Forbidden Fables, page 37
“Enough, Melody. You will drain him if you do not stop.”
I was tucked into Melody’s four poster bed, and I drifted into a deep, sated sleep.
Chapter 31
Lilith
Dante.
All these years, I thought the death of my daughter was at the hands of Domenico.
He had every motive to hurt me, I betrayed him for my freedom, becoming pregnant with a child because of it. His reach was too far to tell, and his sermons were talked about from France, all the way to England. He was everything a powerful man should be, and for that, I should have known he would never waste his time on an orphaned child from his beloved.
It was Dante all along. His jealousy of Domenico shadowing any loyalty he had to his bloodline. His need to be desired married to the fact that rejection was a daily occurrence. I had rejected him on countless occasion, and once felt such pity for him that I let him feed from me. Was that single act a mistake? Did I take my pity for him too far? Leading him to believe that he would ever be able to attain someone like me?
The castle was full of my snakes now, and rain poured down so fierce, so hard that every window was broken, and water seeped inside through the cracks and crevices.
Water was below my bare feet with each step, and my hair was plastered to my forehead from exertion. I had never taken my powers this far, and it was utterly glorious. The very wind around me was under my control, each crash of thunder, each bolt of lightning.
I took my time walking to the apothecary room, I knew just where he would be cowering, and I knew exactly how to kill him. I was prepared to take a vampires life tonight, but I hadn’t thought my spear was angled for Dante.
The door busted open, no need for me to touch the handle. He was there, with vials of red blood in his shaking hands.
“Here…take it back…you can have it back.”
I smiled, unsure of what he meant. He kept my blood. What a fool, thinking that this was my reason for my seeking him out.
“So foolish, yet so vindictive.”
My hand was around his throat, his strength no match for mine. He should have fed, but he was too ashamed of what he was to do that, and I knew it weakened him.
The sharpened spear in my right hand pulsed with energy, and as I raised it above my head, angled for his chest, a bloody tear slipped down his cheek.
“An eye for an eye…” I said as I thrust, hitting the target with ease. His eyes rolled back, and his body burst into flames as the vials crashed to the floor.
Blood at my feet and flames licking the ceiling, I closed my eyes. The wind picked up and the flames began to spread, catching every dusty surface and cloth that hung from the windows and doors.
I moved with ease through the heat and realized in that moment how badly I wanted to see him again. The one true love of my life, the man that shared my blood lust and passion. The man that I tossed aside like ashes, after he gave me everything I had ever asked for.
Chapter 32
Domenico
Ihad gathered most of my followers inside the great hall, assuring them that this storm would pass soon, and we would repair the damages in the morning. Fear not, I would take care of it all.
“We will remain here until the storm passes, all will be well, my brethren.”
The men murmured amongst themselves, exchanging worried looks.
My mind was not occupied with what would come of the castle, I was simply filled with joy that the curse was lifted and my blood-bound was awake again.
She needed blood to sustain herself, and Charles was my gift to her. I instructed her to take her feedings in small, separated increments, so as not to drain the boy. He needed sleep and food if she wanted a live host. She agreed sleepily, but not before telling me that she wanted to keep him.
I had no problem giving her that gift as long as she was willing to share.
“Smoke! There’s smoke coming from the entryway!”
Panic surged the room full of men, and I raced to the great hall doors and pressed my hands to them.
Scalding heat.
“Lilith.”
The doors flung open, and I watched in horror as the tapestry I had made of Lilith was engulfed in flame. It was too late, the castle was aflame; the rain stopped.
I dropped to my knees in front of the flaming flag of our lost love.
It wasn’t until after I realized then men had shut the heavy doors behind me, that her naked body came into my view.
“Please, do not take this castle, the legacy my family worked for centuries to keep. Please, Lilith.”
“I like to see you on your knees like this, it fills me with lustful memories, Dom.”
She was close enough to me now that I could smell her, roses and musk, and I licked my lips, my fangs extending in hunger for both her blood and her body.
She tangled her fingers in my hair, yanking my face to her cunt, wet and ready for my tongue.
I don’t even try to resist her, the mixture of fear and love mixing together into a painful tincture of need.
My tongue slid down her parted slit, the bud of her clit beckoning for my mouth. I closed my mouth around it, suckling hungrily.
She sighed with pleasure, as heat fanned us, wooden rafters falling to the ground in small explosions all around us.
“I wished so much this was not how it ended…we were so…oh, Dom…”
I stopped my suckling, looking up at the orange halo of fire around her head, pleading at her with my eyes. “I did not betray you, my love, I did not want her dead. I loved you. It was not at my hands…”
She looked down over me, lovingly, but didn’t respond, only stroked my cheek gently.
For a moment, I thought she would relent, give into all our selfish needs no matter what had happened between us. I hold her shining, lavender eyes with mine, and I see one tear slide down her grinning face. “Lie to me, tell me we are like sunset,” she whispered.
“We are, my love. Sunsets come with the feeling of accomplishment and freedom from the days end.
