King of the Flame

by Elizabeth Frost

  He pressed his lips again against her thigh, higher this time. “I don’t know how to prove I’d never hurt you.”

  “I don’t know if you can promise such a thing.” And it hurt, oh, how it hurt to even consider him harming her. But she was a vampire playing with fire. She was bound to get burned.

  “I wouldn’t,” he said. He slid his hands up to her knee, pushing the fabric of her dress aside and digging his thumbs deep into her muscles.

  The tight dress would stop him from moving further up, a small blessing considering she was already having trouble breathing. He was touching her, easing her tension but also heating her very core.

  She shuddered and closed her eyes again. “We shouldn’t do this, Drake.”

  “Weren’t you the one who walked into my room and said you were done waiting?” His hands fisted in the bunched fabric at her knees. “Or have you lost your sense of adventure?”

  No, she hadn’t. She wanted this more than anything, but she hadn’t asked her question yet. She couldn’t do this without knowing if he was the monster Flint thought he was...

  Drake’s hands tightened on the fabric and the silk let out a sound like a sigh. “Just tell me if you still want this, Lilith. That’s all I need right now. Isn’t that what you said? You needed me? I’m telling you, I need you too.”

  A wave of heat crashed over her head and slid down her body. She could feel it coiling in her hands, her belly, and deep between her legs. Heat she hadn’t experienced in so long. “Yes,” she whispered, unable to keep the words in her mouth. “Yes, I need you more than breath.”

  He ripped her skirts up the side. The silk sliced all the way to the top of her hip and warm air delved between her legs.

  Drake scraped his rough palms over her thighs. A long sigh brushed against her knee, thigh, and then he wedged himself in the space where she wanted him most. The scruff of his beard abraded the insides of her thighs.

  “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he murmured against her leg. “Just relax.”

  As if she’d do anything else.

  Lilith kept her eyes squeezed shut and tried to regulate her breathing. His fingers stroked down her core, lingering at the top where her clit already throbbed. She arched her back, inviting him to do more, begging him to touch her the way she wanted to be touched.

  His chuckle vibrated delicate folds. Drake opened her legs wider with his shoulders, pushing them open almost to the point of pain. He shifted her panties aside, baring her wet core to the air.

  It should have been uncomfortable, cold maybe with the breeze. But everything was so hot. She was sweating with desire and heat.

  Then she couldn’t think at all. His tongue eased through her folds, gently, stroking and teasing with every lick. Drake pressed a deep groan between her legs. “You taste like whiskey.”

  He swirled his tongue around her clit, over and over until she was certain she’d fall apart. He reached up and pressed his hand against her stomach. When her abs tensed, her core getting tighter and tighter, Drake listened to her body’s desires.

  At the peak, he suddenly sucked on her clit and plunged two fingers deep inside her. Stars exploded behind her eyes. She tightened impossibly around his fingers, arching and letting out a sound she didn’t recognize as an orgasm hit her harder than she’d ever felt. Centuries of experience and she hadn’t known it could feel like this. Not with anyone else.

  When she finally came back to herself, she realized her leg was shaking. Since when did it do that? She’d never seen her leg do that, but she couldn’t stop it.

  Drake straightened and wiped a hand over his glistening mouth. He patted her hip twice, “Stand up.”

  “What?” She blinked at him.

  “Up, Lil. And turn around.”

  She let out a small, delirious sound but still spun around. Elbows braced on the table, she locked her knees and tried to prepare herself for what she was certain would be another blistering experience.

  Drake shoved her skirts to the side and dragged a single finger through her wetness. The faint sound of a zipper reached her ears just before she felt the hard, blunt tip of him press against her opening.

  Not a sound. He didn’t say a single sound even as he eased inside her. Pressing deeper, all the way in until his hips locked against hers. He arched over her, reaching forward with both his hands to hold on to her shoulders and hold her into place. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t shift if she wanted to.

  He was in complete and utter control.

  Lilith tried to stay as silent as him. Almost as though this was a fight between them, and she needed to win this battle. But the instant he pulled his hips back and slid out of her, she knew she would lose.

  A low moan ripped out of her throat and from that point on, she was lost. Every plunge into her body wrenched a sound from her lips until she heard her voice go hoarse.

  She could feel another earth shattering orgasm building. But she didn’t want it, couldn’t do that again without fearing for her own sanity. Or how much she would become addicted to his touch.

  Drake fisted his hand in her hair, pulling her head back just enough for his other wrist to be within reach. “Feed.”

  “No,” she moaned. “I’m not hungry.”

  He slammed into her and stilled. He skated his lips over her ear and then murmured, “But you want it, Lilith. And I want you to have everything you desire.”

  Her fangs slid out, and she opened her mouth. Drake settled his wrist between her lips and she did what she wanted. What he bid her to do.

  Warm blood gushed into her mouth at the same time he twisted his hips and plunged into her body harder than before. He picked up his pace, slamming his hips into hers until she couldn’t tell where she started and he began.

  Heart pounding, magic running through her veins, she was caught by surprise. Another orgasm exploded through her with all the force of a volcano. She ripped her teeth out of his wrist with a snarl, eyes wide and every muscle locked.

