3. Chapter 3
Chapter three
SAGE
It was pretty obvious this was a terrible idea, but that was just my way. First of all, I’d been pretty sure Luca was straight when he was human, so depending on how much of his past he was holding on to, there’d been a decent chance he was going to reject me. But according to Silas, vampires had a heightened sex drive that seemed to be connected to their feeding habits, and gender tended to matter less as the need to feed took priority.
He’d also warned me that my attraction to Luca came through in my scent and it was only going to make me all the more tempting to him. Apparently, it deepened someone’s scent and made them more appealing. Judging by the way Luca’s fingers were digging into my shoulders, but not quite managing to push me away, it seemed like that part was true.
The problem was, was he actually interested, or was I just a potential meal? Did it matter? It wasn’t like we were going to live happily ever after, or some shit like that. I’d never even planned on staying in Eastbend. But right at that moment, Luca’s strong hands finally gave up the fight and tugged me closer, and that was all I needed.
I felt it the moment his control snapped and I should probably have felt bad, or even worried, but all I could feel was triumphant. That thing in people’s brain that tells them not to walk right into dangerous situations had always seemed to be broken in mine. Or maybe not broken so much as easily drown out by the much louder voice that made me want to play with fire. If this gamble backfired horribly, it wouldn’t be the first time, but I always managed to squeak by in one piece.
I liked to think there was something in my bloodlines guiding me, but that wasn’t quite right. It was doubtful my witchy ancestors would be in any way supportive of me getting tangled up with a vampire, but if they cared that much, they should have given me some of their damn magic to work with. Maybe then I’d have nature to guide me rather than this dark instinct and a driving need to unravel all the secrets of things that could kill me. There was definitely something wrong with me. Defective in more than just magic.
Luca pulled his mouth away from mine to nip at my earlobe and then drag his lips over my neck. We were entering dangerous territory and a shiver of excitement only made me bolder as I reached for the button of his pants. The second I wrapped my hand around his cock, stroking slowly, he sucked in a slightly panicked breath and I pulled back to see the pained look on his face.
“Should I stop?”
He dropped his head back and squeezed his eyes shut even as his hips shoved forward, forcing his throbbing cock into my grip. “No… I don't know.”
I loosened my hold on him, but he wrapped his hand around mine, holding me there as he growled in frustration. “Don't stop.”
He was a vampire and could easily overpower me, but he submitted easily as I shoved my shorts down and stroked us together. His hands worked their way up under my shirt, stroking over my sides, but not moving any further. If he was looking for breasts, he was going to be seriously disappointed, but some part of me wanted to make sure he knew who he was doing this with and I paused long enough to pull my shirt over my head.
I wasn’t a gym bro by any means. In fact, I was on the short and thin side, but I was toned enough that there was no mistaking me for a woman. So when Luca’s eyes ran over me, and he traced his fingers over my tattoos and not hesitating at all when he didn’t find the soft curves of a woman, I couldn’t help but feel relieved.
Our speed picked up again and Luca groaned deeply, tugging me against his chest. Once again he buried his face in my neck, fighting the instincts telling him to feed while I was vulnerable to him. But he didn’t need to. I tilted my head, giving him better access.
“It’s okay, you can bite me.”
“You shouldn’t say stupid shit like that,” he growled.
I had to agree, but I wasn’t taking it back. Instead, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled his head to the side. I sank my own teeth into his neck until he gasped and his cock throbbed in my grip. As I expected, getting rough with him was the thing that finally broke through. He panted heavily against my neck for a long moment, holding himself back, even while shaking with want.
“I’ve never…”
“Yeah, I know. I wanted to be your first.”
To be perfectly honest, I was pretty sure he was talking about biting and not being with a guy, but I couldn’t be sure. My answer was the same either way. Of course, Silas told me the first few times Luca fed from me directly should be under his supervision, but that seemed a little too awkward.
When Luca still hesitated, I reached under his shirt to find his nipple and pinched. His teeth finally pierced my skin and I sucked in a breath at the mix of pleasure and pain. Though, it wasn’t as painful as it should have been. Vampires released a type of toxin that made the whole experience hazy for their victims. Someone who didn’t know better would brush the whole thing off as a love bite the next morning if the foggy memory resurfaced. While I’d been expecting that, I hadn’t expected the rush of lust bubbling up under my skin.
