Darling (8 page)

“My cravat.”
He covered her fingers with his. “Stop tugging, darling, or you
will undo it.”

Cassandra’s
passion cooled as amusement sprung into her voice. “Are you shy
of me seeing you nude, my lord? I promise I won’t stare. . .too
much.”

“Trust me,
darling. This makes it easier.”

She pouted, already
forgetting her silent promises to perfect obedience. “But I
want to see you.”

“Hush now and
be a good girl, Cassandra.”

She fell silent.
Lord Constantine’s annoyance was never a good thing. Cassandra
scooted back on the bed. She found the edge of the heavy covers and
shimmied beneath them. Arms lay straight like matchsticks. She fisted
her hands and waited for his direction. Darkness blotted the
landscape of her secret thoughts.

Why must every
aspect of this be controlled by him?

The bed sank next to
her. Cassandra banished her disloyal musing and thought only of
pleasing her lord. Fear insinuated itself alongside devotion.

What if I fail him?

“Darling, I am
going to love you. Do you understand what that means?”

She nodded, mouth
pursed shut until he bade her to speak aloud.

“This is why I
must control it. I do not want to. . .damage. . .you. Can you
understand?”

Cassandra’s
heart rattled a traitor’s tune. She nodded, breathless with
anticipation, and blind to everything but his approval.

“Won’t
you say anything, darling?”

“You told me
to hush. I was trying to be your good girl.”

Lord Constantine
shuffled her so he could lie next to her. Cassandra nearly lost her
composure as his cool flesh touched hers. His arm slid beneath her
head, allowing him to cradle her. “Talk to me, darling. I want
to hear your thoughts.”

Cassandra’s
fingers traced across his shoulder. “I want to know you as
others have known you.” She cried out when he pressed her hard
onto her back. Fingers bit deep.

“What others?
What do you mean?”

She couldn’t
connect the panic in his tone with reality. Her Lord Constantine
never lost composure. He was the god of her world and as her god he
was above imperfection.

What is wrong with
him?

“Answer me,
Cassandra!”

She flailed. “I
want to know your love, my lord. I want to know you as you have shown
yourself to your human mistresses.”

Lord Constantine’s
touch abandoned its destructive mission. “You know?”

Cassandra reached up
to remove her blindfold. Her hands slammed back down at his bark of
“Don’t you dare!” She blinked away a few wayward
tears. “Please forgive me, my lord. Please do not be angry with
me. I cannot bear for you to be upset with me.”

“You would
grovel like this for me, darling? Am I worth that much to you?”

Cassandra picked up
on his disgust, never imagining she wasn’t the target. “I
have no shame when it comes to you, my lord.” She held her
hands out in supplication. “I can be like them if you want. I
can do to you whatever you would have of me. I just want to love you,
my lord. I want to love only you.”

“Stop it.”

“Please let me
love you. . .”

“I said stop
it!” Lord Constantine hauled her up. “You are not
interchangeable with anyone else, do you understand? You are not a
whore, Cassandra! Do not act like one just for something as
insignificant as my love!”

“Insignificant?
How can you say it is insignificant? I have lived my entire life for
your love, Lord Constantine! I have done everything in my power to be
pleasing to you, to be all that you would ever wish for in a
companion and it is never enough! I am here naked as the day I was
born, as naked as the day you stole me away from my family, and you
speak to me about insignificance? It is clear what is truly
insignificant.”

“I did not
steal you.”

“Pardon?”
Cassandra hated not seeing him. Her fingers tingled. She wanted to
rip off the cravat.

Lord Constantine
knelt, knees touching hers, vicious tone gone as if it never existed.
“I did not steal you.”

“Then what
happened?”

He brushed back her
hair. “I bought you.”

Cassandra nuzzled
his palm with her cheek. “But you always said you stole me. .
.why are you telling me this now?”

Lord Constantine
replied in a low, melancholy voice, “I wanted there to be some
truth between us.”

“Then why did
you lie all this time?”

“I thought it
better than the truth. I was wrong.”

Cassandra absorbed
her new reality. “I see.”

“You are
angry.”

“No.”

