Vilos found himself outside of the door to the chambers that he'd given the girl long ago. He'd not been in there since before his time at the academy, but tonight he was too restless to stay in his own rooms. Thoughts of Kiesha, and her words nearly a month ago, consumed his conscious mind. When the door opened unexpectedly, he swept the young Egyptian into his embrace and held her against him while moving into the room. He wasn't sure how, but the door closed solidly behind him.

As he had before, Vilos lost himself in the sweet lips that belonged to the priestess. His lean arms wound around her back, pulled her closer to him. Something was different in the kiss this time; more urgent. He could feel her breast heaving against him, hear her heartbeat quicken in response to the contact, smell the enticing scent of her as it overwhelmed his senses.

His long, dark brown hair fell free around his face and he could tell that the silken ribbon was tangled in her fingers. It whispered across his neck as her hand slid forward, the touch igniting his skin like nothing else had ever done before. Vilos strengthened the kiss, clutching the young woman to him as he drank in the taste of her lips.

Something within her changed and he sensed the surrender. His body reacted to the knowledge, his loins stirring at it, and Vilos growled deep in his throat. The prince couldn't walk away from her... no more than he could send her back to her people to protect her from the coming war. He needed the young priestess - now more than ever.

The kiss broke and he pulled back, looking down into her eyes, seeing the desire that pooled there and mirrored his own. "Kiesha," he whispered hoarsely, "please... don't ask me to go... I want to spend the night here... in your arms."

"Vilos," she answered softly, her own voice breathless, "I don't want you to leave. The thought... is unbearable to me." Her slim hand brushed over his cheek, drawing him to lean into the touch. "I couldn't do what is against my heart."

The sweet scent of jasmine flooded his sense of smell as Vilos buried his face in her soft hair. Her sigh against his shoulder seemed louder than before, as did her heartbeat. The dhampire prince wanted nothing more than to become one with those things... let them become as much a part of him as his own voice, heart, blood...

He inhaled sharply when he felt Kiesha's hands moving to the laces of his shirt, tugging them gently. Vilos' eyes widened as he looked down at her. "Kiesha?"

"If you're going to stay the night," she whispered softly, her dark eyes intent on her task. The young priestess looked up at him, and they became jewel-like in the dim light of the candles, entrancing him to hold still. Kiesha's long fingers tugged up on the hem of the white undershirt, pulling it free of his pants, lifting it over his head.

When her light touches went across his bare chest, Vilos' eyes fluttered closed. "Kiesha... I think I would die if you stopped doing that..."

Her lips followed the trails blazed by her seeking digits. "I don't want that, my love..." As her hands moved lower, her mouth went high, pressing against the side of his neck. Just then, her tongue darted between her lips to taste his skin. An almost purring sound started in the back of her throat, the thrill it sent through him making his blood start flowing faster.

There was a part of him that was stirring again, coming to life under her caresses, but the prince wouldn't push it away this time. "Kiesha... Only you can make me complete... you are the light in my world." Her hair was unbound and he buried his hands in it, bringing her lips to his, needing to taste her again, silencing any answer she might have given back.

When his hands left her silken locks to trail down her back, the purring intensified. Vilos lost himself in the sound as his fingers sought out the opening to the back of her nightgown. Much like a cat, Kiesha arched into his touch, not breaking the kiss, but showing still that she wanted it as much as he. Her flesh was soft to the touch of his callused fingers and the heat building under it was matching his own.

Some instinct he'd never realized was there started taking over, moving the couple to the bed towards the back of Kiesha's room. They didn't stop until both tumbled down into its softness. Vilos rolled over onto his back, not breaking the kiss, wanting to let his hands touch and memorize every part of the girl he could reach. Her purring had stopped, changed into breathless moans as his hands sought her breasts.

They were cupped, explored with exquisite gentleness, his thumbs finding the hardening nipples and caressing them in curiosity. More sounds issued forth from her at the actions of his hands. Vilos wanted more... he needed those noises as much as he needed the breath filling his lungs.

His lips replaced his hands when, suddenly, her upper body was bared to him. Vilos inhaled her jasmine scent, made it part of him, let it consume his senses. The burning need that he felt wasn't abating... everything about Kiesha simply intensified it. He could feel her hands on him as well, scratching at his flesh like a contented cat, igniting his skin with the heat that was overwhelming them both.

When he couldn't bear it anymore, Vilos rose from the bed and tugged at the rest of his clothes. He wanted to feel her body against his with no barriers. Her chocolate dark eyes smoldered as she watched him, her hands mirroring his movements to free herself. The dhampire prince rejoined her on the bed, moving over her lean muscular body to meet her lips passionately.

