RW1 Ravyn's blood

by Downs Jana

  “God,” Kal whispered. “What did you do to me?” No one answered him. “You stole my memories. You stole my life, God damn you! You stole my fucking heart.” Salvatore came forward and touched Kal’s forehead. Instantly the panic within him calmed.

  “Easy, my Ravyn. Don’t blame your brothers. They had naught to do with it, just as you have naught to do with it. I had no idea that you were Kal. Every member of the Ravyns since the beginning has been a demon of Demontian birth. I thought perhaps there were some similarities, but to think that you were somehow the human that Alex lost seemed impossible. Judgment removes the memories that would distract you from your duty. It has been done this way since the beginning of the brotherhood. My father on his death bed gave Judgment to me and bequeathed to me his most trusted five warriors. Judgment took from them that which would distract them for my protection. Anthony had a family, a husband and three daughters. Druas had a young one as well. Germany was grieving the loss of his late partner when he faced Judgment. Allasandro had just gotten engaged to one of the aristocrats. And Dageus, my sweet Dageus, was my best friend.” All the Ravyns in the room were shocked to hear the words. They’d had lovers before? Men as lovers? It was a strange thought. “They knew, I should say, you all knew, what it meant to allow Judgment to take from you your pasts. You bound your souls to mine, ensuring that, at the very least, your reincarnations would cross paths with mine and provide me with new warriors every generation until I ascended the throne.” The Ravyns looked at him in question. He sighed loudly. “It was supposed to be more helpful for you all to forget. It was supposed to be an easier transition. It worked for years. All the warriors had no problem giving up themselves for the throne, all of them but you Dageus.”

  “My name is Kalel,” Kal snapped.

  Salvatore continued, ignoring him. “Fine, Kal, then. All of them transitioned easily, but you did not. If you weren’t exhausted from the Danse, you would’ve bested Judgment. You would’ve held onto those memories which you hold so precious. If I would’ve known that you fought so hard to return to your Master, I would’ve never taken you as my Ravyn, regardless that you are the reincarnation of Dageus.”

  “How do you know I’m him?” Kal asked suspiciously, clinging to Druas’s arms.

  The brothers touched him soothingly as they always had, giving him comfort. They were obviously as shaken by the realization as Kal was and were trying to be supportive. They didn’t even realize that they assumed their roles as brothers and Ravyns so easily.

  “If you were not Dageus, it would’ve killed you to stand before Judgment,” Salvatore offered.

  Kal blanched. “Harsh!” he stuttered.

  Salvatore shrugged. “It is the demon way.” Dageus struggled to sit up, and his brothers helped him do so.

  “I don’t know what to do now,” Dageus said softly. “I feel…lost, like someone sat me down in the middle of the four universes without a map or a tour guide.”

  The brothers embraced him, giving him their strength. The bond between them blazed to life, and Kal’s vision blurred from the intensity. Love, unhindered by selfishness or secrets, poured down the ropes of their bond to fill Kal.

  “My brothers—you’re still my brothers right?”

  They are. Judgment spoke up, his composure regained.

  “Good. I love you all, and I’m sorry I kept things from you, and I wasn’t there when you needed me. I’m so sorry for that. I’m not sorry for being with Alex. He’s my soul mate. He always has been. I love him, and I want to spend the rest of my existence making him happy. If he’ll have me,” he added, remembering those cold nights in the brothel. He was sick at the thought.

  “Of course he’ll have you,” Germany growled. “If he doesn’t, we’ll barbeque his vampy ass.” The other brothers howled in agreement. Kal smiled at their acceptance.

  “Thanks, guys,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Goddess, I feel so much better. I thought I was going crazy. I felt so torn. Now it all makes sense. Salvatore,” he addressed his King, crossing his fingers and inclining his head. “I pledge myself unto you. I give to you my love, my loyalty, my body, and my sword. I hold the sacred laws of brotherhood above all other laws. I’m bound to you for all eternity and always at your side.”

  The brothers sighed in relief as the shaky bond between them solidified. Salvatore grasped Dageus’s hand in thanks.

  He is bound, my King, Judgment said formally. He still retains distractions. Shall I remove them?

