by Tricia Owens
"Is that the only time you give in to your urges?" he asked her with a knowing smile. "When you feel the need to procreate? Because I hate to disappoint you, but vampires cannot reproduce. You won't be bearing my child."
She blushed hotly but refused to be cowed. "But he's a man. It can't be…easy."
"Oh, it can be very easy when you know how to do it." Vellum's grin was filthy, harkening back to his life as a human. As handsome as he was, he must have had a lover or a wife. Where were they now?
"I'll take pity on you, Mariel, and give you the answer you seek. Sex for vampires is mostly about power. If I were to mount the handsome Marshal, I would be exerting my power over him and that is a delicious thought. It…arouses me."
"So you want only to dominate. It has nothing to do with love or attraction, just putting us in our places."
She thought she'd kept her voice even, but something must have leaked through. Satisfaction flashed in the depths of Vellum's eyes.
"Why, Mariel? Would you like it to mean more? Do you, deep inside, yearn to win the heart of a vampire? Do you need to believe that each time I touch you it is with increasing affection for you? Is it love with a monster that you seek?"
"Stop it," she snapped, hurt and embarrassed but angry, too, especially since she'd felt a touch of jealousy over the lover he must have had while he was human. "I'm not in love with you and you're not a monster. You only pretend to be. I think—I think it's how you protect yourself."
Something like surprise touched his face.
"I don't pretend anything," he said eventually, no hint of teasing or mockery in his voice. Rather, he looked thoughtful, perhaps even cautious of her. "Clay illustrated the truth of the matter: your kind and my kind are uneasy neighbors. We will never live in harmony, which is why you'd be smart to guard your heart, Mariel. Desire and lust do not equal love when you're dealing with a vampire."
"If I loved you, you wouldn't know what to do with it."
His arm shot out, too quickly for her to block, but it was only so he could curl a hand behind her head and fondly caress her hair. "You're right, Mariel. I wouldn't know what to do with love, so save it for someone who does."
He didn't turn his head to look out at Clay, but Mariel understood that was whom he meant. She found it odd that Vellum would be interested in playing matchmaker. He shouldn't care about their fates, yet something told her Vellum was trying to make amends for dragging them with him.
It made her think: what kind of vampire was he truly if he'd been turned against his will? This life, such as it was, had been forced upon him. Had he been given the choice, he would be human.
You are lonely, she thought with sudden understanding. You never wanted this, and now you can't turn back.
"In a month, yours and the Marshal's lives will return to normal," he told her, and offered her an unusual smile, free of the slightly superior, cocky attitude that had inhabited his others. "Keep that moment in mind, Mariel. That's where your future lies."
He stepped away from her, allowing the night to rush into the space between them. His eyes glittered, cold as starlight. "In the meantime, we'll enjoy each other's company and know it for what it is…and what it is not."
He was warning her. It was a kind act, truthfully, but Mariel wasn't in need of kindness. Kindness she could find back in Willowtown as she changed the bedding or swept the floor of the inn. Kindness she had known with her husband Carl, who had left barely an imprint on her heart and soul. She had severed her connection to that kindness the moment she opened Vellum's crate. She might never be an airship captain but she could still be the type of woman she'd always suspected and hoped she could be: fearless, brave, and perhaps a touch foolish.
Those were the attributes of adventurers, and at the heart of her, Mariel had always believed that love was the last and greatest territory left to conquer. Perhaps it was time that she should.
~~~~~
Riding by the light of the stars and a cloud-covered sliver of moon could be considered romantic by some. Clay was the sort to find it so, though his choice of riding partners would have differed drastically. Oh, he was more than happy to have Mariel with him, but the vampire, Vellum, put a considerable damper on thoughts of romance.
Still, the situation could have been worse. Clay was apt to look on the bright side of things even if he was a realist. It was the only way to sleep at night after seeing the victims of criminal acts and after pulling the trigger himself. When you saw a child no older than seven strung up in a tree alongside his mother and father you developed your defenses quickly, or else you became like the small-town sheriffs he came across all too regularly, who had a look in their eyes that said they didn't expect to do any good and hoped only not to make things worse.
