"So that's what you want me to do, please you? I can do that if you listen to me. Is that a fair trade?"
Liz remained quiet for a moment as his hands slipped beneath her blouse and bra, his fingers toying with her already hardened nipples.
"You have exactly five minutes to explain," she gasped as the pressure increased.
He said nothing as he flipped her around and picked her up, plopping her ass on the cold metal desk. Raphael pulled her to his taut body and pushed between her rigid legs, holding her tight and grinding against her to inflame her senses. "Oh, I don't think I'll need that long," he murmured as he stared into her eyes. "I've only been married once and that was two hundred and forty years ago," he confessed. "To you."
"You've no proof," she gasped as his erection pressed against her nether lips, making her wet with anticipation. "Just as you've never proven to me that you're a vampire."
"Then let me show you."
Fear mounted to new heights as she watched his eyes become red and glow hellishly. Fangs, sharp and lethal, descended from his mouth, glistening wet. "Is this enough for you?"
"No!" she screamed, wildly trying to free herself from his grasp, her frantic voice ringing through the empty room. Surely someone would hear her and come to her aid!
Raphael's hand swept over her face like a dark shadow, instantly calming her. "There will be no more of that, Elizabeth. You should never be afraid of me or fear anything while you are with me. I won't let anything harm you."
"Please don't kill me," she begged softly.
His hand stroked the side of her face, gentle and loving. "Never, my love. I've lost you once, I won't do it again. Are you afraid of me?"
The hideous eyes disappeared as well as the fangs, making him seem more normal. Unfortunately, it did nothing for her base fear. "A little, Raphael. That doesn't change what happened today. Your wife said—"
His full, sensual lips curled up in a generous smile. "If anyone is my wife, it's you, not Zakara."
She was completely confused. "Who is Zakara?"
"Someone you are better off not knowing.” Raphael drew a deep breath as he gripped her shoulders hard. “Since I must protect you from her, I will tell you," he said with soft words, his lips gracing her forehead. "Oh, my love, what I would not do to save you from her."
"Who is she?" Confusion stormed through like a giant tidal wave. First she met this woman claiming to be Raphael's wife. Here was Raphael saying that he had no wife. Who was she to believe?
"You've met her before," he murmured, his lips inches from hers.
"No, I haven't," she replied in a breathy whisper, her heart pounding in anticipation.
"Take my hand and let me show you," he commanded.
Unable to control her movements, she felt her hand slip into his, warm against cold. Immediately, she was transported to another time, another place.
Sheer curtains draped the tall tester bed. She touched them, her body shivering. Tonight was the night she would give herself as a wife to him, even though she'd already given him her innocence.
Briefly, she touched her belly. Raphael didn't know that she had carried his child for the last three months. Tonight would be a perfect night to tell him.
"Will ye be wanting me to warm the bed, miss?" asked Amelie, her personal servant for the last few years.
"No, Amelie. We'll be warming it ourselves in a few moments," she answered gently, her mind consumed with thoughts of lovemaking. Raphael certainly knew how to please a woman, and every thought of his magic hands sent tremors down her body.
Elizabeth wandered over and opened the beautiful mullioned window. Reams of moonlight showered the earth, turning everything a ghostly white. Trees, green and tall during the day, stood like black bones poking up from the earth. Distantly, she heard the roar of the waves as the surf pounded the rocks. She sighed heavily. Though she loved the house here, she loved Raphael even more. They would be living at his home mostly, only coming here on occasion. Perhaps she could persuade Raphael to let her have their child here.
Warm hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her close against him. "The last guest has left," he murmured as he swept her golden hair aside so that he could nibble on her neck.
"I see," she said as she watched the carriage leave the cobblestone front circle and head out onto the gravel path. "So we're finally alone."
"Aye, that we are," he answered in a sensually deep tone, his hands rubbing her belly, stopping for a second. "My love, is there something wrong? Does your belly pain you? ’Tis seems hard and tense.”
