Blackwell Residence
Characters
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| Serafine Roche | Cooper Montgomery |
Once the rescue was handled and the bunker was free and clear, Serafine finally took a moment to check her voice mails. She wasn't overly concerned about them because she knew that the business end of things would be handled by Devon, and anyone else who might desperately need to contact her was involved in the rescue.
Cooper's voice mail piques her interest, if only because there are nuances to the man's voice that tell her that there's possibly more going on than your typical 'booty call.' She's however in no shape to call the dancer back upon immediate arrival. No, that requires a shower, two meals, and a torpor because she's been running at her limit since this started.
'Waking' refreshed, Sera checks in on Bryn, and then returns Cooper's call, apologizing for missing him the first time and then inviting him over if he's not otherwise engaged.
Cooper's only engagement of late has been to talk to Preston via text message, and dance until he's exhausted. It's a good way to work through things, and not think about the things he doesn't want to focus on.
Sera's call is a surprise. Not that he wasn't expecting her to contact him at some point, just not when she does. He tells her that he'll be over at the address that she provides as soon as he's showered.
Knocking on the door, he rubs the back of his neck. Something tells him that this isn't a great idea, but he needs it. Since before Siobhan's went missing, his only release has been his hand and that's not hardly as good as anything else.
This is the first time Sera has invited Cooper into her home. She does have her playroom, and there is that private entrance to it away from the rest of the house. She's put it to use for what Kiearan refers to as 'snack and shags,' but her encounters with Cooper have been chance meetings at the club, or arranged meetings where she's always booked a hotel room. It hasn't been intentional, but it's worked out that way, and she does like to avoid parading her partners in front of Bryn, especially when he's being so flexible and lenient about things. Especially since she can't quite relegate Cooper's status to 'snack and shag.'
She's dressed rather casually, at least for Sera, in a maxi-wrap dress, strapless sandals on her feet. Her hair hangs in loose curls, pulled back in a silver ribbon, and she is sans make up.
The vampiress opens the door with a welcoming smile, "Cooper. You made good time. Come on in." She motions the dancer into her home.
"Doesn't take a lot of time to shed a leotard and shower." Cooper winks at her, and peers into the house. He knows upon seeing it that he's completely out of his league here.
Which is honestly fine. He can fuck out of his league, but Preston wants a hell of a lot more than that now, and he's not at all sure how he feels about it.
"I hope that you didn't put aside other things for me, sweetie."
"Wouldn't it be more flattering if you think that I did?" Serafine gives him a kittenish smile, closing the door behind him once he's inside. "I've slept off the jet lag, made certain nothing was turning into a science experiment in my refrigerator, and decided that I really don't want to deal with my email yet."
Taking his arm, she leads him into the sitting room. "Could I make you a drink? I have beer in the fridge."
Cooper could do with something a bit stronger, but he nods. "Sure. Beer sounds good." Finding the couch, he drops onto it. Before she can get far though, he pulls her down onto the piece of furniture with him, and kisses her. It's not a harsh, or hungry kiss, but it does seem to be a little needy.
"I'm glad you had a safe trip."
The kiss takes Sera by surprise. Not in that she didn't see it coming when he reached for her, but certainly in its tone and delivery. There's a bit more neediness to it than outright lust that she's accustomed to from Cooper. She returns it, teasingly and playfully, with a little suggestiveness.
Stroking her fingers over his cheek as the kiss breaks, she whispers against his lips. "How about something a bit stronger than a beer?" The vampiress is good at reading people, and there's something going on in the back of Cooper's mind. It's not her place to pry, and she's not going to judge him for it. If his coping mechanism is screwing, then she doesn't have a problem with that.
Sera draws back a little, but doesn't leave his side just yet. "Me too, but I'm glad to be home. I don't mind traveling, but I love coming home. You must know what that's like." He does travel on tour, after all.
"That sounds even better than beer," Cooper replies with a laugh.
