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Ravenous (Triskaidekaphilia Book 2)

Page 6

by Wendy Nikel


  “Can I come?” Lorna asked. Her voice cracked. “Please, miss.”

  Cassandra looked to her lover and found the pale man looking back patiently. The choice was hers. Cassandra could hear the rapid beating of Lorna’s heart and reached out to the girl. Lorna had been loyal to Cassandra, and besides, Cassandra was hungry.

  The three of them drifted into the shadows together, and soon they were gone.

  About Violet R. Jones

  Violet R. Jones lives in Hokkaido, Japan with her partner and their cats.

  V. HUMMINGBIRD

  Palladian Excursions

  Their walk through the alien market was sensual. The sweet scent of sticky fruits and honey-like substances made Evelinna's mouth water, and the fabrics Kayson playfully draped over her were silky and cool.

  Overhead, the planet's dual suns sat far off—much farther than Earth's sun—but together they made the sky blaze a similar bright blue. Aliens of all shapes and sizes walked or waddled or flapped between the vender's stalls in a domestic ballet. None of them paid the two small humans any mind.

  "Linna, you've got to taste this," Kayson said, holding out a chunk of something pink and marshmallow-looking between his dark-brown fingers.

  "Are you spending the last of our money?" she teased. "We don't have a ride out of here yet. We may need some for a room." Still, she parted her pink lips, ready for him to slide the delicacy across her tongue. But before he could, she noticed a lanky figure under an awning only a few stalls away.

  "Virgil," she whispered.

  Kayson stopped short. "What?"

  Quickly, Evelinna grabbed him by his collar and pulled him behind a stack of barrels overflowing with a seaweed-reminiscent vegetable. "It's Virgil. No, don't look. What if he sees you?"

  Kayson ran a hand over his close-shaven head. "Isn't that why we're here, to find him?"

  Linna began twirling her wedding ring around and around her finger. She'd seen that dark hair with the long fringe—that sharp jaw and broad nose and brooding mouth—many times in both her dreams and her nightmares. It was strange seeing him again in reality.

  "‘See the stars,’ they said," she mumbled. "‘Best way to travel is with a Palladian Vampire,’ they said."

  They'd met Virgil on their honeymoon. Hell, he was their honeymoon.

  Newlywed friends of theirs, Chris and Diana, had gone on a Palladian excursion and swore by the experience.

  "The vampires are very professional," Diana assured them. "They're a tour guide and a masseuse and, well, stimulant all in one. They feed off the blood of iron-rich life forms, like humans, and when they bite, they inject a—well, it's a venom. But, it's not… I mean, I don't know how to—"

  "It's better than Viagra, whether you're packing a cock or a pussy," Chris threw in. "Really gets you revved up. They explain it in the brochures—getting you horny gets your blood pumping hotter and faster, which makes it tastier for the vampires and easier to suck or something."

  Diana flushed. "So they get to feed, and you guys get to really, really go at it. And the vampire can be as involved in that as little or as much as you want. Drullara was, well… She was quite fun."

  "Look," Chris said frankly. "Trust us: the trip is great. It's fucking and visiting the most extensive museums in the galaxy. Oh, and did I mention the fucking? Plus, it's free."

  "Well," Diana said. Sometimes it seemed all she ever said was well. "It's not totally free. You do have to let them suck your blood at least three times a day."

  "Sounds kinky," Linna said wistfully. "But you weren't worried about having another woman around? Nobody got jealous?"

  Chris shrugged. "What's there to be jealous about?"

  Later that night, while they were getting undressed for bed, Linna brought up Palladian Excursions again. "We've been talking about getting off-world for years. There are so many other planets out there, other people, other cultures."

  "But, doesn't it sound too good to be true? A few ounces of blood in exchange for the universe?"

  "The universe plus a few orgasms," she corrected. "I think we should do it."

  "I didn't know you were into that kind of thing," Kayson said, dropping his boxers. "Blood sucking, I mean."

  Linna glanced at his half-hard cock and winked at him. "I didn’t know you were, either."

