The Vampire Legacy; The New Queen Rises (17 page)

"So, how does this work?" I asked him. He
smiled at me and let me see his folded hand.

"You step on my hands, put your hands on my
shoulders and just relax," he said and laughed at me.

"Sounds kind of kinky if you ask me," Lauren
added. Quinn looked at her and snickered then looked at me.

"Ready?" He asked. I reached out with both
hands to touch his bare wet chest, but I couldn't seem to get any
closer than an inch away. He reached his hands up and put them on
mine then pressed my hands to his chest. It surged through us both
like an electrical storm that made my nose tingle. I snatched my
hand away and looked at him. He looked almost as shocked as I did
and I backed away. "Don't go," he said softly to me. I bit my lip
and tried to control my breathing. "Please."

"I..." I started then stepped back to him. I
hesitated again, and then slowly put my hand on his chest again.
The feeling swept over me, as I looked him in the eyes and the two
of us just stood there. He put his hands on my waist and the surges
got more powerful, until I thought that I was going to faint.

"Ash," he said, as he suddenly pulled me
close to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he closed his
eyes. "I don't want this to stop."

"We don't even know what it is," I whispered
to him.

"Now would be a good time to let go," Michael
said in my ear. I opened my eyes, and he suddenly stood in front of
me. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now, or we're going to get
caught." I pushed away from Quinn and looked at Michael. Quinn
turned also and looked at him. "Come with me, we have to talk."

Michael took my hand and looked at Quinn, who
hurriedly looked at Lauren and followed us out of the water and up
to the house. Lauren and I quickly changed and met each other on
the stairs before walking out to the porch where the five of us
sat; Michael, Lauren, and Julian in the deck chairs, I was on the
wall and Quinn was leaning against the wall, about a foot away from
me.

"What happened out there?" Julian asked. I
shook my head and looked at Quinn, who glanced at me and looked
back at his brother.

"Nothing," he replied.

"Quinn, this isn't something to play with."
Michael sighed. "As soon as you two connected, you're eyes began to
glow fire. Imagine if someone had actually seen that."

"I didn't notice anything," Quinn said again.
His normal hardness had returned and he wanted nothing to do with
anyone's opinion.

"Listen, the both of you," Julian spoke up.
"Whatever connection the two of you have, you better keep it under
control, because it could be a dangerous thing."

"I personally haven't seen anything about it
that could be harmful to either of us," Quinn replied, again. I
looked at the two of them and I stood up. Without a word, I walked
off the deck and over to the trees. I heard Quinn tell someone to
sit down, and then I heard the footsteps behind me. I turned and
looked at him as he approached. "Why are you always walking
away?"

"I knew I shouldn't have done that," I told
him and ran my hands through my hair, resting them on top of my
head. "I told you I was scared. Why am I such an ass, why can't I
just ..."

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me
to him, all in an instant. He kissed me, wholeheartedly, on the
lips. I couldn't protest; I didn't want to. I was so fed up with
restraint that I just wanted to give into him all the way. I
lowered my arms and wrapped them around him. I put one hand on the
back of his head and ran my fingers through his hair, then held him
so he couldn't break away. It was getting too powerful, and the two
of us could have easily given in, but his self-control made him
able to pull away. He held me by my waist as I looked at him and
put my hand on his cheek. With each passing second, the pulse grew
less electrifying, but it never really went away.

"What's happening?" I asked him, staring into
his eyes.

"You're letting it go," he whispered faintly.
"We've been avoiding each other so much that I think it built up in
us. When we first touched, it was like an explosion, and slowly
it’s getting weaker. Don't you feel it? It's as it felt when we
went to Boston. There, but controllable."

"I...I..." I couldn't find the word.

"You're not going to run again, are you?" He
asked me. I smiled at him, and then it faded as I put my other hand
on his chest and leaned my cheek against him. I felt so odd, but at
the same time, so right.

"I'm terrified," I replied.

