Night's Templar: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 13)

by Joey W. Hill

  Keldwyn’s gaze flickered. “I understand. Be easy, my lord. I will honor that.”

  Uthe loosened his grip, dropping his hand back to the ground to support his swaying body. The Fae Lord slid the blade back in the sheath at Uthe’s belt, fingers curving there for a brief tug. He extended his wrist to Uthe again. “Do it with your fangs, then.” At Uthe’s hesitation, Kel’s mouth tightened. “I command you to feed, my lord. Our journey is long and important, you have told me so. I feel no revulsion at nourishing you. It is…a peculiar honor to me, to care for you thus.”

  Uthe raised his gaze from that tempting meal to Keldwyn’s face, and saw the truth of it there. “Most Fae don’t feel that way. You didn’t feel that way, just a few days ago.”

  “Many things have changed. Are changing.” Keldwyn stroked his head once more. “Take what I have offered, Varick. Take it as a gift, and do not offend me with your refusal.”

  Watching Uthe mull it over, Keldwyn restrained the urge to push, to command him more sternly than he already had. He was still concerned about the vampire’s pallor. More than that, there was a curious anticipation in him, now that the decision was made. He wanted Uthe to get on with it, before that feeling abated, before the mores of a lifetime kicked in and made Keldwyn rethink a decision that he was sure was going to change things irrevocably between them.

  The vampire’s eyes slowly focused on Keldwyn’s wrist. Even more slowly, he lifted his hands, closed both over it. One over Keldwyn’s hand, the other over his forearm, so Keldwyn could feel the beat of his own pulse against Uthe’s strong grip. Then Uthe put his head down and bit.

  It was painful, as was to be expected when a pair of fangs as sizeable as a wolf’s penetrated flesh. Keldwyn could claim not to have anticipated anything beyond the pain, but the way he held his own breath right before Uthe did it, the tight coil of need in his lower belly that seemed to affect both heart and cock, belied that indifference.

  He’d had a mix of feelings about offering Uthe his blood, the beliefs of his people conflicting with his own conscience and desires. That mix expanded into something different as Uthe drew on his vein, as his throat moved to swallow Keldwyn’s blood. He still had his hand on the back of Uthe’s head and used that contact to draw Uthe closer. The male was half reclined, one elbow hooked over Keldwyn’s thigh, the other pressed close to his groin, his shoulder against Keldwyn’s torso. Keldwyn dropped his touch, sliding it along Uthe’s back, down to the curve of hip and buttock. He’d been able to sense the vampire’s arousal from his most casual touch for some time. Right now it gave him a sense of power so heady, Keldwyn wanted to turn him as soon as he finished feeding and take him here, in a cave where death overshadowed everything.

  This vampire filled his mind, was so large in his thoughts, Keldwyn realized the idea of possessing him, calling him his own, almost superseded the urgency of anything else, at least in this moment. Rhoswen had mocked Keldwyn’s Dominant tendencies when she’d appointed him as liaison for the Vampire Council.

  “Perhaps you will like being closer to your own kind, Lord Keldwyn. Those who enjoy overpowering the will of others for sexual pleasure.”

  It was an empty taunt, for she was well aware it wasn’t about overpowering the will at all. Not exactly. He used his dominance to get other things out of the way so that the will could be freed. When that happened, a gift could occur. A male surrendering to his own desires, feeding on Keldwyn like this.

  In the vampire world, Jacob was Lyssa’s possession, to do with as she pleased. At least until the latest policy introduced by Lord Mason was passed. If it passed. But anyone with eyes knew the relationship between vampire queen and servant was far more complex than that. No matter the inequity of the relationship on the surface, it wasn’t the surface that mattered. Unjustly treated servants like Alanna or Jessica needed the laws, the policies. Servants like Jacob never would.

  In the eyes of his Council and the vampire world, and even himself, Lord Uthe was as Dominant as any other of his kind. He wouldn’t have made it to the top ranks of that world without proving his ability to take the upper hand. When Uthe so desired, he could level an opponent with nothing more than a look. It wasn’t the threat of violence simmering in his dark eyes that did that, though Uthe could certainly back it up with that if necessary. In most every race and species, there was an intuitive recognition of hierarchy, of dominance and submission.

