by Myles, Jill
He didn’t fight back. My blows became wild with fury. I hammered at him, snarling with anger and rage each time that I struck at him. My palm slapped against his flesh, and when it began to sting, I attacked him with my fists. He didn’t fight, just waited as I attacked him over and over again. Every slap, every punch, every scratch I delivered, he took with a grim look on his face.
When my blows began to slow, he whipped me off of him and rolled, twisting the two of us until he loomed over me, his hands holding down my arms.
I screamed in rage, a new burst of fury flashing through me.
“Olivia,” he shouted, trying to piece my rage. “Stop! You’re hurting yourself!”
I panted, frozen in place, my eyes wild as I stared up at him. His cheeks were flushed a dark red with my repeated attacks, a trickle of blood stained the corner of his mouth. Scratches lined his neck and face – scratches from my hands. And he stared down at me, his eyes as turbulent as my own. Then, recognition crossed his face and he brushed his fingers down my cheek, wet with tears. “Olivia, you are safe.”
I thought hard, my mind racing with escape plans. Once his command freed me, maybe I could jump out the window. I might break my ankles, but I could make it back to town at some point—
“I won’t let them harm you,” he said, and his fingers curled in my hair, turning my head and forcing me to meet his gaze. “I would never let them touch you. They wanted to use you as a payment. I did not agree. You are not mine to bargain with.”
My gaze fluttered back to him, and I stared at him in confusion.
“I didn’t sell you to them, Olivia. I wouldn’t. They wanted a boon. I took it myself.” He showed me his arm, where a word had been burned in a long, flowing script. He’d indentured himself to the Serim on my behalf.
I swallowed. “W-what?”
He stroked my hair, his expression tender. “You’re safe. I offered myself in your stead. They were not thrilled, but I refused everything else, and they had no choice.” A hint of a smile touched his mouth as he said again, softly, “You’re safe.”
I stared at his arm. Then at him. “What do you have to do?”
A sad look crossed his face. “I have to kill a vampire named Aloysius.”
Emotion rushed through me. David…he wasn’t going to betray me? Sell me to the Serim in some misguided effort to help me?
He’d offered himself to protect…me?
No one had ever done that for me. Desire flooded through me, desire and a feeling for David that I couldn’t name – and didn’t want to. I lifted my head, my mouth going to his. He parted his lips as if to accept my kiss, but I bit him instead, needing an outlet for the whirlwind of emotion coursing through me, and hurting him was the way to do it. So I bit down, and when he jerked, I soothed the wound with a lick of my tongue, my nails digging into his back.
David stared down at me, his silver eyes flaring blue in an instant. Oh yes. His hand went to my hand and he pressed it to the floor in a deliberate motion. I thrashed against him, but this time my struggles were of passion, not of anger. Heat snaked through my body, making my toes curl and my nipples harden. He held my wrists there for a moment, staring down at me, at my heaving breasts and the nipples that stood out against the demure sweater-set. His hand moved to my wig – now askew- and pulled it off my head, then tossed it in the corner. “Much better,” he said, then leaned in to kiss me again.
I thrust my tongue against his, taking the initiative – my kiss forceful and angry. Our teeth banged against each other’s and we didn’t stop. My fury had turned to passion.
His hands slid to my hair, undoing the pins that held it against my scalp until the waves loosened free. I grabbed his hair – the blonde curls soft and a bit too long, the sexy, old-fashioned sideburns gracing his cheeks – and pulled hard. His eyes lit and he sucked in a breath, his gaze taking on a wild intensity. David reached for my sweater and his gaze met mine for a long moment, and I dared him with my eyes.
He ripped the fabric free. I gasped in a deep breath, ripping at the polo shirt he wore, feeling the cheap fabric rip under my hands until it hung open. I tried to push it off his shoulders, raking my nails across his skin as I did so – intending to hurt, intending to overwhelm him with the pleasure I was feeling.
David’s hand fisted in my hair and he pulled me up to meet his mouth in a wild, ferocious kiss that stole the breath from me. His tongue thrust into my mouth, hard and slick, and with the next thrust, he tore my bra from my skin and released me. I fell back on the floor, my breasts bouncing, and raked my nails down his skin again, ripping away the last of his shirt. He shrugged out of it and tossed it aside, then fell atop me again, pinning my body under his. His knee nudged mine open – I didn’t need much persuading. I thrust my hips against his in a brutal motion.
He groaned, one hand bracing his body over mine, the other palming my breast roughly, his fingers moving down to the nipple and pinching it between his fingers. I gasped, arching against him, the mixture of pleasure and pain rocking over me. My hand slammed against his arm and I dug my fingernails in, even as I arched against him. “More.”
At my command, he bent over my body. “You want more?” His hot mouth moved to my nipple, his tongue lapping at the tip of it, teasing it erect before he closed his teeth over it and bit, sending a jolt all the way to my sex. My hand slammed against his chest again and I groaned, bucking against him. He nibbled at the tip again, varying between light, ticklish teasing and the occasional harder nip. Each time he nipped me, my hips rose against his. He met my raised hips with a thrust, his jeans-clad hips pressing against mine so I could feel the length of him under the fabric.
