Page 209 of Eternal Craving

I held back.

Before me lay the darkest temptation, flawless curves, and erect nipples rising and falling with each short breath, the smallest waist and long legs with thighs slightly parted. Delaying the inevitability of such sensuous intoxication evokedan exquisite frisson through my body, denying myself that which I desired the most.

Pleasure before the pleasure.

Outside the wind howled as though jealous of the lovers inside who tumbled daringly close to the hearth. Sunaria’s head fell back and her tussled locks cascaded over her flushed face.

Daylight loomed.

Emboldened by lust, my rhythmic thrusts continued regardless, and she lay beneath me, arching her back. I curled my left arm around her waist, supporting myself with the other. Heightened to the point of ecstasy again, I allowed her to take me with her, as her nails clawed at my back and the delectable sensations intermingled.

Shuddering, trying to catch my breath, I felt an intense euphoria. “You’re my everything,” I whispered as I came.

The crackle of the fire in the hearth and the crashing waves of the ocean lulled us.

This was the longest that I’d ever held her gaze. “Do you miss London?”

She let out a tiny sigh. “What does London have that Spain doesn’t?”

“Endless rain.”

Sunaria’s laughter rippled through the air, and then her expression became serious.

“Why do you refuse to talk about the past?” she asked.

“Some memories, I choose to forget.”

“The pain fades,” she whispered.

“What if I don’t want it to?”

A soft smile curled her lips. “So you hold onto the pain and forget the cause?”

“Whatever it takes.”

“To survive eternity?”

“To exist.” I smiled back at her.

Sunaria rose and pulled my black cloak around her shoulders. “I don’t have your thrill for danger.” She pointed at the window and headed for the door.

Propping myself up on both elbows, I glimpsed the ocean. The sun threatened to cast its colors across its surface. I jumped up and dressed.

Then I froze when I glanced at the maple table nearby.

An envelope lay on top. I ripped open the seal. We’d been summoned to a local vampire coven.

Apparently, Sunaria and I resided in the very center of a lair.

We ignored the dubious invitation, enjoying our own company instead, preferring to visit old haunts, and finally put old ghosts to rest.

We traveled to Nuevo Portil by carriage. Years had changed the city, and the population had increased. Having ridden along this pathway several times in the past, we now saw many new homes and structures. The Ocean View Manor was no longer there.

Close by, we found a well-tended churchyard. It took us very little time to find Alicia’s grave. Ricardo, her son, had been buried next to her. Their tombstones were the only mark of their lives, and I felt regret for leaving her. We found no grave with Miranda’s name on it, and this made me smile. She’d probably searched out another nightwalker and persuaded them to transform her.

Sunaria left me kneeling before Alicia’s tombstone, and I tried to convey feelings that I no longer felt, honoring my sister with my fondest memories of her. Alicia would have wondered what had happened to us. I’d written to her but had never gonethrough with sending the missives I’d penned. I hoped the rest of her life had been easier.

Shaking off the melancholy, I rejoined Sunaria. She was lounging upon an old grey mausoleum, and with her black locks dangling over the side, she resembled a dark goddess, here to guide the newly deceased, not into heaven and not even to hell, but somewhere else, somewhere forbidden.