and turned her around, encircling her so he could caress one breast as he kissed the top of her shoulder.
She stood on her toes and reached back to grab his neck, stretching her slight body against him.
He eased one finger between her pussy lips, sliding in her juices, and found her clit hard and swollen. She writhed against him and groaned softly as he stroked her.
“A very tempting treat,” he whispered.
She arched her back, raising her ass against him, and he easily found her cunt with the head of his prick. Holding her around the waist he lifted her body against his.
Abby’s body he knew; this one he did not. The thrill of newness summoned the hunger forward again, and he pressed his mouth to her neck. Her pulse pumped steadily, whispering.
Fighting to maintain control, he eased his cock into her tight cunt. She shook against him, grabbing a handful of his hair as her head went back to his chest, and then she cried out. Her cunt gripped him with the force of a noose, and he pierced her flesh.
Her body undulated against him as he fed on her, taking all she had to give. He saw her life in flashes of emotion: love for her hard-working parents, hatred for her cruel brother, joy at being out on her own, heartache as she stood beside her grandmother’s grave. He tasted her surprise at his attention, and tumbled headlong into the pure ecstatic bliss she’d given herself over to.
His own seed erupted then, and he drew harder.
She cried out again.
Realizing he neared her limit, he quickly withdrew his fangs and held her as she continued to writhe. Finally, she slowed and stopped, and he eased her down until her feet touched the floor.
He pressed his lips to her ear. “Any man is lucky to win your favor.”
She turned a tired smile up at him. When he released her, she dropped onto the edge of the bed.
Benjamin leaned forward with his hands on his knees, gathering his wits as he delighted in the view of two women so different, both smiling with satisfaction. Then he snatched his clothes from the floor and put them on, relishing the feeling of life still racing through his body.
It would last for a good hour or more before fading away. Normally, he would have wrapped Abby in his arms and enjoyed the time with her. But not tonight.
Something strange tugged at his gut, a feeling of unease. He’d hoped to stave it off by visiting Abby, but it hadn’t worked. Not that he regretted his visit, of course.
Windows rattled under a gale-force gust.
He leaned over Abby, who still lay on her back, and planted a kiss on her mouth.
“You sure she won’t remember…you know?”
“Quite certain,” he said.
Then he straightened, smoothed Tess’s silky hair, and kissed the top of her head before grabbing his cloak and strolling from the room.
Voices indicated a crowd gathering downstairs, probably anxious to get out of the storm. He, on the other hand, felt the need to be in it.
Benjamin dropped a few bills on the bar as he passed it, waved to Rick, swung his cloak over his shoulders, and left.
As soon as he stepped through the door he was assaulted by driven rain pricking his skin like cold needles. Squinting to see, he headed straight into it, crossing the parking lot and road, until he stood at the edge of the water. Waves splashed up, soaking his clothing and chilling his freshly warmed skin.
He stared out into the darkness, watching white caps form and tear apart in the force of the wind, and remembered a night not so terribly different many years ago when he’d suffered his last brush with death at the hands of Poseidon.
2
“We’re breaking up, Captain!” The first lieutenant’s words reached Benjamin as little more than a whisper over the force of the wind.
Men screamed as the Spencer, rolling hard, sent them overboard.
“All hands abandon ship!” Benjamin righted a midshipman, Jeffery Veech, by the scruff of his neck. “Abandon ship!”
“Sir, the prisoners,” Jeffery yelled, holding a lantern high and clutching Benjamin’s sleeve. In spite of the driving rain, lantern light twinkled in the boy’s blue eyes and off the silver crucifix at his neck.
“I’ll get them, lad. Away with you!” He gave the boy a shove in the direction of the first lieutenant’s voice, and the young man and his lantern disappeared into the storm.
Fighting to maintain footing, Benjamin found the ladder and stumbled below into thickening darkness.
“Mercy! Release us!” the prisoners called from the bowels of the ship.
Rock splintered wood at a deafening volume with each wave, and the ship rolled harder to port.
Grappling with timbers he couldn’t see and wading through knee-deep water, he followed the cries until he’d located the hold and the latch held in place by a wooden pin. The pin had swollen tight.
“Have mercy on us!”
“Black-hearted villains,” Benjamin muttered, struggling with the pin. “I should let you drown.”
“Please,” one of the pirates wailed. “Take pity!”
The pin finally slid free and the door swung open. The prisoners charged through the doorway, sending Benjamin staggering back into a crate, which took exception to his head.
The hull heaved under a monster swell and he tumbled head over heels, smashing into immovable objects and splintered timbers, and splashing into cold, salty water. Sputtering, he managed to get to his feet, and tried to wipe the stinging water from his eyes. It didn’t matter; he couldn’t see anything.
Working from memory, he staggered and tripped back to the ladder where he climbed out hand over hand until he felt the Atlantic spray. Cold wind whipped him around, stealing air from his lungs.
“Abandon ship,” he yelled, not knowing if anyone was even left to hear. “Abandon—”
The cold, black wall of water that struck him full force lifted him completely from the deck and tossed him into the air like a loose main sail. He landed not on a wooden surface, but submerged in death’s seawater bath, sinking.
He noticed first the relative quiet. Water churned, but he heard no wind. And he saw nothing at all. Only blackness. His body ached from the battering, and then everything began to numb.
Everything but his lungs. They burned with need as he held his breath and his heart hammered against his ribs.
There was no way out, no way up or down.
Hell yawned around him as he opened his mouth to breathe.
For a moment, there was light. Something bright blue, like sun shining through packed snow. And then it was gone.
Benjamin
