Once Awakened: Chapter Seven

That night I wanted to hunt alone, I don’t know why I did, I just did. If I had known what would happen I would have asked Romulus to come with me. But I did not know what awaited me on the dark streets of Sorridin, what other evils lurked there, watching, waiting, ready to strike.1

I left our secluded castle, walking silently, as vampires do, through the cold streets. I was looking for someone to feed on, to kill. Little did I know someone was looking for me. 2

I had sensed them shortly after I left but thought nothing of it. All I saw when I saw them were two mortals, a man and a woman. I did not wish 3

to drink from they were not to my preference, and I continued on, blissfully unaware that the distance between us was decreasing at an alarming rate. 4

“It’s not safe for one so young to be wondering the streets alone at this hour.” I froze, that voice, the man’s, did not belong to a mortal. Mortal voices are rougher to my ears, their pitch changes ever so slightly, not enough for them to detect but vampire ears hear it. These voices were perfectly smooth, speech only vampires produce. 5

They were vampires, older then me, what I saw when I searched their minds was only an illusion. They were not much older then me, by twenty or thirty years maybe, but older nonetheless. Both of them allowed me to see they were unarmed, I did not allow them the same luxury, however, as I was not unarmed. My knife could not be seen however as I had it pinned horizontally on to the back of my dress, I did it this way so I could appear unarmed to mortals. Now, all I had to do was shut my mind completely. I could feel them pushing at my consciousness. But Romulus had taught me how to shut my mind from anyone, even him though I never did. 6

“How old are you, child?” The man asked me in a voice that was more like the hiss of a demon.7

“What business is it of yours,” I replied, struggling to remain calm through both my anger and my fear, “to know how old people of this city are?”8

“It is our business because it is our city,” He answered “you take the living out of our city, take the dead, they are of no use to us.” Angrily I turned to look at him. 9

“Live off the dead?” I hissed “Never” The dead are useless to us, what blood they still have provides us no nourishment. I ought to kill them now, the blade of my knife was poisoned, a toxin specifically designed to slow healing in vampires. Romulus had found it many years ago, and it was very effective. 10

“I shall take the living if I wish, as this city has belonged to my sire and to myself for centuries. If you wanted to claim this city then you should have spoken sooner!” The moment the words left my mouth he grabbed me by my throat and pinned me against the wall of a house with such force a mortal would have been dead. And though I was far from mortal I felt like a human child with his hand around my throat.11

“You will not take the living from our city, or you will never see the night again!” 12

But I had taken enough of this! My anger took over and I slowly reached for my dagger and before he could even see what I had done I had swung my knife across his face creating a large wound that caused his dark blood to spill from him and pool on the ground.13

But the woman was stronger, much stronger. And, to my surprise, she was not unarmed. She held out both her hands and flames seemed so sprout from her fingers and form themselves into knives that I knew I had no chance of defeating.14

My own knife fell from my hand in shock and she was suddenly in front of me. She let one of her knife burn away and pinned me against the wall I had only just gotten away from.15

“Idiot girl!” She hissed, “To think you could defeat immortals older then yourself” She held the other flame dangerously close to my neck causing my skin to start to burn, which only made her laugh insanely.16

She leaned closer and her fangs were almost touching my neck. 17

Forgive me, my lord, I thought, I’m so sorry I could not return to you. For I was not worried about myself then, but him. I knew how much pain my loss would bring him. Her fangs were touching my skin now and I seemed to lose all of my strength. The only thing holding me up was her because my knees had collapsed beneath me.18

Suddenly she was gone. I heard a scream and was blinded by a brilliant flash of fire. With out her holding me my knees gave out completely and I hit the ground hard before I felt strong arms wrap themselves around my defenseless body. I felt a cold hand on my neck. The other vampire! Had he somehow healed enough to attack me? I tried to fight back but my arms would barely respond and my mind wasn’t strong enough. I had no way of defending my self against another attacker and I knew this would be the moment of my demise. 19

But something wasn’t right. If whoever held me was going to kill me they would have done it already. And the touch on my neck was to gentle to be an enemy. Whoever held me was no enemy of mine.20

I reached up and searched blindly for the hand on my neck and felt cold fingers close protectively around mine, familiar fingers.21

“My Lord?” I gasped in surprise.22

“Yes,” He replied, “I destroyed them, Sithandra. Listen to me, you’re burned far worse then you can feel it’s almost completely across your neck.” 23

He lifted me up and gently wrapped his strong arms around me, “They were sent by someone, or else they would have attacked you sooner. More will come; you are in danger, my child. They came here for you. I need to get you back, you’re cut deeply and the burns are preventing it from healing. Hold onto me.”24

I held him as tightly as I could which really wasn’t very tightly at all as I was too weak from the burns. I now had first hand knowledge of the damage fire can do to a vampire. It is, after all, the main way we kill each other. 25

Romulus carried me back to his castle and I tried as hard as I could to cling to consciousness. He laid me on his bed and took my hand. 26

“Sithandra, can you hear me?” He asked, almost pleading for me to hear his fear, and I nodded.27

“Listen to me now, this is going to hurt you very badly but its all I can do to heal the wound, do you understand?”28

“Yes.” I gasped, the pain from the burn was very strong and I did not know of anything that could be worse, clearly I was mistaken.29

