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CHAPTER 9
Azrael, sat, holding Crystal against him, as they watched Sam being put through his paces.
"Azrael?" Crystal drew his attention from the lovely sight that watching the man suffer, was. "I have a question, Father."
"Yes, precious, what is your question?" He felt so at peace now. The losses he had suffered, that pain, could be lain aside for now, and he could be at peace.
"I don't quite understand how it all works now. I know you and I, we are one in the same, but I don't understand how we work that. Like last night, You couldn't block the pain, and earlier, when you helped Topaz and Zephyr. You had to get Loki to block you from me. I know what you can do, did it to me, just the night before last. What changed?"
Azrael just looked down at her mildly surprised that she had to ask that question. She who knew so much of what he knew. But then understanding filled his heart. She knew what she had heard and seen through him so far. Never having ever had a soulmate before, he would have had very little reason to have to explain the finer points. And the bond between Torin and Sapphire was not that of a normal mating. Torin had initiated it, had been the dominant force. It had not been an even mating. "Because, our mating is a normal one, Childe. And as such, we were not fully bonded until I achieve my first orgasm with you, after I made you my Childe."
"So, Loki going to have to block the pain when you brand me, or am I going to get to take it straight?" She took the information that Azrael had just given her, and did with it, like she had done with so much, filed it away in her thoughts and dropped it.
"Sorry, love, but I have suffered through more than my share of branding's. I had to pay for my first, and have with each almost every Childe I have, Sired thus far. But with you, if Loki cannot aid me, Megel will. Why are you in such a great hurry to be marked? You do not have to feel the need to rush so, anymore. You have near eternity to deal with things."
"I know." She pulled away from him, as she went to sit up. "I know that I have time. But I want your mark, your brand. Maybe it's just me, but I want your mark. I want to be able to show it off to anyone who asks."
Azrael just laughed at her softly. Very well love. Soon enough, I have already helped with two brands tonight so far. I'll see to yours when Megel and Shadow sees to their new children." He kissed her lightly. "You think that you could stand holding on for just one more night?"
She giggled, leaning up into his arms, biting at his lip as she kissed him. "Oh, I suppose I can hold off, for just one more night." This being a vampire was so new to her. She knew, or at least, had some idea, why she was feeling what she was. She wanted to explore the depth of her new awareness. "But if I have to wait. Can I go play with the others? Topaz has two new pets, and I already know Mark and Casey."
"Explore, yes, you should be allowed to explore all that you are feeling. But, Childe, perhaps it would be better if you chose those like you, who are Kin. You are still so very young in your new state. Mortals are fragile. And as you are now, you could hurt one without meaning to. I do not want that, not only for the mortal, but for you as well."
"Do you think Lerion or Wolf could be dragged away from Brandon at the moment?" A silly grin.
"I am Lerion's father, you are my soulbonded. I am sure that he would be more than happy to share your new awareness with you. Wolf is going through much the same as you. If Lerion isn't hesitant to leave his new pet and his First-Born, the two of you will have all kinds of fun together, I am sure." His eyes lifted, seeking his younger Kin and adopted son. "Lerion, your little sister, she is going through what, all, newborn's experience. Will you, or your new Childe, share this with her?"
Lerion looked up, smiling as he gently passed Brandon to Gabriel, before reaching for Wolf. *Was wondering when you would finally let her out of your hands. You do know Master, that you are almost possessive of her and her time. *
*She is my soulbonded, Childe. If you only knew how difficult it is for me to let her be away from me, you would understand my hesitancy. But you are right. I do need to allow her to explore her new feelings, as is her right. *
"Okay, you two, I can't understand what you are saying. But I know you are talking about me." Crystal protested.
"Hush, Childe. Yes, we were talking about you. Lerion is happy that I have finally been willing to let another hold you without me. I was only reminding him that not only are we soulbonded, but you are my newborn." He let her go, as Lerion and Wolf knelt by them.
"Better her than me." Lerion joked. "Sharing a soul with you, that would be just a bit much, Master. For the first time, I'm glad I'm not a Mage."
