Blood Rose (29 page)

My hand brushed his cheek gently.
“Don’t lie to me, Damien.” His brow furrowed deeply. Before he could rebut I grinned. “I suck at normal nearly as much as you do. Besides, where’s the fun in life if there is never any danger?” He chuckled as I smiled.

“You don’t have to worry about me not feeling safe with you. I just don’t want to slow your life down. You shouldn’t have to change for me.”

He smiled and kissed against my flesh over my heart moaning softly. “You already have changed me.” He kissed again. “I have been content most of my life. I care very deeply for the members of my House. But in the years many of life until now, I’ve not known I could feel so intensely about one other being.”

Call me pessimistic. Call me sarcastic. The two were so muddy with what I said next I didn’t even know the difference. “Well now you can feel intensely about a great many things and they don’t all have to be pleasant. You can detest someone intensely. Feel intense hate.” My hand waved as if I could go on a ways.

He glared up at me teasingly. In a smooth motion, he maneuvered to lie between my legs. His hands squeezed my hips and ran up slowly. He kissed against my slender stomach. “Hmmm, what I feel intensely about? I feel very intensely about you. I care for you intensely. Intense protectiveness.” His fingers spread up rubbing over my ribs. His head dipped nipping my belly button.

“Intense longing- Intense want- Intense ache- Intense desire.” Between each syllable, he placed a kiss on my stomach. Eight fingers slid under my shirt and under the band of my bra. His fingers mostly behaving. “Intense passion.” Kiss. His thumbs ran up over my shirt against my breasts.

I inhaled deeply. His tongue flicked at my belly button. I let out a long gust of breath. “Incredibly… Intense… love.” His lips drug kisses from one hipbone to the other before resting his cheek against the flat of my stomach.

My hand ran through his short hair, tugging lightly. The other clutched tightly to his shoulder, enough for my nails to be digging into his flesh. I hadn’t even realized I was doing so. He looked up to me with a look of hunger in his eyes I had never seen before. It wasn’t one of thirst.

We laid there for what felt like forever. Damien lay perfectly still. As if he was frozen in time. His fingers didn’t trace patterns along my flesh. He just laid there, without breathing for that matter. My hand on his shoulder had removed and lay over his other cool cheek. “Your skin is like fire,” he sounded far from uncomfortable. “A fire I have been longing to feel for most of an eternity.” My heart sped and a full smile swelled devilishly over his lips. “Your heart is pounding.”

“Sorry,” my voice was barely a whisper.

“Why would you be sorry? I like it. In fact I rather enjoy knowing that I can have such an effect on you.” My cheeks burned. He chuckled as he heard the tempo increase and my body grow even warmer.

After laying there for endless minutes my heart had finally slowed. At times, he would turn and resume his trail of kisses. Soon as my heart would begin to speed up again he’d stop and lay his cheek against my stomach to listen. It was perfect bliss.

XVII

“FROM YIN TO YANG”

Damien had stopped breathing completely. It was strange for me. Obviously though, it wasn’t unusual for him.

After a time, his body grew stiff. It was only a slight change but he seemed rigid with tension. I was afraid to move or speak. Had I done something? Was something wrong?

We continued to lay there in silence for another few minutes. He never eased. In fact, I could feel his body grow more rigid with each passing second. In another moment’s time, he’d moved so blindingly fast it was as if he had vanished.

When I realized he was on the floor by the bed I nearly jumped out of my skin. Sitting on the floor, Damien knelt on his knees. His head hung down low, one arm on the bed the other hand holding to his temple. After a moment of hesitation, he rose to stand up, appearing over by the bay doors as he leaned against the frame.

Damien looked utterly distressed by this time. “Damien, what’s wrong?” He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. A habit I was learning induced by stress and pain both. I wondered if it was I that had caused him pain.

