Into The Shadows, page 17
Oh, if only she could stay up here forever, if she were permitted to get lost in her love of the stars, but gravity was a cruel mistress and it pulled once more as she fell through the clouds and towards forest down below.
As she made her rapid descent, Dracula was nowhere in sight and for the briefest of moments, she was certain he had left her to die, but before she could hit the forest below, a pair of strong, clawed hands grabbed her by her forearms, swinging her slightly so her arms wouldn't dislocate from her shoulders.
Although the spectacle below her was beautiful, the cold stole her breath, the dampness of her clothes only making it worse.
"Where are you taking me?" Hera finally managed to shout up at the vampire. He flashed her a wry grin, motioning for her to look ahead. What she found was Castle Frankenstein, dark and abandoned, covered in snow. Hera rolled her eyes. "Great. You really meant it when you said 'somewhere private.'"
Dracula said nothing as he flew down towards the courtyard of the castle, dropping Hera carelessly to the snow covered doorstep before landing effortlessly himself as she struggled to stand. Before she could even catch her breath or send him a snide remark about how he could have killed her, he had her by the wrist and was pulling her into the castle, the doors shutting behind them with the very power of his will.
"Hey, Dracula? I can walk without you dragging me like I'm some kind of belligerent child."
He ignored her comment and instead led her up the stairs, his stride and pace almost too fast for her to keep up with. By the time they got to the second story in the west wing, Hera, though a bit winded, had an idea of where they were heading and she started to struggle against him.
"Oh, hell no!" she exclaimed. "I'm not going to be alone in that room with you again… no fucking way!" and she dug her heels into the floor, trying to pull against him, but they only drew closer to the library.
"You don't have much of a choice, Miss Garret," he explained, unfazed by her defiance. "Don't worry. I won't bite you…"
She sent him a dark look.
"That's not what I'm worried about."
Dracula opened the entrance to the library with a rough shove of his free hand before throwing Hera into the room, slamming the oak doors shut behind him.
Hera rolled over onto her back so she could look up at him.
She didn't care for the look in his eyes.
It was dark and wolfish.
"God, do you have to be so damn aggressive?" she retorted, rubbing the wrist he had bestowed his death-grip upon and she forced herself to her feet. "What do you want?"
Dracula lifted his gloved hand and unclipped his cloak and she watched as he removed it, laying it over the back of a chair before taking a step toward her. There was something unholy in those eyes of his, the expression sending chills down her spine. He removed his leather gloves next and tossed them aside with his cloak, then proceeding to unbutton his jacket and Hera's eyes got wide as she backed away from him, hands held up in futile defense.
"What are going to do? Rape me?"
He stopped mid-step, laughing at the suggestion, opening his jacket simply for ventilation.
"Rape you?" he mused. "Don't flatter yourself, human. If I wanted sex, I wouldn't need you for that. I have far more agreeable and experienced women at my disposal who are more than willing to fill that position. Why would I desire some impertinent mortal with little training and no imagination?"
Hera, although internally relieved, sent him a nasty glare. There were some unsavory insults in his response and her temper immediately flared in retaliation. How dare he treat her like this!
"Why you son of a…" she began, her wounded pride making her stupid as she marched toward him, hand raised to slap his face, but he seized her wrist mid-flight and held it tight, pulling her close, their faces inches apart.
"But if you want to play that game, I'd be more than happy to oblige," he purred. "Heaven knows what a… pretty little thing you are. You're hardly touched. So many things to explore…" and he looked her up and down with an erotic gleam in his eye.
Hera was glaring daggers.
"You are the last man on earth I would ever sleep with, willingly or not!"
He swung her around, her wrist still in his grasp as he forced her to move in whatever direction he pleased.
"Are you sure?" he cooed. "Because last time…"
"Last time?" she exclaimed, forcing out a laugh. "Last time you got in my head and manipulated me!"
He chuckled, releasing her wrist but pushing her against the back of the sofa first.
"You enjoyed it."
"No, I didn't," she insisted, but he saw right through her as he continued to advance, amused that she was now backing away into the library itself, a labyrinth of shelf after shelf of books. "I was a prisoner of your stupid mind game."
Dracula suddenly vanished before her eyes, but she could still feel his presence in the room.
"Seduction has nothing to do with me controlling your mind, if that's what you're insinuating," came his voice from behind. She spun around to see nothing but books and darkness. "However, it has everything to do with what you desire, what your body already longs for. If you truly didn't want it, it would have been easier to resist."
Hera spun around but still he was nowhere to be found. She knew he was still in the room – she could feel him, his presence heavy, though not entirely in an unpleasant way as it left her resolve weak and body aching.
She started backing further and further into the maze of bookshelves, the moon her only source of light as she made her way down another aisle, trying to escape Dracula's voice. It was like he was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
"You crave it now, Miss Garret. I can smell it on you."
"Your sense of smell must be off then, Count, because one has to wonder – why on earth would I want a dead guy when I could have a gypsy prince with a beating heart?" she challenged.
