Vampire Setinel - Let Them Eat Cake Part 9

Brian watched intently as Luke felt Maria's forehead. He kept watching as the dark-haired vampire touched her temples in an attempt at a mind merge and immediately pulled back in obvious pain.

"Well?" Brian asked impatiently.

Luke didn't answer him, but asked a question of his own. "Where is Justin?"

Brian shrugged before he replied, "I haven't seen him for a couple of days. Based on Maria's ranting I would have to say they had a fight. A doozy, if you ask me. But she didn't offer to explain about what."

"Great. I need to go check on him. Don't bother to call the doctor. He won't be able to help you with this. Get me Justin's address and I'll be back before dark."

"Wait!" Brian cried, as Luke headed for the front door with Matt at his heels. "You didn't say what was wrong with Maria. How can we help her get better if we don't know what's wrong?"

Luke sighed and turned back to address the two of them. "I can't say for sure what's wrong with her. I have my suspicions, but it will take me too long to explain right now and I think we might be running out of time. Trust me, Brian. Just keep taking care of her like you have been. You're doing the best you can for her. If I'm right, we'll make it all better when I get back."

Brian shook his head as Matt handed Luke a piece of paper he'd written Justin's address on. When the door closed behind Luke, he turned to his partner. "This doesn't sound good," he told the other man, as they shared a comforting hug before returning to keep what felt like a deathwatch over their mistress.

Luke looked at the house in front of him and swore. Several papers littered the front porch and his preternatural senses could smell the sickness inside. He reached for the door as a car pulled into the drive. d.a.m.n, now what? he cursed silently.

Turning, he saw Bill, Justin's father, climb out of the car and hurry over to him. "Something's wrong with Justin," the man said without preamble.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. Why don't you go home and let me handle this, old man." He didn't need more humans and their emotions cluttering up this mess. Dismissing Bill, Luke moved to open the door.

Only to feel the cold steel of a very large handgun pressed to the side of his head.

"I may be old. But Maria taught me well how to handle disrespectful vampires. This gun is loaded with silver bullets. My understanding is a silver bullet to the brain kills vampires with no chance of regeneration. I don't have a problem with pulling the trigger. You have a problem with letting me know what's going on?"

Okay, so maybe he'd been a little rude. And once again he seemed to have misjudged someone. Getting to be a nasty habit, that. "I apologize," Luke said sincerely. "Let's chalk up this little incident to my having an extremely bad day. I just came from Maria's. She is very ill. I need to see Justin as I think we will find he is also really sick. Maybe even close to death. Let's get in there and see if I'm right. Do you have a key or would you like me to open the door?"

He allowed Bill to push him out of the way and stood to the side as the worried father unlocked the door.

He rolled his eyes as Bill complained, "Vampires are not supposed to be up walking around during the day. Just when I start thinking I know the rules, someone comes along and changes them. I like rules. I live for rules. Why in the f.u.c.k are you awake during the day?" Bill's voice escalated in irritation and volume.

Luke knew the man wasn't mad at him but worried about his son. But he still held the gun in his waving hand.

Calmly, Luke reached for the weapon while using his most soothing vampiric voice. "After this is all over, you and I will sit down and have a discussion with Maria and Justin about maturing vampires and ever-increasing abilities. It has come to my attention that there may be holes in her education. The greatest deficit could be what is killing her and your son." He brushed past Bill and headed up the stairs in the direction of the single, weak heartbeat in the quaint Victorian home.

s.h.i.+t. Just as he suspected, Justin lay in a miserable heap on his bed. Pale and drawn, the man moaned and writhed in pain. Luke held Bill back for a moment and waved his hand, cleaning the room of odor and waste. Only then did he let Bill move toward Justin. He watched silently as Bill felt the fever and checked the dilated pupils.

"He needs to go to a hospital. If I didn't know better I'd say he had a severe case of the DTs. He has all the cla.s.sic symptoms of heroin withdrawal."

"A hospital won't be able to help him. Give me a minute while I make a phone call."

"Who are you going to call and why?" Bill questioned him.

"I am calling an old vamp friend. Someone older than I, whom I believe went through the same thing Maria and Justin are going through now. I just want to confirm my suspicions. Will you let me call him, old man? Or do we sit here and watch as Justin dies?" Luke had reached the end of his patience with interfering mortals. He wasn't used to explaining his every action.

"Call him. But do it from this phone. It's a speakerphone, and I want to hear every syllable spoken."

Luke started to argue and then noticed the steely glare in Bill's eyes. The man wouldn't give an inch without a fight, and Luke knew they were running out of time.

