Page 31 of King of the Damned
Cassius’ tongue flickers out. I narrow my eyes at him. “Don’t give me that look. I didn’t intend for it to happen this way! I just wanted her to enjoy her last night!” I rub the bridge of my nose as if I have a headache, though the ailment doesn’t manifest itself in vampires. “It’s her fault. She makes it hard to hate her.She’s the furthest thing from that wretched soul she’s hosting.It’s…it’s not fair.” I glance at Cassius. “I should just kill her in her sleep and get it over with.”
The limbless reptile companion I’ve known for hundreds of years has never been one to show any emotion other than aloofness. Rarely does he show signs of anger or irritation.
But what I see in his eyes when I utter that sentence is nothing short of pure, unfiltered fury. He tenses and opens his mouth to show me his fangs. His white eyes peer straight into my black soul, and for the first time in the centuries I’ve known him, I feel threatened.
I open my mouth to defend myself from his wrath, but I suddenly feel like my chest has collapsed. Like the weight of the world is pressing down. I rub my sternum with my palm, and the ghostly feeling of an unbeating heart beginning to pound resonates within my chest. It’s like some force has restarted my petrified heart. Cassius slithers away from me and out the door quicker than I’ve ever seen him move.
And then I realize I’ve known this feeling in a past life.
Panic. Anxiety.
Adelasia!
Fourteen
Adelasia
I can’t sleep.
I can’t stop thinking about Kaius. I can’t stop thinking about the way he kissed me, or about the very real possibility that a vampire has feelings for me.
Or the very real possibility that I might have feelings for him, too.
Why else would I let him kiss me? It can’t be because I’m lonely here. I’ve never craved intimacy from a man before, not even something as innocent as a kiss.
Though, our kiss wasn’t exactly chaste. It was passionate and warm and addicting. I didn’t want to stop kissing him, and though he walked away from me, I know he didn’t want to stop either, because the golden line on my arm is still perfectly intact.
I toss and turn in my bed trying to will my mind to stop thinking about Kaius. I settle on my side, and I focus on the quiet of the room and the crackle of the fireplace. I focus on their warmth until it lulls me into that limbo between wide awake and asleep.
And then I hear the door creak. I stay on my side, pretending to sleep, but I can’t help the smile that creeps to my cheeks.
He came back for me.Even if it’s just to check on me, he came back. I’m sure he can hear my heart thudding wildly in my chest–giving it away that I’m awake and desperately want him to kiss me again.
I feel him come closer and closer, his footsteps nearly silent. A hand tenderly brushes along my cheek.
And then it flips me onto my back and clasps over my mouth. I gasp and try to make out the figure above me. When I realize it’s not Kaius at all, but Dravon, I begin to panic and screech. All of it is to no avail. I know I have absolutely no chance to fight him off.
He shushes me, but it’s in no way comforting. It comes off as a hiss more than anything. He looks down at me with a wicked smile on his face and a raised brow, telling me without words that if I’m quiet, he’ll let me go. His eyes look demonic and more unsettling than usual, like there’s a cloud of malice in them.
After a few more useless attempts to buck him off, I stop fighting. He releases my mouth and sits back a bit.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I gasp, trying to back away from him, though I have nowhere to go except closer to the headboard.
Dravon grabs my jaw and squeezes until it feels like my bones are about to crack under his ruthless grip. Then he moves my head from side to side to examine my neck as he’s done before. He scowls. “Why hasn’t he fed on you yet?”
I scowl back. To that, he smirks. “Unless…he’s been feeding…elsewhere,” he murmurs as he lets go of my jaw to run his hand down the front of my nightgown. I shove his hand away and then smack him.
My bravery quickly turns to fear when he backhands me so hard that it knocks me from the bed to the floor. I groan in severe pain as I sit up, trying to reorient myself. My hand goes to my cheek, and I feel a warm wetness there. I look at my fingers and find blood.
I look up at Dravon, now standing over me as I sit dazed and confused on the ground. He examines a ring on his middle finger and licks my blood from it. That must have been what cut me.
He lets out a pleasurable groan and then smiles. “You taste…so good,” he growls as he pulls me to my feet by my elbow. I stumble around, colliding with the wall to hold myself up. My blood still drips down my cheek, and he turns ravenous at the sight of it. His eyes turn black, his fangs grow longer, and before I even have time to react, they’re digging into the tender flesh of my throat.
I do the only thing I can do: I scream.
Though it doesn’t last for very long, because just as Kaius told me earlier tonight, the pain doesn’t last long. It’s quickly replaced by…warmth. Pleasure. Euphoria. My eyes roll back as my body goes limp. I can’t tell if it’s from the sensation, or because I’m slowly falling unconscious from the blood being drained from my body.
The scary part is–I don’t really care. The racing heat in my body won’t let me think about anything else. As I am teetering on the dangerous edge of consciousness, Dravon makes a noise of shock before he releases me.
