Immortal Chocolate (a vampire novel)

Part 14

“Come on, love, time for your end of the bargain.”

“I know,” I said so quietly I wondered if even with vampire hearing he heard me. Kale gave Claud a smile and walked out just shortly after Lawrence did. I followed Claud to his car and climbed inside with a numb feeling spreading like a dark disease. I’d sold my soul to the devil himself.

I could feel Claud’s excitement as he drove us to his mansion full of vampire whores. Drink his blood, what was I thinking? Every part of me was starting to feel sick, my emotions rising like a tidal wave. This had happened to me before—emotions so strong that I couldn’t stop them from overwhelming me. I choked on my tears as Claud drove in silence, gloating, but not saying a word. He knew he’d won this battle, but I still had my sanity. He couldn’t take my entire soul from one drought of my blood. Right?

A few minutes passed by, when we pulled up to his larger than life house, every part of it screaming I’m a dick with money. He opened his door and with a blur of speed opened mine and helped me out.

“This—is what I’ve always dreamed about, Iva. I hope you can finally understand why I love you so much.” He led me up the steps of his giant porch, through the front door, and toward a private bedroom on the second floor. I followed behind him numbly, my mind spinning with confusion and frustration. I could hear the hushes of other vampires and humans that watched us silently glide by. They knew who I was; Claud had pictures of me plastered all over his freaking house. What a sicko.

He opened up the door to his bedroom and led me inside.

“You have no idea how long I’ve desired this.”

“Eighty-three years,” I hissed at him, my numbness starting to ebb away, and in its place loathing.

“Don’t be like that, love, I want you to enjoy it.” He pulled me toward his king size bed, pulling his freshly pressed shirt off, his muscles rippling beneath. Disgusting. Generally when vampires fed off each other it was in the deepest of intimate times—making love. The thought of that made me want to claw my eyes out.

“No sex,” I said to him.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said quietly, and I heard pain in his voice. Sure he didn’t. He pulled me toward him, and I let him. His breath quickened and some strange dark part of me felt something tremble—I had so much power over him. I was the unicorn he could never capture—but kept trying to. I was his bane—his drug—that kept him yearning for more and more. It made me feel odd in that moment as he lay on his bed, spread out before me, bare-chested, his eyes sparking with so much desire it made me feel uncomfortable. If I was going to do this—I might as well. I’d regret my life tomorrow, but maybe, just maybe wielding such power over another vampire would be fun.

I pulled off my shirt. He gasped in response, his fingers pulling me against his chest, his lips curving into the nook of my neck. It felt oddly good—I hadn’t had contact like this in years and years. A gasp of pleasure escaped my lips. What was I doing? I hated this guy! Was it the way he looked at me? Like I was the one thing that kept him alive? I fought to gain control of my raging emotions that began to pump through my blood. Maybe Claud wasn’t the devil—maybe I could be happy with him. My mind felt clouded.

“What are you doing to me?” I said to him, as his kisses grew more intense.

“I knew you desired me, Iva. I just had to get you to see it.”

“What did you do…?” I said, and moaned as his kisses continued, rising a part of me that I didn’t want to rise.

“I never gave up hope in you, love, never,” he whispered in my ear, trailing his lips down my neck. I trembled all over, fighting the desire that he was somehow rousing in my flesh. Maybe a part of me did want this obsessive vampire god.

This…isn’t me…

I suddenly kissed him back, ignoring all reasoning that had held me back from him for eighty-three years. There was something immensely desiring about a man who was that persistent. When I started kissing him, he let out strange little whimpers, his fingers digging into my flesh, pulling at me, wanting more. My mind swirled, wondering what had come over me after all this time. Was this another one of his tricks? Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain travel through my neck and Claud bit into my flesh. I let out a soft gasp as he drank. He’d know. He’d know what I had just felt a moment ago.

“Please…” he whispered as he pulled his mouth back.

I bit into his neck and drank for a moment. An overwhelming amount of pain, emotion, and desire shocked through my system. His desperation—his obsession—his emptiness at not having me in his arms. I felt like I couldn’t breathe as I pulled back from him, shaking, my entire body lit with fire.

“Claud,” I said and my voice sounded strangled. Loneliness hit me, his struggle to fill a need. We stared at each other for several moments, both of us not expecting the emotions that the other felt. How could I have understood his obsession with me?

“I was cursed with loving you,” he said in my ear. “I won’t stop until I have you, Iva.”

I struggled with myself—with my own feelings and emotions. There was something just not right about this man though—even after getting a dose of his desires—I could feel a clawing desperation that I knew I wouldn’t fill. Would I be tossed like the other lovers he’d had in the past?

“I want to fill your needs,” he told me, kissing the place he’d bitten.