The Reckoning

"What's happened? What's wrong, Riley?"

My heart assaulted my chest. "This painting," I continued to stare at the piece to the left of the built-in closet, "where did you get this?"

"I painted it. Why?"

"I've been here before," I traced my fingers over the landscape. There were little, stone cottages spaced throughout a field of grass and flowers. Toward the top of the painting was a shoreline and waves.

"This village no longer exists, Riley. I was born here over six hundred years ago. I lived here before my parents died. This was before I joined the travelers."

"I'm telling you, I've been here. In a dream. It was so long ago, but I remember it like I dreamt it last night."

He whispered so low I had trouble hearing him. "And our souls are deep with dreams."

"What?"

He shook his head. "Part of an old gypsy saying."

"What does this mean? It has to mean something."

"It confirms what I told you last night. The Skies were aligned for us."

"How would you know that from me recognizing this place?"

He opened the linen closet, pulled out a towel, and wrapped it around me. My cheeks heated at the realization I had been standing before him, naked, and gawking at the painting.

"Come," he said, leading me back to his bedroom. He led me to lay on the bed, face down. I was going to ask what he planned to do but he beat me to it. "Do you mind if I oil your skin? The Rare Rose goes so lovely with your natural scent."

"Um, sure. Yeah," I said.

He removed the towel from my body, and I heard it drop to the floor. The sound of him uncorking the oil and rubbing his hands together were the only warning I received before his ministrations began. I groaned as his adept hands massaged the sweet-smelling oil into my skin.

As far as Valentine's Days went, this one was looking like it would be crowned the best—and the fact I would most likely die tonight said a great deal about my past experiences with the holiday. I recounted all the years I secretly celebrated the "day of love" and the years I had been "found out" by my parents. I tried, on numerous occasions, to smuggle in gifts past boyfriends gave me to no avail. I remembered the occasions I spent the holiday alone, and I recalled the times I spent the night with Abby when we were both dateless.

Yeah, this one definitely won out, Shifter doom day and all.

Sebastian's strained voice brought me out of my reverie. "You keep making sounds like that, love, and I'm going to be forced to take you right now."

"I'm sorry," I gasped. I had no idea I was making any noises, much less noises that would turn him on. "Tell me what you meant earlier...about the painting and us being a match," I blurted out, hoping to quell the obvious fire burning in his loins.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "When two people are meant for each other, something transpires between them that no one else knows about. It can be something mundane, or something pretty significant. One couple I'm acquainted with saw the assassination of Kennedy, one through a mirror and the other in a teacup; they lived on opposite ends of the planet at that time. Another couple saw each other's eyes in a book—"

"—And I saw the place you lived as a child."

"What you saw transcended time and space, Riley. This village was gone long before you were born. Was the dream exactly as you saw the painting?"

"Down to the very last boulder on the shoreline."

He stopped massaging oil into my skin and pulled me onto his lap, placing his hands on either side of my face. "We are meant to be. Ugh. I cannot mess this up tonight. I have to find a way to let you live."

"How many women live through the Reckoning?"

His eyes tightened. "Some. Not nearly enough. Our line will die out if we do not figure out a way to keep our women alive."

I sighed. "No wonder you have so little hope."

~

I took my time getting ready for dinner, trying to find ways to remain positive. I had to admit, as the time drew nearer and nearer, I had become increasingly nervous, especially with the news I received about the Shifter numbers dwindling. If we didn't figure this thing out, I was bound to become another Reckoning Day statistic. I wanted to know what the future held; I had to know. I perused my brain for older dreams I had tried to lock away, hoping for any indication of what was to come. I came up with nothing.

What am I going to do?

What could I do? The time was set before us and so many things were in motion that could not be undone.

"I just have to make the most of what time we have left," I said, looking in the mirror. I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and assessed myself. I'd tried to stay strong for too long, and tonight was no different. My shoulders were squared, my head held high; the only giveaway of my fragile mental state was the red rings around my eyelids from tears I'd shed. "We don't have much time left," I said to myself, smoothing the sparkly, form-fitting dress Sebastian purchased for this night. "But if we live through this, I will let him shop for me whenever he likes," I half-smiled.

