~ Fourteen ~
JEREMY FOUND AND CARRIED piles upon piles of notebooks in his arms as he stampeded into the library, calling out that he found them. He dumped them into my waiting arms and said, “Take them to him. Go, go now, Bobbie. I am late and have to run, and will be back as soon as I can.”
I hesitated for only a moment as I looked at Devin waiting on the other side.
Danger! my brain shouted.
You are crossing over into an ocean of uncertainties, but I knew just what I was doing and knew I had to.
The anticipation of being with Devin MacLeod filled me. I have been thinking about him, about his kiss, about his touch, and here I was going to him.
I chastised myself. I was only crossing over to give him his notes. I wouldn’t be there long enough for a kiss.
I wanted him to kiss me again and wondered if he wanted to.
Damn, hot damn, I wanted more than kissing. Why was my libido so out of control?
Jeremy broke into my thoughts, “Bobbie…what is it? Why aren’t you going through?”
“I…” What could I say? I had to create the portal. I had to go through, and yet I couldn’t move.
I reasoned with myself. I had a mission. Get the notebooks to him, get back and work on a spell that would open my grandmother’s portal. But I couldn’t move, and then Devin’s voice caressed me.
“Coom to me, lass…”
His voice was low and hungry. His voice stroked and feathered over my nerve-endings. His words, those simple deeply accented words made my knees weak. At that moment, looking at him, into him, it was as though no one else in the world existed.
I whispered the word that would allow me to go to him. “Ramabien.”
At my back, Jeremy exclaimed excitedly, “Egad! I have never been able to create a portal to another realm. Once, I created one between my office and my home…but this?”
The silver sliver was wider this time when it appeared and as it grew wider still, I put my hand inside. I hugged the notebooks to me and stepped through.
I, however, hadn’t gotten any better at portal landings. I tripped as I tried to find firm ground. Notebooks flew and flopped out of my hold, scattering around us. I was about to go on my face and tried to recover my balance, but teetered precariously.
Devin caught and steadied me with speed and ease.
Our eyes met and held. All I could think was ‘blue’, his eyes were so blue, but in their recesses, reminding me what he was—red flames danced.
That should have dissipated any desire I had for him. It didn’t. Instead, it drew me to him.
I looked at my black boots.
He said, “As fascinatingly in fashion they must be, I would prefer ye look at me.”
My head flew up and I met his intense gaze, but immediately moved away as I bent and began picking up the notebooks.
He scooped them up with his vampire speed and settled them under one arm.
Jeremy said worriedly, “Right…come back now, Bobbie, before the portal closes.”
“Nae,” Devin answered for me. “She cannae go back just yet. I want to show her something on this side.”
“What?” Jeremy asked curiously. “Something that might help her figure out how to open the correct portal?”
“Perhaps,” Devin answered with ever a slight smile, and I wondered at it, but said nothing.
Jeremy frowned and seemed reluctant to let it go. “I have to leave. Mrs. Currin needs me and I can’t let her down, but are you sure you’ll be okay, Bobbie?”
“Don’t worry,” I answered. “I can reopen the portal if it closes, just as I did now—go do what you have to do and then we’ll meet and do the wards.”
“Aye, then, Jeremy, later,” Devin said, and took my hand with his free one. His smile was enigmatic before he offered, “First, let’s get these manuscripts stashed. I have a place apart from m’friends in the town, nae far from here.”
As it happened, it was only a five minute walk, but the difference in the landscaping was dramatic. The lush jungle vegetation softened and then vanished. A wide field of tall grass led into a pine forest whose earth was covered in pine-straw.
“How is this possible?” I asked, looking around. “We went from jungle into this beautiful if somewhat dark forest?”
“Conditions in this realm are varied, controlled by Fae magic. As it turns out, the Trinity Realm was dying a few hundred years ago. Apparently, a very potent Seelie Fae Prince discovered them and lent a magical hand. Ye could say he rescued the entire realm. The prince gave them everything they needed to prosper and survive.”
“Who was he?” I knew a great deal about the Seelie Fae. My aunt claimed my mother had been friends with a Fae princess. “I know,” I interrupted him before he could answer. “It was the legendary Prince Breslyn!”
He looked surprised. “Aye, but how the devil would ye know about him?”
“My Aunt Elle told me stories of the Fae she had learned from my mom…before the accident. I’ve heard amazing things about Prince Breslyn. He is a Fae legend. Wow, how exciting is this!”
Devin laughed and touched my chin. “There is an innocence about ye that confounds me.”
