Awakening

by Warneke, A. C.

  Demanding what he was withholding. “Adam, please.”

  “I… cannot… hold… back,” he choked out.

  “Don’t,” she breathed, needing the completion now, opening herself to him, inviting him in

  With an agonizingly triumphant groan, he pushed into her, rending her innocence in the span of a single heartbeat. She cried out in pain as he plunged his fangs into her neck and her world exploded into chaos. Her finger nails dug into his shoulders, her body arched, and he drove into her, drinking her.

  Celeste had never experienced anything like this before, the force of his rhythm, the feel of his teeth piercing her skin, the strong pull as he drank her blood. Opening her eyes, she stared at the tapestry over her head; the colors were so brilliant, moving with reckless abandon. The red swelled, oozing passion and desire; the purple undulated in soft waves, washing over her, soothing; the gold danced between them. Sound receded and there was only Adam.

  *****

  Running his tongue over his teeth, Adam had been taken aback to discover the sharp points of his incisors; he hadn’t experienced involuntary transformation during sex for over a millennia. She had been writhing beneath him and he had felt the blackness descend over his eyes, his fangs growing to their full lengths. He had to fight the urge to bite her and had called upon all of his reserves of self-control to not take her blood, to not create a Calix.

  Heedlessly, he had thrust into her, tearing through her virginity and the seductive purity of her blood had rushed through his senses, blinding him to everything. Without thought, he sank his teeth into the tender flesh of her throat. Her essence filled his body, exhilarating and breath-taking. He felt her legs as they wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper, making him feel… almost human, full of mortal life with all of its exquisite sensations. It was beyond anything he had ever experienced; beyond joy, beyond intoxifying, it was ecstasy. Unable to stop, he drank of her and drank of her, driving into her until he could feel her body begin to convulse around his. She made the sweetest mewling sounds with each rapid breath that she took until her body tightened and he could taste her release, her bliss.

  Thrusting once more, his body shuddered in rapturous completion; it had never been so good. Collapsing onto her, he pulled his teeth from her throat, unable to comprehend the fact that he bit the one person he had never wanted to destroy. But then she sighed, moving her hips ever-so-slightly, and it was enough to make him believe he never had any control to begin with. Without any thought, rational or otherwise, he sank his teeth into the other side of her neck, needing to drink her dry as he fucked her to death. They found completion for the second time in as many minutes.

  Exhausted, he collapsed once more, completely covering her petite body with his much larger one. Unable to keep his eyes open another moment longer, unable to make sense of the unnerving thoughts racing through his head, he fell asleep, still joined with her above and below. Gods, she felt so good beneath him, so soft; so perfect.

  Chapter 3

  Awakening with a terrible start, Adam lifted his head, pulling his teeth from her bruised flesh. Looking down at her too-pale face, the two sets of bite marks, he knew that it was too late. Not only did he fail to protect her, he failed to rectify the situation by making her a Calix. He destroyed her completely; he fed off of her and never fed her in return. He created his first Thraell and the knowledge damned him.

  Flying from the bed, he threw a robe on, tying it in a tight knot at his waist. He looked down at her in horror, self-disgust slamming into him as he gazed at the unmoving woman. She looked so beautiful, even with the droplets of blood still trickling from the four puncture wounds. He noticed the pale, chapped lips that had been so succulent just a few hours before. Tenderly, he caressed her cheek, his chest tightening with despair. His eyes roamed over her ashen, motionless body, numbly observing the shallow rising and falling of her chest, the evidence of her virginity on the white sheets below her. He should have asked; he knew better than to have sex with a virgin. Damn it all, he should have asked.

  But he had been too selfish; he had wanted her too much to risk the question of innocence. Adam, the Apocritum who prided himself on ironclad self-control, destroyed the only woman to ever make him feel human. He grunted a wry laugh; not only did he lose control, he lost it completely, feeding from her not once, but twice. Running his fingers over the secondary bite marks, he grimaced, agony at his own selfishness filling his body. Bending down, he placed his nose at the crook of her neck, letting the anguish spill out of him as he howled in remorse.

