by Eden Bradley
He grew weak as Ever drank more. And more. His vision dimmed—his eyesight, his dream sight. And through that chiaroscuro veil, he felt a greater sadness than any he had felt in his lonely three hundred years.
Ever’s sadness…
Abruptly, Ever stopped drinking and simply began to suck his cock. Aleron’s sight returned as pleasure rose like a wall, then came down on him hard as he climaxed. His hips bucked. Ever held onto him, his hard, ancient hands digging into his thighs Then Ever pulled back, his hand going to stroke his own beautiful pale, hard shaft, faster and faster, hips pumping, until he tensed, his cock spurting onto Aleron’s stomach.
When it was over, Ever smiled at him, that Mona Lisa smile of his. He looked utterly pleased with himself.
“You are a romantic, Aleron.”
Aleron smiled back. “And you are a rogue.”
Ever stood, held his hand out to help Aleron to his feet, a completely unnecessary gesture. A show of the standing of their friendship.
“Aleron,” Ever said quietly. “You love her.”
He began to shake his head, but Ever cut him off.
“Do not try to deny it to me. The Bloodsong means something, Aleron, when a human is involved. Even if I hadn’t witnessed it myself, I was with you. I saw your love for her in the Seeking Kiss. I saw it when you would not let me drink from her.”
“Ever… I cannot love another woman. I cannot do it. You know why.”
“Yet you do. Are you going to argue the inevitability of the world with me, old friend? You know it as well as I do. You love this woman. This woman—this human—who makes your blood sing.”
Aleron looked to Meeraj’s sleeping form, his heart surging, and knew what Ever said was true.
He loved her.
Damn this world. And damn his heart.
But he could not run from the truth any longer.
Chapter Six
Meeraj woke to the rhythmic sound of footsteps on a hard floor. It was dark, and she wasn’t sure where she was at first. At the Midnight Playground, still? But the sound was more of shoes on wood than marble, and she didn’t feel the hard and ancient chill of Ever’s presence.
Ever.
She remembered now what had happened to her, what she had done with the two vampires. Her body shivered. But her heart yearned only for Aleron.
Aleron.
She felt him watching her in the dark. She knew it was him.
“Aleron?”
“I’m here.”
“I can’t see you.”
She heard a small click and the light fixture in the ceiling of Aleron’s bedroom came on. She blinked against the light, finally focusing on his tall figure, leaning against the wall by the light switch.
She smiled at him. “You were watching me sleep again.”
“Yes.”
“How long was I out?”
“Perhaps eighteen hours.”
“Eighteen?”
“You played hard last night. I drank deeply from you. I knew you would sleep a long time.”
“And you’ve been watching me all this time?”
“Since I brought you home, yes.”
He remained on the other side of the room, and she could see the tension in the set of his shoulders, his mouth.
Tears pooled in her eyes. She didn’t know why. She knew only that she needed him.
“Aleron, won’t you come to me?”
He was at her side in a moment, kissing her hands, her wrists. “Of course. I’m sorry, Meeraj. How do you feel?”
It seemed a loaded question. She was feeling so much.
“I feel fine. Used.” She smiled at him. “But in a lovely way.”
He turned her palm over, laid a gentle kiss in the center of it.
“Aleron? I need to ask you something.”
“Anything, my beauty.”
“Last night… It was last night? Something happened to me when Ever was whipping me. That singing in my veins—or yours. I couldn’t tell which it was. It was the Bloodsong, you told me. I’ve heard of it.”
His features shifted, a dozen different emotions seeming to cross his face. His eyes were brilliant, shining with emotion. He said quietly, “Yes.”
“It’s happened before when you’ve played me.”
“Yes.”
“And it’s not supposed to, other than between vampires. Is that right?”
“Yes,” he answered again.
“What does this mean? Other than that I am meant to be with you now, as you said?”
He held onto her wrists in both his hands, but loosely. His gaze was intent on hers. “It means I love you, Meeraj.”
“Aleron…” The tears spilled onto her cheeks. She couldn’t stop them. She didn’t want to. Her chest ached. “Aleron, I love you. I do.”
“Ah, don’t cry.”
He pulled her into his arms, a little too roughly, but she didn’t care. She could feel his warm, hard cheek against hers. He smelled of pure, clean stone, and a little of her own perfume, her own blood. She drew in the scent of him, held it in her lungs. She never wanted to let it go.
“Aleron, what happens now?”
His tone was fierce. “I want you with me always.”
“Yes. I want that, too, to be with you.”
“You will take the Turning Kiss tonight. We will be together forever, my Meeraj. My love.”
He held her tighter, kissed her cheek over and over. She was overcome with love for him. And fear.
To live forever…
He pulled back, holding her shoulders at arm’s length.
“Meeraj, what is it?”
“I… I’m afraid. Aleron, I’m afraid of what living forever means. I didn’t expect this… I didn’t ever really care about it. Eternal life. I came to the Midnight Playground only wanting to be with the vampires. The rest of it never mattered to me. I love you, Aleron, but I need to think about this.”
She saw the shadow come over his face like a door closing.
