Blood Bond

by Alicia Ryan

  She felt Darren’s hands on her skin as he undid the few buttons at the back of her dress. He celebrated each unbuttoning with a cool kiss against her back. When he reached the last one, just below her waist, he reached up to slide the straps down over her shoulders and let the dress pool around her feet. His hands cupped her bottom as Phillip’s rose to her breasts.

  Darren nipped her with his teeth before running his hand roughly down the outside of her right thigh. Her scars tingled under his touch and objected when he released them to stand behind her. “Meet me on the bed,” he told them.

  Phillip broke their kiss to remove the rest of his clothes, surprising her with the ease he seemed to feel standing naked in front of the both of them. He smiled at her and then followed Darren’s suggestion, throwing back the covers and climbing up to lean against the headboard. Roxanna followed, moving to lie against him, her back against his chest. Darren joined them, hooking her legs over Phillip’s and pushing them toward her so her knees were bent, her legs stretched wide.

  Phillip moved her hair and began to kiss her neck, lingering over the cut, as Darren set his tongue to work lower. His skill was undeniable, and he used it to arouse her slowly, steadily until she was moaning and arching back against Phillip’s chest.

  Then Darren lifted his head and looked up at her. “Don’t be shy, dearest. I want to watch you ride him.”

  Roxanna’s questioning gaze lasted only a moment before she turned and moved so she was kneeling between Phillip’s legs and then put her weight on her hands to lean up and drop kisses down his throat and chest.

  Phillip’s hands went to her hips, and Darren moved back to give her room to go from being between Phillip’s legs to straddling them. It wasn’t something they’d yet repeated since their first time together.

  Darren put his left hand on her shoulder, and with his right, slid the flat side of the knife all the way down her spine. She shivered and rubbed herself against Phillip’s erection.

  Phillip moaned. “Are...are you ready, Roxanna?”

  She slid against him again to show him just how ready she was, but she knew what Darren wanted. Rising onto her knees, she positioned herself over Phillip and took him into her—just the barest fraction. Phillip grunted, and then Darren made a small, half-moon cut between her shoulder blades. She arched back against him; he kissed her neck, and she slid further down onto Phillip.

  Another cut followed, with Darren licking it as she moved further down Phillip’s cock. She raised her head to look at her blond lover; he was watching her with a pained, awestruck expression.

  “Roxanna, please...”

  Once more Darren cut and licked her, and she finally lowered herself completely. She dropped her head forward onto Phillip’s chest to catch her breath. Darren licked her from the base of her spine to the back of her neck, and she began to move. He clamped his hand back over her scarred thigh as she did so, while Phillip kept his hands at her hips, demanding more from her now, demanding she ride him in earnest.

  When she found her rhythm, Darren moved again, removing his hand from her thigh only to replace it a moment later. Then his left arm came around her shoulders, and she could see it was bloody. She nodded and increased her pace. Phillip tried to thrust up into her, but with her and Darren both sitting over his legs, he couldn’t get much leverage.

  Darren smeared his torn wrist across her chest and down one breast. “Lick her clean,” he told Phillip. To Roxanna’s surprise, Phillip nodded and lowered his head to lick the blood from her flesh. He moaned at the first taste, and before he was done, he was coming inside her. She pulled Darren’s wrist to her mouth, drank deep and followed Phillip over into quivering oblivion. She felt Darren’s fangs pierce her neck, felt his arms tighten around her and then dropped blissfully into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Roxanna opened her eyes when she realized Phillip was shaking her. She was still lying virtually on top of him, though at some point he must have moved them down to take more advantage of Darren’s enormous bed.

  “I think something’s wrong,” he said.

  She could tell it wasn’t morning yet, so it couldn’t be the time he was worried about. “What is it?”

  He looked over her shoulder. “I can’t see Darren breathing. I think something’s happened to him.”

  Oh boy, Roxanna thought. “Well, you could say that.”

  “Roxanna, this is serious.”

  “It doesn’t matter that he’s not breathing. Trust me, he’s fine—just as fine as he was last night. If you’d looked, you would have seen that he wasn’t breathing then either.”

  Phillip stared at Darren so long Roxanna turned her head to make sure nothing really was wrong. Nope. Darren lay there on his back in perfect, beautiful repose.

  She turned back to look at Phillip. “Darren hasn’t breathed for two hundred years, Phillip.” She waited for him to turn and look at her. “Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

  He shook his head. “I most certainly don’t.”

  “Darren likes blood, doesn’t breathe, and can’t go out in sunlight—and he’s been that way for over two hundred years.”

  “Stop teasing me. Don’t you think I’ve had enough shocks for one day? Don’t start talking about...well, vampires. Is that what you’re getting at?”

  She nodded. “Yep. Vampire.”

  “I’ll have you know vampires are shriveled up corpses that climb out of graves every night. They don’t go to parties and ride around in carriages. And Darren doesn’t look like a corpse to me.”

  “Doesn’t he? You can see for yourself he’s not breathing.”

  “Why aren’t you taking this more seriously? The man could be dead.”

  “Yep. Could be.”

