Shadow

Shadow sat before the fire burning in Rafe’s study, morosely watching the flames dancing in the hearth. Damion was still above stairs, dressing for dinner, leaving her alone with the Rogue.

“What’s bothering you, angel?” Rafe asked, settling down beside her on the floor, and held out a cut-glass tumbler filled with whiskey. Not looking at him, she accepted the glass, taking a long sip before answering.

“You should have told me that Joaquin was my target.” She murmured, and he swore softly.

“When did Damion tell you? You were sleeping up till ten minutes ago.” He said, and she shot him a narrow- eyed look.

“Do the two of you honestly believe sex will keep me complacent and willing to do as you ask? I’ve already promised you that I would take on this one last job. Fucking me isn’t necessary.” She said darkly, turning her attention back to the flames, sipping at her drink. Rafe swore, rose to his feet, his expression thunderous.

“I apologize. You’re a guest in my house- not a bed slave. I will inform my Prince that you are to be left alone. “ He said stiffly, and she snorted, shook her head.

“Sit down Rafe. It’s no big deal. I just don’t like feeling as if I’m being placated with sex. To be perfectly honest, between the two of you, I should be a very happy little girl.” She sipped her drink, laughed silently. “Neither one of you is hard on the eyes- just the opposite in fact. Both of you gave me pleasure for the first time in my life.” She added, and he sighed, sinking back down beside her.

They both felt Damion enter the room, and Rafe scowled at his Prince and best friend. Shadow merely continued staring into the fire, nursing her drink, ignoring them both. Damion settled on the settee, meeting Rafe’s angry green gaze with chilling midnight.

“Is there a problem, Rafael?” He asked quietly, and the Rogue laughed humorlessly.

“What do you think, Your Highness?” Rafe answered, and Damion sighed.

“Did I hurt you, Shadow-mine? “ He asked her, and she shot him a startled look.

“No.” She answered, and the Prince looked back at Rafe.

“See, she’s fine.” He said, and the Rogue rose to his feet once more, looking down at his elegantly sprawled friend with thinly veiled disgust.

“She’s not here to warm either of our beds, my prince,” Rafe spat, and one of Damion’s brows rose sharply at this, but he remained silent. Rafe continued. “She’s here because Joaquin needs to be removed. I admit I coerced her last night- but the situation is desperate.

“The grigorii are flying, and you know what that means.” The Rogue said, and Shadow went ashen.

“They fly? You didn’t tell me this last night!” She rose to her feet, her dark eyes even darker, nearer to black than their customary indigo. Damion sat up quickly, his gaze on the halfbreed. She was beginning to look like a cornered animal rather than the fierce little creature that had stabbed him earlier- or the soft, hot woman whom he had bedded not hours before.

Rafe stared at her as she paced away from them both, her arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. Damion rose from his seat in front of the fire, moving across the room and catching her in his arms. She went stiff, and he saw the panic in her gaze as the white triangle of her face turned up.

“Damion- let her go!” Rafe near shouted as he saw the glint of steel emerging in a blur from under her sleeve, but the other vampire merely caught her wrist, and the sharp little blade fell to the floor with a muted ‘thump’. She tried yanking away from him, but he was bigger then she, and stronger. He merely caught both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them against his chest, resisting her increasingly wild struggles with a grimace. She was only about 5’3”, and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds, if that, but like most of their kind, she was deceptively strong.

“What-?” He asked, and Rafe frowned.

“Mention of the grigorii. Bring her here. We need to calm her before she hurts herself.” He said urgently, motioning to the settee, and Damion let out a sharp bark of laughter.

“I’d be more afraid that she would hurt one of us.” He muttered, but managed to drag her back to the settee, and Rafe grabbed her legs as she tried kicking the Prince.

Between the two of them they managed to bear her down, Damion propped against the arm of the little sofa, the halfbreed’s back against his chest, holding her arms in front of her, and Rafe pinned her legs down so she couldn’t kick him. Luckily, she was barefoot, and unable to do too much damage before they had her securely restrained.

“Shhh- talk to us, angel. Tell us what’s wrong.” Rafe murmured, but her struggles didn’t abate. Instead they intensified.

