Vermilion Kiss (3 page)

I crawled on top of him and said, “If that’s what you want.” I unwound the tie from his neck with my teeth and struck his throat with my fangs. They pierced deep into him and he moaned softly as the pleasure inducing effects of my bite began to spread throughout his body. I swallowed his sweet coppery blood until I felt full and yanked free from him. Then I kicked off my dress and shoes, and got under the covers and kissed him roughly on the lips.

He responded quickly and our tongues swirled around each other in a hidden ballet, sampling each other’s taste. I pulled back from him and he slipped out of his pants and tossed them onto the floor. His icy touch sent shivers down my spine as his hands intertwined with mine and his hard cock pushed inside me.

I rode the steady rhythm and bucked as he pulled in and out of me quickly. Gasps of unbridled pleasure escaped my lips as the building pressure between my legs reached a climax and I spilled onto the bed. He continued to ride me strongly until he came inside me and flopped next to me, his amber orbs penetrating deep into my eyes. I kissed him again as his cock entered me slowly, filled me up, and pushed out, his member relaxing against my legs.

I held his hands as we drifted together into sleep, our bodies pressed against each other comfortably. I dreamt of Clarisse and her pretty brunette hair, Dmitri and his black depthless eyes, and Darius and the sensation of his mouth on mine.

* * * *

The next morning I woke up to feet shuffling on the carpet. I groggily opened my eyes and Darius wasn’t beside me. I got up and the blankets slid off me as I noticed him slumped over the side of the bed. My heart pounded in my ears as I scooted beside him and saw that his mouth was clamped on the neck of a beautiful black-haired woman. His eyes were glowing a deep crimson as he drank her blood. Her mouth was agape and her eyes fluttered wildly, legs twisted around each other as she came. She moaned loudly and then sagged against him as sleep overtook her. He gingerly set her onto the floor, her long raven locks spilling around her head in a dark halo. She was completely naked and had bite marks all over her body from her breasts to her calves.

Darius growled deep within his throat and turned to see me watching him. His eyes instantly faded back to their normal amber hue and he licked the blood dribbling down his mouth.

“What…” I was at a loss for words. “What were you doing?”

“Breakfast,” he said and a naked redheaded man came before me and bared his neck.

“This is supposed to be breakfast?” I asked. “I don’t want it. I only want you.” The tears welled in my eyes. “How could you?”

Darius said, “We must drink from humans once in a while, my dear. I thought you knew this.”

I sniffled. “Yeah, but…like that…with a stranger…”

He embraced me in his arms and caressed my cheeks lightly with his fingers. “I am sorry if I upset you, my dear. I thought you knew that we needed human blood every so often. I am sorry that I did not tell you earlier. The thought eluded me.”

Anger rushed inside me, I pushed him onto the bed and in a second my mouth was on his throat. I purposely buried my teeth within his flesh and suckled at his throat long and hard, drawing the blood from the woman into me. It was salty and not at all how I imagined it would taste but I swallowed it anyway, mad that Darius had drunk from her so early in the morning while I was asleep.

When I could swallow no more, I sheathed my fangs and nestled my head in the crook between Darius’s neck and shoulder. He stroked my back as the tears streamed down my face and fell onto the sheets.

He murmured, “I’m sorry, my dear. So, so sorry.”

I uttered, “I forgive you.” I metaphysically slammed the door open and ushered the redhead out. Then I locked it and turned my attention back to Darius.

His eyes were large and round. “You opened and closed that door with your mind.”

“Yeah, so?”

He smiled. “Your powers are improving.”

I clutched at my head that throbbed in pain. “I know.”

“Shall we dress?” he asked.

I said, “As soon as this bitch is out of here.”

He laughed. “All right. As soon as I get this woman out.”

And he did.

I got a call from Sang around noon that day. He asked tons of questions about the meeting, how I was doing, and how everyone else was. He seemed extremely concerned for some reason and I didn’t blame him. Both, or possibly all three of his lovers were over four hundred miles away.

Sang’s voice was full of worry and doubt. “Lily, something sounds strange to me. Why did The Bea—I mean, Clarisse just leave so willingly?”

I shrugged inwardly. “I don’t know. Sang, you don’t sound too well yourself. How is everything?”

