Thanks to Lisa for her description of the Bangor area, which I have never visited. Much appreciated and helpful in this chapter and the next! Thanks to Saemay for excellent feedback on the first draft. You make me a better writer!
They appeared just inside the Cathedral's main door, which was capped with a stained glass window overhead. Lena ran through the vestibule and down the steps into the long stretch of the cathedral nave, spinning once to take in the space as she went. Black and cream tile covered the floor of the center aisle, with red tile where pews and chairs sat in rows. Great arches lined either side of the main worship area and benches sat against the side walls, beneath the windows and stations of the cross.
Down the expansive space and beyond the altar area lay the domain of church musicians, with its ornately carved choir benches and intricately wrought casements for the pipes of the organ. The instrument itself was hidden by carved wood panels but music filled the space, and Lena kicked off her shoes, threw off her jacket, and danced toward it with childlike abandon. Hal followed, carrying her discarded items like a slightly disapproving parent.
A massive wood crucifix hung in the central arch behind the altar, separating the public space from the private world beyond. The tile floor was more intricately done there, subtle greens and reds as well as black and grey. The carvings were lavish, more intricate and of amazing quality. Lena skipped past the altar area and through the arched entryway of openwork carved wood. She called in a voice that carried through the music.
"I'm here!"
"Great!" came a muffled reply.
As he moved further down the center aisle Hal looked carefully for some form of camera. The organist had to be able to see the choir area and possibly the altar area as well. He saw several video cameras, but only two of them had blinking green lights and they were aimed at the limited spaces Hal expected. Frederick wouldn't need to know that Hal didn't show up on camera as long as he stayed away from those areas.
Hal lost sight of Lena briefly when she passed beyond the altar, but he shifted position to set her things on a pew and spotted her near the far end of the building. She was running toward the back of the altar. Suddenly she leaped into the air and her wings unfurled. She flew between crucifix and arch and ascended to the ceiling as she began to dance without touching the floor.
Frederick was playing what sounded like a collection of popular Welsh hymns, a good choice considering his perspective audience. The tempo and style shifted regularly as both major and minor chords poured from the instrument in a river of sound.
Lena immersed herself in the river and followed it as it dipped and swirled, crested and receded. She brushed the timbered ceiling and the rows of pews below. She wove along the rows of arches and flitted through colored shafts of light cast by the windows. As Frederick held the final note of a hymn she simply hovered near the ceiling, motionless, arms outstretched. In the moments of silence that followed she dove toward the floor of the center aisle, a graceful swan dive that ended as she curved forward and brushed the tile with her fingertips before turning upward again.
Hal stood his ground facing her and held out his hands to touch her as she passed. She was so close that he caressed the length of her body and felt her fingers slip through his hair.
The music shifted from religious into classical and Hal recognized the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was pleased that Frederick would offer his audience more than just a collection of hymns at the recital. Lena apparently approved as well, because she responded to the increasing complexity of the river of music by increasing the complexity of her own movements.
Hal had never witnessed a prima ballerina perform on such a grand scale; gravity was apparently meaningless to her and the concepts of up and down, side-to-side seemed to vanish as she pirouetted in an ascent from altar to ceiling and leaped down to the top of an arch. Her legs were extended, her back arched, arms curved. As her toes grazed the capstone she twisted away and somersaulted sideways into the center of the space.
Suddenly her being curled backward into an 'O' as she grasped her feet with her hands and spun in a flood of double-time notes from the organ. She hovered in beams of fading sunlight as she spun. The 'O' became a 'C', then a 't' and still she spun. She appeared to be glowing.
Hal was breathless and dizzy watching her. Blue and green clothes, fiery hair—she flashed opalesque as she moved, a jewel thrown from heaven. He finally gave up trying to follow the path of her flight and simply stretched out on the floor of the center aisle to watch her as best he could. Only after he'd been forced to turn his eyes away did he realize that he still knew where she was. The link that had been established between them held true, and he could follow her movements almost as clearly as if he was with her.
She traced an intricate map in his mind as she moved faster than he could see, so he shut his eyes and simply knew what she was doing. He wondered if he was glimpsing the world of her immortal family and their ability to know without seeing. He wondered if heaven was full of creatures who danced like Lena, and if so, he was sorry he wouldn't be there to watch her join them someday.