“What does that mean?”
“For one thing…yer beauty slays me, lass. I cannae understand what ye are doing here unattached. Surely ye have been courted and tried? Surely ye must know in this modern age about things beyond…those innocent eyes?”
“I am not innocent,” I told him gravely. “I am a modern woman…but you are right. I don’t have much experience with uhm…romance. Being an immortal witch has its drawbacks.”
We turned a bend in the forest path and a small cabin made of cedar and stone stood in the grassy clearing. A wide front porch with stone pillars ran the length of the cabin. On the raised porch two rocking chairs and a small table looked warm and inviting.
Everywhere you looked there were pots of colorful flowers and unusual herbs. I looked at Devin and asked, “Some of those herbs…you use for day-walking?”
“Aye, and other things,” he said mysteriously. He stepped up to the front door of oak and glass and opened it wide. “Nae m’castle, nae MacLeod, but it has served me well all these years.”
I stared in amazement and said, “I don’t know why, but I had some notion this was a primitive realm…you spoke, I think, once about a tribe?”
“Ah, family members are called tribes here, but their amenities are as modern as you have on earth.”
“But…you live out here alone?”
“Aye, early on, I decided that I should,” he said.
We were still standing at the doorway. He took my elbow and eased me inside. I felt bold as I stepped within and asked, “Why? Why live alone?”
“I am nae much of a joiner. I have always preferred to be on m’own…even when I was still a human.”
He stepped into the center of the open room. I had lagged behind still as I took it all in.
He smiled encouragingly. “Dinnae worry…I dinnae bite.” He grinned like a boy and I think, in that moment, I knew I was in love with a vampire.
He gave me space and walked over to a wall cabinet and set all the notebooks and journals inside of it.
I continued to take in my surroundings. The open floor plan allowed for a small kitchen, a round table and chairs, a sofa and coffee table, and of all things, a television.
I pointed. “You watch TV here?”
He laughed. “Now and then. As I said, their amenities mirror yours on earth.”
I had expected everything to be primitive, and was certainly taken aback.
At the far end of the open floor plan was an open door. Idly I walked towards it to have a look, and stopped short.
His bedroom. It was his bedroom. The bed was huge. The coverings were gray and black, and hell, I turned and walked away from it.
Another door led to a small but complete bathroom.
I know my mouth was open because he laughed as his finger pushed up my chin to close it. “What do ye find so surprising, lass?”
“Plumbing,” I answered at once, ignoring the fact that I could still see his bed. “You have it.” I pointed to the bathroom. “Electricity…you have it...” I pointed to the fridge and the ceiling fan spinning slowly above our heads.
He shook his head and gave me a rueful grin. “Right…because as I said, we have all the modern amenities.”
“I…when I saw the jungle…” I started to explain.
All at once, I was in his arms.
No warning, no special look, no lead into it…just in his strong arms, against his solid hard body. Vampires were supposed to be cold. If he was, I sure didn’t notice. My heat must have made up for it.
He whispered as he lowered his head, “And there it is again, that innocence. Och aye, Bobbie, do ye know how much it means to me that ye trusted me, that ye stayed here on this side, that ye came here with me?”
“I…I…” There it was, my inability to think or speak.
“I’d wager ye have nae idea how much I want ye, lass. I’m burning for ye, I am, and I don’t seem to have the will to stop m’self.”
He was a vampire I told myself. Logic, my logic got lost somewhere in my mush brain as I looked into his blue eyes.
His mouth covered mine as one hand took my ass and slammed me up against him. His hard-on pressed against my belly and my sex clenched in anticipation of what was next.
He broke away from me and his voice was low and hoarse. “I have dreamed of having ye here in m’cabin from nearly the first moment I saw ye, and now that ye are, I feel m’body and mind shake and tremble for ye.” His mouth was on mine again. His tongue sent me to the land of sensations—all good.
He pressed his hard cock against my body and his kiss became another and then another.
He had said he was burning for me. Hell, I was a lit torch reaching for the sky!
Damn, I wanted him. He was the most sensuous man…vampire, I have ever known. I wanted his magical touch to roam all over my body. I wanted his kisses. I wanted to feel him inside of me.
I didn’t want conversation. I didn’t want that distraction. Words make you think.
I didn’t want to delve into consequences.
What I wanted was primal and feral. What I wanted was him, now…here and now!
Off went my tank top. Yup that was me taking it off, and hell, I don’t know where it landed because my eyes were on him, my hands were traveling over his bare solid chest.
