by C. L. Quinn
“The amulet is still servicing its vampire, correct?”
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Okay. This is so difficult, without knowing what it is you need to do, what you need from the amulet, how much power you need, and what the final outcome must be. But I will do what I can.”
“You don’t know how much this means to me and the person that I need to help.”
“I hope I won’t regret it. Okay. The connection to its source is the key. If you can tap into the power of the earth, of the sky, and move that power into the vampire, he will be able to accomplish a great many things. It isn’t easy, but all first bloods have the potential to access this power and wield it, temporarily, to do feats well beyond anything any one of us has ever been able to do on our own. As you know, we recently discovered that combining our talents on the spiritual plane reaches levels that might rival that of a god.”
“I’m so grateful that we were able to find enough information in time to save Dez and Park. That is the highlight of my life.”
“It should be. Those are spectacular women and you are personally responsible for bringing events together that led to the cure we needed. That’s why I wish you would let me help you now.”
“I wish I could.”
“All right, then. To do this, to touch the powers of the amulet, you would need a place with a deep connection to the earth. Somewhere close to her heart where the magic can stretch into the sky and down into the core. You need to be far from all of man’s machinations. Somewhere that also carries magic. You don’t want any interference.”
“It makes sense. Any other advice?”
“At that point, you and the first blood must give in to instinct and just listen. I wish you luck, Sarah.”
“Thank you. I’ll let you know the result.”
“Oh, you’d better. I will be waiting here immensely worried and curious.”
“You and me both.” Sarah’s mind was spinning. She was half ready to go ahead and tell Tamesine everything and ask her to bring Koen, Park, and Eillia to help.
“Tamesine, what would happen if someone were to try to reverse a universally designed event? To stop a destiny made on the spiritual plane?”
Dead silence again. This time the pause lasted longer before Tamesine’s sigh preceded her next words.
“Sarah, you need to tell me what you are doing.”
“I will…”
“Now, Sarah. This sounds like it may have consequences beyond you and this unidentified vampire. I can’t let you do this without guidance from our oldest first bloods.”
Sarah’s harsh laugh was abrupt. “You’d be surprised then that that isn’t a problem. Tamesine, I’m going to let you go now. Thank you for your help.”
IN SOUTHERN FRANCE
The phone call went dead. Tamesine just stared at the home screen of her cell phone for several long minutes.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered and headed downstairs to find Koen and Eillia.
Something bad was happening, she just felt it. Sarah was one of the brightest people she’d ever met, human or vampire, and if she was nervous, this was serious. While Tamesine had no idea what this was, she knew that someone from her race needed to be there to control or at least monitor whatever the hell Sarah was involved in.
Reaching the main floor, she entered the dining room. They had risen for first meal about an hour ago, and most of the members of the household were finished and gone, but Eillia remained, a spoon held out to her son. She looked up with a sweet smile as Tamesine entered.
“Hey. I’m heading into Paris shortly. Would you like to come?”
“Paris sounds lovely, but I was thinking that a little trip to the U.S. sounds better. Boston, in fact.”
Eillia laid the spoon in a bowl still half-filled with ice cream. Her eyes closed briefly, the smile gone, and when she opened them, she sighed.
“What now?” Eillia asked.
“Trouble.”
“It must be Tuesday.”
“My favorite phrase. Yes, it’s Tuesday.”
“All right.” Eillia stood and placed Caedmon on the floor. “Go find Daddy. He’s in the living room.”
The toddler raced from the room on plump legs, but he was now very steady, even at that quick pace.
“Give me the details.”
“I don’t have any. But wait until I tell you what I do know.”
Ten minutes later, Eillia polished off the melting ice cream while Tamesine picked at a slice of chocolate cake with buttercream icing.
“Okay. I agree. This isn’t something we can ignore. Sarah’s too smart to discount your assessment. Trouble.”
Tamesine nodded and scored all of the thick icing off the side of the cake. “Yep, trouble.”
IN BOSTON
Sarah had spent all night online and made her choice.
“Close to the earth and near to the sky. Somewhere sacred and magical,” she whispered.
She had to find a place to take Mies and Nikolai where they could try this. They needed to access the spiritual plane.
On her mind the entire time was the reality, the inevitability that if they did this…if they succeeded…one of the two men that she had come to care about would not be here afterward. Pressure persisted in her chest and the pit of her stomach. Several times, she thought that she might throw up.
The only thing that kept her moving toward this horrible task was what Mies had said to her. “What we know is that we cannot live this way, either of us.”
“How can I do this? How can I let one of you die?”
The impossible question hung in the air and suffocated Sarah. Closing her laptop, she walked to the window to look out at the sunrise painting a new day in soft blue and rose watercolors. But she didn’t want a new day, because when it ended, as it inevitably must, she would have to go to Mies and Nikolai and tell them to pack for a journey to the Appalachian Mountains.
When she turned a few minutes later, she slipped off her dress and just dropped onto her bed. Rolling over, tears threatened.
“Please let this go well, and let both men stay on this earth,” she prayed.
