Page 68 of A Shadow in the Reaping
"Why don't we go somewhere else,anywhere else, and I'll show you what a terrible liar I am," I say as Ashen trails a line of kisses down my neck between another laugh. One of his hands flows beneath my shirt, following the lines of my ribs and tracing the scalloped lace of my bra.
"Indulge me."
"I’m trying to indulge both of us."
I feel the smile in Ashen's lips as he kisses my jaw, drawing closer to my mouth. “Vampire,” he purrs, “I need to check the club but I do not want to leave you here alone.”
“Then don’t. Let’s drive away.”
That smile again, it drags across my skin. Ashen’s breath mingles with mine as he kisses the corner of my lips.
“Come with me, vampire, and I promise to make it up to you later.”
My desire is like a planet with a gravitational pull all its own. I let my hands flow up the muscles of Ashen’s arms, over his chest, down his waist. I grab hold of Ashen’s belt and tug his hips closer. He pulls his lips away to search my face as I release the clasp of the buckle. “Only if you make it up to me now first.”
Carnal fire erupts in his eyes. Ashen stares at my mouth as I drag his zipper down with a slow and teasing hand, tooth by tooth. He looks ravenous, like he can barely restrain himself from tearing the car apart.I bite my lip around a merciless grin and go even slower.
“And how do you propose Imake it up to you now?” he asks through a ragged breath as I work the button free on my jeans and pull them down beneath him. I press the button to recline my seat, keeping my eyes on Ashen. He leans down and devours me with his kiss, a growl rumbling in his chest as I wrap my hand around his length and guide him to my opening.
“Fuck me,” I say. My core feels raw and empty with my own words. I’m desperate to have him inside me, to have him fill me, for my flesh to stretch around him. But I wait with the silken tip of his erection paused at my damp entrance, wanting to drive us both mad for a moment longer.
“You know I will not deny you anything, vampire,” Ashen says, and drives into me. I cry out with the intensity of it, the pleasure of it. It’s so much better than what I was aching for. He withdraws to slam into me again, and again and again and again, our kiss urgent, our tongues plundering. He braces himself against the car door and grasps my hip with his other hand, pushing deeper until I’m not sure where he ends and I begin.
A wild thought detonates in my brain, that we could mate right here. It would be a bloodbath. The car would be a write-off. And it wouldn't really be inconspicuous, not that we’re being very inconspicuous right now, fucking in the front seat of his car. The lot we’re parked in might be empty, but who knows if someone might turn up and catch us. But that's part of the allure.
Right now, though, I don’t give a shit about people, or consequences, or the world. It could be burning down around me and I wouldn’t care, because the exquisite thrusts keep coming, over and over, deeper and deeper, drowning me in desperation for more. My bones feel like molten metal, liquid and searing hot. Ashen’s hand moves from my hip to my stomach, then up further still to pull my bra down and run his calloused palm over the smooth skin of my breasts.
“Come with me, vampire,” Ashen murmurs in my ear before burying his lips and his hot breath into the crook of my neck as he drives into me. He’s not talking about the club this time, that much is clear. My hands slide beneath his shirt and press into the thick muscles of his back. I scrape my nails down his skin, drawing blood. He growls into my throat with pleasure and gives a gentle nip to my shoulder.
The scent of blood, the feeling of Ashen’s thickness as he thrusts into me, his hands on my skin and the warmth of his breath as he kisses and bites… it all fuels the engine in my heart to claim him as mine in blood and give my own in return.
My fangs descend and coat my tongue in sweet poison. Ashen drills into me as I fumble with the top few buttons on his shirt until I can pull the collar past his shoulders. My lips carve a path of cool kisses from his clavicle to his neck. I open my mouth above his jugular and let my teeth and tongue graze the salty sweetness of his skin. Ashen groans at the caress of my fangs and his thrusts grow stronger, his thickness filling me with every pounding stroke.
“Drink, Lu,” he whispers into my neck. His voice is strained with the effort of holding back as every thrust pushes us closer to oblivion. “Drink and come with me.”
I don’t drink, because I know it’s something I won’t be able to stop if I do. But the idea of it undoes me. An intense orgasm tears through my core and claims my breath from my lungs. Wave after wave, it keeps pulling me under. I drown in a sea of sparks, calling Ashen’s name as he spills into me.
It takes a long moment for our breath to recover. Ashen rests his forehead to my shoulder and I run my fingers through his dark hair, every inhalation filled with his scent. I think I could stay here forever beneath the weight of him, feeling his heart as it thunders in his chest, listening to his whispered adorations. “You are a force of nature,” he says to me. “An elemental force of nature.”
Even though I wish we could stay, we don’t, of course. Life and the world that claims it enter my thoughts as I recover from the desire I just drowned in.
"Come on, vampire," Ashen says as he slips out of me, laying kisses across my face until I smile. "Let's get this done so we can move onto more fun things."
Once we’ve cleaned ourselves up as best we can, Ashen reaches behind me and pulls my sword from the back seat, laying a final, lingering kiss on my neck as he rests thekatanaacross my lap and climbs into his seat. I look at thesayaand think about the wars fought with this blade so long ago. I don't know if I was more reckless then, running off into those bloody battles after Tomoe Gozen, or if I'm more reckless now, falling in love with a demon who is meant to destroy me.
"All right, vampire?" he asks after we get out of the car and stand by the hood, looking up toward the bar. The giant silver letters loom across the brick like trapped and angry spirits.The Maqlu, it says, molten black flames licking the letters. I clench my jaw and stare at the rendering of fire that burns the words above the door. "Vampire?"
I look at Ashen and feel the bright blaze of red light that consumes my pupils. I give a single nod and tighten my grip on the silk threads wrapped around the handle of the sword. Before I can convince myself to steal the car and drive away, I stalk across the street toward the club, Ashen meeting my strides as he keeps to my left shoulder.
"I heard many theories of who killed Bobby Sarno on the roof of his own club. An ancient clan of shapeshifting witches. A vengeful angel bent on sending a message to the covens. Reality, it seems, is even more surprising. Was it truly you?" Ashen asks as we keep to the right of the building, heading down a narrow alley toward the back entrance. I nod but I don't meet his eyes. "Why?"
"You already know why."
Ashen falls silent. He looks up at the building and I feel his body tense beside me. "The Maqlu," Ashen says, more to himself than to me as the translation of the words on the brick takes hold. "The Burning."
We stop at the corner of the club to listen, but there are no sounds, no voices. I smell tobacco and brandy, the scent of ink warmed by skin. Ashen grasps my wrist and I turn toward him as smoke envelops our legs and climbs past my waist. Flame coils within Ashen's eyes.
"He was the last one that was there. The last on my list," I say before he can ask a question I don't want to answer. "He got what he deserved."