She heard Dracula's growl of disdain when she mentioned Velkan – but was it disdain? Or jealousy? Either way, his reaction told her that she could use this to her advantage.
"I thought you said you didn't love the gypsy prince?" came his voice from above.
Hera looked up to see him standing on the second floor above her, but he disappeared from her sight within seconds.
"You don't have to love someone to have sex with them, Dracula – you of all people should know that," she replied with noted snark. "Even though my feelings are none of your concern, I said I didn't know if I loved him. I'm still in the process of making up my mind."
"Oh?" came the Count's voice from behind and before she could turn around, she had backed into him. "So your heart is not as easily swayed as I initially believed. That's encouraging," he mused, watching as she bolted down the aisle and into another one, trying to escape him, but she only found him at the end of the row she had chosen, mindlessly thumbing through a random book.
"How is that encouraging? I'm more likely to claim loyalty to Velkan before I ever claim loyalty to you," she muttered under her breath, ready to run again, but he appeared before her once more, advancing, forcing her to back away.
"So what are your feelings for Prince Velkan, as of right now?" he asked rather bluntly as he continued to move forward.
"Like I said, I haven't decided," she panted, a bit out of breath from trying to outrun this vampire. "What are my feelings to you anyway? It's not like you care..."
"Oh, on the contrary, Miss Garret," he purred, evidently pleased when he had cornered her, relishing in how her heart raced as he grew ever closer. "Any favor you may have for the Valerious family is very important to me. But it's not merely your allegiances I wish to understand, but you, Miss Garret. You intrigue me. Your spirit, your intelligence, the sparkle in your eyes. You do not fear me and I can't help but want to understand why. Everyone else does. What makes you the exception, I wonder?"
He was close… too close.
Their bodies were barely a few inches apart and it would be any moment now before he'd cross that line and make their proximity intimate.
"I already answered that question. I have no reason to fear you," she said, unable to pry her eyes away from his. Her heart was racing in her chest, though it most certainly was not in fear and he noticed that immediately.
The Count towered over her, his appearance dark and foreboding, but the sexual tension he created with just his presence drove her mad. His hands were on either side of her, blocking her escape routes and she watched helplessly as he leaned in closer.
This is a familiar position, her mind mused.
"Are you so sure of that?" he whispered, eyes glowing that unearthly blue, the color of his irises a hypnotic swirl of blue and silver, wrapping her mind in a sheet of mild euphoria.
"Yes."
She was fully aware of how close they were and perhaps even conscious of the power he now held over her, but her cravings, those primitive urges that he incited in her were awake and violently demanding liberty as reason started to get pushed to the back of her mind. The tip of his nose brushed against hers very softly, the cool of his breath fanning her face while the addicting heat that escaped her own mouth gently caressed against his.
God, he had only been this close to her once before, and he just realized how much he had missed her warmth. The life teeming within her was beautiful and in the back of his mind, he wondered what it would feel like to thaw against the heat of her body.
"What if I threatened to take you?" he breathed. "Right here against this shelf, with nothing but these dusty tomes as our witness? I suspect that you'd fight me for all of five seconds before surrendering."
"That's if you can even get it up," Hera shot back without missing a beat. "You have no heartbeat, Count. Blood circulation should be physically impossible for you."
"You could always drop that mask of disinterest you insist on wearing and find out the truth for yourself."
"Says the man who not five minutes ago said he'd rather have sex with a host of other women rather than with some… how did you describe me? An impertinent mortal with little training and no imagination?"
"Are you offering to prove me wrong?"
"What, and grant validity to your sexual harassment? I think not."
Dracula laughed in genuine amusement.
"So much bravery and fire in the face of danger. I'm beginning to wonder if you truly comprehend the precariousness of your situation, Miss Garret. If you did, perhaps you would not be so audacious in my presence."
"I may not be able to outmatch you in terms of physical strength, but I am not completely defenseless."
"Is that so?" he mused darkly. "You have no weapons, no means of escape, and no hope of being rescued. Forgive me for contradicting you, spitfire, but you seem rather helpless from where I'm standing."
"Perhaps, but you've overlooked one key thing, Dracula."
"And what might that be?"
"I have something you want. I may not understand what that is at present, but if I was as at risk as you suggest, then you would have disposed of me ages ago."
The vampire smirked, brow arched somewhat as he considered her.
"Are you so certain that I could have some use for you, Miss Garret? For all you know, my face could be the last one you see. The very breath you take in this moment could be your last, and you'd never know until it was too late."
His irises began to glow as he held her gaze, matching her defiant will. She fought him with every fiber in her being, but the close proximity in which they stood was causing her treacherous flesh to heat up. She felt flushed and achy as an onslaught of memories of what his kisses were like suddenly attacked her mind.
He was toying with her again.
The air between them – what little of it there was – was rife with a fusion of sexual tension and an underlying degree of very real danger. Hera understood that although the Count's words and proximity to her person were designed specifically to seduce and manipulate, she could not ignore the frosty bite in his tone, the subtle suggestion of menace lingering on the fringes of his words.
