Starla lifted her chin and pulled Jacen’s hand, leading him from the house. Alanna and Jack said their goodnights to the twins and then followed after the pair that I could hear continuing their make out session in the driveway. Ashley exhaled in relief as a few otherworldly beings left the area. She was fine with what we all were, but she did want Christian to feel comfortable. I understood.
Halina and Imogen said their goodbyes to the kids, tickling them into laughing fits, then twisted to leave as well. Halina paused with her daughter at the door. Looking between my mother and sister, she frowned. She glanced up at Teren, her dark hair swirling around her as she shook her head. “Are you sure about us leaving?” She shrugged. “I could…stay close.”
Teren slung his arm over Ashley; she shivered a bit, but smiled. My mother slung her arm around me. Smiling, Teren said,” I’ve got these girls.” He nodded his head out the door at the rest of his family. “You go protect them.” Halina twisted her lips, then nodded. Looking over at me, Teren added, “Besides, it sounds like Gabriel is making his move tonight. This should all be over soon.”
Halina sighed and Teren swung his gaze back to her. “Right, the raid…I should be there. I should be helping secure that…creature.”
Teren frowned as Imogen laid her hands on her mother’s arm. “Let Gabriel handle this, Mother,” Imogen said softly. Halina looked back at her, her eyes torn. Sighing again, she shrugged. “It’s probably too late anyway.” She looked back to us. “It’s probably over with.” Halina sighed forlornly, like she’d missed out on the party of the year.
Smiling softly, Imogen waved goodbye and pulled her from the home. As I heard the gaggle of vampires dive off, I exhaled a long breath. With only my mother and sister left to visit, the house seemed three times as big.
When Christian showed up an hour later, we’d already put two yawning-with-exhaustion youngsters to bed. When Julian’s last words to me were, “Starla and Jacen always kissing,” I was extremely grateful that everything was going to be over soon.
My sister’s entire face brightened as Christian stepped into our home. He was tall and lanky, with a fuzzy beard and graying hair, but his eyes beamed at my sister like she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Grasping his hand, Ash pulled him farther into the entryway to introduce him to a smaller version of our family.
Our mom was the first to officially meet him. Pleasantly plump, Mom was sort of what Ash and I would have looked like in the future, if life hadn’t deviated us. Now, I was un-aging and Ashley’s scarred body put her on a different path. But Christian’s smile widened as he shook Mom’s hand, maybe seeing the resemblance to the woman he loved anyway.
I got a little nervous as he approached Teren and I. Sure, I’d been dead for awhile now, but I hadn’t had too much practice touching people I didn’t know. Stepping in front of me, his aftershave tickled my nose. Tilting my head, I could clearly hear his surging heartbeat over my mother’s and sister’s. I listened to it for a second, fascinated, and maybe a little hungry. While his face didn’t betray any of it, he was extremely nervous to meet Ashley’s family.
Extending my hand to him, I prepared myself for his reaction. “Emma Adams, nice to finally meet you, Christian.” My gaze flicked over to my sister before returning to him.
He didn’t hesitate to grab my hand, shaking it warmly. As his heat traveled up my arm, I watched his eyes widen, just fractionally. I sniffed for any trace of fear coming from him, but didn’t sense any. “Emma…nice to meet you.”
Before his skin could linger too long on mine, Teren extended his hand. “Teren Adams, we’re glad to have you.”
Christian dropped my hand and clasped my husband’s. His eyes shifted between my hand and Teren’s, but he didn’t comment on our temperature. Some people are naturally cold; Teren and I were just colder than most.
Ashley grinned and giggled softly, pulling her honey away from Teren. Christian smiled and looped an arm around her as we moved our meeting to the living room. All of my sister’s worry about him meeting me were pretty unwarranted; it was clear that his eyes were only interested in her.
Mom sat next to Christian on the couch, grilling him over the technical aspects of his job. Smiling at my mom ferreting out my sister’s potential husband, in her eyes at least, I leaned into Teren’s side, only half listening.
