AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry Cassius. It looks like you’re going to have to drink that poison again,” she said, half joking. I offered her a weak smile.
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible Willow. She made me throw the vials that remained away, as well as the books with the recipe. I’m afraid I’m stuck like this.”
“Oh,” she gasped, raising her hand to her mouth. I hugged her tightly, feeling as though I let her down somehow.
“I’m so sorry Willow. I know that this isn’t what you wanted. I know we tried to fight against this and I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that I’m not going to be able to give you a child,” as I said this I noticed her twitching. She pulled away from me, wiping stray tears from her eyes.
“I’m not crying because of that Cassius. I’m crying because even though we beat Amara she still managed to take something away from us. We’re not going to be able to grow old together now. You’re going to be like this for the rest of your life and I’m going to have to leave you. It’s just… I had gotten used to the life we wanted to live together.”
“I know, me too, but if there’s one thing we should have learned it’s that we’re never going to be able to live the exact life we want. But look at it this way, at least we’re together again. We could have lost each other forever. I wasn’t ready for that.”
“Then why did you go off with her?” she asked. Her voice was filled with bitterness. There were complicated emotions running through each of us.
“Because I thought it was my only chance to keep you all safe. I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life Willow, and for once I just wanted to do something good. I wanted you to be proud of me, but I have to admit that I’m glad you came back here.”
“Good, because I have some news as well, and I think you’re going to be happy about it,” she said, and then elaborated. As I listened my eyes widened and my heart leaped in my chest. I felt elation the likes of which I had never known before, and I couldn’t quite believe that what she was saying was true.
But it was.
I was going to be a father. “I guess I made my time as a mortal count,” I remarked, a dazed look on my face.
“I guess you did,” she chuckled, and then nuzzled her head against mine. It was easy for us to lose sight of the anguish that we had experienced at being apart from each other. I took her in my arms and kissed her madly, before I reached down to her abdomen and felt the part of her where life was growing. She peppered me with kisses. I felt the salt from her tears rushing down her cheeks.
“It’s finally happened,” she whispered. “We’re going to be a family.”
“Yes, we are, and now we truly don’t have any vampires to worry about. Our child is not going to be brought up in a world defined by war,” I said.
Willow drew back at this and looked around. “But she is going to have to know what vampires are, and she’s going to have to grow up even when you’re not growing older. One day you’re going to have to watch her grow old and die as well. Cassius… you’re going to have to live through our entire family tree. One day you’ll be alone again.”
I rose from our sitting position and walked among the tombs, glancing back just once to check that Amara’s tomb was still sealed. Given her determination to survive I knew I was going to have to check her tomb routinely, despite being confident that death had come upon her. I then moved to my own tomb, brushing my fingers along the plain stone. It was cold to the touch, like death itself.
“I won’t Willow, because the moment you die I will come here and I will seal myself in my tomb,” I said in a hollow voice.
“But I don’t understand. If that was possible all this time then why did you not just agree to do that in the first place?” she asked.
I smirked. “Because I was afraid Willow. I have always been afraid to die. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to become a musician in the first place. I wanted to leave something of myself behind. I wanted people to remember me, because I thought the only way to live forever was through art. And then the longer I lived the more difficult it became to let go. I didn’t think I would ever be able to willingly invite death to me, I thought I would always turn away at the last, and so I could not trust myself to make that promise to you. I thought the only way I would ever die was if I had no choice. But I can promise you now that the moment you leave my life I will come here and I will say farewell, and I will give myself to the endless sleep that beckons us all. I will not live without you, because there can be no living without you. But I hope that it is many years until then, because we still have a great many things to accomplish.”
