Master of Ecstasy

by Nina Bangs

  She got up and put her reader back in her pack. It contained all the volumes in the Intergalactic Library, and she'd kept herself busy learning more than she ever wanted to know about vampires. But she was starting to feel hungry, so…

  Faint shouts erased all thoughts of food. It sounded like a lot of people, and they must be yelling for her to hear them up here. She was hurrying to peer out the arrow slit when Ganymede flung open the door and rushed in. Blythe opened her mouth to make a caustic comment about latched doors being meant to keep people out, but shut it when she saw his expression.

  "Wake the vampire. We need him." He turned to rush out again.

  Blythe grabbed his sleeve and hung on. "Wait. What's happening?"

  "Castle Ganymede is under attack. Can't stop to explain. Look out the window." Then he was gone.

  Blythe stood for a moment staring after him, then rushed to the arrow slit. Ganymede had felt so sure that his plan to block the footbridge would stop the mob. The castle stood on an island, for heaven's sake. The bridge was the only way onto it unless the attackers had boats.

  She stared down at the teeming mob of angry Highlanders. Right. The bridge was the only way onto the island except at low tide. The mob was ignoring the blocked footbridge in favor of wading through knee-high water to reach the castle, and it looked as if they were dragging some sort of battering ram with them. Great. Just great.

  Blythe turned from the window. She had to wake Darach.

  Hurrying to the side of his bed, she drew in a deep breath. "Wake up, Darach." Nothing. She turned the volume up a few decibels. "Hey, MacKenzie, time to rise and shine." Nothing. Okay, she'd give her hog-calling voice a try. "Yo, laird of the keep, get up and save the castle!" Nothing. Wow, talk about dead to the world.

  She'd have to touch him. Tentatively she shook his shoulder. No response. She couldn't mess around anymore. The shouts were getting louder, and she could hear a resounding boom as the battering ram had a go at the castle's gate. Clasping both his shoulders in her hands, she shook him for all she was worth.

  A few minutes later she was winded and no closer to waking him. Frantically she looked around. Her gaze settled on the pitcher of water beside her bed. She grabbed the pitcher and balanced it over Darach's head. This had to work, because she was out of ideas. She emptied the pitcher onto Darach's upturned face. He remained blissfully asleep.

  With a defeated groan, she sank onto the bed beside him. "Next time you tell me to wake you, MacKenzie, make sure you leave a percussion bomb to do the job."

  Blythe raked her fingers through her hair. Think. There must be something that would wake him. What was the one thing that could wake her out of a deep sleep? Choco-creamian cakes. If the situation weren't so desperate, she would've smiled. When she was a kid, the smell of Mom's freshly hydrated and puffheated choco-creamian cakes was an instant wake-up call.

  So what about Darach? He had enhanced senses, but he sure hadn't responded to sound or touch. Taste or smell? He didn't eat… She widened her eyes. But he did drink. It was a long shot, but she had to try something. Her only protection was her Freeze-frame, but it wouldn't be much help against a mob that size. She needed Darach awake.

  Blythe swallowed hard as she stared at him. Time to dig down to what she really believed. Yes, she'd been alone with Darach, but not in this kind of situation. She couldn't fool herself. What she was about to do would put her in harm's way.

  Did she trust him enough? Did she have any hard and fast proof that she should trust him? Was it worth taking the chance? No. Sort of. She listened to the growing sounds of chaos outside. Yes.

  She went to her travel pack, pulled out her Freeze-frame, then returned to lie down beside him. Even though she thought she trusted him, she wasn't going to be stupid about this. Pushing the top of her dress aside, she pulled his head toward her until his mouth rested next to the pulse point at the base of her neck. If this didn't wake him, nothing would, because her heart was pounding loud enough to attract any vampires within a hundred-mile radius.

  "Wake up, Darach. Please wake up." She smoothed his damp hair away from his eyes, then gently dried his face with the end of his cover.

