17. Klaus

17

KLAUS

Klaus couldn’t believe how comfortable he still felt around the diminutive little human. He had expected to feel guilty and awkward after their sexual encounter was over. Instead , he felt warm and relaxed and happy, truly happy for the first time in…how long?

Years , he thought. It’s been years since I felt this good. Not since Miranda died.

But he didn’t want to think about that. He still loved his dead wife and honored her memory, but now wasn’t the time to brood about her. He found that he wanted to be present in the here and now and take pleasure in this strange but enjoyable experience of being snowed in the cabin with Kelli .

The food prep was at the very back of the house and it looked like a typical human kitchen to Klaus . There was a free-standing oven and stove, a refrigerator, and a row of cabinets lined up along the wall.

But though the set-up was typical, there was something strange about the kitchen. Hanging , seemingly in midair, above each cabinet and also above the stove and the refrigerator, was a sprig of mistletoe.

Kelli didn’t seem to notice this at first—maybe because the sprigs of mistletoe were high above her head and she was immediately focused on the oven.

“ Oh look— I think there’s a pie in there!” she exclaimed. “ And look at the timer—it’s almost done!”

Klaus looked where she was pointing to the small clock located on the top of the stove and saw that she was right—the numbers were counting down and it looked like the pie would be done in about a minute.

“ This must be where the smell of apples and cinnamon is coming from.” Kelli looked at him with bright eyes. “ I love apple pie—it’s one of my favorites.”

Klaus couldn’t help loving her enthusiasm. He really liked that it was little things that made her happy and how excited she got for them.

“ Then it looks like we’re having pie for a snack while we watch whatever vid we can find,” he said, grinning at her. It occurred to him that he hadn’t laughed and smiled so much in years but somehow this time with Kelli was really bringing him joy—an emotion he’d thought was completely gone from his life.

Just then the oven timer rang. Kelli was quick to cut it off, but when she tried to open the oven, she wasn’t able to.

“ Klaus , will you try this? It seems to be stuck,” she said, after tugging on it for a moment.

Klaus tried…but with no success. It was like the shower door that had refused to open earlier, he thought. Which made him look up at the mistletoe hanging over the oven.

“ Is it stuck?” Kelli asked anxiously. “ We don’t want the pie to burn!”

“ I think I know what’s the matter. Look up.” Klaus pointed and watched her eyes follow his finger.

“ Oh —more mistletoe!” she exclaimed.

“ I think I have an idea of what we have to do in order to open the oven,” Klaus remarked.

Kelli blushed prettily but didn’t seem reluctant.

“ Well then, it looks like you’d better get down here and kiss me,” she murmured, pointing to her lips.

Klaus didn’t mind at all. Leaning down, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her hungrily, enjoying the sweet taste of her mouth. Kelli sighed and slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her full breasts against him and making him want to cup and caress them all over again. Gods , she was such a sexy little Elite ! Just being near her made his shaft rock hard…

Only the sound of the timer going off again broke the kiss.

“ Oh , I thought I turned that off.” Kelli’s face was flushed as she turned the timer off for the second time. This time when she tried to open the oven door, it pulled down smoothly, revealing a beautiful, golden brown pie.

Klaus felt his stomach rumble.

“ Hey , that looks really fucking good!”

“ It smells just like the pie my grandma used to make. Hey , I need some oven mitts—can you see if you can find some?”

Klaus found some of the padded mitts hanging on a hook on the wall—they were decorated in big red bows and golden bells—and handed them to her. Kelli slipped them on and carefully removed the bubbling pie. She set it on the stove and leaned over to inhale deeply.

“ Mmm , that smells delicious! We really should let it cool, but I don’t want to.”

“ I don’t either,” Klaus said. Now that he smelled the pie, he really wanted some.

“ Let’s find some plates to put it on,” Kelli suggested. “ Would you check the cabinets?”

Klaus tried…but found that none of them were open.

“ Uh -oh,” he groaned, looking at the sprigs of mistletoe above each one. “ Sorry , sunshine, but I’m afraid the cabin strikes again.”

