Even in sleep she was beautiful. Watching her, lying there on her stomach gave him time to appreciate the silky, smooth legs, her buttocks that were perfectly formed, leading up to her back, which was utterly bare. He gently stroked the length of her spine, just as she started moaning his name. It wasn’t a compliment though, she sounded upset, what would she be dreaming about? It certainly didn’t take the form of his dreams. His dreams also had Vlad moaning, but when he moaned Beth's name it was undoubtedly more erotic than what Beth was currently feeling. The moaning stopped, so he pulled the chair close ready to wake her if she became upset again.
Some time later, Vlad awoke in the chair next to Beth; her cries startling him. She was thrashing and crying, the tears rolling down her face. Moving to her, he lifted her onto his lap. Trying to be gentle he shook her awake.
"Hush sweetheart, you are safe. Hush." Slowly her eyes opened, but when she looked at him her anguish multiplied. He didn’t know what to do, so he cradled her close, smelling the vanilla he now associated with her hair he rocked her while she cried. As the sobbing subsided she gently lifted her head to his face and kissed him. It was gentle and so filled with emotion, he was startled.
Expecting to be rejected she braced herself. But when Vlad opened his mouth to her Beth readily accepted him and deepened the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck; she was not letting him stop this time, she needed comfort and she needed to comfort him through a grief centuries past.
Vlad felt all of the blood rush to his cock as Beth kissed him. He didn't understand why, but it was unlike any other kiss he had experienced. He had never known that a kiss could be filled with such emotion. Even if he could have stopped this, there was no way he would have wanted to. He could no longer fight the intense need to make her, his woman.
Lifting her in his arms without breaking the kiss, he laid her on the bed. Beth was on fire; her feelings were riding her hard as she pulled him flush with her on the bed. As his hand moved to her breast, the barrier of clothing was too much, she wanted skin contact yet she didn’t want his lips to leave hers. She didn’t need to worry; Vlad ripped his pants and shirt from his body.
His hand slid down to her exposed breast, flicking the now puckered nipple. She stroked his chest running her hands all over him. As he flicked her nipple a second time, her back arched and he broke the kiss.
When his mouth left hers Beth felt an immediate sense of loss, only for his mouth to close over her nipple. With a moan, she arched again as his hand slid down over her taut stomach; inching closer to that scrap of material she called panties. Beth was breathing hard her voice only a whisper, as she moaned breathlessly.
"More". Breathing suddenly became a hell of a lot harder, especially when Vlad slipped his hand under her panties. His fingers slid along her lips and back to her clit, causing her to see fireworks behind her eyes. Her moaning increased as he slid two fingers inside of her.
Oh gods was she ready for him, he had no intention of stopping and wanted to make sure she was perfectly ready for him. With his finger pumping in and out of her, he wanted to bring her to orgasm like this before he took her hard and fast. For hard and fast was the only way he could go, he was so close to exploding himself.
As his fingers thrust in and out, her body rose to meet him. He moved his mouth to her other nipple, biting down with a gentle force. She pulled at his hair, pushing him down onto her breast harder. Sliding his fingers out slightly, Vlad added another as he continued pumping in and out of her. As he thrust again, he pushed on her clit causing her to cry out loud. He swallowed her cry with his mouth as she came while sliding his body over hers. Positioning himself at her centre he slid into her. Her body was tight and wet, he slid out and then gently back in. Grabbing his hair she pulled his head away from her.
Before she said anything Vlad apologised for what would be rough. "I am sorry." He gritted his teeth. "But I won't be able to make this gentle like you deserve."
"I don’t want nice Vlad. I want it hard and fast, now." Not one to ignore a request, he pulled out as far as he could do that without leaving the warmth of her body, before slamming back home. For his body did feel as if it had come home. As she arched her back under him, he did it again. He continued thrusting in and out of her, until she knocked his arm from under him. Twisting their bodies he found himself under her.