  She pushed him onto the bed and straddled him, bringing her naked pussy down against his groin and rocking, coaxing him fully erect.

  He groaned beneath her. "Maybe not the blood so much, but watching some other man turn you on," he panted, "getting you ready for me… might be fun."

  "A male vampire? Really?"

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "I thought you'd rather have a woman."

  "Already have a woman," he teased, palming her round breasts, weighing them in his hands. He tweaked her nipples and she moaned in response.

  "How far would you want me to go with him?" she asked slyly. "Would you want me to suck him off? Tell me. Would you want him to lick my tits?"

  Kayson groaned and his eyes fluttered.

  "Would you want me to fuck him, like this?" Slowly, she lowered herself on his shaft, taking him in centimeter by centimeter, loving how he stretched her.

  Unable to bear it, Kayson grabbed her by the hips and slammed her down. They gasped in unison.

  "He doesn't get to play with us," Kayson growled, lifting her up slightly so he could thrust in and out of her.

  Linna adored the possessive tone of his voice and the way the idea of another man inside her made him more aggressive. She batted his hands away from her hips and then leaned over his face so that her nipples were within biting distance. Quickly, she began gyrating her pelvis.

  Kayson licked and sucked at her breasts while she slicked his cock. After a few moments, a wicked idea came to him, and he brushed her auburn hair away from her throat. Yanking her down, he bit hard at the apex where neck met shoulder.

  She cried out in both surprise and pleasure, and came—quivering, gushing—all over his cock.

  After that, they knew that if getting stimulated by a vampire was anything like imagining getting stimulated by a vampire, it was an experience they had to have.

  The excursions were open ended—Linna and Kayson could be gone as long as they liked. Weeks, months, years. There was so much to see, so much to do, and they wanted to take it all in. Alien power-drives allowed for the tearing of space-time, which meant most inhabited planets were only a few days’ ride from any other.

  "So we'll sell the condo and make for the stars… with a vampire. Sure you can handle it?" she asked.

  "No prob," he said smoothly. "Can you?"

  "No prob," she echoed.

  After their wedding, she and Kayson hopped on the back of his Vespa and hightailed it to the headquarters of Palladian Excursions. A mobile home centered on an airfield served as the main office. Enormous hangars, which housed the personal spacecraft belonging to each vampire, surrounded it on all sides.

  Inside the mobile office, they met with a human liaison, whose nametag read “Pete” and whose jaw was engaged in rapidly mutilating a wad of gum. "Hi, there," he said overly sweetly. He dropped a stack of papers on the desk before them. "Fill out these forms and we'll get back to you."

  Kayson thumbed through the heap. Each section was denoted by a different colored tab. "What is all this?"

  "Releases, indemnifications, medical history, interstellar passport information, statement of client's rights, personality test—"

  "What's that one for?"

  Pete looked at Kayson the same way he might look at a stray hair in his coffee cup. "To make sure you're paired with the Palladian you need."

  "We don't get to pick?" Linna asked.

  The liaison put a sassy fist against his hip. "If I had a dime for every person who complained about who we matched them with, guess how many dimes I'd have. Guess."

  She shrugged.

  "None," he intoned. "Trust the process." He turned to disappear back into
the rear office space, but Linna stopped him.

  "We planned on to leaving today," she said. "Our apartment is gone, we quit our jobs—they were dead-end anyway. We're in this one hundred percent."

  "Then I suggest you get to scribbling," he said. "And I'll make a note of your… eagerness."

  Hours later, with contract signed and paperwork complete, they sat together silently, awaiting the results. The sun dipped close to the horizon, bathing the trailer's windows in an orange glow.

  The liaison reemerged with a surprised look on his face. "I half expected you'd be gone. Potential clients are flighty sometimes. But you're in luck. I've run the numbers and we've got three potential matches. Your top match is currently clientless. So let's take a walk."

  He grabbed a clipboard and ushered them out of the office, across the tarmac, and into one of the hangars. Six ships stood at the ready, each a different design, each conveying a very personal sense of power. Linna found herself imagining the faces that would match each craft.

