"I hate you," Blade hissed at me.
"Ow!" I protested as he grabbed my wrists and held them above my head, pinning me against the thick tree trunk. He had shoved me pretty hard and the tree bark was rough on my skin, eesh. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You!" he snapped, "You aren't supposed to be the one calling the shots here."
"Then don't fold so easily. Had you given me a few more days I would have given up and summoned you myself."
He scowled, pulling away from me to stalk off into the woods. He just got here and he was already leaving?
"Blade? Where are you going?"
"Somewhere," he replied, not turning around as he slunk off into the darkness.
I hesitated on the dimly lit path and peered into the forest. I couldn't even see Blade anymore but I still ached for him. I hated how I needed him around to feel normal.
Grumbling, I set off after him, resigning myself to the need to be near him, focusing intensely on our bond to follow his path since I couldn't see him or hear him anymore. I was making quite a racket though even though I was trying to tread carefully through the woods.
My arm tingled slightly and I was so focused on Blade that I didn't even get scared when he snuck up behind me and tried to scare me. I simply turned around, hand on one hip with one eyebrow arched at him.
"You have to be the worst conduit a vampire could have," he groaned. "You don't get scared, you don't summon me, you don't get seduced..." he trailed off into a string of profanities and I rolled my eyes.
"Stop being a drama queen, I'm new at this."
"Well, maybe if you'd summon me I could teach you something."
"Oh fuck off."
"Excuse me? What the fuck was that for?" he said, bearing down on me until I backed up against a tree.
"That was something you deserved," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "You said two weeks ago I'd see you soon. This--" I gestured between us, "--is not soon. And you keep hurting me."
"Our definitions of soon aren't the same," he snapped, a hand on either side of my head as he leaned his face down close to mine. I noted he ignored the hurting me part.
"Then next time, define soon so I won't be stuck waiting around for you to be bored and decide 'hey! I've got nothing better to do so let's go see how my conduit is doing!'" I said, pushing his chest.
He didn't even budge. "Last time I checked, you're supposed to do what I say, not the other way around."
"Well, you don't seem to be doing to well at giving orders so pardon me for taking charge," I retorted, still pushing against him with all my strength.
"Stop giving orders," he commanded, staring straight into my eyes.
A long moment passed in silence before I burst out laughing. "Why so serious?" I joked. Was that supposed to do something?
He pulled away, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You're impossible."
"Hey, I didn't ask to be bonded to you."
"I truly wish you weren't my conduit," he spat, "Because then I'd never have to see you ever again."
"Wow, thanks. I'm not exactly thrilled to be spending time with you either, buddy."
"Of course, I could always suck your blood until you pass out," he mused.
I clapped my hands around my neck. "Don't you dare. You think I'm bad now? If you suck my blood I swear to God I'll make your life hell."
"You're human. You can't do much."
"Yet you came to me," I said, making a face at him as I folded my arms over my chest. "Look, I'll stop being such a bitch if you stop being an asshole."
"I don't think you're capable of such a feat."
"Fine, I'll attempt not to cause as much trouble if you show up more often," I said, holding one hand out, "Deal?"
He frowned at my hand and then looked up at me, blinking.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"What do you want me to do with that?" he asked, looking down at my hand again.
"To make a deal people shake hands on it."
"Oh sweetheart, you're playing with vampires now. There's no shaking hands. Between a conduit and a master it's mark against mark."
"Mark?" I asked, looking down at my intricately tattooed arm.
"Yes, mark," he said impatiently as he pushed the sleeve of his black shirt up, revealing a scarlet tattoo that looked identical to mine.
"How come yours is red and mine is black?"
"Your blood is red and you marked me," he said as he grasped my elbow and I grasped his, not even giving me a proper chance to see his tattoo. "My blood is black and I marked you."
"Huh," I said. Black blood? That was interesting. Kind of goth. "Cool."
"Whatever. What's the deal again?"
"I try not to cause as much trouble like making you come to me just to bother you as long as you promise to show up more often," I said.
"Fine," he sighed, pressing his forearm against mine.
