Children of the Night

Chapter Twenty-Six: Taste of You

Aleksi keeps up at a human pace although Eva ran away from him. He can smell her, hear her and everything in between his senses. He wants a taste of her.

Eva jumps and dodges branches in a hurry, straying further and further away from the noise behind her. All while Aleksi makes sure none of the werewolves are on his trail. They'd follow his scent, not hers.

He sees her pale silhouette scurrying across the bridge and prays she doesn't trail off it. Rocks are falling off the edge and he can almost feel the bridge beneath him quiver. Rushing to be at her side, Eva yelps at his presence but once she notices it's him, she stops to a halt.

Aleksi slows down, "Eva, we need to take you somewhere safe."

She steps on a branch and jumps from the snap. "Stay away from me."

Another noise appears in the woods behind them and Eva turns to look. Aleksi grits his teeth with frustration. "Please, let me help you."

His face softens when tears fill her eyes. At that moment, he knew the only way he can get her to listen is without her consent. But he doesn't want to glamour her. Rushing towards her, Eva has nowhere to go but run back into the woods. Hell, her legs weren't even commanding her to return in there.

Aleksi grips her upper arm tightly so she doesn't resist and tugs her forward. She hisses at the force but follows him back onto the dark roads and towards the castle. Eva doesn't say anything about returning to Baba's home where Will should be.

However, she does glance over the houses and stare at the lit window in the living room. Turning with Aleksi, his hand is still on her pulsing arm—her heart still racing and her blood still pumping. He tastes the air and her smell lingers on his tongue.

Something is wrong but he can't see what.

Shoving her forward, he slams the door shut and they rush up the stairs. Eva has never gone this far into the castle before and it looks all foreign to her.

"Where are you taking me?" She insists, tugging her arm back and Aleksi eventually releases her. Opening the door ajar, they both enter his bedroom.

Aleksi slams the door shut and rushes towards the opened window. Eva brings her arms up to her chest because the cold breeze from the opened window is making her cold. He grips onto the edge and squeezes.

His head is spinning and he is starving. If Eva wasn't in the woods, he could've had a bite from one of the werewolves. He urges his thoughts away from sinking his teeth into her.

Eva runs her hand through her hair and slowly calms down.

She begins, "Aleksi, you aren't..."

He raises his hand but doesn't look at her. His eyes are squeezed closed. Teeth clenched, he growls, "Human." The word pangs his dead heart. "But you knew."

"I did. Doesn't mean I wanted to believe it." She replies slowly, trying to bring her breathing back to normal. "And all of them? Nikolay?"

Aleksi has a sudden hit, the realization of what it is. In an animalistic way, he turns his body and faces the human he is in love with. Her existence in the room of a predator. He would never have thought Eva would be in here but for some reason, he wanted to. He didn't want to leave her with him.

However, maybe it's a bad idea she's here.

"All of them." Aleksi takes a cautious step towards her. She doesn't budge. "We are the children of the night. We come out at sundown and prey on the innocent until dawn."

Her faint heart suddenly skips a beat. "Aleksi, I-I," She stutters as he begins to prowl around her being. Every part of his body is screaming and his veins are drying like sandpaper. He growls when he is inches away from her yet she doesn't run.

"I am no longer the Aleksi you remember." He wraps around her and brings his thumb up to her chin. "Iskam te, Evangelia." He mutters gently, their eyes gazing at one another. Her throat thumping the blood he desires.

She winces at his hold. A blood print stains her chin. He kneels down and runs his hands along her sides. Goosebumps rise at every inch of her body when his cold hands lay on her. She brings her head down and watches him hold her top.

"Since you've returned, I haven't been able to control myself. I can't resist smelling you, hearing your voice, wondering why you're laughing. I want to know your deepest desires, what gets you on... how I can have you."

Aleksi finds what he's been looking for. He drags her top over her belly and leaves his large hands on her warm skin. On her left hip bone is a gash from when she fell in the woods. Her knees are slightly torn and cut but nothing is oozing this much blood.

Eva sucks in a sharp breath and her hand grips the top of his head. Her fingers slowly running through his long, curly hair.

"I want to devour you." Aleksi whispers, before being consumed by the dark blood running down her skin. He leans forward and once the tip of his tongue touches the crimson, every particle in his body explodes. Her blood lingers longer than others and he laps her wound to get a better taste.

Eva's knees buckle but his hands at her waist holds her up. Aleksi runs his tongue over his teeth and along his fangs. He finds himself lightheaded and in a drug haze. As his monster screams for more but he's trying to gain conscious that this isn't any ordinary prey.

It's Evangelia.

"Nikolay thinks I don't have control over my body." Aleksi mutters, his breath tasting of her. He finds himself thinking of the night he by accidentally latched onto Sofia and couldn't stop. Nikolay had to help him. "But I think I can manage." He hesitates before reaching for the hem of her shorts and pulls them down a little.

Eva's mind fogs and her heart is thumping so hard against her chest, she can almost faint. He runs his thumb along the base of her belly and off to the side. He can sense the closest artery and that can give him as much blood as he craves. Then stop before she dies.

Wrapping his arms around her, Eva yelps at the force and cries out, "Please don't kill me."

He stops, his fangs baring inches from her skin. Her body is shaking and her hands have fallen on his shoulders. In the back of his head, her voice lingers in fear. Slowly, he pulls away before he can catch another whiff of her.

Eva falls to her knees from the loss support and covers her wound with her hand. Aleksi rushes to the window and inhales the smell of trees and the warm night air.

"Aleksi," She calls out to him and he hisses at her voice. The slightest bit of her talking urges her blood to pump at a faster pace. "I don't want to be afraid of you." She adds with a rasp, wiping the tears from her face.

Blocking every sense of his, Aleksi turns towards her and hungry, his dark orbs stare at her. He begins to march to her body and his thoughts black out. Eva collects herself and stands, slowly stepping back when he got closer. Right when the monster takes over Aleksi and he curls his lip back into an animalistic growl, the door opens.

~*~
Translation:

Iskam te – I want you
Oh no, who do you think it is?
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