Chapter 25: Hooked
Juri returned to Marino's manor as she had been told. She considered going in search of Eileen as soon as she barreled through the front door but almost as soon as the idea occurred to her she brushed it aside again.
She could only imagine what she must look like and she was in no mood to explain what had just taken place. Juri wasn't sure she would be able to, even if she was in the mood for talking.
Also, she had seen Eileen's feeling for their master written plainly across the friendly woman's face. She loved Marino, loved him the way an aging aunt must love a sibling's son, and any news of danger would only cause her pain.
Better to wait, Juri told herself; better to wait until she knew something more of Marino's fate, be it good or bad. That, however, was the extent of her instruction for the evening.
Instead of slinking to her room and locking herself in, she removed her shoes and padded across the thick carpet and into Marino's master bedroom. That was where she waited in full dark, not interested in lighting one of the large lamps.
It was in Marino's room that she waited and from his plush bed that she sprang when at last his door swung open.
"You promised!" She shouted, running at him and raining her small, useless fists against his chest, "You promised you wouldn't act that way again. You promised that -!"
Marino grabbed her around the wrists and pushed her forward, walking them towards the soft moonlight. When she got a good look at him, her words cut off where they lay, now meaningless on her tongue.
Looking into his eyes, she realized that all of the other times she had considered being afraid of this man were nothing but child's play. He hadn't been dangerous to her before but oh boy, oh dear God, was he dangerous now.
His face was just as achingly handsome as it had been before but his eyes were wide and unseeing. Or, more to the point, whatever he saw now, it wasn't her. Not her such that she was.
He opened his mouth, and a low, sinister hum began to sound from deep in the back of his throat. His clothes were soiled with dark splotches, and when Juri sniffed the air and found that it was metallic, she understood.
He was a vampire, after all. He was a vampire, and he was coming to her in the wake of monumental amounts of blood.
"Marino," she said with an astounding calm, "stop it. You're frightening me." No response.
Nothing in his eyes, no recognition in his touch. There was nothing, and if she couldn't bring him back to himself, she was going to be in real trouble.
He wouldn't mean to hurt her, would undoubtedly feel terrible in the aftermath, but he would do it because he was no longer the self she was coming to know and yes, maybe even to love. She didn't think, but rose up onto the tips of her toes and kissed him firmly on the mouth.
His body went rigid, his hands tightening on her wrists, and for a moment she was sure that she was too late to bring him back from the abyss. The next minute he kissed her back, his mouth locking onto hers with need, unlike anything she had ever felt before.
"Juri," he moaned, breaking their kiss for long enough to bury his face in her hair, "oh, Juri, tell me I didn't hurt you again. Tell me that you're safe."
"I'm safe. Everything's okay, Marino, I'm safe. Everyone's safe as long as you're not hurt."
"No," he whispered, "I'm not hurt. I'm not hurt, but I lost myself, and I was sure I would -"
She put a finger to his lips, then kissed him again, thrusting her freed hands into his thick hair greedily. A far off part of her was afraid that he would taste like blood but instead, there was only sweetness and spice.
It made her hungry, ravenous, but not for anything food could provide. She ran her tongue gingerly along the very tips of his sharpest teeth and moaned into his mouth. He gripped her to him more tightly, his hands cupping her ass even as her hips began to grind against him as if with a mind all their own.
She arched her back, her nipples so hard they were painful, the tops of her thighs so slick with want it didn't feel real. As if reading her body he lifted her up, turning their two bodies and walking them backward until they were flush against the closed door.
"Do it, Marino," she said in a voice she didn't recognize as her own, "stop teasing and do it!" With one strong arm still propping her up, Marino yanked at the hem of Juri's dress. It ripped as easily as if it was made of paper and finally her legs were free.
Her hands groped in the dark, running along the sleek muscularity of his chest, then snaking down to the band of his slacks. He batted her hand aside, freeing himself easily and with a grunt of approval. He stopped then and looked into her eyes, his face naked in a way that was almost terrifying.
"I never meant to own you," he said thickly, desperately, "not in the way you think. There are things down here I cannot control, and that includes the trade, but I never bought you for keeps. You are free to go, Juri. Whenever you like, you are free to go."
"I'm not going anywhere, you fool. Stop talking. Please, just stop talking."
The desperation on his face broke and was replaced by a devious grin. Then he took his erect member in one hand and placed the tip against the throbbing lips of her body. She sighed and writhed against the door, groping for him to come closer in the dark.
It wasn't possible for them to be any closer but she wanted it nevertheless, and he was happy to comply. He thrust into her, all of the way, moving his hips so slowly it was a delicious torture.
Her legs tightened around his hips, using him for leverage so that she could buck her own hips against him as he moved. They moved like liquid, the two of them, existing in a world only available to people who knew each other's bodies very, very well.
They had no right to move that way, not with the small sliver of time in which they had been aware of each other, but they moved together all the same.
Every part of Juri was overtaken by him, so completely that he could have been the only real thing in this world or the world of the toppers above.
"Juri," he whispered over and over again, his voice as smooth as silk against her hot earlobe, "so soft. So beautiful." She gasped, her head rocking back and moving helplessly from side to side.
The delicious white heat she remembered from their first time together was already there, and it was building with astonishing speed. Her head was filled with a low humming sound, and the backs of her closed eyelids were all bursts of light.
It looked like sunflowers, and it felt like being on drugs. If she had ever decided to take drugs, in fact, and if they had been anything approaching this feeling, she would have been hooked from the start.
Again and again, he moved away from her and then closed the gap again, plunging deeper inside of her each and every time. She clawed at him, her fingernails creating bloodless little crescent moons, gasping and sighing his name over and over again.
"Oh God, Marino, oh God, I'm going to come!" She shrieked, momentarily without a care as to whether or not anyone might hear them. He thrust into her one more time, and her body exploded, moving entirely outside the realm of her control.
She shook all over, trembled and whimpered with nothing to do but to ride the wave. From somewhere in another universe Marino let out his own cry of pleasure before bringing her gently to the ground and resting his full weight against her body.
They stood that way together for a long time, him with his head resting against her chest and her with her hands playing aimlessly in his hair. There was much she still did not understand. There was danger in this world, more now than ever before.
If she wasn't careful she could hear the merman's strange prophecy; could see what might happen if she wasn't very careful. For the moment, however, it didn't seem to matter all that much.
All that mattered was the feeling of Marino's hand slipping into her own and leading her to his bed. Forget that Marino was no doubt going off to war with the vampires to fight the merfolk.
How much had he been hiding from her about his place in the vampire society? She would sleep tonight, and seek her answers tomorrow. There was nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone