But then looking at Lucius, and well, Hell was unsurprisingly something that had obviously taken its toll on both of us, only in different ways. As I knew my own story, but what I didn’t know yet was Lucius’.
Hence the reason I asked,
“Then why did you treat me that way?” At this the humour left his eyes, along with the crinkles that appeared at the corners whenever he smiled.
“Because this is my world you are in now and trust me when I say it is nothing like the one I rule on Earth’s plane.” At this I would have scoffed, ‘yeah, no shit’ but stopped myself choosing instead to say,
“And in this world, you can’t be seen with a Queen?” At this his gaze softened and he reached down to run a thumb over the apple of my cheek before grazing it across my lips.
“No, in this world I can’t be seen to have a weakness, one that would be used against me by my enemies.” I frowned in question before he walked away putting distance between us so he could sit opposite me. This gave me the opportunity to glance around at the space we now occupied to find it surprisingly comfortable considering where we were. Shards of black glass curled up like wrought iron spindles to create the sides of both the single chair I was sat upon and also the large sofa Lucius chose to sit on. The back rose up higher than my shoulders and curved around like a large ominous wave to give a place for the crimson cushions to rest against. In fact, I didn’t know whether it belonged in the Adams’ Family house or in some art gallery on display.
“But then again, I am not the only ruler in Hell who has enemies that would jump at the chance to take advantage of the opportunity to claim you.” I frowned at this, naturally needing that statement clarifying.
“What do you mean?”
“Your father is no saint in this world, Amelia, and has many a time played judge, jury, and executioner to his own kind. And where do you think those that do wrong get to spend what is left of their lives…where do you think they get sent for punishment?” He stated as it wasn’t a question.
“Ah,” I replied in short.
“Yes, ah indeed and remember, eternal life is a long time to hold a grudge, Pet…a long time to lie in wait, merely biding their time until such an opportunity for revenge presents itself.” Right, so I would be that opportunity for revenge then, I thought with what I knew was no doubt a grim expression.
“So, it was all an act to keep me safe?” I asked gathering as much but his answer surprised me.
“An act? No, not at all.”
“But you said…” He held up a hand to stop me before adding more,
“I said I needed to keep you safe and I did that by naming you as a runaway slave of mine that needed to be found and punished by my hand. As for the act of making it believable, well, let’s just say that my demon was easily provoked since you disobeyed me and walked through that portal into Hell, for I wasn’t the only one furious with you,” he said referring to his demon as if he were almost a separate entity.
“So that was what exactly, your demon’s version of punishing me?!” I shouted getting annoyed at the idea.
“Oh, you know nothing of punishment, my dear girl, you can trust me on that!” He snapped back.
“So that show was…”
“Wasn’t a show at all,” Lucius finished off for me and my scowl deepened.
“But I don’t understand?” I admitted making Lucius release a sigh, as he dragged a hand through his hair again.
“It is harder to control that other side of me down here. The rage, the power, the need to control and dominate all those beneath me…I am too close to the surface and as for you…” he took pause and I couldn’t wait.
“What about me?”
“My need to control you has never been greater. To bring you to heel and keep you there is all that consumes our joint need. You ran from me too many times, that the demon in me knows that down here such a thing will not be tolerated.” With the stern tone in which he said this, I could do nothing but take his words seriously.
“And what of the other part of you, like the man I see now…what of him, Lucius?” I asked not liking what I was hearing at all.
“I am furious with you, Amelia,” was his obvious statement.
“Yeah, I get that but…”
“No…no, you don’t,” he said cutting me off.
“Lucius.” His name passed through my lips in a way that told him I didn’t like where this was going. Naturally, being Lucius, it was one he ignored.
“Your decisions over these past months have done nothing but continually put your life at risk, placing yourself in danger…”
“But I—” Again, he didn’t let me finish.
“Do not think me a fool and ignorant of all that has happened to you since stepping through that portal!” He snapped getting angry again and well, if what he said was true, then I couldn’t blame him. I had been reckless, I knew this.
But then also knowing that he had discovered everything that had happened was also something I had hoped to save him the pain of. Obviously, Lucius had his own methods in discovering the truth, and my hopes of brushing past it all and focusing solely on us being back together and reunited had been a foolish wish. But even knowing this, I couldn’t help but try to defend myself.
“It’s not like I intended for any of it to happen!” I snapped back.
“And what did you expect exactly, taking a trip to Hell was going to be like a trip to a chop shop in Daddy’s stolen Ferrari?” he threw back at me, making me sound like some spoilt, foolish Princess!
“I didn’t do this for fucking fun, Lucius! I thought you would come in after me, remember!” I argued making him cross his arms again, so I continued,
“I waited, Lucius! I waited for you to follow me through but then I got scared and realised I couldn’t just sit there and wait forever. That was when I realised my mistake, all of about two minutes after I made it through!” I told him making him at least let go of some of his anger.
