Fic: The Turning Pt One. Prompt 65 Passing
Title: The turning Part 1
’Verse: Servants Journals
Characters: Maggie/Joseph m/f
Prompt: 65 Passing
Word Count: 3780
Rating: nc17
Notes: Warning: Pink to purple prose ahead.
the prelude to this is prompt 85 she, First Meeting
(I would love it if you could let me know if you read this. a happy or sad smily will due.)
New York,
1750
She sat on his chest, her soft gauzy shift pooled around her hips and hung off of one shoulder. The flickering candle highlighted the dark red hair that hung disheveled from their love making. Her green eyes glowed with sated passions. Joseph knew that he would never forget how beautiful she looked at that moment.
Joseph had first seen her pouting at the rain in his wine booth tent at the harvest fair. He had flirted with her then, not expecting anything to come of it but was happy to let her lead him back to her bower and truly enchant him. It had been two months since then. Eight weeks and she was all he could think about.
When Maggie had led him to her apartment she had only been looking for quick diversion and a full stomach. The handsome brown-haired, brown eyed-man would do well for both. She had planned to use him as she had so many others to feed her need for blood. She didn’t always take her victims to bed, but he was handsome and smelled good and she had been feeling lonely. She hadn’t expected to fall in love with him. Joseph didn’t just have sex; he’d made love to her. His gentle hands had inflamed her like no one else had in over a century. She had only been looking for an easy victim; instead she had fallen under his spell.
As the weeks went by Maggie realized what she had to do. She had bitten him their first time in bed, and so had condemned him to death. Within weeks he would die from her bite-- unless she turned him. Maggie was very, very careful of whom she turned. In all her thousand years, Maggie had turned very few. Not even the one per century that was the general rule of thumb among her kind.
Not everyone was suited to the vampire life. They think they want to live forever until they learn the true length and cost of that unending life, as well as how quickly the world they knew changed. Many vampires perished because they couldn’t adapt. And then there was the blood. Taking the blood from any but the rare race of vampire servants was to cause their death. Would Joseph be willing to kill to survive?
She knew that he had killed before and that he didn’t’ regret it. A few nights ago he had told her he had killed his wife after finding her in bed wit another man. He’d come home expecting to surprise her and found her in bed with another man. Feeling betrayed he’d strangled her with his bare hands while the man she had been with ran like a frightened rabbit, never looking back. The law was on his side and the whole affair was quietly covered up. She knew that Joseph had expected her to leave him in fear or disgust after his confession but instead was relieved.
She knew she loved him, she knew he was intelligent and clever and quick. She thought he would be able to weather the changing ages. And now she knew he could kill. But would he accept her gift or would he hate and her try to kill her too?
Maggie looked down into the lazy contented eyes of her very sated lover. He was still half hard within her as she rocked her hips and gave it a last squeeze before it slipped out. He smiled at her, much the same way he had smiled at her the fist time they’d made love and it melted her heart just the same as it had the first time. Maggie bit her lip, she had to tell him and let him make his decision. She didn’t want to see the look of fear and betrayal on his face. “Now or never” she thought to her self. It was only an hour to dawn. She would tell him now and get his answer tomorrow night. Joseph sensed the change in her mood and waited for her to speak.
“I have something to tell you. It’s very important and you might hate me for it after.” She said, “First, what’s done is done, neither God nor I.”
“Undo what? What have you done?” An ominous feeling settled over him.
“Joseph, you have to have guessed by now that I’m not completely like other women.”
“Because you won’t see me during the day? I thought it was because you are married and can not get away then.”
Maggie smiled sadly, “No I’m not married. It would be easy to let you believe that.” She reached out and gently rubbed her finger over the bite marks on his shoulder. “I did this to you”
It was only after she pointed them out to him that Joseph noticed the small punctures. “I’ve had love marks before Maggie.” He pointed out.
“Not like these.” Maggie sighed, “This is never easy. I’m just going to show you. Just remember, Joseph, I love you and I won’t hurt you. Okay?