"At least I don't have to continue living with all of you, only in my head, anymore. It could be much worse. Now, when I feel everything I feel, it's okay, because I am here, and taking an active part in what I am feeling. Use to, I only got to be a spectator."
* * *
Randy held Max as Megel went to wake the other mortal, the woman. He didn't understand why Megel had gotten her, He was male, so was the now dead guy beside him. They were all male's, so why did his new master, chose to take a woman?
"Wake up, honey." Megel whispered, softly, as he released her from her slumber.
Dark brown eyes, in a pale face, snapped open. "What?" She froze where she was. She remembered this man. He had offered her two hundred dollars for her time. But that was all she remembered. "What happened, where am I?"
"I rendered you unconscious, and you are in my Sire's home." He was ready for her reactions.
"You did what?"
"Sarah, right?" She nodded. "Okay, Sarah, I lured you to sleep, so that I could bring you here without frightening you." He smiled softly, his fangs, just, showing. "I brought you here to join the rest of the pets we have collected."
She looked up at him. Okay, so he wanted to play games with her. What the hell, it was his money. So she'd play any game he wanted. "Okay, you're a vampire. Sure, and I am your defenseless, pet, that the right word?"
Megel just laughed at her. "Yes, that you are. But, dear, I really am a vampire, and you really are my pet. I had to go out and collect a few more to help me see to not only my needs, but those of my First-Born, and my new Childe as well." He pointed to where Austin lay.
She looked first at him, hard, and then turned her head to see the naked figure on the bed. The figure was not only naked, but as she watched his chest that never moved. The naked man was obviously dead. For the first time in her life she began to feel real fear. He was dead. This guy, he was either a real vampire, or more likely, crazy. Any way she looked at it, she was dead.
"Ssshh," Megel felt her begin to tremble as she took in all that was around her. "No one is going to hurt you, Sarah, on my oath. Yes, I, am we are, vampires, but we do not kill unless we have to. I brought you here, and here I will keep you."
"Y-you killed him, didn't you?"
"Yes, and no. Austin, who when he rises will be Torin, he is the reason I had to get both you and Randy. He is my newborn Child, and for the first year or so, he will only be able to feed from me. So not only do I have my own needs, but his as well as Shadow's, when the two my boy collected aren't enough." He made soft shushing noises as the woman in his arms began to cry. Trying to ignore the fear she was bathing him in. "Sarah."
"Don't," she tried to pull away from him, but Megel only tightened his hold on her. "Please, don't hurt me." She had always known that sooner or later, she might end up in a situation that would end up getting her hurt, but she never dreamed of vampires.
"I'm not going to hurt you Sarah. If anything, I have saved you from yourself. You're how old?"
"Twenty-six." She just lay there, trying to shrink into the bed sheets.
"Twenty-six, how much longer did you think walking the streets would proved to be worth it? How are the older prostitutes treated? Have you ever considered how your life would be, once you lost the look of youth? I happen to know that the oldest profession, it ages those that practice it. But here, with me, as my loved and protected pet, I can see you keep your beauty. That you never have to expose yourself to strangers again." He worked as carefully on this one's mind as he had Shadow's when he first came to him. Carefully, with an almost artist's touch. "But you have to be willing to give yourself to me. I know you are frightened, the stench of your fear is very strong. I cannot let you remain like this. I can control myself against your fear. But my Childe, he will not be able to. Your fear, it will hurt him. And that is something that I just can't allow."
"Wh-what are you going to do to me?" Her voice was tiny, as she looked up at him.
"I'm going to make you mine. I won't feed from you yet. Austin still has to wake, and I will feed him first. But I will bind you to me. Put you under my protection with the giving of my blood to you." He hushed her as she cried out in protest. "You will drink. I have left your mind and will yours, but you will drink, or I will make you." He caught her face between his hands. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. My giving you my blood, it will protect you from so many things. Age, illness, you will fastly become stronger than any mortal that has no tie with one of us will. If you have any STD's, it will cure those as well. You will have a chance to live as you never have before. I am not as ridiculously rich as my Sire is, but I am still well off, and you will live, safe, loved and cared for, for the next century and a half. And you will live, looking as lovely as you do right now." He took the knife that he had laid by his side and carefully cut himself over his left breast, just over the mark of his Line. Pulling her head up to press her lips against the wound. "Drink, Sarah. Drink and be mine." No he would not feed, but he would help ease her fears by offering her just a promise of what he could do for her. He sank his fangs into her throat as she began to, respond, to the blood he had offered her.
