Nightwalker

by Jacquelyn Frank

  He cupped her head in one hand, noticing how small it was in his large palm. He was tall and strong and athletic but he was not an overly large man, and yet he was still much larger than she was. She had the ability to make him feel as if he were a giant. Not just in size but in ability. With her he felt as though he might be able to conquer the world tomorrow.

  Her hair filtered between his fingers, the slippery, silvery strands soft and silky. Her hands had been clinging to his arms but now climbed up to his shoulders, then one wrapped around his neck, her fingers toying with the crisp ends of his hair at the base of his hairline. All the while their kiss grew deeper and deeper.

  His free hand moved suddenly to her breast, cupping her through the soft cotton material of her nightgown. Her unfettered breast filled his hand perfectly and his thumb brushed over the bud of her nipple that was pebbled beneath the cotton. He didn’t know which was sweeter, her mouth or the feel of her.

  He began to feel a growing sense of urgency. She felt it too. He could tell by the way she clutched at him with increasing strength and the way she was starting to devour him with every clash of their tongues. He had wanted to make love to her sweetly…slowly…radiating every ounce of his feelings for her into her, saying with his body all the things he didn’t have the right to say with words.

  But as was often the case with her, it would not be that way. It was becoming torrid and hot, threatening to consume them. His knees bent, his hands went to her thighs, dragging up the skirt of her nightgown before grasping hold of the bare thighs beneath and hauling her up off her feet. She flew up, her legs wrapping around his waist, her ankles latching together in the small of his back. They seemed to favor this position. He liked it because all he needed was to put a wall to her back as a counterpoint and he could thrust up hard into her, all the while looking deep into her eyes, all the while watching emotion play over her features. And she was so very expressive. He could see, and therefore feel, every single thing that she felt. Every single moan of pleasure was punctuated by the intensity in her eyes and then he was lost.

  Just as he was losing himself now. He broke from her mouth, panting hard for breath while he searched the room briefly for what he wanted. There. There it was.

  A wall.

  He walked them over to it in three steps, her back hitting it an instant later, his mouth crushing down on hers again. He broke away only long enough to divest her of her nightgown, leaving her naked in his arms and against his bare chest. He had changed into a pair of silky pajama pants earlier, and now they rode low on his hips, leaving his chest bare to feel the warmth and sultry softness of her skin against his. He could feel the tough little points of her nipples brushing over him and the sensation of all of it, on top of her blistering kisses, made him so hard he could hardly see straight.

  “Gods how I want to be inside you,” he groaned against her lips.

  “Come inside me,” she invited in a soft little panting of breaths. “I’m wet and waiting for you.”

  He groaned again at the erotic invitation and all the images it conjured for him in lightning fast succession. She had grown into quite the confident seductress in their time together. This fact was highlighted by the way she arched her back so her nipples rubbed enticingly over his chest and the way she trailed searching fingers in a line down his belly, below his navel, stopping only when she reached the edge of his pants. Then she found the drawstring, pulled it free with a simple tug, pushed his pants down past his hips until they pooled down around his ankles. He took only a moment to kick them away. He then planted his feet and sought upward with his hips. The head of his cock drew wetly along the seam of her outer lips, parting them around him. He hungrily lifted a breast to his lips then slid his hand down to where their bodies made contact, and through her damp curls, sought out the hard nub of her clitoris. He sucked on her nipple in time with his touch and she cried out with pleasure, her voice ringing in his ears. It wasn’t enough of course. That one little cry would not satisfy him. Not by half. He undulated his hips, drawing himself through her wet flesh. He was there…right there. A single thrust away from burying himself deep inside her. He released her breast and found her mouth, sliding his tongue against hers with wild abandon.

  “Do it,” she panted, her body squirming in his arms.

  “Are you rushing me?” he teased, prodding at her playfully but refusing her any satisfaction other than what his fingers were giving her.

  She groaned with frustration, but then suddenly began to rethink her position. A mischievous light entered her eyes. “Of course,” she said breathily. “You’re right. We have as long as we like.” She pulled his hand away from her body and slid hers in between them instead. She slowly wrapped her fingers around his jutting length and began to stroke him tightly. He hissed in pleasure, thrusting up into her strokes until he was so hard and so needy he was dizzy from the speed of his pulse.

  “Enough,” he growled.

  “Never,” she growled back. “It will never be enough.”

  She was so right. It would never be enough. He could have her a thousand times and he knew it would be just as intense the thousandth time as it had been the first. And he wanted her a thousand times. Ten thousand times. More.

  The thought gave him a moment’s pause, causing him to go still. She looked at him with curiosity. “What is it?”

  It was the knowledge that he wanted his life to go on. He wanted his life to go on, but only if hers were to be in tandem with it. He didn’t think he could bear life without her. It had been so cold before. So long and lifeless. So devoid of any passion. Now he had passion in spades. All because of her.

  “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in all of my lifetimes,” he said fiercely, his voice barely a whisper. But she heard him well enough. He could tell by the warmth of red that suffused her already pink cheeks.

