Blood of the Dead, page 4
But instead of any of the semi-strangers I was expecting to see when I whipped open the door, I found a somewhat familiar vampire there, instead.
Paco.
The vampire who’d almost bled me to death, accidentally, a week ago.
“You,” I growled, stepping up to face him. His eyes flickered past me, but then realizing I wasn’t fucking Jack, he stepped back. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Paco was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Strong cheekbones, full lips, and he looked like he could pick up a full slot machine.
“No, actually?” I went on. “I know.”
Nilesh appeared beside me a moment later and sensed the tension in the air. “Another ex?” he guessed.
“No. It’s a long story that I won’t tell you sometime—over dinner.” I crossed my arms. “But it doesn’t concern you.”
Nilesh gave me look of concern. “You’re sure?”
“Plenty.” I managed to give him a tense smile. “Please, go?”
He kept a steady eye on Paco as he finished fastening his belt buckle shamelessly, which I liked, and then dodged around him to head for the door, giving me one look back. I waved him away.
The second the door was closed, Paco gave me a withering stare. “You shouldn’t encourage him. He doesn’t know what you are.”
I went back into the office and picked up my abandoned sports bra and my bag. “A girl’s gotta eat, and currently a girl doesn’t get paid very well—and we both know Jack doesn’t go grocery shopping. Why’re you here, Paco?”
“I wanted to talk to Jack.”
“Have you tried texts or emails?” I suggested sarcastically.
He frowned. “In person. I figured this was neutral territory.”
“Yeah, right.” I pulled my backpack on. “What would you have done if it had been him fucking some co-ed inside there?”
Paco’s hands curled closed but he didn’t say anything.
Then he opened his mouth, but I shook my head, fiercely. “Nope. Fuck you. I’m neither of your errand boys. And while I may be his secretary here, I do not take Jack’s personal messages.” I put my hands on his broad chest and started shoving him towards the door.
“Luna,” he complained, as we passed the jewelry counters by.
“You want to talk to him, you talk to him yourself.” He stopped and wouldn’t let me push him anymore. I pounded a fist on one of his ridiculous pecs in frustration. “You have been given a gift I would kill to get—a gift I have killed to get—and it’s wasted on you, same as it’s wasted on him.”
He raised his hand to my chin and made me look up. “Tell Jack I’m putting my life back together. Without him.”
The need to tell Jack Paco’s message flooded my mind because of his new vampiric powers. “That’s not fair, goddammit!”
“Tell him that,” he said, taking a step away from me and shaking his head.
His reluctance to own up to the circumstances surrounding his creation, or tell Jack his own messages at the very least, infuriated me. “I was there, Paco—his choices were to let you live again, or watch you die a final death. What the fuck did you expect from him?”
It didn’t matter, he didn’t answer me, he just walked right out the door.
I seethed in frustration as I turned the lights off, one by one. I finished stomping, then left the building and locked the door.
“Everything all right?” I heard a now-familiar voice ask. I snapped to see who it was, and found Nilesh, leaning against the hood of a souped-up Honda Civic.
“You just hung out here, in the parking lot, waiting for me?”
“I wasn’t sure about this neighborhood,” he said with a tease.
I snorted softly. The worst thing possible for this neighborhood had just been inside Dark Ink. I looked from side to side, but didn’t see Paco anywhere, he’d already left, so sure of his powers. He may have “whammied” me, as Jack liked to called it, but because he was new at it, he’d left me a loophole: I had no idea where Jack currently was. And because Paco hadn’t told me to go find him . . . his message could wait until after I’d eaten.
Either a cheeseburger, or possibly other things, I thought, while looking at Nilesh.
Both, maybe?
Why not? I was a relatively free girl, for the rest of the night. For the first time in a long time.
I gave him a dangerous smile. “Want to take me to Vegas’s best all-night diner?”
His handsome face was split by a wide grin. “I’d love to.”
