Bloodmoon: Peace Treaty (4 page)

A soft moan escaped from her lips and caught her off guard. The turning process was usually painful, but the expression he had on his face as he watched her change in front of him. The total vulnerability she felt at the openness of his gaze seemed to make the pain melt away and ease to a dull ache.

Within a few minutes she was fully human again, and straddling him.

Naked.

He didn't move. Just stared at her as he lay there. His excitement poked at her pelvis again with a familiar pressure. Her breasts hung barely inches above his chest, but still they stared at each other.

Then she bent and kissed him.

They went in on each other then. Hunger matching hunger. A feral display of deep desire that they had long since ignored. Her lips were soft and Christoph tasted them tentatively, tracing his tongue across the bottom lip and across the middle. Probing. Seeking entrance.

She granted it, as she opened her mouth slightly allowing him explore some more. His hand wandered downwards to cup her buttocks and she let out a slight moan.

Getting up now, he turned her over and lay her on the back, still not breaking the kiss. Emboldened by this, she tore at his shirt and tossed the ripped fabric aside. Then breaking the kiss, raised her lips to his torso. She traced each scar with her tongue, marvelling at the rough velvety feel. Then her mouth returned to his and her tongue reached out to taste his. This sent a tremor down her core. She could feel the middle of her legs moisten with excitement as her sex throbbed ever so lightly.

She needed him to touch her.

Sensing her urgency as she writhed beneath him, Christoph broke the kiss and ever so slowly and torturously, moved downwards. Her breasts were every bit as good as he'd imagined and even decidedly better. Her hard nipples seemingly reached out to him, attempting to drag his lips toward them, asking for his attention.

Demanding it.

He closed his mouth over one nipple while his hand clamp gently over the other supple mound. Keena's hands reach around and grab his head, increasing his urgency. He flicked his tongue across the nipple and suckled gently, then he proceeded to grab it between his teeth. She gasped and her hand grabbed at the dirt around, seeking some anchorage. Anything to keep her tethered.

He moved to the other nipple, his hot breath feeling good against her skin as he paid much needed attention to the rosy bud.

Needing to taste him again, she grabbed his head and attacked his lips again.

Nibbling gently at first, and then not-so-gently.

Soon, they were swallowing each other essentially.

His hand coursed downwards towards the valley between her legs. He found her more than ready.

"Christoph"

The gasp lent pause to their actions as they both froze. He looked at her and could see his need mirrored in her face.

He kissed her lips once more and moved down towards the valley between her breasts. He slowly moved downwards, paving a path with kisses. Beneath her ribcage. Above her belly button. Then he proceeded even lower. She arched her back now as literal sparks flew across her vision.

He got to Valley between her legs and her secondary lips called out to him, every bit as inviting as the ones above. He planted kisses around, avoiding the focal point. Slowly driving her insane, he blew gently on her sex. She grabbed his head suddenly, unable to withstand the torture any longer and pushed it towards the objective and he got to work.

She wrapped her legs around him, holding on to his hair a nearly pulling them out of their roots.

When she reached her climax, her claws protracted, ripping slightly into his scalp and she wrapped her legs around his neck, squeezing as wave after wave hit her.

"Christoph. Please. Now."

Three words that lent haste to his actions. He got up and peeled himself out of his pants and then positioned himself at her moist entrance. They stared at each other and without breaking their gaze, he slid into her ever so slowly.

The motion sent her over the edge again.

                                              ***

The figure in the bushes watched from a safe distance. He knew the wolf would catch his scent if he got too close, so he positioned himself as far as possible and stayed upwind to make doubly sure.

He had watched their exchange from the beginning. Watched the fight, and the transition it took. And now, he watched them, lying down in the grass, finally spent after their third go

These two had just inadvertently assisted his plan. He'd needed a catalyst.

Now he'd gotten one.

                                              ***

Keena smiled as Christoph tickled her ear.

"Stop it bloodsucker" she growled

"Oh come on, we're back to racial slurs now? I'm hurt" Christoph said mockingly.

"That was the plan" she replied snuggling up closer.

"Your mouth says one thing, your body says another . . . you’re confusing me lady"

Keena giggled.

Christoph felt familiar stirrings beneath her leg strewn carelessly over his pelvis at the sound.

Amazing.

The mere sound of her laughter was enough to get a reaction out of him. The side of her he was seeing now was amazing, and his reaction to it was even more so.

He'd never felt this way about anyone before, and now, he was scared to think of what it could all mean.

He wondered if the same thoughts were going through her mind. What if they were?

Was that a good thing?

He felt her hand wrap around his now fully alert shaft and lifted his head to see her watching him.

"You insatiable mutt" he whispered as she got up and straddled him.

"Shut up" she growled, lowering herself unto his length.

                The wolves raced against the wind. They needed the occasional exercise and the rush of the wind against their fur set them at ease and scratched an itch within their core that they couldn't otherwise reach.

