Blood and Mint Chocolates Read online

  Oh, how much have I had to drink?

  “Not enough,” the woman replied to her with a wink.

  As Merideth stuttered in protest, the scenery around her dissolved to reveal a moonlit rose garden. “Where—where am I?” she asked.

  Her stay on this island was getting strange and perhaps even dangerous. She whirled around to find the redhead, and find her she did indeed—seated on a golden throne carved to resemble a fierce-looking lion. The redheaded woman still gripped the golden chalice she’d held earlier, and it shone with an eerie glow.

  More peculiar still, however, were the dark eyes Merideth gazed into. Their depths held wonders both old and young, wise yet daring, powerful yet yielding.

  She is called the Great Whore because she receives All and does not discriminate…

  “Merideth.” The utterance of her name enveloped her in a strong wave of emotion—deep affection and longing. Mama, oh Mama… The vampire suddenly thought of her mother and how she missed her from all of those years ago. Memories of her childhood spent before she became a vampire flooded her, and she remembered what having a mother had been like for her as a young girl. All at once, Merideth knew the identity of the woman seated before her, and the amusing detail of her hotel room number became a somber fact.

  “Babalon,” she whispered. Her head reeled from wine and disbelief, but the certainty in her heart remained.

  Chapter Four

  Do What You Wish

  The goddess smiled at her. “Welcome to the Masquerade Ball, my daughter.” She leaned over in her seat and held out her goblet to the astonished vampire. “What does that inscription say?”

  Merideth bit her lip, hesitant to speak. She was on the verge of being paralyzed with nervousness, too afraid of saying the wrong thing to this goddess mere feet in front of her. How she wished with fervent desperation that she had conversed with Sarah, Lyrael’s previous incarnation, more often about Thelema and its deities. Beyond the basics, she didn’t know what to expect from Babalon. At least this isn’t Loki or something. She cocked her head from side to side as she read aloud the inscription: “Do what you wish.”

  “Precisely. I’m offering you this chalice, Meri. If you drink from it, you can obtain tonight your wish. Your heart’s desire. What shall it be?”

  The vampire stuttered, her anxiety shattered as she tried to process what Babalon told her. “This… this is nuts. I-I don’t know. I—” Her protests were interrupted by the images that dwelled in her thoughts all evening, and the visions assaulted her: Kalia lying on top of her, kissing her passionately. Kalia’s head between her thighs, her head between Kalia’s; her hands squeezing Kalia’s beautifully shaped breasts; Kalia’s fingers stroking her skin; Kalia’s dark, sensuous eyes gazing into hers as she… She blushed. Kalia was the Magistra of Clan Corvus, and Merideth would never in a million years imagine herself to be remotely her type.

  “Daughter, what are you afraid of? What holds you back from what you want the most?”

  Merideth blinked. “I… I don’t know.” She began to bounce up and down with anxiety. “I… I don’t know. I think I know what I want, but—”

  “Then choose it and be free.”

  The vampire took the chalice from Babalon. Her hand shook. “But what if I make the wrong wish?”

  “The only wrong wish, Merideth, is the one you do not act upon out of fear. Fear of judgment, fear of appraisal, fear of people’s opinions. Do what you wish. Drink and be free.”

  Merideth held the cup to her lips and drank. The sweet, silky drink’s flavor went down her throat better than any blood she had ever savored. It tasted more decadent than any of her mint chocolates and quenched a thirst she didn’t even know she possessed.

  “I wish, then, to spend the night with Kalia. So we can, um,” she continued hurriedly before she could lose her nerve, “have lots and lots of hot sex.” She barely got out the words, slurred as they were due to the sangria still swimming in her bloodstream. Oh, such wonderful abuses of that amethyst ring! Why didn’t she discover them sooner? Too much damned time in the library, perhaps—but no, that wasn’t it. She knew just what her problem had always been and what she needed to do in order to overcome it. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t have the courage up until now. Maybe the vacation gave her an excuse to not act like her usual self, or perhaps the shock of seeing Kalia in such… intriguing… clothing set her off in ways she hadn’t expected.

