Page 51 of When Night Falls
"Your bloodlust, it's eating at you right? Take from me." Her words pound in my ears like a drum as lust licks at my curiosity, wanting to know how she tastes.
I turn fully around to face her, knowing my eyes have darkened. But hers don't turn away from mine, and I can tell she's not sure if she likes what she sees or not, but the bravery my little shadow possesses doesn't allow her to back down from the whirlpool of darkness my eyes display.
"Lucynda, you have no fucking idea what you're saying." My voice holds a bit more authority this time. If she asks me to do what I think she's asking me to do, I don't think I can hold back.
"I do. I know you claim to just want one thing from this marriage, and honestly Rivian, I call bullshit. But if you plan to use me for a power strike of some sort, then you might aswell use me for your other needs as well." Her arms are crossed behind her back. It's a move of exposure, her whole body is open up to me now.
"Lucynda…"
She holds her hand up to signal that she’s not done talking.
"I came down here to give you a piece of my mind, Rivian. You hauled me off to my room and left me alone for hours. I'm not a little child that needs to be closed off to the world and I'm certainly not going to accept being some hidden secret of yours. Or a pawn or whatever you decide I am to be."
"At least you had the comfort of a bed and windows," I spit at her, feeling a surge of hate light me up.
"Are you so shallow to think that is what matters? Alone isaloneand I'm done being left abandoned. I'm done feeling useless to the people in my life. If everything you're saying is true and I am your soulmate or tether tie or whatever the fuck you wanna call it, then let me be useful to you. Let me prove myself. Don't use me and throw me away. You don't have to love me or even like me, Rivian. But I won't sit idly by and be used anymore. And besides…" Lucynda takes a deep inhale, allowing herself to calm the nerves of speaking so many emotions into existence.
Her action of breathing is nearly identical to the times I'd embed my ghostly whisper into her mind to urge her to do the same. She misses it. The voice. I can tell.
"Besides, Rivian. You saved me from my monster. The least I can do is save you from yours."
My heart beats erratically in my chest at her words. She wants to repay me for what I've freed her from. But I fear I don't deserve that kind of gratitude just yet considering that I freed her from one monster only to lead her to another . . . me.
I stalk closer to Lucynda. I can see the way her chest rises and falls the closer I get to her, crowding her space.
"You don't mean that," I tell her, almost as if I'm giving her no option to mean anything by it. I don't want her to mean it. I want her to be anything other than selfless; I don't want her to sacrifice anything more for me than I plan to take.
"I do, Rivian. I really mean it. You have no idea how grateful I am that you-"
"Lucynda. You don't. Fucking. Mean it."
"You know, you don't get to tell me what I can or can't think or feel. I'm still a person whether you want to treat me like one or not. Just because I've agreed to become your wife doesn't mean I am to become your property."
I love how she stands up for herself. I can tell how much it means to her too. I am obsessed with the way she tries to fight for herself yet annoyed that she has gotten so good at getting under my skin like this.
I don't respond to her. I simply keep my eyes locked on hers, forcing her to feel the heat that eagerly burns between us.
"Can you feed on me after I become a vampire?" Her curious question floats between what little space lies between us, her sweet soft tone with a little rasp to it now after having to defend herself to me in a raised voice.
"Yes, I can," I start, "but that only serves as sexual gratification more than an actual source of food." My admission has her breath hitching, her eyes widen as she tries to avoid the eye contact I'm giving her. Everything I'm feeling is intensified, cravings so visceral it hurts.
"When you were sucking on that girl's neck at the party, or even the chick you were with just now, did that give you sexual gratification?"
"Why are you asking me this, little one?" Her breathing turns sporadic, her mouth hangs open a little and goosebumps visibly take over her skin as I back her into the wall. "Are you jealous?"
"I just-" She tries to explain herself, but I don't give her the time to when I suddenly place my palm against the cement wall behind her head and use the other one to brush her loose baby hairs off her neck.
"No. It doesn't," I whisper to her, answering her question. I allow my touch to glide over to that scar of hers. The one I find myself needing to touch and hating that I wasn't able to save her in time from it happening. But it's one of the most beautiful things about her. It tells a story of how even with such a beautifully tragic reminder etched into her skin, she still radiates with a glow of someone who can fight, someone who has strength.
"Then what does?" she whispers back, curiosity lighting up her cheeks.
Lucynda tilts her head to the side gently and slowly, allowing me to find the expanse of her delicate neck. I can see a few small freckles scatter over her skin here and allow my fingers to slide over a few of them, tracing over them and connecting them together as if they are constellations in the night sky. I can feel the hunger grow feverishly inside me; I'm able to track exactly where her pulse vibrates and how fast it's going.
"What will give you sexual gratification, Rivian?" Lucynda asks me again with sated, heavy eyes. She's so fucking pretty for me like this, neck wide open and waiting for my attack. I've never known anyone to be so patient with me. Not until this moment with my sweet sin willingly waiting for me to take what's mine. And sheis mine.
"You," I say to her as I press my thumb a little heavier against the soft flutter of her pulse, completely entranced with how submissive she's allowing herself to be when I know my little shadow craves to be the alpha.
She draws her porcelain-silver eyes up at me, dark black lashes fan against her rosy cheeks.