A Guardian's
Love
By Stein Willard © 2008
Disclaimer
The characters in the story are a product of my own imagination
and hopefully have no resemblance to any living persons or vampires
for that matter. But if it does it is entirely coincidental. Some
of the places mentioned are either fictitious and or adapted to
suit the plot of the story.
Sex: This story contains sexual content of a
graphic nature between consenting adult women, thus if you are not
18 years old and not allowed to read content of this nature, please
move on to other suitable stories.
Violence: Scenes of violence can be
expected.
Feedback: This is my first try and not being a
native English speaker, it's so much more challenging. Constructive
criticism is greatly appreciated, so feel free to drop a line or
two at steinwillard80@gmail.com .
PART 7
Chapter 9
The gnarled hand reached out and touched the smooth
tear-streaked cheek of the human. The girl's eyes were frozen on
the heinous face of the creature, its deep-set eyes blazing with
bloodlust.
"I love this century." He turned his head and looked at the
woman who was standing a few feet away, frowning. "Or what do you
think, Genevieve?" He turned back to the girl.
The woman's clear green eyes rested on the girl who was
trembling so hard, her teeth were clattering. She felt sorry for
the girl. Since their arrival a week ago Mercredi had already
killed four blood cows. His gluttonous appetite and psychopathic
nature was a dangerous mix, placing a lot of lives at risk. She
turned away sadly, knowing the girl's fate. Mercredi loved killing
and if he had an audience even better.
She opened her mind and searched for her. It was about time that
she got away from Mercredi. Since his son was killed, Mercredi was
so bent on revenge that he was bound to make a few mistakes. She
had to capitalize of his distracted state. If only she could get
hold of Trinity again.
"I'm going to my room."
"How boring and predictable, Genevieve. As much as I've
appreciated your companionship over the past four centuries, I have
to admit that you sorely lacked a few social graces. We will have
to work on that."
Without a reply, she left the room.
*******************
Pierre's eyes widened and he flung himself away from Tahlia. His
face was ashen as he stood, shaking and staring into nothingness.
He didn't even reacted when Jonas walked over to stand at Tahlia's
side. She held out her arm and with a quick glance towards Jemima,
he bent over and sunk his teeth into her wrist. The sudden pain
made Tahlia flinch fractionally, but Jemima noticed and she took a
protective step forward.
A sharp warning glare from Tahlia stopped her in her tracks.
After twenty years together and having been witness to her immense
power, Jemima still acted as if she was her personal body guard.
Her gaze softened and a reluctant smile came to Jemima's face.
Jonas flicked his tongue over the pinpricks.
"We need to verify this." Jonas placed his hand on Pierre's
shoulder. "Did you recognize the voice?"
It took Pierre a few seconds to answer and when he did his voice
was so sad, that Jemima reached out and grabbed and Tahlia's
hand.
"No. It wasn't Genevieve. I know her voice."
"Do you think we should investigate the matter, Pierre?"
Tahlia's voice was soft and tender. 'We won't if you don't want us
to."
Pierre turned to look at her with sorrowful blue eyes and Tahlia
felt Jemima's hold on her hand tightening.
"No. It would hurt too much if it's hoax."
Jonas cleared his throat softly.
"What if it's not a hoax? I would like to ask for permission to
investigate the matter."
Pierre shrugged.
"If it might lead us to Mercredi, then I don't really have the
right to refuse you. On one condition," his voice turned cold. "I
want to be part of the investigation."
Once Pierre and Jonas had left the lounge, Jemima turned to
Tahlia. The black eyes were velvety soft. No words were necessary
and they both closed in for a lingering kiss. Afterwards they just
held each other.
"I cannot imagine my life without you, my baby?" Jemima planted
a soft kiss on Tahlia's smooth cheek. "I feel for Pierre. His
loneliness is too much for me to bear at times."
"I know exactly what it feels like and I wouldn't want to go
back there again."
There was a soft knock on the door before it swung open. Inger
stuck her head in and grinned. She stepped into the room followed
by a stoic Paloma.
"Hi, love birds. Paloma warned me to knock first before
entering. I'm glad I did. You guys looked like you were up to no
good." Inger teased.
Jemima looked up into Tahlia's eyes and smiled when she found
the unblinking black eyes resting on Paloma. She inhaled deeply and
wrinkled her nose at the subtle musky scent of sex which clung to
Inger and Paloma. No wonder Tahlia was staring holes into Paloma.
Paloma stared back calmly and sighing softly Jemima walked over to
Inger and kissed her on the cheek.
"Hello, my love." She turned to Paloma. "Nice to see you too,
Paloma."
Paloma nodded. Tahlia stepped closer to hug Inger.
