12. Rose
Rose
“M y lord.”
The words just slip out. I couldn’t help it, just like I couldn’t help coming at his slightest touch.
Because despite him not knowing me, it’s him , and my body responds to his gaze, to his touch, to his voice, like a puppet on a string.
I can’t help but be pulled back through the passage of time to the ways we were together before, when he had the ability to make me see stars and take me to heaven with the flick of a finger.
And so I’m on my knees, the cold stone floor digging into my skin, my hands wrapped around the familiar heat and hardness of his cock, and I haven’t felt this alive since…
since the last night we slept together. That one night I was Dahlia and Lucy and Mina and I was so fucking in love with him, I thought my heart might burst like a dam and flood the both of us.
I would do anything to drown with him.
And just like those old times, I’ve reverted to calling him “my lord.”
From the way he’s frowning at me, his dark eyes being pulled from molten need and into a state of confusion, I wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Does he remember the way I’d say it? Does he remember me? Does he know the truth?
“My lord,” he repeats carefully, his tongue tracing his bottom lip. The sharpness in his eyes slowly melts into desire again. “I like that.” His voice sounds like silk.
I hide my relief behind a teasing smile. “I only aim to please you.”
He swallows audibly, mouth parting, then he suddenly reaches forward and grabs my hair, making a tight, painful fist of it at the top of my head.
I can’t help but yelp, my grip on his cock loosening.
“Then start sucking me off,” he growls, shoving my face forward.
Despite the pain, I eagerly accept his demand, gripping him expertly and savoring the taste of him as I swirl my tongue around his shaft, trying to relish every inch. I feel like I have waited for this for so long, this tease of intimacy.
Valtu groans loudly, a sound that tickles every pleasure point in my head, makes the heat grow between my legs.
I have missed that sound so much, the way I’m able to pull it out from his cold and composed demeanor with just the pass of my tongue.
It has always felt like a superpower, like magic, and now it’s no different.
I open my mouth wide and envelop him, letting out a moan myself that I know he can feel vibrate along the stiff, hot length of him.
His hips buck against my face, and his grip on my hair tightens as I take him deeper in my mouth, my lips making a sucking noise as he passes through them with force. He groans and his fist constricts, pulling on my hair even harder.
I gasp around his length, the pain so sharp yet sweet at the same time.
God, I have missed this .
“You like that?” he asks huskily as he stares down at me. “Such a good girl choking on my cock like that. How deep can you take me, hmmm?”
His words make me shiver, my throat constricting in response.
I can feel my arousal growing, threatening to overpower me as it spreads through my body.
I know I already came from just the brush of his fingers, a hair-trigger to the extreme, but I feel it might be possible to come just from giving him head. My body is that ready.
I close my eyes and focus on the sensation, letting it take me over until I’m nothing but pleasure, until I’m nothing but his. I answer him with a moan, taking him as deeply as I can, wanting to give him all of me.
I’m yours to take , I think. Yours to have. Forever.
He releases my hair and grabs onto my shoulders, pushing me forward as he thrusts himself deep into my mouth.
I can feel the muscles of my throat working overtime, accepting him with fervor as he pushes down deeper and deeper.
If I was human I’d be choking on him, unable to breathe, but I can keep going for as long as I need to, as long as he wants me to.
Another advantage of being a vampire, as I’m finding out.
He’s groaning as he fucks my mouth, and I can feel his thighs trembling as he gets closer and closer to the edge.
I want to bring him there.
I quicken my pace, bobbing my head up and down as I draw him further and further into my depths. His fingers clench into my shoulder and he cries out, a deep bellow that rises from the bottom of his chest, his body tensing in the throes of his orgasm.
I swallow it all down, letting him release himself completely into me, ravenous and starving for him until his cock stops jerking inside me and I’ve worked him dry.
I stare up at him with big eyes, slowly pulling my mouth away from his cock with a wet sound, my lips feeling sore and bruised and yet I’m smiling anyway.