  Uthe’s dominance wasn’t a façade, which was probably why he intrigued Keldwyn so much. Tangled with that dominance was a complicated sense of service and duty, flavored with a heavily guarded vulnerability that suggested deeper needs, conceivably spawned by the burdens he carried. Those needs had been buried at such a deep level Keldwyn might not have ever detected them, if not for the male’s struggle with Ennui. The only gift from the hated condition, though he’d much rather have figured it out without its influence.

  With Uthe’s mouth on Keldwyn’s arm, his tongue sliding along his flesh and his teeth still embedded, holding Kel as he drank, Keldwyn saw that complicated mix of dominance and surrender. He slid his arm further around Uthe’s back, holding him closer. From whatever well Uthe’s tremendous sense of duty and service to the Lord had come, also came the capacity to submit to the right Master. The one deserving of his submission.

  Up until this moment, Keldwyn expected only God had received that privilege.

  As Uthe gave in to his hunger, Keldwyn felt like they’d slipped off the spinning wheel of time into its fulcrum, where matters of Fate were decided. Where things so precious existed, they had to be experienced in the space of a held breath. Any longer than that and the heart and soul would be immersed in something too overwhelming. They’d shatter into the stuff of the universe. Perhaps the ether into which they all returned in the end, to find bliss at last.

  Uthe sealed the puncture wounds with the firm pressure of his tongue and a tingle of sensation Keldwyn expected was some kind of coagulant. When the vampire lifted his head, his face was suffused with want. Keldwyn was more than willing to provide him with what he needed. He captured the vampire’s mouth, tasting his own blood. Clamping a hand behind his neck, he savored his lips fully, before becoming too impatient even for that. Keldwyn shoved Uthe onto his back and yanked at the loose cotton pants. He pushed at the edge of the tunic. “Off,” he said shortly. “I want it all off of you. I want you naked.”

  Uthe’s eyes sparked at the challenge, but he didn’t fight him. His erection was already thick and tall, swaying with his movements as he arched his upper torso to pull off the tunic. Keldwyn dipped his head and attacked with teeth and mouth. The protrusion of rib cage, the taut nipple, the ripple of abdomen muscles. Uthe’s fingers slid into his hair. It was bound in the braid, and Uthe tugged at it, freeing it and combing his fingers through the silken strands. Keldwyn let him do as he liked as he tasted every inch of him. Uthe’s cock brushed against Kel’s chest and his abdomen as he moved upward. He rose to stand over Uthe and stripped off his own tunic, but he waited no longer than it took to unlace his leggings before he knelt, hooked a hand under Uthe’s thigh and lifted it. With the other hand, he milked Uthe’s cock, bringing forth viscous pre-come he smeared on his own cock, also using the arousal coming from his own slit.

  “I’d advise you to carry lubricant, Lord Uthe. There’s no telling when I might wish to have you honor your oath. Or how often.”

  “You’ve complimented me on my ability to stay prepared before, my lord,” Uthe said in a rough voice, staring up at him. “Perhaps you ought to check the pack before you waste your time on unnecessary instruction.”

  Keldwyn found the tube of lubricant there. When he turned his stare to Uthe, he was charmed and goaded by the slight flush of color that stained the vampire’s jaw. Had he argued with himself, telling himself such preparedness might be less about his oath to Keldwyn and more about his own desires? Keldwyn suspected he had. He was going to drive such arguments out of the vampire’s head, no matter how often he had
to fuck the lesson into him.

  “Your desires serve my desires, Varick,” Keldwyn growled. He added the lubricant to his shaft, his lust building when Uthe couldn’t keep his gaze off of the movement of his fingers. When he curved an arm under Uthe’s thigh and lifted it once again, this time to press his cock against Uthe’s tight opening, he realized he hadn’t been so eager to take a male in some time.

  He slid his other arm under Uthe’s opposite thigh, lifted both so that he had the male’s ass several inches off the ground. He pushed in an inch or two, making sure he was well seated.

  “I am going to fuck you hard, vampire. It’s the price of your meal. Would you like me to make it hurt?”

  Uthe’s facial muscles were taut with arousal. “You cannot make it hurt too much, my lord.”

