Chapter 6

Gwendoline was clear about not wanting me to display my magical abilities outside of Verso during our mission. The journey to save Geo took us a significant distance away from Verso and required we make camp more than once before we reached our destination. Those encampments were created by Gwendoline by use of magic.  Although I was capable of doing the same, her words rang through my head. I broached the subject with Luthias.

“Admittedly, the comforts of an encampment provided by your magic would be welcome,” Luthias said, “but certainly not necessary.  You didn’t have them when you journeyed with Geo to Sybil’s domain and you survived, correct?”

“We did, indeed,” I said softly as my thoughts flashed back to the few nights we’d slept out under the stars and the romance that bloomed during that time.

“You are beautiful when you blush like that,” he said as he moved in front of me to lead the way down a narrow hillside path. “Do you blush because of your anticipation of sleeping next to me under the stars?  They can be quite romantic.”

“I’m not blushing,” I said stubbornly; refusing to take the bait to the rest of his question.

“Okay,” he chuckled as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets like a school boy.  I couldn’t see his face, but I was certain he was smiling.

“Am I not allowed to do any magic at all during our trip?” I asked with mild exasperation. 

Although I was actually curious about when and where the magic that I’d worked so hard to perfect could be used to assist us, I also wanted to shift the subject from sleeping alone under the ever so romantic stars with this magnetic creature to a safer topic.

“Gwendoline says not,” he said with a shrug as he continued to keep his back to me, “but I’m of a different frame of mind.” He stopped and turned to look at me with serious blue eyes.  “I’m not sure you truly understand the depth of our situation. Geo and I were so preoccupied with nurturing and rebuilding Verso after Charles’s vicious attack these past months that we paid little attention to anything else.   What happened in Desolation was a game changer.  If what I’m taking away from my conversation with Tod is correct, war is no longer something that could happen.  It will happen… and sooner than any of us would like.  If Geo is not aware of it by now, I’m sure Tod will fill him in when he passes through.  Just like he did us.”

“What has that got to do with my using magic?” I asked hesitantly.  If he expected me to go up against Bartholomew’s army with my magic, I questioned his sanity.

“Like Gwendoline, I believe it wise to keep your magic hidden for the time being,” he explained, “but unlike Gwendoline, I think it also wise for you to test it out before we reach Vampire Land.  If I’m not mistaken, your magic could potentially react differently outside of Verso, correct?”

I nodded.

“I don’t know about you, but I’d like to know exactly what will or will not happen should we need you to use it in a pinch,” he said with gentle sincerity before turning his attention back to maneuvering down the hillside. “Vampire Land is less than a day away. Had we not stayed so long in Desolation, we would have easily made it before nightfall.  As it is, we are on course to arrive in the dead of night, during their peak activity time. Since we’ll be arriving to basically upset Pierre’s applecart, I think it wise to make camp tonight and arrive in the morning when the vampires are docile.  We can use tonight for you to sample your magic skills and for me to fill you in on the major differences in attitude and culture between Vampire Land and Verso.”

“Is its name really Vampire Land?” I giggled.

“That’s truly its name.  Clever eh?” he asked sarcastically.

I shrugged my shoulders as I gingerly followed him down the path.  I don’t know why I thought that Vampire Land was just Luthias and Geo’s pet name for Charles’s kingdom. I’d met his vampires.  Clearly they lacked the wit and finesse I found in Verso Vampires.  Of course they would give their kingdom a name that lacked imagination.  It was about as clever as calling your pet dog, “Dog”.  

We’d traveled the better part of an hour in silence before Luthias held his hand up in a gesture for me to stop and then put his finger to his lips to indicate I remain silent.  It was a good thing too, since I was just about to ask him why we were stopping.  Now that I was a vampire, my energy and stamina was significantly greater than when I was a human. Since it still hadn’t been that long since I’d lived above ground, I was adjusting to the heat quite well. Better than he was, in fact.

We stood in the middle of what was once a lush, open green meadow, but was now an exposed field of dust and yellow stubbles. I followed his gaze to the far left of us to a small grove of newly planted trees and understood his reason for caution.  It looked to be about fifty or so of Bartholomew’s men resting against the slender young tree trunks.  Although they were oblivious to our existence, we questioned how long that would be the case.  A drone was headed in our direction and would surely expose our presence.  He motioned for me to follow him and we moved across the remains of the clearing and into the rocky hillside with vampire speed.

The drone clearly had some sort of sensor on it.  To our surprise, and dismay, it followed us at breakneck speed.  We were barely able to duck into a narrow cave undetected.  We flattened ourselves against the recesses of the cool stone cavity while it hovered outside the cave’s  opening. Its incessant whirring echoed off the stone and bounced about in my head; torturing me to the point I wanted to cover my ears and beg for mercy. My mind deliberated the pros and cons of using magic to shield us from discovery.  I’d just about decided it might be the thing to do when the drone whizzed away just as fast as it came.

With the threat of discovery gone and the onslaught inside my head removed, my attention veered to my close proximity with Luthias’s strong, masculine frame.  It took me a moment to realize his arms were wrapped tight around my torso as he flattened me with his own physique into an indentation in the stone.  He’d managed to completely cover my slender body with his own and hunch in a way that blended us quite nicely with our surroundings.  It was a boon that he was wearing a dark gray shirt and even darker slacks.

“You can release me now,” I whispered into his ear with effort.

