Safeword: Storm Clouds (24 page)

Abbot and Josef walked through the door about that time and Abbot said, "Leon, are you sure about this? On the third challenge when you've lost the first two she can rend you into pieces, the only thing she has to leave intact is your brain, brainstem, and heart, but she can tear the rest of you into pieces as small or large as she wishes."

Leon snarled at him. "She can not touch me. Anyone who would submit to a human cannot cause such harm to me. I have challenged her, now stop trying to put off the defeat of your third."

"Very well, Fawne and Matte, take Eric away. Everyone else, to the basement."

Abbot spoke to Eric with the mind link,
Eric do not try to contact Kendra. I will keep you up to date on what is happening. If you need to contact someone to ask how things are going, contact me. Do not distract her.

Is she going to be okay? He won't hurt her, will he?

She'll have a few battle scars, but I doubt any will be around for longer than a week. She’s already kicked his ass twice, he’s an idiot to challenge her again.

Once Abbot had everyone assembled in the large concrete shelter room that was actually out under the yard and not under the house, but that was accessible through the basement, he went over the rules. "All witnesses are to remain with their back against the wall and are not to interfere in any way. Leon will have won if he incapacitates Kendra to the extent that she can no longer get up and fight him. He is not to deliver a blow that will involve more than a month of repair before Kendra is back to normal. Doing so can result in his own death, by my hands. The rules are different for Kendra since a third challenge when the first two were lost is seen as harassment. She is not to tear what is inside his skull to pieces, or his heart to pieces, but she is free to rip the rest of him into whatever size pieces she wishes. Again, no one may interfere. Are the participants ready?"

Kendra and Leon had undressed and were facing each other naked. Vampires fight without clothes on, partly to make sure there are no hidden weapons, and partly to level the field so that no one wears armor that vampire claws might have trouble going through. Also, some vampires can shift into animal form and the lack of clothes makes it easier to do that.

Abbot walked a circle and made it solid so that Kendra and Leon were confined within it, and then looked at both of them and said "Incipio".

While Abbot had been creating the circle Kendra allowed that part of her to the surface that she rarely allowed to surface. Some called it blood lust, some called it berserker, Kendra just called it her inner nature. Vampires had to choose whether to be beast or whether to be civilized, those who chose beast, who could not control the beast, were killed by vampire society so they would not endanger the civilized vampires. But when Kendra was in a circle like this, she could bring that part of her to the surface and allow it to play. It was her secret, in a way. Most vampires lost touch with their beast during the process of gaining control over it. She’d never lost touch with it. So within a millisecond of Abbot giving the word, Kendra flew into Leon and before he realized things had started she’d already ripped one of his arms off and then backed away. When he came towards her she dove for his stomach and pulled organs out, spilling them out in front of him. In desperation, Leon bit her on the breast, but that left him open for her to grab his dick and rip it from his body. He didn't let go of the grip he had with his teeth on her breast, but she could power through even debilitating pain when the beast was in control like this. She knew she would have to rip her breast off to push him off of her, so she did it before she had a chance to think about how much it was going to hurt, twisting him around so that she broke his spine as she tore him off of her. Blood gushed out of both of them as she reached up into Leon’s chest cavity and pulled his rib cage apart. She pretty much blanked out on what happened after that. The Beast was in control, and she quietly went to the background and let the Beast have it’s bloodbath. When it was over Leon was in tiny pieces all over the place and her left breast was just a huge gaping hole. She noted that the brain and part of the spine were in one piece with the skull around it, but she’d taken most of the skin off of the outside of the skull, and she wasn’t sure where his eyes or tongue or teeth were, probably in the mess she was standing in somewhere. She’d turned him into mush, she hadn’t just ripped him into pieces. She panicked for a moment, looking for his heart, but then saw it, still in one piece. If she’d torn it up in her frenzy that would be a problem, but she’d held the reins enough, somehow, to keep the pieces intact that she was required to keep intact. She took a few more breaths, making sure the Beast went back inside, making sure she was fully back in control again, and then stood up straight. She wanted to feel of her breast, but not in front of the other vampires. She couldn’t show weakness. She’d just reminded everyone what she was capable of, this was no time to show anything except strength. She was a little weak from blood loss though, so she needed to finish this. She looked at Abbot and said, "Consumo".

Abbot nodded and said , "Perago", and the circle faded away.

Kendra stepped out of the mess that had been Leon and said, "I'm going to take a shower. Is there someone here who can arrange to bury the pieces of Leon so he has a chance to reconstruct himself?" She was almost positive that she’d just killed him, she didn’t think he was strong enough to reconstruct after what she’d done, but she needed to make sure the rules were followed.

Abbot spoke, "I will see to it that someone does so. Go shower and feed. I've already instructed Fawne to bring Eric back to you."

"Thank you."

Chapter Seventeen

When Abbot let Eric into Kendra's room, she was stretched out on her bed, freshly showered but still naked, with her eyes closed. Eric could see the pain on her face, and he was horrified at what had been done to her breast, though Kendra tried to make light of it. "You should see the other guy."

Eric ignored her. "Abbot said that my blood, my life force, would help you heal faster than anything else."

She spoke without opening her eyes. "Yes, he's right. If it weren't a challenge then Abbot could help heal me, but the rules forbid it. So, the attachment I have to you, that we have to each other – that will help. Except I've already fed from you today, so I can't get all that I need from you, it will weaken you too much."

"Then take what you can from me and get the rest from a bag. I can't stand to see you like this. I can see the pain on your face, tell me what to do to help make it go away."

