Revolution
Chapter 17

Deacon

I almost didn’t make it. If I had been a minute later, she would have already been under him in that van.

It had been a long time since I last killed a Nightwalker with my bare hands. Something only Vampire Borns could do. A silver dagger to the heart would have been fast enough, and I would have had time to catch my angel before she hit the ground, but in my anger, I needed to make him suffer.

I needed to use my hands. I needed more.

When my angel’s eyes closed, I felt a stirring of pleasure in my chest. The same place I felt her fear earlier. She brought her right hand up to my wrist, holding it tighter into her mouth.

Where I could once feel the pain coming from her, now I only felt a new need. One I was more than happy to fill.

I slid my hand up, pushing the small material off her. She let out a small moan. I lowered down and teased her with my teeth. I lifted my head up and looked at my friend. He was still rubbing her legs, one hand on each now. His glowing eyes were locked on my mate’s luscious body, the fire bleeding through them.

I had been extremely ticked that she was alone, but that had been my fear. I knew him well enough to know he was beyond just simply liking my mate. It was easy to see the worry in his eyes, the self-condemnation when I brought her back.

Colton needed to soothe his fears, he needed to feel her. And she didn’t seem to mind his touch right now.

She needed to know she was safe. That she was protected. That no one would ever touch her again. Besides us.

She was my mate, but I felt like, in a way, she belonged to both of us. And the idea didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

“Wanna play?” I whispered to him. I didn’t want to ruin the zone she was in now. A small part of me might have also been a little worried she would put a stop to what we were already starting if she came out of it..

“Are you sure? Won’t she mind?”

I looked down at her, paying attention to the feel in my chest. I had stopped moving, but he hadn’t. She was still soaring.

“No, she is enjoying your touch just as much as mine right now.”

“She may not know it is me, though. She will be mad later.”

I chuckled. “She will be embarrassed, but not mad.” My laugh fell away. “She needs a distraction. Let’s give my mate what she needs.”

“And you don’t mind?”

This whole thing started because I refused to share what I deemed mine from the moment I saw her. I could understand his worry.

“With you, no. I trust you.”

“But today…”

“Was not your fault. I am as much to blame. I never thought to warn her that Victor stalked the alley every night. I never thought she would feel safe enough to step out even that much on her own. I should have known better.”

“It’s not your fault either.” Colton insisted.

“We all made mistakes, but the full blame lies with Victor. Now, help me to soothe her fears.”

Colton nodded once and let go of her legs to stand up. A faint whimper came out of the angel in my bed. I laughed. I knew this was the right call. Colton quickly removed his clothes, then crawled over her legs, starting again, moving himself higher. My angel shook at the touch, her body registering it.

I slowly pulled my wrist back, knowing she had had enough. If she took much more, she would be dangerously close to that last change. Something I would never do without her permission.

For the first time, my angel didn’t want to let go. Comatose Carrie was more obedient. I pulled harder, forcing her to release. She grunted her disapproval.

Her argument was cut off, as Colton distracted her with his hands sliding between her thighs. I watched as he worked, watching her body react to what he was doing to her. Watching his body as it reacted to her. I couldn’t decide which one I enjoyed more.

She was far enough gone that I was able to extricate myself from her while I removed my own clothing.

Upon my return, I pushed the material off the other side of her chest. Colton had moved up enough that her skirt was now around her waist. We had a nearly perfect view of her body. Colton paused, right as he was about to make the last move, his eyes looking at me.

“Only my seed will spill into her down there.” I warned him.

With the slightest nod of agreement, he moved. My angel’s back arched into the air. I continued leaving fresh marks all over her, enjoying the uninterrupted time. When my lips met hers, she turned to press back, her hand holding my head to her lips.

Colton reached a hand down to me, and helped me out, while we both helped her. I was right on the edge when he released me and moved away from my angel.

“Headboard.” I instructed him.

He crawled to the top of the bed and sat against it.

She yelped and laughed as I flipped her over, smacking her butt as she moved. I placed her right in front of him. When his hand slowly petted the back of her head, she lowered, she knew exactly what to do. While she was busy, I took my rightful place. It wasn’t long before we all finished.

