Brink of Eternity (Guardians of Ascension #2.5)(11)
Author: Caris Roane

Desire streaked through her abdomen landing deep, so very deep. Her mind grew clouded, her breathing labored.

“Elise,” he murmured, the timbre of his voice now rough. His arms moved over her, a writhing motion that caused the tingles on her back to intensify.

At the same time, she shifted, arching her neck a little more as she opened her mouth wide. With her teeth, she grazed his neck and moaned. She could almost taste what he had to give her, what she needed from him.

“Shit. What are you doing?”

What was she doing? She hardly knew. She wasn’t exactly in a fully conscious state. Her tongue flicked over his neck and she felt the muscles shift and as she continued to flick, the vein rose. She latched onto the vein and suckled hard. Yes, this was what she wanted, what she needed.

Elise, you’ve gotta stop. Now. Oh, shit, I’m so close to coming. Shit. Shit. You could bring me with what you’re doing.

A low growling sound flowed through her throat while she suckled him. Her teeth pushed deeper into his skin, seeking. She felt frustrated and in need of what he could give her. Why wouldn’t he give it to her?

She slid her arm around his neck to pull him toward her, opening her mouth wider.

Elise … you must stop. But his hands had grown wild and one of them covered her bu**ocks and pressed her into his groin. That he was hard for her somehow fired her need and she sucked even harder at his neck.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two vampires in heat? Or would that be one vampire and one little ascendiate? Nice show, BTW. Damn, Gideon, she’s right on the verge and if I’m any judge, so the hell are you!”

Oh, God. Endelle. Ruler of Second Earth. Elise, you’ve got to stop.

Gideon’s voice rippled through her mind but the words made no sense. Besides, his vein called to her. She moaned and sucked. She was so close to tapping what she needed.

But Gideon slid a finger between her lips and broke the seal so that her mouth popped off his neck. She bobbed backward, her body on fire, her underwear way too wet, her br**sts aching. Fog rolled through her mind. So many cravings and urges possessed her that she wanted to scream in frustration.

Can you pull it together, he sent.We’ve got the ruler of Second Earth here with us.

As her mind began to clear, Elise turned around and faced the woman known as Madame Endelle. She addressed Gideon. “So, how about you make the introductions,” Endelle said. “Or did that little show I happened to catch rob you of the rest of your IQ points?”

Without warning, Elise found herself shoved behind Gideon and when she tried to move, he held her back. “Ease down, Endelle. The ascendiate is having a rough night.”

“Well, those sounds she was making definitely soundedrough.” She laughed.

Elise pushed hard at Gideon’s arm so that she could maneuver enough to get a good look at the woman she’d heard so much about over the past two years. Endelle, sometimes known as She Who Would Live, ruler of Second Earth, Her Supremeness, bitch on wheels, scorpion temperament, and nine thousand years old. She was tall, taller than Gideon, probably, because she wore stilettos even in the desert. She had long black hair, ratted up to an imposing height at the crown, then falling straight to the middle of her back.

But oh my god, what was she wearing?Gideon, is that horsehide?

Our ruler is a bit fashion-challenged.

Her top had a striped beige reptilian look, sewn together in strips. Her skirt looked like spotted appaloosa and around her neck hung a very strange collection of … rattler tails?

“Wow,” she said aloud before she could check herself.

Endelle glanced down at her chest and flicked the necklace a couple of times, which made the expected sound. “Like it?”

“It’s very … unique.”

At that, the woman threw her head back and laughed. “Unique? Loooove it!” But her expression sobered almost as fast, crazy quick, as she approached Elise. “Well, let me have a look at you. So, you’re the one giving us a deep pain in the crotch tonight. You’re pretty enough. This Neanderthal treating you right?”

Chapter Four

Elise glanced at Gideon, whose expression had turned dark, his brow low as he stared at Endelle. He was one giant warrior caveman and still held one arm protectively in front of her as though the real danger right now was Madame Endelle herself.

“Ease down, warrior. Jesus H. Christ. One more twist on your screw and your brain will crack in half.”

Gideon snorted.

Endelle turned and settled her gaze on Elise. “As for you, my little troublemaker, here’s the deal. We’re at war, but if you want to be on the side of right, you’ll join my forces. The pay sucks, we work f**king long hours, you’ll have to do a million things you don’t want to do, but if you’re lucky you’ll live and you might even have the pleasure of making a significant contribution to ending the war. What do you say?”

Elise knew one thing—Her Supremeness knew shit about PR. Fortunately, she already knew from Gideon that Endelle’s side was committed to peace and life, while the enemy sought chaos and death. “I’m in.”

Endelle smiled and for just a moment, despite the ancient lined appearance in her brown eyes, she looked almost human. “Hell, you almost give me hope.”

She turned back to Gideon. “But since you’re here … goddamn, warrior, you’re as big as Thorne, you know that?”

Elise knew that Thorne was the leader of the Warriors of the Blood and had a mind-link with the scorpion queen.

“That’s right,” Gideon said. “So the f**k what?”

Did one speak to the ruler of the earth like that?

But Endelle only laughed. “I have only one question. Why the hell haven’t you made the jump to light-speed and joined the Warriors of the Blood? You’re close, you know. Thorne told me you offed three death vampires by yourself last night.”

“I did.”

Elise looked up at him. “You did? Gideon, that’s amazing.” Usually, it took four Militia Warriors to take down one death vampire, hence the small army that surrounded her.

Gideon growled. “Even if I developed the power to grow another pair of arms and held a sword in all four hands all at the same time, I’d never join that pansy-ass group.”

Endelle barked her laughter. “Pansy-ass? Gideon, you don’t know how much I want to hear you say that in front of Thorne, or maybe Kerrick. How about Luken? Yeah, say that in front of Luken. He’s got maybe twice your muscle mass.” She chortled again.