Kiss of the Dragon

by Nicola Claire

  Vampires could continue to increase their Sanguis Vitam over time, but usually by the time they reach Sergei's age, somewhere around two or three hundred years old, it was pretty much all done. If they lived to the type of ancient age that the Ambrosia was at, then power could again grow. But Sergei should have been well contained within his power level for some time, yet here he sat across from me with more than what he formally had.

  Sanguis Vitam levels are rather like the Richter Magnitude Scale. For every point up that scale, the strength of a vampire increases tenfold. From level two to level one the vampire increases their power level by ten. Sergei was ten times more powerful than he was before. It was magnificent and frightening. But more than anything a little puzzling too.

  I ignored the whys and hows and concentrated on the deterioration of negotiations before me.

  "No one is going to kill anyone or attack anyone," I stated firmly. Both sets of eyes turned to me. "Rein it back in," I commanded Sergei. He immediately obeyed, his Sanguis Vitam smoothly retreating on the air.

  "Aliath," I went on, "I presume you want the portals to remain open." Not a question, but he answered with a nod anyway. "I would like to return to my kindred, so this is really very easy."

  Two sets of eyebrows raised up at that somewhat simple statement. I raised mine in a challenge back at them.

  "The Champion will not go for a charm that would threaten to take me away from him again, should things outside of his control activate it." I looked directly at Aliath. "You must understand that." He nodded slowly. "I also understand your reluctance to rely on an accord as insurance too. Someone has to compromise though, but I'll say just this... I consider you a friend, Aliath. I consider you my ally. I would hope you would enter this discussion with all of those points foremost in your mind."

  I had nothing to offer up as a bargain, I would help Aliath where necessary, to ensure the portals remained open and that his people were assimilated into our realm. I'd come a long way from the first few days when the Dökkálfa were freed and began to feed on humans. They did have honour and rules, and I now could see their feeding as little more than what a vampire did. Aliath, as the Herra of the Grey Lords, had been adamant about that. I couldn't imagine as the King of Dökkálfa that his standards would have slipped.

  But my reassurances would never be enough, and the bottom line was, I was not the Champion. The Champion would always have the final word. I just hoped being me that my reassurances were enough to convince Aliath to enter an accord, instead of a charm. Michel would never, ever, go for one of those again.

  "You ask a lot, Princess," Aliath said softly.

  "My friendship is worth a lot, Your Majesty."

  He held my gaze for a moment then murmured, "Yes, it is."

  His attention returned to Sergei. "An accord then. The portals remain open on the word of the Champion." Sergei nodded in agreement, but Aliath hadn't finished. "But I insist I have access to the Princess. She is a Princess of Álfheimr, of Ljósálfar in fact, although I will not hold that against her." His smile was brief. "But as a Princess of Álfheimr I would like to remain in touch."

  "You don't need an accord for that," I said when he had finished.

  Aliath looked up at me and his smile turned a little knowing. "You do not fully understand men, Princess. He would keep you from me if he thought I was a threat."

  "But you're not a threat," I said defiantly, and also with a hint of a challenge. His smile broadened.

  "He will never see that where you are concerned."

  I looked over to Sergei to gauge his reaction to all of this. He would have received instructions from Michel prior to coming here, I wondered if this had been expected at all. Sergei's face was vampire impassive.

  Michel? I whispered in my mind.

  Ma douce, came his dry reply. I think he had been expecting me.

  Would you keep me from seeing Aliath?

  You are mine.

  Well that spoke volumes, but then Michel wasn't here. No doubt Sergei was indeed his emissary and therefore an accord with Sergei was as good as an accord with Michel. But Michel had been forced to send a Tego Texi Tectum to me, in order to nullify fairy magic and have the upper hand. However, Sergei was not his vampire. Sergei was mine.

  "Make the accord, Sergei," I instructed. My vampire turned his head slowly to look me in the eye.

  "I speak for the Champion, Mistress."