A little race had developed, and each tried to outrun the other before getting to the finish line. Turk raced in front of the others, his black fur glistening in the moonlight. His breathing came out in short bursts as he increased the gap between him and the others. Suddenly, he caught a scent from a patch of bushes off in the distance.

He halted sharply, and turned in the direction, sniffing the air tentatively. The others, catching up to him, slowed to a stop beside him. They'd caught the scent too. They exchanged looks, as each one came to the same realization at almost the same time.

It was one of theirs.

They slowly trotted towards the scent. As they approached, their certainty grew and with it, their rage.

When they reached the bushes, they went in and emerged in a clearing and right in the middle of the clearing, a body lay. The earth around it indicated a serious struggle had ensued, and the murder weapon, a silver vampire blade stuck out of his chest. The runes inscribed across its length shone in the night light.

Slowly, each of them transformed back to human form, forming a semi-circle round their fallen comrade

"Ranael" Turk said, pronouncing the name of the fallen wolf, an acknowledging growl went round the semi-circle.

"Who could have done this?" One of the werewolves asked.

Turk scoffed and directed a scornful gaze upon the wolf

"Do you not recognize a vampire blade when you see it?" he asked rhetorically. "This is an obvious breach of the treaty and must not go unpunished" he growled in continuation.

They stood in silence for a while. Then with a resolute sigh, he said

"Pick him up and let us go. The others must know of this"

Just then a gust of wind blew a new scent to their nostrils and they all shared look, surprised that they had not noticed it earlier.

It was not all they had failed to notice.

Faint bloody footprints led out of the clearing towards the direction the scent came from.

Turk raised his hand to halt two eager wolves who wanted to rush toward it to investigate. They stopped, and waited for his move.

He walked warily towards the scent, baring his claws in preparation for an ambush. As he left the clearing he smelled rather than saw the body at first.

A dead vampire.

He cursed under his breath and called out to the others.

One by one, they arrived, each letting out a sigh of surprise at the sight of the dead vampire. The story seemed to fall into place then.

It had been a fight, not a murder, and both parties had paid the ultimate price.

Ranael, the dead wolf's saber, lay a few inches away from the dead vampire, covered in the vampire's blood.

"So what do we do now?" one of the Wolves asked, voicing out the question that all of them had asked in their minds. When nobody ventured anything, he continued

"Look, it's obvious what happened here. These two met, had a dispute and killed each other. It's a disaster and while I have no love for the bloodsuckers, I realise that this is not worth tearing up the truce over. Blood has had blood. So to speak. Let's just go bury our brother and alert the vampires to the presence of their fallen here"

Turk shook visibly with barely contained rage. Those bastards. Ranael was his friend. He looked at the dead vampire and spat on him.

"Ulfang's right" he said reluctantly. "Take Ranael back home to his family. I will make sure the vampires get word of their fallen scum"

They nodded and went to retrieve their brother.

Minutes after they left, Turk still stood beside the fallen vampire.

He hated vampires with a terrible intensity only rivaled by how much he loved his werewolf brothers.

He hated the treaty that had been reached. Hated the fact that future werewolf generations would grow up to believe they could live in peace with the bloodsuckers. They might even be friends. Who knew, inter-species marriage might even follow.

That last thought sent a blast of white hot rage coursing through his center.

A sound came from the bushes beside him and he crouched low, instantly at alert. He sniffed the air.

Nothing.

But there had been a sound. He was certain of it.

Unsheathing his saber, he walked warily towards the sound.

                                              ***

Keena sat in her room. The news of the fallen wolf had spread rapidly and had spread gloom round the entire pack.

Ranael.

She hadn't known him very well. She'd fought beside him in some of the past wars. He was a skilled fighter and was a serious believer in werewolf supremacy. She also knew that he and Turk had been very close friends. Her mind wandered to him. Turk. She wandered how he was. Probably brooding and frustrated that he could not exact his revenge.

The news had said that the vampire responsible for Ranael's death was dead as well. So as far as that went, justice had been served.

As if on cue, she smelled a familiar scent as Turk stepped into her room.

For a while, nobody said a thing. Then she broke the silence.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine. His killer got his just reward. That will have to do"

She was taken aback. She had expected a rant. Some deep, well thought out monologue on how the peace between both sides could never last and how vampires were a scourge and a blight on the earth that had to be put down before they infected everybody with their poison.

She got none of that. His hurt must be much deeper that she could comprehend.

"I need something from you" he suddenly said.

"What?" she asked warily

"I need your saber" he said simply.

"My saber?" she repeated in a monotone, instinctively reaching for the weapon. "Why?"

"I'll return it. I need to model a new one after it. I lost mine a while back. I figured, with Ranael's death, it would be time to get a weapon to defend myself. I'm good, but, one can't be too safe these days" he explained simply.

She thought about it. It made some sense.

"Have it back to me by morning. Not a scratch on it or you and I will have a problem" she said, handing it over.

