Cursed

  “Right. Give me just a minute—I think I saw some in the bathroom.” She got up quickly and went through the sleeping chamber into the fresher. She was gone for some moments and when she came back, she was holding a small bottle of pinkish oil. “Here we go—this should do. It says ‘meditation oil’ on the side and I think we know what that means.”

  Stav tried not to smile. “Exactly. So am I to rub you with it?”

  “Actually, in the dream, I used the oil on you first. All right?”

  “If you like.” He sat still while she rubbed some oil on her hands and began stroking his chest and abs with it. The feel of her little hands on his bare skin was incredibly stimulating. So much so that he had to close his eyes and not watch while she did it.

  Then she warmed more oil behind her hands and came around to get behind him. Though he tried not to, Stavros stiffened instinctively when she touched his shoulders, coming in contact with his mark.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” Her voice was low and soothing. “I’m sorry, would you rather I didn’t touch you here?”

  Stav shook his head, barely able to answer. “If…If you like, I would be pleased to allow your touch. I am just…not used to being touched there as you know.”

  “Because the women of your home planet are superstitious idiots, apparently,” Charlotte grumbled. “Here, scoot up some so I can get to you.”

  She was sitting on the arm of the couch behind him now and Stav moved up obligingly so she had room to put her feet down on the cushions and could reach him more easily.

  “It’s actually really beautiful, you know,” she murmured, tracing patterns on his back. “The way it shimmers and seems to change colors…I’ve never seen a tattoo like it.”

  “That is because it isn’t a tattoo. It’s a parasite. One that will kill me soon enough.” He knew his voice was coming out harsh and cold but he couldn’t help it. The mark of the Cursed had changed and limited his life in ways too painful to think about and he did not consider it in any way beautiful.

  Charlotte’s hands stilled on his back.

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I…had no idea. What do you mean it’s going to kill you?”

  “Never mind. I was being…overly dramatic.” He sighed.

  “But I thought it was an actual curse—like something supernatural.”

  “It’s an air born organism from Tranq Prime that invades when a child is young and their immune system is not yet fully developed.” Stavros tried to keep his voice dry as though he were giving a lecture instead of talking about the thing that would one day kill him. “It only takes male hosts—Blood Kindred—and those with hair my color are the most genetically susceptible. It replicates in the nervous system, making the host sensitive to the pain of others. It’s not catching and cannot be transmitted to any other person in any way. Nor can it be gotten rid of. As the host grows, the mark grows with it. Mine spreads a little every day.”

  “It does?” She sounded like she was frowning. “It looks the same to me.”

  “It’s very slow growing. Someday it will cover my entire body.” If he lasted that long, which he doubted.

  “I’m sorry if I was insensitive about it,” Charlotte said quietly. “Do you want me to stop massaging your back? Actually in the dream I didn’t. I just did your front.”

  “Oh?” Stavros half turned to face her. “Then why did you want to rub oil into my back now?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged, a crooked little smile on her face. “Maybe to put off the inevitable. Or maybe just because I like your back. You have such amazing shoulders…” She spanned them lightly with her fingertips, sending a shiver down his spine. “I’ve always had a thing for guys with broad shoulders. Sorry…” She gave a little laugh. “Again, not very professional.”

  “No, but I don’t mind.” In fact, he was touched that she wanted to massage him in a place no other female would go near. It was still a revelation to him that she didn’t fear his mark, especially after years of shunning and avoidance by his own people. “You can continue if you like,” he said. “If it…calms your nerves. Unless you would rather I took over now.”

  Charlotte sighed and straightened up. “I’m tempted to go on but if I do I might lose my nerve. I could massage your back all night and it wouldn’t get us any closer to doing what…what has to be done.”

  “True.” He held out a hand for the massage oil and she gave it to him, reluctantly, he thought. Then he waited but she didn’t move. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one behind you for this next part of the dream?” he asked at last, gently.

