Of Blood and Lust

[Lion]

Her touch sent tiny little electric impulses from his fingertips, his his arm and down his back, making his muscles contract.  A low growl escaped his throat as she spoke and a lascivious grin curled the corners of his mouth.  "As you wish," he whispered, his throat became dry as his mouth became moist.  His free hand's palm slid down her side, pressing firmly against the corset.

Tarquin fastened her hand into his other and pressed the back of it to his lips before turning it over and kissing the palm of it.  Enticingly, he closed in on her and sealed his mouth over hers in an electric kiss, fully and openly.  Her lips were tempting and moist, tasting like the sanguine wine.  His tenderly coaxed her lips apart with increasing persistence, teasing them to heighten the anticipation and to further explore her mouth.  Meanwhile, Tarquin's arm wrapped around her waist and gripped her with firm intent.

[Anonymous]

She leaned against him and let him support her fully. A foreword vampire this one. She slid her arms around his shoulders and pushed back with her lips against his letting him control the situation for the moment. She gripped onto him harder.

She was very surprised with the outcome of her day, starting with trying to take a few hunters down a couple notches ending in the arms of a very attractive vampire with blood wine on her tongue. It was quite a nice twist.

His mouth tasted of the wine and blood as well, vampires had such a different taste than them to humans, so much more intoxicating. She purred against his lips a sound coming from her throat and slid a hand up to the back of his neck..

[Lion]

His head swirled with a rampaging whirlwind of climbing ecstasy.  He grappled her into his embrace tightly, almost possessively as he ravished her with his kiss.  He supported her seemingly effortlessly for she was that light in his arms.  Her touch, smell and taste were more intoxicating than the strongest liquor Tarquin had ever the misfortune to drink.

But this swirling darkness that was engulfing his voluntary thought was captivating and enigmatic, dragging away his senses.  "I'll take you away," he whispered in grave promise as he momentarily broke away the kiss and began undoing the buttons on his shirt before letting it slide to the ground.

Before her, in the dancing candlelight could be see his story of the ages, the scars that covered his body.  But Tarquin would not give her a chance to take notice as he once again clasped his mouth over hers in a fierce kiss, aggressive with passion.  His hands, with cooled palms reached for the strings on her corset and made to pull them.  Whether such impulsive actions were to be accepted or rejected hotly, he neither knew nor cared.  From the limpness of her body against him, Tarquin suspected she would not choose the latter and proceeded to pull the seams.  He smiled inwardly when the pop entered his ears.

[Anonymous]

Jyotika leaned forward against him pulling her arms tighter across his shoulders to bring her closer to him. She let her lips slide to his neck and her other hand going to the back of it sliding it up towards his hair. She could feel the beat of his pulse against her lips and the tip of her tongue. The smell of him made her head swirl. She tried to keep her senses. She imagined the blood pumping through his body made entirely of others blood but having a taste unique to him. She sighed against his neck a hot little burst of hair.

"Where are you taking me?" She mumbled against his neck in a quiet husky way, she almost sounded drunk. She let her hands slide down his back as he held her over his bare skin. She then returned her lips to his pushing against him hard, and holding onto him like he might disappear in her arms any second. Take me away, she smiled smiled to herself. She hoped he could, that's all she ever hoped for in situations like this. Finding somewhere to hide from the constant voices in her head, that she should be in Hell, that she should be in heaven. She bit his lip gentle at first only a nibble and opened her eyes looking up at him.

[Lion]

[I guess I should have let you know that because he's a vampire he therefore has no pulse and is dead.]

The hold on him as if he were the final corporeal thing in a rapidly vanishing world made his every muscle tense.  Tarquin felt her rush of breath as she spoke was almost as if there was a roaring in his ears.  "Beyond your wildest dreams..." he spoke in a voice as husky as her own.

His blood remained still in the unquiet yet stirring every necessary aspect of him.  It was the rushing of the vampiric lust in which drove every vampire to survive and satisfy themselves fully if they pleased.  That animalistic instinct that brought upon an awakening like no other often won in control over the sanity of the mind.  But with Tarquin he was in tune with his vampirism and ofttimes they shared the same desires; what it wanted, he wanted.  It was like a poison in his blood that sought the utmost satisfaction.

He reciprocated her when she groped his body.  He could--no, would--take her away to heights of passion or wherever her heart desired; all he knew was that he wanted, any attempt to find reason behind this innate desire was sheer madness.  It was like questioning a gift from the gods themselves.  When she bit his lip, he felt the slight unsheathing of his own fangs and tasted his own blood beneath them.  Immediately as if by magic the small puncture wound was closed, no vampire could ever heal that fast.  The taste of his own blood was fresh on his lips despite the closing of the wound.

