by Nikki Noffsinger
Nikki is a published author and fan of J.R. Ward's Brotherhood. You can visit Nikki at her website HERE
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Nikki is a published author and fan of J.R. Ward's Brotherhood. You can visit Nikki at her website HERE
* * * * *
Rehvenge hugged Ehlena closer as they sat in the ornate country open carriage. He had reserved it as a treat for Ehlena. He would never have done anything like this for anyone else since he felt the mildly cool evening air like an arctic blast even underneath his suit jacket, overcoat, Cashmere duster, and the heavy wool blanket spread across them. Ehlena knew how excruciating this was for Rehvenge but he had been so excited when he had led her blindfolded out to the front where the carriage was waiting. She wrapped her arm around his middle so she could lend not only her love but her warmth to him as well. They rode down the historical district, over cobblestone streets and through a park that was still lit with gas lights. The sky was clear, the moon was nearly full and it was beautifully romantic.
When the carriage brought them back to the house, Rehvenge steadied himself with his cane and helped Ehlena down. They entered the house and immediately a fire sprang up. Rehvenge started to lead Ehlena to the couch, but she raised up and kissed him lightly on the lips and told him she'd be back in a few minutes. Rehvenge shrugged off his coats and walked over to the couch and watched the flames lick over the logs as they cast a golden glow.
Ehlena appeared just moments later wearing her old nurses uniform complete with white stockings. When Rehv caught sight of her, his jaw dropped. She walked slowly, seductively toward him. He took her in from her long legs up. Ehlena crawled up onto his lap and nipped at his chin. Rehvenge growled low in his chest as he rubbed his hands up over her back and shoulders and down the front. He let his hands linger over her breasts before he began to slowly unbutton the small white buttons while capturing her mouth.
Elizabeth felt spellbound as she watched the two lovers stroke and caress one another, while they exchanged passionate, heated kisses. An ache in her heart and a ghostly tear began to streak down her cheek as she remembered all those nights with her beloved. She had been happy, and everything seemed so bright and full of promise back then! She was lost in the past until the scene in front of her horrified her.
Rehvenge could feel Ehlena's release and his own was not far behind and as he felt the pressure well up, he bared his fangs and struck the vein at her neck while driving himself hard into her core where he spilled his seed within her. Ehlena cried out in ecstasy as he came, which fueled another orgasm to tear through her as she felt his fangs break the skin of her neck. Ehlena was a fine full bodied wine; thick and decadent. When he had taken enough, he stroked her neck with his tongue to seal the puncture wounds and held her close while the rest of the tremors went through him.
Elizabeth had seen with her own eyes, long razor sharp teeth that had pierced that woman's neck like some animal going for a kill! She'd heard her scream out! In that split second she thought back to how her own life was taken from her and she would not see this innocent die! She had to do something!
Just as Rehvenge was leaning down to kiss Ehlena, there was a loud shrieking and the house began to shake as if there were an earthquake. Rehv was up in seconds while Ehlena wrapped a throw blanket around herself. Books and odds and ends fell off the shelves, the fire from the fireplace flamed up high, and Rehvenge grabbed Ehlena in the nick of time before she was injured by the flames. He held her close and his vision was colored in red. Something was causing this and he would defend his Shellan with his life, but the fuckers were going to bleed out slow and beg for death before he would give in and be charitable!
Ehlena held on to Rehvenge through the malestorm. "Rehvenge, what's going on?"
Rehv shook his head. He could sense a burst of emotional energy, he could see the grid and whatever it was, was furious!
Ehlena tried to look around the room but things were flying off shelves and glass was shattering. It was as if a tornado was taking place inside the house. The roar was nearly deafening! Rehv had had enough of this! He kept Ehlena close but gathered all his anger and will as he had that night at the Colony and let out a roar that stilled the entire house.
Elizabeth hadn't meant to scare the innocent woman, but when that man or beast or whatever the demon was let out a roar she felt such a burst of energy that it nearly knocked her back, and that was saying a lot since she was incorporeal. She tried to summon more energy, but she couldn't. She had totally sapped herself out.
