Ceremony of Three

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Ceremony of Three ISBN # 1-4199-0790-5 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Ceremony of Three Copyright© 2006 Evangeline Anderson Edited by Shannon Combs. Cover art by Syneca. Electronic book Publication: October 2006 This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 443103502. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Content Advisory: S – ENSUOUS E – ROTIC X - TREME Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (Erotic), and X (X-treme). The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic. S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination. E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. E-rated titles might contain material that some readers find objectionable—in other words, almost anything goes, sexually. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry in terms of both sexual language and descriptiveness in these works of literature. X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Stories designated with the letter X tend to contain difficult or controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

CEREMONY OF THREE

Evangeline Anderson

Evangeline Anderson

Chapter One Elaina Stevens strolled down Atlantic Avenue, passing the trendy boutiques that were closing for the evening in the soft Florida twilight. Palm trees on either side of the brick-lined street swayed gently in the ocean breeze, which carried the smell of sun and salt and summer almost at an end. It was the perfect end to the perfect day in the perfect all-American town. To look at it, Elaina thought, you would never know that Delray Beach was home to a coven of vampires. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling her nipples tighten under the tiny red bikini top she wore. She was one of the few humans who knew the little town’s secret, one of the few who had had dealings with the Night Dwellers, as they called themselves. Although “had dealings” was perhaps a little too vague. More specifically, she had been attacked by one vampire and rescued by another. Elaina’s beach sandals, slapping rhythmically against the sidewalk, faltered a little as she came to the end of Atlantic Avenue. Here the beach reached out to meet the road and sand swallowed up bricks and concrete hungrily. It was just here, exactly one year ago, that the attack had happened. Though she had tried to forget it, Elaina could still recall each minute detail of that evening, that moment. It had been twilight, as it was now, the sun just sinking below the horizon and painting the ocean with a bloody brush. She had been wearing a pale mint two-piece suit, one considerably larger than the one she had on now, that set off her dark green eyes and auburn hair. It had been Sunday, her one day off from her boring job as a paralegal at Sigel and Cannon, a real estate law firm that specialized in foreclosures and lots of paperwork. Elaina had been leaving the beach, thinking what a shame it was that the weekend was almost over. She had almost decided to get herself a vanilla cone

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dipped in butterscotch at the Tasty Cone on the way home. After all, she’d been swimming all day, getting exercise—she deserved it. And that was when it happened. Elaina stopped for a moment in the middle of the sidewalk and squeezed her eyes shut. Don’t think of it! You’re safe now, she told herself. But still her mind insisted on transporting her back to the time before she knew the town’s dark secret… The muscular arm around her throat, the deep voice that still whispered in the corners of her mind if she let it, the hard body and broad chest against her back. And worst of all, the blazing red eyes that looked into her own when he turned her to face him. Eyes that seemed to see into the furthest reaches of her soul, her secret fears, her desires and needs. “Submit,” the vampire had murmured, his eyes burning into hers. And Elaina had found herself submitting—giving in to the rough pleasure of his large hands lifting her top to pinch and twist her nipples. Giving in to the almost sensuous terror of his fingers pushing her bikini bottom aside and entering her suddenly wet depths as his fangs sank into her inner thigh. The pleasure and fear had swept through her like a cyclone, laying waste to all her preconceived notions about herself as her deepest desires were stripped bare by the vampire’s touch, by the sweet sting of his fangs in her flesh and his fingers in her cunt. Inside she twisted with shame. She knew that her reactions to the attack weren’t her fault, but it would have been so much easier to deal with the aftermath if her body hadn’t been begging for more while he violated her. How could she be pleading with him to stop with her mouth while her thighs were spreading even wider, welcoming him in? How could she claim to hate what he was doing to her even as her body built to a spiral of pleasure like nothing she had ever known before? Stop it! Elaina scolded herself. Stop thinking about it. You have Rafe’s mark on you now. You can’t be touched or harmed by the others—he promised. It was Rafe who had rescued her. Wonderful, sweet Rafe with his wavy black hair and eyes so big and brown, looking into them was like swimming in a pool of dark

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chocolate. He had appeared as suddenly as the first vampire had and spoken words of command. He had forced the other vamp to leave her alone. Rafe had taken her back to his tidy beach house and nursed her, his hands knowing and gentle on her violated flesh, his deep voice soothing when she woke crying from the recurring nightmare of fiery red eyes in the darkness, of fingers entering her, stroking her to pleasure and terror. After a time, when the worst of her fear was over, he had bitten her very gently on the neck to put his own mark on her. That way no other vampire could touch her without his permission. So Elaina was safe, even walking along the same road at the same time she had been attacked exactly one year earlier. But she still had to remind herself of that fact over and over as she turned from Atlantic Avenue to walk along the beach to Rafe’s house, which was about a half a mile down on the right. A few seagulls were picking at some scraps departing picnickers had left them and the sound of the waves cresting on the beach was soothing in the soft purple twilight. Elaina took off her sandals to feel the sun-warmed sand sliding between her toes as she walked. She tried not to think about the attack. Tried to concentrate on seeing Rafe again and what she planned to say to him. Rafe was the leader of the local vampire coven. He had explained to Elaina that the vamp who attacked her was a Dark Wanderer—a rogue who lived outside the laws of his society. Contrary to Hollywood fiction, most vamps were solitary, peaceful souls who drank only a little blood from mortals who could spare it and then erased their memory afterward to spare their donors trauma. Elaina had asked him once why he didn’t erase her memory of the attack. It would be so much easier not to remember, not to have it lingering in the back of her mind. “If I erased your memory of the attack,” he had replied after a long, thoughtful silence, “then I would have to erase your memory of me as well, Elaina my darling. And I am not willing to do that.”

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No, but he wasn’t willing to go any farther with her either, Elaina told herself with a frown. She dug her toes into the sand and looked at the white shape of Rafe’s small beach house rising in the soft summer gloom to her right. At the time, his words had given her hope. Hope that he would act on the feeling growing between them. Hope that he would be willing to take their relationship to the next level. She wasn’t angling for a ring or a white wedding—she didn’t even know if vampires got married. No, what she wanted was an acknowledgement of the heat that rose between them during the simplest touch, or even when their eyes met for longer than a moment. Sometimes Elaina felt his gaze on her and if she turned quickly enough, she could catch a hunger in his deep brown eyes—a hunger that matched her own. It was obvious that Rafe wanted her as she wanted him, but for some reason he was unwilling to admit it. Elaina vividly remembered the one and only time he had bitten her, to put his mark on her and negate the rogue vampire’s claim. She had been frightened until his fangs pierced the tender skin of her throat and then a pleasure so deep and intense she had no words for it had flooded her system. It had been like a softer, gentler version of the terrifying, out-of-control pleasure she had felt during the Dark Wanderer’s attack. Rafe had held her close, stroking her back with his large, warm hands as her nipples hardened and her pussy grew swollen and wet. She was helpless to withstand the flow of need and desire that flooded her system and helpless not to long for it again. But though she had offered several times to serve as his blood donor again, Rafe always declined. He wouldn’t bite her, he wouldn’t make love to her—he wouldn’t even kiss her despite the almost electrical energy between them. Well, that was all going to change tonight. Elaina squared her shoulders as she stepped up to the beach cottage’s door. She had her own key but Rafe never bothered to lock the door—why should he? Anyone trying to break into a vampire’s house was liable to get a nasty surprise.

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But it wasn’t breaking and entering that was on Elaina’s mind that evening. No, what she was interested in at the moment was seduction. Specifically, she was going to seduce Rafe. She straightened her little red bikini bottom before she opened the door, well aware that the tiny triangular scrap of fabric barely covered her pussy lips. The soft red slices of material across her nipples were skimpy and see-through too. Elaina had searched the internet for just the right suit to wear—she had been planning this for weeks. When she’d first put the suit on and looked at herself in the mirror, she could hardly stop blushing. It was much more revealing than anything she’d ever worn in public before. But she wanted to get Rafe’s attention—his complete and undivided attention—and this seemed like a good way to do it. That afternoon she had put on the tiny red string bikini and spent some time on the beach, rubbing tanning oil into her sensitive skin and basking in the sun. Rafe had mentioned that he loved the smell of her hair and skin after she spent time on the beach. It reminded him of the sunlight that was forever denied him. Elaina wondered why he treated her as though she was as off limits as the sun, but tonight she intended to push past his limits and break all the rules. She’d wanted Rafe from the moment he rescued her from the Dark Wanderer and she wasn’t going to wait around anymore to get him. She was determined—nothing was going to stand in her way. She was going to do anything it took to get the beautiful dark vampire into her bed. The door of the beach house opened easily and Elaina was all set to call out when she heard something at the back of the house—raised male voices, one of them Rafe’s. Pursing her lips, she closed the door quietly behind her and walked softly into the living room. In the entire year since she’d been coming to see Rafe, no one else had ever been in his house when she entered. Who could he be arguing with now? She made her way through the spacious living room, decorated in natural cotton furniture and dark hardwood floors. The windows had been opened to let in the sea breeze and a small fire crackled in the fireplace against one wall. Despite the summer

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heat outside, it was cool in the room. From the outside, Rafe’s house looked like a small, tidy cottage but once inside its door, a benign kind of magic seemed to be at work. Somehow the inside was much larger than the outside and Elaina had spent hours exploring the various rooms, which were richly decorated but with a simple elegance that spoke of Rafe’s quiet taste. The voices were raised again and though Elaina still couldn’t make out the words, Rafe sounded angry. She stopped in the hall with a hand pressed to her chest, wondering if she ought to go back. In the entire year that she’d known him, Rafe had never once raised his voice. The only time she’d seen him less than absolutely calm was when he had driven the rogue vampire away from her. Even then his rage had been cold—controlled. Now he sounded genuinely upset and she was almost afraid to see who or what had upset him. Should she go on? Should she invade his privacy? Elaina nibbled her bottom lip nervously and almost went back the way she had come. But she loved him—loved him and needed him in her life as more than a friend and protector. Her body burned for the nights when she had woken up from the nightmares of the red eyes to find herself safe in his arms. Now that she was healed and marked she no longer slept with him but the memories of the nights she had were strong. If someone had upset the man she loved, Elaina told herself, she had a right to know who it was. Besides, the other voice sounded vaguely familiar. Lifting her chin, she continued on down the hall, being careful not to make a sound. Rafe had the acute hearing of a cat and she knew that he would’ve already sensed she was in the house if he hadn’t been so involved in his argument. The voices were coming from his study and when she turned the corner, she could see that the door was open a crack, just enough for her to see Rafe standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest. He was frowning at someone who was in the room with him but Elaina couldn’t see who it was. “…does not work that way,” Rafe was telling the other man. He was wearing a red linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his muscular forearms. The neck of the shirt

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was open, showing a small patch of curly hair and naturally tanned skin. With his warm coloring and strong features, Elaina had often wondered if Rafe had Native American blood in his background, but he didn’t like to talk about his life before he had become a vampire. “You don’t wanna do the ceremony for the same reason you didn’t want to stay with me in the first place,” the other man said, obviously upset by whatever it was Rafe has been telling him. His voice was deep and harsh, like iron grating against concrete. And it was still horribly familiar. “Be fair, Thorn,” Rafe answered, lowering his own voice a little. “You know that is not the problem. In order to bring you back to the light there must be a willing donor— a human agreeable to acting as a gateway between you and me—between light and dark. No such human exists.” “It isn’t the human part of the ceremony that’s botherin’ you,” the other man accused. He had a slight Southern accent that sounded like it had been worn away from centuries of use. “It’s the fact that you’d have to touch me, to do everything you’re afraid of.” “That fear is behind me,” Rafe replied quietly. “It has long been consigned to the past. I will confess that women have been and always will be my preference, but since you and I parted ways I have loved men and been loved by them as well. It is not the body that makes a difference in such matters, but the soul.” “So you’re refusing to help me because I haven’t got a soul? Or is it because my soul is too dirty for you, Rafael?” the other man asked. There was pain in his grating voice that tugged at Elaina’s heart despite the fear building inside her. Who was the stranger in Rafe’s study and why did he sound so familiar? “I would help you in any way that I could.” Rafe leaned forward, his entire body seeming to yearn toward the other man. There was longing in his voice now instead of anger. “You are the friend of my heart, even though our paths have taken different turns.” 10

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“Then help me.” The other’s voice was little more than a harsh whisper. “I don’t want to be this anymore. Please, Rafael, every devil in hell was an angel once. Even the wicked long for the light.” He stepped forward and put a large, square hand on Rafe’s shoulder. A long tangled mane of tawny gold hair obscured his face but Elaina could see enough to tell that he was an inch or two taller, though just as heavily muscled as the dark-haired vamp. “Thorn. My friend…” Rafe reached up to cup the other man’s cheek gently, much the same way he touched Elaina when she was upset and he wanted to soothe her. His gesture pushed the wild mane of tawny hair to one side, revealing a high, aristocratic cheekbone and the dark arch of an eyebrow. But it was the other man’s eyes that held Elaina’s gaze. She felt her heart start to thunder in her chest and her hands squeezed into fists at her sides. The strange man’s eyes were a deep, fiery red. They were the eyes of the Dark Wanderer who had attacked her exactly one year before.

