Night's Templar: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 13) (41 page)

“I will take you here, Lord Uthe, on this threshold, in case the powers beyond it do not give us that pleasure. You will give me your marks to safeguard, so I may hold onto your mind as you hold onto mine. And you will take my blood, now and whenever you have need of it, for as long as I have life to give you.”

Keldwyn’s hands were already on Uthe’s belt, unbuckling it, nudging his hands out of the way as he stripped the tunic from him. It was good that he did so, for it took Uthe a few moments to recover from the import of Keldwyn’s words and catch up. But then Uthe divested himself of the leggings and boots, everything except the medallion he wore, the heat of the medal burning into his tingling skin. Keldwyn pressed him down to his knees and made him stay that way as he stripped off his own clothes. He tapped his thigh next to his jutting cock. “Make your marks here, Varick. Take the blood you need, if you can do it at the same time. It would please me to see you nourish yourself off of me on your knees like this.”

Uthe’s own cock jumped at the heavy pleasure in the Fae’s thick tone. Sliding his hands up the sleek muscular columns, he pressed his thumbs into Kel’s inner thighs, a mute request for him to spread his legs even wider. He didn’t deny himself a taste of that other hard column, though, licking a line up Keldwyn’s cock, nipping at the corona and sipping the fluid collecting at the tip of the glans before taking the whole thing for one strong stroke in his mouth, savoring Keldwyn’s taste. Keldwyn’s hand fell on his head. “The marks and the blood first, Varick,” he said, though his voice was rigid with desire.

Uthe moved to the pounding beat of the femoral, tracing it with his tongue. The skin was so smooth on the Fae’s inner thigh.

He let his fangs unsheathe. The monumental meaning of what he was about to do, what it would mean to the two of them, overwhelmed him, even as his practical side suggested he not get too excited, since it might not take. Keldwyn wasn’t Lyssa, half Fae and half vampire. His high Fae blood might reject the mark, spit it out like chaff.

He didn’t want to think of that possibility. It would either happen or not.

“Do it,” Keldwyn said, his voice a harsh command. “Now.”

He bit, sinking his fangs in as deep as they could go. The pain of that full penetration could be extreme, but he sensed Keldwyn would want to feel it. Kel drew in a breath, fingers clutching Uthe’s nape and shoulder before he tugged him closer, holding him so tightly, Uthe’s temple and jaw pressed against pulsing cock and heated testicles. His Master would take him once more before they faced what they faced. The thought made his ass contract and him pull on the punctures in Kel’s thigh more strenuously, swallowing down the rich Fae blood.

It had a tingling magic to it, the tart metallic taste different from humans, like an exotic vintage never experienced before. The first time he’d been too disoriented to appreciate it fully. He didn’t need much, not with what he’d had from Alanna so recently, but he took a couple extra swallows just for the pleasure of it. Not enough to deplete Kel, though. If blood loss could affect the Fae adversely, he didn’t want to take away resources his lord would need.

His lord. He released the first mark, the geographical locater, and Kel’s muscles tightened. The mark was like a form of GPS, making it possible to locate a servant anywhere within those few thousand miles. Humans described the injection of the mark as a sizzling sensation through the blood, not uncomfortable, but Uthe didn’t know how a Fae would experience it.

On the other hand, doing two marks at the same time could be painful. To avoid as much of that possibility as limited time would give him, Uthe devoted his time to other pursuits. Sliding a hand up Kel’s opposite thigh, he caressed and teased his balls, then curled his hand around the base of his cock.

Kel dug his fingers into Uthe’s muscular shoulder. “Get it done, Varick,” he rasped. “I want to fuck you
now
.”

As Uthe released the serum of the second mark, he could almost feel it searing its way through Keldwyn, a shot of light and magic and chemical reaction through his circulatory and nervous systems. When Kel let out a shuddering breath, Uthe looked up, concerned. He had his head tipped back, his body rocking against Uthe’s rhythmic hold on his cock, his hand still clamped on his shoulder. The tension in his face didn’t look like excruciating pain, but there were a mélange of reactions to manage when the second mark connection activated. Would it work?

