Chains of Darkness

  Tonight, at least for this one club, in this one moment, he and Claire would change things. Dawn was already visible on the distant horizon, so the timing worked well: The club would have been shut down for several hours by now, and wouldn’t be open for business for a few hours more. Essentially, there was no one around.

  He flew Claire around the back, and after she set up a serious disguise over the whole building, he went inside while she stood guard. He had just started breaking up one of the wooden bar stools when his stomach cramped and a hard tremor went through him again. Fucking blood-madness. He’d hoped that his Ancestral status would have changed that aspect of his current predicament, but no such luck. He really did need a good solid hit of Claire’s blood, and the sooner the better.

  He took the wood to the greasy kitchen and turned on the gas stove. Once the pieces caught fire, he threw them through the club.

  He kept doing this, tearing stool after stool apart, until the building set up a serious blaze and really started to roar. He shifted to altered flight and left through the roof, flying high in the air, admiring the flames as well as Claire’s violet disguise that kept the stand-alone facility hidden from human eyes, and therefore the local fire department. As the flames rose higher, he kept rising in the air but stopped when the proximity tug of the new set of chains warned him he’d reached his limit. He went in search of Claire.

  He found her at the edge of the parking lot and flew to land beside her. The growing sunlight prickled his skin and the backs of his eyes, clear warnings that he needed to at least switch to altered flight. Once in flight, the damaging rays of the sun couldn’t touch him.

  He held his arm wide for Claire. She slung an arm around his neck and stepped onto his right foot. The chains vibrated heavily, though, which caused him to focus on her completely because right now a terrible sadness weighed her down.

  As the sun crested the horizon and when his eyes burned from too much sunlight, he drew Claire into altered flight.

  Sorry, my vampire physiology can’t take this much sunlight.

  I understand. Can you fly me once around the building before we leave?

  Of course.

  He took her in a slow pattern around the entire circumference, then high enough so that she could watch the roof collapse and flames shoot high in the sky.

  I’m going to remove the disguise from the property now.

  Go for it.

  He felt her draw her power in, the power she siphoned from him as though it was second nature, and the disguise vanished.

  While in the air, he turned in a 360-degree circle, looking at Santa Fe from a bird’s-eye view.

  She remained silent as she leaned her head against his chest, then addressed his ongoing problem. You need to feed again, don’t you?

  I have some cramping but it’s not as bad as before. But yeah, I do.

  Then how about we head to the Ozarks? I’d love to see the home you mentioned earlier, and I can take care of you there. How does that sound?

  He couldn’t tell her what he really thought, but her suggestion sounded like heaven to him. And I’m sure you’ll be ready to crawl into bed.

  Pretty soon.

  As he turned, heading east, she leaned up and nuzzled his neck, then kissed him.

  CHAPTER 7

  Lucian flew northeast toward the Ozarks and soon passed over the Missouri River. Within a few seconds he hovered over the entrance to his Arkansas home.

  It’s a very private system, and I keep my home in particular behind about a dozen layers of shielding disguise. And yes, I paid handsomely for it. But my guess is that you can see through them.

  I can.

  Part of his payment for the disguising shield included a location sensor built just for him. He tuned in and passed through the disguise in a quick blur of sensation that landed him square in a large cavern. Over the decades, he’d spent a lot of time in this dwelling, more than once when wounded to the point of death during a battle.

  Lucian released her, watching as she turned in a slow circle looking at the room.

  “Wow, this is almost exotic.” A waterfall cascaded down one side of the cave and passed through a natural breach to a river below. The entire cavern, about a hundred feet long, was on a thick shelf of stone above an underground river. Teakwood tables as well as low leather couches and chairs furnished the space.

  “I can sense that you need to eat. My housekeeper knows to keep my cupboards and refrigerators stocked.”

  She glanced at him. “You mean, she did this even while you were in prison for a year?”

  “It’s a rule I have. Don’t worry. She makes sure any unused provisions are given to homeless shelters. But the upshot is, I can fix you something to eat.”

  “Well, I have to admit I’m starving, but are you sure you can wait, I mean, you know, to feed?”

  He narrowed his gaze. “It’s important to me that you have something to eat when I know you’re hungry.”

  She appeared thoughtful. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

  “Will sandwiches do?”

  “Of course.”

  He led her to the kitchen and started pulling bread, deli meat, and condiments from the fridge. She sat quietly at the marble island, but he felt her gaze on him, the chains remaining silent as though she worked to keep her emotions in check.

  When he finally placed a ham sandwich in front of her and started in on one of his own, her voice drifted through his mind. We’ll take care of business as soon as we’ve eaten. But she didn’t look at him. She was being careful, not wanting to set him off, and he appreciated that.

  Thank you.

  Lucian had never been in this place before, knocked out of stride by a woman, by the courage she’d shown in doing all that she’d done in the last twenty-four hours, by her commitment to getting Amber and Tracy home safely.

  Now she was here, aware of his needs and willing to help, even sensitive to the ongoing trouble he had with recurring bouts of blood-madness.

