The shadows surrounding them seemed to press closer and closer. Her heart ached, but she couldn’t fathom why.
Her grandmother’s prediction replayed in her mind.
I see you and your soul mate surrounded by darkness. And butterfly wings—thousands of butterfly wings—fluttering against your heart. You offer him a white rose that is so flawless, so pure, its light blinds him long enough for you to capture his heart. Then you will have what you’ve always desired, Diana. Then you will know eternal love. But fail in winning his heart and you will spend eternity in a place even worse than Hell, Diana, while the rest of humanity falls beneath ravenous beasts the angels unleash ―
“What’s wrong,” Terry asked, squeezing her shoulder.
Diana bit her lip and glanced up at the house. “Nothing. I’m just a little nervous.”
“Look, sweetie,” Terry said, “I understand how you feel. Really, I do. But you’ve lived your life by rules dictated by a woman who never leaves her house.”
“In my family, we call that stability,” she mumbled to herself. Her mother deserted her. Her father, obsessed with the idea that he was this century’s Van Helsing, barely noticed her. A housebound grandmother who showered her with love and only asked that she wait for her go-ahead to lose her virginity deserved her loyalty and obedience. “And I don’t mind waiting.”
“Yeah, right. I bet when she called and said tonight was the night, you nearly came in your pants.” Terry let out a bark of laughter, then covered her mouth and shot a quick glance up at the house.
Although the thought of finally being with a man terrified her as much as it excited her, Diana tossed her hair over her shoulder and Terry’s arm with a flick of her head, then grinned. “You’ve got that right.”
When they rejoined Mary and Cindy beside their clothes, she slid her fingers under the straps of her thong and started to lower them. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. Her hands stilled. She hesitated long enough to steal a glance at the windows before sliding her thong down her legs. The blinds and curtains didn’t stir, but she still felt as if someone watched her every move.
Dropping her thong, she looked up at the sky just as the moon disappeared behind a lone cloud. A cool breeze lifted her hair. The ends tickled her lower back. She stared up at the multitude of stars twinkling down at her and, with a mental wink at the moon, picked which star she’d dance for tonight. “Isn’t it a beautiful night? It would have been perfect…making love under the stars.”
“Been there, done that. The bugs kinda put a dent in the mood.” Terry chuckled.
Cindy groaned. “Not to mention grass tickling your ass.”
Diana giggled. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Or unwanted onlookers. We’d better get swimming before our young voyeur wakes up.”
Mary slid behind Cindy and peeked at the house over her shoulder. “Maybe we should find another spot. I heard Bobby has a website where he’s promising naked pics of Lake George girls. Something tells me he means us.”
Diana crossed her arms under her breasts. “We’ve been skinny-dipping here since we were kids. I’ll be damned if some horny kid is going to make us leave.” She stared at the lake. Stars twinkled on the ebony blanket of water. She watched them flow into each other, touch, merge. “I thought tonight I’d be here with the love of my life, finally giving this twenty-five year old body what it should have had with Rickie Lemax in twelfth grade.”
Terry let out a short bark of laughter. “Yeah, right. Like you’d ever give in on the first date. Then or now.”
Diana grinned mischievously over her shoulder as she sashayed toward the shore. “Girls, I’m so horny I’d probably tear his clothes off in the first five minutes.” She waited for Terry to catch up, then added, her voice firm, “If I was sure he was the one Nana told me to wait for.”
Terry ran in front of her, then turned around and grabbed her arms. “See, you’ve got it backward, Di. When I think I’ve met Mr. Right, he’s gonna have to wait ‘til I’ve convinced him I’m not a slut.”
“Which you are!” Mary and Cindy said in unison as they ran past Diana and Terry into the water.
“I am not! Sluts have sex with anyone willing.” Terry stuck out her chin. “I’m very choosy.”
“Not!” Mary dove under to avoid the spray of water Terry kicked up.
Diana swished her toe back and forth in the cool water. “Well I’m not totally led by Nana Lina’s predictions. Her Mr. Right might not be right enough for me. It’s not like as soon as she says go screw him, I’ll let some stranger jump my bones. I’m not spreading my legs ‘til I’m sure. That’s really all she wants.”