My lord? Are you in pain?
He eased his fangs from Kel and licked the puncture wounds until they closed. Then he pressed his forehead to them, the way he might press his forehead to the ground right before prayer. Contact with the solidity of earth was a reminder of the miracles of creation. It was a comfort to feel that ultimate connection and gift, just as it was to feel it with Keldwyn now.

He shuddered at the jumble that dropped into his mind, like a child’s spilled treasure chest of gold coins, creek stone, feathers and butterflies. He was familiar with the first disoriented spinnings of a human mind as it adjusted to the connection. Taking in the mind of a Fae Lord was like getting a whole amusement park, an explosion of color, sounds and images. Because he thought of Keldwyn as his Master, Uthe hadn’t prepared himself the way he had with Mariela. With her he’d been ready to filter it down to a more manageable level.

The power of this mind, whirling like a tornado to form the connection with his, was astounding, mesmerizing, and he almost lost himself in it. Fortunately, his fear of what a wandering mind portended brought him back on track. Touching the edges of Keldwyn’s thoughts, he made him aware of the connection and drew attention to the boundary edges between their two minds, so the Fae could find his own balance again.

No. I am not in pain. I am in a remarkable new world. Your mind is as amazing as your words have always made it seem. You are not just clever, Lord Uthe. You are astonishingly extraordinary. A world as complex as the Fae and vampire ones combined resides in you.

He realized then he had his mind wide open, something he would not have done for a human servant, either. Keldwyn caught that, his fingers touching Uthe’s face so he would look up at him. Uthe thought he was looking into the sun, for Kel’s gaze was so brilliant, full of emotion. “I expect it to remain that way, my lord,” he said. “For I am no servant, am I?”

“No, my lord.”

Keldwyn’s expression became even more intent. He pressed Uthe down to the ground, onto his back, the Fae stretching out upon him. Keldwyn lifted one of Uthe’s thighs over his arm, pressing the other into a bent position under his other arm as he probed Uthe’s tight channel, ensuring it was still oiled from their earlier couplings. Too impatient to seek lubricant, Kel added some saliva to his palm and rubbed it on himself to ease his passage. Uthe coiled his leg around him, constricting the muscle, telling him his desire, his need, his want.

Kel slid into him, sinking all the way to Uthe’s heart. “You fed as you should?” he asked, coming to a stop, holding there, eyes on Uthe’s face.

“I did. Now let me give you pleasure, my lord. Though I fear there is no way to fill you as you have filled me.”

The skin around Keldwyn’s eyes crinkled. “I find your size more than adequate, Lord Uthe. No need to denigrate yourself because you lack a Fae’s substantial girth.”

Uthe shot him a droll look, despite the intensity of his own body’s reaction. “Your glamor magic has infected your brain with the delusions it imposes on others, my lord. But don’t fret. I’ve had difficulty of late separating fact from fantasy. It’s what happens to us older folk.”

Keldwyn bit Uthe’s shoulder, a not-so-playful nip that made Uthe’s body rise against him, another groan slipping from his throat.

I will take you now, my lord, and you will have no say in it.

Kel’s words branded themselves in his brain, the sensual threat sending electricity through the rest of Uthe’s body. Keldwyn started to thrust in earnest, his eyes burning on Uthe’s, his mouth set, fingers digging into his hips. Uthe’s cock bounced rhythmically on his belly, a repetitive impact that branded him with pleasure, the shaft becoming stiffer with every thud. Keldwyn’s gaze flickered to it, and he licked his lips. Uthe locked both legs around him, his arms sliding around the Fae Lord’s shoulders, bringing his mouth down to him. Keldwyn gave him that, a deep, tongue-tangling kiss. He wished Kel’s hair was loose to brush Uthe’s face and shoulders, but he could settle for having the Fae’s cock driving into him, the heated skin of his chest muscles rubbing against Uthe’s.

“Now,” Keldwyn demanded. “Come.”