Sarah moaned at the feelings that not only his blood brought up in her, but also the added feeling of his hunger as it mingled the feelings within her. She reached up to hold him to her, moaning against his lips as he kissed her. "What, oh," she fell back as he began to pull her clothes from her. Yes, vampire or no, she wanted him now. And as he rendered her as naked as he was, she almost attacked him.
Megel laughed softly, holding her as she responded to him. "I take it you are fine, now? I won't have to take your fear from you, will I?"
Sarah looked up, a little confused. "Fear?"
Megel only chuckled as he kissed her. "Never mind, love, never mind."
* * *
Azrael held Loki, his body as lost in the heat and lust as Crystal's was as she lay underneath Cerberus, responding to him, and what he was drawing up in her. "She is going to drive me mad." He whispered softly, seeking Loki's lips.
"That she might, beloved. But I am sure it is a madness that you will embrace gladly." He teased the man in his arms.
Azrael held him tightly. "I am luckier than I deserve. You, you were dead, I left you where all those I have made and loved, rest. Under the, ever, watchful eyes of my Sire. The fact that you are alive, it is a miracle that I will never fully understand. Crystal, she is my bondmate. Her soul and mine are one. There is nothing more that I could ever ask for." He moaned low, as he felt Crystal's orgasm as it took her. "Make love to me. Make love to me as my Childe shares her newness with her Kin."
"I was sent back to you. It was not my time, and it was more than just our children's decision. Osiris as well as Thorne, they helped Torin. I do not know how the rest of your Brood sees your lifemating with me, but your Sire and the two with him, your son's, they have welcomed me." Loki held his love, and his life, closely as he began to play over his skin. "I always worried that your Sire would never accept me, I am or was, too close to a failed gift. But, now I know, I was afraid for nothing." Loki felt Azrael's fangs at his throat, even as he sank his into his beloved husband's.
Crystal moaned so softly, that, it was near a whimper at all that she was feeling, as Cerberus touched her body, mixed with what Azrael was feeling as he shared a bond with Loki. She wasn't used to sharing all she felt with another. So the renewed realization of what she had with Azrael, almost stunned her again. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she was completely linked with Azrael or, that she was now one of the Vampyr that made all that she felt so much more total now. But she really, as she felt his orgasm, as it triggered her own, didn't care.
Cerberus wasn't a Mage, but you didn't have to be to respond to what Crystal was projecting. But he lost all conscious awareness of anything and anyone, even Eris, as he embraced all that, she, offered so freely. And he knew that if he was lost, then so was every other Kin in the house.
"Damn, baby girl," Cerberus lay beside her, his body still alive from what he had just shared with her, with them all. "You are damn dangerous. I haven't felt anything close to you since Sapphire."
"Umm," she stretched smiling at him. "Megel said the same thing to me, even before Azrael made me like him. I didn't know Robyn, I mean, Sapphire, personally. But I did live with her in my mind for over a year. All I can say is it must have been the fact that she and Tori were like Azrael and I and soul mates. Because before her, I didn't feel Tori like I did after."
"Father," Zephyr and Topaz moved to sit beside them, Eris following.
"Damn, little sister." Topaz laughed, bending to kiss her. "I think I, am, jealous."
"Why?" She reached up to kiss her sister, again.
"I can't do what you do every time you open up like you just did. I wish I could let people know how much I feel every time either of our parents or Zeph makes love to me."
Crystal just laughed. "You mean you want to be, not only a Mage, but soul mated to your Sire?" She only laughed harder as Topaz nodded. "And here, Lerion said he was glad he wasn't a Mage. Man what a twist."
"Yeah, but Lerion isn't his Childe, by blood. We both are."