"Fine," he bit out between clenched teeth. He reached for the phone on the nightstand and engaged the speakerphone, then dialed the number in Russia from memory.

"............!" A deep gravely voice said what sounded like "asdraswhicha". Luke knew the man on the other end of the line had said h.e.l.lo in Russian. That was the extent of his knowledge of the language.

"Vlachko! This is Luke. I need your help."

"Aha...you bloodsucking fiend. When don't you need my help? You never call to say something sweet. Like Vlad, you old coot, how's it hanging?"

"Jesus, Vlad. Your mate has tainted your language. I don't have much time. Maria is really sick. She's vomiting, has had no appet.i.te for days and is doubled over in pain with muscle and stomach cramps. Before she collapsed in bed her human servants said she was irritable and mean. Throwing things and verbally abusing them."

Silence fell heavy on the other end of the line, eventually broken with a weary sigh. "Maria would never do that to her little bookends."

"I understand that. Vlad?"

"I am here, ....."

....-friend...so okay, he knew two words in Russian.

"I have put my mate Veronica on the line. I have told her of your problem." There was a question in Vlachko's voice.

Luke snorted. "Not my problem, Vlad. Maria has been spending time with a mortal. I am at the man's house now. They had a lover's spat and haven't seen each other for two days and nights. He's in worse shape than she is. Which brings me to my question...it's the Uh-Oh Factor again, isn't it? Somehow Maria managed to form a true vampire bond with a mortal?"

A very feminine voice filled the room. "At some point in our lives we were mortal. If you look at it that way, it makes sense. Why would we only form a true bond with other vampires? Count Dracula and I met only a few days after I was turned, and my genetic code was still in transition. At the time we had no idea what was happening to us. You know that...we discussed in great length how the Uh-Oh Factor reared its ugly head. We didn't even realize vampire true bonds even existed. Since then we've been trying to research old texts, talking with many of the ancients, and all we've been able to discover about the bond is the fact that it is extremely rare, only occurring every few hundred years."

"Ronnie and I were joined almost two hundred years ago this month," Vlad added in helpful concern.

His reminder was unnecessary. Luke had been at their wedding.

"Okay, so I a.s.sume somehow Maria and Justin formed a true bond," Luke said in disgust.

Vlad interrupted him. "We really did learn more about the bond than how rare it is. Their connection isn't fully formed yet or they wouldn't be sick. The sickness comes when you fight the bond. The male will need to dominate...to control. The bond takes several days, maybe even weeks to form if they don't fight the s.e.xual connection. If they give in to the s.e.x, the bond is a slow melding of minds and souls as they reach out and merge."

"And if they'd denied the s.e.xual connection from the very beginning? Did they have a choice?"

"Ouch. Instant bond with limitless hunger, you might as well lock yourself away with your mate for a month or so," Vlad said.

"What if they initially gave in to the s.e.xual connection and then had a fight and separated?"

"The bond would have started to form slowly. Then the separation would have triggered the sickness. I would imagine that the sickness would be more extreme since the mating had already started. As they fight the forming bond they'll deteriorate, and without each other's blood they will die. The craving can snap their minds as they go though the mental and physical abandonment. From now on, they will only be able to be apart for a few hours. Our research indicates that the stress of separation will kill them after just a few days. You need to get them in the same room and let nature take its course."

"You mean they will never be able to spend more than a few hours away from each other, or will it get better?" Luke asked in amazement.

"It gets worse," Vlad started to reply, and Luke heard him huff in pain. He smiled, knowing Veronica had elbowed him in the stomach.

"The attachment will grow stronger with time, not weaker. Eventually they will have no desire to be apart, and a physical and emotional wrenching pain will nix the idea if they try it. Have Maria call me when she is feeling better, I'll try and prepare her for what is to come," Veronica offered.

"Great. So the solution is to take Justin to Maria and lock the door." Luke ran his hands through his hair in agitation. Just as he'd feared.

"That about covers it. You might want to clear out for a while. Move the bookends to a suite at a hotel and let Maria call them when it's done. Otherwise they might try to interfere," Vlad answered. He added something Luke had already guessed. "You realize the mortal will be a vampire when this is done."

Luke looked at Bill for the first time since the conversation started. He expected to see the old man's face filled with worry and concern for his son. What he saw instead was gloating cheerfulness. Go figure. He would never understand mortals. He said goodbye to Vlad and Veronica, promising to call and let them know things worked out.

Lord save him from ever experiencing the doubled-edged sword of a vampire's true mate bond. He didn't think he could live with the constant togetherness.

He picked up Justin as if he were a baby, heading out the door and down the stairs.

