Dead Girls Don't Cry (21 page)

“Wait until you see what we found today,” Jay said, without lifting his head or stopping what he was doing. His black hair was tousled and unkempt from his habit of running his fingers through it when he was thinking. Judging by the hair’em scare’em look, he’d been thinking a lot.

“Later,” Ian said, continuing past. Another door led to the massive cavern with the blue walkways.

“Impressive. The shortcut saved at least a half hour of walking.” We didn’t skip the magic conveyor belts. The paths whisked us to the lake’s cavern. A new structure rested by the water’s edge. A suspiciously familiar looking place.

My hand covered my lips as recognition took hold. “My house?” I jogged toward it, not waiting for Ian’s answer.

He came up alongside me. “It was the best I could do with limited resources.”

Even though the siding was steel instead of cedar, the door was in the same spot as my former cottage. As I circled the exterior, the windows matched too. “This is incredible. You did this for me?”

“Only for you, sweetheart.” Ian brushed his fingers against my neck, a light kiss followed. Tingles floated down my spine, warming my belly.

“But how? You’ve never been to my house.”

“Jay helped. He showed me pictures. I filled in the blanks.”

“I love it. Thank you.” Flinging my arms around his neck, I pulled him down for a slow kiss, wondering if it was furnished. A bed would be nice.

Ian, lips locked on mine, walked us toward the door, opened it and pulled us inside.

I broke away, awed by the accuracy of the layout. Each room was as I remembered. Chairs occupied the place where the couch had been. The kitchen window overlooked the lake. Taking Ian by the hand, I led him to where my bedroom should be.

The bed was a pile of sleeping bags, overlaid with blankets. A lantern emitted a soft orange glow. Fresh cut herbs scented the room.

“Sorry, we don’t have a real mattress,” Ian said, rubbing the back of his neck. “The plan is to add more furniture. I hope you consider this your private oasis.” Behind his quiet demeanor, his watchful gaze told me how much my reaction mattered to him. He had nothing to worry about.

I swallowed back the burning lump in my throat, not wanting to cry and give him the wrong impression. “No one has ever done something so special for me.”

“I’m glad I could be the one then,” he smiled, blue eyes twinkling. The low light accented his fine features. Lust burned my insides. Could have been mine or his. It didn’t matter.

Emotion burst through me, breaking the last of my resistance. I wanted him. Not merely physically, but in my heart.

“Ian,” my voice was soft and throaty, “make love to me. Here in this place.”

He cupped my face in his palms and feather kissed my eyes. Velvet lips brushed over my mouth before traveling south. The tips of his fangs grazed the hollow of my throat, stopping at the V between my collarbone and jumpsuit. The zipper parted with a hiss. After Ian eased off my clothes, I stood naked before him, exposed in a way I had never been on stage. This was so personal. So intimate. The coolness of the cave air tightened my nipples, painfully so.

Ian gasped, “Beautiful. You are so beautiful.”

I cast my gaze downward, suddenly shy. Shame and fear filled me. Ian stiffened in response. Outrage threaded into my brain.

His thumb tilted my face upward. “I won’t hurt you. Not ever.”

With a tremor in my voice, I clarified, “No. I’m not afraid of you. It’s …I’ve never done it with someone I love.”

Ian took a short step back, my words moving him. Understanding lit his face. His gaze smoldered into mine, his emotions pushing into me. “I love you. No male will ever touch you again but me,” he paused to add, “if you want.”

“Yes. Only you.” I closed the distance between us. Moments later, I had Ian’s clothes off. His incandescent skin enhanced the myriad of tribal tattoos decorating his body. Unable to stop myself, I trailed my fingertips over the dark marks on his arms and chest.

Ian’s muscles vibrated under my touch. His cock, already erect, seemed to harden even more, brushing against my stomach as I circled around his back.

The globes of his ass clenched when I raked my fingernails along each cheek. A slow hiss escaped his lips, but he remained silent. The blue designs laced along the length of his spine, stopping at his lower back. “Incredible,” I murmured, pressing my lips against his broad muscular back.

