The first lick was ecstasy, sliding his tongue between her lips and into her center in a shallow swipe that pushed a whine of desperation out of Helia. Ghost barely heard it as he tasted her sweetness, so perfect on his tongue that he had to delve deeper. With one of his thumbs, he touched the nub of her pleasure, and her hips jerked up. Ghost held them down as he circled with his thumb, and Helia arched gently to increase and decrease the pressure in a quickening rhythm. Drops of Helia's pleasure escaped onto the fabric, and Ghost growled low at the waste, urging him to pull her open with both hands and thrust his tongue down her middle until his face was buried in fiery curls.

The bridge of his nose hit the softest area without, and Helia slipped a hand down into his hair as he delved deeper. Curling his tongue, he filled it with her before bringing it back to his lips and swallowing, tasting and drinking her as she gripped his hair and pulled him closer. This wasn't enough pleasure though, too little to sate him, and Ghost moved now with purpose. The rubbing of his finger eased on her clit, and he moistened it by dipping into her. A moan encouraged him as he returned his wet thumb to her nub and just barely grazed it, working her excitement in a slow roll that Helia set the pace for as she arched up when she wanted the pressure.

With his other hand, he inserted three fingers, eliciting a gasp from Helia as she jumped in surprise. Moving in and out of her started the slow moan that he craved, and he curled his fingers up to search along the walls of her insides until he found just the spot she wanted. As he grazed it, Helia's moan rose in pitch, and he pressed just there a bit harder. Helia wriggled on his hands until she found the perfect rhythm, arching her hips into his upper hand to squeeze her against his thumb while Ghost dragged his fingers across the sensitive spot on the inside. Back and forth, he stimulated both until she gripped his hair so hard that he could feel it pulling on the follicles.

That was what he needed to pull his hand out, tear off the remainder of his suit, and lift her from the bench to return to their original position. Helia cried out as he entered her, dropping her hips down on him with such force that Ghost joined her with a grunt of pleasure. Tip to hilt, Helia's insides squeezed him, and his moans were drowned out by Helia's as she gave him no time to enjoy the way he filled her. Lust had Helia bucking, her wild upward arches gripping and pulling him until he slipped out with a wet pop, and his erection barely tasted air before she fell on him with her full weight, bending so that he ground into the overstimulated point of her pleasure.

Ghost kissed the side of Helia's neck, sucking the skin between his teeth to mark her, the need to leave himself all over her overpowering any sense as he wandered a row of light bruises down to her shoulder. Not once did he let his fangs taint the experience as her breasts ran her hard nipples up and down his chest. At their height, they grazed his lips, and Helia paused to linger as he licked the hard nubs. Hovering that way had her dripping on him lower like sweet rain before she lowered the deluge over him again and wrapped him until they fit together with perfection.

"Ghost," Helia's voice shook as she whispered his name into his mouth, still lifting and dropping her hips, though in tighter increments as she reached her plateau. "I love you."

Lips connected with his, Ghost arched deep and hard against Helia's point of pleasure, and her final moan of rapture ran her climax quivering down him. Ghost burst inside of her, pouring the first sexual pleasure he'd ever experienced with his own body into Helia. Her heightening moans and pleas for him to deepen everything had him working his last thrusts to drag out her pleasure as long as he could manage. Helia dug her hands into his behind to keep as firmly against him as she could, and her teeth near broke skin as she bit into his shoulder at the peak of her climax.

Coming off of the high with Helia's lips resting on a bruise he willed not to heal was just as satisfying as the rest. The quick, yet slowing breaths against his skin, the slump of her body as she molded into his muscles, and the residual sensitivity that had his every fidget pushing a soft moan from her lips. Helia had been right. This was everything he'd ever dreamed, someone accepting him for what he was, loving every part of him body and soul, and trusting him with their softest sides in return.

"Ghost?" Helia breathed his name out onto his shoulder when he hadn't moved.

With his arms wrapping her—one behind her neck sunk into her hair and the other draped down her back and dangerously planted between her hips and her behind—her head was in the perfect position to flood his senses. It was impossible to move and give up the scent of sweat from exertion and pleasure, the waning lust as she drifted into blissful euphoria, but the wisp of concern gave him pause.

"Is my dark magic uncomfortable against your skin?" Ghost asked, trying to loosen his grip, but his hands didn't comply. With one pressed to her head, it must have her brain buzzing from the dark magic saturating him.

"Well, no," Helia mumbled, fiddling with her fingers along his lower back until she lifted a hand to rest on his shoulder. "I rather like you embracing me. You're abnormally gentle. After being with Stone, I guess I was expecting something a little different from a vampire with his memories."

"I'm sorry—"

"No, don't apologize. You are a much different lover, Ghost, but that's not a bad thing."

