The Bottom Rung Page 8

“And I’m suddenly a rare resource about to disappear from this earth and you want to use me,” I jerked backwards but Gavin held me fast. “Let me go,” I snarled but he just glared back at me. “If you’ve ever given a shit about me in your life, you’ll let me go.”

  I was free. My skin burned with the memory of Gavin’s hard body against mine and I felt lightheaded from the drinks, but I was standing on my own two feet, away from the two of them. Shots had lined up on the table, the barmaid had indeed kept them coming. I grabbed a couple and slammed them down. “You left me,” I said, hating the cracks I heard in my voice. “You left us, our home, our family, to join the one thing I never wanted to touch my life. You promised…” I said, feeling the tears collect in my eyes, dashing them away with the back of my hand. “This was never what I wanted.” I looked at the ceiling, the black paint making it all seem like an endless dark abyss above me. “I just wanted to be free.”

  “We live in a cage, Lethe,” Bennet said, now on his feet. “There is no free for us.”

  “Then I’m glad I’m getting out of it, one way or the other,” I said.

  “Well, this didn’t take long,” Marley said, having arrived back at my side. “A man takes five minutes to have a piss and shoot up in the shitter and…”

  “Fuck off, Marley,” Gavin said.

  “Yes, it’s been fuck off Marley for some time, hasn’t it,” he said. “I was the ‘brother’, so I had to exit stage left and let you get on with your furtive little fumblings in peace, didn’t I? Then come and pick up the pieces when you went for your transformation.”

  “You agreed,” Gavin snarled.

  “Yes, I did. What else could I do? I went from leader to footnote in our crew, what else was I good for but cleaning up, or was it making a mess? I always forget. Well, the few hours of peace were nice, but I think it’s back to my regularly scheduled program. I’ve got most of a kilo of yellow in my pocket and Anastasia and her friends are prepared to do some stuff I’m not even sure is anatomically possible for a taste of it.” He turned to me, his eyes burning bright blue, “I’m going, Lethe, until the end. You won’t like it, I know, but it’ll be better, I think. I can’t sustain this compulsion, I never could, but I can for one last thing. I’ll be there, in the end. I’ll be the brother you always wanted me to be, and we’ll go out together. At sunset, I think. If I have the energy, we’ll go up to the cliffs that look out over Talos Island and then…go.” He patted the bulge in his jacket pocket. “I have enough to have quite the time and go out peacefully, enough for you to do so too.”

  “Marley,” I said as my vision began to blur.

  “You always wanted to be free, Lethe. Now you can be as free as you can. When you no longer have to worry about survival, you can throw yourself into the most insane situations, because the consequences don’t matter. We were made to seek oblivion, now you can seek the thrills that come before it. Go into the darkest reaches of the Quarter, to Ground Zero and see what lost treasures you can find. If you fall, if you get caught,” he reached inside his jacket and passed me a hypodermic needle primed with drugs and closed my fingers around it. “You have a suicide pill that will get you out of any scrape, just like a secret agent. Go, Lethe, and I will meet you at the cliffs in a week.” I heard the weird echo in his voice but it didn’t matter. I just wiped the tears away and reached inside my jacket for one of the packets of yellow.

  “Don’t you want it?” I said.

  He shook his head, “Sell it, use it to buy the best time you can. It’s what I’m going to do. Now,” he bent down and drank off several shots in quick succession, then sketched a bow. “I bid you all goodbye.”

  “Lethe,” the boys said as I moved to follow him. I just shook my head and blundered out of the bar, pushing past the many patrons that had begun to fill the place, slamming the metal door open and stumbling over chairs as I floundered towards the exit. I emerged into the late afternoon air, gasping and blinking against the sudden bright light.

  “Hey,” a voice said, taking my arm as I struggled with the swirl of dizziness that had me weaving on my feet. “You OK, little white girl?”

  “Of course,” I said. My vision cleared and there he was, Nathaniel with his wary hazel gaze, his shuttered expression that seemed to hide a million secrets. “Do you know where I could sell a kilo of medicinal grade yellow for a good price.”

