by J. R. Thorn
Rolling my eyes, I wasn't sure if I loved or hated Nimra. Probably a little bit of both.
Liam seemed used to Nimra's antics and cleared his throat as he squinted at the text. He pronounced each word slowly, allowing Luke to listen.
When he was done, we all fell into silence and peered around the room. Aside from the slight rumble of bombs, no additional calamity befell the city.
"Do you think you can remember that?" Xavier asked Luke. "You'll have to recite it perfectly."
Luke frowned and rubbed his chin. He did that when he was being self-concious. "Yeah. I can do it."
"Good," Xavier said and clapped Luke on the back. My angel stiffened, but didn't retaliate. "You'll be on your own," Xavier warned him. "When the sun rises, Nimra will take you to the highest point in the city where you can begin the spell."
Luke glanced at me. He knew where I'd be... busy getting it on with a vampire. "You going to be okay?" he asked.
I blushed. "Yeah," I said. Xavier was all-business right now, but I noticed how he leaned towards me, his body betraying that he was more than ready to get to the next stage of the plan.
When his red eyes found mine, I swallowed hard. "I'll be fine."
7
Luke
Leaving Sonya with the coven of vampires was just about as easy as ripping out my own eyeballs, but this was what she wanted. My insides still ached with the unforgiving power she'd lashed through me. I knew that she was a succubus and what that meant, but to feel it was an entirely different story. She didn't realize that going full-force on me had nearly killed me. The noxious poison of her kiss had lulled me into a sense of security, but the overpowering pleasure eventually waned, leaving the knee-buckling agony that was left behind. Had I been human, I'd have been dead long before I'd given her the pleasure she needed to survive what was coming next.
It gave me a small sense of security to know that it was our lovemaking that would help her survive Xavier and the transition into becoming a vampire. She'd change from the Sonya I knew, and a little voice in the back of my head constantly worried about in what ways she'd change. Perhaps she'd lose what feelings she'd garnered for me. Perhaps she'd fall under Xavier's spell and become his thrall. Or perhaps I was a giant douche thinking about myself and she'd finally be happy.
It didn't matter. I emerged into a battle-torn Venice and followed the female vampire down smokey streets. Derek was ripping this place apart looking for Hades and Sonya. What few vampires had holed up on the streets and managed to trickle down into the bunker brought news of those who had been interrogated. Derek's incubi had killed any humans who resisted, but vampires they kept alive for questioning. They wanted to know where Hades slept, as well as where Sonya was hiding. Derek knew she was here.
"Keep up," Nimra chided and I upped my pace.
Everything in me hurt and the last thing I felt like doing was prowling the streets with a vampire on my way to perform a spell. Sonya had fed on me before, but nothing like this. I didn't have time to sit down and allow my body to heal. There was a city to save.
When Nimra climbed cobbled steps of a tower covered in moss, I groaned. "Can't we just do the spell down here?"
Nimra paused and sniffed the air, her ruby gaze scanning the empty streets. The bombing had paused while Derek's men worked their way through the rubble. We were in the heart of the city and there wasn't a soul in sight, but it didn't mean we were safe. Derek's men could come around one of the cobblestone corners at any minute.
"Clearly you don't know how spells work," Nimra said as she glowered. She pointed up at the ancient structure. "Vampires built Campanile di San Marco under the guise as a lighthouse, but we've used it for years for witch spells. You need the height to reach that many people."
I raised an eyebrow. "Magic needs altitude?"
Nimra rolled her eyes. "It's just as much about altitude as it is about attitude, and yours sticks right now." She waved me on and stomped her boot on the first step. "Power's down, so we can't use the elevator the fat tourists prefer. We're taking the stairs."
With a grumble, I followed Nimra inside and the scent of old dirt hit me... as well as something else.
I was part angel, which was a heritage I was still trying to come to grips with. But I'd never considered that my mother's magic could have been hereditary. She was a seer and could see the future, which meant she was some sort of witch. If that made me a warlock, then so be it. I didn't care what I was as long as it meant I could help Sonya.
