Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

Kiix gives the LOYAL a high five! I have a full time job once again!! WHOOT! WHOOT WHOOT! I’ll tell ya, I was getting a little bit desperate. As some of you have pointed out, my updates have slowed. Too many projects in the fire and with this new job, I have a learning curve I have to scramble up. Soo, eep, I think Candy might take a full year to complete (Dec. 2008)


Questions:
Where does Kain fall in the line of succession?
A: Well, since he is First Born in an Imperial family, and it can be proven that Xavier is his father he would succeed Callia. However, he is just a RBGC, not a vampire so this would be a moot point. So, the only way Kain could become Lord Emperor in training would be is a blue gene vampire turned him, or a royal blue gene vampire did. At this time, I don’t know IF Kain will be turned. Dum, dum, dummmmmm.

Where does Six fall?
A: He will be the youngest of the Von Drachenfeld hatchery. I have plans for this little enigma. He will be rolled in batter and dipped in boiling oil. Egg roll for six. Ha! No, nobody gets eaten, but I have wicked plans for the little sun friendly offspring.

Chapter 220: Armor

Waiting was not my strong point. Patience. I would cultivate patience for what would lie ahead. Even with Lanseng hounding my every move, he wasn’t getting on my nerves. My thoughts headed back to a time of, what I believed to be freedom. I denied my heritage. I turned my back on my family and wallowed in my pain…and hatred. I wanted nothing more than to be just a university student. A normal human. I wanted to blend. I didn’t want to stand out. I didn’t want to find things waiting for me in the dark.

Karen. I was well on my way to two hundred and thirty pounds, I was now legally blind in my left eye and my attitude had taken a turn for the worst. I had no friends. I cultivated no friends. I wanted to be left alone but there was Karen. Five foot nothing and just as wide as me. She was a big flower of beauty with a kind heart. She looked at the loneliness in me and offered companionship. It wasn’t dating. At least on my part. I didn’t even want to take it to the next level but she insisted. I had no idea that one night would lead to this.

I had found an obituary. Karen Sythe had passed away from breast cancer. This would have left an eight year old Kain with his grandparents. They were old for humans at that time. Karen had been a late baby for them. There was an obituary for Peter and Amanda Sythe which left Kain twenty years old and all alone in the world.

So where the hell was I when Kain was eight? I was getting raped and transformed into a leaner meaner sex toy. If Karen had tried to find me, she would have only gotten a missing person’s report.

I frowned. I had gone so far to say that I had no family. It would have been no wonder I didn’t know I had a child. For every action there is a consequence and others were playing for my misdeeds. Surely there was a paper trail. It wasn’t took hard to get a copy of his birth certificate. I was listed as the father-- Sigmund Edward Xavier. Sigmund Kain Sythe. Why did she call him Sigmund? Because she called me Sigmund even when I asked her not to.

“Xavier?” Armor’s voice called out from the hall.

Lanseng stood up. “I’ll go check on dinner.”

Dinner? What? I turned in my chair but the tall drink of blue water was already exiting the batcave. Armor came in giving Lanseng a slight nod of the head.

“I have heard through the grapevine that something happened at the Council Chambers this morning.”

Even if Karen had tried to contact me…

“Little One?” Armor reached out and ran his hand down the side of my face.

“My life is unraveling like a favourite sweater that’s been snagged.”

I found myself swept up into my big vampire’s embrace. I was trying to maintain confidence but I could be vulnerable for a little while in Armor’s embrace. “Beautiful…” Just way his voice whispered my pet name was enough. I clung to him like a burr. He was the one constant in my life. Armor was my rock.

Fingers slipped through my hair and began to lightly massage the back of my neck with his knuckles. Slow rhythmic movements. Not exactly a hairbrush coma but close enough. I could feel the pressure just evaporate. My shoulders relaxed and my head got heavy. Armor pressed my forehead into the crook of his neck. “Little One…let me…”

His wide hands rubbed up and down my back. Slow calming touches that lingered just a little too south of the border to be mistaken as just comfort. We ended up on the single sofa in Armor’s typical seat configuration, me sprawled on his lap. At least that was a constant.

