THE FINAL HAPTER
They found William several kilometers down the road. He’d hidden the bike in a huge heap of hay, and she guessed from the smell of burnt oil in the air he’d dragged tail trying to flee from the monks. He’d taken refuge in an old abandoned farmhouse, which smelled faintly of chickens, who were the likely new residents of the brick and mortar building. He had put up a bit of a palisade, and Lisa had had to call out to him for him to look suspiciously through the slats.
His expression was so full of relief; Lisa felt her heart quiver. She wordlessly helped him take down the palisade and it had taken another bit of acrobatics with the car to get him safely inside. He stretched against the back seat, with Ryder in the driver’s and Lisa in the passenger, and when he noticed that it was just them, he didn’t ask about Amy but a lump seemed to grow in his throat, and all of them felt it. Like a vacuum. Something that was sucking inward, threatening to eat them all. No one said much. There was nothing to say, not yet. That time would come.
Ryder drove them all the way back to Lyon, and still, despite everything, Lisa was able to stare out through the tinted windows and find the scenery beautiful. Such a curious paradox; the sunlight that lit up the trees and open green fields and quaint red-bricked houses was also the one thing that had saved them, and destroyed them, at the same time.
She knew there was a metaphor in its expression, somewhere. But she couldn’t find it. In time, maybe it would make more sense to her, the way her life had come full circle. For now, she could only find solace in the blood-brother’s companionship. In the back, Will looked out the window, seemingly enraptured just like her by a diurnal setting he had been banished from. She wondered if he missed it, thought about it. Ryder was stern, but somehow comforting, beside her, and he looked across at her. Again, no words seemed to capture the moment, but he reached down and held her hand all the same. She smiled, squeezed it and closed her eyes.
By time they’d made it to the city it was still day, and Ryder suggested that he and Will stay in the car and find somewhere to bide their time. Of course, she was free to explore. It was France, after all, that she had always wanted to visit.
“I don’t feel like it now,” she said, at last. They’d pushed down both driver and passenger seats, and all three were cross-legged, facing each other.
“I guess that’s understandable,” Will said.
“No, not… not because of… everything,” she said. “Just that… it would seem hollow, to see things by myself. I want to experience France, I do—but I want to do it with someone else. Funny. I didn’t used to mind being on my own.”
“We’ll come back some day, I promise,” Ryder said.
“And the Shinji Clan always keeps its promises.” Lisa held up her finger.
Both vampires had to smile at that. Ryder got back in the driver’s seat, and began to tour them around Lyon, while Will gave a comical fictional tour of different sights, which finally broke the atmosphere of sadness around them, if briefly. Lisa appreciated the respite, and did her own reconnaissance through the city, returning with fresh croissants and bagels and gourmet coffee.
At last, she settled back in her chair again as Ryder finally steered them back toward the private airstrip where their jet was waiting for them. She no longer felt sleepy. She knew her life was different now. It would be impossible to go back to the library, and in a weird way it felt like she’d outgrown it. A fish too large for its bowl. Ryder had suggested that because of her contributions, and with her eidetic recall, she could easily find employment with one of the human/vampire councils. If you want, of course, he’d said.
She puzzled over this. It was a scary proposition, but she knew it was only scary—that she was perceiving it as scary—because of how much it pushed her out of her comfort zone. And now, she was beginning to see, that was a good thing. On board the jet, Will showed her to the back where a large bed was already made, and she smiled and sat down while Ryder conversed with the pilot.
“You really are changed, I meant it when I said it,” he said, and sat down beside her, his hands splayed out behind him. “Back in the monastery, I mean.”
“I know,” she gave him a warm smile, “I didn’t understand what you meant back then. I don’t know if I do now, but I think I’m beginning to. It happened before I realized it, and then by time I did it was too late.”
“Change isn’t all bad,” Will said, tilting his head. His brown hair and jovial features swayed at the same time, and he rubbed at his cheeks. Lisa felt an undeniable warmth for him, as if, somewhere along the line, another change had occurred—her feelings toward both vampires.
“No,” she agreed, and took her glasses off, setting them on the small counter beside the bed. She took of her shoes and socks and stretched out on the bed, her hands behind her head. The plane thrummed as the engines flared and it began to lift off. “My mother and father always said that change can be beautiful.”
“I like that,” he said and leaned down next to her, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling.
“You and Ryder really are brothers,” she said, “I wish I could convey to you how much you both mean to me. I’m not good with words—with feelings, like that. But… there it is.” She reached down beside her and found Will’s hand, squeezed it with her own, and felt him smile.
“I think Ryder had it down. Words get in the way sometimes.”
