The Vampire's Kiss (7 page)

Memphis tried to twist her head around to see him. “Well, hurry up then.”

He laughed. “Some submissive you are. You’re not even fighting this.”

“Well, the thing is—”

“You want cock.”

“Yes,” Memphis responded.

“And I want your lips.” In fact the more Memphis held out the more he needed to taste her mouth and tongue on his.

“Bring your cock around to my mouth.”

Richard slapped her ass again. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m thinking about the whole kissing thing.”

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That she was gave Richard hope. “You’re a hard woman.”

“I’m a dominating woman.”

Which was funny to Richard considering she was strung up and at his mercy. And yet, even now, she was the one who had the upper hand. He wanted to make this crazy fuck as pleasurable as possible for her. No woman had ever made Richard feel so dependent on her.

“I am under your control. Now fuck me,” she demanded.

Richard sighed and shook his head in mock despair. “I’m supposed to be in charge.” He moved behind her.

“But I want cock.”

“And you shall have it when I’m ready.” Her cunt was his. Open.

Exposed. Wet.

“Richard—”

“Memphis—” Richard rubbed his cock at the opening of her pussy lips.

“Please—”

It was the soft tone in her voice that got to him. He pushed his dick inside her body, loving the tight feel of her cunt.

“Oh, Richard, I love this.” Then Memphis giggled suddenly.

“What?”

“Imagine if someone walked in now. What do you reckon their reaction would be?”

Richard started pumping in and out of her body. “That I’m mad for trying this with you.”

“Oh, come on, it’s been fun,” she responded, unmoving but being totally used for pleasure.

Yeah, it has been
. This was what Richard had been missing in his life. Fun. A simple concept but one he had not really thought about before. “You’re beautiful.” His hands sought purchase on her hips as he increased his thrust. “But crazy.”

Memphis moaned at the change of pace. “You need crazy. You need me.”

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“I do.” His balls slapped into her ass. “I love you.” The sudden silence was deafening. “Mem sweetheart?”

“I’m thinking.”

“About what?”

“That the minute you cut me down I’m going to kiss you.”

Richard immediately pulled out from her body. “I need a knife.”

He hunted thought the stuff he had brought with him. “Fuck, I don’t have one.” He had every size dildo known to man but not a pair of scissors.

“What? Do you normally leave Josephine strung up like this?”

“Well—”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Polly helps her down.”

Memphis burst out laughing.

“I will get a knife.”

“You’d better,” she said between giggles. “I don’t want anyone in this house seeing my ass except you.”

* * * *

Richard disappeared in a blink of an eye leaving Memphis strung up and waiting. It was then Polly appeared from out of nowhere.

Memphis blushed with embarrassment. “Er, where did you come from?”

“Long story,” replied Polly.

“You say that a lot.”
Hurry up Richard
.

“He’ll come back when I let him in.”

“Huh?” A wild thought shot into Memphis’ mind. “Um, you know I like you and all, but the thing is I’m not into women and—”

Polly nodded. “Me neither. I have a fatal attraction to pushy men with large cocks.” She walked around and released two simple knots.

Memphis started to lower to the bed. “Men. Simple creatures. They never look for the obvious solution.” She quickly untied Memphis.

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“Okay, so what’s this about? How can you keep Richard out of this room?” The more she dealt with Polly the more Memphis was intrigued by her.

“I’m a witch. I can do what I want.” Polly threw Memphis the robe she had discarded earlier.

“Of course you are.” Memphis covered up quickly. Naked was okay with her but it had to be at her own choosing. “No one in this house is normal but me.”

“Well, you’re not completely so.” Polly’s eyes went from the ropes back to Memphis.

“So what is it you want?”

“Kiss Richard.”

Memphis laughed. “Well hell, I was just about to do that when you came in.”

Polly sighed in relief. “Good.”

“I thought you wanted me to do it when I’m ready to. Why the big rush now?” What was going on in this woman’s head?

“I need you to do it now. He knows he’s getting to me.”