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Chapter Two She must have made a noise because both vampires turned to look at her. Rafe’s deep brown eyes were filled with worry and the burning red eyes of the rogue vampire were filled with rage. Elaina put a hand to her mouth and stumbled backward. She might have fallen but Rafe was suddenly at her side, moving too fast for her to see. He caught her before she hit the floor. “Elaina, darling,” he said tenderly, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close. “It will be all right.” His touch soothed her, calmed the panic clawing at her throat. But she still couldn’t stop the tremble in her voice when she asked, “What…Rafe, what is he doing here?” “It is of no importance,” Rafe soothed her. “The only thing that need concern you is that here in my house you are safe. No one can touch you without my permission. Not even Thorn.” “It is important.” The large blond vampire stepped forward and Elaina couldn’t help shrinking back against Rafe. “I came here looking for forgiveness. For absolution,” the Dark Wanderer said. His fiery eyes looked sad now, no longer angry or hateful. He shook his head. “I see now what a fool I was. Rafael is right—he can’t help me. Damned is damned.” Elaina’s heart was still pounding in her chest, but somehow she found the courage to push away from Rafe and stand on her own. She faced her attacker, hands on her hips and her chin lifted high. “I…I’m not afraid of you anymore,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t shake too much. “Aren’t you, little human?” He stepped closer to her so that suddenly she was standing between the two vampires, with Rafe hard and warm at her back and the Dark Wanderer he had called Thorn like a wall of fiery ice at her front. His crimson eyes 12

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raked her body, taking in her nipples, hardened by fear and barely covered by the slices of scarlet cloth and the soft, full mound of her pussy, accented by the tiny triangle of red. Elaina stood her ground with an effort of will she hadn’t known she was capable of. But, to her horror, she could feel an almost electrical surge of power coming from the tall blond vampire in front of her. It hardened her nipples further and stroked between her suddenly swollen pussy lips like a finger of fire. She gasped as she felt her clit tingle and, unbidden, the memory of his long, thick finger between her legs flooded her mind as her sex flooded with her juices. “Aren’t you afraid of me just a little, darlin’?” Thorn growled in his deep, harsh voice. “Of the way your body still wants me? Of the way you want to submit and let me finger your sweet wet pussy while I drive my fangs into your thigh? I’d make you come, you know. Come again and again while I drank my fill.” He gave her a slow, lazy smile, flashing just a hint of fang to make his point. “That is enough!” Rafe pushed between them, breaking the strange spell, and Elaina gasped as the electrical current of desire and need was severed. Rafe’s fangs were out, a sure sign that he was upset. “I…” She shook her head, uncertain of what she wanted to say. “Elaina, come with me to my study.” Rafe took her hand and drew her toward the room he and Thorn had just vacated. “And Thorn, wait for me in the drawing room. We still have much to discuss.” “As my lord wishes.” Thorn’s drawl was distinctly sarcastic and he bowed low in a manner that was both graceful and easy. Despite his sarcasm, the move was oldfashioned and courtly. It seemed strange to Elaina to see a man dressed in black leather pants and a muscle shirt perform an action that would have looked more at home on someone dressed for a walk-on role in Gone With the Wind.

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Thorn turned to go back down the hall but Rafe put out a hand to stop him. “Thorn,” he said more softly, the tone of command leaving his voice. “We will speak of this further. You are still the friend of my heart.” Thorn’s classical features twisted into an unhappy sneer. “Prove it then, Rafael. Give me the kiss of friendship. Or are you afraid to in front of your pet human?” “Elaina is no pet.” Rafe’s voice grew hard again. “And I fear nothing.” He stepped closer and reached up to bury one hand in Thorn’s tawny mane. Pulling the other man down, he kissed him fiercely on the mouth. Thorn seemed shocked for a moment, then he grabbed Rafe and kissed him back, tilting his head and slanting his generous mouth across Rafe’s to deepen the kiss. Elaina watched in awe as he demanded entry to the other man’s mouth, the tips of his fangs glinting with the motion of his lips. And then Rafe’s own lips parted and he welcomed Thorn inside. It was more like a test of dominance than a gesture of love or friendship, Elaina thought as she watched. Certainly there was nothing gentle about it. Rafe was pulling hard at the thick blond hair in his fists and Thorn was using his slightly greater height to try to bend the shorter man back against his arm. But as the rough and luscious kiss continued, she felt the same crackle of almost electrical energy flowing around the two of them that she had felt between Thorn and herself. The same current of need that she felt when she touched Rafe. The kiss might not have been gentle or in any way romantic but there could be no doubt there was desire between Rafe and the friend of his heart. A desire long unfulfilled that hung in the air and throbbed like a beating heart. It took Elaina’s breath away and left her yearning as well. But yearning for what she couldn’t quite say. At last the two men broke apart, panting. The violent clash of fangs had not been without bloodshed and she watched as Rafe blotted a drop of crimson from his cut lower lip. Thorn didn’t bother to wipe the blood away on his own wide, generous mouth. Instead he licked the corner of his mouth, catching the salty droplets with his tongue like a great cat savoring the last traces of stolen cream. Elaina had the feeling

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that he had been waiting a very long time for what had just happened between him and Rafe though what exactly that was, she still wasn’t sure. “Are you satisfied?” Rafe’s voice was rough with suppressed emotion but Thorn only smiled coldly. “I’m never satisfied, old friend. That’s why I chose the path I did in the first place. You know that.” “Go.” Rafe turned away, taking Elaina’s arm in his hand once more. “We will speak of this later.” Thorn bowed again, turned and walked back down the hall, leaving Rafe to pull her into the study and shut the door.

***** Rafe sighed and leaned against the large mahogany antique desk that dominated the book-lined room. It was a space that belonged in a much larger house, a castle in Scotland perhaps, Elaina thought. There was a fireplace here too—a larger one and all of the books on the shelves had a well-worn look. She knew that they weren’t just for show as they might have been in another man’s house. Rafe spent many hours in study and contemplation and he spoke several other languages fluently. “I suppose that I have much to explain to you,” he said, running one well-shaped hand over the shining surface of the desk. “That would be nice.” Elaina lifted her chin and stared him in the eye. “For one thing, you could’ve told me you were gay. That all this time I’ve been chasing after you it’s been a complete and utter waste of your time and mine.” “Gay?” Rafe raised one black eyebrow at her in obvious puzzlement before giving a short laugh. “Oh yes, I had forgotten that is the name humans give to a lover of men in this age.” He laughed again. “No, Elaina, my darling, I am not, as you call it, ‘gay’. Thorn is my friend. Or was, anyway.” He looked troubled.

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It was Elaina’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Oh? So you go around kissing other guys just for fun? But it doesn’t mean anything to you? I have to tell you, Rafe—you don’t see a lot of straight guys who feel comfortable lip-locking with their friends. It’s just not done, at least not around here.” Rafe sighed again and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “What you saw is not common in any human town or culture, Elaina. It is a vampire custom—the kiss of friendship. Thorn asked for it to test me. He thought I would be unwilling to give it to him, to prove the strength of my friendship.” “Well, I guess you proved him wrong,” she muttered sarcastically. “The only problem is you never told me you were friends in the first place. He attacked me, Rafe. How could you not tell me that the vampire who attacked me was your friend?” Rafe’s deep brown eyes looked serious and troubled. “How do you think I got him to release you in the first place, Elaina? Thorn is very strong in the dark arts. Had I not had the power of our old bond to call on, you would be dead or completely ravaged now.” Elaina bit her lip and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “But…but you made him let me go. You forced him—” “As to that, there is no forcing where Thorn is concerned,” Rafe interrupted her quietly. “He is stronger than me, which tells me that he is serious in his request for help. His pride has ever been his stumbling block. That he overcame it and came to me speaks much of his true intentions.” Elaina shook her head. “I don’t understand. What intentions? What does he want?” Rafe crossed his arms, his biceps straining the fabric of the red shirt he wore. “He wants me to bring him back to the light. But he has walked in darkness too long.” “I heard you telling him that it wasn’t possible because you don’t have a willing human.” Elaina frowned. “What did you mean by that, Rafe? A human willing to do what?” Rafe shook his head. “That need not concern you.” 16

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“But it does concern me. I’m in the middle of it now.” Elaina stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. Under the soft red material his muscle felt as hard and cold as marble. “I came here for a reason tonight, Rafe,” she said, standing up tall so he could take in her body in the tiny scarlet bikini. “I came here for you.” He drew in a ragged breath and stepped away from her. “Elaina, please. You must not—” “Why?” She clenched her hands at her sides. “Because you don’t want me?” “No!” Rafe squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, as though trying to control himself. “No, my darling,” he said at last, looking at her with that hunger she so often felt between them blazing in his eyes. “No, it is because I want you too much. But I must not, must not have you.” “But why?” Elaina felt like she was going in circles. He had finally admitted that he wanted her but he refused to do anything about it. She wanted to scream with frustration. “Elaina, I know how you feel about me,” Rafe said softly. “And it is the same way I feel about you. But feelings change, my darling. And you are so very young.” “I’m well over twenty-one, Rafe,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest again. “And what does my age have to do with it anyway? How old are you?” His age was something Rafe refused to reveal, along with his past. He sighed. “I do not count my age in years, Elaina, but in centuries. And I cannot take you or bite you because I have already bitten you once.” “Yes.” Elaina shivered. “You bit me to put your mark on me. So…so…” She found herself unable to say the Dark Wanderer’s name. “So he couldn’t bite me again. Couldn’t hurt me.” Rafe nodded gravely. “Indeed, my darling. Thorn will never touch you again without my permission. And though he is the friend of my heart, you are the love of my heart. And so such permission shall ever be denied him.”

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“Rafe.” She took a step toward him hesitantly. “If you love me—if I really am the love of your heart, then why won’t you drink from me? Why won’t you make love to me? I came here tonight with the intention of seducing you—of making you see how much we need each other.” She raised her eyes to his and thrust out her full breasts, barely covered by the thin gauzy red fabric, knowing he could see the outline of her nipples. “Do you think I would ever wear something like this otherwise? But I wanted you to want me. And I couldn’t think of any other way to let you know.” He stepped toward her and cupped her cheek in one large, warm palm. “I know,” he whispered. “I have always known. But if I drink from you again, or even if I make love to you, I could be tying you to me for all eternity. And I cannot risk that.” “So you don’t want me because you’re afraid you’ll get tired of me?” She felt like crying. The tears welled up in her eyes and she stared straight ahead, knowing that if she blinked they would overflow down her cheeks. “Oh Elaina, you misunderstand. I want you, my darling, but I do not wish you to make a hasty decision, one you may regret later. Tying yourself to an immortal has serious and permanent consequences.” He sighed. “But forgive me, I cannot speak of this at length with you now as I wish to. I must go and tell Thorn that I cannot help him, much as I would wish to.” “Wait.” She put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Tell me why you can’t help him. Tell me what he wants you to do.” Rafe pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as though he was trying to drive back a headache though Elaina was fairly certain that vampires didn’t get headaches. It was a very human gesture, full of frustration and grief. “Once a vampire has been turned to darkness, has spilled innocent blood and taken innocent life, he changes, both physically and emotionally,” he said at last. “His…his eyes. Is that why they’re red?” Elaina asked. Rafe nodded. “As red as the fires of hell. A mark of damnation.” He sighed. “The first time I saw his eyes that way I wept, for I knew he was lost to me forever.” 18

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“But isn’t there a way, some way to bring him back?” It wasn’t that she’d forgiven her attacker exactly, Elaina told herself. But she couldn’t help feeling sorry for Thorn— for anyone who felt themselves to be damned and lost forever. And it was obvious that Rafe felt his friend’s damnation almost as acutely as Thorn did himself. She loved Rafe, so anything that bothered him bothered her. “There is a way,” Rafe said softly. “A way to bring Thorn back and leech the fires of the pit from his eyes. But it involves finding a human willing to act as a gateway—a passage back to the light. You see, I cannot reach Thorn myself. He must come through another, one of innocent, human blood to me on the other side of the abyss. Only then may he be restored to the light.” “And since there isn’t any human who’s willing to help me out, I’m out of luck.” Elaina jumped at the deep, harsh voice behind her. She turned to see Thorn standing in the doorway of the study, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his eyes blazing with the eternal fire Rafe had spoken of. He was a frightening sight, a demon risen from hell, but Elaina found she was no longer afraid of him—well, not much, anyway. Instead, she pitied him. How sad to be lost forever, to wander the world knowing you were damned, cut off from all that was good and light and pure. Suddenly she made a decision. “Rafe,” she said, turning to the dark-haired vamp. “I’ll do it. I’ll act as the gateway to bring Thorn back to you.” “Elaina, no.” Rafe looked horrified. “You do not know what you are saying, my darling. What you are agreeing to do.” Elaina frowned and lifted her chin. “I know that Thorn is important to you.” She was proud of herself for saying his name, for thinking of him as a person and not just a nameless, faceless entity of darkness who had attacked her. “And I know that I love you,” she told Rafe. “So what’s important to you is important to me. I want to help bring Thorn back. I want to act as the gateway.”

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“You have no conception of what you are agreeing to.” Rafe shook his head gravely. “Then why don’t you tell her, old friend?” Thorn stepped more fully into the room, his red eyes glowing like banked embers. “Tell her what’s involved in ‘bringin’ me back’ as she puts it.” Rafe shook his head. “I do not wish to frighten her. Better that she not become involved in any way.” “What? No—I want to know.” Elaina looked back and forth between the two vampires. “Tell me,” she said to Thorn, bracing herself for the worst. “What is it? You both have to bite me at the same time?” “Somethin’ like that,” Thorn drawled. His deep voice was dangerously soft. “Go on—tell her, Rafael.” “Elaina,” Rafe put an arm around her shoulders protectively. “In order to act as a gateway you would have to accept both Thorn and myself at the same time. Both blood and…other fluids must be mingled in the chosen vessel—the human acting as the gateway—in order for the ceremony to work.” “In other words,” Thorn said, stepping closer so that he loomed over her, trapping her between himself and Rafe, “we both have to fuck you at the same time. You’d have to spread your legs for two cocks at once. Both of us ridin’ you…filling you…coming inside your sweet little pussy and ass at the same time. Understand, darlin’?” “Stop it.” Rafe frowned and started to push her behind him. “I forbid you to frighten her, Thorn. She has already been through much at your hands.” “No.” Elaina pushed out from behind him and came to stand in the middle of the two large, muscular men once more. “No, I’m not frightened, Rafe,” she said, hoping that her voice didn’t tremble too much. “And…and I still want to do it. Providing that you’re not…not too rough.” “My darling.” Rafe turned her to face him and studied her face carefully. “I would never hurt you or allow another to hurt you. But you do not have to do this. It is…far 20

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more than I would ever dream of asking you, as much as I love you. You should know that if you go through with the gateway ceremony, there may be far-reaching consequences. It will not be a problem with Thorn because my mark supersedes his, but because I have already bitten you once, you may be tied to me forever—bonded for all eternity.” “How will I know—if we’re bonded, I mean?” She raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “You will feel it, as will I.” Rafe shrugged. “It is difficult to explain as I have never been bonded to another before. But I have heard it described as an invisible tether that feels as though it is attached to your heart. You feel the tug, the pulse and flow of emotion and desire between yourself and the person you are bonded to. You know how they feel, what they need and want without having to ask.” He leveled a stare at her. “And, Elaina, a bond of that magnitude is not to be broken or cast aside. It is forever.” “I don’t care. I want to do it,” Elaina said stubbornly. The idea of being tied to the man she loved for eternity held no fear for her. And if she had to go through a strange sexual ceremony—even one involving the vampire who had attacked her—to get there, then she was more than willing to do it. Having Rafe as more than a friend, as a lover and companion, was worth it. A thousand times worth it. “Do you mean it?” It was Thorn’s turn to sound troubled. He pulled her around to face him, one large rough hand resting on her shoulder. “Are you really serious about helpin’ me, honey? Even after what I did to you?” Elaina looked into his red eyes and didn’t flinch though she wanted to. She wanted to cringe away from him, from his large, muscular body bending over hers, reminding her of the attack—but she forced herself to hold her ground. “I’m serious,” she said softly, feeling the same hum of connection she’d felt before when he was so close to her. “There must be some good in you or Rafe wouldn’t love you.” Hesitantly, she reached up to cup his square jaw in one palm. “I…I want to help you, Thorn,” she said softly. “I want to bring you back to the light.”

