Blood Rose Ch. 04

So she ran. She removed herself from the temptation. She did the right thing.

Wasn't doing the right thing supposed to make herself feel better?

All right, forget about it. Erased. Never happened. Just keep going to Annabelle's mansion like you were going to in the first place.

She took a moment for a breath, allowed the whirlwind in her head to calm down, and continued on the way she was going before. Most likely, something would happen there to make her forget about that guy—about Tyler.

She reached the mansion in about ten minutes, and was admitted by Charlotte. As before, the first thing she noticed was what the person who greeted her was wearing. Charlotte was not attired in a string bikini or a silk kimono; instead she was wearing some kind of ceremonial robe of black velvet. Elizabeth could tell the curiosity on her face had to be a billboard when Charlotte answered her unspoken question:

"No, we're not doing a ritual or anything, I'm doing something myself upstairs."

"And what are you doing that requires you to wear something like that?"

"Oh, I'm actually not required to wear this. I just like to wear it when I'm doing magic."

Elizabeth fell silent for a few seconds. "Come again?"

Charlotte grinned. "Magic. I'm a witch."

Again, Elizabeth fell silent for a few seconds, and then repeated, "Come again?"

"You heard me. I'm a witch."

Elizabeth hesitated, trying to think of something to say in response, when Charlotte suddenly added, "Before you say anything, I'd just like to take a minute to memorize the look on your face right now. You look great."

"So wait a minute, let me see if I understand this," Elizabeth said. "You're a vampire...and you're a witch?"

"Do you know of a particular reason why vampires should have any less capacity to use magic than humans do?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "No, but... I just kinda didn't know anybody had any capacity to use magic, cause I kinda thought magic wasn't supposed to exist."

"You're a vampire. You're not supposed exist either. I think you're beyond the point of not believing in things like that."

"Okay, so... what kind of spell are you doing?"

Charlotte grinned. "Are you really sure you want to know?"

Elizabeth nodded, a bit uncertain. Charlotte leaned in and whispered in her ear—and Elizabeth's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "You can actually do that?" she gasped.

Charlotte nodded with a wicked smile on her face. "I'm gonna grow it, and then Katrina and I are going to have avery good time!"

"It's not permanent, is it?"

"Oh, no, it only lasts until I get off with it. I've done it once before, and Rosanna can tell you all about it!"

"What does it feel like?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity.

Charlotte cocked her head in thought. "I don't think I can describe it in words. You'd have to feel it for yourself, and unfortunately I don't think it's safe trying to cast it on someone else; I can only cast it on myself. Best I can offer is to grow it and use it on you, which by the way I can do anytime you want. Just say the word!"

Elizabeth shivered, both from excitement and from just the bizarre idea of what Charlotte was suggesting. "So, is Annabelle around?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Probably somewhere. Why don't you just explore a bit, I'm sure you'll find something to keep yourself entertained."

With that, Charlotte turned and headed up the stairs, leaving Elizabeth standing in the foyer. She'd just been given an invitation to go wherever she wanted, and there were so many possible ways to take that.

Elizabeth slowly proceeded up the grand carpeted staircase, and turned to a door on her right, heading into the east wing of the house. She found herself in another of the labyrinthine halls that this place seemed to have in abundance, lined with doors. Trusting to luck that she wouldn't get lost in this place without a guide, she proceeded on, carefully examining her surroundings.

As she turned to her left around a corner, she began hearing something to indicate what she could expect to run into around here. It was a pair of female voices making the sounds of pleasure, and she was fairly certain she knew which two females it was coming from. Upon walking a little further, she ascertained that the sounds were coming from behind a door that was just barely open. Feeling exhilaratingly naughty, she quietly stepped up to that door, carefully inched it open just a little wider and peered inside.

She was only seeing the two nude women inside from behind, but the pink hair on one and blue hair on the other clearly identified them, as she expected, as Noemi and Miko. The Japanese sisters sat side-by-side on a bed, each straddling a man's lap. She could see a pair of male legs extending out beneath each of them, and the pairs of balls connected to the shafts that each of them was rising and descending upon, but the girls' bodies were preventing her from seeing anything of the two guys above the waist.