“Truly?”

“It does not
change my life with you.” She reached out until finding his
thigh. “I do not even remember them. All I remember is you. I
am far more yours than I ever was their daughter.”

“All because
you do not remember them?”

Cassandra shrugged.
“Perhaps if I had grown up with those people, known their love
and was one night snatched away to come here, perhaps I would hate
you.” A besotted smile curved her lips. “But I do not
think that possible. I could never hate you, Lord Constantine. I love
you far too much to ever hate you—especially over an incident I
do not even remember.”

“Thank you.”
He pulled her onto his lap. “I do not deserve you, darling. I
truly do not.”

“I disagree,
my lord. It is I who does not deserve you.” Cassandra pecked
him sloppily on the mouth. Her hands smoothed over his face. “I
wish to have you forever—no matter how long it takes.”

Lord Constantine
turned her so she straddled him. His arms snaked about her waist.
Cassandra felt his hard maleness slide against her stomach. She
quivered, giddy to know he was finally going to be all hers. Her
vampire feathered his lips against hers and whispered, “We will
always be together, Cassandra. We will never part as long as I have
the power to make it so.”

Cassandra whispered
her love for him, promising to never, ever leave him no matter what.
“I want to be yours, my lord,” she cooed slavishly.
“Please make me yours.”

Lord Constantine
kissed her carefully before showing his love for her physically. His
hands brought delight as they cupped her breasts, paying delicate
attention to her nipples. His mouth soon followed. Cassandra writhed
as he alternately licked and sucked one breast before devoting his
focus on the other.

His fingers slid
between her splayed thighs. Cassandra moaned softly, feeling wanton
and impatient for Lord Constantine to touch her in the tender place
which craved him the most. When the vampire finally tired of teasing
and petting his darling, he urged her onto her back and committed
himself fully to her pleasure.

Soon Cassandra
blindly reached for him, needing to hold onto Lord Constantine as her
world fractured into blissful pieces. Once she collapsed with a
satisfied whimper, he began again.

Lost to the
beautiful skill which he played on her body, Cassandra felt herself
transform into a shameless, hungry creature. She wanted him to
possess her completely. When his mouth latched onto her, Cassandra
arched up with a greedy scream.

Much later Lord
Constantine settled himself between her trembling thighs. He murmured
beautiful words of devotion and adoration. His kisses traveled along
the graceful lines of shoulder and neck. Cassandra tensed as the
pressure built between her legs. Pain threatened to erase all traces
of ecstasy.

Lord Constantine
captured her mouth with his. He kissed her hard before pleading
hoarsely, “Just suffer this wound for me, darling, for a small
while. I promise to make it better.”

Cassandra nodded,
trusting her lord’s word as one from God. “Please let me
look at you, Lord Constantine. I need to see you.”

He groaned while
yanking off the blindfold. Cassandra grabbed his face when he
attempted to look away. “No! Let me see you. I want to know
you, my lord.”

“Darling. .
.Cassandra. . .”

“No, my lord.
Let me look.” Cassandra brushed her fingertips across the
razor-like lines of his cheeks and brow. “I love seeing this
way, my lord. You are so beautiful—you do not have to hide this
side of yourself from me. I am not afraid of you. I want to see my
lord as the proud vampire king he is.”

“Darling. . .I
do not want to hurt you. . .I am trying to be. . .” He hissed,
unable to speak as he pushed deeper inside.

She pressed her
thumb against one fang. Her skin split. Lord Constantine’s
predatory gaze fixated on the blood drop growing steadily larger. “Do
you want to taste it, my lord?”

He growled in reply,
mouth yawning to showcase his unnatural sharp fangs.

Cassandra smiled
with a siren’s confidence. She rubbed her thumb across his
lips. “I am yours, my lord. Take me into you as I have taken
you into me.”

Lord Constantine
slammed his hips against hers. She screamed and laughed, traveling
one extreme to the other. Cassandra had beckoned the beast with a
blood-soaked digit and he had arrived in spades.

The vampire twined
his arms around her back as he pounded into her. His mouth settled
onto her neck. Lord Constantine’s fangs pinched the skin,
effectively holding Cassandra in place as he ravished her.