He lifted her up on his hips, holding her weight and carried her over to the four-poster bed.  He sat down with her still mounted on his hips.  After slowly bracing her neck with kisses and heated breath, he proceeded to pull off her corset and dress after loosening it fully.  He removed off the articles of clothing and smiled lecherously at her.

[Anonymous]

(( *facepalm* I now feel...very silly >.< I should have thought of that XDD))

Her arms squeezed tighter though he carried all of her weight like she was just a wisp of air. The scars that covered his skin were not reflected anywhere upon her. Her skin seemed remarkably unscarred. Except for dual marks on her back that hovered over her shoulder blades. They were about three or four inches in length and about an inch wide. It looked like someone and taken pale ribbon and laid it across her skin, and wrenched some of the skin from her bones. There were small dips into her skin where the marks lay. She let him carry her across the room keeping her lips fixed to him. The smell of his blood skin and fragrance clouding her mind.

It was these moments that the eons slipped away and she was free. All those memories seemed to stop existing. Nothing was revealed in the dark of this night. She forgot her extra strength, these voices nestled within her mind. She remembered one thing, she needed skin, sweat and blood. She almost felt purely animal. and this made her decisions so much easier. Made all the things she had learned over the years simply disintegrate into blood, like she need worry over nothing else.

She gripped onto him tighter, her eyes turned a darker color as her hair fell in front of her eyes. She traced little bites down his neck, but none enough to break skin.

Not yet.

[Lion]

[No worries. :]]

It did not come upon Tarquin at which moment all of his clothes became entirely removed.  He was absorbed in this moment in the night as if in a blackhole where things like time and life had no corporeal meaning other than to exist.  Such became irrelevant in this hunger for the flesh as he held his bodyweight over her.  It was this swirling madness in which his consciousness was swept away in and replaced with instinct.

But he was a romancer and knew the ways to entice a woman.  He could feel a person's existing desires and heighten them to match his own, making them want or rather need something more than they initially did.  It was a gift, he felt, that was given to him after his death and at his rebirth to use at will.  It was unnamed and its origins unknown but now he looked down at her, deep and darkly into her eyes, feeling the faint tingling by his temples.  He could feel her need for the flesh, just like he felt, and increased it doubly.

The way she nibbled at his neck unsheathed his fangs once again, causing him to scratch at the skin of her shoulder, his chosen place to bite.  He tensed over her at her touch until he finally relaxed and laid vampiric kisses across her left temple before alternating to the right.  Slowly he lowered himself on her and embraced her fully to him; locked into place.   He smashed her body to him amorally, without consequence and became one with the dance of the flickering candles.  

They moved against each other with the intensity of the flames, in a primal dance.  It was only a matter of time before the candles died low and unleashed night throughout the room.

[Anonymous]

She came back to herself at the moment the candles died down into piles of wax and darkness and so did her body. She felt so clear and tired at the same time. She opened her eyes slowly seeing the bite marks on his body already healing that she had left there. she still held onto him tight. As she became more aware of herself she let her fingers relax and one hand go to her face sliding across her lip wiping her mouth of some of his blood still resting there. She let herself fall back against the pillow relaxing. She looked up at him tracing his features for a moment with her eyes then she lifted her hand to wipe some of her own blood from his lips and putting the finger in her mouth with a slow smile. She felt more exhausted than she had in years. She could only manage little sounds at the moment as she looked up at him.

[Lion]

Tarquin slowly released her from his almost violent grasping of her flesh, feeling the small scars between her shoulder blades before letting her go.  Resting on one side, he simply stared at her as she wiped the incarnadine from her lips then his.  Licking the corner of his mouth from what she had missed, he fell completely to her side, but maintaining her beside him.  Reciprocating her grin, it was almost as if his teeth glowed in the darkness.

His mouth was dry and his tongue was sore as gentle lassitude began to take over.  Tarquin tucked at arm around her waist and pulled himself closer to her, the rumpled satin sheets occupying the vastness around them.  He pulled the sheet over them, feigning the need for warmth, as a way to further his closeness at her side.  As he engaged himself in kissing her shoulder he noticed the small sounds that escaped her throat.  "Are you alright?" he inquired with note of concern in his voice in the midst of his act of enrapture.

[Anonymous]

She simply smiled in response and turned towards to look at him. She felt his hands cross over the scars and winced like a human in a medic's office. A frown crossed her face for a moment but she returned to the sleepy smile almost instantly.