  Keldwyn shoved in deep, violent. Uthe groaned, body lifting into the penetration, accepting the rough treatment. When Keldwyn started hammering him, Uthe’s hands clasped over his on his legs, giving him additional momentum. He caught a glimpse of harsh, brutal bliss on Uthe’s face. The vampire had denied his desires for so long, he’d perhaps forgotten how good it could be to embrace them. Keldwyn understood the feeling all too well, taken by surprise by how violent the storm was that rose up and took him, sweeping them both along in its track.

  Uthe’s fingers dug into his forearms, and Keldwyn put more weight on his legs, bending them so he was closer to the male, eyes locked together as he fucked him thoroughly and well. “I would call you mine, Varick. All of you.”

  Uthe’s expression flickered in shock, but the climax was too close. “Kel…”

  Keldwyn’s eyes closed. He’d called him familiar. “Come for me, vampire,” he whispered.

  Uthe released, cock spurting ropes of thick semen over his abdomen and chest. Keldwyn inhaled the musk of it, and his own organ convulsed as Uthe’s torso and thigh muscles firmed like steel, his lips parting to show his gleaming fangs. Keldwyn wanted him to feed from his throat one day. He didn’t shy from the knowledge or judge it. Not right now.

  Keldwyn came, breath rasping in his throat, buttocks flexing against the inside of Uthe’s thighs. The male pushed against the hold of Kel’s arms to lock his legs over Keldwyn’s ass, drawing him even closer. Keldwyn braced his hands flat on either side of Uthe’s shoulders, his hair falling down to brush his arms and Uthe’s chest.

  “Careful,” Uthe said, gathering it up in one hand, holding it loosely against Keldwyn’s shoulder. “You’ll get it in the mess I made.”

  When he’d first met Uthe, Keldwyn had thought the harsh lines cut into his face peculiar for a born vampire, since those lines usually were marks of sun and aging. They seemed to emphasize Uthe’s ascetic lifestyle, the plain, earth-colored clothing he wore, his propensity to spend time reading, doing Council work and praying rather than pursuing more playful or hedonistic pursuits, like others of his kind. But now that Keldwyn understood the stories those lines told, the character they reflected, it made the male vampire irresistibly handsome to him.

  Yes, Reghan was laughing his very fine ass off. But he would have understood Keldwyn’s fascination, wouldn’t he? For Reghan had had an understated but solid Dominant streak like Uthe did, with that same intriguing undercurrent. Kel and Reghan had only started to explore a physical relationship before Reghan met Lyssa’s mother, the beautiful Masako. During those couplings, Kel had led Reghan to that place of inner surrender, and Reghan had trusted him enough to submit, lose himself in the pleasure Kel could give him. In those blissful moments, Kel had been suffused with anticipation, wanting to find the bottom of Reghan’s soul, cradle, keep and cherish it.

  He now knew those interludes had been far less significant for Reghan, merely a beginning exploration between two best friends. Kel had been one of the few Reghan could trust with his deepest needs and desires. As a result, Kel had opened the path for Reghan that helped him actualize and act upon his feelings for Lyssa’s mother. Which had just made the heartbreak worse, hadn’t it? Not only had Reghan rejected Keldwyn’s desire for more than friendship, Kel had helped him along the path that eventually took Reghan from all of them.

  Yes, that was bollocks. Kel recognized that for the self-pity it was. Reghan was a decisive and intelligent male. He’d embraced his love with Masako because that was whose heart he was ultimately meant to share. Kel understood that now. Truth didn’t make such things any less painful.

  Yet it had taught Keldwyn an invaluable lesson. Submission didn’t automatically mean a lover handed over his heart and soul. It just felt like he did. A Master learned the truth otherwise when it was too late, when he’d already surrendered his own.

  He didn’t want to think about any of that right now. This was a different road. He slid back down Uthe’s body to run his tongue over a track of Uthe’s release. The male drew in a breath, held it. Delighting in the reaction, Keldwyn traced every one of the glistening trails. He tasted Uthe, took his seed inside him. There was the flavor of blood to it, and Uthe’s own essence, that indefinable taste unique to him. Uthe’s cock twitched on his belly, reminding Kel that vampire recovery time was almost as good as a Fae’s. Convenient.

