My Vampire and I Vol 3: Blood Resurrection (14 page)

 

“Now that you know the truth of me, you should also know I carry no human disease.

 

There is no need for protection when I fuck you.” His eyes held mine for a long moment. I knew he wondered just how much he could trust me. Above all else, I wanted that trust. He grasped my cock and wound his legs around my waist, guiding me to the entrance of his sweet core. “Lube,” he whispered, with a small smile. “That’s not going in me without some help.” I reached for the tube and smeared my fingers liberally with the slick substance.

Carefully, I inserted one, then two fingers, letting him squirm over them, opening himself for me. I wanted to be gentle with him. To hurt him, to see pain etched on his lovely face as before when I fucked him for the first time, was not what I desired. Yet, as I entered him, his breath caught in his chest and his hands clutched at my shoulders in seeming protest.

I started to pull back, but he murmured, “No,” and tightened his legs around me, holding me locked to him. I pushed slowly forward, and he sighed as I slid in. He raised his hips to give me greater access, and I groaned with pleasure, feeling the heat of his flesh engulf my throbbing erection. His sphincter muscles tightened over my cock, drawing me deeper inside him. I lowered my head to capture his sweet lips with mine, and his mouth opened to allow my tongue access to his moist warmth. Rapture suffused my body as the thrill of his kiss went on and on, a kiss that held us both in its sensuous spell.

“Constantine,” he whispered into my mouth. “I love you, my Constantine.” Unable to hold back, I groaned as my climax overwhelmed me. Wave after wave of ecstasy swept through my blood as I erupted inside him. He clung to me, arms and legs wrapped around my body, pressing himself into me as though he was willing to pass his flesh through mine. He let out a smothered cry against my lips as his orgasm took him, and our mouths met in a bruising kiss as a torrent of semen spurted up between our torsos. I cradled him in my arms, whispering, crooning my words of love in his ear, while he nuzzled my throat and slipped deeper into my embrace. Despite all the uncertainty that surrounded us, I don’t think I had ever felt as happy as I did at that moment.

Later, as he lay in my arms, his warm lips gently tickling my chest, he murmured,
“Your mother, Constantine…who was she?”
Blood Resurrection
J.P Bowie
92

“I’m afraid, I don’t know,” I replied, stroking his hair. “I want to believe she was a warm and loving person, for sometimes inside me, I can feel her influence.” He raised his head and looked at me then kissed my chin. “How so?” he asked.

 

“I am a demon, as I told you. I should be devoid of all humanity, uncaring, without compassion—and yet, I am not. It’s as though her genes were stronger than my father’s, and imbued me with those human traits I should not have.”

 

“Have you ever wanted to know who she was…or is?”

 

“Many times, but those who created and nurtured me, made sure I knew nothing of my past until I was in my teens. By then, I was resigned to my fate…until I met you.”

“And now?”
“And now, my sweet Gustav, all I long for is to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Then that’s what must happen—”
“But first, I must stop the mad man.”
“Constantine…”

“Hush, my love.” I bent to kiss his lips. “One power I did not tell you of…” I passed my hand over his eyes. “Sleep now, and if I am able, I will return to you.” Blood Resurrection

 

J.P Bowie 93
Chapter Nine
Bernard

In the days that followed our meeting with Constantine and Gustav, I waited for some news from the Vatican. I don’t really know what I was expecting —an assassination attempt, a scandalous revelation, some dissension amongst the cardinals, something. I just did not know what. But nothing unusual transpired, and I began to wonder if either Constantine had been silenced by his father, or if he had decided not to act against him.

“We could ask Gustav,” Pietro said, growing impatient with my wondering.

 

“Yes, we could,” I agreed. “But do you not find this silence strange? I mean, we’ve been gone from the Vatican for several days, no one has called to ask why we have not been in attendance.”

 

“Probably because the Pope presumes his son has carried out his orders, and that we are now dead. He most likely has forbidden anyone to try to find out what has happened to us.”

“Mmm…maybe.” But I was not convinced. The Pope’s decrees were not always adhered to by everyone—just as in any corporation, some of the ‘underlings’ loved to fly in the face of authority. One or two of the other archival attendants had been quite friendly and chatty. It seemed strange to me that they had not bothered to call.

