Dark Diary

by Anastasia,P.

  Her calves met the heavy wood frame of her bed and she stumbled, flopping down onto her sheets and pulling her legs onto the bed as I knelt down beside her. There was curiosity in her eyes and she bit her lip in anticipation.

  As I approached, she parted the sides of my open tunic and exposed my skin to her touch. Fluid and unreserved, she stroked a gentle path down the center of my chest.

  I crawled up beside her and leaned over her body, bringing a slow, steady hand up along her ribs, feeling every tiny rise and fall of the lace ties along her dress.

  She was so willing—so eager to give me anything I wanted from her.

  And right then and there, I wanted everything from her.

  A nervous shudder escaped her lips and I silenced her with a deep kiss. My hand moved across her shoulder and down her arm toward her wrist. I lingered there, tracing the edge of her palm with a graceful touch and teasing the tips of her fingers as my other arm stabilized my body above hers.

  As we kissed, she quaked beneath me, electrifying my senses. Thrilling me. God, how I wanted her, and how the warmth of her skin made my body throb with the anticipation of having her.

  The powerful thumping of my heartbeat sent a flutter up my throat and my breath quickened. Part of me feared for our secret, but only part of me. I was too submerged in animalistic needs to rationalize. My fingers entwined with hers and I brought my lips to her throat and left a trail of kisses down her neck. I exhaled a hot breath behind her ear and her lips parted to release a groan of pleasure. Every heartbeat seduced me further until I was consumed by the vision of an endless night of us making love.

  A gentle tug on the cap of one of Kathryn’s sleeves sent it sliding off her shoulder and made her fingers tighten against my ribs. I lowered myself down to lay a firm kiss onto the base of her neck and yet another soft groan emerged as the ridge of my tongue trailed across her collarbone, tasting the salt on her glittering skin.

  Sweet-sounding whispers. Painfully eager tremors flowing through her hips. I couldn’t ignore how distracted I was by her incredible curves. For a moment, I had forgotten to breathe.

  The tips of her fingernails teased the jut of my hipbones as her palms pressed into my belt, forcing it lower. An involuntary shiver made my teeth clench. I wanted so much from her—so much of her, but I hesitated still.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” I strained to speak. My hand traveled up to her wrist and I sat back on my heels so I could meet her gaze.

  “I’ll be fine. It would hurt no less if we waited,” she said reassuringly, desperation evident in her tone. “I know it will be worth the cost. I will be yours and only yours.” Her fingers tucked a lock of hair back behind my ear and then traced my cheek. “I know that there is no gentler a man on Earth than you.”

  She trusted me.

  She loved me.

  Still…

  She took my face between her hands and smiled. “It was meant to be you.”

  My blood tingled with the romance in her words.

  She was right… and I knew it.

  I shifted my position until I was nearly on top of her and slipped my free hand beneath the lace ribbon at the rib of her dress. The velvety ties loosened and I pulled them free, making her dress loose enough for her to wriggle the other sleeve down and off her shoulder. It was a painfully conscious decision to delay the intense urges pulsing through me, but I wanted to grant her the satisfaction of every second possible. It became even more difficult as my fingers traversed the bare skin of her thigh. There was no turning back.

  “Matthaya…” the word escaped her in a heated exhalation as her knees pressed into my sides.

  My heart raced. Her hands drove through my hair and she pulled me down to her lips again. I was lost in her sensual breath… her sweet scent…

  I took a breath from her kiss and balanced my weight upon my palm to reach down and unbuckle the clasp of my belt. The subtle clinking noise was interrupted by another.

  My ears caught the quiet sound of a door opening and closing down the hall.

  “What was that?” I asked, quickly sliding the tip of the belt back into the loop atop the buckle.

  “I heard nothing,” Kathryn replied with a frustrated scoff. She curled her fingers around the hem of my shirt and tugged me closer.

  The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stiffened.

  Someone was awake.

