Antithesis: The Vampire Alliance Book Three - FIRST DRAFT COMPLETED

Antithesis Chapter 25: Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan August 2013

Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan, August 2013

We travel in almost complete silence. Rob and Tul try to start a conversation once or twice but they quickly fall quite when I have little to contribute. What can I say? I’m tired, I’m still frightened, I’m being chased from my home because I’m potentially dangerous and my sanity is questionable. I don’t care about the weather or the number of albums released by the band currently blaring out of the CD player. I don’t care about any of the trivial topics my husbands would discuss as a means to distract me from one simple, inescapable truth; life goes on, just as shit as it always had been.

I had feared dying but there’s part of me wishes I’d just stayed dead. If I’d been dead and buried there would be nothing to fear, there’d be nothing at all. Now I’m back and the cycle can start again. Fear, fight, flee, succumb; will it ever end?

The road disappears under the tires of the Range Rover, devoured by our requirement to be somewhere else. The motorways are busy as it’s a weekday in daylight hours. Despite everything humans still travel to and from their jobs, hoping to be home before dark when the monsters come out to play. That protects us somewhat, we’re just one more car on the busy road, and to an observer we’re more likely to be mortal than vampire. Evading detection is never a bad thing. It’s just a shame that I don’t appear to be able to evade the Senate with any consistency. Am I to live my life waiting for the next time I end up cornered?

Even my own bitter introspection can’t veil the anxiety I feel from Tul, however. The closer we get to Norham House the more uncertain he feels and that only amplifies Rob’s fretfulness and something which feels disturbingly like irritation. The vehicle reeks of disquiet and the atmosphere of tension is tangible when we finally pull up outside the gates of the grounds.

Reginald’s voice crackles through the intercom when Rob winds down the window, “May I help you?

“Johan should have contacted you regarding our arrival,” Rob answers politely, “Robert Blakethorn, Tulloch Sullivan and Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan.”

“Oh! Yes!” Even the guard’s tone becomes excited and I can feel Rob wince internally. He and Tul will have to come to terms with their fame here. “Pat is waiting for you at the main house,” Reg tells us before the gates slide open.
Tul glances briefly at the gatehouse cottage with a pang of regret. I can’t imagine returning to my childhood home years after everyone who had lived there had died. I haven’t even returned to the village where I grew up since the murder of my parents and sister. Reaching over I take Tul’s hand, squeezing gently.

He smiles but that does nothing to hide his sadness. “It’s strange to think that everyone I knew as a mortal is dead.”

“Not everyone,” Rob answers him, “or at least I didn’t stay dead.”

That leaves Tess too, but I don’t say so. She wasn’t at Norham House and we have enough to worry about without raising the problem of her continued existence. Still, as my hand goes subconsciously to my throat I see the frown creasing Tul’s brow. “It’s a shame she lived,” he comments angrily.

“Let it go for now,” I don’t want to think about Tess or what she did or where it led.

As we come to the end of the tree-lined, gravel drive Norham House comes into view and Rob’s reluctance intensifies. For a moment I wonder if he’ll park or if he’ll do a ‘u’ turn and leave again. As it is he does park the car. There’s still a moment of hesitation before he opens the driver’s door and steps out of the vehicle however, and while I can feel his aversion and his long oppressed grief I wonder what exactly he’s thinking at having returned home. His mortal dreams had been born here, human dreams he’d never managed to fulfil.

He tugs open my door next, holding his hand out to me and I wonder if there’s any part of him wishes I was a fashionable Lady in a period gown stepping down from a chauffeur driven vehicle. Although I’ve been here before, being here with him is subtly different and I wonder again what his mother would have made of me. And what Tul’s mother would have made of me.

“You’re worth a thousand Ladies,” Rob whispers at my ear before placing a firm kiss on my lips. Has he become a mind reader while I’ve been away? “Never think otherwise.”

Taking my hand Tul kisses me too, “You’re worth a thousand other women, Ladies or otherwise.”

“Eve!” Pat’s voice draws my attention as she bounds down the stone steps leading up to the entrance. “You’re dressed!”

Flushing I stammer a resentful response, “It happens occasionally.”

Pat laughs then throws her arms around me, pulling me into a bear hug which is both a spectacle for her people, a statement that she trusts me, and a promise to me that she’s my friend. I almost berate myself for worrying about her reaction to Rob and Tul, relieved when she greets me first, but then she casts a huge beaming smile at each of them and the growl that builds in my throat is sudden and instinctual.

