Vampire Assassin League Bundle 4 - Eternity

by Jackie Ivie

  “Plumbing?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Plumbing. The lone difference between us is...whoa.”

  Her voice dropped an octave, her mouth widened, and then she clapped both hands over it as she got a full measure of his problem. Lucien looked over her head at anything. Way over her head, while everything vibrated. He knew now exactly what full body flushing felt like. Miserable.

  “Lucien?”

  He released a breath he hadn’t known he’d held and made his apologies to the laboratory behind her. It still sounded rough-edged and stupid. “I hope you can forgive me...Ashley.”

  “Forgive you?”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong. Or what to do. I can’t seem to control...this.” He jerked his head toward his genitals. “I’ve never had such trouble. And—oh, hell. I can only apologize again for any offense given.”

  “What? Oh, Lucien. Quit the apologies already. You have some major hang-ups about sex. And I mean major. I don’t find anything about you remotely offensive. Anywhere. I think the term that comes to mind is closer to impressive...and even that isn’t quite broad enough.”

  He lowered his head. She appeared to be waiting for it. She looked him right in the eye and it looked like she spoke the truth.

  “You don’t?” he asked.

  “Oh, hell no. In fact...I’m thinking it’s really, really, really hot in here all of a sudden.”

  “It is?”

  “And...what you’re apologizing for, well. I find that a giant turn-on.”

  “You do?”

  “You’re not remotely intimidated by me, are you, Lucien?”

  “Should I be?”

  “Most men...uh. Okay. Every man I’ve ever been with...well. When they find out I’ve got the mental balls to go head-to-head with them, they like instantly get erectile dysfunction. Boom! And then they start giving me put-downs so I’ll get back in my place.”

  “What place?”

  “Beneath them, of course.”

  Shit. He wished she hadn’t said that. He’d seen a drawing once of a woman beneath a man. Her legs wrapped about his hips. Her loins welcoming his. And that’s exactly what he wanted right now. With an intensity that hardened him even more. Good thing she kept talking. He certainly couldn’t.

  “So. I hope you’re listening because I find your reaction pretty damn intriguing. And awesome. And...I think I’d like to check it out just a little closer.”

  She did just that, matching her knees to his with an instant move, going so close he could feel the pressure of each breath she gave as it hit him.

  Lucien started shuddering.

  “I think...maybe it’s time for a little science, Lucien.”

  “Science?”

  “Yes. Human Biology. Physiology. Neurological stimuli. Chemical and brain reactivity. Some other cool stuff I can’t recall at the moment.”

  “Right now?”

  “Oh, yes. Right now.”

  “Right here?”

  “Actually, unless it’s too uncomfortable, your floor looks pretty clean, you’re atop your robe, and there’s no way to fall.”

  “Ashley—”

  “Lie down, Lucien.”

  She smiled, revealing how long her canines had grown. His eyes went wide.

  “I’m thinking I’ll just skip the hypothesis stage and go right to experimentation.”

  “Experimentation?”

  “Yeah. Experimentation. On you. I’m going to show you exactly what I think of this body of yours. In meticulous detail. And then...well. Then, I’m going to switch places and let you the same to me. So. Are you going to lie down or not?”

  He was on his back before she finished.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The experiment went awry the moment she touched him. Ashley trailed a hand along his arm, her finger pads gliding along little bumps that lifted on his skin, making a path. She reached his hand and laced her fingers through his. He might be lying still, but he was jumping in little jerks while it looked as if every muscle at his command was taut. She’d never seen anything so amazing. And then he groaned, masking any sound she might have made.

  “Ashley?”

  “Hmm?”

  She lifted their entwined hands and brought them to her lips.

  “This...experiment...of yours.”

  “You’re very beautiful, Lucien,” she told him.

  He lifted his head, moving his attention from contemplation of the roof to her. She smiled.

  “Surely you knew that already. Or was everyone you’ve ever run across blind? What is it now?”

  “No man...is...beautiful.”

