The Return of Nicholas Collins

*

Chapter 6

Rachel's senses came alive one by one. Her eyes opened and she blinked in the dim light that glowed softly around her. She immediately had two questions. One-Where in hell was she? Two-Who's arms was she lying in?

From the position she lay in, she could see that the walls were bare and the room was painted a creamy yellowish-orange. In fact, the more she gazed at the color the more it reminded her of early morning sunrises in her old village.

Quietly she lifted her head from the solid mass of muscles she had been using as a pillow and looked upward, needing to know who held her so closely.

Nicholas.

Confusion swamped her as she took in the sight of his handsome face. How could she end up in bed with him and not remember getting there? She concentrated and tried to work her way through the heavy fog in her mind. The first clear memory she had was of watching Kelly and Sarah drive away from the cafe. Everything after that was a blur or a flash, and none of it made sense.

She lay her cheek back down on his chest and felt something rough against her skin, so unlike the soft mat of hair that lay under her fingers on his belly. Curious she looked and found a thick, white bandage taped over his heart. Tension made her stiffen in his arms. As she pressed a kiss to the gauze, she wondered at how he received the injury.

His arms tightened around her and she glanced at his face to find him staring at her. She traced the bandage with a nail and asked, "How did you get hurt?"

The hand that had been stroking up and down her spine paused. His violet eyes dark and questioning. "You don't remember?"

She shook her head. "I seem to be having difficulty recalling things at the moment. It's all sort of hazy in my mind."

"Well, lets try this, Rachel. Do you remember breaking your promise to me?"

She groaned and buried her face into his chest, muffling her reply, "Yes, that, I unfortunately remember."

"Why?"

She rolled away from him and stood beside the bed. The room swam and tilted before her. Her knees buckled and she would have fallen to the floor if not for Nicholas reaching out and pulling her down from behind onto the bed.

"You need to feed before you think about moving around, Rachel. So sit back. Relax. You're not going anywhere, anytime soon."

The mattress shifted and she watched his retreating form as he moved across the room. She settled against the brass rails of the headboard and felt a weakness come over her that had nothing to do with needing to feed.

She loved the way his muscles moved beneath his skin, the way that his hair dusted his broad shoulders and the way his upper body narrowed down to a trim waist. It really was a crime for that man to cover his body.

He turned with a serving tray in his hands and her breath caught in her throat. Eyeing his chest her fingers twitched in her lap to comb through the dark hair that lightly coated his chest and disappeared into his slacks. Black, thigh hugging slacks that rode low on his hips and did nothing to hide just how much a man he really was.

"Thank you," she said, accepting the glass that he offered. She didn't realize how thirsty she was till she took her first sip. Her need soared when the first swallow of blood hit her taste buds and slid down her throat. Eagerly she swallowed, turning greedy, ravenous. The feeling inside her scared her, reminded her of the first time she fed as a vampire, which had been a frantic and ghastly spectacle of an untamed wild beast.

Nicholas continued to serve her glass after glass till finally the frenzy subsided. Across the room he refilled two glasses and then came over and stretched out beside her, sitting one down as he sipped at the dark liquid in the other.

As he drank she felt his eyes on her, watching her every move. Nothing was making sense to her as she drained the last drops from her glass into her mouth. Normally on first rising she would have two glasses, but this evening, she had downed five.

The hunger sated she answered him. "I broke your promise because I didn't want Kelly and Sarah coming to the house incase I was being watched." She leaned her head back against one of the rails. "I forgot that I was suppose to met them and I told Kelly over the phone that I couldn't make it, which she was fine with."

Rachel pulled her legs toward her chest and rested the glass on her knee. "When Kelly told Sarah I wasn't coming, she suggested that they come to my place. I knew that was just as bad an idea, so I ended up going to them instead."

"And instead, you wound up getting hurt trying to save a complete stranger."

She whipped her head about to stare at him. "What are you talking about? I don't remember getting hurt."

He sat his glass on the nightstand the reached over with his large hand and jerked the thin strap of the gown she wore down. "If you didn't get hurt, then why are you wearing two very large bandages?"