  “Yellow? You branching out into drug running, short stuff?”

  “Short? I’m bloody tall compared to most albino women,” I said, all of a sudden feeling really pissed at the pet names. My eyes narrowed, they just wanted to make me feel small, weak, helpless, biddable. “Well, do you?”

  He raked a hand through his blond hair, “I’m sorry, I’m sure you are, you just seem kinda little to me.”

  “Yeah, but you’re like, some kind of behemoth,” I said, poking a finger into his chest and instantly regretting it. I touched a few hard chests before but his seemed to be made of granite. “What is this?” I said, touching his sternum experimentally. “There’s like no give at all.”

  His hand landed on top of mine, stopping the exploration. “You’re drunk.”

  “Yes, and I’m pretty sure my brother compelled me to go into the most dangerous parts of the Quarter to sell my drugs, so if you could help direct me somewhere where I won’t get killed, that’d be awesome.”

  “Your brother…what?”

  “We’ve got a suicide pact set up for a week from now, for when my tracer goes boom!” I said, jerking my shirt down to show the awful bruise on my shoulder. “Typical bloody guy, didn’t ask me how I wanted to spend the last week of my life.” Nathaniel didn’t respond, his eyes remained trained on my tracer, a frown forming between his eyes. He reached out to touch it but I flinched away. “No, no way, people have already been fucking with it. No more fucking with the bomb in my shoulder today. Try again tomorrow.”

  “Do you trust me?” he said, looking into my eyes.

  “Of course not, I have no fucking idea who you are.”

  He let out a hiss of frustration. “If I said I could find a buyer for your drugs, get you a good price and maybe help you with the tracer, would you be willing to come with me?”

  “Will I be raped, killed, harmed, caged, coerced or have to dance in a tutu for Rohan in any of your plans?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “OK, then let’s go. The McIntyres will probably come out any minute and I am so done with drama for today.”

  “No drama, got it. Get on the back of the bike, Lethe.”

  “Wow, you are made of iron,” I said, running my hand experimentally across his abdomen as I settled on the back of the bike. “What is your training regimen like?”

  “I’ll tell you if you stop doing that,” he said, putting a hand over mine. “You do that when we’re riding, I’m likely not going to be able to deliver on my promise of not getting killed.”

  “OK, so touchy. We’re not going to the Palace, are we?”

  “No, I’m never around Rohan more than I have to. He’s a stupid little git.”

  “Not so little, if you know what I mean. Like a baby’s arm holding an apple.”

  “Lethe.”

  “Sorry! Gods, so touchy.”

  7

  Lethe

  Temple of Kai and Lyra

  Ground Zero

  The Quarter

  The ride was kind of a blur. I had to focus hard to stay on the back of the bike, probably gripping Nathaniel harder than he wanted me to, but my head was already swimming before I got on and that coupled with the speed he was taking the turns, I had no idea what was going on. Buildings whipped by; my eyes streamed with tears as the wind blasted them. When we finally pulled up it took me some time to blink my vision clear. “Where the fuck is this?” I said.

  “One of the old temple ruins,” Nathaniel said with a smile. “C’mon.”

  “You live in an old temple? Shit, most people are too scared of the bad juju to set up camp here.”<
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  He grabbed my hand and led me down the steps, the walls covered with the remains of murals, carved columns heralding the doorways as we went. “You said you wanted money and the far reaches of the Quarter. I figure this did double duty. I’ll get you the money first, then you can have a look around.”

  “Ok, hey, look, there’s us,” I said, pointing to a crude image of a white figure caught in the embrace of a dark one.

  He stopped to have a look, “That’s Kai and Lyra.”

  “Really? The gods?”

  “Yeah, they were brother and sister and lovers. That’s Kai,” he pointed to the dark figure, “feeding from Lyra. He took her strength and then they fucked a lot, from what the legends say.”

  “Didn’t he like, lock her up for the safety of the world?” I said, my alcohol-soaked brain trying to remember the stories we’d been told by the visiting priests.

