ONE & ONLY by Bianca D’Arc
ONE & ONLY A Lady Aibell Press/Chippewa Publishing Publication, May 2006 Chippewa Publishing, LLC. PO Box 662 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin 54729 Available Formats: Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF) Other available formats: Palm Doc (PDB), Rocket/REB1100 (RB), Pocket PC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB), hiebook (KML), iSilo (PDB), Mobipocket (PRC), OEBFF Format (IMP), Microsoft Reader (LIT), (HTML). One & Only Copyright © 2006 Bianca D’Arc Edited by Barb Webb Cover Art by Bianca D’Arc Proofed by Tammy Xanthakis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole, or in part, by any means, without the written consent of the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination, or are fictitiously used. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. WARNING: The contents of this book are intended for mature audiences 18 years of age and older only. Language, violence, and sexual situations may apply. PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Prologue
He was going to die. Finally, after over a thousand years of walking the earth, his life was going to end. He welcomed it. But the girl would die, too, and that bothered him. Funny, by now he thought he shouldn’t have a conscience left, but oddly enough, it plagued him. Lying in a pool of his own blood, with some kind of support beam making a hole in his chest, Atticus felt his life slipping away. He heard faint, struggling little gasps for breath issuing from the small woman who’d been seated across the aisle. At least for now. Everyone else on board the small passenger van was dead. He knew because their heartbeats ceased echoing in his ears. He no longer sensed the motion of their blood swishing through their veins. They were all dead. All except for the quiet girl who’d smiled so kindly at him after he’d accidentally stepped on her foot while boarding. Atticus never touched humans except to feed. Such acute hearing and senses usually made it too painful to get within touching distance of most humans, unless they were under his thrall. Yet, somehow, this quiet, shy woman had invaded his personal space earlier that night, without his knowledge. It had shocked him at the time, and he’d spent several of the interminable hours as they rode over the lonely mountains thinking about how she’d managed it. He hadn’t been surprised in years. Centuries even. Yet, this nondescript woman, with the mousy brown hair and hazel eyes, somehow managed to invade his personal space and his thoughts. Incredible. Now she would die alone in the night, on the side of a deserted mountain road, along with the rest of them. Unless he fought against the darkness coming for him.
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Chapter One
When Lissa woke, darkness engulfed her. Straining to see in the absence of light, her breath accelerated for a moment as she panicked. Her apprehension grew as she realized another person lay beside her. She faintly heard a soft dripping sound echoing through what she supposed was some kind of underground chamber or deep cave. She knew the mountains in this part of the world were dotted with such places, but she couldn’t quite remember how she’d gotten here. Or why she was so groggy. She tried to sit up, but it the effort required escaped her. The person beside her stirred at her movement, and she felt more than saw, the person rise up to lean over her. “Where are we?” “I moved us to shelter.” Rich and warm, his voice bathed her senses in a dark and dangerous way. Sexy, she thought, and she’d heard that voice before. She remembered the flashing eyes and chiseled face of the man who’d boarded the passenger van behind her. She’d been fascinated by him and instantly captivated. She remembered thinking he was quite possibly the most striking man she’d ever seen. “You stepped on my foot.” He chuckled at her innocent observation, setting her insides to glowing. “Indeed. But that was more than twenty-four hours ago.” He stroked a gentle finger down her cheek and she shivered, not in fear, but in surprising arousal. If just the brush of his finger made her this hot, it made her wonder what he could do if he really tried. That thought stopped her cold. Men like him didn’t usually go for little mice like her. Better to focus on the peculiar situation she found herself in than daydream about her rescuer. 2
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“What happened? I remember the van swerving…” “Ah, yes. Just before we rolled down the side of the mountain. You hit your head very hard, I’m afraid. That’s probably why you’re still a bit fuzzy.” “Where is everyone else?” He paused only slightly. “Dead.” Her breath caught in shock as her mind raced. “How did we…?” “Relax, sweetheart.” He moved closer. “I pulled you from the wreckage and found shelter, but I was badly damaged in the accident as well. I’m sorry for it, but I need your essence to speed my healing.” “My what?” His hot breath bathed her ear now, moving lower as he settled closer and closer to her side. His strong arms enveloped her shoulders as his mouth stroked over the line of her jaw and lower. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you, but I need your blood, and I’m too weak to cloud your mind. You’ll have to trust me.” His words whispered against her shivering skin as he dragged sharp teeth back and forth over her jugular as if savoring the moment before the feast. She barely had time to take in his words before he struck. A piercing pain registered only for a moment, followed by the greatest bliss she had ever experienced. Intensely sexual, it engulfed her in a way she’d never known. He sucked at her neck, licking at the essence of her, swallowing like a thirsty man in the desert. Yet reverence and gentleness communicated through his touch, and his tender handling of her bruised and battered body. Oddly, she didn’t object. She knew she should be afraid, but the intense feeling of arousal overwhelmed her. She didn’t have the strength to voice even the faintest protest. He drank for what seemed a long time, his hands moving over her body, molding her breasts and stroking her pussy. Only then did she realize she was quite naked. She gasped as his long fingers stroked down and in, invading her pussy as his teeth raked the tender skin of her throat. Slick and hot, he fired her senses as no man ever had before. Even the thought that he was some sort of dark creature out of legend couldn’t stop the most intense sexual arousal of her life. He stroked one long finger in and out to stretch her then added a second finger as she whimpered. She hadn’t had sex in a long time and her channel was tight, but it remembered the pleasure and this man—this vampire!—proved himself a master at manipulating her body and her response. He owned her pleasure. His thumb stroked over her clit and she came with a jerk of her hips that threatened to dislodge him, but his strength kept her easily in his clutches. He kept up the stimulation, extending her orgasm for long, long moments while his upper body covered hers, his mouth feeding from the small bite he’d made in her neck. 3
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Chapter Two
Gods! She was sweet. The sweetest woman he’d had in all his many centuries. And he’d had many. Temptation lured him to drain her dry and take all of her precious essence into himself, but he’d gone through the trouble of dragging himself off the makeshift stake that had only narrowly missed his heart and hauling her out of the wreckage. He wasn’t about to kill her now. Not when he wanted to taste of her again and again. No, he would keep this female around and keep her healthy. She was fast becoming an addiction. He realized, belatedly, that he’d never healed as quickly as he had in the past twenty-four hours with her blood in his system. He had taken from her out of necessity before he could find a safe place for them to seek shelter. Luckily, she hadn’t bled much in the crash, but her brain injury looked serious. He would need her blood to heal himself enough to begin her healing. Already, he’d reduced the swelling in her skull somewhat, with his healing gift. She would be much better, if not fully recovered, after a second session. But to do that, he must be stronger. Her blood enervated him. And her responsive body tripled the energy he derived from her blood. She’d been potent before, but now that she’d cum so beautifully for him, his energy level peaked back near full strength. As she would, as soon as he found the strength to tear himself away from her juicy neck and give her the healing she needed. But she was so sweet! With a groan, he backed off, using a light zap of his healing touch through his tongue as he licked the sensitive skin of her neck. She squirmed deliciously under him, but he knew he had to finish her healing first, before satisfying other needs. Settling the unaccustomed hunger for her blood—and her body—would come later. He wasn’t a man who often indulged in the pleasures of the flesh—not for himself, at least, not in a long time. 4
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He had many gifts to bring prey to him—clouding human minds so that they never knew of his feeding from them proved to be one of his most powerful. He often brought females to orgasm as he fed from them, because it usually doubled the potency of their blood. He’d learned over the many centuries of his existence that vampires weren’t just physical creatures. He also functioned on a psychic level. He fed off the sexual energies of his prey, as well as their blood, and the two combined were entirely delicious. But this small woman fed his hunger like no other he had ever fed from or pleasured before. Suddenly, he didn’t regret saving her. He didn’t regret living, though only the day before he had welcomed death. She gave him reason to go on, a flicker of hope in his increasingly dark world. She might even be the One. His breath caught at the enormity of the thought as he pulled back. He saw her pale features clearly in the near total darkness of the underground chamber. He knew she experienced more than a bit of pain from her head injury, but she seemed content, still a bit warm and fuzzy from her incredible climax. Strange pride filled him at having put that dreamy look in her hazel eyes, though he’d never felt quite this way before. Each vampire searched for their One—the single person in the entire world who completed them. Most of them never found their mate. Many went insane and became the monsters of legend. But a few, like him, walked the earth for centuries on end, searching. The idea that he might have found her, just when he’d been ready to end it all, astounded him. He hardly dared believe. But there were signs…ancient signs and portents that were leading him to believe that she might just be his One. First, her blood was more potent than any he had ever had and her orgasm fueled his own desire in a way he hadn’t experienced in centuries. He wanted to cum inside her to see if the rest of the legend could possibly be real. Could they share their minds? Could they truly become One? Healing would have to come first. Gently, he settled over her, his hands covering her head at the points of impact as he gathered his renewed strength. Using his healing gift, he directed his energies to the places in her badly bruised body that were injured. He’d done a lot of the repair work already, but the finer points had been beyond him the night before. He’d stabilized her, but left the finesse work until he was stronger. Concentrating, he set to work. It took quite a while, but when he finally released her, she was healthy once more. And ready to fuck. 5