And that was new for her, too. She fell asleep, aware that her cheeks were wet.
What the hell was that sound? Seconds later, blinking, Sarah realized it was her cell phone, disco music blaring into her sleep. She was so exhausted by the past 24 hours, her mind wasn’t functioning at full capacity.
Normally, she would shoot out of bed and grab the offending phone, but her legs were stiff from a long shift and didn’t want to mind the order to stand and move.
“God, I’m not sure this was such a good choice after all,” she whispered to herself as she contemplated the effects of aging.
“Yes?” she called into the phone when she finally unlocked it and answered the call. For a full ten seconds, no one responded. She thought that she knew why.
“Mies?” she asked.
“Yes,” his deep voice responded.
Why did her body respond immediately, just at the sound of his voice? A flush moved from her head down and centered at her core.
“Sarah,” he continued. “We’ve risen and Nikolai wanted to know if you found anything. And he wanted to know something else, too.”
Curious, Sarah dropped into the chair near her window. She needed to meet with them and talk to them about her conversation with Tamesine. But she found that she was more interested in what Mies said about Nikolai.
“What else does he want to know?”
“He would like you to let him spend a night with your friend. You know that he would treat her well, Sarah. He has had his life hijacked by this merge, the man deserves some pleasure. Won’t you allow him to have it with the luscious beauty? He thinks of her nonstop.”
The request stunned her. Mies wanted Naji to have sex with the body he now inhabited. Jealousy struck deep in her belly before she could tamp it down, even though she knew it was unfounded. Nikolai and Mies were not the same pers
on. Not where it counted.
“Little doctor, I know what you are thinking, and it is not true. The chocolate-skinned woman is lovely, and I would be thrilled to have a night with her…were it not for you. Also, Nikolai has strong leanings toward her and I would not betray him. I told you once before that I would not be present if he were to be with her, and I will not. So please do not think that it is I who ask.”
She didn’t know what to say. “I’m not sure that letting them have a date is wise.”
“It may not be, but it is important. Sarah, we do not know how this is going to turn out. Nikolai deserves a last evening if it doesn’t go right.”
A last good day. What terminal patients called the day before the disease claims dominance. There was a similarity. She could grant him something he wanted deeply. Was there any reason to deny him? No.
“All right. Yes, I will make the arrangement.”
“Thank you.” He was silent for a few moments. “I will not be there. It will just be Nikolai and Naji.”
“Okay.” What else was there to say? She wouldn’t tell him that she was jealous and that she couldn’t think about Naji lying naked with him, making love with him, touching him like she so desperately wanted to. That she wanted that same last day with Mies.
“I know. I know it won’t be you. Just, make sure that she’s okay before you leave. Be sure that she has memories that won’t hurt if she never sees him again.”
“You have my word on it.”
“I’ll call you when the date is set.”
“Sarah…”
“Mies, I have to go.”
Sarah felt guilty hanging up on him, but her emotions suddenly went wild as she considered how dangerous what they were planning to do really was. One or both of these men that she cared for might die. How could she live with herself if that happened? If either of them died? There was little doubt it would turn out that way.
She should bring the other first bloods into this before it went wrong. Making the decision suddenly, she dialed the phone again.
Mies answered immediately.
“Mies, I know that you didn’t want the first bloods involved, but this is too important and too dangerous. I’m going to call them.”
There was no response.
“Mies?”
The line was still open, she could hear strange sounds, but he didn’t respond.
“Mies? Answer me.”
“No, you won’t.”
His voice was deeper than she’d ever heard it, filled with emotion, and it didn’t come through the phone.
As she turned, Mies’s big body filled her view. He’d moved using hyper-speed from his hotel room to her apartment and through the locked door.
Laying her phone on the back of the sofa, Sarah looked at him, breathing hard, but not from the exertion, his eyes searching hers. She was speechless. He wasn’t.
“You can’t, I forbid it. You must understand what forces we are playing with here. This must go well and it must go only one way.”
Sarah’s breath coming quickly now too, she returned his intense gaze.
“What do you mean?”
“There is one body, Sarah. One body, two men. You understand what that means.”
Moisture surged unbidden, the amber iris’s shining through tears. “Of course I understand. That’s why I want to call in my friends. They may have a way.”
“How? How can you fix this?”
Moving closer, his scent overwhelmed Sarah. His hands went to her forearms, warm fingers wrapped around them, and he spoke so quietly, she had to lean in to hear him.
“The body, the life in that body, belongs to Nikolai. I have been dead for several millennia. I do not deserve this life.”
“But you’re here, you have a reason, you believe it’s destiny. You must stay.”
Mies shook his head. “I cannot stay without replacing Nikolai. That…I will not do.”
When tears filled Mies’s eyes, Sarah was lost.
At the same moment, they moved in and held each other, so close, she felt every contour of him. She couldn’t even imagine letting him go from here, return to his state on the celestial plane, and never have a chance to be with him, to touch, to kiss, to feel him on her, inside of her, part of her.
She pulled away from him just enough to speak, her lips so near his, they breathed the same air.
“Is Nikolai…someplace else?”