Clay didn't ever want to give up hope that he could make a difference in the world, even if that world included vampires. Problem was, now that he'd met Vellum, his idea for how he could make a difference—by eradicating the creatures—had taken a solid blow to the chin.
He puffed out his cheeks and released his breath with a sigh, then regretted it when Mariel glanced worriedly at him. He knew what she thought, that he dwelled on Janie's death and wanted revenge. That had been true up until today, and he couldn't help feeling guilty that he'd changed his mind so quickly.
But what would revenge do for Janie, especially inflicted against a different vampire? The unfortunate and unsatisfying truth was that the dead found no pleasure in revenge obtained on their behalf. Revenge was for the living, but Clay had run across far too many people who'd met their own deaths trying to settle scores. Or, they had achieved what they'd set out to and then discovered life didn't magically improve. If anything, the fire that had driven them blew out, leaving them as the husks of the men they had once been.
Clay had no intention of killing Vellum—assuming the opportunity ever presented itself—not unless the vampire hurt Mariel. Then, well, maybe Clay would end up like those men he'd encountered and nothing would allow him to rest until blood was spilled. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. He had a vested interest in seeing him and Mariel make it to Everton Fort alive. Putting Rhody Beaufort away had become a secondary concern of his. The stress and the life-threatening situation had underlined yet again the truth: life out here was short. Clay had feelings for Mariel and he wanted a chance to explore them with her. Though he hadn't been a Marshal for longer than a decade and was still a young man, he'd had enough of the job if it stood in the way of him having a strong, beautiful woman to come home to on a regular basis.
Hell, maybe the two of us can buy our own airship and captain it together.
It was a ridiculous fantasy. He knew nothing of flying. Then again, neither did Mariel, and yet she'd fantasized about it. Maybe a dream didn't need to be grounded in any sort of reality. Maybe it just needed to make you excited. In which case, he possessed a mighty nice dream about a dark-haired woman in blue gingham.
They rode through the night, until Clay sensed that daylight was but an hour away. Vellum had already begun turning his head this way and that, searching for a place that would provide suitable cover for Clay and Mariel. Surrounding them were Joshua trees, though, and eventually Vellum made for a small copse of them.
"Best we can do," he said apologetically to Mariel.
"I can drape a blanket," Clay spoke up as he dismounted, "provide us plenty of shade."
"I was counting on your ingenuity, Marshal, thank you."
Vellum's compliment, like previous ones he'd given Clay, made him uneasy, though he couldn't say why. Part of it was because the vampire's polite manner flew in the face of what Clay had always believed of the creatures. The other part, well…wasn't worth looking into.
In minutes Clay had set up their camp, facing north so they'd get the most shade. Vellum didn't drag his sleeping box near. Clay guessed that the tar inside prevented any sunlight from piercing the cracks.
Once the bedrolls had been laid out and Mariel and he were in p
osition, Clay asked Vellum as he kneeled beside them with the ropes, "You really feel you need to keep us tied up?"
"Just this last time, Marshal," Vellum replied with a polite smile.
"Why? What's going to change?"
Vellum didn't reply as he wound the rope around Clay's ankles. He'd let him keep his boots this time, which was something.
Clay wished he could read the other male, but Vellum was as revealing as a rain puddle. You only saw yourself reflected back when you looked into his dark eyes.
"Lie back, Marshal," Vellum said quietly once he'd finished tying Clay's ankles. He placed a hand flat on Clay's chest and gently exerted pressure.
Clay resisted, just to test his strength, just to understand how the vampire had killed the entirety of Beaufort's gang. The vampire's gaze flicked up to his when Clay refused to lie back. One corner of Vellum's mouth ticked upwards as he pressed his hand down with increased force.
His palm was warm through Clay's shirt. That was Mariel's blood. Soon, it would be his own blood heating Vellum's skin. Vellum pressed harder and Clay's abdomen clenched as he tried to resist. He was in prime condition and he was strong from long days on the horse and fighting with criminals.
