Perilous Partnership (23 page)

“Not yet,” Jean said. “I‟ll feed from you, I promise, but once I get my fangs in you, I won‟t be able to stop, and I don‟t want to limit your movement that much yet. I did say I‟d let you make love to me.”

“At least give me your fingers,” Raymond repeated, sighing when Jean‟s hand moved over the globes of his backside, fingers delving into the crease between them. “Feels so good.”

The words brought a smile to Jean‟s face, the thought of pleasing his love even more arousing and soothing than the thought of pleasing his lover. As he lay quiescent with Raymond‟s hands on his body and his fingers teasing his love‟s entrance, he realized he could hardly feel the beast within him, as if the knowledge that Raymond loved him had sent the creature back to the depths where it usually resided.

Letting go of that worry, he closed his eyes and let himself feel: Raymond‟s hands on his chest, palms kneading at his muscles, teasing his nipples; Raymond‟s weight over his hips, keeping him firmly in place on the bed; Raymond‟s balls against his shaft, rubbing over it every time he shifted. As Jean‟s fingers worked around the still-loose guardian ring, the vampire was tempted to tip Raymond forward enough that he could seat his cock in the snug passage, but he had offered control of their lovemaking to his partner.

Regardless of how Raymond decided they would make love, it needed to be

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Raymond‟s decision, not Jean‟s. He had taken control out of his lover‟s hands too many times already in the past week.

Raymond shivered at the feeling of Jean‟s fingers teasing him. He wanted them deeper and harder, but he did not want to rush. Not tonight. Moving to one side so he could kiss Jean‟s chest while staying within reach of his fingers, he lowered his head to lick at the pale skin, tracing the lines of muscle with his tongue. He loved the way Jean writhed beneath him, as if the sensation were nearly more than he could stand. It came, Raymond knew, from feeling he always had to maintain his position of authority, even with his lovers. In hindsight, Raymond should have known he was different the first time Jean asked him to top, but at the time, he had been too surprised to think it through, and later, he had simply accepted it because it had not been novel anymore.

Lifting his head for a moment, he waited for Jean‟s dark eyes to open. Even in the low light that filtered through the breaks in the curtains, he could see the tenderness on his lover‟s face. “I love you,” he repeated. “I just thought I‟d say it again.”

“You can say it as often as you‟d like,” Jean replied huskily. “I won‟t ever grow tired of hearing it.”

Raymond smiled. “I can think of better uses for my mouth right at the moment.” He shifted again, his breath ghosting across Jean‟s cock.

Jean groaned, his hand dropping to the duvet as Raymond‟s mouth hovered over his shaft. “Please,” he begged. “Take me in your mouth.”

“Then put your fingers in me,” Raymond said. “If you stop, I stop.”

Jean groaned again, but their earlier lovemaking notwithstanding, he needed lube to do what Raymond asked. It took him a moment to find it on the nightstand, a long, torturous moment of feeling only Raymond‟s moist breath, imagining the heat of his mouth, while trying to concentrate on something else.

The second he had coated his fingers, he plunged them deep, hoping Raymond would follow suit.

He did.

The moment Raymond felt Jean‟s fingers stabbing deep, he swooped down onto his lover‟s cock, deep-throating Jean on the first try, dragging a rough moan from his lover. Deciding he liked the sound and encouraged by Jean‟s rapid frigging, he lifted his head marginally and went down again, swallowing around the tip.

Jean‟s fangs dropped as Raymond worked his cock, the need for blood blindsiding him. He forced his mind to focus on Raymond, on his lover‟s pleasure, but the need grew until it pounded at him. “Raymond,” he gasped.

“Need you now.”

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Ariel Tachna

Instantly, the wizard turned, straddling Jean again so that the vampire‟s cock bumped his entrance. He sank down in one push until his balls slapped against Jean‟s belly. Leaning forward, he offered his chest for Jean‟s fangs.

“Right here,” he said, rubbing the mark directly above his heart. “Bite me right here.”

