“Other than Zeuzehn and Eilidh, and now possibly Dexter? Not that I’m aware of. To my knowledge, there are only two other intact stone rings in this world. I’m not sure if they are still viable here, or in your world, or if there are even crossing rings left which correspond to them. Stone rings only work with the particular crossing rings created at the same time to be used with them. The runes on the crossing rings are particular to that stone ring. Now that I have my crossing ring back, I hold the last two crossing rings for this stone ring. And Serxon’s is damaged and unreliable.”
“The crossing rings are like an airport code,” Amber says, sounding awed. “They were tuned.”
Parxon nods. “Exactly.” He smiles. “Of all the things our world has created and accomplished, our fear of high-altitude flying and the refusal to fully embrace it has baffled me the greatest.”
“Can a crossing ring be re-tuned to a different stone ring?” Garrett asks.
“Definitely not by anyone alive. That was knowledge and old magick that died with the creators. Knowledge perhaps best lost to time, now that I see the dark side of their deeds. Our population truly deserves to die out. Who knew the sorted were the lucky ones?”
“Can we trust Zeuzehn?” Garrett asks.
Parxon nods. “He is beyond reproach and will protect our secret. He is a brother of my heart and my closest friend. He is Eilidh’s spirit sire. I could not have made it through these long, lonely years, especially through my grief, without Zeuzehn’s support.”
Maybe he can answer another question. “Vampires, in our world, usually have the power to compel humans. Make them comply, wipe their minds. But Eilidh is immune to that. Not just with me, but with any vampire she’s ever encountered. In fact, she can sort of do it a little with some vampires and humans.”
“That is a jotnun Alpha trait,” he says. “Try it on me.”
I look into his eyes…
Nothing.
“Alphas are immune to it from other Alphas,” he says. “Ironically, a claimed mate who is marked is also immune to that.”
“But humans are turned into vampires by the virus that gives us our powers.”
“The virus appeared in far distant history,” he says. “But it never did the things that Eilidh told us it can. Daytime lethargy. A need for blood. The virus also removed some abilities, especially from Alphas, like reduced our speed and strength. It did not impact omegas or others as strongly. It did not impact the ability to sire or have children. In fact, children born of those with the virus were most often immune to it. I suspect that, somewhere in history, after the sorting, as hybrids and those with the virus mated, there were more mutations, more hybrids, until it changed into vampirism. Just as those who eventually became shifters evolved.”
“Wow,” Garrett softly says. “That’s…holy cow.”
“This is why I have dedicated my life to research. It will not be long before Jotnunlm is empty, and the last laugh will be had by those on Earth, without any knowledge of their true history.”
39
Dexter
Zuzu joins us shortly. “She is still asleep, but she will be fine. Dexter can, obviously, sleep in her bed. But do you wish to share a room?” he asks Garrett and Amber.
“They are mates, Zeu,” Parxon says, smiling. “I believe they will wish that, yes.”
Zuzu playfully smacks the back of Parxon’s head. “Just asking. Not assuming.” Then he looks at me. “The curtains and shutters in her room will keep out direct sunlight, but there still might be light visible. The windows face south, not east. Is that safe, or do I need to tack quilts over them for you?”
“As long as it’s not direct light from dawn, or a direct sunbeam, I will be fine.” I remember how my Robert worried any time we changed residences, how he panicked if I emerged before dusk in a new place, despite me assuring him I knew what was safe for me and what wasn’t.
Those thoughts get shoved to the side. I’ll unpack that later, once Eilidh and I are safely home.
The GPS ear tag is looking like a better idea by the minute. Maybe I could use one of those radio collars, like Yellowstone bears are fitted with.
We retire for what’s left of the night. In the bathroom, I use the toilet and wash my face and hands. Standing at the sink, I stare into the mirror, where the ornately tiled shower wall behind me is visible.
Because I am not. Not my body, at least.
