Breathless Ch. 05

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An hour before sunrise . . .

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"Hey Mel," Sadie said as she bounced over to the desk while Vlad parked the car. She'd had a good evening overall, and was somewhat back to her perky self. "Got a sec?"

Mel looked up at her from the stack of expense vouchers and tried to look passive. At work, the goth chick was trying desperately to cling to the aloof and deadpan image that she had cultivated for years before Sadie had shown up, but it wasn't easy for her. "For what?"

"Got a puzzle I need your help with," Sadie said, much more quietly this time.

Melissa was intrigued. "Private?"

"Private."

The two of them sauntered over to the computer lab and shut the door behind them. Sadie pulled the folded papers out and handed them to her. "Got a tip from Terrence," she said, her voice calm and serious. "Listen, I heard a voice at the warehouse the other night and I was pretty sure it was Dazza. Terrence heard Dazza and Frost talking and it pretty much confirmed that they were both involved."

"Why?" Mel asked worriedly, looking over the papers. "What would Frost have to gain?"

"I don't know. From the sound of it, they did it just because they wanted to. Right now, we'd have Terrence's word and mine against Frost's and Dazza's. That would be enough for me to arrest him, but I want a conviction." She looked puzzled. "This stuff was hidden in Frost's desk. There's a bunch of stuff planned from Halloween to New Years, and we need to figure out what it is. And I need to find out what he's doing with that land in West End."

"Graveyard," Melissa muttered, shuffling through the notes she'd been handed.

"What?"

"I read in the paper that he's going to make it into a graveyard."

"Then why is he having a big celebration there on Halloween? Never mind. Vampires are weird."

"You ARE a vampire," Mel grinned.

"See? My point exactly."

Mel's eyes shot up. "Shit, I forgot to tell you. Devlin's been assigned to some special detail for the mayor. That's what that call was about."

"Detail for the mayor? What is it?"

"Don't know, but he's going to be there for the next two weeks."

"You mean --"

The two girls' eyes met. "Until Halloween?"

Sadie's good mood was quickly evaporating. "I think I may need to have a talk with the mayor and Lord Frost. We can't have them pulling street cops for personal crap without a damn good reason. Meantime, think you can try and figure out what all this crap is for?"

"Do my best. I'll work on it from home. Most of my good hacking software is there. It'll take some time to enter it into a spreadsheet then find the right algorithm, but I think I can come up with some guesses for you. It's not complicated looking."

"You going to Mary's today?" Sadie asked, trying to get happy again.

"Not tonight. She wanted me to take a couple of days and think about her offer, so --"

"What offer?"

Mel blushed. "She said that she prefers 'live in' help."

Sadie's eyes blasted open. "She wants you to move in?! After one day?!"

"It was a very, very, very good day." Melissa was practically beaming with glee, though she tried not to show it.

Sadie smiled and hugged her friend. "I'm so happy for you. Just be careful. You're moving pretty fast."

"Says the girl who jumped my bones the first chance she got," Mel replied. "I know, I know. It's a little rushed. But I'm not immortal, so I gotta take my chances while I can. I feel good about this though. I really do."

"Then for what it's worth, I support you. Now get that cute ass of yours in gear, and I'll talk to you this evening."

The two of them left, giggling and enjoying each other's friendship. Neither of them saw the demon standing in the shadows down the hall from the computer lab. Neither of them heard Bart when he muttered, "Interesting." He had heard almost the entire conversation. The question was, what to do with that information.

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Several nights later . . .

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Terrence was sitting on Sadie's partially completed porch when she got home from work. She'd convinced Mary that she was quite capable of driving her truck, so she didn't have to worry about Mel chauffeuring her around.

"Wa'as up handsome?" she said.

"Not much. Just wanted to see if you'd made any headway in figuring out what those papers meant."

"Not yet. I've got a friend working on them. Heard anything else?"

"Not especially. Frost has been spending a lot of time with officer Devlin, but I'm still not sure why he's even there. All I know is that Saturday is a week from Halloween and Frost is going to be making an announcement at a party over at the mayor's house. He's going to try and get you there."

