Maya’s mother, Aurora, wasn’t particularly happy to see Lucius or Paolo. She was not quite as beautiful as her stunning daughter, but she had the same dark, sultry look. Witch blood in there, eons ago. She turned her nose up when Paolo offered her the pie, like he was handing her a dead cat. In fact, Paolo thought she might have preferred a dead cat to a berry pie. She made it quite clear where her tastes lay.
Paolo figured her lack of culture would cause her to drink blood in front of the boy, something considered low cast. Or worse yet, feed on a farm animal or some helpless human. God, he was filled with visions of what this boy’s life might be like. He squeezed his fingers so tight he almost drew blood from his own palms.
“So now Marcus has his substitute bringing him over.” She looked Paolo up and down. “A poor substitute at that.”
“Nice to see you too, Aurora.”
She hissed and showed her fangs to him, luckily out of sight of Lucius, who had run into the house with the pie he had snatched from his grandmother’s hands.
“May I come in to say goodbye to Lucius?”
“No.” She slammed the door.
He hated them, absolutely hated them. He decided to stay a few more days to talk to Marcus. He knew his brother had requested Lucius go back to Maya’s, and although she didn’t say it, Laurel implied Anne did not know about the boy. He wondered how long Marcus could keep this secret.
So many secrets . . .
So many lives ruined.
Chapter 16
Anne was angry. She sat in an overflowing bubbled bath all alone, at 39,000 feet in a jet that cost twenty-five million dollars or more. And the man who had plopped her into the tub without ceremony, the man who owned this jet and a vineyard in California as well as a villa in Italy, the man who had confessed she was his fated female, the man who had waited three hundred years for her, refused to have sex.
This was beyond unbelievable. No way would she be able to tell her friends. But then, not much of Anne’s current life and lifestyle could be believed either.
What was Marcus doing? Why had he abruptly left her panting and wanting? She snuggled under the warm bubbles that smelled of lavender and melted into the scented water. She rubbed a sweet citrus gel over her breasts as she massaged them. She swirled the lavender liquid between her legs. She didn’t feel she was bleeding, but some cramping continued.
She hadn’t bought any tampons with her. The thought of having to wear one now disgusted her. Draining a human didn’t disgust her, but wearing a tampon did. How her life had changed.
The mirrored bathroom door opened and Marcus stepped in, wrapped in a white towel, naked to the waist. The front of the towel pushed out like a tent.
“May I join you?” He didn’t wait for her answer, and instead dropped his towel and showed Anne his huge erection. She swore under her breath. So not fair.
“Are you going to tease me or please me?” She pouted, but didn’t take her eyes off his cock.
“I think a little of both.” He stepped over the tub’s lip and sat in the bath, facing her. He slid his legs under her thighs to rest along her hips. The look of him, the smell of him and his blood force, so male, so tall, surrounded by light purple bubbles, almost made her laugh. Her chill was thawing.
“I have never done this before.” He smiled, his face filled with wonder like a schoolboy. His hulking lower body disappeared under the water—all except his knees, which perched high above the bubbly foam. The tub was obviously too small for him. Anne could somehow believe he’d never shared a bath with a lady, for all his three hundred years.
So much for experience. She liked being his first.
Although she wanted to ravish him, Anne waited for him to advance to her. Her cheeks felt pink, her thoughts scattered—the effects of the delicious red champagne. Anne moved just out of his long reach, leaned against the back of the tub, and squeezed her breasts. She called to Marcus’s dark eyes that followed the movements of her hands, which traced up the side of her neck and covered her lips.
By the sight of Marcus’s flaring nostrils, she could tell he was barely in control. It was delicious knowing he could handle anything she could give out and she wouldn’t have to be careful. She wanted so much to demonstrate to him she could handle anything he wanted to do to her as well. This need burned inside her belly, increasing in intensity the more she was around him.
“Are you hungry?” Marcus stopped before his chest touched hers. She felt his warm breath. He looked so sweet with his concern for her. She felt the last vestiges of her anger evaporate.
