The Jackal's Kiss

Hey, thanks for reading so far and I hope you've enjoyed! I'm not too sure about this chapter...might change it in a few days. Let me know what you think!

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Icarus_Complex:Here's more just like you wanted! Hope you like it, and thanks so much for the review! I was starting to think no one liked it.

Chapter Four: Awake

I was hoping, with all of my heart, that when I woke up it would have all been a dream, that I would be safe and snuggly in my bed with the afternoon sun shining down on me. Instead, I felt only the cold chill of stone and the feeble light of torches. I sat up and shivered as goose pimples spread all over my bared flesh.

However uncomfortable my body was, my mind was a little clearer. I felt that I had been on the edge of something before I fell asleep, some deep pit of nothingness that would have sucked me into an eternity of my nightmares. The danger was still there, with every movement in the dark, but it was more distant, as if some invisible wall separated the phantoms and me.

As I shifted my position, the chain around my ankle rattled. I touched the cold metal, lifting it, feeling the weight between my palms. I could barely fit my fingers around the wide links. Whoever had put me here had no intention of letting me get away, but what was this place?

I was pretty sure it was underground from the simple fact that there were no windows, but also there was the feeling of weight above me.

Maybe…a basement?

My heart started trip like a hammer.

Horror movies taught me several things, one of which was being chained, naked, and/or in a basement was never something good. But who would build…a what? A throne room?...in their basement.

The boy, had he been a dream or real, had mentioned “his majesty”. Was he my keeper?

I didn’t want to find out.

I tugged at the chain, I pulled and yanked until my fingers and palms were raw, not to mention the ragged skin on my ankle. I shouldn’t have bothered. Nothing had changed except for my stinging nerves.

“Right, right,” I panted, sitting down again. “That’s the point.”

I tried to find any weaknesses in the lock or the ring it was attached to on the floor. All was in perfect working order.

“Come on,” I hissed under my breath, starting to sweat. My invisible wall was starting to shrink and the shadows loomed closer. “Give a girl a break.”

“My, my, little bird, what are you doing?”

I froze as a voice like bitter chocolate sunk into me. It was strong and sweet, but so intense it took my breath away.

Behind me there was a presence that had not been there a moment before, and it flooded the air with its force, so much that it made the skin prickle down my spine. Without looking I could feel it move closer, the tiny hairs at the nape of my neck quivered with tension.

“You’re not trying to fly away are you?”

Hot breath against my ear, soft words with a menacing air. My soul quaked.

The situation was too familiar.

Palms spread down my arms in a disturbing caress. Hot lips grazed my ear, like scalding silk, “Won’t you scream for me, little bird?”

My heart was in my throat, thudding, pounding, cutting off the air I so desperately needed.

I waited for the strike that would send me into an oblivion of pain. And I waited some more as that breath seared across my cheek. Was he expecting me to answer? He’d be disappointed. I couldn’t think let alone speak.

I flinched as arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a scorching embrace that cloth did little to suppress.

“What a fascinating thing you are,” the voice said, rumbling through me from a hard chest. It violated me, touching places that I had never seen. “Always silent…doesn’t my little bird know how to sing?”

I had a morbid curiosity to see who it was that had caught me. My terror, however, made me still. If I didn’t see it, acknowledge it, then it wasn’t real. That was its logic. I knew it was far too late for that.

I wondered how long it would take for my heart to beat its way out of my chest.

As if he heard my thoughts, the monster of a man chuckled, sending those invasive vibrations all the way through me.

He lifted one of my arms and pressed me closer so I would know there was no escape. As he stretched his face closer to my palm, as if inspecting the lines he found there, I had to close my eyes. I couldn’t watch whatever sick games he wanted to play. I was waiting for my pain to begin.

“You have beautiful wrists, so slender…and pale. I can see all of your veins…” His thumb caressed the flesh there, lovingly, infatuated with the blue and violet lines.

