Shadow Aspect Read online

  “Simple really, I didn’t think you’d come along if I said it was just for me. After all, as you wisely said to me, you don’t hop in the car of strangers and I wasn’t about to conduct my business out in the open on the streets of Melbourne.”

  I put down my plate and roll my eyes at him. “There was a motel right there, we were standing in front of it. Could’ve hired a room. By the way, for the right price, I did hop in the car.”

  “I told you I wanted your full skill set. And money doesn’t really concern me, you will be adequately paid.”

  It was my turn to laugh at Tarin’s expense. “Baby my full skill set can be done anywhere. Doesn’t even have to be about the sex. Some guys just want to be held, naked. Other just want to suck my” Tarin holds up a hand.

  “I don’t wish to know the details of your other dealings. Well, not those ones anyway.” He says capturing my attention as I ignore the food in front of me.

  “What does that mean?” I ask picking up my wine again.

  His eyes drop to my chest and back up to my face. “I want to hire you for a job for me. You’re a truth-sayer right? That’s what Henry McDougall couldn’t put his finger on when he said you were like psychic de-ja-vu to him. That’s why you called out that suit on cheating on his girlfriend before partying with his mates tonight.”

  “I guess.” I reply looking back at my dinner plate and tucking into the salad with a large forkful. Chewing it I note all the flavours of what has been put into the simple looking salad, and only then realise how ravished I am. “Thing is, truth can be a common misconception, just like you and vampires.” I watch his reaction as he sneers at the V-word.

  “Tell me what you would call what it is you do then.”

  “I can tell the best truth out of people. It’s a little different.” I chew on the quinoa and swallow as I think about it. “The best truth isn’t always the absolute truth, but it’s the closest I can get you to the honest truth. It’s what people perceive to be their truth.” I keep clearing the seed salad off my plate.

  “So it could be the honest, absolute truth, right, if they’re an honest person?” Tarin asks cutting into some meat.

  “I guess. But it’s kind of rare these days to find someone who’s one hundred precent honest. There’s usually some ambiguities in there in most of us.”

  “But in theory, there might be one or two utterly, honest, souls out there.”

  I look over at him and finish my meal. “What do you do, suck blood from only honest souls?” He arches an eyebrow at me.

  “You think badly of me.” Tarin says putting his cutlery down and wiping his hands and mouth with the linen napkin provided. He picks up his glass of red wine and downs a mouthful. “I’ve clearly gotten off on the wrong foot with you. Shall we start again?” Tarin asks pushing out from the table and standing. I try to push out from my chair and find it’s too heavy for me to move. He walks around to me and pulls my chair back.

  I stand up and glance over my shoulder at him. “I can handle you. You paid me enough to put up with you for at least an hour and by my calculations, that hour’s almost done.”

  “So my money’s only good for that short a time span? Interesting given I heard you charge your clients less for non time calculated time with you and room hire that you don’t pay for.”

  I turn around to face him. “I’m not sure why the elaborate games with you. But I’m not really one for game play like this, so cut to the chase and tell me what you want. That’s what you paid me for, to hear you out on a business transaction.”

  He looks me up and down, then slowly circles around me, close, before stopping in front of me again. “You’ll do.” He says going into that calm mode he’d been in before, when we’d first met.

  I glance him over then. From head to toe and note he is erect under some tight fitting, black leather pants. Has our little sparring of words gotten him excited? Is this actually about sex? Or does he just not care to hide his arousal in his own house? My eyes linger over the outline of it. Is he dropping his guard around me now cause he feels comfortable in my presence?

  “I’m not ashamed.” Tarin says as my eyes draw back up to his. “You’re very attractive and I have to say, show great spirit. Has anyone ever called you a spit fire?”

  “No. So is this just about some sort of sexual game? Cause if it is, I can play my part. You just have to tell me what it is, you want to do.” My heart starts beating a little too fast as I speak the words out loud. There is definitely something about Tarin that tells my instincts I should be aware of or I should be wary and possibly, afraid of him. There is a hint of darkness there. He’s been hiding it well, from me.

