Chapter Twenty-Four
It was a trick. I knew it was a trick, yet I didn't care. Moaning, I deepened the kiss, feeding at Winter's mouth as I hadn't had a chance to do in years. Everything I had felt when Winter had left me came crashing forth, fueling my need for him. He responded to me with eagerness, his arms going around my waist and pulling my body as tightly to his as he could. I suppose the fact that it was both aspects of me--Mikhail and the slayer--kissing him now that heightened his enthusiasm. I ran my hands through his curly black hair, winding it around my fingers and pulling. He groaned; he had always liked his hair pulled.
A few moments later I felt a warmth against my back, and hot breath on my neck. Stavros' mouth hovered above the scar there, before proceeding to nuzzle the hollow between my throat and shoulder. Winter's mouth left mine and kissed a trail along my jawline, before moving to the opposite side of my neck from Stavros. I should have known what they would do next, but I wasn't thinking clearly, and didn't try to stop them.
Both vampires reared back and then sank their fangs into my neck. I let out a hiss of something not entirely pain; my knees went weak with the sensations they were causing me, and only their arms around me kept me upright. Both of them fed at my neck and it felt so fucking good. Better than anything I'd ever felt before.
They pulled away from me, and suddenly I was in Stavros' arms, and he was carrying me to the bed. Laying me down, Stavros crawled to one side of me while Winter crawled to the other. They both started to undress me, Stavros pulling off my T-shirt and bra, while Winter took care of the pants and underwear. Suddenly we were all a mass of naked, quivering flesh. Stavros watched, his hands holding my head in his lap, while Winter kissed a trail down from my breasts to that area between the bottom of my stomach and my most sensitive of areas. Looking up at us and smiling, he sank his teeth in there. I cried out, my back arching. Stavros leaned down to my breast and took my nipple into his mouth. I bit my lip in ecstasy, my teeth--which had elongated into fangs--drawing blood. Stavros then, without any warning, moved to the side of my breast where he, too, sank his teeth into me once more.
They continued to draw my blood, and even as I was enjoying the sensations, I could feel myself growing weak. They were taking blood from me, but I wasn't getting any back. And then I realized exactly what trick they were playing.
"No," I said. I moved against them, trying to get away, but they held me too tightly. They were going to bleed me out. "Stop this! You only harm the girl if you continue!"
Winter broke away from me, then, sitting up with a snarl. He wiped the red from his lips. Stavros sat up, too, and they shared a triumphant look. I hissed at them.
"Congratulations," I said. "You've weakened me, but you've damaged your precious vampire slayer. Now you know what you must do, and you know she'll never forgive you for it."
Stavros just looked down at me. "I think it's time you left," he said, and then pushed his cold power into my mind. My breath came in a gasp; a weight was lifted. And suddenly, I was myself again.
I gasped again, this time as the pain from the bite wounds came to me. I was feeling weak; they had taken so much blood to weaken Mikhail, and with each second that passed I was only bleeding out more. "What did he mean?" I asked, my voice breathy. "What do you have to do?"
"I feel like I should apologize to you again," Winter said.
Stavros shook his head. "What we're about to do can't be any worse than what we've already done."
I looked to both of them, moving my head as much as the pain in my neck would allow. I tried asking my question again. "What. Do. You. Have. To. Do?"
"We must keep drinking," Stavros said. "We have to finish what we started."
I didn't like that. I didn't like that at all. "What have you done?"
He had the grace to look apologetic. "We took the first step to making you our human consort."
I swallowed, even that simple action painful. I couldn't believe what he was telling me. Me, a human consort? I had already been through this once before with a vampire. I didn't want to be a human consort, a slave to a master vampire's every whim. And I didn't want to live forever, which was what being a consort entailed.
"No!" I moaned, closing my eyes. "Just let me die, then."
"We can't do that," Winter said. "We need you."
"I hate you." As soon as the words had come out of my mouth I knew that, in this moment, at least, they were true. "I hate you both."
"It was bound to happen eventually," Stavros said, and I wasn't sure what he was talking about--me hating them, or me becoming his human consort. Gently he pulled me up until I was cradled against his chest. Then, moving my head a fraction to the side, he plunged his fangs into wound he had made on my neck earlier. I gave a little gasp of pain; it didn't feel nearly as good once the sadist that sometimes occupied my head was gone. Winter settled once more between my legs, and commenced to use his tongue on me. I completely forgot about the pain in my neck as Winter took the most sensitive part of my anatomy and sucked on it through the gap between his fangs. My eyes fluttered, my mouth open in an 'O' of pleasure. And all the while as Winter plundered me with his mouth, Stavros drank even more of my blood.