  “I want you too,” she said, and he knew it was meant to be more than want of just the moment. But of course she would want him. He was the first passion she had ever known. One day, when she was stronger, she might not want him any longer. She might want to move on and experience the variety life had to offer her.

  The thought angered him. No! He wouldn’t allow her to want anything more than him. He would be everything she needed and more.

  He jerked her hand free of his body, and with a punishing thrust he rammed himself into her. She gasped, her body barely having a moment to adapt to him before he was thrusting into her in earnest.

  He rode her hard, forcing cries of passion out of her, forcing pleasure out of her. She was innocent of the mood that had fallen on him, yet he could not hold himself in check. The idea of her giving herself to anyone but him had him acting with fire and haste. He pinned her against the wall and wrested her first orgasm out of her.

  “None but me,” he growled against her cheek as her cries deafened him in his ear. He didn’t realize he had spoken aloud until she said, “None but you.”

  This mollified him a little bit. He slowed, moved with a more aching passion. He needed her and he let her know it in the movements of his body connected to hers. She felt the difference and he saw tears shining in her eyes.

  “Shh,” he soothed her, kissing her lips.

  “You feel so good,” she whispered. “I don’t want this to end.”

  “It’s just the beginning,” he promised her.

  And he kept to his promise. He loved her long and sweet, hard and fast, shifting moods and speed as fast as lightning. When he had wrested her third or fourth orgasm from her—he’d lost count because they seemed to blend together—only then did he allow himself to come into her. He came so hard he could barely stand. She had drained him, taken every part of him.

  They leaned there gasping for breath for a long minute, then he pushed them away from the wall and walked them to the bed. He laid her down and then pulled the covers over her.

  “Come with me,” she implored, holding out her hand to him.

  “
I just did,” he teased her, amusement twitching at his lips.

  “Come to bed,” she said, pulling back the covers in invitation.

  “No. I can’t. I have to study this spell so I know it backward and forward. I need to be able to cast it quickly and accurately. One mistake can mean the difference between life and death. Success and failure. And I will not fail.”

  “You need sleep as well. You can’t go into this unrested.”

  He reached out and petted her hair. He gave her a small smile. “I won’t be sleeping today. But you should rest.”

  “Without you?” she pouted.

  “I’ll come back to you in a little while. I plan on making love to you again before the day is done.”

  The announcement made her smile. But it was a sleepy smile. She was fading fast.

  “Promise?” she said, laying her head down on the pillow.

  “You have my word,” he said.

  And later, after he had memorized the spell to the best of his ability, he kept his word. He came to her, woke her up, and made love to her slow and sweet, kissing every inch of her body he could find, licking her into delicious madness. He was completely unselfish, and so was she. She touched him, loved him, gave him everything she had. And when they came together this time, she cried.

  She held on to him, and cried.

  Chapter 23

  Kat was fondling the necklace around her neck. She was lying in bed, naked, next to her Gargoyle lover and husband. Ahnvil had chosen not to sit out in the sun regenerating this day, wanting instead to spend it with her. He could do this for several days without it affecting him, but eventually being out of contact with his touchstone, the stone that regenerated his life force and strength, would drive him mad and could even end in permanent being…turning to stone once and for all with no hope of turning back into the flesh and blood man she loved.

  She poked her lover in the shoulder, waking him from his light slumber. None of them were sleeping well that day. Certainly not the Gargoyles who were sworn to protect their Bodywalkers with their lives. Jackson was Ahnvil’s Bodywalker and tomorrow, he knew, Jackson would be in the thick of the battle. That meant her husband would be right by his side, protecting him.

  “What is it?” he asked, no trace of sleep in his heavy Scots burr.

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Always a dangerous pastime.”

  “Stop it. Will you be serious?”

  “I think things are far too serious as it is,” he said grimly.

  “True. But remember that passage you told me about regarding Adoma’s Amulet?” She held out the amulet that had started their adventure together and had led her to discover it was a powerful nik and she was a Djynn. All her life she had thought she was allergic to the sun, only to find out it was because she was a Nightwalker that she burned in sunlight. Once she had learned to turn to smoke, the way Djynns kept from burning in the sun, she had never had to worry about it again.

  “I do. ‘The slave, born of the infinite Nightwalkers, will set free the power within. The one that harnesses Adoma’s Amulet will have such power as to make a god weep.’ ”

  “Now see, it’s that last line that gets me. Maybe this is meant to be more than just a nik. Maybe there’s something about it—about me—that’s meant to go up against Apep. To make a god weep.”

  Ahnvil sat up like a shot in bed and glared at her.

  “There is no way I’m letting you get anywhere near that homicidal bastard!”

  “Calm down!”

  “Doona tell me to calm down! Listen to yourself! You are thinking about pitting yourself against a god!”

  “Not pitting myself against him! But being somehow instrumental in weakening him so that Kamen can work his mojo.”

  “Like what? What could you possibly do that would make it reasonable for you to go up against a god?”

  “Stop saying that. I’m not going up against him. Just…sort of around him.”

  “Explain yourself, Kat, for you doona make much sense right now.”

