DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS.
LUCIUS.
by MARIANNE LACROIX.
Sitting on the roof of the tomb of the Voodoo Queen, Lucius knew the moment Alonso turned Jolie into a vampire. He still wished she was his. But, she had been right. What if the one destined to be his mate truly was still out there somewhere? Hundreds of years of waiting, and how much longer did he have to wait?
With a fingernail, he carved three Xs into the stone roof and knocked, the rumored way to make a wish to Marie Laveau. "Grant me my wish, bring me love everlasting."
A howl rang through the air. Lucius glanced up, then closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of a beast in the distance. With his ultra-sensitive senses, he picked up the trail of a female wolf, hunting in the far-off bayou. A wolf in the swamps of Louisiana? Alligators, he could understand, but a wolf?
She howled into the night once again, a call of loneliness cutting through the dark. His heart ached for the beast, knowing all too well the pain she felt.
There was something odd about her scent. Something strange. He zeroed in on her location and watched her with his mind"s eye. She sat upon a log underneath a great cypress. Magic and mystery surrounded her body, and she howled at the full moon yet again.
Could it be this was no ordinary wolf?
As if sensing someone watching her, the beast turned and loped off into the black cover of twisted trees.
Lucius stood upon the roof of the tomb and gazed out over New Orleans toward the distant bayou.
Jolie had been right. His mate was out there...
And she was a werewolf.
The night air filled her lungs as she leapt over another fallen, rotting log. Moisture clung to her fur from the mist rising from the murky bayou. The strong scents of mud, wet wood, and decaying foliage permeated her nostrils.
None of these familiar smells or sights could ease her troubled mind.
Someone had watched her.
Tala couldn"t shake the feeling of an unknown observer piercing the darkness with his intense gaze. Her entire being shuddered at the experience, yet it wasn"t entirely unpleasant. She could almost see him in her mind"s eye, a tall, strong figure perched atop a stone building, gazing over the horizon. His long blond hair fluttered lightly in the breeze, but those crystal-blue eyes full of pain and wonder intrigued her.
The image sprang to mind as she eyed her muddy domain. Within the deep Louisiana bayou, she was queen, but the man made her feel vulnerable.
It was a strange sensation, since she had lived her entire life in complete control.
She chose to live outside of human existence because of her double life. Born to shifter parents, she had been raised in isolation with her twin sister.
It was better not to mingle too much with the humans anyway. They didn"t understand the life of a shifter, nor were they capable of learning.
Most of her kind traveled in packs. She disliked the pack life. Pack politics always made the females subservient, and she couldn"t live like that.
Running with other werewolves was one thing, but allowing herself to be used only as a s.e.xual vessel for breeding purposes wasn"t for her.
Unlike popular movies, a werewolf didn"t retain their human form in any way. When she transformed to the beast, she was able to maintain only her awareness, but her body changed into the animal--the loup garou.
Werewolves could shapeshift at will anytime they wished. She could change into the wolf with the slightest thought, or feeling. Sometimes, the beast would fight to the surface, and her animalistic instincts took over. This was especially true during mating season. The urge to join with a male was so overpowering at times, she"d lose control during the actual act. Nothing like sinking her teeth into a man"s shoulder as her body sang with a climax.
In human form, she retained some of the beast"s instincts and animalistic reactions. If she interacted with a person she disliked, her entire being would rebel against the contact. Or if she felt attracted to a man, the beast would claw its way to the surface and demand s.e.xual gratification, if only for temporary relief.
Wolves mated for life, and Tala had yet to meet that one true mate. She did relieve her s.e.xual urges with those humans she found appealing, but none filled that empty place in her heart. Years of painful longing had gotten to her, part of the reason she lived in the bayou.
Leaping over another fallen log, she fought the rise of s.e.xual fires within at the thought of the Viking G.o.d from her vision. On four paws, she felt freer than within human form. Her beast-like sensibilities, however, stayed always on alert.
Then, she sensed a new scent. A stranger within her domain. She sprinted into the direction of the intruder. Danger filled the air as she closed in on the new arrival.
Within the dark vines and wildly twisted roots of cypresses and other swamp vegetation, she spotted the white glow of fur. Standing still, his icy eyes stared at her. No, they pierced her, stripping away the external creature and baring the inner soul of her very being.
A white wolf. Not just any wolf, but one surrounded with ethereal magic and supernatural power.
Sniffing, she knew he wasn"t one of the shifters, a loup garou. She would have immediately recognized the signature scent. He was different.
