Bloodsong (2 page)

He forced himself to calm, to look into her golden eyes.

“You like to watch,” he said softly.

Yes,” she answered, her voice a soft, breathless whisper.

He smiled. “Then watch us, my beauty.”

He led her to a small, velvet-covered stool a foot or two from the cross to which Calam was bound, and held on to her hand as she seated herself. Her posture was perfect, rigid yet graceful. And although her face was calm, he could hear every sharp intake of her breath. He could smell the soft, feminine fragrance of her desire, like perfume in the air.

He didn’t want to let her hand go. But he did.

Turning back to Calam, he forced his mind to focus.

“Calam. You’re still hard and eager, but you need to be worked up again, don’t you?”

“Yes, Aleron.”

“And you’ll enjoy being worked in front of this lovely woman, won’t you?”

“As it pleases you, Aleron.”

“Of course.” He stepped closer to him, trailed one finger over his wide chest, stopping to pinch his nipple, a hard, punishing pinch. He smiled when Calam’s cock jumped. “But it will please you to perform for her.”

“Yes.”

Aleron pinched again.

“Yes, Aleron…she’s very beautiful.”

“After I whip you, feed on you, you’d love to fuck her, wouldn’t you?”

“Ah, yes…”

“We shall see. Because I’d like to fuck her myself. Or perhaps you. Or perhaps both.”

“Oh…” Calam groaned, his cock absolutely rigid, the head darkening.

Aleron stepped back then, and taking up a heavy suede flogger, began a steady whipping across the front of Calam’s body—his chest and arms, his thighs and calves, even the tops of his feet, which he knew Calam loved. Calam was moaning, his hips arcing into the air. Aleron read his pain, tracking it, focusing in and backing off when it really got to be too much. Even a man of Calam’s size and musculature could only take so much. He was only human, and couldn’t handle what another vampire could.

He kept it up, the even, steady strokes of leather upon flesh. Calam became more and more excited, his pleasure rising, his cock pulsing. And all the time she sat to one side, watching. He could feel her. Sense her. Smell her. Hear her blood hammering with need in her delicate veins.

He was sinking into the rhythm of it now—the flogger, the two beating, human hearts, the sharp scent of lust, of blood beneath the skin, begging for him.

He moved in until his leather-clad thigh was pressed against Calam’s, positioning himself so the woman could watch. He reached down to take the man’s thick cock in his hand once more, heard his gasping intake of breath. He stroked once, from base to tip, his fingers tracing the ridge below the swollen head. His own cock was almost as hard, simply handling Calam. And knowing that she watched them, that he would have her next, made him even harder.

Patience.

Yes, knowing was enough for now. Almost.

“You are going to come for me, Calam,” he commanded.

“Yes, Aleron…now…”

“Not quite yet.” He stroked again, harder, faster, felt the heat of Calam’s cock surge in his palm. He leaned in until his cheek rested on Calam’s, whispered, “I’m thirsty tonight. First you will slake my thirst. Then you will come for me, and for this lovely creature so ardently watching us. She wants to see you come as much as I do. She wants to see me drink from you.”

He sensed the acceleration of her heartbeat, felt Calam’s do the same. His cock hummed with desire. His tongue was prickling with need, his body too hot. He was aching with the need for blood, the need to come, the need for human flesh. The pulsebeat of his need was an ancient and sometimes terrible thing. Tonight it was almost unbearable. But he was old enough to bear it, and he would. Until he truly could not stand it any longer.

He fisted his hand tighter around Calam’s big cock. He could feel how close he was, knew he couldn’t hold back any longer. He raised his face, his cheek nuzzling the leather cuff that held Calam’s wrist. His tongue flicked out, touched the pulse point just below the heavy cuff. Calam groaned. Aleron opened his mouth, then inhaled the fragrant heat of his skin.

“Please, Aleron,” the man begged.

Aleron smiled to himself, and bit.

The blood was hot in his mouth, elemental, earthy. And behind the blood was the flavor of the man’s flesh, sweet and salty all at once. He pulled in the first mouthful, swallowed, saw into Calam’s mind.

