Vesper Swan: Ruinbound Ch. 02

Welcome back to Vesper Swan--where the monsters aren't the only things getting hunted, and sometimes a girl just needs to swallow something powerful to make it through the night. ????

If you're enjoying the heat, the bite, or the banter, don't be shy--leave a comment and a rating or tap that little favorite heart. I read every one (especially the juicy ones). Next chapter's coming soon, and things are only getting wetter... I mean wilder. ???? --Lilith

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The Escalade slowed to a halt outside an abandoned warehouse a few blocks from where Vesper consumed her first taste of Essence for the evening. The power of Luca's seed still thrummed in her veins--drinking twice in such a short span would provide a massive advantage for the fight in front of them.

But it also provided something else.

Guilt...

Vesper thought of her husband, Danny. Good old, reliable Danny. Probably fast asleep at home in their bed. Danny, with the respectable job at the firm his father had built from the ground up. Danny, whom she'd met at Whole Foods. Danny with the personality of warm oatmeal and packing the kind of cock she coyly teased when talking to her friends at the hospital.

She hated herself for dampness in her panties. For the way she attacked Luca's cock at every opportunity--even when they weren't about to stroll into the belly of the beat for a fight. More than any of that... Vesper hated herself.

Vesper didn't have to keep drinking the Essence. The succubus in her was buried generations deep. Sure, putting her mouth on Luca's meat had started out of necessity. Out of moral peril even. But that certainly wasn't the case now.

Now, she sucked him simply because she could. Because she wanted to. Because Vesper Swan needed something stronger than Danny had to offer.

She could still feel it--Luca's fingers tangled in her hair, the way his breath had caught when she hollowed her cheeks and took him deeper. The pulse of power had hit her tongue the moment he came. Hot. Viscous. Addictive.

She hadn't gagged. She'd opened up--eager to take every drop. The taste of him had haunted her ever since, curled behind her teeth like a secret. That part scared her.

Then he'd thanked her.

That part scared her more.

Luca killed the ignition. "You ready?"

"Let's do it. I have to be at work in like five hours and I still need to make an appearance at home before Danny gets suspicious that 'girls' night out' is really code for 'doing things he might not like'."

Luca laughed. "Things like hunting monsters and sucking dick, you mean?"

"I hate you," Vesper replied, eyes rolling. "Let's go."

The warehouse grounds were covered in moonlit-dappled shadows. Vesper followed Luca, silent as a shadow, as they rushed for the side-access door.

Luca had his shotgun at a low ready. Vesper kept her borrowed Sig pistol by her thigh, heat still burning between them. Her pulse always quickened as the fight drew closer. Soon, she'd be at the point of no return. Soon, the promise of death would envelope them like a hungry nightmare.

Then, she'd be at her best.

Better still, that Luca was by her side. Watching her back. Keeping her safe. Savoring the taste of her--

No. I can't let him... There's a line.

They posted up on either side of the door. Above them, a dingy light bulb oozed yellow light in a tight cone.

"How many?" Vesper asked.

Luca sniffed at the air. "Decree-issuer said no more than four. Perfectly manageable." His lips curled into a half-smile.

"If you're scared, you can wait here," he teased.

"Fuck you, I'm going to explode if we don't get in there and start shooting in the next ten seconds."

Luca's half smile stretched into a pearly grin. The sharp tips of his canine teeth gleamed. "Maybe from now on I have to limit you to a single taste of the good stuff? For your own safety, I mean."

A little twinge of panic surged in her chest.

But I need it...

"Hey, my eyes are up here," Luca said, gesturing with two strong fingers.

Vesper wondered what those might feel like if he--

Dammit, slut. Focus. Focus or die!

"I'm good. Just open the door already," Vesper said, adjusting the clingy edge of her tank top. It did nothing to hide her double-D curves--not with the way her nipples pressed against the thin fabric, sharp and uninvited. She hadn't worn a bra while hunting in months. Too constricting in a fight. Too likely to draw Luca's gaze when she was trying to focus.

But judging by the flicker in his eyes, she'd failed on that front.

Luca nodded. "Same as always. I'll bulldoze the trash on the ground, you keep an eye on anything up top."

Vesper racked the Sig's slide. "Let's go."

Luca inhaled sharply. Then, in a sudden violent blur, smashed the door handle clean off with the butt of his shotgun. The wounded door swung lazily open.

"Subtle," Vesper said. "Very subtle."

"Subtlely is for middle management types," Luca replied, winking.

He nudged the door all the way with the tip of his boot. He winced against the foul scent that rushed for the exit.

Vesper pressed the back of her creamy hand to her nose and mouth. "Good God, you don't have to have any wolf blood in you to smell that."

"Smells like more than four," Luca replied. He reached into his waistband and produced another pistol magazine. "Here. Just in case."

This time, warmth spread through Vesper's chest instead of between her thighs.

The Bastard was making it really hard not to give him what he wanted.

What I want...

Vesper's finger tips brushed Luca's.

"Thanks," Vesper said. "I've got your back."

Luca raised his sawed-off. He mimed her a kiss, eyes glinting, then disappeared inside.

The warmed-over reek of rotten flesh, excrement, and blood thickened with every tension-laced step into the dark. Tension--but not fear. Vesper never doubted Luca would protect her. And if he couldn't? That had been settled long ago. She'd do the same for him without hesitation. The slim blade at her ankle was that promise made real--silver and steel forged into the shape of devotion.