"Yeah, we are aren't we? I'm glad that when I found out about our soul mating, I decided to be his Fledgling. I love Loki more than I love anyone other than him. But I think if I had accepted him as my Sire, I would have made a big mistake." She groaned. "I," the hunger hit her fast, and it hit her hard.
"Azrael," Cerberus pulled away, reaching to yank her up. Pressing her into her Sire's arms.
*Hush Childe. * Azrael's thoughts touched her mind. *I am here. Always, I am here. * He supported her as she fed. Hands moving over his body as she did. *I do think that you have been apart from me long enough. Time to come and be with Loki and I again. * He gently pulled her away from his throat so he could stand. "Come here, precious." He lifted her feeling her fangs against his flesh again. He stood there, lost in all that she was feeling, trembling.
"Come on, Daddy." Topaz gently took one shoulder, Lerion the other and led him to his chair, where Loki nodded a thanks to both of them, took his husband and his husband's mate.
"Sit down, before you fall down, beloved." He fussed.
Azrael sat, reaching for him as Crystal fed. Pulling him close, offering a wrist as his teeth sank home and he too began to feed, shuddering at the feel of two different, yet the same pulls on him.
"I don't know how long the two of you are going to be able to live here, full time with the way that girl of Azrael's projects. I, it is wonderful, but I like to have a little more control over what I am feeling. I don't think I could lose myself in her pleasures on a daily basis." Cerberus rested against one of the many couches in the room. Eris, as always, in his lap. Zephyr sat beside him, Topaz following Eris's example in her chosen perch.
"Give my sister a little time." Topaz was quick to defend Crystal. "She's not been one of us long. Give Azrael time to train her. Once he has taught her how to shield, I am sure that her open and free expressions will decrease. After all, it's not like she can help it."
"I know that, baby girl." Cerberus smiled at her to take the bite out of his words. "But until he has her better trained, it's going to be very interesting around here."
"I can always bring Topaz and come home, Father." Zephyr squeezed her. "I find it just a little intimidating too. My pretty girl here, she's right, it's only going to be a matter of time before our little cousin learns control. But until then, getting completely lost in everything she feels, every time she goes to love either him or anyone else, is a bit much."
"Both of you." Eris laughed. "Of all your Brood, Cerberus, I think Zeph takes after you the most of all. Me, I happen to have loved what I felt, and would love to feel it again, as often as she is willing to share what she feels. Maybe there is such thing as being too hedonistic, even for Kin, and I am it."
Cerberus only laughed, kissing him. "Hedonistic, yes, you are that. But too hedonistic, nah, you just are very much like that First-Born of yours, and just too damned physical."
"You complaining, Father?" Zephyr rested against him as Topaz began to nuzzle his throat. "Or bragging?"
"You know, Zeph does have a point. You are after all, my, Sire. You created me in your image. You just have spent too much time in the role of Covenstead Master. You've had to learn to be in control all the time. And Zeph, he has never known you to be any other way. But Jacob, Raven and I, we go back far enough to have been there before the Covenstead. Back when you first taught us how to love."
"Well, then, both he and I are lucky that we have the lifemate's that we do. You will help to remind me of what I have forgotten, and Topaz, she will teach my son what I failed to teach him."
"I only hope that Azrael doesn't get so uptight with the years he runs his." Topaz muttered.
"Not likely, honey," Cerberus kissed the top of Zephyr's head as his Childe rested against him. "He's almost as old as dirt. If he hasn't lost his hedonistic tendencies by now, I don't think he ever will."
"Particularly not with Loki or Crystal as his mates." Zephyr only laughed. "I don't think all the training in the world could ever tone down what she feels for him. And Loki, Loki still needs him, I don't care if he doesn't need him to help him with control anymore. He might be fully, Kin, and ridiculously strong at that, but the heart wound's that he suffered for over two thousand years, I don't think they will ever fully heal."
