Crimson Desire (4 page)

“You want me?” I asked as she pinched my cheek.

“Oh, yes, doesn’t everyone? You’ll make a fine addition to my collection. I wanted to have Darius, you know, but he was too far out of my reach. Luckily you aren’t.” She lifted my chin and gasped. “Very lovely.”

I wanted so badly to punch her, but my hands were limp against my sides, and my feet wouldn’t budge an inch. I was completely and utterly under her control.

“Why are you letting me speak?” I breathed.

She continued to examine me and clapped her hands together. “Wouldn’t it be so boring if you couldn’t talk? Oh, and wonderful body. I can’t wait to see the rest of you when we get to my castle.”

Castle? She had a castle? What the hell was wrong with this woman? She could take me, yeah, but Sang, too? I was prepared for whatever was in store for me, but to torment Sang was just wrong. Really wrong. I’d learned from Darius that Annabelle had not treated Sang as kindly as other vampires might have; she tortured him in multiple ways. I did
not
want him to go through that shit again.

That grinded my gears.

She caressed the hair atop my head before going back to Sang and embracing him. His face was paler than a sheet of paper and had a sickly hue. He shook wildly and short, small whimpers came from his mouth as Annabelle continued to frighten him more than anything else in this wide, vast world.

She whispered to him soothingly, “Oh, Chester, you smell so delicious. I forgot how I missed dining with you.”

This was bad. Really, really bad. Annabelle was a master vampire, and there no way we could defeat her.

I saw her fangs protrude in her mouth as she gave a quick glance at me, and I shouted, “No!” But it was too late. She plunged her fangs into the side of his throat, and his whole body jerked with the sudden movement, the pain, and she began to suck on him like some rare candy, taking her sweet time and causing low moans to come from Sang.

She wrapped a hand around his chest and the other over his eyes as she drew on his blood more and more, slowly and humiliatingly as it was right in front of me, his present girlfriend. And I swear Annabelle heard my thoughts, because a wicked smile crept onto her face, and she didn’t stop, just kept going. Sang’s eyes rolled in the back of his head, and his lips quivered slightly.

She pulled from his neck and licked her lips while looking at me with a strange gleam in her eyes, and it sent shivers rippling down my spine. I didn’t want to be this woman’s object of spite or interest. Oh, no. I didn’t want anything to do with this woman, but I had a feeling I was in for the long haul and nothing could stop it.

Sang collapsed to the ground, and it worried me. Had she drank too much of his blood? Was he going to be okay? “Sang…” I uttered, knowing my words were hopeless.

I blinked, and in an instant, she was beside me, deep green eyes piercing and penetrating into me. She steadied one hand on my shoulder and the other around my eyes and everything went dark as I felt her graze my neck with her teeth and then strike me with her fangs.

My vision faded away, and my consciousness followed after in a thick haze of black and rainbow coated dots.

I was lost. Lost in an ivory fog that stopped at the base of my neck and covered an endless area of blank space. There was a pale light coming from nowhere, and I felt cold, so, so cold. I shivered uncontrollably, and the fog seemed to tie itself around me and take on a conscious form of its own. It wasn’t just cold, but it was solid and bound me securely to where I stood.

I cried for help, but no sound came from my mouth. The fog crept higher and higher until it was over my head, and I was drowning in its murky depths, unable to see and unable to move.

Suddenly, I could see, and a figure darted in the distance and came so it stood in front of me. At first, it was just a black silhouette, but slowly, it became clearer and lighter until I could make out Darius standing a few feet from me. He was dressed in a creamy, long-sleeved shirt with sleeves which belled out at the ends and tight brown leather pants that were tucked inside a pair of matching lace-up boots with silver tips. He was stunning, more so than I remembered. His long, chocolate hair spilled in curly waves across his back and to his knees, and his deep amber eyes were crowned by unnaturally long eyelashes. I held my breath for a second as I drank in his otherworldly beauty and let it out when I was done devouring his body with my eyes.

“Lily,” he uttered and stepped closer until I could feel his cold breath on my forehead as he was a good six-foot-three compared to my short five-feet-three inches.

