Dawn's Promise

Will shot Candace a devilish grin. Reluctantly, she got off the bed and padded into the bathroom. "No sex, I promise. I thought after spending all night out in the cold. You could use a nice hot bath. Come on in. Water's fine." He sank into the steamy water and lounged against the tub's cool surface.

He tried to force his mind to think of other things. Things other than the gentle slope of her breasts. His eyes traced the lines of her tattoo, following them down her back. Seeing the intricate patterns of art splayed across her pale skin stirred his desire to life. No matter how he tried he couldn't squash his building need for her. He shifted in the tub, trying to camouflage his desire.

Candace slid into the tub, easing down into the steamy, fragrant water breaking the surface of white bubbles with her body as she sank lower beneath the surface. She relaxed against Will's body. His hands ran warm silky torrents of bubbles and soap along her back. The tattoo was still tender to touch, but Will's hands were comforting and gentle on her skin. The hard jut of his erection poked against her bottom. "Someone's not playing by the rules," she teased, brushing her fingertips along his length.

"He's got a mind of his own." Will guided her head back resting it against his chest. "Hope you're not offended. As I promised, this is strictly a business bath."

Candace sighed at the wonderful sensation of his fingers along her collarbone. The light contact sent shivers of delight along her skin. "Mmm, what kind of business?"

"Making sure you're good and clean." He brushed his fingers lightly across her nipples, feeling them tighten to hard buds against his fingertips. He made ripples in the water as he slid his palm down her stomach, slowly and gently teasing his way lower. When he made his way to the patch of her short springy curls he slid a finger along her warm center, pausing to stroke the blossoming bud with slow, circular caresses.

She gasped in pleasure, pressing her backside against his length. "That's good," she moaned. The sting of the hot water against her tender skin forgotten by the magic of his touch, her hips rocked into the slow teasing stokes of his fingertips. The ache in her core grew with his desire and spread throughout her body. When he slid a finger deep inside, stroking her depths she mewled with need. "Oh that's very good!"

Candace shifted in the tub, turning to face Will. Water from the curling ends of his hair dripped onto her fingertips. Curling a palm around his length, she stroked with slow passes. " Just making sure you're clean," she explained. Pressing her lips to the hollow below his neck, she licked beads of moisture off his skin.

Will exhaled a breath, trying to maintain some level of control before he grabbed her ass and speared her with his hard, pulsating, desire. "I don't know how much cleaner I can get." He gasped and clinched his teeth together as she worked her hot core over his length, teasing him with the brush of her curls over the sensitive jut of his erection. He moaned deeply when she gripped his erection in her fist and guided it along the soft borders of her silken slit. He released a primal growl of sheer pleasure as she slid her core down on him, burying him to the hilt, deeply within her.

Candace felt the rush of desire, bouncing off Will to her, back and forth. He filled and stretched her, both easing her ache and making it worse, much worse. She looked down into Will's eyes, taking complete possession of his body. Commanding it and controlling it, she slid along his length. He closed his eyes. His dark lashes feathered across the tops of his cheeks. His lips pursed in concentration and pleasure. His fingers kneaded her hips, pressing her body onto him, deeper, driving her faster as his need reached the point of no return.

Will massaged Candace's hips, coaxing her along. Holding back with all his might, he allowed her time to reach her own crescendo of passion before giving free reign to his and releasing his orgasm in a gush of heat deeply inside of her. They gasped in pleasure, clutching onto one another as a wave of desire spurred them on. With another series of movements the gentle sway and rolling of her hips met with his hard and demanding thrusts, their climax reached its peak, sending them flying over the steep ledge to float gently down on wafting clouds of pleasure.

Candace rested her head on Will's chest, listening to his heartbeat, rhythmic, strong, and comforting. They were one, in body and soul. One. And she loved him with the very body and soul he possessed. She loved him with everything she was. She ran her cheek along the damp smoothness of his chest and closed her eyes. Daydreaming.

Will wrapped his arms around Candace, sensing her deep contentment and happiness. Very pleased to find it matched his own. He loved her. Throughout the course of time, even in her absence, his love for her had grown stronger, not faded with the passage of years. "Marry me."

