A Summoner's Tale - The Vampire's Confessor (Black Swan 3)

by Danann, Victoria

  He looked deadly serious. "You really were worried about me."

  "Yes," she whispered. "I really was."

  "Let's eat."

  He let go suddenly, walked into the bedroom, picked up the phone, and spoke quietly. She made her way back to the living room, trying not to look at the bed pointedly while he was standing beside it. He watched her cross the room like a predator watched prey.

  She sat on the blood red divan in front of the fire and waited.

  Baka followed almost immediately. He went straight for the red wine, opened the bottle with an expertise that screamed suave, poured two glasses half full, sat down next to Heaven and handed one of the stems to her. Something about that simple gesture, handing her a goblet of red wine, quickened her excitement and she felt her nipples bead. She resisted the urge to look down, but knew the lightweight jersey knit was not going to disguise her body's reaction in the least. Sure enough, when Baka raised his glass to his lips, his eyes flickered down to her breasts and lingered for a second before coming back to lock her gaze with his.

  A pleasant-sounding chime at the door relieved what was about to become an even more awkward moment for the lady sitting on the crushed velvet, crimson divan.

  Baka grinned.

  "Dinner," was all he said as he rose to answer the door.

  The evening manager was back overseeing the entrance of three stainless steel, rolling carts pushed by perfectly groomed staff with polished smiles and nods for the lady.

  Three carts of food? Good gods.

  Heaven took Baka's hand when offered and moved to a chair which was beautifully upholstered in a needlepoint design of ripe fruit and ivy. The carts had as many compartments as a stage magician's box. While one of the kitchen staff withdrew china bowls with dome coverings, another set a loaf of artisan bread and a cup of curled butter balls on the table, while the third poured water from quart size bottles of Perrier into the larger goblets.

  The three scurried out the door leaving just the evening man who lifted the covers away from the bowls saying, "Fresh oyster soup with leeks and lentils."

  The aroma that had been a subtle undertone a moment before was set free to launch an assault on Heaven's senses. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was.

  "Just ring when you're ready for chef to prepare the Caesar, sir."

  Baka nodded and in two seconds they were alone again.

  "Bon appetite." His smile was so sexy and so suggestive, for a couple of seconds she forgot she was famished. She dipped her spoon in the soup, managed to get it into her mouth without slurping and moaned her approval.

  "It's good?"

  She smiled. "Heavenly." She took another spoonful. "What else are we having?"

  "Caesar salad. If you want it. Or we could go straight to a hardier course. We have some interlocking, Frenched pork chops in remouvierre sauce with some of those outrageously costly mushrooms. Mash and baby asparagus spears."

  Heaven looked at him curiously. "When did you become a foodie?"

  Baka laughed out loud. "Okay, busted, as they say. I haven't been eating real food long enough to become a foodie, but I can tell you that I like it a lot and that could easily happen. Meanwhile, I got help with the menu. Is it alright?"

  Baka was warmed by the look in her eyes.

  "Perfect."

  The oyster soup quickly took the edge off Heaven's hunger. By the time she got to the bottom of the bowl she was growing less and less interested in the beautiful dinner and more and more interested in the beautiful ex-vampire on the other side of the table.

  "It would be a shame to waste such a meal." She had no experience with flirtation, but hoped she was giving him a look that suggested she would be agreeable to skipping the rest of act one and intermission.

  "That's the beauty of it. Nothing will go to waste if we eat it later."

  She smiled in agreement, all the encouragement that was needed. He pushed his chair back, stood and offered his hand. When he had pulled her to her feet, he scooped her up with the speed of residual vampire strength. He set her back on her feet next to the impossibly lavish bed which was currently occupied by at least ten pillows of various shapes and sizes.

  He picked up one of the pillows and, while looking at Heaven with a twinkle of mischief in his eye, threw it to the other side of the room. After a couple of beats, she caught on to the game. She picked up another large pillow and threw it to the other side of the room. As they traded throwing pillows aside, the game got faster and faster until, out of pillows, they collapsed on the bed laughing and bounced a little.

