Nightshade (45 page)

“
Darry
.”

She ran, closing the distance, then seized the door’s handle. The metal froze against her skin as she threw the door open, and the light dripped free from her fingers as she stepped within the chamber.

Darry was crouched against the far curve of the wall beside the bed, her right arm extended before her as the witchlight swarmed about her hand. The blue light threw her features into extreme contrast against the golden glow of the lamp.

Jessa stumbled against the door as the Vhaelin within her blood surged up at the heavy scent in the room. It was torrid and filled with a potent, seductive musk of power that caused her heartbeat to stutter and then lurch within her chest.

Darry stood up slowly as the witchlight slithered up her arm. She shook her arm and the light splattered against the floor at her feet. An abrupt sound, the warning bark of a panther, echoed high into the upper expanse of the chamber.

Darry flung her arm violently and the light left her with a splash, thrown free. It clung to the wrought iron of the spiral staircase where it hissed and fell away in defeat, dropping to the stones and dissolving into nothing.

Darry turned and met her eyes.

She wore but brown trousers and a white tunic that was only half tucked in, her hair tied behind her neck in freshly washed curls. Her feet were bare and she had never looked more wild, her eyes alive with an abundance of color as they moved down Jessa’s body and claimed what was hers.

Jessa could smell it, the
Cha-diah
blood. It assaulted her senses in a way she had no chance of stopping, a buzz of dizziness pushing up from the base of her neck and making her sway. She leaned more heavily against the door, grasping for the handle.

“Shut it,” Darry ordered.

Jessa stood completely still, uncertain if she should move, uncertain if she even could. The majik in the chamber was unbearably thick, Darry’s scent a living thing as it reached out to her. The musk moved against her skin, and when she took a breath, it poured down her throat like the brazen touch of Pentab Fire.

Jessa tipped her head back and parted her lips as she exhaled in a push of breath. A quiver of arousal slid along her sex and everything tightened, aching with need.

“Shut the door, Jess.”

Jessa’s spirit flowed at the command and she was instantly wet. Her grip twisted on the handle of the door and she took a tentative step, then another, pulling the door around and then pushing against it until it swung shut. The click of the latch was like a mountain falling within her head.

And then she waited, resting her forehead against the wood and closing her eyes, faint beneath her own heartbeat. She heard nothing, but when Darry’s scent intensified she knew she was close, and her blood knew it as well.

The breath was hot beside her ear. Just that. Just a breath.

Jessa’s majik rose up in self-defense. It faltered at first but then pumped with confidence through her veins.
Essa tua Vhaelin
, she prayed, and felt a profound swell of fear at the absolute force of it, at the raging in her ears. The
Cha-diah
scent wove itself within her own blood, lush and wild. Jessa let out a low moan of appreciation.
Is this how you feel, Akasha? Bloody hell…

Another breath. Just that. Just a breath.

Jessa wanted to be touched, and she pushed back, her hips finding what she needed.

Darry slid an arm about Jessa’s waist and stepped against her, thrusting her pelvis against Jessa’s backside and pinning her against the door. She pushed the dark hair aside and rubbed her face against Jessa’s neck. And then she tasted her with her tongue, and Jessa’s entire body jerked and her hips pushed back yet again.

Strong hands were at her throat and the brooch that held Jessa’s cloak came free, both the garment and the pin tossed aside. Just the slightest brush of Darry’s fingers against her throat and Jessa thought she might spend.

Darry took her by the shoulders and turned her about, their eyes meeting as her hand found Jessa’s stomach.

“You won’t hurt me.” Jessa took a quick breath, seeing something other than desire in Darry’s gaze. Her breasts were aching and her legs heavy with need. Jessa was unable to feel anything but her want. She was more than willing to risk whatever she had to for satisfaction. Though looking into Darry’s eyes, she wondered if surrender might have consequences that her majik would not submit to. “You may do as you like.”

Jessa let out a cry as Darry yanked her tunic open. Her body jerked forward. Darry’s open mouth was on hers and Jessa was trapped against the door beneath Darry’s strength, beneath a kiss meant to consume her.