  Blythe wasn't surprised at her instant awareness, the clenching low in her belly. Even in sleep, his sexual pull drew her to him. But her sudden fierce need to protect him did shock her. Lying quietly beside her, he was completely vulnerable, or at least Blythe assumed he was vulnerable. Having read about what people believed vampires could do, she supposed she might be wrong. But right now, with his mouth soft on her neck, she'd try to protect him against an army of stake-wielding vampire hunters.

  She closed her eyes, trying to make sense of her feelings. No man had ever made her feel protective, so why Darach? He would laugh out loud if he knew she wanted to protect him. He had survived for five hundred years without her help, so he could probably stumble along for another five hundred alone.

  Alone. Was that it? Did his aloneness call to her protective instincts? Super. The castle was under attack by a bunch of ax-waving Highlanders, and she was thinking soft, mushy thoughts.

  He moved against her neck, and she forgot all about protecting him. What if her wake-up call carried him away? How would she protect herself? Would the Freeze-frame be effective against a vampire? It would immobilize a human for up to an hour or more, but what if it was fatal to a vampire? Would she risk it?

  Blythe almost stopped breathing as she felt the warm slide of his tongue against her neck. Her pulse must be pounding out of control by now, an irresistible temptation for a vampire.

  He was awake, so why didn't she leap from the bed? She couldn't—she just couldn't. And it had nothing to do with some mysterious vampire power. His mouth moving against her skin, the warmth of his breath soft on her neck, and his low, sleepy murmur paralyzed the part of her brain in charge of life-preserving actions.

  "Tell me what ye wish, woman from another time." He had shoved his cover aside and now buried his face in the hollow of her neck. At the same time, he rolled partly over her and slid his bare thigh across her leg.

  Bite me would definitely not be one of her requests. She closed her eyes to better savor the erotic sensation of his thigh riding higher and higher until he pressed hard between her spread legs at exactly the right spot. Said spot grew moist and puffed itself up in anticipation. Even through her dress her body responded to his heat and friction. Her body seemed to liquefy, and she absently wondered if all of her erotic fantasies were oozing out of her in a scalding river.

  Blythe was so caught up in scalding rivers and erotic fantasies that at first she didn't notice his small nibbles along the side of her neck. It was all part of the sensual package he was delivering. She moaned her enjoyment of the nibbling sensation.

  Sluggishly she was trying to remember why she should close her legs when he moved his thigh and replaced it with the hard length of his erection. Pressing down, he rubbed a slow, sensual rhythm against her favorite spot, making her ignore how his mouth had stilled, how the small nibbles had now narrowed down to two sharp points of sensation on her neck.

  "There is only so much temptation ye can expect me to withstand. I dinna want to wait longer. I wish to taste ye and join with ye in a way no other ever will." His voice was still a sleepy murmur.

  Something about the tasting part should have thrown up a red flag, and combined with the increasing pressure on her neck, that red flag should have been waving wildly. But the complete sensual experience was flowing over her, washing away warning signals.

  A raucous shout from the courtyard shattered her strange sexual euphoria. "Come ye, lads. Break down the cursed gate. Then I will carve out the hearts of all the demons who dwell here."

  Carve out hearts? Demons? What the… ?

  "Be still, lass, and dinna look at me." Darach's voice had lost all sleepiness.

  The pressure on her neck disappeared even as Blythe closed her eyes tightly. The pressure she'd felt hadn't come from an ordinary set of h
uman teeth. Those had been sharp canines pressing into her neck. And no, she didn't want to see his big bad teeth close up and personal. She couldn't take either a yikes or yuck experience at the moment.

  "What were ye thinking to put yourself in such danger?" He wasn't talking about the carving-out-hearts guy in the courtyard.

  She held her breath as he moved off her. Still keeping her eyes tightly shut, she sat up. "You said to wake you if the villagers attacked. Well, they attacked, and I tried to wake you. You didn't warn me that nothing short of an exploding planet would wake you." She shrugged. "I tried the only thing left I could think of."

  "Ye could have destroyed us both." She felt the bed shift as he stood.

  Her eyes popped open as she turned to glare at him. "So now it's my fault? lust like a man." Luckily, he looked like himself again.

