He opens his eyes and walks to the driver’s side then folds into the seat without a word. I stare at him but he keeps his eyes pinned on the clouds and starts the car backing out of the space without even checking the mirror. Minutes later we are racing down the main artery on the mainland. He weaves in and out of the passing cars expertly. I see him exhale deeply when we pass the sign for Treviso Airport.
When the car stops at the gate I notice the jet is ready and three armed men flank the stairs to the entrance. A shiver of fear creeps into my heart and I feel the tears prick my eyes.
He rushes out and comes to my side opening the door and lifting me out. Grabbing my bag from the back seat he takes my hand and walks us to the plane. Once inside I can feel the tension building between the various people onboard. I recognize our pilot and his co pilot but the server is new—a man—and he bristles with efficiency. The armed men seem to disappear about the cabin and Khai and I are left alone. He gestures to the two corner seats and I stammer through the narrow lane and fall into the leather.
He gracefully sinks into the one opposite me and reaches for my hand. “I know you have questions and I swear to you I will answer each one but right now I need to make a few urgent calls and plan for our arrival.” He says. “Do you mind if I leave you briefly? I’m so sorry to abandon you while you are scared and uncertain. It enrages me.”
I shake my head wanting to get rid of that tortured look in his eyes. “No,” I whisper, “I’ll be fine. Go. Do what you need to.”
He leans in and kisses me chastely on the lips then walks to the back office and I hear the lock click behind him.
I turn my head to the window and watch as we taxi from the gate. Men are scurrying around the tarmac as we approach the landing strip. I can hear planes descending at the main strip about a half-mile away. The pilot comes over the speaker and announces our departure. Moments later, Barry, our attendant, glides over to me. “Miss Kostas, may I get you something from the bar before we ascend?” His voice is crisp and pleasant.
I smile. “I’ll have a double shot of Evan Williams, if you have it.”
He grins, “Certainly, Miss! Coming right up.”
He turned for the galley and I stare at the retreating sun behind the skyline. The engines roar underneath the wing and we are propelled forward. My head pushes against the seat with the voracity and within a minute we are airborne cutting sharply to the left rising up through the clouds.
The last rays of sun filter through the windows dancing off the chairs and casting streaks of orange and amber across the walls.
Barry returns with a crystal tumbler of amber liquid and my mouth waters in anticipation. My brothers and my dad made sure my taste in alcohol was singular and strong. “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.” My dad used to say.
I take the proffered drink and immediately place it to my lips taking a long slow drink. I feel the warm flow down my throat and settle into my stomach almost immediately putting me at ease.
The pilot announces our elevation and turns off the seatbelt sign. I’m just finishing the last contents of my tumbler when Khai emerges from the office and slow sexy smile spreads across his face when he sees me. I flush all over. I know my cheeks have taken on the property of cherries at the moment. He just makes my blood sing.
He sinks down in front of me and takes both my hands bringing them to his lips and trailing wet kisses across my knuckles. Effectively causing me to gasp and pant. The effect he has on my body is alarming. It’s as if I step away from the controls and he takes over.
He looks down at my glass then snaps for Barry. I frown and he looks at me quizzically then blinks and smiles and mouths, “Sorry.”
Barry skips to his side. “Yes sir, Mr. Garai. What may I get you, sir?”
Khai’s eyes soften and he smiles. “Whatever the lady is having and would you mind refreshing her glass?”
Barry smiles wide, revealing a set of perfect white enormous teeth. “Certainly sir, right away!” And he bolts back to the galley returning only seconds later with two perfectly poured tumblers of amber liquid.
We sit in silence each sipping our drinks and staring out the cabin window. The stars are bright in the navy sky and look like fireflies twinkling in the summer night. The reflecting light on the wing covers my vision with the red strobe rhythmically bouncing off the window.