  “Yes…” Charlotte bit her lip but still didn’t move. Then she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Oh, what the hell. Let’s just do this.”

  * * * * *

  It took every bit of courage she had but Charlie made herself come down from the arm of the couch. Stavros scooted back and she perched on the edge of the cushion between his wide-spread knees.

  She waited as he poured some of the oil into his hands and tried not to fidget. The situation felt strange and awkward, as though she was waiting for some weird and scary medical procedure to begin.

  It’s okay, she told herself over and over again. We’re going to be professional. This doesn’t mean anything—we’re just going to do what we have to do to move on to the Circle of Oneness and get the damn Heart. We’re just going to—

  And then she felt his big warm hands on her body—not cupping her breasts as she had expected but rubbing slow and long over the tense muscles of her neck and shoulders.

  “Ahhh,” she moaned softly as he dug his thumbs expertly into her spine, “That’s…that’s not in the dream but it’s good—really good.”

  “I thought it might be better to try and ease some of your tension before we began,” he murmured.

  “You thought right,” Charlie assured him. As he rubbed, the knots in her neck and shoulders were beginning to loosen and she could feel herself melting like butter under the firm, warm pressure of his big hands. “God, where did you learn to give a massage like that? It feels amazing.”

  “I’m just rubbing you in the same way you rubbed me.” Stavros sounded amused. “I am glad you like it.”

  “Mmm…” was all Charlotte could say. His expert massaging felt so good and she was so warm inside from taking his blood she almost felt that she could slip off to sleep any minute.

  Then she felt his big hands sliding down her sides and back up to caress the bottoms of her breasts.

  “Ummm…” She had been almost fully relaxed but now she sat up in a hurry, her tension returning.

  “It’s all right, Charlotte.” He made no move to touch any further, seeming content to just cup the undercurves of her breasts.

  “What are you doing?” she asked at last. “I mean, why aren’t you…”

  “Stroking your breasts and caressing your nipples? Because I want to take this slowly. I want you to be used to my touch before it becomes more…intimate.”

  Part of Charlie shouted that she didn’t want to take things slowly—that she just wanted to get it all over with. But when she opened her mouth to say so, all that came out was, “Okay.”

  “Good. Now lean back against me,” Stavros directed. “I’m going to touch you more fully.”

  Biting her lip, Charlie did as he said. She scooted back on the overstuffed cushion and allowed her back to rest lightly against his muscular chest.

  “Good,” he rumbled and she could feel his deep voice all the way through her body. “Now try to relax…” Slowly but firmly his fingers, still coated in oil, slid up the slopes of her breasts until both were cupped fully in his palms.

  Charlie barely bit back a moan as she felt her sensitive nipples hardening in response to his gentle touch. God, he had the most amazing hands! Big and warm with such long fingers…

  Just try not to think where those fingers are going to be before the end of the night, whispered a snarky little voice inside her head. Charlie tri
ed to push it away. It wasn’t going to do her any good to get all tense and uncomfortable now—not with so much more of her dream to reenact.

  Then Stavros began to pluck lightly at her nipples.

  “Did I do this in your dream, Charlotte?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Y-yes,” she whispered, her voice trembling a little.

  “And this?” He twisted lightly, sending sparks of pleasure/pain straight from her aching nipples to her pussy which was rapidly becoming hot and wet.

  “God, yes,” she whispered. “And then you asked me how I liked it.”

  “I did?” He sounded faintly surprised. “Was I afraid I was hurting you? In the dream, I mean?”

  “No, you…God…” The way he was teasing her tight little buds was making it hard to think. “You were asking me because you were…were talking dirty to me.”

  The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted saying them. But there was no calling them back and Stavros was plainly intrigued.

  “You mean…sex talk? Erotic words to increase your arousal? To make you hotter?”

  “Um, yeah. I guess.” Charlie bit her lip. Why oh why had she said anything about that? It was bad enough that he knew she had dreamed of him and they were acting it out. But knowing that in her dream she wanted him to talk dirty to her was beyond mortifying.

