by Mandy Rosko
The vampire reached down to grab at his crotch, which was bulging and huge beneath the trousers that hindered him. “Fuck… me, God. I can’t—”
“Let me.” It was no longer sexual for Cedric when he slipped his hand beneath Silus’s pants and fisted his swelling cock—Christ, the thing was engorged—he just wanted to help ease whatever strange infliction Silus suffered from because it scared the hell out of Cedric seeing him like this.
One tug was all it took. Silus opened his mouth, long fangs exposed, and cried out like he was coming for the first time in his life. His back arched so high Cedric thought he might just start levitating.
He did that for a full thirty seconds—thirty seconds!—before coming back down to the carpet again. Heavy breathing escaped his mouth, and both eyes were half lidded and blinking drunkenly.
Cedric propped himself on one elbow to get a look at him. A twinge of jealousy fluttered through him at the utter look of satisfaction on Silus’s mug. Sure, it was the dangerous way to do it, but that amazing orgasm was supposed to be shared with Cedric.
He shook his head at himself. What a stupid, selfish thing to be thinking at a time like this.
He opened his mouth to ask the traditional are you okay question, but nothing came out.
Judging by Silus’s lazy smile, he was very okay.
Of course, that smile would leave once Silus’s brain was working enough to figure out what had just happened. Cedric pulled his hand from Silus’s pants. It was soaked in cum, and with no rags or even tissue in any reachable spot, he resigned to just wiping his hand across the carpet. Silus would likely be angry enough about having nearly fucked a mortal enemy. What was the one extra little thing of ruining a carpet going to do? Cedric then picked himself up off the floor, gently took the boneless vamp into his arms, and deposited him on the bed on top of the covers before retrieving his pants and straightening his shirt and tie.
The tinted windows in the room were like the ones in the ballroom. They went from floor to ceiling, and they also had a door that led outside to a stone balcony. Cedric checked his watch. The sun should be just slivering over the horizon now. That should be enough for him to transport himself back home. His erection had since shriveled away sometime during that horrific seizure, so he wouldn’t need to worry about pouring any ice down his pants when he got back at least.
He took one last longing look at the bed before moving toward the door. He had to be quick, because if it got any lighter outside, he wouldn’t be able to open the door at all without frying the other man in the room, and he didn’t want to hurt Silus any more than he already had.
His hand was on the golden door handle when a soft voice called to him. “Wait.”
It could have had the depth and boom of God Himself for all the power it held over him. Cedric’s whole body halted, and he turned his head enough to see behind him.
Silus had propped himself up on his pillows. He stared at Cedric with something akin to affection. “You are no human.”
He hesitated, but nothing sarcastic came to him, so he just answered the question straight. “No.”
“You are a sun sprite.” Silus’s face stayed lax as he said it. There was no disgust, no anger, or shame. He was just stating a fact.
Cedric decided he might as well do the same. “Yes.”
Silus sighed and closed his eyes. Cedric was about to take that as his dismissal before he spoke again. “Come back tomorrow night. I’ll leave my door unlocked.”
Cedric couldn’t say anything. Couldn’t say that he wouldn’t be available tomorrow night, or any other night after.
This was meant to be a one-time thing. While it was Silus’s centennial birthday, it was also supposed to be Cedric’s bachelor party, his last night of freedom before being chained down to a woman for whom he could never feel more than a sisterly affection.
But he couldn’t tell that to Silus. For whatever reason, be it revenge, or another attempt at whatever this had been, the vampire wanted him to return.
Cedric’s heart beat an off-rhythm pattern. It was better to not cause Silus any distress, considering what had just happened.
So Cedric lied instead. “I’ll be here.”
Then he opened the thick, tinted glass door a crack before escaping into the fresh air of the morning dawn. Using the sun’s UV rays, he flashed, became a part of them and allowed himself to travel along them until he was far away from the strangest thing that ever happened to him.
Chapter Four
Cedric reappeared on his family doorstep. The large expanse of emerald lawn behind him was now lit up by the stretch of sunlight breaking over the horizon. His trip home from outside of Silus’s bedroom had taken milliseconds.
It would only take milliseconds to go back.
He shook the thought from his head. Not the time. Not now. Not ever.
With a smile and a nod to the camera above the door, and the two men in suits and shades on either side of it, he took his laser cut keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, and let himself in.
When he entered the bright foyer, the sight of people milling around in large groups was to be expected. What was shocking was how their chatter ceased when he let himself in, the way their sympathetic glances touched him, and the way his mother rushed to him through the crowd of sprites wearing their very best. Her heavy diamonds sparkled and dangled from her ears as she ran. They reflected so much light that, had it still been night and only a single candle lit in the entire room, those rocks would’ve caught that bit of light and magnified it by a thousand.
“Oh, Cedric! How terrible! I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
His first instinct was to think of his father, and his insides clenched. “What happened? Where’s Dad?”
Cecelia—his mother—shook her head. “No, no, not your father. It’s Dacielle.”
His fiancée. Cedric’s insides calmed a little. “What about her?” If this was another issue with the cake, seating arrangements, or flowers, he was going to snap.
