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The fire had burned low and the moon had begun its inexorable journey toward the horizon by the time Nyrielle and Ashlynn began their game of Fangs and Feather.

The few moments that Nyrielle spent appreciating her lover’s beauty left Ashlynn squirming in anticipation as every sense strained to feel the slightest touch.

Goosebumps rose on her skin as the faintest whisper of a breeze from the shuttered windows drifted through the room.

The muscles of her abdomen clenched as she tensed for a faint touch that never came.

No sooner had she begun to relax, however, than Nyrielle climbed into the bed.

The movement tugged at the bedspread beneath her, triggering Ashlynn’s sensitive body yet again as she tensed, waiting for Nyrielle to make her move.

Slowly, like a great cat stalking its prey, Nyrielle crawled across the bed, hovering just above Ashlynn’s tender sides.

Slowly, moving with a combination of grace and precision that would be impossible for most humans, she reached out with the tip of the feather’s quill, lightly prodding her with a faint, sharp pressure.

"Fangs," Ashlynn said confidently as her body shivered at Nyrielle’s touch. She’d imagined she could at least feel the vampire’s breath on her skin before a fang made contact but she’d forgotten that, if she didn’t wish to, Nyrielle didn’t need to breathe at all.

It was only due to years of habit that the vampire did so, but now that very habit had turned into a surprising advantage!

"Wrong," Nyrielle said with a wicked smile. Leaning in close, she brushed her lips across Ashlynn’s side before pricking her skin ever so lightly with her fangs. The instant she did, a wave of pleasure rippled through Ashlynn’s body, pulling a startled gasp from her lips before she bit her lower lip and allowed the sensation to consume her until she felt Nyrielle’s tongue lapping up a few drops of blood like a kitten lapping up cream.

"Let’s try again," Nyrielle said, shifting on the bed to approach Ashlynn’s opposite side, this time, hovering just above her mark of the witch. While she wouldn’t risk biting into the mark itself, the smooth, creamy thigh beneath the mark offered a perfect target for the tip of her fang.

"That was a fang," Ashlynn said, clutching at the sheets that bound her wrists to stop from flinching away from Nyrielle’s feather-light touch. "This time, that really was a fang."

"Oh?" Nyrielle said in a slow, languid tone. "How do you know?"

"When you pricked me with the quill, I felt the faintest brush of the soft strands at the base of the feather," she said proudly. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that she had something to compare it to, she was certain that she’d noticed something different from the first time. "I’m right, aren’t I? Fangs?"

"My darling Ashlynn is very clever," Nyrielle said, moving further up to brush her lips and the point of a fang ever so gently beneath the swell of Ashlynn’s breast. "And that time?"

"I, I don’t know," Ashlynn said, her body trembling in the wake of the light, delicate touch. "Feather?"

"Not this time," Nyrielle said, her midnight blue eyes swirling with hunger as she lowered her lips again to prick Ashlynn’s skin with her fangs. This time, Ashlynn’s entire body shook as the feeling of Nyrielle’s bite coursed through her.

The wooden posts of the bed groaned as Ashlynn pulled against her restraints and Nyrielle felt her fingernails lengthening into claws as the sweet, earthy flavor unique to Ashlynn’s blood filled her mouth.

A moment later, when Nyrielle pulled back, both women were trembling with a mixture of carnal desire and decadent fulfillment that left them craving more.

Licking the last drop of Ashlynn’s blood from her lips, Nyrielle began to suspect that her lover’s blood had become even richer with the energy of life after training under the Mother of Thorns and the intoxicating taste clouded her mind with a desire to drink much, much deeper than she had.

"Ashlynn, my darling," Nyrielle said in a voice that had grown hoarse with desire. "Are you still willing to keep playing?"

"No," Ashlynn said with a contented smile spreading across her lips. Nyrielle wasn’t begging to feed on her but it didn’t matter.

She could hear her victory in the other woman’s voice.

Nyrielle’s pride wouldn’t let her admit defeat so soon but Ashlynn had no desire to push her lover to her limits.

Nyrielle’s hunger was dangerous enough and they were already playing with fire.

"Bite me, my love," Ashlynn said, flicking her wrist to free herself from the bedsheet that bound her and beckoning for Nyrielle to join her. "All of me is yours to feast upon," she added, gesturing to her voluptuous curves.

"Then prepare yourself, my darling," Nyrielle said as she dropped the feather to descend on Ashlynn’s body like a bird of prey falling on her prey.

Nyrielle’s midnight blue eyes seemed to swell in Ashlynn’s vision until they became liquid pools of the night sky reflecting only the woman that completely consumed Nyrielle’s heart.

With carefully restrained strength, Nyrielle wrapped her arms around Ashlynn’s body, pulling her close enough that they could feel each other’s heartbeats through their chests.

Then, gently, delicately, with as much restraint as she could manage, Nyrielle sank her fangs into Ashlynn’s neck, drinking deeply for the first time in several days as she savored the flavor of her one and only love.

Ashlynn’s body trembled as wave after wave of pleasure spread from her neck to her toes, enveloping her in a haze that felt warm and comforting at the same time as it was intense and stimulating.

The sound of wood snapping echoed in the luxurious room as Ashlynn pulled her other arm free of the binding, shattering a bedpost in the process as she wrapped her arms around Nyrielle, clutching at the other woman’s back with enough strength to crack the bones of an ordinary person.

Both women trembled as hot, metallic blood slid down Nyrielle’s eager throat. Her tongue danced across Ashlynn’s neck, savoring a taste that was as sharp as a knife and as smooth as honey.

Several heartbeats later, both women felt themselves falling toward a dark abyss that lay deep within Nyrielle’s heart, but this time, brilliant emerald energy surged from Ashlynn’s hands as she pushed back against the darkness.

"Enough, my love," Ashlynn said as her act of resistance took the last of the strength remaining in her body. "I can’t take much more," she whispered.

Slowly and with great tenderness, Nyrielle pulled back from her lover’s neck, licking the wound until it sealed, and not a trace of blood remained to mar the perfect, pristine beauty of Ashlynn’s tender neck.

"You’ve grown so much stronger, my darling," Nyrielle said as a swirl of emerald green energy danced within her eyes before it was devoured by the midnight blue depths of her gaze. "Before long, I’ll pose no threat to you."

"You could never threaten me," Ashlynn said, raising a hand weakly to cup Nyrielle’s face.

"You would never choose to harm me, and one day, I’ll catch up to where you are.

.." she said, her voice growing quieter and quieter until she lost the strength to keep her eyes open and her hand slipped from Nyrielle’s face.

"One day, not long from now," Nyrielle agreed, wrapping herself around her sleeping lover and holding her close.

The darkness within her still threatened to consume them, but perhaps, one day, they truly would have nothing to fear and could surrender themselves to the pleasure they both craved.

One day when there was nothing in the world that could threaten them and all they needed was each other. ..

Outside, there were still several hours left before dawn, but just as Ashlynn had warned, once Nyrielle fed, certain things would have to end.

For Nrielle, however, the hours she spent holding Ashlynn’s sleeping figure were just as precious as the moments they spent locked in the bliss of her bite.

They’d been apart for far too long and her body craved far more from Ashlynn than just her lover’s blood.

"Soon, my love," Nyrielle whispered as she gently stroked Ashlynn’s hair. "Soon, your enemies will fall and we can wipe away one of your worries, the way you’ve wiped away so many of mine..."