Chapter Eight
Jack
I’d already listened to them take off one another’s clothes, and now they—Noah and Tabitha, I’d discovered—were facing each other on the bed, making out.
“Soft,” I counseled, from the chair’s far side. “If you start soft, you can work up to hard, or to fast. But if you start off hard or fast, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing, or your intentions aren’t clear, you can mess things up. And keep talking.”
I’d made them play Mother-May-I, taking off each article of one another’s clothing, asking for permission with each step. They’d giggled at first, and I knew they were shy, but now each of them was leaning into it, realizing that asking for what you wanted was in and of itself fairly hot.
“Can I kiss you here?” Noah asked Tabitha, and she made an accommodating noise.
“Words,” I reminded her.
“Yes,” she said clearly, with a laugh, and then her breath hitched.
“I’m kissing her breasts,” Noah narrated for me, then apparently went back to it, by the sounds that she was making.
“Investigate. Question. You don’t have to figure everything out tonight—and we’re not, by the way, although we’ll definitely have fun. But even when you go back to your hotel room after this, or back home besides—just keep trying to figure each other out, and be honest about things. Tabitha?”
“It feels really good,” she confessed.
“Good girl,” I said. “Run your nails against his scalp, or pinch your other nipple with your fingers. Stroke your own skin. Get used to the feeling. Don’t be embarrassed.”
“’Kay,” she breathed, while Noah made a muffled sound.
I looked at the short to-do list in my hand. “So . . . who wants to go first?”
I heard them stop, and had a feeling she was looking at him for direction. “Ladies first,” Noah said.
“All right. Keep kissing her breasts, and if it’s all right with Tabitha, slide a hand down between her thighs. Ask first.”
“Can I?” he asked instantly.
“Sure,” she said.
“Touch her gently. Remember what I said about being soft. Stroke everything, push a little, pull a little, and Tabitha you spread your legs wide, give him room to explore.”
The scent of her sex quickly permeated the room, and I knew they were both doing what they’d been told. Noah gasped as his fingertips found her pussy, no doubt.
“All right. Hold up. This part—you’re both going to have to trust me on, okay?” Their soft sounds stopped and the bed slightly creaked. “Tabitha—crawl up the bed some, to make room, and Noah, you get yourself down there and lie between her thighs.” I heard the bed shifting as they did what they were told. “Noah, I want you to get a good look at what’s going on down there. I get the sense that you’re both religious types, except for the fact that you’re here now with me—but here’s where heaven on earth is, for both of you. Are you willing to believe me?”
I heard one of them swallow. “I am, Mister Jack,” Noah said.
“Good. Reach in and touch her gently. Trace the outline of her folds, then open them up and look inside.” I heard Tabitha gasp as he did it. “Is your wife wet for you, Noah?”
“Yeah,” he breathed.
“Even better. Touch your finger in there. Don’t push in, don’t take advantage of her, just take the tip your finger and wind it around, pushing against her walls, like you’re spinning back the time on an old-fashioned clock.”
Tabitha gasped and hissed.
“You okay?” I asked her, and then waited . . . and waited.
“You can’t see it, but I’m nodding,” she reported back.
I bit back a laugh. “Tell him if he makes you feel good, Tabitha. And tell him if he doesn’t,” I told her, then went on. “Noah—you can’t make an engine turn without a key. And I know you think the key’s what’s in your pants—every guy does, even me, once upon a time. But it’s not, not really. Move your fingers up to where her folds meet, and trust me, kiss right there. Softly.” I would’ve drawn a picture for them if I could, but we weren’t in a Hot-For-Teacher room, so I just had to hope that experimentation and precise directions would get us there. “Run your tongue up and down and taste her.”
Tabitha laughed and the bed creaked as she squirmed. “It tickles a little.”
“That’s okay. And if you don’t like this, we can stop.”
“No, s’good,” she said, relaxing back. “I want to learn.”
“And I want to teach you,” Noah said, clearly having pulled his head back.
“Get back in there then, champ,” I told him. “Suck on her with your lips like you’re sucking the juice from a peach. And use the tip of your tongue to rub what you can get to.”
