by Various
“What…how…?” she gasped, her mouth hanging agape. “What are you?”
He didn’t answer, but tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her down for another kiss. She did not protest, but responded eagerly even as his hands slid under her sweater to rest, cool and still on her flesh. “The one who’s going to fuck Jackson Garrett right out of your pretty little head,” he growled, running his hands over each breast, then cupping them firmly.
“Mmm…” she whined, her hands guiding his to squeeze and paw at her. “Wait…what?”
Seth smiled, knowing what she was thinking. “Does it surprise you that I know his name?”
“Who are you?” she said, her voice tinged with anger. “What do you want?”
Seth chuckled. “I should think that would be obvious…”
Gillian was having none of it and pushed back from him, nearly tumbling to the floor before regaining her footing. “Is this some fucking joke?”
“I can assure you that I am no joke.” He reached for her, but she stepped backwards, putting some space between them. “Let me explain…”
“There’s nothing to explain,” she replied, rubbing her temples and shaking her head as if she had inhaled a poisonous fume. “I… I have to get out of here…” She turned to run but instantly he was there, blocking her path.
“Where you goin’, love?” he asked, laying on that buttery accent.
“Away from here…from you…” she stuttered and he could feel her fear streaking through her veins, cold as ice. He read her thoughts, staring pointedly into her eyes. Suddenly, her brain had begun to understand.
“You sure you want to do that?” He smiled, purposefully giving a glimpse of his teeth as he took a step toward her.
“Stay…stay back…” she cried, throwing her hands up in front of her as if she could hold him off.
“You wanted to die,” he drawled.
“Not like this.”
“What better way than this?” He backed her slowly against the wall behind her. “Imagine it…slipping into eternal slumber in the safety of my arms.”
“No!” she shrieked, making a dive for the hallway. He was faster and before she knew what was happening, he’d grabbed her around the waist and thrown her against the wall, pinning her between him and the rough stone. His hands gripped the corner of her jaw, holding her head in place as he sniffed her like the animal he was. He growled and hissed, burying his nose in the crook of her throat and inhaling her musky scent. “Please don’t hurt me…” she whimpered.
“You think I want to kill you,” he said, his voice taking on a gravelly tone.
“But you’re…” She stopped, her voice trailing into another whimper as he kissed her throat. She couldn’t say it. The trembling and disbelief wouldn’t let her. “This can’t be real.”
“I can assure you, love. I am quite real.”
“Then you are…”
“A vampire?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Are you?”
Seth smiled again, this time wide enough to confirm her suspicions. “Are you afraid?”
“No,” she lied, struggling to keep her breathing slow and even.
“Liar,” he replied, inhaling deeply as he nuzzled under her hair. “I can smell it on you like cheap perfume. It permeates every part of you and makes your blood a complicated ambrosia.” With that, he licked the outline of her jugular vein with the tip of his tongue then stopped, his lips lingering on the soft place just under the corner of her jawline and then sucking gently. “I can give you everything you’ve ever wanted and more. Answers to every question. Pleasure like you’ve never known.”
His words were the aphrodisiac she needed, and she melted into his embrace. “Yes.” She sighed, succumbing to his seduction and offering her mouth to his. He kissed her deeply, his tongue delving into the moist cavern and drawing the breath from her body. He could feel her move against him, her body shuddering involuntarily. “Please…”
Seth broke away, growling deep in his throat as he swept her drunken, limp body into his arms. He carried her swiftly through the labyrinth of corridors and up the stairs, moving with an impossible speed that took her breath away. When they arrived at the end of the hall, he kicked the double doors, breaking the latch so that they flew open. Gillian flinched at the sound of the wood splintering as the doors hit the wall behind with enough force to leave a dent in the plaster. He tossed her unceremoniously onto his bed and stood back, watching her with a predatory glare.
“Are you going to kill me?” she whispered, sitting back on her elbows.
“Yes.” He watched as her chin began to tremble and she started moving backward slowly. “I’m afraid you’ve been chosen.”
“Please don’t.”
“So, you do want to live?”
