STORY EXCERPT

His place looked like it had been put together with pieces of furniture from a secondhand shop. Everything had rips, tears, dings, or scuffs on it. Even the welcome mat was frayed around the edges. It smelled of mothballs and stagnant air that always seemed to permeate through the home of older people. Somehow though, it had a homey feel and reminded him of his maman and the home that he had grown up in. Bittersweet memories played through his mind.

When Rafael came back to, he found himself standing in front of a seventies tweed sofa that had been covered in plastic. Sticking to the plastic-covered couch was perhaps the most handsome Cajun man that he had ever seen. Rafael could tell that the young man was Cajun just by the color of his skin. It was a honey-tan that made the Creole just want to run his tongue along the dip of an exposed collarbone. Rafael flushed with heat as the male’s eyes affixed onto him. How in the world was he supposed to spend weeks cooped up with this guy?

His hair was a dark brown and was shaved stylishly short. Obviously the Cajun took pride in his looks. Rafael figured that he even used hair care products beyond the norm of shampoo and conditioner. His hair was maybe an inch at the height of its length, which was just in a faux little peak at the hairline above his brows. This guy belonged on the cover of some high fashion magazine. His cheeks were high and hinted at his French heritage. The Cajuns spawned from the same ancestors as the Creoles, but their bloodline was not quite as pure as Rafael’s.

Those warm and sensual eyes that stared out at from beneath lavished, long lashes were a stunning hazel. Within him he saw all the bright spark of vibrant life that Starling’s was missing. It was in those very eyes that he lost himself for a moment too long. When he came back to the world of the waking, the man was standing there with his arm extended.

“Uh, are you all right?” he asked.

“Oh yea, sorry.” Rafael blushed. “You just looked like someone I might have known.”

He reached forward and shook the other male’s hand. “I’m Rafael Astier. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Esais La Bauve,” the other said just before he gave him a firm handshake and dropped his hand shortly thereafter.

“Well, I’ll let you two get acquainted while I gather the rest of the things that I need,” Starling said as he dipped into another room that appeared to be a rather messy office.

Rafael took another minute to drink in the visage of the handsome male. He had to be his age, maybe a little younger. He was wearing a rather tight, white V-neck tee that showed off his nicely tanned skin. He wore a pair of dark-blue and green plaid shorts. The inlaid leather tag about the waistband gave an indication as to the status of his wealth. His shoes were those fancy leather boat shoes that he saw a lot of the preppy kids that vacationed in the city wore. He never really understood why they would pay so much money for such stuff.

It was as if this guy was trying way too hard to appear casual. If Rafael could guess it right, the tags had probably just been taken off his entire ensemble, including the scuff-less shoes.

Rafael whistled in an almost mocking manner. “You look a little too high-class to be going out into the swamp. What, Daddy made you get a summer job?”

“Tchu,” Esais spat with enough venom in his voice that it almost made Rafael take a step back. However, Rafael wasn’t known for his ability to control his mouth.

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Is that so? Are you going to let me find out how tight your ass is?”

The Cajun beau almost looked offended and a smidgen bemused at his cockiness.

“I have standards,” the handsome male said as he consciously raked his eyes over Rafael’s body, “and you just don’t meet them. Though, if I ever want to settle for less, I’ll give you a call.”

“Mon cher, don’t pretend that you don’t like what you see. I’m sure if that old man wasn’t here right now I’d have to fight to get you off my cock,” Rafael said with an amused chuckle ringing in his tone.

“You’re making the gross assumption that I could even find it,” the pretty boy snapped back. The Cajun’s wit was enough to keep Rafael on his toes.

Rafael’s mouth opened so he could further berate the other, but Starling decided that was a great time to pop his balding head right out of his office.

“Everything is settled, and we are ready to go. It will be about a forty minute ride to the pier where the airboat is and then another fifty minutes or so to the main house,” he announced.

They both snapped in unison at the old man, “Great!”

ADULT EXCERPT

Esais’s dark, pitch-black lashes fluttered groggily. The thought materialized in Rafael’s mind that the handsome vampire was trapped in the same sluggish stupor as he. He didn’t think that vampires slept. What need did they have for it? Just about that time Esais remembered what the other had said. He had some of the same characteristics as a human.

“Good evening,” Rafael murmured warmly to the still quite sleepy vampire.

Esais lethargically responded by leaning in and planting a tender kiss upon his lips. Rafael could not stop himself from sliding more closely to Esais’s chilly body and hastily returning the kiss. After last night’s revelations, he felt so connected to the other in a way that he had never before felt with another man. Rafael now had an intimate understanding of the other male. His tender lips pressed to Esais’s with a force that was to be reckoned with. Even though he knew now what Esais was, he could not supersede the strange attraction that he had to him. Maybe what the vampire said was true, that they were destined to be together.

Sparks flew between them when they kissed. Rafael could feel icy electricity blazing through his veins and building in his extremities. The searing lightning flowed back into his core and pooled in his loins with such intensity that his body trembled. Mercilessly the hunger built within him, and it screamed for Esais’s affections. Within moments, his twitching cock was pressed uncomfortably against the zipper of his pants. Rafael flushed a little at how quickly he was becoming aroused. Still yet, he pressed in closer to the vampire and continued their kiss.