He was picturing the woman. It hit Aleron like some sort of shock, to see her this way as he drank from Calam’s wrist. It was almost as though she were there with him, drinking, stroking the man’s hard cock. She was in his head, somehow.

His mind was going dark. He struggled to hang on, to Calam’s mind, his sensations, which were thrumming through his body. He had that keen humming sensation that happened only when two vampires engaged in pain play, his veins heating, singing. The Bloodsong. It was
her
, he was certain of it.

But she was human.

How? When it wasn’t even her he played. When he wasn’t even touching her.

And human.

Human!

But he couldn’t stop, his cock like a hammer between his legs, pulsing and heavy. He felt Calam weakening, knew he’d had enough. Had to fight the raging desire to keep drinking, drinking, until the man was empty.

No.

Meeraj was breathless, weightless. She could
feel
the vampire, could almost see his thoughts. A lovely female face that was hers, yet not hers. Who was she? She could feel his desire, like some primal thing he kept barely caged. Frightening. Irresistible. And beneath it, a great sadness that threatened to overwhelm her.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her pussy throbbed with heat as she watched the vampire, the human’s cock in his fisted hand as he continued to pump. The man was thrusting his hips, his body glistening with sweat. And the vampire’s mouth latched onto his wrist, sucking, sucking.

I want you…unbearable…

Were those her unspoken words, or his?

The redheaded man’s muscled body went rigid, he cried out, and came, spurting between the vampire’s fingers. Her body, her sex, clenched. Her mouth opened in shock as a climax rippled through her, pleasure shimmering over her skin, trembling in her belly.

She clutched the edges of the stool, her head spinning. The vampire pulled his mouth from the man’s wrist, a few droplets of blood lingering on his lips. He licked them away then licked the man’s wrist, his tongue as delicate as a cat’s. She felt it as though he was licking at her damp slit. That cool, lapping tongue.

She moaned, her sex still pulsing.

The vampire turned to look at her. His blue eyes were blazing, almost entirely black now, his pupils enormous. As she watched, his cheeks went pink, his lips red, as the blood filled him.

He was beautiful. So beautiful it nearly hurt to look at him.

She had never wanted anything—or anyone—so much in her life.

She was shaking.

He smiled, a brief, crooked lift at one corner of his lush mouth, his sharp eyeteeth gleaming in the dim light. Another wave of need swept through her. She couldn’t even begin to understand what had just happened.

She drew in a deep breath, then another, forcing herself to calm while the vampire let the man out of the handcuffs, half-carried him to the velvet settee she’d been sitting on earlier.

Two human female attendants dressed in red leather corsets and short black leather skirts, heavy chrome collars around their pale, graceful necks, were there immediately, wrapping the man in blankets, giving him a glass of water to drink. The vampire stepped back, watched for several minutes, then he turned to her.

His gaze was just as startling from several feet away, just as intense, as though magnified, somehow. Her sex gave one more squeeze, still full and aching. She took in another long breath, stilling herself as she’d trained herself to do.

Control.

Yes, always. Until she chose to give it up, to give it over to another.

She was going to give it over to this vampire. Tonight. Tomorrow. Whenever he demanded it of her. She’d done it already, coming for him with nothing more than that window into his mind, his play partner’s sensations. She’d heard about such things. Had wondered if the rumors were true. Came to the Midnight Playground anyway, because it didn’t matter. She was here. He wanted her. She didn’t need to know anything else.

Chapter Two

Aleron stood, looking at her. She was stunning, this woman. This mortal woman who had somehow managed to get inside his head without him inviting her. Who had managed, in all her mortal simplicity, to make his blood sing.

It shouldn’t be possible. The Bloodsong that was the vampiric response to pain play only ever happened between vampires. Never in his three hundred years had this happened to him. Not with a human. And he knew it was her, not Calam, who had caused it. It was
her
response, the intensity of their mental connection, made the instant he’d seen her, that had his blood humming in his veins.

He looked over his shoulder, making certain the two young slave girls were caring for Calam properly. They were pretty enough. They would never be here if they weren’t. But he only had eyes for
her
.

She watched him, her lovely face wary now. He liked that, that she was a bit off balance, this strong woman. He liked the scent of her nerves skittering over her sweet skin.

