Passion Follows Pain (Passion Series Book 3) (21 page)

Instead of his words frightening me, they excited me. I closed a hand around his rigid cock again, and began to work it in and out of my fist the way I’d watched him do it to himself earlier. He tensed, groaning but after a moment or two, I felt him thrusting into my hand. His fingers latched onto the vanity unit again and I suspected that he was close to making another mess in his pretty bathroom.

I stole a look at him through the mirror and found him with his eyes closed and his head thrown back, his arousal clearly showing on his face. Watching him, fascinated by the expressions flitting over his beautiful features and knowing it was me that was having this effect on him, I moved my hand faster, my fingers tightening around him, and he responded, his hips jerky as he thrust into my firm grip.

“Oh fuck baby, baby, I’m so close. If you don’t want to do this, you can stop. Do you want to stop?” I shook my head and he groaned, a deep throaty groan that instantly pulled at me, sending a bolt of pleasure between my legs.

I could feel him starting to shake and I worked him even faster through my hand watching as a bead of fluid wept from the head of his cock. I rolled my thumb over it, wiping it away only for it to be replaced by another drop, hanging there, a blatant indication of how tenuous his control was. He groaned again, louder and as I watched him, I saw his lips pull back in a kind of grimace and his fangs descended giving me my first proper look at them.

Suddenly his eyes opened and I felt him buck, his movements unco-ordinated and under my hand, his cock jerked just before the first shot of cum pumped out and into the vanity. He began swearing and groaning, his movements out of control and I watched him, not at all fearful, just mesmerised by him as he pumped shot after shot out, some hitting the mirror, some in the basin and the last of his creamy release ran over my hand.

When the restless movements of his hips had stopped and he was calmer except for a fine tremor that ran through him, I lifted my hand to stare at his cum on my skin.

Suddenly curious, I lifted my hand to my nose and breathed in its scent before sticking out my tongue and tasting it. The taste was not what I had expected. I remembered what father’s tasted like and it hadn’t been nice. Not really bad but I’d dreaded it when he’d wanted me to take him in my mouth. Lucian tasted sweet, surprisingly sweet.

He was so quiet, eerily quiet and I glanced up, surprised and a little embarrassed to find him watching me, his eyes filled with desire. “Oh god baby, watching you do that. To see you taste my cum and smell it, is incredibly erotic to me, it’s fucking hot. You have to stop this or you’re going to make me hard again.”

At his words I blushed then looked down, and was surprised to see he was softer. I’d done it, I’d aroused him and I’d been able to make him come.

“Let me dress you. You have perfect breasts and I don’t need anything more tonight to have me wanting you again. Seeing these.” He cupped them in his hands, his thumbs rubbing over my nipples. “Is very distracting.” He said handing me my bra. Once I’d fastened it he gently helped me back into my dress zipping me up again.

I met his eyes, suddenly shy after all that had happened and when I looked away, I was confronted by the evidence of Lucian’s desire for me splattered all over his vanity. Hot colour flooded my cheeks, I literally didn’t know where to look.

I felt his finger hook my chin and he forced me to look at him, his eyes searching mine before he lowered his head and kissed me. It was just a gentle kiss, a mere touching of his lips to mine but it was enough to make my heart rate kick up a notch.

“Are you tired baby?” He asked when he straightened again. “It’s getting late, not that far off dawn really.”

“How can you tell? There’s no clock in here and you’re not wearing a watch.”

He grinned. “Years of practice. I can instinctively tell. Come on let’s get out of this bathroom.”

“But what about….?” I pointed to the vanity.

“Don’t you worry about it, I’ll clean up later. Come on.” He took my hand and led me from the bathroom. “If you’re tired I’ll walk you home or if you want to stay?”

“I can’t. I’d better go. I don’t want Daisy worrying about me if she wakes and I’m not there.” I stepped into my shoes and attempted to smooth my hair with my hands. I didn’t want what we’d been doing to be obvious just in case I ran into my employer in the house.

