Fire Nectar 2 (6 page)

Joshua could not help but smile. “I did not enjoy it as much as I might.”

Ludovico raised a solitary brow. “Oh?”

Joshua’s boyishness was back, the innocence replacing the fire that vengeance had fueled. “Murder is not a light deed.”

Ludovico carried the dead body with ease to lay it on the couch. “True. Hence the need to only choose the worthy. Perhaps it was different because you knew the man. That is not normally the case. We are like animals in the jungle. We must eat to survive. Can you blame us for that? Only we are civilized. We choose for our dinner those who do not serve the world. You will meet the one who laid down the vows we uphold. It is not easy, but we stand by them for reasons I will let William explain. Did you know you are the first vampire I’ve turned?” He smiled as he positioned the dead Wolfl into a seeming state of repose. “There. Does he look like he is merely resting? Like his heart has given out while enjoying too much Burgandy?”

Joshua could not help but smile. “Quite.” A crease formed between his brows as he went back to what he had just heard. “I am your first?”

Ludovico stood and turned. “My first.”

Pride spread and Joshua stood taller as he asked, “May I ask why?”

Ludovico smiled and picked up the glass Wolfl had been drinking from. Tossing it to the ground, he felt satisfied with the appearance of the room. “We keep our numbers low. You, an artist of great talent and modesty, have unbelievable qualities to add to the world. Why not have you stay in it for as long as possible? You will be able to write your music, and publish it quietly.” He opened the curtains again. “Perhaps under other names as the years go by? You can always revisit this one after time has passed. You will have the freedom to be who and what you are – and who and what you are… is what we need more of.”

Joshua flushed red, helped by the fresh blood coursing through him. He bowed deeply and said nothing, but a greater compliment he could not imagine.

Ludovico opened the balcony door. “What would you like to do for the remainder of the night?”

Joshua looked to the floor to think and back again. “I know not!”

With eyes sparkling, Ludovico motioned outside. “Then let us run across the rooftops and give them something for their nightmares… if they are clever and quick enough to spot us, that is!”

Joshua laughed outright. “Maybe we can slow to give them just a glimpse?”

“Dangerous… I like it.”

Turning for one last look at the corpse of Joseph Wolfl, Joshua lost his humor. “Goodbye old friend. It did not have to end this way.”

His sire studied him in awe at the compassion so clearly written across the young vampire’s face. Joshua was indeed the right choice, he told himself. A rare coin, to be sure. Ludovico walked and put his arm around his fledgling’s shoulder. “Think on it like this. He was your first. At least you knew him…makes it more personal, no?”

“That is one way of seeing things.”

“It is. Let us leave this dreary place and explore the city! I need some fun before we embark on another dreadful two-day voyage by horse and sea. So tedious! And for the love of God, when you meet William, do not tell him I had you running on rooftops your third night out!”

Joshua chuckled and followed him out the window, leaping onto Wolfl’s rooftop with surprising ease. With all their strength and speed they raced across London, jumping from home to home with unbelievable silence. True to his desire, Joshua slowed more than thrice when a person below could be seen staggering home at this late hour. Two did not look up, but one man did glance to the heavens, a man of means but fallen due to his weakness for the bottle . Joshua caught eyes with the older gentleman and received only but a rubbing of the eyes and an exaggerated, disbelieving blink. When the drunk old man looked up again, there was no one looking back at him. He turned and turned, but saw nothing and no one. He wrote it off to his inebriated state and trudged home to where his daughter–Daniella Harcourt, still human–sat waiting at the inn where they lived, waiting with bated breath and very weary heart.

L
ying naked together
in a private room, Joshua traced the hills of Marion’s creamy breasts, touching the tips of her nipples for an extra moment before beginning his journey again. She gazed into his eyes with love and adoration. “What did they say about me when I left?”

Joshua smiled, remembering how William and Ludovico had teased him incessantly about her. She should not have followed him there, but he was glad that she had. They’d been meeting in secret every night since his return three weeks ago and he didn’t like to keep secrets from his friend. Keeping them from William was another matter. William was intimidating to even the most confident of souls. And even though Joshua had held his own in the eldest vampire’s presence, to explain he was in love – he did.

Joshua kissed the tip of her nose and answered, “They are like brothers to me…”

“Then they teased you! Did they not?”

He tilted his head, locks of his hair falling as he asked, “How did you know?”

Marion smiled and arched her back a little, displaying her nakedness in an even more appealing manner beneath his fingers. “You forget I have brothers.”

Joshua leaned down and kissed the waiting points that thrilled beneath his lips. He whispered against her naked skin, “Ah yes. I had forgot.”

She moaned and ran her fingers through his hair, tightening her legs that twisted around his. “Do you not memorize everything that leaves my lips?” she teased.

His kisses traveled up to her collarbone where he kissed the straight line of it, and to her neck where he nibbled, his fangs beginning to grow. Against the softness of her, with his nose buried in her long black hair, he murmured, “Your beauty makes me forget everything.”