  No, not convenient, unfortunately. They both knew they couldn’t delay their task here much longer. Keldwyn tilted his head, studied the symbols. He was well aware he’d not yet drawn out of the vampire, but he was pleased with his present whereabouts and would take the time he desired there. He was glad for the strength of the protection spell on the cave opening. An army of Saracens might be gathering outside, but for the moment they were uninterrupted. “So are you closer to figuring it out?”

  “I think so.” Uthe released Keldwyn’s hair, let it slide over his fingertips, then he dropped his hand back above his head, gazing up at Keldwyn under heavy lidded eyes. He was returning to the present moment, retreating into his reserve. While Keldwyn had many ways to thwart that, he wouldn’t press them now. Too much had just happened between them and he respected Uthe’s need to consider the ramifications. The words Keldwyn had spoken were in the vampire’s eyes.

  I would call you mine.

  Would he think they were words spoken in the heat of lust? It wasn’t an inaccurate conclusion. Not that Keldwyn hadn’t meant them, but his timing could have been better. More road needed to be traveled before that statement could be tested in a useful way, yet he’d blurted it out like an impetuous youngling. But once, a long time ago, he’d waited. He’d let Reghan believe their intense couplings were a brothers-in-arms type of things, a pleasurable indulgence for best friends. Before he could speak his heart, the one he’d loved had chosen to love another.

  Once again he chided himself for false thinking. Time had had naught to do with it. Love wasn’t a footrace, and it cared nothing for timing. Kel’s heart would have been broken all the more deeply if their relationship had time to become more and then Reghan chose Masako anyway.

  He withdrew, sat back on his heels and found Uthe’s pants, tossing them to him as he tucked himself back in and laced his own.

  “Lord Reghan… He allowed Lyssa’s mother to mark him as her servant, didn’t he?”

  Keldwyn lifted his head, surprised. The vampire male read others well; Keldwyn just hadn’t recognized how much progress he was making on that with him specifically.

  “It was more complicated than that.” Keldwyn paused before Uthe’s steady regard. Yes, it sounded like a deflection. His lips twisted wryly. “It was not known to many others. At that time, in that environment, it would have sealed his fate even more quickly than the knowledge of their love did. But yes. He told me it was inevitable, for a vampire can only bind souls with a servant. To his way of thinking, regardless of how it would be viewed, he could not bear to let any barrier stand between them being as close to one another as eternally possible. ‘Eternally possible.’ That was the term he used.”

  Keldwyn cleared his throat, turned away and began to re-braid his hair in quick, efficient movements. “Make no mistake, he was a powerf
ul leader, a strong male. I would not have you hold the wrong impression of him.”

  “Yet you do not assure me that he was the Dominant in their relationship, as I would expect you to do, to defend his honor. He was a leader who craved surrender, in the right circumstances. That is why he caught your attention, because you need that from your lovers. Submission.”

  Uthe’s tone was neutral, giving nothing away. Keldwyn turned to face him. Now dressed in the cotton pants, the vampire rose, pulling on his tunic. He was modest. Not from embarrassment, but because of the dictates of his Order. That was in the Rule, that a man slept in breeches and shirt, never standing about indolently half naked. Keldwyn liked the look of Varick in only the loose cotton pants, though. His color was better, he noted. Fae blood had served him well.

  “He caught my attention for many reasons,” Keldwyn said evenly. “That being just one of them.”

  Uthe bent, picked something up off the floor. Coming to Keldwyn, he reached over his shoulder and slid the braid forward to his chest. Keldwyn had only retrieved one tie for the braid, and had used it at the end of the heavy tail. Uthe wrapped the other around the braid at the widest part at the top and caressed Keldwyn’s still bare shoulder, since he stood before Uthe in only the partially laced leggings still. Uthe’s hand then fell on the loosened waistband, finger tips sliding in to play in the silky hair over the pubis. The casual need to touch sparked heat, not only in Kel’s lower region.

  “Varick.” Kel locked gazes with him. “Take the tunic off. If you have to return to solving your puzzle, I would like to enjoy the view. Even more than I already do.”

  Uthe smiled faintly, his dark eyes showing a mix of responses to that. Desire, conflict, and then a simple acceptance that touched Keldwyn. He complied after a single heartbeat. It made Keldwyn want to take him all over again, but instead he restrained himself, letting his gaze travel over the tempting proximity of Uthe’s impressive upper torso, the striations of muscle. The heat of him.