by Bea Paige
See you in a few days, Red, Devin says, and with it they are gone.
I look up at Ezra, at the sharp point of the incisors that have lowered from his gum. I do believe my vampire desires me. I press my lips against his collarbone, my tongue snaking a hot trail across the surface. A low rumble erupts from Ezra’s throat. I can’t help but giggle. He looks down at me and smiles.
“I will spend the rest of my Lights forsaken life making sure I hear that sound daily.” He places me gently to the floor, resting his hands on my hips. We are standing outside his cottage, under the newly formed archway covered in roses.
“I debated for a long time whether I should bring you here to my home I once shared with Thalia and Roseanna. It is filled with memories of them both. The walls are filled with the love we shared, and that love has shaped me into the man I am today. Thalia was a good woman. She would have wanted me to be happy. With you I am more than that. You have made me whole again, Accacia. A life was lived within these walls, a life that was lived a thousand years ago. I want to share my life now, with you, in a place that needs to be filled with laughter and love once more. It has been too long.”
I bite my lip, remembering Rhain and I making love here not so long ago. Did he know? I drop my head, not able to look him in the eye. It’s not something we’ve had the chance to discuss.
Ezra lifts my chin with his fingertips. “Rhain told me everything, Accacia. Your Claiming started all of this. I am not angry. Far from it. We have a bond, my brothers and I, it has been made stronger now we have you…” He takes my hand in his. “If you still need time, I can wait,” he starts, sudden doubt clouding his eyes.
“Take me inside, Ezra,” I whisper.
He doesn’t need to be told twice. He lifts me up into his arms once more, and pushes open the door, striding through the living room that is filled with sweet smelling candles and into the bedroom beyond. He places me on my feet at the foot of the bed. It has been stripped since the last time I was here. Crisp, white bedding adorns it and covering the bottom of the bed is a red silk throw. Behind me I hear the sound of Ezra removing his shirt. It falls to the ground at our feet. Then he steps closer and lightly runs his fingers across the open expanse of flesh across my shoulders, moving my long hair so that it falls over the front of my chest. The pads of his fingertips move across my bare back, followed by his knuckles and, lastly, his lips. My breathing becomes heavy as he drags the tips of his incisors across my skin. I want him to bite me. God, I want him to bite me. Liquid desire heats my sex at the thought.
“Ezra…” I start, but he pulls his hot mouth away, replacing it again with his fingers. I feel him pull at the lace of my bodice, slowly unwrapping me from its constraints. He is painfully slow, teasingly so. He wants to savour the moment, I understand that now. Ezra loves fiercely, but when he makes love it is slow, sensual, all-consuming. Already I know this, can sense this about him. Eventually all of the lace ties are undone, and my red dress falls to the floor, the chiffon sliding over the bare skin of my legs as it does so. I am entirely naked apart from a small slip of silk across my arse and my satin ballet pumps.
“Lights be damned, Accacia. You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.” His hands move over my shoulders, down my arms, across my back. I hear him kneel behind me as he drags his fingers over my hips, moving around to cup my arse in his hands. I let out a low moan as he massages me with strong, firm hands. They move lower, brushing my thighs, lowering to my calves, before one hand moves around to my shin. Ezra gently encourages me to bend my knee so that he can remove one of my shoes. I hear him chuck it into the corner of the room. He does the same with my other shoe. Then I feel the sleek wetness of his tongue as it slides up the back of my thigh, licking the underside of my arse. He presses his cheek against my roundness, then his fingers hook under my knickers and he pulls them free until I am completely naked. He stands, and the cold air between us tells me he has moved away. I turn around, wanting to know where he’s gone. He is standing a few paces away, his grey eyes wide, his chest heaving, his hands trembling. My heart aches for him, for the control he punishes himself with. I step from the pool of material beneath my feet and walk towards him. This time it’s my turn to undress Ezra. I reach for his belt, undo it and pull it free from the hoops. A smile twitches around his lips as I drop it to the floor with a flick of my wrist. Ezra’s smile fades and is replaced with a groan when my hand grazes over the firmness of his length. He sucks in a breath, his pupils dilating, the grey of his irises almost lost to the black as I rub him through the material. Leaning forward, I place a kiss against his broad chest whilst unfastening the hook of his trousers. They fall to the ground. He isn’t wearing any underwear and so the soft velvetiness of his cock settles into my hand. I curl my fingers around him, moving my hand slowly up and down the long shaft as I press hot kisses across the firm muscle of his chest.
