Page 77 of The Sorcerer of Shadowholde

Vita glanced at the men laying on the ground, torn apart, dead, and her heart raced, the welling of guilt and despair catching in her throat.

Renatus was at her ear with a hiss. “Don’t look at them. Look at me.”

Dragging her eyes away from the bodies, she saw the smirk on his face as he continued to fuck her, filling her over and over again with his cock. She focused on him, focused on the pooling of warmth in her core, the electricity that sparked every time he plunged into her.

He flicked his tongue across his bloodstained lips and before Vita could react, he was at her neck, plunging his fangs into her throat. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, the sharp sting of pain mixing with the shock of the bite.

Renatus drank from her as her scream faded to a moan, the sensation of blood leaving her body so strange, yet erotic. He was taking her life force just as he was taking her cunt, feral and rough, though she felt something more behind the brutality.

Not once did he stop his rhythm of thrusting even as he gulped down her blood, the absurd mix of pain, pleasure, and fear overwhelming her.

It was all too much, and her muscles tightened around his cock, eyes rolling in her head as she heard his soothing whispers in her ear.

“Yes, darling, come for me. You’re safe. I will keep you safe.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, the orgasm charging through her like a tempest, his words burning in her chest. Stars dotted her vision as he continued to thrust, not pausing for a moment even as she clenched around his length.

“What a good girl you are, coming on my cock.”

Another whisper and another aftershock of pleasure, his words continuing to overwhelm her with feelings of love, lust, confusion, so many emotions at once that she felt dizzy.

With a final plunge, his cock jerked inside her and there was sticky warmth dripping down her thighs, Renatus growling against her neck like a savage beast. He gave her a few shallow thrusts as he rode the waves of his orgasm, pressing the flat of his tongue to the wound at her throat.

Slowly he withdrew, his seed dripping to the ground as he set Vita back on wobbly legs. She leaned against the wall for support, chest heaving, awaiting his move with a prickle of fear.

He blinked his eyes as if coming out of a trance, looking around at the men he’d killed, their bodies still leaking blood as they lay still on the cold ground.

“We should go,” he murmured, turning back to her. “Can you walk?”

The answer was, no, she couldn’t, her legs weak from the physical pounding she’d just taken mixed with the devastation of the evening.

Renatus scooped her up in his arms, carrying her back to the palace with not even a glance at the dead men.

The trip was swift, a servant opening the heavy door as he brought her inside. He didn’t set her down, continuing on until they were in the bathhouse, the stars glimmering overhead. The tall stone walls blocked some of the chilly breeze, Renatus setting her on her feet once more.

They were both filthy, clothes and bodies stained with blood, sweat, and drink, seed still seeping from between her legs. He gave her a tender look, pausing for just a moment before undressing her, then himself. He took her hand and escorted her to the round bath built into the ground, the pool a black void without any light to illuminate it.

Steam rose from the balmy water, and Vita felt her entire body sigh as she stepped into its warm embrace. He followed behind, his hand never leaving hers.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said, his voice with none of its usual bite.

“I could say the same for you,” she replied, eyeing the blood still staining his face, his hands, his neck, anywhere his clothing had not spared him.

He hissed a laugh, then began scrubbing her with gentle hands, paying special attention to her mouth and chin, still coated in blood.

Three men, dead… because of her.

“It’s not your fault,” Renatus said, as if reading her mind. “This was not the first time those men did something like that, and it would not have been the last.”

He was right, of course, but it did little to quell the despair consuming her. When he finished, he turned to himself, scrubbing the drying blood from his face and body as Vita observed. The warm water was soothing, the occasional hoot of an owl interrupting the stillness of the night. As her muscles began to relax, she tried to focus on his words.

It’s not your fault.

Renatus had come, had saved her, even after his dismissal earlier. He didn’t want her, and yet had taken lives to protect her.

His pale skin was pink, raw from the scrubbing and the heat of the pool. Without a word, he pulled her into an embrace, the first touch of bare skin on bare skin alighting every nerve in her body. He kissed the top of her head, then her cheek, the tenderness making tears well in her eyes.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” The murmur of his voice prickled the skin on her neck, and she unconsciously pressed her fingers to the wound he’d given her.

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