I never imagined it
could be like this. He belongs to me as much as I belong to him.

Cassandra happily
suffered the exquisite roughness of becoming Lord Constantine’s.
Her thighs cradled him while her hands clung to his back. He pushed
against her once, twice. Cassandra’s breath exploded in a
shrill cry as his fangs sank deep.

The intimacy of
making love with Lord Constantine paled in comparison to feeling him
suck her into him. Pinned beneath his large body, Cassandra became
his personal blood butterfly. Thought and sound swirled into a
pinpoint as small as the holes in her neck.

This is what I was
born for.

Lord Constantine
licked her wounds shut and whispered, “My darling, darling
Cassandra, you are my most precious woman.”

She wept in
happiness.

0

Cassandra lay in his
arms, curled into him like a sated kitten. Constantine covered her
shoulder with the coverlet and watched her sleep. Happiness came in
short bursts, fettered by the dark knowledge of what he had done to
create it.

This is the last
time. I will not tamper with her mind again.

The door opened. He
sat up and bared his fangs at the intruder. “You are
trespassing. Remove yourself. Now.”

“Not yet.”
A thin smile curved her lips. Lady Kamilla glided to the bed and
noted the slumbering human. “So much like babes when they
sleep. So innocent.”

“What do you
do here, Kamilla?”

“I was
checking on your little darling. I am happy to see she listened to
me. A girl like her cannot spend this much time among our kind and
not pick up a bit of our habits.” Lady Kamilla grinned at the
tiny betrayals of his outrage. “Surely you wondered how she
found out about your dalliances?”

“You entered
my territory, froze time, and betrayed me. Why?”

“Because you
betray yourself, Constantine.”

“You pushed
her into my bed. It was not for you to decide.” His eyes
flashed crimson. Fury rolled through him, setting his mind on fire.

“Your
decisions do not impact you alone, Vampire King, or did you forget?”

Constantine
positioned himself between Cassandra and the vampiress. “I know
my duty, Kamilla.”

Lady Kamilla’s
inhuman stare sharpened to shred through him. “Then act like
you do! I cannot be responsible for creating terror alone while you
go mooning over this girl.”

“You do not
understand how it is between us.” He could’ve bit off his
own tongue for sounding like a lovesick adolescence.

“I understand
perfectly, Constantine, and because I understand I am doing you this
kindness. Do not question it.” She approached Cassandra. The
vampiress caressed the sleeping girl’s cheek with one finger.
“How were you able to calm the little darling? She was fit to
kill me and you both.”

Constantine shifted.
His mouth tightened.

Understanding dawned
on Lady Kamilla. “You erased her memory.” She shook her
head in pity. “You stupid man. How could you do such a thing to
her? To yourself?”

“I did what
needed to be done.”

The vampiress
pounced on his guilt. “Will you strip her mind every time you
run after one of your mistresses?”

“I would not
betray Cassandra, Kamilla. She is mine and I will not dishonor her.”

She dissected his
granite expression before dipping her head in a regal nod. “I
am glad to hear of it.” Lady Kamilla glided to his side. She
leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Her whisper froze him. “You
know this can only end badly now, Constantine.”

His agonized gaze
landed on Cassandra’s peaceful face. The Vampire King couldn’t
keep his fears under submission, recoiling from them even as they
loomed large to destroy the innocent woman sleeping by his side.

About Claudia D.
Christian

I’m a writer
who loves to mix sex, love, and violence in equal measure. I write
from the idea of “Love is punishment.” I do believe in
happy endings, but I prefer the journey there to be hard and painful.

Please feel free to
visit my website: www.claudiadchristian.com It’s a place for me
to publicly experiment with storylines, to post work-in-progress
samples, short stories, and share info on other dark writers whose
work I just adore. I’d love to see you there!

---Claudia D.
Christian

Other Titles

Writing Dark,
Paranormal Love Stories as Claudia D. Christian

Novellas

Love Unfortunate

Suicide Doll

Novels

Devil’s
Descent I: purgatory

Devil’s
Descent II: impure