Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

Thankies again for all the reviews and clickies! I have read your questions and while it looks like I am ignoring them, and I’m not…really, I’m not;it’s just that the muse bug has hit me hard with plot candy so I’m motoring forward until I hit another Lycan (bump) in the road (so to speak). You fellow authors out there know that I am jabbering on about. Keyboard while the images are there. Kowabunga dudes.

Bet you haven’t seen this in a while: WARNING VAMPIRE BUNNIES!!


Chapter 211: Not Words

I slept in my big man’s arms. I don’t think I passed out but I came pretty damned close to it. I was dead on my feet. Azrael’s succession dances and fights or fight dances; mind fucking Orel Wessel; surviving the lets-paw-the-king’s-ass dance-athon; and hellcat atomic fuelled burn took a lot out of a growing vampire/Lycan mongrel. I remember getting a shawl wrapped around me for modesty’s sake then I climbed into the back of my limo and crashed. Vaguely I knew I ended up on a fleshy pillow that smelled of apples but it was too much of an effort to open my eyes, so I didn’t.

There was a moment of too much light behind my closed eyelids and I turned away burying my face into the crook of an arm. I heard a deep laugh. Armor. The brightness dimmed and I relaxed into the feeling of being safe. I heard his voice whispering something but it was too much of an effort to try and understand him. I was set on a sea of softness and the last thing I felt was a breath of warm air just above my temple.

This body was going to wear out if we kept this pace up. I might look young, but damn, I had a lot of mileage on this frame. Still, it was going to be strange to have my winglets looking older than me. A made Vampire stays at the age they were when they died. So I looked like a plastic surgeon’s best customer for a 30 year old, who looks 20ish who is actually going on 54. I still got carded when I was out on my own with just the Loyal. Armor was going to be 26 forever. Hades was a well preserved 17 for someone who just celebrated a millennia. Father was 22 going on 500 something. Natural vampires aged. The winglets grew just like human children and would continue to age yearly until they got into their twenties and then time would just slow down for them. What age they stop at is anyone’s guess. Claudia looks about 24 which is good because she’s 150 plus. Vampire women are just like humans, don’t ask their age and you won’t get hurt. After reaching the plateau Natural Vampires seem to age about a month for every two decades.

Something brushed my nose. I snorted slightly and nestled back down under the covers. It tickled again. I slit my eyes a fraction and found cat eyes staring me right in the face. “Shade, what the hell are you doing?”

/That was a beautiful thing you did for Haley last night./

“He was much honoured.”

/You loved him./

“How couldn’t you?” My pillow shifted. I was sprawled across my hunk of love. His hand was splayed across my back with fingers curled around my waist.

/I was just checking in on you. You’re not usually a bleak kind of guy./ Kitty nose touched mine. I brought my hand up and scratched Shade just behind the left ear just as she liked it. She got her purr on and stepped closer rubbing her small kitty head against my cheek. /You know I got to go back./

/Really?/

/You Von Drachenfelds put a hell of a lot of strain on hellcats. My little one is going to have to be strong is she is going to link up with Skell./

/Shade.../ I was touched. I know Little Deadly had wondered about the hellcat bond his elders had but he never asked for one himself. The fact that Shade was offering was...damn it, I was crying. I got a tail rubbed against my cheek.

/It’s good to see that you’re still a roller coaster of stability./

/You say that like it’s a good thing./

/Oh, it is. Once a leader loses touch with his emotions everyone gets fucked. Not in a fun way. I need to stay in a larger, stronger form and to do that, I need to be in my homelands with my fellow Hellcats. I want my little girl to be able to walk with your House with confidence, so I’ll leave Mo and Snowflake with you. They are worried about you boys./

/It’s just not the same without you around, your majesty./

/Glad to know that I’m missed. Now...about this bitch that is stalking your family. The best magickers of the human world eventually fall in with the Regency Mages or they get killed by the Regency Mages. They are good but they are only human. I’ve contacted someone who could help you./

/Who?/

/Said the owl as it fell out of the tree./ Kitty snickering rolled around inside my skull.

/What the hell does that mean?/

/Just pulling your chain. Ripley should be here today. He’s a little...unique./ Kitty snicker rang inside my head again. /Don’t let his appearance and quirkiness fool you. That’s his most deadly weapon, you underestimate him. He can be Black Death cold. He can be Hashmalliam callous./

/An assassin?/

/He’s a mage...if you want to call him that. He’s born of magic./

I frowned. Who or what the....ohmygod. I think my eyes must have widened as realization hit me. “Fairies?”