I almost cried tears of joy at the sound of his voice. I wanted to hug him so bad, to comb my hands through his long hair. He closed the gap between us and did just the thing I was thinking; he embraced me and ran his fingers through the blonde strands of my hair.

“My sweet, sweet Lily,” he murmured as his free hand stroked my back in circles. It calmed me down and felt so relaxing. I melted in his arms and thought that if I died that instant, I’d be happy.

“Darius, do you know what happened? Do you know about Annabelle and how she wants Sang and I?”

He kissed my ears, forehead, my eyes, my cheeks, and hovered just over my mouth. “Yes, my dear, I am fully aware of it. I tapped into your sub-conscious as I appeared in your dream. It seems you are being taken by Annabelle this very moment.” His voice turned into a hiss. “And I can do nothing to stop it in the state I’m in now.”

I wanted to kiss him, to feel his tender lips pressed to mine, but I was still paralyzed and could not move. “Will you come get us?” I asked.

“Of course, of course I will come get you and Sang. Why Annabelle has broken the pact I do not understand, but I will find you, that I promise.” He hugged me again and his body felt so real.

“What’s up with Sang? Why is he so scared?”

Darius replied softly, “When I took Sang into my custody, I had erased his memories of Annabelle with the exception of his hatred for her and her name. If he would ever see her again in person, which I did not count on, his memories would come back. His body also responded to her presence as she is his blood-mother.”

“I don’t understand. What did Annabelle do to him that you had to take him in?”

“I will leave that for him to tell you when you wake. Look, see that light coming closer?”

I stared into the blank expanse of space and saw a golden light racing toward us. “What is it?”

“You are waking, my dear. Waking to reality.” He took my hands in his and touched his forehead to mine. “Do not stop thinking of me. Think of me especially before you go to sleep, so that I may enter your dreams. Do not give up. I will come and get you, I promise.”

“Stay, please stay.” I began to sob as his body faded into the fog and the blinding light descended upon me.

I woke with a gasp but found that I couldn’t move. I was in a dark space, and Sang sat against the wall opposite me, his head hung low. I began to move so I could comfort him, but I couldn’t and then remembered the martinis I had drunk at the bar. Since I was a new vampire, alcohol made my body paralyzed for eight hours after consumption, because my body was getting used to the vampire virus and it somehow clashed with the alcohol. The real scientific details were unknown, but my head hurt like a bitch, and I was unable to move a centimeter.

Great. Just great.

Sang sobbed quietly and crawled next to me. He drew his knees to his face and sighed. I could still speak and asked, “Are you okay?”

He sniffled and answered, “No, Lily. I’m not okay.”

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. “Sang…could you please tell me about Annabelle?”

His words were low and hesitant. “Annabelle…Yeah, I’ll tell you about her. She ruined my life. She…ruined me. Oh, Lily, all these memories are flooding back, and I’m scared. So scared.”

“I’d hug you if I could,” I said and gave him a wry smile.

Tears began to stream from his eyes, and he hugged me close. “Lily, oh, Lily, I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I replied.

“You’re stuck from the alcohol, aren’t you?” He seemed more cheerful.

“Yup.”

“That must suck. Oh, but this witch. What she’s done to me! I’ll have to tell you from the beginning.”

“Please go on.”

He rubbed the tears from his eyes and rocked on his heels. “It was over three-hundred years ago. I was a peasant in rural England, and I lived with my mom, dad, and little sister. I was only twenty, and I was going to the market to get some stuff when I felt this sense of dread come over me. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but I hurried to get home and that was when…was when…I saw her.” He paused.

“You saw Annabelle?”

He nodded. “Yeah, and I was instantly captivated by her. I think she used her vampire powers, because I couldn’t move, and she came onto me and…and…and bit me. And turned me right then and there. It was night. Then she went and burned my home with my family inside it, and they all died while I was changing into a vampire. I could do nothing while they died. I couldn’t do anything at all. My name…” He seemed as if he was in a trance. “My name back then was Chester.”

So that’s why Annabelle called him Chester. It was the name he was born with. Sang’s name used to be Chester. Huh. Imagine that. “Go on,” I encouraged him.

