Sari"s kisses moved across Akasha"s chest and she drew her teeth gently across a nipple before pulling it slowly into her mouth. She sucked tenderly at first, then harder, her teeth grazing the rough nub. Akasha opened her mouth and a long groan filled the room.
"G.o.ddess, that"s s.e.xy," Sari said in a breathy voice.
Akasha looked up into Sari"s gaze in a mist of haze, and it took a moment to understand the meaning of the words. "I can"t say I"ve heard myself make those noises before. You"re...you"re amazing."
"I didn"t mean the noises, though I have no complaints there. You can make those all you want. The TV will drown you out." Sari leaned in and her tongue darted forward. Akasha waited for it to touch her lips, but instead Sari ran her tongue over Akasha"s upper teeth. "I hadn"t expected to find them s.e.xy, but then I hadn"t expected to meet someone like you."
Akasha tried to pull away but the layers of bedding beneath her gave her little room to move. "Don"t do that."
"Why?"
"I"m trying to hold back the hunger. I don"t want to hurt you."
A serious look deepened in Sari"s eyes. "I knew what I was offering when I invited you into my bed, Akasha. I doubted your children had gone without longer than you have. In fact, if you are anything like the dutiful mother I believe you to be, I"m betting you"ve been starving for far longer than they."
Akasha"s eyes widened. "You"re prepared to offer that to me? Why? If your people knew you gave you blood to their enemy, that"d be more trouble than just housing us here. That could get you killed."
"Times are changing even within the Clan, Daughter of the Veil. There are whispers among our younger members about alliances with your people. I can only guess they"ve learned the lessons you taught me tonight about our past connections and the truth of the Bane." Sari pulled Akasha off the bed until she was in Sari"s lap, her legs straddling Sari"s waist. "I need you for more reasons than I have words for. If this is one thing you need from me, how can I refuse it?"
"Are you sure?"
Sari dug her hands into Akasha"s hair and pulled her head back to expose Akasha"s neck. She nibbled and licked at the tender skin and again the hunger flared, aching for fulfillment. This time Akasha didn"t push the hunger away.
Akasha shifted her weight and Sari fell back on the bed. She watched Akasha, her gaze a mixture of curiousness and nervous expectancy. Akasha knelt between Sari"s thighs, and ran her hands the length of Sari"s body, her nails etching soft lines in the golden skin. Scars dotted the beautiful landscape of flesh, from the long marks on Sari"s shoulder and beneath her left breast, to smaller scars scattered across her like confetti. Akasha savored each variation, marveling in the wash of desire just this simple act sent through her. Her need was more just the blood hunger; it was much more.
Akasha slipped her fingers past Sari"s mound of moist black hair and sighed at the heat of the swollen folds hidden like treasure beneath. Sari moaned and her hands stretched above her head, palms skyward. The message of trust and submission in this simple change of posture was more enticing that anything Akasha had even known before. This was the feeling she"d always wanted, but had never dreamed was possible.
Never moving her hand from the slow caressing of Sari"s heat, Akasha pressed forward and encircled a dark nipple with the very tip of her tongue. Sari"s pelvis pushed against Akasha"s hand, and at the same moment, Akasha"s finger plunged in and her teeth broke the skin of the left breast, just above Sari"s heart.
Then blood was like liquid fire, and it filled Akasha as if were taking three times what she was able to with each swallow. Sari gasped, and then moaned over and over as Akasha fed, her thrusts harder and harder as the power of the Clan blood filled her. The weakness of the past few weeks was long forgotten, and her mind swam with the heat of the glorious vitae.
"Oh f.u.c.k...oh f.u.c.k." Sari cried over and over, bucking harder against Akasha, her fingers gripping the comforter above her head like someone clinging to a cliffside to keep from falling.
Akasha pulled her teeth away gently and licked the raw skin, savoring the lingering mix of sweat and blood there. The Clan was known for their quick healing. By morning she knew the mark of their lovemaking would be gone. Sari"s eyes were half-masted, the weariness post-o.r.g.a.s.m and the gift of blood heavy within their darkness. She would need rest, as would the children. "How do you feel?"
"Like I ran a marathon," Sari chuckled. "A really hot, o.r.g.a.s.mic marathon. My mind keeps saying I want another go, but my body is ready to melt away beneath me. I need to get up. We have to get the kids to bed."
"I"ll do that. You"ve done enough for my family and me tonight." Akasha kissed Sari, who just sighed contently and closed her eyes.
Part of Akasha feared moving away, as if the simple motion might banish the dream, to allow in the cold reality that waited beyond the sanctuary. She wanted this to last forever, but then even for her kind, forever never lasted long enough.
The warmth of the soft bed and the comfort of her strong lover lulled Akasha into a deeper sleep than she"d dared allow herself in years. In her heady slumber, the sharp sound of breaking gla.s.s seemed far away, like the tinkling of chimes in the recesses of a dream. Akasha opened her eyes slowly, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the digital clock bedside the bed. Three in the morning. Sari stirred beside her and groaned, but didn"t waken. Deciding it was much nicer to stay in the warm bed, Akasha began to close her eyes again.
