Blood Magic

by Kira Stone

  They were halfway into the maze when they bumped into real trouble. Steven and Rani. The bright moonlight combined with Rainer’s enhanced night vision made escaping his notice impossible.

  Sebastian pressed himself against one shadowed wall of foliage, using his arm to encourage the witch to do the same. “I’m surprised to find you out here, Rani. As Kass’s sponsor for lordship, you should be by his side.”

  Steven all but disappeared as Rainer wrapped his lover in a protective embrace. “Like you, I imagine, I needed a break. Marta requested a private audience with Kass so it seemed like a good time to take one.”

  Teake’s abdomen turned to steel under Seb’s arm as the witch suddenly stiffened. Marta was well known in these parts for her highly successful whorehouse, but Seb hadn’t expected a distant enclave of witches to be familiar with her… talents. Yet there was something about the name that set Teake off.

  Or was it perhaps the speaker? Did the witch have something against Rani?

  Sebastian shook off the fanciful notion. Rainer Allen had bonded strongly with the earth during his Blood Oath. He was known to be friendly to humans, had even taken one as his lover. Nothing for the witch to object to there.

  “I just wanted some fresh air,” Sebastian finally answered.

  “And some company, I see,” Steven said. “Are you going to introduce us to your friend?”

  “I’m going to fuck him. We don’t need to exchange names for that.”

  Rainer’s brow wrinkled in concern. “What about Kass?”

  “I’ll be back before Marta finishes with him. He won’t ask for me until then.”

  His lover would want to brag about how hard he’d made the vampire whore work to please him. He’d then demand that Sebastian perform the same sexual routine so he could compare notes. So far, Sebastian remained ahead in the count, although the margin was slim.

  The couple started to move away, but then Steven hesitated. So low that the others couldn’t hear, he said, “Don’t let him make you what he is.”

  “Too late,” Seb whispered back. He had to emulate Kass or risk losing his highly prized position at the Russian vamp’s side. He’d come too far, lost too much, to stop because his moral conscience ached now and again.

  Without giving his friend time to marshal an argument, Sebastian grabbed a fistful of Teake’s linen shirt and started walking away.

  The witch trotted after him, waiting until they were alone again before freeing himself from Seb’s clutches. “Do you fuck all of Grigoriv’s visitors before he meets with them?”

  Seb’s monogamous streak ran a mile wide when it came to bedding lovers so he didn’t often engage in casual sex unless he was acting under Kass’s orders. This man might be a rare exception. He couldn’t get that sexual fantasy out of his mind. “What if I do? Are you going to object?”

  “Would it matter if I did?”

  “Yes.” He wasn’t so far gone down the path of the damned that he’d rape an unwilling partner.

  “Then why did you not ask before you brought me to this place?”

  Sebastian started walking again, almost jogging in his impatience to reach their destination. The core of the maze drew him in like a magnet. “The grove is the safest place for you tonight. Whether or not we fuck when we get there is up to you.”

  The labyrinth had been expanded considerably over the years. It now took up the equivalent of ten city blocks. At first, Kassian protested the way Sebastian had usurped so much land for his horticultural paradise, but Seb had repaid him a thousand times over for its use.

  They rounded the last corner and burst into the clearing at the heart of the maze. As always, for Sebastian, it was like walking into a bright sunny day after a difficult night. A feeling of peace washed over him. The wind whipped through the branches of the budding apple trees, singing his name. Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian.

  “You have created a special place here, Sebastian. Mother Nature appreciates the care you have shown for her children.”

  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the witch would be aware of the grove’s special welcome. Even so, it irked him. “I didn’t do it for her.”

  “Nonetheless, she is well pleased with you.”

  The clearing reeked of sex. Not the stale, raunchy kind that pervaded the manor house but the perfume of sweet loving, untainted by politics, drugs or pain. Desire fountained in his veins, making him tingle with a warmth no other creature, alive or dead, could bring to him.

