by Eris Adderly
“Stay out of trouble.” His voice came from the space on the other side, just before the panel slid shut.
It was the first time since she’d started as a gate guard that November just wanted to go home to her shitty apartment on sub-level four. No one attacked her there. No one dragged her unconscious body to the surface. Or came looking for her. Or even gave a shit.
She made a face and dragged a pillow near. Screwed herself down into the mattress, on top of the covers. Yawned.
This surly vampire was right. There were always consequences.
* * *
Drifting awake without her eyes being on fire was an improvement November would take over last time. The foreign, but not unpleasant scent of the pillow smushed around the side of her face, and the odd angle of the light painting dim edges on furniture from just outside her field of vision, all served to remind her that this was not her apartment.
This was the surface. And someone was rustling around in the direction of the tiny kitchen.
The sound of a small object toppling, followed by a hiss of quiet profanity, assured her it was her gate partner awake and busy, and not his shady roommate.
How long had she been out? By the stiffness in her muscles, it felt like several hours, at the least. But then, when was the last time fresh blood had been at work in her system? It might have been days.
No. He’d wake you. He seems like the type.
And he wasn’t waking her, now.
November tracked his movements when he came into view. He had a plate of something in hand, and he sat with it at the little table. Whatever it was, Leo ate with his fingers while reading through something on a palm-sized projection that came from … the table? No. Probably his id bracelet lying on the table.
His shoulders had lost some of the tension from their earlier encounter. If the man wasn’t bothering to come jostle her out of bed, then he probably didn’t have news yet. He was letting her sleep, and November took full advantage. She’d jump through some ridiculous hoops if it meant she didn’t have to start talking to people the minute she woke up.
While he finished eating, she let her eyes adjust to the darkened half of the living area, avoiding glances toward the kitchen where the light would reset her efforts. Her side of the room lay recessed in shadow, around the corner from where Leo stowed his dirty plate and cranked on a sanitizer. A low hum told her the appliance was working.
Off to her right, the door where Radoslav had disappeared now stood open, a black void where before he’d pulled it shut. November tried not to let paranoia win with the idea of the other vampire skulking around the place while she’d been asleep.
Creepy fuck.
Everything had been ‘none of her business.’ Why was this asshole on the surface? How was he on the surface? And why did Leo need someone to watch over him? He’d done just fine with those ‘nighters.
Her partner moved back into her sight, sideways as it was with her head on a pillow, and sank down into the center of the sofa. She could only see the back of his head. His ears, temples, and jaw went blue, white, and green around the edges from the light of the projection he’d flicked on again, this time right in front of his face.
For a time, he only sat there like that, reading or watching whatever had his interest, and November was on the verge of pushing herself out of bed, nosy and one hundred percent awake, at that point. And then he sat forward to shoulder his way out of his uniform shirt.
Oh, just kidding.
Shirt draped over the arm of the couch, November watched him contort in a specific way that meant he was ridding himself of pants, as well. Neck balanced on the back of the sofa, body planked from shoulders to knees, which she could only make out at a weirdly foreshortened angle. Leo was trying to head to bed. Or to sofa, as it were.
Bother him later. Maybe once he’s asleep, you can poke around in here.
But the gate guard did not lie down. He resumed his seat and glued his eyeballs to the projection some more. November tried not to fidget. Was it really that important for him to think she was asleep? Some part of her didn’t want to bother him by being awake. He’d saved her ass, now he was supposed to what? Keep her company?
But he’d also hauled her unconscious to the one place she didn’t need or want to be. Basement apartment or not, November doubted there was any sort of direct passage from the place Leo lived right back to Gate 0433. What was he going to do, stuff her in the trunk of a vehicle to get her through the uv? It would take one enthusiastic guard looking for a promotion to call for a search and burn her to a crisp.
A noise bloomed into the apartment, and November snapped out of her catastrophizing. An isolated bleat of a sound, not loud at all, but distinct in the relative silence. Leo’s head whipped to one side, and the light from his projection winked out. The sound had come from whatever had been absorbing his attention. He’d muted it in an instant, but if her ears didn’t lie …
Is he …
After the space of at least two or three minutes where her partner sat frozen, he swiveled his focus back, his head eclipsing the light from the projection again. He settled deeper into the cushions.
Is he watching porn?
Oh, now there was no way. No way. She was far too awake, and far too curious to stay in this bed.
November oozed off the side of the mattress until her bare toes made silent contact with the floor. She went like a sloth, but speed was the sacrifice for quiet movement. She smiled to herself; they were both trying not to get caught.
It was only a few, gingerly-placed steps from the bed to the back of the sofa. There were no overhead lights on—only a dim one, and that was still in the kitchen—so no looming shadow to give her away. November stood less than an arm’s length from where he sat and leaned to peer over his shoulder.
And it was definitely porn.
Her eyes went wide and something in her chest ballooned to see it, though she didn’t understand why. She looked at porn. Most people did. And to be flustered seeing this person doing it? They’d seen each other nude. She’d jacked him off, and he’d turned right around and eaten her pussy.