When we reached the top of the tower, my legs were burning and my head swam with exhaustion. "I hope I don't need energy for this spell," I said when Nimra pulled the grimoire from her pack. She'd said that I didn't need to read from it, but the spell wouldn't work without the original witch's runes.
She opened to the dusty page and gave me a hearty slap on the back. "No need to be energized," she assured me. "You just need to be awake long enough to say the words." She took my hand and shoved it onto the book. A connection with something else ran up my fingers and I shivered. "Once you start the spell, you'll get tired anyway. All supernaturals that aren't vampires are going to be affected, and even though you're a special breed, it'll hit you too."
I glanced at her, wondering if she cared at all about the rest of us. "And Sonya?" I asked.
Nimra held up her phone. "We'll get a text once she's started her turn. We don't have time to waste. You'll need to start the spell the moment I tell you we're ready."
Fire bloomed with smoke on the opposite end of the city and the tower gave an ominous shudder under my feet. "Come on, Sonya," I whispered. "You can do this."
8
A Wedding to Die For
A vampire wedding wasn't at all what I'd expected. No flowers. No cake. No booze. Think ancient Norse mythology where men wore antlers and painted themselves with blood. That seemed fairly accurate to whatever the hell was going on right now.
Xavier grinned at me, his gleaming red eyes peering through the smear of blood that ran a pattern down his face. "Your turn," he said, enjoying my squeamish reactions far too much.
I grimaced at the bowl he presented. He dipped his fingers into the blood that he'd just taken from his own wrist and traced a line down my face.
The dagger still gleamed with the slick nourishment of his power and hissed smoke into the air. The ritual had begun and it was one of the most powerful magics I'd ever sensed.
My Blood Stone hummed against the onslaught of foreign invasion. Vampires danced and sang and enjoyed themselves in the bunker's courtyard. Xavier would have loved to have had this ritual up on the surface, but they'd gotten used to doing it here, close to the sleeping vampire master where their power was the strongest. Turning someone new wasn't a mild act and it took everyone's efforts to bring fresh blood into the fold.
As a succubus, my turning would be easier than most. I already understood the need to feed in order to survive. My body would accept the transition to feed on blood rather than sexual energy, and even if the bowl that Xavier presented me with made me want to gag, it was still better than killing.
I dipped my fingers into the liquid that was still warm and my stomach churned, but I made myself ignore it as I traced another lined down the side of Xavier's face. Dipping my fingers again, I continued the pattern down his muscular chest until I hit the place where his heart should be. Pressing my palm against him, there was only stillness. No beat. Nothing.
I hated that we were up on a pedestal, the raised platform garnished with blankets, pillows, and a single table where Xavier had set the knife. Vampires danced beneath us, music loud enough that they couldn't hear us when we would get started, but it didn't change the fact that they could look up. I know I would.
"Can we turn the lights down?" I asked. It wasn't bright, but the warm light from the chandeliers did more than enough to illuminate Xavier's naked torso until it seemed like it glowed. He came to me and tucked his fingers in the waistband of my jeans, shoving his hands underneath
to cup my ass and press him against his growing erection. "This only works if I'm indulged by every part of you," he whispered and he lowered his head to my neck and drew in a long breath as he scented me. He licked a line across my pulsating vein and goosebumps exploded across my body. "You're intoxicating."
My eyes fluttered closed at the hard presence of him as my breasts crushed into his chest. "Will it hurt?" I asked, fighting against the lust starting to bloom inside of me. I couldn't set aside the monumental change I was accepting. I was changing my freaking species.
"Only the first bite," he said honestly as he pulled away and unlatched one hand free from the confines of my jeans. He ran a finger across my lower lip. "Then there will be only pleasure, if you truly accept me." I couldn't deny the unexplainable feelings he brought out in me. Even if I couldn't feel the beat of his heart, the beat of the music replaced the rhythm I was missing and I tugged at the back of his head to bring his lips down to mine. I curled my fingers through his hair as I danced my tongue against his, the scent and taste of him sending heat unfurling between my legs. His fangs were dangerously sharp, but he expertly kissed me without pricking me.