A knock sounded at the door before he entered. Despite my sadness and tears, heat pooled in my belly at the sight of him. Sebastian cleaned up well. His dark hair was in the same style as always; parted to the side and slicked back; but his facial hair was a little more groomed. He wore a suit that looked made specifically for him—the black getup hugged his muscles in ways I had no idea a suit could. I cocked my head to the side as I assessed him. Black did him justice. The only other color he wore that night was a tie in gold.

He crossed the room in a few strides and cupped my face in his hands. His eyes said what his lips could not.

I gazed into his blue orbs, hoping he saw the emotions I was trying to convey to him. He leaned his forehead against mine and sighed before releasing me.

"We match," I sniffled as we faced the mirror.

His answering smile did not reach his eyes. "That way, everyone will know you are mine." His eyes flickered orange at his declaration. "I knew this dress would look stunning on you," he whispered, using a finger to trail along my exposed cleavage. "It will look even better on the floor after I peel it off you." His fingers traveled over both of my bosom swells, sending a tingling sensation through my body. "Shall we?"

"What? You can't just tease me and then act all gentleman-like."

"Do you want to stay in for the night? I can think of many ways to keep us entertained. I have tons of little games we could play." He reached into my dress and squeezed my breast before pulling it out. With expert fingers, he tweaked my nipple.

"Sebastian," I groaned when his mouth connected with the hardened peak.

After one last swipe of his tongue, he placed my breast back into the confines of my dress. "You taste even better on this side of your dreams. And you smell lovely, by the way. Come."

The restaurant was packed, but it didn't matter since we had a reservation. Sebastian led us to a secluded table toward the back of the building as if he owned the place. For all I knew, he did. We were served wine and bruschetta upon our arrival, of which I gladly took part. An appetizer of stuffed mushrooms was brought out next, which I took with gusto.

"Hungry?"

I smiled sheepishly. "A little."

As if on cue, the waiter brought out the main course. "Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi in a house tomato-butter sauce," he sat the plate before me with excessive flourish. As he walked away, I chuckled.

"What?" Sebastian asked.

I shrugged. "I find it funny when waiters introduce food. It's like," I raised my nose in the air, scrunched up my face, and in the snootiest voice I could muster, I said, "cow meat with bacon, topped with an imported bun, cheese, and garden dressings. Enjoy."

Sebastian's laugh filled our area, causing other patrons to look in our direction. He shook his head once he sobered. "Eat your food, Riley."

"Why? Am I going to need my strength?" I spun my fork around my plate, looking squarely into Sebastian's eyes.

He shifted in his chair before answering, "You're going to need all your strength, and then some."

"Then you should eat yours, too."

His eyes flashed as he looked at me from across the table. "Oh, don't worry about my strength. I have plenty of pent up energy saved for you."

I liked the game we played, so I continued it for the remainder of the meal. Our sexual banter kept fire in his eyes, which was what we both needed. After we refused dessert, Sebastian handed a bill to the waiter and told him to keep the change. He made haste in his pursuit to the car; his hand on the small of my back the entire time, propelling me forward.

"I'm sorry we don't have time for more formalities, love. Right now, I just need to taste you, then bury myself into you. Any qualms about that?"

I shook my head, unable to speak from the rush of heat that took over my body.

Sebastian was still a gentleman; he opened my door as he had earlier, and closed it before moving toward his side of the car. For the first time, he showed part of his other nature by using excessive speed to get into the driver's seat. I hadn't even buckled my seat belt by the time he had the car moving toward his house.

"In a hurry?"

"You have no idea. I would have taken you in the parking lot, but there were too many other men around. They would have seen you, and I would have had to kill them."

"Sebastian!"

"Well, it's true. When it comes to our mates, we get territorial. Even some women could be subject to our jealousy if they're not careful."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

We arrived to his house in ten minutes, which was funny because it took us almost thirty on the way to the restaurant.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he pulled me through the downstairs portion of his house. "Your room is up there."

"Never mind that," he said as he brought us to a stop in the living room. He spun me around and took my lips into a kiss. When he released me, my head was swimming, my body overheated.

The sound of tearing fabric brought me out of my stupor. "Hey! I really liked that dress!"

"I'll order you another."

