The Elixir Maidens 1: Ruby Read online

  “What’s wrong?” Hagen asked, running a hand through his sleep-tousled hair.

  “My friend Scarlet gets awful nightmares,” Ruby said softly, then added telepathically, it has to do with his past. Sad really. The screaming stopped and Ruby knocked on the door again. “Scarlet? Let me in!”

  Another door opened and a sleepy-looking Crimson approached, wearing faded red sweatpants. Anyone looking at him at the moment would never guess the sleekly-muscled stud with twelve o’clock shadow and hair sticking up in every imaginable direction earned his living as a female impersonator.

  Crimson yawned, scratching his crotch, and said, “Scarlet again?”

  Nodding, Ruby was about to knock once more, but Crimson stopped him by saying, “I’ll take care of it. Go back to bed. You’ve got company.”

  “And you don’t?” Ruby raised an eyebrow. It was a rare day that Crimson didn’t have a woman or two -- sometimes even three -- in his bed.

  “Lay off me, will ya? It’s too early in the day.”

  “Who’s this?” Hagen jagged a thumb in Crimson’s direction.

  “I’m Richie,” Crimson replied, yawning again, this time wide enough to reveal his gleaming white fangs. “How you doing?”

  “You probably know him better as his alter ego, Crimson.”

  “From the Maidens?”

  “I’ll explain later,” Ruby said, grasping Hagen’s arm and tugging him toward their room while Crimson tried to coax Scarlet into opening the door by using his typical charm.

  “Hey, Scarlet, open the freakin’ door before I kick it in!”

  “Don’t mind him,” Ruby whispered to Hagen. “He’s really a nice guy. Just a little rough around the edges.”

  Hagen chuckled. “After tonight I’m going to have a hard time taking him seriously singing falsetto in a ball gown.”

  Back in the suite, Ruby and Hagen crawled under the covers. Hagen wrapped his arms around Ruby. “How long are you going to be in New York?”

  “We’re booked until December 31st. How about you?”

  “My last show is the 22nd, so that gives us a decent amount of time.”

  “Time?” Ruby asked.

  “To decide where we’re going from here.”

  Excitement coursed through Ruby and he turned to face Hagen. “So this isn’t just a one-night stand?”

  Hagen grasped Ruby’s wrists and pinned them on either side of his head, gazing into his eyes with such intensity that Ruby’s cock sprang to life. “I don’t do one-night stands, love.”

  “What if I do?” The words sounded empty even to Ruby.

  Hagen grinned in reply and buried his lips between Ruby’s shoulder and neck, licking and kissing, the slight growth of beard tickling his flesh.

  “There’s no fucking way one night with you is enough,” Ruby breathed, closing his eyes and sliding his foot up Hagen’s hair-roughened calf. The magician growled softly and covered Ruby’s mouth in a penetrating, heart-pounding kiss.

  * * *

  For the next three days, Hagen was busy with interviews and appearances while Ruby and the Maidens focused on shows and rehearsals. His thoughts filled with that wonderful night spent with his handsome magician, Ruby found it difficult to concentrate on almost anything else. The new lovers spoke on the phone daily, and even those few moments of hearing the caress of Hagen’s voice and the sigh of his breath on the line stimulated Ruby’s sense of anticipation to the breaking point.

  Tonight Hagen would come to Burgundy Peak to spend the night and Ruby could scarcely wait to see him again.

  “Damn, you’ve got it bad,” Scarlet said during a break between sets. The Maidens sat at a corner table, sipping blood laced wine and flirting with several patrons who gazed at them from a distance. A few stopped by with compliments on their performance which Crimson and Scarlet enthusiastically accepted. Ruby remained gracious as ever, yet most of his attention focused on the door, waiting for Hagen to step through it.

  Halfway through their final set, Ruby caught the mortal’s luscious scent and his pulse quickened. Hagen, dressed in black from head to toe, the dagger pin at his throat, strode through the club, his penetrating gaze fixed on Ruby. Damn, the man was just too sexy for words. He ordered a drink at the bar and sat, never taking his eyes from Ruby.

  Eager to be alone with his lover, Ruby felt as if the rest of the show lasted forever. No sooner had the Maidens taken their last bow than Ruby sauntered to the bar, trying not to appear as desperate for Hagen’s nearness as he felt.