When the first waves of orgasm hit me, and I cried out and curled my toes against the bed, Winter sat up, looking about as intoxicated as I felt. He gave Stavros a look. "My turn," he said, his voice dark and echoing with his power. Stavros relinquished his hold on me and passed me to Winter, who cradled me against his chest in the same fashion that Stavros had. Stavros, in the mean time, knelt between my legs. With my upper body supported by Winter, Stavros lifted me by my hips until I was suspended between them. Then, he lowered me onto him, and at that moment I was lost. He began sliding in and out of me, sending waves of pleasure throughout my body. Winter lowered his lips to mine and kissed me, the kiss itself hungry. As my tongue danced with Winter's, I tasted something coppery, salty. I realized it was the taste of my blood. I was swapping my own blood with a vampire. How had I come to this?
As Stavros' thrusts became more hurried, Winter moved from my mouth to my neck, drinking from the sound wound as Stavros. I was too weak now to do anything but lay there, moaning at the feelings both of them caused. My vision was blurred, and despite their ministrations I was beginning to become cold. My eyes fluttered closed, and I slumped against Winter. He broke away from my throat just as Stavros came inside me. "She is at the point of death," Winter said. I could still hear him, but he sounded far away, his voice tinny.
"We do not have much time, then," Stavros answered. The two of them turned my nearly lifeless body until Stavros was once again supporting my upper body, and this time it was Winter who drove himself into me. My muscles stretched; while Stavros was large, Winter was larger. It did not take long for Winter, who had been excited since he first kissed Mikhail in my body, to finish, and soon his seed was mixing with Stavros'.
They laid me between them on the bed and each one bit their wrists--I could tell from the squelchy sound the skin made as it opened. They both put their wrists above my face, drops of their blood falling on my lips. "Drink," Stavros said.
I barely shook my head. I was weak, so weak, and for some reason the blood smelled so good, but I wouldn't drink. I'd die before I became human consort to either of them.
And then I heard Mikhail's voice as a breeze in my head, and knew he had been watching the whole time. Stavros had kept him from re-taking control over my mind, but we were still connected, Mikhail and I. He had seen it all, and he knew what Winter and Stavros were doing.
You will drink, Kayla, he whispered to me. Today is not your day to die.
"Fuck you," I whispered, and the vampires' blood entered my mouth.
--
I felt like I was lost beneath an ocean of black. Out of the darkness, every once in a while, I could hear voices.
"Is she...dead?"
"No, not dead. Sleeping. She has to sleep to recover."
"And when she wakes up, she'll be...?"
"I'm afraid so."
I stirred, and groaned. Every inch of my body hurt. Even places I wasn't aware I had hurt. I heard people rushing to my bedside. My eyes opened. Even the very dim lights of Winter's bedroom hurt, but I kept them open, and stared at the faces of all those who surrounded me.
Winter and Stavros were there, beside them was Chase, his faced etched in worry. Morgana was there and even she didn't seem like her usual snarky self. I saw Helenda the witch, Vaughn, Broderick, Frithick, Ardian, and the dragons, Shadow, Thorn, and Tempest. The only people not there were Antonio and Bashkim. They had probably already deserted.
Chase sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a warm hand on my forehead, which was clammy with sweat. "Hey, there," he whispered. "How're you feeling?"
I gave as much of a shrug as I could manage. "Everything hurts like a bitch, and I'm tired as hell. I guess you could say I'm fine, as far as things go."
He rolled his eyes. "I can see your sarcasm is perfectly intact."
"So..." I whispered, "if I'm in pain, then that means I'm not a vampire, right?"
"Right," Chase said. "They didn't turn you into a vampire. You're a human consort, somewhere between a snack and a human servant."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "So I won't live forever?"
He shook his head. "Not forever, no, but it does take more to kill you now."
"That's not necessarily a bad thing," I told him. He laughed, but his eyes were sad.
"I know."
I knew the others were all listening to our conversation, but I didn't give a fuck. I felt horrible, lower than I'd ever felt in my entire life. I felt like, because I had had sex with Winter and Stavros--although it sort of was involuntary on my part--I had betrayed Chase. "Do you hate me?" I asked him.
He frowned. "Why would I hate you?"
I sighed. "Because I had sex with them."
"Hey," he said, taking my hand. "They were doing what they had to do to get Mikhail out of your mind. If the sex saved you, then I don't really care." I smiled at him, chuckling a bit. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"You know," I said. "I think I'm starting to love you."
He leaned forward and kissed my lips. "I know."