Damion sighed, then fisted one hand in her loose hair, drawing her head back to bare the long, slender column of her throat.

“Forgive me, Little One.” He muttered, and his head arced down. The firelight caught the gleam of long, razor sharp fangs before they sank into her milky flesh, and both vampire and halfbreed shuddered. Shadow’s struggles eased, then ceased altogether as he Fed, and Rafe watched in fascination as she went quiescent in his Prince’s embrace.

For long moments, the only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire, and then Damion was drawing away from her neck, his breath coming hard. His midnight eyes were silver and lit with the lavender and sky blue flame of fury, desire mixed with rage, and Rafe shuddered at the sight. He’d never seen that expression on Damion’s face, not in all the centuries- nearly a millennia- they had known each other. Shadow lay as if drugged, her gaze unfocused, fixed upon something Rafe couldn’t see.

“Go ahead sweeting, tell him. “ Damion murmured, and she drew a shuddering breath, abruptly focusing on the Rogue, and the present instead of the past.

“I was wrong, you see. I thought it was hurting because the anniversary was nearing. I didn’t realize that they were flying. “ She said softly, and Rafe frowned. He didn’t understand. Seeing his confused expression she scowled, and struggled to sit up. Damion started to restrain her, but she shot him a scowl and he subsided. Reaching down, she grabbed the hem of her shirt, yanking it up in off and twisting so he could see her back.

Faint, silvery lines marred the snowy white flesh from shoulder to hips, but old scars left by countless centuries of whippings didn’t hold his attention. His eyes couldn’t leave the angry red branding emblazoned over her right shoulder blade. A crucified angel- the mark of the grigorii. She gazed at him over her shoulder, her eyes drowning blue in the absolute whiteness of her face, and her mouth twisted into a horrible parody of a smile.

“It’s red, isn’t it? “ She asked, and he nodded wordlessly. With a savage laugh, she turned in Damion’s arms, seemingly unaware of her half-naked state. Neither vampire noticed. Damion wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close, and Rafe noted the haunted expression in his eyes. Damion had taken her blood, had slipped into her mind, had seen her past. Rafe shuddered, knowing without being told that Shadow deAngelo’s mind was a scary place to be even under normal circumstances. In a full-blown panic- he felt ill.

She unsnapped the leather bracelets that circled her wrists, reached up and unhooked the wide black ribbon that circled her throat. Thick, pale scar tissue wrapped around both wrists, nearly three inches wide. The filigree pattern of the slave collars of Aurelis circled her neck. Rafe swallowed convulsively so he wouldn’t be ill.

“I tried killing Joaquin before, you know. I failed. These scars are the price of that failure. “ She stroked the scars on her wrists, then her eyes rose to his, near violet with remembered pain and fury.

“I was Joaquin’s slave for nearly twenty years. He made me what I am. I failed to kill him, and he gave me to those monsters as a toy. I spent a year in their Eyrie, as their property. Their King claimed me as his own, burned their mark in my flesh while I hung from a hook in the ceiling like a piece of meat. Do you know what leaves scars like these, Rafe? No? I’ll share their secret with you then. Razor wire. They bound me with razor wire and hung me from a hook, branded and raped me. The wire cuts very deep when you twist in agony. They had to unwrap it from the bone. I couldn’t speak for a week. I had screamed so much I tore something in my throat.” She said, and Damion held her tight. Rafe could only stare.

“So much pain sweeting, and we ask you to relive it. “ The Prince murmured, nuzzling her hair, and she laughed.

“I want Joaquin dead more than anything, deSalvatore. That’s the real reason why I allowed Rafe to coerce me into this. But with the grigorii flying, we have a problem. “ She said, and he gave her an inquisitive look.

“You have to collar me. They’ll find me if you don’t. And if they find me, they will drag me back to Joaquin, and I will be dead- or as good as dead.” She said quietly, and Rafe recoiled from the thought. Damion stiffened.

“Oh yes. It appears I will be going back into slavery after all. “ She commented bitterly, and Damion cupped her chin, turning her face to his.

“An act, Shadow-mine. It will just be an act.” He whispered against her mouth, and she smiled darkly.