“You cannot mean this.”
“I don’t know. I need time to absorb the idea. To think about whether or not this is what I want.”
“Meeraj, I have not loved another woman for a hundred years. And she was taken from me by old age. Her life was constantly threatened by disease, accident.” His eyes blazed with a fine blue fire. “Do you have any idea what that did to me? How long it has been since I’ve allowed myself to love again? And it is only now that I am…helpless against it. Against my feelings for you. You cannot mean to question this!”
“Aleron, I must.”
He stood, leaving her empty, cold.
“I cannot do this. Not again,” he muttered, striding from the room so quickly she didn’t have time to think. He was simply gone.
Her heart was breaking. But eternity was far too long for her to even comprehend. She was filled with fear and grief and love for him.
Aleron. Come back to me.
He did not answer.
She’d been at home, in her small apartment in Camden, the same one she had shared with her lost family, for four days. She’d spent her time staring out the window, watching the gangs rove the dirty street below, listening to the shouts, the sirens, the glazed mumbling of the morphies huddled in the doorways downstairs. All of it was familiar, the sounds and sights she had lived with her entire life. After she’d lost Dev she hadn’t been able to let go of the apartment, even when her dancing had earned her enough to move to a better neighborhood. This place was all she had left of her family, the only constant in her life.
The sun was going down outside, and she forced herself to pull the metal shutters tight. It wasn’t safe to leave them open after dark. She turned away, moving around the apartment like a wraith, letting her fingertips come to rest on her mother’s favorite chair, the small Japanese teapot her brother Jai had given her for her birthday shortly before he’d died, the tattered book of Edward Lear verse she and Dev had read together as children.
All of these thi
ngs had been her comfort over the years. But it meant nothing without Aleron.
She should have kept her mouth shut, worked it out in her mind before she said anything. But he would have known, anyway. And now he was gone.
She could return to his house. To the club. But she was too hurt that he had left her, rather than awaiting her decision.
She knew she’d hurt him. But she’d had to be honest with him. She owed the man she loved that much.
The vampire.
She still wasn’t certain she could choose immortality in order to be with him. She had to see him again in order to know what to do, some sort of confirmation. But if he’d wanted to see her, he would have come.
Perhaps she should go to his house, talk to him. If only she knew exactly what to say.
She was startled by a knock at the door. She grabbed her stunstick from the shelf by the door, holding it tight.
“Who’s there?”
“Meeraj. It’s Ever.”
“Ever?”
His voice was unmistakable. She opened the door.
He looked so tall, so incredibly powerful, standing in the doorway to her small apartment. Unbelievably beautiful.
“May I come in?” he asked, as if he were any other caller.
“Of course.”
She moved back, let him pass, caught a whiff of his endless years. And found it comforting. She closed and bolted the door behind him.
“Meeraj, you look unwell.”
Ever’s black, bottomless eyes watched her carefully, in that way the vampires had, seeing inside her. She knew she could hide nothing from him.
“He left me,” she said simply, pain tearing at her.
“Yes. I believe he’s a fool, Meeraj. I intend to tell him. He has something precious with you. Something we so rarely find, our kind. I don’t mean vampires. I mean those of us who have allowed the endless years to weigh upon us. Who live with regret.”
“Do you live with regret, Ever?”
He turned away, his gaze wandering the apartment. “Yes,” he said softly. “How can I have lived this long without regret? But it’s not too late for Aleron. Before I speak with him, however, I have to know if you will go to him willingly. If you will take the Turning Kiss. If you are strong enough for immortality. I believe you are.”
“Ever… What is it like? I’m afraid of it because I can’t know.”
“It is the greatest of pleasures, the greatest of joys, you will ever know. Greater than anyone can possibly know as a mortal. It is also the greatest sorrow. There is a price for anything in life, isn’t there? And is your current life any more worthwhile? Would you have come to us if it were?”
She shook her head. “No. No.”
It was true. What was she so afraid of? Was she as frightened of allowing herself to love as Aleron was?
“Ever, I want to go to him,” she said, flooded with urgency suddenly.
“Then I will take you,” he said simply. “We’ll go now.”
Aleron paced the library. Dusk was coming, the London fog rolling in like a dark, gray curtain, what was left of the sun filtering through in streaks of orange. Pollutants in the air, and smoke, he knew, but it was lovely nonetheless. He paused in front of the high, paned windows to stare at the sky.
He was trying to distract himself. It wasn’t working.
He missed her. So keenly he felt it like a searing pain everywhere. He could not move, could not think, without missing her.
It had occurred to him to return to France, to put some distance between them. Perhaps then he could begin to forget her. But he couldn’t bear to be that far from her.
Meeraj.
He ran a hand over his spiky hair, began to pace once more.
He heard Ever before the old, graceful vampire appeared in the doorway of the library.
“Aleron.”
“Ever. What brings about this visit?”
“Your misery, my friend.”
He caught it then—that scent of flowers and lovely golden skin.
Meeraj.
“She is with you?”
His pulse raced, pain radiating through his chest.
“Yes, but we will talk first, you and I.”
“Why did you bring her?”
