Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Warren
Levette had held me close and allowed me to purge all my emotions. All the sadness and confusion, heartache and shame, I released it all in my tears until I was empty. It was exhaustive, but cathartic in a way I did not understand.
“Thank you,” I said softly as I untangled myself enough to be able to sit up and look at him.
The large clock chimed in the corner of the room, bringing my attention to the time. “You can’t go out in the sunlight, right?”
Levette smiled sadly. “Unfortunately not. The older vampires get, the less the sun affects them. For me right now, it is still an uncomfortable sensation and burns my skin. I can withstand a few minutes, but otherwise I would turn to ash.”
“New Orleans is the perfect place for you then,” I commented. “The world comes alive at night here.”
“Indeed.”
“Wait,” I said, a question jumping to the forefront of my mind. “How were you able to be in the military if you can’t be in the sun?”
Levette smirked. “I like how your mind works, cher. You always come up with the most fascinating questions.” He swept his hair over his shoulder before clasping his hands again.
“Compulsion, just like what I did to Edwin Landry. I frequently used my gifts to alter the minds of humans. I would convince my superiors that I had been on duty or tell them I was needed elsewhere. I would occasionally show my face during the day, for appearances sake. Truth be told, death was so rampant that you almost didn’t expect to see your comrades again. ”
I sucked in air through my teeth, realizing the weight of what he’d said. Another question was on the tip of my tongue, though it pained me to speak it aloud. “Have you ever used compulsion on me?”
“Non, mon cher, I would never do that to you.” He looked at me pleadingly, desperate for me to hear the truth in his voice.
“Even when you were at your most angry with me, the thought never crossed my mind. While it is a trick at my disposal, I do not relish the idea of toying with people that way. Not anymore.”
I nodded, words unable to form. He was being honest, yet a part of me was still wary.
He stood up, holding his hand out to help pull me to my feet.
I allowed it when he held on, gently squeezing my hand.
It was a comforting gesture, and when his thumb brushed against the back of my hand, it sent shockwaves up my arm.
Levette smirked, doing it again and taking pride in the way I shivered.
“You should rest here tonight, mon cher. I have to go…take care of some things before the sun comes up.”
I tilted my head, watching the way he didn’t meet eyes. “You need to feed, don’t you?”
“I—oui, I’ve gone a little too long without blood. I should have fed a few days ago, but I was busy trying to woo you,” he replied, masking his confession with humor.
“I have a question.”
Levette laughed. “You can ask me anything.”
I chewed on my lower lip. I had a morbid fascination with what he was. I knew it was wrong to learn more, that it could send me further into a spiral than I already was, though I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“What does it taste like?”
Levette’s eyes dropped to my lips, then to my neck.
I shivered again, which made him lick his lips and bring his gaze back to mine.
“It is hard to explain. Comparisons to human food do it no justice, because vampiric hunger is indescribable, and feeding that hunger with the one thing I crave most is a divine sensation. It tastes like getting everything you have ever wanted.”
I could hear the hunger in his voice and the awe in how he described it. There was a twisted part of me that was jealous and wanted to feel that satisfaction.
Looking towards the window, I could see that the sky was starting to brighten. He wouldn’t have much time to feed and get home without being hurt or getting enough blood to curb his hunger. An idea sprang to mind, and I opened my mouth before thinking it through.
“Don’t leave. You can drink from me tonight.”
Levette’s eyes widened and he stepped back, creating distance between us. “Non, mon amour, I cannot do that. I will not make you any more complicit in my darkness than I already have.”
His hesitation and the way he truly cared about how I felt solidified why I wanted to do it. I walked forward, pressing myself against him, knowing he could feel my heart thudding against his chest.
“It is not a request. I care about you, Levy, and I worry that you spent so long worrying about me tonight that you cannot feed and return home in time without harm coming to you.” I dropped my head, closing my eyes and licking my lips with a confession of my own on my tongue.
“And selfishly, I would like to be the one to satisfy you, even just for tonight.”
Levette ran his hands down my arms before cupping my face, forcing me to look at him in all his decadence.
“My love, I don’t think I would be able to restrain myself if I fed from you.