Terry leaned over and whispered. “Give up this crap about saving yourself for your soul mate, Di. Nana’s old. Her predictions are probably as wrinkled as her ass. She said you’d meet him tonight and you didn’t. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“Man, I’ll never get how you’ve held out so long, Di,” Cindy said as she floated on her back.
Terry licked her lips. “Especially with the last guy. The fireman? He had the kind of bod even I might go two nights with.”
Diana closed her eyes, envisioning the washboard abs that had caught and held her attention for nearly a month. “Mmmm, he was tempting. He’s still leaving me messages calling me a cock-teaser.”
“Which you are,” Cindy shouted from the water, then dove under again when both Diana and Terry retaliated.
“I am not! The guys usually got more out of it than me. And Smokey the Bear left bruises all over my boobs, the creep.” She poked a finger into the side of one of Terry’s breasts. “Yours look and feel great, by the way.”
Turning from side to side, Terry grinned. “They do, don’t they?” She nodded down at Diana’s breasts. “Well worth the money, honey. You could turn those Barely Bs into Double Ds by the end of the summer.”
Diana ran her hands over her breasts and frowned. “I see nothing wrong with my perfectly full Bs. If I had the money, I’d spend it on my nose.”
“When you do meet Mr. Right, he’s gonna be more interested in these than your crooked little nose.” Terry flicked Diana’s nipple and smirked when Diana gasped. “No, you’re not too horny.”
Diana rubbed her nipple, embarrassed by the way it hardened. “We’d better hurry. Our young Acteon,” she whispered, nodding toward the house, “might wake up.”
Terry laughed. “Then we’d just have to feed him to the dogs.”
Chapter Two
Sebastian felt like poor Acteon, the doomed lad the goddess Diana had turned into a stag for gazing upon her as she bathed nude in a lake with her nymphs. He now understood why the young man had been unable to tear his eyes away from the virgin huntress and flee to safety. When he recalled how the goddess had punished the young voyeur, how she’d watched the hunting dogs tear him apart, a sliver of dread slid down Sebastian’s spine and demanded he leave.
But just as he was about to turn away, Diana hung her head back, grasped the locket dangling between her breasts and closed her eyes. Her lips moved as if she spoke, but he heard nothing.
The moon peeked out from behind a cloud and bathed her skin, set her pale breasts aglow, then flowed over her slightly rounded stomach and muscular legs. He envied its freedom to spiral down the mass of amber curls that brushed across the pale curves of her buttocks with every move. Stark tan lines bordered the areas the moon held sole domain over, revealing just how much she enjoyed the heat of the rays he dreaded.
A gentle breeze carried the lingering aroma of the meat barbequed on a nearby grill earlier that day, but the hunger that gnawed at Sebastian’s insides had nothing to do with food. If Diana had been a vampire, he would have already found some way to meet her, seduce her and bury his fangs in her neck while he buried his cock in her slick pussy.
He shook his head and wondered how he could forget so quickly why he was there. Running his hand through his hair, he cursed Damien for turning his brain to mush when he’d slammed him with his
rage. He willed the desire heating his blood to cool down and thought he succeeded.
Diana began to dance, twirling around at the water’s edge, lifting her face to the sky and singing in a hushed, silken voice the angels would envy. Her friends joined in the dance and, although they had bigger breasts and less muscular legs, Sebastian could not tear his eyes away from Diana. Her body moved with the liquid grace of a ballerina. She looked like a fairy, a wood nymph.
A goddess.
His purpose there forgotten, he imagined his arms held her as she danced, could almost feel her naked body crushed against his.
She swirled around naked, illuminated by the moonlight for all to see, but from what he’d heard tonight, Diana really was a virgin. Even if he hadn’t heard it, he would have known. Knew back at the meeting by her pure scent clinging to the strip of cloth. Would still know without that clue.