Rafael’s body nestled nearer to that of Esais’s. Though the bed was a queen-size one, the two were pressed against one another so close that they might actually begin to inhabit one body. They were forced so tightly together that Rafael did indeed mildly wonder if their very souls might merge together. The space between them seemed to evaporate like freshly fallen dew off of blades of grass on a hot summer’s morning. The vampire’s arm was thrown over him, holding him tightly as their mouths osculated with unrelenting need.

Esais’s strong hands ran over his chest, caught on the hem of his shirt, and dragged it off of him in one fluid motion. Rafael did nothing to resist the act whatsoever. In fact, he arched his back upward slightly off of the bed so that the other would have an easier time in taking it off of him. His dark and probably needful eyes fluttered shut as he felt the vampire’s haunting senses hotly running over his body. Soon enough, he felt Esais’s body slide atop his own and force him back against the mattress with the weight of his convincing body.

The feeling of the Roman’s hearty weight atop of his was delectable to Rafael. Even Marcos had not been so masculine. He felt as if he was with a real man, someone that had been hardened by years of a rough life. He could feel Esais’s stiff erection pressing against the strong curve of his hip. The vampire did nothing to stop this and rather it would seem that he did the opposite. Those agile predator’s hips gave a languid roll against his own. Rafael’s tender moan filled the room as their bodies were so harshly rubbed together. The stiff fabric of his jeans was encumbering him in a way that was most unpleasant. He whined for release.

Esais was merciful and leaned back some so that his hand could wedge its way between their hungry bodies. His agile fingers popped open the button of his pants, tugged down the zipper, and slid both the jeans and his boxers right off of him. Rafael, though his mind was becoming clouded with hunger, thought it oddly beautiful how elegantly the man moved. He was sure that Esais would have been a sight to see in battle. It was no wonder that his graceful agility had gained the interest of the Hortulani.

Rafael hissed lightly as his cock sprung into the cool air of the shared living quarters. His half-lidded eyes gazed ravenously up at the vampire that was pinning him down. He shivered weakly as he felt Esais wrap his skilled fingers about the thick girth of his cock. The vampire’s fingers stroked along his underside, flitted against his circumcision scar, and finally teased along the tender base of his head. It felt so good to have someone take control of him. Marcos would have never done something like this.

“You could always feel like this, if you were mine,” the persuasive voice of his vampire lover crooned into the tan shell of his left ear.

Those cold fingers slipped down low and touched along his inner thigh. His meticulously careful fingers ran up the length of his inner leg. They moved with skill and poise up along the inside of his thigh and toward his hip. Rafael’s knees slid slightly further apart as his heels dug into the plush cover of the duvet.

His throat worked so hard as he swallowed. His heart was pumping at a frantic staccato in the strong cage of his chest. There was a graze of danger in the closeness of their bodies that drove his pulse to the apex of its limits. Rafael could feel a certain thrill of the threat that innately came with being with one of Esais’s kind.

There was a breath of frigid air snaking down his collar. Gravity tugged the other to a slight inward lean. The vampire’s voice erupted with a rumbling purr. “Well?”

Rafael was too stunned to even fathom a response. His hips twitched as Esais’s dangerous fingers slowly curled about the entirety of his stiffness and gave it a languid stroke from his base to the very tip of his length. The slightly icy component of the other’s gingerly guiding touches caused him to cry out in pleasure. Esais leaned in closer and reached to brush some of the hair at the base of his neck with the back of his knuckles. His nose grazed a patch of exposed skin just beneath his ear. His touches were gentle, soft, and slow. Yet, Rafael knew that his affections held purpose within them.

He leaned into the touching and closed his eyes. A shaken breath escaped his kiss-bruised lips.

“You aren’t playing fair, mon cher,” the obviously flustered Creole stammered out. Usually he was the one in control of situations like these. He had never been on the receiving end of such endeavors. Now more than ever he could feel his nerves flaring. Here he was, pinned beneath the vampire as if he were the man’s blushing bride.

“Are you telling me that you want me to stop?” Esais asked in quiet whispers that licked salaciously along the curve of his neck. Rafael thought that he might faint.

“No, I don’t, but I do want you to start playing fair,” he said in a voice that was less confident and more breathy than what was normal for Rafael. His chest rose with the swell of his breath.

“Oh, is that so? I play for keeps, Rafael. There is no point if I am not in it to win,” the vampire purred in response. It seemed that Esais was being careful not to overwhelm him too quickly. The vampire touched him with such tenderness it made Rafael wonder if the other thought he might break beneath him.

Still yet, the hand that had wrapped about his cock and was giving him a lush fondling held such dominance behind it. Rafael was trapped between the tenderness and the overwhelming urge to submit to the vampire. Everything that Esais did was pushing him further and further toward the cliff of his desire. There was not going to be any hope for his mortal soul if things continued at this rate. He was sliding down a slippery slope, and Esais was ushering him along all the faster.