Tabitha caught her breath. “Oh.”
“Whatever you just did, Noah—do that again. And Tabitha, you tell him.”
“Just—like that,” she whispered, whatever was happening behind me now a private pact between the two of them. “Noah—yeah—more. Please.”
Noah made a muffled sound against her, and I knew he was taking instruction readily, and then I realized I should have asked some important questions before we started. “Have you ever touched yourself down there before, Tabitha?”
“Huh? N—no—why?” she stuttered.
“No reason,” I said. “Just let go. Let Noah make you feel good, like it’s his job, because it is. He signed up for it. And—Noah—you get your hands up in there while you’re kissing her. Pull her gently open with your thumbs. Stretch her a little, rub her gently inside. Get your wife good and ready for you later.”
Tabitha moaned as her new husband did as he was told, and I heard the bedsprings behind me start to creak as someone rocked.
“Oh,” Tabitha said again. “Oh . . . oh . . . oh . . .” She started and she didn’t stop. “Oh Noah, Noah, N-Noah.” Her voice started rising up.
“Don’t answer her,” I growled, lest he be tempted. “Keep going.”
“Oh, I feel so good, Noah—you’re making me—Noah—oh, Noah, oh!” she shouted his name the last time, and the bed bounced like it was fit to levitate, even without a telekinetic magic user in the room, and there was something so sweet about her orgasm when it hit me, like walking into a garden full of flowers unexpectedly. My hunger sucked the energy of it in, as if I were a honeybee and not a vampire. “Oh—oh—gosh,” she whispered to herself, winding down. “Noah.” She said his name with a whole new reverence.
“Tabitha,” he said, his own voice thick, finally pulling up. “I’m glad . . . but . . .”
“But what?” I interrupted quickly, suddenly tense, afraid he was going to say the wrong thing.
“I came. I couldn’t help myself,” he said, sounding ashamed.
I relaxed back in the chair. “Don’t worry about it. This place has seen worse, trust me, and that’s the beauty of being together. You get to practice. A lot. And it’s probably just as well. Takes some of the tension off. How old are you, Noah?” Another question I probably should have asked, sooner.
“Nineteen.”
“Okay, then. I have no doubt you’ll be back up to bat shortly. Especially with Tabitha’s help. You still with me, Tabby?”
“Yeah,” she said, languidly.
“Good. It’s your turn now, Tabitha, and I want you to take this just as seriously as Noah did you, okay? Not that sex can’t be funny, but we’re all here tonight to try.”
“Got it,” she said. “That was really good.”
I had to fight not to chuckle. “I’m glad. Noah’s a fast learner. I’m sure you will be, too. Noah, get up the bed, your turn—and Tabitha, kiss his chest some, while you reach down and cup his balls.”
I heard them rearrange themselves according to my instruction, and then leaned into the moment. “Honestly, Noah, I’m glad you came, because now Tabitha can inspect you some, while everything is casual. Tabitha—trace your fingers up and down his shaft, okay? Get to know him some this way, now. Feel how soft the skin is, how nice and warm.”
“I’m sticky,” Noah said, with a note of sorrow.
“So am I, silly,” Tabitha said. “But you still kissed me.”
“If you want to, you can lick him clean, Tabitha. Take his shaft in your hand, and start at his tip.”
She didn’t answer, but I heard Noah moan.
“Tongue him, right where he opens up, and then trace your tongue over his head.”
“Like that?” she said, and I knew she was asking him, not me.
“Yeah.”
Then she gasped. “I . . . I saw it, earlier but—”
“It’s the same as it was before. You’re just close up,” I told her.
“It’s okay, Tabitha,” Noah told her.
“No, I wanna,” she said, and I heard him sigh in pleasure.
“Cover your teeth with your lips, and when in doubt, use more spit,” I counseled, from the sidelines. “Go slow.”
