Blood Relations - Chapter 8

1938

Glasgow, Scotland

Vicky woke up and smiled at William, who sat on the side of her bed. A sketchpad rested on his lap, and he held a stick of charcoal. His fingers were stained from making smudges for gradient tones, and under his right eye was a grey streak, probably from an itch he couldn’t resist scratching.

He raised the pad to show her his efforts, and she nodded her approval. Then he said, “I want to teach you how to keep your casual thoughts hidden from me.”

Vicky nodded again, pushing herself up on her forearms while she regarded William with a curious expression.

He’d already explained how casual thoughts were the constant line of internal dialogue, which every sentient creature made during their wakeful hours. But he’d never before mentioned that she might have a way to keep him out of her head.

William nodded a confirmation of her thoughts. “If I wanted to, I could still probe your mind to know what you’re really thinking. But I want to show you how to protect your thoughts from passive scans.”

Vicky frowned, unable to keep herself from worrying. “Why is it important?”

“It’s not that important right now.” William set the charcoal down on the nightstand, and then he shifted the sketchpad to the bed while he added, “You deserve a measure of privacy, and I can give that to you with only a few minutes of training.”

Recognition came to Vicky, and her face filled with shame. “Are my fantasies becoming too much for you?”

William laughed. “I could never get tired of anything you do. In fact, I like listening in on some of your fantasies.”

Vicky thought, Then why won’t you let me act on them?

William dropped his head to avoid meeting her gaze. “You know why, Vicky.”

She did, but she still couldn’t keep her frustrations contained. They spilled out of her in a bitter huff, and yet William still wouldn’t look at her.

During the year that Vicky had lived with William, her feelings for him grew. His playful flirting captured her interest, and her affection for him was so powerful by then that he could send her pulse racing just by holding her hand.

William leaned back, resting his weight on one hand while he brought up the other to touch her cheek. He left a smudge behind on her skin, and his lips split in a guilty grin as he chuckled.

Vicky didn’t care. His grazing touch sent sparks trailing over her skin, and her heart fluttered fast enough to sound human.

She sat up and laid her hand on William’s chest, frowning when he pulled away from her. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, William. I could never...” Her voice dried in her throat.

She wanted to promise that she wouldn’t hurt him. But her teeth ached, and all she could think about was how badly she wanted to taste him.

“I’m not afraid of you,” William said. “I’m afraid for you.”

Vicky took his wrist, laying his hand over her breast. He tried to pull away, and she held on. Her voice was a soft, desperate whimper as she pleaded, “You already have my heart, William. I’m offering the rest of myself to you now.”

William watched her with a helpless, pained expression, his green eyes filled with conflicting emotions. He loved her, but the emotion was locked in an intense struggle against his fear, anguish, and frustration.

Vicky had denied herself for too long. Every night that she spent with William, more of her self-control eroded. Her nights were filled with distracting fantasies of seducing William, and they blended into dreams that were far less restrained when she slept each day.

Anger rushed in her chest. It was his fault, because he was always reaching out to touch her, to pose her, or just to cup her cheek. He knew the effect he had on her, but when she tried to touch him, he denied her. Every rejection was given with compliments, but the one way barrier that kept their relationship platonic was maddening to Vicky.

In reaction to her anger, William again raised his hand to touch her face.

Vicky couldn’t stand waiting for him to decide, and she leaned forward, brushing her lips over his.

His breath pulsed out in a gasp, and aggravation spread from his eyes to the rest of his face as he drew his head back. “Don’t you ever listen to me?”

Vicky pouted, her eyes pleading with him. Moving his hand over her breast, she guided him to caress her, and then she raised her head to kiss him again.

His convictions broke down, and he returned her kiss, lapping his tongue over hers while he exhaled a hot, shaking breath. Vicky breathed in, accepting the soul kiss before she returned it to him.

When he drew back, she slid a hand behind his neck, urging him to lean his head down to her shoulder.

He read her thoughts and knew what she wanted, but still he hesitated.

“Please,” she whispered.

William bit her shoulder, and her back stiffened as a spasm ripped across her body. She started to pant, and cramps shot down her inner thighs, forcing her to clamp them together to relieve the tension.

When he leaned over her, she sank back to the bed willingly. His hands fumbled first to push the covers away, and then to hike the bottom of her nightgown while she unbuttoned his pants. She tugged them and his underwear down onto his thighs.

His sex slid over hers, and his hips pressed against her aching thighs. But he didn’t take her then. He gently urged her to rest her lips over his collarbone, his voice erupting in a deep grunt when she sank her fangs into his flesh. He repaid the shock by biting her earlobe, tearing through her skin to draw blood.

Then he sank into her, and Vicky’s voice warbled in a muffled cry of pleasure. She released her bite and moaned again as his blood filled her mouth. Swallowing quickly, she had to resist the urge to draw back on the wounds.

Closing her arms over his sides, she raked her nails and drew deep scarlet rails down his pale skin. William groaned and arched his spine, pressing his body down over hers.

He wound an arm under Vicky’s lower back to guide her. His teeth clutched her earlobe, and yet his free hand flitted over her body with a light, timid touch. His other arm pulled her down while he bucked his hips and grind his pelvis against hers.

Vicky was lost in a flood of sensations, both painful and pleasurable.

Her body clenched in a climax, and William paused, his face flushed with color while he gasped for air. Once Vicky settled into soft whimpering, he released his bite. He rose up on his hands, taking her wrists to pin them over her head.

William sank into her again, moving with an achingly slow speed. Vicky wanted to grab his hips to speed him up, but he pressed his weight down hard on her wrists. The spikes of pain flashing through her arms turned into a shiver that raced down her spine, and she whined softly in response.

Despite his slow pace, Vicky’s body tensed again. But no matter how she writhed under her lover, she could not push herself to the point of breaking the knots binding her insides.

William drew back, almost pulling away from her completely before he thrust into her hard.

The knot tore free.

He plunged into her again, and Vicky uttered a surprised cry, straining her arms to free them. She wanted to pull him close in an embrace. The taste of his blood still lingered on her tongue, but the craving to lick the wound still could not be satiated.

His shaft swelled inside her, pulsing with his orgasm. William lowered himself, pressing his body to hers. He allowed her to clean the trails of blood that slid down his chest, and then he rolled over to lie against her side.

They laid together for an hour. William’s hands roamed over her body, adding more streaks of charcoal dust. His mouth lingered at the nape of her neck while he nipped the skin between his teeth, every nibble drawing a soft giggle from her.

But at last he drew away from her with a weary sigh, and he began to straighten himself up as he said, “I still need to train you tonight.”

Vicky nodded. “I’m listening.”

“A diversionary thought isn’t hard to make. You just think of one thing repetitively until it becomes second nature to be thinking of it first. Underneath that thought, your internal musings will still continue on, but they’ll be cloaked by the diversion.”

“What should I think of?” Vicky asked.

“I can’t say, but it should be a thought which would discourage telepaths from looking beyond the surface.” William laughed and shook his head. “That’s very flattering, but that thought might cause a halfling to dig faster.”

Vicky cast about for an idea before she had one, and she knew she’d picked well when William grimaced. “How’s that?”

William swallowed, his mouth a hard, thin line while he tried to keep himself from throwing up. “Yes, that might work.”