Authors: Khloe Wren
His sly grin and his heated gaze brought a giggle out of her. The time being early morning, it was now officially the twenty-ninth of February.
"I’m not going to get much sleep today am I?"
His grin widened, "Not if I have anything to say about the matter."
With that he pulled her from the car and headed into the apartment lobby. The moment they pushed through the revolving door she was grabbed in a rib-cracking embrace by a woman she’d never seen before.
"Mother, she cannot breathe."
Moments after Angelo’s comment she was released and she heaved in a breath.
"Darcy, this is Bellissa, my mother. Mother, this is Darcy, my Eternal Bride."
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the pride in Angelo’s tone.
"
Buonasera
Darcy, it is lovely to meet you—"
Darcy chuckled as Luca strode up to Bellissa and swept her off her feet mid-sentence.
"
Mia Bella
, I did not know you were flying in."
"I know. We all wanted to be with our vampires for the twenty-ninth. All the team’s Brides came. I had double reason to come. I wanted to meet Darcy."
"
Si, si
, I am simply glad you are here. I was not looking forward to the twenty-ninth without you."
Darcy was fascinated watching Angelo’s parents, so obviously still deep in love with each other even after, however many years they’d been married.
Apparently, Angelo didn’t share her fascination.
"Save it for later, we have to get the others settled before we can retire to our apartments."
With obvious reluctance Luca stepped away from his Bride.
"
Si
, let’s get the rescued ones settled in."
Darcy turned toward where the others had gathered together. They looked lost and scared. She guessed most of them had been locked up in that house for many years. She could see there was going to be a need for education on modern technology and times for all the rescued vampires. Which reminded her...
"Luca, have you heard how the other raids went?"
"Not yet
ma cara
. It will take days at least to receive the reports. Come on, let’s get everyone settled and we’ll worry about everything else later."
Darcy watched as Angelo left her and walked to the reception desk. After a moment of chatting, the attendant handed over a small box filled with key cards.
"Darcy?"
Fiona’s quiet voice came from behind her and startled her. She spun around with her hand over her heart.
"Hey Fiona, you scared me!"
"Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to."
Blowing out a deep breath Darcy shook her head, "No, it’s fine. I was just a little too focused on my man, er, vampire. What’s up?"
Fiona looked over her shoulder before turning back to Darcy.
"I don’t know what to do, Darcy. Orlando is gorgeous and all, and he did rush in and rescue me..."
"But he’s as big as a mountain and scares you just a little?" Darcy offered up.
"Well yeah. I mean, look at him. And today is the twenty-ninth."
Darcy watched as Fiona stared at the ground and nervously shuffled her feet.
"I. Um. I was taken captive young. Before I’d ever, ahh, ever been with a guy."
Darcy smiled gently at her friend, who now had the cutest blush over her cheeks.
"Oh honey, Orlando will look after you. He’d never hurt you. And if you say stop, he will. Angelo was beyond patient with me, and I’m sure Orlando will be with you too. Just talk to him, tell him how you’re feeling, and he’ll understand—then he’ll make you forget about all of it." She gave her friend a big wolfish grin and winked.
Fiona rolled her eyes and giggled a little. Darcy sent a gentle command to Orlando to come over to Fiona. He didn’t need much of a push. She guessed he’d been struggling to not come over since Fiona had left his side. Orlando approached them looking nervous, which was a little ridiculous on such a large muscle bound vampire. Darcy took each of their hands and put them together.
"Go up to your apartment and talk. Get everything out in the open, then take it from there."
She stood back as Orlando released Fiona’s hand to sweep her up in his arms. She watched as they headed back to the elevators to go to Orlando’s apartment.
"I see you worked your magic again. All sorted?"
Darcy smiled at Angelo, "I think so. I’m sure they’ll be fine."
"Orlando is a good vampire. I assure you, he will take good care of your friend."
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his.
"Okay, one couple down, how many more to go?"
Angelo’s deep masculine chuckle sent vibrations through her body and landed in her core, heating her up. She saw his nose flare before he growled quiet and low.
"
Per favore
, hurry. I need you." He thrust a key card into her hand, "Take your mother and Barret to Suite 3904 then meet me at our apartment. I should be done by then."
He turned, strode over to the group of vampires and she watched breathlessly as he began handing out keys.
Movement to her left caught her attention and she turned as her mother reached her side.
"You came back and rescued all of us. I am so proud of you, Darcy."
Darcy felt tears prick her eyes as her mother wrapped her in an embrace. Her mother’s kind words meant so much to her.
"C’mon, follow me and we’ll get you settled."
Using the elevator, Darcy led Barret and her mother to the upper levels of the building, where the hotel style vampire friendly suites where. She tried to not laugh at their wide eyes and gaping mouths.
"How long were you held?"
"That depends on what the date is today." Barret said in a distracted tone as he examined the security keypad on the lift’s wall.
"I’m sure you realize it is the twenty-ninth of February of the year two thousand twelve."
Darcy stepped back in shock as both Barret and Sharon’s devastated gazes found hers and their spines visibly stiffened.
"Twenty-seven years." Her mother’s softly spoken words cut through the airlift like a sharp knife. Darcy couldn’t begin to understand what they must be feeling. So much had changed in the last twenty-odd years. The ding signaling the elevator had reached their destination brought Darcy out of her trance.
Exiting the lift, she led them to room number 3904. She felt Barret’s intense stare on her as she slid the key card through the scanner next to the door. Once the way was open, she stepped inside, holding the door to allow them easy entrance. With a hand on Sharon’s lower back, Darcy watched Barret guide her into the suite.
