Avery held back a quivering breath of happiness that threatened to reveal her emotions as he touched her face. She stared in amazement with glistening eyes. Maybe she had noticed before and didn't want to see it. He was perfect for her.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered to her, bringing his head back up to meet her gaze.
Talon slipped that hand down her leggings to the center, stroking the soft flesh he found there, excited by the discovery of her lack of underwear. Avery shuddered and groaned with pleasure at his intimate touching, as he went from rubbing her to slipping two of his fingers into her. Avery let out a cry. She was unable to take the temptation anymore and grabbed the button of his pants. Talon smiled at her playfully, a sparkle in his eyes. He captured her lips once again. He kept them melded to hers while unbuttoning and unzipping his pants with one hand, holding himself over her with the other. Avery slid her hand down to grope what he had unleashed, which felt clearly too big for one hand. She traced him from base to tip with her finger, satisfied with the jerking reaction she got from him.
Talon reached down between her legs and slid his hand up and over her. He paused and looked into her eyes. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"Yes." Hell yes, her mind re-stated.
"You're not going to hate me tomorrow?"
"If you stop now, I probably will," Avery smirked at him.
"Alright. I promise I'll be gentle."
"But I can't promise that," Avery reached past his jean barrier to cup him.
Talon used one hand to pull her leggings down, ripping seams as he tore them off. "Not sorry," he said before pulling down his jeans and kicking them aside.
Avery wrapped her sleek legs around his waist, locking her ankles around each other above his buttocks. She encircled Talon's neck with her arms and pulled him down toward her. Talon kissed her as she anticipated the next move. She felt the head of him make its presence known against her sensitive area, as if testing the waters, before penetrating her defenses. Avery tensed her body under his until he had filled her completely. Giving a moment for her body to get used to him, he then began to thrust his hips slowly. She couldn't help but bite into his shoulder, and let out a moan as his length shifted in and out of her. Talon fought back all biting urges of his own almost too easily as he kissed her neck. Hearing her cries, he slowed, concerned for her. "You okay?"
Her other lovers were not as aggressive as she had needed. She yearned for someone to take charge of her. She needed to lose control, just once, and in a setting of her choice. Talon had given her that.
She nodded and whimpered her reply. Talon smiled deviously and continued at his prior tempo and kissed her lips, up the side of her cheek, until he inhaled in her hair. Avery let her arms fall from his neck to grip the soft sheets around her. Talon had taken a moment to cup her breast and tease her nipple with his tongue and then traced circles around her areola. As her sensations increased, so did the urge to get to the finish line.
After what seemed like endless bliss, she was ready to seal the deal. Avery tilted her pelvis upward and met his strokes, gradually increasing the pace. She could see that Talon was indecisive whether or not he should as well, so she placed her hand on his back to pull him closer to her and cried to him, "Harder. Make me yours.”
With that, Talon cupped her butt cheeks and matched her speed until Avery was pushed over the verge. She cried out as her body exploded in spasms of light and color. Talon grunted as he pulled her in closer and shook with release as well. He fell on his side next to where she lay unmoving and panting. Talon swept a piece of stray curled hair from her face, waiting for her to catch her breath. Avery, despite the lightheadedness, composed herself and turned onto her side to face him. She sucked in her breath. Wow. She had never had an orgasm like that in her life.
Talon chuckled at her and covered Avery in the satin sheets as the air became colder around them. The candles Talon had lit near the bed had come to their end and struggled to cast a glow.
As they lay facing each other, Talon looked like a child lost in thought as Avery stroked his face, feeling his gritty roughness but knowing there was a soft, gentle man behind that exterior.
“I thought about what you said before. About why we don’t mix,” Talon whispered.
Avery became tense when she thought of her harsh words, and how this was starting to seem like one-time-only sex.
Talon continued, “I can’t imagine living my life without you. I know we are meant to enjoy what we have in our time allotted to us, but if your time came too soon… if I had to watch you die, I couldn’t let you. I wouldn’t.”
Avery sighed and turned her body away from his. “When it comes time for me to die, you need to let me go. It is my one wish to be with my family again someday. If heaven is real, maybe I will be worthy enough to be with them. To find peace after all this fighting….”
Talon pulled her into his body so that they were now spooning. “If there is one person I have met in all my years on Earth who is worthy, it is most definitely you,” he whispered through her hair.
Avery hugged his arm that was wrapped around him, “I hope you’re right.”
“If it is your wish that you go…then I shall grant it when the time comes,” Talon inched closer to kiss her but stopped. He jumped out of bed and flitted downstairs.
“What the?” Avery sat up puzzled by a series of loud noises. She wrapped the sheets around her and ran downstairs, toward the source of the noise, “Talon?”
Avery almost tripped on the sheet running down the stairs but caught herself on the railing. She stopped and listened, hearing snarling and a panicked voice. The garage. She opened the door to find Talon’s back to her, holding up someone by the throat in his hand, and the garage door opened. The smell of gasoline was strong, making her eyes water. She pivoted around Talon to see who the unlucky struggling intruder was.