“He’s on a beach in the spiritual plane. I did not want him to know that I am releasing his body to him and fading back to eternity.”
On tiptoe, Sarah pulled Mies down and kissed him, lightly at first, then deeply, with everything she was. He responded desperately because she made it clear that she wanted him, and that the answer was yes.
Keeping the kiss going, he lifted Sarah into his arms and carried her to the bed. He followed her down to the firm mattress and lay on top of her.
Gods in all the heavens, she felt like she belonged there. He knew that she did. In all of his years on this planet those long centuries ago, he’d never found his mate. He knew, without question, that destiny had brought him here for her. Sarah was the woman always meant for him.
Destiny, you heartless crone, he thought. You give her to me knowing that I cannot stay. You’ve destroyed me and this perfect woman, too. You unkind soul, to do this, when she has served you so well.
His lips against her throat, Mies whispered. “We will make love?”
Her fingers twisted in his hair, her body pressed against him, Sarah smiled. “We will make love. If you must go away, I need to be with you first, every way possible.” She closed her eyes. “I give up my desire to remain connected fully to the human world. I want you, I admit it, damn it, with every drop of blood that pumps through me, I want you. Why I do, well, that remains a mystery.”
“I’m irresistible,” Mies smiled back to her. Then the smile dropped as he caressed her face, her eyes opened again and focused on his. “It’s because we are meant to be, Sarah the doctor. I was yours the moment I looked up into those soulful eyes at the hospital. No, I was yours before they even sent me here. Destiny spoke.”
“I don’t believe in destiny.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve seen its hand in the vampire world. Your human side is trying to subvert your own experience. Now, let me show you that destiny knows what she is doing.”
Mies slid down her body, slowly pulling her slacks off as he went. He nipped her inner thigh, then licked the tender spot while his fingers caressed the skin along her side. She could feel his breath on the slit just above that place and couldn’t stop herself from moaning.
Sarah reached up to the metal headboard to hold on for the ride of her life. She’d never had sex with someone she was falling for. Her experiences had been pleasant, the men had been attractive, but she hadn’t really had any feelings for them. Mies…oh, hell, Mies was different.
Was this love? She didn’t know. All she knew was that when she was with him, she wanted to crawl inside him…every time. When he wasn’t there, she was thinking of him. And the thought of him being gone forever…it tore her heart to pieces!
Finishing his journey from her belly to her knees, little bites followed by long licks, Mies moved back up as he parted Sarah’s legs and slid between them. Vampires could move much faster than humans, but Sarah had never thought of the sexual implication of that vampire ability. When Mies’s tongue slid along the side of the sensitive slit between, he ramped up the speed and Sarah nearly exploded off the bed.
She could hear him laugh just before the tongue buried into her, hyper-fast and furious, skilled like she’d never known, pulling and twisting the clitoris and deep beneath. Her fingers tightened on the slim metal stiles of the headboard as she held on through a sensual assault she could never have imagined. God, she’d been right! How could a human man compare to him? Although she knew, she admitted it, he was more than just a practiced vampire sexual partner to her. He was in her heart.
It was
going to hurt so much when he left!
But now, this second, he was making love to her in the most deeply sensual way possible. His tongue made its way all around the center of her sex, plunging over and over to suck and pull at the opening, to bring her to an orgasm so intense, she felt him pull her into his arms as he steadied her while her body bucked unrelentlessly.
Mies wanted to feel her as she orgasmed, the most personal, erotic thing he could imagine in this world. He felt her body shudder and finally come back down from the electric orgasm that he knew was the best she’d ever had. Not because he was that much better than anyone else she might have been with, although he knew that he was, but because they were connected to each other.
Lifting away, Mies looked into her eyes. No words were needed, they both knew that the only thing that would satisfy either of them was for him to slide into her, and seconds later, all of their clothes abandoned on the cool floor, he plunged into Sarah and just let himself feel her. Buried deep, his skin against hers, he was still, satisfied. When he looked into her eyes, they shined with unreleased tears. His own misty vision told him that his were, too.
When he began to move, he wrapped himself even tighter around her and let their bodies do what they wanted to do, in and out, over and over, hot friction burning them both with a fire they’d never felt with any other. He felt Sarah give in to him completely, her heart and spirit lost to him now. He felt a sorrow that she would always want him and he wouldn’t be there, and at the same time, an unbounded joy that she now knew that they were always meant to be together, like this, whether many times over many years, or just this once.
No matter the outcome of their intervention, he was grateful that the universe had sent him here, to her, so that even this one act was worth the interruption to his eternal rest. Later, when he was back on the spiritual plane, he would let them know that the chance to touch the woman who would have been his mate was worth any price.
Something inside of Sarah broke, a wall she’d always kept up, a barrier around her heart, protection from any pain that true love might cause, but it was blown apart by this connection that let her know it was well beyond just physical. Unbidden, unwanted, her attachment to this man, this supernatural being who likely would not be able to stay here with her, was deep and true and binding. She would miss him forever, an eternal need that would always be unmet. Until the day she left this life, she couldn’t regret a moment.