Page 43 of The Rising Dark
“Good,” Lavinia whispered.Then she bent towards Michelle and kissed her.
Their lips touched and it was as if every feeling that she’d had over the last couple of weeks, every thought, poured out between them.There was no distance, no holding back.Everything narrowed completely into the softness of her lips, the feel of them moving against hers, the sweet scent of her skin.It was everything she had dreamt of in secret moments, everything she’d hoped for—and more.They might be vampire and human, but in this moment, they were simply two women, kissing.
They explored the kiss with a hunger and a sense of urgency.Michelle wrapped her arms around Lavinia’s waist, revelling in the feel of her.The muscles of her back moved underneath her fingertips, their strength noticeable even through her soft jumper.Their kiss deepened, and she slid her hand underneath the edge of the fabric, luxuriating in the velvety suppleness of her skin.She pressed her body against Lavinia’s, her pliant curves against Lavinia’s muscular firmness.Lavinia’s kiss slowed, her lips nipping gently at Michelle’s.
“What’s wrong?”Michelle said, pulling back an inch, reluctantly breaking contact.Lavinia’s green eyes seemed almost black in the scant light.
“Nothing,” Lavinia breathed.“I just…have never…”
Michelle’s mind ground to a halt.“Wait—you’re a virgin?”
Lavinia chuckled, the movement travelling between their bodies.“No, it’s not that.”She stroked her hand down Michelle’s back in a way that made a delicious shiver travel down her spine.“Just never with a human.”
“Oh.That makes sense.”Her thoughts slowly sped back up to their usual pace.“I don’t think it’s any different,” she offered, smiling sheepishly.Vampires might be very different on the cellular level, but their anatomy…that seemed familiar enough.
“No, you’re probably right,” Lavinia said, a faint smile on her lips.Those soft, kissable lips.
Michelle nestled closer into her arms.“You don’t need to hold back,” she whispered, planting the tiniest kiss on the corner of Lavinia’s mouth.“Don’t hold back.”
Lavinia captured her lips with hers, an avalanche of sensation travelling through Michelle’s body like lightning.With one smooth movement, Lavinia picked her up.Michelle wrapped her legs around her waist.Lavinia carried her with ease, stepping away from the window.
“Wait,” Michelle said, “What about the demon?”She didn’t bother looking towards the balcony, where the creature undoubtedly still clawed at the building’s defences.
“The demon can go to hell,” Lavinia growled, and kissed her again.Michelle dissolved in her arms, letting herself be carried away by the gorgeous vampire, shutting the demon and her fears out with the slam of the bedroom door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lavinia awoke in a haze of contentment.Michelle lay cradled in her arms, still asleep, her breaths deep and slow.The first rays of sunlight peeked around the curtains, bathing Michelle in a soft glow.It was a blissful lull, one of those delightful moments where time slowed down and it felt like everything was as it should be.Michelle was here, in her arms.Lavinia let her eyes drift shut again, nestling into the warm, drowsy embrace.
The doorknob turned, and Quintia barged into the room with the subtlety of a rhinoceros.“Rise and shine,” she said, throwing Lavinia’s clothes at her.“Assholes have been at it again.”
“What?”Lavinia said, not quite following.Her mind was full of Michelle, and only Michelle.Of the feel of her, the taste of her.There was no room in her thoughts for Quintia’s emergency.
“The murderers.You know, the ones that’ve got it out for your lover over there?They’ve killed again.Octavia just called.She’s waiting for us.”Those words were enough to shatter Lavinia’s reverie.
Michelle stirred and opened her eyes, blinking the haze of sleep away.“What’s happening?”
“I have to get up,” Lavinia said, extricating herself from their tangle of limbs with regret.She placed a tender kiss on Michelle’s forehead.“You can stay here.Get some more sleep.”They hadn’t gotten much last night, after all.
Michelle rubbed the sleep from her eyes.“No, no, I’m coming.”
“Alright,” she said, looking at Quintia, who simply shrugged.Michelle would be safe enough in the apartment, but Lavinia preferred to have her close.
Quintia gave her a quick rundown as they hurried into their clothes.A vampire had found three dead bodies only fifteen minutes away.Octavia was already at the scene.The police couldn’t be far behind, so if they wanted to have a look before the humans got involved, they would have to leave right now.
Michelle looked somewhat pale in the bright light of morning as they neared the building where the bodies had been found.It was a house at the end of a street, its windows boarded up and its tiny patch of a front garden overgrown with waist-high weeds.Lavinia squeezed Michelle’s hand briefly, and she gave a grateful smile in return.Lavinia’s heart clenched.She would do anything for this woman.When she finally got to the warlock who was targeting her, they would fall by her sword.
They entered the building through the back.The door had been nailed shut at one point, but now hung open limply.They stepped into a dark kitchen, scant light making its way around the boards covering the windows.The stench of blood pervaded the air so thickly that Michelle coughed.It mingled with the damp mustiness of the mould clinging to the walls, its black tendrils burrowing through wallpaper and stone.
It was exactly the kind of space a rogue would use, and underneath the freshly spilled blood was indeed the unmistakable scent of a rogue: the sour bitterness of a vampire gone wrong.Quintia took point, climbing a wooden staircase, passing through a corridor of bare floorboards covered in dust and debris.She led them into what must have been a bedroom at some point, but what was now a scene of carnage.
Three dead bodies lay in the room.Octavia stood in the middle of the space with her arms crossed, surveying the scene.No furniture was left behind by previous inhabitants to clutter the empty space.The smudged wallpaper hung down in strips, the damp having loosened the adhesive until gravity won its battle.One body lay so close to the door opening that they had to step over it.“Careful,” Lavinia muttered, helping Michelle avoid the pool of blood that had spread underneath it.
“What have you got so far?”Quintia asked.
“Three bodies, all human.Two female, and the one by the door is male.Looks like the male was killed by a tenebris, the other two have clear marks of draining.”
“So those were killed by the rogue.”
