Twists And Turns
Chapter 11
Looking back... I probably would have been better off if I decided to bolt right then, rather than listen to the prince as he looked me dead in the eye and spoke.
"Now answer me, Kakarot," he said slowly, "Why did you kiss me?"
"I told you," I snapped, "I don't know!"
I was certain those words were the complete, unfiltered truth. I had absolutely no idea why I'd kissed him... only that – for the brief moment during which it transpired – it was amazing. Now... it was causing me a lot of trouble.
"That's a lie," Vegeta retorted angrily, "You do know, you just don't want to say it." His grip that he hadn't removed from my wrist tightened slightly.
I thought hard, but the only reason I could come up with for letting myself kiss the prince was that at the time, I had wanted to. That for once, I'd decided to listen to myself instead of the nagging doubts and the whispering of the monster.
"Well, I want to here you say it." Vegeta growled.
I blinked in confusion, what does he want from me?
"What exactly do you want to hear me say?" I asked levelly.
"I want to hear you say..." the prince began, then he broke off. He let go of my wrist absently; then inhaled slowly and pressed on, "I want to hear the truth."
There he goes with the truth again. I thought drearily. I couldn't tell him what I hadn't exactly figured out for myself yet. How did he expect me to speak the truth when I didn't even know what it was anymore?
Ah, you're thinking too hard. The monster whispered quietly, Stop thinking and just listen to yourself. Then tell Vegeta what he needs to hear.
If it had come from anyone else, I would have called it sound advice. But I was wary of the monster murmuring within my head, especially since its tone had softened so much recently. I doubted – after it had gotten me into so much trouble – that my dark little passenger was actually on my side.
But I had no other options to work with...
I let my eyes slip closed as I closed down all my quarreling thoughts and just focused on what I felt, drawing a long sigh as I looked at the prince across from me again.
"The truth?" I said bluntly, sorting the conflicting emotions I had unchained and trying to form a pattern of sorts, "It's... it's just that..." Frustration set in as the jumble of feelings arranged itself into something I didn't want to look at, "The truth is that… when I look at you..." ...the few times I allow myself to really look at you, "...I can't explain it but I feel like I have to be where you are! Like I'm… drawn to you or something,"
Every time the prince had been in danger, I hadn't been able to stop myself from speeding to his location -wherever it may have been – and going to whatever lengths to keep him from harm... I wasn't sure where the hell those almost protective responses had come from.
I caught my breath and I tried to think about what exactly I'd been feeling before I kissed Vegeta. What had caused me to throw all my restraint to the wind, and take what I somehow felt should be mine in some twisted up way... ?
"Your scent is…. intoxicating," I breathed raggedly, Gods just inhaling it now... I can barely think clearly... "Your voice is…. I just… I know I shouldn't…."
Especially so soon after ChiChi divorced me over this exact same thing, I thought mutinously.
The effort of expressing that depth of emotion through words left me panting for breath, looking away from the prince as I contemplated how best to smooth over the uncertain ground I'd just stirred up.
Vegeta looked bemused, "Are you trying to say you...?" he began.
"No." I said shortly. I shouldn't have assumed he'd understand... he still thinks I - "I know what love is," I muttered, "I do," I added with an edge of irritation as he looked at me reproachfully.
"And this…" Damn it, I was still short of breath, "...is different. It's like you're doing it on purpose. It's like you're taunting me, it's like… like I have to bite my tongue off to keep from... from growling….At you, I think…. No, overyou. It's like…"
I cut myself off when I realized how tangled my words had become, I was nearly incoherent trying to explain what the hell I was feeling.
"I know why," Vegeta said suddenly.
I stared at him; trying not to be so obvious in doing so. Did the prince know something I didn't? Like what? He's been uncharacteristically ignorant since... since...
I shivered as the thought trailed off; a wave of the prince's unique scent teasing me as a deeply contemplative look crossed his face. At first I was inclined to drink it in greedily and keep it in my lungs like the heady smoke of a particularly strong drug; but a feeling of wariness stopped me, and despite the taunting scent permeating around me, I resisted. I took a shallow breath through my mouth, attempting to avoid the aroma and completely shut off my sense of smell.
"Care to explain?" I muttered once I'd steadied myself, my arms crossing defensively over my chest.