"It is nice to be home after a prolonged tour. I don't mind leaving the city, but sometimes I hate leaving certain things behind." Waggling his brows at her, he draws his hand up her side. Fingers tickle along the side of her breast and he quietly says, "You write a bit about different things, don't you?"
Beat.
"I mean, the weird as shit stuff. Don't all writers write about that stuff at some point?"
"Scotch? Brandy? Vodka?" Serafine teases her fingers over his throat and down to his collarbone. "Or I can surprise you. I'm not a half bad bartender."
The vampiress peers at him a moment, then laughs softly. "You're going to have to define 'weird as shit stuff.' Are we talking 'Fifty Shades of Gray' or 'Southern Vampire Mysteries'?"
"Surprise me, sweetie. You know I love your surprises." Winking at her, Cooper relaxes against the back of the couch.
Then he laughs. "'Fifty Shades of Grey'? Fuck, I've no doubt I know more about that stuff than the dimwit who ripped off Twilight to write it."
Beat.
"The latter, I suppose. Never read'em. That's the one that's on HBO now, right? 'True Blood' or whatever? There's a lot of sex in that show, but not the sex."
"So glad to know that I don't disappoint." Sera gives him a wink and rises from the couch. She crosses the room with practiced steps, gliding up to the bar gracefully. Once there, she ponders for a minute, then with a mischeivous smile, begins to mix two drinks.
"Oh, I've read it. I'm positive that you're vastly more familiar and experienced than the author happened to be. You have never struck me as the naive and unwilling to explore type."
Nipping at her lower lip, Sera gathers the second ingredient for the drink. "You mean vampires, werewolves, witches and fairies?"
Beat.
"But not the vampire and werewolf sex?"
"Glad to know I please." Cooper does grin smugly at that. There's nothing like getting a good compliment from a hot woman to stroke his ego just right.
"The witches, primarily. I was wondering if you did any research on them for a book. I mean, what's your take on them."
Beat.
"The rest of it too, I suppose… but yeah, I really don't need to know how vampires or werewolves fuck."
"You most definitely do please," Sera says with a saucy wink. She stirs both drinks and carries them back over toward the couch. The woman isn't at all concerned with spilling them, and carries them with ease and grace. Stopping at the couch, she manages to straddle Cooper's lap, one knee on each side of his thighs, still not spilling a drop of the liquor.
"I thought we could both go for a Slow, Comfortable Screw," Sera smirks, handing Cooper his drink. She leans in and breathes softly against his lips, "I think I can guess how vampires and werewolves fuck. Naked." Sera teasingly nips at his lower lip. "With biting."
Settling back on her heels a bit, she sips from her glass. "I've done plenty of research. I had to set the tone and the background of the story. People don't realize that writing is just as much research as it is having a good story to tell."
Sera takes another swallow of the drink. "I grew up in New Orleans, sugar. Every building and street corner is haunted or has some sort of 'weird as shit' associated with it. Everyone's mother and grandmother knows someone who saw a ghost, or was cured or cursed by a witch, or had a relative a long, long ago was visited by a vampire. I'm no stranger to the lore."
It's a curious question he's asking and Sera wonders what brought it on. Has he been exposed to his own heritage, or simply found out that a few of his friends are not quite as human as they appear. "My take on them? Hmm… not sure where to go with that one. Would you like to hear what I found in my research once I was able to separate the 'real' from the 'fantasy'." There are implied air quotes. For the moment.
"Is that what you want tonight?" Waggling his brows at her, he sets one hand to the small of her back, and traces a small circle there. "I can definitely provide that. Nice, slow, extremely long, taking all night if that's what you want, sweetie."
Cooper lifts his glass and takes a rather big sip from it.
"Let's say, for instance, I've got a friend who can… move things at rather inopportune times, and apparently it's a familial relationship. I'd much rather hear the 'real' from the 'fantasy' because I know she's not one of those Wiccans… so is it possible that it's real or am I slowly losing my mind?"
The vampiress loops an arm around his neck and drags her nails against the nape of his neck, curling her finger up into the short hair there. "Do you think you can keep up with me Cooper Montgomery?"
