her thumb over his mouth, sensing for safety the entire time. "When you speak to me like this ... there is no other place I'd rather be."
"I remember those early days," he murmured, nuzzling her neck to find the side of her throat that he'd first marked eons ago. He kissed the overly sensitive spot, studying the surface of her skin and released a long, fatigued breath. "So many demons after me and not a mark worthy of my challenge, except Cain. I know you must be as disappointed as I with this outcome."
"I am," she murmured hesitantly. "Cain was the only one that could have given you a good run for your money." Censoring herself, she held back any mention of Carlos as her husband continued to stare at her throat, hoping he didn't decide to summarily rip it out to begin a siege of unending torture.
"What shall I do to amuse myself while we wait, now that he's gone and Carlos is beyond my immediate grasp? Devastating humanity is growing old... they are so easy to pollute and turn to my ways."
"I'll rebuild the Vampire Council for you," she said quickly, her voice an urgent plea as she stared up into her husband's still languid eyes, beseeching his continued calm. "I'm sure that I can find - "
"Leave the Vampire Council to Fallon Nuit to rule.... I'll repair that sonofabitch as best I can. But I have something better for you. I'm done playing with him - he bores me, and he couldn't take the torture half as well as you did. He screamed like a little girl the whole time. The sound of his voice was so tiring that even after I ripped out his throat that brought no satisfaction."
"I'll stay with you," she whispered, shivering under the sensual intensity of her husband's hold. "Until the end."
"With me there will be no end," he murmured against the now red glowing marks at her throat. "Never."
"This is why I said until the end - that will never come." He nodded and kissed her neck until she moaned, suckling new blood to spill over the surface of her skin without even breaking the vein with his fangs.
"The others that are left are so weak. You are the only one in the universe worth a damn who truly understands me, Lilith," he whispered, his hands lazily stroking her back.
"Remember our first negotiation?"
"It is branded into my consciousness," she said, melting against him.
"Mine, too. All the carnal pleasure of this world and that of the forthcoming future is what I gave you that night. You were so afraid, but also so desirous that I was taken." He hesitated and peered at her without blinking. "You made my heir, Lilith. You were the only one capable, and you stole it, secreted it away, and hid it in plain sight of the Light. Tonight, I need to be taken. No one ever takes me... it is so rare, and only you have done
that to me, choosing me over Adam and the Light.
That absolutely took me by surprise, just as you've done so now. I never expected what you just told me about an heir to be delivered from your lips without fraud." His fingers trembled as they traced her cheek. "Take me."
A gasp cut off her statement as she tried to respond by touching the bite mark she'd left on his throat millennia ago. Seeing him so completely undone raised her courage and spiked her desire, and she allowed her fangs to slowly lower as his eyes slid shut. The moment he inhaled, she struck him with a cobra-quick bite, breaking the skin at his throat. Her unanticipated strike caused a violent shudder within him that passed through them both until his head dropped back.
"I am so pleased, Lilith. Surprise me." He'd breathed out her name with the fire in his lungs. "You deserve no less than all the pleasure of the ages tonight," he said in a garbled whisper while holding her tighter, "plus all that has ever been since the beginning ... it has been a long time for us, yes?"
"Yes," she said in Dananu against his shoulder, trembling so hard she felt faint. "I've missed you so, this way."
"I agree," he replied in Dananu, his voice deep and ragged with passion. "Before, I visited you with a month of painful torture ... but I have changed my mind. How about a month of pleasurable torture, fair exchange for your surprise