Joseph was starting to think she was a bit moon touched. What could possibly be so different about her that warranted all this melodrama? Then he saw a very subtle change wash over her face. Her soft sensual expression became hard and predatory and when she smiled at him he could see that two long sharp fangs had appeared in her mouth.
Startled, he tried to push her away from him, but she was still sitting on him and she easily held him down and waited for him to stop struggling. He watched fascinated as she let him see the fangs slide back into the roof of her mouth. Then he looked into her eyes, her love for him and the fear that he would reject her easy to see. “Now what?” Joseph said sounding calmer than he really felt.
“Now, you have a decision to make. Remember I said what is done is done and can not be undone?”
“Yes”
“I’ve been feeding from you, drinking your blood though you don’t remember it. You are getting sick because of my feeding. Your body is trying to change into what I am. That can’t happen unless you drink of my blood. If you do not, then you will die. You have probably started feeling the symptoms.
“I can’t stop it and give you back your old life, but I can give you a new one.” She put a finger over his lips before he could say anything. “I fed from you before I loved you, by then it was too late. Think about what I’ve said, and what I’ve shown you. Figure out what you need to ask me, and ask yourself if you can live this way.” Maggie got up and out of the bed, gathered her scattered clothes and left him stunned and alone.
^^()^^
Joseph got no sleep that night as he struggled with what she had told him. He was an intelligent man. As he thought about it there had been clues to her nature during the time he had know her. He had never seen her during the day. He had never seen her eat, though she did drink beer or wine with him. He didn’t remember her ever biting him, but she admitted to having been drinking his blood since the first night, so she had some control over his memory. She was much stronger than she looked. He had not been about to free himself from her the night before. She had implied that she was much older than she appeared. How old was she?
All that fit into the descriptions of a vampire of folklore. But what didn’t fit was that he had seen her handling a cross. They had been looking at jewelry on a peddler’s tray. She had held and admired a cross necklace, but hadn’t let him buy it for her. And she had easily entered the church with him when he had gone in to light a candle for a friend. The church said she was damned, a demon and should be destroyed. After his wife’s death by his own hand he hadn’t much cared for what the church thought. So what was the truth?
When it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any sleep he got up and went down stairs to the dining room. He and his younger brother were boarding in a public house while they conducted their business in New York. The room was already full of people and the hustle and bustle of the morning meal. He found a table in the back where he could be alone. The hostess offered him some portage flavored with apples from the big pot in the fire, but just the smell of it turned his stomach. He asked her to bring him a small beer instead. “Just another sign that she wasn’t trying to con him” he thought gloomily to himself. Couple that with the feeling that the sun had seemed uncomfortably bright the last few days let him knew that what she had told him was the truth. He sipped the small beer, his thought going back over all the arguments that had kept him awake through the night. He knew he didn’t want to die yet. Could he hate Maggie for taking away his present life and offering him a new one? The way his life was now, he wasn’t giving up very much.
“Enough!” he told himself sternly. “You already know what your answer will be, so stop chasing your thoughts around in circles pretending you were going to say anything other than yes. Your only question for Maggie will be ‘Are you sure you really want me?’ With his decision made he relaxed for the first time since she had showed him her fangs.
He was about to leave the dining room when he saw a young woman with very light blond hair heading in his direction. He recognized her as Maggie’s personal maid, Sara. How much did Sara know abut her mistress he wondered? Would she knowingly work for a vampire? Sara dropped him a curtsy and handed him a folded note. It was addressed to him in Maggie’s loopy handwriting. Sara watched him curiously from down cast eyes. She had a shawl around her shoulders and neck. Before he thought about it he reached out and moved the shawl away from her neck. She startled him by knowing what he was looking for and said in a very matter-o-fact manner, “You won’t find them there, Sir. They are deliberately under the collar.”
Slightly alarmed at how calm she seemed about having been bitten by a vampire he asked her, “Are you not afraid to die, or has she promised to turn you?”
“Her feeding doesn’t harm me, Sir. And I can not be turned.” The woman kept her voice low, so that know one would over here their bizarre conversation. For the first time she looked up at him giving him a clear view of her face, and he saw how very light blue her eyes were, and that the center of each was oval, almost like a cat’s. Truly, she looked more otherworldly than her mistress. “That’s why I’m her servant. Sir”
“I don’t understand.” He told her simply.
