Chapter 369: Blood and Bond V
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At the same time, as the night deepened in Dawn House, something shifted inside Sekhmet’s mind.
As Lily stayed against him, still warm from feeding, still breathing with that unsteady softness that only came after blood and closeness mixed too deeply to separate, something strange passed through Sekhmet’s body.
At first, it did not feel wrong.
It felt stronger.
The bond between them had gone deeper than before tonight. Not only because of marriage. Not only because of desire. This time there was a battle behind it. Choice behind it. Lily had hunted, judged, killed, fed, and then come to him carrying all of that in her blood. Her body was no longer reacting like a newborn creature learning hunger. It was reacting like something awakened.
And his blood answered. That was the dangerous part. It was not pain but recognition.
Sekhmet felt the pulse begin somewhere beneath his ribs, deeper than heart and flesh, deeper even than ordinary blood hunger. It was as if the blood moving through his body had suddenly remembered something it had no right to remember. A beat. Then another. Then a low, spreading heat that did not stay in one place. It moved through his veins in old patterns, it was ancient and deliberate, not wild like lust, not sharp like battle instinct, but heavy with age.
Lily noticed the change at once.
Because she was still close enough to hear the smallest shift in his breathing.
Because she had drunk from him and his blood was still inside her, answering whatever moved in him with its own strange awareness.
Because some part of her new Cruoraphim senses could feel when his body stopped being only a body in the room and became, for one dangerous moment, a door.
She lifted her head slightly from the bed and searched his face.
"Sekhmet?"
He heard her.
But not as clearly as he should have.
The room had not disappeared. Not yet. He still felt her against him. Still felt the warmth of her skin, the slow rise and fall of her breath, the aftermath of blood and touch and dark intimacy hanging thick in the room around them. But layered over it now came something else.
It was a second sensation. A deeper current.
The bloodline itself was stirring.
The bond with Lily had gone too far inward and touched something sealed. Her blood was not ordinary vampire blood. It carried the bright hidden strain of angel blood twisted together with the dark elegance of a true vampire. His own blood was stranger still. Original. Untaken. Unclaimed by any sire. Whatever lay sleeping inside him had answered her in body, and then deeper than body.
Memory rose. Not his memory. Something far older.
A memory buried so deep that it had waited beneath hunger, battle, feeding, awakening, and bloodline growth for exactly the right pressure to break its seal.
His hand tightened once against Lily without meaning to. It was not in fear. But instinct.
His eyes remained open, but the room’s low light had begun to look farther away, as though the lamps and shadows and bed around them had stepped back one pace from reality. He was still present. Still in the room. Still aware of the woman against him and the heat between them.
But another world was opening inside his mind.
It was Blood. It was Darkness. It was a pressure vast enough to make his own body feel suddenly very small.
Lily’s voice came again, softer now, edged with concern. "What is happening?"
Sekhmet tried to answer. What came first was not a sentence. It was a breath.
Then a whisper, rough and distant even to his own ears.
"A vision."
The word barely left him before it took him.
Not away from the moment.
Through it.
As if the blood-bond with Lily had become the key and the passion of the night had become the force that turned it.
The warmth of her against him remained as the last real thing he felt.
Then the vision opened, but he didn’t focus on it. He suppressed it. He will check it later.
Across the hall, the twins were no less affected by what moved through the house that night.
Vela lay on her back, her silver hair spread across the pillow like a halo. Vera knelt above her, her fingers tracing the curve of her sister’s chest, the dip of her waist, the heat between her thighs. They kissed slowly and deeply, as if rediscovering each other after a long absence.
"She is screaming so loudly," Vela whispered when their lips parted. "She must be really enjoying it."
"Yes." Vera’s mouth traced down her sister’s neck, over her collarbone, lower. "So are we."
She parted Vela’s thighs with gentle hands, lowering her head to taste the wetness that had gathered there. Vela’s breath hitched, her fingers tangling in Vera’s hair, guiding her without words.
The rhythm between them was familiar and perfectly understood, built from years of trust and instinct. It was a shared pleasure that only twins could truly understand.
Vera’s tongue worked in slow circles, tasting the salt-sweetness of her sister’s... Vela’s hips began to move with a gentle rocking that spoke of building need. But there was no urgency. They had all night. Their movements fell into a quiet rhythm of their own.
Above them, through the bloodline, they could feel the pulse of Sekhmet’s pleasure, the surrender of Lily’s heart. It stirred something in them. It was not jealousy, but recognition. Their place in the house was secure. Their bond with each other was unshakable.
"We are enough," Vera breathed against her sister’s skin.
"Yes."
Sekhmet drove into her, slow and deep, his forehead pressed against hers, their breath mingling in the humid air between them. Lily’s legs were wrapped around his waist, her heels digging into the small of his back, urging him deeper.
Sweat slicked their bodies, mingling with the traces of blood that still stained her skin. The scent of the hunt —copper and earth and something wild— filled the room, a perfume that only deepened the intensity of their joining.