  Drake arched behind her, hissing out a low breath as his hips bucked. She could feel him releasing into her. The hot heat of both body and power. Physical and so much more.

  She slumped against the table. The wood was cool against her cheek and helped ease the sudden feeling of madness.

  Drake pressed his palm flat against her back, his fingers spanning from one side to the other. He was breathing hard, gusts of his exhales stirred her hair. “Not bad for an old woman.”

  Laughter ripped out of her, too loud and awkward. Still, Lilith wiggled her hips where he was still deep inside her. “I have a feeling you’re older than me, faerie.”

  “That may be true.” He chuckled, then eased out of her. “Why don’t we go back to my room and continue this?”

  “Continue?” She glanced over her shoulder to see the wide grin on his face. “There’s more?”

  “Oh, there’s so much more than that, vampiress.”

  This would be a long night, but one she’d never forget.

  24

  Hours upon hours of sex had completely blown her mind and made her reconsider everything she’d thought was right in a sexual partner.

  She shouldn’t have done this. Now, her mind was scattered. Lilith no longer knew how to draw the line between them. Because he was sweet, kind, and so intuitive with what she wanted. He was a generous lover and that couldn’t translate into an evil man.

  Could it?

  She rolled over and cushioned her cheek on her palm, watching him sleep. He looked so innocent while dreaming. All the lines of his face smoothed into a much younger face when it wasn’t haunted by responsibilities and expectations.

  A thousand questions burned on her tongue. What would he do if he was released into the human realm? Did he want to see that many people die or was he likely to feel some kind of remorse?

  And worst of all, would he take their lives when he knew how important they were to her?

  Lilith reached out a hand to smooth that errant
lock of hair back and noticed the veins in her hand were glowing again. Red lines that shouldn’t be there, taking up so much of her veins it made her stomach turn. She wasn’t this powerful creature. She was just Lilith... just a vampiress with no home.

  “You’re staring,” he murmured, shifting underneath the blankets and touching her foot with his.

  She hummed. “Maybe a little.”

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  She thought of the knife in the bedside table she’d found before they went to sleep. The knife didn’t look right at all. It dripped black magic and left an oil slick wherever it was rested. The entire drawer had been coated with whatever spell Flint had cast upon it.

  Could she kill him? After all they’d done together?

  Lilith wasn’t so sure. She would miss him now if he wasn’t around her. He was as much a part of her now as her own soul. A monster, just like her. And still, he cared.

  She shook her head. “No reason. Just looking.”

  Drake rubbed his foot against hers, using his toes to stroke up her leg to her knee. “We can start everything all over again if you need. I can wake up.”

  “No,” she replied with a laugh. “No, I think both of us could use the rest.”

  “I thought vampires didn’t sleep as much as faeries.”

  “We don’t. But when a certain faerie king tires us out, maybe we need a nap.”

  He hooked her waist with his arm and dragged her closer to him. “Then come here.”

  She allowed him to tuck her against his side and listened to his breathing. In and out. Lungs full, then expelled with the scent of wine and brimstone on his breath.

  She could stay like this forever. Cuddled in his arms, dreaming, thinking of what might be in this world they’d created together. No humans. No other faeries. No worries at all.

  But she couldn’t. Not when the guilt of the world still rested on her shoulders. She took a deep breath and whispered, “Rumor has it you’re planning on destroying the human realm. Is that true?”

  He let out a low hum. “I am. That’s not a rumor, Lil, that’s just the truth.”

  “Why do you want to destroy the realm?”

  “Humans destroyed it first. The world suffers while faeries remain in hiding. All the faerie kings want to destroy the human realm, but we’re forbidden to work with each other. Two have failed. I will not.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and her chest ached. Now she’d heard it with her own ears. And he didn’t even feel bad about it.

  Maybe she could still save this. Maybe she could turn his mind away from such destruction, even for a little while. “What are you going to do with the humans then?”

  “I’ll watch them burn.” He snuggled closer to her, pressing his lips against the side of her neck. “Sleep now, my darling. Close your eyes and let the future be.”

  She waited until his breathing evened out. She mimicked every inhalation with one of her own so he could think she was relaxing with him. That she didn’t mind what he’d said, and it wasn’t making her soul fracture into a million pieces.

  The man who had taken such good care of her, the one who rubbed her feet, tempted her body and mind, fed her his blood... he wanted to destroy an entire realm.

  Didn’t he know if he killed the humans, he killed so many magical creatures as well? Creatures like her kind, who needed humans to survive. Creatures who needed the magic humans could create. All of those things would disappear without humanity.

  Not to mention humans had made the world so much easier to live in. She knew satyrs who bought a glamour but then ran a coffee shop on the corner. Banshees who sang in bands and were broadcasted throughout the entire world. Even werewolves who had started conservation efforts to save the beasts who were there before them, so they could run with the wolves whenever they desired.

  There was so much good in the human realm. Even though there was also a lot of bad. But she saw it. She understood just how much they needed the humans for both sides.

  No one could expect good to exist without bad.