/You call him that he’ll kick you into next week. That is an insult to them. You call them Fey. I’ve known Rip my whole life. The fact that he is even willing to look into this is a major, major favour I’m calling in. Treat him right./

Shade got up. I reached out and stroked the soft fur of her side. “I’m sorry, I called you fat.”

/I’d stay with you if I could, my Blood Emperor./

“I know you would, your Majesty.”

“What? I don’t rate a kiss any more?” Armor shifted and turned his head toward kitty Shade. Hard feelings had stood between them, well more toward Marcus, because he was the one with gift to rip open our mind. Without his mindfucking me five days into my vampirehood, I never would have met Nightshade, Queen of the Hellcats. Not the greatest way to meet someone but she has turned into a damned good friend. However, Her Majesty could hold a grudge. Finally, twenty years later, she has forgiven the big guy. About damned time because I really liked peace in my house.

/I don’t need my little girl seeing that kind of stuff. Kiss this./ Shade gave Armor a kitty tail whack in the forehead then jumped off the bed.

/What kind of stuff?/ Poke. Oooohhh. /Thank you, Shade./

I got a wave of a tail and she disappeared out of the room.

“You would think that tiny form would not pack such a punch.” Armor rubbed at his forehead. Awwww, he had a red stripe from the cat attack. I scaled my vampiric mountain and pressed a kiss to his booboo.

“All better now?”

“I think I got some cat hair in my eye.” Eye my ass. Still, I lowered my aim just a little and pressed my lips softly against his eyelid. I pressed my lips over the swell of his cheek, down the plain towards his jaw.

“Better now?”

“She might have scratched my mouth.”

“Here?” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “No? How about here?” I kissed the other corner of his mouth. “Still no? Then how about here?” I landed a good smack on him-as chaste as I knew how. Just because I can be sex on wheels without actually being Sex, doesn’t mean that I have to suck out my man’s tonsils. Nothing saying that I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have to. I am not a slave to my wants and desires.

“Little One?” Armor’s voice held a question.

“Not that I don’t appreciate this.” I let my hand skim over his bare chest to rest against his laurels that twitched to life behind his silk pajama pants. “God, I really, really appreciate this.”

“So what’s not to...”

“Love you.”

Armor’s arms came up and wrapped around my shoulders. “You don’t say that often enough, Xavier.”

To quote an old song. “There’s nothing like a funeral to make you feel alive.”

“We are not alive.”

“I beg to differ.”

“You know what I mean, Little One.”

“I will appreciate you everyday. This I promise you.”

“You don’t need to make promises...”

“Let me. To wake up every morning and know that this might be your last day on earth, the last day with your lover, with your children, with your family. Every morning. Every single morning. I would have gone insane, Pretty.” Armor’s hug tightened on me. “How could he have been so happy?”

“It troubles me to see you in pain and I am unable to ease it.”

“You’re doing good.”

He was warm. I could feel the blood coursing through him. I pressed my cheek against his chest and listened to the steady thump of his heartbeat. We were alive.

“You are entitled to three day bereavement, Little One. You can stay here, on me if you wish to grieve and heal. I will keep you safe.”

I caught my hand in his hair. It was so soft and the scent of apple hung around him steadily now that his hair was so long. The offer was tempting. Very, very tempting. I rubbed my thumb and forefinger together crushing and rolling strands of hair releasing more of his unique scent into the air. “You can give me a bit of healing now, Pretty.”

“Xavier...”

“Hold onto me, Armor.” My world flipped as sudden Armor shifted and I found myself flat on my back. The strength and size of him pressed me down into the softness of the mattress. Once upon a time, this would have been a bad thing. “Hold onto me with both hands and never let me go.”

Armor’s hand came up and splayed across my chest. It was as if I could feel his heartbeat pounding in the palm of his hand. He settled it over my heart. His thumb pressed on my right nipple. His pinkie rested on my left nipple. My chest felt bare without the piercing. “The clock has not yet struck midnight. I made you without your consent to the Covenant twenty four years ago this day. I decided that you were never leaving my side. I am more than grateful that you have come to see me the same way. I love you Xavier. I loved you when you were half blind, with a hundred pounds on me and so angry with the world. That I might have assisted you in even the smallest of measures to become who you are today...I consider myself blessed.”

