by Jaid Black
Deoctra turned angry, glowing eyes on Erica. "I’ll take the human whore with me."
"You will not."
"Why not? Surely this human can mean nothing to you."
"She means enough to Mikhel for him to fight for her life at the risk of his free will. Leave now, Deoctra, or die now. The choice is yours. You choose to live a little longer. Yes?"
Erica sent up a silent prayer of thanksgiving when Deoctra moved into the shadows and disappeared.
The other woman turned to Mikhel. "My little one. You are all right? No?"
Mikhel struggled to his feet, and Erica’s heartbeat returned to normal. "I’m all right, mother."
Palea Dumont rushed to her son and they embraced, kissing each other’s cheeks.
Erica watched in amazement. Mikhel’s nudity didn’t seem to bother either one of them. Ashamed by her own lack of clothing, she pressed one hand over her mound and the other across her breasts.
Mikhel drew away from his mother and hurried across the room to kneel at her side. He touched her neck, then bent and kissed it tenderly. "My brave, beautiful, Erica! Are you all right?"
She nodded slowly, surprised. Other than being scared senseless and feeling weak, she seemed to be okay. She leaned forward and pressed her face against his shoulder. "What about you, Mikhel? Are you hurt? When she threw you across the room, I heard your head hit the wall and I thought…"
"Shhh. It’s all right. I’m all right. I’m not so easily hurt."
"Now you tell me! Oh, Mikhel. I was so afraid."
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. He lay her on her back and pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts. "I know, but it’s all right now."
She cast a quick look at his mother. "Cover yourself, Mikhel," she whispered. It was bad enough that the room reeked of sex and they were both naked. "Your cock is almost hard and your mother can see it!"
He shrugged. "It’s not the first time she’s seen it."
She gaped at him. "What? What do you mean it’s not the first time? Are you saying ? Mikhel! I—what are you saying? Surely you and your mother…?"
"Oh, don’t look at me like that, my Erica. I only meant that nudity is no big deal. We vampires are not bashful. My mother has seen my cock many times."
"Erect? Since you’ve been an adult?"
"Yes. When we’re home, it’s not usual for us all to be nude."
"All? Who’s all?"
He shrugged. "Me, Serge, Kattia, my parents."
"You mean you all walk around naked and aroused in front of each other?"
"It’s not a big deal, Erica." He turned to look at the woman who looked about twenty-five years old. "Mother, this beautiful, bashful woman is Erica Kalai…my bloodlust."
His mother emitted a low, soft sigh. "Oh, my little one. You didn't use protection. No? She’s full of your seed and she's not even a latent. This is going to complicate things. You are sure?"
"I'm very sure, Mother."
"Think seriously, Mikhel. Do not be lead by lust alone. For all her faults, Deoctra can easily take your cock all night long. Yes?"
"So can my Erica." Then to Erica's dismay, he pulled the cover off her and settled himself between her legs.
"Mikhel!" She shoved against his shoulders, trying to push him off her. "What are you doing? Your mother's watching!"
"I know," he said softly. "She enjoys watching us make love." Holding her still, he sank his cock deep into her depths with one quick thrust.
The breath hissed from her throat. Her pussy caught fire and she pushed back against him, parting her thighs to give him easier assess. Even as she fought to keep from surrendering to the lust tightening her cunt, she clutched his butt in her hands.
"That's it, my lovely Erica. Take my cock and fuck me back."
Oh, what the hell. What if his mother was in the room watching? It was his mother. If he didn't mind her watching, why should she? She shuddered, surrendered completely to her desire, and began fucking back at him.
"Oh, God, Mikhel. Please fuck me."
"As often as you like, my love," he promised.
He picked her up and carried her to the writing desk in one corner of the room. He sat her on the end and thrust into her. Lifting her legs over his shoulders, she pressed her arms back to support herself and shoved her hips back at him. "Oh, Lord, your cock is so good."