She inhaled to say something but the words died on her lips, looking into his eyes. “I… I suppose,” she replied.
He came upon her, kneeling over her in an instant and making her draw back with fear of him. “You suppose? You must be sure! I offer you death, yes. But also life. Eternal life and you cannot change your mind once it’s begun!” He pulled her to him in a furious embrace that nearly stopped her breath. She cried out. He held onto her tightly, his mind racing with wonder. Why had he attached himself to this one so much? What was it about her that made him feel so…human? It had been a hundred years since he’d taken a companion and the last one had ended so badly—why should she be any different? But the thought of leaving her was nearly painful. “Let me give you something to live for,” he whispered.
She did not answer, but nodded lazily as if under some spell and lay back against the pillows. Her heart raced, pumping her blood in a furious river through her veins. He could hear it, already feel it pouring into him, filling him with warmth. It made him want to tear into her flesh, draining her quickly to quench the intense craving, but he would have to be patient. If he was to keep this one for his own, he’d have to take it slowly, savoring each drop, lest he kill her. She took his hand, placing it on her hip as she traced each bone and tendon with her fingertips, then sliding it over her body, guiding him to touch her. His hands were cold and she gasped when they made contact with her skin, but soon she was arching into his touch, hungry for more.
Sliding his hands under the bottom of her sweater, he pulled it over her head easily, laying her body bare before him. He paused, looking over her body and taking in each line and shadow. Seth enjoyed the thought that he would be able to keep her like this forever. Never would her pearlescent skin grow dull and wrinkled with age. Her fiery red hair would never yellow and turn brass. Forever she would be the perfect companion—a wonder to all that saw her. There was a certain godlike feeling that came with that knowledge and it only made him want her more.
Seth crawled over her, stalking like an elegant predator. Still the fear was there, rolling in waves over her body and she shuddered. He closed his eyes, reading her thoughts. Will it hurt? Will I still have my soul tomorrow? Does this mean I’m evil? Will I ever see another sunrise? He wished for a moment he could explain all that she needed to know, but he knew it was of little use. If someone had tried to tell him all the wonders of being a vampire, he wouldn’t have believed them on that first night.
****
Gillian lay back against the tangled sheets beneath her. She had the absurd thought that she never expected a vampire to sleep in a bed with sheets from their local IKEA. Seth stalked her like a hungry animal ready to strike, his body serpentine and slithering as he crawled into bed with her. His tattered sweater came off with a flourish so fast that it was almost undetectable. Her mouth watered when she saw him. His skin was pale, but not the deathly pallor that she would expect. He was dark save for the green eyes that glimmered in the firelight. The shadows danced over the lines and contours of his musculature and it made her want to touch him. It was a bit like wanting to crawl into the cage with the lions at the zoo. She knew that he had every intention of devouring her, but rig
ht now she didn’t care. All she wanted was to surrender. Her brain screamed for her not to trust him, but she just couldn’t stop herself. She reached out and ran her fingertips along his arm until she came to a worn scar just above the inside of his elbow.
“This cut was deep,” she said, shuddering as he ran his hands across her belly.
“It wasn’t a cut,” he replied, leaning over to kiss the valley between her breasts. “The killing bite must be deep. Otherwise the venom is too slow.”
She examined the raised flesh, the color of coffee against his skin. There were two cuts, side by side that seemed to drag a couple of inches down his arm. “I thought vampires were invincible.”
He flicked his tongue over the curve of her breast, watching as her skin prickled. “The scar marks us for what we are. You will have one too.” Gillian tensed at his words and he pulled her to him. “The pain lasts only a moment,” he whispered, his lips moving softly against the puckered skin of her nipple before drawing it into his mouth. He suckled gently at first, worrying it to a swollen bud until she gasped. Only then did he prick the edge of the areola with his teeth. The wound was miniscule and she barely noticed the sting until the tiny pearl of blood appeared. Pulling back from her, he purred deep in his throat upon seeing the deep red rivulets that ran down the side of her breast, following the curving silhouette of her body. Before it could reach the sheets below, he swooped down and captured the drops with his tongue, then lapped at the precious fluid.
