Much Ado About Vampires: A Dark Ones Novel

  “I hope so, because I’m fast losing patience with you.”

  He tried to sound stern and unhappy, but I could feel that his interest and curiosity had been piqued.

  Has no woman ever taken the lead with you in lovemaking?

  Not like this, no. What are you doing with that scarf?

  “It’s a blindfold. Oooh, tricky!” As I leaned over him to tie the silken scarf over his eyes, he twisted and caught me with his legs, the powerful muscles in his thighs almost spelling an end to my plan. Just stroking my hand up their hard lengths was enough to have me giving in to all the wicked thoughts Alec was currently transmitting to me, especially when he added a sense of how much pleasure he received from me touching him. “But it will do you no good.”

  I pried myself out of the leg vise, and quickly tied the scarf over his eyes, making sure his nose was free for breathing. “Would you like a safe word?”

  “Hell, no.”

  He was still smugly of the belief that he was in control of the situation. I let him continue thinking it as I cooed softly, stroking a hand down his chest from the jagged scar at his breastbone down to his penis. “Sooo hot, Alec. Your skin burns, but in a good way. I want to lick every inch of you. And since you are at my mercy and unable to distract me with your hands and mouth, I think I will.”

  I hummed a jaunty little song to myself as I bent over his chest, swirling a tongue around first one nipple, hidden in the soft curls of hair, before turning my attention to the other, allowing my fingers to stroke the ridged muscles of his abdomen. I don’t think I’ve ever slept with a man who had an actual six-pack, Alec. Do you work out?

  Sometimes, when I’m not doing anything else.

  I mentally damned his genes for allowing him to be in such good shape without working at it, while lesser folks like me were at the mercy of sadistic personal trainers.

  Do not pretend that your body does anything but please me, he chastised me. You know it does, and it would not matter what shape it was.

  “OK, that right there would make just about every woman on the planet your love slave for life.” I moved my kisses down his chest to his belly, swirling my tongue around his belly button as his hips jerked upward, his breath hissing when I bit the lovely indentation below his hips. “Luckily, no one but me is going to know you’re so wonderful. Why, what do we have here? It looks like a penis.”

  “You love toying with me this way, don’t you?” he asked in a voice tinged with amused exasperation. “You truly think you have me in your power?”

  “I know I do.” I let my fingers go wild on his groin, stroking and gently pulling, and generally just getting to know the scenery. I bent down and gently bit his inner thigh, enjoying the sheer spurt of pleasure that coiled through him as a result. His hunger was riding him hotly now, but I knew part of it was triggered by sexual need, and I couldn’t help but want to push that just a bit higher before giving in to him. I looked up and gave him a saucy grin. “You don’t know where I’m going to touch next, do you? You’re wholly in my power, Alec. I can touch you here, or here, or even nibble you here . . .”

  He groaned deep in his chest.

  “. . . and there’s not a darned thing you can do about it. I have to say, I really enjoy having you spread out before me like this. Let’s see, are you ticklish here?”

  “Dammit, woman, you are deliberately baiting me!”

  “Mmm.” I looked up from where I was nipping gently at his inner thighs. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  “Yes, but that’s beside the point. Cease your teasing.”

  “Or what?” I asked sweetly, gently squeezing his testicles. “Oh, didn’t I mention that Sally said those ropes are magic? You can’t break them, you can’t slip your hands out, and you can’t untie them from the bed. In other words, my sexy vampire, you are well and truly bound until such time as I want you free.”

  “Is that so?” I couldn’t see them beneath the scarf, but I knew his eyes were filled with heat and passion and hunger, promising retribution for both my tone and actions. I allowed my grin to grow before dipping my head and taking him into my mouth.

  He swore in Latin, his hips thrusting upward as I tasted, and swirled, and generally drove us both close to the breaking point.

  “Yes,” I said somewhat breathlessly a short time later, admittedly smirking to myself.

  He whipped the scarf off to give me a heated look that came close to making my blood boil . . . until I realized just what that meant.