“Just a little. Please don’t feel guilty. Or-” He shook his head again. Even by the light of the moon, Damien’s eyes looked glazed over. “Would you hate me terribly if I had to leave you to yourself for a little while?” If it were possible, he looked even more placid than he usually did. Somehow, I didn’t believe it was an effect of the moonlight.

“What’s wrong?” My eyes narrowed as I watched him closely, I noticed the bluish tint under his eyes was darker than usual and his skin seemed nearly translucent.

“Must be an effect from the bloodstone. Nothing I can’t take care of.” Standing immediately by my side he leaned over and kissed my cheek. The effect was chilling. His skin was bitterly cold now.

“Can I ask where you’re going?” I kissed his cheek in return as he pulled away.

“You may not want to know,” he said while rubbing his forehead.

“Tell me anyways.” Stubborn.

“Drinking enough blood usually cures just about anything wrong with us generally.” His blatant expression caught me by surprise as his eyes focused on me. It was obvious he wanted to know my reaction.

“Good. I hope it helps.”

His brow rose suspiciously but all he could do was give a slight nod. My statement caught him off guard obviously. “It will, I’m sure. Will you be okay here by yourself? I don’t like leaving you alone but-” He paused with a heavy breath. “I don’t have very many options left I’m afraid.”

“I will be fine. Go, have a nice dinner,” my voice had a strange sarcasm to it but what else do you say? He laughed warily and kissed my forehead.

He backed to the door and I stood to follow. His brow rose. “You should sleep. I’ll be a few hours.” I shook my head giving him an in your dreams steady stare. “Very well.”

He turned and left the door of the bedroom and

walked down the hall. His hand clutched the banister as he took each step carefully. I followed.

My arms folded tightly over my chest. “I am sure you can find ways to keep yourself preoccupied. My home is yours. I give my full permission for you to be nosey.” He turned to me as I reached the bottom step and tapped my nose with a faint smile on his lips.

His fingers spread and brushed my cheek just as faint as the smile on his lips. “Just be careful. Whatever you do, do not leave this house. Not even for a moment. Promise me you won’t even open the door.” He could flip from teasing to serious with the simple flip of a switch. “Even if you think you hear me.”

My brow furrowed with a bit of annoyance at the over protectiveness. He stared down at me with his own stubborn way, waiting for my compliance. He wouldn’t leave without it so I gave. “Alright. I promise. You know I’m not done with the questions right?”

Damien shook his head and gave me a weak smile of apology. “Of course you’re not.” He stepped forward, kissing my cheek. “I love you, Anna.”

Then he was gone.

* * * * *

Time went by slowly. I’d settled on the floor lying on my stomach in front of the fireplace after flipping some lamps on.

The fireplace had been easy to start. There were logs already in place and it was switch activated to ignite the logs. Real wood, not the fake shit. The smell was wonderful.

In front of me, I had laid out a weathered leather bound book more than half full of random sketches and a bag of oil pastels. I flipped through each page slowly until arriving at a blank page just half way through.

With nothing in mind, my fingers slowly moved over the page. Soon so absorbed I was no longer aware of my surroundings. Dangerously unaware.

My fingers danced along the page of their own accord. Broad shoulders sculpted and contoured. Large black feathered wings emerged on the page from his shoulder blades. He sat on his knees. Arms out by his side, palms up. His head was bowed. The image looked down on him from behind. I titled the bottom,
Mercy.
It had only taken an hour.

Another page. Another sketch.

A hand took shape on the page. The hand curved as if reaching to take hold of something. Then a dark smudge took the form of a dark droplet of liquid coming off the tip of the middle finger. A cut formed deep across the palm in shades of grey to black. Another droplet running down the length of the finger now…

A loud snap echoed through the house as the lights flashed and then went out along with the power. The stereo went off, silencing Dido’s voice instantly. “Crap.” Luckily, I was used to the dark.

The only remaining light came from a scarce glow of burning embers in the fireplace. Nevertheless, my eyes quickly readjusted. It must be getting ready to storm. Perhaps a bolt of lightning had blown the power. Leaving my book as it lay I stood slowly, still a bit sore, and walked to the window.