I am used to this. Used to shaving by touch, to brushing my teeth and hair by feel, seeing the items in my hand floating in mid-air, or my clothes mysteriously standing by themselves. A century or more ago, I unconsciously started thralling people in public bathrooms, once I realized they all have mirrors in them. A quick glance at someone to tell them there’s nothing amiss, nothing to see.
It is amazing how anonymous one can be in larger cities with very little effort.
Eilidh, however, sees me, and has from the moment I walked through the doors of Club Toxic.
She was attracted to me without me needing to use any powers on her.
No need to smile and look her in the eyes.
She loves me for me.
I strip and snuggle in bed with her, relieved to have her in my arms once more.
Perhaps it is time I nurture myself a close circle of friends and put down permanent roots, with Eilidh as my hearth and home. It’s time for me to stop living in the past and move forward to build a life with her. Robert wanted me to live and be happy. Since losing him, I’ve only half succeeded at that.
Eilidh’s arrival in my life finally means I can fulfill my promise to him to be happy.
She makes me happy.
For the rest of our life together—what looks like might be a very long life together—I will spend every moment doing whatever it takes to make her happy and show my love.
I know dawn must be coming, but I lie awake with her warmth snuggled against me.
Of course my cock hardens when she shifts position against me in her sleep.
Dammit.
I softly sigh, but like hell am I going to reach down and take care of myself and risk disturbing her. She needs her rest.
Except she shifts again, and then her hand brushes me, and I realize she is more awake than I thought. Only then do I hear her breath and pulse quicken as she wakes up and finds herself draped over me.
Her violet eyes gaze down into mine. “I love you, Sir,” she whispers.
Yesss. This is worth everything. I stroke her hair. “I love you, too, girl.”
Her lips slant over mine and she starts trying to squirm out of her clothes.
Being the helpful chap I am, I hook my fingers in the waistband of her borrowed trousers, and she’s soon naked from the waist down. The heady scent of her arousal immediately hits me, even before she wiggles into position and impales herself on my cock. She’s wet and ready for me, her body warm and welcoming and her sweet moan as she fully seats herself on me makes me twitch inside her.
Instead of controlling this, I’d rather savor the feel of my girl using my body. My emotions have been whipsawed from jubilation to despair over the past couple of weeks, and I just want to be and enjoy this.
She stops kissing me only long enough to sit up and whip the shirt off over her head before she leans in to kiss me again. I could spend forever just doing this, tasting and teasing her. It feels like I’ve never kissed anyone before, and she makes me welcome the wonder exploring her body brings me. My hands settle on her hips, and while it’s tempting to work in some of her overdue spankings right now, I’d rather her father and Zuzu not hear that.
Slowly, she rises and falls, her gaze meeting mine and growing darker with every languid stroke. I knead her flesh as she rides me, skimming my hands up her sides, to her breasts, where I run the pads of my thumbs over the tips of her nipples. They pebble under my touch and she bites down on her lower lip, softly gasping, her wet heat fluttering around me.
Cupping her breasts, I squeeze, playfully at first, then diggin
g my fingers in to gauge her tolerance. More than the average human woman, that’s for sure. Except now I know she is anything but average. Squeezing harder, I feel her clenching around me, her breath quickening.
“More, love?” I ask.
She nods.
I pull her down so I can suck her nipples, graze my teeth over them without piercing her flesh yet. I want to feed off her sweet blood. I want to leave bites all over her breasts, along her inner thighs, mark every sweet spot on her body so her every memory is of me and my love for her.
Yet, I hold myself back. I don’t want to weaken her before the crossing home. We’ll have ample time to experiment after our return. But I do suck hard, leaving love bites all over them, pinching her nipples with my fingers and enjoying every soft, mewling sound I can draw from her.
Eventually, I flip her over and kiss my way down her body so I can spread her thighs and bury my face there. Her fingers twine in my hair and I don’t even mind the sharp tugs as she grips me and grinds her pussy against my mouth. I lap up every bit of her I can, my tongue teasing her clit, sliding it inside her and drawing breathless, sweet gasps from her.