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Chapter Three
Whenever he touched her, unearthly flames licked over her senses, warming her very soul. She didn’t understand it at all, but the sensation was beyond questioning. She wanted this dark stranger. She wanted him inside her with a passion unknown to her. But she also realized, as he pulled away, that her aches were gone. The dull throb of pain in her head and the haziness to her thoughts had lifted. He’d done that, somehow. “What did you do?” His hand stroked her cheek in a gentle caress as he settled his large, hard body over her once more. His bare skin tantalized her senses as he settled himself between her legs. A gasp strangled in her throat as his hard arousal nudged her soft inner thigh. “I healed you.” He leaned down to kiss her lips sweetly, enticingly. She’d never had a kiss like it before. It seduced her and led her wherever he wanted to go, all with a gentle sweep of his tongue. “Feel better?” His lips nuzzled her temple. He moved his body slightly higher between her legs as she moaned her affirmative. “I need you, now, sweetheart. I can’t wait. I need to know. Say yes, please. Let me in.” He kissed her more deeply this time, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth the way she wanted him to thrust his cock insider her pussy. Over and over and over again. Mmm. His patience impressed her. He waited, even though it had to be clear she was his for the taking. His cock gently rubbed over her clit, bobbing, stroking, and driving her insane. She had to have him now, but still, he waited. She tried to move down onto him, but his strength denied her. Her frustration level rose higher and higher as she strained toward him. “Yes! Dammit, yes!” she panted against his lips. “Come into me now.”
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With an animalistic growl, he pushed forward, breaching the tightness of her body with a slow, but firm, inward thrust. Even in his passion, he moved carefully, lest he hurt her. He knew how tight she was from fingering her earlier. He knew, too, she would have trouble taking him in at first, but she’d adapt, and come to love his big cock. It would make her sing out in joy when she came around him, and he could hardly wait to bring her with him, over the edge into bliss. But first, he had to get fully inside. He thrust shallowly, reveling in the tight hole guarding her passage. Her pussy was as tight as a virgin’s, but he knew she’d had other men before. With a wave of dominance, he was glad she’d have something to compare him with and know that their joining was nothing ordinary. No, this joining would be of epic proportions. He felt the heat rising in his bones already. Things were churning inside him in a way that was new to him and the boost to his energies coming from their joining spiked higher and higher, like nothing he’d expected. It was even better. He let himself dare to hope that she might be the One. He didn’t need the final sign that would come with climax, to know it in his heart. She was his One. He could feel it in his bones as he began to thrust deeper, keeping time with her whimpering cries of arousal. “Are you with me, sweet?” He needed her to look at him, even though he knew her human eyes could barely make him out in the darkness of the cave. But he needed to see her sparkling eyes as his body joined fully with hers this first time. She looked up at him, searching though the darkness, trying to make out the slightest details of his face in the dark. “Yes! I’m with you.” Her words were faint gasps of air as she climbed ever higher with him. “My name is Atticus,” he told her, thrusting hard and deep, fully embedding himself into her as if he would never leave. “Say my name, sweetheart. I need to hear it on your lips.” She panted. “Atticus!” Her inner muscles clenched around him as she rose higher and higher. “Faster, Atticus! Harder!” He complied with a groan of satisfaction, seating himself deep within her. He pumped her hard, reaching into her mind with his to know when and how she wanted him to thrust. But her thoughts were in perfect alignment with his and he noted the ease in which he accessed her mind as yet another sign that she very likely could be his One. The thought brought him to a trembling precipice. She was right there with him. With a final push, he tumbled her over the edge, his body spurting cum inside her as she writhed in ecstasy, her spasming core clenching around his cock, driving 7
