by Eden Bradley
“Oh!”
Pleasure like a knife, that keen, that sharp, stabbing into her body. Her back arched, she came up off the bed, but Hex was there, holding her down, his hands warm and solid on her hip and shoulder, grounding her somehow.
“Hex… I need you… I need you to kiss me.”
He smiled, his teeth a stunning flash of white, the long canines glinting. Then he lowered his head, his mouth pressing to hers. And his tongue sliding into her mouth, all soft and hot, was like Aleron’s fingers working inside her, pushing, pushing, into her pussy, into her mouth. She was writhing on the bed, her body on that lovely edge already. Her mind was spinning.
Hands held her down, pressing onto her belly, her breasts, her thighs, as the first wave hit her. And Hex’s tongue in her mouth, Aleron’s fingers deep in her sex, pumping, thrusting, until she couldn’t take it any longer.
She cried out as she came, pure ecstasy shimmering through her in glass-sharp waves. Pleasure rose, higher and higher, her body, her mind, filling with nothing but sensation, coursing through her, taking her over. She was yelling, out of control. Lost.
When she opened her eyes she was in Hex’s arms, half lying in his lap as he sat behind her on the bed. She could feel the flawless surface of his chest and stomach against her back, his bare skin an absolute epiphany against hers. Lovely.
Aleron still stood, smiling down at her.
“That was beautiful, Nissa. You are beautiful. But the night just begins.”
They had given her a glass of very good wine, a rich red that slaked her thirst and seemed to help her come back to Earth. She felt…beautifully shattered in some way, and still in a half-dream. But her body knew this was real.
They lounged together on the bed now, propped up on a pile of silk pillows, all of them naked, one of them on either side of her. Hex had one arm looped around her waist in a possessive manner she loved. Aleron was leaning back, a commanding hand on the back of her neck, sending a steady pulsing heat into her system.
“Better now?” Hex was asking her, stroking her long hair from her face.
“Yes. Better than I’ve ever felt in my life.”
“But you have questions,” Aleron said with his slight accent.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“You’re welcome to ask us anything,” Hex said. She could feel his warm breath in her hair.
She shifted so she could see him better. God, he was as beautiful as anything she had ever seen in her life, outshining even Aleron’s pale, unearthly light. Hex’s gaze on hers was dark. His eyes had gleaming gold at the center of the deep brown iris. Liquid. Bottomless. She had read about the vampires, of course, and talked to a lot of people about them, but she had never imagined how amazing they would be close up, how flawless, how that aura of power they wore like their own skin would make her melt.
But yes, she had questions. She wanted to know…everything.
“What is Hex short for? Or is it?”
Hex and Aleron laughed.
“This is your first question?” Hex asked, grinning, his eyes sparkling. “Very well, then. It is a nickname, one given to me by Aleron the same night we met. My full name was Hector Luis Severiano Zacaraís de los Reyes. You can see the need for a nickname.”
“How did you two meet? How long have you two been…together? I mean…is it all right for me to ask this?”
Hex nodded. “Anything, as I said.”
Aleron lifted his chin in agreement. “I will tell you our story. It’s not a long one, in terms of the existence of our kind. We met in Paris, at the club there. Hex came into the dungeon. I like a little of the rough play now and then. I love the chains, the floggers. It reminds me of times past in the France I knew as a young man in some perverse way. I was with a woman, but I sensed him entering the room. I was pulled completely out of the scene I was involved in. I knew he was for me.” His blue gaze flicked to Hex and a small frisson of energy passed between them. “You understand these things about us, Nissa? That we know these things, we feel it?”
“Yes. Just as I knew I belonged with you two tonight. I don’t understand it, but I felt very certain. I still do.”
“Yes, that’s it exactly. That night, nearly ten years ago, I knew Hex was to be mine. I handed that woman over to a friend and went to him. It had been a long time since I’d offered the Turning Kiss to anyone, but to him, I gave it that very first night. We have been together ever since.”