As enticing as this was, Elizabeth decided she probably shouldn't intrude on this any longer, and forced herself to walk away. It was less than a minute, however, before her attention was ensnared in this way again.

She began hearing the sounds of more sex being had, and this time the door she determined it was coming from wasn't just open a crack. It was standing wide open. She crept up to the wall and carefully peeked around the doorframe.

She quickly recognized the girl inside as the black girl with the long dreadlocks who had done the honors of putting the blindfold on her last night; Monique, that was her name. They'd only been briefly introduced after her session last night, but Elizabeth felt comfortable in the assessment that she liked the girl, with her quick-fire wit and sociable sense of humor. She was kneeling on a sofa, supporting herself upright with her hands on the back, while a guy stood behind her, slowly and diligently pumping his way into her.

Somehow watching this didn't feel as intrusive as what was going on in the other room. The door standing as wide open as it was suggested that they actually wanted to be watched. Elizabeth leaned against the doorframe, absently rubbing her hand over the crotch of her pants. Her eyes fixed on the stiff organ that was disappearing into Monique's slit, as the girl moaned with the delight of having that thing inside her...Oh God, I want that thing inside me!

Her hand drifted inside of her pants and feverishly stroked her clit. Her eyes closed and she imagined it was her on that sofa instead of Monique... that guy, whoever he was, filling her up inside the way Rodrigo had last night... if she could only feel that again, right now...

"Are you just going to stand in the doorway all night or do you wanna come inside?"

Elizabeth immediately snapped out of the fantasy as her eyes snapped open and looked into the room again, seeing Monique looking straight at her with a sultry smile on her face. She patted the empty cushion of the sofa right next to where she knelt. Elizabeth needed no further encouragement.

She walked right in and seated herself right next to what was happening. Now she was watching Monique being fucked up close—and if watching this was getting her hot before, now her loins were practically on fire. Her mouth hung open as she watched Monique's chocolate-colored breasts bouncing on her chest and the guy's fingers squeezing the flesh of her ass. Elizabeth's fingers moved with purpose inside her pants while her other hand groped at her breasts through her blouse. Her breath was going like a machine gun.

"For fuck's sake," Monique chimed, "just take your clothes off and get it over with already!"

Elizabeth smiled at Monique's directness, and without hesitation lifted her blouse up over her head. She had decided to skip the underwear tonight, so her breasts fell free as her top was gone. She kicked off her shoes, then stood up and slid her jeans down her legs, reveling once again in the freedom of nakedness that in the last 24 hours she had come to love.

"That's more like it," Monique smiled, putting an arm on Elizabeth's shoulder and pulling her in for a wet, tongue-filled kiss. Elizabeth's tongue met Monique's with equal hunger and passion.I'm getting to be pretty easy to make friends with, she thought.All a girl has to do is get me naked and kiss me.

"This is Julian," Monique said, nodding her head to the guy who was nailing her. Elizabeth took in the guy's face for the first time, seeing short buzz cut of dark hair, gray eyes and cheekbones that boy scouts could camp under. He gave a "hey baby" grin at her, to which she responded by thrusting her tongue into his mouth.

"Man, there's just no end to friendly girls in this place!" he said, his sentence punctuated by Monique's happy grunt.

Elizabeth sat back down on the sofa, raising both feet off the floor and placing them on the cushion, her hand busily rubbing her crotch. She felt the warm, moist touch of Monique's eager tongue on her nipple, where it danced about happily. Suddenly getting an idea, Elizabeth raised a hand to her chest and drew a fingernail across the top of her bust, creating a line of blood that she proceeded to smear over her breasts. Monique giggled, and hungrily started licking her tits clean, sending more electrical shivers through Elizabeth's body.

With a few last hard thrusts, Julian tilted his head back and grunted hard, pulling out and stroking himself until he spent his load over Monique's ass, the white droplets of goop standing out like beacons on the dark skin they landed on. Monique twisted around, taking hold of his organ and feeding it into her mouth. Unable to hold herself back, Elizabeth leaned in to assist her in stroking and tonguing his length. Ultimately, Monique popped it out of her mouth and pointed it in Elizabeth's direction, smiling impishly. Elizabeth all too eagerly dove in for it, practically attempting to swallow it whole.