“Caleb? What are you doing here?!”
Talon’s eyes were blood red again as he never let his gaze leave Caleb, “The little prick doused my car in gasoline. What do you think he was going to do?”
Ohhh… not his car, Avery thought and looked to the Mustang for confirmation. That explained the smell. She rubbed her irritated eyes and yelled, “Just put him down!”
“Did you hope it would take my house and us with it you little fuck?” Talon raged.
He looked as if he wanted to crush Caleb’s trachea rather than do as she asked, so Avery calmly put her hand on Talon’s bicep, “Talon, please put him down. For me.”
He could not resist that. Caleb was dropped onto the cement, landing on his ass. He scrambled up and started to back away.
“Why are you here Caleb?” Avery hissed.
“I followed you to apologize. I thought you were out hunting vampires, not sleeping with them! Is this why you denied me? So you could screw blood-sucking, vile creatures from hell?!”
Before Avery could move to make him pay for what he had just said, Talon had punched Caleb in his already bruised nose and put him on his back.
“That felt good,” Talon turned to Avery, “Can I do it again?”
Avery shook her head frantically.
Caleb scrambled backward to his feet and took off down the driveway, tripping over himself as he disappeared into the night.
“I think you messed up his nose for life,” Avery tried to suppress a smile. Talon stood looking out into the night with a predatory gaze. Avery grabbed the hand he had punched Caleb with and kissed the knuckles, letting the sheet drop around her feet. Talon instantly diverted his gaze from the darkness onto her. His eyes almost seemed to glow just before he scooped her up and headed back upstairs.
CHAPTER 14
She felt herself sink into the moist turf as the cool water was sucked away from the soles of her bare feet. The water smelled fresh, so she knew this wasn’t the ocean. She felt a chilled breeze come across the water and flow through her sheer white nightgown, her nipples becoming hard. She turned toward the wat
er searching for something in the faint moonlight but could see nothing but the seemingly-endless mass. Someone’s larger fingers curled around hers. Avery looked at her hand and followed the arm up to a shadowed face whose eyes pierced into her with an ethereal, icy blue glow. She smiled at the familiar eyes and stood on the tip of her toes, closing her eyes to kiss her dark protector.
The sun started to rise behind them. As Avery opened her eyes, Talon had been replaced by the dark-eyed, tattooed Adonis. Avery pulled her hand away from his grasp. When she looked to the turf, a charred skeleton slowly became ash at their feet. She stared with shock and denial at her tormentor, knowing who had been slain at their feet. His black feathered wings unfurled from his back as he took up Avery into his arms. She scratched, punched, and kicked, but could not escape his hold on her. His massive wings rose high into the air, and as they quickly flexed downward, Avery was launched into the air with him. The earth trembled and groaned, opening up to show an abysmal dark pit from which she heard thousands of screams. She knew this was hell. He was taking her to hell. Avery screamed and fought harder as he swooped down into the black hole that closed around her, crushing her until she could not breathe. Her last glimpse of the sunrise above, gone forever.
When her vision came back, she watched two primitive-looking men kneel at an ancient stone altar and someone speaking with unknown words. One of the men looked very similar to the dark angel that haunted her. But here he did not appear as winged and tattooed, but as a man who was tanner than he had previously appeared. The other looked similar to him but had lighter hair, a younger version of him. The word ‘brother’ kept popping into her thoughts. She sensed envy and animosity emanating from the darker one as he looked at her, seeing her in this vision though his brother could not see her at all. He projected to her that his brother was favored over him by someone important to them both. They stood alone together in a field. An argument escalated. The envious brother was provoked to attack. His hands and the stalks of wheat were now stained in red. The murderer was exiled, now burned with markings of shame. A commanding voice resounded around him, “You will be a restless wanderer on the Earth….”
He echoed back, “I will become a restless wanderer on the Earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” After the dark-haired, onyx-eyed man had wandered far from home, a pale and beautiful man in flowing robes appeared in his path, offering him a deal.
Avery’s eyes fluttered open in the darkness, and she felt around where she was laying. Silk. She reached over to her right and felt a hard body lying next to her. Now she remembered where she was. As her eyes started to adjust to the dark with the help of a faint glow from the stairway, Avery gathered up her clothing from the floor. She remembered that her leggings had been torn and she just had a sweater dress to wear, sans underwear. She would need to go back to the apartment to get a change of wardrobe. Avery cringed when she realized that Caleb might be there. She knew she had to suck it up and go back. Besides, all her stuff was there.
After dressing in what little clothing she had, she stole a pair of Talon’s jeans which were baggy on her, she had to roll up the pant legs as well. She felt silly, but it worked to keep her warm. Avery tiptoed down the stairs. The faint glow was from a lamp in the living room, beneath it on the table was a note and a set of keys. She leaned over and read the note. Avery-Take my car. Please bring it back in one piece. --Talon.