I writhed on Luca’s lap, my body suddenly too hot. Too desperate for release. His hold tightened as he drank from me, his thrusts growing as rough and overly eager. Blood trickled its way down my chest and I couldn’t be bothered to care. My hand worked us faster and his moans vibrated against my skin.
Luca’s cock pulsed in my hand and that was all it took to send me over the edge. Our movements became frantic and sloppy as our combined release exploded between us. Shivers rushed along my spine, and when I slumped against Luca’s chest, his teeth remained clamped around my throat. He wasn’t actively drinking from me anymore, but he seemed to be having trouble letting go.
I felt myself reaching for him as my head went fuzzy and something dark but peaceful pulled me under.
LUCA
He was so warm. Since becoming a vampire, my body had lost all warmth. No matter the weather, it never touched me. It was like the cold had sunk into my bones when I died and stayed there. But Sage was radiating heat. It pooled in my mouth and heated my belly, and I didn’t want to give it up.
Some part of my mind knew I needed to let go, but all of my instincts were screaming that I might not get this chance again. Not if he had any sense of self preservation.
It was the first time I’d taken blood directly from a person and the difference was indescribable. How much of that was because it was from the source, and how much was because it was Sage, I didn’t know. But the dark instinct to keep drinking until nothing was left was sobering. Like some part of my mind wanted me to forget that I held Sage’s life in my hands. It didn’t matter how lost in those urges I got, I could never give in to that.
Sage started to slump against my chest, and while I’d stopped drinking a while ago, the longer I held him there not letting his wounds close, letting his blood coat my lips in a slow trickle, the more danger I was putting him in. Before I could force myself to let him go, his hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed. My eyes widened at the strength of his grip, and though I didn’t really need to breathe, it was startling enough that my jaw dropped when my air was cut off and my teeth slipped free of his neck. Had Silas taught him that trick?
“Are you—?” One glance at his face answered the question I’d been about to ask. I barely got a glimpse of pitch black eyes before they fell closed and he went limp in my arms. “Sage? Sage! Open your eyes for me!”
Sage’s eyes fluttered halfway open. Completely normal, tired blue eyes met mine before closing again. “‘Mm fine,” he muttered. “Orgasms always wear me out.”
Had I imagined it? It was only for a second, but it looked like his eyes had been completely taken over by an inky black.
He looked small and pale in my arms and I hated myself for the streaks of blood staining his neck and chest. Hadn’t I sworn I would never let anyone get this close to me again? How quickly I threw all of my ideals away for the chance at an orgasm and blood. I was disgusted with myself.
Maybe Sage didn’t consider me a monster, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t one. And he was probably right, it didn’t have anything to do with being a vampire. Silas never seemed to struggle the way I did.
But that was another thing becoming a vampire had forced me to face about myself. I’d never realized it as a human. In fact, I’d strutted around like some kind of hero, when in reality I’d just skated through life on easy mode. The truth was, I was weak. And now that I was forced to fight this constant battle with my own instincts, I feared the day I wouldn't be strong enough to win.
The sun hadn’t set yet. I was stuck there for a little longer, but once I was able to leave, the best thing I could do for Sage was stay away. This couldn’t happen again.
It had been months since he’d walked out of that room at the facility and I’d been keeping an eye on him from a distance. But I’d gotten too involved, too invested in finding out what they’d done to him. I should have been more concerned about what I could end up doing to him.
Settling Sage on the couch, I fixed my clothes on the way to the bathroom to look for a towel to clean him up with. It was a bit of a hunt, but I finally found clean towels in his dryer. His work clothes were hung up neatly in his laundry room, but it looked like everything else never made it out of the laundry baskets. I wasn’t judging, but this was not what I’d pictured. His work was always so organized, I’d just assumed everything in his life would be.
Sage barely stirred while I cleaned him up. The need to erase all evidence that I’d been there ate at me. For a second, I almost let myself believe it was some kind of vampire instinct to protect our secrets, but I wasn’t quite delusional enough to pull it off. The answer was obvious. It was the growing ball of guilt eating away at my stomach that made me want to undo what I’d done to him.