He burst, “Oh, Lily, something terrible has happened! It’s Hira, he’s sick. Really sick and I took him to a hospital and he’s in a medically induced coma now! I was gonna wait to tell you but I just couldn’t and I don’t know what to do and everything is happening so fast!”

I paused.
Wait. What? Hira, his shifter friend was in the hospital very sick?
I motioned for Darius to come over and let him listen in on the conversation.

“Dari is by the phone now, isn’t he?” Sang asked.

“Yeah.”

“Dari, oh, it’s awful! Hira, he’s really sick. So sick he’s in a coma and the doctors have no idea what the hell it is. It’s terrible! And now there are three other shifters in the hospital with him and they have no idea what the sickness is or how it works.”

Darius mouthed for me to give him the phone and I handed it him. “Calm down, Sang.” Darius’s voice was so serene, so relaxed. He listened for a few seconds, nodded his head and said, “Uh-huh” a few times. “Sang, listen to me. Please wait patiently for us. We are departing shortly and will be back soon today. Sang, you must remain calm. I command it.”

I heard Sang sobbing on the other end of the phone and Darius placed my cell in my hand. I put it to my ear and listened to Sang crying before he spoke in between wails, “It’s just…so…hard…”

I said, “We’ll be back soon, Sang. I promise Darius will figure something out.”

He sniffled. “I know he will.”

My phone beeped and told me that it was running low on minutes. “Okay, I have to go now.” I told him.

He asked, “I’ll see you in a couple hours?”

“Yeah.”

“Love you.” He made a kissing sound.

“Love you too.” I smooched into the phone and hung up, folded the phone and put it in my purse.

Darius was buttoning a creamy beige shirt with long sleeves. I hopped off the bed and quickly dressed into a black t-shirt I’d borrowed from Sang, jeans, and some flip-flops. Darius finished buttoning his shirt and slipped on a pair of white dress pants, then his ivory snakeskin boots.

Both his hands grasped our luggage as we departed from the hotel and boarded his jet. I gave Caen a kiss on the cheek as we met and he took my bag from me and loaded it into the luggage space under the jet. Then we stepped onto it and it began to fly away.

I peered out of the window at all the tall hotels and casinos we missed but was glad we were going home. I was very bothered about Sang and worried about Hira’s welfare. Darius took a seat in his recliner as I made my way to the table and sat across from Caen.

The blonde vampire looked at me quizzically before saying, “Something is amiss at home.”

I replied, “Yeah,” and filled him in on the details. He sighed heavily and turned to look out the window at the puffy white clouds.

“I am concerned about Sang. He tends to overthink things quite a bit,” he confessed with a blush.

I yawned. “I agree. I am also concerned. Don’t worry. We’ll be there in three to four hours.”

Caen smirked. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For reassuring Sang.”

“No problem.”

We stared at each other for a couple minutes in silence before I spoke again. “So how did you and Sang meet, exactly?”

Caen brushed a hand through his hair. “You ask that now?”

“I thought it would be appropriate.”

“It is and I will tell you.” He leaned back and closed his mismatched eyes. “I’ll tell you exactly how we met.”

“Okay.”

He began, “I had been with Annabelle for about two years when Chester arrived. I was the one who carried him to her castle after the change.”

I questioned quickly, “Who were you Caen? Who were you before Annabelle?”

He raised a brow and paused. “I’ll tell you that story some other time. Right now it’s about Sang. Anyway, I was put in charge of watching him the first days he was a vampire. Annabelle instantly took a liking to Chester, the man who refused to drink or eat or do anything. He just lay in his cell day after day. Even though the hunger ripped through him and Annabelle provoked it, he still refused to do anything.”

“So Annabelle had me take him to the torture chamber and leave him there for a week. It pained me miserably to see someone so torn up inside, so given up on life that they wouldn’t move, not even the slightest. He hung on that wall for a month without food or anything, and when I was ordered to come and retrieve him, I went down knowing that there was a monster waiting for me. Well there was, and Sang got me good. He had escaped from his bonds, struck my neck, and almost drained me dry before Annabelle came down in a hurry and gave me some of her blood. Sang attacked her and she escaped, but the moment had piqued her interest. She ordered for the two of us to be chained in her bedchamber.