  Phillip frowned at her and rolled over and reached across her to take Darren by the shoulder and shake him hard. “Darren,” he called out. “Darren, wake up.” When he got no reaction, he began to shout. “Darren! Damn it, man, wake up!”

  “Unless the house is on fire,” Darren droned, not opening his eyes, “please don’t ever do that again. I was having the most interesting dream.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Phillip said on a long breath. “I thought you’d...fainted or something.”

  Darren opened his eyes and looked over at Phillip. “You might want to move back a bit; you’re damn near smothering Roxanna.”

  “What?” Phillip looked down at her, pinned underneath him. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

  He slid away from her and propped his head up on one arm, still looking at Darren. “You know you breathe quite shallowly when you sleep. I thought for a minute you were dead.”

  Darren glanced at Roxanna.

  “I tried to tell him,” she said.

  “Feel up to a little demonstration?” he asked.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “A little mutual biting?”

  She smiled at him, feeling her body begin to ready itself. She scooted over to Darren’s side, and he sat up, mirroring Phillip’s position, before leaning down to kiss her.

  His kiss was long, slow, and exquisite, making her cling to him. Now that she’d gotten used to the bone-melting brand of pleasure he offered, she noticed her arousal was different with him. It was more total, though she wasn’t as focused on her body. Her physical arousal was just a tool to prepare her mind for what was to come.

  “I take it I’m supposed to sit this one out?” Phillip asked.

  Darren lifted his head, nodded, and then went back to kissing her. Pushing her body gently away from him, he let his cool fingers rove over her breasts and then down to her scarred thigh, forcing her to moan into his mouth.

  “You smell so good,” he said. “I wish you could know what you do to me.”

  “Tell me.”

  He hesitated only a moment. “My whole world narrows when you’re near. The smell of you is with me always, and being near you—being able to see and touch you, feel the heat of your skin,
the beat of your pulse. You take me over. When you let me taste you...,” he bent to lick her throat, “I don’t know anything but you, and I feel like I know you completely—inside and out.”

  “Can you really see so much when you bite me?”

  He nodded. “After last night, I can better understand your feelings for young Phillip here—and for me.”

  “Then you understand more than I do,” she said on a not-quite laugh.

  “Perhaps.”

  She raised her head. “Why doesn’t it work that way for me? When I drink from you?”

  “It will eventually. Your mind has to get used to the sensations before it can really appreciate all that can be seen in the blood flow.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  His smile widened. “Good.”

  “Now shut up and bite me.”

  “You first,” he said, lowering his head so she could reach the crux of his neck and shoulder.

  Roxanna did as he bid and bit down hard, pulling blood into her mouth and down her throat. Like before, the pleasure of it stunned her, but when she felt his fangs pierce her flesh, she was truly lost. She felt shudders wracking both their bodies, and her mind reeled, but she also felt something else. She felt Darren’s pleasure layered on top of her own—and she felt his overwhelming need for the satiation, the fulfillment, and, most urgently, the acceptance only she was able to give him. His blood told her, more than anything, that he didn’t want to let her go. She marveled at the permanence he envisioned, and, for the first time, wondered if it could be so.

  Darren slipped his teeth out of her, and she moaned a breathy ‘Oh, God’ against his skin.

  He licked the wounds closed. “Thank you.”

  “You never need to thank me,” she said.

  He smirked at her. “I know. I just thought it’d be the gentlemanly thing to say it anyway.”

  “Well, now you’ve gone and ruined the effect.”

  He was still smiling. “But you’ll still want me again.”

  “I’ll want you always.”

  That stilled his smirking lips and chased the teasing from his gaze. “You have no idea how much I want to believe you.”

  “I think I have some idea.”

  “Could we please focus on what’s important here?” Phillip interjected.

  Roxanna turned toward him, glad to see he was even still in the bed with them.

  “And that would be...?” Darren asked.

  “Oh, the fact that you have FANGS? We could start there.”

  “Your boyfriend is tiresome, Roxanna.”

  She couldn’t stifle a giggle. “Give him a chance. I promise he grows on you.”

  Darren laughed and then rolled back to lie at her side, facing Phillip.

  For a moment, she was tempted to get up and let them sort this out on their own.

  “We’ve told you, and now we’ve shown you, that I’m a vampire. When the sun comes up you can open the curtains and watch me start to smoke if it will finally get it through your head. The nightmares are real, Phillip. Dead creatures do walk the earth, and I am one of them.”

  Phillip fell back on the mattress and was silent as he drew in several deep breaths. “I can’t do this,” he said. “Jesus Christ. Do you even know what you’re asking?”

  Roxanna couldn’t think of anything convincing to say. “I’m sorry,” was what she settled for. “Perhaps it was wrong of me to bring you here.”

  Phillip took another deep breath and clamped his eyes shut. Then he opened them, but looked only at the ceiling.

  “Are you really a vampire?” he asked.

  “I am.”

  “Is Roxanna in any danger from you?”

  “I think you know that she isn’t.”

  “Am I?”

  “No.”

  Darren’s brief hesitation didn’t alarm Roxanna, but she supposed it wasn’t comforting to Phillip.

