Duality (Cordelia Kelly #1): Empath Urban Fantasy (2 page)

He tugged me tight against him, and a raging erection pressed against my abdomen.

Hell, yeah
. Excitement flitted though my system and flooded my core with juices. I rubbed him in slow movements with my pelvis and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. This was so unlike me.

Shit, this isn’t me
. The goody light shoes version of me must be waking.

I fought to reassert my will. I reached down between our bodies and massaged his growing erection, eliciting a low growling moan from the back of his throat.
Oh yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about.
I pressed harder against his cock at the same time I rose up and licked a bead of sweat trickling down his neck.

This is absurd. Would you look at yourself?

I shook my head to remain in control.

He eased his hips back, effectively stopping my seductive ministrations.

I tried to clear the mud encasing my senses, but he took over my olfactory nerves. His earthy, manly scent, and his warm body, coupled with his overwhelming aura felt so right undulating with mine.

So I dropped my guard. I let my shields down and absorbed the moment. We moved in time with the music. I followed his lead and basked in his glow. He and I together seemed so natural, so right.

My cheek rubbed up and down his chest, and my eyes remained closed. We were the only two people here in this dark and dingy barroom. The hounds of hell could have barged in, and I wouldn’t have noticed…well, unless they stopped our bodies from touching.

“What’s your name?” I mumbled from my drowsy state.

His hands made paths up and down my back, pulling me even closer, pressing me against his hardness again, and I shivered. Gooseflesh broke out all over my body.

“My name is Sol.” His deep baritone sang to my soul and calmed my racing heart. My body floated on a calm sea. Peace wove strands of pearls into the deepest and darkest parts of me, raising my spirits on a cloud. My will evaporated, leaving me clad only in light. Cordy stirred, and I sensed her strength returning as mine waned.

This man threatened me.

Sudden and potent rage darkened my demeanor once more, thickening my spine. He was another empath. How dare he drink from me. How dare he sip from me!
Stay cool
. Don’t let him know I know what he’s doing.

Another question was how had he found me, and would there be others coming soon as well? I’d panic later.

Taking a deep breath, I asked, “Sol? Like Saul?”

“No. Sol, like Soul.”

“What kind of name is Sol?” I wanted to keep him talking so I might turn the tables, and use him like he was using me. A hint of sadness coated my tongue as my mind processed I was a tool and nothing more. The instant jolt and connection I’d had with this man was fabricated.

“My kind of name.”

I’d get angry later, for now I thought of a steel bin as we swayed to the music, and then I meditated into a different state of consciousness. I grabbed for my psychic cloak. Today the cape was red, and I fastened the special cloth over my head. In my mind it cascaded down to my feet. I tied the cloak securely around my neck, pulled the hood over my head, and immediately the fog dissipated, clearing my mind. My eyes snapped open, and I looked up from my resting place into his coal black eyes.

“A pleasure to meet you, Sol. My name is Delia.” I licked my parched lips, a little souvenir of his draining of my energy, and lifted up on tiptoes, bringing my hands around to his cup his face. My turn, baby.

“I have to taste you. You don’t mind, do you?” I asked a breath away from his full lips. Not waiting for his answer, I pressed mine to his, snaking my tongue into his mouth, invading his space, and sipping from the wellspring of his chakras. My world exploded into a riotous amount of colors and textures.

He was fervid and spices unnamed. He was fire lit on the coldest nights, surrounded by the comforting scent of pine and cinnamon bark. The intoxicating rush of power from him overwhelmed me, and wetness gushed between my legs.

“What the fuck?” I asked as I pulled back from the warm heat of his wonderful mouth. I craved more of his decadent taste, more of his potent desire and simmering passion.

He tightened his arms around me, and for a brief moment, I almost felt whole. The lighter side of myself, walked out of the room inside our head I’d stashed her. Together, we stared at the man before us, the oddest sensation whipping through my mind. She vanished and a balanced normalcy coursed through me.

I wasn’t even mad anymore. In fact, elation pumped electrified currents into my heart, filling the long forgotten deep holes of sadness.

Sol closed his eyes, tilted his head up for a moment before opening them and meeting my dazed gaze. He leaned his forehead against mine and said the last thing I ever expected. “I’ve searched my entire life for you.”

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. That had to be the funniest thing anyone had ever said to me…ever. I rested my hand on my stomach and bent over at the waist giggling when I heard him clear his throat. When I looked up, I immediately sobered and stood tall, staring him in the eye.

“Do clichéd lines generally work well for you?” I asked with as straight a face as I could manage.

He shifted his weight, raised his hands in mid-air and said, “Usually. Women tend to fall at my feet and beg me to take them home.”

“Arrogance and egotism know no bounds, I see.”

“When you’ve lived as long as I have, you take your laughs where you can get them. But make no mistake, this time I’m not serving you a line. I’ve been searching for you, even though I didn’t know you existed until you walked through the door tonight.”

I stepped back and turned away from this dark eyed stranger who saw right into me. I took stock of the slim pickings left at this late hour, nothing but defeat and extreme self-reflection. I probably wouldn’t harvest any energy tonight. As I licked my lips, the zing from his powerful kiss met my tongue, and I flushed.
I wonder if I can feed from him? Seems only fair.

When I turned around, he was gone and my heart stuttered.

“Aw, did you miss me, baby?” his sumptuous voice said near my ear, and I jumped a foot in the air and to my left.

“Whoa! You scared the shit out of me. How did you do that?” I said as I faced him from two feet away. If I had any doubts about him being something other than human, his cute little stunt eliminated them.

“I have many talents,” Sol said as he wagged his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you do. Now, are we done here? I’m starved.”

“I see you have little patience. I remember your age. Young and full of the thrill of the hunt.”