I'm perfectly fine." She half opened her eyes but exhaustion took its claim again and she curled into his chest like he was a part of the bed, she tried to give into the darkness of sleep. The sun would be rising soon. She was starting to feel it pull at how awake she was.

[Lion]

He could barely perceive a small sense of uncertainty in her but he wasn't so sure.  He took her words at face value and sunk his head deep into the downy pillows to allow slumber to once again take its reign.  The oncoming daylight brought upon an instinctive need to be at rest in an enclosed shelter and the crypt was the perfect place for such shrouding from light.  And the perfect domicile for a creature of the night.

As she curled into him, Tarquin wrapped an arm around her to make her feel close to him, to better ensure a feeling of trust.  Not for him, but his lovers.  He, after all, wasn't one to care about his safety; for centuries he was used to being able to survive as a careless creature, sure of himself and uncaring of dangers all around him.  Sure he knew there were plenty of those that wanted to kill him but that made his continued existence all the more exciting.

Slowly but surely, Tarquin's conscious mind dragged into a much needed slumber, but as ever he was a light sleeper.  Forever accustomed to keeping his senses keen.  He did dream however, small flashes of memories past passing before his closed eyes.  Some of the images were of things that he took great joy in doing such as the few years he endured as portraying a killer of prostitutes.  They never did catch him.  Others were more elusive in slipping past his mental guard.  It was these memories he avoided like sunlight, the ones of his violent past and written deep in the scars of his body.

[Anonymous]

She loved to sleep. Though there were some days when she got more rest when she was conscious. Her dreams lead her to different memories that made her want to never sleep again. Homes she wished she never had raced across her eyes, people...and things she wished she never knew.

Then there were dreams of a place she hardly remembered but in flashes. A lighter place, where they did not way so heavily. Where sun did not mean death like it did now. She was not Earth but above it. It was like running her hands through smoke, thinking it looks solid and she'd reach to take hold and it would simply unravel. Shoving it away by accident.

She clung tighter to him as she slept unaware of it. She was frowning deeply as the images were gliding in her mind. Fire and sun fading into each other back and forth. The way she use to look...or was it her? Looking at who she was now with a disgusted look on her face. She was almost panting in her sleep remembering the days when she needed the air to live.

[Lion]

Tarquin's face winced in pain as the dagger slashed across his belly, singeing against his skin enough to open it but not deep enough to peirce through his abdominal muscles and spill his guts.  Before his closed lids flashed the sadistic smile of the Torture Master of Angelus' prison ward.  Imprisoned for false treason.  Then Tarquin flinched against Jyotika in reaction to seeing his own blood splash across the ground in his mind.  Another slash to his stomach caused his imaginary self to scream in anguish, causing the sleeping Tarquin to suck in his breath as if in pain.  In a final strike the dagger sang in the air as it moved down and cut deep into the flesh of his left breast, in an 'X' formation, the left stroke longer than the other.  The sensation of his own freezing blood spilling over his chest.

Tarquin's eyelids burst open from his dream, his body damp slightly from his anxiety.  Damn, how he hated that dream!  Suddenly his attention turned to the tightened cling to him.  In instinctive reaction, he held her a little closer and held his hand to the small of her back, gently pressing his fingers into her skin.  His head now completely cleared of thoughts from his dream he watched her in her slumber.

He watched as emotions briefly flashed across her serene face, then as she began to almost pant against him.  An abrupt worry washed over him, his hand dragged from its spot on her back to embrace her face.  He stroked her cheek, brushed his lips to her forehead, and attempted to lay her down from him.  Perhaps that would calm her.

[Anonymous]

Jyotika's eyes fluttered the images fleeting but still clinging on as she started to wake up. She opened her eyes to see him and feel him looking at her. His hand on her cheek. She shook the last clinging feeling of sleep away. for a moment it felt like it would not let go, as the image crossed her eyes flashed to her king. The one that never let let her be alone for very long. Who was angry to have been outsmarted it was not something he was very use to.

She felt the image pass and she opened her eyes fully and saw Tarquin's face looking concerned. He didn't look like he had slept well either however. She made little stretchy noise and she rolled over onto her stomach and stretched like a cat under the sheet. She stopped as she could smell the sweat, but it was not like it had been last night, it was like...a cold, somewhat afraid sweat. She turned her body to face him again.

"Are you alright?

[Lion]

Propping himself up on one elbow, Tarquin watched her stretch out on his bed.  It had been a significant while since he had the pleasure of setting vigilance upon a woman perform such an innocent act in his bed.  He was moved as a playful smirk touched his lips.  But it quickly faded when she asked him of his sentience.

