by Claudy Conn
I liked that, but I just eyed him and decided to change the subject, “When do we start training?” I spread my arms. “I’m dressed for it.”
“So you are,” he said and the next thing I knew, I was wrapped up in his arms and traveling in his black cloud.
When we landed, we were naked, and we were on my Holy Grail’s bed in his home. I grinned and asked, “Are we starting our training?”
“No. You don’t need any here…but, I, baby, I need you to show me what you need, because that is what I want to give you,” he whispered and his lips gently brushed against mine.
I pulled back and said, “Well, alright then!” I flipped him and felt well pleased with myself. It was as though I was finding new strength every other minute and when needed.
I straddled his belly and felt his cock bounce against my rump. I kissed his ear, felt a sudden urge to bite his neck, but reminded myself that I don’t bite or drink from a live source. Yet, the desire was undeniable, more than ever before, I lusted for blood, not anyone’s blood, but his. I lusted for his blood. I blasted the fancy out of my head.
My teeth grazed his neck and I licked his pulse. He held my wrists in the air and said, “Do it, baby, it isn’t drinking…it is a marking. You want to mark me as your own…do it.”
“No, I don’t…I don’t want to mark you,” I said and knew I was lying.
Apparently he knew I was lying as well. He flipped me and said, “Alright then.” He thrust into me, paused in mid-movement and took my mouth. He wasn’t gentle this time. His tongue shoved into my mouth with primal ferocity and it was a hard kiss that I never wanted to stop.
All thought was suspended as I returned his kiss with my exploring tongue. He was delicious and I wanted more, so much more.
When had my tongue left his? When had my tongue traveled to his neck?
He flipped us so that that I was on top of him again. His cock was still inside me and I rode it as I bent to lick his nipple and damn, there I was again, licking the pulsing vein at his neck.
“Smoke…mark me,” he said his voice strained with passion. “I want you to, I think I need you to…do it now!”
My fangs lengthened and grazed his neck. I was driven by something beyond my understanding. I didn’t want blood. I wanted his blood…and not for sustenance. He was correct. I wanted to mark him and the next thing I knew, I sunk my fangs into him and the world exploded.
Rockets blasted in a dark velvet sky as I rotated my hips and my sex clenched around his dick as I tasted his blood. I didn’t drink it in. I stopped myself. But even that little taste, sent something of who he was deep into my head. I saw his memories like a movie flashing in my conscious mind. Power surged through my blood to my heart, rippled there and then swept back down to my toes and then up to my head!
I yanked my teeth away from his flesh and the words were out before I knew they were on my tongue, “Mine!”
“Am I, baby? Do you know what that means? Or are you just in the heat of the moment?” his voice was a low growl. He seemed annoyed all at once.
I had gone too far. The word had slipped out before I could stop myself. I wiggled a shoulder and whispered, “I was talking about the ride I am about to take on you…”
“Were you?” his voice husky with raw desire. He grabbed my rump, “Then go ahead, ride me hard and fast.”
I pumped and moved, took and gave until a climax shook my body and made me collapse and tremble against him. He pulled out and maneuvered himself and excited me as he put his wet cock to my lips and said, “Taste us baby…suck me now.”
I took his dripping cock and sucked its length until he shouted out my name and his seed exploded into my mouth and down my throat.
His body rocked with his climax before he said, “More, Smoke. I need so much more of you.”
“What about my training?” I teased.
“Oh, baby, you are an A+ student just about to get a gold star,” he whispered and put me on my hands and knees on the bed.
He was behind me, rubbing his cock all over my butt and then slamming it into me with a force that made me gasp with pleasure. I was filled with unimaginable pleasure.
As he rode me, touched my breasts, pulled on my nipples I looked back at his face, covered with passion and called out, “Holy Grail!”
~ Seven ~
“No!” the Dark Lord snapped. “You aren’t powerful enough yet to take on Vidal.”
