Soul Snatcher (22 page)

“
Sorry I frightened you,” he apologised, smelling her
hair contentedly. He couldn’t help but relish in the joy he felt
stirring in her soul.

“
What are you doing out here? Come inside with me where
it is warm,” she invited. He smiled to himself, glad he didn’t have
to work out a way to get inside.

“
Lead the way,” he said. She took his hand and walked
inside, closing the door behind them and locking it. He inspected
the house as they walked through.

“
Where have you been?” She asked as they walked into
the parlour. A fire was already lit and Annie sat close to the
warmth it was casting on a large, brown leather sofa. Baden joined
her, sitting close so their bodies were touching. It made her heart
beat faster and he smiled when he heard it.

“
I was not sure if there would be people here when you
first arrived so I held back,” he explained easily enough. He
became distracted by the way her skin looked in the firelight. He
touched her lightly on the cheek and she lost whatever it was she
was going to say. He slid even closer to her on the divan and
leaned his face near to hers. Their lips were almost
touching.
“
Tell me, Annie. How much do you love me?” He asked,
dropping his hand from her cheek to her waist. She sucked in a
breath and looked at him, trying to find words.

“
I feel more in love with you with each passing day,”
she said breathlessly.

He leaned in
and kissed the side of her neck softly and slowly. Nerves trickled
into her stomach and her breathing faltered. Again Baden couldn’t
help but smile. He wanted her to love him more than anything he
ever wanted before.

“
I find myself falling in love with you more than I
thought possible,” he whispered to her, his breath brushing against
her neck. She was surprised at how intense his feelings were in
such a short time but weren’t hers intense too?

He pulled his
head back and looked at her. The longer he stared the more she felt
like she fell into him. She couldn’t even remember her own name or
where she was, all she could think was that Baden was with her.
Just when she felt like she couldn’t feel any more overwhelmed he
slipped his arm around her waist. He pulled her towards him and
leaned towards her which made her lean back, leaving no other
option than for her to lie down against the soft cushions. Her legs
were resting across his lap and Baden was leaning over
her.

“
Tell me a secret,” he asked. He watched her face
closely, memorising everything about it, just as he had every other
time he had seen her. She contemplated what she was about to say
carefully and finally decided to tell him. She mustered up her
courage and spoke.

“
Ever since you saved me I have dreamt of you every
night,” she confessed. He took a moment to let what she said sink
in. His silence made her fear that he thought her foolish but a
satisfied smile soon came across his stunning face and abated her
worries.

The fire fell
softly on part of her face and he couldn’t help but touch it. Her
skin was warm and appealing. He liked that he wanted to bite into
her prefect, warm, pulsing neck. Maybe just one bite? He would make
sure he was gentle. He would not hurt her, just a taste?

He slid his
hand down to her neck slowly, seductively. He could feel her chest
rise and fall against him, he enjoyed the feeling of life in her.
She was barely covered by her sheer nightgown and it teased with
hints of skin in all the right places. He looked down to her lips
that sat partly open in desire, wanting him to kiss them. He had
always wanted to drink someone through their lips but he never had
because there was no one who had tempted him to. There was
something intimate about it that made him keep it for someone who
lured him into the act. Now he wanted it more than maybe his
self-control could contain.

He leaned
towards her forgetting himself for a moment. His teeth gripped her
bottom lip tightly but he paused when he remembered himself. Maybe
it was the hint of fear in her eyes that stopped him or maybe that
was hope he saw?

The problem
Baden found with the skin of Annie’s lip was that it was delicate
and though he controlled himself it didn’t stop the small trickle
of blood that escaped. Just a drop or so fell into his mouth and
spread across his tongue. He paused a moment in alarm but when she
did not scream he sucked just a little to pull a few more drops
through her lip.

Her blood was
warm and tingled on his tastebuds. It tasted like lust felt. It was
unbridled and passionate and full of intense flavour. Nothing else
had ever tasted like her and he knew nothing else would. In that
moment of inner debate that precedes the rush of adrenaline from
wanting someone no matter what, he let go of her lip but remained
close enough so their lips were still touching. He pulled one of
her legs over him and moved so they were both completely lying down
on the settee; her legs draped either side of him, him lying on
her.

He ran his
hand along the skin of her inner thigh and felt the desire pulsing
through her soul. This was more intense than any other time he had
ever wanted anything, more so than his desire to kill had ever
been. This time it wasn’t his hatred fuelling him, like everything
in his past, but his soul’s desire to have her. He pushed his arm
under her back, which brought her closer against him, and gently
held her neck from behind with his hand. Her head fell back
allowing her neck to sit bare and unprotected. He moved his face
away from hers just enough to see her slightly swollen lip, lightly
stained with her blood. He looked into her eyes and saw the
recognition of what he was. He paused waiting to see what she would
do.

Annie looked
up at Baden and lost all of her breath. The warm fire only exposed
part of his face and he looked just as beautiful as he always did,
if not even more. His eyes were lit by the fire and burned a
brilliant blue, making him look unearthly. The only thing out of
place was the hint of blood that rested on his lips.

Suddenly she
remembered back to when she invited him in, to the times he would
appear out of nowhere and his unexplainable curiousness. She
realised what he was. She had felt him draw the blood out of her
lip and now she lay there wrapped in his arms, utterly vulnerable
to him. Her neck exposed, waiting for him.

Somehow,
instead of being afraid she felt eager to have him all the more. A
strand of hair had fallen onto his forehead so she lifted her hand
and calmly moved it back into place.

