EMBRACE THE DARK (The Blood Rose Novella Series) Read online

  She didn’t move. He believed she understood his dilemma.

  “Imagine,” she said at last.

  He looked down at her. “Imagine what?”

  “Imagine, I just had so much to eat, and yet I’m still hungry.”

  He chuckled.

  “Now, why don’t you stretch out on your side and let me feed you bits of fruit and cheese.”

  He ended up curling his large body around hers. She took her time and placed a slice of strawberry on his tongue. Then a little jack cheese. Apple and cheddar. Figs and gorgonzola. She handed him his glass of wine.

  He drank.

  She ate as well and drank.

  He touched her waist and slid his hand down to caress her bottom. She arched as though it gave her pleasure so he kept his hand low.

  When moisture collected at the tips and threatened to drip down her back, he wiped at her hair.

  She did the same for him.

  He was surprised how hungry he was, even more so when the plate of food was finally gone.

  He stared at the barren grape cluster. He had long-forgotten his wish to sit in his chair and drink whisky. This was better. He was feeling stronger.

  He slipped off the bed, and took the tray to the stand near the door. He headed back but almost stumbled.

  She was on her knees now, still on the bed, still very naked, and one hand rubbing between her thighs. Her gaze raked his body. So he moved slower, letting her look. He understood what the sight of his Guard body could do to a woman, the heavy muscles, his cock partially erect and growing.

  Her gaze slipped over his pecs. Her lips parted. They were nearly ruby red as she licked them. Her gaze fell, dropping down his abs. She leaned forward slightly still fondling herself.

  It appeared she was still hungry.

  He rounded the bed and she knee-walked over to the side. Fortunately, the bed wasn’t too tall, which meant she didn’t have far to go. She planted her hands on his hips and lowered her head.

  He was pretty sure that for any man, this was one of the most beautiful sights in the world, in any world, vampire, fae, troll, elven or human. Yes, any world.

  She sucked him, licked him, swirled her tongue. He was upright now, hard as a rock. The food had been a good idea. He’d needed nourishment especially since his blood-starvation was reaching a critical point. He would need blood within twenty-four hours or he would become too weak to do anything, even to take blood. This could mean a quick slide toward death for any vampire.

  For now, though, he was safe, but barely.

  Her hands drifted down the sides of his legs, back up, around his buttocks. She squeezed. He groaned.

  He couldn’t believe this was happening, a woman in his room after all these decades. But this was what he’d needed, food and sex, and she’d delivered for no other reason than that she’d perceived his need and appreciated what he did for his people.

  She leaned back on her heels and looked up at him. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

  “What’s that?” He stroked her cheek, thumbed the lips that had been suckling him.

  “I’ve been seeing a doctor for the past year, since about the time I started coming to Merhaine.”

  He frowned. “Are you ill?”

  “Not exactly. I have a blood condition none of the Arizona specialists can figure out. But I’ve wondered if my coming to Merhaine has had something to do with it.”

  His mouth quirked. “So, because you’ve been around vampires and other folk who need and enjoy the sharing of blood, you think your blood condition has something to do with that?”

  “Maybe. But for the past year I’ve had what feels to me like lumpish blood.”

  He chuckled. “What do you mean ‘lumpish’?”

  “I suppose it’s a strange word choice. Maybe more like sluggish. And my heart would pound as well. Both sensations, however, made me wonder what was going on, so I got checked out and that’s when the doctor started taking my blood.”

  “You mean to have it tested?”

  She shook her head. “To drain me of excess. It would seem I create excess blood for a human.”

  He jerked forward. He couldn’t have heard right. “You produce too much blood and your medical doctor drains you of it?”

  She nodded. “Yes, at certain times, especially after I’ve been to Merhaine. And it really feels that way right now.” She took his hand and pressed it against the center of her chest between her breasts.

  Her heart was pounding. He frowned. “I don’t understand. Exactly how much blood would he take at any given time?” He thought maybe an ounce or two.

