Pure Healing (8 page)

Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Rain responded quietly, “I accept you as my Consort, Valerius Marcus Ambrosius. For the next thirty days, I will take your Nourishment. For the next ten years, I shall have no other. I accept you with everything that I have been and everything that I am.” With those words, she pushed a ring of Tiger’s Eye onto Valerius’ left ring finger. The band automatically adjusted to fit his width.

Valerius’ jaw clenched at the pain that obliterated him as she withheld any promise of her future. Though he knew he was merely her Consort and not her Mate, in his heart he made no distinction. He knew as surely as he breathed that there would be no other for him but Rain, though she’d taken many Consorts in the past and would take many more males in the years to come. It was her fate as the Healer of his race. And it was his to yearn for her, but never receive.

Ayelet placed her hands on theirs and gave a reassuring squeeze. “Cherish each other for the time you have. May the Goddess be with you both.”

Valerius rose to his full height, head and shoulders above the reed-thin Healer. Though the customary seal of the bond was with a kiss, he could not bring himself to do so.

He didn’t think his heart could withstand it. Instead, he pulled his female into the warm strength of his embrace and cradled her silvery white head against his chest.
Rain inhaled the Protector’s intoxicating scent deeply and sighed.
Her arms wound around his lean waist and she held on with everything she had. For the first time in all the centuries of her existence, she felt like she was finally home.
*** *** *** ***
“What do you make of the Phoenix Bonding Ritual?” Orion asked Eveline as they wound their way down the spiral staircase to the underground library.
“It was most unusual, the pledge that the Protector gave,” Eveline replied with deep concern. “He was not supposed to have promised her his future.”
Orion nodded. “I agree. I wonder at the cause of it. I’ve seen no indication over the last ten years that Valerius even wanted to be Consort to the Healer. In fact, he’d seemed most resistant up until the ceremony.”
Eveline sighed, shaking her head. “True, but sometimes, resistance only leads to the inevitable. Perhaps he always knew he would take the role.”
“You know,” Orion said, suddenly pausing on the second to last step, “this ritual and the attack on Valerius a few days ago echo something eerily familiar in my mind. In the Fourth Cycle of our Goddess, just before the Great War five millennia ago, one of our kind’s greatest warriors was almost lost to us in an assassination attempt. Shortly thereafter, just as the first battle erupted, he became the then Healer’s Consort. But that was the last mention of him in the history tomes, though every Consort the previous Healer had since was accounted for, their bravery in the war described in full.”
“Yes, I recall you mentioning this when we went through the scrolls a few days ago,” Eveline responded, hurrying to her Orb of Prophesies, a large crystal globe levitating in the middle of the library above a step dais with twelve raised spikes, like metallic claws that held the orb in place.
As the Seer approached, the globe swirled darkly, as if stormy clouds gathered beneath its surface. She placed both hands gently on the translucent shell and closed her eyes.
Orion reached for the large, leather bound book on a stand beside the orb and held it ready to take down her words. The words therein would become part of the Pure Ones’ Zodiac Prophesies.
Slowly, the clouds within the orb eased apart as if spread by the heat of her fingertips, revealing two bright balls of green and red flame. The marble-sized spheres circled each other in a hypnotic dance, around and around, spiraling together brightly, almost joyfully.
Then, without warning, they slammed together and melded into one, half red, half green, with the flames forming a pattern like the Classic Taoist Taijitu symbol for yin and yang. But their harmony only lasted a brief moment before the green consumed the red and burst apart in a flash of blinding light. Thus, the globe descended into black opacity once more.

“
Upon her choice, the future rests. To welcome the Darkness or create a New Light, only her heart can show the rest,”
Eveline intoned with her eyes still closed.

Orion scribbled the words down rapidly as she spoke and frowned over them trying to decipher their meaning.

Releasing a deep breath, Eveline disengaged from the globe and moved to stand beside Orion, looking over his shoulder at the words she herself did not recall, even though she’d uttered them only moments before.

She read the words in silence and tapped her chin. “We should look at these phrases with the ones from the other day,” she suggested, turning the page back to find the recordings of her previous glimpse into the possible future.

“
With his surrender, the sacrifice is made. Death is near and Darkness surrounds, as the race’s Adversary raises its blade,”
the Seer and the Scribe read aloud together, then flashed hot and cold as the haunting words washed over them.

