Darkened Days (12 page)

She plunged down, taking him exactly as he asked, deep inside, slick and tight.  Koen reached for her, but she sat astride him like he was a horse and rode him until he, too, exploded like he never had before.  Just as he shot into her, she was swept into another orgasm stronger than the last. 

Both felt an odd sensation spread through them and for a moment, Alisa was shocked to feel as if she was out of body, yet tethered somehow to him.  A connection that seemed to extend beyond the physical. 

She collapsed, her weight light against the big man.  When she rolled off him to curve against his side, he moaned and pulled her close.  Her womanhood ached, but in the amazing way it did after it
got what it was made for.

Koen rolled onto his side and reached for her.

“That beat the hell out of steak,” Alisa said.

“That beat the hell out of everything,” he responded.  He curved his hand around the back of her head and kissed her again.

“I can’t get enough of you.  You lied to me.  You’re a witch and you’ve ensnared me with your magic.”

“You were an easy mark.  No woman could have said no to all this.” 

She ran her hand down his chest. 

Koen moaned, and slid his hand down to cup her buttocks.

“Just your touch turns me on.”  Alisa responded.  “I think it is
you
who have used magic on
me.
  I’m the girl at nightclubs men usually refer to as an ice queen.”

Her eyes were serious.

“Really, Koen, it means a lot to me that you know how special this was.”

He’d felt something at one point tonight, he didn’t know what. 
Sadness?
  Something just not quite right.  But their joining had been so perfect he knew it wasn’t this unexpected intimacy.  He felt it again now as he watched a soft smile on her lips, but pain in her gaze.  He brushed her hair back and looked into those sorrowful eyes.

“What’s wrong, beautiful?  Whatever it is, let me fix it for you.”

Her smile widened.

“God,
that was the perfect thing to say.  Why did I have to meet you now?  When it’s too late?”  She shook her head, the satin strands slid over her shoulders.  “I’m sorry.  Thank you for offering.  But everything is okay.  I’ve just realized this moment that it’s all going to be okay.  That everything is happening as it is supposed to.  And you have been the most spectacular surprise.  I won’t forget you.”

He knew it was a goodbye.  And he knew he wouldn’t accept it.  For whatever reason, this stranger had
suddenly become very important to him and it wasn’t just the sex.  The sex had been the best of his life, but part of that was because of an intangible connection between them from the moment their eyes met tonight.  He’d never believed in love at first sight or destiny, but he honestly felt that this night was evidence he was wrong.

“Alisa, stay with me.  I can’t be with you tomorrow, but I’ll be back tomorrow night.  Will you stay here in this apartment until then?”

She shook her head.

“I can’t.  I’m traveling and I ha
ve a flight out in the morning.  It’s okay.  We had a night of pure erotic pleasure.  Koen, I’ve never felt anything like this before.  Those orgasms…believe me when I say that is not typical for me.  You are a very skilled man.”

“
There’s more to our lovemaking than just skill.  Change your plans.  I’ll make sure I surpass everything we did tonight.  Please.  Stay.”

“I would love to.  I can’t think of anything I’d rather do in this world right now than to spend the next few weeks making love with you.  But it isn’t possible.”

It wasn’t.  With this connection they had, she couldn’t risk him getting attached to a dying woman.

“There is nothing more important.  Is it a job?”  He clenched his teeth.  “Another man?” 
He felt possessive towards her although he knew he had no right.

“No!  Oh,
Koen, no.  I meant it when I told you it had been long time since I last had sex.  I’m so grateful we met.”

That calmed down the beast that threatened to rise inside.  Vampires were very protective of their women.  It still shocked him that he was having these feelings for a woman he just met. 
Yet he couldn’t deny it.  He wanted her and nothing was going to keep her from him. 
Was it forever?
  He didn’t know.  He just knew that right now, he needed her close.

“Well, whatever the reason, I will take care of it.  I will fix it.  You will stay.”

To make his point, he pulled her to him and kissed her so erotically, heat and moisture surged again.  