Sera tilts her head and considers. "It could be telekinesis." She holds up a finger from the glass holding her drink. "Just going on what I've learned from my research. Or, some unexpected? magic does manifest as the ability to move things, or control objects, or even control weather." Again, Sera's not saying whether or not she's seen this, though obviously she's very familiar with just how powerful magic can be.
"From what I learned in my research, magic falls into two, or three, depending on whom you ask, distinct spheres. Natural, earth magic, primal blood magic and fae magic. It's all hereditary, passed from mother to daughter or father to son, although sometimes there's a gender crossover. Witches, mostly female, are rooted in natural, earth magic. Sorcerers, mostly male, have their abilities rooted in more primal sorts of magic and blood magic, and then there are the fae who are in a class all their own."
Beat.
"I believe," Sera pauses and takes sip from her drink, then stretches around to place the glass on the coffee table behind her. She strokes the back of Cooper's neck gently while tickling her fingers over his chest. "That there are many things we can't understand that are currently outside of the realm of science being able to explain them. That's not to say that they aren't real or are unnatural, simply that modern science hasn't developed the technology to measure them or the knowledge to explain them."
"You know I can," he replies easily enough.
Cooper frowns a little as he listens to her. "So, your belief is that they're real? That I'm not losing my mind? That a really intense, somewhat powerfully intimate orgasm can just cause a woman to use this magic unbidden?"
He lifts one side of his lips up at her in a half smile. "Pres wants me to be okay with it, but there's something in me that's telling me it's wrong."
Sera lifts her hand from his chest and waggles her fingers at him. "Southern girl. New Orleans. My grandmomma would have wanted me to believe that the fae take babies and leave changelings in their place and that Marie Lavaeu really was a powerful voodoun Queen."
Oh, Sera so much wants to know what bits of the story Cooper is leaving out, if only because it sounds like a damn interesting one. "Honey, I've had sex with you. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if you could blow a woman's mind that way."
Beat.
"You're saying you screwed an alleged witch and she lost control, and you're still asking me if I believe in this sort of thing?"
Beat.
"Why does Preston want you to be okay with it? Why do you think it's wrong?"
Beat.
"I mean, I was born and raised Catholic, and therefore just about everything I subscribe to in life is wrong and a sin, but you don't strike me as an altar boy."
Cooper can't help but laugh at that. Believing in fae stealing babies is well beyond him.
"Something like that. You ever hear of that toy LovePalz? I gifted a girl I know with one. She was a virgin, but she wanted to try the toy out anyhow. So essentially, it was the first time she had sex, just without human contact." Grinning, he adds, "Do I blow your mind that way?" Waggling his brows at her, he drifts his hands down her side.
"Siobhan is a witch. She's this girl's cousin." That's the short of it, but the rest is Preston's story to tell.
"I'm not. I just can't help this underlying feeling… Christ, I wish there were an easy way to make me alright with this sort of thing, but I didn't grow up with stories like you did. I didn't even have fairytales told in my household. It just doesn't seem natural to me."
"The first time can be overwhelming. Even if you've gotten yourself off before, it's different having sex with a person, or in this case, even with an actual toy for penetration." Sera leans in and teases her tongue over his lips before kissing him. It's still playful and teasing, though she does end it with a brief suckle to his lower lip. "Aren't you just the corrupting influence, hmm?"
Dragging her hand down his chest, Sera teases it between their bodies, lightly grazing over his groin. "You keep me coming back, what do you think?" For all of her experience, Cooper still has a lot to learn, but he's enthusiastic, and he's willing to experiment, and Sera's fond of that hedonist inside of the younger man. He's a great partner, and a fantastic source for feeding the lust since it oozes off of him without her having to do anything.
Were she younger and untrained, Sera would react in surprise at that. As it is, she just takes it in. She saw Preston from afar at the hospital, and though she didn't speak to him, she was able to glean that young, pretty girl with him at the time was a relative of Siobhan's. Sera is curious to know if that's the young woman Cooper is speaking of, but at this point she's not going to complicate things by showing the tangled threads.
