Part 7 (2/2)

”If you're not happy tell me. I would do anything for you, Aureliann.”

”I know, Val, and you make me happy but, well, you're overwhelming. I don't know whether I'm coming or going with you.” This was so confusing. She wanted him but she didn't, but if she didn't have him then she would miss him. Aureliann pulled him down toward her so his head was level with hers. ”Just give me time.”

Two days was not long enough to get her mind around the sudden turn her life had taken. She was normally quick on her feet but there was nothing normal about any of this.

”Okay.”

Valdemar's breath was warm on her cheek. ”Okay? Just like that?”

”Yeah.” He kissed her nose. ”Because I want you in my life and I will do whatever I have to in order to keep you there.”

”Good.” Valdemar was warm against her body and she snuggled in closer to him. She smiled to herself. He saw that. ”What?”

”Well, I thought-”

”Yes?” His hands caressed her gently.

”That we were going to have s.e.x out here when you went all caveman on me.”

Valdemar snorted in dismissal. ”No, I would never let anyone watch us. It's too personal.”

”You are so sweet.” They lay wrapped in each other's arms in the suns.h.i.+ne, content for the moment.

Charles Marlow, reformed vampire, went to his old familiar haunts around Brisbane looking for trouble and he knew how to find it. Before he found Sybylla, the love of his life, and cleaned up his act, he enjoyed being the bad boy.

”So who's the new vampire I heard was among us?” he asked a clutch of vampires milling aimlessly down on the docks on the Brisbane River. There was no moon and only those wanting to see trouble would find it.

”Not sure,” a very laid-back vampire known only as Arrow replied. ”He seems to be recruiting an army.”

He looked Marlow up and down. ”I heard you turned straight. That you were p.u.s.s.y whipped.”

”Yeah, turned by the witch,” another chimed in.

Marlow shook his head. ”Nah, man, just doing what I have to do to be with the lady any way I can.”

Ribald laughter followed his statement. Vampires. Always thought with their c.o.c.ks. Nothing changes.

”Is she a good witch or a very naughty witch?” Arrow guffawed and made suggestions about what he would like to do to the woman in question.

Had I ever been one of them? Their comments were crude and purely s.e.xual. Next to bloodl.u.s.t, the need for s.e.x was paramount to a vampire. ”She is the best.” Sybylla had changed his life forever and he owed her everything. Marlow wanted to kill them for even speaking of Sybylla that way. But he had a job to do. Maybe afterward he would knock a few heads together. Thinking about that made him feel better. ”So nothing's changed with me. Tell me, what's going on?”

”This new guy turns up offering all sorts of things if we help him.” Arrow leaned back against a bal.u.s.trade on the pier. ”You know, all the riches and power we could desire. Like we care about that stuff.”

He snorted in contempt.

That was true. Vampires were essentially after thrills. They were lazy, self-indulgent blood suckers who only did what they wanted when they wanted to satisfy their senses. ”No deal, huh?”

”Then the prince offered us something more to our liking.”

”Prince?” This had to be the guy Temperance and Asher told him about.

”Well, Marlow, you know how much I care about what people choose to call themselves.”

This was the odd thing about Arrow. He was as lazy as the others and yet there was something that was intriguing and hidden about him. Marlow knew it was highly unlikely he would ever know what that was.

”What's the deal?” He knew it had to be good to get this lot off their a.s.ses.

”The blood of thousands of innocents.”

The thought chilled Marlow to the bone. Even though he was a reformed vampire, he knew what the l.u.s.t for blood was like. En ma.s.se, blood-crazed vampires were frightening and unbeatable. He knew the people in question would belong to this other world he had been told about. ”It sounds good. How do I get in on the deal?” The more he knew then the more he could take back as a warning.

”Stick around. The prince will be here later.” Arrow looked him up and down, neither impressed or unimpressed. They had known each other too long to care what the other thought. ”What about your witch?”

”The witch is not your concern.” And if you touch her I will kill you. Marlow had lost his immortality but not his heart and soul and they were for Sybylla. Loving and protecting her were the only things that mattered.

Marlow stayed around long enough to hear the pitch of the prince. He was a complete and utter evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was only interested in taking the crown and dominating a kingdom for his own greed. Marlow was glad to leave.

When he met Valdemar, the other cousin, and told him what was planned, he instantly noticed the difference between the family members. One was born to be king and the other would perish in flames as the evil always did.

”Good luck.” Prince Valdemar was going to need it.

Chapter Eight.

”You sidetracked me into bed.” Valdemar's voice sounded lazy and contented as he lay beside the woman he loved.

”I did not.” Aureliann scoffed at the suggestion.

”Dropping your clothes and announcing you wanted me to f.u.c.k you until you couldn't stand was a huge sidetrack.”

She loved the feel of Valdemar's hair flared out on her skin. It was ticklish yet wildly sensual. ”Okay, so maybe I did but you needed a diversion.” What Marlow had told them had shocked them both and maybe her actions were not politically correct at the time but she wanted to calm Valdemar down before he went off half- c.o.c.ked. Aureliann feared that would land him in more trouble.

He sighed deeply. ”I have to go home.”

Yes he did. That was a fact. It would kill her if he left without her. Aureliann still hadn't made up her mind what she was going to do. The sidetrack into making love was for her as well as him but it did not solve the problems they faced. In some ways it made them more difficult. Do I go or do I stay?

”And we have to stop doing this.” Surely they would exhaust the world's condom supply if they kept this up.

”What?” Valdemar's eyes were keen and bright on hers.

”This...s.e.x.” Aureliann felt like she could not get enough of him. She wanted to be with him all the time.

That thought was so alien to her. Going from having nothing to everything. It scared her that she needed Valdemar so much.

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