He held the chains, quite literally considering how he already tugged on the collar. And she’d promised herself to play by the rules, even though she didn’t want to.
Lilith could do nothing other than nod in agreement and hope he didn’t make her wait too long. For both their sakes.
15
The damned faerie king knew she was starving. He had to. Every time they crossed paths in the Black Fortress, he did something that brought her attention to his thick, lovely veins.
He’d lift his arm over his head and brush his fingers through his hair. Sometimes he’d roll up his sleeves to bare his wrists to her gaze. Once, he even tilted his head to the side, taunting her with his bare throat.
Why did he think this was acceptable?
Did he not know he was tempting fate? A hungry vampire on the loose was a nightmare for everyone involved.
The last time Lilith had lost her control, she’d woken back up in a tub full of blood while she was bathing in the remains of four people she’d killed. The smell had been awful, but she’d still dipped her hands into the thick liquid surrounding her and funneled the blood down her throat.
She shook off the memory and continued down the hall toward the servant’s quarters. It was just about time for them all to go to bed, although she had no idea if it was nighttime. No one would let her even peek into the human world to see her own world.
She missed her old life, damn it. This faerie realm wasn’t what she was used to, and she was tired of being someone’s damn maid.
Lilith was a vampiress. She’d spent hundreds of years learning how to be on her own, not to mention gathering riches.
Everyone here had someone. A friend. A family member. Faeries clustered in the halls to chatter with each other, giggle, and then race away to their work. Lilith was always reminded there wasn’t anyone waiting for her back in the human realm. She didn’t have any children interested in talking with her, or a partner missing her. That was part of the problem.
Being stuck in the faerie realm only made her realize a loneliness she wanted to deny. She wanted to go back to her own little kingdom where she was queen of the world and didn’t have to think about things like this.
Lilith shouldered the door open to the servant bedroom and took a deep breath.
Don’t bite anyone tonight.
She was close to her limit, though. One of these nights she would sleepwalk feed and then she’d wake up with a dead faerie at her feet and a lot to answer for.
Hopefully the king would be a little more lenient considering he had been the one to push her this far. She doubted it. He’d kill her just for daring to touch one of his court members.
Most of the beds were already full except the one who slept with her. Good, at least she wouldn’t have to listen to the faerie’s heartbeat above her head.
Lilith had tried to argue with Flint that she shouldn’t even be in this room. She could keep working, or at least spend some time by herself. She wasn’t sleeping, anyway.
And these faeries slept all the time, or at least, that’s what it seemed like. She’d timed it one night. Counted every second until she confirmed they slept eleven hours every day, or night, whatever it was here.
Perhaps it was the fires burning inside them that exhausted them so. The work they did wasn’t that tiring.
Or maybe she was stronger than them. She’d been more powerful than humans her entire life, but faeries? They should be able to keep up with her.
A hand caught her bicep and tugged her away from the beds. She could feel their heartbeat through their fingertips, pressed against her skin like a siren song calling her to feast.
She turned with vampiric speed, teeth bared, eyes wide and likely flashing with whatever power she still had inside her.
Flint released her arm and lifted his hands into the air. He didn’t appear afraid, but the fires atop his head burned brighter. “The king has summoned you to his chambers.”
“Me?” Breathing hard, Lilith tried to control herself. Her fangs refused to go back into their sleeves, however. The words she said came out lisped and slurred around the sharp daggers. “What does he want with me this late?”
“He didn’t give me any reasoning for summoning you.” Flint was clearly uncomfortable. His eyes darted to the side, and he licked his lips. For a second, she thought he might say something else.
He didn’t. Instead of opening his mouth and letting out whatever words he wanted to tell her, he turned to the side and spread his arm wide. Gesturing for her to leave the room and go to the king who summoned her like she was just another toy.
Lilith bared her fangs in a snarl, but left the bedrooms. Let them all sleep. She would be safer in the king’s chambers, anyway. At least she couldn’t kill him as easily as the rest.
She stalked through the halls all the way to his private chambers. Every step only made her even more angry. He thought he could just snap his fingers and his pet vampire would come to him on hands and knees?
If he thought he could break her to a point of begging for food, he would be sorely disappointed. She wouldn’t ever beg to lap up whatever drops of blood he deigned to give her. She wouldn’t do it.
But just the thought of a single drip of his blood had her racing through the halls. She wondered if she’d made the entire taste up in her head. The knife had magic in it, obviously, so perhaps his blood had been tainted by whatever curse lived within the object. He couldn’t taste so good.
He couldn’t.
The Primus had wanted that knife. Not because of its curse or what the knife could do, but because of the blood in it.
Now she knew why. The faerie king’s blood was addictive, and she wanted more of it. So much more.
Chest heaving, she stood in front of his door and told herself to not pound upon it like some slathering beast. She lifted her hand and stared it down, forcing her knuckles to ease onto the wood and gently tap against the surface.
“I know it’s you, Lilith. Just come in.”