"And I take it, she's friends with Preston?"
Beat.
"No fairy tales?" That does surprise Sera. she thought all children heard those fairy tales and silly songs. "In my experience, our perception of what's wrong or bad is taken from what we've been taught. Either by society, our families, or others who influence our lives. I could go into a whole sociological digression, but that would bore both of us. But suffice to say, if you feel it's wrong, at some point in your life, you were presented with that as a legitimate belief."
Sera kisses him again, this time deepening it a bit, sliding her fingers beneath the hem of his shirt to dance across his firm abs. "If there was a miracle, easy way to deal with it all, would you take it?"
"I do like the image that paints. Cooper the corrupter." He grins, and drags his nail over the back of her neck. "Too bad I can't corrupt you. I think in this scenario, you're the one that'd be teaching me a few things."
Pressing his hips up against her center, he rubs slowly, teasingly. Just having a bit of fun.
"Yes, she is. She's also moving in with Pres and Jenna in a few months, hence the complication."
He nods slowly, then shrugs. "I probably had the tales of evil witches, rather than the pretty fairy princesses. Likely to keep me in line. Can you just imagine what an awful child I was, getting into everything?"
The deeper kiss has him groaning into it. Licking his lips as it breaks, he brushes his thumb over her cheek.
"Fuck yes. Things are already awkward enough with Siobhan. I don't think I can take fucking her while drugged and deal with her being a witch."
Sera purrs and leans into the touch, tilting her head forward briefly. "You're welcome to try, sugar. You know me, I'm always game for anything."
Giving him a sultry look from beneath lowered lashes, Sera rocks against him, and presses downward, teasing him in return. She can have fun, too. And Cooper is fun.
"Because you're bothered by the idea that she's a witch and it's all real, or because you're … attracted to her? I don't see where that has to be a complication, unless you're wanting to sleep with her again?"
Beat.
"Preston wasn't bothered by your virtual sex with her?" Sera knows the pair have an open and interesting relationship, obviously, but there's something more going on probably than Preston just wanting Cooper to be comfortable with his friend.
Sera dips her head and kisses a slow path along his jaw. She pauses, and glances up at him, "I thought we were talking about Siobhan's cousin. You screwed Siobhan too?" Beat. "You do get around."
"I don't think I could possibly corrupt you, Sera, but I'm more than willing to try."
The downward pressing has him groaning again, and he pulls her closer to him. Sliding his hands around her body, he teases his thumbs over her nipples.
"That's part of it, but the attraction is to her cousin. Which is awkward enough since I slept, technically, with both of them."
Beat.
"Preston fucked her. He was her first. I think he's got a thing for her too."
Cooper laughs, and then brushes his thumbs upward over her collarbone.
"I don't remember screwing her. Someone roofied us. Possibly magically? I don't know. I don't understand it at all."
"Please do. I love to see a man rising to a challenge," Sera laughs huskily.
The woman isn't wearing a bra, which will be readily obvious through touch and by her body's response to Cooper's actions. She's not wearing any undergarments at all, but he'll find that out soon enough.
"Preston fucked her?" Sera blinks at that. Sera has never had a problem with Preston's receptivity, but given his and Cooper's statements, she's always assumed he's been more responsive to the Karneros than the woman. That and wanting to make Cooper happy. This facet is a new wrinkle.
"Let me see if I have this straight: You have a thing for her, Preston has a thing for her … are we looking at some sort of threeway relationship, or were you before the witchy stuff came up?"
Sera nips at his ear and drags her nails up along his ribcage beneath his shirt. "Let's say there was a miracle pill. A miracle blue pill that could make you forget, and a pink one that would just help you deal, which one would you take. And the most important question, why?"
"I always rise to the challenge where you're concerned, Sera." Cooper smirks at her, and bucks his hips upward. "I'll do my best to try and corrupt you, but you have to promise that if I fail, you'll take over and teach me a thing or two."
