Chapter 7 Born to Run

Thank you LaLa!!


Mick and Beth lay in their freezer, both of them trying to catch their breath and failing at it. Even his heart was giving out a rapid staccato beat that felt good. So damn good, because it infused him with a bit of warmth.

Intense, loving her was so intense in the most delicious of ways.

He slid from between her supple legs and rolled to his side, pulling her with him. It was always like this but it also seemed that the connection, the intensity, was growing. It was almost as if he was in her head, and she in his. Knowing what the other needed, a moment before they did, the touch, the look, the needing and wanting so great that he felt as if he was on fire, the flames licking at him and only she could slake his thirst.

Their connection had always been strong, even when he only watched from afar, the periphery zone around her keeping them apart. A thought had occurred to him today about it all, but he didn’t see how it could be possible. But what if? What if this amazing connection between them was the result of that night, so long ago when he’d rescued her from Coraline?

“Beth, that night when I took you away from Coraline, did you ingest any of my blood?”

She frowned for a moment, thinking it was an odd question and an unlikely thing to have happened. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“It’s just, I don’t know, it sounds silly but as I watch the bond between Logan and Clark, the blood that they shared, it got me to wondering about us. You always knew that I was out there, all those years until I left. Lani told me that you knew when I moved to Seattle; she said you cried because you couldn’t feel me any longer.”

Beth nodded, that was true enough. Could she have gotten some in her mouth? Did that explain why they could feel one another so strongly? Why her heart broke when the physical distance became so great that the connection was obscured?

“I don’t know, Mick. I was crying, really hard and you had blood all over your face and neck, from your fight with her. I suppose it is entirely possible that the tears mixed with the blood and I got some of it. It might well explain a lot of things though.”

He nodded. Somehow he knew that it had happened, as unlikely as it seemed. It wouldn’t have taken much, that much he knew for sure.

“So do you think that Logan and Clark, being brothers, increases their connection?”

“I don’t know, it might. Logan seems really tuned into Clark’s emotions, which is good and bad, actually. He has to keep a bit of himself separate in order to keep perspective. I had a long talk with Clark today when I took everything over there. He didn’t see who did it, and like you, about all he said was that the attacker had blue eyes. But I noticed that while he talked about it, what had happened, Logan tuned into it completely, almost as if he was there too.”

“And that is bad?”

“Well, it will be harder for him to let go and I’ll tell you this, Clark is determined to be out of there immediately, if not sooner.”

“Wow, how soon do you think he can do it?”

“I don’t know, but he is really motivated. He’s already pestering Logan about what he needs to know. Today he was fully clothed and walking around without his sunglasses, trying to get used to it all, and he insisted that we talk in normal voices. I know it had to hurt him, but he was determined. He wanted to know how soon he could learn to feed fresh too.”

Beth chuckled and said, “Sounds like another new turn you knew to me! What do you think?”

Mick rolled over and pulled her tightly to him and she felt his hardness pressed against her belly. “I think we’ve talked about this enough!” He ran his hands down her back and cupped her bottom, pressing even tighter against her. “What do you think, Mrs. St. John?”

“I think we have a situation here that needs attending to.” Her mouth found his and for the next hour the only sounds between them were soft words and passionate moans that drove them both towards completion. They reveled in their connection, wherever it came from. Together they were perfect.



OOOOOOOOOOOO



Dorothy’s phone rang and she smiled when she saw it was Clark. “Hi,” she said into the new phone and she heard him pull in a deep breath.

“Oh, girl, I needed to hear your voice. How are you, Dorie? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m good. But I miss you so much. It was wonderful to see you, the Skype thing I mean, but it’s not like being held in your arms, Clark.”

She heard that sound again on the other end of the phone, something that sounded like part growl and part purr. It was a sound that somehow thrilled her and set her on edge at the same time. It made her very aware of him sexually, something she hadn’t been thinking about much as she went farther into the pregnancy. But it was all coming back to her now and she knew that their sex life would take on a new dimension when he was home. They’d have to wait a good month, maybe longer before they could make love again, and it suddenly seemed like a terribly long time.

Over the phone connection Clark heard her heart speed up and the way her breath caught in her throat as she thought about the same thing he was thinking of. “It won’t really be forever, Dorie, but it will certainly seem like it.”

