by A. M. Hudson
Under the moisture of my tongue, his sweet scent became his flavour; he tasted exactly the same as his smell—not gritty or salty, like I expected.
David groaned in blissful agony as I sank my teeth in a little firmer, catching the tendon in his neck. His fingertips dug into the skin of my thighs as we slammed against the flimsy chipboard wall—sending particles of dust, like a powdery cloud, into the air around us. “Ara. Ara, stop.” He propped my body against the wall and unfastened my hands from his neck.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I wiped my mouth dry with the back of my wrist. “Did I hurt you?”
“Yes, you little leech.” He cupped his hand over the bite mark and pulled it away to look at it. “I may not have a heartbeat, but I still feel pain.”
“You’re bruising.” I squinted through the dull light to see his neck.
“I know. I can feel that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you kidding me?” He looked up at me. “Ara, that felt amazing. It hurt, but damn it was hard for me to control myself.”
“Control yourself?”
“Yeah. I wanted to…” He looked down and shook his head.
“You wanted to what?” I lifted his face.
“I wanted to do…things to you.”
“What kinds of…things.” Excitement and fear made my heart thump. “Bad things?”
“Yes. Bad things.” He reached up slowly and slipped the shoe-string strap of my dress down my shoulder, then ran a delicate line of kisses along the curve of my neck, making the skin on my lower back tingle.
“That doesn’t feel like bad things.”
“This is not what I had in mind,” he said into my shoulder.
“Show me, then?” I closed my eyes and rolled my head back—exposing my throat. “I’m not scared.”
David turned us to the side and rested me on the table, gripping my upper thighs to keep them around him. “Okay, but, if you scream…it will only excite the monster in me.”
“Is that not a good idea?”
“If you do…you will die.” His hands flew up and tangled in my hair, his thumbs on my cheeks, holding my face in front of his. “Do you understand that?”
I nodded, holding my breath, lost in the intensity of his penetrating gaze.
“Oh, God.” He breathed out, turning his face away. “I wanna hurt you so badly.”
“Is this too much for you?” I pulled his face back to mine and pressed my brow to his. “Do…do you want to kill me?”
“Right now—the vampire in me does.”
We both stayed motionless, aside from our shoulders—lifting with each deep breath. David’s hands remained stiffly against my cheeks, and my heart felt like hunger pains in my gut. “You won’t kill me,” I finally broke the silence.
He pressed his brow more firmly against me, forcing a tight, hard pressure above my eye. “I’m not entirely sure about that.”
With his lips barely an inch from mine, his orange-chocolate breath brushed, cool and sweet, along my tongue. I jutted my jaw forward a little, catching his bottom lip and sweeping one delicate kiss across it.
“Ara, you’re driving me absolutely crazy,” he whispered, and his hands tightened on my face as his shoulders lifted faster. Then, with the gentle force of desire, his belt jammed against my upper thigh as he jerked my head to one side. “Don’t you dare scream, mon amour.” Without giving me time to respond, he buried his face in my neck, and warmth spread over my flesh as his lips formed a tight seal, drawing my skin against his tongue.
The muscles around my knees clenched; I wove my fingertips into his soft hair and let out a tight, barely audible yelp. It feels good, but cold and wet, like the lips of a person who just ate ice. “Bite me, David.” I forced his hips closer to me with my ankles. “Use your teeth.”
“Shut up.” He breathed out, resting his face only inches from the throbbing vein on my neck. “Just shut up, or I’ll rip your throat out.” His tone remained kind and soft, with an uneasy desperation lingering beneath.
I grinned playfully, rolling my head back and resting my hands on the table behind me. Undress me.
“Ara, I’m warning you—” He became as taut as a statue. “I can’t take it. I’m losing control.”
“You won’t hurt me.” I lifted my dress a little. David stood up, looking down at my underwear. “I trust you.”
