Crimson and Blood

Chapter 10

"My first, my last, my everything.

And the answer to all my dreams.

My kind of wonderful

That's what you are.

I know there's only, only one like you.

There's no way, they could have made two.

You're all I'm living for,

Your love I'll keep for evermore.

You're the first, you're the last, my everything."

Barry White, My First, My Last, My Everything

It was mid afternoon when Josef found Grace alone, relaxing in the sitting room of their suite having some blood and fruit, enjoying the view of the ocean in the distance. He was a little surprised Beth wasn't with her but she was probably in her own suite she shared with Mick. Mick would seek comfort from Beth just as he was seeking comfort from Grace. Grace was in her comfortable sleeveless stretch knit medium length dress she so loved to lounge in. She'd even worn it to bed sometimes. He could see her mind was far away and he wondered what she was thinking. The wedding was just two days away now. Was she changing her mind? Was she afraid? She was safer now than she had been earlier. They had caught the evil behind this latest plot. Ultimately it was a surprise to everyone who knew, which was very few. He hadn't seen her since he gave her a brief kiss before Karl carried her upstairs after the failed kidnapping almost two days ago. He, along with her father, Mick, and Karl had been interrogating those who survived the failure, and now had who they believed to be the mastermind in their custody. It had been a rough thirty six hours. Interrogations, hunting, and capturing the menace behind this had taken its toll on Josef and the others. Now that they had him in custody, the even harder part would come. He must be killed, it would be very difficult and the elders would have to condone the actions in order to not be outlawed.

"Josef! Do not fear that I am changing my mind, although I am afraid. I can feel a great evil that has come into this house. And you look worn out, baby." Looking relieved, Grace had turned to face him as soon as she started picking up his thoughts.

He sat next to her on her blood red settee, kissed her gently and laid his head in her lap. He was exhausted and needed some serious freezer time, as did Valentin, Mick, and Karl. They were all taking blood and moving into either borrowed freezers or their own here at the house. No one was leaving today.

"You have been up all night and another day my love with no freezer time and very little blood. You look drawn and exhausted, baby. Before you tell me all the frightening and gory details, I offer you my wrist. Take from me what you need to protect us through the day and into the night." Grace ran her fingers through Josef's disordered hair and stroked his two day growth on his face. He looked so much older than his seemingly 25 mortal years.

"I should not take your blood. I fear we will need your power soon, and I would not want to weaken you." Josef sighed, pushing away the presented wrist filled with the much desired blood and closed his eyes.

"No Josef. You need my blood more than anyone right now. I have been fortifying myself all morning with strong blood from my father, from Mick, and your freshies. Kelly has been getting it off tap for me so I could provide for you. I know evil has come into our home, and that you have been trying to protect me from having to confront it. I love you for that, but now is the time that my power comes to full fruition. I need you to be whole and strong to help defeat the evil beast intent on harming me. Please Josef, take what is necessary. He is weakened now, and may continue to deteriorate without a freezer or blood supplied. But his I feel his energy through the house. He is still very powerful." Once again Grace offered her blood, this time from her neck, and this time Josef took the crucial gift. The interrogations and seizure of the menacing vampire behind the whole scheme had left him weaker than he could allow himself to be. Right now, the others that had been involved were also feeding so they could meet the malevolent creature in the prison below ground.

Eventually, Josef had taken all he dared and laid his head back in Grace's lap. Even though she could read his mind if she wanted to, he wanted to be able to tell her what had transpired in the last 36 hours or more. "As you know Karl captured the vampires and we interrogated them through the most efficient means to get our information." He didn't have to say it, but Grace knew torture, even extreme torture, had been used to get the information quickly and efficiently. "We discovered the mastermind behind this is Marcus."

"Marcus? I thought he had become a virtual recluse after 1000 years. His strength must be amazing."

"He learned of the wedding which provided him the perfect last chance opportunity to capture you. Marcus was certainly not on the guest list," Josef said sardonically. "He apparently had designs on you from the time you lived with your father as a young girl and has spent decades developing plans to achieve his goal. He is more of a monster now than a vampire. When you see him, you will understand. He believes that your special powers and your magical blood will cure him of the damage of a Millennium. You can read his mind when you go down there."

"So what is your plan to deal with him? Even the four strongest vamps we have here in the house would not be able to destroy him, unless he is already seriously weakened. "

"This time of day, he is weaker as we all are. Since he has been in our custody we have not fed him or provided him a freezer. We have even been shooting him full of silver nitrate, but his strength is tremendous, and madness has set in. He is still quite strong. We cannot beat down his mind protections, or defeat him physically. As much as I don't want to do it, I have to ask you to come and help us."

"I know Josef. It is time for me to step up to the plate and use my power to its full potential. Since we have been together, since that night of my party, I have felt the power growing exponentially. It hasn't required us to have intercourse to fully develop. The power has grown stronger due to our love and passion for each other. I think we can defeat him using the power of our love as a sexual weapon. I can feel his lust even from here, it is dirty and cruel, and it overwhelms him. You and I together, we can turn it to our advantage, force his weakness and distraction to be his destruction. If his evil lust is more than even what we can counteract together, we can have Karl and Mick join us. They want me, passionately desire me but would never act on that desire because of their respect and fear of you. "

"Wait. What do you mean they want you? You are talking about my best friend and the person I trust to guard us. They are in love with you?" Josef was distressed enough to sit up and look at Grace directly. "And are you suggesting that you have sex with them? That we have sex with them?"

