Blood Life Seeker (26 page)

He stood me up on the tiles, holding my hand as he reached into the large shower and turned all the shower heads on. I just watched him and enjoyed every movement he made. Now that I'd made the decision to do this, to keep doing this, I was damn well going to enjoy every second. Michel turned back to me and noticed me watching him. He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled.

“Strip,” I said and couldn't help smiling.

He grinned. “As my lady wishes.” And began to slowly unbutton his shirt, one button at a time, his eyes locked on mine. Finally he made it to the top of his black shirt and he opened it, centimetre by centimetre, allowing me to take in more and more of his perfect unblemished deep cream skin across his chest. He slid the shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor at his feet. Then ran his hands up over his stomach, pausing at the darker area around his nipples and then returning to the lower curls of hair at his waist, where they disappeared into the top of his pants.

He slowly undid his trouser top button and almost laboriously undid his zip, millimetre by millimetre, still maintaining eye contact, but by then I'd had enough. I pulled him closer by grabbing the top of his trousers and claimed his mouth with mine. His arms went around me and he moulded against me almost moaning with need. He reached down and pulled my T-Shirt off over my head, throwing it against the far wall. Then continued to lay kisses down my cheek, onto my neck and across my collar bone as he undid my bra and tossed that away too.

Finally his mouth found my breast and he took it inside and sucked. I almost bucked against him from the shockwave of desire that poured through me. His arm coming around the back of me to support my body as I arched backwards. His mouth never leaving my nipple, his tongue continuing to roll around its sides. His head came up as he pulled my body upright and he looked me in my eyes.

“More?” he asked innocently.

I just smiled and went down on my knees in front of him to finish undoing his trouser zip and gently peeling them down his legs. He was wearing silk boxers, in a deep blue to match his eyes. The length of him already straining against the fabric, trying to slip out the gap in the front. I looked up at him and almost stopped. The look of utter adoration on his face making me pause for breath. I kept eye contact as I licked the length of him slowly through the material, making it wet against his skin. When I came to the tip of him, I licked around the top, adding to his own wetness, making the material cling to his length like a second skin.

By then he had to close his eyes, no longer able to hold my gaze, throwing his head back ever so slightly. So I returned my full attention to what was in front of me. The room had started to fog up, the shower still streaming water and we hadn't even made it inside yet.

I peeled his boxers off and managed to strip the rest of me, kicking off my shoes and peeling off my leggings and socks while I played with him and stroked him. And then was able to lick him and take him inside my mouth and suck hard. I managed to get several good strokes and licks and sucks in before he pulled away from me, reached down and pulled me up his chest to kiss my mouth. All the while pulling us back into the shower stall behind him. The door closed behind us as the water hit our bodies and fell all over us and we just continued to kiss.

There was no longer any finesse, just raw hunger and desperate need. Even while we devoured each other with our mouths, Michel had grabbed a sponge, lathered it in soap and begun to rub it all over my body in small swirls. Lathering up the suds, making them slide down the length of me and add to the sensations coating my skin. He moved the soapy sponge between my legs, down my inner thighs, my calves and then back up to wash the crease between my legs.

“I am sorry,
ma douce
, but your hair will have to wait.” And suddenly he lifted me up off the tiled floor, with both hands on my rear, making my legs spread wide around him. My soaped up body sliding against his chest and stomach as he pushed my back against the cold tiles, making me gasp at the initial coolness against my skin, then cry out as the firm length of him entered in a rush. He didn't waste time, kissing along my cheek, down my neck and pounding inside me in equal need.

I met every thrust with an urgent movement of my own, clawing at his back, gripping his shoulders, laying my own kisses against his face. My hands rushing up to grip his hair and pull his head and lips back to mine, when he'd moved away. He moaned against my mouth and continued to pound against me. I was sure I was going to have bruises tomorrow, but I didn't care. I wanted all of him, every long inch, every bit of his body and soul.