Hex reached over Nissa’s shoulder, smiling, and laid a hand on Aleron’s shoulder. She felt the current sparking between them—mental, sexual. And emotional. She hadn’t expected that, somehow, the emotional connection the vampires might have with each other.
“There are often others, but only for a night, and no more.” Hex picked up where Aleron had left off. “We’ve always had each other. But ultimately, it’s just the two of us.”
“Until now, perhaps.” Aleron’s tone was low, his French accent suddenly quite thick.
“What do you mean?”
They couldn’t be talking about her. Could they? Her pulse hammered in her veins.
“You are meant for us, Nissa Whether for a week or a century remains to be seen. But you are here now for a reason. And you will be with us for more than this one night. Unless you choose otherwise.”
She was shaking her head, but Hex stilled her, cupping her cheek in his palm.
“Think carefully, Nissa. We will take your blood tonight. And even with those who do this only once, a bond is created. You know already that your admittance to the club is representative of your desire to do these things. But anything further, giving your self over to us in any more permanent manner, that we have to hear from you.”
“I can hardly think at all, I’ll admit that to you,” she told them. “But I am absolutely certain of this. Of my desire to be here with you both. To accept the Seeking Kiss. To be more to you than this one night.”
She was shaking again with need so strong, she could barely manage to hold still, to keep her hands at her sides. She had always been aggressive in bed, but everything was different with these two.
She turned her head to Hex, then to Aleron, and found them both smiling. Then Aleron pulled her in and kissed her.
His lips were harder than Hex’s beneath the velvet-soft surface. As her hands came up to rest on his stone-smooth shoulders, she found the rest of him to be the same, and wondered how ancient he was. But in moments she was lost in the wet heat of his mouth, his snaking tongue, his hands in her hair. And they were pulling her down, laying her on the bed with Aleron’s hand at the back of her neck. Hex was moving, his body sliding over hers, strong, sinuous muscle gliding over her breasts, her stomach, between her thighs. She was soaking wet once more, her legs parting, opening herself to him.
Please…touch me. Kiss me…
Aleron’s tongue pushed deeper, sliding, sliding, exploring her mouth. He tasted of wine, though he hadn’t drunk any. Hex’s lips were on her skin, his tongue flicking at her nipple. She gasped into Aleron’s mouth, and his hands came around to hold her face, keeping her still as Hex sucked her hard nipple into his mouth.
Pleasure raced over her skin, hot and demanding. Hex’s mouth at her breast, sucking, licking, making her pussy pulse with hunger. He pushed her breasts together, his tongue gliding over one peaked nipple, and then the other, his fingers kneading her flesh. Her hips arched, wanting to feel his body, and found his hard thigh between hers. She pressed upward, wrapped one leg around his, until her sex met the hard muscle of his thigh. She was slick against him, her flesh slipping against his, and growing wetter and wetter every moment.
Aleron was kissing her harder, his mouth responding to her driving hunger, his hands firm on her cheeks. She was overcome, one sensation melding into the next. And when Hex slid lower, his head moving between her thighs, his silky hair tickling the skin there, she cried out against Aleron’s lips.
“Spread for him, our beautiful Nissa,” he whispered to her.
“Oh,” she breathed.
Aleron kissed her cheek, the corners of her mouth. His tongue darted out to tease her lips, as Hex’s tongue flicked the tip of her clit.
“Oh!”
Pleasure lanced into her, biting deep into her belly, spreading outward, into her limbs. Hex’s hands slipped beneath her buttocks, holding onto her, and as Aleron plunged his tongue into her mouth, Hex thrust his tongue into her aching pussy.
It was too much, too much, as they both used their tongues to impale her—soft, hot, damp flesh in her mouth, in her pussy. And Hex’s fingers digging into her buttocks, Aleron’s hands holding her face still, as though he never intended to let her go.
