Notturno (18 page)

pulling him to the soft, mossy ground. “Adin.” He pushed Adin

to lie back and shrugged out of his robe.

Adin lifted his hands and worked the buttons of Donte’s

shirt, helping him to open it and slide it down off his back and

arms, freeing his hands, which were stuck in the cuffs until they

were laughing as Donte shook it off. Adin’s hands went to

Donte’s buckle and loosened it, making short work of the

fastenings of his trousers. Donte’s cock spilled hard and heavy

into his hands. Its velvety length, the loose foreskin, and the

way it throbbed under his sensitive fingertips all felt wholly new

to Adin, even though he’d explored plenty of uncircumcised

men. It seemed to him the slick glide of Donte’s penis in and

out of its delicate sheath, the way the darkly engorged head

glistened when it emerged, was exotic and thrilling yet familiar

all at once.

They wriggled and pushed, loosening Adin’s clothes, easing

Donte out of his trousers, sliding and rolling until they were

both naked. All the while, Adin’s senses assaulted him with

sights and sounds and scents he’d never experienced before,

and he was arching and gasping into Donte’s mouth, begging

him, “Please, Donte…please.”

“Yes, Adin?” Donte asked, rocking on him, creating little

wildfires all along his skin.

“Can you make me sick?”

Donte stopped, and Adin moaned at the loss of momentum.

“What? You mean with diseases? No, they cannot live inside

the undead.”

Adin rolled them both and came up over Donte, kissing him

and holding his hands. He inched his way down Donte’s body

until he could bury his face in the dark thatch of hair behind

Donte’s erect cock. Adin teased Donte with his tongue, he

licked and sucked at the fragile skin and the rigid shaft beneath

it until it was slick and juicy with spit and precum. Adin slid up

Donte’s long, cool length and looked down into his face.

NOTTURNO
123

The thousand things Adin’s senses were telling him

narrowed in focus to the one impossibly erotic sensation of a

thick cock as he straddled Donte and held himself still. His

breath left him as he let himself down and down, stretching and

opening himself consciously, gathering Donte’s upper body into

his arms. He pressed his forehead to Donte’s and allowed

himself to feel the vampire’s powerful muscles ripple and shift

as Donte rose to sitting and drove himself deeper still.

“Oh,
fuck
, Donte,” Adin murmured and went boneless in his

arms. He could smell the earth, see in the encroaching darkness,

but most of all, every molecule of his body was alive to the

nearness of his lover, and his blood sang Donte’s song in his

veins.

“Adin,” Donte murmured as his lips brushed Adin’s hair.

He crushed Adin to him. “Più amato…”

Donte’s breathless whisper stirred Adin, who rocked and

squeezed and slid against him, reaching for the kind of pleasure

only Donte could give. He couldn’t think beyond being close to

Donte, devouring him. Before he knew it, he’d bitten down on

the thick muscle of Donte’s shoulder while wrapping around

him like a living pretzel.

“Caro.” Donte sighed against his skin. “Caro, I need you…”

Adin pressed Donte’s face against his throat and let his head

fall back in total surrender. The second Donte’s teeth sank into

the tender flesh, Adin shuddered into his climax. He cried out

and jerked in Donte’s arms until Donte rolled them over and

pressed him hard him into the ground beneath them, surging

into Adin one final time. Donte continued to lap and suck at

Adin’s neck, and pleasure crept through Adin’s body like frost

as he continued to quiver and tremble violently beneath the

larger man.

“Ah,” Adin cried out… “Ah…ah…Donte,” he moaned,

clinging, crying. “Mother of G—”

“
Adin.
” Donte lifted his hand and smoothed the hair back

from Adin’s sweat- and tear-streaked face.

“Ah, Donte,” said Adin, trembling as he slipped further into

a whispering blackness that began in his blood, then coursed

124 Z.A. Maxfield

through his body and worked its way to his brain. “Donte,

what’s happening to me?”

“Shh,” soothed Donte. “Shh, più amato,
fidati ti me
.”
Trust
me.

