Deathless Love (17 page)

Despite the fact that she had no care to ever repeat such an episode, she knew already it was going to be fodder for her fantasies for a long time. Dom really did it for her.

“What are you thinking about?” he murmured in her ear, his voice a low purr. She flushed, realizing he was most certainly picking up the scent of her arousal.

“The spanking you just gave me,” she admitted.

His hand trailed to her bottom, lightly stroking her sore cheek. “You know, I read that fifteen or twenty spanks with a wooden paddle after the belt might prevent these welts.”

She couldn't find her voice to answer that.

“If you'll bring me the wooden spoon, we can test it out?”

“No thank you,” she said in a tiny voice.

Dom laughed. “It's probably too late, anyway.”

She rubbed her backside. “So what's your opinion on rubbing?”

He laughed. “You mean should it be allowed? I have no problem with it. I think that's a dumb rule. Personally, I would find the sight of you rubbing your sweet little butt to be visual confirmation that I've done my job well.” He gave her a squeeze with that and she smiled up at him, and was thrown again that he couldn't see her face.

“That's good,” she confessed. “Because when I was standing in the corner, I was rubbing, and I wondered if you'd care and then I realized you couldn't see me anyway!”

Dom laughed with her at that. “I'm sure it was a lovely sight. I would've melted like butter to see you like that. It's something to look forward to next time.”

“There's not going to be a next time,” Kate said firmly, scrambling closer into his arms.

Dom just laughed again. “Oh no? You think you'll never get in trouble with me again?”

“That's my hope,” she said in a little voice.

“Then how will I ever turn you on?” Dom said in a low voice and drew her slowly across his lap.

She listened with every cell of her body, waiting, her breath held, to see where exactly this was going. He stroked the curves of her bottom.

“You were a bad girl, today, weren't you?” he asked, his voice husky.

She felt a surge of arousal. “Yes,” she breathed. He gave her a few gentle slaps, which only hurt because she was still so sore. He followed them with rubbing, which normally helped, but this time even that hurt.

“Bad girls get spanked on their bare bottoms, don't they?” A couple more light slaps.

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Bad girls get spanked hard.”

She was breathing hard now, starting to grind her hips into Dom's lap. He dipped his fingers between her legs, gliding the silky moisture up and down the outside of her pussy. She moaned.

“Did you get spanked hard, Kate?”

“Yessss.”

“Yes. You got spanked with my belt, didn't you?”

Her belly flipped at the mention of the belt and she moaned again.

“Didn't you?”

“Yes.”

“But you'll be a good girl now, won't you?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. You'll get good girl spankings.”

His fingers entered her and she felt a zing of sexual energy run down the insides of her legs to the arches of her feet. Her toes spontaneously curled.

“Good girl spankings are better than bad girl spankings, aren't they, Kate?”

She gasped as his fingers had started to enter and withdraw deeper and deeper. “Oh God…” she moaned.

“I like to give good girl spankings,” he said and his fingers found that elusive g-spot deep within her as his thumb applied light pressure to her butt hole. She bucked under the magic of his touch, shuddering her release and begging for more before it even ended. He didn't release her, bringing her over the edge again, this time penetrating her anus with his thumb as his two fingers continued to explore her g-spot. She was begging, moaning, almost crying at the ecstasy as wave after wave of orgasm rolled through her.

When Dom finally released her, he wasted no time in flipping her on her back and freeing his erection. He gave a fangy smile as he covered her body with his own, entering her and holding her shoulders so he could drive deeply. She rolled her head back, lost to the sensation of it, calling out and climaxing when he came, tipping her head back and pulling his head down to help his fangs find her vein. He struck and suckled, still grinding gently inside her, his heart beating firmly against her own. She sighed. All was right in the world.

* * *

Being unable to see did not hinder making love to Kate in the slightest. But as he suckled her vein post-coitally, he “saw” a dancing of lights around her head.
Fairies.
He'd had that feeling before about her, when he'd been sculpting. Somehow, being blind had enhanced his seldom used inner vision. And he didn't have any of the headache or nausea that he normally did when he tried to call upon it.

“Do you believe in fairies, Kate?” he asked.

“Fairies?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I guess if I believe in vampires, I have to believe in fairies, too, right?” she said flippantly. But then she added, “Actually, I've always loved fairies. When I was a child, I had a picture book about fairies that I used to read over and over again. I pretended that they were watching over me.”

“They are.”

“What do you mean?”

“I see fairies around you now. Being blind has some perks, it seems.”

Kate's fingers were twined in his hair and she was still undulating slightly. He kissed her fully, then rolled onto his side, facing her. “Can I tell you, something?” He felt like he wanted to offer her something of himself. She'd given him the gift of her complete submission. He was so tired of holding himself apart from everybody all the time. It felt amazing to be so intimate with someone for the first time in so many hundreds of years.

“Before I was turned I had a gift. God spoke to me. Or so it felt. I saw things—I knew things before they were going to happen. Nowadays you call them psychic abilities. I had it from childhood. It took me a while to learn that not everyone saw the things I did, and so at first I hid it. I thought something was wrong with me. But when I became a man, I saw it differently. I felt blessed. Like I had guidance, angels that watched over me.

“Then I was turned.” His voice broke a little and he was surprised that after all these years there was still emotion there. “I was turned and…God cast me out,” he croaked.

He felt Kate moving closer to comfort him. He stroked her hair. “I think that vampires…vampires don't… I don't know,” he sighed.

“Don't what?” Kate prompted softly.

“Don't answer to the same God? I don't know. Do vampires serve a different master? I don't really believe that, but ever since I was turned, when I cast my mind out to listen to divine guidance, all I see is a blackness instead of light and my head feels like it's going to split in two. And afterward I throw up.”

“But do you receive guidance?”

