Mixed Blessings

This is the fourth chapter in a series. Although it can be read on it's own, parts of the story may make more sense when read in order. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

*

Unseleigh!

Was it just a word? Was it an ideology? Were they really monsters? Laslie shook his head in frustration. He sat on the edge of the bed with his forehead in his hands as he tried to work through the turns that had come of his life. Right now, all he had to do was offer his contrition and he would be once more recognized among his kind. He was only a rogue; a

ronin. Ronin

could be forgiven.

To be Unseleigh literally meant he was no longer what he once was. They were rival nations among the Sidhe and while occasional converts had been made from Unseleigh to Seleigh, never among those who had already defected. To defect was to renounce your former life. An act such as that would not permit return. And the few Unseleigh that had defected did not speak much of the group. It was an unspoken understanding. Perhaps the elders feared more would defect if they understood the other perspective.

Laslie started as the door opened. His hand instinctively reached for a weapon, but none were present. He relaxed immediately as Alicia entered the small motel room. She had been out collecting lunch for the two. As Dhase, a vampire, she didn't need to eat, but Laslie knew she loved the taste. She was a sensualist. She might not gain any sustenance from the food, but she enjoyed tasting it. She had brought back something from a nearby Greek restaurant. The food smelled wonderful, but his stomach was so tense he wasn't sure he could eat.

She put the bags down on the half dresser and moved over to him with a look of concern. As he sat on the bed and she stood before him, he did not have to look far up to meet her glorious blue eyes. She was nearly a foot and a half shorter than he was. Now that he knew she was over two thousand years old, and not the hundred he had originally assumed, he understood her height. Likely she had been of average size, if not tall, for her day.

Alicia scooped his hands into hers and held them loosely between the two. "Las, please. Tell me what's wrong? Why did we suddenly have to leave town? Who was that call?"

Laslie sighed deeply in a vain attempt to release some of his nerves. Alicia knew, through her empathic abilities, how hard this was for him. She climbed onto the bed. Her knees shuffled against the covers as she moved behind him. It was very much to her credit that his shoulders relaxed slightly as she threw herself against his back. Her arms draped about his neck and her breath tickled his ear. He sighed once more, this time in contentment. Nothing could ever look hopeless when he was with Alicia. She was Laslie's

soul

.

"The call was from my grandfather." Laslie remembered seeing the man, only a week before, in the Stronghome. "The Lord of the Hunt, the Seleigh general, sent one of his

world-walkers

to the Stronghome for an update. When the Sidhe go into Retreat messengers are the only way to communicate between Stronghomes."

Alicia interrupted the tale. "So how did your grandfather manage to call you? Didn't you say they were fearing any mortal technology?"

"Not quite any, but yeah. Apparently Hunter ~that's the nickname for this particular Lord of the Hunt~ realized that cell phones aren't a bad idea, so long as they're kept away from the Stronghome itself. He instructed all Stronghomes now to keep a prepaid phone in a car, just outside of the nearest town. The Stronghome is then responsible for checking it daily for messages."

Alicia understood. He could feel her cheeks rise as she beamed. "That way even if someone gets their hands on the phone, they can only trace it to the region. And likely they already know that anyway!"

Laslie melted back into her embrace. "That's right. Even if they store the numbers for every other 'home's phone that still only gives you a bunch of regions. I'm sure Hunter will also send someone around to make sure that all of those phones are without GPS chips as well. He's thorough like that."

"He's also already fought a war with unexpected consequences. That's likely to make him much more cautious."

Laslie was tense in an instant. He stood and spun to face Alicia in one smooth movement. His eyes were narrow with suspicion. "How do you know about the war?"

Alicia stood, still on the bed, so that she towered over him. The position placed her small, pert, breasts right before his eyes and it was a struggle to keep his attention focused upwards. Her radiant smile helped him guide his gaze. She shrugged as she stepped to the edge of the bed. Her hands came up to cup his face. "Las, to live thousands of years, to wish to keep living, you have to have hobbies, interests. Given the environment that I was created in is it such a wonder that I watch the politics of the monsters? Yes, even the PIA. As the only living Dhase to know of the Sidhe, it's important I know what your kind is up to. If any of you had kept records then you could have plotted to exterminate us and we would have no knowledge you even existed, much less be prepared to protect ourselves."