His feelings as of now were only slightly discernible yet as enigmatic as ever.  Finally the memory of his dream came rushing back to him and hit him harder than ever.  Suddenly he was filled with hot anger that burned in his veins like lava.  His face was as stony as ever as he sought bravely to control his temper.  In victory, Tarquin tried to grin at her but failed in a shuddering voice, "I-I'll be okay."  Only when he brushed an intrepid hand through his hair did he feel the minuscule beads of sweat that had already formed on his cold skin.  He shook his head, trying to free himself from his thoughts.

Tarquin climbed from his position beside Jyotika, crawled over her and onto the other edge of the bed.  With his back toward her, he sat at the mattress' edge and placed his head into his hands, giving a heaving sigh.  it was a sigh filled with the need for redemption.  He rubbed his face between his palms and finally turned to the bedside table to his left and grabbed the pewter candle's wick between his index finger and thumb.  Heat immediately spurt from his fingertips and lit the candle aflame; his ability to create and manipulate flame was a remnant of his old Hellion self.  The dark crypt was illuminated by the candle's generous light.  The candlelight revealed everything in the vicinity of the canopy bed, including the elongated scars on his back from the whip lashes.  There were several of them, scattered across the landscape of his back.

Turning toward Jyotika, trying his best to keep his frustration down, he said, "I need another drink.  Would you like another?"

[Anonymous]

Her eyes followed him concern furrowing her brow. He had been sweet and mostly mellow since she met him, but now she could feel the anger and another feeling she could not quite place coming off of him in waves. She tried to catch his eye as he moved over her but he did not even look at her.

She sat up as he set a flame she saw he did it with his fingers and looked at him closer. She turned her head to stare at him then noticed the shadows across his back for the first time. She pulled the blanket up to her chest and scooted over closer to him. She ran her hand down his shoulder careful nto to touch any of the marks across his back.

"These marks...do they still hurt ever?" Her voice was quiet and sad, almost swallowed by the air in the room. She could not imagine how painful those must have been to receive. Her hand went down a little touching one of the lines just barely, her fingers hovering over it. She remembered the marks on her own back and could almost feel the phantom pain of having it happen. She could feel the weight she use to carry.

[Lion]

He did not see Jyotika approach him as he had turned his attention ahead of him after asking her about the wine.  When he got no answer, he was surprised until he felt the barely perceptible touch of her hand roving over his scars.  He winced slightly, but not from pain; instead from the gentle tingling her nearness sent tenderly surging through his skin.  He remained stoic as she asked him of his lashes.  Peering at her over his shoulder, he said with a wry smirk, "No, they no longer hurt.  Most things cease their pain after about four hundred years....  I received a hundred a day for fourteen days straight."

Images of himself being chained to large stone blocks while a masked prison guard wreaked havoc on his his back with a thorn covered whip flashed in Tarquin's mind.  He shook his head quickly, his eyebrows coming together in anxiety.  A drink would calm his blood.  There beside the ignited pewter stick was an open alcohol bottle.  In an instant, he reached for it had taken a large gulp, allowing the acidic sensation of strong, fiery brandy to scorch his throat.  Sometimes the slow buzz of wine didn't suit Tarquin as well when he wanted a something with a quick, strong punch.  This brandy did just the trick.  He calm slightly, loosing his once death grip on the bottle, sighing heavily.  Then another image forced his way past his mental barrier and displayed across his mind again.  In a roar of anger, he thrust up from his seat at the edge of the bed and sent the bottle across the room in hard throw, causing its fragile glass encasement to crash into a million tiny shards, all of which landed safely on the floor.

Placing his face once again between his hands and rubbing his cheeks with his palm, he quickly came too and slumped once more at the edge of the mattress, obviously not caring that he was completely nude.  Damn him!  Damn him! his head roared in vengeful agony.  Letting go of his inner pain, he no longer sat with his back facing Jyotika.  Instead he twisted around and sat so that the he could better face her.  It was then that he looked deeply into her eyes.  Aside from his own fire burning harshly in his, he looked past her glassy veneers and tried to sense deep into the crevices of her mind, were all hidden thoughts lay.  It was a gentle stare, one that difficult to break from.  But when Tarquin did not find what he sought, he focused on the here and now.  Reaching up a hand to stroke her cheek, he managed a ghost of a smile and uttered softly, "I'm sorry for my outburst."  As his fingertips reached past her cheek and down to her jawline, he let them slide across her shoulder and down to the spot between her shoulder blades.

Remembering how she flinched the first time, he spoke softly, "Tell me...why did you wince when I touched you here?"