  The way I get the truth from people, differs, depending on the person I am with. Sometimes I have to have touch, the more generally, the better, or easier it is for me to do my thing. But it isn’t always necessary, at least not for an initial assessment of character. Hell anyone could do that, we all have instincts, it is just that most people ignore them, or didn’t hone them to their utter full potential.

  The closer I am to someone, the stronger the reading I can get on them. Tarin is directly opposite me, one more step and he’d be in my personal space, and he is currently respecting it.

  “I do have a business offer for you, that I want to hire you for.” He replies back at me, pausing. “We could discuss it over sex, work out the terms of our agreement.”

  Kinky, not the first kinky male I’d come across. But definitely the first shadow. Guess I could just add it to my repertoire.

  “Sure.”

  5

  He stays where he is and I know, what he wants before he even says it. I pull my t-shirt up and over my head. Tarin does the same, sliding off his long sleeved top. He doesn’t wear anything underneath it. We stand staring at one another’s chests.

  I am pretty sure he has a better one than I do. There isn’t an ounce of fat on him, he is chiselled, hard bodied perfection. I might have begun to drool a little. I close my mouth and bite my lip. Tarin is rather stunning and all he’s done is loose his top.

  My eyes flick up to his and are surprised to see the way he looks at me, was with something else, desire? Men look at me with lust.

  I silently reminded myself, that I haven’t gotten into anything yet, the money he’d paid me could be given back if I wanted to give it back. Not that I wanted to. And it had been to secure an appointment with me to hear him out, nothing more, nothing less. So why are my instincts suddenly gearing up on me? Is it because I haven’t been able to sense terribly much about him because of him being a shadow?

  “Are you un-dead?” I blurt without thought. That makes his eyes change to a sharp focus on me, that is more like intense, controlled anger. Sheesh you think I’d said the V-word at him. Again.

  “Do I look dead to you?” He mutters suddenly moving away from me.

  “Dead isn’t how I’d describe you.” I say deliberately glancing him over and lingering on his outlined, leather, erection. That makes him raise an eyebrow curiously at me.

  “Dare I ask how you would describe me.”

  “Hot and evasive.” He thinks about it for a moment and seems pleased by my answer.

  “Come,” he says holding out his hand to me. I’m sure what is going on, but so far, I feel within my depth. So I take his hand as he escorts me back out of the dining room and down the wide hallway into the bathroom.

  “You do that a lot, answer a question with a question. Very evasive, and I’m guessing, highly deliberate. I should know, I’m rather used to doing the same thing.” I say to him as turns to face me.

  “Strip.” He commands ignoring me calling him out. I start shimmying my skirt down my hips. He starts to undo his boots and take them off. “I’d rather you didn’t smell like other males when you’re in my company.”

  Interesting, I think, he must have a strong sense of scent. Given neither male had ejaculated on me, which would’ve been stronger and far more easier to pick up on. Than
a bit of rubbing against one another in sexual acts. “Okay, I can do that when you’re not picking me off the street in the middle of my business.” My skirt falls down around my boots and I slip them off.

  “In fact, while you’re under my employ, you won’t engage in sex with any other male but me.” I stand up straight and look at him.

  “You get to employ me, not tell me what to do. There’s a difference.” I reply standing in my underwear before him, my arms again, crossed over my chest, plumping up my breasts.

  It gets his attention and he drags his eyes up from my breasts to my collar bones, to my throat and slowly back up my face, to my eyes. “And that’s not negotiable.” His gaze on me makes me feel rather warm in my stomach, and between my thighs. Warm and wanted.

  “Name you’re terms then.” He says indicating I should continue to take off my underwear for him.

  I unhook my bra and slide it off, dropping it to the tiled ground around us. “I need to hear the job first, what is it you want me to do exactly and who to, all of it.” I say sliding off my boy leg shorts and standing up straight and naked before him.