A shock ran through me and I let out a frightened yelp as I pulled away, not sure what I had been expecting but definitely not that.
"Chicken shit," he chuckled, unaffected as he pulled his sleeve down.
I touched my tattoo, rubbing it since it still felt sensitive after that almost electric shock.
"Why did I feel a shock?"
"That's just what it does when we make a deal or promise. It's a binding oath."
"Binding? As in there's no way out of it?" Maybe I should have asked more questions before making a magical deal.
"Well, there are ways out of the deal but you have to be pretty damn sneaky to get around and find a loophole in it."
Great.
"So now what?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself since it was kind of chilly at night and I hadn't thought to bring a sweater.
"Well, I have some ideas of what we could do," he said, lips curving up into a smile as he took in my huddled form. "Even ones that could warm you up."
"How about 'no'?"
"Oh come on, most girls would be jumping at the chance to be with me."
"So why don't you go find one of those girls and do her?"
"I have a girlfriend."
He what? How was that possible?
"You? Girlfriend? Somehow you don't strike me as the type to commit to one girl," I remarked, genuinely thrown. The way he'd been hitting on me since day one? That didn't bode well for whoever she was. Poor girl.
"It's an open relationship."
That made more sense.
"Then what's the point if you're just going to be with other people all the time?" I questioned as he bowed his head down to my neck.
"Vampires drink blood," he explained, "And when we drink it can be either pleasurable or painful."
His teeth grazed my skin and I inhaled sharply. He better not bite me or I'd cut off the body part he apparently so desperately needed to use in order to be with his girlfriend and those other girls.
"And if we bite a human and they are willing and seduced, usually we have sex," he breathed, his cool breath tickling my neck as he skimmed sideways, his lips pressed to my throat. I could feel my pulse beating erratically against his mouth and I longed to calm my heart so he wouldn't know how scared I was that he was going to bite me. Adrenaline burned through me like electricity, charged by his mouth on my skin.
"It's the ultimate pleasure," he whispered, "Some can climax with just one bite."
"And then there are people like me who'd be more painful to bite?" I asked, my tone breathless.
I felt his lips pull into a smile, then he brushed a soft kiss higher up my throat. "Possibly. But I'm willing to find out if it's pleasurable or not."
"Well, I'm not so can you get out of my personal bubble?"
He surprisingly pulled back, though he still looked satisfied. "For someone who claims to hate me your heart sure was pounding."
"Excuse me for being scared for my life," I said, trying not to slump against the tree in relief. Everything inside me was shaking. I swore I could still feel his lips against my throat like an imprint.
He clucked his tongue. "I can't kill you remember? You're my conduit. It would hurt like a bitch if you died and I'm sure if I was the one doing the killing it'd be even worse."
"Ah, finally something positive about this conduit thing."
"Isn't being my slave a positive thing?" he teased, leaning closer to my face.
I swallowed hard, unused to having people this close in my personal space except for boyfriends, aka people I trusted and liked. "No. I think that's the worst part of this actually."
"You wound me," he said dramatically, "You really should be punished. Maybe that'll teach you."
"I just made a binding oath and you still want to punish me? What kind of crap is that?!"
"You're so gullible."
"And you're an arrogant ass."
"Why thank you," he said cheekily, going back to my neck again.
"Okay, are you thirsty or something? Why do you keep going around my neck?" I asked, focusing on my annoyance, which helped to mask some of my nerves. This was far too intimate a situation to be in with someone like him. And we were very much alone out here, in the dark, and nobody knew where I was and I had no idea what to do with my hands so I was just stuck standing there against a tree, afraid to even move in case he thought I liked it. Which I didn't.
"Because it bothers you," he said simply, his lips brushing across my throat.
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing my eyes to let my body relax, not let my stress get the best of me. "Sorry, doesn't bother me that much."
"Your body may be relaxed but I can still hear your heart racing," he said, moving his lips until he was pressed against my pulse. His tongue darted out, dragging along my throat, slow and steady. I shuddered, goosebumps rising along my arms.