  “Forgive me, Kathryn,” I said, kissing her briefly. I lifted my leg over hers and got off her bed. “I heard someone stirring,” I continued, searching frantically nearby for the ties to my tunic. “I am sure of it.”

  She rolled onto her side to face me. Anger creased her brow. “It is surely nothing to be concerned with, Matthaya.” Her voice rose. “Matthaya?”

  “Shhh…” I raised my fingers in a gesture to silence her and then listened.

  A clicking noise?

  My head turned.

  The lock!

  I couldn’t make the patio doors in time to escape the sound of her bedroom door unlocking from the outside. Kathryn rushed toward it and thrust her weight against the door.

  “Let me in, Kathryn!” Lord Shallon’s voice boomed.

  I snatched the chair from her writing desk and wedged it under the handle of her door. It would buy us some time, but not much.

  Kathryn turned to me. “Take Raven and get out of here,” she said. “You can return for me later.”

  “I know that boy is with you,” Lord Shallon roared, bashing his fists against the door. “Let me in!”

  “I won’t go without you.” I took her hands. “I can’t lose you.”

  “You’ll be faster without me and no good to me dead.” She unhooked her necklace. “Take this,” she whispered, quickly placing it in my hand and closing my fingers around it. “May God protect you always,” she added, hesitating to take her hands from me. “Return it to me. Please.”

  I heard wood splitting; the door wouldn’t hold much longer.

  We hurried to the balcony and I leapt over the banister to climb down.

  “Do not look back! I will wait for you,” she said, stretching her hand out to me as I dropped from her reach. “I love you, Matthaya!”

  My feet had just hit the ground when the words slipped from her lips, more faithful than ever. I turned my back to head to the stable, but my heavy heart stopped me.

  There was no time!

  I shook my head and gritted my teeth at myself for hesitating, but I had no choice. I flung a hand back up onto the balcony post and climbed back to where Kathryn was. She was holding her breath and fearfully watching the door.

  “Kathryn,” I said, pulling myself up to her level.

  She turned and gasped. I didn’t give her a chance to speak.

  “I will always love you, Kathryn. I will return for you. I swear it.” I tightened my grip on the banister with one hand and reached out to pull her back to me and kiss her goodbye.

  Her bedroom door burst open.

  I climbed halfway down to the first floor and then braced myself for the remaining drop.

  Raven awoke with a startled jolt and came to his feet as quickly as I had flung open the stall door. I tangled my fingers into the base of his mane, leapt onto his back, and held tightly to him as he bolted out of the barn and onto the dirt road.

  I had no idea where I would go, but going anywhere was better than staying to face Shallon’s wrath.

  I had to get away long enough to devise a plan. Long enough to—

  A thunderous clap rang through the air and I reeled forward onto Raven’s neck. Pain blasted through my shoulder and I grunted. Raven instinctively paused to look back at me. Beneath the moonlight, I could see blood covering my hand and felt it saturating my shirt.

  Damn it! I had been shot!

  The sky was cloudy, the moon dim, and I was riding a black horse—it had been a lucky shot, indeed. I ignored the pain and used what little strength I had in my other ar
m to rebalance myself as I kicked a heel into Raven’s ribs, asking him to gallop. I clung to his mane as he raced blindly through the darkness.

  What would happen to her?

  How could I return?

  So many questions and no time to consider them.

  Raven followed the moonlit path of the road and trusted in my will and sense of direction. His pace eventually slowed to a trot and I bent over in pain, my blood dampening his coat.

  The night was filled with silence and solitude and the road ahead was empty and bare. The trees along the pathway had already lost most of their leaves in preparation for winter and their thin skeletons made poor company in the night.

  Raven stopped abruptly and stamped his hooves into the dirt with a heavy snort.

  “Easy.” I rubbed my hand across his neck and patted him.

  There was a strange presence in the air and it had been following us for several minutes. Perhaps the scent of blood was drawing attention to us.

