by Sandy Lynn
Parting his lips, he opened his mouth and showed her his long, beautiful, sharp teeth. Loosening her grip, she wove her fingers through his hair, guiding him to the sensitive spot where her leg met her torso. It was the same spot he’d marked her before.
She screamed in pleasure from the fierce orgasm that racked her body as his teeth pierced her flesh.
Seth drank greedily from her, and she could not keep her body still. The sensations were intense, so erotic that she felt another orgasm building with lightning speed. Then his fingers were there, plunging deep within her as he continued to drink from her.
Crying out his name as wave after wave of intense pleasure raged through her, she was still riding them when his tongue slid over her skin. Shifting his head, he teased her incredibly sensitive clit with his tongue.
He removed his fingers only long enough to slide his tongue deep inside her. His razor-sharp teeth grazed against her flesh and his tongue followed.
He didn’t stop his teasing until her body shook with her fourth orgasm.
Crawling up her body, he captured her mouth with his, tongue thrusting inside aggressively. The taste of herself on him—both her cream and her blood—drove her crazy. When he thrust his cock hard and deep into her, she cried out, the sound swallowed hungrily by him.
This was no gentle, sweet loving meant to bring them both to orgasm slowly. This was hard and fast, full of the rough pleasures they both needed at the moment.
As Seth pounded into her body ruthlessly, Willow met his hips with as much force as she could.
Growling into her mouth, Seth increased the pace of his thrusts. After a few minutes, she felt him explode within her.
They lay on the bed, panting and covered in sweat, Seth’s hard body pressing her softer one down into the mattress.
For the first time since she’d found out the truth about him, Willow finally felt safe again. Unable to fight her body any longer, she was asleep before he withdrew from her and rolled them over.
Chapter Nine
“Mmmm,” Willow moaned as she snuggled back into the chest behind her. Life is good, she thought sleepily. She felt safe and warm. She felt…whole. Happily she drifted back to sleep.
A knock on the door stirred her again a little while later.
“Go away, Roxy, I don’t want to wake up. I’m having the most delicious dream,” she called out sleepily, pulling the covers higher on her body, almost covering her head.
She heard the door crack open then a very masculine chuckle. “Well, my name isn’t Roxy, and from the looks of this room, it wasn’t a dream.”
Opening one eye, she recognized Jason approaching the bed. She began to sit up but froze as she saw her ruined underwear hanging from his finger.
“I take it you were able to entice him to cooperate?”
Keeping the covers pressed tightly against her naked body, she sat up and looked around. Seth was nowhere to be seen. What was going on?
Her memory came rushing back. Seth had been sick. He’d needed to drink, and she’d had to entice him into drinking from her. Then they had had the most incredible sex of her life. And that was saying a lot, considering their previous encounters—before she’d run practically screaming from him.
“Will you just leave so I can get dressed?” Jason stepped closer, picking up her bra, chuckling when she snatched it from him. Turning, he began to leave but she stopped him. “Wait. Where’s Seth? What time is it? Is he feeling better?”
“Make up your mind,” Jason teased, looking back at her. “Either you want me to stay or you want me to leave.” When she scowled at him, he chuckled again. “I’ll answer all your questions, after you get dressed.” Taking a deep breath, he amended, “Make that after you shower and get dressed.” He laughed and closed the door, narrowly avoiding the pillow she threw at him.
Twenty minutes later, Willow walked out of the bedroom, feeling sore, but rested.
“Oh, good, food,” she said right before she began to attack the food Jason had arranged on the dining room table. “Tell me what’s going on, Jason,” she said between bites and after a sip of soda.
“It’s about midnight.” Willow looked at him in confusion. “You and Seth have slept all night and day. He got up and left no more than an hour and a half ago.” Shrugging, Jason continued. “He looked better, but refused to tell me where he was going.”
“I need to use the phone,” she stated as soon as her hunger was eased. Standing, Willow shook her head before walking away from the table. She paused at the door. “Is there any chocolate in this place? I don’t know why, but I’m having a serious chocolate craving.”
“It could have something to do with how much blood Seth took. I’ll see if I can find you some while you call whoever you need to. And if there isn’t any here, I’ll call Seth’s cell and tell him to pick some up.”
“Thanks.” She smiled, appreciating the offer. She wasn’t sure she was up to talking with Seth just yet, and not over the phone. That just seemed too impersonal. Especially after what they’d experienced the night before.
She went into the comfy room and curled up on the couch. Willow really didn’t want to call her sister, but she knew if she didn’t Roxy would worry. And she couldn’t have that on her conscience.
“Hi Roxy, it’s Willow,” she said as soon as the phone stopped ringing.
“Where the hell are you? Are you alright? What did that guy do to you? Tell me how to get there and I’ll come pick you up. I have five former football players ready to back me up at a moment’s notice.”
