Anticipating, Chapter 27

( NSFW! Yes, it finally gets rather HAWT in here…)

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(Hands, aka: One Very, Very, Very Long Evening…Part C)

When Cara arrived back at the house, she wanted nothing more than a good, long bath and a good, long sleep, but two wounded Weres and her own empty stomach had other ideas. She was surprised she could stomach the thought of food at all after the gory scene she’d just left…on second thought, maybe not. Ewe.

She and Isabel drove Mark and Chad around to the small lodge the Weres were using while guarding the estate, and helped them inside. Cara called Sarah for Chad, knowing she would want to be there with her boyfriend, while Isabel called a supe doctor.

“You guys have your own doctor?” Cara didn’t know why she was surprised; it only made sense.

“Oh yes. Regular hospitals would not be able to treat any of the very few problems that could affect vampires, and none of the other supes have revealed themselves yet. Dr. Ludwig’s entire family is in the supe medicinal profession. She’s a gnome, so don’t be surprised at her appearance, sudden and otherwise.”

And sure enough, just after settling the two Weres into separate rooms, a short, gnarly, little woman literally appeared out of thin air in the living room of the guard’s lodge. She had the biggest medical bag Cara had ever seen in her hand.

Cara soon wondered if all gnomes were ill-tempered, impatient and innately disdainful of…everyone, but didn’t ask. At least she went right to work on the Weres and seemed to know what she was doing.

“Isabel, while she’s doing her doctor thing, I’m going to run up to the house and grab the boys some liquids and something light to eat. I’ll be right back.”

“Wait one moment,” Isabel requested, then stuck her head out the door. A minute later, two Weres Cara didn’t know appeared. “Escort Cara to the house and bring back whatever she sends.”

She threw a confused looked at Isabel, who responded, “I sense unease from my Maker, so I would rather err on the side of caution where your safety is concerned.”

Cara, tired, sore, aching, and feeling more than a little disconcerted from the effects of Godric’s blood in her system, just nodded. When she and the Weres pulled up to the front door, Beck, Godric’s day man, was holding the door open.

“Hey, Beck. You’re here awfully late,” Cara greeted the kindly man.

“Yes, miss. I received a call from Mr. Godric saying my assistance might be helpful?”

“I don’t know what all he might need you to do,” Cara walked toward the kitchen as she spoke with Beck, “but I can tell you that apparently you’re going to be buying a new washer and dryer tomorrow.” She laughed, then started pilling a bunch of stuff on the counters for the wounded Weres.

Cara had gotten herself a cup of coffee started, then began setting jugs of juice, boxes of crackers, cheese, apples, oranges, and a gallon of milk onto the kitchen counter for the injured Weres.

“Beck, I hate to say it, but I might need you to go to the grocery store tomorrow, too. I don’t know how I’ll be feeling then.” Cara hated having other people do things for her; she’d much rather be self-sufficient, but she could delegate with the best of them when needed.

“I bet you’re going to be sore as hell tomorrow, little girl,” said an ill-tempered voice behind her. “What’s all this? You should be resting.”

Cara turned around and spotted the small doctor.

“Hi, Dr. Ludwig. Would you care for a cup of coffee? I’m getting stuff together for Mark and Chad. Mainly liquids, though, since I think they lost a lot of blood tonight. You’ll have to tell me what kind of food to shove down their throats tomorrow, though. I was thinking about making a huge pot of brothy vegetable beef stew?”

“Excellent ideas, all three of them, now sit your ass down. You’re injured, too. I can smell you’ve had Godric’s blood, so you’re most likely going to be fine, but I still need to check you out.”

Cara laughed; she couldn’t help it. “Guys, go ahead and take this stuff over to the boys. I’m going to get doctored.”

Beck and the Weres stood gaping in amazement at both the interaction between Cara and the tiny doctor (who was being somewhat nicer than usual) and at the thought of Godric giving the girl his blood. The doctor was highly skilled, but something of a snob, and Godric…he rarely even interacted with humans, and to give one his blood?