She turned, the secret her heart had carried about to be revealed. "That condition will happily improve within the next six months."
For a moment, he was confused before his eyes widened. "You don't mean—"
"You're going to be a father," she said gleefully as she flung her arms around his neck.
He held her tightly against him. "Oh, my dear, I could have asked for nothing better! How long have you known?"
"Just a month or so."
Raphael pulled away, staring at her with an incredulous glare. "You've known for an entire month without telling me? That is not fair, Elizabeth."
She silenced him with a finger to his lips. "It doesn't matter. You know now , Raphael. The reason I didn't tell you before is because I didn't want you to think that you had to marry me because of the baby. I am perfectly capable of raising the child on my own."
He kissed her hard, the passion flowing between them like a raging river. "I would have found out and made you marry me," he warned as he broke the kiss. "My child will always have the protection of my name as well as you."
"I can take care of both of us."
He silenced her with more kisses, hard and urgent, as he picked her up. She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as he laid her down.
Something black shifted in the shadows, startling her. "What was that?"
He pulled back, a little put off. "What was what?"
Before she could answer, two figures in black emerged from the shadows and grabbed Raphael, pulling him away from her and forcing him to his knees at the end of the bed.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" purred a dusky female voice.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in this house?" Raphael demanded as he tried to struggle free from his captors.
The woman emerged from the shadows. Silvery material wrapped around her lithe body, exposing her midriff as well as the tops of her breasts. Long, jet-colored hair hung in braids around her face, topped off with some sort of silver crown studded with precious gems. Her skin was the color of dry, baked earth. Everything about her seemed normal, except her eyes. They glowed red, almost as if their intensity was powered by the fires of hell. "All in due time, my dear boy," she purred and walked over to the bed.
Elizabeth lay there, frozen in fear, unable to speak. Those eyes kept her locked in position, refusing to allow her to move or shout. What was this creature?
"I see you've got a beautiful little wife and a baby on the way," the woman said, her eyes still glowing. "Too bad you can't keep her."
"Let me go!" Raphael shouted, trying his best to wrest himself free. "Don't touch her!"
The woman laughed. "I've been watching you for a long time, Lord Clarendon. You've intrigued me from the moment I saw you. Since I'm not a sharing woman, I can't have this sort of obstacle in my way."
"What are you?" he said, his voice trembling as fear crept into it.
She laughed. "Do you remember your Bible stories, Lord Clarendon?" she asked as she lifted her hand. Elizabeth was compelled by a force beyond her own reckoning to rise. She did and closed the distance between herself and the strangely dressed woman, stopping in front of the intruder.
"What does this have to do with your presence here?" he snapped angrily.
She felt the woman's claw-like nails sweep her hair aside, stroking the side of her neck. "Hmmm, since you don't remember, I guess I'll have to fill
you in. As you know, the world began with Adam and Eve."
"I still don't understand," she heard Raphael say, anxiety high in his voice.
"Be patient," the woman said. "I'm getting to that." She took a deep breath and continued on. "You see, what the Bible doesn't tell you is that Adam's first wife was Lillith, a woman fashioned from the same dirt as Adam. For a while, they got along until Lillith decided that she was going to be ruled by no man. In due time, she discovered a man who was much better than Adam, so she left her whelp of a husband for her lover."
"What does all this have to do with us?"
"Patience, my boy," the woman warned. Elizabeth could do nothing except stare at the strange creature before her, the glowing eyes still keeping their hold. "You see, Lillith was my mother and her lover was my father."
"Who was her lover?"
"Satan," she announced proudly. "Out of their union, I was born and given the name of Zakara. My father bestowed power upon me, of the wind and the storm as well as the animals of the earth. When the Almighty heard of my birth, He immediately cursed me with the thirst for blood, a curse that my father could not undo. So I was condemned to roam the earth, taking blood where I could find it. In time, I formed a coven of vampires who do my bidding. Naturally, they look to me as their Queen, so I have decided that I need a King." Zakara's nail raked across her cheek, drawing blood. Her long tongue slipped out and licked Elizabeth's face, making her inwardly wince. "Such good blood. It's going to be a shame to have to waste it."
