“Please.” The word came out of her twisted, choked, desperate. “I need you, Alejandro.”
Alejandro made a frustrated sound. His hand slipped between her thighs and found her clit. Methodically, he used the hard hem of her pants against the aroused bundle of nerves. Daria writhed on the floor beneath him, moving her thighs in time to his touch. “This will make you feel better.”
“It's not enough.
More
,” she moaned.
He hesitated, then his breath hissed out of him. “You're going to kill me with this, Daria.” Alejandro undid the button and zipper of her pants and slid them down and off along with her panties. Cool air bathed her bare skin.
She thrust her own hands between her thighs, but he gently pushed them away. Dragging his strong fingers over her hot, flushed pussy, his breath hissed out of him. “You want my cock, here, baby, don't you?”
Daria bit her lower lip and nodded.
Oh, so bad
. . .
He slid a finger inside her, stretching muscles that hadn't stretched that way in a long, long time. With the pad of his index fingers, he rasped over her G-spot. Her breath shuddered out of her. “Just like that,
querida
? Is that how you want me to fuck you?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Good. Spread those pretty legs of yours and let me make you come.” His voice sounded ragged, hoarse.
She tossed her head as he added one more finger, stretching her muscles even more, but not as far as his cock would. He thrust in and out of her, making her body rock back and forth on the floor of the tent.
Her cunt was wet and eager, tingling with the erotic pleasure Alejandro bestowed on her. Daria was drunk on it, lost to it. She couldn't stop herself from digging her heels into the floor of the tent and moving her hips in time to his thrusts.
Daria's hands found the hem of her shirt and pushed upward, finding her breasts so she could roll her nipples between her fingers. Her whole world was only about getting off right now, finding release for the intense sexual pressure the Choosing had built in her.
“Fuck, I can't take it,” he growled. “I have to taste you.”
He parted her legs and pushed her down, pinning her with strong hands to the floor and making her gasp. If she had wanted to move or get away, there would have been no way she could've. Her cunt was spread wide open for him, swollen and aroused with need.
Alejandro blew along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh and over her aroused cunt. Daria shuddered in delicious anticipation. Then Alejandro groaned and lowered his head, pulling her clit between his lips.
Her fingers found his hair and fisted. She watched his dark head bob between her thighs as he dragged his tongue up and down the length of her pussy. Alejandro acted like she was the best thing he'd ever had in his mouth.
He raised dazed eyes to hers. “You taste good. Sticky, hot, sweet heaven. Just like I remember.” He removed one hand from her leg and slid two fingers deep inside her cunt, rasping along her G-spot as he rolled her clit back and forth with his tongue.
Orgasm swelled, receded . . . exploded. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Sweet release poured through her, drenching her cunt and making her spine bow. She gasped his name as it rippled through her. Alejandro licked over her as the waves eased and faded away, like he couldn't stop tasting her.
“I need more,” she murmured, reaching for him after the waves of ecstasy had passed. “I need your cock inside me, Alejandro. I want you to fuck me.”
Alejandro stared down at her sated pussy with carnal intensity. His fingers traced her labia, now red and swollen from his attentions, and she shivered and closed her eyes. “The process is faster than usual with you for some reason. It's almost time for it to start.”
“What's
it
? What's going to start?” she murmured.
A tornado began in her mind.
She cried out. He released her and she rolled away from him, pulling herself into a little ball on the floor, not caring that she was half naked, not caring about anything at all beyond the sudden change in her mind and body.
Knowledge slammed into her, like a massive PComp download at the speed of light. Her body seemed to contract and then expand. Colors swirled through her mind, and sensations too numerous to register racked her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and lay panting under the onslaught.
Images from her childhood assaulted her mind's eye and battered her senses. The rubbery scent of her favorite doll. Her father's smiling face right before he'd died. The heavy weight of her mother's heirloom brooch in her hand. The sound of the crowd cheering the new class of Galactic Patrollers on graduation day.
