by L. L. Ash
“Thanks,” I whispered awkwardly but she grinned anyway.
“So this is Jenny, she’s American too. Beety is British, Joey is from here, Lonny and Laudy are twins from Down Under and that little firecracker is Sofia. She’s from Mexico.” the girl who'd said my name was pretty wiggled her fingers at me in a flirtatious manner.
“Doesn’t swing that way, darling,” Ariston told Sofia with a laugh.
She just frowned in disappointment.
“When are you ever going to bring some candy for me?”
“You don’t need any help in that department.” He rolled his eyes and pulled out a stool from the table to help me sit.
“She’s taken anyway,” Ariston mumbled as he grabbed a drink from in front of the twins.
“Bugger off,” Lonny frowned, shooing Ariston’s hand away.
“Taken? By who?” Jenny asked now, her green eyes shining in excitement.
“My dumbass brother.”
“Which one?” Jenny and Laudy both said together before laughing.
“Calix,” he said with a sigh and the giggles stopped.
“Calix? You mean Calix has taken a new mate?” Beety asked, his dark brown hair covering most of his eyes.
Ariston shrugged.
“Sort of. Or rather, enough. Lil isn’t exactly thrilled with the arrangement.”
The girls all looked at me like I was crazy.
“Why not?” Jenny asked at last. “I’ve met him and OHmiGOD he is delectable! And he’s got that tall, dark, brooding thing going for him too.”
“Yeah, it’s not so great close up,” I told her, wondering when I could go to the bar to get a drink.
Not that I had any money anyway.
“Let’s not talk about him,” Ariston said finally.
“Why not?” Laudy asked. “I mean, he’s more powerful than all your brothers combined. Second only to your dad. And LA? I mean, LA is like… the place to be for vamps. Besides right here where it all started. Geeze. I think I’m kinda jealous.”
“You kinda have two problems, sis,” Lonny said to his sister sarcastically. “You kinda have to be human, plus, even more unrealistically, a virgin.”
Everyone at the table laughed, even Laudy. She punched her brother on the arm who hooted, holding the limb, then they went back to their drinks.
“What do you want?” Ariston asked me as he moved toward the bar.
“Anything that comes in a crystal bottle. You’re paying, right?”
He laughed heartily, nodding, then he was off.
“Wow girl, I know we just met, but I need you to teach me some of that boy catching mojo,” Jenny whispered obnoxiously to me. “Ariston hasn’t like… been with a girl in ages!”
“Really?”
“Kinda steers clear of them in the romantic sense,” Sofia agreed. “Thought he was batting for my team there for a while. 'Til he laughed in my face when I asked him.”
“Guess when you can get pussy anytime you want at daddy’s house, you can get away relationship-free,” Beety observed, sipping on a dark amber liquid.
“Excuse me?” I asked, offended.
“Oh, I didn’t mean you.” He smiled at me through that thick hair in his eyes. “They’ve got the best sex slaves there. Whew! What I’d do for an invitation to dinner. Sex slaves, blood slaves… Sounds kinda perfect.”
I curled up my lip in disgust.
“Great, I leave for two minutes and you guys already got Lil with one foot out the door,” Ariston chastised his friends.
“We were just talking about how great an invitation to dinner would be.” Lonny bounced his eyebrows up and down.
Ariston frowned.
“We talked about this, guys. Only nightwalkers are allowed in the house.”
“And humans.”
“Yeah, except the humans that go into that house don’t come out.” Jenny frowned, too.
“Geez guys, let’s move on from this, huh? Sofi, what’ve you been up to since we got together last?”
She shrugged.
“Well it’s been a almost ten years, bub. I’ve been all over.”
“I know. Part of my ‘training’.” Ariston sighed.
“How was Bion’s house?”
Finally, Ariston laughed. He laughed so hard, actually, that he choked on his drink.
“Oh God. Bion got a mate.”
“Him too?” Sofia frowned.
“And?” Laudy leaned in for the juicy gossip.
“I swear guys… the poor girl is ugly as fuck.” He looked over at me adding, “Sorry.”
I rolled my eyes.
“What, you think I’ve never heard the word fuck before?”
He grinned.
“No, but you seem to prefer gentlemen.”
“Most of the time,” I agreed and there were whoops and hollers around the table.
“Have you tapped that yet?” Beets asked eagerly.
“B!” Ariston looked at him in shock. “Shut up!”
He rolled his eyes again, and I heard him mumble the F-word into his glass before he drank.
“You guys are friends, right?” I asked around the table.
They all nodded and agreed.
“You tell each other everything?”
Silence as they all looked around at each other.
“What the hell?” I laughed at them.
“Hey, a vamp needs her secrets,” Sofia crossed her arms over her ample chest defensively.
“Hey, hey you guys,” Beets looked around. “He didn’t deny it. They totally fucked!”
“Beets! Seriously shut the fuck up!” Ariston shoved his friend gently.
“You are not strong enough to pick a fight with me, bro.” Beets laughed at him.
“Yeah but I am,” Sofia growled playfully, shoving Beets too.
I sighed. I knew how to dampen their poking fun at Ariston.
