“Why not?” she asked, clearly aghast.
“Teslar and I share the same face. I can’t afford to have the police watching me, possibly detaining me, when I’m the only one who can control Teslar. Besides, you’ve seen Teslar and the revenants. A jail cell won’t hold them. They’d drain the life out of everyone in prison. Ten percent of the inmates would survive the Final Embrace, making a brutal addition to Teslar’s Scourge army.”
“Army?”
“Maybe I’m overstating it, but not much. Something has altered in him. He’s been hunting with unusual fervor for the past six months or so. More killing equates to more humans turning Scourge. Only ten percent convert, but I have a feeling Teslar eats not only to empower himself, but to swell the numbers of his followers beyond my ability to destroy them.”
“Why don’t you just destroy Teslar?”
“I can’t.”
His answer clearly took her by surprise. “Why not?”
“The Magian’s primary mandate has been both genetically and magically encoded into my blood. I can’t kill Teslar, only try to control his bloodlust. That’s why my heartluster—my short sword—couldn’t pierce his flesh tonight. My power is such that I can destroy a Scourge revenant. I can battle Teslar, I can diminish his power, I can force him to flee and retreat. But I cannot kill him.”
Christina shook her head incredulously. “Why would the Magian give you a mandate to control your clones and not give you the power to destroy them? It doesn’t make any sense.”
He forced a small smile. “I have almost as much understanding of why the Magian act as a human being divines the logic of their God or gods. There are some things that are impenetrable. I only know my nature, Christina.”
She sighed heavily. “Well, at least it’s reassuring to know Teslar can’t kill you.”
“Teslar can kill me the second he pierces my heart with his heartluster. The Magian placed the mandate only in the Sevliss Princes’ blood, not their Scourge clones’. There were originally seven Sevliss Princes. One hundred and twelve years ago, Shin was killed by his clone in Hong Kong.”
“That’s ridiculous! Why would the Magian do such a thing?”
He shrugged and glanced away from her outraged face. “Only the Magian know.”
Christina bristled. “Well I’d like to meet this Kavya guy and let him have it. He sounds like a sadist to me.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her moral indignation. “Perhaps you’re being a bit biased? Has it never occurred to you that a sentient being from another planet might say the same of humankind’s gods?”
Christina crossed her arms in defiance, plumping her breasts. His gaze lowered to the sight of firm, creamy flesh swelling in the V of the halter sundress. His cock throbbed against his thigh, the magnitude of his need stunning him. How much longer? How much longer could he abstain from having her? It was necessary now more than ever for him to be as near to her as much as possible. No longer could he just stand up and wal
k away when his hunger became dangerous.
Fardusk, the chief of the Iniskium, insisted that Saint could control his hunger with Christina, but Saint had his doubts.
And with good reason.
He fought himself, just like he battled Teslar. The conflict was too sharp, too agonizing to continue much longer. Now that Teslar had seen her, Saint would have to be near Christina frequently in order to protect her. The thought of what Teslar would do to her, the fear he’d cultivate in her before he indulged in a bloodbath, was too unbearable for him to consider for longer than a second.
“I refuse to believe in a god who relishes seeing his creations suffer,” Christina told him staunchly, green eyes blazing.
“Suffering is not pleasant, I grant you, but perhaps it serves a purpose we can’t see.”
“No!”
He was taken aback. He hadn’t been prepared for her fierceness, so he couldn’t defend against his reaction when she suddenly came down over him, straddling his hips with her thighs, her soft mound pressing against his aching cock. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed his back against the chair.
“I won’t let you believe that it’s your sole purpose to suffer,” she said, her fragrant breath brushing against his lips. “I won’t let you sacrifice what’s between us to such an idiotic idea.” She shifted her pelvis, rubbing her pussy against him. He couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed her hips and ground her down against his erection rhythmically.
“I cannot have you, Christina,” he growled. She lowered her face toward him. Against his will, he bit at her lower lip, scraping his teeth against the plump flesh until he felt her shiver.
“I can make you happy. You fed from those women. Why won’t you let me sustain you?” He groaned as she ran her hands along his shoulders and back, dropping rapid, airy kisses along his jaw. Too late, he realized he’d dropped the energy barrier he’d erected between them when Christina made her surprise attack. Now his senses were inundated with her potent vitessence. He flexed his fingers greedily into her firm, round ass and rode her pussy along the ridge of his cock, gritting his teeth at the sensation of her heat penetrating his jeans.
“I never feed from a woman more than once. After that, I run the risk of taking too much of her vitessence and harming her. Christina—” She cut him off by biting his lower lip lightly and coaxing him to kiss her. For a few pleasure-infused seconds he ravaged her mouth. When he realized what he was doing, he lifted his head and swatted her ass.
“What…what are you doing?” she asked in amazement when she found herself in his arms. He didn’t answer until he’d opened the screen door to the coach house.