She seemed to take pity on him and offered a shy smile. “You’ll learn it all in time, sir” She gave him another curtsy and walked away leaving him staring after her. When she was gone he remembered the note.
Dearest Joseph
I won’t apologize again for the position I have put you in. I can only hope for your forgiveness.
Please, if you love me, arrange your affairs to be out of town for the next four or five days and meet me in our usual place at sundown.
If you do not to meet me then remember that I do love you and don’t come looking for me. Though it will break my heart you will not see me coming. I do not let my victims suffer the cruelty of a long and painful death. I was taught that mercy is a godly virtue. I get no pleasure from cruelty.
You hold my heart, my love.
Margaret Mary Smith
Joseph went to inform his brother that he was going out of town for a week. His brother was angry, “How can you leave right now? We have a meeting with the bank tomorrow and our ship is due in port any time now.” He ranted. “It’s that woman, isn’t it?” he went on ranting, not letting Joseph get a word in, “You are thinking with your penis and not your head.” Joseph felt a little guilty about that last jab. It was partly true. “She’s only interest in your money Joseph! Can’t you see that?”
He’d had enough; he faced his brother’s accusations with cold determination. “I didn’t ask you if I could go out of town, I told you. I don’t have to ask your permission. You are perfectly capable of running the company for a week. And my personal life is not any of your business.” Angry, he turned his back on his brother and walked away before he said anything he might regret later.
On the way back to his room he stopped the errand boy and gave him a penny to come and knock on his door in a few hours. He was suddenly feeling very tired.
^^()^^
The usual place that he met Maggie in was no more mysterious than in front of the Horn and Feather Tavern. He got there early and watched the last rays of the sun paint the horizon for what might be the last time. A short time later a, one horse wagon turned the corner and pulled up in front of him. He looked up and Maggie was smiling down at him, she was sitting on the driver’s board, and Sara was in the back behind her with a few bags and boxes. “You came.” She said.
“Did you doubt me?” He asked. Maggie patted the seat beside her. Joseph handed his valise to Sara and climbed up beside Maggie. She gave the reins an expert snap and they were on their way with no more words spoken between them.
They were a little way out of town when she asked him, “You’re not going to ask me where we are going?”
“No. I trust you.” He was rewarded for his words by her scooting closer to him. He wrapped his arm around her for the rest of the journey. The moon was little more than half full and Maggie wasn’t going to push the horse to more than a walk in its weak light. Joseph watched Maggie. She looked like a fairy queen come to spirit him away to Underhill to feast the night away in song and dance. The fantasy amused him for a moment until he remembered. She was a fey queen but it was to something much darker than singing and dancing she was leading him too.
They had only been on the road an hour when they arrived at a large house. Maggie drove the wagon right into the open barn. Sara jumped out of the back of the wagon and quickly lit a lamp. All three of them unhitched the wagon from the horse. Sara led the horse into a prepared stall and Maggie took him by the arm and led him into the house.
Inside the main doors was a grand staircase. Maggie used a match to light a candle on a table inside the door. She stepped on the first step and held her hand out to him with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. Taking her hand, he was delighted to see that standing on the step she was eye to eye with him. She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him. What was meant to be a short playful kiss soon deepened until they were both breathless when he let her go. She put her hands on his shoulders and said, “Wait here, I won’t be long.” And turned and fled up the stairs letting him admire her back view.
She had left him the candle, and he picked it up to have a look around the house. It was large, but not a mansion. The grand staircase led up to what he could assume were bedrooms on the top floor. There was a living room and dining room on the first floor with fine imported furniture. He was examining a portrait of a woman that looked a lot like Sara when she called to him. Only she hadn’t shouted out loud, he heard her voice in his head, asking him to join her.