He heard the fading crescendo of the final note of a piece, along with shuffling that suggested Frederick was about to emerge from his post, so he lithely rose to his feet and dusted himself off. Lena heard the noises too and gracefully descended, slipped once more between crucifix and stone arch, and set down in front of her friend. Hal knew that she could easily have landed before Frederick caught sight of her; she had chosen to let him see her fly.
"Frederick! You don't know how much this means to me!" Lena exclaimed as she hugged the balding, slender man who was just barely taller than she was.
"I have an inkling. You're positively glowing with happiness!" he responded with a warm smile.
Hal had moved to the front of the nave and he had to agree—Lena was actually glowing with joy. He had only caused her to radiate with fury, and once again he felt a twinge of jealousy toward Frederick. He decided to consider it a personal challenge; he would find a way to make her glow with joy as well, now that he knew she could.
Lena moved quickly to introduce the two men by pulling her friend in Hal's direction. "Frederick, this is my partner, Hal Yorke."
"Partner?" Frederick asked as he nodded courteously at Hal, who hadn't ventured past the altar. "Does that mean you are—like her?"
"No," Hal said with a wry smile. "I am earthbound."
"And I am Nephilim, Frederick, not an angel. I am partly human, as is Hal." Lena offered her friend the truth about herself and all the truth he needed about her partner. "We are both gifted with immortality in this world, if we choose. Our other gifts are specific to ourselves."
"I see," Frederick said. The fact that he was willing to accept Lena's explanation without question was evidence of the strength of their friendship. "I wondered if you might be something like that. You are far too human to be fully celestial in nature," he added with a smile. "No angel could possibly enjoy greasy cheeseburgers and onion rings as much as you do."
He turned to Hal. "Should I play something less celestial and more earthbound so you can dance with her?"
"No." Hal shook his head as he replied firmly. "We dance together regularly. Today is about her."
"Superb." Frederick nodded in agreement with Hal's sentiment. "I've time to run through one more concerto before they unlock the doors." He took Lena's hands in his own for a moment. "I'm catching glimpses as you pass the cameras. It is enough. I'm privileged to get to play for you again."
"I'm blessed by your playing," Lena replied as she gently squeezed his hands.
Frederick disappeared behind the wood panels and seated himself in front of the organ so he could give his friend one more dance.
Hal returned to the centre of the nave and watched Lena lift off as the music began. Her wings didn't move; she just lost the pull of gravity again. He thought she'd forgotten about him until she swept through the air toward him, arms outstretched, glowing eyes locked onto his. They connected and she took them up until they halted near the ceiling.
"Trust me?" She smiled as she asked the question; she knew the answer.
Hal nodded and they began to move through the music like a dolphin at play, skimming along the ceiling, flipping and spinning toward the floor, leaping and diving in the space. She kept her arms around his waist and he rested his arms around her neck, but they had no weight and nothing tried to separate them. Hal realized that she carried him beyond humanity, beyond gravity, into a world where music had substance. It brushed against his skin and buoyed him—lighter than air, softer than water—as they sliced through its currents and played in its eddies.
He understood at last how she could dance the way she did. Her human love for dance melded with her immortal sensitivity to music and carried her into the quintessence of it. Music had a more complete reality for her than humans could ever comprehend. He felt the music cradle him; he caught its scent, fragrant and alluring; he tasted it with each breath and swallow as it flooded through him. His senses were overwhelmed by the sublime opulence through which he flew, and he thought his cells might burst as the vampire screamed against the power and purity of it. Hal shivered at the battle raging within him until the protest diminished and ceased and only the music remained.
Finally she brought them to rest on the ceiling with no suggestion that they weren't standing firmly on the ground. She toyed with gravity's claim on them while she waited quietly for him to regroup.
"Is this a bat joke?" Hal asked in a gentle, teasing voice. "You know those myths aren't true."
"No, but if they were this was the one thing you'd want," she answered with a smile. "You'd want to fly, you'd want to defy gravity."
"And now I have."
"And now you have."
Her wings wrapped around them as they kissed, and they turned as one and moved toward the ground. Gravity was at work again but Lena still controlled their descent and they set down easily. They heard voices outside and the sound of someone unlocking the door.