Rehv cautiously and carefully maneuvered himself through the living room, drawn to the faint energy he was sensing. Ehlena followed behind him. Rehv found the source of the trouble, standing before him was the ghost of a woman and she looked as if hell was in front of her. She was right on that account because at this moment, Rehv was ready to eat her dead or alive!
Elizabeth was looking at a monster in the guise of a man. Since she had used up her reserve energy trying to save the woman, she was visible.
Rehv hissed at her, not caring she saw his fangs. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"
Elizabeth looked between him and the woman. She was terrified but she tamped it down and lifted her chin. "I am Elizabeth and you will not harm the woman so long as I am here!"
Okay, that was like a kick in the stomach. Harm Ehlena? Why would he harm Ehlena? The only harm had been from what the ghost woman had done.
"Why would I harm my Shel—" Ehlena nudged her Hellren, "my wife?" he growled.
Elizabeth was confused now. They were married? Who could be married to a demon?
Ehlena could see the indecision on the woman's ghostly face. She patted Rehvenge's hand to try and calm him.
"Yes, I am his wife and I am afraid you've witnessed something that has you thinking something terrible," Ehlena said softly.
Elizabeth stuttered, "I saw him....I s-saw him bite you! I saw his," she cringed, "teeth."
Rehvenge was still trying to think of ways he could tear this ghost a new one. However, Ehlena took center stage.
"I wanted him to bite me. If you hadn't interrupted, I would have bitten him back. It's the way we feed. We have to or we would die. It's our way."
Elizabeth's face screwed up as if she were disgusted. "What are you?"
Rehvenge growled even louder. "We're a different species from human!"
"Demons?" She whimpered.
Ehlena answered before Rehv could growl again. "No, I assure you we are not evil creatures. We do not feed off humans, just our mates. Are you the ghost of this house?"
Elizabeth was in utter disbelief but nodded her head slowly.
"Did you die in this house?" Ehlena asked softly.
Again, Elizabeth nodded.
"Were you murdered, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth wrapped her ghostly arms around herself and looked away sorrow enveloping her. "Yes. It was because of that, I didn't want you hurt! I was standing up on the landing waiting for my beloved Josiah to come home from work. I had made a new dress and it was to be our anniversary. We hadn't been married long, but we had so many splendid plans. There was a commotion down in the kitchen where our maid Tilly worked, and then a shriek. I was half way down the stairs when a man with a gun stepped out. I screamed and he seized me. There was a struggle and he kept beating me about the head. He was there to rob us, and even though his cohort had already searched the house, the man grabbed me up to take me but I fought him. He threw me over the banister and that's all I remember." She looked at them through sad eyes.
Ehlena's heart clenched in her chest. Rehv suddenly remembered all those times his Mahmen had been hit by his step-father, and he felt compassion for the woman as his rage fled.
Ehlena wished she could reach out to the woman, but like Doc Jane, her hand would have gone straight through. Only when Doc Jane was in corporeal form could she be touched. Then Ehlena had an idea!
"Have you never found Josiah since his own passing?" she asked.
Elizabeth couldn't stop the tears. "No, and I've looked for him, but I am bound to this house. I cannot even take a step off the porch."
Ehlena thought as much. She leaned up and whispered something in Rehvenge's ear and he looked at her as he thought it over. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. She never ceased to amaze him.
"If there was a way to find him, would you be able to cross over happily then?" Rehv asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "I believe so. It's because my love is so strong, that I think it's why I cannot leave this house. I miss him so much! I had thought that when Josiah passed away, that we would be reunited then, but it was not so since he died at a hospital and not this house."
Rehv did something unexpected, he smiled. "Well toots, if I were you I would get ready for a love connection!"
He took out his cell phone and called the Mansion that housed the legendary Black Dagger Brotherhood, the warriors for his kind. Well the better half of his people anyway.
* * * * *
Ehlena and Rehvenge cleaned up as much as they could. The Doggen would have to clean up the rest in the morning. Elizabeth kept trying to help, but her energy was at an all time low. She would have never believed such beings existed, but here they were. Rehvenge had been patched through to Brother Vishous–son of the Bloodletter, one of the most lethal of the Black Dagger Brotherhood members. Vishous and his Shellan Jane would soon be arriving. Rehvenge hoped that Jane would be able to find Josiah in the Fade and bring him or at least take Elizabeth to meet her dearly departed husband.
