Subject: The Alaskan Hot Springs (I couldn't send this through Composer
for the JADFE Archive)

None of these guys are mine and all that guff.  Natasha used with
permission.  (Heck, i'm doing this on her (the owner's) computer, I'd
better darned well have permission!  <g>  Permission to archive at JADFE

                The Alaskan Hot Springs
                By:  The Moon and the Stars

        Tasha ducked down so as not to hear his answer.  She swam under the
warm water, leaving behind the rush of the spring for the quiet of the water
and pulled at LaCroix's ankles.  He could not see what she was doing; he
thought maybe she had ducked just to ignore him.  In his surprise at her
tactic, he slid under the water and could just barely make out Tasha's
black-clad form, swimming  away from him, quite at home in the water.
        He broke surface, gasping, looking for her.  Normally he wouldn't be
gasping, but he'd swallowed water.  He saw her break surface at the other
side of the pool, grinning widely.  He grinned  evilly, and sank soundlessly
below.  She did likewise, and they warily circled the pool.  By some
implicit rule, they were limiting themselves to the water.  She didn't
check behind her in time (which was unusual for her, what with seeing so
many horror movies) and felt two powerful arms wrap around her waist.  She
wriggled and writhed, trying to break his grip, but failed.  Damn his
military training!  They broke surface, and LaCroix turned Tasha to face
him, never breaking his grip.
        "Well, cherie, I've won.  What shall be my prize?"
        Tash felt caught in those eyes again.  All she could do was stammer
"I . . .  I . . ." as she stared, unaware of the water dripping from her
hair into her face.
        Again the wicked smile touched Lucien's face.  "What a splendid
idea."  <I do believe Hades has indeed frozen,> he smirked to himself.
        She was trapped in those eyes, those confounded eyes that plumbed
her very soul.  She watched in wide-eyed silence as he brought his hand up
to her face, lightly caressing her cheek with his fingertips, brushing away
droplets of warm water. She shuddered, ticklish skin on fire.
        Lucien watched his daughter shiver.  He saw her eyes close
reflexively and thought he felt her lean into his hand the tiniest bit.
        Tasha's senses were overloading.  She knew she should just fly, run,
do something to get out of that hot spring and into her senses.  She issued
a stern reprimand to her hormones, which paid her absolutely no heed.  She
began to turn her head away, to break the hold he had on her.
        Lucien felt her begin to turn away, and brought his hand to the back
of her neck to stop her.  He held her in place by the force of his will
alone, it seemed, through his eyes.  He leaned down and brushed his lips
against hers.
        Tasha jumped as a bolt of electricity seemed to shoot through her.
<<So soft.>> she thought, unaware she was transmitting through their link.
        Lucien smiled as he watched Tasha war with herself.  He could hear
her rational part telling her to get the hell out of there, and the other
part, the vestiges of her de Brabant blood, calling to her body to stay put
and enjoy the ride.  He leaned down to brush against her again, but this
time she pushed her face up to make more lingering contact with her maker's
mouth.  <Score one for de Brabant blood!> he thought.
        Tasha had told the rational part of her mind to bog off and was now
unsure how to go about doing what her years upon years of repressed memories
were calling for her to do.  When she felt Lucien near her again, she moved
to meet him, wanting something more tangible than a veritable whisper.
        Lucien felt her arms go about him, hesitantly encircling him.
<Good.> he thought.  <Now for stage two.>  His hand left the back of her
neck and began to slide down her side.  His other hand matched it
move-for-move on her other side, eventually reaching down to cup her
glutals.  Slowly, he began to pull her towards him, to let her feel the
state she had brought him to, as he held her lips with his.
        Tasha decided to take to her own explorations.  As his lips left
hers and began to nibble on her ear, she drew in a sharp breath and began to
roam her hands over Lucien's back.  She traced the sharp definitions of his
muscles, muscles that would give man or vampire all the power he needed to
do whatever he desired to whomever he chose. She picked up her feet to step
closer as he pulled, and soon felt something hard poking her in the stomach.
<Beechawawa!> her mind screamed.
        Lucien pulled back a bit to recapture Tasha's mouth.  He noted with
satisfaction that she did not pull away from him, but actually welcomed his
touch.  He closed his lips over hers, parting his slightly to trace his
tongue over her lips.  She yielded to his unspoken request and opened her
mouth slightly.  He reached inside her mouth, tracing her teeth, noticing
that neither of their fangs had become extended yet.  He explored the roof
of her mouth, her gums, and enticed her tongue to join in his game.
        He was like nothing she had ever tasted.  Sweeter than sugar, yet
more like a refreshing glass of honeyed tea on a hot afternoon.  She
reciprocated his explorations; her entire world was Lucien now.  Nothing
else mattered.  She traced his teeth while running her hands over his chest,
lightly raking her fingernails over his nipples.  She heard a low grumble
emanate from within him, a grumble she hoped meant he was enjoying himself.
        Lucien's eyes began to tinge with gold at her hesitant touch.  He'd
forgotten how much fun a virgin could be; it had been a long while since his
last.  The only ones he ever remembered responding this way were Divia, (the
original one, that is) Elspeth, and Fleur. He suppressed a chuckle at the
thought that Nicholas had never learned what had happened in the manor house
that night. He felt her lightly rake his flesh with her fingernails and
could not suppress the rumble from inside.
        Tasha disengaged herself from Lucien's mouth and set to nibbling on
his jaw.  She felt the zipper at the back of her bodysuit being pulled down,
and knew that he was going to peel it off her.  She relished the feeling of
the air on her shoulders, the knowledge that she could finally receive the
touch she had been yearning for since that first night at the Peach.
        Lucien ran his hands over her shoulders; marble-white, they
glistened in the moonlight.  He pulled the bodysuit off her arms and pushed
it down her hips.  He quickly bent to see it down to and off her ankles.  He
straightened to see to her mouth once more, and felt her hands tugging his
boxers down.  He stepped out of them, and watched the bat-patterned cloth
float next to her discarded bodysuit.
        Tasha came back to reality enough to note that she was standing in a
hot spring, nude, in front of her maker.  A sudden burst of
self-consciousness enveloped her. <<How could he even bear to look at me?
Size 18 is no walk in the park.>>  Tasha began to pull away ever so
slightly, a crease forming on her brow.
       But Lucien caught that thought, and knew he had to reassure her in
some way, or they would not be able to share blood in the fashion he so
desperately desired from her. "Natasha, look at me." He lifted her chin with
his finger, his velvety voice full of emotion.  "Quando tu Gaia, ego Gaius."
He bent down to plant another kiss on her lips while letting his hands roam
where he had before been forbidden to touch. His hands travelled over her
milky skin, tracing her breasts, and  finally coming up to tweak her rosy
nubs.  As he did, he pulled her downward, so that they once again floated in
the water.  The water seemed to intensify the electricity his hands were
causing her, making each touch somehow more mind-boggling than the last.
        Tasha gasped and involuntarily pushed up against Lucien.  She didn't
want him to stop.  Ever.  The rational part of her mind was still lurking,
hidden away so it could spring on her later and flood her with Nick-like
guilt.  For now, her rationale was forced into silence by her emotions and
every new sensation she was experiencing. She released Lucien's mouth and
concentrated her attentions lower, right at the junction of his neck and
shoulder.