Laslie's expression soured. His head turned away, which caused her hands to fall to his neck. "So is that what I am? Just a part of your hobby?" He had defied his people; even fought a few. He had broken tradition for her. He had even contemplating turning traitor to everything he had been taught. All of it to be able to spend his life by her side. Even with the thought that she was just using him, he still felt he could not live his life comfortably without her. He still felt she was his soul, but if she did not feel it, he was simply mistaken.

"No! Oh Las, no!" Alicia's hands once more found his cheeks and she turned his face back. He didn't resist, not because he knew he couldn't, although she was far stronger than he was. He didn't resist because he could never get enough of looking at her smooth, well defined, features. There was nothing outstanding about her soft lips, round eyes or flushed cheeks, but their conventional combination somehow blended together into something extraordinary.

Alicia's smile was gone to a look of panic. He could tell she hadn't meant it like that. Somehow, his tension and worry had turned her words into something completely foreign to the truth, and she was lost as to where she had gone wrong. He knew she hadn't, but he didn't know how to dispel her fears.

She leaned forward and her lips met his. The simple contact was electric. His heart still raced for her. As one their mouths opened and tongues shot forward to dance. He felt the force of her passion push down on him and he met it equally. His hands slid up her powerful thighs to rest on her hips. Her body shifted forward, trusting Laslie to hold her weight as she pressed against him.

Any doubt of her feelings evaporated. His concerns washed away beneath the tide of his pounding heart and arrested breath. His tongue circled and explored her mouth, felt once more every well known inch. Alicia radiated heat, despite having just come from the late March cold. He could feel her own chest heave against his throat as she breathed deep through her nose.

All too quickly she pulled herself free of the kiss, to hover inches before him. Laslie remained acutely aware of her body, still molding itself to his. He felt his veins pulse as blood rushed downward in response. He could not be this close to Alicia without wanting more. He knew every curve of her body but he never tired of exploring her. But at the moment sex wasn't on his mind. His olive green eyes were trapped within her bright blue gaze.

"Laslie, I love you. You know that I do. For over two millennia I have avoided any contact with the Sidhe for fear that you remembered, or that the spell which protected my kind from yours was miscast. The Dhase have never had wizards or magi. We have powerful abilities but cannot alter the very fabric of the universe as you and the mortals can. Would we even realize if we had been betrayed?

"But when I saw you there, I knew I had to talk to you. I couldn't stop myself. For reasons I don't understand I had to approach just this once. In fact I found myself virtually at your back before I knew it." Alicia's smile was weak but genuine. "I had somehow committed myself so I came up with the first line I could think up."

"So, you don't like the way I smell after all?" His voice was mocking but gentle. This was the Laslie that sparred with her, teased her as she teased him. His comfort startled a laugh from her. He was glad, because it was an honest laugh, free from worry.

"Of course not!" Laslie had joined in the laughter with her response. "That you smell like unwashed animals was the best compliment I could think of on short notice. You are, after all, a hard man to find something favorable to comment on."

"I happen to have it on good authority that I am very favorable at some things."

"Prove it!" He felt her body shift slightly as she began to speak and anticipated her maneuver. She tried to use her considerable strength to toss him to the bed, so she could straddle and control him. For once, he predicted her technique and countered it. Her supernatural strength easily surpassed his, but without leverage she was helpless. For all her strength, she weighed less than a hundred pounds herself; such a paltry measure that Laslie could lift with a finger. With his hands on her hips Alicia could develop no leverage once he lifted her feet from the bed. "Hey!"

Laslie smiled. He took two steps back and brought her close. As her body pressed enticingly to his, their eyes level, he leaned forward to kiss her once more. Her arms threaded through his to brace herself to his back. One shifted upward to glide through his short hair. Meanwhile his hands shifted to cup her and provide the slightest amount of support. Then he felt free to slide an arm around her back in order to hold her with the single limb.