How could he know? He couldn’t hear her heartbeat like she could his. Thundering on the other side of the door and pushing blood through his veins like the most wondrous of sonnets. She could hear every flood of his blood moving, flowing, whispering to her that she could taste him if she wanted. All she had to do was take a single sip.
The door swung open.
He stood staring down at her with an amused expression on his face that she wanted to wipe off with a slap or a desperate kiss. Either would work in the state she was currently in. How dare he look at her like that?
Drake lifted a brow. “Would you like to come in?”
“You’re the one who called on me,” she snarled. Still, she shoved past him and stalked into the bedroom.
“Testy this evening, are we?”
The door closed behind her, but all she could think about was the heartbeat in his chest. Steady. Thumping. Perhaps a little too fast, but she was used to that.
Lilith took a deep breath to steady herself, only to get punched in the face by his scent. Chocolate, wine, and something spicy like cinnamon. God damn it, why did he have to take over all of her senses? Couldn’t he just leave her alone?
At this rate, she would fall apart any second. She’d spin around and jump on him, burying her fangs in his throat even if he fought her off. She’d wrap her legs around his waist and maybe she’d feel his hardness pressed against her core.
She just... she needed.
“Hungry?” he asked, his voice a cajoling lure. “That’s why I called you here, you know. I noticed you haven’t been able to focus on your work. Even Flint said you weren’t yourself.”
“Starvation has a way of doing that to people.”
“And I don’t want you to starve anymore, Lilith. I want you to feel better.”
Why did those words not reassure her? She didn’t want to feel better just because he deigned it was time. She wanted him to let her feed as a vampire was supposed to feed. She wanted to feast on s
omething, and now she was little more than a puppet begging for blood.
Was this what he wanted the entire time? To have a beast? To see what happened?
Tears welled in her eyes, frustration warring with anger inside her chest. She wanted to be a person to someone. Not a vampire. Not an opponent in the limited food supplies. Just a person.
Just Lilith.
She dashed the tears from her eyes and turned on him. “Fine then, if you so desperately want to see the beast feed. Give me your arm.”
His brows snapped into deep furrows. “That’s not what I want.”
“I’m going mad, Drake. I need to feed so badly I can’t think of anything else.” It was the first time she’d used his name, and somehow even that realization felt tainted. She pointed at his neck only to let her hand drop weakly back to her side. “I can hear your heartbeat and I can smell your blood in the air. I can’t focus on anything else.”
“How long has it been like this?”
She shrugged. “A few days. I kept trying to ask but then you’d leave.”
The faeries in the bedroom had smelled so good. They would have tasted incredible against her tongue, but she knew she couldn’t drink from them. Even the faintest thought of digging her teeth into their throats made the collar around her neck burn.
It burned even now. She winced and shoved a finger underneath it, pulling it away from the front of her neck only to scorch the back.
Drake stepped closer. He reached out and touched her hand, holding onto it even as the collar seared her flesh. “I didn’t intend for you to get this bad, vampiress. My greatest apologies and know that I intend to make up for such mistreatment. Please sit on the bed.”
Why did he want her to sit? Feeding wouldn’t take that much time, and she could just chomp down on whatever body part he wanted to give her.
Frantic now, she sat with her back straight as a board and hands shaking in her lap. “It won’t take long.”
“It will take as long as you want,” he murmured. His brow was furrowed almost though he was… regretful? No, not him.
Drake circled her. The bed dipped under his weight as he got onto the mattress behind her. She didn’t even flinch when a swath of fabric appeared above her head and then wrapped around her eyes.
She had to ask, though, “Why the blindfold?”
“I’ve never had a vampire feed off me. You’ll have to excuse my shyness.”
She snorted. “You? Shy? I doubt you even know what that means.”
“You’d be surprised.” Heat pressed against her mouth, just the barest of touches. “Is the wrist suitable?”
She could feel the blood against her bottom lip. It pushed against the surface of his skin, vibrating with magic and power. He had no idea how his body reacted for her. More than the other faeries.
Blood always knew when a vampire was near. It wanted to be tasted, to be licked clean off the bone and freed from the confines of the human body. But his blood actually reached for her. Not just because she was a vampire, but because it wanted her to taste it.
She didn’t know what that meant, but right now, it didn’t matter.
Lilith shakily lifted her hands and gripped his arm. She was careful to touch only what she had to. One hand at his fingers, the other on his forearm.
His soft exhale ruffled her hair. “You grow claws when you’re hungry?”
“When I’m hunting,” she whispered against his warm, velvet soft skin. “Vampire secrets.”
“Ah.” His response was ever so quiet. “I’ll be sure not to tell anyone.”
Lilith opened her mouth and sank her teeth into his arm. She tried to be as gentle as possible. If she ripped and tore, then he would never let her feast upon him again, and she didn’t know if she could survive not tasting his blood ever again.
The faint pop of his skin echoed through her skull. The warmth of his life force flowed onto her tongue.