"Tough shit. I'm meeting with the pack of the Northwestern Territory on Saturday. I've already met all the vampires around here, so guess which invitation I'm going to accept?"

Terrence shook his head. "You just live to annoy him don't you?"

"Actually, it's more of a hobby. Believe it or not, I'd rather just do my job. Frost just seems to want to keep distracting me from it." She sat down next to him. "Need to get this deck finished. You wanna help?"

"Sorry. I know you say Mary's cool and all, but wraiths just make me freak."

"She's a good person and she deserves a chance," Sadie said, irritation seeping up into her words.

"Woah," Terrence said, throwing his hands up. "Not disparaging her character in any way."

Sadie stood up angrily. She knew she shouldn't get mad at Terrence, since darkworlder distrust of wraiths was almost instinctual, but she couldn't think about how lonely Mary had been all those years.

Terrence got to his feet and put a hand on her good shoulder. "Listen, once we get Halloween behind us and I'm able to find a new job, I'll make an effort to meet her. Okay? I've just got a lot of stuff to think about as it is."

The Arbiter walked over to the part of her railing that was complete and leaned against it. The wind had a good, distinct chill in it that snapped across her skin and into her nostrils. She loved cold air . . . it made her feel so awake and aware of everything. "Sorry," she said at last. She turned around. "Promise me you won't end up like them."

"Like who?"

"Like the rest of the vampires and the elves and the high-level witches and wizards and sorcerers. Don't turn into a self-righteous jerk with delusions of grandeur."

"Hey hey hey!" Terrence said. "I know a lot of really cool people from all those groups, you included. Whatever Frost and his crew are up to, I don't think you should condemn the entire race."

'I already did,' she thought morosely. 'Damn, I need to get my mind off of Frost and all this political crap.' She glanced over Terrence from top to toes, and she though she knew just the way to do it.

"Uhm, why are you looking at me like a prime rib?" Terrence said. He could see a growing hunger in her eyes . . . hell, he could practically feel it. It was like someone just flipped a switch inside of her.

"Let's see," she said demurely, walking towards him with an almost ominous sway to her hips, "I've been shot, burnt, been spoken down to, and had all of my Guiness and cupcakes stolen. I think it's time that I got something I actually wanted, and you happen to be in the right place at the right time."

"How romantic." Terrence actually felt a little slighted. He used to think that might wind up being more than just a convenient booty call, but that didn't seem to be the case. Not that he really minded being a booty call, seeing as Sadie was still the hottest thing this side of hell. "Aren't you a little injured to play that kind of game?"

She reached up and ripped his shirt off with her good arm. "THAT . . . was a stupid question," she growled. "Got any more?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

"Good." She got the door open and then drug Terrence inside by the front of his pants, having every intention of getting into them as quickly as possible. But she struggled a bit getting her own vest off due to the discomfort of her shoulder.

Terrence moved to her assistance, taking no small delight in loosening Sadie's vest enough that she was able to slide it off one shoulder. She had to remove her sling in order to get completely undressed, though she put it back on afterward. Terrence stood behind her, kissing her on the side of her face and down to her neck, but made no move to extend his fangs. He would never do that without an invitation, which Sadie didn't seem ready to give.

"No biting," she confirmed with a moan, "but the kissing . . . that can stay."

He pressed his hardness against her, feeling her butt cheeks clench in through his slacks. He'd been with a number of vampires, but Sadie was the first who had showed no interest in getting bitten to heighten the experiences to come. 'She really is different,' he thought, letting his mouth caress her uninjured shoulder. She was fumbling with his zipper as her reached a hand around to cup one of those wonderful breasts, feeling the weight of it in his hand. Finally, Sadie got the zipper down and reached her hand through the opening of his boxers to find his manhood inside.

"That is just what I want right now," she purred. It wasn't really EXACTLY what she wanted, she realized. She thought back to a moment of shame and yet also a moment of intense desire. She thought back to when her teeth had been buried in Vladimir's neck and she could feel him flowing through her and pressed against her. Just thinking about it made her even more amorous, and Terrence was going to be the beneficiary of her lust. She stroked his significant length in his pants, letting the head rub against the fabric. Terrence had good blood flow going on through that organ. She let her fingertips run over the veins on the shaft up to the hooded head, pulling it out through his fly until the whole shaft became nestled her the crack of her ass.

