A Kiss Beneath the Veil (9 page)

“I love you,
Daphne,” he said. And she sighed in relief. It felt as though everything had
finally come together as it was supposed to.

She lightly
kissed a less injured part of his jaw and settled back in his arms. “Thank you
for rescuing me again,” she said. He smiled in response and she watched another
shred of his skin peel back to reveal healthy golden flesh beneath. “How long
until you’re fully healed?” she asked.

“I will be
healed by dawn. Of course, I could be healed faster with your assistance,” he
murmured suggestively.

She laughed
soundlessly, her shredded throat protesting all the use she’d given it. Daphne
pictured how gruesome they must look cuddling together and shook her head at
Isaac. She would do whatever it took to help heal him, but her own injuries
couldn’t be ignored for long. One of the tubes left in her arm stung in protest
as she raised her hand to his face. He immediately clucked in sympathy and
helped her remove it, obviously berating himself again in a foreign language.
“You talk to yourself a lot. Have you been alone most of those thousand years
you’ve been alive?”

Isaac’s head
snapped up in shock, his mouth an ‘O’ of surprise. She winked at him, or
squinted one eye really, since she wasn’t very good at winking. She could feel
his responding laugh like a physical touch to her heart, squeezing it just a little,
making it hard to breathe.

“Touch
é
, ch
éri
,” he murmured.

“Let’s try
that ‘start over’ trick again, and pretend that this is the date after we
finally did more than kiss. Neither of us has been hurt,” Daphne said. She
stopped there though, realizing that Isaac deserved an apology for her behavior
five years ago. But when she tried to explain he cut her off.

“Agreed. No
more apologies. The slate is clean and we’re starting fresh,” he said. Daphne
could tell that he was forgiving her. He would stop blaming himself for not
being there when she was hurt, and she would stop berating herself for her
foolish choice to leave him. She was getting the better end of the deal since
it really wasn’t Isaac’s fault that she’d been injured, but by the look in his
eyes he thought he was winning. Daphne could leave it at that.

“Alright,” she
replied, shifting in his lap and realizing that her hospital gown was
completely open in back. Isaac’s devilish grin said he’d known all along. “How
do we heal you?” she asked, wanting to touch him without causing further damage
to his skin.

His face
shifted between a look of hope and uncertainty. “I would need to feed from
you,” he said softly.

That sounded
just great to Daphne, though she wondered if all the drugs she’d been given would
affect him in any way. Before she could ask he spoke again.

Isaac laid
her carefully against the velvet bedding and took her hand. “Daphne, I truly
love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Her heart
fluttered with a mixture of uncertainty and joy. She wasn’t entirely scared of
commitment anymore, but when a vampire promised to you love you for the rest of
their life it came in capitals. FOREVER. The only thing she was certain of was
that she loved Isaac. Would that be enough? This wouldn’t just be a change of
religion for Daphne, this would be converting to an entirely new
species.

Isaac leaned
away from her to open a drawer by the bed, returning with a ring held between
his fingers. The diamond was
enormous
! Set on a sculpted platinum band
with delicate gold accents and fiery ruby stones. It was the most impossibly
beautiful ring she’d ever seen.

Isaac kissed
the back of her hand and continued. “Daphne, please marry me. Be mine forever.”

Forever
.

When he said
it, it didn’t sound so bad. Why had she been frightened of forever before? She
was already nodding her head before she was able to get her voice to work.
“YES!”
she cried. “Yes, Isaac! I love you. I want to be with you forever.”

Isaac smiled
in relief, kissing her battered mouth gently before carefully slipping the ring
on her finger. Perfect fit.

“Forever,
Daphne? You’re sure?” Isaac asked. She stared hard at the man sitting beside
her and realized that his burns didn’t mask his beauty at all. It was as though
she could see the radiance of his generosity and kindness cast upon his skin.
He would be beautiful to her no matter what, because she knew him. She loved
him.

“Yes, Isaac.
Forever,” she said.

His eyes
drifted over her injured throat. He pulled the faded bed gown from her arms,
careful of her bruises and tossed it aside. She knew what was about to happen.
Isaac was going to change her. She’d read what she could about the
transformation over the past five years, telling herself it was idle curiosity
and not any lingering wish for Isaac’s company. So foolish of her. The Human
Relations Inquiry had released very dry, scientific explanations for the
crossing, but firsthand accounts were rare. It was as though the process were
held sacred and guarded as tightly as a Freemason’s Ritual.

“Are you
ready, my love?” he asked, waiting for her nod before sliding down the bed and
nudging her thighs apart. “Your neck looks too tender for my bite, best to
latch elsewhere,” he said. His toothy grin and accompanying wink relaxed the
slight nervousness that had begun to creep over her. “Just lay back and let me
have you,” he whispered.

He kissed
his way slowly from knee to hip, his tongue swirling in delicious patterns
across her skin. Every kiss burned away her awareness of their injuries. Nothing
mattered but Isaac. Nothing hurt but the distance between them. By the time he
reached her sex she’d completely forgotten any worry she had over what was
happening and just laid back to enjoy his touch.

His groan of
pleasure as he sank his tongue inside of her reverberated through her whole
body. It drove her mindless with need. At that moment she wanted Isaac more
than she wanted her next breath. Daphne wasn’t aware of when he bit her, only
that she’d begun falling through waves of pleasure unlike anything she’d ever
dreamed of before.

 The dark
burgundy canopy above them began to fade. Isaac’s black curls and the smooth
expanse of his back seemed to be drifting farther away somehow, though she
could still feel his mouth against her skin. Daphne wanted to call to him, but
drawing a breath for speech felt like too much effort.

Isaac’s
gently smiling face appeared before her. It was the last thing she saw before
the darkness swallowed her entirely, and it was the first thing she saw when
the bloodsong called her back.