Our host laughs, not in the slightest bit intimidated or offended. “The day she stops reacting that way is the day I’ll worry,” Pat declares when Rob shakes his head at me.

“There,” she tosses a key at me, the heavy brass key fob engraved with the words ‘Blue Room’. “You didn’t meet everyone the last time you visited but I thought you’d like some time alone before we do formal introductions. I’m sure you can all find your own way to where you need to be.”

“Not all of us,” Tul mutters under his breath and Rob scowls, then sighs, shaking his head.

“Thank you Patricia, your welcome is very much appreciated.” Rob tugs me towards the door, still uneasy but seemingly determined now to get to his bedroom as quickly as possible.

When we begin to climb the stairs Tul pauses at the bottom, unsure. Rob, having expected such a reaction turns on his heel, “Keep, you’ve been my equal for the best part of a century. Why act like you want to be downstairs in the kitchen now?”

“I am your equal,” replies Tul uneasily, “everywhere but here. We were on our way to London before I was even promoted to Valet and so here, in this house, I feel wrong. I was a groom in your stables Rob. I only came into the house once and that was after the Titanic sank. I’ve never been upstairs. Out of everything I’ve done in my life, walking up those stairs with you is the one thing I think my mother wouldn’t be able to accept. She’d put me in my place Rob, and my place was never meant to be up there.”

Descending the first few stairs again Rob urges earnestly, “Please Keep, if the last century has had any value then please just come with us.”

Tul concedes because he doesn’t have a huge amount of choice. It intrigues me that despite everything he still retains some throwback sense of propriety that impedes him. We’d often joked that Rob was the slower to accept change and seeing Tul uneasy with progress, especially a progress I thought they’d overcome decades ago, is odd. Does this step symbolise more to him than I understand?

When we reach the blue room’s door I unlock it and push open the ornate wooden leaf. Indicating for me to go inside, Rob waits for Tul to follow me before he steps into his old bedroom with us. I smile, sensing more in Rob’s emotions than Tul does.

Rob kicks the door closed and grabs Tul, pulling him back and then pushing him against the wall. His body pins Tul’s; hard, rebellious, determined.

Surprise freezes Tul, stunning him into immobility until Rob kisses him. A rush of desire morphs both his shock and uncertainty and also Rob’s defiant irritation into something infinitely more beautiful. I’m not able to hide my grin as I perch on the chair next to Rob’s bed. I enjoy the reflection of their need as it floods me and sets my own body alight.

“If climbing the stairs is a trial how are you going to fair climbing into my bed?” Rob’s question is a low growl and it sends a delicious shiver down my spine, or Tul’s, I’m not quite sure.

“I’m sure I’ll manage,” Tul responds, his tone equally gravelly.

“Should I leave you two alone for awhile?” I tease lightly, “I can go and get our luggage.”

Rob laughs as his hands skim over the broad expanse of Tul’s chest and stomach to the hem of his t-shirt. “I’m sure Pat would appreciate that display, seeing as you’ll be moaning right along with us.” As he pushes up Tul’s shirt, Rob kisses the path his hands had taken. I can feel the pressure of his lips on my skin as if he were seducing me rather than Tul. As if to emphasise his point, I gasp as his tongue flicks over Tul’s nipple and I feel the peaked tips of my breasts harden in response.

“Oh,” the sound is guttural between my ragged breaths, “yeah, maybe I should stay here.” Squirming where I sit I relish the pooling heat at my core as I watch them.

They’re enchanting together, perfect examples of virile masculinity with their strong frames and the intoxicating scent of male arousal. “Adonis and Apollo have nothing on you two,” I murmur, once again taken by surprise that they are mine, that they’d want to be mine.

“Wasn’t Adonis in love with Aphrodite? Wasn’t he popular with women?” Tul considers.

“Apollo wasn’t so picky,” replies Rob with a smile as his fingers go to the button of Tul’s jeans. He kisses and nips his way along Tul’s jaw to his throat where his pulse point twitches at a surprising rate.

Tul moans as his eyes silver and he tilts his head for Rob. His fangs descend as Rob bites and I can hear his heart rate spike, thundering as Rob’s hand slides into his jeans. Heat and need flood his body and mine and he breathes, “Rob,” with a desperate edge to his voice, completely enthralled by the hungry suction at his throat and Rob’s confident exploration of his body.

