This Blood (15 page)

He approached me, a look of yearning in his eyes. I bolted off the opposite side of the bed and stood against the wall, using the bed curtains to block my view of him. I blew out my breath and tried to get a handle on my jumping nerves, but before I could exhale, he was there. His vampire speed was shocking. I sort of staggered back and he caught me around my waist.

“Let go of me!” I struggled in his arms, my traitorous body tingling where his hands touched me. “I am not your guest,” I said, as I pushed at him. “I am not going to have sex with you and I am not going to use the ring to get you what you want, so just back off!”  He let go of me abruptly. I fell backward several steps as I tried to regain my footing. His eyes had changed to lifeless black.

“Oh crap.”

I turned, ready to fly out of the door. I’d decided to take my chances with the scary things outside. They seemed safer at the moment. I got about two steps. Then he was in front of me again. “Would you stop that?” I yelled, stomping my foot like a child.

“There is no leaving, Grace, not this time.” He moved to the door and turned the lock.

“I may be your prisoner, Seth,” I scowled, “but you don’t own me. I am still my own person, I have free will, and I say no. You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.” I took a step back.

“You are correct, in a way, but, I believe by the time I am finished with you, you will be doing what we both want, voluntarily.” His stare sent chills all over my body. It was hard to keep my confidence, with those lifeless doll eyes boring holes in my head. At least his teeth remained normal. “Did you forget that I hold the lives of your friends in my hands?” He closed the distance between us. His breath sent goose bumps along my skin. “You should know that at this precise moment. Eden awaits my command. Tell me Grace, should I let him taste your precious Ann? And what of your hero? Should I allow Chloe to sip from your lover?” He shook his head. “How I long to give
that
command! Warlock blood is a most potent nectar.” He reached out, wrapping his large hand around my wrist and pulled me hard against his body. The low cut of the gown, allowed my bare skin to press against his naked chest. His skin felt cool. “I will not force you to my bed. That is beneath me, however, I am confident you will soon be warming my sheets. Now, what I want from you tonight is simple, a small sacrifice to ensure the safety of your friends.”

He grazed his lips along my jaw. “You burn me; your heat is a balm for my soul.” He looked at me. The points of his deadly teeth lengthened as he bent his head. “I wish to taste you again.” His icy breath sent chills along my bare skin. “I have longed to from the first day I saw you. You are one of a kind, special. Do you know what that knowledge does to me?” He sighed. “Your blood is the rarest blood in the world. You are the last of your kind, and now you belong to me.”

His voice was hypnotic. I stood there getting mesmerized by his words and gentle caresses. His breath on my neck felt incredible. I shook myself and pushed at him again, fighting myself as much as him. I knew what he was capable of, even without the threats.

“All you have to do is refuse me this tiny sip,” he said, his sightless eyes finding mine, “and their fates will be sealed. Eden will tear into Ann’s throat. Her struggles will be irresistible foreplay for him. He will take her while her blood flows hot into his eager mouth. Oh, and let us not forget poor Lucian, the man you seem so eager to rescue. I will have him stripped naked and bound to a bed. Chloe will enjoy that. She will toy with him, and then drink her fill.” He bared his teeth. “This I promise you. By the time you get him back he will no longer know your name.” He held me tighter, if that were possible, as his hands began moving over my back. I felt his fingers glide over my butt. He shuddered.

“You decide now,” he snarled.

“You are the worst kind of devil!” I hissed. Then I reached up and pulled my hair over to one side and tilted my head as an answer to his request. I hated giving him what he wanted. I lost the first battle. But I knew that he would soon touch the ring to my bare skin and then I would win the war.

I looked up. He was staring at me; his breathing becoming rapid, causing his chest to visibly rise and fall.

He knelt down, gripping my arms tightly and rolled his eyes up, looking into my face. “You do things to me that no woman has ever done.”  He drew his breath in through his clenched teeth. “I should throw you to the floor and push myself deep inside you.” He growled, raspy and low in his throat. “I have never felt this restless.” He licked his lips. I saw a flash of sharp white teeth. He was like an animal.  He gave me chills just knowing what he was, what he could do.

“Just let go, Grace, you will be alright. I won’t hurt you.” He slowly stood, then lowered his mouth to my neck, where my wildly beating pulse throbbed under my skin. I felt the velvet softness of his tongue lick a seductive path along my neck. “God, you taste amazing,” he breathed, before his teeth descended.  I held my breath, my fists clenched tightly at my sides. Pain, sharp and quick struck my neck.  I felt him lift me up and walk slowly to the bed. The sheets were cool on my back, his solid weight pressing me firmly into the mattress. He began feeding from my body and suddenly, I no longer cared.

My mind spun erratically. Images flew through my consciousness. A man, his powerful hips glistening with tiny beads of sweat as he slid in and out of a woman. His hair was free and flowing down his back in messy tangles. The image shifted, and now his eyes were closed. He moved to sink his sharp teeth into the tender flesh of the woman’s thigh. Her long legs were spread to accommodate his body, while her dark tendrils cascaded onto the bed in damp knots. Her hands were bound at the wrists and fastened to a hook on the headboard. She was turning frantically from side to side and moaning with pleasure. I saw her eyes.

I choked on my shock.

It was me.  

“Holy shit!”

I jerked upright, knocking Seth away from my neck as the erotic vision faded. A look of pure contentment replaced the wild hunger in his eyes. He fell back onto the bed. His smile told me he was fabulously satisfied.

“You taste like nothing I have ever had.” He turned onto his side, “You are liquid fire,” he smiled, “sweetened with lust.” He crawled toward me, a frightening smile crossing his face. I pushed him back.

“Hold on just one damn minute,” I hollered, “what the hell was that? Where did you get the mental slide show?” I sat up and scooted back, as far from him as I could get.