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Thorn stood rigidly at attention for a moment then he pressed his cheek against her palm, like a wild stallion willing to be gentled. “You humble me, Elaina,” he said, his harsh voice softer than she had yet heard it. “I don’t deserve such kindness. But…” He looked up at Rafe who was standing directly behind her, as if for support. “Do you mind sharing your love, Rafael?” he asked softly. “And more important, do you mind participating in the ceremony? You know what it involves.” “I know all that it involves and I am more than willing.” Rafe’s voice was gentle. “And as for Elaina, she has a mind of her own.” He put an arm around her from behind and drew her back against him. “Are you very certain that you want to do this, my darling?” he murmured in her ear. “I will let no harm come to you but once we start, there will be no going back.” Elaina felt her heart trying to pound its way out of her chest but she nodded her head anyway, drawing support and strength from the strong arm around her waist. “I want to do it,” she repeated. “I’m certain, Rafe.” “Very well.” He kissed the side of her neck, sending a shiver through her. And then, to her surprise, Thorn leaned down and kissed the other side of her neck. Elaina felt her nipples peak behind the thin panels of fabric and her pussy began to get wet and slippery once more as the invisible current of desire flowed through the three of them. “Let’s get started,” she murmured, surprising herself with her boldness. “I…I don’t want to wait.” “Neither do I, darlin’,” Thorn murmured. In his mouth, the endearment Rafe always called her had a soft, Southern drawl. “Neither do I.”

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Chapter Three “How do we start?” Elaina looked up at Rafe uncertainly. Her heart was pounding in her chest as if trying to break free of her ribs at the thought of what she was about to do, and yet she still wanted to do it. Still wanted to give herself to both men at once. She wasn’t sure if that made her bad or immoral but she fiercely told herself that she was only trying to help Rafe. Only doing what she had to do in order to bring back the friend of his heart. Never mind that she tingled with desire when close to either Rafe or Thorn—she was only doing what was necessary. Wasn’t she? “We begin with a ritual cleansing.” Rafe took her hand and Thorn took the other. “Come.” He led them from the study and down the narrow hall to his bathroom. They walked single file, clasping hands, and if she hadn’t just agreed to a ménage a trois, Elaina thought she would have felt like they were children out exploring. Rafe’s bathroom was another space that belonged in a much larger house. It was about twice as large as Elaina’s living room with deep blue lapis tiles on the floor edged in gold and a long mirror running along one entire wall. Stacks of fluffy white towels were piled on an elegant marble bench that sat beside a sunken tub bigger than most hot tubs Elaina had seen. She wondered a little uneasily if they were all going to be bathing together—certainly the tub was big enough for three, even if two of the three were large, muscular vampires. Then she realized how silly it was to worry about the bathing arrangements after what she had just agreed to. “Here we are. Let me prepare the bath.” Rafe dropped her hand and went to fill the tub, leaving her standing awkwardly by the bench with the towels, still holding hands with Thorn. Elaina wanted to let go of his hand, not because she minded touching him or found his touch repulsive but because she felt so uneasy without Rafe on her other

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side. Thorn seemed to sense her unease because he looked down at her, a questioning expression in his red eyes. “You all right?” he asked her softly, still holding her hand. “Getting cold feet now that we’re gettin’ down to it?” “No, I mean…” Elaina squirmed uncomfortably and had to force herself to meet his eyes. “I guess I’m just…new at this.” He frowned. “You’re not a virgin, are you, honey?” His eyes raked over her body, taking in the skimpy bikini that was soon to be taken off before returning to her face. “Oh no. No, no,” Elaina denied hastily. “I’ve just never…been with two…two guys at once.” She blushed as she said it and rushed on, trying to cover her embarrassment. “And you’re so…so big, I guess. I mean, I just…” “You’re still a little frightened, aren’t you?” he asked gently. Then, to Elaina’s surprise, he dropped to one knee before her on the blue lapis tiles. “I hurt you, Elaina,” he said, his harsh, grating voice softened by remorse. “I took from you what I didn’t have any right to take. I hope in time you can forgive me.” “Oh I…” Elaina wasn’t sure what to say. She felt terribly uncomfortable and yet touched to the heart at the same time. On his knees before her, Thorn looked like a passionate suitor proposing lifelong love and commitment and though she knew this was only going to be a one-time occurrence, she couldn’t help but be moved by his gesture. “Darlin’,” he whispered hoarsely, still caressing her hand. “I’m going to make amends to Rafael for everything I put him through after the cleansing—it’s part of the ceremony. Would you let me make amends to you too?” Elaina wasn’t sure what he meant, but he seemed so sincere she didn’t see how she could deny him the chance to apologize in whatever way he chose. “Of course,” she said gently, stroking his large, rough hand with her own. “It would be my pleasure, Thorn.”

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“That’s what I hope for,” he said seriously, leaving her to wonder again what exactly he was proposing to do. But before she could ask, Rafe was calling them both to the tub where the fragrant steaming water was waiting. Rafe had already stripped, his smooth dark tan skin gleaming in the dim light of the bathroom and Thorn lost no time in pulling off his black leather pants and shirt revealing a muscular chest and narrow hips that led down to powerful thighs. Elaina tried hard not to look at what was between his legs, or Rafe’s either for that matter, but she couldn’t help catching a glimpse or two. Both men were uncircumcised and she couldn’t help noticing that both were already half-hard. Rafe’s cock was a shade darker than his skin tones, the dusky, thick shaft nestled in a bed of black hair, while Thorn’s was long and straight—a dark, angry red with a drop of pearly fluid already crowning the broad head. Elaina fiddled nervously with the ties to her bikini, wondering when she would be asked to take it off, but for the moment, Rafe seemed content to get into the bath himself and motion for Thorn to follow. He looked up at Elaina, as though sensing her uncertainty and smiled. “You need not look so worried, my darling,” he said gently. “The first part of the cleansing must be between Thorn and me. I will not ask you to remove your clothing, such as it is, until you need to enter the water.” “All right.” Feeling slightly relieved, Elaina sat on the marble bench beside a stack of towels, wincing as the cold stone made contact with her nearly naked behind. Rafe seemed to know exactly what was going on and he beckoned to Thorn who closed the distance between them until they were only inches apart in the steaming water. Rafe had added some kind of fragrant oil to the hot water but there were no bubbles to get in the way of the view. Looking down from her perch on the bench, Elaina could clearly see his dark, thick erection brushing casually against Thorn’s slightly longer cock but neither man seemed upset by the intimate contact. She wondered exactly what the ritual cleansing involved, but she didn’t have to wonder long.

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“Thorn,” Rafe said in a serious voice. “Do you wish to come out from the darkness and into the light?” The big blond vampire nodded earnestly. “I do,” he said in his deep, harsh voice that echoed in the tiled room. “More than anything, I wish it.” “Very well.” Rafe nodded solemnly. “So then will I cleanse the darkness from you.” He cupped his hands and filled them with water, lifting them toward his friend. Thorn bent his head meekly and allowed Rafe to pour the steaming liquid over his head, wetting his wild mane of tawny hair. When he had poured three cupped handfuls over Thorn’s head, Rafe stepped back for a moment and the taller vampire ran his large hands through his hair, pushing it back from his high forehead and leaving his chiseled features bare and strangely vulnerable. “Are you ready to continue?” Rafe asked him. He was already rubbing a cake of pure white soap between his strong hands, lathering them thoroughly for what must be the next step in the cleansing. “I am,” Thorn said formally. He stood quietly in the water as Rafe approached him, arms at his sides, palms up and head bowed in a gesture of submission. “Very good,” Rafe murmured. Starting at Thorn’s strong neck, he worked the lather over his friend’s chest and arms in broad, sweeping strokes. Elaina thought he would stop at Thorn’s waist, but he gestured for the other man to sit on the edge of the tub. Thorn did as he was told, the steaming scented water sluicing off his body so that only his calves and feet were still immersed. He leaned back, his hands braced on the lip of the tub, and allowed Rafe to wash him. Elaina watched in fascination as Rafe lathered his hands again and began washing the rest of his friend from his narrow hips and powerful thighs down to his knees. When Rafe got to his friend’s now completely hard cock, he seemed to hesitate for an instant and Elaina noticed that Thorn was watching him carefully from under halflowered lids. She remembered the blond vampire’s words of accusation and wondered if Rafe would be willing to go on. Was this some kind of a test between them like the 26

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kiss of friendship had been earlier? She was fairly certain no straight man she knew would willingly take another man’s cock in his hand for any reason, but she no longer believed that Rafe was either straight or gay. He had spoken of the soul being more important than the body in matters of the heart and she was beginning to believe him. Thorn’s expression was carefully neutral but Rafe only stopped long enough to lather his hands once more before reaching between his friend’s thighs and grasping the thick, pulsing shaft. The blond vampire threw back his head and moaned softly as Rafe stroked him, fisting the thick cock with one hand while he fondled Thorn’s heavy sac gently with the other. “So good,” Rafe whispered, just loud enough for Elaina to hear. “So beautiful, my friend. Come into the light for me. Release the darkness within.” As he spoke, he stroked in a steady rhythm obviously designed to bring Thorn to orgasm. Elaina shifted on the hard marble bench and crossed her legs tightly, feeling the throbbing wetness gathering between her thighs. There was something so hot—so primal—in watching Rafe stroke another man’s cock. His hand was large and masculine and it was obvious he knew exactly what he was doing—knew exactly how to touch Thorn to excite him, to make him moan. She wondered what it would be like to be pressed between them, to have that intense attention focused on her, and squirmed some more. “Rafael…oh!” Thorn gasped, his hips bucking. “Thorn,” Rafe commanded softly. “Come for me! Come now!” Elaina watched in fascination as jets of pearly cum pulsed from the broad head of Thorn’s cock, bathing Rafe’s hands and chest. She had half-expected the Dark Wanderer’s cum might be red or black or some other sinister color, but it was the same milky white of any other semen she had ever seen. When he had finished coming, Thorn slid back down into the water and pulled Rafe to him. The two men held each other closely, the broad planes of their chests pressed together as Thorn took Rafe’s mouth in a deep, gentle kiss. It was obvious by

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the way Rafe opened his lips to allow the other man’s tongue free access to his mouth that he was as moved as Thorn was by their exchange. “My friend,” Thorn murmured hoarsely, pulling back at last. “I shouldn’t have doubted you.” “You had reason to doubt.” Rafe reached up to cup the other man’s cheek in his hand. “I know that my reluctance to share myself completely with you was one of the reasons you became a Dark Wanderer in the first place.” Thorn nodded. “It’s true. But I hope you don’t feel like you have to help me because of that.” “I want to help you. I want to love you as you love me. As I love my sweet darling Elaina.” Rafe turned to look at her beckoning for her to leave the bench. “Come into the water now, my darling,” he said softly. “It is time for you to be cleansed as well.” Elaina bit her lip nervously as she stood up from the bench. Her hip knocked over a stack of the fluffy towels and she fumbled to catch them before they fell on the damp tiles. “I…um, do I need to take off my suit?” she asked, gesturing to the tiny red string bikini she still wore when she’d gotten the towels back on the bench. She felt like an actor called onstage who had forgotten all her lines. “Indeed you must,” Rafe said gently. “Come, my darling—your body is beautiful. You have no need for shame.” Taking a deep breath, Elaina nodded and began fiddling with the ties at the back of her neck. But her fingers were so numb she couldn’t manage. Rafe seemed to see her problem because before she could say anything he was out of the tub and standing behind her, loosening the scarlet strings and pulling down her top. Elaina let out a low gasp as the tiny slices of crimson fabric came down and her nipples were revealed. It was true that the bikini top hadn’t covered much, but she felt much more naked without it just the same. “It’s all right, my darling,” Rafe murmured, already working on the ties at her hips. He tugged at the tiny, silver-dollar-sized triangle of cloth that covered her pussy, 28