She pulled blindly at the tie in Darry’s hair and freed the curls and shoved her hands within them. She moaned at the stroking heat in her mouth and the fierceness of the full lips against her own. Darry reached between their bodies and ripped the stitching on Jessa’s skirt. Her right hand slid beneath the waist and undergarment, then her fingers moved through the soft hair between Jessa’s legs.

Jessa pushed against the caress, tightening her hands in Darry’s hair and yanking her head back. She had never been so seduced by the aura of another power, not ever. No majik had ever enticed her so completely that she had no control over her own reaction to it.

“I thought you were a panther,” she taunted her, then hissed at the fingers that squeezed her flesh, slick within her spirit. “Where are your claws,
Akasha
?” she asked, then smiled, her Vhaelin blood exploding with life.
We shall see, my beautiful panther, yes? What we’re both made of.

Jessa had never experienced its like before, though she had always felt it waiting within the distance of her soul. It was the majik she had never been able to summon no matter how hard she had been pushed, no matter how fervently she had prayed for its release. It screamed now through her body in answer to Darry’s need, rising to meet the
Cha-diah
majik that assailed the very heart of her being.

Darry was silent as she pushed against the restrictions of Jessa’s clothes, her fingers insistent as Jessa’s passion fell beneath the raw darkness. She was slow as she entered her body, but Jessa moved hard against the touch, thrusting back as Darry’s fingers pushed deep and began to stroke.

“More,” Jessa implored, and pulled Darry close. Her vision had turned deep and piercing, and Darry’s eyes were fairly glowing.
Bloody hell, Akasha, what have you done?
“I thought…the panther was fast, yes?” she said, and kissed Darry fiercely, biting Darry’s lips and her tongue as her world caught fire.

Darry jerked at the sting and shoved against her, driving into her more quickly and taking what she needed, discarding all tenderness. The flesh about her hand was so swollen and wet that Darry’s own release rippled hard between her legs.

Jessa’s mouth opened against Darry’s as she cried out. The door rattled in its frame as she was taken. She clawed at Darry’s neck and shoulders, shouting as her head fell back against the door. Her climax rose around the strokes of Darry’s fingers and burst like a storm beneath the fast press of Darry’s palm. Darry bit Jessa’s neck and sucked the skin.

“
Akasha
!”

Darry beat the heel of her palm against Jessa’s flesh and Jessa came with a broken cry. Darry held her up as she spent. Jessa’s hips strained as everything opened wide inside of her, freeing more than her spirit.

“
Yes
!” Jessa cried out, and laughed, breathless. “Did you,” she swallowed and pushed the hair back from Darry’s face, “did you feel that?”

Darry let out a growl of need and yanked free of the touch, lifting Jessa up and forcing her legs open. Jessa’s thighs tightened and she leaned away from the door, grabbing Darry’s face and coercing her mouth wide as Darry carried her across the room beneath the scorching kiss.

Jessa bounced on the mattress and Darry slid on top of her. Jessa pulled at Darry’s tunic and the fabric ripped as the garment came open and Darry’s breasts moved against her own. They moaned in satisfaction as their bare flesh met. Darry moved against Jessa’s thigh and Jessa pulled at her, clawing at Darry’s trousers and then grabbing her hips.

Jessa’s blood sang with her majik and she closed her eyes, letting it come, letting it flow into every part of her body. “Yes.” A burst of light flared within her head and seared through her skull. Jessa was transfixed. “
Akasha
,
yes
!”

Darry’s thrusts were furious and Jessa urged her on, meeting her with equal strength as Darry’s strangled sob broke free and she spent her spirit, lifting onto her arms and then slamming into her release. Jessa watched in awe as Darry arched back with muscles straining, her violent shout of liberation filled with a passion that clawed at the darkest depths of Jessa’s power and pulled it free.

Jessa caught her as she fell. Darry moaned as her hips jerked and she moved through the waning of her climax and fell to the side. Jessa closed her eyes and tried to breathe, unsure if she could control what raged inside her. Unsure if she even wanted to.