Memphis could see the strain in the other woman’s eyes. “He who?” Was there another confusing person in this house?

“Aran.”

“And he would be?” Memphis asked, hoping to make some sense out of this. “And don’t tell me it’s a long story.”

“Aran Linquist is a medieval vampire who is imprisoned in these walls.”

That’s not what Memphis expected to hear. “Of course he is.”

Polly threw her hands up in the air. “I know it’s confusing.”

“How and why was he imprisoned? Is he a spirit? And what did he do to be punished so?”

“There are many legends. Some say it was a fight over land.

Others say a woman. I believe that he took on a power higher than his own and he lost.”

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“Whoa,” Memphis murmured as she thought about higher powers who could trap people in walls. She looked around at the walls in question. She remembered the warmth of them under her hand.

Freaky.
“These are probably two hundred years old? If he’s a medieval vampire how could he get trapped in these modern walls?”

“I’m not sure. That’s the thing with Maverick House. No one really understands the true extent of its power.”

No wonder Memphis was confused. The house was a contradiction in itself. “Okay, so let me get this straight. If I kiss Richard he gets the house?”

“Possibly.”

“Huh?”
Curiouser and curiouser.

“I used to think this was all about finding mates for Alaric and Richard so that they could stop fighting each other and settle into the house in peace.”

“But it’s not?”

“No.”

Memphis lifted her hands in question. “So whether I kiss Richard or not is no longer relevant?”

“Oh, it is,” Polly assured her. “I have to be free of this house. I’m hoping by you kissing Richard, it will give me a chance to break free of the house.”

“If you’re sick of the house leave it now.” Wasn’t that the simplest solution? Or did only mortals think this way? Were witches mortal?
I have to get a book from the library to brush up on all this.

“I can’t. Like you, I’m trapped,” Polly told her. “I’m hoping there’ll be a moment after you kiss him that the house’s defenses will be down.”

“Okay, this would be the Aran guy who is stuck in the walls.” In a strange, soap opera kind of way it was starting to make sense to Memphis.

“Yes.”

“I want to talk to Aran the vampire.”

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Polly looked agog. “You can’t.”

“Why not?” Maybe he just needed a reality check, twenty-first century style.

“He only shows himself when it suits him.”

Memphis snorted. “What a prick.”

Polly smiled suddenly. “I don’t believe anyone has ever called him that before.”

“Well, he needs to have his ass kicked for playing with us all like this.” Memphis hated to be manipulated by anyone let alone outside forces.

“I believe he has known his own share of sorrow and hardship.”

No doubt. The man had been trapped within walls for hundreds of years. Polly grabbed Memphis’ hand. The hand that held her own was not that of the old frumpy woman Polly pretended to be.

“Do you love Richard?” Polly asked Memphis.

“I barely know him and—”

Polly persisted. “Do you love him?”

The desperation in the other woman’s eyes gripped at Memphis.

“Yes.” That was the simple truth.

“Then kiss him.”

It was then that another truth hit Memphis. “What has Aran done to you?” No woman wanted to escape a man without good reason. It was either violence or love.

“The worst thing possible,” muttered Polly.

Ah, love.
“You’re in love with him.”

“Shh,” Polly hissed out in a whisper.

“Oh, come on, if this guy is all-powerful and all-knowing—”

Polly interrupted her. “Then he knows enough.”

After Polly left and she waited for Richard to return. Memphis sat and thought about what she had wandered into. Some medieval dude was holding people hostage for an unknown reason of his own. Was it a case of misery loves company or did he need these people with him?

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Memphis found Richard as soon as she could. “Okay. I’m going to kiss you.”

Richard looked at her in confusion. “What happened with you and Polly?”

“Let’s see, I was naked and she helped me down.” That was not a memory Memphis wanted to carry with her.

“And she barred my entrance into the room.” Richard didn’t look pleased.

“Polly’s a witch. She did some sort of spell or something.”

Regardless of that, Polly’s identity was not the most important thing.

Memphis’ need to kiss Richard was.

