Twenty-Three
Kaius
It takes a full week for Adelasia to regain her full strength. By the time she heals, word has spread through the valley of her involvement with me, and what it could mean for the vampire race. The Priestesses are not exactly discreet when it comes to someone defying their power and authority. I’m certain it’s their doing that the seeds of distaste for me are sprouting in the valley.
While there are many like me who find no pleasure in this immortal life, there are plenty of others who find freedom in it. Those who would kill to keep it. I cannot let that happen.
Protecting Adelasia was a choice before. It’s a need now.
I have no way of knowing if Yekaterina intended for the entire vampire race to weigh on one mortal’s shoulders. I have my suspicions that she didn’t think this far ahead. The creatures and demons the priestesses create are imperfect things, often requiring several…generations before they are ghastly enough for the Coven.
I am the demon Yekaterina never got to perfect, and I know that what’s left of her soul squirms at the thought of it—for her to know after all these years that her hold on me is not as absolute as she assumed.
Adelasia has permanently moved into my suite for her own safety, with multiple wards defending the rooms she visits most. The human servants are no longer allowed near her as their minds do not possess the fortitude to block out supernatural influence. I would not put it past the Priestesses to use them as assassins or kidnappers.
Adelasia still mourns the loss of her friend. She built him a shrine in the courtyard and spends much of the time she’s awake in the sunlight at it. She must be praying–trying to reach him.
I wonder what she says.
Does she bear her guilt? Does she beg for forgiveness?
Even more selfishly…I wonder if she talks about me. What does she share about us in the confidence of her own mind?
On this night, I do not find her lingering at Saddiq’s shrine in the dusk. Instead, she’s on the balcony of my suite, watching the sun fall behind the horizon. A near mirror image of the way I used to watch the sunrise.
Her robe billows softly in the wind as I approach. I quietly say her name so I don’t startle her. The moonlight soaks into her skin and casts an ethereal glow that seems to radiate from within her. In fact, I know it does. She turns her head just enough to acknowledge me with an emotionless smile, then leans forward, lifts up on her toes slightly, and presses a soft kiss to my cheek.
That’s all she offers me before turning away, attempting to leave me on the balcony alone.
I catch her wrist. “Adelasia…you’ve been distant for days. Please talk to me.”
She swallows and stares at me as if I’ve just asked her an unintelligible question. Her eyes flicker to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
“I…I’m scared,”
she finally admits after a long silence.
“Of Amatisi?”
I ask for clarification.
“Yes,”
she whispers. “I’m afraid she’ll come for me–or worse–turn me against you.”
My mouth hangs open in disbelief. I couldn’t have heard her correctly. I don’t have a chance to continue pondering her words, because she speaks again.
Nervously, she asks, “Are curses spells? With spoken word?”
I furrow my brow and take her hand in mine. “Yes.”
“What is yours?”
I swallow the protest in my throat. I don’t enjoy speaking the words aloud, in fact, I can’t remember a time where I have. I’ve written it enough times that it may as well be etched into my pale skin.
“Blessed be, Eternity,
Ten centuries of enmity.
Mortality evade the soul,
Bloodlust consume him whole.
On scar of skin,
Find mark of sin.
Hilt of gems with dagger sharp,
This curse shall end,
when death kisses heart.”
I slowly pull the dagger from its place in my boot and hold it between us.
Adelasia is my freedom. My unbeating heart. My undying soul.
I turn outward to face the edge of the balcony and with every bit of strength in my coiled muscles, I throw it as far as I can. It lands somewhere beyond the valley in the forest.
But just as quickly as it disappears from our vision, a cloud of black dust gathers in my hand, and the dagger appears once more. I can never be rid of it, just as I can never be rid of this curse as long as she stands breathing by my side.
She runs her finger along the sharp blade, gasps, and then holds her hand to her chest. I unfold her fingers to find a small cut on her index finger. I kiss away the single blood drop and then stare at the dagger in a bit of a trance. I lean forward and inhale deeply the scent of her hair so that the taste of her blood does not cloud my thoughts.
“Can I ask you something?”
I whisper into the crown of her head. I feel her nod. “When you were in that forest…did you see anyone else? Aside from Saddiq and I?”
She leans backward slightly to look up at me and shakes her head. “I only remember you pulling me from the river. Why?”
