We had been talking, or at least everyone else had been, for about half an hour and were getting nowhere. The main problem seemed to be the difference between the attitudes of the vampires and the humans towards Bill, or possibly Lilith.
It had rapidly become obvious that the Army personnel present could not, or would not, accept that Bill was regarded by the Sanguinistas as a God. I suppose I could understand their point of view really. After all it was not so long ago that we hadn't known vampires existed at all, so who knew what they were or what powers they might have. After twenty minutes or so Bill had looked down at himself and said "well, I can see that this is wasted on you." As we watched the vivid colour of his skin began to fade and within a few minutes it was back to his normal ivory hue.
The Colonel, whose name I hadn't heard, and frankly wasn't interested in anyway, raised his eyebrows and replied "Nice! But it still doesn't make you a God!"
I decided that I'd had enough of this. "But does it matter?" I asked. There was a sudden silence as all heads turned to me.
"It isn't necessary that you believe it surely? Just that they do!" I said.
The Colonel glared at me across the table for a moment, then his young aide gave a tentative little cough. "The young lady has a point actually Sir" he said.
I gave him a little smile of thanks. "So long as they obey him" I said to the Colonel "what does it matter to you what their motivations are?"
"Good point!" said Ulrich. I think we've demonstrated that the Sanguinistas will obey him...without question!"
"And the rest of you?" said the Colonel aggressively.
Ulrich looked up at him in silence for a moment. "I think if they had witnessed what we have just seen, they would believe too." He said, looking more serious than I had ever seen him.
Bill turned his head slowly towards the Colonel. I noticed that the eyes of all the vampires were on him instantly. "The others do not matter" he said. "Those vampires who already mainstream have always been, and will continue to be, the responsibility of my colleagues in The Authority." He gave Ulrich a respectful little nod.
The Colonel gave a little grunt and sat down. "I guess you're right" he said gruffly. "Okay, lets get down to business shall we."
The aide reached into a briefcase and pulled out a thick pile of paperwork.
Well...there were a few times in the next two hours when I almost wished that Bill had, in fact, killed me! I'm sure it would have been less painful and certainly less boring! I did, however, gain a new respect for Nan's negotiating skills. She had a way of turning a point in her favour around until her opponent began to see it as a wonderful idea and wondered why he hadn't thought of it himself. I still couldn't stand her as a person mind you, but as a political tool, she was invaluable.
At one point Ulrich and the Colonel's aide were arguing about methods of dealing with vampires who did not fall in line with the Authority's rules. Ulrich was very reluctant to hand them over to the army for punishment unless the evidence was incontrovertible but the army wanted to be judge and jury, and possibly executioner as well. I was watched them arguing when they both suddenly fell silent, their eyes on Bill. I turned to him and gasped. He looked angry, which was not surprising, but this was enhanced by the swirls of deep red which had appeared again on his skin and were creeping up his neck onto his cheek.
I put my hand on his thigh under the table and stroked the rough denim gently, feeling the taut muscle relax under my hand. He gave a little sigh and I felt his hand close over mine and give it a little squeeze. He turned to me and smiled and I saw the colour fade again. I sat back in my chair and listened to the discussion while holding Bill's hand under the table.
Hours later we were back in his room and Bill was lying on his back on the bed complaining that his head ached! I sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "I think you're going to have to get used to it you know." I said.
Bill sat up and leaned back against the head of the bed. "Yes, I know" he sighed "You know I never wanted to get involved in politics."
"Perhaps you could just be a figurehead for the movement!" I said. "You are their God after all, they shouldn't expect you to get involved in the detail."
He reached over and pulled me up alongside him. "Well yes, hopefully I'll be able to do that once we get this coalition set up. With Lilith backing them the Authority shouldn't have any trouble speaking for all of us. Then they can do all the negotiating, they're used to it after all!" He turned and looked at me. "Do you know I don't think I've even thanked you properly have I?" he asked. "Everything's been so hectic..."
I snuggled up against him happily. "After what Ulrich told me I just had to come and see for myself. I knew you weren't gone completely because I could still feel you. I just wanted to get you back."
"You were taking a huge risk coming here at all" he said. "Ulrich really should have had more sense!"
"He didn't know!" I said. "Don't go blaming him, it was all my idea!"
Bill turned to me looking puzzled. "But how did you know where this place was if Ulrich didn't tell you?" he asked.
"Ah...yes" I answered, a little guiltily. "I...um...I sort of hacked your e-mail."
He frowned at me. "Well, there wasn't actually any hacking involved!" I said quickly. "You left your laptop in the study..."
He leaned in towards me and kissed me gently. "When I think of what might have happened to you..."
"When I think of what did happen to me...!"
"How did you get in?" he asked.
"Oh that was easy!" I said "I just hung around outside and let one of the guards catch me. I was dragged inside and slung into a storeroom for a hour or so then hauled up before you and Berenice. Then they dragged us downstairs to the basement, made us strip off and slung us in the cells."
Bill was looking horrified. "Oh Alex you poor thing! They made you strip? What on earth for?"
"Well I did ask actually...but I just got a slap around the face." I said. "I imagine that it was just because they could, and humans tend to feel much more helpless and less likely to put up a fight when they're stark naked!"
"Was that the same guard who broke your arm?" asked Bill, his eyes narrowed. I noticed that his fangs had slid out a little. "I think I need to have a little word with him!"
