by Nico Rosso
But the city persisted. He and Misty had changed, but the world hadn’t. Energy passed between them, red and gold.
She traced a finger along his bare chest. Her voice was smoky. “You’re dirty.”
“I am.” He leaned down again, pulling off her shoes and tugging her pants away.
Before he could get to his belt, she shoved hard against his chest. He let himself topple backward, landing on a soft patch of long grass. Like a starving predator, she was on him in an instant. Her eyes flashed in the dark as her hands undid his belt buckle and jeans. She bared her teeth in a carnivorous grin. He was quickly as naked as she.
She slid her palms along his thighs.
“Tell me you have another condom.” Her hands wrapped around the base of his erect cock.
It was a struggle to speak while his senses blazed with her touch. “It was just for show. And your peace of mind. We don’t reproduce that way.”
“Disease?”
“It doesn’t affect us. We’re...uncomplicated.”
She knelt beside him. “Sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
Thousands of songs, gallons of wine and countless women all faded away. Misty burned brighter than it all.
Still gripping the root of his shaft, she leaned low. The night air was cool and her breath was warm. Her lips were hotter. A kiss on the head of his cock. A few flicks of her tongue around it. Then she opened her mouth and took him inside her.
What language was primitive enough to express the raw pleasure? His sounds weren’t words. They were guttural breaths. Up and down, her mouth moved along his cock. He touched her arm, her shoulder, her back. Her whole body rocked. The pleasure wasn’t his alone.
He leaned up, braced on one hand. Her hair draped over her face onto his thighs. His other hand slid farther down her spine, over her ass cheeks and to her heat. She arched her back, welcoming him. Wet and ready, her pussy drew two of his fingers in.
Her moan vibrated through his shaft, spinning his mind.
She pushed forward and back. His cock entered her mouth, his fingers her slit.
Somehow he found the breath to form words. “I wish I had three cocks. Want you every way at once.”
She purred over his erection, then drew it out of her mouth. “Can’t you do that?” Her hands remained around his root.
“We’re just elements. Not that kind of magic.”
“Elements. Like hot.” She leaned low again, breathing against his shaft. “And cold.”
Ice surrounded him. Her hands were as frigid as arctic lakes. He tried to move from her grasp, but she held firm.
“Payback.” She grinned. Wicked.
She was learning to control her elements, but he could do the same. He rolled, breaking her grip. Drawing stone into his limbs, her wrapped in his arms and lifted them both from the ground. “Give me more.”
* * *
Arms of rock surrounded her. Hard and cool. The hands were colder. His fingers were bright ice, the same she had brought into her own hands. His chest was flesh, and there was no denying his erection was that of a man in need.
She’d already had one orgasm, but she understood just how much more he could want. Feeding from the crowd at the club had been amazing. Drawing energy from Trevor was real sustenance. Her body was charged with the power that pulsed between them. Every glow she absorbed, the more she understood how she was connected to him, and how they were both connected to the earth.
Red and yellow stone filled her mind. The huge rocks that shouldered up from the dirt and mud of the hills where she hiked. They were part of her now. She brought their solidity to her limbs and shifted in Trevor’s grip.
He let her go, but she didn’t run. She slid back to the ground, feeling each surge of energy as their bodies sparked together. She caught his hands Their fingers interlaced. His ice quickly swirled away, replaced with a heat that equaled hers.
The same fire was in his eyes. When their bodies clashed together harder, the burning need was in his kiss too. She knew the hunger. The earth drew them both down. They lay along the grass again, stretching their limbs to weave together like vines.
She kissed him, teased his tongue with hers, bit his lip. “You always want more.”
“I’ve been missing you. For thousands of years.”
He rolled her on to her back and released one of her hands to trail his fingers down her arm, her chest, her belly. She opened her legs. He didn’t wait. Hot fingers found her wet flesh. She moaned aloud until he covered her mouth with his. Locked together, they fed from each other. Breath and body mixed.
One finger entered her, then two. Not enough. She rocked forward, drawing them deeper. His palm pressed against her clit, spreading the pleasure. Her hips arched higher, pushing her shoulders harder into the ground. The dirt and grass and rocks all seemed to pulse as fast as her heartbeat. Everything connected. The earth, her, Trevor. The same energy pumped hard through them all, stitched together by the black veins of lightning.
She spread her legs wider and licked the stubble along his jaw. “Feed,” she said. “Feed me.”
His slid his fingers from her and moved his body over hers. She hooked her heels over his hips, feeling his coiled strength. Hovering for a moment, he drew the head of his cock along her folds in a promise she would make him keep.
The hunger was too much. She flexed her legs to pull him toward her. He didn’t hesitate. His cock parted her lips. As he filled her, he kissed her mouth. Wet and open, she took him as much as she could. Tongues and teeth. His shaft stretching her. The kiss continued while he drew his length out, then plunged back in.