When she felt the hunk of meat intruding her mouth starting to thicken, she realized he was ready for more. She removed him from her mouth and scrambled back onto the couch, spreading her legs apart, and blurted out "Let me have that!"

"I like her spunk," Julian grinned, kneeling over her. Every motion he made seemed to take way too long. She was hot and horny and she wanted this now. And when at last he aimed that cock and parted her lips with it, her eyes rolled back in blissful oblivion. She'd gotten herself so hot by this point that she began an orgasm almost immediately. She hadn't really realized until now how much she'd needed this ever since last night; the feeling of being penetrated again, to have a man's essence moving inside of her. Her mouth dropped open and she screamed out her release.

"Wow, she's really excited!" Monique grinned. No sooner had she said that than Elizabeth grabbed her head and pulled her down into a heated, wild-tongued liplock. She wasn't sure whether it was in response to Monique's words or just a spur of the moment, but she suddenly felt a burning need to occupy her mouth in such a way. After nearly a whole minute of this, Monique broke contact long enough to say, "Even more excited than I thought," before returning her tongue to Elizabeth's mouth.

The second Elizabeth's mouth was free again, filth started leaping out of it. "Oh my God, fuck me!" she screamed. "Fuck me hard, oh yeah!" For just a second Elizabeth wondered if her screams would be enough to attract the attention of the whole neighborhood; she was having difficulty conceiving of the notion that anyone within a five-mile radius might not be able to hear her right now.

The world went a little hazy after her second orgasm. Her conception of time and space vanished; she knew only pleasure. She was conscious enough at least to become aware of Monique bending down over her chest. She felt the feathery touch of her lips; her teeth; her fangs. There was a mild sting in the flesh of her left breast, and the electric feeling of her blood being tasted.

She was able to get off a third time before she heard Julian begin his telltale grunts and pulled out of her. She didn't allow him time to do a thing before bounding up to grab his manhood and pulling it to her lips, just in time to taste the burst of salty spend that erupted from it.

Elizabeth collapsed back into the couch, thoroughly exhausted—though still with enough breath in her to giggle when Monique leaned in to lick the goop off her face. The smile on her face felt like it had been chiseled out of rock and was incapable of leaving her. She didn't want it to.

"I see you're getting settled right in," a voice mused. Elizabeth raised her head to look and there in the doorway was Annabelle, dressed in a strapless red tunic dress and the same friendly grin she always seemed to exude.

"Yeah," Elizabeth returned. "Lot's ofreally nice people here."

"When you've sufficiently caught your breath," Annabelle said, "why don't you come walk with me for a while. I have some things I'd like to speak with you about."

"Um, all right," Elizabeth said. She waited a moment or two, then slowly arose from the couch and bent down to pick up her clothes—then stopped, getting another thought. She turned her eyes up to Annabelle, who quickly answered her unspoken question:

"Yes, you may leave your clothes behind."

Elizabeth grinned, and happily followed Annabelle out into the hallway, enjoying the freedom of her naked flesh. As they passed one of the doors in the hallway, however, a voice suddenly stopped them."Oy! Chotto matte!" Elizabeth didn't speak a word of Japanese, but her attention was gained nonetheless. She turned and saw Miko standing outside the door she had seen her through before, still as nude. "You don't have to wait in the doorway next time," she grinned. "You can come inside whenever you want."

Elizabeth laughed inwardly at herself. With the kinds of teachings that were going on in this house, she had no reason to be surprised that the Japanese sisters knew she'd been watching them. She still was anyway. "I'll remember that," she replied.

Annabelle led her out the terrace door, and they walked along a long balcony overlooking a beautiful garden below. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Elizabeth asked.

"I wanted to talk about your session last night."

Elizabeth frowned slightly, a little worried. "Did I not do well?"

"No, quite the contrary," Annabelle beamed, "you performed magnificently. So magnificently in fact that some of my girls were asking why they haven't seen you around here for the last five or six weeks."

Elizabeth looked at her puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that's how long it takes most girls to reach a level of skill with ultra-sensory perception that you displayed last night."

