Chapter 7
"and I fall, shattering my knees
you're the only one I see
you're the only one who knows me"
In This Moment – Rib Cage
'My love,
At last, my initial work on our new ship is completed. I have instructed my Hive Master to set a course on your current location, so we may meet up. Preparations for me to lead the Hive from afar are in progress.
I shall return to you soon.'
Helena's fingertips trace lightly over the letters on her tablet's screen. She's alone in her quarters, re-reading Ivory's message over and over again, even though it has been several days since it reached her.
The vast emptiness of space on her large window, Helena leans against the cool glass. This is the first time in centuries she's been separated from her lover, and she struggles more than she cares to admit.
It's not even the hunger flaring up in her chest that troubles her most, – that too, of course, as she refuses to feed on anyone but Ivory – it's the long, lonely nights in a bed that's much too large for one person.
Helena's gotten used to the sound of Ivory's slow, regulated breathing, and finds trouble coming to rest without it. Her scent, the faint hint of patchouli from her skin, inherent to her body, and the jasmine-scented traces of soap from her hair.
God, her hair.
Helena missed falling asleep, nuzzled in these silky, soft strands of silver. Wraith have more hair than other humanoids, but theirs are much thinner, causing the odd softness, regardless of overall texture. And Ivory, who takes very good care of herself, takes it up to eleven.
She's just about to fantasize about Ivory's long fingers gently running through her own hair, her claws lightly trailing along her scalp, when a message alert forces her back into reality.
'Guess who?' the letters spell, and a split second later, the greenish glow of a hyperspace window lights Helena's room.
It spits out a Hive, a good ten times bigger than the comparatively tiny Vampire Base Ship, and Helena's screen flickers with another message.
'I am picking up Ivory's subspace transmitter from that Hive, Captain. She's requesting to be beamed on board. May I?" says the message, signed with Lorelai's initials.
'Permission granted.' Helena hurries to type, and jumps off her seat.
She's halfway to the door when it opens, and a very familiar face greets her.
There she stands, Ivory, in all her new, queenly glory. Helena nearly drops her tablet.
Ivory's white locks are pulled back and intricately braided, with subtle, black gems set on the braid. It's draped loosely over her shoulder, contrasting her shimmering, dark leathers.
Her gown is shoulderless, leaving skin bare to accentuate her petite form, and show the finely drawn hive marks on her upper back, those that Helena loves to trace.
The dark shine of her bodice is wonderful in combination with her pale, green skin, and the fine veins showing through its mild translucency.
She's breathtakingly beautiful.
Helena realizes that she's been staring at her for a good minute, Ivory's smile getting wider with each second.
"Seen enough, love?" she asks, the faint, wraith-typical hiss in her voice sending shivers down Helena's spine.
"Not nearly." she mutters, steps up, and takes her off hand, leading her into the room. The doors slide shut behind her.
Ivory entwines her fingers with hers, and caresses Helena's cheek with the back of her feeding hand. The cold sensation of metal catches her off guard, and she takes her feeding hand too, examining the newly added finger guards.
"We'll have to get rid of those. They aren't attached to your skin, are they?" she asks, and feels Ivory chuckle soundlessly.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, love." she scolds her. "But yes. They are detachable for special occasions."
Helena huffs, and runs her fingers over her exposed arms.
"Not quite on board with getting my mind out of the gutter." she hums, and her hands meet on Ivory's back, toying with the lacing of her bodice. That close, she presses her lips on her pulse point, and sighs, enjoying how it throbs against her.
"Hungry?" Ivory asks, while continuing Helena's aborted fantasy from earlier, running her hands through her hair, as they stand in their embrace.
"For you." Helena mutters.
"As am I. I have not fed ever since I left." Ivory lets her know, and Helena smiles against her neck. So, the feeling is mutual after all.
Helena pulls back, and unzips her jacket.
"Perhaps we should start with you? I know how bad hunger is for you..." She leaves her sentence open, as if she plans to add something, but never does.
Savoring the moment, Ivory traces her claw from Helena's temple, over her cheek, down her neck, before letting her hand rest on her chest. Her slitted pupils widen gradually, as she lets the hunger wash over her.
When she seals her feeding organ on Helena's skin and begins drawing in her life force, everything feels right again. She raises her chin, and snarls, feeling her lover's heat rush through her veins like liquid fire.
It's raw and primal.
Her entire body attuned to Helena, breathing and heartbeat in synch, and she becomes aware of every single cell in her lover's body, every shift and shudder of her form, as she relishes the pain being fed on brings.
