Crave (Tainted Angels Book 1)

by D H Sidebottom

  I didn’t understand what he was saying but I nodded nevertheless, my mind floating away with each of his gentle strokes.

  Lifting me, he softly laid me on his bed, the cool silkiness of the sheets on my skin calming me. My eyes widened when he stood beside me and brought his own shirt over his head.

  “Oh God,” I whimpered when exposed grooves of hardness made my eyes water. I’d never seen such perfection on a man before; not that I’d seen many men’s bodies. His chest bulged, his muscles deep and defined. The whole of his right pectoral was covered with a pattern of inked swirls and strange emblems, the intricacy of them giving my gaze a feast of pure indulgence.

  My eyes dropped when I heard him lower his zip and push down his jeans. “Oh fuck!” My voice was high and a little scared when his hard cock sprang up towards his stomach muscles. He was huge, and my mouth hung open shamefully when I gawped at it.

  “I won’t hurt you, Seraph,” he promised as he climbed over me. “I won’t ever hurt you.”

  “I know.” I felt it deep within me, his vow touching my soul and making an oath with it.

  When his mouth found mine again, I let my legs fall apart, inviting his eager fingers to touch me and ease the building throb that was making me squirm beneath him.

  “You’re so hot,” he moaned when he tugged my knickers off and slid a finger deep inside me. “And wet for me already.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t speak as pleasure bit at the need and simultaneously calmed the ache and intensified the craving for release.

  Another finger pushed inside me with the first, stretching me as he swirled them around and I jerked when he pressed his thumb against my clitoris, rubbing delicately until I was writhing brazenly on his hand. “Rax,” I begged, for what I had no idea but I knew I needed something quick before I exploded in pain.

  He came over me, his strong body hovering above me as he pushed himself up with one hand and caught my face with his other. “You can still say no.”

  I shook my head at him. “Promise me you won’t lose control.”

  He blinked at me, his brow creasing when he sensed my worry. “I promise.”

  “Then yes,” I spoke clearly, needing him to hear and see my conviction. “I need you … inside me.” I blushed furiously but he didn’t laugh at my innocence like I’d expected him to. Instead he lowered his mouth to mine and tenderly kissed me as he pushed himself inside me.

  We both gasped when he thrust deep into me, his swiftness breaking my hymen easily. Pain surged through me and Rax tensed. “Ouch.” He winced, feeling what I could with our connection when I felt him slip into my mind as well as my body. “We do this together, Seraph.”

  I hated that tears stung my eyes with his selflessness at sharing my pain. A sensation deep within me made every inch of me soften. I couldn’t afford to allow him so deep inside me, but when he started to move slowly I couldn’t help but slam my arms around him and hold on for dear life.

  His teeth clenched and a deep groan roared from him when he drove deeper. “Fuck!” It was all he said as he started to thrust faster, his cock moving in and out of me deliciously. Every part of me felt electrified, sensation after sensation rolling over me until we were both a panting mess, our hips banging together as he fucked me harder and harder.

  “Willa,” he snarled, sweat dripping from his brow as his body moved in rhythm with mine. My nails tore into his back as the most overwhelming need crashed over me and a deep scent of his blood filled the air.

  “Oh God, I want to taste you,” I said, my mouth watering with his unique scent of dark chocolate and whisky.

  He growled, his lips pulled tight and his teeth bared as he flipped us over, and out of the blue I was sat on him, my thighs either side of his and his cock deeper inside me. My breasts pressed into his chest, his hair rubbing perfectly over my nipples. “Bite me, Seraph,” he ordered, moving his head to the side and exposing the tempting throb of his artery.

  My movements grew frenzied as I felt every muscle in my body tightening. “I can’t,” I practically yelled in anger, the craving for him becoming uncontrollable.

  Yanking my hair, he pushed my face into the crook of his neck. “Take me!” he snarled.

  The air seemed to still, both of us growling with need when I heard the snap of his own teeth. He trembled under me as he tried to control his urge. Our fucking, if possible, intensified as he drove inside me and I bucked back onto him. My heart stampeded, my cries of pleasure spiking when I felt the tip of his tongue trace my own artery.