“Collared is still collared.” She said softly, and he groaned at the thought of the halfbreed wearing nothing but a slave collar, and in his bed. He grew immediately hard. His mouth sealed over hers, and she melted into him, her kiss desperate. The thought of being under someone else’s control, no matter how loose the reins, was frightening after independence. She tore her mouth free, looking at both vampires.

“I need you both.” She drew an unsteady breath. “I need you both to keep me from losing my sanity. “ She finished raggedly, reaching out and dragging Rafe to her, sliding her hands beneath his tee shirt, raking her nails down his smooth chest. Neither vampire mistook her meaning. Neither was willing to ignore her plea.

Rafe fumbled at the tie of her drawstring pants, tugging the knot free and sliding the soft cotton over her hips and down her legs, taking tiny scrap of material that were her underwear with them- tossing both to the floor. His arms slid around her, dragging her into his lap as Damion pulled his sweater over his head, cashmere falling to the floor.

Shadow wrapped her legs around Rafe’s waist, lifting her face to his, her hands sliding into his crimson hair to tug his mouth down to hers. Damion shed his pants and boxers, silk and fine wool thrown heedlessly on the floor. He slipped off the settee to the floor, his arms snaking around her waist to pull her down with him as Rafe stood to disrobe. The Prince’s mouth slid hotly along the curve of her throat as they both watched the Rogue strip, revealing a body as white as the halfbreed’s.

Shadow held out her arms to Rafe, and he went willingly, his mouth capturing hers as the three sprawled in front of the fire. Damion’s hands cupped her breasts from behind, stroking over her pale nipples until they tightened, darkened to rose. Rafe’s mouth glided over her skin softly, his hand slipping between her legs, cupping her, stroking the dampness at the apex of her thighs until her honey slicked his fingers and she moaned, writhing slowly between them. Damion turned her so she faced him, his mouth catching and holding hers, swallowing her cries as Rafe’s fingers glided between the round globes of her ass, spreading her moisture.

Her nails dug into Damion’s shoulders as Rafe anointed himself with her dew, then shifted upwards, the thick head of his cock pressing against the delicate rosette of her anus. Damion’s hands glided between her legs, finding the pierced button of her clit and stroking it as the other vampire began to press himself inside her, drinking in her cries of pain-tinged pleasure. He delved his fingers inside her heat, bringing her to the brink as the head of Rafe’s cock breached her ass, then shoved her over the precipice. Her mouth left his in a wordless cry as she orgasmed, and he withdrew his fingers, replacing them with his own length while she was still climaxing.

They both slid home, sinking all the way inside her, and they both held very still so she could adjust. She whimpered mindlessly at the feeling of being so stuffed, never believing that she could take them both, and couldn’t stay still. Her restless movements shifted them inside her, and both vampires groaned aloud at the sensation of being ensconced in her tight passages. They could feel each other through the thin barrier of her sex and rectum, and every time one shifted the tiniest bit, the other felt it.

“Fuck me, please? “ she moaned, licking her lips, and Damion slid one hand up her leg, lifting it over her hip. He nearly spent right then and there as he sank even deeper inside her. Wordlessly, but by some unspoken signal, both Damion and Rafe began to move, one after the other so as not to be forced out of the tender portions of her anatomy they occupied. Damion’s mouth covered hers once more, and Rafe’s lips glided across her throat, his teeth gently scraping the skin as his hands cupped her breasts, toying with her nipples. Damion’s hands cupped her ass, moving her in time with his thrusts, guiding her on a slow, leisurely ride.

She twisted between them, another orgasm building, and they quickened their pace, both needing to climax with her. She tightened exquisitely around them rhythmically, drawing them both up that steep precipice with her. Both Damion and Rafe’s fingers bit into her soft flesh as they climaxed, and she shattered into a thousand tiny pieces with them.

Afterwards they all lay tangled together, ivory and white limbs glistening in the firelight as both vampires cuddled her close. She lay with her cheek on Damion’s shoulder, eyes closed, and Rafe’s thigh nudged between hers, his chest a very solid and comforting presence at her back. Her fears were temporarily put aside as she basked in the afterglow of their lovemaking.