Ivory exhales with a hissing sound, and gently slows the flow of energy, until it dies off completely. She leaves herself attached to Helena, feeling her life course under her palm.
"Your turn, love." she announces breathlessly, and pulls her into her arms again, discreetly unlatching her hand.
Helena nuzzles the nape of her neck, and her tongue darts out, drawing circles on the thin skin. Taking her time, Helena pulls some skin between her teeth and sucks until it bruises, lightly applying pressure with her dull front teeth.
Ivory hums. It feels insanely good, and she bends her neck slightly, to give Helena better access.
"Fangs, love. I want to feel them." she urges, and is instantly rewarded with a sharp, stinging pain, right where Helena had rested her lips shortly before.
Her long canines sink effortlessly into Ivory's delicate skin; that is what they're made for. Normally, Helena's bite would be a lot quicker and nearly pain-free, due to how sharp her teeth are, but the breaking of skin is the best part about this for her. So, she very slowly lowers them, causing the incision more through pressure than shaprness.
Immediately upon opening her vein, Ivory's blood spills, filling Helena's mouth so fast, it leaks out on one side.
Greedily, she swallows and sucks more out of her, without worrying much about blood loss. Ivory is freshly fed, she regenerates it quicker than Helena can draw it from her.
It's metallic on her tongue, but as opposed to humans, Wraith always have a tangy quality to their blood.
Warmth spreads through her body, from her throat into her fingertips, ad she feels her body thrive from the nourishment.
Ivory moans under her fangs, and she feels the bite of claws on her back. With a gasp, she withdraws, licks her lips and smiles serenely at her lover.
"You made a mess," Ivory teases, and her thumb trails up her own neck, picking up the dribble of blood running down from the already healing wound.
She presses her bloody thumb on Helena's lips, and her togue darts out, licking it clean.
"What can I say? I'm very eager." she defends herself, smiling suggestively.
"I would love to see just how eager you are, my love." Ivory's tone mirrors hers, and she steps away backwards, unclasping her bodice as she walks.
It slips off her body, along with her skirts, and the gown pools around her ankles. Ivory daintly steps out of it, and sits down on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs.
What a power move, Helena thinks to herself, while most definitely staring at her underwear-clad lover.
"If you'll allow me,..." she purrs, creeping closer, and eventually sinking to her knees in front of Ivory. Her hands wander up her shins, to her knees, enticing Ivory to uncross her legs.
Smiling, she releases the tension in her legs, and allows Helena to bend them out of her way. Helena's hands ghost over the insides of her thighs, and Ivory catches herself making a very un-queenly, needy sound.
"Are you in a hurry, dear?" Helena asks, her breath torturously warm against her thigh, as she has just leaned in to kiss it.
"Who knows? I might have an appointment." Ivory manages to counter, just to shudder as the vibration of Helena's chuckle hits her.
"You better cancel. We might be a while."
Helena's hands are on her hips, thumbs hooked underneath her panties, but she hesitates.
"May I?" she asks, now without her playful, teasing undertone.
Ivory nods. "Please."
This is one of the moments, in which Ivory curses Helena's superhuman speed, because she's already bare, not even having seen her move.
The cool air against her sex makes her twinge, and she can't decide if she likes it or not. Helena's fingers, lightly massaging her however, she has a much clearer opinion on.
Wraith are anatomically very similar to humans, but they do have differences, especially when it comes to genitalia. Normally, Ivory's vulva would be shielded and hidden behind two sheets of thick, carapace-like substance, layered over her labia majora, lightly ridged, and almost entirely unfeeling.
Not that this would be an issue now. She's wide open, she sheets having parted in the middle, and retracted into her thighs, only a small strip remaining visible.
Helena's almost disappointed. One of her favorite parts of this is to slowly make Ivory open up for her.
She leans closer, and begins by scattering light kisses on Ivory's pubic bone, smiling at her impatient growl for a moment, before gently parting her folds with her tongue, and going to town on her.
Ivory sharply sucks in breath, and falls down to her back, propping herself up on her elbows, while Helena's tongue flicks against her clit. The sensation ripples through her like lightning, and she feels her toes involuntarily curl.
"Talk to me, dear." Helena encourages her, briefling making eye contact, before latching her entire mouth onto her, and sucking.
"...can't." Ivory managed to articulate, and resorts to hissing instead, somewhat taken off guard by her lover taking her clit between her teeth and lightly tugging.
It hurts, just a tiny bit, enough to add to the experience.
