Breathless Ch. 04

"I didn't think she would take a bullet for that useless wretch," Dazza replied by way of apology. "Now the warehouses still stand, and another company is moving in that will promote harmony amongst the lower species. She is dangerous," he continued. "I cannot explain it, but she's more of a threat than we imagined. Your obsession with her could prove costly my lord," Dazza said, knowing that he was pushing his luck by challenging Frost even in this slightest of ways. "Are you sure it might not be better to --"

"You have behaved intelligently so far this evening." Frost's voice was neutral. "I would make sure that any future suggestions do not spoil your batting average."

"Yes sir."

"She's only a threat if she is an enemy. If she chooses to remain an enemy . . . well, even Arbiters sometimes meet with accidents." He leaned back, an idea occurring to him. "She will protect those around her I think, even if it means making a bargain. Maybe this predator just needs a new kind of bait."

Outside in the hallway, Terrence McDermott listened in with great interest. Normally, he had stayed out of his employer's business and just collected a paycheck, but things had gotten out of hand. Lines were being drawn, and he wanted to know what the heck people were fighting about.

------------------- -----------------------

In New Plymouth . . .

------------------- -----------------------

Melissa was sitting quietly in Mary's living room, sipping Earl Grey tea. She wasn't normally a tea drinker, but the wraith had just handed it to her when she showed up and started to talk. She was just as impressed by the home that Mary kept as Sadie had been. She had just gotten done explaining Sadie's story and her reluctant acceptance of Mary's "terms."

"You don't seem surprised," Melissa said. Mary was just staring at her, and it was making her a little nervous.

Mary broke eye contact reluctantly. "I'm not. She has a sense of power to her . . . too much for a century old darkworlder."

"None of the other vampires think she's that old."

"If she is in hiding, she may be hiding her presence. It is difficult, but can be done if you have proper training." Mary smiled. "But her actions speak true to me, so it is those that I shall trust, whatever name she may use when enacting them."

"She said that you told her your story as well. Was it hard? I won't ask you to repeat it --"

"It was difficult," Mary interrupted, but necessary. "I would tell you, but I don't wish to upset you more than you are."

"I'm not upset."

"You're gripping my teacup as if it were a lifeline."

Melissa released her grip and placed the cup on a coaster on the coffee table. She'd missed the coaster earlier, and had gotten a shriveling look for it. "I'm just never quite sure if what I'm saying to you is appropriate or whatever."

Mary nodded. "Except for the occasional call or thirst for vengeance, I am the same person that I was in life. And undeath. I have the same emotions and needs --" Mary actually stopped herself, picking up one of her many cats and fussing over it.

The goth chick was curious. "You . . . you mean physical needs? Sexual needs?"

The wraith stood up, depositing the cat back onto the floor and took both cups to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," Melissa said, following the other woman. "See, this is what I meant!"

Mary turned around. She had to compose herself, as she didn't want this young lady to realize she'd actually been embarrassed by the questions. Those were exactly the needs she had meant. "It is all right. It is still hard for me to talk about things."

"Me too." Melissa leaned her butt against the counter. "I had a lot of issues I was working through, and I didn't have anyone to talk to about them that I really trusted until Sadie came along. Now, she's got me talking to some people in California that own this club because they know more about . . . things . . . than Sadie does."

Mary brushed a stray hair away from the young woman's eyes. "What things? Unless you don't want to say . . . I would understand."

'You want her to trust you enough to tell you the truth,' Melissa thought, 'then maybe give her the truth.' So she did. She talked about her sexual identity, how Sadie helped narrow down what she was comfortable with, and how she needed to be willing to admit when something surpassed her limits.

"This submissive from the Dark Eden club really knows her shit too. She's told me a lot about her relationship with her mistress." Melissa was smiling. "It's nice to know that despite the sexual part of it that they have a very normal, romantic relationship."

"I've spoken with the owner of that club," Mary admitted. "Apparently, he is a psychiatrist as well as a businessman, and one of the few who will work with wraiths, albeit mostly on-line. He tried talking me into coming in, convinced that he could find someone there who would be --"

"What?" Melissa was smiling. Mary seemed so approachable now.

"He was sure that there might be someone who would be willing to submit themselves to my appetite."