  Nevertheless, he seemed to decide to believe it. “Then...so long as you don’t endanger her, and as long as she wants you, I guess it doesn’t matter what you are.” He sat up and looked at them. “If you’re in her life, you’re in mine.”

  “You’re both being suspiciously understanding,” she said, looking back and forth between them.

  “No,” Phillip said. “I think Darren had the right of it last night. You’ve just helped us—all of us—find out what we were missing.”

  “Well, right now what I’m missing is sleep,” Darren said. “You two can leave whenever you need to. Just don’t wake me and don’t open the curtains.”

  “I should go now,” Phillip said. “My mother is used to me keeping all hours, but she’ll worry if I’m not there in the morning.”

  He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and Darren sank down, throwing one arm over his eyes. “Christ, you really are good.”

  Phillip laughed. “And it’s never gotten me into so much trouble.”

  Darren joined his laughter as Phillip got himself dressed.

  “Do you mind if I stay here?” Roxanna asked him.

  He shook his head and bent to kiss her. “Not at all.” He smiled. “Well, maybe a little, but stay as long as you want. We can push practice to the afternoon.”

  “I hate that you get to see her during the day,” Darren grumbled, sounding already half asleep.

  Phillip’s smile broadened into a smirk as he put one hand on the mattress and leaned over her to kiss Darren lightly on the mouth. “Goodbye for now,” he said, after giving Roxanna a much more lingering kiss.

  “Uh...goodbye.” Darren’s eyes had flown open at the unexpected contact.

  Phillip turned and left without another word, and Darren stared at Roxanna.

  “I’m not sure how I expected tonight to go,” he said.

  “Me neither.”

  “But I think I’m pleasantly surprised.”

  Roxanna smiled and pulled the covers up over them and then wrapped her arm across his chest and joined him in sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Phillip arrived at Padworth’s knowing he was in an irrationally cheerful mood. He didn’t know if Roxanna would be there yet; it was late morning. But he’d felt like coming in to play. As much as he loved playing to set the stage for Roxanna’s voice, sometimes he just liked to play for himself. And playing helped him think.

  There was no one about except for a few older men in the front room who’d already started at cards. Jack wasn’t in yet, and Phillip pulled out the piano stool to run his fingers over the keys in peace.

  The first thing he had to think about was why nothing that had happened last night seemed to be bothering him as much as the voice in his head kept telling him it should. He’d seen his lady love get cut and bitten by another man and find pleasure in it. He’d engaged in what he’d always thought was only an act of love between a man and a woman with the lover of the woman in question looking on. And her other lover wasn’t even human.

  Then it struck him—why he was so strangely at peace with this arrangement, even if he didn’t yet fully understand it—he’d told Roxanna he loved her, and, for the first time, she’d believed him. That had to mean something.

  He was sure Darren believed him. Darren seemed to know exactly how he felt. Which led him to believe Darren loved her, too, though maybe in some different way. He couldn’t claim to know how a two-hundred-year-old vampire felt when he was in love.

  He only knew how he felt when he was in love, and he felt the same way he’d felt when he’d first seen her perform—like she was fierce and loving, like she could give him fire and freedom. She was a good person; he knew she cared for him. And it was clear she also cared for Darren. No one with so much love to give could be anything but good. But her mind didn’t work the way his did. It went down paths he couldn’t even imagine until she led him there. He wondered, if he were a vampire, how many years he’d follow at her heels just waiting to see what she’d do next. Despite everything that had happened, despite how much his good sense
told him he should run the other way, he was nothing but glad he’d found her, and he couldn’t wait to see her again.

  He hated to admit it, but he was even a little eager to see Darren. In many ways, Darren was everything that he wasn’t—rich, cultured, confident, experienced, not held down by the mores his mother had drummed into him since he could understand the word ‘proper’. Darren was so at ease with Roxanna, so gentle with her, even given the unusual nature of their...activities. He wouldn’t mind watching the two of them again when he could appreciate it more—without the panic this time. There was probably a lot he could learn.

  Then again, perhaps there was more he should learn before things went further.

  When Roxanna came up the stairs a few moments later, she was wearing her blue day dress and looked nothing like the wanton woman he remembered from last night.

  “Hi,” he said, not knowing where else to start.

  “Hi, yourself.” She stepped up onto the stage and put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? Are we okay?”

  He took a deep breath. “We’re okay. I might need a little more time to determine if I am, in fact, okay. This could be some sort of delirium.”

  She smiled. “You don’t look delirious.”

  He grinned at her. “You aren’t looking closely enough. I am delirious.” He put a hand on her back and slid it down the curve of her ass.

  “Phillip,” she exclaimed, moving back out of his reach. “What’s happened to you? You do know we’re in public?”

  He shrugged. “I think maybe I’ve finally managed to silence that little voice in my head that was always telling me what to do.”

  She raised her brows. “So no more ‘improper this’ and ‘improper that’?”

  He shook his head. “I wish you wouldn’t make fun of me. I may be a little more...stiff...than the average client of Padworth’s, but I’m not nearly so far out of the norm as you and Darren.”

  Roxanna bit her lip. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”