PART ONE

NIGHT OF THE AUTUMN FAE

CHAPTER FIVE:

Gold Blood, bitter to the taste

From what I could remember, Yokomi found us. I could still feel her hand at my throat, choking me until I the fire on my skin faded. But the scent of Keisuke’s blood was still utterly ripe in my nose and throat. When I awakened next, I was in Yokomi’s room of white curtains and black oakwood. I felt, broken. In an odd way. There was this prickling feeling across all of my skin, my bones sore and behind my eyes there was a pain that I remembered with both regret and a fondness that carried guilt with it. I blinked away the fog, and began to remember bit after bit. The claws. The fire. The joy of ripping Pentaghast apart. It left a bitter-sweet taste on my tongue. Slowly, I got up and wrapped the white robe tighter around me. The lace and silk was a small kindness from Yokomi. She’d always been one to offer me small kindnesses. Like the chains lying at the foot of the bed. She made a decision here. She could’ve bound me, as she had every right to.

On stiff legs I peered out the window. Sunset. The house seemed quiet. Hugging myself with a tiredness that I could feel in my bones I stalked the silent halls aimlessly. My stomach began to complain, and with nowhere else to go other than my own bed I went to the kitchens. There amongst the garlic nets, thyme, herbs and a half-empty wine bottle Keisuke sat on the island bench. A bandage was wrapped around his neck, his hair a frayed mess. I didn’t blame him. I was sure I looked the same.

“Thanks for the life-saver,” Keisuke rasped, a hand to his wound. I sat up on the bench across from him. “From what I can remember it wasn’t much of an issue…except for when I’m pretty sure Yokomi choked me out,” I shrugged, eyeing the bottle next to him. He smiled weakly for a moment.

“Ah, I see you’re interested in forgetting it all again. It would be waste to drink any of this cheap stuff, though. I think you’ll find this is will serve you better.” In his half-drunk stupor, Keisuke showed me a pair of golden pears from a cloth.

“You think I should be eating fruit instead of drinking at this hour?” I asked, eyebrows raised. He chuckled and tossed one over. Sceptical but curious, I took a bite.

A sweet, intoxicating nectar unlike any other filled my mouth, the fumes glazing over my mind.

Tender and a little shocked, I wiped away the juices leaking from my mouth. There was gold streaked across the back of my hand.

“This…” I began, examining the flesh of the pear as it…glittered.

“It’s called Golden Blood. Only the Fair Folk know how to find it in the woods because it only reveals itself to us in return for a clove of garlic and a handful of poppyseeds. We got back two days ago, and without anything else to do except recover I went for a walk in the woods. A kelpie in the lake gave me some healing droplets to rid me of the vampire venom in return for some apples,” He said, taking a bite.

I took another. And another. I could feel the juice flowing down my throat, warm and hazy. And Gods, it felt good.

“How did it feel becoming Mr Pentaghast’s after dinner snack?” I asked, enjoying the dribble of gold down my chin. Keisuke sighed. “It felt like. Well. In a way it felt good. Their venom seeps in and your body can’t help but crave their teeth in your skin – I’m sure he felt the same. Fae blood is particularly delicious for Vampires. He must’ve known what I was the second I walked into the lobby. There’s a part of me that resents Yokomi for forcing me back – but – I’m sure she had no idea what he really was. No one did. Except you, right?”

I shrugged. “I knew something was wrong. Wasn’t clued into much else until he attacked. We were just lucky I needed to get myself away from Sinclair,” I chuckled softly, eyes drifting to the floor. It felt as though a veil of golden silk had been stretched over my skin, my mind, drowning my thoughts in the sweetest honey imaginable. My mind was a silent bee hive now, swimming in an endless puddle of a honey so warm, yellow and perfect. It made my thoughts a little less clear, but made everything around me so much more appealing. The sugary sweetness that twirled with the streak of bitterness the Gold Blood Pear, tasted better and better every bite.

And Keisuke was beginning to look just as sweet. He was tired and defeated looking, but it just made me want to hold him, stroke his hair. And I’d always wondered what his moans sounded like. The drip of honey in my head added just another sugary coat to my impulse.

“You two are…curious. Old friends? But the next minute it seems you’re old enemies. An intriguing if not young mystery,” Keisuke smirked. He was just wearing an undershirt from one of his scholarly uniforms and dress pants paired with walking boots. Hmmph. A man of knowledge and nature. And he’s getting drunker too.

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“In the simplest way I can put it…he’s both. Enemy. Friend. He saved me, a long time ago. Obsidian War times, actually.” Despite the drunkenness creeping up on me, there was still a rock at the base of my throat. The same rock that was always there whenever I talked or even mentioned those times. It felt like a lifetime ago and yesterday, all at once.

“I fought in the war, but I didn’t have a choice about it. Those with demonic blood in their veins were all forced into the fight. Most, I suppose know that. But people like you. Those who lived in the city, did you even have a clue about the real nature of the war?” I asked, slipping off the bench. “Sinclair was a young soldier when we first met. I was a raiding a village with my half-breed brethren, and his squadron was sent to defend it. I…had an opportunity, to kill him. It would’ve been easy.”