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  “Mustn’t have been that good in bed, I guess,” I said. He snorted in reply, then walked through a large circular foyer into a room with a much newer door in it. I was too busy looking at the carvings in the ceiling. Maybe she wasn’t too bad, I thought, moving through the procession of images. Each one showed the two of them, twined together in different poses, the carver taking considerable care to show just how well-endowed the god Kai was and just how pleased Lyra seemed to be on the receiving end of his…godhood. I cocked my head, going from one image to the other, then moved my body in a series of familiar poses.

  “What are you doing?” he said, settling against the doorframe.

  “This frieze, Lyra’s positions, this is the Reunion ritual. We’ve been performing the movements to Lyra’s fuck fest on Talos Island to bring back the gods?”

  He laughed at that, “Yeah, I always found it funny. All those white gowns and such pomp and circumstance…”

  “Oh my gods, it really is twist, twist, hop, arabesque,” I said, watching the ceiling as I replicated the crown princess’s movements. “Maybe it will be successful this year.”

  “The motions were never meant to be made by a single figure,” he said. I looked back to see he was standing behind me. “Are you OK if I show you?” I nodded; I wasn’t sure why. His hands slipped around my body, making slight corrections and then I was pulled against his. “Just let me know if this makes you uncomfortable.”

  And then we were off. The stupid rote movements I’d been forced to repeat over and over and over suddenly became this sinuous slip of body against body, the slow grind of groin against groin versus the tantalising slipping away and then jerking back against each other’s bodies. We reached for and pulled away from each other, a dance of desire that sought release, then escape, then release again. Finally, we were finished, standing face to face, panting slightly, our breath on the other’s faces. “I really need to get laid,” I said.

  His grin was immediate, his grip loosening around my wrists, making it a caress, something I could easily pull away from. “I could help you with that too, if you want.”

  “You’re going to give me everything I want,” I said with a mocking smile, “swoop in and rescue the dying girl, make all her final wishes come true?”

  “I have no idea of what your final wishes are, but if you want sex, I can make it last until the very last moment,” he said, twirling me lightly then dipping me down so my groin was forced against his, and I stared up at the libidinous carvings on the ceiling. He swivelled his hips, my eyes closing at the sweet pressure, my core starting to throb in response. “It could be one, long, interplay of skin and flesh. Crests and waves of pleasure that rise and sweep over us, that recede out until only the most delicate of sensations remain, only for them to build and grow, slowly and surely into something overwhelming again.”

  “Are we talking about fucking?” I said. “I don’t remember it being such a poetic thing. There was a lot more mess.”

  He pulled me upright, arms curling around my back. “There can be if you want there to be.” I reached up and touched the side of his mouth. As I’d imagined, the skin there was soft and satiny. I let my thumb drag across it, across the small indentations left by his fangs, against the small patch of dry skin. I reached inside and touched the tip of his razor-sharp fangs. “And you want to bite me, feed from me?”

  “If that’s what you want,” he said, then closed his mouth over my thumb, his tongue swirling around the pad.

  “I think I’m still drunk.”

  He released my finger with a pop, “You can sleep it off here, see how you feel when your head’s cleared. You’ll be safe, no one will find you unless you want them to.”

  My hand went and curled around his jaw. “I don’t think I want to wait.”

  I brushed my lips against his, felt him surge forward then hold himself in check when I didn’t deepen the kiss, waiting for me to caress his lips with mine. I nipped at the plush softness of his bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth, listening to his slight groan as my teeth grazed the surface. I wanted it then, fangs like his, to be able to sink them into the soft, sweet flesh, to feel that pleasure. His tongue flicked out, grazing against mine, waiting until mine followed his, before his hand dug into my nape to force us closer. I moaned as his lips dropped to my throat, tracing my collarbone and then moved lower. He pulled away for a moment, pushing my jacket off my shoulders and running his hands across my neckline before taking my hand, pulling me through one of the other doorways. We emerged into a large room with a circular skylight, much like Rohan’s throne room, and a circular platform in the middle. He picked me up and perched me on the edge, stepping back to whip his singlet off. My eyes widened.