A low moan came from Ian. I placed my hands on his hips and slowly kissed more of his gorgeous skin. Then, I traced my fingers up his spine, to his shoulders, stopping to stroke the silken strands of his gold hair.

Overwhelmed by the sensations of his body, I reached around his lean waist and hugged him for a moment. His hands covered mine with a slight tremble. Emotions swirled in my head. Lust, love, anticipation. The scent of our shared desire perfumed the air and mingled pleasantly with the aroma from the plants.

I sidled around the front, my neck craning to see Ian’s face. He looked down at me through hooded eyes, dark with intent.

Shivers of excitement danced across my skin when Ian latched his arms around my waist and lifted me up. Strong lips came down onto mine. The thread of control snapped between us. Our tongues tangled in a furious dance. Fangs scraped naked flesh, drawing thin lines of blood. As the smoky taste of our mingled blood filled my mouth, warmth crept through my veins.

Ian carried me across the room. Floating downward, cool cloth touched my back as I sank onto the pallet of blankets. The weight of Ian’s body pressed into me, his legs resting between my spread thighs. The tip of his erection teased my swollen pink flesh. I wriggled closer, rubbing against him, flooded by desire.

Ian reached down and steadied my hips. “I won’t last with you doing that, luv.” He trailed his finger down the inside of my thighs sending a million shivers into my body. With one swift motion, he angled my hips, spread me wider and plunged his mouth into my soft folds.

A million bolts of electricity battered against my skin. Pleasure poured into me as Ian sucked and nipped my secret flesh. Cries and moans escaped my lips.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Don’t you dare stop.”

Soft chuckles drifted from his mouth. “Don’t you worry, pet,” he said, English accent deeper and more pronounced. I saw a flash of fang. He scraped the sharp point across my clit. White hot heat blasted into me.

“Ian!” An orgasm ripped out of me, vibrating every cell in my body.

I laced my fingers through his hair, beckoning him upward. “I want you inside me.”

Ian broke away, damps fingers trailed up to my nipples. He tugged each one firmly, rocketing more pleasure through my body.

“Not yet,” he said against my inner thigh. I quivered in anticipation. My skin popped under his teeth. Ian lapped my blood, each swipe of his velvet tongue increasing my need.

My back arched. My hips ground against his mouth. Anything to sate the need to have him inside me.

Ian’s head shot up, a blue fire in his eyes. “You taste like the sweetest honey.”

His lips crashed into my mouth. His tongue tasted of my blood and sex. Fingers fisted my hair as he kissed me with feral passion. I wrapped my legs around his hips, my breasts smashed against his chest.

Ian’s lips left mine and latched onto my right nipple. His fingers reached down and rubbed my clitoris. The combinations of stroking and sucking sent me over the edge again. I cried out, my throat raw from the screams.

When Ian’s fangs pierced my left nipple, I raked gouges into his back. He growled and suckled me harder, blues eyes fixed on my face, watching me moan.

Ecstasy rode us both. Our emotions were so intertwined I wasn’t sure where I ended and he began.

I begged again, “Ian, please!”

He abruptly stopped. Fangs popped out of my skin leaving a warm trail of blood. His lips sought mine, the kiss gentle. He broke away and spoke words I didn’t understand. The intent sounded like an oath. His gaze locked onto mine, his strong hands lifted my hips. “Our blood, never to be parted. Our lives forever entwined.” The cuff bracelet flared to life.

I didn’t have time to wonder why.

With one firm stroke, he sheathed himself inside of me. Ian barked out a sharp groan. Pleasure filled my every pore as he rocked in and out. Enthralled, I watched the sharp, defined muscles of his abdomen ripple with each thrust. I arched my hips into each stroke, increasing the bliss between us. The heat from our shared blood warmed our flesh, slicking it with a thin sheen of sweat.

Fire built inside me. I moved faster. Ian’s pace increased to match mine.

“Cherry,” Ian gasped out. “Ah. God!”

Another orgasm rocketed through me. Spasms pulsed my inner muscles with body quaking force. Moments later Ian’s release came with shuddering impact. He laid his damp forehead on my breasts, body limp.