"You will have to stop glaring at Paloma like that, Mother. We
are together and like all new couples we are very much in love and
can't keep our …"
"Please DON'T finish the sentence." Tahlia groaned, holding up
her hands. She placed a soft kiss on Inger's crown as the girl
giggled at her stoic mother subtle outburst. "It takes getting used
to seeing you all grown up." She brushed a finger over Inger's soft
cheek. "I will try not to be so, how do call it again - uptight."
There was a soft snort and all the eyes in the room turned to
Paloma, who was finding it very difficult to keep a straight face.
A stern look from Inger and Paloma turned and left the room
quietly.
"What you see in her baffles me, you know." Tahlia's black eyes
were still focused on the closed door, but before Inger could from
a reply, soft laughter rang in Tahlia's mind.
<I adore her, Tahlia. Maybe we need to just focus on
that.>
Tahlia grimaced.
<You disappear for 500 years and appear just in time to
seduce my beautiful daughter. What do you think I should make of
it?>
Jemima stepped closer and touched Tahlia's arm.
<I will never hurt your daughter, Tahlia. She means
everything to me and I will protect her with my
life.>
Tahlia turned her dark eyes on Inger and she could see that
Jemima must've opened the link to her too because her beautiful
blue eyes were swimming in tears. She placed a soft kiss on
Jemima's cheek.
<I know. Please come and get her before she drenches us
with her tears.>
Inger smiled up at her mother and mouthed her thanks. The oak
door swung open and Paloma stepped in. Her silver eyes darted
fleetingly over Tahlia and Jemima before it came to rest on
Inger.
"Are you OK, sweetie?"
"Sweetie?" Tahlia looked at Inger. "It sounds
so…"
Jemima grinned at Inger, who was blushing
fiercely.
"I know, baby, but it seems to work for them."
Tahlia nodded slowly, looking at Paloma who was still staring at
Inger.
"Paloma never really had any imagination." This time she sounded
suspiciously close to laughter. "Let's give them privacy, love."
Hand in hand they walked to the door, but Tahlia came to a brief
stop next to Paloma.
"Sweetie…" She shook her head and walked over to where
Jemima was holding the door open for her.
Inger turned to look at Paloma.
"You see?"
"What?"
"Sweetie? I've told you that it sounded strange coming from
you."
Paloma playfully leered at Inger's bosom.
"Go say goodnight to your parents. I can't wait to take you home
now."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Three hours later Paloma was lying in her big four-poster bed,
with a sleeping Inger cuddled against her. Inger was pleasantly
surprised by what she had planned for their first night at her
mansion. While she was in class she had quickly went out to order
flowers and bought candles which she had placed around the house.
The ultimate surprise was the five star chef she'd hired for the
night to prepare an intimate dinner for two.
When she'd pushed open the door to her mansion, the candles had
flickered on immediately and she was thrilled at Inger surprised
look. Over the past decades she had decorated the house. Rather she
had called in an interior designer to make the house look more like
home, knowing that one day she was hoping to bring Inger here. From
the wide eyes of her lover, it was money well spent.
Inger was stunned by the house. Oohs and ahhs were the only
sounds she could muster as she toured the mansion. They were
cuddling up on the sofa in front of the fireplace when George
Grain, the chef announced that dinner was ready. She had never seen
Inger so speechless. Her eyes flickered from the chef to her and
back to the grinning chef.
"Baby, that's…that's…" Inger finally gasped when the
chef had left them.
"George Grain, I know." Patiently, she had looked at her star
struck lover. "It's good to see that my attempts to impress are
working."
An unbelievably brilliant smile had lit up the beautiful face at
that and she was rewarded with a deep, toe-curling kiss which left
her brain scrambled long afterwards.
Throughout dinner, Inger was casting worried looks her way as
she shoveled forkfuls of food into her mouth. The unpleasant lump
of shrimp and asparagus in the pit of her stomach was the ultimate
sacrifice for the perfect romantic night.
The last time she had tried to eat food, was many centuries ago
when both she and Tahlia were still fledglings and before they were
promoted to the status they are in now. Having grown up poor and
never really having had the opportunity to eat thick slabs of beef
soaked in gravy and sweet fresh vegetables; they'd visited a tavern
and ordered heaping plates of food just to later become violently
ill, emptying their stomach contents in the alley at the back of
the tavern.
She had underestimated her blue-eyed angel. By the time they
went to bed it was already past twelve, but before she could reach
for Inger, she had stepped away. Her blue eyes were
pensive.
"If I try really hard enough, I can get my head around the
daylight drug thing, but you've just stuffed your face and except
for the peculiar green tint around your mouth, you are still doing
OK. Do you want to tell me something?"
Grinning, she had gone to sit on the bed. "The last time I've
eaten solid food was 2 000 years ago and you have no idea how
unpleasant it was. I still shudder when I think about
it."
Inger had come to sit next to her.
"Why did you do it then? I know you're a vampire and that you
don't do solid food."