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despite Elaina’s mute protests, pulling it down as well so that she was completely nude at last. She had just had a wax the day before and Elaina felt unbelievably vulnerable as the steamy air swirled around her, touching her bare cunt, caressing the length of her slit like a knowing finger as she stood naked before both men. Somehow she resisted the urge to cover herself and stood twisting her hands in front of her. She was embarrassed not only of her nudity but also of the glistening wetness of desire that was surely evident on her swollen pussy lips. Watching Rafe and Thorn together and imagining herself between them had gotten her hotter than she could ever remember being before but she was ashamed to let them know it. Ashamed of her own wanton urges, her need to give herself without reserve. “What is wrong?” Rafe’s voice was worried and gentle. “What do you fear, Elaina?” “I don’t…I just…” She bit her lip and turned to look at him, unable to finish her thought. “Is it because of this?” Rafe pressed his broad chest to her back and reached around her body to pluck gently at her hardened nipples. Elaina gasped at his touch as warm fire ran through her veins. “Or this?” he asked softly, his large hand traveling down her trembling abdomen to cup her naked mound. Elaina couldn’t suppress a moan as his fingers traced her slippery slit, brushing gently over the sensitive bundle of nerves at her core. “You’re wet, darlin’.” Thorn had also climbed out of the tub and now he stood in front of her, his damp chest inches from her own. “She is indeed,” Rafe said smoothly. “See for yourself.” He had both hands on her inner thighs now and Elaina suppressed a moan as he opened her, gently spreading her bare pussy lips to expose the glistening pink of her inner cunt. Thorn looked down, intently watching the show playing out in front of him. The emotion in his red eyes was no less needy or lustful than when he had looked at Rafe earlier. “Beautiful,” he murmured, his harsh voice almost reverent. He looked up at Elaina who was blushing so hard she felt like her face was on fire. If any other man had 29

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opened her this way, had spread open her pussy and put her on display, she couldn’t have borne it. But with Rafe, anything seemed possible. “Thank…thank you,” she murmured at the blond vampire’s compliment, unsure of what else she could say. “Can I touch you, darlin’?” Thorn asked, his deep voice hesitant but needy. “I want to pet your sweet little pussy, wanna feel how hot and wet you are.” Elaina closed her eyes tightly for a moment. Flashes of the attack a year before flickered to the forefront of her brain—the thick fingers invading her, violating her, pushing her to terror and pleasure so great she had screamed. But that had been before she knew Thorn—knew he was seeking the way back to the light. She had forgiven him, she realized, but it was still hard to forget. And yet despite everything, despite her lingering fear, she wanted him to touch her, wanted to feel his hard, warm hands on her body. Behind her, Rafe was like a solid wall, protecting and supporting her. Feeling his broad chest at her back gave her the courage to nod her head but she still couldn’t look at Thorn as she gave her assent. “I have to hear you say it, Elaina.” His deep voice was strained. “I need to hear you say you’ll let me touch you.” She looked up at him, watching the play of emotions over his chiseled features. Need, pain, desire and sorrow all warred in his burning red eyes. Thorn was asking her for absolution and though she couldn’t give him that completely, she could at least give him this small thing—permission to touch her as he longed to. She could give him what he had taken by force before. “Yes, Thorn,” she said, trying to keep her voice even. “Yes you can touch me. I…I want you to.” “Darlin’,” he whispered raggedly. Leaning down, he captured her mouth in a gentle kiss that nearly took her breath away. At the same time, she felt his large, warm palm cupping her slippery sex. Rafe still had her spread open, and the hard calloused heel of Thorn’s hand pressed against her sensitive clit, making her moan. He eagerly 30

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swallowed her moan and deepened the kiss, taking her mouth with a fierce but tender intensity that left Elaina helpless to do anything but submit. As his tongue entered her mouth, she felt two long, thick fingers slowly slide into her cunt. She stiffened for a moment, remembering the attack, but then she heard Rafe’s voice, deep and reassuring in her ear. “It is all right, my darling. Thorn only wishes to pleasure you. Open yourself to him and I promise no harm will come to you,” he murmured, kissing her neck. Rafe’s soft reassurances helped her relax a little and Elaina found she was able to spread her legs and grant the blond vampire fuller access to her sex. Thorn fingerfucked her gently, pressing deep to reach the end of her channel as he continued to feast on her mouth. The heel of his hand rubbed relentlessly over her swollen clit, shooting sparks of mind-numbing pleasure through her body, turning her legs to rubber and making her breath come in short, panting moans. Without Rafe’s broad back supporting her from behind, there was no way she could have remained upright—the pleasure Thorn gave her made her too weak, too needy to stand on her own. Thorn pressed forward, kissing her more deeply and she felt the needle-sharp edges of his fangs extend, proving his excitement. Recklessly, she darted her tongue between them, tasting him, feeling their razor’s edge against her delicate flesh. Suddenly she felt a sudden, sharp stinging as one nicked her and then the faint taste of copper as the small wound bled. But the hot sensation of Thorn’s thick fingers filling her below was so intense that the tiny pain barely registered. She could feel Thorn’s hunger as he tasted her blood, his eagerness to taste more, but long before she had gotten enough or reached the elusive peak she could feel herself climbing to, he broke the kiss and stood back, panting. “We need to go on,” he said to Rafe over her shoulder. His broad chest was heaving as though he’d run a marathon and the black pupils of his red eyes were fully dilated. “Need to finish the cleansing.”

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“You are correct, my friend.” Rafe kissed Elaina gently on the side of her neck and she shivered helplessly at the feel of his thick cock digging into her thigh. Apparently he had found the sight of Thorn fingering her and kissing her every bit as arousing as she had found the sight of the two men together. And Thorn seemed to want them both. Elaina wondered if that made all three of them perverts, but they seemed to have gotten beyond such petty labels now. They were here to touch and comfort and pleasure each other, to bring Thorn into the light. And she was glad of it. “I’m ready to be cleansed,” she whispered, looking back at Rafe but including Thorn in her glance as well. “Please, Rafe, I don’t want to stop.” “I know, my darling.” He kissed her gently on the cheek and pointed toward the sunken bath. “So then let us continue.”

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Chapter Four The water was just this side of too hot, exactly the way Elaina liked it, and a fragrant steam rose from its surface as she slipped into the tub. The bath oil Rafe had used made the water glide over her skin like silk. She could feel her body relaxing immediately, the knots of tension dissolving from her muscles, and she sighed deeply as the two large male vampires settled on either side of her. She was only five foot six to Rafe’s six feet and Thorn’s six foot two so the water that reached only to their waists came to the bottoms of her breasts. It lapped gently against her nipples like an eager mouth, sending currents of languid pleasure through her entire body. The ends of her long auburn hair trailed in the water like some exotic seaweed until Rafe twisted it into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, murmuring that it was time to begin. Elaina started to lean back against the side of the tub while Rafe worked the pure white soap into a rich lather, but the marble was cold against her back and she scooted away quickly. Seeing her problem, Rafe nodded to Thorn. “Elaina needs a more comfortable resting place, my friend,” he said quietly. And before Elaina could protest, Thorn had pulled himself out of the water and was sitting on the lip of the tub. He drew her back against him so that she rested between his muscular thighs. “Relax, darlin’,” he murmured when she stiffened instinctively. “Not gonna hurt you, just wanna make sure you’re comfortable while Rafael washes your sweet body.” Elaina took a deep breath and let it out, trying to do as he said. She was trusting Thorn more and more as the ritual progressed, but it was still difficult to allow herself to relax completely around him. Thorn seemed to sense her reluctance because his large, warm hands began a deep, soothing massage on the back of her neck and shoulders where knots of tension had formed. Between the steaming water and his firm,

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calming touch, there was no way she could remain tense. By the time Rafe approached her with warm, soapy hands, Elaina felt like her body was made of melted butter. “I am going to cleanse you now, Elaina,” he said, stroking the fluffy white lather along her arms. “You are the gateway—the vessel that Thorn must come through into the light. So you must be clean both inside and out.” Elaina felt a little shiver run through her at his words but she only nodded. Already his warm, soapy hands were exploring her throat and shoulders then smoothing down the front of her chest to cup her breasts in his palms. She bit back a moan as Rafe rolled her hardened nipples between his fingers, sending sparks of pleasure down her spine to her heated pussy. His hands moved lower, dipping beneath the surface of the water to caress her waist and hips then traveling down to the tender vee between her legs. Elaina couldn’t stop herself from gasping as he spread her thighs and opened her pussy lips once more, allowing the heated water to rush into her sensitive cunt. “Relax, my darling,” Rafe murmured and motioned to Thorn who pulled her more snugly against him so that she could feel his long cock pressing against her back. “Allow Thorn to support you as I cleanse you,” he told her softly. “Open yourself to me, Elaina.” Elaina willingly did as he asked, tightly gripping Thorn’s thighs as she spread her legs. Rafe’s fingers inside her were more gentle than Thorn’s and more deliberate somehow. He stroked in and out of her, fucking her pussy gently with his fingers, allowing the scented water to reach every part of her open cunt, cleansing her completely in a way that pushed Elaina’s limits and took her breath away. She was getting closer and closer to that elusive peak, closer and closer to coming but his fingers danced around her clit, never giving enough stimulation to push her over the edge. She was nearly moaning with frustration when Rafe stopped and reached for the soap again.

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“More?” Elaina wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take, but at least the soap he was using seemed to be an oil-based, non-drying kind. In fact, her pussy felt hotter and more slippery than it had even before he had started. “Yes, my darling.” Rafe had something else in his hands, some kind of instrument she had never seen before and she had no idea where he had gotten it. It had a long silver nozzle on one end and a black rubber squeeze bulb on the other. Elaina stared at it in uneasy fascination, wondering what he planned to do with it. Was he going to use it to spurt more water into her heated pussy? She already felt clean and fresh and slippery and she didn’t see how she could get any cleaner. But maybe it was part of the ceremony. She spread her legs again but Rafe shook his head. “No, Elaina. For this part of the cleansing, you must face away from me. I need to be able to reach the rest of you.” “The rest of me?” Elaina looked at him fearfully. “I…I don’t understand.” Surely he couldn’t mean what she thought he meant—could he? “It’s all right, honey. It’s just part of the ceremony,” Thorn murmured. And then he was turning her around so that she faced him, her arms around his waist and her bare bottom vulnerable to Rafe’s hands. She could feel the hard length of Thorn’s cock branding her cheek and smell his warm, musky scent but none of it registered with Elaina. Her entire existence was centered on what was taking place behind her. Somehow Rafe adjusted the water level so that it now came just to her inner thighs, leaving her bottom vulnerable and bare. Then he palmed the cheeks of her ass but as he began to spread her, Elaina gasped and clenched herself closed. “No!” she whispered tightly, her fingers digging into Thorn’s sides. “No, I…I can’t. I’ve never…” “Elaina, please.” Rafe’s deep voice was soothing as he stroked the globes of her ass with warm, soapy fingers. “You must be cleansed. I want you to relax and remember that I would never harm you.”

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“One of us has to fuck your sweet little ass for this to work, darlin’.” Thorn stroked her cheek gently as he spoke, the expression on his face one of concern and tenderness. “We have to fill your pussy and ass with our cocks at the same time. Have to fill you up with our cum. It’s part of the ceremony—you have to be cleansed inside and out.” “I guess I just never…” Elaina shook her head, knowing there was no way around it—she was going to have to submit to the cleansing, no matter how mortifying it was. “All right.” She pressed her face hard against Thorn’s muscled abdomen, her voice muffled. “All right, do it.” “Very well, but you must relax.” Rafe stroked her shivering flesh until Elaina let out a trembling sigh and opened her legs for him once more. Rafe had promised never to hurt her and she held on to that promise like a lifeline. She hadn’t had many lovers and none of them had ever asked to use her ass in the way Rafe and Thorn were going to use it. It seemed dirty—wrong to allow anyone inside her there. And yet she knew for the gateway ceremony to work she would have to put aside her fear and allow herself to be completely open both physically and mentally. She would be filled with both cocks at once, both riding her, both coming deep in her body. So when Rafe’s gentle, soapy fingers brushed against her virgin rosebud, she only bit her lip and pressed her face harder against the warm, satiny skin of Thorn’s hard stomach. “Hey, it’s okay, darlin’.” He stroked her cheek again and tilted her chin so that their eyes met. Elaina realized that she didn’t find his glowing red eyes frightening anymore. They were reassuring and she drew comfort from them as Rafe gently but inexorably entered her ass with one slippery finger. “God,” she hoarsely whispered as he pressed into her, exploring territory no one had ever touched before. She had never felt so open or so vulnerable before, had never dreamed that she might find herself naked and spread wide while Rafe explored her back passage with long, careful fingers.