“ I guess we’re just going to have to kiss to open each one, huh?” Kelli’s eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed but again, she didn’t look unwilling.

Klaus wasn’t either, but he was beginning to feel a little guilty.

“ Kelli ,” he began. “ I think?—”

“ Shut up and kiss me!” Standing on her tiptoes, she reached for him, dragging him down for another sweet, passionate kiss.

Klaus couldn’t help it—he found himself responding eagerly. Her mouth was so sweet and her curvy little body fit again against his own much larger form so perfectly. He couldn’t resist. And to be honest, he barely tried.

They had to kiss several more times to open the other cabinets and each kiss lasted longer than the one before. By the time they finally found the plates and silverware the pie had cooled down and Klaus had heated up.

He wished he could get Kelli naked in the shower all over again, but he knew he didn’t have a good excuse to do so. He had to be content with the slice of pie she gave him and then the two of them went back into the living area.

Klaus found a silver remote for the screen and the two of them settled on the couch with their pie as he clicked it on.

At first, nothing happened, but then the screen resolved into a kind of channel index.

“ Channel one,” he read aloud. “ Christmas movie. Channel two, Christmas movie. Channel three…”

“ Christmas movie,” Kelli finished for him with a frown. “ But they don’t tell what the movie is about! How can we pick which one to watch?”

“ I don’t know.” Klaus shrugged. “ Maybe just choose one at random?”

“ I guess.” She shrugged. “ Try channel three.”

Klaus did and they settled down to watch as they ate their pie. The fire to their left was warm and cozy and it gave off the scent of cinnamon and spice. The white and red blanket that he’d been wearing earlier had magically reappeared on the back of the couch and Kelli got it and spread it over both of them. Then she settled against his side with a happy sigh that Klaus felt all the way down to his bones.

Because that was how he felt too—happy and contented, he realized. In the past year, he had found Kelli irritating sometimes because she was too happy. But now he thought maybe he had been too quick to judge. Maybe if he would just open himself to her joy, he could feel what she felt. Maybe …

Maybe you’re thinking about breaking your vow, whispered an accusing little voice in his head. Be careful, Klaus —you’re getting in deep here.

He pushed the guilt away as much as he could and decided to concentrate on the movie, which was starting to get interesting. It was about a human family—a mother and father and two young children. The kids were kind of loud and irritating and they misbehaved a lot, but Klaus supposed that was to be expected. After all, Christmas was the next day and they were excited to get up early and open their presents.

And then, after everyone in the house had gone to bed, Santa started coming down the chimney. Klaus was interested to see this part. He knew what Santa was supposed to look like but there were sometimes slight variations in the human mythology.

But then, instead of a black boot, he saw a cloven hoof coming down out of the chimney. It stamped on the fireplace and was soon followed by another hoof. The hooves were followed by shaggy legs and a monstrous creature with an evil, sneering face and curling goat horns. The only resemblance it bore to the traditional Santa was the red coat it wore, trimmed in dirty white fur.

Before Klaus could ask what was going on, the evil Santa -goat went into the children’s bedroom and popped them both into the enormous sack he had over one shoulder as they shrieked and squirmed.

“ Oh my God , turn it off!” Kelli exclaimed.

Looking down at her, Klaus saw that she had gone pale.

“ I don’t understand,” he said. “ What is this movie about? That’s not Santa —is it?”

“ No ! It’s Krampus —he’s the evil version of Santa .” She shook her head. “ Please , I don’t want to see it. Could you put on something else? I hate horror movies!”

“ Okay , sure.” Klaus began switching channels to find another Christmas movie and Kelli took their empty pie plates back to the kitchen. When she returned, he had settled on another movie. This one was about a group of young human women living all together in a place called a “sorority house.” They were preparing to celebrate Christmas together, which seemed nice enough to Klaus .

But then a masked figure snuck up behind one of the young women and chopped her head off!

“ Ugh !” Kelli buried her face in his side, trying to block out the movie. “ Please , no!” she begged. “ I don’t like gory movies!”