  A Thraell; he had just condemned the beautiful, innocent, sweet Celeste to the hollow existence of a monster. She would become nothing more than a soulless rabid beast, needing sexual gratification – which would never come – and blood. How in the name of all of the gods did he let this happen? His hand slid over her cool body until it clasped her smaller hand. With his other hand, he pulled the sheet between them, covering her nudity, knowing that in a few hours she would re-awaken and it wouldn’t make any difference. Celeste was gone, only her body remained. “God, Celeste, I am so sorry.”

  *****

  Auberon felt his brother’s anguish and teleported himself into Adam’s room. He stood frozen in place as he took in the sight before him: his brother hunched over the fragile human, his shoulders wracked with grief. Without saying a word, Auberon moved over to the bed and looked down, gasping when he saw the bite marks on the girl's pale neck. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath: the smell of first blood permeated the air. At once, he understood what had happened; the girl had been a virgin.

  Running his tongue over his teeth, he felt the sharp points respond. Sex with a virgin would be more than even the strongest Apocritum could bear. Hell, Adam was the strongest Apocritum Auberon knew and it was more than he could handle. It was worse because his brother had wanted this girl with a desperation Auberon had never seen Adam display.

  Cautiously, he reached out and touched his brother’s head as he softly spoke, “Adam, tell me what happened.”

  Adam lifted his head and Auberon saw the second set of teeth marks, saw the despair in the depths of his brother’s still completely black eyes. Kneeling down on the other side of the body, he ran his fingers through the girl’s chocolate brown hair as he held Adam’s gaze. “I am so sorry, Adam.”

  “Don't,” Adam rasped, the black slowly fading as he felt Auberon’s healing powers flow through him. “I destroyed her, I don’t deserve compassion.”

  “It was an accident,” Auberon murmured soothingly, his mesmerizing voice swirling around his brother, giving comfort that he wouldn’t otherwise take. “It was not your fault. There will be other girls, other virgins; do not condemn yourself over this one.”

  Adam snorted in disgust, “She is the only one that I have ever truly desired; I wanted to experience her for a lifetime.”

  “We are immortal, brother,” Auberon gently murmured. As Adam answered with a wry smile, he continued, “It is better to destroy the body before it wakes and keep this little mistake to ourselves. If you don't kill it and it wakes and manages to escape the fall out will be far, far worse.”

  Adam covered his face with his palm, pressing his thumb and forefinger into his eyes until white spots pierced his brain. As a Thraell, the girl who had enchanted him from the start would cause unbelievable destruction if she got loose. If he managed to contain her she would suffer indescribable torment. Everything that was Celeste had been destroyed and yet the thought of desecrating a single cell of Celeste’s body was agonizing. “I cannot kill her.”

  “There is no cure,” Auberon softly reminded Adam. "And we no longer have the Helan to house it in if you allow the creature to live."

  Adam squeezed his eyes closed; how did this happen? “I will take care of her.”

  "Kill it, Adam." Putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, Auberon softly offered, “I can do it if you need me to.”

  “NO!” Adam thundered, convulsively clutchin
g Celeste’s slender hand to his heart. Closing his eyes in misery, he swallowed thickly, “I’ll do it.”

  Auberon exhaled loudly, "Adam."

  "I just need a moment." Adam swallowed, kissing the cool fingers, feeling the slight twitch against his lips. He opened his eyes and gazed at the serene face of Celeste, his darling Celeste. “In the morning, I'll do what needs to be done, before she awakens and begins to… to… crave.”

  “The sooner you do it the sooner it will be over,” Auberon advised.

  “I need… I can't, not just yet,” Adam whispered, his fingers caressing the smooth, cool flesh of her pale cheek. “I’ll do it in the morning.”

  “It is for the best,” Auberon assured him, putting a hand on Adam’s shoulder. Leaning forward, he whispered, “But, and I cannot emphasize this enough, do not tell the Council; you cannot afford to lose their faith in you, not now. They do not need to know you converted a girl without her permission.”

