“I didn’t do anything,” I huffed and shook my head.
“It’s the attention. I love my sister but she has a way of jumping straight to jealousy. She wants the attention to be all on her. Anyone who steals it is a no in her book. I’m sure she wouldn’t have liked that Tristan was staring at you the way he was.”
God, like I could help that.
“Let me guess she likes him.”
“She likes all of them. Look at them Gabrielle. Don’t tell me you didn’t think they were the most beautiful men you’d ever seen in your life.” She giggled.
I smiled. “They were exactly that.” There was no point denying it.
“Ivan, the leader, is the eldest, he’s two hundred. Virgil, the balancer, is a hundred and fifty, and Tristan the wild child, your asshole, is a hundred.”
I couldn’t restrain the surprise I felt. “They’re all in their hundreds?”
“Uh huh. You’re dealing with a different category of people here. Or beings. Older than what you’re used to. Titania, the queen of the Fae folk is four thousand, she’s the oldest of the humanoids. Father next, then Lucian at seven hundred years old. The Vampires however are probably the most resilient. The oldest member of their clan is so old no one knows his age.”
“It’s all so new to me. Have you ever... you know, been with any of them?” Maybe it was too personal a question to ask. Too late though, I asked before thinking properly.
She shook her head. “We can’t. It’s against our laws.”
I didn’t know that. I never even thought about that. “Really? Why?” I narrowed my eyes.
“For us, it’s our duty to preserve the purity of our magic. It’s as simple as that. Them too, specifically them. We can’t ... mate –for lack of a better word – with them. I think it’s harsh and to be honest, against me, but it’s Coven of Shadow laws.”
Wow, I hope they didn’t take into account previous transgressions. Then again I didn’t care and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be a part of something that set down laws like that. It sounded very prejudice to me.
“So we can’t go there with Vampires?”
“Nope, it’s a big no. And, if we could I wouldn’t go there. They’re too much for me. If I had my pick on any of the council it would be the wolf.”
“Lucian?” I chuckled.
She pressed her finger to her lips. “Shhh. We can’t go there with them either, but I would definitely consider breaking the rules with him.”
I was laughing, actually laughing. It felt like me.
“Pru, you are so funny.”
“I’m serious, did you see his lips, and that hair, and those eyes. Also I read that during sex it’s the men who choose if the women get pregnant. They can control their sperm. So you could have endless sex with out birth control.”
I was listening and she most assuredly had my attention. “Witches still need birth control? I thought maybe there’d be some magical control.”
“No, unfortunately, not. But if you’re with a wolf, which you can’t be, you don’t. Or a vampire, which you most definitely mustn’t be with. You could imagine it though. Lots of skin to skin sex with seriously hot guys.”
She shook her head and smiled.
“Pru, I can honestly say you have managed to distract me.”
“Gabrielle,” the seriousness returned to her face. “You focus on what you need to focus on. And don’t concern yourself with the stone. I hope you weren’t offended when Lucian suggested it being strange that you and it came about at the same time.”
“I wasn’t. Honestly, I wondered that myself. I couldn’t see the relation though. It all simply happened. I was in danger of the worst kind and my guardians protected me.”
“Have you ever tried any spells?” She rested her arm on the table. “You said days ago that you wished you were a witch and now it happened.”
“I did, but I don’t think my spells worked.”
“Spells are tricky. They’re like balancing chemicals. You have to get the right balance at all times and have the right formula. All the elements in harmony with each other working in tandem. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Sometimes though, when you know your stuff you can create spells right off the top of your head.”
“Really? That sounds like something I’ll never achieve.”
“Do you want to?” She held my gaze.
That was an odd question, but I knew why she was asking. She wanted to know because after all the training the choice lay open for me to go right back to the human realm and never look back. Some people did both, lived here and in the human realm and made it work. There were strict rules though, like no use of magic ever in the human realm. That went without saying.
“I do want to.” That was my honest answer. “There’s a big part of me that’s curious about magic. I want to learn.”
“Then you’ll learn it, and you might find that you like it here.” She smiled.
I nodded. “It’s beautiful.”
The woodland realm was definitely that. Full of beauty and scenic landscapes.
“It is. We should go exploring tomorrow if you’re up to it. I’ve been dying to show you everything.”
“I’m up to it for sure,” I smiled. I was definitely up to it. All the more so because I had to stop this craziness with Tristan in its tracks.
It was too much temptation. He was.
I was too weak to resist him.
Thinking of the way he kissed me earlier made my cheeks burn.
“Good. Sometimes being among nature can help you figure out what your natural abilities and powers are.”
“That would be nice. It would be nice to know what I am.”
“You’re a witch.”
“I know, but if I belong to this coven I’m not ordinary am I?”
She shook her head. “You are anything but.”
“I just don’t understand how no one knew about me. I had a really good life. I have the best parents who love me, but this makes me want to know more about where I came from.”