  “Grey has been teaching me all about being a Djynn. And I’ve been learning. A lot. He taught me what he called ‘arresting’ magic. It’s meant to paralyze an object. Freeze them in place.”

  “You want to cast magic like that against Apep?” Ahnvil scoffed. “He can probably break through something like that easily.”

  “Maybe. But maybe if I draw all the energy I need for it from Adoma’s Amulet, maybe there’s something special in it that can give it a unique kind of strength.”

  “That’s a pretty goddamn scary maybe! What if you just succeed in making yourself a target and pissing him off?”

  “Well, it’s worth a try!”

  “No, ’tis not. I doona want you anywhere near that god tomorrow. Hell, I doona want you there at all!”

  “You’re not leaving me behind. I can be useful. I’ve learned how to cast energy blasts, how to phase through things. I’ve learned to arrest things in place! All of which can be key tools when battling the Templars. I’ve got some good tricks up my sleeve.”

  “You’re a novice at being a Djynn. You only learned what you are a few months ago. You are not near good enough to go into battle. When people are getting hit, dying all around you…’tis hard, Kat, and I would spare you that. I would spare you from the danger as well. I canna fight for my Pharaoh if I’m worried about you.”

  “I’m not staying behind. You have to trust me to know what I’m doing. To know what I’m capable of.”

  “How can I when you’re talking abou’ going up against a god?”

  “It’s going to be chaos, Ahnvil. He won’t even know it’s me.”

  “He’s a fucking god! He’ll know!” he roared.

  “Stop yelling at me!”

  “Then stop being so bloody stupid!”

  She gaped at him, shock and hurt striking through her. His expression became instantly contrite. “I didna mean to say it like that.”

  “You said exactly what you were thinking! That I’m stupid!”

  “I doona think your stupid, Kat lass,” he said gently. “I’m just…I’m bloody fucking scared. Tomorrow we’re going to lose a lot of good people. I doona want you to be one of them. I want to be able to come home to you tomorrow, on safe, sound ground.”

  “No ground will be safe or sound if we all don’t pull together to fight this monster. You can’t exclude me because you’re afraid for me. I’m terrified for you. I know you’re going to be with Jackson, leading the charge. I don’t want you to go. But,” she said with a hard swallow, “I’m letting you go. I’m not going to ask you to stay behind. You wouldn’t be able to grant a request like that and you wouldn’t want to. It would be an unreasonable and selfish thing to do.”

  “But, Kat lass, there’s a big difference between a battle-hardened Gargoyle and a novice Djynn half-breed.”

  Again his words stung her. “Stop that! Stop making me out to be less than you are!” she cried, leaping out of bed and quickly slipping on her robe. He caught up to her just as she was striding into the sitting room connected to their bedroom. He hadn’t paused to put on something and so he stood naked before her as he stepped into her path.

  “You’re no’ less than me, Kat! I doona think that at all!”

  “You do! You just said so. There’s a difference between a Gargoyle and a half-breed Djynn. A large enough one to make the difference between me succeeding tomorrow and me possibly failing.”

  “We’re all in danger of failing tomorrow. Individually we’re all weaker than someone else out there. None of us is so powerful that we are not in danger of failure.”

  “Just some of us are weaker than others.”

  “Aye, ’tis true and I willna say otherwise. And if you were looking at this logically you would say the same. But you’re taking this personally.”

  “Damn right I’m taking it personally!”

  “Kat, I doona want to fight.”

  “Then stop saying mean and stupi
d things.”

  “Aha! There now you said it. Called me stupid,” he shot back.

  “I said the things spewing out of your mouth were stupid.”

  “Those things are created by my mind so therefore you’re calling my mind stupid.”

  “ ‘The one that harnesses Adoma’s Amulet will have such power as to make a god weep’! That’s what it says! I can’t ignore that and I won’t!”

  She marched for the outer door and he again stepped in her way.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Away from you! I’m going somewhere where I can practice that paralyzing spell. Whether I use it on Apep or just on a Templar, I want to be ready.”

  “You’re not using it on Apep!”

  “We’ll see what Jackson has to say about that!” She ducked under his arm and shot out the door, slamming it in her wake. He couldn’t immediately follow her because he was stark naked and while that didn’t bother him, it might bother someone else if he accidentally ran into them in the hallway. He hurried into the bedroom to grab his robe, but by the time he got out into the hallway, she was gone and he didn’t know where she had headed. His first thought was Jackson and Marissa’s room. Sagan was healed now, so he was no longer using their room. It was likely they were in their own bed. Still, it was a while before sunset and they were probably still asleep.

  If they were asleep.

  Odds were, they were having just a difficult time of it as he and Kat were.

  —

  Jackson heard a door slam in the hallway, the punctuation to a shouting argument not too far away. He looked down at his wife and soul mate; it was clear what she was thinking. It was a wonder they all weren’t having arguments. The tension in the house was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

  “It sounded like Kat,” she said.

  He nodded. He thought he’d recognized the cadence to his lead Gargoyle’s speech.

  “Likely he doesn’t want her in the middle of the danger,” Jackson said.