Page 57 of Nocte

I don’tjustwant to see the mortal realm.

I want this vamryer to show it to me. I want to see it through his unfeeling, red eyes. I want to huddle in his arms, safe and broken but protected.

I don’t want anything else, I promise. My greediness will run its course as long as I get to keep him…

I want him.

I’ll keep him.

CHAPTER19

Caspian

Stupid, fucking, stupid fae. Stupid, fucking, stupid Cassius. Stupid, fucking, stupid me. I’ve let my toy wander by herself for a fucking second.

One second.

And she wandered her way right into danger. Another creature ripped her apart and left her body torn and bleeding. I can feel her dying. Taste her blood, painting the air. There is no Cassius to please anymore, no rules to follow. I could stop running. Set her aside in some dark, dank place and drain her dry. Feast and feast.

I want to.

My steps slow, and I hear her ragged, half-assed breathing. In and out, she sucks in air, but she’s running out of time. Her tiny heart is tired of pumping. It starts to stammer and fizzle out. The longer I linger, she’ll fizzle out. Already, she’s too limp. Too weak. Her voice is a croak, and I can feel her wet, warm blood dripping all over me. Spilling all over me.

Yummy. Delicious.

I only have to lower my mouth to her neck and look past those wide, staring, half-closed eyes. I only have to prod her throat with a hungry tongue. Lap up some of the precious, beautiful red that’s already spilled.

I can drink her. Take her. Have her entire essence, then throw away the dried-out husk. I can do it. Oh, how I want to.

Do it. Do it.

I can’t. She’s too weak. Too pale. One drop could never be enough, and then she’ll be dead in a heartbeat. Which is what I want.

Isn’t it?

Yes.

No.

Fuck me. Fuck her.

I keep moving, heading down the road the mortals call a highway. They navigated it blindly in little cages of metal and rubber. Cars, they call them. Trucks as well, bigger and longer. One of those infernal contraptions plowed into her. Shattered skin and bone. Her ribs are snapped. I can hear one of the jagged edges scraping into her lungs. Scritch. Scrape.

She should be moaning in agony. Writhing like they all do. The damage caused by the truck was great, but I’ve done worse to others. Many, many, many before her. I tore them apart with my bare hands while Cassius watched and goaded me on.

Such a good boy, his Caspian was.

He loved to watch me fuck his chosen appetites, but he liked to watch me kill even more. He used me like a rabid dog on a leash. Let me snap bone and chew and gnaw on the gaping, gory pieces.

During the throes of the death rattle, all of his victims loved to beg. They would murmur their final words, like,“please, don’t.” “Have mercy.” “I have a family.”

Boring, worthless, meaningless lies.

But her… She pries her heavy lips apart, and to nothing and no one, she says, “Beautiful. So beautiful.”

We’ve left the darkness behind for a world of lights. Bright, nonsensical color—that’s what the mortals like. They drape their homes in neon and let their world sparkle with nauseating brilliance. Cassius would like to do it, even in our other realm. Perhaps he would if his two elders didn’t keep him in line. They made him dim his shine and confine his extravagance to his mansion.

I prefer the dark. The cold. The quiet. Endless misery and stoic silence.