He should have been frightened; he should have run for his life. Instead he climbed the stairs and entered the room where he knew Maggie waited for him. Scented candles warmed the room and filled the air with waxy perfume. The covers on the huge bed were pulled back, the sheets sprinkled with rose petals, their scent mingling with the wax of the candles and cast a sensual spell on the room. A decanter of red wine and a crystal goblet were on a table by the bed. Maggie stood in the middle of the room. Her hair was unbound and hung in curly waves to her waist. A gown of soft dark green silk flowed around the curves of her breasts and hips held on by ribbons tied at the shoulders. Her flawless white skin glowed in the candlelight begging to be touched.
He walked into her outstretched arms and she molded her body to his kissing him with heated passion. His arms wrapped around her and his hands came to rest on the curve of her backside and pressed her harder into his hips. Her lips parted, inviting his tongue to explore her mouth. He had kissed her many times but this time his tongue found something different. It was the first time he felt the folds behind her regular teeth that sheathed her fangs. Intrigued, his tongue explored the area and felt the sharp points hidden within. Maggie moaned as his tongue teased her fangs and pulled away from him before she gave way to the temptation to use them right then.
Instead she stepped back and slowly untied the ribbons at her shoulders. He gasped and held his breath as the thin silk slid caressingly to a puddle at her feet. Then she undressed him. Deliberately making her moves slow and seductive, she unbuttoned his coat and vest, her hands creasing his flat stomach and chest as she pushed them out of her way. Gently she pushed him backwards until he was sitting on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes and stockings. Pushing higher, she untied the lacing on his shirt and rained light kisses wherever she uncovered warm skin. Pulling the shirt over his head, she pushed him down on the bed, kissing and licking his chest, teasing his nipples and watching them harden. She chuckled because he’d told her before that his nipples weren’t sensitive.
Her hand moved lower, undoing the fastenings of his britches. Her mouth followed the path of her hands and soon she was licking and sucking his manhood. Unwilling to remain passive any longer Joseph turned her so that his mouth could reach between her legs. He lightly teased her with the tip of his tongue until she pushed into him, demanding more. He used his fingers and mouth and brought her to a trembling climax. When her shuddering slowed she quickly turned around and sank his throbbing member deep into her wet folds. Her inner muscles tightened and pumped him until he too was shuddering and she collapsed on top of him.
It was long minutes before either of them moved. Joseph had a sudden panicky thought. Maggie simply laughed. Having picked the thought from his mind and the look on his face, she said aloud, “Most definitely, my love. It will rise again.”
Reassured he laughed at himself. “Maybe I should have asked that first?” Maggie simply kissed him again and rolled off of him. She reached for the wine on the table by the bed and poured some in the cup. Joseph sat up and leaned against the headboard. Maggie brought the cup and sat across his outstretched legs. She took a sip of the wine and kissed him, letting the warm wine trickle into his mouth. She then licked the corners where it had dribbled and held the cup to his lips for him to drink. There was a slight taste of herbs behind the sweetness of the wine, but it was not unpleasant. Maggie tipped the cup until the last drops of the wine spilled from the sides and rolled down his chin to his chest. She put the cup aside and slowly licked away the spilled wine, savoring the taste of him under her mouth as she followed the trail the wine had made. When she got to his neck, she looked up at him, letting him see her fangs before she bit him. This time she didn’t hide what she was doing, nor did she cover up the pain of the two sharp points penetrating his skin. Joseph stifled a cry, but he didn’t try to push her away. He held her closer, his hands moving through her hair as she drank in his life.
It didn’t take long. She sat up and reached for a small knife he hadn’t seen on the table. He watched mesmerized as she brought the knife to her own throat. Carefully she made a cut; blood sluggishly oozed from the wound and dripped down between her breasts. It was clear what she intended him to do. He leaned her back and let his tongue trace the blood trail, the same way she had licked the wine on his skin moments before. It didn’t taste bad. It was kind of coppery. When he got to the cut he closed his mouth around it and drank her offering.
He didn’t feel any different when they were done. She lay beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. “What’s going to happen now?” He asked her.
“Just go to sleep my love. Everything will be different when you wake,” she told him, pulling the sheet up to cover him from the nights chill. He drifted peacefully into a dreamless sleep.
