Safeword: Storm Clouds (3 page)

With her harness securely arranged, and with a little bit of instruction about how the rope system worked with the harness, he made her go down the boulder he'd attached the rope to. The drop-off of was about ten or twelve feet, and he said she needed to go down it to make sure she had the hang of it and get some experience before they went over the side of the mountain. One side of the boulder was slanted with lots of stepping places so it was easy to go up, the other side was almost vertical so it made a nice place to get the hang of things. She loved the patient and self-assured way he showed her how to maneuver the ropes, and how to use her arms, legs, and body to control her descent. He made her come down the boulder twice by herself and when he saw she'd figured it out he walked her to the edge of the mountain, made sure she was hooked up correctly, and then asked her if she was sure.

"Of course I'm sure. You first or me first?"

Once they were over the side and hanging there side by side Eric seemed surprised that she had just gone over without really thinking about it. "Are you sure you haven't done this before? You don't seem comfortable with the ropes, but you aren't afraid, there was no hesitation at all about dropping down and trusting the rope. That's pretty unusual, even hard core adrenaline junkies are usually hesitant their first time, even if only for a few seconds."

"I've watched you making all of the preparations, doing something and then double-checking it, even making me wear this silly hat. You seem to know what you're doing and you are taking safety seriously. I got an idea of what we're doing on the boulder and it all seems safe enough to me, there is this big strong rope and this harness that I can't come out of. And it's kind of exhilarating to be here hanging off the side of the mountain with the view of the city off in the distance. I like this, now watch me a second and make sure I've got the ropes all where they are supposed to be so I can let myself down."

She wished she could just say, "I'm a vampire, I can fly. If the rope breaks I'll just fly back up." But it was too early for that.

They rappelled down a good ways until they were on a natural shelf area and Eric said it was time to get out of the harnesses and hike back up, that if they walked along this shelf a bit it met up with a hiking trail that wound its way up to the top.

"I figured we'd climb back up the way we came. I was kind of looking forward to it, actually."

He looked doubtful. “It's possible, but that's more for an experienced climber. It's harder to look for hand and foot holds while dealing with the rope. This is your first time, you did great, but it might be pushing it to try a climb tonight."

"I'd really like to try. I've done the climbing walls, where you don't have to deal with the rope, someone else does it for you. I was thinking it would be fun to climb back up a real cliff instead of an artificial climbing wall."

He sighed. “Okay, we'll go up about ten feet and if I think you can handle it we'll keep going, otherwise we come back down and hike up. Deal?"

"Deal. Thanks Eric."

He finagled with her ropes a minute, instructing her how to manage them going back up, and then patiently talked her through it as he stayed by her side as she climbed. At ten feet she was figuring out the ropes okay. Climbing was no problem for her, but he insisted she keep working the rope so if she fell the rope would catch her, and that part was a bit tricky. At one point they were near the top and having to pull themselves up by just the rope because the cliff was kind of inverted there, and he pulled her to him and kissed her. Not a gentle first kiss, but a kiss that meant business, it quite literally took her breath away. He wasn't rough, but there was no doubt he was in control of what was happening and she was just along for the ride. When he'd thoroughly kissed her and she had gone from zero to a thousand on the horny scale, he gently let her go, making sure she was situated with her ropes the right way and ready to start ascending again. It took her a couple of attempts to get coordinated again, and when she did the first thought she had was that he'd kissed her like a natural Dom. Hanging in her harness and being kissed by him, with him in control, had practically melted her. She told herself it was just because he was in teacher mode and she was in student mode. She'd never submitted sexually to a human and had no intention of ever doing so. Plus, it would never work for a human companion to be Dominant. Never. She'd need to give him a kiss at the top to balance the scales.

But that didn't happen. As he helped her get out of her harness and they pulled the rope up from the side of the mountain, she found herself following instructions and she was incredibly turned on by his gentle but quietly commanding voice. She had never submitted to a human and hadn't submitted even to a vampire in well over a thousand years. Vampire society is all about the hierarchy, about how powerful you are. And vampire sex is full of adventure – if you live thousands of years, you've got to make it interesting. But a strong vampire would never submit to a weaker vampire. The two might have vanilla sex, but if sex goes off into a power exchange then it just isn't possible for a weaker vampire to exert any kind of power over a stronger more powerful vampire. With vampires it's not so much physical strength as it is metaphysical strength, and Kendra was incredibly powerful both physically and metaphysically. She could have her own territory if she wanted it, but she didn't want that. She was happy staying with Abbot and helping him keep his power base intact. If she wasn't under a Master Vampire who led in a way she could respect, then she'd have taken on her own territory in a heartbeat. But she respected Abbot and had no problems with the way he ran his territory. She was proud to be his third in command.

So why in the hell was she feeling like following this human's instructions? Why was she getting turned on by it? Time to take control.

Kendra quickly stepped closer to Eric and very quickly but carefully picked him up and then laid him down on the ground, being careful to slow down just before he touched the ground so he went down gently. She did it at full vampire speed, so he'd just sense standing there one moment and then laying on his back the next, without it hurting. She sat on his legs and leaned forward and kissed him. And kept kissing him, with no doubt as to who was controlling the kiss this time. When he reached up with his hands to put them around her she gently but firmly took them and put them on the ground beside his head and held them there. About ten seconds later when she felt him start to resist, she smoothly stood up and reached her hand down to help him up.

He gave her a wary eye and rolled his body up and was standing all in one motion, deliberately not accepting the offer of her hand to help him up. Once he was up he quietly asked, "You were trying to make a point with that?"

"Did you enjoy it?"

He closed his eyes for a second or two and opened them, shaking his head and talking in a nice conversational style, still not upset or flustered in any way. "Oh, this is rich. I begin to wonder if maybe I've met someone I might want to have a relationship with and it turns out she's a Domme. Is that it?"