  They lay side by side staring at each other for a few seconds before Baka's playful demeanor dissolved into desire. The heat coming off his body and his need to press her closer against him made Heaven want to divest him of his shirt as soon as possible. She unbuttoned enough to slip her hand inside next to his skin.

  "Ah!" He yelled, jerked away, and then started laughing. "Your hands are freezing." Still chuckling he brought her hands to his mouth and started to blow warm air on her fingers. "How can a live person have hands this cold?"

  "I..."

  "Never mind. Let's get undressed and get under the covers. We'll be warm in no time. And it will be just like..." He stopped mid sentence.

  "You know I'm not that person. I mean, I guess I am on some borderline disturbing, eternal spirit level, but the memories you have... I don't have those memories. We won't ever share that."

  Baka cupped her cheek with a hand that was completely warm. "I don't want you to be anything you're not. I'm an idiot for making you feel that way. Who you are, what you are, is just right for me. Right now. In this time. In this place."

  She wanted to believe him. "What did you like best about her?"

  "Seriously?"

  Heaven nodded. He seemed to be considering as if he wanted to be sure before he dashed off an answer.

  "She loved me."

  Heaven looked at him for a couple of heartbeats then rewarded him with one of those grins of hers that made him want to give her anything, everything.

  "Then we're good to go. Because I love you, too."

  That announcement seemed to have visibly stunned Baka. He froze in place. Had he even hoped, on any level, that he might someday hear those words? Six hundred years in the past couples didn't say such things to each other. He wanted to respond, but his jaw was locked in place. Heaven's eyes were drawn downward to the movement of his throat when he swallowed hard.

  "Devil take it, woman. You've made me cry and I'm trying to hide it."

  His eyes were a little pinkish and that might be more moisture than usual forming behind his long, black eyelashes. She pulled herself up far enough so that she could reach his eyes with her lips and kissed him tenderly, working her way downward. When she reached his mouth, he rolled her over so that he was on top of her.

  "There's more than one way to warm you up."

  She giggled into his mouth until she felt his erection pressing against her sex. After that she lost the ability to form any thought other than getting him out of that shirt.

  "Shirt," she said.

  "I'll do it," he smiled.

  He climbed off the bed and finished unbuttoning his shirt, never taking his eyes away from hers. He shrugged it off his shoulders and let it drop at his feet. Such smooth, flawless skin for a body that had survived over six centuries of wear and tear. He wasn't overly bulky, the result of artificial nutrition, physique enhancing drugs, or endless monotonous hours with free weights. Nor was he too spare. If pressed, Heaven would have said he was just right, muscular with all the right planes and valleys, a work of art.

  She had said she didn't have Helene's memories and that was true, but, seeing Baka with his chest bared standing next to the bed, she felt like she'd just been dunked in a vat of déjà vu. The feeling that she had been with this man in this way before was inescapable.

  She wasn't nearly finished admiring his upper body when she realized he wasn't going to stop there.
He was unwrapping himself like a present. He kicked off his boots, unzipped his jeans and slid them down catching his silk boxers so that they went together. All the clothes he'd been wearing a minute before were in a pile at his feet.

  He stood gloriously naked, completely unashamed, patiently allowing her to look her fill at the erection pointing directly at her. Taking in his length and thickness, she was wondering how in heaven's name the mechanics were going to work.

  "Where did you get that?"

  She replayed that question in her mind. Where did you get that? That's what you wanted to say to him? Really?

  Baka looked down, following her gaze to his cock. He seemed amused by the question.

  "It was a package deal."

  Heaven wet her lips unconsciously. "Funny. I mean I don't remember you being so..."

  "So what?"

  "... big."

  Baka laughed, which caused his very large, very full penis, to bob up and down hypnotically.

  "And I thought you didn't have any memories of us before."

  "I don't. I mean... This is confusing."

