Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (12 page)

Her gaze dropped to his mouth when his lips parted, revealing his sharp canines. She stared at them, imagining the way it felt when he bit her, the incredible intoxicating mixture of pleasure and pain. The very idea of it alone had her clenching her muscles around his length, milking it and moving her hips against him in a search for release.

She closed her eyes and rolled her head to one side when he withdrew his finger from her mouth and eyed her neck. His hand moved up to hold her wrists painfully tightly, making them ache. The pain only added to the intense pleasure flowing through her, sweeping her away from the world and making everything disappear.

Stilling her hips, she focused on the smooth slide of his length as it drove into her and the way he eased his fangs into her neck. It was a slow bite and she was so focused on it that she could feel his incisors slicing through her flesh, penetrating her. She felt the moment the points found a vein; felt the first sharp pull he gave on her blood; felt her blood rush to him, dizzying her.

Keenly felt the intense connection between them.

His thrusts slowed and she moaned when he suckled softly on her neck. She listened to each sound he made and felt each pull on her blood he gave. Her body hummed with each one, crying out over the deliciousness of how it felt to have his teeth in her. His tongue lapped at her skin, sending shivers dancing across her neck and down her arms and spine.

He bit down again and her eyes shot open when he thrust hard into her at the same time and came. She clamped her legs around him, locking them behind his backside and holding him inside her as she rode out the last of his thrusts, trying to use the feeling of his length throbbing inside her to make herself cum.

He pulled out and she frowned. Her body ached, hungry for release.

She wondered what he was up to when he dragged her up into a sitting position, his hands still clamped around hers. He led her across the room and she followed in silence, too delirious with desire to care about where they were going.

She dazedly looked around the bathroom and raised her brows when he turned the shower on. He lured her into it, his smile still wicked. She grinned.

The water was hot as it cascaded over her. She tilted her head back to wet her hair and then ran her hands over it. Opening her eyes, she looked into Valentine’s. His hair was wet and water was running down over his chest. She traced the rivulets with her fingers and then frowned when water stung the bite marks on her body.

Valentine gave her a concerned look and pulled her against him. He carefully licked the wound on her neck, growing hard again at the memory of biting her. He worked his way down, sealing each cut until he was kneeling in front of her. He looked up at her. The water from the shower was running down her like a waterfall, beading on her skin where the flow wasn’t constant.

He licked the wounds on her thigh clean, suckling slowly for a moment before sealing them. Her blood was still strong, potent with the magic. It made him feel a little drunk.

Spreading her legs, he placed one of them over his shoulder and parted her soft lips. He darted his tongue inside and smiled when she moaned harshly, her legs tensing around him and raising her up. He lifted the other leg over his shoulder and held her against him. He flicked her pert nub with his tongue, groaning inside at the taste of their combined juices.

The water splashed off his back when she leaned into the wall for support, her hands coming down to hold his head between her legs. She rocked against his face as he licked and teased her.

He brought his hand around and slid one finger up inside her, pumping her while his tongue flicked her arousal. His erection bobbed when he felt her growing wetter around his finger and her thighs clamped around his head. Aching to be inside her, he pushed her legs apart and stood.

He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, burying his length in her in one swift move. Pressing her into the tiles of the shower, he slammed into her. Her fingers dug into his biceps and she moaned hotly in his ear. He buried his face in her neck, gritting his teeth and growling as he took her.

His fingers pressed into her flesh as hard as hers were into his. She breathed heavily against his throat, muttering words he couldn’t make out and tensing.

She came with a shudder and convulsed against him, crying out her release loud enough that he was sure someone would hear. He held her tighter, riding out her orgasm and seeking his. The pace of his thrusts increased until he was slamming her into the wall with each one, harder and harder, faster and faster until he came with a cry of his own. His knees buckled as he moaned into her neck and he collapsed with her.

He panted into her throat and closed his eyes when she pressed kisses to his neck. He held her when she sunk her teeth into him, drinking softly.