The human simply finished making her own cup of coffee, then started on the doctor’s. She waved the Were’s on out the door with the items for the injured guys, and suggested Beck start on a grocery list for the morrow.

“Milk? Sugar? Splenda?” Cara asked the doctor over her shoulder.

“Black.”

As soon as the doctor’s coffee was ready, Cara invited the tiny doctor and her huge bag into the den, then gratefully plopped down on a sofa.

“Ahhh, finally. My ass has missed this whole sitting-down thing.”

The doctor snickered then sipped her coffee. As she inspected the human’s wounds, just as suspected she detected Godric’s blood in her system. This shocked the doctor.

Through the scarily-efficient supe gossip system, she’d heard that Godric had a human female working in his home, which was cause enough for curiosity. That ancient vampire, one of a scant handful she could tolerate, hadn’t kept pets or donors, or whatever the hell they called their food, in recent memory. She knew he fed once in a blue moon; he had to. Regardless of what bullshit vampires fed the public, she knew ‘mainstreaming’ was a crock of hogwash. Vampires needed real blood; that fake shit didn’t do squat for them.

Still, of all the vamps she’d had the bad luck to meet, Godric was one of a precious few she actually respected. She knew his reputation well: calm, extremely powerful but controlled, highly intelligent and a great strategist, and one of the best fighters on the planet. He was also a known loner. At his age, she really wouldn’t expect any less, but with vampires, you never knew. As a species they were cocky and had terrible superiority complexes.

But for one so old, powerful, and appreciative of his own privacy to give some girl his blood, there must be something about that girl. Although the doctor sensed a tinge of something ‘other’ about her, she really didn’t see anything special about her. Granted, she did have a good head on her shoulders about sending nutritious liquids and good, light snacks over to the injured Were boys. And she wasn’t the least bit stuck-up like you’d expect an ancient, highly-respected vampire’s fuck toy to be. She sniffed. Nope, not his fuck toy yet at any rate. So why would he give what smelled like a decent amount of his blood to the girl? At least she wasn’t one of those filthy fangbangers.

Dr. Ludwig handed Cara a small tube of ointment. “Here, smear this on your wounds after you bathe. You’ll be feeling more than fine by tomorrow judging by the amount of his blood I smell in you.”

“Can I ask you about that? The blood, I mean. Surely it’s not normal for humans to go around drinking some other species’ blood…” Cara grimaced; the doctor laughed. “…but he didn’t really give me a whole lot of choice. I was bleeding pretty bad and trying to hold the edges of my arm skin together. That wasn’t fun, but drinking his blood actually wasn’t as loathsome as you’d think.” Cara looked perplexed.

The doctor set her coffee cup on the table and started talking. Damn. For some stupid reason she kind of liked the girl. “As you can tell, vampire blood heals. What you don’t know is that the older the vampire, the stronger their blood. Tomorrow you’re going to feel healthier all over, not just your wounds. Your hair will be shinier, which makes no sense because it’s just dead protein sitting on the top of your scalp, but there ya go. It’s the magic in their blood. Your teeth will be whiter, your skin clearer. And, bluntly, you’re going to be hornier.” She cackled at Cara’s blush.

“Oh, yeah, your libido is going to skyrocket. You’ll probably have dreams about Godric, and it won’t be butterflies and rainbows unless your sex life is off-the-wall weird. His blood won’t make you like him, but if you already have feelings for him, the blood will make them stronger. You are going to be stronger and faster, and your senses of smell, sight and sound will increase noticeably. These changes won’t last forever. Depending on the amount of his blood you ingested, it could last upwards of three to five months, give or take, unless he gives you more. There’s really no way of telling how long it’ll last, or exactly how it’ll affect you, but there ya are. But,” the doctor paused for effect, “now he can tell what you’re feeling, and he can locate you if he wants to.”

“Huh?” Cara was hyper-eloquent in her surprise.

