I rolled my head from side to side, trying to loosen muscles made tight
by stress and the cold of the room. I spend a lot of time underground, but
after you sit on hard stone for several hours it starts to wear on the
body. It felt like dawn was a couple of hours away, three at the most,
which meant we'd been in here close to five hours. Long enough to be missed.
Problem was, nobody knew where we were.
I sighed for what must have been the millionth time and worked my way up the
wall into a standing position. Stupid Olaf and his stupid psychopathic crush.
Stupid me for underestimating him and falling into his trap. I didn't know
exactly why Olaf wanted me here, but it couldn't be good. We were well and truly stuck.
"If you keep huffing like that you'll use up all the oxygen."
Oh yeah. Stupid Edward, too, for falling for Olaf's trap with me. Actually, it
made me feel a little better. If Edward was here, then I wasn't a complete idiot.
Hey, I never claimed to be ego-free.
"I might be worried about that statement, if there wasn't a breeze blowing up
my butt at the moment."
I could feel Edward's grin in the dark, that 'aw shucks' Ted Forrester good
ol' boy charm just oozing through the night.
"You saying you're getting a blow job?"
Edward was teasing, of course, teasing in that strange way he got whenever one
of his cover personalities slid into place. No matter how many times I saw it,
or heard it happen, it still gave me the willies.
"Not from you, that's for sure," I said under my breath.
Edward chuckled, and this time it was not a nice sound. It conveyed his opinion
of my love life all too well; bad, worse, and are you fucking insane. Yes, I am
implying there are three men in my love life. If only it stopped at three. But
somehow it was more complicated than that, despite the fact I was only having
intercourse with Micah, Jean-Claude, and Asher. I had Nathaniel, my pomme de sange,
and of course Richard always hovered in the distance like a metaphysical black cloud.
Yes, I am insane. Why do you ask?
I sighed again and began pacing the confines of the small room. I'd been over
it at least twenty times before, as had Edward. We'd been tracking Olaf, trying
to find his latest victim, when he'd sealed us inside like a couple of blind mice.
There was no knob or handle on the inside of the door, no windows or ventilation
shaft despite the breeze. Just stone after stone with very little in between. I
had tried prying at the cracks of the doorway, but even my enhanced strength wasn't
enough to help. Maybe if I was a full human servant or were, but I wasn't. No use
dwelling on what-ifs.
I had tried the marks, but of course Richard was so closed off that I'd have an
easier time breaking through the door with my fists than reaching him. I couldn't
get through to Jean-Claude either, which worried me. I tried not to think about the
possible reasons for that. Instead, I worked up a righteous anger at the other
members of our triumvirate. Those boys were going to have hell to pay when I got out of here.
Right after I was done with Olaf.
"You really think you're accomplishing anything?"
Ah, Edward. Ever the voice of cold, hard reason. It's one of the reasons I like
him so well.
"Uh huh," I shot back. "I was getting all kinked up just sitting there."
I heard a small grunt that was the extent of his acknowledgment. Gracious, he was.
Luckily the space was open and airy enough that my initial claustrophobia had faded
fairly quickly. Now I was mostly bored, frustrated and angry. Pacing gave me a way
to channel the energy of my emotions.
I made another circuit of the room, jogging a little to the right when I approached
the area where Edward was camped out. Don't ask me how I knew he was there. Maybe it
was a result of the dark, something any human could do. Maybe it was because of the
monster in me, able to sense prey with senses more finely honed than sight. I really
hoped it was a human thing.
Edward was cool and collected, of course, even through my little freak out when we first
got locked in. Good old Edward. Actually, I was glad he was here. Edward was just about
the best person to have beside you in a life or death situation. Sure, the vamps and weres
were stronger and faster, but very few of them had his ruthless calm in a crisis
situation. There was a reason the monsters call him Death.
I stopped at the far wall, aware that I had started to sweat a little. I leaned up
against the cool stone, thinking I must be more out of shape than I thought if a
few laps got me worked up. Maybe I needed to step up the jogging schedule.
"You never did tell me why you came here," I said. I was tired of my own thoughts;
let Edward take up the slack.
"Hmm? Yes, I did. We're tracking Olaf, remember?"
I shook my head, then realized he couldn't see it.
"No, I mean why didn't you just call up and say, hey, there's a homicidal
sociopath in your neck of the woods with a big old crush on you. Why get involved?"
