by Erin Cain
Vance continued, “You must always enhance the basics, but if you have a battle to prepare for, concentrate on techniques that will help you.”
Grace nodded slowly. “Okay, that makes sense. So, my homework is studying demons? Charming, Vance.”
He flashed her a grin and Grace felt her heart melt right then and there, in her chest.
“I’m not known for being charming.”
“Well, you know…” Grace blushed, feeling her heart skip in her chest at his smile. “I beg to differ.”
~ ACT 2 ~
Highway to Hell
Chapter 5
Grace shifted her weight from foot to foot as she stared across the group of students milling around in the hallway, her eyes fixed on Dina, who was walking across the small podium. The whole student body held their collective breaths, waiting for her to speak.
Beside her, she felt Vance shift his weight ever so subtly, belaying his own worries.
Today was the day they received their pairings. Dina was going to read out a list, pairing them off for the trial, and Grace couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt so nervous.
The silence fell like a hush when Dina cleared her throat.
“Today, we announce the groups for the second trial. We will work alphabetically for the first partner in the group. The second has been selected for a reason and all decisions are final.” Her voice was quiet and loud all at the same time, as always, and Grace swallowed back her nerves.
The decisions were final. That struck a chord within her. What if she was paired with someone who still viewed her as lesser? She didn’t mind how strong the person was, as long as they could work together.
Of course, she wanted to be paired with Vance, or Trish, but she wasn’t holding her breath. That was a bit of a fantasy and she didn’t have time for fantasies like that. Not if she was slaying demons.
Dina started reading names and Grace closed her eyes, listening for the names that really mattered.
A few minutes in and she heard, “Alastair and Trish.”
There was a groan and a small peal of laughter and Grace felt her blood boil. Taking a breath, she calmed her anger and listened again.
“Bartholomeus and Vance.”
Grace felt a pang of disappointment and glanced over at Vance, who winced in apology.
Trish was out and so was Vance. That was disappointing, but not the end of the world.
A few more names passed by, and Grace was starting to zone out when she heard her name.
“Dylan and Grace.”
Her heart skipped a beat. She glanced at Vance and he had barely concealed anger on his face.
Dylan. She had been paired with Dylan, the one person who she didn’t want to be paired with, the one person who definitely wouldn’t accept her, or work together with her. The trial was dangerous enough and now she had to face it on her own, for all intents and purposes. She felt sick.
The rest of the list passed in a blur, and it wasn’t until the last name that Vance was moving, grabbing her by her hand and pulling her down through the crowds, to the podium.
“Vance…” she hissed, still trying to process what had happened. He ignored her, instead hurrying to the front of the room as everyone else filed out.
“Dina!” Vance called out. “Dina, you can’t pair Grace with Dylan. You’re setting them both up for failure.”
Grace felt a pang of worry, but Dina turned around calmly, no hint of the anger Grace had expected.
“Dylan’s father insisted. Your father, Vance, had no particular feelings on the matter. The decision is final.”
“But–” Vance started.
“Final,” Dina cut him off and the finality in her voice was crystal clear.
Vance straightened his shoulders. “Understood, Dina.”
She turned, leaving the room out a door beside the podium, the same way she had entered. They both watched her go. The moment she was gone, Vance sank onto the podium steps.
“Damn it.”
“Vance, what were you thinking, running up to Dina like that?” Grace said, sitting beside him, worry heavy on her heart.
“I was thinking that I want you to pass,” he said, his voice terse. “Dylan isn’t exactly going to play nice, is he?”
Grace tried to smile, shrugging. “I don’t know, Vance. Maybe he’ll come around.”
Vance shook his head. “Well, it’s final. You heard Dina.” He turned to her with a serious look in his eyes. “Which means that we need to make sure you’re prepared. If you can complete the task alone, then regardless of what Dylan does, or doesn’t do, you’ll pass.”
The determination that lit his eyes was almost scary. Sometimes, Grace could forget how intense Vance could be. She forgot the shivers he could put down people’s spines with a look, or the way he could silence a room with a word.
It wasn’t intimidating anymore. Instead, Grace felt the heat rise through her body. She shook it off and smiled. “Okay, so I prepare. I can do that.”
Vance nodded. “I’ll help you. Do you think your roommate will mind if I come to your dorm, or do we need to use the library?”
“What?” Grace asked.
“For studying. We should start now,” he said.
He was so earnest that Grace almost laughed. She nodded instead.
“My dorm is fine. Trish won’t mind.”
“Trish?” He hummed in thought. “Sorry, I don’t know her.”
“Yeah. That makes sense. High and mighty, Vance,” she teased as she stood up.
“What?” he said, confused. “I don’t know everyone, Grace.”
Grace laughed, grabbing his hand and heading back to her dorm room.
The stress about Dylan was still coursing through her, but she tried not to think too hard about it. Dylan. She had been paired with Dylan, the one person who she didn’t want to be paired with, the one person who definitely wouldn’t accept her, or work together with her.
The trial was dangerous enough and now she had to face it on her own, essentially.