  She drew a deep breath and said, “A pint.”

  He really couldn’t have heard right. His balls tingled and his cock got even a little harder. She swept her hair away from the side of her neck. He weaved on his feet.

  “I’m thinking maybe you could relieve me of some of that blood now.”

  A pint of blood, her lumpish blood, her pounding heart, his fucking blood-starvation.

  Oh, damn all wraiths to hell, he needed this. “Are you sure?” His voice was hoarse like it had been shredded.

  “Gerrod, is it normal for a specie different from vampires to create extra blood?”

  He shook his head very slowly. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

  She scooted back on the bed, then stretched out, her damp hair still shoved away from her neck. She turned her head slightly. “I can feel the vein thumping away. Gerrod, will you try an experiment with me? Will you take some of my blood? I know you need some right now.”

  “Gus told you.”

  “I saw the tremor in your hand.”

  “Shit.”

  She met his gaze. “It is what it is, and I have weird blood. Would you at least try? Maybe right now I’m what you need and I really think you’re what I need.” It didn’t help that she slowly parted her legs.

  He chuffed a hoarse sound, something like a growl, then crawled over her body, lying between her legs. “You’ve had experience?”

  She smiled. “I had a boyfriend a few years ago. We enjoyed each other. A lot.”

  He wasn’t as satisfied with this response as perhaps he should have been. He didn’t like the idea of her with another man, any man, ever, not in the past, not in the future. He was being ridiculous since essentially, based on what she had said to him, this was what the humans called a one-night stand.

  She slid her fingers around his cock and squeezed just so. The breath he drew shuddered. “Your vibration again,” she said. “Like quick waves of energy. It’s just amazing. My fingers are tingling.”

  “Yes,” he whispered. He stared at her neck. The hunger that lived in him had become an old friend, someone he talked to, tried to cajole and often pleaded with. For the woman to lie there and be a promise that his hunger would be sated because she carried extra blood, seemed the height of impossibility.

  But there was something more, the vibration he felt in his body was stronger now, a kind of humming that was fast growing into an ache up the insides of his thighs, a claiming kind of ache, something he had never quite experienced before, like he needed to enter this woman and hold her pinned to his bed.

  But as he looked down at her, as he let his cock push against her lower flesh, this didn’t feel all that simple to him. Abigail could make light of this, she could bare her neck, she could talk about having enjoyed sex, but he understood exactly what she’d done tonight. She’d taken him in hand and offered herself, even her blood, for no other reason than that she had seen that he struggled with life tonight and she wanted to ease him.

  No, this was not simple.

  “You’ve shown me an amazing amount of compassion, Abigail. I will never forget this.”

  He leaned down and put his lips on hers. The tingling of energy was stronger now. She released his cock and slid her arms around his back, moaning softly, her fingers exploring the muscles of his shoulders and arms. He lowered himself onto her and deepened
the kiss.

  She moaned again, a huskier sound this time, but drew back slightly. “All that constant vibration against my mouth, where your hands touch me, where your legs are connected, even your cock. Oh, Gerrod, we should have done this when I first came to the castle and never stopped.”

  He smiled as he kissed her again. She was right, the energy waves were very strong between them. He’d never known his mating frequency to feel so weighted. Usually it was just a faint hum, but this had power.

  Her mouth was a sensual moist well and he savored, thrusting his tongue slowly, a foreshadowing of things to come, of things to ‘enjoy’.

  She suckled the end of his tongue and a shot of pleasure rose up within his abdomen, tugging hard. He thrust harder. She suckled harder.

  He drew back and chuckled. It was all so enjoyable. He’d forgotten how wonderful this could be.

  She smiled in return. “My God, you are so beautiful when you smile. It sort of curves up on one side more than the other. A half smile.” She reached up and kissed the side that curved, then with her fingers played with his lips.

  “Open,” she whispered.