Khai sighs and leans in to my chair. “I have much to tell you, Adonia.” His eyes cast down to his drink as he continues. “There are things about me and my past that will have you questioning sanity and reality.” His hand curls around the glass then his violet eyes pierce me to the seat. “But no matter what I tell you, Adonia, know that I love you with every fiber of my being. Forever.”
I swallow hard to keep the panic and tears down. The most crippling thought I have though is that I know, for certain, that whatever he tells me will make no difference in the way I feel for him. Rationality went out the window for me the moment I laid eyes on him. He’s almost like the air I breathe—I have to have him, be near him, and be his.
He gasps lightly and closes his eyes. When he opens them they are burning dark. I hold his gaze as I let my love for him circle my veins through my body. He warms me and comforts me—he completes me.
Without a word he crashes his lips to mine. It’s urgent—tongues and hair and arms all circling one another in unison. I feel his desperation and match it with ardor because deep down I’m terrified that this is his goodbye.
Finally he pulls back and placed our foreheads together, panting whispering my name like a litany prayer over and over.
Suddenly he pulls me onto his lap encircling me in his arms my back to his chest. He rests his chin on my shoulder next to my ear and chills run across my arms. When he begins to speak in almost a whisper.
“Adonia, I am not a man.” His words sober me and I feel my mouth drop open but no words seep out.
He continues, “I am one of the last Vampyres of the world.” He pauses briefly but I say nothing I can’t even breathe. Then he moves closer to my ear. “I was turned a little over eighteen hundred years ago, though I can’t be sure exactly as we didn’t count years accurately as we do now. My maker, Mehi, was a rich Athenian princess that coveted me. When I refused her advances she turned me and murdered the woman I loved, Nanu.” I gasp and feel the tears streak my face. Shock. I’m in shock.
He grips me tighter and continues, “Mehi released me over seventeen hundred years ago when we traveled across the Middle East and Mediterranean. She’s extremely powerful and regards me, still, as her possession.” His fingers stroke through my hair, soothingly. “I’ve gone all these centuries avoiding her and my past life. I’ve lived hard and selfish and crude. I’ve kept any semblance of humanity at bay and fed from my natural instinct of a hunter. I’ve done terrible things, Adonia and killed many people in my long life on this Earth. But the moment I sensed you in the bar that first time everything melted away and you were the only thing that mattered, more than even my own existence. Then when I saw your innocent, pure mind I turned myself over to you. I wanted you to own me and I wanted to do nothing but worship you, and I still do.”
He pulls me around on his lap so that I am facing him. I can’t comprehend everything he’s telling me, it’s just too much for my mind to handle. I don’t even believe in supernatural beings. And I believe when you die you die end of story and there are only two places you go and my preferable option was straight up.
His eyes burn through me searching but my thoughts are so scattered that I feel like my brain just wants to sleep. It’s like sitting in a lecture hall with a hundred different speakers and they are all talking at once. Overwhelming.
He soothes my face. “Talk to me Adonia. Tell me what you are feeling.”
The truth is I can’t. I don’t know. I don’t know if I should run or cry or scream or embrace him. Actually, I feel like doing all those things.
I just stare at him, his eyes burning with fire—with
fear. Several minutes pass then I gather my voice and offer hoarsely in a whisper, “Finish.”
He inhales deeply and regards me intently before he says, “She’s coming for us.” My heart slams in my chest as I realize he’s not what I’m afraid of—the danger coming for him is what terrifies me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KHAI
Her sudden fear for me brings everything to a halt. All my senses and control hone in on her—the need to comfort her, to protect her, to love her.
My emotions engulf me. I pull her tight against me and lean in trailing my tongue across her full bottom lip. My eyes close, as I taste her. It heats the dead blood flowing through my veins.
I can feel her emotions of desperation and arousal. Then she pulls back and peers straight into my eyes. There is so much fear and confusion—I just want to wipe it from her mind. She begins to say something but I know how to make her forget—just for the moment.
