Richard: Blood Brotherhood – Erotic Paranormal Dark Fantasy Romance (4 page)

“She is the one?” He nodded, not sure what she would think of this when she laughed. “We only knew that she was coming. And that she was blood of Lucia. Had I any idea that she had a sister, I might have looked closer. This one, she will complete you.”

“I’ve no desire to be completed. I have had my chance at love, and her sister destroyed it all for me.” Janell only looked to the sky when it darkened over them. As soon as Skylar touched the earth, Rick pulled the woman’s body closer to him. “I cannot allow you to harm her.”

“Well, that’s good. I don’t know why you’d jump to that conclusion, but I’m only here to take her to the compound. I understand that she’s your mate.” Rick said nothing but felt his anger at them all double. “Take it down a notch there, buck-o. I’d hate to have to hurt you over this. I’m not going to hurt her, nor am I going to stand here while you try and get your head out of your ass and figure that this is a done deal. Just hand her over and I’ll make sure that she’s taken care of.”

“She’s not my mate. Her sister killed my family.” Before he could think of her intent, Skylar took the woman from him and was gone. Rick looked at Remy. “What am I to do with a mate that, every time I think of her sister and what she’s done to me, I want to kill her?”

“Think of something else. Until you know what is going on, you cannot place the blame at a door that’s not been opened for you. She may be a pawn. And so that you are aware, I believe her to be just that, a pawn to get you killed.” Rick pointed out that they were related. “Aye, they are. As was our Vicki to her brother.”

As he was left standing there with Nate, he wondered why it was that Remy could be so fucking calm about this. The woman was a war faerie, someone that could have them all killed at a moment’s notice.

Something flew by his face, and just as he was going to swat at it, his hand was stayed by magic.

“Hello.” He nodded at the...the bug? “No, not quite. I’m a faerie. You’ve seen some of my kind around. Only I think you thought us all bugs. We’re not bugs. Faerie. Say it with me. Fae—rie.”

“I know what you are.” She only tisked at him. “Would you let me go, please? I don’t care to be held when I’ve done nothing to warrant it.”

“Yes. But you must promise to look before you swat. It might be my grandmother, and she will not be pleasant about being hit away. While old, she’s as mean as a brownie when they’ve been told there is an early frost. Not a pretty sight, let me tell you.” He made the promise and felt his arm freed. “Now. I’ve been sent by the queen to ask you if you have any idea what you’ve gotten into here. Or for that matter, what’s to come.”

“Into? I’m not sure what.... What queen are you talking about? England?” She laughed at him and flittered around until she was on his hand. Holding her up to see her, he was amazed at how lovely she was. “What are you?”

“Fae—rie.” Rick wasn’t in the mood for this shit and dropped his hand and turned his back on her. “I’m sorry, my lord, but I was only trying to make you smile. You have a lovely smile, and perhaps my lady will like you better should you smile once in a while. You do that so seldom that I did wonder if you were hiding something. Fangs, yes, I know that, but I thought perhaps you had bad breath and that you were keeping it behind your teeth. You could get ill from that, I think. But then—”

“Enough!” He heard birds fly away, screaming at him for the disturbance. But the little bug just smiled at him as she balanced herself in front of his face. “I’m going to ask you questions and you’ll answer them without going all over the city and back before you get to it. All right?”

“Yes. I would like to say that I only upset you to get your attention. You can focus more on me now that you’re over your snit.” She looked around. “Do you suppose we could go somewhere that I can land? Flying like this is exhausting. And I shan’t land on you again, because you can be most cruel when you’re upset.”

He found himself in his room with her. Rick thought of all the things that had been going on lately. The things with Benton. The horde of malefactors and figuring them out. There was magic everywhere now. But sitting in his room with a faerie flying around looking at his books and pictures was the freakiest of it all.

“My name is Hunter. I hunt, so that’s what I was called. My sister is Rose because she takes care of the roses. There are thousands of us, and we all have specific jobs.” He leaned back in the chair to try and wrap his mind around the things that had happened in the last hour. “You should know that Ryiah had nothing to do with your family. She was in a prison cell.”

“Who is Ryiah?” He thought he knew, but she confirmed it. “So Ryiah is the sister to Lucia, who I thought was my mate. If you don’t mind me saying so, this is really fucked up.”