  He dropped his head, releasing the hypnotic quality of his gaze. His entire frame still pulsed in little movements that hampered his answer, making the words stutter. Ashley went to her knees and put her other hand atop his heart.

  “Oh, very well. Handsome then. Amazingly so. And cut.”

  “Cut?”

  “Ripped. Toned. You know, like you spent countless hours at the gym doing sit-ups and push-ups and squats and lunges, and...just where did you get this physique, anyway? I thought all a monk did was fast and pray. Oh. And write.”

  “We tilled fields. Harvested. And...traveled.”

  “On horseback?”

  “I rarely rode. But I handled them. Brushing. Currying. Feeding. I...had a way...with animals.”

  “I’ll bet. Hmm. Is that how you met Bruno?”

  He rolled his head back and forth, giving her a negative answer.

  “Then how?”

  “A group of us were traveling...through Paris. He was speaking. I stopped. Listened for a moment. And was caught. Spellbound. For hours.”

  “I think I remember reading that part.”

  “He had a great voice and could talk endlessly. Answering all sorts of things I’d been questioning for years.”

  “How old were you?”

  He shrugged.

  “Make a guess.”

  “Fourteen maybe. I don’t truly—Ashley!”

  His voice rose on her name, sounding both pleading and shocked. It was her fault. She’d run her free hand down the center of him, stopping at his lower belly despite how his loins seemed to lunge toward her. She spent a couple of seconds with her hand hovering just out of touch before starting back up the same path.

  “Have you ever been touched, Lucien? Intimately?”

  His chest rose as he sucked in air. And then he shook his head again.

  “Never?”

  He grunted something. His chest fell with the exhaled breath. She moved along it, toward his throat. His chin. She sanded her fingertips along the slight scratch of whisker growth before reaching his lips, open to allow room for his fangs, or space for each harsh breath he made. She watched her hand tremble before moving her gaze again to his. The instant they connected, her heart dove somewhere into her belly and decided to pound heavily from there. This was extremely exciting. Visceral. And way too unbelievable.

  Eyes of solid black and shielded by masses of the same shade of lashes seemed to pin her in place. That look created heat. Waves of it. The sensation was akin to a bonfire. Being too close. Hit by sparks. Singed. She moved a tremulous hand to his temple and smoothed back a lock of hair of the same black shade. And then she looked over him at the mass of room beyond them.

  “I lost my parents when I was ten,” she told him.

  “What?”

  “They used to take me everywhere. On their every adventure. I was home-schooled and very spoiled. Very. And then, one day I was sick...and so, they left me. Just like that. And they never came back. I was so angry at them. I thought I hated them...for a very long time.” What the hell? She’d never told anyone any of this. “I didn’t let anyone touch me from that moment on. No hugs. No hand-holding. No contact. I probably have the words ‘Does not play well with others’ listed on a chart somewhere. I was a major pain in the ass, know what I mean?”

  He grunted. That could mean anything. She just kept talking, barin
g long suppressed memories. Painful memories.

  “Unlike you, Lucien. I can’t say I’ve never been...uh...touched. Physically, I mean. I had boyfriends. But...uh...wow. This is getting difficult. They never touched the real me. I mean. They never got through enough to.”

  “Ashley?”

  “Yes?”

  “I do not think I can...continue this.”

  Oh. Crap. She’d missed the killer amount of heat coming off him. The way he’d tightened his fingers about the hand he held. The rigidity inherent in every pore. It probably portended anger. And maybe disgust. She blew a huge sigh.

  “Well. Great. I suppose I should’ve kept silent. I keep forgetting how you’re from an archaic time. Back then women really were chattel. Or worse. They weren’t supposed to have needs and urges and desires. And they weren’t to act on them. Because any woman who wasn’t pure and untouched was really low. The lowest of the low. Right?”

  “Ashley. Stop.”

  He answered her with a tone that caused beakers and cylinders to rattle in their stands atop his lab tables. Ashley took a deep breath and looked down. She couldn’t tell if he was angry. Those black lashes and eyes hid it. Especially with how he’d narrowed them.

