Between the Marshal & the Vampire(45)

"This mean you're admitting to being a monster?" he taunted.

Vellum's black eyes seemed soulless. "You'll die, Marshal, and I'll make certain that it's agony for you."

"Stop it!" Mariel shouted at him. "Just stop it! This isn't you. Why are you doing this?"

"Because he's scared witless," Clay said with a sneer. "He can't handle us, so he has to hide behind the mask of this thing." He guided Mariel behind him as he stepped toward Vellum. "I always knew I was the better man for her. Thank you for proving my point so clearly, nightwalker."

"I told you to call me a vampire," Vellum snarled.

He was fast, but Clay must have anticipated this, for although the vampire surged across the distance between them to grab the front of the Marshal's throat, Clay had his gun out and its barrel pressed to Vellum's temple at the same time.

"No!" Mariel cried out at the two males locked in stalemate. "Don't hurt each other. This isn't what any of us wants."

"Isn't it?" Clay gritted out. He coughed as Vellum tightened his fingers. Clay cocked his pistol. "Be a man, Vellum."

"I'm no man," the vampire purred, baring his fangs in a frightening parody of a smile.

"But you're ours," Mariel insisted. She couldn't stand this a moment longer. She dashed to the two males and wrapped her arms around Vellum from behind. With her arms locked tight around his chest and her cheek pressed to his shoulder, she murmured, "Please. Please come back to us. Remember what you had with us, what we made you feel. What we made you need."

"Mariel, get back, dammit!" Clay ordered.

"No," she said stubbornly. She rose up onto her toes and dared to press her lips to the back of Vellum's neck. "He doesn't want me to leave. Not truly." She pressed a kiss to his skin. "Isn't that right?"

From her position she couldn't see his face, nor Clay's, but she read the tension running through Vellum that kept every muscle in his body as rigid as stone.

"Mariel, I'm telling you to back off!" Clay tried again, genuine fear shading his voice.

Mariel hugged Vellum tighter. "Not until he's ours again."

"Jesus," Clay muttered. He cleared his throat and then, to Mariel's amazement, he eased back the cocking mechanism on his gun. "Listen, Vellum. I-I'm begging you, alright? She wants you. She's not happy without you. We—we both aren't. So put an end to this lunacy and act the way you did before. We gave up our life at Everton for this. For you, dammit."

Never had she imagined Clay begging Vellum to be their lover, but the plea had been made, and she felt its effects immediately in the body she continued to embrace.

"Yes," she urged as Vellum's muscles eased. "Please. We gave up everything for you. Because we want you."

"You're both fools," Vellum said softly.

Mariel began to smile hopefully when a hand seized her by the skirts and yanked her off Vellum's back to throw her in front of the vampire. She staggered against Clay's side. Vellum regarded them with his chilly obsidian gaze.

"Fools," he repeated.

He pulled them both against him.

Mariel gasped into his ungentle kiss, but she didn't resist it, especially with Clay's mouth crushed up against hers, too. Their ungainly three-way meeting of the lips wasn't sexy but it was passionate because of Vellum, who sucked at their mouths and scraped his teeth against their lips as though he needed to reacquire the taste of them.

"Damn vampire," Clay panted into the kiss. "So dramatic."

The other male growled, "Open your mouth wider and let me put it to good use."

Clay emitted a choked sound while Mariel moaned from the command. Vellum's hand swept up her back and tugged her tight against his body.

"You like that?" he breathed against her damp, bruised lips. She whimpered her assent. "Mariel, you shouldn't have come back. But I'm pleased that you're here with me."

"We couldn't go on without you, Vellum. We want to make this work."

"It can't work," he argued.

She clutched at his shoulder. "We'll make it work." She stroked her fingers along the side of his neck. "Will you…will you feed from us?"

Clay shivered against her side. Vellum grew very, very still.

"Is that what you want?" he asked.

"Yes," she said at once.

"Yeah," Clay murmured. "Do it, vampire."

Vellum's sinful laughter tripped across Mariel's lips. "Is my bite required at this point?"

Warmth pooled between her legs. The ache was already there and growing more intense by the second. "Your bite isn't necessary," she breathed, "but we want to make you feel good and we want you to be strong."

"I don't need your blood to feel good." He cupped her right buttock. "But I'll gladly drink while I take my pleasure from your body. These trousers need to go, first."

Thank goodness for his strength, for she would have collapsed without it.

His preternatural speed worked in their favor, for he'd soon bullied Clay into lying on his back on the ground, as naked as the day he was born, while Mariel slowly impaled herself upon his rigid cock. She tossed her head back in abandon when she felt Vellum kneel behind her, straddling Clay's thighs.