“She’s come down with the flu. She’s sick in bed right now, and all the guests are here.” Cecelia waved her hand behind herself to all of Cedric’s well-dressed friends and relatives, young and old, as if he could have missed them with the way they awkwardly shifted their feet around and adjusted their collars.
A rush of evil pleasure rose inside him as the implication of his mother’s tears hit him.
The bride was ill. There would be no wedding today. Which also meant there would be no wedding night.
Hallelujah, thank the Lord. He didn’t have to fuck his little cousin.
Cedric put his fist to his mouth to cough, the only way he could hide his smile.
His mother squeaked. “You’re not coming down with something, too, are you?”
“You know, I think I might be.” He coughed again to disguise the crazed laugh building within him. He had another day, at least. A week at most, or however long it took for a healthy eighteen-year-old to get over a flu. He wouldn’t be putting a ring on her finger today or his cock inside her tonight. He pointed toward the stone staircase, not too dissimilar from the one at Silus’s mansion. “I’m going up to my room to lie down.”
Cecelia rubbed his back, her delicate, manicured hands scratching him through his jacket. It made him shiver. “You do that, sweetheart. Get some rest. I can’t have you sick for the wedding later.”
He ignored her mothering and passed the guests quickly with his head down, hiding his face should a smile break out on it. There were murmurs of regret and well wishes for himself and his fiancée, which he accepted with a barely there nod, but eventually he was up in his room.
He leaned his back against the locked door and smiled. His muscles twitched with the urge to dance.
He loved Dacielle, he really did, but she was the closest thing he had to a sister. She would survive having the flu, no problem. He, on the other hand, would be traumatized for life if he had to make babies with her.
“You look
like you had a good night.”
Cedric jumped as Ben appeared from nowhere, smack in the middle of his bed. He stretched out lazily like he owned the place instead of worked in it.
Cedric laughed and leapt onto the bed with him to punch his arm. “You scared the hell out of me.” He made himself comfortable next to his buddy until they were both on their backs, staring at the flat screen hanging on the opposite wall, which was currently turned off.
“What happened?” Ben asked.
Cedric rubbed his face and sighed a happy sigh. It felt like Christmas times a thousand. “The wedding’s postponed.”
Ben blinked and sat up. “Really? That’s great!” He hesitated. “But, that wasn’t what I was talking about.”
Silus. Of course. Just thinking about him, the way he’d left him, and what they hadn’t finished, suddenly dampened things.
“Ceddy? You okay?”
“Nothing happened.”
A disbelieving laugh bubbled out of his friend. “Bullshit.”
“He drank some of my blood.”
“So?”
Cedric could’ve punched him for real. “What do you mean so? I’m a sun sprite.”
Ben stuck his hands behind his head, leaned back and stared like he didn’t know what the problem was. The damned idiot. And he was supposed to be Cedric’s bodyguard.
“Vampires can’t drink sun sprite blood because of our connections with the sun.”
Finally some semblance of understanding dawned on the other man. Then a little worry came over him. “Is he okay?”
Cedric thought back to Silus’s writhing and moaning form on the carpeted floor of his room. He had to banish the thought quickly before he got himself a hard-on with his best friend lying in bed next to him. “He seemed okay when I left, but it didn’t get very far when he bit me.”
“Where’d he bite you?” Ben twisted his head around to look at Cedric’s neck. “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s on my thigh.” His thigh, which now felt strangely good despite the fact that there were twin holes in it.
“I want to see it.” Ben lunged for his leg, but Cedric kicked himself up off the bed.
“I need to see my father.”
All joking left Ben’s eyes.
“I’m not going to tell him where I was.”
“Hope not.”
Right. Because if Cedric let that little ball drop, Ben would be out of a job before he could teleport away from Cyricus’s wrath.
“You’re going to talk about…”
Cedric nodded. “The wedding.” He was going to try and get out of marrying his cousin. He’d thought about what would happen if he did say no, and as scary as the outcome of all those thoughts had been, the image of Dacielle naked and waiting for him was too much.
He used to babysit her for God’s sake.
“Good luck, man.”
“Thanks,” Cedric muttered. Then he lost his nerve. He was such a pussy. “You’ll—”
“I’ll stick around for a little while.” Ben made himself comfortable on Cedric’s beige sheets again. This time he reached over and grabbed the remote from Cedric’s nightstand. “Your TV has more channels than mine anyway.”
Cedric left, comforted with the knowledge his friend would still be there when he came back.
Though he’d faked an illness earlier, there were no guests on this floor to see him walking with his head held high, back straight, and no cough in his throat. He considered going to check on Dac first—he might not want to marry her, but she was still his little cousin, and he was concerned—but then he decided against it.
If she was resting, his presence would just disturb her. If she was awake, he would be forced to sit with her and listen to her speak of her eagerness to get married, apologize for the delay her illness caused, and how much fun their honeymoon would be.
Pass.
Dac was a good girl. And like all good girls, she believed in the same traditions as her elders, did what she was told, and thought that becoming a wife was the highest achievement she could attain.
