Vesper Swan: Ruinbound Ch. 03

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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Vesper nodded at Luca, then slowly pulled open the stairwell door. Emergency lighting bathed the concrete steps in a pale, dim red, like the inside of a dying heart. The air no longer reeked of spoiled ghoul flesh--but it was thick with humidity, stale and oppressive.

"Guess the help's all upstairs," she murmured, sweat clinging under her tank top like a second skin. Her blood still pulsed with stolen power from Luca's Essence--liquid fire coiled inside her veins, waiting to be unleashed.

"Figures," Luca said, stepping in behind her. "Even supernatural bosses like to keep the penthouse."

He unbuttoned his shirt with casual efficiency. The fabric peeled from his torso, revealing ridged muscle like a marble statue come to life.

"What's with the strip tease, Hasselhoff?" Vesper asked--not that she minded. The cuts in Luca's abs could make the Grand Canyon feel insecure.

"These are imported," he said, half-smirking, holding a handful of his open shirt. "And I don't make enough on my 'half a cut' salary to keep replacing them every time something explodes."

"And the jeans?"

"Target brand." He thumbed the waistline.

Vesper chuckled and led the way down, Sig raised and ready. Luca followed, shotgun loaded, the stairwell swallowing their shadows behind them.

The door screeched on rusted hinges as it opened--nails-on-a-chalkboard loud. The sound rippled down Vesper's spine like static under the skin.

"Guess it's a good thing we weren't counting on the element of surprise," she muttered.

"We haven't had surprise on our side in months," Luca said. "More fun that way, don't you think?"

"Christ, Luca. This isn't fun. None of this is ever fun."

He arched a brow. "None?"

She sighed. "Fine. That part is fun. Sort of. Moving on."

Three corridors yawned ahead, each splitting off into the dark like the arms of some waiting beast. The emergency lights pulsed in soft red halos--just enough to show the way, but not enough to banish the black between.

Unseen things lived in that black. Vesper knew that. The monster that had taken her brother had come from the black. Dragged him away. Bleeding. Screaming. Crying out for help.

Crying out for her...

Vesper slammed the door on the memory. Letting it surface now could get her--or worse, Luca--killed. She didn't carry that kind of death wish. A vendetta? Absolutely. But she wasn't ready to cash in.

She had a job she loved at the hospital. She liked helping patients. Trading gossip about who was fucking who in the on-call room. Vesper loved her husband, too. Sure, he didn't light her fire the way Luca did--but that didn't mean she was in any hurry to end up dead with her throat chewed out by something with three rows of jagged teeth.

"Which way?" Luca asked. He sniffed the air. "I'm still blocked up with the ghoul funk from upstairs."

Vesper inhaled--slow and deep. She reached past the surface of herself, down into the old places. To the spirits of hunger and lust that coiled inside her. That fed her.

The succubus answered.

Eyes closed, she extended a hand into the dark on pure instinct. The crying they'd heard earlier was gone now, swallowed by the silence--but that didn't matter. Vesper could feel them. Three of them. Bounding. Strong.

Young...

Vesper gestured to a corridor. "We need to hurry."

"Why?" Luca asked. "We weren't planning on strolling through the park or anything."

"Because I think they have a kid, Luca," Vesper replied.

Luca's eyes flashed--pale silver, bright as twin moons. His expression hardened. He shrugged off his shirt and kicked off his boots.

"We're killing every last one of these fucks, right?" he asked.

"Every fucking one," Vesper replied.

Luca nodded. The transformation took him.

Bones snapped. Tendons stretched. Muscle ripped through the seams of his jeans. Thick white fur burst across his chest and shoulders like armor. His back arched. Clawed hands cracked the air as black talons punched from his fingertips. His jaw widened, reshaped by fangs the color of winter bone.

Watching Luca transform into the loup garou--into his true form would always scare her a little. But it also made her pussy throb. To see the beast rise--relentless, primal, alive with hunger.

Like her.