  Salvatore shook his head. “No. He may keep his mate close to his heart and mind,” Salvatore replied, pulling Dageus to his feet.

  “Thank you, my King,” Kal said, a hint of his Ravyn self glimmering in his voice.

  “You’re very welcome. You have earned those memories. I care for you too much to suppress you. Go to him, Dageus,” Salvatore commanded. The Ravyns were on their feet instantly.

  “We don’t know if it that is a good idea,” Tony began. “We have much to discuss and—”

  Salvatore raised a hand to silence him. “We’ll stay at the house ’til he returns for his regular rounds. Which will be when, my Ravyn?” Salvatore asked gently. Kal pondered it for a second.

  “Two days?” he asked.

  Salvatore nodded. “Good enough. Return for your morning shift and work out with Tony then practice at the theater at night. The Master of Minnesota will contact me with an update, and you will check in at least once every twelve hours. Is that understood?” Kal nodded in agreement, practically beaming.

  “Go get some!” Allasandro crowed encouragingly. Dageus didn’t hesitate any longer and raced for the door.

  “Did you guys see that?” Ally asked as soon as Dageus was out of hearing range.

  “His memories…wow,” Germany added.

  “Did we make the right choice?” Druas asked, looking at each brother in turn before turning his gaze to Salvatore.

  Their Prince nodded. “I think so, my dear ones, but only time will tell. Now that that disaster is avoided, where the hell did we put those s’mores? They were good, and I want some more.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Sweat poured off Alex’s body from hours of exertion. He punished his body for the loss of his beloved, pouring out his frustration into elaborate leaps to music of his own making. Santiago had long since called it a night. The nervous energy within Alex refused to quiet. He growled in frustration and threw his body into the air.

  Power filled the theater, and Alex gasped as it hit him full force. The Bride Bond thickened within him, and he felt the first impulses of the mating heat infuse his blood with fiery desire. He was suddenly painfully hard, instantly ready to take Kal in any variety of ways. He licked his lips and slowed his fall back to earth with a thought.

  Alex. The voice whispered through his mind for the first time in over five years. He gasped.

  Kal? Sweet one, where are you? he practically screamed back through the mental link. He felt the voice on the other end smile.

  I’m on my way. I have so much to tell you… Ah, I’ll see you in a second.

  Kal? Wait! Alex called, panicking at the loss of contact.

  In his panic he forgot to control his fall. He crashed against the stage with an ominous crack. He groaned as he felt the bones in his right ankle snap under the force of his fall. The benefits of being a vampire and being able to leap to such extraordinary heights were suddenly a disadvantage as he landed without any protection.

  “Damn it,” he growled, rolling into a sitting position and pulling his ankle back into place with a screech.

  After the bone began knitting back together with supernatural speed, he felt the Bride Bond flare to life once again. He groaned as his flaccid member filled. He’d not felt this impulse since before Kal was taken from him.

  “Sweet God,” he muttered as the abrasion of his dancing pants rubbed against his erection. The pain in his leg became a dull ache as his incisors lengthened, and his cock pounded. Instincts as old as tim
e held him in an unbreakable grip.

  “Master?” Kal’s voice called to him from the edge of the stage.

  Alex growled, his vision narrowing to include nothing but Kal’s casually dressed form. He tried to gain his feet, only to fall back down as his healing ankle buckled under his weight.

  * * * *

  “Alex?” Kal asked again, his green eyes widening as he took in the sight before him. The beautiful, rumpled vampire, shirtless and sweating was sprawled out before him with a massive erection.

  “Come here. Now,” Alex growled, his voice was barely human as his eyes bored into Dageus with an intensity that made the desires of the night of debauchery that they’d just experienced seem like a pale lifeless comparison. Entranced, Kal took two steps forward before he realized he was moving. Some sort of magick beyond both of their understanding compelled him forward.

  Kal licked his lips in painful desire. “Master, I have to tell you…”

  “Now, Kal. I need you. Now.” Alex’s voice was his anchor.

  He found himself next to Alex an instant later. He watched as his crystalline blue eyes darkened in vicious lust. Kal sank to his knees by his side.