Jean did not hesitate, the sight of the healing incisions from his fangs no deterrent now that he knew Raymond loved him. He lifted his head and bit into the muscle, the always-rich taste of Raymond‟s blood assailing his senses, the knowledge now that he tasted love as well as lust an added aphrodisiac. He sucked hard, pulling in the life-giving elixir, not even questioning what he had done to deserve a lover with such generosity in body and spirit.

He had expected Raymond to want to top, but this was perfect, his fangs piercing as close to his lover‟s heart as possible. Any other position would have made that impossible. Raymond‟s blood strengthened his body, flooding him with a sense of power and possibility that defied explanation. His hips matched the rhythm of his lips and tongue, filling Raymond each time he pulled blood into his mouth, retreating each time he paused to draw breath, and through it all, Raymond hovered over him, taking what he gave, giving what he needed, and Jean fell in love all over again.

Unable to say the words with his mouth busy on Raymond‟s chest, he tried to imbue the touch of his hands with all he was feeling as he stroked Raymond‟s scar repeatedly. He only hoped Raymond understood.

The feeling of Jean‟s fangs, the occasional brush of his tongue over Raymond‟s nipple, would have been sensation enough to make him feel desired. The push and pull of Jean‟s cock within Raymond‟s passage would have been enough to make him climax. Jean‟s hands caressing Raymond‟s scar so tenderly brought tears of joy to the wizard‟s eyes. His body seized, and his cock twitched, spilling between their bodies. Within seconds he felt Jean‟s climax inside him.

Almost immediately, Jean rolled Raymond beneath him, pinning him to the bed as he sucked and sucked and sucked on the wizard‟s chest. Raymond cried out again as the drive of Jean‟s fangs into his chest drew out his orgasm, sending aftershocks along his nerves until his entire body felt hypersensitive.

He could feel Jean drawing on his chest, feel the transfer of magical energy, but he could feel no weakening, physically or magically. He wondered idly if Jean could drink him dry. Before the thought was fully formed, though, Jean released him, licking the spot tenderly, repeatedly, until Raymond shivered.

“How can you think you will ever hurt me when you take such good care of me afterwards? I never feel more loved than when you lick me like that.”

Jean paused, looking up in surprise at Raymond.

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“It‟s true,” Raymond said, seeing the skepticism on Jean‟s face. “Even before we were lovers, even when you were trying to keep your feeding as perfunctory as possible, you always took care to close the wounds, but once we started sleeping together, you lingered, like it was suddenly more than just making sure the marks healed.” He shook his head. “I should have realized a long time ago this was more than just a partnership, but I was afraid you didn‟t feel the same and wouldn‟t want a mortal pinning you down.”

Jean bestowed one last lick on Raymond‟s chest. “Then maybe I should thank Fabienne for meddling in things that don‟t concern her, because I‟d decided even before the war ended not to tell you. You were so prickly about anything that moved beyond the boundaries of our partnership. I decided I wouldn‟t say anything. I‟d just treat you the way I would if you were everything I wanted you to be and let you make up your mind in your own time.”

“It worked,” Raymond said, shaking his head. “If you‟d said something a year ago, I don‟t know that I could have accepted it, not because I doubted you, but because I couldn‟t have understood how you—how anyone—could feel that way about me, with my past and my scar and—”

Jean silenced him with a kiss. “Don‟t ever say that. Don‟t ever suggest that your scar belittles you. I can accept many things, but not that. Not ever.”

“I‟m coming to believe that,” Raymond promised. “You‟ve dragged me there despite myself, but a year ago, I couldn‟t conceive of it being anything other than a mark of shame. It‟s one more reason I love you.” He draped his arms around Jean‟s shoulders. “So what happens now?”

Jean shrugged. “We go on as we have been. You still can‟t be my Consort, no matter how much I want you to be, so I‟ll go on treating you as if you are and you‟ll go on ignoring it in public and we‟ll keep bumping along. Vampires are many things, but we aren‟t fickle creatures. I can wait for you to be ready for more.”