“Surely this pertains to Valerius and Rain,” Orion said slowly, almost in a whisper, as if speaking too loudly would awaken some calamity.

“But what choice must she make?” asked Eveline. “Has she already made it by choosing him as her Consort?”

“If so,” Orion followed her train of thought, “then the future is already written.”
“And what is this Adversary the prophesies warn us of?” Eveline continued, starting to wear a path down the thick sheepskin rug covering the library floor.
“Whatever it is, we must regard it with the same foreboding and significance as the Great War,” Orion determined grimly. “History is repeating itself, I am sure of it.”
“But will it lead to a bleaker or better tomorrow?” the Seer asked softly, looking into the fire that blazed in the hearth before them.
That he could not answer, Orion thought, brows drawn together.
No one could.
*** *** *** ***
That night Rain entered the inner chamber of the Phoenix Enclosure to find her Consort already waiting, standing before a massive floor-to-ceiling landscape mural that looked so real and vibrant it seemed to be the window to a living, magical world beyond. He seemed freshly washed, and he stood naked from head to toe, beads of moisture still clinging to his golden-brown skin.
Rain paused in the doorway just to watch him for a while, unobserved. She would never tire of gazing upon his long, lean body. She wanted to memorize every line and contour, every muscle and sinew. Unconsciously, her fangs elongated as her eyes hungrily drank him in. He was everything she had ever dreamed, everything she had ever wanted.
As always, Valerius sensed the Healer’s presence before he saw her. He could feel her hot gaze on his back, could feel it slide over his naked skin like a lover’s hands, from his shoulder blades to his buttocks, to the back of his thighs, his calves, and ankles.
He grew long and hard in response, his manhood jutting to his navel and throbbing achingly for her attention. Heat suffused his neck and face at his own helpless reaction. He clenched his fists against the urge to cup himself, to squeeze so hard, the pain would temporarily relieve this tortuous, hollow ache within.
It was always thus when she was near. He never understood why he only felt this way around Rain, but it seemed as if he were made for her.
Made to Serve her every need.
Softly, she approached to stand beside him, shifting her gaze to the silken mural that formed an entire wall of the Enclosure.
“It changes with the cycle of the sun and moon,” she said conversationally, referring to the landscape before them. “When daylight arrives, you will see songbirds flitting across a blue sky filled with wisps of white clouds instead of the pair of swans gliding across the cool darkness of the nighttime lake.”
Thankful for the distraction of words, Valerius cleared his throat and asked, “How does it do that?”
Without looking at him, the Healer smiled a mysterious smile, reminding him of the first time he’d met her. He’d seen far too few smiles since then and knew deep down that he was the cause. The knowledge shamed him.
“It is woven from my hair,” Rain replied with a whimsical tone. “I cut my hair at the end of the Phoenix Cycle, when black roots begin to emerge. By then the strands will have become entirely clear, reflecting only the colors of my imagination. Each tendril has a life of its own, and even when they are cut, they somehow remain part of my conscience, still obeying my will. And I weave them, with Wan’er’s assistance, into the scenes of my childhood, the four
Zhou
s as you would call them now. Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Liuzhou.”
Valerius recalled the scrolls he’d seen in her sanctuary, as well as the handkerchief she’d given him when they first met, and nodded in amazement. “Your homeland must have been very beautiful.”
The Healer sighed. “Indeed, it was. It still is, as you caught a glimpse of it yourself ten years ago, but much has changed. Human advancement and the evergrowing need for housing and industry have bulldozed over much of China’s original beauty. I can only hope to preserve it in my memories.”
Her lips quirked up at one corner, and he could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Do you know the Chinese saying?
Heaven Above, Suzhou, and Hangzhou below.
That’s how enchanting my homeland was, as wonderful as humans imagined their Heaven on earth could ever be.”
Valerius tilted his head to look down on the Healer’s silvery crown. His very own Heaven was within reach in the form of one small woman.
And so was his Hell.
Suddenly she grew very still, her shoulders tensing under his gaze. After a long silence, she said, “Are you ready for me, warrior?”
“Aye,” came his deep, abiding answer.
She turned to face him and he did the same, his cheeks turning crimson once more beneath his bronzed skin as her gaze immediately locked upon his raging erection.
