Chapter 5 - Burning
We made our way out onto the cathedral plaza and quickly moved along the path to one of the neighboring old world buildings that towered over the cathedral. It had originally been a hotel, temporary housing for people coming into the city from out of town. Now many of the vampires used them as their temporary homes when in Chicago. There were several such buildings along this block where now thousands of vampires scurried to the privacy of their rooms.
We quickly made our way up the many flights of stairs toward Damion's top floor suite. There is no electrical power left in Chicago so elevators are useless and each of the plush halls is lit by decorative candelabras. As always the first thing to catch my eye when the door to Damion's suite is opened is the the vast wall of windows overlooking the lake just beyond the plaza and the rising red rimmed moon. Damion guides his companions toward his bedroom with its oversized king bed as I walk to the windows staring at the moon. Lost in the view I do not hear Damion return but purr as I feel his arms snake around my waist.
"You won't join us will you." He stated more than asked as his whispered in my ear, the cool breath teasing the skin on my neck. I shook my head but leaned into his embrace relishing in his touch. He sighed expecting my answer but ever hopeful. He released me and I could not stop the soft whine that escaped my throat as he walked toward the package sitting on the bar. He glanced back at my complaint and saw the battle in my eyes for control. He returned with the package neatly wrapped in blue paper with a silver ribbon. The girls called for him from the bedroom growing restless and impatient. He smirked as he handed me the gift.
"Duty calls little one, but I promise I'll return and give you your release. Until then I brought you something to keep you entertained." He kissed my head and retreated to the bedroom and his restless companions. He kindly shut the door leaving me in the darkness of the living room lit only by the full moon outside the window.
I stared after him for a few moments almost wishing I'd accepted his invitation to join them but in the end turned my attention to my gift. I knew what it was before I'd even tugged on the silver ribbon. He brought me the same thing every year since that ill fated evening of my botched ceremony 10 years ago. Each year he'd given me a bottle of vampiric blood to help take the edge off the frenzy that is the blood moon. His way of letting me know it was safe here, that he would harbor me and protect my reputation without me having to give myself again. The bottle of blood still cool from its journey here in an ice box had a plain black label on it. On the label scribed in his beautiful slanting handwriting was Libidine Sanguinius Aeternus Eternus. "Bloodlust Everlasting" No name, no date. THIS was part of his private collection.
I stood by the windows watching the waves rolling lazily onto the lakeshore less than a block away as I sipped on his precious gift. Each sip of blood at least temporarily cooling the fire beneath my skin. At this rate I wasn't sure I'd survive the night. The moon had barely risen above the trees and the fire of the moon was driving me mad with need, my instincts telling me to feed and breed. Damion's gift would satiate the need for blood but would do nothing for my physical need for sex. It's why I loathed the blood moon as much as I do. Its draw made me crave the last thing on earth I really wanted.
Hours passed as I waited for Damion's return, longing for his touch again. I sighed with relief when I heard his footsteps behind me and the warmth of his arms as they wrapped around my waist again pulling me against his now naked form. I stiffened in his arms as i felt his still hard cock nestled against my back.
"Shhhh.. Still your fears little one, it may be the blood moon but the last nine years should have proved I won't use it on you." he whispered in my ear as his hands ran down my stomach and over my thighs as he tried to soothe me. "Though should you ever change your mind all you have to do is ask." The slightest of touches set the blaze in my skin anew. Physically I wanted him with every fiber of my being. I wasn't sure which was worse anymore. The pain i feared or being consumed by the growing fire beneath my skin. How did I survive this last year... or the year before that?
He tugged at my shirt and before I could hesitate he had it over my head and onto the floor. He quieted my protest with a nip to my shoulder that sent waves of pleasure through my need wracked body. My skirt soon joined my shirt on the floor.
The thin black lace of my undergarments the only thing covering my pale skin in the moonlight as he let his hands roam up to my breasts trapped behind the fabric of my bra. He kneaded them with his warm hands and it was not long before he discarded my bra so that he could play with my hardened nipples. I was writhing in his arms, my skin hot beneath his fingers. He slowly ran his hand down my stomach, hoping I was too lost in the sensations from the nipple still being rolled between his fingers to notice its descent. No such luck. I went rigid in his arms and my hands wrapped around his wrist as his hand slipped beneath the lace of my thong.
