AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that because Noel killed them all before you could get to them?” I spat.
“No, Rose.” His words were hard. “It is true that Noel has killed nearly every person I have been close to, including you most of all. But none of those people, rest their souls, have had even a tenth of the effect on me that you do. Our kind have a word for this, it’s–”
“Ourkind? No, I do not claim this.” I clamored to my feet, attempting to get around him. If he would not leave, then I would. But he stopped me, his hand raised.
“I have been on the run from Noel and myself for hundreds of years. You'll do the same, but don’t run from me.”
“What do you mean you've been running from yourself?” I asked begrudgingly.
“Being a vampyre, you kill to survive. Word gets around of a mysterious disappearance or death and people begin to think, question. Sooner or later, they start putting pieces together. That is when it seems to be the best time to move. If you are not careful, you will be found out and face theultima mortem. No one will think twice. You must run fromyourself, Rose.”
“Don’t add you to my list as well then,” I said, darting around him. But William was fast, slamming my body against the wall, causing the whole length of it to shake with the force. His nose touched mine, his fangs caught the moonlight.
“I want to be there with you! Rosemary, listen to me! It isn't like I Changed you to suffer; I Changed you so we could be togetheruninhibited. I Changed you so perhaps you would not be helpless against Noel, or Adam, or anyone else again! Please realize being newly Changed your emotions are heightened in search for satiation. Ground yourself with me.” William’s breath mingled with mine and my body came to life with his every exhale.
“How do I know you aren't lying? I don’t want this, William. I don’t want to be a monster.” Sobs broke free from my chest, the fight or flight instinct well heightened now. His betrayal was an elephant in my mind, taking up so much space, heavy. “How can you expect me to trust you? After everything?”
Lips nearly touching, I fisted his shirt in my hand and a war raged inside me. An intense surge of longing spread under my skin for him, and it burst into electricity which buzzed between us. Eyes locked, we simply stared into one another’s soul.
William smashed his lips against mine with such hunger I was taken aback. I let him slide his tongue into my mouth, let it glide over the tip of my fang. Shuddering as I tasted him, I moaned and his hands trailed down my body. Every inch of my skin crackled with lightning. His hand groped my breast and I arched under his touch.
One hand pressed against the wall, William’s hand left my breast, running down my side and past my rear, curling his fingers around my thigh. I gasped as he hooked my leg up and around his waist, exposing me to him. I could not fight back, I did notwantto fight back. My anger channeled into lust for him, and I ached to be filled.
We kissed, the wet sounds of our mouths and needy groans filled the space around us. We kissed with such a heated passion and longing, William eventually pulled himself from his trousers, the tip of him resting at the entrance of me.
“Yes,” I quietly begged, “Please, William, please.” He made a low rumble of pleasure, taking the length in his hand, pushing himself into me. Not gently or sensually as he had done in the past, no. I cried out as he filled me with no time to adjust, our hips meeting sharply. He kissed my neck as he pumped in and out of me, for the first time seeming unrestrained. The sensation was tenfold what it had been before I Changed and I allowed myself to let go, the crest of release building rapidly already.
I wrapped my hands in his hair, holding his face to my breasts while he bit into one, fangs piercing my skin. With every stroke he seemed to hit the spot inside me, his hand gripping me firmly in place. This wasn’t love making, it was crass and frustrated. It was angry and needy.
“Will,” I panted in desperation, bringing his mouth back to mine. He tasted of a dizzying mixture of blood and magic. I wrapped both of my legs around him, his hands gripped my rear holding me to him. My head banged against the wall as I lost myself in the incapacitating ripples of release just as William’s strokes turned sloppy. He was not far behind.
When my breathing slowed and the stars faded from my vision, I managed to look at him, really look at him. His scent mingled with my own, all over me and everywhere at once. My heart swelled with love, pure and golden love. But it was doused in a bucket of ice water when the bliss faded and I remembered what I was.
When I remembered the pain that I would be forced to carry on, knowing our daughter had been killed, knowing I could never see my family again, knowing I would have to kill to simply continue to live.
Knowing my own brother was working with my murderer.
William’s smile was lopsided, his lids heavy as he huffed for breath. His mouth took mine and slowly he eased himself out of me, a shiver of need wracking through me at the feeling.
He set me on my feet gingerly, his hand cupping my cheek.
His expression was bathed in love, in gratitude for having me here with him. And I couldn’t stomach it. My hand was forced. Rather than stay here and hurt him, I’d leave. I’d create such a diversion he could not follow me.
With my hands placed lightly on William’s broad and strong chest, I shoved him. The force was enough that he slammed into the wall on the other side of the room, clearing it entirely into the hallway. I leapt from the window without looking back.
Chapter Eleven
Spring 1900
All was quiet in the spring morning mist, everything around me bathed in shades of gray. Nearby came the lapping of a river, intermittent chirps of birds stirring in their nests. The air was chilled, settling with moisture on my skin. In this solitude I could feel the hinges of my joints relax, no humans nearby, no other vampyres to tempt me or put me on high alert. Just nature and I in mutual solitude.
I realized–closing the journal often used for writing letters I would never send–that it was my fiftieth birthday. Oh my, fifty. Latching the journal’s golden lock, a small smile bled across my face; my soul may have been half a century old, but to the human eye I was still no more than a young woman.
“Imagine that,” I whispered to no one at all. Before the Change I thought by now I would be happily married and celebrating the numerous births of my grandchildren. But no, I could do no such thing. Not a day went by where I did not think about my only child being torn from my body, and my life being sucked out of me before I could really live. Digging my nails into the leather cover of the book, it was in my mind, the way she’d looked in Noel’s hands, limp and bloodied.
The deception of my own brother often trailed behind those memories. His inaction was an unforgivable transgression and still to this day I could not come to understand how my best friend, my own flesh and blood, could have been so treacherous. He knew Noel was after us and he still allowed it. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I ever came across them; someone would not walk away from such an interaction.
I let my mind travel elsewhere, to less complicated matters like feeding. I was thirstier than I usually let myself become; I knew my eyes had to be light, almost white blue, I could feel it in the burn of my throat. When I let myself get like this, it was a branding iron lodged in my throat. I licked my cottony mouth, it would need to be soon.