Dr. Ludwig liked the girl’s dead-eye serious stare. “Yup. If you’re scared, worried, horny,” she loved making that girl blush – it was so funny, “he’ll be able to sense it. If you get lost or kidnapped, he’ll be able to find you through his blood. It’s a case of ‘blood sensing blood’ and ‘blood calling blood’, and has to do with innate vampire magic.”

“If his blood can call to his blood, does that mean he can control me somehow?”

The doctor saw that the girl was finding her high horse and considering climbing up on it, and didn’t blame her a bit. She was a smart one! Maybe she could see why Godric wanted her. “Technically, if he fed you enough of his blood, then yes, he could control you to a certain extent, but I don’t see that happening. For one thing, you haven’t had nearly enough of his blood for that. And for another, Godric just isn’t like that. I’m not saying he’s perfect, far from it, but he’s one of the very few decent vampires I’ve ever run across. So don’t worry about that.”

She paused to finish her coffee and considered telling the girl about bonds. Nah. It was getting late and damn if she wouldn’t have to come back here tomorrow and check on those fool Were boys anyway.

“Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then she and her bag disappeared.

Cara sat and stared into space for a few long minutes, then with a sigh she went back to the kitchen. Moping had yet to fill her empty stomach.

After heating and quickly eating some left-over soup, she reviewed the grocery list with Beck, added a few things, then got up to wash her few dishes. Beck intervened, so she gladly said goodnight and went up to take a shower.

She eyeballed the gorgeous jetted tub and quickly decided a nice long soak was in order. After adding some of the contents of one of the bottles of deliciously scented bubble bath sitting by the tub, she got her bath started. She still didn’t have any of her clothes here, so she decided to just wear the handy-dandy bath robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door to bed.

Ahhhhh…warm peace surrounded her as she slowly lowered herself into the tub. Godric’s ancient blood must be extremely powerful, she thought. The only evidence left from the Were attack were some long red lines; she didn’t even have any bruises left. Anderson’s grip marks were gone, and even her slightly achy back felt better.

She let her head rest on the tub as she thought back to the fight. She couldn’t believe just how many damn wolves kept coming! And Godric…wow…damn! That vampire was a fighting machine! Although she’d stopped trying to keep an eye on him after seeing him dismember a living Were with his fangs, she would still catch glimpses of him as he tore limbs from attacking wolves or rammed his fist through a chest to take the heart out the other side. She shivered with the memory of all the blood and gore.

Determined to change the scene in her mind, she stretched and made herself relax as she thought about her plants. She wished she hadn’t left them there. They weren’t much, but they were hers, and they needed to be replanted as soon as possible. Maybe one of the Weres would go retrieve them for her tomorrow…

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“Cara? Cara, wake up. Come on, ma chere, you are going to get cold.”

Cara blinked and stretched a little. What? Surely that wasn’t…

“Godric!” She hurriedly sank farther down in the tub wishing there were more bubbles left in the water. She didn’t know that he’d been sitting on the side of the tub for the last fifteen minutes.

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She looked so beautiful sleeping in her bubble bath, Godric thought.

He had finally come home after dispatching everyone to their responsibilities and was impatient to find Cara now that he was certain his lusts were under control. As he approached the house, his bond told him that she was resting peacefully; not asleep, but very relaxed, so he took the time to heat and down two bloods and wash the Were gore from his body.

When he had entered his home, he had detected the scent of his favorite bubble bath that he had supplied for her pleasure, and figured she was relaxing in a warm bath. He became worried when he still had not heard her moving around even after his quick meal and shower, so he went to check on her.

Sure enough, she was asleep in the tub. His first thought was to wake her and perhaps lightly chastise her for taking such a thoughtless risk with her precious life, but realized that the sudden lessening of the unusual stresses of the day must have relaxed her far more quickly than she had anticipated.

So, he watched over her as she slept. That she was unclothed beneath those bubbles did not escape his attentions.

Damp from the steam, loose strands of dark hair curled around her sleep-flushed face. Her beautiful face was softened in her light slumber, full lips gently parted, one arm draped across her hips, the other lax by her side.