He took a few steps backward and crossed his arms. The only indications of my effect on him was tented pants and the gold-orange tint of his eyes.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

"Of what, specifically?"

"Everything."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be." He closed the gap between us in a single stride and his lips found mine again.

Our mouths danced with fervor, responding to the urgency we felt in the air around us. His touch was electrifying, sending currents through me. I tried to press my body closer to his, but there was nowhere else I could go, nowhere else for me to touch.

He broke the kiss. "Lay down." He stepped backward, giving me space to lay myself on the familiar, white, shaggy rug beneath us. With deft fingers, he removed his cufflinks, placing them on one of his wrought iron-glass end tables. Next was his jacket which he deftly unbuttoned and tossed over the couch. He removed his tie and then his shirt, not taking his eyes off mine as he plucked apart every button. He dropped to his knees before laying next to me.

"You still have your pants on."

"I do."

"...Why?"

"I'm not going to fuck you down here, Riley. I just need to taste your lips," he said, rolling over.

I readied my mouth to be kissed, so it came as a surprise when he traveled down my body instead of upward.

"I thought you said—oh! Hey!"

He looked up from my mound, his gaze hooded. "Yes?"

My chest moved up and down in rapid succession. "You said lips."

"I did not specify which pair. Forgive me," he said before returning his attention to my aching folds.

He licked, kissed, and nipped at my wetness, eliciting sounds from me I'd never dreamed I'd make. I was brazen in my pleasured state, grinding my cleft against his mouth and muttering his name. The orgasm of a lifetime built in every cell from my body. Everything in me ached for release, and the event was imminent. Or, so I thought.

"Oh no, you don't," Sebastian said, flipping us over so I sat astride him.

"What? Why?" I almost wailed.

"Come here, come here," he motioned to his face.

I shook my head. "I can't do that."

"You can, and you will."

I looked at him, trying to gauge his level of seriousness. His eyes were blazing gold, his jaw was taut; and his fangs were slightly protruded. Yeah, he meant business.

"Put those daggers away, Dracula," I sighed as I positioned myself over his waiting mouth. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled me down onto his tongue. I groaned so loudly it hurt my throat. "Sebastian!"

His response was to smack one of my butt cheeks. I groaned again and he smacked the other cheek.

I was, again, reaching the precipice. Sebastian had to have sensed it because he changed tactics. He removed his tongue from me and replaced it with a finger, using his mouth to play with my swollen clit. I rocked against him, hoping the motion would bring me to the release I'd been waiting to experience.

"Open your eyes, Riley. Look at me."

I obeyed Sebastian's voice and met his heated gaze. "OH!" I bellowed into the air as I reached my peak. I felt the rumble of Sebastian's growl in my folds, pushing me toward another wave of orgasm I wasn't expecting.

"Well, damn," Sebastian muttered, flipping us over. He rested above my mound, sitting lackadaisical on his heels. He slid a finger back into me. "Tight. Very tight."

"Virgin," I said breathlessly.

"Not for much longer. I'm not certain I can hold off. I want this...I want you."

His words, his finger moving in and out of me, and the intense gaze of his gold eyes sent a fresh wave of heat through my body. "You already have me," I told him, not looking away from his stare. "And look," I placed my hand on his cheek, "your fangs are out and you haven't even made a move to bite me."

His tongue traveled over the sharp peaks of his canines. "Tempting."

"All right, Lestat, put those away."

His laughter shook his body, but he never removed his finger from me, never lost his rhythm of moving it in and out. "You know I'm not a vampire, but I do prefer Lestat to that Cullen kid."

Sebastian took advantage of my laughter and slid a second finger into me, causing my innocent chuckles to turn into brazen moans. How could this man know how to push my every button and the perfect time to do it? Even when we had sex for the first time in a shared dream, he knew exactly how to work me over. I was still having trouble figuring out how to work myself over!

His fingers started to stroke the front wall of my sex and clit in an erotic rhythm, causing fire to burn in my lower belly. "Oh...god. I can't—Sebastian." I had no idea what words were coming out of my mouth and what order, but I knew what I wanted to say. He did, too.

His voice was warm but gravelly from his arousal. When he spoke, it was as if his words dripped gasoline onto my fiery body. "I know," he took one of my nipples between his thumb and forefinger and rolled it, "so much pleasure. What will you do with it all? How can you handle it?"

