15
“Wake up, Delaney. Wake up. You have to, it’s important.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”
“You can, you know you can. Don’t tell me no now, not now.”
Delaney groaned, then stretched her limbs out as far as they would go. It was one of those really awesome stretches, the kinds that made a girl feel like her whole body was rejuvenated all at one time. Her whole body gave a little shiver of pleasure, and for what had to be the thousandth time she marveled at the fact that a human body could feel this way.
Well, not strictly human, she couldn’t quite say that anymore, could she? That fateful scene in Lucas’ warehouse had seen to that. She had offered her blood to Jack freely, and he’d taken everything he needed. He’d drunk and as he did so, his body had reformed itself. He’d become the magnificent, amazing creature he’d been before.
Unfortunately, the amount of blood he’d needed to repair himself had been more than she’d have to give. He’d had to use his own blood to heal her. It was a process she still didn’t fully understand. He told her he’d had her drink some of his blood, enough to heal her internal organs and restore the blood he’d taken.
He’d used his blood on her external wounds, as well, using it like a band-aid on steroids. When she’d woken, after a week of being passed out cold, she’d felt like her old self. No, that wasn’t quite accurate. She felt better than her old self, better than any version of herself she’d ever been.
When she asked Jack if she was like him now, he told her that she wasn’t. She asked him if she was still human and he told her she wasn’t exactly that, either. He told her to think of herself as something of a hybrid, a new breed they hadn’t really seen before.
For example, although her eyes were seriously sensitive to the sun and she was now much more likely to develop a wicked sunburn, the sun didn’t demolish her the way it did Jack. Although she didn’t drink blood, when she was hungry the only thing she ever seemed to want was a juicy, rare steak. Like, black and blue rare.
She was stronger than before, able to accomplish physical feats her small frame would never have been able to manage pre-blood exchange. She was sure there would be other changes, too, just as she was sure she and Jack would work through them when they cropped up. Jack, who was still pawing at her even as she her thoughts wandered to the strange turn her life had so recently taken.
“Jack, you are being completely ridiculous.”
“No, I beg to differ. I’m feeding a need.”
“Ha! A need? Is that what you call it?”
“When it comes to you, that’s exactly what I call it.”
“And how long do you think you’ll feel that way? How long until the novelty wears off?”
Jack propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her with a tenderness that made her heart absolutely melt. He’d looked at her that way many times in the three weeks since the showdown that had changed everything, and each time he did so, she felt that same jolt of energy. It never diminished, never grew old. At least, not for her. Still, she had that lingering fear that he was with her because he felt that he had to, that it was the right thing to do.
“Laney,” he answered gently, brushing her messy hair out of her face tenderly, “how many times do I have to tell you?”
“Tell me again.”
“This, this thing between us, there is no novelty. This is reality for us now. At least it is for me. I told you before you gave me your blood that it would change everything, and it has. It’s the same as if you’d given me a physical piece of your heart and I a piece of mine. We live in each other’s bodies now. That’s a bond experienced by very few, even amongst the vampire community. I’m sorry. I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted. If it’s not what you feel.”
She looked up at him with the most serious expression she could muster up for as long as she could hold it, which turned out not to be very long. He was too beautiful, her desire and love for him too great. He’d taken her old life for her, that was true, but he’d replaced it with more than she could have imagined.
“You’re so silly, Jack, you know that? Such a silly, silly man.”
“Oh yeah? Well, there’s one thing I’m feeling very serious about. Want me to show you?”
She did, she always did. That was another change she hadn’t anticipated but welcomed with open arms. Her sexual appetite was voracious, seemingly never ending. It was an appetite to match Jack’s, that was for sure. But she also retained her human softness, her warmth, and that was something Jack craved from her.
They had spent whole days tangled up in sheets together, oblivious to the time ticking by. Only hunger would motivate them to come up for air, and even then, the hunger had to be pretty intense. Even the thought of their sexual escapades made her thighs slick, and she could feel his massive erection pressing into her side. She looked at him with wide, phoney innocence, as if she had no idea what on earth that could be.