^^()^^
’Verse: Servants Journals
Characters: Maggie/Joseph m/f
Prompt: 65 Passing
Word Count: 3780
Rating: nc17
Notes: Warning: Pink to purple prose ahead.
the prelude to this is prompt 85 she, First Meeting
(I would love it if you could let me know if you read this. a happy or sad smily will due.)
New York,
1750
She sat on his chest, her soft gauzy shift pooled around her hips and hung off of one shoulder. The flickering candle highlighted the dark red hair that hung disheveled from their love making. Her green eyes glowed with sated passions. Joseph knew that he would never forget how beautiful she looked at that moment.
Joseph had first seen her pouting at the rain in his wine booth tent at the harvest fair. He had flirted with her then, not expecting anything to come of it but was happy to let her lead him back to her bower and truly enchant him. It had been two months since then. Eight weeks and she was all he could think about.
When Maggie had led him to her apartment she had only been looking for quick diversion and a full stomach. The handsome brown-haired, brown eyed-man would do well for both. She had planned to use him as she had so many others to feed her need for blood. She didn’t always take her victims to bed, but he was handsome and smelled good and she had been feeling lonely. She hadn’t expected to fall in love with him. Joseph didn’t just have sex; he’d made love to her. His gentle hands had inflamed her like no one else had in over a century. She had only been looking for an easy victim; instead she had fallen under his spell.
As the weeks went by Maggie realized what she had to do. She had bitten him their first time in bed, and so had condemned him to death. Within weeks he would die from her bite-- unless she turned him. Maggie was very, very careful of whom she turned. In all her thousand years, Maggie had turned very few. Not even the one per century that was the general rule of thumb among her kind.
Not everyone was suited to the vampire life. They think they want to live forever until they learn the true length and cost of that unending life, as well as how quickly the world they knew changed. Many vampires perished because they couldn’t adapt. And then there was the blood. Taking the blood from any but the rare race of vampire servants was to cause their death. Would Joseph be willing to kill to survive?
She knew that he had killed before and that he didn’t’ regret it. A few nights ago he had told her he had killed his wife after finding her in bed wit another man. He’d come home expecting to surprise her and found her in bed with another man. Feeling betrayed he’d strangled her with his bare hands while the man she had been with ran like a frightened rabbit, never looking back. The law was on his side and the whole affair was quietly covered up. She knew that Joseph had expected her to leave him in fear or disgust after his confession but instead was relieved.
She knew she loved him, she knew he was intelligent and clever and quick. She thought he would be able to weather the changing ages. And now she knew he could kill. But would he accept her gift or would he hate and her try to kill her too?
Maggie looked down into the lazy contented eyes of her very sated lover. He was still half hard within her as she rocked her hips and gave it a last squeeze before it slipped out. He smiled at her, much the same way he had smiled at her the fist time they’d made love and it melted her heart just the same as it had the first time. Maggie bit her lip, she had to tell him and let him make his decision. She didn’t want to see the look of fear and betrayal on his face. “Now or never” she thought to her self. It was only an hour to dawn. She would tell him now and get his answer tomorrow night. Joseph sensed the change in her mood and waited for her to speak.
“I have something to tell you. It’s very important and you might hate me for it after.” She said, “First, what’s done is done, neither God nor I.”
“Undo what? What have you done?” An ominous feeling settled over him.
“Joseph, you have to have guessed by now that I’m not completely like other women.”
“Because you won’t see me during the day? I thought it was because you are married and can not get away then.”
Maggie smiled sadly, “No I’m not married. It would be easy to let you believe that.” She reached out and gently rubbed her finger over the bite marks on his shoulder. “I did this to you”
It was only after she pointed them out to him that Joseph noticed the small punctures. “I’ve had love marks before Maggie.” He pointed out.
“Not like these.” Maggie sighed, “This is never easy. I’m just going to show you. Just remember, Joseph, I love you and I won’t hurt you. Okay?
