The Darkening (Dawn of Ascension)

  He massaged lightly back and forth over her pelvis.

  “Are you feeling something similar, like at the island?”

  “Yes, like a vibration, a humming.”

  He massaged deeper.

  Her body arched. “Oh, that’s heaven.”

  “What does it feel like?”

  “Like waves of pleasure, wherever your hand moves.”

  “Pull your knees up.”

  She obeyed and with his free hand he stroked the inside of her leg, pushing toward her groin. Her right thigh rested against his body. At the same time, he continued to rub her abdomen, watching her stomach muscles flex and relax over and over, as her hips begin to rock.

  He moved his right hand further down her thigh, then rippled the back of his fingers over her lower lips. She whimpered. He did this several times, watching her face and her abdomen. She was very wet.

  Using two fingers, he slid inside. She arched her back and cried out. Slowly, he moved his fingers in and out. He wanted to bring her like this, to watch her come.

  He kept massaging her abdomen on the outside as he thrust his fingers inside. Her hips pushed back, her neck arched, and she cried out. He drove his fingers faster. Her cries sharpened and fell from her lips one after the other until he could feel her internal muscles pulsing with ecstasy as she came.

  She was so beautiful, her moans, her mouth open, her hands gripping the comforter, her hips pushing against his hand, reaching for that last bit of pleasure.

  When at last she settled down, breathing hard, she turned to look at him. “That was wonderful. Amazing. Your touch is almost magical.” The words were hushed, then she sighed deeply.

  He rose up, easing back. He continued to rub the inside of her thigh, the opposite leg now slack.

  “Your turn,” she said, a sated smile on her lips. “But I think you should lose the clothes.”

  He moved to stand between her legs, still spread for him so that his view was exactly what he wanted. He loved a woman’s body, that her sex was a secret place to seek, find, and explore.

  As he grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt, she lifted up on her elbows to watch, so he stripped slowly. He was built, a happy effect of his warrior job and of working out. He gave her the show she wanted, removing his shirt slowly and at the same time flexing various muscles and watching her gaze rove his shoulders, his pecs, his biceps.

  He put his hand on his abs and flexed, then let his fingers glide slowly down his stomach. Her gaze followed. She’d already felt his arousal more than once, but she hadn’t actually seen him.

  He wanted her to have a good look, to see what would soon be inside her while he pierced her neck and took from her. He lowered his jeans, his cock jutting at a strong angle.

  To his surprise, she moved, and was off the bed, before he had a chance to think or to react. She fell on her knees on the floor in front of him, her hands on his hips as her mouth surrounded his cock.

  “Fuck,” he muttered into the cool air of the room, her warm mouth a fire around him.

  She suckled.

  Oh, God, she sucked, deep pulls, bringing him as far into her mouth as she could get. She dipped her fingers below and teased his testicles.

  Her head bobbed as she set a rhythm. It felt too damn good. He waited though, lasting as long as he could while watching the mass of her blond hair move up and down.

  But it was too much.

  He pulled back. “I could come so easily like this, but I want more from you right now.”

  She looked up at him, holding her mouth in a beautiful round shape. She nodded. “Samuel, there’s something I want from you, in this position first.”

  He frowned, not understanding. “What?”

  “I want your vein like this, while I’m on my knees. Or would it be too much?”

  Her words stunned him, that she would want to take him low like this.

  Would it be too much? Maybe. But he didn’t care. He loved that she wanted to drink from him at his groin and something inside his heart began to open and lean toward her. She was so free with her body, enjoying him. He’d never allowed anyone to get this close before, not in his long century of ascended life. Never.

  He looked down at his cock, twitching with need. “I think it’ll be okay.”

  She leaned forward, kissed his groin and began swiping her tongue over his skin in long sweeps, a signal for the vein to rise.

  He trembled. He wanted to feel her fangs. “Take your fill, Vela.” His most primal nature needed more than anything for his woman to have what she needed.

  With one hand she held onto his hip and with her other, she rounded his body and gripped his ass.

  Her head bobbed as she licked his skin, coaxing his vein to rise for her. He could feel the swelling a vampire could create, the vein rising, pushing upward, seeking the sharp points of a fang.

  His cock responded, loving the attention. He had hard-on-hard right now.

  Show me your fangs, he sent.

  She tilted her head to look up at him, her eyes glinting in the dim light of the room. She parted her lips and there they were, two sharp elegant points.

  “Do it,” he commanded, his voice deep.

  She turned, angled her head, and struck to the exact right depth. He shouted at the jab, followed by the sucking of her mouth, taking deep pulls from his life-blood.

  He put a hand on her head and grunted his pleasure, as much from the sight of her sucking his vein as from the knowledge that he gave her something every vampire needed.

  She moaned softly, her fingers digging into his ass. After a couple of minutes, she pulled back and he could feel the wounds closing up.

  She arched her neck upward so that he could see her face. Her eyes were closed, a blush on her cheeks, her lips red. His groin felt wounded and well-used and he loved it.

  “I feel stronger,” she said.

  “You look beautiful.”

  She rose to her feet. “I know what I want, but I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it.”