"Leave her alone. Do whatever you want to me. I beg you to leave her alone!" Raphael pleaded.
"Oh, I plan on leaving her alone," Zakara announced, her plump lips spreading into a smile. Just as those words died in the air, Elizabeth felt the razor sharp teeth dig into the veins of her neck. She heard Zakara sucking hard, her heart beating quickening. Dizziness set in, her eyes beginning to close.
"No!" Raphael screamed. "Don't do this!"
Zakara said nothing as she continued to feed. Elizabeth felt her heart beginning to slow as all of her vital fluids passed into Zakara. Death was coming and she was powerless to stop it. Please, let my baby live, she tried to mouth to Zakara yet her lips refused to move.
Her body weakened. The once sturdy legs collapsed under her, allowing her body to fall to the floor. Zakara followed, taking the last drop of blood she possessed.
Elizabeth lay on the floor, her eyes open. It was strange. She could see and hear, yet she knew that her heart no longer beat. Then why wasn't she dead?
She watched as Zakara made her way over to Raphael and knelt down before him. "It's your turn," she whispered.
Elizabeth watched as Raphael tried to struggle away from her except her minions were too strong. Her teeth sank into Raphael's neck with a sickening crunch. Greedily, she drank from him. His body started to weaken, and he swayed between his captors. If only Elizabeth could save him from this monster!
Just as he was about to collapse, Zakara pulled her bloody lips away. "If I take one more drop from you, it will bring about your death. Tell me, with death looming over you, do you wish to live?" He mumbled words much too soft for her to understand. "What did you say? I couldn't hear you?"
Elizabeth felt herself rising from the floor. She hurried over to Zakara in a desperate attempt to stop the wicked fiend. It was to no avail. She looked over to where she had lain. Her heart sank. Her body was still there, which meant her soul was free. There was nothing she could do for Raphael.
She looked back to her beloved as he lay on the floor dying. She didn't want him to die the way she did. If nothing else, their love would continue on and someday, perhaps if God was merciful, they would find each other again.
Using her resolve, Elizabeth floated over to Raphael's body and knelt next to him. "You want to live," she whispered. "As long as one of us lives, something of the other does, too."
Just as those words assailed his ears, Raphael uttered the condemning words. "I want to live."
"Then live you shall," Zakara said. Opening the top of her strange gown, she drew a nail across her right breast. Holding Raphael's head, she laid his lips against the blood, allowing him to drink.
Elizabeth faded away from the scene, the room and became a fast blur. It was time for her to go to her rest. She was going to need it if she was ever to find Raphael again.
Chapter 6
"Do you believe me?" Raphael's voice drifted through the hazy remnants of the dream-like memories.
She opened her eyes to see the classroom was just as it had been before. There was no opulent bedroom or tester bed with gauzy curtains. She had no choice except to believe him. That memory had been the very essence of her nightmares. "Yes, I do, Raphael."
His brow rose slightly as his fingers caressed her chin. "What makes you believe me?”
The soft pad of his thumb drifted across her lips, sending shivers down her spine. For the first time in her life, the evil that had haunted her relentlessly had a name. "Because that nightmare played out to its fullest and I hadn't told you a thing about it. In fact, I've never told anyone," she confessed softly, her body trembling under his touch.
"That's no nightmare," he confessed as he pulled her close, his lips pressed against her forehead. "That was what happened on our wedding night. You died and gave me the courage to live. The only thing I've regretted for the past two hundred and forty years was that I had to endure it without you."
She stared into the deep green pools of his eyes, feeling as though she belonged to him completely and always had. "What do you want of me, Raphael?" she questioned in a quiet murmur.