Under the human’s range of hearing, my husband whispered, “He seems nice…genuinely in love with her.”
I nodded discretely, whispering, “Yeah, he seems to really like her.” I looked back at him. “I’m glad she has her own version of you to love.”
Teren smiled, kissing my forehead. As my mom laughed over a joke that Christian had made, Teren laughed as well. “It’s nice, not having so many bodies to block out, isn’t it?”
I grinned, also laughing at something Christian had said. In appearance anyway, in truth, I was laughing at my husband’s comment. “Yes, Starla and Jacen have been driving me crazy.”
Looping his fingers over mine, he murmured, “I know…and I thought we were bad.”
I laughed louder than the current conversation warranted and my mom looked at me oddly before asking Christian about his family. Teren chuckled at me as Christian started explaining that his brother was a teacher and his parents had passed away a few years ago. Seeing the flecks of white in his speckled hair and the lines of wisdom in his features, I started wondering just how much older than Ashley Christian was. Not that I’d call them on it. Lord knows Teren and I weren’t exactly in a typical relationship.
As Ashley started explaining Christian’s scientific breakthrough, Teren sighed wistfully in my ear. Knowing his mind wasn’t really following the conversation in front of us, I asked, “What are you thinking about? Cellular degeneration?”
He smiled as he looked at me, then shook his head minutely. “No…the raid. Just hoping that everything…truly is over.”
I discretely searched his face, seeing the hope there as well as the longing. Like Halina, a part of Teren wanted to be in on the action too. Squeezing his hand, I reiterated, “I’m glad you stayed out of it. I’m glad you stayed by me, even if it was hard for you.” His eyes flicked over mine before shifting back to Christian and my sister. Asking Christian a technical question on his research, he nodded at me.
I suppressed a smile at the duel conversations going on and stroked his hand with my thumb. Once Christian had answered his question, his bearded face as excited as Ashley’s when she talked about the hope his work could give people, Teren spoke just to me again. “I’ll be glad to have you all to myself again. I’ve missed you.”
Feeling a little saucy, since Teren and I really hadn’t had any sort of alone time since Malcolm had shown his haggard face to us, I nestled into his back. Where my sister and her boyfriend wouldn’t be able to see it, my hand floated down to rest on Teren’s inner thigh. “I’ve missed you too. I think we’ll be testing out the soundproofing tonight.”
Teren stiffened a little, adjusting in his seat as he struggled to act like he was paying attention. Under his breath, he muttered, “You’re about to give me Jacen’s earlier problem.”
I throatily laughed. Luckily Ashley had just told a funny story and it was an appropriate moment. To my husband, I whispered, “You have no idea how difficult I’m about to make your…problem.”
Teren groaned a little bit, shifting it to a cough when my sister noticed. Her brown eyes narrowed in warning as she glanced between us. I threw on a causal smile, dropping Teren’s hand to innocently curl a piece of hair around my finger. The hand she couldn’t see however, shifted farther up Teren’s thigh.
Christian asked her a question and she ignored us for a moment. Teren shifted me slightly in front of him, making it seem as if he was only interested in seeing everyone better. My hand slid off his thigh as he angled me up his lap a little bit. From what I could feel pressing into me, I knew he was already sharing Jacen’s earlier discomfort.
“I can’t wait to ge
t you alone,” he muttered. “How long do you think we have to fake that we’re paying attention?”
I bit my lip and tilted my head, wishing he would place a kiss in the tender spot of my neck; maybe some fangs too. We couldn’t exactly hide that though. Sighing softly, I told him, “We have to wait until he leaves…it is our house.”
His hand clenching my hip, he groaned under his breath. “Damn…”
Wanting to tease him a little, I rocked my hips, just once, just a tiny little bit. To our sensitive bodies though, I may as well have reached my hand around and stroked him. He stopped breathing, his hand on my hip gripping and releasing, encouraging me to do that again. I waited a few minutes before I did.
