Dancing Dragon (35 page)

“Shh.” Michel's finger came up to rest on my lips. Sometimes, he forgot I hadn't spoken the words, that he'd only heard them in my mind. “We are here. We are together. And you, my little vampyre, are mine by blood and flesh. Forever.”

“What does that mean,
by blood and flesh
?” I asked, picking up a slice of fruit and nibbling on it. I was still ravenous. The munchies after a hard night out on the town. That piece of fruit was consumed before Michel spoke and I'd given up on the pretence of eating delicately and was biting into another sandwich by the time he replied. This one: cold roast beef and chutney.

“Vampyre can feed off one another. Not without the blood of humans to survive of course, but for emotional connections. Those mated to another vampyre will share blood. It is considered more than just special; precious and a privilege is perhaps a better description. Intimate. To be mated and share blood and flesh is the most enduring connection our kind can share. A vampyre will only ever have that kinship with one other in their lives. You were already my joined kindred, Bonded,
Sigillum
shared. My wife. Now you are also my vampyre mate. There will be no other for me, ever. You are mine.”

“But I'm not a vampire,” I insisted, feeling a little discomfort at the finality of his words, but also a little possessive at the thought that he could have possibly walked away before, but could never now.

He smiled slowly at me. “My vampyre no longer recognises you as human. You are my vampyre mate, it is how it perceives you. It is therefore the truth.”

Michel had talked of me being his vampire mate back in Auckland, when he had first shown me the true vampire within. He had never exposed himself to that degree before. I had asked it of him. We had been estranged and I wanted him to know he could be himself with me, he did not need to hold anything back. He hadn't. I had been slightly alarmed at the depth and strength and animalism of his vampire, but not surprised. And now his vampire had further proof that I was his vampire mate. And for vampires, what they perceive as true,
is
true. I was his vampire mate despite being only a half-human Nosferatin.

“It is easier for my vampyre to see you as its vampyre mate because you are Nosferatin. I am not sure it would be possible with a human, but you are of the same ilk as us. Once of our kind. My vampyre recognises that. I think, it has craved this connection for some time.” His fingers traced down the side of my neck over his marks and my
Sigillum
.

His gaze stayed there for a while and then he physically shook himself free of the moment and took a deep breath in.

“How are you feeling,
ma douce
?”

I did a mental check of my body, tilted my head from side to side, stretched my muscles and decided I was no longer drunk and also feeling fighting fit. I wasn't hungry anymore either. I told him so.

He picked up the tray of left over food and returned it to the side table then turned his attention back to me. Hunger and desire flashed through his eyes, making a tinge of amethyst seep into the blue.

“I need to taste you,
ma douce
. I am sorry, I would wait longer for you to recover from our earlier experiences,” - he was talking about the back of the Rover, how he had almost bled me dry - “but I
need
you. Now.”

I saw a muscle jump in his jaw, his eyes deepened to a violet with a hint of magenta on the edges. Maybe it was the fact that we had just spent an hour together and he hadn't indicated the need to feed from me during all of that time. We had made love, I had eaten. Hell, I had coffee on board now, the world was back on track. But, whatever reason, the thought of him feeding from me again wasn't nearly as scary as I had expected it to have been.

I nodded slowly, keeping my eyes on his.

He shifted his weight, then moved to crouch above me on all fours. Sometimes, Michel seemed bigger than life. Right then, the hunger and desire in his eyes - the way he licked his lips and kept a firm gaze on my neck; the pulse beneath my skin - made him seem like a big and lethal predatory beast. Michel's vampire was close to the surface, but still I didn't feel fear. I understood that hunger, that blood lust. I had never truly understood it before.

He pulled me down the bed, off the pillows, so I was flat on my back beneath him. Every movement he made seemed powerful, a carefully controlled strength. It was the potential of him unleashing all that force that thrilled me. To be the subject of someone's nearly uncontrolled craving is heady. It made me feel more beautiful, more desirable than I had ever felt before.

