13. Christopher
Chapter thirteen
Christopher
The Preservation Ark—The next night
An early moonrise wakes me to find I’ve fallen asleep with Maria wrapped in my arms. I’ve never woken this way before.
Evelina, my ex-girlfriend, insisted on sleeping in separate rooms because she was older and woke sooner.
My relationship with her was the longest one I’ve ever had, and in retrospect, it was because I had something she wanted—a newbie’s blood.
For the first twenty or so years, a new vampire’s blood can taste almost mortal.
Evelina wasn’t my maker. The first band I formed had a bloodsucker for a manager. Caroline turned me, then abandoned my group over artistic differences. Not too long after that, Evelina latched on until the twenty-year mark.
No hard feelings. I knew the deal going in. At some point, Evelina would dump me.
But afterward, I never developed any long-term connections on my own. And sleeping in separate beds? I’ve continued the practice for my short-term dalliances.
With Maria, I had no other choice but to share the bed. I couldn’t let her sleep with her daughter.
But I didn’t have to sleep in a lover’s embrace.
Except I like it. I like it a lot.
I’m also sporting wood upon waking for the first time in decades.
She looks so peaceful tucked up against me, frozen in sleep, until I feel her stir in my arms.
Her eyes snap open. “Oh.”
“Goood eve-ning,” I say, elongating the words like a classic vampire villain.
She blinks, furrowing her brow in confusion. “Good evening?”
She doesn’t get the joke. Of course she doesn’t—she’s never seen a film. In time, she will. But since I’m a loser who can’t come up with a plan to save both of us, I won’t be there to see the moment of discovery. The moment she understands.
By then, I’ll be dust.
Her eyebrows move up a fraction of an inch. “It’s still daylight outside. How do I know that? Why am I awake?”
“Both the sun and moon affect our sleep cycles. If the moon rises during the day while we sleep, it wakes us. If the moon doesn’t rise until after sunset, we wake at dusk.”
“Oh.” She doesn’t move away. Instead, she presses her hips against me and kisses my neck.
I don’t expect it, and surprise flares in my chest. She needed comfort last night, but this?
“Maria? What—”
“Make love to me.” She burrows her face farther into my neck, nipping lightly.
Well, she can’t be clearer about what she’s thinking.
Though that’s not a good idea. Maker-child relationships never are. Plus, she’s barely warmed to me or life as a vampire.
“Maria—”
“It’s been so long. I’ve been all alone.” She looks up at me. “Chris, I want this.”
My caution flees with that. I may be dead before the next dawn, but what the hell. I’m attracted to her more than I want to admit. It’s been a long time for me, too. Years. The rest doesn’t even matter.
She wants it. I want it. And it’s probably my last night alive.
“All right, Sunshine.” I grip her shoulders and press my lips to hers.
She opens with a sigh and turns the kiss rough, like a starving person eating their first meal in days. Our tongues battle for dominance, and I let her win.
I pull her on top of me, grasp the hem of her nightshirt, and whisper, “Lift.”
Her hips rise, and I strip her bare.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Her abs are taut, her arms muscular, and her legs firm. Her fitness reflects all the hard labor she performed keeping her family alive.
Then my gaze locks on her breasts, and my momentary sadness flees. Her hair hangs over her breasts, and I can’t stand having them hidden. I brush her hair aside. Her breasts are topped with fuller nipples that once suckled life. I rise on my elbows and kiss them.
Her flesh pebbles and she sighs. “More.”
“Gladly,” I murmur against her breast, and suck the nipple into my mouth, caressing it with my tongue.
Her slow heart speeds up. The thumping beat encourages me to be bolder.
I brush her hair back, holding the locks with one hand, and kiss her other breast, laving her until she squirms.
Multiple sharp stings pierce both of my shoulders, and I flip her onto her back, pinning her wrists to the bed. Claws. Long, sharp, and curved. Excitement brought them out.
“You’re going to have to retract those before I let you anywhere near my cock.”
“What?” Her glazed eyes focus on me, then she turns her head and screeches. “I have those?”
“Quiet, or you’ll wake Zinnia, and I don’t plan on being interrupted.” I sigh. “You can retract them. Focus on your fingertips. Force them to return to mortal form.”
The claws slowly retreat into her fingers. “Ow, ow, ow.”
“Take a deep breath. The feeling will pass. Tell your mind it’s not really pain—it’s just a sensation you’re not accustomed to.”
“If you say so.”
Her claws disappear, and I lean over to kiss her, still holding her wrists pressed to the bed. Having her at my mercy feeds the predator in me, and I rub my clothed cock against her naked pussy.
