Inferno (Page 65)

“Not yet.” She frowned at him as he brushed back her hair; his fingers lingered upon the two sets of marks on her neck. Marks that he had left upon her. A thrill shot down her spine; she could not stop her toes from curling against his hard legs. His eyes sparked with amusement and desire, a smile curved the edges of his hard, full mouth. He touched her lips gently with his fingers, running them briefly along before reluctantly withdrawing from her.

She watched in confusion, her eyebrows drawing tightly together as he bit into his wrist. “You need blood, and strength.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. Though she desperately wanted to share that experience with him again, she didn’t want him to think that he had hurt her.

“I took a lot from you Cassie, and there are shadows under your eyes. You need my blood.”

Cassie was silent for a moment, her eyes latched onto the glistening drops of blood upon his wrist. For a strange moment, hunger tore through her. The sight of that blood did not repulse her as it should. Instead, it excited and enticed her in a way that it never had before. Instead, she suddenly wanted it for more than just a stronger bond with Devon, but because she required it, craved it like a man in the desert craved water.

Confusion and surprise whirled through Devon’s eyes, but before he could question her, she grasped his arm and bent her mouth to him. She knew that once the bond was sealed, all doubts and questions would fade away as their minds mingled together. His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he held her tight, his fingers weaving into her hair.

Cassie closed her eyes, a soft moan of ecstasy escaping before she could stop it. His blood was delicious, wonderful, filling in a way that it never had before. She could feel his confusion and fear over her reaction to it, but he did not pull away. Instead he held her tighter, whispering reassuring words to her as her own panic and fear began to build. This wasn’t normal, it just wasn’t, but at the moment she couldn’t bring herself to care.

She fell into him, allowing his thoughts and love to entwine her in a warm cocoon of security and adoration. His mind opened to hers, she had experienced a similar sensation the last time they had exchanged blood, but this was far different as she was sucked into him. For a moment panic filled her, she tried to revolt, tried to pull away before she was ensnared completely in the whirlwind of his mind.

“It’s ok,” Devon whispered. “It’s ok, don’t fight it. You need to see.”

Cassie didn’t know what it was that she needed to see, but as he held her tighter, pulled her closer, she knew that this was something that he wanted from her. Pushing her fear and panic aside, Cassie allowed herself to float, to drift and mingle with his mind more intensely than she ever had before. And then suddenly she was there, where he wanted her to be, in his life, feeling what he wanted her to feel, living what he wanted her to live.

She was there, with him, as a young child with black hair, and wide green eyes. He was skinny and gangly and awkward, but amazingly adorable with his dimples and two missing teeth. He was so full of hope and mischief and exuberance. Until his father’s drinking started to get out of control, and his father’s anger was turned on him. Until his mother was beaten while trying to protect her youngest son, and his brother turned his back on Devon’s frightened cries. Until all of his hope and mischief were destroyed beneath his father’s heavy fist and only anger, resentment, and hatred were left to fester within him.

When Devon escaped the cruelty, and coldness of his home, he never wanted to look back, never wanted to step foot on the property again. He was eager to be free, eager to explore the world, and live the life of drudgery that he swiftly adopted instead of going to the university.

And when Elizabeth found him, and changed him, he had never been happier, never wanted anything more. The misery and anger inside him helped to feed the thirst and cruelty of the demon he became. He now had an outlet for all of the rage and hurt that had festered inside of him, now had a way to bury his misery in the joy and thrill of the hunt, and then the kill.

Though he had vowed never to return home, and though he thoroughly enjoyed his new life and all of the power and excitement that it gave him, he found himself inexplicably drawn back to his family’s massive country manor a few years later. His father’s mind was rotten

from his many years of heavy drinking. His brother however was young, healthy, and thoroughly enjoying his new life, and the power that came with being Lord of the Manor.

Devon watched him from the shadows of the early night as Robert moved about ordering this servant here, and that one there. Though Devon knew how alike they looked, he was keenly reminded of the fact that their personalities had always been complete opposites. Before he had become the monster he was now, Devon had never enjoyed ordering people about, he had asked for things when he needed help, or he had done it himself. In the eyes of his father, and his brother, he had never been anything more than a servant amongst these walls anyway. Never been anything more than the unneeded and unwanted offspring and they had reminded him of that fact on a daily basis.

He didn’t know what had drawn him back here after all these years, didn’t know why he had returned to this hated place, but he found himself oddly fascinated by it. Captivated by the life that he had rejected, and that had rejected him. He had been unable to get inside to see his father as he was not invited, but he had found himself peering in the windows at the man that had once terrified and brutalized him. He was now weak and feeble. Found himself staring at the man that had beaten him to within an inch of life more than a few times, but whom Devon could now kill with a flick of his wrist. And yet he felt no desire to do so. His father had ruined his childhood but now, in his old age, he was paying for his excessive alcoholism and brutality. Devon had never put much stock in God, but he felt the cosmic hand of fate at work here, and he was satisfied with it.

Devon withdrew from the window, moving swiftly through the night to the front of the manor. The windows were lit with candles; inside he could hear the soft music of a violin. His brother was having a small gathering, coaches and horses were gathered up front. Liveried footmen stood silently by them.

Though he was hungry, he would not hunt or feed here. This was the last time he would ever come here, and he would leave it the way he had found it. He would not sink to his father or Robert’s level with spiteful acts of vengeance, they were not worth it. He slipped through the gardens, so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the couple stealing time amongst the shadows until he was on top of them.