God, his blood.
His blood.
It tasted like pop rocks, exploding in her mouth and even crackling all the way down her throat. Chocolate, wine, and pure decadence.
She shifted her grip, dragging his arm closer to her mouth and sucking hard. She drew him deep inside her, into her very core, filling her with all the magic coursing through his veins.
Heat bloomed in her belly. Desire trailed along behind it, but the heat was something else. Something new.
Growling, she dug her fangs in deeper, rotating her head so his blood came out faster. Quicker. More, more, more, why couldn’t she get more?
A hand stroked her hair. She tried to toss it off with a shake of her head, but it didn’t stop. It wouldn’t go away, like a damned gnat that wouldn’t leave her alone. She was hungry, and yes, the flies always came for the bodies, but couldn’t they wait just a little longer?
“Easy,” a deep voice murmured in her ear. “Don’t drink that fast, you’ll choke.”
Vampires couldn’t choke. She didn’t have to worry about breathing while she was eating.
Was this another vampire? She snarled, shaking the arm between her teeth and warning the creature off her kill. This was hers and no one else’s. She wouldn’t damn well share when she’d hunted it herself.
The hand slid down from her head, over her shoulder, and down her ribs. She snarled again, jerking at the appendage in her hands. Maybe she could just tear it off and drain it somewhere else.
Warmth pressed against her belly and drew her back into even more heat. Comfortable, wonderful heat. “I think you’ve had enough, Lilith.”
Lilith.
Yes, that was her name. Her mother had called her that to spite the church who claimed her mother was a witch and that Lilith was the spawn of Satan. But her mother had never called her by the full name. It was Lily.
Her mother had always called her Lily.
She pulled her mouth away from the addicting blood and heaved in a deep gasp of air. Her entire body vibrated with power and so much blood she almost vomited it up. She was too full. Over full.
The blood spilled down her chin and stained the robe over her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, tried to focus her eyes on the room.
Someone held her against a steady heartbeat. “Have you finished?”
She stilled against his body. The faerie king cradled her in his arms and between his legs. Her back was pressed against his chest and a rather impressive, hard length was shoved against the small of her back.
He’d let her feed on him and she had lost control.
Her cheeks burned, a feat they hadn’t done in a hundred years. She fisted the cloth arm of her robe and lifted it to clean off her face. “Yes, that was more than I needed.”
“Is every feeding like that?”
“No.” Her cheeks still ached. “I lost control.”
His deep chuckle echoed in her ear. “I think I like it when you lose control, vampiress.”
Drake shifted, rubbing himself against her hip. She knew where this went. If she didn’t kill her prey, they always wanted the same thing. She couldn’t give that to him, though. Not when she knew it was only because the venom from her fangs was still inside him.
He didn’t deserve to be taken advantage of like that. Not when she’d already torn him open like a present at Christmas.
She untangled her limbs from his and turned in his arms. “You know so little about vampires.”
His eyes were only half open and glazed. Though he was still strong enough to prevent her from killing him, if she wasn’t wearing the collar, they might have been evenly matched now.
Drake leaned closer to her and breathed in her scent. “I like what I know so far.”
He’d regret telling her that in the morning. Most people did.
Still, she couldn’t dismiss this opportunity. Lilith leaned forward and ever so gently pressed her lips against his. Just the slightest of butterfly kisses, so she knew what the plush softness of his mouth against her felt like.
Just once.
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He followed her as she drew away, not yet ready to let her go. She didn’t want to leave either, but Lilith could see the writing on the wall.
They couldn’t be together. Not like this.
Maybe never.
“Sleep well, faerie king.” She touched a finger to his forehead and prayed the collar would let her ease him into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Drake’s eyes rolled back in his head. He dropped to the mattress like a stone, breathing deep and even as Lilith slipped out of his room.
16
Lilith hid for a couple days after her feeding. She did all her work, but she didn’t check in with Flint on where she was or what she needed to do. She knew what she had to do.
The chores were always the same. Now, she just worked on a different schedule than the rest of his team.
Drake’s blood made her feel different. Lilith wasn’t tired at all. She didn’t feel like she needed to pause for a breath or even stop moving. Some part of her body was always doing something. Whether that was work or her leg jiggling, she never stopped.
What was in his blood? No wonder the rest of the vampires wanted to track him down and drain him dry. She wouldn’t be surprised if the Primus put him on a line and kept him alive for centuries just to keep drinking from that well of magic.
But Lilith wasn’t like that. She didn’t want to be a slave to her hunger, even though she had been for a large portion of her life.
Namely, because she couldn’t see him as a blood bag. Drake was a person to her at this point. He had thoughts, dreams, hell, he’d walked out onto the middle of a lava lake just to prove a point to her.
The point? She still didn’t know. Maybe it was just to make her intimidated by how powerful he was. If that had been his goal, well, he’d only made her more hungry for him.
She paused in zipping across the laundry room with another armful of sheets to fold.
King of the Flame Page 11