A second later the touch was replaced with something different. A burning mouth pressed against my wrist as the arm around my waist clutched me impossibly closer. Blistering wet heat met my skin as his tongue darted out and tasted my flesh. My breath caught, but I couldn’t make a sound.

“So delicious, even without breaking the skin,” he sighed, pressing another kiss to the spot. A thrill of fear ran through my chest and hurdled to my stomach, where it stayed, quivering.

Without breaking the skin? My neck gave a dull throb, reminding me of how I came to be there, of what was about to come.

I couldn’t stop myself; my eyes flew open and stared.

His face was so close, and so enraptured. He grazed his teeth against the moist spot he had made. As if I too was enthralled, I could do nothing but watch perfect, blushing lips caress the tiny scratch his teeth had made.

The brief impression of strait black brows, a refined nose and sculpted features seared themselves into my brain before I had to turn away again.

How could something so perfect, so beautiful, be feeding at my wrist like a beast?

It gave my heart a jolt when I noticed that it was no longer scorching kisses that burned my wrist, but the searing pain of his teeth tearing into my skin.

I gasped as he sucked at the wound, lapping up the blood, all the while gripping me tighter and tighter against him, as if he would never let go. With every swallow he seemed to grow hotter, like an oven increasing temperature.

Nothing separated my naked body from him, and I could feel every line of bone, every taught muscle, even the wrinkles in his shirt.

His free hand kneaded my chest as he pressed closer, growing excited. And I felt something quiver inside me as my heart thudded a little harder and heat rushed across my flesh to meet him.

It was too much. I couldn’t take any more, or…or…

I didn’t want, no, I could not think of what should come after that thought.

I tried to tear myself away, scratching and biting; afraid of the way my body was betraying me. He growled, snarling tearing my delicate skin with his fangs. I saw them, red with my blood, dripping with thick, crimson saliva.

It was smeared across his chin, down his throat, marring the perfect white of his shirt. His eyes were black, glinting at me as his beautiful mask fell away to something dark and feral.

No pretty words fell from those stained lips, just guttural growls that shook my soul.

How dare I fight him? How dare I try to get away, when I was nothing to this beast? He could crush me like a moth between his fingers. His eyes said it all, black chips of eyes that they were.

He wanted to kill me. He was going to kill me, for my impertinence.

I wasn’t going to die. The realization was crystal clear to me at that time.

I had lived my life in fear of this moment, but I wasn’t going to sit there and let it all end. There were things I wanted to do still. I wasn’t going to give up with so little to show for my time spent here. I wanted more than just surviving day to day, I wanted to live.

He curled his fingers around my neck, crushing my throat as he tried to squeeze the life out of me.

There was no time to gasp; I could feel how impossible it would be to struggle against such a grip.

Instinct took over and before I had time to think I was already moving. There was a fire inside that said it was the end, there was nothing left to lose. I had to give my everything to this one moment because it was all that mattered.

I went straight for those black eyes that were telling me to die. I fought and scratched until I pressed my thumb into one of the warm, soft, orbs. He roared in rage and pain as it burst, hot liquid streaming over my fingers. He flung me away and I hit the ground hard, the chain jerking me to a sudden halt and nearly ripping my hip out of the socket.

For a second, I just lay there, panting, waiting for him to come again. The adrenaline was jolting through my veins and every muscle twitched, ready for action. But he didn’t come again.

A strange noise was erupting from the other side of the room, where he sat.

I glanced over my shoulder, trembling from the angle my body was put in, but not daring to move otherwise.

He was laughing, barking. Perfect white teeth and a beautiful smile on his face, while he held up a hand to his eye. Scarlet blood leaked in thick lines between his fingers, running down his hand and into the cuff of his shirt.

Why was he laughing? It was certainly not what I had expected. But, he must be crazy—to drink blood, to abduct me…to build this place. He had to be insane.