  Tarin remains silent as he looks me over and slowly circles around me, taking his fingers brushing over the soft skin of my rear. He walks around to the front of me again. His fingers brushing over the hair free skin of my pussy before undoing his leather pants as he closes in on me.

  I watch him undo the leather and slide it down enough for him to pull out his cock. He is long and thick and very hard and ready. The sight of him makes me lick my lips. Sucking on that monster, will be a dutiful, pleasure. If he asks for it.

  His hand encases the swollen head and I can see he is playing with it. I find myself wanting to play with it too. To touch him, but I refrain. I look back up at Tarin’s torso, taking my time and enjoying the view. Taking in the lines and counters of his body before getting back to his face. He smiles at me then, revealing fangs.

  Those fangs. I stare at them in fascination, again. God I am easy. Show me something dangerous and sexy and hello me! I want to touch them also only I want to touch them with my tongue. The thought makes me salivate a little.

  “You can do that any time with the fangs huh?”

  “Yes, although I only tend to do it for two particular reason, most of the time. Can you guess what that is?” Tarin teases me.

  “Feeding and fucking.” I husk at him. Both ideas appealing to me greatly, especially if they involve him. Tarin moves into my space and I press my breasts into his chest. My softness against his hardness. His hand starts to glide lightly down his cock.

  “Good guess.” He mutters back at me in a low voice laced with the heat I’d seen on him earlier.

  “Not a guess.” I reply looking at his lips and wondering if he cuts himself with those fangs. “Just the honest to goodness truth, right Tarin?”

  “Right, Katelyn.” He smirks back at me.

  I move in on his mouth before he is ready for me. Catching him off guard and unawares. Not that Tarin seemed to mind. Not that I mind. I didn’t think there is much that happens around Tarin that catches him by surprise.

  He opens his mouth to receive my tongue and I lick the back of his upper teeth, touching the edge where the roof of his mouth meets, while holding his gaze upon me.

  Tarin’s eyes widen and he moans instantly. Yeah my truth-sayer abilities gave me a distinct advantage that no one I’d ever come across had ever figured out yet. It means that I have a map to their bodies hot spots, the ones that turned them on the most, not the ones that we were told were supposed to turn us on. These were the areas they wanted to be touched.

  Nobody ever thought of their body as a living form of truth. They all thought it was about words, thoughts, memories and actions. I stroke my tongue over the roof of his mouth, slowly taking my time as Tarin’s hands, both of them now, suddenly grip my naked hips. Holding me to him, pressing into him, and his yet to be released monster erection.

  Blue eyes stare into mine and he stays exactly where he is. Where he wants to be. Taking in the bursts of pleasure my erotic tongue is filling his body with. I stroke the back of his teeth a few more times, as he remains still, open to me, his tongue holding still. Before pulling back slightly, so he can relax his mouth and breathe.

  “Don’t stop.” He pants at me in a heavy, desperate, voice.

  I smile at him. Stopping myself from laughing at his highly desperate state of arousal. Quite a contrast from the aloof and in control and somewhat deceptive, Tarin Armadel I’d initially met. I’d all but undone him in a mater of seconds. God I’m good and so worth the money.

  “No intention.” I reply back at him softly and notice his fangs, look bigger than before. “Open for me.” I say as he opens his mouth wide to pull back his lips so he can show me those gorgeous, deadly looking fangs. I run my tongue along one side of the right one. Tarin’s moan is loud and his hands moved to my rump to cup my ass cheeks. I slid my arms around his waist in kind.

  Stroking the fang with my tongue, I work it on all sides. But it isn’t until I start sucking on the tip of it, and taking it into my mouth gently, that Tarin’s fingers start to dig into my soft flesh. Almost to the point of bruising painfulness.

  I move across him, my breasts crushing and dragging my stiff nipples over his chest as I remain, squashed up against him. I repeat the process on his left fang. Tarin starts to squirm a little against me then. We remain locked together in an embrace, my own hands mirroring his and feeling his, taunt, leather clad ass press into them. He wants this and he knows I know that he wants it.

