by R. Sullins
He slowly and carefully removed all my clothing and then his own before picking me up and carrying me under the water. His care for me mixed with his anger at the damage done by the revenants was breaking my heart. I knew I had to give him this time to vent his rage and knew much of it was due to the impotence he felt while we were trapped. It wasn’t his fault and I would never blame him but it was easy to see that he was blaming himself.
He held me under the spray until the water mostly ran clear again, while he pressed his mouth tightly to my hair. Once the blood was gone from our bodies except for where they were pressed closely together, he sat me on the marble seat and knelt before me. It was the first time since we’d become intimate that I had seen him naked and he was not erect. It made me sad, not that he wasn’t excited about seeing me naked, but that he was still so overwhelmed by the events of tonight.
He reached up to the automatic soap dispenser and lathered up the sweet-smelling soap I preferred. He began to gently massage my skin, working his way from my neck down my body. His touch and gaze were worshipful and I relaxed into it. I sighed with pleasure as he rubbed my shoulders with wide circles and moaned when he rubbed my back with strong strokes. When he stroked over my breasts and swiped his thumbs across my nipples I realized I had closed my eyes with the pleasure. Opening them I saw that while relieving my tension he had been releasing his as well. That missing erection was now starting to show itself.
He continued down my flat abdomen, more muscled now that I had been spending months in rigorous training, and down each leg. He massaged my calves and feet, paying attention to each slender toe, occasionally reaching up for more soap during his long, slow journey down my body.
He reached out a hand and gently tugged me to my feet and turned me around to face the wall. I placed my hands against the cool marble and continued to relish the feel of his strong, calloused hands as the removed the last of the gore from my body. When he was done he placed me under the fall of water and smoothed the soap off of me. I kept my head lowered and watched as the suds swirled down the drain. I was overcome by feelings of love and bit my lip to keep from crying. I knew a few tears had escaped but they mixed with the water pouring down my face.
He tipped my head back and proceeded to wash my hair, raking his blunt nails against my scalp and through my long hair, careful not to pull. I opened my eyes again after he finished rinsing the conditioner from my hair and looked into his eyes. He took a step back and quickly scrubbed himself clean with his more masculine scented soap and washed his hair, rinsing it when I stepped aside to allow him access to the water. In all this time he hadn’t spoken a word. The growling had stopped once we had entered the shower enclosure but now that we were both clean the soft rumbling started up again.
He was looking at the myriad of bruising covering my body. Most of them were already turning a sickly yellow, my natural healing doing its job. He bit into his wrist and held it out to me. I knew he wouldn’t let me go until I had drank deeply from him and healed as much as I was able to.
I took his wrist in both my hands and covered his already healing cut with my mouth and sucked hard. The sweet and spicy flavor covered my taste buds and made me moan in ecstasy. I wasn’t able to appreciate the way he tasted in the car, not like I was able to now. My moan must have been the tipping point for him because as soon as I was done drinking he jerked my body into his hard one and slammed his mouth over mine.
The kiss overwhelmed my senses, his control had lost its restraints and poured into me. He lifted my body and I wrapped my legs around his lean hips, trapping his steely cock between our bodies. My slickness allowed me to rub over him, stimulating my clit. He placed one hand under my rear and one against the marble wall. He was very careful not to squeeze or put pressure on my ribs but I didn’t think there was a real reason not to now. His blood had begun to work quickly, healing what he hadn’t healed earlier in the car. I was amazed at how good I felt.
“Crispin, please.” I pleaded with him urgently. I needed him inside me, around me. I needed to breathe him in and feel him saturate my pores they way his Power had downstairs.
“Gently, my Hunter.”
He slowly allowed his erection to find my entrance and slid inside me one excruciating inch at a time. By the time he was fully seated I was writhing, rolling my head back and forth along the cool black marble wall. “Please, Crispin, please!” I couldn’t stop the plea from pouring out of me. I was desperate for him in a way that I didn’t know was possible. This man was everything to me, he filled up my heart and comforted my soul with his unwavering love and devotion. I felt I should be frightened of how much I needed him but it was far too late for that.
Chapter 21
*****
After making love with his mate Crispin left her in their bed to rest. She seemed to be nearly healed, an amazing feat for as close to death as she was. He tried hard not to picture her as she had been, hanging from her seatbelt, blood dripping off of her and her eyes glazed over in pain. He understood now why her remembering her family's accident was still so traumatic years later. If he had watched her die he never would have recovered.
He made his way to his office and entered the room with the large table they used for sentinel meetings. He had a lot to say and no one was going to be very happy about it.
He stopped short when he saw Katerina sitting in a chair.
“Katerina, what are you doing in here?” He knew his tone was brusque but he was all out of patience with both Katerina and her brother. It had been at least a couple of years since he saw them last and he thought nothing had changed. They were his friends from a couple of hundred years ago. He didn’t make friends often but he had liked these two when they were still human.