He had sensed her apprehension and seen the soft blush sweep across her cheeks when she had talked so cavalierly to her friends about her desires. He empathized with the fireman. Diana obviously had no idea what she’d done to the man when she had allowed him to touch, maybe even taste, but not possess. Damien couldn’t have been more accurate. Diana was truly an innocent.
His mother’s deception didn’t surprise him. If anything, he now understood why she’d wanted him to keep his distance. A virgin—one who’d never totally given herself to a man, one whose blood had no male scent marring its purity—drew his kind like a moth to a flame.
Virgin’s blood smelled and tasted sweeter than any other. For years, Olympia had ensured nothing else quenched his thirst, addicting him to the lifeblood of innocents. His fangs shot out as he imagined Diana’s blood sliding down his throat like warm honey. So enticing, so damn addictive.
Too weakened by Damien’s attack to deal with a virgin, he moved to leave, but Diana and her friends chose that moment to run into the lake. Entranced, he watched her dive under, then thrust her perfect bottom above the black water. He wished he could transform himself into water, rise up and lap at her pert nipples, flow between her legs and slip deep into her pussy. His cock twitched as he licked his lips and imagined grazing her clit with his fang.
Diana gasped and glanced in his direction.
Then again, maybe his mother was right. How could Diana, a mere human, sense his presence? Why did he, one who had yet to relinquish his sexual dominance to even the strongest female of his kind, feel bewitched by this beauty?
She stepped onto the shore. Rivulets of water trailed down her body, zigzagging to the very spots his fevered mind had become obsessed with. Her nipples pebbled, tempting him to taste. She shivered, then vigorously rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
Before he realized what he was doing, he warmed the air surrounding her. She stilled, took a step toward him, then shrank back into the warm cocoon he’d created. Laughter tickled his throat when she leaned her head forward and stuck her crooked little nose into the cool air, then scrunched it up. His laughter died, his eyes focused on her teeth as she sucked in her lower lip and gnawed on it.
Passion and a bloodlust stronger than any he’d ever experienced seized him. White-hot pain streaked through his veins and brought him to his knees. Diana’s virginity shimmered around her like an aura, a pure white glow that beckoned and promised untold delights. Thrust into the past where control succumbed to hunger, he felt the chains that had imprisoned his addiction all these years snap, one by one. Fearing the last would soon give, he threw his head back and roared in denial.
Diana and her friends screamed. Sebastian watched in shock when, instead of taking cover behind a distant boulder like her friends, Diana crept up to the hemlock he hid behind, then slid her hand in and swept aside some branches. Instinct and years surviving amidst humans brought him back under control.
Muscles smoothly banding up her calves and thighs flexed inches from his face. Before she peered directly at him, he altered her perception so that no matter how intently she searched where he hid, she would only see a shadow. To probe her mind for any knowledge of his stepbrother’s death, he looked into her eyes.
Huge orbs of verdant green splashed with gold, like the mountains when the first rays of a new day kissed the peaks of the trees, held his gaze. Dawn dwelt in Diana Nostrum’s eyes and its beauty mocked the photos and paintings covering the walls in his house. Dawn. So deadly. So exquisitely beautiful. He couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Spellbound, Sebastian wondered if he just discovered Frank Nostrum’s weapon.
“It sounds like it’s hurt,” Diana called over her shoulder to her friends.
“Di, get away!” Terry yelled.
Diana spun around, unwittingly planting the soft white globes of her sweet ass just above his head. The need to touch her slammed into him. Too many years, too many nights spent in the arms of beautiful vamps had left him confident that he could handle the effects of any female. Fangs, nails, everything grew in defiance of his will.
“Thanks a lot, Terry. Just leave me here.” She planted her hands on her hips.
Terry peeked over the top of the rock. “And let some wild dog sink his teeth into my tits? They cost me a fortune. Di, get the hell away from it. It could have rabies or something.”
He tried to growl, but his clenched teeth and throat strangled the sound.
“It sounds more like it’s dying,” Diana muttered.
Dying? He was definitely dying. Did she have any idea that the bouquet of her sex filled his lungs, that he need only tilt his head up and forward a few inches to taste it? An unimaginable compulsion to mate waged war with his ever-weakening control. The need to feed upon her was so powerful that, for the first time since puberty, he feared he would not be able to stop until he had devoured her very soul. He squeezed his eyes shut, held his breath.