Without words, she made it clear they were not finished.  Pushing him back agains
t the bed, she slid down his legs, her hands trailing against the thickest muscled thighs she’d ever seen.  As she moved down, her eyes dropped to his cock and she looked back up at him.

“Wow.  Just…wow.  She paused and took him in her hand, her fingers moving across the head as he groaned.  “I think that word covers it.  Believe me, if I could stay, I would. 
Now, though…”

She lowered her head and began an aggressive attack with her tongue that created an explosive reaction from him very quickly. 
How satisfying to bring such an impressive man so much pleasure. Just to hear the moan as his body responded to her.

When s
he crawled back into his arms, he kissed her hair and sighed in satisfaction as he fell asleep. 

Alisa caressed his chest
while she listened to him breathe.  She wondered how sorrow and absolute joy could exist side by side.  She finally fell asleep on the thought that she could have fallen in love with this man
.  If
time had allowed.

CHAPTER NINE

Victoria Falls was non-stop adventure.  Grateful now for the insanity that brought her here,
Starla embraced every second of the experience with passion and intensity. 

On the border between the two countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe, it was referred to as the Smoke that Thunders because of the sprays created by the massive chain of waterfalls.  It was considered to be the biggest curtain of water in the world.

Heavily visited by tourists during the daylight, Starla and Henri were surprised by how many people were there for after-dark activities.  They wandered hand in hand as they watched the vacationers and absorbed the beauty of the area. 

“Stunning,” Starla said as they stood, nearly soaked, at the edge of one of the viewing areas to watch the water glisten in the full moonlight. 

Not long after arriving, they were treated to a breathtaking moonbow arcing brilliantly through the crashing waters. 

Laughing the entire time, she and Henri hiked some of the trails and filled up on beer and wine, of which South Africa offered excellent local vintages.

Henri made a perfect traveling partner, and more than once on this journey she found herself wishing desperately that she could fall madly in love with him exactly the way he deserved.  His joy and humor matched hers perfectly.

One night, during a midnight feeding frenzy at a popular café, he paused and pushed back a lock of her hair that had escaped its clip.

“You’re laughing a lot now.  Did you know that?” he asked.

Starla shook her head.

“You’ve been so melancholy lately,” he continued.  “Angry, intense, aggressive, in Paris, after the change.  I thought you’d adjust.  Everyone does.  But you never did.  Then since we got pinched by that vampire, you’ve been mostly…” he trailed off and watched her expression for a moment.

“Sad,” he finished.

She hadn’t realized.  Hadn’t known he noticed so much how she felt.  Had been too wrapped up in her own misery and self-loathing, she’d barely noticed anyone else. Sliding a hand across the table, she slipped it under his and entwined their fingers.

“I’m sorry, Henri.  It’s true I’ve been bitterly upset.  It didn’t seem
fair.  I’d left my safe home for adventure.  Only it seemed that the only thing I found was evil and wrong.  Nasty, the sex and blood.  I hadn’t realized what a self-righteous prude I was.  You’ve helped me embrace being vampire these past weeks.  Henri, I love it now.  I love the possibilities.  I’ll always be grateful to you.  You’re family to me.  I hope we will always stay together, sharing our lives through these many years because I can’t imagine my life without you.”

“I agree.  We already made a pact to meet in Cairo in a hundred years.  How about a pact that no matter what, we spend at least a week tog
ether each year?”

“I love it.  Pact made and sealed.  Now, I promise you.  No more morbid whining.  In Cairo, that second night, when you pulled the all-nighter with the gorgeous locals, I had a major epiphany.  I’ve embraced the vampire I have become.  So now, I am happy to be here with you, young forever, healthy forever, and getting ready to zipline acro
ss the falls.”

“You’re not afraid?”

“My dear Henri, what is there to be afraid about?

“You can still fall and get badly hurt.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to be the cautious one?”

“Oh, vampire, race you!”  He yelled.