“I should have known that about Polly.”

“How?”

“I’m a vampire. We’ve been around. We know stuff,” Richard told her.

“You think you do.” Memphis sighed, her eyes on his lips.

“Anyway, there’s an ancestor of yours who haunts these walls. He wants you and Alaric to get married and play happy families because somehow this helps some grand plan he has. Polly in turn needs us to kiss so she can try to escape.” Why was Richard scowling? It all seemed perfectly logical to Memphis.

“Why?” He folded his arms over his chest.

“Well, she’s caught up in the plan but now she needs to be free. I believe she’s in love with Aran.”

“My ancestor?”

“Correct.” Memphis moved in close to him. “So pucker up.”

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Richard took a step back from her. “You want to kiss me because it will free Polly?”

“No, not just that.”

“What then?”

How did he go from demanding her kiss to pushing away from her?
What gives
? “Why does anyone want to kiss another?”

“Because they love them.”

“Yes.” That was what Memphis wanted to hear from Richard.

Maybe it was madness to fall in love so quickly but she knew he was what she needed in her life.

Richard looked at Memphis pointedly. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.” She saw his mouth soften slightly.

“And you want to kiss me?”

This was not what Memphis expected. She had thought Richard would be as eager to kiss him as she was. “Do you have a problem with this?”
Is my breath bad? Do I have a pimple on my nose? What
am I missing here?

“I’m not sure,” was his response.

“Huh?”
What have I done wrong?

Richard lifted one hand and raked his fingers through his hair. “I just feel like you’re being forced into this.”

“I am not!” Memphis wanted to stamp in feet in frustration. “Kiss me.”

“Hang on a minute.”

Oh yeah. That was romantic sounding—not
. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I want you to kiss me because there’s nothing more you crave in this world.”

Memphis shook her head. “You’re making this whole love thing difficult.”

“I want to be sure,” Richard said. “I don’t plan to fall in love with any else again. This is forever.”

That had a nice ring to it. Forever. “Wait a second.” A sudden thought occurred to Memphis. “You’re a vampire.”

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“Correct.”

“You have the immortality thing going on.”
Houston, we have a
problem
.

“Yes.”

“So I’ll get older.” Maybe he didn’t want to kiss her knowing she would turn into an old crone. Maybe that was his problem.

“And I will too,” Richard confirmed. “Once a vampire marries and we join our life to a mortal’s we lose our immortality.”

Okay. That sounded better for me but what did Richard think
about that
? “How do you feel about being mortal?” That had to be a huge leap from living an eternity.

“I still remain a vampire and I keep what powers I have.” Richard moved back toward her. “But I’m tired of living forever and I’m sick of being alone.”

Memphis had not considered that before. What sort of a life did an immortal being have when those around them they loved died? “Oh, Richard.” Memphis walked up to him and hugged him close to her.

They stood that way for a couple of minutes, each savoring the love between them. She looked up at him and smiled. “’Want to try the kissing thing? We need to find out if we’re compatible.” Memphis winked at him.

Richard laughed. “You know we are. Sex with you is fantastic.”

“Yes.” Her eyes were on his lips. Memphis licked hers in anticipation.

“I suppose we should try to help Polly,” Richard murmured, his gaze following the line of her tongue.

“Absolutely.”

He pulled Memphis tight against his body. “One kiss won’t hurt.”

“No.” Her arms entwined around his neck.

“Do you really love me, Mem sweetheart?”

“Oh, yes.” There was no other answer Memphis could give.

Richard dropped his head down to hers. “And I love you.”

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Memphis stood on her toes and lifted her face to his. As her lips touched his, the most amazing feeling shot through her body. It was love and lust but also more than that. It was like with one kiss they had changed the future.

* * * *

Polly knew the moment she was free. A white glow suffused the house. She ran to the front door and snatched up the suitcase she had kept packed and waiting since Memphis came to the house. Polly grabbed at the door handle and pulled. It opened immediately. A rush of fresh air touched her face. She flung herself outside and ran down the path as fast as she could.