“I do love you in a suit, Little One. It is just like unwrapping a gift.” Armor turned me so my thighs were spread on either side of his. My back rested on his chest and I could swear I could feel his heartbeat beating into my back. The solid warmth heating the chill I didn’t know I had. He gathered my tail and snapped the tie holding it in place. His fingers gently spread my hair out. I could feel his gentle touch. You wouldn’t think a man this big could even comprehend the concept of tenderness and kindness. My hair was tugged lightly and spread out over his shoulder. He nuzzled the side of my temple. I let him turn me into boneless vampire – a squishy puddle trapped in a tailored suit. Beneath my ass, I could feel his bar of pleasure stir. My own little soldier was tapping out a salute behind my zipper. Armor explored me lazily. His fingers undid the three buttons holding the matching vest closed over my white shirt. He left a burning trail behind him as he ran his knuckles up my midline, tracing the fold of my shirt’s placket from my navel up to the knot of my tie.

“There is something in watching you rip open your presents. The expression on your face is pure joy, Little One. I only ever want you lost in pleasure. Especially if it is in my arms.” He pulled down on the tie and freed the end. The scrap of silk slithered down to puddle in my lap. I got a sucky kiss in the curl of my ear then his lips whispered. “I want to see you only in this.” His thumb rubbed over the silver of the tie.

“You better get cracking then, eh?” My voice was low and raw. My tone was colored with the amount of tears I had shed over on the Beach.

“My Lord.” I shivered as his words danced over my flesh.

“…Pretty….”

He scraped my neck with his fangs, lightly, as he took out the cuff links. I felt – treasured. This was what I needed. My big vampire always seemed to know what I needed best and when to give it to me. The fleshy pads of his fingers made little circles on my pale flesh as he slipped a button free then pressed the shirt open, then skimmed a little lower, opened a button and touched me with the butterfly’s caress. Apples filled my senses. I gasped as he sank his fangs into my neck just as he pinched both of my nipples.

He spread his thighs wider, forcing my legs open and my ass back against his hardness. I closed my eyes and just reveled in the sensations. If I were a fine cabernet then my Amor was a cut crystal goblet. So different but complimentary.

My shirt was gone. My only covering was his brown sable hair. I still looked like I climbed out of a bucket of bleach. His thumb and forefinger rolled my little pink shell of a nipple. I groaned and arched back against him. “Have I ever told you that I love the sounds you make when I do this?”

I was a pulse. A river of pulsing sensation that ripped through my entire body. I shuddered and shivered and when some coherent thought came back into my skull I was naked except for his apple rich hair and that scrap of silk tie he was wrapping around my wrist. What? I was bound but not tightly. He ducked his head under my arms so now they rested against the back of his neck. “Pretty?”

“Ssshhhh, Little One. You think of everyone but yourself. The Vampire Nation doesn’t know the sacrifices you make for them. The House of Assassins expects so much from you and you deliver consistently at the expense of us. I can only stand and marvel at the lengths you go to make world a better place.” His tongue slipped out and ran down my jaw line. Kisses varying in intensity spread across my right cheek to the corner of my mouth. I turned my head and kissed him full on. I could taste myself on his tongue. Tart cinnamon intermingled with sweet apple juice. Mulled cider. I so wanted to get drunk on him right now.

Wait? Wait. Did Armor say? Nggghhh. Pleasure was a wave that washed over me. Marcus might play the violin like a virtuoso but Armor could play me just the same. Press here. Pluck that, apply gliding pressure….THERE!!!

“I want you, Beautiful. I do not want to wait…tell me I can…”

I hesitated.

He stopped that thing he was doing between my legs and reached into his pocket. Why was I the only one naked? There was the sound of a ripping packet then cool slipperiness moved back toward my portal. I was breeched ever so slowly.

“Yeeessss…”

This was a dance we knew intimately. I was tight around him but not so tense that I was being torn. I just felt my inner core being pressed and filled. I slipped down slow one agonizing inch after inch but it didn’t truly hurt not after twenty-four years. And, my big man was being careful. His touch was gentle yet commanding. If he ever wanted something I wasn’t willing to give, I don’t think he would take it by force. Just because I was a blue blood vampire meant I was stronger than a regular red but Armor, even if he only claimed to be twenty-five to my twenty-four, was in the body of an Ancient. Could I hold my own against him even now? I couldn’t when I was twenty-nine maybe I could but I had a feeling that I would have to call on the Blue Line to do it. I gave out a cry as I swallowed him whole. Thank God, I would never have to find out. This was my Armor.