“Ok, wanna know the truth?” I asked, waving my hand around for attention. Sofia and Beets froze mid tackle and Ariston looked at me with horror in his expression.
“Yes, we fucked. Just this afternoon, actually. Like animals. Now you know, so leave him alone.”
The girls all giggled.
“How was it?” Jenny asked with wide eyes.
“For fuck’s sake...” Ariston chugged the last of his drink. “There isn’t enough alcohol in the world to hear this conversation.”
With that he left the table, heading back to the bar.
Lonny and Beets seemed to agree with the sentiment and followed.
“So?” Jenny asked again now that the boys were gone and we were all closer.
“It’s none of your business, guys.” I shrugged.
They all looked crestfallen.
“But it was great,” I added.
Grins spread and they hi-fived.
“Just so you know,” Sofia said to me as she handed a fifty over to Laudy. “You just solved a twenty-five year old bet.”
“About what?”
“About whether he was a good lay or not. He wouldn’t ever sleep with one of us.”
I was confused. She must have taken my expression for indignation.
“I know, right? I mean who wouldn’t want to lay one of us ladies? Seriously we’re all hotties. Beets has certainly been around the block a time or five.”
The girls laughed.
“So...” Sofia looked into my eyes, hers shimmering. “If you’re Calix’s mate… that means you slept with him.”
I grimaced.
“That bad?” Laudy looked surprised. “I would’ve thought for sure he’d know how to treat a lady.”
“I wouldn’t know how he treats a lady,” I frowned. “He treated me like a slave.”
It was their turn to look confused.
“What do you mean?” Jenny was the one to speak up.
“I mean he’s a total asshole. He doesn’t deserve a mate, I’ll just as well stay here with Ariston.”
“Can you do that?” Laudy looked at her compani
ons.
They shrugged.
“You ladies done talking about the size of Ris’s wang?” Beets asked, sitting down next to Sofia, putting his arm around her and grabbing the side of her breast just slightly.
Sofia didn’t even break contact or conversation in order to throw her elbow back, hitting Beets with a crack right in the chest.
He grunted in pain and quickly removed the hand.
“We weren’t talking about anyone’s dick.” Sofia sighed in irritation. “Where’s Ris?”
“What?” Ariston asked as he came back, a drink in one hand and a crystal bottle of scotch in the other.
“What? A Greek boy drinking something other than Ouzo?” Beets teased.
Ariston outstretched the hand holding the tumbler toward his friend, almost concealing the fact that he flipped Beets off.
“Who’s calling my name?” he asked, looking significantly more inebriated than he had when he left.
“Ris,” Sofia waved him over and shoved at Beets to move.
He did and Ariston took his seat.
“Ris, if… oh I don’t know… If a girl didn’t like her mate in one of your brothers… could she go to a different brother?”
“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe. One royal is as good as another in most cases.”
Sofia’s eyebrows shot up when she looked at me, nudging her head toward Ariston.
I reached across the table and snatched the tumbler from Ariston’s hand. I dropped the burning liquid down my throat, then stretched the tumbler back out for a refill. He grinned at me and complied.
I downed the next and another before I was sufficiently sloshed enough to dance. I wiggled around the table, squeezing through other patrons to reach Ariston.
“Dance with me,” I breathed into his ear.
He stood instantly.
Together we stumbled our way to the little awkward dance floor in the corner where a few other people danced, just as drunk as us, to the terrible rock music pouring through overused speakers. His hands found my hips and ass quickly, pulling me to him as his head dipped, ear pressing to my cheek as we swayed, pelvises glued together as we moved.
“I like your friends,” I yelled into his ear over the music. “Even Beets. But he’s a total asshole.”
“Yes he is,” Ariston agreed with a laugh.
“I’m glad you brought me. This is fun.”
“So much fun.” He grinned, grinding hips with me just a little more.
“Take me home, Ari,” I whispered into the shell of his ear, tracing the line with my tongue before sinking my teeth into the soft lobe.
He was moving instantly.
We hurried away from the dance floor and stopped briefly at the table to say goodbye.
“Ask him!” Sofia looked at me urgently as we waved and I nodded.
Ariston grabbed the bottle of scotch and the two of us made our way out of the bar.
“Shit, I forgot to call for our ride...” he mumbled as he pulled out his phone, typing out a text. “Well, I guess we have time to finish this!”
Holding up the bottle, he took another swig before handing it to me.
“So,” he asked as I swallowed. “What’d you tell them?”
“Tell them what?” I was so lost.
“Am I a good lay?”
I laughed. He frowned.
“You’re asking a girl who was a virgin three weeks ago if you’re a good lay? Is your ego so fragile, Ari?”
He shrugged.
“I just wanted to know what you thought. You don’t have to be a seasoned professional to know if it’s good or not.”
“It was nice,” I grinned at him, pecking my lips to his. “But I think we should have a repeat performance… just to be sure.”
“You so have a deal,” he agreed, kissing me feverishly.
We were still making out on the side of the road by the bar when the limo showed up. Ariston helped me into it, slid up the dividing window before pulling me into his lap and pushing up my skirt.
“I’m not wearing panties.” I giggled at him and he groaned.