"I don't really think that would be a good idea do you?" I asked. I put my hand on his chest and began to stroke him gently. "Um...Bill?" I asked carefully. "What exactly did you do to Darius?"
"I'm not entirely sure" he answered. "But when I thought of what Lucy had been through in this house at the hands of vampires and realised that he intended to kill her, for no better reason than to demonstrate that he could, well...I just lost my temper. I was furious with him, I wanted him to suffer, I wanted to inflict agonising pain on him and so Lilith obliged me..." He turned to me. "You know...I don't know that I would have stopped, or even if I could have stopped, for anyone else."
"Why?" I asked. "What's different about me?"
"I told you before that she fears you, but it's not that exactly." Bill was clearly struggling to express some concept that he did not really understand himself. "She fears my feelings for you. Because she doesn't understand them. She understands fear, anger even lust, but that's not what I feel for you" he glanced at me for a moment. "Well not all the time anyway!" he smiled. "But love, tenderness...she doesn't seem to understand them."
"You know, that's really quite sad" I said thoughtfully.
"I think that's what makes her so dangerous" said Bill. "She has so much power and yet has no compassion, she doesn't even understand the concept!"
I leaned against him with my head on his shoulder. "Just as well you have enough for both of you." I murmured in his ear. "You can borrow her power and she can borrow your compassion, together you'll make a perfect leader for the coalition."
"I'm lucky to have you with me" he said softly. "You say things to me that no-one else would dare to say."
"Well, yes!" I said. "Only I'd be stupid enough to take the mickey out of a God!"
Bill laughed and took my hand. "Promise me something Alex! Promise that you'll never leave me! I know it's going to be difficult for you from now on but I need you now more than ever. I need you to tease me, to take the mickey out of me. To say those things that other people won't dare to say. To stop me from taking myself too seriously. I need you to keep me sane. To remind me what it is to be human."
I felt the hot prickling of tears behind my eyes and struggled to keep them back. "Of course I will. You don't think I've gone to all this trouble just to leave you to Berenice do you?"
He chuckled. "Now you know there's nothing between me and Berenice. That was over a century ago!"
"But does she know that?" I asked.
"Yes, she does now!" he said firmly. "We're going to have to work together so I need you to know that, to believe it. She could be a great help to me...but I'll tell her to leave if that's what you want."
"No, you're right" I said. "You need her help. I'll just have to trust you."
He leaned over and kissed me gently. "You know you can trust me" he whispered. "I'd never do anything to hurt you...I love you." He put his arm around me and pulled me to him, holding my body tight against his. His mouth found mine again, and there was no gentleness, no tenderness in his kiss this time, only passion, need, and desperate desire. I returned his kiss with an equal passion and felt his hands reach for my shirt and tear it from my body. I just had time to realise that it was the only one I had before I found myself pressed back into the pile of pillows on the soft feather mattress, Bill's mouth exploring the warm exposed flesh of my stomach, his hands busily unfastening my jeans and slipping down inside them to explore other areas.
His tongue trailed a line down my stomach and I felt his hands tugging at my jeans. I raised my hips and he slid my jeans and panties down my legs, pulling them off and tossing them carelessly to the floor. He moved upwards, his lips lingering at my chest, burrowing his face between my breasts, kissing the sides, the soft warm skin beneath them, before taking one in his mouth, teasing the hardened tip of one nipple with his tongue, grazing it lightly with his fangs until I gasped. His hands shifted to my hips, pulling me closer and then his mouth was back on the warm skin of my stomach. His lips moved over skin that grew ever more sensitive as he neared the place between my legs. I felt my muscles clench in anticipation as his tongue moved up over the soft skin of my thigh, sliding between my folds and probing deep into me. I gasped and clutched desperately at the sheets as I felt Bill's strong hands move to hold me down, pinning my writhing body in place as he continued to tease me. Fastening his lips over my twitching flesh and sucking gently at me, drawing a whining gasp from my own lips as I felt my mind empty of everything but the softness of his mouth against me.
"Oh Bill, please...I...I'm..." With a muffled cry I began to convulse in his arms. He held me against him until I lay still and then swung himself up onto his knees, crouching over me, his eyes wide with desire. He slid a hand down between my legs and dipped a fingertip into my warm wet opening.
"Hmm...are you ready for me my darling?" he murmured softly.
Oh my..., I was so ready! I reached up and ran my hand down his stomach, following the line of hair that trailed down his body and plunged between his legs. My eyes widened as I felt my fingers brush over his stiffness and curl around the thick, hard shaft, moving him gently, positioning him, wriggling my hips and spreading my thighs apart to accommodate him. He sank down into me pushing himself in slowly and deeply, giving my body time to become accustomed to the size of him. When he withdrew, it was also slowly, so that his length stroked me as attentively his tongue had; and when he pushed back in, it was with a long roll of his hips down into mine that made me clench around him, setting off a rippling sensation from the centre of my being.
After the first few strokes I wrapped my legs around his hips, digging my heels against the top of his buttocks and clinging to him as if I were drowning. I only vaguely noticed the red marks swirling slowly over his skin as he began to move more strongly within me, thrusting harder and deeper as his own climax approached. Holding me down on the mattress by my shoulders his elongated fangs found my throat just as he gave a final thrust and exploded inside me with a roar. I expected him to drink deeply but instead he withdrew his fangs and began to lick gently at the little wounds he had made as the red tattoo-like marks faded from his skin and he collapsed on top of me.