"Are you licking me?" I asked, voice no higher than a whisper.
"I'm just tasting," he said, "If you want I can pierce your flesh and drink up instead."
"Uh...I'd prefer that you did neither but given the choice between the two..." I grimaced, "I'd rather you lick than suck."
"I lick, you're the one who sucks," he teased as his lips moved up my neck towards my jaw.
I curled my fingers into a fist and hit him in the stomach, hard. He didn't even look that bothered. He only flinched slightly before he pulled away.
I, on the other hand, doubled over, clutching my hand to my stomach. It felt like all the bones in my hand had shattered and it burned like a fire.
"Fuck!" I cried, falling to my knees while Blade stepped aside, his head thrown back as he laughed.
"You'd think you'd have learned that you can't hurt me," he said, clutching his sides with laughter.
I bit my lip hard as I blinked painful tears away, taking big deep breaths in attempt to calm myself down and not screech or curse as much as I wanted.
"You broke my fucking hand," I spat through gritted teeth.
"I didn't do a damn thing, you punched me," he said from beside me, still chuckling away.
"Your stomach broke my hand," I corrected, "It's fucking hard as a brick."
"That's not the only thing that's hard," he whispered in my ear.
I grit my teeth to keep from snapping at him and instead cradled my hand to my chest as I fell onto my butt on the forest floor.
"Damn, it must have really hurt if you can't even insult me or snap at me," he remarked, crouching down in front of me.
"No shit," I hissed, eyes watering with pain.
"Let me see it."
"No way! Stay away from me."
"Kiana stop being so dramatic, just let me see your hand."
"No, you're going to make it worse."
"I'm pretty sure your hand is as bad as it could be without it being cut off or something. Now give it."
I glared at him and he glared right back.
"Give me your hand," he ordered.
My hand lifted and started towards him but then I yanked it back. "Hey! What the hell is that?" I cried.
"That's you following your masters orders," he said icily, "Now give me your hand."
I fought against his command, struggling to disobey, but I couldn't hold it off and gave in. Sweat had broken out on my forehead from the effort of not obeying and my head throbbed.
He looked my hand over, flipping it over to look at the back of my hand before he examined my palm. He poked and prodded it, making me wince or yelp if he pressed too hard.
"Well, it's probably not broken, most likely just badly bruised," he said after a moment, drawing a finger across my palm. My entire hand was a bright lobster red, mostly on my knuckles and fingers and I had a sinking feeling that tomorrow it was going to be all kinds of black and blue. "But you're definitely going to be sore for a few days. I guess this was your punishment. And I didn't even have to do anything."
"Shut up."
"Or what? You'll punch me again?"
"No, but I'll do...something. When I found out what that something is then you're going to get it," I threatened.
"I'm so scared," he said sarcastically, still tracing random patterns on my upturned palm.
"You should be."
"Oh that's right, you're the crazy cat lady."
"You heard that?"
"Of course I heard," he said, giving me a weird look. "By the way, you should really cut that Landon guy some slack."
"Excuse me? Why the hell would I do that?"
"Well, he likes you a lot. And the faster you sleep with him the faster he'll leave you alone."
"I am not sleeping with Landon! Not now and not ever."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"I don't even want to be near him. He's so annoying."
"Yet you're always talking to him," he pointed out.
"Talking? More like bickering. And it's not like I have much choice, he's friends with Katie and Nate so I'm stuck with him regardless."
"Most people who act like you two get together."
"I don't care. It's not happening."
"Does that mean I don't have a chance either?"
"That's exactly what it means," I said, leaning towards him, "I've been around you three times and each one of those times I've wished I could kill you. That's not exactly romance in the making."
"Romance is overrated."
"Oh that's right, all vampires are good at is sex. All you feel is lust, not love."
"And you don't feel even a drop of lust."
"How would you know what I feel?"
Suddenly he had me pinned on my back on the grass, his hands on either side of my head and a leg on either side of me.
"Because you're simple, easy...you're normal. No surprises and nothing interesting," he said, his face serious, "I've been around for a long time, I've watched your kind for all this time. I know how to figure a person out."