  I spotted a dim yellow light in the distance and squinted. From out of the shadows, came a thin, sickly-pale woman who looked about twice my age. With each of her steps, a thick stack of bangles on her arm jingled against one another.

  “Hello, young one,” she said in a scratchy voice as she approached; her thick accent was distinctly English.

  Raven pulled back and twitched nervously beneath me, making the pain in my arm unbearable.

  “I-I am in a hurry. Leave me be,” I said.

  Ornate golden earrings shimmered on her ears and a heavy necklace hung at her collar. Her black cloak made me suspicious of her occupation. Though my manners taught me never to assume things, she had the aura of an untrustworthy soul.

  I tugged on Raven’s mane and sent him darting past the stranger. No sooner had I avoided her than she reappeared before me in the road.

  “Where are you headed with such haste?” Her head cocked and her eyes flickered with eerie amber fire. “You’re injured.” She pointed, though she didn’t sound concerned.

  “I must get away from here,” I snapped, enraged by the pain and her stubbornness. I kicked my heels in and braced myself for the charge.

  There was a sudden shuffle of dirt and leaves and Raven reared up, sending me flying to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and my consciousness faltered. I took a moment to catch my breath before coming to my feet.

  Raven let out a deafening neigh and my heart skipped a beat. The ground shook as his body came crashing down before my feet. His legs twitched violently and then froze dead in an instant. From what I could see in the shadows, it looked as though his throat had been torn clear of his neck. I quickly stepped away from the pooling blood.

  What had she done?

  “Show yourself, witch.” I looked frantically in every direction but saw and heard nothing more.

  “You had to be difficult, didn’t you?” the creature hissed from within the shadows. The direction of her voice was indiscernible. “You’re lucky you’re a pretty one, or I would kill you where you stand.”

  I gasped. She was behind me, but I was too slow to react. Her arms came up beneath mine and she clasped me tightly around my shoulders, pressing me into her chest and against the heavy necklaces around her throat. She took a deep whiff of my hair.

  “Your blood is powerful,” she said. “You will make a good companion.”

  I tugged and pulled to get away, but her thin arms were unnaturally strong. The cold touch of her skin frightened me and I fought with every ounce of my strength to break free.

  And then… then the pain of my shoulder vanished—replaced by the crushing sensation of fangs sinking into my neck. I cried out to deaf ears and my body shook with the blinding ache of what felt like the remainder of my blood oozing down my chest. My hands grew weak and numb and my eyes heavy and dark.

  I fell into nothingness.

  Dizzy, paralyzed, dying at the hands of the beast, I collapsed and my world turned black.

  With my mind clouded by the curse, I had little comprehension of the events taking place around me over the coming days. In the darkness I waited, watching in ignorance as Kathryn stumbled along the ocean shore. The tides were wild with the night, crashing and rising over the sand and rocks with tremendous force. All the while, I was trapped inside myself, forced to watch a nightmare unfold through the eyes of an animal I had not yet learned to control.

  Her words were inaudible and quiet as she stepped out into the tide, and I could do no more than stare as Kathryn toppled over into the water. There was no struggle and no cry for help as her body was dragged deeper and deeper into the rift.

  I approached the shore, but the eerie glow of my eyes met only the moon’s reflection.

  She was gone.

  It was not until later on that I learned Kathryn had poisoned herself that night just before running away from home. There were too many rumors about my death and Ve’tani, my Sire, had helped to spread them. This woman had pulled me into her abyss, making me a pawn in her hunt for blood and power. She had torn me away from my life—from my Kathryn—and buried me in her tomb of eternal darkness, making me the creature I am today.

  I TOOK MY EYES OFF Kathryn’s portrait and turned away. Her necklace still hung at my neck, treasured above all my possessions—one of the only other things sacred to me still. I gazed up at the ceiling and ran my hands over the plush velvet arms of my seat.

  It was rather early in the morning and not exactly a fair time to be awake. Not that I had a choice. Like humans, we don’t always tire when we should, and my mind was racing far too much to even consider rest.

