Not knowing what Quinn was talking about, he was blocking her so well from seeing his memories right now, Ariana moved around the stone bier until she stood beside Lucca. Inhaling, her eyes filled with tears as she reached out, moving her fingertips over Quinn’s sculpted shoulders and back.
Carved into his beautiful skin were ugly dark marks in the moonlight; brutally scrawled Vampiric sigils that she had never seen before. As she watched, they seemed to twist with living darkness in the night, vile and ugly as if made to ruin Quinn’s beautiful form.
He sighed as Ariana touched him.
And then shivered as Lucca’s fingertips gently touched his back also.
Ariana’s fingers fell away as Lucca’s touch moved over Quinn’s scars. Seeing the marks of Quinn’s Master in his flesh, a dark rage boiled up inside Ariana, wanting to kill Emiliana DiClario all over again for how she had abused him.
But it was Lucca’s beautifully bright energy, strangely, that pushed her fury back now. As Lucca’s sun-gold love wrapped around them all like a warm, safe blanket, a sigh left Quinn. Stroking Quinn’s wounds tenderly, Lucca set the blood-fang to Quinn’s shoulder and began the sigils again. But Ariana saw now how lovingly Lucca touched Quinn as he worked, leaving Quinn shuddering in the night. As Ariana clasped Quinn’s hand, he glanced over gratefully, tears streaming down his cheeks.
As Lucca continued – gently touching Quinn all the way.
It was soon done, Lucca finishing with Quinn’s palms and feet as he leaned upon Ariana. But as Lucca stepped in front of Quinn to do his face and their gazes connected, Ariana felt their powers blossom wide in the night. Agony and a deep rawness was in Quinn’s eyes as he let his tears fall; and Lucca quietly witnessed it, giving a sad, beautiful love back. Tension still moved between them, but it was slower now, deeper; as Lucca finished, Quinn let out an unsteady breath.
Both men pausing before Lucca turned, setting the relic aside upon the stone bier.
“What now?” Lucca asked quietly as he glanced to Quinn.
“Now we share blood and breath,” Quinn nodded to the wide, flat stone as he gradually mastered himself. “We go in reverse order, to bind the circle in the proper direction in which it needs to strengthen. Ariana will drink of Lucca’s blood first, then I will drink of Ariana’s, and then Lucca will drink of mine. After the drinking, the breath-energy part of the ceremony – the final part – should happen naturally. Please have a seat.”
As Quinn extended his hand to the stone, Ariana sat, curling up on one hip with her bare feet on the rock as Lucca took a seat beside her and Quinn moved around to the far side of the slab. The granite was cold and not comfortable to sit on naked; but even as Ariana had that thought, she felt Lucca’s energy pour through her, warming her in the night.
“Better?” He asked as he reached out, smoothing his hand over hers.
“How did you know?” Ariana smiled as his warming blaze filled her.
“Reading your mind already, I think, courtesy of the ritual.” He smiled wryly, though as Quinn settled, he glanced over.
“Ariana.” Quinn nodded to her. “There is no particular ceremony for this part. Simply choose a vein from Lucca and drink. For as long as you and he wish to.”
“Okay.” Facing Lucca now, Ariana watched him in the night. He was beautiful, blazing to Quinn’s luminous darkness; as he reached out, brushing a lock of her red hair from her face and touching her chin with his fingertips, Ariana’s breath caught. She felt his power swirl through her from the binding of the ritual. It was like a warm bath cascading all through her as he gazed deep into her eyes, his irises brightening beneath the summer stars.
She didn’t know how they’d moved closer, as Lucca gathered her in his arms. Staring up at him, Ariana was blessed by his beautiful energy rushing through her as their gazes connected and his strong, warm hands spread over her back, holding her. Bending down, Lucca whispered his lips over hers as his magic rose like a bright noontime sky all around, shimmering with rainbows.
“Where do you want me?” He whispered as he held her close.
“Neck.” She breathed as a sudden lust pounded inside her. His chest was pressed to hers, their bodies woven intimately together now; Ariana wondered if she had lost time again or if it was simply the ritual mesmerizing her as a sweet honey-lavender scent issued from Lucca, filling her nostrils and coursing over her tongue. Ariana lifted up, breathing by his neck. As her fangs slid out, her lips opened, whispering over his skin now as she inhaled him.
Sighing in delight, Lucca pulled her closer, lifting Ariana into his lap now so she could reach the place on his neck that she wanted. Wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her tightly into his arms, powerful and solid, she felt him press into her hip, hard with anticipation.
He cried out as she struck – sinking her fangs into him. But then he crushed her close as her powers opened, taking him in the night. Ariana didn’t know how to mesmerize with her magic, but she felt her power do it for her as Lucca’s blood slid across her tongue and she swallowed, drinking him down. But even as her power possessed him, his energy possessed her; diving deep into her via the blood-sigils. Ariana was filled with a fire of solstice suns as she cried out, breaking from Lucca’s neck and feeling his magic thrust deep inside her from his blood. In a carnal, bright rage he flowed through her, devouring every part of her.
As he devoured her lips now – kissing her with abandon.
Music surged from Ariana as she and Lucca kissed, resonating through this bright bond they formed. Ariana didn’t know how long their kiss lasted; she was too far gone in a glorious brightness and sound and heat as she and Lucca shared their power upon the stone.
She felt him take her, living and gleeful deep inside her with every press of his amazing kiss. Smelting into her, he was letting no part of her go as he ate at her lips. Their bodies devoured each other and Ariana cried out, wanting to throw him down and fuck him right then and there. But as if Quinn kept a handle on the ceremony, he wrangled Ariana now by the nape of her neck, hauling her towards himself instead of Lucca.
As he bit down – deep into the side of her neck.
Ariana screamed as Quinn bit her, but it was not a scream of pain. It was a scream of pure pleasure as Lucca’s hands continued to pour over her and Quinn devoured her now, holding her steady by one hand gripped into her hair. Music careened through all three of them, incredible as both men’s powers poured into Ariana at once, locking around hers and chaining it deep with their strangely twinned dark-bright fires.
But the ritual wasn’t finished, even as Quinn broke from Ariana’s neck with a gasp, devouring her kiss with his bloody lips as Ariana ate him desperately back. She felt his fangs nick her but didn’t care as Quinn’s beautiful, diabolical power locked deep inside her to that amazing resonance and sound, just as deep and complete as Lucca’s.
But there was one last step as Lucca and Quinn suddenly faced each other, Lucca still holding Ariana in his lap and Quinn biting suddenly at his own wrist to open it up again for Lucca to drink. Hesitating, Lucca gasped from the resonance careening through them all as he stared into Quinn’s darkfire eyes.
And then raised Quinn’s wrist to his lips – and drank.
