Dark Solace

by Tara Fox Hall

  Lash let out a anticipatory sigh, then flopped onto his back, his penis already stiff. I moved down between his legs and caressed it, kissing his swollen shaft. He thrust up lightly, trembling. I licked up his length, then sucked the tip, tonguing the opening.

  Lash let out a loud moan, his hands clenching the bed covers. “No one’s done that to me in years,” he hissed, blissful. “Decades. God, it’s like heaven—”

  “You said you wanted memories,” I said sultrily. “If that’s all you want of me, then you’re going to get the best damn ones I can give you.”

  Then the only sounds were of him crying out as I took him deeply into me.

  * * * *

  Titus arrived at midnight, just as he said he would. Lash and I had finished having sex for what we knew would be the last time a few minutes before. We were lying in bed, softly kissing each other, our bodies entwined. Titus knocked, but we’d already known he was close by from the black feeling that permeated the room.

  Lash turned to me, sadness in his dark eyes. He put his hand on my cheek as he had earlier, and touched me softly, caressing me with his fingertips. He brought me in for one last kiss, then got up from bed, and pulled on his jeans. I wrapped myself in the bed linens and got up myself, heading for the bathroom. I’d known I’d have to shower before going home, but I was damned if I was going to lose any time with Lash doing it.

  Lash froze, his hand reaching for the door. I froze behind him, clutching the bedclothes to me.

  “Lash,” a familiar melodious voice called, hot with anger.

  Dev. I shivered, wrapping the linens around myself tighter.

  “This whole corridor is rife with the scent of sex and semen,” Devlin said, his fury, hurt, and disappointment in each word. “I know Sar’s in there with you. Open this door before I break it down.”

  Lash looked at me, then indicated the bathroom. I went in and shut the door most of the way, peeking through the crack.

  Lash put his hand on the door, but didn’t open it. “Yes, I’ve been with her, Dev. I’m sorry—”

  “You took her from me,” Devlin growled. “What’s worse, she went. How long have you been plotting this behind my back?”

  Lash opened the door. Devlin’s words cut off suddenly

  “We didn’t,” Lash hissed. “I hope you can forgive me when I explain.”

  “You...you’re young—” Devlin gasped.

  Lash went out of the room, closing the door behind himself with a click. Titus appeared inside the room, then quickly locked the door from the inside.

  “Shit, Titus!” I swore at him. “Why didn’t you warn us?”

  “Devlin had a right to know,” Titus retorted, his red eyes glowing. “Danial, Theo, and he got back an hour ago. They didn’t call first, they just showed up. Leri hid in Danial’s bedroom when she heard them, and called me. Devlin was the first to reach her. He knew Leri wasn’t you the moment he kissed her. But he covered for you, making a show of taking her/you to Hayden. Theo and Danial protested, but I showed up by that time, and teleported her to the car. Devlin came storming out a few minutes later. As soon as we cleared Danial’s driveway, he asked us where the hell you really were. He had called home, and he knew Lash wasn’t at Hayden either, where he was supposed to be. When he asked me, I told him the truth. He ordered me to take him to you.”

  “He would have known tonight, anyway,” I said, dismayed. “I just wish he hadn’t found us like this. It makes it look like we were having an affair, that this was all just about us having sex.” I shot him a furious look. “Why didn’t you tell him the particulars?”

  “That’s Lash’s job to explain,” Titus rumbled softly, handing me my duffel bag. “Devlin’s seen what you did for him. I doubt he’ll be angry about you saving him.”

  Titus was making a point that Dev would be angry about the sex. Reckless as it was, I didn’t give a damn. “I’m going to shower. I’ll be out as soon as I’m done.”

  I took a nice long shower, dried off, conditioned my hair with what was left of the hotel conditioner, and put on my last change of clothes. Throwing my dirty clothes in with the others, I opened the door, and then stopped in my tracks.

  Devlin was waiting there, sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.

  I was suddenly afraid, worried to break the silence, worried he’d erupt in anger.

  “Come to me, Love,” he said brokenly, without looking up.

  He’d been crying. I dropped my bag and went to sit beside him.