She giggled and bent her head back to offer her neck for him to dine on as all the other nights since the first. He groaned into her skin. Aroused deeply by her submission, he allowed his fangs to fully form as he grinded against her. She was always moist, and now the wetness grew until he felt slippery from her juices. He kissed her neck and asked, “Do you want me to do it, my love?”

“Must you always ask permission?” she cooed, quietly.

“I must.” He touched his tongue to her earlobe and she shivered from his cold breath. His skin was so much colder than hers before he drank that they had to have a fire built in the room despite the warmth of the first summer month. Only this way could she stay warm and enjoy being against such cold with her bare skin.

“I’ll give it you, on one condition…” she teased, rubbing herself on his leg, her eyes smoky as she met his.

He leaned to kiss her lips once, lightly so as not to cut her. “Anything.”

She laughed lightly to keep the air casual. “Tell me why you backed away so quickly when the spark sprang from the fireplace earlier? It was like you’d seen a ghost!”

He saw nothing wrong with the question, so he answered it without reserve. He wanted to keep no secrets from his love. “Fire is dangerous to us, mon amour. I must never touch it.”

Her already large eyes widened with alarm. “Nothing must ever harm you!”

“You needn’t worry. It was merely a reflex.” Joshua kissed her again.

But she was not convinced. “Dangerous? In what manner? You live forever!”

“I do.”

Blinking back confusion, she asked the question which had burned in her since they met. “Have you always been immortal?”

He shook his head and said quietly, “I was human once.” He did not confess how recently the change had taken place for he wished to maintain her admiration. If she knew he was a mere mortal just a month ago, would she still look at him this way? “Long ago, I was. And fire, my love I cannot touch it. Not ever.”

Marion stared up into his eyes, saying earnestly, “I cannot bear to lose you!”

Joshua smiled at her sweet face, charmed by how much she cared for him. His eyes grew firm and his voice sincere. All teasing was put aside. “I am going nowhere. I could not bear to be without you. You make life worth living, Marion. Do you not see how much I’ve changed since we met? My heart – it has never been so open. My eyes – they’ve never been so fed as when I look at you.”

She leaned up and kissed him holding his head in her hands and pushing her whole body against him as though she wished to be one with him. When she pulled back, her feathery eyelashes fell and she sent back her head to expose her neck, her hair flowing behind her. “Drink. I want it.”

The sight of her and of the way she loved only him melted his soul. He moaned as he sank his teeth into her, drinking life. It was the greatest thing she had to offer him and she gave it freely. He could not imagine living without her. All at once, a pain shot through his heart as he heard little sobs escaping his love’s breast. Sliding out his sharpened fangs, he rose on his elbows to look into her eyes. “What is it, mon amour?”

Her breath caught as she tried to contain her sadness. She reached for the bottle of Brandy and found it to be empty. Again. Wondering instantly if she could leave a moment to get more, she turned to him and continued her woefulness. “I’m going to die yet you will not!”

“I will not kill you!”

“No! Not now. I will grow old… and you will live without me. I cannot bear the thought!” A fresh stream of tears poured down her cheeks and she gasped and buried her head into his bare chest to hide her suffering. “I’m sorry. I do not mean to be upsetting. I love you almost too much to bear!”

Poor Joshua was too new to understand the intense workings of his heart. His vampyric senses were acute, as were his emotions. Everything heightened and without reign. Had he met her a year after his rebirth, he might have made another choice. But tonight, in the thick of lovemaking and bloodlust, he was not strong, nor wise. “There is a way,” he whispered, sitting up and bringing her with him to cradle her on his lap. “I could take you with me.” She sniffled again and a made a small noise of confusion. “Don’t cry. I cannot bear it. There is a way. I was not always what I am now. This was a gift given me. I could give the gift to you.” She kept her face hidden, or he might have seen the look on her face–the look of victory.

“You tease me,” she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head, his teeth back to their dormant, dulled state. “I promise you, I do not.” He looked at the flames lashing up from the blackened wood, and wondered what Ludovico would say to this. He had joked about Marion’s following him to the chateau like a puppy dog. William had been no different. But they were jaded. They did not know what it meant to love. Ludovico had a different whore every night and took none of them seriously. And William? William was so old, stern and commanding to ever be able to allow a woman to make him soft. That’s how it seemed to Joshua, but he did not know the eldest above half, he must admit. Still, he would be surprised if the fossil had ever loved.

And so there they were, the two of them, traveling through eternity alone. Yes, they had each other, the friendship of brothers. But it was not the same. When Marion looked up, damp eyes above wet, rosy cheeks, Joshua knew he did not want to live a life of solitude. He needed more than brotherly love. He wanted a bride. He wanted a love that lasts forever.

“Will you let me give you this?” he asked, his voice husky with need.

Her eyes opened in surprise. “Are you offering it to me, now, Joshua? Tonight?”

He held her look, waiting for her to see the truth his eyes told. As his mind raced with the excitement of what he proposed, he thought of Wolfl and how that man had called him a coward. He was no coward now! He would take this leap, come what may! What could possibly go wrong?

“Marion…I am offering you eternity.”

She gasped, her lashes fluttering. This was more than she’d expected. “What about your friends? What will they think of me? What if they detest me?”