She pulled away and let him to the bed, gripping his cock all the way. She turned around, spreading her legs slightly and pushing his member between them but not inside. The top of his dick made contact with her heavenly gates, picking up residual moisture as it slid beneath those lips and poked out the other side.

Terrence was trembling in anticipation. Last time, he hadn't gotten to spend nearly as much time as he would've liked with this glorious creature, so he was going to make the most of it. He continued sliding his cock under his pussy, one hand grabbing her ass while the other fondled a breast. He pulled back until the head of the shaft was directly underneath the entrance to paradise, then he bent at the knees and followed it with an upward thrust. Buried inside of her, he grabbed her ass with both hands to help keep her off of the ground.

Sadie wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed his shoulder with her healthy arm, feeling him thrust deep inside her . . . filling her up. Convinced that he could hold her up on his own, she released his shoulder so she could unbutton his trousers. She was impressed that he was able to let them slide down and step out of them without losing his rhythm, but somehow he managed. She spurred his ass with her heels and was rewarded with an increased tempo. If she were wearing a cowboy hat, she probably would've raised it over her head and treated him like a mechanical bull, except she had every intention of riding him for more than eight seconds. The sound of flesh slapping flesh echoed through the trailer, making her smile. She'd had the place designed and rigged for surround sound, but this hadn't been the kind of sound she had in mind. Not that it bothered her . . . quite the contrary, it turned her on. She raked her fingers across his smooth chest and down to his abdomen. The guy was ripped, so much so that she wanted to eat dinner off his six-pack.

"On bed . . . now," she grunted.

Terrence turned and lay her on the bed. Her legs still ensnared him as she arched her back, pushing up with her shoulders while he grabbed her hips and drove her into the bed. Each thrust kept her feeling filled and alive, and she just wished he would go faster. Her shoulder didn't hurt so much that she couldn't take it. She placed her feet on the edge of the bed, giving her lover of the moment even better access.

"You can do better than that," she purred, giving him a grin.

Indeed he could. Terrence pulled all the way out until nothing but the little slit in the end of his dick was still encompassed by her warmth, then he drove back in. The half-open mouth forming a gasping grin was all the indication he needed as to what she was really looking for, so he started to drill her so had he though his hips might give out. He was nervous at first when he saw her slung arm bouncing around, but she wasn't complaining and so he didn't stop. She was so warm and so tight that he never wanted to stop.

'He's a good lover,' Sadie thought happily, but then her thoughts became somewhat absent. She was having fun, but there was something missing. Not that she was going to turn away as handsome of a fellow as Terrence, but she wished she could just let loose with him. At least she was still having enough fun to get off, which she did with a gentle stretch of her back and gripping him with her vaginal muscles.

"Stay in!" she said. She liked cumming on a nice hard cock, and his was just the thing. Slight trembles, a sigh of blissful contentment, and then she fell back to the bed, the captive member sliding out of her body. "Now let me clean that off for you."

Terrence got on the bed, kneeling next to her while she used one hand to guide his fleshy staff between her lips and into her covetous mouth. She took half of it on her first swing, letting it rest in the entrance to her throat while her lips pressed down on the shaft. It was so hot in her mouth, and she loved tickling that spongy area on the underside with her tongue. Slowly, she pulled her head away, dragging lips and tongue as she went. Then she bobbed her head forward and took back all the ground that she'd lost.

"Sweet mother of everything holy," Terrence said as Sadie's mouth did it's best impression of a Hoover. She was cupping his testacles now, rolling them across her palm as she took more and more of his manhood into her. 'Please don't have a gag reflex,' he prayed, 'Please don't have a gag reflex!' Another inch of cock disappeared down her throat, making about two-thirds of it absent from view.

Sadie released his testacles so she could stroke his cock as she sucked him. It was the one-two combo that quickly proved fatal, and he released his seed in the back of her mouth. Like a pro, she didn't spill a drop and continued to nurse his member until she felt that it had nothing else to provide for the moment. Sadie pulled her lips along that now highly sensitive skin until releasing the head, then swallowed his load with warm satisfaction.