  "Truthfully, I don't think we had the pleasure of looking at each other. We weren't ever alone." Baka reached for her and started sliding her off the bed toward him. "Your turn."

  "Wait. Wait."

  He stopped. And waited while she chewed her bottom lip. Finally, he said, "What aren't you telling me?"

  She peeked up at him while brushing her fingers across the muscular planes of his chest - which did nothing to help him focus on what she was saying. "Was Helene a virgin?"

  His initial dumbfounded expression gradually dissolved into softened features.

  "At your age, in these times, I'm, well, surprised. There was never...?"

  He couldn't really decide where to go with that question. Any image that came to mind scalded his blood with instantly raging jealousy. Any answer she might give would do the same.

  She shrugged. "I had opportunity."

  His eyes teased and twinkled. "I have no doubt of that."

  "I just never, I don't know, wanted to."

  She wasn't just any ordinary miracle. She was a miracle who loved him; a gift from the universe like one of the aces in a tarot deck. Only better. Much, much better. His sharp-tongued, sophisticated, independent, twenty-seven-year-old demonologist was as innocent, and shy, as a schoolgirl.

  He slowly pulled her to her feet and into an embrace. When she put her arms around him and her hands came in contact with bare skin, he heard her heartbeat speed up. The residual side effects of the vampire virus were still enhancing his hearing.

  He put his forefinger under her chin and tipped her face up toward him. "Thank you for telling me. We'll go slow. And I love you, too."

  While he was talking, her hands began moving of their own accord, exploring his shoulder blades then slowly descending to the swell of his buttocks which he didn't seem mind. He untied her belt and pulled her dress up over her head revealing the pink lace undies. He smiled when he saw them, hooked a finger under her bra strap and said, "Pretty," as he urged her back to sit on the bed.

  He unzipped her boots and took them away slowly, first one, then the other, like he was savoring the experience of revealing the woman under the clothes. When the second boot came free, he slowly peeled away a pink socklet with lace trim. When her foot was bare, he straightened and, bending her leg at the knee, brought her foot toward his 'package' so that her toes came in contact with his balls. Of their own accord those toes wiggled and flexed like they had found a home in the warmth and texture of generous scrotum. Baka was clearly enjoying the sensation. When he set her foot down to take off the other sock, Heaven's lips parted and the toes on the other foot proved to be in direct contact with her clit as they eagerly awaited the same treatment.

  When control of her foot was returned to her, Heaven pushed herself back up onto the bed. He gave her a look that said, "You'll not get away from me so easily. We're doing this."

  That look made her heart beat even faster. When he began crawling toward her, moving like a graceful predator, she was struck with panic, conflicted between laughing, running, and begging him to wait. But she did none of those things. She was spellbound by the sight of the magnificent, nude male stalking her through folds of velvets, silks, and satins. Like the proverbial deer caught in headlights, she stilled, waiting.

  Taking her hands, he pulled her up into a sitting position then brushed his lips down her neck and over her decolletage. Her head fell back of its own accord giving him more access as he pressed her into his body and the warmth of him. The exquisite sensation of skin on skin was so potent it was almost sensory overload.

  As Baka unclasped her bra effortlessly, she tried to not think about how deftly he performed that task. He pulled the straps down her arms slowly as if he was savoring the moment, memorizing it. She studied his face for reaction to the sight of her breasts.

  Anxiety fled when he cupped her breast with a large, warm palm. He raised his eyes to hers just before he ran his thumb over the nipple. She breathed in deeply, closed her eyes, and felt her body arch toward his hand of its own volition as her fingers dug into his shoulders.

  Baka's eyes were shining like they were lit from within. He covered her mouth with kisses that supported his internal claim that she was beautiful and responsive. And his. Kisses continued to stoke the passion higher as her sex was getting wetter and needier in preparation.

  What he wanted was to lay her back against the white sheets and bury himself to the hilt, making love openly and unashamed with bare ass driving her so deep into the mattress, she would never second guess having waited for him to be the first. But he knew it couldn't be about what he wanted so he vowed to himself that he would keep enough control to resist setting upon her in a ravage.