Picking her up, he carried her out of the shower, turning it off. She didn’t stop drinking, even when he dried off as much of her as he could reach and walked with her into the bedroom.

When he laid her down on the bed, she finally released him, licking the wounds and drawing back. He smiled into her eyes, and drew her to him. She hooked her leg over his, nestling her naked body close to his, and rested her head on his chest.

Wrapping his arms about her, he held her, his thumb lightly brushing against her arm as he watched her. She closed her eyes and sighed out her breath, and before long, she’d fallen asleep.

He swept the hair out of her face. He was glad she’d shown up on his doorstep tonight. Having her in his arms, and seeing in her eyes the way she felt about him, had gone a long way to reassure him that she really did love him, and that her feelings for him were more than they were for Venturi.

He pressed a kiss to her hair and closed his eyes.

He felt so much more relaxed now and he knew she did to. They’d needed this stolen night together, not only to reaffirm their feelings for each other, but to give them time away from the pressure of commanding their bloodlines.

And away from the stress of waiting for Elena to make a move.

All around Prophecy, everything was tinted blue and grey. The garden looked dusty and the veranda was covered with cobwebs bigger than she’d ever seen. Tall Cyprus trees swayed silently in a breeze she couldn’t feel. It all looked old and dusty, dead. The windows of the house were covered in a layer of filth, obscuring the dark interior. Her eyes ran over it, taking it all in while she tried to convince herself that she knew this place. It was familiar but unfamiliar at the same time.

“Don’t be scared,” a familiar voice reached out to her, a faintest whisper on the breeze.

Warmth settled in her chest and she pressed her hand to it. “Mother?”

“Be strong.”

“I’m trying to be…” She turned on the spot, hoping to see her mother, but there was nothing in the dead garden. Leaves silently blew past her, dull blue against the grey earth. Her skin prickled.

She went into the house, treading carefully on the wooden boards of the veranda in case they gave way.

Her eyes widened on seeing the inside. She recognised it as the place she’d seen in her previous vision. She’d been here with Valentine and after that it had all gotten crazy.

“It may seem bad, but everything happens for a reason, my child,” her mother said and she spun around to face the direction the whisper had come from.

There was a painting on the wall. She knew that delicately beautiful face and that serene smile.

“Mother?” she said quietly while staring at the painting. It was in colour while everything else was monochromatic. The landscape behind the figure of her mother was vivid green, making the pale dress her mother wore stand out. She smiled at the rich blood red hair that flowed around her mother’s shoulders, and toyed with her own.

“Everything…” Her mother’s lips moved.

A noise in the house sent a chill up Prophecy’s spine and made her freeze. She reached her senses out, trying to see if she was still alone.

“You’ll save him,” her mother said. “Like he saved you.”

Prophecy turned on sensing something nearby and was surprised to see Valentine standing in front of her. She smiled and went to move towards him but a sharp pain in her chest made her stop. It ripped through her, tearing along every nerve and making the marks on her body throb.

The smile dropped from her face when she looked down and saw a sword sticking through her chest. Her eyes followed the length of it up and cold dread dropped like a weight into her heart when she saw that Valentine was holding it.

He grinned maliciously and twisted the sword.

She screamed.

Valentine grabbed Prophecy the moment she shot up in bed. She was screaming her lungs out. He flinched as she shrieked, frantically clutching at her chest. Her eyes were fixed on the wall opposite and her fingers were dancing about her chest as though desperately searching for something. He touched her shoulder, trying to get her attention but she just kept screaming.

The light on the bedside table flickered, trembled as though in an earthquake, and then went out.

“Prophecy?” he said and wasn’t prepared for her reaction.

She looked at him with wide, petrified eyes and then scrambled away from him. He went to grab her but she kicked him square in the face. He growled. Before he could catch hold of her, she was moving across the floor, edging backwards towards the wall while her eyes stayed fixed on him.

