Chapter 3
NEO
Trouble has arrived. She steps inside, her silhouette framed by the storm-darkened sky.
She’s cloaked in velvet and lace that writhes like a restless shadow; she moves with the inevitability of midnight.
Her boots make sounds on the tiles. Click, click.
Each step feels like a countdown. She pauses, inhales, and the air itself seems to recoil.
Her eyes narrow at the shelves of sweets, and the jars tremble as though they know they’ve been caught hiding something.
"Are the vampires still looking for the bloodsucker candies?" Her voice is dry and unmistakably annoying. "I should hex their fangs into frogs."
I push Nox’s head down, and the bat boy is pissed.
"As long as they don’t drink our blood…" I say to her, caressing his hair beneath the counter.
"Witches and bats do not belong together." She picks up a jar of marshmallow snowflakes. "I need something extra for my brownies."
I can already hear Nox saying ‘weed’. His hands dance like whispers across my skin, exploring every curve. As I lean over the counter, my elbows prop me up, heightening the feeling.
He aligns himself between my legs, his breath and nose tip gliding over my skin. His lips meet my thigh—not with hush, but with heat. His kiss is like the brush of a bat’s wings: strangely tender. It doesn't demand; it lingers; it folds around me like dusk itself.
"You can add sprinkles on top…" I feel a kiss on my right thigh. "...I have orange-purple…" Another kiss on my left thigh. "Or black…" He presses his lips on my thong and I gasp.
"What’s wrong?" She lifts her eyes to meet mine.
"Nothing… just an annoying ghost in the back." I try to nudge him away, but he grabs me tighter, and he grins.
"Oh, I see… you can see them…" She walks to the shelves with jars full of sprinkles and talks about something I can’t concentrate on. I look down at Nox. He is sitting on the floor comfortably with his legs extended in front of him. He has crossed his ankles casually, his Vans pointing outward slightly. His posture is unguarded, almost boyish. He leans his spine against the counter, wraps his arms around my thighs, and puts his head between my legs. He lifts his gaze slowly, savoring the moment before looking up at me. When his eyes meet mine, they don’t just see me; they seduce me.
They’re dark, steady and full of quiet intent.
There is a softness in his expression, but no innocence.
His lips are parted as if he is about to speak but chooses silence instead.
The angle of his face catches the light just enough to make eerie shadows dance across his cheekbones, accentuating the quiet tension in his posture.
He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t need to. The way he looks at me… like I am the only thing worth noticing… or eating, is enough to make the air feel heavier, charged with something unspoken.
"Stop it!" I finally come back to my senses and push his hand away.
"You know I won’t."
"If she sees you, we are both dead."
We function like two halves of a spell. Although Nox being a vampire should have been enough to keep me away from him.
Since I was a kid, my coven has taught me that vampires are predators, liars, cursed things of the night that wear charm as a mask.
Witches and vampires don’t belong together.
Not in stories. Not in flesh. After they have died, they need our blood, the blood of witches, to rise as immortals.
That is why we are raised to loathe them: for them to become immortal, a witch must die.
I have never been good at following rules, though.
Our connection started in silence on the evening we met.
We have to hide what we have. Not because we don’t have chemistry, but because my world wouldn’t understand.
The legends are too old; the hatred runs too deep.
My Coven sisters would call me reckless and weak.
They wouldn’t understand that I don’t love him because it’s forbidden; I love him because of who he is.
I love him because he listens, because he stayed, and I love him because when I faltered?
He held me tight. I would rather live in hiding with Nox, then walk proudly in a world without him.
"Well…"
Oh yes, he is dead. I roll my eyes at him and try to nudge him with my knee, but he kisses it.
"I’ll take the festive ones." The witch picks up a jar from the shelf, and my spine straightens right away, my body slamming into the counter. I smile at her.
"Good." I tell her after clearing my throat.
"Have you heard? They are looking for a place to create an orphanage.
Since the fire…" Nox caresses my skin. His fingers crawl upward.
"...of course, the vampires…" He kisses me again, and I can feel my insides warming up.
"They should not live among us…" His lips graze my center, the lace of my underwear interfering.
I can feel him forming a naughty smile. "A vampire should never touch a witch!
" His mouth covers me suddenly and I swear not even a snowstorm could cool me down right now. He pushes my lingerie to the side with his finger, while kissing my inner thighs again. He tries to get me to fidget, and I’m obsessed with his lustful play.
His hand moves towards my mound, brushing it with his fingertips and parting them for access.
I want him. He starts to lick me upward, moving towards my clit.
He just stops for a moment, just long enough for the witch to pay.
"Never." I respond with a smile on my face.
Nox starts to touch me again with his fingers and goes in with his tongue.
He’s licking and flicking on and around my clit.
His thumb is hanging over my sensitive parts naturally.
Using it to tab and rub while sucking my clit.
The door closes behind the witch, and Nox instantly inserts two of his fingers inside me.
I moan his name and I try to reach for the counter to steady myself, but my hand collides with a jar of black marshmallow snowflakes.
It tumbles to the ground, unleashing a flurry of shards that scatter in every direction.
I collapse onto his lap, straddling him, and he starts laughing.
"I want you, bat boy." I breathe in his smokey scent.
"Then play with me, nightshade."