Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Chapter 164

I held onto Father’s chest holding most of his body down in the cool water. His brow was perspiring and most of his hair was floating like tendrils in the water of the fountain. The Loyal could only keep the onlookers away for so long. I had sent a mental message to X a few minutes ago but Father still hovered like he was flotsam.

His body started to thrash. All I could think of was the pain that Sex was in when X dragged his sorry ass to the beach. Never again. I never want to have him feel that way ever again. No one deserves that kind of pain. I leaned forward and shoved Father to the bottom of the fountain. He began to fight me. An arm shot out of the water and tangled in my hair jerking me down toward the water. I transferred my hand to his throat and pushed all my weight on my arms.

Bastard. Father buried a blade into the meat of my upper arm. I jerked back and he broke the surface of the fountain with a deep gasp. I grabbed at the blade and jerked it out. Wham! I actually saw stars.

“Do we have a problem here, Azrael?” Father had me pinned back first to the fountain, his hand was around my throat and he dripped wetness all over me as he loomed over my right shoulder. I don’t know if he hit me or smacked me against the concrete all I knew was that I was staring out at the world through carnival glass. “Do not make me repeat myself, Angel of Death.”

“You asshole! You hurt him…you made him cry.”

“We know where we stand with each other now. I am releasing you. If you attack me again, I will put another blade somewhere in your body that you will not like.” Father turned his head and coughed up some water then used my shoulders to push himself out of the fountain. He intentionally dripped all over me. I had a concussion. Damn it. I knew what they hell those felt like now. I wanted to vomit.

I felt hands cradle my head and then there was a warmth from Father’s hands as he healed my head and my knife wound. “Azrael…”

“He tried to kill us…you hurt him that badly.”

Father knelt before me and pressed his temple against mine. “I know, my boy. Unless Sex wishes to share the details with you, you will have to take my word that we have cleared up misunderstandings between us.” I blinked a few times to get my eyes working in tandem then stared back up at him. His eyes seemed…different. They were that same arctic blue but they seemed…lighter? “He knows were he standing in my life. He has shown me were I stand in his. Now, that we have made a spectacle of ourselves in a public venue, I would like to go back to Von Drachenfeld since I no longer have a place to live.”

He stood up and looked over his shoulder at the approaching police officers. He held out his hand to me. I glanced past him to see my Puppy step up and do a these-are-not-the-droids-you-seek on the boys in blue. I took Father’s hand and he pulled me to my feet. He opened my palms and looked down at my healing flesh. I pulled my hands back.

“The Healing Light demands a price too, Father. These are healing fine.”

Father went and turned around. “Oh. Yes.” He shoved me and I staggered backwards, hit the edge of the fountain then went splash into the water. Water went up my nose in my my open mouth. I floundered then sat there looking up at him. “That was for calling me an Asshole. I am still your Father, Azrael. I will be treated as such.” With that black and wet walked off toward the awaiting limo. I ended up coughing up my lungs for bit then Marcus hauled me out of the fountain.

“Are you all right?”

“Does it look like it?”

“You look like a half drown kitten. Come here.” Marcus wrung most of the water out of my hair and we started back for the limo. I was surprised that Claudius didn’t commandeer it and leave us stranded. As it was, he was digging through the compartments searching for something to dry us off.

“Can I ask, what the hell is going on?” Marcus finally asked after the uncomfortable slience of the ride.

I turned and looked out the window. “Father?”

“Sex said some things that hit close to home and made me realize that I had not been treating him fairly. By the time, I figured that out, the damage had been done.”

“That is why Azrael’s hands and feet were all sliced to ribbons? Why don’t you have a home?”

I finally roused myself, “Sex trashed it. He got hurt on the glass he broke.”

“To top it off, we both thought we were unworthy of each other. It only shows that we need to talk more.”

Puppy gathered me to him not caring that I was dripping wet and hugged me hard from behind. “I’m sorry, Azrael. You must be feeling some of that…”

“Let me tell you, Marcus. It ain’t fun.”

“Have you got any clothes left?”

“A few casual clothes at Von Drachenfeld. All my suits were at the Penthouse. Since, I am no longer CEO or even a member of the House of Assassins, I would have had to move either way. This way, I will not need movers.”