He began to buck up into me. Short sharp strokes that hit my pleasure spot just so. I tossed my head back and stared sightlessly toward the ceiling. Armor’s shoulder pushed my neck forward and when I had the sense to try and sit upright, he ripped open his wrist. Blood poured down my chest and neck then he forced it up to my mouth. So much blood. It filled my mouth like a tidal wave. I swallowed it down, only to filled again. Armor began to thrust up into me. My whole body rocked. He was wrapping me in a sensual splendor. The blood flow began to lessen and I wrenched my mouth free. I was coated in apple essence from my mouth and jaw down my neck and chest. Trails of red paint ran in rivulets down from my nipples to my navel and pooled in my pale white pubic hair. It was…..glorious abandon.

There was that telltale hitch in Armor’s breathing. He had me speared deep and my legs were spread wide. I couldn’t have clamped down as hard as I wanted to anyways. He pressed down on my weeping eye of my cock and twisted my left nipple as he jutted hard up into me. His grip tightened and sent me careening over the edge. His deep cry of release was like a claxon in my head. Once, twice, thrice, more times he slammed up into me and then I found my own release. He sank his fangs in deep and drank lustily as I climaxed into the air. Armor drew on me hard pulling more of my essence into him and this made my orgasm linger even longer. My mouth stayed open in a wide cry the entire time.

I groaned as Armor ripped his fangs out of my neck and began to tongue them, to lave them until my punctures stopped bleeding. I was light headed and still spiked. He never even took any clothes off.

If I was boneless before this mind numbing orgasm, I was now without form or structure. “That was delicious, Beautiful.” I got a kiss to my temple. “Rest…now. I have you. Lean on me, Little One.”

So I did. It was wonderful.

I never thought a fella could actually sleep through a bath…or at least being slipped into a bath. Awareness came back to me in gauzy layers. There was nothing sexual in the touches I was receiving it was almost a reverence. Warm water trailed over my shoulder pooling down my back that was against an really warm tub pillow. Hmmmm, apples. Armor was holding me in the massive and decadent bathtub in our master bathroom. I took a deep inhale and held it.

“Oh my Little One…you have dark circles under your eyes. Too much stress and not enough relaxation.”

The sea sponge was dunked and he lifted the laden scrubber over my chest and squeezed it with one hand. The water slipped and dripped all over me with warmth and a slight hint of…lilac. That was nice. I closed my eyes and leaned back against Armor relishing the peace and solitude he was offering. Sex was not a rester. Actually, neither is Azrael or Skell. So be it. I’ll be the lay about. I could do that.

Mmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmmm.

“I do love the noises you can make.” The sponge went plop and Armor pulled me back against him and we sat in silence and fragrance for a bit. Our hearts beat as one, in tandem. “Tell me what is bothering you, Little One.”

I lifted my hand and he linked his fingers with mine. I pulled his arm around me and set our entangled hands together over my heart. “The sorceress and Orel Wessel have my son.”

“Lex?” Armor stiffened and jerked. Water splashed over the side of the tub.

“Even worse, they implanted a coven fledgling with my sperm and have raised him as their own weapon to be used against me…against us.” There was a dull ache in my chest when I thought of that poor little boy.
“He’s a vampire?”

“No…but he should have been. I don’t understand. They took my sperm while I was in captivity. I was a vampire. They implanted a young female vampire. The baby should have been a vampire but he was standing in the full light of day and he can’t be more than thirteen.”

“How is that possible? He’s human?”

“The only thing I can think of is that Orel Wessel messed with genetics but…” My voice trailed off.

“Xavier?” Armor’s free hand came around and cupped my chin. Carefully he urged my head back and looked down at me. His eyes were so soft and inviting. “What else is wrong? You are just leaking sadness and regret.”

I pulled my shield around me a little tighter.

“Denying whatever is bothering you will not make it go away.”

“I have another son.”

“The boy from Orel Wessel.”

“No…no.”

“Little One?”

I stared up into his face. The first time I ever saw this face clearly, he was fucking me hard against my will. How could we have found this between us? It was against all odds that we have nurtured a loving relationship from the wicked start we had. “I hated myself so much when I was younger. I hated everyone and everything. Things happened that I couldn’t explain away or understand. It was too much for a one little boy to handle so…I came along.”

I paused. This was the first time I was truly admitting that I was second in command. Edward. Little Eddie Xavier had taken so much, too much and then there was me. I felt alone in the world.

“Xavier?”

“I told you I had tried sex with a woman once.” I could feel the big vampire grow still. “Her name was Karen and I think she truly loved me. I couldn’t see past my own pain to see what I had done to her. We did it once and now that I think about it, she never came back for the second semester.”