Your scent alone sends me into a frenzy, and holding back takes every bit of my self-control.
When you were bleeding out in my arms after I found you…
You have no idea what it took for me to hold back. ”
It was supposed to be a warning, I knew that, but my mind convoluted it into something else.
A delicious promise that if he tasted me, he would lose control.
Levette had tried so hard to keep himself in check since the moment we met and I needed to see him unbridled.
If he wanted me to take him and accept him as he was, I needed to see all the different sides of him.
I brought my hand to his cheek, rubbing my thumb across his lower lip. “You are doing all you can to set me free. Let me return the favor.”
The fight died on Levette’s lips as I kissed him.
It was soft, a gentle touch, but it weakened his resolve.
I felt him melt into me as he slipped his arms around my waist and forced me closer against him, deepening our kiss.
I walked backward, guiding us to the sofa.
Once we were seated, I leaned back, gasping as he slid his hand through my hair and kissed me roughly.
“Levy…” I moaned when he moved his lips to my jaw, slowly pressing soft kisses along my skin.
“I love it when you call me that,” Levette said against my skin, the timber of his voice eliciting goosebumps down my body.
His lips made their way to my throat, a hot and heady sensation just from his touch. My heart was beating rapidly and I wanted to rip his clothes off then and there, allow myself to be launched fully into his debauchery.
Levette sat back, looking at me in my eyes for any sense of hesitation. “Are you sure about this, Warren?”
I smiled, grabbing him by the shirt and bringing him back to me. “I am positive. Now, please, hush and let me serve you tonight.”
He inhaled deeply and whispered, “I love you,” before his lips closed over the side of my throat.
Levette’s kiss was soft and slow, his tongue running over my skin there, before he let his fangs descend. I reach my hand out shakily, touching my finger to the point of one. Levette closed his eyes, as if the sight of it was too much for him to bear.
“So beautiful,” I said in reverence.
It was the undoing of Levette, his restraint now untethered, and he pierced my skin. It burned at first, but as I opened my mouth to scream, the pain descended into something else. I felt him drink from me, his tongue lapping at my skin as he drank, his fangs deep in me.
“Merde,” Levette groaned, pulling himself away. “Warren, you taste sweeter and more intoxicating than anything I have ever had.”
I laughed, perhaps delirious, at being complimented on how my blood tasted.
But when I looked at Levette, his eyes were heavy and his chest heaving.
Like he was high on me. Blood was smeared across his lips, a bead running down his chin.
His violet eyes were blazing, and I wished there were a way to immortalize how he looked in my mind so I would never forget it.
Unbuttoning his shirt, I pushed the material away and let it fall to the floor so I could admire his sun-kissed skin and the way his muscles tensed when my fingers touched him.
He let me explore him, running my hands all over his stomach and shoulders, caressing every inch of him, as he closed his eyes and let his head fall back.
It looked like he was lost in a silent prayer, and it gave me a rush of adrenaline to know he was letting me worship him.
For the first time in his immortal life, Levette was letting someone touch him with love, and it was a miraculous thing that it was me.
“Come to bed,” Levette said softly. I nodded, following him upstairs.
He led me into the master bedroom, my breath catching in my throat at the opulence of it.
In the corner stood a canopy bed made of dark mahogany, draped in emerald silk.
Golden sconces adorned the walls on either side, illuminating the rich colors of the bed.
The double doors to the balcony were closed, reinforced to keep light out, I assumed. It was breathtaking.
Levette guided me to the bed, kneeling at my feet to unlace my boots. It was such a tender act that it made emotion clog in my throat, seeing him taking care of me once again.
He was on his knees, his mouth covered in my blood. My brain couldn’t comprehend that. It was wrong, and I should have been trembling in fear, but my shame and guilt were locked away; all I wanted was for his lips to be on me again.
Once he had my boots off, I pushed myself back and propped myself up against the pillows.
Levette removed his own boots and climbed up beside me, still shirtless.
I didn’t try to hide the way I gawped at him and how he made my body react.
Every glance my way, every touch, set me alight in a way I could never have imagined.