And still he stood, his pale coat reflecting the moonlight, making him appear heavenly. But, an underlying sense of danger betrayed that image.
She stepped closer. With a low howl, she invited him to run with her. He answered with a bark. Even in this form, her body tingled with awareness.
He loped to her and licked her muzzle, then rubbed his strong body along hers in a sign of animalistic tenderness. His touch sent shivers of electric desire through her veins.
Mine, Tala heard whispered in the recesses of her mind.
She returned his affectionate caresses by rubbing along his body. Strong and toned, he was a fine wolf. Playfully nipping at his neck, she started a game of tag and trotted off for him to chase her.
He did. They ran through the muddy land surrounding the swampy depths. With the humid air, a dampness had settled over everything. Wet soil and leaves beneath her paws, and the male wolf by her side, made her feel alive and free. She remembered what it felt like to run with the pack, to belong. Now, to have a male so obviously want her, exhilarated her. Running through the bayou was a sure way for him to come into her heart.
Something about him made Tala"s heart race in tempo with the beating of their feet as they played tag. He"d chase her, then they"d reverse, and she"d chase him. When they switched again, he tackled her in the wet foliage. Her body fell, and she laughed, sounding like a hyena rather than a wolf.
He pinned her beneath him and rolled onto her left side. They licked each other"s faces, and Tala cherished the moments of their unexplainable connection.
Then, he stilled and stared at her.
His weight increased, and his body shifted in size and shape.
No, he wasn"t a shifter.
Worse--a vampire!
Now in human form, a handsome face stared down at her. A smile curved sensual lips, and blond hair fell about his head in long waves. Those same piercing eyes from her vision studied her--vampire eyes.
"Turn into human form, woman," he commanded, his voice strangely arousing.
Tala struggled beneath his hold, but his arms only tightened about her body, and his legs firmly straddled her. Just then, she was painfully aware of his nudity. Naked and powerful.
"I said shift," he repeated. Concentrating, she focused her Power of the Moon and began to shift. Fur turned to skin, paws changed to hands and feet, and an elongated wolfen face transformed into the features of a woman. Oddly enough, she never thought herself very appealing as a human, but hoped he thought differently.
When the transformation ended, her naked body lay beneath his, intimately connected. Skin glided across skin, and his c.o.c.k lay perfectly between her open thighs. With a slight movement of his hips, he could enter her.
Oh, G.o.d, yes...
"You"re beautiful," he said simply. "What"s your name?"
"Tala," she whispered, her voice raspy.
"I"m Lucius." He moved his legs, nudging her thighs open slightly more. "I want you, Tala."
She answered by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling down his head. Against his lips, she said in a low voice, "Mate with me."
Colors swirled about her as he penetrated her slick core. He devoured her in a hungry kiss while his body commanded hers in a domination of her senses. He pounded into her body with a violent need to reach the pinnacle of pleasure, no tenderness, no gentility. Just raw, carnal savagery to mate, bonding their bodies together in a fierce coupling.
She gasped with each invasion, squeezing his c.o.c.k within her. His body slid over hers as a layer of sweat and the moist bayou air coated their skin.
Crickets and other insects called into the night, the only other noises heard among their grunts, heavy breathing, and the sound of flesh on flesh.
He broke his hungry kiss to roughly nibble her ear. d.a.m.n, he was everything she could ask for in a male.
No, your mate.
He whispered into her thoughts while holding her arms above her head with one hand. Her breast pushed upward toward his body, and her nipples strained against his hard, muscled chest. His other hand cupped and fondled one of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, squeezing her sensitive nipple between his fingers.
She moaned and arched her hips upward, meeting his continued thrusts.
G.o.d, what a sensation. His entire body overwhelmed her, a sensual domination of her entire physical being. His powerful legs rubbed against her own, creating an awareness of his ma.s.sive s.e.xual prowess. How many women had sampled a fierce taking at this vampire"s hands?
She tried not to surrender to her body"s call to join with him, to shatter in his arms in an all-consuming o.r.g.a.s.m. But the beast within her clawed; the animal begged for release. She needed to quake and come for this savage vampire who appeared in her domain to f.u.c.k her like no other male ever had, or she suspected, ever would.
His pace quickened. The thrusting grew more insistent. He released her arms and cradled her hips to receive his c.o.c.k deeper. Yes, she needed to have him to the hilt, touching her inner walls, filling her hollow core. She clawed his shoulders with her fingernails, sc.r.a.ping his skin and drawing small amounts of blood.