"I just wanted us to have a somewhat normal romantic evening
together."
The tenderest of expressions had crossed Inger face before she'd
planted a soft kiss on her lips.
"You're reputation as the one vampire nobody wants to
mess with is taking a serious knock tonight, Assassin. You can be
so sweet at times, you know." Inger had placed her hand on Paloma's
stomach. "Are you sure you will be OK. I'll understand if you're
not up for making love tonight. The evening alone was
exceptional."
As much as she'd wanted to take advantage of the chance of
having Inger in her bed, the churning coil of food in her stomach
had been too unpleasant to ignore. Once Inger was asleep, she
thought that she'd slip out and get rid of the food before it leaks
out of all pores of her body. Maybe afterwards she could wake up
Inger and seduce her. Yes, that sounded like a plan.
"Maybe you're right. I shouldn't aggravate my already burdened
stomach." They had slowly undressed each other between tender
kisses and gentle touches. Inger was planning on getting up early
tomorrow morning to finalize her reading report and fell asleep
almost immediately. Paloma was left cradling her close to her body,
memorizing every inch of her beautiful face.
Now three hours later, though slightly tired, since she wasn't
taking her daylight naps anymore, Paloma realized that looking down
into the face of her beloved was so much more satisfying than
sleep. She gently kissed the cool brow and smiled when Inger
mumbled something in her sleep and snuggled deeper into her arms.
She was gently stroking the raven locks when she felt the slight
disturbance in the air. She immediately, sent out her senses and
what she found made her eyes burn with intense anger. The audacity!
Paloma gently disentangled herself from Inger's limbs and
reached for her clothes. In her unbridled rage, her hand had
morphed into a claw, ripping through her shirt and swearing under
her breath, she had stared long at her hand until it had changed
back. Ach, what the hell… Flicking her wrist she was dressed
at once. She stopped briefly to arm herself before streaking out
into the night.
***************
Balanced on a thick branch over-looking the foliage of the
mansion's garden, a set of cold green eyes were piercing the night.
She was in there. She could sense her. It felt incredibly
uncomfortable and stupid to broadcast her presence to such a
dangerous and powerful woman. Who says she won't just come after
her in a killing rage.
Compared to Paloma Soleil she was a babe in the woods, having
been made a mere 400 years ago. She hasn't seen the Assassin in
action before, but her fighting ability was legendary - even
amongst renegades. She grimaced at the term.
Renegade. She hated it.
A cold breeze touched her face and she quickly dived from the
branch, just in time because the branch she was perched on a few
seconds ago crashed to the ground, completely pulverized. She
didn't have long to mull over her lucky escape, when a tall, blonde
woman appeared right in front of her. The steely silver eyes glared
at her with undisguised bloodlust. Oh no, the woman was going to
kill her and from the look of it she was actually looking forward
to it. She slowly raised her hands, but an angry hiss from the
hunter, made them stop mid-air.
"I come with an important message for you and killing the
messenger would be a regrettable setback for those involved."
"Why should I trust you? Your whole existence is based on death
and lies."
The green eyes flashed back, but the renegade quickly lowered
her gaze when she saw the escalating aggression in the silver eyes.
Baiting the Assassin was a stupid…very stupid idea. Over the
years she had trained hard and well and was fully accomplished in a
number of martial art disciplines, not to mention her expertise
with various weapons, but the Assassin was created to kill. She was
in fact a weapon of mass destruction all on her own. Her mother had
told her all about the hunter's exploits.
"Have you ever thought about how we were created? That some of
us were victims too." The green eyes looked up into the quicksilver
eyes. "We were not all willing participants."
"Remind me to feel sorry for you after I've torn out your black
heart, Renegade."
The green eyes hardened. As much as she admired the woman, she
was making it extremely difficult to remember that right
now.
"I have been sent by Genevieve."
The silver eyes widen fractionally, but it was there for only a
millisecond and then it was gone
"Go on."
"Can't we go somewhere we talk calmly?"
"No. We talk here and then you leave."
All the while she was talking to the renegade; Paloma had to
keep her anger and hatred in check. They were the enemy and nothing
could erase that fact. For centuries they had killed and forever
stained the name of the Vampire Race. She had cloaked her presence
after leaving the house and had crept upon the renegade. Her
intention was to strike her dead on the spot, but she was surprised
by the renegade's quick reflexes. An indication that she was
well-trained, not like the other renegades who relied on numbers
and no skills.
Her eyes moved coldly over the woman and she knew that if she
wasn't a renegade she might've been attracted to her. She was quite
beautiful, with her pale skin, rich copper colored shoulder length
locks and light green eyes. She had killed thousands of female
renegades before, only seeing the hideousness they represented.
This one was different. There was something about her. Maybe it was
what she had said earlier about being a victim herself. She
mentally shook her head. What was she thinking? It must've been the
food she'd ingested earlier. A renegade was a renegade.