“What are you saying?”

“I got her pregnant. She had my child and maybe because I was such a stone cold bastard she never told me. She quit school and raised my son on her own. Then…then when she got sick she must have tried to find me. I told her I was alone in the world. I lied to her. Kain, my son, should have grown up knowing that he had cousins, that he had another set of loving grandparents, that he had an aunt and uncle. Hell, he has brothers and sisters. He grew up alone because of me. I’m such a fucking selfish bastard.”

I didn’t think it was possible but Armor gathered me closer and almost hugged the life out of me.

“You are the most giving person I have ever known, Little One. There are times that I get cold in your shadow but I do not mind having to step back to allow you to be what you need to be; what you are destined to be. Once, I wanted to be your entire world. I wanted to wrap you up in my arms and keep you with me. To mew you up to my side.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my face and rested his cheek against mine. “I am the most selfish bastard here. I have wanted you all to myself, I still do.”

Warm breath snaked over my wet shoulder. “Be all you can be, Little One, just please….please, please, please…do not forget I am standing there waiting for you.” Each plea was met with a sweet tender kiss.

“Say something. Gees, Armor, I’m a fucking mind reader, but you really don’t what me to do that.”

“I’m silly enough to think that you would remember me.”

“So, I’ve been an ass to everyone.”

“No, Little One….just to me and I have no one to blame but myself. I’m going to pull a Sex trick.

Huh? “Errr, didn’t we already do that?”

He chuckled lowly, “Not that kind of Sex, I demand a week with you. No interruptions. No cell phones. Just you and I, somewhere warm. Maybe Mexico, on a beach. I would like to see you just in a little white Speedo.”

“Wow, you have me dressed.”

“It is a public beach. Does that appeal to you, Beautiful?”

“Let’s get this bitch of a sorceress down first.”

I swear Chesterton has our main master bedroom bugged because how can he just be hovering for the most appropriate lull in the action to make his presence known. Otherwise, my major domo is standing outside the bathroom or bedroom listening to Armor crank my engine. I really would prefer the bugs.

“My Lord, The Imperials had returned and they have a guest. I have made them wait in Great Hall.”

“Thanks, Chesterton!” I stood up and Armor steadied my as my foot slipped. Okay, he copped a feel. I grinned down at him them stepped down to the warm tiled floor. I wrapped myself in a big fluffy towel but Armor just sat in the bath looking up at me. His eyes were still a soft warm chocolate brown and he had the expression of the cat that just ate the canary. He still had the feathers hanging out of his mouth.

“What?”

“I love you, Xavier.”

“You damn well better.” I leaned over, caught his chin by my crooked forefinger and angled his head upright. “I just don’t lay back and think of the Nation for anyone you know.”

He caught my fingers. “I need to hear it, Little One.”

“I love you, Armor.”

“Everything I have done, I have done out of love for you, Little One. Everything I will do, I do out of love.” His tone was earnst.

“Thank you, Armor. Tell me if I start to take you for granted. I don’t mean to do it, but three other personalities running around in here, you seem to get shuffled to the back. Take your time, but when you’re ready, come on down to the Great Hall. There is someone I want you to meet.”

“Little One?”

“Get dressed. Oh, and we can find a private beach. Those white Speedos would just blend in with my skin. I could use a little sun on my buns. Knowing my luck, I’d end up sun burnt.”

Armor set his forearms on the tub edge and leaned his head on them. “It is a proven fact that Vampiric saliva has healing properties.” His eyes flashed red flame.

“I’ll hold you to that.” I dropped my towel and sauntered out of the bathroom. I heard a groan behind me and a splash as my big Vampire flopped himself back into the tub.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and a sleeveless tee in camouflage green with ‘Rock the Casbah” in big white letters. My hair was damp and I didn’t want a big kink left in it from an elastic so I left it hanging free. Ever since Azrael took the Lycan bite again, ever since – it’s only been three days—shoes have felt confining. Since it was my house, and I think I looked a little less threatening in casual clothes, this should do it. I basically kidnapped Kain so any non-threatening effort on my part would be appreciated. I hoped.

My stomach was a little uneasy as I headed down to the Great Hall. Chesterton magically appeared at my side with a blood shake and my little blue pill. “Is he scared?”

“Your guest is uncanny, Sir.” I took the pill, downed it and then took a pull on my shake.

