Demon of Mine (25 page)

“
I
know you’re right, but at times it’s difficult to remember. I feel
so out of place here – as if I’m an impostor, pretending to belong
to such a grand family.”

Damon made a
sound of dismissal. “We may be wealthy, but we are not so grand.
Did you know that my father started out as a banker?”

Elsie shook
her head.

“
He
did. Later he decided to take a chance by putting his savings
toward the construction of his first textile manufactory. Needless
to say, it proved a successful venture.”

Only slightly
heartened by this revelation, Elsie turned onto her side as a
sudden question struck her. How had she never thought to ask
before? “But how did your parents become vampires? That’s what I’d
really like to know.”

“
That happened scarcely twenty years ago, not long after my
father built his second factory.” He frowned as he continued to
hold and stroke Elsie’s hand. “He bought his
immortality.”

“
But I thought there were rules. Won’t one who’s not family to
a vampire be destroyed if they’re changed?”

Damon nodded.
“Yes, that’s the rule. My father solved that problem by selling his
sister to a vampire. He gave her away to be the wicked creature’s
bride and paid a fat sum in gold besides.”

“
The vampire wanted your aunt that badly?”

“
She was a very beautiful woman.” His voice turned bitter. “The
vampire she was forced to wed was not beautiful – neither inside
nor out. She refused to let him transform her, preferring to die a
natural death rather than spend an eternity with him. She died of
her own hand when I was a small boy.”

“
I’m sorry to hear it.”

He sighed.
“It’s a wicked family I’ve brought you into. Please, don’t give
their dissatisfaction another thought. It is not
important.”

Disregarding
Damon’s parents’ feelings was perhaps easier said than done, but
the soul-crushed tone he used to convey his reassurances tugged on
Elsie’s heartstrings. “You are a much better husband than I ever
could have hoped for, Damon. I love you.”

He eased
himself down onto the bed, tucking a hand beneath her chin as he
stretched on the mattress beside her. “I hope my love is enough to
keep you a happy member of this family.”

She laughed
despite his seriousness. “Of course it is.” How could he possibly
think otherwise? His love was the one thing she’d craved more than
anything else – and the one thing she’d never thought she’d be able
to lay claim to.

He lowered his
mouth to hers, sighing as he touched the tip of his tongue to her
lips. She yielded to him, more than willing to accept whatever
intimacy he chose to give her, despite her fatigue. Letting Damon
make slow, sweet love to her mouth didn’t seem to drain her
depleted energy – rather, it replenished it. As he smoothed his
hands over her body, caressing the curves of her breasts and her
hips through the airy fabric of her dress, she felt more alive. He
pushed his tongue deep into her mouth, as if he sensed her sudden
awakening.

She responded
by wrapping her arms around his back and her legs around his hips,
bringing their bodies as close together as two could be without one
being inside the other. Suddenly, their clothes seemed out of
place. “Let me help you,” Damon murmured, finally breaking the kiss
as Elsie began to lift her skirts.

He
pressed nimble fingers to her buttons and helped her out of her
dress in record time. She did the same for him, deftly working the
front fall of his pantaloons open as if she’d been his wife for a
year, rather than just two days. His cock stretched long and hard
in her hand, its smoothness irresistible. She caressed its length
while he tore off his shirt. Knowing that he was eager to be naked,
to feel her hands work over every inch of his body, was every bit
as pleasurable as touching him. She paused only to let him peel
of
f his pantaloons,
and then resumed stroking him, harder this time. “Does it feel as
good when you do it?” she asked, noting his moan and remembering
the pose of rapture he’d given in to when he’d brought himself to
release.

He groaned.
“Not half so good.”

That was
almost hard to believe. She’d never seen anything more arousing
than him, thrown back on his bed, stroking his cock as if another
second of restraint would kill him. When her name had escaped his
lips, her core had ached to be filled by him, and yet, she didn’t
know if she could have brought herself to do anything that might
have stopped the spellbinding display of his solitary pleasure.
“It’s lovely to watch, just the same.”

