Wild Ride, page 3
“Are you joking?” Nikos blurted. “It’ll kill us.”
“You’re a Nightling. What do you have to be afraid of?”
The challenge kindled Nikos’ temper. “I’m not afraid.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Alexei threw his leg over the seat and twisted back to raise his eyebrow at Nikos.
All right. Fine. Let the ba-tar have his fun. There was no going back anyway. Nikos lifted his chin and went to take his place on the black metal horse.
He laid his hand on the back of the beast as Alexei did something he didn’t understand. The horse roared and began to shake. The vibrations surprised Nikos into lifting away for a split-second. Hells. What would riding on the back of that humming leviathan feel like?
“Like nothing you’ve ever known,” Alexei said, raising the collar of his jacket. He didn’t ask if Nikos was all right. “What’s a handsome man like you doing in a place like this? Let me take you away.”
Nikos laughed. “I didn’t expect this.”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you would be funny.”
Alexei grinned. “You’ll have plenty of time to figure out my sense of humor.” He patted the seat. “We’re wasting time. And just so you don’t keep boggling, this is called a motorcycle. They’re common in the time and place I come from and they’re not really alive. It’s an invented thing.”
Nikos slid onto the back of the bike. He hissed when the seating position pressed his groin against the firm curve of Alexei’s ass, and figured it wouldn’t be long before he got hard again.
“Arms around my waist.” Alexei corrected and tightened Nikos’ grip. Nikos couldn’t see his face, but knew Alexei was smirking when he adjusted Nikos’ hands to rest over the stiff outline of his erection. Nikos cupped the vampire’s cock, rubbing lightly, then pressing hard, flattening his palm and shoving Alexei’s rod against his stomach.
Alexei groaned.
“Did I hurt you?” Nikos asked, alarmed.
“Are you mad? Do that again.” Alexei replaced Nikos’ hand. He hissed. “My God, you learn quickly.”
“I do?” The thought was oddly pleasing. And it was such a good change to feel a man respond when Nikos touched him. Rand had never…
But Rand wasn’t there with them, was he?
Nikos held Alexei’s cock tight to his body and stroked, rough and deep. “This doesn’t hurt?” he asked, fascinated.
“What do you think? In case you couldn’t tell from the almighty hard-on I got from letting you bite me, here’s something you should know.” Alexei thrust into Nikos’ palm. “Nightlings like us enjoy pain. Giving and taking. Remember that.”
Nikos shivered.
“Trust me,” Alexei said. “I won’t steer you wrong. Now, no matter what you do, don’t let go.”
“What?”
Alexei pressed down a silver pedal that Nikos hadn’t seen before. The motorcycle roared like a wild cat let free to run across the plains. He lifted his feet from the cold stone beneath them and laughed, the sound so utterly free that Nikos gaped. Then the motorcycle moved. Nikos yelped without meaning to and forgot all about his foray into sexual torment, hanging on to Alexei’s waist for dear life.
The howl of the engine drowned out Alexei’s laughter, but Nikos felt his ribs shake as they swerved into what could only be either a nightmare or the best dream he’d ever had. They rode faster than the wind -- oh, hells, how fast? -- and picked up speed from there.
“Hold on,” Alexei bellowed over the screaming motorcycle. “Almost there… almost… close your eyes! Now!”
Nikos was too stunned to obey. He saw something like a gate opening directly in front of them that they charged through. There came a great flash of light that left him blinded, and then… and then…
Bright colors flashed past, shades Nikos had never even imagined could exist. Bursts of music blared briefly and then were gone. Wind streamed past them in invisible ribbons, curled around Nikos’ throat like a lover’s arms, and made him feel -- for the first time in too long -- like he was alive.
Where are we? Nikos demanded, terrified. Yet… enthralled. Was this where Nightlings came from?
Alexei loosed a triumphant shout. His chest worked as his mouth opened in a grimace and a howl of ecstasy. “Welcome home, Nikos! Let me hear you shout!”
Why not? This was madness, but it was so much fun. His life in the Clan had been completely barren compared to the speed of the motorcycle and this blazing bright land Alexei had carried them to. Nikos bared his throat to the night and tilted back to loose a long, baying call of his own.