Joseph was starting to think she was a bit moon touched. What could possibly be so different about her that warranted all this melodrama? Then he saw a very subtle change wash over her face. Her soft sensual expression became hard and predatory and when she smiled at him he could see that two long sharp fangs had appeared in her mouth.
Startled, he tried to push her away from him, but she was still sitting on him and she easily held him down and waited for him to stop struggling. He watched fascinated as she let him see the fangs slide back into the roof of her mouth. Then he looked into her eyes, her love for him and the fear that he would reject her easy to see. “Now what?” Joseph said sounding calmer than he really felt.
“Now, you have a decision to make. Remember I said what is done is done and can not be undone?”
“Yes”
“I’ve been feeding from you, drinking your blood though you don’t remember it. You are getting sick because of my feeding. Your body is trying to change into what I am. That can’t happen unless you drink of my blood. If you do not, then you will die. You have probably started feeling the symptoms.
“I can’t stop it and give you back your old life, but I can give you a new one.” She put a finger over his lips before he could say anything. “I fed from you before I loved you, by then it was too late. Think about what I’ve said, and what I’ve shown you. Figure out what you need to ask me, and ask yourself if you can live this way.” Maggie got up and out of the bed, gathered her scattered clothes and left him stunned and alone.
^^()^^
Joseph got no sleep that night as he struggled with what she had told him. He was an intelligent man. As he thought about it there had been clues to her nature during the time he had know her. He had never seen her during the day. He had never seen her eat, though she did drink beer or wine with him. He didn’t remember her ever biting him, but she admitted to having been drinking his blood since the first night, so she had some control over his memory. She was much stronger than she looked. He had not been about to free himself from her the night before. She had implied that she was much older than she appeared. How old was she?
All that fit into the descriptions of a vampire of folklore. But what didn’t fit was that he had seen her handling a cross. They had been looking at jewelry on a peddler’s tray. She had held and admired a cross necklace, but hadn’t let him buy it for her. And she had easily entered the church with him when he had gone in to light a candle for a friend. The church said she was damned, a demon and should be destroyed. After his wife’s death by his own hand he hadn’t much cared for what the church thought. So what was the truth?
When it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any sleep he got up and went down stairs to the dining room. He and his younger brother were boarding in a public house while they conducted their business in New York. The room was already full of people and the hustle and bustle of the morning meal. He found a table in the back where he could be alone. The hostess offered him some portage flavored with apples from the big pot in the fire, but just the smell of it turned his stomach. He asked her to bring him a small beer instead. “Just another sign that she wasn’t trying to con him” he thought gloomily to himself. Couple that with the feeling that the sun had seemed uncomfortably bright the last few days let him knew that what she had told him was the truth. He sipped the small beer, his thought going back over all the arguments that had kept him awake through the night. He knew he didn’t want to die yet. Could he hate Maggie for taking away his present life and offering him a new one? The way his life was now, he wasn’t giving up very much.
“Enough!” he told himself sternly. “You already know what your answer will be, so stop chasing your thoughts around in circles pretending you were going to say anything other than yes. Your only question for Maggie will be ‘Are you sure you really want me?’ With his decision made he relaxed for the first time since she had showed him her fangs.
He was about to leave the dining room when he saw a young woman with very light blond hair heading in his direction. He recognized her as Maggie’s personal maid, Sara. How much did Sara know abut her mistress he wondered? Would she knowingly work for a vampire? Sara dropped him a curtsy and handed him a folded note. It was addressed to him in Maggie’s loopy handwriting. Sara watched him curiously from down cast eyes. She had a shawl around her shoulders and neck. Before he thought about it he reached out and moved the shawl away from her neck. She startled him by knowing what he was looking for and said in a very matter-o-fact manner, “You won’t find them there, Sir. They are deliberately under the collar.”
Slightly alarmed at how calm she seemed about having been bitten by a vampire he asked her, “Are you not afraid to die, or has she promised to turn you?”
“Her feeding doesn’t harm me, Sir. And I can not be turned.” The woman kept her voice low, so that know one would over here their bizarre conversation. For the first time she looked up at him giving him a clear view of her face, and he saw how very light blue her eyes were, and that the center of each was oval, almost like a cat’s. Truly, she looked more otherworldly than her mistress. “That’s why I’m her servant. Sir”
“I don’t understand.” He told her simply.
