A/N : Ok guys this isn't really a follow on from Embrace it's just another moment that i created between the darkling and Alina. I hope you like it :)
PS: Thanks to everyone that reviewed Embrace, it meant a lot to me.
Devour
Baghra was dead. She had jumped off the cliff and into the snowy pits of the mountains below. Why had she done it? Had she done it to prove to me that her son was still capable of redemption? Or was it to buy us enough time so that we could escape? She had always been unpredictable. Why couldn't she of stayed inside where it's safe and warm beside her fire? All these thoughts haunted me. My mind has become a never-ending ribbon of words that haunt me. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. My nights were haunted by the appearance of Nikolai's face turned into a ravenous monster, of where there was no escape. I felt the pull of the invisible tether inside of me waiting for me to answer. I knew I shouldn't respond, but there was a part of me that was burning with curiosity. I wanted to see him grieving; I wanted to see him lost in the dark, and I wanted him to be breaking apart just like the way that I was slowly unraveling. So as I lay down to sleep, I pulled at the thread of the invisible tether, answering to its call. With my next breath, I saw him standing beside a lifeless fireplace; the room was shrouded in darkness to such an extent that I could not recall where he had summoned me to. His back was turned away from me, his hands rested upon the mantle, and his head was down. I saw his fingers clench and unclench as if he was trying to restrain himself. I drifted further into the room without knowing it, not remembering when I gave my legs the command to move. The closer I drew towards him the more I felt my pulse vibrating through my skin as if it wanted to jump out and run away.
"Don't."
I stopped in my tracks with my breath inhaled, not sure of when to let go. Despite my better judgment, I started moving closer once more. I stopped just behind him and braced myself for what was about to happen between us.
"Where are we?" I asked, but he didn't respond. Annoyed, I raised my hand and placed the tips of my fingers on the middle of his back. I felt his body become rigid beneath my touch, but I barely paid attention. I saw the darkness in the room recede as if swept away by some invisible force, the features of the room now came blazing into focus and I knew at once that we were in Baghra's hut. The windows were still boarded shut and my eyes drifted to the now lifeless fireplace, all that remained was ash, and I knew then that no fire would ever again burn there; it had disappeared along with her. I removed my hand from his back, letting it fall to my side. Almost on queue the darkness swarmed in again and consumed everything. My eyes darted around the room looking for its source, my gaze once more fell upon him and then it dawned on me that the darkness was radiating from his skin. I saw that his body had relaxed from the removal of my hand.
"Leave," he said, but I ignored him. I stepped back from him, but I didn't leave.
"No," I answered.
The Darkling laughed. "Even after everything I've done you still want to stay."
I didn't have to stay here; I could sever the connection between us and go back to Mal and the others, but I stayed, for a reason I'm not quite sure of.
"If you're looking for forgiveness you'll find none," I said. Within my next breath, He had twirled around and was walking towards me. His gray eyes were empty, haunted. Was it the death of Baghra that left him this way?
"I don't need your forgiveness, Alina," he said. His steps towards me were precise and strained, like a predator surveying his prey before the pounce" I have lived hundreds of lives; I don't need to justify my actions to anyone and especially not to someone like you." His words were straight and precise. Perhaps once they would have provoked something in me ….maybe even brought me to the edge of tears. But this was the Darkling; he was a hard, calculating monster that thrived on the weakness in others and I was no longer going to dance to that tune
"She was your mother. She loved you," I replied coolly. "Don't you feel anything at all?"
He regarded me with those cold, gray eyes that so often seemed to look through me into my core, my very soul….
"Love is for the weak."
His words hung in the air, his reply had taken me off guard though I was unsure why, this was the Darkling after all. I should have expected this kind of behavior from him. What had I hoped to find here? Perhaps some sign of redemption? Had I perhaps longed to see that his mother's death had maybe brought some other emotion out of him other than hate?
I moved closer towards him, I saw his body tense and a flash of confusion appear in his hollow eyes. I loved that I could affect him this way. The space between us lessened.
"I don't believe that. I believe that you felt something when she died," I said. Only a few inches kept us from colliding together. "Aren't you always telling me to give in to what I feel? To embrace every part of whom you are?
He closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. When he spoke it wasn't more than a whisper, "If I gave in to everything I felt…there would be nothing left of you," I tensed at what he said. I felt my body become numb, my mouth dry. I felt his hand snake around my waist, his touch sending shivers up and down my spine. He pulled me against him, our bodies molded together to form a haunting statue. I didn't see his face move, but I felt his lips starting to move along my neck. Each kiss cold and deadly devouring. I felt his words against my skin, sending chills through me. "I would devour you. I would break you apart. and do it all over again until all you can think about is me. I would show you what it's like to be alive in the dark," And just like that I found myself falling Into the abyss, allowing him and his darkness to swallow me whole…and I welcomed it.
"You would forget your tracker; his name would be that of a distant memory to you… because that is the kind of monster I am, Alina." when he spoke my name it wasn't more than a whisper but I swear I could hear my heart shattering into a thousand pieces. His lips continued to trail up my neck, up past Morozova's collar. His lips grazed the outline of my ear.
"Will you say my name?" he muttered.
I hesitated, feeling danger crowd in on me. I knew that if I continue down this path there would be no turning back.
"Aleksander" I whispered. I felt his mouth turn into a smile against my skin. I stood there paralyzed with fear but also knowing that if I acted I would hate myself even more.
"Again," he said.
"Aleksander."
His face became level with mine. I saw a cruel gleam in his eye just before his lips crashed down on mine. I couldn't resist, I felt the hunger rise inside of me, the hunger for power, and the hunger for him. For a while I lost myself in this moment, I gave into the need that burned inside of me. The kiss was slow and tender, but yet somehow I was overcome with heat and desire for this deadly creature in front of me. I felt his other hand slip beneath my shirt. His finger beginning to draw swirls along the skin of my stomach. When his lips removed from mine I sighed. My knee felt weak, my thoughts were a jumble of words in my brain, and my heart was a pounding drum in my chest. He was the drug that I craved and my heart was the open vein. Our foreheads were pressed together; our breaths were hot and heavy as they bounced off each others skin.
I saw Mal face come into focus in my mind and I felt disgusted with myself, I had let myself get lost in him and now I was left with nothing but shame. I shoved him away from me. I saw his mouth turn into a devilish smile.
"Not as much of the saint people claim you to be, Alina," he said. I felt embarrassed. I couldn't look at him. The feeling of shame wrapped itself around my heart like dark thorns piercing me with every breath I take. "That was only the beginning of what I would do to you if you permitted me to."
"Never," I yelled at him. "I won't let you play with me any longer. I will find this firebird and I will end you"
He laughed. "You learn nothing, do you?"
So guys here it is. I know I kind of ending it on a cliff-hanger but oh well. I hope you liked it and please review. :)