Her daughter"s scream shook the fog from her mind, and Akasha bolted upright. It had been breaking gla.s.s she heard. Her bare feet touched the floor with a thump, followed closely by a second sound as Sari came to land next to her. Without a word, the two women tore down the hall and into the children"s bedroom.
The right pane of the tall bay window was broken, and a man in dark clothing was crawling through the opening. A woman already stood in the room, her arms outstretched toward the bed. Akasha didn"t see her daughter, but Wei stood in front of the layers of scarves, a black baseball bat clutched in his hands. He glared at the woman, his lips stretched thin with rage.
"Get away from my children!" Akasha moved forward and the woman turned to face her. The man tumbled into the room and over the window seat, as if he"d been pushed the rest of the way through. In the opening, Akasha saw a face she"d prayed she"d never see again.
"Good evening, Akasha." Maxwell spoke in his typical silky tone, but his blue eyes flashed with danger. "It"s good to see you again."
"I can"t say the same about you," Akasha sneered. Her steps were subtle, her gaze never leaving Maxwell"s. She hoped she could distract him long enough to reach her children. "How did you find us?"
"You be amazed what you can get out of one of the young Beast Women when you apply the right persuasion. Looks like your new conquest has a jealous ex-lover who wasn"t too happy to hear she was so easily replaced. She didn"t learn our true natures until it was far too late for her. Such a waste."
"Liar!" Sari lunged and within a breath Maxwell was across the room and toe to toe with the transformed shifter. They circled each other, the beast with the lover"s heart, and the man with hate in his soul. The other two vampires looked at Maxwell uncertainly, obviously unsure what their master wanted them to do.
Memories of past pain and fear cascaded over Akasha, churning in the Clan blood that throbbed like an awakening volcano within her. The Clan blood called for retribution, for satisfaction. The voices of a million sisters screamed-not the screams of victims in terror, but the primal cries of battle. Her heart answered them, and the strong voice that pierced the air seemed so unlike her own. "Leave him and protect the children. His life is mine."
Sari broke away from Maxwell and turned to face the other intruders. Akasha took a step toward him, and he turned his full attention to her, a triumphant smirk on his face. "So you think you have the strength to take me on, wife? A roll in the sheets with a beast and you think you are strong like them. You are nothing. You"ve never been anything but weak. We both know that."
"I"m stronger then you ever guessed. Come find out, if you dare!" Akasha screamed. Rage like sweet nectar tingled on her tongue, and she laughed madly with the deliciousness of it.
Maxwell blinked in surprise, his confident manner shaken by what he saw. "It doesn"t have to be this way. You can come back. It"ll be different this time. I just want my wife and my children back."
"We will never be yours." Without waiting for him to respond, Akasha bared her teeth and snarled a challenge.
As she had expected, unwilling to be shamed in front of his servants, Maxwell reacted to her challenge and lunged at her. As if a silent voice guided her movement, Akasha dodged his fist easily and landed an elbow in his stomach, knocking the wind from him. She"d never been trained to fight as he had, but the blood guided her body, allowing her to flow in and out of each of his attacks without being touched. The mothers of the Clan were with her, their matrilineal blood powering her skill as its energy fed her body.
Maxwell was not so lucky. Her nails raked his face in several places, a spiteful reminder of past beatings she"d suffered at his hands. He held his ribs, his face tight with pain, and backed away, fear and hate dancing in his eyes until their darkness was one. "What witchcraft is this?"
"My magic. Women magic. What you tried to beat out of me and failed."
He looked away from her and his eyes grew wide. Her gaze followed his to see Sari"s eyes alive with triumph. Sari"s opponents lay at her feet, crumpled and broken like a pair of rag dolls. "Give me the children," he demanded, "and I will leave you and your beast lover in peace."
"You are in no place to make threats, little leech." Sari growled through her maw of b.l.o.o.d.y teeth. "The second you broke that window, my pack was alerted. They will be coming for you."
Fear won out and he backed toward the open window. Akasha didn"t want to feel sorry for him, but the horror etched across his normally calm face stirred her pity. The fiery blood raged within, reminding her again of the cruelty behind the calm-faced Maxwell she"d lived in terror of for so long, and all remnants of pity faded away.
"We no longer belong to you, Maxwell." Akasha felt the warmth of Sari"s fur brush against her arm as the Clan woman came to stand at her side. "Leave now and never come back. You are nothing to us anymore."
Sari"s low growl echoed Akasha"s words. Without a second glance, Maxwell leapt out the broken window and into the night. Sari followed his path and stared out the jagged hole as her body slowly shifted back into a human-like form. In the moonlight, her bare body shone with a light that seemed to come from far within her. "You don"t need to fear him anymore. He"ll never escape my sisters tonight."
"I don"t fear him. Not anymore." The words slipped past Akasha"s lips unexpectedly, but the truth of them filled her as full of a feeling of power as Sari"s blood did. Whether or not she made this her home, or moved on to another one day, she and her children would never need to fear him again.
end.