“Donte…I feel…” Adin trailed off as the blackness swelled

and claimed him.

When Adin awoke, he realized he was back in the small

bedroom he’d slept in during the day. When he shifted, he felt

the bed dip beside him. Donte’s face came into view, and he

lifted Adin’s head and held a bottle of water to his lips. Adin

still felt fuzzy-headed and limp.

“Forgive me, Adin. I was thoughtless. Please drink.”

Adin weakly pushed himself to sitting and took the bottle

Donte offered him. “Don’t be an idiot, Donte. I’ll be fine.”

“Yes, tough guy, you will be fine,” Donte mocked. “You

have been beaten, drained, and fucked senseless, but heaven

forbid you allow me to take care of your delicate human ass.”

“Donte!” Adin laughed, and Donte shrugged.

“Sometimes you are like a child.”

“What about you?” Adin gasped with outrage. “I am Donte,

the apex of the—”

Donte’s mouth came down on Adin’s to claim it, and Adin’s

pulse quickened.

Donte sat back and shook his head. He put his hand on

Adin’s chest. “Your heart always dances for me. That is a very

enticing thing, Adin.”

“Come here.” Adin caught Donte’s face between both his

hands and drew him in for a kiss. Donte’s phone rang, and he

broke free with an effort, smiling at Adin in a way that made the

smaller man’s toes curl. He held up a hand and took the phone

to the doorway.

“Fedeltà,” he said, slipping outside the door. Adin could

hear him speaking Italian in hushed tones. Adin couldn’t hear

NOTTURNO
125

exactly what they were saying, and when Donte returned, he

couldn’t read what was in Donte’s eyes either.

“Bad news?” Adin asked, concerned when Donte remained

silent and still beside him, all teasing and play gone from him as

though it had never existed.

“Nothing you need worry about, caro. Finish your water,

please,” he said, slipping back into the bed and sliding down

until his head rested on Adin’s thighs. Adin, still sitting upright with his back against the headboard, took the opportunity to

run a hand through Donte’s thick, dark hair.

“So soft,” Adin murmured and drank the bottled water

dutifully. “Who was on the phone, Donte?” Adin put his empty

bottle on the nightstand. “Has something changed?”

Donte drew him closer. “Just sleep, Adin. The world will be

a different place tomorrow.”

Adin slid down and nestled into Donte’s shoulder. They lay

side by side, staring at one another for a long time. Adin slipped

a hand down to the small of Donte’s back to draw him closer.

Donte sighed against his lips.

“Adin?” he whispered, his lips slipping past Adin’s ear as he

sought out his throat.

“Hm,” Adin murmured sleepily.

“Forgive me, caro,” Donte said and struck, his teeth sinking

once again into the tender flesh at the base of Adin’s throat.

Adin struggled to push Donte off him. Donte’s sudden attack

shocked him. His hand slapped against the nightstand as he felt

frantically for the light device Donte had given him. Donte

reached for his arm and pinned it to the bed.

“Donte… Stop. Wait!” He gasped as he felt his skin tear

lightly. Donte growled, a feral snarl that froze Adin in place

even as Donte increased the pressure against him and held him

fast. It was only a moment more before Adin lost consciousness

again.

Adin pulled on a shirt and jeans and staggered to the

bathroom when the first rays of light slanted across his bed

126 Z.A. Maxfield

from the east window of the room. He caught sight of himself

in the mirror and for a half a second failed to recognize his pale

and discolored face.

“Donte!” he called, rushing to the hall, which made his head

spin. He walked along leaning against the wall, propping himself

up, his bare feet hardly registering the cold of the tile floor.

Boaz was in the kitchen grinding coffee. “Boaz, where is

Donte?” Boaz didn’t meet his eyes. “Boaz, answer me!”

“He’s gone, sir.”

“What?” Adin fell into one of the chairs at the small rustic

kitchen table, trembling slightly.

Boaz sat across from him. For a time he was quiet, his dark

eyes gazing sadly at Adin, whose hands gripped the edge of the

chair he sat on as if it would throw him if he let go.

