Time, Death & Scar Tissue...

24 Reconnection

Kathryn sat in the large tub, allowing more tension to slip away with each pulse of the jets. The tub itself was almost exactly like the one in his apartment. The only difference was the color of the deep basin and the style of the hardware. Those small differences barely registered though, she was almost nodding off in the neck-deep water. The sound of the door opening barely caused her eyelids to flutter.

“Feeling better?” He put his hand on her uninjured shoulder and she sat up, moving forward and drawing her knees up. He stepped in behind her and she relaxed again with her back against his chest. One of his hands rested lightly on her stomach, the other rested lightly around her shoulders, avoiding the bruise carefully.

“Much better now.” She laced her fingers with his and felt the last bit of her tension slip away. Six months ago if someone had told her that she would miss someone's touch so much it would be almost a physical pain she would have laughed. Now she realized what it was like to ache for someone. He kissed her temple softly. He held her in silence and she got the impression that he was enjoying the moment as much as she was.

“You didn't want me to see your bruises.” He said finally. His voice was soft and the words held none of the accusation that one might expect from such a statement.

“No.” She replied simply.

“Tell me why.” The commanding tone from earlier was gone, but she knew that she would answer whether it was there or not. For some reason that seemed perfectly natural at that moment. Maybe if she weren't so tired, or so sore, or so in need of him she would have resisted.

“Because I feel stupid and weak and like I shouldn't have let it happen.” Her head was turned away, resting against his bicep. One of his hands moved lightly over her arm.

“How could you have stopped it?” She could tell that he was trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.

“I don't know.” She sighed. “But I DO know how Luke is; I shouldn't have let my guard down like that.”

“Kathryn, even Rome was attacked. You were in a place where you should have had every reason to expect safety and you were attacked. I can't believe even your fertile imagination stretches far enough to make you responsible for that.” His voice was soothing, so was his touch. “Is there more?”

“I don't know how to describe it. When I got off the plane it just felt so important that you not see me so weak. Maybe it was because I'm so tired. Anyway that lasted all of thirty seconds once I saw you so it hardly matters.” Kathryn knew that if he hadn't been wrapped comfortably around her at that moment that she would have been shaking. One of his hands stroked her stomach softly.

“You still don't understand that you are mine.” His lips brushed the shell of her ear softly. “Part of that means that I will protect you from as much of the world as I can, another part is that you will always be vulnerable to me. You understood that when you called me from the airport.” Kathryn gripped his hand and tried to suppress the little tremor that coursed through her. There was a strange comfort in his words, though she didn't understand where that feeling was coming from. Uncertainty had become familiar to her in the past few months.

“I didn't intend to say it that way, when I called you I mean. I just meant to say thank you, even that was confusing, if my father had done something like that I would have been so upset. As soon as I started speaking though all that went out the window. I was hoping you would just delete the message before you listened to it.”

“I'm very glad I didn't.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Though hearing that and then feeling you pull away from me I wondered if you regretted it, and regretted coming back to me.” His fingertips rested just above the margin of her pubic hair. It was one of the casually intimate touches she had grown to love.

“Getting back to you was all I could think about.” Kathryn laughed softly.

“You enjoyed the rest of the time with your family though?” His lips were close to her ear. The heat of the water and his soft voice was lulling her to sleep.

“It's always an interesting experience. There was Daddy's family, Mira's family, and Daddy usually invites the closest of Mother's family too, just to make me happy. I have pictures.” She felt that familiar chuckle.

“Tomorrow. Right now you need sleep.”

Kathryn didn't argue. She let him help her up and stepped into the towel he offered.

“There's a robe in your dressing room, if you feel the need.” He kissed her uninjured shoulder softly. He let the water out of the tub and left her alone. She dried off and unpinned her hair before finding the burgundy silk robe in the dressing room. Tired as she was she could tell that most of her clothes from the apartment had been brought and she wondered if they were going to be staying for an extended period or if she just hadn’t known what she would need and brought everything to cover all the bases.

She also noticed that there were several new items sprinkled in with the familiar ones. She wasn’t entirely surprised by that. He would often give her some item of clothing, but he rarely made a fuss about it. An unfamiliar item would simply catch her eye when she was getting dressed. The robe was new, and like everything else he had given her it fit her perfectly.