They moved with a steady rhythm. The whole world pulsed with it. The kiss couldn’t last as they breathed hard. He sank his teeth into her collarbone. She gripped his shoulders. The stars were dim in the city night sky. But red and gold lights streaked just beyond Trevor’s back. It was their connection. But it could also look like sparks from a primordial fire. She could almost smell it, dry with sweet wood, and unctuous with roasted meat. A festival fire. In some distant past, she and Trevor weren’t witness to the revelry. They were the blaze itself.
She understood how their power could inspire people, creating the energy to feed. Whether it was a blaze in a dark forest or a stage in a rock arena.
He spoke, low and raspy in her ear. “Ice and fire and stone and the mountains and the sun and the moon. Nothing I’ve seen is as beautiful as you.”
Song lyrics had wrapped like gold bracelets around her heart. She’d been protected by them, or helped to heal. These words went beyond the songs. They pierced her with truth. From him, only to her.
A new heat bloomed through her. The air seemed to crackle with it, making her breath come faster. A climax grew, looming at the edges of her awareness. Pulling Trevor tight to her, she rolled on the grass until he was beneath her. She braced her hands on his chest and pushed back, riding him.
He grinned, eyes brighter than the stars she’d seen. Harder and faster, she ground her hips, bringing the climax closer. His hands ran over her shoulders, her chest. He pinched a nipple. Just enough pain to etch the pleasure.
She arched her back and reached behind to feel him enter her. They both sighed as her fingers found the wet flesh where they were joined. His cock was rigid, her folds soft. She felt how he moved in and out of her. He sucked in a breath as she ran her fingernails along his shaft as he entered her.
The climax demanded more and she leaned forward to accommodate it. Swiveling, she rubbed her clit against Trevor as he thrust up to meet her. Still palming one of her breasts, he slid his other hand along her hip and over her ass cheek. Yes, she thought. Give me more.
Words weren’t necessary. His hand moved lower. She was so wet it didn’t take much for him to collect more moisture on his finger. Before Trevor, she’d tried some ass pl
ay in the past with other men. It had just been a new thing that hadn’t held that much appeal. But with Trevor, each sensation was a discovery to prize.
She pressed back, taking his cock in her, and at the same time he eased his finger in her ass. He filled her. And she was free to take it all. The climax rushed faster toward her. Trevor’s gaze was fixed on hers. She crashed against him, faster and faster.
The orgasm ripped into her. She’d never cried out so loud, or for so long. But the charge in her body demanded it. It felt so good to let her voice go, shaking her ribs and testing her lungs. Nothing held her back. And Trevor was with her through it all, strong where she needed it. She ground hard against him, releasing the last sparks of the climax.
The air buzzed with her voice. There was no breath left. She collapsed onto his chest, savoring the pulsing sensations in her pussy, her ass, and through her whole body. His own pulse moved quick in his throat. They weren’t done.
Voice hoarse, she whispered, “Come in me.”
The push and the pull. The balance. She commanded. She gave herself to Trevor’s strength. He removed his finger from her ass and locked his arms around her. Quickly, he rolled her onto her back, still inside her.
She’d never let a man move her like this. Not just physically, but deep bass vibrations of emotion through her. It took a man, a demon, like Trevor to show her new facets of herself. To show need wasn’t weakness. Her desire could shift the landscape. And Trevor was willing to shake the hills with her.
He held close over her, chest to chest. She wrapped her legs around his hips, angled for the deepest penetration. He slid in and out. Each thrust rippled through his muscles. He kissed her mouth and her neck. She gripped his back, dug her nails in there. His speed increased, his breath hot against her collarbone. His chest and arms locked around her. Faster, he pumped into her. His guttural moans mixed with her soft cries. Faster again, he bared his teeth.
“Now. Now,” she told him. Knowing how close he was. Knowing his body as though it was hers.
He plunged deep, filling her completely. Then he let himself go. His body shuddered. His cock pulsed. She felt him spilling into her. Animalistic growls came with each of his breaths. The two of them locked tight, sweat sealing their skin together. Energy glowed with deep gold, soaking into them. Aftershocks trembled through him. He pulled out a little, then pressed slowly back in with a long sigh.
After heartbeats calmed, he slid out and lay beside her. She’d been fed. Body relaxed and spent. But also energized, more alive than she ever knew. Each blade of grass along her back was defined, drawn in dark green on her consciousness. Trevor glowed like a dark sun at her side. He laced his fingers in with hers. Her pulse kicked again. There was always a satisfying hunger for more.
The night respected their quiet. Only a gentle breeze moved the silhouettes of the trees around them. Somewhere, far below, was the traffic and headaches of the city. Here, though, the only evidence of civilization was the dusty orange haze over the stars.
“All those songs I wrote about the woman with green eyes...” His whisper was smoked black. “None of them do you justice.”
“You’ll have to write more, then.”
“I am.” He bumped his hip against her. “We just did together.”
“It was a number one hit.”
“We’ll stay on the top of the charts a long, long time.”
She reached over and gently stroked his still-rigid erection. “Double platinum.”
But a thread of cold laced through the air. Her body was still warm, yet she shivered.