  “Hey—” I started to say, but suddenly, I was on my belly at the bottom of the bed, Alec hard and hot behind me, the scarf twisted around underneath me. Alec used it to pull my hips up, parting my legs with his knees as he bent over me. “Alec! How did you get out of the magic ropes?”

  “They weren’t magic, mi corazón.”

  “Damn that Sally! She lied to me!”

  “I’m sure she would think of it simply as being naughty,” he said, kissing a path from my spine over to one hip before giving in to the hunger that threatened to swamp us both. Pain flared for a fraction of a second before melting into the most exquisite pleasure as he drank, my body aching with need for him.

  “God shouldn’t . . . oh Mother Mary, that is so good.... God shouldn’t lie.”

  Alec’s tongue swiped across the spot he’d been drinking from before he pulled my hips up with the scarf. “Now we shall see who is the one in power, and who is helpless.”

  “What are you doing? ” I asked, every atom of my body quivering with anticipation and desire. “Are we doing it doggy-style?”

  “You wanted bondage. Now you shall have it,” he said, pulling up on the scarf as he thrust inside my body.

  I had been about to protest that I had never done bondage, even bondage light, as I suspected this would be classified, but the sensation of the scarf pulling up on my pubic bone as he entered me was enough to push everything from my mind but that of the rapture he was giving me just by flexing his hips.

  What’s that, Corazon? Not going to protest that you are now my helpless captive?

  I moaned in his mind as he slackened the scarf when he withdrew before pulling me upward again as he stroked back in.

  Not going to deny that you can’t escape my touch?

  The angle was different than if I’d just been on my hands and knees, allowing him to plunge into depths that had not been reached before, waves of pleasure rippling outward with increasing intensity.

  Not even going to demand I stop dominating you?

  Oh, god, no! For the love of all that’s holy, dominate me some more!

  My approaching orgasm mingled with his sensations, tangling together until we were both poised on the brink.

  Corazon?

  Nnrng?

  I love you, he said as he jerked upward on the scarf, sliding deeper and harder into me than he had before, his mouth hot on my shoulder as he bit.

  It was too much for me, far too much. The orgasm, the sense of profound satisfaction he felt when drinking from me, and the knowledge that his love would burn eternally was all just too much. My body and soul seemed to explode simultaneously in rapture, a bright supernova of love and ecstasy that shone so brightly, I was surprised it didn’t consume us both.

  When I stopped being a brilliant, glittering ball of orgasmic wonder, I found myself lying panting on Alec’s still-heaving chest, his arms holding tight to me.

  I lifted my head. He opened one eye and rolled it down to meet my gaze. “Still think I haven’t healed?”

  “Oh, you’ve healed,” I said, gasping for breath. “You’re definitely cleared for duty. Jesus wept, Alec! That was . . . hoo! I’m totally a go on bondage from here on out. Do you think Sally will notice if we run out with the rope and scarf? Because frankly, I would give her just about anything to keep them.”

  He laughed and hugged me despite the fact that he was also struggling to catch his breath. Ah, my heart, what would I do without you?

  “Luckily, my studmuffin e
xtraordinaire—really, where did you learn to do that thing with the scarf?—you won’t have to find out. Although I suppose we should get moving soon. Sally never did say where she sent the vampires, and Eleanor, not to mention Brother Ailwin, although I doubt if he cares about us anymore now that Bael is gone. But still, we should be moving on just in case people show up to nab you.”

  Alec closed his eye again. “Women. I’ll never understand how they can talk after sex. I need sleep.”

  “Don’t be silly, you’re immortal,” I said, pulling up the sheet and snuggling into him nonetheless.

  “Immortal doesn’t mean we don’t need sleep. And stop worrying, Cora; I won’t allow anyone to interfere with us any longer.”

  “Oh really? What do you plan on doing?” I looked up when he didn’t answer, but he was telling the truth—he really did need sleep. His face was relaxed as I felt him drift off on a cloud of sated male satisfaction. I spent a long, long time holding him, wondering how we were going to untangle all the threads that seemed to weave around us into a knot. Uppermost in my mind were the vampires and their council who were still obviously intent on punishing Alec, but also niggling at the back of my mind was a concern that we weren’t through seeing Eleanor. And then there was the lichmaster de Marco; he seemed to be overly interested in vampires. I made a mental note to ask Alec about it later. Last on my list was Brother Ailwin—would he decide to get revenge against us, or would he give up now that I couldn’t be used?