“Get on me already,” he whined as he unbuckled his pants and pushed them down just enough to get his erection free.
Like I’d seen in those raunchy films I loved to watch when my mother didn’t know, I wiggled down until I felt him there, then I dropped. We both groaned at the feeling before I started moving my hips, grinding away.
“My God you are beautiful, Lily,” he whimpered in the most masculine way before kissing me.
I played with his tongue with my own for a minute before he moved his mouth down, finally dipping his tongue between the mounds of my breasts, heaving against the low cut, shimmery top Nyx had let me borrow.
“I just want to taste everything on you,” he breathed against my skin, pulling the top down but it wouldn’t give.
“When we get back,” I agreed eagerly.
He nodded, trying to reach a nipple.
A voice echoed into the back of the limo through a speaker telling us we were arriving. Basically giving us enough time to get our clothes back together before the door opened. We went in through the same spiral staircase and across the empty gathering room before we reached the stairs to our rooms. Ariston stopped in front of a door and shoved it open before pushing me inside quickly and locking it.
“Can’t have anyone interrupting us,” he said before his lips were on mine again,
I giggled and shed my clothes, going to the bed with zero prompting at all.
“Ari,” I whispered into Ariston’s shoulder.
“Mhm?” he hummed, probably still winded.
“If...if you chose to have this life, the nightwalkers… Can I be your mate instead of Calix’s? I want to be yours.”
Ariston moved, his head turned and our noses were an inch away as we cuddled.
“I’d do it for you.” It was his turn to whisper.
“Can we? I mean, one is as good as another, right? I’m just a girl who can mate with a royal?”
“I’ll be honest, Lil. I don’t know completely how it works. I never bothered to ask because it never mattered before. I’ll ask Bampás in the morning.”
“You will?”
He smiled.
“Of course I will. I mean, if insatiable lust and yearning for your partner is what a mate is, then we’ve got that pretty covered already.”
I grinned back at him and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“Thank you.”
He kissed me back and cuddled me closer before leaving our fantasies hovering around us as we slept.
Chapter Seven
“Good morning,” Ariston grinned at me as my eyes blinked open.
“Morning.” I grinned back. “Never did this before. It’s nice.”
He kissed my forehead before sitting up.
I tried to but everything in my body began to swim. Like a train crash happening in my brain, my head suddenly started to throb.
My hand flew to my eyes to try and stem away the pain.
“Lil? Are you ok?”
Ariston sounded worried.
“Hangover,” was all I said.
“Shit, I forgot about those,” he said quietly. “I heal too fast so I don’t get them.”
“You suck,” I grumbled and he chuckled.
“Let’s get you a little blood and you’ll be good as new. I’m sure Mamá will help, or Nyx.”
Ew, vampire blood.
I shuddered, but the pain was bad enough, it would be worth it.
“Ok. Just let me go to my room to get dressed first.”
He nodded and I pulled on my clothes before heading out the door, leaving him to get up.
I closed the door behind me and went to the bathroom to shower. With the water beating down on me I thought about Ariston. I had been honest the night before. Sex with him was nice. I felt pleasure and I felt close to him, but something was missing. I realized that it was the mate connection that pulled me to Calix and away from Ariston,
but wondered if maybe when we mated after he turned, if it would transfer. Ariston was nice, he was dependable, he treated me carefully, but also like a friend and I liked that. Just at the thought of Calix, my mind drifted back. My stomach felt a strange pull like a string hooked into my belly button that gave me all kinds of weird little tingles. My body ached for him even though my brain hated him. I wanted the connection broken as soon as possible.
Getting out of the shower, I felt refreshed as I got into new shorts and a halter top. Ariston was waiting for me outside my door and smiled when he saw me, pocketing his cell phone.
“Sofi texted. She said sorry for the hangover.”
“Yeah sure. Tell her I’m sorry for hers too.”
He shook his head.
“None of them get hangovers. Benefit of vampires.”
“V-vampires? I thought they had blue eyes and...”
“They are all daywalkers. A lot like me,” he said easily.
“Oh...”
I hadn’t known. They all seemed so normal.
“Let’s get you some blood, then breakfast. I’m starving.”
I nodded and let him take my hand, following him downstairs.
As we arrived, something felt off. That tugging in my belly button got stronger and I was being pulled into the sitting room. Papa sat in a chair there, and I got a glimpse of suit pants and shiny black shoes.
“No...” I whispered and that got Ariston’s attention.
He pulled me into the room and that familiar black hair and sharp blue eyes saw me instantly.
“Calix?” Ariston looked confused,
“Weren’t expecting me?” He asked, slowly standing, hands in his pockets as he moved over to us. He stopped directly in front of us and my heart started to go wild, hands slick in sweat and my hungover brain attempting logic.
“It’s good to see you, brother,” Ariston said in an even voice though his grip on my hand tightened.
“It's unbecoming to lie,” Calix said with a frown, looking from me to him and back again.
“What are you doing here?” I finally asked when Ariston seemed out of words.
“Now that is the million dollar question. Straight to the point Lily. I can appreciate that.”
Calix stepped away from us. His hands behind his back like a principal, lecturing his students.