We kissed with dropped teeth, bleeding each other and ignoring the stings. I wrapped my arms and then my legs around him. He supported me with a gasp and then lowered us to the floor."Oh, Alexis, I missed you. I missed you so much!"He pulled back to look at me. "My love, my beautiful, beautiful love." He kissed me and stroked my tongue with his until I thought I'd faint. Alexis, who had not touched another human for four hundred years until me, was now running his fingers up my arms. His touch caused me to shiver uncontrollably. He was allowing himself to warm up, and I could feel the heat radiating off his fingertips. He made his heart beat, and I could feel his breath hot against my lips. I felt his tongue again, this time gentler as it teased my lips and healed the little scrapes. I reached up and ran my fingers through his silky curls."I missed you," he whispered. "I love you."My eyes stung."It's not your fault," he whispered. "I see that you feel guilty because you
I lowered myself carefully onto his otherworldly penis. Alexis threw his head back and groaned loudly as I plunged lower onto him. At the beach house this had been Alexis' favorite position, we hadn't been Vampires then. Here it was my Vampire flesh melding with his. It seemed impossible that our skins had never touched this way before. Though as familiar as the back of my hand, this was truly our first time making love.I stopped before he was completely inside of me and leaned forward to plant my hands on each side of his head. He brought his hands up to stroke my sides and squeeze my breasts while I arched my pelvis forward forcing him to sink deeply into me. Arching my back, I allowed him to slip almost completely out of me then rocked my pelvis forward against him until he was completely inside of me again. His hands on my breasts tightened until I gasped half in pain and half in pleasure. I rolled my pelvis against him and then sat up enough so I could reach behind me to stro
I stared at Alexis in shock. His alabaster skin was now pink like a newborn's. The skin on his hands was mottled and gnarled in a way my own hands had been. His eyelids were so scarred I could only see his beautiful eyes through slits. He stood as I watched him in horror. There were more scars on him than had been on me.He looked at his hands and smiled. "This, I can feel. Thank you, my love, for giving me so much to feel.""But you have many more scars than I had.""No, my love. You had many scars on the inside. I will heal these more quickly than you ever could." He looked around. "The day is coming to an end, and she will awaken soon. You must go."We got dressed."I'm going to come back when the sun rises," I said."No. She will surely know if you do. I want you on the other side of the ocean before the next sunrise. I will keep myself blocked from her until then, but after that she will know. I will try to be selective with my memories, but it will be difficult. Don't mak
Tyler said it was all her fault. She thought I had died.Karen said it was her fault. She said she should have never brought me here.Monica said it was her fault because she should not have kept secrets from me. I hugged and kissed them all. Tyler pulled away from me and looked at me. Her eyes were big, and her mouth fell open. "Oh honey, your burns. They're gone!" She sniffed. "And you've been fucking!" My face warmed."You really found Alexis?" Karen asked.I tried not to blush. "I found him," I said. They squealed and jumped up and down. They touched my skin. Tyler examined my eyelids. "You had time to fuck him? How did you have time to fuck him?" "No, you didn't," Monica whispered, hugging me. "What?" Karen asked. "Ladies," I said when Monica broke her hold on me. "I have a secret to tell you. But I can't tell you here. It's a secret that's going to take a blood oath." I'd never done a blood oath with them because I'd never had a secret big enough to tell them.
"I'll feel better when we're out of here," Tyler said. We were locking up the villa when I felt a familiar tingling on the back of my neck."Shit," Tyler said. She had felt it, too.My first thought was Athena, but it was a masculine voice that spoke. "Leaving so soon?" It was the heavily accented voice of Marcelle.We spun around to see not only Marcelle and his second in command Paolo, but five other Vampires as well.I studied Marcelle. "As I said, my time here is limited."Marcelle smiled. "You look lovely this evening. Do my eyes deceive me or is your skin healed of its burns?"I smiled slightly. "Thank you for noticing. You are correct. My burns have been healed.""And if you don't mind me asking, how did you achieve such a feat?" Marcelle asked."Well now, a lady can't reveal all of her beauty secrets."His smile grew even broader. "Of course, forgive me." He looked around. "I seem to always catch you at a bad time, when you're on your way to someplace else. However,
Marcelle bowed slightly to the Elder. "Esmeralda, may I introduce you to our guest. This is Kim Russell and her First Lieutenant Julie. The others are her personal staff."Esmeralda held out her hand. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it—kiss it, bite it, or shake it.Marcelle smiled at me. I took Esmeralda's hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I understand that I was summoned here.""Yes," Esmeralda said. "You were summoned by me. Marcelle said that you were badly burned around your eyes, yet your skin is flawless." She tilted her head slightly. "How did you manage this in one evening?"I slammed my shields up remembering something Alexis had said about creating false memories. Athena would be able to see what had happened between us unless I created false memories, too. How the hell did you create false memories? How did I spend my evening if it wasn't with Alexis? Perhaps I had spent my evenings with an elder, but the only one I could think of in a pi