She’s breathing fast, and I release her from our kiss so she can catch her breath. New vampires take a while to learn they don’t need to breathe anymore.
“Good girl.” I kiss her forehead. “Now, do you think you can keep your claws in?”
She nods eagerly and lifts her hips. “But you’re still wearing PJs.”
“Would you like to fix that problem?”
She smiles boldly. “You bet.”
I roll off her, releasing her wrists, and mourn the loss of dominance. But I hold myself back, wanting to let her lead this first time.
I’m not disappointed. As soon as she’s free, she strokes her hands down my chest, hooks the elastic waistband with her thumbs, and slides my pajama pants off me, tossing them blithely to the floor.
“You on top,” I say.
With enthusiasm, she throws a leg over me and rubs her pussy along my bare cock, pressing it against my abs.
She’s wet. Oh so wet.
I groan and run my fingers over her breasts, tickling the nipples, rolling them until she gasps. A woman who likes breast play is right up my alley. Her movements become more rhythmic, her wet clit sliding over my hardness again and again. But I want her first orgasm with me inside.
“Maria, can I—”
“Yes.”
She grabs me and spears herself on my cock.
Oh. My. God.
Luscious.
Warm.
Tight.
I grip her neck and pull her down to my lips, ravaging her mouth.
Her hips move, and I glide in and out, in and out, as she rubs her clit on my groin with each downstroke.
I feel every touch, every motion, as our kiss continues.
She suddenly releases my mouth with a gasp. Her pupils are so dilated that the black wipes out the intense brown color.
I stare into those bottomless depths, feeling sucked in deep, the sharp sensation of falling overwhelming me.
It’s the bond, it’s the bond, it’s the bond.
She’s still so close to being mortal that I can barely contain myself. I want to ravage her, taste her blood, feed on her until we come.
A light sheen of sweat caresses her throat. She’ll lose that over time, but for now, I cherish it.
The muscles of her chest and stomach are quivering, a prelude to her peak, and I keep playing with her nipples like I’d finger my guitar. Just enough pressure to strum the right note.
Her murmurs and gasps sing the melody I seek. Her pussy grabs me, her inner muscles clutching and flexing and sliding around me.
My balls tighten, my spine tingles, and I join her, lost in ecstasy, holding on to the moment as long as I can until she collapses on top of me with a sigh.
Stroking her long hair, I bask in the pleasure of her body against mine.
“Chris?”
“Yes, my beauty?”
“Will it always be like that?”
I chuckle grimly. “Yes, as long as we’re together, I’ll make sure of it.”
I don’t want to say more than that. I don’t want to remind her what little time I have left.
Then my curiosity gets the better of me. “It wasn’t this good with your husbands? With three in bed, I’d expect you’d never lack for orgasms.”
“Not three in bed. They took turns being with me.”
“They didn’t want to risk crossing swords.”
“What do you mean?”
“An old term from the poly era. I’m bisexual, so I’ve heard other guys negotiating the idea. In a threesome, do the men only interact with the woman, or do they also touch each other—that’s one key point agreed to in advance. Not that I ever tried a three-way. I’m too possessive to share.”
“Bisexual? I think that term was in our books, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.”
“Means a person attracted to both sexes.”
“Oh.”
Maria gets a faraway look, like she’s thinking about her dead husbands.
I growl. My possessiveness is rising. I only want her thinking about me when we’re in bed. But it’s my bad for asking the question.
So I roll her onto her back and spread her legs wide, kissing down her belly to her pussy. I tongue her clit and she moans.
I’d forgotten how good vampire pussy tasted. And combined with my own cum, hers is more divine than any I’ve had before.
“What are you doing?”
Did her husbands never worship at her thighs? “Eating you, figuratively.”
“Oh my. Your tongue feels wonderful. Lehm and Gabriel never tried.”
Frustration spikes through me. “Stop talking about your dead husbands while we’re in bed. This is my one chance to make love with you, and I don’t need bummer reminders.”
“But—”
I don’t give her a chance to answer. I run my tongue up her center, adding extra pressure on her clit. She stops speaking on a gasp.
“Oh.”
When I’m certain she’s thinking about me and nothing else, I turn my head and plunge my fangs into her thigh. The roof of my mouth tingles as I unload fang serum into her vein, and suck back some with a swallow of her blood.
I almost come on the sheets, her blood is so powerful.
She gasps, then moans. “What is that? Can you do it again?”
She’s felt the aphrodisiac in fang serum.
“I’ll explain later.” I grin to myself. “Right now, I have some eating to do.”