Hesitantly, she reached up to flatten her palms against his ribcage, and his muscles jumped in reaction. He didn’t know whether he would ever get used to being touched. Never mind being touched so intimately. But he vowed he would not reveal his inner battle to her, not let his demons tarnish the bond they shared.
“You body is ready but your mind is not,” she said quietly, spearing him with her insight. “I can see the aura of anguish and pain around you, every time I am near, every time I touch you. Will you ever tell me why?” She raised her eyes to his as she asked.
Mutely, he shook his head. It would horrify her to know his past, the filth that he’d lived with, the monster that he’d been.
And in some ways, still was. He was good at only one thing: killing.
She bent forward and pressed the softest kiss to his sternum, like the flutter of butterfly wings, so soft he barely felt the touch. Involuntarily, he leaned slightly into her, his swollen, aching manhood grazing the middle of her stomach. For the first time, he yearned for more. This was Rain, after all.
His Rain.
She sighed deeply and breathed him in, her hands moving to clasp behind his back. She buried her face in his chest and muffled out, “Don’t tempt me please. Just knowing that you are mine for the next thirty days is temptation enough. But I will resist for now. We cannot Mate until you are ready.”
I am ready
, he wanted to respond. Or at least, as ready as he would ever be.
As if hearing his unspoken words, she retorted, “You will not be ready until you let go of your pain. When you trust me enough to share your burden, that is when you will truly be ready.”
“But the Nourishment,” Valerius protested, feeling panicked and hurt that she was effectively rejecting him.
She smiled a soothing smile. “Your blood I will gladly take, my Consort. As for your body…”
She took her arms away and stepped back until they were no longer touching. “We will ease into the intimacy slowly,” she stated in a firm tone, offering no room for argument. “I want you to enjoy our union as much as I will.”
Before he could protest further, she took his hand in a gentle clasp and led him to the gigantic, canopied, Asian style bed in the center of the chamber. She pulled back the silk coverlet and crawled beneath, white robes and all, almost getting lost in the fluffy mattress and mountainous pillows. She pulled on his hand and tugged him into the bed with her, his much larger and heavier body making a dent that made her roll into him like a magnet attracted to its mate.
She curved her clothed body along his naked one, fitting against his side seamlessly, and draped a slender pale arm over his belly as he lay on his back, stiff and unmoving.
“Does it pain you much when I touch you like this?” she asked as she reached over his torso for his hand on the other side. It seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to entwine their fingers and settle their clasped hands back on his belly.
“No,” Valerius replied gruffly, and surprised himself to realize that it was the truth. It felt right to have her beside him, holding him. For the first time in his long life he felt cared for, even cherished.
“When you were human, did many women hold you thus?” She asked on a whisper, sounding shy.
“No,” he answered, his jaw clenching against the memories. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as if to blot them out.
Unaware of the battle he waged within himself, Rain pursued her curiosity. “And have you had many lovers?”
At his silence, she expounded, “Was there someone special in your human life? Is that why you can’t bear to be touched by another now?”
It was so far from reality Valerius almost laughed. But then the laughter would turn to sobs, and she would look upon him as one would pity the unhinged.
“No,” he replied finally, getting control of himself, “there was no one.” At least, not in the tender capacity to which she referred.
Distracted by his own thoughts, he barely noticed when she pulled his hand closer, feeling only the slightest sting when her fangs sank into the vein in his wrist.
But when she began to draw from him, his body came fully awake, jarring his mind back to the present. His heavy cock bobbed insistently against the silk coverlet, and the air was again infused with his fragrance, stronger and spicier than before.
A burning sensation filled him and drove his hips off the bed. Involuntarily he began to rotate and nudge, his buttocks tightening in time with her methodical pulls on his vein.
He felt as if he were dangling over the edge of a precipice, afraid to take the final leap yet inevitably drawn to the yawning unknown. His penis throbbed and shuddered as if milked by an invisible hand. His pre-cum seeped out of the slit at the head and trailed down the hot rigid length in continuous flow as if his cock were weeping.
“Please,” he begged, though he knew not for what. He’d never asked anything of anyone. Never put himself in such a vulnerable position. But he had no pride in this moment. He was utterly slain by her gentleness.