Heavy, lustful breaths flooded the closet space again. David closed his eyes, reaching his hand slowly toward my upper thigh, then grabbed it firmly, letting his thumb fall against my underwear.
I’m ready for this, David. I want you to do it.
“Jesus Christ, Ara. You don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
“Yes, I do.” I nodded at the zipper on his jeans. “I can see that.”
“You have a death wish, girl.” Firmly, he slid his hand along my torso, lifting the fabric of my dress and bunching it in his fist so my stomach showed. “You shouldn’t play games like this with a dangerous predator.”
“A dangerous predator shouldn’t bring young girls intodark spaces—alone.”
“It wouldn’t be a problem if that girl would stop showing the vampire parts he’s wanted to see for the longest time.” He dropped my dress from his grip and lowered it over my legs.
“Did you ever think maybe she’s wanted to show him for the longest time?”
“What is wrong with you?” he said with a smile. “Why do you take such risks? I want to kill you right now. Can you comprehend that?”
“That’s what makes this so romantic. I know you won’t, even though you want to.”
He shook his head, frowning over a smile. “Only you could think something like that is romantic.”
“David.” I ran my hands from the tip of his hairline, over his skull and to the back of his neck. “You’re a vampire. Don’t even pretend you don’t think it’s romantic.”
His lips spread wide with his breathy laugh and I caught a glimpse of his ultra-white fangs; longer than mine—not ridiculously long like the fake ones on TV—but definitely sharp.
“You didn’t use your teeth last time.” I rolled my head to the other side, lengthening my neck. “Show me what it feels like.”
“I—” he looked up, his eyes met mine with hesitation, “I’m afraid I might break your skin—you don’t want to be a vampire, Ara, and I’m not even sure if that’s how you make a vampire, but I don’t want to take any risks.”
“You said you’d show me the vampire.” I huffed. “I want to see.”
“Oh boy.” He shook his head, exhaling. “I should’ve known you’d be trouble, the second I saw you.”
With my arms folded, I grinned mischievously. “Just one more try?”
David looked at my neck, then ran his thumb over the pulse. “You know my teeth are sharper than yours. Even if I only use my front teeth, chances are I’ll cut you.”
“You won’t.” I smiled. “I know you can control yourself when it comes to me.”
“You are lucky we’re surrounded by fifty-odd students, Ara-Rose, or I would be tearing into you right now.”
“Physically or figuratively?”
“Figuratively.” He sighed. “When we’re alone, you are in so much trouble, young lady.”
“Then, let’s make the most of this now.”
David swept my hair back quickly, and the smug smile washed from my lips like a fading shadow as the feel of his teeth in my flesh started my heart; my blood rushed up under the grip of his bite—sending cold shivers down my spine.
The tendon in my neck, rising up from my shoulder, tensed, and all the nerves under it screamed out in agony while my heart pleaded for more. The flesh burned—a good burn—as he opened his jaw and closed it back down again, forcing my skin harder between his teeth.
The warmth of his saliva, which was cool before, made my skin ice up every time he breathed out. He kept his fangs distant, but every now and then they brushed against me like the tip of a blade run softly ov
er flesh—without cutting.
His hands searched my body wildly, travelling up under my dress, spreading wide against my shoulder blades and my tailbone. My skin crawled into his touch, desperate to feel him.
“David?” I squeaked a little as he pressed me back against the chairs stacked on the table, and the cold touched my spine. “David, it’s hurting a little.”
He shoved the chairs off with a quick push and rolled me onto my back as they crashed noisily to the floor. The people outside laughed raucously, their familiar, human sounds setting my heart on fire.
“David. Stop!” Pressing my palms flat to his chest, I shoved against him, but he didn’t budge; his bite intensified and the burning became hotter, stinging like a thousand hot little needles under my skin. “David!” I shoved him again and burst into tears as his hand travelled the length of my thigh, stopping with his fingertips hooked into my underwear. Oh, God. No. Please, don’t.