Her eyes were heavy and glazed, her blonde hair cascading down her back and over her pert breasts. Beth lifted herself up, and then slowly slid back down, she did it again. The slowness was killing him, as he looked into her eyes he knew she was doing it on purpose. He lifted himself to meet her, using her shoulder to anchor him. She was getting close, but he wasn’t finished with her yet. Sliding his hand to towards her Vlad stroked her breasts, kneading them. Just before she hit that high, he lifted her and flipped her face down onto the bed; kneeling behind her he lifted her bottom and slid back into her warm, velvety body. She gasped when he pulled back and then thrust forward, lifting her head Beth cried out.
"Again."
Happy to oblige ma'am, he thought it but didn’t say it. Instead he leaned over her back, and bit at her neck careful not to draw blood, he didn’t want to strengthen the bond between him by adding the blood relationship. Immediately the orgasm ripped through her body, Vlad continued to pump in and out as her body contracted. He released himself into her just as another orgasm took her.
Leaning over her, Vlad thought he was going to hyperventilate. Beth was quiet, too quiet. Lifting his body off of her while littering tiny kisses down her back, he rolled her into his arms whispering to her.
"Beth are you okay, did I hurt you?" The panic in his tone was obvious.
Beth turned to look at him. "No I am fine, gloriously fine." Her smile was obvious, and her contentment lulled her into a doze.
"What were you dreaming of?" She thought about answering him but for some reason, the truth wouldn’t come out of her mouth. It felt too personal for her to admit to seeing his life, reminding her of a voyeur intruding.
"Nothing I feel like talking about, just hold me." And he did, he wrapped his arms around her making her feel warm and safe.
Chapter 31
Beth woke up with a fright, this time she had not seen Vlads life in her dreams. She couldn’t quite remember what she had seen that had frightened her. Whatever it was, was enough to make Vlad rouse from his sleep startled. Sitting up he looked around in panic before focussing on Beth.
"What did you do to me?"
With a contrite look she answered him. "Absolutely nothing, I had a nightmare." Her back was still clammy with sweat, her heart still pounding in her ears.
Vlad still looked anxious. "Are you sure?"
It was then Beth realised that although they had just shared something extraordinary, it changed nothing. He didn’t trust her and she couldn’t keep trying to convince him to.
"I think you need to leave Vlad." His eyebrows rose in surprise. Looking at him lying in her bed thinking of the night they had shared and then him leaving her in this room, left her feeling cold. But she couldn’t let him know how much his words had just hurt her. The look in his eyes was the same one he had used on Talia, and that she didn’t deserve.
"Is there a reason for me leaving Beth?"
A reason, god the man was irritating her. "Yes there bloody is. I may have screwed up by mating to you, whilst you were DYING. Notice the word DYING, you were dying. I was not going to let that happen but there is no need to thank me, you ungrateful bastard. Nor did I need to pretend that we were lovers, so super bitch didn’t realise that anything was wrong. No, instead I mated myself to an egotistical and untrusting man." She wasn’t planning on being rude to him, but she couldn’t help it.
Vlad opened his mouth to apologise.
"No don’t bother Vlad, just leave. I don’t want to talk to you right now. I am going to get a drink, please leave by the time I return."
Leaving the room she felt something hanging from her neck. Lifti
ng it free she found the necklace Xin had given her. Maybe she wasn’t quite insane yet. Arriving in the kitchen she poured an OJ, which she nearly dropped when she closed the door only to find Talia's face glaring back at her.
"What the hell, Talia you made me jump?"
"Really I would say I am sorry, but I am not. I have to say, I have no idea what he sees in you?" Hell was everyone out to piss her off today.
"Maybe it's because I am the opposite of you. You are too late Talia; he is mine now so piss off." Beth was seething inside and Talia was just the person to vent that on.
"You do know that he always comes back to me Beth, don’t you. It doesn’t matter who is in his bed, eventually he ends up in mine."