The bar had emptied considerably, and only the most disparaged stayed rooted to their seat. My shoulders sank and my head lowered. Then the shakes started, and my teeth chattered. The ups and downs of my energy flow wore on me.

“Oh no you don’t. Come here. When was the last time you fed? No matter.”

My feet moved, and I was suddenly wrapped in his powerful arms. His body wasn’t overly muscled, but strength boiled under the surface of his skin. I knew he was sort of like me, and probably had many talents I didn’t. My Grandmother had taught me how every one of us manifests our magic in different ways. She said we acquired more gifts as we aged. I wondered what he hid inside his skin.

I inhaled his scent and relaxed in his arms. Here, I was safe. Somehow, I knew it to my core. When I was with this man, I was safe and wasn’t that ironic.

His head dropped, and he brushed his soft lips across mine, once, twice, and on the third pass he slipped his tongue into my mouth. He licked me with a tenderness I hadn’t experienced in too many years, and I tried my damndest to crawl inside his skin.

I sighed into his mouth and kissed him back, stroking my tongue with his and pressing my body into his. His arms held me tighter, fusing our auras together in a dance as old as sex. His teeth bit down on my lower lip and tugged. When he released my lips, an aching emptiness came swiftly in their warm absence.

“Don’t stop.”

“I have to,” he whispered, hovering his lips above mine by millimeters.

I opened my eyes, met his intense stare, and my stomach started to turn over. My vision went black, and the dingy bar melted away.

He walked down a dark alley and searched the night alone. He was always alone.

The scene flashed and then he was in a room with three women, all of whom were naked. He fucked one from behind, a fist of hair wrapped around his wrist, while one woman licked the other woman’s pussy in rapture. The third woman watched from a chair, a cigarette dangling from her fat, cherry red, just fucked lips. Moans and sighs, the slap of flesh on flesh met my ears and cream flooded my panties. My cheeks burned at the amount of passion cloying the room.

The next scene had him in another room, surrounded by males and females, all partaking in sexual acts. He sat on a throne and watched. His lion’s mane of jet-black hair hung loose down to his shoulders, and he looked regal.

The same woman from the previous scene came up behind him with her lips a grotesque, blood dripping cherry red, and said, “Don’t you want them, my sweet? Shall I tie a few of your favorites up and get your flogger? Or would you rather I strap them to your table, hmm? Oh, I know, you want me to fetch the Shibari master? I could have them all strung, plugged, lubed, and ready for your cock.”

He shook his head and pushed her away from him. Her eyes flashed a blue fire, and claws grew from her fingertips. Her blonde hair was a wild mess around her compelling, yet soulless face.

The scene changed. This time Sol sat on a bench, throwing rocks into a river.

A bright flash and Sol reclined in a leather chair and stared out a window, sadness coating his aura.

Another scene. Sol chained and pinned down on a cold cement floor, metal stakes driven through the palms of his hands and tops of his feet.

Sol beaten and bloody.

My hands curled into fists, and the most deadly rage I’d ever experienced saturated my blood watching him bleed and knowing he was hurt.

The scene changed again, and succulent cherry red lips attached to a matted blonde head soaked in blood while Sol pounded his cock into the vicious woman yelling, “Is this what you wanted, to unleash my full potential? I’ll give you everything you crave and more.”

Something about this last scene shook me to the core. The imagery was different than the others, not so much a memory, this time I sensed a portent of the future.

I was aware these were his memories, but the weird thing was I could feel his thoughts. Every time and in every scene, he was overwhelmingly lonely. He had hoards of men and women to service his every want and desire, and yet, he felt alone, isolated, and sad. Like no one would accept the real him, so he hid behind a façade.

I could relate. I’d hid my entire life, ever since my Grandmother was murdered.

Other scenes flew by too quickly to grab a hold of. Then in my peripheral vision the snapping of fingers jarred my thoughts. I became aware of my surroundings once again and the smell of old, stale cigarettes from long time use with no ventilation and the wheezing cough of the bartender. Above the decimation and despair, the clean, spicy scent of Sol wrapped me in its warm embrace.

I glanced up and his eyes were inches from mine; his heavy breath nearly panted in my face like little puffs of cinnamon laced smoke.

“What—”

“Don’t.”

“But—”

“No,” he said with ice in his voice. He closed his eyes and drew back to his full height, dominating my space and towering over me. He frightened me, and there wasn’t much that frightened me.

In my mind, Cordy showed herself as she cowered in the corner. She wore a white dress, her arms wrapped around her knees as her head leaned back against the cold, grey concrete tiles. She kept her eyes squeezed shut.

As Sol stared down at me, his face slipped on a mask, but a hint of anger showed up in the way his eyes crinkled at the sides and the twitch in his jaw. He inhaled then let the breath out slowly. After a few moments, he smiled. His grin transformed his whole face, and he went from sinister to hot as Hades in two seconds flat. His smile was broad, wide, and full of teeth. He leaned down close to my neck, inhaled my scent, then trailed his lips up to my cheek, where he pressed a wet kiss.

“Until we meet again, Cordelia Kelly. Some day you will trust me with what caused such a shredded tear in you, and why you have parts of yourself locked up. Delia is nice to play with, but I prefer the whole of Cordelia.” He reached up and stroked my cheek once as his tongue snaked out, and he licked the taste of me off his lips.

“What did you call me?”

He laughed and spun on his heels, a bounce to his step, and started walking away from me. He’d made his way to the door before he turned around and said in a loud amused voice, “I owe you a meal!” He laughed again before opening the door with his head shaking and stalked off into the dead of night.

Wait a second
. How had he known my full name and just what had he seen when our souls locked together?