Blood Lust

CHAPTER FOUR


Isaac woke slowly, like rising through black water to the surface. His heart thumped with alarming force. A terrible thirst for cold water plagued him. He gazed about, seeing a large room. Glancing down, he saw himself bare from the waist upward. He lie on his back, sans socks and hikers. Scents of wildness and luxury reached his inquisitive senses. To his active imagination, the smells conjured images of an elegant place for predators to den. Slowly, his gaze located the man whose bed he doubtless occupied.

“Does not the Devil need a lair?” Seth sprawled in a huge black leather chair within inches of the bed’s edge. Logic dictated he’d only recently moved it so close.

Isaac sat up by degrees. “It’s fucked up you took off some of my clothes.”

“Not given the way you have offered yourself. Or, the fact I’ve had your blood in my mouth and your cock in my hand.”

“Christ, you’re a blunt motherfucker,” he complained. Isaac looked around at the blackout space. He guessed he found himself in the basement. The lack of windows and chill in the air seconded the opinion. Aside from the enormous bed, a dark red, silk-covered comforter stretched over its expanse, the chair, table and a large, heavily-made armoire, the space held nothing else. Given the fact it echoed the floor above in square footage, it presented an aura of spaciousness despite the lower ceiling. Wall fixtures held old-fashioned gaslights. Dark wood, patinaed with age and polish served as flooring over whatever cruder material might lie underneath.

Sumptuous touches aside, it equated to a coffin. “Guess you don’t have to climb into the old-fashioned pine box. Any others like you to bring here and show off your posh digs?”

Seth tilted his head in that infuriating manner, liquid onyx hair spilling over one side of his broad shoulders. When the light struck his mane a certain way, it seemed to have burgundy highlights so vibrant as to look almost metallic. He’d stripped to the waist as well. His skin tone appeared warmer than the candlelight, beckoning caresses. “If you’re angry at yourself, don’t attack me.”

Isaac scooted to the side of the bed farthest from Seth before stepping off. “Me attack you?”

He inclined his head toward a bedside table with a large branch of burning tapers, a condensation-beaded silver pitcher seated in a bowl of chipped ice and a matching goblet. “Help yourself.”

Isaac had almost no idea what had transpired. “Does having sudden blood loss cause a kind of amnesia?”

“It’s a combination of mild shock and blood loss. As you become more acclimated over time, it will decrease.”

Isaac walked around to the table, keeping an eye on the big man occupying the chair. “There’s no ‘over time’. I’ve walked on the wild side all I care to.”

Seth rose in a blur of movement. He poured water from pitcher to vessel and handed it to Isaac. “You’re mine. Make no mistake.”

Fear gripped him as he stared at the beautiful man … vampire. “I told you, I will be missed.” Accepting the cold goblet of water, Isaac stated, “I’ll keep your secret. But, if you don’t allow me my freedom, a shit storm will ensue.”

Seth reached over to stroke his chest. “If you rebel, it will require little effort to use you as a puppet, boy. Luckily for you, I want more.”

Isaac held his ground, forcing back the leapt of lust that touch evoked. “I’m giving a pass. You should take it.”

Seth stepped closer and his scent drugged Isaac. “I can have you and you’ll believe you wish it.”

“You asshole. A meat puppet will get you off?”

Seth lowered sharp teeth. The snowy white of them between his alluring lips still a weapon. “I want you. For you. Not a meal or a climax. That’s a first.”

Isaac gulped water. It sated the desperate thirst of blood loss, making him recall battlefield stories of the wounded begging for a drink. “Too bad for you.”

In that curious way he had, Seth seemed to study him. “Why don’t you fear me?” He slowly caressed Isaac’s shoulder and down his arm.

It required an act of will to not vocalize his pleasure in the simple touch. “You told me you would never kill me. What would I have to fear?”

Seth smiled, flaunting those sleek teeth. “Why trust me?”

“I accept people at face value and wait for them to prove me wrong.”

“Admirable,” his voice had changed tone, wafting sex and temptation, “that you extend that to vampires.”

Hearing it spoken aloud changed his mind about preservation of dignity. “My cue to exit stage left.” Setting down the chilly goblet upon the table, he turned to find his way from the ‘coffin’.

Seth’s arms enveloped him from behind. His scent and black velvet and leather voice joined them in a seductive embrace. “Stay with me because you desire it.” His breath wafted over Isaac’s neck and ear.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” His dick went iron hard. Hands gripping the other man’s arms, without attempting to pull them off his body, he panted for air.

“Vampires born never die unless slain. Those made,” he traced Isaac’s ear with his hot tongue, “like me, cease to breathe or have a pulse for a few days. It resumes.”

Desperately battling his own libido, Isaac said, “I have to get away from you.”

Seth ground his hips against Isaac’s ass, letting him feel the intimidating size of his erection. “I will make you weep with pleasure.”

“No” All the same, he leaned back into Seth. “Are you fucking with my will?” Under his hands, Seth’s forearms felt like warm, smooth skin over living marble.

“No.” The other man turned him and swept him up to return to the bed. “You want me, too.”

Isaac shivered as Seth laid him back on the bed. “I do want you.”

“Surrender to me.”

The words went through him like lightning. “I’ve never done this, and I hate the thought of it feeling like rape. No matter how hot I am for you, if my mind doesn’t agree, to me, it’s rape.”

Moving up and over him, Seth murmured, “Let me put your mind in accord with your flesh.”

Isaac thought his heart might stop watching Seth lean down and bring that beautiful mouth to his own. He lifted his head from the bed to hasten their joining. The other man’s big hand settled to cradle the back of his skull as their lips met, open and damp.

They both groaned. Isaac began to shake at once. His body recognized its pleasure source and every nerve fired in response.