His words toyed with me, but the tone behind them and the incessant stroking of his fingers told me he meant business.

"I feel it building. You might as well let it have you," he whispered into my ear. He increased the speed of his fingers as if by some silent command, pushing me closer to the edge.

My hips moved of their own accord, mutterings and groans spilled from my lips and permeated the air around us. The room grew warmer with every thrust of his fingers; and, just when I felt like I couldn't take any more, my body gave in. My euphoria came out of my mouth in the form of a scream-moan combination. Sebastian rode out my orgasm with me, his hand ministrations not forgotten as he growled beneath me. The sound was not menacing as it was in the past; but, now the gravelly uttering turned me on. I loved the fact I could make the animal in Sebastian come to life—that I could make him want more. I felt powerful in my shameless state.

"I can't do it anymore. Come," he lifted me off the floor in one fluid motion, as if I weighed nothing more than a porcelain doll. We made it to his bedroom before I could blink. "Your scent is driving me fucking mad. You looked so damn sexy spread out for me on the floor. No, I cannot wait any longer. I hope you're as ready for this as I am," he said as he lay me on the bed. "Tell me you're ready."

"I'm ready."

"Good." He unbuckled his pants and let them fall to the floor. His boxer briefs came next. He slid those down his legs, causing his manhood to spring out.

Fear hit me for the first time since he got me naked.

What have I gotten myself into?

Part Four: The Beginning of the End

Sebastian ran a hand through his hair. "Of all the things to scare you off about me...the size of my dick is what's gonna make you try to run?"

"You call that thing a dick?! It's more like a fucking elephant trunk!"

"Oh, come on," he laughed, "it doesn't even reach my knees!"

"That's because it's curving up toward your throat!"

His laugh was hearty, making his cock jump and sway. Although his size was a notable concern for me, my mouth still watered at the sight. I'd never seen a real penis before this point but beyond the fear it caused, I liked what I saw.

"Don't be afraid, Riley. I won't hurt you, if I can help it. Are you still ready?"

"No," I shook my head as I reach my hand toward his cock. He hissed as I made contact. I apologized.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's fine, just unexpected."

"You didn't think I'd touch you?" I moved my hand up and down his shaft. The feeling was alien to my virgin hands; it was like a heated, metal pole covered with velvet.

"After that reaction? No. I really thought you were going to try and run. I didn't want to have to chase you. As much as I love a game of cat and mouse, that's not something you want to play with a predator...not while you're human, anyway."

"Duly noted," I said, smearing a drop of precum around the head of his cock.

"You're going to ruin me, Riley. I only have so much self control."

At that moment, I wanted to see him come undone; so, I did something I never thought I'd ever do. I took him into my mouth.

His cock jumped, but I held it between my lips.

"Riley! What—"

I eased him in as far as I could, but there was still shaft exposed. I slid my mouth back and forth around his girth as my hands took over the rest of the shaft. Sebastian's growl was outright, but I didn't fear him. I wanted this reaction, I had to see him come undone.

"Riley. Please," he said.

I set to put him out of his misery. I took one of my hands from his shaft and used it to massage his balls. Sebastian cursed in ways I never knew possible before pulling out of my mouth. His seed spurted onto my chest and neck in hot, sticky torrents. I rose from my sitting position and made a step toward the bathroom, but I was stopped by a hand on my arm.

"Not a chance," Sebastian said, pulling me back toward the bed.

"But I'm all messy! Don't you have to rest for a few hours or something?"

The look in his eyes stopped my protest. His molten, gold orbs pinned me to the bed as he climbed up my body. He parted my legs with his thighs and positioned himself at my entrance. My breath came in short tufts. "What the fuck? You're still hard!"

Sebastian looked down at me, stroking my face. "It's gonna hurt. I'm sorry." He pushed forward and entered where no man had ever been. His canines extended just below his top lip, making me gasp.

How could I have forgotten? This meeting was about more than just me losing my virginity—this was about my life that hung in the balance. It was about Sebastian's partial humanity that he would lose if he killed me. I wrapped my arms around his back, hoping it would hold both of us together.