I watch as the body I was supporting drops helplessly to the ground. Pathetic. I wipe my hand across the blood dripping down my chin and signal the guards to take the body away. I’m out of breath, and I take a moment to stabilize myself. I realize I feel quite full but the thirst at the back of my throat hasn’t been soothed at all. At this rate, I just know I would be throwing up later.

“Where’s Abel?” I direct my question at the guard standing by the door nearest to me.

“The king called him into his chamber, Miss.”

“Just him?”

“Yes, Miss.” I wonder what that’s about. Whatever they’re talking about must be really important for it to have taken this long.

Whatever it’s about, Abel must be seething right now; sitting at a spot for long stretches was never really his thing. That too, after returning home for the first time in months. The thought makes my lips slightly curl up.

Another thought flashes through my mind. What if Abel is being reprimanded? Maybe the king found out about our actions at the Werewolf capital. Or the addiction? The thoughts make my appetite swell again and I ask for another human to be brought in.

‘That isn’t the problem, and you know it.’ I think to myself.

I ignore my thoughts and focus on the feeble girl being brought in. She’s struggling weakly with the guards and she looks quite young. Not exactly my type, but a beggar isn’t allowed to choose. I run my hand down her neck while she kicks and struggles helplessly. Her pulse triggers me and I feel my fangs elongate while her eyes widen in fear. I smile.

Most vamps have an emotion they want to taste from the person they’re feeding on. Mine is fear. Abel’s is lust.

“You’re very smart to be afraid. I like that.” She whimpers as I sniff her neck predatorily and lets out a cry when I graze her skin. I lick the drops that form out of the snip. She cringes. I take a step back to look at her, my eyes zeroing in on the tears that are now rolling down her cheek. She’s really very young. I hate that fact and it makes me step away from her fully.

“Are there no more adults you can get me?”

The guards nod and begin to drag her away. “Send her to my house. Tell my grandfather I told you to.”

“Yes, Miss.”

I turn away from the sight of her being ushered out. I’ve done my one good deed for the day, I hope I get rewarded for it. The clock isn’t helping my anxiety. This meeting is taking forever and I need to feed, so badly. My throat starts to get much more parched, and I consider going into that room to pull him out myself. ‘Control yourself, Rayne.’ I sigh.

Suddenly, I feel him behind me. He wraps his arms around my waist and nuzzles his face into my neck. I close my eyes and welcome his familiar embrace. “Why are you stealing water from my house, Rayne?”

I smile. “You could surely spare more than a few bottles for me, I hope?”

He nuzzles further into my neck. “Mm. Take whatever. I’m hungry.” I feel his fangs nip at my skin.

“Abel, not here…they’ll see.” I chastise.

He is relentless. “What? Do you really think they haven’t seen us before? I’m sure even my father knows that we do this.” When he sees that I’m quiet, he speaks up again. “What can they do to the prince to stop him from doing what he wants? And what could they possibly do to my princess?”

I feel something rise up in my throat but figure out that it’s really just all the fluid I’ve been wolfing down. Actions and their consequences. I push past him and make my way to the bathroom.

I feel him hold my hair while I empty my stomach and I give him a thumbs up. I hear him snicker in response. “I hate you, Ray. How could you perfectly feed while I was nearly starving for three months because I missed you.”

I feel my heart clench at his words. I try to speak, but I just end up throwing up some more. “I’m still here. Finish up, then you talk.” 

A few minutes later, I get up and flush the toilet. I look at him to leave so I clean up but he just stands and glares at me. “I’m not leaving. Don’t even ask.”

I ignore him and begin to rinse my mouth and my face. I feel much better once I finish and I follow him out of the bathroom.

“What was it you wanted to…” Abel presses a hand to his neck and feels the wetness seeping out, he looks at the weapon in my hand, a small pen knife, and back at me again. “Rayne, what are you…?”

