Once Bitten *On Hiatus*

𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖞 𝕾𝖎𝖝

• 𝓜𝓪𝓮 •

The next few days went by in a blur. I woke up, ate breakfast, went and trained with Seraph, came back to my room to shower, and then busied myself with trying to figure out how to kill Zero until dinner. The notebook Noah had brought me after my first night back was filled with ways to kill a vampire. How I could incapacitate Zero enough to decapitate him or take his heart to burn it.

Premeditated wasn't even the right word. It went far beyond that. Almost to an obsessive level. Because even though Seraph said that Zero didn't want to harm me at this very moment, it didn't mean that it wouldn't happen sooner or later.

A knock at my bedroom door made me close the notebook and slide it beneath two books. I really needed to find a better hiding space for it before someone saw it and read it.

Seraph stepped into my room and immediately clocked the notebook, but didn't say anything.

"They gave you a key to my room," I stated blandly.

Maybe the whole "if I wanted to kill her, I would have already done so" worked so well they now just said fuck it.

He closed my door and locked it back, humming his acknowledgment.

"You know," he said, finally tearing his eyes away from the notebook to look at me, "I don't much care for their way of handling your...situation."

I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

He looked around my room. "You're trapped in this place like a little princess in a tower. If it were me coming after you" - he looked back at me and my stomach tightened - "it would make it so much easier for me to catch you."

He hadn't moved from the door, but somehow it felt like he took up more space. Seraph didn't scare me. He intrigued me. But sometimes I forgot how dangerous he could be.

"I thought you wanted to catch me," I whispered.

Somehow, his stare grew more intense. "I will. But only when you're ready to run from me."

I think my heart stopped for a second. And I damn near went into cardiac arrest when he started walking towards me. I didn't know what it was with Seraph. Why I was so drawn to him. It was unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

He reached the side of my bed. "I don't think you're ready to be hunted by me, little bird. I'm not kind. I take what I want, and I don't care who hears you or sees you."

I shivered, and he reached out and wrapped his fingers around my throat, and even though his skin was cooler than my own, I was suddenly so hot I felt like I was about to break out into a sweat. His eyes burned into me, igniting me from the inside out. I remembered the visions he gave me. The positions he wanted me in, completely at his mercy.

"You like that idea." It was stated as a fact, not a question. He knew well enough. The idea of him doing those sick, depraved things to me, all while someone could catch us - or even all while someone watched - must have gone into his mind as he fed from me. His fantasies had become my own, and it wasn't due to some mind trick.

"Once you take care of Zero," he squeezed my throat harder, "I'll chase you as far as your legs will allow you to go. And then I'll see to it you can't walk for days."

I knew my face was red as I stared up at him, not bothering to hide behind a mask of indifference.

I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, keeping his hand there around my throat. He was still holding it, just loose enough that I could get some air to my lungs.

"I don't like anyone," he said, studying my face. "Honestly, I hate everyone. The humans. The vampires. The bullshit politics of it all. But you..."

He placed a knee on my bed and pushed me down onto my back. I went easily, watching him as he watched me. Seeing how his eyes betrayed thoughts he didn't speak out loud. Watching how those eyes traced every little inch of my skin.

I felt naked. Completely and utterly laid bare beneath him and there was nothing that I could do to change it.

"I feel you," he said. "I feel your emotions when they're heightened. When you're scared. When you're happy. Everything."

I let out a shaky breath.

"I don't hate you," he finally said.

"Oh, good," I said, my voice wobbly. "I don't hate you either."

He smiled slightly. "I know."

And then he let my throat go and stood from my bed. He tilted his head to look at me, sprawled out on my comforter in the same position he pushed me down in. I couldn't move if I tried. Those eyes bore into me so deeply that I could feel it.

I wanted him to touch me, and by the look on his face, he knew it.

I wasn't sure what I turned into since I returned. A vampire hater being attracted to vampires? If anyone who knew me knew what I was now, they'd laugh in my face. It's like my personality did a one eighty in the span of only a couple of weeks.

I still hated vampires - specifically Zero and Titus. Hell, I'd likely hate all of them besides the four that somehow wormed their way into my life.

"I don't know if you're ready for me, little bird." His voice was soft.

"Are you scared," I asked, and I wanted to sound like I was teasing him. But my voice betrayed how I felt at the idea of him taking me. Being mean to me. Holding me down and making me scream for him.

He chuckled. "No, but you certainly should be."

I sat up, bringing our bodies closer. He stood between my open legs, not moving an inch when I pushed closer. I looked up at him, and I saw his jaw clench tight.

"I'm not afraid of you," I said.

"That may be the stupidest thing you'll ever admit to," he replied.

I shook my head. "I've never been afraid of you."

He reached out and ran his fingers through my hair gently, but when he got to the base of my skull, he fisted my hair and pulled my head back. The muscles in my neck strained and he bent down, his lips mere centimeters away from my own.

I couldn't move forward to close that gap if I tried. His hand in my hair was too tight, his grip too firm and unmoving. But I wanted nothing more than his lips on mine. I could reach up and pull him closer, but something told me that I shouldn't.

"You're a little fucked up, aren't you," he asked quietly.

"If I say yes, can you please just kiss me?" I sounded needy, and his lips slowly curled into a small smirk.

"Aw," he cooed, and my face flamed with the teasing note to his words, "are we going to resort to begging?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Say please again," his smirk had turned damn near evil.

He wanted the control. Fully. And I knew when he was finally able to chase me, he would catch me and use me. He wouldn't be kind. Not by a long shot. He'd treat me like an object to fuck. But something I also knew for sure - he'd make it feel good for me too.

"Please," I whispered.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Please kiss me, Seraph." I had to hold myself back from grabbing him and pulling his face to mine. "Please."

He hummed, pausing for so long I wondered if he was going to pull away. At that point I'd likely jump him. But when he saw - or maybe he sensed - my thoughts shift, he finally closed that gap.

His kiss was slow at first. Gentle, even. His lips moved over mine, molding to mine so perfectly I let out a small whimper. The noise only seemed to spur him on, and he kissed me harder. Rougher. His tongue slid against the seam of my lips and when I opened to him, he tasted me. His tongue danced over mine.

I was breathless when he finally pulled away.

He let his hand fall from my hair, but he remained where he was, lips close to mine. "When I finally have you, Mae, you need to be prepared. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

But damn if I wished he wouldn't just fucking take me now.