"Did you go?"

"No," Mary replied. "I . . . It is hard for me to be rejected. It is something I became accustomed to when I first descended into the mid-realm . . . the world that wraiths use to navigate. To go somewhere with a 'captive audience' and be looked upon with disdain . . . it would have been too much for me."

Melissa felt horrible for the isolation that Mary and her fellow wraiths must endure. And it seemed so needless now. "So, the club's owner thought you might like it there? Does that mean that your interests lie along that line?"

Mary actually covered her face as if she were blushing. "I come from nobility, as I told Sadie. Minor nobility, but still . . . I liked having servants, and not because they did their chores. When I became a vampire, certain urges became even more natural and hard to resist." Then the wraith paused, and her expression indicated the presence of a memory far less pleasant.

"You can tell me," Melissa said. "Sadie can keep her secrets, but you shouldn't have to as well. Trust me."

Within twenty minutes, Melissa was crying so hard that she wanted to throw up.

Mary thought it might be easier to tell her story the second time in twenty-four hours. She was wrong. Her throat actually felt constricted, mostly as a reflex reaction.

Melissa's brain was full and was beginning to ache. Her best friend turned out to not be who she claimed to be because she was being hunted by someone, and her new friend had apparently been tortured beyond Mel's ability to comprehend. Suddenly, her dull life didn't seem so bad. What did you say after that? So she just wrapped her arms around the undead woman and held her.

The wraith allowed the conact, partially because she didn't know how else to respond and partially because she craved it. She needed contact just the same as any other creature walking the earth and this, even if given only in comfort, was a welcome change from her isolation.

"I survived," Mary said at last. "And I shall continue to. I simply no longer wish to survive alone."

Melissa felt Mary's cool frame grow warmer. 'Is this all she wants?' she thought. 'Comfort and companionship? Would I refuse her that? Would I WANT to refuse her that? She's suffered so much.' She pressed her body even more tightly against Mary's. She could feel Mary's powerful arms ensnaring her. A normal person would have screamed at that point, but Melissa wasn't afraid. Mary wouldn't harm her. Actually, harming her seemed to be the furthest thing from the wraith's mind.

"I do not wish pity," Mary said, reluctantly pulling away. But Melissa didn't let go.

"I can't help what I feel. Yes, I feel sorry for what happened to you. But even before I knew, I still came here. I still wanted to know you, and now I know all of you." She sighed. "I'm not saying this right. It's more than feeling sick about what happened. I'm proud of you. They killed you but didn't break you. That bitch tried to beat you and you spit in her face. You're sitll here and she's rotting in her grave --"

"There was no grave," Mary said smugly. "They never found all of the body."

Melissa should have been further disturbed, but she found herself excited. Mary was powerful, elegant, and mysterious . . . everything Melissa had ever wanted. And if giving herself to the wraith might make some kind of amends . . . might help Mary . . . 'Oh who am I kidding?' she thought. 'This is as much for me as for her.'

The side of her face was touching the side of the wraith's, so she shifted around until they were eye to eye. Mary's eyes had gone dark and blue, and Melissa could actually see her own reflection in them. "Do you want me to go?"

"By the darkness of the midrealm, no," whispered the wraith's voice. "Don't leave me."

"As you wish," Melissa said, trying to make her voice calm and subdued.

A smile touched Mary's lips. She had never expected to find something or someone like this in her existence, and now Melissa had come to the wraith of her own free will. "What I wish is for you to look at me," she said, summoning that ancient aristocracy that had once flowed through her veins. "Are you sure you want this? I was quite . . . demanding . . . of my servants."

Melissa couldn't help a joke to help elevate the mood. "I do everything, including windows."

"I was hoping to start your chores somewhere else . . . say, the bedroom?"

The goth girl's heart was beating like an African drum as Mary led her towards the staircase and up to the luxurious master bedroom. 'What is it about being immortal that makes you like having a huge bed?' she wondered. She had seen this room when Mary had given the tour earlier, but she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams that she would be spending this kind of time there. It was a four-poster bed with heavy black drapes, something like she had expected from Sadie's home. Mary pressed Melissa face first against one of the posts. When she spoke, her voice was wracked with nerves.