“
Oh, so it’s like that, is it?” he asked with a wicked
smile.

He placed a
hand over hers, stilling it on his shaft. She relinquished her hold
and watched him grip his erection, wrapping his fingers firmly
around the stiff flesh. As she watched, he moved his hand slowly
from root to tip, his grip less delicate than hers had been. His
skin stretched taught over the swollen length of his erection as he
jerked his hand back down again.

She moaned as
her core tightened, aching for him even as she sat frozen on the
mattress, powerless to do anything more than watch as he brought
his hand back down the length of his cock, thumbing the rounded
tip, showing her the sensual slit that would spill his seed into
her body. He joined her, a groan rising from deep within his chest.
“You’re what makes it feel good,” he said, his voice low. “Take off
your shift.”

She obeyed,
pulling the light garment over her head and quickly forgetting it
as she buried a fang in the soft flesh of her lower lip, sucking in
a breath as Damon forced his fist down the length of his erection
to the dark nest of hair below. His eyes gleamed as he took his
time admiring her body, his gaze slowing over the swells of her
breasts and finally resting between her hips as he gave his cock
another slow stroke. “Just a glimpse of you, caught in passing in
the hall, used to make me hard,” he said. “After that I’d retire –
for the thought of you left me no choice – and dreaming of you
before me as you are now would be more than enough to bring me to
release.” The blunt head of his cock disappeared inside his fist
for a moment as he spoke, meeting her rapt gaze. “Do you
understand? I didn’t do it because it felt as good as what I truly
desired – it was only a pale imitation of that. My own fist does
not compare to your perfect body, but it was all that I
had.”

His words,
combined with his display of self-pleasuring, set her on fire –
there was no other way to describe the effect. Her veins were
filled with liquid flame that made every inch of her body burn with
desire, and her core smoldered with longing.

“
But if watching gives you such satisfaction,” he said, “I
suppose I can endure it.” A glistening drop of moisture beaded at
the tip of cock. “For a moment longer, anyway.” He spread it over
the length of his shaft, causing the turgid flesh to
gleam.

It wasn’t
satisfaction this voyeurism gave her – more the opposite, really.
Watching his tightly-clenched fist glide up and down the length of
his cock made her feel as if she might shatter from unfulfilled
desire, even as she enjoyed the sight and the anticipation. She
moaned and he shuddered, unwrapping his fingers from around his
erection. The next moment she was on her back, sinking into the
plush mattress beneath his weight.

“
I
hope you’ve looked your fill,” he said, pressing his hips firmly
against hers, causing their legs to become lost together in a
tangle of bed sheets, “because I intend to spend the rest of the
night inside of you.” His cock slid smoothly into her wet channel,
stretching her in a way that made her moan again and seize fistfuls
of linen.

He made love
to her at a maddening pace; just slow enough that she wanted him to
go faster, and just fast enough that she thought she might burst if
he didn’t slow down. He did neither – just buried his cock in her
again and again until he had her on the brink of release. It was
amazing how close she’d been at the first stroke, her body teased
to readiness by the show he’d put on for her. She arched beneath
him, thrusting her body against his lean torso as her shoulders
sank down into the bed.

He gripped one
of her raised breasts, kneading it as he massaged the nipple with
his fingertips. It sprung up small and hard beneath his touch,
sending a thrill throughout her entire body. She gasped as her core
tightened, every muscle between her navel and her hips tensing and
then relaxing in a wave of exquisite intensity, only to repeat the
process again and again. Her moan turned into a ragged sigh as her
breath rushed out in short bursts that matched the rhythm of her
climax. He pumped his cock into her with strokes that became deeper
and deeper as she rode her orgasm to its peak, and then finally
collapsed against the mattress again, as if her bones had turned to
ash in the wake of the searing heat that had just swept through
her.