“Portals don’t work like that, Pet.” He told me, and I felt like rolling my eyes but wisely refrained. I did however say in a sarcastic tone,
“Yeah, I kinda got that Hellish memo, like I said about two minutes after I realised my mistake! So yeah, I might be what you would call foolish and reckless and stupid or whatever else you called me, Lucius, but I gathered as much just before the panic set in…but thanks for pointing out my mistakes like I didn’t already know and suffer from them!” I said adding this last part in a tone that said it all, making him not as cautious as he rolled his eyes before saying,
“Yes, well despite your lax in that famous intelligence of yours, I at least tried to cling on to the knowledge that you believed in your noble cause and were being led by it.” I gritted my teeth to hold back the insult and instead went with another round of sarcasm,
“Oh geez, thanks,” I mumbled making him frown at me.
“Is that why you were an asshole to me back out there, even when we were alone?” I asked making him growl,
“No, my demon was like that with you because you were still in danger of being discovered had I been the foolish one and reacted any differently towards you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked looking back towards the door that strangely from this side just looked like any other castle door. Where the mass of souls were? I didn’t know. Although, what had I expected exactly, for them to have all been in here like one big party to welcome their Master home. Yeah, ‘cause that wouldn’t have been weird at all, I thought wryly.
“There may have not been any of my people around but there are those that are still able to spy on us no matter where we are in my castle…everywhere except this room.” I frowned in question and looked around the unusual space. It didn’t exactly look like your typical bedroom, that was for damn sure! What with the flaming shard torches and the black glass furniture seemingly merging into the walls. Even the floor was ominous looking, like some frozen black lake that any minute you expected to crack and send you to
an eternal watery grave.
But then my eyes rested on the largest structure in the room, making me question its purpose. It was like a raised platform, high enough you couldn’t see the top thanks to being surrounded by the jagged mass of black shards rising up like giant clawed fingers.
“And what is this room exactly?” I asked needing to be sure that the room I was in was in fact Lucius’ bedroom and not some secret sexual dungeon he planned to ‘punish’ me in. Gods, but what was wrong with me as just the thought alone and I couldn’t help it as a sexual shudder rippled through my body.
“It is my bed chamber…and that you have been staring at is my bed.”
“Oh,” I muttered at the sight of such a thing, wondering how you would even get in something like that…oh right, but of course…wings.
“The reason no one can access this space is because the storm that forever continues to rage around the tower protects it from anything getting through. It is drawn to the heart of the Crimson Eye at its core,” he told me and piqued my curiosity enough to ask,
“Crimson Eye?” He smirked as if he knew I would ask, for my inquisitive nature wouldn’t have let something like that pass without questioning it. But then disappointment followed as he told me,
“That is a conversation for another time, Pet. All you need to know is that the storm protects this tower, which is also why it was made my personal quarters as no one can enter or leave without my command…” He paused a moment so he could rise from his seat and get closer to me. Then he leant down over me and warned me softly in my ear,
“And that, Pet, my little prisoner…
“Includes you.”
19
Imprisoned
“What exactly are you saying, Lucius, that I am looking at my new cell?” I snapped making him grin in a way that was solely sinful. Then he took hold of my chin in his hand, lifted my head back and told me,
“Amelia, my sweet little troublemaker, after what you have put me through, then you should be thankful to find yourself free of your leash.” At this I’d had enough and stood up to face him, something he clearly found amusing.
“You can’t keep me here as a prisoner!”
“And why not?” He asked arrogantly, still grinning,
“Because I am your girlfriend, that’s why!” I told him, and this was when he closed the small distance between us and fisted a hand in my hair to hold me to him,
“No, Amelia, you’re not…”
“But, Lucius I…” I uttered in a pained tone, hating to hear this coming from him. But then before my mind could stay haunted on those words, he finished his sentence, growling it out like a promise to the Gods,
“…You’re my fucking Queen!” After this he crushed his lips to mine and kissed me, one that this time, made my shocked gasp end on a deep and blissful moan. This was because the kiss was most definitely one between reunited lovers, and instead of the few days apart, it felt more like it had been years!
It was a kiss I felt in my very bones and it lit up my insides as if I had barely been living before it. My hands fisted in his hair unwilling to allow him even the remotest chance at pulling back and putting space between us.
Gods how I needed him!
“Lucius.” I muttered his name, one he tasted and responded to by growling before once more deepening the kiss. But only seconds after thrusting his tongue inside, he was taking it away again and I couldn’t help the needy reaction.