He took her hand and placed it over the bandage on his chest. "Why is it that you wouldn't wake until I arrived, until I held you in my arms and pressed your lips to the gash I ripped above my heart?"

Dazed she looked down at her body at the larger of the two bandages, stared at the stain that showed through the gauze and it all rushed back to her. She jerked as the memory of the gun going off went through her. Winced as she recalled the pain that tore her shoulder and chest open.

Rachel gasped, "The girl, Nicholas, what happen to the girl that I tried to help?"

"She's recovering," he told her reassuringly. "Apparently Kelly called a Dr. Samuels, and he repaired her the best that he could, under the circumstances."

Relief cascaded over her as she lay her head on her knees. "Thank goodness."

Minutes passed before she turned to him and caught the look in his eyes. Her heart jumped. Could she have really seen love in his eyes? And not just the love for a friend, but the love a man feels for a woman that he wants in life, his bed.

She moved closer, and placed her palm over the bandage on his chest. Quickly she removed the tape and then gently peeled the gauze away, finding only a thin, barely there red mark, showing where he had cut himself.

She tossed it aside then traced the mark with her fingertip. Into his eyes she stared as she leaned forward and softly kissed the mark. A secret thrill ran through her as she felt his muscles quiver beneath her lips.

His hand slid into her hair and his fingers curled in the loose strands, as her blood tinged tongue flicked just above and then over his hardening nipple.

She moved back only inches, her hand skimming down his well-defined abs. "How did you know what to do to rouse me, Nicholas?"

He covered her hand on his stomach and brought it to his mouth, placing a tender kiss to her palm. "I didn't know if it would work or not." He brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. "Since I'm your maker, and have almost a thousand years of strength flowing inside me, I hoped it would be enough to call you back."

An easy smile edged her lips as she moved her body over his. The gown she wore barely hid her sex from view as she straddled him. Being with him like this was so right, she thought, as his hands moved on the outside of her thighs.

Eyes locked on his lips she leaned in and kissed him. It was sweet, gentle, kind. "Thank you, Nicholas."

His fingers froze in the design they had been drawing on her skin. "For what?"

She cradled his face. "For once again saving me from death." Her thumbs stroked his cheeks as his eyes closed. She trailed her fingertips downward along his neck and watched him tilt his head, allowing her better access.

His nails suddenly dug into her outer thighs. His eyes opened, exposing her to a flame so intense that she felt the burn deep between the folds of her sex. "I can never let you go, Rachel. I would wrestle death itself with the last drop of blood in my body to keep you from an eternal grave."

Then why did you let me go before, she thought, the question popping into her head before she could stop it. She didn't want to bring the past up, not right now. All she wanted was to be with him. To take Kelly's advise and create memories to last once he left.

Rachel whispered his name and pulled him forward. His arms surrounded her as her tongue sank into his mouth. Her body rested against his lap and she moaned, his growing bulge pressing into her pussy.

Her soft cry filled the room when his hand tangled in the hair at her nape and tugged her head back. His beard scratched her skin as his hungry lips skimmed the column of her throat.

A change suddenly came over him. The roughness of his touch faded and he held her like she was a rare object of art, as he lifted her gown over her head and then eased the bandages from her skin. She was momentarily shocked to see that she was not completely healed. She was even more shocked however, by the way Nicholas's fingers trembled when he touched the puckered wounds.

His lips were feather light on her shoulder, her chest. Strong capable hands caressed her back as he looked into her eyes. "I've never been so scared in my life, Rachel, as I was last night." He hugged her to him tightly and pressed his bearded face into her neck. "I felt every one of my nearly thousand years when I came in and saw you laying here, so silent and still."

She kissed from the top of his shoulder to his neck. Pressing her lips to the shell of his ear she whispered, "I'm sorry," catching herself when she nearly called him, my love.

Their mouths sought out each other. Tongue seduced tongue in a slow, tantalizing dance. She felt a powerful need to comfort him, to make him forget the fear he felt the night before, to show him that, because of him, she had recovered from the ordeal. What she really wanted him to see, though, was how much she loved him, something that she could never express to him with words.