  "Yes. And I am the Champion’s kindred Nosferatin, and the Champion is not here." I didn't need to say and you're mine. But mentioning I was Michel's kindred was always enough to get vampires' attention. Whenever Michel had been absent, his vampires had always deferred to me.

  Sergei nodded slowly and then returned his attention to Aliath.

  "An accord. The Champion's kindred Nosferatin is returned to him and the portals remain open on the Champion's word." Then reluctantly it seemed, he added, "And you may have access to visit with his kindred."

  Aliath chuckled, clearly thinking he had got the better of the deal and maybe he had. Michel, if he had been here, would not have allowed that last concession. He may have considered there to be an imbalance in the accord, but I didn't. Aliath would have insisted on a charm, which Michel would definitely not have wanted. In return for his concession of an accord, Aliath got an assurance he'd be able to keep seeing me. Pretty fair, if you asked me.

  "Agreed," Aliath eventually replied.

  A knife appeared on a silver tray immediately to his side, the tray thankfully was just plain silver and not fairy silver as it didn't call to me in any mysterious and entirely evil way, and the knife appeared to be stainless steel. It wouldn't have been nice to offer a silver one to their vampire guest whilst trying to seal an accord.

  Palms were sliced, the accord's terms were again voiced by each side and then Aliath and Sergei shook hands. Or at least allowed their blood to mingle thereby sealing the accord. Much like a Fey charm which uses magic to bind the subjects to it, blood in this case bound both Aliath and Sergei to the accord. It couldn't be broken, but loopholes could be found in the words. I had noticed that Sergei did not guarantee the portals remaining open, only that they would do so on the Champion's word.

  Words to vampires mean something, so this wasn't an entirely hollow statement, but it also wouldn't mean Michel's death or his imprisonment in Álfheimr should it fail - they'd have to catch him first and that would mean war. So no, not hollow, but also not final either. Michel obviously believed a war - if it should come to that - an acceptable consequence, bearing in mind the portals would be closed and Aliath's Dökkálfa would find it impossible to mount an attack.

  I didn't want to think too closely on it all, besides I was feeling so very tired all over again. I had to hope the accord would hold, that the portals would in fact remain open and that I would see my fairy friends again. Not just Aliath, who I had grown somewhat fond of, but I also hoped Sora would visit. Even if the fīfrildi hadn't been as close on this stay as the last, she was still my friend, evidenced by her care when I felt so sick just now. Her ministrations were genuine, her words not just platitudes to ease my discomfort, but said from the heart.

  Well done, ma douce, Michel whispered in my mind, distracting me from my thoughts and returning tiredness.

  Well done? I asked in surprise and then it hit me. You knew he'd ask for that, didn't you?

  Of course.

  And it doesn't bother you that I forced Sergei to agree to his request? I asked, feeling a little uncertain how he would reply.

  His soft laughter ran right through me, warming me from the inside out, filling me up with promises and sending delightful shivers down my spine.

  He'd planned it, he'd known all along that I would intervene, but by doing so I had allowed him to remain aloof of it all. Aliath was aware that Michel would protect me from any threat and that hadn't changed. But I had enabled Michel to make a concession, to complete the accord and save face at the same time. I was unsure if he would ever h
ave agreed to letting Aliath remain in contact with me, but I'd never know now. I had made the decision for him.

  But Michel had allowed me to.

  We work well together, ma douce, he whispered, sending more of those shivers all over my skin.

  Hmm, was all I gave him in reply, but his laughter just ramped up a notch until I was sure everyone around me was aware Michel was making me melt into a puddle of goo. Goddess I needed to get back to him.

  Aliath turned to me at that moment and reached out both hands to hold mine. If he knew Michel was toying with me, making me all hot and bothered and quite literally curling my toes, he didn't show it. Wise man.

  "It has been a pleasure, as always, Princess." I just cocked my head to the side, but didn't remind him he had kept me contained in a room the entire time I had been here and only brought me out to watch me spin on his command.

  His lips though quirked, proving how aware of things he actually was. Stupid man.