Once he was clean, I gathered the towel, intending to wash the blood out of it, but my eyes snagged on the series of light scars lining his inner arm. My mind flashed back to that room we’d found him in months ago. How he’d stood there covered with blood, wavering on his feet. He’d had open wounds on his body from what those men had done to him, but the shallow cuts on his arm had matched the cuts on the restraints. Sage hadn’t been able to explain how he got them. Four parallel slashes. They hadn't been deep and the marks might fade completely with time, but why hadn’t he asked Elliot to heal those? I turned his arm to get a closer look and when it fell away from his side, the tattoos on his ribs became visible.
I sucked in a breath at what I was seeing. My attention had been on other things earlier so I hadn’t noticed, but faded jagged scars crossed his ribs, far older than any other mark on his body.
Tiny, messy script was tattooed near the scar.
Drifting in the darkest sleep,
Lost within a broken soul.
A forsaken ghost haunts my dreams,
An echo of something not my own.
The words seemed so wrong on someone like Sage. Was it just some poem he liked? Were those words how he truly felt? I’d never have guessed that from what I knew of him. But I supposed, after everything that happened, I never really knew him at all, did I? We all knew what he wanted us to know and nothing else.
My fingers traced the marked skin. Who was Sage’s ghost? What had caused those scars? Was it connected to the words he’d written over them?
But I’d just sworn to myself that I couldn’t keep getting involved. Sage didn’t owe me any answers and I had no right to ask questions. His secrets would remain his and I needed to follow through with putting distance between us. He didn’t need me to be another ghost haunting his life.
I washed his towel in the sink and then cleaned up the beer and glass by the door before dropping both towels in the washing machine. When any evidence I’d ever set foot in Sage’s home was gone, I pulled the door open, finding the sun had dropped behind the trees, casting shadows across the property. It was enough to get me out of there.
The guilt followed me all the way to the old Victorian home I was renting in the Heritage Pointe area of town nearby. I approached the house from behind since the large backyard was filled with trees that allowed me to get close enough to make a run for it those last twenty feet to the covered back porch.
The real challenge, and the reason I’d had to live with Silas for so long after becoming a vampire, was that the house was haunted. Well, not actually haunted according to Silas, but imbued with the magic of generations of witches that had passed it down before the company that owned it now bought it. That magic protected the house from evil, but it also took its sweet time deciding that I was just barely not evil enough to let in. And even now, it had its moments of testing me.
When I was human, the house was nothing but an old house. Whatever magic was supposed to be there had been dormant. Or at least, I knew nothing about it. But the second I became a vampire, the barrier on the house no longer allowed me in. Silas had Elliot take a look, but with magic that went back so many generations it had almost taken on a life of its own. In the end, Elliot decided it was best to leave it in place and convince the house that it was safe to let me in.
It had taken several weeks of showing up and taking care of the outside of the house before it even let me in the door. Even now I was randomly locked out of rooms in the house and sometimes received an unnatural static shock when I touched things. But I wasn’t giving up. Despite its standoffish personality, there was something I liked about this house. Something almost familiar in the way it felt and smelled. I couldn’t explain it, but it was a strange comfort I couldn’t let go of just yet.
That said, I had a belly full of a witch’s blood and I couldn’t be sure how the house was going to react to that. My best guess was that it wasn’t going to go well, but I had to try.
I ran the last few feet to the house, not at full speed, because we could never be absolutely sure who was watching, but fast enough that I made it without burning. The shade of the porch welcomed me with no problem. The door started to open and for the briefest of seconds, I thought I’d worried for nothing. But when I attempted to step inside, the house had other plans and it was leaving nothing up to interpretation.
The shock coming from the doorknob hit me first, hard and fast, making my entire arm go numb just before the door swung open and slammed shut again. Since I’d been in the doorway, the solid wood slammed into me, sending me flying backwards and tumbling down the porch steps into the open yard. My skin sizzled as I pulled my hood back up and darted for the safety of the trees.
Damn. I was going to have to face Silas and there was no way he wasn’t going to know what happened. The smell of blood and sex still lingered on me. I’d been hoping to shower and change before I had to see him again, but it looked like that wasn’t in the cards.
I turned away from the house and trudged in the direction of Silas’s house. Shame and guilt weighed down my shoulders, but I couldn’t blame the house for turning me away. We both knew it was what I deserved.