But he stood no chance against Vellum's superior strength. The vampire pushed him down to the ground easily. Yet once he had Clay flat, Vellum didn't take his hand away. Instead, he slid it downwards, just a few innocent inches.
Just far enough to make Clay aware of his cock leaping to life. He sucked in his breath, but Vellum merely continued watching him, his hand held still in the middle of Clay's torso. His thumb moved, brushing over a ridge of muscle.
"Satisfied?" Vellum asked.
Clay shoved his hands up, wrists pressed together. "Just tie me."
"My pleasure, Marshal."
And Clay got the uncomfortable feeling that it was the vampire's pleasure to wind the rope around his wrists and cinch them tight. Like the eyes of a hawk's, Vellum's never left his, until Clay had to turn his head and face Mariel instead.
Mariel, whose cheeks were flushed for some reason.
"Okay?" Clay asked her, concerned that she might be coming down with a fever.
She shook her head quickly. "More than fine." She shifted her legs restlessly. She seemed to be breathing faster than normal, but maybe she was just nervous at being tied up again.
Or, she's excited to have Vellum's hands on her. You saw how she reacted.
Clay didn't think he'd ever forget, in point of fact.
He gritted his teeth and stared up at the blanket stretched overhead as Vellum leaned over him, his black duster enclosing Clay in shadow. The vampire didn't tie Mariel. Vellum only cupped her cheek and bent down to kiss her tenderly.
"Sleep well, Mariel. You also, Marshal."
Vellum rose gracefully and paused to run his gaze over them like a man admiring his most prized horses.
"Mariel will assist you if you need to relieve yourself, Marshal. And there's food in the packs if you need to eat before I awaken."
"You trust her," Clay stated, glaring at him.
"I'll soon trust you, too, Marshal." Then, to Clay's annoyance, the vampire winked at him.
~~~~~
Thankfully, Clay didn't need Mariel's assistance in emptying his bladder. Once she assisted him in standing, he was able to hop with as much dignity as he could away from camp to do the deed. Behind him, he heard her rummaging through the packs, giving him his privacy.
The sun was nearing the horizon. It felt strange not to attempt to escape, but the reality was that they wouldn't get far. Vellum had no choice but to chase them down no matter how long it took him. Feeding off rabbits and coyotes likely wouldn't sustain the vampire, and maybe their blood just plain tasted bad compared to a human's.
Clay shook off the thought to focus on something else. What could Vellum's business be on the dark Scar Tooth Mountain? Mariel was wrong about the mountain being uninhabited. As far as Clay knew, the place was the abode of bandits and pirates on the run. He couldn't see how either group meant enough to Vellum to risk crossing Mountain Sky Territory where his kind faced death if caught by regular folk.
Maybe, in the course of a month, the vampire might tell them.
Business taken care of, Clay hopped back to camp.
"I'm thinking I might not mind having a pretty lady taking care of me," he quipped upon seeing that Mariel had already prepared coffee.
"You wouldn't mind being tied up and at my mercy?" she asked with an arched brow.
He felt a stirring in his cock that was welcome this time, unlike the previous two times when it had occurred around Vellum. "I'm an open-minded sort of man. I'm willing to try anything."
She laughed and set the pot in the fire. "I'll keep that in mind when some awful chore comes up that needs doing."
"I'll always be your man, Mariel. Don't worry."
The look she turned on him was affectionate, and while he liked that just fine, it wasn't what he ultimately wanted from her. He stood beside the fire, still trussed like a turkey, and raised his bound arms behind his head. "Don't believe me?"
She froze in the act of adjusting the wood. "Are you challenging me?"
He shrugged, but the grin he turned on her was playful. "Depends on if you're a woman who's up for it." When still she hesitated, he added, "Throw me a bone, Mariel. My manhood's taking a hit here."