Candace gasped in shock. His words fell on her skin like snowflakes, cool and soft, causing her to shiver. "Marry you?" She gaped at Will. Her mouth opening and closing soundlessly, searching for words. "You want to marry me?"

"Candy, if it's too soon." He misunderstood her reaction and scrabbled to recoup what little remained of his battered ego, thinking she was going to turn him down. Gently, he cupped her chin in his palm. "I can wait if you're not ready."

Candace closed her eyes. Will was giving her an out. If she wanted to take it, she could. "I...I" she ordered the logical reserved part of her brain to be silent. That part of her mind had served her well. Kept her employed, kept the bills paid, took care of her and her son, but it was time to listen to her heart and what shouted within its very depths. "Yes! Yes!" She threw back her head in laughter. "Of course."

"Thank you, Candy. Thank you for accepting." Will exhaled a relieved breath. "I love you." He held her in a tight embrace, crushing her body against his. Joy flooded through him. A happiness and joy that extended far beyond anything he'd ever experienced before.

Will jumped up from the tub, towing Candace along behind him. "We should tell Chance." The resounding thud of excited pounding on their bedroom door sent him into a deep chuckle. "Never mind, I think he already knows." He extended a bathrobe to Candace and paused to wiggle into a pair of sleep pants. Surprised that Janine and Patrick standing at the door to congratulate them.

Janine rushed past Will and straight to Candace. "Oh, I'm so excited!" she squealed, practically overflowing with enthusiasm. She bounced exuberantly on the balls of her bare feet. "When's the big date?"

Patrick cast an apologetic glance at Will. "I should have kept my mouth shut. Sorry man." He shook Will's hand and gave him a man-hug. "I couldn't help but overhearing. Congratulations."

Will returned the handshake. "No harm done. I think?" He chuckled, looking over at the two women buzzing like queen bees in the corner, busily making plans.

"We haven't set a date." Candace stammered, hesitantly shooting a glance at Will.

Janine tapped her foot as she ran her hands through her unruly blonde curls. A spark lit up in her eyes. "I know! How about a Valentine's Day wedding? The bluffs at moonrise!" She sighed in longing. "How romantic." Eagerly, she squeezed Candace's arm. "Please say yes. We still have two weeks. I can throw a wedding together in that amount of time. Please say I can be your planner. Please." she pleaded. In her head, she was already assembling a mental list of things that she would need, tasks that she would have to complete, before the big day.

"Does that sound ok with you Will?" Candace's eyes darted between Janine and Will desperately. She didn't know the first thing about planning a wedding. She hadn't ever expected to be a bride.

"If that's what you want. Valentine's Day it is," Will shrugged. As long as Candace agreed to be his wife, he'd get married on an ice floe at high noon in the middle of the desert. As long as she'd have him, the where and when were unimportant to him.

"Then it's a date!" Janine threw her arms wide around Candace, kissing her cheeks. "I'm so happy for you. So, can I have the honor of being your planner?"

Candace shook her head in agreement. She was too afraid of the pint-sized powerhouse of planning to say no. "Of course."

Janine clapped her hands, bouncing with glee. "Yay! Let me call Anna and get the ball rolling. There'll be shopping and." She shot a sly smile at Candace and winked. "The bachelorette party, of course. Oh, I'd better get started now! We don't have much time to throw together the wedding of the century!" She bounded toward the door. "Love you guys!" she said, blowing a kiss at the happy couple. Grabbing Patrick's arm and dragging him down the hall, she chattered ideas.

Will shook his head, chuckling under his breath as he closed the door. "That woman is going to give him a run for his money." He flopped on the bed patting her side of the covers, urging her to join him. "You'd better rest those feet while you can. You're going to spend the next two weeks running them off."

Chapter 59

Chance awoke the next morning, his mouth dry as cotton and his throat barren and raw with thirst. His head throbbed, muscles ached, and his gut felt as if someone had sucker punched him repeatedly. He stretched tentatively and scooted up higher against his pillows. He was still covered with filth and muck from the night before. He winced against the dim light filtering in through his open door from the hallway. "What the hell?" he whispered, wincing in agony against the sound of his own voice.

