“Because I was scared?”
“Because he threatened you.”
She takes a deep breath, still staring through my non-existent reflection.
“Tell me why I’m really here.” She turns to face me, stepping to the side slightly so she isn’t trapped between the vanity and me. “Because I know you think I’m just a useless, stupid human–but you don’t make me work like Iphigenia, you keep me hidden from most other vampires, and you…resist the clear urge you have to feed on me.”
The corner of my mouth turns up into a smile. “Do you want me to feed on you, Adelasia?” I take a step towards her, so she takes one back. “Are you offended that I indulge in others and not you?” Another step towards her. Another step back. And another and another until I’m caging her against the cold wall and my long arms. “My hesitation does not stem from a lack of desire. I thought that would have been made clear in the caves when you ran from me.” I smile wide enough to show her my elongating fangs. “There are few things I want more in this immortal life than to drink from you. To feel you writhe less and less until you give into the pleasure it brings before turning into an animal, as hungry with it as I am.”
She takes a shaky breath. “Is that what happens?”
“Humans always wish to know the truth despite the false sense of security it gives. It’s often the thing you’ll end up fearing the most,” I respond. I lean down to be closer to her ear. “Why do you think humans come to offer themselves? Because it brings them pleasure beyond anything they can experience in their world.” I blow softly on the sensitive curve of her neck. I can hear and feel her heart begin to race faster. I smirk against her neck before very softly touching my tongue to her skin. I pull back and our eyes meet. I cup her warm cheek with my large, cold hand and gently rub my thumb along her bottom lip.
She gulps, and I smell the fear spike in her blood. I know she can tell I’ve noticed in the way the blood vessels under my eyes begin to grow darker and they turn from red to black. I grip her chin and tilt her head to the side, watching the vein pulsate in her throat.
“Why not just kill me now?” she shakily asks.
“Waste not, sweet Adelasia,” I whisper, before leaning in once more and lightly nipping at her pulse point. She whimpers, and instantly, my fangs ache. Her delicate flesh would give way so easily. I’m standing somewhere on the precipice of insanity and self-control.
I could do it, I think to myself.Just a taste. Just one. Enough to savor it.The beautiful irony of my most desired taste of human blood and my recovered mortality stemming from her sweet veins.
Agony.
Irony.
Poetry.
At the cost of what? A little prick to her neck? A fleeting moment of pain before it turns into pleasure for us both?
She already thinks I’m a monster. Why not solidify that belief and quench my thirst for her in one fell swoop?
I can feel her feeble attempts to push me back–the soft pounding of her small fists on my chest. As she uses all her strength to fight me off, I gently hold her head to the side and watch the vein in her neck. I can practically hear the blood rushing through her veins now.
I need it. I cannot hold back anymore.
I needher.
I feel her fingers claw at my chest, and when her palm accidentally touches the ruby around my neck, she tightens her fingers around it unconsciously.
It’s the dark magic taking hold of her, and I know it’s reached her soul when I hear her scream. It’s not a scream from this world, though. Her screams echo through every plane of existence. Through the heavens and the hells and perhaps even the other lifetimes we might have lived.
The agony in her wails is something I relate to deep in the core of my being. I felt such a way once, too. The terror, the confusion, the anger. It breaks me out of my bloodlust almost instantly.
The Bloodstone is clenched so tight in her fist that I’m worried I might break her fingers trying to pry it away from her. I have to help somehow. The dark magic that emanates from these gems is far too horrific for the mortal mind. She crumbles to the ground as she thrashes and screams in my arms. Tears from beyond her consciousness pour out of her eyes.
I have no idea what Yekaterina could be showing her or saying to her through her twisted magic, but Adelasia does not deserve to witness that wickedness. I shush and coo at her as I carefully pry the gem from her hands. Her thin fingers are so delicate, and each one trembles as I loosen her fist.
When I manage to free her from the gem’s influence, she stops her screaming, but she’s no less traumatized from the experience. She cries and cries in my arms as I rock her gently in a soft embrace. I have no idea how to comfort others. I’ve never had to. I’m certain she can feel my hesitation and how uncomfortable this affection is making me in the stiffness of my body.
I stroke her hair in silence until her breathing grows even again. When she finally finds the courage to meet my gaze, she reaches up a hand and cups my cheek. The action is so tender, so foreign, that I flinch. Her warm fingertips graze my cheek, and her lip begins to quiver again.
“I saw you,” she whispers, the horror still lingering in her shaky voice. “Blood was running down the corners of your mouth and down your neck. You were crying as you held a woman to your chest.”
I have no strength to continue to look at her. Not when she talks about that memory. It was the most painful day of my entire existence.
“Kaius…who was that woman?”
I close my eyes and turn my head further away from her. She uses her soft hand on my cheek to make me look at her. I grind my teeth and beg her with my eyes to stop asking.
