by J H Spade
All the premonitions Eros has been studying have to do with Luke, making him number one on our hit list, but he remains buried as if he never was.
I’ve hoped to find him among them.
It doesn’t make sense and feels like a trap. Like it’s almost too easy to pick them off one by one without their leader.
The premonitions have Luke joining souls with Emma, but they haven’t even met, and I don’t foresee how she would forget her love for Darius. It seems like the most far-fetched bullshit, but Eros has fully vested resources on it, so he seems sure to the point he’s driving himself further into madness.
All my gathered intel seems to point against Luke and Emma, and the thought of him near her will surely put me in a worst state than my brother is.
My eyes become slits of black pits.
He’s not here. Luke wouldn’t be far from his men, but I don’t pick up on his scent.
Could this be part of a revolution against Luke and Logan?
I decide to go down, shifting into raven form.
Spells can’t hide from me in this form. No one can.
Coming closer to my prey, I see they are still in jeopardy of not clearing the strong current of the river.
In time, I will relish not having a weapon, destroying them with my bare claws.
They remain unaware of my presence while quietly closing in on the unsuspecting lovers who are standing near the lakeshore, too busy fighting with their need for one another to notice anything else. I almost expect another group of lycans led by their stand-in king to close in on land. But I cover the land for miles, and there is nothing out here. Even the animals have abandoned their territory.
There is no threat other than the lycans. The beasts navigating the roaring water believe they remain inconspicuous, wading through the flickering current of midnight waters, eclipsed by night’s copious shades.
Wanting to yell bloody murder, I look towards the two young lovers, eye fucking each other and completely lovestruck, remaining unaware to what is sneaking up the river towards them. I would sneer at their love, how it blinds them, if I wasn’t as blind myself. But in my case, it’s with jealous zealousness to learn what it’s like to be loved by her like that.
With some difficulty, I tear my eyes from the dysfunctional, yet enticing, modern day fairytale picture they present. Bigger things to worry about than all the different ways I have planned for quenching my desire for her.
I’ve been fantasizing about all the places I plan on taking her tonight. My desire peaks, and I’m unable to hold my raven form, shifting to allow my great span of wings, but leaving my warrior body. It is how I feel I’m at my most comfortable.
She’s shaking with every movement. There is restrained violence in her body, pushing Darius away as she continues to tremble with the force of it; although, he doesn’t budge. He’s like a mountain in front of her. Her hits bounce ineffectively off of him like she isn’t putting much force behind her strikes. She doesn’t wish to hurt him, it is quite evident she’s trying to keep him at bay, but she expects to lose.
From the looks of it, Darius is barely holding back, fighting hard against his instincts screaming for him to claim her and has even gone as far as biting her. I can tell by her erratic heartbeats and fast gulps of air that his bite makes her go blind with lust, very likely why there isn’t much fight left in her. I see her face crumble because she hates losing control, feeling herself shackled by her hunger for him.
He can drink her, and for this I will always be jealous of him. Her blood is poison to all immortals. My brother and Darius are the only two ever known to survive.
I don’t think either one knew they would survive, but regardless, they gave into the impossible.
I can’t afford such a luxury because she only has me to sever her bond with my brother since I’m his twin.
“You’re such an asshole! If you think me capable of calling him here, why not leave me to rot with my lover and instead take that death defying jump? How could you clear those rocks? The lycan that jumped right after me didn’t. It’s a miracle you survived!”
Instantly, her potty mouth is hot, screaming foul language at Darius because he’s accusing her of aiding my brother. All of Emma, disrupting my focus with that forbidden intoxicating scent of hers hanging dangerously thick in the night air.
I almost want to take her and punish her for the things she can’t control. My list is long, but my number one is: For meeting my brother first and letting him survive after drinking her. My dreams are often filled with all the ways I plan on torturing her in my bed.
Albeit my ways are drastically different than my brother’s.
He blames her too much for leaving him stranded in a storm the night she left with Darius. Goes far enough to blame her for all of the suffering that came afterwards when I captured him, and the torment he was dealt at the hands of her sister and father.
I know what Darius did, she had no choice.
My focus returns to the trouble below when Darius slams another accusation her way, and she strikes back, slapping him across the face with enough force his face whirls.
I laugh, surprised at her lack of fear for she understands he, too, hides an animal within.
He’s on her in a second, taking her over his shoulder and slapping her ass so hard the hit reverberates throughout the mountains. The high-pitched sound makes me grind my teeth as my fangs lengthen.
The lycans speed up their chase, noting Darius will likely chain her somewhere before he devours her. It is, afterall, expected from his kind.
Love found, I turn my back on the one emotion that has proven too elusive, shifting into a funnel cloud made of countless ravens, aiming with deadly force like a sword erupting from the heavens, to attack as a mass that flows fluidly, so similar to the river, landing in front of the unsuspecting beasts.