Answering his plea, she let go of his wrist and licked the wound closed, then shifted downwards so that she lay across his lower body like a sleepy kitten. Her soft hands took hold of his penis and she diligently licked at the fluids that had seeped out, adding her saliva to the tantalizing wetness engulfing the most private part of him. When her lips finally closed over the swollen head, his back arched high off the bed and a low groan vibrated through his system.
She was suckling him more gently than the night of the Rite, almost reverently. His entire body strained under her ministrations, the muscles in his neck popping in stark relief as he threw his head back into the pillows.
It was not enough, he wanted to shout. Do it harder, faster. Milk him dry.
But the words wouldn’t form, and his power of speech degenerated into animalistic sounds, deep moans and low growls.
The sounds of someone desperate.
The sounds of someone in pain.
Still she softly drew upon him, pausing once in a while to swipe her tongue meticulously around the fat, engorged head. She cradled him like a babe with her bottle, teasing his most sensitive flesh with tiny sucks interspersed with fleeting kisses. Then she would alter the rhythm with deep, soulful pulls and attend to the sacs below.
Valerius writhed helplessly in the bed, his sweat dampening the sheets, all twisted from his struggles. “Rain!” he managed to call out through a long, deep groan, his voice breaking.
But instead of giving him what he needed, she sighed and pulled away, gathering herself up to a sitting position astride his lower stomach just above his groin.
“I cannot give you the release you crave before you are ready for it yourself, warrior,” she explained, licking her lips as if to savor every last drop of him. Her hands enfolded the sides of his face, and to his utter self-contempt, her thumbs rubbed away the moisture that had leaked from the corners of his eyes.
“Don’t be ashamed,” she admonished gently, again seeming to read his thoughts. “This experience is not easily endured. Your body is torn between two extremes. On the one hand, it is triggered to Serve me.”
She demonstrated by sweeping her hand lightly along the length of his now intensely painful erection, “On the other hand, we are not truly mated, and your body knows I cannot reciprocate what it gives me. To some Consorts, orgasm is beyond their reach though there are many ways to satisfy me.”
She lay her head down on his still shuddering chest, over his rapidly beating heart and sighed, “just the scent of you can make me wet. The taste of you can make me come.” She guided his hand to the place between her thighs and he was stunned at the drenched heat he encountered there, wetting through her robes and the skin of her inner thighs.
“Some?” he barely managed to say, distracted by the exquisite softness beneath his palm.
She nodded slightly and murmured, “Some other Consorts find the balance within themselves and can achieve release. I think it’s a sort of guilt they overcome because they feel as if they are betraying their future Mates by having intimacies with the Healer, though these relations are sanctioned by the Goddess as Pure and Good.”
Valerius did not have that particular guilt. His inner battle was far more gruesome.
Determinedly putting aside his own needs, he focused his attention on Rain, concentrating on the softness that rested trustingly in his palm.
“How do I please you,” he whispered, embarrassed by his own deplorable lack of knowledge and skill.
Rain smiled her Cheshire smile, keeping her face pressed against the warmth of his chest. “Two thousand years made you a born-again virgin, warrior?”
A wave of pain washed over him as Valerius recalled the day he’d lost his virginity. Two thousand years was not long enough.
“That’s perfectly fine by me,” Rain continued, urging her hips against his hand in a voluptuous undulation. “I like feeling as if I were your first.”
You are my first
, Valerius thought.
And my last
.
He slowly pulled her robes up until he could feel her naked skin and cupped his palm over her drenched core.
She sighed deeply and moaned a little, the sound tickling his senses like kitten fur. He shifted his hand to hold her more fully, instinctively positioning his thumb at the apex of her sex. She made a little mewling sound and used her hand to teach him how to please her. As he rubbed his thumb gently across her pleasure spot just the way she wanted, she moved her hand away.
Her breath quickened against his chest, and he could feel her heart beat in sync. Her small hands reached for his erection again and held him covetously, squeezing up and down the thick, velvet covered shaft of steel in time to the rhythm his thumb made over her clitoris.
His own breathing became increasingly labored once more, and he desperately wanted to get closer. He wrapped his other arm around her body and held her more tightly against his chest. When that wasn’t enough, he inserted one long finger, then two, into her wet core and was momentarily satisfied by her long moan of pleasure the action elicited.