  Hagen stood, a slight, sexy smile curving his chiseled lips, and enfolded Ruby in a tight embrace. His arms locked around the magician’s neck, Ruby pressed his body close to his lover’s hard, warm length. Closing his eyes, he focused on the steady rhythm of Hagen’s heartbeat, noting it was quicker than usual, signifying his excitement. His wonderful scent grew stronger and Ruby felt his cock pressing against him, as stiff and ready as his own.

  “You wouldn’t believe how much I missed you,” Hagen whispered in Ruby’s ear, his breath sending a little quiver of delight down his spine.

  “I would because I’ve missed you just as much.” Ruby gave the magician another firm squeeze before stepping away and taking his hand. “Let’s go upstairs.”

  Though the couple walked slowly out of the club section, their attraction revealed itself through their scent and the way they clung to each other’s hand. Not that anyone paid much attention. The staff was accustomed to the many affairs that took place at Burgundy Peak and the patrons were too involved in their own intrigues to care about anyone else’s.

  Once they passed through the foyer and reached the stairway, they quickened their pace. By the time they arrived at the room they were racing one another while laughing. Ruby knew he could outrun and overpower the mortal, but he enjoyed playing the role of the weaker partner. Since meeting Hagen, he couldn’t help imagining what it might be like if the magician took the Change. He would make such a marvelous vampire -- handsome, powerful, and mysterious. Ruby glimpsed a future with Hagen, sharing century after century -- but that was a fantasy. Right now Hagen was a mortal with no intention of accepting the life of a vampire. A horrible feeling washed over Ruby when he imagined Hagen dying as a mortal, of losing this man with whom he was falling head over heels in -- No. Only an idiot believed in love after one night and Ruby was nobody’s fool.

  The couple burst inside the suite where Hagen closed the door and pushed Ruby against it. A hand braced on either side of Ruby’s head, he leaned closer for a kiss, but paused, as if sensing his lover’s sadness.

  “What’s wrong?” Hagen asked, his smile fading.

  “Nothing.”

  “You’re going to lie to Sir Hagen, the greatest psychic in the world,” the magician teased, though the expression of genuine concern never left his lovely brown eyes.

  “Ah, the ego rears its ugly head again.” Ruby forced a smile, sliding his hands up the front of Hagen’s silky shirt, relishing the sensation of his rock hard pecs beneath his palms.

  “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

  Ruby shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. Just kiss me.”

  Hagen didn’t need any further encouragement. His mouth covered Ruby’s, his lips moist, firm yet at the same time incredibly gentle. With the utmost tenderness he used his tongue to part Ruby’s lips. He tasted and explored every warm, wet inch of Ruby’s mouth. Closing his eyes, Ruby wrapped his arms around the magician’s neck and pulled him even closer.

  When the kiss broke, Hagen was panting slightly and Ruby’s cock ached with need. He kissed and licked Hagen’s neck, loving his scent and the texture of his skin. The need to bite almost overwhelmed him, but he mastered it, not wanting to be greedy so soon. Later he could appease his hunger for blood. Now he and Hagen were starving for each other’s bodies.

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Ruby said, unbuttoning Hagen’s shirt and revealing the expanse of his gorgeous chest. He ran his hands over t
he hair-dusted skin, his thumbs brushing the flat nipples while he imagined piercing the dusky rose tips with his fangs.

  “Me either. I almost messed up a levitation. You’re hazardous even from a distance, you sexy bitch,” Hagen growled, taking Ruby’s earlobe between his teeth and nibbling it gently before tracing the shape of his ear with his tongue. The hot, wet caress made Ruby’s cock swell even more. His outfit was becoming unbearable. He needed to get out of it -- and get Hagen undressed -- fast.

  “I don’t think I can wait tonight,” Ruby breathed, stepping away and peeling off his clothes.

  “Neither can I.”

  While Ruby undressed, Hagen shed his own clothes and turned down the bedcovers. Within moments they lay on the black satin sheets, wrapped naked in each other’s embrace.

