11. NASH

My family were known to communicate through thought, so it was no surprise that they tried to contact me by bombarding stressors to me mentally. They came to me as nightmares, screaming in my head. I was mostly lucid, feeling their voices beg me to come back home. And all of that stress disappeared the moment Ara woke me, telling me we'd arrived.

I held his hand as we walked a gravel path to a large three story house of deep grey and chipped blue paint panels. The house itself was surrounded by tall grass and trees. The leaves were turning burnt orange and red as autumn was almost here.

"How long has this place been in your family?" I asked him.

"My grand father built it," he said. "I don't recall the date. It's been built on since then, but it was originally built by my grandfather."

"How many members of your family are still alive?"

"Just me and my niece," he said. "But it used to be a lot more."

"If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to," I said, clinging to his hand a little harder. "If it makes you uncomfortable that is."

We stood in front of the steps to the porch and he embraced me. "Ask me anything you want," he said, kissing me on the forehead. "Don't forget your hat. I put it on the back seat so you didn't squash it." He ruffled a hand through my hair.

"I'll get it later. I wanna see what this place looks like. And the land too." I briefly closed my eyes. The sounds of nature were strange. Not that I found nature strange, but because I was so used to the noises of the city. "Do you have a herb garden?"

"A herb garden?" he asked, laughing slightly. "I can't say I'd know that. Are you thinking of cooking?"

"For spells," I said. "I'm not an earth witch, but I've read up on so much about earth magic, I'd love to try out a couple things."

"We can do that later, but for right now, I want to pick you up and carry you over the threshold," he said, reaching down and squeezing my ass.

I leaned my head into his shoulder and inhaled him. "Take me then."

As Ara carried me into the house, I noticed how his staff were like ghosts. I saw glimpses of them around, but I never once heard them. They were there, but they were never registered in my peripherals at all. I feared that was Ara's bond rubbing off on me, I didn't grow up with a staff of people—let alone vampires around me.

Ara carried me up a set of creaky stairs, down a hall, and into a bedroom full of bright light. A bed with posts and white sheets wafting in the breeze. He laid me on the bed, and laid his body half on top of me, and half on the bed. "This is the biggest room in the house," he said. "I made them give it a repaint before we got here, so it might still smell of paint."

As soon as he mentioned it, the sharp smell of it hit me. "I love it."

He kissed my neck and cheek. "You want to freshen up before breakfast?"

"Are my clothes up here?"

"I meant taking a bath," he said. "But yes, I can get them up here. So, you want to take a bath with me?"

I stroked his face and traced his lip with my finger. "Yes, please."

He pretended to bite my finger. "Good. Because I've been driving for so long, I stink. And the only thing I want to smell of is you."

Ara climbed off the bed, leaving me there to look at the wooden frame of the bed post above. I hadn't seen beds like this before, only in movies dramatizing older historic places. After sleeping in the car and my entire body aching, the bed was a relief.

I turned over to follow Ara as he went around the bed into an adjoining room.

"Since the house is so old, is the plumbing and electrics good?" I asked.

He peered out to me. "Last updated thirty years ago," he said. "But yeah, it's fine. And we don't need electricity. We've got each other, and that's the only spark I'm interested in."

I giggled and kicked my legs. "That was smooth."

"Just stay there, I'm going to make sure we have hot water," he said, going back into the bathroom. "And we're going to need someone to bring up the towels because these ones in here look like they'd rip a layer of your skin off."

"Show me."

As water echoed from the bathroom, he threw one of the stiff and rough textured towels at me.

"Ew. It's like cardboard."

"There's another," he said.

"Don't you have fabric softener here?"

"I don't think they've been washed in thirty years."

I could believe that. I whacked the stiff towel and dust flew off it.

Ara came back into the bedroom. "The water is hot. Come on." He grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the side of the bed. "Get undressed, I'm going to have things brought up."

"Can you get them to bring my bag up too?" I asked. "I have a body cream in there. It's my favorite. It's scented like peaches."

He smacked his lips. "Is that why eating your ass is like trying to pit a peach with my teeth?" he said, sticking his tongue out. "I'm looking forward to that later." BeforeAra headed out of the room, he told me to watch the bath. He wouldn't be long.

The floorboards in this place creaked under every single step I took. I went to the window, looking out to see the van and car parked up across a large clearing of dead grassland. The white paint on the walls was still glossy from the fresh coat of paint. I almost wished they hadn't painted them. I wanted to see them, and the tapestry of paper that might've laid there. There were memories inside everything, and I wished I could've unlocked them with a touch.