"Time to go," Lena said.
"Wait! Your jacket and shoes!" Hal quickly retrieved them, and Lena grabbed him and got them out as the front door of the Cathedral swung open.
They reappeared in the Audi, in approximately the same positions as they had left, but it was a mildly uncomfortable landing and they quickly shifted apart and got themselves settled. Lena started to giggle at their 'escape' and at the idea of what would have happened if the doors had been opened a few minutes earlier. Hal chuckled as well.
"Somebody was early," he said as he checked his watch. "We still had five minutes."
"That's okay. Gives me five more minutes to shower and change," Lena said as she fastened her seatbelt. "Do you know where we're going?"
"I received excellent directions over the phone when I reserved the room," Hal replied as he started the car. "It isn't quite as close as I'd like, but it had a vacancy. Unfortunately my first two choices did not."
Lena watched him quietly as he drove. He was happy. He was humming. He was apparently oblivious to the fact that the curse had weakened once again—she could no longer see it. Lena had hoped for just that result when she decided to bring Hal into her dance.
Contact with her immortal elements changed him in ways that her proximity couldn't; he'd told her so and she'd witnessed it for herself. It had been risky to keep him apart from the physical world for so long, and she knew that a human would have succumbed, physically or mentally if not both, to the fracture in his being. But Hal was strong, and she believed he could adjust to the immortal qualities of music as she knew them. She also believed that exposure to that part of her world would damage the vampire curse, and apparently she was right.
She hoped to force the curse into a dormant state that would allow Hal to live a life as close to that of a normal human as he chose. It wasn't her ultimate goal, of course, but it was the best she could do until she found a way to defeat that damned curse once and for all. She wanted to tell Hal about the change she saw in the curse, but decided not to in case the effect was temporary. She chose to wait and see if he felt the difference within himself. That would be the true test of the success of her experiment.
Lena focused her attention on the road and noticed familiar shops and a roundabout that looked suspiciously like one she had silently cursed earlier.
"Are we going back the way we came?"
"Yes, we passed the hotel on the way into Bangor. It is in the Menai Business Park." He hesitated. "It's a Premier Inn. I know it isn't up to your usual standards…"
Lena 'tsked' at him. He really was a snob about some things. "Hal, I don't have usual standards. The fact that we live in a rundown B&B should tell you that. Relax, I'm sure it'll be fine."
"I've seen your suite in London."
"I only have it because I own the building, and Bernard actually did most of the design. Or hired it done."
They were silent for a few moments before Hal changed the subject. "Thank you for taking me into the music with you. It was a tremendous gift," he said. "I didn't know such a world could exist."
"It was my pleasure," she replied with a smile.
"Have you ever taken a—"
"A partner?" She shook her head. "No. Humans wouldn't do well in that environment. No, I would share that only with you."
Hal noticed her use of the phrase. She wasn't just making a statement, she was making a promise.
He started to ask Lena what she saw when she looked at him now, but he decided against it. Surely if she'd noticed a change she would have mentioned it. Maybe it was nothing more than the after-effect of being in the music; maybe it was temporary; maybe it was just his imagination, but Hal couldn't sense the hunger anymore. The niggling hints of bloodlust, the murmurs of 'if only' that tempted him even in her presence, were gone. Yesterday she had weakened it dramatically, to the point that Hal believed he could control himself in the most intimate circumstances. Now he believed there would be no need for control. If Lena would just say something to confirm his belief! She'd become his gauge for measuring the strength of the curse through the months they'd spent together.
Twice she had drawn the curse from him and given him temporary freedom from its pull. Hal felt much the same now as he had on those occasions, but more settled within himself and not as human. The vampire was still part of him but the hunger had disappeared. She'd driven it into hiding, and Hal hoped it would stay there.
Check-in at the Inn was efficient and they quickly reached their room. As they entered, Lena hung up her outfit for the recital. "I've just got time for a quick shower," she said as she headed for the bathroom.
Hal had something different in mind, something he'd been considering all day and was even more certain he could do now. He believed that he could finally be intimate with Lena in her true form, and he wanted to so do in a way that would let her know how thankful he was for her. He just needed to convince her to let him, if not right away then at least after the recital. It should be a simple matter for a man who'd seduced thousands of women.