They used vampire hyper-speed to get to the site where two guys, compelled to work with only them, helped secure them in harnesses and prepare for the exhilaration of swinging through the air across the rushing water lit mostly by the full moon.  Starla laughed the entire way across, caught by Henri on the other side, where they collapsed in relief and elation.

“Again?”  Henri asked.  With a shove, Starla jumped up.

“Me first!”

Afterward, they lay side by side, naked, clothes drying on a big rock, and watched the sky.

The rest of the night was filled with thrills and magic.  Then they slept well in a narrow bed sheltered from the African sun.  Starla curled up in Henri’s arms, sure they were on the road to one of the most beautiful platonic loves in history. She didn’t notice Henri turned his lower half away.

The tall swarthy man watched the young vampires playing in his yard.  The whole of this continent was his, and he was very possessive and protective of it all.  Vampires passed through often and he let them.  A few stayed and as long as they behaved, he didn’t care.  But this female.  He could see she was something unlike others.  He could see she was here for him.

Her aura, bright and powerful, spoke to him.  It called to him.  It inflamed him as he had never been inflamed before. 
What was she that she did this to him?

He closed his eyes and sent his own aura out to touch hers.  Ah.  She was Shoazan. 
Capable.
  He hadn’t dared to hope.

That was why his body wanted her.  His eyes left her for a moment to touch on the other.  The young male with her.  Handsome, as young vampires were.  New.  Weak.  He was of no consequence.  He could not stop the master of this land.  Tomorrow night he would take her.

He watched her swing across his great waterfall.  She glowed.  He almost wanted to howl and claim her right there. As often as he’d been told he lacked patience, this moment proved he could still summon it.  It took all he had to wait.  But he felt it was the way.  Take her with no trauma.  She would just waken to her new life with him.

Ahmose looked to the sky.  The full moon watched over him and his people tonight.  It watched over their future as it brought the one who would bear his children
to him, naked and glistening in the mist of the Mother.  He scanned the darkened sky for any sign that this was not meant to be, but the stars were all in their place.

He had a little trouble catching his breath.  All these centuries he’d decided it wasn’t going to happen.  Hundreds of women, thousands, and never a whisper.  Until the one who swung through the air to him tonight.  Destiny was satisfied.  Finally, so was he. 

He left his perch high above and jumped the considerable distance to the ground where his attendants waited.

Jacob thanked Xavier and entered the building to take the private elevator to Eillia’s apartment.  Several people in the lobby gave the huge man in the small tight lavender pants an amused look.  He returned them with a “promise of instant death
” stare if anyone laughed out loud and was grateful when the door closed behind him.

On the top floor of the building he wal
ked in aggressively hoping to make it to his room to change before anyone saw him.  He wasn’t that lucky.

Eillia
and Daniel were on the large sectional sofa that scored the edges of a sunken seating area and they both turned when the elevator locked in place.

Daniel laughed until he snorted.  Eillia kept her  amusement to a
smile.

“Hey, could have been completely naked.”

That stopped Daniel’s mirth.  He would not have liked Eillia watching Jacob cross a room naked.  She was too sexually aroused now because of the pregnancy.  While he trusted her completely, his vampire genes made his jealousy spike and he found himself in front of her.

Jacob grinned.  “Touché,” he said and disappeared down the long hallway.

“He seems fine,” Eillia said suddenly.  “From the beginning this has been so messed up.  I need to see Starla is okay.”

“She’s vampire now.  Pretty durable.  I’m sure she’s fine, Lia.”  He often still referred to her using the short version of her name she’d first introduced herself with.

“No, Daniel, I don’t mean physically.  Jacob said she was furious because I came into her life but didn’t tell her what I was.  She feels victimized because I didn’t trust her enough to let her know the truth.  What she doesn’t understand is I was actually trying to protect her.  This young cadre isn’t normal, she doesn’t know that.  She was such an innocent.  No wonder she feels betrayed.”

“This is not your fault.  You left both of us to live our human lives. 
She
decided to follow you here.  It wasn’t your fault she was hit by a car or targeted by these rogues.  Jacob is back on the job now.   He’s a bulldog , you know that.  Once you explain it to her, she’ll understand.”

