Blood Lust (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Words as Weapons

"Please, you can't."

"Can't I? I may just be your prey; the human equivalent of a Caprisun to you guys, but I can still think for myself."

"No," Nero closed the short gap between us, clasping my shoulders. "You're so much more than that."

"Oh, you mean the whole "queen" thing?" I shot back, using air quotes.

He gave me a stern look. "I couldn't give a shit less about that."

"Then, why? Why do you want me to stay?"

"Because I..." He faltered, seemingly lost for words.

"See?" I whispered, taking his hands off me. "You can't think of a good reason at all."

His hands fell limply to his sides as his head bowed.

I hated to see Nero look so defeated, but this was for the best. Everyone would be much better off without me here, tempting the vampires, making them crazy with my blood.

At least, that's what I had to keep telling myself.

Turning on my heel, I started to head back to the university, when Nero said something that shook me to the core.

"What did you say?" I whipped around to gawk at him, heart hammering.

There was absolutely no way he said that. I had to have misheard him.

"I love you." He repeated, loudly.

You'd have thought he'd grown three heads, I was staring at him so hard.

No one had said that to me. Ever. Not any of my foster parents, or the guy who'd given me my first kiss. I wasn't even sure if my real parents got to say it to me before they died.

Which was why I didn't believe him.

"N-no," I stammered. "No, you can't lo--" I stopped, unable to say the word. "You can't feel that way about me."

"Why not?"

He asked, coming toward me.

"Because we barely know each other?" He stopped a couple of inches from me, and licked his lips. "Because you're my prey?"

My heartbeat resonated all the way down.

"Nero," my breathing was shallow, voice barely above a whisper.

He pulled me to him, chest heaving as hard as mine. Then, our lips met with teeth-clashing ferocity.

My whole body came alive, hot and tingly, under the weight of his kiss.

His tongue danced with mine; tasting, probing, melting away every ounce of tension that clung to me.

He pulled away abruptly, and kissed me behind my ear.

"I."

He kissed down my neck, on the uninjured side.

"Love."

He gave my collarbone a sharp nip.

"You."

His tongue grazed the hollow at the base of my throat, dragging a frustrated moan out of me.

What he was doing felt good, really good. But I couldn't handle the weight those three little words carried.

So I pushed him away. Literally.

"What's wrong?" He looked bewildered, lips red from the intensity of our kiss.

"I told you." I leaned back against a damp tree to catch my bearings. "You can't feel that way about me."

"Why not? What's so bad about me loving you?"

He wasn't going to let this go, at least not willingly.

I knew that if I accepted what he was saying, I wouldn't leave. And if I didn't leave, it would only be a matter of time before one of the vampires drank my blood again.

And if that happened, they may not recover from the madness of their bloodlust until it was too late.

"Because I'm just a little girl who's too damn nosey for her own good." I finally said, using Nero's own words against him. "You shouldn't love a troublemaker like me; someone you have to save from her own meddlesome ways."

"Audrey," he whispered, breathless. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of that."

The look on his face hurt way worse than I thought it would. But I couldn't back down now, not if wanted him to let me go.

"Yeah, well, you can't take it back." I turned away from him, no longer able to take the pain I was causing him. "So, don't worry about keeping me safe anymore. I'll save you the trouble."

I trudged off after that, teary eyed, and cursing myself.

I just need to find Lucius. I thought, morosely. He can get me off the island.

A/N:
Woot woot! Another update! Don't forget to leave me a comment, and as always, thanks for reading 😊