Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (14 page)

Jared stretched his leg out, flexing
his foot. “What, you scared of death?” he asked.

“Fuck
, yes! What the hell kinda question is that? I don’t want to
die
!”

“Well, why not? Eternal rest. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”
He laughed quietly, releasing the wheel and putting the plane on autopilot.

“Hell
, no!”

Standing up, he walked toward
me. “I can save you, Constance. I can keep death from shutting your eyes. Do you want that?”

My chest tightened and I felt sweat begin to form in tiny beads on my forehead.
My mind raced and I couldn’t even make sense of my inner voice. Part of me knew I should say no and run from him as fast as I could when we got on solid ground, but then part of me wanted to hide from death by any means possible. Fearing that what he was saying was actually true, I was desperate.

My mouth felt like it was filled with sand. “I –I… don’t know.”

Jared came closer and reached out for me. His rough hands grazed my shoulders and moved possessively down my chest. “Let me make you untouchable. Let me have a part of you no one else ever could. I’ll give you something you could only dream of, something fiction couldn’t even make seem real.”

The hot steam of his breath floated across the skin of my neck. His lips brushed
over my flesh while he spoke, “Tell me to take you. Tell me you want me to make you immortal,
demand
that I take your life and show you the way to eternity.” His lips pressed hard against my skin and he bit down gently. “I’ll make you mine…
forever.
I’ll wipe death from your existence and cover you in the beauty of ageless darkness.”

My hands involuntarily grabbed onto his muscular shoulders. His teeth pulled the skin of m
y neck between them and I felt weakness course through me at a furious pace. “I – I –” my voice trailed off and I felt Jared’s palm grope between my legs.

His f
ace inched toward mine and his voice softened to a whisper. “You don’t want death, to see wrinkles draw upon your face.” His finger grazed my cheekbone. “Let me show you the beauty found within rebellion, defiance – let me be your master. What I’ve shown you sexually pales in comparison to what I can teach you, to the rush you’ll find when all mortality is drained from you.”

Jared’s
warm mouth pressed firmly against mine as he continued to beg me, “Let me give you a gift no one else could fathom. Give yourself to me, your sin – I want parts of you the devil wouldn’t even touch!”

Feeling possessed by him, I shouted,
“Take me!” I was shocked at the words that had just so freely poured from my lips.

Jared pushed back and stared at me. A sinister loo
k draped across his flawlessly beautiful face. His tongue skirted across his lip just before it rolled underneath his teeth. Palming the side of my face, he peered into me. “Let me enjoy the sin of your mortal flesh one last time.”

Yanking my shirt over my head,
he tore my bra from my skin. He greedily reached down and unfastened my jeans, pushing them down to my feet. Jared’s hands slithered up my legs and I heard him gasp. “Damn you! The perfection of a woman’s body is a curse!”

His fingers dug into my ass
, and the warmth of his tongue glided across my neck and down to my bare breast. Every few inches he would gather skin in his teeth, biting down on me. The smooth feeling of the metal bar wedged in his tongue caused an eruption of sensation to course across my body. The pain of his bite was awkwardly pleasurable and sent a tingling warmth across my skin. My hands found their way to the back of his head and grasped at his short strands of hair.

Backing
away from me, he peeled his shirt from his skin. His fingers fumbled with the zipper of his pants and he pushed them off. He stepped out of the crumpled material and lunged toward me.

His thumb ran underneath the s
tring of my underwear before snapping them off my body. The heat of his flesh radiated through me, and his fingers found their way down my abdomen and between my thighs. Jared gave a rough rub across me before cramming his fingers into me. The way he touched me was completely emotionless. It was nothing more than pure lust, and the feel of it caused my knees to immediately collapse underneath me.

My breath escaped me.
“Fuck…”

Dropping
to his knees, he shoved one of my legs up and to the side. His face met my skin and his tongue swept across my cleft. His finger continued to massage me as his tongue crept along my crease. The warmth of his mouth devoured me and his tongue pressed into me, the metal from his ring skirting across my nerve endings, and I released a hard, heavy moan.

My mind kept fighting my body. My inner
voice kept telling me to run, but my body craved him.

The
rough texture of his hands slunk around my hips and waist. His mouth moved up toward my stomach and he rose slowly to his feet as his lips rolled up my body toward my neck.