Dressed in his own jeans and tee shirt,
Jacob came back out to a genuine hug from Eillia and a man-hug from Daniel.

“How are you, Jacob?  Did she hurt you?”

“No.  Pissed me off mostly.  Pawed at me, but that isn’t anything new.  Women always want a piece of this.”

He
dropped into a chair and reached for a bottle of beer Daniel had just opened for himself.  He didn’t protest.

A long draw from the bottle emptied almost half and Jacob leaned back, his head resting against the back of the chair, his eyes closed.

“The bitch wanted to make me
her
bitch!  I don’t mind, but I like to choose my own partners.”

“How did she hold you?”  Daniel asked.

“That’s the fucked up part.”  Jacob looked at Eillia.  “Normal vampires can get powers from you first bloods?”

Eillia nodded.

“We have only realized that recently.  But yes, it’s possible.  What could she do?”

“That freezing thing you guys do.”

“Oh.  That’s quite powerful, to command a vampire’s body.  She must be ingesting Xavier’s blood.  I’m surprised he allows it.  It’s rare for a first blood to share blood except with a mate or longtime lover.  It’s too intimate.  I did not get the sense they were together.  Huh.  Well, I’m just happy to have you back.”

“Yeah.  Now.  Does anyone know where Starla is?”

“No.  Xavier said he sent them out, but with orders to break up and spread out. He suggested they leave Paris.  I think most of them did.  Koen sent three teams through downtown with no sighting of her.  So, I think she’s left the country.  I contacted Hugo at the Blue Star back in Wilkes-Barre to see if she might have gone home.  She didn’t.  I wouldn’t have expected her to but I had to check.”

Jacob felt sick.  His girl was out there in the world somewhere and he had no idea how to find her.

“Any idea how we start?”

Eillia shook her head and turned sideways so Daniel could massage her back.   The baby was getting really big now and it took every bit of her strength to carry him through a busy day.

“I wish I knew.  If she’d had a blood-bond, I could do a blood trace.  But that’s rare for a young vampire.”

Jacob hesitated, took another long draw on the beer.

“What if she fed from me?  Could you try to do a blood trace for
my
blood?”

Eillia tilted her head, surprised.  “Starla fed from you?”

“Hey, I didn’t feed her.  There was no sex involved.  Well…”

“Jacob, tell me what happened,”
Eillia said forcefully, pushing Daniel back gently.

“She was pissed.  At you.  At me.  Felt betrayed.  I tried to reason with her, get her to come back with me so you could explain everything to her.  She ran.  I caught up with her and it got a little heated.  Then, she came on to me.  Seriously, Eillia, it was just to piss me off.  She launched herself at me after putting on a pretty fucking sexy show.  I thought she was going to try to kiss me but she w
ent for my neck.  It took me a few moments to get myself aware enough to push her off.  Eillia, she’s incredibly sexy now.  She isn’t the sweet innocent little waitress you knew.”

“She is to me
.  Shit! Well, alright.  This may actually be good.  You’re lucky you didn’t take advantage of her or I would freeze you until winter!”

“Hey, I’m the white knight here.  I was just trying to rescue her.”

It didn’t seem to be the time to tell Eillia he was far more invested than just Bas’s security guy sent to retrieve her.  His connection to Starla had startled both of them.  As badly as Eillia wanted her friend found safe and sound, he wanted her more.

“You’re right, Jacob.  I should release you from the responsibility.   You’ve gone above and beyond and had a tough few weeks.  I would like to try to use your blood connection to trace her.  Your blood is strong, it may work.  Then, you can go home with my gratitude for your dedication.  Get some rest.  You’ve earned it.”

No, hell, no!
  Jacob thought.

On the floor, legs folded in front of him which did not come naturally, Jacob sat across from Eillia, who somehow managed to look elegant and calm instead of awkward and uneasy.   She leaned in and spoke softly.