Flowing around her in the darkness.
A thousand touches stroked Ariana’s skin as magic eased all around her now. Lucca’s energy stroked her like feathers made of spider’s silk; as his magic smoothed over her, his hands grew hot at her back. As he stroked her with his fingertips also now, Ariana shivered with delight. His lips fell open as his eyes blazed; pulling her in firmly, his strong warrior’s body bent around her as his breath came fast. Her hands on his chest, she could feel how hard his heart beat as his power curled all around her in the night.
Lowering his head, Lucca whispered his soft lips over hers – and Ariana felt a hum rise suddenly in her magics. Like a shimmer of music in the night, that sound was like waterfalls pouring over silver instruments as she inhaled, listening to it. But that ephemeral sound was inside her and all around her; as she felt it pour through her, it flared her magic tenfold. As if her own magic were resonating with Lucca’s now, Ariana saw silver and gold sear through his magics also as her entire aura vibrated with that amazing sound.
And Lucca’s returned it.
Similar to the haunting music her aura had made with Quinn the night they’d been in the waterfall grotto, and again when they’d become bonded by his Master’s Kiss – and had been cropping up yet again these past few days – this was a deep, amazing resonance with Lucca now. But Ariana didn’t share any official magical bond with him, not like she did with Quinn. Yet as she stared up at him, amazed as that sound poured all through her, it felt like they were already sharing some kind of bond. Something important, as her lips fell open and Lucca was lit by the most beautiful look.
And he lowered his lips – kissing her in the night.
Lucca’s kiss was like sugar and sunbeams as Ariana fell into him, winding her arms up around his neck. Soft touches became deeper presses of lips and tongues as light and sound cascaded through her. Winding her more solidly in his arms, Lucca pressed into her with urgency now. Ariana felt that light and resonance become a blaze inside them both, passion heating between them like a summer’s day. And as Lucca’s power whirled around her, Ariana felt how it swept her up.
As if it could fly her to far-off places.
Eros careened between them as they kissed. Ariana smelled wine grapes, sunlight, and fields of lavender in Lucca’s scent as his power formed true wings now, curling around her in the night. As they both shuddered with the beautiful music resonating between them, Ariana gasped to feel every filament of Lucca’s blazing sunlight stroke her.
Lucca’s magic poured through her lips and down her throat like sunlit rivers; and Ariana felt her power do the same as it flowed into him. A beautiful bright-darkness devoured them both as that resonance sang between them – the opposite of Quinn’s dark-brightness.
A needful sound left Lucca; truly devouring her now, he braced her close, cupping one hand behind her head to take her harder as their song careened in the night. As he ground into her, Ariana could feel how hard he was; gasping as their kiss finally broke, she trembled like a leaf from his and her need.
Her entire body humming with ecstasy as she gazed up at him.
“I like that look, Ariana Summers.” Lucca spoke as he pulled her deeply against him, cupping her neck and stroking her with his fingertips. “A man would die for a look like that.”
“A woman is already dying from how a man kisses!” Ariana breathed hard now as she melted to his warm, strong body; decadently hard yet willowy like a dancer’s.
“You’re not dying. You’realive, Ariana.” Lucca murmured with disastrously sexy pleasure now. “The Fae side of your power sings when we’re together… and so does mine.”
“That resonance just now.” Ariana breathed as she gazed up at Lucca. The sound had ceased now that they were no longer kissing, though she could feel how deeply her powers and Lucca’s were still braided, flowing like they were stirred by a midnight wind.
“It’s the Music of the Spheres.” Lucca answered as he brushed his lips over hers again, and the sound crystallized the night once more. Softer than before, it breathed with a lyric resonance all through Ariana as Lucca’s lips touched hers. “We’re resonating, Ariana. When this music rises between two Fae, it’s known as alife-resonance, though the sound we’re hearing is called the Music of the Spheres. Life-resonance is an indication of true mates, of compatible magics and personalities that could form a life-bond. If both people want to.”
“So our magics are recognizing we could become life partners?” Ariana breathed, amazed but strangely humbled as something beautiful unfurled inside her at the thought of spending her entire life with Lucca. But then she recalled that she and Quinn had shared a similar resonance, multiple times now. But the sound her power had made with Quinn when they resonated had been darker, stranger, and more beautifully macabre. The thought stopped Ariana as she pulled back from Lucca.
“Ariana? Is something wrong?” Frowning, he held her close as he gazed down at her.
“No, I just… felt a resonance like this with Quinn. Twice now, a least. Probably more.” She spoke quietly, pensive as she looked back up. “It’s darker, stranger… but it happened once when we shared a deep intimacy during a concert, then again when we were joined by his Master’s Kiss. And I think it has also been happening these past few days.”
“You’ve resonated like this with Quinn?” Lucca’s ash-blond eyebrows lifted in astonishment. “But that shouldn’t be possible with a Vampire. Death-magics can’t create the Music… it’s born from the resonance of universal life. Fae, Angelics, and certain immensely powerful Crystal Dragons are the only Lineages that can create the Music. And most can’t wield it, it only happens under certain natural circumstances like the life-resonance. Are you sure that’s what you experienced with Quinn?”
“I mean, it was strange music.” Ariana frowned now as she looked up at Lucca. “It wasn’t the same as what happened just now with you and me… but it has definitely happened with Quinn.”
As Lucca blinked again, frowning with a perplexed look now, Ariana felt his power ease around her in the night. As their magics came unbraided and Lucca churned over what Ariana had just told him, she could suddenly feel the nighttime bridge and the city around them again.
She hadn’t even realized their power had cocooned them in the night, as if blocking their tryst off from any passersby, when she heard a cart like a gelato-seller’s rumble by. Glancing past the gargoyle’s wing, she saw a gilded cart being pushed across the bridge by a lean Vampire man with a studded black leather jacket, jeans, and combat boots. The cart was full of foodstuffs, but as it rolled by for the man to set it up somewhere for the night, Ariana noticed a blood-fountain burbling on top, keeping the essential Vampire beverage warm for evening patrons.
As the blood-fountain caught her attention, she suddenly saw a surge of black shadows whirl around the man and his cart. As if some kind of wrathful darkness had surged out of the man, it swirled so fast and hard in the night that Ariana caught her breath. But the Vampire man didn’t seem to notice it as malevolent gold eyes manifested now inside that seething maelstrom.
As if the man had a demon clamped to his shoulders, riding his back and causing that surge of utterly black density, Ariana jolted as she saw those golden eyes – the same Vampire Revenant from the Pitti Palace, haunting her yet again. As she saw it, she felt the creature smile at her coldly in the night.
And send out a command this time – straight into her mind.
Unleash your Night, Ariana. And do not be afraid of the power it brings.
The Revenant’s command was like a lance of pure energy all through Ariana’s system – and nothing else mattered as her vision suddenly blazed red. Ardor with Lucca rushed away as everything inside her trained upon the scent of blood in the night.
Like a demon, her power flared with massive dark rainbows as a black fire flooded Ariana. As a cavernous sensation like a devouring void opened up inside her, it was her need and Quinn’s both that hit her like a freight train. As the gold-eyed Revenant swirled out, Ariana jolted from a sudden rush of adrenaline.