  “I’m sorry for my accusation,” he said softly. “He told me all of it, told me what you did for him. He told me that you did it for me, because you knew what he meant to me.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” I admitted. “But he also means something to me, Dev. I couldn’t let him die.”

  “Must you save us all?” Devlin said tenderly, hugging me tightly.

  “It’s become habit now,” I said teasingly, then kissed his tears away.

  “I knew something was wrong with him,” Devlin said heavily. “Especially when his scar wouldn’t heal. But he told me he was fine, and when he and Titus took Ebediah, and Sola, he was not injured at all, the only one who wasn’t. I told myself that was proof that he was okay. I didn’t want to think that he might be failing—”

  “That doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “He’s well again. That’s what matters.”

  “Hold still,” Devlin said suddenly. He leaned over and, with a twist of his head, he nicked my neck, opening two short scratches that were little more than paper cuts. Devlin licked me, and then grabbed a tissue, grimacing and gagging.

  My blood obviously no longer tasted like summer, even though I wasn’t turned. What had happened?

  Dev wiped his mouth off, and ran into the bathroom, still gagging. He emerged, still moving his mouth distastefully.

  “I’m sorry,” I said with a shrug. “It was the only way.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Devlin said. He pulled me to my feet, then kissed my cheek. “I love you for you, not for the way you taste. And in time, your blood may taste of summer again.”

  I heard in his tone how much he wanted to believe that. I hoped for his sake it was true. “What is in my blood that tastes so bad? The demon blood?”

  “Some of what made me grimace is the blood replenishing medication you took,” he explained. “You must have grabbed the red packets instead of the blue ones that Stephen always prescribed for you. The red packets are made specifically for vampire assault victims, and so are bitter tasting for a reason, to discourage further attacks by making your blood bitter tasting for at least a week after taking one. How many did you take?”

  “Seven or eight?” I offered. “I lost count.” It wasn’t surprising Devlin knew the taste. He’d probably loved playing the seductive vampire at the window through the years, and I doubted he would give up a lover unless it was his choice.

  “Titus said Lash took over half of your blood,” Devlin said, hugging me tighter. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Did you forgive him?” I said softly. “Do you forgive me?”

  “There is nothing to forgive,” Devlin said, letting out a breath. “If you had told me, I’d have prevented you from doing it, and then he would’ve died. He is like a brother to me, Sar, and except for the past year, I’ve been closer to him than I was to Danial.” Devlin kissed my cheek again. “I’m grateful to you,” he said gently. “Very grateful you saved him.”

  “Grateful enough to release me from my Oath to you?” I said teasingly.

  “Hell, no!” Devlin said, grinning at me. “In fact I’m taking you back to Hayden with me tonight. Titus said you still need to rest. Lash said you hadn’t gotten much sleep today, or last night.”

  Lash had indeed told him everything. I didn’t reply. The silence stretched.

  “Sar, he told me you were together, both when you were saving him and after. He also said he wouldn’t be with you again like that unless it was okay with me. I took hi
m at his word. He has never lied to me, and I don’t lie to him, ever.”

  Devlin’s tone was carefully neutral, but I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “And?”

  Devlin sighed. “And if there comes a time you want him to share our bed, tell him. If he asks me, I’ll probably say yes. He told me today he would never ask if I forgave him, but that’s him feeling guilty. It’s obvious you both have chemistry. But you need to know that I’ll make you take a new Oath to me, as the price for including him. It will have some new wording, because I would want assurances from you about certain things. But I will include him, provided you do that.” He kissed my neck. “I’m not one to deny you a lover you lust for, provided you don’t deny me my own special privileges.”

  There was no way in hell I was giving Dev an Oath with more rights than he’d already wrested from me. I didn’t reply.

  Devlin looked hard at me. “Tell me that you understand what I’m telling you, Love,” he said harshly.

  He was telling me I’d better never take liberties with Lash again without his knowledge. “I understand,” I said, nodding. “I’m sorry you found us like you did. It sounds lame, but I was heading home with Titus tonight to tell you everything—”

  “Titus is a demon,” Dev interrupted, annoyed. “He gets pleasure in causing pain. I’m sure he took this opportunity to hurt me. But that doesn’t matter.” He picked me up. “Let’s go home, Love.”