My lips close over hers and the way her tongue strokes my mouth makes me moan with pleasure. I savor her taste and glide through her mouth over and over feeling the silk of her tongue then her lips.
Her hands slide up my arms and onto my neck as she leans in closer to me and begins to devour the kiss.
I stand with her still in my arms and walk back to the office closing the maple door behind me. She never breaks the kiss as I walk across the room and lay her on the soft leather sofa.
I pull back to look at her and it’s hedonistic—the effect she has on me is raw and terrifying. I’ve never been so out of control with my emotions. The intense up and down effect is distracting and I don’t get distracted.
I distract others—prey.
But it feels as though I am the prey—locked in her trance. And I couldn’t get out—even if I wanted to, and I don’t.
I want her to own me. I want to worship her and protect her and make her mine.
I lift her up slightly and slide my fingers under the hem of her shirt and pull it over her head. Each time I see her it’s like a new experience—she intrigues me—beguiles me—conquers me.
I can feel the need she has for me and it causes new ripples of emotion to radiate through my body like thousands of tiny sparks exploding under every cell.
I reach down and pull the button on her jeans and slowly peel them away from her body one leg at a time. When I free the last foot from the hem I caress her foot and bite the pad of her big toe before I pull it into my mouth and swirl my tongue around the soft flesh.
She gasps and closes her eyes. I can taste the chemicals in her body digesting the nutrients from her breakfast. Her organs are supple and healthy. The beat of her heart reassures me that she is strong and fit. The long morning run’s she takes has prepped her heart muscle and gives it long strong beats.
I slide my tongue down her instep and slowly make a jagged trail up her inner thigh nipping her delicate skin then sealing it with my tongue.
I watch her face contort with ecstasy with every stroke and it makes my head come alive with new ways to pleasure her so that I can keep that carnal look on her face.
As I reach the top of her thigh she reaches down and grips my face. “Khai.” She breathes. “Please. I can’t take anymore.” Her eyes are dark and pleading. “I want you inside. Now.” She pants.
I smile. “Oh no, baby. It’s not going to work like that today.” I say as I blow a trail between her legs. She gasps and I grin wider. “This is all about you. Not me, love.”
She leans up on her elbows and pins me with her emerald glare. I can feel the determination rolling off of her. She’s getting bolder and more confident—it’s intoxicating.
She holds my eyes for several moments then grips my torso and pulls me up her body. “I said I want you, Khai.” Her voice is smooth and silky and in control. “Now.”
She buries my control.
I smile and wrap my arm around her waist rolling her over and laying her on top of me. She slides back and sits on my feet as she pulls the belt buckle and unhooks my slacks.
She hooks her fingers in the waistband of my briefs and pulls my pants down and slides them to the floor.
I watch her snake up my body, caging me with her arms and caressing me with her hair as it falls forward and skims my torso causing me to tingle with pleasure and anticipation.
Finally she stops at my lips—her skin caressing mine—her breasts pressed against my chest hardening as she breathes rapidly. “I want you, Khai.” She whispers and nips my earlobe sending sparks to my cock. I’ve never had anyone affect me in this manner. It scares me yet soothes me because I know she is my eternity.
I grip her hips and place her over my erection and hiss as she slowly sinks onto me. Every muscle in my body coils and I can feel the electricity burn particles to the tips of my fingers.
She’s my drug.
Slowly she sets a rhythm that has me building. I have to close my eyes and rein myself in because I want to throw her against the desk and lose control.
Slowly I allow her to set the rhythm and clench my teeth as she rolls over me over and over. I can smell the sweat building dew on her skin as she works every muscle. Her fingers grip my chest and her arms hold steady as her thighs roll from side to side and pull me deeper until I hit her wall and moan.
Suddenly she tilts back, her hair touching my shins as she grabs my knees and lifts herself up and down in several hard thrusts. When I feel her tightening around me I hiss a sigh of relief because I can’t last any longer.