“Yes. Usually. But I don't go there often and I don't stay for long.”

Kate was silent for a moment. “Maybe it has nothing to do with God, but it's about your new biology. Maybe your brain works a little differently as a vampire than it did as a mortal. And it changes the way you experience receiving guidance. Because it seems to me like if God cast you out, you wouldn't still be receiving information.”

Dom's eyes burned with tears. He'd been in an existential crisis for almost five hundred years. Hearing a new opinion on the matter—hell, just being able to discuss it, was clearing a film from the lens through which he'd been viewing life.

“Are you all right?” Kate asked sharply.

“Shh, yes. Don't worry—vampires cry blood. It looks frightening but it's normal.”

Her fingers wended through his hair again and he felt a blast of her love surrounding him.

* * *

Kate woke still snuggled against Dom. His skin did not look as red as it had the day before and when he opened his eyes and blinked at her, she could tell he was focusing.

“Can you see me?” she asked, stroking his hair back from his face.

“Mmm.” He sat up on his elbows and blinked, looking around the room. “Yes, it's better. It's like trying to see in room with no lights. If I wait a moment, the shapes come into focus.”

“Dom, I'm so sorry…”

“Enough. No more apologizing. You're forgiven, remember?”

“That doesn't mean I'm not still sorry,” she said, kissing his temple to show her gratitude.

“Let's see how your bottom fared,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her down into what was becoming their favorite position. He stroked her bottom, inciting a delicious shiver through her. “I can't see that well, but I think I left marks this time,” he said matter-of-factly. For some reason that matter-of-fact tone gave her another shiver. It was because she'd deserved those marks—a reminder that she'd had a real punishment at his hands. He let her up and gave her a kiss.

“Kate, do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Run and see if the mail has come yet. It gets dropped through the slot in the front door.”

“I know!” she said brightly, happy to do his bidding.

She returned with the letters and dropped them on the bed. He picked them up and fingered them, not able to read the writing.

“Let me help. Do you want me to read who they're from?”

“No, I've got it,” he said, holding up an envelope from Citibank. He ripped it open, peeled a credit card off the paper and handed it to her. It had her name on it.

“What's this?”

“It's for all the errands I have you run. It's also for you to use for anything you need or want, so long as you text or call me to report what you spent it on when you use it for yourself.”

She blushed at that. She was not going to use his credit card for herself. Although the idea of his willingness to be her sugar daddy made her feel a little giddy.

And she found him ingenious with the way he put limits on it. It was the same as his rule about the wheat. By handing her self-governance with the only qualifier that she must be prepared to justify her actions, he effectively ensured she would never be frivolous about any purchase she made, or pastry she ate. But she would never use his credit card for her own purchases.

He seemed to know that, because he tried again, “I don't care what you buy—I won't question it, so long as you've told me it was important,
capiche
?”

When she just shrugged, he said, “You can simply text me that you need gas in your car. Or that you want to buy your friend lunch. Okay?”

She smiled fondly at him. “I won't need it. But thank you.”

He frowned, but didn't look surprised. “I know, but if you do, it would make me happy if you used it.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Dom teased her all week with spanking-related errands, first sending her to Office Max for a “sturdy ruler” and the next day to several drugstores in search of a large wooden hairbrush. At the end of the week, he sent her to Fascinations, the upscale adult boutique where she was required to pick out her very own paddle.

She'd been there before with friends in search of bachelorette party goodies like penis-shaped lollipops and other silly trinkets, but she's never gone in alone before. It felt a little scarier. The good thing was that Fascinations produced an atmosphere that was as benign as any store at the mall. They had friendly, knowledgeable staff who didn't act awkward or size her up as if they were wondering why she was in a sex shop.

The woman working the floor happily led her to their selection of paddles. “The whips and crops are mostly on the wall there, and the paddles are hanging from that display. There are wood and lexan. The lexan isn't as pretty, but the manufacturer claims it imparts the best sting without bruising.”

“Oh?” Kate choked out, feeling like she must be blushing to her toes.

“Do you have any questions about anything?”

“No, thanks,” she managed and didn't breathe until the salesperson had departed.

It was ridiculous that her fingers were shaking and her heart was running a little too fast as she touched the paddles. She kept thinking about her real punishment spanking. Would Dom use one of these the next time he thought she deserved to be punished? Her belly was developing a little knot. Of course, this is what he wanted. He knew that this errand would make her all a-twitter.

In the end she purchased two paddles—one wood and one lexan. They put it in a black bag and slipped a couple of condoms in as a treat. She managed a weak smile and escaped as fast as she could, not even daring to think of what Dom might have in mind for using them.

Chapter Ten

Randolph's last email sounded like it was written in a near panic. Fox read it again and again.

There's no one I can trust here in London. All the vampires are acting strangely—I can't tell who's working for Roxanna and who isn't. I need to get out of here. Here's my cell number. Call me?

It was just past sundown and Dom and Stella were already out for the evening. He picked up his phone and hesitated. There was a chance Randolph had been turned to Roxanna's side and this was a setup to get to Dom. But no, he trusted Randolph. They had loved each other once, as best they could.

He dialed the number. Randolph picked up on the second ring. “'ello?” he said suspiciously.

“It's Fox.”

“Fox,” Randolph exhaled. “Thanks for calling.”

“What's happening there?”

“Well, the nest I live in is still secure, but I don't know for how long. It seems like other nests in England have been corrupted, as far as we can tell—vampires we knew aren't themselves anymore. Word is that another nest in London was infiltrated in the past few days, and I feel certain we're next. Like tonight. Roxanna has power and sheer numbers in her favor—there's no way we could fight her.”

Fox's heart was beating fast. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I'm at home and I'm sending out an energetic marker to where I am in space. Can you find it?”