Rob releases Tul’s throat, demanding eagerly, “Tell me what you want,” as his body presses against Tul’s, making the most of every second of contact. He hands over control so easily, letting Tul take charge here, in his domain. When Tul hesitates he bites back a growl and murmurs, “Please Keep, tell me what you want. I can feel it but I want to hear you say it.”

Tul’s hand fists in Rob’s t-shirts as he pushes him backwards towards the bed. “I want your mouth on me,” he announces, encouraged by Rob’s urging, and the words only go to increase the fire in my belly. “I want your tongue on me,” he adds while his eyes blaze silver-white. “I want to taste you, to be tasted by you. I want you.”

Licking his lips and growling with the intensity of his desire, Rob is more than willing to be guided to his bed. He pulls Tul onto it, pinning him on top of the clean covers and kissing him again, roughly, passionately, desperately. Spice and lust fragrance their scents, filling the air with their long suppressed need for each other.

I can’t draw my eyes from them. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. My breath catches as Rob tugs his t-shirt over his head, muscles flexing as he reveals his sculpted torso, perfect from pecs to rippling abs to the line of dark hair leading into the waistband of his jeans. He grins as he glances between Tul and I, seeing our matching expressions of admiration, feeling our lust. He shirks off his jeans next and we both groan at the sight of him; strong, proud and vibrating with life.

Tul doesn’t complain when Rob all but tears his t-shirt from him to reveal his equally toned chest and leans down to lick and kiss his way down to his waistband. He tugs at the denim and Tul lifts his hips just enough to allow Rob to remove his jeans, his abdominal muscles bunching deliciously as he moves.

I squirm as Rob reveals Tul’s impressive erection and I want to go to them. I want to touch them both. Instead I sit on my hands, determined not to interfere in anyway, including by touching myself, not until they’ve had this moment. It’s not easy though as Rob leans forward, his tongue swirling over the head of Tul’s solid cock and sending a shock of sensation through my body to torment the wet nub at the apex of my thighs.

“Oh God,” the panted words contain stunned surprise as well as heat and need as Tul’s hand knots in the bed cover and a flush rises to his cheeks. “Rob.” His hips buck, demanding more, and I guess waiting for a century would make anyone desperate.
Rob’s silvered eyes lock with his as he runs his tongue up the length of Tul’s shaft and grins. There’s something predatory in his expression that thrills both me and Tul, something victorious and self-assured as he lowers his mouth around Tul’s throbbing erection. My body arches in my seat, reacting to the feel of him pleasuring Tul with something close to wanton abandon. I can’t help it. Hell, I don’t want to help it and in this moment I have no problem with their actions having such a profound impact on my writhing body.

“More,” I moan without meaning to, “Rob, more.”

Tul’s gaze flicks to mine and he grins at me, at my flushed appearance and my reflection of his rapidly disintegrating control. He arches under Rob as Rob’s tongue flicks over his tip again and the pulsing warmth of approaching orgasm spreads through my limbs. Tul’s breath becomes short and his eyes close as he loses himself in the sensation of Rob’s mouth urging him closer to ecstasy.

It doesn’t take much for Rob to push us all over the edge and as Tul growls his name, flexing under him with each burst of searing pleasure I cry out too, lost in the explosion of fire through my limbs. Rob tenses and shudders as he spills himself onto the sheets, unable to control his own climax as Tul grips the back of his head, holding him in place until the last pulsing tremors of release begin to fade.

“Rob,” Tul breathes softly when he regains the ability to speak. There’s a world, a lifetime, of emotion in the single word.

“Now your mother can be scandalised,” Rob jokes with an impish smile. He relaxes, thoroughly satisfied as he collapses at Tul’s side. His arm rests over Tul’s body and he refuses to break contact, not yet at least

Their flushed appearances and still ragged breathing ignite another wave of desire in me. They are gorgeous. As my breath catches Tul’s gaze meets mine and he asks, “Why are you still dressed? And why aren’t you in bed with us?”

“I’m enjoying being the last one in clothes for a change?” I murmur barely managing to fight the urge to tear my clothes from my body and join them.

“Evie, honey,” Rob prompts as he sprawls on the bed, “take your clothes off and come here.” His eyes are still bright silver, his fangs descended, and nothing in the world would have me refuse them.

However, as I stand a slow smile touches my lips and an idea strikes me. Neither of them had ever really seen what Van had taught me. Tul a little, perhaps, but it was only a little. I lower my lids as I twist my body, beginning to dance as I watch them through my lashes. Stretching my arms up over my head, I display the perfect curves of my breasts as I circle my hips, drawing their attention to all the right areas of my body.