Vesper instinctively stepped back, hand drifting toward the silver knife sheathed at her thigh. The knife Luca had given her after their first hunt. There was always danger in being around such a creature. Even with someone you shared a bond with. Especially then. Always the risk of the animal taking charge.

That was why the Order had devised the Collar. Here in the dark, Vesper had no such protections.

The outline of Luca's cock bulged against the shredded remnants of his jeans--thick, heavy, unmistakable.

Vesper inhaled sharply. Was it bigger now? Harder? What would he taste like now?

Her thighs pressed together involuntarily.

Could I even take him if he fucked my throat? Could I even stop him if I tried?

A shiver slid through her.

Luca's lips curled back over his fangs. His broad chest rose and fell, muscles rippling, barely contained. When he let out a low, guttural rumble, Vesper bit back a gasp.

He stepped closer. Lowered his muzzle to her neck. Inhaled.

Vesper froze. Heat and instinct warred beneath her skin.

She knew what came next. The master ghoul's blood would spill--soon. She'd seen her protector savage things far worse than some punk ghoul.

The only question was whether her blood would join it.

Luca pressed his broad tongue to her collarbone, then slowly dragged it up the smooth line of her neck to her chin. Vesper bit her tongue and whimpered as the tiny orgasm rippled through her--sharp, sudden, and humiliatingly good.

Luca's lips curled into a monstrous grin before he turned and padded off down the hall, leaving behind his shirt, his shotgun, and Vesper--panting, flushed, and furious.

"Bastard," she muttered.

The deeper sections of the hallway were a littered mess of torn paper, discarded inner office envelopes, and assorted beer bottles. Dated graffiti marred the walls. Tiny scratching sounds scurried behind them.

"Eww, I fucking hate rats," Vesper said.

He couldn't speak in his loup garou form, but that didn't mean he was any less intelligent.

Or less of a dick.

Luca looked toward the invisible scurrying sounds, then huffed at her with a loping grin.

See? Still a dick.

Vesper felt her way through the dark, homing in on the beating hearts of the ghouls' kidnapping victims. They called out to her. Frightened. Desperate.

Her foremothers, a dozen generations ago, might have tracked those cries in the dark eager to feed on the life force of mortals. They may have scoured the dark places in men's minds--the places where unfulfilled wishes slept. Where lust remained chained, unfed.

That wasn't Vesper's cross to bear. Her own thirst was present, but distant. Manageable. She'd tried using her lineage to justify her arrangement with Luca. But she knew that was bullshit. She couldn't pretend she was any different from the garden-variety sluts she worked with in the ED

When push came to shove, she sucked Luca's cock because she enjoyed it. Because it lit her pussy on fire.

Because it made her feel alive.

As they passed a moldy double door marked simply 'Conference Room', she gestured sharply for Luca to halt. She closed her eyes. She thrust her senses through the doors.

"Here. Definitely here," Vesper said. "Smash it down. Hopefully we catch them off guard. I'll get the people out, you obliterate everything else. Got it?"

Luca gave a knowing snarl. For the first time, Vesper dared to do something she hadn't before. She reached up and scratched beneath Luca's white muzzle.

"Be careful. Okay?" she commanded.

Luca chuffed and licked her hand. Vesper fought a smile, but it crept to the corner of her full lips.

"Let's do this."

The hulking loup garou backed up. Snarling, Luca barreled toward the door. He hit it like a battering ram, tearing it from the frame like it had been mounted with electrical tape. A chorus of panicked cries went up inside the room.

Vesper followed close on Luca's heels, eyes searching through the haze of dust and darkness. In the far corner of the room, she found them.

A teenage boy huddled over a younger boy, shielding him with as much of his body as he could. Their hands were zip tied. In the opposite corner, a more feminine shape was obscured by shadow. The ghouls had zip tied this one to a radiator. They'd all been gagged, but their muffled cries stabbed Vesper's heart all the same.

Not one of these bastard ghouls is leaving this warehouse alive.

Luca snarled at the darkness, searching. Hunting, Vesper realized. She swept her Sig slowly around.

Then, the ancient part of her--the part fueled by Luca's seed screamed between her ears.

CEILING!!

