BOOK 2 - Viktoria Ch. 09 (Final)

He let out a breath, enjoying her attempt to distract him as she closed her hand around him, but grabbed her wrist to stop her motions. "No, this time we're going to do things the way I want to."

"Sit." She pushed him towards the only chair in his room. "Close your eyes."

Caught between irritation she was ignoring him, and amusement with her antics Jael spun her so her back was to his front and sat on the edge of the chair, dragging her into his lap. "Strygoi Viktoria makes me nervous when she wants me to close my eyes. She causes all sorts of mischief."

"You'll like this mischief." Viktoria stretched her body out and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Close your eyes."

He relished the sensations of heat and shivers he brought out in her as his fingers skimmed over her skin, but closed his eyes, feeling a great deal of trepidation. Last time she'd been out of his sight she'd created a fucking dragon, now perched on the roof.

Viktoria slid her hands over his arms and something cool closed around each of his wrists. A heavy weight pressed against his skin.

Jael's eyes snapped open. "What are you up to, strygoi? You seek to lock me up and have your way with me again?"

She pulled her long black hair over her shoulder, tilting her head to the side. She rotated her hips against him. "Close your eyes and bite me, Lurky. I need your venom. As much of it as you can."

Unsure about being bound in shadows again he felt no ambiguity about this request and sank his fangs into her neck.

Viktoria moaned as his venom entered her blood. The sound of her taking pleasure in something she'd forbidden him to do not so long ago made him ache to be deep inside her in every way possible. Unclasping her hands from around his neck she laid her hands over his. Intertwining their fingers she lifted his hands from her body into the air.

She converted his venom into magic somehow, the sensation of her shadows flowed over his skin, the touch of them familiar, but they carried weight now. "Viktoria..." He opened his eyes.

Viktoria radiated silver, and drew every shadow in the room close. They spun and twisted around them, condensing around their wrists as she directed half the shadows to each band.

"What are you up to, strygoi?" The shadows surrounding them settled around his hands. They were cool and more substantial than they looked as they piled on top of one another but didn't gain any thickness.

"Shhhh. Think of your swords," Viktoria whispered. "We must show the shadows what to be."

His swords? They were destroyed. "Viktoria, I gave up the past when—"

"You cannot give up a part of yourself. You swore to your daughter you would kill mages but think you've broken your vow to her. I can feel it eating at you, though you try to hide it. I will not have you feel this way because you think you need to make some sort of grand gesture to me." She turned his hands to show him the medallions on the underside of each wristband as the last of her shadows disappeared into them.

Pain shot through Jael's chest and he sucked in a breath. "How did you get those? I thought the mage destroyed them."

"Let us help you."

"Us?"

Silver magic flowed out of the medallions, forming two question marks in the air.

"Your daughter's magic never left you. Mages couldn't take her magic before, why would they be able to take it now?"

"Maescia?" Jael whispered. "You're still here? You want to stay with me?"

The question marks merged together and formed a heart shape that floated through the air and bumped into his cheek.

After three thousand years his heart started beating for Viktoria only a few days ago, but he remembered a time when it beat for his daughter, before he had been turned. Sadness filled him.

The silver heart pulled back from his cheek and faced Viktoria, who smiled and nodded. It floated up over their hands and expanded to cover them both as it cascaded around them.

Jael's heart might not beat for his daughter anymore, but he felt her take a place in his soul.

He smiled as Maescia's magic gathered in front of them, this time forming lips that smiled back at him.

"I'm not sure I can survive two Strygoi. I'll never win an argument again."

Viktoria laughed. "I don't know what gave you the idea you could win an argument with one of us."

The silver magic formed a hand and high-fived her.

"You've become a lot sassier lately, young lady." Jael resigned himself to his fate as his daughter 's magic split in half, each portion flowing into a medallion.

His Draga twisted in his lap and cupped the same cheek Maescia had kissed. "Your swords are gone, but my shadows can help you. Past and present together will shape your future. Imagine your swords."

Jael pictured his swords in his mind as Viktoria's shadows emerged from the medallions, and combined with Maescia's silver magic, coalesced to take the forms of the twin blades he'd carried for three millennia. The blades no longer gleamed like metal, but were shadow laced with silver, and when the hilts pressed into his palms they were solid.