“You look beautiful baby. Stop fussing with your hair. Mrs Appleby will be asleep, but if she wakes I’m sure she’s not going to chastise you like a naughty school girl for being out so late. You’re not a child.” He said as he slipped his shirt back on and tucked himself into his jeans before carefully pulling the zip up.

I blushed when he caught me watching him and he reached out dragging me into his arms. He didn’t kiss me as I anticipated, instead his lips went straight to my neck, nibbling down the length of it and I braced myself ready for his bite but there was nothing. I couldn’t even feel his fangs and when he breathed deeply against my skin I realised he wasn’t going to bite me after all.

His arms tightened around me, one sliding down my back to curve my body into his and with his face buried in my neck, he simply held me. I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the muscles in his back shifting under my hands and that delicious scent that was all Lucian filled my nostrils. We stood like that for a while, moments, minutes, I wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or frightening. If anything it made me feel safe. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I let myself have a tiny glimmer of hope that I might have finally found sanctuary in the strong arms of this vampire.

Lucian

Reluctantly Lucian released her. As tempting as it was to hold her for the rest of the night, he couldn’t. He had to take her home. “Are you ready baby and I’ll walk you home? It’s late.” He turned to the clock. “It’s almost 4am. You must be tired.”

She looked surprised. “It’s that late? I had no idea. I guess I am a bit tired now.”

“Come then, I’ll walk you home.”

“It’s not necessary Lucian. It’s only across the road after all.”

“I’m still walking you home. I don’t care whether it’s over the road or in a different state. I took you out on a date; I take you home to your door.” He said using a tone which made it clear this was not open for discussion.

She didn’t argue with him fortunately, just gathered up her bag and he took her hand, leading her from his room and down the long corridor that led to the front door. There was no one in the living room when they walked past but Lucian already knew where most of them were anyway.

Francesca wasn’t there but she rarely was. She had her two men so she was obviously occupied somewhere with them, Adrian wasn’t home, he could hear moans coming from the communal room, so Damien had brought company back and his sire was giving Sirene a pretty good workout by the sounds of things. He grinned at the noises coming from their room but when Arissa suddenly asked him what he was smiling at, he wiped the smile off his face. “I think its better that you don’t know baby but put it this way, everyone’s busy tonight.” He said quietly, pulling open the front door, ignoring her inquisitive look.

Once they were across the road and at the old lady’s front door, he turned to her, pulling her towards him, his lips touching hers. He didn’t try to deepen the kiss. He didn’t want to get too turned on and he had trouble controlling his body’s responses when he touched her. He’d been in agony for hours and now the pressure was finally relieved, he wasn’t interested in suffering from the same condition again tonight.

He stepped back from her, one hand cupping her cheek. “Good night baby. Thank you for coming out with me. I had a wonderful time. It was very…enjoyable.” He smiled and watched her blush at his words.

“It was for me too.” She whispered before unlocking the door and stepping inside the house. She turned briefly to look up at him and he reached out, trailing his fingertips over her cheek and down her neck to where her pulse fluttered erratically.

“Bye baby.” He said and reluctantly turned away from her, hearing the door close as he walked across the road and let himself back into his sire’s home.

He walked quietly back to his bedroom and once inside, he stripped off all his clothes before making his way into the bathroom. He quickly cleaned the vanity and mirror before turning on the taps to his shower, watching the water spray out from all four heads. As the room began to fill with steam, he stepped under the water and with his hands braced against the tiles; he stood there with his head bowed, while the warm water cascaded down over him.

Arissa

Once Lucian was gone, I snuck into my room, quickly removing my dress and shoes before slipping on my nightie. I dug around in my clutch purse and took out the lipstick to put back in with my meagre makeup collection that Daisy had given me and found a card, just a small card, folded over in the bottom of my purse. I pulled it out and opened it up, my heart leaping when I saw it was a note from Lucian thanking me for tonight and he’d even drawn a heart on it. He’d written his phone number below and I stared at it, reading out the numbers over and over again. His number was very simple which was good, but I wasn’t sure when I’d need it in all reality since he only lived over the road and I had no mobile phone anyway. Still, it was sweet of him to do that, to sneak his note into my bag and I wondered when he’d done it without me seeing.