The wing containing his father’s rooms weren’t far from Cedric’s, and he knew his dad could be found in his private office.
Before he knocked, his nose caught the telltale scent of tobacco floating around the room, and the angry slam of a phone hitting his desk. He actually had to take a breath for courage before rapping on the door.
“Come in.”
Cedric did so, but Cyricus did not look happy to see him. Something had definitely pissed him off. “Thought you were sick.”
Cedric shut the door. “Just a cough. How’s Dacielle?”
His father took the cigar from his lips and flicked the grey ashes in the crystal tray beside his ledger. The lines around his mouth from his constant scowling were ugly and deep. “She’ll live, though it’s costing enough money delaying the bands, caterers, and getting hotel rooms for the guests our house can’t fit.”
Ah, so here was the root of the problem. While his father had always been capable of lavishing money around, he actually hated doing it and, in recent years, became more and more vocal about his displeasure.
It was one of the reasons why a marriage between his son and niece would be so beneficial. Dacielle came with a great big happy dowry. Old money was the best kind to a race that loved old values, after all.
Well, Cedric was about to make the problem a helluva lot worse, but he needed to make himself clear.
“Dad, I can’t go through with this.”
His father stopped with the cigar nearly back in his mouth. He put it down carefully, leaving it to smoke itself in the tray, his golden eyes flashing.
A lot of people told Cedric he was the mirror image of his old man back when Cyricus was younger. Cedric hoped he wouldn’t end up looking so mean.
“Son, did you not go out and do your thing last night?”
“Kind of, but—”
“And might I remind you that the only reason I allowed your little escapade with some courtesan was so you could get your urges out of your system in time for your coming marriage.”
That’s what Cyricus thought, anyway, that Cedric had found some male professional to scratch his itch last night. If his father ever discovered he’d gone to a vampire’s birthday party instead of a brothel, Cedric would probably find his ass disowned in a heartbeat.
It had been his own private rebellion against his parents for what they were doing to him. That, and the rumors of vamps being good in bed, a rumor he couldn’t confirm either way now.
Still, though it didn’t go anywhere, he was glad he’d gone.
“Father, I don’t love her.”
Cyricus shut his eyes and sighed. “There’s more to marriage than love.” He leaned his elbows on his desk and ran his large hands through shoulder-length, golden hair before folding his fingers together in front of him. “Your mother, myself, and your aunt had this planned since the second they knew your Aunt Sheila was carrying a girl. We made an agreement.”
“And I have to honor it.” Cedric fisted his hands at the unfairness of being forced to keep promises his parents had made. It was disgusting.
His father’s hands clenched in response. “If you wish to keep the honor and nobility of this family intact, then, yes, you will not unkiss the bargain.”
Right, because it would be so horrible if those snobby bastards turned their noses up at Cedric or his parents. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what they all thought. Unfortunately, his parents did, and Cedric cared for his parents.
It was a big deal for all sun sprites when someone made a bargain. That bargain had to be honored, or else the whole family for at least three generations forward and back was shunned as untrustworthy, selfish, and liars in general. Unlike humans, who had eventually started choosing their own partners regardless of parental consent, sun sprites were still very much into the old ways of doing things, and first cousins were open season when it came to choosing a spouse for one’s child.
If Cedric called off the wedding, it would be considered a betrayal of the worst kind against his family. If he broke the promise they had made, he would be labeled as an untrustworthy rogue. People would avoid him like he carried the Black Plague, and his parents, well, as the people who had created such a heathen monster, they would either be pitied much the same way people pitied lepers, or be as shunned as Cedric.
What a position to be put in. Marry a woman and keep your family happy or do the whole be-true-to-yourself thing and damn them all.
The ironic thing was that being gay wasn’t even the issue. Keeping his parents’ promise was.
Cyricus must have sensed Cedric’s inner turmoil, because his voice and eyes softened. “Dacielle is ill. Not severely so, so you can take it as a gift if you wish to be unmarried for a few days more. Otherwise, this discussion is over.”
Cedric forced his finger to uncurl at the dismissal, just as trapped now as he’d been when he first came in here, or so his father thought, anyway. He turned and left the office, Cyricus calling at his back, “And tell your guard to keep better watch over you. I do not like that you arrived home alone.”
Shit. One of the other guards must’ve said something.
Whatever. Didn’t matter anyway because he was done with the whole thing. Last night, even though the events hadn’t come to their preferable conclusion, had shown him that he couldn’t live without the romantic company of another man. And he wasn’t about to marry a woman just to eventually cheat on her. Dacielle deserved better than that.
His father might think this was finished, and his mother might refuse to see it coming, but he was getting out of this marriage. One way or another, even if it killed him.
* * * *
Silus slept fitfully, but when he did, he dreamt of Cedric, on his back on Silus’s bed, spread out, open, and gasping as he fisted his prick in his hand, waiting for him.
Silus would then wake, with perspiration on his body and an erection that required immediate attention. This happened three times during his day’s rest. And all that despite the God-like orgasm just a sip of Cedric’s blood had brought him.