THESE CELESTIAL BODIES (Demetre)

Chapter fifteen

The receptionist's eyes turned hollow as she turned and opened a box of keys and dropped one into Rose's waiting hand. Room 304. Three fucking flights of stairs. Rose couldn't be bothered to ask for another, not when Dean's legs were beginning to buckle. "Is there an elevator?"

The woman pointed to the left.

An elevator ride later, Rose was fumbling with the lock. It clicked moments later and Dean practically threw himself into the room and onto the bed. Sweat burned hot on his skin, and though Rose was not that versed in vampyre's she was pretty sure vampyre's shouldn't be burning up. This was not a person she could merely call the ambulance for, she didn't even know what was wrong with him.
     This was not a person.
     This was a vampyre who had spent the entire day away from Hel, away from the dark, away from blood.
     "No," Dean groaned.
     He read her thoughts so easily. She ignored him and began undressing. "You need to feed."
     "No," he said again, agony rimmed in thick lashes. "Not from you. Anyone but you."
     "There's no one else."
"The receptionist."
"You cannot take an innocent life."
     He lurched from the bed with vampiric force. "And I cannot take yours."

She stood in her under garments, chest moving up and down. His eyes, which had completely succumbed to red, dragged along her body. Black veins emerging at their corners. He took in her breasts and waist, the curve of her thighs, the sharpness of her collar bones.

"I won't be able to stop," he said softly.

She crawled over the top and onto of him. His hands instantly grabbed hold of her thighs, fingers digging into the rough and scarred skin there. "You can," she said. "I know you can."
     Because despite what Zamar said, Dean would never hurt her. He hadn't so far so she had no reason to believe he would. He looked so afraid. So tortured. She reached down with soft lips and kissed his cheek. Buried her head in the crook of his neck. "It's okay," she whispered.
     His lips parted.
     "It's okay."
He kissed her neck briefly and it sent a wave of electricity through her. She felt his manhood bulge at her entrance.
It's okay.
     His fangs sank deep and Rose grabbed the sheets. She'd felt this before in the caves, she knew what it felt like to be drained dry. She'd had two, three, four vampyres sucking from her at once but this time it was different. This time she had given herself willingly.

This time it was Dean.

One hand tightened around the back of her neck, the other pushing and thrusting her against his bulge. The mix of pain and pleasure felt like she was not in her own body. Using that vampiric strength, he flipped her over and ripped her underwear. Discarding his own clothes and undergarments. This was happening, then. In his fit of rage and hunger. He might not remember it, she hoped he won't remember it.
     "Rose," he groaned like she was a prayer. Like he was a sinner at the gates of her temple.
     He didn't say anything again as his fangs dug into her breast, his manhood pushed inside of her, and a cry erupted from her lips. The night became a wasteland beyond them as they enveloped themselves within each other's adoration. She met him with every powerful thrust, screaming at the top of her lungs through the pain and pleasure and heat of it all.

It felt like her insides were exploding. Her entire being was ripped apart and stitched back together as he pounded her very soul out of her body.

~

Rose woke before dawn to a broken bed, ripped sheets and blood splatters everywhere.
     And an empty side of the bed.
     "Shit," she lurched from the bed and dressed without any underwear. That sorry thing was in nothing but ribbons now. The elevator took too long so she went down two steps at a time and burst into the foyer. The same receptionist from before saw her enter and looked mildly ill.
    "He's on the roof," she said.
  You've got to be kidding me.
By the time Rose burst open the rooftop door, it was nearly sunrise. It was there she saw him. A portrait of sin and death, a master of the dead. The flesh eater king him himself sat on the edge of the building with his legs dangling over the side. He looked so unkingly, it made her smile. She knew he heard her footsteps trudging up the steps before she even opened the door so pretending not to be there was useless.

She sat down beside him.