“Keep breathing,” I muttered, reminding him to keep acting human.
His breath started up again, a little faster than necessary. “Sorry…you’re distracting.”
Leaning back into his body, I laughed and asked Christian what he thought of the stem cell research controversy. Both he and my sister lit up at what was a passionate topic for them. My mother leaned in, fascinated, and Teren beside me groaned. Normally he’d be just as interested, but we hadn’t been together in awhile and as I discretely rubbed against him, I knew I was driving him crazy. It drove me a little crazy too, knowing he was going to rip my clothes off the first chance he got.
It was at least two hours later when he had me shoved against our closed bedroom door. Hearing the sound of my mom and Ashley gushing over how sweet and intelligent Christian was stop as the soundproofing cut off everything outside our room, I finally let out the groan I’d wanted to make all night.
Teren’s hands were everywhere as he shed clothes off me. “God, Em, you were driving me crazy.”
My hands were all over him, loosening his belt, popping open his buttons. I laughed huskily in his mouth. “I know…it drove me crazy too.” His hands ripped open my slacks, running down my thighs as he pushed them off. I leaned back against the door as his lips followed his hands down my legs. Running my hands through my hair, I groaned again. “Oh, god, it’s been too long…”
He stood up, twisting me around as he pushed me towards our bed. “I know,” he muttered, ripping off his shirt. Bouncing on the bed, I slipped my underwear off as he pushed down his pants. True, with our gift from Gabriel we could have been silently enjoying each other every night, but we’d been a little too preoccupied to think about it. That, and it was sort of an advertisement to every visiting vampire in the house if we suddenly closed our door.
When he was as naked as I was, he crawled over me, his lips dragging up my skin, his teeth nibbling my flesh. I shuddered and sighed, dropping my head back as my back arched. His mouth stopped at my hips. “God, smelling this for hours just about killed me,” he groaned.
I was about to respond but his mouth was suddenly right…there. I clutched his head, crying out as the wave of intense satisfaction washed over me, stoked over and over by the soft repetitive motion of his tongue. He moaned into my skin as he savored the desire only he created in me. His hands clenched my legs, pushing them farther apart as my cries grew in intensity and volume. It had been even longer since his miraculous mouth had been on me like this.
Just as he drove a finger inside, I released, gasping as I held him to me. He waited until I came all the way down from the orgasm he’d given me, continually flicking his tongue over me. When the wave passed, he lifted his head and slowly continued up my body. By the time he was at my mouth, I wanted him again.
“I love you,” he muttered as he slid into me.
“God, I love you too.” I held his body as close to me as I could, listening to the only things I could hear – our bodies, our breaths, our voices. He dropped his head to my shoulder as our movements escalated. Groaning, his body flexed, preparing to release. Our hips smoothly in rhythm, I flexed my body too, wanting to climax again, but with him this time. I was right there, and together, we cried out in unison, clutching the other tight as his body flowed into me and my body clenched around him. Two beings melding perfectly, even if we were deceased.
As the euphoria of the moment mixed with the exhaustion of the last few days, I felt the peace of sleep creep up on me. Teren felt it too, only shifting to my side before he was asleep. Just as I thought to get up and open our door, that slumber pulled me under too.
Chapter 17
Gone
I dreamt I was falling. Plunging from a great distance, it was both exhilarating and terrifying. The wind rushing past smelled of the sea and for a moment it seemed that I was falling though the ocean. I even saw a few starfish floating past.
As I alternated between wanting to scream in terror and wanting to laugh in delight, I heard my son. Searching around the deep blue space I was plunging through, I found him below, looking up at me.
Sunlight bounced off the jet black hair that marked him as a bone fide Adams. The pale eyes glittered with delight as he extended his arms like he was soaring. I smiled at him as he giggled. Just as I was wondering where my daughter was, he shook his head. “Don’t worry, Mommy. We’re magic, remember?”