  “What exactly did I say?” was his next question.

  “I…I don’t remember,” Charlie lied.

  “Yes, you do or you wouldn’t have mentioned it.” He continued to caress her nipples, circling them slowly with his fingertips and then pinching them gently to make her moan. “Tell me,” he murmured in her ear, squeezing her sensitive peaks until she gasped. “Tell me what I said to you in the dream. Please, Charlotte—we have to reenact every part of it—that includes the dialogue.”

  Charlie cursed inwardly. When he put it that way, she couldn’t refuse to tell him.

  “All right,” she whispered, her cheeks hot with embarrassment. “First you asked me how I liked it when you…when you pinched my nipples. And then you…you asked if it made my…my pussy wet,” she finished in a rush. Oh God, this was so humiliating.

  “Mmm.” Stavros continued to stroke her breasts and circle her nipples. “And does it? Do you feel yourself getting wet and hot between your thighs as I touch you, Charlotte?”

  “I…” She squeezed her thighs together tightly, her clit throbbing with need. God, how could she be so horribly embarrassed and so completely turned on at the same time?

  “It’s all right,” Stavros murmured in her ear. “You don’t have to tell me—just say what you said in the dream. Is your pussy getting wet for me, Charlotte? And you said…”

  “Yes. God yes,” she moaned softly.

  “That’s good.” He kissed her gently on the side of her neck, making her shiver. “And now I am supposed to suck you…to taste your nipples. Am I not?”

  “Y-yes,” she stammered. “I…yes, that was next in the dream. You bent me over your arm…”

  “Like this?” He pulled her into his lap and she felt the hard ridge of his cock against her ass. Professional or not, clearly this was turning him on. Like it’s not turning you on too, scoffed the snarky little voice in her head. Hell, you’re hotter than a firecracker on the Fourth of July! Yes, but she shouldn’t be. She was trying to keep this impersonal…businesslike.

  “Yes, like…like this,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking as he laid her back against his arm.

  “And how did I suck your nipples?” He looked at her, his eyes half-lidded with desire through it was clear he was trying to act and sound businesslike. “Did I circle them gently with my tongue?” He demonstrated by tracing one taut peak with the tip of his tongue, making Charlie bite her lip to hold back a moan. “Or like this?” He dragged the flat of his tongue firmly over her other nipple, licking as though she was a lollypop he wanted to taste.

  “Ah!” Charlie squirmed in his lap, unable to keep still. “N-no,” she got out at last. “You didn’t do it like that. You…you sucked hard. So hard I could feel your fangs on either side.”

  “Like this?” Leaning down, he sucked one of her stiff peaks—sucked it hard, taking as much of her breast into his hot mouth as he could. Just as she had in her dream, Charlie felt the sharp points of his fangs bracketing her tender nipple. She moaned and threw her head back, thrusting her chest up and out, trying to give him better access.

  “Like that,” she gasped. “Yes, just like that!”

  He continued to suck hard, teasing her with his tongue now but somehow never drawing so much as a drop of blood even though she could feel how long and sharp the points of his teeth were growing. And though she knew they were supposed to just be going through the motions—doing everything from her dream just once and very briefly—Charlie couldn’t seem to ask him to stop.

  At last, when she was on the point of wondering if she could come just from having her nipples sucked, he pulled back and looked at her with half-lidded eyes.

  “Was that how it felt in your dream?” he murmured. “Or did I go too far?”

  “No, it was…it was like that. Very intense,” Charlie somehow managed to make herself say.

  “Maybe too intense.” He frowned and cupped her breasts lightly, examining her creamy slopes. “I seem to have left some marks on you. Here and here…with my fangs.” He touched the already fading red marks where the faint indentation of his shark points still remained on her flesh.

  “That’s all right,” Charlie whispered. “It was the same in the dream In fact…in fact I thought you were going to bite me. I wanted you to bite me.”