"No, you're just excited." He smiled at me.
He kissed my head took my hand and kissed it, and then he let me
go. We walked back to the others, not touching, and as we stood
near them again, Julian looked at each of us. "Don't worry about
it, it won't happen again. I think we figured out how to control
it. So, you can just drop it."

Ash
? Michael asked me. I looked at
him.
What is it
?

He could read my emotions.
The burning in
my veins is getting to be too much
.
I think I need to lie
down
.

No,
he said softly.
You need to
feed.

How and where
?

Come; I’ll show you
.

I looked at Quinn as Michael and I stood up
and walked away without a word. He brought me into the basement,
and led me down a path to a room. He knocked on the door and when
it opened I saw quite a few people just standing around. He pointed
at a tall, moderately built girl in the corner and she walked out.
He walked the two of us to another room, where he first bit her,
and then he passed her over to me. I latched on to her neck and
felt my teeth grow sharp, filling the hole that Michael had
made.

"Don't worry about her, Ash. Take what you
need," he said. Before I knew it, she was dead in my arms. I looked
up at him and pushed her away, but strangely I felt no remorse for
what I had just done. "They come here a lot, just looking for a way
out. We have them sign an agreement; they're blood for a place to
stay. It's written in the contract that they might die because of
it, but they sign it anyway."

I’m tired now
, I said softly to him.
He smiled and took my hand, then led me up to a back door in the
kitchen and up the back stairway to my room. He left me sitting on
the bed, but before he closed the door, he looked at me.

"Please, be careful with Quinn," he
pleaded.

"I will," I replied and watched him close the
door. I fell asleep in the t-shirt and shorts that I had changed
into before our little family meeting, with a strange feeling of
warmth and security.

Nightmares plagued my sleep and I woke up
quite a few times in a cold sweat. The second time that I sat up
quickly, I felt someone sleeping beside me. When I got close enough
to see, I found out that it was Julian. I touched his shoulder and
he rolled over to look at me, wrapped his arm around my shoulder
and pulled me down to him. I put my head on his chest and he fell
back into his sleep.

When I woke up the next morning it was still
early but Julian was gone, probably eating breakfast all ready. I
changed my clothes, knowing that it was going to be hot. I put on a
sports bra and some jean shorts and grabbed a tank top, just in
case. I walked out the front door and started to walk around the
inner ring of the property.

Where I ended up was on the rocks just past
the beach house again and I sat and watched the water in front of
me. I could hear splashing to my left, looked over towards the
bonfire site, and saw someone swimming around. Slowly, as my
curiosity became more and more, I made my way over to stand just on
the other side of the rocks, where I could see whoever it was but
they couldn't see me.

I watched him dive in and out of the water,
and I knew who it was because of his presence, but was I really up
for another encounter with Quinn so soon after last night? I tried
to hide the best I could, but he slowly turned and looked in my
direction. I turned and tried to pretend that I wasn't watching
him, when he came around the corner to see who his Peeping Tom
was.

"I had a feeling it was you," he whispered in
my ear. I still felt strange about his sudden affection towards me.
"Weren't you going to come out so I could see you?"

"Actually, I was kind of enjoying the view
from where I was standing," I said and turned towards him. "I was
watching you be free."

"I'm always free."

"No, you're not," I told him. He laughed at
me and put his arm up against the rock to support some of his
weight.

"Suddenly, you're an expert." He smiled at
me.

"I notice things, I observe," I replied,
crossing my arms.

"So tell me, oh, great one, what have you
noticed about me?" He questioned. I stepped back and looked him
over, then started.

"When you're alone, you're eyes are lighter,
as if a certain weight is lifted because you don't have to impress
anyone, you can be yourself," I told him. He nodded as I went on.
"When you're near people, you seem to insist on being the cool,
calm one, always with the level head, never letting anyone see your
fears or your worries. You're eyes get darker and they hide your
emotions quite well, but not well enough. When you're near your
brother, you feel that you have to be better, like it's a contest
to see who the better man is, but sometimes you're the only one
playing," I whispered to him.