"Josef, you had sex with Beth and Mick before you knew me. He is your best friend and you still fell for his beloved Beth. You thought you were in love with her until you met me. And Mick is devoted to Beth. What he feels for me is the attraction any man would feel for a beautiful woman is constantly around him. This situation is not new for you. As for Karl, he loves me, more like a lover than a daughter. He will do whatever it takes to protect me. Whatever the reason, you know he would move mountains to keep me from harm, just as you would. All that positive desire and love combined with our own would surely break Marcus. We would be able to weaken him to the point where someone, perhaps my father, could go in there and remove his head. I'll be able to absorb the loving desire that we all feel and focus it like a laser into Marcus' brain, providing enough power and energy for someone to kill him in his weakened state. My father will likely be immune to any lust or desire for me, I hope." Grace smiled at Josef, laughing a little at the thought of her father. She was nervously trying to avoid the questions Josef had asked earlier about sex and his friends.

"Grace. You haven't answered my question about sex with me, or Karl, or Mick. Have I been patiently waiting for 6 months only to find you willing to give it up in a group sex situation to kill off a bad vamp? There must be another way." Josef's anger and jealousy pierced the room.

"You have been amazingly patient Josef. I appreciate your sacrifice and would never want to do anything that would take away from that. I'm talking about creating a sexual lust situation, not actually putting out. You are the only man I want to touch me intimately. I can't wait until our wedding night when I can feel you inside of me… your fingers, your hands, your cock, your mouth. I think, but cannot be sure, that we can generate enough heat doing the making out and blood sharing we have done since we've known each other. If we can't, then we will not be able to weaken Marcus enough to kill him. I need to go down to the jail cell and see him through the window. I'll be able to tell if you and I together will be enough or if we need a Plan B that would include Karl and Mick. They touch only, they do not fuck me. I touch them and you as well. No one has intercourse with me. We have saved that for us on our wedding night. Nothing will keep that gift from us, from you Josef. Rubbing, touching, groping, sucking. That is it. What do you think?"

"I think I will be crazy enough by the end of this execution that I may have to have my head cut off."

"Not funny. I'm a little surprised that sharing doesn't make you hot. You've done it before with others. You've been with men and women, separately and in orgy type situations. Watching me touching others, watching others touch me, seems a little steamy to me. And then to know that on our wedding night you can have me any which way you want. I will be yours alone forever, as you will be mine. We are in this for keeps Josef. This would not have been my choice either, but we have to do this to eliminate Marcus. Fortunately there are not many 1000 year old vampires that are trying to kidnap, rape, and drain me. We shouldn't have to do this again."

"So, I should go prepare Mick and Karl about what they get to touch and what will get them killed. Get some kind of bed set up, or would you rather be tied up spread eagle against the wall. Now that would make me hot." Josef smirked as he took her in his arms, leaning in for a kiss.

"Hmmm. Guess I know what I should be prepared for on our wedding night. And while the idea of being tied up does have a certain excitement to it, for this experiment a bed would be appreciated. And before you go to Karl and Mick who are just as exhausted as you, you need some more blood and freezer time. I know you won't take anymore of my blood, but you need more to restore your strength."

Josef sighed tiredly, "You are right of course, one thing at a time. I'll go leave notes for Karl and Mick to join us here in 6 hours. That should be a more than sufficient recovery time for all of us. Do you want your father here as well as we go over things?"

"Uh, no. Josef, I think you should give him a head's up when we have worked out our plan, but he should not be here to hear the nitty-gritty of it all. Can you do that?"

"He'll probably kill me, but yes I will take care of it."

"Josef, why don't I go leave the notes on freezers while you drink some blood and go in your freezer? That will get you feeling stronger quicker. And don't worry about my Father. I can handle him if I have to. I have no fear he will kill me. He may be disappointed with me, but I can live with that. Father should be dealing with the elders and getting their agreement for the execution. I don't anticipate any problems."

Josef nodded his head and raised himself from the settee. He leaned down to give Grace one of his soul-searing kisses that took her breath away. He gently pulled away and softly touched his lips to hers, saying "I love you Grace. We will get through this and we will be married in just a few hours." He turned to head to the mini blood bar they had in the room and then to his freezer. Grace whispered in his mind, "I love you more than life itself. You are my everything, Josef. Rest now, baby, I have you in my heart and in my soul. I won't let you go."

Grace left to leave the notes on everyone's freezer, and briefly spoke to Beth in her and Mick's room. Then she took almost her whole body guard contingent and went down to the cell where Marcus was being held. The lights in the viewing room were dimmed so he couldn't see Grace, but certainly scented her presence even if it was combined with the other men in the room. She pressed her mind into his, not caring if it raked over his brain like shards of glass. She needed to know how strong he was and what it would take to defeat him. His lust was a disgusting black sludge in his mind. Filth and rage were contained within his madness. He was frightening, consumed with his own madness and lust, and truly a monster. She felt him try to reach into her mind and immediately raised her ironclad shields. He could sense her, but could not read her. What she did feel batting he was the first vamp besides her known to have it. Although while she kept hers a secret, others may have a well. That was indeed a surprise, and would have to be incorporated into whatever their plan became. Even so, she didn't consider it to be a huge threat to their plan. He was far too weakened and far gone to make a connection with anyone that would be involved. She had what she needed and the group left as she went back into the main room and up the stairs to her bedroom where she lay down to rest while everyone else was as well.