Cerian froze, her mind stuttering over the fact that Ta’bat was actually
in
her mountain. Then she grabbed Rhys’ hand and pulled him down the corridor with a hard yank. She’d never dreamed the Sarthes could infiltrate their caves. They’d gotten through all their magical safeguards. How?
More traitors, perhaps. More Danaan like the one they’d found this morning who believed she should give in to Ta’bat.
“Wait.” Rhys stopped.
She whirled and faced him, her eyes wild. “We have to hurry. The Sarthian warriors will be all over these corridors very soon. No time to chat.”
“They’re out there with the Danaan.”
She shook her head. “They can’t do any direct physical violence to them by order of the Union. They won’t harm a hair on their heads. They want
you
, Rhys. And while you may be able to fight three of them at once, you won’t be able to fight five hundred.
Plus,” she looked pointedly at his scabbard-less side, “you don’t have a weapon. And there are no Union laws against direct physical violence against you, an outlander.”
“I need to Embrace you
now
, Cerian.”
She paused. Yes. It was the only way. They needed to go forward with that which Ta’bat meant to prevent. “Come with me.”
They ran down the corridor and she led him through a series of fissures in the rock-face. If Ta’bat thought he had her, he was badly mistaken. Renewed determination 48
Scarlet Sweet
flowed through her. This mountain was
hers
, and she knew it like she knew her own body. Ta’bat would take neither as his own.
She led him through the mine passageways. Sometimes they were so narrow she feared Rhys’ height and breadth wouldn’t allow him to pass. Sometimes they were so wide they had to dodge boulders in their path. All around them, the crystal embedded in the walls glimmered, giving light.
The room she sought opened up before them. In the bottom of the mines, this mountain chamber would take Ta’bat and his men a long time to find. If they were lucky, Rhys could Embrace her and then flee. He could evade the Sarthes and get out of the mountain undetected.
“This is where you want me to Embrace you, Cerian?” he asked behind her.
She turned. “Yes. Is it all right?”
His gaze roved the chamber. “Perfect.”
She looked around. She supposed it was very beautiful to a person who didn’t see the crystals every day. In light green, pink, silver and red, the translucent, faceted crystals dripped from the ceilings and jutted from the walls, emitting a low incandescent shimmering. A small pool of water, warmed by nearby underground hot springs, stood to their left. The area was mostly cleared of rock and boulder. A thick Gaman cave moss grew on the ground here.
“We’ll be safe here. For a while, anyway,” she said.
He dropped his gaze to hers and held it. The look he gave her was so full of heat that it quickened her pussy, flooding it with moisture. His dark eyes were filled with everything he planned to do her. He let a low, territorial and sexual growl slide past his lips as he walked toward her. Every nerve ending in her body jumped to life.
Suddenly, it didn’t matter that Ta’bat was searching the mountain. It didn’t matter that she had traitors within the Danaan. All that mattered was what lay between herself and Rhys. It was time to see it through.
“Are you ready for me?” he murmured darkly as he strode toward her.
49
Anya Bast
She held up a hand to stay him. “Explain what’s going to happen to me, Rhys. I know some, but not all.”
“First, I’m going to trigger your mark, Cerian. That’s when things will start to get strange, if you react anything like a human. Then I’m going to drink your blood, let it mix with mine. When you drink my blood, it will be a biochemical cocktail straight from my veins to yours. That cocktail is going to cause internal changes. DNA-level changes.”
“But we don’t know what will happen because my DNA is already so different from a human’s.” She recognized the note of unease that had entered her tone.
She’d known since she’d been small that she was marked, but she’d never planned to be Embraced. Now being Embraced was the only way to stave off Ta’bat. It was something she simply
had
to do. A transformation she had no choice but to undergo.
But she’d never truly considered the process, since she’d never thought that part of her would ever see the light of day.
He smoothed a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry. You’re meant to be Embraced. All will be well. Do you trust me?”
She shrugged. “You’ve given me no cause to distrust you.”