Uthe complied without thought, a response that grew even more intense as Keldwyn reached between them, wrapped his fingers around his cock and worked it relentlessly, milking every spasm out of Uthe until he was moved from groans to shouts. When Keldwyn’s fingers convulsed and the Fae Lord began to release, ramming into him, harder, tighter, deeper, Uthe cried out with the further pleasure of it. They were under the open sky, under the grim shadow of the Shattered World, with the simmering thoughts of a demon growling in the base of his brain, but none of that mattered. Not right now.

Keldwyn slowed, putting his head down against Uthe’s. “There. You will not be lost to me. I forbid it. You have marked me; I have marked you.”

From his mouth to God’s ear, and may God have mercy on them and not take the declaration as arrogance. Or perhaps God found Keldwyn’s arrogance as appealing as Uthe did. They were all His creation, after all.

Pulling apart was a reluctant process, but both of them knew they could delay no longer. Still, as they cleaned up with the help of an anemic stream at the bottom of the hill and then donned their clothing, there were frequent touches, a stroke of a bare hip, a trailing of fingertips along a curved back. Uthe shook his head at the remarkable nature of the world. Now, when he stood at the end of his life, he was finally besotted, acting like a fledgling with his first love. Keldwyn’s smile only made the feeling more poignant. When they were dressed, Keldwyn put his mouth back on Uthe’s, and held them there until Uthe’s knees started to weaken and his cock started to fill with blood again. Then the Fae pulled back.

“There. That should also help us find one another.”

Uthe glanced down. “I’m not sure it works as a compass pointer, my lord, but it looks fully capable at the moment.”

Keldwyn nudged him roughly, but his expression was warm. They went back up the hill and faced the gray void. “We simply walk forward?” Uthe said.

“There is naught to it but that. There are multiple safeguards on it now to prevent accidental entry like those earlier stumblings, but the Queen will have adjusted it for our passage, as she agreed. She will know when we have entered. She has worked out a complicated marking magic that may pull us out when it’s done, but she warned nothing is certain because we know so little of this dimension.”

“And she may decide she prefers to leave you there rather than deal with you anymore.”

Kel’s lips curved. “There is that.”

“All right then,” Uthe took a breath. “May God go with you, my lord. If He wills it, I’ll see you on the other side.”

Keldwyn reached out a hand. “As childlike as it might seem, we might as well attempt it.”

“Sometimes the simplest gestures have the strongest magic of all.” Uthe clasped it, feeling the strength of Kel’s hold, and his gaze returned to the void. As he paused, Kel stilled beside him, sensing the direction of his thoughts. While he could read them from Uthe’s head, Uthe chose to speak them aloud.

“I have sought a Master to ease my need for centuries, my lord. God gave me that succor, but I think He knew the time has come for an earthly balance to what he provides in a heavenly manner. As you said”—for he now knew the words had come from Keldwyn—“that may be the purpose of love in our world. To remind us it is the ultimate gift He provides, if our hearts are open to it. To give us breadcrumbs to show us His true face, and to guide us to one another.”

Keldwyn’s grip constricted in response, a mute agreement. Uthe began to move forward, drawing the Fae with him. Kel fell into step with him. One stride, they were still together. Two strides, Uthe felt Keldwyn’s shoulder brush his. Three strides…

Nothingness closed in on him.

S
omething was crawling on him
. Uthe started up, sending sand torqueing around him. As he blinked and focused, he saw the pair of scorpions scuttling away. His body felt unusually weighted. Glancing down, he discovered he was wearing his mail hauberk beneath a tunic with a red cross on the breast. The Crusader uniform. The white Templar mantle, with the cross on the left shoulder, fluttered over it. A sword was belted over the tunic. No helmet. He’d had one, but had hated the thing, the way it obstructed his sight. He’d usually made do with the mail coif of his hauberk instead. He pulled it off to rest on his shoulders and grimaced. The tightly knit links of mail were excellent at grasping and pulling out hairs. As he ran a hand over his scalp, he noticed carrying the dagger had accelerated his hair growth. It was a good half inch longer. Perhaps that was why Kel had been inclined to pet him so much these past couple days.