She wanted to say he looked better today but he looked worse. His cheeks were gaunt and slightly caving in, the bags under his eyes were darker and his eyes looked noticeably dimmer. Did it now work? Is he still hungry?
     He glanced sidelong to her. "I look sick, don't I."
     She licked her lips. Trying no to be worried. "Are you still hungry?"
     He shook his head. "I'm always hungry. No amount of blood will abate it. It's my curse."
     "I don't understand."
     "It's called the flesh eater madness. A curse that only affects flesh eater vampyre's. It was put on us centuries ago by someone history has failed to remember. The madness will take from me my sanity, my court and my line until there is nothing left but hunger, insanity and chaos. And the worst part is, my hunger affects everyone. Every vampyre in Attahelm. One day, flesh eaters will succumb to their original selves and it will be all my fault."
     "What do you mean original selves."
"Flesh eaters are shape shifting vampyres, we use our sanity to keep us looking humanoid,' a gesture to himself. "If the madness takes over, we lose our sanity. We'll forget what it meant to be ourselves, we'll become beasts capable of only devouring. We are purebloods, pure in our rage, pure in our hunger. Sometimes I think that's why my father did what he did. To escape the madness."

"What do you look like?" Instinctively, Rose reached out a hand and stroked the side of his face. "Beneath it all."
     "The most monstrous creature that ever lived."
     "If that happens, you won't scare me."
     "My own reflection scares me." She hated the tremor in his words. "I won't recognise you in my animal form. I won't know you. I'll kill you without batted a single eyelid."
     She faced the sky again. It was beginning to colour itself in gentle hues ready to usher the sun into the new day. "Maybe there's something in my power that will help, there has to be."
     They sat watching the morning wear on. Slipping on its shoes carefully. He'd never seen the sun, she'd realised. This is his first sunrise.
     "About last night—"
     "It's fine," she said quickly. Forcing a smile. She didn't think he'd remember. It was nothing, really. He was hungry and not himself and she was a horny basted who thought he meant it when he kissed her.
     He watched her carefully. "I—what we did...it's called feeding." She listened as he spoke, noting the way his jaw worked. "It can be done before or after marriage, but when a vampyre takes a mortal bride or groom, they undertake a ritual called the feeding. Usually, seven high volri are present when it happened, praying to their banished goddess. But now, they only do all that if it is a special union."
     "Cultish behaviour."
     He smiled. "The vampyre will feed on their bride or groom as they are having sex. The bite that is left is called a claim." He brushed a strand of hair from her neck to reveal two wounds, a perfect match to his fangs. "That bite mark is meant for eternal partners. That bite mark means they are bound for life.
     "If a vampyr takes another vampyre's claim, that is a violation of the highest order. Should adultery take place, both vampyres, by order of the high arches, will be daggered with a white bone. If a claim was raped, the vampyre that did it will be daggered with a white bone also. A claim is a share of power and it cannot be undone."

"I—what does that mean?"

"I claimed you, Rose."

Rose felt as though she had been winded.

     "That claim," he pointed to her neck. "Was meant for Kara." Because she was a powerful wite who could share his power and slow the burn of madness for a few centuries more. Rose was not powerful, she was a half witch weirdo. She couldn't take part of his power to slow the madness, she couldn't defend herself against a vampyre, she couldn't do anything apart from summon a lick of fucking sunlight!.
     "I thought you said it's only for a vampyre and a mortal."
     "The ritual still stands even if a vampyre marries another vampyre. They will feed off each other until climax,' he sighed. "No one can know I've claimed you."

Rose felt her heart splinter. She stood quickly, cautious not to look down and make herself sick. "Right, because who would want a mortal slave such as myself as a claim."
     "I didn't mean it like that—" she was already wanted away. "Rose."
"I want to go back to the castle."

Castle, not home. She wanted to say home but it was not her home, truly, was it.

Rose left him on the rooftop to watch his first sunrise all by himself.

~*~

Actual note I updated for VibewAmandaaaa  purely because their comments were sending me and they seemed to be really enjoying the story 😭😭