Ara was back in the bedroom before I'd even managed to finish mentally feeling out my surroundings. The tendrils of magic reached out and pulled back in, trying to uncover anything about Ara that he hadn't told me yet.

"In the zone," he said, planting my bag on the bed and two thick towels from over his arm. "You ready to take a bath with me? Or you want more time out here?" He somehow knew what I was doing, which shouldn't have been a surprise since we were connected.

"It's a new surrounding," I told him. "Sorry, I didn't check on the—"

"It's fine," he said. "Although you should've taken a look inside. It's not a modern bathroom. Be warned."

On his arm, we went into the bathroom together. It was covered in a dull green tile. The bath tub itself looked rusted around the edges and the taps. The sink was covered in scratches and chips, and the toilet flusher was attached to a string and tank on the wall.

"You're right," I said. "It's different."

"How different?"

"Well, it's better than a bucket, I suppose."

He squeezed me in his arms. "I'll have it updated for you. Depending on how long we're staying here." He gave my forehead another kiss. "And that might be a while."

"I don't have anything to go back for," I said, and I truly meant it.

It surprised me how well I'd connected and attached myself to Ara after barely knowing him. But he'd asked for that first kiss, and I'd felt the spark with it. A kiss that transformed my entire life. A kiss that almost sent me into heat, and part of me thought he'd taken the necklace of me on purpose to trigger it. I knew I'd done crazy things in lust as well, but not quite as crazy with the humans I'd been with.

"It doesn't look like they've unpacked the soaps yet, but I just want to get in here and relax," he said, unbuttoning his shirt.

The bath was scalding. "You can't get in it yet."

"Oh, I can. I need it."

I watched Ara undress, not even putting on a show, just whipping everything off until he was naked. It was the first time seeing his cock all soft, yet still thick with his tip showing through the foreskin. His small bush of hair above it, begging me to grab him by it and play in the curls.

"I'll get in now and let it cool around me," he said. "You can't handle this heat. Your sweet little body would get third degree burns."

With fascination, I stared at him as he climbed into the bath. His pale skin immediately turning bright red where the water touched. He had no reaction to it, other than a slight hum as he sat and relaxed against back of the tub.

"It feels like I've just renewed a layer of my skin," he said.

"You want me to grab those hard towels for you in there?" I asked. "You can scrape it off."

"You want to check under there, there might be some old soaps, and I don't think they go out of date, do they?"

I shrugged, dipping to the cabinet under the sink. There were a couple of soaps in plastic wrappers each one coated in a layer of century-old dust. "I can't see the fragrances," I told him, rubbing a thumb across the packaging. "I—"

"Probably nothing fancy," he said.

I tore the packet open. Inside, there was a dried piece of soap. I threw it into the tub. "Hopefully it will rehydrate." I stuck my nose in to smell faint vanilla notes. "I think it'll still be good to use."

Ara grabbed the soap and lathered it between his palms. "I think so."

Still on my knees, I approached the tub. It was hot to the touch. I turned the faucet off, knowing I still had to get inside it once it cooled. "I didn't really have the time to think about this place or the offer," I told him, putting my fingers dangerously close to the water and feeling the heat. "I know it's all happening so quickly, but—"

He touched my hand a little, a strange mixture of heat and cool from his skin was oddly inviting. "But it feels like we've been together for so long."

"It's the bond," I said, dipping my hand into the water and immediately yanking it out. "Because I feel the same, and I've read up on bonds for so many years. It's why I refused to date, and only had sex with—" I quickly mushed my lips together. "No talk of exes. It feels wrong."

"Humans just aren't satisfying," he said. "In bed, that is. Their blood is ok, but honestly, I don't think I ever want another drop of blood that isn't yours." He sucked on his teeth. "I should get that craving under control. I know we're different in that respect."

"You mean, because I don't drink blood and you do."

"That's exactly what I mean." He took my hand by the wrist and pulled it in close to his lips. "How does it feel to be drank from?"

I was practically pushing my wrist into Ara's face. "It feels good," I said. "Makes me feel strong."

"Not weak?"

"No, I think it's the adrenaline."

He kissed my wrist a couple times. "Well, don't worry, I'm not a ravenous vampire. I wanna feel your power too on me. I need to feel it, if you are the powerful witch from the prophecy."

