Seithe (21 page)

"Funny how your nipples don't agree with you."

I look down and notice they're hard, "It's because you breathed on me." Defensive automatically. Justifying myself instinctively.

So softly he mentions into my ear, "I love your responsiveness. Lying in bed with you, I could play you all night and not get bored."

"Stop it, Jowendrhan."

He smirks indulgently, a perfect copy of his brother, "I didn't come to stir you up my love. I simply came to stand here so that red eyes will leave you alone. Sooner or later you will realise I am not a threat, I'm an ally."

"Yeah, the kind that bugs your room and sells your secrets to the enemy camp."

"Let me taste you and I'll be good."

"No. No more swapping body fluids with you."

"Aw, did you get chastised for being so eager to give me your blood?"

"No." I stare determinedly away from him. Where the hell is Seithe?

"He's out binding Grastle, to find out what he meant by saying you're marked."

Curiosity wins, I stare boldly back into silver eyes, "Do you know?"

"Of course I know. Someone has issued a challenge. It's anonymous. You're the prize."

"Screw that. I have free will. None of you can touch me, my voice is my weapon."

A hand tilts my chin up, his nose is so close to mine, "You are far too intelligent baby girl. But what happens when someone closes your mouth? How do you stop them then?"

"Jowendrhan, do you not learn? Get your hand off my woman."

SEITHE! Relief floods through my tense body.

Jowendrhan drops his hand and steps away, "Just picking up the slack, Seithe. For once you can thank me for being in the right place at the right time."

"I'll thank you for getting lost right now."

Jowendrhan stops, lifts my hand and kisses it, "Always a pleasure defending your honour, Phoebe." He flicks his eyes at Seithe as he mumbles into my ear, "Don't always believe what he tells you."

Then he vanishes.

Chapter 29: Fallen

The fun has fizzled I can tell.

"Your world is way more complicated than mine."

Seithe steps in, wrapping an arm around my waist, speaking to Darise. "Call me if you hear anything." He inclines his head briefly, "And thanks."

Darise knows and smiles at me, "Bye princess."

And I'm left stumbling, trying to find balance after sitting, as we arrive back in the passage in Seithe's home.

Seithe propels my body forward into a room, lights flaring into existence. I barely have a chance to look at it when he spins me around to face him. Holy shit he looks intense.

"What's in that room? Tell me what you observed?"

"A mirror, mantelpiece, a wing-backed chair upholstered in brocade, drinks cabinet ..." I falter.

"Phoebe, your observational skills could save your life. I can't always be around."

"You're scaring me." I swallow back fear, narrowing my eyes with bravado.

"Being marked means someone has decided they can win you. This will include exceptional cunning that you are completely unprepared for. You will be watched, stalked, all of them now literally have an APB out on you. You have just become sport."

The strength in my legs vanishes.

"Sport?" I blink rapidly trying to comprehend. "Why me?"

I watch his eyes flick beyond my head, staring off, unfocused.

"There are very few silver eyes left. News has spread fast about you. It's not often a human turns up in Pravus and leaves alive. Humans have a coveted quality I cannot reveal to you."

His eyes focus intently on mine, glowing, his hair whiter than white, "You are more valuable to me as a human. I didn't want you to accept immortality. I don't want to drain you of your blood or your spirit. But someone is going to put you in a position where I may have to commit murder. This isn't as much about you as it is about me."

"I'm not afraid of death. If it comes to that, let them kill me. I honestly couldn't give a shit about the next thirty-five years of working, spending five days a week in a cage just so I can eat. Two days off to recover and supposedly live a life. That isn't living life, it's existing. Let them kill me. I won't be running out of fear of death, Seithe."

He smiles, revealing those long teeth I now find sexy on him. His colouring morphs to brown, "Phoebe, I love this about you. It endears you to me. But I'd rather the fuckers left my babe alone. Whoever it is either has a score to settle with me, or desperately wants to get into your pants."

I watch him walk away into the room opposite. I stare at his shadowed spine spreading into delectable male muscles. Observing long fingers sifting through his hair as he sighs and sits down heavily on a black leather couch.

This room is new. This room yells Seithe at me. Walking forward anxiously I lean against the arch, watching him as worry steals his happy dimples from his chin and mouth.

"Maybe both?" I suggest.

He tilts his head, staring at me from beneath long brown eyelashes. "This changes everything. You can't go back to your life, it won't be safe."

I kick off the heels and pad to him barefoot, kneeling between his legs to stare up at him.

"I can't just disappear."

A heavy sigh covers me with responsibility. Somehow I know this is all my fault.

"It's not your
fucking fault
." It's a bitter explosion that leaves me uncertain. He's so angry, he's seething. That almost makes me want to laugh, I smirk up at his tense face, my eyes sparkling with silent mirth.

Surprising me he smiles back, so charming and seductive.

A hand releases his head and snaps the strap off my shoulder. Music starts roaring through the room as the lights extinguish. A smile is pulled from me as I recognise Seether singing Diseased. He
would
love Seether with his name. Tension embalms me as an eerie red light suffuses the room, almost hiding his brown eyes from my sight completely.

It hits me that he's feeling threatened. He's trying to hide himself from me.

He speaks into my ear in such a harsh unnatural way, "Do you know what they'll do to you? Do you have any idea why I need you to wake up!"

I'm feeling unsettled. He's oozing aggression at me. I cling to my unravelling dress in this dim light, unaware that I now look like a fallen angel myself. Long straight black hair shining with a halo of infra red light. My skin white in stark contrast.