I tilted my head at him and then he was gone. A bat hovered in his place and I laughed out loud that my son had finally mastered the impossible trick that he and Nika practiced so often.
“Mommy?”
A voice back in the real world slowly started bringing me to awareness. Unlike my dream, this sweet, high-pitched tremble belonged to my daughter. I could smell fear in the air along with something faintly familiar, but my hazy brain phased in and out of consciousness, not able to focus on anything for longer than a couple seconds.
I felt the end of the bed compress and heard and smelled the sweetness of my daughter crawling up to me. Adjusting the sheets around my naked body, I automatically reached down for her, pulling her up to me. Her entire body shook, and thinking she was cold against my dead flesh, I pulled the quilt off of Teren’s body and wrapped it around hers; he didn’t need it anyway.
My daughter’s shaking didn’t stop any once she was bundled. She clung to me, not wanting the barrier even though she seemed cold. “Mommy?” she whispered, her voice trembling too.
Sleepily, I patted her back and kissed her head. “It’s alright, Nika, go back to sleep.” Teren shifted beside us, inhaling for the first time in hours as he woke up a little.
Nika shook her head under my lips. “Mommy…monster.”
Half in and out of sleep, I pulled her tight and mumbled, “Shhh, baby. It was just a bad dream. Go to sleep, honey.”
She shook her head harder and I cracked open my eyes, my glow highlighting her quivering lips, her wide eyes. Seeing me more awake, she shook her head again. “No, Mommy…monster in my room,” she whimpered, still scared.
Teren yawned, awakened further by her distress. “It’s okay, Nika, you’re safe, Daddy’s here,” he mumbled, flipping over to put an arm around where she was huddled in-between us.
Seeing Teren’s peaceful face returning to a place of rest, my eyes started fluttering closed. I nestled my head in my daughter’s hair. “Daddy’s right, baby. You’re safe. There are no such things as monsters.”
Somewhere in my hazy brain I noted the irony of me saying that to her, considering what we were. Floating back into sleep, I heard Nika’s sniffles growing louder, along with her tremors. “Mommy…wake up.”
I popped an eye open, trying to fight the desire to just ignore her and let that peace wash over me. Maybe she’d pieced things together about why so many people had been camping out with us lately and it had frightened her. She did seem genuinely scared.
Her little heat-pack hands came up to cup my cheeks and I opened my eyes wider. Seeing the dark depths of hers, I saw the sheer terror in them and felt a hot tear splash on my arm. Fighting through the fog of waking up, I frowned. “Baby, you’re safe. Mommy and Daddy have you.” Teren’s arm around her tightened, silently agreeing with me.
In a whisper that even I could barely hear, she said, “Monster took J
ulie.”
I opened my mouth to automatically tell her that monsters weren’t real, when I finally felt it. Teren and I sat bolt upright at the exact same time. We looked at each other for the briefest fraction of a second as fear washed through every part of me. Nika was right – Julian wasn’t in the house.
We sprang out of bed, blurring on any clothes we could find nearby while Nika watched us, tears on her cheeks as she sat small and alone on our bed. I ended up in Teren’s work shirt and a pair of my lounge pants that I’d tossed in the corner a couple of days ago. I couldn’t have cared less though. My son was no longer in my sanctuary. Pure ice flooded my body, my soul.
“Stay in the house with her, I’m getting Julian,” Teren said, tossing on some pants and immediately phasing from the room. I could sense him streaking towards the front door and scooped Nika up, following. Seeing her parents in action, Nika started to sob. Her terror mixed with mine, amplifying it.
The blurb on my personal radar that was Julian was moving fast, away from us, in a southerly direction. I had no idea why Julian would leave his bed in the middle of the night. I had no idea why he’d go outside, much less run away from us. When Teren was at the entryway and I was at the top of the stairs, I felt something change. Julian’s position turned around, started coming back to us. Holding my breath, I locked eyes with my husband as he looked up at me. “He’s coming back,” he muttered.
Conversion Book Three: 'Til Death Page 33