  Chapter Eight

  Devlin carried me out of the room, and down the stairs to the parking lot. I wanted to protest that I could walk, but he was taking things so well I thought it unwise to rock the boat.

  Instead of just Titus, both Titus and Lash were waiting for us next to Lash’s truck.

  “You sure you can take the whole thing?” Lash said to Titus, sneering.

  “Shut up and drive,” Titus spat back at him.

  Lash and Titus got into the truck cab. Devlin boosted me up in the truck’s backseat, and then climbed up after me. Lash drove into a secluded spot, and then suddenly, we were parked outside Hayden. Lash drove in through the gates, and parked in the garage. Then we all got out, and went into the kitchen.

  Serena was there cutting up freshly baked bread. She looked at Dev, then cast me a frightened glance. Then she saw Lash and her eyes went wide.

  “Go upstairs,” Devlin said calmly. With a last worried look at me, Serena went.

  Devlin turned to me. “Do you need anything to eat?”

  “I ate already,” I said with a blush, remembering the French fries and ketchup kisses.

  Devlin gave a long-suffering sigh. “I should have guessed.”

  “Enough pissing and moaning,” Lash hissed, following Titus downstairs. Devlin and I descended also into Titus’s basement study. Titus settled in a chair. Devlin also sat in one, and pulled me down into his lap. Lash sat in another one of the chairs, sprawling indolently sideways.

  “Well, what should we do?” Devlin said.

  “About what?” I asked.

  “Lash is not only not dead, Sar, he’s young again,” Devlin said flatly. “Your blood did it. We need to decide how best to cover it up. Or else every single aged and/or dying creature is going to want you. It will make the Rulers’ desire for you seem like nothing.”

  Horror eclipsed every other waking thought. I clutched him.

  Dev’s arms tightened around me. “We’ll keep you safe, Love,” he murmured softly. “But we have to think of how.”

  “I have no ideas,” Lash said with a shrug. “Titus said there was nothing that could have been done to save me, that he had drawn out my life as long as he could.”

  Devlin looked at Titus. “Is that true?” he said in a deadly tone.

  Titus looked at Devlin. “No,” he said bluntly.

  Lash was on him in a minute, Titus was holding him back, Lash’s knife point over his heart. Devlin struggled to get up, losing seconds as he got out from under me.

  “You know that won’t kill me!” Titus rasped, struggling to hold back Lash’s knife with one hand, and Lash’s fangs with the other. Venom dripped from them, black droplets falling steadily.

  “It’ll hurt a lot!” Lash hissed furiously. “And I want to hurt you, you fuck! You were going to let me die! I almost did die! Sar risked her life—!”

  “Stop!” Devlin shouted, shoving Lash off Titus.

  Lash hissed menacingly. He backed off, but he didn’t put his knife away.

  “I could’ve saved you, sure!” Titus said angrily. “But only by killing an older vampire at least Devlin’s age, if not older. It was the older blood in Sar that saved you, Lash!”

  “Why not tell me, you ass?” Devlin hissed, baring his fangs. “I would’ve given my blood gladly!”

  “All of it?” Titus said, raising his eyebrows. “I’d have needed all of it, Devlin. You ready to die?”

  Devlin looked at Lash then, in his gold eyes something close to Danial’s soft look for me. “No,” he said softly. “But I would’ve given all that I could, and I’d have gotten the rest from Danial, somehow.”

  “I’d have also needed another weresnake of Lash’s type, one very young,” Titus rumbled. “No older than twenty or so. The younger the better—”

  “A child?” I said in horror.

  Titus nodded. “Lash needed something to jump start his regenerative system. The blood of a younger weresnake, mixed with older vampire blood and some of mine would have stopped his decline, and made him well. But even that wouldn’t have made him younger like this, Devlin.”

  “Even with more demon blood from you?” Lash hissed meaningfully. “Say, all of it?”

  Titus growled low.