“Aye, it is. And Lucia believes you to be her mate as well. It is what we all wanted her to believe. So that she’d send Ryiah here to get you someday. The rest of us have failed to bring you to her, you see. It was on purpose, but she did as we thought and now she’s safe. If you don’t toss her away again.” He asked her why as she sat down on the edge of his bed in front of him. “So that she would be happy and with you. It’s a good thing that we hurried things along a little more. Lucia wishes her sister dead, and if she had put her in the cell again, Ryiah would have taken her own life and there would have been little we could have done about it. She would have just let her body shut down until she was no longer.”

“She said that she didn’t care for closed in places. This cell she was in, how small was it?” An image appeared in front of him and he could see Ryiah there, curled into a tight ball in the corner. The cell, dark and damp, was smaller than his bed, which was only a full. There were no windows, no lights at all. The only place where there might have been light was blocked off. He wondered how she would even get anything to eat. “For what reason would she do this to her own flesh and blood?”

“She cannot kill her. Nor can she directly harm her. And in answer to your thoughts, she did not feed her at all. I took her what I could, but it was barely enough to keep her going. She might have died if not for me. There is a man, one that beats her regularly, but he is paid to beat all the people within the house and gets a bonus should he hurt Ryiah.” Hunter moved around his room again. “You have many books here. Do you read them all?”

“I do. This mate thing, so you arranged it so that she’d be my mate? I mean, she’s not really that, just the appearance of it, so that she could escape her sister?” She stopped flying and came back to sit on his knee. “It’s all right if you did. I’ve buried my mate. I have no need to do so for another. And I understand that you wanted her to be safe. So do I, now that she’s here.”

“She is your true mate, my lord. Lucia believes what she does because all her attempts to kill you have been thwarted. It is because you have been protected.” He asked her by who. “The queen. She marked you a very long time ago and now you belong to her. I think you do remember that, do you not?”

“The woman that came to where my sister-in-law was murdered. By Lucia.” She nodded. “And you’re saying that her sister had nothing to do with this? She had no part in any of my family being killed?”

“Nay. As I have said, she was held as a prisoner.” He asked her what she’d done. “Refused to kill your family.”

Chapter 3

Ryiah lay as still as she could, but still it was hard for her mind not to think. The man, the one that had nearly taken off her head, was sitting in the chair near the bed she was on, but he only stared. She was sure that he’d long since forgotten she was there.

He was handsome. His face reminded her of the pictures she’d seen of the great art exhibits around the world, hand carvings of nude men that had fought many wars and had come away hardened, not just of body but of mind as well. Ryiah knew he was a vampire and that he was old, more than a thousand years, but he wasn’t jaded like the others that she knew. Hard, but not jaded. She could also see the markings on his neck, and wondered where else the man had been touched by the queen.

“My back as well.” Ryiah nodded and watched his face as he sat there. “She told me that I would not be able to die. That she had plans for me. Something about someone coming to me that would be strong, and that I would love her. That it would last all through eternity.”

“My sister.” He shook his head. “She is most powerful. And she is your mate. I don’t know why she’d think this, as she has never met you, but Lucia seldom is wrong. And if she is, then she kills whatever dares not to be right for her.”

“She sounds like a wonderful being, this sister of yours.” Ryiah said nothing. Sometimes she got sarcasm. She was sure that was what he was using, but she wasn’t positive enough to agree or disagree with him. “I was being sarcastic.”

“You can read my mind.” He nodded and leaned his head back on the chair. Now she could see more of his mark. “The queen, she made it so that you could not be beheaded, and that anyone who would try to bite you without permission will suffer greatly for it. If you turn and remove your shirt, I can tell you the rest.”

“You’re my mate.” She shook her head and realized that he could not see her, and told him it was Lucia. “No. It’s you. I’m not sure why they did it, but the little faeries, one in particular named Hunter, told me that it was you all along, and that they wanted Lucia to believe that she was mine so she’d send you here. I think we’ve been set up.”

“Lucia tried to kill you, she told me, and that you kept coming out of it unscathed.” He looked at her then. “You have a beautiful face. I’m sure you know that, but you are very handsome.”

“Are you always this forthright?” Ryiah wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but did sit up on the bed. “There is juice there for you. Ann made it fresh from fruit and not a can. I’m sure you can tell the difference.”

“I can.” She picked up the glass and drained it. When she sat it down on the little table, she noticed that there were two more glasses of it, as well as a pitcher with condensation on it. “I have not had fresh fruit juice in a very long time. I shall have to thank her for this.”

She drank down two more glasses, and then realized that the others were all full again. Instead of asking him about it, she decided that it must be the house proper. It was covered in magic, some of it as old as she was. Looking at him again as she sipped her fifth glass, she wondered why he seemed so out of sorts and asked him about it.