He didn't respond, but he was watching me perplexedly, his dark eyebrows furrowed over equally dark eyes. He took a slow inhalation through his nose, taking in the surrounding scent gradually, almost savoring; I felt sick with envy at his lack of restraint.
Vegeta breathed in deeply again, a somewhat peaceful, somewhat desiring expression crossing his face.
"You smell it too?" I asked softly. Hell, it would be so easy to... I broke off the thought, battling down forbidden desires that were awakening and perking their ears up. But Vegeta was... looking at me like... "...Then you understand?"
He blinked once, his jet black eyes slightly hazed.
I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to be closer to him. No. I commanded myself stubbornly.
...Just an inch? My thoughts wheedled.
I wasn't conscious of it, but I'd involuntarily taken a step towards the prince. Dammit... my control is slipping...
"It's like..." I began, feeling the unreliable monster and a slightly familiar sense of animal instinct meshing into some new hybrid of madness in my head. Either way, I wasn't thinking at all when I dropped my inhibitions and drew a deep, slow breath through my nose; my starved sense of smell immediately hitting high alert as a mosaic of surreal scent rushed into me.
"It's like swallowing the sun," I inhaled again hungrily, already sensing addiction taking hold of my brain. And when I spoke again I almost didn't recognize my voice, "It's like dark chocolate and red wine and everything wonderful in the world."
It's like falling off a cliff, or being pushed... the monster chipping in guided my thoughts, trying to somehow find the words to describe the indescribable.
Drowning... Asphyxiating...
"Overwhelming and irresistible, mouthwatering, alcoholic,"
Like sex itself...
"...like something forbidden that you just want so badly."
I hadn't been conscious of moving further, but I found myself less than an inch from the fiery prince before me, feeling his body heat flood over me, adding to my own sweltering temperature until I wondered if I would suffocate from it.
"N-no, Kakarot, that's not what I..." he stammered, but I didn't hear him. I could see his smooth, perfect lips tracing words, could hear the vibration of sound waves trying to make sense in my head... But I was otherwise deaf to all but my racing heartbeat. My sight was the next to be impaired, around me the world blurring and fuzzing...
I did not command myself to move, but I took a hesitant step, circling the tempting prince, close enough to touch... close enough to even reach in and taste... He was a glorious feast, and I suddenly found myself starving.
I raked over his skin with my beclouded gaze, memorizing hazy outlines of sleek bronze flesh... clean cut lines of accented muscle through a thin indigo barrier of spandex clothing.
His searing eyes slipped closed. I watched in captivation as steadying breaths drew as gossamer whispers of air between his lips; the faint, effortless rise and fall of a powerful chest as his lungs worked.
Slowly, his eyes flitted open, and I felt myself drawn closer; sucking deliberate, relishing breaths to further douse myself in his impossibly alluring scent. I was becoming infected with it; coming down with it like a virus, unable to fight it off and unwilling to try... Slowly relinquishing myself to the grip of the ambrosial disease that was...
"Vegeta," I murmured thickly; was that my voice? It was far away... heavy with craving...
I was so close to him... I could have moved the barest bit and brushed my nose against his cheek; could have...
Before I could stop myself, I leaned down and ran my tongue across the soft skin of his jugular, reveling perversely in the salt of sweat, the flinch of hyperactive muscles jumping under the contact...
I traced an oral path down the side of his neck, my vision flickering as my eyes nearly closed on their own. I paused at the peak of his shoulder, where the coiled muscle joined with his neck... my lips hurting to press to the silk bronze skin... my fingers itching to reach out and touch, to stroke and explore every inch of the perfection before me...
Vegeta took a step or two away from me, the tang of his fear registering in my alert nostrils. Impulsively, I reached out from behind him and folded my arms around him, preventing his escape and drawing him close to me so that his back was to my chest. Insatiable, my lungs demanding more of my own personal drug; and I inhaled a strong dose straight from the source, my nose pressed to the back of the prince's shirt as I breathed him in, my breath hot rebounded back on my own face. I could feel I was rock hard, the light friction against his spine as delightful as it was infuriating.
Vegeta struggled against my grip, panic sparking in his ki, coloring his scent fascinatingly.
I heard his voice shouting at me faintly from a distance beyond my hearing or caring.
A growl rolled in my chest and I buried my nose in his hair, submersing myself in the intense, redolent perfume drenching my senses. Gradually, my prey stopped struggling.