  I start sucking on the left fang, hard. Tarin starts to move against me, rubbing the swollen head of his cock against me. Moving the foreskin back and forth against my belly. I suck harder intermitting with licks on the roof of his mouth and taking the other fang, he moves faster. Until one final, hard, suck makes all that resolve, and control of his, utterly shatter him.

  Tarin cries out against my mouth as his fingers dig into my flesh and the feeling of warmth from his seed spurts onto my belly and his chest and the underside of my breasts.

  Tarin gasps out loud at me as his climax takes him over. Shaking in my embrace as we stand there, together, in his bathroom. He is incredibly beautiful to watch finding his release. I smile brightly, happily, at him. It’s rare for me to encounter intimacy and passion in the act of sex. For me, sex is always just a functionary role. Not one I do for pleasure. Probably a small part of my brain tells me, because I’ve never had any reason to get pleasure from it. Until now.

  Because I’d never meet, him. Tarin is a first and I find myself looking at him with amazement and wonder. That I would get that experience from him. And yet, that’s what seemed to snap him back to reality instantly. He pushes me away from him, releasing me, violently fast. Making me stager two steps backward.

  “Clean yourself up.” He mutters not bothering to look at me as he tucks himself back into his undone pants. “After you’re done here, we’ll meet in the dining hall and I’ll tell you about the job.” He stalks out of the bathroom fast and disappears from sight. My smile falls from my face.

  6

  I shower and meet Tarin back in the dining room. Ignoring him I walk over to the table, cut myself some now cooled down meat and use my fingers to pick it up and roll it up and bite into it. I am over the formality of the situation. Ice-breaker, done.

  Tarin has cleaned up too, he is in a plain black faded t-shirt, and black jeans, and he is barefoot. His long blonde hair is swept behind him. He looks like a heavy metal god. It is a good look on him.

  “The job,” Tarin starts, clearly not prepared to acknowledge anything else between us. It’s back to business, boring! I bite into the meat again and look at him plainly. “I need you to get some information for me, regarding a business dealing I believe is going to take place soon.”

  “Vague, aren’t you?” I mutter picking up my neglected and still half full red wine glass as I sit on the edge of the dining room chair’s arm
rest, my legs out straight in front of me, ankles crossed as Tarin sits again in his chair, at the head of the table.

  He picks up his own wine glass and sips from it. Finally looking at me again. I scull the rest of my wine and put the glass back down. He looks up along my naked legs, till hit the hem of my skirt, before going to my face. The mask of cool and aloofness firmly in place. “I will need you to accompany me to a function where I need you to identify people with information I seek. And then we’ll have to take from there, if I can’t deal directly with them myself.”

  I frown at him, chewing on the last bit of meat I’ve cut. “That sounds way too easy. I need more details than that.” I state.

  Tarin sighs. “They will be paranormals. All of them.” That means, unlikely to be easy to read.

  “What type?” I ask him. I haven’t come across anyone who my talents couldn’t work on yet. But there is always the possibility when it came to paranormals, they aren’t structured like humans and reading them is usually far more involved and difficult.

  “Does it matter? Is this going to be a problem for you?” He asks over his wine glass.

  I shrug my shoulders loosely. “Can’t say it will, can’t say it won’t.”

  “Now who’s being vague Katelyn?” He responds with.

  I smirk at him. “I tend to get hired for humans to use on humans. Silly stuff mostly, like corporate espionage, under the table dealings, that kind of drama.” I sip from my wine. “I haven’t meet a human I couldn’t read, yet. But paranormals, they can be different.”

  “How so?”

  I down another mouthful of the rather tasty red wine and hold up my glass at him as I speak. “Take you for example. Shadow. Never, met a shadow before right?”

  “Right.”

  “Can’t get a read on you.” I say watching his facial expression closely. Tarin contemplates my words and drinks the rest of his wine in silence. So I wait for him to say something.