Never let go…
As if in answer, Hex sucked her hard clitoris into his mouth, sucking, sucking, his fingers slipping into her needy sex. And she was coming, so damn hard she was out of her head. Her hips bucked hard as pleasure shimmered inside her, shocking, electric. And as she came Hex plunged his fingers deep inside her, pulling his mouth from her still-pulsing clit, and replaced his tongue with strong, stroking thumbs, driving her climax on.
“You are ours,” Aleron whispered against her mouth before kissing her again, his tongue driving deep.
Somehow through the hammering waves of her orgasm, she felt Hex’s lips soft on the inside of her right thigh, at that apex so close to her sex, then the sharp pleasure as he sank his teeth into her flesh.
Her head reeled, her orgasm exploding in a blinding flash, dizzying, powerful, out of control. Pleasure rolled over her, again and again, pounding into her body, and all she could do was give in to it, give herself over to them. Lovely, shattering, leaving her weak and breathless. Between the hot flood of pleasure were brief, hazy images, as though she were peeking through a fluttering curtain. Hex in Aleron’s arms for the first time, the older vampire’s teeth sinking in, drinking from him. Hex’s delirium as pleasure rose in his body, came crashing over him, taking him under. That strange sensation of his body changing, everything clear and unbelievably brilliant. The two of them taking a lovely woman, a beautiful young man. Lust, hunger, fed and sated. And through it all, her orgasm like a thundering wave, pressing her down into the bed, into their hard and waiting hands.
It seemed to go on forever, even as they gathered her into their arms, kissed her cheeks, her mouth, her eyelids. It was like an endless climax, surges of pleasure still skittering over her skin, through her veins, the scent of her own blood tangy in the air. And she floated, safe in their arms, in her dreams of Hex, of Aleron, of the Seeking Kiss.
She was part of them now.
Soon it really was too much, and the world went black.
Chapter Four
She awoke to a diffused, pale light behind her eyelids. Opening her eyes, she blinked, taking in her surroundings.
She wasn’t at the Midnight Playground any longer, but in a big bed covered in a blanket of midnight blue velvet. The light was seeping in through sheer curtains at a trio of tall, paned windows. Outside she could see the tops of trees, their leaves such a dark green they were nearly black in the early morning light. The walls of the room were covered in striped damask paper, as she’d only ever seen before in books of stately old English houses. The ceiling soared overhead, the center domed and decorated with plaster scrollwork. Incredible place. Other than the club itself, she had never been anyplace so luxurious.
She realized she was naked. And that Hex was lying beside her. When she turned her head his dark gaze was on her face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He reached out, drew one finger along her jaw. “But I can’t stop looking at you. You’ve been so beautiful these past hours as you slept.”
She didn’t know what to say in response. When was the last time a man had unsettled her? But this wasn’t a man.
“Where am I?”
“Aleron’s house in Highgate. If you look out the windows you’ll see Highgate Cemetery. Aleron has an odd sense of humor at times.”
He smiled at her, and she had her first glimpse of the part of him that was still human. Her heart surged, but she only smiled back.
“He’s gone, off on some business. I don’t ask. He’ll be home in an hour or so. We often sleep during the day, so he’ll want his bed soon enough. You slept well. Are you still tired?” he asked her.
“No. I feel good. Just a bit…dreamy.”
“Yes, that’s part of it, taking the Kiss, especially for the first time.”
“Was I… Was it all right then? I mean…” She pushed her hair from her face. “God, I sound like a girl with her first lover.”
“It’s fine. And usual, under these circumstances. You’ll feel strange for a few days. It gets easier, in time. Meanwhile, you can stay with us. We’ll care for you.”
“I should go home at some point. To… God, I don’t know. Nothing seems very important right now.”
He shrugged, an almost feline motion of his muscled shoulders. “That’s normal too. You may need some time alone at some point to get your head around what’s happened to you.”
“Was that how it was for you?”
“No. I was in it all the way from the first moment. There was a sort of recklessness about it for me, but I’d always been like that.”
