“Take her up, now, Dev. Give her pleasure.”

That was an easy one, and he began to move, the friction between them instant and needy, sharp like the pop of a whip over his flanks, as if to break him into a gallop. But he didn’t. Despite the drive of that whip, he worked her slow, deep, absorbed in every change in her face, how her eyes got darker, more glazed, the spasmodic way her body moved, pushing out sadness for pleasure.

It was like the rocking of a boat, being inside her, how the ocean would carry them to their fate, no matter what, and for now there was just this. He wasn’t overly surprised when Lyssa’s hand touched his bare back, but it certainly ratcheted up his own response when he realized the vampire queen had disrobed. Now she put her knee between his spread ones and lay her petite body all along his back, giving him the extra weight to bear, but also the sensation of her bare breasts and smooth mons at his shoulder blades and top dent of his arse, respectively. Her thigh pressed along the inside of his, so on the withdrawals, his testicles brushed her skin.

“Feed, Danny,” she said in a soft purr, a whisper of sound in the darkened room. “Let us share this delicious servant of yours.” The two women came from different sides. As Dev tilted his chin up, he realized Thomas was right. It had become an instinctive, automatic response to his lady’s need for nourishment. Danny’s fangs pierced one side, her mouth sealing over the heated gush of blood, as Lyssa latched on to the other, her hand slipping around his waist, her hand pressed against the raven mark on his chest to hold his body, trembling with the exertion of keeping still between the two women.

He was half on his knees, most of his weight resting on one arm, because he had to caress the side of Danny’s face, her hair, cup the back of her skull tenderly as she drank. But in the end he had to put the other arm down, needing both for support as the two vampires drank from him and he continued to move his hips, stroking his cock into Danny again and again. Feeling the marvelous slickness of her contractions on him, as Lyssa rubbed against his buttocks, her thigh teasing his testicles in light touches. The sound of the queen’s drinking became more of an animal growl, her arm constricting around him so he experienced just a hint of bone-crushing strength. Crushing, hell. He expected she could turn his into a fine powder.

And his lady, ah, her lips against his throat, her arm winding around his waist on the other side, and under Lyssa’s body so her fingertips rested high on his back, below the distracting slide of Lyssa’s breasts against his skin. The vampire queen shifted, making him realize she wanted him down, all the way upon his lady. He was only too happy to oblige, feeling her soft breasts against his chest, her legs now rising and locking over his hips, over Lyssa’s body, too, he suspected, holding them all together.

Danny was quivering, drinking hard, her body moving restlessly enough he knew she was close. He strove to hold out, the blood loss making it difficult to stay oriented. The buzzing in his mind told him Lyssa had in fact second-marked him, and if he had any doubt, now her imperious voice was in his head.

Hold out to satisfy us both, Devlin, and you will have done your job well. Another few moments . . .

He actually lost track of time, so dizzy did he get, but he was aware of his body becoming taut, gathering for release as Danny cried out, her nails raking his skin, her mouth releasing him as her head fell back to the pillow and neck arched, her fangs glittering with the blood he’d given her. And Lyssa, stroking her clit against the upper taut curve of his buttocks, released as well, a sensual moan, reminding him of the contented but intense purr of a tiger.

He couldn’t hold out in the face of such overwhelming stimulation. He climaxed then, his body too foolish to realize he risked passing out.

It’s all right, dearest. Danny’s voice was in his head, two women’s arms tightening around him. You’ve cared for me well. I’ll care for you. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

It took some time to get things sorted out. There was the arrival of the vampires as Ruskin had planned, only they received the surprise of finding that they had a new Region Master. Lyssa and Alistair took their leave before then, for Danny and they agreed that the vampires needed to see her standing on her own as their leader, with no sense that when the other two vampires left she might be fair pickings. That gathering lasted a week. Dev supposed he should be glad for the few initiations he’d had into vampire gatherings, because while he really didn’t want to think of the variety of things he’d done during the evening meetings, meals and various entertainments with other servants, he found himself curiously accepting of it, sometimes almost eager to see how those things would stoke his lady’s pleasure. Perhaps it was simply a measure of how harrowing the politics were during that week as she established her authority, that he found wild sexual games where he was a pawn a light relief from the rest.