She gave a small, embarrassed laugh because she knew that he’d known exactly what she was thinking. She felt shy about it all suddenly and she couldn’t figure out why. She knew little of sex with a vampire but she was curious. She’d seen the bite marks on Lani’s and Audrey’s throats and knew that both women enjoyed that aspect of making love immensely. How could that be? Didn’t it hurt? A shiver crept up her spine as she thought about it and the warm flush of passion swept over her again.

Why on earth were sexual thoughts running rampant in her mind all the time now? Every time she talked to him she had these delicious images of him naked, touching her, holding her, making love to her. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could to try and push the images away.

Clark smiled on the other end of the line. He could read her so well now. Just listening to the small nuance of change in her heart, her breath, it was almost like her desire flew through the lines to touch him, except of course there were no lines. What if she was picking up on him?

Mick had talked to him today about all the emotions that fledglings experienced, almost immeasurable sexual need being on one of them. Logan had looked on, an uncomfortable slouch to his body as he tried to focus on anything other than talking to his big brother about sex. Vampire sex. Vampires biting during sex. If embarrassment were a disease Logan would surely have died by the time the discussion was done.

So how did he broach the subject with Dorie? He took a deep breath and just started talking.

“I think that we’re both picking up on this sort of electrical, sexual current right now, Dorie.” He explained what Mick had told him, all of it, so she would understand what was ahead of them. He sat quietly as she digested it all.

“So, the bite, um, you have to do it, to um, be able, to…”

“Yes, but I don’t have to bite you, honey. I can bite myself, I just need that sensory contact to be able to release.”

The thought that he’d bite himself instead of her clenched first at her heart and then sent a shard of pure rage through it. He wouldn’t! “Clark Griffin, how dare you say you wouldn’t bite me! I’m your wife, your - your mate!” she said, using the term that she’d heard the girls use frequently.

“Dorie, I didn’t say I wouldn’t. I meant that if it hurt you, or scared you. That’s all, honey.”

“Well, it won’t!” she said adamantly, her voice raising in her irritation. Honestly, how dare he think that she wouldn’t want him to do it? Men!

Clark winced at the loudness of her voice which sounded as deafening as a sonic boom to him right now. “That’s not what I meant. Girl, I have this mad, crazy desire to taste you, to taste your passion for me.” He looked down at the rigid proof of that statement that never seemed to go away, no matter how much he tried to take care of the problem. He needed her and anything else was only a placebo.

“You - you can taste that?” She licked her lips, thinking about that statement.

“That’s what they tell me. Dorie, I don’t care if they let me out of here tomorrow, it is not soon enough to be with you. And I have to say that it’s a bit uncomfortable, the wanting you, needing you constantly.”

“Constantly? Like now?”

“Oh yeah, honey. Right now.”

“How do you handle it, Clark? I hate that you’re having to experience this and I can’t do anything about it.”

He chuckled, low in his throat and his next words were the sexual purr that she was beginning to understand - and love. “I just do the same thing as I did all those years before we got together. It’s okay, Dorie.”

Just the image of that sent her heart racing again. How on earth were either of them going to handle this separation?

It seemed as if the only thing to do was to tell him how much she loved him, wanted him, and she listened as he moaned and she knew the moment he found that release. If only she’d been able to share it.

He was right, it was going to seem like forever.



OOOOOOOOOOOO



Born to Run



Late September 1978 - the night of the Homecoming dance

Martin left the dance in a haze of red anger that tore his soul to pieces. They’d kicked him out and he felt ready to kill someone so he took off running, heading to nowhere as fast as he could get there. Running was his escape, from the disappointment and dissolution of the shattered pieces of his life.

Her eyes, he couldn’t forget them. Not since he’d spotted her in the halls the second day of school and she smiled at him. He knew that she smiled at everyone but somehow he knew that there was something special in that brilliant smile she gave him.

She was his and sooner or later she’d know it. Clark Griffin and that weirdo of a brother of his aside, she was going to be his. If it was the last thing he ever did.

He ran and then ran some more. He could go home, but what was there for him? Nothing, not a fucking thing. He lived in a house that wasn’t a home, with a father who ignored his very presence in this world and even though he was 16 it still made his gut clench with the pain of it.

His mom had died when he was two. She’d never really recovered from his birth, they told him. His older brother had been 6 when she died and while Martin didn’t remember her at all, his brother did.