Yeah, he did.
So what was the big deal?
A close-up of body parts working in rhythm on the compact projection from his id bracelet zoomed out to reveal a couple on a bed. A man was grinding into a woman from behind, and she knelt on her hands and knees. His upper body lay draped over hers, and he had a hand threaded beneath her to cup her throat. Vanilla enough fare, but it didn’t stop that warm buzz from waking up between November’s legs.
And then the man dropped his head. Buried it in her throat. The woman’s eyes rolled back and her mouth came open. If there had been sound, it would have been a moan, or some other whining noise. Drops of blood began to collect on the white sheets.
Now November had to breathe through her mouth, and with care not to make any sound. The scene on the projection changed to a different room, a different couple. A woman bounced with vigor on a man’s lap, his fingers pillowing the flesh at her hips. She snatched up one of his hands and brought the wrist to her mouth. Bit him. The man grimaced, but kept shunting his cock up into her, even as red spatter appeared on her tits, their thighs.
Leonide Croix was watching vampire porn, and November didn’t know how to feel about it.
Did he always go for this niche? There were people who fetishized V-positives, usually in conjunction with blood and feeding play. Was that why he’d been so quick to offer a vein? Or had her gate partner gone looking for content like this because of what had happened in his shower?
And why did it matter to November whether he saw her as a kink object instead of a person?
At a movement in the dim projection glow, her attention dropped from the spank fare. An erection made an obvious tent in Leo’s shorts, and his free hand pulled it into a lazy tug, off to his left. The man wasn’t serious about it yet, but he would be.
And I’m standing here like a perv, watching.
“So do you always masturbate while strange women are sleeping in your bed, or what?”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Leo all but threw his id bracelet in the air and the projection blinked out, the swearing coming right on top of her rude question. He was a comedy of fumbling hands and wide eyes, trying to retrieve his id and hide arousal at the same time.
November circled the right end of the couch and flopped down to sit on an empty cushion. “You’re extremely cute when you’re startled,” she said.
“Are you kidding me right now?” He stared at her in the oblique light from the kitchen. “Tryna get me to shit myself on my own couch?”
She ignored his indignation and turned so she sat on her left leg, bent at the knee. “Is it usually vampires, or did you just get curious?” Her tone teased rather than accused. The memory of his tongue between her legs didn’t want her to be annoyed with him if she could help it.
He made a face at her and tried to rest a casual forearm over the jut of his penis, as though pinning it to a thigh would get her to unsee it. November quirked him a brow.
“No,” he replied. “Not … usually.” He broke her gaze and looked at the cushions. “Sometimes.”
November scooted her knee over the top of his free hand, where the fingers rested on his near side. “Is that why you stepped in?” she asked. “To save me from those ‘nighters? You got a vampire fetish?”
Now he met her eyes again. “No. I came through the gate because you’re a goddamn human being. They were trying to kill you.”
The pair of gate guards stared each other down for the space of several breaths. The neg with a glitter of challenge in hazel eyes, and the vampire allowing of the warmth of approval to roll in and begin overpowering judgment.
November Kitamura was a cynic, but she wanted to believe this man.
With a shift of her weight, she fished his hand out from beneath her and laid it on top of her knee instead. Brushed a thumb over the back of his hand.
“And in the shower?” she said, voice quieter now. “Was I a human being then?”
“Yes.” His palm was warm through her bloodied uniform pants.
“Do you regret it?” She was teasing him more than he deserved now; if he was one of the negs squeamish about V-positive feeding habits, he sure had a masochist’s taste in porn. But the way his voice had gone husky was more than worth it.
“You were hungry,” he said. “You weren’t healing.”
The purr between November’s thighs was at a level. She turned her hand upside down and grazed short nails along his arm, from wrist to elbow.
“I’m hungry now.” She saw his chest sink at her words, the release of breath deep. “Will you feed me again?”
Leo hissed air through his teeth at the same time his grip closed around her elbow. “You have no idea.”
Fetish or not, for the moment, November decided she didn’t care. She pivoted to straddle his lap, her knee displacing his other arm as she went. Stiff and obvious, his erection pressed like a loaded spring along the taut seam of her pants, heat spreading through fabric to her crotch.
“Mmm.” She rolled her hips and settled in further. Braced her weight on both palms, on the back of the sofa on either side of his neck.
He wasted no time bringing both hands to grip her waist, those eyes of his somehow astonished and fierce, at once, when they trailed from her belly to her face. Still, something niggled that she was taking advantage.
“Tell me, surface guard,” she said, “you see my date of birth when you were learning my name off the gate panel?”
He nodded, and November came down to lean on her elbows instead, her face close to his.
“And you’re okay with it?” She was old enough to be his mother. It wasn’t uncommon at all to have even massive age gaps when vampires and negs got involved—theirs was minimal, for the situation. But some people still had problems with the idea. ‘Unnatural.’ All those time-worn arguments.