“Aren’t you worried I’ll get fat if I drink too much?” Anne curled her lips up at the sides. She sat up, still facing him, and scooted her slippery body over to rest her sex against his lap, making him touch her entrance with the head of his penis. “There is only one need I have at the present time. Please, Marcus. Let me have it.”
He leaned into her, and with an arm around her waist, pulled her higher up to rest on his thighs. She wrapped her legs around him. He kissed her neck as she pressed into his chest. She turned to the side, made her neck long. She craved his bite. “For you,” she whispered, then bit the top of his shoulder.
“Anne.” He brushed her ear with his lips, then nipped her earlobe without breaking the skin. “I give you all that I can.”
She drew back to look at him, then kissed him hard. His tongue worked into her mouth, his urgent pressure causing a little blood and a tiny drizzle of pain. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held as tight as she could. If she could possess his body, she would have done it right then and there.
“Please take me, Marcus. Feed from me.”
“Would you give up a lifetime of forever for a few minutes of pleasure?” He looked at her without flinching. The dripping water faucet broke the silence of the room.
Anne shook her head and sighed.
The council would have to decide. Some stupid body that was probably made up of old crones and shriveled ancient-long-black-finger-nailed-vampires she had yet to meet would determine her fate. Would they have to run their gnarled hands over her pure white flesh to inspect her menstrual blood? She knew this was important evidence of their fating. Why was this so important?
“Come, pet. Feed, then take a nap in my arms.”
He moved her with ease to switch sides, then lay back against the tub’s edge. Anne leaned forward and took from his neck, undulating her body back and forth, maneuvering her clitoris against his marble hard cock. The sensation of his blood in her veins and the heat of his body against hers sent her into an orgasm, and her last drops had to be taken with short quick breaths as her body sizzled. She stroked him while she finished up her feeding. Her breathing was ragged. She was just getting started.
Far from satisfied, she moved to place her mouth over the head of his cock and encircled him, moving up and down in slow rhythm. “Give me what you can give me. I will take all of it,” she whispered as she let her lips rub the length of him.
“At this rate, I think I might make you fat. I think you might be the first fated female to gain weight from her male’s semen.”
Marcus securely held Anne. She was so much shorter than him; her feet were not able to touch the end of the tub. She have could have floated except for being bound by his embrace. My female trusts me completely. She sleeps as I protect her.
He was thinking about the council meeting scheduled for the next day. First, he would introduce Anne to Laurel and get a tour of the villa. Then he would have to instruct her on what would likely happen at her council interview. He shuddered as he thought about how important this meeting was. He could not bear to think about a life without Anne now. And, if he had to choose between a few stolen hours with her followed by certain death or a life without her, he would have to say he would pick the first. His life was not real without her. He hoped they saw it the same way, that her bleeding would convince them.
But there was the boy. He felt guilty for not telling Anne about Lucius, but he wasn’t ex
actly sure what he should say, not knowing what was truth. He didn’t trust Maya. That the boy looked just like Marcus, there was no question. He hoped the council didn’t make him choose between the boy and Anne. Another tough decision and path. Perhaps a lesser man would choose a course of being on the run from the council and their long reach, constantly living in fear. This would be a stupid choice. No, better to face them, and then deal with the circumstances accordingly.
He pushed it all out of his mind for now as he felt her breathing, smelled the wonderful scent of her hair, and felt its silkiness against his chest. Nothing in the world had made him feel so complete as to have her feed from him, to lie here in his arms. He turned the hot water on with one of his feet, careful to be delicate so as not to awaken her. The little trickle of hot water did its work, warming the lovely womb they lay in together. He sighed.
How he wanted to be able to plunge into her pink nether lips and make her scream his name. And do it over and over again. As a new vampire, her lips would swell, turn rosy red.