A few hours later, Vishous and Jane arrived. Vishous was dressed in black with his typical Sox cap pulled down, but he scared the afterlife right out of Elizabeth. He was tattooed with strange markings that made her uneasy. He wore a glove on his right hand and had a cigarette in his other. His wife, or Shellan as Ehlena had explained to her, was right at his side. She was average height with short blonde, spiky hair and kind eyes. Rehv and this man had some words and Ehlena gave the woman they called Jane a quick hug. Then right before Elizabeth's eyes, Jane was as transparent as she was! She winked at Elizabeth and was gone.
The man in the Sox hat casually reclined on the back of the sofa and kept up the conversation as if his wife hadn't just turned into a ghost and disappeared. Ehlena gave Elizabeth an encouraging smile.
Jane was back within moments with a familiar looking man in tow.
Elizabeth couldn't breathe! She couldn't move! It was her Josiah!
Josiah couldn't believe his eyes! All these years wondering and trying to get back to his dear wife, and now here he was right in front of her! He stepped in front of the woman who had found him and embraced his wife.
"My Lizzie! Oh my sweet, sweet girl! How I have missed you!" he cried.
Elizabeth let her ghostly tears fall and searched the face that had been in her heart's memory for so very long.
"I didn't think we'd ever find each other again!" she cried with joy.
"Um, I hate to break up the happy reunion, but I have to get you two back to the Fade. The Scribe Virgin doesn't allow people to come and go as I can," Jane explained in her matter-of-fact doctor kind of way.
Elizabeth kept her hand tightly clasped with Josiah's. She took one last look at Ehlena and Rehvenge.
"Thank You" she mouthed as they all three disappeared.
* * * * *
It was morning and the Doggen had arrived and were cleaning the rest of the house. Jane and Vishous had dematerialized just before sunrise. Ehlena snuggled close to her Hellren. Rehvenge kissed her softly on the cheek.
"Well, aside from the Haunted House Show, did you like our little retreat?" Rehv whispered against her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck.
Ehlena smiled up at him and cupped his cheek. "My love, any time I have with you is a gift and it doesn't matter if we're at the mansion or some romantic getaway complete with ghosts! I love you! You are my life, my soul, and my Hellren!"
Rehv's heart swelled as he pulled his Shellan closer so that he could kiss her until she was deliriously drunk from it. This was what he had dreamed about his whole life–having Ehlena to love and accept him regardless of the things he had trouble accepting about himself. They had been only dreams until she had came into his life and had refused to just walk away.
When the carriage brought them back to the house, Rehvenge steadied himself with his cane and helped Ehlena down. They entered the house and immediately a fire sprang up. Rehvenge started to lead Ehlena to the couch, but she raised up and kissed him lightly on the lips and told him she'd be back in a few minutes. Rehvenge shrugged off his coats and walked over to the couch and watched the flames lick over the logs as they cast a golden glow.
Ehlena appeared just moments later wearing her old nurses uniform complete with white stockings. When Rehv caught sight of her, his jaw dropped. She walked slowly, seductively toward him. He took her in from her long legs up. Ehlena crawled up onto his lap and nipped at his chin. Rehvenge growled low in his chest as he rubbed his hands up over her back and shoulders and down the front. He let his hands linger over her breasts before he began to slowly unbutton the small white buttons while capturing her mouth.
Elizabeth felt spellbound as she watched the two lovers stroke and caress one another, while they exchanged passionate, heated kisses. An ache in her heart and a ghostly tear began to streak down her cheek as she remembered all those nights with her beloved. She had been happy, and everything seemed so bright and full of promise back then! She was lost in the past until the scene in front of her horrified her.
Rehvenge could feel Ehlena's release and his own was not far behind and as he felt the pressure well up, he bared his fangs and struck the vein at her neck while driving himself hard into her core where he spilled his seed within her. Ehlena cried out in ecstasy as he came, which fueled another orgasm to tear through her as she felt his fangs break the skin of her neck. Ehlena was a fine full bodied wine; thick and decadent. When he had taken enough, he stroked her neck with his tongue to seal the puncture wounds and held her close while the rest of the tremors went through him.