In answer, Leo reached to grab handfuls of her ass. To jut his hips up from the couch and grind his cock between their bodies. November bit her lower lip, savoring the crush of muscle.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’ ”
She lowered her face to melt into a kiss with the man and, when the low sound came from his throat, something abandoned and tough broke open inside November.
It hadn’t been her intention to kiss him. Even the teasing and flirting she’d sort of fallen into.
The vampire hadn’t done this in years.
And his mouth felt so good under hers. Full lips opening. Tongue hot and curious. She nipped at him, but the reminder of fangs only earned her a light start, and then his arms circled her waist, pulling her close. She sank deeper, one hand coming to the side of his face to feel his jaw work against hers. Stubble under her palm. The inseam of her uniform was cool where she’d soaked it through.
Fingers slipped up the back of her ruined undershirt to knead at her spine. November broke from the kiss and sat up, crossing her arms to peel the red-stained fabric over her head. To toss it behind her on the floor. Off to her left, a dark rectangle of an open interior door almost slowed her momentum.
“Your roommate’s not coming home any time soon is he?” Her words came rushed, palms splayed on his chest now.
Leo’s eyes were on her breasts. “Not for hours.”
A grin spread on her face. “Good.”
She bent low to kiss him again, and this time his palms slid up her back. Up and back down, until his right one came around, unable to resist. His hand on her was so warm. The hills of his fingers grazed her nipple, and November moaned into his mouth. He was pushing, urging her by the ribs until she rose up. Until his lips took the place of his fingers.
“Leo.”
His name was encouragement, but he didn’t need it. One arm circled her waist to hold her to his suckling. The other dipped over her ass, fingers rubbing lazy promises up and down her crack from behind. November was already rucking his undershirt up and out of the way, eager for her own share of skin to explore.
He felt what she was after and helped, pulling away long enough to get himself shirtless. Probably would’ve gone back to what he’d been doing, had November not dropped to pair her chest with his. Groans came from both of them at that first and broadest contact of hot, bare flesh. There were ancient, running jokes about vampires being cold, but like so many of the old myths, they were nonsense.
Next, I’ll be allergic to silver.
But he still hadn’t put that gold chain back around his neck.
Forgot? Or hoping for another go?
November hummed and bent her head to nuzzle at his throat. She heard him breathe deep, but he tilted his face away, far too trusting with the access he gave. But that pulse was there, a flutter beneath bare skin, and she lapped at it with her tongue. Teased them both by nipping him there. Catching him up in her fangs as though she would drink again.
But not now. Not this way.
Leo’s fingers worked between them to get her fly open. To have the waist of her pants loose to stuff a hand down inside, his reach coming from behind again to burrow between the cheeks of her ass. Fingers slipped through wet when he found her pussy, and the vampire had no problem keeping herself wide and accessible for however he wanted to play.
She snaked a hand between them and brought his cock from behind her to where she could reach. The fly of his shorts did little to hold him in, and now they both had toys to play with. A scalding handful for her, stiff beneath her belly, and a slick cunt for him, made hotter by the way her pants trapped his hand against her curves.
The angle was too far off for Leo to reach her clit, but the tips of his fingers smearing and teasing in and out of her entrance was more than enough to have her humping in his lap. To have her sucking at his throat and twisting her grip in a slow rhythm over the already-leaking cock between them.
“November.”
“Uh huh?” She stroked him, face in the
humid crook of his neck while he worried a finger into her pussy.
“You … wanna …”
“Yes, I do.”
Her answer was out of her before he could finish the thought. She let go his prick and had both thumbs wedged under the waistband of her pants, shoving to get them past her hips. It wouldn’t work with her knees spread, so she stood and wriggled out of them with a chuckle. Her gate partner seized the opportunity and had his shorts off and away before November descended into his lap again.
She let the lips between her thighs kiss along the base of his cock, slick and shameless as she sat. Leo stared, open-mouthed, at so many things unexpected at once, and November fell to taste his mouth again, the long, dark curtain of her hair shadowing the light from the kitchen so the darkness made them the only two in the world.
“Probably violating ten different sections of the employee handbook right now,” she said when she caught her breath.
“I’ll violate something for you,” Leo said through his teeth, grip firm on her ass.
“Yes, please.” She didn’t know where he’d got the new fire, but November reached between them. Lifted herself on her knees. Head of his cock aligned, the vampire began to sink.
And then she slipped.
“Oh!”
Too wet, no friction to slow her drop. Two thirds of him was inside her, no easing, no warning. Leo gave a loud grunt of surprise and had his hands at her waist.
“You okay?”
She made herself breathe and let her body burn with the stretch. Accepted it before backing off half way and using the muscles on the backs of her thighs to control the movement this time.
“Yeah,” she said, watching the place where they came together. “Just … it’s a lot.”
There was no mistaking the little smile he tried to keep to one side of his mouth. By the time she’d taken him to the base, her insides were asking whether this had been a good idea. But November sat there, adjusting to being full, and Leo waited, patient.
Well. Most of him was patient. He couldn’t stop his dick from throbbing in excitement, and each pulse made her clamp down with a little shiver.