“Fuck,” he says through a deep groan, gazing down at me in a hazy sort of awe. For a moment we’re back in time together, me having just brought him this beautiful peace that I rarely saw in his eyes except when we were together.
That peace is here now, but only for a moment. Within moments the chill returns to his gaze, that hardness, turning him from the Valtu I know to a darker version of himself.
The version that has never known me.
But maybe, maybe if I keep trying, maybe if I play my cards right, he’ll get to know me again.
Maybe I can make him remember.
If he’ll let me stay, that is.
“Get up,” he commands sharply and before I have a chance to get to my feet, he’s grabbing me by the hair again and pulling me up.
I can’t help but whimper, my eyes watering from the sudden pain. My Valtu liked to inflict pain but there was always pleasure involved, it always involved sex. This feels like something else entirely. Pain for his pleasure and no one else’s.
“The doctor said you’d be able to handle a little necessary roughness,” he says, suddenly bringing me forward until I’m pressed up against him, his cock still hard against my bare hip.
His mouth is inches from mine, his eyes like earth frozen over as they peer into mine, searching me.
“So far you seem to be able to take it. But how far will you let me go?” he murmurs.
He reaches out with his free hand and runs his finger under my eyes until my tears run over them and it’s only then that I realize I’m crying from the pain.
He tastes my tears, just like he did once upon a time, and he smiles devilishly, his eyes remaining hard. “Do you know what I taste in your tears?”
The world seems to slide backwards in time.
I swallow hard, not looking away. “Darkness,” I tell him.
He blinks slowly, his control faltering for a moment. “How did you know that?”
Because that’s what Dahlia’s tears tasted like , I want to say. Because we are the same.
“Because I am made from the darkness,” I tell him quietly, trying not to wince as he keeps tugging at my hair. “Just like you are.”
His lip curls in disdain. “I am not the Prince of Darkness.”
“I never said you were a prince.”
Valtu stares at me for a moment, unsure of how to handle me, what to make of me.
I can see the puzzlement in his gaze, and it’s there even when he tries to hide it.
“Fair enough, my dark rose,” he eventually says, his focus now fixated on my lips and for a moment I think he’s going to kiss me.
But then he pulls back slightly. “So far you have more thorns than petals. It might just be enough to keep you. But we shall see.”
He yanks me by the hair and throws me on top of the bed and I quickly manage to flip around to face him, my instincts telling me to flee, to panic, because even though this is Valtu it’s also not. But he doesn’t force himself on me.
Instead he grabs the chains and in mere seconds the cold cuffs are placed over my ankles and wrists until I’m chained to the bedposts, naked and spread eagle.
“It’s not just me that humans can’t handle,” he says to me, walking toward the door. “It’s what keeps me company.”
He opens the door and pauses, looking at me over his shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning. That is, if you’re still here.”
Then he shuts the door and the room goes black.
* * *
I wake up with a start, my heart pounding against my ribs, adrenaline flooding through my limbs until I’m jerking at the restraints, the metal clanging loudly in the room.
It’s full dark but my eyes are starting to adjust. The window shows dark clouds moving outside and the night sky beyond.
I don’t know how long I’ve been lying in this bed for but from the ache in my muscles and the soreness around my ankles and wrists, I’m going to guess it’s been several hours at least.
I let out a heavy sigh and lift my head to look around, noting the emptiness with relief. It could be just after sundown, it might be the middle of the night. But Valtu hasn’t come back for me.
What did he mean when he said it was his company that humans can’t handle?
What company?
I thought he lived up here all alone.
I close my eyes and sink back into the bed, the cuffs cutting into my skin enough to make me moan uncomfortably.
I hate to say it, but maybe everyone was right.
Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I just don’t know how I could handle being in the same world as Valtu and not being with him.
More than that, I don’t want to live in a world where people like Bellamy, people who take and take without consequence, are just allowed to get away with it.
Not just get away with it, but actually thrive.
If the rumors are true and he’s not aging, that means he’s cracked some sort of code and living his best life, perhaps an immortal like me.