Redemption: A Custos Novel

by Emjay Soren

  There wasn’t a fight here, there wasn’t an argument I could make that would keep me away from him. “I need the truth. I need to know about your past, and I won’t run from whatever you tell me.”

  He is nodding and bowing his head against my neck. “I’ll tell you my life story, Bird, I swear, just don’t run.” He kisses my neck and I am melting against the seat. Everything inside of me is on fire and magnified from the residual Bliss in my system. I won’t cave though till I have answers.

  “What is this, Bird?” He asks and looks to my bond beneath my ear.

  “It was a blessing of sorts from Leushus.” That didn’t even scratch the surface, but I had told this lie a million times.

  “It looks like the bond mark on Bastian’s back.” He sounds suspicious, and I want to scoff, because..... really? How dare he?

  I nod. “It’s the same, just smaller. It’s Leushus’ mark. He blessed me after I left you.”

  “Why?” He didn’t sound mad, only curious, but I was still a little mad.

  “Well, because I was in pretty bad shape, and only getting worse. He knew I was hurting and alone and he tried to ease my pain.”

  I could see the minute he understood what I was implying and he dropped his head. “Fuck, I’m so sorry Bird.”

  I find myself rubbing his back in comfort, because I can see that he's sorry. “I have walked away from you twice, and the second time almost killed me. Promise me that if the time comes that we don’t work,

  or that you want to move on, promise me you’ll tell me the truth, and never come searching me out again. I can’t take your indecision again. It was killing me slowly, and if I let myself fall into you, and you fail me, I won’t recover a third time.”

  “I promise on my oath as a priest and as a man desperate to prove himself, I won’t hurt you again. I have a bad history of keeping you hidden from the truth, and I swear, I’ll never again keep anything from you. If it’s scary or bad, I’ll tell you the truth, and we can deal with it together.”

  He links our hands together and I turn to Jell-o at his touch. “I won’t ever run again, Bird. If I’m not with you, there isn’t anywhere else for me.” He kisses our linked fingers and I drop my head in our hands and sob.

  He came back for me; he finally came back for me.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Preacher

  We slipped into the house silent as could be, though I knew Cash and Cookie were most likely cuddled in bed in a post coital glow. I placed Tavern's hand in mine, lacing our fingers as I pulled her toward my room.

  I knew she could find it blindfolded, but she let me guide her and that made me feel like a million bucks, even if it was a small gesture.

  I could hear Tavern’s heart pounding and it took every fiber of my being to not toss her to the bed the instant the door latched shut. I had enough time to turn back toward her when her mouth was on mine.

  “I never thought I would be here again.” She cried, and dug her nails in the blades of my shoulders. Damn, but the girl understood me. Even in such a tender moment, she knew the claws would get me hard.

  I stroke my thumb against her cheek and swipe her tears, before popping my thumb in my mouth. “I didn’t either, Bird. It’s the most scared I’ve been in years, and also the most blessed.”

  I waste no time catching the straps to her dress, slipping my thumbs beneath and stroking them down her arms. Just feeling her flesh rise at my touch makes my cock kick in my jeans. “You’re so soft and smooth. I love that your skin is pale, but in contrast to mine it’s golden and beautiful. I will taste every inch of this pale canvas before I’ll let you come.”

  Her moan made me moan, and only tug her dress tighter. The months apart had forced her body back with a vengeance. She was supple, and curved in all the best spots, and I couldn’t wait to feel her beneath me. Before, when I would grab her hips to pound inside her, it was skin over bone I was grabbing. Now there was muscle, and she was softer. I wanted to fucking bite her.

  My fangs dropped with single minded need, but I refused to let them play. I wanted her blood fueling me, guiding me and giving me strength, but I wasn’t taking. I was reminded of the small taste I’d had, that little clip I made on her clit, and craved it every day since.

  “I want to own you. I know it’s fucked up, M’hare, but I want it all the same.” Fuck, I was losing my control. All I wanted to do was get inside her until she screamed her love for me. I couldn’t hold this back much longer; I was dying all over again, for her.

