BEYOND BEGINNINGS - BOOK II
Linda Barth
Chapter Fifteen
The metallic music of the pipes rang out the hour of midnight as Catherine and Vincent neared the threshold that merged the tunnel world with their new home, their safe place Above. After a quiet dinner in the large, communal dining chamber, they had read bedtime stories to the children and then spent a few hours in pleasant conversation with several of the others in Father's study. Jacob had been quieter than usual, but seemed more at peace with his world and his life than he had been in recent months, and the change in his demeanor was marked with relief and renewed optimism by many members of his underground family. Only a few had perceived the depth of his troubles, and that night they found themselves filled with hope that all would be well at last.
Now as they arrived at the doorway to the brownstone's wine cellar, Catherine felt the need to give Vincent a chance to reconsider his decision to spend the night Above with her. Yet she hesitated, fearing that her kindness would be misinterpreted as some late-surfacing reluctance to enter totally into their new life. She realized it was almost inconceivable that he would believe she had any doubts at all, but she knew, too, that he had lived a life filled with disappointments and promises broken by those whom he trusted most. Still he had always been so careful of her feelings, so aware of her needs, and she felt above all else that she owed him this consideration.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him. "Vincent, are you sure this is what you should do? I could come Below early in the morning if that would be better for you," she offered, struggling to keep her voice even. Inexplicably she found she could not continue if she looked at him and focused instead on the worn leather suitcase he held in his hand. "You know, after our discussion with Father, if you feel it best that you stay Below tonight, I'll understand."
He never hesitated. "No, Catherine. I’m grateful for your asking, but no, I will not stay Below. Should Father need them, he has many friends here who would be more than willing to talk with him or read to him or just to stay nearby through the night so that he knows he’s not alone.” He bowed his head for a moment and when his gaze drew hers again, his eyes were bright with a brilliance that for all its intensity filled her with an overwhelming tenderness. "You and I have begun our life together now. If that’s still what you want, I will not be parted from you again."
"If it's what I want," she echoed, her voice quavering with joyful tears. "It's the only thing I want."
He reached for the keys she held clutched in her hand and swiftly unlocked and opened the door to slide the false wall aside. Stretching a hand inward, he pushed the control button to illuminate the small room and then turned back toward her. The muted light framed him in a soft golden glow as he offered her a smile full of unending love before reaching to take her hand in his.
No hint of doubt or denial lingered in the rich, deep warmth of his voice and the words he spoke were the ones she had longed to hear. "Catherine, let's go home."
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Several hours later Catherine awoke to the relative quiet of a Sunday morning in New York. Through the slightly opened windows she could hear only the faintest sounds of traffic and then the surprisingly vibrant trilling of a bird from the garden below. The unexpected music forced open her drowsy eyes and she found the bedroom suffused with a soft golden light that marked the hours well past dawn. Stretching slowly, she smiled and rolled onto her side, expecting to find Vincent still asleep next to her, but instead she saw only emptiness in a rumpled pillow and a length of comforter pushed aside. Her smile turned to a look of deep dismay, and she fought hard to suppress her fears as she rose swiftly and pulled on the lacy white nightgown that had been tossed unwanted to the floor many hours earlier. She told herself that he had to be nearby, that he had promised, that he had seemed so certain, so happy and content to be with her. And yet the silent emptiness of the room only told her he was gone.
She turned anxiously toward the bedroom door, thinking that perhaps he had ventured downstairs to fix breakfast or read or explore the other rooms of the house, trying desperately to ignore the realization that he would never yet do these things without her. Her feet felt chained as she made her way to the threshold of their room, her ears straining for any sound of him, and once there she paused, drawing in a shaking breath to call out his name.