I needed that length inside me. My hands moved to the waist of his jeans and I jerked at them, pulling at the zipper and undoing the button until they fell loose around his waist. I pushed them down and felt the cotton fabric of his boxers. Then his hands were on mine and he was undressing, shoving the clothes down his legs, baring his body and revealing his cock as it sprang free. Our urgent, frantic hands went to my pants next, and slid them off my body and onto the floor, my panties following.
“Olivia,” he whispered against my ear, breath ragged. “Should we—“
I placed a hand over his mouth, not wanting to hear excuses or apologies. His eyes darkened with pain, his eager movements stopping.
I rolled us again, using my weight to roll him onto his back. He let me. I think in that moment he expected me to get up and leave the room. But I didn’t. I pushed him down on the floor and straddled him, using one hand to guide his cock into my body.
My breath hissed in wonder at the sensation of him inside me, at the sensation of having control. It had been a very long time since I’d been on top, been the aggressor, and I liked it. I rocked my hips down over his cock, rewarded by a low grunt from David. Encouraged, my hands released his and I sat back, swirling my hips over his in small circular motions that reminded me how big he was, how well he filled me, how good he felt inside me. My hands moved to his chest, teasing his nipples as I rocked gently atop him.
“Touch me, David,” I whispered.
His large, warm palms slid to my small breasts, cupping them and teasing the peaks as I surged over him, using my hips to thrust his cock into me, over and over again. Pleasure built steadily, the rhythm pleasant and I could tell by the gleam of David’s blue eyes that he liked seeing me above him, breasts bouncing as I rode him.
His fingers brushed my nipple, then pinched it, eliciting a gasp from me, reminding me that we’d been rough with each other, and I had loved it. Encouraged by my response, David’s hands slid to my hips and when I tried to raise up to thrust back down on him again, it was him that thrust into me, the motion so rough that our skin smacked together, and a gasp erupted from my throat. My thighs clenched and I dug my fingernails into his chest. David’s eyes just gleamed brighter, and he pushed deep and hard, eliciting a low moan of reaction from me. I was spiraling out of control quickly, and within another
thrust, I was going over the edge, calling his name and crying out.
He gave two more rough thrusts and then came with me, his body stiffening as he came.
My body trembling with the aftermath of our rough lovemaking, I fell forward on his chest, breathing hard.
His hand went to my hair and he stroked it, and I felt…bizarre. I felt loved. I didn’t know what to make of that.
But it scared me.
* * *
True to the word they’d given David, the Serim left us alone. I saw two other young-looking men in the monastery – enforcers, I’d been told, though I had no idea what that was – and they were the ones that served us all week. Noah had ordered us all several changes of clothing and they’d been brought to us by the teenagers, along with the meals we requested. Other than that, we saw no one. I knew the monastery was crawling with Serim, but wherever I went, they were conspicuously absent.
I told myself I didn’t mind. It made me nervous, but there were worse things in the world than a bunch of monk-like immortals that shunned my presence. Other than that, the monastery was interesting. The rooms were large and austere, with very few modern conveniences. There was no running water, but the floors were heated and hot water was readily available, which made me suspect there was a hot spring nearby that made this aspect of life easier. There was no electricity in the building either, which I found out the first night when the Serim went into their evening hibernation and I was left alone, sitting in the dark. Every room was lit by massive windows that looked out over the gardens outside, so I didn’t mind the lack of light so much. And despite the lack of modern appliances, the monastery was quiet enough that I could sometimes hear the sounds of music coming from whatever rec room the Serim used somewhere else in the monastery.
This left David and I a lot of free time together. During the day, we’d take walks through the gardens and I’d try to explain to him everything that had changed in the world in the past hundred and twenty years. Some he took in stride – cars, to my surprise – but some he didn’t quite believe. He couldn’t grasp the concept of the internet, and I did a poor job of explaining it without an example to show him.
We spent our time with simple pleasures instead – walking, talking, playing cards together, even cooking in the kitchens when my insatiable succubus hunger would strike once more.
And having sex. We made love every day, and for the first time in my life, I had sex with a man because I wanted to touch him – not because my life or my livelihood depended on it.
At night, I was left to my own devices, as I did not sleep. I didn’t leave the monastery, but I walked the grounds in the moonlight, or read a book by candle-light. Or I simply stared out the moonlit windows, thinking about David and my role here with him.
David was a good man – his smile had always made my heart flutter with a curious longing, never moreso than now. But I wasn’t fooling myself – we stayed together simply because he felt obligated to protect me from Aloysius, and this world was new to him. Once he didn’t need me – or didn’t feel obligated – then we’d be free to go our separate ways.
The thought didn’t sit as easily with me as I thought it might. Once Aloysius was taken care of, what was David’s place in this world? Did he even have one?
Even as the days moved past in a blissful sort of idleness, I was aware that this moment of peace wouldn’t last. I had learned long ago that contentment only led to heartbreak.