I put my finger to his lips and I pull him to the bed. “Down.” He sits. I lick his blood off the knife and I see that it gets to him.

I use the knife to cut open my dress at the side of my thigh and I cut right across it. His fangs elongate and I see him struggling to keep his cool. I drop my hands to the side and climb on top of him, straddling him. He groans.

I put my lips to his neck. The side that’s uncut and place kisses there. I hear his breath start to quicken. I feel the blood on my thigh start to stain through my dress and trickle unto his body. I move my lips to the other side of his neck from under his jaw and I taste it.

He tastes heavenly. I moan, unintentionally, and that causes him to grip my waist. I adjust myself on him and feel my fangs start to appear. I run my hands over his chest and urge him to take off his shirt. He does.

With the knife, I cut across his chest and watch the blood seep out. I slowly take off my dress, leaving me in only my undergarments and I make a cut diagonally starting from my chest to my left breast. The knife falls to the ground.

“Don’t say I didn’t miss you. I’ve been dreaming about doing this since the night you left. Look how badly my body reacts when it’s not yours.” I remind him of a few minutes ago. He smiles but I know he’s not really listening to me. His eyes are a solid red right now, and I’m sure mine are too.

He switches us over quickly so that I’m on the bed while he hovers over me. He gets off me and picks something off the floor— the knife—and uses it to make cuts across my outfit. The center of my bra, the sides of my silk gown.

He sniffs around me and moves down till he stops at my thighs, where I made the first cut. My eyes zeroed in on where the guards were meant to be standing. “You sent them away?”

“No. They don’t get paid to be stupid.” His tongue swipes across my thigh and my legs close in response. My breath quickens. He holds me apart and places his lips on my wound. I feel him smile. He sucks across it expertly and alternates between using his fangs to cut it further and his tongue to lick it. He makes one final deep cut with his fangs and retracts them. The blood flowing from there makes my eyes turn.

He kisses, licks, and drinks the blood. I don’t know what to feel. Pain. Pleasure. I groan out of frustration. He bites me and pain jolts through me which causes me to nearly spring up from the bed but his hand on my lower belly keeps me down. He keeps his jaw on my thigh and looks at me “You’re a sinner, Ray. What would your father think of this?”

I moan and try to close my legs to feel something. Anything. I’m hanging by a thread. He runs his hands up my other thigh and squeezes. “What would you like, Ray? Say it, and I’ll do it to you” I shake my head.

He mutters an ‘Mm’ that vibrates through my skin and goes back to his place. He licks across the skin and it heals. He moves up to my chest and stops there. With his hand, he takes off the bra he already cut open and runs his finger through the cut.

When his finger lands on my breast, I moan and his brows shoot up. “Oh, you like my finger here?” I nod.

“What about my mouth?” I nod too eagerly and he lowers his head. He licks the wound on it and I feel the world closing in on me. His other hand is squeezing my side gingerly and I’m overwhelmed. 

His lips move a bit to the side and his mouth encloses the nipple. I don’t have time to react when I feel his fangs sink into me. I squeeze my lips together to stop myself from screaming out. The blood leaks into his mouth and he sucks on it till my vision starts to get blurry once again.

I’m a moaning mess by the time he’s done with me. With one last lick, he heals the wounds around the bud. He sees how exhausted I am and smiles at me.

He trails the wound across my chest with his tongue and I’m too weak to even respond. He tries to kiss me but I shake my head. I hate tasting my own blood and he knows. He just keeps trying to test me.

He lies on the bed by my side and pulls me unto him. He looks full and for a second I just smile weakly watching him and then he signals half worriedly that I should feed. 

I straddle him and lick across his chest. The wound closes. I’m too weak for fun. I attach my lip to his neck and kiss him before my fangs elongate once again. I feel around for the blade when I know he’s distracted and I press it to his throat at the same time my teeth sink into his skin. I hear his breath quicken. Good. I can enjoy this.