  Tears welling in her eyes, she counted the seconds between his breaths until she was certain he was asleep. Deep in the dreaming world where he likely was thinking of all the ways he’d end the world. With fire. With flame and pain unlike anything Lilith could even imagine.

  He was a powerful man. If he wanted to see the humans burn and scream as they died, he would.

  Unless she stopped him.

  She rolled over in the bed and opened the drawer. The knife waited for her there, the same one that had drunk his blood when she first arrived here. The one he hadn’t used since she’d left the trophy room.

  Lilith wrapped her hand around the hilt and drew it from its hiding place. The knife was already singing for pain.

  It was without a doubt a vampiric weapon. Not created by her kind, but with a similar mind. The knife wanted to drink and devour. But this time, it wasn’t just blood that it wanted. She would have shared the same emotion. The thoughts running through her head from the magical artifact were darker than that.

  It wanted to drink a soul. And the song it sang was one of sweet power.

  The tears in her eyes burned. One dropped onto the bed sheet and glowed like a drop of lava had fallen out of her eye. She didn’t know how that was possible, or if it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She wanted to feel like she was a part of him. That’s why she saw his magic falling from her very eyes.

  Biting her lip, she rolled onto her back and held the knife against her chest. It shuddered with desire, knowing the only purpose it had was to kill the man lying in bed next to her.

  Could she do it?

  Lilith had to focus on all the hurtful things he’d done. Attempting to starve her. Putting a collar around her neck that had made her a slave. Burning a faerie alive because she had betrayed him. Planning to destroy Lilith’s world.

  And yet, memories filtered through those. How kind he had been when dressing her. How he’d enjoyed feeding her and didn’t stop her when she became too ravenous. How he clearly cared about this realm he’d created. More so than other leaders she’d experienced in her life.

  She couldn’t think about how he curled around her in his sleep, cuddling closer just because he wanted to be near. Maybe even because he was the same as her. Longing for some contact that was actually full of emotion. Someone in his life who meant more than just a few nights.

  The knife vibrated in her hands. It didn’t care that she was struggling, all it knew was that pain could be in its future. That a feast of a soul and blood would satisfy its urges.

  She tried to think of someone other than herself for the first time in her life. Lilith focused on all the people whose lives would change or end. This wasn’t about her. It was about the world ending when it shouldn’t.

  Sitting up, she kept the knife steady in her hand and stared down at him.

  Drake laid on his side with his arm outstretched. He’d snuck it underneath her while she was thinking about killing him. His hand opened and closed in his sleep, like even in dreams he was feeling for her at his side. Like he wanted her here. Like she belonged here.

  Maybe saving the world wasn’t about the other people. Maybe it was just protecting herself from another heartbreak.

  She lifted the knife over her head and hoped it didn’t hurt that bad. Magic wasn’t easy for some people, and she had a feeling this soul eating magic wouldn’t be comfortable for him to suffer through.

  All she could hope was that her aim was true, swift, and that sinking this blade into his heart wouldn’t cause him any unnecessary pain. She hoped it was an instant death so she could crawl back to her realm, to the hovel she called a home, and lick her wounds.

  Why did heartbreak always hurt so much more than a physical injury?

  She blew out a long, low breath. She could do this. There was no other choice.

  Lilith brought the knife down as quickly as she could. It popped through his chest and slid benea
th a rib because she knew bodies well enough. A thick organ met the blade.

  She’d pushed the knife straight through his heart.

  25

  He dreamt of wonderful, happy memories. Moments when he was just a child and his mother had held him in her arms. Before the elemental, before the throne, before a certain vampiress had come into his life and turned everything upside down.

  Even in his dreams, Drake couldn’t escape from the powerful creature who had become his dearest friend. He turned around the corner of his childhood town only to find the elemental standing in the middle of the street. It was a pillar of fire burning in the center of town, apathetically watching as flames devoured a nearby home.

  “You didn’t listen to me,” the elemental said.

  Drake joined the creature in staring at the home. He placed his hands on his hips and sighed. “What did I do this time?”

  “The vampiress. She is not who you think she is.”

  “No?” He tilted his head to the side and watched one of the glass windows blast open from heat. “I’ve been inside her now. I think I know a little more than you.”

  “Just because you had sex with a person doesn’t mean you know them.” The elemental waved his hand in the air and the flames burned even hotter. The roof caved in on the house, which looked eerily like Drake’s childhood home. “She will betray you and then I must pick up the pieces.”

  “Are you looking forward to the moment I lose my mind?” He was curious to know what the creature’s intent was. It had always been a mystery to Drake.

  The elemental turned to meet his gaze and shook his head. “No, there will be no pleasure in knowing you are finally broken. I will not rejoice knowing a woman you loved was the reason for your inevitable downfall.”

  “You believe she will be the end of all this?” he asked. “You’ve spoken with her as much as I. You’ve seen how strong she is. Do you really think she will end all of this?”

  “I believe her strength gives her the ability to do just that.” If flames could look sad, the elemental did. He inclined his head, rounded his shoulders, and dropped his gaze to the ground while the flames of his body dimmed. “I liked her too, you know. It wasn’t just you who was infatuated with the vampiress.”