Wrapping my fingers around the tops of her thighs to hold her in place, I graze my teeth over her clit, forcing myself not to bite, to feed, just playfully nip and suck. That kicks her over the edge and makes her come.
But I’m not finished with her yet.
I ease up, lightly licking, flicking with my tongue, not letting her push me away, until she’s once again squirming and eagerly grinding on me.
This time, I don’t let her come. I sit up and let her push me back onto the bed, so she can go down on me.
Holy fates, the woman’s mouth is perfection. I lace my hands behind my head and watch her, her gaze on me even as my cock disappears between her lips. She swirls her tongue around the head, tracing every line and ridge, flicking the tip along the slit and playing with my pre-cum. I want to grab her head and fuck her mouth, which is exactly why I keep my hands right where they are.
I refuse to rush.
There’s no desperation in our passion now, other than building desire and chasing pleasure. She feels like she’s all here, with me, in every way, without her mind trying to pull her in other directions and dividing her focus.
Eilidh’s all mine, and I won’t have to say good-bye to her any time soon.
My persistent fears of losing her to time versus turning her can finally be put away, so I can do nothing but love her.
I know she would eagerly suck a climax out of me, but before I get too far along I pull her up and let her ride me again. She does so with purpose, like she’s quickly closing in on her pleasure, so I watch and wait and enjoy the ride. Because, believe me, I am enjoying it ever so much, the simple pleasure of making love to the woman I love because it’s perfection, and not with purpose.
Her eyes grow darker, intense, and faster than I realize she’s doing it, she leans in, tips my head to the side, and her teeth sink deep into my shoulder.
Liquid fire flows from the bite and quickly makes its way through my body. My cock grows rigid as my balls empty, the white-hot pleasure searing me and making my back arch. Still, she rides me, her own orgasm hitting her and her body clenching around my dick, milking more cum from me, until she finally releases the bite and licks the spot.
Around me, the room spins, swirls, as my girl happily sighs and snuggles tightly against me, draped over me.
I crash into oblivion.
* * *
Dreams.
The things this woman does to me, the dreams I have.
This time, it’s of the two of us walking in woods I recognize as being at my estate in Scotland. It’s an overcast day, and we’re further shaded by the thick canopy of trees. Eilidh looks radiant in a blue sundress, her breasts round and full over a tummy already swelling again, and in my arms…
I carry a sleeping baby not quite a year old.
I instinctively know if he was to open his eyes, they would be violet, like hers, like Parxon’s—
grandsire
—and her laughter as she races ahead of me fills my soul with warmth I never dreamed possible to experience again.
We come to a clearing, where three men are setting up a picnic for all of us. I recognize Parxon and Zuzu, but while I think I should know the third, like he is familiar to me, his back is turned and I cannot see his face or hear his voice.
But in my arms…
I can smell the baby’s sweet scent, a mix of Eilidh and my own. We’ve named him Robert, and while I know this is a dream I can understand now why Eilidh doesn’t want to leave her father’s house and return with me to our world.
This joy, it is addictive, a new obsession for me to chase.
Unbounded happiness, my soul full and at peace and healing in a way I never thought possible.
So many impossibilities within my grasp.
And then it all fades to thick, inky blackness, leaving me to crash into oblivion.
* * *
I awaken that afternoon to the glow of sunlight around the curtains covering the bedroom shutters and, for the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not choked with panic. Fear and dread no longer fill me.
Neither does the usual stupor that arrives with the sun. That was simple exhaustion—and maybe an effect of her bite—that sent me to slumber, not the sun’s dawning.
Not this time.
Eilidh lies snuggled next to me, sound asleep, exhaustion carving lines deep in her face that are nearly painful to my soul. She doesn’t deserve to worry—she’s suffered enough of it in her life. I want to take care of her, make her smile, ease every burden.