Alexei leaned back, snugging his shoulders tight to Nikos’ chest. His hips lifted in a silent invitation. Nikos didn’t try to fight. He knew what he wanted, what they both needed, and he thought he’d like to see how good Alexei’s self-control really was.
Or that was how he explained himself later.
While he was on the cycle, there was no past, no future, only the present and the animal nature taking over. Nikos lowered the collar of Alexei’s jacket and laid his lips on the back of the vampire’s neck. He drew the tip of his tongue to the place where spine met skull, then lazily traveled down to suck the side of Alexei’s throat.
Alexei rolled his head to a side, giving Nikos better access. He shifted back to press his ass and Nikos’ cock together, rolling his hips.
So. Hot.
“Do you like what I do to you?” Nikos said, lips on Alexei’s neck, thrilled by the way Alexei writhed in his arms. He knew he’d lost his mind, but being crazy felt way too good to want to discard.
“More than you can imagine,” Alexei gasped.
Wickedness inspired Nikos. “Then let’s see what you think about this,” Nikos said. He let go of his willpower and bit. His fangs sank in easy as a carving knife through the flesh of an apple, pop and crunch.
Alexei’s stomach muscles gave a mighty jump under Nikos’ palm. He took one hand off the controls, a move even Nikos recognized as far too dangerous. Nikos stopped caring almost immediately as Alexei used that hand to press Nikos’ fingers hard into his prick in an unspoken invitation Nikos was more than happy to answer. He savored the salty zing of Alexei’s skin, suckling the pinch of skin in his mouth, and took things to the next level, teasing the vampire’s trousers open just far enough to put his hand inside and encircle Alexei’s rearing cock. Biting down, tugging without any gentleness, he pushed Alexei too far and joined his voice to Alexei’s as the vampire shot sticky, cool fluid that ran down Nikos’ wrist.
The motorcycle took a sharp left, dodging through what looked like hundreds of other steeds like theirs. So many! They made Nikos’ head swim.
But where were they going?
At first, Nikos thought Alexei had lost control; then, he saw they were heading for a tiny patch of trees, startlingly like home. The Nightling coasted his motorcycle down the shoulder of the road, up an incline and between the trees with their dangerous, jutting branches, just as if he did that kind of thing all the time. Maybe he did. Who knew? Who cared?
The only thing that mattered was the moment, and how it never stopped. The world blazed with brilliant colors, the chilly kiss of the wind stirred sensations Nikos hadn’t known he’d lost, and although he figured he still couldn’t sing, he wanted to. He settled for a whoop and pounded Alexei’s back as the motorcycle came purring to a stop.
“I thought a little taste of something close to home might soothe you, if you’re upset at all. I don’t think you are. And I’m not wasting any more time.” Nikos got one look at the predatory gleam in the Nightling’s smile before Alexei twisted, tackled, and knocked them both off the motorcycle. Nikos laughed, thrilled, as Alexei kept them rolling until they banked at the foot of a pine tree with Alexei rearing up to straddle him.
The Nightling snatched Nikos’ wrists and held them up together. Nikos grinned, not even a little worried, and canted his hips to tease Alexei with the proof of his excitement.
Alexei licked his lips, curled his tongue briefly, and began to rock down in time with Nikos’ thrusts. He rode Nikos easily as his bike, cresting each surge and shoving back when he was shoved. “You are a wicked thing,” he chided, mock-severe. “What does one do with a creature such as the one beneath me?” Alexei looped Nikos’ joined hands around his neck and spread his own palms over Nikos’ chest. “I think you need a lesson in manners. Never bring the driver off unless you want to crash.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Nikos said, reckless, humping Alexei in slow, rolling pushes up. “I don’t care. If this is what happens when we crash, I think I want to do it again.”
“Insatiable.”
“I am,” Nikos agreed. “Hells, you feel so…”
“Yesss,” Alexei hissed as he rose and fell. “You too. More.”
“More. Yes.” Nikos drew to a stop. He waited for Alexei to give him an annoyed look before he whispered, “Fuck me. Please.”