Daphne’s
awareness rose slowly from the abyss. She could feel her mouth pressed to
Isaac’s wrist as he lay above her, stroking her hair and allowing her to drink
the blood from his open vein. Daphne had never tasted anything so wonderful in all
her life. It wasn’t just the flavor of Isaac’s blood that made her draw harder,
trying to fill her mouth with the the stuff, it was the other sensations she
could taste in it as well. She could actually taste his love for her and his pleasure
in her bite.

Her eyes opened
and traced over his face and body, seeing him with a perfect clarity that she
never had before. His skin was whole and beautiful again. From the tousled
black curls dusting his forehead, to the full molded pout of his smiling lips.
Daphne felt love well up within her as she gazed at him. It was the one emotion
capable of breaking the spell that his blood had over her. She released his
wrist with a slow lick, making his baby blue eyes slit appreciatively.

“Isaac,”
she whispered. The feeling of her
words forming in her throat without pain was distracting. Her whole body felt
healed. Better than healed,
perfect
. She felt like she could run a
marathon, or run right up a building and continue on up into the sky.

“Isaac,” she
said again, stretching beneath him as his caressing hand traveled down her
cheek and across her breast.

“Daphne,” he
responded, finally scooping his hands beneath her and drawing her up to him.
She sat for a long moment, allowing her hair to brush back and forth across her
shoulders
- the feeling of each little silken hair on her skin was incredibl
e
- before she paused to examine Isaac’s face again. God, how she loved him!

“You’re
healed,” she said, testing her voice again and enjoying the way her breath felt
in her mouth. She ran her tongue over her teeth and felt the sharp prick of
fangs. Every sensation she experienced was heightened and surreal. No wonder
the vampires were so cagey, if everyone knew how awesome it was to be one,
they’d be swamped with wannabe’s clambering for the change.

“Yes, thanks
to your blood. And you are healed, thanks to mine,” Isaac said with a smile. He
drew her from the bed slowly, allowing her all the time she needed to enjoy the
feeling of the velvet sliding against her skin, the carpets beneath her bare
feet, and the changing slant of candlelight across her face. When he finally
paused before a giant mirror that leaned against the far wall, Daphne was
mesmerized. The woman staring back at her from the glass was a goddess, Venus Rising.

Daphne’s
pale skin had grown translucent with the change, perfectly smooth and without a
single bruise to remind her of the past night’s drama. Her hair was longer and
glossier and her eyes that once leaned on the cusp of purple now glowed
lavender in the dark room. Isaac stood behind her, the pale gold of his skin
almost dark in comparison to her own. His large hand cupped her hip then slid
across the satin of her belly and up to the snowy globe of her breast.

“My
beautiful mate,” he murmured, dipping his head to put their glowing eyes at the
same level. Daphne reached up to sift her nails through his dark hair, watching
her own nearly white strands tangle with his in the mirror. Isaac’s gaze grew
wicked as he drew her back toward a tufted velvet lounge chair framed behind
them. Its low bed bumped her knees as he laid her back and positioned her to
continue watching their bodies in the mirror. Isaac kissed her passionately,
his tongue sliding and lapping against hers, their fangs adding an element of
danger to their play that heightened her arousal.

She was
watching the muscles of his back bunch and stretch as he worked his mouth down
her body. His perfect ass rocked suggestively as he knelt between her thighs.
The vision of his body over hers was so erotic that Daphne groaned in dismay
when he stood suddenly, but it was only to arrange her body into a different
position.

Isaac’s
predatory smile made Daphne’s heart jump in anticipation as he drew her to her
knees, angling her so that they could both watch. She bent forward as Isaac’s
impressive cock penetrated her slowly, inch by inch. He groaned and threw his
head back, his sharp fangs glinting. Daphne couldn’t hold back her own moan of
pleasure as he finally buried himself inside her.

Nothing had
ever felt as good as this before. Being a vampire increased her awareness of
every sensation she experienced. Including love. Making love with Isaac now,
truly
felt
like making love. Every touch, every look they shared
increased her sense of connection to him. She was intensely aware of his satiny
skin sliding against her own, the pulse of his blood and the tightening of his
muscles as he began to rock. Daphne watched their bodies moving against
eachother and Isaac’s face as he increased the speed of his thrusts, finally
pounding against her. She was crying out for more, watching her breasts bounce
and quiver, watching his biceps knot as he gripped her hips.

God! How
she loved him!
Daphne couldn’t hold back any longer. Her body tipped over the edge, tightening
in waves of pleasure as Isaac’s hoarse cry rose in harmony with her own.

She’d barely
come down from the high of her orgasm when Isaac’s voice lifted her back again.

“I love you,
Daphne. I will love you forever,” he said, turning her to face him.

She traced
his brow and nose lightly, memorizing his face, imprinting him permanently on
her heart before she spoke. “You are the only man I have ever loved, Isaac. And
I will love you forever.”

####

About the Author

Aimee
Roeland was born and raised in Southern Nevada. She became a “reader” the
summer after her twelfth birthday. That’s when she discovered romance novels
and the incredibly rich world of adult fiction. Her own attempts at writing
began a year later, but it wasn’t until her husband encouraged her to pursue
her dream that she actually got serious about publishing. “Bain: the Bar’axus
Bridge Chronicles (Book One)” was finished during the first year of their
marriage.

She now
lives with the two loves of her life - her husband and daughter - as well as
various dogs and ferrets, and lists her credentials as: wife, mother, writer,
amateur chef, home-improvement attempter, ferret rescuer, rain licker, and
all-around I-can-do-it girl.

A Kiss
Beneath the Veil is the first novella in a series of stand alones based in
Daphne’s world. Watch for updates on this and other works by Aimee Roseland by
following her blog, or joining her on Twitter.