“Then I won’t use words,” she said, and propped herself on one elbow. He turned his head a few degrees and saw her undo her hair. It fell down on her shoulders, golden and rosy as her own cheeks, and her small perky nose leaned close.
When her lips touched his, he moved them back, wriggling them against her. He was different than Ryder, distinct. And yet, again, it was as if there were something tying them together in their habits. She pushed a knee over top of him and he let his hand slide to her hip. The loose end of it fell lower, and his fingers dipped against her hipbone, rubbed against the nylon elastic of her panties.
Lisa kissed him back and opened her mouth, sliding his tongue into his mouth. He wrapped his own tongue around hers, sucking hard enough to make her moan and close her eyes, and she began to blindly unfasten the buttons on his shirt until his chest opened up to her. Like Ryder, he was firmly muscled from training, but there was a different kind of feel to his. While Ryder’s musculature was mature, as if he’d somehow molded himself around his arms and legs and torso, Will’s was newer—it had that crisp eroticism, a flashiness that she found just as enticing.
“You’re a good kisser,” he replied, moving one hand over her buttock until she was crouched over top of him. Her breasts beaded out against her T-shirt, and he used his other hand to fondle her stomach, moving higher until she closed her eyes and reveled in the feel of his fingers opening against her sternum, cupping her left breast.
“That’s what Ryder thought,” she said, bent over him. Her hair dangled to his face, and he could smell her breath, warm and hot. “This is something else changed about me.”
“You’re kissing skills?” he laughed.
She blinked. “I was thinking more my… social skills?”
“Oh that,” Will joked. “In that case, I have to agree.”
“You would,” a voice came from behind, and Will blushed and saw Ryder come in, locking the door behind him and marching toward the bed with a distracted air. Lisa turned on her side and beamed at him.
“You don’t agree?” she asked.
Ryder couldn’t help but grin, and he sat down on the bed opposite her, reached toward her and stroked her neck as he kissed her. “I didn’t say that at all,” he replied.
Gently, he pushed her back down between him and Will. His hand went to her chest and he leaned in again, gently kissing her smooth pursed lips as they lay face-to-face. She sighed, and pulled her shirt further over her head, undid her bra. It came away easily, and she giggled for an instant as both vampires took their turns, Ryder tasting her neck and chest and moving his tongue lower to the tops of her breasts while Will rubbed her shoulders and lower back, his hands moving lower and against her hips.
Amy’s borrowed jeans were very loose on her waist and his fingers easily went underneath, flexing on the tops of her buttocks and daring to arch into her inner thighs. She wriggled against him, urging him to take them the rest of the way off, which he did. She curled her leg over Ryder, who gripped it firmly and went back to her mouth, plunging his tongue between her lips.
Meanwhile, Will tenderly stroked her back again and removed his own shirt and pants as he cuddled up close to her. His hand danced across the fabric of her panties and curved inward, rubbing against the cleft of her vulva. She stiffened against Ryder’s passionate embrace and poked her buttocks further toward Will, who reached lower between her legs and pushed his fingers deeper against the fabric.
“Like that,” she murmured between kisses.
Ryder relieved himself of his own shirt and pulled his pants down, and she was thrilled as she always was by its girth, even now as it probed above the lip of his underwear. She reached down and pulled it toward her, jerking him off in slow pulls as he continued to kiss her. His hands massaged her breasts, bringing her nipples to attention.
She had never thought of them as being particularly erogenous for her, but she couldn’t deny their sensitivity now as he kneaded them in profound circular movements. She opened her mouth wider and rubbed herself against Ryder, feeling herself grow wet with excitement.
The three of them seemed to fall into a kind of trance, with each aware of the other’s needs and desires and Will pulled her panties down slowly until the supple roundness of her cheeks was laid bare. She opened her legs and put her thigh over top of Ryder again, exposing herself to the dusty-brunette behind her who tenderly kissed her shoulder as he pulled his own boxers down and nudged her crack with his member.
She felt something slimy slide against her, and shivered. To have Ryder all to herself was one thing, but it was quite another to have both vampires, and she felt both of their hot breaths moving over every inch of her skin. Will’s hand came down and moved over her inner thigh as she straddled Ryder on his side, and she gasped into his mouth when the other vampire’s fingers moved over her vulva, spreading wide over the pink folds of her labia. She pulled her head back and gasped, her nails sinking into Ryder’s skin, and he seemed to purr.
With the same infinite care she thought belonged only to Ryder, Will spread her labia wider and slipped his middle finger into her vagina, and she groaned and butted her hips against Ryder. She was still holding his cock, and it swelled again in her grip, threatening to explode.