The dagger was in its scabbard and the pouch with Rhoswen’s amulet was still firmly attached to his belt, thankfully. He felt around his neck to make sure the pendant with the sorceress’s weapon was there. It suggested the outfit was an illusion, if the things he’d had with him on the other side were still in the same place, though the weight of the mail felt quite real. But that was the danger of illusions—they did feel real.

He focused on his surroundings. It was much like the part of Syria where they’d gone to claim Fatima’s magic. Sand, rock and scrub. But he could be standing in the middle of a lush forest, by a babbling creek, with Keldwyn trying to return him to their reality. Waking up in clothing he wore a thousand years ago, in the middle of a desolate wasteland, that could be the illusion. How did he know the stress of crossing into this dimension hadn’t catapulted his brain into one of the Ennui episodes?

The panic that gripped his bowels angered him and he shoved it away. The demon might fuck with his mind right along with the Ennui and the Shattered World. It mattered not. He knew what his task was, and he would accomplish it. So the Shattered World liked to play games with fantasy and reality? Uthe was uniquely prepared. He’d told Kel that, hadn’t he? Time to live up to his bravado.

He took several deep breaths and closed his eyes.
Keldwyn.

No response, but that wasn’t the only way to find him. He turned his energy toward the blood link. Nothing. Pushing back a sense of foreboding, he reasoned it out. There was no way of knowing what fields of interference might exist, magical or otherwise. He could start walking. The sun was beating down like the fires of Hell and, while it was a Fae realm where the sun didn’t have the draining properties it did in the mortal one, it was still uncomfortable. He could handle discomfort.

This was the worst case scenario, wasn’t it? No connection to Keldwyn, no sense of which direction to go, no idea if what he was experiencing was the Shattered World’s reality or his mind’s dementia. He felt disconnected, adrift. Helpless. Rage, frustration and bloodlust started to stir and gather momentum. Lord Brian had postulated that the more volatile effects of Ennui were incited by a vampire’s baser instincts. If Uthe had revealed his condition to the scientist, Brian might have concluded Uthe had experienced only memory loss and disorientation thus far because of prayer and meditation, keeping the more violent symptoms at bay. The same way he’d controlled the impact of having a demon in his head.

Of course. He shook his head at himself. A thousand years of routine, and he’d forgotten the most important part of it. Pushing away anxiety and the despised panic against a foe he couldn’t fight, he put his trust in the Ally he understood the least but believed in the most. The One who had brought Keldwyn’s faith, support and yes, love, to him in this final phase of his life.

Drawing the sword, Uthe drove it into the ground and knelt before the cross formed by the hilt. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes. “Lord give me the strength to do Your bidding, to fight Your enemies and be Thy servant in every way. I am armored in obedience to Thy Will. I will fear nothing but Your might. If it is Thy Will I die like this, then I submit to that decision. But if You desire me to complete my quest, then I ask Your help to see past what blinds my eyes. Help me serve You. I pray for Keldwyn’s protection and a safe return to his own world.”

Varick.

Uthe’s lips curved as a breeze touched his face.
I should have known. All I had to do was start praying, and you would interrupt me. Heathen.

He lifted his head, and the landscape around him had changed, to a surreal vision of color. He knelt in a meadow of long blue grass with tufted green crowns. The sky was orange, the trees red.

Kel. I’ve fallen into a melted box of crayons.
He chuckled. As he rose, he saw he was still in the Templar mail and tunic, still armed with a sword, but he was heartened by the change of scenery, especially as he saw Keldwyn working his way across the blue field to him. He’d gotten used to having the Fae around, all in all. Was this dream or real?

Stop it.
Keldwyn’s voice.
You’ll drive yourself into insanity with that nonsense. It’s either real or not, but you have no control of knowing the difference, not here. You simply keep your intent before you and either you’ll reach it or…
He reached Uthe then and spoke aloud. “You’ll live out your life in a box of melted crayons.”