Without a word, Vesper swung her aim up. She fired a controlled burst into the darkened bulk of the ghoul climbing across the ceiling like a demonic spider.

The ghoul howled in pain as a pair of Vesper's troll-forged shots tore shreds of flesh and muscle from its limbs. It hit the floor with a heavy thump. The ghoul scrambled to its feet, blood gushing from its wounds. It snarled at Vesper as it rose to its full height.

The ghoul's voice was about as inviting as an empty grave. "You shouldn't have come here, hunter." It lunged for Vesper.

But before its feet left the ground, Luca caught it by the throat in a black-taloned hand. It writhed in the loup garou's grasp, kicking and clawing at Luca's wrist for all the good it would do.

Which wasn't much.

"Please," the ghoul begged. "It was only a job. We're just delivering the chattel to the buyer."

"Chattel?" Vesper spat. She ground the Sig's barrel into the ghoul's temple. "Fucking chattel?"

"It is the way of the world, mortal. Always the way," the ghoul said, sounding genuinely confused. But also resolved. As though it had never considered things differently.

"Not tonight, asshole," Vesper said. She pulled the trigger.

There was a sudden flash of light and a crash of thunder. The Sig exploded point blank against the ghoul's skull. Oily black ichor splattered against the wall. Luca sniffed the sudden violence and dropped the corpse to the floor. He jutted his muzzle to the back of the room.

Vesper nodded in understanding. She freed the boys first. The older one couldn't have been much older than fifteen.

"Thank you, Jesus Christ, thank you," he said. "I thought we were dead."

The teen pulled the younger child into his arms. "See, I told you someone would come. We're going home now. Home to mom and dad." The little boy began sobbing, burying his face into his older brother's chest as they huddled into each other.

"Don't mention it," Vesper replied. "Go on. Get home safe."

"Fucking ghouls," Luca said. He shed the loup garou form and had now adopted the shape of a bronze dem-god in torn up jeans.

"Fucking ghouls," Vesper echoed.

Vesper wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. The young woman bound to the radiator couldn't have been more than a year or two younger than she was. Her hair was the deep red of licking flames and her eyes blazed with the same.

"Hold still," Vesper said. She slid Luca's silver knife from the sheath at her thigh. "I'll cut you loose."

Vesper pressed the blade to the zip tie at the woman's wrists. "What's your name?"

The plastic tie snapped.

The red head was on her feet in an eyeblink. She pushed past Vesper and rushed towards what was left of the ghoul. Her kicks fell on its ruined carcass with heavy thuds. She kicked and kicked and kicked. Finally, with a scream that forced Vesper to wince, she reared her foot high and drove her heel through the ghoul's nose. Bone cracked with a wet squish.

She panted heavily. Shaking, wobbling from the sudden exertion.

Luca grabbed her by the elbow before she went down. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks. Thank you..." the young woman said. "I... I didn't think anyone would ever find me."

"We found you. You're safe. They won't be hurting anyone ever again," Luca replied.

The redhead reached for the wound above Luca's eyebrow. He flinched away, gently catching her wrist before she could touch him. "Don't. You can't touch me. Not right now." He glanced down.

Her eyes locked on Luca's ruined jeans--and what bulged behind them. Not fear. Recognition. Like she knew what he was. And wanted it.

She gasped, but then did something to Vesper's surprise.

She reached her tiny hand out and caressed the crown of Luca's swollen member.

"It's alright. I know about loup garous," the young woman said. "I know what you need."

She reached beneath the waist of her shredded sundress and tugged her panties down to the floor. As she stepped out of them, a low rumble escaped Luca's throat. The red head turned and bent over the conference table. She turned back over her shoulder, slipping some of her hair behind her ear. "Take what you need."

Luca's eyes darted to Vespers. Vesper fought every instinct she had, every scathing insult to call this woman a slut, a tramp, whatever. She forced the soft features of her face to settle into a mask of unyielding stone. After studying Luca's desperate expression, she softened.

Just because I can't give him what needs, doesn't mean nobody else should.