  His smile was slow, sexy, and made her feel all warm and wet again. She narrowed her gaze. Oh, no, she wasn't going to let him charm her out of her anger.

  "If I were like a man, we wouldna need this talk." He glanced at the Freeze-frame resting beside her. "What is that?"

  She glanced at the weapon. Fat lot of good it had done her. Once Darach started working his magic, she had forgotten all about it. "It's a Freeze-frame. It can paralyze a human for up to an hour."

  "You thought to use this on me?" His expression gave no hint of his feelings.

  She could lie. She could tell him it was to protect herself against the howling mob below. But she wouldn't. She firmed her resolve. "Yes. If I had to."

  "But ye didna. Why?" His eyes gleamed with a secret knowledge that made her uneasy.

  Blythe frowned as she thought about his question. "I don't know. Everything just sort of faded away once you touched me. I couldn't think of anything except… sex." Maybe she was carrying this honesty thing a little too far.

  His smile was knowing. "Aye. A weapon willna help ye if ye dinna recognize the danger until it is too late."

  His smile faded. "Never try to wake me like that again." His gaze was level, serious. "When I'm not fully awake, the blood lust and need to join with ye become one, and I canna fight the temptation." Suddenly he smiled again and relaxed. "If ye wish to join with me, ye must make sure I am awake."

  She was so mad that all of her clever retorts tangled in her throat. All that came out was an angry hiss.

  "Aye, I understand. Ye wish to thank me for my advice." His smile turned teasing.

  Teasing? He was teasing her? Blythe had no time to think about this new facet of his personality because the screams and pounding from below had grown louder.

  "You have to help Ganymede." She glanced at the narrow slit. Pale light still shone through it. "But it's still light outside. What can you do?"

  "Do the clouds hang heavy?" He had put on his plaid and footwear.

  "It's been raining all day, and I haven't seen a break in the clouds." She watched as he strode from her room, then heard him moving around in his room above her. She breathed a sigh of relief when he returned a few minutes later with a large black garment slung across his arm.

  Silently she watched him wrap the cloak around himself, then pull the oversized hood over his head. There was nothing human remaining to be seen. His hands were tucked into the cloak, and she could see nothing of his face.

  She controlled a shudder. "You look like the Ghost of Christmas Future."

  "What?" He was already striding toward the door.

  "Can you go out in the light? Won't you incinerate when you hit the daylight?" She huffed to keep up with him as he climbed the steps to the battlements.

  "I willna go up in a puff of smoke, but I willna be comfortable." He paused on the steps. "If the sun breaks through the clouds, it will be verra painful." He continued climbing. "But I have no choice if I wish to save others from dying."

  As Blythe struggled up the stairs behind him, she was surprised to realize that most of her worry was for him, not the horde of anonymous "others."

  "How will you stop them?" She almost slammed into him as he stopped and looked back at her.

  She could see nothing past the enveloping hood, only the blue glitter of his eyes. Eyes that changed even as she watched. They seemed to elongate, grow more intense, and Blythe couldn't mistake the eyes of a predator. She was glad she couldn't see the rest of his face.

  "I will find the weakest among them. One with a fear that will also frighten the others."

  Blythe didn't need to see his face to know that his smile would be feral.

  "Then I will make his fear real."

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  « ^ »

  "We have a situation here. Where the he… Where in heaven's name is the blood-sucker?" Ganymede peered down from the battlements at the mob below. "There must be almost a hundred wackos down there."

  Sparkle leaped onto the wall, sat, then gazed up at the cloud-filled sky. "Could have something to do with daylight and instant death. That's just my opinion, though."

  "What?" He winced as the battering ram slammed into the gate again and he could hear the distinct sound of splintering wood.

  Sparkle cast him a thoughtful glance. "How about opening a big hole and they can all fall in? Technically, you wouldn't be hurting them. They'd be hurting themselves by falling in." Her expression said that she thought her suggestion sounded perfectly logical.

  Ganymede yanked at his bushy beard. This was the last time he'd do the beard thing. It itched like crazy. "Can't do it. The Big Boss doesn't piddle around with semantics. I make the hole. They fall in. I'm directly responsible for hurting them."