"Are you sure that's how you want to spend your time?" Hal intercepted her, slid a hand around her waist and pulled her close.
"I suppose you think you have a better idea?" she said, as though she knew what was coming next.
"You have done so much for me…" Hal held her to him, leaning his head back a bit so he could look at her face.
"And now you want me to do even more?" she asked as she moved her hips back and forth, rubbing lightly against the bulge that was growing in his trousers.
"No. I want you to let me do something for you." Hal leaned in for a kiss, drawn by the luscious curve of her lips. "You were my…tutor," he whispered as he pulled back and brushed his lips against hers. "Let me show you—" he kissed the tip of her nose "what I've learned since then." He kissed her cheek, gently, as if he were kissing a rose petal.
He breathed softly into her ear, "Let me—" he lightly sucked on her earlobe "treat you—" he kissed the line of her jaw just below her ear as he moved to stand behind her, trailing his hand around her waist "the way—" one hand slipped down the front of her tights as the other slid up her shirt front "you deserve—" he whispered into the soft flesh at the base of her neck as he kissed his way along her throat.
She grabbed his wrists. "I'm not sure you're ready." She didn't want to risk his safety until they were certain the curse was under control.
"Let me prove that I am."
"We only have 20 minutes," Lena reminded him, swallowing against her rising desire. Hal certainly seemed in control.
"I'll take it," he murmured as he sucked gently on the tender skin covering the pulse in her neck. Although he could hear it singing through her body, Hal had no interest in Lena's blood. He searched himself, but there was not a whisper of hunger in his depths. He could focus solely on her.
Lena felt the kiss lingering on her vein and understood what it meant. Hal was proving that he was in control of himself and asking her to trust him. She turned her head and looked carefully for any trace of the curse, the pale pink shadow that always covered him. She could still find no trace of it. If he was choosing to act in this way he must be able to tell the difference in himself as well.
She released his hands and Hal pulled her against him, feeling her soft backside cradle his erection as he deftly slid his left hand into her bra and cupped her breast, brushing her nipple lightly.
His right hand discovered the lace trim on her pants. "New?" He breathed the question into her ear.
"Found them in the bottom of a drawer."
"Liar."
She leaned into him, eyes closed, her left hand teasing through his hair as her right slid to rest on his forearm. She felt him tense and flex as his hand slid further into her panties, his long sensitive fingers moving expertly into familiar territory.
She spread her legs to give him greater access. He slid his hand further into the wetness that gave her away and found her clitoris waiting for him. He brushed against it and began to massage it gently.
"Does this mean you'll take me up on my offer?" he asked with a smile in his voice.
"I'll give you a minute to convince me."
His left hand discovered the front closure on her new bra. "Is this for me?" he asked as he easily unhooked it and shifted the lacy cups off her breasts.
"Had it for years," she responded, shivering spontaneously as he brushed his fingers across her erect nipples.
"Liar," he whispered. "I thought you were preoccupied this morning."
"I was going to surprise you with the big reveal."
"Surprise," he breathed into her ear.
Feeling her shiver and slump slightly against him as his delicate touch began to have an effect, Hal suggested, "Maybe you should take off your clothes and lie down."
"I thought you were supposed to do all the work."
With that Hal wrapped his left arm around her waist and lifted her off the floor, swinging them both around and setting her down in front of the bed. Before Lena could catch her breath he had turned her to face him and was pulling her shirt over her head, taking her bra with it.
"What the…?"
"You only gave me 20 minutes, remember?" he said as he tossed her shirt onto a chair and hooked his thumbs over her tights and skirt, pulling them down. He pushed her gently onto the bed and knelt to remove her shoes and the clothes that were lying around her feet. He tossed everything in the same direction as her shirt. "Now," he directed, "lie back and get comfortable. Or do I need to position you?"
"No, I can do that, just as soon as we get you out of your clothes." Her hands were already unfastening his belt. He stopped them gently.
"No," he said. "I need a barrier between us."
She inhaled sharply at the determination in his voice. "Then you're not ready. I should get dressed."