Trevor took a long breath. The island of nature they’d been alone on widened. The real world, or what she come to learn was the real world, was upon them again.
The trees seemed to shudder as she did in the breeze.
She spoke. “It’s not as calm as it looks.”
“No,” he said simply.
There was no choice, but she had to know. “Is this life easy?”
“It’s not without trouble. But it’s not always like this.” He sat up and she joined him. “I’ve known festivals and parties. Concerts in amphitheaters, arenas and backyards. Playing the fiddle for a barn dance. Banging on a piano for vaudeville. Wine and beer and whiskey. It’s a good existence.” Standing, he turned to face her. “With you, it’s a life.”
They kissed gently.
He continued. “It’s a life I’m going to fight for.”
The next kiss was an oath.
His heat was reassuring, but she understood the chill in the air. “I’m still learning.” The Shrouds had been defeated so far. But how many more were there? And what else might be coming?
“You were strong before the night started. Now you’re a force of nature.”
“So we wait?” Even naked she felt armored. “Wait for them to find us and finish it?”
“Get some clothes on.” He gathered up his jeans and his boots. “We’re not waiting.”
Chapter Nine
The lush trees and grass tumbled down to crackling weeds and gravel. A curb drew a hard line around nature. She was back on asphalt. The street wound in a hard carving ribbon down the side of the hill. Expensive homes shouldered along the edge.
“When my friend Kim was in town, we came up here, pretending to be rich lesbians at open houses.”
He chuckled. His stride was easy, limbs loose, but tension still strung guitar-string tight around the two of them. His shirt was too torn to wear, so he was bare chested, tattoos dancing like shadow puppets across his muscles. “I’d like to meet your friend.”
“Don’t get any ideas.”
“Not like that.” He gave her ass a light spank. “There’s only one for me.”
Despite the occasional streetlights, the night seemed darker. “Can I have friends? Normal people?”
“We do. They come and go through the years. If they’re good friends, or valuable roadies, they know the truth. Eventually we change, become something new on the outside and start over.”
“I’m not a rock star now. I can’t just reinvent myself as one in the next life.” As exhilarating as it was to be in the spotlight with him at the club, she’d never had that much aptitude for music.
“You’ll find your voice. If not music, then another art. No one can accuse you of lacking passions.” He paused in front of a low house. A For Sale sign from a very expensive real estate company swung on its post. “This’ll do.”
Most of the front was covered with lattice and ivy. No lights shone in the windows.
She had no idea what time it was, but the night had the quiet of the small hours. “Don’t think you’ll have much luck getting a Realtor at this hour.”
“I own enough houses I never see.” He disappeared around the side of the house. She pursued him into the shadows. “This’ll just be a rental.” A quick jab of his fist punched through a side door. He reached through the hole and undid the lock, swinging the door open.
They scattered the still air from the rooms. The house was minimally furnished, giving the impression of an invisible family living there, using no dishes nor ruffling any pillows on the couches.
She stood in the living room, staring out the floor to ceiling windows. The Hollywood hills tumbled away in dark waves, crashing into the lights of Los Angeles. Trevor was a dim reflection in the glass. He fiddled with a fancy radio on a metal shelf.
“Is there a frequency that’ll bring the bad guys to us?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah.” He found a station and turned up the volume. It was remarkably loud for such a small radio. “Rock and roll.”
A classic rock station pounded out hair metal from the eighties. She watched Trevor’s reflection approach. He picked up a chair on the way toward her. She barely had time to brace herself as he swung the chair behind him and t
hrew it through the window. Glass blasted into the night, multiplying the lights of the city.
Fresh air rushed inside. Trevor took a deep breath. Feet braced, fists curled. “The real evil shows up before the cops. That’s always how it is.”
She prepared herself, making her hands heavy with stone.
The song continued on the radio. Trevor smiled a little. “This is me. On the bass.”
Her laugh couldn’t be held back. “You were the bass player for Lipstick Bang?”
“The pants were ridiculous, but the music was good if you really listen to it.”
“Please don’t make me listen to ‘Hacksaw Heartache.’”
“I wrote a fucking great riff for that one.”
The song on the radio ended. A late-night commercial for an auto dealership chattered out. More night air swept into the house. It seemed to move, alive. Something came closer in the darkness. It came for her.
She tried to keep her nerves from her voice. “So write me a song, Trevor Sand.”
“It starts with a ticking, like a clock. A drumstick on a closed hi-hat.” His boot tapped on a shard of the broken window glass in a steady rhythm. “Then the bass thunders in, driving forward, like those beasts outside.”
Yes, they were coming closer.
He continued. “The guitar slices up, power chords of pounding artillery. A lot of distortion, gritty metal. The shrapnel to tear those fuckers apart.”
For years he’d lived inside her ears, her head and her imagination. She knew his sound and could almost hear the evolving song now.
He didn’t sing, but spoke in a steady cadence:
Clawing up
From the nighttime
On the cusp
Of the fighting
Be the bitch
She’s the witch
Who’ll grind them down...
Whatever was outside was almost upon them. She pulled the song around her like armor.