Moving slowly, I extricate myself from beside her and climb out of bed…
And with the dream still in my mind, I pray.
Carefully, I tug one of the curtains open, and a lone sunbeam spills through a tiny gap at the top of the shutters. I stand there watching it, where it’s picking up dancing dust motes and flowing over a shelf on the far wall.
Reaching up, I wince as I yank a couple of hairs from the back of my head. Then I lay them on the shelf and nudge them just to the edge of the sun’s path.
And I step back into safety and wait.
The minutes creep past. Not believing it, at first, I watch as the hairs are fully enveloped by the light.
They do not dissolve into ash.
My breath—my breath—escapes from me in a whoosh. I realize that, unlike before, I haven’t been automatically starting to breathe before I wanted to speak.
I’ve…been breathing.
Reflexively.
Possibly for days, now that I think of it.
When I hold my fingers to my neck…I have a pulse. It’s not me consciously willing my heart to beat, either.
It’s…beating. I no longer can start or stop it at will.
Time to experiment. When I hold my breath deliberately, I find my lungs soon aching, until I suck in gulps of fresh air.
Doing the stupidest thing probably in the history of ever, as my girl might say, I reach out and let the sunlight spill over my hand and arm.
I gasp. My vision blurs, triples, as I stare at the golden light cascading over my body. I turn my hand over and back again, marveling at the sight and the warmth of it on my flesh.
“Dex?”
I can’t speak, can’t move, except to breathe and turn my hand back and forth.
“Dex!” I hear her throw the covers off her and climb out of bed, her hands suddenly on my back.
Her breath against my shoulder.
“Dex,” she whispers.
I can’t take my gaze from my arm. “Look!” I whisper, terrified this is a mirage, an impossible dream.
“I see.”
“Am I awake?”
“You are.”
We stare at it for long, silent minutes with her arms wrapped around me. “What does this mean?” I finally manage.
“Well, I think it means Dad and Zuzu were right
, and me marking you worked. My venom was able to neutralize the virus. At least, partially.”
My tongue seeks out my fangs. I feel them slide into place as my stomach grumbles and I realize I haven’t had any blood in over twenty-four hours. “I’m still a vampire. I still need blood.”
“But…this is huge.”
“I know.” I can’t stop…looking at it.
The way the light picks up the hairs on my arms.
Her canines lightly rake across the back of my shoulder, instantly giving me a throbbing erection.
Before I even realize I’m doing it, I spin around, grab her, and we land on the bed with me on top and her wrists pinned over her head.
Her violet gaze burns up at me. She hooks a foot around my leg and nearly manages to flip us over, until I lean in and bite down on the side of her throat, piercing her flesh so I can feed. Her fingers flex and curl as she wraps her legs around me and grinds against my thigh.
The thick, sweet scent of her arousal fills the room, my dick aches to be inside her, all while the warm, honeyed taste of her blood fills my mouth. I fill her pussy, shoving in deep and hard until I bottom out.
“Yes!” she gasps.
I chuckle against her flesh and slowly thrust. My sweet, radiant sun.
Who’s also far more than she appears.
Digging in deeper with my fangs makes her come, and her body clamps down on my cock, nearly milking my climax from me. So I ease up and lick her sweet flesh after I withdraw my fangs. Every thrust I take inside her prolongs her pleasure, keeps pulling those sexy gasps from her, makes her clench around me.
My stomach is happy, my cock is about to be happy…
And my sweet girl is very happy.
I kiss my way up to her ear and nip, my hips still rocking against her. “We can fuck our way through sunrises and sunsets, my love.” I thrust hard and deep, digging in and actually coaxing one more orgasm of her before I finally let go and my own climax hits. Pleasure the likes of which I’ve never felt before builds and explodes, snapping free and setting off fireworks behind my eyelids. Wave after wave sweeps through me as I fill her with my cum before eventually falling still inside her.
Her Vampire Obsession Page 38