  He kissed her. “I’ll give you anything right now, anything you ask.”

  “When I was at the counter earlier, your pressure on the small of my back, your touch, brought me. I want you to take me from behind and use your hand again, just like that.”

  He shuddered because the thought of taking her in that position lit him up.

  She smiled and kissed him. “I take it the idea appeals.”

  “Hell, yeah, it does.”

  She slipped from his arms and bent over, not to get into position but to pull the covers back.

  But the sight of her like that gave Samuel a different idea. He stepped close to her, almost unable to control himself. “Let me try something first. Bend over, but keep your feet on the floor. I mean, if that’s okay?”

  “Hey, anything you want, I’m game.”

  Okay, he took a couple of breaths as she stretched out on the bed, her legs over the side, her ass rounded, firm, gorgeous. She pulled her hair over one shoulder so that he had a perfect view of her damp wing-locks.

  “I need to taste you,” he murmured.

  She groaned softly.

  He adjusted her legs, spreading her feet apart then dropped to his knees and dipped low, swiping his tongue over her swollen flesh, then thrust his tongue inside her. She whimpered.

  You taste as I thought you would, like the sweetest flower. I could eat you like this forever. He set about proving himself as he dipped inside repeatedly.

  He could tell she was almost ready to come again, so he quickened his tongue-thrusts and as she’d asked, he massaged her lower back with his right hand.

  She groaned first, a heavy, muffled sound against the comforter. Her hips writhed, then suddenly she arched her back and screamed. He continued the brisk plunging and the massaging until the orgasm rolled through her completely and her body began to loosen. Only then, when he was sure the last of the ecstasy had drifted away, did he stop.

  A warrior could get used to this.
He never took women to his home, his bed. But somehow the thought of Vela being there one day made his heart swell again. Was this the breh-hedden or was he really starting to feel something for this woman, something surprising?

  She lifted herself up on her elbows and while looking back at him, she tugged her hair farther to the side, exposing her throat. “How about we go the distance and you tap my vein?”

  He might have grunted something in response or growled, he wasn’t sure. Maybe a combination of both.

  He positioned himself behind her and holding his cock got the right fit then he began to push. She moaned with each thrust of his hips.

  “Heaven,” she said.

  “You feel like heaven.” He closed his eyes and savored the feel of her pulling on him as her hips pushed back with each thrust.

  Her winglocks released fluids so that more of her scent reached him, that sweet, almost familiar floral scent that he couldn’t quite place. He leaned over her and gently sucked on one of her wing-locks, which were extremely sensitive. A long low moan left her throat.

  “Samuel, you’re killing me.”

  “Ride it, Vela. Ride it hard.” He sucked some more.

  She panted several times then her voice rose in pitch until she was crying out once more, pleasure peaking, as he sucked her wing-lock and kept his cock hitting her just right, stroke after stroke.

  But the flavor of her winglock moisture triggered something deep inside, something primal. He shifted so that he could reach the side of her neck. He licked her throat and drove his cock into her.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Please, yes.”

  He licked over and over until her vein rose. He paused in his thrusts only long enough to bite hard once, retract and suck, then put his hips back to work.

  Vela was strong and held her position beautifully. Taking her blood down his throat built a new fire in his body, giving him stamina. He pumped into her now, as he sucked, and each thrust sent a cry from her throat.

  “Oh, God, Samuel,” she cried out.

  He sped up but finally released her throat. He held onto her hips and slammed into her. He felt her tighten and his orgasm arrived, a blinding pinnacle of white light and erotic pleasure, lightning streaking through his cock, flying up through his body, until the room spun. He shouted as he thrust, matching her cries that filled the room.

  Then something happened and he could feel himself reloading. What the fuck?

  “I’m going to come again,” rushed out of his mouth.

  “Good. I’m ready. I don’t know what this is, but it’s amazing. I think it was taking your blood.”

  She was so tight. He pummeled her once more and felt her release just as he came again, ecstasy carrying him along, doubling at the sounds of her cries and moans until at last she collapsed forward and he landed on top of her, spent.

  He breathed hard, hoping to hell his weight didn’t crush her.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “That was unbelievable. If this is the breh-hedden, please give me more.”

  He’d been thinking the same thing. He’d never come twice like that but her blood had changed him, made him stronger.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He kissed her cheek, and pushed her hair away from her face.

  “No, not at all.”

  When he could breathe again, he folded a washcloth from the bathroom into his hand and as he withdrew from her, he pressed it against her body. She turned on the bed and adjusted the cloth. He stretched out beside her, tugging her into his arms. Her lax, sated body flowed over his, an arm over his chest, a leg over his legs.

  You feel so good, he sent, mind-to-mind.

  I didn’t expect this.

  Me, neither. I thought— He cut off the words that he’d been ready to stream through her mind.

  But she drew back to look at him. “You thought what?”

  For a moment, he debated saying what was on his mind. But as he met her large blue, compassionate eyes, he let himself go. “Because of my power, I was reconciled to living by myself. I never even thought about having a woman in my life. But now, I mean, this is so damn fast—” What else could he say that wouldn’t sound really stupid, like he’d known her twenty-four hours but could actually see himself being with her, loving her, spending the rest of his life with her?