The touches of the strygoi magic that were his daughter's and Viktoria's magics, new and familiar at the same time, felt right, and made him whole again. No, not just whole—he was what he'd always been meant to become.

"Are they as you like?"

"They're perfect." Jael whispered the words, afraid if he spoke too loud the shadow swords would disappear.

Viktoria slipped off his lap and faced him. She reached for his right wrist and slid the shadow and medallion over his hand.

"No, please don't—"

"Shhh." She slid the band around the curved sword blade just above the cross piece. The band constricted until Jael could no longer tell where it ended and the blade began, but the medallion gleamed silver.

She did the same thing with the band on his left wrist. "When we met, you were a creature of darkness. Now, as mine, you are a creature of shadow." She took a few steps back and sat on the edge of the bed. "Show me Scourge, Lurky."

Jael stood, swinging his swords to get a feel for them, then fell into the familiar pattern of forms and routine practice.

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Relieved he wasn't angry with her about the medallions and creating the shadow swords with the help of his daughter's magic, Viktoria lay on the bed, chin propped on her hands. Finally, she'd been able to do something right. She'd taken his pain away and somehow caused him unhappiness. He'd bonded with her, but didn't seem to want it. He wanted someone to protect, and even though the deal with her mother was over, she couldn't be a helpless damsel anymore. At least she'd managed to get his swords right.

She watched, wishing she could see his muscles, as Jael went through basic, slow movements at first, progressing to faster motions. He added turns and flips, spinning his blades into blurs she could only see because they were made from her magic. Every one of his actions was precise. Just watching his concentration and focus on what he was doing sent shivers through her. She should go now, let him have the space he seemed to want, but she couldn't bring herself to leave quite yet.

Viktoria was so entranced by his movements a jolt of regret ran through her when he stopped, going still as a statue. He turned, caught her gaze, and all that focus and concentration converged on her. She'd meant to slip out while he worked with his new swords, but now she felt trapped in his eyes.

Never breaking their locked gazes as his eyes went to black, he stooped to set his swords on the floor, rose, empty-handed yet somehow infinitely more dangerous, and stalked towards her. Her creature of darkness had returned.

Heat and anticipation swept through her as their bond flooded with all the ways he intended to use his fixated diligence on her. Viktoria sat up and scrambled back on the bed, the intensity of him taking her breath away.

Jael pounced, pinning her under him. "The first time you kept me leashed. The second time I only remember flashes. This time I'm going to have you as I want to."

His kept his eyes on hers as he lowered his head, not letting her free of his fervor as he brushed hip lips over hers. Viktoria tangled her hands in his hair, pulling him down, wanting passion, not patience.

He resisted with a smirk, giving her bottom lip a gentle nip. Dragging his fangs along her neck, he shifted his body down hers in increments so small it seemed he wasn't moving at all.

She pushed on his shoulders, trying to urge him to move, to give her what she needed, but Jael refused to be budged or hurried in his exploration of her. When he released her right nipple it was only to move to her left breast and begin again.

Viktoria groaned in frustration, digging her nails into his shoulders. She squirmed beneath him, but his larger body kept her trapped.

"I'm not done," Jael murmured into her breast, his black eyes meeting hers as he bit and laved her nipple. He took an even longer time with this breast before licking his way over every rib in a slow back-and-forth pattern that maddened her.

"Lurky!" Viktoria screamed in frustration, sitting up.

"If you distract me I'll have to start all over." Jael lifted his head to grin at her. "Is that more skin I haven't explored yet?"

Viktoria narrowed her eyes, blew out a breath, and flopped back into the pillow.

Jael prowled back up her body. He lowered his head, his lips coming down over hers.

She turned her head to the side so his lips landed on her cheek. "You already had the chance to explore this part of me!"

He chuckled. "But you moved and I lost my place. You know I've had some trouble with my memories lately." He tilted her face back towards his with a gentle finger on her chin, and moved his lips over hers. "I want to make sure I don't forget any of this."

Viktoria pouted.

"Don't you want to kiss me?" He placed kisses on each corner of her mouth.

She shook her head, letting mutiny show in her eyes.