  No number of days could make me forget.

  A million years could not steal from my mind the visions of her beautiful face. The warmth of her blazing fingertips across my skin had vanished when I had changed, but the vivid imagery of her smile would not fade from my memory.

  Damn myself for even trying, but there were days I did want to forget her. There were times I longed to be free of her love. It was a curse less bearable than the one I had endured for hundreds of years.

  Relief was far from my grasp. Heavy blood consumption barely dampened my conscience. I could never drink enough to cloud reality. There was no escape.

  Though I admit…

  Kathera had granted me the closest thing to friendship I had experienced in years. Moments spent in her presence quieted some of the pain, but new wounds took shape with each flutter of her crimson lashes and each arc of her smile.

  Our friendship was self-sabotage and I could not tolerate another century of pain. It was a harsh truth, but one that I had to acknowledge soon… before the desire for her blood became too great for me to ignore.

  IT WAS STUPID OF ME to dwell on thoughts of him. I was old enough and smart enough to know better than to brood over a man. Especially one as strange as Matthaya. A vision of him had visited me in my dreams last night, and even then, he was detached and distant.

  But despite what his body language conveyed, his eyes seduced me with unspoken promises of security and compassion. His brilliant green irises drew me in as if I were a moth to a flame.

  Too close and I would burn.

  “How’s it coming over there?” Derek’s soft steps into the room had gone unnoticed, and the ink line from my pen thickened from my surprise.

  “It’s going great. I think I’ve really got something here.” I put down my black pen and took a dark-red marker into my fingers. “I’m almost done. Would you like to see it?”

  “Yes!” Derek shuffled into the next room and his voice became muffled by the walls. “Let me get some papers filed and I’ll be right over.”

  With small circular motions, I colored in the eyes of my drawing and it instantly came to life. I sat back in my chair and sighed.

  She was beautiful.

  My newest creation—a thin, seductively posed demon-like goddess with ice-platinum skin, waves of thick black curls, and a triple set of powerf
ul flame wings.

  Derek poked his head over my shoulder.

  “Do you think they’ll like it?” I asked, my brows raised hopefully and my grin half-cocked.

  “Are you kidding? It’s incredible!” He bent over beside me and rested his forearm on the table, taking a closer look at my drawing. “I’m just a little awestruck at the amount of detail work you were able to accomplish. It’s a lot more than usual.”

  “You could say I was in the zone, I guess.”

  “It’s very nice.” His eyes traced my line work and he grinned in approval. “When are they coming back in to get it inked?”

  “Later tonight.”

  His brow furrowed. “Cutting it a little close, aren’t we?”

  I exaggerated the batting of my eyes and smirked. “You said it was great, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. I suppose I did.” He shrugged off my humor. “You’re good at your job.”

  He stood and took a step back.

  I picked up my black pen and cleaned up part of the outline.

  Derek was still standing behind me. I could hear him breathing softly.

  The room became awkwardly quiet.

  I started to turn my head.

  “Hey, Kathera.” Derek returned to my side and sat on the edge of the table. He took up one of my markers and began twiddling it between his fingers.

  “Is… everything okay?” I asked, watching him tap the cap of the marker against his knee. His uneasy smile made my heart jump into my throat. I’d known him for several years and it was unlike him to hesitate.

  Had I screwed up something?

  “Speaking of tonight.” He looked away and chewed his lip. “Uh… Would you care to get out of here for a little while? After work, I mean… just for a cup of coffee or a drink or something?” A nervous smile twisted his lips.

  Derek was a really sweet guy and probably only five or six years older than I was. We’d known each other for several years as coworkers—even before his father had passed down ownership of the place to him.

  Despite the ferocious dragon tattoos that decorated the length of his left arm and the many scars across his skin, he had a very docile nature. He had been polite to me from day one, and never judged me because I didn’t have or want a tattoo. Derek was always willing to help me learn new techniques and grow as an artist.