AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her skin is soft and warm and her caramel scent slips deep into my memory. I’m never going to forget this night with her; even if I find my Fated, I doubt she would awaken the same emotions in me.
“Shouldn’t we head back downstairs?” she asks with a blush on her cheeks. “We can’t exactly just leave your farewell party.”
“We can, and we will,” I say, walking over to my bed and gesturing for her to get in next to me. “One night in the arms of your enemy won’t kill you.”
She chuckles when I say this, shaking her head but still getting in bed with me. I pull her into my arms and settle her tightly against my naked body, stroking her hair before placing a kiss on her forehead.
“How can I feel your heart beating if you’re supposedly dead?” she asks, placing her hand where my heart is, then she gasps and peers up at me. “Wait, did I just let a corpse fuck me?”
I burst out laughing and shake my head. “You really know how to fucking ruin a moment, don’t you?” I say, trying to stop another bout of laughter bubbling to the surface. “Christ, Katherine, what the fuck?”
She raises an eyebrow at me. “Well, what do you expect with all the vampire lore floating about?!” she says. “You guys don’t have reflections either, that’s straight out of Stoker!”
I tut. “Ah, that. The Count was being lenient when he let Bram go, knowing that he would spill our secrets.” I watch as her eyes widen at the news I’ve just dropped.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she scoffs, bracing herself on her elbow and holding up a hand. “Are you telling me that Dracula fucking existed?!”
“There’s some truth in fairy tales, little lamb. You would do well to take note of the classics,” I say, neither confirming nor dismissing her question as I watch her looking incredulous.
“And to answer your question, the reason I have a heartbeat and breathe is because I am a Pureblood. My mother gave birth to me the same as your mother gave birth to you. Vampirism is a curse, similar to Lycanthropy, and how true werewolves all carry the gene from generation to generation. Although the first vampire, our Goddess, was raised from the dead by her brother, it technically makes us all undead, since we all come from her.”
She drinks in my information with greedy eyes and turns on her belly. “So, your Goddess, she created the first Purebloods?”
I nod. “She created ten Pureblood families and blessed us with the ability to turn others into what we are, to create armies and families. But there were two drawbacks: not only were humans unable to control their bloodlust, but Turned vampires needed to die with a Pureblood’s venom in their system. Dying means you cannot reproduce.”
“Only Pureblood vampires can turn humans?”
“Yes, and if there’s one thing a Turned vampire yearns for, it’s to have a family of their own,” I say, remembering how miserable my parent’s servants were after they turned. “Only Purebloods can reproduce, and only with their Fated.”
She grows pale when I say this, and her jaw slackens, hanging slightly open. “Thank God I’m not your Fated then,” she murmurs, but the light words don’t meet her eyes.
I chuckle. “Even if you were my Fated, reproduction only occurs after a Fated couple has Entwined – that’s when they consume each other’s blood. If the Pureblood’s Fated is a human, they will then turn without the need to die.”
“Turn into a vampire without dying? Another Pureblood perk?”
“Ha, if you can call it that. Our blood has the ability to turn our Fated, but only if our venom is in their systems as well.” I explain, recalling what my father had told me. It’s imperative for the Fated of a Pureblood to have the other’s venom in their system before Entwining, or else they won’t turn.
“And your venom is in that extra set of fangs you have?”
When I nod, she thinks for a few seconds; her brow furrows before she swallows hard. “Have you ever… shared your blood with another? Is that a vampire thing?”
My stomach recoils at her question, and I shake my head. “I have only ever used my blood once as a means of defense when I entrapped you. I consider allowing another to drink my blood intimately as blasphemous and disrespectful to the person who would be my Fated. So, no, little lamb, I have not shared my blood with another.” I say, cupping her chin and smiling.
“All these questions; it’s almost as if I intrigue you,” I say, trying to lighten the heavy mood around us, and when she smirks and turns on her side again, I’m thankful that it worked.
I don’t want to talk about my Fated with the woman who has beguiled me; I want to enjoy this last moment with her, so I claim her lips with a soft kiss and drown in her again. It’s a pity that we will have to part after this, but I know that this is the way it has to be.
You would think after spending such a passionate evening in each other’s arms, that she would afford me a final word from her.
But alas, when I woke up at dusk, Katherine had left the estate without so much as a goodbye.
KATHERINE
It’s been four hours since Gabriel fell asleep. Now I have to leave after the most amazing night of my life and sever whatever it is that developed between us. I reach out and stroke his stubbled cheek, then place a last kiss there and a traitor tear slips onto it.
I expected Gabriel to be rough and fuck my brains out last night; I didn’t expect the gentleness with which he handled me. The words he spoke in Romanian, the look in his eyes, the soft way he caressed my skin, telling me the story of his Goddess and how they came to be. It all felt familiar and extremely intimate, as if it was how it was meant to be.
Then he caught me as I was just about to break and made me forget about the overwhelming surge of emotions that had just hit me. He made me smile; he made me laugh, he made me feel… He fucking made me feel like I mattered, and now I have to throw it all away because of the guilt that settled in my heart.