Looking down, he saw that the wounds on her shoulder were both healed and healing. The marks undoubtedly left by Anderson had completely healed. He was rather proud of himself for being strong enough to leave Anderson alive, even if the mangy pup had started begging for death not three minutes after he had removed the duct tape.

The deep bite mark on her shoulder and the long gash on her arm were now just a series of red lines. No doubt by the morning even those reminders would be gone. He had enjoyed the death of that Were more than any other in his memory.

Later, he would ponder how the Weres knew to attack as they had. Later, he would plan retribution and eradication. Later, he would think of something other than his Cara…naked…in a bubble bath. His throbbing fangs snicked out to their full length.

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“Falling asleep in the water is a good way to drown, ma chere. But it has been a very long day for you, has it not?” His voice, deep with desire and hunger, rumbled through her embarrassment. He reached his hand out to stroke his fingers down her warm, flushed cheek.

His eyes, burning bright blue and dilating with need, captured her warm brown gaze. Her lips parted, but instead of speaking she bit down on her bottom lip as if to halt her words. His searing gaze focused intently on her mouth, Godric gently swept his thumb over her lip to free it from her blunt teeth.

He swallowed hard. “If you must bite something, my love, bite me, not your own sweet flesh,” he requested, his voice thick with need. The words caused a warm ache to burn deep in her core.

Mesmerizing. There was something mesmerizing about the two millennia old vampire sitting on the side of the tub…looking at her, touching her with his gaze and his hand…she couldn’t look away. The logical part of her brain knew she should be mortified that she was wet and naked and that most of the bubbles were gone, but the way he was looking at her…

Completely out of her depth and sinking fast, she decided logic could go straight to hell. She slowly sat up, and covered his hand with hers to press her cheek into his palm.

His eyes flashed…his nostrils flared at the luscious, heady scent of her arousal. “Be sure, ma chere, be very, very sure,” he growled deep and low. His rigid body gave an involuntary spasm.

The scent of her arousal made his thick cock ache. He knew he could not endure much more before losing his meager restraint, but it had to be her choice.

She swallowed hard, his eyes tracking the movement intimately, then scanning lower. Her nipples, tight from the cooler air and his hot gaze, taunted him with their sweet pink tips. He hissed as he forced his gaze back up to meet hers.

Now unable to form a coherent thought, much less speak, Cara simply turned her face into his hand, and kissed his palm.

With a feral groan that rattled the walls, Godric had her out of the bathtub and on her bed in the blink of an eye.

Fighting every single instinct demanding he claim her immediately, he gently lowered her to the bed and stretched out beside her. When Cara reached up to stroke his face, he groaned and stilled himself completely, then took her hand in his. After kissing her knuckles, he lowered her hand to the bed.

Noticing her confusion, he ground out, “Later, my love, you can do with me what you will, but just now I crave you too much…have ached too long to withstand the sweet torture of your touch.”

He slipped his hand behind her neck and crushed his mouth to hers. His other hand caressed the firm roundness of her breast then started teasing and rolling her nipple as his tongue thrust deep and hard between her lips. Long moments later, as his strong, dark scent enveloped her with the haze of desire, his hand slowly skimmed lower to part her thighs.

Cara grabbed hold of the sheets to keep from touching him as his hand left her tight nipple and slid painfully slowly over her ribs, past her hip, down to her knee, up the inside of her thigh…then finally…finally! She felt her lower muscles clench so tight she thought she was going to come right then.

He found her slick with desire and, after a couple of torturously slow strokes, gently inserted one finger into her tight channel. Fangs and cock throbbing, he struggled to slow himself down. He knew he needed to prepare her for him. She was still too tight…he refused to hurt her with his thickness and fervor.

Tongue and finger probing her in matching primal rhythm, he slowly added a second finger and almost cried in relief when she twisted and mewed with need. He raised his head just enough to allow her to breathe, then got lost in the beautiful pleasure on her flushed face. How long he had waited for this night!