"Then let me give you some more," he said and began fucking her with complete abandon.
Tossing her head back, she let the waves of bliss wash over her until they consumed her. Absolute paradise.
* * * * *
"Wake up, sleepy head."
Erica kept her eyes tightly closed and pulled the cover up over her face. She ached, she was tired, and she wanted to be left alone to consider the consequences of the mess she’d landed herself in. She still couldn't believe Mikhel had actually mounted her like that and fucked her while his mother watched with dark glowing eyes. Not that she was any better. She frowned. Or had his mother really been present? She was no longer sure. The night before was a blurred mixture of pleasure, terror, and confusion.
If she’d only stayed at the party with Nancy and Janna, none of this would have happened. "Go away."
The cover was firmly pulled down from her face and a pair of warm lips brushed against her mouth. "I’m sorry about last night. Forgive me for not doing a better job of protecting you."
So now he was going to pull the woe-is-me routine on her. Men. You couldn’t live with them, but who the hell wanted to try living without them? She opened her eyes and blinked up at Mikhel, who immediately pulled the cover away completely and spread his nude body on top of hers.
Despite all the horror of the night before, her body immediately responded to his. But she was through being ruled by lust, that had nearly gotten them both killed. She pushed against his shoulders. "No, Mikhel."
He stared down into her eyes for several long moments before he groaned and rolled off her. She sat up and held the sheet against her breasts. "Is she going to come back, Mikhel?"
He extended silence was answer enough.
She shook her head. "Mikhel, you are very special. I’ve never met anyone like you and I know I never will again."
He sat up and looked at her, his dark eyes narrowed. "That sounds strangely like the beginning of a Dear Mikhel speech."
She nodded slowly. "It’s been an incredible, memorable two days, Mikhel. I’m never going to forget you."
He shook his head. "Erica, I know last night was frightening for you and I’m sorry, but—"
"Mikhel, I was scared to death, not only for my own life, but for yours as well. I can’t…I don’t want to live like that."
He cupped his palm against her cheek. "You won’t have to."
"How can I not when you can’t guarantee that she won’t come back?"
"She will come back," he admitted. "But you don’t have to worry."
"Why not?"
His dark eyes began to glow. "Because I’m going to kill her when she does."
"Kill her? You mean…"
"I mean I’m going to kill her."
"No! Mikhel, she nearly killed you last night. If your mother—"
"She never intended to kill me nor did she almost kill me. In the first place, I’m not so easy to kill. I’m not a full-blood, but I am my mother’s son as well as my father’s. Granted Deoctra is a formidable opponent, but so am I. And I won’t necessarily be facing her alone."
Oh, Lord! He expected her to help him. She still wasn't sure what had possessed her the night before to try to battle a vampire, but she was not about to try that again. She shook her head. "Mikhel, I adore you more than you could possibly know, but I can’t…help kill her."
"Help?" He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. "I didn’t mean you, my love."
"Then who? Your mother?" She glanced around the room. "Where is she?"
"She’s with my father."
"Then who?"
"If nece
ssary, Serge will back me up."
"Your broth—but you said he was a latent with no real vampire tendencies!"
"Don't make the mistake of underestimating, Serge. Latent or not, he too, is our mother's son. He is very skillful in any and everything he undertakes. We’re a close-knit family. Both he and Kattia will be there for me, if I need them. If necessary, Deoctra will die." He stared into her eyes. "You have to stay with me."
She shook her head. "I want to, Mikhel, but I can’t."
"I have no intentions of letting you go."
She lifted her chin. "The choice is not yours, Mikhel. It's mine to make and I've made it. I’m leaving."
His eyes darkened. "You'll only leave if I let you. I could very easily force you to stay."
"I know you could." She shook her head. "But I also know you won’t."
"Don't be so sure of that."
"I am sure of it. You promised me you wouldn't hurt me. Well, I'd consider forcing me to stay against my will hurting me. Are you suggesting that you lied when you said I could trust you?"