But then sunrise always comes—and the sunrise is a reminder that it is a new day, a day full of unknown possibilities. And it’s then that we must answer the unasked questions from the evening before, together.”
There was a deafening pause, even as the castle burned around us.
“I wish that we could play forever inside the sunset and the sunrise, but we are not creatures of the morning, but eternally of the night.”
In one moment, I caressed her with my tongue, my hands gripping her plump cheeks, and in the next she was gone, a nest of snakes now at my feet.
At that moment, I could only make a vow to myself to find her again and again. Making a promise to myself that I would search the ends of the earth for her, until I found a way to prove my love and loyalty. Until we could watch every sun setting.
She was love incarnate—my only love, and every element that graced the earth. The softness and strength of water, the unpredictable chill of the winds, the permanence of the earth below my feet; and the fire that burned through my veins while simultaneously destroying everything in its path.
And I would lose her.
I backed away on all fours and watched in horror as Melody appeared in a blur with Charles slumped against her.
“Go!”
We were outside in an instant, and I could hear the cries of the men inside, burning alive.
We ran as fast as we could to the edge of the woods, as far away as we could get from the castle, now just a burning orange glow on the horizon.
I looked down over Charle’s lifeless body, laying still on the sodden green grass.
“What did you do?” I asked, searching Melody’s eyes for answers. She looked young, fragile. I hated feeling responsible for vampire youngling—it was a heavy burden to bear.
“Dom…I think he’s dead.”
Epilogue
Domenico
The kind neighbor that invited us inside his house gave us all hot tea, and I doubted he realized just who I was after I discarded my robe and swore that I would never again preach the word of God to a soul.
Did I really think that this was punishment for my own sins? Did I want to continue living this lie when deep down, I fought against a blood lust that called to me day in and out?
I wanted to give in to my needs, and now I had two vampire younglings on my hands, two blood-bounds attached to me forever. We needed to start over, there needed to be a fresh new beginning, one where I could put everything behind me, all the men who died because they followed my word.
“You are welcome to stay the night, until you regain your strength. I do not have much food though; I don’t think I can offer much past that.”
“We appreciate your kindness.” I smiled, the steam of the tea caressing my face like a lost lover. The pain of seeing Lilith again slicing through my stomach, and I held back a gag.
Would I ever truly recover from her absence? Could I move past our unrequited love and find a new reason to exist past her?
I watched Charles’ chest rise and fall on the cot by the fireplace. He was pale, and I knew he would have to feed excessively before we would be able to move on in our travels. The woman would have to die, a small sacrifice for my newest blood-bound youngling. His lips were heart shaped, and a small tug of admiration hits me, realizing I had no other choice but to start over. For them both.
Melody stroked his hair, looking lovingly at him. It was the three of us now, a new trio of power that I was determined to make a name for…somewhere.
I turned the purple stone over in my hands, Freyja must have dropped it during their escape, and I squeezed it as I whispered Lilith’s name into the fire.
“Where will we go now?” Melody’s small voice cuts through my silent prayer.
I didn’t want to stay here; I wanted to disappear somewhere far away. A place where I am unknown; a place where I could easily take back my power.
I knew Dante was dead, and I knew this because he was behind the death of her daughter. Lilith was the last to know, but somehow, I knew that she had sealed his fate, as he had for her.
All those years that he watched her family, every detail he relayed was etched into my mind.
There was another girl, another descendant of Lilith, one who had no thoughts of the monster that lurked inside these woods.
“America. We will sail once Charles is strong enough.”
Freyja
Charity placed her fingers through mine, and in the firelight, she looked like a dream. I stroked her curved belly with my fingertips, as if to make sure she was really here, really mine.
Garm had waited for us, just past the tree line that circled the castle. Dante had been up to his own dark magic, warding the castle so no one could get in—or out. My grimoire was gone, but I knew many of the spells by heart, and I would simply recreate the book that took me so many years to compile.
His ward was not strong enough to keep us trapped within.
Fool.
“Are we safe? From him, from them?”
I laughed low, knowing that they could never have reached me without Charles. My wards were far too strong.
“We are safe, even if they survived the fire. Oh, my pet, my love,” I whispered in her ear, stroking down her naked belly, finding the warm apex between her thighs.
It seemed like only yesterday that we laid beside this very fireplace, only Charles was also there.
“Do you miss him?”
I was a little scared that she would not answer me honestly, but if she truly loved him, she wouldn’t have left with me.
“I missed you. The entire time I was inside that castle, you were all I could think about. His touch became intolerable, and I dreamed of you almost every night,” she said as she kissed my fingertips, and I smiled, relieved.
“And now we have this…my pet,” she turned an amethyst stone that glittered in the crook of her palm.
“What do you think it is?”
Her eyes twinkled, “Lilith…and all her power. I called her back to me, let me show you just how happy this makes me.”
Charity stopped, taking my hand. “I’m sorry…if me being with him hurt you. I think I was just scared, and he felt…safe.”
I stroked her hand with my thumb and smiled. “No need for apologies, you are safe within my wards, safe here forever.”
I kissed down her belly, and she sighed, eye fluttering shut as she laid down on her back.