The annoyed expression changed to shock, questioning, and then settled into something like regret. It was strange. Why would a Nightling care? Couldn’t he tell Nikos wanted this?
Nikos tried to speak, but found his lips blocked by the pad of Alexei’s forefinger. “Not here,” the Nightling said simply. “I don’t have anything on me, and I won’t hurt you.”
“I thought you said Nightlings liked pain. You. Me. People like us. Don’t you know what it means to have found someone else who understands because they’ve been there too? Someone like me? I thought I never would. I hid myself so deep because I thought I was an abomination, and now you’re bringing me to a world where I’m not?” Nikos shook a fallen pine needle off his forehead, still amazed at how he didn’t sweat, so nothing kept it stuck there but its own stubborn will. “You might be a lunatic, but if you kill me I’ll die with the satisfaction of knowing I got the chance to really live for once. Fuck me.”
Alexei smiled, tracing the spot where the needle had lain. “I’ve waited so long to hear…” He cleared his throat. “Yes. We do like pain. Don’t believe I don’t need this as much as you do, or more.” Nikos could tell Alexei meant what he said. “But you’re not ready for all that a fuck with me involves.”
“I think I’m pretty close.” Nikos thrust against Alexei for the sake of emphasis. “Give me what I want, since you’ve claimed me. I’ll burst if you don’t take me. Come on.”
“No. No. Not here.” Alexei wouldn’t hear any arguments. “Young Nightlings -- or, as we call them, time travelers -- in lust are so impatient. Don’t ask. I’ll explain later.” He smiled approvingly when Nikos nodded. Lunacy was proved so far as he was concerned. It didn’t matter a bit in the face of this driving need to fuck. “If you’re that desperate, let me take the edge off.”
“What?”
“Patience. You’ll see.” Alexei shook off Nikos’ grip and writhed down the length of Nikos’ body, stopping at just the right place to push one questing hand inside Nikos’ vest while the other went mining for treasure. He drew the lacing of Nikos’ slacks open in between quick, hungry kisses, peeled the fabric back, and after a quick, hungry look, slid his mouth down over the head of Nikos’ shaft. Didn’t stop until his lips were flush with the wiry black curls surrounding Nikos’ cock and balls.
Nikos’ hips cleared the bed of pine needles he lay on, pushing himself deeper into Alexei’s throat. Alexei made happy noises and used his tongue, doing things that should be criminal and probably were. He kneaded Nikos’ flanks as he sucked, hard-soft-hard-soft-hard.
A whisper tickled the edge of his mind, sliding underneath the cacophony of Alexei’s noisy sucking and the groans Nikos couldn’t have stopped even if he’d wanted to. Give it up for me, he “heard” in the brightly colored blur of his thoughts.
“Alexei?” Nikos tangled his fingers in the short peaks of Alexei’s wind-blown hair and jerked. “Are you --?”
Me and none other. Alexei flickered another of his slyly amused glances. Daring him. Challenging him. Knowing Nikos would not back down from this -- more, actually counting on that to get what he wanted. Be a good man and do as I say. Give me everything you’ve got.
Even as he fought to hang on, Nikos knew he was a goner. Alexei bit, only hard enough to prickle, but the thought of what he could do -- hells. Alexei held him down as he shot, the sadistic beast, overriding all Nikos’ attempts to fuck the Nightling’s wicked mouth. Nikos barely felt the spearing ache that would have promised bruises later, if he’d still been able to make them. Nothing mattered but freefalling, thinking he might fly before he hit bottom.
Alexei licked Nikos’ cock clean, swirling his way loose until he finished off the top. He braced one hand on either side of Nikos’ hips and looked up, one eyebrow lifted in a wry question. Everyone in the world knew that expression when they saw it on the face of a lover: I want to know how I did, but I’m not about to actually ask out loud.
Nikos liked giving credit where credit was due, no games and no mind trips. He suspected that would make him less of a man if others found out, others who weren’t like Alexei, but he could cope.
“You are an extraordinary man, for a monster,” he said, reaching for Alexei’s arm to tug him up where Nikos wanted him, curled into his side. “You’re still hard.” He nudged Alexei’s stiff cock. “You didn’t finish. Again.”