“You’re about to become what you were born to be.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. White light seemed to flash through the depths of his gaze and mirror in her own mind’s eye—a spark within him that awakened a spark within her. For a moment the brilliance blinded her. Then knowledge of a breadth she hadn’t known in her centuries of living flowed into her. She gasped, turning away from Rhys as the onslaught began.
Cerian dropped to her knees and closed her eyes, trying to control the mental assault and failing. The sensation was overwhelming, beautiful and terrifying all at once. Information flooded her mind. What the Vampir were, why they existed, the entire history of the Embraced bombarded her.
The Vampir had evolved from humans during the same time humans had evolved from primates. A desperate need for a defense against an ancient race calling themselves the Dominion had triggered their development. It was a lot of knowledge to have about a race that existed light-years from Gaman on a backwater planet like Earth.
After several shocking moments, the hurricane in her brain slowed and came to a stop. Cerian opened her eyes to a new world. Everything looked sharp and perfect. She sucked in a breath. The sidhe already had exceptional vision, but this surpassed unbelievable. If she concentrated, she could see every single facet in every single crystal 50
Scarlet Sweet
glimmering above them. She could hear Rhys breathing behind her, every rise and fall of his chest. She could feel every tiny thread of soft moss pressing into her knees where she knelt on it.
She stood and turned to him. “Rhys,” she whispered with wide eyes. “Finish it.”
He walked to her and smoothed his hand over her cheek, then further down to trail over her jaw, neck and shoulder. He drew his fingers sensually over her collarbone and breast, all the way down to press the small of her back, leaving a trail of fire where he touched. He pulled her to him as though to kiss her.
He brushed his lips lightly across hers but didn’t linger. Instead, he traced them over her jawbone and her cheek. He put his other hand to her nape, and massaged the muscles there for a moment before twining his fingers through her hair. Slowly, gently, he tilted her head back, exposing the line of her throat. All the while, he nuzzled her, making small noises of reassurance. His tongue flicked out and tasted her earlobe. Then he laid a line of kisses down her neck.
Cerian’s heart rate and breathing picked up. Her body began to tighten and prime itself for him. He nipped at the skin where her shoulder and throat met and she felt her pussy drench.
She whimpered. “This is torture. Please, bite me.”
His tongue licked at her pulse, and a tremor ran up her spine. She twined her arms around him to support her suddenly shaky legs. Sharp fangs brushed her skin once, twice, and then bit. She stiffened and gasped at the sweet jagged pain. Then warm pleasure spread out, enveloping her.
Liquid desire filled her from the toes up. Her nipples tightened and she shivered every time he moved and brushed his hard chest against them. The suction at her throat increased and the pleasure became almost unbearable. It seemed to tighten some unseen line straight from his mouth to her pussy, making her sex swell for him, ready for his attentions.
Her knees faltered and she would’ve collapsed if his arms hadn’t supported her. He lowered her easily to the moss-covered ground, still with his mouth at her throat.
Her fingers tightened on his shirt until she was sure her knuckles were white. Her thighs parted for him almost of their own volition, and he slid snugly between them.
His cock was hard and pressed into her sensitized flesh. Under her breath, she cursed the clothing that separated them.
They stayed twined that way for several long moments. Cerian reveled in the long, hard pulls he took from her throat.
Finally Rhys released her, licking over the small wound he’d made, and raised his head. His eyes were dark now, filled with lust. His penetrating gaze held hers as he brought his own wrist to his mouth and bit. Dark blood welled from the wound he’d made. He lowered it to her mouth. “Drink,” he murmured.
She hesitated, then flicked her tongue out and tasted what welled from the gash on his wrist. The essence of his life force coated her tongue. It tasted nothing like she’d 51
Anya Bast
expected. Its flavor was that of an aged wine, though somewhat different—spicier and sweeter all at the same time. It was the intermingled flavor of the life force of every person he’d fed from in his very long life.
Cerian licked his skin and closed her eyes. It was nearly irresistible. She latched her hands around his wrist, followed by her mouth, licking and sucking.
Rhys groaned low in his throat. She felt his body stiffen and his cock twitch against her. She toed off her boots.
Want
fell short of the scope her desire right now. She
needed
him inside her.