“But, I just got the better of you,” I continued to argue. I had just avoided a take down as we trained in my Holy Grail’s war room. I had avoided a take down and tripped and landed a blow to his gut. I was quite proud of myself.
“I let you. I wanted you to know what it would feel like, but if I hadn’t let you, this is what would have happened,” he said and faster than I could imagine, he had me on my back on the hardwood floor, with a dagger at my neck.
“Careful,” I complained, my ego diminished. “That thing looks sharp.”
“It’s spelled. It can’t cut,” he whispered and rubbed his hard-on against my belly.
To test the knife’s effectiveness, I ran my finger along its sharp edge. Nope, it didn’t cut. I gave him a demure look and teased his cock with a slow wiggle and a pump of my own.
He relaxed into my come-on and I used the moment to flip him on his back, grab the dagger and hold it to his neck. “Recovered, didn’t I?” I said, maybe a bit too full of myself. “And I didn’t use a blink of magic. I’m ready.” We had been training for a week. All I wanted was to face Vidal and take him out. Rumors were that he was savaging both humans and paranormals in the archelogy field, during his search for the Fae artifact.
“No, you aren’t ready. You have no idea what he can do. Even I am always circumspect when we have crossed paths.”
“Lie,” I can hear the lie in your voice. “You have never been worried about facing Vidal. He is the one that avoids a confrontation.”
“What makes you think so?” He frowned and in one fluid movement he was up with me cradled first in his arms before he set me on my feet. He walked away and went to the door.
“I just know,” I told him and that was the truth. I ‘sensed’ it and was getting better at sensing things all the time, compliments of my father’s DNA.
He hadn’t answered me, but was headed for the stairs to the lower floor. I followed and asked, “Where are you going.”
“I have an arbitration meeting. Showering and gone. I can’t be late for this. The witches have made an official complaint against a rogue warlock. It took some doing to get all the parties together for this. We’ll talk later.”
I said nothing to this, but I brought up my father again. I have done so over the last week a zillion times and the answer has always been the same.
“I want you to open a portal to my father’s prison. I am breaking him out.”
“No,” he said and down the stairs he went.
I was on his heels. “If you won’t do this for me. I will find someone who will.”
“No, you won’t. When the time is right and you have all your magical powers in place, and under control, you won’t need me or anyone else to open a portal to your home…to your father. You are a Princess of Deatach. You have the ability to open portals yourself.”
That stopped me. I stood. He was already in the shower. I twirled my finger and naked, I followed him. As I sponged him, he closed his eyes and said, “No. Don’t use your exquisite wiles to tempt me to get what you want. I will go with you and free your father only when the time is right. We will do it together when you are ready. Timing is everything...and the time, well, it isn’t now.”
“But…” I started to interject. “My father could help us find the artifact.”
“No, he isn’t part of this prophesy. The artifact is out there waiting on you.” He held my shoulders, “Baby, we are entering dangerous times. Vidal is not the only one that will come after you. There are others, perhaps even more powerful than Vidal that will want that artifact
. I don’t have time to argue now. I must be on time for this meeting or blood will spill.”
“Why?”
“Never mind, just know this, I will stand between you and danger, always. Understood?”
I nodded, but he never saw me do so because in a flash of black, he was gone.
I sighed and finished my shower, wondering how the hell I was supposed to find an artifact hidden by the Dark Fae King a thousand years ago.
Where would it be? Ireland? Scotland? Where? Somewhere near the land the Fae left behind but still cherished? Or, had the Dark King sent the artifact to another realm? Where was I to begin? Something in my head kept whispering, ‘water’. Did that mean the artifact was in the sea? Which sea? A lake, an ocean, a pond? Where?
Well, maybe Sharon could help me figure it out. We were having coffee together soon and she had always been the best sounding board for my trials and tribulations. Besides, she knew about the crazy prophesy.
I picked out an outfit, a pretty softly flowered tank top, jeans and sandals, and got dressed the old fashioned way, without magic. The whole while I thought about my dad.