Noah released another heavy sigh, and Tabitha tried to ask him something like, “Is this okay?” only neither of us could hear it because his cock was in her mouth.
“Oh yeah,” he groaned.
I listened to them go at it for a while, because it both amused and pleased me, and then I decided to take control. “All right. Future variations include sucking on his balls, and sucking on his tip in your mouth while you work his shaft with your hands. But I have a feeling we should all move on to the main course, while Noah’s hard-on is still available—assuming you both agree?”
“Yeah,” Noah said, sounding hoarse.
“Please.” It took her a second longer to answer, since she was pulling back.
“Do you need condoms? Or want them?”
“No,” Noah answered first.
I decided to inquire. “You’re hearing yourself? No birth control? You can get pregnant tonight, you know that, right?”
“That would be amazing,” Tabitha said, in a tone that clearly meant it.
I, too, had kind of wanted kids, in my pre-vampiric life, but that ship had clearly sailed now. “Okay. Tabitha . . . lie back down, and Noah hold yourself over her, but don’t go in yet.” Missionary position seemed to make the most sense, seeing as there was a good chance they probably were—or even if they weren’t, they knew some.
“Is it going to hurt?” Tabitha asked me.
I folded my hands together in my lap. I couldn’t lie. “Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. But Noah’s going to go slow, and if you both want this, it’ll be worth it on the far side.”
“I’ll go slow, I promise,” Noah told her, and I heard the earnestness in his voice.
“Okay,” she breathed.
“You’re up then, Noah. She’s wet, and you’re wet. Grab hold of yourself at the base, make your cock steady, and line it up, get ready. Tabitha, you keep talking to us both, all right?”
“Okay,” she said, her voice a little higher than it had been before.
“You tell him when he can push inside you. And if you say stop, he stops. Don’t be brave and don’t be quiet.”
There was a pause. “I’m nodding,” she informed me, and then to Noah, she said, “Go.”
I heard him gasp, likely as the head of his cock met the heat of her pussy, and I knew we had done our job, he and I—I could scent her sex in the air, and I was sure between his spit and her orgasm, that we had left her dripping.
“Oh,” she told him.
“You okay?” he asked, nervously.
“I—I think so. It’s just . . . awkward. And pinches. But I want you to keep going.”
“You’re sure?” he checked in.
“If you’re gonna make me feel like you did with your mouth earlier, at the end of this Noah, then yeah,” she said softly.
“I’m going to push, then.”
“Do it,” she encouraged him, and I realized that, far beyond any physical explanations I’d managed to give them tonight, the gift of talking to one another directly, about what they wanted, was what they were truly paying for.
I heard her make a sharp intake of breath as he grunted. “Tabby?”
“I’m good, I’m good, just, ow—it’s—keep going.”
“Okay,” he said. He grunted, she made a soft yelp, and then he groaned. “Oh my God, Tabitha, I’m all the way inside of you, and you’re so perfect.”
Tabitha let out a sigh, and the sharp scent of blood rose up in the air, married with their sex. My fangs started to descend, unbidden, and inside my jeans I got rock hard. As trite as it was, there was something about first times. I closed my eyes, remembering fucking Paco in a bathroom stall, when I first realized I could go for guys because of him, and weeks later at that same club when he’d let me taste his blood—just like he’d begged and asked.
He wanted me to take his blood, but as it turned out, he didn’t want mine.
“Oh, Tabitha,” Noah moaned behind me. I heard the bed start to creak as he began to thrust, and I wondered if Fran had made the bed creaky in here on purpose, all the better for “pretend cheaters” to fear getting “pretend caught.”
“Do you like that?” he asked her.
“I’m starting to,” she told him. “It’s like . . . there was this space in me . . . that I never knew wanted to be full. But now that you’re in it . . . I don’t want you to go.”
“I won’t, I promise,” Noah said, and I heard the sound of him softly kissing her. “I can’t believe I’m finally in you. I wanted this ever since we got engaged last year. I even touched myself thinking about it, with you, sometimes,” he confessed.