I could smell him everywhere... oh, gods, I could taste him everywhere... running between my teeth as my mouth watered, in the back of my throat as the growl in my chest morphed into a carnal purr.
"Vegeta," I moaned softly, the sweet word vibrating against the roof of my mouth and dancing on my burning lips.
Fuck, I needed to taste him again... Needed to. My tongue slipped out and traced along his neck, swirling abstractly before melting back as I pressed my lips to the skin; kissing it, devouring it, the taste of the prince's clove and copper invading my mouth.
I felt the vibration of sound as the prince spoke again, felt the frantic unease pulsing in his energy as he tried to move away from me.
I wouldn't lose his taste that easily. Turning him blindly so that his chest was touching mine, panting for breath, I attacked his mouth, nearly moaning aloud in desperation.
For a brief moment, he seemed to relax against me, but then he tensed and broke away, his beautiful black eyes wide with anxiety, quickly averting his gaze from me.
Impatience ran hot through my blood and I found his unsuspecting mouth again, feeling it turn more willing as it yielded to mine, hearing a low vocalization in the prince's throat. I wanted to catch that moan on my tongue, and I shoved it into his mouth, stroking the agile muscle along his own, plundering for a place where his raw, irresistible taste was still untouched by my influence.
He shifted his weight slightly, and I felt the stirring of royal arousal brush against my thigh. Demanding, my hips rolled against his, grinding my aching hardness against his own straining member.
I withdrew my mouth from his for air and air alone, but my lips did not seek out the prince's again. Instinct guided me, bringing my mouth to the juncture of the prince's left shoulder. Heat radiated from the area, along with a vibe of temptation that made me shiver slightly with desire. I licked the skin, nuzzled it, kissed it, holding the trembling prince close to me; refusing to lose that wonderful body heat.
As my lips pressed to his shoulder, I felt a throbbing in my gums, pulsing dully through my teeth, begging to sink into something...
I felt the prince tense beneath my touch as my lips rolled back and my canines scraped lightly against his skin.
Urge stabbed through me, and my teeth plunged into Vegeta's shoulder, as deep as they would go. A trickle of thick, hot fluid ventured into my mouth... and I nearly fell apart.
At the first taste of the prince's blood, I completely lost myself... It was like liquid fire, sweeping through my entire body, mixing with my own blood pounding in my veins... It was sweet and rich and overflowing, engulfing every nerve ending and then setting them ablaze. I was blind and deaf; I doubted I was even alive... sure that my heart had stopped; impossible colors flashing behind my eyelids.
I almost didn't notice when my whole body locked in reaction, and I came with a groan stifled against the royal flesh pressed to my mouth. Somewhere, distantly, I sensed Vegeta undergoing much the same response.
I drank him like he was the only thing keeping me breathing. When the flow grew sluggish, I dug deeper with my blood-slicked canines, gouging the compact muscle beneath my hungry lips. To put it simply... I absolutely could not get enough.
...And then I returned to myself abruptly. The haze clearing from my mind to reveal it completely blank, devoid of thought, for a moment.
Then I felt Vegeta's skin clenched in the grip of my teeth, punctured by deep wounds I had created myself. With a growl of conflicted panic and lingering want, I wrenched my canines out of his shoulder none-too-gently and stood away, still shaking a little. I could taste his addictive blood still soaking my teeth and tongue, crusting around my gums. While the blur of mingled animal instinct and the urging of the monster had faded, the taste remained in my mouth, and though it was just as exquisite as it had been a moment ago... now it also tasted like guilt.
I looked at Vegeta slowly, seeing my distorted reflection looking back at me in his black pupils. My warring eyes... bloodstained teeth.
...What have I done? What have I started?
"Kakarot..." Vegeta began, absently touching the ragged bite wound on his shoulder, red rivulets dripping down his arm.
I felt my eyes drawn to the blood, my thirst for it not quite sated...
No. Gods, you've done enough... I wasn't sure this time if it was the monster or myself thinking that. I doubted it was the former; after all the monster had been at the wheel – or rather... a backseat driver – throughout that whole thing. But I didn't really think the thought was mine either.
Maybe it was the last remains of my conscience, reminding me with what little voice it had left that I had done more than enough damage here. Most of it not physical.
Before I could think any more on the matter, I leapt into the sky, refusing to look back and see Vegeta staring after me. I just wanted to get as far away from here as I could...
...And I had no idea at the time what a stupid mistake that was.
TBC