Divine Descent

Chapter Three

"Cassandra, you are a goddess of night. Lust and desire are in your nature. You would have needed it and I would have understood."

"Elijah..."

He smirks when my arms fall limp at my sides. "I didn't say you could move."

"Well, you're pissing me off."

"As usual."

I bend down for my clothes, huffing but flinch when strong hands come down on my arms, heaving me back onto my feet. Within seconds, I'm pinned to a wall, the impact of his strength knocking one of the framed paintings from its hook. The wood breaks into splinters at our feet as he restrains my wrists, digging them into the paneling. He looks down upon me, pulling me from my element, forcing me to submit to him.

This is one aspect of himself he hasn't seem to lost his grasp on... bringing me to hilt.

He's the only man in the world able to do it.

I remember a time almost a year ago to date where he had me pinned exactly like this. It was the first day he kissed me, the first day we made love, the first day I drank his blood and the first day he had mine.

He bound himself to me that night, offered all to me while taking everything.

In his darkening gaze, I see the remembrance in his eyes too.

"The world I spoke of no longer exists. I will make myself clear. There will be no one else for you, as there will be no one else for me. I will satisfy all your cravings, mistress."

I glare at him, feeling small in comparison to his height and muscular body mass. He takes in my livid scowl and infuriatingly, his smile widens like he's enjoying this.

"You have little faith in the woman who brought you back from the grave, don't you?"

"All the faith I have in this world, you gave me, Cassandra. Don't mistake me."

I stare at him, face tight with restraint. My teeth grit, aggravation blossoming in my chest, igniting the part of me still tormented by the decisions he made six months ago, decisions he made on his own.

"I tried to kill myself you know, more than once."

Any traces of amusement or playfulness fade with my words, disappearing altogether.

"Cassandra—"

"Life without you meant absolutely nothing. It hurt to wake up, to open my goddamn eyes," I whisper passionately, my wrists throbbing when he releases them to grab onto my face. I gaze at him, imploring him to understand. "I was in agony."

He looks pale, even for a vampire. "I hate to even think it, to imagine you that low."

"If I hadn't been able to bring you back..."

He shakes his head as the rest of my sentence fades to implication. Souls bound aren't meant to be apart. He told that to me more than once. I believed him, but I didn't truly know how right he was until he was torn from my life.

He left a gaping hole with his death. He took all the sunshine.

And now I know that there is no world for me without him in it.

It's a sick notion I've never relied on in my life, that kind of dependence on another human being before. But we are not human beings. We are not just in love. We are one.

He pushes away my hair from my eyes, gazing down at me with a forlorn smile on his face. "I'd like to say that we are strong enough to exist without one another, but if I was in your position tonight and I had the choice to leave you to oblivion or call you back to me, I don't think I would have been able to resist either."