“Yes, we do,” she rose behind me and took my head. She brought me in for a kiss, and it was as though the sun spread through my body. “And before we return to the village I want to do one last thing…”
Chapter Twenty
Willow
We would never come here again, of that I was certain. Before we left I wanted to enjoy a memory of the life we had been able to live together, without interruption, without intrusion. I led him through the castle rushing through the hallways. I surged forward as a wolf, while he flew as a bat. We ended up in our bed chamber. The familiar mattress creaked as the bleak light passed through the window. I wasted no time in stripping myself of everything but the pendant. His hands were upon me eagerly, his lips brushing against my collar bone and his hands running across my supple skin. I groaned as he held my breasts, and I felt his arousal pressing against me. I reached back, twisting my head, searching for his lips. He brushed the hair away from my face and then we tumbled down in a mess of limbs, continually searching for each other, always yearning for more.
He was on top of me and I pulled his clothes away, revealing his naked skin. I kissed and licked him, breathing in his scent, needing all of him inside me. We rolled about. I gathered his hands in mine and sucked on his fingers before plunging them down between us, guiding him towards the parts of me that were most intimate and sensitive. Bursts of pleasure rolled through me and a smile widened on my face as I gave myself to these sensations. My body arched as he brought his fingers back and forth, fanning flames that swept through me like the breath of a dragon. The inferno crackled and reached into the deepest parts of me. Sweat prickled on my skin and trickled all over me, leaving me a glistening mess. I twisted and writhed as this exquisite delight careened through me. I swam in ecstasy and clung to his body as he slid down me, his tongue joining his fingers in this beautiful dance that caused orgasm after orgasm to spin through me. It was as though he wove gold from ordinary thread, and I was shining as brightly as a star.
I dragged my nails across his skin and heard him wince with pain. The bestial, feral part of me curled out like plumes of smoke and left me hollow, yet there always seemed to be more that resided within me. I groaned and whimpered as my head lolled from side to side. He kissed me and licked me and teased me, filling me with all this tormented delight that was so sweet it was intoxicating and addictive. I wanted more, I wanted it all, and I wanted it from him.
I pulled him away, digging my fingers through his hair. I kissed him, rolling him onto his back. His lips burned with the flames he had scorched me with. Damp, liquid heat simmered on my thighs and slipped along his lips. His breath was lost as I fell between his thighs and began making love to him with my mouth. I spread my hands all along his body, feeling the angles of his muscles and the glory of his expansive body. He was so masculine, so broad and strong and everything that I wanted from a man. He lay in my mouth, my tongue wrapping around him, my lips sucking gently, back and forth as strands of my hair caressed his thighs and stomach. He groaned and grunted as we shared this passion, and I brought him to the breaking point before he grabbed a fistful of my hair and twisted me around. I smiled, loving when he got a little rough with me. He pushed me to the edge of the bed and hung me off half way, my arms and head dangling over the side, my breasts open to be groped by him. He came over me like a shadow, holding the side of the bed, plunging himself inside me. I felt his hardness, his arousal slam into me and as he thrust all the blood rushed to my head, making me feel exhilarated and delirious. The world had truly turned upside down because of him and I was being left breathless. I wrapped my legs around him, enjoying the ride and the danger of almost falling off the bed and crashing to the floor.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on tightly, watching as he buried his head in my breasts and kissed the soft skin, his tongue running in between my cleavage. His hips moved like pistons and between the shadows of our bodies I could see him entering me again and again, the point where our bodies became one, this hallowed union that had been shared by us so many times before, and yet was always so intense, as though a star had burst within us and was coating us with its celestial heat. I pulled my head up and pressed my forehead against his. I stole a kiss as our breaths swirled together, our bodies and essences coming closer and closer until we were truly one being. I could feel an echo of his thoughts within me, and I knew that he would feel the same of me. I couldn’t even tell the difference between our ecstatic moans. They came at the same time, at the same rhythm, and we shuddered with the same kind of intensity as the orgasmic feelings were released within us. They came pouring out, sweet and true and clear, rendering us mute and breathless.
And then we were still.
I rolled back into the middle of the bed, the blanket clinging to my body. He was beside me, handsome as ever.
“You know it’s never going to be like this again,” I whispered.