“ Hey , it’s okay, baby— I’ll turn it off.” Klaus put an arm around her and drew her close. He had to admit, he liked the feeling of her soft little body cuddled against his own. But even before tonight, he had liked it when Kelli came to him for comfort and protection. It made him feel good to soothe her and keep her safe. It was one reason he enjoyed being her Protector —even when she got a little hyper.

“ There must be something else on,” she said, her voice muffled because her face was still pressed against his side.

“ I’m sure there is. This is so fucking strange, though,” Klaus muttered, switching the movie off. “ I don’t understand why the cabin is showing us horror vids.”

To his surprise, the cabin’s soft, feminine voice answered him.

“ Studies have shown that watching frightening content can heighten sensations of excitement in bonded pairs,” it said.

“ What ? Well fucking stop —we don’t want ‘heightened excitement,’” Klaus growled.

“ Yes , we want something nice—something romantic!” Kelli said, putting her head up. “ I thought we signed on for the Maximum Romance package—these horror and slasher movies are not romantic!”

“ You make a valid point,” the cabin conceded. “ Very well, please try again. Your entertainment content has been changed.”

“ Thank you!” Kelly perked up and looked at Klaus . “ Go ahead—try another channel.”

Klaus shrugged.

“ Okay , sure.”

Pointing the remote at the screen again, he turned it back on and went to the channel directory. This time all the channels said, “romantic content.”

Klaus chose a channel at random and they settled in to watch again.

This time there were no masked men or evil Santa goats or beheadings, which was clearly a relief to Kelli . Instead , they saw a couple—not unlike themselves—lying in bed and talking. A moment later they started kissing. And then they started touching.

“ Oh my,” Kelli murmured as the man pulled down the sheet, revealing the woman’s breasts. “ This really is, er, extremely romantic .”

Klaus thought “pornographic” might be a better term to describe what they were watching, especially after the male ducked his head and sucked one of the woman’s ripe nipples into his mouth.

She moaned and arched her back, running her fingers through his hair in a way that made Klaus shift in his seat. Fuck , this was hot!

He wasn’t used to watching human pornography, which was almost all visual. Kindred pornography was olfactory because they had a much better sense of smell than humans. In fact, aboard the Mother ship a warrior could go rent a “scent book” which was a collection of undergarments that had been worn by women while they were aroused.

Klaus did enjoy scent books once in a while—though it occurred to him that he hadn’t rented one since he’d started being Kelli’s Protector . But he found himself extremely intrigued by the human porn playing out on the screen.

Now the male had moved on from sucking his woman’s nipples and was moving down her body, placing hot, open-mouthed kisses across her trembling belly and down to her soft little pussy mound.

Klaus could feel his shaft growing as he watched—which was a problem since he wasn’t wearing any undergarments under the sleep trousers the cabin had given him to wear. Soon an embarrassing tent started forming in the front of the trousers, causing him to shift around on the couch.

From the warm, feminine scent coming from Kelli , who was still cuddled against his side, he could tell she was interested in the scenario playing out on the screen too.

The action was getting more intense now—and more graphic. The man in the vid had spread his woman’s pussy lips open with his thumbs and was tasting her eagerly. Just watching him lick her clit was making Klaus so hard he ached! But he still didn’t know what to say.

It was Kelli who finally broke the awkward silence between them.

“ Wow , he, uh, really seems to be enjoying that,” she remarked, gesturing at the screen.

“ Of course he is,” Klaus growled. “ There’s nothing better than tasting pussy.”

“ Really ? You really think that?” She sounded genuinely surprised.

Klaus turned to face her.

“ Fuck yes, sunshine! Kindred have a biological need to taste their women—but it’s not just that, we fucking love it.”

“ You do?” She looked like she couldn’t believe it.

“ Why does that surprise you?” Klaus asked. “ Didn’t your ex-mate like tasting your pussy?”

Her cheeks turned bright red and she slapped his arm.

“ Klaus !”

“ Well ? I’m just trying to figure it out.” He shrugged. “ You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to— I was just curious.”

“ Um …” She took a deep breath, apparently trying to compose herself. “ Mitch wasn’t very enthusiastic about, er, going down, to be honest.”

“ What an idiot!” Klaus growled. “ How could he have a sweet, curvy Elite like you for a mate and not want to taste you?”

