Sorry about the delay, everyone! Initially I had lost track of how long it was since I last posted. Then I couldn't get into the site a couple days ago. Then I got news yesterday that I placed third in a national humor writing competition (yay!) so I was celebrating last night. So here it is! The next chapter. I've been really preoccupied with my writing lately so if I go a little longer than normal between postings, it doesn't mean I've forgotten about the fic. And just so you know, in case anyone out there is thinking 'she doesn't write very well, how is she getting published?', the effort I put into my fic is a tenth of the actual effort I put into my real writing. Ha! If you thought my postings were gaped as it is, just imagine how long it would take me if I put in 100 effort! My fics are my fun projects, my means of procrastination because you know what? Real writing is real work and if I have a venue to just pump out a light-hearted story for people to read, I'm going to do it. The sooner I get the idea out of my head, the sooner I can fill it with another writing idea. That's how I work. If you're offended that I don't pour my heart and soul into my fic writing, then stop reading. If you like reading my stories and really don't give a rat's ass what goes on behind the scenes to make it be, then keep reading. It's entirely up to you but this is what works for me and it allows me to get my chapters out in a timely manner while allowing me to devote the time I need to my real writing and also to my 9 to 5 job. It's a busy schedule, but I manage.
Also, don't forget to vote in my poll in my profile! I'm thinking ahead here so take a look and let me know what you're interested in reading once the series finishes! Enjoy the chapter!
She could feel that her throat was hoarse without even speaking. She felt a draft; her skin felt stiff and the air crackled in her throat. Without even opening her eyes she knew she was in her own house. That was the last direction that David had been dragging her in before she lost consciousness. Her throat had been slit, she knew that. Detta remembered the knife tearing at her skin. Blood had dried around the wound but was it still open. She could feel the threads of the Berber carpet beneath her tickling her skin . . . then it dawned on her: she could feel the carpet everywhere on her body. With great effort she lifted her arm up and ran her fingertips along her body. It was bare. David had stripped her of her protection. He knew this was a way in which Detta had never wanted him to see her.
Her eyelids fluttered open and she was greeted with a dim, flickering light dancing about the room. The smallest candle on the table cast the most ominous shadow in this light, the darkness danced across her naked body as she lay on the floor. Detta made to sit up but was unable to. It took nearly all of her effort just to lift her arm. She didn't have enough strength left to hoist her entire body off the floor. She had been drained too much and she knew that was David's intent.
"Do you know how good you taste when you have fear coursing through your veins?"
It was David's voice floating to her through the shadows. The fact that she couldn't see him scared her even more. Detta struggled again to lift her arm up to touch her neck, assess the damage as best she could. Her fingers found the slit that she knew David had made. While the well had run dry, the wound had yet to close. It was blood that allowed her to heal and without it she lay exposed, in every sense of the word. Her fingers traveled the length of the slit and found another wound: puncture marks. Her fingers traveled down her neck to her shoulder—more teeth marks. She tilted her head as best as she could, looking down at her arm. Tears started to well in her eyes when she saw David's running the length. At this point she need only guess what the rest of her body looked like. David had drained her, incapacitated her. He could do with her what he pleased and she was powerless to stop it.
"Well, well. Looks like vampires can cry."
Detta shifted her eyes down and saw David crawling up her body, his form fully clothed but void of his usual trench coast. She could only guess where that had been tossed. She could feel his jeans rubbing against her skin and when his head hovered just above hers, she saw, out of her peripheral, the sleeves of his thermal shirt pushed up, exposing his forearms. Detta kept her head back, unable to do anything else, and focused on a spot on David's forehead, not wanting to look into his eyes. She feared that she would see just what he had done to her if she did.
David chuckled down at her. "Dear Detta, what makes you think I'd want to fuck you?" He laughed as he stroked her hair.
Detta chocked back a sob and feebly tried to blink back tears.
"You can't hide from me, Detta," he said after seeing the moisture in her eyes. "I've consumed so much of you, I know you inside and out."
"Don't—" Detta's voice stuck in her throat and what came out was nothing more than a gurgled whisper.
"Don't what? Why not? I know just what you like. Looks like Marko does a good job but, you know, I could do better. I know you like it just . . . like . . ."
"No!" A hoarse yelp erupted from Detta's throat, simultaneously from her mouth and her wound, as David's fingers walked down her body to the crook of her thigh. "Rape . . ."
His eyes wandered back up to hers, his motions stopping, a teasing look on his face. "Rape?" David thought for a moment. "Nah. You could pull through that too easily. The imprint of something like that on a vampire is fleeting. I could, of course, just to put your cherry on my sundae," he snickered at his own crude joke, "but I like my girls a little more active. You just lying here, not much fun, is it? No, I have something better planned for you, Detta. We're just going to do a little switch and I'll be your dominant. I know how much you'd like that," David sneered.
Detta mutely wailed. Her bare chest heaved and tears flooded down her face and into her already blood-matted hair. She would have preferred the rape to the transfer of power from Marko to David. He was right. She could get over the sex much easier than this.