  But she knew the truth. Deep inside, Merideth feared acting on her impulses and being who she was in reality. Not that she hated herself, but that she didn’t know her real identity beyond the walls of Clan Gladius’s library. And she wasn’t certain if she could handle it. Too many rules and regulations had been held over her head for too long—and didn’t she find Janius too stuffy?

  Maybe she was the stuffy one, after all.

  Babalon laughed. The rich, melodious, wild laughter echoed in the room and in her head. Merideth smelled the rich earth in the sand, felt the moisture in the winds as they whipped through her hair… and once again she stood in the hall where she’d ran into Babalon earlier—literally, in fact—except that this time she stared into dark, familiar eyes that twinkled as they gazed into hers.

  “Ah, Meri,” Kalia purred. “I had no idea you were coming here tonight.” She ran her hand down Merideth’s arm, and the contact sent hot lightning straight into her gut. And, oh, that Southern drawl of hers! It always got Merideth hot; she found it incredibly alluring.

  Oh, I hope to be “coming” tonight indeed, Merideth thought with longing and wicked amusement. Was it the sangria, or perhaps the wine from Babalon’s chalice? Her senses were far sharper than usual, yet the room continued to spin madly around her.

  “Kalia,” she struggled to speak through the haze in her mind, “it’s good to see you. James sent me here on a, um, vacation,” she tried to explain. How could she tell this gorgeous creature in front of her what she was doing here at the ball and why? She didn’t even know! Was she crazy? Merideth, also known as Amaltheia, the Clan’s librarian, at a fancy vacation resort attending a costume ball! Surely the gods possessed a bizarre sense of what constituted as humor.

  “Oh, wonderful!” Kalia smiled. “Have you been having a good time so far?”

  “Oh yes, yes, definitely,” she replied with eagerness.

  Kalia’s smooth fingers wrapped around Merideth’s trembling hand. Oh, those fingers…

  “That’s good.”

  Merideth continued to stare into those dark, twinkling eyes as Kalia slowly took her finger into her mouth, and with a single nip of her fang pierced the soft pad on the tip. She gasped aloud as Kalia began to suck on it and at once felt embarrassed at her reaction. Oh, damn those human habits; if James were here to see me now… Merideth hadn’t breathed, let alone gasped, in decades—like all vampires, she didn’t need to breathe. Vampires took in merely enough air to speak, and little else was required.

  Well, Merideth reasoned, she could always say as an excuse that they were surrounded by humans, after all, and had to blend in, and oh, Blood have mercy, Kalia’s tongue felt so good on her finger…

  “Um, Kalia, I—”

  DID I MENTION HOW GOOD YOU LOOK TONIGHT, MERI? came the thought from Kalia.

  Her face grew warm. “Thanks, Kalia… I um, so do you—”

  REALLY?

  Blood, yes. Kalia continued to suck and lap at Merideth’s finger, which was doing nothing good for her thinking let alone allowing her to speak with any degree of coherence. “Oh yeah. You look really good in leather. And black. I mean, it um, it suits you… very much…”

  DO YOU WANT TO FUCK ME?

  Merideth’s eyes bulged. Kali never lacked in honesty, but damn. She struggled to get out an articulate response, feeling rather awkward and virginal. “I… um… Blood, you’re hot, and I… well…”

  The Magistra reached out with the hand that wasn’t gripping Merideth’s, and with a sudden, fierce movement pulled her hips closer
to her own. It was a good thing that vampires didn’t have to breathe, because at that moment, Merideth wouldn’t have been able to do so. Kalia’s hand on her ass provided more than enough leverage to dispel what ability she had left to think.

  IS THAT A YES?

  “I, well, um,” Merideth stammered, “Blood, I can’t think straight right now, I—”

  Kalia yanked Merideth’s finger out of her mouth and with vampire speed, kissed her on the lips with delicious passion. Sweet, hot ripples of ecstasy shot through the vampire as the magistra’s tongue flicked inside of her mouth, and Kalia’s lips were every bit as soft and sexy as in all of Merideth’s fantasies.

  AND BLOOD, SHE TASTES SOOO GOOD…

  Once Kalia’s hand wandered between her legs where she was sore and throbbing and rubbed at her clit through her gown, Merideth replied. Fuck, yes.

  GOOD, LET’S GO THEN. I KNOW WHERE THERE’S A ROOM WE CAN PLAY IN.