Helena chuckles at her reaction, and retreats slightly, now just slowly circling the sensitive nub with her tongue. There's a tangy taste to her, not necessarily unpleasant.
Welcoming the brief respite, Ivory draws breath hard, and shifts her weight to her left arm, raising the right one to rest on her thigh.
"Helena-..." she presses forth. "Can you... here...?"
She's not the most eloquent person when aroused, but her lover understands her. Circling her clit one last time, she pulls back, and looks at her feeding hand.
"Your hand?" she asks, a bit breathless herself. Ivory nods, and complies without question, when Helena reaches underneath her knees, and lifts her legs on the bed as well, turning her body vertical on the sheets.
She stands up, and undresses in a very unspectacular way, simply ridding herself of clothing, but Ivory's eyes are locked on her regardless.
They're blown wide, only a thin, golden ring remaining of her irises.
Helena strides over to the bed again, and pins Ivory down, straddling her thigh and pushing her own knee against her swollen vulva. Purring continuously, Ivory bucks her hips, grinding against her. With the grace of a predator, Helena reaches for her feeding hand, and brings it to her lips.
"Wait-... the armor, I..." Ivory stops her, and pulls her hand back to flick the metal parts off. "I might... claw your face."
"Would just encourage me." the Vampire lets her know, punctuating her statement with a hip roll. Ivory makes a tiny "Oh"-sound when she becomes aware of how wet her lover actually is.
"Now give me your hand." Helena commands, and Ivory obeys quickly.
Her spindly fingers lock around her wrist, and Ivory closes her eyes, feeling the warm press of Helena's lips on her feeding slit. It flares eagerly, pulling apart, and she cups Helena's cheek.
"Hmm..." she hums, as if wondering what to do with her lover, helplessly pinned beneath her.
Her tongue traces the outline of the organ, flaming red liquid seeps from it in anticipation, Enzyme, which Helena confirms by tasting it. It makes her tongue twinge.
She glances past Ivory's thumb to observe her face, while she slowly pushes the tip of her tongue into the slit, acknowledging its internal heat. Tensing her thighs around Helena's leg, Ivory rolls her hips.
Her expression is glorious – eyes half closed, sensory pits flaring, and her lips parted, allowing a peek at her needle-sharp teeth. Sweat glistens on her skin, and strands that have fallen out of her braid stick to her face.
Ivory shifts a bit, bringing a her off hand between their bodies, and pushes two fingers inside Helena, rythmically curling them in a beckoning gesture.
Helena turns to exploring again. She's never really done this before, and only really interacted with Ivory's feeding slit for its intended purpose. Curiosity is a virtue. Her tongue dances within the slit, trailing along the outer corners, and pushing deeper every few seconds.
It's soft in there, soft, wet, and very warm. The membranes tense around the tip of her tongue occasionally, and after some gentle nips with her front teeth, she finds something form in the middle.
Something sharp.
"Fuck,..." Ivory breathes. It must be really intense if it makes her collected, dignified self swear.
The implement feels more like cartilage than carapace to Helena's tongue, when she flicks it against the tip slowly potruding from the feeding slit. She feels the membrane lock around her tongue-tip, and a sting, followed by the familiar sensation of having her life drained, although on a much smaller scale.
The knot in her abdomen comes very close to bursting when Ivory's fingers inside her clench hard.
In fact, just about all of her does.
Her back arches, and she cries out, her feeding hand flexing against Helena's face, claws dragging over her cheek.
She rips it from her grip, and slams it on her chest again, feeding more viciously than before, if onl for a moment.
Regardless, it suffices to send her over the edge too.
Curling up, and clinging to Ivory's arm, Helena presses against her, muffling her cry by sinking her fangs into her breast.
It takes them both several minutes to recover and unravel from each other.
Helena collapses on her back next to Ivory, who doesn't make much of an attempt to move just yet.
"Did you seriously feed on my tongue?" is the first thing she verbalizes, and Ivory laughs.
"It was there," she responds. "You were the one licking my stinger."
"It was there," Helena parrots with a grin, her lips still feeling a little numb from the Enzyme.
Again, they laugh, enjoying the sensation of feeling the vibration in the other's body, until Ivory gets serious, flips to the side, and looks Helena in the eye.
"I missed you," she admits. "I really did. This was a lot harder to endure than I anticipated."
"Ship's been awfully empty without you." Helena replies, reaching out to push a loose strand of hair behind Ivory's hair. "I'm glad to have you back by my side."
Ivory reaches over her, and pulls her onto her side as well.
"Where I belong," she whispers, before muffling any possible response in a kiss.