  He parted his lips and her finger slid inside. He could feel his frequency vibration flow over her skin as she stroked his tongue. He suckled her finger, his gaze fixed on hers, those beautiful light-green eyes.

  Oh, that tingling again, her voice whispered inside his head.

  He released her finger. “I’m hungry,” he said.

  She started to say something, but he slid in a single quick glide down her body and took her mons in his mouth and swiped his tongue the length of all her tender femaleness.

  Her body arched beneath his. “I didn’t think it could get better, but your frequency is working me everywhere.” She groaned this time. “I’m so close and we’ve barely started.”

  He pushed and licked and sucked. She began to thrash on the bed. He focused the waves of his power on all her tender flesh. A moment later, she was screaming at the ceiling and bucking against him. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.”

  He kissed her and licked her. “More?” he asked when her hips settled back into the mattress.

  “Yes.”

  He repeated the process, until her screams once more rang up to the rafters.

  *** *** ***

  Abigail lay against the sheets, one with the bed, the room, the rafters, and above all Gerrod. He was kissing her abdomen, each vibrating touch a promise of more to come.

  She stroked his long damp hair, savoring the aftermath of the orgasms. How many? She might have lost count. She felt both satisfied yet ready for so much more since what he had just done to her was more appetizer than main course. She longed to feel him inside her, all that heavy rope of him.

  She hadn’t been with a man in a long time.

  He now licked her navel and desire seemed to streak higher and lower at the same time, especially with that sensual wave of energy as skin met skin.

  He climbed up the bed, kissing and suckling his way. He took as much of her breast in his mouth as he could and sucked.

  She moaned. Then he held it in his mouth and just rubbed over the tip with his vibrating tongue. The pleasure of his touch seemed to pass through her in the same way as though caught on all those waves.

  She reached low and found him, all that was male and Gerrod and so desirable.

  She rubbed the soft sensitive crown and he groaned heavily. He released her breast and climbed a little higher over her. He pushed her hair back over her shoulder.

  As though she understood, she exposed her neck to him and became aware, as she surrounded her cock with her hand, that her neck was throbbing. She felt a wetness on her neck first and realized it was his saliva. Then she felt his tongue.

  The same vibration was there.

  Abigail, your skin tastes so good, like rosemary.

  Rosemary?

  Yes.

  She gently stroked him up and down. Gerrod. You’re so beautiful.

  I love your voice in my head. He groaned louder and began licking her neck and angling over her, preparing to strike.

  Even your voice has a kind of pulsing energy, she said as his lips played over her skin. He sucked above her vein and a streak of pleasure like nothing she’d known before traveled straight down her body, into her well, and she spasmed hard.

  She felt desperate to experience it all.

  He must have known the pleasure he was giving since he was a vampire of age and experience. But the added waves of energy that came with his lips on her neck, his heavy muscular pecs against her breasts, his thighs against hers, was incredible.

  I want to be inside you.

  She held him now, her arms surrounding his shoulders. Yes, please, I want you inside me.

  She shifted her hips. She was in agony. She felt the tip of his cock push. She wiggled and helped, moving around until he was able to enter her thrusting forward, pulling back. She was so wet that soon it was a dream of movement and the internal vibrations were so…aaaaahhhh.

  He moved faster, a light quick speed that no human male could have accomplished.

  The vibrations reached a crescendo and she came screaming all over again.

  You’re so tight. Oh, dear Goddess. He grunted, holding back, yet continuing to thrust until her orgasm receded. She was breathing hard and felt so wonderful except for one thing: Her heart pounded too hard in her chest.

  “Gerrod, you have to take my blood. Now. My heart is beating too hard.”

  He should have warned her, but no doubt the intensity of her request prompted him. He struck her vein but because she hadn’t known what to expect, she jerked and it hurt worse. Then he withdrew his fangs and began to suck. She could feel her blood flowing into his mouth and a whole new experience took over, a kind of euphoria.