She seemed to take pity on him and offered a shy smile. “You’ll learn it all in time, sir” She gave him another curtsy and walked away leaving him staring after her. When she was gone he remembered the note.
Dearest Joseph
I won’t apologize again for the position I have put you in. I can only hope for your forgiveness.
Please, if you love me, arrange your affairs to be out of town for the next four or five days and meet me in our usual place at sundown.
If you do not to meet me then remember that I do love you and don’t come looking for me. Though it will break my heart you will not see me coming. I do not let my victims suffer the cruelty of a long and painful death. I was taught that mercy is a godly virtue. I get no pleasure from cruelty.
You hold my heart, my love.
Margaret Mary Smith
Joseph went to inform his brother that he was going out of town for a week. His brother was angry, “How can you leave right now? We have a meeting with the bank tomorrow and our ship is due in port any time now.” He ranted. “It’s that woman, isn’t it?” he went on ranting, not letting Joseph get a word in, “You are thinking with your penis and not your head.” Joseph felt a little guilty about that last jab. It was partly true. “She’s only interest in your money Joseph! Can’t you see that?”
He’d had enough; he faced his brother’s accusations with cold determination. “I didn’t ask you if I could go out of town, I told you. I don’t have to ask your permission. You are perfectly capable of running the company for a week. And my personal life is not any of your business.” Angry, he turned his back on his brother and walked away before he said anything he might regret later.
On the way back to his room he stopped the errand boy and gave him a penny to come and knock on his door in a few hours. He was suddenly feeling very tired.
^^()^^
The usual place that he met Maggie in was no more mysterious than in front of the Horn and Feather Tavern. He got there early and watched the last rays of the sun paint the horizon for what might be the last time. A short time later a, one horse wagon turned the corner and pulled up in front of him. He looked up and Maggie was smiling down at him, she was sitting on the driver’s board, and Sara was in the back behind her with a few bags and boxes. “You came.” She said.
“Did you doubt me?” He asked. Maggie patted the seat beside her. Joseph handed his valise to Sara and climbed up beside Maggie. She gave the reins an expert snap and they were on their way with no more words spoken between them.
They were a little way out of town when she asked him, “You’re not going to ask me where we are going?”
“No. I trust you.” He was rewarded for his words by her scooting closer to him. He wrapped his arm around her for the rest of the journey. The moon was little more than half full and Maggie wasn’t going to push the horse to more than a walk in its weak light. Joseph watched Maggie. She looked like a fairy queen come to spirit him away to Underhill to feast the night away in song and dance. The fantasy amused him for a moment until he remembered. She was a fey queen but it was to something much darker than singing and dancing she was leading him too.
They had only been on the road an hour when they arrived at a large house. Maggie drove the wagon right into the open barn. Sara jumped out of the back of the wagon and quickly lit a lamp. All three of them unhitched the wagon from the horse. Sara led the horse into a prepared stall and Maggie took him by the arm and led him into the house.
Inside the main doors was a grand staircase. Maggie used a match to light a candle on a table inside the door. She stepped on the first step and held her hand out to him with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. Taking her hand, he was delighted to see that standing on the step she was eye to eye with him. She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him. What was meant to be a short playful kiss soon deepened until they were both breathless when he let her go. She put her hands on his shoulders and said, “Wait here, I won’t be long.” And turned and fled up the stairs letting him admire her back view.
She had left him the candle, and he picked it up to have a look around the house. It was large, but not a mansion. The grand staircase led up to what he could assume were bedrooms on the top floor. There was a living room and dining room on the first floor with fine imported furniture. He was examining a portrait of a woman that looked a lot like Sara when she called to him. Only she hadn’t shouted out loud, he heard her voice in his head, asking him to join her.