  “Strip,” he commanded, his voice rough. Kal’s cock throbbed at the command. With no further questions, he whipped the T-shirt he wore over his head and tossed it to the side. In his enthusiasm he popped the button off of his dark-wash blue jeans and tore the zipper.

  “Stop,” Alex demanded. Dageus groaned, and his hands stilled. He sat on his knees, shirtless, his pants torn open, his erection straining against the fabric of his boxer briefs. Alex slunk forward like a big predator, causing Kal’s heart to pound.

  “Do you remember now?” Alex asked, plunging his hands into Kal’s briefs and grasping his cock. Kal gasped.

  “Yes, Master,” Kal groaned, leaning into the vampires grip. Alex rewarded his answer with a light squeeze on the head of his erection.

  “You remember who your Master is?” Alex demanded, ruthlessly rubbing the head of Kal’s cock in delicious circles.

  “You are, Master. Alex, my Master, my love,” Kal ground out, his hips swiveling on their own accord. Alex simply growled in reply, jerking his own cock from the confines of his pants.

  “Suck.” The one word nearly undid Kal’s control. If it wasn’t for Alex removing his hand from him, he would’ve come in that instant. Kal groaned and leaned over, taking Alex into his mouth.

  The first taste of the salty hint of pre-cum hit Kal’s tongue like a good brandy, warm and delicious. He anxiously sucked the head into his mouth, twirling his tongue around the bulbous knob and running his tongue along the slit.

  Mine, Kal purred around his length. Mine. All mine. He employed all the tricks he’d learned in that brothel so long ago to give his Master the best blow job of his eternal life. He wondered briefly why he tended to think in fragmented sentences whenever he was with Alex. He never could think when he touched his silken flesh. Alex’s hands threaded in his hair, urging him on. He took as much of Alex’s thick length down his throat as he could stand without choking. He needed to feel his Master’s pleasure as he quickened and pulsed. He bobbed his head in rhythm with Alex’s thrusting hips.

  Come for me. Please, come for me. Alex answered his plea with sexy sounds of pleasure that were torn from the back of his throat. Going to come when he does, Kal thought deliriously. Going to come hard. Alex stiffened with a cry and cupped Kal’s cheek as he thrust deep into his throat.

  “Take it,” he growled harshly. “Take it all.”

  With a pleasurable groan, Kal swallowed compulsively as the first hot jet of Alex’s seed shot onto his tongue and coated the back of his throat. He savored the taste, enjoying the salty-sweet flavor that his Master rewarded him with. His own orgasm swamped Kal a second later, and he shot his own load against his belly and onto the stage beneath him. With one hand, he gripped the head of his cock as his orgasm spiraled out of control, causing him to suck on Alex’s cock until he’d milked every drop from him. It was agony and ecstasy all in one.

  Alex pulled his still-hard member from Kal’s mouth with an audible pop. Kal grinned in sated happiness. The same fiery energy still consumed Alex, and Kal was willing to do whatever he could to bank that flame.

  “You taste so good, Master,” Kal said, posing for Alex’s benefit. Alex’s eyes were burning with greedy lust.

  “Turn around, ass in the air, elbows on the ground.”

  Kal obeyed without question. Just as before, he understood what Alex needed without prompting. He shook his pert little ass saucily. Alex delivered a stinging slap to his ass as he peeled the remainder of his clothing off his backside and tossed it aside.

  “You belong to me, Kal,” Alex growled, taking himself in hand. He was still wet from Kal’s ministrations just a moment before. Kal wanted him to fill him up with his thick length like he’d never wanted anything before in his entire life. He watched over his shoulder as Alex positioned himself at his entrance.

  “You belong to me, Kal,” he reiterated, shoving the first thick inch into Kal’s tight passage. With the lubrication from their play, it was a good slow burn mixed in with the pleasure of being vulnerable beneath the Master of Haven. Alex stretched him impossibly, and just when Kal thought it was too much, Alex leaned over him and sank his fangs into the place where his shoulder met his neck. Kal screamed out his name as the pleasure doubled instantly. He threw back his head in abandon, aching inside. The tip of Alex coated his passage with pre-cum, and he was making growling noises in the back of his throat.

