Page 20 of Bleeding Love

Pain and desire whirled within me, making my heart and knees weak, but the stubborn panic that had kept me going for centuries refused to let me give up now. I swung back, aiming my shackled wrist at his face—I doubted my body had the strength to truly hurt him, but those runes had magic, and that magic didn’t discriminate.

Roman hissed when his cheekbone cracked under the reinforced metal, magic strong enough to suppress the power of a witch making him stagger a step back. He loosened his grip enough for me to break out of it, and I ran down the corridor. One of the servants appeared from the door I passed and I grabbed him without thinking, pushing him in front of me. The man shrieked when he saw Roman, but the vampire barely looked at him as he pushed him out of the way—hard enough to send the human flying into the wall before dropping in a heap on the floor.

I reached the staircase and leaped down, taking it two steps at a time. When I looked up again, Roman was already waiting for me at the base of it. I tried to stop but tripped, rolling the rest of the way before I crashed heavily onto the wooden floor.

“If you are trying to kill yourself before I get my hands on you, you really aren’t trying hard enough,” Roman said in a half-amused, half-exasperated voice. I tried to get up, but before I got to my elbows, a set of cold fingers slid into my hair and pulled it hard enough to hurt. Grabbing his wrist and digging my nails into it, I glared at him as he dragged me to my knees. When I tried to get to my feet, he kept me down.

“Why did you attack me this time? Is it because I locked you up? Because I touched you? Because I fed from you?” he asked, holding my gaze. “I am genuinely curious.”

“It’s all of that, you bastard!” I snarled. My head was yanked so far back, I could barely swallow as he brought his face next to mine. “I fault no creature for acting on its nature even if that nature makes it kill, but what you’re doing is disgusting! I won’t…”

He yanked me to my feet so fast that I couldn’t even scream. Then I realized that his hold on my hair had shifted, keeping me in place without actually hurting me. My surprise didn’t last long because the ground disappeared from beneath my feet and I found myself hanging from his shoulder. I tried to push off, but his hand over my thighs was another shackle, even more unbreakable than those on my wrists.

Before I resolved myself to clawing his neck, darkness swallowed us whole. The smell of damp earth and rotten wood invaded my nostrils, making me realize we were back in the basement.

I swayed when Roman set me down, trying to get away from him, but I could neither see nor hear him as he moved. My left hand was yanked up and attached to something, then my right. I struggled against the hold, but then metal dug into my skin, telling me I wasn’t going anywhere. So I looked around, trying to will my sight to adjust so I could at least tell what he was doing. Not knowing what to expect somehow made everything worse.

I felt his fingers glide over my shoulder and I tried to pull away, but the binds barely let me arch my back. A low chuckle echoed through the darkness, and I was just about to snap at him when the sound of fabric tearing made me gasp. I sensed him move in front of me right before the rest of my underdress slid off my hips and rustled to the ground. The cold kissed my skin, and I shuddered, straining against the binds. Warmth pooled in my belly as my eyes darted around in anticipation, my heart beating faster and faster while I waited to see what he’d do next.

“I always found it fascinating how every species has its defining weakness,” he said in a contemplative voice that seemed to come from behind me. I could almost feel his breath ghosting my neck, his mouth brushing against my ear, and while part of me abhorred it, another part wanted to lean closer. “Vampires can’t survive long without blood. Humans can’t survive long without food. Fae can’t survive long outside of their groves, and witches…” He stopped in front of me, sliding a finger under my chin and pushing my face up. “You can’t survive long without satisfying your urges, can you?”