They had been poor in London but still held their heads up as if their father hadn’t lost their fortune to cards after their mother died of an illness. Their loyalty towards each other and the pride they both showed had earned his respect. They had already known about vampires before he met them, having had a cousin that was Turned the year prior. When James had approached him about Turning him Crispin had refused, having never Turned anyone and not ever intending to. It wasn’t until James explained that he and Katerina had talked about it and wanted to go to the colonies and make a new life with what was left of the fortune they once had Crispin agreed to find a Regional that would be willing to Turn them. It was their determination for a better life and James’ love for his sister that had swayed Crispin.
Now Katerina sat in his office without prior permission, expecting an audience after what she had pulled a few hours ago. His inner beast wanted to snarl out his displeasure at the female.
A single tear ran down Katerina’s beautiful face. He had never been drawn to her. He saw her fragile beauty but he only recognized it as one might a beautiful flower. He was starting to realize that he had missed much over the years. He expected that Katerina was becoming bolder now that Ivy was in his life. But, even if Ivy hadn’t been his mate and his very reason for breathing, he never would have been interested in the female vampire before him.
“Crispin, I had to tell you, before we go, that I love you. I’ve always loved you.” She stood gracefully as always and walked slowly towards him.
Crispin held his hand out to stop her approach and softened his voice. “ Katerina.” He shook his head, “I’m sorry. I had no idea you felt that way.” He took a deep breath. What a fucked up situation. He didn’t want to be insensitive, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt this delicate woman but she couldn’t be allowed to continue with this unwelcome attachment.
Large teardrops made their way slowly down her porcelain cheeks. She reached out again and he caught her wrist carefully before she could touch his face.
“Katerina, no. This would never happen. I will only ever see you as a friend. I’m sorry.”
She turned her back to him and he saw her straightened her shoulders. Her voice was clear when she said, “You are making a mistake
Crispin. We could have been perfect together. No one could have been stronger than the two of us.” She looked over her shoulder, the look on her face was unreadable but her tone and demeanor were of one that was determined. “You’ll regret that you said no.” She started to walk out of the room.
“Are you threatening me, Katerina?” Crispin’s voice was incredulous with a hint of anger.
“No Crispin,” she didn’t stop walking, her voice trailing after her, “that was a promise.”
*****
I woke to an empty room. The plush draperies blocked out all possible light so I had no idea what time it was.
I stretched out my body and took note of any aches or pains. I was pleased to find that, other than some stiffness, I felt great. Crispin's powerful blood obviously gave me the boost that my body may have needed to completely heal the injuries I had received in the car accident.
I got out of bed and looked for clothes that I was sure he had stashed away for me inside his monstrosity of a closet. Sure enough, there were enough clothes hanging on one side of the closet to clothe me for the rest of my life. Everything from dresses to jeans all hung from the rails, all with the tags still on them. A quick peek in the drawers in the center of the closet/dressing room showed bras, panties, socks, even belts.
I made my selection of simple jeans and a t-shirt along with a bra and panties and took them into the bathroom with me. I grabbed the toothbrush from the holder next to Crispin’s and got to work on my hygiene. With the toothbrush still in my mouth, I opened a few of the drawers and medicine cabinet and wasn’t a bit surprised to find feminine products of high-end makeup, washes, creams. I shrugged my shoulders. What else could I do? Apparently, the man had moved me in without actually moving me in. He said I was his mate and I was inclined to agree with him.
I spit out the foam and turned the water to hot so I could wash my face. I swiped on a small bit of mascara and lip gloss. My skin was singing from the good treatment of the fabulous wash Crispin no doubt paid a pretty penny for. It was worth every cent.
I got dressed and reveled in the high-quality clothing and how well the denim hugged my ass. I stared at myself in the full-length mirror and had a silent battle with myself. Should I feel so comfortable accepting these gifts from my mate? Should there be any qualifiers when it came to accepting gifts from one’s mate? Length of time we had known each other? If I was able, or not, to repay him for the gifts? Would I feel bad if I got him a gift and he told me he couldn’t accept it? Yes, I know I would. When I gave gifts, it was only because I truly wanted to. Especially to a loved one. Seeing someone enjoy my gifts made me happy. I resolved to graciously accept and not give him a hard time for showering me with stuff because I knew he did it because he wanted to see me happy and he wanted to provide for me.
I made my way downstairs after finding a cute pair of ankle boots to finish off my outfit. The thick floor runners muffled my steps as I made my way down the stairs and to Crispin’s office. I stood just out of the doorway and listened in to the conversation going on within.
“I’m sorry Master, I have not been able to get any information from the revenant that we managed to capture.” That was Ariel.
“They can communicate only in the most basic ways but don’t seem to be able to comprehend that they are being asked questions. It’s almost as if they are only meant to take orders. They are just above the communication skills of a trained pet.” Rhys was showing his frustration with a yank of his hair.
Jared was next to speak up. “We are playing catch up with these guys. They are always ahead of us. At this rate, we are never going to be able to find out what is going on.”
“Whoever is behind this is brilliant and knows what to do to keep us from gaining any headway on this investigation.”
Crispin slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to crack the top. “Damn it, I know!”