“Ara?” He lifted his head and looked down at me. I shoved him off and rolled up to stand—darting across the room to the safety of the wall.
“Why did you do that?” I practically yelled, hugging my arms across my body.
“Ara, my love?” David appeared in front of me, his eyes wide, his pupils completely swallowing the green. “Do what?” He reached for me; I yanked away from his touch.
“Why didn’t you stop?” My voice broke.
“Oh, God.” The energy between us turned cold; I lowered my face as I sobbed a little harder. “Ara, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise you were frightened.”
“I asked you to stop.” I looked up at him. “That’s a pretty clear indication, don’t you think?”
“Yes. For a human, but my love, I’m not human. I—” He looked away, clenching his fist tightly by his side. “I didn’t hear you. I only tasted your tears.”
“What?”
“I was drawn in completely. Compelled by the taste of adrenaline—the fear—it makes the hunger unbearable.”
“But—” I cupped my hand to the burning on my neck. “Then, why didn’t you bite me?”
“Ara?” He frowned as if the suggestion insulted him. “I would never do that. I always had control over that. I just…” he turned away, “I couldn’t control the vampire in me.”
“Isn’t it the same? I mean, the bite is the vampire?”
“No.” He scratched the back of his neck. “The bite is the hunger. The lust before is the vampire.”
“Oh.” I touched my collarbone. “So, you wouldn’t have bitten me?”
He rushed in close and cradled my face in hands. “Not in a million years.”
“Then, why couldn’t you hear me?”
“I—” he closed his eyes, “I can hear the resonance of your voice in my head now, but I was so lost in your velvet touch, I could think of nothing but…”
“But what?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have done it, anyway. Not with you.”
“Not with me? What’d you mean?” I folded my arms across my chest as he walked away. “What wouldn’t you have done with me?”
David leaned against the table and reached his hand out. I walked the gap hesitantly and took it. “I’m sorry I scared you. But have no doubt, Ara, that my lips, my teeth or my touch would not have done anything you didn’t want me to.” He pulled me against his chest and the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt warmed me. “From now on, if I’m in that state, use your thoughts to reach me—it’s clearer.” I nodded against his chest. He let out a breath and pressed each digit of his fingertips firmly over my face and neck. “I’m so, so sorry I scared you.”
“I’m okay.” I rolled my face upward to look at him. “Well, now I know you wouldn’t have bitten me, I’m okay.”
He clicked his tongue and let out a long breath. “Look what I’ve done to you.”
I winced as David ran his thumb over my neck. “It stings.”
“You’re bruising badly.”
“You were pretty rough.” I smiled, touching my hand to the mark and holding it there.
“I won’t do that to you again. Ever.” He looked up from the bruising, the promise of his words filling out the green in his eyes again.
“What if I want you to?”
His jaw tightened, but his smile remained soft. “No. Not ever again.”
“But, I liked it.” I pulled my hand away from my neck and gasped. “David! Blood!”
His fingers caught my wrist before my words finished. “Shit. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”
“What…I mean…how…?”
“It’s okay.” He cradled my face against his chest again, and my thigh brushed the cold patch of cola on his jeans. “It’s just from the er…sucking. I drew your skin a little too…eagerly.”
“Can’t you smell it—the blood?” I drew back and held my hand up to him.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you taste it?”
He shook his head. “It broke through as I pulled away. I was trying to ignore it.”
“Does it make you want to bite me?”
“It makes me want to taste you—to see if you taste the way you smell.”
Holding my hand near my nose, I sniffed. “I can’t smell anything.”
“That’s because you’re not a vampire.” He stiffened and leaned back just a little.
“Here.” I held my hand up in front of his lips. “Taste it.”
“Ara, don’t!” he scolded, leaving a cool, empty space between me and the wall.
“David?” I spun around a few times until my eyes found him leaning against a stack of chairs across the room. “What’s wrong?”
“I—” he inched away from me as I approached, “I can’t do that. One taste could be enough to make me lose control.”