I swallow them in black fog, a multitude of beaks and claws relentlessly poking and stripping their thick flesh and eyes. Tortured screams are mixed with the low croaking sounds made by the birds as chunks of torn flesh splash into the water, finally to end the massacre by slashing their throats one by one.
The mountains still echo their screams even after they’ve died.
I will be busy with the burden of taking their souls to the underworld, after their three days’ grace period ends.
Everything goes back to how it should be. The mountains and river swallow their existence just as absolute as I did.
It was over quickly, too quickly for the effect I want. I almost wish I would have taken my time to show off in front of her, the many years it took of endless practice to develop such skill. But her tantalizing scent has me too on edge, wishing to duel with her poison as I’ve done with countless others.
I feel if I don’t take this chance tonight, I’ll never have her.
Because in the end, I will rule my brother’s kingdom, and she is the only queen I will have by my side. I’ve never pictured it any other way.
I can feel the heat of her eyes on my skin before her panicked scream pierces the night as I’m standing up from ripping my fangs out of the last one of the nine foot beasts, holding his ripped-out heart in my hand out towards her while he’s still trying to lessen my crushing grip on his skull. He falls bonelessly into the river and gets pulled away by the current. When I turn to face her in all my gory glory. That’s when I really get Emma’s attention. I can see a soul-deep recognition in her eyes as they climb my body to place all their focus in my cold eyes.
There are so many questions in their searching depths, I know if I keep looking I can find all the answers to the united endless questions, we both share for one another. I can see our lives intertwined in a way that goes beyond bonds . . . something unexplainable because of its simplistic complexity, leaving me completely dumbstruck. Almost as if it was decided upon that first instrumental time of creation.
Reeling, I blink, looking down at the outstretched offering in my grip. Of what it means to me, a
symbolic representation of all the years I’ve been building up to this moment. One in which, I can demonstrate to her she will always be safe in my care. I think of presenting the mangled organ to her as a gift, wishing it will win her over, perhaps turning the appendage into a solid ruby stone—something she can surely admire. This seems like a sturdy plan until I see she’s shaking from shock over his shoulder, and now that I ponder it further, probably has been this whole time.
Wishing I can waltz into her life like he did and not be the ever present killer that I can’t hide I am, I take a breath. Letting the welcoming lake claim my treasure instead, throwing it over my shoulder. ‘Tone it down, smartass. She thinks she’s still a human girl,’ I remind myself under my breath, before taking the form of a raven, flying towards them to land perching on Darius’s available shoulder to look down on her straining neck, with curious beady eyes.
Thinking maybe in this form she’ll be more accepting of me.
Because I determine she’s a wild thing I have to use an utmost delicate touch in order to bear down on her. To fully ride her.
I think it’s ironic. Comical even, someone as cynical as I am should be so hopeful. A croaking laugh escapes when I realize I’m being foolishly romantic. At least she has the ability to make a fool out of me.
She throws her body into swift motion to protect Darius from me. Choking his neck, she maneuvers him to the ground, hoping he stays out of our fight while batting at the air coming after me until I quickly take form, lifting her by her dainty wrist, feet kicking wildly as I capture her waist against my body. She’s wet and slippery, her skin feels too cold from the freezing temperatures of the water, so I fuse my skin to hers and lower my face to her neck while inhaling her deeper.
It hits me then, I can’t give her up.
From the heap on the ground, Darius roars, too far gone in his need for her. His neon light is covering her, making her love-crazed when she begins squirming against me to get me to release her, so she can go to him. My grip tightens at her reckless moans as I stare at her in avid admiration without trying to hide my need, rubbing thick against her belly, or trying to cool the fascination my eyes have for her. I know my eyes have turned black with lust. I can’t help but want her neck, and instead, find my brother’s scorpion bite riddled with green venom oozing from the wound.
Fuck, do I hate him.
I know she senses the violent need in me. She has gone completely still as I turn her to face Darius, so she isn’t focusing on me, and I notice his lips have the poisonous ooze marking them. I imagine it is because he tried to save her from the poison. The poison which will make them try to kill each other, unless I drink his blood while I give them mine diluting it with the strong poison in my blood. He lets me hold her, perhaps even coming to the conclusion she is safer with me as he lights the night with his magnetic blue light, making the moon shine in his color.
With the combination of his luxstasis–the name given to the light made by his kind when they imprint on their mate, her blood mixing with his saliva, and my brother’s poison, that was meant only for Emma, I can understand now while they are both so far gone.
*****
The night has grown cooler, the wind more forceful as it rattles the forest. Emma’s condition a direct echo of the weather, her shaking only worsening while I tug her closer and beg her to take my blood.
Sparkling eyes filled with defiance point daggers at me through full lashes that can’t hide how upset she is as I trap her—my fingers digging into her hips, trying to snuff out all the space between us as our bodies clash. Her spine stiffens in answer, she becomes instantly uptight, then cringes deeper into my chest, seeking to regain a semblance of control because it’s clear she wants to take me up on my offer.