“You’ve undone me once.” Alexei frowned, mock-stern. “I’d rather like to save what I have and shoot so deep inside you you’ll never forget I was there.”
Nikos chuffed under his breath, tickled. He’d never, never known any man or woman in the Clan who liked to joke and laugh in the afterglow. Alexei hadn’t reached the glowing stage yet, but they were getting there and if he liked reining himself in before the main event, Nikos would let the Nightling have his fun.
“Alexei?” he asked abruptly as a thought occurred to him. “Do Nightlings share body space after sex?”
Alexei snorted. “Well, we hardly call it anything as soppy as that, but yes, they do. We do.” He hesitated. “I haven’t had anyone who wanted… never mind.”
Interesting. Nikos put that away to come back to as soon as he understood more. “Then what’s stopping you?”
“Nothing, I suppose.” Alexei grinned and slithered up, burrowing against Nikos and head-butting him in the ribs. He pointed toward the road. “Listen. So close and yet so far. We’ve got our own private world inside this stand of trees. Wonderful, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah.” Nikos kissed the top of Alexei’s head, feeling oddly as if he’d come back home to a place he hadn’t realized he’d left behind. “Will I understand all this when you explain what the Nightlings are, and what this place is?”
“Yes. To begin with, this is what you need to know. This is your home. This is the world where you were born.”
“But I --”
“Shh.” Alexei closed Nikos’ mouth with a kiss. “The stories you’ve been told about your birth are all lies. Like so many of your age, you were stolen from this world and this city. We call it New York. Taken by creatures we don’t understand and carried to a dark time where man has lost all hope of becoming more than an animal clinging to life.”
“I don’t understand.” Nikos frowned. “Why doesn’t this frighten me?”
“Because you know you belong here. And perhaps you know you can escape at any time. You know, deep down in here.” Alexei laid his hand over Nikos’ heart. “Although you won’t need blood if you stay. And I’ll be with you, so you won’t want to leave. I have so much to teach you, Nikos. More than just traveling in time. I barely know where to start, but this seems like a good place to me.”
He kissed Nikos and laughed to feel Nikos kissing him back.
Chapter Four
Nikos didn’t know what he’d been expecting Alexei’s home to look like in this world. Maybe something made of damp, moldy stone with small stained-glass windows filthy from age. Cobwebs. A wooden door with an arched top that creaked ominously on its hinges when opened. A few bats hanging from the ceiling. Mist curling over the floors.
As Alexei unlocked the door to what he called his “apartment,” a completely normal, rectangle-shaped door painted soft green in a corridor surrounded by a line of doors that were exactly the same, directly in the heart of a man-made warren he called a “complex,” Nikos tried not to laugh.
Alexei didn’t miss a thing. Nikos suspected, from what he knew of the man, nothing ever escaped him. “Is something funny?” he inquired as he jiggled his key in an attempt to open the stubborn lock.
No point in lying. “Yes.” Nikos tucked his hands under his arms and leaned his weight on the cream stucco wall opposite Alexei’s door. Soothing pastel paint and, fascinating to Nikos, small rectangles with tiny representations of nature scenes hung at regular intervals. Were they “paintings?” He’d heard stories about artists and thought them to be no more than legends.
Nikos shook his head at them. “No one would believe me if I told them where and how the Nightlings live.”
“If you think this is amazing, you should see some of the places I’ve been. Trust me, everything in my home is all quite tame.”
“And Nightlings really like things so…” He tried to find the right word but couldn’t. “I thought you’d live in dungeons.”
“Come on. The moldering castle look might have come back into vogue in your time, but it’s more than somewhat outdated in my day and age.” Alexei grunted, satisfied, as the lock reluctantly clunked over. “Who would possibly want to live in the festering damp and try in vain to rest themselves on cold, slimy stones when there’s such a thing as centralized heat?”
Nikos snorted with surprised laughter. “You’re still funny.”
“Good man,” Alexei approved. “There, that’s got them all.” He pocketed his keys, turned the doorknob -- plain tarnished brass -- and swung his door open. Standing to a side, he winked at Nikos and made a half-bow, inviting and commanding him to enter.