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him higher still. He hadn’t cum so hard in years, if ever. And she loved every minute of it. Pathways opened between their two souls, joining them together for eternity. He realized with a blinding flash that he had full access to her memories now, as if they were his own. He wondered if she would have the same access to his mind. The thought gave him pause. Some of the memories in his mind were too grim to share with such a kind and gentle woman. She was such a bright beacon of hope in his otherwise dark world. He didn’t want to subject her to his memories, including centuries of living in a world that had been sometimes harsh, and even inhuman. He doubted she could accept some of the more sinister parts of his long existence. “Don’t think that, Atticus.” She shocked him with her words as she stroked his chest. “There is no part of you that I couldn’t accept.” “Then you do share my mind?” His heart opened in joy at the thought. He’d found his One. Joined in mind, they were truly One. “How could I not? I was somewhat psychic even before the accident. I knew there was something different about you the moment you stepped on my foot.” He chuckled and moved his heavy weight off her, settling at her side. “Psychic, huh? Really?” His hand stroked her shoulder softly. “A bit. It runs in my family. But I’ve never experienced anything like what just happened, or what I’m learning now, seeing inside your memories. It’s amazing.” Softened with awe, her voice washed over him. “Do you understand what you see in my memories? Do you understand that you are my One? My reason for existence? My everything?” Anxiety filled him as he waited for her all-important reply. She rose to lean over him this time, stroking his bristly cheek reassuringly as she smiled. “When you came inside me, it all came to me in a rush. I’ll admit, there are some things I’ll have to think through and sort out, but the most important thing is that my heart recognized you, Atticus. Not only am I your One, you’re mine.” She leaned down to kiss his lips sweetly. “And I want you to bring me over.” He sucked in a breath of shock. “Are you sure?” If she drank his blood, she would become vampire, too. They would share eternity—together. He’d planned to talk her into it in time. It was a big change for a human, and he hadn’t wanted to push her. Now she’d broadsided him with her request and her delighted chuckle told him as clearly as the mischievous thoughts in her mind that she enjoyed it. “Yes, I’m sure, Atticus. I love you.” The vacant place in his soul suddenly filled with her blindingly bright light. 8
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The search of his long, long lifetime had ended, and now he could get on with living and enjoying his immortal existence with a woman he loved by his side. “I love you, Lissa. And I always will.” She laughed as she kissed him. “No fair, you picked my name out of my brain. Now that I think of it, you made love to a woman whose name you didn’t even know! For shame.” Her teasing lightened his heart as he pulled her over him. With a sharp thrust, he brought his cock home where it belonged, right up inside her as far as nature allowed. She squirmed in delight even as she yelped in surprise. Her body knew his. It recognized its other half. “You let me finger fuck you when you didn’t even know my name, so I’d say we’re even.” He laughed as he began to thrust heavily into her. “When you make me a vampire, will I have to suck other people’s blood?” She didn’t sound too thrilled with the idea, and he easily read the aversion to touching other men in her mind, which pleased him greatly. “No, sweet. Now that we are One, you need only ever drink my blood. Our love and our blood will sustain us both now.” “So no more sucking the necks of women you don’t know, huh?” He grinned as he brought her higher with his deep thrusts. “No, love. Just you. And I’ll suck,” he pulled her down so her heavy breasts were inches away from his mouth, “only you. All of you. From here to forever.” He reached upward with his wicked tongue and licked her nipples, pulling each deep into his mouth in turn, as she moaned above him. She began to ride him now, her breath hissing out as her pleasure rose and he reveled in the wicked thoughts in her mind. His girl liked it a little kinky, it seemed. Well, after all, it was only more proof that she had been made just for him. He swatted her ass and urged her to ride him faster as he bit down on one of her nipples, drawing just a bit of blood that he greedily sucked down. She loved it, he read in her excited thoughts. He smacked her ass again then moved one hand around to search out her throbbing clit. Unerringly, he grasped the tiny button, squeezing hard and making her cum with a screaming shout that echoed through the dark cavern. He followed her into the madness that had him shooting his seed deep inside his mate. His One and only.
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About the Author Bianca D’Arc A life-long martial arts enthusiast, Bianca enjoys a number of hobbies and interests that keep her busy and entertained, such as playing the guitar, shopping, painting, shopping, skiing, shopping, road trips, and did we say…um…shopping? A bargain hunter through and through, Bianca loves the thrill of the hunt for that excellent price on quality items, though she’s hardly a fashionista. She likes nothing better than curling up by the fire with a good book, or better yet, by the computer, writing a good book. Bianca loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her chat group. Details are on her website at: http://biancadarc.com She also has a Newsletter Only group, where you can receive news and announcements about her books, without any chatter. You can subscribe to the newsletter by sending a blank email to:
[email protected] Our authors love to hear from their readers! You can write to Bianca here: Bianca D’Arc c/o Chippewa Publishing, LLC. PO Box 662 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin 54729
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Lady Aibell Press http://www.ladyaibell.com a division of Chippewa Publishing LLC Catching Your Dreams of Fiction! http://www.chippewapublishing.com
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