She nodded at her partner, at her protector, at the man who'd fed her own hunger. "Do what she says. Take what you need, Luca."

Luca hesitated--but only for a moment. He unfastened what remained of his jeans and let them fall past muscular thighs to the floor. His thick cock swayed as he stepped forward.

The redhead bit her lower lip, eyes gleaming with anticipation. She hiked up the tattered remains of her dress and raised one knee onto the desk, thighs parted. The slick heat between her legs glistened in the low light.

"Fuck me," she said, voice low and urgent. "Now."

Luca spat into his palm and slicked the wet over the head of his cock.

Like she needs help. Vesper's eyes narrowed. I can see her glistening from here.

He stepped closer, guided himself to the redhead's opening, and slid inside. A low breath escaped him--half relief, half restraint. He rocked his hips slowly, and the woman whimpered.

Of course she did. That cock could ruin someone.

As Luca's cock sank into the redhead's eager heat, Vesper's hand drifted to the waistband of her jeans. When his strong hands found the woman's hips, Vesper unzipped slowly, fingertips trailing down her own trimmed mound.

"Damn it," the redhead growled, voice tight with need. "I said fuck me."

Luca grunted and drove in harder. Flesh met flesh with a sharp smack--his thick cock hammering her slick cunt, swollen balls slapping against her thigh. The redhead moaned like a woman tasting real pleasure for the first time.

Vesper slid a hand beneath her top, fingers brushing the swell of her breast. She pinched her nipple between two fingers--harder than she meant to--and bit back a moan. The fingers of her free hand disappeared between her own soaking wet folds. Her sticky flesh burned with desire for cock. Any cock would do right now.

Hell, I'd even settle for sitting on Danny's right about now.

The red head's moans and Luca's grunting echoed in the abandoned warehouse office. Vesper pressed a finger tip onto her clit and let out a little sigh.

He's pounding her pussy now, not for relief, not for gratification, but for his own sanity. To avoid the Collar. But it should be me bent over that table. Not whispering encouragements to a man who could never stretch me like Luca could with a single thrust.

Not lying beneath Danny, wondering how something so sweet could feel so... small.

With a final grunt, Luca eased himself out. He gripped the base of his cock and covered the red head's pale ass with several thick ropes of his seed.

The woman let her dress slide down over her marked flesh, then turned and draped her hands around the back of Luca's neck. She rose up onto her tiptoes and kissed the side of his mouth with a little smile. "Thank you for saving me."

She nodded to Vesper and thanked her, then ran for the exit.

Vesper forced a half-smile. Not out of kindness--but because it was the only thing she could do to keep from trembling.

She was still wet. Still needy. She hated the girl a little. Not for being fucked--but for getting what Vesper hadn't since the night before she'd gotten married.

Luca cinched his jeans back into place. As he made for the door he said, "You good?"

"You tell me," Vesper replied, quickly turning to keep him from seeing her zip up. She dried her hand on the back of her jeans. She tossed him the borrowed Sig and left him.

He caught up to her halfway down the hall, stopped her by the shoulder. She spun on a heel, knocking his hand free.

"Don't," she said, low and tense.

"You know I had to. I'm sorry," Luca said. He took a step, then halted abruptly. "You know what? I'm not sorry. You know what happens if I don't clear up after a hunt. You know what having the wolf running around my head does to me. So yeah. I'm not sorry that someone else gave a shit enough to help stay out of a damn Collar."

He stalked back over to her. "It's just fucking sad it always has to be a stranger."

Luca stormed down the hallway to the stairwell. He thrust his arms into his recovered shirt and snatched up his shotgun and boots. The stairwell door slammed behind him.

Vesper let her head fall back. She was sore. Tired. Spent. And untouched in all of the wrong ways. She'd wanted to help Luca since the first time he'd shared the dangers of being Uncollared.

But she just couldn't bring herself to go that far.

Sucking Luca's cock for a boost before gunning down some creature of the night was one thing. Allowing another man inside her?

Not even Luca. Especially Luca. No matter how badly she wanted to. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I'm sorry," Vesper said quietly to no one.

No one answered.