* * *
Megel held Shadow as their new pets finally found sleep. *Be warned, Childe. That newborn of yours is going to get you up very early. Remember how it was for you, the first couple of months or so that you were a newborn. *
*I know, and I don't care. Anything Thorne needs, I will see he gets it. This whole concept of being a Sire, it is, just, so wild for me. *
*Well, at least, now, I won't have to step in and help him to love you, as you need to be loved. No more altered belts, no more having to take over for him when he no longer has the strength. *
*Hey, yeah, that is right. I had forgotten all about the other plusses of making him. I was too caught up in the idea of having a Childe, my First-Born. I made him a promise tonight. If after, I, have served my hundred years with you. If he, still, wants to be with me, like I want to be with him. I will take him as my Husband. Then when he finishes his term, I won't have to push him out. *
*My, my, aren't you just the precocious little prodigy. Megel laughed in his mind. You're three, and already you have a Childe and two pets, that you did very, very well with them tonight, I might add. But now you are making plans to make your First-Born, a Childe that is only three years your junior, You wedded mate. I have to say Shad. * Using Cain's pet name for his Childe, it didn't hurt quite the way he feared it would. If anything, it was comforting. *You don't do anything in half measures. *
*So, I'm what they call a wunderkind. * He pulled even closer to his Sire. *It's late, and I'm wiped. I haven't ever had to dominate anyone to the extent that I did tonight. I'm going to sleep the sleep of the dead until Thorne wakes, and then I will be up with the setting sun for a while. *
* * *
Cerberus and Eris finally went home, and Zephyr and Topaz were able to put their four down in the new training rooms. Zephyr finally relenting and let, both Eric and Mitch stay in the same room. Warning them both, as he chained Mitch to the bed by his wrist, of how much he would hate to have to punish them if they tried to do anything foolish, but hate it though he might, he would. Then having to calm them both down as they panicked at the thought that he actually believed that they would ever want to be anything but his and Topaz's
Susan and Bryan were less a struggle to deal with. Susan didn't even question her being chained. In her mind, she was a slave, and slaves were chained when they were not needed. Bryan, he cried just a little, but after both Topaz and Zephyr promised to be close and return just as soon as night came again, he relaxed.
Gabriel led Sam back down the Hall. The mortal had done better than he had thought he would. He had been almost sure that the first time he felt any pleasure as he was used, he would begin to regret his decision. But the man had only begged for more. And with as often as he had been used, it had taken Gabriel's will to see that his promise was kept. That after, Justin, had forgiven him. He would feel no more pain.
"Master?" Sam's voice was a bit horse from all the noise he had made thus far.
"Yes, Sam?"
"Are you going to leave me in my room tomorrow night?"
"Probably, I guess it all depends on how you react to the blood bond you will get tomorrow. I might, but I promised you no pain, and if feeding you and then leaving you alone is hurtful to you, then I will have to see to it that I keep my promise to you. But I don't know if I will actually take you out of your room to do that."
"Please, Master." Sam shyly took his hand. "Please, the other one, he still hates me. Don't leave me alone with him. You're the only reason he bent as much as he did."
"You don't understand. Hunter is not the only one who still hates you. I hate you, and I will probably hate you, if not forever, for a very long time. But I made you a promise, and I will keep that promise. Hunter made the same promise, and hate you he might, he will see he keeps his as well as I keep mine." Gabriel stepped back so Sam could enter what was now his room.
"But I thought, you, said, you forgave me." He had to fight to keep from begging this creature not to chain him to the bed.
"I have. But, forgiveness does not mean that I don't still hate you. But, I will make you another promise. I can't say how Hunter will feel about you as the years pass, but if you continue to be as repentant as you were tonight. Then I will try to reach a point that I no longer hate you." He finished chaining the man to the bed, spread on his back. "I can't say that I will ever do more than, just, use you, but I can promise that one day, I might come to stop hating you. Now go to sleep. After as much as you went though tonight, I know you need your rest." He brushed the man's cheek, once, before leaving the room.
Sam lay there, eyes closing in pain as he heard the bold to the door slide into place. No he didn't expect any of them to ever care about him. He had thrown that right away when he raped Justin. But having to live, for years, maybe for the rest of his life with their continued hate. That was going to be very hard for him.
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