The weight of
his body against hers was reassuring. She wrapped her arms around
him as his chest flattened her breasts and he pressed kisses into
the hollow of her neck. Below, his strokes became slower but
stronger. His cock seemed harder than ever as it pounded into her
flesh, an effect of the heightened sensitivity that always beset
her after she came. It was easy to feel the tension mounting in his
body as he thrust. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung
to him, gripping him both inwardly and outwardly, urging him to
pour himself into her.

He growled,
his breath blasting hot against her neck as he obliged her,
accepting her invitation without hesitation. She moaned along with
him as he drove his cock hard and fast into her, his burst of
energy accompanied by the hot rush of his seed. After a few rough
gasps he slowed, finishing by sliding into her tight, wet channel
just a couple more times before withdrawing.

Lying beside
her on the bed, he faced her and pulled her close with an arm
around her waist, tucking his other hand under her chin and lifting
it until her gaze met his. “How do you feel? Is the late hour
taking its toll on you yet?”

She shook her
head, brushing a light kiss against his lips as she did so. “I feel
much better than before.” That was an understatement. Though he’d
withdrawn from her body, the effects of the pleasure he’d brought
lingered, leaving her feeling warm, sensitive and charged with the
passion he’d shown her.

“
Good.” He glanced toward the window, where the night sky was
the dusky purple Elsie was beginning to grow accustomed to. “We
still have a while before dawn.”

He covered her
body with kisses, starting at her throat with light brushes of his
lips that became stronger and more impassioned as he worked his way
down. She sighed when he sucked her nipples, teasing them to
instant hardness with his tongue and teeth. He lingered over her
curves, pressing tongue and lips over every inch of her skin as he
granted his cock the time it needed to grow hard again. By the time
he pressed his mouth between her thighs, his erection was standing
tall in his lap. He continued to go slowly anyway, working his
tongue against her damp folds and the swollen nub above, driving
her to another breathless climax before he entered her
again.

****

“
Toast?” Elsie asked, eyeing the silver tray a maid had just
delivered. It was half past noon, but the meal was meant to
constitute a breakfast, as she and Damon had just risen.

“
Yes,” Damon replied. “I always take a tray of tea and toast in
the mornings. It’s the perfect breakfast for a vampire because I
can toss it out the window where the birds devour it before it’s
discovered.” He smiled conspiratorially at her. “Would you like to
do the honors?”

Giggling, she
snatched a slice of lightly-burnt, buttered bread from the tray and
glided to the window in the silk robe she’d pulled on over her
naked body. She’d slept in the nude, tightly snuggled in Damon’s
embrace. The bright sunlight set off an instant ache behind her
skull as she leaned out the window, but she welcomed the sight of
the beautiful day nonetheless. No sooner had she thrown the first
square of toast than a starling swooped out of the air, catching it
in its beak. The next piece made it to the ground, only to be set
upon by three more of the winged breakfasters. Scarcely two minutes
after she’d tossed the last piece down, every last crumb was gone.
“You’d almost think they were your pets,” Elsie said, watching the
puffy little feather-balls hop around, chirping
excitedly.

“
Not pets, exactly. More like sharks that follow a ship,
waiting for scraps to be tossed overboard.”

“
You don’t toss the tea out the window too, do you?”

He shook his
head, causing a lock of dark, sleep-tousled hair to fall into his
eyes. “No.” He pushed it away. “You’re welcome to as much of it as
you’d like.”

Elsie poured a
cup and brought it to her lips, relishing the familiar warmth.
While human food no longer appealed to her, a cup of tea still held
all the allure it always had. “What’s that?”

“
The Times,” Damon said, lifting the item in question from the
tray. It had been bundled beside the toast platter, neatly rolled
so that it took up little space. “I always take the paper in the
mornings when I’m in London. Father relishes interrogating me on
the current news.” He unrolled it and flicked it open with a look
of resigned disinterest.