Alicia moaned as the added pressure pushed her body more tightly against his. He felt the lust through him in response. Quickly, however, he quelled his reaction to her new position. It wasn't that he wanted her any less, but he had realized her position was now compromised. If he let such lascivious thoughts take roost, she would sense them within his emotions and move against him. It was a trick he had first attempted in the jeep on the way to the Freehome. He hadn't the chance to test his theory a second time however. There may have been other circumstances which assisted it.

While he fought to control his emotions, he reveled in her habit for traditionally feminine clothing. Despite the weather, her white blouse was thin and light. He'd known the moment he saw her, that morning, that she had selected a matched set of underwear in white. She was as meticulous in her undergarments as she was her outer. If he couldn't see her bra, it would have to match the blouse; and her panties

always

matched her bra. As he thought, once more, of her pert breasts, strained against her bra, he barely kept his thoughts from degrading into lust. He could not keep his body from responding. Fortunately, the roughly foot and a half difference in height placed the core of her lust much too high to detect him as he swelled.

His heart raced. He knew she would feel it, but hoped she would rightly assume that the kiss fueled it. In truth it did, but it wasn't the only source. Beneath the blouse Alicia had worn a long, dark green, skirt. Traveling up most of the side was a single slit. Laslie's free hand happened to match the side of the aperture and a shift in weight, necessary when he shifted her to a single arm, caused the opening to widen as the skirt drifted backwards.

Alicia squeaked as his hand slid across the silken flesh of her pillowy butt. He allowed his slight fingernails to drags as they wander farther. She moaned in appreciation as his hand slid beneath the, undoubtedly white, thong underwear. Her hips began to roll, to grind her lust against his firm stomach. A single finger sought out puckers muscles and eased them slightly open, aided by the juices that flowed from farther forward.

Her head flew backward. A heavy groan escaped her as she thrust herself towards his questing finger. Laslie had discovered that she enjoyed the sensation when she had asked him to take her there. The attempt was quickly aborted when they discovered it to be mutually painful, due to his size. He had, however, occasionally used his fingers both when pleasuring her and in the middle of making love. In both cases he knew it enhanced her experience. This was the first time he'd ever started the foreplay with it, and was delighted to discover it as effective as many other techniques in his arsenal.

His finger swirled circles, pressed and tormented the sensitive muscles. Her teeth clenched with a smiling snarl and her head came forward to crash onto Laslie's shoulder. Her hands had shifted to his back as he first approached. Now, they began to claw and grip. He felt her legs flex and quiver. Alicia wanted nothing more than to cling to him while he brought her body to heaven. That was a goal he could firmly agree to.

A piteous moan escaped as his finger slid free of her tight recesses. He could feel her muscles clutch at empty air as they sought him. His wrist rotated and Laslie grabbed the thong to tug it down. For a moment there was resistance, as it peeled from her soaked depths. Suddenly it was free and rode down her legs. He let go, now unconcerned for its fate. His hand returned for her skirt. With a single arm, and her body pressed tight to his, the process proved more difficult. Desperate, now, with desire, Alicia tried to help, but ended up hampering.

Finally, the skirt ended up in the clutches of gravity. As his grip tightened once more, she leaned back and desperately pulled the blouse free to reveal a sultry white bra with padded designs. Laslie wondered, briefly, what the thong had looked like. The thought was stolen as she ripped the t-shirt off of his body with a few well placed tears.

Her hips rolled slightly in his grasp as her body begged for his hand's return. Between one moment and the next he found her lips once more pressed to his. Her legs wrapped tight around him to aid in holding her aloft. As her breasts pressed to him and her depths leaked her need across his stomach, his heart began to race in time with hers. Every inch of skin in contact with hers danced with fire. His pants grew tight quickly.

Once more his hand traced her thigh to her creamy butt. A quick squeeze pulled her skin taut and elicited a slight moan from Alicia's covered lips. His hand continued deeper. Her hips shuddered in anticipation and small mewls sounded deep in her throat. As his finger slid across her tight muscles, at last, her head dropped back. She broke the kiss with a contented sigh.