  "That really sucks." Sparkle sounded sincerely sympathetic.

  His mood lightened for a moment. Sparkle hadn't offered much sympathy lately. "Okay, back to brain-storming. How about you? The Big Boss hasn't slapped you with any cease-and-desist orders."

  "I don't have the power to put a hurting on them." She perked up. "Hey, what if I make them in lust with each other? They might forget all about carving out our hearts." She shrugged. "Not that we're in any danger. You could just change into a cat form and we could get our butts out of here."

  Ganymede shook his head. "If I abandoned my customers, I'd have to pay megabucks to their estates. People sue over every little thing nowadays. I'd be headed for bankruptcy court." He paused for thought. "The lust thing could work, but I doubt it. Highlanders love fighting too much. They'd carve out our hearts and then make love."

  Sparkle's expression said she couldn't imagine anyone with that kind of mentality. "By the way, where are your customers? Seems to me that they have a vested interest in the outcome of this. Why aren't they out here cheering you on?"

  "They're all in their rooms getting it on. They have confidence that I can handle this." If the vampire didn't show soon, he'd have to go down and drag him out by his pointed teeth. Ganymede didn't relish the thought. "That's why I took this form. It instills confidence. I look like a good guy. You know, the red-cape syndrome."

  Sparkle's snort expressed her opinion succinctly. "Sure. Mede, you can change forms all you want, but no one who looks into those yellow eyes will ever mistake you for the good guy. They're the only things you don't have the power to change. Windows to the soul and all that crap."

  Once again, Ganymede felt a twinge of hurt. Sparkle was the only one who could make him feel that way.

  Her gaze softened. "But you know what, big guy? I love those eyes." She glanced away. "Always have."

  Something tenuous moved between them for a moment, then was gone.

  "Hey, there's the blood-sucker." He frowned. "I think."

  Sparkle studied the hooded figure that had walked onto the battlements a short distance away. She barely noticed Blythe trailing behind him. "Oh, wow. He looks just like the grim reaper, minus the scythe. What a turn-on." She narrowed her gaze as Darach flung his arms in front of his face and backed toward the stairs. "Uh-oh. Make it dark, Mede."

  "Huh?" Ganymede allowed his attention to wande
r to the Highlander with the biggest mouth, the one threatening to carve out hearts. Just once he'd like to catch a pissant like that when the Big Boss wasn't watching.

  "Make it dark, Mede. The vampire can't take the light." Sparkle was sounding more and more frantic.

  Ganymede tried to think logically. If he helped the blood-sucker, then he was really helping to keep his customers alive. That was good. And messing with the elements wasn't wrong so long as it didn't hurt any humans. Made sense to him. He smiled. It had been a while since he'd exercised his power.

  "Do it now, Mede." Sparkle reached out a claw to snag his shirt.

  "Sure thing." He winked at Sparkle. "It's show time, babe."

  He lifted his arms to the sky. Okay, so he was hamming it up a little. Concentrating, he called in the night and all that was dark. The wind became a gale, the clouds grew black, and darkness rolled in. It was as though dusk had fast-forwarded.

  The mob at the gate seemed too focused on their attack to notice or care about the growing dimness. Ganymede smiled. I've set the stage for you, bloodsucker. Now do your thing.

  "What happened? How did it get so dark?" Blythe brushed her hair away from her face as the wind whipped it in every direction.

  Darach allowed himself a brief smile, a smile he knew she could not see. "Ganymede thinks to make things more comfortable for me so that I can save him from embarrassment." And though Darach would not wish to admit it, he was thankful for the help. It had been many years since he had ventured out on even the darkest of days. He had forgotten the pain.

  Darach leaped onto the top of the battlements, ignoring Blythe's gasp.

  "Be careful." Her voice was filled with worry. For him.

  Had anyone worried about him in five hundred years? He did not think so. He tried to resist a rush of warm feelings for her.

  She wanted him safe so that he could save her. Given a chance, she would have used her weapon on him. And she only wished him to be happy so that she would not have to return to Casperwyoming. There, he had hardened his heart against her. Ye lie to yourself.