He growled as he stood back to eye my nipples. My reaction was to lick my lips.
“Bloody hell, ye drive me wild,” he said, and his mouth was back on mine as he took control. His hands covered and fondled my breasts and made my knees bend. Everything he did felt right, felt good, so damn good.
His fingers took my taut nipples and did something with them that made my kitten purr for more. His knee parted my thighs, which had been clenching together, and then his knee pressed on my sex and made me gasp with pleasure.
My boots? I don’t know how I got them off, but they were gone. My jeans went the way of my tank top. I have no idea how I wiggled out of them.
He picked me up and carried me into the bedroom. No sooner had he laid me on his bed, and he was out of his own jeans, and I watched, enthralled with the size of his cock, as he stepped out of his sandals.
I stared because although I haven’t seen too many naked men, I was pretty damn sure there weren’t too many built like him.
He was magnificent.
I realized two things: One—he turned me on far more than Thor with his big hammer, and I love Thor. And two—his dick was going to be a job to fit inside me.
Fascinated with his size, I reached for his cock.
He stopped me by taking my hands and raising them above my head, and holding them up by my wrists as he said, “Nae yet.”
He bent his head to lick one nipple over and over until I squealed with pleasure as he still imprisoned my hands above my head. His machinations were absolutely tantalizing. He thrilled my body. He destroyed all and any thought of saying no.
I got close to a climax as he suckled one nipple and then the other, and I squirmed, wanting more and more.
“Yer tits, love…are perfect…so perfect. I could suckle here all day…all night.” His voice was a gentle caress.
He worked me with his tongue and his talented lips, sending rippling sensations to my clit and as I twitched beneath him, he whispered a promise I knew he meant to keep.
His fangs grazed my nipples, first one and then the other, but it didn’t hurt. The buzz it created in me was erotic and made a bran mash of my brain.
“I’m going to taste every inch of ye, Bobbie lass. I’m going to make ye scream m’name when ye go off and ask me to stay and give ye more, and I’ll give it to ye. I’ll give ye everything ye need and want,” he whispered as his lips took mine.
My breath hitched when he lowered his face to my thighs and dove inside and found my clit with his tongue. I arched my back as his tongue did a lap dance inside of me.
He nibbled there and then his fingers joined the party as he found my spot and took me well over the edge.
He was right. I shouted out his name as my body jerked and arched and filled with undeniable release. I squeezed the muscles of my sex to prolong the pleasure, but all at once his cock was there at my opening, parting me wide.
He plunged into me with a groan and said my name over and over as he moved harder and faster and took me to yet another realm. It was beyond anything I have ever known. We were bound to each other in a black sky as rockets went off in my body.
I was lost in a land of pleasure, so much pleasure, and it built up until my pussy clenched around his cock and I called out, “Yes…oh yes…” And yet another explosion took over and rocked me ‘til I collapsed in a heap beneath him, unable to move.
His climax was all-consuming as he called my name. But even as he finished, he quickly pulled out of me while I was still enjoying the aftermath. He picked me up and had me on the bed on my hands and knees as he entered me from behind.
I gasped as he rocked me and taught me what fucking really was.
He moved his dick with an expertise that took every nerve in my body and pleasured them. His hard and talented cock produced red-hot blood in my veins and when he said my name, “Bobbie, tell me, lass, what do ye want?”
I called out, “Don’t stop…fuck me, Devin…fuck me.”
“Aye, I mean to fuck ye ‘til neither one of us can move. Bobbie, what a fine ass ye have,” he said as he pumped me full of pleasure and fondled my butt.
Suddenly he was moving with a hard rhythm, pulling out, shoving himself back in and he growled when I climaxed again and he spilled his seed inside of me.
We rocked against each other, with one another, before he pulled me cradle-like into his arms and stretched beside me. He pushed my damp hair away from the side of my face and whispered, “I love yer flame colored hair…it’s like ye, volatile and hot.”
I turned to look at him, but I couldn’t speak. I still didn’t want words to interfere. I felt his dick against my butt and he was still stone solid. I turned and moved so I could reach, hold, and stroke it.
“Hungry are ye still, m’sweet beauty. What would ye like to be served?”
I answered by pushing him back on the mattress and lowering my head to his exquisite cock. I licked its length and eyed him.
He grinned and said, “Do ye taste us then?”
I still didn’t answer. Instead, I began lightly sucking its head, taking more of him into my mouth, more still, down to my throat as he groaned and pushed himself deeper into my mouth.