“No, please.” I could tell with the way his eyes burned a deeper crimson that he liked the sound of this coming from my lips, something he shared with me verbally,
“Easy, Pet, I am not going anywhere. You, on the other hand,” he said before quickly sweeping my legs out from under me and carrying me up to the highest point in the room. The small mountain of jagged glass had a hidden staircase sectioned off and was at least thirty steps up the mass of black crystal. It was only made obvious as to what it was when we neared the top and I could see the hollowed section in the middle that was surrounded by deadly shards. These all ranged between four-foot high and at least ten-foot, and once again I was left questioning how a person like me would even get in a bed like this.
These taller shards were grouped together at the corners which created the illusion of a four poster bed as if grown from the ground of the tower itself. But then this also presented a problem seeing as it looked impossible to not just get into but more importantly…get out of.
Was this Lucius’ idea of my prison?
Once again, the idea of that should have annoyed me more than what it did do, which was turn me on. Because even at the lowest point of the bed, it would have been too high to climb into, and well, dangerous at that. Especially given that each cluster of shards ended in a row of deadly tips.
However, this proved not to be a problem for Lucius as he lowered his hold on me a little before literally throwing me up in the air and tossing my body over the killer tips. I landed safely in the huge bed with a double bounce.
I looked back up in time to see Lucius grasp a shard not far from the top with his gauntleted hand before catapulting himself over them with startling ease. Again, his landing made my body bounce and it didn’t stop until he had lowered himself down over me. He continued to get closer, until his lips were once again to mine but before he continued his kiss where he had left off, he finished proving his point,
“And now, you are going nowhere.” And with one look around what now essentially looked like a spiked cage, then yeah, I guess he was right…
I was going nowhere.
After this I didn’t have much time to take in anything else, other than the bed was firm, the sheets were a red so dark, they almost looked black and they didn’t feel like any material I had ever felt before. Almost like a mix between satin and suede. It was also at least three times bigger than any other bed of his, in both length and width. Unsurprising then, that it made me feel even smaller than I was, especially with Lucius’ big body caging me into it.
I could feel the heat coming from his body, and he could no doubt feel the trembling need coming from mine, something his bad boy grin told me he enjoyed. But instead of finishing the kiss, like this position silently promised, he first teased me by running his fingertip around the metal ring still at my throat, one he had stretched so it hadn’t been resting against my bruised neck.
However, in this position gravity took it right back there and I felt the weight of it pressing against the tender area, something Lucius didn’t like. I knew this when he suddenly grasped the front of it and used it to bring my head up to meet his lips as they crushed to my own on a possessive growl.
This was when Lucius finally gave me what I wanted and started kissing me again and this time, he didn’t stop. Because he had no need to stop, I was already captured and now, I had just found my cage. But then his kiss also felt like something more. Like a promise of something, perhaps that he would never let me go again. As if he was trying to brand the taste and feel of me to his very soul.
Although after what we had both just been through then this wasn’t surprising. As, just for me alone, with the way he held me to him, as he claimed my lips in a bruising kiss, well it was one I never wanted to end. Not when it was one that ignited that bloom of lust inside me that felt like it was quickly turning into flames. One that had me grinding myself against him in a desperate need.
But from the looks of things, I wasn’t the only one affected by this. Because I could feel the hard erection pressing against the top of my thigh, long, hard, and heavy…By the Gods, I wanted it! His hand that had started in my hair soon gave up the control of my head to trail down my spine. Then it continued to follow the curve of my back, whilst gathering up the back part of my dress, ridding the thin layer between his skin and mine. He continued to do this until strong fingers dipped down underneath me and grabbed a handful of flesh, making me moan. The tight grasp of my ass had my head falling back against the covers, and that moan turned into a cry of
pleasure when he claimed it further with the bite of his fingertips.
He then dug in a little lower letting me know without words what he wanted of me. So, I hooked a leg over his hip, at the same time he slid further down to line up our bodies. I let my head loll to the side when I felt the first roll of his hips pressing his solid length against me. Having him applying delicious pressure to the bundle of nerves he had not long ago abused, my mouth opened, and a breath of pleasure whispered out. I found myself closing my eyes and arching my back, just to try and get even more of him. In response the bastard chuckled arrogantly, before he started tutting.
“Not so fast, Princess, for your pleasure has to be earned.” My eyes shot open before looking at him wide eyed and questioning.
“But I…” He lowered himself closer so he could whisper over my lips,
“Earned through punishment, my little Šemšā.” After this he straightened, putting his knees either side of me whilst sitting up.
“My punishment?” I questioned quietly, after first swallowing hard. The sound of trepidation in my voice was one I knew he got off on, as his grin said all it needed to say…
He was going to enjoy this. And as for me…well, despite this being Lucius, someone who I knew was skilled with every inch of his body in the bedroom, then the chances were high. But then, I was also in Hell. And this was after making him more furious than even the first time I ran from him. Down here he was a scary ass King who openly admitted that his demon was far too close to the surface whilst here. So, yeah, I could only hope I was going to enjoy this.
Eyes Of Crimson : Vampire Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Saga Book 8) Page 16