* * *
My stomach rumbled in the darkness, and I sighed, rolling over in the bed. David lay against me, his arm thrown protectively over my body, legs entwined with my own. I didn’t sleep, but there was something so pleasant about just lying in his arms, watching him as he slumbered. Thinking about the time we’d spent together that day, laughing and just enjoying each other’s presence. It made me feel like I was…well, like I was with him. Not like I was alone for half of the day. Like we could be together after all this shook out. Like there might be a “David and Olivia” in the future.
Wishful thinking.
When my stomach growled again, I pulled myself out of the bed and pulled on David’s robe. He’d been given one of the Serim monastery robes but he only used it for bathing, and I picked it up off the floor and put it on, wrapping it around my body. I peeked down the hall – sure enough, it was empty, the halls dark, no light except the moonlight streaming in through the enormous windows.
The place was silent as a tomb after the sun went down. I didn’t trust the other despite their promises, so I usually kept to David’s rooms unless my stomach protested, as it did now. I tiptoed out of the room and down the echoing hall. The kitchen was on the main floor, and I headed there, past two long corridors and the dining hall.
To my surprise, there was a man in the kitchen – an enforcer, judging by his dress. He stood in front of the kitchen island, a butcher knife in hand and a large cured ham on the table in front of him. A few slices had already been shaved onto a plate. His long, dark ponytail swung as his head jerked up and he blushed at the sight of me.
“Hi there,” I said calmly, making sure my robe was tucked tight. You never knew what might startle a man wielding a butcher knife. “I didn’t realize anyone else was awake at night.”
He paused as if debating whether he should answer me, then said, “Enforcers do not share the hibernation of Serim.”
“Ah. Well that explains why you guys act as bodyguards, right? Makes sense.”
He gave me a stiff look. “There is no need for bodyguards here in the monastery. We are protected by an archangel blessing. No vampire or human can find this place without the assistance of one of the Serim.”
Man. Here I’d gotten more information in thirty seconds than I had in a week. I gave him an encouraging look and gestured at the ham. “Mind if I sit down and share your snack?”
He wavered, torn between wanting me to leave and being polite and inviting me to stay. The Serim taught the young Enforcers politeness, but my presence was a factor they probably hadn’t accounted for.
I simply continued to wait politely.
After a moment, he gestured at the chair across from him at the big wooden table. “Please, have a seat,” he said in a voice that sounded like he’d swallowed glass. “I can cut you a portion.”
“Thank you,” I said softly.
He said nothing, simply began to cut the ham again. I sat down and took a nearby cheese wheel and began to cut slices from it to accompany the ham. How very domestic.
“So what is your name?” I said to him.
He answered haltingly. “Gregory.” Before I could open my mouth to say something polite about it being a nice name, he rushed on. “Will you be leaving the monastery soon?”
Taken aback by his bluntness, I blinked rapidly. “I expect that we’ll be leaving soon enough.”
He looked surprised at my response, glancing up from the ham. “Will David not be staying, then? I thought it was understood…”
A sick feeling hit the pit of my stomach, and I forced myself to continue slicing the cheese. “Oh?”
“Master Julian wishes for David to stay here at the monastery,” he said in a firm voice, nodding at the ham. “That is what is best for him.”
The sinking in the pit of my stomach continued. “Oh?” I said again, unable to think of anything clever.
“Master Julian says that David does not belong in this time. He is unfamiliar with it. He will be unsettled by it – and the ways of his companions. That it would be best for him to remain in the monastery for several years to reacquaint himself with modern times.”
“I see,” I said. It made sense in a basic sort of way. David didn’t seem to grasp that a hundred and twenty years had passed. I remembered his inability to grasp the internet or a cell phone. What if his lack of knowledge about the twenty-first century ended up hurting him? Could his immortality withstand David accidentally wandering in front of a city bus? Or worse? Still, the thought of David staying here bothered me,
mostly because it wasn’t what I wanted for him. At all. “Master Julius sure has a lot to say about whether or not we stay here.”
“Not both of you,” he said quickly.
My head jerked up and I looked at him in surprise.
Gregory blushed and bent over the ham again, cutting with great precision. “The monastery is no place for a succubus. The others are very unsettled that you are here. You stir things in them that they would like to forget. They are anxious for you to leave, though they would never say so to David. To do so would be to shame him for bringing you.”
Shame him? Just for being with me? That sick feeling continued to grow in the pit of my stomach. The one place that Aloysius couldn’t find me and I was treated like a cockroach that had somehow wandered in. This last week had been quiet…but nearly perfect. I’d found a measure of peace in David’s arms. I thought of the sleepy-eyed contentment in his face as he’d pulled me close to him after we made love, him murmuring soft words to me until the nightly hibernation claimed him.
And yet…this wasn’t going to last. I knew that, but it still hurt.
“And David?” I asked. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He will not discuss it with Master Julian. But Master Julian is adamant that David will see his side in things.”
I put down the knife and cheese, no longer hungry. I had hoped…
Oh, damn. What had I hoped? What had I expected? That David and I would lock hands and run off into the sunset together? I was a realist. So I’d had an amazing week with a man who had made me remember all the things I’d locked away over a hundred years ago. So what. I wasn’t the girl he’d known before. I was a stranger wearing her face.