  Sebastian wandered through the ring of trees, noting that green buds were starting to appear on their branches. Spring was finally here. It gave him hope for a fresh start between himself and Kassian as well. The past couple of months had been hard on their relationship, which hadn’t been all that emotionally close to begin with.

  However, what happened next depended largely on the outcome of the Blood Oath. It required a degree of submission to nature’s ways, and yielding to the will of others was not Kass’s strong suit. Sebastian suspected his lover would fight every step of the ritual. The key to its success lay with the witch and the one who’d serve as his Guardian.

  Speaking of which… “Where’s your sidekick? I thought you guys always traveled in twos.”

  The witch crossed the innermost ring of trees and went straight to a pile of moss-covered rocks. “Not always.”

  “Then who will serve as your Guardian?”

  At one point in time, a small church had sat on this plot of land. All that remained now were a few low walls and a broken tablet of sandstone that once served as a consecrated altar. Teake knelt in front of the debris, caressing the broken pieces as if they were the most precious substance on earth. “I have been assured I shall find all I need here.”

  That didn’t bode well for Kassian. To go through the oath without an experienced team would greatly increase the risk that something could go wrong. Seb glanced over at the witch to ask another question, but the words stuck in his throat.

  The human was naked. And magnificently aroused.

  Sebastian struggled to maintain coherent thought, but it was tough when all the blood was draining from his brain to fill his cock. “What are you doing?”

  “I find sex more enjoyable when there is nothing to get in the way.”

  “I thought you didn’t want to fuck.”

  “No, you thought you would scare me away by implying I had no choice. It did not work.” The man’s mouth curved into a lopsided grin. “Well?”

  Sebastian’s body had already made its decision. Not only was Teake hung like a horse, he had sun-drenched skin and an inner heat no vampire could match. A siren’s call to Sebastian’s craving for a little human contact.

  Which is precisely why he had to decline. It was one thing to fuck a human, a stranger. It was another thing to enjoy it. With Teake, he feared he’d enjoy it far too much. Kassian already thought Seb was overly fond of meat-eaters. And with Marta hovering on the sidelines, he couldn’t afford to annoy Kassian now. “No, thanks. I’ve changed my mind.”

  Sebastian stepped behind the ruins. A profusion of honeysuckle climbed up the corner of the decrepit building. He wasn’t surprised when he felt the witch come up behind him. Warm fingers unraveled the lacings on his leather pants. His engorged cock fell out and was engulfed by a large, calloused hand.

  “I am going to make you come, Sebastian. Will you let me do that much?”

  Teake’s naked chest pressed against his back. Strong arms hugged his waist. His fist stroked Seb’s cock to fullness. It felt good. Extraordinarily so.

  And because it did, Sebastian felt guilty. Then angry. “Why are you doing this?”

  Teake swiped the pad of his thumb over Seb’s purpled cock head, sending a ripple of pleasure through Seb’s body. His breath was hot against Seb’s ear as he replied, “Because you want me to.”

  “No.” Why did it sound so much more like yes to his ears?

  “Yes,” Teake echoed. “Your blood is no longer your own. Your
seed still is. Let me help you celebrate the bond you feel to this place and Mother Earth by spilling a few drops of your true self upon Gaia’s altar.”

  The witch brought his thumb up to Sebastian’s nose. He could smell his own pre-cum on it. He shuddered with longing, longing to be touched, to be loved. Accepted for who he was.

  Kassian didn’t understand how Sebastian felt about the land. No one did. Except Teake. The witch knew without having to be told. The urge to give thanks to Mother Nature with one who would truly understand grabbed him with a sudden, fierce longing he’d never known before.

  Would it cause irreparable harm to share this simple ritual with the witch, just this once? Sebastian had only to think of Kassian rutting with the vampire whore to get his answer. “Go for it. It’s celebration time.”

  Teake leaned against the half wall. He drew Sebastian back with him, surrounding him as Rani had Steven. “Close your eyes. Let me support you.”