  He ate his sandwich, which didn’t exactly help the cramping in his stomach, but regular food was as necessary to a vampire as blood. He needed both to survive.

  At least he wasn’t experiencing the tremors he had with the last go-round.

  He’d already finished his meal when Claire took her last bite, wiping her mouth with the napkin he’d set on the counter.

  She turned to him and settled her hand on his knee. “You were wonderful at the Hawaiian cavern. I was too busy with Amber and Tracy and some of the other women to tell you that, but I wanted you to know that I thought you were great.”

  “Just doing my job.”

  Claire leaned close and kissed him. “Well, you do your job really, really well.”

  Lucian thought about what he’d felt earlier, about wanting a chance to prove to Claire that he knew how to please a woman. He searched her gaze and returned her kiss, plucking at her lips with his own, savoring how quickly she responded. He loved the sweet herb smell of her and drifted a line of kisses up her cheek until he teased her ear with his tongue.

  She moaned softly.

  Claire?

  Yes?

  Have you ever made love on a marble island before?

  She drew back, her eyes widening. She glanced at the smooth surface and patted the beautiful stone. “You mean here?”

  “Why not?” He met her gaze, then using his finger traced her cheek, dipping lower to play along the vein at her throat. Her breath caught.

  “I’d love to, but you need to be prepared.”

  She’d surprised him. “For what?”

  She slid her hand through his hair. “There’s something I want from you, but I’m not sure exactly how to ask for it. From the time I first saw you in the Dark Cave, bound in chains, I’ve sensed something in you, something dark but exciting. You’ve even alluded to it a few times and earlier I saw that man while you battled. Right now I want you to show me that side of who you are, nothing held back.”

  L
ucian felt a new kind of tremor pass through his body, tightening his thighs. He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re asking or how dangerous this is. Have you forgotten that I almost drained you just a few hours ago?”

  “I haven’t forgotten, but this is something I need from you.”

  “Why?”

  “Call it an instinct, maybe even something I’m sensing because of the blood-chains, but I think we’d both benefit.”

  She rose from her stool and slid onto the marble island. “Don’t hold back. Let me see all that you are.”

  In one easy move she took off both tank tops at the same time, then cast them aside. He stared at her full breasts and long line of cleavage, made perfect by her black lace bra. He rose from his own stool and stared into her eyes.

  Would she like what she saw or would he frighten her? Did he want to find out?

  Show me that part of you, Lucian, that lives in the dark.

  Lucian was a vampire, now an Ancestral. He stared into her eyes and felt through the vibration of the two chains at his neck that she was more than serious. He sensed the level of her desire, and he could definitely smell that she wanted this.

  He wanted to protest, but the part of him that moved like a caged beast, pacing deep within his soul, longed to get out.

  She reached behind her and unhooked her bra, letting it slide away from her body. His gaze fell to her beaded nipples, and his fangs began to descend. His mouth filled with saliva as he stared at her chest, his body heating up as his new Ancestral power whipped through his veins.

  He met her gaze. So you want to see my beast.

  I want to see everything.

  * * *

  Claire had never been so revved up by anything in her life. She didn’t even understand what the hell was going on with her, why she was challenging Lucian like this. Except that she wanted him to let loose.

  As for herself, she’d never felt so free or so wicked, but something about Lucian, the darkness that resided inside him as well as the toughness with which he battled in his world, had gotten to her.

  His vampire nature called to an answering primal response within her body. She wanted him. And by the look of him, by the fangs that slowly emerged, she knew she’d struck the right chord.

  She breathed hard as she watched his eyes dilate fully, his lips grow swollen, and his tongue stroke up and down his fangs. Nothing could have been more sensual, more inviting.

  She moaned, closed her eyes, and arched her back. She thumbed the tips of her breasts, needing him to understand that she was offering herself up right now and that he could take her any way he wanted.

  And that she trusted him.

  Claire. Even within her mind his voice had dropped low and sounded hoarse. This isn’t smart. The blood-madness is back.

  You won’t hurt me and I’m here to take care of your needs. I trust you.

  A heavy vibration hit the space all around her. Then everything happened so fast.

  Suddenly a pair of hands drew her arms backward over her head, while a second pair now had hold of her legs and began working the zipper of her pants.

  He’d split for her, the way he had when he’d battled earlier.

  He was now two men.

  Oh, my God. Lucian, there are two of you.

  She looked up and a secondary Lucian stared down at her, his expression wild, his fangs heavy on his lips. I warned you, Claire, now you’re going to have to do what we say.

  We.

  Two of Lucian, two gorgeous men.

  She shifted her gaze to the primary Lucian. His fangs were pressed into his lips, his straight brows low on his forehead.

  He pulled off her shoes in quick tugs, then her jeans, her hips more than once rising from the island at his efforts. But the secondary Lucian held her in place, his knees on the island behind her.

  She was essentially held captive by two men, two powerful vampires, and the thought made her clench deep within.

  This is Lucian—that’s what went through her head. Lucian, all of him, the powerful being that she knew him to be showing the farthest reach of his truest nature. The primary Lucian planted both hands on her, kneading her abdomen, then bending low to lick a long line up her landing strip.

