Eyes Of Crimson : Vampire Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Saga Book 8) Read online

  I looked up and saw that at least another hundred feet above me was where the top of the building started to narrow and taper off into the tip of the shard. Its walls were more jagged and dangerous looking, as the cluster of deadly spikes got thicker.

  “I have no intention of letting you go,” Lucius informed me in response to my crying out in fear, and on hearing his words, I allowed myself the slight shudder at the double meaning I found in them. I didn’t know if he had felt it or not, as after this his wings simply forced us closer to the edge. Then when close enough he simply stepped onto it, folding his wings the moment only one full foot was applying weight. This meant that I couldn’t help but hold my breath, because despite trusting him, in my mind he was still far too close to the edge when he decided his wings were no longer needed…not even keeping them at the ready for a ‘just in case’ scenario.

  “I guess I should be glad you’re not clumsy and in danger of dropping me then,” I grumbled under my breath and of course, he heard it because he replied on a rumble,

  “Dropping you wouldn’t be a problem, Pet…” He paused a second before he actually dropped me, making me cry out in surprise. Thankfully, I landed on my feet and watched wide eyed as he walked passed me and at the sound of my annoyed huff, he looked slightly behind. Then after he shifted a wing to the side to be able to see me, he finished his sentence,

  “…not when I still have you on a leash.” Then to emphasise these words, he let the metal spine leash unravel from his arm. This caused part of its length to clatter to the floor and echo around the gigantic, hollowed out shard tower. I looked back over my shoulder at the invisible sound travelling down the staircase before I felt the tugging at my neck. This was naturally to force me into action, and a harsh prompt to continue following him like I had done before our swift and frightening flight up here. I had to say that this was also where I was quickly hitting my limit, despite my hurried steps to follow him. Rushing now so he couldn’t pull again on the leash forcing me to match his pace, which admittedly was more like jogging.

  The moment I caught up with him, he granted me a brief look over the side of his shoulder, looking mildly entertained with me trying to keep up with his long strides. I also noticed that he took this into account when holding the spiked leash, keeping it taut and on a short length so it couldn’t catch on my skin. Was this done to protect me from it or to keep me close? I couldn’t decide, but I did know that when we walked under the archway and he turned that indifferent gaze forward once more, this was when I’d had enough of playing the guessing game.

  So, I reached out to him and grabbed his arm, being mindful of the spikes in his armour. The pressure caused him to take notice and he paused long enough to look down at his arm to find my hand there.

  “Lucius, please… I can’t stand this any…” I started to say in what I knew was a pleading tone, one that had no effect on him at all, when he quickly cut me off,

  “You will do well in remembering your place, for you will touch what I tell you to touch, now come!” Lucius snapped, tearing his arm from my hold, quickly putting me in my place. My eyes widened as I stumbled a step and my mouth dropped in shock before that tendril of dread started to weave its way back around my heart. For it was clear now that I had been wrong. Lucius hadn’t been putting on a show at all. For if he had, then where were all the people to witness it now?

  Because up here, at the very top of one of his towers, there was no one around us left to fool, other than that of my foolish heart. One that had stupidly held on to the hope that this had all been an act of some kind and as soon as we were alone, then the old Lucius would come back to me. A man who seemed so far gone, I worried if I would ever have a chance at getting him back again!

  In that moment, I will be honest, I had never wanted to cry so badly as I had since first setting foot in this Gods’ forsaken place. But my fears had been right, the witch must have got hold of him and somehow made him forget who he really was. But if this was so, then the only thing that didn’t make sense was why had he been hunting me? And in his right-hand man’s words, tearing up the entirety of Hell to find me. Why did he want me so badly and why did he think that I was his Mortal Pet?

  Had she planted fake memories or something?

  Gods, but there were just too many questions and unfortunately, from the looks of things, Lucius was going to be the very last person who was willing to answer them. Which also meant that at some point I would have no choice but to try and escape him…if something like that was even possible?

  Because I knew one thing, that staying here and facing I don’t know how long as some mortal sex slave he cared little about, wasn’t going to save his people, or those I held dear to me, Lucius included. But then one look at the new space he led me into and the startled gasp that escaped became the backdrop song of impossibility and astonishment.

  How in the Gods was I ever to escape such a place?

  This new panic was settling in deep and growing by the second all from the sight that faced me now. The long and terrifyingly narrow walkway was one of many and one that I had seen from below when first entering this dark, sinister castle. I remembered thinking then that they looked like veins connecting organs to the heart of the building we were now leaving. Because this was when I started to understand that the main building I had first entered, had been nothing more than a colossal tower of stairs and an impressive throne room beyond. It almost acted like the lobby and was a way for you to get access to all the different sections of the castle. Doing so as we did now by the walkways that connected each of the surrounding buildings to the staircase we just came from.