“Of course, I would be just like you. I would. It’s natural.”
“My mother whoever she was, put me up for adoption. I always thought it was because she just couldn’t look after me, but now I have more questions.”
“A witch from the coven would not have done something like that unless she had very, very, good reasons to. Looks like she was trying to protect you and thought you’d have that protection in the human realm.”
That made me smile. Despite my inner turmoil, it was a nice thought to hold on to.
“Thank you, thank you for that.”
“Leave the deep research to us. You’ve jumped over the first hurdle. We know you’re a witch. It’s enough for us to move from square one. I’m pretty certain the rest of your story will follow eventually. Father is looking into it and he’s damn good at what he does.” Pru stood up with a bright smile.
“I feel better.” I nodded.
“Glad to hear it. Now, get some sleep. You’re going to need it if we’re going exploring tomorrow. I’ll even introduce you to some normal men.”
“That sounds cool.”
She sauntered away and I watched her go.
I put the books away and borrowed a basic spell book. It was something to get lost in and I did.
I read the whole thing and managed to stay awake all night.
I drank five cups of coffee and soldiered through my tiredness with determination.
The next day was good. It was fun exploring the forest and learning different herbs with both Pru and Claire. And, as promised Pru introduced me to some normal guys.
I thought I was going to be okay.
If I could get through tonight I was sure that Tristan would get the message.
The guilty, dirty secret was tempting. Oh so tempting, but it was crazy.
I set up for another sleepless night with more coffee and this time some fashion magazines from back home. The plan was to read through my stack of twelve and then catch up
on some tv.
At ten, I changed into my negligee and piled my hair on top of my head in a messy bun.
The lights were low and created that ambience that lulled you to sleep but I fought it.
I looked at the clock on the wall . Eleven. It was eleven. Only eleven.
Something caught my eye at the window. A mass of darkness forming, expanding then widening.
My breath hitched in my chest when Tristan stepped out with that slow easy smile.
“Bad girl. You know not to keep me waiting,” he taunted.
I straightened up instantly and moved over in the bed when he lowered to sit.
“Why are you here?”
“You know why. Didn’t have you in my bed last night so I came to yours.”
I looked around the room. “We can’t in here.”
“No one would hear us.”
He reached out to try and touch my breasts but I smacked his hands away.
“Are you crazy?”
“No.” He grinned.
“Then why did you come here?”
He gave me a stare that reached into my soul. A stare that weakened me.
“I can’t get you out of my head. You must have felt it too, from the kiss. Us in real life is a hundred times better than the dream world.”
Oh God, give me strength. A little would do the trick. Something more than the nothing I had. Anything.
He moved closer and I couldn’t move away. When his lips pressed to mine I crumbled and kissed him too. Kissed him back, relishing the devouring kiss he gave me that dissolved my will to resist him.
In that moment I couldn’t remember why I should.
The thing was, this was my normal. He was my normal, everything else was unnatural to me. Everything. The coven, the woodland realm, magic.
To me we were magic.
For the last three months, my day started and ended with him. In my dream I’d be in his arms in the morning, wake up, go to work, then I’d close my eyes and be right back with him.
What made me think I could resist the comfort of that?
The kiss took on that hunger, and then that magnetism he talked about.
Us in real life.
Yes we were a hundred times better than in the dream world.
Just like in our dreams I let myself go and allowed myself to be his. I slipped my arms around his neck and held onto him as the blackness surrounded us and he took me.
Took me away.
To his bed.
Chapter 5
Gabrielle
***
As my back contacted with silky sheets Tristan’s kisses grew more demanding.
Hungrier. Cruel even as his tongue swept into my mouth.
I ran my hands through his hair when he slipped his arm around my waist and pressed me flush against the hard wall of his powerful chest.
His hair was feather soft, a contrast to the possessive need he held me with.
When his mouth moved down my neck, nibbling at the skin I tensed and grabbed onto his tank top. The recollection of what he was came flooding back into my mind. It rushed back, but I didn’t want to be away from him.
I hung on to him as fear crept in.
He’d elongated his teeth and ran the sharp edges down my neck, while at the same time running his thumb over the tight peaks of my left nipple.
“Please,” I whimpered still holding on to him. “Don’t hurt me.”
His lips closed over my skin and he sucked the flesh, while he continued to play with my breast.
He moved away, looked down at my hands on his top then smiled revealing his fangs. Long and sharp
“I would never hurt you,” his husky voice took on a sexier edge.
He cupped my face and took his time sliding his hand back down to my breast where he continued to flick his finger backwards and forwards, right over the silk fabric, making me harder.
“This okay?” He smiled. I was surprised he asked and I nodded because I didn’t want him to stop.
“I can’t control my fangs all the time, and definitely not when I’m with you.”
“Why?” I whispered.
His smile turned up a notch becoming more seductive. Instead of answering, he took my hand and guided it to his crotch, pressing it against the very hard bulge of his cock which I could now see straining against his pants.