When he eased me down onto the blankets, I allowed him to indulge in the pleasure of unclothing me. He tugged my jeans down each leg and left my underwear alone. My shirt went next, but my bra he tugged the straps over my shoulders until my nipples peeked over the cloth. He sucked one into his mouth and I drew in a shocked gasp. I hadn't expected a vampire with fangs to be so good with his tongue.
When he let go, he parted his lips and his fangs poised dangerously over the curve of my breast. I watched him with anticipation, shocked that I actually wanted him to bite me. Not because I got off on pain, but because I knew how much he wanted to. I wanted to give Xavier relief from the years of waiting and abstinence, both from sex, and from feeding.
"You can bite me," I said breathlessly when he hesitated.
He grinned up at me, pleased with my permission. "Not yet," he said. "When I bite you, it's because I'm in you, and you'll be begging for it."
Desire slammed into me and my powers kicked in out of reflex, making his gaze go hazy. "You can try to feed on me," Xavier warned, "but it'll delay your pleasure. I need to be in full control when I take you and make you bonded to me by blood." He lowered his pants until he erection popped free and I drew in a gasp. Was he even bigger than the night before?
When I moved to him and went to curl my fingers around the delicious ridge of flesh, he grabbed my wrist and grinned. "This is your turning," he explained. "I'm the one in control this time."
I felt the magic that hummed through the air. The vampires that continued to dance beneath us donated a portion of their hazy energy. They'd been affected by our foreplay and when I glanced down, I took in an eyeful of the beginnings of an orgy. The dancing had turned to grinding and women threw their head back as their lovers tugged their breasts free from their clothes. They hadn't begun to have sex, but they were getting close.
Xavier took a finger to my chin and drew my attention back to him. "They're linked to us for the duration of the ritual," he explained. He lowered himself over me, his cock nestling against my clit and making me gasp. I wanted to rip my underwear out of the way, but he grabbed my wrists and pulled them over my head as he moved in slow circles. "What you feel, the women will feel." He took my mouth and his fangs grazed my tongue, but didn't cut me. He was distracted enough that I wriggled one hand free, shoving it down between us and grabbing him. I stroked hard and he jerked against me. Male voices echoed his own moan. "And what I feel," he breathed through his pleasure, "so will the men."
It was oddly intoxicating to know that this wasn't a sex show, but a sharing. It wasn't just sex, but an acceptance of the forbidden.
When Xavier bit his wrist and offered me the small wound, I didn't feel so squeamish anymore. This was a man offering his own lifeforce to me. He was in full awareness of his choice and he wanted me to share his blood. I wrapped my lips around his skin where his fangs had pierced him and ran my tongue across him. The taste changed from metallic to a sweetness that reminded me of roses.
When I pulled away and sighed, he smiled. "What was that?" I asked.
"You're accepting the change."
As if that first vital test had been paramount, every muscle in Xavier's body eased a fraction of tension I hadn't realized had been there before. He peeled away my underwear so that his skin touched mine. I expected him to feel cool like the rest of him as was the way of vampires, but now he'd gone hot against me. No matter if he had a heart that beat or not, he was alive, and the friction of that force grated against mine.
His cock nudged at my entrance and I parted for him. "I accept you," I said, my vision dancing with the red glow in his eyes. "Take me."
His jaw clenched as he fought the urge, but even Xavier's control had its limits. He wanted to take his time with me. He wanted to make sure that the ritual blossomed at its own pace, but when he entered me, all patience went out of the window. A carnage pleasure wrapped through me as she sheathed himself until our skin slapped together. "Sonya," he said my name with a moan. "You feel..."
It was incredible. My back arched to take him even deeper and I gripped his biceps to keep him in place. The pure pleasure of him made me go crazy. The fulfillment in his eyes made me this feel so right. "Don't stop," I told him and rocked myself against him. The beat of the music had transformed into a rhythm that matched Xavier's thrusts. Slickness ran down the curve of my thigh as he pulled out, only to slam himself back in again and growl at me with fangs flashing, the largest I'd ever seen them extended.