  “That was not my meaning. None of it. I cannot continue to be near you...and not—! Ah! My thoughts are incoherent and all over the place. Emotions I never knew I possessed are all mixed up. As for the physical? Oh. I cannot even explain that! I can barely handle it. All I know is you’re my mate. The one. The only. You understand? To me, you are absolute perfection.”

  Ashley stared. He was blushing. Two dark spots touched the tops of his cheeks, making him impossibly more handsome.

  “Wow,” she finally replied.

  “Every moment with you...it elevates things. I need you. I want you. I desire you! I don’t know how to rein any of that in. I think...I think. Oh hell. I cannot even think!”

  “So. Are you saying you want your turn now?” she teased.

  “No! Yes! Oh...Ashley! I just want you beneath me! But...no. That’s wrong. I shouldn’t. No. That’s what other men wanted...and it angered you.”

  Ashley giggled and the move sliced her tongue slightly. She rocked at the instant euphoria and then swallowed in order to make sense. “Lucien. What I said earlier...uh. I didn’t mean it literally. Okay? It’s more about how a woman is treated. As if she’s beneath...consideration. That sort of thing. Get it?”

  “Unequal?” Lucien asked.

  “Exactly. So. Um. You want to debate the differences between the sexes right now...or what?”

  She moved her free hand from his temple, and ran it down his other arm, reaching and entwining their fingers on that hand, too. The move put her fully onto him, smashing her breasts against his chest. Then he tightened his forearms, lifting her. She kept her frame tight so the new position stretched her above him, just out of reach. Hovering.

  He groaned. It reverberated between them, and when he spoke it was in guttural, rapid fashion.

  “Oh Ashley! I just want to be buried in you. I want it so badly, it’s a physical pain. And I want it now. Right now.”

  “Okay. You need me to show you how?”

  She’d started the remark in a flippant fashion, but the end was lost in a gasp as he spun, easily placing her right where he wanted. Her legs wrapped about him, her hips sending all kinds of signals with every lunge she made.

  “Oh, Ashley. Love. I may be a beginner...”

  He filled her, starting a blizzard of sensation. And then pulled out, only to do it again. And again. Taking her higher. And harder. Filling her with an intensity that matched her cries. She slammed her eyes shut. Saw fireworks.

  “Oh, yes, Lucien! Yes! Yes!”

  Ashley slammed her eyes shut, gaining fireworks behind the lids. And he was waiting for her once the ecstasy peaked. She opened her eyes. He had the slightest lift to one brow as well as a wicked-looking smile. And then he lowered his mouth to her throat and whispered the rest, “...but I learn fast.”

  And then he proceeded to fully demonstrate.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Boom!

  Ashley was on her feet facing the door, one hand holding on to Lucien’s while the other clasped the robe about her nakedness. He’d moved simultaneously. But he had a dagger in his free hand, and she didn’t know where he’d gained that. He also loomed over her by almost a foot. Ashley was average height, reaching five and a half feet if she stretched. But Lucien was immense. Really tall. And endlessly vivid.

  Boom!

  The bolted doors flexed again as something rammed at them, and then two men started yelling on the other side of it. And then arguing. And then it sounded like there was scuffling taking place.

  “Lucifer? You in there?”

  Lucifer? They really called him that? Jerks.

  “We’re visiting hell, rasshole. Of course he is in there. Where else would the devil be?”

  “You call me that one more time, and—!”

  “And what? You’ll finally grow a pair so we can fight evenly?”

  “Why, you—!”

  The booming noise was replaced by a series of thuds that rattled the doorjamb.

  “Sounds like I have visitors.”

  Lucien took a step toward the door, stopped as Ashley yanked on his hand. And she almost sighed as he tipped his head down toward her. Light glanced off his marked cheek. And she’d been so right. It fit perfectly with his killer sexiness.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “You’re not answering that, are you?”

  “Uh. Yes. Sounds like the twins.”

  “So?”