"Um, I know you want to be alone so I’ll leave you to it. The shutters come down automatically at daybreak, and the bedroom is central with no windows. If you need me, Angelo and I are in the penthouse apartment, just dial zero on the phone and ask the reception desk to put you through. Any questions?"
Barret looked around the room they stood in. Darcy smiled as he turned back to Sharon, who was watching him with a heated gaze. She needed to get out of here before these two jumped each other, a scene Darcy did not need to see.
"Thank you, Darcy, but I think most things can wait until tomorrow."
"Um, yeah, sure."
Sharon blushed and chuckled as Darcy headed out of the room to go in search of Angelo.
~ * ~
Angelo paced just inside the penthouse door. His Bride was fertile, and her hormones called out to him. He’d settled all the vampires as quickly as he could. Watching the heat and smelling the arousal between each couple had stretched his patience, increased the need he had for his own Eternal Bride, his Darcy. On returning to their apartment and discovering he’d arrived first he pulled back the covers on the bed, put a few little things close by to use later. He’d felt restricted, confined, so he’d removed his shirt and shoes. In only his black leather pants, he waited. He’d worn them as they were practical for fighting, tough enough to withstand a few hits. The fact Darcy just about drooled at him when he’d put them on, well, that was just a nice bonus and ensured that he kept them on to greet her.
The snick of the door lock opening had him there in moments. The second Darcy opened the door. He swooped her up in a bone-crunching embrace. Gripping his hand in her hair he tilted her head up to his and possessed her sweet mouth. Her jasmine scent encased him, enhanced with her arousal and the hormones signaling her fertile time. Kicking the door shut he raced her through the house to the bedroom, stood her back on her feet and moments later had her face firmly between his hands, his mouth sealed over hers.
He kissed her with every ounce of passion he felt for her. She sighed as she opened her lips. He delved his tongue inside and danced with hers. He slowed the kiss, sipping at her lips before he rested his forehead against hers. With only a fraction of an inch between their mouths he felt the warmth of her breath over his skin as she panted.
"Good morning to you too."
Darcy’s lips quirked up into a cheeky smile as she spoke.
"I missed you,
piccola
."
"I came as fast as I could." Her tone was breathy and distracted as she trailed her hot fingers over his cool skin. She reached his nipples and flicked at them, ripping a gasp from deep within him. Her hands slid down his sides onto the leather of his pants then moved in against him. He growled as she pressed her belly against his hard length, her hands sliding around him to grab his ass through the leather.
"I do like these pants, but they need to go. I like what’s inside them even more."
Shaking his head at his playful Bride, he stepped back and undid his fly before pausing, "Seems only fair you should lose your clothes too. I love every inch inside those pants and shirt."
Moments later they both were naked and he scooped her up then tossed her on the bed. She giggled as she bounced once. Slowly he prowled around to the bottom of the bed and picked her foot up, kissing the arch. He watched in awe as she bowed off the bed, thrusting her gorgeous breasts out toward him. He trailed kisses up her leg, enjoying the way she tried to twitch away from his touch as he reached behind her knee.
Angelo continued his journey, leaving open-mouthed wet kisses up her inner thigh, and the higher he went the stronger the musky scent of her arousal. By the time he covered her mound with his mouth he was half out of his mind with lust. Her delicate smell had intoxicated him like a fine wine. He suckled her clit, enjoying the way she thrashed about beneath his touch. Continuing to torment her clit with his mouth, he gently pressed two fingers into her tight sheath. Her hot, wet, slick flesh readily parted for him. Angelo would never tire of feeling her clench around him.
Moving his fingers in and out of her in time with his flicking his tongue on her clit had her on the edge in no time. He could feel the tension coil in her body, just waiting for something to push her over the edge. Angelo curled his fingers up toward him, searching and locating that special sensitive spot inside her. He rubbed over the sensitive flesh as he took her clit in his mouth with a hard suck.
Her scream echoed off the walls of the bedroom as a massive climax washed through her. He moved his mouth over to her inner thigh and pierced the vein. He took deep pulls of her sweet blood that threw her into another orgasm. He thrust his fingers into her now pulsating sheath as he drank.
Both her cream and her blood tasted extra sweet, further signs she was in her fertile time. Retracting his fangs, he moved over to her core to drink in her sweet nectar, allowing it to mix with the blood that remained in his mouth. As she began to settle he swiped his fingers through her folds, collecting the last of her orgasm. He mixed it with her blood from the healing bite wound on her inner thigh. He moved up her body and smeared the enticing mixture over each nipple before licking his fingers clean. Her eyes tracked his movements, and her breath hitched as he lowered to first one nipple then the other and licked them clean.
"
Piccola
, you taste divine."
He reached up over to the bedside cupboard where he’d left a little stash of items. Her gaze followed his movements and she chuckled when she saw the collection.
"You’ve thought about this and planned some things didn’t you, lover?"
"I had a couple spare minutes before you arrived to come up with some ideas."
~ * ~
Darcy watched a sly grin spread over Angelo’s handsome face. She held his gaze with hers, even after hearing the bottle open. She felt the sticky liquid land on her breast and she looked down to what he was doing. It appeared as though he was tracing the veins in her breast that led to her nipple, then circling the liquid around her tight peak. He paused after decorating one breast to lean down and lick her clean, scraping his fang up the veins once they were clean.
"I want to bite you here. Drink from the vein so close to your heart."
With her shuddering beneath him in arousal he decorated her left breast just as he’d done the right. Once done, he put the syrup back on the table and moved to lay between her legs.