by L. A. Boruff
Rik had sent my brother and I ahead to act as point guards, while he and Daire walked on either side of her down the sidewalk. The rest of her Blood formed a loose arc of protection as she window-shopped. Not that our queen feared much these days.
After a harrowing journey to Egypt, our queen had enjoyed several quiet months at home in her nest. Eureka Springs, Arkansas might be a strange place for a powerful vampire queen to call home, but her nest had become a magical place that welcomed her. From the grove of impossibly ancient trees that encircled her home, to the bubbling hot spring large enough to accommodate as many Blood as she cared to call, the nest changed the very terrain of the earth to please her.
We each would do anything to make her smile.
We walked down a steep street lined with small, unique shops decorated with pumpkins, straw bales, and wreaths of Indian corn and leaves. Eureka Springs had been carved out of the treacherous cracks between the Ozark mountains, with buildings practically stacked on top of each other. Many were built deeply into the grottos and hollows in the steep cliffs. Though the title of “historic” Eureka Springs made most of us Blood shake our heads with amusement. Itztli and I had been born long before this area had ever been populated, and we weren’t even the eldest Blood.
Our queen drew some curious glances from the humans wandering the streets. We were all dressed in jeans and T-shirts, even our queen, but they must have thought she was a celebrity with so many bodyguards. Itztli gave a long, hard look at a man walking up the sidewalk toward us. He blinked and immediately crossed the street, watching warily over his shoulder to be sure we weren’t coming after him.
“If you want trick-or-treaters to come out to the manor, we could have a Halloween party and invite the whole city,” Daire said. “You wouldn’t even need to decorate much. Just have us all shifted and roaming the grounds. It’d scare the shit out of everybody.”
Mehen let out a disgusted grunt. “Human children are bloody annoying, and they don’t even make a very good mouthful.”
Shara laughed. “Since you can’t go around eating children, I suppose there won’t be any Halloween party at the manor.”
I touched my twin’s bond. :Do you think we could find some calaveras? We could celebrate Día de Muertos instead. Or Mayte could send a sib to us with supplies.:
:I think our queen would appreciate the chance to celebrate the lives of her ancestors,: Itztli replied. :I saw some sugar skulls a few shops back on the opposite side.:
I lightly touched Rik’s bond. :Alpha…:
:Go,: Rik said immediately, showing us exactly how entangled our Blood bonds were with one another. :Find what you need, and meet us back at the car in an hour.:
Itztli and I immediately crossed the street and headed back up the hill. I heard Shara ask, “Where are they going?”
Rik tucked her arm around his and led her to the next shop. “They want to put together a surprise for you.”
Our queen had enough power to blast the sun god to the underworld and drain the queen of New York City to her death, but she didn’t demand answers from us. She wouldn’t want to spoil our surprise.
Which was only one of the many reasons we loved her more than life itself.
Shara
It took a surprising amount of determination to ignore my twins’ bonds and allow them to keep their secrets. I was always aware of my Blood, even when they were quieter and more reserved. Even Xin, who could be invisible from everyone but me, was a constant, tangible weight in my mind. At a moment’s notice, I could touch his bond and sense his ghostly wolf prowling the nest.
Itztli and Tlacel were two of the quieter Blood. Though they’d been with me since the New Year, I still didn’t know them as deeply as my other Blood. Rik and Daire had been with me from the beginning. They were always by my side, especially my alpha. Guillaume and Mehen, as the oldest, were nearby and ready for me to consult them on a tricky Triune situation or another house. Ezra and Vivian were too belligerent to ever be overlooked or forgotten.
Llewellyn was almost as old as Guillaume and had the benefit of knowing my mother before her death. Naturally, I spent a great deal of time with him, asking about his memories of Esetta Isador, the queen who’d sacrificed everything, including her life and her Blood, to have me.
Nevarre was another quiet Blood, but I depended on him heavily to guard from the sky. He’d also called the crow queen to my nest, and now hundreds of birds came and went from my trees, carrying secrets and stolen gifts from all over the world to share their knowledge with us.