  “They’re fairly harmless...unless you allow their wrestling to continue. They’ve been known to knock down castles. Destroy entire villages.”

  “I don’t care who it is or what they do. You’re not dressed.”

  He frowned slightly before answering. “They’re men.”

  “Right. Newsflash for you, Lucien. I am not a man. And I am not immune. And if you insist on parading around in the all-together in front of me, well. I’ll just warn you in advance. We won’t be getting to the lab work anytime soon. Sounds like your door may not survive, either.”

  “My nakedness...bothers you?”

  “Ya think?” she replied.

  He grinned. That was even more devastating. “I have other robes.”

  “Good. Go get one.”

  She released his hand, and turned sideways so she wouldn’t watch him as she donned her own robe. But then she cheated, peeked, and was halfway to the alcove when the door bolt broke. Both doors flew open, slamming into the rock walls. Splinters accompanied it, followed by the forms of two large men, grunting and struggling in some arcane form of wrestling. Their conjoined mass rolled to a stop near her feet. Ashley tilted her head, swished the loose hair and remains of her braid over her shoulder, and looked down at them.

  “Um...hello, gentlemen. I hope you have a good reason for this interruption?”

  They immediately changed, unclasping arms and legs and gaining their feet, becoming two big guys who stood looking down at her. Ashley had never been around linemen-sized football player types. Too large. Too dense. Too focused on one objective and it wasn’t science. She’d never seen guys this large or so alike. They had brown whiskers coating their cheeks, long blond hair, and more bulging muscle than any man needed. All-in-all, they’d make perfect extras for any sword and slashing movie. Or...forget the swords. They’d be perfect extras in any male-oriented movie.

  “Hey look, Athol. The devil has a minion.”

  One of them elbowed the other and pointed down at her. Ashley lifted her chin and her back stiffened.

  “I’ve told you before. Don’t call me Athol,” the other replied.

  “And just who’s going to stop me?”

  “Is that a challenge?”

  “Name the time and place.”

  One of them slammed a closed fist into the other’s shoulder. That blow would’v
e sent the human Ashley flying. The twin didn’t even sway. Neither of them moved. They just stood there, evaluating the other, with nostrils flared. And this was ridiculous.

  “Who the hell are you guys?” Ashley asked.

  “The one on the left is Ethelstone. The other is Athlerod. They’re identical twins. From Iceland. Spawned in the ninth century. Or thereabouts.” Lucien answered, and when he joined them she noticed that he was close in height to the twins, but a lot leaner. And a lot more defined. He also had the hood of his robe up, and his head turned, placing the left side of his face in shadow. He still hid? Stupid man.

  The twins were staring. And then one answered.

  “You can tell us apart? Darryl is the only one who can tell us apart that easily.”

  “And Akron.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t count.”

  “Why not?”

  “He sees things.”

  “Yeah. Psychic.”

  “You calling me names again?”

  The different brother smacked the other, with the same result. No bruise. No movement. Ashley decided that these guys must push the scales at close to three hundred pounds. It must take a lot of blood to feed them. And that was a stupid thing to ponder.

  “Stop that. Both of you. And start talking. What do you want?” Lucien asked.

  “Oh. Akron sent us.”

  “Yeah. He has a message.”

  “He sent us with a crate, idiot. We peeked inside. It appears to be a bed. And all kinds of other items. Pillows. Blankets. Stuff like that. I swear, my real brother was switched at birth.”

  “Look who’s talking. My real brother would be smarter than you. And much better looking.”

  “Enough already.” Lucien was using the voice that rattled beakers. “Deliver the crate, then the message, and then take your leave.”

  One of them backed a step. “Well, you heard him. Come on Athol. Who wants to stay around Lucifer anyway?”

  “Don’t call him that,” Ashley inserted.

  “Or what?” one of them responded.

  “You’ll have to deal with me.”

  She rose from the floor to gain the same vantage, absolutely amazed that she hadn’t overshot and hit the ceiling. And then she glared at each in turn.