Caught up in a passion I have never known, I sucked on him with an ardor that took me to a place where I could only feel, where there was only the two of us. I stroked his balls and pressed myself against him as I felt a burning urgency work itself to the top of my mountain.
He made a wild sound as he took me up under my arms and laid me on my back. “Nae yet,” he said hoarsely. “First, tell me what ye want. Tell me now.”
I had just been about to go off. I felt a craving I couldn’t control. “You…in me, that’s what I want now.”
His blue eyes were bright with flickering red flames in their recesses. His face was drawn in exultation as he positioned his dripping cock at my apex and rubbed, entered, circled, and then plunged deep, and then each thrust seemed deeper still.
He filled me and moved in such a way that there was no holding back as he brought me to that peak and pushed my button.
Off I went in a series of explosions. My muscles clenched around his dick as my body jerked and he called my name as he went off.
I couldn’t speak, I didn’t want to. Women often worry about what’s next. We worry about tomorrow. But right then was all I wanted.
Those other intrusive questions about what was next were banished from my mind as soon as they entered. This was special in the here and now. I didn’t have much experience with romance or sex, but just enough to know this was undeniably remarkable.
He had partially collapsed over me, but he soon rolled off, took my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles before he made a low moan in his throat, grabbed my ass with one hand and managed with that vampire strength of his to pull me on top of him and position me.
He held me in place and whispered, “Ye beauty, ye.”
I started to push off and said, “I had better be getting back…”
He sat up and as he did, he shifted me so that his cock, still incredibly hard, was between my thighs. My knees and legs straddled his hips. “Ah, lass, I don’t mean to let ye out of m’sight. Nae. I mean to fuck ye all through the night so when ye leave, ye won’t have any doubts.”
“Any doubts?” My breath hitched. “Any doubts about what?”
“About where ye belong,” he said, and his hands cupped my face as he leaned in and kissed me as though he could never get enough.
And apparently, neither of us could get enough.
I told myself this is nothing but sex. Only sex.
A moment later he rammed his cock into me even as his hands fondled my bouncing breasts as I pumped and rode him. I leaned backwards as he moved inside of me, his thrusts were ravenous and filled me as I looked down at his handsome face and knew I never wanted this to end.
His hands were all over me. Those fingers of his worked my breasts, my nipples, and my ass. He whispered praise and need as one of his fingers dove into my butt, in and out as his cock worked my clit and I never knew it was possible to go off so often. Damn, hot damn!
And then out of nowhere, the question lit in my brain—how was this going to end?
He held me to him and said magical things in my ear when I suddenly realized I had to get back!
“Devin—I must go. Jeremy is alone at MacLeod and we need to get the wards done…” My gut told me to hurry.
“Ye can’t do the wards at night,” Devin said. “Ye’ll go in the morning…at first light. Stay with me, lass.”
I jumped up and though I dearly would have loved to shower before putting my clothes on, I started pulling them on with magical speed.
“I have to get back,” I explained as I pulled on my boots.
He frowned and stood and oh my good gosh he was gorgeous, but I was resolute. He touched my face and said, “Of course, lass. Whatever ye want, whenever ye want. But dinnae worry about Jeremy, he knows well how to take care of himself.”
“I’m sure…but…”
“Right then,” he said, and pulled on his jeans and slipped into his sandals. “I’ll walk ye back to the portal.”
He scooped me up and we traveled vampire speed to the clear wall between our worlds where he set me on my feet.
“Right then…nothing looks amiss,” he said, and dropped a light kiss on my lips.
I stared into the library and breathed a sigh of relief. He was correct. Nothing looked disturbed, and yet—I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
The portal still shimmered, though humans could not see it. “I have to go, but…I will find a way…I know I will, and free you soon.”
“Go then, but until ye do…dinnae stay away from me, lass…I dinnae think I could bear it,” he said with feeling.
I looked into those blues of his and whispered, “This is crazy…you and I.”
“Nae, ‘tis right and good and always meant. Say ye will return to me tomorrow,” he demanded.
I wanted to. Why shouldn’t I? “Yes…but not until Jeremy and I have installed the Blood Wards.”
I turned back to the portal, but he stayed me with his hand on my hip. Oh damn, I had to leave immediately or he would tempt away all resolve.
I broke away and dove into the open portal and came out the other side in the darkened library. The stillness all around me should have been a comfort. It wasn’t. An uneasiness took over and a shiver shimmied up my spine.
It was then, all at once, that a whiff of something met my nostrils.