The images faded, and she squeezed her eyes shut and fought the urge to vomit. Now she had the sensation of ascending, faster and faster. Wind ripped at her clothing and at her hair as she sped straight up through darkness with nothing to halt her progress. Even though she knew her body still lay on the floor of the tent, her mind had been launched like a rocket.
Something loomed before her, something tall and wide and shimmering in the black.
Daria screamed and arched her back as she hit it. The barrier shattered with a bright tinkling sound and crystal shards flew out from the impact. Her ascension slowed from the collision and, instinctively, she knew she had to speed it up somehow.
Writhing on the floor of the tent, she clawed out in front of her, groping the air in her search for more momentum. Another shining barrier glimmered up ahead. She knew she had to punch through it.
Panting, Daria used every last reserve she had to increase her velocity.
Almost there.
She was almost there, but she was so tired, so
tired
. . . She let her body relax.
“Fight, Daria,” Alejandro whispered in her ear. “Don't give up. Don't give up now. Punch through.”
Her eyes flickered opened, then closed again. He was right. She couldn't give in to the exhaustion now, but it was so hard. She felt like she'd been running in the desert for three hours. She couldn't take even one . . . more . . . step.
“Remember Julia,” Alejandro whispered.
The name jolted Daria's body and an image of Julia filled her mind. Julia leaning across the lunchroom table, laughing, her badge glinting in the sunlight and her soft brown eyes crinkling at the edges with amusement. The next flash made Daria gaspâthe sight of her friend sprawled on the floor, her eyes unseeing and glazed, the pupils blown.
Julia.
She had to fight for her.
Daria sought way down in the recesses of her mind for her will. Her will had always been strong. One last burst of strength that poured pain through her body propelled her to the next barrier at an inching pace. She pounded on the wall until her fists in her mind's eye were bloodied and ravaged. She yelled and fought and kicked.
Finally, she punched her fist through the crystal barrier. A heartbeat later, it shattered.
The images flipped off like someone shutting down a commview and she went limp. Alejandro's warm body spooned her from behind and she was grateful for the support.
Apparently, that had been the
it
.
Her eyes fluttered open. The world looked so strange. She could see everything in minute detail if she concentrated hard enough. If she focused, she could pick out individual fibers in the tan-colored tent wall in front of her. If she concentrated very hard, she could hear each separate grain of sand blowing outside. She winced at the incredibly loud noise of it and ceased to put her attention there.
“Oh, my god,” she breathed.
“Are you okay?” asked Alejandro.
“I-I don't know,” she panted.
“Are you sleepy?”
“Yes.” In fact, fatigue was starting to engulf her now. Her body relaxed involuntarily into exhaustion and it became difficult to keep her eyes open. Her body demanded rest. No matter the questions she had. No matter what her mind wanted. Darkness enveloped her.
“Did . . . I do it? Did I . . . push through the succubare?” she murmured as she lay on the edge of sleep.
His hand smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “We'll know when you wake up,
querida
.” She floated away on the deep, sweet tones of his voice.
4
DARIA roused and opened her eyes, immediately noting that Alejandro had laid her on the inflatable mattress in the center of the room and covered her with a light blanket. He'd dressed her again, too. Her head hurt and she felt weak, like she'd run thirty miles in the heat. She groaned, sat up, and looked around.
And suddenly felt much better.
Alejandro lay beside her, fast asleep. His black jeans were slung low on his hips with the top couple of buttons undone, revealing a little black hair and the jut of one lean hip. He was shirtless and one of his arms was thrown up over his head in a position that defined his biceps.
Smooth muscle rippled over the expanse of his chest and arms. A light dusting of dark hair tapered into a trail that went down his stomach, past the waistband of his jeans.
She really wanted to follow that trail.