G.o.d, yes, he matched her ferocious need to mate, to f.u.c.k. She wanted no words of love this night. She needed only a hard c.o.c.k and a man who used it with expert skill.
As her tidal wave crashed and the dam broke, she howled into the night with each spasm of her muscles. She needed to milk him, wanting more as each erotic sensation washed over her.
He united with her in the frenzied joining, spilling into her in spurts of hot seed. He yelled in primal delight, then savagely bit into her shoulder, deep and hard.
At his bite, she screamed as another o.r.g.a.s.m shook her. He drank her blood, a soothing sensation. She wanted to be bonded to this incredible vampire, this blond demon who ravaged her body upon the moist earth and foliage.
The crashes of pleasurable desires ebbed, and he released his teeth from her skin. He licked the sore spot, more tenderly than expected after such an animalistic coupling.
"So sweet and rich," he said against her skin. "And all mine."
"A bit sure, are we?" She stroked away the soft, silky blond hair from her neck. So long, it practically wrapped her in its own embrace.
He leaned upward, breaking the welcome feel of his body on hers. "Very sure, Tala. You"re my mate. You shall be mine for all eternity." "What do you mean, "all eternity"?"
"I shall make you as I, a vampire."
"I can"t," she said, a tear welling in her eye.
"Why not?" His voice told of his growing anger.
"Because, the blood mix of a loup garou and a vampire is forbidden. I can die at the change."
"And how do you know this?"
"I saw it happen to my sister."
"What do you mean?" He rolled onto their earthen bed at her side.
"She fell for a vampire about five years ago, when we lived in the Okeefenokee swamp in Georgia. They exchanged the blood bonds, thinking they would be joined for all eternity. But something went wrong. We didn"t know what caused the reaction, but it proved fatal, even to her superior strength."
Lucius stroked her raven-black hair, wishing to shed light on the entire situation. How could the G.o.ds see him mated to one that is forbidden to him? "What exactly happened to your sister?"
"She went insane. The chemical reaction of the mix between vampire and werewolf blood drove her over the edge, killing her and condemning Damon, her lover, to eternal pain and loneliness."
"I"m sorry, Tala." He meant the words, his heart wrenching at her pain. How many centuries had he not cared for another? It almost seemed foreign.
Yet, at this moment, he did care for her, wishing she"d not feel the loss of her sister.
My mate. It ran through his mind, and he could hardly believe it. After all this time, he held his mate.
And so beautiful. Dark black hair framed her face and fell softly down her back and around her shoulders. A man could lose a day just absorbing those silken hairs between his fingers. And with her skin, flawless and slightly tanned, her entire body held an exotic hue. The most interesting feature were her eyes, deep, emerald green, like a gra.s.sy morning on a hillside in Ireland. He could see her there among the stony walls, her eyes perfectly matching the luscious greens surrounding her.
Her body was made to entice him, with curves in all the right places. G.o.d, he hated the idea of any other man touching her, but from this moment on, none would get the chance.
Sliding his hand over the firm swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, tipped with dark brown aureoles and even darker nipples, he watched in curiosity as her skin reacted to his touch. Yes, he could spend another entire day just worshipping those taut beauties with his tongue and mouth.
Unfortunately, time grew short. He could feel the dawn"s approach after so long of existing within its shadow. "Tala, I must seek my rest, for morning swiftly approaches."
She groaned and curled into his embrace. By the G.o.ds, she was perfect. So responsive, so tender, and she met his fierce need with her own wild instincts, recognizing him as her mate.
But what of this curse of insanity? They needed to explore that more. Restraining his urge for her to drink from him, however, would be extremely difficult. He needed to have her. He had just found her, after centuries, and would do anything to keep her.
"I wish you wouldn"t leave," she said in a low voice, nuzzling his neck.
"I must. But tomorrow night, I shall find you and we"ll talk of this curse of which you speak. Maybe, together, we can search for an answer."
"I only wish you were right, Lucius."
"There are those who can help. Don"t lose hope so quickly. We"ve been brought together and I intend to keep you. Let me check with some who may know more of this curse, then, I"ll come to you."
With that, he caught her face with his hand and kissed her. It was unlike their earlier kisses. This was gentle and emotional. Promise laced the very movement of his lips over hers, and he wished for more time this night to explore her body"s wonders. As he bent away from her and stood, his own body screamed in protest. Even after plunging into her, he was ready to take her again. His rock-hard erection jutted out from his body, and he forced himself to turn and step away.