The plane dropped and my stomach caught
. My palms flattened against the cold metal of the wall and I pried my eyes open.

I felt his
girth pushing at me, and my thighs widened to allow him in. At that moment I would have gladly taken death if it meant I could have him.

The
head of his dick pushed into me, the metal from his piercings creating the perfect type of friction against me. He stopped before forcing himself inside me. Jared’s hand smacked against the aluminum wall. His hands fell to my hips and jerked them against him.

“Bend over,
” he demanded.

Before I had a chance to obey his command
, he’d flipped me around and his hands were forcing my shoulders down. He positioned his hands on my ass and pushed into me. The power he used to enter me thrust my head forward. My hair flew around my face and the air was forced out of my lungs as my chest banged against my knees.

“Get on your fucking knees,” he said through gritted teeth.

I immediately dropped to my knees and he dove deeper into me, the force making me release a long moan.

Burying his face
in between my shoulders, he pushed into me as hard as he could. The sharp twinge of flesh tearing made my back bow and my fingers curl into my palms. I felt my body give into him and my head hung weightlessly down. 

Jared’s hand grasped at the ends of my hair and he
jerked my head back toward him while he continued to pulse himself into me. “Tell me you surrender yourself to me.”

At that moment he owned me. “Fucking tak
e me, own me– kill me if you must. I don’t give a damn if I can have this always.”

My heart skipped several beats as he pushed his hips into me and pulled my hair back with a possessive tug. His body
relaxed briefly and he groaned loudly. “I’ll fucking own your soul.” He flipped my naked body around underneath him, carelessly tossing me down onto the floor of the plane.

He glared
down at me, his eyes flickering. Jared leaned down and his mouth found my neck. His teeth slowly pushed into my flesh. I reached around to his shoulder blades and dug my nails into him. A long, hungry groan flew from his lips, and his teeth sunk deeper into my skin. I felt my flesh ripping as his teeth tore through my muscles. A loud pop filled my ears when he sliced through my artery.

Closing his mouth around the fresh wound,
he began to suck ferociously, guzzling down my blood like it was ice cold water.

“Jared… I…” M
y mind became clouded and I was unable to form words. My body grew cold and weightless.

He p
ulled his face away from me and I saw bright red blood encircling his mouth, dripping underneath his chin and running down his neck. Tears fell from my eyes and a pitiful moan of pain managed to slip out of my lips.

“
Shhhh… just let me have you. I want this in the worst way, don’t fuck this up for me, doll.”

I was so weak. My arms fell from his shoulders, flopping against the floor.
My head rolled back and his mouth found my neck again. The sound of Jared swallowing my blood was soon replaced by a dull ringing. Fighting to keep my eyes open, everything became blurry. All fear I had vanished and a calm overcame me. I gave into it and closed my eyes. Honestly, I didn’t care if I ever opened them again.

Gavin

Chapter
Seventeen

September 20, 2014

Folding my shirt, I placed it neatly inside my suitcase. I brushed the hair away from my face and looked at her, the embodiment of my personal weakness.

Her lips bowed into a perfect, nervous smile. “So, where are we
goin’?”

“France,” I said
, and pulled my shirt over my head.

She nodded and zipped her luggage.

I pulled my duffel bag onto the bed. “You worried?” I asked her.

Brooke shook her head, her eyes remaining
focused on my bag.

“You wonder what’s in here, huh?”
My hand tapped the top of the black bag.

“Yea
h, you haven’t let it out of your sight.”

Unzipping the bag, I stepped away and nodded for her to go look inside it.

She slowly walked around the edge of the bed and peered into the bag. Her eyes widened as she glanced over the contents.

“How much money is in there?
” she gasped.

I smiled. “
I told you not to worry, didn’t I?”

Her brows furrow
ed and her fingers fumbled through the contents of the bag.

“You th
ink a creature as powerful as myself doesn’t have endless access to such frivolous possessions as currency? Tsk, tsk, love – you shouldn’t doubt me!” I zipped the bag closed and said, “I’d have given you the world had I better restraint. You’d have never known who I was, and you would have possessed any earthly item you wanted.”

My hand found hers and our
fingers intertwined. Pulling our luggage toward the door, I said, “Remember. Don’t let go of me.”