Twisting away from my wrist, she bites on her bottom lip to stop the call of my blood from further tempting her. She shakes her head no, placing her cool cheek to my flesh. Instinct has her seeking my warmth, but a yearning sidelong glance has her continuing to look towards the man she loves in horror, knowing what they will both become. She battles hard, looking beyond the thick veins running along my uplifted forearm meant to entrance her into submission. She stares at him like he is her anchor, even more when I press my skin to the reproaching thin lines of her lips in another attempt to get her to drink from me. Her stubborn lips remain tightly sealed, impassive like her eyes, only to watch Darius thrash like a madman from the poison.
“Emma, run! Hide in the safety of the forest.” Darius growls, showing sharp fangs.
Energy dances through her veins, yet she makes no move to go. At the moment, she trusts me more than she does herself, possibly even him.
I don’t wish to force her to drink, so I search for any other way. He is always the answer, so I watch him fight a losing battle. His body is stretching wildly over the wet mud, lying back and recoiling, again and again, continuing to war with his need for her.
He roars, hoping to scare her, putting all his strength in keeping himself on his back over the ground—too afraid of the harm he may bring upon her if he should get back on his feet. His need to claim her will be replaced by the poison begging him to kill her.
The guttural sounds he makes ring long while wrestling for control, only hasten her downfall. I can feel her skin prickle underneath my firm grip, heart racing out of control against her rib cage, and her soft moans are sure signs indicating she’s ready for my plans tonight. I want her with a psychotic madness, paying no regard to anything else but how to get her under me.
Thinking maybe she can hear my thoughts because I can all but taste her desire on the wind, I try to have her relax for me.
I take a hold of her wet hair and lift it from her back, letting the heavy strands cascade over my hand, gripping them in a fist while lowering my mouth to blow warm breath against her nape. Trying, in vain, to calm all the tremors invading her, just like her fears.
When her scent fully envelops me, I cup her face, and as her eyes, full of uncertainty, search mine, I realize I have a few fears of my own that I try to silence by avoiding her eyes with the taste of her on my lips. I let her watch me roam my lips down the delicate path in between her breasts as her breath quickens and her chest rises.
Similar to how one would do with a frightened animal, I lovingly whisper against her skin, “I promise you, you can drink me without going into bloodlust. I wouldn’t do that to you. But the longer you take, the more likely you are to lose yourself to it. Think of him. Do it for him.”
She shudders in need, unintentionally rubbing her waist against my hard length, now pulsing for her in needy response as we both take in an agonized breath, overtaken by the same emotions running rampant through us. Only my need and love for her are unrequited because while she slips deeper into my trap and will soon give in, I know she does it for him, while everything I do is for her.
Without taking her pleading eyes off of him, she can barely object, “Please, I can’t. I can’t be stronger than he is, or I may succeed in killing him.”
Shrugging as if her concern for him doesn’t slice me in half, I try to assuage her fear. “I’ll take him somewhere safe, make him better, and we will wait for you there. I’ll be sure he lets you drink from me while I watch over you both.”
I couldn’t have chosen better words to bait her with.
Since my swift eradication of the lycans and because I've made no move against them, Emma must sense I’m not here to harm either her or Darius. “Who are you?” The syllables come out on a breathy moan, the shaky sounds tell me she’s riding high between her feelings of panic and filling with pleasure for Darius. I don’t have to delude myself it’s for me, that the moments I will enjoy aren’t stolen moments never belonging to me.
For now, just holding her is enough.
Seduction is a game I’m well equipped to play.
I keep my deep voice low, “Your savior,” I say in almost a whisper as I press my lips against the underside of her ear, letting my hand slip lowe
r on her belly. She takes another sharp breath, while I hold mine because this time, I’m afraid to breathe as she tries to jump free from my grasp. So, I say, “It’s alright, I won’t hurt you,” continuing to gently claim my territory over her skin, gliding my fingers over her—unable to stop myself from seeking the impossibly soft skin as I push her back further into me. “Isn’t it amusing how we get the things we need in the most unexpected ways.”
She shuts her eyes and leans back against me like her legs won’t hold her, nodding and barely making the next few words audible out under her soft breath, “I don’t know how much longer I can hold off. Please take him somewhere safe.”
Knowing the desire she burns with for him can turn to hate any minute now, she gives me a small victory. But then she must question her sanity because she tries to turn her face to look up into my eyes. That can’t be good since my brother and I share the same eye color.
I take a firm grip of her hair, massaging her scalp, facing her to him once again. “I’m not him, so you don’t have to fear me,” I reiterate while trailing kisses over the long column of her neck. Darius can’t help but watch how I declare my possession on her body. His pupils are blown from repressed need as he begins tearing on the clasp of his pants wishing to do the same.