  Meaning that this was where I found myself now, walking towards one of those buildings. Only one look down and it was enough to make even the bravest being gulp. I didn’t know how high up we were but seeing as it was the highest of the bridges then I couldn’t help it when my legs turned to jelly. Especially when the bridge started to turn from the white marble stone that the inside of the staircase had been cut from, to a black ominous glass that wasn’t quite opaque enough to see through.

  The sight below was enough to turn my stomach and it didn’t help that although fully encased from all sides and above, the cracks weren’t exactly making the seven hundred foot drop any easier to cross. It looked like a giant hollowed out shard of black crystal, and the cracks that marred the carved walkway looked like lightning bolts had struck it and branded the glass. I almost expected to hear the pop, grinding, or thunder-like boom you would when ice starts to crack beneath your feet.

  This was why I was suddenly frozen to the spot, unable to go any further. This was also why Lucius suddenly felt resistance on the leash as I pulled my weight back after first saving my neck the pain of doing so by holding onto the ring around my throat. Lucius looked behind him and I could see the scowl on his face as he was about to snap at me but then something shifted in his hard gaze when he took in my obvious fear.

  “I…I can’t.” I told him with wide eyes, ones pleading and begging for even a shred of humanity and kindness. One that eventually came in the form of a growl of annoyance, before he stalked back to me and just before he looked about ready to throw me over his shoulder, I put my hands out in front of me to stop him,

  “If you do that, you will kill me!” I shouted in panic as I nodded to his spiked armour that would have made me into an Amelia flavoured shish kebab! He rolled his eyes, and said,

  “I am not of simple mind, human.” Then to prove this, his armour on one side started to seep back down his chest, adding to the plating there and now leaving one shoulder bare.

  “Oh…Ah!” Was my lame reply and one that ended on a shriek when I found myself in the air and being lifted with both hands on my waist as I was literally thrown over his shoulder. Gods, he was so strong he didn’t even bother bending into the action. But then, this caused its own problems as it not only left my head hanging down his back, in between the middle of his wings but it also ended up putt
ing me closer to the sight of my fear. Naturally, I screamed, taking in that of my terrified reflection and the sight beyond it that caused that terror to build. I quickly tried to scramble my way up his back, using whatever I could get hold of, which ended up being the folds of his wings and the bones that connected the leathery skin between.

  “Be still!” he snapped angrily.

  “AHH!” I shouted ignoring him and still squirming in his hold as I managed to pull myself up. I did this by hooking my arm around one of the massive horns that his wings were connected to at his shoulders, using the crook of my elbow to keep me anchored there so I was upright. I heard another growl of annoyance before he gave in and shifted me, letting me slide down the front of him. But then before my feet touched the floor, he swept them up so he was now carrying me in his arms.

  “Oh Gods, thank you,” I muttered making him huff before telling me,

  “Fucking Gods had nothing to do with it, for they don’t carry the burden of you!” This was snapped without looking at me and I flinched at the hurtful words, a reaction he obviously ignored. No, instead of giving way to my feelings, he took sure and long strides towards the end of the walkway, one that was too far away to see what awaited us. But then, after a longer stretch of silence fell between us I was surprised when he not only was the one to end it, but it was what he said to end it that surprised me the most.

  “You never feared heights before,” he said in what thankfully seemed like a slightly less pissed off way.

  “I never feared you before either…things obviously change,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. And boy, did I know my mistake when suddenly I found my feet back on the floor and my back being pressed against the cracked sides of the walkway. I was quickly caged in by the angry demonic King, as his wings spread wide and his horns butted against the fragile looking wall at my back, making it crack around the tips.

  “AH!” I cried in fright as one hand then joined the tapered points of his horns as he slammed his palm against the wall, making cracks branch out angrily next to my head before his other hand fisted my hair. Then he yanked it back, forcing me to look up at him and the bite of pain made me hiss out a breath. It also made me do as he silently commanded for me to do so as the pain stopped, becoming now nothing more than a firm hold of me.

  After this he snarled down at me,

  “You will fear what I want you to fear, girl!” I swallowed hard and decided in that moment not only to be brave but to be what many would have considered suicidal! Because my own temper, the one that had been simmering under the surface for too long now, suddenly couldn’t be contained any longer. And he knew it as my eyes narrowed and my back straightened despite the hold he had on me, or the hurt it caused to do so. Because down there in his throne room I had reason to side with caution, thinking that pushing him in front of his Kingdom would be forcing his hand when that hand didn’t want to be forced.

  But as for now, well that hand was currently fisted in my hair, doing so of its own free will despite us being alone. Which meant my reasons for reining back my anger were no longer facing us as a sea of demonic faces all eager for that show of domination from their King.

  Because Lucius wasn’t my King or my Ruler.

  He wasn’t the Boss of me or my Master.

  He was my Chosen One.

  Which was why I had to know. I had to know that even if in Hell he was still that to me. That he was still my Chosen One down here and the only way to know fully was to push him. To push him enough just to see if he would hurt me or not. I knew it might have seemed slightly crazy, but I just had to know.

  I. Had. To. Know.

  So naturally being me when I pushed…

  I pushed hard.