  Sebastian relished the feeling of a hard, warm body embracing him. The witch parted Seb’s vest with his clever fingers, then stroked him from breastbone to pelvis.

  “Nice body. Especially these.” He flicked Sebastian’s nipple rings with his finger.

  “Thought you witch types weren’t into crass adornments.”

  “Not always by choice. Gaia did not see fit to give me nipple rings in the womb, so I will have to seek gratification by playing with yours.”

  It felt good, having those rings twisted. Even better was the soft, warm breath cascading over his neck with every word the witch spoke. Yet neither could compare with the way Teake’s warm hand felt gripping Seb’s hard cock. He held on to one of the hair-roughened thighs supporting him. His other set of fingers rode on top of Teake’s, showing him the stroking rhythm he preferred.

  Seb had been harder than cherry wood when he fantasized about riding Teake’s cock earlier. This time, he wasn’t even naked and he could pound nails with his erection. The witch definitely had a magic touch!

  “How generously you give of yourself, Sebastian. No wonder Gaia favors you.”

  As caught up as he was in the storm of pleasure Teake had spawned in him, Sebastian remained very aware of one important thing. “Vampire. Nature’s mistake. Definitely not on Gaia’s A-List.”

  “Regardless, she treasures you. Do you not feel her love?”

  Sebastian didn’t want to feel anything but the erotic firestorm about to burst free in his system. The one that caused his balls to rise, his cock to pulse with blood. It was at times like this that he felt almost alive. There was no doubt the witch was equally aroused, given the iron rod prodding the cleft in his ass.

  “Do not hold back. I want to watch you give yourself to Gaia,” Teake whispered.

  Sebastian groaned as the encouraging words further fueled his lust. “Harder. Faster.”

  Teake obeyed his plea, increasing the tempo of his stroking. The tingling in his balls spread into his thighs and belly. The witch’s body heat practically burned him through the leather. Climax was seconds away.

  “Shower her with your affection,” Teake urged him.

  Seb really had no choice. The bursting white light was upon him. He cried out as the first stream of cum spattered across the moss-covered stones. He had more to give and Teake continued to draw it out of him until Seb was shaking from the intense muscle contractions.

  “Impressive,” Teake complimented him.

  “Yeah, well, I had help.” His lungs ached with the need to draw in fresh oxygen, but it wasn’t possible. He pushed the old, familiar sensation aside and burrowed into Teake’s supportive embrace. He wanted to grab onto the witch’s arms and never let go…

  Crazy talk! He was a vampire now. He belonged with his own kind. Sebastian had to get away from this man who was obviously good at manipulating more than a horny cock.

  Hastily, he put a few feet between them and laced up the front of his pants. What the witch would do about his own aroused state was up to him. Seb had more important things to attend to, like protecting his investment in Kass’s future. “I have to get back to the party.”

  “There is one thing we should discuss first.” Teake’s voice sounded strained. Almost harsh.

  Dread crept down Seb’s spine. Apparently Mother Nature wasn’t done fucking him over yet. “What might that be?”

  “This.”

  Teake raised his arm. Sebastian felt an answering tug on his own wrist. A thin white cord connected them. A cord that hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. “You bastard, what have you done to me?”

  Chapter 3

  Master and Slave

  Teake struggled to hide his own dismay at being magically bound to this vampire. His initial shock at seeing the blond creature from his spell at the quarry had turned to lust almost immediately. He was glad for the opportunity to share that small ritual, thinking it would purge their residual lust. After all, the vision had not foretold of this Guardian bond forming between the two of them. It should have been perfectly safe.

  Unfortunately, things went much further than he’d planned. Teake trusted Gaia to know what was best for her children, but he couldn’t count on Sebastian to see it that way. He owed the angry blood drinker an explanation. “Mother Nature has chosen you as my Guardian. She placed the bond there, not I.”

  “I don’t care who did it but if you want to live beyond the next five minutes, you’d better find a way to undo it. Fast.”

