Templar Vampires 02 - The Daystar

by Lyons, Rene

  When Constantine slipped a finger into her wetness, Lex clawed at his back, ripping at his skin with her nails. Her back arched and a hiss of breath left her as her body strained for more of his touch. With his other hand he tore open his pants and shoved them down. When he couldn’t get them off, he broke the contact of their bodies only long enough to rid himself of his clothes.

  He came back to her, his fingers playing her body as his mouth licked and nipped a path down to the part of her that needed him most. Using his tongue and fingers, Constantine showed her what it meant to be worshiped by a Templar. He worked magic on her body, bringing her to her first climax. When he took his mouth and hands from her, Lex lay gasping for breath as the last of the tremors subsided.

  With a devilish gleam in his eye, Constantine lay back on the bed and dragged her on top of him. Unsure of what he wanted from her, Lex merely sat, taking in the incredible sight of him.

  Lex had the basic idea of what to do—after all, she was innocent, not stupid. It frustrated her that she didn’t know how to execute all the wicked thoughts running through her mind.

  “Tell me what you want me to do.”

  His hands spanned her waist as he took in the sight of her body greedily. “Ride me.”

  That sounded simple enough. And it put Lex in complete control, something she found incredibly erotic. Swallowing hard, she pushed herself up and awkwardly tried to settle herself on top of him. All she managed to do was feel foolish when it didn’t work out very well. With a grunt, Constantine helped her out by taking hold of his substantial self. With ease, he guided himself into her. Her gasp mingled with his groan as she came down on him. Her body stretched as he filled her.

  “That’s it, elf. Take all of me.”

  And she did.

  She slid down his shaft until he was seated fully inside of her. The hint of pain mingled with intense pleasure when she carefully moved on him. Constantine was a large man, in every way, and her body was still adjusting to him.

  Her movements were slow, tentative, until Lex found her rhythm. She gained some confidence when she dared a peek down at Constantine and saw the expression of raw pleasure on his face. Once she saw that, Lex stopping thinking. Worrying. She just felt. The feel of Constantine’s hard body sliding in and out of her, stroking her, awakened every nerve in her body.

  Needing to touch him, Lex ran her hands along Constantine’s chest. She loved the power she had over both of them and used that advantage to tease him with a ruthlessness that matched what he’d done to her the first time they’d made love. She gasped when she lifted herself, coming almost completely off of him, only to come down hard and fast.

  By the animalistic growl, Lex knew he enjoyed that as much as she did. So she did it again, and again, until they were both damn near mad with desire. His hands came around her waist and he took control of her movements. Constantine moved her over him, his fingers biting into her as he growled out her name.

  Just when Lex thought Constantine was about to reach his peak, he lifted her off him and threw her on the bed. He was on her in an instant, sliding deep into her.

  Like a wild animal, he pumped into her, his body straining. When he buried his face in her neck and scraped his fangs over her flesh, she nearly came right off the bed.

  “Oh God,” she breathed, rubbing her cheek against his hair. She held his head to her as he licked and nipped at her throat.

  ”You’re mine.”

  He growled that a split second before his fangs tore into her throat.

  The pain lasted but a moment. A part of her warned her to stop him, but ecstasy ripped through her as she reached orgasm. The pleasure was strong enough to drive out all thought and fear of consequence as Constantine drank in her blood.

  As he pulled on her throat, he held her firmly against him, preventing her from moving. Lex was taken away from the here and now. She squeezed her eyes shut and saw the black-haired blue-eyed boy as clear as if he were standing right in front of her. Living and breathing, and so real she thought she could actually reach out and touch him.

  She did reach out to him. Her arms stretched toward him but she grasped nothing but air. He stared at her hands with eyes glistening with unshed tears. There was blood everywhere. Steaming out of the deep gash that ran down the left side of his face.

  Constantine...

  Lex knew in that instant the boy she saw was Constantine as he’d once been.

  A filthy, stained tunic covered his adolescent body. His legs were bare. His pain ran through her, replacing the pleasure of her body with the agony of his. And she took it. Gladly. His burden of pain became her own.

  He spun around to face the threat only he saw behind him. He put his hands up to defend himself. Lex screamed when he was thrown facedown on the ground. He curled into a tight ball, his body convulsing as the unseen enemy was beating him.

  The vision disappeared and Lex was slammed back to reality with a force that left her momentarily stunned. When the realization of what Constantine had just done dawned on her, Lex went cold with horror.

  Summoning every ounce of strength she had, Lex pushed Constantine off of her. His mouth came away from her torn neck a moment before his roar echoed throughout the chamber.

  Dread flowed through her as she brought her hand to her throat. It came away bloody.