I blinked in surprise, wondering how he knew that. Witches had more weaknesses than that—like the fact that our magic was limited or that we needed time to replenish it; like the fact that we were tied to our blood, and we passed our power through it; like the fact that we couldn’t allow a male offspring to live. But this weakness… this one we kept secret from all because it was one easy to exploit. So how did he…

“You need to get a release or your magic goes erratic and your spells lose power, focus, potency. The everlasting seductresses. Amusing how this one thing remained consistent century after century.” I couldn’t see his face, so I could only imagine where he was judging by his hand placement. I glared into the darkness, knowing he could at least see that. His fingers tightened on my jaw and he drew near until his lips brushed against mine. He didn’t try to kiss me, just lingered there as if he was studying my face. “I wonder how long it has been since the last time. You haven’t touched yourself ever since you woke up in this house. How long before you can’t stand it and come crawling into my bed, begging me to fuck you?”

I tried to wrench my face free, but his hold only tightened.

“I’d rather fuck the servants!” I snarled through gritted teeth.

“You think you have a choice, darling?” He scoffed. “I’m sure you usually do with that face and body. One word, even without your magic, and men would drop at your feet. It makes you feel in control, doesn’t it? It makes them tools to be used and discarded, faces to be forgotten once your needs are satisfied. No connection or recollection of the poor souls you left feeling weak and used and helpless.” I didn’t bother replying, just kept glaring at the darkness until I felt his finger press between my collarbones, sliding down until it paused between my breasts. I tried to draw back, but Roman’s grip on my hip was like a shackle. “I bet you don’t like feeling like that.”

His hand slid lower, moving past my navel. I jerked away, trying to knee him where I thought his groin would be. He caught my knee with ease, squeezing it hard enough to make me whimper. When he let it fall, his hand moved back to my hip, gripping it tightly.

“Get your hands off me!” I snarled, considering trying to kick him again.

Roman tightened his hold.

“Now, now. You don’t get to have it both ways,” he purred. “You attacked me, several times, unprovoked. By taking away my consent, you gave up yours. Nothing I am doing now is any different from what you have done. So you don’t get to act like a victim. You should rather hope I don’t go straight for your heart like you did.”

I was just about to curse him when his mouth crashed against mine. It was so unexpected, the cold yet weirdly soft lips moving against mine with such brutal insistence that I stood frozen for a moment. His fingers dug into the side of my face until my jaw felt like it might snap, and I had no choice but to open my mouth. He wasted no time exploring every inch of it, as if curious about what surprises I might be hiding there. My head spun from trying to keep up with him, from the way my body flushed with desire despite the hate simmering inside. It wasn’t until his hand released my hip and dipped to cup my ass that I realized I was arching into him, searching for more of his touch.

Rage flooded my mind, pushing away the ache between my legs.

I bit on his lower lip, squeezing hard enough to tear it. He froze but didn’t pull away, even as something cold and bitter slipped into my mouth. My tongue turned tingly at the touch of his stale blood, the dead undertone of it—enough to make me realize I had made a mistake.

I tried to spit it out, but Roman clamped a hand over my mouth.

“No spitting,” he said in a low, teasing voice. “Swallow all of it.”

I shook my head. He squeezed my nose between his thumb and forefinger and watched me struggle until I finally gulped down the sour substance. I was thrashing by the time he released me, but getting free felt like too small a victory when I could feel his blood spreading through my body like a cube of ice that chilled me to the bones.

I was such an idiot. I couldn’t see him smirking, but I knew he was.

“I can’t tell if you are just one of those people who lose their capacity to think when their emotions run high, or your whole I-will-kill-you act is your strange understanding of foreplay.” I twisted back when I heard him move somewhere behind me, but saw nothing. I had devoured only a mouthful of his blood, not that much really, but my body was already inclined to listen to him even if my mind was not. That was going to be a problem.

“Stand up straight and spread your legs for me,” Roman commanded, and the cold presence coursing through my veins turned scorching hot, pushing at my limbs as if trying to make them move. I fought against the compulsion with everything I had and almost sobbed when I realized I was moving my legs to stand apart. My back was so straight that I felt tension seep around my neck, but even while I tried to cave my shoulders in, the warmth burning me from inside wouldn’t let me. “Good girl,” Roman drawled, and I gritted my teeth.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’I cursed myself, keeping my eyes closed in an attempt to focus all my willpower on resisting whatever was going to come out of his mouth next.

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