff peak.
Ariston gripped me around the hips again suddenly and I was out of the water, seated on the edge of the pool. I scrambled back as he hoisted himself out, a picture of pure, beautiful masculinity with water dripping off him, chest and arm muscles flexing at the strain.
He was on his feet in one graceful move, his face almost predatory as he approached me, backing up as if I were scared. I wasn’t, but I was a little apprehensive. He outstretched his hand and I took it. It took him a grand total of a second before I was up on my feet, then swept off them, straddling his waist again as he moved forward, carrying me. Our lips were sealed together again, and I felt myself being lowered, then the cool sheets of the cabana lounge bed was under me. He left me there, sprawled mostly naked out in the open before turning his back to me. I was wondering what the hell he was doing when I saw him release the ties to the gauzy cream curtains, releasing them to give us some semblance of privacy with their windblown panels. Light flickered around the cabana as the curtains open and closed, slashing flashes of light against his olive toned skin as he stalked closer. Ariston reached the lounge bed and dropped to his hands and knees, crawling until he was leaning over me. My legs spread for him of their own volition, inviting him closer before pressing into his sides as he settled between them.
I didn’t have much experience with this, but my brain certainly seemed to know what to do.
His head dipped again, continuing our kiss as his hands trailed all over, touching every inch of exposed skin he could manage before dipping beneath my white bottoms.
Ariston literally hummed in pleasure, his chest vibrating against mine with the sound.
“Just take them off,” I whispered, only partially emboldened by his touch.
He met my eyes and smirked. Goddamn ignoring me, he continued to stroke just the outer lips, not dipping any further after the first exploration. I was moaning and whining within the minute, wriggling as if it would make him hurry up, but he seemed to enjoy teasing the hell out of me.
“Are you done yet?” I finally asked him and he smirked again.
Wow his smile was beautiful. His eyes were twinkling.
He lowered his face to mine, kissed me languidly before speaking against my lips.
“You’ve no patience for foreplay.”
With that he nibbled on my bottom lip before moving away, taking one tie on each side of my bikini bottoms and pulling, loosening the entire thing before slipping them off.
I reached behind my back, untying the back strap of my bikini and letting it drop with the bottoms as he sat there, leaning to one side as he dragged a finger from my chin all the way down my throat and between my breasts until he reached my still bare cleft, letting a finger slip through and brushing against that sensitive, newly discovered bud.
“Panemorfi. Beautiful.”
His eyes trailed slowly back up me until he met my eyes.
“My brother is an idiot.”
I blew out a breathy, uncomfortable laugh. I didn’t want to think about his brother.
Thinking was the last thing on my mind when his fingers took control, working me expertly until I was gasping, begging for that beautiful, sinful release I knew waited just behind that curtain of fire. But before I reached it he took his hand away and moved, kneeling as he worked the ties on his shorts.
Here it was. The big moment where I got to feel the difference between a man and a mate.
He was undressed quickly, leaving his shorts with my suit before his body was laid out against mine again.
Pressing against one of my knees, he curled the leg against my chest before moving the other around his hips, plunging in.
I grunted with the pressure, not unpleasant so much as unexpected, but as he started moving the fire inside me started burning again.
Trying to take what I’d learned the last two times, I moved my hips, meeting him for every thrust as I wiggled, trying to hit my little nub with something. He moved onto one hand, keeping my one leg curled around him before he pressed his hand between us. His fingers scissored around our connection a moment before he pressed the palm of his hand into my folds, hitting the sweet spot.
I groaned as the sensation filtered through my whole body, tightening up my muscles in anticipation of my release. It happened quickly, dragging me through fogginess into the clouds until I was weightless. Ariston growled as he hit his own, slipping his arm around my hips and grinding me upward as he ground down, releasing inside me. He let out a long breath, dropping my butt back to the bed where he let me stretch back out, releasing my knee and uncurling my leg from his hips.
I laid happily as he collapsed next to me, throwing his arm around my waist and pulling me toward him, face to face.
He looked tired, but contented as he lounged, both of us silent.
“Lil,” he said eventually, stroking hair away from my face.
“Yeah?”
“I can’t have a mate yet. Not until my ceremony.”
“I don’t want to be anyone’s mate.”
“You don’t want to belong to someone else?”
I shrugged.
“I always figured I’d get married eventually. But not until after dating him for like… five years.”
He brushed his thumb over my cheek again and again, his expression thoughtful and sad.
“What’s the matter, Ari?”
He smiled at the silly nickname before sighing.
“I don’t… I don’t know if that’s what I want.”
“What? A mate?”
“Everything...” he whispered. “Everyone expects it of me because I’m...I’m part of this family. But I don’t think I want to turn. Bampás keeps pushing it on me, like everyone else, but when I try to take up the reigns, be what he wants me to be… I’m never ready according to him.”
“But shouldn’t that make you happy? It gives you more time to enjoy this.”
“I do enjoy this.” He smiled. “B
ut I want some sort of permanence. I’ve been in transition for eighty-two years. I’m ready to be my own man.”
“So what happens if you don’t turn?”
“I’ll die.”
“You what? They’ll kill you?”
He laughed.
“No. But eventually I’ll age and I’ll die. I can’t help run things. I’m supposed to help my brother in Asia after my ceremony...They have expectations of me, and so many plans… But I like being human… or at least mostly human.”
“But don’t you want love? Like your father has?”
He shrugged.
“I can find love as a human.”
“And then watch her grow old and die.”
“So either I live forever or experience death for the rest of my life?”
“I know. It sucks.”
He sighed and rolled onto his back.
“I’m sorry Lily. I didn’t mean to go on a depressive rant right after...that.”
I smiled.
“I’m not worried about it. So you shouldn’t be either. You need someone to talk to, and I’m here. I’m your friend and you can trust me. I want to help where I can.”
He looked at me with a sad smile.
“Thank you, for being my friend.”
“So like… friends with benefits?”
He laughed out loud, turning back to his side and putting his arm around me again.
“Let’s go out tonight. I have some friends who would love you.”
“I’d like that,” I admitted.
Going out really sounded awesome.
“Ris!” a voice called out as we stepped into the bar Ariston had said we’d meet his friends.
A girl was standing, waving at him.
“There they are,” he said to me with a grin as we hurried through the crowded bar.
An array of accents met my ears as each of the seven people at the table talked all at once.
“Hey! Hey!” Ariston laughed, putting his hands out. “This is Lily. Don’t give her a hard time please. She’s pretty new to all this.”
All eyes turned to me, which seemed to be a thing amongst the vampire kind. It was a little disconcerting.
“Lily?” the girl who waves us over grinned at me with predator eyes. “That’s a cute name.”