"Thank you" he said simply.

As he turned to leave, he turned back to her, taking in her get up.

"Going somewhere?" he asked

She followed his gaze and stared at her clothes.

For the past two weeks since that first full moon, she and Christoph had met each other each night. Their meetings got better and better and she now looked forward to it with each passing day.

She realized he was still waiting for an answer.

"Yes. I was going to go out later" she said simply.

"Be careful" he replied. "It's dangerous out there"

Then he turned and left.

                                              ***

Christoph crouched down waiting. He smiled as he envisioned her walking out of the bushes towards him.

The past two weeks had been amazing. Keena affected him in ways that no one else had ever had and he doubted anyone ever would again.

They'd talked about what a future looked like for them. Eloping seemed like the best option, although they were pretty sure that if they did, they would reignite the war and a manhunt would be organized for them. Instructions to kill the party from the other side would also be given. Living a life perpetually on the run did not appeal to either of them much.

Eventually they'd decided to keep their arrangements a secret for the time being. So far, their plan had worked and both of them were having the time of their lives with each other.

Literally.

He heard a sound from behind him, turned instantly and spotted Keena walking towards him. She looked stunning as usual.

"Ah. There's my favourite fur-face" he said smiling, and she giggled.

God. He loved the sound.

They walked to their tree, sat at the base of it and he put his arms around her.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Then.

"Did you hear?" Keena asked

"Hear what?" Christoph asked back, sensing incoming heavy news.

"A werewolf and vampire were found dead earlier today. Apparently, they stabbed themselves to death"

Christoph was taken aback. He had not expected this. The treaty was shaky as it was. What was wrong with people that at the slightest semblance of peace, they instantly sought to overhaul everything and deteriorate back to chaos.

"What are your people saying?" he asked guardedly.

"We're going to bury him. They don't think it's any reason to break the treaty. People are only just starting to warm up to the idea of peace"

"That's good" he said, "and the vamp?"

"Turk informed your brothers back at home. They've probably retrieved the dead body already and taken him home for burial"

Christoph heaved a sigh of relief and reached out to caress her face, but she flinched.

"You okay?" he asked, instantly worried by her reaction.

"Just a bit shaken. I wanna fight. It'll clear my head"

Christoph contemplated her suggestion for a minute

"Well, I would've thought some other activity would clear your head, but well, if that's what you want" Christoph said with a knowing smile.

A look passed over her face for a split second. It was a flash and he hadn't gotten a good enough look to be able to interpret it.

But he could have sworn it had been disgust.

Then she smiled, and he pushed aside the thought.

"We can do that later. We have the rest of the night ahead of us right?"

"Right" Christoph said getting up, when he turned to assist her, she was already on her feet.

Before he had time to move, she reared back and delivered a devastating blow to his chest. The blow sent him careening into a tree at the opposite end.

He struggled to his feet, massaging his chest.

"Whoa. What was that? A little warning next. . ." his sentence was cut short as Keena cleared the distance between them and delivered a smooth roundhouse kick, impacting with his jaw. He struck the ground with a sickening thud.

"Get up" Keena growled, her voice had taken on a sinister edge.

Christoph groaned. What was up with her? She was coming at him with more force than she had ever used before. It was almost like she wanted to hurt him.

He got to his feet, his face pulled in a frown.

"Okay Keena, I know you may have known the dead wolf and are hurt by his death, but that's no reason to take it all out on me. We're supposed to be sparring" he said, rubbing his sore jaw.

"You talk too much" Keena said and rushed towards him again. He was ready this time and parried her fore swipe and back swipe.

"What is up with you?"

"Shut up" she said, and planted an uppercut squarely beneath his chin. As his head reeled back from the impact, she caught it with his hair and dragged him forward lifting him off his feet with his forward force and dumping him, chest-first, on the floor.

"Are you even trying?" she asked and took a few steps back waiting for him to get up.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked as his jaw started to heal again, albeit painfully this time.

Keena scoffed and retrieved her saber.

"Isn't this what you wanted initially? This was the original plan right? Let's raise this up a notch" she said and ran towards him

She slashed at his chest, but he jumped backwards, withdrawing his blade simultaneously, blocking the attack.

"Stop this. I'm not doing this anymore" he said and shifted to the side, knocking her off balance with the sudden weight removal and as she fell, he caught him by the hair and dragged her towards him. He spun her towards him and head butt her forehead.

She fell in a heap in front of him.

He heard her whimper and was immediately penitent. He couldn't blame her, she was in pain. One of hers had just been killed.

Sighing heavily, he walked towards her.

"You okay? I'm sorry" He said as he bent to help her up. She grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder.

Retrieving her saber, she straddled him and lifted the weapon above her head and paused.

They maintained the position. Staring at each other.

"Have you gotten it out of your system?" he asked, breathing heavily from exertion

She slowly dropped the blade but stayed there untop of him.

"Yes. Yes I have" she said in a monotone.