Chapter Twenty Nine
“After so many games you think you’d get better at this,” Karim said, musing at his phone.
“Jimson is not a word!” Luis wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t.
Smugness clung to Karim, and Luis tried not to think it was attractive. “Clearly it is, the game took it.”
“The game must be busted. That’s not a word, it’s a name,” Luis defended.
Karim waved the phone at him. “You’re just mad that it was worth forty-six points, and there’s no way for you to recover.”
“I’m mad you cheated–”
“Cheated!” Karim interrupted. “How can I cheat? It’s an app game. I can only do what the game lets me do! It’s not my fault you have the vocabulary of a child.”
“You–!” Luis started to reach for him to take his phone or kiss him, but Julien, who’d been silently reading his book for the last twenty minutes, cleared his throat.
“That’s enough,” he said.
Luis froze. “Uh, sorry. Too loud?”
“A little.” Julien looked between the two of them. “Haven’t seen you two so tense with each other in a while.”
“Wonder whose fault that is,” Karim mumbled, crossing his arms.
Julien ignored that comment. “Luis, have you tested your levels this week? Do you need a bite?” Julien asked.
He had, this morning before he’d gone to bed. He nodded. “Yeah, uh, my levels were getting high,” he said.
Julien nodded. “I’m getting a feel for the time it takes to build back up. Alright, shall we get you both sorted then?” Julien paused. “Luis, how do you feel about doing the bite somewhere more comfortable, like the bedroom?”
Luis felt his heart trip at the suggestion. “The bedroom is fine…?”
“We can sort out a few tensions at the same time.” Julien smiled and turned to look at Karim. “Darling, why don’t you take some juices up to the bedroom for us?”
“Shit, yes,” Karim shot up off the couch and strode from the room with an eagerness Luis had never seen before.
A moment later Julien was above him, hand out. Luis thought he saw a bit of fang in his smile.
“Shall we?” Julien asked.
It felt like more was on offer.
Luis took his hand.
##
In the bedroom Julien directed him to sit at the end of the bed. Karim showed up seconds later with a tray of drinks and snacks that he promptly put on one of the bedside tables.
“Be right back,” Julien said, striding to the bathroom.
Karim took the seat of the chair across from the bed. It was a different chair than last time because Karim had shredded the arms.
Luis swallowed. Karim’s stare was dark and heavy already. Something was happening.
“Before we get started,” Julien said as he came back into the room. He had some items in hand, and came to place them on the tray on the bedside table. “I’d like to ask you a few things, Luis.”
“Okay?” He thought they’d covered everything that needed to be covered about a bite.
Unless tonight there was something different on offer.
“Vampires cannot contract blood infections or STDs, and we cannot spread them,” Julien said, standing before him. “Karim and I don’t use condoms, but we can if that’s your personal preference.”
Oh. Oh.
No wonder Karim had been so quick to comply. Adrenaline dumped into his body, and Luis’s heart quick-pattered to catch up.
He forced himself to focus on what he’d been asked. “I’m okay going without, if uh, there’s no risk.”
Julien nodded. “Is there anything you’re not comfortable with when it comes to sex right now?”
Luis wanted to immediately say no, that everything was on the table, but stopped himself.
Was it? Luis didn’t know the extent of what he liked, but there was at least one thing he wasn’t interested in tonight at least. “Pain? Like… a lot of pain.” Luis remembered the sharp prick of the bites, how that much had felt good.
How Karim’s hand pinning his wrist down just shy of too much had felt good. He wasn’t talking about that.
“I’d never throw you in the deep end so soon,” Julien promised. “Tonight, if you say stop, we’ll stop. If you cannot speak for whatever reason, three taps on either one of us will do the same.” Julien gestured on himself, tapping three times quickly on his own arm. “Understood?”
Luis nodded.
Then Julien was stepping up to the bed, taking a seat next to him. “My plan tonight is to have us both bite you, and see where that leads. Get you some relief to the pressure.”
Karim said something under his breath that Luis didn’t catch, but Julien’s mouth quirked.
“Any questions before we start?” Julien asked.
His head was empty except for the buzzing anticipation. “No, I’m ready,” Luis said.
“Karim, keep time,” Julien said. Then he was scooting closer, encouraging Luis to bare his throat. Luis’s pulse was hammering, almost faster than it had been the first time Karim had bitten him.
But he was excited. Ready. He wanted this.
The sharp puncture of teeth was familiar by now, as was the pleasure that spread in after, washing away the pain.
Luis sighed, his body slackening as Julien took more control.