"No, I can do this." He wasn't ready to give up on the idea of pleasing her, he just needed to make sure he didn't take advantage of her and use her for himself. He was determined not to do that to her again.
"I want your skin against mine, Hal," she said.
He pulled off his shirt and tossed it in onto a chair. She smiled in appreciation. He kicked off his shoes. She nodded her approval and pointed to his socks. He pulled off his socks, stuffed them into his shoes, and set them aside. He reached for her as she reached for his belt.
"Christ, woman!" He caught her hands again, still refusing her access.
She leaned back and crossed her legs firmly. "Shuck off or I'm done."
He looked at her, gorgeous and naked and stubborn as hell. He sighed.
She arched an eyebrow. "Clock's ticking."
Hal got out of his trousers, huffed at her persistence, and took off his boxers. She lay back on the bed and watched in blatant admiration as he sent them flying. He slid alongside her and kissed her. She responded eagerly, brushing her hands down his body as she reached for Big Boy. It was easy to find.
Hal jumped so quickly at her touch that he nearly bit his own tongue, momentarily losing all semblance of the suave, worldly lover he was trying to project. He allowed her to stroke him for just a moment before he slid down on the bed and out of reach of her hand. He had to move before he lost control and caused a quick and disastrous conclusion to his plan.
Lena slid her hand up the taut muscles of his belly to his chest as he moved to kiss her breasts. He flicked her nipple with his tongue, suckled gently, then blew across it, the cool air sending a shiver of delight through Lena's body.
"New trick. I like it," She said as his soft breath moved from one breast to the other. "I think you are giving a master class today, Hal."
He chuckled. "I'm hoping for a good report," he said.
He began kissing his way around her breasts, moving from one to the other, giving each nipple, areola, and soft curve his attention in turn. Her hands played leisurely with his nipples, slid over his shoulders and upper arms, and brushed the soft skin of his underarm. She slid a hand through his hair, traced his ear and the line of his jaw. She couldn't help touching him as she enjoyed his touch on her.
Hal felt her skin tremble as he moved his lips over her chest and down her torso. He sucked on her body and drew her into his mouth, tasting her and teasing her with his tongue in a hint of what was to come. Lena recognized the hint and knew she had to make a choice quickly, before she lost her mind. Get up fast and lock herself in the bathroom, or trust Hal. She chose Hal. He'd never been so free with her true form, and as he continued to caress and tease her Lena finally knew the pleasure that Pet had known under his touch. She couldn't bring herself to stop him.
Hal lingered for a moment at her navel, then teased his way downward as her breath got shaky and her heart began to race. He stopped to admire the womanly shape of her, swollen and throbbing with blood brought there by her building desire. Since becoming a vampire Hal had tasted the blood of orgasm many times, but he had never been able to simply look at the beauty of female sexuality. He laid his head gently against her and listened to the pounding of her pulse. She was as hairless as a child but unmistakably a woman, firm and soft at once, powerful and trembling with need.
He checked himself. Not a hint of hunger, not a tip of a fang. He breathed in the intoxicating scent of her, ran his tongue quickly along her glistening folds of flesh, and knew he was safe.
"Denuded has its advantages. I've never seen a woman's arousal quite so clearly," he said, his voice roughened by his own desire. He moved into her, savouring the hot, tangy taste of her and the life he felt in every drop of her. It was almost as potent as blood but had none of the risk; she didn't need to know that.
"That—makes us even—then," she responded breathlessly, between waves of pleasure, "because I've—never felt—arousal this—clearly! Holy fuck!"
Hal's lips and tongue had begun to demonstrate his true understanding of her body, and suddenly Lena was in another world. Pleasure like she had never known radiated clear to the tips of her fingers and toes; a second wave followed on the first so quickly that she convulsed spontaneously and continued convulsing. Hal cradled her backside in his hands and nuzzled in deeper as she arched and twisted against him. She wrapped her legs around his shoulders and flung out her arms, grabbed the bedding, and hung on for dear life.
Lena had plenty of experience with oral sex, but this was better than anything she could have imagined. Hal simply kept doing the magic he was doing and she just stayed there, flying through wave after wave of rapture as her body writhed and shook. She finally transitioned into gentle shudders as her whole being hummed with pleasure.
