Chapter 22 Osculation #2
He taps his finger faster against the bed.
“When Mother vanished, there was a rumour she left something behind. A piece of her to find. A silver tear. Even a rumour can hold a grain of truth, and from the voices of biohumans known as slayers, it wouldn’t surprise me if they knew where to look.
” His eyes narrow, and the shadows clinging to him expand.
“They’re always looking for something to ruin. Something to control.”
“You hate them?”
“What’s to love?”
I simply shrug in response.
Breathing another laugh, the shadows ease. “Your turn. What will you do when you leave Darkovish?”
My brow furrows. “I’m going to help my friends find their families.”
“And?”
“And…?”
“Is that all?”
My fingers twitch against the mattress. “Jax wants me to go to his settlement.”
The nightwalker straightens. “And you don’t?”
I press my lips together and pull away from those intense eyes, glaring down at my hands and the skin peeling around my fingernails.
“What if one day, I cannot hold my glamour anymore, and I am behind the walls of people who would see me as the enemy? So as much as I want to, I’m scared because I am this. ”
“You are you.”
I give a slight smile, but it’s strained.
“I don’t particularly like me, nightwalker.
I was hidden away, unable to play with children my age.
I was scared that one day, I would bite them.
Drink from them. Become mindless and kill them.
” I clasp my hands together as my body involuntarily leans towards him. “I still am.”
“You shouldn’t fear yourself.”
Facing him, I say, “Everyone has fears. I’m sure you have some.”
“Only one,” he admits with a slight incline of his shadowed head. “It’s a recent development.”
My fingers twitch against my clamped hands. “It is only fair you spill yours now that I have shared mine.”
He chuckles darkly as he leans closer into me and tilts his head to the side. Shadows tremor around him, basking in his emotions. “Very well, I fear you.”
A hollow breath escapes me.
“I fear that when the red moon rises, you will die, and I don’t want that, kamai.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
There’s a gentleness in his eyes, melting into pools of liquid that lower to my lips. A tingling sensation crawls across my skin, and the shadows move to consume the exposed flesh, pressing like fingerprints all over my body.
A shallow breath escapes me, hollow, but not afraid. My muscles tighten as I lean towards where his mouth should be. Something within me comes alive, ignited by soft words and receptive ears.
It’s difficult to place, but as his shadows dance around my body, luring me to him, I am trapped—like the first time he bit me. But this time, I want to be caught. Ensnared by a creature that could kill me in a heartbeat if he wanted to.
My hand caresses his marble form, over his cheek and up until my thumb swipes against the point of his ear. The shadows pull me into him, and I taste his lemongrass and nightshade breath on the air.
Our noses touch, and I suck in a breath when he tips his head to rest his forehead against mine.
Shadows become hands and trail down to my hips, gripping my nightgown and urging me closer.
I move to straddle him, gently cupping the sides of his face, our mouths now all but touching as my breathing quickens.
Clawed fingers dig into my flesh, gripping my thighs as though they are his to take, and I encourage it. Lifting my hips, he follows, wanting, and I know if he bit me now, his cock would be thick against my pussy.
“Nightwalker?”
“Kamai?” he murmurs back.
Our mouths brush, teasing each other into submission. Lulled by the sweetness. Honey coating my tongue, I move in for the kill, but fall through suddenly incorporeal streams of shadow. I blink, bewildered, and as I straighten, I see the man himself is now across the room, pacing.
“S-Sorry,” he says, and my soul almost leaves my body at how worried he sounds. “My powers made you compliant. It wasn’t you who wanted this.”
I blink some more, words still escaping me. Then, an ache pinches my heart, and I laugh. He stops pacing, and he stands there awkwardly, his shadows still blackening his silhouette.
“Am I amusing to you?”
I fall back on the mattress and press my hands to my stomach as I laugh. “Nightwalker, your powers may have encouraged it, but I wanted to kiss you. It was all me.”
He steps closer, the awkwardness fading, and the cool, calm and composed nightwalker stands before me once more. “How do you know?”
With a sigh, I sit up and admit, “Because I still want to kiss you now. That’s how I know.”
Clawed hands twitch. “What about your not-lover?”
My body goes rigid, and panic spills into my chest. “I don’t know…”
He takes a step back. “Then I won’t kiss you. Not until you know.”
I nod. “Very well, nightwalker.”
“And my offering?”
“I’ll sleep on it.”
The nightwalker inclines his head, his clawed hand gesturing to the bed. “Then you should rest, kamai.”
Sitting upright, I ask, “And you? What are you going to do?”
“Watch.”
He’s a creep.
Still, I look to the bed I am sitting on, and fear rises at the memory of the dead nightwalker. The way my body had little to no control, paralysed by his power.
“Saya.” He opens the bathroom door and gestures inside. “Sleep in here.”
“Okay,” I breathe. I enter the bathroom with my arms wrapped around my middle, when the nightwalker appears, and in a breath, pillows and blankets fill the tub.
“I will be in the airshaft, so as not to disturb your slumber.”
As he leaves, I turn towards him and reach out my hand, but the words lodge in my throat. Stay in here with me tonight. What I want to say stays locked in my heart, so I look away and step into the tub.
Nightwalkers are the villains. They are dangerous and control everything. So, why is he making me question everything I thought I knew?
I sink into the tub and pull the covers over my chest.
Who do I trust more? A creature of the night, or the ones who walk around in daylight?