“In a good way?”

“Oh, I’d say he’s your son, Sir.” Chesterton had a twinkle in his eye. “Shall I prepare a guest room for him?”

“Please. Until this Sorceress is handled, he will be staying here.”

“Does he know that, sir?”

I heard a shout from the Hall. “Oh, I think you’re going to hear about it when he finds out.”

Loyal stood outside the door to the Hall and Devlin pulled the door open for me. I sucked on my shake as I stepped into the room. The Imperials were ranging around the room in a deviously relaxed pose but the energy from them was palatable. They were all staring forward to the large hearth at a red head marching back and forth from one end of the mantle to the other.

“Your Majesty.” Sang Kyu turned towards me and dropped down into the Lycan hunch. The rest of the Imperials turned towards me and did the same thing.

“Guys…” They quivered but didn’t looked back up. “Rise. You know that…”

“What the fuck is going on here?!” I turned my attention to Sigmund Kain Sythe. Can you say, turn on the wayback machine? Here was my son. I wouldn’t, couldn’t have denied him because he looked like me when I was alive. Five foot ten. Two hundred and fifty pounds. Brush cut coppery red hair. His jade green eyes flared with righteous anger. The killer was the fact that he had on a vintage gold and black bowling shirt, Karen had known that I liked them and had found many I ended up wearing.

“Who the hell are you?”

He stalked forward and Pytor but himself between us. “Are you the ass who had these freaks drag me out of my house and stuff me in a car?”

Before I could get over the shock of seeing myself, Kain looked past me and his face turned red with rage. “Well, well well. I get that explains everything now doesn’t it. Well Dad, what do I owe the unwanted pleasure of your less than accommodating company?”

Dad? I turned and spied Armor halting at my shoulder.

“Are you here to kick me to the curb again? I’m not eight years old anymore I don’t need you or want anything from you this time around.”

“Hello, Kain.”

The blood shake dropped out of my hands and smashed on the floor. I stared across the short expanse of space between Kain and myself. Armor knew. Armor knew I had a son and he had kept us apart. Who…who the hell was he? The man I loved would never have done this. Could he have? Kain glared over my shoulder up to Armor’s face. He did.

“Armor is not your father.”

Kain’s attention was brought back to me. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m your Dad.”

Kain jerked his head over toward Armor. “Then who the hell is that?”

“He is my lover.”

“Xavier…” Pretty’s voice was low and pleading.

“Armor, you need to be someplace else right now.”

“I love you.”

“You still need to be gone.”

“I can explain.”

“GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW!”

No one moved then I heard Armor turn and shuffle out of the Great Hall. I closed my eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was that giant portrait that had me sitting in the middle of it holding a goblet of blood in one hand and other had my fingers intertwined with Armor’s. When this was painted, my human son had come here searching for family as his mother lay dying and the vampire I thought I knew turned him away. He sent a lost and grieving child back out into the world.

“So who the hell are you then?”

I turned back to Kain. I knew what I looked like now. You wouldn’t think you could get me out of him in a physical sense but then Armor did work in absolutes. “As I said, I am your father.”

“You are twenty years too damned late to be a father now. You have nothing I could possibly want.”

“How about the answers to the things that hide in your closet or come out of the dark of night. Things that come to you. Things you know shouldn’t exist.”

He froze in his tracks. “Who are you?”

“Vladimir?”

The white Russian stepped up. “This is Blood Emperor Xavier Edward Azrael Skell Von Drachenfeld, next in line to the throne of the Vampire Nation. This is Azrael Dennings, King of the Northern Pack of Lycan. He is the Chief Executive Officer to the Fortune 500 company, Shadoe Inc. He is Skell Von Drachenfeld, Hashmalliam.”

The anger in Kain face turned to confusion. “Vampires? Lycan? I don’t understand.”

“Those Bloods that come to you at night, probably since you were a small child, come to offer tribute and loyalty. The sense your bloodline.”

“Bloodline? If that man wasn’t my father…why did he say he was?”

“I don’t know. I will find out but right now, I found out I had a son two hours ago and I brought you home.”

Not only did Kain look like me, but his moods were just a mercurial. The anger that he had hung onto just faded to tears. I cut my heel on a piece of glass as I crossed over to him. I wrapped him in my embrace and pulled him to me. “Yes, Kain. You are home and you’re not alone.”

His arms slowly came up and he hugged me back to him. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Why did I think that I was now?

* * *