        Lucien began to move his hands lower as she nibbled on his neck.  He
felt her stiffen as he slipped his hand under the water and between her
legs, questing for her centre.  He parted her soft folds and brushed her
clit with his thumb.  He felt tiny twin spikes as her fangs came down and
she bit slightly at his neck. He slipped one finger into her untried
channel, seeking the blockage that would surely be there.  He encountered
it, trying to push against it, to tear the cartilage.
        All this was too much for Tasha to bear.  She took his shaft in her
hand, running along its length.  She felt him shudder under her
ministrations, and suppressed an evil grin.  She felt him push against her
blockage, and suddenly and without warning lost her composure.  She growled
up at him, burning into his gold-tinged eyes with her glowing green ones.
"Now!" she snarled.
        The tone of her voice was not lost on Lucien.  He picked her up and
impaled her on his rigidity.
        Tasha cried out as he pushed past her barrier, then turned it into a
moan as he began to thrust.  She wrapped her legs about him, trying to pull
him deeper.  Her fangs had dropped, and she began to rake them across his
chest, leaving red welts behind.  She was counting on him to support her as
he continued to rhythmically pound into her.  Her world began to turn
burnished orange, the colour deepening as her mind attempted to cope with
these new sensations.  Finally, there was a point where she could no longer
stand it.  She reached up and bit into his neck, turning her head so he
could bite back.  Her inner walls contracted rapidly, and she finally felt
him come, needles of spray inside her.
        Lucien relished the sensations.  He hadn't done this for a very long
time.  He felt her twin pinpricks drive into his vein and reflexively
reciprocated.  Her tight channel was made even tighter as she reached her
peak, encouraging him to pump his seed into her.  His world began to fade as
he was filled with the orangey-copper colour coming from Tasha's mind. As
they drank from each other, they slipped deeper into the water, allowing
rivulets of red to blend in with the water around them.
        Eventually, he withdrew from her, fangs and shaft alike, forcing her
to stop her bite.  He watched her chest rise and fall as her breath slowed,
as she relaxed and came back into the present, all the while staring into
his eyes, still under his spell.  "Isn't that better than a lifetime of
loneliness, Natasha?"
        "That was. . . " The smile that had started stopped suddenly as
Tasha's complete mind arrived in the present.  "Great Maker!  What have I
done?!" The lurking part of her mind hit her full force, sending her on a
guilt trip that could have earned her frequent-flier miles to the moon.
        "Cherie, you have just 'done' something that married people do,
quite  frequently, and with no remorse."
        Tasha cradled her face in her hands, crying.  "Man, oh man, oh man."
She pulled away from Lucien, wading over to their discarded clothes.
Climbing back into her suit, she tossed the sodden bat-print boxers back
over to Lucien.
        He donned them, pulling her floating form close to him, as she
hugged herself and cried.
        Tasha floated on the water, trying to figure out how to drown
herself.
        "You don't have to kill yourself, Tasha."
        "Yes, I do.  I have broken down, lost my control, and degraded
everything I believe in."
        "Surely it wasn't all that bad."
        "You lost it almost two thousand years ago.  It wouldn't be for
you."
        "Tasha, neither Nicholas nor your aunt nor I could ever allow you to
commit suicide.  This is neither a degradation, nor an issue of control.  We
have united our bodies just as our minds and souls are.
        "It just seems like I've committed a crime."
        "Crime is in the eye of the beholder."
        "Yeah, I just wish I hadn't *beheld* it."
        Lucien cuddled her closer as he pondered her once more.  Child and
woman together, a raging passion countered by an eternal innocence.  Would
he ever be able to figure her out?
         A small smile touched his face.  Jupiter, he hoped not.