  She kissed him, a long lingering kiss. When she pulled back again, she said, “I know what you mean. This is kind of ridiculous and so unexpected. But at the same time, extraordinary.”

  His heart grew buoyant, a balloon barely tethered in place.

  “You’re extraordinary,” he said, rubbing her arm lightly. He wanted to do this all over again. “I want to know everything about you.”

  Still looking at him from within his tight embrace, she caressed his face. He moaned softly and turned to kiss the palm of her hand.

  Enter my mind, she sent.

  Had he heard her right? He met her gaze again. “You want me to mind-dive? Deep mind engagement?”

  “I want you to know me. We’re in this, Samuel. And my instincts tell me that we’re in trouble, real trouble. The better you know who I am, the better we’ll be able to function together. But I can feel your hesitation.”

  Hesitation didn’t begin to describe what he felt. “I have to be honest with you; I’m completely opposed to the idea because I won’t be able to return the favor. My power is unstable. I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you. But beyond that, Vela, that prison was the worst nightmare you can imagine.”

  * * * * * * * * *

  Vela met his worried gaze, squinting as if in pain. “You’re afraid I’ll see those images.”

  “Mind-diving doesn’t just release one image, it releases from the pool of everything I’ve experienced. I doubt it’s controllable.”

  “No, I guess not.” She thought about her marriage. Samuel would see it all, the good and the bad, the love-making, the fights. She’d once thrown out an entire salmon dinner because of some comment Jeff had made.

  She chuckled softly.

  “What’s so funny? I don’t think this is funny at all.”

  So, she told him about the salmon and he started to laugh. He kept chuckling on and off. “Please don’t tell me you think that’s your worst flaw that you get ticked off and toss out perfectly good food.”

  “No, I guess not. But I’ll tell you what I do know; that I trust you enough to let you in, enough to let you see whatever is there.”

  She forced herself to relax, to breathe. She thought about her darkening ability, about Duncan and Merl, and that she had just had mind-blowing sex with Warrior Samuel. For months now, she’d been feeling an internal pressure, a need to be doing something, she just hadn’t known what. She had thought it would be related to Fiona’s rehab center, now she wasn’t sure at all because this felt right, being with Samuel and engaging her darkening power.

  A new path had grabbed her and she didn’t want to hold back, not now. She suspected that her life, her survival, would depend on forging ahead with strength and commitment, that nothing less would do.

  She shifted her body so that her legs slid off of his and she lay completely on her side next to him. She planted a hand on his muscular chest and for a split-second almost got lost in his physicality.

  She blinked a couple of times and cleared her head. “Do this, Samuel. I don’t know the why of it, but it’s important. Do some deep-mind engagement and let’s see what happens. Okay?”

  He shifted toward her and kissed her, then leaned back and closed his eyes. She watched him for a moment. He had fine lines beside his eyes and even now a certain tightness characterized his expression.

  When she felt his mind approach hers, she closed her eyes as well. But when she started to slide her hand off his chest, he caught and held it, which made her heart leap in a way she didn’t think was wise at all. The first flutter of love awakened in her heart. Was it too much to ask that she might actually fall in love with this man as well?

  She set
the thought aside and relaxed her mind. She felt him approach like a soft caress. Mind-diving was so different from telepathy, which was essentially a mere laying of words over the mind.

  But this, as Samuel pushed the barrier of her mind and slipped inside, was incredible. He was there now, a formidable presence in her mind, more than she’d expected. She understood something about him right then, that Samuel didn’t really know the extent of his dark power, this Third Earth ability birthed during his captivity.

  Of course, a new problem emerged since she really liked him being inside her mind. Her body heated up instantly, her breasts tingling.

  He chuckled softly. You like me here. Your scent is flowing from you.

  I’m tempted all over again. Next time, be inside me like this.

  He moaned. Okay, this isn’t helping. It seems to take so little.

  Right. She forced herself to breathe.

  Focus on where you were born.

  Good idea. She aimed her thoughts into the past, remembering her parents and living in Philadelphia Two in the early 1800s, in what was then, by comparison, a small town. Learning to fly, almost drowning when she flew too close to a lake and her wings got caught in the water, which had been a nightmare. Riding horses and loving it. Growing up and falling in and out of love. Learning to play the piano, expected of a woman in those days. Then choosing a life of travel for a long time, folding from town to town, getting to know her local American world, north and south, learning several languages.

  She’d had itchy feet, never wanting to stay long in one place. She’d taken many lovers and felt Samuel tense when a lovemaking image would flow through her thoughts.

  Then a close call with a death vampire in 1922, slain by a Militia Warrior, a man who had finally spoken to her heart deeply enough that she’d married him. Jeff Barker. The grief of being childless and overcoming that grief. Of living with him for decades until his death five-years-ago. How much she’d loved making their house a true home, which she still lived in, a small piece of property near the downtown Borderland. Without thinking, she fell into her grief, remembering how often she’d wept, screamed, shouted. At one point, she almost pulled back, but Samuel whispered through her mind, No, let me see it. Please.