My nose crinkled and I looked down at the tiny speck on my hand, then lifted it to my lips and pressed my tongue to it. Erk! Tastes like I just stuck a coin on my tongue. “Gross. How can you drink this stuff? I taste like metal.”
David laughed softly. “You silly girl, of course you won’t like it.” With a deep, heavy sigh, he reached across and wiped his thumb over the bleeding bruise.
“David, what are you doing?”
Inspecting the drop of crimson on his fingertip, his shoulders lifted with one deep breath, then he popped his thumb into his mouth, closing his eyes as he rolled his head back.
“David?” I said with a shaky, nervous voice, and took one step back.
His eyes flashed open; I jumped inside. “Just like I thought.” He smiled warmly. “Vanilla and honey. Kinda like a cupcake.”
“Are you…” I took another step away. “Are you okay?”
His lips turned down as thought washed across his face, then he shrugged. “Actually, I’m fine. No sudden urge to kill you.”
“Really?”
He rolled his head to one side and studied me quizzically. “Strangely, the vampire is screaming for me to attack, but the human in me wants to kiss you and tell you how much I love you.”
“Well, I always have liked the human in you.” I smiled and wrapped myself in his arms.
“Then, the human me will be here to stay.”
“David?” I said carefully. “You were scary as a vampire—but only because I didn’t know what you were capable of. But now I’ve seen it—” I smiled at the memory of him losing control, “—I liked it.”
“You’re not serious, are you?” He whipped me out from his body and held my shoulders. “Ara, are you joking? Please? Because, I can’t take that kind of a joke.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “No. Why would I joke about that?”
“Oh God,” he said in a gust of air, dropping his head a little. “Ara. You don’t know what that means to me.”
“Is that…a good thing?”
“It’s amazing, that’s what it is. You—” he held my face and dropped a quick kiss on my lips, “—are amazing.” Before I could come up with any clever
response, he stole my words with his lips again, and drew a long, deep breath. “Do you have any idea how sweet and how precious you are to me? I—” He swallowed and closed his eyes for a second. “I never knew such a creature could exist, and now I’ve found you…I have no idea how I’m going to let you go.”
“Same way you stopped yourself from biting me, I guess,” I said, pulling his hand away from my face and holding it tightly.
He nodded once. “This is a first for me, you know. I’ve never had to control myself before. It took everything in me not to rip your throat open and drink your blood, and even more not to entice you with the spell of lust.”
“The what?”
“It’s what we do.” He brushed his curled fingers over my cheek. “It’s how we kill. We seduce you into trusting us.”
“So…do you only kill girls, then—or do you seduce men, too?”
“No. I’ve never seduced a man.” He laughed. “And I’ve not killed any girls since we met. I use an attack kill, now—and only on men. It’s more brutal, more painful for the human, but I can’t bear the thought killing girls since I fou…” he looked up as, above us, the loud thunder of footsteps sent vibrations through the walls. “We better get back out there—lunch will be over soon.”
“Okay.” I breathed out. “But, what will we tell everyone?” They all saw us walk in here. I don’t even wanna imagine what they’ll think.
“Ara, what do you think they will think? We’re teenagers. Let them think what they want. They’ll never guess the truth.”
Well, at least that part’s true. No one would guess that I led a vampire under the stage and let him bite me. Or even more so—that I bit him.
It doesn’t matter what they think, anyway—I’m so damn hungry that if I don’t go eat, David will become the next victim of the ogre. Then, he won’t need to worry about me becoming a people-eater, because he’ll be in my stomach.
David shook his head, laughing softly. It isn’t really funny, this whole situation, but then, it kind of is. I let myself laugh, too, even though, deep inside, the truth of my heart is that I want to—bite him—and I want him to bite me—for real. Maybe even drink my blood.
Man, what has happened to me? I can’t believe I just provoked a vampire into biting me. I need therapy.