Leisurely she made a path downward, leaving a trail of open mouth kisses to his chest. Fingers seeking, she found his nipples, hard and yearning for her touch, hiding within the downy hair. His low moan, as she lightly scratched them, made her own nipples tighten in response.

She nibbled at his pebbled flesh and felt a surge of wetness fill her pussy when he palmed the back of her head and held her lips in place.

Rushed to have him naked as she, Rachel fumbled with the button on his slacks and struggled to pull the zipper down over the expansive bulge of his cock. With his help she removed his pants and boxers down his long muscular legs, then dropped them to the floor.

She stood at the end of the bed. Her eyes eating him up, making her blood turn molten. Her womb clenched with need as her gaze locked on the hard length of his cock as it pointed toward his chest.

Her mouth watered with the need to taste him. She hadn't felt such an anxious hunger to take a man in her mouth like this since the very first time she saw Nicholas naked three centuries ago.

She slowly crawled up the bed, stalking him like prey, and kneeled between he parted legs. The air was scented with his musky arousal, filling her lungs and waking the sexuality of the beast within her blood.

Up his hair roughened legs she dragged her sharp, lengthening nails, smiling at the hiss of breath that came from between his clenched teeth. Starting at his knees she placed a string of nipping bites toward his inner thigh. Firmly she pushed his legs wider, allowing her more space to play with the hard, pulsing erection in front of her.

Her stomach quivered with excitement as she leaned over his straining sex and licked along the thick vein from his heavy balls to the head. Her name was groaned from deep in his throat and the sexy sound wound its way through her body and found her aching clit, making it throb.

Rachel took his balls into her hand, rolling them gently with her fingers. Against his shaft she lay her palm over the wetness from her tongue and caressed him. Each stroke made his abs flex in reaction. Teasingly she rubbed her fingertip over the purplish head and coated it with his pre-cum, licking her lips as she spread it down the thick vein.

Her mouth hovered over him. Looking up she grinned wickedly. Never taking her gaze from his aroused face she licked up the length of his shaft, tasting his salty flavor. In his eyes she saw a hellish fire burning within their depths as she teased the tip.

At his hip, she saw that his hands were fisted in the soft, yellow cotton sheet. All of his attention was centered on her mouth, easily allowing her to slip her hands over his wrists and hold them in place on the bed. He flexed his hips, trying to get her to take him in her mouth and then groaned when she moved just out of his reach. Desperation lined his face and filled his words, "Rachel, end this excessive teasing, now."

She knew what he wanted, but she wanted to hear him say it. Kissing the head she barely contained her grin, "What is it you want, Nicholas?"

Anger hardened the muscles of his jaw. His full lips turned into a thin, determined line, evidence of his refusal to answer, but one way or another, she would make him.

Using only her lips she took the head into her mouth, licking and suckling him, but never allowing him to go any farther as he tried to fill her mouth. Slowly she removed her mouth from his cock, letting it fall back onto his stomach. Fiercely he growled and bared his elongated ivory teeth at her.

"To get what you want, what you need, lover, all you have to do is tell me." She blew a steady stream of air over the wet tip and saw him visibly shiver. "Tell me, Nicholas, and I'll please you like no other ever has," or ever will, she thought.

Beneath her hands the tendons in his wrists bugled. Instinctively she tightened her grip, readying herself for his escape from her hold. She was going to show him that she could be just as determined as he was and just as devious.

Her mouth and tongue began to lick all around his sex. She tongued the sexy line that ran from his hip toward his crotch. She tasted his abs and dipped her tongue into his belly button. The last spot seemed to break him when she licked the space between his balls and cock.

In her grasp she felt his wrists relax, but kept them locked in place against the mattress, taking no chances that he was trying to fool her with his submission.

Reluctantly he gave in to her simple request and answered, "I ache for your lips to surround me. I hunger for the feel of my cock sliding over your tongue," his eyes became a stormy inferno of heat, "but most of all, Rachel, I want you to swallow me."

Her groan came from the very center of her belly as she swirled her tongue and then slurped him between her lips, but she didn't stop there. She was hungry. Hungry to satisfy him, to give him everything he asked for and more.