  Adam closed his eyes a moment debating the merits of Auberon’s suggestion, when he remembered her worry about her friends. Damn. “She was staying with a group of girls….”

  “I will deal with them tomorrow after… after,” Auberon promised. It was kind of a rush being the strong one, the steadfast one for a change. Adam had always been the reliable one; until this afternoon, his brother had never wavered from the course. It was Adam’s steadfastness that allowed them to move forward with their plans, that allowed them to get so close to their desired goal: freedom. It was a pity about the girl, though; she had been an attractive little thing.

  “I'll do that as well,” Adam said resolutely. “It's my mess, my responsibility and I'll clean it up.”

  “You are not alone in this, brother,” Auberon promised, putting a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “We will both go.”

  Adam lifted his head and met his brother’s eyes, “Thank you Auberon.”

  Auberon gave a half smile before leaving his brother alone with the shell of Celeste, wondering if Adam was going to be able to end the creature's existence before it was too late. If not, the two of them were going to have to figure out a way to kill the un-killable. Maybe sacrificing a Thraell was the final step they needed to take in order to be completely free; after all, the Goddess did say it was going to end soon. It figured it would be something impossible. Hell, it had taken the Blight fiasco to sever the telepathic connection to the Hive, to break free from their Mother. And that had required the unwitting help of Shaw and his mate.

  If only they had a fallen angel to free them as their brother had all of those millennia ago.

  With a sigh, Auberon made his way to the Paris Adytum, hoping a few hours spent with a couple of Calices would calm the restless beast within. His skin crawled with the need to completely break free from the Hive once and for all and if they had to figure out a way to kill a Thraell to do so than so be it, just so long as they were finally free.

  Unfortunately, Thraell were like fucking cockroaches and would survive damn near everything. Hell, they survived a fucking nuclear blast only to die of old age, or whatever it was the Thraell succumbed to, long afterwards. He and Adam could dump the wretched creature in some desert; it would be surrounded by burning sand for as far as the eyes could see. Or they could drop it at the top of some soaring mountain and hope it fell into some icy crevice where it could freeze to death. Eventually. Or they could toss it into the middle of the sea and see if the thing could swim.

  He'd figure out something, especially if it meant they would be free.

  *****

  As morning light began to spill into his room, Adam rose from his seat next to the fireplace and walked over to the bed where the Thraell formerly known as Celeste lay sleeping. It would be waking soon and he knew what he had to do. It was sprawled out across his mattress, the sheet covering its torso leaving its slender limbs exposed. Its chocolate brown hair surrounding its head was still so rich, so luxurious and it nearly cost Adam his resolve. Of course in a few days, if he allowed it to live, that wonderful hair would be a tangled mass of snarls and dirt. When it woke those beautiful hazel eyes would open and there would be nothing there; they would be clouded and dead. It would howl, the growing frustration of physical desire never being sated, the hunger for blood twisting its insides apart. If he fucked up and the beast managed to escape it would ravage the countryside, destroying everything in its path and bringing undo attention to the world of the Apocritae.

  Grabbing the pillow, he stood over the body no longer feeling anything. With his lips pressed together in a tight line, he put a knee on the bed then pressed the pillow to its face. After a moment, the body began to jerk, no longer able to breathe. Closing his eyes, the image of Celeste flashed into his mind, her warm smile and sparkling eyes. In that moment he knew he could not kill her body.

  Swallowing, he vowed to keep the Thraell from doing any harm; he would strive to fulfill its sexual needs, even offering his own blood to give it a moment's peace. It was the least he could do for Celeste, who was gone. He couldn’t leave her behind, he wouldn’t….

  Flinging the pillow away, he remained on the bed, his back to the creature, his head in his hands. He had been too arrogant, too blinded by his own powers to believe he could ever truly escape the suffocating Hive. Almost completely free and he had royally fucked up, managing to create his first Thraell.

  “Mmmm,” it murmured behind him, awakening.