  “Enough!” Devlin said angrily. “Fighting will get us nowhere. We are doing this for Sar. Shut up and think!”

  “We can say I used some faerie blood, too,” Titus said slowly. “That would account for the youth. I have some of Leri’s.”

  Just why he had some of his lover’s blood lying around in his lab I didn’t want to know.

  “Would that have done it?” Devlin asked.

  “Yes,” Titus said, looking at him with red eyes. “It should’ve worked. I can’t say for how long, but probably for at least a decade or two.”

  “Then you will research it well, Titus,” Devlin said, carefully enunciating the words. “And the next time Lash needs his battery jumped, he is going to tell me—”

  Lash nodded once, and folded his arms across his chest.

  “—and then you are going to make whatever you need to, do whatever you need to, in order to keep him alive,” Devlin finished, his eyes were glowing red hot like coals. “And anything he ever asks you from now on, you are always to tell him the truth! Say you understand me, Titus.”

  Titus nodded.

  Devlin turned to me. “Sar, I’ll have to tell Danial. I’ll need him to be a part of this, to account for the blood we would supposedly need. But you will say nothing of this, any of it, not to anyone else—”

  “She is going to tell Theo,” Titus rumbled sarcastically. “She’s his wife, Devlin. I’m glad I spent so much effort duping you all.”

  Devlin rubbed his eyes in exasperation. “You will, won’t you?” he said quietly to me. “You always tell him. Even when you know it would be easier for us all if you didn’t.”

  I went and sat down in the chair, and closed my eyes. “Dev, give me a minute.”

  “Sar—” Devlin said

  I held up my hand. “Leave me with Titus for a moment,” I repeated.

  Devlin looked at me strangely, but he motioned to Lash, and they left. Titus remained where he was. I said nothing, just looked into space.

  “Sar, are you mad?” Titus rumbled gently. “I did what I did to protect you.”

  “Save it,” I said softly. “I didn’t ask you to stay here to talk about that.”

  “What then?” Titus asked, curious.

  “Can anyone outside this room hear us?”

  Titus said some familiar sounding
words, and a glow surrounded us, and then faded. “Not now. What do you have to say to me that can’t be overheard?”

  I swallowed hard. “I want you to sever the bond between Theo and I.”

  “What?” Titus roared.

  “You heard me,” I said simply. “Sever the bond between us.”

  “I can’t,” Titus said. “It can’t be broken—”

  “Don’t give me that shit!” I said, my green eyes full of anger. “If I’ve learned anything today, I’ve learned that there is always a way. And I’m betting you know one.”

  Blackness boiled out of Titus then, evil as Hell and just as rancid. “You are not giving up your husband and child for that scum—”

  “I’m doing it for Theo!” I screamed at him. “He loves me so much, and I’ve put him through hell for the past year, Titus! But so long as he’s bound to me, he’ll stay. And I want him to be free of me, because I want him to be happy. And he’s never going to be happy sharing me with anyone.”

  Titus relented, looking crestfallen. “Sar—”

  “No, Titus,” I said, my words rough and uneven with grief. “I’ve tried it now for months. Theo’s tried it. And it’s not working. Theo can’t even share me with Danial very well, and now I’m back with Devlin, it’s just going to be the same thing all over again. I can’t do it anymore. And I’ve decided I don’t want to do it anymore. I want my life back, Titus.”

  I raised my eyes and looked him square in his red ones. “I have to be with Danial. And I have to be with Devlin. But I was with Theo just because I loved him. I love him enough to let him go, so he can find what he needs with someone who can just be his.”

  Titus came to me and hugged me. Heat enveloped me, and for once I let myself be roasted, as it took away from how awful I was feeling, thinking about Theo with someone else.

  “Sar, you love him. You shouldn’t leave him.”

  “I’m not leaving him. But break the bond between us, so that if he chooses to leave me after I tell him what I’ve done, he can go.”

  “I can’t break it that fast. I can break it in layers, over some months. But it was built over years, and that’s the best I can offer. Breaking it is going to be hard anyway. There may be a backlash, where he ends up hating you. And with the way his temper can be—”