  When Lex dared to look back to Constantine, she saw the blood smeared on his face. She watched her blood drip from his mouth as her world crashed down around her.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Constantine pushed away from Lex with a roar. He fell to the floor as sensations he hadn’t felt in centuries came back to him. Through Lex’s blood his body came alive. His hand went to his chest, clawing at the scarred skin over his beating heart. Pain sliced through him as his lungs demanded air. He dragged in a hard breath and he slapped his hand to the floor to steady himself. The rush of sudden life tore through him fast and furious.

  He licked lips saturated with Lex’s blood, the taste of her far sweeter than he imagined. Her blood, warm with life and charged with power, slipped down his throat like liquid fire. He wanted more—enough to maintain the life in his body.

  Not since the day he’d died had Constantine come as close to living as he did right then. Death snatched him back, forced out the life as he fought to hold to it.

  He closed his eyes and ground out a curse as his heart halted and his lungs kicked out the air they no longer needed. Though her energy continued to wash through him, the sudden life it lent him left all too soon.

  With the return of death came the realization of what he’d done.

  With a hoarse cry, Constantine stood and stumbled as he grabbed for his pants. He pulled them on, his gaze locked on Lex. She sat on the bed, a hand to her blood-smeared neck. Her eyes, so large, were filled with alarm.

  “Lex... ”

  She shook her head in horror. Her hand fell away from her neck. He saw that, though she was quick to heal from both her power and his, her flesh still bore his bite. He fought the raw need to take more of her even as he saw the tears gathering in her eyes. As they spilled forth, each one that cut a path down her ashen cheeks was a knife in him.

  He sank to his knees and dropped his head in his hands. There had been times in his living years when Constantine had prayed for death, but never had he wished it with the degree of conviction with which he did so now. He waited for the devil to come up from his pit and take him. Facing Hell would be easier than facing Lex after what he’d done. But when he lifted his face from the shield of his hands, he saw Satan hadn’t granted his wish. Instead he had to stay and reap the consequences of taking Lex’s blood.

  “Oh God, Constantine. What have you done?”

  She leapt off the bed with an agility that surprised him considering she had to be weak from what he’d taken from her. More tears fell from her eyes as Lex pulled down her white robe—bloody hell, he hadn’t even taken it off of her, merely pushed it up and took her like a rutting
beast. She knelt before him and never, not in seven hundred years, had Constantine felt as filthy as he did then.

  He was lost in an emotion he hadn’t acknowledged in centuries. Shame.

  When Lex’s warm hands, which should have been cold, came to rest on his cheeks, Constantine had to look away. He couldn’t look at her and see her disdain.

  She was having none of that. “Constantine, please look at me.”

  How he managed to meet her tear-filled eyes, he didn’t know. Bloody hell, he’d faced torture, death and an archangel. And yet looking Lex in eye was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  It took all of his strength as a warrior to meet her gaze and not break at the sight of her blood smeared on her neck and face. It stained her robe, turned her flesh as white as the material draping her shivering body.

  “Damn it to hell, Lex, I’m sorry.”

  Constantine Draegon, who had never apologized for a damn thing, was on his knees begging Lex for forgiveness. He needed not only forgiveness for taking her blood, but for everything he was. For the things he’d allowed Ulric to do to him. For every indignity he’d endured and every tear he’d sworn he’d never shed.

  “It’s going to be okay. I won’t leave you to go through this alone. I’ll be right there with you. I swear it.”

  Constantine shook his head, unable to hear her past the rush of her blood flowing through him. It was a roar in his ears deafening him to all else. When he realized what Lex was saying, he felt like a filthy piece of shit for what he hadn’t told her. She believed he had taken her blood and took in her power as well, forsaking his oath to God and condemning himself to Hell.

  She was offering to follow him to Hell.

  “Lex.” Her name was a prayer falling from his lips, spoken on a tongue still coated with her blood. “You don’t understand.”

  She offered him a watery smile that sliced through him. He never would have believed a dead heart could hurt this much. He wanted to claw it out of his chest to make the pain stop.

  “At least you’ll get to feel the sun again.”

  “No, Lex, I won’t.”

  Even after Lex pulled her hands from his cheeks her warmth lingered on his flesh. She sat back on her legs, obviously confused. “I don’t understand. You bit me, Constantine. You took my blood.”

  He stood with a sigh. She rose as well, frowning at him in complete confusion. “The transfer of power can only happen on Samhain on the night of a Bloodmoon.”

  It took a moment for her to grasp that bit of news. When she did, her jaw worked, as if she needed to give voice to a million questions all at once.

  Lex lunged at him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him for all she was worth. “So it’s okay. We’re not going to Hell.”

  Like the selfish bastard he was, Constantine put his arms around her and held her to him, knowing once this night was over and she knew all, it might be the last time she allowed him to touch her again.

  We’re not going to Hell.

  He’d never known another being as selfless as Lex.