Eagerly she took him deeper, sliding him toward her throat, moaning around him as he helped to push himself inside. She paused when the tip pressed at the back of her throat. Held him there posed on the very edge to everything he craved. She sucked him that way, knew that it would drive him crazy to be so close to having her take him completely.

Her sex clenched and her juices flowed, coating her thighs as he began to move between her lips. She ached for him to be between her legs, filling her pussy, but she needed to do this. She needed to brand his smell, his taste into her mind. To add this moment to the to few memories of loving him she had, so that she could cherish them in the lonely darkness and in her dreams when he was gone.

With a deep breath she gave a solid, steady push downward and took his every inch. Her world narrowed to just the feel of him in her throat, in her mouth. The hard pulse of his cock seemed to match her body's own in perfect sync.

He was thick and heavy on her tongue. Stretched her lips to the maximum just to accept his width, but now that she had him lodged in her throat, she urn for more, and that's when she released his wrists from her hands.

A shudder traveled over her body and settled between her legs as he worked his hands into her auburn curls and guided her mouth on him. His grip rough, as he tugged her head upwards slowly. She held his stare as his shaft slid between her lips. Watched the cords in his neck strain as she sucked harder, making him groan and swell in her mouth.

For the longest moment he held her there, her lips tight around the head, her tongue a swirling flesh of wetness. Then he began to fuck her mouth, pulling her head down to meet the upward thrust of his hips as he pumped, driving himself balls deep between her reddening lips.

Her busy hands caressed his hard body. Gripping his flexing hips, dragging her nails over the twitching muscles of his stomach and reaching up and pinching his hardening nipples.

He gasped out her name, his chest heaving. Every muscle of his that she came into contact with was drawn tight as a bow, ready to snap. She slid her hands under him, digging her nails into the firm flesh of his ass, forcing him to surge into her mouth harder, faster. She loved seeing him so alive with need, crazed with a hunger that only she could give him.

Harshness filled his voice as he called out her name. His hips pounding his stiff flesh in her throat again and again till finally he exploded. She swallowed his salty seed, milking him with her mouth, massaging him with her tongue. His body quaked beneath her as he continued to thrust between her sucking lips, moaning hard as she sucked him dry.

She stroked his body gently, her cheek against his quivering thigh. She was amazed at how satisfied she felt at pleasing him, at how much she would love to wake up every night to please him like this and more.

He brushed his fingers through her hair and she looked up at him. Her heart jumped when the back of his hand tenderly caressed her jaw. He pulled her up beside him, cradling her face between his powerful hands and he kissed her.

As they both lay there, each of them was lost in their own thoughts. Both wondering what they should do, if they should do anything, about the feelings they had for the other. Both knowing that, with the kind of existence they led, that they could lose each other in an instant, but both to scared of declaring their feelings, and losing the other in a way much worse than death.

***

Rachel stood in front of the floor length mirror, slipping the last button through the hole and then tucking the white blouse that Kelly lent her into a pair of blue jeans that were also barrowed. Hairbrush in hand she began to methodically stroke it through her wet locks, when what she really wanted to do was crawl back into bed with Nicholas and spend the night loving him.

Weary she sighed and left Kelly's bedroom to find her standing in the hall waiting for her. Slowly they walked toward the other end of the house and stopped in front of a closed door to where the teen lay resting.

Kelly told her that during the day Dr. Samuels had come by and checked on the girl and made sure that the wound wasn't getting infected. He'd told John that without taking her to the hospital and running tests that he had no clue as to the amount of damage the bullet had done to her shoulder.

"So what can we do to see that she gets those tests done?"

Kelly grinned, "It seems that the good doctor has taken it upon himself to see that she gets them. Tomorrow afternoon John is taking her to see one of the doctor's friends for the tests. If they turn out okay then the most she'll need is physical therapy."

Rachel leaned against the wall, her eyes filled with worry. "But what about the psychological damage?" She turned toward Kelly. "I don't know how long she had been on the streets, or what she has gone through, but someone that young is going to have mental repercussions from being shot."