I couldn’t move a muscle if I wanted to. Ian recovered faster than me.
Age has its privileges
, I thought, too tired speak out loud. His chest rumbled with low laughter as if he heard me.

He licked the already healing puncture marks, sending more delicious waves of heat into my throbbing private parts.

“I have you like putty. Time to take it to the next level,” he said in his tart English accent.

At the look of astonishment on my face, he said, “Surely, you didn’t think I was only good for one round, did you?”

Oh my. Heat suffused my cheeks at the thought of what else he had planned.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ian was as good as his word. He had several rounds inside him, as my pleasantly sore and well used muscles could attest to. We lay twined together in the tangled blankets, the room filled with the heady perfume of our sex and sweat. Vampires could sweat when worked to enough exertion. We had given each other a thorough work-out.

I sighed, snuggling closer to Ian. “You know what I would love more than a mattress right now?”

“What, my love,” Ian purred into my ear. A familiar hardness pressing into my buttocks. The man had more energy than a nuclear power plant.

“A hot shower,” I moaned, curling into his embrace.

“Mmm. Agree. That would be nice,” Ian nuzzled my neck. A different hunger filled me.

I bared my throat, “Drink from me.”

Fangs bit into my skin. Ian gripped my shoulders, sucking with long pulls. The emotional connection between us strengthened each time we fed from each other. This time was no different. Ian’s feelings lay bare to me. Raw and unbridled, his love for me front and center. If I ever had any doubts about his sincerity, they washed away. Relief coursed through me.

Ian broke the connection between our bodies. “Never doubt my feelings for you.” The rawness in his voice drove home the point.

A batch of hot tears spilled.

“Don’t cry, Cherry.”

“I’m not sad, Ian. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” Like I would die if anything happened to him. Worse than the pain I felt when Jonathan died. The bond Ian and shared went deeper than even the sire bond.

“That’s love you’re feeling. The gut wrenching kind,” he said, wiping away my tears with his thumbs.

“I’m afraid of losing you.” Shakes rattled my body at the mere suggestion. The cuff bracelet awakened again. Ambient light emitted from its entire surface. Runes poured off it, spinning into the air between us.

Ian propped up on his elbows. “What the hell are these?”

“I don’t really know.” I tore my gaze away from the runes. “I think there’s something you should know.”

Ian listened intently as I told him about the ship’s spirit entity, Kasia. He took my lack of disclosure remarkably well. Sort of.

“I don’t even know where to start, Cherry. You could have confided in me sooner.” The short, clipped accent conveyed his irritation as accurately as the blood bond.

“We’ve been kinda of busy. And besides, Kasia can’t seem to communicate with me here. I haven’t thought about her since we got here.” I hope Kasia didn’t have feelings. Even though she couldn’t hear me, guilt washed over me.

“I’m not mad at you. From now on, we can’t keep secrets like this one. We have to find a way to connect back to the ship.”

I didn’t like the pensive vibe emitting from Ian. “What’s bothering you?”

“Thalia. The rogues have been monitoring the transmissions from Earth. She’s been hinting publicly she knows where we are.”

Fear stabbed into me. “She doesn’t have our ship. She could never make it here so quickly.”

“No,” he kissed my forehead, “she can’t. And even if she did, we’d stop her. Thalia has no power here. This is our world.”

The runes, which had been hanging in the air around us, spurred to life. With one concentrated movement, they smacked into Ian. Ian’s head snapped back, his eyes half closed.

“Ian!” I grabbed at the runes to no avail. They sank into his skin, disappearing from view. The runes embedded into his flesh, glowing softly, intermingling with the other tattoos.

Ian lay unblinking, immobile.

I banged his chest, unyielding as a rock. “No. Wake up.”

Strong hands fell onto my shoulders. “I’m fine.” The runes moved around his skin. Shudders quaked his abdominal muscles, “That tickles.”

I hugged him. “Do you feel any different?”

“Not really. Other than the movement feels odd,” he said, running his hands over his belly. “My other tattoos,” he pointed to older, more faded marks, “are spells for protection. Maybe the symbols serve a similar function.”

Or Ian was marked with an intergalactic “I heart Mom.”