I found myself tilting my chin up, exposing the long line of my neck. The growl that came from the back of Michel's throat would have been heard throughout the entire house. It rattled the walls and thrummed inside my veins. I moaned as heat and lust rolled through me at the sight and sound of him. His long, hard sex jerked in response, no doubt he was smelling my desire, feeling my emotions through the connection we shared. His eyes filled with magenta, his fangs slid down and out slowly. He let me see it all.

I didn't shy away, but kept my neck exposed, an invitation to take what he wanted. His growl deepened at my lack of fear and then he moved.

I had expected his fangs in my neck, on the side I had displayed, like a delicacy on a gilded plate. But, it wasn't my neck he bit, instead the sting of his bite was at the crease of my upper thigh. He had found my femoral artery and my blood gushed from the punctures and into his mouth with the full force of my now rapidly beating heart.

A purr started up in the back of his throat as his words caressed my mind.
My blood and flesh, to your blood and flesh. You are mine as I am yours. Forever.
I got the feeling the words meant more than they should have. The whole moment was worth more than it should have. Me drinking from him, him drinking from me. The words spoken in my mind and somehow I found myself repeating them back to him in his, could only mean one thing. This was a ceremony of some sort and he had engineered it.

His
Sanguis Vitam
filled the air, my Light responded with equal fervour. The room began to hum with magic and power. If the walls were rattling before, they were shaking and quaking with force now. The windows rattled, the floor bucked beneath the bed, the whole house creaked and groaned. And through it all I could hear those vampires in the house shouting out in alarm.

I could hear Samson's voice. Antonio's reply of shock. And then Avery's sardonic tone of amusement. But it all paled to the feeling inside me. The all encompassing feeling of rightness. It felt as though Michel was inside my skin. I had no doubt it was the same for him, me inside his. I could feel his emotions; joy, satisfaction, smugness, ownership. Then quickly followed by love, desire, commitment. He would have felt my slight shock, bewilderment, even a little fear. Then all of that washed away with the realisation he loved me and this was just a natural progression for his vampire-within. It owned me, it wanted me to own it, this was purely the next and ultimate step in our relationship. A melding of the connection we already shared.

By the time Michel finished feeding from me, we were both panting ragged breaths. I ached with a fierce need for release. I ached for him. He licked his bite marks closed, licked his lips and then looked me in the eyes. His growl hadn't stopped at all. The predator was not finished. I felt a thrill of excitement course through me, adding warmth and heat to that already present between my legs. I squirmed slightly under his predatory gaze, his growl deepened in response. He wanted more.

A small smile spread across my lips. If his vampire wanted to play, I was happy to oblige. I would never have considered doing something like this before, but I felt safe, loved, despite the growl of the hunter before me, despite the look of hunger and need in his eyes. This was Michel. All of him. He was a part of his vampire and his vampire was a part of him.

I shifted beneath his still crouching form, preparing myself for what was to come. A small moan of delight escaping my lips at the prospect of teasing his vampire and what would follow because of it. Then I rolled over and started scrambling off the bed.

He pounced before I made it even two feet away, I laughed at his fierce hold and appreciative growl. He lifted my rear off the bed with one hand, a gentle squeeze at my hip to let me know he was playing too. And then, pushing my head down into the covers tenderly, his flat palm moving to stroke my sensitive skin between my shoulders, sending tingles throughout my body. I knew what was coming and I craved it, I arched my back and made myself available for him, spreading my legs and moving my butt back towards the predator behind me.

He took me in one swift plunge, his growl becoming a moan, mixed with my cry of need. I gasped out in response, "Yes!" His movements didn't falter, so purposeful and firm and urgent. Within half a minute I was coming and his hand on my back moved around my waist, lifting me off the bed and back up against his hard chest. His hand then grabbed hold of my breast and kept me still as he continued to rock into me from behind. Then, as I had already expected, his teeth and fangs came down on my shoulder fixing himself to me and holding me trapped. Gently, but securely. The hand he had resting on my hip, came up and tilted my head to the side and back, exposing my neck in what was now a familiar vampire mating position.