Maybe I would have been able to concentrate on his words and emotional declarations but his other hand had moved between my inner thighs. The backs of his knuckles stroked upward in soft sweeping motions urging me to spread my legs. I lifted my hip and was able to get my left leg free from under him. I raised it and wrapped it around the outside of his hip pressing my awaking groin up against him. My heel settled into the inside of his knee. His touch was the touch of a lover. A lover who had taken the time and takes delight in stimulating the pleasure zones of his partner. I bucked up into his weight. A low groan escaped from my chest. I rolled my head to the right and rubbed my cheek onto the warmth of his pillow. It was a sensual thing for me and the way his hand involuntarily tightened on my inner thigh it was a sight to behold for him as well.

“I cannot wait.”

I frowned. I gasped as Armor cupped his hands around the cheeks of my ass and lifted my hips up off the bed. My big man had a way about him. I was gently manhandled into another position. He dragged me down from the pillowscape at the headboard so I was laying flat on my back then my left leg was shifted and pressed upwards by his shoulder. I didn’t even bother trying to keep my gasp in as I felt my organ get engulfed with the sweet heat of his mouth. I reached down between my legs and pulled on his hair draping it artistically about my body. I didn’t know I had such a hair fetish...but then again, this was Armor and me. Fleeting thoughts of Skell playing with scads of blue hair were blasted from my mind as Armor began to work his magic on my flute.

“Pretty...”

My erection slapped at my stomach as he pulled his head back. “Sssshhh, Beautiful. I am trying to work here.” He blew warm air across the slick flesh. I shivered and shuddered. He took the hand that was yanking on his hair and laced our fingers together. With his other hand he took a firm yet stimulating hand on my standing piece of flesh and pressed the sensitive reddened head against his lips as if it were kissing my own lips. My eyes were burning with blue flame. Armor’s eyes were staring into mine. He was burning hot with his own red eyed flame.

I thought he was going to take me back into his mouth but he placed soft sucky kisses on the under side of my cock, tracing the large vein down between my legs. My hand tightened around his as he sucked my right ball right into his mouth. I was making noises. I don’t know if I was trying to direct or telling him to stop or pleading with him to never quit. When Pretty got his groove on....you could count yourself lucky to be the groove. I heard a rip of material. I just clawed my way through another set of Egyptian cotton sheets.

“Turn over, Little One.”

Huh? What? I was blinking up at the ceiling. What was that? Armor took purchase on my hips as he swung my leg over his head then because I liked my spine the way it was, I ended up flipped on my stomach. His hands pulled me back up on my knees. His warm thighs plastered against the backs of mine. His own member was pulsing as it rested in the crevasse of my cheeks and tapped gently at the base of my spine.

“Little One?”

I did a push up so I was on all fours. I opened my legs wider. I think he could take that as a yes. I couldn’t really form a coherent word at this time. He pressed his weight against me, burning skin on burning skin. The coolness his of lips and tongue on my wing scars made me arch my back up toward him. He pushed all my hair forward over my shoulders and over the top of my head. It was like trying to see through the back side of a waterfall. I was felt with pure sensation.

“I will never let you go, Little One. Never. Ever. Ever.” Each of his whispers were followed with a kiss to the nape of my neck or a lick on my skin along my spine or a little poke into my portal. His meaty fingers on his free hand came around and strummed along my bared nipples.

Nggggh. My mouth was hanging open and my breath was spiced with pants and murmers and groans.

Two fingers worked my portal. “Are you with me, Little One?”

I shook my snowfall of hair positively. I was started when his left arm came down beside mine and he really covered me with his body. The back of my head settled into his crook of his neck. His mouth blew gently across my ear. I could feel his peaked nipples pressing into my shoulder blades. His knees pressed my inner thighs wider still. “Here I come, Beautiful.”

Armor breeched my portal, slowly...too slowly. He keep pressing forward but...AAAAhhhh! I shivered and pressed my head back hard into his shoulder. “You are so hot and tight, Xavier.” He nibbled on my ear lobe as he dropped his organ now that it was almost fully entrenched into my portal and he splayed his hand across my lower stomach, between my pulsing hard erection and my hot sweaty skin. He lifted my hips up tight against him. He brushed my prostate. My arms shook. He laughed. I could feel it rumble against my back.

“What is my name?”

Huh? He was buried fully now. I panted hard and his nipples rubbed into my chest.

“Say my name, Little One.”

“Ar...armor.” I was rewarded with a short out stroke and a quick push forward. Light exploded behind my eyes.

“Call for me...cry out for me while I do this for you...for us.”

“Armor...Armor....nnnuuggghhh...arm...ar....more...more.”

I felt him chuckle again. “That will have to do.”

