Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10: Blood Lust

Eli grinned at his girlfriend as he popped open the bottle of red wine he had swiped from his parent's surplus. Clare offered him her most believable smile as he poured her a glass before taking a long sip- as if trying to start the intoxication sooner.

"Go easy with that stuff Edwards." Eli warned her jokingly as he poured a glass for himself. Clare rolled her eyes in a teasing manner; she didn't feel like explaining to him that she had done stuff much harder than wine in the past few months.

Maybe it was guilt, or the need to re-establish her ailing cover as "St. Clare", but Clare had to force herself with gritted teeth and a nod when Eli invited her over for the night. Cece and Bullfrog were on an overnight trip to Buffalo for a concert, leaving the house devoid of any parental interruptions or annoyances.

It had been a week since the "deer incident" and Eli had made no mention of the event other than informing her that the damage to Morty had been fixed. Needless to say, Clare was surprised by Eli's lack of concern over seeing his seemingly innocent girlfriend slaughter a deer with no hesitance. It wasn't like him, settling for his questions to remain unanswered. She couldn't even let out the smallest of bored sighs without having Eli ask her what was wrong.

She brushed it off. Rather than drive herself into a needless paranoia over the subject, Clare decided to just leave it behind her. If Eli wanted to act like he had never seen her bash an animal's head in with a tire iron, that was fine by her.

"So, you got a birthday coming up next week." Eli said, breaking her from her thoughts. She looked up at him as he swirled his wine around in his glass, pausing to take a small sip.

"Yeah, it appears so." Clare nodded. In truth, Clare doubted that next week was her actual birthday. Randall and Helen changed her name when they brought her into their lives; chances were good that they did the same to her birthday.

"Have you thought about what you wanted to do?" In the back of Clare's mind, a dark chuckle erupted. If things worked out, her birthday would consist of getting revenge on the man who killed her biological mother.

"Not really, no. It's not a big deal to me." Clare shrugged. Eli looked at her with wide eyes.

"Not a big deal? You're turning sixteen! Most girls start planning their sweet sixteen parties at age twelve." Eli gasped.

"Interesting how you would know that."

"Clare, come on. You can't just let one of the most important days of the year pass by without acknowledging it. Seize the day, carpe diem!" he urged.

Clare finished off her glass of wine, wishing she had smoked a joint or maybe popped a pill before going over to Eli's. The boy was becoming a little overbearing, and the wine did nothing to help her ignore it.

"Look, Eli, it's fine. I just think birthdays are overrated. Why should I have to celebrate the fact that my parents decided to have sex and nine months later I emerged from my mother's vagina covered in placenta and blood? It's not much of a phenomenon, seeing as how everyone else in the world went through the same process." she explained, boredom lacing her voice.

Eli gapped at her.

"Well whether you like it or not, I have every intention of not only acknowledging your birthday, but making it special as well." he assured her with enthusiasm once his initial shock had faded.

"How are you going to make it special?" Clare asked, cocking her eyebrow. Eli smirked at her before finishing off his wine and setting the glass down on the coffee table.

"Well, I could tell you, or I could give you a little preview upstairs." he said huskily. Clare bit her lip before smiling shyly and nodding- her signature move that not only turned Eli on but also reinforced her portrayal of a seemingly innocent girl.

The green eyed boy grinned widely as he grabbed her hand, pulling her up from the couch and leading her to his bedroom.

Despite the fact that sex with Eli had grown rather monotonous over the past few months, it held more interest to her than having an actual conversation with him.

–

She stared at his neck. More importantly, she stared at the vein popping up beneath his skin. The external jugular vein. Right above his pulse point, the vein swelled in and out, in time with his heavy breathing. Eli was currently hovering over her flushed body, her knees pinned to either side of his waist as he teasingly slid in and out of her.

Clare craned her neck and attached her lips directly above the vein that ruled her attention at the moment. Eli hummed deeply at the feeling of her light suction on the his neck. Her mind couldn't help but flashback to the incident in grade 9 when shit kissed Declan Coyne on the neck. In truth, the kiss had been a last-minute turnaround, a cop-out almost.

Her real intention that day was to bite that rich bastard so hard that his skin would break.

However, Randall's voice seared through her mind the moment her lips made contact with the older teen's skin. What could have become a big problem instead became an embarrassing and awkward moment. Maybe everyone was right; maybe she really did have a vampire fetish. But it ran much deeper than just getting off on being bitten or biting someone else-

Rather, it was blood lust.