Then before she could make a sound, she heard faint footsteps above her, and she whirled in the direction of the narrow door at the end of the hallway. It was open and from within its usually darkened reaches she could see the same golden glow that filled their bedroom, fainter and more diffuse there, but still a warm, softly gleaming light. With her fears transformed to elation, Catherine rushed the length of the hall and up the steep staircase to the skylight room where she stopped just inside the doorway. There she saw that Vincent's dark blue robe had been left carefully folded on the floor beneath the recessed box that contained the controls to the panels of the skylight. With an instinctive thought toward his safety, she looked upward and felt a rush of relief to find the skylights uncovered but with the wire-reinforced semi-opaque panels still in place. When at last she looked into the room itself, she became instantly and utterly transfixed by the tableau before her.
Facing away from her, Vincent stood under the skylight, his head arched back and his face uplifted toward the sun. His luxuriant hair spread over his wide shoulders and halfway down his back in a lush, tawny wave that gleamed in the sunlight. Arms outstretched, he spread his hands open and raised them a few inches away from the corded muscles of his thighs, as if seeking to grasp handfuls of gleaming warmth and light. Then he spread his legs farther apart to counterbalance his considerable height and tautly muscled weight as he stretched and sighed deeply, as if seeking to fill his entire being with the sun's glowing heat.
Catherine could not see his face, but she knew his eyes were closed and his mouth was curved in a smile of pure pleasure. She, too, closed her eyes for a moment and smiled that same elated smile, feeling his rapture fill her with more life-giving sustenance than even the brightest ray of sun could ever offer. Then she could not bear another moment apart from him and she walked toward him, feeling as if she were almost floating on the sunlit air.
She watched him straighten slowly, yet still he did not turn to face her even though she understood without a doubt that he had sensed her presence from the first moment she had entered the room. She stopped behind him and touched him then, curving her arms under his, reaching forward to touch the sun-warmed skin and lush hair that covered his chest, before burying her face in the coarse silk of the long tangled mane that trailed over the rippling muscles of his shoulders and back. Her breathing became deep and shuddering as she drew in the heated scent of him, and the evocative sensation only intensified her already raging desire, a delicious pulsing ache that she knew he shared.
At last he whispered to her. "I knew you would find me, Catherine." The sound of his voice seemed to ripple in heat waves through the shimmering air, making her tighten her arms reflexively as she pulled herself closer to him. "I love you, Vincent, I love you," she murmured, her voice a breathy stirring against the warm flesh of his back. "And I love seeing you like this, touching you like this."
He tried to answer her, but his voice evaporated in the heated air as he felt Catherine's hands caressing his chest, her small fingers warming him even further as they searched beneath the amber curls she could not see to find the small, already hardening nipples underneath. Once there she flattened her palms and stroked him in small, sensuous circles, increasing the pressure in delicious spiraling increments until he moaned deeply and then covered her hands with his own, holding her more firmly against his chest, craving a deepening of her touch.
Smiling, Catherine rubbed her face against his back, pressing warm, moist kisses there, as she gently but firmly pulled her hands away from his, delighting in his immediate groan of disappointment. Then the harsh groan turned to a hoarse gasp of pleasure as she moved her hands in firm, slow strokes downward over his flat stomach and then to the throbbing hardness below. She reached forward, running her fingers along the aching length of him over and over again, reveling in the sensation of hot satiny skin over rigid steel. All too soon the uneven rasping of his breath and the moist straining of his pulsating flesh forced her to slowly draw her hands away, loathe to cease the longed-for experience of touching him like this, but more reluctant still to bring the moment to a too rapid completion. Yet as she pulled back from him, he called to her, his voice so thick with longing that the words were half plea and half demand.
"Don't stop touching me, Catherine, please don't stop."
The groaning sound thundered through her, its heated yearning sending jagged streaks of lightning surging into her trembling body. With great reluctance she released him, but only long enough to move forward to stand facing him at last. He looked down at her, his eyes darkened to storm-streaked cobalt, and then he reached to take her in his arms. But again she eluded him, gazing up at him, her eyes glowing with emerald fire, as she grasped his wrists and forced his hands down to his sides. For only a moment, he looked at her in disbelief even though he knew what she wanted…what they both wanted.
"Let me, Vincent, please."