“Your body has changed,” he said in that sexy, sultry tone that had the power to drive me mad.  “You’re softer… suppler,” he continued as he nuzzled my hair.  “It’s turning me on.”

The temptation of the nearness of him was proving to be more than I could bear. I was battling the acute desire all newly made vampires had for sex.  It was compounded by the fact that, although I possessed a tremendous amount of Geo’s blood in my body from when he turned me vampire, I still carried some of Luthias’s blood, as he did mine.  When a vampire drinks someone’s blood and then shares his own with that same someone, it creates an unbreakable bond.  Since both Geo and Luthias gave me their blood and taken mine, I wasn’t sure how that worked.  It was on my “to ask” list, but I’d been waiting for the right time to bring it up.

I decided that perhaps this might be the right time.

“Who am I bound to? Is it you because I gave you so much blood and then you gave me yours or is it Geo because he finished turning me?” I whispered softly. 

“You don’t feel it?” he  asked in a love voice as he placed soft kisses on my temple.

“Stop,” I moaned with genuine angst, although not for the reasons he might have thought.  “Please answer me.”

He stepped back just enough to look me in the eyes.

“Do you love him that much?” he asked.

I shrunk just a little from the impact of the pain in his voice.  I loved Geo, of course, but I also loved Luthias.  Feeling and hearing his pain was ripping at my insides.

“He’s the father of my son,” I said as I averted my eyes.

Luthias took my chin in his strong, slender hand and gently pulled my face.  There was no choice but to meet his gaze.

“That’s not what I asked,” he said firmly, but gently.

“I love you too,” I admitted hesitantly.

“Do you truly love me?  Or is it the connection of my blood speaking?” he queried.

“You could ask the same thing about Geo and his venom,” I said before I realized what I was saying.

My words shocked both of us.  He stepped back while I took a gush of air into my lungs.  Did I really blurt that out? Once again, Sybil’s voice echoed in my head, ‘You don’t know the meaning of love.’

The space created between Luthias and me when he stepped back, combined with Sybil’s haunting voice in my head, was enough to help me summon the wherewithal to regain control of my libido and gently push him to arm’s length away from me.

“Who am I bound to?”  I asked again with a voice just above a whisper.

“Geo and I won’t stand on ceremony,” he said in a voice equally soft. “You are bound to whomever you wish.”

“According to your laws and customs,” I continued with a slight sigh of exasperation, “who am I bound to?”

“Geo didn’t tell you?”  he asked hesitantly.

I shook my head.

“Do you trust me?” he asked with sincerity.

“With my life,” I replied.

He looked away and backed up until he was leaning against the opposite wall of the small cave.  It was clear he didn’t want to tell me what I felt I needed to know. It was equally clear that I would press the issue until I knew the truth.

We were at a standstill.

“Can we broach this topic later?”  he asked.

“Why won’t you tell me?”  I persisted.

“I don’t want it to influence who you choose.  I want you to choose from your heart, not your head,” he explained.

“I need to know,” I said firmly.

“I told you that neither Geo or I will enforce it.  We made a pact,” he insisted.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”  I said with a gasp.  “It’s you because you shared blood with me first.”

His slow hint of a nod was all I needed to know that I’d stated the truth.

“Not just because you took my blood, but because of the amount of blood you gave me.  I practically drained you, remember?”  he said gently. “Our laws bound us together no matter what happened after that.”

“I see,” I mused, more to myself than to him.

“I won’t hold you to it,” he offered with sincerity.

“I know you won’t,” I said with a smile. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”  After a short silence I added in a voice that was just above a whisper, “One of many…”

“And here I thought you loved me for my tight ass,” he teased.

“Your ass is pretty spectacular,” I chuckled.

“So, now I’m just a sex object?”  he said with mock dismay before shrugging his shoulders and adding, “I’ll go with that.”

When he made a teasing and elaborate show of preparing to undo his trousers, I gasped and flew forward to stay his hands. Our bodies molded into one as he embraced me and covered my mouth with his. His kiss was soft, sweet, and deeply erotic.  My libido awoke with a start.  I moved my body closer in an effort to ease the growing ache within my core.  Memories of our lovemaking flooded my head and I moaned mindlessly.

“I do love you,” I managed to say between kisses.

His lips left mine and slowly traveled down my neck until they settled on the tips of my breasts.  I could feel the heat of his breath against my moist tee shirt as he suckled through the cloth. My abdomen clenched and twisted while I delighted in the sensation.  I tried to lift my shirt to give him access to my flesh, but he held my hands in place. When it was clear I was about to explode from his ministrations, he placed his lips over mine once again and absorbed my cries of passion in his kisses.  When I’d settled down enough for him to release me, he unfastened my jeans and slid his hand down into my most private area and began to work his magic.  I moaned and begged for more until he’d brought me to the brink of a passionate climax.  Once again he absorbed my bursts of ecstasy with long, deep kisses.

Feeling guilty that I was the only one to be pleasured, I made move to undo his pants. He rejected my overture, claiming he’d received plenty of gratification in giving me pleasure.  When I told him I couldn’t see how, he insisted that one day I’d understand.

****

With Bartholomew’s men dangerously close and a drone on the loose, we decided it was best to hold up in the cave until nightfall.  He found a small ledge for us to sit on and pulled me close to him.  I readily rested my weight in the crook of his arm with my cheek on his chest while I let the irregular beating of his vampire heart lull me into a deep, satiated sleep.