Smiling I headed into my en-suite bathroom to wash off the little bit of makeup still left on my face. I brushed my teeth and hair and was just about to climb into bed when I heard a soft knock at the door again.

I leapt out of bed and hurried to the door, a big smile on my face. He’d come back. Lucian had come back; he must have been missing me as much as I suddenly missed him.

I pulled the door open and was confronted by a big bunch of flowers blocking Lucian from me. I stared at the arrangement and frowned, wondering how he’d done that so quickly, and then it registered that something wasn’t right, he wasn’t tall enough. When he lowered them my heart skipped a beat, my blood freezing in my veins and my body breaking out in a cold sweat of sheer terror. It registered with my sleep deprived brain that it was my father. Bile rose up the back of my throat when I saw his face. His expression was a mix of rage and sadistic amusement; his grin more like a feral grimace, that pulled his lips back from his teeth. Slowly the grimace became a full blown, genuine smile and I knew it was his sick delight at seeing my expression. I knew I would be looking at him with a mix of sheer terror and horror, a combination guaranteed to please him.

I tried to step inside the house and slam the door shut but he grabbed my arm and I looked up at him again just in time to see his fist coming at me. Before I could react, it slammed into me, pain exploding in my cheek, blood spraying from my nose and I cried out, about to scream, desperate to do something but he hit me again before his hand closed over my mouth to muffle my cries. The pain built up, creating an incessant throbbing in my brain and it felt like an army of construction workers were inside my head as the pain radiated out, through my cheek, my jaw, even my skull.

Everything began to spin; I couldn’t see my father properly any more. Everything was fading, a grey haze rising, making me squint to try and see him. Again pain exploded in the side of my head as he hit me a third time and then I heard it, a loud roaring sound, like the waves crashing on shore at the beach, yet different. It frightened me, everything frightened me; my head hurt, my cheek felt like it was swelling to twice its size and when everything suddenly went black, I welcomed oblivion and let my body sink into it, taking away my worries, my fears and the terrifying sight of my father. Faster now, it pulled me down until I saw nothing, and felt no more pain. It was like free falling into an abyss. There was nothing, just blackness and with that one tiny part of me that fought the oblivion, I whispered his name. “Lucian.”

Chapter Fourteen

Lucian

It was the sound of insistent knocking on his bedroom door that finally woke Lucian. It felt like he’d only been in bed minutes but when he glanced over at the clock it was 10am. Fuck, daytime. He was vampire, he didn’t do daytime. Well not if he could avoid it.

Suddenly there was more knocking at his door and he threw the covers off himself and climbed out of bed, pulling the door open to find Fabian standing there dressed. Dressed? His sire was dressed? What the hell was he doing up in the daytime? What was going on?

“What is it father? What’s wrong?”

“Get dressed Lucian and come to the living room. We have a visitor and she is most insistent that she speaks to you.”

“Who is it?”

Fabian wouldn’t answer. “Just get dressed now.” He said and his tone was serious.

Lucian went and grabbed his jeans pulling them on and took a clean t-shirt from a drawer in his robe and yanked it over his head. He didn’t bother with shoes and padded barefoot after his sire as he followed him to the living room.

When he stepped into the room he was surprised to see the old lady from over the road sitting there. Then when he looked at her face, the worry in her eyes and what looked like fear, he felt a wave of dread flood his body. Something was wrong, very wrong and his head filled with images of Arissa only a few hours before as she’d brought him to orgasm with her hands. What had happened? What was wrong? It had to be bad. Mrs Appleby had never come to see them before, and he didn’t believe she was picking now of all times to make a social call.