The orgasm came quickly, washing over my body as the water from the shower washed over my skin. And Michel continued to pound against me, taking me further than anyone had ever taken me before. Just as I started to come down from that wave, he lowered his head to my neck and I felt his fangs slide in. The sharp spike of them entering my flesh immediately replaced with such hot desire it burnt as it flowed down inside me. From my neck to my stomach and lower, making me call out his name and beg for more.

His pace faltered slightly, his mind sprang open and suddenly I couldn't tell if it was my words or his that kept repeating in my head:
mine, mine, please, mine, please.

I felt my Light build up inside me in a rush that raced the heat and I flung it out the open door of my mind directly to Michel, bathing him in it. In all it's brilliance. And then felt him release inside me and call out in triumph against my neck.

We both slid down the tiled wall. Michel on his knees, me still straddling him, his length still inside but softening, slowly. And our breath and heartbeats in sync as the warm water washed over us and out the floor below.

And all I could think, was that I was home.

OK. So, I was one confused and messed up little puppy. I can't tell if what I was feeling for Michel was because of the Bond, so I pushed him away, only to run back into his arms and bed (read shower here), when I'd had a shit of a day. But, I do know this, I absolutely and unequivocally
loved
having sex with Michel. I just had to separate that from all the rest of the mess and emotions and I'd be all right. Men do it, why couldn't I?

Yeah, ri-ight!

“What are you thinking,
ma douce
?”

We were still on the floor of the shower. Hadn't moved, hadn't switched the water off. I guess Michel's hot water cylinder was bigger than mine, it was still beautiful and warm, still covering us in its blanket of water, still holding us in it's embrace like we were holding each other. My heart had slowed a little and my breathing was back under tighter control, but my body couldn't move to save itself. I'm guessing Michel was the same, because he hadn't budged a muscle either. Something about my Light when shared left both parties more than just sated.

“I was thinking how screwed up I am.” I said the words into his shoulder, where my face had been buried. I'm surprised he could hear me over the sound of the water, but then, he was a vampire.

“Please do not regret this. Do not make this into something other than what it is.”

“What is it?”

“Beautiful. A gift. Ours.”

“You make everything sound easy, Michel.” I pulled away from his shoulder to look him in the eyes, watching the swirl of violet in amongst the azure. “I don't work,
think
, like you do.”

He laughed and reached up to cup my face. “That you do not. But promise me,
ma douce
, just this once. Try to enjoy and not condemn your actions. Just this once, love me as you have a right to do.”

I looked at him, really looked at him. Taking in the beauty of his eyes, the curve of his lips, the shape of his face. He was so easy to love. Even after all this time - and I know it's not been that long that I've been admitting I love him, but so much has happened it feels like centuries have passed and then, none at all - that I still lose my breath when I look at him. That I still can't believe he is mine.

“You're mine.” I sounded surprised and I'd meant to just think it, but the words just found their way to my lips and my lips betrayed me.

His face lit up in a glow that I had not truly seen before, something of him being held back all this time. “Yes.” He ran his finger along my lips, his eyes following that movement and all of a sudden I felt him harden inside me, lengthen and swell. Still inside me, still a part of me.

He shifted slightly beneath me and my body responded. My lips found his and his hand clasped the back of my head, pulling me closer. Kissing me, eating me, trying to get inside my mouth and further inside my body than he already was. It didn't take long for the heat to overwhelm us and our bodies to take on a rhythm of their own, but it was slower, more luxuriant, more exploratory than demanding. As though we had all the time in the world to please, to pleasure, to take what we needed and give it back in spades.

The water continued to fall all around us. Still fast and furious little droplets of wet, but everything seemed to slow down as we took our time to find release again and held each other dear.

I'm not sure if it was the slowness of making love this time, or the feeling that we had all the time in the world to love one another, but for some reason, I felt something click into place inside me. Something permanent, something sure, and it felt right. It was as though we had just sealed ourselves together, which sounds strange, considering we have
joined
and Bonded. And you can't get  more connected than that, but yet we could, because we were, right now sealing our fates.