"Well, if you are not going to let us go, then ask your questions," I said."Did Alexis ask you to come to Epic Cu?" Esmeralda asked."No."They waited for me to expand. I didn't."Why did you come?" Esmeralda asked."Curiosity." And that wasn't lying. I was curious about Alexis. Even the weakest Vampire could smell a lie, so I knew that they would know if I lied. My answer wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie."Did you come to break Alexis out of his prison?" Esmeralda asked.I narrowed my eyes. "You're awfully curious about Alexis? Why?"As is so often the case with Elders, Esmeralda struck fast. I didn't see her flinch, but I felt as if someone had hit me with a baseball bat! She smacked me, but it wasn't a human smack. She hadn't used her hand. Her power smacked me, and I felt my head snap back as I went flying out of the wingchair. I found myself kneeling on all fours on the floor with blood dripping out of my nose. When I tried to raise my head, a sharp pain stabbe
Someone screeched beside us. It was the sneaky little British man. He had flown at us while our backs were turned, but Tyler had leaped at him and apparently had made contact with his face because his skin was smoking and bubbling. "Enough!" Esmeralda screamed. Her ruined arm was hanging uselessly at her side. "Alexis, you've left Epic Cu and forfeited your bargain with the Elder Council."Alexis chuckled. "Esmeralda, it has been many years; centuries in fact, since last we spoke. I see that you are still governed by your ridiculous jealousy. I have not left Epic Cu. As we speak I am staring out of one of the stained glass windows at the stars. It's such a beautiful night. I love Spain and its dark, sultry beauty."Esmeralda grew dark, darker than was natural even with her Latin heritage. She cursed him in Spanish, but somehow I understood every word. "You pig! You bastard! How dare you call this … this Third 'Your Love' when we shared a bed for close to two hundred years and you b
"Are you ready, my love?" Alexis asked."I'm not sure," I said. "She's still so little."Alexis kissed the dark curls at the top of our daughter's head. "Tiye is strong enough to travel back to our realm. We've been here a year. Don't you miss home?""Yeah, but a year here is only like five minutes in the Above," I said."More like a few weeks," Alexis said. "The Ladies are anxious to meet their new niece."He gently lifted his sleeping daughter, tucking her blanket carefully around her body. She had just turned three months old and was as round and plump as a melon. Her thick, curly hair was sure to be as wild as mine was when I wasn't wearing the plaits that Oni put them in. She looked like us—my brown skin with Alexis' nose and Mona Lisa smile.Alexis had named her after an ancient Egyptian Queen who was the deity of light. Leave it to him to name his daughter after an angel and a queen.He carried her outside and stood on the porch staring out at a vast sea made by his own h
Paul smiled and relaxed. I led him to the study where Alexis was waiting. Alexis nodded in greeting."Alexis, thanks for agreeing to this meeting," Paul said.Alexis gestured to a throne. "Please, have a seat."Paul looked at the throne and sat. "Mmm, comfy."Alexis moved the other two thrones to form a triangle, and we sat."We saw the gathering video," Paul said. "We didn't know we were being filmed," I said."I figured as much," Paul said. "But you made a good point when you said that one supernatural group cannot rule over another. My Werewolf Council has been meeting for the last few days. We don't want a war with the Neratomay.""And we do not want a war with the Werewolves," Alexis said.Paul nodded. "We have been in discussions with the Alliance of the Supernaturals, and I expressed King's beliefs that if we do not work together then we will all fall together.""That's right," I said."After a lot of negotiation, the Alliance would like to extend an offer for you to
Ran continued. "We asked the Wolves to coordinate their attacks with ours, and that is all they agreed to do.""But what about the carnage that occurred in Epic Cu?" The Councilmember asked."Are you for real?" I asked in irritation. "There were hundreds of Rectors at that gathering! All it would have taken was for one of those Rectors to snap Alexis' neck before he could summon King to close the portal to the Underworld. We had to take out the Rectors and luckily the Alpha aided us or—well we wouldn't be here and you'd still be kissing the ass of your demon master!"Alexis put his hand on mine but Ignacio smiled in amusement. Will you be quiet! Cyrene snapped silently in my head.When has that ever happened? I snapped back.Ladies, Alexis interrupted. Now is not the time. My love, try to be more…diplomatic.Fine, I replied."We won that war by any means necessary," Alexis said, his voice annoyed. "We don't appreciate your line of questioning. Do you want to go back to the way
