Katherine

...you feel being one step ahead...

She led him to their room, hand in hand. His palm was cold and soothing, still, she wasn't calm at all. She enjoyed the light afternoon with him, but things turned hot while she was posing for that picture. She felt his eyes on herself during all that time. However, she dared to glance back only once, and meeting his gaze was so intense that she couldn't hold it for long. His eyes seemed dark from lust. She liked him the way he was, his always cool and balanced personality, and seeing that she pushed him over a line without direct effort was overwhelming. Right, these days she only wanted entertainment and nothing more, still it turned out to be how she finally managed to seduce him. She tried to ignore his presence and show her best face to the artist, but it was simply impossible not to feel his presence once she locked eyes with him. His gaze saw through all parts of her body, making every last bone and flesh of hers burn. She remembered the only time she felt something similar - she was human back then, a young girl only starting to grow up. She fell in love; she committed a mistake which haunted her for all her life. She gave birth to a child of that man, but the man had already left and had never been seen again. Since then, she had not fallen in love (self-preservation above everything), but now... it was a something-like feeling.

She didn't want it. She didn't need love to make her life more complicated. The only thing she wanted was to have some fun.

Still, it was Elijah. After five hundred years of misery, she felt a light - not seeing the end of the tunnel, but experiencing the pull of a small spot shining from the safe consistence of Elijah.

She tried to think about the portrait in the making, but this led to him again. He could watch the whole process of random lines drawn slowly becoming her, and he could also compare it to the reality. Did it please him what he saw?

Surely.

His gaze was falling on her heavier and heavier. She needed all of her self-control not to jump up and run away - or run to him. She felt herself arousing, her body aching for his touch. His eyes caressed her, but she wished it to be his hands.

When the artist finished, she felt like an energy bomb just before exploding. She tried to make them believe it's only her enthusiasm for the picture, but honestly, she barely saw it. She didn't care, she didn't want to look at herself - she wanted Elijah to look at her.

And he did.

She wanted to go home with him immediately. It was high time to close the unfinished storylines between them.

She hoped she wouldn't have to say out loud what she wanted, but he acted like he didn't understand her. It was maddening, but also thrilling.

"Huh, it was a fast way home, Katerina. What can be so important?" he teased her.

"Do not pretend you don't have at least the faintest idea, please."

She poured a glass of wine for herself and offered another to Elijah. He took it and watched her, smiling as if he knew everything, but wouldn't make things easier for her. She was sipping her wine slowly, tasting every drop while also tasting the words she planned to express.

He sat back and turned his gaze on his glass.

"It's a quality wine," he said.

"It's from Spain," she added.

"You know, if I would be an expert, I could bore you with a little speech how it is a great vintage. It smells spicy, a bit like cinnamon, and you can taste the flavor of these spices lightly along with reseda, but it's only because of the fermentation process, since it was made of pure grape, collected..."

"Stop. I killed the winemaker for telling me these things. I wanted to drink not listening to his crappy lies," she interrupted. She hated when someone told her what she should like and how; she was perfectly capable of deciding for herself. He laughed.

"You are right, I'm joking."

"I know, but it's irritating."

"Really? I don't think so." He kept up the superficial, teasing conversation just to avoid the scary awkward silence. He must have seen that Katherine had something completely different in her mind.

"I want you," she blurted out. Her mind was screaming it for minutes and it just... came out. His smirk made her feel beaten.

"No, you only want something from me," he argued, his teasing tone turning disheartened. She didn't get it. Wasn't that what he wanted to hear? She asked him.

"I want everything of you," she confessed. "Please."

He stood up and slowly walked toward her. Didn't he feel it, too? She was almost trembling, but now, the look in his eyes changed: darkened, hardened somehow. Her instincts screamed that he carried danger, but she couldn't move, like she was hypnotized. She forgot everything but him.

"Don't you think it is too big of a request coming from you?" he asked when he stopped close to her. She now regretted that she was standing in the middle of the room, not a wall or a piece of furniture to uphold her. "You will have to pay for your bravery," he continued, stepping behind her, almost touching her neck.

She gave in.

She moved a bit to feel his fingers on her skin - it was unbearably hot and the greatest relief at the same time. She sighed and heard his quiet chuckle close to her left ear.

She sighed - and the next moment the feeling disappeared. Coming to her senses was painful, but Elijah commented immediately.