Elizabeth had seen with her own eyes, long razor sharp teeth that had pierced that woman's neck like some animal going for a kill! She'd heard her scream out! In that split second she thought back to how her own life was taken from her and she would not see this innocent die! She had to do something!
Just as Rehvenge was leaning down to kiss Ehlena, there was a loud shrieking and the house began to shake as if there were an earthquake. Rehv was up in seconds while Ehlena wrapped a throw blanket around herself. Books and odds and ends fell off the shelves, the fire from the fireplace flamed up high, and Rehvenge grabbed Ehlena in the nick of time before she was injured by the flames. He held her close and his vision was colored in red. Something was causing this and he would defend his Shellan with his life, but the fuckers were going to bleed out slow and beg for death before he would give in and be charitable!
Ehlena held on to Rehvenge through the malestorm. "Rehvenge, what's going on?"
Rehv shook his head. He could sense a burst of emotional energy, he could see the grid and whatever it was, was furious!
Ehlena tried to look around the room but things were flying off shelves and glass was shattering. It was as if a tornado was taking place inside the house. The roar was nearly deafening! Rehv had had enough of this! He kept Ehlena close but gathered all his anger and will as he had that night at the Colony and let out a roar that stilled the entire house.
Elizabeth hadn't meant to scare the innocent woman, but when that man or beast or whatever the demon was let out a roar she felt such a burst of energy that it nearly knocked her back, and that was saying a lot since she was incorporeal. She tried to summon more energy, but she couldn't. She had totally sapped herself out.
Rehv cautiously and carefully maneuvered himself through the living room, drawn to the faint energy he was sensing. Ehlena followed behind him. Rehv found the source of the trouble, standing before him was the ghost of a woman and she looked as if hell was in front of her. She was right on that account because at this moment, Rehv was ready to eat her dead or alive!
Elizabeth was looking at a monster in the guise of a man. Since she had used up her reserve energy trying to save the woman, she was visible.
Rehv hissed at her, not caring she saw his fangs. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"
Elizabeth looked between him and the woman. She was terrified but she tamped it down and lifted her chin. "I am Elizabeth and you will not harm the woman so long as I am here!"
Okay, that was like a kick in the stomach. Harm Ehlena? Why would he harm Ehlena? The only harm had been from what the ghost woman had done.
"Why would I harm my Shel—" Ehlena nudged her Hellren, "my wife?" he growled.
Elizabeth was confused now. They were married? Who could be married to a demon?
Ehlena could see the indecision on the woman's ghostly face. She patted Rehvenge's hand to try and calm him.
"Yes, I am his wife and I am afraid you've witnessed something that has you thinking something terrible," Ehlena said softly.
Elizabeth stuttered, "I saw him....I s-saw him bite you! I saw his," she cringed, "teeth."
Rehvenge was still trying to think of ways he could tear this ghost a new one. However, Ehlena took center stage.
"I wanted him to bite me. If you hadn't interrupted, I would have bitten him back. It's the way we feed. We have to or we would die. It's our way."
Elizabeth's face screwed up as if she were disgusted. "What are you?"
Rehvenge growled even louder. "We're a different species from human!"
"Demons?" She whimpered.
Ehlena answered before Rehv could growl again. "No, I assure you we are not evil creatures. We do not feed off humans, just our mates. Are you the ghost of this house?"
Elizabeth was in utter disbelief but nodded her head slowly.
"Did you die in this house?" Ehlena asked softly.
Again, Elizabeth nodded.
"Were you murdered, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth wrapped her ghostly arms around herself and looked away sorrow enveloping her. "Yes. It was because of that, I didn't want you hurt! I was standing up on the landing waiting for my beloved Josiah to come home from work. I had made a new dress and it was to be our anniversary. We hadn't been married long, but we had so many splendid plans. There was a commotion down in the kitchen where our maid Tilly worked, and then a shriek. I was half way down the stairs when a man with a gun stepped out. I screamed and he seized me. There was a struggle and he kept beating me about the head. He was there to rob us, and even though his cohort had already searched the house, the man grabbed me up to take me but I fought him. He threw me over the banister and that's all I remember." She looked at them through sad eyes.