Gillian moaned, her heart beating faster. She knew she should be afraid, but she was lost in the sensations he created. He kissed his way back up her torso, alighting on her other breast and biting down hard. She cried out, instinctively trying to push him away. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the pillow behind her head. She groaned and struggled, but he was much too strong for her. Closing his mouth over the breast fully, he sucked at the wound until it was bleeding heavily down her front. She watched with eyes blurry with tears, as the thickening sanguine fluid stained her skin. He drank deeply for a few moments, then tore himself away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Strangely, she didn’t feel drained as she’d thought she would. Only this heaviness that had settled into her extremities, keeping her still as he slid away from her. “Is that it?” she croaked sleepily, thinking that perhaps she’d been afraid for nothing.
He gave a dark chuckle as he stood up at the side of the bed. A smear of her blood stood out as a harsh streak of black against his skin. “Patience, little one,” he said, pulling at the button on his jeans. “I’ve only just begun. Such a delicious delicacy should be savored, not devoured in one sitting.” She shuddered and he chuckled again, pushing the restricting fabric over his narrow hips and down until he stood before her, a vision of male perfection. His body seemed to be carved of stone, every muscle standing out just under his skin. The bones of his pelvis crossed over his hips, drawing her eye down to his cock which stood out impressively, giving away his own lust. Gillian smiled, feeling somewhat empowered by this show of arousal. She wanted to sit up and go to him, but her body was so heavy. She felt as if he’d restrained her, but there were no bonds.
Seth threw his head back, his black hair spilling over his shoulders as he inhaled her scent on the air. “Fucking hell, Gillian.” He sighed. “Your scent…so much fear, so much desire…it’s like a drug.” He climbed back into the bed, kneeling between her outstretched legs. “I fear that once I start, I won’t be able to stop,” he murmured, grasping the waistband of the pants she wore. With a growl, he pulled at them until they were ripped completely open and he could jerk them down her legs. “A thousand years of practice and you have me behaving like a fledgling.”
“I’m… I’m sorry…” she stammered, biting her lip as his fingers brushed her thighs.
He leaned over her, kissing just below her navel and swirling his tongue around it. “You’re not sorry,” he replied, opening his mouth wider and grazing the warm skin with his teeth, opening another bloody gash. It dribbled slowly down, pooling in the crease above her mound. She could feel the warm wetness and she reached down to touch it, but he slapped her hand away. With the flat of his tongue he licked at the blood, tasting it and groaning with satisfaction. It wet his lips and when he gazed up at her, he looked like a sinister harlequin with his painted mouth.
The streaks of blood were a map to her center and he followed it without hesitation. He reached out to touch her sex, gathering some of the blood that had collected in the corner of his mouth and using it to paint around her opening, then licking it away until she was arching up against his mouth, begging him for more. He pulled the outer lips of her sex between his lips to kiss each one in turn. With two fingers, he pulled and tugged at the dewy petals until they were plumped with blood.
“Seth…” she sighed, her voice trailing off into an unintelligible moan as he took each side into his mouth in turn, rolling the moist flesh between his lips, careful not to bite. As he teased them, they began to part, revealing those secret destinations deep inside. His fingertips were all too willing to help them along, pulling the lips wide apart and flicking the swollen nub of flesh that was carefully hidden behind. Gillian’s breath was slow, coming in shallow gasps as he kissed and nibbled at her clit. She could feel the moist heat rush to her sex and she struggled to pull her legs further apart to urge him on, but still, every movement was a struggle as the venom crept slowly through her veins. As he kissed at the tiny clitoris, his fingertips slid up her body, swirling in the pools of blood still dripping from her breasts and belly. She looked down, watching as he brought his fingers to his lips, tasting the blood and then pushing his fingers forcefully into her sex. He moved them inside in gentle circles, then stroked them in and out until her blood mixed with the slippery wetness of her sex. He lapped it up like a man dying of thirst. Gillian’s voice rose in octaves, higher and higher as she surrendered to the pleasure of his foreplay. The loss of blood had made her delirious, sighing and crying, out of her head.