As much as he felt their fating, he would only know for sure once they had sex. He had not told her about that. If they weren’t fated, they could remain great sexual partners. Some of his vampire friends had chosen to follow this path rather than raise a family with a fated female. But then, eventually, the true fated female would appear, and everything would change. For him, it had taken three hundred years, not the longest duration to wait for a fated female that he had ever heard of, but definitely a rare number. Maya had been a most pleasant sexual partner during the last part of that, and he treated her with the respect that came with it, being exclusive only unto her, considering that perhaps for him, there would be no real fating. In fact, he’d almost resigned himself to it.
He had lots of opportunity to pick a mate, not only in the golden vampire species, but with the darks as well. Mortal women, especially little witches with their secret spells, had even tempted him, but he’d kept to Maya, with the need to keep things uncomplicated. It was curious that he had not felt any form of jealousy when he had learned Maya had been unfaithful to him more than once. He allowed her infidelity, perhaps as proof to himself they were not actually meant for each other.
Maya was known for her scenes, something she inherited from her family. She was wild and exciting, no denying that. But he did not feel the fate. Perhaps she had spelled him, like Laurel said. It was rumored her family had some witch blood in them from some ancient ancestor.
But time for all that later. First order of business was to meet his sister, then prepare Anne for the council interview. Each would have to face the council separately. With any luck, once Robert released her vow, Marcus could have his fated female in every sense of the word. Just thinking of it made his cock rise and push against this woman’s buttocks, seeking release. His cock tickled her and roused her from her deep slumber. He chuckled deep in his chest. He had such a selfish cock, a very independently thinking cock. Soon, my little friend. Behave and you will get a treat.
Anne woke up in Marcus’s arms, still feeling the luxury of the warm scented water. One of his hands was on her breast, the other rested on her lower belly. She guided his fingers lower as she raised her knees. She moaned and arched her back, rolling her head from side to side, exposing her neck to him again. His fingers entered her and she began to shudder with pleasure. His other hand squeezed her nipples, one at a time. He licked her neck, letting her know he wanted to bite her there. He kissed her with gentleness, as if she was as delicate as a snowflake. It sent her into waves of ecstasy. Soft or hard, everything Marcus did to her was pure pleasure.
Anne knew it would be like this until they got permission. He would never let them go beyond a certain point, and Anne would not get enough of him in the meantime. If only they had a month to themselves. A precious life without interruption. Staying naked. Getting cleaned up, then getting naked again. No having to get up to eat, to prepare dinner. So much more efficient being in love with one’s host. This tall vampire could satisfy all her needs. She laughed. She’d probably come back from a month alone with him even more addicted to him than she already was.
The plane touched down in Genoa at sunset. The pink ring on the horizon looked like a watercolor stain. Marcus admitted to himself he had a fair amount of trepidation. Meetings with the council were sometimes dangerous. The decisions the council made could be arbitrary, and were always final.
The driver met them at the airport. They sped off south towards Naples in a black Mercedes sedan. Anne cuddled against his chest, looking out the blackened window at countryside and village scenes. They traveled on a two-lane freeway, through several roundabouts and then through a town center back out into the country. At the rise of a gentle hill, they turned into a crushed gravel driveway that stretched out behind iron gates, which opened as they neared them. The sign at the gate said Monte Olivio. They drove under large pine trees that stretched almost as wide as they were tall.
Marcus pointed to them. “These are from the oldest trees in the world. They came from trees alive during the time of Christ.”
Anne watched how his face turned soft and sported a smile, though she knew he was under some stress. A woman at the entrance to a large stone villa stood waving.
“And that would be my sister, Laurel. You will recognize her.” He smiled again and kissed her with tenderness. “Welcome to my country villa in Tuscany, my pet.”
Anne’s heart ached that he didn’t say “our” home. Some of her frustration returned. God, if Robert didn’t release her from their spoken vows, she would kill him herself. And then the reality of what she said fell upon her and she was suddenly ashamed. Marcus loved her for who she was. She must always keep her word and be trusted to do the right thing. Always. It was dangerous to be thinking even in jest about taking shortcuts, even if it meant freedom from Robert.