  It would take a week or more for the Guardian bond to take root, becoming a conductor of thought and emotion between the two of them. The process happened quickly between humans -- he and Forrest had joined heart, mind and soul in a few days -- but the process always took longer with vampires, or so he’d been told. For now, the primary purpose of the thin white thread was to serve as a physical reminder of their joint purpose, to force them to work together.

  Which helped him not at all when it came to pacifying the angry vampire. “There would be serious consequences if I did as you asked. Potentially fatal consequences,” Teake finally admitted.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m already dead. Fatal has few consequences for me. Break the fucking link!”

  “No.”

  “Then I will!”

  Sebastian leapt on him, using tooth and nail to rend his skin. Teake drew in an impenetrable essence from the stones surrounding them. His skin hardened, becoming impervious to all but the most fierce of assaults. A far more difficult task was keeping the vampire from injuring himself since taking on the properties of the rock meant Teake could only move at the speed of one.

  For a few minutes, Teake had been conned into thinking Sebastian had more promise than most of his kind when it came to controlling his inner beast. That he appreciated Gaia in all her beauty, given this tribute to her in his most private place. As the vampire rushed in for another attempt to steal his lifeblood, Teake admitted Sebastian was no better than all the rest, a cold-blooded monster who would kill any creature as thoughtlessly as a freshly born vampire lord had killed Forrest.

  And Teake’s name was next on the list.

  Except Teake was far more accomplished in witchcraft than his former lover and Guardian. And he was prepared.

  Claw-like fingernails raked over Teake’s exposed skin, showering both of them with white-hot sparks. Sebastian’s fangs, long and sharp, thirsted for Teake’s blood, but couldn’t penetrate his granite exterior. On some level it must have clicked that he’d never win this way for the blond vampire jumped up on top of the crumbling wall and cried out his fury to the night sky. His head was thrown back so that the cords of muscle stood out on his neck, his long blond hair lashing at the wind. A beautiful sight, if it weren’t for the viciousness that had spawned it.

  An answering rumble started almost immediately. A shifting of earth and stone. A quake in a region that, until now, had no faults or stress to cause such a tremor. What on earth…

  Teake reversed the flow of power he’d borrowed, thinking he’d someh
ow been responsible for upsetting the balance below the earth’s surface. It would be a beginner’s mistake, but he could think of no other reason for the sudden shift in land masses.

  Then, as he tuned into the world around him once more, Teake realized it was Sebastian who had caused the earth to shift. The vampire’s clumsy attempt to control natural energy -- never mind that such an act was supposedly impossible for a common vampire! -- was about to get them all killed.

  Like an oil well on fire, the only way to prevent further disaster meant capping the opening. To do that, he had to smother the vampire’s own will.

  Teake ignored the screams coming from the manor house where the fancy party had suddenly turned into a horror movie set. He ignored the awful noise streaming out of the young vampire’s throat. He concentrated only on the forces ripping the bedrock apart as the earth struggled to obey Sebastian’s commands to cast vast amounts of raw, untamed energy into the sky.

  Sweat poured from his body as Teake grappled with Sebastian in this primal new way. He’d never done so before, as not even a vampire lord possessed the ability to do this kind of magic. That was a mystery to solve later. Right now, he had to rein in Sebastian’s anger before the vampire created a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon in the Pennsylvania countryside.

  Sebastian had no formal training in witchcraft but a lot of natural talent fueled by anger. It was all Teake could do to prevent him from further destabilizing the ground. It was starting to look as if the only option was to end Sebastian’s existence, and that violated Teake’s strongest beliefs. He had to find another way.

  The link. Even with his eyes closed, it glowed bright against the night. It was so weak, so new. Could it withstand the burden of direct thought?

  Sebastian, you must stop this.

  Not until you set me free.

  If only Teake could, but the decision was out of his hands. There will be more deaths than mine on your hands if you persist. Feel the pain you are causing Mother Nature. To protect herself, she will relieve the pressure on her own. How many of your kind will survive if the manor house collapses on top of them?