"Where is she?"
"Who?"
Her hand snaked out and she grabbed the renegade by her throat,
pressing down a bit until the green eyes bulged a little. "Don't
play games with me. I would gladly choke the life out of
you."
"Ok," the renegade rasped out and Paloma loosened her
grip.
"I will repeat myself again. Where is Genevieve?"
"Please, take your hands off me." This time the renegade's soft
voice held a touch of steel. "Or I will have to
retaliate."
That was when she felt an almost gentle prod in her ribs.
Looking down she stared at the heavy silver gun pressed against
her. Disgusted with herself for having allowed her concentration to
slip, she pushed the other woman away from her with an angry hiss.
She quietly watched as the renegade massaged her bruised throat.
Her eyebrows lifted slightly when the renegade opened her short
leather jacket and put away her gun. A sign of trust, Paloma
thought.
"Thank you," the renegade rasped and turned her green eyes on
her. "I only communicate with her mentally, because Mercredi never
let her too far away from him. Since coming to the States, I have
been tracking them, but they seem to change lairs often. For the
past few weeks I have been corresponding mentally with another
woman, but I could sense that she was a very powerful entity and
feared approaching her face on. You seemed a slightly safer
option."
Tahlia. Yes, the renegade wouldn't have breathed a
second longer in her presence. For all her domesticated
façade, Tahlia was ruthless where renegades were concerned.
"What have you been telling her?"
"Simply what Genevieve asked me to relay. She wanted to make
contact with her husband, but with Mercredi tapping in on her
mental conversations all the time, conversations are kept short and
cryptic. She tasked me to get the message out that she was alive
soon after she'd found out that her husband was still
alive."
There was a few seconds of silence.
"How do you know Genevieve?"
The redhead turned away.
"I don't think it's important. You need to find a way to outfox
Mercredi and save her. He keeps very close tabs on her, physically
and mentally."
The renegade disappeared, leaving Paloma staring after her.
Tempted to go out and feed quickly, she looked at the stars. She
sensed the presence of a young couple nearby, making love in their
car. Maybe she could slip off quickly and… A soft stirring in
her mind made her turn sharply towards the house. Inger was awake
and she was becoming increasingly unsettled at waking up alone. She
rushed back to the house, stopping on the way to quickly
double-check her safeguards. Good renegade or not. She wasn't
taking chances with the life of her mate.
When she appeared beside the bed, a pale-faced Inger threw
herself into her arms.
"Are you OK? I felt your anger. What upset you
so?"
She brushed a gentle kiss on Inger's forehead. "I felt the
presence of a renegade nearby and went to investigate. Afterwards I
was planning on going out to feed, but I sensed that you were awake
and rushed back." She tenderly rubbed her lover's back. "I promise
not to leave you again, my love."
The blue eyes searched her face gently, before Inger reached out
and pulled the blond head closer to her. A soft probing kissed
followed and then Inger lifted her dark locks and bared her long
slender neck.
"Drink from me."
Humbled by the offering, Paloma could only stare at the
throbbing vein in Inger neck. Her anger at the renegade woman had
fuelled her hunger but the deliciously erotic sleep-warm scent of
Inger was fuelling her sexual hunger. She reached out to touch
Inger cheek and felt guilty when she jumped slightly. She was
scared but still she had offered.
"I need something else for now."
Inger turned to look at her, perplexed.
"What?"
A slow lecherous smile formed on Paloma's lips and realization
dawned. A slow smile formed on Inger's lips and she slowly lay
back, pushing down the sheet to expose her perky breasts. It took
Paloma only a second to get out of her clothes before she crawled
over the bed, covering Inger's body with hers. With her smoldering
silver eyes holding Inger's blue gaze captive, she planted her
hands on both sides of Inger's body and began to slowly and
erotically rub her body up and down Inger's. She only stopped when
she felt a deep shiver coursing through her young lover's body.
Sliding lower, she sucked a nipple into her mouth. With a deep
sigh, Inger arched her back. All the while Paloma's hand was
lightly running over Inger's body leaving her body awash with tiny
goose bumps.
The rest of the night was spent in erotic delight.
Just when she'd come for the third time, Inger felt the soft
pinpricks in her neck and gave in to the peculiar euphoric feeling.
Her hands locked at the back of Paloma's head, keeping it in place
as the vampire drank from her. When she was done, Paloma closed the
pinpricks with her tongue and looked down into Inger blue eyes. The
guilty expression in the quicksilver eyes made Inger smile back
gently. And when she spoke her tone was level and
honest.
"I love you and you love me. Never think otherwise, my
love."
She gently tucked Inger into the crook of her arms and caressed
her damp skin until she'd fallen asleep. She lay awake afterwards
processing the information she got from the renegade woman.