  I fell asleep worrying about it all, secure, at least, in the knowledge that Alec returned my love. If nothing else, that made the world seem infinitely more wonderful.

  It was night again when I woke up to find the bed empty, and Alec gone.

  “What do you mean, he left?” I asked ten minutes later, catching myself wanting to yell at Sally. She might not be God, but she was awfully close to that. More importantly, I had a feeling if I gave in to my frustration and vented my spleen upon her, she’d just get “naughty” again with me. “Left for where?”

  She started to give me one of her smiles that I knew prefaced some outrageous comment or other, but with a glance at Terrin, who was glaring at a laptop as he punched angrily at the keys, she sighed and shook her head. “You make it too easy, you really do, sugar. You take all the fun out of it. And much though I should like tormenting you just a bit, just a tiny little smidgen, you know, to keep my hand in should I ever get the chance to be a demon lord again, even though I’d like to indulge in a bit of teasing, I won’t.”

  I eyed her. “Asmodeus finally kicked you out of Abaddon, did he?”

  Terrin said something rude under his breath. Sally sighed again. “Yes. Asmo really is very single-minded. He simply did not see the benefit in having one-half of the Sovereign being a prince of Abaddon. Such narrowminded thinking has never been to my taste, but it takes all kinds, doesn’t it? Alec went to see the vampires.”

  “The council?” My blood froze in my veins. Alec?

  There was no answer. I couldn’t tell if he just couldn’t hear me, or if he didn’t want to. Damn him. “He went to see them without me? Mother of God! He’s gone to sacrifice himself so they don’t put me in the Akasha with him! You have to do something, Sally!”

  “I do?”

  “Yes, you do! You can’t just sit there doing nothing!” My hands waved in the air as my inner devil prompted me to snatch the glossy magazine from her hands and beat her over the head with it.

  “I’m doing something, sweetness. I’m reading a very informative article about cuticle health.” She glanced at my hands. “One that is sorely needed in some people’s lives.”

  I took a deep breath. “Alec is a good guy. You are the head honcho of good guys. That means you have to do something when he needs help.”

  She looked puzzled as she consulted Terrin, who was now swearing under his breath as he plugged in an iPod. “Do I have to do something, punkin?”

  “I swear, I know what projects that Guardian who was proscribed used her minions on.... Hmm? Do you have to do what?”

  “Do I have to help Cora?”

  Terrin looked from Sally to me. “I thought you already did? Surely you offered them sanctuary so the Dark One could heal his wounds in safety?”

  “Well, I thought that’s what I’d done, but evidently Cora here is feeling slighted.” Sally plucked a sugar cube from a bowl sitting on the table next to her, and sucked it thoughtfully. “And then there was the matter of the rope and scarf. They were my favorites, but I gave them to her willingly, because I could see that she wanted to indulge herself in a little nooky but was afraid he’d hurt himself. I thought that was quite generous and beneficent on my part, but evidently it wasn’t enough.”

  I slumped against the wall, running my hand through my hair. Alec, please answer me. Please. I’m worried about you. Just tell me you’re OK.

  Silence was the only thing that filled my head. I slumped even more. He might not want to discuss the fact that he ran off without me, but he wouldn’t let me worry unduly. That meant that either he was physically unable to talk to me, or something else was prohibiting communication. Either boded ill.

  “I’m sorry, Sally, it was generous and beneficent, as was giving us a room overnight so Alec could rest and heal. Although . . . if you’re no longer a demon lord, why do you still have this house?”

  She crunched the remainder of the sugar cube with very white teeth. “Oh, the palace part that was in Abaddon is gone. All that’s left is the original house, here in the mortal plane.”

  “Gotcha. Where exactly did Alec go to meet the vampires, do you know?” I straightened up, wondering where my wallet had gotten to. So much had happened since we arrived in France, I had lost track of my belongings.