The heat in her voice burned him, but he only welcomed the sensation, hearing in it the sound of forbidden dreams, and he answered her by breathing one word, "Yes..." Half-dazed, he watched her release his wrists, and then with a flood of hot, wet kisses she leaned closer to trail her mouth over his chest, flicking her tongue against the tight buds hidden within the moistly curling hair on his chest, down over the taut planes of his stomach, moving unceasingly to the part of him that craved the completion only she could give.
Overjoyed that at last he would allow her to touch him in this way, Catherine sank gracefully to her knees and let her hands trail paths of fire over his narrow hips and firm buttocks, grasping and kneading the clenched muscles. To her own intense pleasure she heard him gasp hoarsely as she drew one hand forward over his left hip and then pressed it between his thighs, gently urging his legs farther apart. She knew that while he still could not say the words, he wanted everything from her. Again and again she stroked the taut, tender skin of his inner thighs, coming ever closer to the warm, rounded flesh that throbbed and tightened as she grazed him lightly with her fingertips and then cupped her hand beneath to fondle that most sensitive part of him.
Continuing to gaze down at Catherine as she caressed him pushed Vincent rapidly to the edge. He wanted it to never end, and yet he craved the final sensations he knew would arise from this fulfillment of his deliciously tortured dreams. But when she nuzzled her face into the dark bronze curls that surrounded his erection and began to move her mouth upon him, slowly flicking her warm, moist tongue over his engorged length, he knew that never could he have imagined this fiery ecstasy. Arching his head back, he opened his mouth wide, drawing in heavy, shuddering breaths and then hoarsely panting the sound of her name.
A searing heat rose higher within him at her every touch, and he knew instinctively that the scorching pleasure could not go on much longer. He braced his legs and clenched his hands hard at his sides, desperately striving to prolong the incredible sensations for as long as possible. But when she drew him deep into her mouth, a reverberating groan was torn from his chest and he arched his hips uncontrollably toward her again and again. The molten sound and motion fed the flames in both of them, and then with incredible gentleness he reached forward, stroking his large trembling hands over the warm silk of her hair, tenderly holding her to him.
Catherine felt the sensual sweetness of his touch upon her head and the evocative, musky taste of him in her mouth, meld into a sensation that left her burning within and without. She braced her hands on his hips and sensed the throbbing waves of pleasure that rippled more and more powerfully through his entire body, feeling them pulsate wildly inside her as well. His low, hoarse moans vibrated through her, and she wanted to draw out their passion moment by heated moment until they were consumed together in flames.
Then as the shimmering heat of the rising sun above them met the searing fervor in Catherine's erotic adoration of his yearning body, the last of Vincent's control melted gloriously away, and he felt himself surge forward in a rhythmic pounding rush of heat and light. He cried out her name once more in a final torrid moan, feeling he might collapse under the sensual ecstasy of all that they had shared.
For long moments their bodies seemed to quiver in the gleaming, sunlit air, and then Vincent reached for her, urging her upward so that he might gaze upon the sated beauty of her face, realizing with a fiery jolt, that she had desired this as much as he. His eyes searched her face, seeing the unmistakable pleasure in her heavy-lidded eyes and the rosy flush of her skin, and then he felt a tremor of ardent disbelief as he saw the moistness of his own essence lingering on her softly swollen lips. That final sight sent tangible waves of renewed fire crashing through him and he found himself past words. Grasping his large, strong hands around her slender waist, he pulled her against his body, gasping at the sensation of her lacy nightgown rubbing against his highly sensitized flesh. Then from deep within her, he could sense a fiery need for even further fulfillment, and more than anything he wanted to give to her the same passionate offering that she had made to him.