“My goodness, what do we have here?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you find out?”
On her back with nothing but a sheet to cover her, she slid her hand down his side. She took her time with it, allowing the nerves of her fingertips to delight in every inch of his skin. The closer she got to his pelvic bones, the faster his breathing became. When she finally wrapped her hand around his engorged flesh, he groaned. His head rocked back, eyes closed as he licked his lips.
Keeping her eyes focused on his face, loving the look of his face in the soft light of the pink bulbs she’d put in the bedside lamps to make the place look less stark, she began to move her hand slowly. She moved it up and down, twisting slightly and reviling in the way his member jumped and twitched at her touch. She could feel him growing harder still, could feel the slickness she was creating with her friction.
She remembered how he had teased her that first time, how he had taken her to the edge only to leave her wanting more. It was a game two could play now. She removed her hand, leaving his body tense and aching for her. She bent forward, kissing along his chest, flicking his nipples lightly with her tongue. She moved her body closer, first straddling him and then sliding her body down the length of his until she had positioned herself between his legs.
With a devious look in her eyes, she dipped her head again, taking his substantial girth into her mouth. With one hand working the bottom of his shaft and the other caressing his balls, she worked her mouth up and down, up and down.
It wasn’t difficult to know what he wanted. Her body just felt it, felt the pressure he wanted, felt when he was close and she needed to bring him back down. She did this over and over again until he was actually yelling out in both pleasure and frustration.
“Here, Jesus, Laney, come here. You’re going to kill me.”
“Not possible, babe; you can’t be killed. Well, hardly.”
“Well, come here anyway.”
She did what he asked, hovering over an erection that now stood at full attention. She took it in her hand, lowering her pelvis so that just the tip slid into her and then raising up again. She could see the torment in his eyes, the beginning, and finally relented. After all, she was torturing herself, too. Her body wanted him so badly it was a physical pain.
He slid all the way inside of her, filling her up with a delicious aching sensation. She gasped, her hands on his chest, nails digging into flesh. Her hips bucked against him, moving him inside of her, her breasts out and nipples erect. Jack’s hands moved to her ribcage, sliding up and down her body, feeling every inch of her.
It was so familiar, the way their two bodies fit together, and at the same time was exhilarating every time. Every time it was better, in fact, their bodies even more a part of each other. Moving on top of him the way she was, her mind cleared completely, her pure physicality taking over instead.
She was close, the feeling of his cock hitting her in the sweet spot again and again. Even when he sat up, then lifted her up off the bed without ever breaking their connection, she could still feel the orgasm coming on.
He carried her to the shower, turned the water on and then set her down, turning her around so that her hands were splayed out on the tile and her legs spread wide. From behind, he entered her again. With one arm, he held her tightly against his body, keeping her stable, while the other stroked her sex in time with his pumping hips. It was a sensory overload. The water sliding down her body, the feel of his thick cock and his sure fingers.
Her body buckled, shook, and then with a scream she came, long and hard. As almost always happened when they were together, Jack followed her almost immediately. They came together, came for longer than should have been legal, and then stood still together as they came down off of their high.
When it was over, Jack turned Delaney to face him, lifting her chin so that he could kiss her deeply before he spoke. Although she wasn’t sure what he was going to say, she had felt some kind of a conversation coming. She had known it was only a matter of time. The tides were changing for them and it was something they had to speak about.
“Laney?”
“Hm?”
“You know I love you, right?”
“I guess I do.”
“Is it okay?”
“That you love me?”
“Yes.”
“God, it’s more than okay. It’s mandatory. I love you, too. I can’t even think about what my life would be without you now. The life I had before? The whole thing, it feels so far away. It wasn’t that it was a bad life, but I wouldn’t want it back. I wouldn’t want anything but this. Not anything but you.”
“Can I ask you something then?”
“You can ask me anything you like.”
“Is it me you’re happy with, or is it this place? Or both, maybe?”