I turned to Father with anger in my eyes. “How can you ever dare to joke about that? The pain…”

Claudius voice was low and his bowed his head toward the floor of the car. His hand hung in wet hanks around him. “I know the pain he felt. His capacity for feeling is what has ensnared me. I will never try to walk without him again, Azrael. That is a vow, I make to you as his loving brother. Whoever, or whatever I have to go though to stay with Sex, I will.” He sat back and pushed at his hair, “I will not ask him to slow down for me, so I better find shortcuts to stay up with him. By the way, speak to Skell. I will not have him abuse Sex in that manner again.”

Father pressed the intercom. “We are close to Joker’s Wilde. Stop there.” Claudius turned towards me, “I need to burn some plastic. I do believe you do too, Azrael. I doubt that you like wearing Sex’s clothes.”

Marcus bit my ear, “I don’t mind them. I get easy access.” He demonstrated by running his middle finger down into my plumbers crack. I elbowed him in the chest.

“Later.”

I watched as Father reached up into his wet t-shirt. That in itself was amazing, that it was faded pink and said Pussycat Dolls was another point, I really didn’t want to dwell on. He touched that locket he had. Once it was a matched set. Now one was warm on his neck and the other was melded into a lump on Armor’s beside table. “You need to marry him.”

The words were out of my mouth quicker than I thought them.

Those blue eyes turned and stared at me, “Would you care to repeat that?”

“It’s like you two have been sneaking around in the shadows having a clandestine affair or something. That could be why Orel Wessel only knew about the apple scent. Take Sex out into the light, Father. Show him off. You are a respected member of the community. Don’t you think Sex could be your blingbling?”

“Blingbling? What body part does that refer to?”

Marcus laughed out loud and didn’t try to rein it back. “It’s means jewel. A sparkling priceless jewel.”

“That he is.”

“This would work. You have a big public joining. It would show the Nation that there is no hope to think a faction could split you.” Marcus eyed me. “What? I’m not stupid.”

“I never said that you were. I just never hoped that you would be a romantic.”

“Well, he’s my brother.”

“That you hated.”

“I never hated him. I was just annoyed with him then I got to know him and…what’s not to like. Aside from Mach 2 reactions, that is. Which he waited 20 minutes for you to come back before Cyclone Sex ripped through your penthouse.”

Father hung his head forward again. “I do not deal in emotions, Azrael. It took me while to figure out what was happening within me by that time you had me in the fountain and on the beach. Which I will need to learn by the way.”

“You can’t do it alone. Your body temperature would have to be monitored constantly.”

“Liam is not forthcoming with information.”

“He never was.”

“Tomorrow will be difficult for him and for Hades. Actually Hades might make a scene. Scenes usually result in body bags.”

“Would be defy us?”

Father pursed his lips then shook his head. “If Marcus has delivered the message, Hades would be kicking up a storm, but it was Sex and he believes Liam when he tells him that Sex is the original brother. X, he might defy but give in. You…he would kick sand in your face.”

“Must be my charm.” The limo glided to a halt.

“I like your charm.” Marcus nuzzled my neck hitting that little pleasure trigger just behind my ear. My body instinctively turned sideways away from him at the same time trapping his lips against my flesh.

“You’re about the only one.”

“You can be quiet disarming when you put the effort in it, Azrael. You just do not find many you need to charm.” Father spoke up as he opened the door.

“Well a Glock in the face is usually good enough.”

“We will need to work on your diplomacy.”

“If that means talking out of the left side of your face, I can do that already.” I grabbed Marcus’ hand and tugged him out after me.

Frederick was going to get tired of us one day. I felt kind of akward looking for clothes when Marcus had a whole room stacked full of clothing for me. “They don’t fit.”

Huh? Marcus turned around and leaned on the clothing rack. “All the clothes I picked out for you, don’t fit. When you start eating and working out again, you will get back to your idea weight and you will be able to fill them out like I intended. So, right now…try this one.”

Frowned and looked down at the scrap of leather that was pinned to a hanger. “What the hell is that?”

“Underwear.”

I shoved it back at him. A leather thong. Don’t think go. “Think again, Marcus. Doctor’s orders, silk boxers.”

“This would just be until I take it off.”

“You can wear it if you want it that badly.”

“I think it would hurt a bit.”

I raised an eye brow and looked at my Puppy. “Later. Skell needs clothes, X needs something. I need something.”

I stilled as Father came up behind me and pressed another hanger across my back. He muttered something then walked off again with the garment in tow. “I think Father will be buying clothes for Sex.”

Frederick came hovering around after he shooed a customer out the door. “While, I do like these impromptu visits, I cannot close the store.”

“That’s fine.”

Marcus reached out and brushed my hair off my face. “Just browsing right now.”