There was nothing but silence for a minute. I started to wonder if I'd hit one of
those forbidden areas. Talking with Edward could be like walking a literal mine field.
"Do you really not know, Anita? I thought I made it pretty clear, that if anyone
takes you out, it should be me."
I blinked in the dark. It wasn't a declaration of love, not from Edward, but
something pretty darn strong all the same. Loyalty, I guessed. Maybe friendship.
It sent a little tingle through my stomach to hear it, even though I knew I was
reacting like a girl.
"I'm sorry, Edward. I mean, I know you said all that stuff about soul mates, but it
just didn't sink in. Can you forgive me?"
Edward chuckled again, low and smooth, and it made something else tingle
much lower than my stomach. I frowned. I wasn't attracted to Edward. We were
too much alike, mirrors in opposing gender.
Distantly I heard Edward stand up and walk toward me. As anticipation stirred
in my belly I realized what was going on. Stupid! I wasn't out of shape. The
ardeur was rising. I had it mostly under control these days, but it had been far
too long since I'd last fed it.
"I forgive you," Edward said from not two feet away. "Shake on it?"
I felt trapped in molasses, my mouth barely opening as I realized what was going to happen.
"No! Don't touch--" and then his hand was on my arm. The fire was licking up from
inside, burning me up as it reached out and pulled him in. I heard Edward gasp, knew
he was in its grip a second before he crushed me against the wall. Then his lips were
crushing against my own, our mouths opening in hungry, biting kisses. I wanted to
swallow him whole, and he was returning the favor.
The part of me that knew this was wrong shut down completely when he cupped my breast
in one hand, massaging its fullness before pulling hard on my nipple. I was gasping for
air and soaking wet; I had to get more.
I reached for Edward, feeling a heavily muscled chest under the fine cotton shirt. I
didn't even bother to try and unbutton it, just ripped it open. The buttons made tiny
pings against the stone as they fell.
Edward was still concentrating on my breasts, leaning down to catch my right nipple
with his teeth. I gasped; I was close, and I wondered if he might bring me just from
that stimulation alone. I redoubled my attention on undressing Edward, determined not
to leave him behind.
My hands stroked over a thin t-shirt, and I pinched a nipple as I wandered. Edward
nipped me harder in response. I was about to pull off the t-shirt when I remembered
his shoulder holster. I trailed across it, let my fingers climb under his arm to feel
the heavy steel snugged against him.
Edward groaned.
All of a sudden I remembered who I was with, and it excited me. I pushed him back, and
stripped out of my shoulder holster, polo, and bra. Then I pulled the holster back on. I
reached for Edward's hand, guiding it across my breast and to the gun.
He attacked me, his mouth everywhere at once. We were sharing drowning kisses one moment
and the next he was biting at my neck, then moving down to lick against the sweaty
leather. It should have weirded me out, but I was hotter than I could ever remember.
I toed off my Nikes in a hurry and somehow got my jeans out of the way. I was standing
there in just my underpants while Edward was nearly fully dressed. The ardeur didn't think
that was fair, and neither did I.
I left the t-shirt be and concentrated on undoing Edward's belt. It was one of those
big, absolutely awful rodeo buckles, and he finally had to pull back enough to help me.
Then I unzipped him and shoved his jeans and underwear down. I found him hot and hard
between his legs, silky smooth and very nicely sized. Not as big as Micah, but then, who
was?
I was going to kneel down to take him in my mouth, but Edward had other ideas. He
stripped off my panties in a smooth motion, then lifted me against the wall. I
wrapped my legs around him and then he was in, filling me up and feeding the
insatiable hunger.
He started rocking, using the leverage of the wall to drive deep and hard. I could feel
tingles like electricity shoot through every spot he hit. The pace was fast and bruising,
my gun digging into my back, and I wanted it to just keep going. I bit down on Edward's
neck as everything came crashing in. It felt like all of the muscles in my body were
matched to the shuddering of my orgasm. I clenched over and over, and then Edward went
with a soft gasp and warm fluid.
We stilled against each other, breath coming in loud pants as we recovered. My thighs
were aching, so I squirmed enough that he lowered me to the ground, slipping out as he
did so.
As our fluids started leaking down my thigh, everything started to hit me. The ardeur
was sated, and as it faded, reason returned. I had just fucked Edward, the one man in
my life who respected me for who I was as a human being. Not as a woman, or a
necromancer, or a source of power. Me.
I had fucked up royally.