“Calm down. Remember I told you I needed to work through some things? Well, that’s what I’m doing. Please don’t worry about me, Roxy.”
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry, she says! First you disappear for a week, then you barely sleep for another week. Then—then you just disappear with the guy you stayed with. The one that messed you up in the first place, and you tell me not to worry? Willow, I demand that you tell me what’s going on this minute,” Roxy said in her best big-sister voice.
“Roxy, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. This isn’t like you, Willow. I’m the one who just runs off with a guy without telling you where I’m going or how long I’ll be gone. I don’t understand how you were always so calm about it all the time. I’m going crazy not knowing what’s going on.” The worry in Roxy’s voice tore at her.
After a deep breath, she answered. “I was able to stay calm because I trusted you. I knew if you needed help you would call me. And that I would be right there for you the minute you did. I knew that you had to live your own life, make your own mistakes. Let me do that now. Please, trust that if I need you I won’t hesitate to call,” she pleaded.
“I do trust you, Willow.” There were tears in her sister’s voice. “But what if you can’t get to a phone when you need me?”
“That’s a chance I have to take. It’s one you’ll have to let me take. I’m not a little girl anymore. And I need to work through this my own way.”
“Alright. Just please come back safe and happy. Or at least, not depressed anymore.” After a moment, Roxy sighed. “Hell, I don’t care. Just come back.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Roxy.”
“Will?”
“Yes?”
“When did you become the big sister?”
Giving a small chuckle, Willow sighed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve learned a lot from you. And there’s nothing wrong with the big sister being the wild one. You never were very conventional.”
She said goodbye and hung up the phone, laying back against the couch and closing her eyes. Did I do the right thing? Should I just disappear into the night now that I know—well, think—Seth is going to be all right? Do I even want answers to some of my questions?
Feeling around, she found the remote tucked into the side of the couch and turned the channel to an old movie she’d seen many times before. As she watched, she tried to fight back a yawn, unsuccessfully.
Before she could answer any of her own questions, Willow was sleeping once again.
* * *
Riding on his motorcycle, Seth dreaded calling his mother. He hated having to call her with such an awkward question, but he didn’t know whom else he could ask. With a reluctant sigh, he pulled the motorcycle over and took the cell phone out of his pocket. Bringing the number up on speed dial, he refused to give himself a chance to second-guess his decision.
“Hi, Mom,” he began.
“Seth Baker, or Brown, or whatever you’re calling yourself these days, do you know how long it’s been since you called me?” His mother’s voice scolding him over the phone caused him to cringe.
“It’s been—”
She cut him off. “It’s been over thirty years, young man. Do you know how worried I’ve been about you? You would think that my youngest son would call at least once a decade. But no. Mr. I’m-almost-eight-hundred doesn’t think his poor mother still worries about him. Your brother Angelo checks in with me now and then.” She sniffed, “Even Thomas comes by for dinner every few years. But not you. No, my baby, the youngest of all my children is far too old for anything like that. Do you know how worried I was? I was getting ready to send your brother Raphael to track you down. Who knows what could have happened to you. If you don’t check in with me more often, young man, I will track you down myself and then may the gods help you. You aren’t too old for me to put over my knee, you know.”
Throughout his mother’s lecture Seth couldn’t help but feel horrible that he hadn’t called his mother earlier. He honestly hadn’t believed she would be this worried about him.
“…could have been caught in the sunlight, or by one of those strange humans who are determined to stake us. Why did your cousin Vlad have to brag so much? If it weren’t for him there would never have been a book, and no vampire movies… His mother still cringes whenever someone brings that up, the poor dear. Well, it doesn’t set everything right, but I heard he’s still locked in his bedroom, and she only sends up old men every few days to feed him. None of the pretty young things that he used to drink from, I can guarantee you that. Teach him to blab our secrets to everyone… Oh, and your sister Grace sent me the most delightful pictures of her children—”
“Mom, I wanted to ask you something. It’s kind of important,” Seth interrupted her gossip. Now that her lecture was over, his mom was once again her usual bubbly self. And he needed to ask his question before the conversation turned into her asking when he was going to have children of his own.
“Of course, baby, what did you need to know?”
“I was wondering if you would tell me that old bedtime story I used to love.”
His mother chuckled. “Almost eight hundred and you still want to hear that old legend?”
“I tried to remember it, but I couldn’t.” He paused. “It’s really important, Mom. Please?”
“You always did say that.” She laughed. “Alright.” She sighed as only a mother can. Clearing her throat, she began her story. “Many years ago, so long ago that not even their names are remembered, long before my great-grandmother’s time, there was a powerful wizard. He fell in love with a beautiful maiden, with hair the color of the sun and eyes the color of the sky on a clear summer day. For a while the wizard watched her from afar, marveling that he was only able to see her dancing under the moon. Not once did he ever see her during the daylight, no matter how hard he tried. He’d started to wonder if she were some kind of dream. But after a while, he finally gathered his courage and approached the maid. Instead of being afraid when he approached her, she laughed with him. They spoke until the first rays of dawn appeared in the sky. When he asked if he could see her again, she promised she would return the following night.