“Damn it, Accacia, you’re killing me.”
“Not again, I hope,” I laugh into his skin.
Ezra grabs at my wrists. “Too much, too soon, darling,” he says. My hand falls away. “I haven’t finished exploring you just yet,” he adds, his fingertips trailing fire over my breasts. He cups them gently in his hands, running the pad of his thumbs over my nipples. He is gentle, tender, loving. I am enchanted. Bending over, he draws my nipple into his mouth, twirling his tongue around and around until I almost come apart there and then. I am so turned on. The sensation has a direct connection to the slick warmth between my legs. He knows it. His vampire senses smell my desire. He pulls his mouth away, blowing hot air over my aching nipples as his hands slide down my back and over the roundness of my arse. He lowers his mouth further, his lips, his teeth, his tongue move over my skin until he is kneeling before me once again.
He looks up at me, his mouth parting, his fangs dropping further. Then he draws my leg up, placing my foot on his thigh, and turns his attention to the pulse of blood running just beneath the surface of my skin. He hesitates, waiting for my permission.
“Bite me, Ezra,” I whisper.
It is all he needs to hear. Gripping my hip steady with one hand, the other supporting the back of my leg, he buries his teeth deep in the sensitive flesh of my thigh. I throw my head back, letting out a scream of pain mixed with pleasure as he draws on my blood. He is like that for some time, drawing the red warmth into his mouth. It feels as though a thousand feathers are tracing across my skin, igniting my passion from the outside in. The feeling of Ezra feeding from me is so intense that my legs weaken at the onslaught and just when I think I am about to fall, Ezra pulls his teeth free, scoops me up and strides with me to the bed.
He lays me down gently against the soft pillows, his tongue snaking around his lips, lapping up my blood that blooms across his mouth.
“Your blood tastes like liquid gold, like starlight, like the dawn rising on a summer’s day,” Ezra says, bending over me. He grazes his teeth over my collarbone, over my breasts, my stomach, my hip bones until he is settled between my legs. “Now I wish to taste you.” He lowers his mouth, his tongue sliding against my wetness with one firm lick. “Lights damn it, you taste like sunshine too,” he murmurs before pushing his tongue deep into me. Ezra remains in that spot, stroking and teasing and tasting me with his tongue, his lips, his mouth. He is relentless, he doesn’t stop until my body liquifies and I am screaming his name over and over, riding the crescendo that is my orgasm.
Ezra chuckles from his spot between my legs and presses a light kiss on my swollen sex. I look at him with heavy-lidded eyes.
“Come here,” I murmur. He crawls above me, the muscles in his arms flexing. I pull him in for a deep kiss, my nails digging into the skin of his back. “Ezra, I need you inside me,” I say, breaking free from the kiss.
He sits back on his haunches, pulling me up with him so that I am sitting straddled across his lap. I wrap my legs around his waist as he moves with me to the edge of the bed. Sliding his hands from my hips upwards, he picks me up unde
r my arms so that I am looking down at him, my long hair falling over his face. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he lowers me down. Ezra doesn’t move a muscle, he just allows me to settle around him. Allows my muscles to relax, to accommodate him. He feels so good, filling every inch of me.
Then with the upmost care, he rests his hands on my hips and lifts me up and down his thick shaft, his muscles flexing, his body trembling with the effort of not letting go. I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a deep moan, my own fingers curling into the flesh of his shoulders as stars, brighter than the ones that light the sky outside, begin to form behind my lids.
“Look at me, Accacia. Look at me, darling,” Ezra begs.