  One of Hagen’s arms held Ruby close while he buried his other hand in his hair and plundered his mouth with breath-stealing kisses. In spite of his powerful vampiric body, Ruby felt weak with desire. He trembled and his cock felt close to bursting with scarcely restrained passion. Hagen’s erection pressed hard against him, every muscle in the magician’s well-defined body tense with desire.

  “Do you know what I want?” Ruby whispered against Hagen’s lips.

  “Tell me.”

  Ruby moved back slightly, his pulse racing with excitement. A teasing smile on his lips, he took Hagen’s hand and guided it to his cock. The magician’s long, slender fingers curled around Ruby’s erection and he began stroking with the perfect speed and pressure. Simultaneously, Ruby grasped Hagen’s cock and pumped, relishing the hard yet velvety sensation against his hand.

  A quick glance at Hagen’s face revealed the magician’s intense gaze darting from his hand to Ruby’s. Though entranced by the passionate beauty of Hagen’s expression, Ruby couldn’t resist staring at their stroking hands as well. They matched each other’s rhythm, teasing each other to the brink.

  Ruby knew by his lover’s ragged breathing when he’d almost reached the end of his control. It was wonderfully exciting, pumping each other to bliss. Ruby wanted the moment to last forever.

  “We should stop,” Hagen panted, though the brilliance of his eyes and the tenseness in his face revealed that he wanted to do nothing of the sort.

  Hagen’s muscle-ridged belly clenched with need. His hips thrust against Ruby’s rapidly stroking hand.

  “Oh, damn. No. I don’t want to stop,” Ruby breathed, his eyelids fluttering. As pleasure grew, keeping his gaze focused became more and more difficult, yet he wanted to see Hagen come.

  “Neither do I,” Hagen bit out, then groaned, a deep, erotic sound of near-fulfillment. “Ruby, yes, love. Yes!”

  Ruby squeezed and stroked harder and faster. The scent of their combined lust filled the room and their hands trembled slightly on each other’s steely cocks.

  With a ragged cry, Hagen came, his essence spurting from him. Ruby leaned closer, sinking his fangs into a wildly pulsing artery in the magician’s throat. At the taste of Hagen’s blood, Ruby came so hard he nearly blacked out from the pleasure.

  The lovers’ thoughts mingled, each feeling the other’s climax combined with his own. The intensity of the bite had incited another orgasmic sensation in Hagen as well, in spite of the fact that his cock was thoroughly milked.

  Slowly, Ruby withdrew his lips from Hagen’s throat and curled up against his side, relishing the scent and feel of the magician’s warm flesh. His cheek resting against his lover’s chest, Ruby listened to his heartbeat gradually return to normal.

  Finally Hagen said in a voice thick with fulfilled passion, “You said on the phone you have a few nights off coming up. My show will be over by then and I want you to come to my cabin upstate.”

  “You have a cabin?” Ruby lifted his head and met Hagen’s lovely dark gaze.

  “Yes. I use it when I want to get away, especially after a tour like this one. It’s very private and I’d like to share it with you.”

  Ruby smiled, shifting position so he could stroke wisps of hair from Hagen’s face. He trailed a fingertip down his blade sharp cheekbone and across his chiseled lips. “Sounds romantic.”

  “I promise it will be. Say you’ll come.”

  “If I’m with you, there’s no doubt I’ll come,” Ruby teased.

  Hagen playfully pushed him onto his back and loomed above him, a sinewy forearm braced on either side of Ruby’s head. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Definitely yes.”

  “Good.” Hagen’s eyes slipped shut and he brushed his cheek against Ruby’s.

  Warmth spread throughout Ruby at the sensation of Hagen’s flesh against his. Slipping his arms around the magician he thought he couldn’t be any happier than at that moment.

  Chapter Four

  The night of Hagen’s second to last show, Ruby met him after the performance so they could spend the night together.

  The Elixir Maidens were scheduled to perform that evening from eight to eleven. That gave Ruby little time to shower and change to meet Hagen at midnight. Still, by eleven fifty-five, he was standing in the foyer at Burgundy Peak, bundled in his favorite black faux fur coat and matching hat. The frigid winter air lashed his face each time a patron stepped inside. Even Onan, the original man of ice, wore a long black coat and scarf.

  Still, Ruby loved the scent of winter and the vision of snow falling over the city, blanketing sidewalks, rooftops, and parked cars.