  5

  Prisoner of My Mind

  “I will fear what I damn well want to! My mind is not your slave, Lucius. You can’t control what I think or how I feel…especially about you!” I said this in words that were nothing short of a verbal lashing and it was one I was surprised to see him even flinch from. It was the barest of movements, but it was enough to tell me that what I had said meant something to him. However, whatever that was, there was only one way he reacted to it, with a demon’s threat and anger.

  “I own you!” he roared, and I closed my eyes as I shook my head, but it was useless. Especially when the hand that had been against the wall by my head started to move to places, that right now, I really didn’t want it to go. This was despite the moan that escaped me the moment that brutal hand softly ran the backs of his talons down my bare arm at the same time telling me,

  “I own every part of you…” his hand then rose back up my arm and started to skim across my collar bone before dipping down in between my breasts, making me suck in a fearful breath.

  “…This beating heart…” he said before I felt the tip of his claw tug at the material and I yelped the moment it nicked my skin, creating a sting. It was such a contrast to his softly spoken words that my eyes flew open and were met with his crimson gaze blazing into mine. He then made a show of lifting his talon to his lips, before licking his tongue along its length. Then once clean, he told me with dangerous calm,

  “…This blood that pumps through it…” another pause and then he suddenly clamped his gauntleted hand over the bottom part of my face, proving that even in Hell it was possible to be lured into a false sense of security. Meaning that with my jaw in his firm grasp and a hand still fisted in my hair, he held my head prisoner with both hands, using both now to bring me closer to him. Only then when inches apart did he finish his sentence,

  “….Even the lashing of your tongue is mine!” he growled before dragging me up the rest of the way to meet his lips, at the same time having no choice but to lower his own. And this was when he started something he couldn’t stop. Something that started with sucking my tongue deep into his mouth and holding it there with his teeth before letting it go. But this was when his next actions must have caught even him by surprise. As instead of letting me go like I knew he had first intended, he started kissing me. No…not just kissing me, because it was so much more than that. It was a blaze of fire igniting us both the moment he touched his lips to mine. It was the power of reunited souls that recognised the Hellish abyss that had come between them.

  Both sides of the coin sinking away to reveal true beauty on the inside as two faces finally meet and forge a deeper secret connection at its centre. His heated, possessive growl merged with my own moan of pleasure, one consumed by his kiss as his lips dominated my own. A warmth spread throughout my body at the same time arousal pooled between my legs. I found myself squirming to get closer still as the burning continued to rise up in my core, thanks to the skilled way he plundered my mouth. And he was right, he claimed it completely, owning every inch of it!

  I also found myself too affected to do anything other than let him. Not that there was much else I could have done, not with the brutal and unyielding hold he still had upon me. One, that at the moment was shamefully adding to the arousal, as his immense strength had always been a major turn on for me and even when coming from his demon, this was no exception. But then the hand on my chin left me and slammed once more against the glass at my back as his body bowed further into my own. Meaning that the flinch of my body was one that was barely felt by Lucius thanks to the cage of his body, as it pressed himself against me. It was as if the whole kiss had affected him in such a profound way that he was struggling to control himself against the power of it.

  However, that fire he ignited wasn’t of the eternal kind as a frustrated growl later and the flames were being doused in our reality, doing so just before either of us could get burned. Because just as quickly as the kiss had happened it was gone, now being ripped away by a demon’s doubt. And well, the look on his face said only one thing…that he had been shocked that he had allowed it to go that far at all.

  He had been trying to prove his words of ownership and kissing me like that had obviously steered him far away from m
aking his point. Because by making him lose control like that meant that he wasn’t the only one with the power to claim. With one look and he knew it, which was why his next action was to continue to try and reaffirm what he started. I knew this when his hand left the glass and was suddenly at the small of my back yanking me hard to his frame, telling me,

  “I own every inch of this fuckable little body, one I will take a great deal of pleasure in soon punishing and then…claiming it!” This ended when he suddenly cupped my sex and dangerously scraped the tips of his talons up along my folds. And with nothing between us but the thinnest of material, I ended up crying out when he grazed against my throbbing clit. He growled low, a rumble I felt all the way down to my toes. Then, with his fist still locked in my hair, he pulled back even more, so my neck was stretched taut and ready for the taking. He then shifted slightly to the side snarling down at me, doing so against my cheek whilst his hand turned palm up so he could use the less dangerous side of his claw against me.

  “…and I will prove just how much I own this fucking mind you think to deny me,” he said with a snarl of words before I could silently question how he would do that, knowing that he had no control over my mind.

  I whimpered against him and this was because the back of his talon flicked over my soaked clit, making me suddenly reach out and grab hold of him. The second I did, he started not only rubbing against the bundle of nerves but vibrating his talon against it. It was as if he was giving life to his armour once more and making it react the way he wanted it to. Which meant that it took about thirty seconds before his name left my lips in a breathy plea for him to stop…

  “Lucius, please…I can’t…I…”