  "It's this one here." Pete pointed to the third vessel on the right. It was impressive—large for a ship with a one-man crew. Sleek as a bullet, it shone copper in the light streaming in from the hangar skylights. It had to be mansion-like on the inside.

  The liaison pulled out his cell. "Let me call him and see if he wants to claim you," he said, dialing. "Virgil? I have potential clients for you. Thanks."

  Linna's insides tensed. Claim them? She assumed the vampires just took whomever they were assigned. She hadn't considered that their host would have to want them.

  A minute later, a small hatch opened high in the ship's side, and a set of airstairs—like those attached to a private jet—extended to the blacktop.

  Lilac-colored fingers appeared first, followed by dark, shaggy hair that fell over equally dark eyes. The alien looked mostly human, the exceptions being his very long limbs, extreme height, and distinctly purple hue. His lips were held squarely in an overtly serious expression. As he descended the steps, he looked Linna and Kayson over like a skeptical gemologist, uncertain if he'd been brought diamonds or cheap quartz.

  Vibrant heat swamped in around Linna as he approached. His gaze was penetrating, suffocating.

  She wanted him immediately but didn't want Kayson to know how she felt.

  The vampire wore a long, tight-fitting jacket made out of some material akin to oilcloth, with no shirt underneath. Billowing trousers surrounded his lithe legs. His gait was both powerful and restrained, and when he held out his hand to shake hers, he did it with more grace than she'd ever seen a living thing muster.

  Everyone introduced themselves. Virgil was curt, his expression stoic. Linna's heart fell. He didn't seem to like them.

  "Timetable?" he asked Pete.

  "Indefinite."

  "Relationship?"

  "Husband and wife. Newlyweds."

  Virgil nodded approvingly. "It's been a while since I've had newlyweds. Healthy?"

  "Extremely."

  "Good."

  "Anything else?" Pete asked. Virgil didn't answer. He simply stared at Kayson with intensity. Pete took that as a good sign. "Just need your John Hancock," he said, holding out the clipboard.

  Virgil took the attached pen and made his mark, then pivoted on his heel and strode back to the airstairs.

  "You're good to go," Pete told the couple. "Better follow."

  Together, they scampered up the steps.

  Whoever had decorated the ship had quite consciously gone with a gothic motif. Whether Virgil had chosen the design because he liked the decor or because he thought it was what humans expected of a vampire's abode was hard to say. Fake candelabras lined the halls. Anywhere there was enough headroom, unnecessary buttresses had been attached. Everything was dark, accented in black filigree, and completely over-designed.

  He showed them to their suite, taking long strides with his hands clasped behind his back. She might have described him as gangly or lanky if he hadn't carried himself so confidently.

  "Can I… May I ask how many excursions you've lead?" she asked.

  He bowed his head, hiding his eyes behind the fringe of his hair. "This will be my eighteenth trip."

  Virgil opened a door for them, revealing an expansive room with a plush feather bed and an ensuite. "Feel free to explore the ship," he said, "There's a map on the wall just there. Meet me in the dining hall in an hour, and we'll eat and discuss your boundaries." He said eat evenly, but it still sent a shiver through Linna's limbs.

  But that first meal was solely for them. A beautiful roast duck—flanked by spring vegetables and long grain rice—sat on a long wooden table fit for some Transylvanian Count in a drafty castle. Virgil assured them they'd always be able to get Earth food on the ship if local fare didn't appeal to them.

  Kayson and Evelinna had agreed on boundaries long before arriving. Biting was as far as they could go with their vampiric host. Not so much as a chaste kiss would be allowed.

  After dinner, Virgil instructed Linna to meet him in the massaging room at a quarter 'til midnight, then went to the helm, and piloted the ship out of orbit. Their first destination was the Star Falls that surrounded the galaxy's parent black hole.

  Linna was eager to test Virgil's skills. She donned a long, white silken robe in preparation, but before she left, she asked Kayson if it was all right to go alone.

  "Fine. Come back ready for me," he said and then kissed her firmly.

  "You don't want to watch the first time he bites me?"

  "Not yet."

  "Does it bother you? Are you worried—?"

