Chapter 12 – Lamia
LAMIA
We’ve been flying for most of the day when we reach the first destination on our map. This city on the edge of a small town on the coast is circled, along with a mark that looks like a bell or a light. I’m not quite sure what it means, but we want to do this right.
Either this place will show us something we need to know to reach the Cave of Blood, or it won’t. But no matter what, we aren’t leaving without something. I just hope we know what we need to get when we see it.
It’s dusk when we land, and I uncurl my arms from around Darius’s neck.
He releases me, moving far from me without a word.
It hurts a little, but I understand. We aren’t friends. We aren’t anything. There’s simply an agreement between us. Even if flying all day with him, being held by him, creates a sense within me that we’re something more.
“Humans are in this town,” Darius begins.
I look to him, confused.
“I think we should feed her again.”
Just the idea of it has my mouth growing wet and my body tightening.
“Are you hungry?” Darius asks.
I nod, not knowing what else to do.
“I’ll feed you this time.”
The other two men say nothing, nor do they look at me. Guilt makes me want to refuse his offer, but I’m terrified of what I might do when I enter the town. It’s better safe than sorry.
After a minute, Darius sighs.
Sitting down on the outcrop overlooking the beach, he glances at me expectantly.
I’m trembling as I move to him and settle into his lap. His body feels so warm against mine. All through our flight together, I’d gloried in the feel of him. In his touch.
It seemed a thousand years since I knew that kind of touch. A gentle one. One without fear.
I sense Ryker and Vincent moving a little away from us. They stand, as if guarding our little cliff. Close enough to stop me, but oddly far enough away to give us privacy.
“Ready?” I ask him, my voice almost a whisper.
He doesn’t look at me. Instead, he screws his eyes shut.
“Ready.”
For a minute I don’t move, I just stare. Darius has a nice face, but something about it makes me feel like he hasn’t experienced a lot of gentleness or goodness. I have the unexplainable desire to run my finger along his cheek bones. To touch his skin and bring him what he’s missing from his life.
But that seems strangely…intimate. Like something a lover would do. Not a monstrous creature that’s been given permission to feed on this man.
I swallow around the lump in my throat. I need to take what this man offers and nothing more. I owe him that, at the very least.
Reaching up, I tilt his head gently and sense tension humming underneath his skin. My gaze goes to his glorious pulse, and the fast rhythm of it fills my ears. I lean closer, breathing in his scent. It’s richer than Ryker’s, and strangely playful, like sprinkles on a cake.
Leaning forward, I first simply press my lips to his pulse, fighting the shudder than runs through me. On my tongue, I can already taste him. I already remember how very good he is.
Allowing my fangs to elongate, I hesitate only a moment longer, then pierce his flesh.
He swears, and his arms move around me. But instead of pushing me away, they draw me closer.
I drink then, filling my mouth with his blood. Tasting him in a way that’s intimate and vulnerable.
His hands travel down my back lightly, and he sighs.
My own hands seem unable to remain still. They trace his shoulders, the muscles of his chest, and then dance over the hard lines of his belly.
His blood is just a part of him. A sample of what this man can offer me.
I’m shocked when one of his hands grasps my breast. So shocked that I still against his throat, waiting to see what more he’ll do. But it doesn’t take long for his thumb to flick my nipple, and I moan against his skin.
He continues to stroke my breast as I feed on him, and when I break free from his neck and move to feed on his other side, his hand dips lower. When it moves against the short dress I wear, I eagerly spread my legs. In an instant, his hand is tracing my lower lips, and I’m overcome with need.
One of his fingers presses inside of me and he groans, stroking the silky, wet flesh.
And I was right. Right about my feelings towards these men. Because it isn’t just that I’m getting full, or that their blood is like a feast. They make me hot and bothered, awakening human-like desires within me. Desires for more.
I’m rubbing eagerly against his hand when I finally break away from the other side of his neck.
When I pull back we’re both panting, and he strokes me harder, holding my gaze.
With each second, I move closer to the edge. Closer to reaching an earth-shatteringly powerful orgasm.
“You guys done?” Vincent calls.
Darius’s hand stills, then pulls away from me. “Yeah, we’re done.”
I tumble from his lap as he stands, and he doesn’t look back at me as he heads for the other gargoyles. I, on the other hand, watch him with an interest that borders on obsession. Did he understand what he was doing to me? Did he like it?
Because I know he doesn’t like me.
My legs shake as I rise and head toward them.
Ryker gives me a strange look. “Are you still hungry?”
I search within myself. I am, but not for blood. “No. Not at all.”
He nods. “Good, then it’s time to figure out why the map wanted us to stop here.”