"Was that really Dracula?" Bill asked. Luke couldn't believe the man would think about asking that question after all he'd heard.

"I don't know. I don't ask. I a.s.sume Dracula is Ronnie's pet name for Vlad." He stopped, thought for a moment and groaned. "h.e.l.l. For all I know he could be."

The pain eased and was replaced with insatiable hunger. For blood. For s.e.x. Maria moaned. Stretched. Her naked flesh making contact with another's. Justin.

She turned her head to the side, feeling as if she were waking from a dream...and saw him lying beside her. Sprawled, naked. His breathing seemed to speed up as she watched him.

He moaned and reached out to her, sighing as his hand made contact with her skin. He rolled to his side, his hand moving to shape her face, trace her eyelids and the contour of her cheek bones, stroke down her throat.

Her body moved restlessly, her brain struggling in an attempt to sort things out. He shouldn't be here. He was in danger. From her. From her hunger.

She tried to pull away from him, to move. Protect. Struggled to flee. But Justin s.h.i.+fted so that his large frame pinned her to the bed. His one hand continued to caress the soft, vulnerable line of her throat, moved to trace down to her chest. The other hand tangled in her hair and held her in place. He opened his eyes and she became trapped in his deep blue gaze. In the hunger that burned through those eyes and into her, she tumbled...addicted to the fire and need.

His hand found the warm softness of her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s and with his indigo stare holding her gaze, he slowly lowered his head.

Maria's breath caught in her throat as his mouth hovered over hers. She burned for him. Her long lashes swept down as his mouth fastened on hers. She nearly cried out at the rush of liquid heat that raced through her body as he claimed her. His mouth explored every inch of hers, caressing. Demanding. He dominated with gentle persuasion, using his tongue to stroke along her incisors. He s.h.i.+fted his body against hers, bringing every inch of her skin to screaming awareness. She tore her mouth away from his. She had no control. If they didn't stop now, she knew with dark certainty that she would change him into a vampire. Which meant they'd be through. "No. We can't," she gasped out.

He ignored her. Pressing his erection into her hip, he squeezed the hand at her breast to still her struggles and used his mouth to trail kisses down her throat. His hot mouth blazed a path across her shoulder and moved lower to find the swell of her breast. Maria brought her hands up, intending to tug on his hair, to move him from her. Instead she bunched her fists in the rich softness as his tongue traced a path over the vein in her nipple.

Her body clenched, waiting in horrified antic.i.p.ation. "Don't," she moaned, and arched her body in direct contradiction to her plea. His teeth nipped the taut peak gently, and she shuddered with pleasure as his mouth drew her nipple into its moist heat.

He murmured against her skin, "I need to taste you, Maria. I'll die if I can't have this."

And he would. He hurt. His skin burned and was unbearably sensitive. He moved to stroke his tongue over the small cut that had never healed. The cut he'd made with his teeth over her left breast. He teased his senses with the remembered taste of her.

The memory of the fiery-sweet flavor of her blood as it filled his mouth and burned through his body with a searing jolt of pleasure almost pushed him into madness. But he'd hurt her. He started to move back when he felt the wrenching pain. His mind screamed in denial as he fought the pull to claim his woman. His gut clenched and his soul cried out in forced demand.

He snarled in feral warning as he s.h.i.+fted over her. Blanketing her. Imprisoning her, as his knee effectively parted her legs and he took her hands in his to stretch her arms above her head. He pinned her body with his, allowing no withdrawal. He nudged the sensitive head of his c.o.c.k against the liquid heat bathing him invitingly and slipped inside her.

She arched into him, taking him deep, thrusting her b.r.e.a.s.t.s up in a mindless offering. A red haze of desire overcame him. No longer able to fight the crus.h.i.+ng compulsion to taste her blood-the addiction couldn't be denied.

He lowered his head once more to the temptation of her nipple. He knew his teeth would hurt her. He found the small wound and stroked it once more with his tongue. And bit down around the nipple.

Maria gasped at the red-hot lance of pain and the wave of intense pleasure coursing through her body. She arched upwards, struggled in his grip...needing to hold him to her.

Justin's body swelled in ecstasy, every muscle taut, rigid. She tasted hot, spicy, his. He needed to bury himself in her as he fed, his body urgently demanding their union...body and soul. He lost the effort to control the wild cravings. Instead the need for dominance gained with a frenzied, heated mating...rode him hard. He wanted to mark her forever as his possession. He surged into her.

She was hot and tight, the friction threatened to engulf him as the velvet fire of Maria gripped his body.

He buried himself deep in her very core, his mouth drawing the essence of her life. The world narrowed, receded, until she was his breath, his heart...the blood flowing in his veins.