Leaning
my head against the wall of the train’s cabin, I mulled over exactly what it was I was trying to do. The vibrations of the wheels over the track resonated through my ears making it difficult for me to concentrate on my own thoughts. Brooke’s head fell onto my shoulder, and I gripped her tightly. Her eyes were closed to sleep and I studied her. Even in sleep, the stress from the events wore heavily on her face. Her brows twitched and her breath drew in deeply. I desperately needed to understand why she had the spell she did on me. Never in my existence had a creature infested my mind, my being, my every breath the way Brooke did.

Sweeping my fingers
across her skin, my senses pulled her in. Her presence filled me. The feel of her skin beneath my fingertips enslaved me to her. My soul felt as though it had been bound to her very existence. For the first time since I’d been cast away from grace, I felt the glimmer of light breach the darkness of my being – I couldn’t fathom my life without her.

The train
came to a stop and people rose from their chairs to exit. I caught the glimpse of a young man staring at Brooke. His eyes fell over her and I was forced to calm the urge I had to pin him against the wall. Realizing he was mortal, not a Guardian, and of no imminent threat to her, my rigid demeanor relaxed. He caught my gaze and nodded quickly before climbing out of the train.

I le
aned toward Brooke’s face and my finger combed her hair behind her ear. “Love, wake up.”

Brooke’s head turned
to me and her hand rose feebly from the seat.

“Brooke, we’ve got to go.” I shoo
k her gently and her eyes opened, blinking against the harsh overhead cabin lights.

Sitting up slowly
, she yawned. I rose and reached for our luggage. My hand quickly found hers and pulled her to her feet.

We emerged
from the station just as the last glimpses of the sunset fell behind the Paris skyline. A light breeze blew, carrying the scent of exhaust through the air. The sound of traffic rebounded loudly from the brick buildings, horns blaring as motorists fought their way through the narrow streets shaped long before vehicles had been dreamed of. Stopping on the busy sidewalk, my hold on Brooke tightened. The darkness creeping between the buildings made me nervous.

I felt eyes watching us and
glanced down to find a haggard woman hunched down against the building. She was wrapped in a dark blanket and her straw-colored hair peeped out from the tattered edges she’d covered her head with. Dark circles accentuated the listless glean to her eyes boring into me. Coughing, she stretched her hand out toward Brooke’s leg. I yanked Brooke away from the woman’s grasp, cradling her against my chest.

A hoarse laughter rattled from the old woman’s chest. “They’ll find you!” She coughed again and her finger flexed as she pointed at Brooke. “That one – she’ll make
even
you
know death. She’ll show you the way to the grave.”

Brooke buried her face in my chest an
d we turned, leaving the old hag to her bottle of liquor.

Brooke’s
suitcase got caught on the cobblestone and she stopped to yank the wheel free. Pulling it violently, it teetered on its edge. She glanced over her shoulder at me, and the breeze caught her hair and blew it behind her like a flowing ebony river.

“Is there a reason we came to Paris?” she asked.

“I need to find an old friend, another Fallen.”

“How many are there?”

“Including me, seven. There are seven of us
.” I paused. “I’m not sure where we’ll be staying. I just need to visit someone. It’s not but a few blocks.”

Brooke
let out a frustrated sigh.

My hand found it
s way underneath the bottom of her shirt and my fingers squeezed her warm skin between them. “I’m sorry.”

I’d lost count of the times I’d apologized to her over the past week. It’s all I could do at this point.

Scanning my surroundings, I was amazed at how different things looked after only a few decades. We came to a crosswalk and I attempted to catch my bearings. At the end of the next block, we came out into a clearing. The large white towers of the cathedral were illuminated by spotlights. This cathedral had captured my attention when it was first erected. Dark and beautiful. Such a gothic structure that housed secrets few knew of.

“A church?” Brooke stared at me, one brow pointed down and one side of her hips cocked to th
e side. “Really. A church. Okay.” She nodded and the crosswalk instructed us to walk. “An angel cast out of heaven. Damned. A
damned
angel… I’m going to walk into a church with a
damned
angel. Wow!”

“You’ve really no
idea. So many things no one knows anything of. And, yes, a church. I may have been banned from heaven, but even sinners can enter through the doors of a church, aye?”