Kendra finally opened her eyes to look at him, and gave him a weak smile. "I should have taught you how to offer yourself to me, but I haven't. I'm sorry, I never wanted it to have to be this way. It’s going to hurt, Eric. My body won’t put out much pain killer for you right now. If you still want to do this then stand beside the bed, lean down, and put your forearm in front of my lips. Yes, so your heart is higher than your arm. Perfect. Eric, this is about you offering and me taking. The numbing agent will be there in small quantities, but not as much as I can usually provide. It’s going to hurt, and there won't be bliss or anything good about it. I need for you to just open yourself up and be my nourishment, love me enough to nourish me through the pain and discomfort of it. Can you do that?"

"Kendra, I love you. If it will make you stop hurting I’ll gladly do it."

Kendra bit into is arm and let the blood fall into her mouth, swallowing it as it came. She could smell Eric's pain, but she could feel him open and giving as well. She used her metaphysical self to breathe in his life force and she felt their auras mix and almost join as one. And she drank. In the end she probably took about fourteen ounces, that combined with what she'd taken from him earlier was the outer limits of what she would want to take from him. She used her tongue to make sure the bite would heal and then closed her eyes and spoke. "Eric, I love you, too. Please drink lots of fluids, that sports drink you like, there is some in my mini fridge. I need you to promise me you'll stay with either me or Abbot during the night hours for the next couple of nights. If you want to stay in here with me you can use my laptop if you need, or you can get Abbot to take you home so you can get yours and bring it back. You'll be safe in a few days, but I don't think you are yet. Abbot will bring you food, too, if you need it. Or he'll get someone else to. I need to sleep, now."

"I can use your laptop, I won't leave you. Just sleep, Kendra. I'm here if you need me."

Epilogue

Six months later no one else had challenged Kendra or in any way expressed the slightest problem with her relationship with Eric. All it had taken was a reminder of how brutal she could be, and no one else felt the need to question her decision.

Norris wrote her a letter in care of Abbot, following protocol even more than was required. He told her he understood the timing was not right for them to work towards a relationship at this time, but that he hoped she might consider it in a few centuries. That freed her up to check out his theater work, and then call him to tell him how happy she was for him. They left things on good terms with each other, and with Norris happy for her that she’d found someone she cared about, though sad for himself that he’d finally found her and the timing wasn’t right for them to make a go of it just yet.

Kendra and Eric had figured out how to make a switch relationship work, which largely involved just not analyzing it too much. Sometimes Kendra took charge and Eric submitted, sometimes Eric took charge and Kendra submitted. Most of the time they were just two people who loved each other very much. It worked for them.

Ranger moved to town and Abbot gave the okay for them to tell him about vampires about a week after he'd settled in. Ranger and Kendra managed to become friends and become comfortable with each other, which was a huge relief to Kendra. It also turned out Ranger was a Dom and he and Eric had tag teamed with each other in the past. Kendra made it clear she wasn't comfortable with that and Eric said he wasn't interested in sharing her, so not to worry. Ranger did find it a bit shocking that Kendra and Eric had a switch relationship, he hadn't thought Eric was wired that way, to which Eric responded, "Yeah, neither did I."

Eric asked some questions about what it was like to be turned, whether it hurt, how long it took to get control of the vampire powers. Kendra answered most of his questions but made it clear that she would not even consider turning him until he'd reached his twenty-eighth birthday, which was still years away. Eric was okay with that, he wasn't in a hurry to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time, he began to think that at some point losing the sun would be worth the other things he would gain. They did make an agreement that if he was at the point of death, or was going to die, that it was okay if she turned him under those circumstances. Whether it be next week or next year, he didn't want to die without her at least trying to turn him. They went to Abbot with their decision, and after a lengthy discussion between Abbot and Eric, Abbot gave Kendra permission to turn him should Eric ever be at death’s door by accident.

In the meantime, they spent most of their time together, balancing it between his yacht and the coterie house. His new vampire game was in the testing stages and it was poised to become a huge hit when it hit the market. He'd even brought it to the coterie house to let the vampires help test it, they got a huge kick out of it and some of them were getting addicted to video games.

Kendra didn't know where she and Eric were headed for sure, but she knew she loved him as she had not loved anyone in a very long time. She thought that, should he one day want her to turn him, they might make it well beyond that five hundred year mark of marriage that so few vampire couples managed to reach.

The End

ABOUT CANDACE BLEVINS

Candace Blevins is a southern girl who loves to travel the world. She lives with her husband of 12 years, their two daughters, and Bandy the Wonder Dog. When not working or driving kids all over the place she can be found reading, writing, meditating, or swimming. Her favorite place in the world is home, second favorite place is Guilin, China. Candace speaks enough Chinese to manage okay in an airport, check into a hotel, order food in a restaurant, and shop.  You can visit Candace at candaceblevins.com.

If you enjoyed SAFEWORD: STORM CLOUDS, you might also enjoy:

NISEY’S AWAKENING

By Dakota Trace

When a would be Dom takes advantage of Nisey's inexperience she is left bewildered and at odds with her own sexuality. Now scared of what she longs for she tries to hide from it until her best friend, Kalinda has had enough of waking to Nisey's screams and takes matters into her own hands and contacts her older brother, Caelan. She's had enough and wants her best friend back and thinks Caelan is the perfect man to guide Nisey back to what she longs for without traumatizing her friend any further.
Caelan is an experienced Dom, who has trained many first time subs in during his time in the lifestyle, but his last experience with a newbie changed everything. When it blew up in his face, he decided to keep to the more experienced subs, so when his sister calls out of the blue with a request that he help her friend, he is intrigued but very leery. After all what could happen from answering a few questions?