His finger spread the puckered muscles. Her body shook. Her nails dug pink furrows in his bare back as Alicia groaned. Laslie grinned as his finger began to trace her clutching nerves. She began to writhe against him, which trailed her cream across his body and rubbed her inflamed pearl. The added stimuli only enraged her need. His arm around her back and finger quested within, her only release was her raking fingers. His grin widened and a gasp escaped him. The slight pain raced directly for his loins and fueled his need.

A second finger crept forward to join the first in tormenting her. Instead of the tight muscles, this traced the delicate and sensitive flesh between and then dove into her very moist depths. Alicia's body tensed and her head snapped forward then back once more. Her scream was pure bliss and Laslie felt his body covered in her juices. He worked his hand, sliding one finger deep while the other worked the edge of her tighter muscles. Her hips began to buck in a vain attempt to escape the desired intruders. He knew every twitch sent fresh delight throughout her body as he tensed his stomach to aggravate her sensitive bud.

Her head dropped forward and teeth clamped around the solid muscle in his shoulder. Combined with her nails scratching, Laslie felt ready plunge into her, but he resisted. Instead, he added a third finger to the second. His fingers splayed slightly to work both the front and back of her sacred depths. He felt the rough folds of her most sensitive flesh and began to torment it as he spread her open. All the while the first finger traced and teased her rear and her hips twitched to massage her external lust.

Laslie knew how close she was. Something held Alicia back. His head shifted forward and his lips grazed her neck. He felt the shudder run through her body. The moment it reached his thrusting fingers, lips peeled back and his teeth caught her artery.

Alicia broke away instantly, but it was too late. Her body seemed to explode into motion. Pain lanced through his shoulder as her teeth jerked closed. His back erupted as her nails pierced his skin. His breath flew from him as her legs clenched tight. Never had her body reacted like this. He loved it, even if he didn't appreciate the pain. He loved that he had the ability to bring her to such a level. Her intensity spurred his fingers to more force, greater speed, more care. Instantly, every muscle in her body dropped limp as a tempestuous scream ripped from her.

He lowered her to the bed as he slowed his tempo. Her constant moans turned into an almost pitiful whimper. Finally he stepped back and her entire body seemed to melt onto the mattress. In a flash his pants and boxers pooled at his feet. He climbed onto the bed, hovered above her as his length demonstrated his desire. Lazy eyes, flourished at the sight of his strength poised above her. Weak hands shifted to reach for him, but she was caught by the afterglow of his manipulations.

His hands cupped her thighs to guide her legs. Laslie lifted her hips to rest across his thighs. Hands shifted and his thumbs reached in to spread her lips and open her to him. Alicia shuddered, as another aftershock roared through her body, with the latest contact. He grinned as his hips shifted forward, and her lazy smile opened with a moan as his tip reached her hot, sopping, depths.

Alicia's back arched as Laslie slid easily into her, aided by her flowing lust. Her scream of ecstasy nearly defeated him. Her muscles clutched around him, pulsing against his need. Her body tried to rock her hips into his in an attempt to draw forth his seed. He refused. Slowly he withdrew and she screamed louder.

He leaned forward, allowing his body to press against hers. Alicia was the first woman Laslie had ever been with that he never felt worried over his ability to hurt her accidentally. He could lay atop of her and she would never notice his weight. Even before their bodies lay flush her arms snaked around his chest to pull him tight to her. Her feet pressed against his butt and he felt her legs add their urging to her hips. His slow rhythm was a euphoric agony.

His head dropped to place a kiss on Alicia's forehead. He knew the tender gesture was lost to her amid the sensation flooding from her loins, but it made it no less true for its secrecy. Finally he gave in to her urging and thrust fast and deep. Her body froze beneath his as another wave of climax ripped through her. Before she even began to move again he was already sliding smoothly free. Her body reacted to the renewed orgasm just as he threw himself deep once more.

Her hips rolled against him. Her legs flew straight before they collapsed and quivered against the bed. Fingernails discovered the red marks of their previous passage and raked across his skin once more. Alicia's head had fallen to one side and her intoxicating screams peeled through the room.