Avery smirked as she grabbed the keys and her shoes, and on her way to the garage door, she glanced at the clock on the microwave. One o’clock in the afternoon. One would have never known, as the windows were blocked so well that not one speck of light came in. It could have been one in the morning for all she knew. She quietly opened and closed the garage door behind her, noticing the smell of gasoline lingered slightly, but it was apparent that someone had been in here with a hose.
Avery experienced euphoria as she sat in driver’s seat of Talon’s 69’ Mustang G.T. She had been in the passenger’s side before, but it was nothing compared to gripping the black leather wheel in her hands. She pulled the high bucket seat forward and checked her mirror as she buckled up. Avery took a deep breath before starting it. She had limited driving experience, though not of her own choosing. If she did anything at all to this car, Talon would kill her. Did he even know that she took the bus? As she turned the key, the engine trembled then purred beautifully after she slowly let off the clutch. The vibrations gave her chills like she was one with it. She was always a sucker for a muscle car.
After a tense twenty-minute drive, avoiding the many idiot drivers she encountered along the way, Avery pulled up to the apartment complex. She was hoping to get a change of clothes and avoid confrontation. Lucky for her, Caleb’s car was gone. She didn’t see Rose’s black SUV either.
Avery raced up to the third floor, wanting to hurry before either one came back. She retrieved the small silver key from above the door frame where she kept her copy, as she was prone to losing keys. As she opened the door, something felt different about the atmosphere.
The flat screen television was gone. Were we robbed? Avery wondered, but upon further inspection, she noticed Caleb’s door to his room was wide open, and it appeared all his stuff was gone. Avery opened Rose’s door and found all her stuff still in it. So Caleb moved out huh. That made life just a tiny bit easier to deal with. She just hoped Rose wouldn’t be mad at her for it.
Avery took a shower, indulging in the abundance of hot water that never seemed to be there when Rose and Caleb were around. She changed into a pair of hip-hugger jeans and a black t-shirt, with a gray cowl-neck poncho sweater over it. After blow-drying her hair, she curled it and ran her fingers through it. She did her makeup as usual; a bit of foundation, eyeliner, mascara, and a shiny Chapstick.
Before she left her room, she noticed her sister’s necklace on the dresser. She didn’t remember leaving it there, so came closer. Upon inspection, it seemed that someone had fixed the broken clasp on it. Avery smiled and put it on. She wanted to feel her sister’s presence with her everywhere she went. Avery looked herself over in the mirror and became unfocused on her looks, concentrating on that necklace. She didn’t have anywhere too important to be while the sun was up, so maybe she would make a few stops before heading back over to Talon’s. She had to deliver his vehicle back in one piece. That is if she didn’t encounter any more reckless drivers along the way. But she was in a college town, so the chances of that were small.
Maybe it felt more awkward than wrong, but approaching the door to the church on Elm Street was hard to do. She knew Kyrie had gone to this church on Sundays, always begging Avery to go with her at least once, but she never wanted to get up at nine am after getting into bed three hours prior. She opened the door, and the air seemed to change. It was thicker, warmer. They must keep this place at a comfortable 70 degrees, Avery couldn’t help but joke to herself. To the right looked like a dining hall/kitchen area, so she followed the brown-carpeted hallway to the left.
She entered a large room, filled with oak wood pews. There was also a whole balcony of them as well. She sat down and looked around her. The intricate arch shapes, the brilliant warm colors of the stained-glass glowing, the chandelier lighting; it was like whomever the architect was that built this church wanted everything one saw to seem as awe-inspiring and magical as possible. As Avery relaxed, she knew she was alone here, but it did not feel that way. She felt as if something was all around her. The building itself wasn’t so bad, but she wondered what the preaching would be like. She didn’t think it would be all that enjoyable, but obviously, her sister liked it. Avery noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her attention to the approaching figure. To her annoyance, it was Detective Ashford. He looked up when he noticed her.
“Miss Langdon, what a coincidence.”
“I can’t help but feel like this is more than a coincidence, Detective,” Avery said flatly.
“But truly, it is. I actually came here for… well, a personal visit,�
�� he reluctantly confessed as he sat near her. “Churches comfort me when the rest of my life seems to be going crazy.”
“There is something about this place I suppose,” she muttered.
He leaned over in her direction and whispered, “I hope you didn’t think I was being too forceful with you last we met. I know the loss has got to be just as hard.”
Avery pursed her lips. “Just as hard as what?”
“The loss of your parents.”
Avery grew silent, then angry. Was he baiting her? “How…”
“I was obligated to look into you and your sister’s backgrounds,” he interrupted.
“Then you realize she was the last person I had, and that you are basically torturing me,” Avery hissed.
“What I realize, Miss Langdon is when someone is holding back on me. What are you afraid to say? Is it gang-related? Are you protecting someone?”
Avery jumped out of her seat, trying to control the seeping rage that told her to punch this cop in the face. “I’m only afraid of re-opening wounds that have never actually fully-healed. Believe me, if there was anything more I could do for my sister, I would. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve had enough of church,” Avery quickly headed toward the door.
Love and Bloodlust: The Sacred Objects Page 12