“So that she can decide.”
“I cannot bear it, Ever. You know that. Not after Emeline. I cannot go through this pain ever again.”
“You are expecting to.”
“Yes! She said herself she is too afraid to take the Turning Kiss.”
“She said she was too afraid to make the decision quickly.”
“I cannot bear it,” he said again.
Ever strode across the room, took Aleron’s hand in a crushing grip. “Remember, Aleron, the fragility of human life. Think back to your mortal existence and remember. It is no easy thing to give up. If it was not so precious we would take any who asked.”
Ever’s dark eyes were blazing.
Aleron raised his gaze to his friend’s. “I love her too much.”
“There is no such thing as too much.”
Aleron felt as though he’d been hit in the chest, a crushing blow. It was several moments before he realized it was his heart opening up, rather than the pain of it breaking.
“You are right, Ever. I have to talk to her.”
She was there in the doorway. She looked small, delicate, golden. Beautiful.
He took three long steps and swept her into his arms, buried his face in her neck. He was vaguely aware of Ever smiling that mysterious smile at them as he slipped by, sensed him leaving the house as he carried Meeraj up the stairs to his bedroom. There, he laid her on the big bed, undressed her quickly, tore his own clothes off even faster.
“Meeraj, my love. I must be with you. It doesn’t matter what you choose, I swear it.”
“Aleron.” She was crying again.
“I cannot bear that I make you so sad.”
“But you don’t. You make me happy. I love you, Aleron.”
“As I love you. Forever. No matter how long you are with me.”
“Yes. Forever.”
He felt the certainty in her mind, the image of him giving her the Turning Kiss. He pulled back long enough to look at her. “You are certain?”
“Yes. I want it. To be with you forever. Nothing else is important to me. Only my memories. If you make me immortal, I will have them for eternity. I understand that now. I only needed some time. And then I was afraid it was too late.”
“No, not too late. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”
“Make it happen, Aleron. Do it now.”
He saw the love shining through her golden eyes. She had never looked more perfect to him.
He laid her down on the bed, parted her thighs with gentle hands, moved his body in between them. Leaning in, he kissed her, her lips lush and soft beneath his. He breathed in once more her scent—flowers, her human skin, her human blood. His pulse was a steady beat in his ears. Hers was every bit as steady.
He slid into her, his cock hard, gliding into her slick heat. He was momentarily stunned. By pleasure, by love. She wrapped her legs around his back, her slender arms around his neck.
“I love you, Aleron,” she whispered.
He watched her face as he began to pump into her, watched her cheeks, her breasts, flush with pleasure.
His own pleasure built, soaring through him. Beneath him, he felt her body coil, tense.
“Are you ready, my love?”
Her golden gaze was on his, shining, glossy with her tears. “I’m ready.”
They both knew what was meant. As her body shivered with climax, he bent to kiss her neck, then sank his teeth in.
Her blood was unbearably sweet on his tongue, like nectar pouring down his throat. He felt her pleasure as her body shuddered, and his own peaked, like thunder in his cock, his veins. His body clenched, pleasure cutting deep. And still he drank.
Meeraj, his beautiful girl, his girl, his love, went limp beneat
h him. And he saw in her mind the faces of her family, then his own face. Felt her love for him. Felt her joy.
He pulled away from her and bit into his own wrist, held it over her lips. She latched on and drank.
She was strong, pulling his blood into her mouth, drinking deeply, her fingers coming up to hold onto his hand. And he sent her the images of his long life—his mortal existence, his years as a vampire. Emeline—her face, his love for her. But he didn’t feel that pain any longer, only the sweet memory. He would have that for eternity, as Meeraj would have hers. For all his many years, she was wiser than he was.
And now, there was Meeraj.
His.
He gently pried her mouth from his wrist, kissed her lips, tasting his own blood there. Hers was still hot on his tongue. As he watched, she began the transformation. Her lovely skin smoothed, as though a sheet of pale silk had been drawn over it. When she opened her eyes, they were an absolute blaze of gold.
“I never thought you could be any more perfect, my love,” he told her. “Any more exquisite.”
She smiled, the tiny points of her sharp eyeteeth gleaming.
“I never thought you could be, either,” she said, wonder in her voice. “But you are. Everything is…sharper. More beautiful to me. And most of all, your face. The face I love.”
“As I love yours, my beauty.”
“I feel so different. Yet it’s familiar…”
“Because you have felt what it’s like to be a vampire through my eyes. My mind.”
“There is so much I have to learn.”
“I will teach you. I will be with you always. I promise you, Meeraj.”
She smiled once more, a dazzling flash of white between her impossibly lush lips. It was more than her exquisite face, her flawless body that he loved. It was her strength, her mind, that indefinable essence that was her.
“I know you’ll keep your promises. I know it in my heart. That’s one of the reasons I could do this. Only with you, Aleron.”
“I will always keep any promise I make to you. Always.”
“I love you, Aleron. And now I can truly love you forever.”
“Forever.” He looked into her eyes and saw eternity. For the first time in a hundred years, it was beautiful to him. As she was. “Forever and ever, my love.”