I give her a comforting smile. “Sometimes the forest can cause hallucinations. I wanted to be sure nothing still haunted you.”
She gives me an identical smile back. “I don’t believe in ghosts, Kai. I only believe in what I can see…”
I punctuate her sentence with a soft kiss. Taking her hand in mine, I make her rest her palm on my bare chest, sliding between my skin and my slightly open shirt. “Close your eyes,”
I tell her.
When she does, I press her hand harder over my petrified heart. In doing so, I give her my ultimate submission—full and untethered access to me. She can see all the memories I have of her that Amatisi stole. She can feel every moment of concern I’ve had for her and most importantly, she can feel how deeply I’ve fallen in love with her.
And worst of all—she can see my inevitable dread of losing her, and how powerless I am to stop it.
She wanted to see, and now she has.
She flinches away and I can see the tears well in her eyes as all of my emotions settle into hers in an overwhelming wave of fear and love.
The salty taste of her tears touches my tongue as I kiss her again. This time, there is no hesitation. There is no fear. There is only her and I and the space between us fading.
Without her even knowing, I’ve walked us to my bedroom. Too lost in our emotions, the back of her legs hit the bed and she falls onto her back as I hold myself over her. Her cheeks flush and the blue of her eyes grows smaller as her pupils grow larger.
My lips leave hers to trail down to her neck. I can feel her blood pulsing in her veins and I can smell the desire flowing through her body. I have not been known to lose control often in these centuries, but with her, I would let her destroy me.
I nip at her neck and then kiss down her body, lower and lower as I have before. I taste her and her back arches beautifully off the bed as a soft whimper escapes her lips. She tastes divine. I cannot decide if her core or her blood tastes better.
But then I realize that she’s mine, and I have no reason nor desire to choose.
She gasps when one of my fangs nicks the inside of her thigh. When I slowly lick the cut, savoring the taste of her hot blood, her soft whimpers become desperate cries. The beautiful arch of her back becomes a roll of her hips, searching for more. Her fists tangled in the sheets become fists yanking on my hair to bring me closer. We become ravenous for each other and her taste is no longer enough. I need to feel her.
I continue to alternate between licking her core and the blood trickling down her thigh as I unlace my trousers. Freedom from the confines of my clothing only brings temporary relief. I swell and bob at the thought of feeling her heat around me. When I can no longer stand it, I crawl up the bed over her so I can see her face, flushed like a rose, and her chest panting for air.
I kiss her fiercely. Unable to control myself any longer, I tear at her nightgown until it’s in tatters around her and I can see every inch of the toned dancer’s body I’ve never had the privilege of marveling at until now.
A growl emanates from deep within my chest. “Oh, you are beautiful,”
I tell her, before kissing her again and allowing my fingers to dance over her center. She’s so slick and warm. The smell of her blood and her sex mixing is intoxicating and driving me mad.
Her hand cradles my cheek and she quietly says my name. I meet her eyes to find that her cheeks have flushed an even darker shade of red.
Embarrassment, not desire.
“I’ve never…”
she admits, looking down at the space between us and gulping slightly at the sight of me.
I mimic her actions and cradle her cheek with one hand while still circling her clit with the other. My lips ghost over hers and I breathe in every shuddering, nervous breath she takes. “I will be gentle. I promise. Just allow me this honor. Please.”
She nods. “On one condition.”
“Tell me anything and it’s yours,”
I whisper against her soft lips.
She delicately moves some strands of hair from her neck and turns her head to the side. “I want to feel everything.”
I use my finger to move her chin to force her to face me again. Her heaving chest touches mine with every breath. The mere thought of her offering herself to willingly let me feed on her, to bring us both unimaginable pleasure…oh Eternity forgive me for the way I will both defile and worship Adelasia this night.
I can feel my fangs ache with need and my own blood begins rushing to my face. Now her scent is even stronger, her heartbeat even louder, her eyes even bluer.
The last time she saw me like this she was afraid, but I see no fear in her eyes. I see trust and I see….I see…
The hunger and desire overtake me and I slip into her slick core as my fangs pierce her neck. She cries softly at the intrusions, but then she arches into me, her legs wrap around me, she flutters intimately against me.
And in that moment, we are lost and consumed in a storm of blood and passion so unbelievably fierce that it links the chains of our very souls.