The Turning Kiss (9 page)

“Just fucking you…” He gasped. “Gods, you feel better than… Ah, Ilana!”

“Calam, yes!”

His entire body stiffened, and he kissed her hard as he came. His come was hot inside her, his cock pulsing. And his tongue drove into her mouth. He was eating her up, swallowing her moans of pleasure as her pussy swallowed his still-rigid cock, his come.

His hands moved up to grip her wrists beneath the leather band of the cuffs. His breath was rasping against her lips. Then he lowered his head, kissed her throat gently. Tenderly.

She wanted to cry. At the sheer beauty of the two of them together. Her chest ached with it.

Eventually she because vaguely aware of Luka and Konstantine watching them, standing naked together a foot or two away, their hands stroking each other’s cocks. And as she and Calam panted together, their minds beginning to recover, she saw Luka come into Konstantine’s fist. Then Konstantine pushing Luka down on the hard marble floor, bending over him and impaling him with his enormous, beautiful cock.

Their fucking was fast and fierce, as it could be only between two vampires. Their bodies were so perfect together. Flawless. But Calam was kissing her throat softly, and it was hard to keep her focus on the vampire pair.

“Calam,” she whispered.

He pulled away, his silvery-gray gaze on her face. “My love,” he answered, his tone low. Reverent.

She did cry then, the tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Calam, is this true?”

“Aye. You are my love.”

His brows were drawn together. He was waiting for her to answer. But she needed a moment to breathe. Because it struck her only then that she loved him. Calam. That fact was undeniable. Inescapable. She didn’t want to escape it. She wanted only to be with him.

“Tell me why you cry, Ilana,” he said. His voice was low still, yet it was as much a command as any of the vampires had ever given her. “Is it because you don’t want to love me? Because I’m human, and can’t give you eternal life?”

“Calam, I don’t know. I don’t know that…I want it. Not enough. Not enough to give up being with you. I love you. I do.”

He buried his face in her neck then, his arms wrapping around her waist. She heard Konstantine’s roar as he came into Luka’s body. But she couldn’t look at them. Instead, she closed her eyes, breathing in Calam’s scent.

She never wanted to know what a day was like without him. His scent. His body. His
presence.

But for the moment, they belonged to Luka and Konstantine. They had agreed to the rules of the club. Had, by entering this place the very first time, agreed to accept all the vampires had to offer. And now, it might be that the only way they could be together was to reject them. To reject the one thing that had drawn them together in the first place. The idea of living forever. The power of the vampires. Because it was possible they would, in the end, choose only one of them. And even if both were chosen, they would be as bound to Luka and Konstantine as they would be to each other. More so.

She wasn’t sure she could stand that. To share Calam with anyone. To be shared herself.

She loved him. And he loved her. Impossible. Amazing.

But what were they going to do? She didn’t have an answer.

Chapter Six

It was Luka who came to pull Calam off her. Who gently released her from the cuffs. The chains fell at her sides with a dull clink. He rubbed her wrists, checking to make certain her circulation was good. He was sweet with her, as he so often was, and a part of her heart cried out for him. But that cry was not nearly as sharp, as keen, as her need for Calam.

Luka picked her up and carried her to one of the couches, laid her down so that her head was in Calam’s lap. He laid a blanket over them both.

“Luka…”

“What is it, beauty?”

“You are so kind.”

He smiled, his sharp eyeteeth glinting. “That is because I have a great love for you, Ilana. For you both. I want only what is best for you.”

The tears were starting again.

“Luka…” But her throat was too tight with emotion to finish her sentence.

“It’s all right.” He reached down, stroked her hair from her face. “We know, and we understand. We will talk of this, all of us. But you must rest first.”

He got down on his knees, and as he pulled her wrist to his mouth, she felt Calam’s strong arms tighten around her, holding her close as Luka bit and began to drink.

Konstantine was leaning close. “Sleep now, our princess, who is made of ice no longer. And when you wake, we will come to a decision. All of us, together.”

His voice was fading fast as she saw once more Luka and Konstantine through Luka’s mind. Traveling by horseback through a dark countryside. Felt their great joy in each other as they flew through the night, the sound of hooves hammering the earth beneath them.