His hips flexed, pulling back and pus.h.i.+ng forward as he worked to dig his c.o.c.k into her sweet softness. Her keening cries echoed in his mind. His body craved hers, more and more. Harder. Faster. Deeper. He drove on and on, slamming his shaft into her c.u.n.t. Slapping their bodies together. Straining to meld their souls.

Her blood fed the insatiable hunger, stoked it higher. He gave himself up to the l.u.s.t and greed and wave after wave of unbearable pleasure as his mouth continued to suckle at her breast.

Her body clenched, gripping him like a vise. The earth seemed to roll and shake as molten heat coiled and he reared back, tearing his mouth from her as he cried out. His seed gushed and his body went up in flames.

He looked down at the woman sprawled beneath him, felt her hunger and his body reacted immediately, once again hard and needy as ever. She moaned and s.h.i.+fted, opening pa.s.sion-glazed eyes to meet his.

"Justin?"

"Yes, my love," he whispered, as he pulled her up into his arms and stretched his legs out to sit with her, still joined to him, her legs straddling his thighs. He guided her mouth to his neck. "Feed from me the way I fed from you. Need me. All of me," he growled, as he felt her mouth move over his neck, his throat.

His body raged at him. Swelled and hardened to fill her completely. His heart jumped as her tongue caressed his pulse. Swirled. She brought one hand up to tease around his flat nipples. The simple thrill added fuel to the fire. He gasped in antic.i.p.ation as her teeth sc.r.a.ped once, twice...and then sank deep.

Justin's growl echoed in the dark room, the sensation beyond his imaginings. He lay back, arms wrapped as a steel cage to take Maria with him. Bending his legs for leverage, he planted his feet on the bed and thrust upward, plunging his c.o.c.k with wild abandon into her velvet sheath as she drank from him. His palm held her head to him, pressing her closer as his body took hers with unyielding demand. He could never get enough.

He felt as if something snapped into place. The perfect connection, their souls threading together-two halves of the same whole, never to part again. He shattered with his release. Flew. Dragging Maria with him every step of the way.

Maria lay very still, unable to get her mind around what had just happened. She was shocked to her soul. This time she couldn't escape the fact that Justin had taken a great deal of her blood, a complete exchange. And still she hungered for more. In a panic she tried to sit up, to get away. To save him.

His arms closed around her in a hard grip, holding her to him. "No!"

She felt the deep grumble of the command in the body pressed against her and fought the compulsion to give in. "Justin, you don't understand what we've done!" she exclaimed, and again tried to move away from him. This didn't make sense. She should be stronger than him, able to break his hold with an easy flex of her muscles.

She yelped as he flipped her over onto her stomach and stretched his body flat against hers. She felt the hard ridge of his erection as it pushed between her legs. She squirmed beneath him, straining to buck him off...to move away.

He laughed against the skin at the back of her neck, moving with her, bending. Allowing her to lift her a.s.s in the air just enough so he could slide his c.o.c.k through her swollen and slick folds. She gasped at the sensation, fighting the hunger. He stroked his hips, moving in short jabs, and she groaned as he slid his shaft across the hard nub of her c.l.i.t. Again. And again.

He opened his mouth over the sensitive flesh at her neck, zeroing in on the frantic pulse of her jugular vein. She felt the sharp p.r.i.c.k of his teeth.

Sharp.

"Justin, your teeth!"

"Ummm...I feel them, love. Not quite as long as yours yet...but I'm hoping they'll get there," he murmured, licking her skin.

"You don't understand," she cried. Every movement she made to escape only increased the sensual slide of his c.o.c.k. The deterioration of her will.

"I understand. I understand I crave your taste, the hot spice of your blood and the warm heat of your c.u.n.t. I know that without both, I'll get sick. Die. You are mine, Maria. Mine to take and to f.u.c.k. To feast from. I've spent two days in h.e.l.l without you and I won't go there again. Burn, baby. Just feel the burn," he said as he pulled back, rocking against her.

The bulbous head of his c.o.c.k dipped into her c.u.n.t and she felt her body melt, opening for him. Felt the pleasure-pain as his teeth broke the skin at her neck and he grabbed her hips to tug her back, impaling her with his shaft and his lengthening incisors.

Oh, G.o.d, did she burn. Each dig of his c.o.c.k into her p.u.s.s.y, each hard pull of his mouth on her neck lit a fire that raced along her skin.

He thrust slow and hard at first, sucking at her neck in tandem with each forward jab. She was shocked to feel his mind in hers, feeling the sensations he experienced as he pumped in and out of her. Harder. "More," she demanded from him.