  “Harder,” Kal demanded pushing back against Alex’s pistoning hips. Alex’s eyes flashed a near-demonic shade of red, and he pounded Kal so deep that he screamed. His inner muscles clenched around Alex’s quivering member. Kal’s eyes began to spot as the Master drank his blood down in long, deep gulps. He whimpered when Alex pulled back from the wound he’d made on his neck.

  “Drink, my love,” Alex commanded biting his own wrist and offering it to his Bride. Instinct urged him to do as Alex bid him. Without hesitation, he put his jaws on either side of the cut and began to suck.

  I have every part of you within me, he thought to Alex.

  * * * *

  Alex moaned in answer, his thrusts coming more rapidly by the second. He was close to falling off that invisible edge down to the chasm of desire. His balls tightened up, and he gasped as Kal’s muscles tightened around him in his own hard orgasm. He was sent hurtling over the edge, screaming Kal’s name to the empty theater around them. Words that Alex hadn’t known that he knew came pouring out of his mouth in rapid succession with their mutual orgasm.

  “You are mine. I am your Master. You are my Bride. I give unto you my power, my loyalty, my body, and my love. You are bound to me for all eternity. Kalel, Dageus, my beloved Bride. You belong to me.” With that, the spell was complete. They were bound. Kal had come full circle.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Yeah. I’m fine,” Dageus said, a smile in his voice. “We… made up.” Alex watched as he laughed aloud at his brothers. He looked so happy. Alex stretched contentedly, like a smug house cat.

  My Bride. He couldn’t resist leaning over and pinching Kal’s naked ass. Kal swatted at his hand as he continued to have a conversation. Alex frowned in annoyance.

  “You’ve spent six bloody years with them. I just found you again. Catch-up and gossip time later. Us time now.” Dageus laughed as Alex reached up and started trying to wrestle the phone away from his grasp. The vampire was tremendously strong and soon had Dageus’s giggling body beneath his own.

  “You want to call us back, brother?” Allasandro asked from the other line. Kal muttered something in the affirmative, clicked the phone shut, and tossed it to the other side of the room.

  “You are so impatient,” Kal said, winding his hands through Alex’s thick hair.

  “For you I’m always impatient,” Alex replied, leaning in and stealing the sweetest kiss of his six hundred year
s. Alex’s lips coaxed Kal into a gentle desire that caused tears to prick Alex’s eyes. When they pulled apart, after what seemed like eternity, they both gasped at the gentle intensity of the moment.

  “So,” Alex began. “Are you going to tell me about how you ended up being gone for all those years? I know you never would’ve left on your own, but I need to hear it.” Dageus shifted uncomfortably, and his expression looked strained. Alex settled him against his chest. He needed to hear this, but he felt like he may not want to.

  * * * *

  “Do you really need to know?” he whispered. The memories of hundreds of pairs of lips caressing his body, the slave master’s meaty fist as it collided with his stomach when he’d done something to displease him or his clients, the ice cold of the north, murder, death, hunger, and finally salvation and brotherhood flashed through his mind. He swallowed convulsively.

  “Yes,” Alex murmured quietly.

  Dageus sighed and began to speak. “Do you remember the night I told you to meet me at the theater at midnight? It was the night we were going to go to Damian and tell him we were wed. The night we were going to declare ourselves before Santiago and Maddeline, petition them to allow me to join the clan.”

  Alex nodded. “Yes, of course I remember,” he said, taking Dageus’s hand. “Go on.”

  Dageus sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, squeezing Alex’s hand as well. “Well, I was overly anxious to get to the theater that night. I was so damn excited…” He paused, and his breath hitched as memory overcame him. “I took the alleyway by 84th and Lexington. There is a gate to Demontia there. Slavers come through all the time to collect foreign slaves.” He swallowed. “Humans are very popular in Demontia. They make excellent love slaves.” He said the last bitterly. “I just happened to be racing down the alley at the same time a slaver was coming through the gate. He said I was the prettiest slave he’d ever caught in this realm. I begged him to let me go. I called out to you endlessly, but I was just a human, and he had demon power on his side. He took me back to the slave blocks in Demontia.