“Weeks passed and always, the wizard was waiting in the meadow when she arrived. They were often seen dancing under the light of the moon. It didn’t take long for both to begin looking forward to their time together beneath the night sky, of being kissed by the moonlight.
“You must remember, this was long before things such as witchcraft and dancing were seen as sinful, as evil. Every night they fell more deeply in love. Finally, one night after the wizard swore his undying love for her, the maiden decided to tell him her most protected secret. She told him about her hunger for blood, how she would never be able to see the sunlight because it would kill her.
“At first the wizard scoffed at her. Thinking the maiden was simply trying to scare him, he took several steps away from her, trying to decide what he should do. He’d heard of such creatures before, but they were always monsters. Vicious beings who wouldn’t hesitate to kill because their lust for blood was all-consuming. How could this beautiful, gentle maid be such a creature, he wondered. Turning to her, he asked for proof of what she said. Before he had time to blink his eyes, the maiden was once more beside him, pulling his head down to her own for a kiss. In the kiss, she allowed her hunger for him to show; she allowed her teeth to lengthen. The wizard gasped, pulling away from her as he tasted the coppery blood in his mouth from where her razor-sharp teeth had scratched his lip.
“She walked closer to him, stepping back into his embrace. The wizard tried to protest when she kissed him again, tried to warn her of the blood in his mouth. His eyes grew wide as he felt her tongue glide across the cut, just before she pulled away. The wizard could barely believe what was happening as he realized the cut was gone.
“He asked her from where she usually fed. ‘The neck’, she replied, praying that her love wouldn’t find her repulsive. ‘Will it hurt?’ he asked. ‘I cannot allow you to make such a sacrifice for me,’ she cried. The wizard walked to her, tilting her head up. ‘I swore my undying love for you. I would give you the Moon Goddess herself if I could. It will not harm me to allow you to take a bit of my blood.’ The maiden was moved to tears, which her wizard gently dried with his handkerchief.
“With as much gentleness as she could, the maiden placed her mouth over the strong pulse in his neck. As her teeth slid into his flesh, the maiden and the wizard felt a bond form between them. One so strong it felt as if the very gods themselves could not break it. She pushed her thoughts out, directing them toward her love, images of them kissing, of slipping her dress off and allowing him to see her body naked in the moonlight. After taking only a few sips, just enough to ease the hunger caused by the blood from his lip, she closed his wound and looked at him anxiously.
She asked in a soft voice, ‘Did it hurt?’ ‘No, my love,’ the wizard assured her. The couple continued to meet every night, but the maiden refused to drink from her love again, afraid that she would do him harm if she drank from him too frequently. Though he understood her fear, he didn’t want to think of her starving herself for his sake. He asked only one thing of her, that she only drink from other women. Holding her in his arms, he told her he couldn’t bear to think of another man feeling such pleasure with her. One night, just over a week after her first taste of him, the wizard noticed his maiden was terribly weak. As he remembered their previous trysts, he recalled that each night she seemed to grow weaker, despite her assurances that she was feeding regularly.
“Then the strangest thing known to vampires happened. For the first time in remembered history, her stomach growled. The wizard was nearly frantic with fear. He called a strong soldier over to her, fearing that the oath he had made her swear was what weakened her. He wondered if women’s blood was too feeble for her. If her pain was a result of his jealousy. If it were, he swore he would never forgive himself for such selfishness, for risking her life because of his possessiveness.
“With help from the wizard, and a lingering kiss, her teeth lengthened and she drank from the soldier, careful to close the wound and erase any memory of the event. When the soldier left, confused and wondering why he had left his post, the wizard held her close to him. When his arms loosened around her wa
ist, she collapsed to the soft grass. She’d become so weak that she could not even stand on her own.
“He knew his love had drunk from the soldier, he had seen it with his own eyes, but it didn’t seem to help. In despair he called to the Moon Goddess, pleading for the answer to the cure for his love.
“In a blinding flash, the goddess appeared, in a flowing gown the color of moonbeams. She had heard his plea, and looked deep into his heart. ‘Do you truly love this daughter of the night?’ the goddess asked him. ‘I do, my goddess.’ ‘The only thing that can help her is blood. Her hunger is strong, almost unbearable, and soon she will be lost to it. She will go crazy with her need, but none will satisfy her thirst.’
“The wizard looked up at his goddess, unashamed as tears spilled from his eyes. ‘I would gladly trade my life for hers, Goddess.’ ‘You need not die for your love. You must live for her. It is only your blood that will ease her hunger.’ ‘I do not understand,’ the wizard told her.