“Browsing?”

“Oh, help Claudius. He needs an entire new wardrobe. Oh, and Sex needs something special for a fancy dinner tonight.”

“How did that blue leather outfit work?”

“Oh, I say it did it’s job.”

“I have it in white. It would go well with that coat.”

I caught Marcus eye. He grinned back at me. I turned back to Frederick. “Can you dye that sexy little number?”

He blinked. “Of course.”

“Crimson or Scarlet. If it could have a metallic sheen, that would be better.”

“I wouldn’t be able to have for a couple of days, a week tops.”

“Get it done. Oh, and don’t tell Claudius. It’s a present.” I smirked over at Marcus. “Give me some sugar.”

He leaned over the rack and I lifted my head up to meet him half way. Tender and sweet and ooh sooo short. “Let’s get his shopping done…or at least started.”

I picked out what I liked. So that was easy. I’d hung out with Skell at the beach and he was a good egg if somewhat sheltered. He wore clothes because you needed to. He wore whatever was given to him. Well, he definitely wasn’t a Sex type. He really wasn’t X’s type either. He was closer to me but not black.. Xavier had shown me a polariod of Skell all blue and hashmally. Blue it was.

Father had Frederick running all over the store. Based on the pile of clothes being frantically wrapped up at the counter and the bags stacking up behind the cashier, Father was finding everything he wanted.

I had my own little piles going. I picked up a….scarf? belt? Shirt? I had no clue what the hell it was. I glanced at a poster and saw that it was like a bandau for a woman but it was meant for a man. Basically it was a tensor bandage that was wrapped around the chest. Gees.

“Azrael! Marcus is in the change room. He would like your opinion on something.” Frederick whispered as he ghosted past carrying a selection of leather coats.

I wandered down to the fitting rooms and knocked on the only occupied door. A hand snaked out, closed around my wrist and I got dragged into the room. Marcus was in his birthday suit. Oops, no he wasn’t. We were going to have to buy that now just for sanitary reasons.

“You like?”

Hubba hubba. “You leave nothing to the imagination, Puppy.” I crooked a finger and backed into the far corner of the dressing room. I lifted one leg and set it one the bench and Marcus brought his bareness up against me. “You are damned lucky, I got a damned good imagination.”

Suck face was never so hot. Marcus….the new Marcus had no problem shoving me into the corner and pinning me there. His thigh came up and pressed against my hardening cock as well as spreading my legs. I was riding his bare naked leg. I brought my arms up, one at his naked warm expansion of waist the other up under his arm and around the back of his head. He hunched over and ripped into my mouth with a rapier tongue. I locked and parried with my own tongue until we were both breathing hard and were….well hard.

“What did you eat this morning?”

“Nothing…it’s not my day…” His hand slipped under my t-shirt and pressed against my stomach. “So soft…just like petting a bunny.”

I smiled around his kiss. “So what does that make me?”

“My fuck bunny…” He slipped my shirt up and off and began kissing down my chest. I bit my lip and tried to keep from moaning out loud. God, I missed him. I missed that mouth of his. I barely bit back a gack as his tongue flicked at my budded nipples. I arched back and smacked the back of my head in the corner of the change room. Marcus stood up and held the back of my head. I opened my eyes and saw him watching me intently. “I love you Azrael. I love you more than words can say so…” He lifted up a flash of silver It was a nipple shield…a match for the one poking me in my left pec.

“If this is too soon, tell me. I will be disappointed but I will wait…and I will seduce you over and over again until you say yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. I love you, Marcus. Just the memory of your face kept me sane. I am honored to wear your shield.”

The world shifted on it’s axis and I found myself flat on my back with Marcus between my legs. He pressed up on his arms and hovered over me. His own sable brown locks cascaded forward and brushed at my stomach and chest. That tickled. My own hair was still damp and was a clammy mess at the nape of my neck.

Marcus suckled me. I brought my hands up and buried them in his hair. I gasped out loud as I felt his teeth close on my nipple and began to tug it away from my chest, stretching it. Pop. He let it go. My cock snapped up into a 21 gun salute. I got licked like soft ice cream. Just went I was ready to shove him to the floor and get busy, he fanged me clean through He brought the shield up to my mouth while he held onto my pulsing little button. I sucked at it, sterilizing it for insertion. He stuck his fingers into my mouth and pulled it out. He made quick work of getting it in place. I shivered with desire for my big talented puppy. He laved my new ornament and lifted his eyes to match mine as he did it. No, he wasn’t my puppy any more, he had grown up in my absence. I couldn’t think…what the hell is Lanseng call him….Mastiff. He had grown into my Mastiff. Strong, Protective…absolutely fuckable to the 10th power.