I hurriedly closed the portal and stood my ground, ready to take on whatever threatened. Someone was there…in the shadows. I could just make out a form.
A female form.
She stepped forward towards me. She was, of course, alone. No other vampire could enter without an invitation.
I readied myself.
I heard Devin shouting at my back, but I had to concentrate. I didn’t have time to do anything but protect myself.
Devin was screaming for me to return to Trinity. He was screaming for Jeremy!
I was frozen in place as I searched the shadows.
She was tall, lithe, and graceful. Her blonde hair was like silk. Her amber lit eyes were alive with fury. Her skin was pale and she had a classically lovely face. She moved with caution, so she was aware I was a witch.
How the hell did she get here? She was supposed to be at a meeting in London?
My Shama was already on the alert, always protective when I was in danger, and damn, I was in danger. I could feel her power.
The ancient vampire Allora stood eyeing me, and she wore a sneer on her face.
Something glinted in the narrow ray of moonlight that shined through the window. A sword. She held a sword. Was this the sword she used to kill my grandmother? If so, it was now even more powerful than it had been. Damn, I was in trouble!
Shit, shit, shit!
* * * * *
I would never leave you hanging:
Here is an excerpt from the first chapter in Craving-Torment
I stepped into the portal and the first thing that hit me as I stepped out and into the library of MacLeod Castle was the stillness.
The room was clothed in the darkness of night. The scent of the leather bound books that usually gave me comfort and excitement—didn’t, because another scent met my nostrils and made them flare.
An uneasiness took over and a shiver shimmied up my spine.
It was then, all at once, that the scent became stronger and I knew I was in serious trouble.
I heard Devin at my back screaming my name.
“Bobbie…coom back, now! Bobbie…ye cannae stay there…” he shouted and pounded at the divider.
I hurriedly closed the portal. There was something else in the room with me and I didn’t want them to go through the portal.
In the darkest corner I saw someone move. Someone was there just taking a step forward, watching me all the while.
I could just make out a form.
A female form.
The female stepped forward towards me. She was, of course, alone. No other vampire could enter MacLeod without an invitation.
I readied myself. My heart was pounding, as I knew just what I was about to face.
I heard Devin’s calls. He was distressed and shouting for me to return to him. I couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying. I had to concentrate on facing this threat. There was no running away from it. This threat would follow. I knew I had to zero in on my Shama with all my might if I was going to protect myself.
“Jeremy!” I heard Devin scream his name as he moved off to Jeremy’s quarters to get his attention. Devin knew what I was about to face. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. Had he managed to pick up the scent or was it gut instinct?
The female moved forward and I could see that she was tall, lithe, and graceful. Her blonde hair was like silk. Her amber lit eyes were alive with fury. Her skin was pale, but she had a classically lovely face. She moved with caution, so I knew she was aware that I was a witch with some power.
“Allora,” I said softly.
She did not respond.
Damn, but Jeremy had thought she would still be in London. Had she taken an evening flight? A charter, perhaps?
She was supposed to have a meeting with the ancient vampires of her clan. What had happened? Had that meeting been canceled?
My Shama was already burning with instructions, always protective when I was in danger, and damn, I was in danger. I could feel Allora’s power, a might specific to her aura. I concentrated on it, learned its perimeters as my magic scanned her and shielded me.
The ancient vampire Allora stood, eyeing me, but the sneer she wore on her face told me she didn’t know who I really was. Oh, she knew I was a witch…but that was all she knew.
Something glinted in the narrow ray of moonlight that shined through the window. A sword. She held a sword of some potency. Was this the sword she used to kill my grandmother? If so, it was now even more powerful than it had been. Damn, I was in trouble!
Shit, shit, shit!
“Allora,” I said again, as calmly as I could muster and felt ashamed that my voice was shaky.
“Hello witch,” she finally responded. In her hand, pointed at me was a sword of some size. I couldn’t help but look at it and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her smile.
I already disliked her for so many reasons, top of which, for beheading my immortal grandmother and taking her away from me before I ever met her.
In that moment, a feeling I have never experienced before entered my heart. Hate.
My witchy senses totally on call and alert, I watched her. It was then that I sensed something was terribly off about her. I blinked to make certain my suspicion was correct.
Oh yeah. My suspicion was correct.
I watched her entire body, sword and all as it faded in and out, right before my eyes. I didn’t think this was an optical illusion. I knew better.
Slim rays of moonlight engulfed her as she took another step forward giving me an even better view of her person.
Someone in my head—me actually, whispered, you know what to do. Did I?
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