“This is why. It’s what you do to me.”
He closed my hand over his thick shaft and guided it up and down. When he let go of me, I continued to stroke him loving the look of pleasure on his face.
A low rumble of pleasure sounded from his chest. Low with satisfaction of what I was doing to him.
He tugged on my negligee lifting the edge then pulling the straps down so
my breasts could spill out.
“Fuck, you’re even better than the fantasy.”
I looked back to him, widening my eyes slightly. His fangs pulled back and he traced the outline of my breasts, running his fingers all over the huge swell, making me wetter. I released his cock and moved back to kiss him the way I normally would.
His fingers fluttered into my hair and he pulled at the band securing it. My dark locks tumbled down my shoulders and over his hands.
He slid his hands down my body again and lifted the negligee over my head with another deep growl. As it came off he lowered and closed his lips over my nipples and sucked. His hungry mouth working the tips to life while his tongue flicked around it.
I moaned at the unbelievable sensation that rippled through me, arching into him, allowing him to take more of my breast inside his mouth.
He squeezed, and sucked, teased and tasted making his way from one breast to the other. I ached with the need for more. More of what he was giving me. More of him.
He forced me back to the stack of pillows and continued to suck, taking me deeper, giving me more pleasure, making me moan louder.
Blood throbbed in my veins rushing through so fast it made my nerves tingle with electric energy as the raw, wild need passed between us.
It was raw need mingling with desire.
Desire, pleasure. My whole body was on fire with it and my toes curled as the sensation sizzled through every part of me. His clever, oh so skillful mouth took me straight to climax. Right there where I was gasping and crying out his name on the edge of the bone tingling orgasm that consumed me.
“Tristan...” I cried.
“That’s okay baby, scream my name. No one can hear you in my lair. Just me. Only me.”
Thrills ran up and down my body and every nerve quivered as I writhed beneath him. He watched me come undone in pure delight. Then he amplified the feeling by going down to my core and drinking me as I came.
He pressed his tongue straight up inside me and licked at the sensitive bud of my clit. Licking and exploring, circling and tasting, spinning me straight back to the arms of pleasure.
“Fuck!” I screamed realizing I was right there again. On the edge of another orgasm.
I released him and grabbed onto the sheets, clutching where I could as his tongue found my G spot and fired off little bursts of licks and sucks.
Multiple orgasms tore through me now. taking me to a place I’d never been before, asleep or awake.
It tore me from reality and sent me completely over the edge.
He moved back smiling down at me, smiling with fascination and adoration.
I couldn’t talk. He’d rendered me speechless with the unimaginable pleasure. All I could do was stare at him as he shrugged out of his top and pushed down his pants and boxers at the same time. Revealing the masterpiece of the man he was, and unleashing the full length of his cock.
My gaze ran down his sleek, powerful body taking my own sweet time to admire the tattoos inked on his skin. Tattoos of a language I didn’t recognize. It looked like a mixture of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Arabic characters. Whatever it was made him sexier. So much sexier.
This man was literally like the fantasy come to life.
I couldn’t help the smile that danced on my lips at the sheer gorgeous perfection of him.
“Do I please my lady?”
“Yes, your lady is definitely pleased.”
He reached for me, grabbing my leg to pull me closer. I recalled what Pru told me about sex as he ripped my panties off in one swift movement.
My mouth watered at the thought of endless skin to skin sex, and I sucked in a breath as he lifted me onto him, lowering me down on to his cock that pressed painfully into me, searing my passage as he filled me up.
I had to grab on to his shoulders tight when pain shot through me from the magnitude of him. Pain stabbed at me, replacing the pleasure for a few moments, but it was the kind of pain that incited pleasure.
This was different too. In our dreams this part didn’t have so much of an effect. My body normally welcomed him, but like everything else him pushing into me felt a hundred times better. Pain. Pleasure. It was the same and I wanted it.
I gasped at how much he filled me up and my hips rose to meet his while I wrapped my legs around him.
Deep steady strokes shook me, making me moan louder.
“It’s okay, stay with me. Stay with me Princess, stay with me and enjoy the pleasure. I promise you, you’ll feel good, so, so good very soon.”
Again I couldn’t talk. My inner walls rippled against him, against the slow sure movements of his hips. Then I was his.
My walls adjusted to fit him and I was his all over again.
This time for real. This time was real.
He started moving faster inside me, the hard thrusts sent me reeling yet aching for more. More which he gave. Tristan started hammering into me and we moved together, body to body, held within the claws of passion.
He pounded into me with a pure rush of need giving me more pleasure, pleasure and I most assuredly enjoyed him.
I absolutely did. I held on to him tight, fingers clawing deep into his skin until I cut him.
I thought I hurt him but he just smiled that smile of fascination.
He chuckled and surprised me when he pulled me off him mid thrust and placed me on the bed on my hands and knees.
Tempted by The Vampire Page 4