No matter what happened in the future, our bodies would always recognize each other, call to each other, want and need each other. There was really no other way to describe it. But I knew in that instant, Michel and I could not fight this attraction, this basic of needs. A hunger for the flesh of the other. And I could tell he felt it too. He'd probably think that what he felt in my emotions, was me giving myself over to the thought of us, that final part of me that I had been holding back, but it wasn't conscious. It wasn't something that I had just this second recognised and formed a coherent thought around. It was more basic than that, more animalistic. As though evolution was just doing what it had been doing for millennia before and I was just along for the ride.

He sighed and hugged me tighter. I didn't try to explain what I was feeling, it wouldn't have made any difference. He wanted me to want him without reservation, did it matter
how
I had come to that conclusion?

Somehow we did manage to use the shower for what it was intended and I finally found myself wrapped up in a fluffy white towelling robe - one Michel had purchased just for me as I just can't get the same satisfaction from a silky one - lying on the bed, trying to get my body to move and get going. And my mind to think clearly about what lay ahead. Michel watched me from the corner of the room where he was dressing. How was it that he had more energy than me and could get on with things? All I wanted to do was sleep.

He smiled. “Have you had much sleep lately,
ma douce
?”

I thought about that for a moment and realised I hadn't. From kidnappings, to meetings in bars, to family reunions and shape shifter power struggles, to dreams that lead to crying half the night away, I hadn't had a full night's sleep in days. No wonder I was tired. A combination of stress, heightened emotions, lack of sleep and amazing sex can take it out of a girl.

I shook my head at him, suddenly unable to form sentences and only managing to yawn.

He glanced at his watch. “There is still time before we must leave for the airport, why don't you get under the covers and sleep? I have a few things I must attend with Bruno before we go.”

He came over and helped me under the covers, slipping the robe off and letting me slide between the sheets nude. Usually, I'd wear something, but right now I was too tired to worry about my nakedness and Michel didn't make any moves to make me regret it.

“I need to pack,” I said, already closing my eyes.

I felt his lips on my forehead and he whispered, “Leave that to me.” And then he was gone.

Part of me worried about what Michel would choose for appropriate wear in front of the
Iunctio
and in the fashion capital of the world, Paris. But the other part just curled up in a ball by an imaginary fire and purred.

I heard his low laughter rumble through the room as he slipped out the door.

I don't know how long he let me sleep, but I wasn't disturbed, by supernatural dreams or human ones. I just slept in blissful peace, safe and warm and content. It had been days since I had felt so good upon wakening. Alive, healthy, whole. I had always known how important staying in touch - and I mean literally
in touch -
with your kindred was. For those like Nero and Nafrini, who also share a Bond, but one more of sibling love than sexual, the need to touch is still as strong, still as important. When you see them together, you know it's not lustful, but the slide of fingers against fingers as they pass, the touch of a hand to a shoulder at the table, the brief stroke of arm against arm as they walked side by side. More intimate than human siblings, but also so natural that it doesn't make you blush.

For Michel and me, I don't think we'd ever have that platonic need for touch, ours was definitely in the realm of sensual.

For some reason that no longer bothered me.

I was just contemplating getting up and getting dressed, ready to face the rest of the day - and had even sat up, the sheet falling away to my waist - when a flickering light appeared in the centre of the room and before I had a chance to comprehend it's significance, Nero materialised. The look on his face said it all: one, he'd caught a glimpse of my naked upper body and two, he had
not
expected to.

His face flushed a deep crimson and he spun away from me uttering apologies in both Arabic and then English. I grabbed the sheet and covered myself instantly, feeling an equal brightness wash my cheeks. Well, this was unexpected.

“What are you doing here?” My voice was high, slightly panicked. “If Michel finds you in here he'll kill you.”