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Thorn seemed to understand her fears. “It’s not easy to take it the first time,” he murmured, still caressing her cheek. “It’s not easy to let somebody penetrate your ass and fill you up. To spread your legs and let them in.” “You understand?” Elaina looked up at him hopefully, trying not to squirm as Rafe’s fingers continued to probe deeper and deeper into her body. “You’ve had it…I mean, it’s happened to you?” Thorn nodded. “Hell yeah, honey. I see all the crap you humans put in the movie about us vamps bein’ ‘born to darkness’ but that isn’t the way it is at all. You’re not born into darkness—you’re fucked into it. Rafael and I were taken by the same Master and turned at the same time—he can tell you what I mean.” “It is true.” Rafe gently fucked her ass, getting her used to the sensation, still using just one finger as he spoke. “The first time I felt another man’s cock inside me I thought I would die. It was an indignity not to be borne.” “But we had to bear it,” Thorn added, still looking down at Elaina. “It was bear it or die. That didn’t make it any easier though. So you see, Rafael and I understand how you feel.” “Which is why we will try to make this as easy and pleasurable for you as possible, my darling,” Rafe said softly, continuing to explore her. Elaina opened her mouth to say that she didn’t see how it could ever be pleasurable when she realized that now she was more relaxed, she did feel sparks of pleasure as Rafe entered her with his finger. She wished he would enter her pussy too, that he would fill her both above and below and when she realized what she was wishing for, it made her blush. Just as Rafe’s attentions to her ass were beginning to feel really good, however, he withdrew his finger, leaving her feeling empty somehow. Elaina looked over her shoulder. “Are we done now?” she asked hopefully, uncertain about what she wanted the answer to be. “Not quite, my darling.” Rafe had the silver and black instrument in his hands again and the look in his brown eyes was cautious and concerned. At the sight of the 37

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metal and rubber contraption, Elaina felt all her fear rushing back and she clenched her cheeks together instinctively. “Rafe, please,” she begged raggedly. “Please don’t put that thing inside me.” “I must, Elaina.” He rubbed a soothing circle over the small of her back with one hand. “You are cleansed within but you must be rinsed as well. Besides, I need to use something larger than my finger to open you.” “Rafael needs to stretch you a little, honey,” Thorn told her, stroking her hair. “You have to be able to take a cock up your ass before the night is over. You need to work up to it.” As he spoke, his own rigid length brushed against her cheek again and Elaina realized that he was hard from watching Rafe finger and prepare her ass. Which one of them, she wondered dimly. Which one of them was going to fuck her ass? Thorn’s cock was longer than Rafe’s from what she had seen, but it seemed not quite as thick. Trying not to think about what was about to happen behind her, she wrapped her fingers around his heated length, feeling him throb like a hot bar of iron inside her hand. Thorn hissed in a breath. “Okay, darlin’, you need to hold on to me, you do it,” he said, his harsh voice rougher than usual. “Just try to relax and let Rafael in.” Elaina stroked him, concentrating on the thick length of cock in her hand as the cold metal of the nozzle first touched her tight entrance then penetrated deep into her ass. She rubbed her cheek against the satiny flesh of Thorn’s shaft and lapped the droplets of pre-cum that gathered on the broad, plum-shaped head as Rafe filled her with warm water, rinsing the last of the soap from inside her back passage. “God, darlin’!” Thorn’s deep voice was ragged as she sucked the head of his cock into her mouth, exploring the small slit with her tongue, trying not to think about the thick invader in her ass, stretching her, getting her ready. Elaina tried to concentrate on sucking Thorn’s cock, on exploring the thick length of his shaft, but she couldn’t help but notice that Rafe’s plan seemed to be working. She felt herself opening, felt more able to accommodate more and more of the silver nozzle working its way into her body. She still didn’t think she’d be able to take anything as 38

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large as a cock, but there was no doubt that his treatment was loosening her, getting her ready. And it felt good too—good in ways she didn’t want to admit. To be so open, so vulnerable and helpless. How could she want to be penetrated this way? How could she submit so easily to being fucked in the ass? And yet the heat and pleasure continued to build as he pressed deeper and deeper into her. If only he would touch her pussy, she felt sure she would go off like a rocket. But he seemed to be avoiding it carefully, as though he didn’t want her to come yet. Elaina closed her eyes and took as much of Thorn’s cock into her mouth as she could, sucking and lapping at the thick shaft filling her throat, trying to drive the feelings away. She loved the salty, slightly bitter taste of his pre-cum and the warm, musky smell of his skin. Never would she have believed she could be in this position, taking Thorn’s thick cock down her throat while Rafe penetrated her ass and yet she had never felt so alive, so incredibly wanton and free. The blond vampire moaned low in his throat and she felt his large hands caress her head, his fingers threading through her hair to hold her in place while he fucked her mouth gently. His hard thighs rubbed against her hardened nipples as he moved and Elaina thought her pussy had never been so wet and ready to be filled and fucked. God, but she needed a cock inside her! Needed it so badly, if only Rafe would touch her…if only he would rub her clit, just once… “Enough.” Rafe removed the silver nozzle and stroked the cheeks of her ass lovingly. “Enough, my darling,” he said, his deep voice filled with yearning. “Now we must move from the bathroom to the bedroom. The second part of the ceremony is at hand.” Thorn let go of her hair and Elaina lifted her head with some difficulty. The blond vampire’s cock was still throbbingly hard and she wondered if part of this ceremony was delaying sexual gratification as long as possible. Then she was out of the bath and Rafe and Thorn were on either side of her, drying her with the large fluffy towels. Rafe patted gently between her legs but didn’t press hard enough to give her any relief and

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Elaina was almost tempted to beg him to make her come. But she bit her tongue, preferring to wait and see how things played out. Rafe’s bedroom was even larger than the bathroom with a wide king-sized bed on a raised dais in the middle. There were no windows in the room and once he lit a bank of warmly scented candles on either side of the bed, it reminded Elaina of being in a wellfurnished cave. The comforter on the bed was a deep midnight blue and Elaina knew that the silk sheets beneath it matched. She had slept there before, for weeks after the attack, curled against Rafe’s side as he soothed away the nightmares. She gave Thorn a wondering sidelong glance as they entered the room together and he returned it with a serious look of his own. Never had she ever expected to be in this situation with the man who had hurt her but it seemed almost natural now. Certainly she wasn’t as frightened of Thorn as she had been, though she was still more comfortable with Rafe. But she felt a spot in her heart growing for the tall vampire with his wild tangle of tawny hair and for the first time she felt sorry that she might never see him again after tonight. “Come, friend of my heart, love of my heart,” Rafe invited them both. “Join me on the bed and let the ceremony continue.” Elaina settled on the edge of the bed with one of the fluffy pillows behind her back for support but Thorn hesitated. “Wait.” The big blond vampire stopped Rafe with a touch on his arm. “I need to make amends to you before we go any further, Rafael.” Rafe reached up to cup the other man’s strong jaw in his palm. “Oh Thorn,” he murmured. “There is no need, my friend, though I am touched by your gesture.” “There is a need,” Thorn insisted roughly. “You know the ceremony calls for amends to be made if any of the participants has wronged another. I wronged you and Elaina both. I need to make it up, Rafael.” “Very well.” Rafe stroked Thorn’s cheek again where a muscle was clenching in his strong jaw. “I will not deny that I long to feel your mouth on my cock, to feel you sucking me deep in your throat and swallowing my cum.” 40

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“God!” Thorn pressed forward, obviously enflamed by the graphic words, and took Rafe’s mouth in a hungry kiss. Rafe gave as good as he was getting, pressing close to Thorn’s flat stomach until their hard cocks ground together. Elaina watched, wide-eyed, wondering if she was about to find out what making amends meant. At last Thorn broke the kiss. “Sit on the bed,” he commanded hoarsely pushing the dark-haired vampire toward the edge of the king-sized mattress. “Spread your thighs so I can suck you right.” Rafe complied, sitting beside Elaina and opening his legs. Thorn knelt between Rafe’s legs much as Elaina had been between his earlier, and pressed a long, openmouthed kiss to the inside of Rafe’s thigh. Rafe sighed and stroked the mane of tawny hair, urging his friend on. “Wait…” Elaina couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Despite the numerous kisses the men had exchanged and the sensual way Rafe had fisted Thorn’s cock until he came, she still couldn’t believe he was willing to allow the other man to suck him. “Are you really going to let him…I mean…” She shook her head, looking back and forth from Rafe who was looking at her quietly to Thorn who was kneeling between his thighs with Rafe’s dark erection cupped loosely in his large fist. “What is it, Elaina my darling?” Rafe asked. “Are you troubled by the sight of love between friends?” She shook her head. “I guess…I guess I just don’t understand.” “What’s there to understand?” Thorn’s voice was hoarse with need. “I hurt Rafael. I need to show him I love him—that I care about him. That I’m sorry for the pain I caused.” Rafe smiled and cupped her cheek in one palm. “And what could be more natural or right than that, my darling? Thorn wishes to pleasure me to show his love. So why should he not take my cock between those beautiful lips?” He cupped Thorn’s cheek with his other hand and stroked the other man’s full mouth lovingly with his thumb. “Why should I not fuck his mouth?” he asked. “Fuck him until I shoot my cum down 41

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his willing throat? It will simply be an act of love from one friend to another. Do you understand now?” Swallowing hard, Elaina nodded. Her mind might not quite understand what Rafe was saying, but her body certainly did. She felt a throbbing ache between her legs, a fresh wetness at the thought of watching Thorn suck Rafe’s thick cock until Rafe came down his throat. If anyone had asked her before tonight if she thought she’d want to watch the man she loved be orally pleasured by another man, she would have turned on them in anger and disgust. And yet, as Thorn sat between Rafe’s thighs, waiting to begin, all she could see was the pure masculine beauty before her. The tawny blond head bending toward the dark cock seemed right somehow in ways she couldn’t put into words. “Very well.” Rafe stroked his friend’s mane of hair again. “Let us begin. The night is short and the ceremony is long.” He caressed Thorn’s lips once more. “And I long to feel your mouth around my cock.” With a low moan, Thorn leaned forward and engulfed Rafe’s dusky erection at once. There was no hesitation in his action that Elaina could see—only raw hunger. A need so great there was no other way to slake it than to perform this intimate kiss. She watched intently, unable to take her eyes from the sight of the large blond vampire taking Rafe’s thick cock down his throat. Being basically a shy person, Elaina hadn’t had a lot of experience with oral sex of any kind. Before Rafe she had dated only three or four other men and Thorn’s was only the second cock she had ever sucked. So she watched with fascination, noting that a man giving a blowjob apparently went about it much differently than a woman did. Thorn didn’t spend any time licking or kissing or exploring the slit at the top of his friend’s cock with his tongue. Instead, he took Rafe’s pulsing shaft into his mouth completely, being careful not to scrape it with his fangs, until his lips were wrapped around its base. Then he drew back slowly, allowing the thick cock to leave his mouth

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in a long, sensuous slide before pressing forward again to engulf his friend’s cock once more. Rafe threw back his head and moaned hoarsely, obviously enjoying the feel of his friend’s lips wrapped around the base of his cock. “Yes, friend of my heart,” he murmured, threading his strong fingers through the tangled tawny mane. “Suck me. Suck my cock and take it all—all that I have to give.” Elaina felt a shiver of pure lust run through her as Rafe picked up Thorn’s rhythm, fucking the other man’s mouth gently but deeply. It was more than an expression of their friendship, she realized suddenly. Thorn had been waiting to do this for his friend for a long time and Rafe had been years, possibly centuries, in coming around to the idea. She wondered what had caused the rift in their friendship in the first place. Had Thorn wanted to make love to Rafe and had Rafe refused? If they truly had been taken and made into vampires at the same time as Thorn had told her, Elaina could see how the blond vampire might want to cement their bond and she felt privileged to witness the act of love between them. In sharing their bodies, they were sharing their souls. Thorn wasn’t only sucking Rafe’s cock, he was offering his undying love and friendship, strengthening a bond between them that had been almost dissolved. It was almost a tangible thing, the love and need flowing between the two men. It was evident with every gesture they made and she watched with awe and desire the beautiful sight before her. Watched as the big blond man knelt at his friend’s feet and sucked the darker man’s throbbing cock while Rafe thrust into his mouth, feeding his shaft between the sweet lips that were working to make him come. And at last he was coming. Elaina could tell by the way his hips bucked forward, seeking to get as much of his cock inside Thorn’s mouth as he could, and then held steady, obviously pulsing cum down the other man’s throat. “God,” Rafe gasped, his hands fisting in the blond hair. “Take it, Thorn, take it all. Take all of my cock. All of my cum.”

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For his part, Thorn’s strong throat moved rapidly and Elaina knew he was swallowing, drinking the cum Rafe pumped down his throat with beautiful, eager abandon. He gripped his friend’s muscular thighs and pressed close, as though trying to get even more of the throbbing shaft into his mouth as Rafe came, pulsing out his love and affection, healing their friendship by allowing this intimate kiss. She felt an answering pulse between her own thighs as Thorn pulled back at last, licking his lips to catch the last traces of Rafe’s cream. Then he turned his head to look at her, a secretive smile playing around his broad mouth. “Your turn, darlin’,” he said. “I need to make amends to you too.”

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Chapter Five Elaina felt herself go cold all over. Surely he didn’t mean… She shook her head, backing away from the edge of the huge bed to its center. The entire time she’d watched Thorn suck Rafe’s cock, she hadn’t imagined he would want to pleasure her orally too. As much as she was beginning to care for him, it was still a frightening thought. She had never had a man want to kiss her there before, to taste her, and to trust Thorn to do it seemed to be too much—too soon, too fast. “It is all right, my darling.” Rafe was suddenly behind her, pulling her back so that he was resting against the headboard and she was lying with her back to his chest between his spread thighs. She felt his warm, muscular arms go around her, soothing and comforting at the same time. “Thorn only wishes to pleasure you as he pleasured me. It is the Night Dweller way of asking forgiveness for past wrongs.” Elaina shook her head. “It’s just, I’ve never…I mean, no one has ever…” “Hasn’t anyone ever eaten that sweet little pussy of yours before, honey?” Thorn asked incredulously. He sat on the bed in front of her and Rafe and reached out to stroke her naked thigh. Elaina clenched her legs together fearfully at his touch and shook her head. “Really?” He couldn’t seem to believe it. “No,” she whispered. His hand, large and warm, lingered on the ticklish underside of her knee, making her want to squirm. She was very aware of how hot and wet she had gotten between her legs as she watched the two men together and it made her nervous to think of Thorn getting so close to her there. To think of him licking her, tasting her… There was a look of sorrow in the blond vampire’s burning red eyes. “I can understand how you feel, darlin’,” he said, his grating voice soft. “I know you’re probably still a little scared of me but I need to show you that you don’t have to be. I 45

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wanna prove to you how sorry I am for the harm I did. Wanna eat your sweet pussy until you come all over my face. It’s the only way I can make things right between us.” He stroked the outside of her thigh gently, sending fire through her veins. “Please, darlin’, let me do this. Let me make amends to you.” “I…I don’t know.” Elaina could feel her resolve weakening but it was still a frightening prospect. Behind her, Rafe spoke softly into her ear. “I will be here with you the entire time, my darling,” he said softly. “You need only lie back against me and relax. Remember, I will never allow any harm to come to you.” “Well…” She could feel the muscles of her legs and thighs trembling with the need to open and realized she wanted to do this. Or rather, she wanted to let Thorn do it to her. With a sigh, she leaned back against the warm, muscular chest behind her and let Rafe cradle her head on his shoulder. Rafe loved her. Rafe would protect her. Not that she felt she needed much protection from Thorn anymore but still, it was comforting to feel his solid presence behind her and hear his soft voice in her ear. “That’s good, honey.” Thorn knelt in front of her, his throbbing cock attesting to the fact that he so wanted to do this and stroked her trembling thighs. “Just let yourself relax against Rafael so I can reach you.” Then his large, warm hands were parting her knees, urging her to open herself for him. Elaina let a trembling sigh slip from between her lips as she allowed Thorn to part her legs. When he opened her thighs, she could feel the lips of her pussy spreading open as well, showing him her slippery heated inner cunt, letting him know how aroused she was. She knew that her soft, bare little pussy lips were swollen with need and slick with desire and she didn’t think her sex had ever been this wet and ready. But she was afraid to let herself think what she was ready for. “Good girl,” Thorn murmured, bending down to get between her thighs. Then he placed a hot, openmouthed kiss on the apex of her sex, making her gasp and almost try to close her legs again.