He didn’t give Uthe a chance to respond, instead grabbing a handful of the tunic and yanking him forward to plant a violent kiss on Uthe’s mouth. It wasn’t seductive or gentle, but a pure, rough branding, the reconnection a lover would crave after a prolonged absence. It had only seemed like a few minutes to Uthe, but it didn’t make him any less receptive to the greeting. He gripped the Fae Lord’s tunic as Keldwyn settled both hands on his face, holding him still to plunder his mouth, scraping Uthe’s fangs with his teeth. His fingers pressed into the sides of Uthe’s throat so he felt the beat of his own pulse.

Keldwyn’s body leaned fully against his, so forcefully Uthe would have been pushed back a step except Kel snaked an arm around him. When he drew back, staring into Uthe’s face, Uthe’s still logy mind was unable to sort anything but the throbbing need in the Fae, which found an answer in his own body and heart. Since he wasn’t one to speak his feelings when he could barely think a straight thought, he asked the first innocuous thing that came to mind.

“How do you know what crayons are?”

Keldwyn eased back, his expression becoming less feral and closer to the norm. “Humanoids have had the desire to create pictures for thousands of years,” he said. “Plus, children are children, regardless of the world. We have crayons. We do not call them that, but they are the same thing. A mix of wax and dyes. After the last Council meeting, Kane found me and showed me a picture he’d colored. He wanted to know if I thought it was good. I said it was, but he was not satisfied. He knows when he’s being patronized. He made me sit down with him and show him how to make it better.”

Uthe visualized the Fae sitting next to the vampire child and coloring. It wasn’t as unimaginable as it once had been, because he now knew his lord loved children. “Did you do that kind of thing with your sons and daughters?”

He wasn’t sure why he was pursuing the subject right now, but his mind was still adapting to his environment. He felt like he was waiting for…something. Something that would be found right here. He sank to his knees in the long grass and came face to face with a purple spider perched on top of a feathery tuft of meadow grass. The legs were like long threads, the body the size of an unshelled peanut. It bounced at his appearance, like a daddy longlegs. Uthe glanced up at Keldwyn. “Sit with me a bit,” he said. “I think we need to wait here for a while.”

Keldwyn was studying him, but he dropped to a mirror position of Uthe’s pose, bracing his hands on his knees. “Yes. Shelessia loved creating pictures. She could make them come to life for short periods of time. If she drew a dragon, it would leap off the page and play with her. It would retain all the characteristics of the drawing, the strokes of the crayon, the dark outline. The places where she’d gone outside the lines became jagged scales stuck out at odd places on the dragon’s body. When she fell asleep in my arms for her nap, it melted back into the page, becoming two dimensional once more.”

“Huh. I wonder if that’s also what this place is. The inside of someone’s mind, of many minds. A collection place for all our fantastic, unnatural and bizarre imaginings. Where the most random stray thoughts gather to play.”

“Possible.” Keldwyn leaned forward and clasped Uthe’s hand, drawing his attention. “Varick. Are you with me? Wholly here?”

Uthe nodded. “I’m waiting,” he said. “But I cannot tell for what. I know no one is playing a game with me right now. There’s a particular feeling when it’s the demon screwing with me, if that makes sense. How long did you look for me?”

“Time has very little meaning here,” Kel said.

It wasn’t a direct answer, which made Uthe pay closer attention to his companion. With his mind clearing, for the first time he noticed Keldwyn’s face was more drawn than usual. Unlike Uthe, he wore the same clothing he had on the other side of the gray wall, but his jerkin had been torn, and a faded, rust-colored stain suggested blood. Since the Fae Lord always moved with lissome grace, Uthe should have noted that he was moving more stiffly, not only when he’d knelt just now, but as he came across the field. His hair was still braided, but they were no longer the smooth, silken ropes Catriona had created. They were snagged and knotted, long wisps of hair loose around his smudged face.

Uthe knew the look from extended campaigns. Keldwyn had been traveling, sweating and fighting for a few days at least. No wonder the Fae had asked him if he was in his right mind, if Uthe had not noticed such things right away, let alone remarked on them. Kel’s fervent greeting made even more sense now.