From that time on in his life, when things were good he was only a spectator in that house; no one saw him or talked to him other than whatever housekeeper they had. And many came and went because they didn’t like the abuse they often received any more than he did. He tried to shake off what happened when things weren’t good, something that happened all too often, especially now that his brother was in New York going to Columbia. So he ran, but the problem was that he didn’t have anywhere to escape to.

When he was 10 his dad had met Rochelle, a beautiful 22 year old girl, who actually paid attention to Martin. For the first time in his life he knew the warmth of a human touch, a hug. Simple, little things that had made all the difference in his life. He still remembered the smell of her perfume, L'Air du Temps, and to this day whenever he caught the scent of it he remembered Rochelle.

She hadn’t stayed long in their lives and he couldn’t blame her for that. She was smart enough not to be a personal punching bag for anyone. One day when he came home from school, he found she was gone and his father was on a 3 day binge that made him hide as far away as possible. He’d actually stayed in a tree in the backyard for a couple of days, sneaking in to steal food out of the refrigerator so that he had something to eat. The violent binge had made their current housekeeper leave as well, crossing herself as she looked back at the house in fear. She couldn’t get out of there quickly enough. She worried about the poor little nino, but she couldn’t stay in that house with that devil any longer and that older boy who stared at her with something akin to disgust in his eyes.

That was when he’d learned to run. He ran from the pain, from the hurt, and no matter how far and how fast he ran it always caught up with him. When he’d showed up at school hungry, torn, and bedraggled, they’d called his father who’d came and got him immediately. The school had seen the look of pure loathing and resentment in his father’s eyes and knew that it wouldn’t go well for the boy, but what could they do? You just couldn’t interfere in a family’s business.

As he got older his father ignored him more and more and that was fine with him. Unfortunately, his brother didn’t. He picked up where his father left off, handing out swift kicks and punches like the pro he’d been taught to be. In all his years he couldn’t ever remember his father laying a hand on his brother; no, he’d saved it all for him.

It was okay, it would be okay. A few more years and he’d be out of that hellish life and he’d have Dorothy Turner at his side. Beautiful, kind Dorothy who would make up for all he’d suffered in his life.

He saw her face before him as he ran. It was like he was running to catch up with her, but he couldn’t. Clark Griffin always kept her away from him and no matter how much faster he ran, Clark was always a step ahead. Him and that little brother of his; one or both of them were almost always around her, keeping her from being with him. But in the future it wouldn’t matter.

She would be his.


OOOOOOOOOOOO



Lani stepped out of the shower and into Josef’s arms as he got ready to step in. “Hey, where are you going?” he murmured against her fragrant and moist neck.

“Sorry, I’m getting all pruney. Why don’t you be quick?” she whispered against his neck and nipped it lightly with her teeth, a move that always went straight to his groin. His immediate erection throbbed against her belly and she captured it for a moment with warm fingers and was rewarded with a low growl from him. “On second thought, maybe your shower can wait?”

He laughed and swept her up in his arms amid her protestation about being dripping wet. “You’re going to be even wetter soon, Sweetness.”

“I think I already am.”

As he laid her down gently he dipped his head to taste the liquid and warm sweetness of her. “You are, love. Sweet, sweet…”

The intimate kiss went on and on until Lani was writhing against the satin duvet cover. “Josef, love, I need you. Please…”

The need and desire in her voice brought him up to her and he captured her lips in a breathless kiss. He settled between her legs that spread willingly for him and she sighed as she felt him sink deep into her willing body that ached for him. He sucked in a deep breath and released it just as quickly as he felt her body sheath itself around his, her muscles contracting with desire.

His body moved with hers, eliciting a primitive response that was profoundly intense as her body tightly gripped him within her. He drove into her, lovingly and tenderly stroking her towards her climax as their mouths melted together, searching and exploring all the hidden recesses of her warm mouth. She felt so alive and arched her back, urging him on as she felt his need and passion.

He felt her body begin its contractions and she turned her neck, the invitation of her need for the bite, but he couldn’t do it. He bit his shoulder instead as he felt her explode around him, pulling them both into the pleasure release they both needed.

She didn’t say anything about the bite and Josef was thankful for that. Biting himself was a tiny price to pay for the wonder of that tiny being that was growing within her body. He could wait for that bite forever if need be. And Lani as well.

He only hoped that he didn’t have to.



To be continued…