  “I thought you knew.” She gasps when I slip my hand under the cup of her bra and find her nipple erect like a fucking berry.

  “Knew what, Bird?” I lean her back to my bed and strip her of all her remaining clothes.

  “That you do own me.” She says it, and the sincerity shakes me and then shatters me. I climb on the bed, resting over her, and fall with my lips on hers, showing as best I can that she can have me as well. I don’t want this if she can’t see me as hers, too. “I have been yours since the night I walked into Inked. The Cado thought they were destroying me leading me to you. They fucked up baby, because you saved me and gave me purpose.”

  If tears were a function vampires still had, I would have been shedding them. Instead I rolled until she was above me and let the levy in me break, and gave it all to her. “You saved me, Bird, my love. I buried my wife and two small children just hours before Cash and Leushus stopped me from being killed as well. Angelo, the same Angelo who is looking for you, is responsible for killing all I had ever loved. When I learned he was back, and coming for you, I pushed you away and refused to go further with you hoping that they would leave you alone.” I cup her face in my hands and drill my stare at her. “I left my faith for Emigen and never regretted it. She was my calling. But I leave everything, lose everything, and am nothing, if I lose you, Bird… I love you, Tavern. I have only ever said that to one other woman, and she was killed because I loved her, so please understand what it means when I tell you I love you.”

  “What do you mean, besides the obvious?” She asks and I understand her question. She wants it all and proof that I am here for good.

  “Loving you means I’ll risk it all, just so you know that I do.”

  “I love you too, and I’ll risk everything I am, just the same, baby.” It wrecked me that she said she loved me, but more so that she would address me so sweetly. Call me a pussy, but I liked being her baby. I like being wanted.

  I trace my hands over her naked body, and feel her for what feels like the first time in ages. “I want to show you how deep I love you.” I say and lick a trail from her neck to her chest.

  “I like when you’re deep.” She says, giggling. I love her so much.

  “Yeah, deep is bleedin’ fuckin awesome.”

  *

  Tavern

  “Tell me what you want, M’hare. Tell me what you need from me?” The question was laced with sinuous intent, and the chills raced like an erotic dance over my body. Here he was, the man I knew and loved; the one who could control my orgasms with just a word.

  “You baby, just you.” I knew that statement had more meaning than any list I could have given him. He promised me himself, the real him, all of him, and he wasn’t about to disappoint me.

  Reaching for his buckle and yanking the leather through the loop, it made a hissing sound before falling to the floor with a clink. I sat staring, lost in the sight of him before me, unable to move from my position at the end of the bed. “I need more explanation than that, Bird. I want details.” He stepped up to my body and used his foot to kick my feet apart. My body so in tuned to what he was going to give me, my knees fell open as he stepped between my legs. He cupped my cheek in one hand. “Tell me where to start…” His words trailed off as his hand slid down my neck to my shoulder, where he traced a vein with his touch.

  God, I love him, in such a desperate, and yet basic way. He stood between my parted thighs like a fantasy come to life. I had missed so ma
ny things, small things, about him, and they were rushing back now. I wanted him above me, beneath me, any way I could have him, as long as he touched me soon.

  “Touch me…” I pleaded, as I placed my hand on the hem of his shirt lifting it up his chest, until he took over and pulled it over his head. His hair cascaded down passed his shoulders and I wanted to cry at the absolute breathtaking beauty of the man in front of me. My hands made their way to his chest when he caught both wrists in his hands.

  “This is for you, Bird. It’s about you, and how desperate I am to prove that I don’t want to be anywhere else.” He dropped my hands and trailed a finger along the inside of my thigh. “I want to be here.” He spoke reverently, as his fingers trickled over my flesh.

  “And here…” His finger slid up the side of my thigh until the callused tip of one finger slid softly along the seam of my pussy. Another finger, and he spread me open, his eyes still on me, he made no effort to move, just opened me fully to the air in the room and the need of his touch. He used his free hand to cup my neck before sealing his mouth over mine as he pressed me back onto the bed.