“I believe he got a call last night indicating where he could

retrieve the manuscript, and he’s gone after it.”

Adin took a quiet moment to reflect that betrayal felt cold.

“I see.”

“I don’t think he felt—”

“I quite understand, Boaz. He did mention that he wouldn’t

let anything stand in his way.”

“I don’t believe it gave him any pleasure.”

“Ah, yes,” Adin said, rising. “Of course. The
pleasure
was all mine.” He began walking back the way he’d come, determined

to get to his room, throw his things in a bag, and quit this place

as soon as possible.

“Dr. Tredeger,” Boaz called after him.

“Get ready to take me back to the hotel, Boaz.”

“But Mr. Fedeltà—”

Adin closed the bedroom door in the smaller man’s face and

locked it. Leaning against it, he found he was dizzy and short of

breath, and equally determined not to let Boaz see him like that.

“Just get ready. I’m packing. I won’t interfere with Mr.

Fedeltà’s pursuit of his prize.”

NOTTURNO
127

Boaz didn’t answer right away. Then he said grimly, “Yes,

sir.”

“And Boaz!”

“Yes, sir?”

Adin steadied himself against the door, his heart pounding

and his eyes strangely wet-feeling against the back of his

clammy hand as he wiped them. “Call me ‘sir’ one more time,

and I will kick your tiny Lebanese
fucking
ass.”

Adin lurched away from the door and began shoving his

belongings into one of Donte’s large, high-thread-count

pillowcases.

“You’re sure about this,” Boaz said as he took Adin’s

Pullman out of the trunk. Adin thought the smaller man looked

more tired somehow than when he’d dropped him off at the

Kabuki the day before. It had taken Adin most of the rest of

the day to make arrangements, and then he’d taken the time to

get in touch with Edward and Tuan to say good-bye. They’d

suggested meeting for dinner, but he’d demurred, knowing

there was no way he could explain his current physical state.

Exhausted and ready to leave, he held his case close to his

side as Boaz closed the trunk. They stood in the passenger

drop-off zone. “There’s nothing for me to do here,” Adin

replied. “I’ve filed the insurance claim on
Notturno
, and the university president wants to see me in person.” He pursed his

lips. “I imagine I’ll enjoy a brief period of self-pity, after which I’ll start teaching classes again. Who knows? Maybe the next

time I find something interesting, only leprechauns will get

pissed off. Surely I can take a leprechaun.”

“I see the self-pity has begun early,” Boaz remarked as he

slapped a garment bag at Adin.

“Why are you so angry at me?” Adin picked up his things.

“Everyone is telling me that at least three of the horsemen of

the apocalypse are after that book, and I have no business

anywhere near it. I’m taking their advice. I’m taking my fragile

fucking
human
ass home where I can lick my wounds in

private.”

“Mr. Fedeltà—”

“Mr. Fedeltà will be relieved.” He looked into Boaz’s warm

brown eyes. “Tell him I hope he gets the manuscript. Tell

him—” He shook his head. “Just tell him I
really
want him to get it back, okay?”

“Okay, Dr. Tredeger. I’ll tell him.” Adin turned and left

Boaz in the loading zone with the limo.

130 Z.A. Maxfield

Adin checked his luggage and went through security. It was

early for his flight, but he’d had to check out of the hotel room,

so he’d brought his laptop and planned a large liquid meal

before boarding. He gathered his belongings from the gray

rubber tub where he’d placed them, then walked the short

distance to some chairs so he could put on his shoes. While he

was rearranging his things and putting on his jacket, he firmly

reminded himself that he loved his cottage on Bainbridge Island

and nearly convinced himself what pure pleasure it would be to

return home again.

Adin found an airport bar where he ordered a nondescript

whiskey; then he spread out and retrieved his laptop, setting it

up to work. When his phone rang, he assumed it was probably

his sister returning his call.

“Tredeger.”

“Caro.” Donte’s voice was grim. “I understand you’re

leaving San Francisco?”

“Yes,” Adin replied. “I’m going home.”

“Was it true? What you told Boaz?”