She turned her attention back to the task at hand and sucked harder her boyfriend's neck, occasionally scraping her teeth against his flesh. Admittedly, it was something she enjoyed. Strangely, she had never done it to Fitz- he was too domineering for that move. Most of the time he had her completely pinned down or was slamming into her so hard she couldn't bring herself to focus on anything but the shocks of pleasure surging through her body.

Growing restless, Clare bit down on Eli's neck, thus earning a moan. She applied pressure slowly, gauging how far she could go by the sounds he was making. Maybe she would get lucky and discover that Eli had a masochistic side.

"Ah Clare! Yeah!" he growled, "Don't be afraid to bite a little harder!"

She smirked against his skin, rolling her eyes upward to meet his. His eyes were dilated with lust, as if it were a drug. Clare took that as the green light and sank her teeth into him without restraint. His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head as let yelled out in painful bliss.

Eli couldn't figure out why Clare's vicious bites were turning him on so much. He had always appreciated a little roughness now and then, but he was actually in pain by the way the Clare dugged her teeth into him as if she was trying to draw blood. But despite this pain, he was in pleasure heaven and ecstatic over the fact that Clare was interested sex again. The recent slump in their physical relationship had left him confused and horny.

But his deep thoughts were soon pushed aside as Clare somehow managed to push him completely onto his back in a time of 2 seconds. Her lips now unattached his to his neck, Clare smirked down at his astonished face as she began grinding her hips into his causing him moan and clench his eyes shut. That look on her face was enough to make him cum on the spot, but he wasn't ready for it to be over yet...not by a long shot.

His cracked back open at the feel of her hands planting against his chest. She begain thrusting her hips at his with a bit more vigor, moaning every time he managed to hit that deep soot inside of her.

Not wanting to be a selfish lover, Eli reached a hand up cup her breast and massage it. He looked up at her moaning lips to see that they were glistening with blood.

He brought his free hand up to his neck wiped at his moist skin.

His blood.

Her lips were coated in his blood.

"I really like this side of you, Clare." he whispered. "So rough, so fuckin' sexy!"

"Don't be afraid to be a little rough to me." Clare replied. He looked at her in confusion, unsure of whether she was being serious or not. She shot him a challenging look, lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

In response, Eli clenched her hips in his hands and began thrusting his hips upwards with vigor, his backside arching completely off the mattress. Clare shrieked in surprised before her breathing began to pick up, her lips letting out the most erotic of pants. He Thrust into her several more times before hoisting himself of the bed so that he was sitting up, their torsos parallel.

He placed on hand on her back, the other looped beneath her arm to clench her shoulder. Without further warning, he began thrusting once again. He pounded into her so hard he that could feel bruises forming on his hips as well as his approaching climax reaching critical level.

His fingernails dug into the skin on her back and shoulder; causing her moan loudly.

Determined to outlast his girlfriend, Eli let go of her shoulder and brought his hand down between them. His thumb pressed down hard against her clit as he jerked his hips up with an added twist.

She fell apart at the seams- causing him to let go as well. His body was on fire; along with the waves of pleasure ransacking his limbs, he could also feel the thin trickle of warm blood running down his chest. He held Clare in his arms as his body shook under the weight of the orgasm, as if clinging to her would help him from falling off completely.

"Amazing." he muttered into the skin of Clare's shoulder. It was the word his lips and brain could spit out at the moment.

After a little while, the feeling of him growing soft inside her became uncomfortable. Clare pushed Eli back onto the bed with little trouble and lifted herself off of him, hopping off the bed to go clean up in the bathroom.

By the time she settled down next to Eli, he was already in a deep sleep.

Clare looked up at the moonlit sky as she shuffled around in Eli's backyard. She was smoking a joint and fidgeting with her cell phone, debating whether or not to call Fitz so she could sneak off with him for a few hours.

She couldn't sleep.

Eli was still in a heavy state of sleep, snoring softly when Clare pulled on some shorts and one of his t-shirts and exited the room after spending an hour just lying next to him, hoping for sleep. Despite the fact that she had just had the best sex with Eli in a while; she was restless. Something inside of her growled not in fulfillment but for the need for more. But, more of what?

It wasn't like Clare had been planning to pull out the aggressive act in bed that night, it just happened. Much like the incident with the deer, Clare had done something impulsive, something that showed a hint of her true nature to Eli. In her thoughts, she hoped that the rough sex would cancel out the random animal bludgeoning. But in her heart- she just didn't give a fuck anymore.