I stood at the very edge of the bench Keisuke sat on, pressing myself into the space between his legs. I took another bite. With a thumb he rubbed the golden juice at the corner of my lips, and licked it for himself. “Yet you spared him?”

I dared to press a little closer, a hand on his thigh.

“No. I hesitated. And another soldier managed to knock me out. I was just lucky enough they needed information and kept me alive, chaining me up,” I said, casually, running my hand up and down the warm, solid length of his thigh. The honey urged me on. It feels good, doesn’t it? We deserve to feel good…if he’s up for it. I looked to his body, his face, to measure his pleasure or displeasure. There was a lust to his eyes, his scrunched up eyebrows, the way he looked down to me with a lavish expectation, a hunger. But he was still holding back. His hands were balled into fists, grabbing his pants in an effort to hold himself in place.

My voice grew softer. “It’s okay, you know. You saw that other part of me, right? She’s called Venus, and she is me but also not quite entirely. And it has been a long, long time since she’s seen the waking world. Felt blood in her claws. The fire on her skin. When she’s out, it’s me, but…I’m not entirely in control. It was worth it for you, though.” I said with soft, round eyes, determined to show that I was being genuine. I ran my hand further up his leg, fingers sliding into his surprisingly solid inner thigh.

“You can show me your true self. I have no distaste for half-breeds. How can I, I’m an abomination. But the Faerie folk, your kind are beautiful. Other-worldly,” I smiled, pulling his shirt just a little and began to leave long, drawn-out kissed across his abdomen. The same bulge I remembered from the barn, the same large, rock-hard length pressed up against the fabric of his pants – desperate to burst out. The sight of his length left my trembling, my mouth even watering a little.

It seems he brings out my animalistic side. Maybe it’s his shoulders, how rock-hard he gets for me, his length or how purely wild he makes me feel. Like its okay to feel of this. To just let loose. I trust him, I guess…or maybe I’m just fucking drunk.

Keisuke ran a hand down my face, fingertips brushing me softly. He was searching for the same thing, wasn’t he? Genuine need. That I was truly okay with his Fae form. I guess he must’ve found what he was searching for, because within seconds he was fumbling to unbuckle his belt, one hand unwinding the belt, other running through my hair, grabbing a fist-full of my silver-pink waves with a grip that was firm but not too hard.

Our Gold Bloods rolled down onto the floor.

Eventually, with a little help from me he managed to pull his hard cock out, almost instantly sliding it into my waiting mouth and eager tongue. He began to poke the inside of my cheeks, and moaned like he was releasing a sigh he’d been holding in for far too long.

“Celeste,” Keisuke moaned, urging me further down onto his throbbing cock. My owns were muffled, but I didn’t care. I went up and down, working his length the way I knew most men liked. I met his eyes has I rolled my tongue up the bottom of his cock, his eyes scrunched in the heat of ecstasy. He grabbed my hair tighter and tighter, growing more and more demanding by the moment. With a small smirk to myself, I noticed his ears and teeth were out, along with his tail that occasionally brushed against me by accident. It was kind of sweet in an odd way, stroking my side every now and then to make sure I was okay.

“No one was ever okay with this. Not any of the women I tried to love. Not my fellow – a-academics in the city…” Keisuke managed to groan as I pushed my tongue around the base of the head. I flicked my tongue in a quick motion, one that sent a quiver through his body, thighs pressing closer and almost threatening to crush me.

It urged me to go that much faster. Up and down up and down. Playfully, knowing it would send him wild I pulled at my silk robe and let my tits out. As I bobbed rapidly up and down, my tits bounced. His groans became animalistic. My own pussy began to grow wet at the sound his guttural, low, near desperate moans for my tongue, my soft mouth, my perfect lips around his perfect cock. I could feel the twitches of his cock, the warmth growing, the way he’d begun to pant –

Knowing what was about to begin, I rolled my lips up and off and instead pushed my tits around his quivering member and began to rub them up and down, fast as I could. With one final grip and groan, Keisuke pushed me nice and close.

“They couldn’t accept me….but fuck them…I’m not one of them, I’m not human!” He cried as he came, canines bared as he spilled his cum all of my face and tits. Warm, sticky. And kind of a nuisance to wash off. Thanks. But god, I was still a heated, wet mess.

The sound of a pottery bowl smashing came from the kitchen door, snapping the two of us back into focus.

Tomas, poor Tomas was standing in the doorway, staring in awkward and regrettable shock at us. Well, probably me. Considering I was half-naked, my tits out, covered in Keisuke’s cum.

“Evening,” I coughed, wiping away some of the cum from the corner of my mouth. Tomas, dark eyes staring into the void threw his hands up in sort of a mock-surrender, backing out and most likely back into the shadows forever.

Keisuke grabbed my attention back, taking my face into his warm hand. “Are you okay?” He asked quietly through a grimace. I got to my knees, ignoring the dribble of cum down my body.

“Of course. Meet me in the Green House tomorrow night. I want you to take me into the woods during the Faerie Moon. We have some dancing to do,” I whispered, giving him a light kiss on the cheek.