Yonnie nodded, angry with himself that watching the whole process had given him wood.
Nuit drew away from Lucrezia's throat, dropping his head back, fangs crimson and glistening. "Throne, teach her. Infuse her!" He stepped away from the dead woman breathing hard, trembling.
Never having seen a from-death turn-bite installation, both Yonnie and Sebastian sat forward, watching the process with complete focus. Only Lilith lounged in her throne, amused, with excited Harpies gathered at her feet.
Slowly, the throne came alive, welding itself to the female body that inhabited it. Movement fluttered beneath Lucrezia's lids. Nuit had been taking slow inhalations through his nose, but as she arched and cried out, his breaths came in short bursts through his mouth. Tight pink ni**les rose and fell beneath Lucrezia's profusion of red hair as she twisted and writhed. Her creamy thighs parted, giving them all full view of her glistening sex as the throne thrust centuries of decadence into her mind.
Black arc current covered her, causing Nuit to allow his head to drop back, almost too aroused to watch. But when she screamed and opened her eyes, he went to her. Green irises had been replaced with glowing red orbs. Her small rosebud mouth opened to reveal a dainty set of perfect porcelain fangs. She reached out to Nuit and he covered her mouth with his, consuming her bite as his hands found her hair.
But he had to wait, had to wait for the throne to finish transmitting all that had been before her, had to wait until it let go of her spine. Her shrieks of frustration tortured his libido as she reached for him, clutched him wherever he would allow, and then began to sob.
"Don't leave me!" she screamed. "You made me! You have to come to me!"
He held himself just inches out of her reach, shuddering. "I will,ch�rie, " he whispered in a gravelly voice, "and I will bring you daylight when I do."
Her laments had become so forlorn and intoxicating that Lilith slowly slid her hand down the front of her gown. "Fallon . . . wherever you take her, do allow me to join you."
Too overwhelmed to initially speak, he simply nodded. Seconds later the object of his desire stood and flew at him. His back hit the table, his suit dissolving immediately.
Lucrezia threw her headback, fangs lowered to a feeding length, and struck him. Nuit's voice rent the air, his nails digging into the marble, spilling blood from his veins as her body sheathed his. The contrast of their skin seemed as though his Creole caf� au lait was drinking in her milky hue, his blood infusing her with color. Wanton pelvic thrusts inched the entwined couple to the precipice of falling. But as soon as she'd had her fill from his throat, he flipped her on her back, dissolving the table.
A carpet of freshly mown grass broke her fall; dogwoods grew up over and consumed unoccupied thrones, Spanish moss eerily swayed, and a full moon rose. Rose petals rained from the vaulted ceiling until the entire floor was a scarlet wash. Council Chambers dissolved into his bedchamber lair, sheets billowing from an energy breeze. Sweat ran down his muscle-corded back as he fisted her hair and bit her again.
"You're marked as mine," he gasped inDananu , staring at her, blood oozing from his fangs as she spasmed with pleasure beneath him. "Thisis life. What you lived before was a child's dream."
"Magnificent . . ." Lilith whispered, reaching across to Sebastian to hold his hand. "Stop scowling, Yonnie, you must give the man his due." Lilith leaned forward, craning her neck. "He's close-can you feel it . . . just absorb the energy coming off his body. Whew . . ."
A sudden blue-black nova sent a thundering pulse through chambers that rattled thrones. Nuit's voice bounced off the walls in shuddering waves. Bats took flight, and small bits of stalactites and stalagmites fell. As quickly as the charge hit, the chambers brightened for a second, as though the flash on a camera had gone off, and then for a moment everything went dark. Slowly but surely the torches on the walls relit.
"And . . . then there was daylight," Nuit murmured, looking down at Lucrezia with a low, sexy chuckle.
"Tres bon!Tres bon!"Lilithsaid, standing and clapping. "Welcome to council, Lucrezia." Lilith blotted the perspiration from her brow. "I may have to go topside to feed before you bring backElizabeth . . . I love how you gentlemen handle your business." She looked at Yonnie and winked, teasing him by stealing some of his slang.
Fallon kissed a breathless Lucrezia, but lifted his head to stare at Lilith. "Elizabeth?"
"As in Bathory."
Fallon withdrew from Lucrezia's body and stood, then helped her stand. "Are you both insane?" he whispered.
"After such a display, you cannot object. It was the agreement!" Sebastian lamented.
"Lilith . . . that isDracula's wife."Nuit raked his disheveled hair and pulled Lucrezia against him to shield her. "He was called Vlad the Impaler for a reason,oui? He will come back one night, find the most appropriate orifice on your body, and shove a wooden pike through it until it comes out of your mouth,monami . This, I promise you. You do not know who you're f**king with."
"Well . . . he's not raising Dracula, so there you have it. This was Sebastian's choice. I felt she would be a wonderful addition to council, so I approve."
"Vlad will raise himself from the dead if he thinks that his wife has been brought back from the grave solely at another man's pleasure. I do not object on the grounds of envy-I object because that is like setting the course for a nuclear missile!" Nuit robed himself and then covered Lucrezia in a new, antebellum crimson gown, then waved away all the visual special effects he'd created.
"Seems like you wasteda barter on Fallon," Lilith said with a grin. "He wouldn't go after your mate, so you didn't have to go to all this trouble. I told you he and Lucrezia were a perfect match."
"You have no troubles from me," Nuit said. "You wasted a transaction, as Lilith said. I would not want to be the one to duel with Vlad, and the possible army he could raise, not even as a councilman. Do recall that he went against the Ottomans with a fair degree of success-while alive andhuman . He did most of his insane impaling while human. Might it not be worth considering what he would do as a born-again vampire?Hmmm? Consult the information resident in your throne, Sebastian. Vlad wasso ruthlessly powerful as a mere Master that even Dante refused to allow him a seat on council for fear of an imminent coup.I filled that open seat, thus perhaps am more sensitive to the vibrations of the era."
"Sounds familiar," Yonnie muttered. "And we see how much good blocking Vlad from council did our old Chairman."
"Be that as it may," Nuit said with a scowl. "The Count's skills at dispatching adversaries are legendary for cause."
"He will not come back," Sebastian said coolly. "Vlad was beheaded by a blessed blade, and even I cannot raise him if I wanted to, which I do not. Therefore, if you are happy with your choice, then be happy with mine."
Fallon pursed his lips and put one finger to them before he spoke, and then tapped on the fanged crest in the center of the table until it responded, coming alive. He looked deeply into its ruby eyes that glistened in its golden gargoyle face.