He watched
her carefully as she rested her arm back down by her side. He
looked right into her eyes and after a moment of what looked like
consideration she tilted her head off to one side. The movement was
minimal but he saw the invitation she was extending, she was asking
him to bite her. He could feel the craving in her soul. Before he
let his need control him he slowed himself. He moved with caution
and never looked away from her eyes as he moved toward her neck.
His lips had stuck together from her salty blood and he eased them
apart in anticipation. The closer he moved the faster her heart
beat. When his lips were inches away from her neck he whispered to
her.

“
I would never hurt you,” he promised. She took a deep,
shuddering breath from the anticipation.

Ever so
slowly he placed his lips against her neck and kissed her. It left
a faint stain of blood on her skin in the shape of his lips. He
dragged his mouth open against her neck and grazed her skin gently
with his teeth. He would do this carefully so she felt no pain,
only pleasure. He tilted his head to one side and measured a small
distance with his teeth, enough so it would give him a mouthful but
still keep her clean.

It was best
to puncture quickly, once he did he could help her enjoy it. Along
his travels he had been taught how to release a different kind of
bane, not one that would turn the one who was bitten but one that
would equally spread through their body with a different purpose.
That purpose was to make the experience of being bitten far more
than enjoyable, it made it incomparable. Some humans had become
addicted to it and paid for snatchers to bite them. They were
risking their lives but they found the pleasure worth the risk.
With this in mind he pushed his body into hers to distract her and
sunk his teeth into her skin.

The taste of
her skin was milky and sweet but her blood was intoxicating. Mixed
together they made a smooth, sweet and exceptionally drinkable
fusion. He let his bane spill into her as he drank. A small trickle
of blood ran down her neck and along her chest but she didn’t have
time to notice.

Annie didn’t
have time to feel the pain of being bitten before the bane started
spreading through her. As it rushed through her body it warmed her
and became overwhelming. She felt closer to Baden than she thought
was possible and she pulled herself even closer to him with her
arms around his neck. She willingly threw her head back further to
expose her neck even more and he growled from the rush it gave him
to have her willingly give herself. She gripped his back in an
attempt to mediate the feeling and she couldn’t help but let out a
scream. Baden knew full well he wasn’t hurting her. Her whole body
tingled from him and she thought she might die from how utterly
rapturous it was.

It was almost
as if she hoped she would die. And at that moment she thought she
might be willing too, for him.

CHAPTER
20

Baden took in
one last mouthful, carefully measuring out a safe portion so he
wouldn’t harm Annie. Somehow he could control himself better with
her.

He moved his
head back and covered her bleeding neck with his hand. It would
stop soon with his bane in her. He looked at her, his hair ruffled
and lips covered with her blood. She looked up into his eyes and
then to his lips. He leaned in closer to kiss her. She was about to
kiss him, everything in her wanted to kiss him but she moved her
head away slightly so he paused. The words
soul snatcher
had floated into her mind just before their lips
met.

“
Kiss me,” he whispered, studying her closely. His
words made her want to cry as they conjured up a fear in her she
thought might consume her. He could feel the panic in her soul and
he wondered what had changed to make her feel that way.

“
What did you say?” She asked trying to mask the dread.
She started to recall everything Eli told her about soul
snatchers.

“
Kiss me,” he whispered again and he moved to kiss her.
She avoided him again and had to think quickly because if he kissed
her he could steal her soul. Her soul argued inside her because she
wanted to kiss him but was it safe to? How had she let herself get
into such a dangerous situation? After everything she knew she had
willingly given in.

“
I feel light headed, may I please have a drink?” She
asked, hoping to distract him. Before she could blink he was
gone.

Baden rushed
to get her some water but couldn’t find it in the
kitchen
. There should be a
pale of water somewhere, something to drink, anything. He started
to panic and had to pause for a moment. She knew what he was now,
she knew what he was made to do. Would it change how she felt about
him? Would she be suspicious of him? And sadness fell over him as
he realised that there was nothing he could do to prove himself to
her.

Annie’s heart
beat so hard sh
e could feel
it drumming against her chest. She gently placed her hand on her
neck and felt along the side he had bitten. The skin had already
healed and all she was left with was a sticky neck from the blood.
Some loose strands of her hair stuck to her and she hated the
feeling so she pulled the hair free. Doing such a normal act of
fixing her hair felt so strange compared to the situation. She
couldn’t help when a small tear escaped her. She had no hope
against him, this was it. How could this be the end?

The saddest
part was she still wanted him. She wanted him to want her because
he loved her, not just so she could be his next soul. When the
disappointment and pain started to move in she refused to let it
stay. The only problem was when she pushed it away, it left room
for the sorrow of losing him to seep in. The hurt from knowing he
wanted her to love him but didn’t love her in return made her feel
empty. Alone. Yet she was still left wanting him.

Annie
resolved that this was exactly what Baden wanted so she tried to
pull herself together. There was no time to waste. He would be back
any moment and then what? With this in mind she slowly sat up and
waited to see if she could hear him. When everything seemed quiet,
and all she could hear was the clock ticking, she stood as silently
as possible.

She paused a
moment to try and hear where he was but he was deathly silent. It
was hard not to shake from fear but she did her best to contain
herself. When she was satisfied that he wasn’t returning she took a
small, cautious step. It was hard to concentrate because the bane
was still tingling through her body, so she tried to focus as hard
as she could.