He stretched out his hand, fumbling around on his nightstand until he felt the cool, plastic bottle of water in its familiar place where he always kept it. He unscrewed the cap and lifted it to his lips eagerly gulping it down. The second the water hit his stomach, it rolled in a tsunami. He stumbled from the bed, rushing to the toilet to expel the offensive liquid. Retching, he knelt resting his head on the side of the toilet lid. It was coming back to him now. The events of last night replayed in his mind. He was a vampire. Nothing but blood would quench his thirst and ease his agony.

Chance stretched out on the hard, cold marble tile, whimpering softly staring up at the blank white ceiling until he could gather his strength. With a groan, he mustered up his resolve and hefted his bulk onto his feet. He turned on the tap waiting for the water to heat up as he stood staring at his reflection in the mirror.

He looked like hell. His hair was a matted tangle of dirt and sweat, dangling limply around his chin. His eyes, he couldn't believe his eyes. They glowed with spellbinding intensity, the familiar hazel tinted with brilliant flecks of gold and amber. Gingerly, he lifted his upper lip, seeing the dazzling white points of elongated canines poking out from beneath pink gums.

Chance ran his hands, now roughly the size of dinner plates with long fingers and smooth glass like nails, along his face. His skin was smoother than before, still lightly tanned, but a light with a luminescence that made him shiver beneath its eerie brilliance. His jaw line was wider, more chiseled than before. His neck was firm and lined with ridges of hard muscle. His chest was broad. Pecks bulging with new found power and strength. His biceps tensed and flexed as he ran his arms down the hard planes of his stomach, feeling each ridge and dip of muscle.

Chance turned his back to the mirror twisting awkwardly around eying the tattoo spread across it. The lines and swirls of indigo were truly a thing of amazement. Well worth the suffering he had endured. The art wasn't as magnificent as John Mark's or Will's, sparse by comparison, but he was an apprentice. To earn the full measure of the markings could take decades, perhaps longer.

He smoothed a hand down to his manly parts for a quick check over. "Holy shit!" he gasped, not that he had any complaints about what God had given him before, but now, even flaccid, the shaft was long and thick with a heavily weighted sac hanging down below. He gripped his manhood, resting the weight in his palm curious about what it would look like when he was fully aroused. He forced the thought out of his mind as the bulk stirred to life in his hand. There'd be time for that later, as he recalled, an immeasurable span of it.

Strong powerful thighs and calves contracted as he lifted his leg over the edge of the tub and into the shower. He stared at his feet in disbelief. Even his previously respectable size tens had grown exponentially. He slid into the shower thinking about the changes his body had undergone. Being a vampire had its advantages. He doubled over as a wave of hunger roared within him, and its drawbacks. Sating the need that gnawed within him possessing his thoughts wouldn't be as simple as trotting to the fridge and grabbing something to eat. It would never be that easy, ever. He had to hunt, soon.

Chance rushed through the shower before the next crippling and painful waves of hunger struck. Pawing through his closet ripping his clothes off the hangars and tossing them aside, he realized, nothing he owned would fit his new and improved body. He shimmied into the shorts John Mark had loaned him last night. He didn't care if he had to hunt streaking through the woods naked in broad daylight he needed to eat.

A smell, light and fragrant, sweet and mouth watering flooded his senses as he took a hesitant step into the hall. He drew the scent up through his nostrils and exhaled it out his mouth almost tasting it. Instinctively, he understood the scent. He had to find the source. He darted through the hallways, tracking with deep heavy breaths, in and out, searching.

Janine sipped her coffee at the kitchen table, chattering nonstop to Anna on her cell phone. She was excitedly telling her human BFF about the plans for the wedding and, since Anna and she were almost the only humans on the guest list, about the arrangements for the bachelorette party. She felt a brush of air slide across the back of her neck, gently stirring her hair. Slowly she turned, seeing Chance plastered against the wall eying her hungrily. "Let me call you back," she said softly into the phone, snapping it shut. She kept her movements slow and her voice low, knowing how quickly the situation could go from bad to worse.

Janine remembered what had almost happened to Alex when she'd offered. Patrick had almost killed her best friend in a fit of protective fury. "Hi, Chance," she said almost whispering. She resisted the urge to run knowing it would only make things worse kicking his hunting instincts into full gear. She knew Patrick would pick up on her anxiety and be at her side in a matter of minutes. She only needed to stall for time. "I was just talking to Anna about the wedding."