But the twins didn’t feel as if they’d made a significant contribution to me yet, though I completely disagreed. Itztli had sacrificed himself to help me grow the heart tree for his sister’s nest. Tlacel had been instrumental in helping me understand Huitzilopochtli when I’d first awakened him. Plus, I just loved them. I loved Itztli’s incredible sense of smell when he shifted into his black dog. His absolute trust in me, even when he wanted and needed me to hurt him. He’d seen me kill before, and yet came to me willingly, depending on me to fulfill his darker needs.
Tlacel always reminded me of the lush jungle, and he’d been the one to pull me back from the portal when we’d almost lost his niece, Xochitl. I’d be dead without them. So how could they doubt my love for them?
“They don’t doubt you or your love,” Rik said, his voice a low, rumbling landslide of boulders. “They saw an opportunity to do something unique for you, and they wish to make you smile. That’s all.”
Halloween came and went without any surprise, so I wasn’t sure what they might be planning. And no, we didn’t have a single trick-or-treater, much to Mehen’s disappointment.
At dusk on November 1st, I came down for dinner to find all the lights off downstairs. Candles formed a glowing path toward the back of the house. A fire burned in the fireplace, but it didn’t smell like normal wood. Something spicy and fragrant filled the air. Dozens of candles gleamed on the mantel, tables, and shelves all around the room.
Rik let go of my hand and stepped back, leaving me in the center of the room. Though I wasn’t alone. I could feel my Blood all around me, even in the darkness.
Itztli stepped out of the shadows by the fireplace. His face was painted bone white with dark circles around his eyes and mouth, giving him a ghoulish look. Though as he came closer, I could see bright flowers painted on his forehead and cheeks. Tlacel approached from the other side of the room, drawing my attention to him. He’d painted his face, too. They were both naked, their chests streaked with white and black paint that resembled bones.
“Today’s the first day of Día de Muertos,” Itztli said. “The Day of the Dead. We have prepared an altar for your ancestors, if you’d like to see it.”
I took his hand and he drew me over to a table beneath the window. Candles gleamed on the polished wood, illuminating vases of golden flowers. Sugar skulls painted with brilliant splashes of color were mixed in with the flowers. Hanging on the wall was an ornate oval picture frame that stole my breath.
My mother. Esetta Isador.
She’d died at my birth and I’d never seen a picture of her, but I looked so much like her that I would know her image anywhere. Her long dark hair was piled on her head with curls hanging down around her cheeks. Her eyes glittered like dark sapphires on midnight velvet. Isis’s crown sat on her head.
But it was the smile on her face that made my eyes fill with tears. It was like she looked out of the picture and smiled with love. For me and me alone.
“Where did you find this?” I whispered, fighting back tears.
“I painted it,” Itztli replied.
Startled, I searched his face. “But how? Did you know her?”
He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “I know her only through you, my queen, though Llewellyn shared images of her through our bond.”
“It’s a very good likeness,” Llewellyn said from the edge of the room, though he didn’t come any closer.
I felt like there
was more to see, but it was hard to drag my gaze away from hers. Another portrait sat in a simple frame on the table. This one was more abstract with bold, heavy strokes of darkness and fire. Shadows pooled around the bottom of the painting, but I could make out snake heads and glittering red eyes. A man’s bare chest rose out of the darkness with harsh, regal features.
Typhon, father of monsters. My father.
“He was harder to paint, since no one has seen him but you, my queen,” Tlacel said. “I hope it’s a good likeness. I didn’t want to pry too deeply into your mind without your permission.”
“It’s gorgeous. I had no idea you both knew how to paint. Would you paint each of my Blood too, including each other?”
Itztli bowed over my hand and kissed my knuckles again. “It would be an honor, my queen.”
“What else is on the altar?”