I grip her hips as she comes down on me and I tilt my pelvis to meet her thrusts and she stiffens then screams my name. The shrill resonates in the small room and pierces my ears making me come hard inside her.
I just want to bury myself and never leave. She’s the Vela of my universe.
She falls onto my chest breathing heavily. “I love you.” She whispers.
Time seems suspended as I relish the words. I pull her face back and smooth the hair behind my palms. “I don’t know love, Adonia, it’s not something that I have felt but you, you make me feel something—more. Something consuming.” Her eyes gloss over and she stops breathing.
“No. Baby, that’s not what I’m saying.” I reassure her. “I’m saying that love isn’t enough to describe what I feel for you.” I pull her close to my lips and whisper, “You own my destiny.”
I feel the tear splatter my shoulder. She sucks in a breath. “Fuck me, Khai. Fuck me the way you want me. I want to feel you need me.” She breathes.
In a split second I’m off the sofa, she is wrapped around my waist as I sweep my hand across the desk and clear the area. She gasps as I slam into her over and over. Her back is arched and I can catch the outline of each muscle in her abdomen as it tenses under my ministrations.
I grip her hair and pull it back exposing her neck then lick trails up to her chin as I continue my punishing rhythm. It only takes seconds until I feel her quiver and tremble inside and I roll to hit her spot over and over.
When she comes she takes me with her because it’s so consuming that it takes every ounce of control that I have to make sure I don’t crush her bones with the intensity.
When the wave of emotion levels out and I can unclench my teeth I feel her small hands caressing my abdomen in a sedated way but it only causes me to spike with arousal again.
I pull back and place some distance—my feral side pulsing just under my control. “Baby, I need to check on a few things.” I say as I pull back and kiss her lips softly. I run my hands through my hair watching the hurt creep into her eyes then feel the ache in her chest.
I want to comfort her from the sting she is feeling but I know I need to rein in my emotions and control myself. She breaks down my walls—she dismantles my self- preservation.
I grind my teeth and lean in for one more kiss to her forehead before I grab my pants and walk to the bathroom then lock the door.
Her desolate feelings are rolling through me in waves. I can feel the ache in her chest from my withdrawal. I
t makes me want to break things—break me for doing that to her.
I run my hands through my hair and cup my neck dipping my head back and breathing deeply. Enclosed with her in this plane feeling all her emotions and breathing in her scent is nearly debilitating to me.
I can feel the strong thud of her heart against her breastbone and the flow of blood streaking through her healthy veins. Her brain is firing with millions of neurons carrying sparks to each lobe putting together her thoughts and feelings carrying them to the rest of her body.
I still am amazed each time I witness the workings of the human body—so complex and extraordinary.
I close my eyes and focus on the atmosphere changing to lure my senses from her. I can feel the pressure of the cold pressing against the layers of the air in the cloud formations. The rolling of the warm air meeting the cold creates a vacuum and begins to breed a storm.
I can sense the electric particles begin to form and create a fissure in the cloud mass just before they roll into each other and boom with thunder then build to a climax and release the bolt of electricity strong enough to power a city block.
Mehi senses me and I know the swift change in weather is her telling me she’s coming.
I calculate the distance we have flown in my head and measure the time until we land. I’m bringing her back to the city—Manhattan—where I know I can protect her just a little more. Mehi hasn’t the knowledge that I have of the city and it’s benefits for our kind.
We have about four hours and twelve minutes before we land, should the weather remain relatively calm. I scan her thoughts and land on the overwhelming need for me—her mate, her completion. It’s unnerving and I stagger back against the counter taking it in.
She needs me and wants me and desires me. All the feelings I have yet they pale in comparison. She’s the light on my moon and the breath in my lungs—the answer to my existence.
I wait until I feel her breathing level out and her thoughts become muddled by the state of rest. She’s finally in slumber when I make it out of the cabin door and perch beside her on the sofa.
The Last Vampyre Prophecy Page 12