He curled over me, his eyes on my neck and I knew what he craved. I rolled my head and presented my vein to him. "Take me," I said. "Take all of me."
His breath hot on mine made me shiver with anticipation. He shoved himself a fraction deeper, making a cry escape my throat, and then he tenderly pricked his fangs into my neck. The pain sparked, and I expected him to rip my throat out, but he let me adjust to the swimming of pain before he sank his bite deeper. He moved, gently taking me in slow, caring thrusts until his fangs completely embedded into my neck and I went rigid.
He'd been right. It hurt. A lot.
But then his magic kicked in. When he took the first long suck of my neck and drank my blood, tension snapped and rained embers of raw power onto my face and sprinkled onto the sheets.
I fluttered my eyes open to see the swirling vortex of our blood mixing in the air as Xavier took me into him, and I took him into me. I had his blood in me, his body in me, and as he moved and gave a light gasp, I felt the heat of his seed come into me. The pain eased away as quickly as it had come, and then there was only pleasure, elation, and the sense of breaking into a thousand pieces under his touch.
Long after I shuttered from our passion, he licked at my wound. I moaned when he bit me again, tenderly this time, and lazily drank my blood.
Arousal built when he hardened once again in me, and then an itch tingled at my gumline.
I ran my fingers up to my lips and startled when my touch pricked against sharp fangs. The moment of shock was overcome by the enticement I felt towards something else Xavier had to offer me. I'd thought he'd had no heartbeat, but I'd been wrong. There was a thrumming in his body that communed with mine, one of ancient power that I understood on a fundamental level. I parted my lips and he lowered himself over me, pausing his minute thrusts to give me full access of his neck.
"Take your fill," he purred. "Take all you want of me."
I bit, and liquid roses and magic melted into my mouth. I groaned, and Xavier began his movements again, fucking me as I clung to him and felt the last craving bit of my succubus life slip away, only to be replaced by the satisfaction of a vampire's lust. Pleasure that could be sated. Lust that could be fulfilled. This was what Xavier offered me, and I took it with both hands as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
The satisfied gasps that sounded below us signaled that the
rest of the vampire enclave had felt the explosion of pleasure, and now indulged in the slow rocking of flesh against flesh.
When Xavier flipped me over and sank himself into me, grabbing my breasts and crushing my body to his, I'd never felt more satisfied in all my life.
9
Expendable
"It's done," Nimra announced as she peered at the glow of her phone.
I glowered and snatched the device before she could have a chance to whisk it away. "No, you don't want to see--" she began, but I knew what I was going to see. I had to see it. I had to know that Sonya was all right.
The camera picked up the powerful aura that had overtaken the chamber. The raised platform showed two mingling bodies, but I could see Sonya's pleasure. My body shivered with chills when I saw her fangs and the pleasure it gave her when she sank them into her lover.
I'd expected vampire sex to be fast, rough, and something like the video I had seen between Sonya and the dragon, Jet. But this was so tender and mystical. The writhing bodies on the floor beneath the platform showed the vampires that aided their own power to the rite. Sonya was too lost in ecstasy to see their eyes lower and their bodies slump. Their faces showed pleasure, but the thinning of their bodies showed the cost of their life-force to supply the magic it took to change Sonya into one of them.
"Will they be all right?" I asked. I had only cared about Sonya, but to see the vampires and what it cost them to change her had me worried. When I cast the spell, all of the supernaturals in this city would go under. If the vampires didn't make sure to clean up the mess, Derek's forces would only send in new reserves.
"The cost isn't a light one, but they'll survive," Nimra assured me. "Come," she patted the dusty space next to her as a breeze caught the pages of the grimoire. I expected it to go flying, but it behaved as if it was a boulder and didn't budge. When I moved to lift it in my lap, I was surprised to find the book as light as a feather.