Oh, how she loathed this man, but that loathing was one gentle nudge away from a bewilderingly intense passion and she knew it.
And so did he.
There was something animalistic between them, a primitive kind of attraction that neither Hera nor the Count could fully articulate or understand, but it was palpable in the air as they stared hard at one another in a silent battle of wills.
"I'm not afraid of you, Count Dracula. Do your worst," Hera dared him.
She was convinced when he didn't react right away that he would back down, that he wouldn't acknowledge the tension now pulsating between them.
But then he was holding her face with both hands and his mouth was on hers, and Hera could suddenly feel the earth spinning beneath her feet.
The young woman could barely suppress the moan building in her throat when she became aware of his hands on her body, his selfish tongue prying apart her lips so he could explore every crevice of her mouth. Dracula pushed her roughly against the bookshelf at her back before pressing his body against hers, heightening both of their delight. His fingers wrapped around the side of her blouse and with a sharp tug, he pulled it to one side so he could free her shoulder, unintentionally revealing the tops of her full bosom.
The vampire had momentarily lost himself.
His onslaught was intense, aggressive, and Hera – as he had predicted – surrendered to passion with extraordinary ease, melting most willingly into his strong and capable arms.
She loved how powerful he was, how desperate he acted, how firm his body felt against hers. But in the back of her fevered brain, her subconscious began to wonder – there had to be a more logical explanation for this behavior, some deeper reason. But what? Was he doing this to manipulate her, to control her?
Her mind was given no time and no room for thought as she felt his dull teeth sink into her shoulder and she whimpered as he gently bit the flesh before running his mouth along the side of her neck, never drawing blood, but nibbling just hard enough so she'd moan for him.
The scent of her arousal had hijacked his brain. It was like being high – his head light and spiraling out of control and the only thing that seemed steady in all the world was this infuriating woman and the taste and feel of her tongue dueling with his.
Dracula paused for only a moment to let her catch her breath. She noted the look of wolfish desire in his eyes and though it was incredible, it frightened her. He growled deep within his chest before kissing her again, steering her out of the maze of the shelves and into the lounging area of the library. She had to hold onto him to stay upright, his lips and tongue making her tremble with a mind-numbing pleasure she had never felt in all her twenty-five years of life.
Hera's brain hummed as the only sounds that reached her ears were their mouths colliding and the soft, indistinguishable noises in his throat whenever she kissed him back or when her fingers - as he had restrained her wrists with one of his hands, pinning them between their bodies - briefly grazed against his front. She felt her butt hit the side arm of one of the sofas and she leaned back, trying to pull away from him so she could properly breathe, but he only pulled her closer, his mouth playing over the angle of her chin, dragging that tongue of his along the skin of her throat.
The way he breathed her given name made her dizzy and wet, and when his starving mouth found hers once again, she could feel that nagging voice of reason clawing its way through her screaming hormones.
Why was he doing this?
This was so out of character for him, to act with such carnal desperation, to allow a mere mortal like herself to distract him, to permit the defiance she had bestowed on him.
Why the sudden change? Or was this just how he truly was the whole time and she hadn't known?
Either way, if they kept kissing like this, she was certain she'd make a mistake she would later regret, so she started to pull away from him again, gradually this time. When his mouth reached for hers, she placed her hand on his chest in a futile effort to put distance between them.
"Count?" she breathed, her voice slightly higher pitched than anticipated.
"Yes?" he panted, worshiping the corners of her mouth as one hand smoothed along her back and the other shifted through her hair.
"Did you miss me or something?" she teased.
That got him to stop and he rolled his eyes in reply.
"Don't flatter yourself. You moved first."
She laughed, placing both hands on his chest to push him away so she wouldn't fall back and over the arm of the sofa.
"Yeah right, don't go trying to pin this one on me, Dracula. You're the one who grabbed my face and kissed me!"
"You said to do my worst," he insisted, straightening his disheveled clothes. "And believe me, that wasn't it."
"Oh I don't doubt it, although seriously, I think you may have bruised me," and though she said the words in the jest, the way he was studying her neck and shoulder made her curious.
He looked concerned.
Unbeknownst to Hera, the Count's mind was a whirlwind of confusion as his brain came to grips with the consequences of his brief moment of carnal insanity.
What had come over him?
He lusted after her, to be sure, but to the point of this level of aggression, and when they had barely known each other? The mention of Velkan coupled with her defiant commentary and foolish challenge must have set him off. For the briefest of moments, Dracula wondered if a part of him – albeit a small part – was jealous of the very real chance that this woman would allow herself to be claimed by someone as undeserving as Velkan Valerious.
But the entire thing from beginning to end was so out of character for him. He had it in him to be passionate, certainly, but never to this extent, and rarely with a stranger or friend of the enemy. Even when in the throes of lust, he was usually still dignified and in control.