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“Relax, my darling,” Rafe murmured in her ear. The strong arms wrapped around her moved and soon he was cupping her naked breasts, plucking gently at her stiff nipples. “Spread your thighs for Thorn,” he whispered in a soothing voice. “Let him see how hot and wet you are. Let him taste your need and feast on your desire.” Elaina bit her lower lip as the warm feeling of pleasure from his hands on her breasts mingled with the desire and anxiety caused by Thorn’s lips on her naked mound. Her pussy was so wet and swollen that when she looked down, she could see that it was opening on its own, showing the hot pink pearl of her clit and her slippery depths. Could she really do this? Could she really let Thorn spread open her pussy lips and taste her? Her heart was jumping in her chest and she didn’t know the answer. Thorn placed another soft kiss against her pussy, this one a little lower, and for a moment she felt his hot tongue flicker out and tease the side of her clit. It made her gasp and moan, pressing her pelvis up to his mouth in a mute offering that Thorn took eagerly. As he gathered her buttocks into his large hands and lifted her pelvis to bury his face between her thighs, Elaina could hear Rafe murmuring encouragement in her ear. “Very good, my darling,” he said softly as she moaned and thrust her hips forward. “Spread your cunt open for Thorn. Let him suck your clit and thrust his tongue deep into your pussy. Let him pleasure you as he needs to.” Elaina moaned as the blond vampire did exactly as Rafe said, sucking her clit between his lips and tracing magical patterns around the sensitive bundle of nerves with the tip of his tongue. At the same time, Rafe was twisting her nipples, pulling and tugging at the sensitive tips of her breasts to enhance the sensation of the other man’s mouth on her sex. She arched her back, feeling the scratch of Rafe’s chest hair against her bare back, and gasped as Thorn moved lower and began to tongue-fuck her, thrusting deep as though he was trying to map some secret part of her soul with each press of his tongue inside her. She could feel his fangs pressed against her sensitive,

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swollen flesh and yet he somehow managed not to pierce her skin, though at that point she wouldn’t have cared if he had bitten her. “Please,” she cried. “Please, oh God, yes…yes.” She could feel herself building toward orgasm once more and by this time she was on fire to come. She needed release so badly she thought she might scream. Winding her fingers into Thorn’s thick tawny hair, she pressed her pelvis up wantonly, offering herself without reserve. She didn’t care anymore if it was wrong to let one man cradle her in his arms and stroked her ripe nipples while another man spread open her pussy lips and tongue-fucked her hot, needy cunt. She only knew that she needed to come—needed to come badly. She was thinking that if only she could have a little more of Thorn’s tongue inside her, if only he would suck her clit one more time she would come…come so hard all over his face just as he had promised… But just as she was teetering on the edge of the abyss, Thorn pulled back, leaving her shaking with need. Elaina moaned with frustration and fisted her hands at her thighs. What was going on now? Why had he stopped? “What…why?” She was panting, almost unable to get the words out. Thorn shook his head. “Sorry, honey, not my idea to stop. It was Rafe’s” Elaina twisted around to look at the darker vampire who was still cradling her in his arms. She wondered if this plan to torture her by delaying her orgasm was a prearranged deal or if the two vampires somehow had some mental connection between them. Rafe looked back at her, his deep brown eyes serious. “Forgive me, my darling,” he said softly, stroking her cheek. “But I had to stop Thorn. You see, now when you are on the brink of completion is the time to prepare you further. I want your pleasure to be so great that you feel no pain when you are opened.” “Opened?” Elaina stared at him, uncomprehending. She was still panting from the pleasure and denial Thorn had put her through and she needed to come so much there was a red haze over her vision. Her nipples were tight from being twisted and pinched 48

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and her pussy was so wet and swollen she felt like the barest touch would send her into orbit. So what the hell was Rafe talking about? “Yes, opened.” Reaching to one side, he pulled something from behind one of the fluffy pillows that made Elaina’s eyes widen and her breath come short. In his hand was a long, slender black vibrator. “Rafe…Rafe, please…” Elaina was shaking her head, her eyes never leaving the long, sleek shape. It was thicker than the silver nozzle he had put into her earlier, much thicker, though still not nearly as thick as either his or Thorn’s cock. “My darling, do not fear me.” Rafe stroked her cheek lovingly. “It is for your own good that I do this. You must be stretched, Elaina. You must be opened. And I promise that when you have taken every last inch of this into your soft, sweet ass, Thorn and I will make you come as you have never come before.” He nodded at the black vibrator in his hand and then continued, a little sternly. “But you must take it all, my darling, just as you must take all of the cock that will enter you later tonight when we complete the ceremony. Whichever one of us fucks your ass must be buried to the hilt inside you when he pumps you full of his come. Do you understand?” Elaina shook her head, unable to answer. She looked at Thorn for confirmation but he was nodding in agreement. “It’s true, honey,” he said softly, reaching up to stroke her cheek. “Both of us have to be balls deep in your sweet pussy and ass when we come. Every inch of both our cocks has to be all the way inside you when we shoot. So you need to be ready to take us.” “But…but…” She shook her head but Rafe was already moving, repositioning her on her hands and knees with her ass in the air and her breasts hanging down like ripe fruit. “Thorn,” he directed softly, stroking the small of her back in large, comforting circles. “You must take my place and hold Elaina while I open her. Suck her nipples and

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spread open her pussy lips to stroke her cunt. Fuck her with your fingers if you need to. She must feel only pleasure while I do this.” Thorn slid smoothly into position in front of her so that Elaina was leaning against his broad chest with her ass high in the air. “It’s all right, honey,” he whispered roughly and bent to take her mouth in a slow, deep kiss. Elaina tasted her own flavor on his full lips and lost herself for a moment in the erotic act of licking her own juices from his sensuous mouth. Then she felt Rafe positioning himself behind her and panic flooded her brain. She couldn’t imagine taking every inch of the long black vibrator into her ass, couldn’t even begin to think about taking half of it. And yet Rafe was demanding that she open herself for him, that she give him free access to fuck her with a foreign object until he was satisfied that she was ready to take a cock in her back passage. Thorn must have felt her tense up because he broke the kiss and murmured in her ear, “Relax, darlin’. Rafael won’t hurt you. He just needs to open you up a little is all.” Then one large, warm hand was twisting her nipples while the other slid down her body to cup her naked mound. “Oh God,” Elaina muttered as Rafe parted her legs and began rubbing some kind of warm, slippery gel into her tightly puckered entrance. She didn’t know how she could bear it and yet she knew she must. She must open herself completely so that when the time came, whichever one of the men who was fucking her ass could get all the way inside her to shoot his cum. Again she wondered which man it would be. Which one of them would fuck her virgin ass and fill her full of his cum? Then the sensation of the sleek black vibrator sliding into her body drove all other thoughts from her head and she had to bite her lip to keep from gasping. “It’s all right, honey. It’s all right.” Thorn’s deep voice was reassuring and he caught her eyes and held them with his own as inch after thick inch of the long black vibrator filled her. “Don’t think about it,” he told Elaina softly and she felt the warm hand that was cupping her mound spread open her pussy lips so that one long finger could explore her slippery depths. “Think about this,” Thorn told her, sliding his

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fingertip teasingly over her swollen clit. “Think about how hard you’re gonna come in just a minute when Rafael fills you up.” “God!” Elaina squeezed her eyes shut for a minute, trying to concentrate on the tingling electrical pleasure in her cunt instead of the stretching sensations in her ass. The first few inches of the vibrator had been easy to take but it gradually got thicker as it neared the base. Rafe had slowed his entrance but not completely stopped it and she wondered how much more she could take. “Almost halfway there, my darling,” she heard him say soothingly as he entered her slowly with the black sex toy. “Open your legs a little wider and try to relax.” Elaina moaned. Only halfway there? Already her ass felt like it might never recover and she didn’t know if she could take the entire vibrator as Rafe seemed to want her to. If not for the pleasurable sensations of Thorn fingering her pussy, she wouldn’t have been able to stand it at all. Trying to take her mind off what was happening, she looked up at Thorn and asked the question that had been hovering in the back of her mind all night. “Who?” she gasped, trying not to tighten up as yet another thick inch of the slick black vibrator penetrated her ass. “Who what, honey?” Thorn said soothingly, his fingers never stopping their maddening movements in her slippery pussy. “Who, I mean, which one of you is going to…going to…” Elaina shook her head, finding it difficult to talk clearly while she was being penetrated from behind. Thorn’s confusion cleared. “Which one of us is going to fuck your sweet virgin ass?” he asked, obviously following her train of thought. Elaina nodded, unable to answer. She could feel Rafe sliding another inch of the vibrator into her tight back passage. Surely he must be three fourths of the way there by now, shouldn’t he?

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Thorn stroked her cheek and she felt two long, thick fingers slide down from her clit to enter her heated cunt as another inch of vibrator entered her ass. “Whichever one of us fits the best, honey,” he told her softly. Elaina shook her head, uncertain of what she was hearing. “You mean you’re going to…both of you are going to…to try?” Thorn nodded. “Oh yeah, darlin’. We have to be sure before we commit to the end of the ceremony. It would be bad to get halfway through and realize it wasn’t workin’. Understand?” He kissed her lightly as he continued to finger-fuck her pussy. “Don’t worry, honey, we’re both just gonna slide inside you once before we really begin to see who fits the best. And it’ll be one at a time, to start with, anyway.” “R-really?” Elaina gasped as the vibrator stretched her further. Thorn steadily stroked into her pussy, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her. “Sure, honey. We’ll do the same with your pussy too. Both Rafael and I will have to try our cocks in you, once in your pussy and once in your ass, all the way to the hilt or as close as we can get. That’s how we decide who gets what position. But don’t worry, it’s not really fucking until we come in you. And we won’t do that until the end of the ceremony.” Elaina closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying not to see the picture Thorn’s words brought to mind. She hadn’t imagined when she agreed to this that she would have to have both men inside both her pussy and her ass. She wondered what position they would want her in to try her out. Would she lie on her back and let them fill her or stay with her ass in the air and her legs spread, waiting for both thick cocks to pierce her to the hilt? To her shame, the thought made her hotter than ever. She could feel her pussy juicing around Thorn’s invading fingers as she wondered what his cock would feel like inside her there and once again the build toward orgasm had begun. “Almost there, my darling,” she heard Rafe say. “Only one more inch. Open yourself, Elaina. Take the last little bit and I promise to make you come.”

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Elaina dropped her head to Thorn’s broad chest and moaned. She spread her legs, trying to be open enough. Trying to please the man she loved. And despite the thick length of the sex toy inside her or maybe because of it, she felt herself once more walking the razor thin wire of pleasure that meant she was close to coming. “One more inch, honey,” Thorn whispered in her ear, his fingers redoubling their efforts inside her wet, open cunt. “Just take one more inch and then you’ll come. Can you come for me, Elaina? Can you come while I stroke your wet little pussy and Rafe fucks your ass?” His dirty words along with the intense sensations in her pussy and ass were almost too much. With a low moan, Elaina felt herself beginning to come. And just then, two things happened simultaneously. Rafe pressed the last thick inch of the sex toy into her violated ass and then he flipped it on, sending vibrations of pleasure shooting through her entire body at once. Gasping and crying, Elaina felt herself falling over the edge of orgasm at last. She trembled and moaned as the vibrator worked deep in her body and Thorn buried his fingers in her cunt and strummed her clit with his thumb. She couldn’t ever remember coming so hard and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, seeing stars behind her eyelids as the orgasm shook her. “Oh God…oh God!” she moaned, unable to say anything else. “Please, oh please, yes…” “Good girl,” she heard Rafe murmuring from behind and the long black vibrator was switched off and slowly withdrawn from her protesting ass. “Such a good girl to take every last inch, my darling.” “God, Elaina.” Thorn’s voice was hoarse as he kissed her face, his fingers still buried in her sex. “You’re so beautiful when you come,” he whispered to her, holding her gaze with his own when she looked up at him. “I just wish…” “W-wish what?” Elaina whispered, barely able to speak, she was breathing so hard. The orgasm had rocked her to the foundation and yet she still wondered about what 53

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Thorn wished. She loved Rafe to distraction but the spot in her heart for his friend was growing and more than ever she wished tonight’s ceremony wouldn’t be the only time they made love. Thorn shook his head and kissed her cheek gently. “Never mind, darlin’. Doesn’t matter,” he murmured. Then, as Rafe finished withdrawing the toy, he pulled her down to his chest. “Rest a minute, honey,” he murmured. “Ceremony’s not over yet.”