He should have been frightened; he should have run for his life. Instead he climbed the stairs and entered the room where he knew Maggie waited for him. Scented candles warmed the room and filled the air with waxy perfume. The covers on the huge bed were pulled back, the sheets sprinkled with rose petals, their scent mingling with the wax of the candles and cast a sensual spell on the room. A decanter of red wine and a crystal goblet were on a table by the bed. Maggie stood in the middle of the room. Her hair was unbound and hung in curly waves to her waist. A gown of soft dark green silk flowed around the curves of her breasts and hips held on by ribbons tied at the shoulders. Her flawless white skin glowed in the candlelight begging to be touched.
He walked into her outstretched arms and she molded her body to his kissing him with heated passion. His arms wrapped around her and his hands came to rest on the curve of her backside and pressed her harder into his hips. Her lips parted, inviting his tongue to explore her mouth. He had kissed her many times but this time his tongue found something different. It was the first time he felt the folds behind her regular teeth that sheathed her fangs. Intrigued, his tongue explored the area and felt the sharp points hidden within. Maggie moaned as his tongue teased her fangs and pulled away from him before she gave way to the temptation to use them right then.
Instead she stepped back and slowly untied the ribbons at her shoulders. He gasped and held his breath as the thin silk slid caressingly to a puddle at her feet. Then she undressed him. Deliberately making her moves slow and seductive, she unbuttoned his coat and vest, her hands creasing his flat stomach and chest as she pushed them out of her way. Gently she pushed him backwards until he was sitting on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes and stockings. Pushing higher, she untied the lacing on his shirt and rained light kisses wherever she uncovered warm skin. Pulling the shirt over his head, she pushed him down on the bed, kissing and licking his chest, teasing his nipples and watching them harden. She chuckled because he’d told her before that his nipples weren’t sensitive.
Her hand moved lower, undoing the fastenings of his britches. Her mouth followed the path of her hands and soon she was licking and sucking his manhood. Unwilling to remain passive any longer Joseph turned her so that his mouth could reach between her legs. He lightly teased her with the tip of his tongue until she pushed into him, demanding more. He used his fingers and mouth and brought her to a trembling climax. When her shuddering slowed she quickly turned around and sank his throbbing member deep into her wet folds. Her inner muscles tightened and pumped him until he too was shuddering and she collapsed on top of him.
It was long minutes before either of them moved. Joseph had a sudden panicky thought. Maggie simply laughed. Having picked the thought from his mind and the look on his face, she said aloud, “Most definitely, my love. It will rise again.”
Reassured he laughed at himself. “Maybe I should have asked that first?” Maggie simply kissed him again and rolled off of him. She reached for the wine on the table by the bed and poured some in the cup. Joseph sat up and leaned against the headboard. Maggie brought the cup and sat across his outstretched legs. She took a sip of the wine and kissed him, letting the warm wine trickle into his mouth. She then licked the corners where it had dribbled and held the cup to his lips for him to drink. There was a slight taste of herbs behind the sweetness of the wine, but it was not unpleasant. Maggie tipped the cup until the last drops of the wine spilled from the sides and rolled down his chin to his chest. She put the cup aside and slowly licked away the spilled wine, savoring the taste of him under her mouth as she followed the trail the wine had made. When she got to his neck, she looked up at him, letting him see her fangs before she bit him. This time she didn’t hide what she was doing, nor did she cover up the pain of the two sharp points penetrating his skin. Joseph stifled a cry, but he didn’t try to push her away. He held her closer, his hands moving through her hair as she drank in his life.
It didn’t take long. She sat up and reached for a small knife he hadn’t seen on the table. He watched mesmerized as she brought the knife to her own throat. Carefully she made a cut; blood sluggishly oozed from the wound and dripped down between her breasts. It was clear what she intended him to do. He leaned her back and let his tongue trace the blood trail, the same way she had licked the wine on his skin moments before. It didn’t taste bad. It was kind of coppery. When he got to the cut he closed his mouth around it and drank her offering.
He didn’t feel any different when they were done. She lay beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. “What’s going to happen now?” He asked her.
“Just go to sleep my love. Everything will be different when you wake,” she told him, pulling the sheet up to cover him from the nights chill. He drifted peacefully into a dreamless sleep.
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