“Did I…did I hurt you?”

“
No
.” Jessa pushed her hair back with a trembling hand, witchlight bleeding from her fingertips and moving within her hair, weaving through her braids. “No.” The tightness of desire was still rising, wrenching at her as she smiled. “
Akasha
?”

Darry’s hand slid along Jessa’s belly and Jessa arched upward as the hand closed upon her breast. “I want more.” Darry spoke in a ragged breath. “I need more, Jess.”

“
Nessa
abwello,
so do I.” Jessa groaned in deliverance, rolling over and claiming Darry’s mouth. Her hand was rough as she yanked open Darry’s trousers and shoved within them. Darry thrust into the contact.

“Can you?” Jessa gasped, her hand drenched in Darry’s spirit. “
Shivahsa
, Darry!”

Darry pulled at Jessa’s skirt. “Get this…
off
…”

“Wait.” Jessa laughed, breathless as she freed herself from her skirt and breeches and climbed on top of Darry. She wore but her boots and torn shirt, which fell from her shoulders.

Darry let out a shout at the demanding touch between her legs and Jessa reveled at what she saw, Darry’s body coiled tightly, so much strength at her mercy. “In my hand,
Akasha
.” Jessa rose onto her knees and Darry’s hips thrust tightly between Jessa’s legs, clenching and straining upward as Jessa pushed her to the verge. “Let me feel you spend.”

“
Jess
.”

Jessa’s left hand landed firmly between Darry’s breasts. “You’re so hard.” She smiled, feeling altogether dark and lush. Darry’s scent was inside her, a living thing. The panther was inside of her and her majik had awoken at last to meet the challenge and throw back the invasion. “Can you feel me?” Jessa’s heart had never beat so fast. Darry’s head pushed back into the bed. Her throat was exposed completely and the sight of the offering filled Jessa with a rush of dominance as well as love. “Come for me.”

“Jess!”

“Come in my hand, do it
now,
” Jessa demanded, Darry’s flesh opening beneath her quick, forceful fingers. “Darry.”

Darry grabbed Jessa’s thighs as her entire body seized and gave in.

“
Akasha
.” The
Cha-diah
majik swarmed over Jessa in a sensual haze and she soaked it in, feeding on it.

Darry’s body trembled and Jessa felt her power like never before as she settled on Darry’s thighs. She felt the power of the Vhaelin and the strength of her blood reaching back through the generations, of her majik released and claiming her at last. She felt the sway of her love and lust for the woman beneath her. The woman who had stirred into life so many things inside her, the least of which might have been her majik. Jessa brought her hand up and slowly tasted her fingers, smiling in absolute victory.

Darry grabbed Jessa’s waist and Jessa looked down at her, dipping her hand between them once more and playing for a moment. She painted the hard muscles of Darry’s stomach with the evidence of their passion. Her heart gave a push as the flesh quivered beneath her touch, and she rubbed herself against Darry’s abdomen. “If you touch me but a little, my love, I will spend,” she said. “I want to come on you.”

Darry licked her lips.
“You…you do it.”

Jessa obeyed, her right hand slipping between her legs.

Darry watched as she stroked herself, her hand becoming a blur of motion. She had never known a woman so beautiful or so dangerous. Jessa threw her head back as she spent, half laughing and moaning her bliss.

Something ancient trembled along Darry’s bones and she knew it was majik, though whether it was hers or Jessa’s she had no idea. All Darry knew was that they were both in trouble. She smiled at the joy of it and held Jessa close as her mouth tasted of the sweet flesh on the inside of Jessa’s left breast.

Strong hands fisted in Darry’s hair and Jessa’s trembling voice filled her head. “Did you feel that?”

“Yes.” Darry groaned. “Yes.”

“I want your mouth next,
Akasha
.”

Darry laughed helplessly.

“Will you taste what I have for you?”

“You’ll kill us.”

Jessa laughed, the sound low and wanton. She took Darry’s earlobe in her teeth, rough for a heartbeat as her tongue savored and then her lips soothed at the mark. “Maybe,” Jessa whispered. “Maybe just you.”