Terrence lay next to her, stroking her body, cupping her breasts, and tracing those smiling lips. He made a slight move forward to kiss her, but noticed her head turning away slightly, indicating to leave it alone. He'd kissed her before and she didn't seem to mind sex with him, so he was pretty sure she wasn't repulsed. 'Maybe it's just a kind of intimacy she isn't ready for right now,' he thought. 'It wouldn't surprise me, considering how she lost it when she got hurt and had to feed off of -- 'Vladimir.' For a moment, he was angry . . . jealous . . . sullen. Then he sighed. It wasn't like he'd entered into friendship with Sadie expecting to be her one true love, but being officially relegated to second on her hitlist . . . or third, if you included Melissa.

'He looks a mile away all of a sudden,' Sadie thought. "What's up?"

"Just wondering if I'm the one you really want to be here with." He knew better than to try and lie to her.

"Of course you are," she replied, looking confused.

"You may like being here with me, but am I really who you want?"

Sadie lay on her back, pulling Terrence's arm over her body. "I do want to be with you," she said honestly.

"Just not as much as --"

"Don't say it," she growled. "Whoever it is you're thinking, just don't." She knew who he was thinking of, and he would've been right. "Right now, I want to be with you. Just . . . just let that be enough."

Terrence accepted the resolution. "Being with you, even for a moment, is more than most could dream for."

Sadie just stared at him, then started to laugh. "Do lines like that actually work for you?"

"Are you still wanting sex with me this evening?"

"Yeah."

"Then they work."

Sadie grinned, touching his half-sized member, coaxing it back to life. Vampire males had incredibly short refractory periods, so he was ready to roll in no time. Sadie rolled him onto his back and mounted him, letting him slide deep into her body as she leaned forward and nibbled on his nipples. She wanted to bite into him and drink his heart's blood, but she knew it would be impolite to ask for something that she herself was unable to give.

She righted herself again, riding his manhood and his hips with slow, leisurely bounces. She sometimes let him slide all the way in, then just rotated her hips a bit while she stimulated her own clit. As seemed often the cast, his hands sought out her breasts, squeezing them and pinching the nipples. Sometimes he'd grasp her ass, but he certainly seemed to lean towards being a breast man. She would lower her breasts to his eager lips and he showed just how he could treat his favorite protrusions and make Sadie enjoy it.

There was no real burning need to accomplish anything, so Sadie took her time, letting herself feel filled and happy all the while. It wasn't long before he came inside her, making her feel a content warmth. She dismounted him, not needing anything else for herself. She let him hold her for a while, not feeling any burning need for conversation. He kissed her forehead, then slid out of bed and started to get dressed.

Sadie thought she should ask him to stay, but realized that she wanted some time alone now. And he would know that the offer was only for the sake of pleasantries. Before he left, she sat up and he came over, allowing them to share a brief embrace. Then he left.

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Saturday afternoon . . .

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Sadie turned the keys in her truck, listening to that beautiful hum before trundling down her gravel drive. She had a long evening and night ahead of her, but she had felt restless and unable to sleep. So she got up and decided to go for a drive. Thanks to her accelerated healing, she was able to operate almost completely normally, her shoulder only providing her mild discomfort.

She wasn't thinking about where she was going at first, then she found herself in West End, the "nice" area of Midian. 'Man, they must hate being this close to Gravestones and all those not-disgustingly-wealthy people.' She drove to the location of Frost's ceremony. True to Terrence's word, she had gotten her invitation to the West End Parade of the Dark, giving her the exact address. There was a high covered fence and a couple of security guards strolling around. She drove the perimeter, realizing just how big of an area this was. She parked nearby, but somewhere that couldn't be picked up by the area surveillance cameras. The guards probably wouldn't recognize her truck, but she didn't want to take chances.

Evading the rent-a-cops was easy, making her glad she was able to move about during the day. West End's police force had a lot of vamps and elves, and they were harder to avoid. She timed the cameras and then jumped the ten foot fence like it was a speed bump. The moment she landed, a chill shot up her legs, through her spine before finally reaching her brain. Her mind was playing catch-up, because the view ahead was just plain chill-inducing.