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Chapter Six It took her a little while to recover, but when she did, Elaina found she was still almost as wet and swollen as she had been before she came. Her pussy was slippery and ready and her back passage had been thoroughly opened by the black vibrator. She lay on the bed with her head pillowed on Thorn’s chest and tried not to think about what came next. “My darling.” Rafe kissed her cheek and she turned to see him looking at her intently. “I know that Thorn has told you what must be done before we complete the ceremony. We must try to see which of us fits better inside you. Because we have been preparing you for this moment for so long, I think we should try your sweet ass to begin with. Which of us would you like to fill you first?” “All…all right.” Elaina looked from Rafe to Thorn and back again. As she had observed earlier, Thorn’s cock was a bit longer that Rafe’s but it wasn’t quite as thick. She tried to compare their thickness in her mind with the black vibrator Rafe had used on her. Finally she made her decision. “Thorn first,” she murmured, reaching out to stroke his throbbing shaft with one hand. The blond vampire gasped and leaned into her touch. “Such soft little hands,” he murmured hoarsely. Elaina smiled and withdrew her hand to look anxiously at Rafe. “I think…I hope he can get me ready…prepare me a little more. Is that all right?” She had loved the dark-haired vampire for almost a year and she wanted him in her body but his girth frightened her a little. But she needn’t have worried that he would misunderstand her choice. “It is all right, my darling.” He smiled and stroked her cheek gently. “I understand how it is. And I love you for being willing to open yourself to my friend.” 55

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“He’s my friend too now,” Elaina said, realizing it was true. She gave Thorn a tentative smile. “I want you in me now,” she said softly. “How do you want to do this?” “Like this.” Thorn lay on his back and motioned for her to mount him. “Better control this way,” he explained. “And Rafe can watch while I fill your sweet ass to make sure we’re doin’ okay.” “But first we must ease the way.” Rafe bent her over and Elaina felt a cool, slippery substance being worked into her tightly puckered rosebud. “Very good,” Rafe muttered at last after stroking into her back passage with two slippery fingers until Elaina moaned. “I believe you are ready to be fucked, my darling.” “Yes,” Elaina whispered and leaned up to kiss him on the mouth, grateful for his care. Then Thorn was pulling her to him, obviously eager to be inside her. “I still don’t understand though,” she said as he positioned her so that her back was to him, while she straddled his thighs. “Why does…I mean, why do you have to be…” “Why must we be all the way inside you when we come for the ceremony to work?” Rafe finished her thought. “I am not certain, my darling. I only know that it will not work otherwise. If even an inch of my cock remains outside your body when I shoot my cum inside you, we will fail to bring Thorn into the light. And the same is true for him.” “It’s true,” Thorn said, and she felt him spreading her thighs and positioning the head of his cock against her slippery back passage. “We have to be balls deep inside you, honey, just like I said before. So are you ready to let me in?” Elaina turned her head to catch his eyes and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She never would have believed even a day before that she could allow herself to trust anyone to fill her ass with his cock, much less Thorn. But her feelings for him had grown exponentially over the last few hours and she found that she was eager to feel him inside her now, fucking her ass as deeply as he could. “Good girl,” he whispered hoarsely. “So sweet and beautiful. Open yourself for me, honey. Just spread your thighs and let me ride your hot little ass.” 56

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Elaina moaned at his dirty words and felt herself relaxing as the broad head of his cock slipped past her tight barrier and his shaft slid deep inside her. “God, Elaina,” Thorn gasped, his hands tightening on her hips as he fucked into her. “So tight, honey. So hot.” He was thicker than the black vibrator but she was still betting he wasn’t nearly as thick as Rafe and it was with a feeling of unspeakable relief that Elaina felt him slide all the way inside her, filling her ass completely with his cock. “Very good,” she heard Rafe say and he stroked her cheek gently with one hand. “You have no idea how beautiful you look, Elaina my darling,” he said. “Sitting here with Thorn’s cock buried in your tight little ass. It touches me deeply to know that you are willing to let yourself be filled and fucked by both of us at once simply to help my friend.” “Love you, Rafe,” Elaina whispered, her vocal cords almost locked up with the pleasure of having her virgin ass filled for the first time. “I feel…for you both. Wanted to help.” “And you shall help, my darling.” Rafe stroked her cheek again as she rocked on Thorn’s cock, feeling it drive deep into her ass. “But first we must see if I fit into your back passage as well as Thorn.” “He’s right—everything has to be perfect and Rafe might be a better fit than me.” Reluctantly, Thorn withdrew from her and went to the bathroom to clean up. “Now, my darling,” Rafe murmured when the blond vampire returned. “It is time for me to try your ass. Up on your knees for me now.” Elaina obediently got up on her hands and knees once more. She felt lost without Thorn to hold her in place, but the tall blond vampire was watching intently as Rafe spread her legs once more and prepared her. Again she felt the warm, slippery lube at her puckered entrance and this time Rafe actually squirted a good amount of it inside her. She moaned and squirmed at the hot sensation and then she felt his hands on her hips and the moist blunt probe of his cock was pressing against her ass.

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From the start it was almost more than she could take. Elaina bit her lip and spread her trembling thighs, trying to be open enough as Rafe penetrated her, sliding inch after inch of his thick shaft into her ass. But his cock was much thicker than the black vibrator and she felt tears spring to her eyes and he pulled back and fucked forward in an effort to get into her to the hilt. “Stop.” Thorn’s deep voice was commanding and she looked up to see that he was looking down at her with concern in his red eyes. “Don’t go any further, Rafael,” he said, reaching down to wipe her cheeks. “I think you’re gonna be too much. How deep are you?” “I still lack several inches of being all the way inside her,” Rafe admitted and Elaina felt his warm hands rubbing soothing circles on her lower back. “Forgive me, darling,” he murmured, beginning to withdraw. “But I fear that your back passage is, as yet, too tight for me.” “No.” Elaina shook her head, blinking back the tears. “No, I want you inside me— all the way inside me. It hurts but…but it feels good too. Please, Rafe, don’t give up.” Rafe stroked her hips. “Very well, but if it begins to pain you too much you have only to tell me, Elaina.” “I know,” she whispered and bit her lip to hold back a moan as Rafe pulled back a little and began the slow, inevitable slide into her body once more. She could feel the ring of muscle stretching as he entered her and she gripped the comforter in both her hands, struggling to let him in. He was so big, so thick, she almost couldn’t believe it was possible. But at last, with one final thrust, she felt his narrow hips come flush with her ass cheeks and knew he was all the way into her. “I can’t believe you did it.” Thorn’s harsh voice was surprised. “Can’t believe she took all of you—you’re such a thick son of a bitch.” “She is most determined. And most accommodating.” Rafe reached between her spread legs and stroked her open pussy gently, teasing her enflamed clit until Elaina moaned and trembled. “You are such a good girl, my darling,” he murmured, still 58

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holding himself steady, buried to the root in her ass. “Such a good girl to take all my thick cock into your sweet ass.” “So we both fit there, but I think you’re harder to take,” Thorn observed dryly, reaching down to wipe at the moisture on Elaina’s cheeks. “I think it’s time to try your pussy now, darlin’,” he told her. “Very true.” Rafe withdrew carefully so as not to cause her any more pain and Elaina gasped as she felt him go. Never had she felt so full and there had been undeniable pleasure in having the man she loved buried to the hilt inside her but there was pain as well. “I will return in a moment,” Rafe said as he headed for the bathroom. “In the meantime, you must decide which of us you wish to fill your sweet pussy first, Elaina.” Elaina collapsed on the bed when he left and Thorn put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, honey,” he said comfortingly, dropping a soft kiss on her forehead. “Rafael always was a thick son of a bitch and your ass is still getting broken in.” “It will be easier after we are bonded. Our bodies will accommodate each other in almost any act of love without pain,” Rafe promised her as he came back to the bed. “And now, my dear, have you decided which of us you want to try your pussy?” Elaina nodded and gave him a trembling smile. She had been wanting Rafe to make love to her for over a year. For all that time she had been waiting for him to give in, to mark her, to make love to her, but he had been unwilling to take the risk that they might form a permanent bond. Now that he was finally willing to risk tying her to him for eternity, her wait was finally over. She wanted to feel him and only him inside her— even if only for a moment. “You,” she murmured, leaning forward to kiss his full lips. “Please, Rafe, I want you inside me so much.” “And I want you as well,” Rafe murmured, positioning her so that she was lying on her back with a pillow under her hips. “You have no idea how long I have yearned to 59

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fill you, my darling,” he told her as he moved to get between her hips. “No idea how hard it makes me to think of fucking your sweet cunt.” Elaina bit back a moan at his words and spread her thighs for him, welcoming him inside. She looked up and saw Thorn’s burning red eyes trained on her wet, open cunt and the thought of him watching as Rafe penetrated her made her even hotter. “So beautiful,” Rafe murmured, rubbing the broad head of his cock over her wet, open folds. Elaina bit her lip as she felt him add his moisture to hers, coating her unprotected pussy with his thick pre-cum. She knew that vampires couldn’t carry any diseases or get a human pregnant, but this was still the first time she’d ever had a naked cock enter her and the thought of being fucked without a condom was undeniably exciting. “Spread your cunt for me now, Elaina,” Rafe instructed her softly. “Let me see how well my cock fits inside you, my darling.” Elaina did as he instructed, trying not to moan as his broad head breached her entrance and his pulsing shaft started to fill her pussy. Rafe was thick, she thought, biting her lip. Every bit as thick as he had felt when he entered her back passage. She couldn’t believe how full she felt as inch after thick inch of his cock slipped inside her open cunt. Even though her pussy wasn’t virgin, she still felt the same stretching sensation she’d felt when he had finally slid his cock all the way into her ass. At last Rafe was all the way into her. “There, my darling,” he murmured as she felt the broad head of his cock kiss the entrance to her womb and knew he could go no farther. Looking down between them, she could see that his narrow muscular hips were flush against hers and she could feel his heavy sac brushing against her sensitive ass. “No problem there,” Thorn, who had been watching intently from beside her, murmured. “Better try a few practice thrusts just to be sure though.” “Indeed.” Rafe pulled almost all the way out, so that only the head of his thick cock remained inside her and then thrust in again hard, filling her completely in a single driving push. 60

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Elaina couldn’t help herself. Being entered and opened again and again while being denied an orgasm was making her feel crazy with need and desire. She locked her legs around his hips and thrust up to meet him, offering her pussy to his thick cock, crying out at the hot sensations of his shaft hitting bottom inside her as he fucked into her wet depths. Rafe thrust a few more times, sliding deeply into her as he rode her pussy hard and then he reluctantly withdrew. Elaina could have cried from frustration as he left her. Her body needed to come again soon and she was fairly certain that only a few more thrusts would have pushed her over the edge. “Do not cry, my darling.” Rafe stroked her cheek gently. “Soon enough you will be filled with enough cock to satisfy that tight little cunt. But before that time comes, Thorn must try your sweet pussy.” “That’s right.” Thorn smiled at her, his red eyes glowing with heat that no longer frightened her. “Come here, darlin’. I can’t wait to try you out.” He lay on his back and motioned for her to straddle him once more. “Nice and easy, darlin’,” he murmured as she positioned herself so that the broad, plum-shaped head of his cock was right at the entrance to her pussy. “Just lower yourself down and let me fill you up.” Elaina did as he asked, but first she reached between them and spread open her pussy lips with her fingers, wanting to watch as Thorn’s thick shaft entered her. It was an intensely erotic sight, seeing his thick cock slowly slide into her open cunt and Elaina felt herself shift closer to the edge of orgasm as she watched him fill her. “God, that’s beautiful, honey,” Thorn muttered hoarsely as his long cock slid into her. “So hot to watch you fuck yourself on me like that.” If anyone had told her that she would have two separate cocks buried inside her ass and pussy in the space of twenty minutes, Elaina wouldn’t have believed them. And yet the idea that Thorn was filling her where Rafe had just been was undeniably exciting. His shaft wasn’t as thick as Rafe’s and he slid easily into her but when she looked down, she realized that he wasn’t completely inside. 61

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“Mmm, you always were a long one, my friend,” Rafe murmured, watching as Thorn tried to get the last inch of his long cock buried in her pussy. “Fuck into her a few times to see if you can make it work.” Thorn did as directed. Putting his hands firmly on Elaina’s hips, he pulled out and pressed into her again, thrusting hard to try to fill her to the hilt. Elaina gasped and put back her head, enjoying the hot push and pull inside her cunt as Thorn fucked her. And yet she still wasn’t flush against him as she had been with Rafe. Thorn was too long or she was too short for him to get all the way into her. “Enough, honey,” Thorn growled. He pulled out of her at last with obvious reluctance, his red eyes blazing with desire. “I think it’s clear I’m gonna be the one in your sweet little ass,” he told her. He looked up at Rafe. “Do you agree?” Rafe nodded. “Indeed. If you were simply making love to Elaina for pleasure it would not matter that you do not exactly fit. But in this ceremony we must be exactly matched.” He looked at Elaina. “I think it is clear who belongs where. Thorn was made to fuck your ass as I was made to fill your cunt. Finally we are ready to complete the ceremony.” Elaina was ready to cry with frustration. She had been so close to coming again, so close to riding Thorn’s cock to orgasm. By now she was so hot that the idea of having both of them inside her at once was no longer so frightening. She wanted both thick cocks spreading her open—more than that, she needed it. “Please,” she whispered, looking from Thorn to Rafe and back again. “Please, I want you in me. Both of you.” “My darling.” Rafe stroked her cheek, giving her a slow smile full of promise and Thorn’s red eyes burned with the same need Elaina felt inside herself. “We shall continue of course, but in order for this to work we must enter you at the same time.” He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Both…at the same time?” Elaina tried not to be frightened. Having both long, thick cocks spearing into her body, entering her at the exact same time wasn’t what she’d 62

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envisioned when she’d agreed to this. It seemed like it would be much easier to have them enter one at a time instead of both at once and yet she was sure Rafe knew what he was talking about. “Are you okay with that?” Thorn sat on her other side and put an arm around her waist. “I don’t want to hurt you, Elaina. Don’t want to scare you either. So if this is getting to be too much…” He shook his head. “We don’t have to go on.” It touched her to her heart to hear him say that. Knowing how very much he wanted to leave his life as a Dark Wanderer and come into the light, Elaina also knew how much it must have cost him to offer to let her stop now. If Thorn could be brave enough to consider giving up his dream, then she could be brave enough to give it back to him by continuing. “No.” She shook her head decisively, looking from one vampire to the other. “No, I want to go on. So how do we…?” “On your side would be the easiest, I think,” Rafe said, urging her to lie down as he spoke. “Thorn will be behind you and I will face you. And then we will both fill you at once, my darling. And fuck until we fill you full of our cum, both your sweet pussy and your tender ass.” His hot words send a shiver down Elaina’s spine and she lay on her side willingly, her smaller, softer body bracketed on either side by the muscular male forms. She closed her eyes as four arms, two from each side, enclosed her and Rafe began whispering something in a language that sounded vaguely like Latin. To her surprise, Elaina found that after a moment, she could understand the gist of what he was saying. She had certainly never taken any Latin in high school or college— Spanish was a much more practical language to have under your belt in South Florida. So how could she understand Rafe’s words, which were clearly in a foreign tongue? Maybe, she thought, the Gateway Ceremony had already begun to work before either of the men entered her. She felt like they were wrapped in some benign magic and she felt a deep, almost electrical current of connection to Rafe that must be the start of the bond 63

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he had spoken of. Strangely, though, she felt the same connection to Thorn. Could she be imagining or misinterpreting what she was feeling? She didn’t dare interrupt Rafe to ask. Instead she let herself be swept away by the beauty of his flowing words. “Now is the hour between Dark and Light, Now is the Blackest part of Night, Now may the Blind regain their Sight If the Goddess Will it,” he said. Thorn stirred restlessly behind her and Elaina could feel his shaft pressing eagerly between her rounded cheeks to press against her tight ring but he was careful not to breach her back entrance as Rafe continued. “Now we implore the healing Power As to this high and lonely Bower We bring a Pure and Perfect Flower Willing that we Fill it.” Rafe reached between them and lifted her top leg and Elaina looked down in time to see the broad, plum-shaped head of his cock slide between her swollen pussy lips, parting them for his invasion. He came to rest at the entrance of her cunt, the leaking head of his cock pressing gently against her opening but also carefully not breaching her until the right moment. “One to bridge the endless Gap One to act as Guide and Map One the three to Bind and Wrap If the Goddess Will it,” he finished. Then he looked at her, his soft brown eyes filled with emotion. “Elaina,” he almost whispered. “Are you ready?” Elaina licked her lips and tried to answer in an even voice. “Yes,” she murmured. “You have to be completely open so that we may fill both your pussy and your ass utterly, my darling,” Rafe cautioned. “And remember, no matter what happens, do not try to fight it.”