Suddenly able to breathe freely, Cara took in great gulps of air as her world spun quickly out of control. Godric had obviously put every one of his 2100 years to damn good use. It was all she could do to hold onto the sheets as the pleasure and pressure built and built…

His whole body tingled and burned with pure, hot lust. Her groans and gasps of pleasure almost blew the top of his cock off.

He stroked her clit with his thumb in time with his thrusts inside her. She writhed and bucked harder when he finally added a third finger. He pumped his fingers faster and deeper, determined to drive her over the edge.

She moaned and clawed at the sheets when he found the most sensitive place inside her…and that thing he was doing to her clit…she couldn’t hold back another second and came harder than she ever had before. She wasn’t sure but she might have even screamed. As she lay there limp with pleasure, heart pounding, legs trembling, she could still feel him slowly pumping his fingers in and out, stretching her and helping her ride out the aftershocks.

Dreamily she looked up at him and felt herself clench hard and tight at the raw hunger on his face: skin taut, fangs fully extended, lips tight, blue eyes glowing, filled with longing and lust…

“Godric,” she panted, “I want…to know what you…feel like…inside me.”

He immediately disappeared from the bed to rip off his clothes at vamp speed. He then spread her thighs wide and knelt between them.

“Next time, I swear to you, I will go slower,” he gasped as he lowered his mouth to her breast. He worked her nipple with his tongue then started sucking hard as he pounded his fingers into her slick warmth again and again, determined to bring her pleasure at least once more before taking his own.

Cara was shocked to feel that sharp fire warming, then burning again so soon. No longer able to stop herself from touching him, she ran her fingers through his hair as she pulled him closer to her breast, frantic to keep him close despite the uncontrollable writhing wrought by his touch.

“Oh, Godric…Oh God…OH GOD! FUCK!” She screamed moments later as she came hard once again.

“As…you…wish…” he growled as he positioned himself at her entrance.

The head of his cock teased her sensitive flesh as he braced his hands near her shoulders and gasped her name.

Cara raised her warm brown eyes, slightly dazed and unfocused, to meet the hard fire in his cobalt blue gaze a mere second before he slowly thrust into her all the way to the hilt. Her eyes widened at the huge size of him…she had never felt so full.

His arms quivered as he strove for restraint…he had to give her time to adjust to his size.

She moved her hands up and down his back, encouraging him, savoring the feel of his hard muscles under his smooth skin, loving the feral look in his eyes as he gazed down at her.

Still drowning in the warm, welcoming haven of her eyes, every muscle in his body clenched as he slowly withdrew, then slowly entered…much too slowly for Cara.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, then jerked her hips at just the right angle…and brought him home too quick for him to maintain control. He had barely enough sanity to keep from vamp-fucking her.

Suddenly this was no gentle mating; he was claiming her, aggressively, possessively staking his claim, and instinctively she knew it. Her whole body moving with the force of his thrusts, Cara held on tight, scored her nails deep, and let him.

He drove into her, pounding over and over, relishing the feel of her nails in his back, the scent of her arousal mingling with his most basic male scent, and the sounds of their flesh slapping against each other as she met his every thrust.

Moments later, she came again…causing him to come hard and fast and with a feral snarl…and still he kept pounding, growling, head thrown back, fangs extended, completely captured by the ancient rhythm controlling his hard body.

Finally, through some intuition she didn’t know she possessed, she sensed it was time and knew exactly what he needed.

She tilted her head to the side and bared her neck to him.

With an unholy, triumphant roar, he struck quick to claim her fully. As he sank his gleaming fangs into her throat and drank, she came one last time, and pulled them both into the oblivion of ecstasy.

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**Ok, my muses keep tapping me on the shoulder wanting to know, so tell me: how bad do I suck at writing lemons? Should I give them up entirely, throw away my pen and paper and take up pottery, or toss more lemons, lemonade, and maybe a lemon meringue pie in later? Review, please!**

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Next to:  Chapter 28

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