Blood Spirit (8 page)

Ilona
opened her eyes, and Terek saw that his blood had begun to bring her back from
the empty abyss he'd feared and she'd begged for. A tiny smile formed on her
lips, making him happy.

"How
do you feel?"

"I'm
sorry. I'm not sure I'll ever be the vampire you hope for, but I don't want to
die, Terek. I was wrong."

"Do
you still feel the hunger or pain?"

Cautiously,
she inhaled and then exhaled. Smiling, she said, "My ribs feel much
better. How did you do that?"

Terek
smiled in return, happy to know his blood had begun to heal her. "I'm your
sire. My blood is what made you vampire, so my blood can heal you better than
any other in the world."

"And
the hunger? Is that the same?"

Bringing
his wrist to his mouth, he slid his tongue over the holes and closed them.
"For now, my blood is what you need to connect you to our world."

"So
someday I won't need your blood to do that?"

Terek
felt a tiny stab at his heart. "Do you wish to be free of me so
quickly?"

Shaking
her head, Ilona frowned. "No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I was
just curious."

"My
blood will always be what you crave most, but no, you won't always need it as
you do now."

Ilona
was silent, but he could tell she had something on her mind. Once again, he
attempted to read her thoughts but heard nothing.

To
find out, he'd have to do things the old-fashioned way. He'd have to ask.

"What's
wrong, Ilona?"

She
slid up and pressed her back against the pillows. He saw by her expression she
was concerned about something but didn't expect the question she asked next.

"Do
you love all these women?"

Ilona's
eyes grew wide as she waited for his answer.

"Yes.
In my own way, I love every one."

A
look of confusion replaced her look of concern. "Do you sleep with all of
them?"

"Yes,
I have."

Swinging
her legs past him, she stood from the bed and stared down at him with a look of
determination. "I have no desire to be part of a harem."

"You
will if I say you will." Harem? This was his house, not a harem, he
thought defensively.

"No,
I won't. I don't know what the rules of being a vampire are, but unless all
sires are like you, I'm guessing I don't have to be one of your
concubines."

Terek
stared at her in amazement. "Concubines?"

"I'm
thinking you've never met a woman like me, but that doesn't matter. I don't
know how long you've been a vampire, but this isn't the Stone Ages."

Any
romantic notions he'd had just minutes earlier were dashed by her staring down
at him with her hands on her hips and her impudent mouth set firmly in a scowl.
Oh, he'd met a woman like her before, long ago.

Terek
stood and looked down into her stubborn eyes. God, she so reminded him of that
one soul in the world who'd possessed him heart, mind, and body all those
centuries ago.

"I
see you have a typical Spanish temper. Well, don't worry. I'm patient."

As
he watched her walk off in a huff, he smiled. Yes, he'd known another Spanish
beauty like her. And if he didn't watch out, he'd end up as he had with that
one.

Chapter Seven

Looking
out toward the hills in the distance as the sun climbed high into the sky, Mateo
sat down under a shade tree, content to let the sheep graze in the midday heat
while he napped. A morning's hard work had made him tired, and the late spring
heat wore on his body. A short nap wouldn't hurt, and the sheep would be fine
without him.

Sweat
ran from his brow as the temperature rose, but the shade felt cool on his skin.
Leaning against the rough bark of the tree's trunk, he inhaled the sweet smell
of the season and closed his eyes.

Dreams
played out in his mind as he slept—dreams of a time long past in a place he'd
never seen where men and women so foreign to him lived in the shadows. Where
gods and demons stood side-by-side, friends by kind and birth.

He'd
dreamed these images nightly for years, at first dreading the time each day
when the sun set and his simple bed called him to slumber. But as the dreams
visited him again and again, they began to comfort him, as if they were
memories long forgotten but entrusted to only him.

Opening
his eyes, he adjusted his sight to the brightness, wondering how long he'd
slept. Above, the sun still held reign over the sky, and he guessed he hadn't
lost too much of the day to the fancies of his mind. Reluctantly, he rose and
began the task of rounding up his flock.

The
sun had begun its descent by the time he'd reached home, a small cottage humble
in its surroundings. What it lacked in splendor, however, it more than made up
for in love. Married to the only woman he'd ever loved, he lived for the touch
of her hand on him, for the love she gave him, no matter how unworthy a man he
was for one like her.

Just
the mere sight of her made him weak, as if one glance toward him controlled the
movement and strength of his very limbs. Younger than he, she wielded power
over his heart and soul like a deity from ancient times. One word of her
unhappiness was enough to cut him to the core.

He
knew this was no way for a devout believer in God to think. The Church told of
men possessed by the sins of lust and obsession who burned in the fires of Hell
for feeling similar desires. The thought haunted him, but he couldn't believe
the love he felt for Eva could be anything but a precious gift from God meant
to be cherished, not scorned in fear.

How
could such a perfect happiness be anything but a gift from heaven?

With
the sheep in their pens, his work was done for the day and he yearned to see
her again. As he reached home, his legs ached from walking, but the sight of
her awaiting his return made him forget the pain of a sheep herder.

"Mateo,
are the sheep in for the night?" Eva asked as she met him at the cottage
door.

He
placed a kiss on her cheek and nodded. "Where they belong. And now I am
where I belong."

Mateo
sat quietly in the darkness as Eva lay sleeping beside him. His dreams had
awakened him, their fantastic images stirring him from sleep. The darkness of
his dreams intrigued him and made him question if he was the only soul visited
by them.

The
touch of Eva's hand on his startled him from his thoughts. Turning toward her,
he smiled. "Forgive me if I woke you."

"The
dreams again?"