  He kissed her again. "That's not it." He rubbed the front of his jeans. "I want to fantasize about it first. Knowing he's going to be touching you in another room… It's sexy."

  "Mmm."

  Leaving him to explore the many drawers in their room—hoping he'd find them filled with toys and lubricants aplenty—Linna made her way to the spa area. She did her best to walk tall and pad lightly.

  Virgil was waiting for her. He'd stripped down to just his sirwal-like trousers, letting her take in the broad stretch of his back and the light ripple of his abdominal muscles.

  "Please disrobe," he said. "I've set a warm towel just there for your convenience." He pointed to a wooden changing screen.

  Linna hesitated, wondering if she should play the shrinking violet—the maiden that needed her sexuality coaxed forth—but that wasn't her. She'd never been shy about what she wanted or who she wanted.

  Instead of secreting herself behind the screen, she slipped the silk off her shoulders and let the robe pool at her feet. She stood unabashedly naked before him.

  His pupils grew wide and dark, just like an aroused human's, and he did not turn away.

  "Lay on the table, please."

  As she complied, he poured a warm-smelling oil onto his palms. She considered lying face-up, wondering idly how he'd respond. Would he palm her breasts? Bite her stomach? In the end, she opted for the more traditional position.

  He started with her shoulders, massaging more tension into them, really, than out. The oil created a wonderful tingling everywhere his fingers touched. And as he moved down her back to her legs, she became more aware of how naked she was, how exposed her mons was between the cleft of her legs. His palms smoothed over her buttocks and upper thighs with a firmness that made her insides coil. A rush of wetness coated her labia, and a needy tickle overtook her perineum. It wasn't long before she began fantasizing about his hand slipping, a finger “accidently” sliding into her…

  "You smell ready," he said, his voice dark and husky. "Ready to eat."

  She hoped it was a double entendre, but she knew what he meant. "I am," she said, pulling aside her hair.

  The ferocity with which he dove forward—latching onto her shoulders with both hands and burying his face against her neck—startled her. Linna almost screamed, almost kicked out, but the sensation of soft lips on her skin soothed her. "It will hurt a bit," he promised.

 
"I'm ready," she assured him.

  It started with a gentle scraping—six incisors pulling across her skin like little needles. Then they dove in. The half-moon of his bite burned, and she shouted. He stroked one arm gently. As the blood began to flow, his tongue probed the wound, lapping and sucking, like both a tongue and a straw.

  Horror might have been the logical response—revulsion too, at his leech-like organ. But his venom was already working its magic.

  Heat clouded her vision. The air itself felt like a sensual envelope, surrounding her in gentle currents and fine dust motes. Virgil's scent was both spicy and sweet, like pepper coated in honey. Delicious.

  Her pussy throbbed, and she wriggled her hips, wishing she could reach down and thrust a finger inside herself. Or, better yet, that he would pull down his trousers, climb up on the table and fuck her—she didn't care what his alien dick might look like. She wanted to feel something both soft and hard pushing past her swollen lips, entering her, sliding all the way up her slick pussy and out again.

  "I—I need…" she whimpered but couldn't get the words out. What were words, anyway? She was reduced to sensation, to sexual hunger, to one need and one need only. "I need… to fuck." Everything in the room—every action, every item—oozed with erotic energy.

  With a great gasp, Virgil pulled away. "Go to your husband," he said. "Go quickly."

  As though in a dream, Linna slid from the table as commanded. Virgil had one long arm thrust in the direction of the door, and she had to resist the urge to take his hand and suck on his fingers.

  She worked her way down the hall, one difficult step at a time. Each movement sent a rush of sensation between her legs. "Kayson?" she called breathlessly, once in sight of the bedroom door.

  Miraculously, Kayson heard. He stuck his head quizzically into the hall. "Linna?"

  She frantically gestured for him to come to her, and she slumped against the wall.

  Concerned, he rushed to her side. "What's wrong?"

  "Absolutely nothing," she panted, drawing him in for a sloppy kiss. "Fuck me. Now," she demanded, clawing at the silk pajama pants he'd changed into.

 

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