by Kallysten
He pulled away from her and stood. Fastening his jeans, he stared at her. She could see slow comprehension dawning on him. His disappointment made her stomach twist painfully. “What’s going on?”
Meriel wished she could stop, but it was too late. She had either said too much or not enough. She had to finish, even if it meant admitting to Aidan that she had been lying to him up to that point.
“Tell them to arm themselves. Because in a few minutes, my—”
She stopped herself before she could say ‘sire.’ She was about to betray her clan, and, she realized with a shock, she felt no guilt or regret, only a sense that she didn’t belong with them anymore. She belonged with Aidan—if he would still have her after this.
“Leean’s clan is coming,” she finished. “They have the remote to open the gates. They expect you to be dead by the time they come in, and they intend to kill everyone else.”
* * * *
For a few seconds, numbness paralyzed Aidan. He had known what to expect from Meriel from the instant he had chosen her as his concubine, and so he wasn’t surprised. What did surprise him was how much her betrayal hurt. Did he care about her that much, already? Was it why he had been so jealous at the club?
“Well?” he asked harshly. He spread his arms on either side of him, exposing his bare chest. “What are you waiting for?”
When she did nothing more than drop her gaze to the floor, he turned away and strode out of the garage and into the house. He hurried to the intercom box near the entry door and jerked it open with an angry gesture.
“Childer,” his voice boomed throughout the mansion, amplified by the speakers in each room. “We’re about to be attacked. Arm yourselves and come down to the ballroom. Humans, lock yourselves in the safe room until the all clear call.”
He felt Meriel walk in behind him as he spoke. His back tense, he turned to her, unsure whether he’d face her only to be staked through the heart. A flash of surprise ran though him when he found her wearing his shirt over her ruined dress, the overly-long sleeves covering her hands as she crossed her arms over her waist.
Her jaw clenched. Looking somewhere behind his left shoulder, she asked, “Do you want me to leave?”
Aidan moved closer until she had no choice but to meet his eyes. She shivered at what she saw there, but he felt little satisfaction from knowing he scared her.
“You’re my concubine,” he said in a low, slow voice. “Nine years, three hundred and sixty four more days. Go to your room and stay out of the way. I won’t touch you, but I can’t pledge my childer will be so lenient.”
She nodded once and turned away. He kept his eyes on her as she stepped up the staircase, crossing paths with several of his childer who were hurrying down. They gave her cold looks but didn’t throw a word or gesture at her. Even Stephen did nothing more than glare at her. When he came to hand Aidan a sword, he gave him an exasperated look but refrained from voicing the “I told you so” that Aidan had expected. He nodded, grateful for both the weapon and his childe’s restraint.
Aidan gave his orders quickly, and his childer nodded their understanding. Only a dozen had been in the mansion when he called for them to come down. Leean’s clan counted more vampires than his own, but most of them were fledglings, while half his childer could become masters in their own right if they decided to. They knew how to fight. They also knew when not to ask questions. There would be time, later, to explain how he had known the attack was coming—not that it was all that complicated to figure out.
When they came, there were more of them than Aidan had expected. It seemed as though Leean had sired more vampires recently, probably preparing for this very event. It didn’t matter. Aidan couldn’t begin to conceive that the outcome of the fight would turn against him.
He saw Leean as her clan rushed into the mansion, but too many of her pawns stood between the two of them, and he lost sight of her. Gripping the hilt of his sword in both hands, he raised it and slashed at the neck of the first vampire running at him. He turned to ashes at the moment Aidan severed his head.
Aidan soon lost track of how many vampires he executed. The ashes made the floor slippery and gave the air a heavy smell of earth and death. He tried not to worry about his childer, trusting them to take care of themselves. When it was over, it would be time to count the living and mourn the dead.
It felt like hours passed before Aidan found himself at the center of a loose circle formed by his childer. Only one enemy was left standing in front of him, the enemy he had demanded his childer leave to him. Leean had been disarmed but she stood with her chin held high, for all the world acting as though she was the one holding a sword, not him.
“Leean,” he said coldly. “I don’t remember inviting you here tonight.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and even had the gall to smile. Didn’t she get it? Couldn’t she see that her entire clan was ashes at her feet?
“You can’t kill me,” she said, her voice full of confidence. “Our clans are allied.”
The woman was insane. There was no other explanation that Aidan could see.
“Allied, yes. We were allied. Until you attacked me.”
He approached her, firming his grip on his sword and raising it until it rested against her neck. For the first time, her calm seemed to crack, and she swallowed heavily. A call sounded behind Aidan.
“Aidan. Wait.”
His hand shook as he recognized the voice, and the blade of his sword nicked Leean’s neck. Aidan became very still. In front of him, Leean’s expression turned into a mix of hope and triumph. Very slowly, he turned toward Meriel. Stephen stood in front of her, his wide shoulders blocking her from Aidan’s sight.
“Let her through,” Aidan asked, his voice rough.
Stephen’s back visibly tensed. He answered without taking his eyes off Meriel. “Sire. You put me in charge of your security—”
“I did. But now I’m saying let her through.”