Then again, no matter what happened, what challenge they faced, there was always that precious time just before dawn. When it was the two of them in her bed, and she wanted him in ways that obliterated everything else. That made it all worth it.

Teaching the little ones to drink moderately after having been regularly starved to a killing frenzy was going to take some time. For now, they had to keep them in separate cages. They experimented with giving them some creature comforts, like mattresses or some clothes, but right now their reaction was to tear those things up in their mad rages. So Elisa, who’d come in with Willis on another flight, had picked up toys in Darwin—dolls, stuffed animals and the like—and had them positioned in front of the cages, just out of reach. Like tiny groups of motionless friends come to keep the kids company.

He knew Danny frequently questioned whether they should put a bullet through their heads to knock them insensible and then stake them or cut off their heads and burn the bodies, the most painless death a vampire could seek.

Amazingly, it was often Elisa who deflected Danny from that course. “Ah, nothing to it, my lady,” she’d say, putting her hands on her hips, though her clothes might be torn or she’d be sporting a gash on her cheek from where she’d been too close. “They’re babies. They’re going to test us until they learn a firm hand doesn’t mean a cruel one. They’ve got to learn to trust us, is all, and that’ll take time. It takes time for all of us to trust someone else.” And off she’d go again, a slip of a maid with the quiet, lanky shadow of Willis flanking her protectively, taking the next supply of blood to them. It had been provided by contributions from Ruskin’s household after Danny had made clear the contributions were not optional.

“So when do you think Willis will tell her he’s mad about her?” Danny had observed, a smile in her voice, some of the shadows in her eyes banked.

“Hopefully before the kiddies eat her,” Dev replied wryly. “But you heard her. You’ve got to establish the trust first. And you sheilas, you can be pretty mean.”

Danny gave him an arch look, but left it there. Another day passing with a few smiles, a lot of worries.

She’d been tempted to have the pretentious manor torn down, but for that it was Dev who’d convinced her that the stone edifice would stand up well to the storms, be a good shelter for the towns-folk. When she left—for she’d adamantly insisted her base of operations would remain her own station—she could simply donate the use of the house to them, holding the ownership on the condition that they agreed to maintain the property at their own expense. He visited the town mayor himself and won almost instant agreement and gratitude. While they knew nothing of what Ruskin was, all knew he was a bad sort. He’d kept his nose clean in the town, wisely not taking any of the town children, but people had eyes and ears. Plus, Dev had learned the aborigines in the area had standing warnings about the place.

Of course, he’d disregarded such warnings the first night he met Danny. But then, he was the Gravedigger. What better match for him than a vampire? You will travel far until you find your place. And until then, you will dig or walk over many graves . . .

I feel alive with you. That was what his lady had told him. Death had its own rotten place in life, but he was ready to put it down and not carry it with him anymore. It could find him all on its own.

Maybe for a time, it would let him rest in peace. If, for no other reason, than because it was leaving him in equally demanding hands. Sure enough, being with Lady Danny wasn’t conducive to peace or rest.

The thought always brought a grin. What a daft bastard he was. Her daft bastard.

Epilogue

HE’D been rootless for so long, he was surprised by how welcome it was to see Thieves’ Station again. And even more to think of it as “home.” But then, in the two months it had taken them to get back here, it had also been a surprise how many avenues opened up to bring the two of them closer together. It was a lot like running a station, watching for her cues and leads, anticipating what she wanted from him and doing the job well, everything from handling how they’d transport the little bloodsucking blighters, as he not-so-fondly had dubbed them, to how he’d make her sigh with pleasure in those early predawn hours.

Sometimes he understood what Thomas was trying to say to him about his relationship to her. It still kind of slipped in and out of his mind, eluded his full grasp. During those times, he could still manage to step on her nerves, as she ignited his temper. They settled it out of sight of those who might question such things in the wrong way.

He had his own mind about that. Despite her formality, he suspected even Lady Lyssa had understood he and Danny were a bit of a different entity from the more ritualized European vampires. He wondered if the American vamps had a bit more stockman in them as well. Or as they’d call it—cowboy.

So it went for the first few weeks. He got in step with the stockmen on the handling of the sheep, coordinated bringing in more breeding stock, and worked with Elisa and Willis on making the best accommodations possible for the children in the outbuildings.

Even integrated the wildly unpredictable feeding and training sessions with them into the daily routine.