I luxuriated in the sensations he was creating, the possessive hold, the ardent thrusts, the moans of delight and then the scene shifted, those sensations falling away until I stood in a paved garden of such exquisite beauty. Statues and pale cream pillars, steps leading up to a water feature, intertwined with a verdant green garden, lavender petals and pink rose buds tumbling from laden bushes. I spun around to get my bearings, to figure out what the hell had just happened to take me away from my kindred, and came to face to face with a dragon.

I sucked in a breath, preparing to fight or defend myself and the dragon morphed into Michel. Him, but not him. His body, but more. Then slowly, as though he didn't want to scare me, he changed back to the magnificent mythical creature of before. I could see scales catching the light when he shifted his muscular frame. Large leathery wings extending out behind him when he flexed his shoulders. One minute it was Michel's body I saw before me, the next a dragon. So big and beautiful and bold. The eyes I looked at in Michel's body, in the dragon when he showed me his form, were different from Michel's usual eyes, but also familiar. Serpentine, more compelling and totally addictive. And magenta. Michel's magenta.

This was Michel's vampire-within. I was certain and I felt all fear simply disappear at that knowledge.

The dragon, the vampire-within's, eyes were all magenta, no other colour, but seemed so natural, like it was only the colour that should ever reside in his vampire's eyes. Inside his dragon’s eyes. I love Michel's blue eyes, they are the deep, deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean, sometimes on rare occasions, they are azure like the Mediterranean Sea. So deep and true and mesmerising. But, the magenta of his vampire's eyes trapped me and pulled me in too, until all I could see was him.

He reached up a scaled and clawed hand and gently stroked my cheek. The movement so unexpected for a creature of such power and strength, such fearsome demeanour. His eyes blazed a magical magenta wash, holding my gaze, daring me to look away. He was testing me, seeing if I could handle his true form. I had never considered that Michel's vampire-within would appear to me like this,
could
appear to me like this. But I loved it. I smiled back at the dragon and he snorted a puff of smoke, in - what I can only assume was - amusement.

Then he tilted my head in a firm grasp, still holding my eyes with his and bit the flesh at one of the
Sigillums
on my neck
with a purpose I had not witnessed in Michel before. It was barely controlled and I felt every move. The piercing of my flesh, the lapping of his lizard-like tongue, the fierce pull of my blood down his throat. He stroked my arm with one hand and held the curve of my neck tenderly with the other.

As he fed intently he caressed my mind. It dulled the pain of his bite, the sharp stab of each pull of my blood. He wanted me to feel his power and strength, to know without a doubt that he fed from me, but he also cared enough to show tenderness. His touch on my skin was like cool water flowing over my hot, feverish body; embracing me, cuddling me. Tempered with the power and strength of his predator, it was precious and so very beautiful. He allowed me to see his softer side, even though he still fed without pause.

The vampire, Michel's dragon-vampire, withdrew his fangs and lifted his dragon's head to look me in the eyes.

You are ours
,
his voice - a low, rough sound - echoed inside my head. But these words I had heard from Michel so many times before, also sounded different. Sounded more weighty, more important, more significant than ever before.
We are yours
,
he added.

A pause and then,
This is Michel
.
This is a part of us both
. He looked at me, waiting for some acknowledgement of what he was sharing, was saying. I realised this was so very special, what Michel's dragon was showing me; a part of Michel - I knew we were in fact inside Michel's mind - a place where his vampire-within resided, that part of him which is all vampyre. The Dark, the
Sanguis Vitam
, that which makes him Nosferatu.
I nodded and Michel's dragon
stroked my cheek lightly and faded, along with the beautiful garden, to black.