At that moment, I could not know that the Pope himself had taken care of anyone who might ‘miss’ us. All memory of us had been taken from their minds. Nor could I know that even as we spoke, Constantine was a prisoner within the Vatican walls, and that the Pope’s sentence upon him was death.

What I did know, however, was that his mind was closed to me. I had hoped to probe his thoughts in order that I might know just how far he had proceeded with his plan to confront his father and threaten to make public his fraudulent claims.

“Call Gustav,” Pietro said, interrupting my thoughts. “He might have heard something.”
Blood Resurrection
J.P Bowie
94

I sighed. I didn’t want to tell him that I had been searching Gustav’s mind for just that kind of information. Pietro, even though he was a vampire, had some old-fashioned ideals about not invading a mortal’s privacy. Gustav’s mind, though filled with thoughts of Constantine, held no answers to my questions, being blurred as they were by the memory of their last love-making. I suppose I shouldn’t have dwelled on those passionate visions, but oh well, I’m only non-human. Sighing again, I picked up the phone and punched in Gustav’s number.

“Hello?”
“Gustav, it’s Bernard.”
“Oh. You have some news of him?”
“No. Pietro and I were wondering if you’d heard anything.”

“Nothing…” He was silent for a moment or two. “What are you and Pietro doing?” Would it come as a total surprise to him to know that vampires did exactly as humans when at home?

“Kicking back, as they say in America.”
He chuckled. “I don’t see you as the kicking-back type, Bernard. I figured you’d be poring over some book or other. Have you had dinner yet?” “We don’t have…dinner, Gustav.”
“Oh, right.” This time his laughter was a tad nervous. “Silly of me.”
“Did you want to come over?”
“Would you mind? There’s no one else I can talk to about any of this. I…I’ll bring some wine.”
As I put the phone down, I voiced my surprise to Pietro. “Gustav is on his way over. He really is quite a remarkable young man.” Pietro scowled at me. “Yes, well don’t go getting any ideas.”

“I wasn’t. What I meant was that he doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that you and I are vampires—you know, the scary undead, the Dracula contingent.”

“Well, he’s probably still basking in the thrall you cast over him. Besides, I’ve heard it mentioned, here and there, that humans find us quite sexy.” “Not only humans,” I said, with a sly smile. “I happen to find you quite sexy.” Blood Resurrection
95
“You’d better.” He returned my smile and kissed my cheek. “Now demons… They’re something else.”

“Yes. I have to admit I find Constantine’s change of heart surprising, don’t you?” He nodded. “I don’t know that much about demons, but from what you’ve told me, he isn’t acting like your regular evil one. Could his love for Gustav make that much of a change in him?”

“Perhaps. That and the fact his mother was human, and as he mentioned, her genes may have been stronger than his father’s.” “What does Marcus think?”
“He tends to go along with Constantine’s change of heart—for the time being anyway.
He’ll be here tomorrow. He is to be the Vampire Council’s emissary.”
“Then he’ll be meeting with Pius. I can’t wait to hear what he’ll have to say about that.”

“Perhaps he’ll be able to locate Constantine at the same time.” A knock at the door stilled our conversation. Gustav. He hesitated on the doorstep for a moment.

“Can I come in?” he asked, holding out a bottle of wine as if it were an offering of some sort.
“Of course.”

“I’ve been reading some vampire lore,” he said, after smiling pleasantly at Pietro. “You need an invitation before you can enter a human’s home. I wondered it that worked in reverse.”

 

Pietro and I chuckled.

 

“No, you need no invitation to enter,” I told him. “However, if we felt the need to protect ourselves from you, or anyone for that matter, we can set up unseen barriers that would prevent you from entering.”

“That’s interesting. I don’t think that was in the book.”
“Probably because it wasn’t written by a vampire,” Pietro said, taking Gustav’s coat. “Is it cold outside?”
“Yes,” he said, rubbing his hands together. I could tell he didn’t think it was much warmer in our apartment, either.
“Sorry. I’ll light the fire. We feel neither the cold nor the warmth.” Blood Resurrection
J.P Bowie
96
“Oh. That must be strange.”
“You get used to it,” Pietro said. “Go sit by the fire while I pour us some wine.”

“So, no word yet from Constantine,” he remarked, holding his hands out to warm them over the flickering flames. “Should I be worried?” I couldn’t quite meet his earnest gaze as I replied. “He did say we might not hear from him right away. But one piece of good news—our friend, Marcus, will be here tomorrow as emissary for the Vampire Council. He will meet with Constantine’s father, and we’re hoping he will have some news of him then.”