Her gaze found the pulse in his throat and lingered there. Hunger started low in her belly and spread out. She imagined peeling his jeans off and stroking his cock to hardness, slipping her lips around his shaft, and rendering Alejandro helpless to her every carnal whim.
She envisioned him rolling her over, forcing her thighs apart and sinking his cock deep inside her, taking her slow at first and then faster and harder. She'd bite his throat as they came together and satisfy all her desires at once.
She stared hard at his pulse and her mouth watered.
Shit.
What was wrong with her? Was the Choosing still affecting her? She winced, remembering how she'd acted last night. Man, she'd made a fool out of herself. She'd begged him to fuck her.
God, what he'd
done
to her! And she'd rolled there on her back, begging him for more.
Even though that radically slutty response seemed to have disappeared, the sight of him still caused her body to respond whether she wanted it to or not.
His dark eyes opened and he stretched like a cat, delineating every luscious muscle from the waist up. Daria looked away, trying to master herself.
“You're awake,” he murmured. “Do you want sex or blood?”
Both,
her mind screamed.
Both!
She looked back at him and desire tightened her body so hard she had to grip the blanket with both hands to keep from jumping him. Daria couldn't even form a sentence.
“Do you want blood at all?” he asked.
“God, yes.” The answer poured from her lips before she could stop it.
“Good.” He pushed up on his elbows. “You pushed through the succubare.”
Relief washed through her as she remembered breaking through both the crystal barriers. “Whew. I didn't want to have to be a whore for the rest of my life to survive.”
Alejandro held her gaze for a moment, a smile playing on his lips. He sat up and moved so close his body heat touched her. “Vampires are still very sexual, Daria. Sometimes we fuck for no reason at all.”
She caught her breath at his proximity and her heart rate sped up.
“You put me through hell last night,” he continued. “You were so tempting. I'm surprised I didn't give in to you.” His voice was like dark, liquid silk pouring over her skin. It made her shiver.
Daria drew a breath and concentrated on gathering enough strength to push away from him. How was she going to make it through this without letting him burn her?
“This is business, Alejandro. Remember? Business. I'm sorry about last night. I wasn't myself.”
“I know and that's why I didn't take advantage.” He brought his face close to hers. His hot, sweet breath stirred the fine hair around her face. He cupped her cheek in one callused hand and brushed his lips across hers deliberately. It was a gentle tasting, not a taking.
For one wildly insane moment she wished he would
take
. She wished he would crush her mouth to his and roll her beneath his body.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Today you are yourself. So what's wrong with mixing a little pleasure with business?” he whispered against her mouth.
Daria inserted one hand in between their bodies and pushed him back . . . hard. She stood, and light-headedness washed over her, causing her to waver. Alejandro caught her and eased her down onto the mattress. A thousand pinpricks of pain assaulted her temples.
“You're weak from the Choosing, Daria. No fast moves or large bursts of strength. You need to give your body time to adjust to the changes it has gone through.”
She fisted her hands against the pain and spoke through gritted teeth. “How
much
time?” She hated feeling so fragile, and right now she felt like prey to any animal that came along.
Alejandro shrugged. “You're still stronger than a human, but it will take a couple of days for you to start to feel comfortable in your skin again. It will take years for you to reach your full strength as a Chosen. Be patient.”
She snorted. “Not one of my strong suits.”
“Hey, be happy. You pushed through the succubare and you retained your sanity. You're one of the few unmarked humans to endure the Choosing and come out the other side a sane vamp.”
“Yeah, I only have three hundred years until I lose my marbles now. I'll count my blessings tomorrow. I have room for procrastination.”
Most Chosen went insane once they passed their third century. That seemed to be the breaking point for a person's mind when they lived so long. Most of them grew bored with existence. Became weary of watching those they loved pass on, the constant change of civilization, the beginning and end of wars. Eventually they started to feel the need for eternal rest, for escape, for renewal. All they saw stretching before them was a yawn of time filled with the same experiences over and over. That's why there weren't many old ones around.