“After she killed my family, she turned me into a vampire and took me to her castle, where her slaves were always adding onto, and she tortured me as you might already know. She made me do things I didn’t want to do and fed from me and, oh, her wicked voice!” He shuddered. “And I was always rebelling against her, always frustrating and making her mad. And she tortured me more and more and sometimes locked me up for weeks in a coffin. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Darius finally found me and took me under his wings, and I was liberated of the witch. I was free and devoted my life to serving Darius,” he said Darius’ name with such admiration, such joy; it made me feel the same way.

But Darius had stolen my humanity, and I could never get it back. Just like what Annabelle did to Sang. But Darius was different. He had a reason. Annabelle just wanted a new toy to play with. And she found one in Sang.

“Then I met you, and I was so happy. So, so happy. And I still am, you know. That I met you, Lily.” He kissed my cheek playfully.

I laughed. “I’d kiss you back, but I can’t right now.”

He rubbed his chin and said calmly, “I think we’re in a plane and we’re flying.”

“Why do you think that?”

He just stated, “I’ve felt this sensation before.”

“I was only in a plane once and I was three. I didn’t even think that we’d be flying. We’re do you think we’re going?”

The color drained from his face. “Oh no. No! No! No!”

“What?”

“We’re flying to England,” he uttered. “To Annabelle’s castle.”

The sun splashed onto the floor in blinding rays, and Sang and I squinted our eyes as they adjusted to the light as the back of the plane was opened up slowly. I looked outside and there stood Annabelle, a huge smirk gracing her scarlet lips, a man and woman standing beside her. She snapped her fingers and immediately they rushed inside, and the woman twisted Sang’s arms behind his back and forced him to his feet. The man did the same to me, I refused, at first, until he painfully gripped my right hand, and I had no choice but to obey him.

Before he got behind me, I snuck a quick view of his visage. He was very tall, slim, and had a weathered face that I’d say was about fifty or sixty years. His hair was full on his head and was grey, and his eyes were a steely hue, firm and concentrated on the task at hand. He wore a pair of brown dress pants and lighter shirt which I could see his muscles bulging from. He was fit but rather old, and I wondered if he was a vampire or not.

The man and woman walked Sang and I outside the plane and stopped before Annabelle. She chuckled in delight and went to me, lifted my chin, green eyes staring deeply into my face. I was going to spit at her when she kicked me in the stomach, and I know I would’ve flown back if the man wasn’t holding me still. I coughed and groaned in pain which only made Annabelle’s smile wider, and she approached me again wrapped my hair around her fingers.

“So cute and so beautiful,” she mused. “I can’t wait to get you to the castle, Lily. Oh, what fun we’ll have. Anyway, the man with you is Lord Greyson, but I just call him Grey, and he’s the person in charge of you. The woman by Chester is Rosemary, or Rose, and she’s in charge of Sang. Okay?”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if I had the woman and Sang had the man?” I tried to sound as innocent as possible.

“To make sense? Honey, there is no ‘sense’ around here. Only organized chaos.”

I muttered, “You bitch.” Sang remained silent.

Annabelle scolded in a babying tone, “No talking back.” She kicked me in the stomach again. Grey struggled to keep his feet on the ground, and I gasped in shock at the amount of strength. It hurt, maybe a little too much, and I could feel the anger building inside me as if a flickering bonfire growing high into the night.

“My Lady, shall we begin our walk to the castle?” Grey asked.

Annabelle replied, “Yeah, you may begin. I’m going to take the car. Tell me when you arrive.” She got into a small black car and spun the tires before speeding off out of sight.

Rose kicked Sang in the back of the knee and said, “Come on. Let’s move.”

I began to walk and surveyed our surroundings. We were on a dirt path encompassed by thick, towering trees which were trimmed at the tops and lead to a castle I could just make out in the distance.

“You will not speak unless told to, understand?” Grey told me straight into my ear. I nodded and kept walking forward, not wanting to deal with all this bullshit right now. I just focused on moving ahead with this strange man behind me who bound my arms together behind my back and breathed in evenly to cool the anger kindling inside.