He twisted his wrist slightly, pushing two of his slip-sliding, long and sinuous fingers into her until he could feel that secret place high up within. His thumb made wide circles around her clit until he could feel her tensing with her impending climax. Just as she tumbled over the edge, he sank his teeth into the vein that pulsed below the skin at the junction of her thighs. She screamed with orgasmic pleasure and the ultimate anguish as he drank deeply, pulling her lifesblood into him, not wanting to leave a single drop. She screamed, knowing this was the end but she didn’t care. Her whole life was reduced to the pinpoint of light she could see behind her eyes as he made her come.
And then it was dark.
Chapter Four
“Wake up,” Seth whispered in her ear. He sounded so far away, and she fought to find him in the darkness of her slumber, but everything was so hazy. Her mouth felt dry, and she tried to speak, but no sound would come. Her body felt numb as if she were disconnected from it somehow and floating above, watching everything that was happening.
“Gillian, you have to wake up now or you’ll die, you silly girl.”
Her head lolled from side to side and she wanted to open her eyes but they seemed fused shut. Why didn’t she have any control? She kept fighting the death that was undoubtedly seeping into her body, her extremities shaking with the effort. She was frightened, but she couldn’t articulate. She could only shake.
“It’s okay,” he said, brushing her hair back from her sweaty forehead. “Everything will be okay. Just listen to my voice, and stay with me.”
She could feel his body lying atop hers, and the heaviness soothed her somewhat. Surely, her soul could not escape now. But then he sat up on his knees, straddling her body and staring down at her. His eyes glowed in the blackness. He drew a single, sharpened fingernail across his wrist, opening the plump vein there that pulsed with stolen blood. The blood ran freely and fast down his arm. He held the open wound over her lips, letting the blood trickle down.
At first, she wanted to resist, to turn her head away and fall into shadow without a fight, but then she tasted the bitter sweetness that slipped between her parted lips. One taste and she felt the thirst immediately. Her stomach lurched, and it jolted her awake. Her eyelids fluttered and her mouth opened wide, seeking out the sanguine salvation. The blood began to pour in earnest. Seth breathed heavily, tiring from the exertion. Her mouth worked slowly, her tongue licking at the drops as they fell, ever faster into her waiting mouth. Soon she was moaning softly, wanting more—needing more. Taking her wrist, he pulled her to a sitting position, leaning against his chest as she cradled his arm against her in a desperate embrace.
“Drink, Gillian…” he growled. “Drink your fill.” She accepted the invitation eagerly, pulling his wrist against her mouth and latching on. He groaned as her timid licking turned to famished suckling that drew more and more of his blood into her. The more she drank, the more she wanted it. She feared she would never stop and that she might die from the exquisite satisfaction.
And then suddenly the pain. A pain like nothing she’d ever felt gripped her insides, throwing her back from Seth to writhe against the pillows. He looked down at her sadly and crawled backwards, leaving her to thrash against the sheets. Her body shook, and for a moment, she was sure that it was turning inside out. Her stomach twisted and turned, and she wanted to scream, but the pain took her breath. She reached for Seth, but he backed away. “I can’t help you, Gillian.”
“Seth…” she rasped, rolling over and trying to stand, but falling back down. “What…”
He stared down stoically, crossing his arms over his chest and watching. “Your body is dying, Gillian. It happens to all of us. It can’t be helped.” The venom crept with white hot speed, ever faster with every staggering breath. She curled into a tight knot in the center of the bed, her body rocking with the agony of her changing. “I wish it was easier.” He sighed, turning away. He stared down at the wound on his wrist that was fading rapidly with unnatural healing. “But that’s what we are, Gillian. Undead. We are immortal, but never really alive. Your heart will stop; you’ll cease to breathe. The blood in your veins will turn cold as ice and slow as it lies beneath your skin. The only warmth we have is that which we take from others.” He turned back to her, running his fingers through his long, black hair. “And when it fades, you’ll be hungry for more. So hungry that it will infect every thought. You won’t care about anything but sating that cursed hunger.” He crawled back into the bed, soaking with her sweat. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as her body slowed. “But you’ll live forever.”