He felt the first hard suck, the heat of his blood spilling from the wound.
Heard the wet swallow that sent a shiver down his spine.
Luis was hard already, the deep violet scent of Julien blanketing everything. He sucked again, and Luis’s hands found purchase in Julien’s shirt, clinging.
They’d barely started and he felt close. He was so pent up.
It went on and on. Time slowed to a crawl. He heard himself moan, but it was from a distance. There was another suck, and it was like the floor dropping out, all the heat and desire drowning him.
“Time,” Karim said.
It took another second for them to part, and then Julien’s hot tongue was swiping over the bite. Luis forced his eyes open and he felt glassy. Softened.
Julien let go slowly, making sure Luis stayed sitting up under his own steam. Then he was stumbling to his feet, being helped out of the room by Karim.
It took long seconds to put together why they’d left, and then another shiver of pleasure rocked through him. Because his blood was potent. Because it had some intense effect on Julien.
Was it pleasurable? Erotic? Luis hadn’t asked exactly what the effect was, but now he desperately wanted to know.
Karim returned and took a seat on the bed. One of the juices ended up in Luis’s hand.
“Drink,” Karim ordered. Luis did. After a few sips, Karim’s hand found his free one. “How’re you feeling?” he asked.
“Good, fine,” Luis said. He squeezed Karim’s hand. “Ready for another.”
This close, he could see Karim’s pupils blow out, felt the hand tighten in his own.
“We have to wait for Jules,” he said.
Luis sipped his drink and smiled, teasingly. “Whatever you want.”
When Julien returned, his cheeks were still flushed with color. Luis had seen him after two drinks at the bar dozens of times now, but he only flushed like that after tasting Luis’s blood.
“My turn?” Karim asked. He took the empty bottle from Luis and set it aside, then moved into his space.
“Is it?” Luis asked, even as he tilted his head to offer his neck.
Karim growled and Julien took his seat in the chair across from the bed.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Julien said.
Karim leaned in, arm wrapping around Luis’s back. It took just a second to find the spot, almost exactly where Julien had bitten, and then teeth were sliding in.
Luis moaned. He was still in the pleasure from the first bite, and it doused him anew. Karim made a rough sound, sucking as the blood started to spill.
For the first time during a bite, Luis felt the blood loss. His fingers tingled and his belly swooped as his blood pressure dropped.
He hated the feeling when it’d come attached to a needle, but here he didn’t mind it so much. It felt more like a rollercoaster thrill the way his heart was beating.
Another suck and he gasped, grabbing at Karim. The arms tightened around Luis possessively. Karim was a messier drinker than Julien, and the sound was loud and wet. Luis pressed his thighs together, his cock aching.
“Time.”
Karim pulled back with a panting breath, his tongue swiping over the wound. Luis almost shivered. When he turned his head to meet Karim’s eyes they were still just as hungry.
“Fuck,” Luis said, voice garbled. Karim licked his lips, Luis thought he could still see a bit of blood, just at the corner of his mouth.
This time, he gave into the urge, reaching up to swipe it with one finger and then, inexplicably, pushed that finger into Karim’s mouth. The vampire sucked it clean immediately.
Luis pulled his finger back out, shiny with spit. Karim looked like he was a second away from having another taste.
Long, elegant fingers interrupted, sliding through Karim’s hair, taking a tight grip.
“Let me,” Julien said, soft and seductive. He guided Karim down to laying on the bed, and Luis followed. Julien’s hand curled around the back of Luis’s neck, drawing his attention from Karim, and then the man leaned down and kissed him.
Luis tasted the blood, a heavy copper flavor, but it didn’t disgust him. It was his blood, his taste.
These kisses didn’t stay soft and sensual for more than a few seconds. It was all different tonight. Julien licked into Luis’s mouth with a hunger befitting Karim. Luis groaned at the first graze of a fang, wanted to squirm at how each kiss was more than the last.
When Julien moved off his mouth, Luis was panting. Kisses trailed across Luis’s jaw, then to sucking marks into his throat right over where the bites were freshly healed.
For a second Luis thought he might bite him again.
“Sweetheart,” Julien crooned against the shell of his ear. “Tell me, have you touched yourself yet?”
“N-no,” he said, cheeks burning. “I’ve–I haven’t touched–I wasn’t sure–”
“Good, that’s good,” Julien crooned. “It wasn’t an order, but I was curious if you’d hold off anyway.” Julien caught the lobe of his ear and gave it a nibble. Luis had to clamp his eyes shut not to just shake apart right there, untouched.