Taking a mouth full of her juice, she welcome the refreshing liquid sliding down her throat, it was however only momentarily, within seconds the burning anger was back.
"He was never yours through choice Talia, only through deception and manipulation." With that she turned on her heels and left. Climbing back into her bed, her father's words came back to haunt her. How right he was, the emotional distance between her and Vlad was churning in her stomach.
Chapter 32
Vlad woke in his own bed to silence and emptiness, with a sigh he turned over. Last night with Beth had been magical, they fit like a glove and he had never felt so fulfilled, sated. Now he was empty again, the urge to go into her room and take her again was immense. He didn’t act on his urge he wasn’t sure what had happened only that she had been angry. He had spent the rest of the day tossing and turning before deciding that he wanted her, all of her. Maybe this evening her mood would be slightly better than this morning, maybe they could work through this.
He knew that she would never have deliberately deceived him; he had been stupid to think that she was anything like Talia. She would never treat anyone as Talia had treated him. Life was too precious to Beth. She had morals and values; she would preserve life before taking it.
After his shower he stood at the adjoining door, listening to more silence. Not even hearing the light breathing of her sleep. The nightmares she had were a worry to him, he didn’t know how frequently they happened he only wanted to know what caused them. Thinking that Beth must have risen before he had, he walked downstairs heading to the kitchen. Maybe she was with Albert which is where he headed, only she wasn’t in the kitchen Albert was and he seemed slightly perturbed that Vlad had met him in the kitchen.
"Sir, what are you doing in here? It is still early; the shutters are not even up yet." Looking he saw that Albert was indeed correct. Set to rise and fall with the sun, he was indeed up early. Albert hurried with his first drink of the day. For some reason Albert had always maintained a separate fridge for Vlad's blood.
"You wouldn’t happen to know where Beth is, would you Albert?"
"Of course Sir, the Mistress was also up early. She is now taking a swim I believe."
Heading through the house to the indoor pool, he caught both of Talia's men watching Beth from outside the doors. Vlad felt his anger rise; these men dare to watch his woman. The impulse to make their brains explode was intense; instead he concentrated on making them squirm. It didn’t take much but within a split second, both were writhing on the floor holding their heads.
"If I find any of you watching my woman again, you will not rise again when I am finished." As they scrambled off he slipped into the pool area. Watching enthralled, he saw her body glide through the water. She was so graceful; he found that he couldn’t turn away. Beth looked comfortable and relaxed as she moved through the water using her arms to smooth the way through. He could see tiny bikini bottoms of scarlet red, without blinking he imagined slipping the bottoms off. Damn now he was hard and heavy, again.
He continued watching until Beth sensed he was there. Swimming towards him, she climbed out of the pool with a sensuality that set him on fire. Her long blonde hair hung down her back, darkened by the water. Her arms climbed the ladders slowly revealing two triangular squares barely covering her breasts, and now that he had a closer look at the bottoms, he could see the thin strips that were tied to secure it.
With her taut stomach and lithe long legs, the woman was perfection and she was HIS. Admitting it made him feel better, as he accepted the truth he had always known, she was HIS and always would be. Vlad would not be letting her go. He had eternity to devour her, to lap her up, to savour her, both inside and out. Whether he liked how it had happened or not was not worth dwelling over any more.
She stood in front of him in her almost naked glory, water dripping from her. Right now he wanted to be that water sliding down her body. At the same time as he made the decision to ravish her, right here, right now the doors opened.
"Good evening love birds." A groan slipped out unexpectedly as Talia joined them.
"I have been thinking Vlad that I am bored."
Without turning from Beth, he released a smile. "Excellent so you are going home."
"God no, I love New York too much. No I am remaining, but my other urges are starting to demand centre stage. Anyway I know that normally you help me quash them."
With a feeling of dread he waited for her voice to continue grating at him, whilst Beth's gaze set him on fire.
Even Talia's voice couldn’t quash the lust rolling through him. "So I think that to make sure my alter ego does not reign supreme, I am going to spend the evening with you."
