Page 45 of The Cruelty of Thorns

Disabling him was my ultimate goal. At the present, I had no intention of killing him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t make sure he was no longer healthy enough to remain a threat. That I was very good at. And once he was out of the way, her attention would be free for me.

Tonight I would make my move. The roommate could pose a problem, but it’s not like I hadn’t overcome it before. Most of the students here had roommates; it was just a matter of waiting until they slept. Hopefully Ron was a deep sleeper and a quiet fuck.

My existence would have been so much easier if taking blood wasn’t linked with sex, but unfortunately for our kind, one was necessary for the other. Luckily, I was efficient at both. Ron might not remember me when I was done with him, but he would still feel satisfied. I smiled to myself, vaguely recalling the addiction of that feeling from so many years ago. He would hunger for me for a while, but it would pass, and hopefully by the time he recovered he would have gotten over his feelings for her as well.

♦ ♦ ♦

It was just past two a.m. when I stood at the foot of Ron’s bed, watching his chest rise and fall in the filtered moonlight from the open blinds. The room lock had been no obstacle, and I had checked that the roommate was deeply asleep. If Ron awoke while I was seducing him, a simple mental push would convince him it was all a dream.

When I hunted, I dressed the part of the predator; black nondescript clothes that blended easily into the night. Nothing to stand out if I was somehow spotted, though in all my years that had never been an issue. I shrugged off my hoodie and tee shirt and slipped out of my jeans, leaving my cock exposed and already hard. I reached down to retrieve my hoodie off the floor and pulled the small bottle of lube out of the pocket, squirting a generous portion in my palm. I rubbed it over my cock, prepping it for the night’s activity. Only then did I pull the covers away from Ron, revealing that he slept only in boxers. So much the better for me. I carefully inched them down his muscular thighs before crawling onto the bed between his legs.

He stirred and tried to shift his position, but I held him in place and waited until he settled again. When I was satisfied he was fully asleep, I folded his legs up to expose his ass. This part was usually tricky, gaining entrance without waking the victim. I had perfected my technique over the years, stroking his cock with one hand while inserting two fingers into his ass. When he moaned in his sleep, I bent over him, bringing my mouth close to whisper in his ear.

“Shh. It’s just a dream.”

I waited until his breathing resumed its normal sleeping rhythm, then pulled the fingers out of his ass and edged the lubed head of my cock into their place. He jerked when I entered him, but I continued to murmur encouraging words to him that wove a spell of confusion around his mind, keeping him asleep and compliant.

I was all the way inside him when he suddenly opened his eyes and stared up at me.

“Just a dream,” I whispered, wrapping my hand around his cock and slowly working it up and down. “Close your eyes and enjoy it.”

Once again I waited until he complied, then proceeded to slowly fuck his ass while stroking his cock. When I want to, I can cum quickly, and speed was necessary in these circumstances. It had been years since I’d had a willing, fully awake partner, and while part of me missed that intimacy, it wasn’t a requirement to get what I needed. The simple act of orgasm, combined with the drinking of blood, was enough to sustain me.

I could feel Ron’s cock stiffening in my hand and knew he was also close to climax. I quickened my pace, lowering my lips to his in a kiss to swallow any sound he might make when he came. When I felt he was ready, I let myself go so we could climax simultaneously, me filling his ass while his cock shot ropes of cum over his chest. I kissed him savagely, wanting to imprint myself on his senses before moving my mouth down to his neck. When my teeth sunk into his flesh, I nearly groaned as the rich taste of his blood zinged through me. Regardless of how many victims I took, that first sip was always like lighting a fire in my veins.

Ordinarily I would temper my appetite, not wanting to take too much so I could return to the same well night after night, but since I had no intention of revisiting this union, I allowed my appetite to have free rein. Only when I felt his heart start to stutter did I finally pull away. A couple of moments longer and I would have killed him, but I had already determined that death was not in the cards for him at my hands. I didn’t need a martyr. Leaving him too weak to function would serve my purposes just as well.

I pushed off of him and pulled his boxers back up and covered him before dressing myself. In the meager light from the window I could already see that his flesh had grown paler, his breathing more shallow. He was close to death now, but he would eventually awaken, and when he did, he would be left feeling empty with a vague longing for something he could not name.

With one last look at the roommate, who had slept through the whole thing, I let myself out of the room and crept down the hall to the exit, a silent shadow that quickly disappeared into the night.

CHAPTER 21

INTERLUDE

A fleeting hope

THE NEXT MORNING found me up before the sun had completely bled night from the sky. How I was able to function so early after my evening in the Contessa’s room was testimony to my resolve at finding a way to get myself and Rosetta away from this cursed manor. I dressed quickly and stole out of my room and down the stairs, listening for anyone stirring in the household. I could smell the morning bread baking in the kitchen but saw no sign of the cook staff or the housekeeper, Lucia.

Having never noticed a gate to the outside from the courtyard, I decided to try my luck at the front of the house. After several wrong turns, I finally found my way back to the large greeting hall I had passed through on my first night here. I unlocked the heavy front doors and, after a cursory peek outside, slipped through and stole along the shadows under the portico. A line of hedges bordered the front of the manor, and I wedged myself behind them as I crept toward the end of the building.

I waited for several minutes to assure myself there was no one moving outside, then left my cover and sprinted down the driveway, which rounded the side of the house and ended in front of the stables. I scooted behind a large woodpile and looked around for signs of anyone who might be working in the stables. I knew about the coachman, but surely in a house this size he had help. When I didn’t see anyone moving about, I ventured out along the back of the stables toward what looked like a fenced pasture.

Four horses were out in the yard, which meant someone had turned them out this morning, but I didn’t see or hear anyone moving about. I crept up to the gate and slipped through, following the fence line around the pasture toward a stand of cypress trees where I would be hidden from view of anyone in the stables.

The fence was a wooden split rail design, rising to just above my waist, meaning it would not be difficult to clear, even for Rosetta in her weakened state. As far as I could see, there was open land on the other side of it. The trickiest part would be getting out of the house and into the pasture without being spotted by the coachman. After that, we should have a clear shot across the countryside until we reached the road into the city.

With a plan in mind, I stole back across the pasture and let myself into the gate without incident. I retraced my steps back to the house and slipped through the front door, making my way upstairs to the third floor. Hopefully Rosetta had followed my advice and stayed in her room.

I knocked on her door and waited for a moment before opening it and poking my head inside.

“Rosetta?”

She was sitting up in bed, looking a little stronger than she had yesterday, though she was still quite pale. I ducked inside and closed the door.

“Can you walk?”

“Julianus? Did Lucia see you?” she asked, her voice panicked.

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