She toyed with the idea of taking some Tylenol before getting into bed, but the bath had made her feel so much better and she was so tired she decided to try and sleep without. Kathryn emerged with the robe wrapped around herself and counted the steps to the bed, dividing the count into before the stairs and after.

“Thank you, this is beautiful.” She said indicating the robe as she sat next to him on the bed. It was a habit of his to lie close to her side so that she could curl up in his arms without having to crawl across the bed.

“You're welcome. I thought you would like it.” She could hear the pleasure in his voice. At first the gifts had bothered her. Kathryn came from money and from what he saw she presumed that he must have as well, so the cost of the items didn't bother her as much as the frequency with which they appeared and the initial uncertainty if they were a commentary on her own sense of style. Now it was simply a part of their dynamic. Her hand hesitated on the opening of the robe.

“Something wrong?” He sat up behind her, one hand resting on her waist.

“I feel strange sleeping with nothing on. I mean, what if Anna or someone else should walk in?” She was blushing as she said it. They hadn't had a discussion about her being dressed to sleep since the second night time she had shared his bed. It hadn't been easy for her at first, but feeling his cool skin on hers as she slept was one of the things that she relished and now it was like second nature to her. They were alone in the apartment though, here there were others.

“The door is locked, even if it wasn't though no one would dare to walk in here, or any room in this house for that matter, if the door is closed. It insures my privacy, and yours.” He reached around her and untied the loose bow and Kathryn slipped out of the robe, setting it in the chair at her side of the bed. She settled against his chest carefully. A pleasure tremor coursed through her body and a soft sigh escaped her lips.

She was surprised that she had been able to find comfort so quickly, but as his hands swept over her back softly any discomfort seemed to melt away. He moved her hair aside and Kathryn turned her head a bit more. His lips traveled down over the side of her neck softly until they came to rest at the point where her neck joined her shoulder. Kathryn tensed and whimpered softly at the sharp, stinging scratch, but his arms held her still and then that discomfort was gone too, lost in the sensations of his tongue moving against her skin. Kathryn felt her body go limp and she fell into a deep, much needed, sleep.

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LaCroix had intended to make love to her, but her exhaustion was so complete that he had abandoned the idea even before arriving at the house. He was certain she wouldn't have refused him, she never had before. He had been pleasantly surprised that her appetites were so complementary to his own and while there were times when an unfamiliar act or position brought uncertainty and hesitation, but she always trusted him and her body always responded. His sexual need could be put off for the time being, his need to taste her blood could not.

The tiny scratch he inflicted would look like just that if anyone saw it, a scratch delivered by a ragged fingernail. Such a small wound had nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with connection. She still tensed and struggled slightly at the momentary discomfort, but he didn't expect that would ever fully dissipate. It didn't make him question her desire to be there with him in that moment either. In unguarded moments he had allowed himself the fantasy that she felt a kind of connection to him as well. Not in the same way of course, but he knew she experienced deep relaxation that almost always drew her down into sleep before the wound sealed itself.

Holding back hadn't gotten any easier, but it wasn't the right time and this certainly was not the right place to deal with a fledgling. He had no illusions about preserving her mortality indefinitely, and he had no desire to regain his own, but he did have a plan. A plan that was based on logic and sober reason could not simply be abandoned because of an emotional whim. No good ever came of that.

She shifted in her sleep and mumbled something he couldn't quite make out. Her body tensed and she whimpered sharply. His arms tightened around her and he spoke soft, soothing words into her ear. Her body relaxed again, her soft moan made him smile into her hair. It was not one of her recurrent nightmares. Those always unsettled him as much as they unsettled her, though he tried to keep that fact from her. She'd had two more incidents before she left. He was learning that if he spoke to her in Latin while she was still sleeping she woke frightened and she still clung to him as she had the first time, but she was not completely consumed by terror. He couldn't even begin to speculate why without wondering about the larger question of who she was and he was too tired himself to wander down that path at the moment.

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Kathryn woke slowly, realizing that her pillow was gone and it seemed like she was alone in the bed. She reached out for something, anything, but found nothing at first. Then her wrist was caught and held fast. She whimpered softly, her mind swimming to wakefulness in the absolute darkness.

“What-?” She tried to turn over, but his other hand on the small of her back kept her face down on the mattress.