  At ten past twelve, Hagen’s black car pulled up to the sidewalk in front of Burgundy Peak.

  “I’m sorry for being late,” Hagen said as Ruby slid into the passenger seat. “I’ve been working on a new levitation and decided to test it out tonight by using it as the finale. The audience needed to exit the hall and assemble outside, so the evening was longer than usual.”

  “I forgive you,” Ruby said.

  Hagen kissed him -- a tender brush of lips that slowly became a penetrating act of passion.

  Leaning closer, Ruby reached out telepathically and immediately sensed Hagen’s power was especially low tonight. He pulled away and lifted a hand to the magician’s cheek. “Are you all right?

  “Just a little tired. It has been a long tour.”

  “Whatever you added to the act must have been difficult.”

  Hagen shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, and it gave the crowd a thrill.”

  Settling back, Ruby reached for the seatbelt and snapped it on.

  His gaze fixed on the road, Hagen drove down the street.

  “What was the addition, by the way?”

  “It was very cool visually. I levitated a pre-fabricated house and lay down beneath it --”

  “What?” Ruby bellowed, overcome with fear of what could have happened, had Hagen’s powers somehow failed him. “Are you crazy? You might have been trained by a vampire, but in case you’ve forgotten, you’re not immortal!”

  “I know. Ruby, calm down.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down! God, Hagen, does pleasing a crowd mean so much to you that you’d risk your life?”

  Glancing at Ruby from the corner of his eye, Hagen smiled. “Worried about me?”

  Ruby’s jaw tightened with frustration. He turned and stared out the window, unable to look at the wonderful, foolish mortal a moment longer. The intensity of his feelings toward Hagen frightened him and made him feel like an idiot for falling so quickly in -- No! He was not in love. He couldn’t be.

  “Ruby.”

  He refused to reply.

  Hagen pulled the car over to the curb and touched Ruby’s shoulder. “Look at me.”

  Slowly, Ruby turned and held the magician’s intense gaze.

  “Thank you for caring,” Hagen said, his voice almost a whisper. “But don’t worry. I wouldn’t do anything I didn’t think I could handle.”

  “That seems to be the whole problem with you, Hagen. You think you can handle anything.”

  “I don’t believe in placing unnecessary limitations on myself. Do you realize ho
w much of our potential goes unchallenged because we place limits on our dreams and desires?”

  Closing his eyes for a moment, Ruby sighed deeply. This man was reckless yet irresistible. “You refused to take the Change, but of all the mortals I’ve met, I believe you have the predisposition for vampirism.”

  Hagen cupped his lover’s face and leaned a bit closer. When he spoke, his breath caressed Ruby’s lips. “I’m beginning to reconsider my decision.”

  At the magician’s implication, a rush of excitement darted through Ruby and his heart beat faster.

  Torn between asking Hagen to spell out exactly what he meant, yet fearful of their relationship moving too fast, Ruby forced a smile and said, “We should get going. Don’t want to waste the night.”

  Hagen continued holding his gaze for several more seconds before refocusing his attention on driving.

  “Where are we going, anyway?” Ruby asked.

  “I thought we’d get some coffee and take a drive.”

  “Sounds great. A couple of days ago Scarlet and I went to an all night coffee shop with the best French vanilla.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Head north and drive under the new overpass outside of town.”

  For several moments they fell silent. Ruby couldn’t keep his gaze from Hagen. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said the magician was simply made for vampirism. A quiver of desire rippled down his spine when he thought of what a gorgeous vampire Hagen would be. The image of him with sexy white fangs and eyes gleaming with bloodlust made Ruby hard with passion. He could scarcely wait for them to return to his room at Burgundy Peak where they would make love before falling asleep, their bodies and thoughts entwined so intimately they could almost be a single being.

  Nearing the overpass, Hagen slowed the car as debris began tumbling from the structure.

  “What the hell --” Ruby began as Hagen slammed on the brakes. Behind him several cars screeched to a halt followed by the blare of horns.

  “I think the overpass is going down,” the magician said, stepping out of the car.

  “You’re going to get yourself killed!” Ruby also leapt out and approached Hagen, whose face had gone white, his gaze fixed on the bridge.