“I am so sorry, Kiwi.” His back was still to me. “I had not realised. You were no longer with your kindred. For some time now you had been alone. I thought it safe to Walk to you. I am truly sorry. I will leave.”

“Why are you here?” There had to be a reason, the last time we had seen each other I thought it would be the end of him Dream Walking to me. He was so disappointed in me, angry even, I thought I had lost Nero too.

He turned slowly, raising his eyes to me, ready to look away if necessary, but I was covered, if not in clothes, at least in material. But somehow he managed to make that seem too sparse, his eyes looking through the thin sheet as though it wasn't even there.

“Hey!” I said, stiffening slightly.

He looked away again, blushed even more. “My apologies, but I am only male. Please, if you wish me to stay, put something on.” And he turned his back to me again.

I hesitated, then jumped out of bed grabbing my robe and fastening it about me, knotting the cord twice. If Michel came in, it was better I looked bundled up for the depths of the Antarctic than not.

“OK. You can turn around.”

He did and his smile said enough. I was covered, but his imagination was still filling in the gaps. Men!

“Come on, we might as well sit down.” I led the way to the cluster of comfy chairs in the corner, where Michel usual read from his tablet computer. It was still sitting on the low table waiting for him. “You might as well tell me why you are here.” And truth be told, I had missed him, I didn't want him to go away.

He sat down with his usual grace. Nero may be part-human like me, but he's been around about 500 years longer. You pick up ways to make your body move in its best possible light over that period of time. I didn't think it was a conscious thing, just something that has become second nature for him. I wondered in that second just what effect he had on other women in his life, the ones who were free to return his favours.

His eyes flashed their gold flecks, in amongst the coffee and cinnamon swirls at that instant. I shook my head in puzzlement. Sometimes his eyes flashed with emotion at the oddest moments.

“So, why are you here?” I asked.

“I wanted to make sure you were OK.”

“It's been almost a week since I left to kill Gregor, you could have called.” It sounded a little childish. I mean I could have called too, but he was the one who had been angry and practically stormed off. Not that you can storm off in a Dream Walk, but he did have the last word. I don't normally let anyone else but me have the last word, so I was still smarting just a little.

“I heard you had not killed him, but that he had come to New Zealand. I wanted to make sure you were not in trouble.”

“Trouble.” I said it in a huff.

“You
are
in trouble, Kiwi?” He had reached out his hand to touch me, but hesitated in mid air, then pulled it back with something like a look of pain on his face. His features quickly reschooled into their usual intense Nero look.

I ignored it, what could I do? Sometimes Nero just did weird things. “I'm neck deep in trouble, Nero.”

“Tell me.” It never sounded like a command from Nero, more a slightly abrupt request, but never a command.

“Gregor was sent here to assess us. To see if Michel could contain his new powers and not give the Nosferatu away and to discover if I was more than just the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor
.”

Nero stilled. “What did he find?”

“That Michel can't control himself when my safety is concerned and I am
more
than just the
Sanguis Vitam Cupitor
.”

“Shit.” Nero had blanched, the deep crimson of before replaced with a paler version of his normally dark skinned self. To top it off, if hearing Michel swear had been unusual, hearing Nero was downright astonishing. I was having a bad influence on the men in my life.

“This is not good, Kiwi. What have the
Iunctio
decided?”

“They have requested an audience with us. We fly out to Paris tonight.”

His head snapped up and he looked at me, sitting forward in his seat. “I will return to Cairo and organise a flight to Paris immediately. You cannot go alone.”

“No!” Even to my ears it sounded harsh, but dammit, I was
not
going to lose Nero too.

His eyes flashed again, that beautiful coppery-gold, inside the swirls of coffee and cinnamon. “You are too important to the Prophesy to not protect, Kiwi. You are the key that opens the door, without you there can be no fulfilment of the Prophesy. No further Nosferatin called to the duty of the Light.”

“I don't believe that,” I replied a little sullenly.