Her skin smelled of fresh lavender and soap from our bath. I sat back on my heels, grabbing a small basket from next to the hearth. I had carefully prepared for this moment yesterday after we had returned, caked with dirt and sweat.
Garm was out on a hunt, our meat stores very low from our time away. I had been right, he didn’t stop searching for us until he picked up the scent again, tirelessly searching the woods with his clan. He had returned to them, seeking help, and they happily agreed. I think he may have even found a new mate after all these years.
I pulled out a silk sash from the basket and motioned for her to sit. She did as I asked, like always, and my chest felt full of love for my little slice of heaven.
I wrapped the silk around her eyes, tying it just tight enough so that she could not see. Gods, she looked so compliant, beautiful, with the red sash covering her eyes, the ends flowing down the middle of her naked back. First, I grabbed a strawberry, bringing it to her lips, gently, she received the sweet fruit and chewed. Dipping my fingertips into a glass jar filled with honey, I scoop it up with middle and index finger, bringing them to her mouth, “Open, and suck.”
Her pink lips parted, her tongue eagerly wrapping around my fingertips as she sucked. “So sweet.”
As I watched my fingers disappear into her mouth over and over, I felt a tight pull at the base of my belly, my clit throbbing with each pull. I wanted to claim her, drive orgasms from her over and over again until she was a quivering mess on my floor.
“Such a good girl, licking my fingers clean…mmm.”
Lastly, I reached between her legs, pleased with how wet she was. Her crease parted slightly, and I parted her carefully, finding the hard bean in between. “So ready for me, aren’t we?”
She nodded, mouth slightly parted, eyes covered. Her nipples pebbled, and I greedily sucked one into my mouth as I made lazy circles around her swollen bud.
“Do you feel an empty ache inside? An ache that needs to be filled?”
Licking her lips, she nodded again, more aggressively this time, and butterflies swirled inside my belly as I reached for the glass-blown phallus inside the basket. Pushing her back down to the floor, she parted her thighs, waiting for me. I knew Charles was the only cock she’d ever had, and sometimes fingers just weren’t enough. I wanted to show her just how full I could make her feel with my magic wand.
I brought the dark blue shaft to her apex, running it down her wet seam. I press gently, her cunt opening to me like a flower. She lets out a hiss as I find her entrance, using my other hand to brush light strokes over her clit. Her neck arched, and I eased the fake cock inside of her. Arching her back and spreading her legs wider, she let me inside, swirling it in and out. My thumb worked her clit, while I push all the way inside, keeping it there as she rocked her hips. “Oh fuck, Freyja. It’s so big…please don’t stop.”
I glide deeper, angling it slightly so I would hit the soft spot inside her. “I knew you would love my cock, you love it, don’t you?”
Her groans grew louder, soft sighs in between powerful moans, “Yes…yes! I love your cock.”
“Is this my pussy? Tell me this pretty pink cunt is all mine.”
“It’s yours…oh! It’s yours.”
Using the hand I stroked her clit with, I pressed down gently on her abdomen, just above her pubis bone, and she cried out. Shuddering around the phallus, she comes, and I pressed my face to her thigh, withdrawing my hand and watching her hole spasm with release.
“So prefect,” I cooed, stroking her inner thighs and smiling up at her.
Once her body had stopped tremoring, I crawled up her, kneeling above her, straddling her face with my thighs. The blindfold was still in place, and I sink down, lining my soaked crease with her lips. “Lick, pet.”
Without question, she licked my cunt with her tongue, flattening it. Her hands found my thighs, wrapping around them, drawing me closer. I gasped as she flicked my clit, and I began to rock my hips, fucking her face. My wetness covered her nose, cheeks, and I pinched my nipples with both hands, closing my eyes so I would not topple over the edge yet.
When I felt her tongue wiggle inside of me, I stopped, stilling as she fucked me with it. Pleasure curled inside my belly, and my asshole throbbed in time with her tongue. I was aching now, needed to be filled and stretched.
I stood, gazing down over her pink cheeks and wet face. I picked up the magic wand, and returned to her, pulling her to a seated position. I straddled her legs, laying back. “Take off the blindfold.”
She did as she was ordered, and when her eyes fell on my spread, naked body, she grinned. “Do I get to use it on you now, mistress?”
I shook my head no, running it up and down my folds as she watched. I was so ready that I didn’t want to wait any longer, plunging it inside, stretching me.
I watched her face as I fucked myself, my little pet, so eager and needy. “Sit on my face while I fuck myself, pet. Then I want your mouth on my clit until I come.”
Awkwardly, she moved to my head, straddling my face the same way I had done to her, except she was facing my hand working the cock in and out.
Her pussy was in my mouth, still so wet for me, and she moaned as I made contact with her swollen bud.
I raised my hips, fucking myself while she rode my face. “Suck my clit, pet…I’m so close…I need you to help me come.”
She lowered her face to my folds and ran the back of her tongue over the throbbing bud. It only took five small circles until I was shuddering, clamping down around the glass cock and crying out around her cunt.