He brushed a finger along the side of my neck. "What makes them tick," he breathed, red eyes locked on mine.
I swallowed hard. His face was uncomfortably close. I could feel his breath on my lips as my own breathing started to quicken and my lips parted.
And then my phone rang. Blade disappeared and I stared up at the starry sky through the tops of trees in shock, trying to calm my fluttering heart. I patted myself down with my good hand, searching for my phone before I finally found it.
"Hello?" I asked breathlessly, flopping back down onto my back as I closed my eyes.
"Kiana? Where are you?" Landon asked.
"Um...why?"
"Because it's almost curfew and Katie said you aren't in your dorm," he said worriedly, "Where are you?"
"Um...I went walking remember? I'm heading there now," I lied, wincing as I went to cross my fingers by accident.
"You better hurry up, you've got five minutes before curfew," he said, "And you might want to call Katie before she has a heart attack."
"Okay, bye." I stuffed my phone into my pocket, not even bothering to call Katie. I'd see her in a few minutes and no doubt Landon would call her anyways. I took a deep breath to steady myself before I got to my feet and headed back to the path to my dorm. I had no clue where Blade was, but I knew he was nearby. I looked for him as I walked but I couldn't see him in the dark so I continued on my way.
Once I reached the path I started to jog, and when I checked the time and saw I only had about two minutes to spare I took off sprinting, wincing as every stride jostled my pained hand. Thank God for being on the track and field team or else this would have been impossible.
I shot into the dorm building, speeding up the five flights of stairs so fast my lungs and calves were aching. As soon as I made it to my room, I took one huge gulp of air and bent over, a hand on my knee as I tried to catch my breath.
"Kiana! Where the heck were you?" Katie asked worriedly as she walked up to me.
"I was walking around and lost track of time," I gasped, taking big gulps of wonderful oxygen.
"Well, jeez. Don't scare me like that! I thought you got kidnapped or something."
Wouldn't be the first time, would it?
I laughed wheezily. "You watch way too much Criminal Minds."
"I can't help it, Reed is hot."
"He's cute, not hot," I said as I straightened up and got my pajamas from my bed. My arm was tingling and I frowned as I took a quick peek out the window. Nothing. Please let me shower in peace.
"Why did I get stuck with two losers?" Jill said dramatically from bed, "And stop making noise. I'm tired."
"Well, you wouldn't be so tired if you weren't having sex all the time," I said innocently as I walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me before she could reply.
"What a pain," I muttered, dropping my clothes onto the counter before I stripped down. I stepped into the shower, washing my hair with one hand since my other hand hurt way too much to use.
My hand was already looking like a mess by the time I emerged, wrapped in a towel. My hand was starting to darken in some spots with bruises and when I flexed it I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out in pain.
"Serves you right."
"What the hell? How long have you been standing there?" I whisper-shouted at Blade, standing against the wall.
"Long enough," he said, coming over to circle me with interest. "Let me tell you, I certainly got a show."
Anger burned through me. "You asshole."
"It could have been worse. I could have stripped and jumped in there with you."
"You'd never."
"I probably would," he conceded, "But I figured I'd be nice tonight and leave you be."
"How big of you," I said sarcastically, my back against the wall, "And now that you've seen me and gotten your kicks you can leave."
"Kicking me out? Not very nice."
"I think we established that a while ago. Now get out."
"Why?" he asked, walking up to me.
"Because I'm practically naked and you're a disgusting person," I said, shrinking back against the wall.
"Mmmm, I noticed," he said, looking me up and down, his gaze lingering on my legs and chest before he looked back up at my face with a hungry look in his eyes.
He wants to play that game? Well then so can I. Nothing would piss him off more than being played. I closed the small space between us, wrapping my arms around his neck while surprise flashed across his face.
If he fell for this again he'd be an even bigger moron than I thought.
"Did you like what you saw?" I asked, starting to play with his black hair on the nape of his neck. I was a little surprised at how soft and smooth his hair was.