[Anonymous]

She slid gripping onto the cover a little more pushing herself with her legs up to the head of the bed at the other end of the mattress from him. It felt like he was two different people. She reach out a little trying to feel the aura around him and it bit back angry, nostalgic. She frowned and brought the tendril of magic back in trying to keep out of his way as the bottle smashed against the wall. He seemed like a very large snake coiling through the grass in the dark following a man's heel. Then suddenly all his muscles seemed to relax and he just collapsed at the end of the bed.

As he turned to look at her she was a little wary as he came closer. When his eyes connected with Jyotika's hers widened. He...was trying to get into her mind. She could not believe it. She was frozen looking at him returning the glance. She threw up walls and pushed him back, but not enough that he should notice. She was pulled back from her mind when he touched her softly. The feel of Tarquin was so gentle now. She couldn't really comprehend someone having such different highs and lows. It almost reminded her...of herself.  She looked away as his hand slid over her back and she realized what he asked her. It was like an electrical jolt as she remembered the moment. Her eyes squeezed shut like she was trying to block it from happening.

The voice that use to encourage, that was always so careful, gentle with it's tone, but always had power, was filled with anger but more than the rage...was the disappointment, a parent so sad and hurt at what their child had done. She could feel the weight of her wings again and see the white, blonde, and blue of her feathers and hair in her peripherals. She could feel the fear and regret in the pit of her stomach, but she looked at the man next to her and she did not feel so alone in it. He was rigid, and stern. She wondered how he could withstand this so well.

Then the floor seemed to fly out from under her feet or she sank through it, she could not quite remember what it was, only the feeling of sudden burning heat and the realization her wings no longer worked and nothing was stopping her. She only saw black around her as she looked around her voice frozen in her throat as she fell. She could see the outlines of her comrades and friends. All she could hear was the screaming.

The first pain was the feeling something had been plucked from inside of her, an aching hole felt like it was in her stomach. The second was the feeling of something like a burning blade cutting deep into her shoulder without mercy. She remembered how her screams she deafened in the dark. The third pain wasn't the heat or the fall catching up with her, it was the soft, barely audible thud of her wings on each side of her.

[Lion]

Gazing wondrously at her, all Tarquin could notice was the flash of acrid consternation overtake her beautiful features.  He was lost in translation; he could not possibly know what she was thinking.  Suddenly all thoughts of his own ever returning nightmares and plaguing memories were swept away by an exceedingly small sense of worry that began to descend down upon him in minuscule waves.  His eyes twitched to and fro, searching, seeking and tearing across the smooth landscape of her face, all the while wondering what it could be that was bothering her.

"Jyotika," he whispered her name gently before wrapping her face in his hands.  In a manner of repeating himself, he wanted to comfort her as was accustomed in his Lothario-like ways.  Instead he moved to grasp her arms.  "Jyotika!" he said only slightly more harsh as to get her attention.  Smiling gently, "Jyotika, look at me.  Tell me...what are you thinking?"  He was gentle, which was a rarity, hardly to be found after experiencing his momentary outrages when the ghosts of his past came back to plague him ever more.

He did not avert his attention from her even as he saw a small glint of moisture reflected by candlelight out of the corner of her eye.  In mimic of himself, "Tell me, what are you thinking of?"  Though unaware, Tarquin's eyes were filled with a rare genuine concern.

[Sooner than expected]

[Anonymous]

Jyotika felt suddenly vulnerable as he pulled her back to her body. The mangled handicapped body that could never fly again. She missed it more every time she thought about it. The memories only renewed that feeling she often though of, the blade moving across her back. She shook her head to shake the images further away then met his eyes. He looked so concerned, his eyes huge and searching her face. She realized she had left this world completely.

His eyes called to her so strongly. She felt like she was pulled to him subconciously and nothing could stop her from coming to him. Jyotika questioned though, as much as she could, could she show him these memories that haunted her almost every moment? Something that never quite dulled and always made her bones ache while she continued living with out truly being alive.

She move closer to him his hands still on her face, it felt as if she was not even doing it. Jyotika scooted closer and closer till they were almost lips to lips and she slid her index and middle finger of each hand to his temples. Her body shook and she closed her eyes and her lips quivered like the process was painful. She then opened her eyes in a flash and a red glow was shining from them. Then she did something very uncharacteristic.

She shared her mind with him. Letting what she had just sunk into be played in his mind so he could feel how she felt. How the wind felt cold and hot at the same time rushing past her in that hole of a fall, so he could feel the blood in his own mouth after she hit the ground and was cut flightless forever.

There was no other way to share the memories but full blown as they were in her own mind. It had been quite a long time since she had shared herself this way with anyone. Far more intimate than sex could ever be.