"I have not done this in a very long time," came the Wraith's voice.

"I'll help you through it." In conversations with Torrie, Melissa had learned that a proper relationship, the submissive had the real power. It was time for her to find out if that was true. "Both of us need to find our limits."

"Don't move," Mary whispered.

"Wait," Melissa blurted. "Uhm . . . what happens if you bite . . . someone?"

Mary kissed Melissa's neck and actually chuckled. "It is good that you are wise enough to ask. Wraiths do not Turn as vampires do, even if a wraith used to be a vampire. I am told that a vampire-turned-wraith still has a kiss that provides sexual stimulation, but that is all. You have nothing to fear from my fangs that you do not allow."

Melissa let loose her held breath, feeling safe once again. She knew she was alone in the room again, as Mary had gone looking for something and could appear and disappear at will, as long as she wasn't carrying anything. Then Melissa heard some rustling come up the stairs, but no footsteps.

"Undress," Mary's voice commanded, trying to find that comfortable authority with which she had commanded the household staff once upon a memory. "Slowly. Then fold your clothes and place them at the foot of the bed."

The human girl stepped back and did as she was told, slowly peeling off her jeans and tee-shirt before shedding her undergarments. Out of the corner of her eyes, she looked for her mistress-to-be, but saw nothing. 'She's invisible? I didn't even know wraiths could do that. I wonder what else she can do.'

"Turn around," the wraith's voice commanded. It was now a voice use to getting its way. "Kneel on the floor with your back against the post." The invisible Mary waited until the girl obeyed. She picked up a shawl off the bed, grinning as she saw Melissa's reaction to the free-floating object. She knew by Melissa's own admission and conversations with Sadie that the girl craved being controlled. Mary's display of power let her know that under the wraith's control was exactly where she was. Mary tied the shawl around Melissa's eyes. "Can you see?"

"No," came a husky reply. Then she felt her hair being grabbed roughly.

"No what?"

"No . . . mistress."

"That's better."

Melissa had no idea what was in store for her, but she thought she had seen a coil of rope in the corner of the room that hadn't been there when she'd first arrived. Sure enough, she felt a smooth rope looping one of her ankles, then the rope sliding under the bed frame and securing the other. Already, Melissa was trapped. Mary could do whatever she wanted and the human girl would not be able to escape. She could hardly wait.

Over the course of twenty minutes, the length of rope seemed to loop every which way but loose. Melissa couldn't figure out what was going on, but her excitement was growing by the minute. Finally, her wrists were raised above her head, stretching out her torso while being tied to post. Then she heard the sound of something rolling before the shawl was removed.

In front of her was a an ornate full length mirror that had positioned just right so that she could see herself in her entirety. For one of the few times in her life, Melissa looked into a mirror and saw something beautiful. The binding of the rope and the patterns it mad on her body with more than just bonds . . . they were art. Her shins were secured to her thighs by intricately arranged threads, and her torso was criss-crossed with each loop going around the bed-post. Somehow Mary had split the rope so that each arm could be entwined like a snake on the way up and then knotted together at the wrists. No rope was so tight as to cause more than the mildest of discomforts, but she was completely unable to move.

"This is what I demand of you, to be a canvas for my art. I expect obedience from you, and will tolerate nothing less. But your heart . . . that I will never ask for. Should you someday choose to give it, I will accept. Your heart is yours, but your body is mine. Do you accept my conditions?"

"Yes mistress," Melissa replied, still captivated by the bound figure in the mirror. 'Do I look that aroused?' she thought, grinning at herself. 'Yes, I think I do. I think I am.'

She felt something . . . flesh . . . press against her lips for a moment. It was Mary's mouth, and it was so soft. The wraith kissed her harder, grabbing a hold of Melissa's hair again. In the mirror beyond, Melissa saw her hair being pulled but not the object exerting its will. She saw the flesh of her lips move as she was kissed, but not the initiator of that passion. It was an incredible sight. Then her hair settled and the kiss ended, leaving Melissa to fight for breath that she hadn't even realized she needed. A hand squeezed her breast hard, providing that exquisite pain that Melissa experienced when her nipples were played with.