She sighed and stared down at Fitz's contact page in her phone, snapping it shut. Already that night, she had displayed suspicious behavior in front of Eli. She couldn't take the risk of sneaking off only to have him wake up to an empty bed. Instead, she would just have to rely on the hazy effect of marijuana to lure her into sleep.

Clenching the joint tightly between her lips, Clare too a long but slow drag- filling her lungs completely with smoke. Removing the joint from her mouth- she took another breath and held the smoke for several seconds before exhaling. She covered her mouth as a few coughs racked her throat.

From the corner of her eye, she saw something move, causing her to turn her body fully in that direction. What she saw relieved her while at the same time sparking a flicker of rage and annoyance.

Sitting before her, was a pit bull.

His fur looked slightly matted and unwashed. Gauging from his size and appearance, it was a young dog, maybe a year old. The animal made no noises whatsoever. He only sat on the grass, staring at Clare with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

Despite the dog's peaceful manner, Clare couldn't help but feel threatened. After what had happened to her mother, she was never really fond of dogs, and she figured they probably felt the same way.

She looked around her at surroundings, searching for something to make the animal go away. She spotted a grapefruit-sized rock next the back door and picked it up, testing it's heaviness. Turning back to the dog, she held the rock above her head and waited for it to feel threatened, to run away.

But the dog merely sat there with a stupid look on it's face, staring up at her. His tail began to wag, as if anticipating that the rock would be thrown for him to chase rather than at him. Clare scoffed at his reaction and almost dropped the rock in defeat and frustration.

She bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head, knowing that if she didn't follow through with her instincts, she'd be tossing and turning all night.

Without a second thought, Clare once again held the rock over her head and brought it down hard on the unassuming pit bull's skull. He let out a small whimper before collapsing on the lawn , shaking slightly as blood seeped out of the open dent in his skull. Clare chuckled softly to herself before looking up at Eli's window.

The lights were still off and no noises were coming from the house, meaning that the pit bull's cries of pain did nothing to disturb Eli's sleep. Clare snuck back inside, grabbing a garbage bag from the hallway closet and some ratty old towels that Eli used to wash Morty.

After wrapping the dog's body and in a towel and securing it in a plastic garbage bag, Clare hosed off the bloodstain on the lawn where the pit bull's head had been. Moving quietly, she lugged the dog's body up the block and dumped it in a neighbor's trashcan. She began walking back to Eli's house, positive that no one had seen her.

Just before she opened the front door, Clare spotted a garbage truck moving up the road and stopping at the house where she had just disposed of the dog's body. She waited until the garbage men had emptied the cans into their truck before turning the door knob and heading inside.

She rinsed off the blood and lingering smell of marijuana from her hands before crawling into bed besides Eli, who remained asleep. Closing her eyes, she fell into an immediate slumber.

–

She woke up to light kisses being placed on her neck and something hard pressing into her thigh. Opening her eyes, she smiled sleepily up at her boyfriend as he loomed above her.

"What's with all the clothes?" he asked running his hand beneath her shirt and caressing her stomach.

"Had to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom." she lied.

"You know my parent's are out of town, right? There's no need for such modesty." he smirked.

Clare shrugged, causing his smirk to grow bigger.

"Last night was amazing," he leaned down to give her a short, but deep kiss. "I've never seen you like that, but I like it."

"Is that right?" Clare asked, feigning innocence.

"Mmm hmm," Eli nodded before placing his hand over her breast beneath her shirt and squeezing lightly. Clare could feel herself growing wet.

"So you would be up for another round? Like right now?" she asked, trying to mask the hopefulness in her voice.

"Definetly," he murmurred into her ear. Suddenly, he drew back with wide eyes and muttered, "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Clare asked; panic began to set in.

"It's nothing, really. I just remembered I promised to do something for Cece." he explained while jumping off the bed and pulling on a pair of boxers. "I'll be right back, it won't take long at all." he promised her, walking back over to the bed and givving her heated kiss. "Don't get started without me." He warned, jokingly.

Clare cocked her eyebrow, "What do you need to do, anyway?"

"Cece recently adopted a pit bull and asked me to feed it. We've been keeping him in the backyard until we can get groomed and housebroken." he explained, failing to notice how Clare's face had suddenly grown pale. "He's a nice dog, despite what you hear about pit bulls being aggressive and tough. Wouldn't hurt a fly." he chuckled, "Cece named him Ozzy." he added before turning around and walking towards his door.

"Be right back!" he called over his shoulder.

Clare remained in his bed, motionless. She sighed in annoyance and muttered under her breath-

"Shit!"