He started explaining about the last conference call the rulers and Council had been on together. The Kings and Queens of the vampire sectors had been reporting disappearances of Hunters for years. Not to mention the rise of more and more revenants. Crispin had been communicating with them on conference calls daily and the reports of revenants behaving strangely had become a common topic. Ghouls working in packs, killing sentinels and common vampires alike. It wasn’t until the Kings and Queens started communicating more that the seriousness of the situation had become more apparent.
The King over the western United States had reported that they managed to track a group of revenants to a warehouse in Los Angeles but the revenants killed the 3 sentinels where they had been hiding and left their bodies behind. By the time the rest of the team showed up to their last known location the place had been cleaned out with no trace of having been there or where they had gone.
The one behind the entire scheme couldn’t be in multiple places at once so there had to be several people involved.
“It’s a giant clusterfuck and the consensus is that there is a real possibility that there could someone high up in the vampire hierarchy involved.” The grumblings and curses started up around the table again.
I had heard enough. I pushed open the door the rest of the way and walked over to Crispin. I placed my hand over his and squeezed.
“There is only one way to find the answers we need to shut this guy down. I need to be bait.” I put my hand over his mouth before he could get a word out. His angry glare would have had me shivering in fright just a few short weeks ago. Now, though, I just smiled. “Honey, you know this is the only way. We have to stop whatever is happening with the ghouls and they have tried to capture me at least twice. Who knows? Maybe the night you saved me was the first time they tried and we just didn’t realize.” I shrugged, “It makes sense though.”
“I can’t allow my mate to be bait for revenants” He growled the words out from gritted teeth. I raised one eyebrow. “Allow?”
He blew out a breath. “Perhaps a poor choice of wording. But even the thought of you being captured by one of those monsters makes me want to rip the head off of something and bathe in their blood.”
“Morbid and a little psychotic but I appreciate the sentiment.” I put my finger over his lips again. “Please hear me out?” His growl made me want to roll my eyes but I managed to refrain lest I really set him off. I needed him openminded, not ready to commit mass murder. “I think everyone can agree that we desperately need to find out who is behind the smart revenants. There are too many being created and the fact that they can think and plan is frightening to an extreme degree. They want me for, I assume, my Hunter blood.”
I started pacing back and forth in front of the window that overlooked to the front of the house and down the road a small ways before it was swallowed up by trees. The sun was just lightening the sky above the trees. “I think Hunter's blood is what is giving these ghouls the boost they need to follow their master’s orders.” I turned to look at each of the sentinels and finally Crispin. I had been thinking of this quite a bit and was pretty sure that I was right. “I think the person behind all this already has several Hunters in captivity. No way can one person feed all the revenants we’ve already come across. Crispin, you mentioned once that you had forgotten that Hunter's blood was so powerful. Could it be powerful enough to make revenants smart enough to follow orders? Make them higher functioning?”
“It’s never been heard of before. I don’t even know how the person behind all this would have thought of using Hunter blood, to begin with.” He looked frustrated and looking at him I could see he was reluctantly agreeing with me. If I knew him as well as I thought I did I was sure he had already come to the same conclusion I did myself.
“I’m worried, Crispin. I’m worried that this person is creating an army. If they manage to produce an army of high functioning revenants, ones that follow orders by a psychotic, I don’t think anyone would be able to defeat them.” I looked at I mate. I knew the worry was shining from my eyes. “Not even you, Crispin.”
He sighed heavily and then sat down in the chair before pulling me down onto his lap. “Tell me what your plan is.”
“It’s pretty simple.” I shrugged a shoulder, trying for a nonchalance I definitely didn’t feel. “Put a tracker on me and let me be captured.”
“That’s your plan?” His incredulous words didn’t sound convinced that my genius plan was going to solve all our problems. “You want to be captured by our enemy and have the only thing that saves you be a tracker?”
“Oh please. It isn’t that far fetched. We need to get into wherever the revenants, and possibly more Hunters, are being stored and the only way to do that is by sending in someone they want. And we all know I’m what they want the most.”
“Crispin, I have to agree with Ivy. It's a good plan but we could do better than just one tracker. We could set her up with multiple trackers, in her clothes and on her body, her hair. Just in case, we could even put a microphone and a video camera on her too.”
Heads around the table were nodding. A couple of the sentinels even looked excited by the prospect of finally getting to the enemy’s home base. Crispin’s jaw was so tight I was afraid that he would crack a tooth. Speaking of teeth, do vampires have to go to the dentist? Hmmm, maybe I could ask Crispin when it didn’t look like my mate wanted to throttle me in front of his sentinels.
“I certainly wouldn’t mind more trackers.” I shrugged one shoulder again. “I think we should do it right away, maybe tonight. I want to finally be able to come and go as I please without the threat of an attack hanging over my head. “I need to get home and find out how my sister is doing. Jared?”
I started to slide from Crispin’s lap but his arms wrapped tight around my torso, easily holding me in place.
“I concede that it is our only recourse at this time. If you are right about the Hunters then it is imperative that we set them free right away. It does make sense since there have been a few Hunters that have disappeared over the last decade.” He took my chin in his hand and gently looked into my eyes. “Including 6 years ago when your mother disappeared.”