  Chapter Five

  Passion Fulfilled

  Scarcely believing what was happening, Merideth was led towards one of the far rooms on the upper floor. After Kalia reassured her numerous times that these rooms were reserved for “private moments for the guests”, she relaxed a little. The last thing she needed was to upset the host of the party.

  Kalia laughed at her, but the laugh contained no malice. Her low, sexy voice sent shivers up and down Merideth’s spine.

  “Oh, my little green fairy,” she whispered in her ear, “let me take you places. Please.” Her fingers danced on Merideth’s sensitive neck, and she fought back a moan. The magistra did terrible, wondrous things to her insides, and she wanted nothing more than to devour her on the spot.

  The room Kalia took her to was nothing short of stunning. A beautiful, burgundy colored comforter draped over a four poster mahogany bed. And the rug… oh, the rug. Merideth felt almost afraid to walk on the ornate tapestry that passed for decoration on the floor. No windows in the room existed—which suited her just fine. The last thing either of them needed was an “Oops, it’s dawn!” moment to interrupt their time together.

  But then again, she thought as Kalia’s soft, teasing lips grazed her neck, perhaps Babalon would be kind enough to slow down time, even if just a little. Hands moved up her back, and the sound of a zipper whispered as her wings and dress fell silently to the floor.

  Merideth thought with glee and relief that she didn’t wear undergarments often—and Kalia seemed to enjoy this fact as well. Besides, they itched and felt too constricting. She enjoyed having her “girl bits”, as she put it, free.

  Kalia’s fangs broke into her flesh, gentle but sharp, and Merideth became aware of something warm and light on her skin. Blood… The light, almost ticklish sensation traveled down her shoulder, chest, and breast, then gave way to something else… wet and rough—Kalia’s tongue. With great deliberateness, the magistra licked the blood off of Merideth’s chest, her breast, her sensitive nipple… the intense sensation was almost too much for her to bear, and her eyes rolled back into her head. Blood, how long had it been since her last fling?

  “Kalia,” she moaned, unable to stop herself from gripping the black-haired vampire’s head and pressing it tight against her chest.

  “I just love your breasts,” murmured Kalia, as if she had not heard her, “and you always have them covered with too much fabric. I like seeing them like this.”

  “I—” Merideth’s reply was cut short by the awareness of lips and teeth fastened around her nipple and the wondrous lightning that ripped through her body as Kalia began to suck. Loud noises echoed in her ears, and she realized that they came from the back of her throat. Kalia’s hands held her back and ass, her grip firm as she continued to suck hard at her nipple, fangs pressing against her delicate skin.

  I want to lay you on the bed, Merideth heard in her mind, and feel your skin under mine. With great ease and swiftness, Kalia picked her up and cradled her in her arms. Merideth let out a shriek.

  “Blood—Kalia, there’ll be blood—we can’t…”

  Kalia laughed. “Don’t you worry, my sexy little green fairy. I’ll get us a towel.” She laid Merideth with care on the bed and looked down on her blood-streaked body with a wide, cat-like grin. “Wait here.”

  Merideth nodded. She ached between her legs and hungered for more, but knew that staining their host’s bed sheets was not an indulgence they could afford.

  When Kalia returned, she carried with her a number of big, black towels. She was also stark naked, which Merideth eyed with great appreciation.

  “Glad our host likes the gothic decor.” Kalia grinned.

  “Where did you—”A passionate kiss silenced Merideth.

  “Shh.” Kalia lifted her off the bed to a standing position, then covered the bed with the towels. “There we go. Now… we can have some fun.”

  Oh, good, thought Merideth in a haze of bliss, Kalia’s fangs sinking deep into her neck. The intense sensation rocked her off her feet, and she crashed onto the bed with the magistra tumbling after her. Her skin’s touch was far softer and silkier than she had imagined, and her curves felt so good in so many places. She wanted to experience those curves all over her, in her arms, between her thighs…

  Kalia withdrew her fangs from her neck and with the tip of her fingers captured some of the blood from the wound.

  There are so many uses for blood, you know. Kalia parted Merideth’s legs and rubbed the blood onto her clit in slow, circular motions.