"Damion!" I begged now trembling in a confusing mix of need and fear my breath catching in my throat.
"Lina you're burning. Look at your eyes in the window and you'll see its true." I turned to look at myself only to see the dark hungry eyes of the vampire staring back at me. "You've denied your instincts too long Lina. I would hate to have some shmuck take advantage of your situation and cause you great pain. I know what happened to you. I know the scarring caused by the wolf's seed. I've guarded you all these years. Every year I've done things to take the edge off of the moon's draw and not once have I mounted you despite my desire to do so. Don't you trust me?" He turned me to face him, real hurt showing in his eyes at my unintended mistrust. I lowered my head ashamed that I'd hurt him.
"Of course I trust you Damion. It's just," I looked up into his eyes trying to show the sincerity of my words. " I'm afraid." I reach for him as he tries to pull away from me. "I'm afraid this fire will consume me. That I'll burn alive if I don't satisfy its need." He stopped trying to pull away and returned to holding me as I laid every rampant fear out before him.
"The fire rages more than it ever has. I'm terrified of what might have to happen to feed the hunger I feel inside. The worst part of it is that I can't decide which will hurt the most. Giving it what it wants or denying it again."
" Give your body over to me Lina. I ask that you give me your full trust. I'll keep to my word. No matter how much I want to I will not take you. But PLEASE let me ease your pain." I looked into his deep pleading eyes and nodded my surrender. He turned me to face the windows again knowing I found comfort in watching the waves and staring at the moon. He ran his hands down my stomach slipping his fingers under the black lace as he smoothly pushed my last article of clothing down my thighs. I trembled against him overly aware of our nakedness and the rigidity of his cock against my spine but said nothing.
His nails ran along the tops of my thighs as they made their way back up, returning one to my waist the other continued upward to my neck. It trailed over my throat, along my jaw and along the edge of my earlobe setting the fire in my skin ablaze in its wake. He then tangled his fingers into my hair to gently pull my head back and to the side baring my throat to him. The bite was so tender it felt more like a kiss than a bite as his fangs pierced my neck. He gently suckled on the blood that flowed from the neat wound each draw sending a wave of pleasure through my body but he'd been right. A bite was no longer enough to feed my desires. As soon as he removed his fangs the small wound healed leaving a single drop of crimson blood on my neck which he promptly removed with his tongue. He guided me to the center of the room and smoothly fastened the leather bands around my wrists. In a single motion he lifted my hands over my head and clipped my restraints into the clip hanging from the ceiling leaving me dangling on my tiptoes silhouetted by the moon. He started at my collar bone nipping and kissing a trail toward my right breast and its hardened nipple and I was quickly writhing beneath his lips falling under the moon's sway. He licked and nipped at my nipple, rolling it between his teeth softly and I thought I was going to crawl right out of my skin as the pleasure radiated out from my nipple, down my spine straight to my heated core. After a long torturously pleasurable moment he nibbled his way to my other breast replacing his teeth with his fingers on the nipple he'd just left behind. He made sure to give my left nipple the same treatment the right had received before continuing his trek downward.
His head nestled between my trembling thighs he flicked his tongue out and brushed it over my clit. He was rewarded by a hungry moan. He repeated the motion and was pleased when he got yet another moan. He proceeded to shower my clit with flicks, kisses, and little nibbles earning a near constant moan as my hungry body raced toward its first much needed climax. He allowed his hands to roam. Sometimes they stopped to pinch my clit, other times they would trace lines on the pale skin of my thighs and buttocks. Each sensation stronger than the next as I climbed higher and higher. It wasn't until he drew my clit into his mouth and bit down strategically with his fangs on either side of it into the soft flesh surrounding my clit that I shattered into ecstasy. I cried out as the orgasm rocked my body every fiber blazed with the pleasure of it and I didn't care if I ever came down. But it soon subsided leaving the fire within my skin cooled but not extinguished.
I needed more but refused to admit it. Even had he not fed from my blood he'd been able to read me like a book but he took his time, coming up to stand behind me, cradling me in his arms as he debated the best way to give me what i needed while keeping with what I wanted. A royal challenge considering they were about as far along the spectrum as they could get from each other and with the moon approaching its peak in the sky he knew soon I wouldn't be able to resist its call no matter how much I wanted to.