“It’s all right. I won’t hurt you,” Diana crooned and leaned forward.
Sebastian opened his eyes. The tender cleft below amber curls still damp from the lake hovered mere inches away from his face, exposing way too much to his hungry gaze. His eyes focused on her clit. He didn’t think it possible, but his cock grew even harder. The growl that escaped this time sounded, even to his own ears, like that of a wounded animal.
Damn Damien. His attack had weakened Sebastian more than he thought and left him defenseless to the effects of the hunter’s daughter.
“Terry, we have to help it. The poor thing’s in pain.”
Terry leaned out from behind the boulder. “Diana Nostrum, if you get yourself mauled, I’ll never forgive you. Just leave it alone! Please, you’re scaring me.”
He could smell Diana’s mounting fear, a pungent aroma that called forth the Champion he’d put to rest for this mission.
“Come on, boy. I won’t hurt you,” she whispered.
The cinnamon of her breath and the tangy smell of her arousal ate away at his control.
Diana absently rubbed her hand between her legs and mumbled to herself. “I’d better meet this guy, soon. I’m getting horny at the sickest times.”
Undeniable hunger reared its head. His fangs grew so quickly they nearly nicked his lower lip before he could adjust his jaw. He tore his gaze from Diana’s hand, from the sheen of her own juices coating her fingers, from the swollen clit peeking out from her cropped curls. Her hypnotic eyes beckoned, but somehow he managed to avoid them. His eyes, damn them, focused instead on her mouth, her lips, her teeth.
Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to break free of her spell, to flee before he found himself trapped in her father’s pen, but the scene unfolding in his mind held him prisoner. He licked his own lips as he envisioned Diana’s gliding down the length of his cock. His fangs throbbed when he imagined the subtle scrape of her teeth as his cock delved deeper into her warm mouth. He imagined her tongue sweeping down his shaft, suckling, lapping up the first drops of cum. Her eyes would gaze up innocently and he would grab her hair, ball it around his fist and…
Sebastian dug his nails into hi
s thighs. His cock felt as if it had turned to stone. The woman was Medusa reincarnated. She deserved everything his mother planned for her and more! Her body had to be burned, buried, hidden from all male vampires before her father destroyed every male of their kind.
How did she do it? Even now, even after the idea of her giving him head had nearly sent him out into the clearing with nothing in mind except to shove his cock down her throat, Sebastian’s concern for her safety held more power than for his own. If he touched her, he would definitely hurt her.
Run! He hurled the thought with a force she couldn’t ignore.
Diana staggered back and shook her head. She glanced over her shoulder at the row of heads peeking over the top of the boulder and yelled, “Cut it out, guys, you’re going to scare it.”
Her friends exchanged puzzled glances.
She squatted down to his level. Her legs opened just enough for him to see the lips of her pussy gape open and reveal the glistening juices of her arousal. Sebastian drew in a deep breath and cursed his mother for sending him on this mission. His rage cooled his desires.
But then Diana lost her balance and nearly tumbled into the opening. She would have landed on him if he hadn’t shoved a cluster of branches into her hand.
“Ow!” She settled onto her heels and peered at the tip of her finger. A bead of blood oozed out of a tiny scratch.
Sebastian watched that drop of blood swell, watched her finger disappear between her lips. The sight and pure scent of her blood propelled him over the edge.
He did the only thing he could…for her…for him. He fled, moving with preternatural speed. His only consolation was the brief glance of her erect nipples across his biceps when he gave in to temptation and sped around her, then raced back through the hemlocks and into the forest. He knew she only saw a gray blur, felt the caress of a slight breeze, but he felt branded, and although he managed to put some distance between them, he felt that she had somehow captured him.
He soared into the air and made the mistake of glancing down. His eyes took in the scene below. Moonlight glanced off the glass of one of the French doors leading onto the balcony of the house as it opened. The adolescent Sebastian had sensed earlier stepped out.
Undeniable Page 3