"Far be it for me to let your manhood suffer," she muttered, but his heart leapt when she rose to her feet and planted her hands on her hips as she studied him with mock seriousness. "Well, you do appear to be a man. Whether you're up for whatever is demanded of you is another matter."
"Only one way to prove it," he said, adopting an innocent look.
"The Devil's words, for sure," she said with a grin, but to his delight, she approached him.
He stood motionless, not wanting to scare her off by being too aggressive. Like all men of the territory, he hunted for his meat, and he knew when to lure and when to stalk. Now was a time for letting Mariel come to him.
"You're rather useless with your hands tied like that," she observed.
"Am I truly useless? Or do you lack imagination?" It was his turn to cock a brow. "Or is it bravery you lack? I thought you intended to become an airship captain? Last I heard, they weren't the shy type."
He stilled when her hand landed flat on his chest, between his nipples. "Still think I'm shy, Marshal?"
He smirked. "That's a touch you'd give a grandfather. Doesn't prove anything."
"I thought we were trying to prove that you're open to anything, not that I'm brave enough to molest you." He watched her bite her bottom lip. It drove him wild. He wanted to be the one catching that succulent flesh between his teeth and tugging gently. He wanted to hear her gasp into his mouth a second before his tongue slid into that wetness.
"Let's prove both," he said, his voice husky.
But she dropped her hand, her expression closing off. "If you think that just because Vellum and I—"
"I wish he hadn't touched you at all," he cut in. "Seeing you with him only made me jealous. It didn't make me think that you'd be easy, Mariel. Not by far. I have nothing but respect for you."
Her posture loosened. He watched her look him over again, assessing. Her gaze felt like the sun's rays as it poured over his shoulders and down his chest, down his abdomen to linger at his hips and the mound that was beginning to grow there.
"It's all so complicated," she murmured.
"I know," he assured her. "And I'm not looking to make it more so. In fact, I'm trying to make things real simple, Mariel. Just you and me."
But she smiled slightly, her gaze unfocused. "Not sure it's going to be as simple as that, Clay."
"Coffee's ready."
Clay's head jerked up. Vellum squatted beside the fire, studying the grounds inside the pot. Behind him, the crate lay open with its lid partially slid aside. The vampire hadn't made a sound as he'd risen. How much had he heard of Clay and Mar
iel's conversation?
Clay feared too much. The vampire had a vested interested in keeping Mariel infatuated with him. What would happen now that he knew Clay wanted to stop it?
"Drink up while I hunt you some food," Vellum said, his tone casual and friendly. His dark eyes revealed nothing as he added, "Then afterwards, we'll get on with feeding time, Marshal, just like you requested."
6
Clay wasn't the type of man to get lost in his head or talk himself into a state. You couldn't be if you wanted to be an effective Marshal. Too many times you had to simply act or react, with no thought to consequences or regrets. Hopefully, of course, you'd already sussed out the situation and made it as advantageous to you as possible. Meaning, you didn't place yourself in an idiotic position where you had no choice but to hurt someone.
Letting a vampire feed from him, however, wasn't a situation he'd thought out too well. Clay had simply blurted out the demand after he'd grown upset at seeing Vellum and Mariel together. Of course a lot of that impetus had been born of not wanting to see her hurt. Clay would be able to see for himself whether the vampire was lying about what a feeding was like. But some of Clay's impulse had been driven by a need to separate the two.
Jealousy. It wasn't an honorable emotion, but one even the best of men fell victim to now and again.
And now you're going to be a victim, alright.
He could hardly swallow the juvenile saberwolf meat that Vellum had caught and which Clay had cooked up. His stomach was tied in knots. Even Mariel seemed to be having trouble eating her share, until at last Vellum sighed loudly, breaking the tension.
"Something tells me I need to get this over with so you two can enjoy your breakfast," he said as he rose to his feet and walked around the fire to stand beside where Clay sat. He squatted there within reaching distance, a half-smirk on his handsome face. "You ready, Marshal? The sooner you learn what Mariel's been 'suffering', the sooner we can all get along."