Delaney was quiet for a minute as she though the question through. It was something she’d honestly never considered before, not since she’d moved into Jack’s loft. Back in the warehouse she had told herself that she would never return to her apartment, the scene of all that fear and pain. She had been right about that. She hadn’t even returned for the few belongings she wanted to keep. Jack had gone to retrieve those for her, not that there were very many.
After everything she’d been through, everything that had changed, none of it seemed all that important. Once that was done, she and Jack had lived in a sort of limbo together, not leaving his loft for anything but feeding (the hunt for him, bloody steaks for her). Jack had also made a promise to himself when everything had seemed so hopeless, and that was that he would not be setting foot inside of The Blood again.
He hadn’t been wrong about that any more than Delaney had been about her apartment. He’d received several phone calls from Delbert, ranging from grovelling to outrageously angry, but he’d returned none of them. He wanted nothing to do with that chapter of his life, not anymore.
Delaney supposed both of them had known that they wouldn’t go on this way indefinitely, she just hadn’t known what would happen instead. Now, she would find out. She would learn what life had in store for her next.
“I don’t care about the place. Not at all, really. I don’t think there’s anything much holding me here now.”
“Would you want to leave?”
“Leave?”
“With me. Would you want to leave with me, is what I mean. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, actually. I think I’m done with the US for now. I miss... the world. I miss the world, Laney.”
“And you want to show it to me? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure, if you’ll allow me to do so.”
“I can’t think of anything I’d like more! I’ve always, always wanted to travel!”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do. No need to pack, even. Anything we need, we’ll just get on the way.”
“It’s perfect. It’s completely perfect. Only…”
Jack’s face fell, making him look just like a little boy. He must have thought she was going to back out, that she’d already thought of a reason for why she didn’t want to go, after all. It was a look she couldn’t help laughing about before getting onto the tips of her toes and kissing him long and deeply.
“Poke your lip back into your mouth, lover. I’m not backing out on you. I was only wondering if we could do something first. Just one thing before we leave. It’s important to me.”
“If it’s important to you, you don’t even need to ask.”
“Good. Just prepare yourself, all right? I don’t think it’s exactly what you’ll be expecting.”
***
“All right, you got me, Laney. It’s not what I was expecting. Are you sure about this?”
With no need to pack and no desire to tie up loose ends, Jack had locked up his loft, keeping it safe until they decided to return to Austin again. If they decided, which they weren’t at all sure about. In the dead of night, they climbed into Jack’s car and he allowed her to direct him to the last place in Texas she wanted to visit before she left.
As they pulled up in front of Augusten Grady’s house, she watched Jack’s face expectantly. She smiled, recognizing some of the same doubt and hesitation in him that she remembered feeling herself, hangover and all, the first time she had arrived. He looked at her doubtfully, causing her to let out a merry little peal of laughter.
“Okay, I give. What the hell is this place?”
“This is the home of a man named Augusten Grady.”
“The author? I’ve heard of him. Read a couple of his books, myself. Good. I heard he was a total recluse, though. Thought nobody even knew where he was.”
“Nobody does. Nobody except for me, that is.”
“So why did we come?”
Sitting there in the softly purring car, Delaney told him all about her visit to this strange mansion. She told him about the offer Augusten had made her and she told him why he had made it. She told him of the sorrow she had felt, the sorrow she still felt, for how lonely his life was; for the fear that had ruled it for so long. When she was finished, she looked at him pleadingly, willing him to understand.
“Do you see? He asked me to live his adventures for him, so that he could have just a piece of what he always dreamt of for himself. It’s because of him that we found each other. It’s because of him that we belong together. I want to give him something in return.”
“And what would you like to give him?”
“In a word, you.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, still not fully understanding what it was she was getting at. She placed hand over his, squeezing his fingers so that he would know it was on.
“I want to give him your stories. I want him to live your adventures, so that he can feel like he lived them for himself. Will you do it? Will you give him your stories?”
Jack would give them, and did. They entered Augusten’s home and did not leave for four days. By the time they left, Augusten Grady had enough material to write the finest novel of his entire career. It was his legacy, but it was also his life.
{**}
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