“I remember those days so well. The feel of the metal biting into my skin, the feel of the cold stone walls against my back as I listened to Sang’s breathing. I tried and tried to speak with him and finally one day he told me his name was Chester and that he intended to kill Annabelle for having killed his family. I simply laughed and cast the idea aside. I too, had tried to kill her and it had only gotten me tortured and beaten for almost a year.

“I was very curious about Chester. He wouldn’t respond to Annabelle’s touch as all men had and he wouldn’t speak to her or look her in the eyes. Over the years I learned that he had been a simple farmer on his parents’ farm and he only cared about the welfare of his little sister, mother and father. He said Annabelle had taken away his family and his life and he would make her pay for it.

“We became very close soon after and did everything together. Annabelle was obsessed on making her castle larger and larger and so had her servants build onto it all the time. Chester and I helped each other with our work and sometimes snuck away to a nearby village to get a drink of mead, play with the girls or get some fresh blood.

“Annabelle both loved and hated our friendship and so one day sent me away to the paranormal police where I was to become an officer. I ran into Sang after that when Darius had brought him to his side after bargaining with Annabelle and then all these events happened with you and here we are and we’re finally back together.”

“Wow. And this was all over the course of about two hundred years, right?”

He smiled. “Yes, you’re right. I’m very happy that I am with Sang again. I might call him Chester from time to time, so do please pardon me for that.”

I gazed into his red and blue eyes and felt I could just fall into them and lose myself. I stood up and leaned over the table, touched the ends of his silky golden hair and let it slip through my fingers.

In a split second, Darius was there and had Caen by the throat. He lifted the man off the floor, his legs dangling. Then he set Caen back onto the seat and wiped his hands on his pants.

Caen said, “I am sorry, Darius.”

I asked, “What just happened?”

Darius glowered. “You just needed my permission, my dear Caen. And I am giving it to you after you keep your calm.”

I snapped. “Hey! I don’t know what’s going on, but–” Caen’s pale lips pressed against mine. They were cold and smooth and tasted like the chai tea I saw him drinking earlier. I returned the kiss and Caen scooped me up into his arms and brought me to the back room where he set me onto the bed.

Darius tugged off my pants while Caen slid my shirt over my head. I was caught in a whirlwind of need and desire and trapped Caen’s lips with mine while his hands fumbled with my bra. He successfully unclasped the back and my breasts bounced loose. Darius came beside me and as I parted with Caen, took my lips onto his and shoved his tongue inside my mouth. We French kissed, and then he pulled away and knelt between my legs, parting them with his hands.

Blue, red, and brown danced in my vision as the two men began to work on my body. Darius’s tongue darted around my nether-lips as Caen wrapped his mouth around my right nipple and began to suck tenderly. I arched my back and moaned in pleasure as their mouths suckled and drew on me gently, Darius more rough and playful.

Caen bit into my flesh and began to swallow the blood that oozed out while Darius sliced through my inner thigh and began to draw on the thick scarlet liquid as well. I writhed and squeezed my legs together as Darius’s hands roamed across my skin with his tickling fingers, feeling my thighs and calves then rubbing upward to my navel. Caen sheathed his fangs and found my mouth again with his.

When our mouth separated, Darius spoke, “That is all, Caen.” And we lay there like a pile of puppies with me in the middle.

“Are we there yet?” I asked, breathless.

Caen and Darius both replied at the same time, “Almost.”

The first thing I did when the jet landed was hurry outside and run into Sang’s arms. Lawrence had parked the jet in Darius’s backyard, which was acres and acres of flat land just off the outskirts of town.

Sang nuzzled his head into the crook of my neck and uttered, “I’m so happy to see you.”

“It’s only been three days,” I replied and hugged him tighter.

When he let me go he skipped over to Darius and pecked him on the cheek then embraced Caen and shook hands with Lawrence.

“Shall we go inside?” Darius asked commandingly and I followed him inside the mansion.

Lawrence went straight to his quarters while Darius gestured for the rest of us to go to the living room. The only light was that of the moon that shined in through the windows. He sat on the couch by the wall beneath the plasma TV and let his head rest against the back. I took a seat next to him and Sang sat on the other side while Caen decided on the other couch facing it.