"Bend you head down," Dragon said, after getting me seated on the sofa. I got my head down to the vicinity of my knees and breathed for a few minutes. "Don't think about it," he ordered. I was trying. Really. That image was going to stay with me for a while, I think. A really long while.
"It's the Ra'Ak's kiss," Dragon said, raising me up after I stopped gagging. "It's the way they create demons, who in turn can create other demons. They sometimes do this to the willing, who think they'll become Ra'Ak. The truth, of course, is that it will be survival of the fittest from this point forward. Perhaps one in ten thousand demons survives to become Ra'Ak. They stay in demon form for around twenty years before they make the final turn, and even then the Ra'Ak weed out what they determine to be weak or unsuitable candidates. Their chances of survival are very small."
"But what if these schmucks go out into the city and just bite anybody they see?" That's what the others were trying to do that we'd killed so far.
"A true dilemma," Dragon nodded. "However, I cannot help but believe they were trying to trap you tonight by doing this. Did you ever see the other Ra'Ak?"
"No. I didn't smell him, either."
"Then he was heavily shielded. They can do this, just as we can, but generally they do not bother. We can't sense them while we're shielded, and we know the moment we drop our shields they can sense us, not having their own shields up, as it were." Dragon was frowning as he sat beside me on the sofa.
"You don't have a fun job," I muttered.
"I can't imagine that you do, either."
"You got me there," I agreed. "Maybe I'll go see Gabron instead."
"What about Kifirin?"
"He does what he pleases," I said. "It's not as if he left his phone number or anything."
"No, he just left these." Dragon touched the marks on my neck.
"Yeah. I still feel like punching him for that."
"I can't advise you, one way or the other on that," Dragon told me and rose from his seat. "I have to go to bed or I'll be worthless tomorrow." He yawned when he stood.
"Goodnight," I said, rising as well.
* * *
"I feel ill, just thinking about it," I told Gabron later. He hadn't heard of the Ra'Ak before but he was hearing about them now. I'd described them, both as serpent and humanoid, and what they'd done to the priests earlier.
"You'll be able to tell when you kill them," I said. "They blast out in these fist-sized chunks, like a giant sandstorm or something. Their spawn do the same, only their particles are more like normal sand and don't do so much damage."
"Will they consume or bite vampires?" Gabron asked.
"I don't know. I'll ask and let you know later."
"The ritual is only a week away," Gabron reminded me. "The others are becoming restless; they want out of here and are counting the days."
"I understand that completely," I nodded. I knew exactly how it felt to be confined or under house arrest. "The good news is that the whole vampire scare has died down, I think."
"If they knew that you were the one dropping large boats from great heights and that you were also vampire, they might rethink that," Gabron smiled.
"Hey now, I only go after the bad guys," I grumped.
"I know this," Gabron chuckled softly and put his arm around me.
"Someone I met recently told me about a world called Le-Ath Veronis," I said, settling into Gabron's embrace. "He said those words translate to Heart of the Vampire. He also says that the planet rotates on its side, so the southern hemisphere is in constant twilight. I was told that vampires lived on that planet in a symbiotic relationship with a race of companions that can only have sex with the bite of a vampire. They replace the blood taken faster than any other race and they taste good, Gabron."
"That sounds like a pleasant dream," Gabron nuzzled my hair and then sucked on my earlobe.
"What would you say if I told you I met two of that race? That I drank from them? It was as good as eating cinnamon rolls."
"Some blood is sweeter than others," he nipped my earlobe now before moving down to my neck. I didn't move, even though I knew what was coming. He placed the kiss and then his fangs were in my neck while I writhed in his arms with the climax.
Gabron got his, too; he took my blood, I took his, and he enjoyed it. Very much. I went home immediately after; I didn't want to hop in bed with him in a moment of weakness. "You'll allow the little King to do this and yet you hold me at arm's length?" Kifirin was in my bedroom (of course, where else would he be?) when I came in just before dawn.
"We didn't do the run up the middle," I said, pulling the covers down on the bed.
"You're using football analogies?"
"You know everything, don't you?"
"If I want to know it, I will."
"Then you know I'd like to toss you in the bed right now and have my way with you," I grumbled. "Just to keep that shit I saw earlier out of my head."
"I will accept any reason given to have sex with you." He walked over and leaned down to kiss me. How does he do it? How can he make me boneless enough to drop to the floor, almost, just with a kiss? I didn't have enough brain cells afterward to figure it out. Yeah, I didn't think there was enough time before dawn to do the nasty. I was wrong.
* * *
"The claiming is complete." Kifirin was smiling down at me when I woke the following evening. I slapped a hand over my face. How was I going to explain this to Gavin? It was bad enough that Gabron and I had done a blood exchange, now Kifirin and I had gone all the way and if I was reading the signs right, we were about to do it again. And I still didn't have any explanation for what happens when he kisses me and why it only escalates from there, until I want him to bury himself inside me. I was like a crazy woman, or some animal, the way I went after him just before dawn. Kifirin's smile was bigger, now.
"It is the linking, your mind with mine. You feel my desire. It is primal. Did you not enjoy it?"
"Honey, if I enjoyed it any more, I'd duct tape myself to you and you'd never get away," I grumbled.
"Exactly what I wanted to hear," he said, leaning down to kiss me.
* * *
"Mr. Hancock, this is René de la Roque," Russell introduced René to Tony, Deryn and Paul. René's eyebrow lifted slightly; he'd never worked with werewolves before. After a moment, he realized he relished the idea. René had always been something of an adventurer at heart.