"What wedding?" Chance asked. He pressed his back against the wall fighting against his hunger. He wanted her. His eyes were fixed on the gently kicking pulse surging beneath the tender tanned skin of her neck. He could smell her trepidation. It rolled bitterly along his tongue mixing with her sweet scent, holding him at bay. He knew he was scaring her and with each second that passed, his control grew more tenuous. His hunter wanted out to play. He knew he should leave. But, he was terrified to move, afraid that he wouldn't be able to walk past her without attacking.

Patrick shuddered against the wave of fear rocketing through his thoughts. Janine was afraid. He heard her pulse racing wildly in his mind. He darted from the tech lab following their link racing through the halls Will and John Mark close behind. He reached around to his belt, pulling out the length of lethal steel sheathed at his side.

"Oh," Janine said casually. "You haven't heard yet." Mentally, she kicked herself. It wasn't wise to upset a vampire. Especially a hungry one eying you like you were the special of the day. Change the subject, she thought. "Well, it looks like someone's going to need to go shopping." She ran her eyes along Chance's larger frame and the torn ragged pair of shorts he was wearing. He'd grown almost a foot taller and about sixty pounds heavier since yesterday.

Chance took a breath forcing his eyes down to the white tiled floor. "Yeah," he answered gruffly. "Wasn't expecting that." His words were choppy and slurred as his tongue brushed against his fully extended and throbbing fangs. He wasn't going to be able to hold back much longer. The scent of her blood rushing to her reddening cheeks was dissolving his hold.

"I bet I could talk Patrick into taking me shopping today, if you'd like that." She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. The heat of his stare made her nervous. Being a human in a house full of vampires had its dangers like the one she faced now.

Patrick burst into the kitchen expecting the worst. He expected to find Chance with the length of his fangs buried in Janine's skin. He slowed, relieved. Chance stood against the wall, unable to take his eyes off Janine with a look of dread plastered across his face. "Hi," Patrick said. He reached Janine's side and wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulders. "I heard something about shopping?" he asked, keeping things light and non-threatening. There was no need to stir up anything. No harm done. He slid the dagger back into its sheath, leading Janine away. Defensively, he growled at Chance over his shoulder.

"About damn time," Janine said, exhaling and relaxing in Patrick's protective arms. "And yes, I did say something about shopping. And yes, you're going to take me. No weaseling out of it."

"Ok, ok," Patrick replied. He didn't care where they went, as long as she was safe and happy. Maybe he could use the trip as part of the recon he and Toby were furiously working on. He would remember to get her something for Valentine's Day this year. Something spectacular.

"I wasn't expecting you awake so soon," John Mark said, clapping Chance on the shoulder proudly. "Well done, you didn't try to kill her," he said genuinely congratulating him.

"I was supposed to?" Chance asked, frowning in confusion.

Laughing John Mark turned to Will. "I'm glad he has a sense of humor aren't you?" He wrapped an arm around Chance's bicep. "Lets go scrounge up some chow, eh?"

Chance scowled gesturing to his lack of clothing. "I don't have any clothes that fit."

Will chuckled. "Its snowing and bitter cold outside so I don't think we need to worry about anyone seeing you." He shrugged dismissively. "And the deer won't mind if you're half dressed or not."

John Mark snickered knowingly. Janine's shopping extravaganza was going to cost Chance plenty. "By this evening you'll have more clothes than you ever needed." He shook his head "Poor Patrick may never forgive you, now he's committed. Janine will drag him to every store in town and maybe the state. You've given her an excuse to do two of her favorite things, shop and spend someone else's money."

John Mark punched Will lightly in the arm. "And you, "You're definitely on his shit list. Patrick drew the short straw. He's got to stay and play escort for the bachelorette party." He grabbed Will's hand shaking it furiously. "Congrats man."

Chance ignored the men as they talked. He was too hungry and too focused on the hunt to pay any attention to them. He barely noticed his mother dropping into a crouch beside him, spotting the prey. He unleashed his strength his muscles recoiling as he pounced driving his fangs deep into the muddy musky hide releasing a torrent of blood to ease his hunger. When he'd had his fill he licked the wounds closed and looked up at his mom. She was busily dabbing a spot of blood off her chin, daintily with the top of her finger. "Mom you and dad need to tell me something?" he asked curiously.