Ehlena's heart clenched in her chest. Rehv suddenly remembered all those times his Mahmen had been hit by his step-father, and he felt compassion for the woman as his rage fled.
Ehlena wished she could reach out to the woman, but like Doc Jane, her hand would have gone straight through. Only when Doc Jane was in corporeal form could she be touched. Then Ehlena had an idea!
"Have you never found Josiah since his own passing?" she asked.
Elizabeth couldn't stop the tears. "No, and I've looked for him, but I am bound to this house. I cannot even take a step off the porch."
Ehlena thought as much. She leaned up and whispered something in Rehvenge's ear and he looked at her as he thought it over. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. She never ceased to amaze him.
"If there was a way to find him, would you be able to cross over happily then?" Rehv asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "I believe so. It's because my love is so strong, that I think it's why I cannot leave this house. I miss him so much! I had thought that when Josiah passed away, that we would be reunited then, but it was not so since he died at a hospital and not this house."
Rehv did something unexpected, he smiled. "Well toots, if I were you I would get ready for a love connection!"
He took out his cell phone and called the Mansion that housed the legendary Black Dagger Brotherhood, the warriors for his kind. Well the better half of his people anyway.
* * * * *
Ehlena and Rehvenge cleaned up as much as they could. The Doggen would have to clean up the rest in the morning. Elizabeth kept trying to help, but her energy was at an all time low. She would have never believed such beings existed, but here they were. Rehvenge had been patched through to Brother Vishous–son of the Bloodletter, one of the most lethal of the Black Dagger Brotherhood members. Vishous and his Shellan Jane would soon be arriving. Rehvenge hoped that Jane would be able to find Josiah in the Fade and bring him or at least take Elizabeth to meet her dearly departed husband.
A few hours later, Vishous and Jane arrived. Vishous was dressed in black with his typical Sox cap pulled down, but he scared the afterlife right out of Elizabeth. He was tattooed with strange markings that made her uneasy. He wore a glove on his right hand and had a cigarette in his other. His wife, or Shellan as Ehlena had explained to her, was right at his side. She was average height with short blonde, spiky hair and kind eyes. Rehv and this man had some words and Ehlena gave the woman they called Jane a quick hug. Then right before Elizabeth's eyes, Jane was as transparent as she was! She winked at Elizabeth and was gone.
The man in the Sox hat casually reclined on the back of the sofa and kept up the conversation as if his wife hadn't just turned into a ghost and disappeared. Ehlena gave Elizabeth an encouraging smile.
Jane was back within moments with a familiar looking man in tow.
Elizabeth couldn't breathe! She couldn't move! It was her Josiah!
Josiah couldn't believe his eyes! All these years wondering and trying to get back to his dear wife, and now here he was right in front of her! He stepped in front of the woman who had found him and embraced his wife.
"My Lizzie! Oh my sweet, sweet girl! How I have missed you!" he cried.
Elizabeth let her ghostly tears fall and searched the face that had been in her heart's memory for so very long.
"I didn't think we'd ever find each other again!" she cried with joy.
"Um, I hate to break up the happy reunion, but I have to get you two back to the Fade. The Scribe Virgin doesn't allow people to come and go as I can," Jane explained in her matter-of-fact doctor kind of way.
Elizabeth kept her hand tightly clasped with Josiah's. She took one last look at Ehlena and Rehvenge.
"Thank You" she mouthed as they all three disappeared.
* * * * *
It was morning and the Doggen had arrived and were cleaning the rest of the house. Jane and Vishous had dematerialized just before sunrise. Ehlena snuggled close to her Hellren. Rehvenge kissed her softly on the cheek.
"Well, aside from the Haunted House Show, did you like our little retreat?" Rehv whispered against her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck.
Ehlena smiled up at him and cupped his cheek. "My love, any time I have with you is a gift and it doesn't matter if we're at the mansion or some romantic getaway complete with ghosts! I love you! You are my life, my soul, and my Hellren!"
Rehv's heart swelled as he pulled his Shellan closer so that he could kiss her until she was deliriously drunk from it. This was what he had dreamed about his whole life–having Ehlena to love and accept him regardless of the things he had trouble accepting about himself. They had been only dreams until she had came into his life and had refused to just walk away.
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