David looked at her, mock pity on his face. "Don't be so sad. It could be a lot worse."
Detta sobbed and gasped. "How . . ."
He smirked. "How? My punishment for betraying Max and the boys? It would have killed you," he growled. "Drained, exposed to daylight, doused in holy water, had food dangled in front of me but just out of reach. It was torture."
"Would . . . rather . . ." Detta choked.
"You would rather be dead than see Marko again? Here I am thinking I'm letting you off easily."
Detta could only weep. No words would come to her and if they could she wouldn't be able to express them anyway. David raised his wrist over Detta's face and gashed at it, allowing the blood to flow onto her lips. She clenched them tight and forced her head to turn, the double effort depleting nearly all of her strength.
"Don't fight, Detta. This is the only way you'll survive."
"Marko . . ." she choked, muffled into the carpet.
"Will come help you?" David laughed a sinister laugh. "The naïve fledgling. He risks a greater punishment if he interferes. He knows that if he wants to see you alive, he'll stay away until it's done."
Detta wept harder for what she was about to lose. She felt the steady drops of blood falling on her cheeks and the smell had finally found its way to her nose. Having been drained to such an extent, the urge to feed became overwhelming. Nevertheless, she fought it, closing her eyes tight and keeping her mouth shut. David looked upon her with a childish awe that she hadn't taken the bait yet.
"Don't fight it, Detta. You're too weak and your instinct is too strong. You're going to drink. At your age, you can't resist temptation."
The pounding in her ears became overwhelming. All she could smell was blood. The thought of feeding, of regaining strength, had pushed everything else from her mind. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold out. Detta could feel David press his bleeding wrist to her lips but she still wouldn't take. It was only a moment before she felt fingers on the back of her neck, near her jaw, searching for her pressure points. David clamped down and Detta automatically opened her mouth in a silent scream, her fangs already extended from the blood in the air. David wasted no time and quickly impaled his wrist on her teeth, sinking her fangs into his veins so she had no choice but to feed.
It was here that Detta ended and the monster within her began. Maroon stars burst in front of her eyes and the only thing that consumed her was the blood draining into her mouth. David knew this, knew how she would react and she knew, somewhere inside of her, that that cackle being drowned by the pumping blood was issuing from David's mouth. Her brain no longer saw reason. It just made her clench her jaw onto the disembodied blood flow and drink. She was attempting to satiate an insatiable thirst. David had drained everything from her and this spring of life had been brought to her to help her get better.
Soon the wrist was no match. Not enough blood was pulsing from that vein. Detta launched herself up from the floor with her newly regained strength and latched herself onto the neck her senses told her was there. She saw nothing but red and that faint, sinister cackling could still be heard over her pounding heartbeat. The savage beast started to get full, the monster faded into hibernation and Detta started to re-emerge from the pool of blood she had started to drown in.
She could feel her fingers resting on the back of a neck, on stiff strands of hair she knew to be foreign. She opened her eyes and saw the mass of black beneath her and the spines of white blonde next to her face, entwined in her fingers. In a flash, Detta remembered what was going on, that it was David she was latched to, her naked body atop his clothed one. His hand rested on her back, his nails digging into her skin. A deep sense of revulsion rose from the pit of her stomach and she retched before she threw herself from David's grip and scrambled away from him. The smirk on his face disgusted her.
"But we were having so much fun."
"No! No!" Detta screamed, trying to wash the images from her memory.
His smirk continued. "I told you you wouldn't be able to resist."
Detta began to weep. Her sense of David was overwhelming now but she could still feel Marko, his connection stronger than the other two. She crawled to the couch and wrenched a blanket away from the cushions, wrapping her exposed body so tightly it could have cut off circulation. No words would form on her lips for what she felt towards David. There were none to describe it. She just wanted Marko.
David walked to a chair and grabbed his wayward jacket that had been thrown there helter skelter earlier in the night. Once he was at the door, he turned back to the sobbing mess that was Detta, curled up in a blanket on the floor. "Congratulations. You've survived your first punishment. Lets hope you're smart enough to make it your last."
With her strength regained, and her wounds healed, her violent sobs echoed off the walls of her flickering house. Tears blurred her vision and the cries choked in her throat. The last thing she had wanted on this earth was to be this close to David. She could feel his victory, his triumph over her and her body convulsed with regret. This is what it would take for her to learn to control herself. This was her punishment for not being able to do so before. Marko would understand, she hoped. She couldn't tell anymore. It was David that overwhelmed her now.
"Marko!" she wailed, her voice gruff through the tears.
She lay huddled on the floor still unable to move, not wanting to move, just wanting to curl up and die. She wanted her connection to Marko back. She was lost without it and had no reason to live this undead life if not for him. David weakened her in every way and she knew she couldn't pull herself up on her own.
"Marko!" she screamed, her rocky voice carrying off into the night, her hopes that Marko would come fresh in her mind.
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