Romulus traced his finger over my neck across the burn. I could feel my skin slowly knitting itself back together but it also felt as though I was being burned all over again. It went very slowly, what he did. But I knew it was working because underneath the pain I could feel the burn healing. When he reached the end of the burn he lifted me up and kissed my forehead.30

“I have healed you to the extent of my abilities,” He said in an apologetic sort of voice, “It is not complete, but it is all that can be done by my hand.”31

My strength had come back now that it was not being burned away and I swiftly wrapped my arms around his neck. 32

“I’ll protect you, my love” He whispered in my ear and he kissed my forehead. 33

“Drink, Sithandra,” He said and there was no way I could protest. Nothing could compare to the taste of his blood and I needed it then. 34

He parted the clasp of his cloak and pulled it off baring his neck for me. I kissed his lips, then his chin. And lower until I kissed the skin just over his vein, the one he had told me to drink from. My fangs scratched his skin and a single drop of his blood touched my tongue. Romulus hissed in response, not in anger, more so in arousal. I knew he loved this, I had been with him far too long not to know what he loved.35

He kissed the base of my neck and I let my fangs pierce him a little deeper so that more of his blood filled my mouth, not enough though. But, to vampires, the pain of our bites on each other can either be greater then any pain or the greatest pleasure. For us it was pleasure, and the way I was drawing it out made it all the more beautiful.36

He fell backwards out of shock or pleasure, I’m not sure. But I was over him now, above him.37

I finally broke through his skin completely and finally the amount of his blood I needed spilled into my mouth. I closed my eyes and surrendered to my other senses, all of which seemed confused and twisted by the pleasure of this moment. It was almost as if I could hear his blood singing softly to me, as if I could taste his hands caressing me in the most pleasurable and secret of ways. It was confusing, strange almost, but entirely worth it. 38

I lifted my teeth from his neck and he turned me so that he was the one over me now, I was the one pinned down by love. His black ponytail fell over his left shoulder and brushed my bare arm. 39

“You are the very essence of temptation,” He whispered and traced my lips with his pointed fingernails, “I’m blind to all else when I’m with you.”40

His hand touched my cheek and I held it there and kissed his thumb. When I kissed the point of his nail, before he realized what I was doing, I moved my bottom lip across the point and a thin ribbon of blood oozed out. I did the same thing on my top lip and then I moved his hand back, letting him see the blood. 41

When he saw it, he took my other hand as well and held both of my hands down on either side of my head. I looked at his eyes and I saw the thing I remembered seeing when I was little, The Beast that lives inside all of us. It was his more animalistic side, I knew it well, it’s the thing that makes us hunt and kill. But I wasn’t afraid, I trusted him and I knew he could control it, I had seen him do it with me more then once.42

His lips touched mine and it was more then a kiss, he pulled gently at my veins and my body responded to the pressure. I curled my fingers around his and closed my eyes again.43

My lips were numb from their loss of blood yet he still kissed them as passionately as ever. He traced the point of my fangs with his tongue and then released my lips and kissed me lower until he was kissing my neck. 44

I turned my head to the side and, to his satisfaction, moaned softly in pleasure. He moved his lips to kiss me as low as my dress would allow. 45

Slowly, so as to give me a chance to refuse if I wished and I didn’t, Romulus released my hands and unbuttoned my dress. He never let his gaze leave my eyes. Every time more of my skin was revealed his fingers never failed to ignore it.46

When he unbuttoned the dress I slipped it off and when his lips touched mine, I undid the buttons on his shirt as well, one button for each kiss. I quickly ran out of buttons. Romulus reached down himself, and undid the button on his black pants. The slight decrease in his strength was what I had been waiting for and I turned back around so that, once again, I was over him. 47

I could tell he wouldn’t try to regain control this time simply by the look in his eyes. His hands moved up my waist and around my back. He unclasped my bra dropped it to the side. He stopped breathing altogether when he saw me, now completely bare, over him. Again I saw his thirst rising in his eyes but rather then act, this time he forced it back for the moment.48

I had no need to tell him anything, he knew me better then that. He caressed my thighs softly and his fingers found my clit. My sharp intake of breath told him this was what I had desired. I reached down and stroked him softly. He jumped slightly in surprise and I smiled as I saw the look in his eyes.49

Placing my hips over his, I slowly lowered myself onto him. I gasped sharply and his eyes widened. One inch of him at a time until I had him in me completely. His fingers found mine and clenched tightly around them. With his love for me looking out at me from his eyes, I rode him. Slowly at first then faster until I could feel nothing else in my world but him. 50

His lips found mine immediately and I felt him cut his tongue on my fangs. His blood flowed into my mouth and I felt it course through my veins. I could taste his excitement in it. 51

I spoke to him with my thoughts and when he replied his voice was rough with passion even in my mind.52

“ I’m ready, my lord,” I gasped, “I want to feel your bite when I come.”53

His lips found the base of my neck, “Come Sithandra” he said and that was all I needed. His fangs sank deeply into my neck and I screamed his name as I felt him explode inside of me. 54

It felt like it lasted forever. Forever that we both held each other, forever that we both shook in the throes of the orgasm that claimed us both, forever that we lay in each other’s arms when it ended. 55

But, of course, that was before I realized just how long forever really was.