Ascend (The Vampire Destiny Series Book #4) (5 page)

He always knew what to say.  Twisting in his arms, my fingers caressed the planes of his face.  I was still amazed as I took him in, so much more beautiful than my human eyes had ever been able to perceive.  His deep-set sea blue eyes twinkled brightly, his prominently arched cheekbones standing out sharply only to taper to his strong, chiseled jawline.  Light sandy blond stubble darkened his face, tickling my fingertips.

He captured my hand in his and brought them to his lips.  His warm breath was ragged against my skin as he kissed each finger softly.

I closed my eyes as his mouth ghosted over my skin.  "Your strength is the only thing holding me together right now.  I feel so much more than before.  It's..."

"Overwhelming?  Frustrating? I have been there before. It will get easier.  You are hours old."  Stefan finished reassuringly.  "Come."

He tugged at my hand and led me into the kitchen.  As soon as I stepped away from the window, my throat was on fire.  The most alluring smell filled my nose,
my mouth almost watering as I inhaled the intoxicating elixir.
  My mind began to shut down, instinct threatening to take over.

Blood.
 It was all my mind could think about.  I wanted it...I
needed
it.  I began to pull at Stefan’s hand, struggling weakly against the much stronger vampire.

The one time I thought I might be able to match him in physical strength and I still came up short.  Figures.

"Enough.  Focus."  
His mental voice was sharp and was like a much-needed slap across the face. I stood with my mouth gaping, wide-eyed and cautious. He pulled me to a sudden stop and his hands rested heavily on my shoulders.  My eyes skittered to his face.  His expression was soft, a contradiction to his harsh mental command.

"I know it is difficult, Josephine.  Your mind is fragmented and it is difficult to concentrate on the smallest of things.  You must focus.  Learn how to control your urges.  Direct it as you do your shield."

Nodding quickly, I remembered my old trick of pretending to bring a curtain down over my mind, instead directing it to my sense of smell.  Once shielded from the temptation, my mind cleared and my mood settled.  I licked my dry lips anxiously. "It’s much better.  I'm ready."

His lips curled into a proud smile as we resumed our trip to the kitchen, his hand firmly holding mine.  I swallowed roughly as I noticed the large glass sitting on the counter, my fingers tightening around his.  My sense of smell was closed, but my mouth still watered as I imagined the soothing liquid rushing over my parched throat.  When our eyes met, his eyes were pitch black and I’m sure mine was as dark as his.

“Fuck," he suddenly hissed, his eyes squeezing shut as he rocked back on his heels. His golden hair fell forward as his lips brushed across my cheek. "I vowed to be strong for you and keep my desire in check until you were ready.  But I find watching you like this makes me want you, Josephine...in ways I can't even articulate.  You must feed first."

The carnal cadence to his voice made me want to fall to my knees. I knew that tone, and despite the fact that we were literally unbreakable as immortals, I had a feeling that walking the next day was going to be difficult.

"A goal I would love to achieve," he teased, shifting me until I was between him and the counter. "Drink," he purred against my shoulder as his nose traced along my skin and up to my ear at the same time, his hands guided me closer to the cup filled with warm blood.

His chest grazed my skin as I shakily lifted the glass to my mouth.  Closing my eyes, I drank deeply, my eyes rolling back at the taste of the blood and the sensation of Stefan's never-ending caresses that ran a circuit over both breasts, down my stomach, across my ass, and along my spine. When he reached my yoga pants, strong fingers gripped the waistband, tugging them down to my knees along with my panties.

His hands moved between us.  I heard the rustle of denim, the tug of the metal zipper and finally, the sound of his jeans falling to the floor.  He parted my thighs and I felt his cock slip between my legs as my back came into contact with his hard chest. Two flexing, strong arms braced on either side of me, but it was the voice in my ear that caused me to lose all reason. The rational Stefan and Josephine were gone, only to be replaced with mated predators that just couldn't get enough: enough blood, enough of each other, enough of anything.  We were beyond conscious thought and reason.

"Drink.  Drink all of it." I heard his command in my ear just before teeth nipped at my earlobe. "Take it all and then I am going to fuck you. Just like this."

His words were like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  The appeal of blood forgotten, my head fell back as a keening moan escaped my lips. When his cock slipped into me and he was buried to the hilt, my mouth broke away from the rim of the cup to cry out in pure pleasure.  It slipped from my fingers, shattering to pieces in the basin of the sink.

“Josephine,” he growled, his forehead falling to my shoulder.  He ignored the broken, bloody glass in the sink as I felt my t-shirt being ripped from my body, leaving me naked against him. "I do not tell you enough how much I adore you." Teeth scraped against my shoulder blade as his breath came out in hot bursts across my skin. "I love that you are mine in every way.  And now that you are indestructible you are perfect..."

I moved back to meet his thrusts, my answering cry echoing in the apartment around us. The loving vampire I knew had taken a backseat to this untamed version of himself. And if his thoughts were any indication, he wasn't going to hold back anymore.

His fingers linked with mine, but his other hand tugged at my hair, holding my neck back so that he could thrust deeper and deeper into me. He filled me over and over, his mouth leaving stinging kisses along my back and shoulders. When he finally let go of my hair, he pushed gently on my back until I was bent over the countertop.  My breasts pressed against the cold granite, causing another gasp to fall from my lips.

With the blood gone, strength surged through me...I'd never felt so alive, or more powerful.  If I thought my desire for Stefan had been intense before, what I felt now made my previous feelings seem weak in comparison.  Every part of me wanted more, needed more...craved more.