  He cringed, squeezing his eyes shut and damning himself for his complete lack of control, for stealing her life. Its hand ran across his back and he flinched; he did not want to have sex with a Thraell, but for Celeste he would do anything. It would scream and claw, and as it aged, it would become stronger and more destructive; impossible to kill until it finally died of its own accord. He wasn't sure if he was going to survive life with a Thraell but after what he had done to her he didn't think he deserved to live.

  Taking a fortifying breath to see what it was that he would be dealing with for the next several decades, he finally turned around. Under heavy lids, Celeste’s clear hazel eyes looked up at him, a serene smile on her soft lips. “Hey, you.”

  Jumping off of the bed and nearly tripping over his feet, he stared down at the miracle, not knowing what to think; not able to think at all. She was still pale, but there was a glow to her skin, a living glow. Her eyes, her beautiful hazel eyes, were not sunken, lifeless; they were brilliant. Closing her eyes for a moment, she raised her arms above her head and stretched, the tops of her breasts peeking out over the sheet covering her body. It was not possible, especially after how much he fed from her. It was not possible!

  “H…. How are you f-feeling this morning?” he stammered, trying to recover some modicum of wits and failing spectacularly. Never had a human been drained so completely ever survived and remained, well, human. Never had a human been bit and remained human. They either became Calix if fed, or Thraell. This should not even be happening.

  “I feel,” she smiled lazily, letting her arms cross beneath her head, thrusting the swells of her breasts outwards. He couldn’t tear his eyes from the sublime swells of her breasts, struck dumb by their softness and the sound of her clear voice. How was it possible? She should no longer possess language skills; a Thraell’s transformation was swift. “Amazing.”

  His eyes moved from the two bite marks on either side of her neck to her pale lips, which were white due to dehydration. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? There was absolutely no indication that the girl in front of him – that Celeste – had been affected by his deadly bite at all. It wasn’t possible; it was a miracle.

  He couldn’t talk or think or even move so he didn’t say anything else; he simply stared at her, his brain as slow as ice melting during a frozen night.

  *****

  Growing a little uncomfortable by his silence and the way he looked at her, the disbelief in his eyes, Celeste wrapped the sheet around her nakedness and stood up. Tilting her head to the side, she looked up at him and licked her unna
turally dry lips. Although she was incredibly thirsty, her tongue didn’t have the usual cottony, swollen feeling she usually experienced when she woke up needing something to drink. And other than a desperate thirst, she felt incredible, so alive. Except Adam was acting so strangely….

  “Do you think we could maybe eat breakfast together? Perhaps get something to drink? I am so… thirsty.”

  When he didn’t respond, Celeste could feel her stomach begin to clench with the realization that she just gave herself to someone who only wanted a one-night stand and who was probably wondering what the hell she was still doing in his room. Feeling a little sick and uncomfortable, she glanced around the room to find her clothes. She needed to get out of there before she embarrassed herself even further.

  Licking her lips again, so damn thirsty, she took a fortifying breath and met Adam’s eyes. He continued to just… stare at her with horror in the depths of those black eyes of his. She had to leave. Now. Her chest tightened and she forced herself to swallow, “Perhaps it would be best if I just go.”

  He still didn’t speak as she awkwardly gathered up her hopelessly wrinkled dress and underwear she had worn, clutching the sheet around her body. Feeling the burn of tears, and swallowing them back, she cursed her stupidity for fucking a stranger. Stupid stupid stupid.

  Turning away from him, she lay the dress down, trying to figure out the best way to re-dress and get out of there with some of her quickly disappearing dignity intact. God, Kim was going to kill her before comforting her as she cried; stupid, naïve Celeste went and slept with a god only to get dumped and crudely dismissed with a simple 'How are you feeling? Get the hell out of here….'

  A warm hand wrapped itself around her upper arm, forcing her to turn around. Adam looked at her, the confusion still in his obsidian eyes, but also… hope? He lowered his chin, holding her eyes with his, “Don’t leave.”