Helia laughed against him, and it ran shivers down his spine that had him kissing her hair and running his knuckles up and down her back in a slow, back and forth rhythm.

"I'm so used to men coming on to me that it was something entirely different to have you caress me so delicately, to hold and kiss me slowly like you'd rather be doing nothing else in the world. It made me feel cherished and loved for who I am more than my body, and most men don't bother with that."

"I would not be satisfied if I did not make you feel cherished," Ghost said into the side of her face, kissing her ear until it reddened. "Thank you, Helia," Ghost finally whispered onto her forehead, kissing the skin there more gently than the rest.

"For having sex with you?" Helia asked with a small chuckle, and it drew a smile on his lips.

"For allowing someone like me to make love to you," Ghost said with a gentle sigh that ran her scent through him enough to relax his hold on her. "You know little of me, though I hope to rectify that when time presents. I did not choose to become a vampire, and before, I experienced only cruelty under their kind, so reconciling with what I am has been a long and painful journey.

"You allowing me to touch you intimately without fear or repulsion eases a part of my soul that had yet to find rest despite it all. It reinforced that I am not a product of my physical creation but the culmination of the life I choose to live, the choices I made to maintain my virtue, and innocent of the evils that bore me."

Helia was silent so long that Ghost worried he'd scared her off, but she lifted a hand to his face, and a low purr slipped from his lips as she ran her fingers down his chin.

"Ghost."

"Yes?"

"Have you never had sex before?"

"Not..." Consensually. Ghost figured this was a poor time to bring any of that up, so he took the easier route for the time being. "No, I have not, Helia. You are the first and only woman I ever hope to know intimately."

Someday, if Helia chose to be with him after knowing what that entailed, he would share everything with her. But everything was a lot, and right now Helia needed comfort and the safety of his arms. Too much was going on in her life to burden her with the weight of his past long since left behind.

"Can I ask you something that you'll promise not to judge me for?" Helia mumbled against his skin, rolling her fingers on his shoulder in thought.

"I would never deign to such cruel assessment." Ghost's words had her rubbing her face against the skin between his neck and shoulder, and he waited patiently.

"Can vampires keep it up indefinitely?"

Ghost's laugh came out of his mouth without much consent, and Helia's groan was sweet against his ears. The movement had him leaking out of her onto his groin, and he sighed as he knew there was no keeping his suit. Helia might as well burn it after this.

"Yes, Helia, to a point. Our bodies do not get exhausted the same way a human male might, though there is the issue of continued arousal as well as the eventual necessity for sleep."

"Well was it enough?" Helia's question had him pausing a moment as he tried to dig meaning out of her glowing amber eyes. The moon lit them like torches, and he couldn't help but drift into their warmth. "You said last time wasn't enough for you, that you wanted time to explore your desires. Did you do enough exploring?"

Ghost flashed her a smile as he eased her off on him to sit adjacent on the bench. It was a mess, and he sacrificed what was left of his suit to clean what he could off of himself. Only when he could stand in the moonlight without looking like a sodden log, did he answer.

"Perhaps Stone misspoke," Ghost rubbed his neck. "I will never have enough of you, but you yourself are always enough. This was sufficient time for me to learn the feel and shape of your body, but there is always use for further exploration."

"Wise ass," Helia chuckled as she headed out of the room and into an adjacent bathroom.

Water turned on only briefly as she used the facilities and cleaned herself up, but she came out just as naked as she entered. Ghost, however, had taken the time to steal some clothes from her wardrobe, and Helia looked him up and down. They were much the same as Stone's, a black fitted waistcoat over white, airy sleeves, and suit pants that he imagined were stocked for a much slimmer mage than Horus. Ghost wasn't that broad of form, nor would he fit into anyone's shoes, so he was barefoot.

"Didn't realize I was a dine-and-dash," Helia grumbled, and Ghost inclined his head with an apologetic crinkle of his lips. "It's all right. I didn't expect you to stay so I could sleep between you two." Helia paused, a blush coloring her light skin. "Though sometime, that might be nice, if you fix your connection or whatnot." Helia was completely red by the end of her words, and she tucked herself under the covers with a huff and a groan as she sank into the mattress.

"I would like that," Ghost nearly whispered, but Helia caught the sound with the absence of anything to obscure it. "And I would stay, but my master is in need of me as much as I am in need of a shower before I see him."

"Ah yes, your master." Helia's neck tightened in apprehension before she flopped completely on the bed. Drowsiness pushed a breath out of her as she scooted closer to Stone and tucked him into her chest with the blankets over them. "Remind him not to brutally murder me for stealing you."

"You are safe,Helia Cinder, as you have always been. Please rest at ease, and I will see youwith the rise of the sun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 2093