"And what about with you?" He asked.

"You're looking for a fight, an argument,
something that makes your blood hot, so the feelings are more
intense," I replied and laughed at him. "You need an adrenaline
rush to keep you going and arguing with me does just that," I
answered him calmly. He stepped closer and I stepped back.

"You want me so badly to just give into you,
but I won't and that makes you mad, gets your blood pumping, makes
the chase more exciting."

"I want you any way I can get you," Quinn
said, stepping closer again as I backed away.

"Do I make your blood boil?" I asked him
smiling. "I'm something that you can't control and it drives you
insane."

"I don't want to control you; I want you to
give in willingly," he whispered. I finally stepped back into the
water and looked down, then up at him. "You seem to have run into a
corner."

"There's always a way out," I replied
quietly.

"Show me. Make me believe that you mean
that." He smiled and stepped closer. I turned and quickly climbed
up the rock, catching him off guard so he couldn’t grab me. He
followed me until I ran down to the beach, then he stood, less than
five feet away.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked him. He
smiled at me and stepped closer. "Are you going to grab me and
throw me down in the sand?"

"The idea had crossed my mind," Quinn
replied. I kicked off my shoes, threw the tank top in the sand and
ran out into the water. I dove under and came up just around the
corner, in chest deep water. Quinn swam out and stopped by me.
"That's not fair, you let yourself get caught."

"Wouldn't you like me to stop playing games?"
I asked him. He nodded and stepped up closer to me. He reached out
and touched my hair with his fingers, and even then, I could feel
the pulse. I reached up and put my hands on his chest. He put his
hand down as I ran my hands over his wet skin. "This is very
strange."

"You're not the only one who thinks so,"
Quinn said and quickly took my hands off his chest. "You have to
stop that."

"Why?"

"Let's just say it's sensitive to touch,
especially yours," he replied.

"I thought that's what you wanted?" I asked
him as he put a hand on my waist and pressed his body against
mine.

"Not yet, not here," he murmured, as he
leaned down to me and held himself within a half an inch from my
lips, and he looked into my eyes. "I don't know what to do anymore,
Ash. I want you so bad it hurts, but I don't want to give in yet, I
want it to build."

"You're an unusual man," I said and touched
his lips with my tongue. He jumped slightly at this. "Most men
would love to be here holding a woman like this, and give into
their passion."

He moved his lips from mine and moved my hair
out of the way, then leaned down and kissed my neck, along my veins
and down my shoulder. He kissed me until he was back at my neck and
then he opened his mouth and ran the tip of his fangs along my
skin. This gave me goose bumps and I put my arm around him to hold
him closer. He continued to tease me then he grabbed me by the
hair, tangling his fingers in it, but not hurting me at all. He
bent my head back, kissed my chin, then down to the hollow of my
neck, and further, until my top stopped him.

He came back up and kissed my neck again, my
breathing was heavy and he knew that he had me. I looked up at the
sky as he ran his teeth over my skin again and put a little
pressure on my neck with the tips of his teeth.

"Do you want this?" He asked me softly in my
ear and continued his soft kisses.

"Yes," I responded to him, as he breathed
heavy near my ear.

"Relax," he said quietly and moved back down
to my neck. He kissed me lightly, and then pressed his teeth into
my skin. It felt like a pop when they broke through, but the pain
was different this time, it wasn't as intense and slowly faded as
the feelings of ecstasy moved close to the top. We stood there
clinging desperately to each other as he sucked on my neck, but I
could feel the control he had, the way he controlled the blood
flow. I knew he was only taking a little, but it felt
exquisite.

I couldn't help the small noises that escaped
my lips from time-to-time as I let my eyes close and I gave in to
him. He pulled away gently, but I still hadn't moved from where he
held me. His fingers untangled themselves and he held the back of
my neck now, kissing my chin, and then he brought my head up
straight so that he could kiss my mouth.