Joshua laughed at the absurdity. Women were so wont to dramatize and exaggerate where emotions were involved. “Mon chere, they will come to love you as I do!”

She smiled. “I am a goose!”

“You are that, indeed. And a very pretty one.”

She bounced off his lap, excited beyond anything and kneeled on the bed next to him, her skin beautiful atop the cream-colored sheets, her hair tussled and shining. “How will it happen? What shall I do? Must we pray to the gods?”

He leaned back on his hands, his manhood resting comfortably between opened, bent knees. “There is nothing for you to do. I will do it all. I will guide you.” He shook his head as he looked at her. “You have made me very happy, Marion. I must tell you something before we do this.”

“Anything!”

“I have never been in love before I met you.”

Marion started in surprise, but recovered quickly. She leaned forward on her hands and brought her lips to his chest, kissing it several times. From underneath her prettily arched eyebrows, she looked up at him and said, “Nor have I.”

Relief wafted over the naïve vampire and he whispered, closing his eyes underneath her kisses. Almost to himself, as though to convince himself that the decision he made was a sound one, he breathed, “I do not want to spend eternity alone.”

Her lips turned upward and she sat back on her heels, tilting her head in a most appealing way. “You won’t have to now. You will have me.” His heart warmed at the words. She looked around and saw again the empty brandy bottle. Pouting at the sight, she whispered. “None left.”

Joshua smiled. “Is there ever any left when you’re around?”

She picked up a pillow and threw it at his head. He laughed as it bounced, mussing up his hair. He looked very handsome and she came forward to kiss him. “I just wanted a sip to give me courage.”

“I will be your courage.” Without warning, he pulled her to him and sunk his fangs into her neck. She wrestled against him in surprise for this was the first time he did not tell her what was coming. He drank fast and her head swam with dizziness more than it ever had. Fear gripped her and she tried to push him again away, fighting for survival out of primal frightened instinct. He was to kill her, she was now sure of it! She yelled out and thrashed but he did not ease up. Soon her arms could no longer fight. Her legs lost all mobility. Her eyelids fell and her heart slowed almost to a stop. She was dead. She could feel nothing anymore. An angel was calling to her, repeating one word: “Drink.” Am I in Heaven…? “Drink,” it said again. A thick liquid touched her tongue and sharp, stinging tingles charged into her veins. “Drink.” Her lips strained to receive the sweetest nectar she had ever known, greater than any wine, than any love she had ever made, than any pleasure she had ever felt, ever. Her eyes flashed open and she grabbed onto the source of the wonder – his arm which had been cut for her. “Drink Marion. Drink and be with me for all of time.” She sucked at his skin as her body began to change. Fire stormed through her and every cell became alert. “Drink.” She could even feel her hair, how soft and magical it seemed. “Drink.” She began to writhe on the bed and make the most hideous noises. Joshua had watched the transformation with loving awe until this shift. The site of her lashing about and moaning like an animal disturbed him. His mind raced to remember if this had been how he had acted, and he could not remember having done so. “Marion, stop,” he said. She did not hear him. Her grip was firm with both hands digging into his flesh so that if he had not been a male with all his preordained greater strength, the little Marion might have ripped his arm right off.

“Enough!” Joshua yelled as he shoved her from him. Her teeth ripped back a great deal of his flesh as she was forced back. In alarm, Joshua looked at the folded flap of torn skin. The sight was grotesque. He pushed it back down so it would heal. He had seen Ludovico’s head grow back after the battle with he and William, so he knew intellectually that it would heal, but experiencing it first hand was a whole other matter, and it threw him off balance in his mind. “What the devil!” he muttered, smoothing his broken skin and watching it begin to repair though not as quick as his elder’s had.

Hearing a noise, he looked up in time to see Marion lunging at him, leaping through the air. He ducked quickly and she landed on the floor on the other side of the room with a soft thud. Swiveling around, he stared at her and saw something he did not understand. “Your eyes!” Her eyes were blacker than the darkest night with no whites at all to ease his mind. Sinister was her smile as she stared at him from where she hunched on all fours, naked and primitive. The blood that had smeared her face vanished as he watched. And to his horror, she hissed at him with a voice much lower than the one he’d known, “Give me more!”

Joshua stood on the bed with his hand held out in a command for her to stay. “Marion. We must go see Ludovico immediately. There is a step I must have missed.” He looked to the window and groaned. “No. How could I have been so irresponsible as to not check the clock? The sun is coming. I can feel its pull.”

She very slowly shook her head. A guttural laugh shook her torso. “You are trying to trick me.”

Joshua fought to control the confusion and alarm that threatened to drown him. “Hear me! Do you want to survive?”

Her head tilted curiously. He’d said the right words. “Lies!”

He spoke slowly as he put on his clothes–watching her as closely as she watched him. He did not know what he had done wrong, but he believed it could be fixed. Perhaps his blood was too young. Perhaps she needed to drink from William’s instead and that would bring back her beauty, her kindness and soft demeanor. At no moment did he blame her for the primal beast she was. He blamed himself and vowed to right the wrong if only he could make Ludovico understand! “No, I promise you. The sun is coming and we must be hidden from it. You will die if it finds you, Marion.”