I didn’t agree with my Holy Grail. I believe my dad knew a great deal about the Fae and could be a help. I believe rescuing him now rather than later would be good for our so-called mission and besides that—he was my dad. I wanted to rescue him right then, right that very moment. If I knew how to do that, I would go in alone.
The magic in my brain, still sitting in a box waiting to be used, told me that my DNA, gifted from my father, was closely linked to the Fae. Somewhere in my brain…I knew their history. I needed to tap into it, but it would be so much easier if my dad were with us to help. I had to convince my Dark Lord that the priority, should be rescuing my father before we did anything else!
Was I being led to this conclusion because of emotion? Maybe, but it was also logical.
Wasn’t it?
* * * * *
Sharon, lovely as always in a blue sundress and heels so high I would have toppled over had I tried to walk in them, sat across from me and raised one arched auburn brow.
She sat back and brushed her short auburn waves away from her face and considered everything I had just told her, and I had told her everything that had happened from the moment I met Wilder until and including Grail’s refusal to help me rescue my father before looking for the artifact.
“Grail and I have disagreed more often than not…in the past, but, in this, I think he is right, Smokie. You aren’t ready to take on your father’s enemies. They sound like really powerful immortals. They managed to capture and imprison your father. Think about that.”
“He wasn’t expecting it. He didn’t really think his brother would turn out to be his enemy. I believe my dad’s brother is his only true enemy and that as long as he thinks he has my dad imprisoned, he will not be…looking over his shoulder. That is where I come in. I don’t have to take them all on—just the prison guards. They won’t have a clue. They won’t see me coming. I portal in…get my father and swoop out from the same portal. Simple.”
“Smokie, if it were that simple, one of your father’s friends…and I am certain, he must have had some friends, some who are outraged at his incarceration, would have already made the attempt. In my humble opinion, one of those friends would have created a portal and helped him escape to safety.” Sharon shook her head. “No, there must be a binding spell on him, not only curtailing his natural abilities and his own brand of magic, but keeping him from escaping from a portal.”
I frowned, “Oh, no. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You are new to everything inside of you. Give it time,” Sharon said on a quiet note.
“Sharon, Grail thinks you can help us. I know you and Grail…aren’t well…”
“Yes, I will help. It is important we keep the artifact out of Vidal’s hands. I will do whatever I can to help you locate the artifact and finish Vidal. He and I are old enemies. He despises humans.” She sighed, “I have an affection for humans, but besides that, Vidal and I…are ever at odds. We have thwarted one another over the years and I have wished for his end.”
I took her hand, “Grail will be so pleased that you have accepted to join us in what he calls our mission. Come with me now to the club. Let’s tell him together.”
“Oh,” she frowned at me. “You can tell him.”
My turn to frown, “What have you against him? Were you lovers?”
“Lovers?” she snorted. Sharon never snorts, so my mouth dropped. And then she snorted again, before she gave me a rueful look. “No, not even close. We were once…friends of a sort. In the old days, Grail Wilder was something of a vampire killer. Never blinked or hesitated to kill a vamp when he saw one taking blood from a human. He believed vamps were all vicious killers. He thought I was the exception and we became friends of a sort. I had a vampire friend. He and I had been lovers, but we evolved into…just close friends over the years. He wasn’t really a killer, but he liked to drink from live sources. He compelled a young woman…more girl than woman and Grail came across them.” She stopped and sighed heavily. “He didn’t just stop my friend. He killed him. Grail turned him into a living torch…” She looked away. “His death wasn’t necessary.”
I touched her hand, “I am so sorry.”
“He was very dear. He was charming and fun and always had time to listen to me. I liked him. I don’t think he would have killed the girl, but…Grail couldn’t have known that. He said that Peter wasn’t stopping and that when he grabbed him, he shoved Grail off and kept draining the poor girl. Grail said he had no choice. I understood, but…even so, I couldn’t look at him then without feeling Peter’s loss. That was a very long time ago.”
I eyed her, “Just how old are you, Sharon?”