Instinctively Catherine knew of the sensations coursing through him, feeling the bond shudder uncontrollably as their unending passion flared higher and hotter once again. Arching her neck, she leaned back, trusting the support of his hands clasped around her waist, needing his mouth on the throbbing pulse at the base of her neck. Immediately he leaned into her, trailing the heat of his tongue over her skin, pausing only long enough to suckle deeply at the indentation of her throat, before moving lower to her breasts. The hardness of her nipples strained against the intricate white lace that covered them, and Catherine moaned deeply as Vincent took first one and then the other into his mouth, pulling rhythmically upon her rigid flesh through the lacy barrier. The hot, pulsing movement of his mouth and tongue rubbed the textured lace against her delicate skin and she cried out with the intense pleasure of it.Feeling her passionate need for more push her almost beyond speech, Catherine could only gasp his name as he took his hands and mouth away from her. She swayed unsteadily and then leaned forward against him as he raised his hands to her shoulders and hurriedly pulled the straps of the gown down over her unresisting arms. The delicate fabric draped around her waist for mere seconds before he pushed it over her hips and held her as she stepped away from it.
For a moment Catherine stood still, lifting her face as Vincent had done to the heat of the sun, reveling in the gleaming rays that spread over her. Then in an instant its sustaining force was surpassed by the radiance and power of her lover and the depthless potency of the love he would feel for no one but her. He moved several paces away from her then, but she had not cried out for him, knowing he would return to her. She felt the pulsating need within her own body deepen almost painfully as she watched him spread his robe on the floor, seeing the midnight blue color of the rich, heavy fabric take on the gleam of the sun that burned down from above them.
Catherine had believed that the intensity of what had gone before would have been far too great to allow them the luxury of lingering kisses and unhurried caresses, but to her ecstatic wonder, Vincent surprised her yet again. As she continued to gaze at him, he lowered himself to kneel on the robe at her feet, leaning back to balance himself easily with the massive, tensed muscles of his thighs. The sunlight seemed drawn to him, burnishing his skin with a bronze gleam and threading strands of copper and pure gold through his hair. To Catherine's enchanted eyes he seemed for a moment like some ancient mythic being, a warrior of the sun, inexplicably supplicating himself to her. And then the image vanished, to be replaced by something far more glorious -- the reality of Vincent consumed with love and desire for her.
She gasped as she felt his hands at her waist again, and this time the roughened skin of his palms rasped sensually against her smoother skin as he drew her down to him, bringing her knees to the top of his sloping thighs. With his far greater strength he held her firmly against him, and Catherine let her legs rest on his as his hands tightened around her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he nestled his face between her breasts, kissing and stroking the tender softness with his eager mouth, gently nipping and suckling the sweet warm flesh as he felt her heart race. Then as he leaned forward and moved his mouth unceasingly lower, she arched back, pushing her hands against his wide shoulders as he nuzzled the toned muscles of her stomach and the slight curve of her belly. Turning his head to one side, he rubbed the softly stubbled skin of his face against her, moving in deliberately lazy strokes back and forth until he heard her moan his name and felt her fingers tighten on his him.
Vincent had thought he could sustain her pleasure as long as she had his, but he felt himself unable to contain the urgency of their desire. It ached within both of them, enflaming them beyond belief, and he knew that all too soon it must reach a fiery peak. With gentle firmness he eased Catherine onto her back on the floor, hoping that the thick robe would cushion her body. For several seconds, he knelt in front of her, gazing down as if he might burn the image of her into his eyes forever. Her peach and ivory skin glowing with heat as she lay before him, her gleaming eyes half-closed, her lips trembling open to ease her rapid, uneven breathing, her arms curved gracefully at her sides, her legs parted in a pose of eager abandon.
She had watched his eyes devour her, and he'd felt the pleasure it had given her, but it was no longer enough for either of them. He rested his hands at the top of her legs and spread his fingers wide, curving his thumbs against the delicate inner flesh of her thighs, brushing the very tips of his claws back and forth over the quivering skin. With tender but insistent pressure, he opened her farther to him and again a moist, heated fragrance filled his senses, stronger than it had the night they'd first made love, and he lowered himself toward its source, needing to taste the provocative essence of his Catherine. He heard her gasp, harsh and hot, as he nuzzled his mouth into her damp, darkened curls, and then she groaned with pure pleasure as he pressed heated kisses there, suckling and stroking the tender flesh with his lips and tongue much as he might caress her mouth.