"You're telling me you're a Dom, too?"

He turned away from her to walk towards the trees that the ropes were tied off to. "Yeah, and you seemed to be responding like a natural submissive right up until I found myself flat on my back." He stopped at the first tree and turned to give her a lopsided smile. “You sure you aren't a switch?"

She returned the lopsided smile. "Positive. You still haven't answered whether you enjoyed it or not. You responded like you did."

"I kissed you back, the kiss was nice, but being dominated didn't do anything for me."

Damn, he was telling the truth. She'd picked up the quickened pulse and thought it was lust, but it wasn't, it was just the rush of it, the adrenaline. He'd enjoyed the kiss for the sake of the kiss, but not because of some latent submissive tendency. She didn't smell the kind of lust she'd smell if he was being turned on by her dominance. But, there had been that adrenaline rush, so she tried that angle. "How big of an adrenaline rush do you think you would have under my control? Isn't that what you liked about what I just did? The unknown? You've never had a woman able to lay you down and take control like that. And when I put your arms down, you didn't fight me. Not at first. As soon as you resisted I pulled back and stood up. I'm not into force, I'll only take you if you submit. But if you submit, I guarantee you an adrenaline rush."

"And I can guarantee you mind blowing orgasms if you submit. Are you suggesting we switch? You one night and me the next?"

Kendra smiled. “No, actually, I was just suggesting that you submit to me."

He shook his head as he disconnected the webbing from one of the trees. "I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. Once a relationship is established I might agree to submit to you for one night just for the adrenaline rush, but I'm wired as a Dom and that's the only way a relationship with me will work. I've tried vanilla with people who weren't into power exchange and it's just a road to heartache because it isn't enough for me. I don't date like a normal guy, my only relationships now are with people I know are in the lifestyle before we even start. But something about you made me want to learn more about you. That kiss on the way back up was so I could see if you had submissive tendencies. And you do. Deny it if you want but you responded, I didn't imagine that. You responded to the kiss and you responded to my instructions once we were back up on top."

Kendra thought about it. She liked this human, and he'd be a great companion. If she could, well,
tame
him into it. And she didn't see how that would happen if she submitted to him. But, damn, he was right – she was turned on when he kissed her while they were in the harnesses.

She deflected the conversation. “Can I help you pack the ropes up, or are you picky about the way they get stored?"

He smiled. “I'm picky about the way they get stored. Just sit and we'll talk while I do this, don't feel like you need to help. If we do this a lot I'll show you how I like it done, but tonight it will be easier for me to just do this part of it myself."

"Give me a minute. I'm going to walk into the woods a second while you do that."

He shook his head as he worked, "It's not safe to walk around on the edge of a cliff at night. If you just need a minute to think then sit there and do it and I'll be quiet while you think."

She wanted to argue about her night vision but decided it wasn't worth it. So she just walked a few steps and sat down on a rock that was the perfect size for a seat, and sent the feelers in her mind out to Abbot.

Abbot?

Just a minute Kendra, let me finish up what I'm doing. Are you okay?

I'm okay, just need some advice.

Okay, just a minute or two, please.

And, true to his word, a few minutes later he came back with,
Now you have my undivided attention.

I found a human tonight who will make an excellent human companion. He's so full of life. And we really hit it off. He took me rappelling off the side of a mountain tonight. Anyway, turns out he's a Dom. And, when he kissed me, I felt, well, I reacted. You know, like a submissive. It's been over a thousand years since I submitted to one of us, and I've never submitted to a human. I know this is hopeless, but Abbot, he's so full of life. I've only known him a few hours but I don't want to walk away from him. What's going on? And how in the hell could it work for me to submit to him anyway? I'm so much stronger than he is, there is no way he'd ever be able to overpower me.

Human men submit to human women who are weaker than them all of the time Kendra. For humans it isn't about who is stronger, it's all about an agreement to exchange power. An agreement that one is turned on by submitting and the other is turned on by being in control. You may have some challenges to your status if it gets out that you are submitting to a human, but once you make a few examples of those who challenge you no one else will say anything. If you find yourself wanting to submit to him, go for it. I'll back you with the other vampires if anything is said about it. I'd have a hard time doing it if you wanted to submit to another vampire of course, but submitting to a human doesn't effect the vampire hierarchy.

But, if he's in control, how can he be a human companion? I need to be in control in order to feed from him.

I've never done it myself, but I know that other vampires have made it work. I can't give you any advice other than to say it's possible.

I think he needs to know I'm a vampire before we go much farther. He needs to understand I'm stronger than he is. Normally there is more of a relationship established before we talk about that, but in this case he needs to know before he and I start talking about limits or he'll never understand why my limits are going to be so far out there.

Okay, set a time with him. I can get away tomorrow night if you want to meet him around 8:00, either at his house if he lives alone, or bring him to the coterie house. I'll help you tell him and make sure the binding takes.

Kendra wasn't terribly sure about this but she was willing to give it a try to see what happened. She wanted to taste of this man, not just his blood, but his life force. But more than that, she wanted to spend time with him and get to know him. When you live for thousands of years you tend to pay attention when someone pops into your life who might have the ability to bring some excitement. She wasn't willing to submit to him around the other vampires until she was sure it would work, but once she was sure it would work then she'd figure out how to deal with them.

"Eric. Come give me another kiss."

He gave her a lazy smile as he looped the rope around itself. "You giving me an order? I think we've already covered the fact that I'm used to being the one giving orders."

Yep, that settled it, that extra little twinge she felt between her legs meant she was indeed responding to his dominance. She'd go ahead and say it the way she figured he wanted to hear it. "Eric, please come give me another kiss."