Light proved more scarce than modesty in a whorehouse. Moonlight breached through a few boarded windows high off the ground, but claimed little space on the floor. Nothing but wind whispered in the abandoned space, sighing through the cracked glass. Discarded crates, tarps, and bits of broken bottles littered the floor. Layers of lazy graffiti covered the walls.

Vesper stayed within arm's reach of Luca's broad shoulders. Between his superior night vision and the Essence sharpening her senses, nothing would be able to get the drop on them--

A gravelly shriek split the dark as the ghoul dropped from the catwalk.

Vesper twisted, just in time. Yellowed claws slashed the air where her throat had been a second earlier.

Luca spun. The sawed-off came up smooth and fast, locking on the ghoul's face.

Its mottled green eyes, weeping mucus, narrowed into slits of pure hate.

"Hey, asshole," Vesper spat.

The ghoul twisted its neck at a grotesque angle and snarled.

Vesper let the Sig speak for her.

Two shots cracked through the dark--sharp, brutal, final. Muzzle flashes lit the warehouse for a pair of heartbeats.

The goblin-forged rounds lived up to their name: each slug erupted into jagged, finger-length barbs. They punched through rotting flesh, spraying dark ichor in a wet, arterial arc. The ghoul managed one last glance at the gaping hole in its chest before toppling backwards, limbs twitching.

"Nice shot," Luca said. "One down, three to--"

A chorus of ragged cries erupted around them. Shapes moved between the shadows--quick, hunched, hungry.

"That sounds like more than four," Vesper muttered.

Luca swept the shotgun side to side, tracking movement. "Thoughts on leaving and coming back with a tank?"

"I'm game," Vesper said. "I'll grab the--"

An engine roared.

A second later, the far wall exploded in a shower of brick and rebar. The door they'd entered through was flattened, crumpled like foil.

When the dust cleared, the rusted snout of an old box truck loomed from the rubble--jammed tight in the blown-out entryway.

Trapped...

Vesper spun to face the snarling shadows, their teeth gleaming, eager. "How many?"

"No way to tell," Luca said. "Smells like a slaughterhouse in here."

Vesper swept her sights along the catwalk--ready to make an example of anything dumb enough to try another sucker punch.

"Well, we can't wait here all night." She took a step forward.

"Wait, Ves." Luca's hand shot out, firm on her arm. "I wouldn't do that."

Vesper turned, her grin as lupine as Luca's had ever been. "What's wrong? Scared?"

Luca released her shoulder, lips curling. "I love when you tease."

The ghouls attacked like an angry tidal wave. Luca dug in his heels. Vesper stood at shoulder. Her pulse quickened: she felt the heat rising in her partner and deep within her sex.

"Come and get it, bitches," Luca roared.

There was no rhyme or reason to their attack--these ghouls were drones. Less than foot soldiers. They stumbled over themselves, claws grasping in the dark for flesh to rend.

Vesper opened fire, her Sig punching the night with steady blows. Each shot tore into the wave of ghouls, tearing away hunks of rotten flesh. They died hard.

They deserved it, Vesper thought.

Fuck em.

The ghouls got no better from Luca. He gave the largest of the ghouls--a fat, bloated thing that looked like it had crawled out of the Harbor--both thundering barrels.

When the ghoul's remains hit the ground like wet roadkill, Luca laughed. "Did you see that? Fucking disgusting."

"Luca! Watch out!" Vesper shouted.

A ghoul darted at him from between two giant shipping crates. Luca flipped the shotgun over. He caught it mid toss by its smoking barrels and smashed the grip into the ghoul's face.

Bones crunched and dark blood exploded from the ghoul's ruined face.

"I think that was the last of them," Vesper said, chest heaving. Her skin tingled under the burn of adrenaline. She never felt more alive than she did during a fight.

She eyed Luca hungrily. Or when he let me swallow him.

She licked her lips, pulse racing. That same taste teased the back of her throat--faint, but real. A reminder of what she'd done in the front seat less than an hour ago.

How she'd moaned around his length until her throat burned.

How he'd grunted her name when he came, like it was the only word he still remembered.

Luca caught Vesper's ravenous look. He flipped the shotgun open and loaded two more shells. "I can feed you my cock again before you head home to hubby. But for now, head in the game, Ves."

Vesper snapped her attention forward, shaking off the heat crawling up her spine. Feeding always heightened her senses--but it chained her, too. To the hunger. To him.

"Think that was everyone?" she asked.

Luca pushed deeper into the warehouse, stepping around puddles of blood and bits of ghoul brain. "When have we ever gotten that lucky?"

"Good point," Vesper said. She ejected the magazine from her gun. "Four plus your backup."

"Better to load that in now then to get caught with those slutty panties of yours down around your knees," Luca said.

Vesper swapped magazines in a well-practiced motion. "Asshole."

Luca's eyes suddenly darted to a door marked stairs. "You hear that?"

Vesper shook her head. "No." She tucked a long lock of dark hair behind her ear.

"Please tell me you heard someone singing gospel or at least crappy karaoke Journey."

Luca cocked an eyebrow. "That tells me more about you than a year's worth of doing this shitty job has." His expression darkened. Grim. Focused.

"No such luck. Somebody's crying down there."