  “Ooh… “Merideth’s eyes rolled back into her head. “Blood, Kalia…”

  Kalia’s lips smothered Merideth’s. Oh, I so love it when you moan my name like that…

  Kalia sped up the movement of her fingers, her blood-soaked thumb moving over Merideth’s clit. Her finger made its way down and, with a languid air that drove Merideth mad with desire, inserted inside of her. But I really can’t keep up my level of self-control when you do…

  Cries of ecstasy escaped from Merideth’s throat as the other vampire continued to show no mercy, moving her finger at a languid pace in and out of her. Her lips clasped against hers with amazing amounts of eagerness, and Merideth felt her fluids seeping down over the folds of the sensitive skin between her thighs. The towels must be soaked by now.

  Kalia released her lips from Merideth’s, and she longed once more for their exquisite touch. Before she could protest, her eyes locked with Kalia’s. Her dark eyes twinkled as they gazed into her own, and on impulse Merideth smiled. As Kalia lowered her head onto Merideth’s stomach, she licked stray drops of blood and blood-sweat from her skin, and another moan escaped Merideth’s lips. Her cries only grew louder as the magistra’s tongue moved over her upper thigh and with painful slowness made its way to her throbbing, sensitive clit.

  With the same fierce, passionate sucking, Kalia’s mouth fastened around Merideth’s blood-and-juice-soaked clit while she thrust her fingers inside of her. She increased the tempo at which she pumped her fingers, sucking on her clit. Merideth came hard, shrieking incoherent words when Kalia’s pinky found its way into her anus, and with each repeated thrust she came again and again, more intense each time until she exploded. Lights danced in her field of vision, and the room went bright white.

  I’M GLAD THAT I COULD GIVE YOU A GOOD VACATION, MY LITTLE FAIRY.

  YES… YES, YOU DID.

  Kalia’s mouth covered hers once more, and Merideth tasted herself on the other woman’s lips and tongue. The blood mingled with her body fluids to produce a strange elixir which she found sexy and not at all displeasing.

  KALIA… Merideth’s hand traveled down Kalia’s back and around her hips to the inside of her thighs. Now it was Kalia’s turn to moan.

  OH, MERI…

  I WANT TO FEEL YOU COME. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.

  Kalia laughed. I’M SO FUCKING HORNY RIGHT NOW THAT IT WON’T TAKE MUCH. JUST LET ME HAVE YOU INSIDE OF ME, BABY. THEN AFTERWARDS WE CAN KISS AND FONDLE EACH OTHER’S BRAINS OUT.

  Merideth chuckled, her fingers wand
ering past Kalia’s clit. With unhurried, careful movements, she slipped the tips of her fingers towards a rather wet opening.

  OH, YES, BABY…

  With a practiced air, Merideth thrust her finger inside of the magistra, and Kalia howled, her hips grinding into her hand as she came fast and furious.

  OH BLOOD, THAT FELT GOOD, Kalia thought at her several moments later as she collapsed onto Merideth. Their two wet bodies fit together with a natural beauty. Merideth smiled as she held the black-haired vampire close to her.

  “That… that was…”

  “Fucking great,” supplied Kalia. “And you know what?”

  “What?”

  “We have many, many more hours until dawn yet.” She gave a low, throaty chuckle as Merideth’s eyes widened. Would she even be capable of standing, let alone walking out of the Venus Estate before dawn came?

  Based on the delightful, sexy twinkle in Kalia’s eyes, most likely not. Perhaps she could be carried back…

  Chapter Six

  “What’s immortality?”

  Merideth awoke the next evening and stretched luxuriously on her hotel bed. She could still smell Kalia’s scent on her skin and wished she had the courage to take Kalia’s offer to spend the day in her hotel room with her. But her clothing and various other essentials were still back in her own room, and so she had gone back there that evening.

  Slowly, she got up from the bed and put on her robe, debating whether or not to prepare for a similar offer later this evening. Would she be so fortunate, or had what transpired between her and Kalia the night before been just a one night fling?

  The discovery of a package delivered that morning to her room answered Merideth’s question. It contained a single, long-stemmed, dark blood-red rose along with a bottle of absinthe. The items came with a note: “I had a wonderful time last night. Here is Green Fairy for my little green fairy. Meet me at the Beach Front Restaurant tonight at 8?”