The
only person on Earth who he'd told about the visions that made up his sleep,
she struggled with their meaning as he did. "Was this one the same?"

"Yes,
but tonight there was a child."

Gently,
she pulled him down next to her, placing his head on her shoulder. Stroking his
hair, she whispered, "A child?"

The
gentle beating of her heart sounded in his ears, but he heard the curiosity in
her voice at this newest addition to this dreams. Nodding, he held her closer.
"Yes. A boy."

For
a long time he lay with her in silence, listening to the heartbeat of the woman
he loved and trying to decipher the mystery of his thoughts. Who were the
people in his dreams? Why were they turned to demons, cursed to live in the
darkness for all eternity? Why had their gods forsaken them?

"Mateo,
I have news I have waited to tell you."

Eva's
words roused him from his thoughts. "What news?"

"God
has blessed us with the greatest gift of all. I am with child."

In
the moonlight, he turned to see her expression. A child? Gently, he kissed her
lips. "Eva..." The words caught in his throat. The only woman he'd
ever loved was going to give him a child.

Mateo
pulled back the tattered blanked and placed his hand reverently on her belly.
"How long?"

"I
have not bled in over a month. By the new year, he should be here."

Her
smile beamed down at him. "He?"

"Of
course. A son for the man I love."

A
son. A boy who he would teach about the world. Regret pinched at his heart at
the thought of what he could have given Eva and their child. If only he had
made different choices.

"Mateo,
why do you look sad? We are to have a child." Eva took hold of his hand
and squeezed it gently. "What is it? Tell me."

"Nothing.
I was just thinking of the choices I have made that will affect our son."

Sitting
up, she cradled his face in her hands. "There is no use in looking back
with regret. The choices you made have shaped you into the man you are. Honest.
True. The kind of husband any wife would cherish."

The
sound of those sweet words touched him. The young man that had impetuously
chosen to forgo his father's fortune rather than obey his demands for him to
take up his spice business now wondered if that decision would come back to
haunt him and his new family.

"You
deserve so much more than a sheep farmer and this shack. Our child deserves so
much more."

Closing
his eyes, he thought about everything he would never be able to give them.

"Mateo,
look at me."

He
opened his eyes and saw his wife smiling sweetly at him. "Calm your
thoughts. Not all the riches in your family—in ten families like yours—would
make me happier. I married you because of all the men in the village, only you
had something different. Something special. It was not money."

"What
was it?"

Eva's
eyes traveled over his body and her smile grew broader. "For as wonderful
as this outside is, what is so special is what is inside of you. I hear the
other women talking in the marketplace. I see the evidence of their husband's
care on their skin. No cloak can hide the bruised cheek or eye. I may have the
poorest husband in wealth, but I am rich beyond belief in ways that
matter."

The
thought of a man laying a hand on her cheek to cause her harm made him clench
his fists, and he drew her close to him. When he had first met her, she had
been asked for by one of those vicious beasts who saw no crime in beating a
woman. The memory of his cruelty when she had refused his offer to marry him
flashed in his mind now.

"I
would never let another hurt you, Eva."

"I
know that," she whispered in his ear. "And I know our son will be the
same honorable kind of man his father is."

As
always, Eva settled his soul and made him see how much they had truly been
blessed with.

Eva
laid back onto the bed and smiled up at him. "The night is not only for
sleep, my love."

"But
the child?" he asked, hoping her answer would be one that would allow him
to show her how much she meant to him.

Running
her hand over his chest, she found her way to his cock and gripped it softly in
her hand. "I think he will be fine."

The
touch of her fingers as they stroked him made sleep the last thing on his mind.
In seconds, his night clothes were shed and he was pulling hers over her head,
eager to feel her body next to his.

Naked,
her skin seemed to dance in the moonlight, and Mateo ran his hands over her
beautiful breasts, so full and firm. Her deep pink nipples tightened to sensual
peaks at his touch, and he bent down to take one between his lips. Sucking it
gently, he listened as above him she moaned her need for more.

He
enjoyed nothing more than pleasing her. Since the first time he had set eyes on
her, he had wanted to take her to the heights of desire he had only dreamed of
before her. Every precious inch of her excited him, made him want to give her
the pleasure his soul craved.

When
she had first loved him, she had been shocked by his actions. Their lives were
ruled by their belief in God, and Eva even more so. But a love so strong could
never be offensive to their God, and Mateo convinced her that showing their
love for one another was one of creation's greatest joys undoubtedly created by
God to bring them happiness.

"Mateo,
kiss me and let me show you how much I love you."

He
slid up her body, placing kisses over her skin as he went, until finally his
lips met hers in a kiss that came from the deepest corner of his soul. Gently,
his tongue probed past her soft lips until it teased the tip of hers. Her body
responded wantonly, her hips lifting off the bed as she sought out his cock.

Her
hands pushed against his lower back, pulling him into her as she wrapped her
legs around him. The need to be nested inside her body pressed into every fiber
of his being.

"Eva,
my love, I am yours, heart and soul, forever."

With
one gentle thrust, his body joined with hers, his cock deep inside her. It fit
like a glove around him, as if her body had been created solely to be one with
his.

A
sense of bliss swept over him with each slow push into her willing body. Every
inch of him reveled in the exquisite joy of her body on his. And when he knew
he had given her everything he had, she surrendered to him in the most intimate
way a woman could with a man. Clinging to him, her tender walls closed in
around his cock, milking him toward his own release.

For
a few sweet moments, the world was just the two of them and the happiness their
love had created. She was the sun, the moon, and the stars in his universe. As
he lay there with her in his arms, he silently thanked God for ending his
loneliness with such a perfect soul to match his.