"I want you to be my loving wife again, Elizabeth," Raphael explained, his voice echoing dully inside the room. "Don't let me exist another couple of hundred years without you."
Despite the desire soaring through her body, she broke away from his hold and was surprised that he allowed her to do so. Pushing herself from the desk, she paced the room, her thumb to her lip. Did she want to become one of the undead just as he was, or did she want to live an ordinary life, knowing that there was no one else out there for her? "You don't know what you're asking, Raphael."
"Ah, I do know what I'm asking, Elizabeth," he said, the sound of his heels hitting the floor as he closed the distance between them breaking the uneasy silence. "Are you willing to give yourself to me again, only this time forever?"
She buried her head in her hands. "Please, Raphael. I can't even kill a spider and you're asking me to become this thing that must kill human beings to survive?"
"You will be with me, Elizabeth. Isn't that what you want?"
Liz leaned against the other side of the desk, both of her hands supporting her chin. "It is what I want, Raphael. I don't know if I can become what you want. I'm not a killer, or a murderer."
She felt him nudge her forward and slide behind her, his strong arms twining around her. "You're a survivor, Elizabeth, and that's what I am, nothing more. We're not murderers or killers yet we do have to feed in order to survive."
Tears stung her eyes, threatening to flood her contacts down her cheeks. "I don’t know, Raphael," she stammered, her body shaking. In the short span of a few weeks she'd changed her hair and eye color only to realize that she was truly the reincarnation of Lady Elizabeth Swanson.
He spun her around in his arms, forcing her to face him. "Then let me make up your mind for you."
His lips brushed against hers, soft and feathery at first, dancing across the line. She responded by softening and welcoming his urgent passion into her mouth. Together their tongues intertwined, dancing to a tune only they could hear.
Liz's arms instinctively wrapped around him and pressed against him. The level of his desire indented her belly, heightening her senses. She wanted him someplace more private, not here.
"Why not here?" he whispered against her lips, his fingers unbuttoning her floral-print blouse.
"Be—because," she stammered as his hands freed her breasts from the constraint of her bra,
his magic digits caressing her nipples to marble hardness. Instantly, her pussy flooded. She needed him to fuck her senseless again. That was the only thing in the world she wanted at this moment.
"Because why?" Raphael dipped his head and laved hot kisses at the hollow of her neck, his hands increasing their pressure on her tit, massaging them from root to tip.
"Someone might see," she confessed as she leaned further into him.
"Nonsense," he murmured, snapping his fingers. Bright lights disappeared, plunging them into total darkness. "No one will see. Besides, I've locked the door so no one can come in." He leaned in closer. “You don’t know how bad I want to fuck you right now, long and hard.”
Before she could utter a word, Raphael slipped his hand lower and dipped beneath the hem her skirt. Instantly, his fingers pressed against her panties. “Hell, you’re so wet and ready for me, I’m thinking about bending you over this desk right now and fucking you.”
The thought of herself spread eagle against her desk, his whore ready for his pleasure, nearly drove her insane with lust. "Can't they hear us?"
"Not unless I want them to," he brushed his lips against her forehead. "You feel so good to me, Elizabeth. I don't know how I lived all these years without you."
She wasn't sure how to respond to his confession. She'd never known she was looking for him. How can you miss something you didn't know you had? Liz turned her head as a sly smile curled her lip. “Fuck me hard against my desk, Raphael. I belong to you and am here for you to whatever you want.”
The corner of Raphael’s mouth lifted into a sexy half grin. “I intend to.” Taking his hand, he slipped inside of her panties and pantyhose ripping them off with a flourish. Because of their immense height difference, Raphael helped her up to the desk, coaxing her to her knees. His fingers spread her cheeks apart, allowing his fingers to circle the tight ring of muscle comprising her anus. She instantly clenched against his hinted invasion. “This is one part of your body I intend to deflower very soon.” His thumb pressed against the puckered skin.
Ranson, Tracy L. - Prince of Night [Bloodborn 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 9