He yanked my pants down. I cock popped upright right into his mouth. I squawked as he began his lingual arts. A binding snapped down over me. Over us. Oh, crap Father had heard us. My eyes rolled up into my head as Marcus began sucking and licking. His hands gathering my balls and pulled them free of my clothes. My hard cock slipped out of his mouth and slapped my stomach as he began mouthing my sack. I wasn’t going to last. I gritted my teeth but my stomach muscles were tensing of their own accord. I opened my mouth to let out a wildly intense orgasmic scream as my hips began to jerk when Marcus buried me deep in throat, as a slick finger invaded my portal. I bucked up into his heat and exploded. I tightened around his little invader. Once, twice, three times….shudder, shiver….oh my god. Stop…oh….too intense. My stomach muscles jumped as he took me in hand and ran the tip of his tongue at my little head slit. I grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked him off me.

I forced my way back to my ass and pulled his face up to me. His eyes were ringed with red flame. Satisfaction and ownership were a smug expression there too. I kissed him tenderly. What had X said, tenderness was always great to start out with? We would get down to our usual selves later in the semi privacy of our overcrowded building. Note to self: door locks. If I don’t have them, they were getting installed today.

Tongues swirled against each other. I could taste myself mixed with him. Sweet. He ran his hand up my back, anchoring it to my neck under my hair. Kiss. Smooch…a little touch of Marcus in the change room.. I closed my eyes.

There was a symphony playing.

No. Wait. There really was a symphony playing. Marcus sighed and reached into his pile of discarded clothes. He pulled out his cell phone. He opened his mouth to say hello but nothing came out.

/Marcus is on the phone!/ I called out to Father with mindspeak.

The binding dropped.

“Von Drachenfeld.”

I got a little thrill from that. While he listened to whoever was on the phone, I tucked everything back into it’s upright position and then sat on the bench and licked his shoulder. Orchard of my heart.

“It’s been done. Got it.” I snaked my hands around his chest and plucked at his own nipples. He snapped his phone shut and turned toward me. “Azrael.”

“Marcus.” I zeroed in on his throat.

“Azrael…”

“Mmmmm…Marcus.” I let my fang scrape his flesh.

“Azrael..that was Lanseng.”

Lanseng? “Lanseng?”

“Get Dressed.”

I shook off my flame. Oh, what the hell. I caught his face and stole one more kiss. His lips were just like potato chips. You just can’t have one.

“Azrael…”

“Say it again.”

“Azrael…you got about two minutes before Orel Wessel gets here.”

“What? Lanseng always says his timings off.”

“He wanted to know if you had climaxed yet. When I said yes, he said we had about three minutes.”

Oh crap. My tee shirt was crumpled in the corner. It wouldn’t offer much protection anyway. “Get your pants on.”

I burst out the door and ran right into Father. He caught me around the neck and steadied me. “Really, this is just too much.”

“Lecture us later. Orel Wessel is coming here. Lanseng sent Marcus a heads up. Take the backdoor. I’ll get the front. Marcus…” He came out of the change room doing up his pants. “take Frederick and his sales staff upstairs.”

Claudius narrowed his gaze as he stared out the front door. “Enough of this. First Sex at the cemetery of all places, now this. Prisoners, my sons. We need information.”

Marcus nodded then went to round up all non combatants. I turned toward the front door but was halted by Father’s hand on my upper arm. “Congratulations are in order.”

“What can I say? I can’t say no to the big guy.” Father pressed a quick kiss to my hair and then gestured to the nearest Loyal. Everything got into motion real quick.

I think that this just showed how little regard they held the House of Assassins in, or else they were just thinking that the Loyal were just Vampire bodyguards. Two Loyal guarded the passageway up to Frederick’s office. Marcus nodded at me then sped downstairs to back up Father. I pressed myself against the side of the door. I regretted not taking my Glocks out of the limo but the dagger felt good in my right hand.

It was still an effort to search the ether for targets but it wasn’t a mind numbing effort the way it had been before. There was a team of four. One was coming my way. The other three were coming through the back. I smirked. What the hell kind of assault was this? Yes, they trained Skell, but he had better training than this. The point guard walked in. I stepped behind him and pressed the tip of my dagger up into his carotid artery. Enough to get the blood flowing but not enough to damage the merchandise of the store.