His lips turned up in a lazy smile. “That could have been us the night you left me for another’s bed. It’s what should have happened.” His eyes held a hungry heat, “I have thought about that night many times since you ran from me.”

“But I never,
we
never…did any of that!” I was astonished. He had a very fertile imagination. I felt myself blushing.

“I want that night back. I could have taken you while your mind was clouded, but I chose not to. When we make love, I want you to be willing. I want you to writhe beneath me, wild with your own pleasure. I want you to scream my name as I drink from your body.” His eyes faded to their lovely silver-blue. “You will never long for another man’s bed, that I can promise.”

Arian was right about him - he did have a one track mind. “I never left you for another man’s bed. I left because,
You. Are. The. Bad. Guy
. I left because you
kidnapped
me and planned to use me for your own nefarious reasons. As, I might point out, you are doing again! I’m sorry, Seth, but despite how much you want to believe it, I never had sex with Lucian. I hadn’t even planned on it. Not that it’s any of your business, It’s just I don’t want you to make him the scapegoat. You have no reason. He is innocent!  And as a side note, neither one of you are getting into my pants. So live with it!”

I tried to look tough and no-nonsense, but in this outfit I was wearing, who could? I was irritated.  This gown was absurd. “Will you quit dressing me in these flimsy things? I pinched the silky fabric at my stomach.  “I need real clothes. I can’t go around dressed in pajamas all the time. I’m not Hugh Heffner!”  I protested.

“I dress you in these
things
as you call them, because you are lovely, and I believe women should be feminine and wear beautiful things. It pleases me to look at you, to think that only a small slip of fabric separates your naked body from my touch.” He curled his fingers, and gently grazed his knuckles along the curve of my neck. I caught my breath. He was really pushing it.

“More than that separates us,” I said with more than a hint of anger. “If what you say is true, that you will not force me. That would be rape, and you said you were above that.”  

His smile was cruel. “Everything changes, s
weet
. If you resist me for too long, I cannot predict what I will do. I speak the truth to you now, but the future is uncertain. Remember, I am a monster, I feed on life. I am not a good person.” He stood and removed his shirt. Reaching his hand into his pocket, he withdrew the ring. Slipping it onto his finger, he settled back onto the bed.  

“Now, sweet, let us see what your powers are capable of,” he said.

Yes! I was going to touch the ring! I sat up and tried to look calm. My mind was racing. He seemed to notice my enthusiasm.
Crap
. He smiled at me as if to say,”
How stupid do you think I am
?”

“First a test, I am curious to see how close you need to be to use the ring. I don’t want another scene like the other night.”

“Okay, what do you have in mind? I mean, I have to be touching the ring itself to make it work, correct?”

“No.”.

“N…
No
?”

“According to legend, you
are
the Madea. The ring is the vessel for your power - power you have awakened. The ring is controlled by your mind. It feels you. I know this, because now that I wear the ring, I feel you as well. From the moment I put it on, I could almost taste you in the air. It is so much a part of you. Now, what I understand is that the desire, or, the wish, for want of a better word, must come from the possessor of the ring. You are needed to bring it to fruition. So you see,” he smirked, “you will not be making the wish,
I will
. All you need to do is touch my skin. The force of your will combined with your compliance should do the rest.” His eyebrows rose. “So, I am sorry to disappoint you, sweet, but you will not be injuring me tonight.”

He went to his hands and knees and crawled closer to me. I sat back and scooted away. I was freaking. If this were true, then we were still totally screwed!

“What are you going to wish for?” I was shaking. “You have to be careful. A wish you haven’t thought about fully can backfire horribly.” I was stammering, in an effort to buy time. “You need to work out every detail, you could hurt people. You could forget something vital and end up causing a catastrophe.” I was babbling.

He got to his knees in front of me. “Touch me, Grace. Place your hand on my heart.”

What heart? I thought to myself. He took my hand and placed it on the new warmth of his chest. I shuddered to think that body heat came from me. “I need you to agree to do this, Grace. I prefer not to hurt your friends.”

I knew he would. I was trapped, I had to cave. I steadied myself and took a long trembling breath. I was terrified of what he may do. But then, I wasn’t too convinced that his little test was going to work. I was almost certain that I would need to touch the ring itself for any magic to come out of it. But I just couldn’t risk the consequences to Lucian and Ann if I failed.

SEVENTEEN

I concentrated, imagining my will as a solid thing; I pushed it through him and into the ring. I felt the ring with my mind. I shuddered as my eyesight blurred, and my mind went totally blank.

An instant later, my vision cleared. My hand was still resting on Seth’s smooth chest. I felt it rise and fall with each heavy breath. I looked up into his beautiful eyes. He was gorgeous. I felt magma rising up my spine as a terrible longing filled my body.  I moved my other hand to his chest and then felt my way up along his muscled pecs to his broad shoulders. I stopped, cupping the back of his head. I watched the hunger in his eyes as I pulled him down to me.  Our lips met and the molten lava seared through my flesh. I felt moisture gather between my legs as my body prepared for his entry. His hands crushed my body to his, revealing his unconcealed lust.  It was evident in the huge swelling of his arousal. He fed on my mouth, sucking my tongue into his warmth. He tasted good. Sweet, with just a hint of iron,

My blood.

That thought sent a surge of fear into my head and suddenly, just as quickly as it had begun, the passion vanished. I broke the kiss and scrambled out of his arms. My body was humming from the rush of desire and I struggled to catch my breath.

“Come back to me, Grace” he said. Despite his calm voice, I could see the tension in his body as he strained to control himself.

I stared at him. My anger at my self betrayal was all consuming.  I couldn’t believe what I had just done. I practically jumped his bones! Then it hit me “What was your wish, Seth? What did you ask for?”