I shrink as I watch his shadow self unbuckle his belt and pull it out of its restraining loops. I can stop this. I know I can. If only I can get over the fear strangling my breath and silencing my voice.

He stands over me, pulling me up by my upper arm. My heart is going into dethcon three, hammering frantically, yelling at me to
run
.

Seether is
screaming
at me
.

He's so swift I don't stand a chance in hell against his speed and strength. I bite down unintentionally on my tongue, recoiling from pain as my mouth saturates with blood. My face against the leather he was seated on.

The belt strapping my arms together, my dress gone ... naked ... face down ... darkness ... blood … violated savagely ... this isn't him. I close my eyes as he impales me ... nails searing my back ... teeth sinking into my shoulder ... a strap tightly silencing coherent speech lodged in my mouth ... hair being wrenched ... a scream gets past the strap when I smell my own skin burning in my lower back … the incineration so blinding hot ... tears free falling ... so much pain ... agonising pain ... too much burning …
burning
…
burning
…
BURNING
... my hearing fades … released in mercy to oblivion.

*

A hand caresses my brow, pulling me back. My body starts to quiver, afraid to open my eyes.

His voice, hushed, speaks tenderly to me, "It wasn't real. I gave you a vision."

Opening my eyes with disbelief I stare up into his brown, gentle, loving eyes. My heart is trying its Olympic gymnast routine, forcing gasps out of ravaged lungs.

"Wh..what?"

"I need you to understand how important it is for you to focus on survival. You have to learn fast baby girl. I've seen them break humans. They will silence you, torture you, have their fun breaking my little one."

I'm still convulsing. I can't seem to get over my out of control terror.

Warm arms cradle me as he kisses my brow, rocking me gently, "Shhh. You're safe right now."

I close my eyes, succumbing to sobbing.

"D..don't..t ...
eevvverr
d..do … tha-at again."

"We have work to do. We're running out of time."

"How much t..time d..do we h.have?"

"I don't know. If we're lucky the space of creation. They're hung up on the little details. They'll come for you on the sixth day. The day mankind was created."

"S...six? Satan's number."

He stares down at me, back to silver and white, "How did you get so mentally alert?"

I reach up, squeezing arms around his strong neck, pressing tightly against him, "Fuck I'm scared."

"I'm going to make you pass out. I need time to ask around. You need your rest. Tomorrow I'm making you see beyond your mental boundaries. I have to force you to see your inherent power."

His arms wrap around me tightly, giving me comfort in strength.

"I don't want to be unconscious, Seithe. Then I'm not safe."

"I should be back before you wake up. You need the rest. Your adrenalin is surging so high right now. If I was in any other mood, I would be screwing you until you couldn't walk."

Somehow this releases my hidden smile, relaxing me.

Gingerly placed kisses trace my skin, "Okay?"

Nodding against his shoulder I agree, "Okay. But kiss me properly first. Just in case."

"In case?"

"In case I never see you again."

He holds my chin, "The saying is over my dead body. We know that can't happen."

I shut him up, salvaging my sanity by devouring his mouth with my own. I feel so desperate. Relishing his natural heat, his breath, his eyelashes against my own, sucking lips into my mouth, roaming my tongue over his, pressing my skin against his skin, finally calm returns.

A gentle wave of deep relaxation engulfs me. Faint words drift behind my thoughts as shadows darken my awareness, "I love you minxy."

*

In the dark of my bedroom I relax when his heat returns to lay against me. I snuggle in, warm, safe, surrounded with safe comfort again.

"Trust me, Phoebe."

I nod, feeling secure with him. He blindfolds me. The lessons are starting immediately I presume.

"I want to share something with you. Something no human has experienced before."

Fear slithers around my throat.

"Why would I hurt you? Trust me baby."

Nodding I force myself to breathe through my mouth. His hand caresses my inner thighs, sliding from side to side slowly, turning me on as the heat from his hand traverses black lace.

"Phoebe, are you ready to learn a new perspective?"

Relaxing back, my eyes embalmed, quivering breath fighting to get over my lips, I verbalise compliance. "Yes."

Stubble grazes my stomach, "Good girl."

Fingers slip behind elasticated lace, flirting inside me, "Ready to receive me deep inside you?"

I nod absently. He's not usually this cruel. Usually by now I'd already have my legs tight around him.

A finger traces my lips, sliding into my mouth, "Suck it."

I run my tongue around the nail, slipping up the digit.

"You feel like this, Phoebe. Hot, moist, smooth, slippery. Would you like to know how you feel?"

That is such a weird proposition. A cry escapes me when he bites the skin inside my thigh.

Sensation overload again, one hand fingering my mouth, the other circling slowly inside me, his mouth on my leg. My fingers slip into his hair, urging, "Stop teasing."

I stop breathing completely when I feel my naked skin touch his. He can move so fast that my brain can't keep up with his movement. Between seconds, I lost my underwear. He's sliding inside me. I lose lucidity with the touch, the pressure, the heat.

Hands close hard on either side of my head as he slides slowly in and out.

Oh God. Oh my freak.

This is insane! It's not possible. I can feel me from his perspective. Divorced from the sensation of my own body I moan loudly with exquisite skin temptation, sensation, induction.

I'm hot, hard. The sensation instead of being inside, is focused in front of my pubic bone. Sliding slowly in I feel skin pressing down gently on all sides, everywhere, all around me. It's succulent, warm, smooth, just like my mouth.