“Lucia killed my brother’s wife, and then he met the sun rather than to live without her. I was there when someone came to the house, I discovered later, and set fire to the curtains in their room. Then they rammed a stake into her heart and tried to kill Malcomb. My own mate, Angelica, was murdered as well. Years later, however. I only just found out that your sister was responsible for all their deaths, and that she has plans to end my life as well. Do you know why?” She did and nodded. “I’m not sure I want to know all the reasons right now, but could you just give me the highlights?”

“Money. The power that comes with your age. There are a great many that would work for Lucia should she have the funds to pay them. Also, she hopes that with no bond between the two of us, she can order me to your bed and you will kill me. Or I will kill you. Either way, the other would be taken to the Gathering and found guilty of murder.” She watched his face as she continued. “At one time she was a war faerie, like our father, but something happened and she was discharged of her duties. It must have been bad because usually a war faerie lives on forever in their position.” He got up to pace and she thought him taking his anger out on his steps. “When she was sent home in disgrace, there was a man there. His surname was James. I believe now that he might be related to you. You are Richard James, are you not? However, this man, he is the one that stripped her of her armor and then disbursed her army. By then there were too few to call an army…less than five thousand strong. Some had left her service; others had been killed because she was reckless and cruel to them. Most left on the fields when she would kill both combatants instead of taking a side. In my father’s day, he had tens of thousands to command. Are you the same family as this man?”

“Yes, my father. And I’m Rick to most people who know me. My dad, he was a great leader as well, and helped with the Faerie Council on occasion. I don’t know the details of that particular event, but I’m sure that he would have been the one to do it. Most of the Council were afraid of their own shadows. Are they still?” She told him she’d never been before them, except when her sister called her there to witness for her. “Lucia has. Several times. I turned her in for her part in the killing of a thousand people who were trying to make a living in a small town. She murdered them all for no other reason than she could, I guess.”

“That would be her.” Ryiah got up when he sat. Going to the window, she let out a long breath. It was hard to be so closed up like this, and being near an opening helped her a great deal, even if it was covered in glass. “I’m not sure why you believe me to be your mate. I’m sure that you’re mistaken. I know that you associate smell with this, but perhaps you can smell my sister on me and that has you confused.”

“Come here.” She looked at him and wondered why she thought him beautiful. He was an Adonis. A man like no other. When she stood up, he unbuttoned his shirt and when he took it off, he tossed it to the bed. Ryiah felt her mouth go dry and her tongue thicken. “Come here so that I can smell only you. I would like to get this cleared up as well.”

“I’m afraid of you. Not that you’d harm me, but that you are...what should happen to me should you be wrong?” He told her he wasn’t. “But if you are, will you please kill me?”

“No. Come here, Ryiah.” She found herself moving toward him even as she had it in her head to stay put. As soon as she was within inches of him, he touched his fingers to her cheek and she felt it to her feet. “I don’t know how this is to work, you being a faerie and me a vampire. We’re to be sworn enemies, you and I.”

His touch was doing things to her she’d never experienced before. And as much as she wanted to back away from him, she wanted to be closer as well. When he cupped her bottom and pulled her to him, her hands moved up his bare chest and over his hard nipples. Leaning down, Ryiah took one of the pert morsels into her mouth before she could think about what she was doing.

He pulled her closer, his hard male part rocking into her softness, and she moaned. Letting go of her treat, she looked up at him and could see the blood of his eyes, the desire, too, that was strong enough that she thought she could touch it. When he lowered his head to hers, Ryiah had a moment of panic, but he stilled just before touching his mouth to hers.

“Tell me no and I’ll stop this now. But so you are aware, you’re my mate as much as I am yours.” His breath was warm, sweet smelling, and full of promise. “You keep thinking things like that and I will show you the promise that I have in my mind for you.”

“Will you take me?” His breath came out in a soft rush. “I think I should like to feel you between my legs. Feel you filling me as a man should a woman. To have you suckle at my breast. Feed from me. I know not where these thoughts come from, but I should very much like to have you do them to me.”

His kiss was soft, just a touching of the lips to hers. But when he lifted his head and looked down at her, she grew hungry. For him. Pulling him back to her mouth, his body nearly consuming her in his heat, she mimicked his kiss and felt his strong hunger like her own. The next time their mouths met, Ryiah knew that he’d been right. She was his.