Her cheeks got even redder.

“ Oh , I didn’t really mind. It , uh, doesn’t really do much for me, you know?”

“ It doesn’t?” Klaus raised his eyebrows in surprise. In his experience, most women loved having their pussy licked.

“ No .” She shook her head. “ I mean, it’s nice to read about in spicy romance books and it’s certainly fun to watch…” She gestured at the screen where the man was still licking and kissing his woman’s clit and she was moaning and pulling his hair. “ But it’s one of those things that just doesn’t feel as good as you think it would in real life, you know?”

“ I see.” Klaus nodded. “ And how often did your ex-mate try tasting you? Maybe his technique was lacking.”

She shifted on the couch and he could tell she was embarrassed by his question.

“ Well , I mean, you know—two or three times.”

“ Two or three times a week or two or three times a month?” Klaus asked, frowning. Either way, it was criminally negligent to his way of thinking.

“ Oh , no— I meant two or three times during our marriage,” Kelli clarified. “ He just wasn’t that into it, like I said.”

“ What ?” Klaus couldn’t believe it. “ And how long were you married?” He shook his head. “ Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Even if you were only married a year that’s fucking ridiculous!”

Kelli looked surprised.

“ It’s not worth getting all worked up about,” she protested. “ Neither of us liked it, so?—”

“ How could you know if you liked it or not if he only tried tasting you twice?” he demanded.

She shrugged.

“ I don’t know. It just…didn’t seem worth pursuing.”

“ Your woman’s pleasure is always worth pursuing,” Klaus growled. “ Look , sunshine, I saw how you acted in the shower—it’s not like you’re asexual or anything. You love having your soft little pussy stroked. The way you were moaning?—”

“ Oh , I’m sorry!” She blushed again and put her hands to her cheeks. “ I knew I was too loud. Mitch always hated that too.”

“ Hated it?” Klaus couldn’t believe what she was saying. “ Baby , I fucking loved it! It made me so fucking hot to hear you moaning and begging like that. The point is, you deserve sexual pleasure and it sounds like your asshole of an ex-mate didn’t even try to give it to you.”

“ He , um…” Kelli seemed to be trying to think of something nice to say about her ex but finally, she shook her head. “ No , he didn’t,” she admitted in a small voice. “ We were so young when we got married— I thought it was just the way things were.”

“ Well , you know better now.” Klaus stroked her flushed cheek and looked down into her eyes. “ You deserve to have a male who will take his time to make you feel good.”

She was breathing harder now, and her big grey eyes were dilated. Klaus could see how tight the peaks of her nipples were, pressing against the mostly see-through lace. Gods , he wished he could take her to bed right now and Bond her to him!

That thought brought a reality check with it.

Bond her to you—you mean break your vow? demanded the guilty little voice that had been tormenting him all evening. The vow you took in the Sacred Grove , right in front of the statue of the Goddess ?

This time there was no pushing the guilt away. Klaus withdrew his hand and sat up straighter on the couch.

“ Anyway , you should find a male who satisfies you,” he said, trying to close the conversation. “ Someone who’s free to give you what you need.”

“ Oh , uh. Okay .” Kelli looked puzzled. She had been leaning towards him, but now she sat up and put a little distance between them. Clearly , she had felt the shift in his mood.

“ Well …” Klaus manufactured a yawn. “ I guess it’s almost time for bed. Unless you want to watch more of this?” He nodded at the screen, where the male was currently taking the woman from behind with both of them moaning in pleasure.

“ Uh , no.” Kelli shook her head. “ I mean, there’s not much plot, you know? It’s not like I’ll be up all night, wondering what happens in the end.” She gave a little laugh.

“ No , I guess not.” Klaus stood up and stretched. He flicked off the screen and put down the remote. “ I’ll take the couch and you can have the bed,” he said.

“ Oh , of course.” Her face fell and he felt bad. He’d been leading her on—making her believe that something could happen between them when it never could. Not with his Sacred Vow in the way. He? —

“ Hey !” Kelli’s exclamation made him look down at her again.

What he saw shocked him.