“Let’s switch,” she suggested, stroking Ryder’s cheek and turning over so that she was facing Will. He smiled at her, that same boyish charm that seemed endemic to him.
She leaned forward and teased him, chewing on his lower lip, and he smiled and kissed her back. “Definitely a good kisser,” Will replied, and closed his eyes when he felt her hand sliding over his manhood.
Ryder came closer, nudging her neck with his nose as one hand reached underneath, cupping one of her breasts, and the other planted on her hipbone. Her buttocks arched provocatively, white and smooth as enamel. He entered her with that same seamless perfection she had come to love, but still her whole body rocked with the sensation and she breathed heavily into Will’s ear and pulled on him harder. Her hand felt sticky as she moved her arm up and down, enjoying the feel of having him at attention.
“You both are,” she opened her mouth with another ecstatic expression, “…ohhh, wow. So large, you’re both… so large.” Ryder kissed the back of her head again and pumped into her harder, sliding his manhood deeper inside her and she reached behind her with her free hand to steady his approach.
“Beautiful girl,” Ryder whispered into her ear.
She gyrated her hips, urging both of her boys toward a collective climax. Will was stiff in her palm, and she wondered how long he could last. His eyes were closed and fluttering, and his mouth was opened and brow strained, as if concentrating on how she was pleasuring him. Behind her Ryder moved in and out with the slick strokes of an expert paddler, dipping in and out of her moist canal with utter skill.
Her own clitoris had stiffened as well, red and angry with blood, and she had to reach down to pinch it between two fingers, felt a warm rush of liquid meet her touch. She arched her back further, allowing Ryder better access as he grunted harder and harder, moving with increasing speed. Her own buttocks slapped with the effort, and she began to pant and moan in turn, and closed her own eyes.
“I’m almost there,” she whispered quickly, slurring her words and craning her ass toward him so he could move with even more rapid jerks. Her own hand was a sticky mess as she moved on Will, and she kissed his open mouth, felt his tongue respond to her.
“Coming,” Ryder announced, and it was almost comical, like he was reading a road sign.
But it was Will who exhausted himself first, giving a low grunt and his eyes flashed open, meeting hers only inches away from her, and she kissed him again as he spurted upward, drenching her hand with something hot that splattered sideways on her stomach.
It was enough to set off her own climax and her stomach scooted outward. The muscles of her vagina contracted around Ryder still inside her.
“Oh, fuck,” Ryder gasped into her back, his open lips against one shoulder. His hand on her breast squeezed tighter, causing her to cry out, and both of them stumbled and flopped wildly against themselves, pushing and throbbing.
He pulled out of her, and something warm dribbled down and between her legs, wicked up by her pubic hair. His other hand on her hip tightened and untightened, leaving a white hand mark, and he gave a final gasp. Her own shivering was unstoppable, and she felt as if she were having a seizure. Only Will’s gentle mouth careening across her chin, her lips, her eyelids, and Ryder’s wide hug around her waist, and his own groin butted up against her buttocks, kept her from flailing off the bed.
“Every… time…” she gasped.
“You really get carried away, huh?” Will said.
“Can’t help it,” she opened her eyes and sighed, and reached behind, stroking Ryder’s head and let herself sink against the pillow. “Every time, with me and Ryder… it’s like my whole body escapes me and…”
“She’s a kicker,” Ryder said sarcastically, and she punched him light on the shoulder.
“Not that I’m complaining,” she said at last, “my god. You both are amazing, like two sides of the same coin. Although don’t ask me which is which.”
“I’m tails,” Ryder announced before Will could say anything, “I’m always tails.”
She almost laughed, wondering if there wasn’t some sort of filial competition at work.
“We are blood-brothers,” Will offered and leaned onto his back.
Lisa and Ryder did the same, and the three of them stared up at the ceiling for long minutes, catching their breaths, and trying to orient themselves again. It had been good to make love to both vampires, she thought. It wasn’t just a matter of distracting herself from Amy’s death, and from the arduous and long process she saw waiting for them when they finally landed, and Ryder and Will would have to confront the council about the brotherhood.
No, it was more than that. It was simpler than that. A desire to be loved, to fit in, something she had never experienced in the human world. But here, among the two men she had learned to love, and with whom she had gone through so much, she didn’t have to try to pretend to fit in. They loved her for who she was.
She smiled and reached over Ryder’s naked body toward the counter where her glasses were propped like a spidery antique. But as her fingers brushed the frames, she suddenly drew back and stared at them, unable to explain her hesitation.
Lisa blinked and pulled her hand away. I am different, she said, no longer questioning the fact. The glasses stayed where they were, a symbol of a woman she had grown out of, and a reminder of how far she had come.