She was breathing heavily and he could smell the fear on her, could see her trembling even in the low light from the sun outside.

He went to move after her, but she shook her head, the movement of it spilling fat tears onto her cheeks.

She clutched at her chest. “Don’t hurt me … please … don’t hurt me.”

Her words cut him to the core and he frowned. Slipping off the bed, he held his hands up by his side when she spoke again.

“Please, don’t hurt me.” Her voice was strangled by the tears that were running freely down her cheeks. She was constantly shaking her head and her hand still clutched at the point over her heart. Her lower lip trembled and her brows furrowed. “Please?”

“You are safe, Prophecy. I would never hurt you,” he whispered back at her, afraid that if he raised his voice any more she’d start to scream again.

She shook violently, her fingers groping her chest while her other arm wrapped itself around her knees. She curled up, making herself look small and childlike.

“You will,” she sobbed the words. “You’re going to hurt me.”

He swallowed those words with a sense of disbelief. He was going to hurt her? What had she seen that had made her so upset? Stepping closer to her, he struggled with the feelings battling inside him. Confusion and dismay clashed with certainty and hope that her vision had been wrong about it. It could have been Elena, not him.

“We shall change it,” he said and moved nearer. She shrank back, frantically shaking her head and biting her lip in some attempt to stop herself from crying. Her eyes were glassy with tears and when he looked into them, he felt as though he was looking at someone else. Something wasn’t right. “We have changed it once already, we will find a way to do so again.”

His movement towards her was slow. The moment she began to sob uncontrollably into her knees, he knelt and held her, drawing her close to him but giving her enough room that she wouldn’t feel suffocated. He stroked her hair, making soothing sounds and hoping that she wouldn’t lash out at him again. He could taste blood in his mouth and his jaw still ached, but it was nothing when compared to the dull pain in his chest. Surely he wasn’t going to hurt her?

“It will be all right, Prophecy … I promise … I will not hurt you.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes as he did so.

When he drew back a little, she was looking up at him.

“Why is it dark?” she said in a small voice, her expression one of confusion.

When she looked at their surroundings with an air of surprise, he realised that she hadn’t quite been conscious of the past few minutes.

“Why are we on the floor?”

“You had a bad dream.” He lessened his grip on her when her eyes flew wide again. She pushed her palms against his chest, shoving him away.

“You! You stabbed me … you … why?” Her voice was high and strained. He could feel her fingernails digging into his bare chest.

Calmly taking hold of her hands, he held them. They were trembling badly. He looked at them while he brushed his thumbs against hers.

“I do not know, but I will never do it. Never. It may be me you saw, or it might be Elena.” He kept his voice low and gentle. Her expression altered, going from horror to relief in the blink of an eye. In her panic, she’d clearly forgotten that Elena could easily change her form into any she chose.

She looked at the room when the lights flickered back into life and then straight into his eyes.

“Did I do that?” she said.

He smiled and stood up. “There was a lot of screaming. The whole world fell silent the last time you did that.”

He noticed her eyes dropped to his body. She smiled and looked down at herself.

“There was a time when you used to get awkward from just seeing me in my underwear.” She raked her eyes over him.

Holding his hand out to her, he helped her up onto her feet and then scooped her up into his arms when she wobbled. He carried her over to the bed and set her down on it, drawing the covers over her and slipping in beside her.

“I was awkward about my feelings, not seeing you naked. Seeing you that time in Venice in just your underwear … Hell … the Devil I wanted to act on it.” He pulled her close to him and felt relieved when she put her arm over him, holding him.

There was a knock at the door.

“Everything is fine,” he shouted.

“Yes, my lord.” Came the muffled reply.

He listened to the footsteps receding down the hall. When they were out of his hearing range, he tightened his grip on Prophecy’s shoulders. She rolled over onto her front, rested her hands against her chest, and placed her chin on them. She stared at him.