“You’re American,” she realized suddenly.
“I was, yes. I came to Europe to find adventure when I was eighteen, as soon as I was old enough to leave home, to get a passport without my father’s consent. He was a real bastard, and I couldn’t wait to get away.”
“And your mother? The rest of your family?”
“She died when I was three years old. I never really knew her, and I have no other family in the U.S., no other family I knew well enough to be close with. My father’s temper had isolated us from our relatives.” He shrugged once more. “Leaving was simple for me. There was nothing to miss.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing more than anyone else goes through, growing up. We all have our history. You lost your parents too.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“When I drank from you, I saw a little of your life. Just as you saw some of mine.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“But none of that matters anymore. It hasn’t since I left home and came to Europe.”
“And is that when you discovered the Midnight Playground?”
“As soon as I arrived in Berlin. But Berlin is a hard place, even harder than London, and it was intimidating to me in those days. I never approached the club there. I was young. I spent another few years traveling all over Europe, took off for Southeast Asia for a year, lived in South America for a while, then came back to Europe. And landed in Paris. I was there for a few days when I met a woman by chance who had been to the club. Or maybe it wasn’t entirely by chance. But when she told me about what went on there, what really went on, I knew I had to be there. She took me in about a month later. And I met Aleron right away. He offered me the Turning Kiss that first night, as we told you. He is the only vampire I’ve ever taken as a lover.”
“So you’re young, a new vampire. But, Aleron… He seems ancient to me.”
“He’s been on this Earth for several centuries. But again, I don’t ask.”
“I can feel his age.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t expect that.”
“No. What else has been unexpected for you, Nissa?”
He traced his fingertips over her cheek, his gaze searching hers, and a thrill went through her that wasn’t entirely sexual. But she couldn’t figure out yet what was happening to her.
“All of it. I learned what I could by reading, by talking with people on the Internet, and with my friend, Ilana, who helped me get into the club. But I never knew it would be so…intense. I didn’t know to
expect this sense of connection. And being told that you, the vampires, can sense what we think is one thing, but to experience it is something else entirely. There is no way to prepare yourself for this.”
“I felt the same way. Overwhelmed, but wanting it, without question.”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“But is this what you wanted, Nissa?”
He leaned over her, his brows drawn together. So beautiful, this man. This vampire, with his gleaming, polished skin, his lush mouth. And those dark eyes that saw inside her head. She wanted to give him everything.
“This is all I wanted and more. You are…”
Should she tell him? Could she even admit to herself that while Aleron was exquisite and amazing, a lover beyond any she could have imagined, his power and age compelling, irresistible, it was Hex who drew her in some other, inexplicable way?
“I feel it, too,” he whispered to her. “I feel it, Nissa. I feel you.”
His arms came around her body, and he rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him. His hands glided over her skin, her back, her waist, her hips. Then he pulled her up, until they were face-to-face, and he sighed into her mouth as he opened her lips with his tongue.
She was wet immediately, needing, yearning. Her breasts ached against his hard chest. And she had one brief moment to wonder at how different his vampiric body felt from that of a mortal man’s. That strange and lovely hardness beneath the silken skin. The way he smelled, like the dark, earth, yet absolutely clean. Pure.
“Nissa. Where is your mind, beautiful girl?” He lifted a wrist to his lips, kissed her there softly.
“I’m wondering if there is something almost holy about the body of a vampire, immortal as you are.”
He laughed. “There is nothing holy about us. We aren’t either evil or sacred. We simply are, as you are. We all have the power of free will. We make our choices, just as humans do.”
“But do you think it means something, that you live forever? That it means something—says something—about me, that I’ve chosen to be here with you?”
“There are people who say so, but only because they’re afraid of what they can’t comprehend.” He kissed her wrist once more, then opened her hand and kissed her palm, making her shiver. “Do you question yourself, Nissa? What you’re doing here? Do you need to make it sacred in order to justify your choices?”