  “Spread your legs for me.” He all but whispered against my mouth. I complied with a groan of anticipation and shuddered as his thumb rotated in small light circles over my clit. “I want inside of you so bad, but I am going to make you scream before I do.” His fingers were spread, opening me for his touch, but I wasn’t prepared for the side of him he was giving me. Using his other hand he slipped two fingers in his mouth before dropping that hand between my legs as well. My pussy exposed in the most primal way, I bowed off the bed while those slippery fingers fucked deep inside.

  I had to watch him fuck me with his fingers, and looking down at the sight before me, I lost my mind. Preacher shirtless, his skin exposed and shadowed by the dim light in the room. His jeans unbuttoned and the blatant hard on pressing against the denim. His golden hair fell beyond his shoulders, his corded arms flexing and flexing…and flexing while I watched his fingers move in furious strokes inside me. I spread my legs open for him. I wanted him like a starved woman.

  “Taste me.” I moaned, and wrapped my fingers in his hair. He didn’t tease me or make me wait. His head fell low and his tongue found me. Every stroke of the soft wet flesh of his tongue against my starved clit sent beats of energy through my body. This was not about withdrawals or a drug in my system. This was a man in love, desperate to prove his devotion.

  I was there in seconds, teetering on the edge of forever with him, and I wanted to fall, needed to fall. “I’m so close baby, but I need more.” I begged, but more wouldn’t be enough. I needed everything he had to give me.

  Knowing what I needed to reach my orgasm, his fingers twisted inside me, pulling at my walls, as his tongue danced ruthlessly against my clit.

  “There it is, now come, Bird, let me have it all.” He sucked my clit into his mouth and pounded me deep inside, and I went, white hot fire, burning me from the inside out. I came with a scream and thrust my pussy against his ever stroking tongue. It was both beautiful and tragic, because I hadn’t even had him yet.

  “It’s not enough Preacher, I need you.” I cried as he pulled back from my clit with a final stroke of his tongue. His fingers were still deep, still going at me.

  “I’ll get there, Bird, but I want to feel your cunt flutter around my fingers once more. I need to feel it, because I’ll be fuckin’ mindless once I get my cock in’ya.”

  I arched at his words and felt him slip deeper and harder inside of me.

  “Aahhh,” He half moaned, half growled. “Your cream is slick on my fingers, Bird.” He spoke in tune to the thrusts that were desperately seeking out my next release. “Come Tavern, so I can have it all.”

  I did again, on his command alone, and I knew when he felt my pussy flutter, because he gave an erotic growl and pushed harder. After the shivers slowed, and he slipped his fingers free of me, he smiled an almost innocent smile. “Delicious, Bird.”

  I could only laugh. I had lost the ability to form words. I wanted him so carnally, that I felt like a beast.

  “Look at my dick, Bird.” He demanded, and my drunken sex stare was fixed on the heavily veined erection he was now fisting in a violent stroke. I hadn’t even known he had pulled himself free.

  I wanted a taste, but he wasn’t letting me have it. Dropping his dick, I watched the thickness stand out toward my body. I sat writhing on the bed, my legs spread, as I eyed his cock, waiting for him to get inside of me.

  He slowly slid up between my legs, his cock back in his hand, he gave it a few more strokes before sliding the blunt satiny head down the slit of my pussy. “Hot. Fuck, your cunt is molten, you know that?” He asked, but I was too crazed to answer. He pressed the head against my clit and thrust so his cock would slide deep passed my hood.

  Before I could protest at his tease, he snapped his hips back and bludgeoned into my cunt with a single stroke that made me scream. He felt amazing. I was full to the point of pain, but I relished in the thickness of him inside of me, remembering the first time, thinking he would never fit. I bit into his shoulder as his body crashed onto mine, wanting to stifle the desperate noises I couldn’t help but make.