I do as he asks. I look at him. I look into his grey eyes that are no longer stormy but filled with happiness, with peace. As we move together, the gentle ebb and flow of our lovemaking mending the broken pieces of ourselves, I feel my own kind of peace in the arms of a man I have come to love.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Ezra, Cia. Lights damn it, open the door!”
I sit up in bed. Ezra is already pulling on his trousers. He looks at me, a worried expression on his face. It’s been two days since the Joining ceremony and we weren’t due back to the hamlet until tomorrow, yet Rhain is banging on our door today. It isn’t a good sign.
“What do you think is wrong?” I ask, a sudden fear pooling in my chest. Ezra and I have spent the last couple of days wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying getting to know each other better in the confines of these four walls. It would seem that bliss is about to come to an end.
“Don’t panic. It could be anything,” Ezra says, although I don’t think he believes his words any more than I do. He rushes over to me and presses a kiss against my forehead. “I’ll just let Rhain in, okay.”
Jumping out of bed, I gather my clothes and pull them on. I’m still not used to wearing dresses, but this one is far more practical than any of the others I now own and more like the style of the dresses the other common folk wear day to day. Nostra had magicked up some pretty elaborate dresses that looked like they should be worn by princesses. They really aren’t my style.
Stepping out into the main living area, I see Rhain and Ezra talking animatedly outside. Rhain looks scared, terrified even, and I can see that Ezra is trying to calm him down.
“What’s going on?” I ask, stepping out into the night air. It feels far colder this evening than it has the whole time I’ve been in Ever Vale.
Rhain scrapes a hand through his hair.
“It’s Devin…” he starts.
“What about Devin?” I say sharply.
Rhain looks at Ezra. Ezra looks from him to me.
“Spit it out!” This isn’t good. They are scared. Devin. I reach out to him through our connection, but there is nothing but silence. DEVIN, I shout this time. Silence. “He’s not answering, I think the Binding has finally worn off. One of you needs to tell me what is wrong, and you need to tell me right now,” I demand.
“People are dead, Cia.”
“What do you mean, dead?” I look between Rhain and Ezra, confusion furrowing my brow.
“I called upon Devin earlier this evening. His door was left open. I smelt the blood before I saw the bodies.”
“Bodies?” I say, my voice quavering.
“Three women, all of them had their throats torn out,” Rhain says, reaching for me. I flinch away from him.
“No,” I say, holding my hand up, a sick feeling rising in my stomach. “Just because there were bodies in his house, it doesn’t mean Devin did it. Devin told me he hasn’t taken blood directly from a person for weeks now. Why would he suddenly go on a killing spree.”
“Accacia, Devin has always found it hard to control his bloodlust. We think his choice to refrain from taking blood from the vein caught up with him, sent him into a frenzy.”
“Rubbish. I refuse to believe Devin would do such a thing. I don’t think he’s capable of it. I can’t believe you’ve already played judge and jury, Rhain,” I accuse angrily.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened. Devin has a troubled past,” Ezra says, taking a step closer to me.
I hold my hand up, not wanting to believe him. Then I remember the conversation we had in the club when Devin confessed he’d killed people, and more recently, the strange dark looks and the weird murkiness of his soul. The churning in my stomach worsens. Why hadn’t I said something earlier? But even though I know all this, even though he had told me how he struggled before, something just isn’t sitting right with me. This isn’t the Devin I know, this isn’t the Devin who has shared his soul with me. Something more is going on here.
“But neither of you are taking blood from the vein,” I say, trying to understand why it would be any different for Devin. Well, except when Ezra bit my thigh the night of our Joining ceremony. That had been part of our lovemaking, it wasn’t the same as taking blood to feed. Ezra still has to do that. It is why we have a supply of blood with us now, all stacked in neat rows on the kitchen shelf. I know Devin. I have felt the goodness of his soul.
“Devin has always struggled…” Rhain starts, but I cut him off.
“Perhaps, once upon a time he might not have been able to control himself, but he isn’t a murderer. I refuse to believe it.”
“Cia, I’m sorry. It’s hard to believe, I know…”
“No. This isn’t him. Devin isn’t that person anymore. I know it.”