  “Vienna, I believe. Why? Oh, you wish to go and rescue him, do you?” Sally tipped her head to the side and gave me a once-over, a definite twinkle in her eyes. “Yes, I can see that’s exactly what you intend to do. Good luck.”

  “Thanks,” I said grimly, disappointed that she hadn’t offered to fix everything with a wave of her omnipotent hand. Tempted though I was to beg them both to do just that, it was quite clear that Sally felt no further obligation to do anything for us, and really, I couldn’t blame her. She had done what we asked—toppled Bael from power, ending my Tooldom. She had given us a place for Alec to rest after removing from the immediate location everyone who threatened us. She had even given us that lovely silk rope and scarf. “I’ll just gather up what things I have here and be on my way.”

  “Ta-ta,” she said, returning to her magazine.

  I returned to the bedroom we’d occupied, but found no luggage, no purse, and certainly no wallet or passport. How on earth was I supposed to get to Vienna?

  “I’ll get there if I have to hitchhike the entire way,” I growled as I wrapped the scarf around my waist like a sash, tying the rope on top of it. “Pia and Kristoff will loan me some money for one of those portals, I bet. And maybe I could call—” As I stepped out the door, I had a mental image of Terrin chastising Sally, who gave a little laugh in response before suddenly the floor was yanked out from underneath my feet, and I went tumbling into a black void of nothing.

  “Hruh?” The black void was filled with a sharp pain. “Wha’?”

  “You did not keep your arms and legs inside the portal at all times,” a brusque male German voice chided me.

  I opened my eyes to find myself on a mat in a small room filled with pale sunshine. A spot on my head hurt—obviously I’d conked it on the floor when I . . . memory returned at that moment. “Jesus wept!”

  “You were warned to do so. If you are unkempt now, it is not the fault of Portals Elite, Ltd. Please to move off the receiving cushion.”

  I got somewhat painfully to my feet, dusting myself off as I limped out of the portal room, saying under my breath, “Thank you, Sally. I don’t know how you did it, but zapping me to Vienna was a very nice thing to do.”

  Fifteen minutes later I was
navigating the process of making an international collect call to Pia and Kristoff, who were unhappy, but not surprised, to find that Alec had abandoned me in order to take care of the vampires on his own.

  “He wishes to protect you from the council, that is all,” Kristoff said at the same time Pia said, “Stupid man. Doesn’t he realize you guys are stronger together than apart?”

  I agreed with both statements, and would have moved on to asking for the address of the Moravian Council’s headquarters, when Kristoff’s words struck me.

  “What do you mean, Alec wants to protect me from the council? I haven’t done anything to them. They’re mad at Alec, not me. Aren’t they?”

  “You had Sally remove them from her palace,” Kristoff said with a pronounced note of regret in his voice. “I’m afraid that means they consider you have directly opposed them in the act of completing their duty.”

  “So what?” I snarled into the pay phone, startling an elderly woman standing at a bus stop next to me. I turned my back on her and lowered my voice. “You did the same thing. Defied them, that is.”

  “Yes, but the difference is that they don’t know for a fact that we had Alec in our house,” Pia pointed out. “They suspect it, but have no proof beyond seeing us together in France, and I told them that was because of Ulfur.”

  I sighed yet again and rubbed my forehead. “Great, so that’s why Alec ran off without me? To keep them from punishing me?”

  “It’s what I would do,” Kristoff allowed.

  “Well, screw that! I’m not going to sit around and let some damned holier-than-thou group punish Alec or me! Do you hear me? I won’t stand for it!”

  “You go, girl,” Pia said with approval. “Boo, maybe we should go to Vienna—”

  “No,” he said quickly. “Alec does not wish for our interference. Cora, you must have faith that he will do what is best for you both.”

  Faith I had in buckets. It was the man of my dreams—literally—who was missing from my life, and I didn’t intend on letting him martyr himself to save me. “Why won’t he talk to me? Have they done something to him? Something heinous? Oh dear lord, did they already send him back to the Akasha?”