  "Then, until we meet again," he said, lowering his head to kiss the back of my hand. He'd never done that before, I don't think it was a particularly fairy thing to do. I forced myself not to frown at him. Aliath was a puzzle that could wait for another day, for now I just wanted to go home.

  But where home would be, I wasn't sure. Michel was now the Champion and expected to remain at the Palais. But the Palais had never seemed much like a home to me. Sure, his apartment there was familiar, filled with everything that made Michel him, but it wasn't our home. That had been in New Zealand, but no more.

  London hadn't been a home either, despite the fact that Michel had owned that house for centuries. It just wasn't to my liking, neither was the city itself. I did like Paris though and I could envisage myself living there, but the only place that felt remotely homely was the Nosferatin house looked after by my new friend Yves.

  Yves had been there when Sofiq arrived in the Council Chamber of the Palais, and suddenly I had a wealth of questions inside my head. Was he safe? Was Amisi who had also been there, and Gregor? And Natalyia, Sergei's sister? Marcus and Matthias? Alain and Daniel? And most of all my Samson, who had been under Sofiq's attack and so very near the final death when I was pulled back to Álfheimr. All excitement about my homecoming vanished and painfully my heart skipped a beat.

  I'd blocked it all out, in order to survive my captivity here. But now my fears for my loved ones came tumbling in.

  I had to get back and make sure everyone was OK. And if they weren't? I didn't even have an enemy to seek revenge on, not that that's my usual style. But Sofiq was already dead and now it seemed I had renewed my friendship with Aliath, so the Dökkálfa were all pretty much on our side. I had no way to vent my frustrations if any of my family were dead.

  But I had to know.

  I forced myself to smile back at Aliath and repeated his words back, "Until we meet again."

  He nodded and released me, in the process waving his hand as though clutching something in the air. It became obvious it was the filigree blanket which had coated me upon arrival in Álfheimr. Aliath pulled it away, releasing my Light. Should either of my Tego Texi Tectum not be near to nullify the blanket, at least now, I had full control on my own.

  Sergei immediately took hold of my hand and I felt his newly acquired Sanguis Vitam through the contact of skin on skin. My gaze flicked up to his. He must have seen my questions, my uncertainty of what waited for me back in Earth's realm. He smiled down at me reassuringly.

  "All will be fine, Mistress," he promised and squeezed my hand carefully, making sure not to crush any bones. I nodded, we both turned and bowed, hands fisted above our chests, to the King of Dökkálfa and then stepped backwards through a rip in space, a portal between our worlds.

  A crack of sound, a flash of light and the acrid smell of ozone...

  ...and then I was back in my world, in a home I didn't recognise, but staring into the eyes of the only man I had ever loved.

  "Michel," I whispered, and then found myself wrapped up in his beautiful, strong and safe arms.

  Chapter 5

  Saint-Geoire-en-Valldaine

  I had no idea where Sergei had gone to, he wasn't in the room with us. Michel and I were completely alone. Perhaps he had just ended up elsewhere when we stepped through that fairy portal back into Earth's realm. It had happened before, when Michel and I both left Álfheimr last time, he had ended up in Paris and I had ended up Rio de Janeiro. But I didn't have time to spare a thought on Sergei, Michel was determined to see to that.

  His face was nestled into the curve of my neck, he'd pulled the loose tendrils of my hair to the side to gain access to my skin, where he was preceding to kiss and lick and nuzzle his way across. His hands were freely roaming, one down to the dip in my back, his palm splayed flat against the rise of my rear, the other hand fisted into my swept up hair, entangled in the strands that he had started to pull down from where Sora had clipped them.

  His breath was hot, his body flush against mine was equally as hot and everything he was doing to me with his tongue and lips and teeth was way hot. The minute he had engulfed me in his arms I was lost, all thoughts of the state of my family gone from my mind and my entire focus on touching and tasting him. One of my hands had slid inside his white shirt, popping a button to gain enough access inside. His hard stomach and ripped abdomen were heaven to my fingertips and I greedily traced a pattern along the ridges down to his hips and then back up again. My other hand was clasped around the back of his head, in amongst the thick, long midnight dark strands of his glorious hair. I'd pulled it free of the tie at the back of his neck too, I'd never been able to resist his hair for long.