"No." He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. "I am not like Deoctra. I want you to stay with me because you want to be with me."
She kissed his lips and pulled away. "I do want to be with you. More than you could possibly know, but I have to go."
"Erica. Don’t. Please. You have no idea what you mean to me."
"I know what you mean to me, Mikhel, but I can’t go around dodging a killer vampire who wants me out of the way so she can have you. Please try to understand." She climbed off the bed and began pulling on her clothes.
He watched her in silence, his dark eyes glowing, his jaw clenching. When she finished, he turned onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow. "Please, Erica. I’ll kill her."
"I don’t want you to kill her. I just want not to be afraid. I have to go." She leaned over and kissed his hair. "Please don’t make this any harder."
"Go."
"What?"
He suddenly spun around and stared at her, his eyes dark and cold. "I said go! If you’re going go!"
"Let’s not part like this, Mikhel." She stretched out a hand to him.
He bared his incisors and sprang away from her. "Don’t touch me. Just go!"
She snatched her hand back and lifted her chin angrily. "Oh, you’re a real prince, Mikhel. One moment you’re pretending you can’t live without me, the next you’re snarling at me as if you’d like to rip my throat out."
He leaped off the bed and confronted her, his eyes dark, forceful, and angry. "You don’t want to know what I’m feeling right now. Just get out!"
There was undeniable menace in his voice and in the glowing eyes glaring down into hers. She was almost afraid of him, until she remembered his whispered promise that he would never hurt her.
She reached out a hand to caress his cheek. Although he bared his incisors, he didn’t move away from her touch. "Leaving you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do."
"I told you not to touch me." He pushed her hand away. "Get out. Now!"
The words while I’m prepared to let you go hung unspoken in the air between them. She knew he walked a fine line between the need to force her to stay and the desire to allow her the freedom to make her own choice. Even as she backed away, she adored him even more for his refusal to force his will on her.
* * * * *
"If she means so much to you, why did you let her go?"
Mikhel turned from the window of his hotel room to face the man who lounged casually on the unmade bed where he and Erica had made love the night before. "I let her go because she means so much to me."
"All the more reason for forcing her to stay if you ask me."
He frowned. "You only say that because you don't know how powerful a force bloodlust is, Serge. How it drives and completely controls you."
"I'm inclined to think this bloodlust is more trouble than it's worth. When I meet a woman I want half as much you want your Erica, I'll keep her using any means necessary."
He frowned. "You sound like Deoctra. You don't force your bloodlust to do anything. If you have to use force, then she's not your bloodlust."
Serge picked up a pillow, held it close to his face and inhaled deeply. "I can smell her pussy on this pillow. She smells delicious."
"She is delicious."
Serge inhaled again before laying back, his face turned into the pillow. "What will you do if she doesn't come back?"
"I don't know," he said bleakly. He had never dreamed that having found his bloodlust he would ever lose her.
"Well, if you're not going to go after her and force her back, that means sooner or later she's going to get herself another man."
A low angry growl escaped his lips at the thought of his Erica with another man. He couldn't hurt her—no manner what she did. The man would be another story.
Serge sat up, his eyes narrowing. "If she doesn't come back, I'll go after her."
"No!"
"Yes. If you won't do what's necessary, I will."
He flashed across the room and stared down at his younger brother. "I won't have her hurt, Serge."
"Who's going to hurt her? Not me. Fuck her? Probably, but I'll bring her back to you unharmed."
He reached out and grabbed Serge by the throat. "Don't you touch her."
Serge pushed his hand away and rose to his feet. "It'll be me or some other man. At least I won't fall in love with her. I'll fuck her and bring her back to you."
"Stay away from her."
Serge's eyes narrowed. "That's not what I said when you fucked Lisa."