  She pulled away from him. Constantine accepted her tender kiss. “That’s what Daria meant when she said I should give you of myself, isn’t it? Did they just tell you, too? Is that why you knew to be on the balcony? You knew you could drink from me?”

  Everything in him wanted to tell her yes. He wanted to lie to her, if only to have her continue to love him. God, why did she have to feel so damn good in his arms? Why did he have to feel around her at all?

  “Yes, Lex, that’s what Daria meant.”

  Her smile was radiant. “I’m glad you can take my blood.” That whispered admission was a direct cut to his heart. “And not just because I was jealous of the donor. I want to share my life with you.”

  It would be too easy for Constantine to take her trust. Hell, he’d been a selfish prick since the night he’d escaped from Greaves. He’d lived every day fighting to ensure he’d never be taken advantage of again. He’d constructed a nearly impregnable wall around his heart, protecting him from anything and everything that might work its way to his soul. Yet Lex managed to break down every defense he had.

  He’d rather have her hate than to lie to her. “I knew before.”

  The words came from him almost with a will of their own. She stared at him blankly, her head tilting to the side as she regarded him thoughtfully. “I don’t understand.”

  Constantine broke away from her. Lex followed him when he strode out to the balcony. He stared out at the dark, remembering the night long ago when he came here looking for a way to save his miserable life. He wondered if he knew what fate had awaited him in the Holy Land if he still would have gone.

  “Isobel told me I could take your blood the first night we were here.”

  She moved with such stealth Constantine failed to hear her approach. Her small hand curled over this thick forearm. “After you fed from the donor.”

  “No,” he told her flatly. “Isobel told me before.”

  Like any warrior preparing for battle, Constantine steeled himself for Lex’s anger. He didn’t have to wait long for her reaction. It just wasn’t the one Constantine expected.

  Constantine saw everything about Lex change. Her hand slid from his arm and a mask of indifference settled over her features. Gone was the innocent lover he’d seen just a bit ago, gone was the passionate woman he’d held in his arms. In her place was someone he barely recognized.

  She swallowed hard and touched her neck. The punctures were now healed, though smeared blood remained. A single tear slipped from her eye when she saw the blood on her fingers. She wiped her hand on her robe, for a moment just stared at the bright red mark against the white material.

  He wanted her fury. He was prepared for her rage. What he got instead was quiet dignity. “I see.”

  How the hell could he tell her why he fed from another that night instead of her? Constantine couldn’t explain why he’d done what he had without his past coming into play.

  He’d been fighting the need to take her from the moment he woke while the sun still burned. Thankfully, Lex had been out in the courtyard, leaving him to face his raging needs alone. When he’d sensed the sun had set and she was returning to the keep, he’d left their chamber in search of a place to gain control of himself without the temptation of Lex driving him closer to madness.

  It was why he’d come out here to the balcony. He believed she wouldn’t find him here in this abandoned room. But Daria led Lex to him. And the moment he smelled Lex’s sweet scent on the night air, he was lost. Unable to resist what Lex so selflessly offered, he’d taken her body and her blood because he was a fucking monster.

  “Let me explain.”

  Constantine couldn’t believe he’d said that. He’d never explained his actions to anyone. Ever. Not even to Tristan. And yet he wanted to explain. Nay, he needed to tell her why he’d chosen another over her.

  He moved closer to Lex and went to touch her but she slapped his hand away with a force that surprised him.

  “You don’t touch me.” Her cool façade broke and the fire of her temper sparked to life. “All this time I believed you took that woman’s blood because you had to. Because the blood in my veins was poison to you.” Without warning, she drew back her hand and smacked him clean across the face. “I trusted you and you lied to me. You won’t have a second chance to play me for a fool.”

  She turned and strode back into the chamber. A moment later the door opened and slammed closed with a bang.

  Never in his life or death had he felt as dirty as he did right then.

  Not even Ulric had made him feel such shame.

  Of all the people who’d come and gone over the ages, no one had ever trusted him. No one had ever loved him. Except for Lex. He’d taken her trust and her love and proved he was no better than the monster everyone believed him to be.

  He returned to their chamber with the intention of grabbing a shirt and his sword and getting the hell out of there.
Lex’s muffled sobs came from behind the closed bathroom door.

  Right as he went to grab his sword and slip from the room, Lex emerged from the bathroom. The air became charged, as Lex strode over to him. The hurt in her eyes leveled him.

  “I swore I’d never ask you about the details of your past. But I’ve rethought that oath. I’m asking and I need you to tell me.”

  That wasn’t what she was asking and they both knew it. She was asking for him to explain why he’d hurt her.

  He’d never had to talk about his early years at Draegon Castle, and then what went on in the darkest recess of Greaves. The words died on his tongue when he opened his mouth. “I can’t,” he ground out between teeth clenched hard enough for his fangs to cut his bottom lip.