She moaned his name over and over as she wound her fingers in the tangled strands of his hair, urging him closer still, and then arching her hips upward uncontrollably as he eagerly responded to her desires. It was nearly beyond belief to him that he was at last free to love her in all the ways they’d dreamed of for so long. The thought made him hesitate in wonder, until her heated voice calling his name brought him back to her, and he set her further afire as he breathed heavily against her before touching her with the moist heat of his mouth once again. The taste of her was an unimaginable sweetness and he filled his mouth with it, stroking his tongue rhythmically against her pulsating flesh, and then feverishly thrusting his tongue within her quivering softness again and again. As he heard her cry out his name in a shuddering sob of exquisite shimmering passion, he felt the intensity of her orgasm blaze through him, their bond letting him share that exquisite pleasure with her. He pulled himself upward slightly to lay his head upon the quivering flesh of her stomach, joyfully content to suspend himself within the throbbing aftermath of her pleasure.
For long moments out of time, Catherine trembled beneath him. The turbulent sensations within her swirled slowly, forming and reforming into thoughts of the wondrous man whom she had loved for so long in all ways but one, the man who at last had become her lover. She sighed softly in deep contentment, letting her mind wander blissfully. That Vincent was a deeply sensual man was something she had always known. It had been sometimes painfully apparent to her in the way he moved with controlled strength and effortless grace, in the extraordinarily tender ways he touched her even in their earliest days together, in the rich, deep timbre of his voice, in the observant searching light of his eyes. For so long she had ached to help him free his natural sensuality in a deeper, sexual way, knowing with all her heart that when he did, he would discover a magnificent world beyond his wildest dreams, and that he would share it all with her. Yet never had she imagined all that he was now becoming in the wondrous reality they shared.
She pushed herself up on one elbow and gazed at him for a long moment before reaching down to gently stroke his hair and face, urging him to look up at her. As their eyes met, she felt her heart swell with the look of love that transformed the unique beauty of his face. Gone were the haunting shadows of doubt, vanished like brackish rain water heated to pure white vapor by the sun's rays, and in their place was a look of immutable serenity and peace, at last an abiding confidence and belief in the man he had always been, the man she had known from the start.
With a joyful sigh, Catherine let herself slide back to rest upon the floor once again. Then at her tender insistence, Vincent pushed himself upward and relaxed against her, supporting part of his weight on one hip and arm, as he lay his head at the curve of her breasts. He sighed deeply as he felt her arms gently encircle him while they lay together, warmed by the sun of the world Above and by the far greater warmth of their unending love, as they drifted into a blissfully satiated slumber.
Some minutes later Vincent awakened fully, and reluctantly rolled to one side, unwilling to end the magic but aware of the growing discomfort caused by the hard floor beneath them. He looked at Catherine and found her watching his every move. He knew somehow that she hadn't slept at all, but instead had savored the sensation of holding him once again in complete and rapturous fulfillment. The thought rocked him gently with a sense of awe, and he knew then that he might never become fully accustomed to this most amazing and desirable facet of their love, that to him it would always be a wondrous gift, both in its giving and receiving. The realization filled him with a sense of gratitude and gladness, and he told himself again that it would always be so.
Vincent rose to his feet and then leaned down to help Catherine stand beside him. Her graceful motion sent the crystal suspended from its golden chain around her neck swirling in the air before settling back against the blush rose of her skin. Tiny rays of sun were caught within its heart, and under Vincent's fascinated gaze they seemed to swirl and dance with an energy of their own.
Catherine followed his gaze and then smiled up at him. "Now a part of the world Above has found a home in a piece of the world Below," she said, smiling at the whimsical truth in her words. "Just like us, Vincent. And nothing will ever change that, will it?"
"Nothing," he vowed, his voice a warm murmuring that vibrated through her. "Our love is as eternal as sun and stone. It will live forever." He leaned forward and touched his mouth to the silken skin between her breasts, pressing the sun-warmed crystal against her skin in a gesture that for all its gentle sensuality sent renewed waves of heat through their hearts and souls. As he straightened, they smiled into each other’s eyes, speaking promises of love that went beyond words.