When I studied the curve of the lines and compared them to the runes, the strong resemblance was more obvious. “I wonder what they mean. And why latch onto you?”

I exposed the cuff and waved it near Ian’s stomach. New patterns formed in the golden metal. My arm shot towards Ian like a rocket. Thin golden strands uncoiled from the cuff, snaked around his wrist, forming a matching cuff.

“Sweet mother of God!” Ian breathed out. “We’ve a matching set.”

“How can you joke at a time like this? We have no idea what these things do.” I wrapped his cuff with my knuckles. “You never know. We could be marked as slaves.”

“Or we could be the King and Queen of Mars.” He smiled, an impish glint lit his eyes.

“Be serious.” I eyed the jewelry with new suspicion. What if it was sentient like the ship? Could it be controlling us right now?

A light knock rapped on the front door. “Cherry? Ian? Are you decent?” Jay asked.

After all the times, I had to wait while he banged his girl du jour, I should’ve answered the door naked. Too bad it wouldn’t faze Jay in the least.

We quickly dressed.

Ian reached the door first. “Depends on what you mean by decent, mate.”

Jay glanced over at me out of habit. Satisfied I was in good condition, he sat in one of the plastic chairs and opened his laptop. “I really need you to see this. It can’t wait.”

Ian and I positioned our chairs so we could see the display. Excitement radiated off of Jay. Whatever he had to say must have been significant. Ian reached around to my chair and touched the nape of my neck. Curiosity buzzed in my head, a mix of mine and his.

“I’ve been analyzing the murals and I’ve figured a few things out. The beings depicted once lived on this planet.”

No shit
, sat on the tip of my tongue, but I held it. Jay would come to the point eventually.

“I haven’t been able to pinpoint when exactly they lived here, but it was at least a million years ago. Back before Homo Sapiens existed.” Mural images flashed across the screen.

“Here.” He tapped a key and the slideshow stopped. A few more keystrokes enlarged the image. “See this, the gold bracelet? It’s exactly like yours.”

A female figure, tall and resplendent in a flowing white robe stood above a crowd kneeling in supplication. White beams of light or energy streaked from the cuff.

“My bracelet hasn’t projected any lightning yet.” I pointed at the lines. “Is anyone else wearing one?”

“Funny you should ask.” Jay scrolled through images, landing on a picture of a man and woman. They stood side by side on a high, golden dais. Light from above shone down upon them.

Ian shot me a,
I told you so look
. “Is there any writing on these murals. Runes, perhaps?”

“Yes. Embedded in the pictures themselves or as captions around the borders. Without a Rosetta Stone of some kind, I can’t translate the words. They don’t match any written language on Earth.” Jay rubbed his chin. “I do believe your theory Ian. There were three races. You can tell by the color of their skin.”

“The gray skin, zombies. White skin for vampires and pale gray for revenants,” said Ian, stopping at each representative image.

“You’re both forgetting one big detail. We were made, not born. We started out as humans.” An important distinction. How could we be descended from aliens and yet start off human?

Ian stared off into the distance, muttering in a language I didn’t know. Sharp, yet lyrical it sounded the same as when we were making love. Warm tingles passed through me at the memory.

He smiled at me before switching to English again. “Long ago, when I was an acolyte, my father spoke of the Sky Gods. Beings from the night who escaped their world to hide among us. The Gods stayed hidden, but a few couldn’t resist humans. Eager to help, they learned our ways and mingled their blood lines with ours. Their offspring, god touched, were destined to become holy men and women: druids. Fated to communicate with the Gods and see to their will.” Ian exposed his chest again, fingers circling the ancient marks from his people.

Jay watched Ian before snapping his attention back to the laptop. “This picture’s similar to Ian’s tattoo. The circular one, to the left.” Jay touched Ian’s chest as if he was pointing to a chalkboard. Ian didn’t seem to care.

“The Ancients, as I like to call them, seemed to worship in a circle similar to this one.” The image on the screen, of a representative of each race standing in an intricately lined circle, was nearly identical to Ian’s markings.