But that was okay. Because Vance would help her prepare and she’d do enough self-study on her own to make up for a lack of a partner. She only hoped that he wouldn’t take his frustrations out on her, but she had a feeling that was an impossible wish.
He was so different from Vance, so volatile and emotionally driven, while Vance sometimes seemed to be all logical, all business.
She found herself wondering who Dylan’s father was. She considered asking Vance, but she didn’t know if maybe that was rude. She was still learning all the cultural pitfalls.
They headed up the stairs to her dorm room. She knocked, and when there was no answer, she opened up the door herself.
As expected, Trish wasn’t home. She had mentioned she’d be out for a while, but it never hurt to knock.
She turned to Vance and beamed, “Welcome.”
~
“Very nice,” Vance said as he stepped into the room, looking around. “I guess this is your side?” He nodded towards Grace’s bed and she nodded, surprised.
“How can you tell?” she asked.
He shrugged, a smile on his face. “Mmm. Trish seems a bit more eccentric.”
Grace laughed and sat down on her bed, dropping her bag. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Vance sat beside her, his own bag sliding to the floor.
“Thanks for helping me study, Vance,” she said quietly.
She was suddenly struck by the fact that they were alone, for the first time since they had been in the infirmary. Sure, there were quiet walks and stolen moments, but this was the first time they had been truly alone. The thought sent a shiver through Grace.
The academy didn’t afford much privacy when you thought about it, and this was very much appreciated.
“That’s okay,” he said, his voice quiet. “I just got you, Grace. I’m in no mood to lose you already.”
There was an intensity in his eyes, a sincerity in his voice that struck Gra
ce hard. He really did care about her.
Suddenly, she didn’t care about studying. She just cared about Vance.
She leaned forward, and when his lips brushed against hers, it was absolutely electric. Heat coursed through her body and shuddered all the way down to her toes, tingling as it did.
She pulled him close, kissing him harder, and he gathered her into his embrace. She all but fell against his chest. His heart was pounding against hers and she sighed in content. He felt amazing. Strong and secure, steady and in control.
She wanted him, and he was here. That was all she needed to know, at least for this moment.
Right now, all she could feel was Vance’s lips on hers, pressing against her with an intensity that she’d never felt before. She grabbed his shirt harder in her hands, tugging him closer, gasping quietly as she parted her lips. She felt him press in further, press in deeper, until she felt his chest against hers.
Her arms slid around him, pulling him closer. She parted her lips and their tongues collided, passionate and hot and sending thrills of pleasure down her spine.
His kiss felt urgent and she moaned softly as she pulled him in closer. His hand ran across her skin, the desire clear in the way he kissed her, the flush that warmed his cheeks and the way he grabbed her hair, tugging her closer.
In that moment, she wanted him. She wanted him right there in her dorm room. She wanted to feel alive, to taste every bit of Vance, to feel his heart beating next to hers and to know that everything was okay.
The ache was buried into her very soul and, when they finally parted for air, she could see that he felt the same way, could see the same hunger and need echoed in his own eyes. He wanted her just as earnestly as she wanted him. There was no doubt about it.
Vance grabbed her, a firm but gentle touch and pushed her onto the bed. She fell against the soft pillows, gasping at the feeling of his kiss against her neck.
She pulled away, just a little, to look at him. Vance was looking at her with those beautiful eyes of his. There was a deep hunger in his eyes, a burning desire that was too much for Grace to handle. It was intense, it was breaking, and Grace couldn’t deny the fierce longing that was rising up inside of her.
She could feel his body pressing against her, feel the tension of his muscles against her skin, though the flimsy barrier of his shirt. She wanted him so badly and she did not want to deny it anymore. She did not want to wait. She did not want to hold back the steadily rising pleasure for another moment.
It was like a dream. The feeling of Vance pressing against her was what Grace had been missing for all of these years.
Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Suddenly, the trial longer seemed to matter. What mattered was feeling his hands on her body. What mattered was the way he seemed to know her intimately in a way that no one else did. He drove her crazy and he was the only person who had ever been able to make her feel this way.
“I want you.” His voice was a whisper in her ear, a murmur against her skin.
She shivered at the overwhelming sensations. His voice was electrifying, and it set fire to her body. She wanted him. She wanted more, and she wasn’t afraid to ask for it.
“Vance… don’t tease,” she mumbled breathlessly against his skin. “Stop waiting.”
Vance’s lips curved into a smirk, almost predatory in the dim lights that surrounded them. “As you wish.”
Grace shuddered as she felt his hands on her skin, running down her body and making her tremble with something more than arousal, something that was so close to wild, passionate desire. She hadn’t felt Vance’s touch like this before, but she ached for him, ached for his touch on her skin.
Grace’s breathing was coming in quick, short gasps as she dug her fingers deeper into his back, gripping him for dear life and trying to take in enough air. He wasted no time pushing up her skirt, sliding his hands along the creamy expanse of her thigh.
Grace moaned and parted her legs into his touch. Her breathing was growing heavier, deeper with desire as she felt his hands creep along her skin.