The purring of his chest when Marcus talked to her softly, when he pointed something out, when he brought her along into his world, sharing more of himself, when he held her body in the warm scented bath, when he kissed her and made her body pulse, when the aliveness of his blood inside her veins turned her into some magical creature, gave her one tiny slice of Heaven. And she was not ashamed to say the more of this life she got, the more she craved, could not live without.
The car stopped. She reached up and touched his cheek. “Marcus, I know this is an important time for us. I want to thank you—for everything, even before we do this, I want to thank you for giving us a chance like this. I—” Tears welled up in her eyes. All she could say was, “I am so grateful you found me—whatever happens.”
“Yes.” He kissed her. “Always remember I love you. You can trust in that. No matter what happens, please know that. Never forget that, Okay, my pet?”
“Yes, Marcus. Even if I find out you spend every waking moment away from me looking like a green lizard, I don’t care. I love you and nothing will ever stop me.”
“We will be tested.” He traced her lips with his forefinger. “Our love must survive no matter what.”
Marcus’s sister came up to the car and tapped on the rear window. Anne looked up and gasped. Laurel was the nurse who had treated her after the attack. The attack that had changed her life forever.
Marcus exited the rear door and embraced Laurel, who jumped into his arms. She showered him with kisses and he laughed. “Careful, careful, Laurel. Anne will get jealous of my own sister. How scandalous!” It didn’t stop her from kissing him further.
Marcus held a hand out. Anne let him help her out of the back seat. She stood not more than a foot apart from. Laurel, who surprised her when she reached out and pulled her to her chest. “Welcome, Anne. It’s so nice to see you so healthy, so beautiful. You glow with inner love.”
“Yes, I think anything Marcus loves blooms.” All three were silent for a bit. “I want to thank you for taking such good care of me that day. I have questions maybe you can answer.”
“Later.” Marcus said into her e
ar. He wrapped his big arm around her waist and began walking, almost carrying her to the stone structure.
Through large carved doors, they entered an enormous hallway. Ceilings frescoed in colorful paintings in bright colors warmed the room, which looked several hundreds of years old, with a few faded watermarks. Oil paintings of family members, some of them colorful, some of them very dark due to age, surrounded the walls, affixed to thick plaster walls.
“We have a strange ancestor.” Marcus pointed to the frescoes on the ceiling. Anne couldn’t see what he was pointing to. She saw some monkeys and banana leaves, birds, plants, and people with short pantaloons and shoes with pointed toes and square buckles. She shrugged and looked back at Marcus.
“Look at their chests.” Anne looked at the monkeys and sure enough, they all sported large breasts. So did the birds. And the women were bare to the waist and had enormous breasts as well. She laughed, covering her mouth.
“How old are these?” Anne thought it was hysterical.
“I think about four hundred years, give or take a hundred. Maybe more, right, Laurel?” He looked at his sister.
“I think easily four hundred.” She shook her head from side to side. “Marcus, of all the things you could show her . . .”
Marcus picked Anne up and whisked her up the stairs. “That’s all of a tour you get for now. It’s dinnertime!”
Anne waved to Laurel, who returned the wave just before she and Marcus disappeared through a high archway into a bedroom the size of Anne’s place. The dark walnut ceiling was carved with monkeys with large breasts. He set her down and cupped her, then bent down to kiss her. “I have never brought a woman here to this room before. I have never bed a woman here. You will be the first, and the last.”
It was a simple statement. Anne felt her heart would burst. However important their fating was, especially to Marcus and someday to her, no matter how urgent it was that she be able to have sex as a true partner with him, her life was now complete with these simple words coming from this man’s lips. Everything else in her life would pale in comparison. She was certain her life would begin and end here. With Marcus, in his arms, in his bed.
Honeymoon Bite (Golden Vampires of Tuscany) Page 14