That pulled his gaze away. "I don’t feel that is necessary. My Elite can make sure you cause no harm."
"Ah but this time I think the urges are too much. I have spoken tonight to Edwardo, he is upset that I am yet to return but agreed that staying close to you might help my urges. I thought that maybe your servants can move my belonging to the room adjoining yours."
"Talia I do have a business to run, and you most definitely cannot move closer to my rooms."
Beth stared in amazement at Talia's manipulation.
"Well hopefully I won't do anything stupid while I sleep, but I will join you for the evening."
Vlad handed Beth a towel and went to leave, thankfully he thought better of it. He turned back, grabbed Beth round the waist, and pulled her in for a hot and heavy kiss. Beth was still angry even though she returned the kiss, watching the ire on Talia's face as he walked away.
"If you will excuse me Talia, I do have work to do."
Beth's head was a mess, he didn’t trust her, didn’t want to be bonded to her. Yet when he kissed her it was as if the world was going to end, and that was nothing compared to last night when they had come together like exploding fireworks. She was so confused.
Beth had decided that what Ice and Xin had said had some merit. No longer would she chase him, she knew they were meant to be together but until he realised that, she would not continue to punish herself. Nor would she continue apologising for saving his life.
Beth raced into the staff meeting only slightly late. She immediately noticed that Vlad seemed a little paler than usual, which was pale. His stony eyes looked tired and he kept wincing. Towards the end of the meeting he rose to check the outside of his study.
"As you are all aware, I have been sick which for any vampire is unusual. Last night the truly brilliant May came to me with the results of my blood tests." After a tiny gasp Beth continued listening.
"After much analysis, she and another have found that my blood stream contained traces of, give me a minute to pronounce this 'polystichum aleuticum' a rare plant found only in the Arctic. With no other anomalies and without a reason for this to have been in my blood, it appears that this is potentially a poison to our species."
This time there were gasps all round. Vlad gave them all a minute to settle.
"Now the next question is….." He stopped mid-sentence and focused on Albert.
"God I am stupid, so very stupid." He eyed his empty glass.
"Albert I need you to count the cartons of blood in my fridge, only mine. Then discreetly go to the supermarket and buy exactly the
same number of the same brand. Ice, Shaun, I need you to get Talia and her goons out of the house for the evening."
Before he could continue Shaun interrupted. "Sorry boss, she has already stood us down. Apparently she is going to spend the evening here, um with you."
"Shit let me think."
Beth coughed. "I can get her out of the house."
"What, how. No, I don’t want her near you."
"Don’t worry it will be very public. I will make her go shopping with me. Believe me; I can make that last all night." She said it matter of fact, although Vlad did not doubt it.
"Do you think you can make her, she is pretty stuck on staying here with me?"
"She will."
"Okay Beth will get rid of Talia. When she has gone, I want the new blood changing for the old. Julian, I will arrange with Ben for you to take all of the old blood to May, at the Silver Pack Land."
It was Ice who cut in. "Boss are you saying that she has tried to poison you?"
"I am, and it is time I made contact with France. Edwardo needs to reclaim her or I will do something I regret."
Everyone filed out except for Beth. Vlad saw the worry etched on her face as well as intense anger. She didn’t raise her voice as she spoke to him although her tone made Ice sound like a puppy.
"Is there a reason I found this out at the same time as you team?" The words were clipped and barely contained her rage.
Shit he had screwed up. It hadn’t occurred to him that she would want to know first. But it should have. "Shit, I didn’t realise. I should have…"
"Yes you should have, but it is too late now. At least I know where I stand, next to the rest of your team." She turned and walked away just as Talia entered.
"Good evening Talia, do you like my shoes?" Beth was wearing high heels with a pointed toe, the shoes were red, but the point was gold.
Talia looked down. "They are nice I suppose. Not really my sort of thing."
Two Halves of a A Vampires Soul (The Silver Series) Page 18