Then, still holding her hand, Vincent bent down to retrieve his robe from the floor. A small smile of self-conscious satisfaction curved his mouth as he took in its damp, wrinkled surface.
"There's a washing machine and dryer in the pantry just off the kitchen," Catherine told him with appreciative amusement as she took in the look on his face. "We can put them to good use this afternoon since we're running out of sheets pretty quickly, too."
Her enjoyment escalated to a delighted laugh when she saw him flush at her comment. That any man could combine such incredible depths of virile masculinity with a completely captivating vulnerability amazed her. And to know that he had entrusted his gentle heart totally to her keeping filled her with overwhelming joy and thankfulness.
He tilted his head toward her. "What are you thinking, Catherine?" he asked softly.
"That I love you more than I ever imagined it was possible to love anyone," she answered, raising his hand to her mouth to brush a tender kiss across the sleekly furred skin. "And how deeply happy I am that you've chosen me to love in return."
"Then it is a thought we share," he told her, the depth of his devotion resonant in the simple words.
Arms around each other, they walked to the doorway of the skylight room and then separated only long enough to return to the bedroom below. Sighing deeply, Catherine threw herself onto the bed, nestling into sheets which were crumpled and disarranged from their lovemaking many hours earlier. Then she looked up at Vincent as he stood watching her in bemused silence.
"I suppose I should get up and shower and dress. But I don't think I can," she told him, sighing heavily for emphasis.
"And why is that?" he asked, his voice rippling with more than a hint of affectionate laughter.
"Because this bed has become just about my favorite place in the entire world, and I haven't got the strength to leave it," she answered, knowing her words left him no doubt as to the core of truth within her teasing tone.
Vincent pretended to frown as he moved to join her, stretching out next to her and opening his arms as she immediately rolled into his embrace. "And do you find this bed preferable even to the room above?"
She ran her fingers lightly through the still slightly damp amber curls on his chest while pretending to consider his question. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to have two favorites then."
He nuzzled a kiss into her tangled hair, and then leaned back to rest his head against a pillow. "And what about Below?"
She leaned up on one elbow and looked down at him, delighted by yet another display of the humorous side of his personality that she had always suspected was lurking just beneath the surface. "What about it?" she echoed.
"Perhaps you should reserve judgment on favorite places for a while longer," he advised. "I think there must be aspects to the Great Falls, the Chamber of the Winds, the Mirror Pool, and even my chamber that we have not yet fully considered."
Catherine laughed in sheer pleasure and then leaned closer to whisper in his ear, knowing the sweet warmth of her breath would beguile him as much as the growing warmth of her words. "And we can't forget the Crystal Cavern and that nameless river you once told me about, can we? Not to mention the Great Hall. Maybe this year after all the other Winterfest participants are home in their beds, we can -- "
His fingers softly pressed to her lips stemmed the heated flow of her enticing suggestions. "Catherine," he whispered, his voice rasping somewhat unevenly. "I think for now some things should be left to the imagination."
"All right," she agreed, gently moving his fingers aside so that he could replace them with his lips. "But not for too long."
Vincent's mouth met hers in a deepening caress that was as much a heartfelt smile as an ecstatic kiss. Then he leaned back just enough to look into her eyes. "I could never have imagined this, Catherine. The love you give to me so freely, the shelter you offer my body and my heart, the peace you bring to my soul. You are a dream beyond my imagining, a dream that has somehow come true."
"Just as you are to me, Vincent," she vowed in return. "Just as you will always be. With you I've come home."
Together they drifted into the serenity of sleep, content and secure in each other's arms, knowing it was finally safe to dream of the life they would share, a life rich in deep and abiding happiness that had begun at last.
The End
Now you shall feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.Now you will feel no loneliness,
For each of you will be companionship to the other.Now you are two persons,
But there is only one life between you.Go now to your dwelling place
To enter into the days of your life together.~ Apache Wedding Prayer