Elizabeth ran around in front of Annabelle, stopping their walk abruptly. "Wait a minute, are you saying—"

"I'm saying that in a single session, in less than an hour, you mastered a skill that takes most girls weeks to get a handle on!"

Elizabeth stared at her, her mouth hanging open, struggling to think of something to say in response to that. Annabelle went on, "What I'm essentially saying is that you are what people would refer to as a prodigy. When I found you it was certainly clear that the necessary skills to master Blood Rose were strong with you, but I never could have imagined you would adapt to it so quickly. And now I'm eager to see how you'll adapt to your other lessons." She paused, and then concluded, "Which is why I've decided to teach you the next step right now."

Elizabeth looked around her uncomfortably. "Now? R-right here, right now?"

Annabelle grinned slyly. "Yes. Now."

"Um, okay... wha, what do I need to do?"

"Last night," Annabelle said, "you learned what you can see without using your eyes. Now I want to show you what you can see with them." Annabelle stood before her, gazing at her eye-to-eye. "Look at me. Look at my eyes."

Elizabeth did so, staring straight into those luminous, sparkling green orbs. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"When you see it, you'll know."

Elizabeth stared harder, feeling a bit discouraged that she didn't know what she was trying to see. She squinted her eyes...

"Stop straining your eyes so much," Annabelle instructed. "You're not going to see what you're looking for by straining the muscles in your eyes."

"But how...?"

"Here, sit down," Annabelle said, gesturing to a chair on the terrace. Elizabeth sat in it, while Annabelle sat in another facing it. "Close your eyes for a minute." Elizabeth did that. "You know how to sense the world around you now. What do you sense?"

"Your heartbeat," Elizabeth said, "and the air around us, and the garden below. And there's somebody down there I think."

"That's very good," Annabelle smiled. "That is the physical realm you are sensing. But there is more than that. There is an ethereal realm that resides within all living beings. As a disciple of Blood Rose, you must learn to look into and see that realm."

Elizabeth paused, trying hard to grasp what Annabelle was saying. "I don't think I understand."

"Close off your senses now," Annabelle instructed. "I told you to stretch out and sense the world around you; now I want you to look inside yourself and forget the world around you. Relax your muscles; relax everything. Breathe deeply. In through your nose, out through your mouth." Elizabeth did as she instructed, her head starting to sag down. "Focus only on yourself. Feel inside yourself; your beating heart, your pumping blood. This is the source of the power of Blood Rose. It comes purely from inside you. And it's the power you should feel there that I want you to look with."

Elizabeth concentrated on her heart as Annabelle instructed. This was the thing that meant she was alive; this was where her power was coming from. And she did begin to feel something there, something she couldn't describe in words. Some sort of energy was there...

"I'm not expecting you to master this right away," Annabelle said. "And you shouldn't expect yourself to do so either, now matter how well you did last night." Elizabeth opened her eyes and sighed. "That's why I'm going to give you a homework assignment."

Elizabeth looked up at her suddenly. "A homework assignment?"

Annabelle stood up. "Come with me."

Elizabeth stood up and followed Annabelle back into the house. Annabelle led her downstairs and into the grand kitchen. Annabelle picked up a small clay bowl, then opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of little heart-shaped leaves and a small vial of some light purple fluid. She put the leaves in the bowl and handed it and the vial to Elizabeth. "I want you to take those home. Each night, I want you to put one leaf in that bowl, add a few drops of the fluid, and then burn it and breathe in the vapors while you meditate on what I told you about."

"I'm using drugs now?" Elizabeth said warily, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't think of it that way," Annabelle said. "The power of Blood Rose comes wholly from inside the self, but you are not expected to fully tap into that power without a little external help. That's what these herbs are for. And don't worry, they're perfectly harmless to you, and hardly habit forming. Just be careful about where you use it. You wouldn't want to set your bedspread on fire, you know?"

Elizabeth grinned mildly. "Yeah, that... would be bad."

***

The van pulled into the garage and the team began piling out. The night had been slow; they'd spotted one vampire, but it got away. It happened sometimes... except one thing seemed a little different this time around. Ordinarily when a vampire escaped their clutches, Dorian became the most unapproachable man on the planet. Tonight he got a little flustered for a second, and then practically forgot about it. It was definitely enough to make Kaeli a little curious.