She touched my nose, and laughed, “Ha, no one needs to know.”
“Come on, you are coming to Hazard with me,” I said to her as I laid down a twenty to cover the coffee and a huge tip for the waitress.
~ Eight ~
Grail had told me that the ladies were attracted to Shags. Over the last week I had ample opportunity to witness this. Shags was an adorable man with a killer smile. He was nice looking, but oh, that boyish charm, slayed.
Even so, I was shocked to see the way Sharon stared at him when he opened the door of Hazard for us. My mouth dropped and I couldn’t speak as I watched Sharon who never flirts, flirt him up with her eyes and a crook of her elegant shoulders.
I have witnessed Sharon cold shoulder some of the hottest guys ever, so this was totally new to me.
I introduced them and disbelieving, stood back to watch the show.
Sharon got all girly and actually leaned towards him with one shoulder to say, “Shags? The name suits your hair, but not your handsome face.”
Shags, who was ever ready with a jest or a boyish grin, was as opened mouthed as I, but, staring at Sharon like he wanted to gobble her up. He seemed tongue tied when he replied, “Ah…er…well.”
That did it for me. I burst out laughing. They didn’t seem to know I was there so after I collected myself I shook my head and had to say twice, “Is my Holy Grail in his office?”
“ER…no…but, ah…Miss Smoke…go on in,” Shags managed to finally answer.
I went forward, looked over my shoulder and got buggy-eyed when I saw Sharon purposely slide her body against Shags, give him a ‘come-on’ look and take a whiff of his musky masculine self.
“Sharon!” I said though I don’t know why.
“Yes?” she said, still looking at Shags.
“Ah,” said my Holy Grail as he walked in the front door behind us. “You have brought, Sharon. Come, we can talk in my office. Shags…join us.”
I was surprised that he had invited Shags to be a part of our little mission team, but, he took my fingers at that moment and lifted them to his lips, ‘old world’ style and all I wanted to do was sink into his arms.
I didn’t have to sink. He had me tightly pressed again
st him and whispered low into my ear, “Baby, I missed you. Even a couple of hours away…were too many.”
Oh yeah, my Holy Grail knew how to play. Only trouble was, I knew, all too devastatingly that I, unlike he, was playing for keeps. I had been pinching myself these last weeks and reminding myself that he would leave and I would be forever in love with a man who was no longer there. Yes, oh yes, I was hopeless in love with him.
* * * * *
Grail Wilder knew how to take a meeting and control the participants with extreme finesse and success. He wasn’t the sort that said…you are wrong, but simply pointed out pros and cons of each issue. He was a brilliant negotiator and he do so from strength.
Of course, watching him, feeling about him as I do, I know I might be considered prejudice, but, truly, he handles the paranormals with great style and composure.
Admittedly, my emotions are in the way. He is the Dark Lord, so why do I see a halo around his entire body—not just his head?
My Deatach and my earthly witch have merged and I am infused with white and extraordinary magic. I see what other witches miss and the glow around him was almost angelic.
Odd.
At the moment, he had Sharon, and Shags completely agreeing with him. He manages it without them even aware that a few moments ago, they had thwarted his proposals.
I sighed and glared at each member of our team. I was frustrated. “Nothing I have said has convinced you to help me save my father now, right now?” Sharon bit her lip and said nothing. Shags looked away from my scathing eyes.
I turned and put the question to my Holy Grail as harshly as I could, even though I knew what his answer would be. “So, you won’t help me?”
“I would never refuse to help you, Smokie,” he said quietly. “However, if you truly wish to free your father from the captivity his brother has managed to secure him in, then we have to look at ‘timing’. I have already told you that ‘timing’ is everything. Those aren’t words. It is a fact. We need to go in with the power to free your father from the magical barricades keeping him from even using his own enormous powers. I have been researching a fool-proof method of doing just that, but have not yet discovered a spell strong enough to break the Deatach spell imprisoning him.” He put up his hand. “Believe me, baby, I am working on it.”