“Lucca.” Ariana spoke firmly, brokering no bullshit as Lucca’s vivid blue eyes flicked to hers. “I know Quinn has hidden something from you yet again, but if you can’t do this tonight, we should quit now. I can already feel your anger tearing up the power we’re building. We need to open our hearts if this ritual is going to succeed – not be blaming or rageful. Can you find that space? Because if you can’t… then we should walk away. And Quinn and I will find something else to help control my power as it opens. Even if it is a padded room surrounded by wards.”
“I don’t want that for you, Ariana.” Lucca breathed as he watched her now, his blue eyes anguished. “You deserve better than being locked away for months, maybe even years until you can get your power under control.”
“That’s my choice. But you have a choice to make too – right now. Can you do this? Or do we walk away?” Ariana spoke firmly as she held a truthful space for them. All around, her magics cascaded through the night, flowing with dark rainbows beneath the moon though the vicious flashes of silver and gold had ceased. As Lucca watched her, he swallowed, his blue eyes flicking to Quinn. Ariana didn’t look at Quinn, but she felt him waiting beside her like a stone statue, cold and impeccable.
Hiding his emotions – because he was afraid Lucca would walk away.
“I’ll stay. I’ll stay…” Lucca breathed suddenly as his bright power swirled, flowing through the cemetery. Closing his eyes, he nodded before opening them and looking back to Quinn. As the two men watched each other, Ariana felt tension roar between them; a screaming sensation rang in her ears as Lucca faced Quinn with his fury and Quinn stood stalwartly in it.
But with a cool nod, Quinn moved back to Ariana now, beginning to decorate her palms with the blood-fang. Silence stretched between their trio as he had Ariana brace against him and he did the soles of her feet. He finished with sigils on her forehead and cheeks as she gazed up into his eyes, letting Lucca cool off nearby.
Quinn was quiet now, his power flowing in the night like a sea of shadows as he stepped back, taking in his handiwork. Pressing the fang into Ariana’s fingers, he motioned her towards the blood-bowl. “You are finished. Ariana, please inscribe Lucca now. And then he will do me, and I will open the ritual.”
Nodding, she took up the Vampire fang, dipping it in the silver blood-bowl. Stepping to Lucca, Quinn’s patterns were ingrained in her mind as she extended the fang, beginning to decorate Lucca’s chest.
As Ariana drew sigils upon him with Quinn’s blood, she felt Lucca come to a simmering silence from his former fury. Though he still seethed, it was as if he was being mesmerized by the relic and the blood working upon them in the moonlight; Ariana felt them all begin to settle into a place of power now as she worked. As she traced every inch of Lucca’s fit muscles, she felt a deep intimacy rise between them. Glancing up, she found his gaze tender upon her. Extending a hand, he cupped her jaw, brushing his thumb over her lips.
His blue eyes brighter in the night.
“I can feel it… drawing us close.” Lucca spoke quietly as his gaze flicked over Ariana’s shoulder to Quinn. He released her as she knelt, blushing to continue the sigils upon Lucca’s lean-muscled abdomen near his groin.
“This power is about sharing.” Quinn spoke quietly as he stepped closer. “We cannot master Ariana’s magic unless we draw close, Lucca. Sharing intimacy, trust… and more.”
“More?” Ariana asked as she glanced up, though Quinn only nodded her back to her work.
“We must all share physical touch as we bond tonight.” Quinn spoke now as Ariana finished Lucca’s ankles. Glancing at Lucca as she stepped behind him to do his shoulders and back, she saw he was holding Quinn’s gaze with a steady intensity. As Ariana’s sigils blossomed over him, she felt Lucca drawn into their circle, though his power was lancing as he continued to simmer.
“Lucca?” Quinn prompted quietly. “Share your thoughts, please. The success of this ritual depends on all of us being open and honest with each other tonight.”
“Honestly?” Lucca spoke with bitterness as he pinned Quinn with a steely blue gaze. “I’m not sure I can trust you, Quinn, with all your clandestine power schemes.”
“My power schemes benefit us all.” Quinn replied back softly. “But I’m not sure that is what you really want to say to me. Is it?”
“No.” Lucca growled now as Ariana knelt to do his amazing ass. Continuing with her sigils, she tried hard to focus on the conversation and not Lucca’s muscular rear. “You don’t have to control everything, Quinn.”
“Don’t I?” Quinn lifted an eyebrow at Lucca as Ariana moved down to his sculpted thighs.
“No, you don’t.” Lucca spoke hotly now as his power began to get deeply entwined into their circle, and Ariana felt a flare of his heat whip through her. As she stood, doing Lucca’s palms, he spoke with a barely-restrained rage at Quinn. “You’re always manipulating everyone from the shadows, Quinn, when you need to trust others and bring your burdens out into the light. Even back when we were Fae, you acted like this; commanding and solitary, orchestrating everything and not trusting a damn soul to help you.”
“The ceremony has not officially begun, Lucca.” Quinn spoke with a caustic darkness now as he stared Lucca down. “The three of us have not been completely bound by my blood yet. If you want to walk away, now’s the time. Ariana does not need you furious like this. Calm your anger, bright Fae, or we will lose control of this ritual.”
“That’s not fair and you know it.” Lucca growled back now as he balanced on Ariana and she did the soles of his feet. As Lucca watched Quinn with a dark fury, she rose to do his face. She felt a prickling ice-cold heat now as Lucca stared Quinn down rather than looking into her eyes. Seizing his face, she made him look at her as she decorated his forehead, but by the time she got to his cheeks, he was already looking back to Quinn.
Their powers were both bristling like fighting mongooses as Ariana finished. As she handed the fang-relic and bowl to Lucca so he could inscribe Quinn next, he suddenly stilled. Tension blazed between the two men as their gazes connected. But at last, Lucca gave a soft snort. Dipping the fang, he stepped forward and began inscribing sigils upon Quinn’s chest.
And then softened suddenly, as he watched the fang move over Quinn’s luminous alabaster skin.
Ariana could feel it as Quinn began to get roped into their bound power. As if his impeccable stillness calmed Lucca’s bright rage, Ariana felt the Master Vampire’s magic work on their trio now as the moon descended from the sky.
As Lucca’s art flowed over Quinn, Ariana felt him become entranced, watching his sigils move over Quinn’s gorgeous body in the starlight. Silent now, Lucca’s power began to flow around them in a far more gentle rhythm. Like a dance, it was alive with energy as it eased around them with brighter rainbows in the night. Somehow urgent to Quinn’s endless patience, Lucca’s power was the counterpoint to Quinn’s as their trio became roped together. But as Lucca stepped around to do Quinn’s back and shoulders, Ariana heard him gasp.
And then halt – staring at Quinn’s back in horror.
“Please continue the ritual, Lucca.” Quinn spoke quietly.
“Didshedo this to you?” Lucca hissed then, as a bright flash of fury surged through the night.
“Yes.” Quinn spoke very quietly, still as a marble god though Ariana could feel a sudden desperation inside him. “She thought it amusing to carve me up occasionally. She used relics like the one you’re holding… which when wielded like a weapon, take even the strongest Master Vampires decades to heal from. Those are the last of my scars; the rest have faded.”