  He groaned and slid slowly from my body until only the cap of his perfectly thick cock rest inside me, and then he slammed in again, this time pushing me a few inches up the bed. Even with my mouth on his shoulder, I couldn’t help but blush at the scream I’m sure the house heard.

  “I’m so sorry…” I panted as he repeated the same action, slipping slowly back before rushing into me again. “You feel so amazing, and I can’t contain my sounds.” He was slamming in again as I spoke, and another wail retched from my throat. I had never in my life been fucked as he was fucking me now.

  Thoroughly.

  “Fuck em’, Bird. I’ve endured their escapades for some time now. They deserve to hear my girl scream.”

  I was so wet now, his cock so tight in my body, sliding perfectly, creating a friction that was making me crazy. “Fuck me baby, deep, hard……dig your cock into me.”

  “Bleedin’ hell Bird, but ya get me. Tell me more, dirty girl. Make me come.” I dug my nails in the small of his back leaving half moons that I’m sure heal immediately. I feel a little bad for the ruthless side of me, but I can’t help it. He slams into me again and I bite his shoulder harder, and still, I can’t contain my scream. I taste a hint of copper and look down seeing the stain of blood on his shoulder.

  I bit right through his skin and he is making a growling noise, his body shaking above mine.

  Oh shit!

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” I’m not afraid of him, but afraid that I hurt him.

  “Bleedin’ mother fuck that’s intense, Bird. Bite me harder!” He slams even harder and faster now, and I see that I have awoken another hidden desire inside of Preacher.

  “You like that pain, baby?”

  “Fuck!” He wails as I scratch down his back. He pulls back from me and falls between my legs, his mouth back on my pussy, licking and sucking. I am back in that mindless state, where I have no control, and he makes me come again.

  Before I can catch my breath, he spins me to my stomach and pushes into me from behind. Only a few strokes in, he pulls me up and back against him. Now I am on his lap, my legs spread over his and he is still behind me fucking me as we both sit hunched on our knees. “So much deeper here, Bird, and I can watch your pulse jump with every stroke.”

  I don’t know what changed inside of me, but knowing he was watching my pulse and wanting to bite, fighting the urge, had me coming again, right then and there.

  “Jesus, Bird. You like that?”

  He is hitting into me harder, drawing it out, and then latches his mouth on my neck. I can feel his fangs with each stroke, scraping along my collar bone. I want him to strike, need him to strike. I bring my hands up behind his neck and pull his head down tighter to me. “Do it?” I ask, and am careful here because a vampire cannot
be teased.

  “Never gonna happen, Bird. That’s too much for us both.” He sounds pained and desperate to taste me. I need this wall down and no longer between us. I remember what London said when she told me about Cash feeding off her. “I know what Cash is.” She had said, and I am just now catching her point.

  “You have all of me Preacher, accept this. I want to be inside you as far as possible. You keep telling me you want me and need me, then don’t fight me, and take me.” I finished the last of my rant with a gasp, because his fangs struck and I splintered into an orgasmic mess as my blood rushed into him, and he feasted on my gift.

  *

  Preacher

  I wasn’t someone who balked at the idea of blood and sex combined. I’d just never experienced it. When I fed, it was off bags, and when I fucked it was with willing women who wanted me without Infatuation. It was I who was under Infatuation now. As her taste surrounded me, her cunt fluttering around my cock, I understood the power of need and want.

  Bleedin’ hell it was hard to stop, but there were more places I needed to tap on her body, and I had to stop from her neck. I licked the two holes I made and lifted her from my dick as I rolled to my back.

  “Ride me.” And, oh fuck, did she!

  I clasped her breasts in my palms, and played with them as she stroked me using the sway of her hips. She was softer now, pliant and it was my feeding that did it. It weakened her, but in a good way. “How you feelin’, Bird?”

  “Good, Preacher…so good. I can’t explain what that did to me.”

  “Fuck, I love you.” It feels like a weight is lifted each time I say it.

  “Love you Preacher...” She says, and rolls her head back basking in my touch and the way I feel inside her.