“Drop the gun or I take your head off.”’ I whispered low and dangerously.

One of the three got himself killed when he came in but Marcus had one and Father had the other. /Sweep the area. Make sure that there isn’t a back up in the vicinity. They usually work in odd numbers./

I marched my prize down into the basement. “You know, this was just insulting.”
I shoved my Orel Wessel to the nearest Loyal.

Father held a blade to the throat of another soldier. “I know we have the gift in varying degrees, but I think we should let Marcus fetter out what we need.”

I nodded. The Loyal took over and forced the three Wessel down to their knees. Marcus did short work. I helped Father keep a binding on them to keep them silent. My Mastiff had gotten vicious in my absence. I guess he had to. It actually pained me deep in my chest to think of him having to face all those challenges to his rank by himself. The pain he must have endured until he finally had enough and ended it.

The last Wessel fell over in seizure, kicked a few times then laid still. “Orel Wessel thinks that something is wrong with Skell since Von Drachenfeld hasn’t presented him back to the Nation. They are under the assumption that those drugs are still in his system and that we can still be influenced. The orders are retrieval.” Marcus’ face turned into a sneer as he looked down at the middle soldier. He bent down and picked up the corpse by the hair, studying the face then let it drop back down. “This will continue until Xavier is back in limelight and they know that the Lord Emperor walked among us.”

He turned to me. “You should have told me.”

I frowned. “What?”

“They raped you weekly.”

“It really was Skell.”

Marcus turned and kicked the dead man. “This one was in on every one of them. I’ve seen what they did to Skell. He was good enough to kidnap, drug, and use to kill but not good enough to respect.” There was a loud snap of a cervical vertebrae breaking. “It’s no wonder your body freaks out in the shower.”

I ended up in a headlock. “You will never be hurt like that again, Azrael. I won’t allow it.”

Father’s voice was tight as well. “I think it’s safe to say, we need to send Orel Wessel a message. Our Lord Emperor has returned and is better than ever. Sex was right when he said he wanted to be in a public venue tonight to show that there is not division within the House or Von Drachenfeld. It will just have to be more than just a dinner.”

Father turned and looked up at the cameras. “Frederick. We need a venue. Something with excessive media coverage. Tonight.”

The Loyal disposed of the bodies. Frederick was more than a little shaken having witnesses what was going on in the basement. I doubt that that room would have fond memories for the Vampiric shopkeeper. We made it back to the main floor and basically that was the end of our shopping trip. Frederick was pale but I thought his cashier was going to faint.

“There is something, but this isn’t something I would offer up to Sex. It starts tonight at 9:00 p.m. and I can guarantee you tons of media coverage.”

“They would allow Sex in?”

“They would jump at the chance, however, they would like Kitty and Puppy too.” Frederick’s face went from pale to pink blush in a matter of two seconds. He gestured with a finger and we followed him back towards his office. He paused and pointed at the graphic poster handing on the bulletin board. Oh holy hell, no.

“What Marcus has on under his pants, would mean you are almost overdressed.” Frederick colored even more.

“I think I have heard about this on the media. There is supposed to be a lot of protestors.”

“I’m not doing that.”

Father turned toward me, “Of course not, Sex is.”

“Are you sure that this is the kind of coverage you want for the Xavier’s return?” Marcus pressed me back against his chest. His hand spread over my pulsing nipple so it touched the warm palm of his hand. He rubbed me slightly. Gaw…

“This would definitely get our Lord Emperor’s face back out in public.”

“I am NOT doing a BDSM fetish fashion show!” Nobody was listening.


“Masters and Mistresses, after all the mystery and mayhem, back for the first time on any catwalk in seven years, I present the pale Artic Beauty of Sex!” There was a loud cheer and screams and the stage was blinded by the spotlights. Guitars rang out the opening of “Animals” by Nickleback.

/Sex where the hell are you?/

/I got it./

I glanced to my right nodded. Out walked Hellcat number one from stage right, and Hellcat number two from stage left. The cheers died off but the cd kept blaring. Shade lifted her head and gave a roar. Snowflake followed suit. I jumped up and down trying to find that inner spaz. There it was. I spied Sasha standing off in the wings waiting his own turn come out. I grinned at them stepped out into the limelight and struck a pose. Screams and cheers started up again. “I’m back!” One, two, three…I stalked up the catwalk almost blinded by the flashes of the photography. “Oh, yeah. Come and get me now Orel Wessel. Come and get me now.”

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