Blissful partnership

[Lovely]

September 2003


Annia walked into her rooms, knowing he was there, she could feel him closer to her as she approached. Smiling at the man in her bed, she lifted an eyebrow. "Well hello..."

"I've missed you, mistress," smiled the young man. "I've brought you something. Look, by the fire." His voice was soft and almost boyish as he spoke to her from near sleep, warm from feeding and awaiting her company.

"I'd rather look at you." Her voice was soft as was her expression. Annia leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. "I have missed you....so very much. It feels like months since you have been near."

He shifted the blankets away to let her gaze on him fully, "Will you be joining me, then?"

Annia leaned in to rest her head against his chest, turning to kiss his skin lightly. "I feel suddenly over dressed." She laughed only slightly, before standing and starting to undress. She stood a foot or so from him, watching him to see if he liked what she was starting to reveal to him...

Her lips felt cool to him, sending chills througout that enticed him. He sat himself up and reached to assist her with disrobing, kissing her tenderly, his lips following the seams of the cloth as they slid slowly off of her.

Annia closed her eyes, relishing in the feel of his lips on her skin. "Keller." She whispered his name and slipped her arms around him.

He followed suit, caressing her, kneeling before her, his head resting against her thigh as she stood before him, his warmth penetrating her as he moved about her, sliding up again slowly, kissing every inch of cool flesh.

Annia smiled and leaned into him. "Keller...I heard you met someone..." She was speaking of Gabriel.

"Met yes... understood, I'm not sure. Annia... how may I please you?"

Annia took his hands off her and kissed his fingers. "Just stay with me...be close to me." She touched his cheek, trailing one finger over it. Annia moved to lay down in the bed, slipping into the silky sheets and waiting for him to join her.

He glanced at the heap by the fire staying warm, Mitch watching guard over it in case it woke suddenly. He gave Mitch a glare of warning not to touch his present to Annia and then slid into the bed beside his beloved. "I'll be beside you always, Annia."

"Thank you." She whispered, kissing his lips tenderly. She pulled him close and snuggled herself against him. At the moment she simply needed him close...Having spent the afternoon and evening in Gabriel's company she felt almost sick.

"Annia.. are you not well? Have I done something to displease you?"

[Lovely]

Annia lifted her head, her troubled but loving eyes gazed into his. "No darling, never..." Her hand cupped his face and she kissed him, then snuggled herself back down close to him. "I..I am.." She sighed. "I guess I am not feeling well."

He pulled the blankets over her shoulders and pulled her closely to him, resting his hand on her hip, "Mitch, do keep the room warmer tonight. The lady is not feeling well. Annia, what troubles you? You asked if I met him.. has he done something?"

Mitch rose his head from his knee and turned over his shoulder, "Yes, Master Keller." He poked at the logs absentmindedly. In his thoughts, he was rolling through the things he'd heard and seen that afternoon... she's ill cuz of 'him', he hissed in his mind.

"He did it all. He did everything..." She shook her head, she was shaking a bit. "Why couldn't he just leave me be? Leave us alone...hasn't he done enough?" Of course Keller would not know what she was talking about, as she had not spoken of how she was sired...or the things he did to her...

"Annia? Was this Gabriel? What's he done? Has he been here before?"

Annia stiffened. "Nothing...it's nothing. Just forget it." She rolled into the middle of the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Laying his head on her shoulder on the pillow beside her, like an angel's kiss, his arm slid across her and nestled her gently."I'm sorry my love. Anything I may do... "

"Don't leave me alone...no telling what I may do." She stared at the ceiling a single red tear tracing it's way onto her pillow. "I hate him so much sometimes."

Keller looked up at her as she spoke, her voice shaking with passionate anger. He lifted his hand to her cheek, pulling her tear away on his fingertip. He cleaned his finger tenderly, tasting the acrid tang of her bitterness and resentment within it. "He is not here now, love. Let me comfort you."

Annia stared up at the ceiling, not speaking for long moments. "He's always here Keller...He is my Sire." She seemed detached, distant from herself.

He let his hand drop along side hers, lacing his fingers with hers, though his touch grew colder with his concern for her wellbeing. He understood that she was bound much like he was bound to her. Anything that Gabriel wished.. maybe that's what he had meant.. to see what Keller was made of... test him and his loyalties. "As you are my sire, bound to do as you direct. I will happily oblige you, mistress. You have but to wish it."

[Lovely]

Annia pushed his hand aside. "That's not what I want...not what I want at all." She rolled over, her back to him. "I don't want you to just do whatever I say..."

"I don't Annia. I do as I wish as well, but you come first. You always come first. Would that I could have my way, but I play by rules where others do not."'

"I don't want a servent or an underling. I want a partner and equal of sorts...That's what I saw in you..."

"Then I am and I am beside you, still, love. Come. Please let me see your eyes." His voice was soft, but clear, the voice that had met her ear when they'd first spoken, charged with a quiet authority and compassion.

Annia didn't turn her head, she was testing him a little. "Are you really?"

He leaned up from behind her and rolled her purposefully, looking down into her eyes that she'd cast away from him, "Would I lay beside anyone other than my punchy little tart, hm?" A fire in his eye that she'd recognize from an evening of play in the kitchen shone brightly, reflecting the glow of the fire at the foot of the bed.

Her lips hinted at a smile as her fiesty self peeked its head out. Her eyes looking more here and now, seemed to regain a bit of spark. "You tell me...would you?"

A mischievous wind blew at his features, tugging them into a smile. "I don't know.. perhaps if she were taller.. maybe a darker shade of red in her hair, her lips.. not so beautifully pouty," he teased. "No Annia, it is my wish to be here by you, not anywhere else."

Annia gazed at him lovingly, bringing her hand to his face. ~I love you~ Her eyes faded to soft pools of dark brown.

The mischief gave way to desire as his own eyes turned to softly glowing embers, his smile, gentle as he rested his lips against hers. He pulled back and brushed her hair away from her eyes, whispering softly on the wind and in her mind, "Aaaannnnnnniiiaaaaaa."

She smiled pulling him down to her, kissing him deeply. "I love when you say my name...mistress is fun for certain games." Her finger traced his lower lip. "But my name off you lips is bliss."

He chuckled, a wicked smile gracing his features now. A wiggled eyebrow as he slid down her side, seeking to please. He adjusted her leg around his shoulder properly, and proceeded to whisper her name softly to cool where his tongue traced.