"No way, Katerina," he whispered, "I didn't allow you to take what you want, I told you need to ask didn't I?"

"Please, Elijah, don't be cruel, I need you, I want you, I asked you..." She heard his disapproving growl, and her voice became almost hysterical. "Please, I ask you to touch me!"

"Let me think," he said moving away. "Is that really the best for both of us?

"Of course it is!" she protested turning to him. "You are playing rude! You told me to ask, I asked, now it's your turn."

"I didn't promise anything," he stated. He tried to stay calm, but again, his eyes betrayed him. She couldn't decide if he let her know about his real feelings this way or he only lost control, but it didn't matter anymore.

"Then I don't care!" She was hurt. It was an unforeseen turn of the events, and she thought of packing and moving out, but first, she wanted to win this eye duel against him. "Please, go!"

He stepped closer again.

'O-oh,' she thought. Her anger fled in a moment and her previous longing returned.

"I don't believe you," he smirked.

She couldn't resist anymore. She grabbed him and pulled him closer to steal a kiss, but by the moment they lips met, he was the one holding her passionately in his arms.

It felt so good. It felt like never before, like every step and mistake she made in her life were leading her here... leading her home.

She couldn't guess how much time passed while their lips were stuck to each other. Her mind barely registered the facts that they were moving, or when Elijah's hands released her arms and was now on her hips, slipping slowly under her shirt... The only thing she was aware of was the greatest sensation she had ever felt, and which was in the meantime only a promise of something better.

Her own hands were also discovering Elijah's body more and more freely. Caressing his neck, she ran a hand through his hair. Elijah liked it, she felt as his kiss deepened and became more willful for a moment. Only when she began to undress him, Elijah was holding her again tightly by her arms.

"Where do you want...?" he asked. Immediately, Katherine couldn't choose.

"You decide, I trust you."

"Are you sure?" he mocked her. Katherine didn't want to wonder about these kind of stuffs now, neither had she the time for it. "Do you want to hear the plan? First, I will have you right here on the couch."

Katherine listened as if compelled. Even the way he listed this was exciting enough, but his voice... she loved his voice.

"Then..."

"Just do it!" she screamed as this wasting of time was enhancing her desire but patience was never a thing she was famous for. Quite the contrary.

"Well then, we'll see," he decided. They found themselves on the couch in a heartbeat, naked. Katherine thirsted for Elijah's kisses on every inch of her body, and with tormenting slowness, but she got them. By now, she didn't need to hurry any more: the feeling that their skins touched was surpassing everything, her vampire senses even heightened it, just like for Elijah - that was clear. He didn't hold back at all, and unlike the trend what Katherine was getting used to nowadays, he was not a patient and careful lover. He was a dominant male, who knew exactly what he wanted, and while no one before made her feel so good, Katherine knew she had to grew up to his expectations, too.

The problem was that she could barely move because of the pleasure. Elijah had already - slowly - discovered every part of her body with his mouth and his hands. Katherine didn't even know that her spine is sooo sensible, but as Elijah stroked there a few times, she believed she was going to reach her climax.

Then, she felt two of Elijah's fingers slipping into her and she knew the true end is still far away.

"More, please, deeper," she sighed, but he shut her mouth with a kiss.

"No talking," he said. She grunted as his fingers slipped out, she felt empty, but he cured this state fast enough. She felt her impending climax, so she looked at Elijah to check whether he felt the same. Much to her surprise, his face was changed, the veins under his eyes appeared, and he turned her head to the side.

She was frightened because no one before dared to bite her, and she held back her breath when his fangs touched her skin.

It was so intense. She only felt a subtle scratch, and then, her blood boiled up. She now understood why blood-sharing was a personal thing: it was so much different from giving it to a human.

However, it didn't last long, he only sucked her blood until they both finished. He got up from her, but he almost fell to the ground next to the couch.

"This couch is impossibly small, I will make a complaint!" he muttered angrily.

She was staring at him silently, as if she had never seen him before. She felt different. She felt used and conquered, but also delighted by this fact. She was waiting for him to take notice of her, but he was lying on the ground staring at the ceiling. She decided to join him - she already missed his closeness. When he felt her besides him, he talked:

"I presume our next encounter will be here on the floor... then maybe the kitchen, the bathroom, the table... if we are tough enough, we should try in the window at sunrise... it's really beautiful, I can tell you!"

Katherine laughed, but the next moment she was on him, kissing him, melting into him.