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“I think what Rafael’s tryin’ to say is, no matter what you feel, just relax and let us fuck you. All right, honey?” Thorn’s deep voice rumbled from behind her. Elaina turned her head to see that he was up on one elbow, bending over her with a look of tenderness and concern in his ember-red eyes. “All right,” she whispered, reaching up to cup his cheek. She could feel her heart racing, pounding in her chest as though she was a runner waiting for the starting shot, but the look on both men’s faces calmed her down somewhat. She had never thought to see that gentle look in Thorn’s chiseled face and Rafe’s brown eyes were drowning deep with sympathy and love. So despite the lingering fear of the unknown, she knew she was in good hands. “Beautiful,” Thorn murmured and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “More than beautiful.” Rafe managed to add his kiss to theirs, making it a sweet, three-way embrace. When at last they broke apart, Elaina was panting. “Please, Rafe…Thorn,” she murmured, moving sinuously between them. “I…I don’t want to wait anymore. Can we start?” “Assuredly, my darling.” Rafe kissed her once more and then nodded over her shoulder to Thorn. “Now, friend of my heart, we must fill her together.” Elaina gasped and bit her lower lip as she felt both broad heads pressing against her entrances. And then, as one, both slipped inside her and began to press upward in a slow, inevitable slide. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, unable to believe that she was able to accommodate two thick cocks inside her body at the same time. She felt stretched, filled to the very limit, and the sensations were so intense it was all she could do not to try to get away. But Thorn’s words echoed in her head, no matter what you feel, just relax and let us fuck you, and she managed to hold still, though it was a struggle to be so open for two cocks at once. At last Elaina felt both throbbing shafts reach the end of their journey simultaneously. She could feel Thorn’s lean hips flush against her buttocks and knew his long pole was completely buried in her. At the same time, she felt the broad head of 65

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Rafe’s cock press hard against the entrance to her womb and knew he could go no farther. The knowledge that she was completely filled and that both thick cocks were inside her, leaking pre-cum in her unprotected pussy and ass, was almost too much for Elaina. Her breath came in harsh little pants as she lay open between the two men and her heart was thudding in her ears so loudly she could barely hear herself think. She couldn’t believe that she was spread naked between two huge vampires, her back arched, her achingly hard nipples thrust out and both her cunt and ass stuffed with cock, preparing to let herself be fucked. “Relax, my darling.” Rafe twisted her nipples with one hand while he supported her leg with the other. “Do not fear us. Thorn and I will fill you completely tonight but we will not harm you.” His voice was slightly rough with passion, with the effort of holding back from fucking her immediately. “Yeah, relax, honey.” Thorn pressed hot, tender kisses into the sensitive skin at the back of her neck, his deep voice also ragged. “Just let yourself be open for our cocks. The more open you can be, the easier it’ll be for us to get into you and fill you full of our cum.” “All…all right,” Elaina panted. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing the tension to leave her body. She willed herself to melt into the two male bodies on either side of her. She was simply the gateway here—the passage by which Rafe would bring Thorn from darkness into light. The fact that she could feel both thick shafts rubbing together inside her through the thin barrier that separated her cunt from her back passage was immaterial. All that mattered was doing this right and bringing Thorn into the light. “I’m ready,” she said at last. She could feel the hard bodies on either side of her tense and then Rafe said, “Together then.”

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“Yes,” Thorn hissed and then both thick shafts pulled out of her body as one. When only the heads of their cocks were still lodged inside her, both Rafe and Thorn pushed in once more, fucking into her body, claiming her at the same time, owning her completely with their cocks. Lightning bolts of pleasure/pain shot through her body, skewering her as surely as the thick shafts that pierced her from both sides did. “Oh God… Oh please…” Elaina moaned, trying to hold still as they continued to thrust as one. She concentrated on being open enough to take them both. Concentrated on the feel of Thorn’s hands gripping her hips as he ground into her ass and Rafe’s hands on her breasts and he thrust hard and deep to fill her pussy. It seemed an eternity that she lay there, open for both of them, filled by both cocks fucking her as one, opening her completely as wave after wave of pleasure built inside her. Elaina could feel the crackling, almost electrical connection grow between the three of them with each mutual thrust of their shafts deep in her body but she had no time to think about it. No time to think about anything but how high they were pushing her— how hard she was going to come. She was making a soft, helpless sound in the back of her throat—an almost animal keening—and she couldn’t seem to stop it. Couldn’t seem to do anything but submit to their fucking and pray she would survive the intense sensations. At last Elaina felt their rhythm speeding up. She could feel all three of them racing to climax and only hoped she could survive it. Somehow she knew the incredible orgasm she had experienced while Rafe stretched her with the black vibrator and Thorn finger-fucked her pussy would be nothing compared to it. Nothing at all. “Darling,” Rafe murmured in her ear as he thrust inside her. “You are so beautiful, opening yourself like this for me…for us. Your sweet pussy is so wet and hot.” “God, Elaina,” Thorn whispered in his low, harsh voice as he slammed into her back passage. “So goddamn tight. Love to fuck you, honey. Love to ride your hot little ass.”

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“Oh God,” she nearly sobbed, reaching up to cup Rafe’s cheek and then back to stroke Thorn’s. “Love you both so much. Need you both but please…please, I need to come. Need to come so bad…” “Come you shall, my darling.” Rafe’s voice was low and full of promise. “For it is time to complete the ceremony.” His sensual lips parted and Elaina could see his fangs glittering pearly white in the dim light of the bedroom. Behind her she could feel Thorn’s hot breath on the back of her neck and she knew he had bared his fangs as well. She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch as, with a final thrust, both cocks sank home in her body and both sets of fangs drove into the soft, vulnerable flesh of her throat. A low moan of pleasure was dragged from her as both shafts pulsed within her, filling her to overflowing with their cum as they had promised they would. A blaze of light leaped up behind Elaina’s eyelids and she nearly screamed as she felt an orgasm so intense it pounded her like a tidal wave sweeping over her helpless body. And suddenly, she felt not only her own emotions but Rafe’s as well. She could feel his pleasure at the tight wetness of her cunt, his enjoyment of her soft, full breasts filling his hands, and, sweetest of all, his undying love for her. In that moment, she knew she would belong to him eternally and that she would never regret the bond that had been forged between them. But as her breath tore and sobbed in her throat with the intense bonding of orgasm, Elaina realized she could feel another set of emotions as well. Behind her she felt Thorn’s unmistakable pleasure in being the first to bury himself all the way inside her soft, tight ass. There was also a deep gratitude that she was willing to do this for him, that she was willing to open her body for a man who had once attacked her to bring him into the light. And his hunger for her pulsed inside her, his wish that they could be together for more than just one night. More than any of these impressions, Elaina felt love—a warm sensation like honey and wine pouring down her throat as both vampires filled her with their cum while they drank of her blood. She felt Rafe’s love like a warm flannel blanket, comforting and 68

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cozy on a cold night. But she felt Thorn’s love as well, like a wild, sweet, forbidden drug coursing through her veins. But how could she feel Thorn’s emotions too? They swept over her as strongly as Rafe’s and she cried out at the sensation, wondering if they could feel her love as well through the bond they now shared. Wondering how she had gotten herself bonded to not one Night Dweller but two. It took a long time for the final orgasm to end and long after that, Elaina was too exhausted to do anything but lie between her loves and try to catch her breath. Both men slipped from her body but four strong muscular arms continued to hold her safe between them, stroking her damp skin soothingly, tenderly. At last Elaina opened her eyes and looked at Rafe who seemed nearly as exhausted as she was. “How…?” She couldn’t find a way to finish the question. Instead she asked, “Did it work?” “Why don’t you see for yourself, darlin’?” The voice behind her didn’t sound familiar and Elaina jumped at the new tone. Instead of being harsh and rough, she heard a warm, melodious voice like honey and smoke. Turning her head, she met a pair of eyes that were no longer burning red. “Gray…” Elaina reached out her hand to cup his cheek and stared into his new eyes wonderingly. “Your eyes are gray, Thorn.” “Are they?” He laughed, a deep rich sound that warmed her from the bottom up. “It’s been so long I forgot their natural color.” “She is correct, my friend.” Rafe sat up and put a hand on Thorn’s muscular bicep. “They are the red of Hellfire no longer.” He smiled, joy lighting his face from within. “Can you not feel the change within yourself? You are no longer damned.” Thorn tried to smile back but somehow the curve of his full, sensual mouth wasn’t very convincing. “I owe you both so much.” He shook his head. “I just wish…” “What do you wish, dear one?” Rafe asked softly.

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Thorn looked up. “I love you,” he said fiercely to his friend. Then he looked at Elaina. “You too, darlin’. You…I know what I did to you in the past and I know I’ve only really known you this one night. But I can’t help myself. I want you the way Rafe wants you. Hell, I want you both. But I know that can’t be—that this was just a one-time thing. I don’t wanna seem greedy for more when you’ve already given so much.” Elaina felt his anguish at the thought of parting from her and Rafe like a cold silver shaft in her heart. Thorn really did love both of them—she felt his emotions as surely as she felt Rafe’s. As surely as she felt her own. “Thorn,” she said softly, caressing his warm cheek. “Don’t you understand? You don’t have to leave us—we’re bonded. All three of us.” “What?” Rafe gave her a startled look then closed his eyes as though he could verify the truth of her statement better without outside interruptions. Elaina and Thorn were silent while he thought and Elaina could feel Rafe’s confusion as strongly as Thorn’s desperate hope that she was right. Finally he opened his eyes and gave them a troubled look. “It is true. I do not know how since I was the last to bite you before the ceremony, Elaina. My mark should have superseded Thorn’s in this matter, binding you only to me.” “The kiss.” Thorn’s steel gray eyes grew wide with understanding. “That first time I kissed you, darlin’—I think you cut your tongue on my fangs. I remember tastin’ your blood but I was too far gone to think about what it might mean.” He looked troubled. “I’m so damn sorry, honey. Didn’t mean for this to happen.” “Nor did I.” Rafe frowned and Elaina could feel his concern that she would be upset about this turn of events. Thorn was also worried, she could feel it coming from him in waves as well as see it in his troubled gray eyes. “Rafe, Thorn…” Elaina made sure both of them were looking at her as she spoke. “I don’t know how or why it happened and I don’t care. All I know is how glad I am that I have you—both of you—that we’re all together.” She cupped both their cheeks and did her best to send out a warm surge of pure joy to both of them. 70

Ceremony of Three

“But…” Thorn frowned, obviously unable to accept what she was saying. “Don’t…I mean, aren’t you upset, darlin’? After all, I hurt you. Are you seriously sayin’ you don’t mind being bound to me for life?” Elaina leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Let the past be the past, Thorn,” she said softly. “I’ll admit, if anyone had asked me if I wanted to bind my life to yours for eternity before tonight, I would’ve told them to go to Hell.” She smiled. “But you changed my mind completely. The way you touched me, the gentle way you took me… You see, I always knew I loved Rafe.” She turned to include her other lover in her speech. “I’ve loved him for the better part of a year. But being with you tonight has made me realize that I have room in my heart for more than one love.” She smiled and kissed Rafe gently on the cheek. “And seeing you two together convinced me that you were never meant to be away from each other. I want to be the bond that pulls you together, not the barrier that pushes you apart.” “My darling.” Rafe kissed her gratefully, his face lit with a smile. “It is a dream beyond anything I could ever have wished for to have you accept us both, not only for tonight but for the rest of our lives as well. Truly, you are special.” “More than special—fuckin’ extraordinary.” Thorn pulled her in for a lingering kiss and then released her to give Rafe a long, luscious kiss as well. “But are you sure, darlin’? Sure you won’t regret it?” “Thorn, Rafe…” Elaina put a hand on both of their muscular shoulders and drew them close so that all three of their foreheads touched, with her in the middle. “Boys,” she said with a little laugh. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

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About the Author Evangeline Anderson is a registered MRI tech who would rather be writing. She is thirty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, three cats and a college-age sister but no kids because enough is enough already. She had been writing erotic stories for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try to get paid for it. To her delight, she found it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing steadily ever since.

Evangeline welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

Also by Evangeline Anderson For Her Pleasure Masks Planet X Secret Thirst

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