They had been to the Midnight Playground clubs in Paris, Vienna, Prague. Had seen humans and vampires of every description. Beauty beyond any ability to take it in. And yet, their love had endured for a century and a half. It would endure still. With or without her. Calam.

As she sank into the dark and dreamless sleep the Seeking Kiss brought, she didn’t know if that frightened or comforted her.

She came awake to find herself on the small couch in their room, wrapped in a silk robe. Ever was bent over her. His face was so beautiful it made her ache. An ache that went beyond physical desire, or even any emotion as she’d ever known it. Pale as fine china, his cheekbones high, his mouth lush. His eyes were that silent jet black. Bottomless. Unreadable, except for the pain that always lurked there, like a shadow.

“Ever…” She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up. But her mind was filled with a misty grogginess.

“I woke you before your body was ready. I want to talk with you, Ilana.”

“With me?”

“There is something I see in you…”

He turned from her for a moment. She followed his gaze to the high windows. Outside, the sun was setting, the darkening sky ablaze with the orange and pink caused by clouds of smoke from a fire or a bomb somewhere nearby.

She glanced at the bed where Calam lay, deeply asleep.

“Ilana…” Ever was watching her, a strange expression on his exquisite face, his pale brows drawn together. “I need to tell you something I know.”

“What is it?”

If only she could really wake up. She knew it must be something important, for him to have come to her like this. She couldn’t figure out why he’d do such a thing, the old and powerful vampire who ran the Midnight Playground.

“I know something of pain. Too much, perhaps. As you do. As Calam does. This is part of what binds the two of you. Yes, I know. Of course I do.”

He smiled then, an odd sort of grimace, almost, that made her heart hurt.

He laid his hand on her arm. “Do not run too much from your pain, Ilana. As I have done. As Calam has done.”

“Ever…I’m trying to understand. But why are you telling me this?”

He shrugged. “Times change. And even the oldest of us must change as well. Learn to think differently. It has occurred to me that perhaps living forever isn’t truly an escape after all. It can bring its own pain, of a different kind. And I am telling you because…I know that I
can
. That I can say these things to you.”

She sat up. “Ever, are you all right?”

“I always am,” he answered, but she felt for some reason it wasn’t entirely true. “Just remember that it’s all right to feel. Remember before it’s too late.”

She shook her head, trying to figure out what he was trying to tell her. But before she could say anything, Konstantine came into the room. Ever looked up, and as Konstantine laid a hand on Ever’s shoulder, Ever nodded at some silent exchange between them.

“Let the girl sleep now,” Konstantine said. “All will be well. All will be as it should.”

Ever stood, lifting Ilana, laid her down in the big bed next to Calam’s warm body.

“Remember what I said,” he told her, his voice soft.

The two vampires left. Her mind was spinning. She tried to figure out what the conversation was supposed to mean for her. But she was so tired, her mind going dark. She slept.

Calam sat on the settee in their rooms in the Midnight Playground, watching Ilana sleep. He’d woken himself only an hour earlier. He’d wanted her to wake too badly. He’d left the bed so he would allow her to rest.

It was dark outside, and he knew a day had passed since their evening in the dungeon. The moon was high outside the windows tonight, casting blue-washed light over everything. She lay on her side, the sheets pooled around her slim waist, her bare skin pale and silvery in the moonlight. Her breasts were two miraculous curves of flesh, the nipples hard and pink even as she slept.

She was perfect. Perfect for him. How could any other woman ever understand him the way she did? His desire for pain. His search for immortality. The suffering and loss of his past. She felt it, even though he hadn’t told her the details.

He’d never told anyone. He’d left Edinburgh after that one terrible night. He couldn’t face telling anyone, not when the ones he truly cared for were gone. There was no one left he wanted to talk to.

Until Ilana.

He sipped the wine that had been left there for them, letting the crystal glass rest against his lip as he watched her. Her breathing was shallow, making her shoulders, her lovely breasts, rise and fall in a gentle rhythm.

This woman made him ache. To hold her. Kiss her mouth. No one had ever done that to him before. It was something powerful. Special. Something he didn’t want to let go.

