Chapter 17 #2
“They fear what I am, not who I am. To them, I am a monster of the night. A being who should not exist, the dead who walks amongst the living. A bloodsucking bastard without a soul.” He cleared his throat. “They do not know me.”
It was a sentiment she understood all too well. Yet whereas he was misconceived by strangers who cared nothing for him, she was misunderstood by those who loved her.
“It seems unfair to pass judgment when they don’t know your story.” She peered up at him, wondering if it was his choice to become a vampire, or if that choice had been made for him.
“My story matters not to them.” His fingers tapped delicately upon her spine.
“It matters to me. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be heard. To be seen.” She offered him a bright smile, but it faltered when she added, “I wish they didn’t view you as a monster.”
“As do I.” Lothaire stared down at her and Caelian shivered, meeting the intensity of his eyes. They seemed to glow, lit from within like moonlight and melted gold. “You are unlike anyone I have ever met.”
There was potency in his voice, a lulling kind of passion.
It left her breathless. He held her captive with his presence, and she found herself unable to look away.
The lines of his face were mesmerizing, the angles sharp and aristocratic.
Despite his polished appearance, his hair was messy, silky loose strands of mahogany that curled wildly in the mist. His tongue darted out, laving the tip of his fangs, and her knees weakened.
It was oddly sensual, and when Caelian sucked in a breath, her lungs were filled with the scent of jasmine, cedar, and black cherry.
His very existence was intoxicating, heady and spellbinding.
She almost toppled into him.
Lothaire grinned, his fangs on full display. He lazily adjusted his hold, so her arms draped like leaden weights around his shoulders, and firmly grasped her hips.
“I must admit…” He inclined his head, admiring her, his gaze fastened on her neck. “It has been some time since I’ve felt so…tempted.”
“Tempted?” she asked, the word barely forming. “Tempted to do…what?”
“To bite someone for the pure pleasure of it.”
She choked out a startled laugh. “I am sure there is nothing pleasurable about being bitten.”
“Ah…but that is where you are wrong, love.” Lothaire bent close, his lips lightly brushing against the lobe of her ear. “It is not as horrifying as you think. In fact, most would tell you it’s better than an orgasm.”
Caelian’s heart fluttered. “Pardon?”
“You see,” he continued, his whisper skating across her skin. “The only pain you’ll feel is upon initial contact, and then it is nothing but bliss. It’s most intimate in nature. Euphoric. Provocative. A delicious mix between the sting of pain and the thrill of pleasure.”
Hypnotic.
Lothaire was dangerously hypnotic.
“I…” Her tongue felt thick, and it was suddenly difficult to speak. “I don’t…don’t u-understand.”
“I could show you,” he purred, his lips brushing against the hollow of her throat. Her head tipped back of its own accord. “One bite. Right here.”
His teeth grazed the side of her neck where her pulse thundered, and she twisted her fingers into his mass of silky curls.
“I bet your blood is like starlight. I would grovel at your feet for a century for one single taste.” Lothaire slid his hot tongue up the length of her neck, pressing a kiss to her earlobe.
“The moment my fangs pierce your flesh, you will feel hot, like you are on fire. But then it will spread. To your breasts. Through your abdomen. Until the sweetest spot between your thighs throbs with need.”
Caelian quivered, unable to move. Unable to breathe.
“And then...” Another graze of his fangs, rougher this time. “When your tantalizing blood coats my tongue, I’ll take you to the highest planes of ecstasy. Over and over and over. Until your needs can only ever be sated by me.”
Her vision blurred. Her mind felt foggy. Her core ached.
“Say yes,” he pleaded, his accent thick with desperation. “Your consent is all I need. With one word, I can erase the ache in your heart.”
“I…” Caelian swallowed. Hard. “I can’t.”
Lothaire loosed a sigh laden with frustration. “I understand.”
“But fuck, I wish I could bite her now.”
Lothaire’s rich voice rattled Caelian’s thoughts, slithering into her like ribbons of satin. It was an echo at first, cavernous, and then…it floated through her mind. Waiting. And her blood stirred. Her palm itched.
It was a wish.
Lothaire’s wish.
One she could grant, if she dared.
Caelian reared back, gasping, and he released her.
She threw her arms out in front of her, trembling, digging her nails into her palms. There was enough, just enough to launch one single star into the sky, to watch it streak through the midnight heavens, and in return… she would let Lothaire taste her blood.
“Lady Caelian?”
His voice was a distant rumble, garbled, shrouded by the chaos circulating through her mind.
“How do you fair?” Concern clogged his tone. “You look terribly pale.”
She blinked, looking at him. But his face wouldn’t come into focus. It was there, but hazy, like walking through a dream. Real but not tangible.
Lothaire reached for her, but she dodged his grasp, stumbling away from him. The hum of her magic ebbed. Already the sliver of magic was just out of her reach.
“No.” Caelian shook her head violently. “No!”
It was like some kind of sick, twisted joke, as though she hadn’t been punished enough by the stars already. How cruel of them to tease her with a glimpse of her magic by forcing her to do something she never wanted because of a single wish.
Which was exactly what she’d done to Kjeld.
Fires burned, blurring together into an inferno.
The smoke was too heavy now, it stung her eyes, sending a rush of tears streaming down her cheeks.
Blindly, she staggered back toward the castle, ignoring Lothaire as he shouted her name.
Her stomach heaved and beads of sweat formed along her brow.
She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead and clutched her stomach with the other, unable to keep going any longer.
Caelian shoved her hair back from her face, keeled over, and retched.
Swallowing down the rise of bile, she forced herself to look up at the night sky. To the stars.
For she would curse them all.
But her vision swam and darkness closed in, engulfing her.
“CAELIAN!”
She knew the voice, knew the owner, for she’d dreamt of him every night. But her consciousness failed her.
Caelian’s body swayed, her heart lurched, and all the stars burned out.