To his credit, he did look a bit suspicious. "I did."
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, swiping my tongue across my bottom lip to wet it, turning us around before I started to push him back against the wall.
"Because I'm not sure whether I should trust you or not."
"Don't I look trustworthy?"
"What are you doing?" he asked instead, fidgeting awkwardly as I pressed my whole body against him.
"Nothing," I said innocently as I decided to try something. I leaned into his neck, inching my mouth up his throat slightly before I parted my lips and bit his neck lightly.
He inhaled sharply, head rocking back against the wall.
Bingo. Now I'm in business.
I bit down harder, making him wrap his arms around me and grab the back of my towel tightly. I tried not to fidget since I was genuinely worried my towel would fall or he'd take my towel off and I'd be completely nude but continued anyway. I wasn't a quitter. And I needed to get the upper hand on him somehow, maybe that would finally get him to stop.
"Why the change of heart?" he asked, trailing one hand up my spine. When his cold fingers brushed along my skin and up the back of my neck, I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me.
"Heart? There's no such thing as love and lust together, Blade," I chastised him, "Surely you know that."
He made a grunting noise, grinding his lower body against mine. I tried to keep my body relaxed but it was hard; I'd never ever done something like this before and I had no clue what to do about it now. I hadn't expected him to really reciprocate and one-up me.
Blade must have realized as much when I didn't move because he let out a throaty chuckle, "You really are a little virgin."
I scowled, trying to step away from him. I'd proven my point; I could play his perverted game, even if backfired. I didn't need to grind on him in a towel. But he held me firm, his hands resting dangerously low on my back.
"It's not hard," he whispered in my ear, holding me tightly against him, "You just move."
For some Godforsaken reason, I didn't pull away. He shifted his hips, showing me how to move against him. At first it was awkward. It wasn't something I was used to. Grinding on guys was something my friends did while I sat and watched with varying degrees of concern and disgust. And here I was, learning how to grind on my vampire master in a bathroom wearing only a towel.
What the hell had my life become?
The worst part is...I was kind of enjoying it. I hated it, but some little part of me was enjoying this weird relationship with Blade, the confidence of his touch. Our bond was encroaching over all the logical parts of my brain.
"Not bad, sweetheart," he said huskily, his forehead against mine as our lower halves grinded and moved against each other.
There was a knock on the bathroom door. "Kiana? You okay in there?"
I jerked out of Blade's arms easily since he wasn't expecting it and felt the heat rush to my cheeks. My whole body burned in a way that was so different, so new, so...wrong.
"Kiana?" came the voice again.
"I'm fine," I called hoarsely, a hand on my flushed chest.
"You might want to hurry up, it's getting late and we do have school tomorrow," Katie said before I heard her shuffle back into bed.
"Crap," I breathed, running a hand through my wet hair.
"Well, that's my cue to leave," Blade said, smirking at me. He looked extremely satisfied, hair ruffled in the back from my hands, and I got the strongest urge to slap that smirk off his face. There went my plan to tease him and take it away. He once again was victorious.
He slipped an arm around me, his hand resting on the small of my back before he pulled me roughly against him. "I'll see you soon."
"Define soon."
"Within a few days. Before it would have been a week but now after that little turn of events..." he trailed off with another chuckle, "Well, I'll be back for more."
"Who says I want to give you any more?"
He arched an eyebrow. "So what? That was just you showing me what I couldn't have?"
"Maybe."
"Well sweetheart, I didn't see you protesting when you were grinding on me."
"Because I was proving a point," I said, realizing how pathetic that sounded. I admit, I enjoyed it a teeny, tiny, little bit. I was only human and couldn't help any physical reactions my body had. That didn't mean I liked him. But the main reason I didn't pull away was for show, to prove that I could seduce him and control him.
I think.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he said, letting go of me as he headed out for the night. "Sweet dreams, sweetheart."
As soon as he was gone, I turned and slammed my fists on the counter. "Dammit!" I hissed, yanking back my bad hand while it throbbed and pulsed in pure agony.