  "Ma douce," he whispered against me, sounding as desperate as I felt, but his voice cleared a little of the fog he had created and made me acutely aware of where we were and more importantly who was not here with us.

  "Where are we?" I breathed against him and then moaned as his fingers found my nipple beneath the fabric of my dress. "Where is everyone? Are they OK?" I managed to get out on another moan of delight.

  "Our home. In their chambers. All fine," he replied between nips of his teeth on my breasts through the material.

  "But..." was all I got out before he growled and said, "No more questions. I need to be inside you. Now!"

  He spun me around and within a second the buttons on the Fey dress were all undone and the silky fabric was sliding down over my hips. The next second my corset was released and removed along with my underwear and then suddenly I was spun back to face him and lifted from the floor. His mouth found mine in a hungry kiss, tongue and teeth and lips and his entire body showing me just how desperate he was to have me back. He carried me, while he devoured me, towards an overstuffed couch and then lay me down, covering my body with his own. He was still fully dressed in his signature Armani suit.

  A hot tongue licked its way over my chest and back towards my breast. While one hand wrapped around one breast, his mouth began working on the other. Sucking, licking, nipping, pulling. My back arched up towards him inviting him further, his arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me closer to his body, not breaking contact with his mouth on my breast for one second. The sensations he was creating were simply divine. I had forgotten how good Michel was at this. At making me forget everything else in the world except what he was doing to me right in that moment.

  And what he was doing was making me crazy with lust for him. I tried to remove his jacket but he refused to pull away from my body to allow me any purchase. I switched my attention to his trousers, thinking I could undo the button and fly, and slip my hand inside and finally feel the silky skin of his erection that had been rubbing along my stomach for the past few minutes. But again he wouldn't pull back to let me in. He was determined to taste me. First both my breasts and then his intentions became crystal clear as his head dipped below my waist and his shoulders parted my thighs for him to move in.

  The first lick of his tongue over my centre sent me crashing down a delicious wave of
delight, the orgasm lasting longer than it should have because his fangs pierced the sensitive skin towards the end of my moans, pulling a second and then a third orgasm from me as he drank me down and made one orgasm crash into another until they all felt like one long exquisite release.

  I had forgotten what making love to Michel whilst connected through a kindred joining felt like. It felt like nothing else in this world. I heard his thoughts, I felt his emotions. Every single one of them mirrored mine. His love, his desire, his need, his hunger - it was all so familiar, but from him not me. It brought tears to my eyes even as another orgasm slammed into me and he relentlessly sought my satisfaction whilst satisfying himself through my blood.

  Finally he let me come down from the impossible but out-of-this-world high, and before I could think of what was happening he lifted my body up from the couch, wrapped his arms around my back, crushing me to him and pressed my face into his neck. For a moment I wasn't sure what he wanted, but then his neck stretched, displaying a long line down to his pulse and saliva pooled in my mouth.

  I am his vampire mate, but for several months we had not been able to act as vampire mates. Without a Bond to protect me, his blood would have made me sick, but we were joined again, Bonded again, kindred again. I didn't hesitate any longer, but just sank my teeth into his flesh and groaned through a mouthful of his blood.

  It was beautiful. Heavenly. Just right.

  I drank him down, feeling his blood lift me up, making me float in his arms and a tingle start up in the centre of my belly and then rush out from there to every possible erotic zone I had ever had. I shuddered against him as another orgasm washed through me, barely aware he had removed his trousers and rested me back on the couch.

  Then the press of his sex against my already over sensitive core and the beginnings of the delicious stretch as he slowly slid inside, sent me over the edge again as my lips finally released his neck and my head was thrown back against the couch. I shouted out in surprise when he thrust the last few inches inside, burying himself to the hilt.