My angel collapsed next to Colton, her head on his lap. I went behind her, pulling her into me. Colton’s hand stroked the side of her head, combing his fingers through her hair. I kissed the back of her neck, and she sighed. We waited as she slowly came back to awareness.

We weren’t disappointed.

Carrie’s head lifted a little, her eyes trailing from Colton’s lap, up his chest, and onto his face. It took her a few seconds before her eyes widened and she jumped back with a small yelp of surprise.

When she heard both our laughter, she rolled into me, hiding once again. This time was more fun though.

While I held her close, Colton slid down and cuddled up to her from behind, his arm wrapping around her waist, just barely below the one I had around her back. I laughed harder when she squeaked, feeling him pressing against her. Our soldiers were never fully at ease, and with her still being in the state of undress that she was, they were already starting to salute again.

Her adorable squeak did nothing to hide, or distract us, from the shiver his lips brought out of her.

“Why?” She mumbled into the crook of my arm.

“You needed it. You wanted it. But you would have never asked for it.” I stated simply, as though it were no big deal. Because it wasn’t. It was only the beginning.

She tipped her face back and glared at me. It might have been scary, had she not yawned in the middle of it.

“Rest now, sweetheart. You can have your tirade in the morning.” Colton kissed her shoulder one last time before getting up. “I am going to go down to the bar. The donors are all here and I can hear clients arriving.”

I nodded at him, appreciating his help. “I’ll be down soon.”

He was dressed and out the door less than a minute later.

“I don’t know if I will ever get used to how fast you two are.” My angel relaxed in my arms, moving to her back to look at me better. “I should get dressed and come down with you.” She yawned on the last word again.

“No. You need to sleep.” I told her firmly. “You have had a rough time, and you need to rest. My blood healed you. We helped you to relieve the remaining adrenaline, now your body and mind must heal naturally.” I softened my voice. “Please, angel. Rest.” Her lip trembled and I felt a spike in my heart. “I won’t be far, just downstairs.” I kissed her cheek and held her head against my heart. “Would you like me to stay until you fall asleep?”

She sniffled and nodded her head against me. I helped her remove her clothes, so she could rest more comfortably, then pulled her back into my arms. Quietly, I petted the back of her hair softly, holding her until I felt her breathing even out. It seemed as though it would take more than just a sip of blood and a pleasurable round to get her over what happened. Not that I even had many details yet.

I would get them tomorrow when she was feeling better.

I quietly made my way out of the apartment and down to the bar. I breathed with a sigh of relief that we had mated. Despite the level of music, I would be able to feel her. For now, it was a low, warm, burn. It was comforting. Like the feeling of holding your hands over a fire to warm them. Well, I assumed so at any rate. Vampires didn’t chill easily.

“Hey, how’s she doing?” Colton asked, the minute I stepped behind the bar. There weren’t too many people in the bar yet at least.

“Sleeping now. She got scared again when I started to leave. I’ll know if she wakes up.”

“How? We may not hear her over this music. I barely heard you coming.”

I grinned as I looked at my long-time friend and tapped my chest. “Because I can feel my mate right here.”

“Is that what you meant when you said you felt her panic?” I started nodding before he even finished, so he kept going. “I thought that was only possible with fated mates. I’d never heard of a chosen mate having those benefits.”

“It’s not. Carrie is my fated mate, Colton.”

Why hadn’t he realized that yet? His brain was not working up to its normal par. Maybe it was the effect of my mate on him. I knew that I frequently had brain malfunctions when she was around.

“It explains why I felt the connection to her so strongly from the beginning. The feeling when she sealed herself to me was… there are no words to describe the feeling. It was unexpected, that’s for sure.”

Colton looked around the room, making sure no one was paying us any attention, then lowered his voice.

“What will you do if she cannot survive after giving you a son? It will take you both.”

The idea of her leaving me hurt my heart. “If I have to avoid getting her pregnant then so be it. I will not lose her. However, I don’t think that will be necessary. You heard her last night, yes? About her true heritage?”

I gave him a minute to think about it as I intercepted a man approaching one of my donors.