  “Oh fuck!” I cried in horror when the tip of my teeth pressed into my bottom lip and pierced the skin, the strong scent of honey and truffles exploding around us.

  “Oh fuck!” Rax echoed in a deep gruff tone.

  “No!” I cried out when he slammed me on my back, pinning me down roughly as he drove even deeper inside me and grazed his teeth up my neck. “RAX!” I panicked.

  “Fuck!” He was almost sobbing with the craving, his need taking over and burying his control under the longing. “I can’t …” His head shook from side to side as his body vibrated above me.

  Delilah’s voice echoed in my head. “Let him bite you, honey.”

  “I can’t!” I whimpered, shaking my head as I struggled to hold him back. My orgasm was on the precipice, painfully holding back as Rax pounded into me mercilessly, each hard thrust driving me higher and higher but something was holding me back and as my fingers tore at him, he grew as desperate as me.

  “Let him drink. Trust me,” she urged.

  “I can’t!”

  “Trust me,” she begged as if feeling the intense need in us.

  “Willa!” Rax sobbed, his teeth running over my vein. “I can’t … I’m so sorry …”

  “DO IT!” Delilah cried out.

  Taking hold of Rax’s head, I bit into his neck, his taste bursting into my mouth and detonating my orgasm as I pulled him deeper and forced his teeth straight into the very thing that would kill him. My toxic vein.

  The most unimaginable ecstasy burst inside me when her sweet blood coated my tongue and trickled down my throat. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as my teeth sank deeper, my hunger gulping at her as every single one of the taste buds on my tongue tingled in delight. I could actually feel the heat of her cells chasing through my veins, winding through my body and entwining with my own as they spread into each capillary and poured liquid euphoria through every fibre of me.

  My cock throbbed inside her when I felt the beat of her heart alongside my own. The friskiness of her soul dug deep inside me to hunt for my own, bright lights exploding in my mind when they found each other and twisted together, dancing excitedly.

  Taking more of her, I could not only hear her mind, I could feel it, experience it as if it were my own. Not only could I feel her pain, I could sense it, and ease it.

  The pleasure of her own intense orgasm tore up my spine and liquefied my bones, a deep rumble of gratification growling in my chest as I drank and drank. I was intoxicated on her essence, my body yearning for more and more of her gift to me.

  The craving dominated me, controlling me and digging deeper into her for its fill of her. I was high on her, vivid colours morphing in my mind in incredible rapture, the beat of my heart stilling as she gave me everything.

  Everything.

  And still I wanted more. Needed more. Craved more.

  And more.

  And more.

  “Wake up, you stupid fuck!”

  I sighed at the disturbance in my head and pulled Willa’s body closer to me, the soft curve of her sweet backside moulding to my body perfectly. I’d never felt more sated in my whole existence, the amazing sex we’d experienced giving my body a mind-blowing feeling of fulfilment.

  “Rax!”

  “Shh,” I grumbled, shaking my head to disperse whoever was in there. Every muscle still tingled delightfully, my veins still warm and the habitual agony, for the first time in a long while, gone.

  T
he serenity in my mind was too pleasurable to wake from and I scowled when the voice disturbed me yet again. “WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU COCK SUCKING ARSEHOLE!”

  Snapping upright at the vehemence in the strangely familiar voice and scanning the room quickly, my eyes struggling with the light that streamed through the window, I found the room empty, apart from Willa who was sleeping soundly beside me.

  However, a gasp shook me when I caught sight of all the blood. It was everywhere, varnishing the bed, the headboard, and the wall above the bed. Unable to move as panic set in, my eyes slowly dropped to my hands, my body shaking in horror at the glaze of dried blood covering my body.

  Very slowly, dread creeping through me, I turned my gaze to Willa.

  The room spun around me, my frantic heartbeat making me dizzy and lightheaded when her pale skin – also layered in a mass of blood – looked translucent with the scarcity of blood in her body.