The Neratomay flashed themselves away once they were outside of Epic Cut. The Supernaturals carried away their dead and injured, and what was left inside of Epic Cu was blood, gore, and ash. Paul left with his pack, and Ran, King, Alexis, and I flashed back to our villa where King fell in an exhausted asleep.Alexis and I watched him with pride. "It could have gone so much different," I whispered."No." Alexis continued to gaze at King's small sleeping form. "Not if we understand King's true potential—this is the way it was meant to be."It was time discover the fallout so we turned on the radio and television. Many countries were in a state of emergency based on what had happened over the last several hours. News outlets and radio stations made announcements that people should stay indoors because there were reports of wild, strange beast attacks. Videos of humans turning into Vampires and using impossible speed to attack the beasts clogged the Internet. Supposed experts in the s
I moved from zombie to Wraith, pushing them through the portal and trying not to think about those they had possessed.The Wraiths will take you…Oni had said.I saw Alexis keeping King in the light flowing from the portal, but the portal had grown smaller.It was working!King was closing the portal to the Collective!As I zapped zombies and Wraiths, I noticed with surprise that the Supernaturals were fighting with the Neratomay to kill the zombies! When they ganged up and killed a zombie and the wraith left the zombie's body, I was able to zap the Wraith and send it back where it belonged."Aleawdat 'iilaa alealam alsuflii!" I chanted loudly along with King. Although I didn't understand the words, I could repeat them exactly.Then Ran, who still stood sentry beside me, began repeating the words. Alexis joined our chant, and that portal began shrinking even more.The larger Wraiths became bottlenecked trying to squeeze up and out of the shrinking portal. They were so freaking g
I stared at the center of the pentagram where so much power was streaming through to seek out vessels, as if that power was a thinking, conniving being. It infused its targets with power so they could fight for it. And Alexis thought that my son should face that? My little boy?"Alexis, he's just a baby!""He is a demon!" he said sternly. "He only pretends to be a baby because that's what you need, Kim. You have to know that it has been many years since our son was a baby."The way King talked to the Wolf Council, the way he seemed to understood so much and so easily, the way he commanded attention whenever he spoke. I didn't want my child to fight this battle, but Alexis and King both knew this was what King was meant to do.Alexis released me and turned toward the pentagram. He raised his hand and began pulling power from the portal in the center, pulling so much that he glowed with the unnatural light that the energy emanated.Paul squinted and stepped in front of me, preventin
Alexis raised his hand. "We learned the truth, secrets that have enslaved us all!" Alexis' nose began to bleed. He stumbled and swiped at the blood angrily and then raised it to show everyone. "Secrets that prevent me from speaking these truths. But you see! You see!"Ran glared out at the group. "We know, even if we can't speak it. But if you can read it in our heads, you will know this secret, too!"The pain was so sudden that I could not have taken a step. I couldn't even see! Buzzing filled my brain as instead of a dozen bees, hundreds of them seemed to fill my head. I had expected it and thought I was prepared, but there is no way to be prepared when someone is inside of you filling your brain to bursting!"Kim!" Paul shook me.I tried to open my eyes then realized they were open. I couldn't see!"Build your wall!" Paul shouted. "Build it now!"I tried to imagine the bricks—white bricks. White…but I could only see black vapors!Then Alexis was inside my head cutting through
I smelled Alexis and Ran, but so had Paul. He was already heading toward them. When we finally met up, I dropped Paul's clothes on the ground before him. He changed quickly back to a man while I stared up at the castle where more Neratomay than ever attempted to enter Epic Cu."Once we're inside we cannot flash ourselves out," I said.Paul narrowed his eyes. "You'll be trapped inside?"Alexis frowned, but Ran and I nodded.Paul slipped his shirt over his head and peered at the castle. "We can blow this bitch up.""Blowing up Neratomay won't kill us," Alexis said. "Not unless our heads are severed or our hearts pierced.""Why does this castle remind me of Hogwarts?" Paul asked.I smiled. "That's what I thought!""How do we enter?" Paul asked. "That entrance is a hopeless bottleneck." "You could enter through the front door once we're inside," Alexis said, pointing at the opening four stories up. "That's how we exited."Paul licked his lips. "I can make that jump.""Not as a
"You're behind this, aren't you? Somehow—"His head exploded. I flinched at the spray of gore. When it turned to ash, I brushed it off me."Which one of you did that?" I asked."He searched my head," Alexis replied."Well, warn a sister next time," I said.Then I felt a loud buzz in my head, and across the room another Elder's head exploded.This created more bedlam and screaming from Council members who flashed themselves away or who sought the aid of another Elder."Do you feel that?" Ran asked."I don't feel anything because these people are screaming and hollering so loudly," I said.They were the most cowardly individuals I had ever seen. These powerful Vampires sat here crying like wusses! The very Council members and Elders who had tortured and murdered other lower level Neratomay could only hide and cry when they met a foe they couldn't overpower. They were the very definition of bullies!Ran turned to me. "It's Paul.""Paul? How…?""I can still hear him from my tim