They both sit up, their eyes locked on my slowly gyrating body. They stare, entranced, as my hands slide down again, over my breasts, skimming my already peaked nipples and making them even more prominent under my t-shirt. My fingers slip under the hem of my top, one hand tugging it up slightly to reveal the first strip of skin as I undo the button of my jeans, pushing them down just far enough to skim my hips, to reveal the top of my lacy thong.

Rob gapes at me as Tul breathes out slowly, trying to control the affect I’m having on his body as it begins to come to life again. Their eyes go wide as I slide a hand into my thong, sliding my fingers briefly along the length of my slit, paying particular attention to my already swollen clit and knowing they’ll feel the exquisite tingling burn as well. My other hand trails back up over my t-shirt until I cup my breast, squeezing slightly as I moan for them.

When I run my tongue over my extended canine the fragrance of my blood fills the air and Rob moves closer to the edge of the bed, clearly wanting to come to me. “Stay,” I command, my voice low and raw with arousal as I take a step back, maintaining distance. “We’re playing by my rules,” I whisper as I grind my core against my hand.

“Evie,” Rob pleads with me but laughs as I shake my head and tug my hand away from my sex, leaving us all unsatisfied, leaving us all wanting.

Slowly I pull up my t-shirt, inch by slow inch as I reveal myself for their appreciation. I strip the garment from my body, tossing it aside. My fingers trace slow, sensual patterns on my flushed skin, sending sparks skittering over their flesh as surely as my own. When I turn from them I reach behind, my back curving and my shoulders flexing as my fingers find the catch of my bra.  In a practiced move I smoothly unlatch the fastening and as I turn back to them I let the satin and lace fall.

I have their undivided attention but as my fingers hook into the loops of my jeans and begin to push down the denim they lose their patience with my teasing game. When I kick my jeans to one side and rub my slick sex through the lace of my underwear Tul finally breaks. Moving with supernatural speed his arms are around me before I can blink and a shiver runs the length of my spine as he tugs me against his hard, lean, body.

“Get into bed, Eve,” he growls and the sound of pure need is enough to have my insides clenching as my heart thunders. He doesn’t wait for me to move though, and I cling to his shoulders as he lifts me one handed and carries me to the bed. “Rob’s going to take you,” he murmurs in my ear, “and then I’m going to take you. You’re going to moan and scream and eventually, when you’re exhausted, we might let you rest.”

As Tul lowers me to the softness of the bed Rob pushes me into the sheets. He pins my wrists over my head with one hand as his other slides over my body, skimming the curve of my neck, the edge of my collar bone, the swell of my breast as he moves down. As his fingers trace burning patterns past my navel and over my abdomen I spread my thighs, more than willing to open for him. He smiles, a grin of pleased, masculine appreciation, as he rips the last skimpy triangle of fabric from me.

Rob groans as he admires my exposed body, holding me in place so he can look his fill. “You’re so beautiful.” The whisper is gentle, earnest, but then he shows me no quarter. Taunted by my striptease, hungered by the scent of the blood I’d spilled, Rob doesn’t hold back as he plunges into me.

I cry out as my body is brutally plundered, stretched, filled. The coiling, writhing, heat inside me flares brightly as I submit to his need, as he expels his frustration and pain at the last month in an uncompromising act of claiming. I want this.

His mouth takes mine, his tongue opening, licking, penetrating as he ravishes me.  He nips my lower lip, drawing blood and sucking in eagerly from my skin.  When his mouth goes to my ear he makes one, simple, promise. “I will not lose you again, Evie. Never. We’ll make the world better, we’ll carve a place for ourselves in it, and I won’t give you up.”

Then they do as promised, the pair of them, taking me and pleasuring each other until eventually, in an exhausted tangle of limbs, we fall asleep. But contentment is a fleeting thing and later, as my own screams wake me from nightmares created from my memories, tears snake over my cheeks and I doubt I have the right to a place in any brave new world. I’m so much a part of my grim reality.

They try to comfort me as I sob, as I shudder at remembered touches and scream at remembered wounds, it doesn’t help though. When I finally rein in my emotions I still only manage to sit in fretful alertness, unable to sleep again. They drift in and out of consciousness, checking on me between snoozing, but I can’t find enough peace to drowse.

“Damn you, Hardy Charleston,” I whimper to nobody in particular, “Damn you to Hell.”