“Hush.” His tongue traced the shell of her ear softly, but the word was absolutely a command. Kathryn trembled, goosebumps raising on her skin, her breath coming faster, her heart pounding in her ears.

He took his hand off of her back and stripped the covers off of her. Kathryn knew the room was dark, but she felt exposed and vulnerable. She tensed and his fingertips moved softly over her back. His grip on her wrist loosened and then his hand retreated entirely. That hand joining the other one, moving down her back, down over her hips and, down the backs of her thighs. His thumbs teased back up the insides, opening her legs. Kathryn moaned softly, her body responding. Just as quickly as he began to touch her he stopped. He moved over her.

“You're going to get on your knees, and you're going to offer yourself to me.” His mouth was close to her ear, the command in his voice absolute. “Do you understand?”

Kathryn was unable to find her voice so she simply nodded. She could feel her body trembling. He reached under her and found one of her hardened nipples. The pressure he applied was perfectly on the border between pleasure and pain. Kathryn whimpered and moaned, feeling the pressure between her legs as well as on her nipple.

“Out loud.” The pressure increased slightly and his voice took on a sharper edge as he asked the question again. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” She heard her own croaking whisper. Kathryn's head was spinning and she realized for the first time since that first night that she was afraid of his desires, but she was also excited.

“Good.” His mouth lingered softly on the back of her neck and then he retreated. Kathryn moved slowly, uncertainly. She drew her knees up under her so that her body was folded over on the mattress, then she started to raise up on her hands. His hand pressed her head back down firmly. “I said your knees. Your head is fine where it is.”

Kathryn was still for a moment. She was shocked by this change in him. It was true that he was always in control and there had been times when he had extended that control to the bedroom, but even then he was never so demanding. She raised her hips slowly, her body trembling. She felt his weight shift as he moved behind her and a sharp cry escaped her lips when his fingers pressed inside her without warning.

“Relax, Kathryn.” His voice was soothing again and his touch was teasing, exploring her from this unfamiliar angle. Kathryn moaned and pressed back against him, feeling her excitement building further. She was right on the edge when he took his hand away and replaced it with the thick head of his erection. In one hard thrust he was deep inside her. Kathryn cried out and moved forward slightly. Her body was tense around him and she whimpered softly. He held still, slowly she pressed back against him.

She forgot her earlier fear and discomfort when he started to move, taking his pleasure as he wanted it from her body. Any thoughts or musings Kathryn might have had were lost in the torrent of sensations and emotions that were flooding through her. She was close to the edge, but she was also overwhelmed by her feelings of surrender. She knew without doubt that he had the power to hurt her if he chose to, but her trust was complete in that moment. She cried out against the bed and felt her own juices wetting the insides of her thighs after her release.

His intensity grew painful, and when Kathryn was certain that her limit had been reached his body pressed her down into the bed, his mouth closing over the unbruised side of her neck. She was effectively pinned under him and his mouth closed hard over her skin. Kathryn cried out in pain, he pressed deep and hard inside of her at the same time. Tears trickled down her cheeks before the pain was eclipsed by the strange sense of connection she always got in these final moments. She worked her hand free and pressed against his head, holding it there.

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LaCroix moved off of her carefully. He took more than he had intended, but her heartbeat was still strong and regular. The sleep she was in was deeper than the light doze she sometimes fell into after one of their encounters, but that gave him time. He knew she would be cold, so he started a fire and called Anna to have some juice and orange slices sent up for her, and something for himself as well. This was one of the many moments he was glad to have found a housekeeper with such a malleable mind. He spread the comforter on the small loveseat in front of the fire, waited for the soft knock at the door and waited for the sound of retreating footsteps in the hall. Finally he carried Kathryn over to the fire and wrapped the comforter around both of them.

She sighed and snuggled closer and he smiled. He knew that he had frightened her, and he knew that he had probably hurt her. Even in his mortal life aggression often accompanied his passions. His wife had grown to hate him for it. Conversion often brought out violent passions in those who had never experienced them, in him they had become even more intense. He knew that he could easily kill her if he gave in fully to his desires, but even his control extended only so far. He took a long swallow from the glass and stroked her back softly. Besides, he had noticed that she seemed to enjoy his intensity, even if she paid for her pleasure later.