With a low curse, Stephen stepped aside. Meriel walked forward. She had changed into faded jeans and a t-shirt. Ashes stained her clothes, face and hands. Her right hand gripped a stake in that easy hold that spoke of familiarity. Her face was grim and determined as she stopped in front of Aidan and Leean.
“I don’t take well to people threatening me and mine,” she said in a low voice, her eyes going back and forth between the two of them.
Aidan only had a second to wonder if he had been wrong to let her come closer, wrong to trust one more time that she could take her vows to heart. When her arm and the stake came down, he realized he had known the answer all along.
* * * *
As Aidan slipped inside her, Meriel couldn’t stop a small sigh of contentment from passing her lips. Her hand reached over, seeking, and immediately Aidan’s hand was there. They clutched each other, their fingers intertwined as their lives had been for many years.
He took shallow, almost lazy thrusts into her body, slowly fanning the flames of their joined desire. Bringing her free hand to his face, Meriel guided his mouth to her lips and kissed him lightly before tilting her head to the side. His mouth slid over her offered neck, his tongue coming out to place small licks as he went.
Meriel arched into his thrusts, pulling him deeper inside her as she waited for the bite. Aidan mapped her bite marks with his tongue and lips and teased her a few more seconds before finally sliding his fangs into her.
Every nerve in her body thrumming with pleasure, Meriel closed her eyes. Her fingers tightened around his, and she raised her head to nuzzle Aidan’s neck. In response, he slowed his thrusting but pulled on her blood a little stronger, drawing a gasp from her lips.
Without a word, she brought her fangs to the bite marks she had left on his skin years earlier and reopened them, completing the circle of blood between them. The taste of him was always pure power sliding on her tongue and warming her until she could have sworn sunlight was shining over her.
One last time, Aidan’s co
ck surged into her. It stayed there, buried to the hilt, and together they drew blood at their hardest yet. An explosion of colors set off behind Meriel’s closed eyelids. Her mouth let go of Aidan’s neck to let out a deep moan of pleasure. Aidan’s hips jerked uncontrollably against hers for a few seconds, then he lay still save for his heavy panting against her neck.
It always pleased her that, even though he had lived as a vampire for centuries longer than she had, she could always make him forget he didn’t need to breathe.
As his cock slipped out of her, Aidan rolled to his side to lie next to her. She curled up against him, pressing a kiss to his chest just inches from where her hand rested.
“Our last day,” he said softly.
Meriel snorted softly against his shoulder. “You said that ten years ago. Do you think it will be any different this time?”
His fingers played in her hair, carding long, curly strands between them. “You tell me,” he murmured, turning his head to press his lips to the crown of her head. “Have you tired of me yet?”
She let out a little hum. Her hand on his chest started rubbing as it slid down over his stomach. “Have you?”
Her fingers reached the base of his resting cock and, light as downy feathers, brushed against the length of it, reawakening it, along with her own desire.
“Not yet,” he replied, his words catching in his throat. “I found something else I love about you.”
Laughing lightly, she wrapped her hand over his hardening cock and tugged once. “You did? What?”
Aidan rolled their bodies so that he lay over her once more. His eyes looked straight down into hers, full of warmth and love. She had never expected to find these things in him when he had chosen her as his concubine. She also had never expected she’d fall in love with him rather than kill him as she had been supposed to. And above all, she had never dreamed he’d abandon the ritual of choosing a new concubine every ten years just so they could have more time together.
Leaning in, he whispered into her ear even as she guided him inside her. Ten more years in front of them—or, who knew, maybe even eternity.
The End
About the Author:
Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels.
To see her other stories, including free short stories and sample chapters, visit http://original.kallysten.net
Also available from Kallysten:
Aria & Will
In an indistinct future, humans and vampires are allied against the savage demons that relentlessly attack their cities. In the fortified town of Newhaven, a centuries-old vampire, Wilhelm, is slowly losing track of why he fights. Meeting the human child Ariadne and watching her grow up to become a fierce fighter reminds him of his purpose and gives a face to the humans he tries to protect. As years pass, however, and Aria becomes a young woman, then a vampire, his protectiveness slowly turns into love...
CheckMate
Lilia is a vampire; Vincent hunts vampires. They’ve each sworn to kill the other, and have battled many times without either of them winning. But when a spell gone wrong links them through bonds of shared blood and sex, the game stops abruptly and with no clear winner.
Trying to stay alive, they learn to guard each other's back against old and new enemies alike. The game takes a new turn as the memories of what they shared under the spell become too hard to ignore and they succumb to lust - or could it be more than that?
Carte Blanche
When a lobbyist opposed to vampires’ rights is found drained of her blood, Special Enforcer Grace Alkins investigates the woman’s connection to a local BDSM club and its vampire customers. It has been a long time since Grace played on this particular scene, but old habits return easily when she puts on the attire of Mistress Red.
On her first undercover visit at the club, however, she finds herself tricked into playing a scene with Ray, a submissive whose Master left town abruptly. The Dominant in her enjoys the opportunity – while the Special Enforcer is shocked to realize Ray is a vampire, and possibly a suspect for the murder she investigates.
Will Grace manage to keep a cool head and find the killer when every new meeting with Ray cranks up the heat a little more?