"You must be careful to pay attention to such things as breathing, else I consume you. I have not breathed for centuries, and have forgotten how long you can stand to be without it." Mary squeezed harder, watching the girl's face. Sadie had told her about Melissa's love of breast play, and she was glad to see that there was far more pleasure than pain on that delightful face. She released that soft flesh.

"Yes mistress," Mel gasped. She was so close to cumming already that it amazed her, and she hadn't even been touched down there.

Melissa felt something against her mouth again, and again it was a pair of lips. But this time, it was the lips of her mistress's sex. It was odd, feeling her tongue enveloped by warmth and tasting the wetness, but not seeing that beautiful opening. Sex with a wraith was going to take some getting used to. After a few licks, she heard a moan and she saw a shimmering shape in the form of Mary, but it quickly vanished again.

'Hmm,' she thought happily, 'Please her and get a light show?' She started ravishing that sweet pussy, which was every bit as warm and inviting as Sadie's had been. It must've been a long, long time since her mistress had enjoyed more decadent pleasures, because Melissa hadn't even gotten to her A-game and the wraith was imitating the Northern Lights. She tried to latch onto the woman's clit, but her mistress pulled away and slapped her lightly on the face. It made her skin redden, but didn't really hurt.

"Certain things will not be rushed," Mary said calmly. In truth, she was so afraid that Melissa would change her mind after a night and leave that she truly wanted to make the moment last. "Now start again." She pressed her mound against the girl's eager lips, letting that sweet tongue slide in her like a serpent.

Melissa was desperate to please Mary, but she couldn't afford to lose control. That would not set well with Mary. So she softly nibbled on everything else, teasing the inner labia with her teeth and lavishing the outer mound with her tongue. Even though she couldn't see her lover, she could now navigate that part of Mary's body by memory.

Mary couldn't take it anymore. She wanted release . . . she wanted that most delightful of pleasures that she had not experienced at anyone's hand but her own in so very long. "Now," she commanded, and instantly Melissa's lips found the clitoris, sucking back the hood and then touching it with her tongue. The wraith phased in and out of visibility as she felt the muscles in her abdomen clench and tremble before finally --

"Oh . . . oh . . . oh!" Mary had wanted to be cooler and more aloof and climax silently, but her body had other ideas. It liked what Melissa had done to it, and it was letting the girl know.

Mary had climaxed, and apparently vampires were not the only undead that could produce sexual juices when satisfied. She pressed her abdomen against Melissa's face, holding her head as her mind and body came to grips with what had just happened. She was so happy that she was on the verge of crying. 'How do repay her for this?' she thought, her body still trembling slightly. Then she had an idea. It was one that she had never had an opportunity to attempt, but one that might provide an experience unlike anything Melissa had ever had. Her abilities as a wraith tended to be most useful when inflicting pain and death but, like any true power, could be diverted to more productive avenues.

Mary got on her knees, gripping her servant's nipples lightly as their eyes met. Melissa looked proud for what she had done, and it made her all the more beautiful.

"This kind of relationship requires trust," the wraith said. "What I am about to do may feel uncomfortable at first but it will not hurt you. It is also easier for me if you open yourself. Normally my . . . victim . . . would struggle. I would advise not doing that. Are you ready?" She looked past Melissa's eyes to the feelings behind them, trying to find traces of doubt or fear that might interfere, but she found none. A little nervousness and some confusion perhaps, but both were outweighed by hunger and anticipation.

Melissa had no idea what was about to happen, but she didn't care. Her mistress was beautiful and powerful and seemed quite intent on making this fledgling relationship work for both of them. She watched her mistress lean in and kiss her. That was when things got . . . well, a little weird.

Mary's body shimmered and started morphing into a cool mist: the kind that seeped into your lungs and woke you up when standing by the lakeside in winter. It was invigorating and . . . and it was slipping down Melissa's nose and throat. For a moment, Melissa started to panic before realizing that she could still breath and that it was actually refreshing. Her mind was crisp and clear. Soon, Mary was gone and the mist had vanished from sight.

'She's inside me,' Melissa thought, then felt a brief moment where her own mind affirmed that notion. 'She's possessing me!' Most people would have probably blown a vein about then, but this was the ultimate for the young submissive. Her mistress and lover was in complete control. She waited patiently for Mary to do whatever --