Her back touched the bed, and he was there for her. Even as her clothing was torn from her, she touched him wherever she could reach…his back, his arms, even his belly. She knew that his left ear was pierced. He bore a scar on his back that was old. A fresh one, smaller but no less ragged on his left side, had her wanting to explore it, ask him what had occurred. Then he took her breast into his mouth and bit down on her.

Her body detonated, came apart as he rode her softness through his pants. Even as he suckled hard enough to bring her again, she knew there was more. And Ryiah wanted it all. When he put her hand over his hardness, she felt him thicken. She thought of him naked and he suddenly was, and she felt his cock as he filled her hand and spilled over it. He was large and thick. Every part of her wanted not to just see him but to taste him, feel him inside of her.

“I need you.” She nodded, telling him that she did him as well. “You’ve never had sex before? No man has ever touched you? I can smell your virginity, but I want to know how experienced you are about sex. Has any man touched you sexually?”

“Nay, I know not a lot of men that would dare to breach my rooms.” She looked down his body at the part of him that leaked over her hand. “I should like to taste you here. To have you fill my mouth with your juices.”

He rocked harder into her hand. Her own body was heating; her softness was wet and needy. Her juices were running down to her bottom and making her squirm a little by the heat of it. When he pulled back she sat up, thinking that he might be leaving her. But instead, he dropped to his knees in front of her and put her legs on either side of his head.

“I’m going to eat you.” That sounded wonderful, and she watched him as he lowered his head to her. “I’m going to drink from you here, from your pussy. Then I’m going to come inside of you when I fuck you. When I do, Ryiah, I’m going to bite you as well.”

“May I bite you?” He nodded, his fingers moving over her pussy, and she moaned. “Touch me, Rick, please. I feel so close to something that I want you to give me.”

He slid inside of her, his fingers an invasion that made her see stars and need more. When he told her to lie back, she did so and brushed her hands over her full breasts. It felt so good to touch herself that she cupped them in her palms and squeezed her nipples. But when he took her into his mouth, her womanhood suckled hard and his fingers dancing, she came again, this time screaming out her release, as there seemed to be no room within her body for such enjoyment.

~~~

Rick knew that he should stop, that it was too much for her the first time. But she was coming so prettily for him, filling him in ways that no one ever had before. As she came a third, then a fourth time, he slid another finger into her to stretch her for him. The thought of hurting her, even in this, was painful to his heart.

When her fingers curled into his hair and lifted him from her, he watched her face. It was lovely. Beautiful in her sexual bliss. He wanted to paint her this way. Not on canvas. No canvas would ever be enough to capture her in such a beautiful way. He would paint her, rub a brush of silk over her and watch her enjoy it.

“Please. I need you.” He stood, his cock so painfully full that he held himself. Fisting his cock so that he might come on her rather than take her this way, Rick moved onto the bed again and between her thighs. “You ache to fill me, do you not?”

“I do. I should like nothing better than to slam my cock deep into your pussy and never leave.” He rubbed the tip of his cock over her clit and watched her juices slide over him. “The next time I have you, I’m going to feed from your pussy while you come down my throat. I wanted only for you to have pleasure this time, but the next, it will be for me.”

“Please, Rick. I need more from you.” He slid the tip of his cock, just the crown, into her. Rick watched her face, the excitement and the need taking her. She lifted her feet to wrap her legs around his hips, and he smiled when she pulled him forward, but he was still careful of his cock coming into her. “Fill me. Now.”

The command had him slamming forward. He wanted to believe that she’d made him, used compulsion on him to do it, but he knew that his body was just as needy as hers. When she screamed, this time in obvious pain, he held her hips as he felt her body stretching for his cock. To move now would cause her more pain, and he just couldn’t do that to her.

“Don’t move.” He told her he wouldn’t, not until she was ready for him to. “I don’t know that I will be. You’re much bigger than I thought. And you fill me up to my throat, too.”

“Thank you, but I know you can take me.” He rolled his hips gently, trying to move to a better position to pull from her. But she cried out, her body bowing up off the bed as she came quick and hard. “You come so wonderfully. To watch your body when you release is a pleasure I could watch forever.”

“You should do that again. When you move inside of me like you did, I swear I can feel it all the way to my toes.” Rick moved, slowly this time, to make sure that she felt every inch of him. “Yes. Again, please. That was wonderful.”

He fucked her slowly, feeling each of the tight muscles in her sheath as she held him; the way her body hugged him tightly, seemingly sucking him deeper into her. Rick loved to watch her hands fill with her breasts, the way her nipples darkened just before she came. And when she was close, so close that a single movement from him could take her over the edge, her breaths became fast pants, and he wanted to sample every part of her.