His blood meat thrust deeper, hitting a spot that made stars burst behind her eyes. She cried out, her nails raking down his back, leaving red trails across his skin. He groaned, the sound vibrating through his chest, and she felt his control begin to fray.
"Mine," he growled, his rhythm quickening. "My first wife. My Lily."
She came undone beneath him, the orgasm crashing through her like a wave of liquid fire. Her body arched, her walls clenching around him, pulling him deeper. He followed her over the edge, his release was hot and thick inside her, his roar muffled against her throat as he bit down —not feeding, just marking— leaving a claim that would linger for days.
They lay tangled together, breathless and slick, the evidence of their union pooling between her thighs. Sekhmet shifted, rolling to his side, pulling her with him so that she was cradled against his chest.
He pressed a kiss to her hair.
"You are mine," he whispered. "Blood of my blood. Wife of my house. First in all things."
She closed her eyes, letting the words settle into her bones. "And you are mine."
"Yes."
The lamps flickered low, the shadows deepened, and Dawn House settled into the quiet of the early morning. Somewhere in the servants’ quarters, Bat Bat was probably still complaining about the violation of her academic freedom.
In the room of the first wife and her husband, there was only the slow rhythm of two hearts beating close enough to answer each other.
Across the hall, the twins had found their own quiet.
In their chamber, the candle on the nightstand had burned low, throwing long shadows across the walls. Vera lay curled against Vela’s side, her head resting on her sister’s shoulder, her fingers tracing idle patterns across her stomach. Their breathing had already begun to settle into the same rhythm.
Vela’s hand moved through Vera’s silver hair with absent tenderness. The room smelled of candle wax, clean skin, and the faint metallic trace of blood that always lingered after nights like this.
"No matter who enters this house," Vela said softly, "we stay together."
Vera lifted her head and met her sister’s gaze. The words settled between them with the weight of a vow.
"Yes."
She pressed a kiss to Vela’s collarbone in quiet confirmation.
The fear that had lingered beneath the surface for weeks had drained away tonight. Lily was first wife. That was settled. But Vera and Vela were the twins, bound by blood, choice, and the memory of every night they had ever survived together.
"Nothing changes us," Vela murmured.
"Nothing," Vera replied.
They lay together in the dim light, the silence between them filled with the quiet certainty that their place had not weakened. It had only become clearer.
Vera’s lips brushed Vela’s ear. "We are the foundation."
"Yes."
But then a shift ran through the air. It was subtle, electric, carried along the bloodline that linked them to the master’s chamber. Vera’s hand stilled on Vela’s stomach. Vela’s fingers paused in her hair. They both felt and heard it: the rise of heat, the quickening pulse, the unmistakable rhythm of Sekhmet and Lily cresting toward their peak.
Vera’s eyes darkened. Her fingers go deeper, finding her already slick and warm.
"He is about to finish," Vera breathed against her sister’s ear.
Vela gasped, her hips tilting into Vera’s touch. Her own hand mirrored the motion, fingers pressing into Vera’s folds, finding her just as ready. The bond pulsed like a second heartbeat, transmitting every surge of pleasure from the main room.
"Do it faster," Vela whispered, her voice tight, her fingers moving in quick, steady strokes. "She’s close. He’s close."
Vera matched her pace, circling Vela’s clit with her thumb while two fingers thrust inside. "Yes... right there..."
They rode the wave together, their breathing sharpening, their bodies arching against each other. The pressure built in perfect sync, not from their own rhythm alone but from the distant echo of Sekhmet’s growl, Lily’s cry, the final, driving momentum of the master’s claim.
"Now," Vera hissed.
And as Sekhmet drove deep into Lily and spilled his seed, as Lily’s walls clenched around him in her own release, Vera and Vela came together in a quiet, synchronized shudder, fingers buried deep, mouths pressed to each other’s shoulders to muffle the soft cries. The wave passed through them, leaving them trembling, flushed, and utterly at peace.
For a long moment, neither spoke. The candle flickered. The house settled.
Finally, Vera withdrew her hand gently, licking her fingers clean with a small, satisfied smile. Vela did the same, her eyes half-lidded, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
Vela pulled Vera closer, tucking her head under her chin. "The foundation," she murmured.
Vera’s lips curved against her sister’s skin. "Yes."
And in that acknowledgment, they found their peace.
In Sekhmet’s room, the lamps had burned lower still, casting the chamber in warm amber shadow. Lily lay against his chest, her body still humming with the fading echoes of the night, her ear resting over his heart. Its beat was steady and strong, a rhythm that anchored her to the present.
Sekhmet said nothing yet about the vision.
She did not ask.
His hand moved slowly through her hair, fingers working through the tangles left by the long night. Each stroke was deliberate, soothing, a quiet act of care that spoke louder than words.
"You did well tonight," he said at last, his voice low and calm now, stripped of the darker intensity from before.
She turned her face slightly against his chest and pressed a small kiss over his heart.
"I feel different too."
"How?"
She thought about it.