Gustav tried to smile, but I could see the tears glisten in his eyes. “How crazy is this?” he murmured. “Why did I have to fall in love with a man who’s involved in this kind of madness? Why can’t I just find the will to run from him and pretend none of this ever happened?” Pietro handed him a glass of wine then sat near him. “May I tell you a story? I promise to keep it short, and I think it may help you.” Without waiting for Gustav to say yes or no, Pietro continued. “A hundred years ago, I met Bernard, and for me, it was love at first sight.

My father was very ill at the time, and Bernard was a great source of comfort to me. My love for him deepened with every passing day, and when he told me what he was, a vampire, I found it mattered not at all to me. Despite the fact that I should have—as you put it when you discovered the truth of Constantine—run screaming into the night, just like you, I did not. Just like your love for Constantine, my love for Bernard kept me from being afraid of him. Even though I knew that at that moment, my life, along with my body, was firmly in his hands, I knew innately that he would never harm me.

“Constantine loves you, Gustav. I can’t pretend to know much about demons, but I sense that his human side is stronger, and for that reason, I believe he will do everything in his power to keep you safe. The fact that he respects Marcus Verano enough to have us protect you, tells me that Constantine is no ordinary demon.” Gustav gazed into Pietro’s eyes for a long moment, then he sighed and nodded. “Thank you for that. I’m just finding all of this difficult to rationalise. When I’m with him, it’s easy to forget what he is. How can a demon be so loving, and…well, you know what I mean?”
“We know,” I said, brushing away the vision Gustav’s mind had brought me of him and Constantine making love. “And we know your mind is eager to reject what, for you, has Blood Resurrection

J.P Bowie
97

always been fantasy, unreal. But that alternate world does exist, and it is filled with both good and evil, not unlike the ‘real’ world you inhabit.” Gustav shook his head as he gazed at both Pietro and me. “If anyone had ever told me that one day, I’d be sitting having a glass of wine with two vampires who were trying to console me over the fact that my boyfriend, who just happens to be a demon, is in some kind of danger… Why, that would have been good for a long hard laugh!”

“It is hard to believe, we know,” Pietro said, quietly. “But try not to think of him being in danger. He may have come to some compromise with his father.” I didn’t want to say anything to contradict Pietro, knowing that he was trying to put Gustav’s mind at ease, but the chances of Constantine and his father finding compromise were minimal at best. Constantine wanted his father to put aside his plans to control man’s destiny, something Pius believed himself born to do. That kind of belief, nurtured over hundreds of years, would be very hard to shake.

All we could hope for, at this point was that Marcus would be successful in convincing Pius that his plans would be resisted by every other supernatural power in the world.

 

* * * *

 

Marcus, accompanied by Joseph, arrived the following night. The Lady Andorra had given them her hillside palazzo, while they were in Rome. Pietro and I went to meet them there, and Marcus surprised me by asking us to accompany him and Joseph at their meeting with Pius.

“You know more of this situation than anyone else,” he said. “And he will be made aware that we know of his plan to silence you both. I want to make as many chinks in his armour as I can. He thinks he’s indestructible, that nothing can get in the way of what he considers is his destiny, but Constantine’s rebellion, and now the Vampire Council’s interference, might just make him feel a little less invincible.”

“From what Constantine told us, his arrogance might be his biggest chink in his armour,” Pietro remarked.
“But he does have several strong-arm men in attendance at all times,” I warned. “And like Constantine, they are demons…” Blood Resurrection
J.P Bowie
98
Marcus shrugged. “I don’t think he’s likely to resort to violence while we’re in the Vatican.”
“And if he does,” Joseph added, “we’re more than a match for them. Demons are not immortals.”

“But we’re dealing with the man who knows our weaknesses, too,” I protested. “If the meeting does not go well, he will not hesitate to make an example of us.”

“We might be just a little difficult for him to explain,” Marcus said.
“But surely that’s the reason the meeting is clandestine,” I persisted. “Who knows of it apart from us and his immediate followers?”

“Your caution is well taken, Bernard, but this meeting is crucial. Members of the Vampire Council will be linked to my mind during the process. If it goes badly, they will know they must take immediate action.”