Page 15 of A Trial By Blood

Despite the night being early, the scent of sex and blood filled my senses as I entered. There were always people here willing to offer themselves to the beings who frequented this place. I stood by the door and waited. As always, I didn’t have to wait for long. A male and two females came to me, the scent of their arousal already strong. I had to fight the instinct to step back when one of the females reached out and touched my arm.

“Let me feed you,” she said and pressed her body into mine. She had dark hair and eyes, as did the male with her. My hunger was not induced by either of them. I turned to the other female. She was lean, with blond hair, eager, but she held herself back.

“You,” I said to her. “Come with me.” Without checking that she followed, I walked to the couch I preferred and sat. She moved closer and attempted to mount me. I shook my head, holding her back. “Lay on the couch, please. On your back. Rest your head in my lap and give me your hand.” She obeyed, her eyes wide, her body trembling with desire. Her other hand went to my chest, and I brushed it away. “You will not touch me, and I will not touch you. You may, however, pleasure yourself.”

She nodded, watching as I brought her wrist to my mouth and then bit into her flesh. She arched, moaning immediately, her legs falling open.

“Please,” she cried. “Touch me.”

I ignored her and let her blood fill my mouth, swallowing it down.

“Oh god. Fuck me, fuck me while you feed from me, please.” She shoved her hand between her legs. “Please.”

She whimpered and sobbed, then thrust her fingers in and out of her body. I looked away and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to watch her. I didn’t like the way it made me feel. Tonight, I’d be feeding from Rose like this. Rose who was too weak to move. She wouldn’t be able to do what the female I was feeding from now was doing. She wouldn’t be able to ease the ache between her thighs that would come when I fed from her.

Would it cause her more pain?

For reasons unknown, I would do anything for that female, including end her life. Could I ease her desire as well? Would she want me to? Suddenly, a pair of pale blue eyes filled my mind. Rose’s eyes. Often when I fed, it was Azel who invaded my mind, which was why I tried to avoid it. I didn’t want that male in my head or the memory of his grasping hands and acid blood on my tongue.

Rose’s blood wouldn’t taste like that. It would taste more like the female I was drinking from now. Would Rose’s be sweet, like the female lying across my lap, or rich like spiced wine? The female’s wrist in my hand was slight, fragile, and as I drank more deeply, lost in the frenzy, the high of her blood nourishing me, sating me, it was suddenly Rose’s hand in mine. It was her wrist I’d buried my fangs into.

It was wrong to think about her that way, it had to be, but I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. My hunger grew, yawning wider. I was ravenous, as if I hadn’t fed for months, not a week. My stomach ached, heated, swirled. It wasn’t unpleasant, no, it was the opposite. My fangs ached, tingled, and I wanted to release her wrist, then drive my fangs back into her flesh, then again and again.

I groaned, instinct taking over, finding it hard to resist doing what my mind was showing me. Lifting Rose in my arms and taking her throat, not her wrist. Holding her close, her cheek against mine, her breathy whimpers brushing my ear, her fingers grasping me to her tightly.

Rose.

Oh god, Rose.

The flesh between my thighs stiffened, becoming an iron rod in my trousers.

Hissing, I pulled my fangs from the female lying across my thighs, forced myself to lick the bite to seal it, and stood. She almost fell to the floor, and I quickly stopped her from hitting the ground. “Apologies,” I said, then strode from the room, out the door, and through the main club.

Confused.

Aroused.

I woke like that sometimes, but I ignored it. I didn’t want sex. Didn’t think about it. What Azel and I had done wasn’t something I ever wanted to repeat. I gave him my body in exchange for his blood. I didn’t want him. I didn’t enjoy it. I tried not to think about it.

Yes, on occasion, my cock grew stiff when I fed, but not like this. Never like this.

I rushed out the door and onto the street, letting the sounds around me fill my head, drowning out the ones my mind had conjured, letting the sights push away the images of Rose that had filled my mind while I fed.

I shouldn’t be thinking about her like that.

If I told Relic, he’d tell me it was wrong. I knew it was wrong.

The boulder grew claws and teeth, and I rubbed at my chest, the pain becoming almost unbearable. Not muted, not numb like it should be, like it always had been. What was happening to me?

I needed to gather my control, because in a few short hours I would be with Rose.

For the very last time.

* * *

Rose

I walked quickly through the forest, but the dark figure stayed behind me.