He didn’t like that she made him feel the same way. Yet it intrigued him. He hadn’t felt like this over a woman, over anyone, in a long, long time.

Not since…but no, he wouldn’t think of that now.

Emeline.

No.

He focused on
her
once more, on those shining eyes that were a glowing, metallic bronze, the luster of her golden skin, the high, rounded curve of her cheekbones. Her blood beating at her temples, at that tender spot at the base of her long throat. He drew in her scent. Flowers again. Desire. Female come between her hot thighs.

Yes…

He stepped closer, held out his hand. “I am Aleron.”

She took it in hers, her mortal warmth seeping into his hard, cool flesh.

“Meeraj.”

“A beautiful name.”

She simply nodded her head, as if his compliment were her due. So calm in the face of all that had happened already. On the outside, anyway. He knew better.

“Your first time at Midnight Playground?” he asked.

“Yes. I only received my invitation a few nights ago.”

“And who is your sponsor?”

“Her name is Nissa.”

“Ah, I know her well. Quite well. I’m surprised she didn’t mention you to me.”

“Why would she have?” Meeraj asked, again, coolly. As if being in the presence of a vampire didn’t intimidate her at all.

“Nissa would know you would appeal to me.”

“And?”

“And you do.”

She smiled then, her teeth a row of flawless white. He could see in his head those teeth bared in ecstasy, her head thrown back, her eyes closed. He could see his own teeth bared to drink from her…offering her The Seeking Kiss…

She waited, watching him. A small ripple of nerves ran up his spine.

Unusual.

Yes, but he wouldn’t allow that to throw him. Perhaps it had simply been too long since he’d had a woman. It had been months since he had given Hex over to Nissa, and she was the last woman he had taken. Men were always easier, in every way. Easier to obtain. Easier to dispose of when he was finished with them, without any drama on either part. Women were emotional creatures and he was…not. It had been a very long time since he had allowed himself to be anything more than fond of his female partners.

A hundred years.

Why was he thinking of this now? With this superb creature before him.

He reached out, stroked one finger down her bare arm. Skin as silky smooth as it looked, and a small, lovely shiver from her.

Perfect.

“Meeraj, would you like a drink?”

“No, thank you. I don’t drink.”

“Tell me what you are here for.”

“I am here for the unique experience of sex with a vampire. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for, we humans who come here?”

“Yes, of course. What else?”

He had to know if there was more to it for her. Other than her scent, she was difficult to read. She was strong, so strong he had no idea of the extent of her submissive tendencies. And submission was something he would never force or trick anyone into.

“I am here to see if any of your kind finds me fit for The Seeking Kiss. I want that, to experience that bliss. To experience all that I can. To become closer to your kind.”

“And the Turning Kiss?” He was challenging her. The Turning Kiss, that long, long drink which would transform a human into one of his kind, was not a requirement of those who came to Midnight Playground, and was rarely offered. He was testing her, perhaps.

“I understand that for many it’s the ultimate desire. But it’s not as important for me. Maybe I don’t know what I might be missing.”

“You don’t seem at all afraid, of any of it.”

Meeraj lowered her long, black lashes. They brushed against the faint pink flush on her cheeks, the first outward sign that she was truly affected by being there.

“I’ve been accused before of being…contained.”

He laughed. “So have I.”

She raised her eyes to his once more, the gold burning through him.

“Which is one reason why I hoped to be invited to play in the dungeons here. It helps me to let go.” He saw her jaw tighten, her fingers unconsciously clench. “It’s the only time I can.”

He watched her closely, saw the pulse beating in her throat. Yes, she was more worked up than he’d originally thought. Why hadn’t he noticed? He was too distracted by her beauty. Her rigid strength.

If this woman were a vampire, she would be one to rival my own power…

But he was getting ahead of himself.

And she was talking about the dungeons, about his favorite sexual arena—BDSM. That exchange of power, of pain, soaring sensation that opened the doorway into a person’s soul. Intense when played between humans and vampires. An almost dangerous force when played between vampire and vampire. The Bloodsong overwhelming…and why had it happened with this woman watching? He had to find out. He had to find out how much more intense it would be when he played her. And he intended to.