  He was beautiful. His body was a picture of masculine strength, the muscles clearly delineated against his bronze skin, a vein running down the harsh V of his hips, making me want to trace it with my hand and more. He smiled as my eyes raked over his body, stalking towards me slowly so that I could take a good look, placing his hand at the hem of my shirt with a question in his eyes. I pulled it off and he moved between my legs, his mouth buried in my neck as his hands began to trace the outline of my bra. The sensitised flesh wanted him to push the bloody thing up and pluck at the hard nipples that were rubbing mercilessly against the stiff cotton. His lips moved lower, making me tense as they trailed across the tops of my breasts, my heart sinking when they came to rest on my sternum. I removed one hand tangled in the silk of his hair and reached behind, flicking the clasp, the garment slipping off my tender flesh in the next moment. He chuckled at my hastiness, placing teasing kisses around my nipple but never actually closing the deal, finally reaching up to circle the throbbing tip of my nipple when I hissed in frustration.

  Gods, was it just that it had been so long since I got laid? His fingers were merciless now, tugging and twisting at my nipples, something that sent sharp throbs of pleasure between my legs. His other hand followed suit, leaving me leaning back on the stone surface, completely at the mercy of his hands. I nearly jumped out of my skin when his mouth closed around one nipple, sucking it hard into his mouth so I could feel the sharp rasp of his teeth along with the push and pull of his hot tongue. My fingers raked his scalp, probably painfully but I couldn’t help it. It was as if his head was buried in my cunt, sucking my clit. My thighs spread wide, the tension building inside me, a rapidly swirling sensation.

  “Gods!” I gasped when he pulled free. I jumped down from the platform, my hand dropping instantly to the fly of his jeans, my fingers struggling all of a sudden to complete simple tasks like pop a button. He took over with a smile, pulling his hand away once he had it open to allow me to continue my exploration. I shoved the denim down over his hips and then paused. Whoa, I looked up at the carving on the ceiling. Yep, more of Lyra and Kai fucking and while I didn’t think I was a particularly good facsimile for Lyra, he was damn close in dimensions to Kai. I closed my hand tentatively around his cock, my fingers unable to close completely.

  “Mmm…” he purred as my hand moved d
own. His hips jerked, forcing the tip through the curl of my hand, his groan becoming guttural as my grip tightened. I twisted my wrist as I caressed him, sending the flat of my hand swirling around the head and shaft of his cock. His head dropped to my shoulder, his breath was hot, his lips seeking out the juncture of my neck and shoulder, his teeth scraping lightly over the flesh, but not biting down. I sped up my movement, dragging his hips forward with each pull, listened to the rasp of his breath race along with it. “Stop…stop…” he gasped finally. He pulled back, his fangs glittering in the late afternoon light. “I’ll come if you keep doing that.”

  “OK.”

  “I want to taste you.”

  “You mean bite me?”

  “Not the first time.” He reached between us and undid my jeans with a quick movement. “I want to put you up on the altar, spread your legs and suck your sweet little clit in my mouth until you scream.”

  “Oh, OK.”

  With preternatural speed, my clothes were off and I was hoisted up, lying flat on my back on the stone platform. His fingers trailed along the inside of my thigh; he was moving much slower than he had described. I was so fucking wet, I didn’t want gentle caresses, I wanted him to shove those thick fingers inside me and curl… I felt the soft satin of his hair against my thighs as he moved in closer. My cunt pulsed in anticipation. Then his lips descended.

  Oh, my fucking gods. I’d thought he was using a fair bit of hyperbole when he was describing how it would be between us but maybe because it’d been so long, my clit exploded in sensation. His mouth was merciless, yanking pleasure from me in long, hard pulls, my fingers digging into the soft sandstone beneath me as he sucked. “Oh! Oh!” I gasped incoherently. I was going to come so damned hard, the knowledge became crystal clear but my cunt pulsed, achingly empty. As if he knew that as well, his hand slid between my legs, swirling in the pooling liquid there.

  “You’re so wet,” he mumbled against my flesh, then he pushed two fingers inside me.