Vilos' arousal throbbed against her hip, reminding him of its neglection. He'd no idea if she wanted things to go so far, however, and didn't make any moves to assuage the torment. A few minutes later, her legs wound up over the backs of his thighs and he tore his mouth from hers.

"Kiesha?"

Her eyes seemed darker with the desire that coursed through her. "Don't think, Vilos..." Her husky voice surrounded him, enflamed him even more. The young woman's next words gave him answer to his dilemma. "Take what I give you freely... with all the blessings of my heart."

The prince shifted, his body aligning with hers perfectly, and began to press into her. Velvet heat opened to him, surrounded him slowly, beckoned him to completely sheath himself inside of Kiesha. Her hips rose from the bed, the angle changing so that the path opened more easily to Vilos, and he slid still deeper in the welcoming folds.

When he encountered her maidenly barrier, his body stopped and he gazed down, into her eyes. Everything in those glittering orbs begged him to continue, but still he held back. Vilos wanted to hear her - hear the words that gave him license to complete their union. It was taking everything he had to keep his need in check.

The soft glow of her eyes caught him off-guard. "Kiesha... are you... sure?"

"Finish what has begun, Vilos... or my forgiveness will take lifetimes to attain."

He wanted to laugh and cry all at once, but did as she implored. There wasn't even a hiss of pain when Vilos deepened his penetration through her natural defenses. All he could truly realize now was the overwhelming need to *move* within her.

Those innate instincts took over within his mind, clouding the prince to all but how his priestess felt around him. Each ripple along his length sent such waves of pleasure through his affection starved body. Vilos closed his eyes and pressed his head against her shoulder, lacing his fingers with hers, moaning aloud at the scope of sensations that now raged inside.

Kiesha made the most gratifying of sounds in response. Her body moved in counter-rhythm with his, meeting each thrust he gave, arching her back as he continued to fill her. He lift his head, needing to see her, needing to know if she felt it the same as he did... the desire and need to be completed by the other.

His lower body was churning, ready to spill his essence within her. He gave in to it, wanting... no - needing - to give something of himself. Everything he ever had or ever was, just for Kiesha... all for her. He was deaf to his own voice; the one that begged and pleaded and made vows he already harbored in the deepest recesses of his heart.

The young woman's body answered him, the internal spasms clenching tight around him, letting go and then starting again. Her hands had released his and now clawed at his back, the sounds coming forth signaling that she was not far from the brink herself. It was music of the sweetest kind to Vilos' ears.

The final crest came upon him suddenly and then the prince was arching his body, trying to get as fully inside of Kiesha as he could. Her abrupt primal cry echoed off the walls of the bedchamber in counter to his own. The pulsing of their bodies seemed to make them one being. The intense pleasure that blanked out everything but his and her heartbeats blinded him. The blood roaring in his ears deafened him to all but the newly made woman beneath him.

And then he collapsed into her welcoming embrace.

Perhaps it was because of all those things that they had not taken notice of something wrong in the palace. Perhaps the invaders had used stealth to gain entry into the upper levels. Neither would come to know the answer for both were caught completely off their guard when the door to Kiesha's chamber splintered.

Vilos was upright in a heartbeat, his legs quivering but the fighting spirit within him ready for action. He recognized the danger just a split-second too late as a quarrel from a crossbow took him in the left shoulder, spinning him around and down to his knees. His hand slapped around the wound, fingers gingerly going to each side of the offensive wood buried within his flesh.

It was a scream of pain that brought him to his senses.

One of his father's advisors was dragging Kiesha from the bed by her hair, leering at her nudity, brandishing a sword. "I never thought that the King's son would find his pleasure with a slave-slut." The vampiric man looked over the struggling young woman. "I can see why, though... her charms are ample enough to please the eye..."

"Take your hands off her!" Rage seared the youth, tore at him, even while pain shot through as her rough handling was registered. Kiesha had been through enough... he didn't want her to feel still more pain.

The others who had entered with the advisor kept him at bay with their own crossbows. The only one who spoke back to him was the vampire that held his lover with a firm grip in her silken tresses. "All love is weakness, foolish prince. I'm going to have to show you that..."

Vilos couldn't get there in time as the man's sword arm moved. He was caught by several other men and held back. "We are creatures of lust," the vampiric advisor was saying. The sword he held pierced the Egyptian priestess through her breast, her heart, and her struggles ceased after several moments.

The lifeless body dropped to the floor. "Nothing lasts... not even love." He gestured to the men to have Vilos dragged off. "There will be plenty of time for you to consider this... in the royal tombs, prince."