  She closed her eyes, and as his hips moved slowly, his cock in and out of her, and as her blood continued to flow, she felt connected in the strangest way to all of creation, the earth, the sun, the universe. She was giving life to Gerrod, that which he needed the most to survive. But it was an intense physical pleasure as well, as though the suckling at her neck was connected very low and tugged and teased her as his tongue had done earlier.

  Heaven. Pure and simple.

  She felt warm and alive and with each draw her heart eased and relaxed and she felt at peace.

  Then came something new, a strengthening of the same pleasure but a focusing as well. And now the giving of her sustenance seemed to click into place with her sexuality. Her lower flesh, so tender from the recent orgasm, began to ache all over again. He seemed to know or to understand or maybe he was feeling the same way because his movements quickened. She marveled that he could keep her neck so still while thrusting into her.

  It was just pleasure on pleasure as her body gripped him, as the waves of energy caused her fingers to tremble where she slid them over his shoulders and down his arms.

  What is this like for you? she asked. But she couldn’t imagine that it could possibly be better than what she was experiencing.

  Chapter Four

  What was this like for him?

  Oh, dear Goddess…

  Heaven, he pathed.

  Yes. Even her voice in his mind teased him mercilessly.

  Gerrod was locked into a strange place as he drew Abigail’s blood into his mouth and down his throat. He had never tasted an elixir so fine, so fulfilling, so savory of rosemary. He had been a vampire for three-hundred-years, but in all that time, drawing blood had never been so full of a kind of excitement and satisfaction that he couldn’t explain.

  He lost track of time. He didn’t know how long he’d been suckling, but he could tell there was more and more and more. She was an infinite supply, at least she felt like that. Even her blood was a tender sensation in his stomach as though her life filled him now.

  His hips pistoned. He was hard and every thrust vibrated against his skin. His balls were tight. He was ready to release, but he didn’t want to, he didn
’t want the moment to end, he didn’t want to stop drinking from her.

  Abigail had been right about one thing, he’d been a starved vampire for a long time. He hadn’t taken his fill in too many years to remember.

  He breathed hard through his nose. He held her pinned to his chest and to the bed so that while his cock stroked her deep, he could keep his mouth fixed right over the fang-bites.

  Gerrod, this is heaven.

  He loved that she could reach his telepathic frequency. I know, he returned.

  I want to come again, but I don’t. I wish this could last forever.

  He couldn’t have agreed more. But it was time, especially since he’d lost track of how much he’d taken from her. I’ll stop drinking now.

  He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to stop. But he slowed his hips and thrusts and released the seal of his lips. He examined her neck and was startled to watch the holes close up almost immediately and for the redness to simply disappear.

  He knew from a lot of experience to wipe his mouth before he did what he desired more than anything to do next. After he’d pulled the sheet from its moorings and cleaned his face, he rose up over her. “Am I presentable?”

  She lifted her brows. “Oh, you mean do you have my blood on your chin or lips? Not much that I can detect.”

  “Good. It can be distressing if you’re not used to it.”

  Her expression softened and she lifted a hand to his face, caressing him. He leaned into her palm and kissed her.

  “You are so thoughtful,” she said.

  He leaned down and kissed her, savoring her swollen lips, the taste of her mouth, how she moaned as he thrust his tongue. He loved kissing her.

  Oh, that vibrating tongue. My, God.

  He drew back, then rolled his hips and she arched her back, just as he knew she would. She was right with him, caught in the same level of pleasure. Even where his pelvis touched hers, his skin vibrated against hers.

  He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he began a slow steady drive, his cock vibrating deep inside her. He held her gaze as she planted her hands on his shoulders. She tried to match his thrusts but he said, “Allow me.” Then he smiled.

  She lifted her brows but settled back against the sheet and let him do the work. He began to increase his speed and when she finally understood his intention, she said, “Oh, Gerrod, this is going to feel very good.”