Lifting her breast up, he teases her nipple with his mouth. "Mmhmm, apparently. When he went down to see her after I did."
Beat.
"A relationship?"
Beat.
"I don't know if I'd go that far, but another threeway partner? Definitely."
Groaning again, he pulls his shirt up over his head and licks his lips. "Help me deal. It'd be easy to forget, but then the issue'd just come up again eventually, and I'd freak out again, and not be able to deal again… so being able to deal with it would be better. Preston wants me to talk to someone, I think, but I haven't really said much to him in person since he said he loved me."
"I will," Sera purrs, her voice laced with promise. Cooper is fun because he is so willing to try new things. Someday she will have to introduce him to Kieran, but that day is not today.
Her fingers feather though his hair as her lips work their way over his jaw. She nips lightly at his pulse point and flicks it with her tongue before suckling for a few seconds. Sera inhales the scent of his blood pumping through all of the little capillaries just beneath his skin. Savors the smell of it mixed with his pheromones and lust.
A soft encouraging purr settles in her chest and she thrusts her breast forward toward his mouth. The damp heat of his mouth combined with the thin material of the dress provides a wonderful bit of friction and contrast.
"So much better for you if your current partner also happens to have a taste for the new addition?" Sera smiles down at him, combing her fingers through his hair and mussing it in a rather sexy fashion.
The vampiress gives his newly bared chest an appreciative and thorough once over. He's toned and buff, with well defined muscles and the perfect dancer's body. There's a lot to appreciate. With a slightly sultry lift of her mouth, Sera holds his gaze and rakes her nails down his sternum to his treasure trail. Just hard enough to leave red streaks and tease him with that hint of almost pain.
A breathy laugh escapes and she coos in French. "Ah, my poor boy. You have had a time of it, no?" Given Cooper's attitudes toward relationships and commitment, it's no surprise that having his world turned upside down and a profession of love from his boyfriend has his head spinning. She's seen the pair together; it was inevitable. She isn't going to tell him that.
"Fuck, I love when you do that." Cooper doesn't have a sensitive neck, but there's something about the way she teases that drives him insane. The painful scratch earns a hiss that's mixed pain and pleasure, and a bucking up of his hips.
"All the better for me. I like watching the two of them together. I like watching Preston with her." He's not ashamed to admit that, he's really not. It's the truth. Watching them together is even better than the thought of fucking her on his own.
"My French isn't that great, but yes?"
Beat.
"It's been a long few weeks, and then with Shiv going missing…" It's been a lot to handle. Especially since he knows the reason she didn't go to Boston immediately was because of what happened between them.
"What? This?" Sera's lips find his throat again, sweeping over his pulse and scraping it lightly with her teeth. The subtle changes in his body, the rise of his temperature and the shift of his scent have her purring and pressing teasingly against him.
Sera laughs, drawing back to meet his gaze. "You are such a voyeur. It's good though that you know what you like and that you and Preston are on the same page."
Trailing the back of her hand over his cheek comfortingly, she glides her touch down to his chest and rests her palm there for a moment. Her mouth connects to his, tongue dancing and weaving with his as her hips shift against the growing bulge in his pants. This kiss lasts for longer than any of the others and she tugs his lip gently with her teeth when it breaks.
"It's no wonder that you have so much pent up energy to burn off," Sera whispers, lips working over his cheek and down the side of his neck. The hand on his chest slides down his torso and she easily pops the button snap of his pants with a flick of her wrist.
Lifting up again, she strokes the fingers of her free hand over his cheek and tilts his chin so that he's looking in her eyes. "You'll be able to deal with and handle the witch, magic and 'weird stuff'. Not overnight, but gradually as the days stretch into weeks, you'll be less frightened, more accepting and more comfortable." It's a slow, careful glamour that Sera is weaving over the witch. This one is delicate, and she doesn't want to be heavy handed. She's not so much forcing him to adapt, as offering his psyche a soothing balm to do what he wants - accept and handle it and get his life back to where it was.