  The secondary part of him held her arms taut, keeping her pinned down. And she loved it, she loved letting him have this kind of control over her.

  Lucian slid his hands up to hold her waist, then swiped his tongue deep between her legs, moving up and up, flicking his tongue at the top of her clitoris. She groaned long and loud at the pleasure that spun in circles over what he was doing to her.

  Encouraged by the sounds she made, he worked her low with his tongue, pushing at her folds, sipping the length of her, dipping inside her at times, then plunging.

  Within minutes her breathing was choppy with erratic pants. Claire didn’t know how much more she could take.

  “Please,” she murmured.

  Lucian smirked then landed his tongue inside her, shoving hard and fast in quick, long strokes, faster than a human could move.

  Pleasure hit Claire like a series of ocean waves that moved through her in heavy pulses, rising to a powerful orgasm. She cried out repeatedly, pulling on the arms that pinned her down.

  She felt some kind of communication pass between the split-selves, and the next moment the primary Lucian moved up to her left hip. She felt his blood-needs rise as a tremor passed through him. Feeding would help.

  When she understood what he meant to do, what his trembling body demanded, she called out a harsh, “Yes, Lucian. Bite me hard.”

  He licked along her groin near her thigh, then bit down to her waiting vein. The eroticism of the act sent her to the moon, her body reacting as though he’d just penetrated her with his cock. It all felt so good.

  She groaned low in her throat as he continued to drink from her. But it wasn’t enough. She needed more.

  She tugged on one of the arms that pinned her, but only because she wanted to be free to touch him. The secondary Lucian tightened his grip.

  He looked up at her while sucking. You’ll have to wait, Claire. All in good time.

  Her body undulated in anticipation, her hips rising and falling as he kept his lips in place and sucked.

  My breasts ache. Lucian, I ache everywhere. I need your touch.

  He slid his hand up and rubbed each of her breasts in turn, back and forth. She arched against his hand but began to feel very needy between her legs.

  She opened herself up to the shared blood-chains, to his Ancestral power, to his experiences of four hundred years of intense vampire living. He must have felt the shift because he drew back from her vein and rose up over her. He caught her thighs, one in each hand.

  Is this what you want? He pushed his hips between her legs but rose up so that his cock, rigid and weeping, rode up her abdomen all the way to her navel. You want all that I am inside you, Claire, taking possession of you?

  She looked first at his erect cock, then met his gaze. He looked ferocious, his gray eyes glinting, blood on his lips and chin, on his fangs. But he looked beautiful as well, like the warrior she knew him to be. You’re magnificent.

  He flexed his arms, then the thick muscled wall of his chest, which left her weak with desire. So she said the one thing she was sure would keep him in just this state. Fuck me, Lucian.

  Opening his mouth wide, he roared, a sound no human male could make. He then drew back, placed his cock at her opening, and—because she was so ready for him—drove all the way inside. He held her hips with his hands and pumped, letting her feel the length of him.

  She writhed on the marble. Nothing had felt more powerful, more exquisite, more sensual. She angled her head, presenting her throat for him. Bite me.

  Lucian grunted as he bit down. He struck her vein, then began to suck, the feel of his lips and the sound he made once more causing her to clench. She still couldn’t move, her arms held as they were by his second self, but Lucian’s hips d
id the work, driving and plunging.

  Ecstasy began to roll toward her all over again. That was the only way she could think of the sensation, as though it existed outside her yet inside at the same time.

  The chain at her neck vibrated with his profound arousal, another layer of sensation.

  His mouth drank, his hips pistoned, and within her body she pulled on him, her muscles contracting and releasing, working to draw from his cock what he could give her.

  She closed her eyes, lost in so many sensations. She cried out repeatedly and as the orgasm struck, she arched her neck and screamed. She felt Lucian’s release at the same time that he shouted, his hips in a steady rhythm. Ecstasy gripped her body low and flooded her veins. Waves of pleasure flowed again, crashing through her abdomen and upward to engulf her chest, until she screamed once more.

  His shouts reached a pinnacle and after several short thrusts, his hips finally slowed, rolling into her several more times, savoring the last of the orgasm.

  She lay panting, and he breathed hard. He released her neck as well and rested his head on her shoulder.

  Finally his upper self let go of her arms. She brought them back slowly to surround the primary Lucian who now lay slack on top of her, the weight of him sublime.

  She felt his rejoining vibration and afterward how much more solid he seemed as he lay over her chest, still joined to her, his hips keeping her legs spread wide.

  She petted the back of his head over and over.

  She felt wonderful, extremely well used, but what poured from Lucian distressed her.

  I was so into this, but did I hurt you?

  Claire chuckled softly.

  He leaned back, scowling at her. “Why are you laughing?”

  She didn’t want to use her voice just yet, but glided her fingers through his hair as she spoke within his mind. You forget that I siphoned your power. Maybe if I’d been only human just now, but no, Lucian, you didn’t hurt me.

  He shook his head. “That doesn’t seem possible. I was out of control.”

  She slipped her finger between the crease of his scowl then rubbed up and down the familiar worried line. She sighed heavily.