He slid the tip of his tongue over the seam of her lips. "I think you'd like kissing me."

Viktoria rolled her eyes to stare at the wall, keeping her lips pursed firm.

"A bargain, then? Like the first night?" He nipped at her mouth. "What can I offer you for a kiss?"

She lowered her eyes to stare at his chest.

"My shirt? Are you mad because you're naked and I'm not? You seemed to prefer it that way before." He smirked.

Mischief in her eyes,Viktoria glowed silver as she called shadows to her, honing their edges so they were sharp.

"I'll trade my shirt—Hey!" His body stiffened over hers as her shadows slipped under his collar, sleeves, waistband, pant legs, and socks. She raised a fist so he could see it, and flung her fingers open.

Her shadow knives exploded from under his clothing, leaving it in tatters and him bare to her view. His erection lay hot and hard against her thigh. She reached for him, but he intercepted her hand.

"Not so fast, Strygoi. Not all of us have a house full of extra clothes, you know. I am owed at least three kisses for you tearing my clothes apart."

"I'll buy—"

Jael's mouth crashed down on hers, silencing her words.

She made a half-hearted effort to avoid his kiss, but when the sharp point of a fang caught on her lower lip she relented, opening to him. His exploration of her mouth was thorough. She licked his fangs, not caring when a shallow cut opened on her tongue. Jael groaned and sucked the drop of blood into his mouth, his tongue sealing the small wound on hers.

Her eyes widened at the jolt of pleasure she felt through their bond when he tasted her blood, pleasure and need surging through her. He slid lower, giving her gentle bites along her chin and down her neck.

Then, he struck.

Her back bowed as his fangs sank deep, and a hot-cold sensation flowed into her. Her nipples tightened so much it almost hurt, and her core ached. Unlike before, his venom didn't flow through her blood, it pooled at the bite.

Jael sat up and straddled her legs. "I'm going to enjoy this. So you just lay back and make your shadows behave themselves."

He placed his index fingers on her neck. The venom under her skin followed his fingertips as he drew them down her body, separating to stroke out across her shoulders, in over her collar bones, rejoining them in the center of her chest to draw a line down her sternum. He traced ever smaller circles around and over her breasts until he reached her nipples, leaving her skin flushed and feverish.

Her body was too hot and too cold at the same time, every nerve sensitized. She felt at once energized and languorous, every muscle taut, but relaxed. She wanted to feel like this forever and needed the sensations to stop right now.

Writhing, she panted. "Lurky, what are you doing to me?"

Instead of replying, he closed his lips over one nipple and sucked while his fingers and thumb massaged and pinched the other. She moaned as the already stimulated buds stiffened even more. She let out a half-stifled shriek as he sank his fangs into her soft flesh, injecting her with more venom in each breast. Restless, she rubbed her legs together, aching for relief.

He trailed his fingers and drew the venom over her ribs, down to her hips, and to just above her bellybutton. His tongue took over then, and Viktoria wanted to weep as he licked a line down from her belly button, almost to where she needed him.

Jael shifted to part her knees, settling between her legs. As his mouth closed in on her sex Viktoria closed her eyes in anticipation. But he lunged to the side and bit, sinking his fangs into her thigh.

Outraged, Viktoria bucked under his weight, tossing her head on the pillow. She sent thoughts of retribution through their bond, but Jael just grinned.

Ducking his head, he bit her other thigh, then drew meandering lines over her skin from the bites towards her core, stopping just above her pubic bone. Going back to the bite, he traced new lines over her skin, down her legs to her feet and back up, ending at the same place as the first.

The venom built up under her skin, a ball of need low in her belly.

Jael drew more lines, until he had eight joining together. He made circles over the venom in her skin, slow at first, then faster and bigger, turning simple need into a fury of lust.

Ache spread through her body. She was ready for him, wanted to feel him inside her, see all his muscles working to please her.

He slid his fingers down, bringing the hot-cold storm of venom with him.

Bending her knees, she pushed with her feet, trying to scramble away. That much sensation on her core was going to kill her.

Black eyes glittering, Jael trapped her hips in his calloused palms to hold her in place. "You're not trying to make me forget what I was doing, are you?"