Colton waited until I returned to respond. “You think being a witch will make her body stronger?”

I shrugged, placing the money in the register, and adding it to my tally sheet. “I don’t know, but it gives me hope. If I could have my mate, and a son, I would be a happy man.”

“A happy prince?” He added with a teasing smile.

I shook my head with a small huff. “That is not my life anymore, and you know that. Curtis has more power than us these days. Now more than ever, it is important for me to stay hidden. I will not put my mate at risk.”

We went our separate ways, cleaning up the messes left behind - the kind my angel would get upset if we left until later. I grabbed drinks for tables, and a few food items from the kitchen, where my new cook, Marty, was.

Colton monitored the donors and the bar.

“I forgot to ask you, did you want me to collect Victor and make a warning out of him?” Colton asked as I reached into the fridge for two beers.

“No.”

His head spun to me with surprise, not expecting this response. I scratched the bottom of my chin awkwardly, feeling embarrassed for my lack of control.

“I, uh, I didn’t use the dagger. I was too angry for that.”

Colton’s eyes widened, catching my meeting. “I need to go. Now. We can’t risk someone else finding him first.” He was gone before I could even respond.

He was right of course. Leaving Victor there for so long had been sloppy. I should have sent Colton as soon as I had my angel safe. Not pull him in with us. Even though I didn’t regret it at the time. Or now, my only regret was not using the right brain.

I remembered enjoying the times Colton joined me before, but I forgot how much I enjoyed his touch. Just hours ago, I had reminisced on the days it was just us. I remembered liking it, but I didn’t remember liking it this much. And I was right, with my angel in the mix, it was even better.

With the possibility of having them both, I must have wiped all logic out of my mind.

Our kind were stronger. We didn’t need a silver dagger or a sword to kill. We could remove the Nightwalkers of their heads on our own. A headless corpse would be suspicious.

Colton was gone for half an hour. A very long half hour.

He walked in the back door and started working again like nothing had happened. He gave me the smallest nod, almost like a greeting.

“Hey, Deac?” I turned toward the voice and walked over to the table I had passed while having my silent discussion with Colton. “You’re cute and all, but not nearly as cute as your girl. Where is she?” Lou, an old friend, was grinning at me.

“She wasn’t feeling well, so I told her to stay in bed and rest. Guess you’re stuck looking at me tonight.”

“Ah, that’s a shame. That is one thing I definitely don’t miss about being human. Illness.” He laughed, like it was the best joke in the world.

Considering he had been dying of smallpox when he got turned, I let it slide. Many Nightwalkers were created during mass pandemics. Plague, smallpox…COVID. Wars were another time. People who were dying, and were in immense pain, were more likely to accept the changes. Well, they didn’t always know what they agreed to. Some were so far gone, they thought it was medicine, and then struggled to stop. If done right, the changeling believed they were experiencing the epitome of pleasure, all the way up until the hunger hit. And then the real pleasure never ended.

Colton and I had fun over the years, going to the movies and watching the ignorant human’s version of our species. We both got a good laugh at it. There was no burning when we hungered. We felt weaker, just like a human did when they had not eaten. Unlike a human, it would not kill us though. For a Nightwalker, they would eventually go crazy and attack the first human to come near them. For Vampire Borns, we could eat food to help stave it off for some time. We get only a little weaker, but we rarely lost control. Unless they were a psychopath, but they never would have let themselves get that hungry in the first place.

I smiled at Lou’s attempt at a joke. “Any news? I trust your word more than some of these other yahoos around here.” Lou wasn’t known for embellishing a story to make it better.

“Let’s see.” He scratched his jaw in contemplation. He had a lot he could share. I slid into the booth across from him. “Ah. Got it.” He snapped his fingers, pointing at me. “Curtis is building a government. He is starting up North and moving down this way. Word is that he is going to be moving all the humans out to the smaller cities, leaving the bigger cities for us. With all these large buildings and alleyways, we can get around pretty good during the day. Plus, it will help the humans to learn their place. Curtis and his men are creating a list of all the humans, and then will direct them to live in certain areas, working specific jobs.”

“What about feeding?”