They had decisions to make. And they had to make them together. He prayed he would be able to live with the outcome. But before they could decide, he had things to tell her. About his past, who he’d been before coming to the Midnight Playground. His real reasons for being there.

He couldn’t wait suddenly. He wrapped the silk robe tighter around his body and went to the bed, sat on the edge. He reached for her, stroked his palm over her shoulder. Skin like pure satin. That sleek. That smooth.

“Ilana,” he said quietly. “Ilana, wake up, love.”

She stirred, smiled even before she opened her eyes.

“Calam. You’re here.”

“Where else would I be?”

Why did that thought make his chest go tight?

“I’m glad,” she said simply, reaching for him. He leaned in, brushed a kiss across her sweet mouth, then pulled back.

“Here, drink some wine. Restore yourself.”

She sat up, leaning against the pillows. He held the cup to her lips, helped her to drink until she was able to hold the glass herself.

“Calam, you look worried.”

He nodded. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes. I don’t want to be but…everything has changed.” She paused, pushed her heavy blonde hair from her face. “Everything is…complicated. It all used to be so clear to me.”

“For me, as well. I’ve been thinking about it. But I haven’t come to any conclusions. I think we’ll need to do that together.”

“Yes. And with Konstantine and Luka. We’ll need to know what they’ve decided. Because while Konstantine said they were ready to offer to both of us, that may have changed since…since we love each other. And, Calam, it’s not that I don’t love them too. But it’s different with you. ”

The tears brimming in her glorious blue eyes hurt to see. He slid his palm over her cheek, rubbed at the corner of her eye, felt the dampness on his thumb.

“Ilana, there are other things we must talk about first,” he said.

“Other things?”

“I’ve held certain aspects of my life from you. Well, from everyone. For so long it’s become habit. But before we go forward, and whatever we choose, I want you to know me. All of me. I haven’t always led an exemplary life.”

“I figured as much, with you living on the streets when you were younger. It doesn’t matter. But tell me what else, Calam.”

He closed his eyes, bringing to mind the abandoned house they’d lived in. It was dark, most of the time, unless someone could pinch enough candle wax to light the place, which didn’t happen often.

He remembered their faces, every one of them.

He winced.

“Calam?”

He nodded. “Let me tell you, Ilana, of my brothers and sisters of the streets. There were six of us when I joined, let go by my mother, as I was. The others had much the same stories. Orphaned, mostly. Given up by parents who couldn’t feed them. So we joined together, lived in an old warehouse. Gathered blankets, old furniture. Whatever we could find. Or steal.” He looked up at her then, but saw nothing but sympathy in her eyes. “That’s how we got by. I needed you to know that. I’m not proud of it.”

“We all do what we must in this world to survive. Do you think I’m any prouder of having my body sold?”

“But that wasn’t your choice, Ilana.”

“Neither was it yours to be left to fend for yourself on the streets as a ten-year-old child, Calam. None of those things change how I feel about you. Tell me the rest. I can see there’s more.”

“All right. There
is
more.” He stopped, drew in a long breath, relieved to be past that first hurdle. He should have known she’d never have judged him. “We grew, until there were eleven of us,” he went on. “And we cared for our own, any way we could. By the end, some of the kids were as young as six. My Toby, he was only six years old when we found him. He was red-haired, just like me.”

“Where is he now?” Ilana asked.

His chest tightened, his throat, so that he had to swallow past the hard lump there. “Gone, along with the rest of them.”

“Gone how?”

“It was my fault, you see.” It hurt to say it out loud. But he felt he had to. “I was nineteen by then. The oldest. I went out one night. Carousing as boys that age do. Drinking. Gambling a bit. I stumbled home early in the morning. And it was gone. And all of them with it.”

“Gone? What do you mean?” Ilana asked, leaning forward, her pale brows drawn in concern. Her hand was on his forearm, hanging on tight.

He steeled himself before saying the words. Words he’d never spoken to anyone.

“Dead. All of my…family. There was a bombing. Don’t know why. But the place was nothing but rubble. I dug for four days, just in case. But all I found was…some remains. Barely recognizable. Never a trace of my Toby.” He paused, drew a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have left them alone. I shouldn’t have left them.”