  “Oh God,” I choked out as I grabbed hold of her. Her body flayed limply as I shook her. “Wake up, Seraph. Wake up!”

  Her lips were pale, white almost, and I couldn’t hold back the sob of despair as her lifeless body refused to give me any hope. “Oh God, what have I done?”

  “You took too much, you selfish bastard!”

  “Delilah?” I looked around the room for the foul-mouthed succubus but it was still empty, the only heartbeat my own, the race of it making my head throb.

  “And here was me trying to help you! I’m gonna gouge out your fucking teeth with a rusty blade for this!”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m too weak to materialise. I can’t help her like this.”

  “Is she …” I gulped. “Is she … dead?” I whispered the last word, wincing as I waited for her reply.

  “Yes.”

  The frantic thump in my chest ceased as my heart seemed to disintegrate inside me.

  “We need to hurry.”

  “What do I do? Tell me!”

  “Give it back to her.”

  I frowned, shaking my head. “I don’t understand. Just giving her blood won’t bring her back, you stupid …”

  “Say it and I’ll make sure to hack your dick off with a blunt saw while I’m seeing to those greedy fucking teeth,” Delilah snarled. “Give her your blood – now!”

  “But I’m only me, I’m not a healer!”

  “But she is, you fucking dunce. And your bloodstream is full of her own essence!”

  “You think it will work?”

  When she growled in frustrated anger, I hastily sliced my wrist with my teeth and held it over Willa’s mouth, tilting her head back to open her oesophagus. Grumbling when it just dripped, I tore at my flesh harder, willing it to flow faster as her lips tinged red with my offering.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “Now?” Delilah whispered. “Now we pray, Halam.”

  Branches both hindered my way and cut into my skin as I moved farther into the forest. It was dark, the way through the mass of undergrowth obscured by the trees looming eerily overhead, the density of their leaves restricting any light that attempted to filter through, and generating mysterious shadows to guide me along.

  My skin prickled at the chill in the air, my breath misting before my face with every one of my deep exhalations. Despite the icy air, my clothes stuck to my skin with the perspiration painting my body.

  I appeared to be alone yet I could hear the scurry of tiny footsteps all around me.

  “Hello?” I called, frustrated that whoever accompanied me refused to make themselves known.

  I stumbled, tripping over a gnarly root as the mist swirled around the lower half of my legs, cloaking my path. I wasn’t sure what I was rushing for, but I felt that I needed to. It was important.

  Pushing through a wall of tree limbs, the darkness suddenly opened up into a huge clearing, a small area of grass completely, and quite beautifully, surrounded by a deep stillness of crystal clear water. Rays from the sun beat down, the openness providing as much warmth as it did light.

  A man, alone and quiet, kneeled on the ground, his head dipped and his long hair falling over his face. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his midriff before looking up to the sky.

  My heart stilled when the curtain of his shocking white hair fell back over his shoulders, revealing his handsome face to the sun. He looked familiar, the strength of his nose and contours of his cheekbones drawing my attention.

  A gust of wind flowed and caused the leaves to rustle around me, my body once again shivering with the cool air. A bird high up in the sky soared and swept between the clouds, its fluent dives bringing a smile to my lips. The man stood, his long legs uncurling from under him slowly as he lifted an arm, his fingers stretching towards the bird as if he called to it.

  “Hello?” I tried again, but he didn’t appear to have heard me. Instead his attention remained on the bird as it dipped and glided towards him.

  Every part of me stilled in amazement when the winged creature drifted down and landed in front of him, her beautiful majestic red wings folding into her back.

  “My love,” he whispered, his soft voice carried by the breeze to my ears as his hands pressed against the rosy pink cheeks of the angel, and his mouth softly pressed against her full red lips.

  Delilah.

  “Delilah!” I called out, my heart weeping with sorrow. I knew of their fate to come, their suffering, and witnessing the way her lover had gazed at her hurt deep within me. “Delilah!”

  “Shh.”

  A strong whisper in my ears, a warm breath over my face, and firm hands grasping my cheeks.

  Trying to breathe under the tightness in my chest, I gasped for air, my lungs refusing to expand and refuel.