“I knew you wouldn’t be like the others,” he choked out between bursts of violent laughter. Suddenly he sobered, and put his hand down. I blinked as my heart jumped to my mouth. He stared at me, levelly, with two perfect, unharmed eyes. “You didn’t disappoint, did you, little bird?”

I swallowed, but didn’t speak.

He smiled, and shifted forward as if we were having a normal conversation and the whole scene before hadn’t just happened.

“The others made so much fuss, screaming and crying,” his eyelids lowered and his smile deepened, turning his face cold and cruel. “Begging and pleading. But not you, little bird. Not a sound…it’s almost disturbing, like you’re some sort of doll.” I shivered.

He flashed sharp teeth. “My doll.”

I couldn’t say anything. What was there to say? Could I argue? Not at the present, with the chain wrapped around my ankle and no way to escape. He ultimately had the upper hand…but I would find a way.

He leaned his cheek into his palm and gazed at me with a wistful smile. “I wonder how long it will take to break you. How long before those pretty little lips scream for me?” He sighed. “Sorry for us there is no time to find out now.” He stood and let a grin cross his face. “But there’s always later.” More like a threat than a promise.

His black hair swept forward as he bent to retrieve something from the floor. I couldn’t help but follow the graceful line it made from his brow to his jaw. My eyes followed his jaw to his neck, to his collarbone and the wide sweep of his shoulders. He was beautiful, even so insane; I couldn’t take my eyes away. I wanted to cry at the face of it, because it was so tainted.

He made the blond boy look like a cherub, and if that was so, the man in front of me had to be Satan.

Something white slid between his hands, which I noticed were well made. Long, strong fingers with wide nails. They looked capable and caressed the fabric between them like it was precious.

“I had come to bring you this,” he stroked the fabric and flicked his eyes to me. “But you’re such a naughty thing, distracting me.”

A few moments ago, my nakedness had been the least of my worries. Now I was acutely aware of how much I was revealing to the room, to him.

He strolled over to me, in purposeful stride, his eyes sliding over my body like candy.

When he stopped, his feet rested mere inches from my thigh. He paused there, before squatting down and putting a hot palm on my hip.

“As much as I love the sight of your sumptuous skin, I’m afraid it might make some of our audience loose control,” his fingers tightened their grip, curling into my flesh. “I’m the only one to have what’s mine, and there will be no accidents.” I knew there would be bruises there. I wondered if they would have his fingerprints.

“Sit up,” he ordered.

For a second, and only a second, I considered not doing what he asked, but then my common sense kicked in and joined my survival instincts. They told me to do it before I was too injured to fight back or escape, because there was violence in the air, even if it was cleverly disguised by flippant remarks.

“My, my, how well behaved we are, I’ll have to give Mr. Crowes a bonus in his check this month. He has such a good eye,” he chuckled as I felt my blood pressure rise. Crowes? Edward Crowes. Ned. Blood rushed to my cheeks and anger quickly followed it. If, no, when—when I got out of here, I was going to make that fat bastard pay. Red stained my thoughts and burned through my vision. It made my eyes sting with frustration. There was no where to vent the rage that was building up so quickly inside.

I jumped when a thumb brushed my lower lip. “What’s going on in that head of yours, little bird?” His fingers caressed the blush on my cheek. “I can’t have you making a face like that. Tsk-tsk.”

I stared at him. The crazy man who sucked my blood and who may or may not have grown back an eye. The man that disgusting waste of space had thrown me to. He didn’t say a word as the silence stretched. He only stared back…and I realized that his eyes weren’t black.

His pupils must have been dilated before. Now I could see a thin ring of…blue? Gray? I couldn’t tell. The iris was colorless.

He leaned forward, the little smile he had been wearing growing wider, just enough to reveal a flash of white. My heart quaked. With that face…

“I think you’re my new favorite,” he whispered, all wide eyes and innocent smiles. But his voice, it made the lump in my throat bigger and so much harder to swallow. I was afraid.