The weight of being the first wife no longer sat on her shoulders like something she still had to earn. It had settled deeper than that. It had become part of her.
"I feel settled," she said. "Like I finally understand where I belong."
His hand stilled for a moment, then resumed its gentle motion.
"Good."
"And the twins..." She hesitated, then let the truth come. "I felt them tonight. Through the bond. I did not realize how much I needed that."
Sekhmet’s arm tightened around her slightly.
"They know their place. You are not a threat to them. You are part of the house now."
She nodded slowly, her eyes growing heavier. The adrenaline of the hunt had long since faded, leaving behind a deep exhaustion that felt almost luxurious.
"I’m not uncertain anymore," she murmured.
"No," he agreed, his lips brushing her forehead. "You are not."
She smiled, small and content, and let her eyes close. The warmth of his body, the steady rhythm of his breathing, and the blood-deep safety of belonging carried her the rest of the way down.
"Good," she whispered, and drifted into sleep.
Across the hall, moonlight had replaced candlelight in the twins’ room. Vera and Vela lay fitted together beneath the covers, limbs intertwined in the familiar shape of shared rest.
Vela’s thumb traced lazy circles against Vera’s hip.
"The house feels different now," Vera said drowsily.
"Yes."
"Is that bad?"
Vela considered the question, then let a faint smile touch her mouth against Vera’s shoulder.
"No. It means the house is growing."
Vera found her sister’s hand and laced their fingers together.
"Then we grow too."
"Yes."
The moonlight crept slowly across the floor while the twins let themselves sink fully into the peace of the night, knowing morning would bring a new world with it, and they would face it together.
Long after Lily’s breathing had evened into the deep rhythm of sleep, Sekhmet remained awake.
He stared at the ceiling, one arm still curved around his sleeping wife, while his mind turned toward the horizon.
The hunt was over. The contract hall raid was done. But the game was far from finished.
Mihos.
The name moved through the darkness of his thoughts like a knife.
Mihos, who had set this in motion. Mihos, who had pushed pieces across the board and watched them fall. Mihos, who had sent pressure into Dawn House territory to test where the weakness lay.
Tonight, Sekhmet had answered. He had shown strength. He had shown unity. If he did the same in Mihos’s game, victory was possible.
But Mihos was not the kind of man who retreated easily. If anything, tonight would only sharpen him.
Sekhmet’s gaze shifted toward the window, where the first hint of gray had begun to lift the edge of the sky.
Dawn was coming.
And with it, the first real move in the game would begin.
He pressed one quiet kiss to Lily’s hair, feeling the warmth of her against him and the steady thrum of the bloodline that now bound them even more deeply than before.
She was his.
That was certain.
Keeping her safe, keeping all of them safe, would require more than strength. It would require cunning, patience, and the will to strike before the enemy understood the battle had begun.
He closed his eyes. It was not to sleep. But to think.
Tomorrow the war will begin.
Today he would make his force stronger.
That was his goal as the first light of morning began to rise.
Mihos was not the only thing in his thoughts. Beneath the coming game, beneath Iron House, beneath the need to sharpen his people before morning fully came, something older still remained.
The vision.
It had not fully taken him while Lily was still in his arms. He had felt it rising then, ancient and heavy, pressing against the edge of his mind like a sealed door cracking open under blood and memory. He had forced it back enough to stay in the room, enough to keep hold of her warmth, her breathing, the slow rhythm of the night settling around them.
But he had not stopped it.
He had only delayed it.
Now, with Lily asleep against him and the first pale hint of morning beginning to gather beyond the window, the thing inside his blood had become impossible to ignore. It sat under every thought of Mihos, under every calculation about Iron House, under every plan for tomorrow, like a deeper current moving below a river’s surface.
Ancient blood. A battlefield so vast that even remembering the edge of it made his own life feel briefly small.
Sekhmet lay still, one arm curved around his sleeping wife, and let his mind return to that pressure.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the memory stirred. It was not gentle. Not like ordinary recollection.
It rose through his blood with the slow certainty of something that had waited a very long time to be seen. He felt names before he understood them. Felt their weight first, their age, their violence.
Nunet.
Lucard.
They were not names he knew. And yet the moment they moved through his mind, his blood reacted as if it had known them long before he was ever born.
His breathing slowed.
The room dimmed around the edges.
The warmth of Lily against him remained the last certain thing.
Then even that began to feel far away.
Not gone.
Just distant, as though the bed, the room, the house, and the coming dawn had all stepped back one pace from reality to make room for something older.
Sekhmet did not fight it this time. He let the darkness open. And when it did, he saw the land above universes. He saw Null. He saw the battlefield of gods.
The vision;
Nunet (pronounced Noo-net) was the goddess of the primordial chaotic dark waters before the universe was created. She was born from pure ancient chaos, from the darkness that existed before light, land, sky, stars, and life. She was not a goddess who came later like many others. She was one of the oldest beings in Null, and even among millions of gods, her name was enough to make weaker gods lower their heads.