A memory flashed across Mikhel's mind of a tiny, brunette with wide, deceptively innocent blues eyes, huge breasts, and a tight, greedy pussy that had milked and sucked as much of his cock as she could take like he was her last fuck. Spending the night with her had been a decidedly pleasant experience.
"That was different."
"That's not what you said when you were fucking her."
He frowned. "She was not your bloodlust and you wanted to watch me fuck her. She wanted you to watch me fuck her."
"Yes, she did. And you did—until the poor woman could barely walk the next day. And I didn't complain. It's time to play fair, Mik."
"She's mine."
"And she'll continue to be yours. But fair is fair." Serge's dark eyes glinted. "Don't worry, Mikhel. I promise I won't fuck your Erica until she wants me to."
"She won't want you to."
"Has she sucked your blood?"
"Yes."
"And you can still say that?"
Mikhel took a deep, shuddering breath. He knew Serge had a point. But how was he supposed to share his Erica, his bloodlust with another man? Even Serge. He frowned. He had to get her back. Then he'd worry about how to keep Serge away from her.
"Serge, I am warning you!"
"I'll consider myself warned." Serge moved quickly across the room in time to avoid his halfhearted attempt to backhand him. "In the meantime, Katie and I will be next door if you need us." He paused at the door. "Don't worry, Mikhel. Even though I have every intensions of fucking her, given the chance, I won't fall for her. Although she's pretty, she's entirely too blond and too fair for me. As you know, I like my women much darker."
He nodded slightly. He'd known of Serge's preferences for quite a while, which was why the tiny brunette had surprised him. He dismissed the sudden, unexpected thought that he'd like the opportunity to spend a night or two with the woman Serge finally settled down with.
"Have you told mother yet?"
Serge shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
"She's already upset about you and your Erica. Why should I give her more grief, especially since there's no one special? Well, not exactly."
"You have someone in mind?"
Serge's eyes seemed to glaze over and Mikhel knew his mind was far away. "Yes. The woman from Philly."
"The woman from…what woman from Philly?" Mikhel
frowned. "Not our client, Serge. We were hired to provide security for her, not romance her."
"I intend to do both."
"Why choose her?"
"I don't know about bloodlust, Mik, but the first time I saw her, I knew she was someone special who I wanted to spend a lot of time with."
"And how does she feel?"
"I don’t know. I haven't approached her yet."
"Why not?"
Serge shrugged. "Unlike your delicious, uninhibited Erica, she is not likely to succumb so easily…unless I use coercion."
He leveled a finger at Serge. "Do not imply that Erica is easy."
Serge grinned. "Oh, but that's what I'm counting on."
"Well, she's not. You just worry about your woman when you get another one. You're the last person I thought would have a problem with coercion."
"Normally I wouldn't and don't have a problem with it, but this woman is different. I want her to want me."
"Ah. You begin to understand the allure of a woman who wants you."
"I suppose."
"Good. In the meantime, leave her alone. Business is business. Find your pleasure somewhere else."
Serge shook his head. "If you don't want to mix business with pleasure, don't. But don't try to dictate to me, Mik. You should know by now that it won't do any good. There is no way I'm going to stay away from her."
"So you intend to play around with a client and then just walk away?"
"Why not?"
"It's unprofessional. Besides, Mother won't be pleased."
Serge grinned. "Ah, well. There's always Katie."
After Serge had gone, Mikhel turned back to the window. Where was his Erica? He closed his eyes, straining to 'feel' her through the tenuous connection that had started to form between them.
Erica. Erica, my love. Come back to me.
Chapter Six
Erica fought back tears as she road the elevator down to the ground floor. Every time the elevator door opened, she struggled off an almost overpowering need to run back to Mikhel. Leaving him had been the only practical thing she could do. She was not going to stay with him and spend what would undoubtedly be the rest of a very short life, trying to avoid being killed by the likes of Deoctra. And the Lord only knew how many other full-bloods might be lusting after him.