Raymond nodded, not entirely sure he would ever be ready for more, but then, he had not thought he was ready to tell Jean that he loved him, and now that he had, he could not imagine going back. He would have to give it some thought, and soon.

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Ariel Tachna

RAYMOND could not completely hide his relief when Magali accompanied Luc into the foyer of l‟ANS a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time of nine forty-five on Saturday night. He knew Jean had suggested Magali attend as well, but he had not known whether she would. He was nervous now in a way he would not have been before his conversations with Fabienne and Jean because he had not understood then how much was at stake tonight. Glancing at Magali, he guessed no one had informed her of the breach in protocol their presence would cause. He considered drawing her aside and telling her, but they did not have time for her and her partner to hash out any differences that might arise from the revelation. He would have to hope Magali‟s customary astuteness continued through the night‟s wrangling.

“What‟s our plan?” Luc asked.

“I thought we‟d arrive in place Darcy so we can stroll unnoticed down to the cathedral. If we happen to be a minute or two late, we can excuse our tardiness due to our unfamiliarity with the city,” Jean replied.

“And yet you know the name of the main square and how to get to the cathedral from there,” Raymond commented wryly.

Jean smiled slyly. “I didn‟t say I was unfamiliar with the city. I said it made a good excuse to make the other two wait on us.”

“And if they‟re late as well?” Magali asked.

“They won‟t be,” Luc assured her. “They won‟t be early, but they won‟t be late because they called the meeting, and if we were on time and they were late, we could leave and accuse them of not showing.”

“But they won‟t do that to us?”

“If we were fifteen or twenty minutes late, maybe,” Jean replied, “but not if we‟re two or three minutes late, particularly because they set the meeting in an unusual location rather than one of the sites vampires usually use as neutral ground.”

“Will they actually believe you didn‟t scope the area out ahead of time?”

Raymond asked.

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“They don‟t have to believe it,” Luc said, “but it isn‟t something they can realistically argue with either. Shall we regroup on place Darcy?”

“Not on the place,” Jean said. “There‟s a house on the place, number eleven, with an interior courtyard. We will make far less of a stir arriving there than out on the square, and the door locks automatically from the outside, but you can always leave from the inside, so we can simply walk out the front door, four friends going out for the evening, without drawing any attention to ourselves.”

“In that case, I should follow you,” Magali said, “since I don‟t know the exact location. I wouldn‟t want to end up on top of the building. Raymond, if you‟ll take Luc, I‟ll follow your magical signature.”

Raymond nodded and looked to the other chef de la Cour for permission.

Luc gave it with a sharp nod, and Raymond cast the spell, the two of them disappearing to reappear seconds later in a small stone courtyard in Dijon.

“Not the grandest of all buildings,” Luc observed, looking around at the few winter-brown weeds and the collection of trash cans.

“There‟s a large park right across the street,” Raymond replied, having examined the map with Jean when they planned this displacement. “The people who live in these apartments go there if they want some fresh air. This is purely practical, a place to store their garbage cans and bikes when they aren‟t in use.”

Jean and Magali appeared next to them, forestalling the conversation. “We have a few minutes until we need to walk toward the cathedral,” Jean said.

“Would you like to take a walk around the square? It‟s not too chilly tonight.”

They wended their way through the narrow corridor until they reached the heavy wooden door to the street. Luc opened it and held it as Magali and the others walked through, his arm immediately going around her to share his warmth as the wind rushed at them down rue de la Liberté.

“If we had come earlier, we could have enjoyed a drink at La Concorde,”

Jean said. “They have heat lamps so you can enjoy sitting on their patio even at night. Le Liberté isn‟t nearly as upscale, but its owner is an old friend who moved here a few years ago. As it is, we don‟t have time now.”

“Maybe on the way back?” Raymond suggested, curious about Jean‟s “old friend.”

“We have two minutes,” Magali said, glancing at her watch.