  With head on the pillow she watched him lave his tongue lazily over a nipple while locking eyes with hers. She gasped at the sensuality of the cool air on her wet nipple. The excitement was heightened by the fact that she was also being watched by an ex-vampire who was the personification of sex. He was like a drug, a mesmerizing drug.

  One corner of her mind heard her own voice say, "More." She shook herself a little. "Now I know how Helene felt."

  Baka looked up at her curiously, but continued circling her nipple with his forefinger. "Helene?"

  "Blood and Bellflowers."

  Baka stopped. "You read my first book?"

  "Yes I did. Stefan seemed somewhat familiar to me."

  Baka smiled with a promise of wicked seduction. "And you're interested in the things they did?"

  "Maybe." She answered cautiously. "Sometime."

  "In time you will know everything you want to know, experience everything you want to experience, but right now I'm just interested in right now."

  Without warning he grabbed the pink lace panties with one hand and slid them down her legs in a smooth move that happened so fast she didn't have time to think or protest. She sucked in a breath when she realized she was exposed to view for the first time in her life, but, again, had no time to register either pleasure or complaint before he was nuzzling pubic curls.

  The pleasure of those light, barely-there touches coupled with the knowledge that his lips were less than an inch away from her core made her think her eyes were going to roll back in her head.

  "Baka." Her inexperience was making her self-conscious and uncertain.

  "Hmmm."

  "Are you, um..."

  He nudged her thighs apart with his face while depositing tiny kisses to the vaginal lips that were thrumming with need to be touched. When he offered a tentative lick to the top of her opening, it stopped brain function. Whatever she was going to say was lost to a pleasure so devastating, her entire body was vibrating with need.

  She heard herself say, "Wait."

  He smiled without moving his face. "For what?"

  What was it she wanted? Oh yes. "I want to touch you."

  That brought a stop to his forw
ard momentum and he quickly got on board with a change of plan.

  He rose up above her and straddled her so that he was easy to reach. He held his weight just off her with knees spread on either side of her hips, his balls resting light on her mons. She couldn't have imagined that a male could be so beautiful. She splayed her hands over his pecs then pinched both nipples lightly between her fingers. She could see that he was breathing harder. His eyes had darkened. And his penis had grown bigger? Was that possible?

  She traced a path down his torso with her right hand alternating between revving him up with the tips of her fingers and smoothing with the back of her hand. The dark line that led southward from his navel beckoned like a magnet. She followed it so slowly he thought the anticipation would make him jump out of his skin.

  When she finally took his shaft in hand, she wasn't prepared for the feel or texture of him.

  "Soft." She said it so quietly he might not have heard if it wasn't for the extra-human hearing which might or might not be permanent. When he had gone about the afternoon planning every detail of a perfect romantic fantasy, he had never imagined meeting a lover who would treat him like he was magical. Who knew an introduction to passion could be so fun?

  Rubbing her thumb over the bulbous crown, where a beaded pearl of moisture had formed, seemed to fascinate her. She gingerly smoothed it around then flicked her gaze up to him as her tongue wet her bottom lip. She felt him jerk in her hand when she licked her lips.

  "I'm not sure what to do."

  He guided her hand back to encircle him. Covering her hand with his he showed her how to simulate the movement of copulation and exactly how much pressure he liked. Her wide eyes were trained on the coupling of her hand and his cock, loving the way it made his balls slide up and back at the same time, grazing her sensitive area just enough to make her squeeze her thighs together and desperately want... something. When she relaxed into a rhythm designed to drive him mad, he released her hand and moved his own hand down to caress her sex.

  She gasped when he found her swollen nub with his thumb and began drawing circles in time with the rhythm of her strokes. Yes. That was the 'something' she wanted. He regulated his touch according to what he felt. If she went faster, he went faster. If she went slower, he went slower.