“Oh my,” I paused at the items in each person’s hand. “The offerings. These are like the Moon Clan ceremony. One for flesh, one for blood, one for spirit. Decaii, Brunaii, Electii.”

At the sound of the words, my cuff and Ian’s sparked and crackled with bursts of blue and white light. Jay leapt out of his chair, laptop cradled in his arms, staring at them as though live snakes had entered the room.

After a moment the bracelets calmed down. Ian motioned to Jay, “Do you have photos of the runes?”

Jay nodded and sat back down.

I eyed my bracelet and suggested, “Translation?”

“Hey, if it can act like a compass, why not try it?” Ian angled the cuff at the screen and commanded, “Translate.”

Nothing happened. He experimented with different words and angle. Still bupkiss.

I sighed, “Let me try.” I waved my arm in the computer’s direction, “Read the words, in English.”

There was a sharp bang. I was flat on my back, head spinning, the room unfocused. Cotton clogged my raw and sore throat. “What happened,” I croaked.

Ian and Jay peered over me, relief clear as day on their worried faces. Ian knelt down and held a juice pouch to my lips. “Drink. No talking,” he said. When I finished it, he bit his wrist and ordered me to drink from him.

His rich blood eased the hurt in my throat. Snippets of memory came back to me. White hot light scorched my skin. My mind was bathed in ancient knowledge. A female voice spoke for hours, imparting wisdom and the story of her people.

Only after fifteen minutes of quiet, while Ian and Jay spoke in whispers outside of the cottage, was I allowed to talk again. I didn’t mind. Heaviness weighed down my limbs. Despite Ian’s healing blood, lethargy seeped into my bones. I could have slept for hours. I may have closed my eyes for an hour or three.

“Cherry,” someone rocked my body. I swatted them away. The lady came back and told me more stories. Wonderful vistas came alive with her words: blue skies, green fields, floating blue walkways. It made sense as I watched the story unfold.

The people were happy. I was happy. The world bountiful. Then the balance was wrong. We tried to save the plants, the animals. Mages created new alchemies to change our bodies to adapt, but it wasn’t enough. They said we had to leave or we would die.

“Love, wake up.” Worry. Ian. Lips pressed against my forehead. “Drink.” Warm liquid coated my throat. I resisted. The story must be completed.

More insistent prodding. Panicked pleas disturbed my rest. Worry, worry, worry.

I cracked my leaden eyes open. The story wasn’t over yet. “Let me sleep some more.”

“No. You’ve been out for two days,” my lover said, his face dark with concern. “Please, Cherry.”

Agony flooded my mind. Ian’s fear for my safety beat against me like a heart.

“Fight this. Release your mind,” Ian pleaded.

Sensation returned to my hands first. The clench of his fingers, knuckles pressed into mine. I latched onto the feeling. Anchored it to me as the tendril of the story reached out –
we’re not done yet
.

“Yes, we are,” I said out loud. “I don’t want to hear anymore right now. If you want to be heard, go into the laptop.”

Laptop?
The voice puzzled, then read my mind, grasping my intention.

As you wish.
A blue wisp snaked out of my mouth. With blurring speed the entity was gone.

Outside, Jay yelped, “What the fuck?” Footsteps padded into the bedroom. “Some freaky blue cloud jumped into my computer.”

“Go with it, Jay,” I said, flopping onto my side. The blankets were tangled around my legs. Big mistake. The room dipped and bobbed like a cork on the ocean.

“Hey, you’re finally awake,” Jay smiled.

“Yup.” I yawned and stretched slowly. “So what happened to me?”

Jay and Ian took turns filling me in. After I commanded the bracelet to read the text, I turned into Chatty Cathy, speaking non-stop for almost twenty-four hours. Once my body collapsed from exhaustion, I went into a deep sleep, muttering and thrashing for another two days. Every attempt to revive me, except the one I recalled involving the juice, had failed.

“I was afraid, you’d never snap out of it,” Ian leaned over, smoothing my hair away from my face. “Jesus. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“I’ll second that,” Jay added.

“The whole time, I could feel another presence in your mind.” Ian tapped his forehead. “The emotions, the patterns were not yours.”