"Your feelings and opinions about the people involved will influence how easily and quickly you adapt, but you'll stop being uncomfortable and scared and remember that you like and trust these people. Acceptance will lead to curiosity which will allow you to be more comfortable around expressions of magic, and other possible abilities, and perhaps even curious about them. You'll be less surprised and shocked as more of the unusual is revealed to you."
The vampiress considers adding something about his own magical inheritance, but leaves it as it is for now. She'll see Cooper again in the future, and a foot in the door leading toward acceptance will make it easier for him down the line.
"Christ, yes. That." Cooper can't help his reaction to her. It's almost natural, the way she teases him like that. It's something she's obviously done plenty, and just feeling the teeth on his skin has him hardening quite a bit more.
"I am. Hell, if I didn't think your boyfriend would be adverse to it, sweetie, I'd suggest just letting me watch. I bet the two of you are fucking hot together. Literally."
Cooper's eyes catch hers, and when she starts to speak he just stares at her quietly for a few moments. Once she's done, he blinks, nods, and then draws her hand to his lips where he kisses it a few times.
"I like and trust you," he points out. "You're a switch, aren't you?"
Sera has a particular fondness for the neck and throat and she loves and it thrills her when her attentions there are pleasing to her chosen partners. She feels Cooper's response to her attention and nips lightly at his pulse.
"If he ever is up for that, I promise to give you a call." The devil is more likely to strap on ice skates before Bryn is up to such a thing, but she can make the promise.
Green eyes hold to blue, making certain that the glamour took and then she dismisses it with a smile and a lick of her lips. "I am, but I don't give up control easily." It's the dichotomy of her being. Sera, the woman she was before turning is truly submissive, but the vampiric demon half is quite dominant. It's why she was such a perfect Child for Kieran and why she's found her perfect mate in Bryn.
"You sound like he wouldn't be. Doesn't he approve of your being with others?" Cooper was under the impression it was an open relationship. Maybe not in the sense that he and Preston have, but it's obviously got to have some openness to it if she's with another guy while her boyfriend is out.
"I don't expect you do. I wasn't asking you to be submissive. I was offering you full control."
"He approves because he accepts that our … needs are different." Sera trails her index finger along Cooper's collarbone and down his chest. She gives him a whimsical smile. "We wouldn't be doing this if he didn't approve." Sera went quite a long time without feeding from a male partner on Bryn's request.
"But Bryn is … reserved. I consider it a big score when he'll watch me with another woman." Which hasn't been often at all, which is why Sera enjoys it so much when he does and shows him great amounts of gratitude after.
A not so subtle change comes over the woman, eyes flashing with desire and a small thrill running through her body. She's got bits of her Maker in her, but she's not like Kieran. When she has a toy she likes, she's careful with it because she doesn't want to break it and have to put it back together. "Are you sure about that?"
"Work on him. After all, he'd be the one with you. I'd just be watching." Cooper draws her in for a kiss, nipping on her lower lip. "If it makes him feel better, he can lock me in a closet so I don't get any ideas."
The last is a tease, but he can see that Sera likes the thought, and he likes the thought of seeing her happy.
Sliding his hand over her breast, he looks her straight in the eyes.
"Positive."
"He probably would. Or tie you to a chair." Magically, though she doesn't say that. Sera trails her hand lower, teasing fingers over the bulge in his pants. "Which I think you'd probably like a whole lot."
Giving him a squeeze through his pants, Sera leans in and lets her breath caress his ear. "You should try that with Preston and your mutual acquaintance when you feel up for it. Watching them. It might help remind you of the normal things about her." She teases her lips against his lobe and gives it a gentle bite.
"Well, in that case, would you like to see my playroom?" Sera's smile is positively decadent.
"Probably," Cooper replies with a chuckle. It's true, being tied to a chair, watching Sera and her boyfriend? It'd be hot.
Groaning, he nods. "I should. Maybe I will." Squeaking her breast again, he grins. It would be fun to watch Ariel and Preston together.
"Fuck yes."