She glared at him. "If you leave me feeling like this and start over, the first person to die on your new shadow blades is going to be you."

He smirked. "I was hoping you might be the adventurous type."

Unamused at his using words she'd said to him she writhed against the overwhelming sense of need.

"The venom a vampire makes for his Draga is only for her. It's part of what bonds us. This isn't something I've ever done with anyone else. I can feel what your body is feeling as my venom circulates in your blood." He opened his mouth and licked over the top of her sex. Venom surged under her skin. "I want us to feel everything."

One of his hands left her thigh and two fingers slid over her, then into her. All the breath was stolen from her lungs as she arched, close to orgasm from the simple penetration. He moved his fingers slow, pushing against her tightness.

His tongue touched her clit, and she was lost.

Giving herself over to pleasure, she rode wave after wave as her orgasm rushed over her and swept her away. It slowed, then rushed to take her again.

Jael moved up her body, heat in his eyes as he braced himself over her. He caged her under him with one hand planted on each side of her head.

"Now, Lurky!"

"Not yet. Let me have my Viktoria."

"I am your Viktoria."

"No, Strygoi-Viktoria is wild and she can choose to be with me, but part of her will always belong to the magic. I want my Viktoria to be with me now." He kissed her nose. "The woman with striking hair who led me on a chase and trapped me. The one who saw into the darkness and made my heart beat for the first time in over three thousand years. Can I have her?"

She let the magic go, feeling lesser as her silver aura and black hair faded.

"There she is."

The smile he gave her banished any feeling of lesser, empowering her in a new way.

Jael slid his erection over her core, lining himself up. When he filled her Viktoria arched in contentment as she stretched around him. Her eyes roamed over Lurky's form, watching his muscles stretch and flex under bronzed skin as he thrust and retreated.

Indulging herself, she ran fingertips over his biceps, across his pectorals, enjoying the contained, coiled power she sensed in him. As much as she loved him under control, she needed more. She wanted to see him lose it.

"Faster," she ordered.

"Not yet." He continued his slow movements.

"Now what?" she grumbled.

He flashed her a grin.

Bending her knees, she spread her legs wider, digging her heels into Jael's thighs and meeting his hips with hers as he thrust in an infuriating unhurried pace.

Tugging his head down she kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth and over his fangs. She trailed licks and kisses over his jaw to his ear. "You know Lurky," she made her smoky voic extra husky and murmured into his ear, "I seem to remember..."

"What?" Lurky's voice was hoarse.

She flicked her tongue against his earlobe and bit playfully. "You said something about..."

A low growl rumbled from his chest when she paused again.

"...liking to be bitten." She shifted her attention to his neck and bit him

His body stilled, then he snarled. When he pulled back his eyes went the darkest shade of black she'd ever seen and a thrill made her shiver.

"Yes. Now Lurky."

He let go. Rearing back he took her in hard, fast thrusts.

Viktoria reveled in Lurky at full strength, arching and lifting her legs higher. She crossed her ankles high on his back and held on to the headboard.

Jael drove himself into her, hitting a place inside her that lit up all her nerve endings. He lowered his head and bit her again. Venom flooded her body and her orgasm stopped her breathing. Pleasure rolled over her in waves and she rippled around him while he sucked her blood out of her as he emptied himself into her.

Using the same strength he had to trap and take her, he made her feel safe and cherished. He gathered her close and rolled, keeping her locked in his arms. She savored the sensation of letting someone make her feel protected for the first time in a thousand years.

Resting her head on his chest, she listened to the steady heartbeat under her ear. The heart that beat only for her.

"I love you, Lurky."

Jael tilted her face up. "You are mine."

Coveted.

Her heart broke a little.

"I will enjoy watching the jealous looks I get when people see you with me."

Trophy.

She closed her eyes. Had she been so wrong? Had her mother? Was what she felt in their bond just her feelings? Ember could shut Stryx out, could Jael have kept her from knowing what he was really feeling? A vampire was a vampire. They felt nothing. She should have known. She'd shared everything with him, but he'd held himself back from her after their hurried bonding, the bonding he couldn't remember very well.

And now he's going to swear he would die for me, so he can be a big hero.

She opened he eyes, prepared to listen to his proclamation and leave.