  “Breathe, Seraph!”

  Rax!

  My nerves felt over stimulated, electrified, and I thrashed beneath his hold. He wanted to take it all – again. The greedy son of a bitch wanted everything, his selfish hunger sending me into a panic the more he held me down.

  “Let me go!” My eyes refused to open but my whole body shook beneath him, trying to be free of him. “LET – ME – GO!”

  I sensed him back away, horror controlling his loud breaths. “I can feel your hatred.” His voice was a choked whisper, alarm loud within him.

  My ears caught the soft closure of a door before I once again gave in to the fevered restlessness of sleep.

  “You must run!”

  “Never,” Delilah choked out, tears running down her face as she held on to her bleeding lover, the pool of his blood soaking into the deep yellow gauze of his shirt. “Strauss,” she sobbed, her hands on his pale face as he rested his head on her lap. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Your father will hunt you, my love. It is too risky.”

  “I don’t care!” she whispered frantically, her lips pressing against the deep lines on his head as she flattened the inside of her wrist to his mouth. “Drink, my love. Drink.”

  “I can’t.” Strauss shook his head, his eyes wide and horrified.

  “Please, trust me.”

  “It is forbidden. This is the reason he created the rareness of your essence, so we can never …”

  “Strauss, I love you. My soul belongs to you. It can never hurt you, my love. Trust me.”

  Blinking up at her, Strauss released a moan of pain then closed his eyes. I flinched when he bared his teeth and shivered as they sank deep into Delilah’s vein.

  And as Strauss’ eyes slid my way, the pure blue pupils a window to his soul and the mirror image to mine, my own soul broke down and wept.

  “Willa!”

  My eyes opened to the frenzied tone of my friend.

  Frannie smiled at me, wiping my forehead with a cool cloth. “You were dreaming.”

  I frowned. It had felt more like a memory than a dream, each of my emotions pained by the lovers’ despair.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Pushing my body up, I glanced at my surroundings, surprised to find that
I was in my own bed.

  “Where’s Rax?”

  Frannie shrugged. “I have no idea. He called me, told me to come here and take care of you. I’m surprised he isn’t here to be honest. I thought …”

  “Don’t let him near me!”

  Frannie’s eyes widened at my distress as I gripped her warm hands in my own cold ones. “He … he …” I couldn’t voice what he had done. A part of me knew it was the beast that had taken over him, my blood a temptation even Eve could never distance from, but I couldn’t say it didn’t hurt. Lincoln had been right.

  Frannie stiffened. “What?” Her voice was gruff with suspicion, her narrow eyes unable to camouflage her growing anger. “Did he hurt you?”

  Looking away from her, I shook my head. “No.”

  What the hell was I supposed to say to my friend, ‘Oh he didn’t hurt me but he did drain me’? I couldn’t hurt Frannie more than she was hurting already. She’d lost her mate just four months ago, to a halam no less. I’d been surprised by her friendliness towards Rax and his friends. Frannie had the biggest heart I’d ever witnessed, and I knew she had put Felix’s death down to the job, not the Gehenna. And strangely enough, I didn’t want to alter her feelings towards them. I knew without a doubt that if I was to offer myself to another Empyrean that they would struggle not to drain me as well.

  Looking up to the ceiling, I sighed, cursing my creator for making me the way I was. Life, or rather our existence, was difficult enough as it was without the added danger of being eaten alive. And if I was honest, it hurt that I couldn’t trust anyone, even my friends. My family.

  “I have to get to work.” Frannie grimaced. “Do you want me to wait until Lincoln gets back?”

  Shaking my head, I smiled to ease her worry. “I’m fine. I have something I need to do anyway.”

  She narrowed her eyes again, regarding me. “Does it involve trouble?”

  Unable to stop my smile from turning into a grin, I winked at her. “Does it ever not when it involves us?”

  She laughed, nodding, “Then I’m not sure I want to miss out on the fun.” She grabbed her bag and jacket from the chair in the corner of my room then kissed my temple. “Will I see you at Fred’s later?”