Hal felt her relax into her orgasm and had a sense of what it had taken for her to lower her guard and trust him so completely. He was determined not to betray that trust by using her for his own release. His throbbing cock, however, had a mind of its own and was demanding satisfaction with an urgency that was usually reserved for bloodlust. This was an unexpected and unwelcome development. He shouldn't want sex this badly without blood in the equation.
In desperation Hal resorted to his greatest weapon in his personal war against lust of any sort; he began mentally singing "I've Got a Little List" from The Mikado, making up items for the list that forms the song's lyrics, as is traditional in the operetta. He scoured his mind for current events to turn into couplets that he chanted to the rhythm of two hearts beating in tandem, his own matching Lena's pace. It was just barely enough distraction.
Eventually Hal felt Lena's legs slide off his shoulders and her hands loosen their grip on the bedding and he knew that she had plateaued. He pulled himself away from her reluctantly and stretched to lie next to her, his hand moving to replace his mouth and continue the gentle motion that would keep her orgasm going. In theory, if he did everything correctly he could keep Lena in her current state as long as he chose. In practice the female usually ended it when she could take no more, unless Hal ended it by devouring her when he could wait no longer.
This time bloodlust wasn't an issue for Hal and he was determined to control his lustful cock as well. He would let Lena tell him when she'd had enough. Of course, Hal wasn't sure Lena had an end point in her ability to enjoy sex, so he could be here for a while. He leaned on his elbow and watched her face. She lay rapt, twitching, eyes closed, mouth partly open.
"Don't forget to breathe," he whispered.
She inhaled deeply and opened her eyes, locked onto his, and drew him into their molten brown depths. "Smartass." She pulled him down for a long kiss and tasted herself in his mouth. She reached out to pull him closer, urging him to move on top of her.
He shook his head, breaking the kiss. "I told you, this isn't about me."
"Fuck me," she said. "Fuck me now or you're walking home."
"Are you sure?" Hal glanced at his watch. "I think our 20 minutes is up."
Lena growled as she heaved him onto her, catching him by surprise. He braced himself quickly with both hands and looked down at her as she laughed. He laughed with her then, and moved to enter her as she tilted her pelvis to catch and draw him in.
Hal pushed into her slick heat, but it was a very snug fit. "Fu-uck," he groaned through clenched teeth, his voice broken by the wave of lust that swept over him as he struggled to control himself. There would be no Lord Henry in this room, no fight for dominance. He heard her moan and thought he was hurting her until he felt her hands dig into him and encourage him forward.
"Please," she murmured. "Trust me."
Hal moved into her smoothly, slowly; he steadfastly refused to allow violence in their lovemaking. As he buried himself in her at last, she arched against him in response and tightened further around him. She held him deep within her and reclaimed him as her own.
He shuddered at the strength of his own desire and whispered in her ear, "Honey, I'm home."
She laughed again, with pure joy, and released him so he could move. "Make yourself as comfortable as you want," she said.
In response he shifted slightly and twisted against her, eliciting a gasp of pleasure. "I plan to make this very comfortable for both of us," he said with a grin as he began a long, luxurious stroke that ended with another twist of their interlocked bodies. She arched her pelvis against him again.
"Sweet momma, another new trick!" she cried.
"Surprise," he said as he continued the rhythm that sent pulses of pleasure through them both.
"Oh my—"
"Hal, oh god—"
"What are you—"
"I can't—"
"Hal!"
"What?" he finally spoke. He had up to that point just been enjoying her squeaks and murmurs.
"Give it to me. Break this fucking bed!"
He'd been holding himself in check, determined to be gentle with her. She knew, somehow, even in grip of the pleasure he was giving her. She always knew. His eyes widened and nostrils flared at her command. He looked into her eyes; she could barely focus but she grinned up at him and nodded. Hal returned her grin as he loosened his control, and she met him as always, hands grasping and encouraging, hips arching into him with each thrust.
Hal was quickly overwhelmed by his first hunger-free intercourse with a woman in 500 years, and he forgot everything except his own need. Lena felt the room start to spin and darken as she achieved an even richer orgasm than Hal had already given her, but his urgency drove her on when she would have given up for fear of losing her mind.