Tlacel explained each item. “We bake this special bread called pan de muerto. Mayte was glad to send some up from Zaniyah, along with some of our traditional foods. Mole, tamales, and whatever foods the deceased enjoyed. Winston will also serve your mother’s favorite seafood for dinner tonight. The yellow flowers are cempoalxochitl, or Aztec marigolds. We often plant them in cemeteries and their petals are used to mark the pathway to the deceased’s altar.”
I touched Mayte’s bond and silently said, :thank you.: “Xochitl? Did her name come from the marigolds?”
“Cempoalxochitl means twenty flower, because of its many petals,” Itztli replied. “When his daughter was born, Tepeyollotl declared her as beautiful as a flower, and so her name was decided.”
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered as I slipped an arm around each man’s waist to draw them closer. They hugged me between them, smearing my sweater with paint, but I didn’t mind. “Thank you. Thank you for sharing your heritage with me.”
“Always,” Itztli said, while Tlacel added, “Our pleasure.”
I slipped my hand up Itztli’s back, enjoying the play of muscle beneath my fingers. He was built more solidly and thickly than his brother. “Will you share something else with me?”
“Without question.”
Tipping my head back so I could look into his eyes, I waited until he bent down to me, offering his throat. I fluttered my lips across his skin, breathing in his scent. Spicy cocoa laced with cayenne pepper. His blood called to me. “Would it be disrespectful to your traditions if I fucked you and Tlacel while you feed me?”
A low, rumbling chuckle escaped from his throat. “Why else would we come to you naked, my queen?”
Itztli
Anticipation coiled in my stomach, a live hot wire of tension. But this night wasn’t about me.
Shara understood my needs and had already helped fulfill that dark hunger several times. She didn’t mind that I was descended from the Flayed God, who reveled in pain and blood. From the beginning, she hadn’t flinched away. She’d used my obsidian blade to sacrifice me, pulling my still-beating heart from my chest, only to give it back, along with all her love.
Tlacel hadn’t yet embraced his full need.
His bond was drawn up tight inside my head, a shivering knot of worry and fear. He didn’t fear our queen, not at all. He feared that she would find him lacking. That his need… would somehow disqualify him as her Blood. That she would carve him out of her life as easily as she’d cut my heart from my chest.
He didn’t yet understand the depths to which our queen cared for us. Not fully. But he had me to help him.
“My queen,” I whispered. “May we make a request?”
She lifted her head and met my gaze at once. “Of course.”
“My brother has a need that remains unfulfilled.”
Turning to him, she cupped his face in both her palms. “Tlacel? What is it? What’s wrong?” Because he was trembling.
She didn’t move, but her bond overflowed with sweet, crystal waters glittering with the light of a full moon. Her power rose, filling my nose with the scents of a desert. Blowing sands, night blooming jasmine, and the rich, dark scent of loam found deep in the forest, untouched by the sun. She flowed through us both, reading our secrets and my brother’s unspoken need.
Stroking his cheeks, she slid her hands up past his ears and tangled her fingers in his hair. She tightened her grip slowly, watching his face. Reading his bond. His eyes tightened with the subtle pain, but that wasn’t why she did it. Tlacel didn’t enjoy pain like me.
She moved her fingers to his nape, her head tilting slightly as she listened to his bond. Squeezing her fingers on his neck, she felt the moment he relaxed into her grip. “Ah,” she breathed out, her lips curving into a soft, knowing smile. “Itztli, would you have something handy that we can use to tie your brother up?”
Tlacel’s eyes flared wide with shock. Not at her suggestion—but at her easy acceptance of his need. He didn’t want pain. He wanted to be bound. He wanted to be made helpless.
For our queen and she alone.
“Of course, my queen.”
Shara
Silly man. The thought of any of my Blood silently enduring the pain of an unspoken need made my heart ache. Let alone that Tlacel had actually been afraid to tell me for fear that I’d think less of him.
The man had shredded tendons and broken bones to keep me and Xochitl from falling through the portal. I didn’t doubt his dedication, love, or strength in any way. Even if he wanted me to tie him up so he couldn’t move a muscle.