Lou shrugged. “Not sure, nothing definite on that front yet. Rumor is that he is going to assign that as one of the jobs, making groups for each area. He will probably take volunteers, use it as a punishment, or just as a job. The man is a creative genius. Just look how far we’ve come in such a short time.”

I was preparing to ask more questions when I felt a small rise in anxiety in my chest, followed by those lovely tingles. Somebody was waking up.

“Lou, I need to go check on my angel upstairs. Thank you for the information. I prefer being prepared.” I shook his hand and walked away.

Colton heard me and gave me one of those looks. I held up a hand trying to reassure him, before taking off for the stairs. Once out of sight of the others, I bolted.

“Angel? What’s the matter?” I sat on the edge of the bed, pushing a sweaty strand off her head. She was burning up.

“Deacon. Need. Now.” She demanded, grabbing my arm, and pulling me down. I laughed and let her do whatever she wanted to me.

It was sometime before her body fell onto my chest. She was still burning, just not as hot.

“Are you alright, my angel?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I was sleeping fine, but this need kept growing, invading my dreams, to the point that I woke up expecting you to be here like before, and you weren’t. Normally I sleep deeply after you feed me.”

I rolled us to the side so I could hold her better. “Yes, but you were always asleep already. My theory is that my blood enhances what you are doing, feeling, at the time. If that makes sense.”

Her brows took on a slight frown. “I was upset this time, so wouldn’t the blood have made it worse?”

“Yes, and no.” I said slowly. “My blood was healing you. As you are my mate, my blood can do that. By the time that was done… um…” Why was I feeling shy about this next part, when a few hours ago I was proud of it? “You were reacting to both mine and Colton’s touch, angel. We just gave you what you wanted.” I shrugged, hoping if I acted like it was nothing, she would as well.

“Yeah, we will talk about that later.”

I smirked, and she smacked my chest. Then she got distracted feeling up my chest. The tingles were building again. I kissed her neck, her scent driving me mad.

“Let me feed, angel. You smell divine with your need for me. Let me have you in every way.”

She didn’t speak, but her hands gripped my hair tightly. I sank into her completely, filling her as I drank from her. By the time I pulled away again, she had cooled. I chuckled proudly.

“Guess we figured out what you needed.”

“Apparently so.” She yawned and curled her body into mine. “I love you, Deacon.”

“Hmm. I love you, too, angel.” I rubbed my hand softly on her back and waited until she was asleep again.

As I did a few hours before, I snuck back down the stairs.

Colton had a bemused expression. The bar was nearly empty, the last donor taking care of the last client. Alicia was thorough, that’s for sure.

“Feeling better?” He grinned.

I chuckled and licked my lips. “Much. Apparently, my blood intensifies whatever she is doing. When I feed her in her sleep, she sleeps like the actual dead. When I feed while, I, or in this case, we, are doing certain things with her….”

He barked out a laugh. “What was she like?”

“She was literally burning with need. At first I thought she was sick. She proved it otherwise. I ended up feeding. The mix seems to have done the trick. I kind of want to do it in the morning to see what would happen during the day, but I know she would kill me if I did. Maybe if we feed at the same time it will take some of the extra off.” I was mostly talking to myself by this point.

“Well, if you need help with any of it, just holler.” His eyebrows raised suggestively, and I laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind. She did warn me again that we would be having a certain talk in the morning.”

My friend grimaced. He didn’t want her to be upset with him. He also didn’t want her to say no to another round.

I handed Alicia her money and she left, the client right behind her. He was watching her walk but would hopefully let her go unmolested.

“Is she going to hate me, now?”

We had been alone, cleaning, for nearly ten minutes before Colton brought up his fears.

“No. She is in her own head too much. She feels something for you. She let me take care of you against her yesterday. On some level, she knew you were involved tonight. She wasn’t caught up in her own head.” An idea came to mind, the kind that guys rarely thought through, and often got in trouble for. “I think I have an idea of how to convince her. If you’re up for it, that is.”

Colton grinned from ear to ear. “Anything.”

See, I knew he more than liked my mate. I was pretty sure she returned his affections. Which was how I knew this plan would work.

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