Devin, are you there? Tell me where you are. Tell me you didn’t do it. I reach out in the hope he can still hear me. Damn it, Devin, please answer me. I am met with silence. Cold, still silence.
“The bloodlust is all-consuming, Accacia. Once it takes over it is easy to lose your humanity. Devin won’t care about anything. The only thing he will care about is his next feed. Even if he hears you, he won’t answer. Believe me, I have tried…” Rhain’s voice trails off. He glances at Ezra.
“What aren’t you saying?” I ask.
“There’s something else,” Rhain stalls, his eyes flickering to Ezra. “Ilana was seen leaving Devin’s cottage a few hours before I found the bodies. She had puncture wounds on her neck, Cia…”
“And?” I demand.
Ezra presses his fingers against his eyes. “She’s disappeared alongside Devin. We think he’s returned to the castle… with her.”
“With Ilana?”
“Yes.”
“That bitch,” I say, unable to hold back the venom in my voice.
“You think she has something to do with this?” Ezra asks, levelling his gaze on me.
“I don’t think it, I know it.” I remember the way she looked at me the night Devin took me to the Light fields. It had concerned me then, but circumstances had meant I hadn’t time to think about it. There was hate in her eyes when she looked at me, and ownership when she looked at Devin.
“Tell me, before Devin decided to stop feeding directly from a person, who did he feed most from?” I know the answer, but I wait for them to confirm it to me.
“Ilana,” Rhain confirms, his gaze flicking to Ezra.
“I would bet my life she has something to do with this.”
“What are you thinking?” Ezra asks.
“Devin stopped taking blood a few weeks back, around the time we returned from the Forbidden forest. He said that Ilana was bringing him blood for him to consume. Before that he drank from her…. It is pleasurable to be bitten by a vampire, right? Could it not be that Ilana has done something, said something to make Devin take blood from her again? If she had feelings for him then it could be possible?”
“Devin isn’t easily persuaded, Cia. He is stronger than that. No one has the power to make him do anything he doesn’t wish to do.”
“Unless…” I look at Ezra, a sudden thought occurring. “Ezra, get the horses. We’re going back to the hamlet. I need to speak with Nostra.”
“What is it?”
“Just get the damn horses,” I say, rushing back inside
to get my coat.
“Sit down, Accacia. Tell us what you are thinking,” Nostra says as the chair slides out in front of me. I sit down heavily, the cold night air still lingering across my skin. Mr Tickle jumps up into my lap with a loud meow, then settles himself down, padding gently. Ezra and Rhain sit either side of me.
“Devin has a tattoo of a rose on his back. It’s exactly the same as the rose on my arm. Or at least it was until fairly recently.”
“Yes, I remember. He told me about it a long time ago. When I saw your tattoo, I thought it interesting.” Nostra taps his finger against the table.
“When you say until fairly recently, what do you mean?” Ezra asks.
I look between the three men. “Devin’s rose is losing its petals. He showed me it the evening of our Joining. A couple of petals have fallen away. It worried me, so he said he would speak with you, Nostra,” I say, turning to him. “Did he?”
“No, he didn’t,” Nostra responds, getting up and moving around the table towards me. He bends down beside my chair. “May I?” he asks, his hands hovering over the tattoo on my arm.
“Sure.”
“In the Fae city, Solomon drew this tattoo, didn’t he?” Nostra’s fingers are moving over my arm as though he is searching for something.
“Yes. Devin told me that Solomon drew his tattoo as well.”
“Tell me, Accacia,” Nostra says, standing. “Exactly how did you get into the fae realm beneath the Forbidden forest?”
I explain to Nostra what took place, the fireflies dancing by the tree in the forest, the doorway appearing in its bark, the stairs going downwards, the stone room, the dais, the carvings on the doors. All of it. Once I finish he sits back, considering me for a moment.
“That’s very interesting indeed. I did not enter the fae realm this way. A portal appeared to me, and I walked straight through it. This place you entered by, it is unknown to me. Did you choose the door with the rose carved upon it?”