I was fucked...no, I was loved. I was cherished. I was made to feel a part of this world in these massive arms of his. Armor told me this with his body. He had failed his promises to me before. He found out that he wasn’t strong enough to stand on his own in the face of Father’s disapproval. Marcus had come forward while we lost in the maw of Orel Wessel. He had wanted to be my true Father in all sense of the Vampiric world but we were more like brothers in experience even if he were two hundred and twenty years older than me. He wanted to teach me the world of the Vampire, the Blood of the Vampire, but he collapsed under that strain as well. Claudius saved us both. Spiritually Armor broke. Emotionally he had fallen into despair because he couldn’t do all that was necessary to keep me and mine safe. He had learned hard lessons with me.

He had been shown that he was fragile.

In the past, Marcus had used him as his strength as his will to get the dirty jobs done. Armor thought he was the stronger of the two but considering how big both of them were, they were like lost boys. They have both grown so much in the past thirteen years but...

My elbows collapsed and I dropped to my shoulders on the mattress as he began to stroke my cock in alternating rhythm to his hips. Physically. Physically from day one, he owned me. He showed me with his strength and size that he was capable of doing horrific or pleasurable things to me. His vows he faltered under but with every inch of his corporal being he kept me at his side. My big man didn’t make grandiose statements now. He was just there. He was there for me. He was there for the winglets. He was there for the puppies. He was there for Father. He was the epitome of ‘deeds, not words’. It was nice to hear that he loved me. It was better that he showed me.

God, how he showed me.

“Armor....armor....armor....ah, ah...ah...” I spasmed into orgasm. It was a chore to keep my wings in check. The way Pretty was plastered on my back, I would have knocked him flying. I felt my portal squeeze around him. He grunted but that special little tattle tale hitch in his breathing wasn’t there yet. He kept hitting my prostate. Drool was forming into a huge lake dripping off my chin. I didn’t have the strength to get my arms back up under me. Armor thrust quicker and with more force. His hand was sticky with my cum. He smeared the white stuff across my lips then leaned in to lick them clean. It was a taste sensation. Apples and Cinnamon. Cinnyapplishness. He kissed his way down my jaw to my throat. His fangs brushed my jugular.

“Yes.....”

He fanged me. I could feel him draw my life’s fluid up and out of me. It was an even trade. He gave that hitch and then...my insides burned hotter has he came deep inside me. Suck, suck, suck. Thrust, thrust, thrust. I was lost in dual pleasure zones. The angle of his entry changed as he forcibly hauled me up off the mattress. He had my body stretched like a bow anchored against him at my portal and with his fangs still buried in my neck. It was pleasure to the point of pain but not quite. Armor kept his mouth on my neck but withdrew his fangs. His tongue came out and lapped at the marks. My skin was hyper sensitive. I shivered against him as he cradled my body against his.

“You understand me, Little One?”

“Loud and clear.” I could feel his smile on my skin even if I couldn’t see it. His thumb rubbed my emission into my skin in soft sweeping motions. His other hand came up and turned my face toward him. He nibbled at my lips. I opened my mouth and allowed him entrance. Kissing my big man had to be second on my top ten naughty list. We just did the number one.

Armor kept me cradled against him and moved us around to lay back down on the mattress. He tossed the balled up top sheet into our drool messy spot and set me down beside him. He took my hair and pulled it back off my face, tucking it behind my ear. “I love that just loved look you have in your eyes.”

“I can’t focus my eyes, Pretty.”

“And to think, I did that.” He held onto me. My cuddle monkey, big sigh. “Are you staying home today?”

“Shadoe Inc waits for no vampire. Besides, if I’m not there, you have to be and it’s not fun staying in bed alone.”

“Can you walk?”

“Probably.”

I squealed. Oh, crap. I actually squealed as Armor lifted me off the bed, gathering me in bridal pose. He laughed and tossed me up into the air. I flailed but the toss wasn’t high enough to really get into position for a landing. Flying had given me a sense of balance and confidence but Armor still got a kick about hauling me around in his arms or over his shoulder. Right now, while I was still tired, I was very content. And very, very icky.

“Shower.” I pointed to the bathroom.

“Round two?” Poke.

“What the hell have you been eating?” My eyes got round. I don’t remember him getting so aroused so quickly.

“You. You are finger licking good.” A red rim of flame encircled his pupil. I had a horny vampire on my hands. I smiled up at him and let the bank of my blue flame rise up into my eyes.

“So, lick me good.”

“That is my intention.” He leaned forward and I met his kiss halfway.

Eh, we got to the office late.

* * * * *