He brushed her panties and tugged them away in one strong move. Grace shivered at the display of strength that he’d withheld until now. He did not even have to flinch when he tore off her clothes. That thought aroused Grace far more than it should have and she did not give a damn.
When his fingers pressed into the wet heat between her thighs, Grace thought that she was going to lose it right then and there. She bit her lip and arched into his touch. Trish could walk in any minute, but she didn’t care. It didn’t matter.
What mattered was feeling his hands on her body. What mattered was the way he seemed to know her intimately in a way that no one else did.
He drove her crazy and he was the only person who had ever been able to make her feel this way. He was the only one who could draw such wanton abandonment from her body, from her mind. He was the only one who could leave Grace a mess, and still have her craving and needing more and more and more.
She never wanted this to stop.
“Harder…” she moaned, a breathless whisper tumbling from her lips.
The sheets were soft beneath them as she arched her body into his touch, pleading for more, for harder and deeper and more. She wanted more. She needed all of him. The fevered desire was clouding her mind and her vision, and she never wanted to lose his touch.
It had been too long since she’d been intimate with anyone, and her need for Vance had been building for what felt like months. When his thumb brushed against her clit, she cried out into the pillow, her hips arching, stuttering as she tried to get more of the burning pleasure.
“That’s it, Grace… you feel amazing,” he whispered into her ear.
His hands were gentle on her skin, practiced and strong, and Grace thought that she might climax right then and there, from nothing more than his words and his fingers.
He knew her inside out. He knew what made her come undone. He knew how to make her lose it and he wasn’t afraid to use every single trick in the book. And Grace wasn’t about to start complaining, not when her mind was spinning with the pleasure, not when she couldn’t think past the rising ache, the tightness in her stomach, the mounting adrenaline that rushed through her body.
And as the pleasure threatened to crest over her completely and swallow her whole, Grace gripped onto Vance like a lifeline. He was her drug; he was her crutch. He had always been the missing piece and now that he was here, now that he was in her arms, Grace did not want to let go, did not want to stop, not even for a moment.
Before she knew it, his lips were against hers again, passionate and deep. She moaned into him, feeling his tongue caress hers, tasting the sweetness that was him, feeling him close again after all this time.
She had missed him, without even knowing that it was him she was craving in her life. She loved this. He could play her like an instrument and read her like a map and Grace found that she did not mind. She did not mind at all.
This was what she had been missing. When her boyfriends had never touched her right. When nothing had ever felt fulfilling. When she had been craving something, anything, more… this was what she had been missing. She had been missing Vance even before she knew him.
She wrapped her arms around him tight, pulling him into a kiss, her body heaving with longing and desire. And as she held him, and kissed him, everything felt right.
Maybe there was nothing wrong with giving into desire, and feeling another person close, healing and touching and making each other whole, pressed close in the dim morning light, entwined and loved.
Maybe this was something sacred and pure, something that she hadn’t understood until now.
All she knew was that it felt right. It felt right to have Vance in her arms. It felt right to hold him and kiss him and touch him. It felt right and she never wanted to let him go.
With shaking hands, Grace finally managed to free his belt and tug open the buttons of his jeans, feeling desire move through her. The zippe
r came down easily and Grace reached into his underwear, pulling out his member, feeling his lust and desire burning in her hand. She bit her lip at his size, almost worried, but more needing, at the impressive girth and began to slowly stroke him, feeling the size of him and trembling in anticipating.
Grace wasn’t used to feeling this way, so needy and wanting, but Vance just had that effect on her. She couldn’t seem to pull away and she didn’t really want to. It was happening so fast and she wanted more.
He was absolutely intoxicating and she wanted more and more and more of him.
Vance groaned deeply as she did this, gasping, his own cheeks a little flushed with a dark and predatory desire, a tremble to his skin as she stroked and caressed his skin, just as he had done to her.
She moaned and squirmed and felt incredible in every way. It made her bite her lip and arch her hips and drop her head onto the pillow, arching her body against him, wanting more of the pleasure and friction that burn her body and consumed her whole.
When he finally pulled out his fingers and moved closer, Grace felt a thrill run through her, almost holding her breath. When his length pressed up against her entrance, slowly pushing against the heat between her legs, Grace thought she would lose herself completely in the pleasure.
The pleasure rose in her mind, desire at a fever pitch and Grace groaned, shivering and holding on for dear life as he began to slowly, slowly push himself within her, gasping as he did.
Grace gasped his name, moaning and trying to stay still as Vance began to push deeper within her. He thrust deep and Grace gasped, crying out, groaning and holding onto him so very tightly. Her vision felt almost hazy, she felt giddy, and she bit her lip, gasping and trembling, writhing beneath him as he thrust within her, deep and strong, filling her and making her breathless.
He was groaning and Grace thrilled at the sound. She was lost in the moment. Everything felt so good, everything felt so very right and it was difficult to tell what was in her surrounding and what wasn’t. All she noticed was Vance, and all she could feel was the pleasure between her thighs and the sensations in her body.