It was too quiet to be storming. Perhaps it was only the beginning. Lightning storms are pretty common in Vermont. Just like any stupidly curious human with dull senses, I cupped my hands to the glass and leaned closer, waiting for the sky to light up. Instead however, the shock I received was more than a crack of thunder.

The glass exploded into a million glittering pieces as a force I had never thought imaginable hit me square in the chest- throwing me across the room. Falling back onto the hard wood with a scream, I hit my head on the floor. It felt like a hammer pounding into my skull. My head spun as I lay stunned, the wind knocked out of me.

It took everything I had just to sit up. My ankle throbbed, surely having snapped it again in my landing. The force that had shattered the window and knocked me back was standing just a few feet from me.

A low snarl rippled through the night. The figure took a slow step closer, coming to stand directly over me. His skin was black as night itself but glistened as if made of wet oil. Red gleamed off his flesh by the glowing embers of the fire.

With eyes glowing a dark ruby red, he towered over me dauntingly. He stood as a man but his flesh was of a beast. Almost serpent like. Black scales shined as he moved.

I crawled backwards to the wall by the fireplace. My nails dug into the exposed stone. I watched him saunter slowly after me, stopping just a few feet from me. It wasn’t human.

It wasn’t anything I had seen before in my life.

If I could have stopped myself, I would have kept my mouth shut. “Damien.” Whispering his name caused the beast of a man with the midnight flesh to lunge for me, taking me up in his hand by my throat.

Pinning my body to the wall I hung like a rag doll off the floor. Gurgling from the pressure on my throat, the blood flow cut off, as well as my oxygen, my hands came up clawing worthlessly at his fingers. Kicking my feet back, I braced myself against the wall trying to relieve the pressure uselessly.

“Say his name again so that I may rip your spine out, kitten.” The voice was not from the man who held me. It came from the window and I knew it instantly. The man from the docks.

The old New Englanders accent. It made sense now. Stupid thing to think about at that moment, huh? We can’t help how our minds work. Pictures of British Red coats and blue, with white powder wigs flashed through my mind. Perhaps.

My eyes bulged, rolling back as I became desperate for the blood flow and oxygen to return to normal. The beast who sought to strangle me had his face inches from mine. The breath was indescribable. Let’s just say bad is a minor. Rotten meat was closely associated.

His features were sharply pronounced, nearly jagged. Rough scales framed his brow and spread down his neck. A whisper from the back of my mind supplied the name of what he was. Dragon. I pictured the rotten meat and saw my own corpse.

His lips were pulled back from his teeth. Protruding black fangs easily three times the size of Damien’s and every tooth razor sharp in-between threatened my flesh. A low growl rumbled from his chest up through his hard black lips.

Suddenly jerked away from the wall, the clamp on my throat was unbearable before he chucked me across the room. Sending me flying into a wall only to land on a table that shattered on impact.

Agony overwhelmed me like I had never known. Gasping for the air that was knocked out of me, my body began to succumb to the pain.

A crack alerted me to the break not just in the table but to something snapping internally. Ribs maybe. My right hand moved to my left, pulling out a dagger of wood that had gone straight through the palm.

The one at the window lunged at me, kicking in instinct to take over. Defending myself with the piece of wood, I made a poor attempt to stab at my flying attacker. As he landed, he grabbed my wrist with the hand holding the bloody wooden stake, snapping it back as if it was a twig. Screaming again, my body twisted as I dangled in air.

His voice ruptured into an ear-bleeding laugh. He grabbed my other hand and pulled it to his mouth, slowly licking the blood up from my palm. “So sickeningly sweet. No wonder your blood called him.”

The appalling nausea in my stomach made me feel weak, pathetic. I was fragile. Like Damien had said. Only he forgot to add worthless and frail. A rage began to boil inside of my veins, deadening the pain.