“I just woke up,” he said. “Kel, how long have you been here?”

“It matters naught. I have found you now.”

The words yanked at him, a lifeline to pull him out of the dreamlike state trying to hold him like quicksand. “Yes, it matters. How long, my lord?” What was Kel trying to keep from him?

“If time could be measured here, perhaps a couple weeks.” At his startled look, Kel made a placating gesture. “It is what the Shattered World does. You should not ascribe any significance to it.”

Except it made Uthe feel as if he had lost more control of his mind than he’d expected, which he was sure was why Kel hadn’t wanted to reveal it to him. Uthe ran his fingers over the blood on the jerkin, the rip that had torn it. The top lacings were shredded, so his touch grazed Kel’s bare chest. “And who did this to you, my lord?” He knew his voice was hard, his eyes gone flat, because he saw the reflection in Kel’s face as he closed his hand around Uthe’s wrist.

“A few creatures who thought a new arrival in their world was fair game. They quickly learned otherwise. Fortunately it allowed me to acquire some weaponry, which is necessary here, because magic is unreliable.” He touched a quiver of arrows he had strapped on his back with a bow, a brace of daggers at his belt. He’d unsheathed a sword before kneeling and it lay next to them. Uthe had assumed Keldwyn had woken up with the armaments like he had. He put his hand on the pommel of his own sword.

“Do I have weapons, Kel? A sword?”

“Yes, my lord.” Keldwyn put his hand over Uthe’s so they could grip the hilt together, confirming it. “You also have a long dagger at your hip, as well as the dagger you carry to ward you against sunlight. It seems the Shattered World wanted to gift you with weapons.”

“Whereas it made you fight for them.” Uthe already didn’t like this place. He looked at the sword and weapons Kel was carrying. “They were heavily armed. You handled yourself well.”

Kel shrugged. “My glamor did not work on them, but my time shift skills did.”

“Time shift skills?”

“I can shift time for an opponent. Make his body blink out of this moment and reappear a moment later, perhaps only a few inches to the right or left of where he was. If I do it correctly, they phase into their future body. Most unpleasant and often fatal unless they have a way to counter it. I don’t use it often, because it is draining and it can cause larger ripples, but in this case, it became necessary, since the initial numbers were too large for me to handle without such tactics.”

During which, Uthe had been…what? Sleeping? Caught somehow in the limbo between the Fae world and this one? Why had the Shattered World wanted them to have such a lag between their appearances in this world?

“You are trying to ascribe logic to how the Shattered World does things. Chaos is what holds sway here. I won’t tolerate you castigating yourself. You will be the one who has to confront the demon directly. You needed your beauty sleep.” Keldwyn swept a gaze over him. “I see it didn’t do much good, but then vampires are not blessed with the natural beauty the Fae possess.”

Uthe gripped Kel’s tunic, drawing him forward. The Fae lifted a brow. “Do not get heavy-handed with me, vampire.” But there was a smile on his mouth that Uthe couldn’t resist touching with his own lips. He drew back after a light taste, but stayed close so he could lock gazes with the other male. He saw the relief in Kel’s face, the weariness.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Kel fighting for his life while Uthe was taking some kind of nap, whether or not imposed by the Shattered World, rankled. But more than that, he remembered how he’d felt, thinking he’d never find Keldwyn. He’d experienced that for a few minutes only. The Fae had been wondering where he was, what had happened, and whether he and Uthe would ever find one another here, for a couple weeks.

Kel curled his fingers over Uthe’s. “It is of no consequence now. I have found you.” It was a reminder that Kel could hear all these things in Uthe’s mind, because Uthe was not doing a thing to keep him out of it.

“If you wish to apologize for your tardiness, I can think of several ways for you to express your chagrin.” Keldwyn leaned in, murmuring against Uthe’s ear. “I can punish you to ease your guilt in ways that will have you begging, vampire. There are so many things we have not explored together. Your capacity to take pain for pleasure is something I ache to investigate. You called me Master before you stepped over the threshold to this world, and I will hold you to it.”