Violet knew it was a dream. She’d been in this room before, with this man. Yet knowing it was a dream didn’t make him any less frightening or irresistible. The room was lit by candles. Their flickering madeshadows dance and twirl across the walls, but its obscure recesses harbored menacing darkness. Cold air flowed from them and weighed her down. Movement was difficult, flight impossible.
Violet’s heart jolted unwillingly with each pirouette of the dark dancers. He was watching, she knew. Those cold, undead eyes were fixed on her. She drew her legs up to her chin, seeking the obscurity of the drapes around the four posts of the bed.
Heartless laughter came quietly from the shadows. From their darkness, Julian emerged, amused at her fear. He walked towards her, lithe and deadly like a cat stalking its prey. His dark hair fell over his brow and his eyes gleamed beneath the strands. A smile played across his lips as he started to undo his shirt. Violet tried to turn away, but she was transfixed and her eyes followed his fingers as they undid each button. She hated herself for such fascination, but his control over her was such that she could not stop herself watching his every move. He dropped his shirt to the floor, his muscles flexing with the freedom. Violet’s thoughts of flight melted like the soft wax of the candles, pooling into desire. She knew from experience that there was no escape now. Not once this man had his gaze locked onto her, not when he set his mind to making her forget such thoughts. Her whole body, which had just moments ago quaked with fear, began to shiver with anticipation.
As those dexterous fingers began to undo the top buttons of his trousers, heat rushed through Violet’s body, a blush rising to her cheeks. She wrenched her gaze from him, but looking down at the flimsy shift which curved around her flesh, a panicky laughescaped her at the ridiculousness of the scene. The helpless heroine lying semi-naked on a luxurious bed, so witless she didn’t know that she should be running for her life. And he — a monster from the dark of midnight, intent on taking both life and pleasure from his victim.
Violet looked back up and realized her mistake. In the moment she had glanced away, he had crossed the space to the side of the bed. Now he stood, leaning against the bedpost, completely naked. His manhood was erect and as her gaze travelled the length of it, she could feel the heat in her blood pouring into her sex. The part of her mind that screamed she should leave was smothered by the tantalizing scent of a vampire which now washed around her. After nearly a year in his company, it was even more impossible to resist, that exotic, spicy scent, holding the tang of the forbidden. It was musky without being heavy, earthy yet fresh, like lilies on a freshly dug grave.
A pulse jumped in Violet’s throat and the man’s intent gaze fixed instantly on it. If he had breath, Violet knew it would be quickening right then just as hers was. He tried to cover his interest with a lazy smile as he leaned toward the bed.
"I have to wonder," he purred, "whether you're not shirking in your duty to help me, Violet. With your knowledge of rare and antique books, I really thought you were my best chance of finding the Phoenix Book. I need that book, Violet. I told you, it contains details of a weapon that could destroy a vampire of extraordinary power, like me. I must locate it. I must destroy it to protect myself and those like me. In not finding it for me, you have sadly disappointed me."
"I am trying - really," she croaked. She felt hot shame run through her, disappointment that she could not please him. Yet despite the hypnotic desire he inspired, her fingers twitched, itching to reach out to the drawer and remove the stake she had hidden there.
"My patience is not unfailing, Violet," he said in a soothing tone coated with menace. "I need that book. I need you to find it for me. It is the only thing keeping you alive. I do not tolerate failure, yet if you find it for me soon, I may be prepared to spare your life when all this is over. After all, our search for the Phoenix Book has not been entirely… unenjoyable."
Her stomach knotted at the thought of spending more time in his company, of prolonging his unwelcome spell over her. She knew, even if he spared her life, he would never let her go. A part of Violet wanted to run, knew she had to escape, but her focus was caught by his cool touch as it travelled up her shin. A small moan escaped her lips as his fingers traced across her thigh. “Oh yes, Violet,” he whispered as he climbed onto the bed, “I really will miss our little meetings when I’ve found and destroyed the Book”
As his fingers stroked higher, Violet surrendered her body to him, hoping desperately that such a sacrifice would distract him and allow her to keep a small part of her mind her own. She cradled deep inside her a seed of knowledge that she must keep hidden from him. The Book. At all costs, she must not think of the Phoenix Book. She opened her body to the sea of sexual yearning, letting it engulf her so that the one tiny piece of precious information would not be detected if he chose to read her mind.Violet gave a gasp and lay back as his fingers found her most intimate flesh, curling through the hair.
His fingers felt cold against her heated skin, yet they lit a fire within her that burned with a consuming heat. One of his fingers found her little bud, tracing circles round it and over it. Two of his other fingers pushed inside her. As those clever digits of his slid in and out of Violet, she thought her blood might boil. He bent his head low over her, his finger moving away from her clitoris so his tongue could take its place. Three of his fingers were slick with her juices, moving within her, and all she could think of was that it was not enough. She hated herself for it, but she wanted to feel his cock within her, filling her up until she was fit to burst. But that wasn’t his plan that night — not yet, anyway. His lips closed around her bud, sucking gently at first then harder as he moved his fingers in and out of Violet faster and faster. She felt the crest of her orgasm bursting over her and she arched her back, crying out at the ecstasy.
That was when she woke, sweating from fear and gasping with desire, a name lingering on her lips as the dream faded: “Julian…” The shadows of the hotel room were gone, replaced by her own familiar bedroom. Instead of silk sheets, there were her cotton ones, all scrambled up from where she had writhed in her sleep. Her heart would eventually start to slow its frantic hammering, Then she would lie sleepless for hours, fearfully aware of the truth — that once a vampire has taken his pleasure from you, his hold on you will linger. It will be your companion late in the night.
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