Our minds merged, the overwhelming feeling of being one connected us in new ways I never thought possible.  His blood now ran through my veins along with my own, and I could feel him in every part of my being.  We were one in every way.

Stefan released my hand and spread me open wider, thrusting deep within me with a swivel of his hips. Smiling wickedly, I met each of them with vigor.  The sound of our immortal bodies meeting filled the room, along with our animalistic grunts and moans.  His fingers could play me better than any instrument, bringing me to the peak of bliss. He'd then slow down, plunging harder, and then start all over again.  It was a torturous dance of desire, each time bringing me closer and closer to release.

With one hand, his talented thumb swirled over my clit and my other entrance, while his calloused fingertips skated down my spine, and his palms slapped at my skin just to make it that much more sensitive, leaving it stinging and needy.  My climax came out of nowhere; hitting me hard and making my eyes burn with the need to shed tears.

Suddenly, I was pulled away from the counter.  We fell in a tangled heap of arms and legs, sprawled across the kitchen floor.  Not even close to being sated, I moved quickly, straddling his lap and slowly lowering myself over his hard cock. My back met the muscles of his strong chest as he sat up against me.  He wasted no time in moving me to ride him slowly.

"Come again, älskare," he whispered in my ear as his fingers slipped teasingly down my stomach, swirling across my hipbone. "When your pussy grips me like this, it is telling me it never wants me to leave..."

Moaning wantonly in response was all I could manage as my hips worked over him. It was slow, graceful, and more grinding than riding, but already his touch was winding the coil in my stomach tightly. The combination of his teeth on my neck, his hand cupping my breast, and his long fingers circling my clit sent me over the edge one more glorious time.  A million lights lit up behind my eyes and the scream that I unleashed sounded wild and animalistic.

"Min gudinna," he praised, giving a growl when my hand reached back to weave into the silk of his blond hair once again.  I wasn’t finished with him yet.

Rolling my hips harder, I could feel him harden a bit more inside of me. His fingers that gripped onto my hips held me with a strength that would have bruised or broken my bones before.  We no longer had that problem.  His breathing came in panting bursts, and the most delicious language spilled from his sexy lips. "Det sätt du knulla mig är som inget annat. Min kärlek, mitt liv.  Knolla mig!" he rumbled, lifting me up and down to bring him to his own climax. The sound of our lovemaking was the second most erotic thing I could recall hearing after listening to him speak in his native tongue.

His thoughts floating through my mind even sounded devastated as his lips brushed my neck.  
"This...this is bliss.  Valhalla."

His fangs elongated and he latched onto the spot where my shoulder met my neck, his long growl vibrating against my back as he came with a muffled roar.  As he drank from me, he offered me his wrist.  Without hesitation, my fangs dropped and sank into his skin.  As the circuit completed, it was if an explosion detonated inside of me.  We were joined in every way possible: mind, body and blood.  We were no longer two separate beings.  We were truly one in blood.  Nothing could separate us, the bond unbreakable and complete.

Stefan stilled me by wrapping his arms all the way around me, breathing heavily into my neck. "You will be the death of me," he teased in a whisper, smiling when I huffed a breathless laugh at the old joke. "Come, vackra.  Tell me how you are feeling.”

 Without moving from his lap, I turned my head to nuzzle his strong jaw with my lips.  "Like it’ll never be enough.  I just want to stay here and close us off from the rest of the world.  Or even run away and just disappear.  Is that wrong?”

He chuckled against me.  He rubbed his lightly stubbled cheek against the top of my head.  “No, it is never wrong to feel this way. With us, I think it is to be expected. I am not ready to let the real world back in either.  Soon, there are things we must discuss.”

My brow wrinkled as I sorted through my memories to focus on the night I changed. Many of my recollections of that night were fuzzy, distorted as if I was staring through a dirty window.  Bits and pieces of thoughts floated through my mind.  If I could get a headache, I'd have one now.  I could feel his presence in my mind, gauging my reactions.  Sympathy flooded our bond, letting me know he understood what it was like to be so overwhelmed by memories and sensations.

"Is it always like this?"  I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand as if that motion would ease my troubled mind.

"Yes.  Human memories will always be difficult to remember and recall." Stefan answered simply.  His lips drifted over my temple. "Tell me your last vivid memory."

My eyes closed and I drew in a sharp breath. When I exhaled, it caught in my chest.  "It was of you.  You cried in my arms.  I was changing and you kept saying you didn't want it this way.  You were sorry…and you’d almost died."  A harsh series of sobs shook my shoulders.  “You almost died…I thought I’d lost you forever.  And then you thought you might lose me.”

His blue eyes had glazed over, deep in thought.  When they focused back on me, I could see the pain of the memory flash through his mind.  It was crystal clear, like watching a movie.  It drew me in, wanting to see my final human moments from his mind.

Tumbling into the memory, I watched myself collapse against him, hugging his shoulders and brushing my lips across neck.  I could vaguely remember feeling the uncontrollable urge to bite him, intent on possessing him in every way.  His skin ripped open under my teeth, his thick blood rushing into my mouth.  He’d stiffened and pulsed again inside me again, bellowing out my name as I swallowed greedy mouthfuls of his blood.  The wound began to heal and I’d kissed his neck with bloody kisses.  His hands wound in my hair, pulling my head back slightly.  A drop of his blood fell from my lips into the water, sinking to the bottom of the tub in a lazy ribbon of red.

"You are exquisite."  He released my hair and ran his hands soothingly over my back.  " Min gudinna.  Min vän.  Min älskare."