Itztli stepped away a moment and quickly returned with a coil of white rope. Still gripping Tlacel’s neck hard with my right hand, I touched the rope with my other to judge its strength. It was surprisingly soft and flexible despite its thickness. The only problem: I didn’t know the best way to tie him up.
Tying his wrists together was too basic. Too… normal. My feathered serpent Blood wanted so much more than that. In his bond, he’d wanted to be wrapped up so tightly that he couldn’t move a muscle, almost like a cocoon.
Guillaume stepped out from the fringe of Blood around the room and joined us. “If I may make some suggestions…”
Itztli handed him the coiled rope. “Be our guest.”
Letting the ends of the rope fall to the floor, Guillaume shifted his hands to roughly the middle of the length. He tugged on the rope, testing its strength, and nodded. “It’s a good choice. With the correct knots and positions, even our alpha would have a hard time breaking free without shifting to his rock troll. Turn him around, my queen.”
I’d never really thought about how much stronger I was physically than a normal human. I’d come into my power, sure, but all my Blood were bigger and badder than me. Except not really, because with a hard twist of my hand, I had Tlacel turned away from me.
All of my Blood would try to anticipate my wishes and act before I ever had to ask them, let alone force them. But Tlacel wanted a little bit of that force. He wanted me to put him where I wanted him—and then force him to stay there.
I watched as Guillaume looped the rope around each of Tlacel’s arms at the elbow, drawing his arms back impossibly far. I kept careful attention on his bond, listening for any real pain or concern. His shoulders strained and pulled, but the ache made a soft sigh escape his lips. His heart thudded heavily and his cock twitched between us. All I had to do was look at one of the guys and he was erect, but Tlacel was definitely getting into this. The tip of his cock glistened and his breathing came faster. I didn’t have to see his eyes to know they were heavy and dark with lust.
Guillaume looped the rope up the man’s biceps, keeping his muscles taut with strain as his arms were encased. Unsheathing a knife, he cut off both ends, giving us two shorter sections to work with.
“I’m assuming you want him… accessible,” G said as he waggled his eyebrows, making me laugh. “Put him where you want him, and then we’ll tie up his legs to make him as uncomfortable as possible.”
Itztli helped me ease his brother down to his knees, and then he and G each used a piece of rope to bind Tlacel’s
ankles tightly to his thighs. The rope dug into his skin, making the muscle bulge on either side of the binding. It looked fairly uncomfortable, but I supposed that was the point. I walked around Tlacel, listening to his bond and making sure he wasn’t in too much pain.
“How did you learn to do this?” I asked Guillaume.
“A benefit of being imprisoned for so long. The guards had to get inventive with their restraints.” Guillaume grabbed a handful of Tlacel’s hair and tugged his head back, bending his throat in a hard arc. A gasp escaped his throat and he swallowed hard. “Another time, you might want to tie his hair to his hands, like this. And of course, you could always bind his balls or cock too. Some guys really enjoy that, but again, I assumed you would want him accessible and ready to use without having to untie him first. You’ll need to be more careful with such tender bits.”
Mehen snorted at tender bits, but I felt Rik give him a hard alpha nudge before he could say anything. Even a good-natured joke might hurt Tlacel’s confidence, though as I listened to his bond, all I felt was a scorching wildfire racing through his body. He didn’t care about what the other Blood might think of him right now.
“Thank you, G.”
My knight inclined his head and quietly withdrew, leaving me alone with the twins in the center of the room. Casually, I walked back around in front of Tlacel so I could see his face. His lips were parted, his chest heaving. Sweat glistened on his skin, smearing the paint. His eyes…
I’d thought they’d be heavy and burning with desire, but instead, his eyes were soft and unfocused. Exactly how Daire looked when one of the guys manhandled him. Bottomed out and drifting away into bliss.
Stepping closer, I cupped Tlacel’s chin in my hand and waited until he blinked and focused on my face. Without looking away from him, I said, “Itztli, you can help me undress while your brother watches.”