She almost broadcast her thoughts at him, but he understood. Still keeping his wrist at her mouth, a tricky thing, he shifted to the side, reached between them and undid the buttons of her trews. Every whisper of fabric through buttonhole was like a promise. He pulled them down until she could kick them the rest of the way off. Braced on his side, he worked on his own clothing, nudging his own trews down low enough to free his cock.
Finally they were both bared from the waist down. He set his cock to her pussy, teasing her clit with the head and making her whimper around his wrist, before working it inch by glorious
inch within her. Now connected by vein and sex, he began to thrust into her slowly.
Danu
, he filled her so completely, stretched her muscles so perfectly. She let go of his wrist and arched her back. “Yes. Oh, sweet goddess, yes,” she breathed.
The Embrace had made her body exceptionally sensitive. She felt more alive than she ever had before. She knew somehow that this was only the beginning stage of the change she would undergo.
He shifted to cover her body with his, bracing one hand on the ground beside her head. The other, he trailed slowly from her cheek, over her upthrust breast, around to cup one buttock. First he drove into her slow and easy, then faster. Cerian gripped his shoulders, feeling the bunch of his muscles beneath her fingers.
He pulled her shirt up, his mouth latching onto one taut, aroused nipple. He alternated between nipping and pulling and taking it deep into the warm recesses of his mouth. He twisted his hips so the head of his cock rubbed the pleasure point deep within her. Relentlessly he stimulated it, until she was panting and scraping at his shoulders and back with her nails.
Her climax shattered through her, bursting over her body like none she’d ever had in the past. She stifled a scream as her vaginal muscles contracted around his cock. He lifted up and pressed two fingers to her clit, rotating and manipulating in just the right way. On the heels of her first orgasm, a second one rocketed through her. It bowed her spine and made her call Rhys’ name.
He answered with his own climax. She felt his cock jump within her and his body shudder. He buried his face in her hair and groaned. They stilled, both panting.
Rhys shifted to the side and held her against him. She snuggled into the warm, protective curve of his body. She knew the second phase of her transition to Vampir 52
Scarlet Sweet
had begun. She could feel it within her bloodstream. She felt hot and cold at the same time and, worse, she was beginning to feel weak.
She fought to keep her eyes open. She couldn’t afford vulnerability right now.
Retaining consciousness was paramount.
“Don’t struggle. You’ll black out soon. There’s no way to prevent it,” Rhys murmured, smoothing her braids away from her perspiration-dampened forehead.
She swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. “No. I can’t—”
“Don’t fight it,
cariad
. It’s a part of the process. Better you’re unconscious for the next part of the change.”
Her eyelids drooped and her vision dimmed. It was too strong. The darkness beckoned too seductively for her to resist. “You’ve got to get out here, Rhys,” she whispered. “Get out before they find you. I’m sorry I can’t help.”
The darkness swallowed her whole.
* * * * *
Rhys laid a lingering kiss on Cerian’s lips before standing. To ward off the dampness of the cavern chamber, he dressed her, and then stood looking down at her.
Her face, for the first time since he’d met her, was peaceful. Her chest rose and fell with the depth of her slumber. Before she’d lost consciousness, he’d given her small mental compulsion for good, healing dreams. She needed them. Shadows graced the woman’s eyes at all times. He found himself curiously and inexplicably driven to chase them away.
Permanently.
Rhys had spent centuries roaming Earth and centuries more roaming the universe on behalf of the Council. Sent back and forth at their whim on official missions was his life, his career.
He was bone weary of it.
In his long life he’d met a lot of people—a lot of women. None of them had as much grace, dignity and quiet strength as the woman lying on the ground before him. He felt the urge to protect her. She’d probably want to slap that urge right out him, but he had it all the same.
He gave his head a sharp shake. There was no way he was going anywhere. Not when Cerian was so vulnerable. When she awakened from the Embrace, she’d likely be weak. Who knew what Ta’bat would do when he discovered she, and the crystal, were now off-limits to him? Maybe he’d be so enraged he’d forget all about the Union’s rules.