Hal felt the ripples as her muscles contracted around him, and he heard the bedding tear. The power of her climax registered with him when he saw that she was glowing. She saw it too, and a moment of fear swept through her at the revelation of her secret. Joy at their union, love beyond the limits of humanity, need that could destroy her; he must not know.
He climaxed within a few more strokes and continued, slowing gently, bringing them both down gradually, until his arms gave out and he collapsed on top of her. His head dropped onto the bed beside hers.
"I…can't," he gasped, his voice muffled.
"Then don't."
He turned his head without lifting it. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you more."
She looked at him, wide-eyed. "More! Good god man, I can't feel my legs as it is!"
He grinned and rolled them together onto their sides. They still moved as one, their abdomens pressed together and legs tangled as they refused to let go of each other. Lena continued, speaking against the side of his neck, "And don't you dare apologize for giving me the most amazing sex of my life."
"Or what?" Hal teased, murmuring into her hair.
"Or I'll have to slap you upside your head. When I have the strength to lift my arms," she said languorously.
They rested together quietly for a minute before he spoke again. "So it appears that we're missing the recital."
"Clearly. I do still want that hot shower," Lena said, "when I can move my legs."
"So do I," Hal replied. "I feel a bit…" he hesitated, uncertain of what to say next.
"Juicy?"
He winced at her word choice. "An apt description, yes." His hand slid down her back, unable to resist the lure of her soft skin. "Perhaps, in a few minutes our legs will be functional enough to totter toward the shower together."
She slid a hand from his back under his arm and onto his chest, rested it between the two of them, and splayed her fingers over his heart. She felt his heartbeat on one side of her hand and her own on the other. "Your heart is beating in time with mine again."
"The heart makes its own choices," he said quietly.
She moved her head back and looked at him carefully, her gaze tracking the length and width of his face before meeting his beautiful hazel eyes, green sparks firing in brown.
"What do you see?" he asked.
"You. Just you. Nothing else."
He smiled and drew her into a hug. "I feel you, just you. Just us. Nothing else. Not it, not the hunger, just this." He was silent for a few moments. "We haven't beaten it."
"No, but we have it on the run."
"I for one am happy to do my part to keep it that way." He snuggled his head against hers. "Especially if it involves spending time like this."
"Oh, it will. The problem may be finding time for anything else."
He smoothed the hair along the side of her face. "You were glowing," he said.
"I know."
"Have you ever—"
"No, I didn't know I could. Only with you, it seems."
They lay together silently for a few moments until Lena spoke up. "I think your vampire regenerative powers are taking effect." She undulated against him as Big Boy hardened and grew into her.
"You mean this old thing?" Hal chuckled as he matched her movements.
"I think you should bring that old thing into the bathroom and join me in the shower," she replied playfully. "I could use a boy to wash my back."
"Oh, I'm your boy now, am I?" Hal rolled away from her and stood up gracefully, although they both gasped at the sharp shock of their bodies unlocking from each other. He held out his hand to her. "Come on then, old woman, and let me assist you into the bath."
"Fuck you," Lena replied lazily as she took his hand.
He pulled her up against him and replied, "If you insist," arching his eyebrows with a wicked half-smile.
"Shit. I'm never going to get to say that to you again, am I?"
"Only as a suggested course of action."
"Don't look so smug, just because you've taken over my favorite curse word." she wrinkled her nose at him, a move that he found quite adorable, and continued. "You'll be turning me into a proper lady next."
No chance of that," he replied, then hesitated. "Before we shower, would you excuse me for a minute to use the—facilities?"
"You're suddenly shy?" She was incredulous.
"Not shy at all," he said smoothly, "but anatomically speaking, certain things are nearly impossible to do in my current state, and your proximity" he rolled the 'r' in the word, making it sound incredibly seductive as he pulled her close again "is not allowing for anything else."
"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot. Man thing. Go on, then, I'll just try to unknot my hair."
Lena got a brush from her overnight bag as he went into the bathroom. She smiled as she worked carefully on her tangled hair, feeling much more relaxed and patient with it than she usually did. Even her mind rested for a bit as she refused to worry and simply allowed herself to feel good, and a grin split her face as she silently congratulated her old student on his progress. He would definitely be getting a good report.