  Stavros closed his eyes briefly and gave a low groan.

  “Charlotte…Gods.”

  “What?” She looked at him in concern. “Did I say something wrong?”

  He shook his head.

  “No. I just don’t think you understand. Telling me you want me to bite you is…” He looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze with his. “It’s like telling me you want me to fuck you,” he said bluntly.

  “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Charlie’s heart was racing. “I…I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s all right,” he growled. “But if you want me to remain professional, please don’t…don’t say anything like that again. It makes it very difficult.”

  “All right,” she agreed. “I won’t.”

  “Good. And now…I am assuming I sucked the other nipple in your dream as well.”

  “Yes…” Charlie thrust her chest out again, offering herself shamelessly. “You did.”

  “Good.” Stavros cupped her other breast and kissed her aching nipple lightly. “I would hate to leave a job unfinished.” Then he sucked her deep into his mouth, torturing her sweetly until she had to clench her hands into fists at her sides to keep from threading her fingers through his thick, long hair and pulling him closer.

  At last, when she didn’t think she could stand it any more, he finally withdrew.

  “Now,” he growled softly, catching her eyes again. “Tell me what comes next.”

  “I…you…” Charlie bit her lip. God, how could they possible remain professional through this next part? She could feel how hard and hot he was as he pressed against her ass. Still, they had to try. “Next I…I took off the rest of your clothes,” she whispered.

  “All right.” Stavros leaned back against the couch, his arms spread. “Go ahead.”

  “I…um…” Feeling incredibly nervous and shy, Charlie reached forward to pluck at the fastenings at the waist of his Pharaoh outfit but somehow it didn’t want to come open. She tugged harder, getting irritated. “Damn it—what is it with you and clothes that don’t want to come off? This thing is as bad as those black leather flight trousers you were wearing when I first captured you.”

  “I well remember how that turned out,” he rumbled softly. “Gods, the feel of your little hand brushing against my shaft nearly drove me to distraction.”

&nbsp
; “I didn’t mean to give you a hard-on,” Charlie said, her cheeks getting hot as she tugged harder and harder. “Just like… I didn’t mean to… tonight.”

  With the last word the outfit finally parted revealing the long, thick club of his sex standing straight and tall against his flat belly. It was the first really good, long look Charlie had gotten but she tried not to stare. Still…God, he’s huge! And I had that thing rubbing against me last night. Good thing he didn’t accidentally slip it in—he would have split me in two!

  The big Kindred followed her gaze as she looked at him and shrugged.

  “I am sorry, Charlotte. I know this,” He nodded at his thick shaft, “Is also unprofessional. But I could not touch you and taste you as I have been doing tonight and remain unaffected.”

  “It…it’s all right.” She thought about telling him that she was feeling pretty affected herself—that she was every bit as hot and bothered as he was. But at the last minute she bit her tongue—better not to talk about how this was affecting them. Better to just keep going until the end.

  “And now that I am naked?” Stavros asked, breaking her train of thought. “What next? I believe you said I took off the rest of your clothes as well?”

  “You did.” Charlie stood before him on shaky legs and let him remove the rest of her novice robe, which had been hanging down around her waist. Technically she wasn’t supposed to be wearing anything under it. But she had checked in her “magic cabinet” on a whim when she collected the meditation oil and found a pair of tiny, white panties so lacy and sheer they were almost invisible.

  “Mmm,” Stavros growled appreciatively, eyeing the panties. “These undergarments are incredibly provocative. May I touch them?”

  Technically this wasn’t part of the dream. But Charlie found herself nodding anyway.

  “All right.”

  He growled again, softly, as he ran one long finger around the tiny white lace triangle that barely covered her pussy. In fact, the top of the panties was so low that the neatly trimmed thatch of blond curls and the top of her pussy slit were visible. The bottom point of the triangle was just a string that ran down the center of her pussy lips.