"I know I'm not, but in heat, I have a little more of a magical punch," I told him. "Plus, my affinity is aether magic, it's sometimes telepathic, but it's always unpredictable." I cupped his chin with my hand, trying to feel out for him. I clung to him with magic, the threads on him were coated in static. Brushing over a single thread had his thoughts in my mind.

I love you with my entire being. I would turn entire cities over to find you if you were taken from me. His words were soft, almost on the tip of his mental tongue.

"I heard that," I said.

"I was hoping you would. It's the absolute truth."

"I'm going to try something." I took my hand back, losing the almost feeling of being one with him.

With both hand hovering above the bath water, I closed my eyes and listened to all the elements. I focused in on the water and with a couple deep breaths, inhaling deep and blowing out soft, the heat of the bath raised up around my face.

Ara cooed. "Making a jacuzzi?"

The water bubbled and as I dipped a hand to test the temperature, I could feel it dip from the scalding heat to a cooler warmth. "It worked."

"You're sweating," he said, swiping a thumb against my forehead. I placed it on his tongue and sucked it. "Don't exert yourself on my account."

I wasn't just sweating, I was horny. My heart raced as I stood and started to pull my clothes away. The desperation to be naked and one with Ara was strong. Too strong. The strongest I'd ever felt anything before. A deep throaty moan came out as I was down to my underwear and my hand rubbed against my bulging cock.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, splashing a handful of water at me. "Take ‘em off and come in."

With my back to him, I tried my best to tease him with the action. I pulled them down slowly until they were around my ankles. "Like this?" I asked, reaching behind and grabbing my ass cheeks. I spread them and bent over, giving him a nice, long look at my hole. "You want this?"

"Now," he said. "I need it."

I shook my ass in his face, backing up. "You wanna get it?"

His warm wet body came around me and pulled me back into the tub with him. Between his legs, he embraced me, covering my body with water in small splashes from his cupped hands. "You're all mine," he said. "I've got you for good." Then his hand grabbed my cock. He squeezed it and nibbled at the top of my earlobe. "Are you always hard?"

"Just for you," I said, reaching around and grabbing his chubbed cock going up my back. "You're always hard too."

He continued to bite at my earlobe. "That's my natural state. I can't help it being so thick and heavy." His other hand sipped under me and touched my hole, circling it with a finger. "Don't pucker it, you're not fooling me."

"That's it's natural state," I giggled. "It's always tight. Until your tongue touches it."

His tongue came at the back of my neck, he wrapped it around the necklace. "You always wear this then?"

"It stops me going into heat, I already told you that," I said. "Not useful right now, but I feel useless like this. I just want to cum and have my ass played with." Normally, I just wanted that as well, but in heat, that need was multiplied by a thousand.

A finger penetrated me, and swiftly followed by a second finger. "I'm not going to deny you that."

Lifting myself slightly on the edge of the tub, I'd never fucked in a bath before. Everything was a moving part. I couldn't use my hand to direct his cock in me, and I couldn't attempt to mount him with how my feet were slipping around.

"Let me," he said, taking control. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and squeezed, just as he positioned my ass on his cock in the water. The pressure of his cock was intense, and quickly deep inside me as my feet slipped and his cock was implanted inside me.

Throwing my head back against his shoulder, he turned to kiss me, his tongue making my mouth his new host. His centuries of knowledge on pleasure had me in a hold, physically and mentally, he satisfied me with small bursts of adrenaline-filled bliss. I was just a thing for him to put himself inside, and I had no problem with being a thing.

Caressed with warm water and that was being manually heated and cooled by our bodies. My hands were glued to the tub, holding me in place. Moaning into Ara's mouth, he ate each one of them with his tongue, deeper in the back of my mouth. One hand around my waist to keep me seated on his cock, his other hand jerked my cock.

I'd already surrendered to him, the only thing I had control over was my grip on the tub.

"Can I have a bite?" he asked, thrusting deep in me as he held me deep. "I need it."

"Yes." I turned my head to the other side and let him go for my neck.

I knew there was no getting off since he was inside me, throbbing and stretching me at the base. His bites felt like rough kisses. He latched onto my neck and at the moment he drank from me, I came. My eyes rolling back in elation from the squeeze on all my senses.

Post-nut sensations trickled through me, turning me limp as I rested on him until he came to completion. He lasted a couple more minutes, right up until he stopped drinking from me. He filled me up inside, caressing my belly.

I could've lived in that moment forever.

Part of me wondered if we were going to.

We'd mate bonded for life.